9/22/25: Erika Kirk Forgives Assassin, Trantifa Debate, Kash Patel Feeds Conspiracies, Ted Cruz Shreds Trump FCC

23:41And then you have the piece of he was apparently, and again, this is based on Ken's reporting. And, you know, I spoke with Ken about what his view of was what was going on. You know, he was struggling with his identity, his sexuality. He was from this extremely religious, very conservative family that did not accept. He's apparently bisexual, did not accept him for that. So you have this like conflict in terms of his identity. and then you have, and a relationship that I think he either hid from his family. That was what his friend said is that he couldn't even like bring himself to bring up this relationship to his family.

24:17So you have that going on. And then you have rhetoric from Charlie Kirk that's, you know, very hostile towards trans people in particular. And it seems like outside of that, like LGBTQ issues, the portrait is not someone who was like particularly political. Now, more things may emerge, but that's one of the things that is – to me, it would be easier if it was like he was in the – on 4chan and he was like in these Discord servers that were like extremely radical and he was memeing grouper stuff or whatever, like some kind of political radicalism, like some sort of ideological thing. But I'm not even sure that totally fits, which is why it's hard for me to really fully wrap my head around it.

25:03See, this is where I disagree, and this is why leftists, I think, always ignore this. Like, you don't just get into furry stuff normally. It's porn. Like, just everyone needs to be out. Like, this is a pornography problem. Yeah, but that's not like— No, no, no, no. No, no, no. But no, no, no. What I'm going to say is that is not like—furriedom is not a leftist ideology. No, I'm saying— His sexuality— Yeah, sure. His sexuality, I absolutely agree, I think was at the heart of whatever happened here. I think, you know, based on what we know at this point. But, you know, I just think if we zoom out and we look not just at him, but we look at the pattern of these school shooter and political assassin types that we're getting now, you know, there's a lot to be said about online culture.

25:48There's a lot to be said about like nihilism, a sense of hopelessness that has pervaded our culture, especially for young men who feel like they have no sort of like direction and meaning in life. Some of those things are cultural. Some of those things are downstream from policy. And but in any case, you know, to your point, there was an NBC News article. We actually didn't pull it for the show. We probably should have where investigators are saying, like, we're really trying to connect this to some broader left wing groups. And we can't like he is. It appears based on where the investigation now this was one person who decided to commit an absolutely horrific political assassination and murder.

26:23And so the efforts by Stephen Miller, Trump, J.D. Vance, et al. to use this, to connect it to some broader, like now we have to crush all of these left-wing groups, there's zero evidence that these things are connected whatsoever. I've been on the record against it because I also don't even think it's really work. It's not effective. I think it broadly would also backfire. If you actually think about it, I mean this is a mistake that the right always makes is that their assumption is that the left is just like them. The right is much more politically organized and connected to money, right? So like there is an entire ecosystem as long as you're good on Israel.

27:00Like you're going to have a job in this town for a long time. You'll be just fine. Whereas leftism is broadly the ideology of the politically educated or the college educated. And thus like when we say that the left is taking over institutions, it's because of ideology. you know, college education, democratic separation that, you know, you can relatively guess that any project manager at a big technology company is left wing and or a Democrat. You can also guess that in finance or any of these other places. Now, they may not be the type of Democrat you are, but they probably voted for Kamala. They're capital L liberal.

27:37Let's put it that way. That's important to say. And that's like a cultural distinction. But this kind of gets to my point about Tyler and about from what we know so far, like you're saying it's not political. I actually would argue that, you know, look, we've had endless debates here. Transgenderism and gender ideology itself is obviously a massive social contagion and in and of itself is brought on by the Internet and largely the weaponization and, quote, acceptance of this ideology and pervading it throughout the entire nation. Now, this is both sides of that coin because what happens then is that Charlie becomes best known for a lot of these clips that go viral of talking about biological reality or girl right and so that's how Robinson gets to the point where he's like well because of my own like weird sexual proclivities I'm gonna go and murder somebody who speaks against them I mean that is like really important to internalize like that's how important he thought that his like trans furry fetish was to murder someone over like how do you get to that point I think internet that.

28:39I think I'm not saying it's not political. I'm not just to be clear. I'm not saying this was like divorce from politics. I'm saying there wasn't like a consistent, like coherent ideology outside of clearly. I think it is quite clear that this one issue was animating for him. We don't disagree on that. I mean, I do want to point out like he's not trans. And from what the government is saying, the, um, you know, allegedly trans, uh, romantic partner has been cooperating and wasn't involved, et cetera. So I just want to put that out there because I know, I know you're not. I know you're not. I just want to clarify because there is an impetus as well.

29:12Again, from Ken's reporting, there's an effort now to label like transgender extremism, whatever, and like blame all trans people also for what happens. I'm just clarifying. So I'm not saying it's not political. I'm saying it's, it is different from a like consistent ideological view. And I don't think we can also divorce out the impact of growing up in this very conservative, religious, and very repressive culture where he didn't feel accepted from his own family. And this was a major source of tension for him in his life as well as, you know, his identity is developing. I would defend the Mormons on that one.

29:45I think that's a, you know, a factor to weigh in as well. See, that's why people blame the Mormons now. They're doing it right. You should shun this stuff. Like, if you're a gamer and you're, you know, a porn addict, that should be shunned. You should be out. I don't agree with that, Tyler, because it's a different thing to say, like, you know, a video game addict or porn addict or whatever, none of which we know. You're just projecting that. We don't actually know that. We don't know that about Tyler. But I think what we see consistently is the more repressive a culture is, sexually repressive a culture is, the more that you end up with things like, you know, more like fringe sexual views, more of the sort of things that you would be opposed to, more like included things like more domestic violence, like all of those things tend to correlate with more repressive religious cultures.

30:33And so I don't think that you can look at the picture of him, the little bits we know, which again, a lot of this is speculation, without also taking into effect. Part of what he was struggling with was this identity conflict between him and his upbringing and his family and his community. I would say that is, in my opinion, it's a 1990s take, which potentially had its impact. In the year 2025, I think we have swung so far in the other direction, again, where you have people who literally have a trans furry fetish. I mean, we have to we have to be real about what that means. Small town in Utah.

31:06Yeah, I know. It's like really, really conservative. Like that should be a wake up call. All the things you want it to be. It was. Yes. Yes. You end up breeding this killer. Right. That's my point. That should tell you that, like, the cultural solutions you want are not a cure since that's exactly the environment in which he becomes. That's what I'm killer. What I'm trying to show is that the Internet and this sexual degeneracy is so powerful that it pervades the entire culture to the point where your own in-person matters. don't even, their own in-person networks, which potentially would have been able to quash a lot of this in the past, is gone.

31:39That's the power of the internet. And also, that's the real cultural supremacy of libertine, left-wing sexual ideology. Again, I think you're projecting a lot here because his friends, according to people who have spoken with him, are like, you know, he wasn't, the thing you're painting him to be, that was not their experience with him whatsoever. Well, I mean, it was his experience in his personal life at the very least. And again, from what we know about writing furry stuff or whatever in his own personal relationship, but zoom out. I mean, we had the trans Nazi killer in Minneapolis. Like, how does that happen?

