Hello the Internet, and welcome to season three, sixteen, episode four.
Of der Nilly's gay production of iHeartRadio.
This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness. And it's Thursday, December seventh, twenty twenty three, twelve seven two three good.
What could that be? Oh, that's right. It's Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, a day that will live in infamil also International Civil Aviation Day, National Cotton Candy Day, National Slime Day, National Illinois Day. Shout out Justin and my family, the Grays in Illinois. And also and our guest today, yes, y yeah, making that Illinois getting illinoisy in here makes yeah. I think it is today the first night of hanuku to I'm men just check because you know, everybody is
on their own calendar. Where the fuck is it? See, this is how I'm gonna find it.
I'ma find it calendars anti sis Yeah, the Google search is anti sament.
Yeah.
I was taking this long. It was taking this long anyway. No, and also the first so we got all that happened. Wow, one day, everyone fantastic, amazing. What was the other what was the other thing? Pearl Harbor Illinois, Illinois, Illinois, Illinois. That's the one. Yeah, all right, well my name is something to say was the one I was for some reason, I was searching what day Easter is this year? Because wait, what.
This is?
This is just like dad ship, like I was. I was taught. My kids are asking what day Easter was this year, and it seemed especially early. It's like March thirty first this year, which seems seems too early to me. Anyway, I'm not something he.
Could do his Hanka party and then just knock out Easter with the sand and I got put up the decorations.
Yeah.
Well because like that, those those roaming holidays where like the you know, the date is not the same every year, can.
Really throw you for a loop some easy, you know.
Anyways, my name is Jack O'Brien aka Jojo. Found a bone and thought it was a femur. Doctor said it's much too tall, pointed out the little round bits at the bottom, said it must be giants balls, giant sack, giant sack, giant sack. That ain't no dino bone. That is courtesy of Blinky Heck.
Get back the beetles.
Get back to where we were in archaeology when we thought dinosaur bones were testicles. I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co host mister Miles gram Well.
Greg, I remember when I remember, I remember when the brop was mine and how the moist peasdant was that day. Hey, if you're little, can't let go full of meaty pace and when you're out there no tup aware I was out of sauce, but it wasn't because I didn't know the casts.
I just knew the loss. I completely fucked the fucking Melodi. But don't worry. Does Miles E Gray? Does mis Gray? Does Miles need Gray? Definitely? Okay.
Shout out to Angris Turamarth on the discord for that Gnarls Barkley edit of Crazy Angrist Turamarth.
Yeah, mouthful, just a delicious word. There's two words to say, enjoying it.
Well done, Miles, well done Angrist, and I believe we are thrilling, is it? Yeah?
That yeah, he had a way with fake name. I think that was I feel anyway, correct me if I'm wrong. That cant it's that that hit.
My Yeah, we are thrilled to be joined by one of the best podcasts hosts doing it anywhere. My old friend from the Correct Day is a Jeopardy champion, the host of the Wonderful podcast secretly incredibly fascinating.
It's Ali, Thanks so much for having me.
And there's an Illinois day. I had no idea. Yeah, we had several weird holidays in Illinois, but I didn't know there was one for the state.
Wait, there's weird. Wait what other weird holidays are there?
They'll have weird Yes, maybe I shouldn't call it weird. But there's one called Kashmir Pulaski Day that is a sort of Polish American holiday specific to the Chicago area because there was huge in cration from Poland. But it's a revolutionary war hero and that would just be a day off from school. Sometimes sometimes you would get a day and march off and it's Kashmir Polaski Day.
Oh shoot, okay, I love a state specific day off. That's mess true, since they have Patriots Day, I believe or like that.
Yeah, yeah, it's the day of the marathon. So that that's yeah, like a little local holiday.
I don't think we I don't think we have one in California.
California. Yeah, No, I don't think so. No, you just get to live in California exactly.
California is just confidently really cool all the time. Are like, have you heard of Kashmir Pulaski?
And then here I met in California. I'm like, go on about Kasimir Pulaski. Yeah, I know none of his exploits.
We were talking about days off, like unofficial days off before we started recording that, like when we would get to when our parents would like approve, like let us take a day off school. They're truly nothing better.
Oh yeah, because it feels like you're like a hostage negotiator and you've like pulled off the greatest deal. Like especially like in my house, never I tried to fake illness. My mom was onto my shit. I only did it like twice successfully in my whole life. Is when I put hot water from the kettle in my mouth and then put the fucking thermometer in so it looked like I had a fever even though my head didn't have a fever. Yeah, it sounds so painful. Well, I let
it cool down like I was getting boiling water. Although the first time I put it in I fucked up and didn't let it cool it so my mom checked the first time I tried it, it said I had a fever of one hundred and twenty. She's like, well, She's like, so you're going to be dead, and I'm sorry, I'm joking. Was like, no, we gotta cut you. We got you need surgery. And then the one time I got off was when I think I was telling you, Oh yeah, I was telling you. Hdeo Nomo threw a
no hitter for the Dodgers against the Rockies. My mom, I was like, can I go to school the next day? She's like, yeah, yeah, this this feels right, this feels right. Wow, yeah, that's amazing. I think that's why I have such an affinity.
So the Double A Tournament, the first two rounds of the n C Double A Tournament, I would my dad would occasionally take me out of school if there was like a couple.
Of games nearby.
We would drive and watch those, and those are some of the best.
What about you?
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I had any recurring ones, but I know that my dad would get taken out of school by his uncle for like a sick day thing. And then the little family joke was that the cure were braught worse at the White Sax Stadium, and so they would just take a tax game. Oh yeah, really that feels like that almost brought I love that story.
He's like, yeah, it's not happening though. Yeah, He's like your healthy ideas. Yeah, we're not going to Komiski fam. So once you sit down.
