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July 24, 2023 - On Brand

02:23:41

OB #10 - Ron DeSantis

That's right it's an EMERGENCY EPISODE. Russell interviews Ron DeSantis, in a major step up for the status of his show. Support us on Patreon! - patreon.com/OnBrand

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	This is On Brand, a podcast where we discuss the ideas and antics of one Russell Brand.
	I'm Al Wirth, and each week I go through an episode of Brand's Show with my co-host Lauren B. Hi, I'm Lauren B., and I'm a sitting duck for what's about to happen.
	That is correct, and this is an emergency episode.
	Yeah, normally we do a thing that comes out on a Thursday.
	We're gonna have to do one in the middle this time as well.
	Don't worry, your regularly scheduled content will also be coming.
	But yeah, reasons for this emergency episode will become abundantly clear very shortly.
	But first, Lauren, what's your bright spot?
	I think I can guess what it is.
	Oh, well, I already have one planned.
	Okay, okay.
	So if you want to take the reins on that, I completely understand.
	So we actually got to see Eddie Peppertone this weekend.
	Twice.
	Twice.
	And yeah so well the first night we went on the Friday and um and let's see J.T.
	Haberstat was one of the supporting I love the dynamic of like an older person who's still um Very much involved in their career, either entertainment or comedy wise.
	And you've got a band of people 15 to 20 years younger than them, kind of taking care of them and allowing them to continue to tour and entertain.
	Same thing happened when I was a tattoo artist.
	That was my main gig.
	You kind of had old guy tattooers.
	You have a community of people around you that Kind of let you keep doing your thing even if you get a little older.
	I do, in real life, I listen to other comedians aside from Drossetti Pepitone, I feel like.
	Yeah.
	I feel like Ed's gotten a lot of play coming from this direction, but yeah, they were, everybody had different sets.
	There's a gal that opened for him too, I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but everybody did so good.
	It was really fun.
	Nice.
	Friday night we got blitzed, kind of accidentally.
	Oh, that's the best kind.
	Well, yeah, because we went to one of the amazing gay bars we have in town and we got to see Lucy Stuhl's Barbie Party.
	I didn't even expect to have drag queens at that night.
	Oh, so much fun.
	But yeah, Eddie was really great.
	And it's just everything like he can just keep saying sentences.
	It's amazing.
	We all talk and no one laughs.
	You know, it's not funny or fun at all.
	But this guy, he'll like make a face.
	He was making a face.
	Sorry.
	No, it's okay.
	I heard puppy sounds.
	Dog was having a dream.
	There we go.
	There we go.
	He is a puppy.
	He's only one, so... Oh, sure.
	Drama.
	It's drama time for the pup.
	Yeah.
	But yeah, so... Eddie Pepitone talks about... I think he talked... He just wasn't even doing material.
	He wasn't doing bits.
	He was just...
	Making shit up and just goofing and it was so funny and it was so fun and like we found out the first night that they were you know like hey uh not that you know the chick is still available and we're gonna do totally different sets so we're like let's just go yeah the second night and yeah we got a totally different show because even like Eddie Pepitone's like he doesn't really do the same bit the same way twice yeah yeah yeah And there's one bit where he pretends that he, he's, he's more like, um, it's a premonition of how he will be once he's senile and he's really reveling in it.
	And he's like, I'm still going to be a New York guy, but like, um, I will be senile.
	So being in a, you know, like in a, in a grocery store and just yelling like, Hey, where am I?
	At just a clerk.
	And it's a whole construction of a world.
	I'm not going to do it justice.
	It's really great.
	I would say, I encourage people as much as you possibly can.
	They don't have to be big deal comedians.
	Go to comedy clubs.
	It's so fun.
	It's really great.
	I feel like we don't necessarily do it enough, probably, because we've been to amazing comedy things, you know, in Chicago, and it's like, why aren't that many people here?
	This is the most fun thing happening today.
	Why are there not 10 times as many people in this room?
	But also, if you go to a comedy club, please don't talk at full volume.
	Oh, good God, no.
	No, no, no.
	It's so rude.
	And no, it's not like a rock show.
	And even then, don't do it then either!
	If someone's performing, shut the fuck up!
	I've been to plenty of shows and clubs where you can't even talk to someone because it's so loud.
	Texting was the most amazing thing to ever happen to us, going to small clubs that are too fucking loud.
	God, yeah, we had to find each other with our cell phones before texting was a thing.
	Or even just before, like, cell phones were a thing.
	We just had to, like, show up at a place and find each other, which was a nightmare.
	This is so much better.
	Please don't talk.
	Oh my God.
	You're, you're the worst.
	Please don't talk.
	Yeah.
	Just, just nobody is paying to hear you talk.
	You know, they're paying to hear the person on the stage.
	Shut up.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And we're all very excited to be there.
	Especially when it's like a room that's like not very, which is most like comedy clubs.
	Like it's not very big and we're trying to listen to this one person.
	So like, please go and then have all the conversations you want before and after.
	It's going to be shorter than a movie, the way that sets work, so just keep shtum for everybody else.
	For that period of time.
	Or, fuck off.
	You can always fuck off as well.
	Just leave.
	That's fine.
	Loud laughs.
	I know this may be shocking to y'all.
	That's fine.
	I'm fine with loud laughs.
	The first time that we said Ipepetone, there was a A lull in the set.
	And he made a joke that just hit me in just the right way.
	And he called me the Joker.
	And it was a high point in my life.
	He heard my laugh.
	He was like, Hollywood.
	And then I just, it struck me so funny.
	And I like, couldn't stop laughing.
	And he was like, the Joker's in the room.
	And then later he like, did a DJ set.
	This is a really weird day.
	This like, little bar.
	And I was like, and I told him, I was like, oh yeah, I'm the Joker.
	And he was like, oh, I love your laugh.
	That was so much fun.
	That was great.
	Thank you for coming.
	And I was like, of course, you're great.
	And we talked about like, traffic, the band.
	Oh right, okay, okay.
	And Warren Zeevon!
	I thought you meant like actual traffic.
	That's what I, yeah, as soon as it came out of my mouth.
	That's a very British thing to do, you know.
	Talking about traffic or the weather, those are incredibly British things to do.
	Yeah, I was actually on board, but the band makes a lot more sense.
	Right, right, right.
	So anyway, now Moratorium, I'm never mentioning it again, but Eddie Pepitone was my, and the whole show really, that's my bright spot.
	So what's your bright spot this week?
	Today?
	Not even this week, today.
	For the last few days, however long it's been.
	Well, firstly, being actually technically able to do this show.
	We just had technical difficulties for a full hour where we were both sat here going, what the fuck, the entire time.
	So glad that that's done.
	But you know what?
	In general, I am actually going to say my bright spot is this show because I've not done anything else other than look after my kid and do this because Because this thing came up that I was like, fuck, we have to deal with this immediately.
	I've not done anything else at all.
	But it's been good.
	I've enjoyed it.
	I enjoy the process.
	It means something.
	I got into this slightly at the end of the last episode, but it's meaningful work.
	And that feels good, even if there's a lot to do.
	So yeah, that's been good.
	Right.
	That's awesome.
	I could not agree more.
	Absolutely.
	It's great.
	I couldn't ask for more.
	My job in the interim is mostly avoiding possible news.
	I had to tell you to stay out of the subreddit because people had cottoned on to what had happened.
	Yeah.
	Which is fine.
	People are going to talk about shit, but yeah, there are certain things.
	Next time it happens, I'll tell you way in advance, just like, stay out of everything until we... Yeah, which is also fine.
	I totally, like, I can follow directions.
	That's totally okay.
	Yes.
	So normally here we would thank our new patrons but this is an emergency episode so we'll wait for the regular weekly show to do that.
	Though on a side note happy birthday Natalie I know it's your birthday and I hope it was wonderful.
	Oh happy birthday!
	Yeah yeah and we're we are small enough to still be able to do that right now so let's do that.
	I would also, just in general, like to thank all our patrons, because it's all of you who keep the show ad-free and editorially independent, so thank you very much.
	We are ever appreciative.
	I still don't believe any of you are real, even the friends.
	But again, I can follow directions.
	I don't need to know it.
	I wouldn't believe it, but I see the amount in the Patreon account.
	I'm like, well, that's there.
	Okay.
	Someone must be doing that.
	Maybe it's all just one person.
	Maybe it's Soros or someone.
	Klaus Schwab.
	Is it Soros?
	He's cheap.
	That's not what I've heard about Soros.
	That's true.
	Klaus Schwab.
	I know Brand doesn't like Klaus Schwab.
	I know that.
	But for the non-snoros, you're incredibly generous, if you do indeed exist.
	Yes, you are, you are.
	If anyone wants to support us and what we do, become an Awakening Wanderer or donate on a higher tier, head to patreon.com slash onbrand and you will have our eternal Gratitude and as a patron you will also get a shout out on the show and access to our patron only show Off Brand where we talk about pretty much anything but Russell Brand.
	And please note while you can easily listen to our audio version anywhere you can find podcasts you can also watch us on YouTube or if you listen in the Spotify app the video comes up there too.
	Now, now, now, we need to get into our first clip in which Brand introduces his guest for this show, which is the reason for this here emergency episode.
	Hello there, you awakening wonders.
	Thanks for joining me today for Stay Free with Russell Brand.
	It's a very special episode because Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and presidential candidate, is joining us.
	Get all the way out.
	Oh, no way.
	You can see why my response was like, fuck.
	So yeah, Ron DeSantis has made an appearance.
	Until this point, Brand has had more minor candidates for president on, right?
	RFK Jr., Cornel West.
	Marianne Williamson, but this seems to represent a notable leap upwards for the status of Russell's show.
	Depending exactly what happens with Trump, there is every possibility that DeSantis will be the Republican nominee to go up against Biden, which is pretty significant.
	It also means that Brand isn't that far away from potentially getting Trump on the show, which I'm sure would be just awful.
	Oh my God.
	Well, and to delineate, like if you've got, you know, Marianne Williamson, RFK Jr., all this, which I have thoughts and I'm going to say them.
	I have a thing and I've been literally begging for weeks to say it.
	I'm going to say it at the end.
	But Rhonda Sanders is actually a governor.
	Like he's actually a politician that has power right now.
	And being a governor is a big deal.
	That's not a small amount of power.
	And, you know, he's only second in the polls to Trump.
	If anything happens to Trump legally, most likely, or possibly physically, he's not a healthy man and he's very old.
	Then, you know, DeSantis is the de facto Republican nominee by that point.
	Yeah.
	I mean, his vibe?
	I would say my vibe based politicking, I think that yeah, Ron DeSantis is not doing great.
	Yeah, no, no.
	I mean, I don't like him.
	Oh, no, no, no.
	I mean, even just like for people like it just it doesn't seem like people are particularly excited about him or enthusiastic.
	But things can change on a dime.
	Do you know what I think that is?
	I think that is vocal minorities.
	I think that's what that is.
	Whether kind of middle America, whether the kind of all of the people who aren't polled, which is a lot of people, you know, whether that would actually make the difference.
	I don't know.
	I don't know.
	He's a more sensible candidate option than Trump, I would say, in terms of, you know, just actually Being a politician.
	You know, I'll say that.
	In that regard, absolutely.
	And I mean, it is hard to parse where the popularity contest ends and actual politics begins.
	It's also hard to even to blame or to attribute moving the needle to a vocal minority because the Republican machine is also already a vocal minority in a vocal
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	minority.
	So it's really hard to tell where the snake is actually biting its own tail or like...
	Yeah, yeah, exactly.
	How far along.
	Exactly.
	That kind of environment.
	It really is difficult to tell, but I'll say DeSantis is coming in second in the polls, and Trump's quite a bit ahead, but equally the people behind DeSantis are quite far behind him.
	Right.
	It seems like it's going to end up one of those first two.
	So let's see the introduction of DeSantis himself.
	Now, the reason that you've joined us, I'm sure, is because we have the great privilege of welcoming the Governor of Florida and Republican presidential candidate for 2024, Ron DeSantis.
	And I've got a copy of The Courage to be Free, Ron DeSantis' book, in my hand now to endorse it by proximity and contact.
	Ron, thank you so much for joining us on Stay Free with Russell Brand.
	Well, thanks for having me and thanks for plugging the book.
	Not everyone does that.
	I didn't even ask you to do it, so appreciate it.
	We are very professional here and we're very grateful to have you on the show.
	Thanks for joining us.
	Thanks for supporting and endorsing Rumble, which of course has its home in the state that you are the governor of.
	Is anyone surprised that Rumble HQ is in Florida?
	In any case, that's the opening introduction, and I wanted to get into DeSantis' book, The Courage to be Free, for a second.
	Now, normally I'd read the book and give my takes, but this being an emergency episode, I flat out have not had time.
	So I'm going to defer to a few reviews from The Guardian, The New York Times, and The New York Post.
	First thing to note is that the book's introduction, which is 12 pages long, uses the word elite more than 20 times.
	Stellar writing, no doubt, though it at least leads me to believe DeSantis actually wrote at least parts of this book himself.
	In the book, DeSantis brands the quote, National Legacy Press, as the praetorian guard of the nation's failed ruling class.
	He seconds Trump's claim that the fake news media is the enemy of the American people, and describes the Democratic Party as a woke dumpster fire.
