Ray Epps, a controversial January 6th figure placed on and then removed from the FBI's most wanted list without explanation, faces sympathetic coverage from outlets like The New York Times despite lacking evidence of being a federal informant. Tupac Dave Smith and Robbie the Fire critique this narrative as a potential political maneuver or government cover-up, contrasting it with CNN's dismissal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine concerns and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's accusation that Tucker Carlson incited violence. Ultimately, the hosts argue that silencing dissenting voices through authoritarian measures undermines free speech, suggesting current media narratives serve specific political agendas rather than objective truth. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
|
Time
Text
Is He An Insurrectionist00:12:16
Fill her up.
You are listening to the Gas Digital Network.
We need to roll back the state.
We spy on all of our own citizens.
Our prisons are flooded with nonviolent drug offenders.
If you want to know who America's next enemy is, look at who we're funding right now.
Every single one of these problems are a result of government being way too big.
What's up, everybody?
Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
I'm the libertarian Tupac Dave Smith, and he is the king of the cocks.
COVID Jesus, Robbie the Fire Bernstein.
What's up, brother?
How you feeling today?
Oh, I had a blast down in Florida hanging out with the local LP people.
And it's nice to be doing some stand-ups.
Chicago this weekend.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Chicago, Zane's, me, and Robbie the Fire will be out there all weekend long.
This is going to be a fun one.
These shows are going to sell out, but there are still some tickets available as we speak.
So go grab them.
Comicdavesmith.com.
You can get the ticket link up there.
So were you down there?
That was the same event Clint was doing where he debated Destiny?
No, he did an event in Kentucky.
Okay.
My mistake.
My mistake.
I'm looking forward to seeing that debate.
My boy Clint Russell debated Destiny, who is a popular YouTuber on the topic of Ukraine.
I figured.
Yeah, something along those lines.
Anyway, he's got a bad name and he's bad on Ukraine.
I don't know too much more about him than that.
But yeah, I'm interested to see how that went.
So I got, from what I heard from people on Twitter, it went very good.
So looking forward to watching that one.
All right.
And then I think we should let people know.
So Chicago, we're in two different locations.
Friday, Saturday, I think it's Rosemont doing two stand-up shows each night.
And then Sunday, we've got stand-up and live podcasts at the Zane's in Chicago.
So even if you come out Friday, come back Sunday for the live pod.
That's right.
Hell yeah.
Come back.
Come out for all the shows.
Yeah.
That's what I say.
But yeah, absolutely.
That's going to be a real fun time.
I've heard nothing but great things about the Zaney's clubs out there.
So very, very much looking forward to it.
Both of our, I believe, first times doing those clubs.
We've done a bunch of gigs in Chicago.
We always do very well in Chicago.
It's a great market for us.
So this should be a real fun time.
All right.
So a few things.
We might be a little bit shorter of a show today.
I've got a long week coming up, but a lot of exciting stuff happening.
So keep your eyes peeled for that.
But there's a few things that we had to talk about.
So one of them is that evidently today on 60 Minutes, they had an interview with Ray Epps.
For those of you who don't remember, Ray Epps has become a very controversial figure.
He was present at the January 6th, what do you want to call it?
Insurrection?
The police-guided walkthrough of depending on which, yeah, it's either somewhere in the range of a coup d'etat to a guided tour.
Somewhere in there, depending on what your politics are, depends on what you see that as.
You can be the judge of what you think it actually was.
But so Ray Epps is the big barrel-chested guy outside screaming at a bunch of people to storm the Capitol.
It has now become, let's say, rumored that this guy might glow just a little bit.
There has been, you know what?
Okay, so maybe we should start with this to get into it.
The case that Ray Eps is a Fed is not ironclad.
Like we don't actually have any evidence, at least that I've seen, of like, oh, here is who his connect was at the FBI or here's his history of being involved with the FBI.
At least that I haven't seen.
But there are some things about Rayeps that are like the circumstantial evidence overwhelmingly points toward something about this doesn't add up.
And the most logical explanation is that he was somewhat Fed connected.
Now, he's on video several different times blatantly advocating that people storm the Capitol before the Capitol's been stormed.
The day before he's advocating we go down there and we storm the Capitol.
There's video of him helping people break through the barricades and encouraging people to break through the barricades.
He was put on an FBI's most wanted list and then taken off of it.
And there was never an explanation given for why he was taken off of it.
He has since then not been charged.
And there's never been an explanation for why he wasn't charged.
On top of that, there was Ray, the FBI director, under oath testifying before Congress, as well as the woman, I'm blanking on her name, but she's like the number three at the Department of Justice.
They were both asked directly, was there any federal law enforcement or federal law enforcement operatives or any federal law enforcement informants involved in January 6th?
And they both refused to answer the question.
It just seems a little bit strange.
And so that's kind of where, as far as I can tell, that's what the story has been thus far, that it just seems like it doesn't make sense that they're throwing the book at these people who were like let in by the police and walked around peacefully, and yet they have no interest in prosecuting the people who they have an ironclad case for for inciting the, you know, the insurrection or whatever you want to call it.
