These Are the Most American Moments Ever: July 4th with Ruthless
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collectively we helped cultivate for people that we thought were some of the things that just best illustrated America at its finest moments and like some of the greats. Now we're not going to go back and like play, you know, old films of the Revolutionary War or anything like that. Yeah, this isn't Ken Burns. This isn't Ken Burns. We're going to be much more zoomeristic about this, but I think you're going to agree with us on all of these.

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Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. Keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. It's time for our main...

It's Independence Day. Happy 4th of July to all of you. I'm Josh Holmes, along with Michael Dutkin and John Ashbrook. That's a nice little patriotic deal. Oh, yeah. Look at that. You love to hear it. What the heck of a way to start? It's one of our favorites. It gets you in the mood. You know, everybody's got their favorite holiday. I think 4th of July is as good as it gets, fellas. And no better way to start it than with John Philip Sousa. Ha ha ha!

But, you know, I mean, look, you grow up like we did in the Midwest. You get cold winters, prolonged chilly spring. You get into the thrust of summer. Everybody's ready to celebrate, get out on lakes and shoot off some fire. Yeah. I mean, it's like as good as it gets as a kid. Some of my best memories are 4th of July memories. Yeah, it's true. I remember one 4th of July, we went down to southern Indiana, California.

like rented a cottage like there on the river. And I spent the whole 4th of July dragging a canoe from the cottage down to the river and going across the Ohio River into, I guess, Kentucky. Yeah.

The heavy current. Exploring the wood like I was Lewis and Clark by myself. That's a heavy decision for a parent to send a young Duncan. How old were you? 11. 11, okay. And then I found a giant snapping turtle, put it on the canoe, and rode it back to the... Look what I found!

They're like, kid, get away from that map. And then we ate hamburgers and we watched fireworks. Yeah. And everybody has too much to drink, which is absolutely terrific. I mean, I recall uncles in the past where you set up the fireworks, whatever, and remember you have the tube.

It's like precariously wedged between two non-permanent objects. No, like this thing could tip over in your direction at any moment. And always did. Yeah, then it's like a Roman candle coming at your face. Exactly. And if it was loaded a couple of times, like you just have bottle rockets just spraying the crowd. It led a lot of people to think dimly on fireworks, but I don't.

No. Until I had a dog and that was problematic. And kids, you know, it is what it is. But I'm back. I'm now in a spot where I just fully enjoy all of 4th of July. Burgers.

ribs get the grill going get the music going like it's time we got a hell of a show for you we're gonna give you some entertainment maybe hopefully a little inspiration on what you ought to think about and what you ought to do here on the fourth of july i know we all think about uh you know one of the most patriotic sort of just straight up america stuff right and

Because it feels like the last couple of weeks has just given us a real boost on like America's back, baby. We're back. Yeah. It just feels... Leader of the free world, just like, don't fuck with us. We're the United States. Right from the origins. We told the redcoats to beat it. You know? Like, that's who we are. And it feels like that's where we're back. Well, also, it's just, I think, important, especially for our younger viewers, to like...

understand and honor that heritage. Totally. You know, like, like it didn't start yesterday. Yeah, no, it didn't. Americans have been doing this since, you know, we told the British to fuck off. And, you know, precious few of them are hearing this in school. Right. So it's up to us.

to carry on that tradition and share the news for everybody around our country. Yeah, make sure your kids are listening. And you may have some slight concerns about language from time to time, but they've got to do some growing up somehow. And you might as well learn from the Ruthless Variety program the right vernacular and way to place it because it's common. It's better to learn from the best. That's right. That's exactly. Anyway, there it is. Listen, we're going to do some clips to start this thing out.

That in my view and in all of our view collectively, we helped cultivate for people that we thought were some of the things that just best illustrated America at its finest moments and like some of the greats. Now, we're not going to go back and like play old films of the Revolutionary War or anything like that. Yeah, this isn't Ken Burns. This isn't Ken Burns. We're going to be much more zoomeristic about this.

But I think you're going to agree with us on all of these. And then, you know, later on we'll invite you to add your submissions to it. But I think we ought to just start and just rotate through these things. Oh, great. I love that. Maybe we start with Smashdown on the end. With clip number 10. Let's do it. This is just an incredible memory from the very early 90s. It is Apache helicopters flying over the Hooters 500 race. Spaghetts. Oh, man.

Yes. I mean, if you're just listening, these are Apache helicopters flying over NASCARs, rolling down the track at the exact same time. There is nothing more American than this. And you got the Gulf War as the backdrop of this. Yeah. You know, the first major conflict that America had entered into basically since Vietnam.

A lot of patriotism going, and I can't imagine better than a NASCAR and a Blackhawk over top of it doing the full hot lap. Yeah, and if you're somebody who just listens to this show on audio, do yourself a favor. Go to the YouTube page and watch that video because nothing will get you pumped up for today quite like that. And it's what I love most about racing as a sport in and of itself is every race is about...

the pageantry of the thing and it's about the community, right? And it's like the local marching band and all this sort of stuff.

