Red, White & Bruised: The Art of the Divorce Album vs. The Art of Government Failure

Dive into late 2025's cultural and political chaos. Robind discusses Lily Allen's scorched-earth divorce album West End Girl and why it's resonating with women, dissects the viral JD Vance-Erika Kirk hug conspiracy theories, and explores the month-long government shutdown leaving millions hungry while red states cry about "big government" despite being the biggest welfare recipients.

Topics:

• Lily Allen's musical revenge against David Harbour
• JD Vance's suspicious hug and 2028 political calculations
• Government shutdown hypocrisy and SNAP chaos

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everyone. You are listening to Red, White and Bruised.
This is your host, Robin and it's been a hell
of a week. You guys, I don't know about you,
but every day is like a fresh hell and the
news cycle and all of that, and I have to
give the universe credit. It's a fascinating time period to
live in. Hashtag blessed. So much is going on, but

(00:23):
simultaneously it feels like time is also dragging. Do you
guys ever experience that? But today's episode is kind of
a variety pack. I'd like to start off with a
little bit of a pop culture item, a little phenomenon
that I've been observing, and then I guess just kind
of pack in the news. Tomorrow's Monday. We have snapped

(00:44):
the viral JD vans Erica kirk Hug. We have a
lot to discuss. So that being said, this show came
out of nowhere. I wasn't necessarily planning on doing a
political podcast, but I am obsessed with politics. Unfortunately, oh
here we are haven't really made a channel so far,
it's just under We Saw the Devil. So if you

(01:05):
are enjoying the show my perspective, you can follow it
we saw the double podcast on Instagram. If you have
any questions, concerns, feedback, you want to just argue and
scream into the void, you can also email at info
at weesawthedevil dot com. Again, this is a little fun
side project. But now that the housekeeping's out of the way,
let's get into it. I haven't followed this person's career

(01:27):
in many years. I'm talking about Lily Allen. She just
dropped what might be the most important album for women
in twenty twenty five. Now, guys, I don't like pop music.
I'm not into all of that. I did like Lily
Allen's first two albums, and I did get to see
her back in like two thousand and nine in Boston,
and I haven't listened to her quite literally in like

(01:49):
fifteen years. This new album is causing a stir, and
that's because I really feel like she said the quiet
part out loud. The album's called West End Girl. It's
not just a breakup album. It's this master class and
why women are so fucking tired of being gas lit
and relationships. It's just brilliant. Now, I will concede that

(02:13):
Lily Allen is an insufferable person. She's done some heinous shit.
She kisses Zoe Kravitz without her permission, she said some
horrible things. She's very elitist, like, no, she doesn't necessarily
use good person, right. But the album that she just dropped,
I mean, it's quite literally about how some relationships, in
her case with a man, you know, it systematically eroded

(02:35):
her sense of reality and made her feel insane. And
have we not all been there? My god, My previous
two relationships before this one were basically the same thing.
And what's so crazy about it is it's almost like
Beyonce's album Lemonade. A lot of women were like, yeah,
you know, me too, blah blah and kind of rallied
around it. Well, this album is kind of getting the

(02:57):
same fanfare. And I think what's hitting hardest for a
lot of people is she's spilling the tea. Like she's
not just spilling the tea, she's basically harvesting the whole
plantation here because she describes her experience with no monogamy.
And now obviously we're talking about David Harber, her partner,
and he just kept moving the goalpost repeatedly. You know,

(03:18):
she agreed to an open marriage with clear boundaries like
keep it discreet only strangers and sex workers, must be
transactional only no emotion, no emotion involved. David Harber just
according to Lily Allen, ignored all of those roles. It's
really fascinating to see, especially on TikTok, the response from

(03:38):
women to this, because women are hearing this and going,
holy shit, that's exactly what happened to me. It's just
the way that Lily Allen connects and says that she
felt like she had to be the cool girl who
is okay with everything, and even though it was destroying
her emotionally. You know, that's resonating hard for a lot
of women right now. And she also talks about how

(03:59):
she didn't want to sleep with other people but pretended
that she was fine with the arrangement just because she
didn't want to lose him, And how many of us
have put ourselves into compromising positions or done things that
we weren't really comfortable with, just in some sad attempt
at keeping the person that we are in a relationship with,
and in terms of feminism, like this album is super powerful.