So anyway, that's kind of the short version of the backstory.
Anything you want to add to that, Rob?
A couple pieces, but I would say one of the most compelling pieces of evidence to say, hey, this guy must be a part of the system and working for the Fed or the FBI is the fact that the New York Times wrote a puff piece about him.
If you know anything about New York Times reporting, if they're getting involved to tell you about how noble somebody is, there's got to be some kind of an agenda there that they're stepping into the picture.
It's not just that somebody who is supposed to be a Trump supporter is getting a puff piece in the New York Times.
It's the fact that it's a like a January 6th insurrectionist.
Yes, a January 6th insurrectionist.
Like the biggest story in the media, according to them, over the last couple years has been that our democracy was almost overthrown by Donald Trump.
This is the big lie that Donald Trump kept telling about how he didn't lose the election.
This led to an insurrection.
Donald Trump's guilty of inciting an insurrection and blah, blah, blah, all of this.
And so the idea that any of like that, and there was one congressman who also had nothing but they were like, leave this poor guy alone.
Stop bringing him up.
Like, poor guy.
I thought he's a domestic terrorist.
Yes.
Like the entire Biden administration's like main focus has been on the fact that these guys are domestic terrorists.
And now all of a sudden we're supposed to have sympathy for this one guy.
Just makes no sense.
So something is going on here.
I gotta say I was surprised that they had an interview with him on 60 Minutes.
I don't exactly get what it is that they're trying to accomplish by this, other than maybe just like in in some way, like just like uh, adding insult to injury, like letting you know, like that we'll do this.
I don't know if there's something more to it, i'm missing it anyway.
Let's play uh, the trailer uh, for the what 60 Minutes put out um, and and see what we can, what we can deduce from this.
We are going through the capitals.
Who is Ray Ebbs?
Can you follow I know we haven't, or even played it the fact that the clip is cut off with we're going into the cap and he and it's not him yelling we have to go into the building.
That was the video we've all seen, the video we've all seen right yeah, the fact that it starts off with the selective editing of, oh, here's some grandpa like figure who just got caught up in the day and said we're going.
The whole point is, no, he was the one actually saying we got to go do something violent and go into the building.
That's the issue with the guy.
That's an incredible start to your puff piece.
Excuse my language, we're in the first couple minutes here at Youtube.
Yeah, I know we try to hold off for a little bit.
It's okay, leap that one out uh, but you know it's um the the thing is that and and for people who know, i've seen this video, there's there, this is like clear as day video that he actually the night before is saying or, i'm sorry, it's not the night before, but earlier, before any of this happens, he's saying, we have to go into the Capitol and a Fed chant breaks out around him.
Like all the people around him are like fed fed, fed.
They're all going like no no no no, do not listen to this guy, it's.
Crazy.
Anyway, let's keep playing the video and then we'll.
We'll talk about all of this.
We are going to the capitals.
Who is Ray Epps?
A former member of the OATH Keepers who served in the Marine Corps and was an ardent Trump supporter, or at least he was, until conservative media post january 6th began insinuating that he was a government plant for the deep state.
What exactly was the role of Ray Epps in the chaos of january 6th?
No matter how many times they push this conspiracy theory, this lie.
It'll never become truth.
Wow, he's got to put the hat back on not representing bald men.
Well, because now he looks even more deep state-y.
Wow well it's, it's.
There's something interesting already about it, where you they'll show again, like you said, they're showing this clip.
It's very deceptively edited what they've already put out there, which is, um, here's him, just a guy, an older guy, at the, at the the event, and here's Tucker Carlson making some crazy claim that he could be a fed, or he's not even making that claim, he's just asking what was the role of him.
But it's very clear, if you actually put it in context, why Tucker Carlson is asking this question.
Right, it completely makes sense why he would be asking this question.
Because here you have a regime that has come down, I mean, just enormously hard on uh, all of the people who have been at january 6th, and yet they're concerned, it seems, with uh, with Ray Eps, being what smeared.
Like that's a concern.
Like, let's say, the position of the corporate press is that he was not a fed.
Okay, he was not an a uh, an agent uh, provocateur.
So fine okay, that's your position.
Still, you would think, according to you, that would make him an insurrectionist right like there's no, like There's no angle here where you could imagine that these guys would think like he's some put upon victim.
And look, I suppose if you're trying to be as charitable as possible, it still does not make the corporate press look good.
But if you're trying to be as charitable as possible here, you'd go, oh, they just want to discredit Tucker Carlson and those guys.
And so since they're calling them a Fed, they want to say, no, he's not.
Painting Life's Portraits00:02:04
And you guys are stupid for calling him a Fed, right?
Like they're trying to run counter propaganda to what they see as propaganda.
But again, even that is not a great look for the corporate press because that would mean, oh, you guys don't actually have any principles.
You're just now glorifying somebody who you would otherwise demonize as an insurrectionist because it would what?
