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The Lead — Dec 18
I'VE HAD IT · JENNIFER WELCH AND ANGIE SULLIVAN

Fascism, But Stupid

1h 21m / December 18, 2025 /politics / Transcript sourced from openai
All episodes from I've Had It →·Podcast website →·Listen on Apple Podcasts →

Overview

This episode of I’ve Had It features Jon Favreau (co-host of Pod Save America) in a wide-ranging conversation about the current and emerging threats within U.S. politics—especially the ideological shift from Trump’s cult-of-personality to a more organized, explicitly nationalist movement. Along the way, the hosts mix comedy and pop-culture games with serious discussion about messaging failures on the left, religious politics, and the rising power of tech oligarchs.

Key Takeaways

  • The post-Trump Republican project may be more dangerous than Trump himself. Favreau argues that figures like Stephen Miller and J.D. Vance are advancing “blood and soil” nationalism—redefining “American” away from shared ideals and toward ancestry and exclusion. The concern isn’t just rhetoric; it’s the intellectual framework for longer-term authoritarian governance.

  • Democrats’ “assumption politics” leaves them unprepared for bad-faith opponents. The hosts criticize Democrats for repeatedly expecting norms to hold (e.g., after Jan. 6) and for responding with procedural restraint rather than aggressive accountability and clearer moral confrontation.

  • Democracy arguments must connect to lived outcomes—not abstractions. Both sides agree that “defending democracy” is too vague unless paired with tangible proof: how one-party Republican rule (e.g., in Oklahoma) degrades education, healthcare access, women’s rights, and quality of life.

  • Religion has been weaponized—and Democrats ignore it at their peril. The conversation highlights how evangelical “spiritual warfare” framing (good vs. evil) maps cleanly onto MAGA messaging. The suggested counter isn’t mocking faith, but reclaiming moral language: cruelty isn’t “Christlike,” and empathy isn’t weakness.

  • Tech oligarchs are accelerating AI with minimal accountability. Favreau and the hosts describe a familiar cycle: utopian promises → social damage → new powerful tech (AI) → demands for zero regulation. They warn about job loss, rising infrastructure costs, mental health harms, and deepening loneliness through “obsequious” AI companions that replace real relationships.

Practical Steps

  • Translate “democracy” into outcomes people can verify. When discussing politics, lead with concrete comparisons: “What did one-party rule deliver here—schools, wages, hospitals, rights?” Pair values with results.

  • Attack cruelty with moral clarity, not just policy detail. Use plain language and culturally fluent frames (including religious ones where relevant): “This isn’t what Jesus taught,” or “No child’s life is worth less—Israeli or Palestinian.”

  • Rebuild real-world contact in ignored regions. Support or volunteer for state/local organizing in deep-red states (candidate recruitment, canvassing, mutual aid visibility). The goal is to pierce caricatures by showing Democrats as present, normal, and useful.

  • Advocate “consumer protections,” not “regulation.” Reframe guardrails as protection from corporate harm (opioids, privacy abuse, algorithmic exploitation). Tie it to specific local stories and costs.

  • Reduce AI/social isolation at home. Create “phone-off” routines and prioritize in-person community (clubs, volunteering, faith communities, neighborhood events) to counter the “illusion of connection” digital life sells.

Notable Quotes

  • Jon Favreau: “What comes next, I worry is going to be much worse… they’re redefining who gets to be American.”
  • Jennifer: “We have to go full-blown pitbull and really demonize the characters and the system of theirs.”
  • Jon Favreau: “Real patriotism is saying, ‘I love this country. I want to make it better.’”

