The Daily Zeitgeist - USA Today Goes H.A.M., Trump-ism Takes Huge L In AL 12.13.17

Episode Date: December 14, 2017

In episode 47, Jack & Miles are joined by comedian Megan Gailey to discuss Doug Jones defeat of Roy Moore in Alabama, USA Today's editorial on Trump, a GOP civil war, black voters needs, plus a ca...ll in from Ring Wing Watch's Jared Holt, & more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that?
Starting point is 00:00:42 That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller
Starting point is 00:00:54 from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's so much beauty
Starting point is 00:01:03 in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. or wherever you get your podcasts. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, Emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back.
Starting point is 00:01:42 And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Saying that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 10, Episode 3 of Das Daily Zeitgeist. you get your podcasts. Hey! Good morning, everyone. And it is a good morning. And I'm really, really excited to really talk today because we have so many good things to talk about.
Starting point is 00:02:28 For once. Happy day. Yes. Happy days are here again. And we are thrilled to be joined by our guest, the hilarious comedian, Megan Gailey. Thank you. You thought you had a potato name. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:41 You have the potato-est of names. I know. Although Potatoes O'Brien, apparently a dish. Is it? It is, yeah. Is that like Potatoes O'grotten? Probably, except like worse. Oh, whoa, I never even thought about that. It's like instead of having other stuff, it's got
Starting point is 00:02:55 like dirt and grass. That's fun. No, I don't know. It's always in a frozen bag. It's like bell peppers and country potatoes, you know, like when you get breakfast potatoes. Those are good. I like those. I like Potatoes O'Brien. I'll take it. It's a in a frozen bag. It's like bell peppers and country potatoes. You know, like when you get breakfast potatoes. Those are good. I like those. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:06 No, I'll take it. I'll take it. It's a proud tradition. So, Megan, what is something that is in your search history that you think is revealing about who you are as a human being? Wow. I didn't know if it had been revealing. I got rid of all of that. It's like the singular thing that people must know about you.
Starting point is 00:03:26 Well, in it that I stumbled upon last night was gummy James Harden beard. What? Wait, gummy James Harden beard? So they make gummies. You know, they're really good. It's troll-y. Is that the really good gummies? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:40 They make the hamburgers and stuff. Yeah. I don't want to be giving like ad space away. It's fine. This is how we lure them in. Right. They got great gummies. They make James Harden beard gummies.
Starting point is 00:03:50 Like his face or just his beard? No, just his beard. Trolley Sour Bite Weird Beards is what they're called. The James Harden edition. Good for you, James Harden. You get that money, man. Maybe his face is a part of it. But they're multicolored.
Starting point is 00:04:03 They have bright orange and pink. How did he do that? I don't know. That is some good... James Harden is the most popular marketable dude in the NBA secretly. You'd think because he has a bad personality and his game is not fun to watch. Right, right, right. He would not be that big of a deal, but he is...
Starting point is 00:04:24 I guess so. He's pretty clean. He's just cool. Yeah. he's just like a cool dude people like steph too yeah some people think he's too light-skinned i think steph is like so traditionally marketable that people are bored by him exactly it's just like i know that i should like him and therefore i'm bored by him whereas james harden's kind of the bad boy. It's like, there's got that beard. Yeah. He's got that beard. He's the Reggie Watts of the NBA.
Starting point is 00:04:48 I would rather eat Russ's head though. You would rather eat Russ's head. And I know he doesn't have a beard, but there's other fun beards in the NBA and in baseball and in football. There's tons of fun. Are you a big sports fan? I am. I'm a huge sports fan.
Starting point is 00:05:00 What's your favorite sport? Um, to watch. I mean, I go for your Hoosier. So it's gotta sport? To watch? I mean, I go... You're a Hoosier, so it's got to be basketball, right? I do love the Pacers, and this team has been especially fun to watch. I love
Starting point is 00:05:11 Victor Oladipo. I'm so happy to have him. He's a new neighbor of my parents. So I'm thinking about writing him a letter and putting it in his mailbox for Christmas. But I do love the Colts. But they're so bad now, but I still... I don't care. It's a tough time. I think they're cute and sweet and I love them.
Starting point is 00:05:27 Even when they're bad, I'm like, that's okay. I know that they're good. The Pacers fired my dad one time. My dad's Jim O'Brien. He used to coach the Pacers six years ago. Okay, I remember that era. I'm so sorry. Put that razor blade down.
Starting point is 00:05:44 I'm not a fan necessarily of the front office. Yeah, no. He's gone now. Brad's gone. I like to ask this. In your mind, who's the greatest pacer of all time? Reggie Miller. I like that answer.
Starting point is 00:05:54 Like, who else would it be? I mean, some people have weird esoteric favorites like Rick Smith. But he's not my favorite pacer, but he is the greatest pacer of all time. Oh, whoa, whoa. No, I'm asking you. Oh, my favorite pacer of but he is the greatest pacer of all time. Oh, whoa, whoa. No, I'm asking you. Oh, my favorite pacer of all time is Jalen Rose. Yeah. That's a great answer.
Starting point is 00:06:11 That's a great answer. Yeah. Fuck Reggie Miller, right? Reggie's so fun. What about Jermaine O'Neal, man? Remember that? Yes. For a hot minute?
Starting point is 00:06:17 Of course. For a very hot and very cold instantly. You can't pick any really malice at the Palace, boys. I don't know. I love that. It was one of my favorite events in sports. Oh, it's one of my... Now looking back on it, I can appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:06:31 But at the time, that team was going to probably win the title. Yeah, they had a shot. And then everybody was gone. They were mortified. But they came out. That was on a Friday night. It was my freshman year of college. Steven Jackson and Ron Artest came out of the tunnel at the
Starting point is 00:06:46 Colts game on Sunday and the place was electric. Two weeks later, everyone was like, we hate them. They thugs. I was like, no. No, no, no. We like them. They're passionate. We like them. They're just passionate. They don't take shit from people, especially not a fucking fan. They will come into
Starting point is 00:07:01 the stands for you. Right. Good for them. I'm still on their side. Love Jamal Tinsley, too. You remember him? Yes. He was involved in a shooting outside of a strip club and a shooting outside of the Conrad
Starting point is 00:07:16 downtown. Yes, multiple shootings. And never was that good. The second one was... He was pretty good. He was a great passer. But that many shootings? Yeah, but for two great passer. But that many shootings? Yeah, but for two shootings, that's too many shootings for a guy who just has incredible vision of the court. Megan, what's something you think is overrated? I really worry that this is going to get me in trouble, but I read it and I just, I think Cat Person is overrated.
Starting point is 00:07:41 Okay, now tell people what Cat Person is. We mentioned it on yesterday's episode. I am super intrigued by the idea that there is a piece of short fiction that is trending on the Internet. So it's from The New Yorker. Okay. Obviously. I get The New Yorker. I've read maybe two articles in a year. Because you start reading them, and then you realize there's 17 pages, and you're like, I got shit to do.
