Part 1. Thomas watched the entirety of Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 so the rest of us didn't have to! In this episode, in addition to talking about what was going on at this entire event, we listen to the most ridiculous National Anthem presentation and hear words from America's Widow, Erika Kirk. In this day and age, we deserve to laugh. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com. Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!
What's so scary about the woke mob, how often you just don't see them coming?
Anywhere you see diversity, equity, and inclusion, you see Marxism and you see woke principles being pushed.
Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic canster is here and it's coming for every two every doom.
Instead of go-go boots, the seductress green Eminem will now wear sneakers.
Hello and welcome to Where There's Woke.
I am Thomas.
That over there is Lydia Smith.
How you doing?
I am doing better.
I think folks have been following our illness journey via audio.
Illness.
By being able to hear how congested we are when we're coughing.
Follow me on my illness journey.
And I thought I was better.
I don't know.
Now I'm listening to myself as I speak and I feel like I'm still congested, but I don't know.
I'm doing better.
I'm doing all right.
Thank you for asking.
How are you?
Well, ever since becoming an influencer, I think illness journey.
Ah, man.
Yeah.
I have just consumed, I don't know, 15 straight hours of right-wing bullshit.
Oh, man.
And I'm overwhelmed.
Yeah.
So, here's what's going on.
I saw, we saw, I don't even remember anything now before this day.
I don't remember how it happened, but one thing led to another.
And one of, or both of us was like, hey, let's check out.
Is that true?
Maybe.
Pretty sure.
All right.
You're probably right.
Let's check out AmFest Amerifet Amerifest.
No, where do they land on?
Is it AmericaFest?
Okay, it's AmericaFest, but they call it Amerifest for the hashtag.
And then I think as a joke, I might have typed in Amerifest somewhere.
And so that's why I'm confused.
You know, it's so hard.
We're like venture capitalists when it comes to anti-woke bullshit.
It's like we have to pick where to invest our angel investment of our fucking time.
Which is the most precious thing to do.
It's more precious than money for us.
AmericaFest is a big fucking deal.
And I was thinking like, all right, maybe it'll be the kind of thing where I track down a bunch of bullshit claims.
Like maybe it'll be that.
I can debunk a lot of the speeches.
The first day tricked me because it was only four hours or so.
And I was like, I can get through this.
You can do this.
Yeah.
Day two, eight fucking hours.
A full day.
Yeah.
There's a big controversy around day one.
I was a little worried, like, oh, is this all there is kind of thing.
Right.
And then I got to day two.
Day two had some stuff.
Like I can't even.
Okay.
First off, this is a bigger production, better production value than the RNC.
Yeah.
I think this is effectively the RNC.
I actually think this very convention was the RNC.
I don't remember if they even did or will do an RNC.
I think they did, but who cares?
It sucked.
This was better production value.
It had more probably influential people.
And I'm not even through it.
I had to stop at day two because there was too much to cover.
Day two also led me on some wild goose chases that I cannot wait.
I just a teaser for episode whatever of this, I've been scouring tax forms, baby, and you always know.
Always good stuff.
Whenever we're scouring tax forms, some fun stuff is going to happen.
And overall, the fucking grift, the level of grift that goes on is just, it's staggering.
Like it's just the whole thing.
I start to wonder if it's separable.
Can you separate grift from right-wing Jesus?
Is it one thing necessarily?
There's two main takeaways.
Jesus fucking Christ, these people love Jesus fucking Christ.
And Grift.
Those are the main things.
This is a Jesus-y thing.
I've been to church sermons that are less Jesusy than this.
Like literally, I'm not even joking.
Like, this is incredibly Jesus-y.
And I know we know that.
Yeah.
But it's another thing to sit through 15 hours of it.
Yeah, that's fair.
I mean, like, last time we were exposed to Turning Point and how religiously zealous they are was the Auburn University turning point event, right?
When we had Benny Johnson leading that.
And that was kind of quite religious.
Oh, God.
Of course.
Yeah.
Everybody, pretty much anybody ever, plus Russell Brand.
That's how many people.
It's crazy to me.
We just got some new accusations, right?
Did you see that?
Oh, really?
There's new ones now.
New ones?
Yep.
Yep.
Well, I hate to say it.
My main takeaway was that I actually think he legitimately is into Jesus Christ.
Like, I thought just based on like generally, like, oh, okay, he's doing that grift because he's accused, but I don't know, man.
Maybe he's just convincing, but he comes across like a charismatic preacher.
True believer.
Well, he just is really, I mean, we've known Russell Brand's really good at talking, obviously, but when he combines that with his Jesusy stuff and he's around these Jesusy people, he comes across like he would be an effective preacher.
So we'll see.
We'll see when we get to that.
Yeah, I can't wait.
So I don't even know how long this is going to take.
We'll see how many parts it is.
But I went from like tepid, like, oh, is this going to work for to like one episode?
Oh, my God.
