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Aug. 15, 2024 - On Brand

02:30:43

OB #71 - Fidias Panayiotou

The YouTuber slash newly-appointed-Cypriot-MEP came on Stay Free to talk politics and EXPOSE European Parliament with uh, publicly available information. Support us on Patreon! - patreon.com/OnBrand Buy a magnet! - getsomeactualgoldrighthere

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	This is propaganda live.
	I only suggest how to take him out of the boat.
	Extraordinary cultural moment.
	Already iconic.
	Already iconic.
	We love you.
	You're welcome here.
	Where did this guy come from?
	It looks like he's been doing it for ages.
	He's very confident.
	Plainly, and this is a matter now of fact and record, I'm right wing.
	I feel that Christ may have had a better vision.
	Is this misinformation or is Vivek Ramaswamy in the lavatory?
	That's sort of like a poem.
	Is this Eminem?
	Man, if we didn't come together in that stream.
	I'm assuming it was just the Pete.
	Now these are the kind of conversations I think that the legacy media can no longer compete with.
	Win win win win win win win This is On Brand, a podcast where we discuss the ideas and antics of one Russell Brand.
	I'm Al Worth and each week I go through an episode of Brand's Show with my co-host Lauren B. That's me, I'm Lauren B. And I'm the co-host that has no idea what we're getting into today, but it's usually bad.
	It's almost invariably bad, which is why we do the good thing before the bad thing.
	And Lauren, what is your good thing this week?
	It is.
	So we're staying on the gardening theme.
	Right before we started recording, we make hay while the sun shines.
	Sometimes literally.
	Indeed.
	Full southern sun exposure requires mulch to maintain some GD water in the GD ground.
	So sometimes literally you gotta make the hay and put it on there.
	So, but I do have, it's been a really fun, like I've been trying to grow flowers this year for bees, right?
	For pollinators and stuff.
	I mean, like they're cute.
	But also you need them because we will have no squash without the pollinating, right?
	And so they're obviously the flowers like on the plants that are also making food, but it just helps to have, you know, some marigolds around and whatnot.
	And I have just been I've come up Absolutely nothing.
	I got nothing.
	Nary a mare of gold to be seen.
	But the birds, of which I have quite a few, and I very much enjoy.
	We have a bit of a finch party in the backyard, and I love it.
	Nice.
	And they have made a number of sunflower volunteers, and it's all credit to the birds.
	They've worked it out.
	And I have basically like a sunflower tree.
	I don't have one big sunflower, but I have a bunch of like, you know, maybe like four to six inch across sunflowers on this like just massive monster.
	The sunflower tree, yes.
	Birds, if you're big podcast fans, I appreciate your listening.
	Yell at me less when I'm doing yard work, please.
	And thank you for pooping out some amazing plants.
	Because without you, we would not have flowers!
	So I wanted to show off some of this.
	Oh yeah.
	It doesn't look nearly as, there we go.
	Yeah some of the sunflowers.
	I've actually been, I've had enough to like actually cut and bring into the house in this.
	And of course we're artists so we have weird cool pots everywhere.
	But you know ceramics, pottery.
	And so yeah that's literally like sunflowers.
	Like just the most Blossom masks, basic bitch nice thing.
	Oh and fern lavenders in here as well, that's actually pretty nice.
	Can't go wrong.
	Can't go wrong with that.
	Yeah!
	It's been cool.
	It's been good.
	They're like a, they're a great little beacon of, of what's working in the garden also.
	Cause you know, you got different root systems.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	That teach you a whole lot about what's going on where I can't see anything under the dirt.
	It's a complex, complex situation under there.
	Really?
	Oh, and I got pollen on my, oops.
	Pretty amazing.
	Oh, pollen on the microphone.
	Pollen all over my mic.
	Which is always a good thing.
	My good thing is I've been catching up on some televisual experiences, one of which is Season 3 of The Bear, which I like that show.
	I like that show.
	I think it's very interesting.
	Quite different from season to season, which is fun.
	Um, but, uh, but in particular with Season 3, one thing I did enjoy was I'm there, I'm there just watching, minding my own business, enjoying, you know, they've got very witty dialogue and everything else, and who shows up but John Cena as, as a character, and oh, I live.
	As a comedic actor, John Cena is just Tremendous.
	And I am, I was so thrilled to see him.
	I was like, yes, give me more of this, please.
	He's doing great.
	He's doing great out there.
	Let me tell you.
	It's terrific.
	It's terrific.
	I never liked him that much as a wrestler.
	Um, you know, just the character annoyed me, which I realize is half the point.
	Um, but, uh, but still, still the, you know, the John Cena, the actor I, I love, I absolutely adore.
	Um, so yes, uh, if, if, Anyone involved with casting of the bear or writing of the bear ever hears this show more John Cena, please That's that's my that's my position.
	Thank you Just more of that Dear anyway, we have got a show to do but first we should thank some new patrons So Steve Dudenhofer you are now an awakening wonder You are indeed an awakening wonder Thank you very much, Steve!
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	I'm assuming that is a singular Dave, but if it's a Street of Daves, then thank you all, because that would also be great.
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	Try and avoid interactions through that because fuck Apple is where I'm at on that one.
	Jesus Christ.
	Okay, all right.
	Yeah, there's always something new.
	Now then, Russell has been out of studio for the last week, getting up to some business I'm going to assume, and he's otherwise been airing reruns, but one piece of new content he did put up was an interview And as ever I will let Russell introduce the guest and this is a bit of a longer introduction than usual but it'll hopefully give a broader picture of who it is we're looking at here.
	Hello there you Awakening Wonders!
	Thanks for joining me for a very special edition of Stay Free with Russell Brand today because Phidias is with me.
	Hey Phidias!
	If you've not heard of Phidias yet you're not using social media properly because this might be the most dangerous and innovative guest that I could have brought on if what you're interested in is political disruption.
	Fidius has infiltrated, using social media, charisma, charm, and common sense, one of the most powerful bureaucratic institutions in the world, the European Parliament, and from inside has exposed, if not corruption, the peculiar way that it works, whether that's Ursula von der Leyen and her apparent institutional power, You might know Ursula von der Leyen from her private text messages to Albert Baller, where she did significant deals with Pfizer without thinking to consult the public, the people that pay her wages.
	Without Elon Musk's patronage, maybe Fidesz wouldn't have reached the extraordinary positions he's reached now.
	But let's just unpack some of his success, some of his power, and how popular politics through social media might be about to change the world forever.
	Ursula von der Leyen is trying to become again the President of the European Commission, which is the most important political position in the European Union.
	I am one of the 720 members of the European Parliament and soon we are going to approve her or not.
	I decided that I would put a poll on my social media and you guys will decide if you want me to vote for her or against her.
	Stay tuned because through me now you have a voice for the future of Europe.
	Okay so the person that we're looking at here is a 24 year old newly elected member of European Parliament from Cyprus who is called Phidias Panayotou or just Phidias and for those thinking why the fuck is Russell talking to a random Cypriot MEP?
	Your instincts are correct and we'll be getting into the reasons throughout this interview But the first thing of note and most obvious reason is he's a pretty successful YouTuber who has gotten elected here.
	He's got more than 2.7 million YouTube subscribers and millions more subscribers across social media in general.
	Yeah, just I'm not gonna give the full bio because we'll have a little bit of a reveal as we go, but just a little bit up top.
	He caused a little bit of a fuss in September last year when he filmed a video of himself showing people how to ride the Metro for free.
	Specifically the Bengaluru Metro in India, and it's a video of the guy fair dodging, basically.
	It's just him just not paying for things he should be and filming himself doing it.
	The management of the train service responded that they would be filing a criminal case against him, though he has a habit of just leaving the country immediately afterwards, so that's a problem.
	And then in October last year, so just a month later, he decided he would take things a step further, releasing a video entitled, I Travelled Across Japan For Free.
	And throughout the video, he was seen dodging train fares, including on the famous bullet train, and bus fares, either by hiding in toilets or faking illness when confronted by a conductor.
	He also skipped out on paying for a five-star hotel breakfast bill by pretending he was one of the guests.
	Yeah, so just doing...
	Act of fraud across the country, essentially.
	He was also begging strangers for money for the bus fare, which is fucked up from someone who, by his own words, earns hundreds of thousands a year from YouTube.
	But not only that, begging is illegal in Japan, which is a whole other problem.
	But what happened was because he did this and was begging for bus fare, the bus driver locked him in the bus and
	took him to the nearest police station where he was then detained for five hours.
	Which, I like that. That was fun.
	Um...
	Yeah.
	And then he ran to be a member of European Parliament.
	It would seem he initially kind of started as a joke, or it certainly appears that way, like another hilarious prank of
	his, given that when announcing his candidacy he went on Cypriot
	TV Alpha Cyprus where he wore trainers, shorts, a suit jacket and three neckties.
	He admitted that he'd never voted, knew very little about politics in the EU, but said that he could no longer stand the continued rule of the nerds in Brussels.
	You know, seems like a piss take to me, but largely down to his platform on social media, he's succeeded in getting elected to European Parliament, which Russell describes as Fidius having infiltrated European Parliament.
	Like, nah dude, he was openly elected.
	There was not, you know, this isn't an infiltration.
	And yeah, Fidius now intends to poll his audience as to how he should vote on certain things while he is an MEP.
	Yeah, more on that later.
	But yeah, I don't have the greatest feeling about this Phineas guy.
	That's my instinct off the bat.
	Yeah, he sounds like a pretty typical industrial level annoying YouTube guy.
	Like industrial strength.
	Yeah!
	Yeah.
	An obnoxious YouTube guy that I don't understand why he is popular, but I'm an adult.
	And so I just don't, I don't really.
	I've seen video essays saying he's a pretty accurate encapsulation of main character syndrome.
	You know, the idea that he can just go around doing whatever he wants and film it because he's the main character.
	It's fine, he can get away with it.
	And people enjoying that for some inexplicable reason.
	It's not a syndrome, it's a career.
	I mean, Main Character Syndrome is a person who has kind of, what I assume, in my mind, Main Character Syndrome is a person who is not actually the main character.
	And that's what happens when you're trying to become the...
	the sensational YouTube obnox that works.
	So sure, but like, he's being rewarded financially by being horrible.
	And just like, that's just stealing.
	Like you're just, that's kind of blows my mind.
	Cause like, you know, back way back, you know, in the before four, I traveled X blank, blah, blah for cheap.
	Or I traveled for free means some other like company there's some kind of exchange of like hey you can get hired to teach English and then you have a grant and like it's on the up and up.
	Well there's like some kind of hack yeah yeah yeah that's legit not just I'm going to just defraud the And let me get on my soapbox for a second about Matthew Lesko, the question mark shirt guy that gets a real bad rap about being a scammer because he was on, I mean it was, this is like a US thing, like he was on, you know he had like commercials about like grants from the government.
	He was, if you listen to him talk now, like now that he's retired and like, I think Vice did like a little piece on him that like, in my circle, everybody kind of like watched it and really enjoyed it.
	He genuinely, it's similar to, you know, like there have definitely been like movements or theories and theorists in the past that like everyone who is eligible for entitlement programs in America should try to get them.
	To either break the system so we can make it work better or educate yourself.
	We should all be involved in the entitlement program process because that's what it's intended for and that's how our government would work better and our society would work better if we had more eyeballs on it and involved.
	And he did the same thing for grants.
	Like, government grants.
	So, I still get him, like, I still hear people, like, act like he's a scammer when he's totally not.
	He was assembling all this information and I don't, listen, I don't know about his markup.
	Maybe that's why.
	But he was, like, selling, you know, guides and then access to a newsletter.
	He's, like, selling access to all the research He did, and then hired other people to do.
	And if you're around the arts especially, you come up against the grant process all the time.
	And it's daunting, it's difficult.
	That's a lot of people's main job, is grant writing, especially for galleries and foundations and all that kind of stuff.
	It's a whole field.
	It's a whole ass thing.
	Mm-hmm.
	So...
	I...
	Mm.
	It's very...
	That's...
	But that's also what I'm entirely used to.
	Saying I traveled for free.
	Is not, I stole travel.
	Yeah, yeah.
	The better way to phrase it was, I committed a bunch of crimes across this country.
	I stole, I stole stuff.
	Yeah.
	And moved my body.
	I stole from the state of Japan.
	With stealing.
	Yes.
	I made Japan pay for my travel.
	Yes.
	Like a petulant child.
	Yes.
	Because the goal of that kind of a video is to show other people how to do it.
	And if you're not a famous YouTuber, very bad things can happen to you if you go to a country intending to commit a bunch of crimes.
	Yeah, it's not going to go well.
	Yeah, as for the Japanese people were not pleased with his video and he had to, well actually YouTube took it down is what happened because it violated their guidelines because, you know, it's just committing crimes.
	It's just stealing!
	Yeah, and fraud!
	And like, come on, man!
	And he released an apology video which he has since deleted.
	Okay, okay.
	Trying to sweep this one under the rug, are we?
	Okay.
	I mean, jeez.
	It's just, it's so useless.
	I mean, also, you know what?
	Since we started this podcast, I've had to look into and look up a lot of things I'm not familiar with technology-wise or whatever, right?
	And the amount of content that, like, I have to sift through that is horseshit from top to bottom because the name of the thing couldn't be further from what they're telling you.
	Meh.
	Like, I traveled in Japan for free.
	Interesting.
	I'd love to see what program allowed you to do that.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Even if it was just like, I walked.
	At least that is technically free.
	You know, not just, I stole.
	That's content.
	That's content.
	Right.
	Yeah.
	I walked across Japan.
	Compelling.
	Yeah.
	Sure.
	Sure.
	Fascinating.
	Forrest Gump level compelling.
	Let's party.
	I'm quite sure I watched someone, I watched a couple of videos of someone doing that a couple of years ago, actually.
	Yeah.
