Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

Jan. 30, 2025 - On Brand

02:49:06

OB #97 - Russell's Inauguration Coverage

Russell decides to broach the subject of Israel-Palestine on inauguration day itself, and then engages in multiple ways of justifying Elon Musk's Nazi salute. [There were some audio problems this week so apologies if there are any issues] Support us on Patreon! Buy an On Brand magnet!

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	This is Propaganda Live.
	I only suggest how to think and how to vote.
	Extraordinary cultural moment.
	Already iconic.
	Already iconic.
	We love you.
	You're welcome here.
	Where did this guy come from?
	It's 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 laboratory?
	That's sort of like a poem.
	Is this Eminem?
	Man, if we didn't come together in that stream, assuming it was just the key.
	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 Wirth, and each week I go through an episode of Brand Show with my co-host Lauren B. That's me, I'm Lauren B, and I am the host that has no idea what we will be getting into today.
	Alright, 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 before the bad thing this week?
	Hey!
	My good thing might be a little bit of TMI. Maybe, I don't know.
	I've talked about it on the show a number of times.
	I have been rendered infertile mechanically and medically and it's very exciting that I feel okay today.
	It happened yesterday.
	Got an IUD and I was super scared because the experiences are mixed and you and I talked about it.
	And it was one of these things that like, there's a chance it could be bad.
	I don't know if I'll have to reschedule.
	I'm just letting you know.
	And you're like, yeah, it's a possibility.
	I couldn't tell how it would feel and how it would be.
	And I think that my frustration with being able to find someone's actual experience.
	Why I'm deciding to share it on a podcast that has nothing to do with any of this shit, technically, other than just it's a good thing that I feel okay today.
	I am frustrated.
	I couldn't really get a bead on what to expect.
	And I've had this problem with medical procedures before where it just seems like the...
	The reporting is so wide as far as what the experience is.
	And also, I'm going to be adjusting for a couple of months.
	So if you are interested and compelled to hear, I've decided I'm going to just let you know in no graphic detail whatsoever just my experience as a person.
	I think we're going to put that at the end of the episode.
	I'm just going to go to the last five minutes-ish, depending on where we go, five or ten, depending on where we land in the outro.
	If you are curious about what the process was, in simple terms, I mean, I know you can Google it.
	You can Google it, you can find videos and stuff.
	I'm just telling you...
	What I wish someone had told me, and I'm using my platform to do this to help.
	So if you're curious, if you want just somebody else's story, and not just an anonymous comment, but you know the human being that, and if you're a regular listener, you know my experience, and I can tell you within that what happened.
	So that's a cool thing, and we're going to put that at the end.
	Yeah, stick around for that.
	Yeah, and you know where to find it, and you can also email me.
	We'll talk about it at the end.
	The other thing that's very cool, and we also have been talking about, I am now officially in my grace period of getting credentialed.
	So I am provisionally credentialed with the Creator Accountability Network.
	Actually, I'm excited to announce that I've joined the Creator Accountability Network.
	Can is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing harassment and abuse through ethical education and a system of restorative accountability, which is dope.
	I join because I care about the safety and well-being of my community members.
	If you feel my behavior or content has harmed someone, please report it to Can either via the reporting form on their website, creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org, or via their hotline at 617- That's 249-4255.
	They'll help me make it right and avoid repeating that mistake in the future.
	Ken also needs volunteers from our communities to help with their work.
	So if you have the skills you think would be helpful or time and desire to help, please visit their website to find out how you can volunteer.
	Most importantly, get the word out to other creators who you think would be interested in getting credentialed.
	Help us build safer communities together.
	That is, yeah, and it's so much easier than I thought.
	Yeah, super cool.
	Very, very interesting.
	Very good thing.
	Very good thing all around.
	Really good.
	And thanks so much for the encouragement from y'all.
	Yeah, they're expanding all the time, and so we might have options for more credentialing of the whole show in the future, potentially, maybe.
	We're looking into it, and we're trying to figure that out, but I will be getting credentialed, and I think that, I mean, it's not a good thing, it's a great thing.
	I'm really excited about that.
	So, what's your good thing?
	My good thing this week is Mogwai have a new album out called The Bad Fire.
	And yeah, it's really good.
	Mogwai are one of those bands where because they're predominantly instrumental post-rock and everything, they put a lot of effort into making each of their albums a bit different from one another, which is quite nice.
	And yeah, I like that about them.
	It feels like an amalgamation of different eras of their sound, which is kind of cool.
	You know, they've got kind of some of the rave tapes era kind of electronic sounds coming in, and then they've definitely got some, like, loud, heavy guitar moments a la Mogwai of, like, the 90s, early 2000s kind of stuff.
	Yeah, and it's just a really solid album.
	They've got more, like, vocals on this one and, like, actual, you know, lyrics and such, which I'm not normally...
	That kind of into, but I like this one, like the tracks that they've come out with here, because they use like a vocoder and everything, so it's like very kind of melodic and kind of, you know, it doesn't kind of take like front and center necessarily.
	It's almost more there as texture in a way.
	But yeah, it's really solid.
	Kind of harks back to...
	What was their album?
	Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will to that album.
	It's kind of like an amalgamation of all of the stuff.
	Yeah, it's really, really cool.
	Oh, and yeah, one of the things about Mogwai I think that gets less attention is their excellent song titles.
	So a few favorites from this album.
	Fanzine Made of Flesh.
	Pale Vegan Hip Pain.
	Which I'm sure a lot of our listeners can relate.
	I believe Stuart Braithwaite, the guitarist, is said pale vegan.
	And Lion Rumpus.
	I quite liked that one as well.
	Yeah.
	Oh, and if you find this world bad, you should see some of the others.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	They've got some great titles going around.
	And my all-time favorite Mogwai song, I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead.
	I was like, yeah.
	I do love that.
	Yeah.
	I chuckle every time.
	I chuckle the first time.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Still funny.
	Yeah, it's still great.
	And a great song.
	Great song.
	Anyway, so yeah, that's a nice, simple album recommendation for people to go and check out.
	It's good fun.
	Okay, well, we have a show to do.
	But first, we should thank a new patron.
	So, Anna W., you are now an awakening wonder.
	You are indeed an awakening wonder.
	Thank you very much, Anna.
	Thank you, Anna.
	I appreciate it.
	Thank you.
	Yep, yep, yep.
	Deeply appreciated.
	Thank you very much.
	And if you do enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review wherever you're listening and please do share us with your friends, loved ones, or anyone you think might enjoy this project of ours.
	It would be hugely appreciated and goes to great lengths in helping us continue.
	And if anyone wants to support us financially in what we do, become an awakening wonder, join the Invisible Hand or donate on an elevated tier.
	Head to patreon.com slash onbrand and you will have our eternal gratitude which allows us to be editorially independent and ad-free.
	And as a patron, you will also get a shout-out on the show and access to our patron-only after show off-brand.
	And this last week, we were discussing the Creator Accountability Network and the credentialing process and all of that stuff that Lauren has just mentioned.
	But in much more detail, it was really interesting.
	Really interesting.
	Yeah.
	The kind of way it's structured and everything.
	Yeah, and I mean, if you already subscribe and you have access to our off-brand content, then I have a restorative justice episode from a while back that's already in the feed.
	So if you need a primer or a refresher or a little bit of an explainer on that, we can talk at you about that as well.
	That is sort of a foundational kind of, I mean, or you can Google it.
	Yes.
	It's something I talk about a lot, but we don't really get to talk about that much on the main show, but it's in there and off-brand if that's what you want to...
	If you're curious about.
	Absolutely.
	So head to patreon.com slash armbran to check that out and the recording about the Creator Accountability Network as well and the many, many hours of other content up there as well.
	And please note that while you can easily listen to our audio version anywhere you can find podcasts, you can also watch us on YouTube or if you're listening to the Spotify app, the video will come up there too.
	Right.
	I have.
	Very exciting.
	They have a new little bumper for when we start getting into the stuff.
	Let's get into it now then.
	Ugh!
	Okay.
	It was Russell dragging his hands down his face.
	Like, oh god!
	Wait, so that's a bumper?
	Like, that's what he- that's- They record it and play it?
	Or that was just that day?
	No, I took it out to use it as a little bumper for us getting into the show.
	I'm having fun.
	Okay, so I mentioned last week that Russell spent his inauguration day...
	Farting bird!
	I think that it's reasonable to be confused.
	Yes, no, that's fair.
	This is more tasteful than a farting bird, I will say that.
	That's something.
	Yeah, honest.
	Yeah.
	Is it gaslighted?
	It's honest.
	Yeah, exactly.
	So yeah, I mentioned that Russell spent his Inauguration Day show discussing Israel-Palestine with a couple of guests, which we will...
	That will be the first half of this show here today.
	And the second half will be dealing with Russell getting back to his studio and discussing the inauguration a little bit more.
	However, I didn't want to just, like, dive right into the tough subject of Gaza, and so I thought we'd start out with a clip from part two on the slightly lighter subject of Elon Musk making two Nazi salutes at Trump's inauguration.
	Oh yeah, that's lighter and funner to talk about.
	Okay.
	Well, see where he goes with it.
	Let's start simply with Elon Musk's apparent salute.
	Of course you, like me, consume certain strands and streams of media so you'll have already seen by now, I'm sure, various famous people.
	Doing Nazi salutes.
	You might have seen the Taylor Swift one.
	Have you seen the Kamala Harris one?
	Have you seen almost everyone doing one?
	Have you seen the YMCA one?
	And now, should I get that dubious honour of being worthy of further cancellation, here's me, while sort of saying, while physically demonstrating what a Nazi salute is, potentially being used.
	Now, although it's kind of a semi-trivial point, it's worth mentioning, isn't it, that...
	The gesture itself and the shape of the body, if you're suggesting that that has an absolute meaning or even an encoded meaning, you're making a claim that you understand an absolute reality.
	It's possible, at least possible, that Elon Musk tapped into intuitively...
	Whatever that feeling is to sort of pat your heart and to extend your arm.
	If any of you have ever tried Kundalini Yoga, they talk about the specificity and meaning and power of certain bodily positions.
	There are various sort of yogic positions that are designed to solicit certain types of energy or power, which of course is another word for energy.
	Okay, so maybe Elon Musk did do a Nazi salute or two, but have you considered first that there is no absolute reality, and secondly that perhaps Elon was just doing some kundalini yoga?
	Like, maybe that's what it was.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	Are we gonna have more of this later, or...
	Yeah, we'll be getting back to the Nazi salute subject, yes, broadly, but...
	Girl.
	Messy.
	Yeah.
	What I need to say up top, if you were making excuses and rationalizations for you and encouraging others to accept this behavior, history will remember your position, not your rationale.
	Somebody said that as a version of this, if you want to be on the right side of history, call it what it is.
	Yeah.
	We all know it was.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, it was like, you watch the footage and it is abundantly clear what it was.
	Twice!
	No way!
	There is no explanation that is not that, and there's plenty of examples, and if we're talking about it more, I'll keep it, I'll wait.
	Yeah, we will come back to it, yep.
	I think that the thesis statement that I do want to say up top is, if you are making rationalizations, that's your stance.
	Yep.
	Yep, it's a very specific stance.
	Because he doesn't need you to make excuses.
	Elon Musk does not care about your opinion, does not want to care about your opinion or you as a human being.
	So if you choose to spend your precious breath on this earth that is finite and mortal, defending him, and I'm talking to Russell in this instance, also generally, that's your choice?
	History will not remember.
	There's not two groups of Nazis where one felt pressured or forced and was caved to social pressure and the other one was like a rabid bigot.
	All the Nazis were Nazis.
	Nazis are Nazis.
	Yep.
	Yep.
	If you want to put yourself in that club, you are actively making a choice by using your time, energy, and attention to rationalize or make an excuse.
	Russell just did that.
	So, and a lot of people have.
	It is interesting how, like, Russell explaining away a Nazi salute as being kundalini yoga is somehow these days, if you'll pardon the pun, very on brand.
	Also, would you like to show, like, straight up, show me a position.
	Like, show me the position that you think the yoga, like, you show...
	You show me the exact thing.
	Downward facing, upward facing Kyle.
	It ain't a facing dog.
	It ain't cat.
	It ain't cow.
	It's not corpse pose.
	You know, like, this isn't chaturanga.
	Nope.
	Sun salute, you know.
	You're still wrong.
	Yes.
	If you try to show me a picture.
	Yes.
	But...
	You want to make that argument?
	Again, draw me a diagram.
	You show me what that looks like.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	That's the most important thing that I need to put out there that I think is getting lost in the sauce for the debate.
	The debate ain't worth it.
	It's not worth debating if you are – because there isn't another side that's arguing.
	They're arguing against the debate.
	There's bunking and debunking.
	Russell's bunking.
	Russell's bunking.
	Yeah, we're getting a lot of bunk.
	A lot of bunk.
	And then people responding are debunking the bunk.
	Yes.
	That's what's happening.
	There's no one that has to argue what it is because we all already know.
	Yeah, we all saw it.
	We all saw it.
	If we didn't, that wouldn't be the conversation.
	That's what I'm saying.
	That's exactly what I'm saying.
	It's like if you are trying to rationalize.
	You are arguing that there was something that we all didn't see that you think we did.
	Which can be made for the other pictures.
	I'm sure we'll get into it.
	Yeah, yeah.
	He doesn't show too many.
	Elon's been tweeting out examples of supposed ones.
	It's just people fucking waving at crowds.
	Anyway.
	Anyway.
	You know what?
	You got a picture of me saying about yay high?
	Depending on how tall the thing is?
	Yeah, exactly.
	Yeah, you can make that look like a lot of stuff.
	Show me the video footage of each of them and then we'll have a discussion.
	There you go.
	That's different.
	Yeah, right.
	Gesturing to a direction?
	Yeah, a photo is different than video.
	So speaking of things that are now on brand for Russell that might not have been previously, here's how he introduces the Inauguration Day show.
	Hello there, you Awakening Wonders.
	Thanks for joining me today for Stay Free with Russell Brand, live from Washington, D.C. Whilst an inauguration might be regarded simply as a ceremony, it has a lot packed into it.
	And as the sirens that pass the rumble studios indicate, there is always suppressed chaos amidst apparent order.
	You might be watching us on YouTube that's probably not as censored as much today as it was yesterday.
	You might be watching me from X or Facebook or any of the places where oligarchs now align in the rotunda to pay homage and bend the knee at the new augmentation, inauguring and implementation of a new set of inauguring and implementation of a new set of power." What Russell just described is something he should be completely and entirely against.
	Oligarchs bending the knee to power, big tech and big media interacting with big government.
	Those are literally things he's been railing against for the last decade.
	And now this motherfucker has sat here with a big grin on his face, clearly thrilled about the inauguration of Donald Trump, before he later will go and attend RFK Jr.'s Maha Ball being held that night.
	Yeah.
	A year ago, had a group of tech oligarchs all bowed to Joe Biden, Russell would have been concocting a series of imaginary conspiracies involving the deep state.
	In fact, he did exactly this during COVID, when the Biden administration worked with Meta on taking down anti-vax and COVID conspiracy bullshit, and Russell insisted it's a huge cover-up for nefarious undertakings.
	But, oh, all these tech oligarchs bending the knee to Trump, including having Elon Musk, by Russell's own description, play a significant role with X in getting Trump...
	Well, that's all just fine and dandy.
	Like, the hypocrisy is so incredibly transparent and blatant even on day one.
	I truly don't know how Russell's image as an anti-establishment guy is going to last through four years of him kissing the ass of Donald Trump.
	I don't know how many steaks it's going to last through.
	I don't know how many steaks his, like, steaks as in meat.
	The eating kind that he now eats.
	Yes, the eating of steaks.
	That his brand, I'm genuinely, like, I want to have a stake count.
	As far as, like, I don't know how to do this.
	If I had my druthers, I'd have a stake count.
	How many times?
	Or just, like, non-Russell brand branded things, like, non-community festival wellness coded stuff he can do and still be, and still, like...
