Newsom Fiddles While California Burns
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It is not the city councilman's job to figure out how in the event of a natural catastrophe, your state responds to something. That sits, that rests entirely with the governor. And the fact that he's standing in front of a burning home being like, yeah, I don't know, you're going to have, these guys are going to have to figure that out. Your alderman's going to figure that out, you know, not me, the chief executive of the state. At the same time, the LA Times is reporting that the largest reservoir is offline since February. Mm-hmm.

Like that should be a critical piece of information. The governor clearly didn't know it. His concern hasn't been about, this is the basics. Your very first job as a governor of a state is make sure people don't die. That's like job number one before you start thinking about what kind of legislative priorities I have. It's like the president of the United States, you're the military, you're the chief executive. The very basic thing as governor you're supposed to do is make sure people don't die. And he's like, we're all trying to figure out whose job it is.

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Good Tuesday to you. We are six days away from the inauguration of President Donald John Trump for the second time. Very excited time to be here in the nation's capital. We've got a lot going on. I'm Josh Holmes, along with Comfortably Smug and Michael Duncan. John Ashbrook's on assignment today, doing the good work of the people. We've got plenty of great content for you.

It's a busy week here, isn't it? Tons going on. Tons going on. It's crazy. It's like every day, yes, you have the standard news, which we'll get into that, but the excitement that finally there's going to be competent leadership back. You're seeing it already. Companies are positioning themselves for this. Freedom of speech is coming back. It's like everything good is finally happening. And a lot of familiar faces descending upon the town from across this country have done a lot of work.

to try to make sure that this day came to fruition with the election, obviously, of a new president, along with House and Senate majorities. It's a new day, and it all starts next Monday. That's right. Yeah, I feel like everyone's anticipating it. I mean, everyone expects a lot out of these next four years. It just feels good to have everybody excited and on the same page. One more celebration. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

One more celebration because the hard work's already started. You're going to see this week. We'll probably do more about this on Thursday, but there'll be a lot of news this week about confirmation hearings. Obviously, the Senate tries its level best today.

to get a national security apparatus in place as quickly as possible when the new president is sworn in. So there's a ton of hearings going on. We'll talk more about that Thursday. We don't have a ton of information at this point. We will at that point. So we'll cover all of that. They're obviously getting prepared to put a big budget together and all kinds of

different instructions when something they call a reconciliation bill, it'll take care of taxes and then virtually almost everything else that the president talked about on the campaign trail. So it's a really high stakes deal for a hundred days from the time that this president is inaugurated next Monday, all the way through, we're going to be with you every step of the way, giving you all the detail we possibly can. But as for this week,

Boy, oh boy. We're going to start with the obvious. You've got to start every program with the news out of California, which is these horrendous fires that have just become completely ridiculous in every possible way. And critical failures of leadership along the way that has created what was something. We don't know how this thing started. We don't know how everything spread. We know that Wynn's had a big deal.

deal with it like a compilation of horrible stuff that went into it. But just a little bit of competent leadership probably could have prevented the absolute worst. And unfortunately, we're not getting any of that. I mean, it's really, really, really heartbreaking, honestly, because you see so many people have lost their homes. So many people's lives have been completely devastated. And

So much of it is directly due to the absolute incompetence of the people who are in place and supposed to work for the public. Or like not in place. Like you had the mayor of L.A., Karen Bass, in Ghana on some junket when all of this is going down. Right.

And then days go by and the storm gets worse. This fire is spreading, spreading, spreading. And then she comes back and there's a reporter that sort of confronted her at the airport with all these questions. And she just sat there. Yeah. No answers. Yeah. I mean, meanwhile, you've got this just heroic effort by those who have the capability of doing anything. And you probably have all seen the footage of the planes that are going in and trying to drop fire retardant and drop –

water as best they possibly can, getting these things filled up and right back to it as fast as they can. But like each and every step of the way, it becomes obvious that the failures to not only imagine what you would do under the circumstances, but not even having a handle on the critical infrastructure that would go into place to try to prevent such a thing is just unbelievable. It's kind of important in a huge wildfire to not

I don't know, run out of water. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you do some basic forest management and stuff, the sort of stuff that Donald Trump talks about a lot. Look, the forest management thing notwithstanding, because that is something that Republicans, we've been talking about for 25 years, and you run into these environmentalists who are like, don't touch the forest. Well, they start on fire. That's the way that the Earth works.

And for some of us who believe that God sort of tends to the earth and clears brush out of the way and that kind of... Like, in order to get beyond that, like, even Canada figures this stuff out. Right. Even Canada. And, of course, California is not interested in the, like, maintenance components to that. And that's the other thing is, like, so many instances of... And we've talked about this, how progressives think they're being, like, cancels

and altruistic, and they're like, listen, we're going to save a worthless fish. Yeah, the smell. Sure, it's going to take all the water away that we could use to fight fires and make sure that we don't have our reservoirs empty. Yeah. But the little fish is saved. Right. Don't touch the forest. It's like when we... But the little fish is saved. We have frequently said here on the Ruthless Variety Program that the radical left's environmental policy is basically a death cult. It is. 100% it is. This proves it out. Yes. We will protect some smelt

You know, of course, it'll burn down half of Los Angeles. But that worthless fish is still alive up there. Is it, though? Who knows? Like it wouldn't even be. I mean, if you have all the carbon monoxide and everything from fire, you get the smell. It's done so anyway. And again, it's the people who are suffering because these public figures, these elected officials, the governor's.

You know, they're flying to Ghana. Do you think they're worried about their house? No. Yeah, I mean, we want to get into the Newsom thing in particular because I think this is the most egregious player in this discussion. But one data point that a lot of conjecture about in the media and fact checks and whatnot was something that became obvious in the opening days of this tragedy, that the Pacific Palisades Reservoir was offline. Right?

So this is according to the L.A. Times, a large reservoir in the Pacific Palisades that is part of Los Angeles' water supply system was out of commission when the ferocious wildfire destroyed thousands of homes and other structures nearby Los Angeles, the Times found. Officials said that Santa Inez, I think that's right, reservoir, had been closed since about February for repairs to its cover.

Okay. All right. Leaving 117 million gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades. Yeah. For nearly a year. The revelation comes amid growing questions about why firefighters ran out of water. Remember, this is the initial thing. There was no water pressure in the onset of this fire, and firefighters were basically just left with

Nothing. Yeah. You know, they couldn't... They had to do everything from the air because everything from the ground just wasn't working out. Well, and from the air was difficult because of the winds. Because of the winds. You know? I mean, you have these pilots that are basically doing a Chuck Yeager over top of you, like dive bombing these things. I mean, just insane. Some of the footage, like you saw in the high wind. I mean, these are some massive planes that they brought in to like, you know, dive into water, scoop it up. I saw this video of one flying over and just absolutely nailing, perfectly hitting the flames. Yeah.