Maybe hurt your opponents over on Fox News or something like that.
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show.
I love this company, Paint Your Life.
If you are looking for the best gift to give your wife, your girlfriend, your mother, your father, your brother, go check out Paint Your Life and get a hand-painted portrait that's easy to create, fits almost any budget, and is the perfect gift for anyone you really care about.
Paint Your Life transforms your photos into a one-of-a-kind, beautiful hand-painted portrait done by a professional artist.
Get a professional hand-painted portrait created from any photo at a truly affordable price.
You can upload photos to create anything you imagine.
You can put yourself in a location you've always wanted to go.
You can add a lost loved one to a special occasion to create the portrait of your dreams.
There's lots of options.
Your choice of artist and art medium.
You can choose from oil, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, and much more.
And there's a great selection of quality frames.
Their user-friendly platform lets you order a custom-made hand-painted portrait in less than five minutes.
Communicate directly with your artist to ensure the portrait is painted just like you dreamed.
Get a hand-painted portrait in as little as two weeks.
It's the perfect birthday, anniversary, or Mother's Day gift.
It's meaningful, personal, and always heartwarming.
You can give the most meaningful gift you have ever given at paintyourlife.com.
And there's no risk.
If you don't love the final painting, your money is refunded, guaranteed.
And right now, as a limited time offer, you can get 20% off your painting.
Suspicious Case Scenarios00:08:40
That's right.
20% off and free shipping to get this special offer.
Text the word problem to 87204.
That's problem to 87204.
Just text the single word problem to 87204.
Paint your life.
Celebrate the moments that matter.
Message and data rates may apply.
See terms for details.
Text the word problem to 87204 to get 20% off of paint your life.
All right, let's get back into the show.
Let's just say for that, let's give them the benefit of the doubt, which I think is assuming that.
I don't know what better than that you could assume if you're trying to be as charitable as possible to 60 minutes.
So let's say that's what you imagine.
This guy was not a Fed.
We're not going to give you any explanation as to why he hasn't been charged and all these other people have been charged, but whatever.
We're saying he's not a Fed.
You feel bad for him because he's been what?
Tucker Carlson has said some mean things.
The fucking shaman guy was held in solitary confinement for like almost 200 days.
And he was just, this guy was just walked in.
We've seen all the video now.
He walked in, just followed a trail of people in, and then was escorted around by police who he was being nothing but cordial to and who were being nothing but cordial to him.
And this videotape was not given to his attorney.
He was then coincidentally let out of jail very shortly after this tape was made public.
As they'll say it was unrelated.
Okay.
Seems a little bit strange.
But so you're not concerned about what happened to that guy, but you're concerned about what happened to this Ray Epps character?
I mean, look, no matter what the scenario is here, something stinks.
Right?
Like, there's no scenario you can come up with here where there's not like, okay, this is like something is just way off here.
And, and look, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, Rob.
Tell me if you see another scenario here.
Like, either the best case scenario for the corporate press is that they're going to give this guy a pass because it makes the other side look bad, because they're like, oh, you guys were saying he's a Fed, but look, he's not a Fed, in which case you're reporting on him a completely different way than you would otherwise just to own the other side.
And that's the best case scenario.
The worst case scenario is you're a bunch of feds covering for a Fed.
It seems to me those are the only two options.
If there's another one that I'm missing, please let me know what it is, whoever's out there or you, Rob.
But if it's the better case, doesn't that kind of say something?
That all of a sudden it's not actually so important that all these insurrectionists are brought to justice.
It's actually fine for one of them to not be brought to justice as long as it makes the other side look bad.
Well, isn't that your answer right there?
That there's actually no real concern?
Like the entire domestic war on terrorism has been predicated on the idea that we must lock these people up because domestic terrorism is the biggest threat to society right now, right?
So you're saying this guy, who clearly by that definition would be a domestic terrorist, it's totally fine that he's, that he's not locked up.
He says in the clip in one of the previews that they put out that he's in hiding and he's in fear for his life and all of this.
And the whole thing seems to be centered around like how sad that is for him.
He's doing national interviews.
He's not that afraid for his life, but afraid enough to tell you that he's afraid for his life.
What the hell, dude?
What's going on here?
I don't know.
Any thoughts you have on any of this, Rob?
I don't see how this could possibly be a win for their narrative.
Because for one, I guess best case scenario is you humanize this one individual, but doesn't that have people thinking, well, at least this guy's not in jail and he seems to have his nice farm that's all paid for.
What about all these people whose lives we have actually ruined?
So you would think that they would start going, oh, yeah, maybe we should feel bad for these people who were just suckered by Donald Trump.
Or this is going to be the first time we've actually seen him in an interview and it's just going to be as transparent as that New York Times article of, oh, look, this was clearly a government asset and they're trying to get ahead of this story.
Well, it does seem like that's the most logical explanation here.
Although I got to say, look, I'll say, even if it's, I don't completely understand this because even if it's a government asset, I figured they would just burn the government asset at this point.