	It was really interesting.
	Sure.
	So yeah.
	Not just, I stole my way across.
	Across this country.
	Oh dear.
	I bet it would appeal to children.
	Yeah.
	A lot of people watched it before it got taken down.
	Right.
	Yeah.
	So now, oh, before I forget as well, Ursula von der Leyen, Russell's little thing there, texting Pfizer about vaccines.
	There was nothing nefarious there.
	I know we've covered it before, but just bears mentioning.
	Yeah, it was just her saying, We need these vaccines and now, please, which is a position every single government of the EU agreed upon and we're fine with, you know?
	There's nothing there.
	Okay, so let's get to the second reason that Phidias is on.
	Stay free.
	Man, you're very good on camera as well.
	You are direct and you are clear.
	Years ago, when reality TV came about and there were lots of shows about voting for bands or pop stars, I thought, how long before this technology gets deployed politically?
	And of course, we could be waiting a very long time for it to be deployed politically, because if you did use that technology, you'd be able to have referenda and mandates and the will of the people politically represented.
	But you are actually the first person I've ever seen using political power in that way and of course it's come to the attention of Elon Musk.
	It's pretty important that his patronage has been offered to you.
	That's one of the things I suppose that means that you now have a strong power base and are going to continue to have quite a lot of impact I imagine.
	Yes, it's crazy for me to see the most powerful person in the world to say FIBIAS is right, super important decision.
	It's the coolest thing that could happen in my life.
	It's really mental, it's mental and it's exciting.
	It gives me a lot of leverage, a lot of power, it gives me a lot of opportunities.
	So, Elon, thank you for making this gift.
	Mm-hmm.
	Gross and weird.
	Heart hands.
	Last thing, heart hands.
	He did heart hands.
	For those listening, Fidias is winking and doing heart hands because Elon Musk, the most powerful man in the world, tweeted out that Fidias is right.
	Super important decision.
	And they put that up there without context.
	It was actually a retweet Which makes much more sense than just, on its own, Phidias was right!
	What?
	Yeah, and he was retweeting Phidias' poll to his audience about whether he should vote for or against Ursula von der Leyen being the European President of the European Commission.
	And Phidias is a big Elon stan and so loves this retweet, but their history does go a little bit further back.
	On October 8th, 2022, Phidias began on a mission to hug Elon Musk after having hugged 99 other celebrities.
	Well, specifically, the video is titled, I hugged the world's top 100 celebrities, but 95 of them are other YouTubers.
	And then he crashed the Emmys and put his arm around Ben Stiller, Bill Nighy, and Judd Apatow, right?
	But then for the hundredth, He was waiting outside Twitter's headquarters for Elon Musk to appear almost every day, um, and he, he, for three months this was, um, and he also encouraged his followers to spam Elon's mother, Mae Musk, with his request, which she described as malicious, and, uh, yeah, I'm with ya, um, and, uh, finally then, yeah, in January, uh, January 21st, uh, 2023, after three months, Elon Musk, uh, met and hugged Fidyas in the, uh,
	in the headquarters building.
	And yeah, they've been friendly ever since.
	Musk has been occasionally retweeting stuff.
	I would be less keen if someone had harassed my mother, but I guess that's fine.
	That seems like classical style Elon Musk.
	I'm not remotely surprised.
	Yeah, whole thing is a little bit weird anyway.
	Yeah.
	So next Russell brings up another piece of FIDIAS' content.
	I can't believe how responsibly you're using that power though because this if imagine if this was something that's being made by 60 Minutes in America or a serious Channel 4 documentary in the UK this would be regarded as the kind of journalism that's required but this is beyond journalism this is journalism meets politics have a look at this.
	How much money do I make as a member of the European Parliament?
	Well, it's a lot, so let's start with my salary.
	I get €8,000 a month in my pocket, and in addition to that, every working day I come here in the Parliament and sign, I get another €350, which is a bit strange.
	Apart from that, I have €30,000 per month for the salaries of my team.
	Also, I can have an office in my country and they give me €5,000 a month for that.
	In addition to all the previous stuff, I have another €4,000 a month to promote my work that I'm doing here in the Parliament.
	Another cool expense, I'm allowed to use €10,000 a month to bring people here in the Parliament for a few days to meet and understand what we are doing here.
	In addition to all this money, I get some benefits like having a driver here in Brussels to drive me around and also business class tickets to fly back to my country.
	And I'm curious to hear if you think we are overpaid or underpaid.
	Let me know in the comments.
	Rafidious, how did that poll go?
	Well, people think that we are overpaid.
	But it's very interesting because I can do journalism also from the inside and say the truth and also be a politician, which is very interesting.
	I think I have a big responsibility, huge responsibility.
	Uh-huh.
	Yeah, he's doing journalism, all right.
	And the way this is presented by people like Russell is, Phidias, exposing European Parliament, like 60 Minutes or a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary.
	But actually, all he's talking about is information that's readily and openly available to literally the entire world at any moment via the European Parliament website.
	That 350 euro daily allowance that he thought was strange, by the way, is also known as the subsistence allowance, and it's a flat rate sum covering accommodation, meals, and related expenses each day that an MEP is at the European Parliament on official business.
	It's nothing unusual whatsoever, it's just an expenses situation.
	Um, yeah.
	Nothing strange.
	And nor are the expenses given for Phidias to have a competent team around him.
	That's pretty normal as well.
	It's to help him just not be terrible at his job.
	I'm like, yes.
	Good.
	Good.
	You need that.
	Please.
	Well, if he gets to choose who he hires.
	So...
	We'll get to that in a bit.
	Oh, like that?
	Oh, cool.
	Good, good, good.
	All right.
	Yeah, there are problems.
	But yeah, by and large, I'm like, yeah, you need all this stuff.
	As for the argument as to whether politicians are overpaid, like there's room for debate
	there, particularly as they get a significant salary, as well as expenses such as food paid
	for which one could argue makes them pretty out of touch with the reality of the people
	they're governing, but I have far less of an issue with that than I do like politicians
	being able to have second jobs for instance.
	You know, if you want to talk about corruption in politics, let's talk about politicians
	sitting on the boards of companies they're then legislating in parliament.
	Or just the very principle of a public servant getting paid a fortune and not dedicating
	their working existence to said public service.
	That's a much bigger problem, I would say.
	Or, for instance, Fiddyass here, you know, just making thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars off of doing YouTube content.
	You know, I'm like, I'd rather you were focused on doing your job right now, buddy.
	The one you get paid $80,000 a year to do.
	Yeah, that's... I mean, because yeah, that is a second job, right?
	I just made that argument.
	Yeah, it's the second job.
	Like, yeah, I was like, I was listening to all those numbers and I was like, you could have made this video before.
	Yeah, yeah, exactly.
	It didn't have to happen to you personally.
	No, it's all... To care.
	I mean, let's all pay attention to the fact that that is exactly what happened.
	Yeah, exactly.
	You didn't want to look it up.
	Yeah, yeah.
	This is... Could not be bothered.
	I mean, yeah, this really seems like he's...
	Man, the illusion of choice is thick here.
	Because yeah, people that follow him are voting.
	I think that's probably how he's kind of billing himself.
	He's like, I am a vessel for the people.
	You vote on this poll, I will do that thing.
	That's a lot of the brand.
	Yes.
	Yep.
	That's definitely so far.
	It's, it's, it's, uh, it's coming to that.
	And, um, yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll get to some of those polls shortly.
	Um, cause there are problems.
	Um, Black Mirror, let us know the running men.
	Let us know.
	Like we've been getting a warned for a while now.
	Yeah.
	But the information that he's presented here, like, you know, about salaries, it's all pretty milquetoast stuff.
	But, you know, according to Russell, he's exposing Parliament, you know, and all this stuff.
	But, you know, in terms of like actual problems and what to do about them, you know, like he asked if people think that MEPs are overpaid, but he has absolutely zero intention of doing anything about it.
	You know, he was like, do you think that?
	Okay, fuck you, you know?
	And that's the end of it.
	And also, I will bet my bottom dollar that he is going to be claiming every penny of the expenses money that's at his disposal.
	I can guarantee it.
	I mean, it's a standard deduction, right?
	Like, it's a standard deduction of travel expenses if you do your taxes by yourself, because we have to.
	We have to.
	Toil away in the tax mines here in this country.
	That's true.
	You have to do that anyway.
	Yeah.
	That's that's yeah.
	But anyway, next, Russell as his feelings on what he's describing as direct democracy.
	What I'm really struck by is that you are changing politics in a way that very deliberate activists are probably unable to.
	I'll just tell you what I mean.
	Like the fact that you do polls online where you allow your constituents or your followers or supporters or whatever is the correct thing to call them now to determine what you do.
	For me it feels like a very pure expression of politics where people in elected positions are responding directly to a mandate, not responding to a centralized authority, but responding to the people they were elected to represent.
	Are you aware how, I see that on your shirt you have hashtag new politics, are you aware of how innovative what you are doing is?
	I'm not sure if I'm aware of it, maybe, but I want to start and say I apologize, ladies and gentlemen, for my accent.
	It's a bit difficult for you to understand, but we're going to get through this together.
	But yeah, in Cyprus, this is the biggest thing that happened in politics ever.
	Like, since Cyprus is a democracy, since 1960, this is the coolest thing that happened.
	And I got more votes as an independent than All the parties.
	So it's crazy.
	I don't believe it myself.
	I got 20% of the votes and it's very weird.
	But how it happened?
	I wanted, like I heard Elon Musk saying, if you don't see the change that you want around the world, become the change.
	I was like, fuck the politics in Cyprus.
	They're assholes.
	They're just caring about themselves and their party and power.
	So I want to become the change.
	Yeah, that famous Elon Musk quote, uh, be the change you want to see in the world.
	Um, that's, that's why Phineas ran.
	Um, okay.
	Um, yeah, that, that quote is, uh, not from Elon Musk, but it's widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.
	Um, though he never actually said those specific words.
	Um, in fact, what he said was, quote, We but mirror the world.
	All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body.
	If we change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.
	As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.
	This is the divine mystery supreme.
	A wonderful thing it is, and the source of our happiness.
	We need not wait to see what others do."
	Unquote.
	It's essentially discussing, you know, how changing yourself changes your perception of the world, and as you change, the world will treat you differently as well, right?
	It's interesting philosophical territory, and probably, I would say, more valuable advice to someone like Phidias, who seems to lack a moral compass.
	Compared to... Yeah!
	Certainly more valuable than be the change!
	I do also want to mention Russell's idea of direct democracy and social media and that kind of thing being used in a legislative sense to directly poll the populace, which, you know, that's in line with his apparent idea of like thousands of referenda being held every year, right?
	He's consistent on that.
	Terrible idea.
	The reasons we haven't done that and implemented that in our society are many.
	Firstly, it's incredibly complicated to even set up such a system and would most likely cost billions of pounds to get it working on a technological level.
	Secondly, there's the problem of access.
	Like, what if people don't have a smartphone or access to whatever means of voting in these polls?
	Thirdly, how exactly are you going to make sure the populace is accurately informed on these thousands of issues they're expected to vote on?
	You know, we fucked up the Brexit vote thanks to liars and that was just the one issue, let alone thousands of them.
	Fourthly, even if they are somehow all informed, how would you get people to actually bother to vote?
	Like, we get a shitty turnout in elections every year, why would people bother with mini-referendums every day?
	And finally, and this is possibly the biggest one, there is no way to have such a system and have it secure from outside influence, either through more traditional hacking or bot farms and the like, a la Russian intervention in American and British politics over the last decade.
	Like, there is no way to keep such a thing secure at this moment in time.
	The idea is just insane from start to finish.
	Yeah I mean or like there's you know that I mean to think that we don't have them here I don't I mean well no we probably would outsource it so they probably aren't here uh because this is like labor and um American companies don't want to pay for it here anymore but like yeah watching like there's videos that are readily available of There's Chinese phone farms, right?
	I've seen the ones in China.
	I bet there are a lot of other places too.
	The bot of it all.
	It's not so easy, but it is once the infrastructure is set up to do it.
	the amount of influence that you can exert whenever there isn't this kind of like vetted process.
	Because I think what they're arguing is you can do it on an app, right?
	Like that's the argument being made.
	Which notoriously how unreliable any public poll is.
	Like verifying an identity and then storing that identity in a place
	and then protecting that information.
	The one thing that I think we can all agree on is that companies are fucking dog shit at protecting your data.
	So this is like the worst possible, the amount of like, The Swiss cheese in every single aspect of what you just described is so overwhelming to be completely impossible to implement.
	Yeah.
	It's not watertight.
	And that's so obvious.
	Yeah.
	It's so obvious.
	It's hard to even engage with this conversation because the first thought you have of like, well, how would that work?
	Yeah.
	The answer is it wouldn't.
	Yeah, pretty much.
	It's incredibly complicated.
	For so many reasons, it just wouldn't.
	It is not feasible at this moment in time.
	It just is not.
	But that's what Russell's going to keep agitating for.
	Well, yeah, this is the one thing he's super consistent on, which is genuinely hilarious.
	Also, this is the first guest that has been in the studio since the downgrade last September, and I see why they're not doing it.
	It's awkward as hell.
	They're really crammed in.
	You need camera angles going.
	I don't know why that's happened because it used to look better didn't it with Tucker and you know and Dawkins?
	Well yeah it used to like the lighting was good it was like it was a set and now they're in this kind of portion of a set I'm not entirely sure I mean yeah I don't know why they had to give it the big table we don't know I'd love to know why yeah I figured they'd go back to the big table whenever they were having people in the studio again.
	One would think.
	One would think.
	It's kind of wild.
	So that's like, and it's this guy.
	Okay.
	Um, so just to note for listeners, like it looks very different and like awkward and cramped.
	Um, and then also it's this guy, but Russell is looking at this kid like a piece of meat.