This, I can't wait to get to day two.
And I don't know when that's going to happen, but we're hitting record and the kids are at the grandparents.
And this is what we get to.
Yeah.
So buckle up, everybody.
Get in on our marriage because this is our wild and crazy date night.
Yep.
So we'll take a break.
Our first break.
Okay.
Please support the show, patreon.com slash where there's woke because we don't have Jesus to lean on.
We don't have the ability to say, hey, you got a tithe.
Hey, billionaires, give us a million jillion dollars because Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and also capitalism and right-wing politics.
Like we don't have that.
Help us laundry money.
After watching all the, yeah, after watching all this and realizing how much money and power is behind this fucking bullshit and also genuine Jesus-y people, it's just like, we're so outmatched.
So thanks so much to our patrons at patreon.com slash where there's woke who at least allow us to do this.
We do really appreciate it.
The wokeys are the best.
It's the only reason we can have this date night with all of you.
Okay, where to begin, where to begin.
There's some stuff that's literally so fun that I found, I was like, I need to unlock a technology whereby we can watch something in sync.
Yeah.
So there's going to be some of that, but not all of it because it's really annoying.
It's like harder to do.
But there's some clips that are so fucking good that I can't wait for us both to witness.
But there's also early on, there's some fun stuff to get started.
Okay.
I just want to play a little bit of this preacher.
This is a black preacher.
And it just, I wish we had something like this on the non-Jesus side because like, just listen to this guy.
And your word is true.
So our next are set out tonight, expecting you to do great and mighty things.
And we give you honor because you are God and that there's no name under heaven given among men whereby we must I mean that guy's voice rules man.
Why do you have to be using your amazing voice for evil?
You know, like, I don't know what this guy's deal is, but it just hurts when it's a black preacher putting in his time and talent into basically a Nazi rally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I was just like, man, that's one thing atheism doesn't have.
We don't have that guy.
Just like the way he's getting into it with his voice.
Oh, yeah.
He's just like so fucking, I'm like, oh, I don't believe in any of this, but I see what you're doing.
Yeah.
Super cool.
It works.
It totally works.
At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.
Every listen to this guy.
Confess that Jesus is Lord.
Man.
I know.
So good.
That guy's moves you, you know?
Now I can't wait because this is something I've wanted you here for a very long time.
This is again, this is our Amuz douche, to borrow Matt's term over on OA.
A little bit of Amuz douche, a little bit just fun to get started.
Yeah.
The national anthem.
Oh, no.
Okay.
Now it's not a bad one per se.
Okay.
All right.
But the fucking production value.
I don't know how to not just play this whole thing.
We've got, apparently, Charlie's microphone is encased in carbonite and is on the stage.
It's like a character.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
It's like a character on the stage and the lights come up.
Listen to this production value.
Let's come up on the microphone.
Would you please be standing for the national anthem?
And then this old guy comes out.
Listen to the production value.
Somebody fucking orchestrated this shit.
Oh, say can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at This guy's vibrato.
Already starts pretty crazy.
By the end of the song, which I must play, it is literally a half-note trill.
It might be a whole note.
I actually, you'll have to say, it's so fucking funny.
You got to hear these chords.
The orchestration they've done.
Okay, I'll skip a little.
Oh, good.
Oh, I think their sound was messed up.
It just got better.
That's another thing is this video.
I couldn't find a better video.
It's right side Broadcasting Network.
That's who covered the Auburn University one that okay.
However, what they did is, I think because their main thing is rumble.
Is that the right-wing one?
Yeah.
The YouTube video is just like a fucking webcam of Rumble.
Oh.
It probably is a screen share OBS type thing.
Yeah.
But there's a bunch of times in the video where like you can see another timeline.
What's the thing on the bottom?
Like whatever that timeline thing?
Pause.
And it says like rumble.
And I'm like, oh, what the fuck?
I've been watching a Rumble video through YouTube.
On YouTube, yeah.
Yeah.
So like some of the sound is messed up, but it looks like it just clicked in at just the right time.
I have a note here that we have to listen to this particular point.
Okay.
You know, as a singer, occasionally, I don't know about you, but I have the philosophy where if there's a choice between hitting a note by changing the word so that it's not the word or just hitting the less good version of the note, I'm doing the second.
I can't do a weird version of a word because it's like an easier vowel.
And so I can't do it.
But this guy's of a different philosophy.
They proved through the night that our flight was still there.
Still there.
It's just in his nose.
He just says there.
I've listened to that.
I'm not a hundred.
No. It's just how he likes it.
It's like a, I don't know.
It's a fucking singer jack off thing, but it's so funny to me.
I was already laughing at the production value, and then I heard that.
It's like he just doesn't finish the word.
Our flag was still.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
So good.
But anyway, we have to listen to the rest because you're right about being too low because he really hits the key change.
Oh, man.
Okay.
I don't know.
Have you ever heard a key change at that point?
No.
