WTW108: AmericaFest Showed Turning Point's Massive Influence (and Bottomless Budget)

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors — the audio is the record.

0:00:42 Thomas: Hello, and welcome to Where There's Woke. I am Thomas. That over there is Lydia Smith. How you doing?

0:00:47 Lydia: I am doing better. I think folks have been following our illness journey via audio, but being able to hear how congested we are

0:00:54 Thomas: Illness journey. Follow me on my illness journey.

0:00:59 Lydia: When we're coughing. And I thought it was better. I don't know. Now I'm listening to myself as I speak, and I feel like I'm still congested, but I don' I'm doing better, I'm all right. Thank you for asking. How are you?

0:01:13 Thomas: Well, ever since becoming an ill-fluencer, I think... Illness Journey. Ah, man. Yeah, I have just consumed, I don't know, 15 straight hours of right-wing bullshit. And I'm excited. I'm overwhelmed. Yeah.

0:01:21 Lydia: Yeah. Oh man. Thank you for your service. Yeah.

0:01:34 Thomas: So here's what's going on. I saw, we saw, I don't even remember anything now before this day. I don'T remember how it happened, but one, one thing led to another and one of, or both of us was like,

0:01:46 Lydia: I think I did it. Yeah.

0:01:46 Thomas: Hey, let's check out. I dunno. Is that true? Maybe. All right. You're probably right. Let's check out Amfest, fest, Amerifest, Amerifast. No, I don't know. How do they, where do they land on, is it America Fest? Okay, it's America Fast, but they keep saying Am Fest, and then I think as a joke I might have typed in Amerifist somewhere, and so that's why I'm confused. You know, it's so hard, we're like venture capitalists when it comes

0:01:50 Lydia: I'm pretty sure I Think it's, yeah, but they call it Am Fest for the hashtag. Yeah. Yeah.

0:02:12 Thomas: To anti-woke bullshit, it's like we have to pick where to invest our angel investment of our fucking time. Yeah, which is the most precious thing to us. It's more precious than money for us. America Fest, it's a big fucking deal.

0:02:12 Lydia: Yeah. Our hours. Yeah, and sanity.

0:02:27 Thomas: And I was thinking like, all right, maybe it'll be the kind of thing where I track down a bunch of bullshit claims. Like maybe it will be that. I can debunk a lot of the speeches. The first day tricked me because it was only four hours or so. And then I was like, I can get through this. Yeah. Day two, eight fucking hours. A full day.

0:02:27 Lydia: Yeah I can do this. No prob. Yeah

0:02:46 Thomas: There's a big controversy around day one. I was a little worried like, oh, is this all all there is kind of thing. And then I got to day two. Day two had some stuff. Like I can't even, okay, first off, this is a bigger production, better production value than the RNC. I think this is effectively the RNC. I actually think this very convention was the RNC. I don't remember if they even did or will do an RNce, I think they did, but who cares? It sucked. This was better production value. It had more probably influential people. And

0:02:52 Lydia: Right yeah yeah I agree with you.

0:03:22 Lydia: Oh

0:03:23 Thomas: I'm not even through it. I had to stop at day two because there was too much to cover. Day two also led me on some wild goose chases that I cannot wait. I just a teaser for episode whatever of this. I've been scouring tax forms, baby. And you always know whenever we're scouring tax forms some fun stuff is going going to happen. And overall, the fucking grift, the level of grift that goes on is just, it's staggering. Like it's just the whole thing. I start to wonder if it's separable. Can you separate grift from right wing Jesus? Is it one thing necessarily?

0:03:38 Lydia: That's always good stuff.

0:04:02 Thomas: There's two main takeaways. Jesus fucking Christ. These people love Jesus fucking Christ and grift. Those are the main things. This is a Jesusy thing. I've been to church sermons that are less Jesusy than this. Like literally, I'm not even joking. Like this is incredibly Jesusy. And I know we know that, but it's another thing to sit through 15 hours of it.

0:03:52 Lydia: Yeah yeah yeah yeah that's fair. I mean like last time we were exposed to Turning Point and how religiously zealous they are, was the Auburn University Turning Point event, right? When we had Benny Johnson leading that.

0:04:40 Thomas: Oh, we've got him again.

0:04:41 Lydia: And that was quite, quite religious. Oh, God, of course.

0:04:44 Thomas: Yeah. Everybody, pretty much anybody ever plus Russell Brand. That's how many people. It's crazy today.

0:04:51 Lydia: Who just got some new accusations, right. Did you see that? Yeah, there's new ones now. Yep.

0:04:56 Thomas: Oh, really? New ones? Well, I hate to say it, my main takeaway was that I actually think he legitimately is into Jesus Christ, like I thought, I just based on like generally like, oh okay, he's doing that grift because he's accused, but I don't know, man, maybe he's just convincing, but he comes across like a charismatic preacher.

0:05:07 Lydia: Yep, really.

0:05:20 Lydia: True believer.

0:05:20 Thomas: Like he, well, he just is really, I mean, we've known Russell Brand's really, really good at talking, obviously. But when he combines that with his Jesusy stuff and he's around these Jesusy people, he comes across like he would be an effective preacher. So we'll see. We'll see when we get to that. Yeah, I can't wait. So I don't even know how long this is going to take. We'll say how many parts it is. But I went from like tepid, like, oh, is this going to work to like, Oh my God, this, I cannot wait to get to day two. And I do not know when that is going going to happen, but we're hitting record and the kids are at the grandparents and no, this is what we get to. Yeah. So buckle up, everybody get in on our marriage because this is our wild and crazy date night.

0:05:25 Lydia: Yeah, yeah.

0:05:35 Lydia: Cult leader. Yeah.

0:05:45 Lydia: Like maybe one episode.

0:05:59 Lydia: Yep. This is our date night.

0:06:11 Lydia: Yep.

0:06:11 Thomas: So we'll take a break. Our first break. Hey, please support the show. Patreon .com slash where there's woke because we don't have Jesus to lean on. We don't have the ability to say, hey, you got a tithe. Hey, billionaires, give us a million jillion dollars because Jesus, Jesus, and also capitalism and right -wing politics. We don't have that.

0:06:29 Lydia: Yeah. Help us launder your money.

