A Government Shutdown, Air Traffic Controllers Working DoorDash & Kim Davis is On the Same BS

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Sunny spaces, smiling faces, happy places. But every sunny space
holds a shadow. Behind every smile, our sharp teeth, and
every happy place has something sinister lurking just below the surface.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to We Saw the Devil, the podcast diving deep
into the chilling realms of true crime. Join your host
Robin as she unravels mysteries that have left investigators baffled
and armchair sleuth's obsessed. Be forewarned, Dear listener, We Saw
the Devil is not for the faint of heart. Our
unflinching exploration will take you to the darkest corners of

(00:41):
the psyche and through the unimaginable depths of human darkness
to unearth stark secrets. To the harsh light of day.
Nothing will be left untouched. Are you ready?

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Are you sure?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
We Saw the Devil?

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Hello everyone, you are listening to Red, White and Bruised.
This is Robyn and I am currently recording this from
my home office, which surprisingly also actually doubles as a
panic room because I'm currently locked away eating cheese, so
it counts right, How are you guys doing?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
This?

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Has kind of been a bit of a week and
I'm okay taking a deep breath. We'll get to more
of that in a moment, but most pressingly, before we
get into anything else at all, I need to let
you know that this is the next to final episode
of Red, White and Bruised that's going to be attached
to the We Saw the Double podcast account. I know,
I know, change is hard, scary, we don't like it.

(01:39):
But the new podcast link is going to be in
the episode description. So if you're listening and you want
to continue hearing Red White and Bruised, check out the
episode description and follow the link. Because you have a
brand new podcast to follow. I will cease attaching it
to We Saw the Double just one more time after
this one to get the message through, and then it

(02:01):
will never show up here again. And please follow. If
you have enjoyed hearing these delightful little personal weekly therapy
sessions disguised as political commentary, please come over and listen.
And to everyone who's been listening and sending me messages
of support, thank you, genuinely. Like I've mentioned in almost

(02:21):
every episode, we very much live in some We very
much live in some sort of echo chamber, and so
I just wanted to talk and scream into the void
and meet other people who are feeling the same, and
apparently there are quite a few of you, so thank
you so much. And to the people who've left, we
saw the devil as a whole because of my politics,

(02:42):
I mean, sucks start a disappoint Oh well, hope you
find a podcast that validates your choices. I guess I'll
be over here. I guess the best way to describe
that is, you, guys know that viral video of that
guy singing and playing piano and he's like, and I
do not give a fun. That's me right now. So
that is that. Okay, housekeeping done, Let's talk about something

(03:05):
fun before I ruin all of our days. Halloween is
next week, y'all. I'm, as usual unreasonably excited about it. However, Comma,
I have to say that I need horror movie recommendations.
Please drop them in the comments, send them my way,
because I'm trying to squeeze in as many movies as
possible before October ends and we slide into the hell

(03:25):
that is November. Normally, every year for Halloween I do
a thirty thirty movies thirty movie countdown more or less
thirty to Halloween. I haven't watched anything. I've watched maybe
three four things, primarily because of Iris. And speaking of
horror movies, the final horror movie review with IRIS is
dropping this week. We watched Barbarian and Weapons, and let

(03:47):
me tell you, we had opinions, and honestly, it has
nothing to do with true crime, and I know everyone
knows that. But I love horror movies so much. It's
why I got my start in podcasting on a horror podcast.
I started a horror movie podcast more or less, and
then I was sponsored by fear Net. So horror is
my love. But I feel like I haven't seen anything

(04:08):
worth a damn and I can't even remember how long.
Work has also been really busy and stressful, and so
this weekend I've just made it all about self care.
I've taken bubble baths, I ordered my favorite food, pastrami
and Swiss on Pumpernickel rye God so good. But I'm
kind of pissed off that the government gets actually shut
down and I still have to continue my life. So

(04:30):
if we could change that, that would be great because
I would also like my break from functioning. Thank you y'all,
and this goes for all of us. I feel it's
pretty safe to assume that all of us have our
day to day right, whether it's jobs, family, responsibilities, whatever,
And does anyone else feel like they're just kind of
living while everything is actively falling the fuck apart, Like

(04:52):
we're not even pretending anymore. We've moved past slow decline
into actively on fire while people argue about out whether
the fire is even real territory. The cognitive dissonance right
now is doing more cardio than I am. We're here,
we're doing the thing. We're gonna play a little game,
and I promise you this is going to be deeply
uncomfortable for you, but also kind of in a fun

(05:14):
let's laugh because this is too fucking sad kind of
way as well. It's called who said it? Hitler, Steven
Miller or Trump. I'm gonna read quotes and I want
you to try to guess which fascist. Oh, I'm sorry,
which person said them. If you grab a pen, you
can keep score. I'm not going to give you anything.

(05:34):
There's no prize here. Sorry, I'm not Oprah. This isn't
actually fun, and we're going to do it anyway, because
sometimes you need to see the pattern laid out in
front of you to understand what the fuck is actually happening.
So five, four, three two one, Ready said, let's go.
Quote number one, They're poisoning the blood of our country.

