Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza. Yeah, so, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. You do love to see it, Miles, And you know what else
you love to see? Tell me is when we can have this guest on, a best selling author of books like John Dies at the End, Zoe Punches the Future, and the Dick and the new standalone novel which you can pre order now. I guess can I say it's a standalone? I mean, it's not part of a previous franchise, but it's one that I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel
to or more from. These characters. Also one of the hosts of the podcast Big Feats, which, if I'm reading this New Yorker review correctly, is quote the only Mountain Monsters podcast officially endorsed by Big Feet. Heez my former coworker at Crack dot com, a co creator of the Cracked podcast. Welcome back to the show. Jason Parje.
First of all, I'm not dying. Don't tell the papers that I'm dying. If I start coughing in the middle of the show. I realize it. In a movie or TV show drama, if a character starts coughing, that means are gonna die.
You did just pull back the napkin that you coughed.
Into it it was, and then quietly, quietly hid it from you.
You know, you looked around, your eyes darned back and forth, and then you tucked it into your waistband for some reason.
But no, I'm just recovering from a cold. If I start clearing my throat, I am not trying to get their attention and demand that they let me talk. I am trying to clear ucas from my throat.
Just the way that you do it tends to be at hem. Uh yeah, but that's all right. We'll just power through like we do all the time.
Yeah, if we see if we hear that horn take at the top, we know you're not doing a DJ cool.
Let me clear my throat either. How are you doing. We're excited to have you back. I'm excited about this new novel, which I blew through in a single weekend. It's a good one for fans of Jason Pargin novels. I think they're really going to enjoy it, but it's probably a distant like writing it was probably a distant memory to you at this point. How long ago is that writing it?
Yeah, but the dozens of interviews all have to give about it means I have to keep in mind what I wrote in it. But for listeners who are in the middle of the total world chaos, we are doing a book review here. The book is relevant to what's to what's going on. I promise you you'll you'll see why. And in fact, there's going to be at least one very annoying review. I predicted a couple months it says, Wow,
this is so prescient. How if you predict that there would be an event and the triggers all sorts of misinformation in cass Yeah, that was not hard.
Did you know that? That was my first question? Actually, we can just get psychic, man.
I love seeing the people with the little screenshots of the Simpsons from twenty years ago. It's like, Wow, they predicted that elections would become stupid in the future. Yeah, that's did you see the one not take Nostrodamus, the.
One where Cypress Hill, though did actually perform with the London Symphony oh really, and you remember the homer Fest thing. He's like, someone ordered the London Symphony? Did someone do it when they were high and forgotten? Like Cypress Hill's like, oh shit, did we do that?
And they're like, yeah, yeah.
They're actually performing with them now and they're like, we kind of had an opportunity and decided to make the Simpsons prediction.
Right. So, I mean you hear those violins on uh, some of the early Cypress Hill stuff, you can't, man, Yeah, it was it was inevitable. All right, Jason, Well, we are going to talk about some of the ideas in your book. I'm starting to worry about this black box of doom? Is that? Well? Did I say that? Right?
Yes?
I I didn't say did I not say the title in the well the first time you mentioned the I'm a pro folks, But first, we do like to get to know our guests a little bit better by asking you what is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are.
I have a whole series of searchers over the last few days trying to figure out what CrowdStrike is, because it turned out all of modern civilization ran on it and I'd never heard of that company. It's an eighty billion dollar company apparently yea, And I still don't know what it does. And this before the show, I tried to Google is the CrowdStrike thing over? Is that old news or flight still grounded around the world? I can't tell because Google Search is broken, So I don't know
any Does anybody at home know? Email me let me know.
Yeah, I think like that. It seems like there's still reports of flights being fucked up, mainly like you have to go to the like the markets to see, you know, like it's like people reporting on the financials and they'll be like, yeah, our our reporting indicates because they have
to get that right because money is at stake. But it does seem like it's taken a while to untangle CrowdStrike and there it was just like an update that was ill advised, and somehow that took became one of the biggest technology fuck ups yet to this point in human history. A company that sounds like just a board game from the nineteen eighties. Yeah, that would have been fun to play. Yeah, from the makers of crossfires Crowdstrikes.
But CrowdStrike there's I mean, like they're the stat that I saw that I was like, oh right, because everything's just consolidating. Is like they handle like these IT services for like five hundred and thirty eight of the top one thousand companies. Yeah, so like yeah, that chunk of like that kind of critical software going down, Yeah, will cause a lot of chaos, unless you're like a Linux person, and then which case you were fucking laughing because you're like, bro, I'm on Linux.
Fuck that.
I think it's the range of things that went down that shocks people because it's like, okay, flights got grounded. Also, when we tried to buy coffee at Starbucks, their point of sales software was dead because of CrowdStrike. And then also it's like a whole range of things across all society. Nine to one one service went down for some people for a while.
Yeah, hospital, it's like, oh so this all runs.
It's like, hey, it all runs on a computer somewhere, and if those computers are running Windows, and if they're using CrowdStrike to do whatever CrowdStrike does, I apologize audience, I still don't know. Then, Yeah, they pushed out that updated brick the computer. They could not simply push out another update because the only way to fix it was to like manually install and delete a file because your
the computers were stuck in a boot loop. Yeah, yeah, so they couldn't just push out so yeah, but one I don't know, one string of code crippled much of the world's economy instantly.