	Nothing too surprising here, albeit nothing good.
	What I find most disconcerting personally is his insistence both in this book and this interview that he's providing Florida's blueprint for America's revival, insisting he can revive the country by inflicting the same sort of leadership as he has done over Florida.
	What that's looked like in practice is outlawing classroom discussion of sexual orientation throughout the third grade, preventing trans girls and women from participating in school and college sports, leading a ban on teaching critical race theory, and forbidding teachers and companies to discuss race and gender in a way that might make anyone feel, quote, discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress, unquote.
	Oh, and kidnapping asylum seekers to send to Massachusetts in a political stunt.
	There is that as well.
	So that's the book which Russell is endorsing here and the person he's giving his platform of a 6.5 million strong audience to as well.
	Hmm.
	I'm so profound.
	The marrow of my bones is bummed out.
	And I'm sorry.
	You know what?
	I like I I'm sorry for I don't get to come for anybody's voice.
	That's not fair.
	It's because he's so incredibly hateful.
	It just kind of puts everything in one.
	When you have someone being both joyful and hateful at the same time, that comes off as disgusting no matter what.
	When you have someone being both joyful and hateful at the same time, that comes off as disgusting
	no matter what.
	It's especially, like it's sharp to me.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	You're not gonna enjoy the rest of this episode.
	The next few hours are going to be tough on you, buddy.
	Okay, next we have a little more evidence that Russell is bad at writing stand-up comedy.
	Ron, when I was in Florida recently, I was struck by the amount of pride that Floridians have in their state.
	You appear to be universally endorsed by the population of Florida.
	I did stand-up comedy there.
	A lot of my stand-up was talking about measures taken in the pandemic where I live in the UK.
	So he was doing stand-up in Florida?
	Talking about lockdown measures in the UK.
	Do you think he had to explain every single joke?
	Especially to a state of people who were barely locked down in the first place, thanks to Ron DeSantis?
	I mean... We had this guy Boris Johnson, right?
	We had this guy Boris Johnson, a flopsy haired bundle of white privilege, and he was our Prime Minister, which is like what a president is.
	Do you think he had to just... I mean, come on.
	Do some American material at least.
	There's plenty of it.
	You know?
	But the boogeyman of other countries that took more measures that were pitched as completely insane and draconian to this exact group of people, I bet they lapped it up!
	Oh, I'm not surprised he did well.
	I'm not surprised at that at all.
	Nor am I. Of course he did.
	Oh my god.
	That was insane too.
	Okay, listen.
	I am having a moment.
	The fact that Russell Brand... 20 minutes in and... Yeah, I feel like I'm going to split in half.
	Kurt, like Ren and Stimpy, at the end of a particularly gnarly Ren and Stimpy episode, this is a lot.
	Just even the, like, Russell Brand, the branding of him, his brand meeting Ron DeSantis' brand, in and of itself, is weird.
	It is dissonant.
	Yep, yep, this is an unusual experience and I have enjoyed exactly none of it.
	Can we have those typical difficulties back?
	Now I miss them!
	Yeah, right.
	So, in this next clip, Russ has a little trouble getting his words out before sucking DeSantis' dick about COVID restrictions.
	And the broad and, I would say, spookily ubiquitous response to the pandemic in most places in the world except, one might contest, in Florida.
	I'm sure that the sense of state pride that Floridians have is a source of great joy to you.
	I wonder how you came to the position of confidence in taking a stance that was antithetical to the stance taken elsewhere in America.
	A surprisingly direct question from Brand here, so let's listen to DeSantis' response.
	Well, I'm glad you noticed that.
	I was born and raised in Florida, and while I've always loved the state, we didn't have the same type of pride growing up that, say, people in Texas have about Texas.
	And yet, in the last few years, particularly since I've been governor, we've developed that pride.
	And I think a lot of it's rooted in the fact that we told people like Fauci to take a hike during COVID.
	Uh, we were going to do it our way.
	We were going to be the free state of Florida and obviously that meant people had a right to work, right to operate businesses, kids needed to be in school.
	Mmm, so DeSantis is responsible for people taking pride in Florida.
	One thing that becomes abundantly clear in this interview is the sheer size of this man's ego and the narcissism which fuels it.
	I don't deny that Ron DeSantis has espoused Florida-specific nationalist and libertarian ideals, such as his Free State of Florida schtick, but the idea that it's only since he became governor that people have been truly proud of Florida is incredibly self-centered.
	Also, pride in being from Florida, if you're outside of the state of Florida.
	Here's the thing, I haven't been to Florida since all this bullshit has gone down.
	Since the world ended, yeah.
	Yeah, right?
	And, um, I can tell you that universally, the term Florida Man is not a compliment.
	No!
	So, maybe it's a little, there's a couple of different angles to examine this situation.
	Yeah, I've been hearing about Florida Man for at least 10 years.
	I've heard greased up Florida Man, like, stop right there.
	Like, there's, there's, you know, yeah.
	Oh yeah, normally it's, you know, Florida man fucked a gator and stole an ostrich and, you know, broke into an auction house for some reason, set it on fire, and then did a bunch of drugs and fell asleep in the road.
	You know, that's the kind of thing that you expect from Florida man.
	Or like, guy eats other guy's face.
	Dot, dot, dot, from Florida, and all of us are like, oh, okay.
	But also the Florida man trope, I will say.
	Yeah, yeah, the bath salts.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a thing.
	That was a thing.
	Sometimes you just have a bad day and it sucks.
	Sometimes you have a bad day and you eat someone's face, right?
	That's just what happens.
	Sometimes it's just rough.
	That's just what happens.
	One of the reasons that there is a trope, and I do want to acknowledge this up top, is because of Sunshine Laws.
	So we are more aware of Criminal activity because there are laws in place that make more of the Department of Justice process more transparent so more people can report on them and not every state has such transparent
	Yeah, that's true.
	Yeah, that's true. There is a bit of, I'd say that's a factor, but I have spent a fair amount
	of time in Florida, so I know it's not the only factor.
	Yeah, I was gonna say, I think that's the reason we're made aware of them. That's not necessarily the
	reason these things are happening.
	True.
	That's a different question.
	I do want to address the bias like right up top because there's like, I think New Jersey too is like that.
	So people seem crazier from those states when really we just know about the process.
	Yeah, people are just more aware.
	Yeah.
	Well, and we're just, it's easier to get those stories out and it's easier to research and it's easier to report on.
	So that's why we do have more of that information.
	But it's also, It's a rich tapestry of a place.
	It's a rich tapestry covering the length and breadth of the human experience.
	Yes, I would say that's accurate.
	In the next clip, DeSantis gets into why he chose to eschew COVID restrictions.
	And how did I come to it?
	I mean, part of it was I just looked at the data that was coming in.
	The whole premise of lockdown, both in the UK and in the United States, Was in the idea that COVID would cause massive amounts of hospitalizations, and we wouldn't even have any more hospital beds left over for normal patients.
	We all got those models, all governors, all heads of state.
	And I'm looking at this in like March and April, and none of it was accurate.
	All the predictions were bogus.
	And so I said, listen, this is something that we're going to have to live with.
	Sweden is living with it, and they're doing much better than most of these other countries in Europe.
	So up to December 2020, the Swedish government had a fairly unique response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
	They took a lenient approach, prioritizing the economy and only pursuing social distancing measures such as bans on large gatherings and limited travel restrictions.
	This drew widespread criticism internationally and from the science community.
	On December 18th the Prime Minister of Sweden announced new and tougher restrictions, December 18th 2020 by the way, new and tougher restrictions and recommendations including the use of face masks on public transport and closure of all non-essential public services.
	In January 2021, a new pandemic law was passed that allowed for the use of lockdown measures and legally limited some gatherings.
	Further measures were introduced in July and December 2021, such as vaccine passports.
	Accordingly, because of being so slow to actually take it seriously, the impact on the country's healthcare system and its reported death toll have been far greater than in other Nordic countries.
	And the response was considered slow and insufficient by an independent commission.
	Ron uses Sweden as an example of what to do, but in reality the initial response from Sweden was a colossal failure, which led to thousands more deaths than were needed.
	De Santis also says that none of the predictions about hospital beds were accurate, But the data explicitly disagrees, especially in Sweden, where for a period all their hospitals could provide were emergency or COVID care and tens of thousands of operations and regular treatments, including cancer treatments, were postponed.
	I'd also like to point out the sheer fucking stupidity of putting everyone into lockdown for six weeks, as DeSantis did begrudgingly, and then saying, oh, all these predictions about hospital beds are nonsense.
	Let's let everyone run wild again.
	Like, that is literally the lockdown doing the thing it's supposed to do and keeping people out of hospital.
	That is how that worked.
	And this man couldn't even fucking tell that that's what happened.
	Well, you know what, I mean, it didn't matter.
	It didn't matter.
	Oh, not to him, no.
	And that's, yeah, and that's, oh my god, I'm so mad.
	Oh my god, I'm so mad.
	Oh my god, I'm so mad.
	Okay, and also the stories that we had to hear from actual people that live in that state, what they had to go through is horrendous.
	Because if you don't have, basically if the government body, most of which is state run,
	then, especially when it comes to healthcare, if you don't have basically like red lights
	or green lights for what counts as this is an emergency situation that's happening, there's
	so much less support that you can get from a state that already really leaves its citizens
	out to dry.
	It was the fucking Wild West.
	I'm just gonna say it.
	It was just, do whatever you want, nobody gives a shit.
	Doesn't make a difference that there is a literal plague.
	So next, DeSantis throws some shade at Fauci.
	Shocking, I tell you.
	Shocking.
	I think that the goal of Fauci The ego!
	to have rolling lockdowns.
	So you'd lock down, then COVID would go down, then you could maybe open back up.
	But when the next wave started, you would have to lock down again.
	And I think they would have wanted to repeat that over and over again.
	Had Florida not stood in the way, I think they would have gotten away with it.
	But what happened was, we said we're standing for freedom.
	We remember we had a COVID wave summer of 2020.
	Everyone was telling me, you've got to lock down Florida.
	Fauci was saying it, the White House, the press, the left, all these people.
	And I said, no.
	I said, I'm going to stand.
	A lot of people said, your political career is over.
	And at the end of the day, so be it, right?
	A leader's got to do what he thinks is right.
	You've got to stand up for your folks, protect their jobs, instead of worrying about your own political hide.
	And so that's what we did.
	It made the state better, and that did.
	So my first question is, why would Fauci want rolling lockdowns?
	To what end?
	Oh, to save lives, you say?
	So according to the Florida Department of Health, during the months of June, July and August 2020, so the lockdown was lifted in June, The number of COVID-19 cases in Florida increased over 11-fold, from 56,830 on June 1st to 631,040 on September 1st.
	in Florida increased over 11 fold from 56,830 on June 1st to 631,040 on September 1st. During
	these same months, the seven day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths increased nearly fourfold
	from an average of 29.7 newly reported deaths per day on June 1st to 113 deaths per day
	on September 1st. That, Ron, is the direct result of your bullshit.
	Thousands of excess deaths can be laid squarely at your feet, and you have the fucking audacity to use it for political gain, presenting it as some kind of freedom.
	I go past, like, I'm past anger.
	It's just heartbreaking.
	It's absolutely heartbreaking.
	Also, like, we all lost people here.
	Yeah.
	All of us did, and it touched our lives, and it was incredibly painful.
	And it was so hard to even face the reality.
	It was so hard to face reality, which you know what?
	I can understand why someone would jam their head in the sand as far as they possibly could, because it is so difficult and painful to deal with the reality.
	Yeah, the actual situation sucks.
	But this from him is inexcusable.
	It's really amazing.
	And I knew statistics were coming.
	Like, I knew you had numbers, and it's like, I have to brace myself.
	It's almost like I'm giving myself a trigger warning of like, OK, we're going to have to hear it again.
	And it's awful.
	It's so difficult.
	I do not understand.
	I do not understand how this man can sleep at night.
	I actually don't.
	When he's done this and then he says, oh, no, we're the free state of Florida.
	Go fuck yourself.
	It's insane.
	That is unbelievably disgusting.
	And it's just it feels like it doesn't feel like he goes to bed.
	It feels like he gets like his eyes stay wide open and he backs himself into a closet where he plugs in at night and then they close the door and then pop him back out like 8 a.m.
	Time to be horrible.
	And he's like, wow, OK.
	And it's just same thing like it.
	Because it doesn't feel like he's a real person.
	Yeah, he's such a ghoul.
	Yeah.
	And you know what?
	That explains why all of his positions are completely ghoulish.
	He's a ghoul.
	There we go.
	All the way down.
	It's just, I've never, I mean, wow.
	All the way through.
	All the way through.
	Next up.
	You're going to like this next one.
	So next up, from a federal health perspective, DeSantis wants a return to the actual Wild West.
	You still have people today, Fauci and the like, they think that what they did was right.
	They think that these lockdowns worked.
	And so my fear is, if this happens in the future, a lot of these people are going to want to do the same thing again.
	So one of the things I pledged as president, and I think I'm the only one running on the Republican side who will be willing to do this, we're going to bring a reckoning to this health bureaucracy and this medical swamp.
	Because these agencies like CDC, NIH, FDA, They failed the American people, they become corrupted, and they did a lot of damage with these unscientific anti-freedom policies.