Starting point is 00:08:01 And they show up hard and fast. Oh. The second you get through one, you're like, fuck, another one just came out? Yes. And I fly shit to do. And they show up hard and fast. Yes. The second you get through and you're like, fuck, another one's just coming up. Yes. And I fly all the time. So I'll, like, bring it on the plane to be like, look, I'm trying. I'm okay. Hello.
Starting point is 00:08:12 I'm on the team. And then I, like, put it down and just turn on Real Housewives on the TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a story. Culturally valuable. Of course. You know, you got to know everything that's happening. It depends on which one.
Starting point is 00:08:25 But we'll get into that later. It's all about Elena. So Cat Person is short fiction about – it's basically about like a texting relationship that then like turns physical at some point. Heralding it as this. Nothing has spoken to what women experience and like the idiosyncrasies of communication between men and women. And I think they're just giving it more power than it deserves. Because I read it and thought, oh, yeah, that's why you don't marry everybody you date. You know, like you got to fuck some bad people to realize that they suck. Right. And maybe that's the wrong. maybe that makes me a bad feminist. That's like learning.
Starting point is 00:09:08 Well, I mean I think objectively if we even take it outside of dating, right, or sex purely. Like even when you're looking for a job, you got to take some shitty jobs to begin knowing what your dream job is too. Like it's part of the process of figuring yourself out. And so she sort of builds this guy up in her mind and then he ends up being worse than what is in her mind. And I'm like, yeah, but that. Is he like a cat version of a werewolf? No. The only cat part of it is he has two cats.
Starting point is 00:09:36 He says he has two cats, and then she never sees them. Huh. I actually started reading the story now that I've Googled it. I started reading it, and I was like, huh, this seems to be written by a millennial because of just like a couple things. Like she's like turned on by the fact that he has like a tattoo or something like that. And they're like texting Banter is good. Texting, yeah. And I understand all of that.
Starting point is 00:09:59 And like I read it and maybe it was because everyone else is saying all these glowing like it's a movement. And I'm like, as someone who fucked a lot of fuckboys, I don't think this is a movement. Right. All right. Let them know. Megan, what's something that is underrated? I just finished. This is so I guess I'm not embarrassed. I just finished the J.K. Rowling series.
Starting point is 00:10:24 She wrote under the pseudonym as Robert Galaris or something. And it was excellent. I really loved it. And I'm really proud of her. I also love her. I love when people tweet at her that they're burning her books. And she's like, I don't care. You already bought it.
Starting point is 00:10:38 I live in a fucking castle. Right. I think she's incredible. And the books were great. I really suggest them. There's only three of them. I think there's incredible. And the books were great. I really suggest them. There's only three of them. I think there's going to be more. I've joined some sort of like internet group that talks about it.
Starting point is 00:10:53 Wow. And JK, we're on your side. We're rooting for you. We love you. Thank you. And when you say you're on her side, you're talking about the Johnny Depp stuff? I'm talking about the Trump stuff. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:11:00 Well, what do you think about the Johnny Depp stuff? I didn't know she had any Johnny. I mean, I hate Johnny Depp. Right. And I'm fine going on he's in the new uh they're like he's he's playing a main character in the upcoming films a lot of women were like how are you going to have this dude still play a really important character in this series because you know he's clearly on record uh having you know verbally abused and ever heard and things like that
Starting point is 00:11:22 i hated him before that and i just like everyone to know that I think he's annoying. I, he's just too much. It's like, well, you don't need eyeliner on all the time. You know? Yeah. He's like, yeah, it's, it's like too much. It feels forced. I didn't even know that he was assaulting verbally assaulting women.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Yeah. Like Amber Heard. Yeah. They had a pretty messy relationship. Wait. Cause I just know like, that was like a thing that she had to then come out because she hadn't said anything.
Starting point is 00:11:46 And a lot of fans are saying, you've been such a great advocate for women. Why this person? And she sort of basically- Said. Was like, well, we thought he was great for the part. And this is something that two adults agreed to put behind them. And she said something like conscious can't be uh determined by committee and things like that it was very i think it was unsatisfying for some people but you know either way you're gonna buy
Starting point is 00:12:09 the books i guess i don't know enough about it i'll read no no i'm not here to say like hey what's your opinion on that but i just thought that's what you're referring to but i do love her and i do hate johnny depp so now i guess i'm torn yeah So she's getting it from – her books are being burned by Trump followers because she criticized Trump and then she's getting shit from the left for – Again, bitch lives in a castle. I know. She's like, I'm sorry. I can't see you from up here. She's like, actually, if you could burn them and then bring them to my house, it's cold in here.
Starting point is 00:12:38 It's very expensive to heat because it's so big. She's like, but again, I have so much money, I don't give a fuck. Yeah. Well, thank you for that very literary over-under. Yeah. We appreciate that. Oh my gosh, you're welcome. All right, let's get into format.
Starting point is 00:12:50 We're trying to take a sample of the ideas that are out there changing the world, trying to take the temperature of the national shared consciousness of the human species. Say we're at a crispy 98.6 right now. I think we're 98 plus a year. We're feeling good. Feeling good. Feeling healthy. And the way we like to open this up is by asking our guest for what's something that is part of the zeitgeist,
Starting point is 00:13:13 something that the media believes or has told us that is not actually true. This is going to be really hard-hitting and probably tough for some of your listeners to hear. But I do not believe that any of the HGTV couples are in love. Whoa. I think they all hate each other. The HGTV couples. There's like stuff like, uh, like the flip or flop, the gains, the flip or flop. They did divorce though.
Starting point is 00:13:38 Right. And they're just together because they need that check for their kids. Now they're saying they're getting back together, but there's new flip or flop people because that's flip or flop like Southern California. Now there's flip or flop Vegas, flip or flop Atlanta, flip or flop someplace else. So, Jack, you look confused. These shows are like these couples that just sort of personify like these like very gender normative things.
Starting point is 00:14:03 They're like the man is the sledgehammer and he's like very nor like gender normative things are like the man is the uh the sledgehammer and he's always pushing against his wife's zany requests for different kinds of decorative things expensive and she knows how to flip houses yeah and then they yeah they walk into a house he's like we're gonna do this she's like i'm really envisioning this and it's just sort of like these couples who flip houses but yeah i i guess maybe they aren't in love but they're on the cover of People magazine all the time. That's why I'm saying media. It transcends HGTV.
Starting point is 00:14:30 They've done a really great job branding them. Right. But I think they all hate each other. I think if you were to have a secret hidden camera, that would be the hit show. Yeah, because I know some people just do really watch it because they like the idea of this couple working together. But also, if you watch reality TV, you're like, man, this is all
Starting point is 00:14:48 fucking bullshit. I hate couples working together. I think that's gross. Go to an office. Get away from each other. There you go. And then come back, have dinner, have sex, and go to sleep. All day together? Do it all over again. No, that's too much. Yeah, that would be a lot. I love my boyfriend, and I'm happy he's not here right now.