You know, like just be like, yeah, look, the jig is up.
We didn't think they'd have this footage of this guy, but they caught him.
And now he's got to go to jail.
Oh, you mean that they would actually prosecute him?
Yeah.
Or you shouldn't be like talking about him.
I mean, I don't know what, but like you said, all this seems to do is to take one guy who's advocating for the insurrection and they're saying, oh, he's not actually that bad of a guy.
Like, whatever.
This is wrong.
what's happening to him.
You know, you're allowed, like you were just kind of indicating, like you're allowed to feel some degree of sympathy for this guy.
Because as soon as you're allowed to feel some degree of sympathy for any of the people involved there, it seems like that would, you know, make you go, oh, shit.
Well, we're holding a bunch of them in solitary confinement.
That seems wrong.
What did they really do?
What really happened?
Okay.
But I guess people are so blinded by this just kind of like tribalism.
Like, yeah, look what an idiot Tucker Carlson is that they just get on board with it.
I think that's, I guess that's where we're at.
And you would think with mainstream media having so much respect for our intelligence agencies, in this case, the intelligence agencies refute to comment, including that Thomas Massey played the footage and asked, why is this individual not being prosecuted like anybody else?
So you would think that, you know, mainstream media might even defer to the intelligence agencies who refuse to say that he's not an asset.
Yeah, I mean, look, they have been asked and under oath, point blank, like, is this guy an asset?
And none of them will even say no.
He's not.
They're all like a little bit, you know, whatever.
They're hedging their bets or something.
They don't want to actually say that, you know, testifying to Congress.
So where there's actually like, you know, theoretically could be legal consequences for lying about it.
So they won't even say that.
Like, you know, okay, so like, if you're going to do this piece, can this be accompanied by like an FBI memo that says for the record, Ray Eps is not a part of anything like that?
Because it doesn't seem like there's even any like it's, it's almost as if the 60 Minutes position is like, there's no way this even could be a thing.
We all know the FBI track record.
Of course this could be a thing.
They need Blinken to send a letter to the CIA.
That's how you get that.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, that's where Blinken could just make a formal request.
Can you guys say, oh, it turns out he's rushing disinformation.
There you go.
I also don't understand what happened to the other 42,000 hours of footage Tucker Carlson was supposed to be playing for us because he seems like he's one for one of getting people out of jail.
He took their single biggest individual.
He put up the footage and then the guy got out of jail.
And of course they went, nah, we were going to let him out anyways for good behavior, which is bullshit.
Whatever people prosecuted him and didn't make that footage available to his attorneys, they should be going to jail.
Like you should be looking into the entire January 6th thing.
The fact that we saw the open footage of one single case and then that guy just quietly got let out.
Yeah, it really is something.
And I'll tell you, I don't know what happened there either because I will also say that Tucker Carlson made it sound like he was going to be releasing more of the footage.
If you remember, he closed the show on that first one being like, we've got a lot more that we're going to be sharing with you guys.
And then it just kind of like went away.
He kind of played some of the same footage the next night, maybe a little bit of additional footage, but there hasn't been much more that's come out.
And maybe there was just nothing else there that he felt was like really that compelling, but it did seem a little bit strange the way that whole thing was was laid out.
Freezing The Pipe Smoke00:02:10
Who knows?
I don't know.
But something about this situation just obviously does not add up.
It just does not add up.
Like just the way I remember investigative journalism from four or five years ago, isn't it kind of astonishing that there's not a single background story?
Like what was Ray Eps for the first 50 years of his life?
Where's his income from?
Who's his family?
What are his current employers?
How does he currently afford everything that's in his life?
Where does he go when he's not on his farm?
Just like the basic stuff of like, here's a picture of this guy's life.
And here's what makes it a little suspicious.
Or here's why it's totally not suspicious.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You would want to see some of that.
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Freeze Pipe.
Smoking cannabis doesn't have to hurt.
Upgrade to a freeze pipe today and experience bigger, smoother clouds without the throat burn, chest pain, or coughing attacks.
Freeze pipe makes a unique line of freezable pipes, bubblers, bongs, and dab rigs that cool smoke by over 300 degrees.
Every piece is made of thick glass and smokes so smooth, you'll check if the bowl is even lit.
The secret is freezable glycerin chambers that come on every piece.
Pop one of these chambers in the freezer for an hour, and as smoke passes through, it's instantly chilled for a dramatically smooth and icy experience.
Think larger clouds with zero chest and throat burn.
Finally, no more coughing attacks and no more water chugging after every rip.
Just an elegant smoking experience that'll change how you light up forever.
I remember back in the day when we used to drop ice cubes in our bong.
Such primitive animals we were back then.
These kids today, they got a whole different way of doing it.
So start smoking like royalty without paying a king's ransom.
Shop now and enjoy free shipping at freezepipe.com.
Use the promo code P-O-T-P.
That'll get you 10% off your entire order.
That's freezepipe.com.
Promo code P-O-T-P for 10% off your order.
Order today and say goodbye to harsh smoke forever.