	Unscientific!
	The balls on this man!
	So he just named the Center for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration as being deserving of a reckoning of some kind.
	Best case scenario, he wants to make them toothless.
	Worst case scenario, he wants to abolish them altogether.
	That, to me, signifies an actual return to the wild fucking West, where your biggest concerns all of a sudden are going to be typhus and literal snake oil salesmen.
	Yeah, well, they're already pretty toothless, unfortunately.
	So he wants to make it even worse.
	Imagine, like, fucking, you know, various industries without the FDA regulating, like, no, no, no, you can't call this a fucking miracle cure for whatever.
	Literal snake oil salesmen.
	They're already, that's the thing, I can imagine it really easily.
	I know, exactly.
	This is what I'm saying.
	Imagine how much worse it could get.
	It's already bad, but this would just be full on.
	And the Centre for Disease Control?
	The CDC needs a fucking reckoning of some kind?
	This man's a complete moron.
	Now, out of interest, what do you think Russell's response is going to be?
	What do you reckon?
	Oh, no.
	I already forgot where I am and what we're doing.
	I'm so disoriented already.
	I mean, he's going to be pro, right?
	He's going to be like, yeah, that's a great idea.
	He's going to be into it.
	Let's find out.
	Well that's pretty heartening to hear.
	In retrospect your stance increasingly seems to have been the correct one and that's interesting and exciting in fact to hear you talk about a reckoning.
	Oh, there we go.
	It's exciting.
	He loves it.
	It's heartening and exciting.
	Heartening.
	I'd love to say I'm surprised, but I expected nothing less from someone who so casually trades in COVID and anti-vax misinformation.
	Of course you think that.
	It's just so rich dicks.
	Like, you know what?
	I bet, I bet These guys absolutely think this.
	That they think that this is all fine and great and they're all just patting each other on the back because they're fucking rich and they don't need to live real human lives.
	They live behind big gates and get other people to do their groceries.
	Yeah, they live in pretend-ville so they can say whatever they want.
	Oh my god, this is really gross.
	This is really gross.
	Yep.
	So from here, Russell asked a long and rambling question which culminated in, eventually, How would you preside over the USA if you fundamentally believe in decentralization, states' rights, and the ability for states to self-govern?
	And here is the very stupid thing DeSantis says.
	So part of the project, I think, is to take power out of Washington and send it back to the states, the localities and individuals.
	That means we need a radical reduction of the federal bureaucracy.
	We're going to tell our cabinet secretaries that they have to reduce the number of employees that they have inside D.C.
	by 50 percent.
	And that's going to probably be the biggest reduction in power in Washington in modern American history, but we cannot go down the road of letting more and more power consolidate in Washington D.C.
	So, reduce the federal employees of cabinet members in Washington D.C.
	by 50%.
	Firstly, I want to understand how exactly he thinks that will take power out of Washington.
	The power inherent in the executive branch is not in admin staff or assistants of assistants.
	Secondly, the only thing doing this would actually achieve is making his cabinet run like a complete fucking shambles.
	It's the classic situation where some enterprising business person says, hey, paying all these people is expensive.
	Let's fire half of them, and then they do their best Pikachu shocked face when 50% of the people can't do 100% of the job.
	Many of us have worked in places that have done this, myself very much included, and it inevitably leads to a complete shitshow of overworked staff who can accomplish very little.
	The hilarious thing about it, of course, is that DeSantis wouldn't be able to do this to someone else's cabinet, just his own as the president, so he would effectively kneecap his own administration from day one.
	Lauren gestures to Twitter as the perfect example of what understaffing can do to a perfectly reasonable company that was functioning and now does not.
	That went well, didn't it?
	Firing pretty much everyone.
	Oh my god, that's so...
	It's so stupid and crazy.
	I'm sorry, I don't have better things to say.
	No, it's incredibly dumb.
	It's incredibly dumb and this is someone who wants to be president.
	How could you not think through the consequences of this and still want to lead the country?
	We've played this game and we're still playing this game right now because >> And cabinet positions have gone unfilled because of the
	bureaucracy of the Senate, because of Congress, and things go poorly.
	Like there are constant problems because cabinet seats aren't getting filled.
	Nominations are bogging down and taking forever.
	And that's where, like, we know how this goes.
	It's already bad.
	Why would... What in the... I can't... It's phenomenally fucking stupid.
	Yeah, I just...
	I don't know, you'd end up in a situation where you basically just have the cabinet members and a few fucking people and they're trying to run entire departments for 330 million and that's just not gonna work, Ron.
	I don't know how else to say that.
	Also, you need more people on a federal level.
	Because there's more people to worry about.
	And because there's more people!
	He doesn't understand that concept.
	Yeah, he's not even going to accomplish the shit that he wants to do bad!
	No, exactly!
	He's just going to fuck himself by doing this, so in a way I'm fine with it, Ron.
	Carry on.
	If you do win, by all means, shoot yourself in the foot on day one.
	I would love to watch it happen.
	That's insane!
	Okay, alright.
	Yeah.
	So next I want to highlight a serious problem with brands interviewing skills and style.
	If this process is undertaken in good faith, how will that affect the culture war, an issue that you've been most outspoken on?
	If you genuinely are devolving power in the manner that you have described?
	That's the first part of my question that I may offer you, because presumably California would have a whole different set of values, different policies on green issues, for example, different policies on homelessness, and many of the topics loosely corralled under, let's say, wokeness and the anti-woke discourse that's been dominating political and culture more broadly for a while.
	And the second part of my question is, are you willing to approach and rebut centralised power in its corporate and private form in the same way that you would confront it in the state form?
	I'm talking, of course, of giant monopolies and duopolies in the areas of big tech and even energy and media.
	Because of course one of the arguments that is advanced for pro-state power is that it gives us the ability to confront corporate power even if that isn't happening anywhere in American politics at the moment.
	No is the answer.
	No.
	If you look at, for anyone watching, if you look at DeSantis' face through that entire clip, he is confused, he has lost track of what the fuck is going on.
	So this interview was very much presented as Brand vs. DeSantis, right, in the little trailer they put out.
	Yeah, the implication being that Brand would be giving him a tough time.
	Now, other than pushing a couple of very specific questions, I didn't really see any pushback here in this interview, or even follow-up questions.
	What I did see is questions like the one we just heard, in which Brand just throws a bunch of shit out there, having two parts to his question and several rambling tangents.
	Meaning, it's left up to Ron to decide what he feels like answering in the moment.
	It's impossible to give a straight answer to a question that curves back and forth, which left this whole interview feeling incredibly frustrating.
	At one point, Brand even said he'd be asking DeSantis whether he would pardon Trump for his crimes, but only after everyone had joined them off YouTube and on Rumble.
	And then, when solely on Rumble, he never actually asked the fucking question!
	Of course.
	Steady, let's go and do this.
	Never circles back to it, because whoop, too distracted.
	Oh my god, this is really... Do you know what?
	If you're just having a fucking rambling conversation with Richard Dawkins about bullshit that you believe, fine.
	You know what?
	There's more of a place for it there.
	If you're trying to have a hard-hitting interview with an actual politician, for fuck's sake, step your game up just a little bit.
	Especially these extremely slippery fucks.
	Like you have to be so specific.
	You have to be so specific.
	And yeah, because I mean, I don't necessarily know how I'd answer that.
	Because yeah, you can't answer all of it.
	What do you pick?
	What do you pick?
	Again, I've heard that question about four or five times in making this show, but listening to it for the first time, you're like, what?
	What the fuck?
	It's like, oh, well, I found it and then lost it and then found it and then lost it because that's he's just he.
	So it's a consistent theme throughout this interview that DeSantis is just able to just dodge his way around.
	So he's not even dodging.
	He just picks a part of the question that he likes and goes with that rather than dealing with the actual question being asked.
	And why wouldn't he?
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	I fucking would.
	In the next clip, DeSantis illustrates how little he understands the First Amendment.
	I do think if we break up the relationship between big government and some of these big monopolies, particularly in the tech sphere, I think that's actually going to have universal benefit throughout the country because there's going to be more ability to speak freely.
	You're not going to have Uncle Sam with its thumb on the scale.
	And let's just be clear about this.
	The federal government could not censor you and say you can't say something about, say, lockdowns.
	That would violate the First Amendment.
	Everybody knows that.
	But they can't subcontract out that to a private entity and have the private entity do what the federal government couldn't do directly.
	It's still a violation of the First Amendment.
	Alright then, Ron.
	Take the government to court over it.
	Give it a try and see how it goes.
	Oh?
	You're not going to do that when it's still clearly a violation of the First Amendment?
	Perhaps because the government has not once forced Facebook to do or say anything regarding how it polices speech on its own platform.
	What you're actually talking about is a private company using its platform however it so pleases.
	In this case, Facebook acknowledged that they had a social responsibility to ensure correct information about the pandemic and vaccines was being spread on their platform, and they acted accordingly.
	The reality is, Facebook could force all of its users to only be allowed to type the words, Ron DeSantis is a bigoted piece of shit, and that would still be perfectly fine because, once again, they're a private company and can do what they want.
	Plus, Ron DeSantis is a proven bigot, so there is that.
	Right.
	The notion... Oh my god.
	He just was talking about how quote-unquote pro-business and pro-business owner he is for Florida, and that's one of his values.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And he wants to try and regulate a private company into...
	not doing whatever the fuck it wants. 15 asterisks after freedom.
	Wow, we're going to see plenty of that in this interview, I guarantee you.
	So next DeSantis shows he doesn't quite understand the second amendment either.
	I think this whole idea of freedom in our society has got to be viewed through the lens of yes,
	we know big government can be bad for freedom.
	There's no question about it.
	But we live in an era where a lot of these big private concentrations of power are exercising Kind of government-like power.
	I mean, if you have Wall Street banks collude to deny funding for, say, gun shop owners, well, that's an indirect attack on the Second Amendment.
	When you have different types of tech companies colluding with government to censor certain subjects, that's an attack on the First Amendment.
	You've got to understand that freedom's under attack not just from government power.
	There's also concentration of private power, which does threaten a free society.
	Private banks deciding not to give funding to a gun shop owner is not a violation or an attack on the Second Amendment.
	So the Second Amendment reads, quote, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, unquote.
	It says nothing about the right to sell arms.
	And if the federal government tried telling private banks they had to provide loans to gun shop owners, that would be a violation of the First Amendment.
	You should be embarrassed, Ron, that I, a British person who has never so much as set foot in your country, am having to explain this to you.
	Also, I'd like to point something out about DeSantis' supposed hatred of big government.
	He advocates personal freedoms and espouses a lot of libertarian views, but in April of this year signed a bill banning abortions in Florida after six weeks, or 15 weeks in the cases of rape or incest.
	I just wanted to point out the complete hypocrisy of being against big government but being absolutely fine with government being in people's vaginas and destroying reproductive rights.
	Uh huh.
	Oh yeah.
	Yep.
	Yep.
	What?
	Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say about the big government thing, because yeah, whenever he wants to, he wants the biggest government he could possibly have.
	Biggest government possible!
	Yeah, like the most thoroughly intrusive level of governing.
	Yeah.
	But it's a lot easier if you don't think women or children are people, but they are in fact property, in which case Apply whatever laws that you want to less than human people.
	Um, also probably that's, you know what I'm going on, but I feel like that's probably what's going on.
	What also, okay.
	And, and I don't know how much Rhonda Santus has done this in his own administration personally, because I honestly can't keep track, but if they're so upset With federal power and the federal government, stop using the federal Supreme Court to overrule your own state Supreme Court's decisions because you don't like them.
	That happens constantly in this country and it's insane that they're bitching about a federal government when, guess what, you use one big hunk of it That is drunk with power and is absolute, like the Supreme Court is off the fucking rails and you're happy to override your own state government, state legislature, state Supreme Court decisions if it fits your whim.
	Oh my God, that makes me mad.
	Yep.
	It's 100% just picking and choosing.
	That's exactly it.
	I don't like big government except for the bits of big government that I really like.
	That I want.
	Yeah.
	So, so, so.
	Yeah, let's get back to it.
	Sorry.
	No, no, no.
	Given the course of the interview so far, what do you suppose Russell thinks of Ron DeSantis?
	Are they going to start braiding each other's hair?
	Will they hire people to braid each other's hair remotely?
	I'm sure that's how it's going to go.
	Let's find out.
	So far, so good, so presidential, and so many questions yet remaining.
	Oh, that's not a good look.
	Maybe he's dumping RFK Jr.
	in favor of his new, more famous Republican daddy.
	Well, I think, so whatever is shiny in front of him is what he likes, I think.
	Shiny and bigger, 100%.
	If he interviewed Trump next week, he'd all of a sudden be on the Trump train.
	It's guaranteed.
	It's starfuckery and trying to get their audience.
	So now, I mentioned there were a couple of things Russell wouldn't let go, and here's one of them.
	Actually, before we get on to Trump, Ron, could I just say that are you willing to acknowledge and accept that the kind of freedom that you're talking about, and of course it's telling that the example you use is like, you know, gun shop owners, but would you, as president, a president that's looking to decrease state power, recognize that in states that are conventionally more aligned with liberal values and even The kind of woke values that you have publicly condemned.
	Would they have the right to pursue policies in those areas?