Starting point is 00:15:05 So, you guys, Doug the motherfucking Jones, along with the black men and especially women of Alabama, pulled off a huge upset last night, won a Senate seat for the Democratic Party in the reddest of red, Alabama. Yeah. So we're just going to talk real quick up top about the immediate reaction, then we'll dig in a little deeper later. But first off, Roy Moore called and issued, he was like, congratulations on this great – oh, no, no. He said –
Starting point is 00:15:42 Right. He was like, nah, the the lord will provide i can't have possibly lost this election yeah that's a wild one where he was like god will decide right so i mean god decided right well but see that's how god works uh in alabama it's like if it's not on your side then it can't be god but isn't the whole christ Christian mantra like God's plan? So it's like, Roy, this was God's plan. He actually said that in his thing. He was like, but the one thing we know is whatever happens,
Starting point is 00:16:12 it is God's plan. And I was like, yo, it happened. Yeah, so that's God's plan. God would not like that. He's not a fan of this version of God's plan. Are they going to do a recount? No, there's not enough. He would have to pay for it. So if it's under a half a percentage point, they will automatically do a recount? I mean, like, is that what he's – No, there's not enough. He would have to pay for it. So if it's under a half a percentage point, they will automatically do a recount. Okay.
Starting point is 00:16:29 If it's over that, then the person who's requesting the recount has to actually pay for it themselves. Okay. And, you know – And he won by one and a half percent. Yeah, he won by one and a half percent. Oh, okay. So there's no way. I mean, there's enough money in the GOP, as we know, that he could get that funded.
Starting point is 00:16:48 Yeah. Are they ready to be done with him? I think they're done with him. Yeah. I think everybody was like, well, that was embarrassing. Well, and also they're like, thank God because we don't then have to be like, hey, so what are you going to do about this pedophile in the Senate? They don't have to do that anymore. It's like, okay, we'll figure it out down the road.
Starting point is 00:17:01 So you think when they were like, we'll let the people of Alabama decide, Mitch McConnell secretly was like, please decide the right way. I don't think so. I think Mitch was like, give me this pedophile. I think he just said he didn't want to be so overtly against him that he just – he dialed it back to being ambiguous. So that way when Steve Bannon tries to attack him, he's like, you see, Mitch McConnell – and we'll get into all that because that's there's so many dimensions of of the GOP. Cowardice. Yeah, exactly. My favorite visual was fun.
Starting point is 00:17:30 Yeah. Yeah. The best was horse Twitter flaming him for not knowing how to ride that horse. Oh, really? Yeah. They're like, he's holding the reins wrong. The horse looks confused. I was picturing him like riding it backwards, like facing the ass of the horse.
Starting point is 00:17:43 Side saddle. My favorite tweet on this was from Andy Zeisler. She said, guys, of course, the sex predator doesn't take no for an answer, which I thought was pretty much right on point. Yeah, he's not willing to concede. Also not taking no for an answer. Fox News was their immediate reaction was yeah but see roy moore was a flawed candidate uh this result is very specifically based on his character and not a repudiation of trump or a shift towards democrats in the state um like who cares which
Starting point is 00:18:18 is fine that's like a very specific response to that well yeah but fox news is meant to be like the channel you go to to figure out like tell me it's going to be okay right if you're a gop if you know if you're a republican and you're really like shook up about this you kind of need fox to be like don't worry man and this guy was like what they said i think uniquely flawed is one thing i heard many times yesterday and i was like motherfucking me and he's an accused pedophile like don't don't like you know obscure that by calling him i think it's good for the democrats though to like basically fox news is being like take your bottle go to sleep like and we and like that didn't happen when trump
Starting point is 00:19:01 you know like everyone was enraged when yeah we were just like we fucked that up yeah really bad we didn't take a bottle happen when trump you know like everyone was enraged when yeah we were just like we fucked that up yeah really bad we didn't take a bottle yeah um so but we cried but it's like that's great i hope you guys go with the rhetoric that like oh no we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine we're fine he was a pedophile we're fine because it's like well then that's how that's how you can sneak in and take some seats yeah right yeah yeah they got to figure out how they're gonna market themselves this is sort of how the Right. Because it's like, well, then that's how you can sneak in and take some seats. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got to figure out how they're going to market themselves.
Starting point is 00:19:28 This is sort of how the cycle goes, right? The people who won are sort of passive and, you know, believe that they have things in the bag. And that continues until they suffer some catastrophic defeat, at which point they wake up. And, you know, yeah, like you said, giving themselves the bottle. And I also don't like that. There's people being like, it should have been by a bigger margin. It's like, shut up. We won. Right.
Starting point is 00:19:56 The pedophile loss. Can't you just like be happy? And every I was like sitting as the polls close being like, he's going to win. You know, like it was astounding that Doug Jones won. So let's just take the victory and stop counting the tiny pieces about it.
Starting point is 00:20:14 Let's thank black women and then say to white women... It'll never be a perfect victory. I think people only wanted 100% Doug Jones. There we go. He would have dropped out of the race if he thought he didn't have a chance. Right. So and Trump has been like, see, this is why I said it should have been Luther Strange and not Roy Moore. So, you know, we'll get more into his response and what this means for Trumpism going forward.
Starting point is 00:20:43 So we will be right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. where you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhearts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price.
Starting point is 00:21:27 Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project.
Starting point is 00:21:50 All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session. 24 hours. BPM 110. 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it.
Starting point is 00:22:10 That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm.
Starting point is 00:22:38 Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning. In a story about faith and football, the search for meaning away from the gridiron and the consequences for everyone involved. You mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked.
Starting point is 00:23:28 Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition. It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish
Starting point is 00:24:06 about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of
Starting point is 00:24:35 My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. And we're back. So the USA Today op-ed board really came for Trump this morning. I remember during the 2016 election, it was considered weird that the USA Today endorsed a candidate and that they endorsed Hillary. But they just usually don't because they are the vanilla flavor of U.S. journalism in general. Like a coloring book. Right. Exactly. But they just went out on a on a limb and just came for Trump in response mostly to the tweet he put out yesterday in response to Senator Gillibrand. Basically, the article, their response may as well have been written in all caps. It was pretty incredible.
Starting point is 00:25:33 But so was his tweet. I'm a little ashamed we didn't talk about it yesterday. We had a lot going on. We had a lot going on. But his tweet basically implied that, you you know she criticized him and the fact that he had you know all these accusers out there accusing him of sexual misconduct and he responded by implying that she was in his office offering to trade sexual favors for his support basically he said that yeah yeah his tweet was um it was a spice city about Yeah. His tweet was... It was Spice City.
Starting point is 00:26:05 About more? Yeah. His tweet was, lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office, quote unquote, begging for campaign contributions not so long ago. He said quote unquote begging? Yeah. And then parenthetical, and would do anything for them.
Starting point is 00:26:19 Ew! Is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill and crooked. Used. So, look, first of all, we already know he's the dumbest motherfucker out there. But also, Kirsten Gillibrand is a fucking ride or die. Like, she is all about fighting sexual harassment and gender equality and, like, you know, protecting women who are in the military from being assaulted. That's like her raison d'etre, like, as a senator.