All right, let's get back into the show.
Debunking Conspiracy Theories00:15:56
The bigger issue here is that January 6th has become the centerpiece for the corporate press over like literally since 2021 to now.
Two years.
This has been the issue that they've been, that they've decided is the most important issue.
And the whole thing seems to be built off of like a complete stack of lies and misrepresentations.
You know, and that's again, it's not to say that like there wasn't this event and that there weren't like rowdy and, you know, there were some violent people there.
There was some pushing and shoving of cops.
And there was like definitely like some property destruction.
And then a whole bunch of like kind of hooliganism, I guess, you know, like farting on desks and stuff like that.
And then mixed in with that, you know, like maybe like a dozen people doing that was like hundreds of people who were like just walking around and taking pictures.
And they've tried to play this off as if what you're seeing here was a legitimate coup attempt.
Like it was a legitimate like, you know, insurrection, even though it was, it was perhaps the first unarmed insurrection in modern history.
You know, like they didn't bring guns.
Clearly, there wasn't that much of a plan to actually have an insurrection.
And I don't know.
There were probably some people there who like if they had found Mike Pence, might have roughed him up or something like that.
I'm not even against like saying that.
Yeah, that seems like it could have possibly happened.
It could have been a worse situation than it was.
But is that not true for like so many events that we've seen over the last few years?
You know, like there's been so many riots and so many riots where, you know, forget the ones where just like private property was destroyed, which in my opinion is far worse than destroying public property.
But there's been, you know, riots at state houses and things like that.
Actually, Donald Trump fled to his underground bunker once because there was such a big riot outside the White House.
Kind of a bitch move on his part, if I'm being honest.
The Secret Service probably made him do it, but still he should have refused.
Jesus.
But it's just so bizarre.
And it's not bizarre, I shouldn't even say.
It's just so obvious why the press has focused on this one event so much because it suits their narrative.
So anyway, it'll be interesting to see what other clips come out of the full extended interview with Ray Epps here.
But it is strange to me that they would even want to bring this guy out.
Just a very bizarre thing.
Anyway, any final thoughts before we move on from this topic, Rob?
That'll be hilarious if we actually watch the whole thing and end up signing with Ray Epps.
This guy's a good dude.
This guy didn't do nothing wrong.
Okay.
So it is now being reported.
This is kind of one of those whisper reports, but it's being reported that Joe Biden is going to announce next week that he's running for reelection.
God bless America.
Before we hop on that, isn't it also interesting that there's a IRS whistleblower talking about favorable treatment of Hunter Biden?
They're now talking about the actual Delaware office possibly moving forward with prosecuting.
They're talking about that Merrick Garland might also be in trouble for not clearing up, I guess, conflicts of interest and whether or not they can move forward with the prosecution, which kind of goes back to, I believe, what you had originally said when that came up the last time was, it seems like the powers at B are trying to bully Biden out of actually running again.
That's been, that's been my not my hypothesis exactly, but a hypothesis that I've thought was worth questioning for a while now.
Why is it that they've been protecting this guy's kid for so long?
And now all of a sudden there seem to be kind of all of these whispers that maybe they don't have to protect him.
In some sense, though, it may actually backfire.
If I'm right about that, it may actually backfire and encourage him to want to run again because maybe that's the only way he can protect his kid is to make sure he's still in the White House.
I don't know.
It's also interesting that it comes on the heels of the former CIA director admitting while testifying to Congress that it was in fact Blinkett who requested that they come up with this whole bullshit about how there was all this misinformation, which also coincidentally, or not so, you know, coincidentally, wink wink, kind of takes at least some of the blame in the public eye off of the intelligence community for doing it.
It's like, well, we were just doing it for them, not for us, you know, like they were the ones who asked us.
Not that it actually clears them of any wrongdoing, but that at least like shifts kind of the focus onto someone else.
I don't know.
The other thing that I find very interesting about all of this is that, you know, this does come on the heels of Robert Kennedy Jr. announcing that he's running.
And it had originally been floated out there and reported that Biden was going to announce in the fall.
Now they're saying he's going to announce in the next week or so.
And I wonder if those things aren't related.
I wonder if it's not that they go, you know, the when they first started floating out the stuff about Hunter Biden possibly being charged, this was months ago.
It was about six months ago, I think.
And at that point, we were further out from all of the stuff, you know, all of the 2024 stuff.
And at this point, I think the Democratic establishment is in a position where like they got to find who their guy is.
And they've got a difficult dance to get through because they'd not only have to get Biden out of the way, they'd have to get Kamala Harris out of the way too.
Because everyone knows, whew, she's god-awful.
And from her last presidential campaign to just everything you see her doing every time you see her speaking, you're like, this woman is not going to win anything.
And so, you know, who could they get out of there to find who's the person to get in?
What would the path look like to be able to get Biden and Kamala Harris out of the way?
That's tough.
And now you have this dynamic where Robert Kennedy has announced that he's running.