	Would they be granted the same freedom that you have demanded and exhibited in Florida were you the President of the United States?
	Actually, I don't even think it's a question of granting.
	and for once quite well put.
	For once, Russell, I don't really have any notes.
	Well done.
	Let's see Ron's answer here.
	Well, actually, I don't even think it's a question of granting.
	I think our constitution is set up.
	It was created by the states.
	The states created the constitution.
	They retained the bulk of the power, and they're allowed to use that power to do what their constituents want.
	And as much as I kind of look to see some of the stuff that may go on in California and shake my head, clearly they're going to have a right to pursue some of the things.
	Like, for example, how they handle their energy situation.
	I think it's a mistake.
	You have rolling blackouts.
	You have all these problems.
	I think they're putting ideology ahead of of sound science, but nevertheless, if people don't like
	that, they can vote in a new government.
	They can vote them out of office.
	So that's just the nature of a federalist system.
	We understand that there's 50 different states.
	We say it's a laboratory of democracy.
	Okay, so on its face, DeSantis appears actually willing to put his money where his mouth is.
	Curious that he pivoted away from any of the woke agenda stuff he so regularly rails against, instead choosing to attack California's energy system.
	Which partly relies on renewable energies.
	The major problems that California's energy system has had in recent years with rolling blackouts has predominantly been down to unexpected heat waves that were both longer and more intense than anyone could have predicted.
	Air conditioning units are pretty power-hungry beasties, which collectively drain the power grid quite a bit.
	Basically, climate change is wreaking havoc, and Ron's answer is to rely on more fossil fuels, while California is trying to up its renewable energies to help prevent heatwaves from getting worse and more frequent.
	Essentially.
	And if you're a dollop listener, you are very familiar with what PG&E and the California power grid goes through and why.
	And there's rampant corruption, which is also what can happen when you have an understaffed Government body, or you have an under-monitored, under-regulated government body.
	Also, uh, what about Texas?
	Regulated, you say?
	Yeah, it's funny he doesn't bring Texas up.
	If we're talking about rolling blackouts and a failing energy infrastructure, I'm sorry ma'am, you're gonna have to guess who I think of first.
	Half of Texas being in a fucking blizzard without electricity for two weeks.
	Yeah, watching people's roofs cave in.
	Yeah, oh my god.
	Funny he doesn't bring that up.
	Tell me, who live in Texas, how fucked up it is.
	Yeah, me too, me too.
	Oh my god.
	Some of you are listening and you already know how mad I am.
	Hi, Texas listeners.
	I feel bad for you.
	I do.
	I do.
	You need to do something about that whole energy system thing.
	Yeah, so next.
	Next, apparently people are leaving California because of the woke agenda.
	I will point out, though, that the people are leaving those woke states and they're migrating to states like Florida who are doing it differently.
	So I think in terms of the experiment of people voting with their feet, the results of that have been very, very clear.
	They're choosing Florida above all else.
	They're choosing Texas, Tennessee.
	They're basically choosing states that have rejected the woke agenda.
	They're super not doing that!
	They're super duper not doing that!
	So, on this point, he's kind of right.
	Lots of people are leaving California for Florida, and more than usual at the moment.
	It has gone up recently.
	But, per capita, there are still more people leaving Florida for California than the other way around.
	And if you look at the actual number of people leaving each state for the other, it's about equal.
	So, um, big fucking whoop, Ron.
	There's also no way of knowing or predicting why these people are leaving, so Ron's just making shit up in terms of it being about some woke agenda.
	They're either moving to somewhere that's, well, yeah, you're right.
	There is no mind reading.
	There is a lot of moving around because living is so expensive today, right now.
	Yeah, and do you know what?
	There are two tendencies, right?
	Old people move to Florida because that's where they want to retire and eventually die.
	Young people move to California because there's stuff there.
	That's it.
	Yeah, well, and I mean...
	Also, moving because you want, you know, maybe you want the same size house for less money and you want access to certain... Oh, I love that.
	Yeah, right?
	That makes sense.
	But what I do know... Or if you're moving to California, the opposite, you know, same size house for even more money.
	Fantastic.
	Right.
	But also, yeah, if your houses are burning down because of wildfires, yeah, that's also an issue.
	Maybe you want to leave.
	Maybe, maybe.
	If you are watching your neighborhoods go up in flames, that's certainly an element.
	Maybe you're really into alligators.
	Who knows, right?
	It's just not... You don't know!
	None of us can know.
	I would go to Florida if I was really into alligators.
	Well, the thing is, I do know of... I mean, you know what?
	And it's anecdotal, but I know that there are Facebook groups that are organizing to get people and their queer kids, their trans kids out of Florida.
	There could be two very different Motivations, one of which is the safety and the life of your child.
	There is a little bit of a railroad having to happen at the moment.
	A lot of them are coming to Illinois.
	I do absolutely know about that.
	Right, and I will be getting into that a little bit later.
	It's gonna be heartbreaking.
	Yeah, but first, next, he gets a little more into why people are moving to Florida.
	and that are focusing on just common sense princip
	like safe streets, qualit that's just been our brea
	We're ranked the number o country out of 50 states
	not a fan of mine.
	We have the number one for new business formations and we've had more wealth migrate into Florida since I've been governor than has ever migrated into an individual state over a similar period of time in American history.
	So we're proud of that and we think Americans can make judgments about where they want to live.
	So it's interesting that CNBC put Florida as number one, saying that they have a white-hot economy at the moment.
	Barring the earlier COVID stats in mind, I wonder how many lives it costs to reach that assessment.
	Various other outlets like US News don't even have Florida in the top 10 for economy, so it's fair to say that there can be a difference of opinion as to what makes somewhere economically great.
	In 2017, Florida's per capita personal income ranked 26th in the U.S., and out of the top 25 cities with the highest credit card debt, Florida has two, Miami and Tampa, ranking 14th and 19th, respectively.
	So perhaps Florida is great for businesses, but it doesn't sound so great for people.
	That's also California.
	You're going to talk size of economy and robustness of economy?
	Gestures towards California.
	In terms of actual scale in the country, Florida is fourth out of the, you know, in terms of just actual size.
	But, you know, that doesn't necessarily dictate success.
	Oh, no.
	Yeah.
	Just as far as like California, like the actual economy of California.
	California's economy is bigger than a lot of countries.
	Yeah.
	Anyway, so next Russell gets a little fed up with the Florida talk and asks another uncharacteristically decent question.
	No one's saying you haven't done a great job in Florida.
	I've been to Florida.
	I had a good time in Florida.
	My stand-up comedy audience love you in Florida.
	No one's saying that except perhaps when it comes to devolving the power for schools and allowing them and allowing their parents to participate in Which books should be permitted when it comes to ideology, and which books should be banned?
	Now, I agree with decentralization, and I fundamentally believe that true freedom is other people's freedom.
	And I wonder, just to use this rather localized example, if you were to grant similar freedoms in California, you can imagine that the types of books that might get banned wouldn't be books that promote certain sexualities and certain lifestyles, they might be more Well they've done that for years.
	I mean, I don't think in California they would allow a Bible.
	that if schools for example in California said we want to ban the Bible
	or we don't want to talk about Christianity or we don't talk about
	heterosexual families or we want further gun coal legislation you'd be down for
	all that. Well they've done that for years I mean I don't think in California
	they would allow a Bible I think it should be allowed of course but I don't
	think that they do do that. Oh of course.
	California have banned the Bible in schools, have they?
	Are you fucking kidding me?! !
	I didn't even need to look this up because do you know what would happen if California banned the Bible in schools?
	The right wing would be going bug fuck ape shit and it would be literally all the news was talking about from now until the end of time.
	The only Bible banning!
	Despite the fact, by the way, that the US is supposed to have separation of church and state so all religious texts should be banned outside of actually being taught religious studies.
	Well, and the only Bible banning that's happening is because of the laws that these psychos are putting in place, because the Bible is full of stories and tales that are banned under the new book banning laws.
	So any banning of the Bible, the only Bible banning is because they're the ones that made these laws.
	And they're miserable pieces of shit.
	It's like, A, you didn't think this through, and B, you clearly have not read your own book.
	And that's a theme.
	So next, Ron finishes his thought.
	For example, take it away from the sexualization.
	We have holocaust education in Florida.
	If a teacher teaches that the holocaust didn't happen, we obviously, the parents would blow the whistle and there would be issues.
	So we have a right to set what standards we want to be taught.
	We can pick what subjects.
	That we want to be taught and do it in that direction.
	But nothing is being banned.
	You guys can knock yourself out on any of that stuff.
	Just don't put it in a fourth grade classroom where it's not appropriate.
	So I think we've gotten it right.
	I think we're getting the education back on the idea that this should be about instructing kids for a better life so that they can think for themselves, be citizens of the Republic.
	We don't want our schools to just be indoctrination centers where it's all about imposing an ideological agenda.
	Yes you do!
	So, first up, he's just playing with words here.
	When people are saying banned, they mean banned in schools, Ron, and you know it because that's what you did, so shut the fuck up.
	So remember when I said before about him banning LGBTQ plus books and education through fourth grade?
	If only I could forget.
	Last month, DeSantis expanded the Don't Say Gay Bill prohibiting sexual orientation or gender identity education in pre-k through eighth grade, restricting reproductive health education in sixth through twelfth grade, and requiring that reproductive health instruction, quote, be age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards, unquote.
	The bill requires schools to teach, quote, that sex is determined by biology and reproductive function at birth, that biological males impregnate biological females by fertilizing the female egg with male sperm, that the female then gestates the offspring, and that these reproductive roles are binary, stable, and unchangeable, unquote.
	He then has the gall to say he doesn't want schools to be indoctrination centres imposing an ideological agenda.
	DeSantis also signed a bill that bans transition-related care for minors in the state.
	The bill he signed, effective immediately, grants Florida temporary custody of children whose parents provide them with gender-affirming care.
	The measure would also bar the use of public funds to cover such care for anyone, including adults.
	Healthcare providers who violate the measure could face a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
	It's at present impossible to quantify the damage DeSantis is doing to the LGBTQ plus community in Florida, but I can say with certainty that the blood of trans and queer youth will be on his hands if it's not already.
	I'm sure it is.
	I'm sure it is.
	The free state of Florida in fucking deed.
	Where you are free to be white, cisgendered, heterosexual, and nothing else.
	I gotta fight.
	I gotta fight for this one.
	To think about...
	Yeah, it's emotional.
	It makes it- - It's emotional.
	How long are we at?
	Yeah, I'm overcome.
	'Cause I think about the kids who I've seen their stories and I've seen their moms have to,
	and their dads have to fight and lose in local legislatures pleading, begging these monsters
	to stop victimizing their children.
	It is so evil and so insane.
	And like...
	The Pulse nightclub shooting happened in your fucking state and that didn't make you pause and think maybe we shouldn't demonize the queer community quite so much.
	Not even for a second and the worst part is like we're both getting emotional about this but I know without a doubt that him and people like him find it hilarious that we are so impassioned about this subject Well, that's one of the, like, yeah, and fine, great.
	Like, knock yourselves out, you fucking reptiles.
	Like, I just, that's an insult to reptiles.
	That's an insult to reptiles, I was gonna say.
	I apologize, our reptile listeners.
	But I feel like cold-blooded is particularly appropriate, though, out of that.
	So, next up... We're trucking along!
	Let's get through this!
	Next up, Bram goes back, and this might be one of our quickest episodes.
	Next up, Bran goes back to decentralisation, but opens up yet another dodge for DeSantis.
	And in a truly decentralised model that enshrines decentralisation and democracy, what would be important would be the principle rather than the subject.
	So you would likely get schools that said, yeah, we want these type of books.
	And if that were democratically agreed upon by the parents of those schools, you as President of the United States would say, sure, Well, obviously, I think the president's role in K-12 education is incredibly limited.
	These are things that are really bottom-up, school districts and states, and I think the proper recourse would be for parents on that local level to elect more people to the school board so that they could change the curriculum in ways that they think are appropriate.
	But, yeah, we will not be having a federal government-imposed Uh, national K-12 curriculum.
	Uh, first of all, I don't think that it would even work.
	And second of all, I don't think the federal government has the affirmative authority to do that.
	See, because Russell said, as President, Ron could just say, eh, it's not the President's job to dictate who reads what, that's a local problem.
	And he's able to wriggle out of it.
	It's just a shoddy question from Brand there, which ultimately leads to him getting frustrated at the lack of answers, when it's all coming down to how he frames it.
	Brand is throwing rakes on the floor, wandering about, and then wondering why he keeps getting hit in the face with rakes.
	It's like, buddy, just stop doing the thing.
	Stop doing the thing.
	All right, okay.
	I mean, I do want to say, like, right, so we, I don't know if it's going to come up again, we referenced earlier the polling, right, as far as understanding where, like, where Ron DeSantis lies on the scale of national importance.
	His particular, yeah, like, political landscape.
	But, so much polling just depends on how they ask the questions, so it's virtually impossible for me to take any stock either way.
	Yeah, I don't trust it.
	I don't trust it.
	Consistently, most regular ass human beings that live here, hovering around 70%, I mean, I hope.
	want the policies that are happening in Florida. Like, consistently, do not want what he's putting forth.
	I hope you're right.
	Like, the actual, like, the thing is, is voting does not equal polling, unfortunately.
