February 13, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz discuss the confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard. They delve into the controversy surrounding the labor secretary nominee and the implications of Disney's recent DEI policy change. The conversation also touches on the accountability of the government and the role of Elon Musk in addressing issues within federal operations. Normally is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey guys, and welcome back to normally the show with
normalist takes for when the news gets weird.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Mary Katholic, I'm Carol Marcowitz. How are you, Mary Catherine?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I am good. The kids are home. We have a
snow day. But several of the p have reached that
wonderful age where you can just send them to play
in the snow for several hours.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's wonderful, it really is. Yeah, self sufficient kids, It's
really what it's all about. That age where you no
longer have to worry about them, Like I call it
the eating pennies phase, where you don't have to worry
about them finding a penny and eating it. Once that's over,
things get really good.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Although I will say classic tween move. One of them
went out in a sweatshirt and crocs and I'm like, girl,
there are six inches of snow on the ground.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Listen. So at that point, you know it's their responsibility, right,
what are you gonna do? So well, as we're recording,
Tulsi has just been confirmed and RFK confirmation hearing is
beginning right now. It looks like he's a goal. Though
I have to say I am somewhat surprised. I thought
(01:11):
those two were going to be quite a struggle and
they really haven't been.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it's interesting sort of the feel in the city
and on the hill changed very drastically on Tulsi Gabbard
very quickly. I think probably Vance's behind the scenes work
helped with that, as did I think we mentioned that
Kirsten Cinema got called in to do a couple calls
(01:36):
on that front. She of course like sort of weird
moderate figure who has the kind of person who's found
a place in the Trump coalition frankly, and is represented
by a Tulsi Gabbard. It's interesting that Cash Patel's sort
of been quiet since his hearing and his confirmation hearing.
(01:57):
His vote I believe out of the Committee is scheduled
for later this week. But as these ups and downs happen,
it is interesting that Cash Purtel seemed like the most
likely of this trio. Yeah, and now we haven't heard
anything about Cash Pattel for several days, even a week.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
There's really no rhyme or reason to any of this.
I don't know what's going on. I like again putting
Pete Hegseth back in the equation if you gave me
those four people, I still would have said Telsea and
RFK are going to be the hardest climb. I wouldn't
have thought that Pete Hegseth of those four would be
the most difficult. I don't know how that really happened,
but yeah, he's to me the least controversial of the four.
(02:38):
I thought he'd be smooth staling, and he was right
up until you know the end and nail Bier so
very curious that I don't know what people are thinking anymore.
It's everything has shifted. The Trump you know, campaign has
really been different. It brought in a lot of different people,
and I think that the Senators are largely responding to that.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Can we note that heg Seth in his first overseas trip,
went to Stuttgart, Germany and worked out with the Green
Berets there. Ye, many a meme was born.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Can you imagine Lloyd Austin doing that?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I could not. I just this is a kind of
thing that people who haven't served, or who haven't been
a like maybe a sports context like that, the physical
sort of team building context might turn their noses up
at This will matter to people, right, It matters that
he's joining them. It will matter to people who are
(03:36):
looking at joining He's one of the that it feels
like this guy is not asking them to do things
that he has not done or is willing to do
right now, and that he's sort of standing shoulder to
shoulder with them. I think I think that matters, and
that the visuals are.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Great, fantastic. Yeah again Lloyd Austin doing a chin up.
I just can't picture it. And you know, I saw
I just saw a headline on this, But already numbers
are up. Enrollment numbers for the military are up under
Pete Hegseth and that's impressive already.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I think that's good news for all of us. I
saw a new form. I think it was just an
online ad, but an army recruiting ad. There was just
a big guy lifting weights with like cool music behind him,
and then he says stronger people are harder to kill.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, I've seen that.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, And it's like that's the message the Biden administration
had gotten involved in this, like what is your calling, right?
How do you truly know yourself? Serving in the military,
And it's like sometimes you just need some like hard
rock and dudes shot.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, don't join the military to go find yourself. I
don't think that's what that's all about.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It indeed could happen a long way. You're gonna become
a better person while you do this. But anyway, so
that's going on. I did want to mention that our
favorite cabinet pick m Chavez de Ramier. Yeah, she is
now postponed because of the snow until February nineteenth, although
(05:07):
as all things on the Hill, it could be that
she's postponed for another reason because maybe we aren't there.
We were not sure. It's all criminology at this point.
But this is the Labor Secretary nominee who neither of
us is a fan.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I was going to clarify when MK says our favorite,
she means our least favorite.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I'm joking. I did want to note our friend Noah
Rothman over at National Review points out that among those
who endorsed her in twenty four are the American Federation
of Government Employees, who will talk about later in the show,
Eric actively suing the Trump administration over the things that's
trying to do. He United Food and Commercial Workers, the
(05:50):
International Union Painters and Allied Trades, International Brotherhood of Electric
Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants, all of which
have engaged in activism specifically against the Trump administration and
its desires and its policies. But she is the Labor
Secretary nominee, and what looks like just like a nod
to the Teamsters guy for not endorsing he didn't endorse
(06:14):
Trump enough, didn't endorse Biden.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, I don't like it. I hope the Republicans
vote her down. I don't know though, because now with
the way things have gone, I kind of think that
they're and again, it's not wrong that they want to
pass their own party's nominees. We talked about it last episode.
It makes a lot of sense that they would want
to coordinate with the Trump administration and they would want
to do things to make it easier for the Trump
(06:39):
administration to get.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Their proposals through.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
It makes sense, right, But I just think she's so
left and you know, you're going to have people like
Elizabeth Warren voting yes on her, and Republican should really
think about that. What does that mean that Elizabeth Warren
is for this person? What does it mean for your values?