Starting point is 00:26:44 So when you want to go and now call her out like you have fucked with the wrong she is not the one to fuck with about this so you know he opened up that can of worms and she came out pretty quickly like it's a sexist smear i will not be silenced uh and also uh gillibrand 2020 right so the usa today op- ed board's response was, quote, a president who would all but call Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets and the Barack Obama presidential library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush. If it was me and this is why I'm not running for president i'd be like uh yeah i said i would do anything for a campaign and i mean that right i think the american people would like to know that all i will literally suck the grossest dick on earth to make sure this country is safe that's someone with our interest at heart right but that but i'm not saying that's what she's
Starting point is 00:27:41 saying that's what i would say i always think about if naked pictures of me got released, I'd be like, yeah, I look good. Pass them around. Give them to everybody. You should see the other ones. It's interesting because like, right. Is this a signal that now something as safe as USA Today is like coming out against Trump? Like, are the tides turning? Right.
Starting point is 00:28:02 I guess that would be the question is, is this and I don't think this was written with the knowledge that Doug Jones won necessarily. But it actually came out yesterday morning. OK, so I just think that it might be part of an overall anti-Trump wave that is cresting. It could be seen that way. I don't I don't necessarily know that it is. I just think his base will go, USA Today is garbage. USA Today is fake. Unfortunately, and to his credit, he's created such a foolproof way to say that everyone else is wrong and against him. Right. But I think also, I guess part of
Starting point is 00:28:40 that is now, obviously, this wave of criticism, who knows if that will actually affect his ability to stay in office. But what it does, I think, show is that people are now there. There is definitely like more people who are willing to be like, no, this is bullshit. Like, are we going to accept this? Doesn't look like we are. And again, yesterday's election, I think, is starting to also show that he can scream all he wants. But at the end of the day, he was not able to affect that election properly, which is wants but at the end of the day he was not able to affect that election properly which is i think one of the best things which i think is kind of
Starting point is 00:29:10 what we want to talk about next was sort of you know now that doug jones won like what does that mean because it has more than just meaning that okay we're cutting down the gop majority in the senate we're also seeing many other things that are going to be affected by this. So one of the things that in the wake of Jones' victory is that Democrats are now demanding that they delay voting on the tax bill until Jones is seated so he can actually properly represent the state of Alabama to see if we want to completely fuck over generations to come with this crazy mega money giveaway. Right. And so the Dems do have a point, right?
Starting point is 00:29:49 Like when Ted Kennedy died, Scott Brown took over his seat who was a Republican, and Harry Reid delayed a vote on Obamacare because there's a lot of pressure. Like, all right, fine, get him in there, whatever. And they waited. They respected that. And then also think about fucking McConnell the last year refusing to confirm a Supreme Court justice because he was like, well, let's wait for the people to decide and then we'll have a vote. Right. Then we'll have a vote.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Well, guess what, motherfucker? You are now you're in that position except shoes on the other foot. I know, but they play dirty. Of course, which is crazy. So at worst, they will try and just rush the vote before he's actually able to be sworn in. Or, you know, like if they can't agree on the bill or whatever and the voting is delayed, Doug Jones may be sworn in at the time that they do vote on it. But like whether or not, yes, will he do something crazy, like be like refuse to seat him until that vote happens?
Starting point is 00:30:39 We don't know. But that wouldn't look good. But again, they don't really give a fuck. I think they kind of like when they don't look good because their base likes it. Right. Because when they anger the mainstream media, that scores points for them. They also don't care about precedent. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:54 Which is like – that's why it's so hard to like fight them. It's because they don't – all like decency has gone out the window. So it's – but yeah, I'm like get the dog to Washington. Get him to Washington. So apparently eight minutes ago, the GOP leaders announced that they have reached a deal to cut the corporate rate to 21 percent and lower the top individual rate to 37 percent. And the headline on Drudge Report right now is Rush rush exclamation point tax bill by xmas so yeah the whole right wing is concerted in this effort to just sneak this thing by as quickly as possible no one wants right it's the worst polling fucking tax no that's not true very rich people and uh political donors
Starting point is 00:31:38 want a majority of people are not fucking with it they have feelings too miles yeah but fuck that bro how would you feel if i had that much money i wouldn't give a fuck it. They have feelings too, Miles. Yeah, but fuck that, bro. How would you feel if... If I had that much money, I wouldn't give a fuck. I wouldn't have feelings. You'd think so. You'd think so. Well, give me the...
Starting point is 00:31:49 Let's do the experiment and I'll be happy to part ways with it. There's a lot of rich people that don't like it too. Yeah, exactly. And they live in LA. Right. But they do have a conscience
Starting point is 00:31:59 that's like, no, I'll give my money. Exactly. Or I'll pay my taxes and I'm giving my money. It's paying your taxes. You know, another thing, though, too, with this election is that it signals maybe Trump is actually losing his effect on people. Like, clearly, his supporters weren't as motivated to come out to vote for Roy Moore as they should have been because the Democrats, like, turned the fuck up and turned out to vote and Republicans.
Starting point is 00:32:26 I think again, like there are a few analysts saying that most of his supporters, like hardcore supporters weren't really interested in politics to begin with. So for them to understand the stakes of Roy Moore getting elected was kind of abstract to them. So that kind of worked in Doug Jones's favor. But I think what it's interesting to see is that, yeah,
Starting point is 00:32:44 like what you're saying, last night, Trump had a tweet that was like very civil for some reason. Clearly, he passed out from the McDonald's and somebody was like, get his phone and let's just do something. Because then this morning, he sounded like a person who is not being listened to and feels powerless because he was like, the reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange and his numbers went up mightily is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the general election. I was right.
Starting point is 00:33:09 Roy worked hard, but the deck was stacked against him. I'm sorry. The deck? Do you mean people not being outraged that you're trying to put up a racist pedophile? When they tweet for him, they got to do a better job. It's like if you're an F student and then you buy a paper from an A student your teacher's like that's not yours right you don't know how to spell separate and it's like no this isn't him i think he has lost some of the let's give him a chance people oh but i think he'll never lose anyone's better than hillary people but if we can grab some of those let's give him
Starting point is 00:33:42 a chance over to okay you gave him a chance and you've seen it and it's a goddamn disaster. So will you come over here? I think they're willing to be like, yeah, okay. Yeah, maybe. Maybe his chance was bad. I think most of his base, though, too, is motivated by race more than even like misogyny or not trusting Hillary because I think – Well, they go hand in hand in that lovely little disaster. No, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:34:03 So, yeah, maybe trump is losing his power and if you really look at it like yeah most of his power like when he's able to do shit it's because he has a gop leadership behind him in congress where it's like paul ryan is taking the charge to get shit through or mitch mcconnell is taking the charge to get shit through he's not really able from his fucking phone be like yeah yeah run that run that run that because people don't get like i think he started you know he's losing his grip a little bit. Right. I mean, when he going into the election, he won Alabama by how many percentage points? Like 30. Yeah, like a ton. And I mean, he was still a purely anti-establishment figure. You know, he could just sit there and lob bombs at the establishment and talk about being a guy who was going to drain the swamp and all this
Starting point is 00:34:45 shit. But yeah, like you said, Megan, we've had a year to see how this goes. And he has become establishment in a lot of ways. He's failed in a lot of ways. And the swamp was not drained. The swamp was not drained. They filled it up. The swamp is full.