	No, and even then, people can get voted in and just pretty much do whatever the fuck they want.
	Yeah, it's working out great so fucking far, man.
	Jesus.
	That's kind of what happens.
	What I do pay attention to is that he won his election by 19 points.
	That's a fucking landslide, almost.
	I do have an acute awareness of that, and it's worrying.
	Whether he'd be able to pull that on a national scale, I don't know.
	Yeah.
	So next, next comes another dangerous and stupid take from Rom.
	That's interesting because it seems increasingly what you're saying is from the office of president you would devolve power wherever possible and leave ideology to democracy.
	Yeah, I would eliminate the Federal Department of Education if we can.
	I don't think that that the federal government was never envisioned.
	got really any role in K they've tried to do is th
	funding to force behavior school districts. So for
	the women's sports, you k they say, you know, you h
	identifies a woman, they to do women's sports. Oth
	money. So they've used th the Biden administration
	My view would be like, let's take education, send it back to the states, get the federal government out.
	Yes.
	Is Oakland and in Berkeley, are they going to do it a way that I would like it?
	No way they're going to do that.
	But that would free up the vast majority of school districts who probably would see it my way to have the freedom to be able to institute sound policies.
	Yeah, man.
	Democracy works.
	Thank you.
	That's really interesting.
	Yeah man, democracy works.
	Not even so much as an ounce of considered thought on this subject from Russell there.
	Fair is fair.
	Again, DeSantis is saying he'd let left-wing states do what they want in terms of education.
	If he's being honest, then at least he seems to, you know, actually Stand by his beliefs a little bit.
	So, the Department of Education has four key functions.
	Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.
	Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research.
	Focusing national attention on key educational issues.
	And prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.
	The Department of Education is also a member of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and works with federal partners to ensure proper education for homeless and runaway youth in the United States.
	Basically, they do vital, necessary work that is crucial to the running of the country And the US having basically any education standards or funding at all.
	And DeSantis just wants to do away with it without even a second thought as to the implications of doing such a ridiculously stupid and dangerous thing.
	And at the end there, Russell just nods along with it.
	Yeah, democracy, man.
	Yeah.
	I, okay, so I'm restraining myself from a larger issue that, okay, I'm going to touch on this.
	The religious right has had a project in this country for over 40 years to completely undermine the public education system.
	And this is, he is just, most, Most politicians, they aren't even on side.
	They aren't in the DeVos camp.
	They aren't actively fighting against it and against public education, and it's a whole thing, and I can't.
	I can't.
	It makes me fucking furious, but it's a project of the right to undermine.
	Basically, it started because of the ending segregation.
	White parents didn't want their kids in schools with black Yeah.
	and send kids. So they wanted to find, or of color, right?
	They wanted to find any way they possibly could. That's what the, that's this, all this
	like homeschooling, charter schools, all this stuff, is they're, they've been attacking
	public schools from all sides for 40 years and it's working and it sucks. Now what he
	also, I can't, there's, listen, it's way more complicated and I have a lot of feelings
	about it. I'm going to stop it right there. The lunch money thing. He said lunch money.
	Now I heard, well, he said that the implication to me was that the schools would not get
	the funding that they want from the state if the person isn't, if the student is not in
	school.
	The fact that he referenced lunch money is so fucking audacious because guess what?
	You don't get lunch money from the state.
	You get it from the kids and their parents.
	Kids have to pay for their lunch here in America.
	Guess what?
	It could be a different way.
	Many places, like many different countries and other education systems, kids don't have to pay for their food, but they do here.
	Lunch debt is a real thing that people contend with all over the country.
	It's a big problem.
	The fact that he said lunch money is so out of touch, even just in a basic understanding.
	I don't know whether he knows that, and I think if he does know that, I don't think he cares.
	I don't know whether he knows that and I think if he does know that I don't think he cares.
	That's the kind of person we're dealing with here.
	Maybe that's part of why I'm so mad.
	Let's be honest.
	Yeah, this is why it's very genuine rage.
	So next Russell asks about Trump.
	DeSantis rambles for a bit before basically saying, hey, I'm young and we'll do all the
	stuff.
	So I'm in my 40s.
	I would go in on day one.
	I'd be incredibly energetic.
	I would be very active.
	You want to talk about the administrative state?
	We would be able to slay the administrative state.
	We'd secure the border.
	We'd do all these things, and it would really be a flurry of activity.
	So more and more people are going to see that.
	We haven't even had debates yet.
	And just keep an eye on those early states, because I like what I'm seeing there.
	It's a little bit different on the ground than some of the stuff that gets put out.
	On some of the national stuff.
	So, sure buddy, you'll fix the country on day one.
	Congrats, I'm sure you will.
	Notice that little bump up there?
	With no staff.
	Yeah, with no staff.
	Notice that little bumper at the end there?
	Can you guess what's coming next?
	Oh no, is it gold?
	That's right, we got some ads!
	We got some ads!
	Is it gold or gold powder?
	Ron, you're dazzling.
	I only stopped listening to you to read about you and also to bring this important message from our sponsors Bambi.
	Bear with me, Ron.
	When you run in a business or a state like Florida, your employees can create all kinds of tricky situations.
	Some of them can be minor, some of them can be much more serious.
	I find it so bizarre that they've chosen to pretend as though Ron is still on the video call while they're doing these ads.
	So strange.
	Nonetheless, Russell and his team knew he'd have plenty of eyes on this video, so let's ram in some ads where we can.
	Notice, however, that the bumper was a bit smoother and it's a bit more, like, cohesive with the interview.
	It doesn't cut off to, like, a different room, a different editorial.
	He's in the same outfit.
	It's almost like someone's been watching us mercilessly take the piss and has decided to get things in shape a little bit.
	You know, I realize that's probably not the case, but it definitely feels like they were like, you know what?
	Those two have a point.
	This is a bit much.
	I mean, what I saw was that he was holding Ron DeSantis' book.
	So to me, I think that, I mean, I can't, again, much like patrons, I love you and I don't think you're real.
	I don't think that we'll ever be able to make Russell behave better, but it'd be really cool if we did.
	It'd be really great, but I think it was just a question of getting that book in there, and maybe it's a news sponsor?
	A twofer?
	I don't know, maybe.
	I think he was just using it as a prop.
	I think that's his only point.
	Well, what's crazy is like, obviously, It's going to be an ad because there's a break and we know how like new media works.
	And so he starts by holding up the books.
	Exactly.
	And so holding up the book, it's like, is this going to be your little commercial for the book?
	Oh, sorry, Rob.
	I only I only stopped listening to you so that I could read about you.
	Shut the fuck up.
	Also, the notion that Russell read any of that book is... Nah, did not happen.
	That's adorable.
	Did not happen.
	Not a chance.
	Sure.
	In any case, that's all I'm going to show of the ad, because who needs more of that?
	And we get back into the interview.
	How do you manage the tension when there is a plain appetite in your country for anti-establishment figures?
	RFK becoming an emergent force in the Democrat Party, Trump having been the defining figure in the last 5, 6, 7 years in American politics and American campaigns.
	How do you deal with managing the tension of being a representative of establishment forces while acknowledging that many people no longer trust the media?
	Many people no longer trust the government.
	Many people are deeply cynical about American institutions.
	How do you deal with the massive mistrust and neonialism of American cultural life?
	Can we imagine a situation where whatever the result of the next presidential election, the opposing side will likely say, The election was stolen, it was because of Russians, it was because of broken or corrupt voting machines.
	How can you ever bring together and justify a centralised American experiment, particularly when you seem to believe so strongly in decentralisation, federalism and maximum democracy?
	How do you deal with this mistrust and this great appetite for outsiders?
	Lengthy question, yet again.
	Rambling, plenty of tangents, and a shitload of wiggle room for DeSantis to move about and dodge.
	Let's see how he answers.
	Well, one, I would push back on this idea that I'm representing establishment forces.
	I get attacked by the corporate press more than anybody running for office, more than Joe Biden, and now more than Donald Trump, because I think the corporate press views me as a bigger threat.
	They understand that I will beat Biden, and they know I will actually deliver on all these things.
	Whereas I think they think that Trump would not beat Biden, and then I think they think even if he did, that he would be distracted with all these other stuff and wouldn't be able to deliver.
	So I've been the target of all these people, and I think it's because I've been willing to lead.
	So he just moves this into playing the victim because he's such a dangerous and radical and successful political figure.
	Fuck off, Ron.
	Yet again, he's only able to do this because of Bran's useless questions.
	Also, can I... Please do.
	Hmm.
	There's so much.
	I guess gotta sort.
	Okay.
	As far as quote-unquote corporate media attacks or whatever, we know, in retrospect, it didn't matter what they said about Trump.
	He got the most coverage by a country mile because that makes for clicks And that makes ad revenue for corporate media.
	So to denote, even to just like call negative coverage at this point, quote unquote attacks, they could still move the needle in your favor.
	And even just like claiming that a negative story about Trump has negative results, that's out the window.
	Yeah, no, no, no, for sure.
	And I think the reality is I think he loves it.
	I think he loves it.
	I'm sure.
	He wants to play it both ways, though.
	He wants to be like, oh, look, they're all coming to attack me because I'm so special.
	Oh, shut up.
	When DeSantis specifically has like outrageous press conferences and he says terrible things because he knows it's going to get his face on the screen.
	Yeah, it's going to get clicks.
	It's going to get people remembering he exists.
	So in the next clip, he continues down one of the tangential roads that Brand left open to him.
	Also, I would point out during COVID, I was the one fighting Fauci.
	Donald Trump put Fauci in charge.
	He never fired Fauci.
	In fact, Donald Trump's last day in office, he gave Fauci a presidential commendation.
	And I'm just thinking to myself, this guy had been responsible for justifying school closures, for justifying mandates, for justifying lockdowns, and by January of 2021, we knew how destructive it was.
	We knew it had failed.
	So on the biggest hysterical issue, the biggest current thing, where all these elites got together, COVID-19, I was one of the leaders throughout this world to stand against those people, fight back against them.
	There's the ego again.
	I'd like to remind everyone that this question was supposed to be about, you know, how do you get people to trust you, etc.
	You know, trust the state and all of that.
	And here we go, completely off the topic that Brand asked about, which is only possible due to his own ineptitude as an interviewer.
	Like, Russell, if you're ever watching this, if you want to be taken seriously as an interviewer or commentator, spend your time working on becoming concise and direct.
	Then you might actually get some answers to your questions rather than having a dumbass bigot dodge so easily and move into me good, Trump bad.
	And it's not like he doesn't have examples.
	We saw him in the room with Jerry Paxman.
	Yeah, he knows what a good interviewer looks like.
	Yeah, he's aware of how to do it.
	He just isn't done that.
	He could probably call Paxman and be like, look, mate, I need some help.
	Like, how do I do it?
	He definitely, he's definitely got Paxman's number.
	He could do that!
	Farm it out!
	You don't even have to try again!
	Get a new, get a writer!
	Pay a writer for you!
	Get some, get some fucking interviewing lessons from Paxman.
	I'm sure that, I mean, that would be worth its weight in gold, but no, it doesn't, it wouldn't even cross this man's mind.
	It's a reality show.
	There you go.
	So next, Ron carries on down his little COVID road.
	And so I think that the fact that I've been willing to do that, I mean, for example, I've got a grand jury hearing evidence in Florida about misrepresentations by pharmaceutical companies over COVID-19 jabs.
	There's not another elected official in the country Uh, who's been willing to, to ask those types of questions.
	You know, we're doing it and we're getting, we're getting answers for that.
	So I think I present a great opportunity for people because I have all the right enemies.
	Uh, you see it by how they're attacking me, but I also have a proven record of beating these people.
	Uh, and we would do the same thing as president.
	So there is indeed a grand jury taking place in Florida at the moment.
	DeSantis' request for the grand jury argued that pharmaceutical companies had a financial interest in creating a climate in which people believed that getting a coronavirus vaccine would ensure they couldn't spread the virus to others.
	Statewide grand juries, usually comprised of 18 people, can investigate criminal activity and issue indictments, but also examine systemic problems in Florida and make recommendations.
	Recent panels have tackled immigration issues and school safety.
	The grand jury will meet for one year, so we'll see around December time what actually happens with this, but I'm willing to bet it's going to be fuck all.
	Yeah.
	No one ever claimed that it was 100% effective.
	That was so clear.
	No one ever claimed that transmission was a thing that they were trying to combat.
	And even then, as we've covered on this show, it actually does prevent transmission, at least a little bit.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's a positive effect.
	Even then, you would lose on a factual basis as well as... Yeah.
	Yeah.
	So fucking stupid.
	But anyway, it's a political stunt.
	Um, so next up we get into another of Russell's hot buttons.
	When you spend so much time, when this person spends so much time doing just fuckery like straight up How do they even, how are the roads ever maintained?
	Like honestly, I don't know how any of the regular ass government shit even happens when this amount of fuckery is the only thing that he cares about.
	It's baffling to me.
	I can only assume.
	I can only assume that he must delegate a lot of stuff, which is probably for the best.
	Either that or Florida is literally falling apart.
	It's one of those two situations.
	Anecdotally, I know there's a lot of I mean, there's definitely a lot of problems in Florida, but whether the roads are one of them, I'm not sure.
	Some of them are!
	That I can attest, yes.
