Why The Collapse Of The Left Is Accelerating
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The left's decline is accelerating because this has been their playbook. Words you say will take your job away if you don't use the right terminology to misgender somebody. You know, like, they're so focused. Oh, they're so serious about that. That's it. She's like, ponder the word big ball. Like, right now we're talking about how much of your money has been wasted by people not showing up to the office for four years and she's offended by the nickname of the dude trying to put an end to that.

We finally beat Medicare. He's right. He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death. Joe Biden's legacy for seniors. He raided Medicare, made premium skyrocket and drove up drug costs. Worse, the Biden pill penalty is already slashing the development of affordable drugs, forcing seniors to pay the price of Biden's failed policy. Biden broke Medicare, but President Trump can fix it.

Call Congress and urge them to end the Biden pill penalty. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. Just a catching strays over here. You're in for a hell of a show. Keep the faith. Hold the line and own the lips. It's time for our main.

Good Thursday to you! Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Atkrick, the full cast and crew left to right across your radio dial. We are excited. This is a big Thursday episode. We always have a lot of fun on Thursdays. Yeah, we usually, I mean, we have your news, we have your fun and games, and we have King of the Hill on Thursday. We

We sure do. And like, you know, you get to a Thursday and you got a good sense of the week. Yeah. How things have played out. Yeah. And there's a lot of funny shit involved. Well, especially in this era for Donald Trump. Yeah. You know, every week is just banger after banger. So by the time you get to Thursday...

It's just an embarrassment of riches, folks. There's just so much progress on all of these things that he promised in the campaign, and he's just delivering. He's just delivering. Yeah, and on Tuesday's episode, I mentioned to you, Holmes, that last week we talked about how he has basically made a list of everything that pissed you off over the last four years, and he's just ticking it one by one by one. I couldn't remember the item on that list that caught your attention, and it just sprung to my mind.

plastic straws yeah donald trump has said no you're allowed to use plastic straws again in america because this is america yeah right you know i also saw something on that so the whole story of like these things kill turtles was apparently some kids like fourth grade science project fourth grade and then it's been disproven since but all of america for years has

Is having policy pushed on it because of a fourth grade kid's... Dude, the whole DEI industrial complex is based off a flawed McKinsey study that has been proven to be wrong. What is so amazing is that... So Trump's been in office, what, three and a half weeks? And what you find out about the last six or eight

in terms of what the left is pushing. Ever since Trump was elected, essentially, the left starts taking over all the institutions in our country and pushing all these narratives and whatnot. And what you find out

We're not that different than we were in the heyday. Yeah. Like all that shit was, it was nonsense. But Trump had to come around to create the permission structure for normal, regular people to be like, yeah, we don't have to do that. Yeah. You know? Yeah. No, I mean, and that's what this is, is unapologetic. Right. This is who we are. We're just going to live like everyone was comfortable living. Yeah.

for a while. Yeah. Which is great. And that's what we talk about here on the Ruthless Variety program, which is why we encourage you to like and subscribe. Unlike a lot of programs that you are going to watch,

left, right, and center. We're not sponsored by a bunch of like left-wing fucking lunatics that are going to spend $50 million on a VC. Yeah. We're not pot safe. Yeah. George Soros doesn't have an ownership stake. Or we don't have like, you know, any sort of like Chinese money rolling in here. These are four guys who put a USB mic in the side of their computers and decided to have some fun and

So gratified that so many of you have joined us along the ride over the last four years. And I'm telling you, Wolf says we're like, what, 2,000?

A couple thousand away from 100,000 subscribers. 100K on YouTube. Which is just the YouTube part. We've only been doing this for a year and a half. You should see the audio side. The audio side is remarkable. Yeah. Which is – we love to see it. But if you can help us by liking and subscribing and sending along to your friends –

First of all, Smug gets a plaque. Yeah, and when you hit 100K, you get the plaque. And so, like Holmes said, we started this as a group of friends, having a chat, having a drink, having a good time, and talking to you folks. And the fact that we've almost hit 100,000 on YouTube, I could not be more grateful. Yeah, no, it's fantastic. Should we get into the shit? Let's get to it. I mean, this show is jam-packed. We got a lot of really fun stuff, and as you said, we're going to play a game in here, too.

So sit back, relax and enjoy. Get ready to laugh. Part of topic one here, fellas, it's just like the accelerating of the decline of the left. Yeah, they're doing it to themselves. They are. Yeah. I mean, it's so great to watch.

But like Democrats and their media allies, this is a story or actually something that Siraj, our boy Siraj tweeted out. Democrats and their media allies continue to spiral as their tired strategies fail to slow down Trump. Let's watch clip one and just react to it. And that's where we'll kick it off. Which side are you on? Come on. Which side are you on? Are you serious? It gets better. Which side are you on?

Which side are you on? We'll fight against Doge. Come on. We'll fight Elon Musk. No way let's get within our walls. We'll fight from dawn to dusk. Oh, which side are you on? All right. So that group is like public employee union group. Right.

doing it in the middle of a workday, of which Donald Trump and Elon Musk simply asked that the people that work for the federal government show back up their desk and do their job as it was intended to do. They can't stay at home. They can't do whatever. And these guys are going to protest that.

by showing up in the middle of a workday to sing an anthem from Union 1950. Yeah, I mean, that song was actually written by Florence Reese, a social activist. I think it was back in the 1920s. It was in Kentucky, right? Yeah, well, it was popularized during the Harlan County War by Pete Seeger, who covered that song. But, you know, those folks in that labor dispute, it got violent and ugly. You know, those were...

