October 29, 2024 • 37 mins
In this episode, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz discuss the current political climate as the election approaches, sharing personal anecdotes and observations from their recent experiences. They delve into the influence of celebrities in politics, the media's portrayal of political events, and the double standards in political commentary. The conversation highlights the importance of figures who are 'uncancellable' in today's society, emphasizing the need for outspoken voices in a polarized environment. Normally is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Thursday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey guys. Here we are back on normally the show
with normalist takes for when the news gets weird, and
it's really weird because we're a week before election day.
I'm Mary Katherine Ham.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Carol Markowitz. How's it going, MK, It's good.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Look, I do not work on a campaign, so I
have the luxury of being able to sort of take
a moment with my family. Election. Yeah, so thank you
to all those doing the work out there that is
not the work that I'm doing. I got to goof
off and hang out with the Travis Mannon Foundation for
the Marine Corps Marathon dinner. I did not run, though
(00:35):
those crazy people are trying to talk to me in
it for next year. And the kids were off with dad,
riding around in like little baby ATVs and meeting ducks
and goofing off outside building fires. We got to teach
them to do that nice.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yeah, they seem like they were having a really good time.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
They were having a very good time. He put them in.
He put the babies in overalls with no shirts, which
I thought was really a look that's the look.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, sure, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
If anybody didn't know I was right of center. They
could look at the kids in the overalls with these
shirts and be like, Okay, yeah, we got it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We know where this family stands.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What about you.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
I was in Texas with my family. We were in
San Antonio and then briefly in Austin. It was fantastic
and we were there to see Billy Joel. But I
have a history buff Son, so got to see the
Alamo and that was really interesting, really cool. Davy Crockett
all about it. Learned a lot, and yeah, it was fantastic.
(01:33):
You know, it's funny. Political season in Florida and political
season in Texas should be pretty similar. But I was
in kind of left leaning areas, so you did see
quite a few Harris Wall signs. But in the center
of Austin like this house is just asking to be
egged or something.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
There's like, you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Know, noa Kamala with the K being a hammer and sickle,
and then like make America Healthy Again sign, which is
you know, the Robert F. Kennedy version of MAGA, and
they were They're just doing it loud and proud.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I like to see that on both sides. I like
to see that in areas where you are the minority,
because we should live in a country where you should
feel comfortable doing that in my old But did I
ever do it in my old neighborhood where was very
little I'm not sure. I Look, I was very outspoken publicly,
but not not in my lot lawn where my property
(02:30):
was so right.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You don't want to get it. I get it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, brave evil out there. It's interesting because so I'm
in Virginia. I'm actually in a competitive district of Virginia
this weekend, so there's a lot of activity here. You're
in Texas. These are not two places that are considered
battleground states. Nonetheless, they are places that are getting visits
from presidential candidates in the last week of an election.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Do I think it's going on?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, it used to be that that would tell you
a lot of information. Right now, some campaigns are feeling
themselves a little too much, right and they're like, we're
going to go George Bush. I can't remember it was
at two thousand, went to California right at the end,
to be like, look, we're putting down a steak California.
We're feeling good.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
When did he win California?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And did he win California. No, he did. Likelihood is
that's not happening. So this is probably what's happening with
say Trump going to Virginia. But there is some polling
in Virginia that looks closer than it should be, right,
And also Governor Younkin, the competent Republican governor of the state,
has a good operation here that has turned out rural
(03:41):
voters at huge numbers and is turning out Republicans in
large numbers for early voting, So that may be the
reason for that. On the other hand, Kamala is in Texas.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Right, and we saw a lot of all read ads
in Texas. I mean, he's definitely trying for Ted Cruz
a seat, and I guess that's the motivation there maybe
some house seats well.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I think I was trying to figure out this
Houston rally for Kamala Harris, like what's going on here
A couple things. I think there is some thought that
eventually Texas could be an emerging purplish blue state right
or at least purplish right, and so they want to
(04:24):
kind of reinforce that. I think they needed somewhere. They
wanted somewhere that they could do abortion messaging. Texas is
a heartbeat built state, and it's like Beyonce's hometown.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Right, that's really it.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
They just wanted Beyonce to show up, and so.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You have to do.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
So what's interesting is she did show up your you know,
the whole she doesn't really show up, but then she
didn't perform, which angered a lot of attendees.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah. I almost wondered if that is that better or
worse not showing up at all. I do think it's
better than lying to people and telling them she's going
to show up and then she doesn't show up. But
she did. You know, a lot of the media hype
again was that she was coming to perform, so a
lot of people thought they were going to a mini
(05:16):
Beyonce concert, right, And they didn't get a mini Beyonce concert.
They got a short speech from Kelly Roland, who, by
the way, story of her life. People even talking about
the fact that she spoke there right overshadowed for far
too long. Yeah, and then Beyonce takes the stage and
gives a three minute speech. She says, I'm not here's
(05:36):
a celebrity, here's a mom. I don't have any issue
with the speech per se. It's like a pretty rote
political speech, but it does seem like you're kind of
letting people down a bit.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
At that moment.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I think that that's absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
And look, you know, it's funny because over the weekend,
of course we'll talk about it. But Donald Trump had
his rally in Madison Square Garden and they're not tricking
any into coming to Madison Square Gardens.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We're going to have hul Kogan there.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
You know, it's not there's no you know, come here
to hear Kid Rock play, none of that, Right, it's
very much come here to hear the candidate. And he's
able to fill Medisine Square Garden that way. And she
has to say that Beyonce will be there in order
to get people to come down to her rally in Houston,
(06:26):
And it's really a tell.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I have a theory, by the way, about Beyonce and
not performing, which is that so Taylor Swift and Beyonce
are the two top performers in the world basically at
this point, right, Yeah, but the news cycle and the
Eras tour has certainly favored Taylor as the top woman
in this ranking for the past year and a half.
(06:48):
I think Beyonce is like Taylor endorsed Harris, but she's
not coming anywhere near this. I get paid a lot
of money to perform. I'm not going to be performing
for free or for a cut rate for Corobla Harris
when Taylor ain't going.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
To do that, right, And there's a lot you know
to that.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Also, Beyonce's in a questionable news cycle right now with
the P Diddy stuff. I think that she's getting a
lot of unfair criticism because you know, she's not the
one having the parties. But there's a lot of like
Beyonce New Beyonce is involved Beyonce, you know all of that.
There's a lot of like you have to bow before
Beyonce in order to survive in the music industry. She's
(07:28):
just she's getting a lot of negativity and I don't know,
maybe she agreed to endorse before this news cycle began
because it actually doesn't fit with what's going on right now.
I think she's laying low in a lot of ways
because again of the P Didty stuff, which again I
find unfair, But is that that is what's going on
with her right now?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, And there's been a shift that she used to
be a person you basically weren't allowed to have negative
feelings about or say anything enough, And I think that
has shifted a bit, as it should not to be
unfair to her, but just like people should be able
to express that like, maybe a Beyonce album is not
the revelation that everyone else thinks it is.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Without didn't love the Country album, did you?
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I actually did. I was not a hater on the
country album, although that on that single was so catchy
as to be obnoxious after a little while.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Yes, yes, I love Beyonce's music. I am a big
Beyonce fan. I've gotten into country in the last few years.