Starting point is 00:35:00 Now with more gators. People can make jokes all they want, but the people from any state are not dumb. They can see this. And, you know, I mean, he's definitely lost ground. I mean, his favorability rating in Alabama is now sub 50. Some of them are dumb, though. But some Democrats are dumb, too. People are dumb in general.
Starting point is 00:35:20 We give people too much credit. Some of them are very dumb. Yeah. So now this leads to because, oh, shit, they took the biggest L. They lost the reddest state. Like, now all the finger-pointing has begun, and there are basically two schools of finger-pointing. One is the Bannon side saying, look at Mr. McConnell and the establishment. Like, they didn't support Roy Moore, and that's why he lost.
Starting point is 00:35:39 And then you have all the establishment GOP people who are like, yo, Bannon is a fucking idiot. the establishment GOP people who were like, yo, Bannon is a fucking idiot. He totally fucked up by like getting in Trump's ear and making everyone back this pedophile who was never going to win or could have won, but like looked really bad for everyone. And it's just great because now you're starting to see like really like a lot of people in GOP are really trying to distance themselves from Steve Bannon and almost acting as if like, you know, this experiment is done. Like we're not, we don't need to listen to this guy. And especially what was crazy is like, you have people like Pete King, who's from New York, who's like a very hardcore conservative. And, you know, you'd think he was down with most of the shit Bannon said. This is him throwing Bannon's ass under the bus this morning uh when asked about
Starting point is 00:36:25 the election this guy does not belong on the national stage he looks like some disheveled drunk that wandered onto the political stage uh this is not the type of person we need in politics and last night's election was a manifestation of a revulsion by the american people so okay but like his number one thing he said was that he looks like shit right we know dude we see him well yeah and i think it's the more of the strategy right like as he even tweeted he said his act is tired inane and morally vacuous so again it's easy to like distance yourself after you take the l because let's be real like all you guys were scared shitless of steve bannon a few months ago right and like you know don't don't want his people to after you. But now you're starting to see because they lost that seat.
Starting point is 00:37:07 Now everyone's really in their feelings and being like, well, I think he's done or whatever. I mean, even within the last month, the mainstream media has been like holding him up as this like genius chess player. I do wonder if that is partially strategy by the mainstream media, knowing that if you give somebody too much credit there, like people are going to start hating him. If you give someone like that too much credit in the mainstream media knowing that if you give somebody too much credit, people are going to start hating him. If you give someone like that too much credit in the mainstream media, it might not be strategy, but I think that definitely probably happens. Or also it's backlash from people who just saw this outsider
Starting point is 00:37:37 gobble up a bunch of influence and power in the party and be like, who the fuck, where did you come from? Just because you got this one guy elected, and now they're like, okay, fuck off. Like we let us ruin the country how we used to do it. Well, but I think they've always hated him for being an outsider who came in and got a lot of. Yeah. It's just that he had the ability to claim that he was going to, you know, wield all this influence.
Starting point is 00:38:00 And now he no longer has that ability. Yeah. So the infighting will begin because now like there are murmurs like the Bannon camp is like, OK, well, now we're really going to war with the establishment. And the establishment is like, we're done with Steve Bannon. So that will play out wonderfully over the next, what, 11, 12 months. Right. Midterms. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:15 And finally, what we really need to talk about is black women coming out and really winning this seat. When you look at the numbers, 98 percent of black women and 93% of black men voted for Doug Jones. And when you compare that to white voters, only 23% of white men and 32% of white women voted for Jones. So white women, again, there's a problem here. Are we going to keep choosing race over gender? Obviously with Trump, sure, if you wanted something different, I understand that. But in this case, if your choices are between a sexual predator and a Democrat or someone who's like in line with an agenda that might be favorable to you because you like the kind of hot takes Roy Moore has, you know, we have to figure out what's going on there? But more importantly, are we going to begin to listen to the needs of black voters? Because it's been, you know, people of color, not just black people have always been just sort of like, oh, of course, you're going to vote Democratic.
Starting point is 00:39:11 And then that's all they have to rely on, you know, give a few rousing speeches at a rally, but not deliver on anything that will actually affect the community in a positive way. So because when you really look at it, there's very little representation for black women, even in, you know, like in Congress, Kamala Harris is the only black woman in the Senate and black women make up what, 3.6% of Congress. So there are ways that we, I think as a nation really need to begin to see the power of this voting bloc and to also begin to represent its interests too. Like, you know, let's have the DNC prop up more candidates and deliver more infrastructure for candidates. Instead of being like, oh, man, we need to recruit poor white people now because we lost that last election. Instead of being like, no, that you didn't get any people of color out to vote for Hillary because you didn't focus on them enough.
Starting point is 00:40:05 Yeah, and it just shows you, like, when you have a candidate that people, you know, can understand who they are and excited about him or her and also understand what the stakes are in the election, people will fucking go out and vote. But, like, when that's not communicated properly, you get low turnout. Do they have the numbers on the turnout, though in terms of like what yeah like how many people in the state voted because i mean those numbers look incredible but it's like if it was 46 percent of people then it's still not good right no no not at all but i think i think the turnout was above what they were expecting and also just in terms of black voters uh they were saying that uh they needed to get at least 25 percent which i think is over the representation of right like how many black people it's just yeah it's the population is the population is 20 to 25 percent
Starting point is 00:41:00 and last night they got 25 to 30 percent. So black voters were actually overrepresented. They have to cancel out a lot of things. Yeah. As the only woman in here I'd like to speak to, as the white woman in here. Yes, yes, yes. Places like Alabama have very, very – places – the entire country has very ingrained misogyny. Yeah, yeah. And so when you saw Hillary lose white women, a lot of that is what is happening sadly in those individual homes. Yeah, no, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:41:36 I have friends who voted for Hillary and told their husbands they voted for Trump because their husband said they would leave them if they voted for Hillary. Jesus. And so that's like a – that's something that you can't deny that that's happened. Are there also horribly racist white women in Alabama? Yeah. And generationally, I think they will they will stop. They will cease to exist because their daughters or these women that they raise will grow up and be like, oh, no, this is bad. You know, I think it's older white women. I really do believe that. I hope that's true.