I just think it's like, it's an incredible display of like American civic virtue. Totally agree with you. There are so few collective experiences we have as Americans now, you know, because everybody's on their own thing and, you know, there aren't a lot of like things that sort of stand out. And that's what I love about racing. Totally. And maybe I'm sort of biased in that, having, you know, grown up going to the Indy 500 and that's, it's that to the nines. Yeah. But like, that's the best thing about racing and America. Oh, it totally is. And if you ever go to a NASCAR race...

If you haven't been, you should go because it is just a collection of patriotism. I mean, you're not going to find anybody...

who has any bad words to say about this country. If you need a little something of that in your life, if you live in a city somewhere and you're getting nothing but Gaza protests and people telling you how shitty this country is, head down to Talladega for a weekend. Let me just tell you, you're going to have a different experience. Dude, you're exactly right. And the sound of those cars rolling around the track is a symphony. It is a testament to human ingenuity. Not a single electric car rolling around.

around that. It couldn't keep up. Sweet, sweet Sunoco fuel. Doug, what else we got? Okay, this one's a personal favorite. After 9-11 and America comes back stronger than ever, more united than ever. And there's more on that here later. But one of the greatest moments in sports, I think, was that Thanksgiving halftime show

This was the Cowboys and the Broncos were playing on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving football is an American tradition in and of itself. Yeah. In and of itself. It's just something we love as Americans. And then you throw in Creed. Let's go to that clip. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's America. Great band, too.

It's just like pure America. Pure America. Let's go. Thanksgiving. It's why we do the Thanksgiving special. We see that as like an analog holiday. It's a cultural touchstone. To the Fourth of July in a lot of ways. And it's just like, it's a celebration of us. Yeah, and every Thanksgiving is meaningful. But that one especially, in the wake of 9-11, everybody was holding each other a little tighter that Thanksgiving. Totally. Looking around and thinking what they were thankful for just to be there, just to be in America. And it really was just incredible.

incredible cultural touchstone that will never be forgotten. And I think like Creed gets a lot of hate. Yeah. They get so much hate. I have no idea why. Which I don't get. I don't know why. I feel like they just, it's just banger after banger after banger and you look, I mean, not to just be all boomer about this, but you know, the boomers are right about it. We don't have great music like that anymore. But,

We just don't. I like higher, but I mean, I think my personal favorite Creed song is One Last Breath. Oh, that's good. That song is an amazing song. Mm-hmm.

Listen, like you said, banger after banger, they narrated a bigger part of a decade there, late 90s into the early 2000s. So I've got this thing that I want to do, which is sort of a psyop on TikTok. Have I ever told you guys about this? I want to create like a Creed Rules TikTok account. To see what happens? To just put out a bunch of Creed content and just make sure all like the Gen Alpha, Zoomer folks all just like become Christians. Make sure.

I think Gen Alpha will be receptive. Honestly, I think I could do it. You might be able to. I think they'll be receptive. It's worth a shot. If you're showing them stuff like that. It's worth a shot. Yes. It's definitely worth a shot. I do remember a conversation with my daughter recently. We were watching a show about American history, and it was so good. And she was like, why don't we talk about this more? She's like, this is so cool. You never hear this stuff. Yes. So I think Gen Alpha is prime for what you're talking about.

I love it. All right. So I'm going to ignite a little debate here. Okay. And I'm sorry that Smug's not here for this because I think he would have strong opinions. But as we know, he has a little bit more of a commute to get home to North Carolina than we do. And so he had to take off and he's going to miss this. I'll do my best to be controversial in his stead.

Okay, so one of the things that America is well known for, we take great pride in, and we've tried to be ahead of the world in at each and every decade since its advent, his flight. Let's go to clip eight, please. This film, made in 1903, recalls the first flight of this primitive biplane making aviation history. As the two brothers prepare to attempt the first catapulted takeoff, man's age-old dream of flight becomes a reality.

There they are, taking off. There it is. So if you're audio only, this is the Wright Brothers in the first flight that's ever documented. Them in their airplane there in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Now there's some controversy here on the program.

And the controversy revolves around who is sort of the author of flight within the United States. Is it North Carolina as Smug resides, or is it Ohio, the birthplace of the Wright brothers, where Mr. Ashbrook resides? Duncan, do you have a take? I have numerous takes. First of all, first in flight. Where was the flight? Okay, the flight was in North Carolina. So I think North Carolina is first in flight. I think that's obvious. It's Kitty Hawk. It didn't happen in Dayton where they had their flight.

facility where they were learning and all these sorts of things. I would also add, not for nothing, but Wilbur Wright, the older brother, was born in Indiana. Oh, he's taking claim. Not Ohio. So now look, I'm not an unreasonable man. I'm willing to accept a concession to this. But I would ask my friend John Ashbrook, unless you want me to just say North Carolina is first in flight, you have to

Say Ohio and Indiana share the title. Oh. Mr. Ashbrook, your rebuttal, please. You know what? I'll take the second charge first. There we go. Okay. Because what separates Ohio and Indiana is merely a border. Is this tri-state, bitch? It is a cultural. There is cultural cohesion between those two states that we don't often admit to.

Do you have buildings over five stories high? We do, but in fairness, so does Indianapolis. Oh, look at that. Look at this. Wow. He's trying to diffuse this. An olive branch. He's trying to diffuse it. No, I'm not going to diffuse it because Michael is wrong. It's not North Carolina. I have two quotes for you. One is David Burge, Iowa Hawk blog. He is a very, very intelligent guy. He brought receipts.