	Keep his base.
	This is the conversion.
	This is the change.
	When you talk about cult dynamics, the group works to get people in with a very broad, open message.
	And then once the audience is captured, there is a switch.
	We are watching...
	The real, like, there was a switch with COVID, I believe, I think, or one could surmise with Russell.
	This is the real, like, this is the absolute, like, that was the capture, and this is the switch.
	But that's also where cults fall apart.
	Some people leave.
	Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of potential for this to get messy.
	It's why people can say, I went to the, I was, I went to People's Temple stuff, I was...
	With the Jim Jones and I'm not anymore because it got fucked up and I left.
	So this is I'm I'm interested.
	It'll be interesting.
	In other news, apparently YouTube is now probably less censored under Trump, according to Russell.
	Perhaps due to Google donating a million dollars to Trump's inauguration fund, though YouTube specifically is yet to announce any policy changes in terms of their content moderation in the face of Trump's war against diversity, equity, and inclusion.
	So we'll see, I suppose.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Well, I mean, even this, like, calling the sirens, like, conflating that with the chaos of the moment.
	Dude, there are, like, it's just standard operating procedure.
	I mean, like, when we talk about, like, whenever there's a siren in the background here, and it's like, well, that's Chicago.
	Like, yeah, I mean, it could be a crime, or somebody could be having a heart attack.
	Like, you don't know what's going on.
	It's a weird, like...
	It's just a weird thing to point out.
	It's like, bitch, you don't live in America.
	It sounds weird here, and you don't know.
	Like, come on.
	Yeah, I think he just got self-conscious about it as he was introducing the show, I think.
	Oh, sure.
	I think that's what happened.
	Sure, but like, we know where you are!
	Yeah, let it ride.
	Let it ride.
	It's fine.
	There's motorcades all over the place.
	Yeah, right, right.
	Motorcade day.
	Exactly, yeah.
	So, yeah, Russell is recording, yeah, from Rumble Studios in Washington, D.C. Yeah.
	All right, so let's let Russell introduce the guests that he's having on to discuss the topic of Israel-Palestine.
	Joining me in Rumble Studios today, and this is a staggering and astonishing, and I can't believe that it's actually happening, is the special presidential envoy for hostages, Adam Bowler.
	Thank you for joining me, Adam.
	I'm real happy to be here, Russell.
	It's pretty exciting that you're here.
	I know that you're just taking a few moments to be with us before joining President Trump and the new government, of whom you are a member for the event at the Capital One Stadium.
	Is that correct, isn't it?
	Yes, I'll be there with the president.
	Yeah, that's pretty interesting and exciting.
	Thanks for joining us in the midst of this giddy-giddy carnival.
	Also, Bashar Masri, a leading Palestinian, perhaps the leading Palestinian businessman, is joining us.
	And I suppose that's significant given that you, Adam, are here in your capacity as a hostage negotiator with some interesting stories to tell us, some interesting revelations about the situation not only in the Middle East but across the world and how that will likely be impacted by this new administration.
	Very curious that someone who's so obviously pro-Israel as yourself, you are Jewish yourself, and I guess anyone who's followed your political career in the last administration will be surprised that you are joined by Bashar Mazri.
	And I suppose, look, I'm not an expert on that region.
	It seems that no one in the world is an expert on that extraordinary part of the world and all of its significance.
	Okay.
	So, yeah, hostage negotiator indeed.
	That's a different job to what this guy has.
	So, my first question, Lauren, is do you recognize either of these two individuals we're looking at here?
	Because they both have been peripherally in the public eye before.
	If I have heard their...
	I don't recognize them on sight.
	And if I have heard their name, I have not heard it enough where it has stuck out to me.
	And believe me, I was searching my files in my brain.
	I was bracing for whoever was going to be on screen.
	Yeah, well, they might ring a bell in a second.
	That's kind of, yeah.
	This first one we're going to look at is Adam Bowler, right?
	The newly appointed, but not yet confirmed, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
	Can you spell his last name?
	B-O-E-H-L-E-R. B-O-E-H. Oh, yeah, okay.
	L-E-R. Accent?
	And so I'm like, oh, I know exactly who it is!
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And yeah, he has the personal rank of ambassador.
	Though I will say...
	To Israel?
	Just like the rank of ambassador in general.
	Like, to multiple countries.
	So his kind of job is basically to talk to multiple countries as an ambassador of the US to, like, try and bring, like, US citizens back home where they're theoretically being held hostage, right?
	That's his gig, is to try and negotiate with other countries, with other governments.
	So, like, a hostage envoy.
	Kind of, yeah.
	Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.
	I'll tell you what, I'm gonna move the thing back so we can actually look at these people.
	Yeah.
	So, yeah.
	He's the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
	Okay.
	I will say, what we're actually looking at is the college roommate of Jared Kushner.
	Fuck you.
	That's who we're actually looking at.
	Well, table flip.
	Yep.
	So Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, this is one of his good buddies, Adam Bowler.
	And in fact, this isn't the first time that Adam has been in government.
	He was appointed director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April 2018 during the first Trump administration.
	Boy, that's really different than a diplomatic role in foreign affairs.
	Yeah!
	It's not even domestic!
	That was domestic!
	Yeah, yeah.
	He also served as the chief executive officer of the newly created U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which, you know, existed to bring several U.S. international funding agencies together under one roof.
	During the COVID pandemic, this new agency was also tasked with coordinating some of the medical supply chain, parts of which were working under an Emergency Defense Production Act mandate from the White House.
	And during this time, they ordered over a million defunct tests.
	Oh, so he's a crucial reason.
	Like, he is genuinely responsible for hospitals having to bid for shit on eBay?
	Bid for, like, equipment on eBay.
	Compete.
	Yeah, he was the CEO of the thing doing that.
	Yeah, yeah.
	And no one has, like, pulled the lever to dump him into the moat full of sharks?
	Okay.
	Not yet.
	Not yet.
	I'd imagine they're not going to do that if they haven't yet.
	Yeah.
	The DFC also came under fire in 2021 after a government watchdog report found that they'd failed to make promised loans with funds that were appropriated to them.
	So basically, stole a bunch of money.
	In response, the DFC said, well, the approval process for the loans had become much more cumbersome than it initially expected.
	Fix that!
	Okay.
	That's a wipey!
	Yeah.
	During Adam Bola's time at the DFC, he was part of negotiating some big international business deals, I will say that.
	And he also joined Jared Kushner and Trump as part of the US delegation cementing the yet-to-be-ratified Abraham Accords.
	They're still not ratified now.
	Oh, no, yeah.
	Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
	The purpose of which was to normalize the relations of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan with Israel.
	What makes him qualified to do hostage negotiations?
	I'm not quite sure, but we'll judge the tree by its fruits, I suppose.
	Man, how are y'all feeling about finding out how miserably unqualified these people are?
	You could call me for any of these things and I'd be better at it than this, dude.
	My socks wouldn't match my scarf!
	So maybe there's that.
	Yes, yes, yes.
	He's sleekly dressed.
	Yeah, he was part of what was Jared Kushner's Slim Suit crowd, as they were dubbed.
	Yeah.
	Oh, fine.
	Whatever.
	Man, suits have been going through it.
	Don't blame suits.
	These people are terrible.
	Their clothing is...
	Fashion's been going through it.
	Oh, man.
	Yep, yep.
	True, true.
	Coming out of the tight suit era, I hope.
	Maybe.
	Fingers crossed.
	Other relevant information is that Adam Bowler is, as Russell said, Jewish, raised in Albany, New York, and he had what he has described personally as a heavily Zionist upbringing.
	Needless to say, he's representing a Zionist perspective in this conversation.
	Okay, so that's one side of this.
	So who's the other dude?
	The relatively unassuming guy on the left representing Palestine in this discussion.
	So his name is Bashar Mazri.
	He's a multi-billionaire and one of the richest men in Palestine.
	He is also nephew of Munib al-Mazri, who is the richest man in Palestine.
	I'm going to read from a 2012 Al Jazeera article that covers him because I think it paints a picture.
	Quote, Thank you.
	Masri has invited Israeli firms to participate in this private for-profit development, which is built on land confiscated by the PA from three Palestinian villages and partly subsidized by the US government.
	In order to make overpriced rawabi real estate affordable to impoverished and debt-burdened Palestinians, the US government is financing and promoting US-style mortgages through Palestinian banks, importing the kind of lending practices that led to the foreclosure crisis in the United States.
	Disregarding Palestinian civil society calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions, Masri has actively assisted Israeli firms to enter the Palestinian market, prompting the Boycott National Committee this week to issue an unprecedented condemnation of his normalization activities, which it characterized as a means to advance personal interests and profit-making at the expense of Palestinian rights.
	Unquote.
	I will say it is generally tough to find critiques of this guy because the building of Rawabi came with an enormous PR budget, it would seem.
	You look for him, that's all you're going to find and how wonderful Rawabi is.
	It also likely helps that he owns the second largest newspaper in Palestine as well.
	So he's Prescott Bush.
	Okay, yeah, he's making his fortune working with the Nazis.
	Great.
	Yeah, so here's another piece from Business Insider in 2018. Thank
	were contracted in the construction of Rawabi and Masri.
	Masri, by necessity, worked closely with the Israeli government to get the city approved.
	In a recent conversation with Business Insider, Masri said, Such activists miss the point.
	It's a reality that Israel and the Palestinian territory's economics are intertwined.
	As he put it, some 200,000 Palestinians already work in Israel, and every freezer in the West Bank stocks Israeli ice cream.
	Unquote.
	Yeah, the article goes on to elaborate how Bashar Masri is very much against boycotting Israel.
	So, yeah.
	Fundamentally, we have a wealthy Zionist Jewish guy who is pro-Israel, and an immensely wealthy Palestinian Muslim who is pro-Palestine, but definitely has a lot of Israeli sympathies.
	It's worth noting as well that a large share of the purchases of the apartments built in Robabi are actually Israeli citizens as well.
	So, Palestinians.
	So yeah, so he would be like a...
	Maybe Larry Ellison.
	There's a bunch of them named Larry right now.
	So his name was familiar, but he looks like Ed Koch.
	So I was like, I don't know.
	He looks from far away, like in this tiny little video, like, oh, it kind of looks like Ed Koch.
	So I didn't recognize him visually, but now I know kind of.
	It's tough because like as a, you know, non-Arab speaking person being a white Western person.
	It's tougher to keep track of names.
	Much like I would think someone who is born and bred in the Arab world would have trouble keeping track of all the Chris Smiths around.
	Like, why is everybody named Chris?
	You know what I mean?
	Like, so, I don't expect them to remember everyone named Christopher.
	And especially with Masri being like a family with tendrils of billionaires as well, kind of reaching off.
	It is a challenge.
	It's tough to keep track.
	It's the Al of it all, of the, yeah, keeping between, you know, yeah, between like Saudi Arabia and...
	guitar.
	All that kind of Middle Eastern names and also family lineage, which, hey, problem.
	So yeah, it's, I mean, trying to keep all the Vanderbilt straight, right?
	That's, it's, it'd be tough, you know, or even all the Canadi's like, and we, as an American, I still had to figure it out.
	You know, there's, it's, yeah, it's like keeping track of all the Canadi's.
	For someone that doesn't speak the language and does not know anything about...
	If you don't know much about America, it'd be tough to figure out which Kennedy is which.
	Yeah, it's going to be difficult.
	Also, everyone's called John, even if their name isn't John.
	It's a whole thing.
	Yes, right.
	So in the first subject here, Russell addresses the topic of the ceasefire.
	I suppose many people are...
	Astonished, excited, and consider it to be precipitous and important that even prior to Trump being sworn in, there appeared to be movement and a temporary ceasefire was achieved.
	Do you accredit that to now officially the previous administration, the Biden administration, or do you have a sense that possibly that's as a result of today's events and changes, Adam?
	You're right, I didn't even think about it, that we're now in the administration.
	Yeah, you're in it now!
	Sorry, you know, so we're 25 minutes in.
	When are you going to get some work done?
	I know, I know.
	Right away, we're going to work hard.
	Yeah, 25 minutes in and I'm with you.
	What's wrong with me?
	I think that it's absolutely due to President Trump.
	And I think what's amazing...
	I think it's so amazing that with what he writes on True Social, expanded through Acts, that he says that he wants all hostages, that before he comes into office, just sending them, it changes things and people are released.
	Do you know that, and this isn't covered, you know that three Americans were released from China.
	No one covers that.
	And it was after the message.
	And so he's...
	It's unbelievable.
	There's no person.
	I didn't think I would go back into government, not because I had a bad experience, but because you never think you're going to go back.
	And to do something like this with the backing of somebody like President Trump, it's a dream, really, because I know how much difference we can make.
	The bar is low.
	Uh-huh.
	Yeah, he didn't think he'd go back to government, because maybe it's unlikely anyone but another Trump administration would actually hire him based on his experience.
	It was just a thought.
	In any case, naturally, he believes...
	None of these people, I mean, that's...
	Those are two separate...
	Yeah, separate thoughts.
	But yeah, naturally he believes that Trump is the sole reason for the temporary ceasefire in Gaza coming about.
	Like, yeah, because this guy's here.
	He's amazing.
	Has that happened before?
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	We'll ignore that.
	And also isn't.
	Yeah.
	Those Chinese prisoners that he was talking about just then, they were released in November 2024, and it was covered extensively in the BBC, NBC, PBS, Reuters, The Guardian, you name it!
	It was a Biden administration-led effort, which was months in the making, resulting in a prisoner swap between the US and China.
	Why Adam Bola specifically didn't see it is anyone's guess, but I would say it's a story...
	Yes, yes, exactly.
	Exactly.
	That's the same as not covering it.
	All right.
	So anyway, Adam Bola thinks Trump is God King, you know, who is doing all the stuff and making hostage releases happen.
	Cool, right?
	But where does Bashar Masri stand?
	My assumption is that within Palestine, there is a broad spectrum of political perspectives.
	And so I suppose it would be presumptive and reductive of me to consider you...
	A voice of a unified Palestine.
	But in the most general terms, do you think that a strong American president, inverted commas, a president who one might imagine being truculent and pugnacious in the event of ongoing conflict, is somehow more beneficial even to Palestine and the Palestinian people as opposed to a Absolutely.
	We needed someone like President Trump badly.
	We need somebody to shake up the whole area to show both the Palestinians and Israelis what's best for them.
	Right now, and they have not been seeing the light, they've been blinded by the hostilities.
	So now at least...
	For this moment, the hostilities have stopped, and we hope it continues, and then he will push with his team for a deal.
	It's important to have a deal.
	If we do not have a deal, then the whole problems that happen will be repeated, maybe in a different way, but more violence will occur in the future.
	So it's very important, I emphasize.
	On the next step, after the second phase, or during the second phase, what that deal will look like.
	Okay, up close.
	He doesn't look like Ed Koch, just so everybody knows.
	I was looking at a thumbnail.
	Just to be clear, that's not a description I would use.
	So, if a guy that looks like Ed Koch comes across your feed, probably Ed Koch, not this guy.
	But, yeah.
	Oh, no.
	I'm chilled.
	Yeah, it's very...
	Very pro-Trump response.
	Yep.
	Billionaire solidarity or some shit.
	I don't know, but I think it's fair to say that, yes, Bashar Masri does not represent the views of a unified Palestine, if such a thing exists.
	Yeah, not this guy.
	Part of the reason some Palestinians might have a degree of trepidation about Donald Trump is that, for a start, he has instructed the US military to release a hold imposed by former President Joe Biden on the supply of £2,000 bombs to Israel.
	You know, Biden put the hold on the delivery of those bombs due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, particularly in Gaza's RAFA. They're very much a...
	Token.
	Very much a token gesture, Biden.
	Most generous read.
	Yeah.
	During the genocide in the Palestinian, like, in Gaza.
	But, hey, there's now a very temporary ceasefire happening, so I guess they can have all the big bombs now.