And as I said on the last show, you know, it's a guy who, despite having, you know, issues giving a public speech, it's a guy who's a Kennedy.
You know what I mean?
Comes from kind of this air of, even though he hasn't held like public office before, there's just something about being like Robert Kennedy's kid and Jack Kennedy's nephew that makes you kind of like, you could see that guy being president.
He just kind of like comes from that stock.
And he's a guy who is very smart, has put a lot of thought into the issues that he is behind.
And his announcement speech, you know, he had like thousands of people who were really excited there about it.
There's something there.
And he's truly running against the regime.
Like there's a few issues that you could take where you go like, oh, okay, no, this isn't someone who's just like, he's not just talking it.
This isn't Bernie Sanders.
This isn't Barack Obama.
This is a different thing.
You know, when he's talking about how the COVID vaccine is killing people, like you're like, okay, that's a different type of beast than what those guys.
He's hitting a third rail that you're not supposed to talk about.
And I wonder if there's a connection there.
Anyway, there was an article over at CNN.com that kind of caught my eye that I thought, I don't know why.
I just thought this was a really, so look, if you were going to talk about, if you were saying, like when you talk about Donald Trump is running again, say Joe Biden is running again and Robert Kennedy Jr. is challenging him.
The Trump DeSantis split there.
Whatever you think, I think that we have been pretty clear for a while that our position here on this show is that none of this is good for America.
This is not good.
None of it is.
I have a whole bit in my stand-up that I've been taking around the country about how goddamn entertaining Donald Trump is, but how awful he is for the country.
That's more or less, even though I'm joking around when I talk about this, but that's more or less how I view these things.
But you got to admit, this is, it's like, it's wild.
As of right now, it's a wild scene and crazy entertaining.
And so this was the article that CNN.com ran.
It's an article by Harry Enton.
And this caught my eye for a reason because this is how they're going to try to spin this.
This is the propaganda that they're going to put forward.
The title is why 2024 could be the most boring presidential primary season ever.
This is boring, Rob.
That's what they're telling you.
Let me let's read this a little bit.
For people who write about electoral or horse race politics, few things are more enjoyable than an exciting presidential primary season.
Sometimes both Democrat and Republicans cooperate by holding gripping fights for the party nods.
See 2008.
Somehow, however, sometimes, however, voters in both parties quickly coalesce around frontrunners.
A look at the current dynamics in both parties suggests 2024 could be one of the most, if not the most boring primaries in the last 50 years.
Nothing is set in stone.
Things can change when you least expect it, but it's tough not to acknowledge the current facts.
Let's start on the Democratic side, where President Joe Biden is expected to announce as early as Tuesday that he is running for reelection.
No incumbent president has lost a state primary where he was on the ballot since 1980.
At this point, Biden doesn't look likely to break that streak.
He hasn't attracted a challenger who would be considered serious under most metrics.
Neither Marion Williamson nor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have ever held, has ever held elected office.
Williamson gained no traction during her 2020 presidential bid.
Kennedy pushes debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety and is seeking votes from an electorate that is overwhelmingly vaccinated against COVID-19.
So that's how they're trying to play this.
They're already writing these articles going, I mean, he's just no threat to Biden, who, by the way, is going to announce this week, even though he hadn't planned on announcing for months.
And why is he no threat?
Well, a few things, Rob.
Number one, he's never held an elected office.
And number two, he's pushing debunked conspiracy theories.
I guess neither of those things are accurate.
We've had people win office that never held office.
Well, Donald Trump is the former president and he never held political office before this.
And the debunked conspiracy theories, you're like, okay.
There's, hold on.
And just to say, it's just more the opposite, debunk conspiracy theories.
It's more like conspiracy theories that as you go, if you wrote a list of the wildest conspiracy theories about Corona and we started at the bottom, which was, hey, the vaccine will only work for current variants or, hey, the PCR tests aren't that good or the hospitalizations are overinflated or the their system's not working that well.
And you just kept crossing off the wild conspiracy theories.
I don't know that debunked conspiracy theories is the way I would describe everything over the last two years that was considered misinformation that keeps getting confirmed all the way up until, oh, that women are actually having menstrual problems.
Or like, I'm just saying, if you were to map out, let's just say, the 25 biggest conspiracy theories about COVID, we've probably confirmed at least 15 of them as being true.
And the next 10 are like, I don't know.
I mean, like, we're about nine more away from getting close to the Bill Gates.
There's like metal or whatever, like some of the real bullshit ones were.
Right.
Yeah.
You're a magnet or something like that if you take the vaccine.
Well, yeah.
And the truth is that RFK didn't push any of those crazier ones.
He was pushing that like there are legitimate health, negative health outcomes associated with the vaccine and that it doesn't do what they sold you on it doing.
And it's funny that they go, oh, you know, like this is CNN, of course.
Oh, he's pushing debunked conspiracy theories.
Meanwhile, you're like, tell me exactly what?
Tell me exactly what he said that's been debunked.