And study your books, it's truly Illinois Day. I love it. Yeah.
Oh yeah, well you had your own state wide holiday. I think our parents were just trying to make up for the fact that we didn't have those.
Oh my my father in law he had He has a friend who he's been doing this for like fifty years or something, where it was called Dentist Day and you tell all your friends who have like jobs and stuff, be like, Y'll just call in a you got a dental appointment and come through to my house because I'm having a fucking party. And like, so people would come throughout the day basically all using the same excuse of like dental appointment to go to the party at this
person's house. And I was like, that's fucking smart. They're like we all use the same bullshit excuse at the same damn time.
Wow, so yeah, yeah, traditionally, hope you're not like blowing up anyone's spot right now.
No, not, they're all we were all retired, they're not. Yeah, right, guy.
Who always goes to the dentist the same day every year and then comes in hungover the next day, maybe that, Yeah, wearing the same thing from two days prior. All right, Alex, we're thrilled to have you here. We're gonna get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're gonna tell our listeners a couple of things we're
talking about. There's a new kind of run of articles about like just kind of imagining, in the very realistic scenario where Trump wins the second term, what that second term would look like.
And like there's.
There's one Washington Post article that was just like, yeah, like nobody'd be able to stop him. He'd just be president for life. I'm like, that's not the.
Rules, right, Like that can't be.
But it was this conservative commentator who was writing the Washington Post. It was just like, yeah, we should stop pretending like this isn't happening. He's going to be the president for the rest of your natural life until he's dead. So we'll talk about that and what Trump is saying about it, because he seems like he's on board. Idy surprisingly, and we have our Time magazine person of the Year who the labor right, Yeah, no, organized labor.
No no, no, no, oh my no, well maybe disorganized labor.
How many paper is that gonna sell?
Hell?
Yeah no, they went Taylor.
So we're gonna talk about this is like the first entertainer I think they've ever given it to other Like Lindberg was the first one, and I think in retrospect that was probably like more of a pop culture phenomenon than anything, Like he was just like a hot guy who flew a plane, but people were obsessed with planes and they were like, wave with the future, pal this this guy's the man. But yeah, like there's no singers
who have won this before. It's pretty wild. So we'll talk about that before we get to any of it, Alex, we do like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history?
The actual most recent thing, which was surprising because I'm always googling stuff and researching for my podcast, But the actual most recent thing was just Red Pandas because we went to the zoo recently saw mcgaddin. They're fantastic. They're just really good right in your day. Go see a red panda online and in person if you can.
It's great.
What's the Are they big? They're smaller, right, red pans. They're like weight, They're way smaller than like normal panda or traditional bears. Yeah. Yeah.
They they're basically called pandas because they eat bamboo and part of their habitat is modern China and otherwise they're more related to raccoons and weasels and stuff, so they're a smaller size and they're absolutely adorable there. It's very fun to watch them move and climb and somehow their first tasts perfect all of the time. It's a great animal, really into it.
I always just feel like I see that that Like there's that one video of the red pandas like going like this to each other. It is an audio. Oh sorry, they like they like greet each other like by raising like getting on their hind legs and then raising their Oh okay, I'm looking at it like hey, and I'm like little are they dangerous? Because like every time I see them, my girl, that's a pet right there? I mean obviously, morality aside I'm like, that would be a
fucking dope, fucking Petrea. I'm gonna wife that animal's white material right there? What are you saying? I mean, just in a French of way.
The greeting looks like they've heard the thing that you're like supposed to do when you see a bear a bear, you're supposed to like make yourself big, right, Like they heard that. When they see each other, they're like, yeah, as big as possible.
Oh man, yeah, I don't I don't know if that's too simple of but it's just awesome. And and then uh, I also heard that giant pandas are getting taken out of US ZEUS or have been taken out because of relations with the country of China. So red pandas are the most exciting zoo panda right now in our country?
Are are the big like the great pandas? Are those like on lease?
Yeah?
They're technically still either Chinese property or citizens or I don't know how the laws work exactly, but they're always being borrowed when they're in the US. Yeah right, they never take them back right right right. Wow, See that's called leverage. Right there, They're like, oh, you want to fuck around with semiconductors. Probably taken our pandas.
Yes, we possess the list animals.
Oh but does red panda? Somebody let me know. Can you kick it with a red panda and not be worried about like it ripping your face off a ship? Yeah?
The movie Turning Red was somewhat misleading, I will say, because.
In what what did you take from it? Exactly?
That you're going to fly to the real world that I could turn into party isn't real, folks, doesn't exist?
Oh, it doesn't. It's giant though.
The red panda is in that she she turns into a red panda that is the size of a giant panda, right, and.
Yeah, red pandas like a fox or a medium sized dog size.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's pretty pretty chill.
So I saw these at a zoo in West Virginia and they are absolutely adorable. Out your background. You have a zoo background, right, you've worked at zoo's.
Yeah, at a zoom call. I was like, that looks like a normal bedroom you have zoo? Why do I do what you say? Animals? Yeah? I was.
I was a zoo tour guide at Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago. Illinois Day. We're keeping it going. And I loved that. When I was four, I wanted to do it, and then when I was eighteen I got to. And yes, and I love going to zoos, especially around Thanksgiving because they're open every day usually because zoos know they have to feed the animals and care for the animals anyway, so they're often open almost all the days of the year because like why not sell tickets? Yeah, yeah, great holiday thing.
Why now. I feel like I know a lot of like parents with younger kids in LA They're all like, oh, you got the zoo pass, like we got the annually, like we go win. We just pull up whenever to the La Zoo and my recollect I'm going to the La Zoo in like fifteen years. I'm like, yo, you've been the fuck the La Zoo that fucking place. I'm like, no, it's cool, it's cool now.