The solution was ultimately the solution to all tech problems, which is just like restart throwing on the ground. Yeah, throw it on the ground.
Well, because like the one version was like you'd have to go into every individual computer and like take this file out, which is like we do it.
Oh yeah, like that's this.
You can't just do this over the waves, or at least at the time I at last, I was like looking for videos. I'm like, please explain to me, like I don't know what a computer is, what the fuck.
Is going on? And I still I came away with a very vague understanding. Yeah, but it does feel like this becomes more and more possible the more we turn everything over to the machines and we're just like, yeah, they got it. We don't need humans on the ground doing you know, local deployments. That then if those work get deployed two more places, it's.
Yeah or yeah, yeah, or shout out to the I don't want to date my software crowd because they also may have like just inadvertently gotten around things too.
Yeah, some of the like anecdotal stuff I heard in the early days was or in the early hours, I guess was that the airlines that were actually functioning were the non major carriers, and so it could be a situation where like CrowdStrike is the expensive, higher end option that like sells for millions and millions of dollars that only a major corporation can eat, and so they got fucked.
But oh yeah, our services we go through cloud clown.
I think it's it's affordable. But yeah, we didn't have any problems the cloud cloud clown. What is something you think is underrated? Molly?
Underrated? What did I say? Uh? I might have said this on the show before because I only have three topics.
But the beach, the beach is under it.
Go on, tell me why I hate how cold the water is a lot.
Of Oh my god, what are you a baby? Baby? You know who loves the beach?
Though?
It is?
Baby is? I know, I know I'm trying to tell my baby. I'm like, brother, I look so happy.
Yeah, I just think I think the beach is awesome. It's free, it's it's cool. You get to go there when it's hot. I love the how cold the water is. I actually when I've been to other places where they have warmer water in the ocean, I'm always like, this sucks.
Give me the pacifically ice cold. Yeah, Pacific interesting.
I love on the ice.
You'll actually be like I don't like this warm water beach.
Yes, because when I went to like Pensacola, where it's the Gulf of Mexico, which is like it's like when the water is the same temperature as the air, it's like not refreshing.
I get that part. Yeah, Mexico is not actually an oce that's a that's like a pool.
Yeah it's a gold Okay, fine, but you know you hear what I'm saying.
Yeah, No, it's just it's like shallow and warm.
When when I get in a body of water, I expect it to be freezing cold and then and it's not. I'm like, oh I wish it was freezing cold because it's like your body, it just hot.
Hot. I was expecting cold was hot.
It's just vegetables.
So yeah, I just took my kids do a beach clean up this past weekend, which was a great way to like pass a Saturday morning. Like they got competitive about getting the best garbage like all each what Beachdondo?
Oh yeah, see that's where I like to go.
Yeah, Redondo's great. It was like nice, and you know, it was super hot back where I live, but like down there it's still like misty cool from That's what I mean.
I'm just think I think it's underrated because I feel like there's a lot of people in LA who never go to the beach.
Yeah. I had the thought, I was like, we need to go to the beach more. What are you doing?
And now I have a new policy of just like you know, it's like an hour in the car, yeah, but it's kind an hour in the car to get anywhere, so I might as well be at the beach at the end.
Also, the great part too is the people watching. You will always see some shit at the Yeah, really, you will always see some shit.
I mean, great people watching.
And also like every time I've been there recently, I've seen someone digging a really big hole.
Yeah oh yeah, how like a child?
Mostly children, But like sometimes then it seems like it's like people will see someone doing it and then they start doing it so funny. It's like you turn around and someone's like buried in the sand up to their chest all of a sudden cooking out.
Yeah, that's what we do. I'm about to go back east, and that's basically every morning is just taking a big ass hole in the beach. Yeah.
I love that. Kids love it so much. It's like another again, a free activity that everybody loves, getting a big hole in the sand.
But then you got to fill that back in less than elderly person fall into it. Besides my holes, all right, my holes become hazards for the elderly.
You fall in a lot of holes on the page.
I'm just saying, watch out for other elderly. Definitely not me, because I have my wits about me and just imagining you, like mister McGoo, just running with my head facing the.
Sky, chasing a seagull.
Sandwich. Get back here with my funnel cake, mister mcgo.
We got all the hot cultural references. Justis mister.
Always fascinating? Ben? What is something you think is overrated? Two things?
I know this is close to a lot of us listening this evening and close to you guys as well. I would say on a petty level, I don't dig Vegas. I think Vegas is overrated. Hoover Dam's awesome, but I'm just the schlubby guy. Vegas is not for me, you know what I mean. But more importantly, America's never ending election cycle is so fucking weird.
We're on the Hoover Dam vill never ending your election cycle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's funny. We've had two Las Vegas contradicting opinions on Las Vegas over the Oh really yeah, Molly Lambert was on saying well, she was more saying I picked Vegas over Palm Springs.
Palm Springs.
Yeah, okay, but yeah, either way. The never ending election cycle, though, is not just overrated, it's detrimental, I think, to the entire country to drag shit out like this and have every like, all the attention go on this thing that really doesn't bring about a lot of change, I mean, depending on who's policies are enacted. But like, truly, the way we treat it and like to the detriment of every other story that's happening in the country.
And in the world is a little fucking yeah. Yeah, that's my favorite response to the Kamala Harris like taking over people being like how is she gonna run for president? And this amount of time, we don't have enough time. It's like, I don't know, look at literally every other country and.