hardscrabble coal miners. And also these people haven't got a callous on their hand since, you know, they got a paper cut from filing papers. You know, it's hilarious to think these people consider themselves like the coal miners in Harlan County from the 1930s. These people put coal miners out of work. Yeah, they did. And the best part about it is that they were all offered jobs.

eight months of paid labor. They didn't have to do anything. They just go home. We'll give you your full salary, whatever pension you're entitled to, all of that stuff. And they're like,

That's just like the coal miners. And here's the thing. You've done that just like the coal miners who, by the way, we tried to put out of work. We're discussing the collapse of the left. And like you said, this is a choice. They are saying, which side are you on? They're like, we will fight Doge. They're fighting government efficiency, being like, everyone get on our side, right? Don't save taxpayer money. It's like, how the hell did Trump get into a situation where he's just compensating

common sense and his opponents are like no we must waste taxpayer money what was that old quote that Voltaire quote it was like I prayed only for one thing that my enemies be ridiculous and Trump has gotten that that's it that's what's happened

It's like he's good. No question he's good. But his superpower is making his enemies ridiculous. Well, I think the acceleration of the spiral that the left is in right now is because it actually kind of worked the first time against Donald Trump and it ain't working anymore.

Yeah. Right. Like the American people are much more comfortable with Donald Trump as president United States this time around. They cried wolf. They tried back in 2017. They said he was a puppet of Vladimir Putin in Russia and people bought into that bullshit.

And it was wrong. And so this time their bullshit detection meter is much, much, much higher. And that's why they're flailing so much. Not to mention they're proving the need for government efficiency because they're doing this in the middle of the workday where they're being paid by everyone who's listening to this show using a microphone that's funded by a union that was funded by everybody listening to this show. It's unreal. Yeah.

It's unreal. It's genuinely remarkable. It's beyond parody, really. It's beyond parody. And like I was doing Fox last night and Brett put on the thing that Elon was talking about, the limestone mines. Yeah. That they keep apparently the records of everyone who's worked in the federal government. They file like it's 1952.

They take them physically, papers, papers. It all has to be printed. And they take them and they put them in a limestone mine in like West Virginia or somewhere. Pennsylvania. It's Pennsylvania. It's like the end scene in Indiana Jones, you know, where like they're putting in the Ark of the Covenant in some box.

He was like, they told me that no more than 10,000 people can retire from the federal government at any given year because they can't actually file it. Think about that.

If ever there was an advertisement for government efficiency, it's that they're literally saying we have a cap on the number of people who can leave the government because, well, we got to take these red rope folders down into a limestone mine. Like, what? Like, they'll just put your mind around that. Imagine that as a defense of the status quo of government.

And it goes back to that, you know, the discourse around Politico Pro and all those subscriptions that all of these government agencies had to get to get analytics and access into like what the government's doing. And my question in all of that is like, aside from the cost of like getting Politico Pro for all these agencies, you're talking tens of thousands of dollars per subscription. Yeah.

Like maybe the better question is why does our government not know what our government is doing that they have to pay someone to find out what they're doing? That's a good point. You know what I mean? And like that is the whole point of Doge. Yeah. It's like there are real inefficiencies in our government that are not defensible.

Like, you cannot defend this bullshit. I mean, just this one example, it's hard to wrap your mind around. It's like that scene from Office Space where, like, so what do you say you do around here? It's like, well, I actually physically carry the paper. They're like, we can't afford to have more than 10,000 people retire. We have to keep paying them because we also pay a guy to print out a sheet of paper, take it to a limestone cavern.

He's got to have a job, too. Well, like, here's the thing. I don't expect the guy who physically grabs the red rope and walks to the limestone to self-report. Like, it's a gig, right? He's probably living in the central Pennsylvania area. He's going to drive down once every six months, pick up some folders and roll into the limestone. But, like, if you're in charge of that—and my bigger question is—

The entire government, the way of getting around whether you have wasteful spending is putting inspector generals at each and every agency. And so for the last like 30 years, there's been people who are serious – like they have to be confirmed I think, inspector generals of each one of these agencies. Right.

what the fuck have they been doing? That's the thing. Like who signs off on that and is like, you know what? This is the best way. I mean, think about the whole chain. There's a person who prints it.

There's a person who has to run a mailroom to then send it to Pennsylvania. There's got to be a person who grabs it from a mailroom, then files it over to deliver it to the guy who drives it over to the limestone cavern. Right. And then there's a guy there waiting for it to then file it away. These are jobs to take a sheet of paper. And what I think is invaluable.

very important for people to remember is you are paying for each and everything along that supply chain. The mine belongs to you. You're paying for this mine. You're paying for the elevator shaft. You're paying for the operators.

So, of course, people are like, wait a minute, what am I actually getting in return for what I'm charged every April? Well, if you spent 20 years being the guy who picks up the red ropes and marches them down to Lent, you're paying him full salary for the rest of his life. Yeah, you're paying his pension, too. I mean, if you've ever wondered why it is that the vacation homes around where it is that you live are all by people who are like public servants, well, there it is.

I think what it reveals is how much institutional resistance there is to change in government. Yeah. And that the easiest thing to do... It's a business model. If you're those inspector generals or whoever who's overseeing these programs, like, you ain't going to get fired for saying it's all good. Mm-hmm.

right, that we're doing it the best we can and requesting the same amount of budget from Congress for the next year. Yeah. Right. No one got fired doing that. Yeah. So why would they? And there's this don't upset the apple cart mentality to to, you know, government employment. That is like the entire reason why Doge and Donald Trump are so important. It's just I'm so happy. This is like for those of us who spend any time in government, we spent most of our time

Wishing and hoping that a scenario like this could ever be presented. We just didn't think it was possible. Right? And they just were like, ah, the rules. We don't do rules. We're just going to do this. We're going to do Doge.