Full Transcript

Source: openai 1h 21m runtime

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After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. All right, listen, patriots, gatriots, they-triots, black-triots, brown-triots, A-K-A-I hipsters, A-K-A-I've-had-it listeners, Jon Favreau, co-host of Pod Save America joins us on today's episode and I'm just here to tell you, it is an amazing episode where we discuss all of the MAGA fuckery, but each week on their podcast over at Pod Save America, former Obama aides, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vitor, Jon Leavitt and Dan Pfeiffer deliver no bullshit takes on the news with just enough humor to keep us all sane. You'll hear an honest, in-depth conversation with major voices in politics, media and culture. We have had three out of the four on the podcast on I've Had It Here and we will not stop until we get the fourth. Dan Pfeiffer, we're coming for you. New episodes drop every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. So are we supposed to start the podcast? Ready? One, two, three. Patriots, gay-triots, they-triots, black-triots, brown-triots and the people that are mean to those people can do what, Pam? So go! That's right. Okay. Listen, it's a big day. Finally. Okay. It's America. And we've had two of the three hosts on. And we're finally, our white whale, we're finally, we've finally got the one that was hard to get. Best for last. Jon Favreau, welcome to I've Had It. Thanks for having me. It's America's top DEI podcast. Yes. I know. I'm aware. I enjoy it very much. We're all a New York City listener. And so it was just like a last minute podcast for democracy. Yeah. Just, you know, good two hours from JFK. Yeah. And traffic. Yeah. That sucks. I live in Los Angeles. I got to say, this city, the traffic is nothing in Los Angeles compared to this. We took the subway here. Yeah. See, that's- From my apartment. It was 11 minutes. I probably should have done that from, yeah. 11 minutes. Well, just wait till the free buses. I know. Exactly. Exactly. All right. What we'd like to do is go around the table and everybody share what they've had it with. And I feel like yours are going to be political. So we're going to start with pumps first. And then we'll end with you. So pumps, what have you had it with? Not political. Not political. John's can be political. Okay. What I've had it with is when you go to a restaurant and they say it's family style. They want, it's like, I want my own food. If somebody else wants a bite, that's fine. But I don't want to have to share. I want to order what I want to order. I don't want everybody to have to agree because when everybody has to agree, it takes forever. And it's just, why do we, why are we insisting on family style for everything? I think sharing is so overrated. I hate sharing. Democracy, good for a government, bad for a restaurant. What are your thoughts on that? Do you like a family style, John? Like if the, it just takes extra time because then everyone is like, all right, what do we all want to share? Right. And then someone doesn't want this. And then you're like, okay, well you two want this and you three want that. It's just a lot of, it's a pain in the ass. Makes it harder. It makes it take longer. I like to dine and dash. So that doesn't do well for me. Okay. I don't know if mine is a grievance, but I've been dying to talk to somebody about this. I haven't told you yet and I want to talk about it on the pod. So over Thanksgiving break, went home to Oklahoma city, went to an Oklahoma city Thunder game, having a great time. Our team is fucking awesome. Love them. So we're like sitting in the lower bowl. It's my husband, my two sons and me. It's like family bondorama, right? We're winning. Shea Gilligas, Alexander shooting threes. And then all of a sudden this German guy on our team gets in a fight. What's his name? The German. Um, oh, Hartstein. He gets into a push match with Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert is from France and about two rows behind us, a guy says, Germany stopped you in world war two France. And I was sitting there for a second and I like kind of, and I was like, okay, Hartenstein, Germany, Rudy Gobert, they call him the Eiffel tower. Holy shit. He's a fucking neo-Nazi. So then I turn and look at my family and I'm sitting on the end and my son that's in law school goes, did you hear that mom's like a fucking neo-Nazi. And I'm like, oh, that's what I thought, but it was so shocking. And it took me a second to kind of process the whole thing. Like, does he know what he's talking about? I just need to discuss this with somebody. It was traumatizing to hear that. I feel like taunts at sporting events, sometimes people dig like a little too deep, you know, we're going back to history of wars between countries. We're making Hartenstein be the Nazi. That's a tough one. I thought that was unfair. I went to college with Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and we didn't have great sports teams, but when we, I remember we were playing Harvard in football and our chant was God's on our side. And their chant was safety school for us, which was a fair chant. They won that one. Right. This is why it's not, you can't really get into the- I love trash talking. I love trash talking at sports. It was just the kind of, it was so shocking to hear it. And I was like, and I asked Dylan, I was like, do you think the guy's a grouper? Like, what do you think is going on? Because my son knows all about that kind of niche internet culture because he listens to Hasan Piker. So he knows all about that niche stuff. Like when, when I'm trying to figure stuff out about internet culture that I don't know, I call my son and he's like, okay, here's the deal with the gory version mom. And he explains it all to me, explained to me what Twitch was, you know, all of these things. But have you seen those, those hats that are like back-to-back world war champs for like the USA? Like those are, I think that's kind of fun if it's in that spirit where we're just talking about old kind of rivalries. When you mentioned Germany, particularly World War II, it's very specific. Those Germans were really fucked up. I mean, they really were bad. Yeah. Yeah. And France did get their ass kicked, but. They did. They did. They did. I mean, just a bunch of puss boys. So it was accurate, accurate trash talking, but. Kind of neo-Nazi-ish. Little Nazi-ish. Little grouper-ish. Yeah. Well, I mean, you were in Oklahoma, the heart of MAGA country. I was, I was. It was just, it was so shocking. And I've been wanting to tell you about it, but we were all just, and it's one of those things you hear it, it takes a second. Right. You digest it. Oh, Germany. Oh yeah. That was, yeah. We, we know that. We remember that. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of other things happened as well. I want to, before we get to your grievance, I want to know about this, the school you went to. Is it Catholic school? So it's as Catholic as, it's Jesuit, but it's as Catholic as like Georgetown. Okay. It's Holy Cross. It makes everyone think it's. Sounds really dramatic. Much more religious. And I did, and I was raised Catholic, but I did not go there because of that. Um, I got, you know, it's close to home. I grew up just North of Boston and I got a, like a half scholarship to go there. So it was that or BC or Bowdoin. Okay. And we went up to Bowdoin, which is in Maine in the middle of a snowstorm. Yeah. And I was like, nah, can't do that. And that was it. That's how I made my decision. My son that's in law school. Holy Cross gave me money. BC was cool, but you know. Yeah. That was it. My son that's in law school now, he went to this undergrad at Newhouse at Syracuse. Oh yeah. Oh, my cousin went there. Snow. He would FaceTime me and it was like, he was Jon Snow at the North wall. I mean, he would be walking across campus. It's unbelievable. We drove there for her graduation, I remember. And it was, yeah, that's up there. Yeah, it really is. Okay. Jon Favreau, what have you had it with? Well, speaking of Germany and Nazis, I know you've had, you're, you're good friends with Stephen Miller as well. Yeah. His wife's really mad at me. I have had it with Stephen Miller and JD Vance telling us that America is defined by blood and soil nationalism. Right. Which is what they have been doing lately. And I think we're all used to, you know, we've had 10 years of Donald Trump. He is a cult of personality. He is leaving the scene soon, 2028. And what comes next, I worry is going to be much worse. And so far, the only movement in the party that has gained any traction is this, they call it national conservatism. And but, you know, we just had that horrible shooting of the national, two national guard troops in DC. And then of course, the administration moved to close down migration from not just Afghanistan, but all kinds of other countries that they have deemed unworthy. And Stephen Miller tweeted during this, this isn't about something to the effect of, this isn't about when you import individuals, because when you when you bring in people into this country, you're bringing in entire societies. Yeah, their culture. Their culture. And when you bring in entire societies of immigrants and their descendants, they bring with them the brokenness of their society and the terror of that society. Just like very blatantly saying that people from other countries and their children cannot ever assimilate and be part of America. And this is obviously he has a direct line to Trump. He writes a lot of these Trump tweets, truths, whatever the fuck they are. J.D. Vance has also been giving speeches like this. I'm obsessed with the speech he gave at Claremont in out in California this July, where he talked about how America as an idea should not be what defines this country. And that just just believing in the principles in the Declaration of Independence is both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. Over-inclusive because that means if anyone around the world believes in the principles in the declaration, then they can be American. And under-inclusive because if you don't believe in the principles in the declaration, but your ancestors fought in the Civil War, meaning confederates, then you have just as right, you have a claim on