Exactly, you don't need that huge amount of time. But it makes the media billions and billions of dollars to have that kind of coverage. It also reminds me of that it was a night out in the cold for me as a child when I learned that Red Lobster's special lobster Fest is just all the time. It's not a special occation, it's always Lobsterfest. It's always election season here.
In the United States. Yeah, that's right. I don't all right, guys, election seasons coming up, said lobsters loss.
But this given wolit wolf Blitzer, Yeah, got his sprits are knocked out of his fucking hand, said to go aport on this shit.
All right, let's take a quick break, we'll come back. We'll get your overrated underrated and talk some news.
And we're back. We're back, and JD. Bans will make you dance. Yeah, dude, he's got so much fucking energy. Man, I'm nervous, dude.
He seems so like genuine and just like rizzed up.
And oh my god, he's a grand grand wizard of the KKK.
This guy's so got so much riz.
But yeah, like the continued fallout from Biden's dropout, Like we've got some interesting insights in the Trump campaign, like we I think we were talking yesterday or the day before about you know, one of the big takeaways was that the entire campaign was praying to God every.
Night that Biden's day in the race.
Like, dude, it can't be like we did all of our homework on this one guy for years. This is and by homework we just mean we were going to do the thing about Like, yo, this dude is so old, but now their biggest fear has come true and that they've pivoted away from Joe Biden and now they need an entirely new playbook.
And the other thing we found out it seems like did you ever I guess this doesn't really apply to you guys from being from l A. But like when there were snow days and you would like wait and wait and wait up to the last minute of like for school to be canceled, and then you'd be like, well, it's too late. They can't like have school now because they like waited too too long. That seems to be like the Republican waited too long, you can't he can't
drop out now. He waited too long, Like that doesn't make sense.
Yeah, they didn't announce it, yeah, or like.
Yeah, in high school, like if thefesser was late, I always talk about like the fifteen minute window.
Yeah, we're like I'm like walking out there, like down the hallway.
Class is still happening, Like, bro, you are not in the room, and if fifteen minutes hit, I'm gone, dude.
I'm going to do that. Yeah, he can't go. You're still gonna You're gonna miss the test, like you fucking monster.
It's really funny to see the Republicans suddenly being like.
Rule, what about the rules?
Yeah, and I just shut up the hypocrites. It was never about the rules anyway.
But Yeah.
The other thing that we found out was the selection of jd. Vance is starting to make people in the campaign and like other allies of the Trump camp crew like nervous. Apparently his selection was based on just turning the MAGA knob up all the way and trying to maximize the turnout for their base. They were not going for a like a VP pick that was going to Bridge, I don't know, bringing some moderates or independence whoever.
That is anymore not a political decision. No, Yeah, they.
Wanted to spike the football. They were like, yeah, dude, it's a foregone conclusion. Man, get the fucking monster Junior as his VP, and we've got something like and everyone's gonna love it. But yeah, Well, aside from the fact that he is unlikable and even you know, someone like Mitt Romney described him as a person he could not disrespect more, he is also just again just a black hole of the coveted riz man. The charisma is just
not there. He recently had a very jeb Bushian moment when he tried to make a joke about drinking mountain diet.
Mountain Wait.
I don't even know how to say it, because, like, it doesn't even make sense on d here he is talking about doing that WMD.
It is the weirdest thing to me.
Democrats say that it is racist to believe, well, they say it's racist to do anything.
I had a die mountain dew yesterday and one today. I'm sure they're gonna call that racist too, but it's good. I love you guys.
Wait, holy Ship, this is a full ass like crowd. Ship is dying to like love this guy.
This is actually this is like open mic energy and I just.
Lost the crowd.
He couldn't even get a crowd full of racist white people with you, guys like soda Mountain Dew.
I mean, I think the problem was that it was diet mountain deke.
You just need to but everyone's favorite.
It reminds me of I was this was actually a tweet I was gonna like, but someone I'll give credit at. Nick Moscato tweeted it's like that clip and just said, guy says he's from Apple. Hia then talked about drinking diet Mountain Dew, and they showed the scene from Ingloria's Bastards and he's like three whiskies.
Yeah, hold on, diet mountain deof, What the fuck are you talking about?
Yeah?
So he's uh, that was very very uh cringey. I also realized I was trying to figure out who he looks like. He looks like he would be in Zod's crew from Superman two, Like he got this.
Like the beard with a little eyeliner thing. He looks like if Zod was Zi. He looks like this son of addicted to zen pouches.
Heads if anybody watches Southern Charm, he looks exactly like this guy who's on Southern Charm, whose name is j T.
Yeah, oh yeah.
Who's like also just kind of like a really a weird rizzless Yeah yeah, captile human Charlie brownhead Man.
Yeah, yeah, he's a little he's a little cuter than than JD. Vans. I'll give JT. I'll give Jarrett that thing, JT that that honor, but yeah, just certified reptile human energy from JD.
Van.
It's like just all the facial expressions, the hand gesture when he says I love you guys, he gives like this point that is just like and now I am pointing and I'm pointing. It's just he's like, I love you guys. It's very where is it. It's good? It's good. One more time, I love you guys.
Oh yeah, right, it's so fucking painful.
And he like that.
And that's what's kind of wild too, because thinking like that, they were like the base is gonna love this fucking guy, Like he's going to help turn out even more people. But like, again, this was a really poor showing, but he has the racism down.