32:12Like, seriously, how does that happen? Mental illness plus internet plus weed. It's a very simple thing. Like, was the person really transgender or were they like semi-autistic and then convinced just like Abigail Schreier's book that actually I'm trans? And then you start plugging yourself full of hormones and you go off. Like, this is what I mean. People need to have very serious, whenever we talk about transgender extremism. But again, I want to point out that transgender people make up a disproportionately small number of violent acts. Like, if we want to look at a group in society, if we're going to do, like, demographic call-ons here, it is overwhelmingly white men who commit these mass acts of violence.

32:48But I don't think you want to go down the demographic role in terms of crime. And that's my point, is that we have to talk about. No, the only reason I went in that I don't want to go down the demographic direction in terms of crime. But if you're going to paint trans people as like inherently murderous, then we have to correct the record there because that is the polar opposite of the reality. Well, I will say they are inherently, and this is proven out, have the highest depressive rates and suicide rates of most of the general population. It's really hard to be trans in America. Just listen to some of the things you're saying.

33:14Listen to the things that Charlie Kirk used to say. It's not easy to be trans in America. If you can't accept that, and you're saying what I'm saying is hate. It's an empirical fact that a lot of these people are very mentally troubled. That doesn't mean that I'm saying that they should not exist or they should be killed. I didn't say any of that. I didn't say that you did. It's a very reasonable position. I didn't say that you did. I'm just saying that this conversation matters a lot. You're trying to keep trans people as like there's something mentally wrong with them. In some cases, many cases, yes.

33:40But also you have to realize that if you are a transgender person in modern day America, it is not an easy experience. I disagree with that. I mean, if you live in New York City and you're trans, you're going to be celebrated. Like, come on. Like, let's live in reality. Yes, let's live in reality. If you live in Northern Virginia. Look at what Charlie Curn used to say. Look at what Donald Trump says. Look at what's coming down from the federal government. I mean, I don't know if you have any trans people in your life, but I do. And I can tell you that they feel like half the country does hate them and wants them dead.

34:10It's not an easy thing to live with. So, you know, no one should be surprised that, yeah, there's higher levels of, like, mental illness and depression that comes along with that. I don't think that that's not to deny that there may be some that, you know, their transgenderism expression. But like, how do you disentangle these things? I mean, you look at social contagion where the vast majority of this is largely social contagion and mental illness. I'm sorry. It's just empirically true. And it's one of those where. It is not empirically true. Yes, it is. The rate of transgenderism went up twenty five hundred percent in a decade because of social contagion or because people were, quote, legitimately trans.

34:40Like, come on, like, but it's all this is what I mean about the Internet. And this acceptance or excusing and basically giving a permission structure for mental illness. I will not deny that there is some level of like, you know, that part of it is a social phenomenon. OK, I don't want to put that off the table. Part of it is also that people for the first time feel like there is some level. Now, it's not nearly enough, but some sense of like I can be myself. I can. There is, you know, more of a community that's more open. And yes, the Internet allows them to connect themselves with other people who are like them.

35:11And so, you know, to like, I just I don't I'm not sure why we went down this rabbit hole, but I just want to say Tyler Robinson is not trans. He you know, the trans romantic partner reportedly, according to the government, had nothing to do with this. And so I'm not sure why like trans people are being thrown under the bus here, because if anything, the way it's being, you know, the story that's coming from the government is that the trans person here was like actively shocked by this, had nothing to do with it and is cooperating with. What I'm trying to say is that it is part of a broader social problem.

35:45And I'm not saying that Tyler Robinson is trans. I'm not even making this necessarily about Tyler Robinson because the Minneapolis shooter, Nashville, all of this stuff has to come together for a serious conversation about the fact that the Internet is literally poisoning people and enabling mental illness at vast areas. And by the way, for anybody who thinks I'm, quote, transphobic with these remarks, go and roll the tape about what I said about schizo. Schizophrenia, schizophrenics are like compared to gen pop are so much more likely to commit violent crime. You can apply my exact language about schizophrenia to transgenderism, gender ideology, et cetera.

36:20What I object to is a broader conversation. Like Ken, for example, I thought frankly, no offense, Ken. I thought your article was outrageous and ridiculous because you said what Ken said was that it was like transgender people are going to be classified as terrorists. No, what is said is that a specific type of, quote, gender ideology extremism will be classified under nihilistic violent extremists. That is an entirely appropriate thing in the world of Minneapolis and in the world of Nashville. And in particularly in, quote, gender ideology and gender ideologically. Sagar, in Minneapolis, the person being trans had nothing to do with anything.

36:56OK, well, I think it's like some part of some weird online new Nazi. OK, but oh, you think that the mental illness that just happened to a company becoming transgender had nothing? This is what I'm saying. Like, it does have something to do with something. It's just that people want to deny that reality. And this is this is also. Again, then let's let's have a category for white men extremists. Sure. I mean, I don't think you want to go down that road again, considering demographics of crime break down in this country. I think you're seeing things you want, like through a lens of your ideology and what you want to see, especially given that what you can point to, you know, one person who happened to be trans in Minneapolis who had all kinds of weird Internet stuff and neo-Nazism and whatever.

37:37There's no indication they murdered because of their transgender ideology. Tyler Robinson is not trans. Like there's nothing illegal about having a transgender relationship. and we know very little actually about Tyler Robinson and what he was, where he was and what he was doing and how he was spending his days, et cetera. In the case of the Ukrainian girl who gets her neck cut open by the schizophrenic and he says, I got that white B word. Well, now what does that mean? Do we think that's a racist attack or a schizophrenic attack? It's downstream of what? Schizophrenia. So we can say it's obviously downstream of mental illness.

38:07The fact is, is that if you look at the mental illness rates, depression rates, and so much more in, you know, amongst transgender and gender ideology and also apparently that Robinson can become so caught up in all this, he literally wants to murder someone else. Yeah, we should have a conversation about that. And, you know, a final thing here, there's always this word, transgender people thrown under the bus. What does that mean? Because if it's about reasonable stuff like banning puberty blockers for children under the age of 18, I think that's ridiculous. That is an extremist policy. If it's about Leah Thomas, I mean, again, you know, What I would say is that the way that this conversation started on on, you know, what's appropriate for kids, what's appropriate, what do we do in sports?

38:49Like, that's one thing. But very quickly, you now have just all out an attack on trans people coming directly from this government. What does that mean? It means outright discrimination against trans people. Like, for example, not being able to change your gender on your passport. For example, increasing laws around the country that are making it difficult even to have health care, gender affirming health care for trans people. That's a very dystopian term. No, it's not. I thought you didn't hate trans people. I thought adult trans people, it's fine. I thought they could live their lives. Then you should be sticking out against these laws too.

39:23First of all, no. The laws on the books are not banning adults. What they're doing is they're banning it for children. No, that is not true. No, no, no. Look at what's going on in Florida as one example. They are making it nearly impossible for adults to seek gender-affirming care. So you want to live in reality. Tell me what this administration thinks about transgeneral. Oh, they love transgender adults. No, I don't think they love transgender adults. No, that's why trans people in this country feel that they are under attack by this administration. Look at how in the military trans people were not only not allowed to serve, But if they did serve and they earned a pension, they're having their pension taken away.