So I'm I'm with them. It's good And yeah. I was just brought to the Brookfield Zoo as a kid to make myself run. Yeah, like like go run around with your brother and get tired.
It was great. Yeah. Yeah.
Then they turn around and you're like in the enclosure, like.
Yeah, zoos.
I've been told like that there are some unexpectedly good zoos, like that the Fresno Zoo is really good in cool the southern California area, Like the La Zoo doesn't have a great reputation in LA. Like you don't hear a lot of people talk about it outside of LA. But it's a lot of fun. It isn't a little bit
of disrepair. Like you can tell that a lot of the like buildings for for the humans were built in like the eighties and nineties, you know, like the stores, the motifs that they've selected or kind of eighties and nineties era.
But yeah, just go check out your local, your local zoo. I mean also, I don't know Fresno colin Fresnel, so cow is a bit of a stretch because isn't like that dry Okay, I mean maybe like in the big maybe in the larger scheme of things, but I think a fresdent. I'm like, oh, that's we're about to be in the Bay area. Well, Alex, what something you think is overrated?
The guy Napoleon Way guy, awful guy that guy and I saw the movie yesterday. The movie I think really doesn't like him, and I really appreciate that about the movie. They make it like a weird jerk who no one should like all of the time. It's great.
Wait, so what what is your beef with Napoleon? Because I'm actually pretty good friends with him.
Oh what's your famige? Bro? Yeah? Like what's your fucking problem?
No?
Yeah, they like moderating the discord and everyone's very mad at made typing right now. He is famous, but mainly for being a general and he basically just got like everyone in Europe killed for about fifteen years for his own personal gain, Like he didn't really have goals beyond being an emperor, and he kind of ruined the best parts of the French Revolution. He was a horrible guy personally.
He institute at slavery in France after the revolution abolished it, like he should not have any good reputation at all. And the movie just treats him like he's a weird guy who's bad. So that's very good.
Yeah.
The Joaquin Special, Yeah, I weird recommend it seeing it just to see how weird it is. It's not a good movie, but it's a lot of just him shuffling around being unpleasant and also having a fully American accent. I assume French people are really upset about this movie. It's not a good Napoleon depiction.
Mmm, like does he like fully American?
Like?
Does he have a regional accent? Do they go like bronks with it?
Or is it just.
Speaking TV English?
Hey, I'm invading?
Yeah that's yeah, sure, fucking talking to Napoleon right now?
Dog, Yo, you know you're speaking to him, bro, because I'll I'll go get him. He's about the head over to Corsica, Bro for his exile. I'll do that shit right now. Did he have though? He had?
I think more than twenty mistresses is the estimation, and probably picked it up.
I just always thought that was like a weird like historical myth or I didn't know if it was true, but I always for some reason people like, yo, he have syphilist was the thing I've heard about Napoleon. But yeah, that could just be based on bad rumors that have lasted for centuries.
Now, yeah, we just turned him into like an angry short cartoon character, like that's just how history worked. They're like, yeah, he's like picture Danny DeVito trying to get Shorty, but like more more angry and that's who he is. But it feels like he's the first leader that is like similar to the leaders we had, Like just a narcissist like that, that is what was driving the whole thing. He was like I he guys heard about those narcissism shit. This shit goes hard. This is a great way to
go through life. And everyone just was unprepared for it, you know.
Yeah, yeah, I read the long biography of him last year and the like. Even people in France were kind of unprepared for him because he was very from Corsica, which a lot of French people thought was like separate and different, and they even thought he had a weird regional accent from Corsica. Like people would talk about how he spoke funny from a French perspective, and yeah, I think he just decided he was going to be the military dictator of the Earth and that's not like a
great goal. I think heroes should have better goals.
Yeah, here those bad ideas to have like inceptioned in your brain that you can't shake. Yeah, Like God, I just can't get rid of this notion that everybody should be bowing to me in the whole world yeah, oh that's not good for anybody. Man, Well let me finish under the thread of death.
Oh okay, that's what I'm saying.
So I've been saying man works, man child, Ridley Scott though he's he's just on a on a heater of of like making highly watchable not good movies. Let's like where he's at. That House of Gucci thing, was like what a great time at the movies and you just like walk away and you're like, man, that wasn't good.
What the fuck was that?
But like what a blast? Yeah, I like, I'm very intrigued. I'm always yeah, I always come with people are like it's not good, but like you should definitely go see it. And that was like definitely my review of the House of Gucci too. It's like, not not a good movie, but check it out, check better you better go. It's gonna make time disappear and stick with you in weird ways.
Didn't he also do a Columbus movie with Gerard dep Pard That fourteen eighty two film was at him or did he write rhythm? He Oh yeah, he directed it. Yeah, dude. So he's on a fucking tear of being like yelling this guy fucking He was just trying to figure out the new world for everybody. Man complicated, really weird guy.
Yeah, this movie made me reappreciate Gladiator, where he could just make up an exciting guy. Have to like to pick the guy who's horrible.
Yeah, the Gladiator of Syphilis. Though you you asked that like a gotcha question when you ask me, I.
Know, I did it. I did it as if everything I said that was preceding it was meaningless, because there was mainly just to get to the part that's what now that I read it, they were suspecting that's what was what led to his death potentially, like the symptoms that he was displaying there, like plus his you know, his habits of having many partners like yeah, you may have been that took him down.
Yeah, and he was like devolving towards the end, supposedly like making bad military decisions that could also just be power and being fame famous, being fame.
What Alex is something you think underrated?
Yeah, this is a candy tip. There is an amazing candy in Canada called Coffee Crisp, and it's very good and I would really like to order some. I will probably get some later it's apparently hard to get in the US. Wikipedia wrongly told me it's at Wegmans. It's not at Wegmans. But anyway, Coffee Crisp. It's a candy bar.