this country. More so than the people who believe that you don't have a claim on this country. And it didn't get a ton of attention, but like Miller, Vance, these are like deeply radical, dangerous ideas. And I am just waiting for Democrats and hopefully a 2028 Democratic contender to like go at that argument head on, because I don't think we can just avoid it and just like do our thing where we talk about, you know, have to focus on the economy, have to focus on affordability. All that is correct. Have to focus on individual issues, a ton of issues that are important. But there is like a bigger thing at stake here, and that is how we define what this country is and who gets to be American. And I feel like that is at the heart of what we've been arguing about for the last 10 years. And certainly the people that want to succeed Trump want to continue on having that argument. And they'll be more organized. They'll be smarter. They won't have the cult of personality. That's the only thing we can do. Electorally, we might be better off because I think it's much more unpopular, but it's much more dangerous. You bring up a really good point that I think Democrats struggle with. And I call it assumption politics. They assume that people are going to do the right thing. They assume that people will see that J.D. Vance has no riz, is a washed up, old failed drag queen who can't even stand up for his wife and kids. Stephen Miller's a, you know, short little twerp Nazi. His wife is just absolutely as despicable as he in a very shocking turn of events that they're both equally can out, you know, cruel each other. She's got a very popular podcast, though. But I think that your point that if they don't address it, if the Democrats don't address this head on, this cruelty and how they wrap it up in Christianity and call out the evangelical spiritual warfare component of this that draws in the rubes all over red America, they assume that it's not going to get any traction in this. This assumption politics is at its worst. When you see what happened, we all saw January 6th. And if I would have asked you on January 7th, is Trump's political career over? You would have said 100 percent over. It's done. And the most important political appointment of our lifetime was Joe Biden appointing an attorney general. And he played integrity politics because he felt bad that Mitch McConnell dicked over Merrick Garland and Merrick Garland is milquetoast. We needed Pitbull. We needed, I mean, just the meanest motherfucker imaginable. I mean, just somebody that would walk into court and just like, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I mean, just a shark. And he didn't appoint that because everybody assumes in the Democratic Party that people are going to do the right thing because they do the right thing. And the Trump administration even admits all the time. You're shocked about how easy this has been during the transition. They're like, yeah, they're totally working with us on everything. Yeah, it's just it. That's the part about Democrats where they just they assume the good in people. And I'm like, these people are fucked up. They have no good, like really, really fucked up. Need to be in padded cells and straitjackets when it comes to like J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller, Stephen Miller. Patriots, gay triots, they triots, black triots, brown triots and all of the MAGA assholes can do what, Pops? Fuck off. I'm Jennifer. I'm in New York City right now. I'm Angie. I'm in Oklahoma City right now. But coming very soon, we're going to be together in none other than Atlanta, Georgia. Our very first live show within Atlanta. So January 31st, we reunite on stage at Center Stage in Atlanta. Please come join us. We are going to have a matinee because we've had it with things starting too late at night. So this will start at 2 p.m. You can get all liquored up, go home and pass out. And guess what? You'll get so much sleep you won't even be hung over the next day. And you're fighting for democracy. Please join us. It's going to be so much fun. 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Send your pet's wish to Chewy.com slash Chewy Claws and it might become a reality. Plus, your wish means Chewy will donate five meals to pets in need. You know, there's been sort of an interminable debate over the last several years about like, we shouldn't be talking about democracy, because democracy doesn't really mean anything to people. It's just like a sort of a vague concept. And we should talk about things that tangibly improve people's lives. And I get that. I know all the polling, to an extent, I really agree with it. But part of the challenge is, I think that we have all grown up and lived in a world, in a country where we have not had to make an argument for democracy, like a real full-throated argument of like, why is the system of government good for you? In the way that some of the polling is telling us we should talk about things that matter to people's lives, right? Like, okay, if we think democracy is important, and we think that they're threatening democracy, and Donald Trump's been threatening democracy, then why is it a better system? And I don't think we've made, and why is that more American, according to the founding principles of this country, than what they're offering? Here's the thing. I think that that is so earnest, that we have to make this argument to the American people, and I like it in principle, it's not going to fucking work. We have to go full-blown pitbull and really demonize the characters and the system of theirs. We need to go on attack and prove that they are screwed up. That's what the right has done, and where we are with the digital age, and just how angry everybody is post-COVID, the impatience that everybody has, I think the Democrats, instead of making this case, because the attention span of the average American is one Instagram slide. Right. So it is ridiculing and piling on the biggest dorks imaginable. It is a layup. It is a layup to bring these people down. After you get them hooked in, then you can get into more nuanced conversations, but to get the masses in, I think we need to go on full attack of them, and then bring the arguments for our cause as a secondary thing. I agree with that to an extent. People vote, and to the extent they pay attention to politics, which most people in the country sadly do not. It is, how does it affect my life? And I think now we have seen their system of government. I'm 51. So for 50 years just recently moved to New York City and The argument that Democrats have failed to make is number one. They abandoned a 50-state strategy So places like Oklahoma become more radical and more horrific But if you look at the data of what red state supermajorities get you When we had a governor in 2011 named Brad Henry, he's a Democrat our education system was 17th in the country We are now 50th and we had a superintendent Ryan Walters who sits and talks about trans So if you say not only are these people horrible people, but Republican supermajorities have harmed you and furthermore Republicans are liars. They've lied to you And do you remember when Trump said the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted? There was a little bit of truth to that. Mm-hmm a lot of truth to that What's even more true is the Republican Party has taken the working class working class and rural voters vote for granted So horrifically in the data shows all of that if you go from Oklahoma, Texas and just swing all the way through the Bible Belt Those are the bottom ten states and now Oklahoma is 50th in education. This is a Republican supermajority So anybody in Oklahoma if you don't like your life The people you blame are the Republicans they've had everything where the Worst state number one worst state for women to live Worse and and there's more, you know, but by a percentage more women voters than male. And so those are the arguments I think we make First off is attacking their policy and attacking the personalities behind the policy But we go attack versus here's what we're going to teach you about the world. No, we I'd know I definitely don't think we should No one is interested in being educated Right now they're barely having time but I do think it is to that example Like has your life really improved under Republican rule total Republican rule for the last several years Do you it's fine if you still want to be Republican, but wouldn't you like to try something new? Right, wouldn't you like to maybe have a government that actually fights for you? Right does something for you and actually delivers for you right now I think the challenge is that most people have gotten so used to neither Republicans nor Democrats Doing anything that has improved their lives that they sometimes default to Republicans because Republicans were like, okay Well, yeah, maybe maybe you know that we're kind of lying when we're gonna tell you that we're gonna make you richer But we're gonna hurt those other people and that are hurting you the cruelty Well and the the Democrats abandoning a 50-state strategy has allowed Republican propaganda to penetrate in a very cult-like religious way so in Oklahoma and all through the Bible Belt South people believe in Spiritual warfare as being very real a real thing like devils and angels I was an atheist grew up an atheist in the Bible Belt so I have a very kind of clear-eyed perspective about because all of my friends were these crazy Bible thumpers and The way the Republican Party uses language about good versus evil it very much mirrors that Evangelical Christianity and in rural towns the only sense of culture they have or any sort of socializing is in their church It's where they go to bingo. They go to dances and in these churches I remember growing up John in Oklahoma City and George W Bush was running the dumb one and that on the on the marquee outside the church was say vote for George Bush today And it's everywhere and so they have demonized Democrats to such a point that so many people are willing to vote for a Republican Even if they think that person is a piece of shit Like, you know, remember when Trump famously endorsed Roy Moore the first time we knew he didn't have a problem with pedophiles You remember that I do remember in Alabama more race. It was