Climate of Chaos

New Mexico Democrats. Why do I say that it is wild because just a couple of months before that it was former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and her husband's skull being bashed in by a hammer. These incidents are becoming

way to fucking common. These incidents are a pattern of behavior that is being stoked and celebrated on the right, and the irresponsible nature of the fucking mainstream media not to connect the dots for the American public, is going to ensure that these acts of violence are now just the norm in our political discourse. That to become a candidate for office not only as a woman and as a personal color or somebody who lives at the intersection

of multiple identities. Not only are you going to have to just swallow online social media egregious attacks about rape and murder and all of these things, but now what you're going to need to build in private security into your fucking campaigns because we're creating a climate of chaos where nut jobs are not called out for the shit that they do who are elected and the things that they say, and they're posing with ar fifteens or cooking bacon with their fucking guns, or lining their children up

as Lauren Bobert did in front of a fucking Christmas tree with all of their guns and thinking that this is the American way. And then you have people who then take this too right the next fucking level, and the mainstream media just goes ahead and ignores it. Oh well, we don't really know what's in people's hearts, are in their minds, Yes, you fucking do. Are you dumb? Right?

Are we dumb to believe that the escalating rhetoric that we have seen from the Matt Gates's and the Paul Gostars and the Marjorie Taylor Greens and the Donald Trump's who said I could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and watch my poll numbers go up. That has said at rallies, Oh, go ahead and rough them

up a little bit. I'll pay for your legal fees, or said that in front of the Suffolk County Police Department when he was President of the United States, go ahead and rough him up to raucous laughter from police who are paid by your motherfucking tax dollars. So you have these elected officials with bull horns stoking political violence at their enemies, referring to their political opponents as their enemies, and saying that people in the press are the enemy

of the state. Do we remember when all of the bomb threats were coming in to CNN. Do we remember when members of Congress, particularly Democrats, were receiving white substance in the mail. This is not a game, but to them it is, and it is irresponsible, irresponsible of the mainstream media not to be connecting the fucking dots and calling these people out. Why aren't Republican officials put on their fucking heels about the Solomon Pennias of the world.

Why aren't they asked, why do you continue to lift up and turn Kyle Rittenhouse a fucking murderer into one of your celebrities. Why aren't these questions asked by reporters, Oh, because they're too chicken shit, because their networks believe, who are run by right wing billionaires, that if they were to pose those questions and they would seem biased. Do you know what's fucking biased? Not a learning the public to violence that you know is on the fucking horizon.

And as a matter of fact, folks, it's not on the horizon, it's here. These things, these incidents are going to go from being every few of they went to never happening to once in a blue moon. Right, you had Gabby Giffer and the shooting that happened that cost her her political future. Right, you had the shooting that happened with Nunez on the field in Washington, DC. Years later. Now, these things that were once in a blue moon horrific

incidents that both sides would come out and condemn. You have being celebrated and elevated on behalf of the Republican Party, and yet not a person in mainstream media coming out and saying, why aren't you condemning violence? These people took pictures at the stop the Steel rally Solomon Pennia was at the Stop the Steel rally on January sixth. He took pictures and posted them on social media. He didn't concede his fucking loss, which was a lot because Donald

Trump didn't concede his loss. These are all fucking copycats and they're getting their direction from one place. Elected Republican officials who are taking their cues from Donald Trump. Now, let me tell you who could have made this all fucking go away. Is Merrick Goddamn we don't know where the fuck you are Garland, Right If Merrick Garland, I don't know was awake at the wheel and decided that he was actually going to indict Donald Trump for his

whole host, whole host of motherfucking crimes. Going back to can you do me a favor? Though, to Zelinski, had he decided to drop charges on Donald Trump the minute that he got on Air Force one and took off after his failed to first term in office, we wouldn't be here because, you see, you would make an example of what is unacceptable of the office of the presidency, of what is unacceptable for an elected official. But because there are no handcuffs on Donald Trump, there are no indictments,