	And also there's this, and I will read a piece from CNN, quote, President Donald Trump indicated Saturday that he had spoken with the King of Jordan about potentially building housing and moving more than one million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, a remarkable proposal from a sitting U.S. president.
	Trump said he asked Jordan's Abdullah II, a key U.S. partner in the region, to take in more Palestinians in a Saturday phone call.
	I said to him that I'd love you to take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it's a mess.
	It's a real mess, he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
	Trump said he would like both Jordan and Egypt, which borders the battered enclave, to house people and that he would speak to Egyptian President El-Sisi about the matter on Sunday.
	Trump, who noted there have been centuries-long conflicts in the region, said Saturday, you're talking about a million and a half people and we just clean out the whole thing.
	I don't know, something has to happen, but it's literally a demolition site right now.
	Almost everything's demolished and people are dying there, so I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think maybe they could live in peace for a change.
	The president, a former property developer, said the potential housing could be temporary or could be long-term.
	Unquote.
	So, Trump is both rearming Israel and suggesting Palestinians should be displaced from their country.
	Good stuff!
	Good stuff.
	I wonder why any Palestinians might be concerned.
	I mean, that is genuinely their stance, though, which is baffling.
	I mean, yeah, this is a little kid solution.
	This is a, if you put tape...
	In the middle of the room, everybody will magically get along.
	And if you've ever seen an episode of a sitcom, you know that the tape doesn't stay in the middle of the room.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Or just like, well, hey, the problem that seems to be happening with Palestine is there's a bunch of Palestinians in it, so if we just put them in other places, then Israel can just have Gaza and the rest of the West Bank, and everyone can live in peace.
	Yeah, and you know this problem how Jews felt like they didn't have a homeland where they were safe, and so they took it from these other people because of an old book.
	Maybe the book said that.
	One old book.
	And so we're making this problem where the Palestinians don't have anywhere to go.
	So now the Palestinians are going to need a place where they're homeless.
	They have a place where they think is safe and where people already are.
	So let's just make the problem again.
	Way worse this time.
	Let's do it again, but different.
	Let's perpetuate.
	That cycle that is built on a child's understanding of the world.
	Yep.
	And then keep...
	Some kids accidentally get it right because they say the darndest things.
	This is...
	I'm not even saying little kids.
	This is 80s sitcom level.
	This is one episode of an 80s sitcom where the kids put a line down the middle of...
	What you find out is that that line, the door to the room is only on one line.
	There's going to be a problem.
	And then at the end of the 30-minute written episode, they realize that, boy, this sure isn't a good solution in the long term.
	And that's Charles in charge, not even countries.
	What are we doing?
	It's a preposterously unserious conversation that's being had.
	Oh, and of course, Trump also lifted sanctions on the illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank, allowing them to once again access the U.S. financial system plus U.S. property and assets.
	So there's also that.
	So bad.
	Yeah, it's so bad.
	I've gotten to be horrified so much in the last, like, two weeks.
	It's been rapid fire.
	Rapid fire.
	Oh, my God.
	Spoil for choice.
	So, speaking of horrified, the next clip is Adam Bola assessing what needs to happen to raise Palestine, in his words, out of squalor.
	And so, here's what I think.
	I think for years, forever, almost.
	The Palestinians, it's called, it's victimization politics.
	There are countries that use those people for their purposes.
	For a while, it was Arab countries, and these countries want to leave those people in squalor for political gain.
	Because it means for them that they can use it to influence world opinion.
	And everyone can feel bad.
	And feel bad that you have children because all people feel bad for children.
	So if they fix the issue, what is there left to do?
	They don't want to fix the issue.
	He's almost there.
	That's crazy.
	And so what is interesting about Bashar is Bashar has been successful in business.
	He's never been in politics.
	He doesn't care.
	He's not using the Palestinian people.
	What you want, imagine us if we had a president.
	Or we had control or something.
	We've never been colonized.
	We pushed it out.
	We didn't accept the British.
	Sorry.
	We would have accepted you.
	If it was you and not the king, it would have been much better.
	But you need someone that actually cares about the people.
	And so Bashar is an option.
	He's raised his hand.
	But there are real people.
	If you have someone that cares about the Palestinian people, then what they understand is...
	Peace will benefit them economically, and we can actually take them out of squalor if we want to.
	And it is the best.
	Think about long-term security for Israel.
	It's the best gift that could be given to Israel.
	I see.
	What?
	Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
	This guy.
	Yeah.
	What a piece of work.
	He's so close.
	To almost being like, okay, so are we going to find somebody?
	Is anyone, no one in this room cares about Palestinians?
	Okay.
	You know what?
	There's too much?
	You go ahead.
	Sorry.
	No, it's okay.
	It's okay.
	I will say, a lot of this interview was spent with Bashar Masri sat there silently while Adam Bola just talks shit.
	Because he's a better businessman.
	Work smarter, not harder.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And you see him at various moments as well, being very careful not to nod as well.
	Oh, that's funny.
	Well, yeah, because this is a fake, like, this isn't actually representing two sides of an argument, two sides of an issue.
	It's, they're both on the same side.
	To a large degree.
	To a large degree.
	I mean, yeah, they're not debating anything necessarily.
	I'm sure they quibble.
	There are differences.
	I'm sure.
	There are underpinnings that Bashar Masri has that lend him legitimacy.
	As a youth, he was much more active about pro-Palestinian liberation and everything, right?
	So was Russell.
	I know.
	We're here.
	Right, exactly.
	This is the thing.
	But anyway...
	With Adam Bola, like, the point that he just made was, like, basically, someone who cares about the Palestinian people is someone who doesn't play into what he describes as victimization politics.
	Because everyone can be made to feel bad about children.
	And then he sort of trailed off.
	He didn't describe, you know, the slaughter and starvation of tens of thousands of children, because clearly that would be victimization politics.
	Yeah, when he started, he was like, they live in squalor, like, stop there.
	Why?
	Why Squalor?
	How Squalor?
	Hang on.
	Hang on.
	Who made Squalor?
	Yeah, several asterisks present in this conversation.
	It's just like, that stops.
	That anyone that's listening that's responsible, like, buh-buh-buh.
	Who fault Squalor?
	Who makes Squalor?
	How did that happen?
	How did that happen?
	But peace will be the best gift of long-term security for Israel in this scenario that Bola is dreaming up.
	And the most chilling line for me there was, quote, we can actually take them out of squalor if we want to, unquote.
	He said so many true things.
	He said so many true things.
	Shit.
	That's what's tough.
	And also there's a conflation here.
	I mean...
	What I'm saying is, like, they are both showing up under the guise of, like, this isn't a left or right, you know, this isn't one opinion versus another, two sides of a subject.
	These are both the top and we are on the bottom.
	So they are, like, this is elite solidarity.
	This is class conscious, like, because the rich are the most class conscious among us.
	So they're both from the side of being fucking rich and protecting their interests.
	So he's we're going to be like the issue that the umbrella they are both showing up under, which is not opposed whatsoever.
	It's opposed to like humanity and like human rights and stuff, but it's not opposed to their end, which is their definition of peace is placidity or calmness, not peace being.
	Equality and justice.
	Yes.
	Peace is not equity to them.
	It's a status quo.
	It's things being leveled.
	Malcolm X talking about how if you stab a knife in my back and pull it six inches into my back and pull it out three, that's not peace.
	You didn't do me any favors here.
	Just me being quiet is not peace.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Credit where it's due.
	I do want to say this was, for me, a rare moment where the Rumble chat was getting some shit right.
	I mentioned that I watched this live because I was hoodwinked by Russell into thinking it would be his inauguration coverage.
	Oh, yeah.
	You got that?
	Yeah, I did.
	I did.
	Fucking pulled the rug.
	And as soon as this conversation got going, roughly every third or fourth comment was calling this out as Zionist propaganda.
	And I was like, oh, that's interesting.
	I'm sorry.
	That's the most fascinating thing I think that we can possibly...
	What?
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And finally, I was filming it with the rumble comments on.
	I've still got that video somewhere.
	I would like access to that, please.
	It's fascinating.
	I'm shocked.
	That's shocking to me.
	Yeah.
	Really interesting.
	Really interesting.
	I'm very confused.
	This is...
	What the...
	I don't know what to do with that.
	Yeah, yeah.
	It's something that I kind of, I expect more from, like, the locals chat, with there being, like, more of a kind of crunchy left-leaning kind of, you know, base to it, to a degree.
	I expect that less on, you know, Neo-Nazi Rumble, and I'm like, ha, this is interesting.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	Wow!
	Okay, yeah, alright.
	I think that's also a useful distinction to make, because his local channel is, like, his fans.
	But isn't he merged now with Rumble Chat?
	With Rumble Premium, yes.
	So if you get Rumble Premium, you still have access to all of the stuff through Rumble.
	But yeah, the locals thing is still a separate thing as well.
	So it's more like a little kind of community that you can kind of join.
	And is he going to convert?
	Has Russell?
	Because like Stephen Crowder is in the process, I think has already completed the process of moving Mug Club, which is what his local chat would be, to Rumble Premium.
	Now, Russell hasn't done that yet.
	If you have Rumble Premium and you click on Russell's page, the stuff that would otherwise have been exclusive is available to you.
	So if you go onto his Rumble page, yes, you can access that.
	I don't know whether if you have Rumble Premium you can go onto Locals itself and access Russell's thing.
	That's what I'm asking.
	Because that merge has happened for Steven Crowder.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	But I don't know if...
	Like, that's not what I'm asking is if the merge has also happened for Russell.
	Yeah, I mean, I know, I know, like, Locals is still accessible, you know, on it, so I don't, I don't, yeah, I don't.
	Yeah, I don't know how many, like, and how that would even work numbers-wise, because he's got, like, a kind of new follower kind of thing.
	He got rid of the counting up to 10,000 thing, and he's got a new follower thing, like, counting, like, new people that have joined locals specifically.
	I'm like, well, but if that's the same thing as Rumble Premium, so I don't know.
	Yeah, I'm wondering if it's two storefronts dumping into the same building.
	Yeah, kind of, just with, like, slightly different...
	Because Locals is its own thing, right?
	Yeah, Locals is its own thing, and you've got users in there that can post stuff and communicate stuff and comment on Russell's stuff through just Locals.
	It's like an exclusive Discord.
	Yeah, yeah.
	It's like having a link to a private Discord chat is Locals.
	Kind of, kind of, yeah.
	I'm saying it's not exactly the same, but it's like...
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Yeah, you pay for that access, too.
	And you get content, too.
	But yeah, Locals would be similar to that.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I'm interested to see.
	Because, yeah, if it's just two places to go to the same thing, or if this is just they're in the process.
	I'm wondering how much clout Russell has to keep his local channels, why I'm asking.
	Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
	I don't know.
	Because I think that maybe we've found that Mr. Crowder...
	Did not.
	Didn't have the juice, maybe.
	Maybe.
	Mug club didn't have the juice, so he was like, oh yeah, no, it's fine.
	We'll just do Rumble, even though I made this my brand and personality, and we even have a totem of a mug.
	Fuck that!
	Bye!
	Regretting that Daily Wire situation now.
	The same thing would probably still be happening.
	He might be on there.
	Let's try to pay him back.
	Who knows?
	Yeah, that's very true.
	That's very true.
	But anyway, yeah, the Rumble chat was getting it right for once, which was nice to see.
	Okay, so now we get to what I expect is the reason that Bashar Masri is there in the first place.
	Bashar Masri.
	You are the most successful Palestinian businessman.
	And there are rumors, I understand, that in the event of a sustained ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, ultimately a degree of governmental authority could be achieved in that region that will require leadership.
	Is it possible that that's something that could involve you in the future?
	It's possible.
	As a Palestinian citizen, we have not had elections in 20 years.
	We need to have elections.
	We've always strived for a secular democratic state.
	Most people know the PLO as a terrorist organization, but ironically, the PLO have always called for a secular democratic state.
	This is our upbringing.
	In the days of the revolution, now we're not in the days of the revolution.
	Now we're in the days of state building and we need to cherish that and we need to have Palestinian elections to choose the next leader.
	I will do whatever it takes to benefit my people and the area.
	If it's in business, it's in business.
	If it's in politics, it's in politics.
	I think after what has happened in the last...
	16 months.
	It is unfair for any Palestinian to say no to anything that will benefit the people.
	Too many people have been killed.
	Too many people are still suffering.
	The survivors are also suffering.
	And we need to get out of this mess.
	Yeah.
	Sounded like the answer of a politician to me.
	I would guess that Bashar Masri potentially has his eye on the presidency of Palestine and being a big pro-Trump guy.
	I wonder just whose backing he might be able to solicit to help him with that, especially, you know, being fellow billionaire and all that.
	But yeah, it sounds like policy-wise, if that were to come to pass, it would very much be a situation of like, hey, we need to stop fighting, you know, for freedom and all that stuff.
	It is fighting for placidity and calmness.
	Not peace.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Also, calling somebody the most successful Palestinian businessman sounds like world's greatest dad t-shirt to me.
	That's a weird thing to say.
	Yeah, because also he's not.
	As I mentioned, it's his uncle.
	We're grown.
	We're adults.
	You know what I mean?
	We don't use those kind of terms if we're having adult talk.
	If this is a program for children on PBS, then you can say world's greatest...
	Dad.
	But are we having a real discussion or are we not?
	Also, why is that good?
	To me, that sounds like the guy who's exploited Palestinians the most.
	That isn't Israeli.
	Right, yeah.
	You know what I mean?
	And again, it's something that Russell should be vehemently against.
	He's like, hey, you're a billionaire, that's great.
	Like, how you doing?
	Like, what?
	What?
	Russell?
	He's really weird.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, as to whether this is a serious conversation or not, Adam Bowler, next up, discusses the true meaning of MAGA before unleashing his feelings about Palestine.
	And I think what MAGA is, is it's about Americans.
	It's not about D or R. It's not about parties even.
	It's not about the people that control things.
	It's because we're sick and tired of it not being run for Americans, not for some special interest bullshit.
	Okay.
	The reason it speaks to me is I'm always wondering, How the hell did I get here?
	Like, I'm from a small town outside of Albany, New York.
	And I'm here.
	The fuck are we talking about?
	And I negotiate.
	It's amazing.
	By the way, only in America.
	Don't bring attention to the suit.
	That's not fair.
	So why him?
	And this is what I think.
	MAGA for the Palestinians is, well, you have people.
	This is me saying it.
	Sorry.
	Abu Mazen and some of these people, they steal money.
	They're billionaires.
	The current leadership of the Palestinian Authority, that individual and his sons run a classic mafia protection racket, which means they go to businesses, they force them to pay them for protection from themselves, like the godfather.
	You can't deal with them because why would they want the situation to change?
	They're making so much money off the situation.
	They're not going to have it to change.
	And obviously Hamas, you can't have terrorism either.
	So what, in my opinion, Palestinians need a leadership that cares about Palestinians.
	They need to make a Palestine great again.
	I never was.
	Make it great.
	The first.
	Make it not shitty.
	I don't know.
	I'm not a good brander.
	Yeah, you're going to have to work on that slogan, Adam, if you're going to create unity.
	It definitely cannot have expletives in the acronym.
	Okay, well, he takes it back.
	That's pretty...
	Oh, yeah, that makes it better.
	Jesus.
	Make it not shitty.
	Yeah, Palestine never was great.
	It needs a make it not shitty movement.
	Yeah.
	Hey, guys, everybody.
	In your daily lives, Practice defining stuff.
	If you don't have to define, like, if you don't have to explain definitions, because, like, then there's a practice to it.
	Because these people have a real problem with defining the terms they use, like mega or woke.
	And certainly one would, they make it seem like, well, I don't know what I'm saying.
	Practice.
	I encourage everyone to practice.
	In my life, my partner and my home, we do it all the time.
	We stop and say, like, hey, what does that word mean?
	What does that word mean to you?
	How are you using it?
	Defining what you mean is not a threat.
	It's actually totally cool, and you should practice it even in your own head.