I did not love the country album. I you know,
I love her other music, but the country album did
not do it for me as a new country fan.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, I'm sort of obnoxiously middle of the road on
both Taylor Swift and Beyonce, like I like them most
of the time. I don't have big feelings.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Right, Taylor's grown on me. Having a fourteen year old daughter,
it's hard not to.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I'm at the beginning of that road, so I'm sure
I'll be in my feelings guys as we move forward. Anyway,
So let's talk about Trump's weekend. Trump held a rally
at Madison Square Garden, as you noted, and a couple
of things so that it's an interesting lineup. It's Dana White,
head of the UFC, It's doctor Phil, It's Lee Greenwood
(09:07):
is of course singing, and they all come together Tucker
Carlson speaking. Like you said, it's all sort of campaign affiliated.
It's not as many celebrity types, although Paul Kokin is
certainly an icon in his zone.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
They fill the place. And let's first talk about the
fact that it's classified in media in this way. So
here's an MSNBC chiron. Trump's Madison Square Garden rally comes
eighty five years after pro Nazi rally at famed venue. Okay,
(09:43):
and here's Larry Sabato, who used to be a pretty
well respected University of Virginia political science professor who could
be trusted on election issues. But I'll let you judge
whether you should trust him. Further, I love historical documentaries.
I'm currently watching one about the nineteen thirty nine pro
Nazi rally Madison Square Garden. Oh wait, it's a live
Trump rally. My bad.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, that's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
That is a crazy thing to say, and I think
they need to be called out on it, you know. Actually, So,
I saw Billy Joel over the weekend in Texas and
Ilia Shapiro was there as well. But Ilia tweeted he said,
those who like in Trump to Hitler and the MSG
rally to the Nazi rally isn't just smearing Trump but
minimizing Hitler Nazis, which, given the antisemitic nature of the
(10:28):
progressive left, may well be the point. He also tweeted,
so what the Nazis had a rally there, Billy Joel
had concerts there.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
What's your point?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Basically right, I'm so surprised that Billy Joel did one
hundred and fifty Nazi reenacts at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
A nice Jewish boy from Long Island.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Silly, crazy, No, I think these are insane people thoughts.
I really do, and I try to generally understand the
takes of those in opposition to me in politics, but
I do think this one is really off the wall.
By the way, just to nitpick, I don't think Madison
Square Garden building is even the same building as the
nineteen thirties, or maybe that you with your facts.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Mary cassutation, it's.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Just like the idea that this is invoking that instead
of is oh I don't know, entire life lived in
New York City.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It could be that. It could be that that he
was here.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
It might be that angle not the Nazi.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Actually, you know, there's also the point that there were
a lot of pro Israel comments made that you know,
at the rally. I saw Jews rapping to fill in,
which is a religious practice, and Israeli flags.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
It was a very welcoming event for Jews.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
And it's kind of absurd that that, again, that minimization
that Elias talking about is acceptable.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It really shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Well, and we've been watching for more than a year now,
crowds gather with terrorist organization flags, with chants that literally
for the elimination of Jews, things projected on buildings calling
for martyrdom, checkpoints for Jewish students at UCLA, right, and
(12:12):
those things, somehow are not called Nazi rallies. They're not
even called Charlottesville, which I think is a fair comparison. Yeah,
but this has become the thing that is a Nazi event.
While you see actual Israel flags in the crowd, exactly.
(12:34):
This is just crazy talk to me, right.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
And it's like permitted, You're allowed to say these insane things.
And I think that that really only happens on the left.
Only the left allowed to say outlandish, insane things and
not have their careers ruined, you know, like Alarry Sabato
of the right would be shun I actually buy people
on the right too, right, it would be like think
(12:57):
pieces by moderate rightists.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I was saying, like, I don't stand with this, and
this is unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Where where is that from the left?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Right? Well?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And in addition to the so that's one story coming
out of this right and this was basically, I think
an attempt to do sort of a mini RNC event
in New York City towards the end of this campaign. Now,
I think that it looked like maybe the people who
planned the extraordinarily successful RNC should have been more involved
(13:26):
in this one. Yeah, because you had some things that
did not hit the right notes, including a roast comic
from Texans who told some mean jokes about as roast
comics do about Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican's hispanics, right, And
I believe there was some kind of joke about Puerto
(13:47):
Rico being an island of trash right and okay, so
a mitigating that he's a comic, like that's like, let's
just put that out there. He's not saying this stuff
with a like means it sincerely. But I think when
you have the happy vibes going on, as they did
for several weeks, putting mean comic on stage, who makes
(14:10):
me joke?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Miss?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah that doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah it was a miss.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
But of course the hysteria from the left is I mean,
come on, like, you're not that offended by that joke.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Stop it.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
You know, it's something to grab onto. It's when you're
on campaigns, they call it the magic bullet. You're always
looking for the magic bullet that will take out the
other candidate. Bad joke for the Trump you know, in
the Trump era with the two assassination attempts, but that
is what it's called in campaign and they seem to
think that this joke is the magic bullet.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, they are suffering with Hispanic and Latino voters. I
think it's fair to say, hey, don't take off Hispanic
voters a week before the election with dumb jokes. Sure,
I also think that people who are inclined to vote
for Trump probably aren't the kind of people who change
their minds over that's right, bad jokes, because part of
(15:07):
the allure of Trump is to be in a different
place where we don't take offense to every single joke. Yeah,
maybe I could be wrong about this. I could be wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
It could be new voters who would take a second look.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
But I agree with you largely is that Trump is
the candidate of joking.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Is okay.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Yes, even at the expense of different groups, even at
the expense of different you know, territories and states.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yes, this is all okay. And I know I hate
the whole this is racist, Like, no, it's not.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Yeah, maybe it's anti Puerto Rican, but to anti Puerto Rico,
but it's not racist. This joke could be made about
Australia and that would be the same and there's nothing
race based about it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, and it's worth noting that George Lopez on the
trail made a joke about I'm going to laugh at
it because importantly it was a better joke. It is
a better cast.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That is important.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Ye Es, if you're funny, you're gonna get away with
more that's it, Lopez said, when Trump was talking about
building the wall, He's on the trail for Harris Walls.
When you're talking about building the wall, he said, you'd
better build that in one day because the immigrants are
going to come steal your construction supplies.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So canceled. We'll be right back on normally.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I hate the environment where it's fine for them to
have these rallies at Columbia that actually do call for
the elimination of Jews. But this gathering of Jews and
Hispanics and black voters and all types in Madison Square
Garden is a Nazi rally. And telling a joke, a
bad joke that offends people on the right is bad,
(16:48):
But telling a bad joke or a mean joke on
the left is fine.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
That's you know, that's the way it goes, the double standard.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Shall we hear a little bit about from doctor phil
who was at the rally. I was surprised that he
gave the speech. Millennia also spoke as well, a little
bit of a surprise.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Tell you what the critics are going to say when
they hear me talking about this, They're going to say, well, now,
wait a minute, come on, is it Trump a bully
and let me tell you why. The answer to that
question is no, because to be a bully, there has
to be an imbalance of power, and when there's not,
(17:25):
it's just called a debate. And he's just better at
it than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
He also said at one point, he's like, I know,
in Hollywood, if you come out and do this all
of a sudden, you're gonna have no job. But for me,
I don't need one.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It's good for him.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I mean, you know, I often think that these people
in safe positions like adoptor Phil type should be more outspoken.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
You have nothing to worry about, just say what you think.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Uncancellable people are very important to our society.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yes, you gotta have.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You gotta have Elon Musk too much, you sure? Yeah.