	Yeah.
	Oh yeah.
	and not in like a sexy way and like it just a gen, just a, just a good old taken, take advantage of way.
	Or like, I'm going to steal the holy shit out of your idea.
	Like, oh, I've been, I've already been doing this.
	Yeah.
	And all I, like Russell's like, huh?
	So, I'm gonna do this.
	You made it work.
	You did it.
	Yeah.
	I'm gonna do this.
	It's what I wanted to do.
	I think that we talked a lot about on the show, Russell's potential political aspirations.
	This is a big tick in the he wants to be a politician column for me as far as he's salivating at the thought of having this kind of Yeah.
	echo chamber, straight up black mirror ass power.
	Yeah.
	Cause we're all, we're online a lot.
	Right? I also, especially like I listened to a lot of content that maybe I don't see these people
	but I hear about them and I have never heard of this person.
	Like I'm, I'm not, you know, I'm, I'm not a Cypriot.
	And I'm also, like, I'm not a fan of the kind of content that, obviously, which I've already laid out, but just to put a fine point on it, I'm not a fan of the kind of content this guy makes.
	But that the echo chamber that we are all identifying, and we talk about all the time, that the algorithm creates for us, and we talk about it because We know it's not reality.
	We know it's like tailored.
	So these, we're looking at two dudes that are like, oh man, not only is the algorithm absolutely real as far as the echo chamber it's created for me, they think it is so real that they're hearing from everyone.
	And in that, in that regard, the, the main character, Careers like they're they're they're like I am the main character I hear from everyone on earth and they agree with me and they think I'm great so like I can make a decision I'm I am qualified as a representative for
	A constituency that I think is representative of a very, like, I am a good representative for this group of people and I can make these decisions because they vote on an online poll.
	Mm-hmm.
	Mm-hmm.
	Which is literally what democracy is pitched as and looks like to an authoritarian dictator.
	Yes, not wrong, not wrong.
	Speaking of polls, let's take a look at the next clip because he talks about the poll that he put up about Ursula von der Leyen, right?
	I forgot to say I love you.
	I love you.
	I love you already because I've been following you on YouTube and on X. Thank you for saying I love you.
	That makes me feel so relaxed.
	Thank you.
	I've been following you on YouTube and on X and I'm very excited to try and understand is this an anomaly?
	Something that just happens once?
	Or is this potentially the new face of politics?
	Meaning that various independent candidates could rise up in districts everywhere and represent their constituents in the way that you are, using technology to derive direct mandate on almost every issue.
	Because, like, our viewers will be familiar with Ursula von der Leyen.
	Ursula von der Leyen is, of course... She's my boss.
	Tell us a little bit about Ursula von der Leyen for our viewers.
	So Ursula von der Leyen is the High Commissioner in Europe.
	So basically we have the Commission, the European Parliament and it's a bit complicated how Europe works but it's basically the head of Europe, Ursula von der Leyen.
	So I put a poll on my social media because I'm trying to As powerful I was in Cyprus with the social media, I tried to become similar, have similar power in the parliament as well with social media.
	Because when you have social media, people, you have leverage for people to hear you, for you to have meetings, for people, I don't know, to afraid or to vote what you want.
	So I'm trying to do this, have this leverage in the parliament as well.
	But I put a poll in my social media People, what do you want me to vote?
	Vote yes for Ursula von der Leyen or no?
	And like 80% of the viewers from Cyprus, from around the world, they said out of 300,000 votes, they said that they don't want her.
	And she still got elected.
	So I find this a bit strange, to be honest, that people of Europe actually don't want her to be the High Commissioner and she still got elected.
	So yeah.
	Uh-huh.
	So I mentioned that Phidias has a YouTube following of 2.7 million, didn't I?
	Lauren, I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but would you care to take a guess at the size of the population of Cyprus?
	Any kind of ballpark is fine.
	Oh, no.
	I have no idea.
	I'm gonna go one.
	I'm gonna go one.
	I'm gonna do Price is Right rules.
	Okay.
	One dollar, Bob.
	One dollar?
	Because if you go over, he's going over.
	If you go over, you lose.
	But if you're under, I win.
	One million, I'm assuming, is the guess.
	Oh no, one.
	Like one person.
	I'm guessing under his, right?
	Because he's saying there's two million, right?
	Well, he has 2.7 million followers on YouTube.
	But yeah, the population of Cyprus is about 900,000.
	of whom 683,000 are registered to vote.
	And you might be thinking, there's problems there, huh?
	So obviously he's polling an audience that is actually predominantly made up of Americans,
	asking them for their opinion on how he should vote in European Parliament
	and carrying out that will.
	Like, said Americans are, like him, on the alt-right side of things and big Musk appreciators.
	Like, Fidesz's poll on X returned 120,000 votes with it coming in at 85% against reinstating Ursula von der Leyen as the President of the European Commission.
	And how many of that 120,000 votes are actually Cypriot?
	Who the fuck knows?
	That's basically what we're looking at.
	given for thinking that the American alt-right now essentially have a seat in European Parliament
	with Fidias as their puppet.
	That's basically what we're looking at.
	I will say, Fidias claims he did also put up polls of his Cypriot audience in Greek,
	like on separate accounts.
	He supposedly has.
	And apparently across those, he got about 50,000 votes from Cypriots with them coming in at 70% against Ursula von der Leyen.
	And between this and his American poll, he's wondering, well, just how is it that Ursula von der Leyen got elected?
	As he put it, the whole of Europe doesn't want her there, based on his polls.
	And we know that they could all vote once?
	Was that definitely could all vote one time?
	Right, exactly.
	There's that.
	And also, if his numbers are correct, he polled about 6-7% of his country on the issue.
	And that number is also not going to be people across a broad range of views and ideals.
	Those are going to be his supporters that he was polling.
	Okay, okay.
	Wait, wait, wait.
	So, he got 50,000 votes.
	From Cyprus.
	The population of Cyprus again?
	I thought I heard 90,000.
	900,000.
	Okay.
	900,000.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	All right.
	That makes way more sense.
	Okay.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So like six to seven percent, right?
	And they're going to be his supporters and the people following him already on social media who may or may not also have some alt-right leanings anyway.
	The polls that he's done are not accurately representative of Cyprus, let alone the entire of Europe, And even if Cypriot voters did overwhelmingly not like Ursula von der Leyen, say it was 70% of the entire of Cyprus, there are MEPs in 26 other countries who get a vote, 441 of which voted to keep Ursula von der Leyen as president.
	So, that's just democra- it's not, it's not a conspiracy, like the whole thing, the whole thing that he's presenting here is incredibly skewed and outright stupid, um, and it's being used to insinuate a conspiracy that Ursula von der Leyen wasn't in fact elected but was actually installed by the EU against the will of the people.
	That's the implication that he's making.
	I mean, so he seems very, like, bubbly.
	And sweet, kind of?
	Maybe a little much?
	Yeah, gives that impression, yep.
	I can envision a reality where he has zero skepticism of the algorithm tailoring his experience.
	And he just thinks this.
	Cause it's lovely to think you are universally beloved by the whole world and anyone who disagrees with you is just a hater.
	Like that's, that's a lot.
	That's a lot.
	I'm looking, but also, He looks like a real sweet pea.
	Like, I'm looking at this person who's like, like, kind of, you know, like, a puppy dog.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Who wants to, I mean.
	You know puppies think everybody wants to scratch their belly like okay sure yeah yeah he may believe what he's saying yeah yeah for sure yeah they don't think that you've got to answer the phone or do the dishes they're like no you're gonna scratch my belly end of thought you have other stuff to do no how dare you do other things right like And then whatever, like, they don't have to do the dishes.
	They're just gunning for the next moment where they can have scritches when they want them.
	Yes, I just want the approval.
	Let's skip to the next bit of you approving me.
	Thank you very much.
	Oh no.
	Oh no indeed.
	So next up, Phidias tells us the message that got him elected to Parliament.
	It seems that you are coming from an opposite perspective and it makes me curious about, is that deliberate?
	The way you've arrived at this place of like, I'll do whatever you want.
	Do you want, because I remember you did a poll on whether or not you would join the Green Party or remain independent.
	You just ask your audience, what do you want me to do?
	This for me is so innovative and yet somehow so obvious, but no one's done it before.
	No one's gotten into a position to do it.
	People love to participate in decision making.
	Some people think that I'm immature and I'm just giving the power.
	I don't have an opinion.
	But I think, let's say, when we have more, I think, independent in the future, I think I trust more an independent critical thinker than any party that will do his adjustment with his team.
	He will say, OK, we need to vote about these things.
	This is the topics that we are interested.
	So I trust more him.
	Than any other.
	And if I know his background and what he believes and all this stuff.
	But I managed to get elected in my country, it's very strange, ladies and gentlemen, without saying anything about my political positions.
	I was just saying about education, that it sucks.
	And people still saw the authenticity and that I'm honest about what I'm saying, and still voted for me.
	So people maybe don't need What politicians think they want for people, for them to vote for them.
	So I think that what people want to vote for you is changing as well, slowly, slowly.
	So what he's saying here is that he got elected by standing there and saying, this thing sucks, while having absolutely zero plans to fix said thing that sucks, which one could argue is his job to do.
	Like, you are supposed to fix the problems when you are elected to some kind of office, not just whinge about them.
	That is the job.
	But this is exactly emblematic of the alt-right at large.
	It's what Russell does every single week.
	So I'm gonna whine about things and offer no solutions.
	That's what we're gonna do.
	I mean, I'm hearing... What's funny is I'm hearing a far more honest explanation of what most especially national level politicians absolutely do.
	This is a massive not just the right like this is a massive problem in general as far as like not having uh I mean Marjorie Taylor Greene we just heard it it's like there's no plan yeah there's that like what you just laid out should be a very important element in getting elected to anything and being qualified for here's what I'm gonna do yeah here's here's my background here's why I should be elected and here's what I'm gonna do when I get into office You know, rather than, this is terrible, vote for me.
	Well that, and I think that like, I mean this is a really, to me like, There is something to be said for a really interesting kind of like thought experiment about responding to your constituency, like the people that elected you, how they then expect you to behave, because I think there's a lot of absolute misunderstanding in the, you know, it gets lost in PR and rhetoric and culture war issues when genuinely like we, like the, the reality that
	Your representatives in the government, what are they representing?
	Their constituency.
	The people that live in the place that elected them.
	That to me is like, I've tried to make this argument and failed miserably.
	But think about Joe Manchin, right?
	It's like, well, if all of his constituents believe that this is how he should be voting, And I said all.
	Yeah.
	Not the people that can afford access to him, which is exactly like what this kid is dealing with.
	It's like people that have the time, resources, and access to his polls or whatever, and to his content, and to the information he's relaying to his ostensible constituency.
	So take issue with that constituency.
	And then if your constituency is like, no, no, no, we don't want him to do that.
	We don't know how to even start to, Tell him that he's wrong.
	That's like, if you are not representing your, like, okay.
	As far as, like, the Missouri Statehouse, it's something that's genuinely wild and is, like, very stark for me.
	Just, like, you know, my political exposure experience in my life, that's, you know, where I lived, so it was, like, what I'm used to.
	And just, like, you people listen to, like, The police chief and your dad.
	You don't talk to anybody.
	You are so insulated from people's real experience in the statehouse and people that are running the government.
	It's not even discussed in public discourse, to me.
	Listen, if every single rep and senator, blah blah blah, If they are accurately reflecting what benefits and is important to their constituents, and there's a majority of an understanding of like, oh, well, I'm, my, listen, look, all these people that are my constituents, not corporations, not lobbyists,
	My constituents that live in the place that elected me.
	I am reflecting their wishes.
	That's literally the job.
	Yeah.
	Like that's the job you're supposed to do.
	But this is the echo chamber version that is like, this is like classical.
	straight up like dictator shit.
	Like it's Stalin, like the guys that ended up disappearing for pictures with Stalin.
	Like you've got, you know, you've got like the room of dudes
	that drinks and smokes a lot and makes all the decisions and thinks that everyone feels the same way as you.
	That's like, that's exactly.
	Like, that's what patriarchy wants us to do, that's what white supremacy wants us to do, is like, is buy into, well, this is what the people around me at the country club say, so I think everyone's like this.
	Like, it's even, Ray Wilson interview, we talked about it, like, right?
	Like, this is the kind of, like, thread that we're pulling, and it'd be interesting if it wasn't so consequential.
	Yes, yes.
	It would be fascinating if it wasn't such a fucking problem.
	And isn't political corruption kind of like a problem?
	And I'm no shade here too, but like it's an issue in Cyprus.
	Like from what I understand from other people that like talk about, you know, like world affairs, foreign affairs that I listen to, some of them are Cypriot and they're like, yeah, this is a massive problem in my country.
	it gives them kind of the like platform and the impetus to speak on it happening for themselves
	Yeah.
	but then in other countries, right? Like you're advocating because you have lived experience
	with it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very curious what that election that got him where he is looked
	like. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
	Yeah. Yeah. In terms of especially in terms of financial backings here and there, you know,
	that would be right. Or just like acts like, yeah. How that went. I guess we're not going to
	talk about that. I mean, there's a lot. I'm sure. I mean, I don't you know, I don't know
	what we're talking about, but that's man. That's interesting. That's really interesting.
	This is kind of nuts because we are a man of like letting a run everything, right? Like
	that's people like Elon Musk are making that argument. Yeah.
	Yeah.
	This is the embodiment of this mascot, basically, right?
	Kinda, yeah, yeah.
	It doesn't speak well of where we're headed, let's put it that way.
	If this is an indicator of things to come then I'm like, oh no, oh no.
	Yeah, remember the episode of Black Mirror where you got a vote on the cancellation means murdering that girl?
	I'm just getting struck with that a lot, you know?
	That like...
	Yep.
	Charlie Brooker is a precog, everyone.