0:06:31 Thomas: After watching all this and realizing how much money and power is behind this fucking bullshit and also genuine Jesus -y people, it's just like we're so outmatched. So thanks so much to our patrons at patreon.com slash where there's woke who, uh, at least allow us to do this. We do really appreciate it. It's the only reason we can have this date night with all of

0:06:45 Lydia: The Wokies are the best.

0:06:59 Ad: [Ad break 1 — ad music]

0:06:59 Thomas: You. Okay, where to begin? Where to begin? There's some stuff that's literally so fun that I found, I was like, I need to unlock a technology whereby we can watch something in sync so there's gonna be some of that, but not all of it because it's really annoying, it's like harder to do, but there's som clips that are so fucking good that I can't wait for us both to witness. But there's also early on there's some fun stuff to get started I just want to play a little bit of this preacher. This is a black preacher and I just, I wish we had something like this on the non-Jesus side because like, just listen to this guy.

0:07:10 Lydia: Yeah, okay. Yeah

0:07:34 Clip: And your word is true. So our necks are set out tonight expecting you to do great and mighty things. And we give you honor because you are God. And that there's no name under heaven given among men whereby we must at the

0:07:51 Thomas: I mean, that guy's voice rules, man. Why do you have to be using your amazing voice for evil, you know? Like, I don't know what this guy's deal is, but it just hurts when it's, it's a black preacher putting in his time and talent into basically a Nazi rally.

0:08:04 Lydia: The energy is high. Yeah yeah.

0:08:07 Thomas: But I was just like, man, that's one thing atheism doesn't have. We don't have that guy. Just like the way he's getting into it with his voice is just like so fucking, I'm like, oh, I don't believe in any of this, but I see what you're doing. Super cool.

0:08:14 Lydia: Oh yeah yeah. No, it works. It totally works.

0:08:23 Thomas: So good.

0:08:23 Clip: Name of Jesus every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord

0:08:27 Thomas: Listen to this guy. Man, so good. That guy's voice.

0:08:32 Lydia: I know. It moves you, you know? Yeah.

0:08:35 Thomas: Now I can't wait because this is something I've wanted to hear for a very long time. This is, again, this is our amuse-bouche, to borrow uh Matt's term over on OA. A little bit of amuse-douche, a little, but just fun to get started. The national anthem. Now, it's not a bad one per se, but the fucking production value, I don't know how to not just play this whole thing. We've got, apparently, Charlie's microphone is encased in carbonite and is on the stage. It's like a prop, yeah, it's like a character on the stage, and the lights come up. Listen to this production. Let's come up on the microphone.

0:08:49 Lydia: Oh, no. Okay. Okay, all right.

0:09:05 Lydia: Stop it. Oh, my God!

0:09:11 Clip: Would you please remain standing for the national anthem

0:09:13 Thomas: It's in glass. And then this old guy comes out. Listen to the production value. Somebody fucking orchestrated this shit.

0:09:21 Lydia: Mm -hmm.

0:09:24 Clip: Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming

0:09:30 Lydia: Got some dynamics leading into that vibrato. Yeah.

0:09:39 Thomas: This guy's vibrato already starts pretty crazy by the end of the song, which I must play. It is literally a half note trill. It might be a whole note. I actually you have to say it's so fucking funny. You gotta hear these chords, the orchestration they've done. Okay, I'll skip a little bit.

0:09:51 Lydia: Yeah.

0:09:57 Clip: Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

0:10:01 Thomas: Oh, good, the sound. Oh, I think their sound was messed up and it just got better. That's another thing, is this video, I couldn't find a better video. It's Right Side Broadcasting Network

0:10:05 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's who covered the Auburn University one that we watched. Yeah?

0:10:13 Thomas: Okay, however, what they did is, I think because their main thing is Rumble, is that the right wing one. Yeah, the YouTube video is just like a fucking webcam of Rumble It probably is a screen share OBS type thing but there's a bunch of times in the video where, like, you can see another timeline, what's the thing on the bottom, like, whatever, that timeline thing, pause, and it says like Rumble, and I'm like, oh what the fuck I've been watching a Rumble video through YouTube, yeah. So like some of the sound is messed up, but it looks like it just clicked in at just the right time. I

0:10:20 Lydia: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Mm Uh-huh. On YouTube. Yeah.

0:10:53 Thomas: Have a note here that we have to listen to this particular point You know, as a singer occasionally, I don't know about you, but I have the philosophy where if there's a choice between hitting a note by changing the word so that it's not the word or just hitting the less good version of the note, I'm doing the second. I can't do a weird version of a word because it's like an easier vowel, you know, and so I can't do it. But this guy's of a different philosophy.

0:10:57 Lydia: Okay. Mm hmm. Okay, yeah

0:11:24 Clip: Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, our flag still there.

0:11:35 Thomas: Still, it's just in his nose. He just it says there. I've listened to that a hundred.

0:11:37 Lydia: Yeah, is Is it just too low for him? Yeah.

0:11:50 Thomas: No, it's just how he likes it. It's like a, I don't know. It was a fucking singer jack off thing, but it's so funny to me. I was already laughing at the production value. And then I heard that it's like, he just doesn't finish the word. Our flag was still. Oh, my God. So good. But anyway, we have to listen to the rest. 'Cause, yeah. Maybe you're right about being too low.

0:11:52 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, yeah Oh Key change what weird?

0:12:15 Thomas: Because he really hits the key change. Oh, man. Okay. We got it.

0:12:19 Lydia: I don't know. Have you ever heard a key change at that point in the national anthem?

0:12:22 Thomas: No. Listen to this guy wailing.

0:12:32 Clip: Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

0:12:34 Lydia: What?

0:12:43 Thomas: Get ready for this vibrato. It's already insane.

0:12:45 Clip: O'er the land of the free And the home of the brave

0:12:55 Lydia: Yeah, God, yes

0:12:55 Thomas: Here we go. I love this. This is my favorite.

0:13:09 Thomas: It turns into the Star Wars theme.

0:13:12 Lydia: Yeah. That's significant.