I'll give him that.
Yeah, Because earlier, I think later in the day, he was speaking again to another audience and was saying that Kamala Harris has been collecting a government check for the past twenty years, and like, as a politician, there is but okay, yeah, wealth queen on my guy.
I feel like, so there's already people within the campaign be it. Like somebody who was talking to the Trump campaign after Biden dropped out was like, there's they seem very unhappy that Biden dropped out, right, And this is
a quote from an Atlantic staff writer, Tim Alberta. The most striking thing I heard from Trump allies yesterday was the second guessing of JD Vance, a selection they acknowledged that was born of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base and a blowout rather than persuade swing
voters in a nail bier. And I feel like Trump's body is going to reject this man in the way that like it rejected the unity message that he was being asked to spread at the RNC, and like he when he tried to be the unity guy, his body like started shutting down and he got like all sleepy, you know, and then he just like riffs some fucking the late great Hannibal lecture ship Who's sleepy? Now sleepy? Now? You old fuck.
There's another interaction when like right after they announced like one of their first appearances together of Trump and JD. Vance And if you look, jd Vance just has this like intense sycophant energy that I know Trump likes someone that comes off a little bit cooler, you know what I mean, And this guy comes off as like number one like again you know, you know what.
It's you know what it's giving a little bit is Kenny Powers and Stevie Janowski.
Oh yeah, yeah, Kenny, You're so fucking cool.
Kenny like it really?
So what's this this? He's like he's laughing at a Trump joke here or whatever. I don't know, but this is this is his vibe with Trump.
Did we have enough people? Why didn't we have enough people?
Somebody's talking about the asassination of the temple.
Will put on Biden's detailed The problem is Biden doesn't draw anybody. He draws flies, He draws nobody. And you know you don't need very many people for that because he does not draw up thirty people show up and we have fifty five, sixty thousand people show up.
He's just quietly laughing, like a podcast producer. You can't laugh out loud. But but this is great. I want to let him know that they're killing No.
It is like though, it's like when there's a kid who's a class clown and he's got like a second in command that's this therapy.
Yeah, you know, my friend everyone hates that kid though. Everyone's like, bro, you're just like he's fucking hanger on dude.
And my friend called it. There would be like a kid who's like the Yo kid, who's like when someone says just like.
Yo, oh yeah he's yo.
Yeah, he's yo man, mister yoah, holy shit, spot on.
And he switches pick. Would that be unprecedented? Like if Trump switched his pick at this point, because I feel like he's gonna want.
To a lot of things are happening that are impressed on especial who says Kamala picks an astronaut as her VP pick who's the astronaut.
Mark Kelly, Mark Kelly from Arizona. Like, I feel like that's if she picks Mark Kelly, he's gonna be so jealous, he's.
Gonna want to go to speak.
Fucking she got an astronaut.
That guy's arms, he's like, you drink diet mountain dew. Okay, he just like goes away bummed out in his room. But yeah, while all that's hot happening, you know, and and Janie Vance, you know, for a second thought, Kamala Harris was going to be the person he was having to do battle with. That's still unknown, but the GOP is still they're they're really trying to figure out how to come at Kamala, like what their line of attack is.
Obviously predictably reflexively, they are just going with their hatred of black women to like power a lot of their talking points, and it's become pretty fucking out there. And also, I mean we probably said this in earlier episode, but now it seems like she has the like it's needed to secure the nomination.
So yeah, perhaps we're avoiding.
Going with something that's kind of like she's too hot?
Yeah, right, Like what uh she thinks she's so cool. Yeah, she thinks she's so cool, right, guys, she's kind of weird if you think about it, she's like weird.
Like honestly, also she is super weird.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it's hard. That's why it's funny too.
Even that thing that like would you just fall out of the coconut treat that became popular because the Republican Party clipped that out and tried to use that to be like this is not like look at this fool and basically gave gave birth to a new meme that's like partially powering this new campaign.
You know what, maybe we need a cookie bitch forent.
Yeah, we'll see, we'll see. Like their attempt to smear her has turned into is like fun kookie energy, like yeah.
And memes are important these days in elections for a lot of people who are just like going off vibes.
Childless and they and they can't talk about any of the things that are actually wrong with her because they you know, they.
Kept them too.
Yeah, she's locking people up indiscriminately as attorney general.
They're like, whoa, I agree with that kind of.
But yeah, anyway, they're they're now like just full on scrambling to try and figure out like what is actually going to stick in terms of like their attacks.
He said what did he say? Trump said something and it didn't stick at all, and everybody was like, he's losing the juice.
About his poll numbers. Pl he was like, he called.
He called her something, but it was like it wasn't like kooky Kamala, but it was like something like that where everybody was like, man, usually he's got it with the nicknames, but like he's lose. He's not laughing Kamala. That's right.
Oh no, laughing Kamala is here.
Everyone that makes her sound like she's in like a folk tale.
Yeah, yeah, they're like, yeah, the woman with the best attitude, laughing Kamala bring brought joy to all those around her.
But yeah, like the right now.