40:04I think that's disgusting. I agree. So to pretend like there isn't an attack on transgender adults putting aside, you know, however you feel about kids, which I agree is a fraught topic and a difficult one to parse through. there is no doubt that they are under attack and that this administration wants to use this murder and you know the minneapolis one or whatever else they can cobble together to further target and surveil transgender individuals and paint them like they're murderous mentally ill extremists i think the i think the nuance needs to come back like look i know you're going to object to this but the transgender in the military thing it's like listen if we're going to talk about mental illness would you allow a schizophrenic or somebody else like that i'm not saying all transgender people could not necessarily apply.

40:45But that is meaning all transgender people like there's something wrong with them and they're mentally ill. And then in another breath, you'll say, oh, but I love all transgender people. I'm not judging them. I'm not transphobic. I'm not, I don't love trans people or hate trans people. You just think they're all mentally ill and need to be kicked out of the polite society. I think that mental illness is pervading a lot of the quote, trans and gender ideology conversation. And I wish that we were able to talk about that seriously without, frankly, like immense amounts of social pressure. And that's part of the, I mean, And look, this gets to like why we are where we are today, why Trump is even president, why any of this is even being allowed in a polite society.

41:18The pension thing, I agree, it's disgusting. OK, absolutely. I would never agree to that in terms of adults being able to do what they want to do. I support that. Now, of course, though, the conversation is also important in terms of money, insurance, availability, permission structure. This is like abortion. I mean, when people – it's like when Republicans or Democrats, for example, say around abortion and they want to talk about third trimester abortion versus late trimester abortion. But they lump all of those things together. I think we can all recognize there's a nuance in between late trimester, six-week abortion, and like seventh trimester, right?

41:55Because that's the point is if you try to loop it all together, which a lot of Republicans do when they make the pro-life talking point, it's viewed as disingenuous. I think it's the similar way. And look, it's a hot topic, and I don't really know why it's so religiously baked into left-wing current ideology. I genuinely don't get it. But one of the things that is clear to me is that these sacred cows or whatever actually in the midst of all of this social chaos with the internet have to be discussed. That's really my only point. And I think also, you know, objecting, Ken's reporting, for example, by saying, objecting to the fact that you can't classify gender ideology extremists without, quote, declaring war on trans people, ridiculous.

42:35Yeah, but I think it was a different group. You would see the you would see it differently because we know about the way that the government abuses these like domestic extremist categories. OK, so even if, you know, like Ken's headline seemed to imply all trans people were going to be deemed. And that was bullshit. It was right. But we do know the reality of the way that if you have one of these domestic extremist categorizations, that the government will then use that as justification to surveil like, you know, any sort of trans related group or any sort of, you know, anything that is related to that.

43:18And it will be applied much more broadly than would actually be appropriate for people who are like truly radicalized by that ideology. And I think that, I mean, I think you would agree with that. I do agree with that. That there's an abuse of these terms. And that that's the fear is that this is going to be a broadening expansion more broadly, not just for people who like are truly, you know, trans extremists, radicalized or whatever. That's going to be applied too broadly in a way that is oppressive and is, you know, against the rights of these people. And as a group that I mean, I think you have to acknowledge like it is a group that definitely feels and in reality is under attack and has been has been otherized by this administration and made to be scapegoats and part of this group of like, you know, like Stephen Miller were the good ones and they're the evil ones or whatever.

44:02This administration's M.O. is to create categories of groups who fall either on the like true American good side or on the bad side. And there's no doubt that they put the trans people in like, you know, the the evil scapegoat. I'm just not ready to go there. I don't think that's true, because I just think like if you're again, you know, by the way, with the trans, I mean, you know, with the trans people, the trans community, the trans activists and all those people, they're going to call me a Nazi for everything I just said. I'm like, you know what? That's why I don't even know. I'm going to take you people serious.

44:31Don't react. You want to plug little six year olds. Don't react to them like react. Don't imagine. No, but it's like deal with the argument. I've dealt with them in real life. argument at hand, which is, you know, I think to use Tyler Robinson, who again's not even trans, to justify this targeting more broadly of trans people by the government, I think that's wrong. I think it is a factual. I don't think that there is, you know, any reality to it. And in any case, we can, if you have a last thing to say, we can move on. It's entirely appropriate to treat, quote, gender ideology extremism as a subcategory.

45:09It is not a war on trans people. You are not a special class of citizen. If there's a higher rate of mental illness and or violence or particular, like you're talking about white men, it's like, well, if you look at the demographics of the country, but white men can be grouped in very specifically to the school shooter manifesto, you know, category. And we can talk about that publicly with no shame or fear. Well, then I'm sorry, you get to be treated like everybody else, which is apparently what you want. So I don't, I just, I think broadly this conversation, it has ignited in me. Like I, maybe I'm trying to find like a secular morality police.

45:41Maybe that's a fool's errand, but we need to bring it back. I just, that's my main takeaway from this entire thing. The internet is poison. They're doing it in Utah. No, they're not. Not nearly enough. They are. That's the problem. They're not doing it nearly enough. Small town in Utah. I'm sure you'll be feeling that not so secular morality. If you get their asses off the internet, then maybe none of this would happen. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y 'all? It's your girl Sam Jay. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports.

46:13Because let's be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka. Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi.

46:47You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

47:03Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candice, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made?

47:36Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

48:14My first guest is Paris Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On the bouncy bed. You have surprises. Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes to life. What up? It's like a way to say, hello, friend, hello, best friend, hello, sister. What up? I've never talked to anyone. Except with my children. My children know. Yes. I'm my lover. Oh. Yeah. Oh. That's incredible. Yeah, the telenovela. You're the only person I know that loves a yellow starburst. What's that? No, there's someone who you need to say, I'd like to collaborate with this person. This is Sweet 305.

49:02Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Cultura podcast network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, turning now to Kash Patel and some of the questions about the Charlie Kirk assassination. Our whole debate was predicated that we know everything, but to be honest, you know, after this, I'm not so sure. So let's go and put this up there on the screen. I got to be honest, this is one of the craziest things I've ever seen from an FBI director. And the reason why is in some ways it legitimates many of the, quote, conspiracy theories around the assassination and actually makes me think, wow, the fact that they're talking like this means some of this shit may be true.

49:41So let me keep it up there, guys, so I can read from it. Quote, as the director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring the investigation into Charlie Kirk's assassination is thorough and exhaustive, pursuing every lead to its conclusion. The full weight of America's law enforcement agencies are actively following the evidence that has emerged, but our efforts extend beyond initial findings. We are examining every facet of this assassination. We are meticulously investigating theories and questions, including the location from where the shot was taken, the possibility of accomplices, the text message confession and related conversations, discord chats, the angle of the shot and bullet impact, how the weapon was transported, hand gestures observed as potential signals near Charlie at the time of his assassination, and visitors to the alleged shooter residence in the hours and days leading up to September 10th.

50:24So he lays out every single question that has been raised, basically, with some currency on the Internet. Then he goes on. Some details are known today. While others are being pursued to ensure every possibility is considered, our primary focus is to complete this investigation and deliver justice. To protect the integrity of the investigation and subsequent prosecution, we cannot release every piece of information we have to the public right now. We will ensure every question is addressed at the appropriate moment regarding specific details, such as questions about the plane that allegedly turned off a transmitter after departing from the airport assassination site.

50:57We can share updates when answers are confirmed after interviews with the pilot, consultation with the FAA. We determined transponder was not turned off. Incomplete flight data in rural areas caused the apparent gap. The entire FBI mourns the loss of Charlie Kirk, will not rest until justice is served, and our investigation into this assassination will continue until every question is answered. And the fact that he laid out every single one of those did not dispute any of them, effectively gives them currency, and like I said, legitimates it. and the only one that he can potentially strike down is this one about the plane in the FAA, which by the way was known within, I don't know, hours after the assassination.