wild, right? Doug Jones won that's so many people will just go ahead and vote for that and So the Democrats have got to go back in and and have even though we still have the stupid Electoral College I think abandoning a 50-state strategy is really harmed the Democratic Party for sure. I remember Obama used to talk about this when he was a senator in, Illinois state senator, too and He said, you know, I would travel to like Southern, Illinois Which gets you know, pretty southern and and then and then later when he would go to Iowa and He would meet, you know more conservative voters in person and they would say oh You're you're totally different than the caricature of you totally on Fox News was back in the day. It was just Fox and the challenge now is Like most Democratic politicians don't have the opportunity to go Visit people in all of these states in all of these areas because politics is nationalized Because the Democratic Party in Oklahoma and other places to your point about the 50-state strategy has is is non-existent in a lot of places And so they never get visits from Democratic politicians They don't see Democrats right in real life and realize that We're just people like them who want similar things that they do right and so you have this view of the other party as a bunch of demons Because that's what you're taught in church and and that's what I think we have to figure out right is how do you like pierce the caricature that the Maga tries to paint of us. Mm-hmm. And I think that's that's challenging. Here's what I think we do we use Andy Brashear did this very brilliantly in Kentucky. He uses religion and this is another failure. I think the Democratic Party has done All the Heritage Foundation all of these crazy white nationalist groups far They go for way further back than Trump like back to Reagan and these guys have been prepping and grooming and you know Machinating for a long time and I think that you have to go and use your religion. We need like good Christian politicians It's nauseating for me personally when when politicians talk about religion whether they're Muslim whether they're Jewish whether they're Christian enough I don't want to hear it, but we live in a very religious country And so I think you have to have these choir boys or choir girls like Andy Brashear go in or tell Rico Yeah the porn Which I kind of like that Yeah, I was kind of into it. But anyway, I'm poor guy. I know he's so nice people following him on Instagram He's being nice. He's saying he's accepting the follow. It's okay. I know she's hot I mean, he's a guy but anyway I think that if you can go because my point is Republicans brought Religion into politics and the Democrats have never responded to it. We said, oh, we're secular It's you know we're not gonna attack people's faith and they need to use this form of Christianity and say this doesn't seem very Christlike to me This doesn't seem very Jesusy to me to really get them to critically think a touch And when you see Teller Rico do that and when you see Brashear do that it has an impact and Neither one has had to throw trans people under the bus. In fact, Andy Brashear Refused to do so and Kentucky is every bit as ass-backward as Oklahoma and he's got two terms Yeah, and I think there's something to that to addressing the you know elephant in the room head-on These they have weaponized your faith against you and taken your vote for granted I think Democrats need to start speaking very plain spoken to them about the lies the manipulation and the exploitation by the Republican Party to all of these working-class Americans because it is so devastating what is happening to people's lives and red states under Republican supermajorities is Devastating we have friends in Oklahoma that have a trans child and now they're refugees going to blue states every gay person I know that's under the age of 30 in Oklahoma is moving because they've been bullied by their parents They've been bullied by their churches. Now. They're being bullied by their governments their schools. It's Institutionalized and it's just really harming people the cruelty of Republican supermajorities has got to be exposed and I think we need some like good Christian People to come out and do it because nobody's gonna think I have any credibility Regarding it an atheist. I mean I was I was raised Catholic in a suburb of Boston And we weren't in especially religious family. We go to church, you know, I did You know CCD I was confirmed. We went to mass on like, you know Christmas and Easter that kind of family and then when I went to Holy Cross Holy Cross is Jesuit and the Jesuits are like the real lefty Catholics like social justice. Okay liberation theology These are like the South American sort of like lefty movements. This is where the Jesuits come from Pope Francis was Jesuit and My political sort of awakening Like my parents were Democrats. I was like a Democrat growing up I didn't really know why but my political awakening was because of the Jesuits of Holy Cross who believed that you go out into the community and you do good works and that Jesus was you know someone who was always caring about the least of these and the stranger and feeding the hungry and If someone needed something, you know You never turn them away and when you think about like whether you're religious or not The core of every major religion has some version of the Golden Rule, right? It is in you got the New Testament. It's in Islam. It's Buddhism like you Judaism You can go through all the major religions and it is somewhere there which tells you that It's it's almost Independent of any specific religion and then it is it can also be humanist people like people who are atheists people who are agnostic Can still believe that and I do think that having some kind of organizing moral principle whether you are Part of organized religion whether you're not whether you're just spiritual whether you're not is really important And I think what you're talking about with Democrats is like we're very good at talking about Policy, we're gonna talking about politics, but like we don't talk as much about Morality and values and we like to we like to say that and I think rightly so That Republicans are hypocritical about it and they are But that leaves open the question. Well, then what do you believe? How do you think people should be treated? Right, and I think that's really really important And I think it's it's it's good to know here because we've noticed like I remember we went we were in New York No, we were in Oklahoma City and we interviewed Kathy Hochul via zoom for our podcast. We thought we were hot shit for doing it You're a baby podcasters. The governor of New York is on and then if like a week later we came up here We were talking to some people they're like, well, who'd be had on lately? We're like, I wait on governor Kathy Hochul and these New Yorkers are like, oh, she sucks And I looked at pops and I go what a fucking luxury Right. What a luxury to be a liberal in a blue state and be irritated with your Democratic governor And I think there is a disconnect in the people and the Democratic Party that do the focus groups And that do the polling and they don't understand the the components of America that are disconnected from large cities and Oklahoma City is a city of a million people and Demographically it broke down exactly the way the nation did Oklahoma City is perfectly purple and I think it went like 49 Trump 48 Kamala. It's so it's like a microcosm of the electorate at large So I have a ton of progressive friends in Oklahoma I have some you know, Bible thumper friends that are you know, kind of arm's length, but I Understand how somebody can be so rational about so many things like a physician Mm-hmm, you can talk to them and they're rational rational rational rational and then like Evolution comes up. I'm like, well, no, I totally believe in creation. You're like How are you a physician like how is it possible that evolution is the bedrock of biology and you graduated from medical school? and it's like something snaps in them and the indoctrination in these mega churches and that kind of Nouveau Christianity culture has been so Rapid and it has grown in tandem with the Republican movement and it has metastasized Into this Maga-culture and I think a lot of these people fall prey to the cult so easily because Donald Trump is exactly like a mega church Pastor he is, you know slapping his secretary on the ass. He's a grifter He's putting on a show has the hair. Yeah, it just reminds me He reminds me so much and so I can see why they feel so comfortable with that abuser Because the abuser that they've had previously in their life are the are their pastors. Hmm Well, it's also people I think it's like a fundamental human longing to belong to be part of a community part of something and so when it's people when it's your neighbors your family that you've been around you want to be part of that and You it's I think it's hard if you're raised that way to then be like, oh everything that I have known and grown up with and been taught is completely wrong and Bad that seems it's much easier to say no. No the people who are telling me that they're the bad ones. They're crazy So I do think it's like really it's difficult. I mean like we we can say like, oh, you're not rational They think we're not rational, right? So then your story. Okay, so while I raised super evangelical and so I was approaching a family member who Would tell you that they believe every single bit of the Bible is true word-for-word They believe Jesus helped the sick fed the poor did all the things Then I said then how do you feel about it was around the alligator Alcatraz where everybody's wearing merch and yeah Snakes and alligators and I said, so what do you think Jesus would do? About you know people just being sent to these places where they can be eaten by alligators. Oh, I think he'd be all for it It was so shocking show me where There's a Republican movement now in tandem with this we're now it is the anti-empathy movement Right, have you seen this because they know that Jesus is a problem Elon Musk has been he I first heard him say that the Empathy was really dangerous, but it really is toxic empathy toxic empathy. Yeah, they're very mad at this Pope They didn't like the last Pope this