(05:57):
They're poisoning the blood of our country. That was Donald
Trump talking about immigrants in December of twenty twenty three.
But Hitler said almost the exact same thing about Jewish people.
So I guess have credit if you chose Hitler. Quote
number two, the press is the enemy of the people. Ready,

(06:19):
that's Trump again, But it was also a favorite of
Stalin as well, So if you magically picked Stalin instead
of Hitler or Steven Miller, Trump and Stallin. But Trump's
also been saying that since twenty seventeen. Quote number three,
America is for Americans and Americans only. That one was

(06:40):
a trick question. That is Stephen Miller from a twenty
twenty four speech. He said, America is for Americans and
Americans only, though it is basically the definition of every
nationalist slogan ever, including Germany is for Germans. So Stephen
Miller technically to win that round. Quote four, The streets
of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled

(07:03):
with students rebelling and rioting communists are seeking to destroy
our country again. The streets of our country are in turmoil.
The universities are filled with students rebelling, and rioting communists
are seeking to destroy our country. Ready. That was Hitler
nineteen thirty two. That it made you wonder right for

(07:25):
a split second, because it does sound exactly like a
Trump rally speech. Doesn't it be honest? You weren't sure?
Next quote, we will root out the communists, the Marxists,
fascist and radical left thugs that live like vermin within
the confines of our country.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Again.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical
left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of
our country. That's Trump, November twenty twenty three. The live
like vermin quote is doing some real heavy lifting there.
And by the way, Hitler all so use the word
vermin to describe Jews, just saying, and let's do a
bonus round because I'm feeling spicy. Make America great again.

(08:07):
This one's obvious. It's Trump, right, it's his whole brand,
his actual brand. But here's the fun part. Hitler's slogan
was make Germany great again. Literal direct quote make Germany
great again. Mussolini's was actually make Italy great again. The
point of this is that every fascist uses the same
playbook because surprise, it works. Appeal to some mythical past

(08:33):
of greatness for your nation, Promise to restore the country
to that former glory, Blame outsiders for the problem, and
offer yourself as the strong man who can fix it
you alone. It's not original, it's not even creative. It's
just effective. So how did you do if you couldn't
tell them apart easily? Congratulations, you've identified the problem. When

(08:56):
you can play a game of Nazi or modern American
politicians and genuinely not know the answer, we have crossed
align you, guys. And again, this isn't about being alarmist.
This is about recognizing patterns. Authoritarian rhetoric sounds the same
across time and place because it appeals to the same
fears and impulses like nationalism, scapegoating, the cult of the

(09:19):
strong man, the man with a big personality us versus them,
dehumanizing language, and the promise that one leader alone can
save you. And before someone comes at me with you
can't compare Trump to Hitler. I'm not saying that Trump
is committing genocide. I'm not saying we're in the nineteen
forties Germany. I'm saying the rhetoric is identical, and rhetoric matters,

(09:43):
And because the rhetoric is the vehicle and how you
normalize the worst of the worst ideas. It's how you
make atrocities seem reasonable. It's how you get people to
accept things that they would have found horrifying even five
years prior. It's basically how you boil the frag right,
you know that saying if you boil it slowly, no
one notices the temperature rising until it's too late. So

(10:07):
in a recent meeting, when Stephen Miller told Trump, you
alone saved the country. You alone saved it. And it
echoes Nazi Germany. When Trump talks about immigrants poisoning the blood,
when they use language that is indistinguishable from Nazi propaganda,
we should probably pay attention. And if you look at
the Department of Justice now, in Department of Homeland Security,

(10:29):
they're doing some weird fucking Soviet propaganda posters on there
right now. I don't give a shit what your political
party is. Guys, go to the Department of Homeland Security
on their Facebook and website. They are carbon copying Soviet
Cold War Soviet era propaganda poster style and making it
for America. Now, we're not overreacting, y'all. History has shown

(10:52):
us what happens with this. But in any case, that's
the game. I hope you hated it as much as
I did. Remember, speaking of all quotes, remember when it
was just George W. Bush, Remember he said you're either
with us or against us? And the whole world exploded
because we hadn't really had that before. Right, someone make
a statement like that, man, how we have changed? All right?

(11:15):
So let's go ahead and get into it. Y'all. We
are officially twenty four days into the second longest government
shut down in US history, and folks, it's going great.
And by great, I mean it's about to be a
humanitarian disaster. And it's already currently a national embarrassment. And
I read today while I was writing this, that air
traffic controllers, you know, the people who make sure planes

(11:38):
don't go boom in the sky, are driving for door dash.
Now let that sink in. The person who yesterday was
responsible for the lives of thousands of people in the
sky is now delivering your Chipotle order because Congress can't
get their shit together. Jack Chris, an air traffic controller
at Andrews Air Force Base, told NBC News that he's
working eight am to four pm keeping plane safe his

(12:01):
first job, and then immediately switching to door dash until
he picks up his daughter from basketball. And he'll keep
doing this until and I quote he knows when he's
going to freaking get another paycheck. Meanwhile, federal workers lined
up around the block at food banks in DC. Over
two hundred and fifty people showed up to the capital
area of food Bank last Friday. One worker, Anthony Spit,