51:39I saw an aviation expert hours after just come out and be like, guys, it's a typical area. The transponder wasn't off. It's just that this is like one particular airspace where it will go out every once in a while. Don't read too much into it as a result. So I don't know. What did you think? Because there's two options. One is this guy is so chronically online. He wants to ensure that the internet doesn't turn against him. So he's going to list out every single thing and try to take it seriously and I guess slowly try to dispel it in the future. But the counter is like, okay, if these are so legitimate that the FBI is actually investigating it, that really makes my eyebrows raise.

52:14Especially because if – look, Robinson as of right now is not cooperating with authorities, right? So presumably he may plead not guilty. Well, couldn't you use that tweet at trial? I was thinking that too. And being like, hey, look at all of these legitimate questions raised here on the defense from the FBI director. And now all of that, you know, by the way, the FBI will have to make sure that they meticulously go through like he claims and actually provide an explanation for each one of those so that Robbins' defense cannot present that to a jury at trial. Presumably if it goes that direction.

52:46Yeah. I don't know yet. So I thought it was insane. But it's basically crazy no matter what. Absolutely insane. I mean, I think it definitely has to do with like Cash Mattel is an Internet influencer. Like that's what he actually is. And so he's seeing all of these theories floating and he already knows that people hate him because of how he handled the Epstein stuff. And he doesn't want to catch any more heat from his like listening and viewing audience. So he's trying to hold guys like I'm totally I'm with you on the conspiracies. I'm looking into it. I'm on it. I think that's probably a lot of what's going on.

53:17But to your point, like, dude, we already have a charging document for Tyler Robinson. And it lays it all out. Laid out. The government has laid out a quite complete and specific theory of the case. And it does not involve like, oh, maybe the shot was taken somewhere else. Maybe there were accomplices. Maybe there was, you know, maybe these text messages. Like, he even seems to allude to the text messages being fake, which is like, this is your evidence. So he's undercutting dramatically the government's story of what happened on that day. And it's crazy. Another one he mentions here, how the weapon was transported.

53:52Again, we're being told from the government, like, here's how the weapon was transported. Here's what the weapon was. Here's where the shot was taken from. And now the FBI director is saying, well, actually, we're not really too sure about any of this. Yeah, it's manna from heaven. For Tyler Robinson's defense team, there's no doubt about it. And it's completely insane. Like, dude, you're not an influencer anymore. You are the government. You are the deep state. Like, that's who you are now. You have asserted a very specific theory of the case. And now you're going in and saying, well, we don't really know.

54:23We're still looking into it. We'll get back to you. Crazy stuff. Absolutely crazy. It fits also with this next part here. Let's put it up here on the screen. There's a new claim from the surgeon, actually, who operated on Charlie in the immediate aftermath of his killing, where they say, quote, Charlie Kirk's body stopped a bullet that would typically, quote, just go through everything. And it was, quote, an absolute miracle that nobody else was killed, his surgeon told TPUSA. So by the way, this is secondhand information. It's from TPUSA about the bullet. There have been some questions about the bullet and whether it would have passed through Charlie.

54:57I mean, I'm generally open, you know, giving the benefit. I don't see there's a reason TPSA or the surgeon would lie about the situation. But it's just that when you put the totality, you know, in the fact that cash legitimated it, and then it's a question here, it just seems all a bit odd. I almost think in that case, it's like, it would have been better to just like, in a way, there's too much transparency right now, you know, from the TPSA and cash and all of them. They're like, every single claim ever made, whether Charlie made $150 million from Netanyahu where it was offered that or something.

55:32It's like, guys, you know, in a certain way, that's why I just, I really felt crushed for Erica Kirk because she apparently is going to give an interview soon addressing all this. Yeah. Let this lady be, please, please. I mean, I don't know. I just think, or for her, like, nobody's saying that she had to come out and do it, but the fact that she feels compelled to, I have complicated feelings about it. Like, I just want this, I want this woman to have peace. She seems like such a wonderful soul. you know, her and her kids. Like, I just, I don't know. I, I, I think it's, it's not good that this amount, apparently, you know, TPUSA people, this was a report.

56:07I don't, I'm not, nevermind. I'm not going to say it. But my point is just that I think TPUSA people are getting hounded about this. I mean, they just lost their leader, you know, their friend in a lot of cases. So it's, it's difficult. It's a difficult situation. Yeah. And the, this information from the surgeon originally came from the EP of the Charlie Kirk show, Andrew Colvitt. Is that how you say his last name? Yeah, I know he's a little bit. And I mean, they're just, look, they are asking the public to believe a lot. I mean, even Cash apparently recognizes that there's a lot that they're asking the public to believe.

56:37And this is one of the things that is extraordinary, you know, if true, that the surgeon said that Charlie's bone was so healthy and the density was so impressive. He's like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too. In the end, the coroner did find the bullet just beneath the skin. And even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him. Remarkable, miraculous. And, you know, I don't know anything about like the kind of bullets or whatever. I know people are looking at that who do know something are pretty skeptical of this claim.

57:10And the other piece that's, you know, again, it's like, where was this information previously? Because previously it seemed like they didn't have the bullet. And now, you know, here we are a number of days later and they're like, oh, no, we do have the bullet. It's beneath his skin. And it's just like, miraculously, he's the man of steel. So it didn't go through. Maybe, but it's, again, you're asking people to accept a lot here. The other reason why is that may not have even been the explanation. That may have been what the surgeon told TPUSA. And then let's say something else comes out at trial.

57:42Then people will be like, wait, but you said this, right? So that's what I'm saying. There's almost too much right now about people who are coming out. And I mean, look, we do have to be honest. There's a lot of weird stuff. It remains. Even with the official narrative with this. By the way, the outfit change, it seems to have been validated. Candace released that photo of Robinson at Dairy Queen like 18 minutes after he shot Charlie Kirk. No, it was hours later. Sorry. Yeah, it was like at 6.30 after Kirk had been shot somewhere in the noon hour. Oh, no. He apparently changed. That's what it was.

58:12But he was in that different outfit, you know, in that photo, which is psychotic. Well, he was in a mix of the two outfits. Yeah. He was in the maroon shirt and the black pants. Yeah, I don't know. And I mean, I'm not even, I can't even say for sure that that photo is real. So, you know, it's possible it's from another day. It looked like him. It could be AI. It could be from another day. I don't really know. But, you know, she asserts that it is. But Candace is not also like a traditional journalist. Yes, that's fair. All right, last thing we'll put up here. This was a final thing, report from the New York Post, which actually kind of makes sense if you take Robinson's text to be real.

58:51It said that the gun that killed Kirk is, quote, a World War I-era rifle that may be untraceable. What they describe in his text, Robinson, called it Grandpa's rifle in that it's a decades-old German-made gun that was used in both world wars. But I think the point around it was it may be that he actually did select the rifle either because of the serial number. By the way, they're saying may be untraceable because we don't know the official model or anything of the weapon. And we still, by the way, one reason why I'm inclined to take this more seriously is remember they had the rifle very early in the investigation the day of.