Starting point is 00:42:09 No, I think so. I don't think it's 25 and below. I don't even think it's 30 and below. The demographics actually back you up. So the one thing that made me feel better about the future is that 18 to 29, 60% voted for Jones, 30 to 44, 61% voted for Jones. And then once you get over 44, so like 45 to 64, 51% voted for Moore, and then 65 and over, 59% voted for Moore. So part of it is just we have to wait for no absolutely we have to keep having inspiring
Starting point is 00:42:46 women we need to have more black women we need to have more latina women we need to have more women of color we need to have more men of color i don't i don't think white women are lost i think old white women are lost and that's like okay good riddance yeah and i to clarify i don't mean to generalize that all white women are either voting for their race or gender or anything like that. But in small demographic numbers, that's kind of what we were looking at. And we fucked up, you know, we fucked up the general election. When I think now, but see, now we've now we've proven we can all come together to do this. So now let's bring everybody into the conversation, I think, is what this next step is really about and to create this thing that people of color just can't be counted on for a vote that now like if like there's there's been very little reciprocity for the like
Starting point is 00:43:30 being a dependable voting block to count on and how that you know how that reverberates or how that what changes come out of their life as a result of that. I think the Me Too and all of the sexual harassment and sexual assault movement that has happened will only help white female demographics go, oh, I don't have to do what a man tells me to do. I don't have to feel and voting. I don't have to like this if I don't like it. I don't have to go see the Avengers if I don't want to.
Starting point is 00:43:59 I could go finger myself to Mona Lisa Smile on Blu-ray again or whatever we want. I think the push is happening. myself to Mona Lisa smile on Blu-ray or whatever we want. It's like you. I think the push is happening. And unfortunately, with white women, we may just have to be patient. But they fucked up a lot. Well, I think it's easier, too, because when you're oppressed, there's it's easier to get unified under that. And I think women of color especially have two dimensions of oppression.
Starting point is 00:44:20 They have to deal with its misogyny and race. And it's easier, too, when you have a male candidate who is like racist and a sexual predator. That's really easy to activate. Of course. And, you know, and I think it is harder, too, because part of, you know, if that sort of oppression isn't very real for somebody, it's very easy to sort of get lost in and how you vote or the partisanship of it all. And yeah, I think it is very, there's a lot to be optimistic about because yeah, those demographic numbers show that clearly like younger people, like once we begin to inherit the earth in a few years, we'll probably see the, like we'll see some shifts. Feminism also has to change.
Starting point is 00:44:57 Feminism has to start recognizing women of color and their issues and not just talk about white feminism. And so it's like, I mean, we have to start listening and that's sort of the first step. So, yeah, I hope that's a,
Starting point is 00:45:11 that's like a huge thing to come out of the election too, is realize, wow, like, okay, we really need to like, let's fucking all sit together at the table and figure this shit out. Cause it can't just be like,
Starting point is 00:45:20 yay. Thanks for that. You know, thank you black people. And then tomorrow it's like, man, they're fucking kneeling for the end. Like, yo, let it's like, man, they're fucking kneeling for the anthem. Yo, let's fucking address the issue why
Starting point is 00:45:27 people are kneeling for the anthem. Black lives matter. Because guess what? They're the only ones voting for you. So, Megan is actually not going to be here for this next interview. She has to run. Very important.
Starting point is 00:45:43 Tings. Tings going down. Yeah, I got to do L.A. things. And we have a phone interview coming up with... Jared Holt. Jared Holt. From Right Wing Watch, one of our favorite websites. We'll talk about that more, though. We're going to take a quick break.
Starting point is 00:45:57 We'll be right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state.
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Starting point is 00:49:29 Hey! Join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes. Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time. And we're back. Okay, so we're about to go to our interview with Jared Holt from Right Wing Watch. Again, Megan had to leave, so you won't be hearing from her, and then we'll be back to real time and Megan after the interview. Enjoy. Someone from one of our favorite websites, Right Wing Watch, Jared Holt, who works for them, is here with us to talk a little bit about the alt-right,
Starting point is 00:50:22 and we want to get the temperature of what's going on in the land of Pepe the Frog. So, Jared, are you there? You were there, right? Hello? Yeah. Hey, Miles. What's up? How are you?
Starting point is 00:50:31 How are you? And you're also here with Jack, just so you know. So there's two people doing this interview. So, yeah, I mean, obviously we wanted to talk to you because Right Wing Watch is a very great website and tool for us because we would like to keep track of all the things going on. But can you tell us a little bit about what you do at Right Wing Watch and sort of what your role is there in terms of the alt-right? Yeah. So my role with Right Wing Watch is to
Starting point is 00:50:52 research and sort of monitor the movements and the narratives coming out of the fringes of Right Wing Media. And my specialty in particular is social media and new media, which, as I'm sure a lot of your listeners have heard, and if they haven't, has been grossly taken over by the far right and what has become known as the alt-right. Awesome. So I guess you could say you're a bit of an expert. You've been following this group for a minute now. Yeah, it's been a couple years.
Starting point is 00:51:22 They sort of first got on my radar after Gamergate, which was this big online movement that ended up harassing a lot of female journalists who covered video games and different video game designers for introducing more women and progressive characters. And that was sort of the starting gun to all of this online. And so it's been on my radar then. And then a couple of years ago is when I really decided to sink my teeth in and start watching it full time. And when that happened with Gamergate was, I know that at that point it was mostly focused on misogyny and, you know, the fact that women were infiltrating the gaming community. And were there right-wing politics attached to that rage at that point? that social justice activists or who they call social justice warriors are somehow taking over the institutions they love.
Starting point is 00:52:28 In this case, as trivial as it sounds, it was video games. But then when Trump came along, they saw that as a chance to get it into politics too. Yeah, I mean we've talked before on the show that Bannon actually was doing a separate business venture. Steve Bannon was doing a separate business venture where he was like trying to make money mining for gold in World of Warcraft. And he came across this sort of Gamergate community and was like, wow, there might be a way to politicize all this energy. So it was it was like a conscious decision on their part. Yeah, it was this huge movement. And Steve Bannon was one of the first people to really take advantage and start pumping it mainstream.
Starting point is 00:53:19 Even after the white supremacist crowd saw it happening and decided they wanted to use it for their movement too. Just this online culture of shitposting and just trolling people and stuff. They thought, hey, this is a useful weapon in defeating social justice warriors. So we can get these people on our side and use them for our advantage. Right. Have you seen – obviously Doug Jones won yesterday in Alabama. Have you just from what you've been seeing like in the lead up to the election what was sort of been the alt-right stance in terms of Roy Moore or and now in the
Starting point is 00:53:57 wake of the loss has there been any kind of shifting of positions or anything like that? So one of the core like pillars of the alt-right is this attempt to discredit uh mainstream media and what they see as a liberal order a liberal establishment so they wanted roy moore's win simply to counter that establishment they were all totally aware of the pedophilia allegations uh and you know were doing their own thing to try to discredit them. But in the end, it didn't really matter to them because they just wanted to send a message. Now, since Roy Moore lost, the 4 chans and 8 chans of the world just went into complete meltdown. There's kind of this all hope is lost and then another vein
Starting point is 00:54:45 of sentiment going on that uh you know roy moore was always crazy and wasn't really one of us so it doesn't matter um and uh probably one of the bigger narratives is that the mainstream media like teamed up with the gop to character assassinate the guy um and so they're sort of mourning the loss in a couple different ways, slowly going through the grieving process today. So their conspiracy is that the Washington Post and the mainstream, like Mitch McConnell's of the world, got together and found these women and concocted this whole story of Roy Moore being a pedophile.