0:13:17 Thomas: Like, it literally, his vibrato is almost in a triplet feel. Damn, my mind is, I can't get over this. I know no one gives a shit but me, but it's so funny, it turns into the fucking Star Wars music. Listen to This, I think that's unintentional, but the timing is like, it goes into like, what is that, like one of six eight time on the, like, triplet of the one, two, three, four, yeah, we're doing, we're dealing 12 eight or something, I don't know. Yeah, anyway, unintentionally turns into Star Wars. That is so fucking funny.

0:13:25 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah,

0:13:27 Clip: No home

0:13:44 Lydia: Man.

0:13:57 Lydia: Triple it, triple it, triple it. It's so crazy to me too, because like, I mean, again, this is not the point of why we're here today, but, but the national anthem, it covers significant range, right?

0:14:11 Thomas: No, it's a point for me yeah

0:14:15 Lydia: Like it is a stupid song the way that is written. It is so dumb and we have to hear it too many times, but to do a key change to modulate up at the end and then like, why wouldn't you have just been in that key from the beginning if you can do that? Yeah

0:14:24 Thomas: Up yeah it's pretty bold this guy's got balls Well, that, and the end it's too high for him, like, I get that he's pushing as hard as he can. Maybe this is his own way of sacrificing for Charlie Kirk, you know? Charlie Kirk gave all so that in this guy the least he can do is give some, a few vocal cords. Yeah, I don't, it's, this is crazy, this is absolutely crazy, and it gets better. So then we come to a Charlie Kirk tribute video, which is the first thing that you and I will be watching together because I just can't, I can't wait, I can't wait for you to see this. Such high production value, but then we get into some, some real, there's some cosplay going on here, just you

0:14:40 Lydia: R .I .P. Yeah.

0:14:53 Lydia: Of

0:15:07 Clip: He fell Believing America was worth dying for

0:15:11 Thomas: Wait. You ready for this?

0:15:13 Clip: And for 250 years, our history has been written by those who stood firm against every force who swore to break this country.

0:15:16 Thomas: 250 years. Right, you ready? Ready for This? Well

0:15:23 Lydia: Of course. Ominous Oh, my God! So we have some revolution era soldiers oh because they're redcoats yeah okay Okay. All right.

0:15:32 Thomas: Okay, but they're the British I think, right? They're the British. Yeah it took me a second but you'll see why What is

0:15:45 Lydia: I don't know. What? In the world?

0:15:46 Thomas: That look at so then we got—so we got the same here's what we got going on this is incredible. Why don't you do your best to describe the magic that we just saw in that short

0:15:50 Lydia: Oh, my God. Okay. So we have basically a group of ominous folks approaching us and they don the attire of various evils throughout history. So first we get the redcoats, the British, and then we move through and see others. They're like the communists, the Chinese communists at some point and

0:16:09 Thomas: Time? Yeah, uh -huh I guess, yeah, it it's so funny. Not yeah, I think we got Nazis, which they're like, "Hey, we got plenty of memorabilia lying around that we can use for costumes. There's one guy in the front who I think is an actor. The rest might be AI. I'm not a hundred percent on that. But what's funny is, it's the same guy in front at least. And it changes his, you know, uniform until it gets to like,

0:16:20 Lydia: Nazis. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

0:16:37 Lydia: Like a TikTok reel, like, you know, where you have multiple outfits. They do like the transitions and stuff. This is very much that vibe if folks are into that.

0:16:48 Thomas: Sure, until you get to the Japanese and then it's got to change. But then, then it gets to like Islamic terrorists. And I think it's back to the white guy, but with like a wrapped up face in some sort of like Islamic garb. And then it goes to Antifa, I think. It goes to people wearing black sweatshirts and some of them wearing COVID masks.

0:16:51 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

0:17:14 Thomas: And they all have guns. Because famously there were just armies of black bloc with guns, like just militia units that went around and killed America. Yeah, yeah, so good. It gets better. Okay, now they're kind of cycling through it again.

0:17:14 Lydia: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And also COVID conscious. All right. Right. So now we see all of them side by side.

0:17:38 Lydia: Now they're all aiming their guns at us.

0:17:39 Thomas: Yeah, and it's just the one, guy changing uniform a bunch for some reason, but this is so stupid. Oh, then we got, like, actually the the TikTok thing where he was just standing there, and, like, they're like, "Hey, we're gonna go to all this trouble of having you change costumes a million times, we're going to use

0:17:43 Lydia: Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's like uniforms through the centuries, right?

0:17:58 Thomas: It, yeah?

0:17:58 Lydia: Like when they do the dancing videos through the decades.

0:18:01 Thomas: What does this have to do with Charlie fucking Kirk? Can somebody tell me? It is so funny because we go into this Christopher Nolan preview, you know, of just like this nonsense, and then just, you wait. Just you wait. I'm going to play it out here.

0:18:03 Lydia: No idea.

0:18:13 Lydia: Yeah, Bernie. What was that? Zoran at the end? Oh, my God. Play it again.

0:18:23 Thomas: Yep. Yep. So we just got a quick thing of rapidly, oh, the faces of the enemies of America. I'll put the, well, it'll be annoying sound wise, but I could put it on like super slow mo or something. Let me do that without the sound because it'll be annoying as hell. And we'll try to pick out the faces. Okay.

0:18:31 Lydia: Yep, with no sound. Yeah? See who we know.

0:18:45 Thomas: All right. We got probably Lenin, Mao, Hitler, Stalin. Allen. Boy, even at 0.25 speed, it is just booking it. Yeah. Just some others those real quick. And then who's that again?

0:18:47 Lydia: Mao, Hitler, Che. I'm not sure. Kim Jong-un?

0:18:59 Thomas: Oh, is it? It might be Kim Jong-il. And then Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar. Wait, who is that? Actually, yeah. Hold on. This is this is very revealing as to who America's enemies are.

0:19:01 Lydia: And then Bernie Sanders. Ilhan Omar. Who is that? I

0:19:12 Thomas: OK, we got Fidel Castro, Che Guevara. OK. This is OK. Then we got I forget who that is. Bernie. Ilhan Omar. Who is that?

0:19:19 Lydia: I don't know.

0:19:20 Thomas: It's not Fauci, is it?

0:19:21 Lydia: No, that's not Fauci.