there's no nothing. Then all everybody is doing is taken a page from that book and saying I can do it better. So I don't just blame the people who Solomon Pennia hired. I don't just blame Solomon Penia. I don't just blame the Republican Party. I don't just blame Donald Trump. But I blame those who are now in power that refuse to hold them accountable and are just

setting us up this giant fucking tinderbox. And their inaction is just allowing the gasoline to continue to leak and Republicans to continue to spark the fires that then they're going to say after the fact, well it's hot over there, so maybe stay away, folks. We are not headed anywhere that is good and anywhere that is safe. And you know, I will also go for and mentioned to Jonathan that I believe that the far right really does just want to kill their constituents. The question that I have is

why right? And so I get into this and so much more with our good good friend, our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzol. Folks, you know that whenever we have the opportunity to speak with our friend the good doctor, doctor Jonathan Metsol. We are always thrilled, and unfortunately every time that we talk to him, something bad has happened. As it pertains to guns, as it pertains to the rise and escalation in a political violence, and both Jonathan

have come to the forefront. So, folks, you may not know this, but a couple of I want to say, a couple of weeks ago, there were shootings that took place in New Mexico directed at Democrats that we're holding elect office. There were shootings at their office buildings and their homes, and New Mexico police were on the search

for that person. Cable news in a large way was ignoring this until this week when Solomon Pennya, who was a former Republican candidate for the House District House District fourteen, if I am correct, was arrested and he was arrested for being the quote mastermind according to New Mexico police, behind these political attacks, and they were indeed political attacks because he lost his election by more than thirty five hundred votes. And guess what he refused to concede. Who

does that sound like? He has pictures posted up with at the insurrection on January sixth talking about he will not concede, just like his president did not concede Donald Trump, so on and so forth. And on top of executing um, I guess, finding for people to commit these crimes, he also is said to have shot up one of the offices himself. So, Jonathan, UM, I mean, let me just get your reactions from solid from this case and what we how it started, and what we now know about

the quote unquote mastermind behind these attacks. Well, this is hey everybody. First of all, nice to see you again. We're talking about some crazy shite here. Fifteen years ago,

ten years ago. Certainly when I was growing up, this would be the kind of thing you would hear about in some like tin pot dictatorship or something like that, Like, you know, this is the kind of thing that was like, Man, thank god I live in America, because you know, even though we have people who might do something like that, that's not where we have. We have a viable political system in the United States, which we still do in some ways. But really this is America right now. We

are that tinpot dictatorship right now. It feels like we're heading that way in certain kind of ways, because these are the kind of stories again that you would hear from somebody who had a lot of silver foil wrapped around a cone on their head, or somebody who was up in the mountains, you know, in a Sasquatch movie or something. And now this is somebody who's a candidate in a mainstream political party doing this kind of stuff.

And so Number one is just how much the America that we live in right now, in so many ways, the extreme has become the mainstream. Right. We've always had an extreme, but the fact that these extreme people acts, there's just kind of carte blanche to do crazy stuff, and we're seeing crazy stuff. And I personally find this

story terrifying. I really find it terrifying because think about all the I just put it into the bucket of like, think of all the people who are running for office right now who are like either heart meet away from power or in the case of George Santos, in power. Our entire political system first of all, is attracting horrible people, and second of all, really extreme or manipulated views are

either in power or too close to power. And that makes for a very unstable political system, which is what

we have right now. And I feel like with all this debt ceiling stuff and all that just going to get a little bit worse, you know, Jonathan, I want to pick up on something that you said, because there seems to be some type of crackpot pathology that has consumed the Republican Party in a way where right, like this story would have seemed crazy fifteen years ago, Right, George Santos as a character now and emblematic of the