59:29Yeah, that's right. But they didn't have Robinson very early. Whereas if it was traceable or if it was easily connectable to the person who bought it, the grandpa, that's not that difficult. Be like, oh, okay, this person, family tree, boom, from public records, Tyler Robinson. That's an easy way to go there. Until Robinson turned himself in after his father basically used him or forced him to with the sheriff or whatever that they were family friends with, they were nowhere. The night before Robinson was caught, they literally were nowhere according to law enforcement. So I'm inclined to take this a little bit seriously, which is part of what makes it weird.

1:00:01Because the thing is with Robinson is, again, if you accept that the texts are in some way real, which I do think they are real. Maybe that is cringe of me, but I just not quite at the point where I think we're fabricating stuff in court documents that are eventually going to go to trial. Just me. Maybe I have too much faith in the system. Well, Cash is investigating. It's talking about Cash. I'm just saying, like, I mean, think about that. That means, like, all of America's jurisprudence is fake, including the state of Utah. I'm like, maybe. It's definitely possible. But if we accept that they're real, he did want to get away with it, which is like, why did he turn himself in at the end of the day?

1:00:35I mean, he went to great lengths, you know, from those text messages, maybe it was planned, you know, in terms of the weird rhetoric and vernacular that he used, which we talked about previously on the show. So there is still a lot of weird stuff. And if you are a conspiracy theorist on this, I don't blame you because the way the government is handled has been a disaster. Yeah, you have no reason to believe this government, especially led by Kash Patel, who, as I've said before, is not only political apparatchik, but he is also an incompetent fool. So there are any number of reasons why you should, you know, be skeptical of the claims here.

1:01:05And I don't even think like I don't think it's fair even to call you conspiracy theorists at this point if you're looking into some of these holes. That's like the job. I mean, I think that's part of the job of a journalist. Oh, absolutely. Is to not just take at face value the government's claims to say, OK, well, these pieces don't really add up. What have you got for me there? How did he transfer the guy? Why don't we see it in any of these photos? You know, those sorts of things I think are all like reasonable and non-conspiratorial questions to ask. I'll give you an example. Uvalde. The first 24 hours, the Uvalde cops are a hero.

1:01:39The timeline, you know, we were some of the first people to do this. You're putting the timeline together. You're like, wait, the shooting started like this time and they didn't kill him. Hours later. How does that happen? You're like, so are we understanding? And then the mom story, remember the mom with the time to get in the car and drive all the way there and get her kid out and take her out all before this happened. Like that only happened because of very critical reporting. I mean, maybe it would have eventually come out, but I'm not so sure actually, because it took a lot of pressure on the Texas Department of Public Safety and Uvalde PD and all that before the full story was eventually.

1:02:10And then by that time, you know, that's a whole different picture, especially with Governor Abbott and his initial press conference and giving all the credit to, you know, the initial response. It's like, that is not what happens. Yeah, that's a good that's a good flag. You shouldn't believe it because a lot of times I do lie and it did happen. All right, let's get over to Jimmy Kimmel, shall we? What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y 'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports.

1:02:39Because let's be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka. Shout out to you, Naomi. You get the palm, Naomi.

1:03:13You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:03:29Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made?

1:04:02Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:04:41My first guest is Paris Hilton, Shakira, Luke and Yerin, Samira and Gracie. I'm so excited. On a bouncy bed. You have surprises. Many surprises. Welcome to Sweet 305, where the group chat comes to life. What up, f***? Es como que una forma de decir como, hola amiga, hola mejor amiga, hola hermana, what up, f***? Mira, nunca lo había hablado con nadie. except with my children. My children know. Yes. I'm my lover. Uff. Punch. That's incredible. Yeah, the telenovela. You're the only person I know that loves the yellow starburst. It's lemonade. There's no one missing you. Like you say, I'd like to collaborate with this person.

1:05:26This is Sweet 305. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lele Pons as part of my Cultura podcast network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get to the Jimmy Kimmel situation. Some escalating stuff here from Donald Trump around the term free speech. Here's what he had to say. I think it's very sad, but I think that reporting has to be at least accurate, at least accurate to an extent. Again, And when somebody is given 97 percent of the stories are bad about a person, that's no longer free speech. That's no longer that's just cheating. And they cheat. That's no longer free speech.

1:06:10He also in an interview was asked about Charlie, who believed in free speech. And he was like, well, I'm not sure that he believes it now. So, yeah, really classy stuff there from the president. But it does actually make an interesting question about how the Republicans are responding to this moment after Jimmy Kimmel. And for a recap, if anybody doesn't know at this point, we have the FCC commissioner hours before going on the Benny Johnson show saying, quote, we can do this the easy way or the hard way before a merger was up for some ABC affiliates, which are owned by Nexstar. And in that moment, that's when Jimmy Kimmel's show is indefinitely suspended by ABC Disney.

1:06:54It's an open question. There's been some, you know, Cope being like ABC was going to indefinitely suspend him anyways. Some in-depth reporting from The Hollywood Reporter basically says that Kimmel was going to go on his show and say screw you to his MAGA critics the day before, which factored into ABC's decision. So, of course, if it was just a business decision, then, you know, it's a little bit different of a free speech conversation. But I do think the very fact that the FCC commissioner said, quote, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, it's kind of an open and shut case, right? Because, you know, you can't deny that that's going to be in your head.

1:07:29You know, as people who run businesses, if we got threatened by the government and then there also was like a legitimate business reason, I mean, it'd be pretty convenient to do the legitimate business reason. Whereas maybe you would have thought about it a little bit differently. You just can't deny that it wasn't in the heads of Bob Iger and of the CEO of Disney on top of all of the affiliates who, again, like they need – let's say even if Brennan Carr didn't say you have to take him off the air. They're like, well, we still want to be on his good side because we need our damn merger to go through where they literally have to change their own rules.

1:07:59So that's what I would say. Yeah, and Brennan Carr not only said we can do this the easier way or the hard way but also specifically shouted on the affiliates and said, oh, they need to look at what they're doing and whether they should preempt the show. and then Nexstar folds and then Disney folds and the reporting from inside of Disney ABC was that what they didn't actually feel like Kimmel said anything that was particularly wrong or over the line. The thing that caused them to make the decision that they did was the pressure from the government. So in terms of that, it seems pretty clear cut.

1:08:31And then you also have Trump had already, you know, after Colbert gets cancer, then he had already threatened Jimmy Kimmel. He's now threatening the other late night host. They've also, Brennan Carr has come out is threatening The View. The View was too terrified to say anything about any of this on their show, which is pathetic, we have to say. On their show on Thursday, I guess, was when this all was going down. So, you know, they're clearly feeling the heat. Well, silencing The View is one where I'm not going to speak out for that. Have to keep your principles so good. No, that would be public service.

1:09:01We have to keep our principles. But in any case, I don't know. We get a lot of content enjoyment and creation off of The View. Not in a while. So you better be careful for what you wish for. In any case, I think that's an example, though, of how it's not just about the direct people who are targeted. It's meant to put a chill in everyone who's a comedian, any sort of critic, any sort of, you know, podcaster, journalist, et cetera, so that they are thinking twice because they know their corporate bosses are not going to stand up for them. They're going to cave because every single time they have caved.