0:19:23 Thomas: I don't know who that's supposed to be. Dick Cheney? I actually don't Know. So we're

0:19:27 Lydia: It's not like George Soros or anything.

0:19:28 Thomas: Seeing a guy. Oh, that's a great call. I think it's probably George Soros. Yeah.

0:19:33 Lydia: Is that who that is, maybe? I haven't seen a lot of profile pictures of him, so I'm Not sure. I feel like it might not be

0:19:41 Thomas: No, it's not. He doesn't wear glasses. We have a guy in glasses. You can't see. It's kind of a silhouetted profile. Who's that supposed to be? What if it's just like some fucking guy? Like they're like, I really hate my neighbor, Ted. Throw him in there. No, it's definitely somebody.

0:19:56 Lydia: Yeah, it is somebody. Maybe I can do google lens search let's see

0:20:01 Thomas: It's almost Dick Cheney. Oh, that's a good point. God, we can do this. Who else would that be? That's not some Palestinian leader, is it? Could be. Oh, Abbas or whatever. So he has kind of the hair and the glasses, but I don't think it's him either. Because his, nah, his chin is too strong. This is a mystery. I don'T know who that's supposed to be. God, there's something obvious. We're missing something obvious it's

0:20:09 Lydia: Oh, maybe it could be? Oh That's close. Maybe the closest

0:20:28 Thomas: Close, but it's not. I don't think it is. This is fun. I like this. Hold on, I'm gonna go back slightly Because who would it be? In context, we got Bernie, we got Ilhan Omar, we got... that's not Chuck Schumer. It's

0:20:46 Lydia: One. It's not really working oh is that um

0:20:49 Thomas: Not like, okay, who's the next person? Is that... who the fuck is that? Can you image search? Is that not working? Oh

0:20:52 Lydia: Keith Ellison? Is that who that is?

0:20:52 Thomas: Yeah, that might be Keith Ellison. That's a good call. It's... this is weird that they did this after Keith Ellison and maybe I think that might be why we're struggling but we got AOC so chat GPT was good at that apparently or whatever AOC uh wait a minute oh yeah Jasmine Crockett but yeah that's also AI Jasmine Crockett because that's not

0:20:59 Lydia: It's ChatGPT versions of people yeah Oh, Jasmine Crockett yeah yeah they They did Jasmine Crockett in like full glam, like rhinestone beaded suit.

0:21:18 Thomas: Yeah, what the fuck? This is for sure AI right or is there some photo of her in a Michael Jackson-esque costume that's so funny they did? They AI'd these, didn't they? And she looks like different, like she looks, but it's, I mean, it's recognizable at least.

0:21:21 Lydia: Oh, yeah. No, this is it. Yeah, they totally AI'd it. Yeah. And Zoran

0:21:37 Thomas: Okay. Who's next? Let's see. Oh, oh. And then they end on Zoran, which is just a real quick boop. Bam. Yeah. Oh.

0:21:42 Lydia: In the Alaskan wilderness, apparently, like with his coat.

0:21:50 Ad: [Ad break 2 — ad music]

0:21:50 Thomas: That was a little departure I wasn't anticipating, but now we got to get back to it with sound because I forget if it has something else. Oh! More horses.

0:21:59 Lydia: Horseback. Oh, I guess that's supposed to be George Washington.

0:22:09 Thomas: We're yeah these are for sure AI because they're like George Washington combined with like I don't know like um different actors yeah I'm trying to think it looks like Liam Neeson yeah or

0:22:13 Lydia: Oh, well, yeah, Charlton Heston, Clint Eastwood and yeah.

0:22:23 Clip: We are in a spiritual war, everybody, that is beyond just the material that we are seeing.

0:22:25 Thomas: Something you know AI can always nail Ben Franklin that's the thing I wish we could wake Ben Franklin up from his grave to say hey you know what you're so unique looking that AI can always nail you I'll tell you they nail uh Thomas Jefferson too actually

0:22:25 Lydia: Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson.

0:22:40 Lydia: This is a million percent AI, though, because you remember when we covered the PragerU doing the Founders Project or whatever, and they did like the President Hall in the White House and how freaking uncanny valley those people were? This is them. Like, this is the same program.

0:22:42 Thomas: Oh yeah yeah oh my god yeah this is so fucking stupid oh god it's the best who is James Madison and then who the fuck is this shiny fellow

0:22:59 Lydia: James Madison? Oh, is that supposed to be? No, the one that Andrew Jackson.

0:23:04 Thomas: Hamilton really why would they do Andrew I don't know hold on is that Scalia they have Scalia in a wig and like a British like a barrister wig or whatever it is that's totally what that is oh my God these people I didn't even catch that the The first time, the first hundred times I've watched this, hold on,

0:23:13 Lydia: Oh, my God. Scalia in a British wig. Screaming from the pulpit. Oh my

0:23:29 Thomas: Hold on, that is for sure Scalia in a wig, in a church.

0:23:29 Lydia: God. Wow. Wow. I'll get Betsy Ross and the flag.

0:23:37 Clip: This country was welfare of the nation that you are in because your welfare is tied to your

0:23:38 Thomas: Okay. Well, I'll turn the sound on again. We got the, we've got AI claymation, Abraham Lincoln. It's gross. He looks like a clay.

0:23:40 Lydia: Abraham Lincoln. The most AI Abraham Linkin. Oh my God, that's disturbing.

0:23:50 Thomas: It's a cross between clay and a ventriloquist dummy. And it's every bit as horrifying as that sounds like it couldn't be more horrifying.

0:23:53 Lydia: Yeah, carved. Yeah.

0:24:00 Thomas: Fine Frederick Douglass and then they decide to use archival footage of Teddy Roosevelt It wasn't. They just decide they're like, all right, we got, this is a little too after fucking claymation, uh, Abraham Lincoln. I think we gotta at least, like, sprinkle it in, like, maybe people think, maybe they did find real footage of some of these people, and then we're on, that's, what's his name, that's, I know who that is. There is a president that, that's the thing about AI is like, like, it's reminiscent of somebody, but I don't know who.

0:24:06 Lydia: Yeah, that was Teddy. Roosevelt yeah who is that right presidential this is a a president. But which one exactly?