And when I see Elon with his kid in the Oval just sort of winging it and telling them about how they went into some agencies and all of the government computers that they – or phones that they took a look at all still had Trump administration information on it because nobody had been into the office since then. You mean Biden administration? No, Trump. They hadn't been – Original Trump. Original Trump. Because in the years since, none of those government employees had even shown up. They didn't even show up.

They didn't even show up. Like, that's a breathtaking thing. And like, I just don't. Four year vacations? Four year paid vacation. Paid by all of you, dear listeners. It's amazing. But it keeps getting. So, but like, he's also creating this whole media thing, which I find completely hilarious. Can we play clip two? Take a deep breath for just a moment. And ponder big balls. Meanwhile, they're up to it.

That's the other thing they're doing. It's like the give a fuck factor is zero. They've got this guy, Big Balls. We covered him on Tuesday. But they also create in the entirety of the primetime lineup of the Democratic left, the things that like, I don't know, I guess a couple hundred thousand people listen to. They're talking about Big Balls. Yeah.

Just wait for a minute and ponder big balls. Yeah. Take a deep breath. Ponder big balls. And, you know, I think this, again, goes right back to the overarching theme of

The left's decline is accelerating because this has been their playbook. Words you say will take your job away if you don't use the right terminology to misgender somebody. You know, like they're so focused. Oh, they're so serious about that. That's it. She's like, ponder the words, big balls. Like right now we're talking about how much of your money has been wasted by people not showing up to the office for four years. And she's offended by the nickname of the dude trying to put an end to that.

It's staggering. It's staggering. But also like all the names that have like tumbled out now with big balls and like, it was like a 1990s prank phone call or like how I used to make dinner reservations in the early 2000s. Yeah. Hey, would you blow me? Well, that was the one that I saw today. There was a guy named Heywood who was testifying before the Doge committee. And I was like, I'm shocked that this guy's name, last name is not. I mean, it's just, it's fantastic. I,

I don't know. Everything is great, but there is so much more and so many laughs in this next section. You are not going to want to miss any of it because it just continues. We'll get it to it right after this. I don't have to tell you Americans are ready for what's next. Moving beyond the hardships of inflation and economic anxiety towards building a future, a better future for our families.

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All right. So we should probably just stay on the fact that these people are losing their minds. You know, it's only there's only so much you can do, honestly, if you're thinking about the way that Trump has proceeded in the first two and a half weeks that that like it's great and people love it. That's why he was elected.

But it wouldn't be just in the echelon that it is unless you have opposition that are firmly standing behind it. And they're like, no, don't do these things. We've got a series of things to set up on this. Everyone, you're going to love this. Let's do clip three, please.

you know, $59 million spent on luxury hotels. It's actually not... You're talking about the FEMA money that was abused for migrants? That was FEMA money for migrants? That's okay now? No, I'm not saying it's okay. Don't put words in my mouth. So would you stop that? Would you stop that process? Don't be a dick. What I'm saying is the portrayal...

Don't be a dick. It's CNN. CNN. Right. Sununu. Like, so we know Sununu. We've done a lot of stuff. This is not a dick. Right. Like, he's probably one of the more reasonable. Middle of the road Republican. Human beings. Like, one of the reasons why he's on CNN, right, is because he's one of those guys that talks left of center, right of center, and has that constituency. He can't have it.

Anderson Cooper can't have. He's like, don't be a dick. Also, it's funny because to Anderson Cooper, $59 million is not a lot because he's an heir to the Vanderbilt fortune. He doesn't give a shit about $59 million. It's just what it reveals in all of these things is like their position is indefensible. Yeah. You know? And so Sununu saying that is frustrating to him because like-

You know, these panels are supposed to be a, oh, there's one side and there's another side. There isn't another side. There isn't another side. Not in the American public. It is not defensible. And Donald Trump, to his credit, has spent this first month of his administration finding every issue that's an 80-20 issue in this country. And he's been on the 80-20.

percent side. Totally. I mean, real quick, just to touch on that 59 million, when Sununu brings up rightfully and everyone by now is probably at the start, that 59 million went for New York City in Midtown, some of the most expensive hotel rooms, $700 a night.

To put migrants, people who have broken the law, entering our country illegally, many of whom are continuing to commit violent crimes, getting free hotel rooms every night in some of the most expensive real estate on earth. And FEMA didn't have a dime for folks in western North Carolina who lost everything. These are U.S. citizens. These are Americans who were given nothing by their government, by FEMA. And it was given and spent on migrants, $59 million. That's an outrage. And as Elon said yesterday, at a rate –

That was roughly double what a room occupancy rate would be ordinarily. Because that's the thing is these hotel owners love this game. They love it. They're like, oh, I can be guaranteed my hotel has every room occupied at twice the rate. Do it.

No problem. Let's run this. No problem. I mean, you understand it because they eliminated New York City for two years. Yeah. Right? And all the people that moved out of it and everybody who didn't want to do conferences and all the things that they ordinarily did in New York because Democrats ruined the city, introduced corruption.

crime, the whole COVID backlash, everything else. And so you get a hotel, a luxury hotel. It's like, oh, wait, you're going to pay me double max room occupancy? I don't care who you put in that joint. That's a business decision. Yeah. Right? I'm actually not even, I don't even blame those people.

Because they're like, you ruined every other way of my life. Dude, New York had to hire a consulting firm and pay them millions of dollars to figure out you should probably put trash in trash cans. He's not joking. I'm not joking. This is a serious thing. It's like, oh, wait, we shouldn't just like throw trash in the street? Oh, man, novel idea. All right, millions of dollars. Oh, dude, thanks, man. I'm going to pay this invoice. Oh, thank you so much.