It's really good and I'm guessing it tastes like peanuts.
It is. We have a friend in Canada. They drove down a while ago and like brought us some just basically gas station candy, and this thing blew my mind.
It is.
It's a vanilla wafer like cookie and then soft coffee flavored candy filling in the wafer, and then coated and chocolate, so vanilla chocolate coffee altogether. It's just amazing. And you can get it for like a nickel in Canada.
Yeah.
Oh, you can get a thirty pack on Amazon, but the page is titled Nestle Coffin Crisp Coffee by that.
Don't buy that. I would stick steer clear of that. I probably just yeah, hopefully one of your listeners or our listeners, can you know, just can traffic it down for you.
Yeah, I would love something. It's great. It's like it's fantastic. There's not enough coffee flavored candy that's like normally available there's fancy kinds, but you can't just like get that.
I just I love the slogan on this box of like the twenty four pack of coffee Crisp. It just says, coffee Crisp makes a nice light snack. I think so used to like American marketing. That's like, you fucking die if you don't need seven of these assholes. Like it's like, d this makes a nice light snack coffee Crispright.
Yeah yeah, or like a paragraph about like our corporate philosophy. Yeah, this one's just like from the nineteen seventies.
Yeah, a crisp light snack for you. Oh so you're a Are you a coffee ice cream fan, Alex? Yes? Okay, so you like do you? And are you a regular coffee drinker? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, okay yeah, wow, okay take it.
And really all like bitter flavors of stuff I'm pretty into too, especially as I've I've aged a little bit, Like when you're a little kid, you just want to catch up on everything, But now I like bitter, weird, dark flavors.
Yeah, so all our tastes are childish compared to yours, is what you're saying. You like to talk about food because you just like to chew some aspirin tablets. You're more grown up than us. I get star and Nis just the actual plant, and I just chew on that all day, very very delicious, awesome. Yeah.
I was just reading a review of Barber Streisand's thousand page biography or memoir, and they were talking about her being like this huge coffee ice cream fan, and that's just it's like one of those things that they're just people who are like, yeah, no, why would you ever have anything else besides coffee flavored stuff? Like that's how my mom is too, Like it's just like, yeah, loves
coffee ice cream, and I just don't see it. It's like such a specific thing that I just like, yeah, it's just it's not like it's not for me, I guess, but yeah, Barber Streisand's like, I'm just happy to eat coffee ice cream until I die after I finish this memoir, just like I'm.
Out, baby, I'm out, and that after that going to my McDonald's downstairs. Fuck with me exactly.
All right, let's take a quick break, we'll come back, we'll talk about Donald Trump.
We'll be right back.
And we're back, We're back, And yeah, it seems like people are starting to come to terms with the possibility of a second Trump term.
In their own ways.
There's been a number of articles about the possibility of Trump's becoming president again and becoming a dictator. Yeah Napoleon style lady with syphilis, you know what I mean.
But like, yeah, I feel like a lot of the there are a lot of there've been just I think for the last year, I think I mean since he left office, people were like, wait till this guy comes back, like he's he's he's a raptor testing the fences, and he's the next time he goes for he's probably gonna
do it better than the last time. And we've seen a lot of these quotes and like headlines, which I think half are intended for, like to help like people understand like what's at stake if you don't support Joe Biden. But then the other half is also, dude, it's like this is actually kind of serious and like what does anyone care? Maybe this is happening, or the way we report on presidential races have been like who's gonna win
rather than like, uh, what's this guy saying? So there have been quotes from his allies that suggests he's like, yo, he ain't leave it. Like if he gets in, he ain't leave it. I mean he might if something might happen that would eventually oust you know, oust him, But in his mind, if he's there, he's holding onto that thing for dear life. He also has a website that's like literally we've talked about this project twenty twenty five.
It's like literally outlining his plan to destroy the federal government, and it's put together by like very smart lawyers and like people who understand like how to potentially dismantle like the bureaucracy is in a way that benefit Trump and installing maga flunkeys, et cetera.
But yeah, yeah, he's not going if he wins this time, he's not going to the White House like with a look like he just saw a ghost on his face, like the first time, remember that like first ship to the White House where he's like, oh, what have I done? Like now he's going with like fucking armed guards ready to just like take Biden to the Hague or yeah or whatever.
But then they're like they're like, actually, Donald, while you're here, why don't you have a seat two. Yeah, because we got you here at the Hague. Yeah, yeah, you got any any other former presidents with you? Oh all right,
that'll do. That'll do. But yeah, it's clear that like all the warning sirens coming out of the media has, from the perspective of the right, created like a narrative for them to push back on, to be like, oh shit, they're like they're doing the thing where they're gonna they're gonna alert the voting populace about how dangerous Donald Trump is and we need to kind of like maybe push back on that. JD. Vance was saying, you know, people need to take a chill pill, because like all this
stuff is just worrying. It's just for no reason. That's not what's going on. Others are just very dismissive and laughing off the idea that Trump wants to become some kind of dictator, and that seems to be the tactic like with this second campaign, as it relates to like these very autocratic goals of his, is to treat the media's you know, reaction to his plans as these like lib freakouts, so his supporters and others that aren't that engaged can just mark it as like it's like the
media overreacting. Again. I mean, look what he was, He that bad? I don't know. But meanwhile, there are many people who are completely unaware, you know too, There's like there's a huge part of the like voters who like when it comes to November of twenty twenty four, they'll do what they do. Others might not even be motivated
to vote. But that's where like we're seeing him or the party sort of play into the thing of like out loud saying these dark things and like allowing it to be in the Washington Post or New York Times. But those people ain't reading that shit. So it's just like, yeah, yeah, we're all good. We're all good. But meanwhile, his like public statements make it very clear what his plans are,
which is like revenge by any means. When he said like the vermin that he's gonna fucking seek out and you know, we finally get revenge on And this doesn't affect the support at all with his supporters. They all
want in on the revenge tour. Yeah, but yeah, like so the the reason like I like I'm bringing this up though, is because like he's there was a Handity town hall that happened recently, and clearly Handity knew that like all this talk about how Trump's going to be a dictators, like, don't scare the fucking voters, Like, let's maybe like back off off that a little bit. He tried to change the optics by giving him some softball questions. And this was Trump like, just so you know, this
is Hannity. He's like earlier in this event, he was like, and you're not going to like abuse your power, right, like this very unequivocally, and then tell me like what like they're doing now? And that's what He's like, Oh fuck, that's not that's not the answer we need. So here is his second go round of trying to get Trump to say, yeah, like you're not like gonna like fucking be a dictator anything. Right. You almost have to go to a break. I want to go back to this one.