And he tweets, my occasional reminder that North Carolina claiming credit for the Wright Brothers is like the moon claiming credit for the Apollo program. That's quote number one. That's pretty good. The other quote I will offer you is the Wright Brothers themselves who said, if you want to succeed in life, pick out a good mother and father and begin in Ohio. Oh.

My God. He came ready. He came ready. He came ready. We're very proud of the Wright brothers in Ohio. I'm glad you are proud of it. And maybe you are first in flight, but I think more important than flight.

is the automobile. And I don't think anybody does that better than the state of Indiana and the showcase race, the Indianapolis 500. No, that's a great race. I mean, Michigan would, but you can claim there too. Well, yeah, Henry Ford, obviously. And he did a fantastic job. Sure. But all I'm saying is in Indiana, it's the Indianapolis 500. In Ohio, it's, what's their track? Mid-Ohio. Mid-Ohio.

Folks, it's in the name. It's mid. It's just mid-Ohio. I do love cars, but they are limited to roads. Airplanes have no limit. And you know what else has no limit? Space. And you know who the first person to ever walk on the moon was? A guy named Neil Armstrong from Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Well, this is a good American discussion, the kind of which Midwesterners like to discuss over a couple of cold crispies and some ribs. Notice states we didn't mention in this conversation, California, New York. Oh, here we go. States on the coast are just sort of sucking off of what the Midwest provides every single day. Oh, she can't catch.

Yes, let's go. It got graphic there for a minute. All right, so when we come back, listen, we got seven more of these bad boys. This is the best show. We got seven more of these bad boys, and then we want to get some other stuff in here, too, right after this.

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where the most important thing is this next thing. So you want to do this one? I'm going to do this one. And then we'll go back down the line. Yeah, we'll go back down the line. But, I mean, what, does the audience need to get in our logistics? No, no, no. Oh, we're on the show. Yeah. He doesn't know we're live. I mean...

A little behind-the-scenes work here through this Friday program for all of you. I thought we were setting it up. We started our holiday early.

Which, by the way, you like the mustache? I love it. That's the way to go on the fourth, I think. You got to keep it past the fourth. Listen, if you're listening to this show, if you like and subscribe and you are opining, you need to write in now and say that this guy, Josh Holmes, has to keep growing this mustache. Okay. Well, here's the thing that just defined a generation of kids who grew up in the upper Midwest, right?

In the 1980s. Clip seven. It is, of course, Lake Placid, New York in 1980, where a bunch of gritty, young, amateur hockey players defeated the greatest hockey team at that point the world had ever known out of Russia, our nation.

at that point, uh, and had been thought to be impossible. Of course, Herbie Brooks, a great Minnesotan, um,

was the coach of that team. Anybody who hasn't seen Miracle, you probably should because it's a fantastic film. But that does it for me. Who was the famed Italian on there, Rizzioni? Mike Aruzioni. Aruzioni. Yeah, and you can't beat the Al Michaels call. It's iconic. I mean, every time you see it, you stop. It brings a tear to the eye because you're so proud to be an American because you knew that that team, these were college kids.

Competing against the best the Russians could put together with steroids and everything else they were pumping into their players. We had college kids who believed in each other. And that's what America is all about. I love it. I love it. Well said. All right, what else do we got here, Dunks or Runks? We have a great moment. And I was actually in D.C. during this. And I remember...

It's just being electric in the way it's sort of built. Totally. Where it started with rumor and people talking at the bar. People started gathering. Gathering. And people saying there's going to be an announcement on television tonight that maybe the thing we've wanted since September 11th, 2001 happened. Mm-hmm.

And it did. And it was delivered in a place you would never think would be the first to deliver the news. And that is the WWE with John Cena. Let's go to that clip. I walk out here every night with hustle, loyalty, respect on my sleeve. That is a credo I have adopted from the men and women who defend the freedom of this country. We have caught...

And compromised to a permanent end, Osama bin Laden. That's incredible. Yeah. It's so good. It's just electric stuff. His choice of diction there is very interesting. Caught and compromised to a permanent end. To a permanent end. You know? It's like he was trying to make sure they didn't take him off the air. Like, if I was him, I would want to be like, yo, we...

We put two in the chest and one in the head in this guy. Oh, yeah. He'd want to get crappy about it. I mean, but, you know, look, for those of you who are younger, you probably don't remember the anxiety about all of that. And to the extent that you remember this, it was like, yeah, we've been hunting the guy for a long time. That was an end point to a very difficult part for this country to

over the previous 10 years that like, once again, like these moments that we're talking about, it restores your faith in we're the greatest country in the face of the planet. It felt like a collective sigh of relief from the American people. And I remember watching it live on, on television and then looking out the window, my apartment and seeing people streaming and,

16th Street to the White House. Yeah, it was just an absolute pandemonium outside. And then unlike everything else you see around the White House in recent days, where it's all just protests and some one niche cause after another, it was just American flags. People were just high-fiving. It was just USA. We did it. Everybody was pumped. I remember that word started spreading on Twitter, a very good friend of the program, a guy named Keith Urbont. Yes.