That's awesome. I appreciate that. All right, clip four, if we get into this. This is one of my favorites. I've been told I have 30 seconds, so I am going to tell you that we do have to... I don't swear in public, but we have to fuck Trump. Lady. Let me just say, lady, I don't think you're his type. I don't think you're his type.

I mean, didn't they say that they were going to go on strike when Trump won? Like, I guess the strike's broken. Like, Trump— I mean, I knew they were frustrated. I didn't know they were sexually frustrated. I mean, was that like just a call, like she was flipping teams all of a sudden? I think it was. Maybe it was a Freudian slip. Maybe she was like, I am with Doge. I am with Doge. I'm going to fuck Trump. I saw the tax savings, and what can I say? Yeah.

I just don't think, like, ladies, just grab a mirror. The Melania comparison is not a kind one to you. Clip five, please. We are three weeks into the second Trump presidency, three weeks, and tonight there are warnings that the U.S. is dangerously close to a constitutional crisis. Now, the first two are distraught when a federal judge today said the White House is defying his order to unfreeze billions of dollars in federal aid.

Why do they – here's the thing. I know Caitlyn. We all know Caitlyn. I think she's smart. I think she's good. She obviously has her CNN gig. Why would any producer make her do that? Like why would anybody write that? It's a constitutional crisis for spending to be examined in this country. Like it's not just a leftist talking point, which it is. Mm-hmm.

It's also dangerous. I'm going to toss this alley-oop over to Ashbrook, but a key point here is that's editorializing when you're supposed to be just straight news. Right. I mean, and that's what people want. People are opening up the newspaper. People are going to evening newscasts to get information, but that's not what CNN is giving them. And I'm of two minds on this because CNN's content is so dunkable. It is so funny that

for people like us, I don't want them to stop. And regular people out there know the gig. You know, what they may not know is the person who runs news at CNN is very close with Kamala and Doug Amhoff and everybody else.

But they don't care. They're like, yeah, give me some CNN clips so that I can laugh about them in the day. And, you know, there was it's very funny. We talked about this on the show, but their viewership is lower than all of the clips of Scott Jennings dunking on them. Which is amazing. Stylistically, though, I mean, just as an artiste. Yeah, please. I got to say.

Pretty dissonant audio mixing there to start that clip. We've got like hopeful orchestra music and then it's like constitutional crisis. Can we actually play that again, Spaghetts? No, I gotta get into this because I missed it. Just watch it again. Let's do this.

Constitutional crisis! Constitutional crisis!

I'm so angry. It's like, what are you trying to do to these people? By the end of this sentence, you will not have a country. Yeah, it's like the way you start like, all right, here's the weather. Can someone cite what part of the Constitution says thou shalt waste taxpayer money? Because I don't remember that. I was never taught that part. Constitutional crisis. What are they talking about? Well, it's just so incredible because it's coming from the same people who like, you know, staged protests.

violent protests in front of Supreme Court justices' homes. And like, those are constitutional crises. That's what that looks like.

And like the idea that you have a disagreement about spending policy in this country has somehow enveloped the left into saying constitutional crisis. I mean, look, I understand some of this stuff is being litigated in court.

But the idea that you can't look at fraud and be like, hey, that's fraud. Right. Let's not do that fraud. And they're like, oh, my God, it's the end of democracy. And also CNN, like your audience pays taxes, too. Yeah. You know? Right.

I just – the funny thing is – and I feel bad for the people who are just like constant CNN viewers or MSNBC viewers because the information they flow is just not accurate. It's just not good. Like they're actually probably just in a constant state of anxiety. They have to be at risk for like traumatic brain injuries. Are you like all day long getting this? They have to be. In actuality –

The W-2 form that they're filling out and the taxes that they pay are the only thing anybody's looking after here. And that's really the only question that you should have on your mind is whether or not you're getting for your tax dollar what you paid for. Because that's it. There's not like Elon Musk, a billionaire. Oh, he's a billionaire. He's stealing. He's a thief.

Yeah, he wants your fucking money. He builds rockets that fly to Mars, for Christ's sakes. Like, that guy is interested in your $24 Social Security check? No, dude. He wants to make sure, as he said yesterday, that a 175-year-old American is not getting a Social Security check because you know why? Your kid, who's 35, is probably not going to get a Social Security check as a result of him not looking for it. Right.

That's such a great point. And like constitutional crisis. Oh, my God. What will we ever do? God bless it. These people are fantastic. The content. That's the thing. The content. You have no idea what the pre-production. We used to like not have pre-production. In the Biden years, it was like, what happened? Well, nothing. Yeah. He was asleep.

What game can we play here on the Ruthless Friday program to try to keep people entertained because the guy was asleep again all day? And now every day it's like we're in a meeting. We're like going through. We got 20 topics. You should see what hit the cutting room floor. We could do a whole another two hours on it. Yeah. The Trump era is like red zone. Yeah.

It is. There's so much going on. I love it. It's like every, it's like you got Scott Hanson or Chris Hanson, whatever his name is, and it's like touchdown. All right, we got to go to another place. Touchdown. Yeah. And it's like Elon found 40 billion here. Oh, look, 60 billion there. It's like, oh, there's a quarry in Pennsylvania and every piece of paper on a government worker is there. And it's like, holy shit. We could do an episode every hour. Except every team that they flash to, your first round draft pick is scoring. Yeah. Yeah.