Listen, Waylon.
That our flag was to pursue.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Get ready for this vibrato.
Yeah.
It's already insane.
Here we go.
I love this.
It's my favorite.
It turns into the Star Wars theme.
Like it literally, his vibrato is almost in a triplet feel.
My mind is, I can't get over this.
I know no one gives a shit but me, but it's so funny.
It turns into the fucking Star Wars music.
I think that's unintentional but the timing is like like it goes into like what is that Like one of six, eight time on the like triplet of the one, two, three, four.
Yeah, we're doing, we're doing 12, eight or something.
I don't even know.
Yeah.
Anyway, unintentionally turns into Star Wars.
That is so fucking funny.
So crazy to me, too, because like, I mean, again, this is not the point of why we're here today.
No, it's the point for me.
The national anthem, it covers significant range, right?
Like it is a stupid song the way that is written.
It's so dumb.
And we have to hear it too many times.
But to do a key change to modulate up.
Yeah, it's pretty bold.
This guy's got balls.
And then, like, why wouldn't you have just been in that key from the beginning if you didn't do that?
That and the end, it's too high for him.
Cosplay of Evil00:03:48
Like, I get that he's pushing as hard as he can.
Yeah.
Maybe this is his own way of sacrificing for Charlie Kirk.
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk gave all.
So in this guy, the least he can do is give some a few vocal cords.
Yeah, I don't.
It's this is crazy.
This is absolutely crazy.
And it gets better.
So then we come to a Charlie Kirk tribute video, which is the first thing that you and I will be watching together because I just can't, I can't wait.
I can't wait for you to see this.
Such high production value.
But then we get into some real, there's some cosplay going on here.
Just you wait.
He fell believing America was worth buying for.
And for 2005, 50 years.
Those who stood firm against every force who swore to break this country.
Ominous.
Oh my God.
So we have some Revolution era soldiers.
Okay, but they're the British, I think, right?
They're the British.
Oh, because they're red coats.
Yeah, it took me a second, but you'll see why.
What is that?
I don't know.
Look at that.
What?
When the world?
So then we got.
Oh my gosh.
We got the same.
Here's what we got going on.
This is incredible.
Why don't you do your best to describe the magic that we just saw in that short time?
So we have basically a group of ominous folks approaching us, and they don the attire of various evils throughout history.
So first we get the red coats, the British, and then we move through and see other, like the communists, Chinese communists at some point.
And it's so funny.
Nazis.
Yeah, I think we got Nazis, which they're like, hey, we got plenty of memorabilia lying around that we can use for Nazis.
Yeah, exactly.
There's one guy in the front who I think is an actor.
The rest might be AI.
I'm not 100% on that.
But what's funny is it's the same guy in the front at least, and it changes his uniform until it gets to like talk real, like, you know, where you have multiple outfits.
They do like the transitions and stuff.
This is very much that vibe issue.
Until you get to the Japanese.
And then it's got to change.
But then it gets to like Islamic terrorists.
And I think it's back to the white guy, but with like a wrapped-up face in some sort of like Islamic garb.
And then it goes to Antifa, I think.
It goes to people wearing black sweatshirts and some of them wearing COVID masks.
And they all have guns.
Because famously, there were just armies of black block with guns, like just militia units that went around and also conscious.
Yeah, yeah.
So good.
It gets better.
Okay, now they're kind of sucking.
We see all of them side by side.
Now they're all aiming their guns at us.
And it's just the one guy changing uniform a bunch for some reason.
This is so stupid.
Oh, then we got like actually the TikTok thing where he was just standing there and like there.
They're like, hey, we're going to go to all this trouble of having you change costumes a million times.
Yeah, it's like uniforms through the centuries, right?
Like when they do the dancing videos through the centuries.
What does this have to do with Charlie fucking Kirk?
Can somebody tell me?
It is so funny because we go into this Christopher Nolan preview, you know, of just like this nonsense.
Jasmine Crockett's Footage00:12:08
And then just you wait.
Just you wait.
I'm going to play it out here.
Bernie?
What?
What was that?
Zoron at the end?
Oh my God.
So we just got a quick thing of a bunch of rapidly, oh, the faces of the enemies of America.
Yep.
I'll put the, I well, it'll be annoying sound-wise, but I could put it on like super slow-mo or something.
Let me do that without the sound.
Yeah.
Because it'll be annoying as hell.
And we'll try to pick out the faces.
Okay.
See who we know.
All right.
We got probably Lenin, Mao, Hitler, Stalin.
Boy, even at 0.25 speed, it is just booking it.
Yeah.
Just some others that real quick.
And then, who's that again?
I'm not sure.
Kim Jong-un?
Oh, is it?
Yep, might be Kim Jong-un.
And then Bernie Sanders.
Bernie Sanders, Ilan Omar.
Wait, who is that?
Actually, yeah, hold on.
This is very revealing as to who America's enemies are.