Dave Chappelle's who talented to be canceled Doctor Phil got
his Oprah money and ran with it and made the
best that he could out of it, and he didn't
need j all anymore. Dave Ramsey is another good example.
He's not going to lose his giant audience. He's never
been part of the mainstream to begin with.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah, so, Joe Rogan, I mean obviously.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yes, speaking of shall we play a clip from that?
Trump sat down for three hours with Joe Rogan. I
have listened not to all three hours of it, but
I have listened to it, and I thought he came
across interesting, a little like pretty low key. He was conversational.
(18:39):
Trump and Rogan seemed to enjoy him. I do think
that if Kamala were asked to do a three hour
conversation that probably wouldn't go well. I listened to her
on Brene Brown, which is kind of the these are
the mirrored existences of these campaigns. She's going on BRENEI.
Brown talking to women, He's going on Joe Rogan talking
(19:00):
to men. She went on Brene Brown, and I will
say she finally found an interviewer who will hear her
word souad and say that is so powerful. Right, But
it doesn't really change that it's word salad. But you know,
Trump and Rogan went down some weird roads though.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
That's the Rogan show, right, that is the Rogan experience.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yes, exactly. I kind of liked they talked about, you know,
he talked about getting to the White House and how
it actually did impact him, sort of the view from
the outside is, Oh, this guy's been everywhere, all these
luxurious places. He comes to the White House. What does
that mean to him? And he talked about sort of
being it's so beautiful. He kept going on about how
(19:45):
beautiful it is and the Lincoln bedroom and how long
Lincoln's bed was, and then he went into some history
about he said. He talked about how they lost their son, Tat,
his name was Tat, and they both suffered from They
didn't call it depression, they suffered from melancholy. Yeah, yeah,
and he kept saying it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yes, it definitely affected him.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
I mean, that's what's so interesting is that Donald Trump
does have another gear and he got to show it
on Rogan. And that's what Rogan is all about. That
is what people go on Rogan to do. They go
on it to be like, you know me, but here's
three hours of me and this is where my mind
goes and this is what I get into, and this
is the random knowledge I have.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I think Trump did it, and good for him. You know,
we talked about it before on here, but Kamala should
do it. She should do it.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
And the fact that she, you know, kept flirting with
the idea. But now it looks like she's definitely not
doing it.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
It's unfortunate.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Rogan even said he would be fair to her. He
wants to have a conversation. It's interesting that she doesn't think.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
She has to. Well, Rogan is not a mean interviewer. Sure,
yeah'll ask some probing questions, but he's not coming at you.
That's rights probably high.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You know, my people are nice, right right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
But yeah, I think look, and I also just like
long form in general because it lets people air out
their thoughts and you learned interesting things. One of the
things I think that's a reason they shouldn't have had
this comic, by the way, is because you've had so
many of these humanizing moments from Trump where he has
been a better version of himself in the last couple
of weeks, and to have him have to take responsibility
(21:26):
for something that wasn't him going rogue is not what
you want. Here is Rogan and Trump going down one
of the strange paths that they went down about whales
and windmills.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
It's no different than leaving garbage on the ground.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
How about in New Jersey. Off the coast of New Jersey,
they want to build that people are going crazy, not
to build them.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
But we have them.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
The whales are washing up on shore right, So in
fifty years they had one whale come ashore, now they
had like eighteen come into last year.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
What is the what is happening with the whales? I've
read about this.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Well, they say that the wind drives them crazy. You know,
it's a vibration because you have those you know those
things that fifty story buildings, some of them.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Right, and they're super sensitive to vibration.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
They have those.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You know, the wind is rushing, the things are blowing.
It's a vibration and it makes noise. You know what
it is. I want to be a whale psychiatrist. It
drives the whales freakin crazy, and something happens with them.
But for whatever reason, they're getting washed up on shure
and you know, and yet the environment, the environments, they
(22:33):
don't talk about it. I think there's nothing uglier. I
see it in Scotland, I see it all.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Over the world.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You have this beautiful valley, it's been there for you know,
in civilization thousands of years, but millions of years, and
all of a sudden you have these ugly windmills up.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
He cares about this issue this is like a Trump
core issue, like we all have them. The odd thing
that we really really care about windmills is Trump's think.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I love uh. I think he hates them because they're ugly. Right,
He's like, I build buildings. This is nonsense. You're using
all this material and building this iy sore.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
But the whale thing, he seems to really care about
these whales too. He's like, you're bothering the whales.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
He wants to work on their mental health with them, right,
he wants to be the Brene Brown of Wales.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Yes, in retirement, George W. Bush became a painter Donald
Trump whale psychologist.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So that like this was picked out of the interview
to sort of my opponents sort of act like he
was way crazy. But no, this is great. It's a
real thing that's happening. It's a funny way to talk
about it. They're talking about the downsides of environmental policies,
which they're correct never get talked about in mainstream sources.
(23:52):
And I don't I don't think if that's the worst
clip from that that you have had a bad day,
You've had a good day.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Fully.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Also, there's no AI images of a whale on the
couch sitting from now and I like that.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
And you know, we talked about this in a previous episode,
but Elon Musk had to prove that his rockets weren't
hitting whales, and that is somehow seen as okay.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
But wanting to protect.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Whales from you know, the vibrations of windmills, that's not.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Who knew how much whale content there would be in
the last two weeks of this selection.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Who knew that this would be a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
On the on the topic of both new media and
mental health issues. AOC and Tim Walls were doing a
sort of a Twitch stream of them playing Madden. Yeah,
and I want to say that I think this is
a cute idea. I like it.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I like it. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I was to say, I don't know if they pulled
it off, but I do think the idea of people
playing Madden and chatting about politics sure is something that's
content that I would consume. Yes, who is the audience this?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
So they're trying to reach men, right, and they're like
men play video games.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
They use Twitch.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
I know AOC actually does use Twitch, so it's cool.
But they're trying to reach like the especially.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Like blue collar men, it's not AOC. He should have
played Twitch with I don't even know Fetterman, John Fetterman.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
He should have gotten on there and played twitch with him.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
But Fetterman's been sort of absent from this campaign. I mean,
he does speak out for Kamala, but I think him
being so pro Israel, they've sort of put him by
the wayside.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
A long time ago, I saw John Fetterman one night
I was splipping channels, way before he was well known.
I saw him give an interview and I was like,
this guy is going to be trouble. He was a
hardcore socialist, but he was extremely smart, extremely well spoken,
and I was like, ooh, this is someone the right
should fear.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
And then of course he goes on to become a
US Senator.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
And now, of course I think he's awesome on his
Israel support, but he is still very of the LFE.
He should have maybe done a video game twitch with
somebody more masculine.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, I think the I think AOC is a is
an entree into new media spaces because she is quite
good at knowing what the tone should be in these areas.
Maybe they were just like AOC's hot and is on
Twitch and knows how to play man.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
So yeah, young, I'm trying to understand.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
It just doesn't make any sense to me that they
would do it with her, like, especially as they're trying
to kind of say we're not this far left thing,
and AOC is known for being pretty far left.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And to that point, let's hear a clip of AOC
talking to Tim Walls about her concerns about the twenty
twenty twenty four election and moving forward.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I do not want to do four more years of
resistance nonsense under Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Okay, like, good god, Like, do we remember.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
What it was like waking up every day and it
was some shit going on?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I remember that. I would say a lot of that
was self inflicted.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Nonsense, is very much how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah, we're actually on the same page, AOC. So if
you could contain yourself while taking in information during a
Trump presidency and not make up, say Russiagate, that would
keep you a little bit more sane in the he
becomes president.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Yeah, And you know, if if the media can maybe
relax a little bit and the Washington Post change their
tagline to democracy dies in darkness, and then it did
die right is dead.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
This is this is of not only is AOC concerned
about what will happen to her, but already the Washington
Post in La Times newsrooms are losing it. Because the
Washington Post and LA Times decided not to endorse a candidate.