(12:24):
said he never thought he'd be asking for community help
after seventeen years as a federal employee. He used to
be a grants administrator. Literally his job was giving out assistance,
and now he's in line requesting it. And here's the
kicker of all of this, Members of Congress. They're still
getting paid, don't you worry? Shocking. I know a handful

(12:47):
of lawmakers have asked to withhold their own paychecks, which
is a nice gesture, I guess, but it's kind of
giving thoughts and prayers energy when what we actually need
for them to do is their fucking jobs. But wait,
there's more. The Pentagon accepted an anonymous one hundred and
thirty million dollar donation to help pay the troops, an

(13:08):
anonymous donation to pay for our military because we are
now apparently a GoFundMe nation. I don't know if you
guys have read about this, but Trump announced it as
coming from a patriot and friend of mine, which immediately
raises about forty seven red flags, does it not. Dem
Senator Chris Coons pointed out the obvious. He said, using

(13:30):
anonymous donations to fund our military raises troubling questions of
whether our own troops are at risk of literally being
bought and paid for by foreign powers. So, speaking of
that anonymous donor, his name is Timothy Mellon, it came
out yesterday, recludes a billionaire railroad air and the guy
who wrote in his self published autobiography that welfare programs

(13:50):
are slavery reducts and that black people became quote drove
quote even more belligerent and unwilling to pitch in after
social programs excited banded in the nineteen sixties. I'm not exaggerating.
He has a whole chapter in his book called slavery Reducks,
where he says welfare recipients are slaves of a new master,

(14:11):
Uncle Sam. This man inherited billions, billions of dollars and
has the audacity to call government assistance for poor people
slavery while he's never worked a day in his life
for anyone but himself, and Trump thinks he's a hero. Also,
him giving the money is probably illegal. The Anti Deficiency
Act bar's federal agencies from accepting funds that haven't been

(14:33):
appropriated by Congress. And I mean quite seriously literally since
when Trump took office, legal experts are obviously raising have
obviously been raising alarms. Ethics watchdogs are currently saying that
the American government shouldn't be funded by anonymous megadnor friends
of the president. I don't know about you, but I
do tend to agree. But now Melon isn't anonymous anymore,

(14:53):
and we know exactly what he believes because he wrote
a book ranting about how black people are belligerent, universities
that TEA black studies and LGBT studies women studies are
brainwashing students. He said that poor people are too lazy
to help themselves, And this is the guy funding Trump's campaign.
He gave fifty million dollars to Trump's super pack the
day after Trump was convicted of thirty four felonies. He

(15:16):
donated one hundred and sixty five million dollars total in
the twenty twenty four cycle. So let me get this straight.
Federal workers, art, food banks, air traffic controllers are literally
driving on DoorDash. But a racist billionaire who inherited everything
gets to play savior with a donation that barely even
covers a day of military pay, and we're supposed to

(15:36):
be grateful. This isn't patriotism, that's oligarchy. And this is
what happens when billionaires buy access and policy while the
rest of us suffer through government shutdowns that they helped create.
And do you guys remember the air traffic controller issues
have been going on for months, way before the government
shutdown even started. Remember when there seemed to be a

(15:58):
big plane crash or issue on a runway or tarmac
two or three times a week there for a while,
and then that lack of air traffic controllers kind of
went into the spotlight. Well, currently we're operating with about
two thousand fewer air traffic controllers than we need controllers
are working ten hour shifts, six days a week. One
controller told NBC that after a day of radio and

(16:20):
radar issues, a colleague took sick leave because they truly
felt sick to their stomach the way things are run.
Another operations manager went to the hospital because his heart
was beating out of his chest from stress. The Senate
failed to advance our Republican funding bill for the twelfth
time this week. Twelfth time not a single senator switched

(16:41):
their vote, and obviously both parties are blaming each other
while federal workers suffer so to recap. Our government is
so broken that the people who keep us safe in
the air are delivering tacos on the side. We're currently
crowdfunding the military like it's a fucking GoFundMe, and this
is being framed as normal, like exqueeze me.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Moving on.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
Kamala Harris Mamala went on the BBC over the weekend
and dropped what might be the political equivalent of I'm
not locked in here with you, You're locked in here
with me. When asked if she would run for president again,
she said possibly, and then added I'm not done, which

(17:24):
I'm conflicted. Pardon me. Is like Chef's kiss. Love the energy,
the refusal to go quietly, not just bowing out and
bowing down and leaving love the energy. I'm here for
that for context for international listeners. Harris lost to Trump
back in twenty twenty four because Biden dropped out just
one hundred and seven days before the election, literally one

(17:45):
hundred and seven days before the election. In my opinion,
he never should have run a second time. In my opinion,
the Democrats should have molded and developed someone to take
his place. In my opinion, also, I knew that there
was no way that Kamala is going to win. If
you want me to be quite frank and honest, I
don't think our country can handle a female president, much

(18:07):
less a female president of color. I do not know
why our country is so fucked. I do not understand
why sixty eight year old Catherine Connolly was just elected
today as the President of Ireland in a landslide victory,
and we can't have that here. I do not fucking understand.
We talk about how amazing America is and land of