But then the plane is flying sideways because it's being hit by so much wind. And the pilots are at ultra-low latitude doing this stuff trying to save lives. I mean, just imagine the skill level. Well, that's what they say, the catastrophic high wind. The Times reported early Wednesday that numerous fire hydrants in the higher elevation streets of the Palisades went dry. Dry, not saying like...

It's less than desirable. Water pressure. Bone dry. Bone dry. Yeah. I saw the aerial photos, and it's just like it breaks your heart because you see the aerial photos of these entire communities, which are burned down to basically rubble. And then you look at that reservoir empty, and it's just horrible. Well, none of them seem to know what the hell was going on.

Like the idea that you have a place that's susceptible to fire. We all have experienced every year. I'm like, there's like a couple of things that you can count on, right? The red river Valley up in North Dakota is going to flood in the spring and you're going to get wildfires in California. Like those things happen every single year. You would think as if like Ron DeSantis and hurricanes in the, in the early part of the fall, you just be prepared for this kind of thing. They take this thing entirely offline and,

literally an entire reservoir for a community entirely offline. And everybody's like, oh, why wasn't the water work? I don't know. You spent the last nine months trying to fix a cover? A cover. I don't even know what the hell that means, but like amazing. So you get into like asking these people,

like what's going on? Not satisfactory answers at all. Can we play clip one, please, Spaghetts? To go a quarter of a mile to save some... What is the situation with the water? Obviously in Palisades, it ran out last night in the hydrants. I was trying to fire a fighter in this block. They left because there was no water in the hydrant here. Local folks are trying to figure that out. I mean, just when you have a system that's not dissimilar to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large-scale fires, whether it be pipe, electricity, or whether it just be the

COMPLETE OVERWHELM OF THE SYSTEM. I MEAN, THOSE HYDRANTS ARE TYPICAL FOR TWO OR THREE FIRES, MAYBE ONE FIRE. YOU HAVE SOMETHING AT THIS SCALE. BUT AGAIN, THAT'S GOING TO BE DETERMINED BY THE LOCAL -- THE POTENTIALS ARE SAYING -- NO, NO, NO. NO, NO, NO. LIKE,

You're the governor of a state. Seriously. You have a disaster response protocol. Like, you are a part of that. Whether you like it or not, it is not the city councilman's job to figure out how, in the event of a natural catastrophe, your state responds to something. That sits—that rests entirely with the governor. And the fact that he's standing in front of a burning home being like, yeah—

I don't know. These guys are going to have to figure that out. Your alderman's going to figure that out, you know? Not me, the chief executive of the state. At the same time, the L.A. Times is reporting that the largest reservoir is offline since February? Mm-hmm.

Like, that should be a critical piece of information. The governor clearly didn't know it. Since February. And what has Gavin Newsom been up to since February? He's been trying to debate Ron DeSantis. He's been going after President Trump. He's been saying that, like, oh, look, guys, you know, maybe, wink, wink, I should run for president. Yeah. His concern hasn't been about... This is...

The basics. Your very first job as a governor of a state is make sure people don't die. That's like job number one before you start thinking about what kind of legislative priorities I have. It's like the president of the United States, you're the military. You're the chief executive officer.

the very basic thing his governor is supposed to do is make sure people don't die. And he's like, we're all trying to figure out whose job it is. Well, it's just anything to pass the buck. And it's a sad state of affairs. I mean, we could have all predicted it. But with Donald Trump coming back into the White House, the media is just tripping over themselves to talk about

how you know i i read i read i think it was in politico over the weekend you know people are very nervous in california with trump's return you know what does this mean for the california wildfire recovery and it's like what the fuck i it's like your state is run by a democrat the legislature is entirely democratic you've got two democrat united states senators and the question is how will donald trump screw this up fuck you yeah fuck you it's it's like they the

they are so blinded by this like hatred of Trump. The guy right now is not running your state. Right. The disaster that's unfolding, the people who have failed you, it's not Donald Trump. And for the media, it's disgusting for them trying to be like, you know what? Republicans aren't making this any easier.

Are you serious? Like, it's our job to to run and run the state of California for the people there like smug. It really is like it's a microcosm. I know this wildfire is huge, but but what it what it reveals is what the entire record of liberal governance the last four years has revealed.

They spent trillions of dollars with this Inflation Reduction Act that didn't reduce inflation. Remember, they were going to install these charging stations for the Green New Deal, and they didn't do that. Rural broadband access. Remember, they were going to expand that. They appropriated a ton of money for that. They spent billions. Didn't do that. And they spent billions and billions of dollars to accomplish nothing. There's something about executing on the job that they're incapable of doing, which is what this reveals it. Because it's all posturing. Right. It's all posturing.

And, you know, for whatever you think about Ron DeSantis, look at the way he handles hurricanes. Yeah. Look what the last like four governors of Florida have handled hurricanes. Yeah. When you see the aerial photos of Florida, you don't see empty reservoirs. You see linemen in trucks. Yeah. Like lined up for.

a mile in a field getting ready to deploy for when electricity goes down and all of that. All coordinated through state emergency management, which this guy is like, I don't know. I mean, maybe the – you talk to your alderman about the water pressure, I guess. I mean, are you kidding me? It's completely outrageous. It's just such a failure of leadership. We're not done with it because we're going to talk about one of the seedier parts of it. I will add, you also are reading –

Parts of that, like... There are illegal immigrants that have been arrested who are allegedly out there with flamethrowers. Yeah, and then there was...

discussions of looting and this kind of thing. Like, this is the dregs. This is why Donald Trump was elected. And remember, all these people are out, Newsom and everybody else, saying like, oh, we're not going to enforce the law. You know, we've got sanctuary cities throughout our state. Well, I mean, look, heaven forbid something really bad happens to you.

And it compounds the problem when you don't do the simple blocking and tackling of enforcing the law, prosecuting criminals, doing the basics of what people elected you to do. Yeah. It's embarrassing. It's horrific. Thank God. I mean, next Monday can't come soon enough. Seriously. It can't come soon enough.

And speaking of next Monday, hard transition right there. Yeah. But speaking, there's exciting stuff going on. Good stuff. Obviously, you've got, you know, we're going to get a big speech at the inauguration. Mm-hmm.

The president's going to be great. All of our people are going to be out there happy. The city's going to swell with conservatives. It's a great thing in D.C. when you see a whole bunch of conservatives in D.C. because it doesn't happen very often. It starts making you feel safer after the 20 years. It really does. It really does. And the good old little engine that could, the Ruthless Variety Program, has been chosen by the inaugural committee to do some live broadcasting.