This will now. I think presidential endorsements by newspapers are
(28:03):
relics of the past, as newspapers are basically relics of
the past. At this point, it does not offend except
in your post.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Let's just get that out there.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, obviously, it does not surprise me or offend me
that they would endorse Kamala Harris. I expected to see that.
I think if they were going to make this decision,
they probably should have done it a year ago and
announced it because it looks weird right before the election.
But the newsrooms are not taking it.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Well, yeah, they're they're in a bit of a huff
about it. It is interesting the non endorsement, right, So
you're right. I don't think an endorsement matters. It only
matters when, and even then it doesn't really matter. But
if they endorse the other candidate, that would be crazy. Obviously,
if any of these people endorsed Trump, it would be
a gigantic story. It's interesting that the La Times came
(28:53):
out with its reasoning and said that basically Kamala is
not anti Israel enough, but the Washington Post hasn't really
said anything. Jen Ruben hardest hit because she was She's
a columnist at the Washington Post, and she was applauding
the La Times people resigning when the La Times hadn't endorsed.
But of course she still is working at the Washington
(29:15):
Post despite USA they didn't endorse Kamala. And it's interesting
because she's also you know, she's supposed to be the
conservative and she's like as far left as anybody there.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, so that's that's where we are.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I believe she called Kamala Harris one of the greatest
speakers of all time. I'm not really even paraprage, but yeah,
a bunch of employees are quitting, a bunch of liberals
are canceling their subscriptions, and I think that energy could
be better used for like knocking doors and doing phone
(29:46):
banking if you're going to do activism this week, I'm
sort of surprised at how mental everybody went over it,
and I don't think it serves anyone. I think their
concern is these guys, the owners of the places, are
rich guys who are bending to Trump in anticipation of
being punished by Trump. One I would say, if you
(30:08):
wanted to like appease Trump in some way, you could
just make your reporters be fairer and not crazy crazy
and like not things like comparing his events to Nazi rallies.
So that would be a more effective way to do
that too. I feel like the people who canceled over
the La Times thing once they found out that he subscribed,
(30:29):
Like what when they found out that the reason that
La Times didn't endorse is because, oh, Kamala was too supportive,
They're like, oh, scramble, what do we do now? Virtue signal?
So I know, I wish them all luck. The Washington
Post on their Instagram this week seemed to be preparing
its readership for uh, the possibility of a loss in
(30:52):
the near future.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Is that right? You know?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
They were like, look into you know, spiritual practices.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Religion is good again.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yes, So best of luck to everyone as we get
through this week.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
One more thing about non endorsements. You know, I was
thinking about this, Taylor Swift and Beyonce endorse Travis Kelcey
and jay Z have not. And it's interesting because Kamala
Harris needs these you know, the men vote right, that's
where she's weakest, and they couldn't get those two to
issue endorsements, especially jay Z. I think that he would
(31:28):
be a natural Kamala Harris voter. He seems pretty on
the left with Beyonce, I don't think, maybe not Travis Kelcey.
But it's interesting that they didn't lock down those endorsements.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
What do you think it is interesting? I do think
there is a general sort of lack of enthusiasm for
a person who hasn't proven that she's good at this.
That's it, and like, so you're not going to get
those extra.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Ones, right, We're going to take a short break and
come right back with normally.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I think we have one more story or in case
you missed it, and I do not want to miss
it because it is an important one.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Casts So, there was a study done through the National
Institute of Health, and I'm going to read you a
little bit from the New York Times on the study.
The doctor Johanna Olsen Kennedy began the study in twenty fifteen,
as part of a broader, multi million dollar federal.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Project on transgender youth. She and her colleagues recruited ninety
five children from across the country and gave them puberty blockers,
which stave off the permanent physical changes like press or
a deepening voice that could exacerbate their gender distress known
as dysphoria. In the nine years since the study was
founded by the National Institute of Health, and as medical
(32:43):
care for the small group of adolescents became a searing
issue in American politics, doctor Olsen's Kennedy's.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Team has not published the data.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Asked why, she said the findings might fuel the kind
of political attacks that have led to the bands of
the youth gender treatments in more than twenty states, which
will be soon considered by the Supreme Court, she said,
I do not want our work to be weaponized, which
to me just means only we can weaponize our work.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah. I think this is a giant story.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
It's the fact that New York Times even covered it
is kind of a plus. It's insane that she got
all this funding and doesn't want to release the research
because it doesn't say what she should would say this.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Is not science.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
We saw a lot of this during COVID, of course,
and it's a big deal that giving kids these hormones
has some really bad outcomes that people don't know about.
I think a lot of people think that it's harmless,
largely harmless. And of course the conversation has moved in
(33:49):
the last few years, and the conservative side has managed
to penetrate some of this bubble. But when you hold
back scientific studies that don't prove what you hope it
would prove, that is not science.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah. In fact, I would go even further and say
it's the opposite of science. Right. You're doing an experiment,
you're finding out the results of that experiment. And when
the results of that experiment are what are not these
sort of like ridiculously policed point of view that you've
been enforcing, you withhold those results by the way that
we paid for right, We paid a lot of money
(34:25):
for this. And the thing is, I think a lot
of the revolt against experts, the lack of public trust,
particularly in health experts. At this point, again, some of
the allure of Trump is yeah, he does not always
now I will I'll take some hits at him for
trusting Fauci in the beginning of the pandemic. But he
(34:48):
is more willing to listen to more voices than the
sort of these doctors of the world, right, because those
doctors of the world and those experts end up being
propaganda to find out, end up being people who aren't
interested in finding out whether the thing they're doing is
literally harming children. Yeah, a lot of Americans look at
(35:10):
the idea of pubity blockers and go instinctively that seems
like not a great idea, right, but they installed.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
This idea, right that it's okay.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
I think that I would say that even ten years ago,
I probably believed that they were harmless.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That was the line. The line was they were harmless.
And back then I believed what health officials told me.
So that's changed.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
We've been on a journey, we really have. But I
think this is a lot of a lot of sort
of the undertone of the campaigns, these two campaigns fighting
each other, is about a lack of trust in the establishment,
a lack of trust in the experts. And I was
listening to Kamala on Brene Brown actually, and the two
of them were bemoaning the idea that Trump would turn
(35:57):
to non experts, that they did not approve of people
who would have power who are not of the established
expert elite class, to which many Americans respond fantastic, good, fantastic.
And I do think they have this incredible blind spot
despite the fact that this is in the New York
Times and they should read that because that's the kind
(36:18):
of thing they read. That this is a problem.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
Right, this will be largely ignored, though obviously I think
some people on the left, the usual kind of people
who touch on this kind of stuff, will pick it up.
I actually first saw it on Jesse Single's Yeah Twitter.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
But in general the left will ignore.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
This, which was as a detriment to the children who
are being treated. Because when you want to make drastic
this is all I'm saying with the pandemic with this,
When you want to make drastic changes, when you want
to do things that might not be able to be
clawed back, you need to have some data for me,
and convincing data.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Data. Let's let's get some and let's follow it.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
I don't know, crazy crazy ideas.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
From normally more wild. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
On normally normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can
subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with
us at normallythepod at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening,
and when things get weird, act normally
Hey guys. Here we are back on normally the show
with normalist takes for when the news gets weird, and
it's really weird because we're a week before election day.