(18:30):
opportunity and freedom. I don't understand how Tunisia, a country
in the Middle East, has a female head of government
female prime minister the United States. No, But after Kamala lost,
which no surprise there, she wrote a book called one
hundred and seven Days appropriate title right, and she initially
suggested that she was done with seeking the presidency. She

(18:53):
talked about wanting to work with people in towns, communities
rather than you know, ceremonial office work essentially, but apparently
she's had some time to think about it and she
is considering. She was presented with polls showing that in
a you know, for the twenty twenty eight Democratic primary,
that she was a definite outsider here, like basically don't bother,
and she was like, well, I've never listened to Poles,

(19:15):
no shit, Sherlock, I get it. Like you were the
attorney general of California, you were a senator vice president,
Like I understand you didn't you earned your stripes, you
know what I mean? I don't know. I think it's
about I don't know. I think it's a bad idea.
What do you guys think? During this interview, Harris called
Trump a tyrant, which Fox and she said that her
predictions about his administration have come true, and given that

(19:38):
we're currently in day twenty four of a government shut down.
Trump just threatened Canada with tariffs over a TV commercial.
I'd say she got receipts. I'd say that she she
pretty accurately predicted this. But then Arizona Senator Mark Kelly
came out and said that, yeah, she could. Diplomatically, he said, yeah,
she could be a pretty incredibly strong twenty twenty eight candidate,

(19:59):
but he expects a crowded primary field. And to me,
that translation means it's gonna be a fucking bloodbath in
the primaries and we're all gonna need therapy after. I
don't know. And look, I know some people are skeptical.
Twenty twenty four loss was brutal. But here's the thing.
Kamala Harris lover or hater. She was handed an impossible

(20:19):
situation one hundred and seven days to run a national
campaign after Biden's exit. I mean, and if you recall, guys,
it was he was pretty unpopular. She raised over a
billion dollars, she energized the base, and she almost kind
of sort of not really pulled it off. So, I mean,
let Kamala cook, I guess, but I'm not holding my

(20:40):
breath on that one. All right, let's quickly talk about
Trump threatening Canada because his fefees got hurt, and possibly
the most on brand move of his presidency, Trump announced
that he's slapping Canada with an extra ten percent tariff
because wait for it, wait for it, Ontario ran an
anti terror TV commercial during the World Series that hurt

(21:03):
his feelings. I am not making this up. The Province
of Ontario aired an ad that used Ronald Reagan's own
words to criticize US tariffs. If you know, Republicans love
Ronald Reagan, I swear to God they would exhume his
corpse and give him a reach around if they could.
But Trump and Republicans modern Republicans loved to invoke Reagan,

(21:25):
and Reagan was actually pretty skeptical of tariffs. He actually
gave a whole speech on it in nineteen eighty seven
making the case against them. So Ontario used Reagan's words,
Reagan's actual speech, historical footage, and Trump lost his mind.
He demanded that the ad be pulled immediately, but Ontario
Premier Doug Ford said he'd take it down after the weekend.

(21:46):
The ad ran Friday night during Game one of the
World Series, and Trump, who was literally flying to Malaysia
on Air Force one at the time posted on True's
social their advertisement was to be taken down immediately that
they let it run last night during the World Series,
knowing that it was a fraud, a fraud using Reagan's

(22:06):
actual speech of fraud. The mental gymnastics there are Olympic level.
So as revenge, Trump announced he's hiking tariffs on Canadian
imports by ten percent quote over and above what they
are paying now because of Ontario's serious misrepresentation of the
facts and hostile Act two things number one to quick

(22:27):
what the fuck? Number two? Quick reminder, y'all, Canada is
our closest ally and trading partner. More than three quarters
of Canadian exports go to the US. About two point
seven billion dollars worth of goods and services cross the
border daily, and many Canadian products already face a thirty
five percent tariff. Steel and aluminum are at fifty percent.

(22:52):
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been trying to work
with Trump to lower tariffs. Trump has said that he
has no intention of meeting with Krne at the summit
in Malaysia where they will both be attending. And here's
what's even more unhinged, Trump complained that the ad was
trying to influence the Supreme Court ahead of arguments next
month about whether he even has the authority to impose

(23:13):
the sweeping tariffs. You see, lower courts already ruled that
he exceeded his authority. But instead of you know, following
the law, he's doubling down and punishing an entire country
because they quoted a dead Republican president. I mean, the
projection here is incredible. Trump is mad about Ontario potentially
influencing the courts, so he says, so he retaliates in

(23:35):
a way that's obviously designed to intimidate anyone who might
challenge him legally. And to be clear, this is a
temper tantrum with international trade implications. It's going to hurt
American consumers, Canadian workers, and all bilateral relations for the
most part, all because a TV commercial made Trump big map.
Remember back when presidents had like advisors who had gently