And they have them on your fantasy team. And they have them on your fantasy team. And CNN's interpretation is, no, you're not allowed to look. It's incredible. You shut up your dumb face. Exactly. Impermissible. It's unconstitutional to ask your government to spend your money wisely. Don't have fun and laugh. Don't do that. All right. So our question of the day is, in their moment of darkness, what's the best troll to make it even worse for them? This is a good one. I've seen a lot of great trolls about, you know, just rolling.

rolling something out to the left that just makes them lose their mind. The guy who's like most susceptible to it is Chuck Schumer. Like whatever it is, how minute, if it originates on the online right and like rolls anywhere close to his office, he does a press conference on the damn thing. And like within an hour, it's like, well, none of this shit was real. Chuck Schumer unveils this website of like, if you can uncover any like government corruption or any danger, please fill it in here. And then again,

It gets filled with conservatives being like, so there's this guy, Chuck Schumer, who threatened the lives of Supreme Court justices. You should look into this. Oh, my God. So good. So you got to put that like and subscribe. If you like and subscribe, we're going to get your stuff here in the next program. We'll talk all about it coming up next. We're going to have your answers to last Tuesday's question. It was a good one. It was if Kamala Harris had won.

What would she be doing right now? Stands in great contrast. You have great stuff right after this. As President Trump begins his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Chicago's Senator Dick Durbin. And now Senator Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card.

Today, Americans have thousands of choices in credit cards, all with equal strong security. But Senator Durbin's plan will result in less competition and less security. And that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republican senators stop Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Learn more at www.guardyourcard.com.

Okay, so our question of the day from Tuesday that we read on Thursdays is if Kamala Harris had won, what would she be doing? Everybody's talking about what Trump is doing, but imagine just in a different parallel world. Yeah, in the bad place. In a bad place, and you got great comments, but to do that, we always start with the voice. And as Josh said...

In the last segment, if you want to comment, if you want us to read your comments, like and subscribe, like and subscribe if you wish to opine. We coined that phrase. And here at the Ruthless Variety Program, the first comment comes from TheCookieArmy.

And the Cookie Army writes, Kamala would be pretty busy if she were president right now. She'd have to address California wildfires by giving government funds to Newsom so that he could redirect the last of L.A.'s water to the ocean to save Agape. That's terrific.

Then she'd have to oversee her trans transportation secretary to ensure that the FAA was expanding their DEI program to include blind air traffic controllers.

Trans secretary. Trans. It's pretty good. The trans department. The trans department. The trans department. A good friend of the program, Charlie Hurt, who is now an esteemed co-host of Fox and Friends. He's really made it up in the world. He has. Over the weekend, he was asking about the trans department, and I thought that was quite funny. It was very good. It was not unintentional by Charlie. Let's get a comment, too, from Dunks.

This is from John from Bayside. If Kamala were currently president, she would be tripling funding to America's great small businesses, the Washington-based NGOs, creating a new executive agency so USAID could focus on directing its grift to worthy organizations overseas. That's so good.

Well, the transsexual population of Tanzania is burgeoning. Must be studied. They need to be studied and they need to be represented. Their efforts on climate change can't be ignored. No, that's what small business is in our world. Thank you, John. I appreciate that. Smug, what do we got? Comment three is from Lorinda Leach. Lorinda writes, if Kamala was president...

Thank God for the hypothetical. After three weeks, she would still be pondering what could be unburdened by what has been riding around in an armored school bus. Because that was great. Because we all know how well she gets over a good school bus, according to Chuck Schumer. While pondering what day or if every day should be designated as National Wine slash Wine Day. Oh, that's good. That's good. Wine and Wine Day. Yeah. She'd absolutely have that going on.

Well, is anybody tired of winning yet? The wins are stacking up here, and we've got some new additional accomplishments that may have missed your radar, you know, unless you're listening to the right stuff, watching the right news. You're probably not going to see this in your local newspaper. We're going to get to all of it right after this.

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Okay, so this is interesting. So Goldman Sachs, there's a lot of financial companies that built in this sort of resistance left to the first Trump administration, an entire industry model that was basically DEI enabled. And these things are falling fast. We've covered this a little bit. Interesting though, Goldman Sachs, right? We're talking about blue chip name here, walked away from it. Can we get clip six, please?

So it effectively was supposed to be the end of the all-white straight male boards. They even upped the ante and made the requirement two for companies that they were taking public in Western Europe and US. Well, today they've formally confirmed that they have backtracked. We've already seen one or two companies where that policy certainly slipped away. And...

you have to see what's happening in the broader environment. There's obviously everything that you've seen change since Donald Trump re-entered the White House. There was, of course, the NASDAQ board diversity rule that was scaled in the Fifth Circuit as well. All of these things played a fact, and this is Goldman just acknowledging, and this is a nod to the time that we're in. Ah.

Finally, Bloomberg bring in the facts with the real reporter. I mean, this is insane because, you know, now that we are in the golden age, it's crazy to think back. There was a time when a company like Goldman Sachs could openly say, you know, because they do M&A, mergers and acquisitions, that we will not take a company public, which means we will not help get them listed on the stock market, if their board is white people. Mm-hmm.

Like that was considered okay. Yeah, I mean, like as if that's not racism. I mean, that's the definition of racism. It also just sort of just makes me sad, you know, that we went through a period in American history like this, that where there were companies as powerful as Goldman Sachs. And I know of like two personally of people who have gone through this process where they had to put,

two or three people on a board, one of them wholly unqualified, like just, it didn't work out. Like ended up, they ended up like suing the company, like creating a huge problem with the merger and acquisition because they forced a person who was not qualified into the position. And like there, there's not a single African American in the world that

woman in the world, gay person in the world who would want the opportunity to be like just an add on to a multi-billion dollar acquisition just because of what they were born looking like or acting. You know what I mean? It's just like their sexual preference is certainly not a part of whether this company succeeds or doesn't succeed.