I'm Mary Katherine Ham.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Carol Markowitz. How's it going, MK, It's good.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Look, I do not work on a campaign, so I
have the luxury of being able to sort of take
a moment with my family. Election. Yeah, so thank you
to all those doing the work out there that is
not the work that I'm doing. I got to goof
off and hang out with the Travis Mannon Foundation for
the Marine Corps Marathon dinner. I did not run, though
(00:35):
those crazy people are trying to talk to me in
it for next year. And the kids were off with dad,
riding around in like little baby ATVs and meeting ducks
and goofing off outside building fires. We got to teach
them to do that nice.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yeah, they seem like they were having a really good time.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
They were having a very good time. He put them in.
He put the babies in overalls with no shirts, which
I thought was really a look that's the look.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, sure, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
If anybody didn't know I was right of center. They
could look at the kids in the overalls with these
shirts and be like, Okay, yeah, we got it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We know where this family stands.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What about you.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
I was in Texas with my family. We were in
San Antonio and then briefly in Austin. It was fantastic
and we were there to see Billy Joel. But I
have a history buff Son, so got to see the
Alamo and that was really interesting, really cool. Davy Crockett
all about it. Learned a lot, and yeah, it was fantastic.
(01:33):
You know, it's funny. Political season in Florida and political
season in Texas should be pretty similar. But I was
in kind of left leaning areas, so you did see
quite a few Harris Wall signs. But in the center
of Austin like this house is just asking to be
egged or something.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
There's like, you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Know, noa Kamala with the K being a hammer and sickle,
and then like make America Healthy Again sign, which is
you know, the Robert F. Kennedy version of MAGA, and
they were They're just doing it loud and proud.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I like to see that on both sides. I like
to see that in areas where you are the minority,
because we should live in a country where you should
feel comfortable doing that in my old But did I
ever do it in my old neighborhood where was very
little I'm not sure. I Look, I was very outspoken publicly,
but not not in my lot lawn where my property
(02:30):
was so right.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You don't want to get it. I get it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, brave evil out there. It's interesting because so I'm
in Virginia. I'm actually in a competitive district of Virginia
this weekend, so there's a lot of activity here. You're
in Texas. These are not two places that are considered
battleground states. Nonetheless, they are places that are getting visits
from presidential candidates in the last week of an election.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Do I think it's going on?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, it used to be that that would tell you
a lot of information. Right now, some campaigns are feeling
themselves a little too much, right and they're like, we're
going to go George Bush. I can't remember it was
at two thousand, went to California right at the end,
to be like, look, we're putting down a steak California.
We're feeling good.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
When did he win California?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And did he win California. No, he did. Likelihood is
that's not happening. So this is probably what's happening with
say Trump going to Virginia. But there is some polling
in Virginia that looks closer than it should be, right,
And also Governor Younkin, the competent Republican governor of the state,
has a good operation here that has turned out rural
(03:41):
voters at huge numbers and is turning out Republicans in
large numbers for early voting, So that may be the
reason for that. On the other hand, Kamala is in Texas.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Right, and we saw a lot of all read ads
in Texas. I mean, he's definitely trying for Ted Cruz
a seat, and I guess that's the motivation there maybe
some house seats well.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And I think I was trying to figure out this
Houston rally for Kamala Harris, like what's going on here
A couple things. I think there is some thought that
eventually Texas could be an emerging purplish blue state right
or at least purplish right, and so they want to
(04:24):
kind of reinforce that. I think they needed somewhere. They
wanted somewhere that they could do abortion messaging. Texas is
a heartbeat built state, and it's like Beyonce's hometown.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Right, that's really it.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
They just wanted Beyonce to show up, and so.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You have to do.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
So what's interesting is she did show up your you know,
the whole she doesn't really show up, but then she
didn't perform, which angered a lot of attendees.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah. I almost wondered if that is that better or
worse not showing up at all. I do think it's
better than lying to people and telling them she's going
to show up and then she doesn't show up. But
she did. You know, a lot of the media hype
again was that she was coming to perform, so a
lot of people thought they were going to a mini
(05:16):
Beyonce concert, right, And they didn't get a mini Beyonce concert.
They got a short speech from Kelly Roland, who, by
the way, story of her life. People even talking about
the fact that she spoke there right overshadowed for far
too long. Yeah, and then Beyonce takes the stage and
gives a three minute speech. She says, I'm not here's
(05:36):
a celebrity, here's a mom. I don't have any issue
with the speech per se. It's like a pretty rote
political speech, but it does seem like you're kind of
letting people down a bit.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
At that moment.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, I think that that's absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
And look, you know, it's funny because over the weekend,
of course we'll talk about it. But Donald Trump had
his rally in Madison Square Garden and they're not tricking
any into coming to Madison Square Gardens.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
We're going to have hul Kogan there.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
You know, it's not there's no you know, come here
to hear Kid Rock play, none of that, Right, it's
very much come here to hear the candidate. And he's
able to fill Medisine Square Garden that way. And she
has to say that Beyonce will be there in order
to get people to come down to her rally in Houston,
(06:26):
And it's really a tell.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I have a theory, by the way, about Beyonce and
not performing, which is that so Taylor Swift and Beyonce
are the two top performers in the world basically at
this point, right, Yeah, but the news cycle and the
Eras tour has certainly favored Taylor as the top woman
in this ranking for the past year and a half.
(06:48):
I think Beyonce is like Taylor endorsed Harris, but she's
not coming anywhere near this. I get paid a lot
of money to perform. I'm not going to be performing
for free or for a cut rate for Corobla Harris
when Taylor ain't going.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
To do that, right, And there's a lot you know
to that.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Also, Beyonce's in a questionable news cycle right now with
the P Diddy stuff. I think that she's getting a
lot of unfair criticism because you know, she's not the
one having the parties. But there's a lot of like
Beyonce New Beyonce is involved Beyonce, you know all of that.
There's a lot of like you have to bow before
Beyonce in order to survive in the music industry. She's
(07:28):
just she's getting a lot of negativity and I don't know,
maybe she agreed to endorse before this news cycle began
because it actually doesn't fit with what's going on right now.
I think she's laying low in a lot of ways
because again of the P Didty stuff, which again I
find unfair, But is that that is what's going on
with her right now?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, And there's been a shift that she used to
be a person you basically weren't allowed to have negative
feelings about or say anything enough, And I think that
has shifted a bit, as it should not to be
unfair to her, but just like people should be able
to express that like, maybe a Beyonce album is not
the revelation that everyone else thinks it is.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Without didn't love the Country album, did you?
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I actually did. I was not a hater on the
country album, although that on that single was so catchy
as to be obnoxious after a little while.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Yes, yes, I love Beyonce's music. I am a big
Beyonce fan. I've gotten into country in the last few years.
I did not love the country album. I you know,
I love her other music, but the country album did
not do it for me as a new country fan.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, I'm sort of obnoxiously middle of the road on
both Taylor Swift and Beyonce, like I like them most
of the time. I don't have big feelings.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Right, Taylor's grown on me. Having a fourteen year old daughter,
it's hard not to.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
I'm at the beginning of that road, so I'm sure
I'll be in my feelings guys as we move forward. Anyway,
So let's talk about Trump's weekend. Trump held a rally
at Madison Square Garden, as you noted, and a couple
of things so that it's an interesting lineup. It's Dana White,
head of the UFC, It's doctor Phil, It's Lee Greenwood
(09:07):
is of course singing, and they all come together Tucker
Carlson speaking. Like you said, it's all sort of campaign affiliated.