(23:59):
suggests that maybe starting trade wars over her feelings wasn't
great policy. Those were the days. Because I feel we
have no checks or balances here, like we only have
yes men everywhere. All right, moving on, everyone knows that
Trump is building a three hundred million dollar ballroom at
the White House. Yes, three hundred million dollar ballroom. Yes,
he is constructing a ninety thousand square foot ballroom bigger

(24:23):
than most people's entire apartment complexes. And it's funded by
corporate donations. Well, the White House just released the donor list,
and it reads like a who's who of companies that
want favorable treatment from the government. We're talking Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta,
Lucky Martin, Comcast, Coinbase, basically every major tech and defense

(24:45):
contractor that has business before the federal government. Oh, in
the crypto companies I mentioned Coinbase, Ripple, Teather, Legal, Voss
Twins because nothing says draining the swamp like taking millions
from cryptocurrency exchanges as you're trying to literally regulate cryptocurrency.
I'm sure there's no tie there, though. Commerce Secretary Howard

(25:09):
Lutnik and his family donated. The Adelson family, you know,
the people Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to.
They also chipped in. It's basically pay to play with
extra steps and better lighting. More so, I mean, it's
out in the open, and Trump keeps insisting that this
is privately funded and will cost nothing to taxpayers, which
is technically true in the narrowest sense. But let's also

(25:32):
be real about what's happening here. This is legalized corruption.
These companies are buying access and influence by funding Trump's
vanity project. When Apple donates to build your ballroom, what
are the odds that you're going to improve antitrust regulations
against them? When defense contractors are cutting checks, are you

(25:53):
really going to scrutinize their cost overruns? When crypto companies
are your benefactors, are you going to inform consumer protections?
I mean, this is oligarchy. This is what happens when
the line between public office and personal enrichment gets completely erased.
I mean, Democrat, Republican, whatever. I'd say that we can

(26:14):
all agree on the fact that big corporations, especially ones
that are heavily regulated, shouldn't be giving donations to the government.
And symbolically, it's kind of twac two if you think
about it, that Trump literally tore down the entire goddamn
East Wing to build a ballroom, which, oh, by the way,

(26:34):
did you guys see that it's CBS News actually broke
this last week that it's also the Bunker where that
is is the bunker underneath it, Like this has been
officially reported, so there's also going to be a bunker renovation.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Two.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
My mind goes everywhere. But then with Steve Bannon coming
out this week and saying, yes, Trump will be the
US president for a third term, He's not going anywhere.
He is going to be the next president in twenty
twenty eight, and then it's like, oh, uh, they're doing
a bunker Okay, well that's illegal first of all, and
he can't. Oh, they're also renovating the ballroom and a

(27:09):
bunker overhaul. Okay, So I don't know, guys, I don't know,
but it's it's us and just absolutely disgusting too. Especially
Caroline Levitt made the remark this week too that the
ballroom is Trump's number one priority. Literally go listen to it.
Clip is everywhere. The ballroom is Trump's number one priority.
We're so many days into a government shut down, the

(27:32):
food banks are being swamped. It also came out this
week that you know, snap benefits aren't going out to
people in November, so what are they going to do?
I have absolutely no idea. At what point are we
going to start to see looting? You know? I mean
this is what happens every single time. If in social
upheaval like this and economic strains right, people are going

(27:52):
to have to eat. Mothers have children, babies are going
to starve. People are going to start just starving in
general or being hungry, and they're going to break into stuff.
There's going to be more clashes with police. There's going
to be higher crime, like that's the shit that happens
one hundred percent of the time. Hopefully our government can
get it together and come up and agree with a
budget and funding here but not looking good right now,

(28:16):
you guys. And also here's where I want to push back.
You know, a lot of people compare Donald Trump to
Putin and they say that we're heading towards Russia. But
I don't think that's where we're going. And it's just
it is just mind blowing to me that the people
that this is going to impact are seriously like chickens
voting for Colonel Sanders. I do not understand it for
the life of me, but hey, this is where we are.

(28:37):
And speaking I guess of cult of personality, something that's
been making the rounds on social media this week. I
believe that perfectly encapsulates where we are right now. Everyone knows.
Steven Miller, Trump's senior advisor. I mean he looks like
he was grown in a lab, you know, like he
was supposed to be grown in a lab to be
some villain in some young adult dystopian novel. I don't know,

(29:00):
but he recently said this at a White House event.
He said, quote, let me say, mister President, that this
country was going to die without you, This country was
going to actually die without you, and you alone saved it.
You alone saved it. Now here's the fun part. Joseph Goebbels,
Hitler's propaganda minister, said this about Hitler on Hitler's fifty

(29:21):
sixth birthday, ten days before Hitler shot himself in a bunker.
He said, the fact that Germany yet lives is thanks
to him alone, thanks to him alone. I mean, the
language is identical, you guys, And it isn't hyperbole, This
is an exaggeration. These are the exact same rhetorical patterns
used by fascist regimes. Right, you are the only one

(29:43):
who saves us. You are the high leader, you are
the great leader. The country will die without you. It's
textbook authoritarian propaganda. And Stephen Miller said it out loud
on camera in the White House in twenty twenty five,
and no one blinked. I mean a lot of people
were blank because it made its rounds on social media,
but I mean largely that should be covered by every

(30:05):
single news station twenty four to seven, Like, bro, what
the fuck?