But we went through a period in history where that was a real thing. And then conversely, like. Fucking crazy. It's like you look back. We're going to look back at this like we look back on Bull Connor. Yeah. We really are. Honest to God, we really will. And nobody wants to hear that. But that is true. We will look back on this and say, I can't imagine how nobody thought this wasn't the most racist that we could be. Because it reduces people down to attributes.

And it's a caricature. Yeah. It's a caricature. And conversely, in his autobiography, Clarence Thomas writes, he's always hated affirmative action and this DEI stuff because...

When he would walk into a room, he wanted everyone to know he's there because he's the most qualified person there, not to look at him and be like, he must have been the quota guy. That's hurtful to everybody. Marc Andreessen tells this story about, I think it was Meta's board or something when they were going through having to make sure that they worked within this regulation of board diversity or whatever, and that Peter Thiel actually qualified because he was gay. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And it's like, for those of you who know Peter Thiel,

Peter Thiel, like that isn't something he would want to qualify him for a board. Maybe it's because he's been one of the most successful angel investors in the history of American capitalism. You know, it's like the idea that you could reduce somebody that successful down to like their sexual preference and be like, now you're qualified is so fundamentally absurd and against the idea of America. But also, also just the action of reporting it back corporately, you know, like,

I can understand wanting to get different perspectives on a board. Like that's what boards do. They want to get different perspectives. The boards exist because you don't want to be monolithic in how you think because you might miss something. So I get like, but that's what corporate boards do. I mean, if you're a public company, like that's what your job is. But then to have something like a DEI regular where you're like, oh yeah, Peter Thiel checks the gay box.

And then having a corporate structure where you actually have to report back to be like, hey, we got a gay guy. Where does that go? And what constituency are you satisfying with that piece of... Without knowing what it is that Peter Thiel has to say. Like, that's...

Unreal. I think now we know the constituency. It is taxpayer-funded NGOs. Turns out that's a big part of it. Well, they certainly used this to try to push it internationally and made everybody else sort of adhere to it and gave grants as a result of what their social engineering agenda would be, which is why they've run into a whole lot of trouble. Can't, oh, no.

Oh, no. Oh. Anyway, they're not alone. Disney rebrands. This is according to Axios. Disney is changing its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to focus more closely on business outcomes. Oh, that's interesting. Shareholders must be changing a sigh of relief. Programs. Programs.

A business that wants to make money. Ludicrous. According to a note sent to Employees Tuesday obtained by Axios, as part of the shift, sources tell Axios Disney is moving and changing its content disclaimers that it started releasing around certain titles in 2020. Like, I don't know what those are. We didn't cover them on the show. I'd love to know what those initial ones were.

But content for Disney. Yeah. Remember four years ago. Warning, there's three white guys. Exactly. And there was this woman. There was this woman who was in the popular show, The Mandalorian. I watched it with our kids. And all of a sudden she tweeted something that the that the wokes didn't like. And so then all of it. She was just on the show. She was a normal conservative. She was a normal American. And they ran her out for that.

They're also saying they're going to evaluate executive compensation with a new talent strategy. This whole thing. So hold on. It's mind boggling. A talent strategy. You know what? I'm running a business. I'm considering. Guys, just hold on. Yeah. I'm considering. How are we going to make money? You got a wild idea. Whether or not this person has talent. Yeah.

I know it's edgy, but that might be the way we head with this. Yeah, we're going to find good people. What do you think? Do you think that's too much? I mean, that's the thing. It's revolutionary. It had gotten to this point where you have massive companies like Disney, massive companies like Disney, who had this Kool-Aid that they drank that made them think that, number one, let's not try to make the best business outcome.

Who here is trying to make money? We're a company, guys. What are you thinking? And then to be like, why don't we try to make sure that the person who gets the job is not the most qualified, right? Just that it won't trigger a trigger warning ahead of our programming that, oh, no, there's been three white people cited during the filming of this TV show. And now they're like, this is for it to be considered a bold step that we're going to try to make our shareholders money. We're going to try to make our movies that actually make money.

They're like, this is a radical change. Everyone, please grab your seats. Second point, we're going to hire people based on merit. It's mind-blowing. That's how crazy a period that Americans have endured, that businesses have endured.

I mean, good for them. Honestly, I want to see this across the board. I want every company to be able to publicly say, listen, the bad times are over. If you're a qualified person, guess what? You get a job. And if you're a business, you're allowed to try and make money. Yeah, I don't think people understand how pervasive and insidious all of this was and how organized it was. There are these nonprofits, these NGOs and groups that raised millions of dollars

A lot of them grants from USAID and other things that then put pressure on the HR departments of these large corporations to sign pledges on things, whether that's ESG or DEI or what have you. Shakedown racket. And what you got was the HR-ification of the entire company. And nobody can really go to HR with a complaint about HR, right? No, you can't.

And the funny thing is, is I think on the right, as our whole party has become more working class, there has become a misperception about corporate America. Corporate America is and always will be entirely where the business is.

They are not concerned about what you believe. They are not concerned about what you think. They're marketing products for you to buy that they think have value and they think you'll enjoy. And they're going to go wherever the culture is, no matter what. Where this took a turn is when a shakedown racket appeared, where they could corrupt a media that provided a direct info flow to you, the consumer,

There was a negative connotation on their company if they didn't pay the toll. Yep. And that's where DEI came in. If you didn't incorporate a DEI program, there was an entire ecosystem, a cottage industry. Boycotts. That had a direct access to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, all your local news, everything you're seeing. Protest outside your headquarters. They would talk about big questions arise at HQ. Yep.