Issue though, because the media has been focused on this and attacking you.
Under no circumstances. You are promising America tonight, you would never.
Abuse power as retribution against anybody.
Except for day one except what he's going pressing, except for day one, meaning.
He's going I want to close the border, and I want to drill.
That's not that's that's not that's not retribution.
I'm gonna be.
I'm gonna be, you know, he keeps I love this guy. He says, you're not going to be a dictator.
I said no, no, no other than day one.
But he's trying to be. It's like part of him wants to be, like to wink at the things like you know what's coming, mushroom, Mussolini, baby, load up. Or he's also kind of like in this thing, it's like, yeah, by closing the border and drilling and maybe throwing my enemies in prison, maybe that's the party's not saying out loud, but yeah, it's very interesting, is under those drills. Yeah, I did.
I have not heard a lot of clips of like Sean Hannity doing stuff, and when it is, it's usually him like fighting with somebody. It's really sweet to hear Sean Hannity trying to help a guy like right, so when you say day one, you mean you mean just your policies, right, you mean just like it's very cute and sweet and the durable of him. That's great.
This guy what it did? Shit? Look at him trying to help me this day one. Okay, well I'm gonna be a dictator. Maybe they're gonna call me Robespiere. Bro just waiting, fucking wait, So yeah.
Like Beta Sean Hannity, very exciting, I'm very ad bored.
Well you're not. But you don't mean it, do you? You don't, ah, come on.
And you know this is the part of each act break where I start getting a little antsy because I haven't taken a hit off my vape for five minutes.
So yeah, I don't know. They like one of the.
Washington Posts had this opinion piece by a conservative commentator, but I think it's like a never Trumper conservative commentator and they're basically like, yeah, comparing him to the power grabbing Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The lengthy article says neither the US Constitution nor the Supreme Court could prevent Trump being president for life if he wanted, which like.
All right, Joe, you gotta do it now, then, Bro, you gotta do it now if the if the laws are that flimsy, then would be like the bodies should be like, actually, I'm I'm godhead for life, right.
Like why why is this? We're just agreeing with that we're just like, yeah, it turns out like he can kind of do whatever he wants, because that's how serious this country is.
I mean, like, remember we talked about this, and then after January sixth, there was like this whole thing, we gotta we gotta codify these rules because clearly people don't like if it's not written down into law. They're like, well, I ain't no law, I could just fucking steal this. I'll just fucking say I don't agree with the outcome, and I'm the president. Still, yeah, what happened to all
the codification? I mean, I was this is where you know, you have you have yet really great allies of the right wing takeover and Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema as well as many others that are just I mean, I just don't it's weird. I think there's just this. Also, the energy we get from politicians is sort of like, yeah, dude, it's fine. This dude's fucking like, I don't know what
the fuck he's saying, don't worry about it. And then on the other hand, they're like, no, this fucking guy's gonna fucking do something, and you're like, well, then how do you factor into all of this? But if it really is, like can you show like because the will to sort of protect the you know, the American democracy like that dissipated so quickly in Biden's first year that now like we're I don't know, like what the answer is, and if the only answer is just to be like,
well then just breathlessly vote for like Joe Biden. That's also a little problematic for me because I'm like, there's we have to look at these presidencies as a way to keep building on something and have progress. Granted that's I don't know how realistic that is at this point, but it's just like all of it is just very disorienting, where it's like is it an existential threat or is it not? And if it is, what are you doing at this in with all these seats of power to
try and do something about it? Because otherwise it just seems like y'all don't care either way what happens.
Yeah. Yeah, And I I am so happy that people are making big predictions of how bad Donald Trump could be because he like did a January sixth He's that dangerous already in real life, right, It's ridiculous that anybody is trying to tell people to take a chill pill about him. It's he did he fomented an assault on the United States capital, and if he were anybody else, we would have like rounded him up with our military.
But right, you know, yeah, but he's very popular with a lot of a lot of certain type of people.
I mean, I think that's why, like with all the support for Biden going up and down, I mean, like a year is truly like in eternity and politics. I mean like when we were I remember like twenty nineteen going to twenty twenty, We're like, I don't know, man, he might get a second term, and then COVID fucking hit and completely upended everything. I'm not saying there's gonna be some other pandemic, but like, things happen and people's
calculate as changes. But like right now, it's not like the big A lot of the stories I'm seeing from Democrats are like, oh, they're going to stop using Bidenomics because it's just not like resonating with people. And I'm like, there's a lot more to be talking about than just like what the hell good of a catchphrase Bidenomics is? Right, But yeah, it seems like kind of a mess.
We should be saying a kind of Biden right now, we're winning.
There we go. We don't worry, guys.
We've got a group of the highest paid political operatives in Washington just focus testing various phrases around the clock.