Yeah. We're going to do that immediately following the speech along the parade route where we're going to put on a show, fellas. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to oversell the parade route because we're not just talking about any parade here. We're talking about a parade up Pennsylvania Avenue to Freedom Plaza, the U.S. capital in the backdrop. Yeah. I mean, this is primo real estate. Yeah.

Primo real estate. This is the place to be, quite literally. This is not just me trying to sell you on the show because, hey, you're going to want to see it either way, whether I tell you how cool it's going to be or when you see how cool it's going to be. But this is the spot you want to be to see President Trump coming down the street, taking back the White House. This is what we all work for, and we're going to celebrate that. Yeah, and you can see it live on our YouTube station. That's youtube.com backslash roofless.com.

And also at the inaugural page, right? I mean, isn't that right? The official, it's Ruthless Podcast. I'm sorry. It's slash Ruthless Podcast. You know where it is. You wouldn't be watching this if you didn't. But you got to like and subscribe because we're going to have updates along the way. And that includes your ability to join us. This is big news. Yeah. This is huge. You can join us. There's going to be tickets that are available. This is all late breaking, but there are going to be tickets available where you can be with us.

Huge congratulations for being a listener to the show. You're going to get a – you can have a ticket to the best seats in the house. Yes, totally. You've got to go to RuthlessPodcast.com. We're going to have a parade link. Yeah, up there on the navigation. Yeah, that you can click on and you're just going to fill out a form. Listen, we're not event planners in and of ourselves. Certainly nothing the size and scope of an inauguration, so we're going to direct you to the people who do. Yep.

And you fill out your form, and that takes care of it. From what we've been told, that takes care of it. And also, thank you so much to the Inauguration Committee for hooking us up with this and our listeners with these tickets and this prime location. It's so wonderful, and we're very appreciative. Totally. And we're going to have some funny stuff. We're going to have some good guests.

You're not going to want to miss. Remember, like and subscribe. We'll have updates throughout the week on specifics that we're talking about. Little teasers. Yeah. I mean, this is super exciting. I can't even try to put a face on like, oh, yeah, that's cool. Just another day. This is huge. I mean, every network in America is like, what? Yeah, they got it. How do those sons of bitches get that thing? You know what? I want to add something else to this. Yes.

Because you were saying at the top of your homes, which I think is absolutely correct, there's, you know, D.C. is going to swell with conservatives and it's going to be nice to be among so many smiling, happy faces. That's not what I'm excited for. Oh, yeah? I'm excited for the opposite. Oh, you want to see some protests? I'm excited for the pink hats and the crying. Oh, you think?

And I want to do a little bit of walking around. Yeah, I'm fearful that they're not going to be out in the same sort of force that they were eight years ago. Can we get that one lady from 2016 who wore the toboggan and glasses and screamed? Toboggan. As the background to our show week? Can we find out who that was? Yeah. Have her open with the cry of help? She's going to—if she's there, she's going to get a lot of air time. And with that, we're kicking it off. Yeah.

We have Smug in the crowd. He'll be in your white parka. I think we should send Drew or somebody around with a camera and just try to capture a little bit of that footage. Yeah. I mean, listen, there's going to be a lot of good stuff, and we're working through it this week. We'll tease a little bit of it. Stay tuned, like, and subscribe. It's the only way to get it. Coming up in our next segment, fellas, going back to the fire, you won't believe the sort of profiteering that's going on. And just the...

lack of scruples that is going into maybe well-intended things

but just dumb efforts. It fits perfectly alongside the lack of any sort of responsibility for the fires in the first place is how they go about trying to gather resources to help their people, right? They didn't do that. They didn't think about that ahead of time, but now they're in the back end of it. Wait till you hear what they've got going on. It's unbelievable. We're going to get to all of that right after this.

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All right, so you may have seen over the weekend Pod Bros. This is the Pod Save America crew. That amidst like blazing fire, they have the governor, Gavin Newsom, in to just give his two cents about it. Which alone. In and of itself. Is like, are you for real? Yeah.

Why is a governor doing Pod Save America? Get your ass out there and figure out why the water's not coming out of the hydrants. You should be spending every minute of your time figuring this basic thing out. Yeah, it'd be like having that Chargers quarterback Herbert on to talk about what a great game he played. Oh my God.

And look, I have no doubt that these people have sincere interest in the fires, given that their core constituency is like the richest amongst us on the coast of California. I mean, Favreau's worried about his mansion probably in LA. I'm sure. He had an architectural digest. I am sure. We all saw the photo. I am sure that they're all very concerned about all of it.

But like taking the governor away from his responsibility. I mean, listen, maybe they knew more than we did. Maybe they were like, you know, get this guy off. He's not doing any good for anybody. Maybe he was like, if we have the governor record from my mansion, he'll be incentivized not to let it burn. That's their thinking. But like after all of this, they're like, all right, we're going to raise some money for the effort. A noble cause, obviously. People are raising money, trying to give it to charities. And again, I don't.

I don't want to malign their intent. I don't know what it is. It's how they execute this thing that is entirely consistent with what you know about progressive Democrats and the way they handle things. Look at this. Let's get this graphic up, if you wouldn't mind, Spaghet. So this is their thing. It says, if you want to help those in their linking to their own interview with the governor.

And they say, if you want to help, I mean, just think of it. Like, again, I'm not even to the meat. They're like, we're optimizing for clicks and views. Yeah. I love it.

I don't even know the meaning of this. They're like, here we just did like a thing. And like instead of being like totally altruistic about it, we're going to RT our thing. Right. And then we're going to put, if you want to help those impacted by California wildfires, please donate at votesaveamerica.com slash relief. Okay. All right. So the New York Post jumps on this fairly quick.

And they say observers online quickly pointed out that ActBlue takes a portion of all the donations as a processing fee. ActBlue claims to charge a flat rate of 3.95% to each donation to cover the processing costs. The Post has contacted ActBlue for comment.

ActBlue is a controversial platform. Last year, congressional Republicans flagged scores of transactions on ActBlue have been flagged as potentially suspicious or fraudulent. Newsom himself has refrained from linking to ActBlue fundraiser directly. However, he went to the liberal pod Save America podcast last week, which encouraged users to use the Dem fundraiser as well. Now we'll get to Newsom because then there's even more. There's even more. He updated. There's no end. He had his own thing. He had his own thing.

But here's what, like, again, I'm just going to, you fill in the blanks on what you think the intent of all this is. But this is an organization that was set up

Vote Save America seems pretty clear, right? It's a nonprofit status and they do things like registering voters and providing people information. But we've also reported on the Variety program that Democrats are way ahead of Republicans in all of these C3 and C4 organizations where they collect a whole bunch of data on folks and they thereby spread the entire breadth of this small dollar giving universe that all resides in ActBlue.