	He can see it all coming.
	Anyway, from here, Russell starts asking about Fiddeas' team and what Fiddeas actually does as his role as an MEP.
	Yes, please!
	How do you decide which issues require consulting on and how have you decided and chosen the people that you consult with?
	Okay, interesting.
	By the way, how the European Parliament works is like 20 committees, and you choose what committees to go in.
	You're about education, about this, and it's like you can choose two, three committees to be in.
	So you don't need to be experts in everything, but you need to vote.
	for everything. So you need to kind of pay attention to what is happening in all the committees, but you need to
	contribute in too.
	So that so I chose the stuff that I know kind of. I chose to there is one petition
	so kind of everyone in Europe can can kind of apply their ideas for the parliament to make
	them in reality. So I will use so we get a lot of
	requests and we see what we like and we we so I thought that being a youtuber having millions of views
	I will promote this so everyone in Europe will apply their ideas for us to do them in the parliament
	So that's why I chose that one. So I chose something that I can contribute in and
	And I'm sure I will contribute more than all the other MPs because of my power of social media.
	The other thing that I chose to contribute is culture.
	So it's about education and culture.
	And what is media?
	It's culture.
	And I'm very good at social media and all this stuff and also education.
	I hate the educational system.
	I think it kills creativity and there should be a lot more innovative ways to do it.
	So I chose some topics that I'm familiar with.
	So there are two important things to note about this.
	Yeah, one is that is that committee talking about petitions coming in from people as to like how to, you know, how to affect change within European Parliament from the people itself, you know, and, you know, people can people can sign on to the petitions and everything to make the ideas more visible.
	Phineas said there that he will contribute more to that committee than any other MEP because of his social media following, which I find disconcerting.
	I can see him kind of rallying the troops around possibly not-so-great ideas, but we'll see.
	There's potential for nefarious acts there.
	And secondly, yeah, he hates the education system in the country of Cyprus, and he is gonna rail against that by sitting on a committee for education and culture in the European Union.
	Now, he really does hate the education system in Cyprus.
	In one of his videos chatting with his high school physics teacher, Phidias described it as a cancer.
	That's his complaint?
	and the Cypriot education system.
	It does seem quite stuffy and traditional from what I could find, sure.
	That's his complaint?
	Well, yeah, it's true restrictive.
	He didn't have a great time in school.
	Let's put it that way.
	Okay.
	What Fidias has joined is the Committee on Culture and Education.
	And under the European Parliament's rules of procedure, the responsibilities of the cult committee, as it's called,
	one, the cultural aspects of the European Union, and in particular, improving the knowledge
	and dissemination of culture, the protection and promotion of cultural
	and linguistic diversity.
	The Conservation and Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Exchanges and Artistic Creation.
	Two, the Union's Educational Policy, including the European Higher Education Area, the Promotion of the System of European Schools and Lifelong Learning.
	Three, Audiovisual Policy and the Cultural and Educational Aspects of the Information Society.
	Four, youth policy.
	Five, the development of a sports and leisure policy.
	Six, information and media policy.
	And seven, cooperation with third countries in the areas of culture and education and relations with the relevant international organizations and institutions.
	Now, if you're like me, you might be noticing this committee does not govern the specific educational systems of the 27 individual countries within the EU.
	While the Cult Committee does do cool things like provide funding for creative programs and exchange years in universities across the EU.
	So, like, I could have gone to Berlin in my second year of university, for instance, on the EU's dime.
	How fucking cool is that?
	They will do exactly nothing.
	Make a video about it.
	That's what the video should have been about.
	Yeah, a program.
	Yes, yeah, yeah.
	But this committee will do exactly nothing that influences the high school system in Cyprus.
	Which is probably a good thing because if they did then a bunch of Nigel Farage types would go back to whining about sovereignty.
	But the point is, if Fideas gave two shits about making any kind of meaningful change in his country, he would know this and would instead be campaigning to be a politician in Cyprus itself where he could make a difference to these things he supposedly cares about.
	Yeah, you know what would really help you understand the system is, I don't know, become a teacher?
	Or like, you know what, maybe that's not accessible because you did have a bad time in school, so you got bad grades and didn't have access through academia to become that.
	Or maybe you're not good at being a teacher.
	A lot of people are not and should not teach if you don't like it and you're not good at it.
	I definitely don't.
	I mean, that's, yeah, that's, I think that's honestly changing a little bit from the time I was in school.
	Like, it's crazy that, okay, let's not use crazy.
	Not beneficial to think, I had a bad time in school.
	I have to be president of Mexico?
	Or I don't know, I had to be a cultural attache to Belgium to fix my school.
	I need to go over here to fix the problem where I'm from.
	My one school.
	Listen, if he started from like, Being a teacher, being a TA, being involved in his school as an adult and understanding why he has such a hard time being involved in the local, like there are so many local positions to get involved in education.
	So many forms of activism.
	Yeah.
	I'd at least entertain the claim.
	You know what I mean?
	Yeah yeah yeah for sure for sure I mean a person with this much of a following like and and being a big deal in Cyprus and whatever like he could set up an organization that was agitating for change there are so many things he could do without even having to actually engage with the education system itself just be an activist on the outside like he could definitely do that.
	With his amount of reach yeah he could yeah really like he Oh, man.
	Oh, I'm so sad right now.
	I just got very sad.
	All I'm saying is, like, I just got really sad.
	Like, OK, if you're if this is your issue and this is what you like, you could do so much with the platform he's got.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's it's kind of heartbreaking.
	And it's the same deal with Russell.
	You know, it's it's like if you actually give a shit about any of this stuff, Why aren't you doing anything?
	Good God!
	Please!
	Yeah, about any of the things, like, that's so specific, you know what I mean?
	Like, you know, Russell's hippy-dippy.
	Like, Russell's a space case, like, and has no idea where to even start, but he's learning from this one.
	If you're saying that education is the problem, this is just so far...
	Because that committee, it sounds like soft power.
	That's all the soft power stuff, which we did talk about, maybe deceptively titled the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kundalini Yoga Off-Brand episode.
	We talked about how effectively soft power is wielded on an international stage.
	Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
	Which is something that a YouTuber absolutely understands.
	Mm-hmm.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Well, as it is, he's going to carry on with his game of being a social media influencer who just happens to hold elected office.
	Because that's how it feels so far.
	So, next we do actually get to one of Phidias's hires for his team.
	The second thing, I'm 24 years old, but I had a lot of years of experience of being a businessman, because I'm a successful YouTuber for 5-6 years, and now I'm doing YouTube, I hire people, I understand how business works, so I put jobs, and I found other people that work in the Parliament for 20 years, and I hired them.
	I like their ideas, and also I have My high school teacher, physics teacher, I think she's the smartest person in the world.
	Your teacher works for you now as an advisor?
	Yes.
	Yeah, so Phidias hired his high school physics teacher as part of his team in European Parliament.
	I mean, physics sounds like civics.
	No, physics.
	Well, I'm saying like, civics is government.
	Physics is not.
	Aside from those... homophone?
	No overlap, literally whatsoever.
	No, Phidias loves this one.
	He was the one teacher, you know, who Phidias clearly very much vibed with in high school and credits that teacher with the reason Phidias is successful now.
	Which is like, okay, that's a choice.
	Phidias also hired his own sister to join his team.
	And what's important about that one is obviously there are rules against that, you know, nepotism and the like in the European Parliament.
	Yeah, other countries have that.
	Yeah, it's not allowed.
	So Phidias skirted that rule by spending his own money and hiring his sister personally rather than spending the EU funding money, which one could argue misses the entire fucking point that she shouldn't be there in the first place.
	That sounds more common than I'd like to think about.
	That's pretty fucking standard, man.
	That also sucks.
	I worry.
	But yes, yeah, also terrible.
	Wow.
	Wow.
	There's like a lot of really standard corruption, right?
	Like if we're going to talk about corruption, let's talk about it across the board.
	There's so many statistics that are not like a manipulated kind of pick and choose that like loopholes that need to be closed, which genuinely when I hear about how non-American governments work, it's just harsh.
	Breaking up.
	They take care to be like, they're careful, even a little bit with this kind of, you know, with like corruption, nepotism, all that kind of stuff.
	Yeah.
	You know, double dealing, backdoor, backdoor deals, all that kind of like shit, right?
	Yeah.
	So it's, I have to be confronted with and then conceive of.
	A much more regulated government body.
	Oh boy.
	So I don't necessarily want to focus on that, but also I don't know because I'm not in the EU and I don't have, I don't have, that's not the governing body that is in charge of my country.
	So knowing, like, I don't want to come down on something that is wrong that is common, Necessarily.
	So I'm trying to tread lightly because I don't know.
	Yeah, I'm not 100% sure.
	It feels like it could be abused among the 720 MEPs, you know, but I'm not clear.
	Yeah, the fact that it's possible is worrying.
	Yeah, our politicians walk around with like a price tag hanging off their neck.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Very American is what it is.
	Yeah, right.
	Yeah, so I'm trying to tread lightly and not get upset about the things that I wish were, like, you know what I mean?
	Like, I'm trying to temper My view.
	Yes.
	Yes, that is obviously also bad.
	I'm but like, oh, you can just do that.
	I mean, like, yeah, you know, because like I get that.
	Yeah, it's not spending the public money on it.
	But this person shouldn't have, you know, that kind of access to power and all of that kind of stuff just by being this guy's sister.
	That's right.
	You know, there are two different issues, right?
	Just that kind of spending public money and access.
	They technically are Because, yeah, that's, I mean, a consultant?
	All bets are off here, dawg.
	Man, oh man.
	Yeah, yeah, right.
	The amount of, like, fake jobs that we, like, that is genuinely fascinating, like, how, I mean, I live in Chicago.
	Yeah, yeah.
	How many fail sons am I paying for on a daily basis?
	A hundred?
	You know, like so... America's a fun place.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Right?
	Right.
	I'm with you.
	I'm not trying to be a hypocrite.
	You know, like I'm not trying to get...
	I'm so fascinated as to the kind of impact that this person could have and how interested Russell is in his process and how much he wants to take that and run with that is what I'm trying to focus on.
	But yes, it's very upsetting to think about regulations and how Entirely fair.
	And the European Union is one of the most regulated bodies in the world, I would say.
	It sure is!
	There's a lot going on in that place.
	Oh dear.
	So next, Phidias has a problem with party politics.
	The combination of humility and confidence is pretty powerful actually because it means that you're not assuming that you know but you are willing to ask for new information.
	I didn't know of course because I'd never sought to ask or inquire or learn that the way that the European Parliament works is that there are 20 committees and you can elect to be in two or three of them but you vote across all of those committees.
	I wonder if during that time you have sensed A way that an agenda is being pushed.
	The parties are so fucking powerful.
	And I don't like this because, for example, you know the 720 MEPs, they are in parties.
	33 of them, they are independent like me.
	So basically, because they are bored or Let's not say bored, but the way that system works is you are not following the 20 committees.
	You are only following your three committees, and your party tells you what to vote on the others.
	So the parties have so much power, they are just whatever they want to do, and if one party do an alliance, the big party, Social and Democrats with EPP, which is the two biggest parties, if they do an alliance together, they can do whatever they want in the parliament.
	So it's like...
	They are doing whatever they want.
	I cannot stop them, ladies and gentlemen.
	Hopefully in five years we become... You are just one man!
	You are just one humble Cypriot man!
	I'm here saying what has happened.
	This is information from the inside.
	This is how it's operating.
	And hopefully we can understand it and slowly, slowly we can change it.
	Revelatory from the inside.
	Yeah yeah and I'm sure you'll get rid of political parties existing.
	That's definitely going to happen.
	So what he's saying here is that the political parties in Europe are too powerful.
	Uh-huh.
	Now for anyone unfamiliar with how it works, obviously members of European Parliament will have their own political party in their own country.
	But then there are parties within European Parliament itself forming slightly looser coalitions of people who agree broadly on the same stuff, right?
	From far left and progressive to what is basically a version of the Nazi Party over on the full right.
	And obviously if the two larger parties that are closer to the middle or two of the bigger ones Agree on something within European Parliament. Yeah, they
	can form a coalition and make sure that stuff gets passed This is how politics generally works within the entire of
	Europe more or less And I would honest to God love to hear his suggestion on
	how it should work instead Because like you can say, oh everyone should be independent
	But the reality is there are still going to be groups of people whose views align and they're gonna vote together
	Anyway, so it kind of makes sense to work together You know are yes or no
	Like that's the thing is like yes or no It's not a conspiracy if a lot of people think yes
	that's bananas to me like
	I want to hear the evidence.
	Like, listen, if you have evidence of collusion and of like a conspiratorial, you know, like a corporate overlording, right?
	Yeah, yeah.
	Of money.
	On the target market.
	Tell me about that shit all goddamn day, right?
	Like, oh, I think it's fax-inating.
	Actual corruption?
	Please.
	Yeah, let me know.
	This seems like a confusion of corruption and cooperation.
	Like, you're just agreeing.
	Which, As I'm listening to this, I think that the internet echo chamber that has birthed this person, this puppy, right?
	This internet puppy, is... I think that if you're on the internet, and if you discourse on the internet, and you think that that's how people talk in real life, every single, like every algorithm favors an argument.
	So you think that people argue in real life all the time.
	Another conversation we are constantly having is how arguing on the internet is so different from experiences with people in the real world.
	And it is so different that it is skewing an entire generation's, like a portion of a generation's view of, and also probably actually changing Their, like, the way they do relate to the world, bringing it into the real world where it was way more prevalent to, like, just nitpick and semantic and argue about nothing and bullshit and just thinking that the loudest voice is right.
	Like, this is, this is this kind of, this is an end game result of thinking that truth can be voted, like, a truth by committee.
	Like, truth by, not even consensus, it's just by a clap-o-meter.