Okay, we got Fidel Castro, Shea Guevara.
Okay, this is okay.
Then we got, I forget who that is, Bernie, Ilon Omar.
Who is that?
I don't know.
It's not Fauci, is it?
No, that's not Fauci.
I don't know who that's supposed to be.
Dick Cheney?
I don't know.
Like, I actually don't know.
So it's seeing a guy George Soros or anything.
Oh, that's a great call.
I think it probably is probably George Soros.
I haven't seen a lot of profile pictures yet, so I'm not sure.
I feel like it might not be.
No, it's not.
He doesn't wear glasses.
We have a guy in glasses.
You can't see.
It's kind of a silhouetted profile.
Who is that supposed to be?
What if it's just like some fucking guy?
Like they're like, I really hate my neighbor, Ted.
Throw him in there.
No, it's definitely somebody.
It is somebody.
Maybe I could do Google Law.
Almost Dick Cheney.
Oh, that's a good point.
Let's see.
God, we can do this.
Who else would that be?
That's not some Palestinian leader, is it?
Oh, maybe.
Could be.
It could be.
Oh, a boss or whatever?
Oh.
So he has kind of the hair and the glasses, but I don't think it's him either.
Because now his chin is too strong.
This is a mystery.
I don't know who that's supposed to be.
God, there's something obvious.
We're missing something obvious.
That's close.
That's maybe the closest one.
But it's not, I don't think it's it.
This is fun.
I like this.
Hold on.
I'm going to go back slightly.
Because who would it be?
In context, we got Bernie.
We got Ilhan Omar.
That's not Chuck Schumer.
Okay, who's the next person?
Is that, who the fuck is that?
Can you image search?
Is that not working?
It's not really working.
Oh, is that Keith Ellison?
Oh.
Is that who that is?
Yeah, that might be Keith Ellison.
That's a good call.
This is weird.
This is weird that they did this.
After Keith Ellison.
Chat GPT versions of people.
I think that might be why we're struggling.
Yeah.
But we got AOC, so Chat GPT was good at that, apparently, or whatever.
AOC.
Oh, Jasmine Crockett?
Oh, yeah, Jasmine Crockett.
But yeah, that's also AI Jasmine Crockett.
Yeah, they did Jasmine Crockett in like full glam, like rhinestone beated.
Fuck, this is for sure AI, right?
Oh, yeah.
Is there some photo of her in a Michael Jackson-esque costume?
That's so funny.
They did AI the same thing.
Yeah, they totally AI.
And she looks like different, like she looks, but it's, I mean, it's recognizable at least.
Okay, who's next?
Let's see.
Oh, and then they end on Zoron, which is just real quick.
In the Alaskan wilderness, apparently.
Yeah.
With this coat.
That was a little departure I wasn't anticipating, but now we got to get back to it with sound because I forget if it has something else.
Oh, more horses.
Horseback.
We're just a forest at night.
Up, up.
Now we got AI George Washington, I suppose.
Oh, is that supposed to be George Washington?
Yeah, these are for sure AI because they're like George Washington combined with like, I don't know, like different actors.
Yeah, I'm trying to think.
It looks like Liam Neeson or something.
We are in a spiritual life.
Ben Franklin.
AI can always nail Ben Franklin.
That's the thing.
I wish we could wake Ben Franklin up from his grave to say, hey, you know what?
You're so unique looking that AI can always nail you.
I'll tell you, they nail Thomas Jefferson too, actually.
This is a million percent AI though, because you remember when we covered the Prager U doing the founders project or whatever, and they did like the president hall in the White House and how freaking uncanny value those people were.
This is them.
Like this is the same program.
That's stupid.
Oh, God, it's the best.
That is beyond just the material that we are James Madison?
James Madison.
And then who the fuck is this shiny?
Oh, is that supposed to be Hamilton?
No, the one that Andrew Jackson.
Really?
What do they do in this country?
Hold on.
Is that Scalia?
Oh, my God.
They have Scalia in a wig, like a barrister wig or whatever it is.
That's totally rough.
Oh, my God.
These people.
I didn't even catch that the first time, the first hundred times I've watched this.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
That is for sure Scalia.
Wow.
In a wig in a church.
Wow.
Get Betsy Ross in the chat.
Okay, I'll turn this down on.
Abraham Lincoln.
We've got most AI.
Clay Nation, Abraham Lincoln.
Oh, my God.
That's disturbing.
It's gross.
He looks like a clay.
It's a cross between clay and a ventriloquist dummy.
Yeah.
And it's every bit as horrifying as that sounds.
Like it couldn't be more horrifying.
Frederick Desert.
And then they decide to use archival footage of Teddy Roosevelt.
It was it?
Yeah.
They just decided.
They're like, all right, we got this is a little too after fucking claymation, Abraham Lincoln.
I think we got to at least like sprinkle it in.
Like maybe people think maybe they did find real footage of some of these people.
And then we're on what's his name?