Initially they were like, oh, we love that it's Kamala Harris because we can just tie her to all of the failures of the Biden administration and all that's gonna stick. But they are still having trouble, like like when they say it out loud, for whatever reason, they just don't know, like like it just doesn't feel right even to them. So the NRSC who like helps run Senate like Senate campaigns for the Republicans. They distributed talking points of like
how to hit her. You know, they're like ones like she supports Hamas. Another one's like she tried to ban fracking. She's the border czar, and you're like, what the fuck. Then there's this one section at the bottom called like there's ones called crime, healthcare, foreign policy. The last section is called weird. And these are some of the things that they're like, and you could hit her on this. This is the weird stuff that they feel like they
can attack with. Kamala Harris has a habit of laughing at inappropriate moments. Kamala Harris pledged to ban plastic straws. Kamala favor is in favor of banning certain behaviors.
Okay uh. Kamala Harris loves ven diagrams.
Kamala Harris loves electric school buses because she went to school on a school bus.
What the fuck does that one even mean? Like these are all linked off to she bus just a statement made I she's.
Talking about yet probably saying like, yeah, you know, when I was riding the school bus.
Oh my god, did she rode a school bus. Like there's also cherry picking like weird statements by her and being like this woman's weird.
Yeah, rather than like what you'd say about Donald Trump. You're like, bruh, this this is.
You like ven diagra? What a the other one?
This fool loves his daughter in an inappropriate way. That's weird. You want to you want to go on to judge to fucking Trump's Well, they're.
They're keep being like she doesn't have any like naturally birthed children of her own. She's only got this blended family.
Right, Yeah, yeah, it's very katies.
Honestly, I think it's like that's sort of Trump, I guess to be like, she's a career woman. Yeah, she's she's being working girl at the office and she doesn't come home and make meals for her children her cat.
That's right. It's wild how hard it seems like they are are totally taken off guard by this. And they really doubled down on Biden being old, which makes sense because he was way too old.
I mean, look, the Democrats were not looking like they were going to get it together in any way. It seemed really chaotic behind the scenes, and and like the Democrats weren't even going to be able to agree on whether Biden should drop out who should replace him if he does, And so the fact that they got it together this fast, Trump was tweeting like a like a bitch.
What was tweeting?
Like you could tell that they were like, it's in the bag. This is also like when the when he got shot at and everybody was like, oh, it's over, It's it's in the bag for Trump now. And I was just like, the news cycle is so fast now, yeah, so many more things can happen, Like it's like a Checkers speech every day now.
Yeah, and like every and everybody on TV these days has been shot at on some level.
So it's like and just like it changes so fast, Like you know, the CNN people were like, okay, like Biden's losing the Republicans, you know. And I hate the way that like they do can declare consensus on like CNN or something where it's like all the pundits are suddenly like, well, you know, Trump's gonna win. Yeah, based on that, they feel like they have to have a consensus so that they can all like repeat the same message and then so fast every single day that.
But now Trump is the oldest official nominee in the history. Like after that was kind of their only and main angle. He is the oldest official nominee in the history.
Yeah, they were like all they put all their eggs in the old white it's a he's an old white man out of touch basket. Yeah, and now everyone's like, you're an old white man's.
Seeming seeming older. Like his speech was very like old and dog stuff wasn't good before.
But that's what's crazy is after he got shot at and everybody was like, oh, he's a change man. Now he's like you know, and now he's going to become like like step up into the presidency, step up to the plate. And then it's like, no, he was rambling and sounding crazy before. It's just that Joe Biden was rambling more right and sounding more seen isle than he did.
Yeah.
Now he's sound senile compared to Kamala and and you know, just like the optics thing where they're like, I think they really thought next to Biden, Trump looks like a virile young man. Yeah, which is clearly how Trump sees himself in his mind, is that it's like here.
Comes the cult mentality, does to them though, you know what I mean, Like they're like, this guy's impervious to anything, and.
Then they're like, oh my god, he is old. What the fuck Like, that's not fair. We don't like this juxtaposition. The thing he put out on truth Social the other night.
He said, Lion Kamala Harris, the Biden appointed borders are who never visited the border and who's incompetence gave us the worst and most dangerous border anywhere in the world.
That's so okay, that is so patently false, But okay has absolutely terrible poll p O l E numbers against a fine and brilliant young man named Donald J.
Trump. Be careful what you wish for Democrats.
Magnet, brilliant young man.
Yeah, that's that's such.
That is so much high level cope that I'm like, Wyo, you do never you never want to be an old person out here referring to yourself as a young man.
You're not even a middle age. It's just like such an old man joke to make like it's It reminds me of like Reagan on his last legs, being like, well, I am I won't let my opponent's young age him and it's like the last coherent thing he said.
Look, I think some of those guys too, it's like they got gassed up so much when they were young men. Yeah, that they think it's just carries forward for your entire life. They're just like, I'm a young buck.
Yeah, man, a young buck.
Nobody wants me because to win because I'm too young and hot.
But also, like we all know.
Trump gets flustered around a hot woman. Yeah, yeah, so I do imagine. I feel like Kamala makes him be like rod a danger field like noun.
He doesn't know which one to lean into, his womanizing or his racism around her.
He's like, right, which button? I don't know. Yeah, it's a tough time.
I mean somebody some republic can already called her like a Jezebel, which is like both racists and sexist.
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean that's that's the thing that, like, you know, I get the enthusiasm of it not being Joe Biden anymore, because clearly, just seeing someone who can like move their body in like a spry manner, you're like, oh my god, I love this, But I'm just it's the it's the it's the culture of our electorate that I'm I'm just not sure what happens, you know, Like even even if the Democrats are saying like we have to be Trump, we have to be Trump, it's just
like the racism of it all too that I'm not That's like the one thing I'm like, I don't know, man, Like, I just also like never terrible.