	Because that's essentially what, especially on Twitter, and also I'm not on Twitter, I can't.
	I'm a picture person.
	I can't.
	Too much.
	And so maybe that's why I'm not familiar with this guy, right?
	But I haven't heard anything else about him, right?
	So granted, and I'm sure that people listening, there are people that are familiar with him.
	So that's just my experience I'm speaking to.
	But that kind of idea that he is not just in an echo chamber that loves him and thinks he's great, and that he's a man of the people and representing these voices.
	that also, especially in this arena, like this area of the internet,
	and we talked about the Locals channel with Russell's, that everyone's a mean, miserable fighter all the time.
	So then, sure, people agreeing looks foreign.
	Maybe that's real.
	Yeah, it's interesting how shocked he is by the entire thing.
	By cooperating?
	Yes, by political parties existing.
	I'm like, well, yeah, that's gonna happen.
	That's the whole kind of system.
	And the more conspiratorial claim that he's making as well is that these parties, because not every MEP sits on every committee, When it comes to the committees that they're not a part of, if there's a vote concerning something that's happened in one of those, then those people will just vote however their party tells them to.
	Fideas doesn't provide any evidence for this claim, and I have a couple of points.
	Firstly is that any MEP taking their job in any way seriously will take the time to understand what the fuck it is they're voting for or against.
	That is, it's the job, it's literally the whole thing.
	Secondly, again, even if parties are telling their MEPs how to vote and they're going along with that and whatever, they are voluntary members of that party and most likely agree with the views of said party.
	And that's the direction that they're going to go anyway.
	And if they didn't, and they're finding themselves disagreeing, then they can leave and join another party or become an independent.
	Like, the idea that, oh, the party tells them how to vote and then they have to do it is completely absurd.
	And if I were an MEP, I would find it more than a little bit insulting.
	He doesn't seem to think very highly of his colleagues.
	So far.
	I bet he doesn't talk to them.
	That's the thing is, like, having conversations in real life, they would explain this to him.
	Because I'm sure if you're in, listen, if you're in the, you know, you're in the governing body of the EU, I bet there are people trying to talk to him right now like, hey, that's not what's happening.
	Let's engage in good faith and I can explain to you that our party has a thesis statement.
	We have goals we're trying to achieve and we organize around those goals.
	We are socialists.
	We do socialist things.
	Or Nazi things.
	I mean yeah that's just government but like we're trying to agree on what like that's we have uh we have a mission statement yeah and so the voting like listen if there's a vote that seems very opposed to what we are talking about our mission statement okay well let's that's that's some evidence that we can maybe dig into but if the votes of yes or no are in line with the party's platform and mission.
	What is confusing about that?
	What is like, because that's the thing that is so beneficial to this kind of discourse is like, is the quagmire of just reactionary argument.
	That's, you don't get anywhere.
	Debate is, I mean, even the word, the definition of the word debate has been absolutely decimated into dust.
	By the internet by the same clickbait headlines like I traveled Japan for free like that's it's the exact same notion of like I'm just trying to be incendiary is like oh you know X person destroys Y person in internet debate and you watch it and it's just a child screaming.
	Yeah, pretty much.
	It's just a child yelling a slur at a person who's trying to be rational.
	That's literally not at all what that means, but that's what it means to a section of people Yeah, they think debates are just people yelling at each other and they agree with one of them and that's a debate.
	Debate me is a lie.
	Debate me is a lie.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	I do not interact with any of these things for that exact reason.
	No, this is just people yelling.
	I'm fine without that.
	Thank you very much.
	Oh dear.
	So Phineas next comes to the question of why people don't like him.
	What social media could create is a situation where you are an independent candidate in one constituency, then there are other independent candidates that have a loose alliance built on a mandate derived from the people that can be used to oppose this kind of central power, couldn't it?
	Hopefully, in the next 10 years I think some stuff will happen like that, hopefully.
	Can you imagine how hard media and establishment and political institutions are going to work to prevent that happening?
	The kind of smearing, attacks, takedowns... I see this a bit in my country as well.
	Now there is, for example, I did some Stupid thing, let's say, in my country and all the media now are sure.
	Fidias is immature, he's doing this, he's... Because they never want another person to get re-elected.
	So they are going to use all the... Also maybe they are using for clicks and for them to make money because my name sells and stuff.
	So I'm not sure if they are doing it strategically.
	I'm not sure if they are clever enough to do it strategically to harm me.
	But yeah, I think they are going to work very hard, and it's a tough position to be in as well, because I get a lot of criticism.
	Do you?
	What like?
	A lot of criticism, because people, especially in my country, I was the most voted person, but Still with 20% of the vote.
	Another 80% didn't vote for me.
	So they're angry that we elected a young, mature kid.
	So they're not sure.
	Also, you need to understand as well, my position is like, I get more views than like I am Cyprus.
	You understand?
	It's like, I'm the face of Cyprus.
	The RMBPs, nobody knows them in the parliament.
	Like, I'm the most famous MEP.
	So it's like, it's a very difficult position to be.
	So I'm scared about this, to not screw these things up, but yeah.
	I am Cyprus, huh.
	It's a mystery to me why anyone wouldn't like this guy.
	He's just so humble.
	Obviously, the claim he's making here, well among them, is that people are against him either out of jealousy or it's other politicians or whatever, you know, trying to get clicks because videos is just so famous.
	But the reality is exactly what you'd expect.
	The people who actually take it seriously don't like Phidias because he's an irresponsible idiot who acts like a child.
	And a child with a distinct lack of a moral compass at that.
	Like if I were in Cyprus, I wouldn't be thrilled about this either.
	You know, just...
	Are we going to explain how he got 20% of the vote and won?
	Are we getting into that?
	So Phidias does make the claim several times throughout this interview that he got the most votes more than any of the other parties is the phrasing he often likes to use.
	That would have to be how it happens, right?
	And he did technically get the most votes of any individual candidate but in terms of actual popularity countrywide he came in third.
	Behind the Conservative Dizzee, which got 25% of the vote, so the vote for the party, right?
	Got 25% of the vote and retained its two MEPs.
	And in second was the Communist Party, AKL, which got 22% of the vote and lost one of its two MEPs.
	And then FIDEAS came in third and got 19.4% of the vote.
	And then there's also an MEP from the ultranationalist party, ELAM, at 11% and the centrist party, DECO, at 10%, right?
	So, yeah, he was the most voted for individual, but that's just because the others were voting for parties, you know?
	It's just because he was an independent, that's why it worked like that.
	He actually came in third.
	Right, and so all of those people went, go to the EU, right?
	Yes, yes.
	All the MEPs go to the EU.
	Is that what, six total?
	Yeah, yeah.
	For Cyprus?
	Okay.
	All right okay okay okay uh that's still not I mean yeah he's he's this is fart huffing like he's but I don't I don't know I genuinely I don't think he knows like I don't For someone who is Cyprus, he didn't do as well as he's claiming, did he?
	It came in third for a man who is Cyprus.
	He's saying that, like, he's also not acknowledging the criticisms, right?
	But also, I'm also trying to be considerate of someone whose English is not their first language, right?
	He's trying to communicate.
	He apologized up top.
	Sure.
	That's legit, right?
	Like, I think, you know, I'm not trying to hold him to the fire as far as, like, his, the particular-it, right?
	Of his language.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	I love misusing words all the time, like I just did right now.
	English is a funny thing.
	So, I'm not, I'm trying to, like, give that kind of leeway, you know, grant that leeway, right?
	Give grace.
	And I think that's important.
	But he still doesn't seem like he has a great handle on the criticism.
	I think he has an excellent handle on how pushback makes him feel bad.
	And then the ideas that he comes up with by himself or in his echo chamber as to why he's being criticized.
	Not that those are the critiques necessarily, but also maybe you're immature.
	Maybe that's just real.
	And you could explain that.
	If you're taking criticism on board, you can explain it.
	That's just the way brains work.
	If you're not understanding the criticism, Enough to be able to explain it, like if you can't repeat it back as to what's actually being said to you, you don't understand and you're not internalizing it and you are not making an effort to understand.
	Either you don't understand and need help, ask specific questions, or you are actively not wanting to understand and you're not listening, so don't pretend like you are.
	Those are the two options we have with criticism, because even immaturity is like a little bit of an ad hom, whereas like, okay, so what's the results of the immaturity that they are worried what bad things will happen as a result of an immature, inexperienced politician?
	What are the concerns?
	Those are real critiques, and critique in and of itself is not negative or positive, it just is.
	It's fun.
	We'll actually get to how he handles critique in a little bit.
	There are a couple of examples.
	But first, Russell has a terrible point to make about Bitcoin.
	Well, it's like Bitcoin.
	You know, Bitcoin, first of all, they say, this is bad.
	Shut Bitcoin down.
	Then they set up their own central currencies.
	And the same with TikTok.
	TikTok is bad.
	We need to shut it down.
	And they're still trying to shut it down in America, not to protect people, but because they recognize this is a tool for communication that could ultimately transfer from cultural power to political power.
	People could build big audiences and then say, we want you to vote for me on this.
	But that's terrifying to them.
	If you just take one example, the way that Kamala Harris By the way, TikTok got me elected, by the way.
	You think TikTok more than YouTube?
	I'd love to follow up on that.
	But I just want to ask you about this.
	You know, an establishment politician like Kamala Harris, when the Obamas give her their endorsement,
	they make a TikTok-style video.
	It's not authentic.
	to receive the call from the Obamas.
	Oh, hello, Michelle.
	Hello, Barack.
	Yeah. Oh, I'm so happy to get your endorsement.
	That is the recognition that TikTok now determines the outcome of elections.
	As you say, establishment power has had to adapt to it.
	And why for only politicians to use it?
	We the people can use it as well for this.
	That's deep, man.
	Blaze it.
	Okay, so, presidential candidate uses social media.
	Shocking stuff, truly.
	Not like it's been happening for the last 15 years or anything, but I think Russell considers this a gotcha because of the potential TikTok ban if TikTok doesn't divest of its Chinese owners, etc.
	Because that user data is supposed to be for American companies to sell to the highest bidder, not Chinese companies, dammit.
	Yeah, our politicians can't even figure out the guy from Singapore.
	Yeah, right.
	We're pretty in the wilderness on that one.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Governing body.
	Yeah, right.
	Real quick about Bitcoin.
	The reason it's a problem is because it's unregulated and not backed by anything.
	I mean, you can just lose all your money compared to government-backed cyber currencies which are then, you know, insured, etc.
	and are much more secure.
	And I'm a thousand percent sure that Russell has no clue about this and is just parroting the things that he was told at the Bitcoin conference he was a part of a couple of weeks ago.
	Oh yeah, yeah.
	That's all he's doing right now.
	No, they're not.
	I mean, you're making a situation that sounds good to you, but...
	I was like, wow.
	Okay.
	Oh, man.
	All right.
	But back to Kamala Harris.
	Now, that phone call from the Obamas did feel disingenuous and inauthentic.
	Yeah, because it's a commercial.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Right.
	It's very stated.
	Just a weird vibe throughout.
	But yeah, it is what it is.
	The RFK Jr.
	campaign decided to satirize this video by doing their own staged call.
	Except, well... Did they use a baby bear corpse?
	The problem is, like, in order for something to be satire, it does need to be funny.
	And so to me, rather than it coming off as satire, it more just seems like kind of a bad ape.
	Nonetheless, let's take a quick look at who RFK Jr.
	received a call from.
	Oh, a surprise call.
	Hi, Bobby.
	Hi, Russell.
	Yeah, it's Russell.
	It's great to speak to you as well.
	Listen, I just wanted to call you to let you know that I've just been trying to get you some endorsements.
	Endorsements?
	Oh, man, that's so kind of you.
	Who have you been trying?
	Well, I've tried the Clintons.
	I've tried George Soros, Bill Gates.
	I tried the Obamas.
	I thought they might be good.
	Well, at least brand recognition.
	Listen, no one's interested in backing you, Bobby.
	Not Newsom, not Soros, none of them.
	Even Klaus Schwab.
	I mean, I think he said no.
	I couldn't tell.
	He had a lot of saliva in his mouth, but... Russell, that's so kind of you, and I'm so touched that you made that effort, but...
	Have you ever looked at any of my social media or read any of my books?
	No.
	I've sued most of those guys, and I think that's not a list of names that I would expect to endorse me, although I'd be flattered.
	The fact, the good news is that I am endorsing you.
	I mean, I can't vote, obviously.
	I'm English.
	I'm unable to vote.
	But I think what you're probably going to require is for actual American people to get up and vote for you.
	Bobby, I think the globalists are under me.
	That's the CIA plane.
	Bobby, listen.
	Bobby, what's going on with those dogs?
	Are you eating that dog?
	He didn't eat a dog, Russell.
	It was a goat.
	Is it you or the brain worm?
	Which one of you is eating that dog?
	Quality stuff.
	Yeah, well at least, like, genuinely?
	Okay, I was gonna say that it's very difficult for like, for political campaigns to get any traction at all,
	because they're bad at making content.
	Like, they're bad at, they don't get TikTok, they don't get like, necessarily, like, they don't understand virality.
	Or they just don't really, you know, it's not like buying ads.
	It's very different, right?
	So they don't understand the concept, really.
	Or, like, you can't, it's very hard to generate virality for these people that are profoundly inauthentic.
	But that, as a, if that came across my feed, I would have, I wouldn't, and I like boring shit.
	I drive Mike crazy because I will listen to, like, I'll watch, I'm like, no, I want to watch this.
	And he's like, oh, I'm already bored.
	I want to die.
	That was a bad re, that was a bad TikTok video.
	Like that sucked ass.
	So at least they're Got awful at it!
	Like, that's... I got bored!
	I got through, like, I went through three different boredom cycles!
	Yeah, yeah.
	I will say that the more I've re-watched it, the more fun I have, like, picking apart how badly it's edited.