	Next, we get into another of Russell's hot-button issues, Ukraine, but not without a significant bit of rambling along the way.
	Two of the most powerful voices in the space that you currently occupy, Governor, have to be regarded as Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.
	Both of them have taken strong, over-explicit anti-war stances, saying, among other things, that the Pentagon can't pass an audit, that the The money that American taxpayers are funneling into this Ukraine war that increasingly seems like a disaster, and a proxy war, ought be immediately ended.
	The peaceful solution ought immediately be sought.
	As a former military officer, where do you stand on this conflict, and are you willing to match that kind of anti-war rhetoric, and how do you reconcile The enormous revenue, the vast budgetary and treasury weight that this war and the military industrial complex places on the American people generally, with the conditions that many former military personnel are enduring.
	Many of them having to use food banks, many of them, like a significant number, ending up homeless.
	A great stain on American culture, I would say, is the So before we get into Ron's answer, I just want to point out that yes, veterans in the US aren't generally treated appallingly and are often left without any sort of safety net to aid their reintegration into civilian society.
	But that's been an issue for decades, long before the war in Ukraine was a thing, and the funding issue has absolutely nothing to do with funding the defence of Ukraine.
	It's entirely possible to do both, to actually support veterans and the homeless in general properly while aiding Ukraine in the defence of their country, but the government just chooses not to and has done this since forever.
	Oh my God.
	Got nothing to do with it.
	That was such a silly digression of a question.
	Also, two separate, if you want to ask the two questions, ask the two questions.
	Yeah, sure.
	Yeah.
	How do you deal with Ukraine?
	How do you deal with homelessness?
	Because that's going to be an issue for a president.
	Yeah, how do you take care of veterans?
	And what do you think about what should be done in Ukraine?
	Those are two separate ideas.
	This is bananas.
	Okay.
	All right.
	So let's get into Ron's answer.
	So one, on the military-industrial complex, we are actually gonna overhaul how these retired generals are allowed to then just go work for defense contractors.
	As commander-in-chief, you can put restrictions on that.
	You basically have a revolving door Where people go from high military positions into just a handful of major defense contractors.
	We're also gonna democratize the ability of people because we obviously need to have a strong defense.
	But we don't want it to go to just a handful of companies.
	We used to have all these companies like during World War II.
	So we want to do that for sure.
	And we absolutely need an accounting to just do a blank check.
	That doesn't serve the American people.
	Okay, so there are a few things to unpack here.
	First up, let's deal with DeSantis wanting to prevent military personnel from working for the various companies in the military-industrial complex after they've left the military.
	Like, in principle, sure, more division between state and corporate military interests is a good thing, but- Oh my god, I'd love it!
	But how's he gonna achieve this without infringing upon the freedoms of the former military personnel?
	What's he gonna do?
	Make it so that there's a lifetime ban on anyone from the military working for companies that are in the military-industrial complex?
	He wants more regulations!
	Well, even then, I dare say that this is one of those things that the federal government seriously does not have the right to do, as it would infringe upon people's civil liberties.
	For a guy all about freedoms, he sure fucking wants to take a bunch of them away from people.
	Yeah!
	Sounds like it!
	Let's discuss that we, quote, used to have all these companies during World War II.
	He's right, but what he's not acknowledging is the cause of that no longer being the case.
	Free market capitalism.
	That's it.
	The bigger of the companies got big enough to buy out and consume the smaller companies until eventually there were only a few left.
	To top it off, anti-competition and monopoly laws are mostly toothless jokes, so there's very little recourse to break any of them up.
	Well, they didn't used to be.
	There used to be effective, to even any degree, effective antitrust movement in this country that was systematically dismantled.
	So, oh, do you want that back?
	Yeah, me too.
	We'd love it.
	We're fine with it.
	I'd like for there to be more companies.
	It's extremely important.
	If I have to live in a capitalist society, I would like for there to at least, you know, be that equality of opportunity.
	But no.
	Nope.
	Fuck that.
	Next he gets a bit more into Ukraine proper.
	I think what's happening in Ukraine is they're barreling towards a multi-year stalemate where a lot more people are gonna die, where you're gonna have a lot of treasure that's gonna be spent for basically No change in outcome.
	And so what I've said is we need to focus on achieving a sustainable peace in Europe.
	We should not want to see this thing go on.
	We have pressing problems at home that we're neglecting, as you mentioned, our own veterans.
	So DeSantis wants to push for peace apparently.
	He has previously acknowledged that Putin is a war criminal and his views basically come down to being anti-interventionist but not explicitly pro-Russia.
	So it's difficult to say what kind of peace he would push for as he's dodged most questions about Ukraine wherever possible.
	So I'm not sure.
	I would say it's telling what he's not saying in that instance.
	That he doesn't want to be nailed down on any kind of policy.
	Yes, yes.
	No, that is definitely interesting.
	I wouldn't either.
	If I were him, I wouldn't either.
	At the same time, he's not pounding the table in support of Russia like a lot of people in his area.
	Well, but there's also the degree of like, there's an aspect of like, he doesn't have to.
	He knows what team he's on, so he doesn't have to.
	Yeah, true, true.
	So next we have a couple of alarmist takes misrepresenting a couple of things.
	We have an open border in the United States of America.
	We have American families that are losing children to fentanyl overdose by the tens of thousands because we haven't secured our own border.
	And yet what?
	We've sent how many hundreds of billions of dollars there?
	They're not sending that to us.
	It occurs to me that Ron DeSantis doesn't have a clue what an open border actually is.
	He's insinuating that the U.S.
	has a porous southern border which allows anyone and everyone to just waltz into the country as they please.
	The reality is since 2001 U.S.
	Border Patrol has nearly doubled in capacity.
	From fewer than 10,000 agents to now more than 19,500.
	The Biden administration received $97.3 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security for 2023, including billions of dollars for border security and interior immigration enforcement.
	Not only that, but I genuinely can't think of a single country with actual open borders.
	Plenty of countries offer freedom of movement to allies or whatever, such as in the EU, for instance.
	But even those people still have to go through passport control.
	As for the fentanyl crisis, what he's doing here is conflating the problem with immigration,
	asserting that any Mexicans who come into the US are bringing fentanyl into the country to kill
	children. Speaking of which, more than 5,000 children and teens have died from overdoses,
	including fentanyl.
	Not tens of thousands, but also that's across the last two decades.
	It's not thousands of children dying every year.
	There are roughly 200 people dying per day from fentanyl overdose.
	But it's predominantly adults, which is still tragic, but I wanted to specifically point out DeSantis' misrepresentation of things here.
	That also sounded like the opioid crisis talking point, and then he just threw in fentanyl instead.
	Like, that's what it sounded like.
	It pricked my ear in that particular way.
	Oh, you can just throw that out there.
	I mean, he can.
	Right.
	Also, like, our border has installed murder buoys.
	That's a new fun thing.
	That sounds healthy.
	Murder buoys and razors.
	People are dying on the Rio Grande border every day.
	They're finding bodies.
	Is that an open border?
	I really don't think it is.
	Just go the whole hog and just put sea mines in there.
	You know, just do that.
	Fuck it.
	You know, if you're going to have murder buoys, just, just... Well, that's the thing.
	I think that mines are like, like these, these murder buoys are just kind of more practical.
	If you just want to kill people instead of give them asylum or have an open border, like, Meatball Ron is claiming, which by the way, that didn't stick and I'm bummed, that was the funniest one, but what are you going to do?
	That was the funniest one.
	I do wonder if it's slightly racist, but there we go.
	I'm part Italian, so I can say it.
	That's true, mate.
	You're allowed.
	I'm not.
	No, my daughter is quite Italian, to be fair.
	Maybe that counts for something.
	I don't know any Italian that's ever been mad at me.
	Again, that's not a reason.
	That's not a reason to say things.
	Well, yeah, that also.
	But just in general, like, fucking race.
	Okay.
	Okay, come on!
	Ron DeSanctimonious doesn't have the ring to meatball Ron!
	No, I tell you, so I'm going to get into this a little bit later, but I was watching the live chat when this thing premiered on Rumble, and one of the most common ones was DeSatanist.
	That was their preferred one for DeSantis, DeSatanist.
	Well, I just wish it was more accurate, because then I'd be borderline interested in the guy.
	Yeah, right?
	Yeah, I'd be down.
	Are you kidding?
	Satanist candidate for president?
	Okay, I'm in.
	Let's have this conversation.
	So next, we get into some classic fear-mongering.
	Also, I do think we have threats in this world, such as the Chinese Communist Party, which you've seen as the amount of ammunition and the amount of weapons that have been sent to the Ukraine has actually Dwindled our own stocks so that if we were potentially in a major conflict, we would not be able to likely to respond.
	Now, Donald Trump, you know, had made different comments the other day.
	He said he wanted to flood Zelensky with weapons.
	So I'm not exactly sure, you know, where he is on that.
	But I think the goal needs to be no blank check and have a sustainable peace in Europe.
	It doesn't serve our interests to be involved in this thing infinitum.
	So I wasn't able to find that Trump quote that he's on about.
	If anyone does find it of Trump saying that he wants to flood Zelensky with weapons, let me know.
	I'd love to know.
	But yes, the threat of China, the Red Dragon awakens.
	So again, I'd like to point out that the US spends more on the military than the next 10 countries combined.
	It's fair to say that China's military capabilities pale in comparison to even half the U.S.
	military.
	So there's definitely room to send weaponry to Ukraine.
	The notion that we're going to run out of stuff!
	Shut up!
	Guess what?
	Also, all of this is sitting at police stations all over the country.
	Police stations, army bases.
	And also, do you think that you're sending the best stuff to Ukraine?
	Because I bet you're not.
	I bet you're not.
	So yeah, anyway, stupid fucking thing to say.
	China doesn't even have a quarter of the same military spending.
	And in the next clip, Ron hedges his answer a little bit.
	As you have identified as an outsider and an anti-establishment figure, what are your views on two men that have perhaps done more to reveal the deep corruption of the American experiment?
	Julian Assange, currently facing extradition to your country under the Espionage Act, and Edward Snowden, of course, currently in exile in Russia.
	Do you think these men should be pardoned?
	Do you think their status should be revised to that of heroes?
	Or would you, similarly, persecute those individuals in the way that they currently are?
	Yes.
	You know, it's interesting because I think this is an issue that was raised when Donald Trump took office.
	And of course, we've seen a lot of abuse of power by the deep state during the Trump administration.
	I know there were a lot of people that were counseling him to pursue relief on these two individuals, you know, and he didn't do it.
	And I think he said that there was reasons why he didn't do it.
	So I think when you're talking about using power under Article 2 for pardon, Uh, you really need to get all the information.
	You gotta look, look at the files, and you gotta see, okay, what is this all about?
	So if it's not been made clear before, Russell fucking loves Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, one of which is a sexual assaulter, the other is a racist.
	I do believe whistleblowers should receive far greater protections than they currently do, but I don't think hero worship of the style that Russell wants is either wise nor warranted.
	DeSantis here gives the old school politician's answer of Yeah, I'll see when I'm actually allowed to look at the totality of the information.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Which is a position I actually respect, like ignoring his old deep state abuses.
	Yeah, deep state because reasons is what he just said.
	Exactly, but the idea of like, oh well I don't have access to all the information, I'll make that decision when I do is actually very reasonable.
	One of the few reasonable positions that Ron DeSantis seems to But he did hedge!
	Like, oh, well, Trump had his reasons to not do it.
	Oh, well, no, he wanted to, he wanted to... So I would like access to those reasons, if possible.
	I think he, I think that was a little bit of point scoring.
	That was a little bit of, well, you know, Trump didn't do it and maybe he should have.
	But, but yeah, anyway, in this next clip, we get into, we get into Jan 6 and the BLM riots.
	Oh boy.
	I say riots, protests, riots in his mind.
	Your critics have noted that post January the 6th a repressive anti-riot bill was passed that previously had failed and even in the video promoting the bill there were images of the Capitol breach alongside images of the George Floyd Black Lives Matter protests.
	When we are talking about freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to protest, how do you reconcile that with the passing of this bill?
	Well, it doesn't infringe on anyone's ability to protest.
	That's protected.
	That's First Amendment speech.
	When that goes into violence, so for example, during the Floyd, you know, we saw a lot of violent activity.
	And then the question is, is how do you deal with those folks?
	So we all agree.
	You can protest, you can say whatever you want about me, about anybody else.
	If it does go into violence, how are those folks treated?
	And I think in a place like Portland, you'd have people riot, they'd be violent, they'd get arrested, they'd get slapped on the wrist, they'd go out and do it again.
	Harassing police officers, doing things like that.
	That's not conducive to a healthy society.
	If you look at what happened with the BLM riots in Minneapolis, Minneapolis has still not recovered from that.
	It is something that's likely going to take many, many years to be able to do.
	And so I think we can all agree.
	What?
	Yes, say what you want.
	It's a free country.
	Don't attack police officers.
	Don't throw Molotov cocktails.
	Don't do any of that.
	And I would note, as much as the corporate press has tried to demagogue our anti-riot bill, they've not actually found anybody who wasn't able to protest.
	There's massive protests that take place in Florida about different issues almost every other day.
	A lot of times there's messages that are done that I don't particularly agree with, but that's the way the world works.
	People are free to express their mind.