What does it mean for your state's values? What do
your voters want so.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And the question also is does it make it easier
if you have a capain member who is backed by
all these groups who are actively working against you. And
by the way, I think it is important to acknowledge
that a part of the union vote moved to Trump. Right,
there is a working class vote that's very important part
of this coalition that you do not want to ignore. However,
(07:22):
I don't think he earned those votes by being aligned
with union heads and their preferred policies. Those That's not
how he earned those votes, So I'm not sure this
is the correct way to signal that you're into this coalition.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I agree, and I think he would have gotten those
votes even if the union head didn't sit out the
endorsement process. I'm not sure that he wouldn't have picked
up those votes anyway.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So, if anything, the teams to move, which I thought
was clever. He basically said I would like to speak
at the DNC and the RNC. The RNC took him
up on it, also clever. So this is mutually beneficial,
but I think it's more of a just a recognition
of where his rank and file is. Other unions are
less likely to make that recognition and take that on
(08:09):
as a fact on the ground. But it's probably good
for his survival as head of the as head of
the Union, That's right.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens with this. If
they listened normally, and they should, they will vote down
this pick. I also I want to see how hard
the Trump administration goes for her. Will they have dvance
behind the scenes, you know, talking to House, you know,
Senate members, and I don't know, I don't know that
they will necessarily We'll see.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And Senator Mark Waynemullen, who has been I think sort
of a good gauge of how hard the Trump team
is rooting for various people. So he really went to
the mats for Chelsea Gabbard for RFK as well as
it's just been outspoken and Pete Hegseth. Of course, he
has come out and said, look, I disagree with her
on a bunch of things. I am very anti the
(09:01):
pro Act, which is this California export that they want
to make national, which is a terrible, terrible idea that
would kill the gig economy. However, I think it's important
that Trump has his picks, and I'm going to back her.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's the thing that's the delicate weight that they're going
to have to figure out here whether backing Trump picks
meaning means backing somebody who's this far to the left,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It, and who might stemy what you're actually trying to
do right now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
That's exactly it. We'll be right back on normally. Some
news out of Florida, which I'm very excited about. Disney
has decided to make changes to their DEI policies. And
let me tell you, nobody roots for Disney to turn
(09:52):
itself around as much as a conservative parent living in
Florida with three children who are like, please stake is
back to Disney World, and I just like, nope, we
will not. We will not take you back to Disney
World until they shape up. And I love to see it.
I love to see it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, it looks like at least promising right that they're
sort of they're removing some of the diversity inclusion metrics
and language in their you know, professional sort of handbook
type of publications. Beginning this fiscal year, Disney will replace
the diversity and Inclusion performance factor that it used to
evaluate executive compensation with a new talent strategy. The new
(10:33):
Talent Strategy factor includes concepts from its old diversity Inclusion factor,
but is more focused on how values drive business success,
and that I would suggest that business success should be
pretty top of the heap. If you would like folks
like our families to show up at your very expensive parks.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, it's it's really and it's a win for Governor DeSantis.
Obviously he had this like long term fight with them,
which everybody thought he would lose. I think even Republicans
were like, Oh, I don't know if you should do this.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, taken on the mouse.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
The mouse is very very powerful, especially in Florida obviously,
but everywhere. Really, Disney's a giant American company, and to
have people have a negative impression of that company was it.
It really did suck for everyone. We didn't want Disney
to be this kind of company that we had to
watch pre watch all the movies and not trust our
kids to watch it because who knew what they were
(11:28):
going to sneak in. And when Christopher Ruffo obviously had
this big expose where he had internal Disney videos where
they're discussing how they sneak messaging into their movies. You're like, whoa,
I can't let my kids see this. So yeah, the
focusing on business outcomes is great. I love to see it. Obviously,
(11:48):
we're not rushing back to Disney World anytime too soon,
because actually I already gave them the benefit of the
doubt ones one time a few years ago they were like, no, no,
we're done with this, and we went back to disney World,
and I was like, Okay, we're gonna We're gonna do this.
And then like three days after we got back from
disney World, they released a really anti American cartoon and
I was.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Like, well, we're done with you forever.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I'm no, I'm under no illusions that this is like
the fix. Yeah. I do think that they are smart
enough to be responding to the customer base that they
need to be responding to. It's taken way too long,
and you're right once you've lost ground in such an
incredible brand. I mean that that brand was flawless in
(12:34):
early years. The idea that they abandoned that and trust
is such a degree was insane. I mean a lot
of people went insane in twenty twenty to twenty twenty five.
But crazily insane for Disney, and when it communicated to
me all these brands that I've become much less enthusiastic
about over the years, what it communicated to me was, Okay, A,
(12:57):
you have an agenda for my kids that's not mine.
And I can't have this on autopilot, like I can't
sit them down in front of a Disney film and
feel like everything will be fine or we won't have
to have some conversation. And two that you don't like
or trust me, and I'm the one spending the money.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, And it was like, who were they aiming that at?
I just how many parents want their kids to have
kind of these lessons and these morals imparted by these movies.
I don't think there were that many.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think some of it is just like there's a
current and they're going with it, and they didn't realize
that the current had carried them so far off of
what they should be doing. That doesn't absolve them of responsibility,
because you have a company to run at all. But
I do think some of it is just like everybody
got carried away and they hired a bunch of people.
(13:47):
They're like hr monsters who just decided to run the
brand and like out of control. HR employees should not
be writing scripts for children's cartoons, Like that's just not no,
they shouldn't. That's not the vibe.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Talked about it on a previous episode. But snow White
is still coming up, and the snow.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
White we've been talking about it forever.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
It's like two years of like talking about the snow
White actress and how kooky she is.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
The original snow White was hand drawn cell by seal
and it took less time than this movie has taken.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
The son played me the snow White trailer on YouTube
and he was like, nobody's watching this movie, but like,
look at all the comments and all the comments, all
the comments were mockery. It was just it's not a
good scene for Disney. And I wonder what they're going
to do with this movie. And I said to my son,
I was like, oh, I think this movie is gonna
lose money. And he's like all Disney movies recently have
(14:40):
been losing money because that's what they do now. They
lose money because nobody wants to watch this you know,
woke insanity or or the you know, even if you
don't have the woke insanity. Nobody trusts you. That loss
of trust for a company that had so much of
our trust, that's really what the problem is and what
they're going to have to reab.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You're also asked to pay so much, Right, if you
go to the parks, you're paying for a premium experience.