And so there's just more available small dollar donors for Democrats than there are for Republicans. One of the reasons for that, you're super unscrupulous. And I'm not saying that this was the intent. I don't know what the intent was. I'm just saying what they did by putting all of this on Act Blue, think for a minute. So the Republican corollary to all of this is win red. Yeah.

Think for a second if you had a hurricane bearing down on Florida, just decimated an entire community. And rather than directing somebody to the Red Cross...

or directly to local organizations on the ground that are doing all that, which they have said that's what they intend to do with the money that goes into their thing. But rather than do that, like all of a sudden Ron DeSantis was like, well, if you go to my campaign website,

And you type in all your information, including your email address, your phone number, your address and everything else. I'll make sure a hundred percent of the money goes there. Now, even if it does, even if a hundred percent of the money does go there, there's a tangible asset that most political digital marketing firms pay like a buck or a buck 20 in order to get each name on their list. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, I guess like an acquisition. Right. Right. Right. I mean, it's like lead generation. Yeah. You know, I mean, so I,

I agree. It's like, look, I don't know what their ultimate intent with all of this is. And I'm sure all the money will go to these charities and the processing fee. Yeah. I mean, every donation processor charges a processing fee because that's what it costs to work with the credit card companies. Like,

Yeah, it's less about the 3.95% thing as it is about the housing. It's like it's just thirsty. As the kids might say, it's kind of thirsty. It's thirsty to surf off of a tragedy and use it to build a list that you control. It's like if you really wanted to help, just send a link to the Red Cross. Send a link to the organizations that you want to support. You don't have to create this Rube Goldberg experiment on Act Blue. Well, there's only two –

Right. Yeah. It can either be that you are unintentionally digesting all of the information that good Samaritans provide you that can later be used for Democrat partisan purposes. Mm hmm.

Or you're doing it intentionally. So that's the thing. So on Newsom's thing, when you typed in your info, people posted the screenshots of it. At the bottom in a tiny little font, there was an automatically checked box that said, I want to opt in for emails from Gavin Newsom's campaign. There it is. Like Newsom's is even worse than the Pabro's.

But like the thing is, is that this is a very easy decision. You want money to get from A to B. You want to use your platform to help generate activity for a good cause. Why are you a middleman? Yeah. Why are you adding more friction to that process? Why would you need to do it? Right. It's either you want credit for driving it because it goes through your operation and you can ultimately cut the check. You pod save bros can cut the check or worse.

Right. And you have nefarious purposes that you want the actual information that you can help. They could have just set up a GoFundMe, you know, if you really if you wanted that, if you want. Which is what Trump did for the people in North Carolina. If like you want to set a goal of like what your audience can donate, you know, like set up a GoFundMe. Can you imagine after North Carolina and the devastation that's still happening, by the way? It's still it's still horrible. It's people getting thrown out of their temporary housing.

Can you imagine that after that, instead of a GoFundMe that Trump was like, you can just go to TrumpVance.com, send me the money, I'll take care of it. Can you imagine the outrage? That's the insanity of this. But that's essentially what these guys have done, Newsom in particular. Now, I don't know. Like the Posse bros, I don't know. Maybe they're just like...

so insular that they think that the only thing the only processor the bad guys well maybe this is a horrible thing to do there's no excuse I mean listen I'm trying he goes to his architectural digest mansion and he's like I was the hero today I sent them to act blue get the hell out of here man I have an opinion on them they're terrible people to do this

The ActBlue on the Newsom thing, you just said this, but I want to reiterate it because this is from MSN.com. The ActBlue donation box says the money is being raised by Campaign for Democracy Newsom's super PAC. His super PAC. His super PAC. So it's direct. You don't even need a list share agreement. I know we're getting kind of technical on this. The bottom line is you're ingesting a bunch of good Samaritans' money.

data. Yeah. And it says they're automatically signing up for text messages from his super PAC if they provide their phone numbers. Oh my God. They set up a vanity URL, CaliforniaFireFax.com. You know? Like he's standing out there with Anderson Cooper being like,

your aldermens to blame for this. Yeah. You know, and then he sets up a website. Meanwhile, this is what his team is doing. Buying a vanity URL on GoDaddy so that, you know, they can do lead generation for his campaign. I mean, like, it's real. That is a real thing. We're not exaggerating that. The Newsome part is not an exaggeration. Like you can, you can take whatever you want out of the pod bros. And maybe that's the, maybe democratic partisan politics is the only processing server they've ever known. Yeah.

Yeah, it's possible. Right. It's possible that that's the only thing that's ever concerned them with the giving and exchanging commerce or money. It's possible. But the governor of the state surely has access to more than just that. Yeah. And he what he has decided to do was to give it to his super PAC that will write the check. And I'd like to follow up and see if that's actually going to happen. And then they get all their data.

That's just unbelievable. It's outrageous. It's unbelievable. It's just incredible. So anyway, if you're going to listen to the Ruthless Variety program, let me just give you a link that doesn't link to WinRed. It doesn't link to Smug's bank account or Duncan's bank account or my bank account or the Ruthless Variety program, which would probably end up in Lee's bank account. Yeah.

It doesn't end up anywhere. What it is, is www.redcross.org slash donate. Wow. That is something that I don't know. I think you guys have all heard of. What a novel idea. Turns out the tragedy, they've been around the block once or twice before. And they use that to help people.

And you don't have to go through us and give us your email address and your data or anything else to get it. It's unbelievable. These people, they're horrible people. They have no heart. It's heartless monsters is what they are. God. It's just so it brings us to our question. Remember, you got to like and subscribe and then answer this one because because it's a good question. And there's there's a lot that goes into it. The question is, has Gavin Newsom destroyed his 2028 chances?

By this. Because make no bones about it, from mid-summer on in, he had made an explicit decision that he wasn't going to try to push—

Biden out. Remember, he was like, no, I've talked to Biden. Biden's great. So he wasn't trying to like line up to be first in line and try to edge Kamala out. And then he immediately was the top surrogate for his entire motivation politically. And everything he did all the rest of the election was to try to become the 2028 nominee. That's what he was doing. Yeah.

Has this destroyed that? And I could argue both ways. Right. Because like ground truth, execution, doing the job that matters. You know, I mean, famously, like Joe Biden screwing up the withdrawal from Afghanistan is what never recovered, broke the seal on the polling. And he never recovered from that.

But Gavin Newsom is also slippery as an eel. He is. Slippery as an eel. And a total Rasputin from a political standpoint. Like, he just never dies. He just keeps coming back one way or another. I mean, the shit that he has been involved in and done since the beginning of his career. No one would believe it. Nobody would believe it. Nobody would believe it. I just don't think anybody, like, I don't think our country is going to elect a Democrat who looks like a used car salesman and slicks his hair back like that. Yeah, you've been a big slick hair guy. I just think the visual is off.