Pope is now they don't like this Pope either Radical right Compassionate empath and when you hear for me like when I heard here Bernie Sanders speak the atheist Jew He sounds more I mean, he's cranky as I'll get out but what he's messaging is seems more Christlike than all of the Christians that I grew up around in Oklahoma City because Their lack of empathy towards poor people and that is something they have messaged to demonize the poor and it is a part of their core values and it's it's it's interesting because I feel like Old Republicans the previous iteration of the Republican Party. It would be you know, what? it's it's awful that there are poor people and We should have charity. We should give Compassionate conservatism and also like of course, we want to help everyone. You can't help everyone all the time It So it's a little like yes, this is a bad thing and we want to help but we just we can't get around to a Kind of thing right and we don't want to pay more taxes, right and we don't trust government to fix it, right? So fine, I disagree with all that but it's like an argument now It is they are undeserving right and they are undeserving because it is something in their culture with they're an immigrant Yeah, or it is, you know It is learned behavior and it is whatever excuses they come up with to try to convince themselves that what they are doing the neglect and the cruelty is warranted because these people aren't Jesus is a problem for them. Yep, and so is the Declaration right, like the whole like We believe all everyone's created equal. We doubt endowed with inalienable rights life liberty in the pursuit of happiness Like this is a problem for JD Vance and for the guy from Missouri the senator there Schmidt Eric Schmidt, he gave a big speech on this for Stephen Miller They and and I think that is a I mean, there's there's a bright spot there for Democrats Which is like if the other party sees the Declaration of Independence and Jesus as an obstacle to their political agenda Maybe maybe we have a case to make Maybe I don't know Someone's gonna make it though. Yes on top of the fact that these people are So unmarketable, I mean right just Because I think what we're seeing now with Trump is the curtains are closing. He's a lame-duck The dementia is objectively true. He's definitely sleepy. He's yeah, he's very tired Yeah, and so I mean biology is gonna catch up to him or 2028 is gonna catch up to him There's several concerns I have with that number one I think they've committed so many crimes so many crimes that they are going to do something really dramatic and radical to prevent Midterms and or 2028 because look at what they did in on January 6 Yeah, and I just don't believe anything coming out of this administration nothing I don't think you can I don't think any document that comes out I think every single document that comes out you should question the veracity in them for sure So that's a problem but as he is as the cult starts to fall apart you see all of these fissures forming and you see The Heritage Foundation and Tucker Carlson making room for a larger tent with Nick Fuentes and Katie Miller, I'm sure you saw she she mentioned me on CNN. She's really mad at me but Abby Phillips asked her the question about should Tucker Carlson be platforming Nick Fuentes and My if I would have been on that night I would said my problem is I'm shocked that you're shocked Abby. Of course Tucker Carlson is Platforming Nick Fuentes Donald Trump dined with Nick Fuentes that everybody is welcome The only problem with Nick Fuentes for for the hard right? Zionists in that party that have for somehow they think they're gonna get safety in the right wing The Zionist is that he hates all the same people. They hate so like great great great great great But then he also hates the Jews So that's their problem with Nick Fuentes. And so Tucker has a major problem with Israel as well So it to me that's like a match made in heaven because then he's on Piers Morgan calling gay people the F slur, right? I mean these people it's not shocking to me that they are Entertaining Nick Fuentes his base and I'm shocked that the mainstream media is shocked at that. They and it's it's a Political necessity for them to to keep the coalition together Manhattan Institute just did a poll I just saw them tweet out results today of just like the Republican coalition and they basically classify Like, you know 60 65 percent of the coalition as sort of Republicans who voted for Trump but also voted for Republicans back as far as like 2012 and Then they have around 30 percent or like the new entrance to the party and those that 30 percent happens to be much more anti-semitic openly racist and Crucially that segment of the party is also not certain that they will vote for Republican in 26 or 28 because what they want is they're attached to Trump and they're attached to the Trumpy part of the party But they are not attached to the Republican Party and they want someone like a Stephen Miller or Even worse than Nick Fuentes, right? And so if you are someone like JD Vance or Marco Rubio or any of them You're looking at the numbers in your coalition and thinking whether I believe it or not Like, how am I gonna win without at least being open to these people in the party? And that's why it's so very dangerous. Yeah, we know JD BAM Vance will whore himself I mean, he's changed his name three fucking times as an adult religions three times pro-immigrant Anti-immigrant Trump's America's Hitler's now I says vice-president. He doesn't give a fuck JD Vance is a prostitute Is a total Prostitute I do I have had I've had this conversation With a friend recently, which is like does JD Vance really believe this is this version of JD Vance where he has landed or does? He do it. Yeah, but I I think I at least hold open the possibility that he has been radicalized And that is not to like just take away his agency like it's still still bad either way but I think that when I think it's hard to Wake up every morning and say like, oh He's smart and he has probably intellectualized it but everybody in Trump's orbit from somebody who sits right next to him you know, whether it's Howard Nutlick or any of those people to People that we know personally in our personal lives when you voted for him once Something maybe kind of broke a little bit. You heard the ground by the pussy tape blah blah blah You voted for him the second time. I think these people broke a little bit more and then the third time I think it has created this mass brokenness of the electorate from people right in the oval all the way down to your neighbor next door and each time you Capitulate to this moral depravity and the cruelty that is always on display. It has really broken so many parts of Our culture now the Republican Party, you know Prime the soil and set the psychological soil for a lot of people to fall prey to that But there is just something about the triple trumping I think that when you tripled down on that it has broken from JD Vance all the way down to you know You're crazy uncle. I always remember this Anecdote from I think Sarah Longwell and one of her focus groups heard this, but it was a person who Hadn't voted for Trump and was thinking of voting for Trump in 24 and The moderator asked well, so like what's the deal? He's like, well, I can't stand him I think he's I think he says horrible things, but you know what if I vote for him, I'll just turn off the TV I won't pay attention and I'll just sit back and enjoy the Trump economy for four years, right? so there is a little like Because I don't think the actual base of people who are believers and who like this has grown over over I think it's probably even shrunk some I think that's right I think that's something whoever the heir apparent is has to deal with that Trump got people to the polls Like Obama got people to the polls He got first-time voters and rural American that never showed up to vote Yeah and he had the reverse Obama effect Obama had people show up that had never voted before and Trump had the same thing on the Opposite end of the spectrum. So that's something but I agree that I think the Colts probably smaller But there is something outside of the Colt that we have to talk about and it's the Country Club Republican Mm-hmm And these are the people that you know when we lived in Oklahoma that we hung out with these are white upper-middle-class upper-class people that know better and In certain social circles like if they were up here for the weekend and we all went to dinner and there were some other personalities they would never admit they would say they were moderates and They would say that You know, oh we voted for a gay politician before and we voted for black politicians before we're very moderate, you know But these people and I was a high-end interior designer still am and have been for a long time I'd go out to drinks with some of my clients sometimes and then the Foxification came out after a couple drinks They don't believe in climate change They thought Obama was a Muslim and they think Trump is I don't you know, I don't agree with the way he says it But he says exactly how I feel and it comes out So there is like active Trump ism that is the Colt but there is a passive Trump ism in white circles that exists in America that Country Club Republicans adhere to but they're smart enough in certain social circles They don't admit it because they know how depraved it is and that to me is even more insidious than the cultists For sure and I encounter these people and I think because a lot of them, you know, it's through social circles You know family friends family family, and they'll know what I do. And so they'll say oh you you work for Obama He he gave some good speeches He spoke well, and when they start that way, I'm like, oh this is I'm talking to the wrong person And I don't you know, I get into it with people cuz it's not gonna like yell at someone and have a debate But you can always tell it is that like you can always tell I'm gonna be very polite nice and everything But like, you know these this these liberals, they're okay They're the devil another thing you said you've had it with is tech oligarchs who told us that social media would usher in a global utopia and Now calling anyone's who wants to regulate AI The Antichrist and that