You are paying prices that should get you a bunch
of respect and consideration. And if you're not getting that,
you don't want to pay those prices. I would add
one of the other changes they're making, which I kind
of enjoy is Disney is also Axios reported this. Disney
(15:22):
is also updating disclaimers that run before certain titles on
its streaming services that currently warn viewers of quote negative
depictions and or mistreatment of people or cultures. In a
forthcoming change, the tag will read they've softened it a
little bit. Quote this program is presented as originally created
and may it contain stereotypes or negative depictions and be
included in the details section. So it sounds like that
(15:44):
will be less in your face. We can all be
aware that you know, Peter Pan isn't a current project.
Thanks right, Thanks.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Guys, Yeah, you know, when you're at Disney World. You
could the last time I was there a few years
ago now, but there's so many things there that you
could see that the Wolkesters still haven't come for, but
you know it's obviously coming. You know, the bathrooms are
still male and female. There's a very pro America thread
(16:14):
throughout the park, and so it's they didn't get to
them completely. But the damage that they've done to this
company and to this brand, I wonder how long, if
ever it'll take to undo. The only part of the
Disney operation that I've read is making money is the parks,
because the parks are pretty fantastic. I mean, they're very
well done. But the rest of the products Disney streaming
(16:38):
is you know, a giant money loss. The movies aren't
doing well.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So we'll see some of the move because they saw
this growing segment of Disney adults, who many of whom
are actually progressive and probably happy with a lot of
these changes, and they just put way too much money
on that segment of the customer base. Was national in
that way.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Maybe, but you know, there could have been the conservative
Disney adult who didn't go. Actually the biggest adult I
know as a conservative woman, So I don't know. I
have sort of a questionable thinking on this. I'm sure
a lot of them are liberal, and she does defend
Disney a lot because she loves Disney, and she loves
Disney ran like, you know what I.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Mean, I could be a Disney adult. When I've been
back as an adult with my kids, I'm like, wait
a second, I feel like this would be really fun
when I didn't have anyone. So I do.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, I feel like drinking through Epcot without my kids.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I feel like I rose in France. You know I'm
doing well, So I haven't. I haven't crossed that bridge.
Don't anybody get me wrong. Yeah, however, you know he's
a little you know, I understand the impulse.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Basically, if Disney recovers and Mary Catherine's kids get older
move out of the house, she's moving to Orlando and
doing daily trip to.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Disney World season pass. Baby, I'm gonna take I'll take
one kid as plausible deniability. I know you're twenty one,
it's fine, Spine, just let us go.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, we'll drink together at Epcott.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I think you're you're more likely to see me at
Dollywood for like the next five eight years. Until they
earn that back.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with normally for our last segment, back to Doge.
Doge is doing it's good work, and Democrats are handling
it really, really well.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So the group that I mentioned earlier, the American Federation
of Government Employees, in true government employee fashion, took a
Tuesday in the middle of the day to go to
Washington and protest their bosses who are us and the
elected officials that we elected. And they have some thoughts
(18:57):
about why we shouldn't be messing with it. So let's
just play a little bit of this inspiring clip of
the American Federation of Governor government Employees who want us
to back them at every turn.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Oh, which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Me?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
We'll fight against Josh. We're a fight on mess, no way.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Landscap within our walls.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
We'll fight from don to dusk. Which side are you on?
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Trump's coming for our unions.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
He wants us off to fame, he wants us to
bow to him, but we want him in jail. Oh,
which shide are you on? Which shote?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
Are you all? Which shot?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Are you.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Not their side? I'm whatever they're protesting for against. I
would be like, I'm not on your side.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
The other side. That's the answer, the other side. Can
I also just say, there's got to be someone in
that crowd who can sing?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Right? What is that?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I could sing that?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Whoever that is on the mic, Put the singer on
the mic. This is some real tired nineteen sixty eight nostalgia,
except they're doing it at our expense during a work day, and.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
They're saying they want the president in jail because they
don't like him and they don't like his policies, so
arrest him. I mean, and this is the same party,
this is the party that we're supposed to turn to
for you know, normalcy. I just they've lost the plot completely.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
No, and I again said this before, but federal employees
have lavish protections that normal workers do not have. When
Americans realize what they have at their back, they will
be frustrated by the number of protections, among which include
like you know, taking the day off, protesting in the street,
(21:18):
which is of course First Amendment protected. Even if you're
a really bad singer. However, calling for your boss to
be jailed in public on video, generally for a normal worker,
would be a problem. Like that's suspension.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right, Yeah, yeah, we should try that, you know, we
should like go out and protest and be like Clay
and Buck in jail.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, just like I'm sure that would be fine.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They'd like that.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But this is the universe that they operate in, the
universe of entitlement, the universe of you don't get to
ask us questions. Dooge doesn't get to ask us questions.
But Elon Musk went to the Oval office to explain that, indeed,
we are going to continue asking questions. The Trump administration,
by the way, has these temporary restraining orders against it,
(22:06):
one of which prevents the Senate confirmed Treasury Secretary from
looking at the records of Treasury payments. Now that idea
seems on its face insane. Ye, there was a follow
up ruling that said, Okay, the Secretary of the Treasury can,
but no one else who's not Senate confirmed can look,
(22:28):
which is not the way things are done in other administrations.
But this is special. At any rate, They're doing all
this work and Elon shows up in the Oval Office
to explain it, and Trump is like, tell them what
you doing, Elon, And Elon standing there with his kid
on his shoulders, it love it, explaining quite calmly and clearly,
(22:50):
look at all the insane stuff we've run into. We
do not think this is a good investment for the
American people, even beyond just like what the programs are doing,
but the way we do business in the federal government
is not helpful to the American people. And some of
the anecdotes were wild, particularly this one about when he
(23:13):
ran into the issue of how many people can retire
per month and he asked a question. One of the
things I enjoy about Elon Muskus is he's just like,
but why right, let's get to the bottom of this,
and on the issue of retirements in the federal government.