Starting point is 00:55:27 That that's sort of it's interesting because they will concoct conspiracy theories about pedophilia to like discredit the Democrats. But when there's actual pedophilia, they will concoct conspiracy theories to ignore it, which I mean, there was this whole thing, Pizzagate, where they believed that there was a pizza restaurant where high powered Democrats were molesting children. But is there are there underground tunnels? You can't forget that. And I'll say I've been to that restaurant just to have pizza and there is no basement. So the tunnels thing really got me on Pizzagate. Show you the level of discourse we're dealing with. So are there any myths about the alt-right or like things that you think, you know, we try and track the zeitgeist here, like things that you think the collective consciousness has wrong about the alt-right or the story of how they came to be. I think that there's a few things. I think one is that Richard Spencer still holds any sort of prominence in the alt-right. extremely fundamental in lining out the core and setting the tone and the mission for the alt-right going forward and was one of the main ones who helped bring it online but when he got punched
Starting point is 00:56:53 in the face on inauguration day uh they all kind of abandoned him and uh have speculated that he's like a deep state operative who's meant to smear their movement and everything. And another one is that I think a lot of things that aren't necessarily alt-right get called alt-right, and that really discredits the term because what happened after Trump's election is we saw the alt-right shatter into all these different movements. is we saw the alt-right shatter into all these different movements. There's the new right, the Proud Boys, Chad Nationalist, traditionalists, and went from this larger movement of people all banded together to help elect Trump to all these different fractured movements that just went to the furthest extremes of the ideology that they thought was most important that the alt-right embodied.
Starting point is 00:57:47 So can you talk about Chad Nationalist because that was one of the more interesting sort of subspecies that we came across in tracking the news cycle? Oh, yeah. Chad Nationalism. Where to start on this one? So imagine your typical nationalism, you know, wanting to serve the interest of a nation first. So leading to policies that are anti-immigrant, leading to a foreign policy that's very non-interventional. into a foreign policy that's very uh non-interventional uh but then hand it to some like super buff gym rats uh and then also crank their heads full of all these misogynistic views and uh you've got chad nationalists uh so these guys like to toss around the term soy boy as an insult uh because part of this uh what these guys believe is that if you eat too much soy products it'll boost your estrogen and feminize you and it's like as like the insecure gym rats that they are not say all gym rats are insecure but these people are definitely insecure you know that's like the worst thing that could possibly happen. Right. It's a very like homoerotic sort of,
Starting point is 00:59:05 we went to a website where they had all these pictures of like the ideal, like Chad is basically a name they came up with for like the ideal sort of white nationalist dude who like is that they're like, he's a sexy hero who lifts weights and like is a hero to women. And they had like all those pictures of like Arnold Schwarzenegger and like, he's a sexy hero who lifts weights and, like, is a hero to women. And they had, like, all these pictures of, like, Arnold Schwarzenegger and, like, you know, these 80s, like, homoerotic male bodybuilder types that they were like. These are great examples of, like, who a Chad nationalist should try to be. Just a very strange subculture. Is there anything aside from the idea of hyper-masculinity that ideologically separates them from other groups? Or their whole main thing is like, look, we're fucking ripped.
Starting point is 00:59:51 All the ladies want to fuck. And we hate immigrants. Is that sort of the platform? Or is there something even more specific? Like, well, actually, we're also very fiscally conservative. Honestly, I think you got it, man. Okay, perfect. Yeah, so that's good.
Starting point is 01:00:06 I want to make sure I'm reading the tea leaves correctly. Proud Boys is an interesting one because they add the idea of like you don't masturbate, right? Yeah, no wanks. Yeah, so there's different levels of being a Proud Boy. There's like four tiers. being a proud boy. There's like four tiers. So for people, for listeners that don't know, Gavin McInnes, who's a popular right-wing media personality, came up with this idea to create a fraternity for guys that support Trump. They're again, maybe not Chad Nationalist. There could be some crossover, but it's still that same hyper-masculinity boys club idea, and that women
Starting point is 01:00:47 should be subservient and so on. So in order, I'll just take you through the four levels of being a Proud Boy. So the first level is that you have to publicly declare on social media or whatever that you're a proud Western chauvinist and a member of the Proud Boys. The second tier is that no less than five already initiated Proud Boys repeatedly punch you until you can name five breakfast cereals. So they're punching you, and while you're being punched, you're trying to prove that your brain can work well enough that you can name five breakfast cereals while they're beating the shit out of you, essentially.
Starting point is 01:01:22 Oh, yeah. It's like being beat into a gang, but with a weird cereal fucking lamest weak-ass version like hey homie we're gonna jump you and we'll punch you until you can name five cereals like you you can prepare for that beat down you'd be like i'm just gonna like go cinnamon toast crunch checks kicks rice crispy treats honey nut cheerios like yeah but they just landed like five punches i'm good i'll eat those welcome to the proudoud Boys. Yeah, and then thank you. Okay, so that's level two.
Starting point is 01:01:47 I would actually just, for any aspiring Proud Boys, Chex, Rice Chex, Corn Chex, and you're out. Just go out the Chex list. Yeah, Chex is one syllable, nice and easy. What else? So you're a Chex nationalist. So what – okay, so that's level two. What's level three? Level three is the no wanks.
Starting point is 01:02:05 No wanks. Yeah, so you's level two. What's level three? Level three is the no wanks. No wanks. Yeah, so you can't masturbate unless you're within. You're not a proud boy. I have a reversion to anybody telling me I can't masturbate. Well, you will go blind. Okay, so the no wanks go on. I apologize. So it's no wanks unless you're within a certain distance of a woman and you get her consent.
Starting point is 01:02:29 The idea being that not masturbating boosts your testosterone levels and unlocks some sort of secret testosterone superman powers that I am still unclear what exactly they are. Yeah, because that's not quite scientifically based. Right. Yeah, I think they say that to keep the optimal level of testosterone, like it's good to have some sort of cycle going where you're actually masturbating on a somewhat regular basis. Well, and it's also built off that idea like sports coaches like, hey, don't fuck before the big game. Which is not true.