	That's quite fun.
	That is quite enjoyable.
	There is re-watch value for that.
	Because you're also very profoundly boring.
	Jesus Christ!
	I never want to see that again for as long as I... Well, I mean, it's also... You're doing it for the podcast.
	And I'm a big fucking nerd.
	I mean, you know.
	That helps.
	I bet you wouldn't watch it if it wasn't for this.
	Like, genuinely.
	No, no, that is absolutely true.
	That's what I'm saying.
	Yeah, I'm not trying to come for anybody.
	I'm saying, unless you have a vested interest in someone, unless you have to, you wouldn't sit through that.
	It was also fucking incoherent.
	Yes, completely.
	Which is, I mean, appropriate for RFK Jr., but still.
	God, that was weird!
	Okay, I'm reeling now.
	The weird.
	Okay, yep.
	Yeah, it's bizarre.
	Russell endorsed RFK Jr.
	for president the other week.
	This was a few days before The Bear Story came out, FYI.
	And so actually also before Rogan gave his endorsement and then hastily retracted it.
	That's been fun.
	But yeah, I do submit that this video feels less like parody and more just like a terrible endorsement video.
	And as Russell mentioned in the video, he can't vote in this election and so should not be endorsing fucking anyone anyway.
	It's not his business.
	Like the bastard didn't endorse a single candidate for the UK election in which he could vote, but now he's endorsing a candidate for the US elections.
	I'm so annoyed by this for such a broad variety of reasons.
	It is very difficult to pick just one.
	Well, the other thing that is frustrating is that Republicans really used to know how to do stunts.
	You know what I mean?
	Perks Brothers Riot.
	Baby, it worked.
	Like, they used to know how to manipulate the, like, the news feed.
	The news cycle, I should say.
	I'm trying to use situationally appropriate words, right?
	So this is like TV time.
	Like, doing publicity stunts.
	It's way the fuck harder to do a publicity stunt this day and age, and so they're still using the old tools.
	And they're terrible at it.
	But R.F.K.
	Jr.
	was a Democrat, remember?
	That's what it is.
	Yeah.
	Oh.
	You look so convinced.
	Never mind, then.
	I take it all back.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	He was a Democrat.
	Yeah, sure, sure.
	Genuinely, the point I'm trying to make is, like, specifically, like, we have Very consequential, often Roger Stone-centric.
	You know, like, that's ratfuckery.
	That's ratfucking.
	That's a term with a specific definition.
	I can't remember the Canadian guy's name right now.
	Very interesting the way that it works but like ratfuckery as a political job that is that it doesn't work.
	I mean I'm not saying it can't but it's not reliable and it's much more difficult to manipulate on social media.
	Yeah.
	So that's it just that was two confused boomers.
	I mean well I'd say it's a confused boomer and a confused Gen Xer which I mean, sometimes they do make interesting content and fodder.
	Rarely on purpose.
	Yeah, that's true.
	That is true.
	Usually their confusion is the funny part.
	Yeah.
	Which, that was funny.
	Yeah.
	Anyway, I did want to bring that up.
	For someone complaining about the Obama call, I'm like, you did this, buddy.
	Maybe just be quiet.
	I mean, yes please.
	Yeah, absolutely made.
	Yeah, and I just I think the tick tock of it all like does really.
	I mean, man, it makes a lot of sense because.
	Virality does work a very specific way on TikTok that it doesn't work on other social media apps, and so you can have one thing really take off, and the engagement is different, and because it's organic, or it's more organic or less, we don't really know.
	That's the thing is I can't speak directly to any of this stuff, but libs of TikTok has massive, Like, Chaya Reichick has had a massive impact on politics and government in America in general.
	So yeah, that kid saying, I worked on TikTok and Russell being like, oh, really?
	Like, yeah, that we know that.
	Yeah.
	And being the loudest voice and being the most insistent and completely wrong.
	I do love that QAA like they they cover this all the time.
	And I think they venture into it more than other podcasts that I, you know, like other, covering these types of people, is how effective that, like, how effectively the TikTok algorithm can be manipulated, not in the way that these old guys think.
	Like, it's a very different, but very effective, like, you know, like reality by consensus tool, which, yeah, is...
	The way that the government is trying to fuck with TikTok isn't right, but TikTok is also not safe.
	Yeah, there are also actual problems.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Yeah, there's no easy, smart, straight answer.
	You know, like, effective, like, it's, it's, you're, it's a, that's actually a very sticky wicket.
	Yeah, completely.
	Completely.
	And the stickiness benefits these guys, so.
	Oh, absolutely.
	I don't think I don't think he can do it.
	He has a TikTok account.
	He has a TikTok account, but yeah, he mostly just keeps talking about Christianity and that kind of thing.
	He's not mobilizing it in the right way yet, but we'll see.
	We'll see.
	Anyway, we get back to how Phidias was elected, and here's what he has to say.
	I don't think it's rocket science, but You know, when you are on social media and you're doing this stuff, it's like the people are paving kind of your path.
	So you upload a video, people like it, and then you upload other people, people don't like another video, people don't like it and they have hard criticism, so you do more of what works.
	So a lot of trial and error can actually pave you the path to be elected.
	So sometimes, this is true, I said, everyone was asking me to say positions about a difficult topic that we struggle in Cyprus.
	And I went and made a video about a position.
	I believe we need to do this.
	And then people were angry.
	So I stopped saying any positions.
	So I kind of went and I just went against the system, anti-establishment.
	So I kind of, it was, it was just following what people like.
	And this is what got me elected.
	Jojo Siwa invented gay pop, Nvidias invented populism.
	Everybody.
	So yeah, he just stopped talking about any of his actual positions.
	He just lied.
	He'd hid his actual positions because they upset people.
	I couldn't find what the fuck it was he was talking about, by the way, which was annoying.
	I'm assuming it's somewhere in Cypriot media, which is...
	Difficult for me to sift through.
	But yeah, and then he just spent his time telling people what they wanted to hear.
	And the most frightening part to me is how he doesn't seem to think that that's a problem.
	You know, like you mentioned, a lot of politicians have done this over the years, but, you know, a good chunk of them at least have the decency to hide it.
	You know, they're like, I'm obfuscating my views, you know, whereas he's just like, nah, I just stopped talking about the things I believe so that these people would vote for me.
	I mean, I'm here for that.
	To make it so nakedly, like to make it so plain.
	Yes.
	Yeah.
	I do like the honesty.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Like it's almost refreshing, but at the same time, like, yeah, that.
	The only thing I can think of that's an example, like there's so many examples but I can't latch on to any to really like to bring my point home necessarily.
	But like if people are given the opportunity and the option to direct Another individual's actions.
	Oh man.
	How many Sims have we drowned in pools?
	You know what I mean?
	Like there's also, there's like a boredom factor.
	There's like a, you know, like once the novelty wears off, like then you kind of have to, I don't know.
	I keep thinking about like voting.
	I'm trying to entertain the reality that these two people are ostensibly on the surface level advocating, which is voting for absolutely everything.
	And if you've ever taken a, like done a medical study, like I think it's more, I think it's more instructive than like a multiple choice test at school, right?
	Like in a medical study, you've got a rate, you know, rate one to five, use this little app about toothpaste.
	I'm speaking to, right?
	I do everything for toothpaste.
	It's very interesting how it all worked.
	And so they ask you the same question different ways, and it gets fucking boring.
	And once you want to get the questions over with, you just keep picking C until you're done.
	Or you don't know how to answer the question.
	Like, OK, this question doesn't seem yes or no.
	This question doesn't seem fleshed out.
	The issues I have in describing my experience and using a toothpaste.
	Gets convoluted and even all the little, they put a bunch of little devices in the questions because they've learned that people just hit see till they're done and they don't get good information out of that, right?
	Yeah.
	But then the way things are asked over and over again, like you get bored and you want it to be over or you completely misunderstand.
	Like there's so many little weird quirks in the way that people, if they have an option to, you know, to collectively make some another human I'm thinking of a bunch of examples, but none of them, again, I'm so sorry.
	I don't have a specific one, but basically, like, crowdsourcing, I mean, the ones I can think of are really dark, and I don't want to go down those roads, but, like, because they do get dark.
	They get dark fast.
	Like, I'm just, I'm trying to just, like, say Black Mirror as kind of the blanket, like, whatever your listener, whatever you're, like, screaming at me and thinking of, there's a bunch of different examples of where just voting on what someone does Leads to bad outcomes.
	Because also people are curious or bored or like they're so detached from the experience that they don't take it seriously that maybe they're causing harm.
	Especially if they're in another country, you know.
	Absolutely.
	If there's absolutely zero consequences.
	I'm trying to entertain the reality that they're selling.
	Even within the parameters.
	Even if we can control it, right?
	Like finding the time and mental energy to be able to have this kind of input is like... I'm trying to entertain the reality and it's not even working in their ideal.
	It's not how people work.
	No, and market research is fucking boring.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	It's never going to function that way.
	I mean, it's like people trying to claim that economics is anything but just wishing and guessing.
	You know what I mean?
	As this kind of field of study.
	Oh, there are statistics.
	But the way that economics is understood is people making the best decision for themselves.
	The decision that benefits them the best all the time.
	That's not what the fuck happens.
	That's not human nature.
	Obviously, our view is changing, but the traditional idea of Consumers making the most beneficial choice for themselves perfectly every time.
	Yes it is, but that's also what has dictated economic policy for decades at this point.
	So there are very real consequences to these like wish fulfillment dreamscapes that There's reality there, right?
	Because I'm trying to be engaged in the same way, you know, just to kind of flesh this out, and it's not working.
	It's a profound misunderstanding of how people, how behavior works, right?
	Yeah, yeah.
	And then, yeah, we also have the fact that he very genuinely believes that lies of omission are perfectly fine when it comes to attaining elected office.
	Um, you know, I'm like, yeah, that's, ugh, that's just, it's a whole bundle of not great.
	Um, and speaking of which, uh, next, Phidias has, uh, what he describes as a funny story.
	I will tell you a very funny story.
	So at some point, we started having some momentum, and the polls showed us after so much time, three weeks before the elections, that we actually have 5% of the vote.
	They were wrong.
	We got 20, but they showed us that we have 5.
	And then the politicians started paying attention.
	They were asked in the panels and they were saying bad things about me.
	They were saying he's immature, he's a politic, he doesn't understand politics.
	And we were cutting this thing because When you are a person, your straight mind, you understand when you are attacking a 24 year old kid that just tries to help, he's making politics cool.
	Also, I did some very helpful things for Cyprus.
	For example, you are not able to register to vote like UK and you need to register to vote.
	So I broke the world record in Cyprus of people getting registered to vote.
	So people were like, he's doing good.
	He's not like, and then the politicians were attacking me and I was cutting the clips of them attacking me.
	I was just uploading my social media, them saying bad things about me.
	And then this caught fire.
	And like, this is kind of what I'm saying, people are paving the road.
	I understood, I put it and then how Another 10, 20 people said bad things about me and I put them on my social media and these people were like, why are you attacking him?
	It's like choosing a team that went in my team because I'm like honest and all this stuff.
	So I think this is the way that we got elected, just by trial and error and letting the opinion of the people pave us the road.
	Yeah, so in terms of how he handles critique, what he's describing is anyone who disagreed with Phidias during his campaign or said anything against him, he would take the clip of that, put it on his own social media, and encourage his audience to harass whoever it was that was speaking out against him.
	And this is how I got elected, by mobilizing his audience in flame wars and intimidating his opposition.
	Yeah, I wonder why they were concerned about him.
	I mean, this is wildly common as like a practice, but every time it's a problem, disagreeing is like, someone disagreeing with you does not make them bad.
	Yeah.
	That's not, that's like a fundamental misunderstanding.
	But again, like, The internet is the best place to make a mind palace for you to exist and constantly be reinforced.
	And so you're getting like, you're like, every time you hit the button, you're getting a tab, you're getting a treat that like is telling you that you're right.
	And all, and I mean, that's the one thing that I think is really interesting about like, Actually, like, not so sensational, but documentaries on cults that are packed with actual information and really good investigating and reporting, it's pretty new.
	I mean, on the grand scale, you know, like, on the grand scheme of things.
	Not books.
	Documentaries, specifically.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Because, I mean, also books, problems, sometimes sensational, whatever, blah, blah, blah.
	But, like, You know, less investigation, more sensationalism, more, you know, America's Most Wanted reenactments, you know, talking that kind of sensational marketing stuff.
	And so having that kind of like, Critical eye and investigation of how it works.
	Usually the people that are like thriving in the cult or at least feel that they're thriving are the ones that oh no I just realized okay yeah they push the leader to become more extreme because they're kind of competing for, they're vying for the top spot.
	Like, there's a theory that, like, you know, uh, with, like, the Heaven's Gate,
	like, Marshall Applewhite never would have...
	insisted or, like, never would have come up with the, you know, the away team, like, you know, mass, um...
	suicide of the, I mean, I'm talking slow for this trigger warning, talking slow time, right?
	But we know, we know the story of Heaven's Gate, right?
	That that end would not have come if it weren't for...
	Bye.
	followers who were kind of like competing for the more extreme like oh well I'm gonna be I'm a lot God's gonna love me even more because I'm taking this I'm gonna go this far and then oh well but another person will say well oh I this is how I think to be even more holy because of and like it kind of snowballs into this um to to far more extreme measures And far more consequential measures that, like, have, like, really negative impacts that the leader is kind of out of control at that point because there are, like, there's a hierarchy, like, there is this kind of, like, social cachet and hierarchy of a following that if you can influence by, you know, kind of one-upping each other,
	Then that's that's your it also gets you more committed to the high pressure group like that.
	This is like.