is my absolute favorite thing about Peter Thiel that he's a billionaire But as a side hustle Yeah, literally people people who are just thinking that maybe we should take a look at this humanity transforming technology Artificial intelligence and perhaps put some rules in place some regulations He thinks that they are the he said they're the legionnaires of the Antichrist He also said the Pope was the Antichrist the other day, yeah, he's very But the these fucking tech guys like we just went through this where they probably made all these big promises They have left all kinds of damage in their wake Oh, yeah, and whether it's like mental health problems with young people loneliness epidemic like political violence All of Russian trolls right propaganda. Yeah, and now AI is an even more powerful technology and They are just telling it first of all, it's like, you know a handful of people the richest people in the world They're now all friends of Donald Trump hanging out at the White House They were that when they had the Saudis for a state dinner They were all taking pictures Elon Musk and Sam all and all the rest of them. They're all having a great time they're getting anything that they want and They're even saying now at least in the last time around they were like, oh it's gonna be great Elon Musk is like, yeah at some point Humans won't need to do jobs that there'll be nothing for humans to do Bill Gates said oh, I think that eventually eventually you won't need humans even the guy that is the CEO of Anthropic one of the AI companies was like estimate maybe half of entry-level jobs will go away. So that's the job front They're building these data centers, which are making electricity costs go up. They're also just like building them all I mean Sam Altman was like, yeah, I think at some point the data centers will cover the globe So that's happening they also believe that Potentially, you know AI could develop a bio weapon or some kind of weapon of mass destruction So there's the whole kill us all scenario and they know all the people that are developing this technology know all this talk about all this and yet They are full speed ahead. They don't want anyone to stop them They've got a president who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about with AI. He calls it like the AI, you know No idea. No idea what he's talking about, but they can do whatever they want. Yeah, and They're gonna get rich from it and the rest of the country the rest of the world If there's if there's some kind of weapon to mass destruction or hell's unleash or even if it's a better scenario where it's just you Know half the planet unemployed. They're gonna be fine They'll build their bunkers. But like what are the rest of us gonna do think about it? Like JD Vance still the immigrants are taking your job Stephen Miller, you know, we're gonna deport a bunch of people So you'd have to wait in line in the ER. It was never immigrants taking jobs It's always gonna be the oligarchs and their robots. That was the plan all along in these guys are such Prostitutes they kicked off Donald Trump rightfully so from all of their platforms and I had it I was on Kara Swisher's podcast a week ago or so and she said You know these guys have Kamala would have won they would have been they them and had pronounced right? I just follow whatever there's no principle and that's what I think is so upsetting and we can We can talk about this kind of goes back to what the Democrats attacking Republicans. We can talk about the oligarchs and you know, how unlikable Peter Thiel is how I'm Absolutely deranged and demented Elon Musk is jizzing all over all these petri disses having all these kids that he's not raising partnering with the family about doing sig Heil's all this shit, but we and that's fun to do because I love to shit talk, but it's also the system and we have to address the system of unregulated capitalism, I think Democrats need to address Republicans in the government a very good job Labeling regulations is harmful to people's pocketbook and we have to get rid of that label and start calling them consumer protections and Explain how these corporations like the Sackler family and opioid epidemic My husband's in recovery from that pumps is in recovery from that my nephew's in recovery from that It was it just raped and pillaged so many lives so many Fabulous people got addicted to drugs because they went to the doctor and they had pain and they end up You know dead or with these horrible addictions and then the economic spin-off from that the Democrats need to do a better job Addressing that because that has gone unaddressed for a very long time You can have a conversation with any of these country club Republicans I'm talking about well, you know the Democrats and all those regulations, you know, just help get just prevent our bottom line I can't hire people and it's just ubiquitous in the country club Republican crowd, and I think we need to do a better job Messaging how important consumer protections are and I think with this AI stuff Kara Swisher was talking about these kids that have like committed suicide Because they have relationships with their with the AI chat bot and that's and that's the terrifying that's the the worst case scenario for kids and But like the better case scenario is that Their AI chat bot is their friend. Yeah, which means that they're not meeting other friends in the other and what's worse about the AI chat bots versus social media even is They are obsequious. They flatter you. They tell you everything you want. They take away the friction in life. So it's all pleasure. No pain and All you get is a kid is like someone's telling you you're great. They're giving you all the information you need They're telling they're giving you everything you think you need but X everything except real human connection And it's so it's like once again a technology like social media was was sold as this is going to connect people and bring people closer together, but it what it gave us was the illusion of connection, right and It didn't actually and now we have a bunch of people who feel disconnected divided and lonelier And I do think that this is an issue Yes Democrats should talk about it and this is an issue where you can win over some folks who are more conservative because I think that These big I think that like there is an opening for someone in 28 And I think that bill will see Republican candidates do this too someone will like a someone out of the blue like a Marjorie Taylor Greene or type, you know run against the AI companies and the and the tech overlords because Their privacy concerns there are loneliness concerns there are like sort of spiritual emptiness concerns We feel it. Yes red people blue people moderate people a political people you feel if you've spent too much time on Instagram or on tik-tok you feel it. Yeah, feel it like a hangover, you know, like oh god, this isn't good yep, and you and you have to talk about a country where we actually have Community again where we're actually making connections being together like forging friendships and relationships that are more than Like sitting on our phone all day Marjorie Taylor Greene ends up out flanking the Democratic Party on this fucking issue because she's already she's already come out on Israel And she's a total anti-semite and it fucking pisses me off Because she's out flanking and she's messaging very well Very simple things because she's hanging out with Steve Bannon who is a maniacal evil genius when it comes to political strategy Yeah, and he gets this and this eat the rich thing this sentiment that is now Consuming both left-wing politics moderate politics and right-wing politics. We all feel like you know, Trump's like affordability is a scam Nobody knows what histories are. Yeah, so he's like and I'm building an arch and I'm building the ballroom Getting the big version of the arch. Yeah. Yeah, and so I think that he is the juxtaposition of his overt Capitalism in the gold and it's so like 1980s, you know cocaine high Yeah, I mix with like Palace of Versailles shit Really cheap. Okay. All right, John. We have to play our game. Okay, had it or hit it. Okay All right, and I also I want to I have a fuck Mary kill for you at the end of this episode. Okay good Okay, oh my god, welcome to had it or hit it I would hit it I hit it every day. Sometimes twice a day had it or hit it Gretchen Whitmer. I Have to say there was a political story today, I'm gonna say had it okay because and I like her personally I think she's been a great fantastic governor of Michigan as a potential 28 candidate I'm gonna say had it because there's this political story today about how she's Trump's favorite potential 2028 contender and We all know the story of when she went to the Oval Office Yeah, and she has the yeah, right. She has the folder up so apparently there's an interesting detail in the story where she comes back to the White House for another visit and some White House staffer showed her a newspaper with the picture of her with the folder and she signed she signed it for Trump as a as a present and That White House staff to White House officials also said yes She's the only one who has never said anything Negative to Trump to his face to the boss to his face and it's like look I get that You as a governor You want to make sure that the people of your state are not hurt by the federal government when you have like an authoritarian Regime trying to like threaten states, right? So I get that Mom, Donnie goes to the White House and you know, he didn't sit there and like scream at Donald Trump He also didn't suck up to him. He like it's a tough balance So I get that the balance is difficult but I think that Whitmer and I think there's some other 28 contenders like this too are sort of the ones who are like using this time to just lay low and Not ruffle any feathers and not really criticize Trump that much and just assume that once the primary gets going in 27 Then they'll start talking and they're not fighting now I just I don't have a lot of patience for that Because I think like you've got to be out there and you've got to be not just fighting Trump because I think that's important But also looking beyond Trump and talking about like a vision for the country also the vision that JD Vance and Stephen