He tweeted, hot damn, I think they got Obama or something. Osama. Yeah, something to that. Yeah. Jeez. What are you doing there, John? My God. Mistake. We're a partisan show, but not that partisan. Ha ha ha ha ha!

You know what I mean. Anyhow, it just started spreading like wildfire and everybody was euphoric. Yeah, totally agree. And the precursor to all of that, which led to that, is the next clip, which I know, Johnny, you've thought a lot about.

Yeah, you know another moment of great national anxiety we as Americans we like to think that oh, we're always on top We don't ever worry about anything but in in the days after 9/11 people were like what is this gonna keep happening? Where did this come from? Nobody really no normal person saw anything like that ever happening and I remember the great anxiety and the concern that you've you felt it was really formative for a lot of us and you were in DC at the time Josh and

And it was a moment where our country needed leadership in a very real way that didn't seem polished and didn't seem like it was set up by a bunch of advanced people. And that's exactly what we got from our great president, George W. Bush at Ground Zero. Spaghetti, will you roll that tape?

This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. I can hear you. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And if we knock these buildings down, we'll hear all of us soon.

I mean, just an incredible moment that none of us will ever forget. And he just, he saw the opening. He was like, people need to hear something. He grabbed the bullhorn. He stood up on the platform, on the truck by himself. He came up with that idea because he was the right leader at the right time for our country. Yeah, it's true. In moments, I think throughout the course of American history, look, we've had good presidents. We've had bad presidents. We've had good leadership. We've had bad leadership.

But there are moments that just test a country. And the one really unique thing about the United States is that we have always at that particular moment in time had a leader who just sort of got it. Right. And like, I don't.

I don't care what you think about George W. Bush. He is the exact right guy at that right time with total authenticity to deliver that and reunite a country, right? I mean, I think about this like after the...

butler stuff with Trump or whatever, and you just see how history unfolds. This country is really amazing in that regard, where you get the leaders that you need at exactly the right time. That is a perfect example of it. It really was. Because we could have gone real sideways. This country had not been attacked since Pearl Harbor, and certainly not mainland USA, certainly not the financial capital of the world.

And there was a sense of unease. And that sort of rallied everybody else around the flag. I mean, the guy had like a 90% approval rating after he did that for people to say, no, like,

now were your consequence. Yeah. And what was so special about that moment, you know, in the years after, there's a lot of second guessing about the policies that came after that moment. And there's a lot of questions and conspiracy theories about everything that led up to 9-11. But all of that aside, at that moment, we were united as a country. Everybody came together. And that was just

So special for America. And I think everybody listening to this show is hopeful that if something like that happens again, everybody can come together again. Totally true. Totally true. All right. The next one, Dunks, if you wouldn't mind doing this one, one of my personal favorites, just an epic moment in history. Yeah, I would say personally, I love America so much. The antithesis of that is how much I hate communists.

And that is why I love this next clip, because this is the end of the Cold War. Let's go to that clip. Clip four, please, Spaghetts. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Yeah!

Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Oh, it's just such good stuff. It's good stuff. I think my favorite thing about it, and I think Reagan delivered this better than really any Republican president, is that it was an

aspirational, inspirational message. Well, what he was asking for was unconditional surrender of your failed political project, communism. He didn't say it that way. No. He said it in an inspirational way, tear down this wall. But what did it essentially mean for the Soviet Union was that your experiment here in Germany failed.

The people don't want this. Right? Yeah. And isn't that just such a great moment? It is. And you don't see an awful lot of world leaders anywhere that go to somewhere and do something like that as not a fait accompli. In other words, not something that's already been prearranged.

that all of this was just going to end. He ended it. You know what I mean? That's a very different thing. It's a stagecraft to politics where you show up and you cut the ribbon. And this was not a cutting the ribbon. This was a demand that

should be adhered to and it was yeah i think a lot of people don't even know about that context they just assume it's another speech you know oh tim wall shows up and does something like this is not what that was that's not what that was and it was like 40 years in the making

You know what I mean? Yeah. Four decades, generations of Americans watching Cold Wars develop, arms races. Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuban Missile Crisis. All of these things that had come into it.

And he just ended it with a speech that like that, with the phrase that is just forever seared in the memory of, in the history of this country. Just incredible. Just incredible. All right. So clip three, this, this one is what I just referenced before in context of like GW on the pile.

It had the same feel to me in many ways, very different context, very obviously different amount of implications in terms of loss of life and things like that. But it had this sort of like American resilience component to it where you can count. I mean, in my lifetime, I think we're going to get through them, but there's not a lot of them that you just have a moment where you're like,

Fuck yeah. Give me the flag. Let's go. And one of them was just last year. Let's play clip three. And you know, that's a little bit old, that chart. That chart's a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened.

Shooters down. Are we good to move? We're clear. Let's move. We're clear.