And they're wondering whether or not they have your best interests at heart. Right. And that's where they started to do this. Right. It wasn't like a cultural shift. It felt like one. Yeah. It really felt like one. It was really successful. Yeah.

It was really successful. Yeah, but there's no difference between what they did and what the mafia does to run a protection racket. There is no difference. Except that in this case, some of it was funded by people listening to this show without their consent. Yeah. So anyway, but that's another reason why you got to keep at it, right? Trump is doing great things.

Doge, all this stuff. I can't say I am like over the moon about the way that these first three and a half weeks have gone. And you should be too.

But you got to stay plugged in because these folks, you can look at these rallies, dude. Look what they're trying to do. They are going to at some point latch in to another shakedown racket. And you just have to say no.

I'm not doing it. Like, you just have to be steadfast. Like, I know that this is not something you've got lives. You've got softball practice, soccer practice. You've got all this stuff. But this is why you've got to pay attention to this stuff because we kind of took our eye off the ball for three and a half years while they built this thing. And the next thing you know, every institution in America was just shoving a quota system down our throat. That's crazy. It's wild that it can happen in this country, but it did. Anyway. Yeah.

Wolf gave me the actual, you know, when I asked what the content thing was, like that they're now removing. Oh, in Disney? Yeah. This is what it is. They had a content advisory disclaimer on some of the show, like Dumbo.

Come on. And Peter Pan. The cartoons? Yeah. That they warn that it, quote, includes negative depictions and or mistreatment of peoples or cultures. Okay. Dumbo. Okay. It might offend, what is it, the child donkeys who are getting drunk and smoking cigars in Dumbo? Like, really? Child donkeys. You remember them. Yeah. What was it? The island where they're all just being mad at you? Island of misfit toys? Where they're just trying to have a good time?

Drink a couple beers, have a few cigars. I mean, we're having such a good time, we might as well play a game. Let's play a game. Let's do it. King of the Hill. It's Thursday. We got to get to it. Our defending champion is Holmes with the ultimate cheat code, Sherry Jacobus. I think I'm going for...

what the Chiefs couldn't accomplish. It's a three-peat? Yeah. Going for it. And Ashbrook, you have our challenger. Who are you bringing? Joe Walsh. Joe Walsh. Smoking Joe Walsh. Okay. And Smug, you're Judge, and I'm Bailiff. That's right. So let's go ringside. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. It's time for King of the Hit.

In the red corner, fighting from who knows where, Smokin' Joe Walsh! And now, in the blue corner, fighting from her own Twitter account, and current champion of the world, Hami Cherry Jacobus!

It's so good every time. Seriously. Every time. And he gives a little more when he's playing. Yeah. He throws a little, there's a little more diaphragm to it. He projects. Yeah. No, it's great. Okay. You're our defending champion. So I will go. I'm going to call up Exhibit 3. Exhibit 3 is Sherry Jacobus saying simply, it's hard to say goodbye, but there's no denying that your MAGA friends are now basically Nazis. Good God.

She always takes it to 11. Nazis. She only has... Don't deny. She just has one speed. Dude, it's just so... It's just not fair. It's just so good. It's like... Yeah. No, they might vote a little differently on fiscal policy or they may exterminate 11 million people. This is... She just... She has one speed.

That's why she's unfair in this game. I mean, like the first few words, you're like, where's this going? It's hard to say goodbye. And she's like, but you have to abandon all your friends. They're now Nazis. And family, whatever. Where did that come from? All righty. Ashbrook. Okay. Spaghetts, can we have exhibit eight, please? And we have Joe Walsh quote tweeting himself at X.

almost 11 a.m. on February the 11th, he says, hey, MAGA, if you want to get rid of the Constitution, have the balls to say so. And what I'll tell you, Smoke and Joe, is we do. We have big balls. Big balls.

Is that a video he has there? That's what that is? It looks like it's a one-minute, 31-second video of himself that he is offering people. Promoting a podcast or something. An offering for his followers. Yeah. It's important. I like it. Well, it's... I mean, that's a good take, no doubt. I think it might appeal a bit more...

to Duncan, who's... If Duncan were judge, he's a big fan of, like, misuse of the internet, self-promotion kind of nonsense, but... I just can't get over, yes, she has one speed, and it's always 11, but to be like...

It's hard to say goodbye to all your friends. Be a shut-in. It's just you, the cats, in a bomb shelter. Your friends are all Nazis now. They're Nazis. I got to give round one to Jerry Jacobus. Every Democrat in the country is Anne Frank. Yeah. You know? I mean, what a wild, what a wild take. Hope you got a nuke there, Ashbrook. Okay, Exhibit 13 from Joe Walsh. And Joe writes helpfully. Oh, my God.

I'll be on Substack with Acosta this afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern. Come on over to Substack and check it out at the, quote, Jim Acosta Show, close quote. While you're there, hit me up with a subscribe. And then he has his Substack social contract with Joe Walsh, front slash subscribe. I love that.

I appreciate it. The self-promotion is great. You know, I feel a little guilty, though. Come on. You think you got to— You have a nuke. Yeah. He has a nuke. I just feel guilty about it. I don't think you do. Not at all. I don't, actually. Because 30 minutes after her take about how all Trump supporters are Nazis, she had Exhibit 4. The only Nazi—the good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Jeez.

So when she was saying it's time to say goodbye to your friends, she didn't mean just like via text. No, she meant kill them. You know, and I don't want to color the opinion of the esteemed judge here, but I appreciate that Holmes provided the 30-minute context there, which I think makes the take even better. Yeah, because they're meant to be together. Her suggestion is...