This country is never.
Count out the Democrats on biffing it, Yeah, right on biffing something that seems like a foregone win.
Yeah, I don't know. All the headlines right now are very pro like exactly what the narrative right now, you know, and the media does thrive on like creating a consensus narrative that they can then upend in the next news cycle. But the narrative right now is like went from yesterday like shock poll Harris closes in on Biden, to right now shock poll, Harris leads Trump, and it's yeah.
I don't trust a damn poll.
Also trust a p O L E poll. That's this one is also a shock poll. P O l E. It's just used to electrocute people. Yeah, yeah, it's a cattle prod. Yeah, all right, we should take a quick break and come back and talk about coffee badging. We'll be right back, all right, We're not gonna keep talking about we talked about the JD Vance thing yesterday. We're back, by the way, we talked about the JD on yesterday's trending. If you want to hear more speculation about the the
couch rules, restrain ourselves. Yeah, yeah, we have to. We have to cut ourselves off. You know, they're saying no glove, no love, as JD Van says, If that.
Was true that Jdvans had sex with a couch, that would be one of the most likable things about him.
That's what I've been saying. If he did that and then wrote it in his memoir, in his like coming of age memoir, I would be like, oh, maybe like he actually told the truth in this memoir. Maybe there's like a core of like something interesting.
Or yeah, but exactly that's relatable.
Yeah, that's really we all did.
I mean, we're all acting like we've never fucked a couch.
Come on, come on, I mean, I'm definitely not acting like that fiance was a deck chair, you know.
I mean, I'm serious, though, I don't make it more and more human. I mean, the guys have a dark money you know, Trojan Horse, absolute fucking Nazi. I mean, there's no way around it.
You can put them in the outfit. Loved Chris, he said, I love you.
Oh that thing where he did on the joke where he made that joke about diet. Yeah, like he doesn't even know what he's talking about.
Yeah, that's what I mean. He's out of his fucking mind.
He doesn't even have to talk to the world or anything. He's so used to talking to Peter Teal or whoever, like dark money people who he just goes yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And then he goes out in public and he's like, it's good I drank Mountain Dew and everybody thinks I'm racist?
What maybe other racist ship that you say? Nah, it's from the Mountain Dew. No, I don't know, I don't know. Get me back, take me off.
The stood out of you guys anyway.
So yeah, I hope he sucked a couch. Yeah me too. That's our only hope. Yeah, you're you're our only hope. We're in there.
Yeah, there's still a couch fucker A passionate man.
All right, So I want to talk about how Kamala Harris's nomination. Her run is being covered in the mainstream media, specifically a series of headlines that are kind of disparaging the idea of a black woman running for president, But since they put a question mark at the end of the headline, it's okay, seems to be the logic in Newsweek, is America ready for a black woman president? Question mark? The conversation Race, Gender and Politics. Is the United States
ready for a black woman president? Question mark? USA today? And they didn't manage to put it into a colorful pie chart, but they said, is the US ready for a black woman president? Question mark? Why a leading congressman isn't sure?
You know, she's also half South Asian, right, But it's so funny to see Democrats also push that because like they're trying to really pitch her as this person too when she's biracial, which is very interesting to see also, But.
Yeah, are they ready for this black woman?
I mean, I see, I understand like questioning that, but that has to be more of an investigation into the white supremacy that like presides over the entirety of American thinking, versus like this shit, which is like I don't know like a black lady. It's like, what this is like, what these headlines feel like, rather than maybe something a bit deeper.
Oh yeah, yeah, I think I can't believe it because those headlines are really just saying, like I mean, they're really putting a question mark on it, but yeah, we're not ready for a black president.
We don't.
I mean, that's like, I mean, those headlines are just like you don't really want a black president, do you? That's all it is. And and it's insanity that we talk about race as much as we do in this country. I mean, it's just so sad. It's so sad that that is, like even and why does that enter into everything? I mean, I know why, but you know what I mean, it's like who gives a shit?
You know? We you know what for people?
Do you know, especially when you're coming off, it's just unbelievable.
Yeah. The the idea of the president being an old white guy is very deeply rooted in how America thinks about the job, both on the right end on the left, and a big part of that I don't know, I don't know if we can say the problem is caused by or if it's reflected by but you know, Hollywood
liberalism certainly is in lockstep with this trend. The Washington Post in twenty twenty publisher report finding that the vast majority of mainstream movies have portrayed the president as a straight, CIS white male, which that's obviously been the case in real life as well. But literally anything can happen in
a movie. But you know, one of these movies that made the president a straight white CIS male had aliens being taken out by a floppy disc, you know, like literally a floppy disc that they uploaded on somehow the fucking alien ship had a slot for a floppy disc. But in examining one hundred and forty eight presidential depictions in movies since nineteen thirty two, they found that one hundred and twenty three out of one hundred and forty
eight movie character presidents were white men. And they found precisely zero examples of women of color playing fictional presidents. That's fucking bonkered. Like other twenty five characters who didn't fall into the like straight white guy category, sixteen more people of color thirteen were black two where hispanic one was Asian. The remaining nine characters were white women. And there were yeah, no women of color playing fictional presidents.