This one's in the bag.
I do feel like I just have this sense that Democratic strategists and like people in Congress are like behind the scenes being like, guys, it's in the bag for Biden, Like, yeah, people the bad right now. But like nobody's going to actually vote Trump into office, Like they've seen how crazy it is and they've seen You've seen like how they
actually have voted in the past few elections. And it just feels it feels like there's like something that they think they know that the rest of us don't know about this election, or else they would have their hair on fire, Like it feels like everybody should with staring down the barrel of this shit.
You know. Yeah, I think it's like it's also knowing like when to shoot the shot in the campaign. It's like they can't turn on the fire alarm till we're
a little bit closer to election day. You know what, I mean because like you start doing that now, yeah, it'll it'll last for a couple of months, but like you need it to be like you need to hit fever pitch in like the week before election day to get that turnout or whatever your voter registration drives are because and that's what I think makes it just also so cynical too, where they're like, dude, don't war, don't warn them about the collapse of American democracy, Like we're
not gonna really take it seriously to like maybe like three weeks out from the Yeah, yeah, then yeah, it's got to be a concentrated rollout.
Okay, if we learned anything, we won't scale. I won't scale Otherwise. We have the PR team from Barbie. Okay, we're this is gonna be fun. We have the PR team from Barbie. They're telling us to just keep our powder dry.
Sit back.
Yeah wait, also Barbie nomics slam.
Yeah, okay, actually we're good here, uh justin please cut that out. We have to get this clip it out and send it right to the button. The Biden team and maybe a vice presidential run from Miss Barbie just could thrown it out there.
Could you imagine, like it like that kind of level of panic, like from the DNC, We're like, fuck, dude, I think Taylor Swift might have to be his running day, Like I think we're gonna have to do that. I honestly like, I don't know what else. I don't know what else is gonna move the fucking needle. In some of these swings state it's like maybe, like we did the polling, people like it. No, I'm on a positive that conversation has happened, like in higher, higher halls of
power than I want to believe. Yes, I think look what it did for fucking Travis Kelsey in the NFL.
People were out on the NFL people used to say that was like modern day like barbaric slavery, like just like you know, like just all these black players and like a white quarterback and all these head injuries and their disposable bodies, and now people.
Fucking everyone loves it again because of Taylor. That is.
That's a life I've never thought about it being one of the people running either of the major political parties. And just as you go through life, whenever a celebrity crosses your mind or radar, you just have the thought like should I make them the president? Yeah, would that work for me? Like what a weird way to live life?
That was right, like in the post like Clinton, I remember a lot in like the George W. Bush era, Michael Moore would talk a lot about Oprah being the president, like how we got to get Oprah to run? And and I think that was like a popular idea is like we just need I mean, you see the way she can move books.
You guys like, yes, I wish you can sell slankets. I mean, and that's like it's different, but that's almost happened mainly with generals. I read a biography of True Men and they talked about how Eisenhower got talked to by both parties before he took a look at politics, because they were just like, you'll definitely get elected, and you're awesome, Like he's much more impressive than a celebrity, but it was an option before because he was not in politics yet. And they were like, this is a
free agent. Can I add him to my fantasy team?
I guess, yeah, exactly, Like this guy's on waivers you guys, a season winner just sitting out there on the waiver wire. Is he more impressive than all celebrities. We're about to find out because he is now in the same category as Taylor this year's.
Person of the Year.
We'll be right back, and we're back, We're back and yeah, anyway, Vice President Taylor.
Have you read Taylor's autobiography yet or Taylor's biography?
No, I'm getting to. I know Harry Truman was a huge fan. But that's why I know.
Walter Isaacson is working on it.
The guy. It's going to be added to his Genius trilogy. Taylor puts out a book. It's like the US Constitution, Taylor's version.
Yeah, Taylor Swift has joined the likes of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin on and you know many others.
I'm sure.
Yeah, the FDR as one of the most influential people in modern history. It is like so, first of all, we talked about how like the nominees included labor, which felt like, oh, that's definitely the pick, right, like that labor has had a huge year this year. They fucking stopped the entertainment industry, they stopped the and like bent the auto industry to their will. Like there's growing approval for the labor industry or for labor, which is unprecedented
in modern America. Like that the idea of labor having a high approval rating in the United States, like very recently, it was like what, No, that's fucking socialist. Fuck that, man, So like there there's this huge movement, and that huge movement does not move papes if you put it on the cover. So they were like, fuck that. And also it's kind of a socialist choice for They're.
Like, yeah, let Jacobin make that their Person of the Year. We're gonna go with Taylor Swift.
But this is the first time, Like I was going back through the list of people who have won who like the People of the Year. They've never had anybody this just like entertainment.
They have they have. It was Bono and Bill Gates and Melinda Gates were on the cover one year, but that was for their humanitarian work. Yeah sure, but I'm just saying Bono did make it. Bono, Okay, Bono was like in the background. Yeah, he's typically part of the group that was celebrated as the People of the Year. So but he is, as I look at this, he's the only person. Maybe Ted Turner like is another sort of media adjacent but yeah, yeah, not.
Like it's usually like billionaire They're like, yeah, we don't take people seriously unless they've made decisions that led to the deaths of many thousands of people. That's that's our kind of our sweet spot.
He's looking at you, Kissinger seventy two. Yeah, right there.
So I don't know, it feels like kind of a safe pick, a greedy pick, and that you want to like, if you want that NFL halo, that Taylor Swift halo that even improved the NFL's approval ranking, then like this is probably the smart move from a business perspective. It does re raise the question of like is this accurate?