	Yeah, I mean, they're protesting you, buddy.
	That's what's happening there.
	I would do a dog whistle, but I've got a dog right next to me and he would freak the fuck out.
	A couple of years ago, Ron DeSantis signed sweeping legislation that toughened existing laws governing public disorder and created a harsh new level of infractions, a bill he has described as the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country.
	The Florida law imposes harsher penalties for existing public disorder crimes, turning misdemeanor offenses into felonies, creating new felony offenses, and preventing defendants from being released on bail until they have appeared before a judge.
	Which has real fucking consequences.
	The law also increases penalties for taking down monuments, including confederate ones, making the offense a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
	And losing your right to vote.
	Uh-huh.
	It also makes it easier for anyone who injures a protester, such as by driving into a crowd, to escape civil liability.
	Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, that's the most insane shit that, like, yep, yep, yep.
	So you're free to ram your car into protesters, but not free to protest, it would seem.
	Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, yep, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	I had thoughts.
	Free state of Florida, baby.
	Free state of Florida.
	So gross and so outrageous.
	This is another one where, like, I can't.
	You tear down a statue of a slaver and you get fucking 15 years in prison, right?
	Well, OK, I do want to say, like, so when you mention the point spread, that's probably not the right phrase.
	Point spread?
	Are we in sports?
	Gambling!
	So, Ron DeSantis, you know, being elected, 19 points, right?
	Right, that point spread, yeah.
	That point spread.
	So, again, and it might be because of Sunshine Laws, it might be because we can find out more about this state than other states, but what I do know is that there are a lot, it's extremely difficult to regain your right to vote In Florida.
	So if he's adding more felonies to the books, those are less voters.
	Maybe I hang out with more migrants and felons than your average person?
	Specifically the voters that he disagrees with as well.
	Oh yeah.
	And this bill was criticized as being overtly racist at the time, I would like to point out.
	Absolutely.
	And the thing is, the nature of Undocumented people makes it very difficult to track who is in your state and who is, but what we do know is undocumented workers, especially on border states, are engines of your economy.
	Oh fuck yeah.
	And they can't vote.
	It's hard because I've never lived in a state that has been allowed to be as dedicated
	to disenfranchisement as Southern states tend to be.
	And I didn't even know the lengths, the extent that those measures would go,
	like purging voter rolls every three years when our national contests are four years.
	Why is that a lot?
	You know, there's so many steps of disenfranchisement and it might be this way in a lot of other places,
	but it's extremely difficult and expensive for felons to regain.
	And again, like I said, maybe I hang out with more migrants and felons
	than your average Joe, I don't know, but it's everywhere.
	And so I don't know how much of those 19 points that he won by has something to do
	with the way the population breaks down specifically in Florida.
	What I do know is like, it's more than Kansas.
	Like, you know?
	It might have been a lot closer.
	If people all could vote.
	Well, yes, yes.
	I mean, that's I'd say that's an issue nationwide in the United States.
	Right.
	Well, I mean, it's unknowable.
	It's truly it's an unknowable statistic.
	Yeah.
	But I can't help but think about the difference in just the in the electorate.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	No, it would be enormous, especially in a place like Florida.
	Potentially.
	So Ron is engaging in obvious dog-whistling racism here.
	We're about to see a little bit more of it.
	I do think if you let riots take over a city like they did during the BLM, that has huge, huge impact.
	And the thing about it was, with BLM, they were talking about racism, but a lot of the businesses that they were
	burning down were black-owned businesses.
	And so you're ruining those people's lives? Why?
	That didn't do anything to solve any problems, and so we're very strong on that.
	I had the National Guard called out in Florida during BLM because I didn't want to see any of our cities burnt down, and nobody did.
	They did protest.
	That's fine.
	They protested in front of the governor's mansion, and they were saying a lot of nasty things.
	I have young kids that were there hearing it, and that's fine.
	Fuck off with your protect the children nonsense.
	Just protect my children.
	Yeah, right.
	You deserve to be protested, you prick.
	As for burning down the black-owned businesses bit, we've all heard this before and I'm a little bit sick of it.
	Personally, I'm of the mind where if peaceful protest has failed, less peaceful protest becomes a viable option.
	With the exception of causing violence against other people.
	Unless absolutely forced to.
	But property?
	Have at it.
	Which they did.
	And I'm quite sure no one in the moment was looking up the deeds to each individual shop or restaurant before exacting their rage upon it.
	Minneapolis specifically, where he's mostly talking about here, was where the murder of George Floyd took place.
	And so it's not really surprising that the most significantly emotional response to his murder happened there.
	Yeah, as a person who's from St.
	Louis and lived a couple blocks away from where whenever the Michael Brown verdict with the cops... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Michael Brown is shorthand.
	Uh, yeah, it's really hard to hear.
	It's hard to hear.
	Um, and also like, yeah, businesses got fucked up and you know what we did the next day was showed up.
	On South Grand and painted the plywood that was on the businesses and encouraged people to come down, which is still like, it's easy to scare folks in the county because they're racist.
	And that's really unfortunate.
	It's extremely unfortunate, but like, you're just, you're picking the wrong battle.
	And like, it's, it's, it's extremely complex and it's, I, My stomach is being turned so much and it's like bringing back real tangible memories I've had from my life and how painful it is to go through, to see what people have to go through when they're overpoliced.
	For me it's it's been it's been very much like when I was kind of putting the script together and everything and writing all the notes I was like you know what this is gonna be this is gonna be a few hours of me dunking on Ron DeSantis and you know what that's that's not a bad thing but what I kind of didn't take into account is is especially when presenting this to other people how fucking furious I am deep down you know and and and that yeah I have a kill switch at a certain point where I can't even handle how angry this makes me.
	And also because I lived in South St.
	Louis for years and years, and I worked all over that city in some areas that are really fucked up and it's sad.
	And I know why, and it's because of government corruption!
	There's so many things.
	So having lived it, Being a poor, having lived it and understanding what people go through and what the rest of us plebs are dealing with, listening to this motherfucker in particular, this rich white in a class of rich whites that just turns my stomach to the point where it hurts, it makes me sad, and Black Lives Matter took hold in my neighborhood.
	Very quickly and I didn't get it at first because I was so used to the status quo and I was worried about like the wrong things and I got it pretty quick and it's it's just really it makes me mad on such a visceral and upset and like it's sad I'm sad it turns into mad but I'm so sad because you know I fucking live my entire life
	And also, yeah, now I live in Chicago.
	Both of the cities that I've existed in my entire adult life are the butt of these, we're the example that's made before Minneapolis burned down the one police station, which, hell yeah, that was awesome.
	The fact that he's saying, I don't want my cities to burn.
	What cities burned?
	Yeah.
	I say St.
	Louis, like a couple of blocks went up like Roman candles and like, okay, well we're down a quick trip, but like, I just, it's outrageous.
	Like what I, ah, Having to live through the militarization of the police and the corruption of the government and seeing it impact people every single day and then hearing this bullshit, it's so outrageous.
	I have to like, not that I have to, there's a limit to how you can feel about a thing and still function and not cry.
	It's really hard.
	And I mean, And it's every day and it's underneath the surface and then you see this shit and all of a sudden it's brought very much to the surface and you're like, oh, oh no, oh no.
	Right.
	So anyway.
	You're using my friends and family that have been going through this as like this object, like this cudgel.
	Yes, oh yeah, absolutely.
	People aren't people, they're weapons.
	Yeah.
	DeSantis has more to say about this and Jan 6th, and I'm betting you're eager to hear it, so let's get into it.
	Thank you, Ron.
	I appreciate you answering that question.
	That's an excellent answer.
	Now, Ron, I'm sure you're aware that our show is sponsored by Sheath Underwear.
	You know that already.
	You don't need me to tell you that, Ron.
	You've got bigger fish to fry.
	Oh no, wait!
	Another ad!
	For underwear that gives penis owners a separate compartment for their dick, no less.
	All advertised as though Ron DeSantis is still on the call, which he very much was not.
	It does also somewhat detract from the seriousness that Brand is trying to present.
	You know, I don't know, man.
	Just think about some things.
	Just think about some things.
	Yeah, just saying is like, great question, Ron.
	Thank you so much for your insightful understanding, okay?
	Do you want some underwear with a separate compartment for your dick, Ron?
	You don't have to do that!
	No, no, it is really fucking strange.
	Anyway, it is mildly less jarring than the boop and then this whole thing going on in another room.
	But still, it's a bit much.
	I almost appreciate the honesty of another room with different lighting and a different outfit.
	That's true.
	That might even be funny.
	I don't know.
	There is less subterfuge.
	Right.
	Let's actually get back to what DeSantis was saying, and what I want you to do is hold in your mind how he was talking about the BLM protests, and then listen to how he talks about the Jan 6th insurrectionists.
	I wonder what you feel in particular about the protests around January the 6th.
	Do you think that they were insurrectionists as described?
	Do you consider them to be protesters?
	And what do you think about the subsequent funding that the Capitol Police received and how the Democrat Party in particular has used these events to enact more power and to control media spaces?
	Well, I think it's ridiculous how much money that they pumped in for the Capitol Police.
	It was not an insurrection.
	These are people that were there to attend a rally and then they were there to protest.
	Now it devolved and it devolved into a riot.
	But the idea that this was a plan to somehow overthrow the government of the United States is not true.
	And it's something that the media had spun up just to try to basically cold stop my little use it for for partisan and for
	political uh... aims and so i know there are a lot of people
	uh... that were there uh... who were just there and didn't have any designs on on doing anything and so we
	just have to be honest about it if somebody is on a slightly more than
	against the u_s_ government
	uh... and prove that that's the case and and i'll be happy to accept it
	but all you're showing me is that there are a lot of protesters there
	uh... and it ended up devolving you know in ways that was unfortunate of course
	uh... but to say that they were sedition s is just wrong yet since the way it's been i don't know
	There is so much.
	It's been pretty well proven that there were seditionists attempting a literal coup of the United States and trying to prevent the certification of Biden's presidency.
	And there is a wealth of evidence to support that notion.
	It's just DeSantis doesn't want to accept that reality.
	It's like he's saying, like, oh, there's an implication that, like, The government manufactured the case against Stuart Rhodes.
	You know, like, that's, these are, he's round about this massive claim.
	There are fine text messages, there are, there's a lot of evidence.
	Everything that guy said that we've heard on InfoWars, uh, like.
	And it was called the stop.
	To stop the Steel March!
	What do you think the aim of that is, Ron, you dumb fuck?
	There is, of course, the potential that he is just willfully lying, as after Jan 6 happened, he asserted that was why his anti-protest bill was necessary.
	So, hmm.
	Oh, wow.
	Yeah, right?
	Right?
	Wow.
	Wow, Ron.
	It was an insurrection by any reasonable definition of the word, which we covered in our Tucker Carlson episode.
	And also, yeah, the fucking gall of the man saying, oh, Jan Six is being used for partisanship and political aims when we just watched him spout his anti-BLM rhetoric.
	Oh my god, I think that, stop it Ron, you're traumatizing me!
	Is it appropriate?
	At this moment?
	Oh my god, this sucks.
	Alright!
	So, in the next clip we have a vital question for our times.
	Who's your favorite tech billionaire?
	Is it Elon Musk?
	Is it Mark Zuckerberg?
	Do these figures have too much power?
	Well, they do have too much power, but obviously I would take Elon because he's done Twitter and he's actually opened it up.
	And if you think about how Twitter censored things like the Hunter Biden laptop story to try to interfere with the 2020 election, that would never happen under Elon.
	So I think he understands the threats posed to a free society by woke ideology and by
	some of the other corporate consolidations of power he's obviously very rich himself, nevertheless I'd like
	what he's done with Twitter and he even floated maybe buying CNN
	so hopefully if he did that I bet you'd probably be a little bit more
	reasonable by my lights Who's your favorite tech billionaire?
	Which gulag is the best?
	Should us millionaires escape to Mars or the moon when the planet inevitably becomes unable to sustain human life?
	Terrific bullshit here, but yeah.
	Oh my god!
	Of course he goes with Elon.
	Of course he goes with Elon.
	Yeah, well, and Russell Lee was like, oh, who's your favorite tech billionaire?
	But then, like, throwing, like, that was a shady question.
	Like, he was being shady.
	Do they have too much power?
	But, like, you're also... Okay, I can't.
	Alright, yep.
	So, DeSantis is an Elon Stan, I think it's fair to say.
	Gross.
	Yeah, it is pretty gross.
	Yeah, right.
	Well, we know about that.
	Like, that's... Yeah, we know.
	Yeah, well he actually, he worked with Elon in the hurricane relief situation to use Starlink to try and get connectivity back to Florida.
	It's one of the few good things that DeSantis and Elon have ever done, was the response to the hurricane.
	Yeah.
	No, no, no.
	His response to the hurricane has been widely praised.
	He did a good crisis management.
	You know what?
	He's good.
	I'll say that.
	Probably something to do with his military background.
	I don't know.
	But that situation he could handle.
	It's just, you know, everything else that's the problem.
	Anyway, also Elon is well versed in providing services for the government for lots and lots
	and lots and lots of money.
	Oh yeah, I'm quite sure Elon had no problems in that situation.
	So in the next clip, Russell bids his farewells and kisses a bit of ass.
	Oh, Ron DeSantis, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.