And then you're like, oh, and at the same time that he was pushing that, Joe Biden was saying, if you get the vaccine, you're not going to get COVID.
You know, is that a debunked theory?
Is that that theory now that theory seems pretty goddamn debunked to me?
The idea that if you get the vaccine, you can't get COVID.
I think everyone knows that's not right.
And then, of course, he said, if you get COVID, like he switched it later, saying if you get it, you know, like you're not even going to know that you have it because the symptoms are so mild and you can't transmit it.
Now, is that a debunked theory?
The idea that you can't transmit COVID if you've had the vaccine?
Yeah, I actually do think that that is a debunked theory.
So it's just kind of interesting that they even have to create this, you know, this line of propaganda where it's like, oh, well, we're just letting you know this is going to be a really boring primary.
And the other thing, it's not look on the other side of it.
Obviously, DeSantis hasn't announced yet, but people are like digging in for like, oh, this could be a crazy battle for the Republican primary.
So there's certainly nothing boring there.
So the whole article is framing this kind of situation just to let you know that Robert Kennedy doesn't actually have a chance.
He's not actually a candidate who can give Joe Biden any problems.
Now, the other thing they say here, right?
And this I find kind of interesting is that they say they say Kennedy pushes debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety and is seeking the votes from an electorate that is overwhelmingly vaccinated against COVID-19.
Doubled Vaccine Numbers00:02:35
You're like, okay, now that is true that most people in America got the COVID vaccine, at least most adults did.
What was it?
It was something like 70% of people got double vaccinated.
But that was only after significant coercion.
Well, that's the, okay, so that's number one is that, yeah, it's not like, first off, this was at the very beginning.
And for many of them, and I don't know, I'd love to see like, it'd be really interesting if someone actually was able to break down those numbers.
I don't even know if it's possible to do, but to go, yeah, but how many of them had like their fucking livelihoods threatened if they didn't take it?
And how many of them also just had like enormous social pressure?
I mean, everybody knows like the stories of people saying, oh, the families won't see you.
You can't come over for the holidays anymore because the propaganda was so incredibly all-encompassing in those early days of the vaccine rollout.
But you know, what's interesting is that how many of them got one booster?
Half.
Half of the people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 got a booster.
How many people got their kids vaccinated once they started pushing it on kids?
Way less than that.
Way less.
It's like pathetically low numbers.
And then how many of them got like their third booster or whatever, whatever they're up to recommending now, the numbers are like extremely low.
So yes, CNN, you can spin it to say the majority of them got the vaccine, but it seems like at the very least, a lot of them are regretting that, or at least they're not still on board with the program.
So that's, you know, and then you realize that Kennedy can also attract a lot of like independents and even some Republicans who might switch over and things like that.
And you go, yeah, this idea of just like writing him off because a lot of people got double jabbed early in 2021.
That means nothing, dude.
That doesn't in any way prove that there.
I know a ton of people who are like all on our side politically who got the vaccine.
Because for whatever, when it first rolled out, they were like, I just wasn't in a position where I could lose my job.
Or I just, you know, even maybe they just hadn't like, at first, they were like, oh, well, I have someone who's like immunocompromised in my life.
Inciting Political Violence00:09:24
So I want to get it.
And then after they looked into it more and more, they realized like, oh, yeah, didn't actually do anything to protect that person, you know?
So anyway, I just thought there's a very, it's very interesting that they're announcing that this guy isn't a serious contender when you would think if you were doing any type of like honest journalism, you'd go, oh, fucking Robert Kennedy's kid who's running against the entire core policy of the Biden administration just announced he's running.
That's kind of interesting.
Doesn't feel like the most boring primary.
Feels like a kind of interesting one.
Typically speaking, incumbent presidents don't see any primary challenge, let alone someone like that.
So it's just, I don't know, I see something in the timing of Joe Biden's announcement and even CNN having to run articles like this where I go, I think they're a little concerned about Robert Kennedy Jr.
I think they're a little worried about him.
I find that kind of encouraging.
I don't know.
Like, all right, good.
Good.
Let them be a little bit worried about him.
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Z Biotics.
I don't know if you guys have ever skipped a workout the night after some drinks, or maybe you just don't feel back to yourself the next day.
We all have busy lives these days, and we can't afford to waste a day stuck on the couch because of a few drinks the night before.
Z Biotics is the answer we've all been looking for.
Z Biotics pre-alcohol probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic.
It was invented by a PhD scientist to tackle rough mornings after drinking.
Here's how it works.
When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut.
It's this byproduct, not dehydration that's to blame for your rough next day.
Z Biotics produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down.
It's designed to work like your liver, but in your gut where you need it most.
Just remember to drink Z Biotics before drinking alcohol.
Drink responsibly, of course, and get a good night's sleep to feel your best tomorrow.
Give Z Biotics a try for yourself.
Go to zbiotics.com slash potp.
That will get you 15% off your first order when you use P-O-T-P at checkout.
Z-Biotics is backed with 100% money-back guarantee.
So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money.
No questions asked.