Fight fight fight fight fight fight I mean the Just it's so iconic in so many different ways the idea that

Donald Trump in that moment thought to get up and address the crowd and say, fight, fight, fight. I mean, we've gone over this a million times about how inspirational that was, but I think

look, did it win him the presidency? I mean, a lot of things that won him the presidency, but I think it created a different impression. Yeah. I mean, it fundamentally changed my view of Donald Trump. Yeah. You know, it's tough still to watch that. Like, honestly, I get kind of emotional watching it. You know, I've definitely criticized Donald Trump a lot and disagreed with him on plenty of things, but watching that, I remember watching it actually happen and

And it sort of fundamentally changed your opinion of the man and what we were doing. Yeah. You know what I mean? And why he was doing it. Yeah. Which I think is also a big part that he conveyed to the American people. Yeah. Another example of the right guy at the right time when our country needed it. You know, he stood it just the same way that George Washington stood up in ways that we will never understand because we'd never met him. We didn't live at the time that he lived, but we can read about him in history books.

Donald Trump, when he stood up and he said, fight, fight, fight, it is the opposite of everything that was preached to us over the previous four years. We're supposed to be deferential to everything else in the world. And he was like, no, this is America, and we stand for something, and I am going to

Personal safety aside, personal interest aside. Exactly, dude. It is. It's a little emotional to watch that. It's still tough to watch the thing, you know? Right.

Yeah, I don't know. It permanently changed my opinion of the guy. The fact that he had the presence of mind to stand up, not knowing that maybe there's another shooter, you know? Like, he doesn't know that there's not somebody else laying on some rooftop about to take another shot at him, but he didn't care. He stood up. He knew that what he was doing was much more important than his own life. It's a transcendent message to a country that needed it.

And that's what we see is the consistent theme. If you're talking about that 2001 speech by GW on the rubble, if you're talking about the fight, fight, fight thing, that's what we're talking about. What's special about America is you get the right thing at the right time.

reminds us of the people that told the redcoats to fuck off. You know? Right. We are just, this is who we are. Right. And we're going to do it our way. We may disagree in the family from time to time, but like, don't test us. Don't question our resolve. Like, it's right there in our national anthem. It's like through the entire battle. Yeah. Yeah. Our flag was still there. Flag was still there. So don't fuck with us. Totally true. God, I love this show. You know? This is fantastic. This is exactly what we're doing.

Do you want to take this next one, Smasherton, or do you want Dunks? You go ahead, Michael. Okay. You know, so my grandfather fought in World War II, and he was in the Battle of the Bulge on the Western Front and all that. And it was horrible, and the stories he told me were terrible, but...

I think there's something about the Pacific theater that is horrifying on a whole different level. It was a different type of warfare. The profound loss of life in a very foreign land. And the enemy was fundamentally different. The way that they fought was fundamentally different, which is why I think...

in our minds, the moment where we raise that flag on Iwo Jima sticks in everyone's memory. And for that, we got to play the clip. Yeah, man. It's just so good. That's the, for our audio only, that's the flag going up. The iconic...

photo and video that is now enshrined in Arlington, Virginia of that flag going up. It was so symbolic for so many reasons. Well, it was just an entirely different type of war. I mean, you're fighting over these islands. It's not just Iwo Jima. It's Midway. It's Guadalcanal. And if you read the accounts from this Pacific theater, it was just a

The carnage. Yeah. To gain feet. Yep. You know, to get to the top of a hill. Just terrifying stuff. It was brutal. And we know so much about World War II. There have been so many popular movies over the last couple of decades, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers.

that really sort of lifts up the European theater in a way that the Pacific hasn't been. I mean, if you're looking for books to try to get a little bit more information about what happened in the Pacific, there's a great book, Helmet for My Pillow. There's another great book, With the Old Breed. That's the one you told my dad to read, With the Old Breed. He loved that book, by the way. It is such a good book, and it gives you a picture of...

the Pacific theater and it tells you everything you need to know about how different it was. Hopefully we learn a little bit more about what happened in the Pacific in the coming years because it was brutal and the guys who were there did an awful lot to keep our country alive. Yeah, 100%. Absolutely true.

Johnny, you want this last clip that we just sort of cultivated here in the Ruthless Variety program? Sure. Because you feel like you may have referenced some portion of it earlier in the show? Well, like all good things, this clip begins in Ohio. Unbelievable. It just doesn't. It does. It just doesn't. It does. It begins in Ohio and it ends at the moon. Ha!

Famous line. Famous line. Oh, Ohio, we have a problem. Yeah. No, no, no. There was no problem with this mission, my friend, because Neil Armstrong, son of Wapakoneta, took steps on the moon. Spaghetti, why don't you roll that clip? I'm going to step off the land now. The famous... That's one small step for man, one...

It's just incredible. It was such an incredible moment, not just in American history, but human history. And the part of the clip we don't have is when Walter Cronkite was presenting it on the news and he takes his glasses off and he starts to cry. Yeah. Because he knew the gravity of that moment. Totally. He was not acting.

He was reflecting what everybody gathered around. TVs all across the country were thinking while they were silent, just looking at this happening on television, dumbstruck that humanity had found a way to walk on the moon. They didn't have this idea.

Yeah. You know, they didn't have an iPhone. They had gigantic computers, the size of warehouses. And they had people who were so smart that they could do calculations by hand with a pencil on paper to get these guys to the moon. Another movie. I, or I mentioned books in the last segment. If you've never seen the right stuff. Yeah. You got to watch that movie. It's also a good book. I,

I think that like the unintentional narrative as you go through all these things and you're like thinking about ties that bind that we've just discussed. I've been thinking about this too. Is when it came. Yeah. Right. I mean, I think the part of the reason you had Walter Cronkite crying one, it's a huge human, human achievement. Yeah.