1:09:34So that's part of what we're talking about. I don't know. Again, everyone keeps going after the corporations. Like, what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to make money. Like, you know, at a certain point, like, you think ABC, Disney ever cared about journalism? It was a money-making endeavor. Well, if they ever had any confusion about that, there is no longer any confusion about that whatsoever. I want that to be baked in for everybody. It's like, oh, CNBC cares a lot about business journalism? Yeah, for sure. It's definitely not about a tool of, you know, Wall Street and the financiers to, like, control the market.

1:10:03It's always been that way. It's just I guess it's now out in the open, which I appreciate, you know, in the Marxian height and the contradiction. Let's take a listen then, though, to Ted Cruz, who heavily criticized Brandon Carr and the Trump administration on this. Let's take a listen. I like Brandon Carr. He's a good guy. He's the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him. But what he said there is dangerous as hell. For people that are listening, because this is going to be, quote, controversial. So I want to make sure we explain it clearly. When you say no and it's dangerous, explain and run this out, the slippery slope that this can open so that people understand why we're saying it.

1:10:44So the Federal Communication Commission is in charge of granting broadcast licenses. So ABC, NBC, CBS, they have licenses from the FCC. It is true that under statute, they're required to be in the public interest. What he is saying is Jimmy Kimmel was lying. That's true. He was lying. And his lying to the American people is not in the public interest. And so he threatens explicitly, we're going to cancel ABC's license. We're going to take him off the air. So ABC cannot broadcast anymore. And I got to say, he threatens it. He says, we can do this the easy way, but we can do this the hard way. Yeah.

1:11:25And I got to say, that's right out of Goodfellas. That's right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here. It'd be a shame if something happened to it. Dangerous as hell. So what's his angle here? What's Ted Cruz's angle? It's definitely not principle in terms of what we know about Ted. We do know he has a personal relationship with Kimmel, so that could be it. Yeah. Although, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I was stunned by it, to be honest. I would never in a million years have picked Ted Cruz to go off on this. Maybe it's a 2028 play. Maybe it's, I don't know. Honestly, maybe it is a principal thing.

1:12:06Like, you know, he was like more libertarian in his old days. This is the type of stuff he used to hammer the Obama administration for, the OG, you know, Ted Cruz Tea Party guy. So it's possible that's what it is. I'll tell you my theory. I think it's a combination of two things. Number one is he knew Jimmy Kimmel personally. Yeah. So he didn't have this like animus against him that a lot on the right did. He has some sort of personal relationship with him. So I think that does genuinely make it different when it's someone you know, etc. I think the other thing is, like Ted Cruz, he said this on his own podcast, right?

1:12:40He wants to be cool with the podcast bros. That could be it. And we're about to play you. You know, Tim Dillon spoke out on this. I think he feels like, you know, wanting to be part of that club, that this is the place to position yourself, is my guess of what's going on here because that's who he wants to be down with and see himself as part of that world. Yeah, I mean, one of the cultural shifts that has happened in the last eight months is that the scolds are no longer the libs because the libs have been owned literally into the sun out of power. You owned them. Congratulations. Yeah, no, I mean, look, it has literally been total and complete victory.

1:13:21Like, they're dead. And so then it's a question of do you replace and become the scold? And so in the world of the Jimmy Kimmel, of the snowflakery, of cancel culture, which we all agreed, you know, some cancel culture we all believe in. There should be consequences in some cases if you're openly cheering Charlie's death. Yes, I think you should be fired or at the very least, you know, I'm not going to feel all that bad for you. But if you simply repost something that's critical, I don't know. I think that's definitely more in the BLM Me Too era type of craziness where things have gone. So it becomes like the scold and the cultural domination as well as the government action.

1:14:08And that's where censoriousness is part of what fueled the liberal left of the 2000s. I'm literally just old enough to kind of remember that. I grew up in it, you know, these evangelicals and this feeling that if you said anything bad about Bush, you're a traitor, right? Like, you're a traitor. You hate the troops. And it's like, no, we love the troops. We don't want them to die abroad, right? And it's like, oh, you can't say that. Oh, my God, I can't. You need to support our president. Yeah, literally flashbacks to 2005 here. If you're too young, that's how insane things were. Well, you know, we're kind of right back to that, you know, especially in the Charlie Kirk situation.

1:14:46And so that's where his point about this kind of social libertarianism, which I think was a huge, huge impact on the Trump administration. And if you look at a lot of the ways that the Trump 2 is different than Trump 1, a lot of the liberals would say it's more authoritarian. I would say it's a lot more socially libertarian because what people forget is that the first Trump administration was very anti-weed in 2017. now the president of the United States himself is like oh yeah we're cool with weed why because a bunch of bros uh use it and they want them to vote for it TikTok same thing for young people it used to be a China thing now we're just selling it for parts to you know Rupert Murdoch and and these guys and Larry Ellison uh and those guys but but the broad thing that kind of fuels that is one which is like much more trying to accommodate really what Charlie was the main organizer for, which was like young men in particular who are right wing.

1:15:43But what is the one thing that we know? A lot of the reason why these young guys are right wing in the first place is because they don't want to be scolded or told what to think and what to do. And now the shoe is kind of on the other foot. So in a way, it's not a, it's a smart bet from Ted. Now, by the way, it's smart only in the sense of like grand strategy. Like he himself will never be that vehicle, but that's. Yeah, true. And this is a man who's wanted to be president of the United States since he was born. So I don't put out that he is also trying to find some angle, some 2028 angle. Also wanted to play for you some pretty extraordinary, I would say, comments from Ty Cobb.

1:16:18The reason why they're really noteworthy is this guy used to be Trump's White House attorney, and he makes some pretty, like I said, pretty extraordinary comments here about this crackdown on the media. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that. Well, I think, Kristen, that it's evocative of what we've seen throughout history. I mean, in 1939, Dr. Goebbels at Hitler's instruction removed five comedians or witticists, as they were called at the time, from the airways in Germany for criticizing or making fun of the government in a satire way. Putin, when he took over in the early 2000s, one of the first things he did was systematically violence.

1:17:10Critical media outlets and independent TV channels were bought out or shut down. You know, Trump is waging war on people who offend him. You know, he's all about vengeance. And sadly, his subordinates, like one of the Project 2025 authors, Brandon Carr of the FCC, are following in line. And, you know, perhaps the Presidential Crimes Commission that Representative Swalwell called for recently can consider this at the end of this administration. But these people are, you know, abandoning our constitutional rights and our constitutional freedoms. Even Senator Loomis today by saying, you know, she doesn't feel like enforcing the First Amendment at this point, despite having liked it when it suited her, that's a violation of her oath of office, where she takes an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution.

1:18:12So I think this is really tragic. And I think, as Carr said yesterday, there will be more shoes to drop. I think we can count on that. This will be three and a half more years of vengeance. Ty Cobb, his famous mustache. The famous, yeah, very iconic, we'll say, mustache. But yeah, I mean, this is a guy who used to work for Trump, and he immediately reaches for the Nazi analogy alongside of saying this is what Putin did. And I think we have to put it in the broader context, which we talked about last week just briefly, of we're not just talking about Kimmel here. We're talking about a strategy of using lawsuits to basically extract concessions from media organizations.