	Very classic kind of behavior that like patterns that have been documented and studied over decades of this like of this kind of you know like the the converts being even more intense than the leaders and the leader as long as the leader can just kind of go along with it it doesn't hurt them personally or even better if they benefit from it they're just gonna let it ride like that's that's not I mean that's this is he's He's just like, I did a populism.
	Like, it's just that.
	Like, I did a reactionary populism, everybody.
	Yeah, pretty much.
	I learned that.
	No one taught him, which, you know what?
	Cypriot school system?
	Maybe not great.
	Maybe not great that you didn't teach this kid that this is actually very bad and dangerous.
	Because that's exactly what's happening.
	I mean, This is kind of, this is wild.
	Yeah.
	This is wild to see and watch and witness.
	Yeah.
	Because he's, I think that he would dress it up if you thought it was bad.
	Yes.
	Well, yeah.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	He's not trying to hide any of it.
	He's like, nah, this is great.
	I love doing all these terrible things.
	Okay.
	Interesting.
	All right.
	Part of me wants his Amelia Bedelia ass to like accidentally walk up to other MEPs doing corrupt things and be like, hey, you're doing this.
	Why?
	And then I was like, no, no, no, we're not doing that!
	Like, well, it's already on YouTube, so... Accidentally exposing corruption by, like, falling into it?
	Like, that's... That'd be a fun reality to live in.
	The thing is, it wouldn't even just be exposing them, it would be also joining in, you know?
	It'd be like, hey, look what I'm doing, guys!
	Well, I don't even, I mean... I'm also doing the corruption now.
	But it'd just be like, oh, what are you doing?
	Wait, tell me what you're doing.
	And then just describing it and then like, oh, that's, like, corruption.
	I'm not going to say that he's going to do that, but the way that he describes it, because he doesn't know to obfuscate.
	Yeah.
	Because he doesn't think, like, he hasn't been punished.
	He thinks it's fun.
	There are no negative consequences for his, like, this far.
	Why would he stop?
	Why would he stop?
	Yeah, 100%.
	Great!
	So, the next clip is very short, and it's Russell briefly putting a pleasant spin on what Fidias just said, before... Fidias shows what I think is a glimmer of cynicism in his own actions.
	Yeah, you used your intelligence to observe how people were responding.
	Social media intelligence, not intelligence, come on.
	I suppose though, that's...
	Yeah, okay, okay.
	Interesting.
	Like, I don't know, up until this point in the interview, and obviously it is slightly different because I've seen the full thing, but I was kind of more or less happy to consider him a happy-go-lucky moron, basically.
	Just, you know, poodling about the place.
	But what we get here and in the next clip, it just feels like a little bit of the mask is slipping of like, oh no, I know what I'm doing.
	You know, I never thought he was a moron at all.
	That's the thing, right?
	Like that's that's kind of the argument.
	Listen, if we're going to go true crime here, that's the argument is like the cops may benefit by claiming that.
	If all these victims keep showing up of the serial killer.
	Oh, he's the most sophisticated.
	Uh, you know, he's got surgery experience.
	He's so smart and elusive.
	And then you meet the serial killer, and he's David Berkowitz.
	And we're like, this guy's dumb as a post.
	But he's, or like, you know, I mean, a bit of a bumblebutt.
	You know, like when we talk about, like, there's... Ted Bundy, like, no, they're, like, they're...
	They are predators.
	Yeah.
	And they are very specifically smart at predating.
	Yes.
	He knows he's smart.
	Like, that to me is not, I don't know, that isn't so damning to me.
	Like, that could also be just saying, like, no, I'm, don't say my, because also Russell was saying my intelligence.
	That to me could be a humble, like, well, I'm, No, no, no.
	Social media intelligence is not intelligence.
	Yeah, maybe.
	I'm an idiot.
	I'm an idiot, everybody.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Well, I just, I don't think that maybe, maybe not the mask is slipping, but like,
	anyone that is worth a damn on YouTube, genuine, like you can't live your entire life
	like the persona that you're on camera with.
	And YouTubers have been talking about this for decades at this point.
	They're like, you can't keep it up.
	It creates like a personality crisis.
	Like you get to an existential crisis point, even if you're like a true believer, right?
	He can be a true believer and understand that social media intelligence is a very specific kind of,
	like, it kind of seems like he was calling Russell stupid a little bit, or maybe naive.
	I think maybe naivete as far as like because he's obviously social media smart.
	He's really good at that.
	And I think it also does benefit him to not acknowledge that he's smart because he can just say oops.
	Right.
	Yes.
	I have a reason to not.
	He does repeatedly throughout the interview.
	He self describes as an idiot.
	That's that's the that's the brand that he's putting forward.
	I mean, that's charm that really works for people.
	Look at our presidents.
	A lot of leaders in general.
	Yes, that's true.
	It's true.
	And so I think that like glimmer of self-awareness, like it may just be like, Russell, you're getting it wrong here.
	Maybe, maybe.
	And maybe saying like, Russell, you can't, you can't TikTok at all.
	Like, that might be like, no.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Well, next we get a little bit more of his pride in his own populism.
	You know what?
	Populism is perhaps the biggest political issue of our time.
	Like the Brexit movement was populist in Europe.
	Podemos in Spain.
	Syriza in Greece.
	Trump.
	These are forms of populism.
	And I suppose what populism is being condemned, you know, this is, you know, reaching the people, caring about the people, listening to the people.
	It's cynical and people kind of don't like it and condemn it and associate it with a lot of negative ideas.
	But when someone like you who is very open and optimistic and clearly, plainly, transparently populist, it shows the power of listening and directing.
	Is it a bad thing to be a populist and like make people care about politics?
	Are you really populist?
	Like millions of people care about politics because of you.
	It's like, I think that's the most political move that you can do.
	I don't think it's a bad thing.
	And like making things that people want and care, I think it's just doing what people tell you actually to do.
	You can say whatever you want people, I think this is smart to do.
	If people will hate me saying my positions and it's a campaign, Well, I will not say my position.
	I'm not dumb.
	And instead I will just say whatever the people want me to say to make sure I stay popular.
	But popular, right?
	The word popular is not the same as populism.
	No, no, that's true.
	They're not engaging with the definition of the word populism.
	They're talking about being popular.
	Yeah, it's like when they talk about neoliberals, you know, it's not the same definition, it's not the same thing that you're actually discussing.
	Right, but that redefines the entire conversation when they're not even acknowledging the definition of populism.
	Yeah, it becomes very difficult to engage with.
	Then you don't have to acknowledge all the history, like Russell mentioned names, but like the history and implications of populist movements.
	I mean, like, listen, plenty of Horrendous people that have been elected into American government.
	I was waiting for this moment because like, what's wrong with being a Christian nationalist?
	I'm a Christian and I love my country.
	Oh, just, you're just saying shit, huh?
	Like that's, you're not engaging you, Marjorie Taylor Greene or fucking whoever.
	You're not engaging with the reality.
	Like you're not engaging with the definition of the word.
	If we can't even agree on terms, we cannot have a discussion.
	So this is what they're talking about being popular.
	And he is, like, he is... I think there is something smart about critiquing the constituency argument.
	I think that can go a long way because that's, like, populist movements are built on, like, genuine aggrievement that people have, like, with their lives and not feeling represented.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	There are so many problems with this particular kind of ilk of populism.
	Because, I mean, among the right kind of audience, racism is popular.
	Misogyny is popular.
	Anti-LGBTQ plus sentiments are fucking popular and all of these things are particularly popular among the alt-right American audience that he keeps polling and listening to and exacting the will of.
	So fuck what the actual people of Cyprus think because he's going to be inflicting the worst sorts of far-right ideals on all of them whether they like it or not because those things are popular in an entirely different country.
	Lives at TikTok.
	Yeah.
	That's exactly what I'm saying.
	Well, and what's more dangerous, because Russell also mentioned something about sincerity versus cynicism, right?
	Not in those terms, but that's what, you know, I'm getting.
	It's like talking about being cynical.
	It is much more dangerous when it's sincere.
	It is exponentially more dangerous when they're sincere.
	This kid being sincere will take him all the way.
	You can get a lot more traction.
	You can pass a lie detector test if you believe it.
	You know what I mean?
	If there's no compunction within you that anything you did is wrong, Yeah, there's no guardrails, there's no off switch, there's no nothing, you know?
	There's not this, it's just, oh no, okay, genocide now.
	Cool, how did we get here?
	Huh, okay.
	And justify the means, if you keep, like, well the ends justify the means, and that's exactly what he's saying too, is like, well, I mean, the ends are I'm popular, and the means are I don't tell people what I think about policy, I let them tell me.
	Yeah.
	Coming out of his mouth, it's the argument that populists, the people within a populist movement, are making that their representatives aren't actually working in their best interest.
	The constituents are complaining about the representation.
	I think that the issue, almost entirely, is the constituents are made to, actively made to misunderstand the issues to benefit the representative and they can do whatever they want and throw their constituency on the pyre for their own, you know, gain.
	Brexit!
	Right, I mean, like, I'm just, I mean, there's There's a whole list, but yes.
	I'm just going to gesture to my country in this area.
	America!
	It's very smart, but also it's not necessarily smart intentionally.
	It's intuitive.
	I'm not feeling represented by the people that I'm a constituent.
	I'm not being represented.
	Yeah.
	And I don't like it.
	What else do I do?
	You know, like I want to find someone that does listen to me and maybe even they convince me I'm being listened to when I'm especially not.
	Like Russell ignoring the poll in his own locals chat.
	Like that's.
	He can say, well, I know best, so I'm going to.
	That's that's the thing is like any like there's if there's if it's just angles and if it's just vibes and if it's just reaction, there's no substance.
	There's no like compass.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So next we get yet another fundamental misunderstanding as to why we elect politicians.
	What all of us are starting to understand is that in the way that you described, political institutions have a lot of corruption, a lot of benefits, a lot of concealed relationships.
	The transparency that you're bringing in your journalistic YouTuber way And the kind of transparency that Trump bought just because of his bullish personality and charisma is, in a sense, a massive threat to establishment institutions.
	And what's even more fascinating to me about you is the way that you are operating is that you're not telling people, I think that we should do this on education or I think we should do this when it comes to ecology.
	You are asking people what do you want and I will do it as your servant.
	There's something about that that seems to me spiritually very powerful.
	Is that something you've thought about or arrived at?
	Well, knowing about social media, you understood that that's the right thing to do, to engage the people.
	So it's like using my knowledge as... But also I think it's cool, like, how, when did you have a saying about what people do in European Parliament?
	Never.
	So I think given this option, at least, and you might say it's immature, it is like,
	anyway, we are 720 people, one person to do this poll, to just see what people think,
	for the public to see, like for a, I think it's helpful, even if, let's say,
	maybe this is the wrong thing to do. I think it's unbelievable.
	Agreed on that point, at least.
	And it is indeed the wrong thing to do for the reasons that we've discussed.
	But as to his point of, oh, when was the last time we got to tell an MEP what to do?
	Like, that is the entire point of electing them in the first place.
	I don't know how many times I have to explain democracy to these people, but you vote for the person who best reflects your views.
	And if enough other people also share those views and vote for that person, they get elected and then they represent you in Parliament.
	And then they're supposed to do the stuff that they said they'd do.
	And you tell them what to do by voting for them.
	Like, that's the idea.
	Or you can write to your elected officials as well.
	You can hold them to account that way.
	And I strongly encourage people to do so.
	You can tell them what to do that way.
	That's their job.
	That's their job.
	It's the whole thing.
	And let me tell you how little patience I have for someone that is going to bitch about, again, like it's that constituency, like if you're a constituent and you're like, I'm not representative, have you ever engaged with your representative at all?
	Right.
	No?
	Yeah.
	Well, until you do that, I'm not having this conversation anymore.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Write an email to them and then get back to me after that.
	You know, anything.
	Try it.
	See what happens.
	Yeah.
	And then right now, like the people of Cyprus, what they appear to have is an MEP who doesn't do what they tell him to do, but what a bunch of Americans tell him to do.
	And I will say, that one is new.
	That one's historic.
	That's not happened before.
	But as for being able to tell an MEP in general what to do, that's been the whole thing from the start.
	But Americans being able to tell one what to do, that's new.
	Oh, like directly?
	Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	I'm going to asterisk very much disagree, but like not on a Twitter poll.
	Yeah, in a different, yes, yeah.
	Wielding influence.
	Yes, in a financial kind of situation.
	Well and power, all the other, yeah.
	That's a different story.
	So I mentioned before that to fix any of the issues... It's not, though.
	Truly.
	It's not.
	The thing is, if governments were more worried about not influencing the international politics and relations.
	Yeah, they put a lot more fucking control on these like avenues.
	Like there's a vested interest in not controlling the, or like not even reducing the harm
	these guys are impacting people with.
	Yeah.
	So yeah, there's a lot going on there.
	And I mean, you know what?
	That's a point I did kind of want to make is like, you know, when I read like the Lumumba plot or whatever,
	like, yeah, there's a grisly murder in it.
	And maybe true crime is how a lot of listeners, like a lot of people get too interest in politics
	and in civics.
	And I think that's so valid, because I'm not a sword and scale gal.
	I'm not trying to listen to 911 calls and the grisly morbidity of it all.
	That's certainly part of it, but I want to know how the CIA manipulated and influenced The Congo and that ended with a grizzly.
	Yeah.
	Or a series of unfortunate grizzly events.
	That's only part of it.
	The wielding of power and why, you know, and I talk about all the time is like why Mike and I are so into reading these big fat books about the CIA and government and like, you know, the way that like and why soft power is so interesting.
	Like why?
	Governmental influence has always been a thing, and just letting somebody cook is also a tactic in and of itself.
	Not doing anything is a tactic in and of itself.
	So I'm not here, and I think that that can be heard a lot, especially, it's called true crime, not interesting investigative storytelling that is instructive and is illuminating for the listener.
	That's too laborious.
	We're not, true crime, Two syllables, much easier.