Miller the rest of them want to continue after Trump and talk about the choice and and and be out there and I just think that And if now if she decides not to run for president great. Sorry fine Right, but like the the 28 contender if you're thinking of running in 2028, you should be out there now I agree a hundred percent. I totally agree. You've got Pritzker Gavin Newsom Ring out there. You're just out there a little bit Andy Andy On Oklahoma City and I was like Andy, it's Andy don't call him Randy and I called she did She's like so great to see you. I was calling Steve for a while because I forgot that his dad governor Yes, yeah, and I was like, oh, yeah Andy Beshear Didn't he do the Medicaid expansion when we were in the White House for Obama and they're like, no, that was his dad I was like, oh wow, but she was everywhere This ad is brought to you by V health care the makers of Aperture Cabo Tegra beer you never skip your SPF and you carry hand sanitizer like an accessory, but What are you doing for HIV prevention one way to help protect yourself from HIV is Aperture a Prescription medicine used to reduce the risk of getting HIV in adults and adolescents weighing at least 77 pounds you must be HIV negative to receive Aperture and get tested before each Injection if you think you were exposed to HIV or have flu like symptoms tell your doctor right away More HIV testing may be needed Aperture does not prevent other sexually transmitted infections Practice safer sex to reduce your risk get Aperture as scheduled Missing doses increases your HIV risk Don't take Aperture if allergic to it or taking certain medicines that may interact Tell your doctor about your medical conditions liver problems and mental health serious side effects include allergic reactions or rash liver problems and Depression if these occur get medical help right away. 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I got really angry this week because the fucking anti-Semitism website, which is like I hate that it's even named that because it's not about anti-Semitism. It's just like a right wing slop started attacking. They had like the contenders for anti-Semite of the year. And they have like Tucker Carlson and then Miss Rachel right next to Tucker Carlson. And they didn't even have Nick Fuentes on. And they said, oh, that's because they're like, well, he's like a I guess he's like a Hall of Famer. So they don't have to put him on every year. But I was like, Miss Rachel, all she has done is stand up and preach love and dignity and safety for all children everywhere, regardless of race, religion, nationality, wherever you may be. She is just a kind person who is trying to teach our kids to be kind human beings. And now you're calling her an anti-Semite. Un-fucking-believable. She's great. I love Miss Rachel. I love her. And I think this is something that the Democrats are going to have to address, too, because the base has evolved so much on this. Like, I'm going to tell you a couple of years ago, I didn't really quite know what a Zionist was. I when you live in a red state, you're very focused on the erosion of civil liberties with the red state government. And so you don't really your mind doesn't wonder to foreign policy very much. And I remember we went to the DNC, Pumps and Me. We're so excited. It was a big deal. Right. And so we would go every day diligently. And who are we going to interview? And we had the best time. It was very surreal to do it. We'd walk through the protesters that were protesting and then would walk back out. And I remember thinking, God, they should really be, you know, why are they doing this? And I see I was slightly kind of irritated by it, but everybody was polite, peacefully protesting. And since then, you know, you see the imagery coming out of Gaza and you see what Benjamin Netanyahu's government has done. And you cannot look away in you because we've all studied World War Two. And, you know, what were the people doing? Why didn't anybody help? Why didn't anybody say anything? And you have those moments where you realize, oh, this is that moment. And I just I think it's interesting as I read in the news before we came here that Hillary Clinton was issues on some some place today. Yes. Speaking about this issue, saying that the problem is tick tock. And then you have, I think, a fellow co-worker of yours during the Obama administration talking about how difficult it is to address the issue through a wall of dead children. And there's just such a moral disconnect. And at the same time, this weaponization of anti-Semitism, like in me even saying this right now, some people are going to hear it and say, oh, Jennifer is an anti-Semite. Nothing could be further from the truth with that because I connect all human rights together. You know, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, etc. And so I just think there's a lot of weaponization of that going on right now. And I'm very terrified that a grifter like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Tucker Carlson is going to use a very simple tribal like message. We have to quit sending them money because they get free health care and they have free college. That's going to really hit hard. Yeah. In America, that kind of messaging hits really hard. It's attached on their end with a lot of real anti-Semitism is the core of that, because I'd be like Marjorie, OK, now do trans kids. All right. Now do, you know, gay marriage. She wouldn't be able to do it. I mean, the other day she was just tweeting about like arresting Fauci. I mean, she's still every bit as crazy. So I'm just I'm really worried about the Democrats not leading with this and not having moral clarity on this. This goes back to what I was saying about needing a moral core to our progressivism, liberalism, whatever you want to call it these days, which is like it's a simple question. Do you believe that the life of an Israeli child is worth is as valuable as the life of a Palestinian child, is as valuable as the life of a Ukrainian child, as a Russian child, as a Sudanese child? Right. Like there are this horrible slaughter going on all over the world. There are powerful people oppressing less powerful people. There are people who want to set up instead of democratic governments, authoritarian regimes where they oppress people and harm them. And the question is, which what do you believe? Because if you believe in the dignity of every human being and every child, then that would lead you to say that October 7th was like sickening beyond belief. And like I remember when that happened. And, you know, I'm a father now and it's like the worst, worst things you can ever do to someone. And it made me sick as when I saw what happened in Gaza in the subsequent two years made me sick, as I do when I see images from Ukraine, as we're all, you know, as we talk about Trump's talking about Putin and like, hey, let's bring him into the fold and we can all do economic deals together. And, you know, J.D. Vance telling Zelensky, like, you should thank us more. And it's like there's like missing 10,000 Ukrainian children. Like, yeah, it's like how where are your values and are they universal? And can you apply your principles and values no matter what the situation is, as opposed to just where it feels right and and and then you have a different value set somewhere else when it's another conflict. So I completely agree with that. Do you think Democrats are going, Democratic politicians that take AIPAC money are going to face an uphill battle? Do you think they're in touch with how much the base has moved on this and how much more educated the base is on this now? I don't think a lot of them are. I don't think a lot of them understand it, but they should. They should get it. And it's also it's like, look, foreign aid is always tough. It's always been a tough. We pull foreign aid for decades and no one everyone thinks we give more foreign aid than we actually do. They don't love it. But foreign aid to a country like Israel that is very rich, very powerful, has a great military, like a very strong military and led by a war criminal and has an authoritarian regime. So it's like at some point you look around the world and you're like, OK, what maybe if we're going to give foreign aid and we're going to tell the American people, hey, we want to give some of your tax dollars to foreign aid, perhaps it should be to defend our allies. And we've done that with Israel in the past and to help people who are like starving and sick and in war torn countries throughout the world. But like, does the Israeli military really need U.S. dollars at this point? Maybe they did. Maybe they did a couple of decades ago. Not only do we want to give it to Benjamin Netanyahu, when he gave AIPAC, gave over 200 million dollars to Trump, they wanted him to win. They did not prefer Kamala. And then they also control our opposition, Hakeem and Chuckles. You know, they will not have moral clarity on this issue. They would not. I went to the Zoran Mamdani victory party in New York. It was so cool, John. I mean, it's right after I saw you and Hassan. I saw the picture. It looked great there. So much fun. I had the best time. And I'm standing there and I thought, what a miss. What a miss that Hakeem and Chuckles are not there, hand in hand, riding the coathouse of this affordability message of universal human rights. And it's because of their support for Israel, who doesn't want Democrats to win. Israel does not want Democrats to win. Now, Netanyahu punked us when Obama was in the White House so many times, goes to Congress to speak to our Congress without an invite from Barack Obama. That's before he got really bad. He's never cared about, like, he cares about himself. He's literally in it for himself. He's just trying to stay out of jail. And to do that, he's kept this war and these atrocities going. And a lot of people say that he funded Hamas up to October 7th. So it gets even dicier and dicier and it fucking pisses me off that there are members of the Democratic Party that should be clear eyed and have moral clarity on this. And they think that that we're stupid. Well, no, they'll say like, well, you're ignoring the fact that there really is anti-Semitism out there. It's like, no, I'm not. Like, of course, there's anti-Semitism, hateful, virulent