(04:22):
Like there's one track and she talks about how how
she was dealing with David because he turned her into
this kind of untouchable Madonna figure. You know, you have
the Madonna and the War complex, right. He turned her
into almost this motherly Madonna figure, and he was out
living up his best fuck boy life. She's literally begging
him for intimacy and he's treating her like she's too

(04:43):
pure for sex. You know, it's that classic double standard.
You're either the wife or you're the slut, that you
are never a whole human being. I feel like a
lot of albums are curated. This feels so raw. I
think she mentioned that she wrote it over like ten days,
the entire album in ten days or something. Thing because
she's not acting like a perfect victim. She's not empowered,

(05:04):
she's not healed. She's just angry, pissed off, honest, messy,
and humiliated. She admits that she was submissive to his wishes,
compromised herself repeatedly staying way past the expiration date. And honestly,
that is something that I think a lot of women
are noticing and why a lot of us are obsessing

(05:24):
over the tiny details in the songs, like have you
ever been in a relationship and you notice how they
grab their phone back really quick if you have it, like,
you know, if they make commentary on your success, whether
it's career success, personal success, David Harbor made her feel
like she was asking for too much just by wanting
basic dignity and respect. You know, these aren't necessarily dramatic.

(05:47):
Abuse stories is kind of the death by a thousand
cuts experience that so many of us have actually experienced.
Of course, there's the banger on the album Pussy Palace
where she describes going to drop off medications at his
apartment because he had his own apartment and it was
literally his fuck pad, finding sex toys and love letters

(06:08):
and butt plugs, and I don't know, it's I feel
like sometimes culturally speaking, music or an album will hit
it just the right time. And as of right now,
you know, in the United States, we're having a lot
of conversations about non monogamy or about just simply women
doing emotional labor, you know, and what we actually do

(06:28):
owe our partners. So I think it's a lot of
us are just really kind of taken aback by Lily
Allen's refusal to flat out refusal to protect David Harber's
reputation or worry about looking crazy for telling her truth.
You know, she's not trying to be inspirational. It's just,
you know, the album ends, she's still pissed and she's

(06:49):
still hurt. But it's not like I'm so much better
off without you, you know, that message that we typically
get from a lot of other pop centric artists. I
don't know, it's really interesting. I love the response on
social media and it's kind of given me hope. But
it's a cool album nonetheless too. It's not usually my
vein of music, but man, it is good. Highly recommend.

(07:12):
All right, well, I guess we do need to talk
about politics here for a minute, right, and I am
so excited to talk about the hug that broke the
Internet and maybe a marriage too while we're at it.
Who knows. I mean, it wasn't looking good now, jd Van.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you are
quite aware and cognizant of the fact that JD Vance

(07:34):
and Erica Kirk hugged and it was a little something.
JD Vance basically gave us the most viral political moment.
I don't know since the last time politicians did something
fucked up at a turning point Usa event, he hugged
Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica, in a way that had the
entire internet going squeeze me, what now? Pardon picture this

(07:58):
University of Mississippi, October twenty ninth, About ten thousand people
packed into an arena for Turning Point. Ussays this is
the Turning Point Tour. Erica Kirk, who took over the
organization after her husband Charlie was assassinated back in September,
is giving this emotional speech about how it's been seven
weeks since she lost him. Then she introduces Jade Vance,

(08:20):
and here's where it gets interesting. She starts to tell
the crowd that she sees similarities between her dead husband
and the vice president. Sweet right, Okay, And then here's
the hug that launched a thousand conspiracy theories. Vance walks
on stage, puts his hands on her leather pants hips.
He puts his hands right on her hips. She hugs him,