Remember to head to zbiotics.com slash p-otp and use the promo code potp at checkout for 15% off.
Thanks for Z Biotics for sponsoring this episode.
Now let's get back into it.
All right.
Anything else you want to add on that, Rob?
Or you want to move on to AOC being dumb?
Oh, AOC being dumb.
All right, let's do it.
Hey, Brian, let's play this video of AOC.
And when you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence.
Very clearly incitement of violence.
And that is the line that I think we have to be willing to contend with.
Well, there it is.
Now, I'll tell you, Tucker Carlson's one of the only people, really the only person on cable news who I kind of regularly watch.
This really is something to see AOC, this kind of fake dissident in the house, say, oh, that is what he does and what Fox does is incitement to violence.
It's on its face, first, it's preposterous and it's ridiculous.
You'll never hear Fox News or Tucker Carlson.
They've got, you know, Fox News has a million problems and even Tucker Carlson has some.
But the idea that they're ever on there telling somebody to go commit an act of violence is absurd.
But once you get through how laughably stupid this woman is, you realize there is something truly creepy and authoritarian about what she's saying.
And that is a really tyrannical way of looking at things that she goes, oh, those people who disagree with me politically, they ought to be violently squashed.
That's what you're saying when you claim someone's inciting violence, that they ought to be put down with force.
Like in the same way that if you were like, like inciting violence is like if you like tell someone to go assault someone else, that's inciting violence and you ought to be arrested and jailed.
Inciting violence is actually a crime.
And so here you have a sitting member of Congress calling for Tucker Carlson to be jailed for the crime of what?
Mocking her ruthlessly and arguing against her politics.
I mean, geez, that is some really creepy shit.
Yeah, you shouldn't be allowed to do that as a politician, to say that someone reporting information different than your point of view is a violent, is a call for violence.
That's really the only play they have at this point is to go, everything's violence.
Well, it really is something, but there's something kind of like truly ironic about it where you could kind of say that like, look, especially as a lawmaker, accusing someone of inciting violence is in a sense, inciting violence, right?
Because you're like, inciting violence is an actual crime.
So you're saying, like, look, I don't mean this in terms of like the criminal code.
I just mean this literally.
Like, if I say that guy is a murderer, if I, if I say that, like, if I say, I just watch, if I point, if I look at a cop and I point to some guy and say, I just watched him hit an old lady over the head with a fire extinguisher.
In a sense, I'm inciting violence, right?
Like, I'm saying, yo, you should go fucking, like, take this guy out.
Cause like, I just watched him.
I just saw him commit a violent crime.
I mean, that's what she's saying.
She's saying, now go watch Tucker Carlson any night.
Go turn on his show.
And I'm not saying you have to agree with everything he's saying.
I don't give a shit if you agree with anything he's saying, but to claim that he's inciting violence from a congressman, from a sitting congressman, it's such a serious thing to say.
It's unbelievable how we like people just throw this around like kind of, you know, like there's nothing.
And no one actually believes this.
She doesn't believe this.
The woman interviewing her doesn't believe this.
None of them like really think like, oh my God, there's a violent criminal on the loose named Tucker Carlson over at Fox News.
But the fact that she would just so kind of like in such a blasé manner just throw this out there.
You're like, oh, so you're really advocating that, you know, you have this entire corporate press that is completely on your side.
The one little sliver of it.
There's this one network, Fox News, and really just this one guy there who opposes you, that he should be violently shut down.
And that's what you're saying if you're claiming that he incites violence, that he should be shut down by the power of the government.
The truly, truly profoundly creepy thing for AOC to say.
And she's supposed to be like this kind of like, this, this progressive hero or something like that.
It's really disgusting.
Yeah, it's amazing.
We've said it before.
Oh, did I freeze?
Sorry, I thought I froze.
Not on my end.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, no, at the same time that they'll have Ray Eps on to go, hey, he's just a nice person.
They'll say that Tucker Carlson's inciting violence and that we need a domestic terrorism title to be locking people up that are dissonant voices.
Yeah.
That is, that is to me, and maybe it's because it touches home a little bit.
This is why I was talking about those black socialists the other day.
That is something that touches home and really creeps me out.
The idea that we're actually going to get into the business of like, yeah, we have to start shutting down dissonant voices.
Obviously, there's been a lot of tech censorship and stuff like that over the last few years.
And that I'm not downplaying that.
That's creepy.
But one of the few things that has remained America about America has kind of been that you can say stuff.
Like it's not, we're not living in North Korea.
We're not like afraid to come out and say stuff against the regime.
Man, that is a creepy, you know, line to cross if we actually get to a point where we are.
All right.
Let's wrap up the show on that.
Big week coming up.
Keep your stay tuned.
Let's just say that.
Stay tuned.
A lot of cool stuff happening over the next few days.
And yeah, we'll talk to you guys soon.
Thanks for listening.
ComicdaveSmith.com, Robbie the Fire Burns, RobbyTheFire.com at RobbieTheTefire on Twitter.