It's not as many celebrity types, although Paul Kokin is
certainly an icon in his zone.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
They fill the place. And let's first talk about the
fact that it's classified in media in this way. So
here's an MSNBC chiron. Trump's Madison Square Garden rally comes
eighty five years after pro Nazi rally at famed venue. Okay,
(09:43):
and here's Larry Sabato, who used to be a pretty
well respected University of Virginia political science professor who could
be trusted on election issues. But I'll let you judge
whether you should trust him. Further, I love historical documentaries.
I'm currently watching one about the nineteen thirty nine pro
Nazi rally Madison Square Garden. Oh wait, it's a live
Trump rally. My bad.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, that's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
That is a crazy thing to say, and I think
they need to be called out on it, you know. Actually, So,
I saw Billy Joel over the weekend in Texas and
Ilia Shapiro was there as well. But Ilia tweeted he said,
those who like in Trump to Hitler and the MSG
rally to the Nazi rally isn't just smearing Trump but
minimizing Hitler Nazis, which, given the antisemitic nature of the
(10:28):
progressive left, may well be the point. He also tweeted,
so what the Nazis had a rally there, Billy Joel
had concerts there.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
What's your point?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Basically right, I'm so surprised that Billy Joel did one
hundred and fifty Nazi reenacts at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
A nice Jewish boy from Long Island.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Silly, crazy, No, I think these are insane people thoughts.
I really do, and I try to generally understand the
takes of those in opposition to me in politics, but
I do think this one is really off the wall.
By the way, just to nitpick, I don't think Madison
Square Garden building is even the same building as the
nineteen thirties, or maybe that you with your facts.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Mary cassutation, it's.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Just like the idea that this is invoking that instead
of is oh I don't know, entire life lived in
New York City.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It could be that. It could be that that he
was here.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
It might be that angle not the Nazi.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Actually, you know, there's also the point that there were
a lot of pro Israel comments made that you know,
at the rally. I saw Jews rapping to fill in,
which is a religious practice, and Israeli flags.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
It was a very welcoming event for Jews.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
And it's kind of absurd that that, again, that minimization
that Elias talking about is acceptable.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It really shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Well, and we've been watching for more than a year now,
crowds gather with terrorist organization flags, with chants that literally
for the elimination of Jews, things projected on buildings calling
for martyrdom, checkpoints for Jewish students at UCLA, right, and
(12:12):
those things, somehow are not called Nazi rallies. They're not
even called Charlottesville, which I think is a fair comparison. Yeah,
but this has become the thing that is a Nazi event.
While you see actual Israel flags in the crowd, exactly.
(12:34):
This is just crazy talk to me, right.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
And it's like permitted, You're allowed to say these insane things.
And I think that that really only happens on the left.
Only the left allowed to say outlandish, insane things and
not have their careers ruined, you know, like Alarry Sabato
of the right would be shun I actually buy people
on the right too, right, it would be like think
(12:57):
pieces by moderate rightists.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I was saying, like, I don't stand with this, and
this is unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Where where is that from the left?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Right? Well?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And in addition to the so that's one story coming
out of this right and this was basically, I think
an attempt to do sort of a mini RNC event
in New York City towards the end of this campaign. Now,
I think that it looked like maybe the people who
planned the extraordinarily successful RNC should have been more involved
(13:26):
in this one. Yeah, because you had some things that
did not hit the right notes, including a roast comic
from Texans who told some mean jokes about as roast
comics do about Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican's hispanics, right, And
I believe there was some kind of joke about Puerto
(13:47):
Rico being an island of trash right and okay, so
a mitigating that he's a comic, like that's like, let's
just put that out there. He's not saying this stuff
with a like means it sincerely. But I think when
you have the happy vibes going on, as they did
for several weeks, putting mean comic on stage, who makes
(14:10):
me joke?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Miss?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah that doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah it was a miss.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
But of course the hysteria from the left is I mean,
come on, like, you're not that offended by that joke.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Stop it.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
You know, it's something to grab onto. It's when you're
on campaigns, they call it the magic bullet. You're always
looking for the magic bullet that will take out the
other candidate. Bad joke for the Trump you know, in
the Trump era with the two assassination attempts, but that
is what it's called in campaign and they seem to
think that this joke is the magic bullet.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
And I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, they are suffering with Hispanic and Latino voters. I
think it's fair to say, hey, don't take off Hispanic
voters a week before the election with dumb jokes. Sure,
I also think that people who are inclined to vote
for Trump probably aren't the kind of people who change
their minds over that's right, bad jokes, because part of
(15:07):
the allure of Trump is to be in a different
place where we don't take offense to every single joke. Yeah,
maybe I could be wrong about this. I could be wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
It could be new voters who would take a second look.
Speaker 5 (15:23):
But I agree with you largely is that Trump is
the candidate of joking.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Is okay.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Yes, even at the expense of different groups, even at
the expense of different you know, territories and states.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yes, this is all okay. And I know I hate
the whole this is racist, Like, no, it's not.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Yeah, maybe it's anti Puerto Rican, but to anti Puerto Rico,
but it's not racist. This joke could be made about
Australia and that would be the same and there's nothing
race based about it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, and it's worth noting that George Lopez on the
trail made a joke about I'm going to laugh at
it because importantly it was a better joke. It is
a better cast.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That is important.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Ye Es, if you're funny, you're gonna get away with
more that's it, Lopez said, when Trump was talking about
building the wall, He's on the trail for Harris Walls.
When you're talking about building the wall, he said, you'd
better build that in one day because the immigrants are
going to come steal your construction supplies.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
So canceled. We'll be right back on normally.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I hate the environment where it's fine for them to
have these rallies at Columbia that actually do call for
the elimination of Jews. But this gathering of Jews and
Hispanics and black voters and all types in Madison Square
Garden is a Nazi rally. And telling a joke, a
bad joke that offends people on the right is bad,
(16:48):
But telling a bad joke or a mean joke on
the left is fine.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
That's you know, that's the way it goes, the double standard.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Shall we hear a little bit about from doctor phil
who was at the rally. I was surprised that he
gave the speech. Millennia also spoke as well, a little
bit of a surprise.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Tell you what the critics are going to say when
they hear me talking about this, They're going to say, well, now,
wait a minute, come on, is it Trump a bully
and let me tell you why. The answer to that
question is no, because to be a bully, there has
to be an imbalance of power, and when there's not,
(17:25):
it's just called a debate. And he's just better at
it than anybody else.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
He also said at one point, he's like, I know,
in Hollywood, if you come out and do this all
of a sudden, you're gonna have no job. But for me,
I don't need one.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It's good for him.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I mean, you know, I often think that these people
in safe positions like adoptor Phil type should be more outspoken.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
You have nothing to worry about, just say what you think.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Uncancellable people are very important to our society.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yes, you gotta have.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You gotta have Elon Musk too much, you sure? Yeah.
Dave Chappelle's who talented to be canceled Doctor Phil got
his Oprah money and ran with it and made the
best that he could out of it, and he didn't
need j all anymore. Dave Ramsey is another good example.
He's not going to lose his giant audience. He's never
been part of the mainstream to begin with.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah, so, Joe Rogan, I mean obviously.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yes, speaking of shall we play a clip from that?