Yeah, it's a tough deal. I think it's off. I think you're probably right. He looks like Gordon Gekko. So maybe this had nothing to do with it. You're like, no, he was out with his hairstyle. I think so. I think he's going to be the nominee. I think he could be. I think he's going to increase his chances off this. I don't want to influence the comments. Everyone leave your comments of what's going to happen.

I think this is going to increase his chances. I'm calling it now. Are you serious? He's going to increase his chances? Here's what's going to happen. Like, I know what I like. No, no, no, no, no, no. I actually, I'm with this take. Here's what's going to happen is President Trump's going to come into office and he's going to be like,

If you want federal help, Gavin, I want you to get a bill passed that says you're going to take care of the fires and you will make sure the damn reservoirs are filled. And Gavin Newsom is going to get out and he'll have a press conference and say, I will never work with President Trump. Negative polarization. I can see that happening. We live in such a dangerous time. I mean, think of the heroes they made out of losers during Donald Trump's first term. It's a good thing.

It's true. You know? Just an absolute. Does Preet Bharara still have an MSNBC contract because he refused to resign? I mean, think about that. Like a very pro forma thing. A U.S. attorney, like you step down after the other party takes over your political appointment. And he's like, no. You're going to force me out. I won't. Contract on television. Contract on television.

Only in politics. No, it's true. And I hate to say it, but there is an element of truth to that. We'll see how it plays out. This one, though, it's a big one. I mean, you can't just destroy. First of all, it's like the tax base of their entire state outside of Silicon Valley. Biden did it to the country and it took him showing up to a debate and his brain falling out on the podium to stop.

Democrats, man. It's just a wild, like partisanship is a hell of a drug. Unbelievable. Anyway, when we get back to you, we're going to read your comments from last Tuesday or last Thursday where you had a very interesting question on which territory Trump is most likely to add to the map. A lot of talk about all of that. Excited to hear what you have right after this.

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We'll do this together, building a brighter future for us, powered by America's oil and natural gas resources. You can learn more about all of this at API.org. Okay, so last week we asked you a very important question, which territory is Trump most likely to get? Are we talking about Greenland? Are we talking about Canada? Are we talking about Panama? Feels like everything is sort of...

expanded beyond that real manifest destiny going on in the minds of most americans now that we have donald trump who's more interested in thinking outside the box a little bit yeah than your typical sort of uh deep state foreign policy well and with your typical ruthless variety program we usually go to the voice first for the first comment but ashbrook's not here so i'm going to try to do your level best my level best yeah a little bit of a impression here um

Comment one comes from Jeffrey Atkinson. Good tenor. I think a deal for Greenland is the most likely. Only 56,000 people live there, and they aren't big fans of the way Denmark has treated them.

They want to mine and exploit the resources, but the Danes won't let them. This is a great point. It is. It's a great point. We saw Don Jr. and crew go over there and apparently get a great welcome. They were welcomed. Yeah. Look, I think Greenland – everybody laughed about it the first four years when it was sort of floated.

But from a national security strategic point of view, it makes sense. From an economic standpoint, like, Lord knows what could happen to Greenland if it was actually – I mean, Denmark is not exactly Wall Street. Let's just put it that way. Also, like, in the year of our Lord, 2025, the idea that Denmark has a say over what happens in Greenland – What are they going to do about it?

It feels like a vestigial feature of colonialism. You know? Like, what the fuck? And you know what? The whole Western Hemisphere is ours. Like, let's kick the Brits out of the Virgin Islands. Let's get rid of all these Euros over in our hemisphere. What the fuck? Monroe Doctrine is back. I think, so this point is so good because it's only 56,000 people.

Right? Yeah. And they've got a lot of natural resources. Yeah. Because we've tried the play of going for the natural resources, but you get millions of people and you get problems. $56,000 is manageable. $56,000 is manageable for the world. How would you like to be rich? $56,000. That's the thing. It's a great deal. Yeah. They saw Don Jr. They're like, these guys know what they're doing. Thank you. Bring them on over. Look at the size of that plane. Yeah. Yeah, no, totally. All right, Smug, what else we got?

Comment two is from Nancy, and Nancy writes, Annexing Greenland would be awesome for the strategic location and natural resources it would provide. I also suspect its people would be happy to be associated with the U.S., but getting the Panama Canal back under our control is absolutely essential for our national security. If we ever need to get our ships from the East Coast to the Pacific because of a conflict with China, we are sunk without the canal. So it must be priority one. Nancy from Orange County, California. I think that, look, that's...

It's a typically very smart take from our audience. I mean, this is something that if you talk to people who've done a lot of national security work, we'll tell you it's bothered them for a while now. Like the idea that the Panama Canal built by us

Paid for. Monitored by us. Paid for by us. Essentially defended by us. All these things has all of a sudden fallen into the contractual hands of the Chinese when we're like, I don't know, a couple of clicks north is crazy. Insanity. It's complete insanity. And the idea that people can do all of that without, I don't know, at least lobbing in a phone call.

He's nuts. I mean, maybe they did. They could have called Biden. I mean, who knows? If it was any time. Who's answering that phone? If anyone. If it's after 10 or 2. Well, he thought the president of Egypt was the president of Mexico, if you recall. I do. I do. So they stopped trying to call. They stopped trying to call. I mean, disastrous. That's great. It's a great comment. And I actually think, by the way, before I go to the last comment,

it is the most likely to get done. Some kind of a thing there. Like, I don't know if it means taking it back over. I don't know if it's an understanding, but the idea that we go for four years under President Trump when he's talked about it this much without some kind of understanding by the Panamanians is next to zero. They're going to have to figure it out. But also, if it gets done, I offer President Trump, I'd be the viceroy of Greenland. You'd be very good at that. I'd keep him in line and I would exploit the shit out of the resources. We'd do a great job.

That may not be the lead message in the stump. I want a big painting of me that says Viceroy of Greenland. You just crushed the population and explained the resources. You think you could finally get your bear rug? I'd get a bear rug. They've got to have bears over there. Yeah, for sure. They'd gift you a bear rug upon your return.

No question about it. All right. Comment three comes from David Cole. Another ignored possibility for annexation is Cuba. Yes, I'm so glad. This is the one that we haven't mentioned. Yep. I'm so excited for this. Over the last year, I've been wondering if it would make it to Inauguration Day. Cuba's economy is near collapse, and for all intents and purposes, their electrical grid has already collapsed.

These are the two main ingredients for a rebellion. The Cuban demographic has been very supportive of Trump and could be the only annexation option that doesn't give the Democrats control of Congress. Uh,

I guess that's possible. I mean, look, when we're talking about Cuban-Americans, you're talking about people who left Cuba for a reason. For a reason. Yeah, that's the thing. They're based. People that stay there, you might have more of a mixed ideology. Miami Cubans are like as MAGA as it gets. No, I mean, they're the most conservative population on Earth. No question about it. And they're old school conservative. Yeah, but I've got a solution to this. We'll give Cuba back to the Italians. What? You know? We'll make it like 1950s Cuba. It could be run by the mob.