Like it do what we you know, we've talked about how religion has gone away or gone like the number of people who identify with religion has gone down significantly in the past few decades, and suddenly we now have these global pop stars who have fan bases that obsess over them and treat them like they are a sacred text, like treat their work like it's a sacred text. So like, maybe she is kind of a uniquely powerful, you know,
city embolic figure in the history of the world. Because it does feel like a lot of a lot of different deep human needs are aligning around her, and you know, pop pop musicians and movies and you know these modern myths that we have instead of religion more and more. But yeah, I think it probably should have been Labor.
I mean, are they are they even looking at her in that context or are they just being like, yo, she was she was popping this year and that's you know what I mean, Like you're giving a very interest, like you're giving a charitable interpretation of them naming her person of the Year, where I don't disagree, like she has she's she's moving money like it's fucking all over. It's slashing around. Okay, it's just slashing around all this cap and what to do with all this money that's
slashing around? That's the question on anyone's mind. And I get all the fans are dedicated, but I think, like, if you're really talking about like impact on the earth, like twenty eleven, and it was the protesters, like right, because that was the year of the Arab Spring and things like that. Time magazine made those people the people of the Year. And when you look at what has been happening with Labor, the amount of like of jobs of money and things that have been affected by organized labor.
I think will completely blow out anything Taylor Swift has done if you're looking at like the raw economics of like what it means for these people to go on strike and the benefits that are going to reverberate from that. But yeah, I think to your point, like knowing that print is doing terribly in the digital era, like sometimes it's like, yeah, yeah, you know, it's like people aren't
gonna really argue with that. It might not be the best choice, but that cover is gonna sell like a motherfucker mm hmm.
Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. And I wish time would provide more like practical value to the country with this, Like I don't need help remembering Taylor Swift exists, and as we've been talking about strikes, my mind is trying to remember if there was a railroad strike and like trying to remember if there was a UPS strike or if they considered it, and like an article would help me remember that and reun it down, because that's that's somewhat
difficult to keep in your head. And Taylor Swift is probably most of the screens in every building in the country right now. So I don't, I don't need help with that, That's okay.
Right, Yeah. A lot of the writing, like I've read like the first third or of it, like and a lot of it is just talking about just purely like yo, she's so popping, like she's perfected the art of pop music this year. She's yeah, you know, she's omnipotent at this point. So like from that very yeah, from that perspective, I like, yeah, okay, that's fine, but a lot of like but is that contribution as significant to like the
larger world? But again, that's I don't think anyone will ever agree on or the Time person of the Year should be. But not again, not that it means really anything. Yeah, yeah, there.
I think there's an interesting point to be made about like the role of pop and pop culture like growing and becoming more important. But I'm guessing it's not being made by Time magazine, which is, as I've said frequently, a garbage publication.
Yeah. It was like trying to see if like even the word religion is in there, and it's only in there once to describe how people felt at her concerts. Yeah, yeah, but like it would be interesting to your point is to do a larger examination and be like it's not just because like, on its face, obviously she's had like she's been so significant to pop culture this year. It's actually all these other things that you're not looking at.
I think that would have been something interesting. But yeah, it's just like, dude, look how much money she makes, like how much revenues generated from where she has a tour. It's like, yeah, we get that, but like, give us something else, give us something more, because I'm sure there
is something interesting. I mean, like we talk about her all like, we haven't really stopped talking about her since the Arrows tour kicked off because we're like, what the fuck is Clearly she's got she is in the fucking hearts and minds of people. Yeah, but a deeper examination, I don't know, like it's nothing ne a forensic analysis, but I think that there's something academic there that could be interesting. Yeah.
I want I want a Person of the Year Taylor Swift from any better media organization that would be great, Like some like a magazine that I think does good work. That would be very exciting.
Yeah, all right, well, Taylor Swift in the Halls of Power with did Mussolini ever win it. I feel like rings about they all did, Mussolini, rings a bell, they all did everyone. I mean, Hitler won it twice, you know.
Nixon won it twice.
You know, Nixon won it twice in consecutive years, and then the year after it was the judge who basically like ended his career.
They were like, this guy.
Nixon's on a fucking heater, folks, He's heating up, He's on fire.
What happened? What now?
What?
What are is the next person of the year just automatically ever wins the next presidential election?
Right?
Yeah?
That seems like part of it too. They're sort of implying no politics happened this year, which is not true. But I feel like they're saving next year for politics. So they were like, let's have a treat in twenty twenty three, right, Like, let's let's goof off a little bit.
Right right right, It's a fun like kind of goof off year. This is like senior Spring. You know, we're just chilling.
I mean, is it gonna look like one of those things where like yeah, and then the next one is like Trump's like fucking you know, political enemies are Ye're like that was a weird transition. We went from Taylor Swift to fucking Stephen Miller. That was a dark time. That was a dark time.
Yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting to see where we're at this time next year. I mean looking back, like Greta Thunberg was the Person of the Year a mere like four or five years ago, and I mean right now, since then, we've solved climate change. So you know, that's what a time of gapsule. Oh oh wait, sorry, no, I'm being told the Time magazine.
Has just moved on from that. Yeah, yeah, because what's wild was like in twenty eighteen, it was like people like Jamal Hashoggi, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, and like other journalists who are like killed like doing like work that it's like that's almost like crious exactly. Yeah, what's the what's the scale? What's the measuring criteria we use for this?
But the people who sum up like that, there's somebody whose job it is to like sum up the big group ones, and they always do the worst job, like ever, like right for the year that it was Zelenski, they made it the spirit of Ukraine and for it, like it's just really the guardians, the Hashoggi year was the Guardians with uh, you know, people writing about corruption around the world and right, yeah, that's silence breakers.
Yeah.
I feel like they forgot we should we shouldn't like focus on heroes too much. But I feel like they forgot that one person can represent a group of people. Like, so let's get to represent Ukraine. It is fine, that makes sense. You don't need to like invoke the spirit of Ukraine like it's a magic act or something.