(08:45):
but she has one arm around him and the other
cupping the back of head with her fingers literally in
his hair. The photos and video are one hundred percent real,
and they look intimate, really really really intimate, like I
do that with my wife. Social media went nuclear after this.
People were writing things like, if I'm hugging a friend,

(09:07):
I don't hold his head like I'm pulling him in
for a kiss. And I've never wanted to touch any
man's hair during a hug other than my husband's. Shannon Watts,
that gun reform activist, she posted Vance announces divorce Marys
Charlie Kirk's widow. By end of twenty twenty six, her
post got eight million views eight million. Some body language

(09:29):
experts try to calm everyone down, calling it a grief hug,
saying Erica is like a child seeking comfort. But honestly,
the optics of this are absolutely horrific. And here's the
kicker too though. At the same damn event, someone asked
Vance about raising kids in an inter faith household because
his wife, Usha is Hindu, he's Catholic. And this man

(09:53):
literally said he hopes she'll convert to Christianity eventually. He said,
I honestly do wish that because I believe in the
Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to
see it the same way my brother in Christ read
the fucking room. So now you've got Vance publicly hoping
his Indian wife will abandon her own religion while getting

(10:16):
handsy with a grieving widow. The Internet put two and
two together and got this. Uh, this man is planning
to trade up vibe and not gonna lie. I get
the same thing. And what makes this entire situation even
more fucked up is the context of what Usha Vance
has already been dealing with. Usha Vance is the daughter
of Indian immigrants and grew up in San Diego, but

(10:38):
also her and JD. Vance's children have become targets of backlash,
of course, coming from the far right. Post criticizing Vance
for marrying someone who is non white, expressing concerns about
an influx of Indian immigrants, and also promoting the Great
Replacement conspiracy theory have garnered thousands and thousands of views online.

(11:00):
So she's not just dealing with her husband publicly wishing
that she convert religions, She's also facing racist attacks from
his own political base, like his own party. This is
the same JD. Vance who told Politico in twenty sixteen
that the Trump people are certainly more racist than the
average white professional. JD. Vance himself warned that Trump's rhetoric

(11:21):
would cause white people to become more racist over time.
In a PBS interview that same year, JD Vance stated,
there is definitely an element of Donald Trump's support that
has its basis in racism or xenophobia. Yet here he
is married to a woman of Indian descent while courting
the very voters that he wants criticized for their racism.

(11:43):
I mean, the cognitive dissonance here is fucking astounding. It's staggering.
And Twitter went absolutely wild with conspiracy theories, and honestly,
same people posted stuff like JD. Vance will divorce his
Indian wife and Mary Charlie Kirk's widow and then run
for president in twenty twenty eight. Another gem, Vance needs
a wife who will pass the Christian nationalist test, and

(12:04):
Eric Kirk wants to be Erica Kirk wants to be
first Lady. It is giving major replacing the ethnic wife
with the blonde Christian widow energy and people are falling
in behind this narrative and honestly, same guys, and my
hot take here is that this is actually going to happen.
And look, I'm just gonna say what everyone's thinking. I

(12:25):
genuinely think Vance and Kirk are going to end up
married after he divorces Usha so he can run for
president in twenty twenty eight. Think about the political calculus here.
Vance knows exactly what his base wants. He literally called
them racist back in twenty sixteen. Right, he has spoken
numerous times on how Trump supporters are racist or at

(12:47):
least willing to put up with the violent racist rhetoric
that Trump spouts constantly. You know, he's already wishing his
Hindu wife would convert to Christianity. He's getting intimate public
hugs with blonde Christian and widows on stage. The racist
attacks on his wife are coming from his own supporters,
not Democrats. A divorce and then remarriage to Erica Kirk

(13:10):
would solve multiple political problems for him. Right. It gets
him a blonde Christian conservative widow who already has credibility
with a megabase, and it also comes in with her
own political organization. I mean, that's power. It eliminates the
interfaith marriage issue that clearly bothers him because he's spoken
on at numerous times now, and it gives him a