Speaker 2 (30:09):
We don't.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
But we've normalized that kind of language. We've accepted that
this is just how Trump's people talk about him. You
alone saved it. Great leader is apparently fine now totally normal,
not at all alarming. I mean, this is the Gobels
playbook being run in real time, you know, and half
the country is acting like it's just another day in
American politics. North Korea operates through a system where the

(30:32):
Kim family and a small circle of very small circle
of elites they live in obscene luxury while the rest
of the country struggles and starves. I mean, that's the
direction that we're headed in.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
You know.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
I feel as though Russia has more of a kleptocracy,
you know, but North Korea, I think, is actually that
kind of setup is more where we are headed here.
You know the difference is that in America, our oligarchs
are tech CEOs, defense contractors, not military generals. The propaganda
comes from Fox News and Twitter instead of state run TV,

(31:05):
but the underlying structure is going to be the same,
absolute loyalty to the leader, enrichment of those in the
inner circle, and everyone else is going to be fighting
for scraps. Trump doesn't want to be putin, y'all. Putin
has to maintain some pretense of elections and legitimacy. I
feel like Trump wants to be Kim Jong un more so.
You know, someone who is worshiped, someone who answers to

(31:28):
no one. You know, his word is law, and he
lives in an absurd luxury, and he demands complete obedience.
And corporate America, we've learned, is apparently totally fine with
building him his palace as long as they get their
tax cuts and deregulation. And the fact that we're even
having a conversation about whether it's appropriate for the president

(31:49):
to accept hundreds of millions of dollars from companies with
business before his government, that just shows how far we've fallen.
This would have been an instant scandal in any other administration,
and now it's just Tuesday. So yeah, Trump is building
his palace with oligarch money. While federal workers go hungry.

(32:11):
Much normal, much democratic, much not giving uh dictator vibes
at all. Okay, Also, let's talk about Larry Ellison. Okay,
let's talk about Larry Ellison for just a moment, because
this story is so fucking terrifying and no one really
seems to be paying attention to it. So Larry Ellison,
for those of you who don't obsessively follow billionaire Shenanigans
is the founder of Oracle and currently the second richest

(32:34):
person on earth. He has a three hundred and fifty
billion dollar fortune, and he is on an absolute shopping
spree buying up American media. We're talking Paramount, CBS. He's
currently eyeing CNN, HBO and TikTok. This man is trying
to control what you watch, what you read, as well
as what you scroll through while you're pretending to work.

(32:55):
And here's what's already happened. Okay, Ellison bankrolled his Sunday
it's eight billion dollar merger between sky Dance and Paramount.
Now that deal includes CBS showtime in Paramount Pictures, and
then Trump, because of course Trump is fucking involved, signed
an executive order transferring TikTok's US operations from Chinese ownership

(33:16):
to a group of American investors, including Oracle, that's giving
a fourteen billion dollar deal giving them access to one
hundred and seventy million American users. They also bought The
Free Press, which is a center right news startup that
loves to rail against wokeism and mainstream media. They bought
that for one hundred and fifty million dollars. And now

(33:37):
they're preparing a bid of up to eighty billion dollars
for Warner Brothers Discovery, which would then give them CNN, HBO, Max,
and Warner Brothers Studios. If all of this goes through,
the Ellisons would have more media power than the Murdoch family,
more than the Murdochs. And here's the fun part. Larry
Ellison and Trump are bestie's best friends. Ellison hosted a

(34:01):
fundraiser for Trump at his California estate. He was on
a phone call the day after the twenty twenty election
where Trump staffers discussed strategies to challenge Biden's win. A
day after Trump's second inauguration, Larry Ellison appeared at the
White House to announce a five hundred billion dollar AI venture,
and Trump literally called him quote sort of CEO of everything.

(34:21):
They've had multiple private meetings since then. Multiple What do
you think they're discussing the weather, their favorite smoothie recipes. No,
they're consolidating power. You know, let me spell it out.
A billionaire who is deeply loyal to Trump is buying
up the media infrastructure that's supposed to hold Trump accountable,

(34:41):
CBS News, potentially CNN, as well as the most addictive
social media platform in all of America. And we're already
seeing the effects. At CBS. They hired Barry Weiss, an
opinion journalist with zero TV news experience, as editor in
chief of CBS News. They installed a former Conservative think
te leader to go through and evaluate bias complaints. Trump

(35:03):
himself said last week that he thinks CBS News will
become fairer under its new management translation more favorable to him.
Screenwriters in Hollywood are already freaking out about an effect
where they'll be pressured to avoid subjects that might anchor
Trump or just anyone in the MAGA write. One anonymous
screenwriter told Vanity Fair, it's a four alarm fire, and

(35:25):
we ignore it at our peril now. David Ellison said
he doesn't want to politicize the company, and that he's
mainly interested in entertainment not news. Which, sure, Jan, your
dad is Trump's bff. You're buying CBS News and potentially CNN,
and you hire berry Wise and it's totally not political. Sure,