That's, I know who that is.
There is a president that that's the thing about AI is like, it's reminiscent of somebody, but I don't know who.
Presidential.
This is a president.
But which one?
Yeah.
Is it I was going to say Grant for a sec, but not really.
Who is that supposed to be?
Is it a Supreme Court justice?
Dermot Mulroney.
Like, I don't know.
Well, whatever.
What makes this movement different is that you are a ship, a train, a plane.
The top-down revolution happening in this country.
Innovation.
The Olympics.
Yeah, now they get to claim all of sports.
All of sports.
All of innovation.
Jesse Owens.
Babe Ruth Muhammad.
Muhammad Ali.
Ali.
Go fuck yourselves.
You don't get Muhammad Ali.
I don't even think the left gets Muhammad Ali.
Come on.
Okay, they showed NASCAR.
You can have him over there.
Oh, and Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods.
Michael Jordan.
Oh, hold on.
There's hockey.
Who's this?
It is God.
Oh, that's okay.
Well, it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be a...
Miracle on ice.
Miracle on ice, probably, yeah.
Yeah, but that wasn't like the Republicans.
No.
It wasn't like a big miracle on ice because of Jesus.
Like, that wasn't, I don't think, was it?
Were they really Jesus-y?
I don't think so.
Yeah, I don't know.
Oh, they want San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson.
You know, you know, you know, Marlon Brando and Dorothy.
Yeah, Judy Garland.
And then Maryland Monroe.
Who is this?
Yeah, it's Marilyn Monroe.
You can have John Wayne.
You can have John Wayne.
That's fine.
You can have whatever this fucking fighter jet is.
The space program.
You don't get the space program.
You killed the space program.
You've got rid of it.
It's like Tom Hanks right now.
Fuck yeah.
There's no space program.
There's no Jesus in space program.
There's no Jesus in space program.
Fuck you.
Where then is the road to peace?
You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, there is a price we will not pay.
There is a fortune.
Okay, so we have Ronald Reagan over entirely World War II victory footage.
Yep.
Yep.
Beyond which they must not advance.
So after all that war montage, whatever AI presidents or something.
God, was it Warren G. Harding?
Why would they do Warren G. Harding?
It feels like that's who it was.
All right.
Then we get Charlie Kirk.
What's his connection to this?
When Turning Point USA was started, I could not have imagined what God had in store for this organization.
My political journey was in the midst of the Obama craze in Chicago.
As someone who was generally conservative, I realized this generation, millennials, is going to be the most progressive generation in history if we don't do something about this.
We're active in about 15 campuses and we're growing very, very quickly.
And keep in mind, this is not just a flash in the pan movement.
We're going to become an institution to give them the power and the confidence to stand up and let their voice be heard.
I was 18, no idea what I was doing.
No connections, no money.
We didn't have an office.
We didn't have a staff.
It was just me just traveling the country doing this pure grit, pure energy.
We are an organization committed to ideas and to principles, not the political parties or politicians.
We are in a generational battle right now that the stakes could not be higher.
And the experiment and the gift that our founding fathers gave to us could be easily lost if we don't make the proper choices, the right push corrections.
That's a lot of people, Utah.
I'll tell you what.
Jesus Christ.
After Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence.
Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed.
We saw revival.
You're going to hear what Charlie did, but I'm here today to tell you the why in what he did.
The why brought him the courage.
The why brought him the wisdom and the strength.
The why is the one that Charlie wanted to welcome as the guest of honor.
The guest of honor, his resume is long.
He's the king of glory.
Stop.
He's the prince of peace.
He's the savior of the world.
He's the living God.
He's the God of all mercy and grace.
The total embodiment of love.
They show the podium like Jesus is going to come up and speak next.
And I swear to God, they're also this close to doing a Charlie Kirk hologram.
Like, that's how high-tech this thing is.
And like high production value.
I think we're almost through.
And he's here today.
He's here.
Ladies and gentlemen.
I know I speak for everyone here.
Yeah, and then they go to Trump.
Yeah.
Yeah, subtle.
That none of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk.
We speak with Charlie and for Charlie louder than ever.
Oh, Erica Kirk's new.
Yeah.
Oh, just wait.
So then Erica Kirk is going to come out.
Okay.
And she does.
She's, I don't know if this is a bid or what, but she's like, oh, my iPad won't turn on.
Honoring Promises00:04:42
And what's funny about this is I feel like she wants to address things.
What do they call it?
They used to say sub-tweeting or whatever.
Like, I feel like she's like addressing some of the stuff.
Like, for example, I'll just do a few quick shots here.
And that's also why the past several months, several weeks, I honored my husband by completing all of his pre-planned fall media tour hits for his book, his any commitment he had.
I wanted to honor that for him.
I wasn't going on a media tour myself.
This was for my husband.
Because in our household, our word is our bond.
And when you give it, you uphold it.
Yeah.
That is some damage control right there.