	It's like, how would I define this word?
	If I'm using it a lot.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	It's helpful.
	I don't think they're going to do it, but I think as individuals, it's a really powerful thing to practice.
	I mean, I'm explaining logic and reasoning, and I know that you guys know that already, but I do encourage this one specific exercise because I see it be such a problem constantly on this Stupid Russell show that, man!
	I feel like, had they engaged in some of that, we might have avoided the clip that we just watched.
	You know, just a little bit of like, hey, what does this thing mean, huh?
	Especially if you're going to talk into a microphone about it?
	How about you think about that?
	Before you show up in your little outfit today.
	And maybe do a bit of it before you go negotiating with governments for hostage release, please.
	Oh, I sure hope that, too!
	So, as to, like, his points...
	What an excellent point!
	An illustration of the stakes!
	Please.
	So, I will say, like...
	Mahmoud Abbas, like the president of the Palestinian Authority, does seem pretty corrupt from the outside, having faced multiple accusations of embezzling funds and engaging in shady business deals and stuff with his sons, among other things, right?
	Of course, that said, the US currently has a president demanding half of the ownership of TikTok, otherwise he'll shut it down in the US again, which is very clearly extortion and racketeering on an international level.
	So maybe Adam Bowler shouldn't be throwing stones here.
	About corruption in highest office.
	Don't work for the administration.
	You know what I mean?
	Definitely.
	Because also, the Trump organization, which...
	DJ ate the first.
	Donnie did not...
	He's just still doing it.
	And worse.
	His daddy did it.
	His daddy's a real estate mafia man.
	And so the Trump organization has worked exactly how this person who's in...
	Yeah, yeah, exactly.
	But, like, I mean, you can carry on working for the Trump administration, just don't go throwing stones at other governments for being corrupt if you're going to carry on, you know?
	Right.
	He can articulate it when it's not about him and his friends, and that's called hypocrisy.
	And if you know you're saying it, you're a liar.
	Yeah, speaking of which, apparently MAGA is a rejection of things, you know, being about special interests in politics, right?
	It's too vague.
	I'm sorry.
	It's weird to say when he's sat next to a multi-billionaire, works for a different multi-billionaire, and that multi-billionaire is influenced and swayed by a whole set of other billionaires he sat in the front row for his inauguration.
	On a platform, also propped up by a billionaire.
	Propped up by fucking, yeah.
	By a different billionaire.
	Maybe the little guy here in this conversation is millionaires?
	Like, unusually, Russell is the poorest guy in this room.
	Because Adam Bola himself has a net worth coming to well over $100 million.
	Okay, he's just a goober.
	He's not a businessman.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	But yeah, MAGA is a rejection of the elites, apparently.
	Okay, okay.
	I mean, yeah, sure, and branding.
	Sure, sure.
	What, do you mean they're very tacky and have no taste?
	Yeah, okay.
	I see the flags.
	I see what they wrap on their cars.
	I agree.
	That's superficial.
	Yes, yes.
	Come on!
	So, from here, Bashar Mazri sets out what he thinks needs to happen to deal with the situation in Palestine.
	What we need today is a full agreement that decides what happens day one, next year, the year after, etc.
	It's a full process outlined.
	Till we reach the end of it.
	It may take 10 years.
	It's not going to happen over a few months period.
	I'm not simplifying things that it's just peace and it's going to happen like that.
	There's going to be a lot of confidence building measures between the two people.
	I think there should be a confederation between the state of Palestine and Israel so that both people are enjoying the peace dividends and that will bring people together.
	A hundred years ago or less, We had wars in Europe.
	Today we have the European Union.
	More people died in the European wars than the people that died in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
	So I think it's very doable and violence could drop dramatically.
	Even radical groups can adjust as well.
	They are political groups for the most part and they will adjust.
	The radicals will try to sabotage the deal and that's why we need strong leaders to do a deal like this.
	Today, in my humble opinion, we do have a strong leader in the United States and I think he can deliver a deal, he can push a deal that's beneficial to both the Palestinian people and to the Israelis and to the whole region.
	So Donald Trump is going to be the one to deliver a deal, potentially, if it's anything towards what Bashar Masri wants, creating a confederacy between Israel and Palestine in a way similar to how the EU works.
	Lovely thought.
	I'm not quite sure how that'll play out in practice.
	Bashar Masri, to his credit, has been vehemently against illegal settlers in the West Bank, for instance, but Israel quite likes them, as does Donald Trump.
	So I'm just kind of curious how these little details would get hashed out in this confederation.
	Oh, he just keeps asking if they stop, and then believing that they will when they say they'll stop.
	And that's not, there is only a point to which you can excuse that behavior.
	Yeah, and also, one thing that's not often discussed about the EU, if you have a country with a larger population, you get more members of European Parliament.
	So if you run with that system or anything like it, Israel has roughly twice the population of Palestine, and so that confederation would be heavily weighted in one direction, especially with the backing of a pro-Israel Donald Trump.
	You know, I'm like, ah, this feels like a pipe dream of a pipe dream.
	Yes, exactly.
	You don't get to flood the zone for decades, and then finally, like, oh, we got more people, so we gotta be in charge.
	Nope!
	Yeah.
	That's literally colonizing.
	That is literally, like, imperial power dynamics.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, something in that direction seems to be what Bashar Masri is suggesting, anyway.
	I'm like, okay!
	Now, these are all justifiable concerns, I would say, but don't worry.
	Adam Bowler is here to assuage any concerns we might have.
	First of all, sometimes things that seem unimaginable in the moment are very imaginable if you take a step back and look.
	So I'll give you an example.
	Vietnam.
	Think of the horror.
	Of what happened to Vietnam.
	It reminds me of our retreat from Afghanistan, which I can't stop thinking about.
	What?
	But what did we learn from Vietnam?
	I've been in Vietnam now.
	They love Americans probably more than America.
	It's a market economy, and the people love Americans.
	In Vietnam, remember what happened.
	Napalm, all these things, the horrible things on both sides.
	And that wasn't that long ago.
	So if you take a step back, you see exactly what Boshar said.
	It's possible.
	But what does it require?
	First and foremost, the United States can't pick the leader.
	We can't impose.
	Every time we do it, it doesn't work well.
	In fact, we left Vietnam.
	We didn't impose any leadership.
	That is the people eventually chose.
	You've got to have the people choose.
	It's good for us to do that.
	When we impose, it's bad.
	And so the people need to be there.
	Then you create a situation where someone legitimately speaks for the people.
	That creates sustainability.
	And that's possible.
	And then the second thing you need is you need very strong leadership.
	And this is unique in President Trump's re-election.
	It's a unique time.
	And it makes so much possible that wasn't possible before.
	I see.
	So it's Donald Trump question mark peace.
	I do understand the appeal of these simple equations.
	I really do.
	Like, you've got Elon Musk question mark God, Donald Trump question mark peace.
	I mean, you know, it's so easy to follow.
	You really don't have to worry about anything.
	So he's saying that Palestinians need to find their own Trump and then elect Trump.
	Okay.
	Kind of, yeah, for MAPA to happen.
	Well, no, make Palestine not shitty and for that to happen.
	It'd be Maya, because they don't want to get rid of Israel.
	Yeah, that's true.
	There are Palestinians.
	There is no Palestine for...
	I mean, I don't think that Adam is going to admit that in mixed company, but that's also what he's arguing for, is a one-state solution that...
	Is just the same as it was before Resistance overflowed to a degree that's no longer able to be ignored by the rest of the world.
	Yeah, it's very much a stop fighting back situation.
	I'm really trying to put all the toothpaste back in the tube.
	Yeah, let us oppress you, damn it.
	Obviously, the Vietnam War is not the same situation as Israel's continued genocide against Palestine.
	Very obviously, and in so many ways.
	Though, interestingly, America and Americans do have a high favorability among the Vietnamese populace.
	I wouldn't describe it as love, per se, but sure.
	Though I will note, from my own personal experience of chatting with a few Vietnamese people in my life, when I've spoken to them about this subject, their perspective has uniformly been, well, yeah, we won that war, so why would I still be mad?
	So, maybe that's got something to do with it.
	I'm like, yeah, I guess the UK isn't still mad at Germany.
	I don't know.
	Well, for the most part.
	Tempers can flare.
	Yeah, it was really crazy.
	Okay.
	To paint...
	The Israeli government as a rational, reasonable actor in negotiations is so amazing for me to hear.
	Because it does, like, genuinely, like, that is so much of the conversation that happens also even in America.
	And I need to say, unequivocally, I think you'd have a better chance negotiating with a toddler, throwing a fit, In a mall than the Israeli government has had, rationality-wise, on the world stage for decades.
	Alan, I've talked about this off camera more than on, but I have learned so much post-October 7th.
	Specifically, There is a Frontline, which is a PBS TV show, and it is very, very good, and it's from a number of years ago.
	And there's a Frontline series.
	It's on YouTube, so it is free and easily accessible.
	It's kind of about the Oslo Accords and Yitzhak Rabin and the Clintons in the 90s.
	Basically, all the stuff that I had heard, like, whenever that clip from...
	Hillary Clinton on Morning Joe.
	We talked about it in Off Brand over a year ago.
	I heard that and I was like, I know some stuff.
	I gotta find out way more.
	And I dug into what Hillary Clinton was so proud of that her and her husband, who was actually the president, did to negotiate.
	And if you just look at a timeline of the positions that the Israeli government...
	I'd say after that, for sure.
	Or even just at that time.
	The amount of the frequency and the stubborn vehemence that the Israeli government, it's been bad under Benjamin Netanyahu, but it certainly is not the only one.
	A bunch of rational people coming to a table and negotiating, and then just the prime minister or whoever is in charge being, I don't want to!
	I want to be king, and all of that is mine!
	And it's already been mine, so you can't have it!
	And if I can't have it, I'll burn it to the ground!
	It's very step-sibling Halloween candy vibes.
	But we were eight.
	And it was Halloween candy.
	Yeah.
	I will say, yeah, your argument has some merit to it.
	I mean, I've done the talking a toddler down, you know, off a ledge in a mall situation.
	You know, I've achieved that.
	No one's yet been able to talk.
	But if she had a tank?
	What would you do?
	A tank?
	Yeah.
	And if she had drones?
	That were armed.
	How would that go for you?
	Yeah, she's a bright little spark as well.
	I feel like she could do it.
	I'd be in trouble.
	I'd be in trouble.
	I think she'd colonize them all.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I think you'd be subjected to some pretty difficult situations moving forward, especially even just reestablishing your own authority, you know?
	Negotiating gets a little tougher.
	Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna lie.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Oh, God.
	That's what I'm saying.
	This is so difficult to hear from any side because even if you just read a quick little timeline, there can be one page of a timeline of the negotiations that were ready to happen and then what Israel did.
	You just look at it.
	It is out.
	And I'm so frustrated that these conversations are allowed to happen, ignoring decades of malice from one side.
	It's ignoring reality is what it is, which seems to be the show that we're looking at.
	Now, one other thing to note about Adam Bola is he really hates Iran.
	And so here's him talking about how great Israel are for attacking Iran.
	If Adam, you're correct that any peaceful resolution between Palestine and Israel is disadvantageous to potent Middle Eastern interests, one might imagine that there would be geopolitical maneuvering to prohibit such conclusions being reached.
	I think.
	There's another unique difference, and we owe Israel, the world owes Israel, such a debt of gratitude.
	The reason I say it is they realized, they acted, despite world criticism, and took out all of Iran's terrorist infrastructure in glorious fashion.
	And we owe them a debt of gratitude because Iran was funding so much terror.
	And now...
	They're still funding things.
	They're still behind terror, but they're nowhere near like they were before.
	It's why it is such a great opportunity that we can't miss.
	We have everything aligned.
	We have the President of the United States that is fearless.
	That is fearless.
	We have reduced terrorist infrastructure.
	And so things are possible that weren't possible before.
	I mean, fearless, careless, eh, same thing.
	Yeah, you're not brave if you just do some shit because you don't know no better.
	I was going to say, you're not brave if you're just dumb.
	So I'm going to read here from a BBC article for a brief version of the latest goings-on between Israel and Iran over the last year.
	quote, um, Iran is the primary backer of a range of groups across the Middle East, often described as proxy groups that are hostile to Israel, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which Israel is currently at war with.
	In April 2024, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel with about 300 missiles and drones in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy compound, um, external in Syria that killed several top commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
	Um...
	Israel responded with a limited strike on a missile defense system in the Iranian region of Isfahan, which Iran chose not to respond to.
	Later in July, Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut.
	The next day, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion in Tehran.
	Iran blamed Israel, though Israel did not comment.
	In late September, Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Brigadier General Abbas Nilfarushan, a high-ranking Iranian official in Beirut.
	On October 1st, Iran launched about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, which it said was in response to the deaths of Haniyeh Nasrallah and Nilfarushan.
	And then, in response to that, Israel carried out what it described as precise and targeted airstrikes on Iran back in October 2024. Targets consisted of Iran's air defences, missile and drone production, and launch facilities.
	Two researchers analyzing satellite imagery told Reuters, a news agency, that Israel had struck buildings in Pachin, a military complex near Tehran, and may have significantly hampered Iran's ability to mass-produce missiles.
	And it's been quiet since then.
	Quite how any of that constitutes a drastic shift in Iran backing Hamas and Hezbollah, I don't know.
	And again, my curiosity is piqued about Adam Bola's media diet.
	Like, I'm listening to him saying that the world owes Israel a debt of gratitude for...
	Question mark.
	For real.
	And I'm like, well, this is very plainly a Zionist take on its face.
	So I'm like, where are you getting this from, Adam?
	I'd like to know.
	I would really like to know.
	Yeah.
	Well, I mean, the thing is, hating Iran is bipartisan, and it's been that way for decades in America, and it's terrifying, because they're Muslim.
	It's Islamophobia, and it's bigotry, because...
	What I do love, I really do, I don't know how to bridge this gap.
	I don't know how to make these disparate parts benefit and fix anything, but I've never heard more clear understanding of what the U.S. State Department and what international governments have been getting away with for decades and decades and decades.
	I've never heard a more clear understanding out of more regular people than I am right now.
	And genuinely, that's where a lot of my hope comes from, is that I'm not screaming into a void.
	There are other people that understand, because our senators want to sing bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran.
	That was a long time ago.
	And the day...
	Okay, so that's just a line that they don't think about.
	That is a thought-stopping Iran bad statement that our government has made, that our media parrots, and it is not questioned whatsoever.
	I'm finally hearing people say, hey, why?
	And the day that you could pick...
	Okay, so somebody put our senators singing Bomberan to the tune of Barbara Ann on Spotify, I believe.
	That's how this happened.
	And the day that you could use that, for those of you who don't know, my partner makes a video, no, it's a story post every morning, pouring coffee.
	I've been doing it since 2020. We are acutely aware of the songs that...
	Instagram will allow you to put on a story post.
	And the day that you could put our senators singing that song at some fucking dinner, that was a track you could put on our story post.
	I don't know if it's still there, but it was for a while.
	That was genuinely...
	It's not a moment that is heartening.
	As a step towards peace, it is definitely a moment that's heartening as a step towards facing the reality of what our government does, did, and will do.
	And that was like, it wasn't fun that that's a thing that happened.
	But it was a really big moment in my house when Mike could be like, oh, that's a track you can put on Instagram stories, is bomb, bomb, bomb.
	Our elected government representatives making a song 20 years ago now, probably.
	Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran.
	That's a big fucking deal, at least towards awareness.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Which is no smart thing.
	Yeah, and have your complaints.
	But, like, sure, I'm no Iran fan.
	Don't mistake me for one.
	But if America's got a bone to pick with them, do you have a bone to pick with every other country and every other regime that behaves in the exact same way or worse?
	Oh, you don't?
	Okay, then this is about picking sides.
	And you've arbitrarily chosen and vilified one representative.
	You have made a scapegoat for a country that does at least the exact same shit we do.
	At least.
	Yeah.
	So, that's a fundamental flaw.