(13:31):
clean break from the optics of having an Indian wife
while courting voters who traffic in great replacement conspiracy theories.
The fact that they're already this comfortable with each other physically,
like he and Erica Kirk, combined with his public comments
about wanting his wife to be Christian, tells me that
this isn't some accidental moment. It's testing the waters. I

(13:53):
truly feel that his interaction with Erica Kirk was almost
a soft launch. Now Snopes and other sites have looked
into any affair rumors and found exactly zero evidence whatsoever
that can you guys imagine I mean, Usha was literally
at the event, I mean his wife was literally at
this event, sitting in the audience while her husband was

(14:14):
getting touchy feely with another woman on stage. The secondhand
embarrassment is real. And then not only that, do you
remember when Erica Kirk was talking about it, and she's
like JD Vance, I see similarities in my husband and
his wife. He went from a cheshire cat smile to
like frowning grumpy cat in a split second when she

(14:36):
mentioned his wife. And look, maybe it really was just
a grief hug between two people who cared about Charlie Kirk.
Or maybe the Internet's actually onto something about this being
the worst possible optics for a sitting vice president who
wants to be president. Vance is a calculating politician who
knows his base, and he's positioning himself for twenty twenty eight.

(14:57):
The hug, the conversion, comments, the com level, it all
points to someone who's already thinking about his next move.
Either way, our current timeline be wild in y'all, everything
becomes this conspiracy theory. Hugs can spark debate. I mean, honestly,
given everything we know about political ambition in the magabases preferences,

(15:18):
I wouldn't be surprised if those conspiracy theories turn out
to be prophecies. At this point, I don't know the
moral of the story. I guess if you're a married politician,
maybe keep your damn hands to yourself when hugging widows.
I don't know, or don't if you're planning to trade up,
choice is yours, I guess. Moving on just to the
final segment here, you guys, this is a relatively quick one.

(15:40):
The government shut down. Forty two million Americans are playing
the hunger games this month, and Red States are still
crying about big government. We are officially into month two
of this government shutdown disaster. The snap situation has become
this perfect example of American political hypocrisy, and I don't
know about you guys, but is absolutely fucking infuriating. We've

(16:03):
got forty two million Americans about to lose their food
stamps because the Trump administration claimed the well has run dry,
while also simultaneously refusing to use the emergency funds that
exist specifically for the situation. It's like watching someone die
of thirst next to a fire hydrant because they claim

(16:23):
they don't have a wrench. But here's kind of where
it's beautiful in a really sincerely twisted way. Two federal
judges basically told the Trump administration to go fuck themselves.
Judge John McConnell and Rhode Island wrote that no administration
can use hunger as a political weapon. Judge Indira Tilwane
in Massachusetts was like, you absolutely can, sir, tap into

(16:47):
those emergency reserves. Trump's response peak victim mode. I mean,
of course, if the courts tell me how, it will
be my honor to provide funding. Like, Bro, you and
your party created this mess. It acts like you're doing
everyone a favor by following court orders. Here's what's actually happening.
While all the politicians are playing games this past weekend

(17:09):
in Texas and California, stadium parking lots got converted into
mass food distribution sites. Families are lining up to grab
boxes of produce and frozen meat like its disaster relief,
and the math ain't math in SNAP costs between like
eight and a half to nine billion dollars monthly, but
emergency funds have only about six billion. That's roughly seven

(17:32):
hundred and fifteen dollars per month for families, which breaks
down to about six bucks per person per day. We're
not talking about people living large here. Agriculture Secretary Brooke
Rawlins said the contingency fund won't even cover about half
of what November would cost. But here's the kicker. They
initially claimed they couldn't legally use emergency funds at all,

(17:53):
but then Judge McConnell called bullshit and pointed to a
twenty nineteen email from Trump's first term where a SNAP
adminished trader said these funds were specifically available if SNAP
funding laps during a shutdown, So they knew that they
could use this money all along, they just chose not to.
And this is where I think it's actually delicious in
terms of irony. While all of this chaos is happening.