Republican Party would have seemed nuts. Right and traditional quote unquote Republicans who are now have now long since died off would have denounced this person because they wouldn't have wanted to be associated with them. What has happened? What is the psychology and the pathology that has overtaken I don't want to say overtaken because that makes it seem like they are victims, but that has consumed the Republican Party, that more and more of these extremist figures have found

their way to the center stage. Certainly, there is an issue with the vetting process, with the recruitment process, but I would also say, what are we looking for in a politician right now? I grew up in Kansasy, Missouri, which is now the rednists of the red areas. But when I grew up, we had politicians who were certainly we didn't agree with them, you know, people like Bob

Dole from Kansas or some people from Missouri. But the reason they were in power they had an ideology, a system of governance, a way of getting things done for their constituents, a way of bringing home the bacon or the tofurky or whatever for their people. And now that's not the system we're in. The system is a zero sum who's going to own the Libs, who's going to be good in social media? The governance having an ideology,

having a perspective is totally second secondary. In fact, people are elected to not get things done right now, to overturn if the government is If the government is the bad guy, then people are elected to go in and destroy the government, which is what we're seeing in the House of Representatives right now. And so it's just a scary time because the people who are in these positions are representing very extreme positions, but they also are in

there to not get things done. And I also think, honestly it was Santos, since you brought it up, there's there's some other story here like no, no, I know there are a lot of fake stories, but I mean the Russians have to be behind this or Saudis somebody's behind this, Like somebody basically bought a vote. Um, that's kind of the Santa story. And so again there's something

about the vetting. There's something about the process. And if you add that in to the stuff I'm setting now, which is a lot of guns, right, this is also the story in New Mexico is also a story about guns. It's a it's a volatile moment. And again I worry as as governance potentially starts to crack, and again we're

going to see it with this debate about the debt ceiling. Um. But if the government starts to kind of fall apart in terms of not just crazy people in elections, in offices, but about the basic services it provides to people, which is what would be the implications if we default on loans as a country, then you're really going to see even I think, much more uncertainty, much more instability, and and the things we're seeing now as news stories are

going to start to feel up more personal. You know something that you said to I want to lift up because I did an interview earlier today with the Young Turks and the damage Report, and you know, in the commentary, one of the stories that we were talking about is a recent segment that Tucker Carlson did. Tucker Carlson, you know, one of the very important things that Kevin McCarthy has decided to do as the puppet of the House and the Fisher Price speaker is rolled back a regular a

policy that disallowed smoking in the US Capitol building. Right, So, now that the Republicans are back in control, smoking can happen. And this is the only place in the entirety of Washington, DC where you can now smoke indoors. Right. Tucker Carlson does a segment Jonathan where he's like, what's so wrong

with tobacco? Right? Who said tobacco causes any problems? This is the same man that has spent the last three years telling his entire audience not to get vaccinated and not to believe in a global health pandemic and to you know, not to believe that over a million Americans have died and continue to die from COVID nineteen. Now he's telling his audience that he brought on some crack politician who had a pocket fill of cigars to say there's nothing wrong with smoking, and that's the American way,

and tobacco is what America was built on. It was built on slavery because the only way to get the tobacco was to have enslave people picking it. But I digress. What the hell is happening here? Like as Tucker Carlson and the far right just held bent on killing their constituents, and how does that look as a long term winning strategy when your constituents start dropping dead of either COVID because of because they refused to get vaccine vaccinated, or cancer.

I'm not surprised by this at all, to be honest, for two reasons. First, I live in Nashville, and you've been able to smoke in restaurants and bars up until I think last year and view before. But it was this thing about the government's not going to tell me

what to do. And the second part link to that is public health is seen as the enemy because it's government funded research, saucy kind of stuff telling people what to do, telling people they can't just ride in their car without having a seatbelt on, or enjoy their freedom to smoke of course, the arguments are not great for the other people who are driving down the road with you or are in this restaurant inhaling your second hand smoke.

But the idea that any there's any fringement on my liberty, which is kind of the whole idea of public health, is like, we're going to make a decision as a community to do practices that may or may not work in an individual level, but an aggregate level, they are there for the betterment of human human health. And so I'm not surprised that any public health dictim any public health injunction is up for debate. I think I told you.