	So, hopefully, listener, if you hear Iran bad, definitely know why.
	There's human rights abuses.
	There's corruption.
	Yep.
	The person complaining, our friend Adam here, do they understand why?
	Again, practice your definition.
	Do you know why we hate Iran?
	I don't think he does.
	I don't think he does either.
	It's this lazy get-out-of-jail-free card that you can just say, Iran bad.
	Everyone's like, Iran bad.
	Oh, there's a song.
	What do you know?
	No, no, no.
	Use your fucking brain.
	We're hitting all of them, man.
	Oh, boy.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Okay, so we've got one more clip from Inauguration Day itself.
	And, well, it turns out that Adam Butler, in his new capacity, has something of a job offer for Russell.
	So, I realize what is the missing ingredient in getting hostages out.
	And I think, I thought, it might be you, Russell.
	Yes, I've been thinking the same thing.
	And I said it to Russell, and he's really, you have so much humility.
	And so you just said, you're right, I am the missing ingredient.
	That's right.
	And that's what I love about you.
	I love your humility.
	And so then I thought, and I told you, you told me you didn't like this name, so we can work it out.
	I thought, and it made me think, let's start a program with very few people that are focused on the hostages, all of our hostages around the world, to get them out.
	And we call them Goodwill Champions is what I was going with.
	You can't say ambassador because ambassadors are ambassadors.
	And I thought Goodwill Champions and maybe I thought it made it feel like a boxing, like Rumble.
	I didn't know.
	I think I've showed up here before thinking I was doing the boxing class.
	It's not a boxing gym, Rumble.
	There's a very popular program on Rumble where people slap each other.
	It's a Dana White commodity.
	It is confusing.
	So Goodwill Champions, and you're offering me this role as one of very few Goodwill Champions, although we're going to work on the name, participate in complex issues of hostage release around the world in the Middle East, but globally, wherever there are hostages, I will be turning up to put their situation into stark and striking context.
	So are you accepting?
	I accept that role.
	So suddenly, hostages around the world may leap into Stockholm Syndrome.
	Rather than accept the new terms of release.
	Come on, we're out of here, guys.
	No, no, no.
	I'll give it another chance.
	I think it's brilliant that you're applying such innovation and open-mindedness to something that's seen as, understandably, rather tragic, intransigent, and difficult to resolve.
	Put me in, coach.
	Let's get some hostages free by the end of this inauguration day.
	Pay me a handsome salary.
	You'll go to these countries, and after a while, they'll say, Please.
	And the release of the hospital will be like, let Russell, get Russell out.
	Get him out!
	I'll take him out, but you have to get the hospital.
	All right, all right, yeah, deal, deal, deal.
	Can't remember what this war was about anymore.
	Ask that guy, stop talking.
	Well, that version of things is at least believable.
	Like, weaponizing Russell's annoyingness.
	I'm like, yeah, that could work.
	I was going to say, like, wow.
	And we could call them the Goodwill Hunters.
	Russell could be a goodwill hunter for the goodwill champions, because they're champions, but if you're out in the...
	Come on, dude.
	This is dumb.
	That's a dumb...
	Oh, man.
	Yeah, my perspective in the full picture of this guy is that Adam Bowler isn't necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed.
	Like, I don't think he's dumb, but I also don't think he's competent, despite his somewhat suave presentation.
	And so I do wonder whether...
	That's his competence!
	That's his competence!
	That's what he's competent at, is the presentation.
	I do wonder whether this goodwill champion for American hostages idea will actually become a thing.
	I will, of course, keep everyone updated.
	Get Matt Damon!
	I mean, you're not gonna.
	No!
	We know that.
	You can't get Affleck and Damon on it, but I don't know.
	They got lookalikes in Vegas, I'm sure.
	Marky Mark might do it in conjunction with the Hello App.
	Oh, no!
	You're right!
	I think you will.
	No!
	No!
	Oh, God!
	Let's Wahlberg some hostage.
	- Oh, but he wasn't in the movie.
	He didn't make the movie.
	He just dressed up like-- - Mark Wahlberg dressed as Matt Damon in like a janitor's outfit.
	Going around rescuing hostages.
	Just phone numbers.
	And they're like, them apples.
	No!
	I don't want that reality.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Oh, dear.
	Anyway, that's enough of that conversation. - It's just Mark Wahlberg with the really bad blonde wig and just a post-it note that just says, "Give 'em back!" Like it's, "How do you like them apples?" - Okay.
	Bang.
	Fuck.
	Nope.
	- Oh yeah.
	- Hurry. - That's enough of that conversation because it was in many ways profoundly unserious.
	It was an unserious conversation being had by mostly unserious people and presented with a serious tone as though it's meant to mean something.
	Honestly, the only real takeaway I got from that was that Russell, whether he knows it or not, is now trafficking in Zionist takes and Zionism in general.
	In fact, I'm going to pluck out another clip from the next day, which has Russell addressing this very topic in a question from his audience after he was discussing Elon Musk's Nazi salute.
	I'm not the first person to make this point.
	It may have been Dave Rubin, in fact, that made it to me.
	But if you look at that shot, it's indistinguishable from wrestling.
	The sort of diaphanous space between entertainment and politics has been entirely...
	Permeated.
	Pulling the strings.
	Being a Zionist, Russell.
	I actually do believe that Israel deserve a homeland and that the Jewish people have a homeland.
	I'm a Christian, so I do believe that.
	I also believe that war and violence is wrong and that there is a general sense.
	That the more powerful, in inverted commas, tribe or group, have a greater responsibility.
	Isn't that synonymous with power?
	That's a question for you to answer.
	To bring about peace in conflicts.
	So I don't know what that makes me, baby.
	But I tell you this.
	Heavenly Father, I pray for peace.
	I pray that the people of Israel and the people of Palestine can live in peace.
	And if it is your will, Lord.
	It will happen.
	Let me know in the comments and chat if you saw our conversation with Adam Bola, the newly appointed special presidential envoy.
	You might have missed it because he'll be doing it while the inauguration was happening.
	And he brought on Bashar Mazri, the purported potential next leader of Palestine.
	If you want to watch that, that's up.
	And I'm trying to determine, is it like one of those things where the government and very powerful interests install a leader?
	Or is it a potential for a peaceful diplomatic solution to the seemingly endless horror of the Middle East?
	So that's my position.
	Can you describe that as either Zionist or anti-Semite?
	Do you want to say that?
	I'm one of those things because I don't like in my heart.
	I don't feel like that's what's defining me.
	I feel that there's something else bigger, more powerful.
	But maybe you know better than me, baby.
	I don't know what school you went to.
	I mean, you're trafficking Zionist ideas, Russell, regardless what your heart tells you.
	That's what's happening.
	So...
	Hey, I do have a question from his previous...
	So, would you say what percentage that Bashar al-Masri versus our new little buddy Adam, like, who talked more?
	Oh, I'd say, like, maybe like 65-35 towards Adam.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And there are...
	Two things I want to highlight from that clip because, yeah, there was some interesting phrasing when referring to Adam Bola of he brought on Bashar Masri, the purported potential next leader of Palestine.
	Oh, what did I say?
	What did I say?
	What did I say?
	So supposedly it was Adam Bola who somehow brought Bashar Masri with him or something?
	I don't know.
	It's a little sus to me.
	Little sus to me.
	Because they're both shilling for capital.
	Yeah.
	That's the thing.
	Saying, can't we all just get along?
	Nope.
	No.
	Because there are causes.
	There are actions and there are consequences.
	That's why.
	We can't just all get along.
	This isn't a splash fight in a pool.
	This is real life.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And the second thing to note is that Russell just said in his prayer, I pray the people of Israel and the people of Palestine will live in peace, and if it is your will, Lord, then it will happen.
	If the people of Israel and Palestine can't live peacefully together, then it is in fact God's will.
	Something about that explanation feels simultaneously incredibly fucked up and incredibly simple.
	Firstly, that Russell's version of God would willfully enable the slaughter of tens of thousands of children.
	And secondly, that Russell would be able to just hand-wave it away so easily.
	Like, oh well, it's God's will, isn't it?
	So there we are.
	Oh yeah, and he did again pull the trick of like, well, I got my...
	Yeah, well, but also, and I thought about this at the end of the last clip, if he doesn't ever educate himself, he can claim ignorance.
	He can keep claiming, like, oh, I don't know what school you ate to.
	It's probably better a nicer school than mine.
	Come on, the trauma center.
	Yeah, great.
	That's not, then why are you talking?
	Why are you opening your mouth if you don't know?
	It's not an excuse, particularly if you spent the last decade talking about a bunch of these things.
	You've spent all of this time interviewing experts and talking to fucking journalists and all these things.
	I'm like, what?
	You're trying to tell me you've learned nothing through the last decade of your life, at least.
	Uh-huh.
	Yeah.
	We've been doing this a little over a year.
	I think we've learned quite a lot.
	I wouldn't apply that standard to us!
	Yeah, yeah.
	And we're just two jagoffs that are, like, flying by the seat of the seat of the seat of a pant.
	This one, I'm pointing to Russell, if you're listening, this one does not have an excuse.
	No, no, no.
	No, he's literally been talking with, like, the world's foremost experts on things, you know?
	Like, well, come on!
	You should have retained one thing by now!
	Any of the information would be good.
	And I get that, like, I have a freak memory.
	I'm learning more every day about how weird it is.
	Thanks, everybody.
	But!
	Make a note.
	Draw a diagram!
	Practice definitions!
	Because then you'll know what you're talking about!
	The practical applications!
	From these conversations he's been having for so long as well.
	Through his fucking Lumosity series with everyone he spoke to on there.
	Surely you can retain some information.
	Something will go in and stick.
	But no, apparently not.
	But that's what I'm saying.
	To make that argument for a person.
	For him to make that argument, oh, I can't retain anything?
	Then why do you have a show?
	You don't get to have a show.
	Yeah, exactly.
	If all the information just doesn't stick, you need to change it.
	Well, yeah, and he'll kind of, you know, he'll...
	He will pretend otherwise when it's convenient.
	He will pretend to be knowledgeable about these great conspiracies around COVID or whatever else and be like, yeah, and this is how they're all trying to take you down, blah, blah, blah.
	But when it comes to stuff like this that's a little sticky, he's like, I don't know anything.
	Like, oh, that's convenient.
	Okay.
	Well, it's almost like if you look at the situation holistically, he's lying.
	He can't say proof.
	Because we respect Mabel's opinions and stuff in this country, this world.
	Like, okay, I guess you can tell me what your feelings are.
	But I have unrolled several feet long scroll of all the times that you said you knew something and then you didn't next time.
	Yeah.
	So you need to entertain the reality that you're a liar.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Seems possible.
	Seems possible.
	Uh-huh.
	Alright, so we're gonna go to the beginning of this, uh, this...
	Second episode here.
	And it's the beginning of the Elon Musk Nazi salute chat to hear what else Russell has to say about it.
	And he begins by making one of the lamest excuses I think I've heard yet while accidentally talking himself back around to why the Nazi salute is in fact a problem.
	So we've got a fantastic show.
	I've got so much to talk about.
	Let me know in the comments and chat which of these subjects you're most excited about discovering the ulterior deep truths behind.
	Is it...
	Elon Musk's salute.
	Involuntary, theoretic, bodily gesture or summonsing of the spirit of Hitler.
	One of the things I think, he's just one of them, there's several, but one of the things I think is like, the thing that was bad about Hitler wasn't that he did that.
	Like, you know, like, do you know what?
	I hate that Hitler, always doing that.
	Like, if he'd just done that.
	That would have kept him out of track.
	That's no problem in and of itself.
	It's merely that you see that as being somehow the physical signal and semaphore of, well, what?
	Genocide, oppression, secret UFOs.
	The Nazis represent so much these days, it's difficult to unpick.
	Okay, I see we're getting a bit of a repeat of Nazis' It's Complicated.
	That's where we're going.
	Well, it's not just, you know, it wasn't bad because of the hand signal, was he?
	You know, so maybe it's okay to do that.
	You know, like, ah, dude.
	Okay, and then, oh yeah, the Nazis did do all these things.
	Okay, maybe that's representative.
	Just terrible argument all round.
	One thing I will say about Russell is that when he's caught off guard, he struggles to hide it.
	And there are moments where he can be really bad at lying.
	Yeah, but all these guys do.
	If you deviate from the program, they're...
	We see it all the time.
	It's honestly incredible.
	And so in the next clip, we get what seems to be a bit more of an honest response to what's happening in front of his face, which is Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute before he collects himself and resumes the mental gymnastics of trying to justify it.
	Let's have a look at CNN's coverage of the inauguration and Elon Musk's Nazi salute.
	I just want to look at that salute that he gave again.
	Just if anybody missed it, we'll just show it again.
	He's just wrapped up here.
	You can hear the...
	Now, if you were really trying to not do a Nazi salute, that would not be something that you would do.
	Like, if it's like...
	If I was like, I'm not going to do anything that could, under any circumstances, by a media ravenous for controversy, could be interpreted as a Nazi salute.
	I'm not going to do anything like that today.
	That's...
	I'm fine with this thing, man.
	I suppose you have to take it as far as you can take it of what does he mean.
	Because on the same platform, as Elon Musk himself has pointed out, you will see him called a Zionist as a result of the tour and trip he took to Israel after apparently taking some positions that were not pro-Israeli earlier on in the October 7th passage or chapter of events.
	So some people call him a Zionist there, and then others call him a Nazi.
	Now, is there an intersection between those two categories that are opposing?
	Is it possible?
	I ask you, let me know in the comments and chat, to be a Nazi and a Zionist simultaneously.
	What would that mean?
	I mean, yeah, you can definitely be both.
	They were.
	Like, yeah, right, yeah.
	They were.
	Like, if you hate Muslims and or brown people, maybe you're just happy with their numbers getting thinned out, even if it's at the hands of the Israeli government, and then you can deal with the Jews later, right?
	Plus, you know, as you brought up in an off-brand many moons ago, Lauren, part of the underpinning of Christian nationalism is the belief that all Jews have to be in Israel so that they can be slaughtered and bring about revelations.
	There's a degree of that as well.
	Yeah.
	Which, again, I'm fucking relieved that people finally are talking about that and facing that reality because that was probably one of the most lonely things I ever realized in my interaction with Christianity growing up.
	It was like, you just...
	You want them to be bait?
	That's horrible.
	And like, the first time I learned that, when we're talking about Revelation and church, right?
	I heard that I was young.
	And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
	And I'm like, oh, but they'll be Christians.
	Some of them, the book says a lot of them will die in hideous ways.
	I never reconcile with that because it's irreconcilable.
	It's pretty emphatic on the horrible deaths.
	People are finally like...
	Understanding that that's what the program has been for fundamental Christianity in America all along.
	John Hagee, like all that shit.
	That's what they've been up to.
	And there is a sense of relief that I don't have to think that and know that and carry that around, especially as a child, by myself anymore.
	Relief stop.
	Back to scared.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
	And relief cycle.
	But there is something to that that's like, you don't have excuses anymore.
	We don't have excuses to not pay attention to this anymore.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And all of that is to say, yes, you can absolutely be both a Nazi and a Zionist.
	They were.
	They were.
	Yep.
	They were just a little bit of pragmatism and there you go.
	Done.
	Okay, so what's going on right now in America is this immigration crisis.
	So the Nazis did the same thing.
	Also, big shout-outs and inspo to internment camps in California and also the reservation system, what America did to the Native Americans and what America did to...
	The Japanese and any other people.
	Hey, don't forget the British Empire.
	We had our centrals out there as well.
	OGs.
	OG concentration camps.
	Give it up.
	You're absolutely right.
	I apologize.
	I didn't want to take that from you.
	That was my bad.
	Straight up, though.
	The Nazis were like, we're going to round you up and deport you because we don't want you here anymore, Juice.
	And these pogroms are really messy, and I'm over it.
	So we're going to get – oh, but we don't have anywhere to put you.