It came at maybe the most tumultuous, other than the Civil War, the most tumultuous time in American history. You're talking about Cuban Missile Crisis. You're talking about the assassination of JFK, RFK, MLK. You're talking about Chicago burning down during Democratic conventions, Vietnam protests overwhelming the country, everyone losing faith in America. Even if you were...

The most pro-American, which, as we know, at that point, our grandfathers who fought in World War II were still around and probably were just dumbstruck at what their country had become. And then you get something like this. It comes at the perfect time. It does. I think it's important to say, especially for the younger viewers out there watching this.

is like you're the inheritor of the greatest country on planet Earth. Your ancestors rebelled against the strongest empire in the world. We put...

A man on the moon. Yeah. We were the first in flight. We defeated the evil empire, the communists and the Soviet Union. Like that is the that's your legacy. We inherited that from the people who came before us. And God damn it. Be proud to be an American because we did all of those things, especially in the culture today where we're supposed to apologize for everything. Don't don't.

And, you know, look, you get a lot of conjecture back and forth about people like, God, can you imagine if we had a 9-11 today? Or can you imagine if you had to sign a declaration of independence with this group of jokers that we've got, you know, sort of representing our country in one form or fashion? I just have faith. Like, I just have faith that we'll figure it out. I mean, we spent a lot of time...

In government service during, you know, the two big things in my lifetime are 9-11 and the financial crisis of 08. Make an argument about COVID, although I think that that's in a different category. But times where you actually wondered whether or not the country could withstand what it was that was going on externally. Yeah. And we figured it out.

We figured it out. Took a lot of leadership, a lot of unsung leadership, always. It's not always like it used to be in the 40s and 50s and whatever where you've got Douglas MacArthur and unconditional surrenders and that kind of thing. But we get...

We do it right. We figure out how to put people where they need to be at the right time. And I think we're there. I think you're exactly... This is very well said, fellas. It did take great leadership, but it also took...

great regular people. Yeah. You know, we don't know the names off the top of our heads of every guy who was raising that flag on Iwo Jima. We don't know the hell they went through to get to the top of that hill. We don't know. I mean, the astronauts were superhuman, but they weren't rich kids from, you know, some private school somewhere. They were from all over the country. They had...

They had something special inside of them. And so like the greatest thing about our country, yes, we have great leaders and Donald Trump saying fight, fight, fight is very inspirational. But what I care about are the people he inspires. He says something to get regular people just like us.

to do more than we think we're capable of doing. That's really well said. It's a good point. It's really well said. So that brings us to our question of the day, was what's your pick for your favorite American moment? Believe you me, we had a very difficult time winnowing down the 10 that we've given you. There's so many more. We have so many more. And even things like, remember Whitney Houston?

Oh, that was incredible. Singing the national anthem when we first went into the Gulf War. Yeah. And like, just everybody was like, grab a flag, let's go. There was all this concern that that venue might have been attacked that night. Totally. Yeah. Or George W. Bush with that first pitch at Yankee Stadium. You talked about this in our production meeting today. It's like, man, you could go on and on and on here. Totally. Pete Rose, $41.99. Oh, yeah. Here we go.

Unbelievable. He knew he had to jump the shark at some point. Good God. Another quick note from our production meeting, because I think this is very funny. We closed it on the moon landing, which I think obviously was the greatest achievement in the history of mankind. Lee maybe tried to get it to be Iwo Jima. And I was like...

okay, well, you're a little biased because you're a Marine. Oh, he was shoving his stuff in there, wasn't he? And his point back to me, which was fucking hilarious, was like, no one was trying to fight you on the moon. You know what? He makes a good point. He kind of makes a good point. He makes a good point. Yeah, nobody was trying to kill you up there.

That's a good point. I mean, just the vacuum of space, but you know. Well, and all of the camera work that they did in Arizona really made it look terrific. Don't get Ashbrook going. Oh, we like to have fun here. So what's your pick for the most American moment? There are millions. Send them all to us. Every one of, because there's even stuff, we did this in kind of a short period of time where we just kind of like brain dumped. You're going to know immediately what inspired you. And that's really what it is. Yeah.

is the inspiration of not just you, but your community. And yeah, I don't care. I don't care who wins. Just tell us all the stories because I'd love to just read all of them. I totally agree. That's the, we will love, love reading all of it. Uh, when we come back or do we don't even need to take a break, did we? Let's not even take a break. We're just going to get your, your comments, uh,

from last episode, which is yesterday. Yesterday. I mean, this is kind of a novel thing. We haven't done this since last fall where we're giving you three shots. It's America's birthday. Yeah, so you got to celebrate this kind of thing. So we're going to read you your answers to the question of the day of what should Trump name the media-funded wing of his library. Recall there was a $16 million settlement from

CBS, Paramount, 15 or 16 from ABC or that Stephanopoulos thing. He's 30M, which is good. That's a nice wing. It's a nice down payment. It's a nice wing. So the question is, what do you name it? To do that, we always start with a voice. Okay, the first one comes from RKUJ.