(18:16):
Let's talk about which states are getting fucked the hardest,
because the cognitive dissonance here is absolutely staggering. Seven of
the ten states most dependent on federal government are Republican voting.
The average Red state receives a dollar twenty four for
every dollar they send to Washington. Meanwhile, Blue states get

(18:37):
back a dollar fourteen for every dollar they contribute. Red
states are all together more reliant on federal funding than
Blue states. We're talking about a dependency ranking a twenty
one point four to eight for red states and thirty
two point h five for blue states. Alaska is the
most federally dependent state, with over fifty percent of its
revenue coming from federal funding. Think about this. Dates that

(19:00):
consistently vote Republican while just railing against big government Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee,
West Virginia, South Carolina. A majority of these states with
the lowest GDP are also among the most federally dependent states.
There's literally a thirty four point four percent correlation between
a state's federal dependency and its tax rates. So TLDR

(19:24):
or translation, the more dependent you are on federal money,
the less likely you are to charge higher taxes. These
states can afford to keep taxes artificially low because they're
getting a disproportionate amount of federal aid. So you've got
states like Mississippi and Alabama where people vote for politicians
who campaign on cutting federal spending and eliminating welfare. Those

(19:48):
same states are literally the biggest welfare recipients in the country.
It's like watching someone burn down their own house while
complaining about fire safety regulations. These are the same voters
who elect senators and representatives who vote against food stamp funding,
disaster relief, infrastructure spending, basically every federal program that keeps
their states functioning, and then when a shutdown happens, their

(20:11):
residents are the ones standing in those parking lot food lines. Like,
what in the actual fuck? It is the ultimate leopards
eating my face situation. You're voting for the party that
wants to gut social programs and then act like shocked
pikachuu when those programs aren't there when you actually need them.
And here's the thing. The politicians all know this. They're

(20:32):
not stupid. They know their constituents depend on federal aid.
But they also know that they can keep getting elected
by blaming Democrats for big government while quietly taking every
federal dollar that they can get. The SNAP situation is
just the latest example. Twenty five Democratic state leaders had
to sue the Agriculture Department just to force them to

(20:53):
feed people. These aren't blue states trying to protect their own.
Many of the states most affected by SNAP cuts are
red state red states whose own senators voted against extending
the program. Meanwhile, Trump threatened Democrats, like a cartoon villain,
We'll be cutting off some very popular Democrat programs. They
wanted to do this, so we'll give them a little

(21:15):
taste of their own medicine. Agriculture Secretary Brockrawlin said she'd
only use emergency funds for natural disasters. Apparently, according to
your President, forty two million hungry, starving Americans isn't considered
an emergency. So here we are federal judges having to
order the government to feed people. The states that benefit
most from federal aid continue electing politicians who want to

(21:38):
eliminate their survival. It's a level of self sabotage that
would be impressive if it wasn't so fucking sad. You know,
we're a month in millions are going hungry, one point
four million federal workers aren't getting paid, sixty five thousand
plus kids could potentially lose daycare, seven million women and
children don't know if wick will continue. And Congress went

(22:01):
home because when people are starving, obviously the best move
this is just take the long weekend. Meanwhile, millions of
Americans are learning the hard way that voting against your
own interests has consequences. But the tragedy is that it's
not just the voters who suffer. It's their kids, their
elderly parents, their disabled neighbors, people who had no say

(22:21):
in these political decisions but are paying the price anyway.
It's American politics in a nutshell. You know, at this point,
the states that scream loudest about self reliance are the
most dependent on everyone else's tax dollars. And then when
that support gets threatened, suddenly they remember why federal programs
exist in the first place. You know, you see it
all the time with FEMA. Right after every hurricane, you

(22:45):
see the people who are like, fuck FEMA, stealing money
from the government, a defund FEMA, defund FEMA, and then
when their house gets blasted by a hurricane, they're screaming
about getting FEMA funds fast. Welcome to America, where we'd
rather watch people star then admit the other side might
have an actual valid point. I mean, it's absolutely insane