Trump sat down for three hours with Joe Rogan. I
have listened not to all three hours of it, but
I have listened to it, and I thought he came
across interesting, a little like pretty low key. He was conversational.
(18:39):
Trump and Rogan seemed to enjoy him. I do think
that if Kamala were asked to do a three hour
conversation that probably wouldn't go well. I listened to her
on Brene Brown, which is kind of the these are
the mirrored existences of these campaigns. She's going on BRENEI.
Brown talking to women, He's going on Joe Rogan talking
(19:00):
to men. She went on Brene Brown, and I will
say she finally found an interviewer who will hear her
word souad and say that is so powerful. Right, But
it doesn't really change that it's word salad. But you know,
Trump and Rogan went down some weird roads though.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
That's the Rogan show, right, that is the Rogan experience.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yes, exactly. I kind of liked they talked about, you know,
he talked about getting to the White House and how
it actually did impact him, sort of the view from
the outside is, Oh, this guy's been everywhere, all these
luxurious places. He comes to the White House. What does
that mean to him? And he talked about sort of
being it's so beautiful. He kept going on about how
(19:45):
beautiful it is and the Lincoln bedroom and how long
Lincoln's bed was, and then he went into some history
about he said. He talked about how they lost their son, Tat,
his name was Tat, and they both suffered from They
didn't call it depression, they suffered from melancholy. Yeah, yeah,
and he kept saying it.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yes, it definitely affected him.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
I mean, that's what's so interesting is that Donald Trump
does have another gear and he got to show it
on Rogan. And that's what Rogan is all about. That
is what people go on Rogan to do. They go
on it to be like, you know me, but here's
three hours of me and this is where my mind
goes and this is what I get into, and this
is the random knowledge I have.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I think Trump did it, and good for him. You know,
we talked about it before on here, but Kamala should
do it. She should do it.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
And the fact that she, you know, kept flirting with
the idea. But now it looks like she's definitely not
doing it.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
It's unfortunate.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Rogan even said he would be fair to her. He
wants to have a conversation. It's interesting that she doesn't think.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
She has to. Well, Rogan is not a mean interviewer. Sure,
yeah'll ask some probing questions, but he's not coming at you.
That's rights probably high.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You know, my people are nice, right right.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
But yeah, I think look, and I also just like
long form in general because it lets people air out
their thoughts and you learned interesting things. One of the
things I think that's a reason they shouldn't have had
this comic, by the way, is because you've had so
many of these humanizing moments from Trump where he has
been a better version of himself in the last couple
of weeks, and to have him have to take responsibility
(21:26):
for something that wasn't him going rogue is not what
you want. Here is Rogan and Trump going down one
of the strange paths that they went down about whales
and windmills.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
It's no different than leaving garbage on the ground.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
How about in New Jersey. Off the coast of New Jersey,
they want to build that people are going crazy, not
to build them.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
But we have them.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
The whales are washing up on shore right, So in
fifty years they had one whale come ashore, now they
had like eighteen come into last year.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
What is the what is happening with the whales? I've
read about this.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Well, they say that the wind drives them crazy. You know,
it's a vibration because you have those you know those
things that fifty story buildings, some of them.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Right, and they're super sensitive to vibration.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
They have those.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You know, the wind is rushing, the things are blowing.
It's a vibration and it makes noise. You know what
it is. I want to be a whale psychiatrist. It
drives the whales freakin crazy, and something happens with them.
But for whatever reason, they're getting washed up on shure
and you know, and yet the environment, the environments, they
(22:33):
don't talk about it. I think there's nothing uglier. I
see it in Scotland, I see it all.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Over the world.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You have this beautiful valley, it's been there for you know,
in civilization thousands of years, but millions of years, and
all of a sudden you have these ugly windmills up.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
He cares about this issue this is like a Trump
core issue, like we all have them. The odd thing
that we really really care about windmills is Trump's think.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I love uh. I think he hates them because they're ugly. Right,
He's like, I build buildings. This is nonsense. You're using
all this material and building this iy sore.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
But the whale thing, he seems to really care about
these whales too. He's like, you're bothering the whales.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
He wants to work on their mental health with them, right,
he wants to be the Brene Brown of Wales.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Yes, in retirement, George W. Bush became a painter Donald
Trump whale psychologist.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So that like this was picked out of the interview
to sort of my opponents sort of act like he
was way crazy. But no, this is great. It's a
real thing that's happening. It's a funny way to talk
about it. They're talking about the downsides of environmental policies,
which they're correct never get talked about in mainstream sources.
(23:52):
And I don't I don't think if that's the worst
clip from that that you have had a bad day,
You've had a good day.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Fully.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Also, there's no AI images of a whale on the
couch sitting from now and I like that.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
And you know, we talked about this in a previous episode,
but Elon Musk had to prove that his rockets weren't
hitting whales, and that is somehow seen as okay.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
But wanting to protect.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Whales from you know, the vibrations of windmills, that's not.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Who knew how much whale content there would be in
the last two weeks of this selection.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Who knew that this would be a hot topic.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
On the on the topic of both new media and
mental health issues. AOC and Tim Walls were doing a
sort of a Twitch stream of them playing Madden. Yeah,
and I want to say that I think this is
a cute idea. I like it.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
I like it. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I was to say, I don't know if they pulled
it off, but I do think the idea of people
playing Madden and chatting about politics sure is something that's
content that I would consume. Yes, who is the audience this?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
So they're trying to reach men, right, and they're like
men play video games.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
They use Twitch.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
I know AOC actually does use Twitch, so it's cool.
But they're trying to reach like the especially.
Speaker 5 (25:14):
Like blue collar men, it's not AOC. He should have
played Twitch with I don't even know Fetterman, John Fetterman.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
He should have gotten on there and played twitch with him.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
But Fetterman's been sort of absent from this campaign. I mean,
he does speak out for Kamala, but I think him
being so pro Israel, they've sort of put him by
the wayside.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
A long time ago, I saw John Fetterman one night
I was splipping channels, way before he was well known.
I saw him give an interview and I was like,
this guy is going to be trouble. He was a
hardcore socialist, but he was extremely smart, extremely well spoken,
and I was like, ooh, this is someone the right
should fear.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
And then of course he goes on to become a
US Senator.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
And now, of course I think he's awesome on his
Israel support, but he is still very of the LFE.
He should have maybe done a video game twitch with
somebody more masculine.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, I think the I think AOC is a is
an entree into new media spaces because she is quite
good at knowing what the tone should be in these areas.
Maybe they were just like AOC's hot and is on
Twitch and knows how to play man.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
So yeah, young, I'm trying to understand.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
It just doesn't make any sense to me that they
would do it with her, like, especially as they're trying
to kind of say we're not this far left thing,
and AOC is known for being pretty far left.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And to that point, let's hear a clip of AOC
talking to Tim Walls about her concerns about the twenty
twenty twenty four election and moving forward.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I do not want to do four more years of
resistance nonsense under Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Okay, like, good god, Like, do we remember.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
What it was like waking up every day and it
was some shit going on?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I remember that. I would say a lot of that
was self inflicted.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Nonsense, is very much how I think about it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah, we're actually on the same page, AOC. So if
you could contain yourself while taking in information during a
Trump presidency and not make up, say Russiagate, that would
keep you a little bit more sane in the he
becomes president.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Yeah, And you know, if if the media can maybe
relax a little bit and the Washington Post change their
tagline to democracy dies in darkness, and then it did
die right is dead.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
This is this is of not only is AOC concerned
about what will happen to her, but already the Washington
Post in La Times newsrooms are losing it. Because the
Washington Post and LA Times decided not to endorse a candidate.