This is what he found. This is not a joke.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
The most number of people that could retire possibly in
a month is ten thousand.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
We're like, whoa, why is that?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,
It's manually calculated and written down our piece of paper.
Then it goes down to mine, like what do you
mean of mine? Like, yeah, there's a limestone mine where
we stole all the retirement paperwork.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
And you look at picture of a picture of this mine.
We'll post some pictures afterwards.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
And this is this mine looks like something out of
the fifties because it was started in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
It looks like it's like a time warp.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And then the speed, then the limiting factor is the
speed at which the mine, the shaft elevator can move,
determines how many people can retire from the federal from
the federal government, and the elevator breaks down.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
And I said, sometimes, and then you can't. Nobody can.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Nobody can retire.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Doesn't that sound crazy? Yeah, there's like a thousand people
that work on this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
So I think if we take those people and say, like,
you know what, instead of working in a mine shaft
and carry manila and envelopes to you know, with boxes
in a mineshaft.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
You could do practically anything else and you.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Would add to the goods and services of the United
States in a more useful way.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
This sounds completely made up. Who came up with this
Kakamamy idea?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It's not made up. It's called the Iron Mountain. It's
a real thing.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It was in the Washington Post a few years ago,
and so like all these liberals are like it was
in the Washington Post, like, oh, yeah, you knew about this,
You knew about the minds that we have the retirement
paperwork in. You read about it in the Washington Post.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Like six years ago. And the thing is it's symbolic.
It is not It's not that this would solve the
problems with the government. It's that this is the whole
federal government. Yeah, this is how they think it's okay
to do business. And if you say, hey, maybe a
limestone mind shaft is not the best way to maybe
retirement records in the Year of Our Lord twenty twenty five,
(25:31):
they will tell you just don't understand how the federal
government works. Okay, okay, let me let me teach you
a few things. And Elon is like, no, no, no, no,
I'm doing the teaching right now because.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
It's crazy, and he says it He's just.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Like people and go, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah. I just I think that there's going to be
I know, we have normy listeners who are not on
X all the time, and this might be the first
time that they're hearing about this lime shaft. Guys, this
is real, This is a real thing that our crazy
government is doing. And I'm so glad that Elon is
there figuring it out and changing things because this needs
(26:10):
to be changed. And I have to say, there was
an arc Insights pull out today and his ideas are
very popular. Twenty eight percent of vote. Only twenty eight
percent of voters believe the federal government has had their
best interest in mind as it decides how to spend
their taxpayer dollars. Like, yeah, I'm surprised the number is
that high. Eighty two percent of voters believe waste, fraud
(26:32):
and abuse is a serious problem inside the government. Eighty
two percent. I mean, the fact that eighty two percent
of Americans believe anything together is amazing and a big
step forward. And sixty two percent of voters support DOJE
efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. I mean, this
is a popular thing that he's doing. You know, Michael Schellenberg,
(26:53):
who is just this excellent follow on x he tweeted
the Government Accountability Officer Office under Biden so important to note,
not right now, but under the Biden administration estimated last
year that we are losing two hundred and thirty three
to five hundred and twenty one billion dollars per year
to fraud. The fact that Elon is trying to recover
(27:16):
this is massively popular and it should be well.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And The New York Times framed this press conference in
the Oval Office, by the way, by saying that Elon
Musk alleges without proof fraud in the federal government. It's like, dude, A,
we have proof. B I would invite you to do
your accounting just like the federal government does. And so
(27:41):
see how that goes for you. Yeah, good luck. See
if you might be indicted for fraud if you tell
the IRS that you lost two hundred and thirty six
billion dollars and you don't know what happened to it.
He pointed out in this press conference. Also, again, I
think the megaphone is very important because people will see
these off the wall appearances of Elon Musk saying, Hey,
(28:04):
we're paying people's social security who are one hundred and
fifty years old. Would you like to find them for
me and explain why we're paying these people, because I
don't think they exist. And if that's not proof enough
for the New York Times. In addition to the GAO numbers.
They don't care, is the thing. They just want the
spickett to keep running.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That's right, They really don't care. And it's just the
insanity of the reaction. So Elon in that video is
wearing a black Maga hat, and so there are all
these calls to have them investigated because you're not supposed
to wear political materials in the White House, and it's
just like, come.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
On, guys, I know, I just I don't think it
flies now. I think there's political risk in moving fast
and breaking things, which is what people do in the
tech sector. They fail fast. That's kind of the idea
behind a lot of Elon's endeavors, and so you've got
to be careful with what you might break along the way. However,
(29:03):
so far, again, as we've discussed, this is under the
United States Digital Service auspices. They have legal allowances. He
is appointed as a special government and government employee, just
as Anita Dunn was, who was all up in everything
in the by the administration. It is not extraordinary in
(29:24):
the ways they're telling you it's extraordinary. It might be
extraordinarily more effective in the end, which might be the problem,
but I don't have an issue with this going forward
and him talking about it as he's doing it. He
said at one point, look, I'm going to get some
things wrong and they should be corrected. Now, a bunch
(29:45):
of people cut that quote and said, I'm just going
to get some things wrong, and like, I'm lying to
you basically, But that's not what he said. I think
he should be careful. However, he says, look like I'm
going to make mistakes and I'm going to correct those mistakes.
So I think that's like important context for all of this.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, and his transparency is very very welcome after four
years of opaqueness and who knows what and nobody knew
who was in charge of what or who was doing what.
Seeing Elon say this is what we're finding, here's a
story for you. All of that is I'm loving it.
I'm loving it. The Elon era in government, all about
(30:23):
it all right?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Well, And by the way, I should say, the Trump
administration is just in the customary way appealing these decisions.