Kill your friends. Let's not make a mistake here. Ashbrook, yeah, that's pretty nutty being like, yeah, I'm going to be on with Acosta already. This is going to be a trash heap. And then he's like, but also send me some money. Normally that's like a solid play. But to be like...

Everybody kill your friends. You can't beat the queen. I hate to do this. It's a second round knockout. Oh my God. Who will end the reign of Sherry? Doing what the chiefs couldn't.

Good God. Kill your friends? That's a new take. No, honestly, the funny thing is I didn't want to because last week I literally thought it was the worst one that I've ever heard in this show and we talked about it. And I don't like to be hyperbolic about King of the Hill because King of the Hill, like, you get great stuff. It's hard to say this is the worst. Yeah. Kill your friends. Yeah. I think we just got to find her one single friend. Yeah.

Just one other human friend. And then maybe she will stop posting so much crazy shit. I mean, it's tough to get friends when you're like, there's a 50-50 chance I'll just kill you. I might ace you. I might ace you. Holy cats. Oh, man. Well, I appreciate it. Good game. Good game, nevertheless. I'll continue to play another day with Sherry Meshary. Bad news, folks. Bad news. This is the only piece of bad news that we have on the program. Oh, I hate to hear it.

There's a convenience store chain that's near and dear to the hearts of many of our listeners in the middle of the country. Come and Go. Yes. It announced, according to the New York Post, that dozens of Come and Go convenience stores across several states are about to be rebranded. In my view, a massive mistake. My mother listens to this. I can't believe we're covering this.

The first reaction is my mother listens to this. Apologize to my mother. But I do have a question. Are you saying they're just pulling out of the original branding? Oh, my God! You apologize to us, Mom. I simply read what Wolf provided me.

No, it's a real question. I don't know if you guys have had this experience, but like, you know, come and goes. They're not everywhere. But if I'm in a town and I see a come and go, I try to go in every single time. You're like, I'm going to come. Do not come.

No, it's... Because you want to show that receipt to your buddies. You do. Because then you'll... Yeah, exactly. You'll take a picture of the receipt and send it to your boys and be like, look where I'm at. Yeah. And that's, you know, for the women listening to this, it's just simply the fact that we could be 80, we could be 40. We're all still 12 in our hearts. Yeah.

It turns out it's going to be completed by the summer of 25. The work is a continuation since Come and Go was acquired by a Utah-based, there you go. Oh, okay. Utah-based company. I mean, they got morals and stuff. This company, Maverick, they're like, we can't have it. I'm pleading with the good people of Maverick. Listen, you don't know what you have. You don't know what you have here. Come and Go?

So can stay. Oh, jeez. Are you seeing the background info of that Wolfgate? Oh, my God. It says... Wait, no, you missed it. No, the background right here. Are you seeing this? The company was founded in 1959 by T.S. Gentle. Gentle's come and go? Like, how do you find this shit, dude? Did you hear Ashbrooks? No. Yeah. I wasn't paying attention. I was looking. There's a guy named Gentle who started this. No, I get that. But he said you could come and go or you couldn't.

So can stay. Oh, my God. Yeah. He was trying to do a Utah thing there.

That's outrageous. I won't stand for it. Regional humor. Regional humor. You're from the area. You know exactly what we're talking about. You're probably offended by the whole segment, frankly. I apologize to Duncan's mother. That was just out of control. What are we supposed to do with that? It's a story. It's the New York Post. Alexander Hamilton started the publication, for crying out loud. You've got to cover it. Yeah, yeah. No, it's an important publication.

All right. So just remember, we have a question of the day. And you've got to get involved. You've got to like and subscribe. We're almost to 100,000, and this is the only way this poor man gets a plaque. Yeah. Do it for us. If you just do that. So do it for Smug's living room, if nothing else. I understand it could use a little. It's going right on the mantle. It could use a little something. Yeah, it needs it. Yeah. So the question is for next Tuesday, in the moment of darkness, what's the best trick?

troll to make the experience the Democrats are having even worse. How to twist a knife. How can you twist a knife? Listen, we got a lot of fans that are in the press office over in the White House.

They may take your suggestions very literally. So be thoughtful but funny, but funny. So add that to it. While you're liking and subscribing, you might want to check out some merch. My understanding is we're going to provide some new offerings. We've had some great ideas about new offerings lately that I think are going to blow your mind.

I can't wait for this one. Yeah, there's one. There's one in particular that's fantastic. Hopefully we'll be able to announce that next week. And then remember, for those of you who are listening, they're going to be joining us for the live show next week. Thank you for buying tickets. I'm sorry we don't have a bigger venue. Again, sold out very, very quickly, and we're sorry about that. We wish we could...

You know, just do this for thousands. But we got to, you know, we did this in two weeks notice. We want to like put it together quickly. There's going to be some great guests. People that have... Hell of a lineup. Formulated the vision of Ruthless. They've been on. You know them. I'm not going to give any hints. But you will be surprised and you will love every minute of it. But also...

No, this isn't our last one. We're actually going to pick up the cadence. Yeah. We're going to pick up the cadence. We're going to do this a little bit more. We're going to get back out there. I felt like our 2019 or our 2021, rather, cadence was really good. And then we sort of fell off a little bit. We're going to get back into a full cadence. You're going to get these all the time. So stay tuned. We're going to keep providing opportunities to do all that. And with that, I think we did it.

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode, gentlemen. Again, thank you so much to our listeners. Reminder, if you have not yet, it's more fun and video. Go to the YouTube, like and subscribe. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.

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