And RK writes, President Trump's library of what's happening now, wherein friends always find out. And if you're just listening to the show, he capitalized F-A-F-O. I like that. Very, very smart, RK. He says, friends always find out the truth eventually.

Just a great, great idea. F-A-F-O. F-A-F-O. You know, for those of you who are not terminally online, Google that. What else do we got, Dunks? This is from Ray Kaufman. Ray writes, the name for the exhibit should be C-B-S.

C being S-E-E. And then B-S. Yeah. Hell yeah. Very clever. That's thoughtful. That's a good dunk. That's a thoughtful dunk. We have a lot of real quick pithy ones on this, which is great. Michael Sutero writes, he should just call it the left wing. Yeah.

It's actually pretty simple. I feel like Trump would like that. Can you imagine having to be like the docent in that library? And you're like, okay, so here on the right wing, we're going to learn the history of Donald Trump from the very beginning of his life.

And on the left wing, all the media that he got to fund his library. Wouldn't that be great? I'd do it for free. You wouldn't even have to pay me. You wouldn't even have to pay. I'd like to take a tour directed by Michael Duncan. I'll tour anything. Give him a week with the book and I'll follow him anywhere. Yeah. I'll tell the story. I'd wear the headphones and carry around the electronic device. Look who we have here, kids.

A real expert. All right. So listen, as you're doing what you're doing, when you're listening to this and you're planning your day, you know, there are certain traditions, certain things that you do. I grew up in Minnesota, obviously, and you get a real truncated summer.

It starts getting cold like in mid-September. It's all the way through April and whatever. And the grand irony of that is that the place is full of lakes and great summer activity that you only get to enjoy for like a real small portion of time. So 4th of July for us was the thing.

I mean, it was the one thing you would count on. Everyone was at apex happiness. They're ready to go. Boats are fueled up. Probably plan that a week in advance. Make sure you had guests and all this stuff.

You had all the water volleyball nets set up, all the things you were going to get in that lake. You were going to spend the day in that lake. You probably had like 18 coolers of Bud Heavies everywhere. Everybody was just going to have a day. More meat than you can probably find anywhere outside of a meat packing plant, each house. You're just going to cook meat all day long. And then you'd go down and you'd just party balls. And it started like when I was a kid.

I was a kid where I would go to Canada for the summers. And my dad insisted on the 2nd or the 3rd of July of driving back home.

going to the United States and celebrating with our friends where I was in Minnetonka. And then we would get in the car on like the fifth and drive back. It was like a 10 hour drive. It's a real commitment. That's a commitment to America. But he was like, I am not spending the 4th of July in Canada. Yeah.

I love that so much. What a hilarious bit. That's one of the most American things I've ever heard. Isn't it unbelievable? It was 20 hours in a car for a family with a young kid? Yeah. Being inconvenienced for America. Yeah. That's patriotism. It's so good. What are some of the memories you guys have? Well, I already told you the canoe story going across the Ohio River. Must have been an indelible memory. It was an indelible memory. It was. Because I'm a pioneer. Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, grilling. Yeah. Family. Just food and fun. Just kind of running. Yucks. Running around. Like running around, no shoes on in the backyard, in the grass, like playing games. Yep. You know, playing flag football, screwing around in the backyard, somebody's grilling. Yeah. That is the 4th of July for me growing up. And I hope to have that, you know, here today. Yeah. And, you know, I got the new...

Big green egg. I'm very excited for you to test this thing out. You're going to love it. You know, I'm not exactly a seasoned expert like you are, so it's going to be a trial and error. It takes a little bit. I'm going to try to work. I have no doubt that you're going to be a high chef by the end of this. Well, I've done a lot. Michelin level. I have read a lot of Reddit forums. It feels like that informs an awful lot of your personality. I just don't like to...

Well, I have a little bit of OCD, I would say. You don't say. Yeah, you're kidding. You don't say. You know, I just don't like to do anything unless I feel like I know every single angle of the thing. Yeah. And so I've done a lot of research. The kind of guy that reads the instruction manual before he starts the assembly. Plans for every eventuality. Well, look, there's a reason my son is so good at Legos. Okay? We follow the instructions. Yeah.

So that's what I'm going to do. They wouldn't have them in there if that's not how you did it right. Exactly. Fair enough. Smash, what do you think? Well, I love everything you guys talked about. The grilling, maybe a pop or two, having fun with friends and family. But one thing that's always very special at the Fourth of July is fireworks. Yeah. And when you're a kid watching the uncles shoot off fireworks, you can't imagine anything.

anything better than that. It's true. Until you become an uncle and you get to be the guy who shoots off the fireworks and it is just the greatest experience ever because every kid is glued to it. Oh, they love it. And all they want to do is watch it. They look forward to it for like weeks. And you can understand immediately...

the alarming component as a parent and seeing the fascination with fire for the kid. Cause they really are. You're right. Like you start the firework thing. You're like, I want that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. They're all over it. Right. Which like, you know, left unattended was be a real, a real problem.