Everyone's telling you there's a constitutional crisis, and yet he
continues to go through the process with his lawyers to
these I think in many cases activist judges saying, hey,
maybe we actually do have the powers of the executive branch.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Maybe the Treasury Secretary should be able to see documents
in the Treasury.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't know, call me crazy so crazy town yep.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, thank you for joining us on normally Normally airs
Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get
your podcasts. Get in touch with us at normallythepod at
gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and when things get weird,
act normally
Hey guys, and welcome back to normally the show with
normalist takes for when the news gets weird.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Mary Katholic, I'm Carol Marcowitz. How are you, Mary Catherine?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I am good. The kids are home. We have a
snow day. But several of the p have reached that
wonderful age where you can just send them to play
in the snow for several hours.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's wonderful, it really is. Yeah, self sufficient kids, It's
really what it's all about. That age where you no
longer have to worry about them, Like I call it
the eating pennies phase, where you don't have to worry
about them finding a penny and eating it. Once that's over,
things get really good.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Although I will say classic tween move. One of them
went out in a sweatshirt and crocs and I'm like, girl,
there are six inches of snow on the ground.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Listen. So at that point, you know it's their responsibility, right,
what are you gonna do? So well, as we're recording,
Tulsi has just been confirmed and RFK confirmation hearing is
beginning right now. It looks like he's a goal. Though
I have to say I am somewhat surprised. I thought
(01:11):
those two were going to be quite a struggle and
they really haven't been.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it's interesting sort of the feel in the city
and on the hill changed very drastically on Tulsi Gabbard
very quickly. I think probably Vance's behind the scenes work
helped with that, as did I think we mentioned that
Kirsten Cinema got called in to do a couple calls
(01:36):
on that front. She of course like sort of weird
moderate figure who has the kind of person who's found
a place in the Trump coalition frankly, and is represented
by a Tulsi Gabbard. It's interesting that Cash Patel's sort
of been quiet since his hearing and his confirmation hearing.
(01:57):
His vote I believe out of the Committee is scheduled
for later this week. But as these ups and downs happen,
it is interesting that Cash Purtel seemed like the most
likely of this trio. Yeah, and now we haven't heard
anything about Cash Pattel for several days, even a week.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
There's really no rhyme or reason to any of this.
I don't know what's going on. I like again putting
Pete Hegseth back in the equation if you gave me
those four people, I still would have said Telsea and
RFK are going to be the hardest climb. I wouldn't
have thought that Pete Hegseth of those four would be
the most difficult. I don't know how that really happened,
but yeah, he's to me the least controversial of the four.
(02:38):
I thought he'd be smooth staling, and he was right
up until you know the end and nail Bier so
very curious that I don't know what people are thinking anymore.
It's everything has shifted. The Trump you know, campaign has
really been different. It brought in a lot of different people,
and I think that the Senators are largely responding to that.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Can we note that heg Seth in his first overseas trip,
went to Stuttgart, Germany and worked out with the Green
Berets there. Ye, many a meme was born.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Can you imagine Lloyd Austin doing that?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I could not. I just this is a kind of
thing that people who haven't served, or who haven't been
a like maybe a sports context like that, the physical
sort of team building context might turn their noses up
at This will matter to people, right, It matters that
he's joining them. It will matter to people who are
(03:36):
looking at joining He's one of the that it feels
like this guy is not asking them to do things
that he has not done or is willing to do
right now, and that he's sort of standing shoulder to
shoulder with them. I think I think that matters, and
that the visuals are.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Great, fantastic. Yeah again Lloyd Austin doing a chin up.
I just can't picture it. And you know, I saw
I just saw a headline on this, But already numbers
are up. Enrollment numbers for the military are up under
Pete Hegseth and that's impressive already.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I think that's good news for all of us. I
saw a new form. I think it was just an
online ad, but an army recruiting ad. There was just
a big guy lifting weights with like cool music behind him,
and then he says stronger people are harder to kill.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, I've seen that.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, And it's like that's the message the Biden administration
had gotten involved in this, like what is your calling, right?
How do you truly know yourself? Serving in the military,
And it's like sometimes you just need some like hard
rock and dudes shot.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, don't join the military to go find yourself. I
don't think that's what that's all about.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It indeed could happen a long way. You're gonna become
a better person while you do this. But anyway, so
that's going on. I did want to mention that our
favorite cabinet pick m Chavez de Ramier. Yeah, she is
now postponed because of the snow until February nineteenth, although
(05:07):
as all things on the Hill, it could be that
she's postponed for another reason because maybe we aren't there.
We were not sure. It's all criminology at this point.
But this is the Labor Secretary nominee who neither of
us is a fan.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I was going to clarify when MK says our favorite,
she means our least favorite.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I'm joking. I did want to note our friend Noah
Rothman over at National Review points out that among those
who endorsed her in twenty four are the American Federation
of Government Employees, who will talk about later in the show,
Eric actively suing the Trump administration over the things that's
trying to do. He United Food and Commercial Workers, the
(05:50):
International Union Painters and Allied Trades, International Brotherhood of Electric
Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants, all of which
have engaged in activism specifically against the Trump administration and
its desires and its policies. But she is the Labor
Secretary nominee, and what looks like just like a nod
to the Teamsters guy for not endorsing he didn't endorse
(06:14):
Trump enough, didn't endorse Biden.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, I don't like it. I hope the Republicans
vote her down. I don't know though, because now with
the way things have gone, I kind of think that
they're and again, it's not wrong that they want to
pass their own party's nominees. We talked about it last episode.
It makes a lot of sense that they would want
to coordinate with the Trump administration and they would want
to do things to make it easier for the Trump
(06:39):
administration to get.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Their proposals through.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
It makes sense, right, But I just think she's so
left and you know, you're going to have people like
Elizabeth Warren voting yes on her, and Republican should really
think about that. What does that mean that Elizabeth Warren
is for this person? What does it mean for your values?