anti-Semitism. And like, yes, it has come from some people who have protested, right. But like, that does not mean just because that exists doesn't mean that there aren't also atrocities that have happened over the last several years. And knock, knock, knock, the majority of the anti-Semites are under the maggot tent. You think evangelicals, they have an apocalyptic nightmare dream for all of the Jews. Get to Israel so Jesus can come send you to hell. I mean, the most anti-Semitic people I've ever met in my life are evangelical Christians. All of the tropes, all of the things. But also Donald Trump has from, you know, 2016 from Charlottesville all the way to now. And then, you know, at January 6th, a man had on a shirt that said, what is it? Camp Auschwitz. Camp Auschwitz. And you see the Nazi flags at January 6th. And it's the real heart of all of that are the people that the hard right Zionists have gone to seek safety with those people. And I'm like, oh, good luck. I've been around these types of people my whole life. Good luck with that, because they will fuck you so fast it'll make your head spin. I mean, right after they get their coalition. Okay. I just felt like we need to talk about that. Okay. This is a great one. Had it or hit it, Trump's cabinet meetings. I want to say hit it only because it is such great content. I agree. It's great content. I agree. We just reported a couple episodes on it earlier. It just, it slaps every time. Totally. It just really, and then you get that they're all, they're all, you know, glazing them the whole time. And they just, it's just like tuning in to hear how ridiculous it gets. Now, I would not want to be sitting there for all four hours of, you know, his Castro like meetings there. But it is, it is something to behold. And it's fun to like, like today watching Marco Rubio, like try to talk to him while he's falling asleep. Yeah. That, that was satisfying to me. He is like, and you see the, like the stroke residue. I'm not a doctor, but I do think he's had a stroke. That's my professional opinion. I've never been to med school. He just doesn't give a fuck. And he's just asleep. Well, he was up all night with 7,000 texts. And if I, if I close my eyes, what are they going to do to me? Okay. Had it or hit it. The war on Christmas. Oh, had it. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. What, what war on Christmas? Who's who? Christmas wins every year. Every year. Christmas wins. I am an atheist and I have two Christmas trees. I have stockings. I love to go do Christmas things. I take joy in listening to Christmas carols and wrapping presents. As my mother would say, my atheist mother, well, you know, darling, it was really a pagan holiday before it was the Christian holiday. And so we've always kind of culturally, you know, people can be culturally Jewish. My family's kind of culturally Christian, but I think it's hilarious. And I love to tell like my Christian friends in Oklahoma, they're like, yeah, you know, we get to say Merry Christmas again. That's so weird. I've been saying Merry Christmas forever and I'm a total atheist. I'm always Merry Christmas. And then like sometimes I'll say happy holidays just in like, that's not a, that doesn't it's I'm not, not put out by saying happy holidays to someone. It's such bullshit. But you know what I call it? It's just buzzword politics. Fox News is just all buzzword politics, fascism, communism, feminism, socialism. And they just throw out these scary words of war on Christmas or Judeo-Christian values. I just want to go shut the fuck up. I mean, those, that, that, oh my God, most people don't want to hear it. Most people don't, aren't into their culture worship crazy about these women on Fox News. We get into it all the time. They are talking about women needing to marry and stay at home with their children. And these bitches are sitting up there working full time as they're sending that message. And I don't know if the average Fox viewer is so goddamn dumb. They don't realize, hold up, sis, you're working. So what? Why are you special? It's just, I don't, I don't, I guess there's so much cognitive dissonance in that world. Yeah. I haven't heard the, the, the women should stay home stuff from the Fox hosts recently. I feel like that's like a, you got to get into the deep right wing podcast. Sean Duffy's wife, oh, she's been on there lately. And she was talking about, just know that when you hear that, just know when you hear the word feminism, that just means communism. We need to get back to our Christian roots. You know, Fox is now going to be introducing more Christian messaging in their news channel because that's what Fox viewers need. That is what they need. More Christianity. That is what they need. We're trying to get rid of that radical empathy from Jesus. Okay. Empathy. Dangerous. All right. Last one. Had it or hit it, the United States of America. Oh, absolutely hit it. Love the United States of America. And like I was saying earlier, like I, I believe that the Democrat who's going to win in 2028 is going to be someone who reclaims patriotism defined as what this country was founded on, the principles that it was founded on, a revolutionary idea that had never been tried, which is we're going to organize a country around an idea that everyone is created equal and we're a bunch of slave owners and landowners who are not going to allow women to vote for many years. But now that we've put the idea out there, successive generations are going to fight and say, well, that's what it says. And so we're going to make the country a little better and we're going to make the country a little more inclusive and make the country a little more, a little richer for everyone involved. And that's what America is. And what is courageous and patriotic is to be self-critical of the country and to be confident that you don't have to fluff the country all the time and say, America's perfect and everything's wonderful and you can't criticize it. No, like real patriotism is saying, I love this country. I want to make it better. And what we have set up here in this democratic government is that we can come together, work together and make this place a little bit better for ourselves and for our children. And then hopefully they can take up the mantle and they can do the same thing. And that's real patriotism. And the bullshit that they are spouting is just like airbrushed patriotism and where, you know, the president of the United States right now and his party are just sitting there like grabbing whatever they can for themselves, all the power they can, all the money they can. That's not patriotic. That's not America. That's not all men are created equal. That's bullshit. That's what we've had. That's what we had in this world before America came to be, where you had kings and you had dictators and you had people oppressing other people. That's all of human history. America was the idea that tried to change all of that. Maybe we don't need to have a system where you just have a few powerful people oppressing everyone else. Maybe we can have a system where everyone gets a say and everyone can succeed. And that you don't have to tell people, like, for my group to do well, your group has to do bad. Maybe we can all do well. Okay. I love that. I agree. We have to keep hitting America, although, listener, I know sometimes we all feel like we've had it and then we have to fight for it and hit it. And I'm going to do something really diabolical right now. I've been thinking about it all day. This is, we're going to end it on this. Okay, pups. Fuck, marry, kill. Can I say what you're going to say? John, fuck. John, gay, fun, or Tommy. Okay. I knew that was it. I knew that was it. The three crooked media guys. I knew it was. Okay. First of all, obviously, love it. I have to marry. He's so funny. Okay. He's so much fun. I'm asexual. He's gay. That's perfect match. I'm asexual. He's gay. That's perfect match. Okay. Okay. So that's done. Kind of awkward with John Favreau sitting right there. Yeah, I know. But here's the thing. I know, but you got to- I think he'd be more fun than Tommy. I do. You're killing Tommy. You think he'd be better in the sack than Tommy? I do, because Tommy's pretty straight-laced, I feel like. I told you it was diabolical. Tommy definitely gives off a straight-laced vibe. And he's probably not. But sometimes those are the- Those are the ones that are- Yes. Sometimes those are the bad ones. Maybe, John, you're the bad one. I'm going to marry Lovett and then just get back to me in like two years. He's so much fun, though. He is a lot of fun. Is that not the greatest fuck you can do? Yeah. I knew that's what you were going to say. I knew. Three crickets. When we moved to LA in 2014, Lovett lived directly across the street from my now wife and I. And so he was basically living with us for two years. And it was hilarious and a lot. Yeah. Yeah. A lot. That is Lovett. Yeah. And he lives in LA. And I don't. See, that's- See, there you go. It's perfect. Perfect marriage. Did he get married recently? Not yet. Not yet. But- Engaged. 2026. Oh, exciting. It's coming. Yeah. Ari's wonderful. Yeah. Okay. I'll just tell you, when we had Lovett on, it was the day that The Survivor came out that he got cut on. Literally the funniest thing that's ever happened. Finding out that Lovett was- I love it. All right, listener. Thank you for tuning in. John, we hope we collab with you. Absolutely. Many times. Many more times. This was so fun. And I just want to say, on a personal note, you've really kept the cruelty that the Trump administration is doing to immigrants. And I see it in my feed all the time. And your compassion and humanizing those people, it's just so important. And I just, as a person to person, I appreciate that content so much. Thank you. Well, it keeps me up at night. I hope it does something. All right, listener. We'll see you next Tuesday and Thursday. I'll tell you what I've had it with. I'm serious. I've had it with that. Listen up, patriots, gatriots, and natriots. We have a new podcast that has dropped. It's called I Hip News. It's Monday through Friday, every day, 15 to 20 minute hot takes on the political landscape of the United States of America, always served with a side of petty grievances. We are on all the available platforms, Apple, Spotify.