0:24:34 Thomas: Yeah, is it? I was going to say Grant for a sec, but not really. Who is that supposed to be? Is it a Supreme Court justice?

0:24:40 Lydia: I don't know. Dermot Mulroney. Like, I don' t know.

0:24:45 Thomas: Well, whatever. Yeah.

0:24:45 Clip: Nation's wealth. What makes this movement different is that you You are here as a grassroots response

0:24:49 Lydia: A ship, a train, a plane, a car. Oh.

0:24:51 Thomas: Yeah,

0:24:52 Clip: To the top-down revolution happening in this country.

0:24:56 Lydia: Innovation.

0:24:56 Clip: Disobedience to tyrants is obedience to God

0:24:58 Lydia: The Olympics. All of sports, all of innovation.

0:24:59 Thomas: Now they get to claim all of sports, including Jesse Owens, Babe Ruth, Muhammad fucking Ali. Go fuck yourselves. You don't get Muhammad Ali.

0:25:07 Lydia: Muhammad Ali. Yeah.

0:25:13 Thomas: I don't even think the left gets Muhammad Ali, like like, that's, come on. Okay, they showed, uh, NASCAR. You can have it over that.

0:25:13 Lydia: That's insane. Yeah,

0:25:20 Clip: Because liberty is not man's idea.

0:25:21 Lydia: Tiger

0:25:21 Thomas: Is, oh, and Tiger Woods. Fuck Tiger Woods. You don't get, you don't get Michael Jordan. Fuck off. Oh, hold on, there's hockey. Who's this?

0:25:23 Lydia: Woods, fine. Michael Jordan? No. Uh-uh, uh-huh.

0:25:30 Thomas: Oh, that's okay. Well, it's gonna be, yeah, it's going to be a

0:25:28 Clip: It is God's idea,

0:25:30 Lydia: Was that the U.S.? Yeah, the Olympics. Miracle on ice.

0:25:33 Thomas: Miracle on Ice, probably. Yeah.

0:25:35 Clip: And you believe in God, yes! Will the people, the sovereign in this

0:25:39 Thomas: But that wasn't like the Republicans. It wasn't like a big Miracle on Ice because of Jesus, like that wasn't. I don't think. Were they really Jesus-y? I don't think so. Yeah.

0:25:42 Lydia: No. Yeah, I don't know.

0:25:52 Clip: Country do everything they possibly can

0:25:54 Lydia: Oh, they want San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Michael Jackson,

0:25:54 Clip: With this incredible blessing given to us by God?

0:25:55 Thomas: You don't get you don'T GET MICHAEL JACKSON YOU DON'T YOU DON'T YOU DON'T GET MARLIN BRANDO AND DOROTHY

0:25:58 Lydia: All the Hollywood stuff. Yeah, Judy Garland.

0:26:02 Thomas: AND THEN MARILYN MARILYN. Who IS THIS WHO IS THAT YOU CAN HAVE JOHN WAYNE YOU CAN HAVE JOHN WAYNE. THAT'S FINE YOU CAN HAVE THE WHATEVER THIS FUCKING FIGHTER JET IS THE SPACE PROGRAM YOU DON't GET THE SPACEPROGRAM you killed the space program you You got rid of it. Fuck yeah. There's no space program. There's not Jesus in space program! There's now Jesus in Space Program!

0:26:06 Lydia: Yeah, it's Marilyn Monroe.

0:26:17 Lydia: Yeah. You sound so much like Tom Hanks right now as Woody.

0:26:33 Thomas: Fuck you.

0:26:35 Clip: Where then is the road to peace? You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, there is a price we will not pay.

0:26:44 Thomas: Okay, so we have Ronald Reagan over entirely World War II victory footage.

0:26:49 Lydia: Yep.

0:26:50 Clip: There is a point beyond which they must not advance.

0:26:51 Lydia: Yep.

0:26:59 Thomas: So after all that war montage, whatever, AI presidents or something. God, was it Warren G. Harding? Why would they do Warren G. Harding.

0:27:09 Lydia: I don't know.

0:27:09 Thomas: It feels like that's who it was. All right. Then we get Charlie Kirk. What's his connection to this?

0:27:14 Clip: When Turning Point USA was started, I could not have imagined what God had in store for this organization. My political journey was in the midst of the Obama craze in Chicago. As someone who is generally conservative, I realized this generation, millennials, is going to be the most progressive generation in history if we don't do something about this. We're active in about 15 campuses and we're growing very, very quickly. And keep in mind, this is not just a flash in the pan movement.

We're going to become an institution to give them the power and the confidence to stand up and let their voice be heard. I was 18, no idea what I was doing, no connections, no money. We didn't have an office, we didn't Have a staff, it was just me just traveling the country doing this pure grit, pure energy. We are an organization committed to ideas and to principles, not the political parties or politicians.

We are in a generational battle right now that the stakes could not be higher. And the experiment and the gift that our founding fathers gave to us could be easily lost If we don't make the proper choices in the right course of directions

0:28:21 Thomas: Jesus Christ.

0:28:23 Clip: After Charlie's assassination we didn't see violence Instead we saw what my husband always prayed we saw revival You're gonna hear what Charlie did but I'm here today to tell you The why in what he did. The why brought him the courage.

0:28:58 Lydia: Stop. Oh my god

0:29:09 Clip: The total embodiment of love, the total

0:29:11 Thomas: They show the podium like Jesus is going to come up and speak next. And I swear to God, they're also this close to doing a Charlie Kirk hologram. Like that's how like high tech this thing is and like high production value. I think we're almost through it.

0:29:14 Lydia: Yeah totally oh

0:29:27 Clip: Embodiment, truth, and he's here today to call his children back to him.

0:29:30 Thomas: He's here. Ladies and gentlemen.

0:29:33 Clip: I know I speak for everyone here today

0:29:35 Thomas: Yeah. And then they go to Trump. Yeah. Subtle.

0:29:36 Lydia: My God yeah oh

0:29:39 Clip: When I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk, we speak with Charlie and for Charlie, louder than ever.