1:18:48And we're talking about a speed run to consolidation of a bunch of media outlets in the hands of explicit Trump allies who also happen to be extremely pro-Israel, specifically the Ellison family. I would flip that around a little bit and say pro-Israel. It all goes together, right? It all goes together. For now, it goes together. Yeah, so you've got CBS and then you've got very likely CNN and HBO and Comedy Central. And then you've got Meta is Zuckerberg is like, you know, totally bent the knee to Trump and is doing whatever Trump wants. Elon owns Twitter. By the way, Elon was there sitting next to Trump at Charlie Kirk's Memorial, which was also which was also noteworthy.

1:19:26And then you have go ahead. Well, we want to we don't have to play this thought, but we also have TikTok. Now, part of the group that is taking over TikTok includes Rupert Murdoch and effectively Fox News. So the amount of media consolidation into direct Trump allies hands and then you're using things like, you know, this Kimmel situation and the lawsuits to put a chill through every other media organization. So they're afraid to be too critical and they immediately capitulate when you know when you're FCC commissioner or you say something about them. It is a you know, it's a very scary development in terms of freedom of the press.

1:20:04And, you know, for those of you who are like, okay, well, that's why we have independent media. Like, you think we're safe? Are you kidding me? Like, Disney and these people, they got tons of resources. Any individual, even the biggest, you know, channel that's out there, the biggest streamer, the biggest channel, whatever, doesn't come close to the amount of power and resources and, you know, ability to fight back that one of these giant corporations do. So I don't think anyone should be taking comfort in that at this point. Rogan's the biggest in the business, and his deal is$100 to$200 million, which is a lot of money.

1:20:38Don't get me wrong. It's like NFL money. Well, Disney fiscal year 2025, revenue was$94 billion, and that's what they're up against. Yeah, I think that's an important lesson for power and for all of that. Ari Ty Cobb, I don't know, personal boomer pet peeve is he starts with Goebbels and then eventually gets to Putin. Orban, which is, in my opinion, much more analogous. But boomer brain is that everything has to start with World War Two. Let's go ahead, though, and start with Tim Dillon or get to Tim Dillon, who has been one of the more outspoken comedians on this. Let's take a listen. You can't think it's a great idea that the FCC, the chairman of the FCC, goes on a podcast and goes, we could do it the easy way or the hard way.

1:21:28We could think about revoking broadcast licenses. and then pressures affiliates to drop this show. Because this guy said something the president of the United States doesn't like. The president of the United States then also follows it up by going, hey, Seth Meyers, you know, Fallon, Seth Meyers, you're next. I don't think it was a particularly good thing for Jimmy Kimmel to say this guy was MAGA. He wasn't MAGA. By the way, it's easily correctable. You can correct the record without destroying someone's ability to speak. Everybody thinking that Jimmy Kimmel being removed and indefinitely suspended from ABC means that you are winning.

1:22:18You're a fool. So there's Tim with his take on that. There were similar ones. The Andrew Schultz, who was in Australia, spoke out against it. Akash Singh on the flagrant podcast as well. Those are the ones I just immediately off the top of my head, at least the ones who are more interested in politics. Curious to see what Theo Vaughn and them have to say in Rogan. They haven't commented yet, but I don't think they've had episodes as well. It does show you and demonstrate my Ted Cruz point about this is that, you know, if you think the broadcast constituency is important, which I do, I didn't say it won the whole election, but it was something.

1:22:50It was definitely something. Well, within that is kind of this, You know, if you think about it, it's like that is an archetypal demographic for whom they don't want to be told what to do and they don't like government overreach. And one of the ways that they were annoyed with Kamala or Biden was, let's say, you know, pressuring the meta or all these other people to take down, you know, what they called vaccine misinformation. Some of it was. Some of it was totally true, by the way. uh but you know that that kind of gets to the annoyance and the feeling of having rulers over you that you can't speak out against which is a very american thing to do to say no actually screw you yeah and that's that's the that's where tim dylan and the rest of the yeah i mean i do have to get my dig in like i don't know why you thought that trump was going to be some beacon of like free speech okay but why should we see everyone keeps saying this but let's have it's true okay y 'all kamala was going to be the beacon of free speech so if you have to choose between the two who are you going to pick but there was no like oh well maybe i should take note of the fact that this guy is always trying to like change the libel laws and threatening in his first administration he tried to ban flag burning etc so i just i don't think any of that was present in the conversation i'm glad to see these comments now but i just you know i think if if that was like your primary reason for voting for trump i agree it was if that was your primary paying attention to the things he'd said and done etc if that was your primary offense no offense you're an idiot, which we often said here at the time.

1:24:13It's like, obviously, like everybody kind of, but you know, I see these owns all the time and it's like, oh, the people who were literally trying to censor Alex Berenson or Fox news or whatever, are going to be going to give us a lecture about all this. Like, come on, like, no, there's no, the fact is, is they both kind of equally believe in power and you know, the Republicans are probably just a lot more crass about it, but I don't know. I just think they're more willing who can be lectured by establishment with liberals about free speech. They're more willing to use the full force and weight of the government is what we're seeing.

1:24:44But the only reason they are is because they don't have the same cultural power. Well, they do now. I mean, with liberals, it was much more about using the cultural power. And here it's like, I'm going to make sure your deal doesn't go through. I'm going to threaten you directly. I'm going to do whatever I can to try to crush you so you have an overt full of government attack in a way that is definitely different from what we saw under the Biden administration. And we covered all the things, you know, the Twitter files. This show's been here from day one. Yes, we've been consistent. I was more just saying, people were like, oh, we voted for Trump.

1:25:17And I'm like, okay, but again, go back in time. What would a Kamala administration have done? Probably the same shit, except about anti-racism. No, no. No, no, yes. You think they would have used the whole government to, like, threaten people? I mean, even if they wanted to, they just don't have the balls to do it. First, anti-racism and, quote, voting rights. Yeah, absolutely. But they didn't. I mean, we had Biden-Harris. Yeah, and he was literally a dunce. And they did not do those things. I don't know. So I don't know why you would project that they would do different things this time around.

1:25:45Because Biden was a literal dunce, and in some way his duncery was like a check in a way. And Kamala's a genius. I don't say she's a genius, but she's breathing, okay? And there's a little bit of a difference. I mean, I disagree. I don't think there's any evidence that, and I'm not saying that they were great on free speech. We had our critiques at the time. But this is extraordinarily good. The consolidation of power in Trump ally hands, the consistent effort to quash, you know, any sort of universities and law firms and media outlets, the weaponization of lawsuits against them. Like it's different.

1:26:16It is genuinely different. It is genuinely different. I think the reason is different is because of that point that we made, which is that, you know, the right has the government. It's the last tool that they really have. They don't have any cultural representation, you know, in these companies. Maybe a little bit now. They do now. This is kind of my thing about earlier is, you know, is Larry Ellison pro Trump or is he pro Israel? because, you know, which pro you are kind of matters. Larry Elson's like, he's like a Republican-ish. He's like a Mitt Romney, Tim Scott type. You know, if you remember, he wrote big checks to Tim Scott.

1:26:44Is he pro-Trump or is he just really pro-Israel and Trump is also pro-Israel, right? So like, I think the distinguish, to be able to distinguish between that matters because it's like, what's the issue number one that they're going to fight on the most? It's Israel. Like, that's the main one. Even if you look at Fox News, they hated Trump for years or at least the Murdoch family. They don't like everything about it. But, oh, but Ukraine, Israel, you know, what else am I? There's like a couple of other issues. That's what they get the most animated about. And that's like a neoconservative, you know, kind of religion.