(35:46):
some people think that Ellisons are just posing up to
Trump because this is a one time opportunity for them
to build a more or less a media empire. These
would be normally illegal. Consolidating this much power is not
generally allowed here, but who knows how long Trump will
be in office or his administration, So they're obviously striking

(36:08):
while the iron is hot. Democracy be weak, iron be hot.
And to me, what makes it extra interesting and extra
dystopian is that they're not just buying traditional media with
the addition of TikTok. You guys, they're creating an entirely
new kind of media monopoly that will not only control
what we watch on TV, but also what the algorithm

(36:30):
feeds us on social media. I mean, do you understand
how dangerous that is? Imagine one family, one set of interest,
one loyalty to Trump right controlling your news, your entertainment,
and the algorithm that determines what content you see, I
don't want that from either party. Media and press should
be free social media like we should be free to express, say, do,

(36:53):
think whatever, and having one I don't care, one party,
one group control the narrative is terrifying. This is literally
the oligarch media control model. And remember what I said
earlier about North Korea. The difference between American oligarchy and
North Korean oligarchy is that in North Korea the propaganda
comes from state run media. In America it comes from

(37:15):
private companies. But those private companies are owned by Trump's
billionaire buddies. But the effect of it all is the same.
Control the narrative, control what people see, control what they
think is important, make dissent harder to spread, and make
loyalty to everything that the leader is doing. So Trump
completely seemed normal. And Larry Ellison's company motto is it's

(37:37):
not enough that we win, all others must lose. And
that's not just a business philosophy. All that is his
worldview and now is being applied to media consolidation. And
the part that kills me is the younger Ellison. David
is David's whole vibe. You know, he's trying to be
the cool billionaire Nepo baby, and he's like, I just
love movies, man. You know, he's in Hollywood trying all

(37:58):
of that shit. He started his career by producing a
flop World War One drama called Flyboys. His dad funded
it and it bombed spectacularly. But when you're a billionaire son,
you pretty much have infinite, get agile, free and do overcards. Right,
So now he's being positioned as the savior of Hollywood,
who's going to lure back viewers captured by YouTube his

(38:22):
big asset. Paramount Studios president said, quote, our largest shareholder
is the second richest person in the world. That seems
like a good thing. No, no, no, it fucking doesn't.
That's not a good thing. That's terrifying and we should
not be celebrating the fact that media companies are owned
by the second richest person on earth, who happens to

(38:42):
be in Trump center circle. That's not capitalism, that is
not free market. That is oligarchic consolidation of power. And
it's happening in real time because we're all distracted about
whatever fresh hell is trending on Twitter, or people are
just trying to fucking survive. So yeah, we have a
group of billions and mega corps buying Trump a three

(39:03):
hundred million dollar ballroom. We have another billionaire buying up
all the media. Google cool. Everything is fine. I'm sure
that's that's gonna work out well. Next up is the
No Kings protests. Y'all. Seven million people showed up for
democracy and it was peaceful as hell, all fifty states
and then some other parts of the and then other

(39:24):
parts of the world as well. There were almost three
thousand events and it was one of the biggest single
day demonstrations in the US history. And you know what happened,
Absolutely nothing in a good way. No violence, no riots,
no chaos, just millions of Americans peacefully exercising their First
Amendment rights. And despite all the right wing fear mongering

(39:46):
about how these protests would turn violent or destructive spoiler alert,
they didn't. They all went swimmingly. I was terrified, you guys,
that people were going to act out, or there would
be instigators or infiltrators, you know, trying to start stuff.
So to everyone who showed up on October eighteenth, thank you.
Let's keep that energy going. It was really wonderful to see.

(40:08):
I was terrified of that happening, and I think a
lot of people were on edge. A lot of people
were on edge on the eighteenth and that worked out beautifully.
And finally, in the last segment on the show, guys,
I'm gonna call this, why are we still dealing with
this bullshit? Remember Kim Davis for those of you, you

(40:30):
bless souls who possibly blocked this bitch from memory. Kim
Davis was the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue
marriage licenses to gay couples back after Scotus legalized same
sex marriage and over Twell versus Hodges back in twenty fifteen.
She said she was acting under God's authority, which apparently
supersedes you know, reality and actual law her job description,

(40:53):
and I guess, if we're still at it, basic basic
human decency as well. Then Davis stopped issuing marriage license
says to everyone gay or straight. She chose to do
that rather than do her literal job. She told one
gay couple, David Moore and David Ermold, that they could
just drive to a different county to get married, you know,
separate but equal, because that worked out great historically for

(41:16):
this country. When a federal judge ordered her to issue licenses.
She refused. Again, she was briefly jailed for contempt of court,
which conservatives turned into a whole martyr situation, and eventually
Kentucky changed the law to remove clerks's names from licenses
to accommodate people like Kim Davis who have religious objections

(41:36):
to apparently doing their fucking jobs. But more and Ermold
sued her personally for violating their constitutional rights. In twenty
twenty three, a jury awarded them fifty thousand dollars in
damages each. Davis appealed, and this year the Sixth Circuit
told her to kick rocks. Fuck you, Kim Davis. The
court said that while Davis has First Amendment protections as