	So, easier genre, right?
	And it includes both, right?
	It includes the kind of sensationalist, grisly stuff, but it also includes the interest in systems.
	Systematic oppression is systematic manipulation.
	What I'm hearing from this kid is just is the same thing as I traveled for free in Japan.
	I, one person, with the protection of a massive YouTube following, even if I'm just my one individual, I have Millions of people watching me to protect me from any harm.
	Also, I'm this minor celebrity that can benefit from that cachet.
	He's not saying we can travel for free in Japan.
	Even maybe he is saying that with his words.
	It's the same thing with like, well, I'm here.
	I won an election by myself.
	I did it.
	And then I think it's the TED talkification, it's the self-help,
	like this has been a problem for a long time.
	And maintenance space has made this point, books that can kill, I mean this point is being made
	and I think it's really valuable that these anecdotal individual success stories
	are one, far less, far, far, far less individual than they're made out to be.
	And far less fucking out of the blue successful.
	Like, then they actually.
	So he's like, Of course he's a status quo warrior, because it has worked for him!
	He's not...
	Hit any resistance that he can't overcome because he hasn't had an issue.
	Like, unfortunately, a lot of, like, allies that we have for any kind of political activism is someone who was, like, cruising along doing great and, like, you know, got in a car accident and is disabled.
	And now they see the world in a way that maybe people are already trying to tell them existed.
	But because of their personal experience, now they have a vested interest in the collective experience and don't want other people to go through what they're going through.
	They become An activist who's effective.
	So, like, but he's doing that in, like, the easy breezy sliding, like, just floating through the world way.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	That's about right.
	Right.
	So, yeah, I mentioned before that to fix any of the issues that Phidias seems to take issue with, he would he would have to be elected to Cypriot government, right, to actually fix any of the any of the problems.
	And Russell asks him about that in this next clip.
	You could inspire a lot of people to do what you've done.
	And you've said that that's already happening in Cyprus.
	Like that you believe that in the next national elections in Cyprus, a lot of TikTokers and YouTubers are standing.
	Will you be standing for any national position?
	Well, I don't know.
	To be the president of Cyprus, you need to be 35 and above, so I'm still 24, so I don't think about all this stuff.
	I have a huge responsibility now, because as I pave, let's say, the road to this, and it's cool, and we make politics cool, it's easily, if I make a big mistake, we say, ah, we taught you, this is a scumbag, we taught you this is not the right way, and I will close all the roads for the next ones.
	So I have a big responsibility to be good and do the maximum best impact I can.
	I don't know yet what it will be, but I'm sure I will find a way because I'm determined to understand and learn and help this universe.
	So he's not gonna run for office in Cyprus where he could make a difference to his home and all of these issues that bother him about education or whatever because he's too young to be president yet and he only wants to run for office if there's a chance at him becoming leader of the entire country.
	There's an expression that like the people with the greatest lust for power are usually those who should be kept from attaining it and I can't help but feel that's what we're looking at right now.
	The idea of fideas for president is terrifying to me.
	It's so instructive.
	Truly.
	I'm having a ball.
	This is amazing.
	I mean, cause he's just laying bare, like, I also don't know, I mean, maybe this is...
	I mean, maybe this is what works.
	There's so much historical precedent for, you know, authoritarians being very naked about their control, and that's almost like the most effective.
	Yeah.
	It's a lot easier to operate in the daylight and be allowed to, I mean, it's like what Trump did.
	Just say it out loud, yeah.
	You just move, you just move the, it's not even just the Overton window, you just like move reality.
	If you yell loud enough, you move the spotlight.
	The spotlight will turn to you.
	You don't have to go anywhere.
	Yeah.
	And so, there's a lot of excuses that are made, I think, for individual men, even for Russell.
	Especially for Russell in America, right?
	After the accusations came out and the documentary came out about Russell, a lot of Americans that didn't engage with the news itself We're like, well, he talks about it all the time.
	He's already, he's a sex pest.
	Like he's, you know, like he's, he's like, he's already a creep.
	We already knew he was a creep.
	What else is new?
	So people are already conditioned to kind of like go along.
	And so like, and not like, oh, well, he's saying it.
	He'd shoot somebody on 5th Avenue, you know, like Trump.
	He'd shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and get away with it.
	We already said it, so we're not going to be surprised whenever he does it.
	Yeah.
	Or something else.
	Right?
	Yes.
	You're already priming the subject to kind of accept, which is also a cult leader thing.
	You're heading people off the path.
	This is all, I mean, because maybe the argument is that cult structure is populism in a microcosm.
	So learning about it is interesting because it's all manipulation, tactics, and control, but like it can be very, you know, it can be very puppy bowl.
	Mm-hmm.
	Yeah, which is uh...
	Again, worrying.
	It'll be- I'm less worried now that- I mean, genuinely, like, knowing what it is, is way more empowering than just being, you know, just being alarmed and concerned by this lovable weirdo, you know?
	Obfuscated thing.
	Yeah, no, it's true.
	Yeah, I'm a fan of the saying it out loud, at least.
	I mean, horrified, but also, yes, good.
	Keep saying things out loud, please.
	All right, we've got one last clip here as Phidias leaves the show.
	Well done, man.
	It's really inspiring to speak with you.
	I would love to stay in touch with you because I feel like you're a person that I could just learn a great deal on in how to communicate, how to leverage social media power for good.
	It just seems like you're in an incredibly innovative and unique position for now.
	But like, it seems like you're leading something that could be really important.
	I love you.
	I flew here just to meet you.
	I'm excited.
	Did you use a business class ticket from the EU?
	No.
	Bought your own ticket!
	One of my next polls will be, do you want me to fly business or economy people?
	You choose and I will do it.
	You're a bold man, I don't give people that kind of opportunity.
	Phidias, thank you very much.
	I'm sure you don't, Russell.
	Yeah, and Phineas had to pay for his own plane ticket because of course the EU aren't going to pay for his travel to do a podcast interview, you know, he wouldn't just get that reimbursed.
	Not least of all because for the month of August the EU Parliament are on holiday so they aren't, you know, they aren't allowed to claim expenses for official business throughout the month of August because they're not supposed to be doing any.
	So there we are.
	Because there's a regulation to curb corruption.
	Yes, yes, exactly.
	Love to try it sometime.
	It has occurred to me, there was a clip that I cut out because the rest of it was slightly boring, but there was a point where Russell does say like, oh so really I could run for office then, really anyone could kind of do it then.
	I'd like to reiterate, this has been my position, it's been my suspicion.
	Because I haven't had a lot of evidence to really hammer away.
	I feel I've been getting some here and there.
	I had a feeling that this is Russell's MO.
	Because who gets away with scandals more than politicians?
	Exactly right.
	That's the thing is like a cultural figure, we can like disagree and feel bad and be like, no, we don't we don't want to participate anymore.
	But when politicians, it's your constituency, they have to participate.
	I mean, as far as they can, you know, depending on what you consider participation, they got to pay attention.
	They got to live there.
	Yeah, I have to accept that Jim Gardner is still my alderman.
	Like, I don't have a choice.
	The vote happened, he made curb your dog signs, and all the investigations, state, federal, and local, couldn't unseat him for whatever reason.
	And so I still had to be nice when he came and gave us pizza at the fucking polling station, even though my body was filled with rage fire.
	That's the thing.
	It's the most buy-in-your-friend's-ass bullshit because it's effective.
	So it makes sense that Russell and also you get to, I want to make a difference in the universe.
	Yeah, right.
	By people telling you, like, by people voting on Twitter as to make your mind up for you?
	The thing is, is like, what I'm seeing, and I think what Russell is extremely well versed in, is like, this worked for me, so it can work for you.
	Yeah.
	Is what the, Billion, you know, several billion dollar wellness industry is built on.
	That is the problem that, you know, that like the self-help-y, like, ESP, even Synanon, this thing worked for me.
	And even worked for me has an asterisk by itself.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	I feel this worked for me.
	I can see that I am getting rewarded for this thing having worked for me.
	And I insist that it can and does work for everyone.
	And if it doesn't work for you, that's your problem and it's your fault.
	Same thing with religious healing.
	Like, oh, well, God would heal you if you were faithful enough and if you were Pure enough and you weren't a sinner and you weren't loyal so like any like you can blame the individual if it doesn't work for them because it worked for me and that is the like that is the like the the poison like that's that's the poison pill in the wellness industry in general is is that like is if you don't have to pay attention to statistics and science you can just if it's vibes based well your vibes don't match my vibes so you clearly did something wrong and that's why
	You know, I mean, Wim Hof can pretend that, like, sometimes people just drown because they're not good enough.
	They're not healthy enough and they shouldn't have done it in the first place.
	Yeah.
	It's your fault.
	Not that I'm making extremely dangerous claims.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And politically, you know, for Phidias, you know, all those people are just haters.
	You know, it's all the people who are on board and agree with him.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And Russell could definitely, definitely go.
	He could be quite successful, I would think.
	You know, there is that potential, you know?
	Definitely the most pleasant guest by a damn sight, I feel.
	Listen, this isn't scientific.
	I'm not looking at the list, but feelings wise, I mean, he's charming.
	Yes.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, that's true.
	You don't get a lot of charm in these kind of spheres.
	No!
	It's nice to see every now and then.
	I love it!
	This is great!
	I feel so good!
	Yeah!
	That happens all the time!
	I mean, like, genuinely, like, this is, this is, like, this is, this is, oh, man.
	Oh, boy.
	The amount of, like, authoritarian dictators that have been able to, like, sandblast their image into something lovely and pleasant.
	Guys.
	This is who we need to actually worry about.
	Trump and, like, the RNC, they run into problems when they are so blatantly, like, they can turn people off.
	If you're too ugly... They're nakedly vicious.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Yeah, if your behavior is ugly, you turn people off.
	You gotta, you gotta have a nice face on it.
	And it's just, that's...
	Amphidius could be one of those faces.
	Um, yeah.
	Yeah, or, or, or, let me put this out there.
	In the world.
	Or he runs into a problem.
	Ever.
	Once.
	And then he can, he has the power to become an activist.
	He has the power to, like, he can change.
	Technically.
	You know, like, any of them honestly can.
	But like, because maybe he is Like, a pure puppy who understands social media understands YouTube because, like, I don't necessarily think that's cynical.
	That's business.
	As emotionally, morally, personally cynical.
	But if I'm looking at, like, if I'm relating to the world in a way that's fair, that's business.
	That's how he's gonna see it.
	That's business.
	That's how the mafia works.
	It's business versus personal.
	It's when it gets personal, then I have a problem and we got to handle it.
	Like that's, that's, I mean, it's not just, I mean, it's, I don't know.
	I'm listening to, uh, we talked about the Ryan Fair documentary, um, on the stream, right?
	And there is a podcast.
	I had a similar feeling whenever, like, all the Joe Exotic stuff came out, um, when the documentary came out.
	There was so much information that was not in the documentary.
	That drove me crazy.
	It was like, none of you, like, this man ain't cute.
	Don't dress up like him for Halloween.
	This is a very bad person.
	Which, the rubber did hit the road.
	The Inside Edition reporter told Joel McHale, who does in fact have a soul with a lot of feelings, like, he killed my dog and it was a 2020, like, Remote interview and you can see Joel McHale's whole life just leave his body and see sorrow hit that man in such a profound way.
	Those are the moments that are missing and that can make you an activist in the other direction.
	Like, that guy killed my dog, my best friend, who I love the most in the world, out of spite.
	And then you're the person that hands all over the reporting over.
	Right, so I'm listening to the Renaissance Festival podcast.
	Again, that has way more information in it.
	I'd encourage anybody to check it out.
	Then the documentary.
	Like, they spent a whole lot of time on the documentary.
	Every episode of this thing is like, holy shit!
	The reporting, the reality is like, wow!
	And that's when someone who's just bopping along and having a great time Something happens, and they can really change.
	I don't want anything bad to happen.
	Maybe he sees it.
	Maybe there's something that snaps.
	For this young person who seems genuinely altruistic in their own way, and maybe a little cooked because he thinks that the internet is how the world is, and enough of those 24-year-olds will make the world.
	as ugly as like a racist Twitch streamer, right?
	Like that's, they will make that world if they think that that's what the world is
	and it's supposed to be.
	So maybe also more MEPs, if you are a constituent, ask them to talk to this guy.
	Yeah.
	Put his feet to the floor.
	It doesn't have to be, like, just have a conversation.
	Like, hey, do you know how this works?
	Yeah.
	Because what you said makes me think you don't know how this works.
	And if he can harness that, like, for good, you know, like that, the reality that he's, like, I mean, this is, if he was being less Overwhelmingly rewarded for turning a blind eye to the problems.
	If something happens, he can be interceded upon and he can actually do something good.
	That is possible.
	Russell... He's still young.
	Won't.
	Yeah, no, Russell's come too far for a variety of reasons.
	But yeah, with Phineas, I guess there could still be hope.
	I mean, I think at the very least he's definitely someone to keep an eye on.
	I think that's for whatever reason.
	Very compelling.
	Keep in track.
	Keep in track.
	And we'll see if any of Russell's political aspirations materialize.
	Whether he's received any particular amount of inspiration from Phidias's success.
	I don't know.
	That'll be interesting as well.
	Oh, I hope so.
	Because it's not going to work out.
	The thing is, it's not going to work out how he thinks it is.
	No, that's true.
	That's guaranteed.
	I'm watching this NASCAR race for the crashes.
	I'm gonna be honest about that.
	Listen, I'm not expecting Russell to magically be a better person tomorrow, but I'll watch him fall on his face.
	Yeah, I mean, if he's just gonna keep stepping on rakes, I'm gonna keep watching it, you know?
	I can hope so, you know?
	Yep.
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	Rush Limbaugh still dead.
	Yeah, still dead.
	That's not win-win-win.
	That's lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie.

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