This will now. I think presidential endorsements by newspapers are
(28:03):
relics of the past, as newspapers are basically relics of
the past. At this point, it does not offend except
in your post.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Let's just get that out there.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, obviously, it does not surprise me or offend me
that they would endorse Kamala Harris. I expected to see that.
I think if they were going to make this decision,
they probably should have done it a year ago and
announced it because it looks weird right before the election.
But the newsrooms are not taking it.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Well, yeah, they're they're in a bit of a huff
about it. It is interesting the non endorsement, right, So
you're right. I don't think an endorsement matters. It only
matters when, and even then it doesn't really matter. But
if they endorse the other candidate, that would be crazy. Obviously,
if any of these people endorsed Trump, it would be
a gigantic story. It's interesting that the La Times came
(28:53):
out with its reasoning and said that basically Kamala is
not anti Israel enough, but the Washington Post hasn't really
said anything. Jen Ruben hardest hit because she was She's
a columnist at the Washington Post, and she was applauding
the La Times people resigning when the La Times hadn't endorsed.
But of course she still is working at the Washington
(29:15):
Post despite USA they didn't endorse Kamala. And it's interesting
because she's also you know, she's supposed to be the
conservative and she's like as far left as anybody there.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Now.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, so that's that's where we are.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I believe she called Kamala Harris one of the greatest
speakers of all time. I'm not really even paraprage, but yeah,
a bunch of employees are quitting, a bunch of liberals
are canceling their subscriptions, and I think that energy could
be better used for like knocking doors and doing phone
(29:46):
banking if you're going to do activism this week, I'm
sort of surprised at how mental everybody went over it,
and I don't think it serves anyone. I think their
concern is these guys, the owners of the places, are
rich guys who are bending to Trump in anticipation of
being punished by Trump. One I would say, if you
(30:08):
wanted to like appease Trump in some way, you could
just make your reporters be fairer and not crazy crazy
and like not things like comparing his events to Nazi rallies.
So that would be a more effective way to do
that too. I feel like the people who canceled over
the La Times thing once they found out that he subscribed,
(30:29):
Like what when they found out that the reason that
La Times didn't endorse is because, oh, Kamala was too supportive,
They're like, oh, scramble, what do we do now? Virtue signal?
So I know, I wish them all luck. The Washington
Post on their Instagram this week seemed to be preparing
its readership for uh, the possibility of a loss in
(30:52):
the near future.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Is that right? You know?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
They were like, look into you know, spiritual practices.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Religion is good again.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yes, So best of luck to everyone as we get
through this week.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
One more thing about non endorsements. You know, I was
thinking about this, Taylor Swift and Beyonce endorse Travis Kelcey
and jay Z have not. And it's interesting because Kamala
Harris needs these you know, the men vote right, that's
where she's weakest, and they couldn't get those two to
issue endorsements, especially jay Z. I think that he would
(31:28):
be a natural Kamala Harris voter. He seems pretty on
the left with Beyonce, I don't think, maybe not Travis Kelcey.
But it's interesting that they didn't lock down those endorsements.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
What do you think it is interesting? I do think
there is a general sort of lack of enthusiasm for
a person who hasn't proven that she's good at this.
That's it, and like, so you're not going to get
those extra.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Ones, right, We're going to take a short break and
come right back with normally.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I think we have one more story or in case
you missed it, and I do not want to miss
it because it is an important one.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Casts So, there was a study done through the National
Institute of Health, and I'm going to read you a
little bit from the New York Times on the study.
The doctor Johanna Olsen Kennedy began the study in twenty fifteen,
as part of a broader, multi million dollar federal.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Project on transgender youth. She and her colleagues recruited ninety
five children from across the country and gave them puberty blockers,
which stave off the permanent physical changes like press or
a deepening voice that could exacerbate their gender distress known
as dysphoria. In the nine years since the study was
founded by the National Institute of Health, and as medical
(32:43):
care for the small group of adolescents became a searing
issue in American politics, doctor Olsen's Kennedy's.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Team has not published the data.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Asked why, she said the findings might fuel the kind
of political attacks that have led to the bands of
the youth gender treatments in more than twenty states, which
will be soon considered by the Supreme Court, she said,
I do not want our work to be weaponized, which
to me just means only we can weaponize our work.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah. I think this is a giant story.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
It's the fact that New York Times even covered it
is kind of a plus. It's insane that she got
all this funding and doesn't want to release the research
because it doesn't say what she should would say this.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Is not science.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
We saw a lot of this during COVID, of course,
and it's a big deal that giving kids these hormones
has some really bad outcomes that people don't know about.
I think a lot of people think that it's harmless,
largely harmless. And of course the conversation has moved in
(33:49):
the last few years, and the conservative side has managed
to penetrate some of this bubble. But when you hold
back scientific studies that don't prove what you hope it
would prove, that is not science.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah. In fact, I would go even further and say
it's the opposite of science. Right. You're doing an experiment,
you're finding out the results of that experiment. And when
the results of that experiment are what are not these
sort of like ridiculously policed point of view that you've
been enforcing, you withhold those results by the way that
we paid for right, We paid a lot of money
(34:25):
for this. And the thing is, I think a lot
of the revolt against experts, the lack of public trust,
particularly in health experts. At this point, again, some of
the allure of Trump is yeah, he does not always
now I will I'll take some hits at him for
trusting Fauci in the beginning of the pandemic. But he
(34:48):
is more willing to listen to more voices than the
sort of these doctors of the world, right, because those
doctors of the world and those experts end up being
propaganda to find out, end up being people who aren't
interested in finding out whether the thing they're doing is
literally harming children. Yeah, a lot of Americans look at
(35:10):
the idea of pubity blockers and go instinctively that seems
like not a great idea, right, but they installed.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
This idea, right that it's okay.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
I think that I would say that even ten years ago,
I probably believed that they were harmless.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That was the line. The line was they were harmless.
And back then I believed what health officials told me.
So that's changed.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
We've been on a journey, we really have. But I
think this is a lot of a lot of sort
of the undertone of the campaigns, these two campaigns fighting
each other, is about a lack of trust in the establishment,
a lack of trust in the experts. And I was
listening to Kamala on Brene Brown actually, and the two
of them were bemoaning the idea that Trump would turn
(35:57):
to non experts, that they did not approve of people
who would have power who are not of the established
expert elite class, to which many Americans respond fantastic, good, fantastic.
And I do think they have this incredible blind spot
despite the fact that this is in the New York
Times and they should read that because that's the kind
(36:18):
of thing they read. That this is a problem.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
Right, this will be largely ignored, though obviously I think
some people on the left, the usual kind of people
who touch on this kind of stuff, will pick it up.
I actually first saw it on Jesse Single's Yeah Twitter.
Speaker 4 (36:35):
But in general the left will ignore.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
This, which was as a detriment to the children who
are being treated. Because when you want to make drastic
this is all I'm saying with the pandemic with this,
When you want to make drastic changes, when you want
to do things that might not be able to be
clawed back, you need to have some data for me,
and convincing data.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Data. Let's let's get some and let's follow it.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
I don't know, crazy crazy ideas.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
From normally more wild. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
On normally normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can
subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with
us at normallythepod at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening,
and when things get weird, act normally
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