But yeah, it's a I mean, it's a it's a reflect I don't know's. I can't say this is caused by Hollywood. This is I mean, like, this is the momentum of American culture. Is too is to box people out that aren't white CIS men in terms of like
who can actually lead. Obviously other people are able to rise to those heights, but yeah, I think maybe what it does though, too, is it reinforces this sort of cultural racist momentum that we have by always being like, yeah, I mean like it's probably a white guy, right, Like that's what the president has to be, so we can feel okay about it. And if it's a black guy as a president means the world is ending in a movie, or there's a disaster happening.
Yeah, like Deep Impact or Danny Glover in twenty twelve or Jamie Fox and White House Down, like those are the types of movies where the president is allowed to be black or twenty four you know, where there's a different terrorist attack every like twenty five minutes. But just in general, both voting and in movies, the idea of a woman president seems to cause some problems for people. The first movie to introduce this idea was nineteen sixty
five's Kisses for My President, Lot My President. The poster has a woman president answering the phone at you know, the desk in the Oval office, and her husband standing next to her in a hat that has like flowers all over it for some reason.
Yeah, well, he's like wearing like a like a like what a first lady would wear, Like it's the inverse, you know.
Yeah, on his head, lady, and then he has a suit on. When a woman becomes president of the US, what happens to her poor husband when he becomes the first lady.
That's one of my favorite movies. I don't know why you guys are laughing about.
You're like, yeah, yeah, no, but where are you going to get to the weird part this? You're talking about? Kids from My President such a good movie. So it tries to mind laughter from the idea of a guy becoming the first lady and concludes with a happy ending in which the president resigns because she gets pregnant. Oh my god, Wow, that's like fucking nineteen sixty five.
That's like that fucking Alley g Ship where he would say, aren't you worried like if Hillary Clinton becomes president that she's gonna fall in love with? Saddam was saying, oh my god, those interviews did exactly those interviews he did as Ali, g Oh my god, those early ones where
he interviews like Henry kissing jer Ship are so fucking good. Yea, but yeah, that that that whole thing is like there are there are the people who control everything, sadly are just a bunch of graduates from Harvard and Yale, mostly lawyers. They have these secret clubs and they're all white men, you know, and so it is, it's it's reflecting just that. I mean, this for me was like a moment. Maybe a lot of people knew about it, but I mean it was on CNN, so a lot of people knew
about it. But it was right after they were starting to call for Joe Biden to resign, which I was down with, Like I understood the idea certainly after that debate, it made sense to me that was debate was like I had to turn it off.
You know.
It was like when he said he beat Medicare, I was like, okay, we're going you know what I mean, you know, and I looked from goes.
Yeah, you beat medicare you beat the hell out of it? Whatever that means, you know.
But at that moment, I was like, Okay, this is a problem. But I did not like, well, I don't think anyone like George Clooney weang in, you know, a white male you know.
Uh.
And this was a panel on CNN about this decision, and and I just did not like the tone of these insiders, Like, forget about Carsal, he's always a fucking dick, but.
Also he's a guy.
What is his fucking qualification? Why do they always put that white man who's just incredibly not thoughtful obviously, you know, and they constantly put them on because they're just like, here's our rolodex and people that we have to comment on this ship. And it's all white dudes who went to Yale and went to Harvard.
It's the same club.
And you know, like some white guy just says, hey, guess what whole country, we're swapping out the president because me and Larry Summers and whoever the fuck else and John Podesta or whatever decided he's.
Got to Chatzenberg.
But it's it's also interesting to see like how the media has gone from like before they're.
Like, don't you talk shit about Joe Biden?
Like is there are a lot of pundits too whop Like we're like it's gonna be him. Maybe they're gonna have a virtual role call to like solidify the nomination and and really telling people that were like I don't like is this the best we can do? Like do we need to consider other things? And then suddenly like, oh my god, we love Kamala. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened. And you're like, what last
week it was this and now it's this. And I get that the the enthusiasm changes in your reporting on that, but it's interesting to see how quickly, like the punditry goes from you know, one one extreme to the other, like.
And yeah, right, okay, we're on board with this and always were. It turns out yeah.
Right, And it turns out like, I mean, well, if it was an honest discussion, which cable news is useless for, or any any you know, thing that's funded by advertising is completely you know, and often often these outlets are out outright by billionaires. They just will not talk about when one party has got jd Vance who's part of a secret society of Roman Catholics who thinks fucking liberals
are demons that need to be basically killed. You know, that's what they're pitching on that far right religious stuff that there's this the devil is real and it's liberals. So like, when you've got one side doing that, you know it's still will vote for whatever. That's the discussion. You don't you know the fact that it's even like, yeah,
I don't care if it's Biden, I don't care. I'll vote for Biden because the other you know, I just I just felt like the discussion was like, yes, like either way, we're voting against authoritarianism, right, you know what I mean? Right, David Axelrod, this is not time for you to show off. Why are you showing off? Why are you on here with an attitude? This is not a time for attitude, you dope?
Yeah, I mean you need to have attitude with one person, Joe Biden. Maybe like talk to him with attitude, but.
Maybe and Joe Biden, he was like he wasn't trying to hear that. He doesn't know, he doesn't he doesn't even know what he was saying you have to drop out of the race?
What race?
It?
Really? It was? It was the debate and also the like five to ten subsequent interviews and appearances where it's just like, wow, well, yeah it was really bad.