	So then the concentration camp became the concentration camp.
	That is happening here if this immigration policy is allowed to continue.
	There are no agricultural workers.
	Right now, because they're all terrified they're going to get picked up by ICE. That's a real thing.
	Little Village in Chicago right now is a ghost town.
	It's one of the most thriving business corridors for years.
	What is happening with ICE and Trump's immigration policy right now is actively, fully fucking up America.
	And it's the same thing.
	Nazis are like, we want to send you somewhere, but we can't.
	So we just, well, we tried, can't.
	Because also, Zionism is a Christian idea.
	When it comes to Israel, it's a Christian idea.
	It was imposed.
	And it is, the Nazis were like, we tried to do that, and it didn't work.
	Too hard.
	Just kill you.
	Like, that's straight up what happened.
	And it's happening.
	Right now.
	And that point is not – I haven't thought that up on my own.
	That point is being made, that, like, what is happening – like, they figure out they can't deport you, so they just keep you in a place.
	And, oh, isn't it handy that our constitution fully allows for slavery among incarcerated people in America?
	So they're going to go back out in the fields and continue to take in crops for us.
	But they're gonna do it as prisoners.
	It's a fucking nightmare.
	It's a fucking nightmare.
	It's just this, you know, we are past the point of I didn't know.
	Truly.
	It's happening.
	Yep.
	Yep.
	You don't get to make that, like, you shouldn't be on a fucking tube of any, you shouldn't be on Rumble, nothing, if you don't understand that, Russell.
	But no one has an excuse to not know anymore.
	I'm just...
	It blows my fucking mind.
	And yeah, if you're too flustered whenever something goes wrong, like, get on my level, fucker.
	I figured it out.
	Getting hit in the face of the fish.
	You do it.
	Work it out.
	Yeah.
	Or quit.
	He has the resources.
	He has the resources.
	No shit.
	I gotta do so much other stuff!
	Oh my god!
	Next, we take a little detour for a moment to discuss a hero of Russell's who doesn't like him very much.
	Now, I want to let you know this while this is on X. Do you ever see David Icke?
	David Icke, if you were to put this into biblical terms, David Icke is like, I would say, sort of an Old Testament...
	Profit, before you are disgusted or outraged, let me say this.
	What I mean is, David Icke was talking about the subjects that have come to define the news agenda a long time ago.
	And I think that must be very frustrating at times for David Icke.
	Because David Icke, along with Alex Jones, who's gone on a different path, and as I say, who am I to judge anyone?
	I don't understand enough.
	But the two of them we're talking about, UFOs are real, for one thing.
	There are subterranean clandestine groups that are behind power, and they will use organizations like the WHO. America's left that now.
	Is that good or bad?
	We'll be covering that later in the show.
	The WEF and groups like the IMF, and there are deep...
	Rooted powers.
	They've been talking about that for a long time and I think they must get very frustrated.
	Well, I'm talking more about David Icke.
	Must get very frustrated because when I see on X, he sort of often reposts my stuff and he's like, whoa, Russell!
	Jesus, I don't really know.
	But I kind of get it in a way.
	But I'd love you to come on the show, David Icke.
	I'd love to talk to you.
	I really am interested in you and what you believe.
	I really am.
	And I think people on our show would love it.
	I would.
	I would.
	If we're here.
	Yeah.
	I would.
	I will say it, like, despite the fact we would be openly critical of him to his face, I genuinely suspect that David Icke might be more likely to come on our show than he would stay free, because David Icke fucking hates Russell Brand.
	To the point where at the moment, like...
	Basically every other day, at least, there is a tweet on X from David Icke dragging Russell.
	What I found interesting was one of Icke's tweets sharing a clip from Russell's X account and it states, I don't even follow this guy, but I'm getting crap like this hour after hour at the moment.
	Mercy, please.
	So one might wonder if Elon is artificially inflating Russell's numbers by inserting him into people's feeds, much like he's done with other alt-right figures and, of course, Donald Trump.
	Interesting.
	Yeah, just a little thing there.
	I bet the Rumble affiliation is incredibly helpful.
	Hmm, I wonder.
	And yeah, like, in fact, we live in really strange times in general when I find myself agreeing with David Icke on a plurality of things.
	Like, if you check his Twitter feed, he's railing against Elon Musk, against Donald Trump, Russell Brand, and he's very much pro-Palestine, though, asterisk, because it's very worth noting that David Icke is patently anti-Semite.
	So he is coming at it through that lens, much like Candace Owens, which, yikes.
	But in isolation, his critiques of Russell come off as pretty measured.
	Um, here's what he had to say about the Israel-Palestine chat that we just watched.
	Uh, quote, The sycophants masquerading as alternative turn my stomach, frankly.
	You have no idea what is going on, Mr. Brand.
	Not a bloody clue.
	And how many have you misled as a result?
	The ceasefire is a calculated mirage before all hell breaks loose again.
	Why do you think Trump has dropped all restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel and all sanctions on Israeli settlers stealing Palestinian land in the West Bank?
	Staggering to behold.
	Unquote.
	and I'm like...
	Yeah, that's all pretty correct sounding.
	What well do we live in where I'm agreeing with David Icke on several subjects?
	Well, here's the thing, though.
	Because you know that the path up to the mountain is flawed.
	So yeah, the thing is, you agree with the plurality of his Twitter feed.
	You agree with the plurality of his books or his views over decades.
	No.
	So I think a lot of people are benefiting from that kind of lens being far too narrow.
	We talk about this all the time.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	You know, I've like we were talking before about about kind of there just being a much, much greater awareness of the Israel-Palestine conflict in general before we before we started the show.
	One of the people who I know who has become very aware and very activist in that regard, I found her sharing some of Candace Owens' shit a few weeks ago.
	We need to have a conversation here, because it was one of those instances where Candace Owens was saying the right things, but coming from the wrong direction, right?
	So yeah, yeah, absolutely.
	Absolutely.
	Yeah, well, right, that's, and even, I do want to clarify, because I just say this, like, I'd love to see David Icke on Russell's show.
	I'm gonna qualify that, just to be clear, because I 100% believe that.
	But I, Because David Icke is old school, so that would be the comfortable nostalgia for that kind of batty lunatic person.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Well, but it would be nostalgic and fun in a way that people, at least in the States, get like...
	Or my generation, the elder millennial, gets nostalgic for like...
	The rectangle pizza that we got in grade school.
	It makes me nostalgic for a simpler time, but it's still disgusting.
	That's exactly how I would feel.
	It'd be a party if David Icke showed up.
	And talk to Russell.
	That'd be a three-ring circus.
	But it wouldn't be good for anybody.
	From my perspective, it would likely be a full hour of David Icke just taking Russell to task, and that is one conversation I would like to watch.
	Well, but he'd have to publish something.
	That's the thing.
	What would make it to...
	What would not...
	Like, what would go from the cutting room floor?
	Like, what would not land on the cutting room floor?
	Because all I can picture is everything.
	Well, it depends.
	Like, David Icke is the type to try and make sure that, like, whatever it was was going out live, because Russell does still livestream, you know, some conversations and stuff.
	So, like, I don't know.
	There'd be a chance that it could be a live thing on Rumble, which could be, oh, that would be a Rumble.
	Yeah, but still, I don't know that it would stop that.
	I mean, like, they could just stop.
	Like, that's the thing.
	It's like, I mean, Russell didn't, like, Russell hoodwinked you with coverage of the inauguration.
	He did.
	He did.
	He's not following rules.
	I also do really enjoy that Russell, like, saying that someone is like an Old Testament prophet might be my favorite, like, new insult for, like, an unhinged lunatic.
	Like, that's just, that is hilarious to me.
	Yeah.
	Like an Old Testament prophet.
	Oh, you mean a ranting, raving, screaming person?
	Okay.
	Yeah, Alex Jones is a shamanic figure.
	Alex Jones is a shamanic figure, and then David Icke is an Old Testament prophet.
	I'm like, okay, okay.
	No, that's funny to me.
	That's hilarious.
	Let me use that one.
	So you might have noticed that this show the day after the inauguration is a little bit less grounded even than usual, and I believe it's because Russell is sleep-deprived, having been at the Maha Ball the night before and made his way back from Washington, D.C. that day in order to be back in time to record the show.
	It's a rare moment of him putting some effort in, which I'm supportive of, but in this instance it does lead to his attention span being limited to about three seconds, which we see play out in this next clip here.
	Alright, I've not watched this myself yet, so this is a real risk.
	This is a real risky moment.
	This is real fly-by-the-seat-your-pants stuff, this.
	Because this is me.
	First time I've ever done preaching.
	Well, second in a way.
	Because I went to a church with my friend, Talian.
	In Dupa Island, and Tullian is one, I hope you're watching, one of Billy Graham's grandkids.
	And he, like, did you ever see that clip of me talking about how sort of participating in prostitution is degrading for both parties, obviously.
	Actually, but on that note, we should get in touch with Lily Phillips.
	I've got a phone number for her sister.
	We should get her on, man.
	I saw a picture of her the other day walking around with what I can only describe because it's the word sperm on her face.
	And I felt like...
	Like, literally walking around with sperm on her face.
	And I thought, this cannot be the gateway to the eternal love of Christ.
	This must be a deviation from the path.
	And I want to talk to Lily Phillips about that directly.
	Good instinct.
	And why did I bring that up then?
	Why did I bring that up?
	Because I was preaching.
	Yeah, well, when I was, oh yeah, thank you.
	And with Tullian, I talked about how, you know, whoever did that, you know, and both participants were really losing their connection to God.
	Uh-huh.
	Wait, was this live, though?
	This, yeah, yeah, yeah, this conversation, yeah, yeah, this is Russell just live streaming his usual show.
	So, or do you mean the preaching?
	Oh, no, I was just like, I mean, as far as...
	Losing a thread and then picking it back up.
	That was not egregious to me.
	It builds.
	We've got more.
	So Russell is going to show us some footage of him preaching in a minute, which I'm not a Christian, but that feels early to me.
	But first, he got distracted by Lily Phillips, who, for anyone who missed it, is a British OnlyFans model and porn actor who, a while back, slept with 100 men in one day for publicity, and is now planning on attempting to sleep with 1,000 men in one day, despite admitting how psychologically damaging sleeping with just 100 was.
	Though there has been...
	Some porn industry drama as fellow porn actor Bonnie Blue beat her to the punch and slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours, supposedly.
	It's been a whole thing.
	This isn't Russell's first time talking about it either, as Lily Phillips has been in the news lately around this whole subject, and I've just kind of avoided talking about it because it's sensationalist and pretty gross, but Russell appears to want to get Lily Phillips on the show because she's lost her connection to God, and Russell very...
	Oh, so now he wants to be the Fresh and Fit podcast.
	Be yourself, Russell!
	There's already podcasts that do that, and you're not going to do a good job.
	I suspect that it's a porn actress, and he wants to talk to her.
	But that's really popular content.
	That is an incredibly lucrative...
	I mean, he's a gross...
	Pervert.
	So, yeah, sure.
	But, like, making content out of it, like, yeah, people like other gross perverts are already beating to the punch.
	Like, no.
	Yes, yeah, yeah.
	And everyone loves a conversion story, right?
	Yeah, real likely.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	So now we get another distraction, which is a comment from the locals chat, and we get an update on Gareth's whereabouts.
	Ah, I wanted to ask this, I want to answer this response, excuse me, I want to respond to this.
	Almythom is asking about where Gareth is.
	Russell, pay for Gareth to fly to the USA. We need Gareth.
	Gareth prepares the shows, but he's stayed in the UK. Do you miss Gareth then?
	I miss Gareth.
	I wonder if he's even watching this.
	Gareth, let me know if you are.
	You could text me.
	And what do you want me to do?
	Fly him over?
	You fund it.
	We've got a limited budget.
	We've got a lot of expenses.
	We've got to pay the people that do the tech.
	There's been that snow.
	Isaac's not even here.
	Isaac's in Miami because it's snowing.
	I mean, how would he get here?
	I suppose he'd have to drive.
	He's sort of kind of a big guy.
	You'd think he'd be okay, but it'd be 12 hours.
	It would take him 12 hours.
	I got from Gainesville, imagine that, to where we are now, which is like, well, I don't tell you my exact address, but Florida.
	I'm in the Redneck Riviera.
	You know that about me.
	I'm in the Redneck Riviera near Destiny Church, where I attend.
	Well, it was a difficult journey.
	There was a lot of snow and it took hours and hours.
	And curiously, I was being driven by a married couple.
	And that was not even the first time that day that I was driven by a married couple.
	You know, when you get in, if you ever had that happen to you, you get into an Uber and it's not just one person.
	Like there's an Uber duo, like a Starsky and Hutch Uber or a Batman and Robin Uber.
	Anyway.
	Look, what I'm saying to you is I've got expenses.
	We've got expenses and we've got chaos to deal with and we've got snow in Florida.
	There's a lot going on and I'm tired because I was in Washington DC like yesterday experiencing quite a lot of overstimulation.
	Look, I'm tired, I'm overstimulated and I've got long haul Ubers to pay for so how about you all pay for Gareth to come here?
	Don't try and take it out of my millions, please.
	Okay.
	But yeah, that was interesting.
	Having not seen Gareth on camera or, like, referenced for a few months, I kind of thought that he was, like, maybe hiding somewhere behind the scenes, but it turns out after the initial stint of being in Georgia and then Florida, Gareth then decided to go back and stay in Old Blighty.
	But he is still actually putting together the content for the shows, still, apparently.
	So he's still...
	Undertaking his role as series editor.
	Which I'm like, yeah, okay, interesting.
	I feel like there's a calculation somewhere of like, well, I didn't do any sex crimes, I don't have to move to fucking Florida, you know?
	Like, I'm gonna stay where I am, thank you.
	It's also expensive to live overseas.
	Right, right.
	Russell gets to be a play-around party boy because he was in movies and he has money.
	And Gareth...
	That's something that genuinely the fires in L.A. really exposed how there is a collective sort of understanding that everyone that lives in L.A. is a famous movie star billionaire.
	And after hearing story after story after story after story after story of thousands and thousands of people, the Gareth's...
	Not just the Russells, the Gareths that make everything run.
	Yeah, they don't make that much money.
	And they make less money than they ever have compared to the same job roles that they would have done 10, 20, 30 years ago.
	So, no!
	It's not feasible to live in Florida and make the show unless Russell...
	I mean, that might be the long-term goal that Russell can pay him enough.
	But unless...
	That's exactly the point that you made.
	It's like, I got shit to pay for, like, Russell's like, well, I gotta pay for me.
	Like, well, then you're not paying for Gareth.
	Yeah.
	That decision has just been laid out.
	Like, oh, Gareth ain't getting moved to Florida money.
	Period.
	Yeah, no.
	No, he is not.
	Despite having what I would describe as a pivotal role in this show.
	Yeah, he's also not famous enough to be a work visa exception.
	Rumble may not be going to bat for him to be able to work and make money in a different country.
	As a person who has done that, I mean, I didn't make enough.
	But also...
	I left before I could.
	So I didn't make enough for it to be a problem.
	Gareth would.
	That would be a whole ass fucking rigmarole that Rumble might not be willing to pay for.
	That's what I'm saying.
	Rumble might be like, Russell, you're good.
	Or also like, it's Florida, come on.
	But it's still expensive to emigrate.
	Yes, yeah.
	So at the moment, they're making it work digitally for now, it seems, anyway.
	And Gareth is making do-the-work money, but Gareth is doing the you-ain't-going-to-relocate-me money.
	Yes, yeah.
	Nice to get a little kind of lay of the land there and see what the situation is.
	Oh, and yes, Russell regularly attends Destin Church in northern Florida near Destin.
	Oh, I wrote that down.
	In case anyone was wondering his more specific whereabouts.
	I thought he said Destiny Church.
	Destiny.
	Destiny Church and Destin Church.
	He also goes to occasionally, what we'll see in a minute, Ocean Church, which is also in Destin as well.
	Yeah.
	He's around there.