What does it mean for your state's values? What do
your voters want so.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And the question also is does it make it easier
if you have a capain member who is backed by
all these groups who are actively working against you. And
by the way, I think it is important to acknowledge
that a part of the union vote moved to Trump. Right,
there is a working class vote that's very important part
of this coalition that you do not want to ignore. However,
(07:22):
I don't think he earned those votes by being aligned
with union heads and their preferred policies. Those That's not
how he earned those votes, So I'm not sure this
is the correct way to signal that you're into this coalition.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I agree, and I think he would have gotten those
votes even if the union head didn't sit out the
endorsement process. I'm not sure that he wouldn't have picked
up those votes anyway.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So, if anything, the teams to move, which I thought
was clever. He basically said I would like to speak
at the DNC and the RNC. The RNC took him
up on it, also clever. So this is mutually beneficial,
but I think it's more of a just a recognition
of where his rank and file is. Other unions are
less likely to make that recognition and take that on
(08:09):
as a fact on the ground. But it's probably good
for his survival as head of the as head of
the Union, That's right.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens with this. If
they listened normally, and they should, they will vote down
this pick. I also I want to see how hard
the Trump administration goes for her. Will they have dvance
behind the scenes, you know, talking to House, you know,
Senate members, and I don't know, I don't know that
they will necessarily We'll see.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Well.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And Senator Mark Waynemullen, who has been I think sort
of a good gauge of how hard the Trump team
is rooting for various people. So he really went to
the mats for Chelsea Gabbard for RFK as well as
it's just been outspoken and Pete Hegseth. Of course, he
has come out and said, look, I disagree with her
on a bunch of things. I am very anti the
(09:01):
pro Act, which is this California export that they want
to make national, which is a terrible, terrible idea that
would kill the gig economy. However, I think it's important
that Trump has his picks, and I'm going to back her.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's the thing that's the delicate weight that they're going
to have to figure out here whether backing Trump picks
meaning means backing somebody who's this far to the left,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It, and who might stemy what you're actually trying to
do right now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
That's exactly it. We'll be right back on normally. Some
news out of Florida, which I'm very excited about. Disney
has decided to make changes to their DEI policies. And
let me tell you, nobody roots for Disney to turn
(09:52):
itself around as much as a conservative parent living in
Florida with three children who are like, please stake is
back to Disney World, and I just like, nope, we
will not. We will not take you back to Disney
World until they shape up. And I love to see it.
I love to see it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, it looks like at least promising right that they're
sort of they're removing some of the diversity inclusion metrics
and language in their you know, professional sort of handbook
type of publications. Beginning this fiscal year, Disney will replace
the diversity and Inclusion performance factor that it used to
evaluate executive compensation with a new talent strategy. The new
(10:33):
Talent Strategy factor includes concepts from its old diversity Inclusion factor,
but is more focused on how values drive business success,
and that I would suggest that business success should be
pretty top of the heap. If you would like folks
like our families to show up at your very expensive parks.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, it's it's really and it's a win for Governor DeSantis.
Obviously he had this like long term fight with them,
which everybody thought he would lose. I think even Republicans
were like, Oh, I don't know if you should do this.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, taken on the mouse.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
The mouse is very very powerful, especially in Florida obviously,
but everywhere. Really, Disney's a giant American company, and to
have people have a negative impression of that company was it.
It really did suck for everyone. We didn't want Disney
to be this kind of company that we had to
watch pre watch all the movies and not trust our
kids to watch it because who knew what they were
(11:28):
going to sneak in. And when Christopher Ruffo obviously had
this big expose where he had internal Disney videos where
they're discussing how they sneak messaging into their movies. You're like, whoa,
I can't let my kids see this. So yeah, the
focusing on business outcomes is great. I love to see it. Obviously,
(11:48):
we're not rushing back to Disney World anytime too soon,
because actually I already gave them the benefit of the
doubt ones one time a few years ago they were like, no, no,
we're done with this, and we went back to disney World,
and I was like, Okay, we're gonna We're gonna do this.
And then like three days after we got back from
disney World, they released a really anti American cartoon and
I was.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Like, well, we're done with you forever.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I'm no, I'm under no illusions that this is like
the fix. Yeah. I do think that they are smart
enough to be responding to the customer base that they
need to be responding to. It's taken way too long,
and you're right once you've lost ground in such an
incredible brand. I mean that that brand was flawless in
(12:34):
early years. The idea that they abandoned that and trust
is such a degree was insane. I mean a lot
of people went insane in twenty twenty to twenty twenty five.
But crazily insane for Disney, and when it communicated to
me all these brands that I've become much less enthusiastic
about over the years, what it communicated to me was, Okay, A,
(12:57):
you have an agenda for my kids that's not mine.
And I can't have this on autopilot, like I can't
sit them down in front of a Disney film and
feel like everything will be fine or we won't have
to have some conversation. And two that you don't like
or trust me, and I'm the one spending the money.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, And it was like, who were they aiming that at?
I just how many parents want their kids to have
kind of these lessons and these morals imparted by these movies.
I don't think there were that many.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think some of it is just like there's a
current and they're going with it, and they didn't realize
that the current had carried them so far off of
what they should be doing. That doesn't absolve them of responsibility,
because you have a company to run at all. But
I do think some of it is just like everybody
got carried away and they hired a bunch of people.
(13:47):
They're like hr monsters who just decided to run the
brand and like out of control. HR employees should not
be writing scripts for children's cartoons, Like that's just not no,
they shouldn't. That's not the vibe.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Talked about it on a previous episode. But snow White
is still coming up, and the snow.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
White we've been talking about it forever.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
It's like two years of like talking about the snow
White actress and how kooky she is.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
The original snow White was hand drawn cell by seal
and it took less time than this movie has taken.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
The son played me the snow White trailer on YouTube
and he was like, nobody's watching this movie, but like,
look at all the comments and all the comments, all
the comments were mockery. It was just it's not a
good scene for Disney. And I wonder what they're going
to do with this movie. And I said to my son,
I was like, oh, I think this movie is gonna
lose money. And he's like all Disney movies recently have
(14:40):
been losing money because that's what they do now. They
lose money because nobody wants to watch this you know,
woke insanity or or the you know, even if you
don't have the woke insanity. Nobody trusts you. That loss
of trust for a company that had so much of
our trust, that's really what the problem is and what
they're going to have to reab.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You're also asked to pay so much, Right, if you
go to the parks, you're paying for a premium experience.