0:29:49 Lydia: Erica Kirk's new bow yeah

0:29:50 Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, just wait. So then Erica Kirk is going to come out and she does. She's I don't know if this is a bit or what, but she's like, oh, my iPad won't turn it on. And what's funny about this is I feel like she wants to address things. What do they call? They used to say subtweeting or whatever. Like, I feel like she's, like, addressing some of the stuff. Like, for example, I'll just do a few quick shots here

0:29:55 Lydia: Okay

0:30:18 Clip: And that's also why the past several months, several weeks, I honored my husband by completing all of his pre-planned fall media tour hits for his book, his, any commitment he had. I wanted to honor that for him. I wasn't going on a media tour myself. This was for my husband, because in our household, our word is our bond, and when you give it, you uphold it. Another turning point for

0:30:42 Lydia: Hmm yeah

0:30:43 Thomas: Yeah And then, uh, yeah, a little bit. Well, you know, I kind of wanted to ask

0:30:51 Lydia: Yeah, that's some damage control right there Hmm, about

0:30:57 Thomas: You, because there's been, well, it's going to be something we get into later with a different media appearance she did, but like, how do you feel about that whole thing with her? I'm just curious. I don't think we've talked about it.

0:31:09 Lydia: Her going out and doing a bunch of stuff

0:31:12 Thomas: Yeah, like, do you feels like it's been unfair that people have bashed her for that? Do you feel like it's been fair? Do you feel like, I don't know, I'm just

0:31:19 Lydia: I have mixed feelings. I think for people to assume that she's not grieving, I think is unfair. I don't think anyone knows that except for her. And she might just be the kind of person where she wants to stay busy. And that's what's helping her through it. I do feel like she's a really, really fake person in general.

0:31:36 Thomas: Curious. Yeah. Yeah.

0:31:40 Lydia: And so I'm kind of torn between those two things. I'm not really interested in, in assigning, like, too many motives to her grief process, but I'm happy to assign motives to her grifting, which I think are distinguishable, and so I've just been trying to stay in that lane a little bit more rather than kind of go after her about, you know, after her husband died.

0:31:56 Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a crazy thing, and the more I think about it is just like, I guess once you add Jesus to the equation, I just think, because, like, my first thought was initially, like, if anything like this happened to me, you wouldn't see me. I don't, think I don't think there'd be, I guess it depends on what it was like, if it was the, if it was the equivalent, I guess it's hard because it's like a, a political thing And I will say, like, there is nothing as horrifying as what happened to have her husband die. Yeah, on video like that, like that's awful. I wouldn't wish that on anyone in the whole world.

0:32:13 Lydia: Yeah. Oh. Yeah. There are no words. Yeah. Nope.

0:32:40 Thomas: It's awful. So part of me is like, again, I don't think I would be open to, like, being in the world after that, you know what I mean? But I don't know, like it's, I guess, I guess there's another reaction that's like, it's so fucking insane and horrible what happened from her perspective, especially, that you, you'd almost want to, like, give it meaning, you know? Like, maybe it's like, okay, if I put this into my, like, worldview and into my story of Jesus and politics and everything, like, it's a way to, like, make it less horrible and traumatic.

0:32:48 Lydia: Yeah, yeah.

0:33:17 Thomas: Maybe, I don't know, I'm just not sure.

0:33:17 Lydia: I do think there's also this element of religion too where it's like, death is like, it's easier to come to terms with, probably, for a lot of folks who believe in religion, because that person, yes, they are dead from the physical world, but they live on in eternity with God, right? And so, right, right, exactly. And so I, I think there's an element of it where it's like that perhaps helps folks move on and, and sort of frame it in, in a different way where, yes, they, like, they miss the person potentially earth side, but they don't grieve that they're dead really anymore, because they believe that they are someplace better.

0:33:27 Thomas: Yeah. Yeah, they get to just be like, well, he's a martyr, so he's, you know, Yeah, it's just hard not to feel like she's really using it. I don't know, it's just really hard, you know, it's like with how much she's doing. I don't know, it's a

0:33:57 Lydia: I don't know. It's weird. Oh, yeah. I think there's a lot of things going on there. I think they're probably complicated motivations and some of them are not great. I think that that's fair.

0:34:14 Thomas: Lot. Yeah, weird.

0:34:21 Ad: [Ad break 3 — ad music]

0:34:21 Thomas: Here's a little thing. I just think this is a very ominously named thing that I just found quickly.

0:34:31 Clip: Us for 2026 is the Make Heaven Crowded tour, something I'm very excited about for they're

0:34:35 Lydia: Oh, what? Make heaven crowded? We're just going to go kill everybody? What in the world?

0:34:35 Thomas: Funny. Yeah, we're going on a killing spree, everybody. We're all gonna die. Yeah, that is an interesting

0:34:46 Lydia: Old, does she just mean, like, convert people?

0:34:47 Thomas: I think that's what she means, but I was, I was, my eyebrows would make it, wow, wow. Make Heaven Crowded. That's, uh, okay, we're good. We're going

0:34:48 Lydia: Okay, yeah, that was my first reaction. Yeah, oh boy.

0:34:56 Thomas: On a spree, we're gonna kill everybody. So that was just funny, but then there's another sub tweet here. Let's see what folks think of this, my husband's friend that I, that's, I've barely know him, don't even. JD who? What? Anyway, this guy my husband knows. So funny, but honestly, after that, like, she was pretty boring.

0:35:05 Clip: We're going to get my husband's friend JD Vance elected for 48 and the most resounding way

0:35:11 Lydia: Off Limits, off limits, so

0:35:29 Thomas: The first speaker, though, that I guess not counting her because I don't know if she's a speaker or, like, launching the event. First speaker right out of the gate, and I gotta say for me, this was a bit like my favorite Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar. The one of the first one that I ever liked, because there's a thing that happens in Julius Caesar where I feel like being the first to speak can be a big disadvantage, because we have a conservative civil war.

We have a MAGA. I don't know if I call MAGA, but there's on the right. There's a bit of a civil war happening. And this maybe you've heard, I don't know, but like this event and this day one featured Ben Shapiro and then a couple speakers later, the main event was Tucker Carlson and they are feuding and we'll hear some of the feud.

And I think it's interesting because just watching Ben Shapiro's side of it, it seems like it comes across well. It seems like the crowd's into it, etc., etc. But then, like, the whole rest of the day one and day two, they're kind of shitting on Ben Shapira.