(41:58):
a private citizen, she was acting a government official when
she denied the license, and government officials don't get to
impose their religious beliefs as public policy. Revolutionary concept, I know,
but apparently it had to be spelled out so now
now here. In twenty twenty five, Kim Davis is asking

(42:18):
the Supreme Court again to not only overturn her case,
but to overturn Obertfell entirely. She wants the court to
declare that same sex marriage has no basis in the Constitution,
and that it left her with a choice between her
religious beliefs and her job. Girl, nobody forced you to
be a county clerk. That's like being a bartender and

(42:40):
saying that serving alcohol violates your religion. Find a different job. Interestingly, though,
her petition leans heavily on Justice Clarence Thomas, who has
been openly hostile to same sex marriage, I mean for years.
She quotes him saying that obertfell quote created a problem
that only it can fix by choosing to privilege a

(43:01):
novel constitutional right over religious liberty interests. But here's my
favorite part. Kim Davis also quotes Justice Amy Coney Barrett's
new book. Barrett wrote that the Court can and does
fix mistakes, and that respecting precedents, you know, the principle
that court should follow establish rulings, that that's just a presumption.
So Kim Davis is literally citing a justice's book to

(43:23):
our promotional material as Legal President. We're at the point
now where Supreme Court justices are writing books that get
weaponized to roll back civil rights. So that's cool. But
more in ermuld you know the couple that Davis discriminated against.
They've responded to her repetition. They call it a relatively
easy case that doesn't merit Supreme Court review. They point

(43:45):
out that Davis waited nine years to make her first
Amendment argument her current argument, and that she previously said
she didn't want to relitigate obersfel. So where we're at
right now, y'all, is that the Supreme Court is going
to consider whether to hear her case, and this is
going to take place on November seventh. It takes four
justices to agree to hear it, and realistically they'd need

(44:07):
a fifth vote to actually overturn Obersfell. And look, most
legal experts think that this petition is doa. The Court
has bigger fish to fry, and while Thomas and Alito
would probably love to overturn marriage equality, there probably aren't
enough votes. But the fact that we're even talking about
this in twenty twenty five is exhausting. You know, marriage

(44:28):
equality was decided a decade ago. Gay people are out here,
you know, we're living our best lives. We're getting married.
I got married, we're raising families, paying taxes, being boring
and normal, and we're still dealing with people who think
that their religious freedom includes the right to discriminate. You know,
I'm gay and married, so I obviously have a deeply personal,

(44:49):
selfish interest in keeping my marriage legal. Do you know
how long we fought for the right to be as
miserable as you straight people. I finally get to experience
the of legal commitment, joint debt arguing if my spouse's
family is too involved in our lives, Like, I've been
wanting that shit my whole life, and we've spent decades

(45:09):
fighting for it. Now that we have it. We've spent
decades fighting for marriage equality. You know I've got it now,
and I will be goddamned if Kim Davis is going
to take away my legal right to passively aggressive load
the dishwasher wrong, like, I will be damned. People have
said for years that gay marriage would destroy the sanctity
of traditional marriage. Did your marriage get ruined? Because I

(45:32):
don't know a single person whose marriage was ruined by
the fact that I was able to get married, or
other gay people are able to get married. Here's the thing,
No one's forcing Kim Davis to get gay married, even
though she's been married like forty times to various men
and multiple baby daddies. That is her absolute right. Nobody's
making churches perform same sex weddings. Religious freedom means that

(45:52):
you get to practice your religion, not impose it on
everyone else. If your deeply held beliefs prevent you from
doing your government, that's a you problem, cys, not a
constitutional crisis. And y'all, honestly, the gays have been through
enough right the AIDS crisis. Don't ask, don't tell, prop
eight decades of fighting for basic rights and dignity. Maybe,

(46:13):
just maybe, can we let the gays have this one
without trying to closse something back like it's already been given.
Taking it back would kind of be shitty. Kim Davis
can believe whatever she wants. She can go to her church,
she can pray about it and find peace with her convictions.
She can sit on it and spend but she cannot
use government power to enforce those beliefs on others. That's

(46:33):
not religious freedom, that's theocracy and no. So to the
Supreme Court, please, please, for the love of God, just
deny this position and let us all move on with
our lives. Some of us have actual problems to deal with,
and that's all that I have for you on Redwet
and Bruce today, guys, to recap. The government is shut down,
air traffic controllers are door dashing. Kamala Mamala might run

(46:56):
again in twenty twenty eight. Trump is pissed at Canada
for using Reagan's own actual words. Trump is building a
three hundred million dollar palace funded by oligarchs. A man
named Larry Ellison is buying up all the media companies.
Proud of all of you people who protested peacefully, seven
million of you. And then lastly, Kim Davis wants to
ruin gay marriage because her fiefis are hurt. We're going

(47:18):
through it right now. You guys, as always remember to vote,
stay informed, and maybe keep a comfort blanket nearby. Take
care of yourselves, take care of each other, and I
will see you next week with whatever fresh hell twenty
twenty five thousand store. This has been red, white and bruised.
I'm your host, Robin until next week.

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