	I'm going to be back in Florida soon.
	I'd be grateful for the opportunity to meet with you and even interview you again in person if you would permit it.
	Let us know, man.
	It was great.
	I appreciate it.
	You asked really, really good questions, and I would not have gotten those questions with just kind of corporate journalists, so good.
	I think you're actually talking about things that people care about.
	Thank you, Rhonda Santos.
	Thank you for your time and for your eloquence.
	It's a great privilege to speak with you.
	Thank you so much.
	Thanks very much, mate.
	Just gross.
	I mean, there's gratitude, and then there's brown nosing, and it seems pretty clear which of those this was.
	I just, I'm shocked that, like, this is pitched as, like, a hard-hitting journalism piece.
	Like, I can't believe, like, I cannot believe it.
	Honestly.
	Why?
	I cannot believe it.
	Why?
	That's--
	Honestly.
	Why?
	Why?
	I don't get--
	I'm so confused by that.
	I'll tell you what, when we get into Off-Brand, I'll find the trailer and show you that.
	Oh good!
	Yeah, just so you can see what I mean.
	So patrons, you get to enjoy that as well.
	Now, you might think that because DeSantis has left, the show would be over, but you would be wrong.
	Let's have a look now at Joe Biden's temper.
	One minute, this guy's sniffing gently at the head of a child.
	The next minute, is he sniffing at other substances?
	What the hell are they finding in those White House toilets?
	And what's going on with Joe Biden's temper?
	Is this man on the brink of a meltdown or is this just another PR campaign to make him more electable and somehow more dynamic?
	Here's the news.
	No, here's the effing news.
	So what do you like about Joe Biden?
	I know you will in the comments.
	But at least he's a lovely, cuddly, soppy old granddad.
	Not a vicious, swearing old bastard.
	Actually he is.
	Now remember when Joe Biden became president, what a lot of people in the mainstream media said was, oh any relief Joe Biden, he's so nice, he's so friendly, look at him!
	Okay, that's about all I'm gonna play of that.
	But yeah, he just slams an editorial on at the end of this interview.
	Again, in the knowledge that he'll have all these new eyes watching in an effort to draw some audience into his world proper.
	For reference, he just spends basically the entire 10 minutes shitting on Biden for being both too aggressive and too senile and docile.
	Like, pick a lane, buddy.
	So he plays this editorial, and then the credits roll immediately after.
	No sign-off, no nothing.
	Making content's hard, hey!
	I mean, but you know, you could put in something, you know, like, see you next time!
	You sure could!
	See you tomorrow, we're doing this!
	Yeah, if you gave a shit!
	So yeah, as I mentioned, I ended up watching the live stream of this video on Rumble and it was pretty jarring when it happened.
	So for reference, right, what happens is the actual interview is done live and the paid locals channel has access to that to watch it live.
	Then the interview is edited down and processed and then they live stream the edited video onto Rumble.
	I watched that one, because like fuck am I paying for locals, and accordingly I got to witness the live chat of Russell's Rumble audience as this conversation happened, and oh boy was there a surprising diversity of opinion!
	There were people saying DeSantis was owned by the Deep State, people advocating for Cornel West, some people saying Russell had been bought and paid for by DeSantis, some saying to ask him about climate change, a lot of Trump supporters, and plenty of people calling him DeSatanist.
	Yeah, there were a lot of takes and almost none of them were good.
	That's confusing.
	It was!
	I was fascinated.
	That's so disorienting!
	I was fascinated because it also scrolls at a fucking million miles a minute.
	I was fascinated.
	There were bits of it where I was paying more attention to the chat than I was to whatever the fuck DeSantis was saying.
	I was like, you people are nuts!
	It was honestly really fucking strange.
	It wasn't a good look into Russell's audience.
	I'm going to say that.
	I didn't enjoy it.
	I wouldn't imagine you did.
	I would not want to do that.
	Wowie wow wow.
	Alright.
	I mean, it came out the other end.
	I'm glad you're still with us.
	I don't know what else to say.
	That sounds awful and really confusing.
	No, it was.
	Disorienting.
	It was bizarre.
	I'm repeating myself.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	But in any case, yeah, that brings us to the close of this piece of garbage.
	Of our emergency episode.
	Yes, yeah, that kind of brings us to the end of it.
	It was, yeah, a lot.
	So I saw the, he announced that this conversation would be happening on the Wednesday, which is when I messaged you and was like, we're gonna need to do an emergency episode.
	And then on the Friday, it finally aired on Rumble, because the conversation itself, I think, actually happened on Wednesday as well on Locals.
	And then finally brought it out on Rumble and oh my god, yeah, it's been an intense few days since then.
	So we're recording this on the Sunday evening for anyone wondering, at my time anyway.
	Well, and so, okay, just when Obama was even brought up.
	On the show, the chat insisted, because you read some of the comments, or I guess the comments on the chat.
	Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	What did Obama ever do as a president?
	That was in the Rainn Wilson one, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Correct.
	Right, yes.
	And so, one of the first things that Ron DeSantis said that stuck with me is like, making Florida better.
	Just threw that claim out there.
	How?
	How?
	Yeah, I don't know, like, what's quantifiable.
	I'd like to know even what his fake, the fake stuff.
	What fake, like, there's no claim!
	I think he would throw out, like, oh, we've got the best economy in the country according to CNBC, we're great for business, we're great for this, we told Fauci where to shove it, we don't tolerate rioters or looters in this state.
	That would be the shit he rattled off.
	That would be him making it better.
	according to him and and it does make you fear for a situation where he would
	Yeah.
	be running the country which you know sure does throw throw Trump out the way
	and throw Biden out the way and it's a very real fucking possibility and you
	know what even DeSantis versus Biden it's still a very real possibility if
	there is too much apathy you know If there's another 2016 situation, which there very well could be, because no one really gives that much of a fuck about Biden.
	In the last election, they just wanted Trump out, right?
	In this situation, if you put Biden up against DeSantis and enough people go, eh, it's Biden who gives a fuck, then we could end up with this guy as president.
	Honestly, and also, what is heartbreaking is that you have to think of it as we.
	Like, that sucks.
	The fact that we have our nasty, horrible politics, that you even have to worry about it, is a bummer.
	Like, truly!
	It's such a drag.
	I'm less... I almost feel like...
	And this is just a feel.
	That because of 2016, I am hyper-vigilant.
	And I feel like a lot of people are still hyper-vigilant because it just didn't seem possible.
	There's some trauma.
	There's some trauma.
	And now that that omelette was made, those eggs got broke.
	I think that we, I think, honestly, I don't think that people are going to be that apathetic again.
	I really don't.
	It doesn't seem like... I hope you're right.
	At least for the foreseeable future, anyway.
	Well, me too, but also... I can't guarantee... We've got to do everything we can.
	Voters are lazy and fickle.
	Those are two things that have been well demonstrated.
	So, I don't know.
	I'm concerned, you know, depending on what happens.
	Well, I think that the lazy, fickle nature of a voter, I think that he's not... Ron DeSantis, I don't think, is doing a good job of winning over the lazy, fickle... I think that he's profoundly unlikable.
	And that's kind of a big deal because we are in such a weird country and we make such weird decisions.
	I don't know about that.
	He presents himself in a very eloquent way and on the face of some of the things he says, you could be like, oh yeah, that seems reasonable.
	I don't want people burning down cities, right?
	It's only when you look and oh, I don't want people showing, you know, pornographic images to children, etc.
	Because that's the kind of shit he's saying.
	And that's what people take away.
	It's like, oh yeah, I don't want that.
	You know what?
	Fair enough.
	And I think the reality is we haven't seen him on a grander scale yet.
	We haven't seen a debate with Trump.
	We haven't seen the primaries come in proper yet.
	And I'll be really interested.
	I mean, I think that Trump would eat him alive just because there's no charisma.
	And that's honestly, again, that's the popularity contest.
	Yeah, well I mean Trump is a wild card anyway.
	In a debate setting, Trump would eat him alive purely because Trump is up there just not giving a fuck, and in a live situation that's far more entertaining and that's all these things are.
	But, you know, I still feel like, I mean, again, if Trump got out of the way, if DeSantis became the nominee for the Republican side, I do feel like there could be a different side of him that would be appealing on a national level.
	And that scares the fuck out of me.
	Well, yeah.
	Yeah.
	And I think that it's I don't think that it's a non-issue that he's the governor of Florida.
	And I'm gonna say, I think I said it off-brand maybe last week, last episode.
	January 6th did not affect a power shift, and it didn't actually affect the outcome of an election.
	That's not how America does it anymore.
	We are going into a situation where the Supreme Court is a fucking shitshow, and where an election got stolen in 2000 was in Florida.
	There's that.
	That's what I'm worried about, is the efficacy of their cheating.
	'Cause they're gonna cheat, they're gonna cheat.
	Also, like politics, they're gonna cheat.
	So heading off cheating at the pass is part of electoral politics.
	So I'm very concerned about his ability to cheat.
	The worst things that we kind of saw in 2020 really were, you know, like people showing up armed to the fucking polls, you know, that kind of situation, of trying to intimidate people, that kind of thing.
	It's really bad.
	That was really, really bad.
	It was incredibly bad.
	There's only going to be more of it.
	It's incredibly bad, but also incredibly obvious, and I don't know how they would be able to cheat, and I'm not sure if kind of making those assertions at this stage is wise, because, you know, I mean, if the situation comes up, then let's deal with it, but I'm gonna hold faith for now.
	I don't, because a lot of A lot of this is also playing into their narratives because they want people to not have any trust in the elections.
	They want there to be such a great gulf of division between the two sides where if the Democrats lose the next election, we're all going to go, oh, you cheated, you cheated.
	And that's all the conversation is ever going to be from now until the end of time, no matter who wins or who loses.
	I completely agree.
	And also, like, even just what I'm thinking of is, like, The words that came out of my mouth are not necessarily what- I was not thinking about that implication because I'm just thinking about the actual like legal fuckery and the- Yes!
	Just that instance that really did happen that we all kind of had to just like shrug and move on from.
	In specific circumstances there are issues of corruption that can come up that can take an election.
	I'm thinking of just the bubble of that election.
	I was being short-sighted in my No, no, no.
	Yeah, no.
	In what I was addressing.
	So you're absolutely right.
	I get what you mean.
	And I appreciate giving an opportunity to clarify because, yeah, oh my God.
	Yes.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Oopsie poopsie.
	Oh my God.
	But like, it's just the, I mean, the thing that scares me every day is, and the thing that I feel like I have to keep on my toes, I mean, is what's happening with the Supreme Court and what they're just like, it's, It's incredible to, like, what has been happening and what is just allowed to go on.
	Like, that's, I guess what I'm saying is, like, to be aware that all bets are off.
	And I know that that's, I mean, maybe it's, you know, a foregone conclusion, but just accepting that, like, any convention is going to protect us.
	Any kind of, like, you know, okay, well, we all agreed that we aren't going to do this.
	Out the window.
	Unless it's written into law, because conventions by their very nature are down to whether people follow them or not.
	And that's a big problem that we've had in this country, because in the UK we have a system of constitutional conventions where people do the right thing.
	That's what's supposed to happen.
	And people have done for centuries, and that's the way that's supposed to go.
	Except for when we got Boris Johnson.
	Who broke all of them because he just went, fuck you, I'm going to do what I want.
	And it turned the country upside fucking down.
	So yeah, constitutional conventions, conventions in general are great until you get someone who comes along who doesn't give a shit.
	And that is a lot of the political reality that we're looking at now.
	At least on one side of the aisle, don't give a fuck.
	And I will say, to your point, if it comes down to a legal battle, yeah, you're fucked.
	You're completely fucked.
	There's no question about it.
	All of the courts are fucked.
	I would say a good portion because of Trump.
	That's the one thing that he really nailed was getting the judiciary to be all his people.
	Anyway, we're going to move to off-brand now, where we're going to chat some more shit about stuff.
	But if anyone wants to support us on Patreon, we'd be eternally grateful.
	It's patreon.com slash onbrand.
	Our socials, most of them are at the onbrand pod.
	You can find us on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram.
	Yeah.
	Our Twitter is something different, I think, and we're also a little bit inactive on there, but I do keep checking in every now and then.
	But yeah, just drop us a line, etc.
	Mostly getting into the groove of checking stuff and being more active and all that.
	Everyone has their preferred platforms as well, and Elon's is an actual dumpster fire at the moment.
	That is true!
	Send us an email if you fancy if you've got anything to say if you just want to say hello it's theonbrandpod at gmail.com and you can also send us you know voice messages that kind of thing on there and there should be a link on the Spotify thing for for voice messages there too and our personal socials you can find me at alworthofficial and Lauren at me.buy.lauren.com Yeah.
	And I think that's everything.
	We'll see you Thursday for your regularly scheduled content, where I'll be getting into that thing that I was working on last week as well, which you're all definitely going to hate, so that'll be good.
	Hooray!
	Yeah, no, I've hated every single second of working on it.
	So even more so than this, I would say.
	But we'll get to that.
	And in the meantime, yeah, we'll see you then.
	Thank you so much.
	It was a great few days.
	Thanks, and I'm sorry.
	Yeah, I'm sorry that we have to cover this, but there we go.
	OK, take care, everyone.
	Bye!
	Bye, bye, bye!

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