Yeah, a little bit.
Well, you know, I kind of wanted to ask you because there's been well, it's going to be something we get into later with a different media appearance she did.
But like, how do you feel about that whole thing with her?
I'm just curious.
I don't think we've talked about it.
About her going out and doing a bunch of stuff.
Yeah.
Like, do you feel like it's been unfair that people have bashed her for that?
Do you feel like it's been fair?
Do you feel like, I don't know, I'm just curious.
I have mixed feelings.
I think for people to assume that she's not grieving, I think is unfair.
I don't think anyone knows that except for her.
And she might just be the kind of person where she wants to stay busy.
And that's what's helping her through it.
I don't know.
But I do feel like she's a really, really fake person in general.
Yeah.
And so I'm kind of torn between those two things, right?
Like I'm not really interested in assigning like too many motives to her grief process, but I'm happy to assign motives to her grifting, which I think are distinguishable.
And so I've just been trying to stay in that lane a little bit more rather than kind of go after her about, you know, after her husband died.
Yeah, it's a crazy thing.
And the more I think about it, it's just like, I guess once you add Jesus to the equation, I just think, cause like my first thought was initially like, if anything like this happened to me, you wouldn't see me, I don't think.
I don't think there'd be, I guess it depends on what it was.
Like if it was the, if it was the equivalent, I guess it's hard because it's like a political thing.
Yeah.
And I will say like, there is nothing as horrifying as what happened to have her husband die on video like that.
Like that's awful.
I wouldn't wish that on anyone in the whole world.
It's awful.
So part of me is like, again, I don't think I would be open to like being in the world after that.
You know what I mean?
But I don't know.
Like it's, I guess, I guess there's another reaction that's like, it's so fucking insane and horrible what happened from her perspective, especially that you, you'd almost want to like give it meaning, you know, like maybe it's like, okay, if I put this into my like worldview and into my story of Jesus and politics and everything, like it's a way to like make it less horrible and traumatic, maybe.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I'm just not sure.
I do think there's also this element of religion too, where it's like death is like it's easier to come to terms with probably for a lot of folks who believe in religion because that person, yes, they are dead from the physical world, but they live on in eternity with God, right?
And so just be like, well, he's a martyr.
So he's right, right, exactly.
And so I think there's an element of it where it's like that perhaps helps folks move on and sort of frame it in a different way where, yes, they like, like they miss the person potentially earth side, but they don't grieve that they're dead really anymore because they believe that they're someplace better.
Yeah.
It's just hard not to feel like she's really using it.
I don't know.
It's just really hard.
You know, it's like with how much she's doing.
I don't know.
It's a lot.
I think there's a lot of things going on there.
I think they're probably complicated motivations and some of them are not great.
I think that that's fair.
Weird.
Here's a little thing.
I just think this is a very ominously named thing that I just found quickly funny.
Another turning point for us for 2026 is the Make Heaven Crowded tour.
Ben Shapiro's Privilege00:14:12
Something I'm very excited about.
What?
Make heaven crowded.
Yeah, we're going on a killer.
She's going to go kill everybody.
We're all going to die.
Yeah.
That is it.
Does she just mean like convert people?
I think that's what she means.
I was, my eyebrow was make it.
Wow.
Wow.
That was my first reaction.
Yeah.
So, okay.
We're going on a spree.
We're going to kill everybody.
So that was just funny.
But then there's another subtweet here.
Let's see what folks think of this.
We're going to get my husband's friend, JD Vance, elected for 48.
My husband's friend that I, that's, I barely know.
JD, who?
What?
Anyway, this guy, my husband, knows.
So weird.
So funny.
But honestly, after that, like, she was pretty boring.
The first speaker, though, that I guess not counting her because I don't know if she's a speaker or like launching the event.
First speaker, right out of the gate.
And I got to say, for me, this was a bit like my favorite Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar.
One of the first one that I ever liked.
Because there's a thing that happens in Julius Caesar where I feel like being the first to speak can be a big disadvantage because we have a conservative civil war.
We have a MAGA.
I don't know if I call it MAGA, but there's a, on the right, there's a bit of a civil war happening.
Right.
And this, maybe you've heard, I don't know, but like this event and this day one featured Ben Shapiro.
And then a couple speakers later, the main event was Tucker Carlson.
And they are feuding.
Yes.
And we'll hear some of the feud.
And I think it's interesting because just watching Ben Shapiro's side of it, it seems like it comes across.
Well, it seems like the crowd's into it, et cetera, et cetera.
But then like the whole rest of the day one and day two, they're kind of shitting on Ben Shapiro.
Interesting.
Yeah.
So I think he might be in some trouble, but it's hard to say.
So they're all just like happily leaning into anti-Semitic nonsense.
Yeah.
So that's what's interesting.
So here's the crux of it.
I'm realizing it's probably easier for me to explain than to try to find enough clips to stitch together, but I will play some.