You are paying prices that should get you a bunch
of respect and consideration. And if you're not getting that,
you don't want to pay those prices. I would add
one of the other changes they're making, which I kind
of enjoy is Disney is also Axios reported this. Disney
(15:22):
is also updating disclaimers that run before certain titles on
its streaming services that currently warn viewers of quote negative
depictions and or mistreatment of people or cultures. In a
forthcoming change, the tag will read they've softened it a
little bit. Quote this program is presented as originally created
and may it contain stereotypes or negative depictions and be
included in the details section. So it sounds like that
(15:44):
will be less in your face. We can all be
aware that you know, Peter Pan isn't a current project.
Thanks right, Thanks.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Guys, Yeah, you know, when you're at Disney World. You
could the last time I was there a few years
ago now, but there's so many things there that you
could see that the Wolkesters still haven't come for, but
you know it's obviously coming. You know, the bathrooms are
still male and female. There's a very pro America thread
(16:14):
throughout the park, and so it's they didn't get to
them completely. But the damage that they've done to this
company and to this brand, I wonder how long, if
ever it'll take to undo. The only part of the
Disney operation that I've read is making money is the parks,
because the parks are pretty fantastic. I mean, they're very
well done. But the rest of the products Disney streaming
(16:38):
is you know, a giant money loss. The movies aren't
doing well.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So we'll see some of the move because they saw
this growing segment of Disney adults, who many of whom
are actually progressive and probably happy with a lot of
these changes, and they just put way too much money
on that segment of the customer base. Was national in
that way.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Maybe, but you know, there could have been the conservative
Disney adult who didn't go. Actually the biggest adult I
know as a conservative woman, So I don't know. I
have sort of a questionable thinking on this. I'm sure
a lot of them are liberal, and she does defend
Disney a lot because she loves Disney, and she loves
Disney ran like, you know what I.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Mean, I could be a Disney adult. When I've been
back as an adult with my kids, I'm like, wait
a second, I feel like this would be really fun
when I didn't have anyone. So I do.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, I feel like drinking through Epcot without my kids.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I feel like I rose in France. You know I'm
doing well, So I haven't. I haven't crossed that bridge.
Don't anybody get me wrong. Yeah, however, you know he's
a little you know, I understand the impulse.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Basically, if Disney recovers and Mary Catherine's kids get older
move out of the house, she's moving to Orlando and
doing daily trip to.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Disney World season pass. Baby, I'm gonna take I'll take
one kid as plausible deniability. I know you're twenty one,
it's fine, Spine, just let us go.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, we'll drink together at Epcott.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I think you're you're more likely to see me at
Dollywood for like the next five eight years. Until they
earn that back.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with normally for our last segment, back to Doge.
Doge is doing it's good work, and Democrats are handling
it really, really well.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
So the group that I mentioned earlier, the American Federation
of Government Employees, in true government employee fashion, took a
Tuesday in the middle of the day to go to
Washington and protest their bosses who are us and the
elected officials that we elected. And they have some thoughts
(18:57):
about why we shouldn't be messing with it. So let's
just play a little bit of this inspiring clip of
the American Federation of Governor government Employees who want us
to back them at every turn.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Oh, which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Me?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
We'll fight against Josh. We're a fight on mess, no way.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Landscap within our walls.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
We'll fight from don to dusk. Which side are you on?
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Trump's coming for our unions.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
He wants us off to fame, he wants us to
bow to him, but we want him in jail. Oh,
which shide are you on? Which shote?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
Are you all? Which shot?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Are you.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Not their side? I'm whatever they're protesting for against. I
would be like, I'm not on your side.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
The other side. That's the answer, the other side. Can
I also just say, there's got to be someone in
that crowd who can sing?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Right? What is that?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I could sing that?
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Whoever that is on the mic, Put the singer on
the mic. This is some real tired nineteen sixty eight nostalgia,
except they're doing it at our expense during a work day, and.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
They're saying they want the president in jail because they
don't like him and they don't like his policies, so
arrest him. I mean, and this is the same party,
this is the party that we're supposed to turn to
for you know, normalcy. I just they've lost the plot completely.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
No, and I again said this before, but federal employees
have lavish protections that normal workers do not have. When
Americans realize what they have at their back, they will
be frustrated by the number of protections, among which include
like you know, taking the day off, protesting in the street,
(21:18):
which is of course First Amendment protected. Even if you're
a really bad singer. However, calling for your boss to
be jailed in public on video, generally for a normal worker,
would be a problem. Like that's suspension.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right, Yeah, yeah, we should try that, you know, we
should like go out and protest and be like Clay
and Buck in jail.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, just like I'm sure that would be fine.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They'd like that.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But this is the universe that they operate in, the
universe of entitlement, the universe of you don't get to
ask us questions. Dooge doesn't get to ask us questions.
But Elon Musk went to the Oval office to explain that, indeed,
we are going to continue asking questions. The Trump administration,
by the way, has these temporary restraining orders against it,
(22:06):
one of which prevents the Senate confirmed Treasury Secretary from
looking at the records of Treasury payments. Now that idea
seems on its face insane. Ye, there was a follow
up ruling that said, Okay, the Secretary of the Treasury can,
but no one else who's not Senate confirmed can look,
(22:28):
which is not the way things are done in other administrations.
But this is special. At any rate, They're doing all
this work and Elon shows up in the Oval Office
to explain it, and Trump is like, tell them what
you doing, Elon, And Elon standing there with his kid
on his shoulders, it love it, explaining quite calmly and clearly,
(22:50):
look at all the insane stuff we've run into. We
do not think this is a good investment for the
American people, even beyond just like what the programs are doing,
but the way we do business in the federal government
is not helpful to the American people. And some of
the anecdotes were wild, particularly this one about when he
(23:13):
ran into the issue of how many people can retire
per month and he asked a question. One of the
things I enjoy about Elon Muskus is he's just like,
but why right, let's get to the bottom of this,
and on the issue of retirements in the federal government.
This is what he found. This is not a joke.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
The most number of people that could retire possibly in
a month is ten thousand.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
We're like, whoa, why is that?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,
It's manually calculated and written down our piece of paper.