1:27:14I mean, at this point, these people are definitely pro-Trump, though. Oh, 100%. Only because of Trump operationally where he is right now. But, like, I don't think they care. Or, frankly, I think they hate Trump at a personal level. They're happy to, you know, have his administration. But they like that they get their tax cuts. They like the Israel policy. They like all of those things. Yeah, exactly. That matters. One last, just, we can just touch on this quickly. because I think it's an important point. Lena Kahn has been talking about the way that the incredible concentration of power within the media industry in particular is making it much easier for the Trump administration to consolidate power and indulge his authoritarian tendencies.

1:27:50This is B5. Let's go ahead and take a listen to this. Well, look, I think what we are seeing right now is a very clear display of how monopolies and concentrated economic power work hand in hand with authoritarian figures. As you noted, what this is about for the president is concentrating political control. And it is so much easier to do that when you have an economy that is as concentrated as we have today. If you're a president who wants to censor your critics, media markets where five companies control everything make it much easier to do so than markets where you have 50 or more companies.

1:28:25And so this is really just putting in stark illustration how the extreme consolidation of economic power that we've seen in this country over the last few decades is now ripe for abuse by a president with such authoritarian leaders. And, you know, this is actually a pretty old lesson. Even after World War II, the U.S. government commissioned studies to figure out what was it that allowed the rise of Nazism in Germany. And they found that industrial monopolists actually helped facilitate the rise of Hitler. As a result, Congress passed something called the 1950 Anti-Merger Act because they worried that extreme consolidation in America could also lead to the rise of anti-democratic pressure.

1:29:09So these are lessons that were so central to our country for decades. Unfortunately, as we adopted a legal regime that was so much more permissive of mergers, of economic consolidation, it's brought us to the situation we're in today. And just to back that up with some numbers, I can put B6 up on the screen with regard to the media consolidation. This more perfect union says in 1983, 50 companies controlled 90 percent of the U.S. media market. That number now is down to five. So from 50 down to five. And it's interesting. This relates, Sagar. We were talking a little bit about, like, the libertarians are winning a lot of arguments right now because there's different ideologies.

1:29:45It's not going to be too much, but— Well, there's different ideologies on the left. There's one ideology that says, actually, it's good to have big, giant, like, industrial concerns. Like, for example, if you think about Amazon, okay, if you have this one giant company, oh, well, if you force unionization on them, if you force them to, you know, lift their wages, then you're having a larger impact all at once. But it's effectively like a very high risk environment when you have so much power consolidated, because on the other hand, you can also have a president like Trump who uses in the opposite direction, makes it much easier for him to consolidate power in the way that he is.

1:30:19Look, it's a fascinating question of which I am genuinely torn on. You cannot look at the Chinese model and tell me it doesn't work. It obviously works and it works super well. It has surpassed American industry. And so there's a debate here in America, how do we achieve the same level of innovation? So the anti-monopolists like Lina and others would say that consolidation itself actually quashes competition. Inherently, that is just not true if you look at China. What they could say is that in an American context, we simply don't have the same cultural unity and agreement that the Chinese have.

1:30:52And so thus, with our heterogeneous differences, we need to debate and that this is more American in character. It's a really – it's a tough problem because if you look back at – she uses the German example, the industrialists. But we had huge consolidation too during World War II to achieve economy and scale to spin up the war machines where the government came in and effectively operated like China. So there's a quote where it's something like to beat the enemy, you often have to become the enemy. I'm like butchering it a little bit. But I don't really see exactly how you can contest BYD, Huawei.

1:31:29I was just showing our crew these new Huawei foldable. This is better than anything that exists in the United States. Like, hands down, it's cheaper. It's better. It's called the MateBook or something like that. BYD, by the way, just became the fastest car in the entire world, like, yesterday on a street track. Like, you can't look at that and say that, you know, deconsolidation or whatever would be able to challenge it. I don't see it. Although, we also, I mean, it's not like BYD is the only car maker in China. So it's not like they just like invest everything in one monopoly. There's a lot of actually competition within the Chinese.

1:32:03They give the floor. Yeah, within the Chinese system, there is actually a lot of competition. But I mean, I hear what you're saying. Like, that's why I phrased it as like a high risk landscape. It's a high risk landscape. It's also a high reward landscape if you do things right. And if you, you know, aren't just trying to like serve your own corrupt ends. But unfortunately, that's the president we have right now. It's not even just that because everybody reaches for the lever when they have it. So, you know, we talked to, we just had an argument on Biden. Well, what did they do with Meta? You remember when Jen Psaki was like, if you're banned from one social media platform, you should be banned from them all, right?

1:32:33I mean, that stuff, it's only possible to exert that pressure because there's only three companies in the world that control, you know, 90%. That is dangerous in a free society. And it also gets to that argument we're having about government power versus cultural power. One of the reasons, one of the clips of mine that made me relatively famous or whatever on the right was in 2019 I said that corporations could be just as much of a threat to your freedom and liberty as the government. And I still believe that, obviously. But part of the reason why is because of situations like what we just talked about where you can have a full-on crush, let's say, collaboration between three different companies.

1:33:11And if you're Parler, you're dead overnight. I mean that was very scary. Now, obviously, now through Trump, you know, we're learning why the government, people are afraid of the government too. So I get it. And I think that's a fair enough, you know, counterbalance. But that time was really scary and dangerous as well. So, you know, we have to ask that question. What does it mean for consolidation? In what area? I believe it's, you know, the more socialists are saying that big is better because then you can force, like, rules on them. And, I mean, they're not wrong. If you look at China, that's basically what they've done to lay out the rules.

1:33:43At the same time, if you – the explosion of small business, America is a country of entrepreneurs traditionally. If we had smaller banks – I listened to a fascinating podcast of why if we just had much smaller banks compared to the megabanks, it would create a lot more credit and it would actually enable – like credit unions and other things. It would actually enable a lot more commerce and median wage growth, et cetera. So I don't know. I've thought a lot about it. And I think there's also a big divide between how the U.S. government needs to compete in strategic industry and then how the average American should also have to be able to conduct commerce.

1:34:16Because maybe that's the two separate conversations. Interesting. Like aerospace and all that. Like Boeing, sorry. Like aerospace probably should just be a monopoly. It's one of those things where— I mean, certain things that you have this, you know, natural monopolies are a thing, you know. I mean, even like the social media, we've talked to Solar about that, even the social media companies, like the reason that they function is because everybody's there. Right. So if you it doesn't really work to have like a thousand different social media companies because then you're not getting the benefit out of it.

1:34:43But then, you know, they should be if they're effectively like public utilities, they should be regulated differently. And there should be, you know, some governance in the public interest. I mean, I guess bottom line, there's just no getting around like electing people who are like good. Yeah, that's right. The interests of the country. See, that's where the libertarians are always like, well, everything needs to be a check. I'm like, yeah, but sometimes you have great leaders like FDR. Sometimes you do, and it's great. America gets transformed, or Theodore Roosevelt, or Grant, Lincoln, these people, when they have immense power at their disposal, they use it for good, and then they're like, yeah, but the bad ones use it for bad.

1:35:18I would argue on balance, we've come out pretty damn well. Maybe not recently. We've had a bad 40-year stretch, But, you know, before that, the system, I don't know. I think it works. I still think it works. So I still disagree. Not feeling that so much right now, but yeah.

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