(23:05):
and somehow we're just like all having to live with it.
But let's talk about other casualties in this political pissing contests.
Both sides are spinning this disaster, but let's talk about
what's actually happening. The Republicans keep saying Democrats want to
give health care to legal aliens. That's bullshit. Democrats want
to restore programs for people who are already legally here,

(23:27):
DOCCA recipients, asylum seekers, that kind of thing. Republicans are
also screaming, we passed clean funding bills. No, that is bullshit.
What they actually did was past bills that deliberately excluded
the health care stuff that Democrats need, then acted shocked
when Democrats said, no, it's like offering someone a pizza

(23:47):
but removing all of the toppings and then calling yourself generous. No.
Democrats are saying Trump is weaponizing hunger, and yeah, that's
actually true. Yes, this administration straight up refused to use
emergency funds for food programs and analysts confirm that it
is a pressure tactic. But let's talk about the actual
casualties of this political pissing contest. Food aid goes nuclear

(24:11):
again this past weekend in Texas and California. The stadium
parking lots right they were converted into the mass food
distribution sites. Like that's insane. Federal workers one point four
million people aren't getting paychecks right now. Food banks are
reporting that federal workers are showing up for assistance and
that is dystopian as hell. Head Start for kids. Parents

(24:36):
might have to quit their jobs because they have no childcare.
I've already mentioned the wick in women and children. That's
seven million women. No one knows if wick is continuing.
And then I didn't mention this earlier, that guys, travel
is about to get worse. In my city, they had
ground the flights were grounded today because there weren't enough
air traffic controllers TSA. Workers as a whole are calling

(24:59):
in sick because they're not getting paid. Some people can't
even afford to drive to work. People are losing their
jobs because they can't even afford to go to them
because of the government shutdown. Not to mention all of
the travel and airport delays are becoming ridiculous. I have
absolutely no freaking idea. And then, what do you guys
think about Marjorie Taylor Green. Have to know, I don't

(25:20):
like him so much as a person, Bill Maher, I
don't really care for him as a person. I think
he's kind of an asshole. I think he's smarmy, kind
of an elitist. I don't know, like he's not my
favorite person. But I love his show. I love the panel,
I love the debate. I do love the Bill March
Show and I watch it every Friday. Marjorie Taylor Green
was on there, and Guys, I feel like we're in

(25:42):
some sort of like weird place because I've been agreeing
with Marjorie Taylor Green and a couple other people recently,
and it's confusing and concerning. But you know, things are weird,
and you know things are in a really weird place.
When Marjorie Jewish Space Laser's Green is kind of in
port of opening the government and blaming Republicans and calling

(26:04):
them out, I'm disappointed and angry with everyone right now.
I don't know how this country is going to self correct.
I don't think it can. I don't think it will
if the snap contingency funds are released. That's not even
half of what's really needed, or barely half of what's needed.
I don't know if you saw the other news this
last week that so many major American corporations are laying

(26:24):
off tens of thousands of people, insane number of layoffs,
involuntary layoffs. My spouse's company got the hey, if you
guys want to require we'll make you a deal emails.
But I guess how bad do you think it's going
to get? I don't know, you, guys, but this week
is going to be interesting, that is for certain. Isn't

(26:45):
it just absolutely astounding that people in our country can't
afford to eat and yet we're building a three hundred
billion dollar fucking ballroom. And I'm sorry if you are
listening to this and you see everything that's going on
and you think it's okay or good, or that this
administration is doing is still doing a great job, I
honestly don't know what the fuck is wrong with you.

(27:06):
That's it for today, you guys. This will be a
really interesting week. Next episode will be coming out next week.
If you like the show, enjoy the show. Want to
hear more, make sure you subscribe to the feed. You
will find the link in the show notes because this
is again the last episode that is airing on We
saw the Devil for Red White and Bruce. Thanks for listening,
Love you all again. Feel free to follow the show

(27:28):
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