But Candace Owens, man, this is some real drama.
It really is.
Yeah.
Candace Owens is nuts.
Yes.
And she is spreading a lot of conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk's murder.
Yes.
And some of them are about Israel.
And Ben Shapiro is upset.
It's hard because on one hand, I'm obviously anti the anti-Semitism of the right.
But in the same way that there's Ben Shapiro and you'll see it with Vivek Ramaswamy and you'll sometimes see it with other, with black Republicans, there's a thing they do where they're all in for the whole shit when it comes to everybody else.
They're all in on the deport everybody, you know, separate the fucking families, all that shit.
They're all for the evil shit until it comes to their demographic.
They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
They forget that they're an all know that what the right cares about is not anti-Semitism is or whatever.
That's crazy.
Literally all of those things pretty much happen in this event.
We had Ben Shapiro, we have Vivek Ramaswamy, we have Ben Carson.
Ben Carson, God, the most uncharismatic person ever.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh my God.
You know how far we've fallen?
He's one of the most sane, cogent speakers of this event.
I am not joking.
That's insane.
I am not even doing a bit.
He's in day two, and it's like, oh, there's a normal guy.
Oh, the intelligence of Ben Carson.
So glad to see that.
That's fucking insane.
That's ridiculous.
That's how far we've come.
So it's hard because it's like, yes, I am anti all these bigotries, of course.
And so, you know, if you're also anti-all these bigotries, maybe you should be anti-the fucking right because they're the home of all these bigotries.
But at the same time, I'm not super sympathetic when it's Ben Shapiro, when it's Vivek Ramaswamy, when it's, it's going to be about Usha Vance or whatever her name is, where they're just like, whoa, hold on, though.
Wait a minute.
Whoa, you've gone one too far for me.
You know, it's like, I don't know, kind of fuck you.
Like, I don't really have a lot of sympathy for it.
Made your bed kind of thing.
Yeah.
And it's like, when it comes to at least Jewish people and Ben Shapiro, I will say that at the very least, from his perspective, it's a little bit different because it's like the Republicans have been super pro-Israel.
It's one thing when it's like, if it's a black Republican, if it's a, you know, if it's like a Muslim Republic, you know, something like that, where you're like, yeah, okay, I don't know what you're thinking because the right has been anti-you for like ever.
But for Ben Shapiro, the right hasn't been anti-him.
The anti-Semites live on the right.
But in terms of Israel, which is what he actually cares about, they've been great on Israel historically.
But there's a, there's a rift.
There's a big rift happening.
We've covered it a little bit.
It's come up.
There's a big rift.
And it varies from, on one hand, probably outright anti-Semitism.
And I say probably like definitely anti-Semitism.
Like Nick Fuentes.
Yeah.
Just anti-Semitic, like pure and simple.
And also anti-Israel.
I don't, I think the anti-Semitism is more active than that.
Like, but, but there's also, they try to justify it with some like America first stuff and they try to come up with their little reasons for it that aren't racism, essentially.
And then there's people who are, I think, probably not super anti-Semitic, but there are people on the right who are like kind of coming to the conclusion that a lot of a lot of the younger people are coming to, which is like, why are we giving this country a bunch of money to fight people that aren't at war with us essentially?
Like, and it runs the gamut of very anti-Semitic to, I don't actually think anti-Semitism is the motivation.
I'm saying it kind of runs that gamut.
There's plenty of just plain old anti-Semitism.
There's also plenty of people, and I would say, I would say that about a lot of us on the left, too, that are like, hey, let's not give this country our money.
I don't know how many on the right really care about the fact that they're killing Palestinians and people in Gaza.
Like, I don't think that.
Yeah, I don't think that there's, that's a huge, like, Tucker Carlson uses that.
I don't think he gives a shit.
No.
But he does signal like, oh, look at all the, and it's convenient for them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You say opportunist.
I can't believe more than ever.
I think Tucker Carlson believes what he's saying.
It's interesting.
Oh, I think he believes it in the moment, but I don't think he actually believes anything.
Like as a used to think that, but the more I've seen him, the more I've seen that he doesn't really have any fucks to give.
And I think he's not terribly like, he's not always consistent because I just don't think he's self-critical at all.
So I think that allows for him sometimes to forget that he's on one side of a thing or the other.
But I think he believes what he's saying.
And I think he's very America first.
And so for him, I don't know.
He swears he's not anti-Semitic.
He probably is.
I don't know.
I mean, I agree with you, but him citing like Palestinian oppression or whatever or concerns over that.
Like that's not really the reason.
Oh, for sure.
You're not.
That's what I'm saying.
It's an opportunistic argument for sure.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Yeah.
I should clarify.
I don't think he gives a shit about Palestinians.
So in that sense, you're right, totally.
But I do think he actually cares about the thing he cares about.
And he is using that because he cares about the other thing, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Right, right.
Yeah.
Because I used to think he was just like, oh, he's an idiot.