It's okay, the good Samaritans that Bono and Bill Gates want. That one's so wild, Like that's such a specific And this is when we realized that neoliberalism was going to work because Bono organized the Live eight concerts and the rest of the world's problems dissolved. That's that's what he helped to organize the Live eight concerts.
I wonder if that was just like we were just such in our peak too of like dystopian like you know, Iraq Afghanistan war type stuff that it's yeah, fucking Bono and ship for the concerts.
Yeah, it's like your runner of that year, the Black Eyed Peace.
Let's get it started. Indeed, yes, all right, well, Alex Schmidt, what a pleasure having you on the show as always.
Thank you so much. Always great streak.
Where can uh where can people find you? Follow you? All that good stuff? I make it.
I make a podcast called Secretly Incredibly Fascinating and my co host is the amazing Katie Golden, which is just awesome from Creature, Feature and more.
But check it out.
It's if you search secretly in your app. It's the red logo and I'm making tiktoks most days now, so find me on TikTok. It's fun.
Oh hell yeah, I'm going to follow you on TikTok. Yes, I start using TikTok. What what are some subjects that you recently discovered were Secretly incredibly flat fascinating.
We had a listener request for ska music, so we did a whole thing about that, which was extremely fun. It turned out because I kind of missed goa music as a kid and learned a lot. And then we did Canada Geese recently, which I think is a really excellent winter holiday vibe if you want to do that one too. And of course Katie brings something extra to anything animals, She's great on everything, but we really nailed that one.
I think Yeah, Canadian geese.
The popularity of eating goose we were talking about on an upcoming episode. We will be talking about in an upcoming episode. But like the fact that like Christmas used to be goose season where we geese did. Did that go out of fashion because geese tastes bad? Or because people just like see too many of them in their day to day lives. Was that something that you guys covered.
Yeah, there's a lot of like species of geese we farm and then we don't farm Canada geese, and apparently Canada geese taste amazing, and there's huge hunts to control the population. Now, so there's places all over the US and other parts of North America where people eat Canada geese oft and oh for population control.
Oh, hunting Canada geese seems like the most unsporting thing that you could possibly hunt.
Like they like you have to like run away from them. They're just like coming up to you and.
Be like, like you really don't need like a duck blind in that case, those things just walk slowly towards you.
In my experience anyways, amazing.
I guess, I guess don't hunt them in the like town or park where that happens that the people will be that excited about your pig gun.
But yes, right, I just use one of those ones that the end looks like a horn and it just blasts the big blast of smoke, you know what, And the only thing it does to the Canadian geese is that spins their beak around to the back of their head.
Thank you. I have to spounack background. I think about Daffy Duck all the time.
Anyway, her work the media you've been.
Enjoying so and this is the thing on TikTok. There was an old Canadian children's show called nan Alan and it has become several different memes. And then my favorite one on TikTok has puppets on Nana Lane where one sings about who's this wonderful girl and she's like descending stairs and people are using it for very good memes on TikTok. It's great.
Amazing miles people find you. Is there working media you've been enjoying.
At Miles of Gray all over the place pretty much. Find Jack and I on our basketball Podcastles Lusty's and you could also find me on the four to twenty Day Fiance Show with Sophia Alexandra, we talk about my favorite show ninety day Fiance tweet. I like from Katie Delaney at Katie Delaney tweeted, bro, are you seriously strumming My pain with your fingers right now? The goat when it just comes to just being like, are you this song lyric? Oh?
Man?
But are you? What the fuck? What's that even mean?
Nothing good?
That's what I think. That's just the first thought. I mean. Yeah, Like the way I mean, I think the Robbie's version is like they're watching someone perform and like the everything they're performing is speaking directly to them.
That the guitar, Oh my god, you're strumming my pain with your fingers like somebody's stopping it like a musician in the middle and be like, bro, are you are you serious right now with the scrumming of my pain? Are you with your fingers?
No?
Less, yo, This motherfucker is singing my life with his words. No. I do not appreciate that. Nah, not like this. Huh huh.
It does sound like a yell review of a concert, doesn't it anyway?
Yeah?
Uh tweet I've been enjoying trash. Jones tweeted, I love the moon because we both look bad in photos. But Jack, you still take a killer moon photo. Man, I will take a I was looking back through and I got some moon photos and they stink. My moon photos are back no, Like I was like, oh wait, you know to my son, my five year old, I was like, man, this the moon is amazing. It's like so huge. Go stand like over there. I'm gonna get you with the moon.
And it just the shittiest picture I've ever taken of. Someone figures out it's an optical illusion.
Yeah, it turns out it's not that the camera.
Yeah, just big in our hearts like me, you know, baden pictures, dig in your heart. You can find me on Twitter at Jack Underscore o Brian. You can find us on Twitter at daily Zeikeeist, the Daily Zekeeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website Daily Zeikeeist dot com, where we post our episodes and our foot note or we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode, as well as a
song that we think you might enjoy. Miles, what song do you think people might enjoy?
This is an interesting I don't okay, So I always find tracks that are seeming like they kind of straddle many genres. This is from an artist from co diois the Ivory Coast named Creature Sonore s O n O r E. And the track is called Serenities Illumination. And it's clear that there's like these like afro beat, high life percussive elements, but also like there's like this sampling that's going on which kind of makes it feel kind
of like vapor wavy. It's just super interesting and it's like it has a lot of heart to it, and it just feels like one of these like really interesting, interestingly assembled songs. So check this out. It's Serenity's Illumination by Creature Sonore.
All right, we will link off to that in the footnotes. Todailyseitkeis is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.
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That's gonna do it for us this morning back this happening to tell you what is trending with a touch of bike