Oh, you mean the American Italians? The American Italians. Okay. Not those Euros. Our Italians. Our Italians. What if we were to send a group of Italians to the beach and maybe like some bay over there and they can try to capture the country? This could work. Yeah. Maybe like a bay of pigs. Oh, yeah.

God, I knew you were headed that direction. That could work. You just tell these Italians there's sausage and mozzarella. All I'm saying is whatever it takes to get me onto a beach smoking a Cohiba, I'm for. Well, I mean, there should be just a line at casinos. The weather's terrific. It looks beautiful. Yes. You know, and they're all driving around like 1950s cars. Maybe restore a couple of those, put some new roadsters on the streets.

I think there's a lot we could do with Cuba. Yeah. It sounds like a wonderful idea. David, absolutely terrific. Absolutely terrific stuff. All right. So with all that, we're going to talk about our sponsor here, Lumen. Yeah. Lumen's the first, world's first.

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Okay, we got a little bit of a lightning round, fellas. It falls into the variety category. This is just incredible news. Are you tired of the winning? For a long time, we've wondered how it is that the Washington Post could struggle on such hard times, and yet one thing remained. It was always Jennifer Rubin.

The champion. Our queen. She was always there, thick and thin. Lose $70 million, no problem. Lay off half your workforce, Jen's still there. Yeah, she's like a cockroach. She survived the apocalypse. Yeah, and it's like her desk was far enough into the corner where they'd hit the quota before they got to her end of the room or something. I could never figure out how it is that she just kept on keeping on. Well, it all ends today, fellas. Gentlemen, Olympus has fallen. It all ends today. What?

According to CNN, Jen Rubin resigns from WAPO. Jen Rubin exits the Washington Post and joins Norm Eisen to launch a new outlet countering the authoritarian threat. Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long list of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution. Rubin is partnering with the former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen in launching something new, a startup publication called The Contrarian.

Okay. Before we go anywhere. Called the contrarian? A couple of things. First off, no question WAPO's troubled times, right? It feels like Wall Street Journal went and mined their talent. Yeah. On that note, Sean Spicer sent this tweet out. Stat of the day. In January of 2021, Washington Post had around 22.5 million daily active users.

But by the middle of 2024, its daily users hovered around 2.5 million. That is wild. That's like losing 90% of your audience.

That is insanity. It's so it's so bad. But again, she's so bad. Yeah. They they started something called the contrarian. Contrary to what? I don't know. Yeah, right. It's like she has a master's degree in sniffing her own farts. I mean, this woman has carried the water for every dumb liberal idea from the Democratic establishment her entire career. She's like browbeating other progressives who are like, I think Joe Biden's too old.

You know what I mean? Like, what is the contrarian take she's ever had? I mean, we played a game at the beginning of the Biden administration called Claim to Fame. Yeah. And part of the point of the game was there was then Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who would say something publicly that is literally word for word and identical to what she would then report, like,

day later. And they were all, they all became so intermingled and mixed that you couldn't tell the difference between the two. And it was, it became very difficult. So to your point, like she was the most establishment Democrat take, like the most warmed over Democrat.

unthoughtful, like disgusting mess for the entirety. As the conservative writer at the Washington Post. As the conservative. And now she's like, nope, contrarian. And they're going to talk apparently about a bunch of different things. What troubles me only is whether or not this impacts King of the Hill. We've had a number of departures, people like Taylor Lorenz, people who've played major roles in,

in our Ultimate March Hack Madness tournament. I hate to see people like that go. Yeah. Does she qualify? Is that what you're asking? Well, I want her to continue to be able to play the games. The question is, but you've got to be on X to do it. Yeah. And if she's quitting the post, I don't know. My thinking is she's not going anywhere.

Like, the problem with her is the worms. The worms in her brain will not leave her. They will never allow her to have a moment of peace.

She can't put her phone down either. Like she can launch the contrarian, but the takes are still going to fly. Yeah, I agree. I think she's actually going to double down because when you're going to launch a new publication like this. Well, she wants the clicks. She wants the clicks. She's going to be as aggressive as she possibly can. She's not going to go. She could push that a little further. Maybe it gets better. Yeah. She's not going to go gently into that sweet night. She's been such a big part. She's going to rage. She's been such a big part of the program. Can I add one other thing here? Because I think this is the most delicious component for Departure. Yeah.

It's one thing to leave the post and launch... I assume this is going to be some fucking sub stack. We don't have 10 million other sub stacks. But whatever. Good on you. But like...

When Bezos got all this blame for WAPO not endorsing Kamala Harris. Oh, yeah. There were a lot of people who wanted to resign from the newsroom and there were, you know, people making all these public pronouncements, all these sorts of things. And she was mum. She was completely quiet. Yeah. Oh, yeah. When she could have left...

in a principled term. And two weeks earlier, when the LA Times did the exact same thing, she was telling him, she was like, do it, do it, jump out the window. And then it came her turn, and she was like, not on my watch. Not on my watch. You know, I gotta get, mama's gotta get paid somehow. I'm keeping my head down. Yeah, these cats don't feed themselves. Right, so...

So now, you know, now months later to resign, she hasn't done it for principle. She was waiting around to see if Kamala would win. Yeah. You know? Yeah, no, that's exactly right. You are so right, dude. My God. But then you can tell the framing and reason why they went to CNN on all of this when they –

first of all, insert the word troubled Washington Post, as if it's like, well, it's her choice here because of how terribly the Washington Post is doing. Like, never mind the fact that everybody left, left because someone hired them. She's not doing that. They're like, she is on a lifeboat. She didn't drive it into the iceberg. And then the startup's tagline talk about, this is just so perfect. It's so perfect. It's so perfect.

The startup's tagline is not owned by anybody. Nice. It's a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin's view, have, quote, bent the knee to President-elect Donald Trump. I don't know. I feel like we've owned her. Yeah. Seriously, that's the thing. Pretty frequently. I mean, just like a, yeah. It's a blue light special now, though. You can probably go to that sub stack and have your mind completely melted.

Can you imagine? I can't. We got to start. We got to start. And I hate to do this to you, Spaghetti. I really hate to do. I mean, look, you came out with a nice holiday full of marinara and mozzarella. And the next thing you know, I'm asking you to do something that's truly inhumane. And what I'm asking you to do is you got to check out at least the first couple of these things. Yeah, subscribe. You have to do it because it's...