Starting point is 01:03:04 Yeah, exactly. Boxers don't actually do that unless they do in which case they learned it from raging bull yeah and obviously like look if you're looking up to somebody who's punching people out for a living and they're telling you they're fucking and masturbating on the regular yo maybe like listen to them right you know all right so that's level three don't masturbate and you'll become superhuman okay level four final level is to punch a member of Antifa. So it's, you know, this group claims not to be affiliated with the alt-right. But the fact that they're showing up at these, like, at protests like Unite the Right, just so they can get the chance to throw the punch in and ascend to the highest level,
Starting point is 01:03:45 the chance to throw the punch in and ascend to the highest level uh i definitely think put some guilt on their hands for uh you know the white supremacist white nationalist uh all right movement right because i remember it's a mistake to totally you know separate them from that right right right because i remember like in the in the aftermath of charlottesville like gavin mcginnis was really clear to try and be like yo we had nothing to do with that we had nothing to do with that because it's like oh yeah they all were like these new right people, like the Mike Cernovich, uh, Alex Jones is of the world. They were all doing the same thing that, you know, I think after the election, the alt-right kind of fractured. And then when Charlottesville happened,
Starting point is 01:04:16 people just started running in different directions because everyone wanted to get away from the alt-right label. In terms of looking ahead, uh, what do you see their growth looking like, if any, or recruiting tactics that they're using now? Is it a pivot or is it kind of steadily growing? What's sort of the forecast from your end? So there's different factions that I think are all competing for the same group of dis disaffected uh white people or just especially like young white men uh like college age or maybe fresh out of college and couldn't get the job that
Starting point is 01:04:54 they thought they wanted to or like think society is you know discriminating them or making them out to be a boogeyman i think someone put a poll out that like somewhere between 40 and 50% of white people in the country feel somehow victimized right now. inject the white nationalism into them and sort of play to maybe these subconscious fears that exist in the conservative voter base right now. Right. And I guess like one of the last things I kind of want to ask about is like, I've read a lot about how alt-right has like one of their biggest problems is getting women to participate. And essentially, since a lot of these groups are sort of built on these dated misogynistic ideas and shit, that they're having a real problem getting women involved but then there are women who want to be involved in the movement but they're realizing that men don't
Starting point is 01:05:54 want to include them so like is that like a thing that even men discuss and like all right like sort of these message boards because you see articles about the women talking about it but it's i'm curious to know like if there's any, inherently something that is so discriminatory is going to have trouble inviting more people to the table. So how is that affecting things? Yeah, so to be a woman accepted in the alt-right, you really have to decry feminism
Starting point is 01:06:20 and work against a lot of your own best interests as a woman. Um, and that's, that's really like the barrier to acceptance. But for the most part, a lot of people in these circles think that women are meant to be homekeepers and child bearers. Um, and there's like an insane amount of slut shaming that goes on or attacking the media personalities trying to join the alt-right if they find some picture on Facebook of them dating someone who's not white. Like Tommy Lauren? Yeah, it gets really nasty towards women. So I mean eventually they're not going to have women to procreate with to keep this thing going. Like it's an odd sort of paradox.
Starting point is 01:07:07 Well, it started – it grew out of the soil of a like anti-woman movement, right? The whole Gamergate thing was like we hate women. It was just explicitly hateful towards women. So it's not surprising that that would be, you know, a being very successful and threatening the status quo power structure that's been in place for so long. Um, and I think that's really like a driving force that the, the alt-right is going to have to reconcile with, um, if it is going to continue to grow, because if they leave women out, that really leaves – the only option is dominance and not any sort of resolution.
Starting point is 01:08:34 I've described and I've heard it described that a lot of white people, especially young white people, were born on second thinking they hit a double and i i do think that there's uh some some semblance of like acknowledgement that they have an advantage when you see these groups that are so you know viciously fighting against the rights of people who are, you know, who society is trying to raise up and, you know, give equal opportunities to. There's like, maybe it's not a conscious awareness of that, but maybe there's an unconscious awareness of the fact that, you know, they have had a huge advantage for a long time and they would like to continue to have that huge advantage yeah it's uh you know the these young white men are expect
Starting point is 01:09:34 experiencing like the most minor tiny like taste of what it's like to be looked over because of your sex or your race and they just don't know how to handle it right uh which which is uh i don't know it's hard to describe it's something that a lot of these people that are a part of this movement have never dealt with or experienced before so i think that uh that you're right that's where a lot of of the anger and rage comes from in this movement. And then just to wrap up, are you seeing any flagging of the momentum that sort of propelled Trump to the White House? And, you know, obviously there was the Doug Jones victory last night in Alabama. And, you know, are is are you seeing as somebody who's been following and paying attention to the, you know, alt right and just the right wing in general? Do are you seeing this as like part of a big movement or is is that just something that's happening while there's still this wave of, you know, right wing hatred kind of building at the same time? you know right-wing hatred kind of building at the same time yeah so there's there's that wave of right-wing hatred and i think that the people that are part of the alt-right and i mean like the
Starting point is 01:10:51 core true white nationalist alt-right realize that they're not going to get any of their own people elected or at least we hope not in 2018 uh but what they do hope to do is influence the level of public its face but before that he was this like crazy religious right-wing uh guy who thought that he could you know run the state out of a bible instead of the law book um or what he going to be more of a cultural one and less of a – less on one of promoting like Richard Spencer to the Senate or something. Right, just to be a factor, a force for evil. Right. Awesome. Well, thanks so much, Jared, for taking the time to talk to us.
Starting point is 01:12:03 Again, guys, you should please check out rightwingwatch.org. It is a very interesting website. They just really have their finger on everything and are doing great work. And, yeah, Jared, tell people where they can find you. You can find me on Twitter at J-A-R-E-D-L-H-O-L-T. And I'm posting every day to rightwingwatch.org. And we're on Twitter, Facebook, all that good stuff. So just hit it up.
Starting point is 01:12:28 Awesome. Jared, thanks so much, man. It was a pleasure. Thanks. All right. All right. That was our interview with Jared Holt from Right Wing Watch. And we are back with Megan.
Starting point is 01:12:36 Megan, it has been such a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much. Yeah. What a celebratory day. It was a good day. I'm happy I was here on a Doug Jones day and not a Roy Moore victory day. It would have been energetic. Energized either way.
Starting point is 01:12:52 Where can people follow you on social media? On my Twitter, Megan Gailey. My website got hacked by a Thai porn website, so don't go there right now. It's been taken down, but there was Thai porn on MeganGaley.com. And then you can find me on Instagram. That's BetterMeganGaley because some bitch had Megan Gailey. And I said, no, that's not happening. So best Megan Gailey comes out.
Starting point is 01:13:16 I actually own regular Megan Gailey now, too. Not regular. I own Megan Gailey now, too. I have that because she got married and gave it up. Boom. Ladies, keep your last name. You get to keep your Instagram. But then you wouldn't have your handle.
Starting point is 01:13:27 Okay. Well, if you're basic, take your husband's last name. And that's spelled M-E-G-A-N. And then Gailey is spelled G-A-I-L-E-Y. Miles, where can people follow you? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles of Great. You can follow me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. You can follow us on Instagram at jack underscore o'brien you can follow us
Starting point is 01:13:45 on instagram at the daily zeitgeist we are on twitter at daily zeitgeist uh we have a facebook fan page you know how to search words on facebook and you can find us on our website dailyzeitgeist.com where we post our episodes and our footnotes footnotes where we link off to the sources for all the shit we be talking and that's going to do it for today we will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast, talk to you guys then Defne Caruana Galizia
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