	That's confusing.
	I don't like that.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So, Russell finally stops getting distracted briefly, and he then shows us footage of him at Ocean's Church, also in Destin, Florida.
	Though the distractions do keep creeping back in.
	Nevertheless, I still find time to preach, baby.
	And here is a short blast of precisely that.
	Russell, what has the Lord spoken to you lately?
	Elch is.
	The Lord has not stopped speaking to me lately.
	It's quite extraordinary.
	We're on our way to the ocean church where I've been...
	Look at me there.
	I mean, it's a completely different frame of mind.
	I'm like someone who's mentally...
	I'm going to the ocean church.
	I've lost my connection to the almighty...
	I'm so much more plugged into the Lord right now.
	He's hit me hard with the Holy Spirit.
	...church where I've been asked to...
	I actually don't even know what I've been asked to do.
	Do you know, I'd forgotten how this had happened.
	I was thinking, why is it that I am...
	Here.
	And then Michael said, you met Becky in Seaside.
	I was like, yeah, yeah, I remember that.
	And then you did a video.
	That is because I'm with Holy Spirit now.
	So if I meet people and they go, come talk at my church, I go, all right.
	And I go with them.
	That's why I'm getting driven around everywhere by married couples.
	I was driven around yesterday by Norm and...
	Sula.
	And they did opera singing in the car.
	You might think that sounds like a lie.
	Well, let me tell you, it isn't a lie.
	It happens to be the 100% exact truth of the matter.
	I mean, let me show you.
	Let me show you.
	And I'll show you that in a minute.
	I did a video where you spoke and said, Pastor Michael, I said, yes, this did all happen.
	And now I'm here.
	These actions have consequences.
	I've not been Christian very long.
	Like, eight months.
	But since April 28th.
	So you all know more about this than I do.
	So, inadvertently, I've been worshiping false idols, the false idol of fame.
	And if you do something like that, if someone's more famous than you, then you might feel inferior because you've invested.
	It was Benedict Cumberbatch is who it was.
	In England, it's like they've tried to make Jesus born.
	Music's a bit gay, you lot.
	I know that yous lot will have put it on.
	A bit gay.
	I don't mean gay in a bad way.
	Hey, Trump.
	He misses his gay friends.
	I promise.
	I don't mean gay in a bad way.
	Hey, Trump!
	Yeah, yeah.
	I mean, Caleb Aaron made, on the Z-Way Show, made the best argument for Trump being an old queen I've ever heard.
	Because every single, any sincere moment, yeah.
	Trump's an old queen, except for the stuff that he has to do to keep power.
	Yeah, his choices are here.
	Yeah, yeah.
	And also, in the UK, and like a lot of our listeners, I'm sure, when I was younger, the word gay was synonymous with bad.
	So if something was bad, as a child, you would be like, God, that's so gay.
	Sure it did no psychological harm to me whatsoever.
	Yeah, exactly.
	There were slurs that we said in grade school that we don't say anymore.
	Exactly.
	Russell seems to have hung on to that one anyway.
	But don't worry, he doesn't mean gay in a bad way.
	Because, hey, drop!
	Well, I mean, I say stuff is gay all the time because it is.
	Again, also not because it's bad.
	Yeah, not as a slur.
	Not as a negative.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Like, drag race is gay.
	Sure.
	Sure.
	Because it's gay.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	So another thing I do want to focus on here is Russell talking about his seemingly more sedate and peaceful self in that car and saying, like, oh, he'd clearly lost his connection with God at the time, whereas in the moment of recording this, oh, he's hit me hard with the Holy Spirit.
	That...
	Tells me everything I need to know about Russell's relationship with Christianity and that he is treating it like an addictive substance.
	If he's high and up, then he's been hit hard with the Holy Spirit.
	If he's more sedate and down, then he's lost his connection with the Lord and clearly needs another hit.
	I don't know much, but I do know that that shit right there is not healthy.
	That ain't good.
	That ain't good.
	Well, yeah, I mean, he was feeling self-conscious that his energy wasn't up.
	When he was just taking a video and he was talking to people in a car and he didn't want to yell because it's a car.
	It's a car.
	Yeah, you get that Sopranos moment of firing the gun in the car and his ears hurt.
	And yeah, he keeps getting invited to speak at churches apparently because he's famous and so gets a pass in the whole Babe in Christ situation.
	Okay, wait, wait, wait.
	Nope, here's the thing.
	I mean, yeah, he's...
	He's being hired to speak because he's famous.
	That should be his job.
	I mean, that's not anymore, but his comedy career or public speaking career, because it's going to be funnier if you just want to say comedy.
	Yeah, a lot of comedians bottom out and go to churches.
	That's very common.
	So that's like a thing.
	Here's the problem.
	He's using the word preaching.
	I was going to say.
	That's not preaching.
	Sharing your testimony is valid, is normal, is totally fine in Christian churches.
	Someone needs to...
	He's not humble enough to say, Crying.
	Repeat.
	Emotional bonds are made.
	Trauma bonds are made.
	Everybody's fucked up.
	Whatever.
	That's a guy that's a preacher.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	You know, whatever.
	Yeah.
	He's sharing his testimony, which is absolutely appropriate, but it should be a line that people consider for themselves.
	Yeah.
	Even people in church, like, am I listening to Russell Brand preach?
	That's not good.
	Am I listening to Russell Brand share his testimony?
	That's the ticket.
	Different situation.
	Somebody needs to...
	Oops, I punched up.
	Yeah, someone needs to whisper in his ear.
	Yeah.
	So from here, Russell does in fact go on to find the video of his two Uber drivers singing opera in the car as they're professional opera singers apparently.
	They're a couple.
	And I'm just going to skip past that because we don't need to see it.
	And what we'll skip to is Russell's take on the pardons that were handed down by Biden.
	So whose pardons are good and whose pardons are bad?
	And what is the concept of a pardon actually?
	And who has the power and authority, other than God, no one, to grant a pardon to say, even though you've done that, even though you are broken and a wreck, we forgive you.
	Even the concept of a pardon shows that we need that on some level.
	And it also indicates that the Biden administration, they'll say, they'll of course say, We've given all these pardons to people because we believe that Trump, once in office, will use the power of the presidency to condemn innocent people like the J6 committee, who were doing nothing wrong at all, but Trump will come after them.
	So we're going to have to necessarily give them preemptive pardons.
	That's what they'll say.
	But what it looks a lot more like is that the Jan 6th committee and matters around the pandemic were, in fact, orchestrated actions used to legitimize citizen control and the advance of the interests of the elite, of various elites, whether those are financial interests or interests of dominion.
	And maybe there's an obvious intersection between those two ideas.
	An obvious example of profiteering would be the benefits that it afforded the pharmaceutical industry and their capacity for state regulation is similarly obvious.
	But perhaps it's part of a broader globalist, inverted commas, agenda to instantiate power across the world and accrue it in limited institutions accessible by limited individuals and able to bypass the normal democratic channels that suggest and agenda to instantiate power across the world and accrue it in limited institutions accessible by limited individuals and able to bypass the normal democratic channels that suggest and insist, in fact, that
	Maybe these pardons have negated that entire process.
	Aha.
	So Biden's pardons, like, you know, he's back on the knowledgeable tip again, by the way.
	He's back, oh, suddenly I know things now.
	I didn't before, now I do.
	So Biden's pardons were subverting democracy and justice because the Jan 6th Committee, which was in fact formed democratically, was pardoned to prevent Donald Trump from going after them for their nefarious deeds.
	So actually, in pardoning them, you're actually confirming their guilt, is essentially the argument there.
	So this is recorded before Trump pardoned all the J6 people?
	Nope.
	Nope.
	That happened on the 20th.
	This is the day after.
	And there is no mention of Trump's pardoning of Stuart Rhodes and the Oath Keepers or any of that put side by side with Biden's pardons.
	How strange!
	It's a very classic case of cherry picking here.
	Yeah, why would that even...
	I mean, I feel like this whole...
	Biden pardon argument immediately stopped as soon as the J6 people, especially fucking Stuart Rhodes, were let out of jail.
	Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah.
	Or pardoned or whatever.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Commuted sentences, blah, blah, blah.
	Yeah.
	But yeah, he's making...
	He's making one hell of a stretch of an argument, basically, to insinuate that Biden pardoning the Jan 6th committee must mean they were guilty of something.
	He also went off on a Fauci rant for a little while, but he had absolutely nothing new to say, and so I won't subject anyone else to having to hear it, because I'm like, oh, this is the same old bullshit.
	You're just rattling back on good old familiar is what you're doing here, Russ.
	Okay.
	All right.
	So then, this is the day after the parts...
	Wait.
	Because we didn't get...
	Okay.
	I don't think he pardoned everybody on the 20th.
	Because the 20th was the inauguration.
	Yeah, yeah.
	He signed a bunch of executive orders that night.
	I believe.
	I didn't...
	Well, I guess there's...
	But also, there's so much stuff that hit the news feed.
	I was getting news of that several days later.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I think...
	There may have been challenges to it.
	I think the broad executive order was signed, I think, and then there were questions of like, wait, does that mean this guy?
	And then they were coming up with like a long list of names kind of thing, I think is what was going on.
	Well, then that would be, okay, that's what I'm asking then, is Russell recorded this the day on the 21st, the day after the inauguration, which was the 20th, right?
	Okay.
	That makes more sense as to, I mean, it's a stupid thing to bring up if you want to be consistent in any way for Russell to do that.
	But, okay, that makes more sense.
	Because, like, I don't, I mean, I watched the video of Stuart Rhodes on, like, Democracy, or something like that.
	It was after the 21st.
	So that's why I'm asking and clarifying.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	No, he hasn't been, like, released or anything yet.
	Right.
	Well, any of that, like, it seems very, very weird that Russell would bring up a pardon conversation without even mentioning, like, just making the opposite point.
	Like, it doesn't make any sense.
	I mean, it's hard because, like, Russell's not...
	Consistent.
	But, like, that was huge.
	Here, anyway.
	That was massive.
	And it was after the 21st when we all kind of, that news started.
	Because he also, like, when we all started hearing about it.
	Because Trump also signed 80-something executive orders.
	Yeah, yeah.
	He was just signing away while not actually looking at anything he was signing.
	He was chatting to the press.
	But, yeah.
	There is more on the subject of pardons.
	So basically, Russell is talking about the Biden pardon situation and just completely ignoring the Trump stuff and basically being like, well, how are some good and some bad?
	What is happening?
	So here we get to Biden pardoning his family and looking at some CNN coverage.
	But the problem is Russell keeps getting distracted.
	The thing that absolutely knackered my consciousness, if I may say, was when I saw...
	Various legacy media outlets condemning Trump when he left office in 2020, saying, if Trump were to actually pardon Don Jr. and members of his family and other acolytes of the Trump administration preemptively, that would be tantamount to an admission of guilt.
	So they better be saying it now that Biden has preemptively...
	Through pardons, seemingly acknowledge the potential for wrongdoing of the Jan 6 Committee, Fauci, and members of the Biden family.
	Let me know in the comments and chat what you think about that.
	They can't keep flexing and inverting their positions unless they have no principles.
	Unless they have no principles.
	Right?
	So we put those in place.
	I... I think it's unfortunate that he pardoned his family today.
	I am a Democrat.
	I think that it does cloud what he did.
	So I think you should bifurcate those two.
	And then I think the pardons for January 6th are completely different.
	The reason why today feels so...
	Pretty funny that someone's, like, playing a trumpet under that.
	Like, as if that was the point of that person doing that.
	And while this lady tells you her particular perspectives on pardons and which pardons are good and which ones are bad...
	I'm gonna just play this trombone.
	Don't get carried away about this gesture, by the way.
	This is a man playing a trombone.
	This is a man playing a trombone a bit lower down.
	This is Lily Phillips playing a trombone.
	Listen, she's a child of God.
	Come back, Lily.
	Come back, Lily.
	I know what it's like.
	I know what it's like.
	Okay, let's get back to these pardons.
	We all need one.
	Today feels so abnormal is because of what happened last year, or four years ago, on January 6th.
	When I said come back, Lily, that was not the suggestion that you, you know, offer the other cheek, as it were.
	Come back.
	It's, uh, it was a, I'm saying, join us.
	Join us, Lily.
	Yeah, maybe Russell shouldn't be fixated on a young female porn star, but he just can't help himself and keeps coming back to the subject and taking the piss, even when he's supposed to be discussing pardons, and so he has to quickly be like, ah, I'm just talking about her as a child of God, not for any other reason.
	I'm gonna stop your story and your show stone dead.
	To say some shit, because you're worried about it.
	It better be funny.
	You're wasting my time.
	It's a waste of time.
	Jesus Christ.
	Yeah, and let's get back to these pardons.
	We all need one.
	Seems Russell might need one.
	What the fuck is he talking about?
	Seriously, what the fuck is he talking about?
	This is just a person.
	I'm not sure he knows.
	His brain is falling apart.
	I don't know.
	I haven't seen him more together because he still can't articulate.
	What she said was those pardons are two different things.
	Hey, Russell, do you understand?
	You don't have to agree.
	Just articulate the differences that are described in that, oh, he's already doing the trumpet thing?
	Well, okay.
	That's what has happened.
	He's not even engaging with the point that's being made.
	He's just like, I'm going to make a stupid trumpet thing in front of a microphone.
	You're like, okay, great.
	I do need to say, when I listen to our show...
	I get frustrated with me not getting to the point fast enough or knowing something or whatever.
	It is absolutely different.
	Recording in front of a camera microphone.
	I'm not kidding.
	There are gremlins in this microphone that steal my thoughts.
	Yeah, that's true.
	As soon as that red light comes on, that's it.
	We both...
	Steed Bonnet.
	That name was in our brains and then it went away.
	That's true.
	Suffering for it, right?
	It can go away.
	That's one thing.
	Russell, just take a beat, but you're just going to do the Looney Tunes trumpet?
	And if you just want to do the Looney Tunes trumpet, that's your content then.
	Why the fuck did you even play that clip to let me know how much you don't know and can't articulate?
	Because he's not even trying to understand.
	No, he's not.
	And in our final clip, we leave the show with Russell very genuinely struggling to get any of this in order.
	I will say he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and I do have some sympathy in that regard, but it does start to get a little bit fucking out of hand here, as Russell accidentally mimics something of a Nazi salute here up top as well.
	Russell, you're digging a hole.
	I'm not digging a hole.
	There is no hole.
	There is a heavenly...
	Oh, that was a problem.
	You better get by her.
	I was digging a hole.
	I was digging a sky hole with a sea, Kyle.
	Don't you dare dig a sky hole with a sea, Kyle!
	Don't you dare dig a sky hole with a sea, Kyle!
	Okay, let's get back to this.
	Come on, concentrate.
	It's about, not you, Sir Michael, but Donald Trump talks about lowering the cost of eggs.
	What you do is you let people out who undermined our Constitution.
	Did he just say about lowering the cost of eggs?
	How did we get to that?
	That's actually more tangible.
	Some of you might watch this and go, Russell Brand's presentational style is somewhat discursive, as if he's continually corroding around a labyrinth in his own mind, picking up treasures and anomalies as he goes.
	You might think that.
	You might be thinking that.
	That's my job!
	That's not their job!
	Over on whatever that was, on CNN. Well, like, these pardons are over here, preemptively.
	We gotta separate this.
	Unfortunately, they separated the Biden family.
	What are we gonna do about the price of eggs?
	What?!
	How much could a banana cost?
	Ten dollars?
	Yeah, right.
	That's what he just said!
	But for real!
	Lucille Bruce is a joke!
	The lovely, talented, God rest her soul, Jessica Walters made a fabulous joke.
	Yeah.
	And he just said it for real!
	Yeah, yeah.
	So he's confused about why could this lady possibly be talking about the price of eggs?
	And the lady on CNN actually made plenty of sense if you are paying attention to the clips and not pausing it every few seconds to interject about porn actors and trumpets.