Well, our audience deserves it, frankly. They deserve it. You got to see. But before we leave, Jen Rubin, I think what we have to do is just play like it's a greatest hits. This is one of our favorites. It's been for a long time. Yeah. Kind of a calling card, like a signing off in a lot of ways from her old career. And also, I want to play this for our younger audience who didn't see it, who probably hasn't seen this. This will be very familiar to our older audience who remembers Bill O'Reilly in his heyday. So let's go to that clip.

Really long list of them. Essentially, you've kept up what the Trump campaign has been saying. You've made excuses for the lock her up comment. You've pleaded with Ted Cruz that he's really an honest man. When did I make excuses for lock her up? What did I exactly say? Oh, let's see. That would have been on... Uh-oh, she's got a page. Jen Rubin brought printouts. Check the dossier. It would have been on...

Well, it's your live TV, Jen. Dead air. This is amazing. She's staring down at paper.

No, I want that one. Which one in particular? April or August. Let's see. In August, let's see. We had comments that you were going to, if somebody is being really dishonest, referring to the press corps, you would strip them of their credentials as well. Doesn't sound like an independent thing. That doesn't have anything to do with lock them up. You are ill-prepared. I know I'm not.

I have just given you a minute where you've hemmed and hawed. You said I justified a comment, lock her up. You can't point to it. And then you pivot to something else. You're ill-prepared for this. No, it's not actually, Bill. This is the point I want to make. Your column and blog are fraud.

Dude, do you know how much you have to suck at your job to go on somebody else's live program prepared with research and not be able to deliver it? Calling them out. What did she think when she said that he was justifying comments that he wouldn't be like,

Yeah. Right. What do you mean by that? O'Reilly was nothing but gracious. I mean, to allow a minute of straight dead air on live television so you can fiddle through papers and him and Haw. Unbelievable. I would have cut her feed. Oh, it's just so good. But anyway, let's just hope.

that that's not the end. Yeah. But there's more. I wish her the greatest of success. Yeah. Mass distribution. Yeah. I really hope that we have Jen to kick around for a little while. That's a good reference. Oh, my gosh. All right. So in a little bit more serious stuff, you've also noticed there's a bunch of –

Obviously, very, very serious consideration here for what will be the renewal of Trump's tax cuts. There's no question amongst all of the things that went into this campaign, the economy and what his record was in the first four years of what he did for the American people by putting sound tax policy in place and growing this economy had a huge impact.

Because, you know, obviously we saw the opposite under Biden. Right. And this was a guy who just pinched us with regulations, grew inflation, made everything unaffordable. And so there was like an easy four-year to four-year comparison that most Americans made. The crux of that agenda from the Trump administration was the tax cuts. Yep. Yeah. They are expiring. For those of you who didn't know that, all of these are expiring at the end of 2025. Yep.

Without a renewal of these taxes, and I expect we're going to see some new pieces to it. You heard Trump talk about no tax on tips and things like that. Like there's going to be new pieces to it. He never does the same thing twice. It's got to be big, bold, beautiful, everything else. And so-

the core of it, if it just expired, it'd be the largest tax increase in American history. And unlike what Democrats tell you about it was a tax cut for the rich, it turns out it wasn't. Yeah. It turns out. Source, the last Trump administration when Americans did great. Yeah. Turns out it was a massive tax cut for middle America that, uh,

left, they never understand economics. They never understand it. They try to slap a bumper sticker and then they get the parroting media that's out and like, well, they say, they say, they say. And then it just becomes a part of the vernacular. Well, that's not the case. And there's a bunch of folks that are really putting their shoulder to the wheel to try to get that done. Amongst them, a really important friend of ours in AFP. And they're launching a $20 million project

wide-ranging campaign to urge the extension of Trump's Signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

That's what it was called, TCJA. This is according to FoxNews.com. The campaign, which includes an ad blitz starting this very week in all 50 states, was shared with Fox News on Monday. AFP says Congress is, quote, facing a countdown to crisis that threatens the family budgets of virtually every American. So they're right about this. And the thing is, is that we've talked about with them, and they've been on this, graciously been on this conversation,

stage with us a number of different times what they do for elections is

They have an entirely separate component that never stops. And they use the same grassroots power to help an agenda. In this case, a key component of the Trump presidency. And to me, this statistic right here is one that I know they're going to make a centerpiece. And I want every American to know this. The group said that millions of Americans will pay an extra $1,500 or more next year in taxes if the cuts are not extended. Right.

Yeah, that's a big number. And the campaign is also going to include a thousand meetings at congressional offices in district events with their activists, roundtables with job creators and shared testimonials from real American families. What I love about this, and we say this all the time, but like election day is great and winning is great.

Great. But at the end of the day, politics goes to those who show up. And you can't just show up on Election Day and think your job is done. All of this stuff is going to have to get done over a period of months. And it's going to require hard work. And that's just not voting. It's calling your congressman's writing letters. It's going to their district office. It's all those other things. And it's like it's not the sexiest work that gets all the headlines most of the time.

But when you have such an ambitious agenda like President Trump does, like you're going to need a lot of work like this to get it to the finish line. Yeah, I'm telling you, it's going to be harder than it sounds. Everybody we talked about this a little couple of weeks ago and everybody's like, well, yeah, this is going to be done now that we have House and Republican Senate Republican in the White House.

It is tough to get these wide-ranging things done. It's going to take everyone. So AFP is certainly doing their part. I know that we're going to be hearing more from them on this show about specifically what they're doing, maybe how you can get involved in everything else. So important news on that front. And taxes, we're going to follow taxes with some granularity all the way through. I think ultimately how this administration is judged in year one, it may well carry through all four years.

relies on the executive orders that they do on the border and the administration action that they take on the border day one, which is a fait accompli with Stephen Miller and that crew. Like they've been thinking about this for four long years. They're going to take care of it. But what you need to do congressionally

when it comes to taxes, shapes not only the economy, but how people feel about their lives, their ability to spend, what the markets look like. And that is the biggest driver of public opinion in the United States. Yeah. And like you and I have said before on the show, this policy is so critical in getting it done as soon as possible because...

Small business owners make these decisions now, and having uncertainty doesn't help. I have a friend personally. It's a true mom and pop, tiny little shop, and they're already nervous what happens if the taxes go up because already margins are thin, people are spending less. It's needed. We've got to get it done fast. No question about it. We're going to follow all that. Good news, fellas, and good news for the audience who've come to know and love Will King.

Will Cain, according to Variety.com, is taking over Fox News Channel's 4 p.m. slot. That's awesome. It is awesome. Great guy. Just such a good dude. He's a popular co-host of the weekend edition of Fox and Friends. He'll take over the 4 p.m. That was the Cavuto slot with him retiring. And he's going to be doing it like he does his show, The Will Cain Show, which he's been generous enough to have us on countless numbers of times. And every time I'm on, I'm like...