0:35:24 Lydia: Weird right Yes.

0:36:39 Lydia: Interesting.

0:36:39 Thomas: Yeah, so I think he might be in some trouble, but it's, it's hard to say.

0:36:43 Lydia: So they're all just like happily leaning into anti-semitic nonsense.

0:36:48 Thomas: Yeah, so that's what's interesting. So here's, here's the crux of it. I'm realizing it's probably easier for me to explain than to try to find enough clips to stitch together, but I will play some. But Candace Owens, man, this is some real drama.

0:36:57 Lydia: Sense it Really is. Yeah.

0:37:03 Thomas: I'm realising. Candace Owens is nuts, and she is spreading a lot of conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk's murder. And some of them are about Israel, and Ben Shapiro is upset. It's hard because on one hand I'm obviously anti the anti-semitism of the right, but in the same way that there's Ben Shapiro, and you'll see it with Vivek Ramaswamy, and you're sometimes see it without it with black Republicans. There's a thing they do where they're all in for the whole, the shit when it comes to everybody else They're all in on the deport everybody, you know, separate the fucking families, all that, that shit. They're all for the evil shit until it comes to their demographic. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We all know that what the right cares about is not anti-semitism is or whatever You

0:37:06 Lydia: Yes. Yes. Right. Right.

0:38:02 Lydia: They forget that they're an other also. Yeah, so

0:38:02 Thomas: Know, and literally all of those things pretty much happen in this event. We had Ben Shapiro, we have Vivek Romeswami, we have Ben Carson. Yeah.

0:38:06 Lydia: Crazy. Ben Carson. God, the most uncharismatic person.

0:38:13 Thomas: Yeah, oh my God. You know how far we've fallen? He's one of the most sane, cogent speakers of this event. I am not joking. I am not even doing a bit.

0:38:19 Lydia: Ever. God, that's insane. Geez. Geez.

0:38:25 Thomas: He's in day two and it's like, oh, there's a normal guy.

0:38:29 Lydia: Oh, the intelligence of Ben Carson. So glad to see that. That's ridiculous.

0:38:32 Thomas: Yeah, it's fucking insane. That's how far we've come. So it's hard because it's like, yes, I am anti all these bigotries, of course. And so, you know, if you're also anti all these bigotries maybe you should be anti the fucking right because Because they're the home of all these bigotries. But at the same time, I'm not super sympathetic when it's Ben Shapiro, when it's Vivek Ramaswamy, when it's going to be about Usha Vance or whatever her name is, where they're just like, whoa, hold on, though. Wait a minute. Whoa, you've gone one too far for me.

0:38:47 Lydia: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:39:07 Thomas: You know, it's like, I don't know, kind of fuck you. Like, I don't really have a lot of sympathy for It. But yeah. And it's like when it comes to at least Jewish people and Ben Shapiro, I will say that at the very least, from his perspective, it's a little bit different because it's like the Republicans have been super pro-Israel. It's one thing when it's like if it's a black Republican, if it is a Muslim Republican, something like that,

0:39:11 Lydia: Made your bed kind of thing. Yeah?

0:39:34 Lydia: Mm hmm?

0:39:34 Thomas: Where you're like, yeah, okay, I don't know what you're thinking because the right has been anti-you for like ever. But for Ben Shapiro, the right hasn't been anti-him. The anti-Semites live on the right. But in terms of Israel, which is what he actually cares about, they've been great on Israel historically. But there's a rift. There's a big rift happening. We've covered it a little bit. It's come up. There's big rifts. And it varies from, on one hand, probably outright anti-Semitism. And I say probably, like definitely anti-Semitic. Like Nick Fuentes. Just anti-Semitic. Like, pure and simple. And also anti-Israel, I don't, I think the anti-Semitism is more active than that.

0:39:38 Lydia: Yeah, yeah. Right. Mm hmm Yeah.

0:40:16 Thomas: Like, but, But there's also, they try to justify it with some, like, America first stuff, and they try to come up with their little reasons for it that aren't racism essentially. And then there's people who are, I think probably not super anti-Semitic, but There are people on the right who are like kind of coming to the conclusion that a lot of, a lot of the younger people are coming to, too, which is like, why are we giving this country a bunch of money to fight people that aren't at war with us, essentially? And it runs the gamut of very anti-Semitic to I don't actually think anti-Semitism is the motivation. I'm saying it kind of runs that gamut. There's plenty of just plain old anti-Semitism. There're also plenty of people, and I would say that about a lot of us on the left, too. They're like, hey, let's not give this country our money. I don't know how many on on the right really care about the fact that they're killing Palestinians and people in Gaza. Like, I don't know.

0:40:16 Lydia: Right? Yeah. Mm Hmm. Yeah I don't think that there's that's a huge cross section. Mm.

0:41:08 Thomas: Some of them use that. Like, Tucker Carlson uses that. I don' t think he gives a shit, but he does signal like, oh, look at all the, and it's convenient for them.

0:41:13 Lydia: No, nah, he's just an opportunist. Yeah yeah.

0:41:19 Thomas: You say opportunist. I can't believe more than ever, I think Tucker Carlson believes what he's saying. It's interesting.

0:41:25 Lydia: Oh, I think he believes it in the moment. But I don't think he actually believes anything, like, as a through line, really.

0:41:28 Thomas: Now, I used to think that, but the more I've seen him, the more I've seen that he doesn't really have any fucks to give. And I think he's not terribly, like, he's not always consistent because I just don't think he is self-critical at all. So I think that allows for him sometimes to forget that he is on one side of the thing or the other. But I think that he believes what he is saying and I think is very America first.

0:41:54 Thomas: And so for him, I don't know, he swears he is not anti-Semitic, he probably is, I do not know.

0:41:54 Lydia: Well, I mean, I agree with you, but him citing, like, Palestinian oppression or whatever, or concerns over that, like, that's not really the reason, like, that, that's what I'm saying.