Then it goes down to mine, like what do you
mean of mine? Like, yeah, there's a limestone mine where
we stole all the retirement paperwork.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
And you look at picture of a picture of this mine.
We'll post some pictures afterwards.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
And this is this mine looks like something out of
the fifties because it was started in nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
It looks like it's like a time warp.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And then the speed, then the limiting factor is the
speed at which the mine, the shaft elevator can move,
determines how many people can retire from the federal from
the federal government, and the elevator breaks down.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
And I said, sometimes, and then you can't. Nobody can.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Nobody can retire.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Doesn't that sound crazy? Yeah, there's like a thousand people
that work on this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
So I think if we take those people and say, like,
you know what, instead of working in a mine shaft
and carry manila and envelopes to you know, with boxes
in a mineshaft.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
You could do practically anything else and you.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Would add to the goods and services of the United
States in a more useful way.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
This sounds completely made up. Who came up with this
Kakamamy idea?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It's not made up. It's called the Iron Mountain. It's
a real thing.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
It was in the Washington Post a few years ago,
and so like all these liberals are like it was
in the Washington Post, like, oh, yeah, you knew about this,
You knew about the minds that we have the retirement
paperwork in. You read about it in the Washington Post.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Like six years ago. And the thing is it's symbolic.
It is not It's not that this would solve the
problems with the government. It's that this is the whole
federal government. Yeah, this is how they think it's okay
to do business. And if you say, hey, maybe a
limestone mind shaft is not the best way to maybe
retirement records in the Year of Our Lord twenty twenty five,
(25:31):
they will tell you just don't understand how the federal
government works. Okay, okay, let me let me teach you
a few things. And Elon is like, no, no, no, no,
I'm doing the teaching right now because.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
It's crazy, and he says it He's just.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Like people and go, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah. I just I think that there's going to be
I know, we have normy listeners who are not on
X all the time, and this might be the first
time that they're hearing about this lime shaft. Guys, this
is real, This is a real thing that our crazy
government is doing. And I'm so glad that Elon is
there figuring it out and changing things because this needs
(26:10):
to be changed. And I have to say, there was
an arc Insights pull out today and his ideas are
very popular. Twenty eight percent of vote. Only twenty eight
percent of voters believe the federal government has had their
best interest in mind as it decides how to spend
their taxpayer dollars. Like, yeah, I'm surprised the number is
that high. Eighty two percent of voters believe waste, fraud
(26:32):
and abuse is a serious problem inside the government. Eighty
two percent. I mean, the fact that eighty two percent
of Americans believe anything together is amazing and a big
step forward. And sixty two percent of voters support DOJE
efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. I mean, this
is a popular thing that he's doing. You know, Michael Schellenberg,
(26:53):
who is just this excellent follow on x he tweeted
the Government Accountability Officer Office under Biden so important to note,
not right now, but under the Biden administration estimated last
year that we are losing two hundred and thirty three
to five hundred and twenty one billion dollars per year
to fraud. The fact that Elon is trying to recover
(27:16):
this is massively popular and it should be well.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And The New York Times framed this press conference in
the Oval Office, by the way, by saying that Elon
Musk alleges without proof fraud in the federal government. It's like, dude, A,
we have proof. B I would invite you to do
your accounting just like the federal government does. And so
(27:41):
see how that goes for you. Yeah, good luck. See
if you might be indicted for fraud if you tell
the IRS that you lost two hundred and thirty six
billion dollars and you don't know what happened to it.
He pointed out in this press conference. Also, again, I
think the megaphone is very important because people will see
these off the wall appearances of Elon Musk saying, Hey,
(28:04):
we're paying people's social security who are one hundred and
fifty years old. Would you like to find them for
me and explain why we're paying these people, because I
don't think they exist. And if that's not proof enough
for the New York Times. In addition to the GAO numbers.
They don't care, is the thing. They just want the
spickett to keep running.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
That's right, They really don't care. And it's just the
insanity of the reaction. So Elon in that video is
wearing a black Maga hat, and so there are all
these calls to have them investigated because you're not supposed
to wear political materials in the White House, and it's
just like, come.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
On, guys, I know, I just I don't think it
flies now. I think there's political risk in moving fast
and breaking things, which is what people do in the
tech sector. They fail fast. That's kind of the idea
behind a lot of Elon's endeavors, and so you've got
to be careful with what you might break along the way. However,
(29:03):
so far, again, as we've discussed, this is under the
United States Digital Service auspices. They have legal allowances. He
is appointed as a special government and government employee, just
as Anita Dunn was, who was all up in everything
in the by the administration. It is not extraordinary in
(29:24):
the ways they're telling you it's extraordinary. It might be
extraordinarily more effective in the end, which might be the problem,
but I don't have an issue with this going forward
and him talking about it as he's doing it. He
said at one point, look, I'm going to get some
things wrong and they should be corrected. Now, a bunch
(29:45):
of people cut that quote and said, I'm just going
to get some things wrong, and like, I'm lying to
you basically, But that's not what he said. I think
he should be careful. However, he says, look like I'm
going to make mistakes and I'm going to correct those mistakes.
So I think that's like important context for all of this.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, and his transparency is very very welcome after four
years of opaqueness and who knows what and nobody knew
who was in charge of what or who was doing what.
Seeing Elon say this is what we're finding, here's a
story for you. All of that is I'm loving it.
I'm loving it. The Elon era in government, all about
(30:23):
it all right?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Well, And by the way, I should say, the Trump
administration is just in the customary way appealing these decisions.
Everyone's telling you there's a constitutional crisis, and yet he
continues to go through the process with his lawyers to
these I think in many cases activist judges saying, hey,
maybe we actually do have the powers of the executive branch.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Maybe the Treasury Secretary should be able to see documents
in the Treasury.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't know, call me crazy so crazy town yep.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, thank you for joining us on normally Normally airs
Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get
your podcasts. Get in touch with us at normallythepod at
gmail dot com. Thanks for listening, and when things get weird,
act normally
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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