We're just chilling at the bar with this dude. Are they recording or are we just talking shop? Yeah, and his interests are pretty similar to our interests. It's been a great relationship. I've really...

genuinely been enthusiastic to get to know him over the last year. Couldn't happen to a better guy. Yeah. And that's the thing is, yes, he's terrific at what he does professionally, but as a person, like seeing how much he's had his friend, Pete Hegsatz back, let's get him confirmed. But seeing Will Kane going out there, putting work, defending his friends, seeing that loyalty, he's just a good dude. You love seeing good people succeed. I totally agree. I totally agree. And you know, the whole podcast regime, I mean,

and we're now getting a podcast. A rising tide lifts all boats. It certainly does. It certainly does. As a footnote to all this, our boy Charlie Hertz taking over his seat at the Fox & Friends weekends. Oh, man. The winning keeps going. For your OG Ruthless listeners, Charlie's Playground is one of the best shows that we ever did. Yeah. Go back into the archive and fire that one up. That one was good. It was recording in the old studio setup. He was one of the most fun people. We cracked up the entire episode. Yeah.

I've known Charlie for 20 years, and let's just say he's more responsible these days, probably more fit for the corporate culture than he was at one point in his life. But either way, fantastic to have him there. Fellas, there is probably nothing that's going to generate more discussion than this next story of variety. Airlines, this is according to the New York Post, want airports to put a lid on drinking in the terminal.

A European airline begs airports to enforce a two-drink limit. Of course it's the Euros. According to the New York Post, amid lawsuit against disruptive behavior. Okay, where do we start with this? First off, for those of you who travel quite a bit like we do, the only thing that you've got going on in delays, misplaced baggage, the general uncomfortability of domestic flights...

Misplaced baggage, very key. Which airline? That was American, right? I'll get back to them later. Yeah, well, listen. They're in the story. They did good by me. They did good by me. But I will say the idea that airlines are the ones that are pushing people to – if you're stuck in an airport for six hours and some bartender is like, let me see your ticket. You've already had two drinks.

You want to see an insurrection. Yeah. These airports are going to get flipped upside down overnight. Yeah. You know, I think when I travel, one of the greatest pleasures is saddling up to like a Chili's bar. Yeah. And it's like a community. Yes. Everybody's in the same situation, experiencing the same delay. The ball game's on. You're having a couple of pops. Why do you think that's such a great environment? Yeah.

It's because the beers are flowing. You want everybody here pissed off, staring at their phones and sober. What is wrong with you? The thing is the reason that they exist, taking it one step above that. Why do they have that there?

It's because the airline makes you go through security, treats you like an animal. You got to show up two hours early for a flight that's going to leave two hours late. God knows if your luggage is going to be there. They don't do pre-flight drinks anymore, folks. I saw an article that said American Airlines got rid of chocolate chip cookies as a cost-cutting measure.

Well, they give you instead, they replaced it with nothing, air, just a choke, right? And so here, further in the article, it says, in 2022, American Airlines flight attendants proposed cutting people off after two drinks. People have to drink in the airport, not because they're having fun. It's...

It's to cope. They have to pregame. Because travel in this country has turned into a nightmare because of these companies. They treat people like cattle. Everyone gets treated like garbage. First class is what coach was 10 years ago, right? The reason now that you're paying the way that you travel is I just want to get away from other people because airlines are pretty much just like a PVP area.

Every week you see a video of people brawling in the airlines. You hear about people, oh, this lady snuck on a flight. She was in the cargo hold. This person's dog got taken to Brazil. They treat everyone like garbage. They want more money. Prices keep going up. Flights keep getting delayed. And now they want to cut your drink off, the only thing you have to cope with?

These people should be waterboarded. They're criminals. And there's no personal responsibility whatsoever. They're talking about unruly passengers. Yeah. We'll throw their asses out, tell them they can't fly anymore. That seems like a pretty good idea. That's the thing. Everybody knows who's on that airplane. There's a manifest. Everybody has to show their ID. They have to go through security. Why is it my problem?

blaming the group and why are we punishing the group? We created the no fly list for a reason. You're telling me if somebody acts up, you can't put them on that thing. Why do I have to get punished? I know how to handle my beer. I mean, the idea of flying sober is like the idea of fishing sober. That is crazy. It's crazy. And I won't stand for it. The one thing that I really love about airports

airports it's a judgment-free zone it doesn't matter when you sidle up to that bar like as long as that gate's open which by the way they close that gateway too early and a lot of airports but as long as that gate's open you're sitting at the bar whatever you order nobody side eyes you nobody does because they know you've been in for it you've spent the last several hours the only reason you're sitting there in the first place is because you're not where you want to be i was at dfw

I had an early morning flight. It was like 9 a.m. maybe or 8 a.m. And the bar was open. So I sat down and she was like, we're not allowed to serve hard liquor before like noon or something. And then I was like, this is an outrage. She was like, unless you order some food, we have toast for 50 cents. Nice.

See, they get it. See? That's a smart. That's the thing. They get it. Yeah. They get it. Their jobs depend on people like us. You're limited to two. What does that do to the hospitality industry? You have to rent the spot in the airport for the first place. Think of the cascading problems that these people are. Of course, it originates in Europe.

Yeah. If I have 14 bourbons on a plane, I'm not thinking about how you're trying to lose my luggage and the flight was delayed three hours and you treat everyone like garbage. No. I'm just like in a stupor. You want me in a stupor. I'm watching your disastrous movie selection with great anticipation. Yeah. Let's look at this two-inch screen that someone spit on in a toddler punch. Great flight.

Oh, this is terrific stuff. Great content. Anyway, I mean, listen, if this becomes a reality anywhere near this country, you may see the first WinRed call to action. Yeah, yeah. It'll be the WinRed landing page.

That we could get involved in. Anyway, remember our question of the day is Newsom destroyed his 2028 chances. You've heard a little bit of our take. I suspect you've got great stuff. And for those of you in California, you've seen the evolution of this dude. Can't wait to read what you've got coming. Remember, you've got to subscribe to our YouTube channel to do it. It's like and subscribe. Very easy. Put it all down there.

while you're there, maybe check for some updates on what we're doing for this inauguration. We're going to send out a lot of information. You're going to see all that. And if you can join us,

please do. I promise you it's going to be well worth it. We'll probably have Smug in a white... It's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is what we all worked for. Yeah. Yeah, this is it. God, I'm just so excited. Anyway, fellas, I think with that, we've done it. I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, like Holmes said, go to our website right now. Get a ticket. Show up in person. And if you can't...

Tune in for the live feed. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you on Thursday. Stay ruthless. Hi, I'm Chris Gethard, and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone. I tweet out a phone number. Thousands of people try to call. You talk to one of them. They stay anonymous. I can't hang up. That's all the rules. I never know what's going to happen. We get serious ones. I've talked with meth dealers on their way to prison. I've talked to people who survived mass shootings.

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