He's just shill.
He's just an empty, like, because he's such a weird, vapid person.
And the way he talks that, like, when I just saw clips back in the day when he was on Fox News, I was like, is this guy just insane?
Or does he just like, is he selling a griff?
But like, I think he actually believes this stuff.
Like he's consistent in certain ways.
And he has all the money in the world.
He's answerable to no one.
And he's still out there spewing the same stuff.
I think he believes it.
I don't know.
Like to the point where he's willing to have on Nick Fuentes.
And that's the big controversy here.
So to get back to that, we got Ben Shapiro coming on.
And he's going to do the thing that I've said where he's like, hold on, hold on.
We all agree here that anti-Semitism is a step too far.
he on the right and the mega right especially is at a huge disadvantage because all of the arguments he's going to use are the very things that he's accused the left of and that the right has accused the left of forever oh so all the things he's going to say are like hey you can't just have an anti-semite on your show and just be okay with that And you can't just, and so he does the stuff that like the platforming.
Yeah.
So he goes to those arguments that all the arguments that he was on the other side of when it's people he doesn't care about.
Now that's something he cares about.
He goes to all of them.
Oh, you can't give them a platform.
You can't do the thing.
So what happens is like he, he has a talk.
It seems like the crowd's into it.
He's good at what he does.
He's a good speaker.
He's among the smarter of these people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I agree with that.
But he's stuck because he's having to use what to us is very sensible arguments.
Like to you and I, we're like, hey, yeah, you know what?
Like if you have Nick Fuentes on your show, you're either an anti-Semite or you don't give a shit that you're, you know, like it's one of those.
You got to be going hard against him.
Yeah.
And unfortunately, he operate for him.
He operates in the ecosystem that's like, oh, no, no, you can be a just asking questions personally.
You can, you could just do the just asking questions.
And it's funny because like earnestly, these people are like, no, no, I was just asking questions.
And it's so funny because you and I over here on the progressive left have been like, yeah, no, I know what you're doing.
You're a racist.
Like, oh, you're just asking questions about, well, isn't it weird that Israel, all the Jewish people, whatever, you know, like you're racist, you're anti-Semitic, you're racist, you're whatever.
And I have no problem being like, yeah.
And sometimes it's just pure obtuseness when it comes to Tucker Carlson.
Cause like, I think another thing that I realized after watching this and after watching the Nick Fuentes thing is I used to think it was outright anti-Semitism, but I actually think there also is such a privilege.
I think what I'm leaning more toward a little bit is that it's a product of being so privileged that he can't even understand why it would be shitty to a Jewish person to have Nick Fuentes on your show.
Right.
Like in his mind, weirdly, and it was kind of blew my mind when I was doing research on that part of it.
We're not going to go through that, but like when I watched the Tucker Fuentes thing and when I watched him talk about it and he's like, I have no problem with Jewish people whatsoever.
I'm just doing Israel.
There's a weird way in Lyft.
I kind of believe him in the sense that like he's so clueless as to his own privilege and to how harmful this kind of thing is that he doesn't think it's a big deal.
Yeah.
And that in itself, you can say is anti-Semitic or you can say, and it may very well maybe in the effect is, but I actually think in a weird way in his mind, he's just like, oh, no, this isn't a big deal.
So whatever.
Like, I'll just talk to him because it doesn't affect him.
And the same goes for, you know, other forms of bigotry where he doesn't care.
I don't know that he, I think he can just like be a just asking questions guy because he doesn't give a shit.
And I think there's also this element too of like, I'm sure there are people in his life that are Jewish that like he gets along with great.
Like he has no problem with them as like individual people or anything like that.
And so because it's not his identity and he doesn't think of things from an identity standpoint viewpoint that he thinks that he knows of.
Right.
That he knows of, then it really is like he can say, well, I have no problem with Jewish people because the Jewish people in my life, like I love them, you know, we get along great.
And he can't think about it from the Jewish community and the experiences that they've been through as a people and the things that might affect them as a community and not just on this individual basis.
He's so trained to get back to the point I was making.
He's so trained as are they all on the right to be like, I can talk to whoever I want, and you can't call me names ever because that's what the woke do, right?
And also, identity politics.
Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly.
You're going to use your Jewish identity to whatever.
So, like, Ben Shapiro is trying to make all these arguments.
They're not going to work with this crowd because they're all the things that you and I believe, but not anyone else on the right.
Like, they don't believe it.
Yeah.
Because they're so used to us on the left being like, Oh, that's a kind of a racist thing you're doing.
And them being like, I'm realizing it's the Tucker Carlson voice thing he does.
What racist?
You're racist.
You know, he does all that weird shit he does.
So, I guess we'll pause here.
We're barely into it, but when we come back, we're going to get into the Ben Shapiro a little more.
And then Russell Brand.
Oh, boy.
And then some random people you've never heard of, or you have, but probably the listeners probably haven't.