I was just like he was too old to begin with. I knew it all all along.
Yeah, but anything but people like David Axelrod, like they it's easier to get mad at Joe Biden than themselves. Who are the people who put, like, you know, reinforced this reelection campaign for.
Yeah, yeah, I tried to just like force it through because.
There was there was no real primary, you know what I mean, Like they really they were like, broll, don't even fucking try and step to the fucking incumbent. And I get that that's not a great look usually, but when that, given the age and what he said about it being a bridge to like a new generation, you'd kind of be like, voters were clearly down for someone even before he announced that he was going for reelection.
So like, when I see those people be like, you know, Joe really needs to subsides, like dude, you are the people telling before telling people not to worry, shut the fuck up, Joe Biden is fine, and now you're switching it up to be like he's got to go. It's like, well, dude, you were you were the fucking person propping this up, So don't act. Don't act news.
That's what I.
Think so too about David Axlerod it was like, what you weren't aware, like everybody else was that this guy was old until like now, all of a sudden, it's an emergency. It was an emergency the whole time.
Then everybody else knew. It seems to be suspected. But you like the new Yeah.
You're supposed to be the Democrat, You're supposed to be the good guys, and this is this is what you're you know, you're trying to like make everybody feel like insane because everybody knew this that we just accepted it because we were told we had to. You know, we just aren't voting for fucking Trump. People, get it. Stop talking. We're not idiots. That's the other thing is like they just think these people think that the general public, the
whole general public, everybody is a goddamn idiot. Yeah, and it's not fucking true. It is not true at all. Everyone I talked to who's you know, cartoonishly what you would assume is, you know whatever, I'm not gonna even it doesn't But I but when I did those like man on the street reports that talk to people like at bus stops and ship and like, it's just like every person who's down and out that you figure, oh that versus down and out because they're dumb. No, they're
not down and out because they're dumb. They're so smart. They're just down and out. Yeah, anyway, they're unlucky. You live in a like lottery system. We live in a fucking real world, open air casino.
Actually I should be fair to axl Rod because he was he was a little bit more consistent with saying Biden shouldn't run.
But that was like at the end of last year.
But again and I and I guess I act the axel Rod aside of it. There are many people that were part of the established.
Are you friends with David Axelrod?
Huh?
Are you friends with David Axelrod?
I heard Axelrod fucked a couch. I don't know.
I mean he's my father in law's picking up up little.
I mean David, he likes to be called David. Actually but I do just want it. Just something you said, Chris that like, yes, this idea of there's a lot of like tropes you grow up thinking are true because you see them in movies, and you know one of them that like other people are stupid, or that the vast majority of people are stupid turns out not to
be true. Like, the more you learn about the world, the more you're like, no, they're just like a lot a lot of people that get written off are just people. The more you read and learn about the world, the more it becomes clear that the one like theory that you always see when in movies and when you're a kid, that there is a small group of white guys who make all the decisions together and freeze everyone else out, that one is like it seems like the most far fetched.
That's the one, that's the one that we've been right about all along. Like the wealthiest one percent of the global population, it was just reported accumulated forty two trillion dollars in the past ten years. Like they're getting so much richer, so much faster, Like in the ten years since we started talking about the one percent being a problem, they've gotten so much richer, so much faster, and.
That's why it's hard to get out of bed in the morning. I mean, honestly, it's like, you know, it seems overwhelming, right, but I just like made a deal with myself.
It's crazy. I was just deal with myself.
Oh good, I can't wait to hear about this.
I'm just gonna be quiet.
But no, I just think that like I made I made it.
You know.
I really have been feeling lately, you know, really like especially because I write the column and I do podcasts and stuff. I was just on Zach Bends's podcast Grinding to a Halt the other day, which was really fun.
I don't just thought of that one.
I was and yeah, and uh, but but I you know, I think about these things a lot, and I don't know how to I'm realizing that I'm not changing it. I'm not changing I'm not gonna change it. I can't change what that cabal of white men are gonna do with the candidates. But I can like stay alive and not despair because somehow I can be of help. I know it, and I don't know how it looks, but I will remain, you know, And I think about all the all the other countries that have had all these
horrible things happen. Fucking Palestine, you know, just like those people are still getting up in the fucking morning and trying to live a life, and it is absolutely horrible what people have to go through, and I you know, I just am trying to remember that. I guess the deal with myself is that I'm going to try and keep showing up, even though I'm not sure how to
how to help. I guess that's the point. But I know that waking up helps if you're if you're not a bad person, just being president, just being president on the damn earth as a good person is is inspiring to other people who will then hang around to we all just have to hang around for each other and be like, oh, well that's guys, We're all still here,
so I guess we need to stay, you know. I mean, just like there's something about just and that was my under overrated was just going to be that saying of putting on the oxygen mask on yourself, like before, but yeah, like you gotta do, you gotta do the thing. You got to put it on the child afterwards, because I feel everybody's like, I.
Don't think put it on at all. I'd be like that.
So they just putting the oxygen mask on themselves and that's it. That there's a second part to that anyway, but that's what I do think that that that's it. Like I mean, I'm not sure. This is all like a crazy situation, you know, and uh, you know, I just want to keep showing up, which is which is also some modi modified slogan for some other organization.
I can't think of keep showing up something like that and just doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there we go. All right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show. If you like the show, uh means the world of Miles. He he needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend, and I will talk to him Monday. Bye.