	She was discussing Trump playing distraction tactics by talking about the price of eggs while letting white supremacists and violent alt-right shitheads out of prison with their crimes pardoned.
	It's very easy to follow.
	Yeah, Russell just like, how did we get to the price of eggs?
	Wild bird flu is ravaging our country right now, our food system.
	They're calling millions of birds today, right now.
	It's horrible.
	It's such a concrete problem we are all dealing with.
	It is so real.
	Man, okay, you don't get to see Arrested Development moments happen in real life very often.
	And that was one.
	And it, man, oh man, that's incredible.
	That's incredible that he said that.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Okay, so that's our last clip?
	Yeah, honestly, Russell's brain just kind of falls apart from there and then he ends the show, which is for the best.
	He clearly needed to tap out of that situation.
	Though one thing I will leave you with is that Russell had another show the next day, and it was part of his Locals exclusive Oracle series, which I don't know if we'll have time to get to covering it, where in discussing the subject of Trump's executive orders, Russell had some true oracles on to speak about it, and that was Neil Oliver and Lara Logan.
	What a combo.
	So you've got the supergroup of an Englishman, a Scotsman, and a South African lady all discussing the deeper impact and implications of Donald Trump's executive orders.
	Terrific stuff.
	Couldn't break bread with them?
	No?
	No, no.
	There is a lot of God talk, I will say that.
	There is still plenty of that, but no.
	Oracle with them.
	Well, so I'm going to say right now that people that live in ADH houses shouldn't throw squirrels.
	I mean, if it's a live stream, I do not agree that we should take him to task in any way that, like, I don't want that.
	I wouldn't feel that it was fair if it were done to me.
	So I don't necessarily agree that's a huge problem.
	If it's live and he's losing the thread but he's finding it again, I'm not comfortable with that.
	My position is that it was egregious.
	He's always a little bit scatterbrained and everything, which is fine.
	It's fine.
	Again, I am not one to throw stones.
	But this was absurd throughout the entire thing.
	Got it.
	The standard that you're holding him to task, like in the script you wrote, right?
	We can also agree to disagree.
	That's fine.
	I'm not throwing stones.
	Squirrels.
	I thought that was a cute joke.
	Because I'm not throwing squirrels because I'll get distracted.
	But he could do himself way more favors.
	That's for damn sure.
	There are several things I did not expect.
	Yeah.
	In this episode.
	Yeah.
	Agreed.
	As one of them.
	Agreed.
	Agreed.
	What a wild ride.
	I'm looking forward to seeing what's coming next.
	I'd love to say it's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.
	It's going to be an interesting four years, let's be real.
	But yeah, I am particularly curious as to what's coming in the immediate.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Right, Lauren, tell us about your IUD experience.
	Okay, so I was terrified.
	And I also told you, you know, what I told you is like, even like, it should be fine.
	Everything should be fine.
	I am today.
	So it happened yesterday.
	So it was actually, we're coming up on one whole 24 hours.
	And I felt quite rough yesterday.
	I really did.
	But I also did, I did like heating pad on belly thing.
	And I think that actually made a lot of...
	It made a difference.
	And Mike was also very sweet about getting pizza.
	Nice.
	And just eating fat kid food.
	I kind of realized, okay, I know this experience, and it's tattoo day.
	It's more accurately like piercing day, but I had a ritual when I knew I was going to be getting tattooed.
	I was going to be in a lot of pain for a while.
	I would try to be as chill beforehand.
	And what I used to do was eat a bunch of Chinese food.
	And I highly recommend, unless nausea is a serious problem for you before you go get tattooed, pig out.
	And I also would tell my clients afterwards, pig out.
	Unless it's something that you are allergic to or messes with your blood sugar, that kind of chills your body.
	It's like, I got all kinds of food.
	I don't need to freak out.
	I don't need to pass out.
	You drink water.
	You eat food.
	Healthy?
	That's up to you.
	That's not my way.
	That's not my way in these scenarios.
	These are like my cheat days.
	So, highly recommend.
	Pre-pizza, post-pizza, up to you.
	I would do fried rice and then I'd do pizza.
	That was pig food.
	I'd just pig out.
	I recommend that for tattoos also.
	Genuinely.
	If you're hungry or if you're thirsty, your body gets squirrely with you.
	You don't necessarily get to choose if you feel squeamish.
	Put too much food in and you have nausea problems.
	Just be aware of that.
	Because sometimes your blood sugar can just spike because of your endorphins.
	And then you just got to take a minute.
	So that's another thing that we were very, very accustomed to in that scenario is someone sitting still for this.
	Because that's what's crazy.
	Is this procedure is...
	I am expected to just sit still for it in a way that, like, if I don't, I could get severely injured.
	So I think that – and I don't know about other countries what they choose to do for this procedure.
	I feel like putting somebody under or any kind of, like – Sedating or muscle relaxer?
	I don't think they do here.
	I don't think there's anything.
	Well, because women.
	Yeah, exactly.
	Exactly.
	Yeah.
	Like, yeah, just because you can sit.
	I think that women are especially put in a position.
	Not always.
	I mean, this is a medical thing, too, which is a problem.
	But like being put in a position where like, well, we know you sit still.
	So that means it must not hurt that bad.
	That's very real.
	That's a very real big problem that I have also just personally because I know how to sit still because I've been poked full of holes a lot.
	Right.
	I'm glad I had that practice going in.
	So I also I mean, I'm and I'm very picky about what has worked for me and what hasn't because I've had the experience of like I was a pin cushion for the piercers I worked with when I went and they were.
	I've been on the receiving end when something goes very good or very bad.
	I've had a needle in my nose for half an hour because something went wrong.
	Right.
	Yeah, I'm tough as old fucking boots.
	So I know what to do.
	And my doctor also when something is when you know that there's going to be a point of pain.
	I have had a lot of piercers say breathe out first or take a deep breath in.
	No, no, no.
	What she said was cough, which was good.
	How I also feel about it.
	The best piercing experience I've ever had was with an old pro.
	Like, since I was in diapers, been piercing.
	And he was a guy that we worked with that was kind of like a mentor to everybody else that was in the shop that we worked at.
	He said, like, he basically would instruct you to take a big deep breath in and hold it and then out Lamaze style when the painful thing happened.
	She said cough.
	Both worked.
	So if someone says, if you want to say that before a procedure ever, say, hey, this is what works for me or try it.
	Because they need you to sit still for something that they know is going to hurt that your body will want to squirm away from.
	So that would be like, right before the needle goes into your skin while you're getting pierced, that's like, okay, breathe in, hold it.
	And then they start the piercing and then you go, ooh, that's what always worked best for me.
	But the cough also worked.
	But I think it's the same mechanism.
	Breathing out, way better than breathing if you go, whenever something happens, you're more likely to pull away.
	So another little helpful thing, if that's what...
	If you haven't heard that before, now you know.
	Now, getting there, I did, you know, I was, like I said, I was scared.
	And it really hurt.
	It wasn't not abortion-y.
	Which, you know, like, I get that.
	So it wasn't quite – and also I didn't have any painkillers at all or anything before I had an abortion.
	But I was also 23. So what I told you was like I don't know how I'm going to do because the last time – because I am tough as old boots.
	And there was also a point in time where like I could eat a dead frog and I'd be fine.
	I was very – I'm a hill person.
	We're tough.
	So being the hill person.
	When I got an abortion when I was 23, I went and competed in and won a roller derby tournament the next day.
	That is not what they would recommend.
	No, no, I wouldn't say so.
	That's not medical advice, no.
	Probably shouldn't have.
	But I was fine.
	And so what I told you was like, this old broken body, this old gray mare, I don't know if I'm still going to be that resilient.
	Right, yeah.
	Aging changes.
	Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
	Don't do that.
	But I was fine.
	And I'm like, listen, that's how I know a procedure to be, but I don't know if I'm still going to be like that.
	And I think today I have found out very happily, I can't not make this my good thing, because I'm so fucking relieved that I feel so much better today than I did yesterday.
	I would say as an experience, if you are a Ren and Stimpy head, like I am, it was sort of the picture that conjured in my head.
	There's an episode where I think there are cows.
	There's like a farming episode.
	I don't remember which episode it was.
	And if I did, I would definitely say it.
	And they were...
	Clamping the, like, the tags, like the big metal tags.
	Oh, on the ears.
	Like a gun on the ears.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	I remember that one.
	Yeah, and they got Stimpy's tongue.
	Yes.
	That's how, that's kind of how it struck me.
	It's like getting a big, it's like a piercing.
	On my guts, but big, is how it felt to the procedure.
	And it was like, we were there for a minute.
	It certainly wasn't nearly as long as the mechanical abortion happened.
	Also, I know that a lot of us have had that medical procedure, so I feel like it's probably relatable, statistically.
	A lot of us aren't cows, but you can certainly listen if you are.
	Moo, welcome.
	Appreciate you.
	But it's a very like, there's a couple of like, oh, holy shit!
	And then, so I would say, thanks everybody for listening to me.
	Be scared.
	And there's going to be a couple of months where, you know, I think everybody's body is different.
	If you're a crampy person, you're going to probably have, that means that your body is trying to push foreign objects out of you.
	And I've never really been a crampy person.
	I've been very lucky.
	I have other crosses to bear when it comes to the menstruation cycles that I've experienced in my life.
	Cramps aren't one of them.
	So that being said, I could have probably deduced that I wouldn't be so crampy today because of that, but there was no real guarantee.
	And so if any of these things ring true to you, then maybe you have a better...
	Idea of what to expect, because I was, like, really freaked out.
	I was freaked out for about a month.
	Because, yeah, I made the appointment, and I was, like, low-level frightened.
	Yeah, scary procedure.
	Merry Christmas.
	Yeah, that's fair.
	That's fair, yeah.
	And it was certainly, like, there was a, like, a kind of moment.
	Experience.
	And everybody had good vibes, good sense of humor about it.
	I also said, this is a tattoo day for me to my doctor.
	She's like, oh, okay, yeah.
	So there was communication there.
	I think that expressing yourself within reason makes sense.
	It helped me.
	I mean, they also put puppy pads on all the surfaces.
	So I was like, am I going to Kurosawa blood everywhere?
	That's alarming.
	That's where I was like...
	I got in and I was like, oh, no.
	Have I walked into a kill room?
	Like, what's going on here?
	Yeah, American Psycho.
	Like, is this a Dexter moment?
	And so I was like, kind of like, oh, no.
	But it really, like, I mean, I think this is, you know, it's a contingency, whatever.
	And I also, you know, my experience is that it went really well.
	That's what my doctor's like.
	This is as good as it could have gone.
	I think that you'll be fine, you know.
	But I also asked her like, hey, what can I do?
	Just like piercings and tattoos, the exact same experience I've had is like, what can I do to help me, to help you, to help us?
	Which she laughed because I bet people don't know to say that.
	And also having very specific instructions.
	Like I started breathing too fast because it was really painful and the nurse was like, slow down.
	I was like, thank you!
	Okay!
	Like it just...
	Having those specific instructions in the moment, boy, they're so helpful.
	And having piercers talking about it over drinks with my friends who are piercers, more so than tattooing, we had a different pain management.
	It's a longer process.
	It's more like a rolling sort of...
	Different feel.
	Yeah, because you're there for a long time.
	Whereas piercing, because the main issue is that you can pass out with an instant pain.
	Which isn't as big of a deal if you're laying down, but still, you don't want to.
	So it wasn't as scary as it had to be, but it still sucked.
	And I do have to say, from my experience with tattooing, my pain tolerance is different than how I feel pain.
	So while my pain tolerance is high, I think that I have a higher sensitivity pain-wise because there are...
	Situations I've described to people where they're like, that didn't hurt at all.
	Like, it's the same kind of tattooing, surface, time, whatever.
	I'm like, oh, that was fine.
	I'm like, well, I felt like I was getting cut apart, so I don't know what you're talking about.
	And I noticed from the time I, like, when I started taking medication for my ADHD, when I am medicated, my pain sensation is a lot lower.
	And I... Tested this theory accidentally by my medication.
	I forgot it.
	And I ran out in the middle of getting the inside of my right knee tattooed.
	And so the last 20 minutes, I could feel it.
	I was like, oh, well, I'm dumber now.
	And all the sensations.
	I'm dumber and it hurts more.
	This is worse.
	I'm dumber and all the lights went wob.
	And I was like...
	Like, pain-wise, it was like, oh, no!
	And I was, like, telling my friend at the time, I was like, my meds just ran out.
	He's like, what?
	I'm like, yeah, this hurts a lot.
	I was fine for three hours.
	Alex, wrap it up.
	I was like, oh no!
	I mean, and it is what it is, but to me, that tells me that people that have, you know, there's such a wide variety of pain tolerances and feelings, so that I'm probably...
	On the more sensitive, not necessarily tolerance, right, but like sensitivity side, like my scale is probably like, so if you're a person, it's probably like kind of high, so more sensitive.
	So if you are less sensitive to pain, maybe because your brain works better than mine, fine.
	Go with God.
	By all means, good for you.
	And always, always, always, if you are worried and you need to talk to somebody about it, I'm not just a...
	I'm not just a comment on Reddit.
	You've listened to the show.
	You've made it this far.
	You know where to find me.
	MadeByLaurenBee at gmail.com or email us.
	And if you put IUD in the subject line, I will pay attention and I will talk to you if you are scared.
	Or if you're just worried about doing it.
	Because I think that we are kind of going through this collectively right now in America.
	Just trying to figure out.
	What to do about what has already been happening legally and what will continue to happen.
	And I think that I had horror stories, which also this is a process, right?
	And she warned me like, hey man, this is going to be a couple of months of adjustment for your body because of the hormones in this thing.
	So everybody's different.
	And if you...
	Like me, if you heard those horror stories that were real from your friends and you're worried about it, then it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
	But stay tuned.
	Everyone's experience is different, right?
	I might die tomorrow.
	I might explode.
	And we gotta work that out as it comes.
	Get more of those puppy pads out, right?
	So many!
	Yeah, so many.
	It was more than was comfortable.
	I was like, wait a minute.
	But yeah, so feel free to reach out if this is something that you're concerned about because I know that we're going to be going through it.
	And double check your medications too as far as interference because they So my hormonal birth control pill was interfering with the medication and they didn't figure that out for a long time.
	So that's kind of what gave me the impetus to do it.
	My other doctor was like, hey, this fucks with your stuff.
	And then I asked my gynecologist, she's like, oh, well, IUD, let's do that.
	So that was sort of what gave me the push to check it out.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Wow.
	Yeah.
	Wow.
	Illuminating.
	I hope that helped.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Absolutely.
	Yeah.
	Excellent foley work.
	All right.
	That's our show, everybody.
	If anyone wants to support us in what we do, head to patreon.com slash onbrand.
	We would love to have you.
	If you want to get in touch, drop us an email.
	It's theonbrandpod at gmail.com, and we'll get back to you.
	If you're on Facebook, there is a Facebook group called On Brand Awakening Wonders, full of lovely individuals having fun conversations.
	But if you prefer more anonymous browsing, head over to Reddit, because there's a subreddit there called onbrand underscore pod, and there are some wonderful individuals having conversations.
	We're there, too.
	If you want to find us on socials, we're the on-brand pod everywhere except for where we're not.
	Look for the logo, everybody.
	And if you want to find our personal socials, I'm at alworthofficial, and laurenisatmay.by.lauren.b.
	And if you click the old link in the description, you can purchase Hamagonetta!
	Handmade by...
	It looks like that.
	But with gold!
	Real-life gold leaf around it.
	Handmade by Lauren themselves, and can be sent wherever you desire.
	All right, well, thank you for sticking with us.
	Patrons, we'll see you Sunday for some off-brand goodness, and the rest of you will see you next week for the main show.
	Take care of yourselves and each other.
	Thank you very much for all of you.
	Bye!
	Bye!
	Phyllis Schlafly's still dead.
	Yeah, she is.
	Oh, look, sirens.
	Bye!
	That's not win-win-win.
	That's lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie.

▲