0:42:08 Thomas: Yeah. Oh, for sure, you are right. Yeah. It is an opportunistic argument, for For sure. Yeah. Yeah, I should clarify. I don't think he gives a shit about Palestinians. So in that sense, you're right. Totally. But I do think he actually cares about the thing he cares about. And he is using that because he cares about the other thing, I guess, is what I'm saying. Because I used to think he was just like, oh, he's an idiot. He's a shill. He just empty like because he's such a weird, vapid person. And the way he talks that like when I just saw clips back in the day when he was on Fox News, I was like, Like, is this guy just insane or does he just like, is he selling the grift? But like, I think he actually believes this stuff.

0:42:11 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right. Yep, yeah.

0:42:47 Thomas: Like he's consistent in certain ways and he has all the money in the world. He's answerable to no one. And he's still out there spewing the same stuff. I think He believes it. I don't know. Like to the point where he's willing to have on Nick Fuentes and that's the big controversy here. So to get back to that, you got Ben Shapiro coming on and he's going to do the thing that I've said where he's like, hold on, hold on.

We, we all agree here that anti-Semitism is a step too far, but he, on the right and the MAGA right especially, is at a huge disadvantage, because all of the arguments he's gonna use are the very things that he's accused the left of, and that the right has accused the left of forever. So all the things he's gonna say are like, hey, you can't just have an anti-semite on your show and just be okay with that, and you can't just, and so he does the stuff that, like, yeah, so he goes to those arguments, that all the arguments that he was on the other side of when it's people he doesn't care about.

0:42:47 Lydia: Oh. Yeah. Oh, oh yeah.

0:43:48 Lydia: Like the platforming and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

0:43:55 Thomas: Now, that's something he cares about, he goes through all of them. Oh, you can't give them a platform. You can't do the thing. So what happens is he has a talk. It seems like the crowd's into it. He's good at what he does. He is a good speaker. He is among the smarter of these people, but he is stuck because he is having to use what to us is very sensible arguments.

0:43:56 Lydia: Yeah.

0:44:11 Lydia: I agree with that.

0:44:18 Thomas: To you and I, we are like, hey, yeah, you know what? If you have Nick Fuentes on your show, you are either an anti -Semite or you don't give a shit about that. It

0:44:27 Lydia: Or you better be going hard against him.

0:44:27 Thomas: Is one or or the other. Yeah. Yeah, and unfortunately, he operates for him. He operates in the ecosystem that's like, oh, no, no. You can be a just asking questions person. You could just do the just asking questions, and it's funny because, like, earnestly, these people are like, no no, I was just asking questions. And it's so funny because you and I over here on the progressive left have been like, yeah, no I know what you're doing. You're a racist. Like, oh you're just asking asking questions about, well, isn't it weird that Israel, all the Jewish people and whatever, you know, like you're, you're racist, you'RE antisemitic, you're racist, you're whatever.

And I have no problem being like, yeah. And sometimes it's just pure obtuseness when it comes to Tucker Carlson. 'Cause like, I think another thing that I realized after watching this and after watching the Nick Fuentes thing is I used to think it was outright antisemitism, but I actually think there also is such a privilege. I think what I'm leaning more toward a little bit is that it's a product of being so privileged that he can't even understand why it would be shitty to a Jewish person to have Nick Fuentes on your show.

0:44:37 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Right.

0:45:41 Thomas: Like, in his mind, weirdly, and it was kind of blew my mind when I was doing research on that part of it, we're not going to go through that, but like, when I watched the Tucker Fuentes thing and when I watched him talk about it, and he's like, I have no problem with Jewish people whatsoever, I'm just doing Israel, there's a weird way in which I kind of believe him in the sense that like, he's so clueless as to his own privilege and to how harmful this kind of thing is that he doesn't think it's a big deal.

0:46:10 Thomas: And that in itself, you can say is anti-Semitic or you can say, and it may very well, maybe in the effect is, but I actually think in a weird way in his mind, he's just like, oh no, this isn't a big deal. So whatever, like I'll just talk to him because it doesn't affect him. And the same goes for, you know, other forms of bigotry where he doesn't care. I don't know that he, I think he can just like be a just asking questions guy because he doesn't give a shit.

0:46:10 Lydia: Yeah, and I think there's also this element too of, like, I'm sure there are people in his life that are Jewish that, like, he gets along with great like he has no problem with them as, like, individual people or anything like that. And so because it's not his identity and he doesn't think of things from an identity standpoint, viewpoint

0:46:41 Thomas: Right. Yeah.

0:46:52 Thomas: Yeah, that he thinks that he knows Yeah.

0:46:53 Lydia: Right, that he, that he knows of, then it really is like he can say, well, I have no problem with Jewish people because the Jewish people in my life, like, I love them you know, we get along great, and he can't think about it from the Jewish community and the experiences that they've been through as a people and the things that might affect them as a community, and not just on this individual basis.

0:47:14 Thomas: And he's so trained to get back to the point I was making. He's so trained as are they all on the right to be like, I can talk to whoever I want and you can't call me names ever because that's what the woke do. And also identity politics. Oh, you're going to use your Jewish identity to whatever. So like Ben Shapiro is trying to make all these arguments. They're not going to work with this crowd because they're all the things that you and I believe, but not anyone else on the right.

0:47:27 Lydia: Right. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

0:47:42 Thomas: Like they don't believe it because they're so used to us on the left being like, oh, that's a kind of a racist thing you're doing, and them being like, I'm realizing it's the Tucker Carlson voice thing he does, what, racist? You racist? You know, he does all that weird shit he does. So I guess we'll pause here. We're barely into it, but when we come back, we're gonna get into the Ben Shapiro a little more, and then Russell Brand, and then some random people you've never heard of, or you have, but probably the listeners probably haven't, and we'll see how far we get, but there's, there's so much I can't wait. Whoa, are you Huh? Oh, I heard you cut off. Did you hit your mute button? Oh

0:47:54 Lydia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh boy. Okay.

0:48:38 Lydia: Cool. Yeah, yeah, no. I think it was the way I said yeah. It just, like, cut off weird. Yeah. Yeah, let me take it again.

0:48:45 Thomas: Okay. Uh, yeah, yeah, there's no Jesus in space program, there's not Jesus program actually. I kind of do want wine, but

0:49:00 Lydia: Yeah. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Me too. All

0:49:05 Thomas: Uh, I'll wait, we can, we'll earn it maybe after part one.

0:49:09 Lydia: Right.