And then inevitably, as we said, the uncle will end up shooting a stray one across. It catches another uncle on the back. And the next thing you know, you've got a problem. But what you just described is why sparklers are such a great invention. Because the kids watch and watch and watch, and they want to try something. And then you hand them sparklers, and they get that fix. Feel like they got it done. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a wonderful day. And we told you all on the front end why it is that you should be super proud because of the day.

But there's also this like added element of family and where you grew up. There's nostalgia associated, I think, with Fourth of July in a way that like not every holiday has. I mean, Christmas is one that's like very nostalgic. But that one is, I think, for a lot of people, particularly where we grew up.

It's apex fun. Apex fun. And so you just remember it, and it sticks with you. I know all my boys, Hans and all the crew, they're probably out in the lake. They're probably at Maynard's already. I'm jealous. You think they're at Maynard's? I'll bet they're there right now. These guys are so lucky. We had a few pops at Maynard's. Yeah, we did. I bet they're all out there right now. I'm jealous. They're just thinking about what's the limit that they can get to before their wives start dragging their asses home. I...

The amount of money I would pay to be able to get a boat and tie it up at Maynard's right now and have a few pops. I know. Heaven. Yeah. Well, I know you guys are listening, so happy 4th to all of you. Listen, we've got a couple of things we need to take care of here before we sign off on the 4th of July. The one most important part is that our beloved Spaghetts is moving onward and upward in

He will be in the United States Senate with a job. But he's been with us. Gosh, how long has he been with us?

Almost two years. I mean, you've known him and loved him as our fun-loving Italian here. Spagats, come on up here. This is his last day at the Ruthless. I'm going to give you my microphone. I'm glad we're doing this. I'm going to scooch over. Because we can prove that you're real. Yeah. And I know what you're thinking for you YouTube viewers. You're sitting here and you're thinking, well, that's the only redheaded Italian I've ever seen in my life.

Which is what I thought. But I can assure you, when you listen to Spaghetti speak, the Italian threw it through. Hey, a pez de pia. I love a pizza pie. Yeah, he's leaning in. I appreciate that.

Spaghetti man, it's been a pleasure having you on the Ruthless Variety program. You've seen and overseen an awful lot of growth here on this show. We can't thank you enough for your efforts. Some lighthearted ribbing from time to time, which you always take in good humor. Always in good humor. Yeah. It's been an honor. Honor and a pleasure.

So, look, your mom's at home stirring over a pot of marinara. She's looking at her baby boy making something out of himself. I mean, what do you think? Is this like all of a sudden you're big time? It's surreal. It's surreal. And my mom's probably like, he's the one that made something out of himself? Yeah.

He's the one? She wouldn't have bet that. So two quick things. Number one, one of my greatest spaghetti moments was when, you remember when Smug did the Iowa caucus? Oh, I know exactly where you're going. And Smug, you know, of course he was outfitted. Like he's climbing to the top of Mount Everest. So we sent him to Iowa to cover the Iowa caucus. If you'll recall- It was zero degrees. It was worse than zero degrees. It was the coldest caucus on record in Iowa ever.

And everybody was very, very fearful for everyone who is there through physical safety. Right. And so Smug is dressed like the Michelin Man with this huge parka. And then you see Spaghetti. And we're looking at all the clips coming in, you know, like everybody, you know, the video coming in through the production team. And Spaghetti is wearing a leather jacket. It's literally like an Arthur Franzarelli. Yeah.

There is no padding. None. There's no insulation. Yeah. It's just like a straight leather jacket. He's got a gold chain and a t-shirt and a leather jacket on. You can see his chest hair. It was unbelievable. What were you thinking, pal? I don't know. Just got to get this shit done. Okay, my second thing here. So we're sort of wondering, I think, internally a little bit here.

You leave us. Spaghetti. Is that just a spaghetti forever? Is the next guy spaghetti? Would you bless us calling the next guy or gal spaghetti? Or does it got to be linguine or fettuccine? Oh, that would be a hilarious bit. For each person that comes in, there is a different pasta.

Yeah, only if they're Italian. I mean, if we get a mick in here, they're going to be some other potato or something. But like, you know, I mean, yeah. It's the spaghetti stick with you. Do people outside of work call you spaghetti? That's the first thing they say or they ask about when I say I work for you guys. They're like, oh, you're Spaghet. And I'm like, yeah. That was a nickname that was never intended for me, but here I am.

A much welcomed. I love it. Listen, pal, you have meant the world to us. We really appreciate everything you've done for us on the Ruthless Variety program. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. And I know that all of us and all the people listening will keep up with all of your exploits until you run the world someday, pal. So thank you guys. It's been a pleasure. You got it.

All right, so that's the Nikki deal. And listen, my sense is you're probably well on your way to having the best Fourth of July that you've had in an awful long time. Lord knows we passed a big, beautiful bill. We bombed Iran. We restored America to its rightful place as the leader of the free world. The economy's ticking up.

Man, it is a good time to be alive and it's a better time to be an American. So thanks for joining us. Remember, like and subscribe here on the old YouTube. Tell your friends about us. And with that, fellas, I think we did it. I think we did it. Unfortunately, we don't have smug. I think it's only appropriate on this 4th of July we kick it to Hollywood Hen. Another banger of an episode, folks. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs.

We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.