I just think like smoking, of all things, Jonathan, we've known for decades that smoking leads to emphysema, cancer, heart attacks, heart disease, all of the I mean, we've had the Surgeon General's warning and people have raised the cost of cigarettes to prevent death that we know happened. So I'm just like, do they is owning the Libs to the

extent that literally they're willing to die of whiteness and stupidity. Well, I mean, the other thing about tobacco, of course, is we know is that there's a lot of corporate money behind it. So I don't think. I don't think anybody who's coming out and seeing those statements right now is just doing it because they they're going home to smoke a pack of Marlboroughs and they want to freedom. I mean,

I'm sure that this is not an accident. Right. So the things we see people rejecting public health about are things that have very strong corporate backing, like guns. You know, guns are not great for people's health, but there's a lot of money in standing up for gun rights. And certainly historically we know from cigarettes that even the doctors who were supporting smoking rights were being funded by tobacco. I have no idea of Tucker Carlson is, but nothing

would surprise me at this point. There are constraints now on advertising hard alcohol, for example, but that's another example where there's a corporate there's a corporate interest behind overturning public health. It's not just an ideology. But then when it filters down just telling people, oh, this is the American way and liberty infringement and you have your rights

as an uninfringed person. So in a way, the trick of all this is getting individual people to do the bidding of these corporate interests in a way that shortens the individual lifespans but is good for the bottom line of corporations. And and and I think, you know, we're stuck on the liberal side again with the moral argument, like, look how many live seatbelts have saved. You know, car

companies didn't want to have anti lock breaks. People didn't believe there was such thing as secondhand smoke twenty five years ago. And so look at all the lives that have been saved by this kind of corporate accountability. But if you have a you have, if you have a party, who is it's the opposite of corporate accuntability corporate accountability. You're just going to see a lot more things like this where communal decisions that have been very hard fought

are going to be at risk. The reality to me is like I'm like, go ahead and smoke, Go ahead, Tucker Carlson and your entire audiences. I actually don't give a damn because I'm cynical and I really I'm not looking to make the argument as to why you should care about your own health and the health of those

around you. This is just going to be to me, why you need to make sure that the people that you were electing governors and your local officials that have this say so over restaurants and the say so over communal and public accommodations are people with sense, right, that actually believe in real science and not crackpop bullshit that they I mean, because to me, I'm like, they want to kill their constituents as a way to own the

lips I see. Other than the corporate backing that they are getting, I just don't see this as a long term, sustainable winning thing for Republicans. Let's bring back all of the things that cause disease and illness. Yeah, but I mean, as I was saying before, likes it's tied to power, and it's worked across the South again, you really could.

There's a hamburger and vegetarian hamburger restaurant on my street that I never go to because they allow smoking in the restaurant, and and I just think, like, man, sometimes they get home late, I'm starving, but I'm not going in there because I don't want to eat a hamburger inhale a bunch of secondhand smoke. And and so in a way, the things you're saying have already been in place, a lot of them across the South for the most part. And it's not like the South. I mean, people don't

like it in the South. But because this is such a way of consolidating power, I just don't think we can bury our heads in the sand anymore. I'm not saying you're doing that or I'm doing that, but I would say, like guns is a perfect example here where everybody was like, well, we're fine if they want to do all those guns and those red states, because we have strong laws in New York or Boston or Connecticut

or LA. But it turned out that what people were doing was consolidating power in the South, creating a reliable, foolproof voting block that then they took power in the South, and then they took over the Supreme Court, and now the shitty gun laws from the South are going to be imposed across the entire country thanks to controlling the Supreme Court. So I think it makes it emotional sense to say this stuff's happening down there. But this is

a powerplay using the judiciary like everything else is. And so I think people really should pay attention because it's coming to you. And next that's the lesson of guns. If you don't have a strategy for recognizing what's happening, it's coming to you. Last question for you, Jonathan, and I want to go back to the political violence. You know, a couple of months prior to Solomon Pennia was the

attack on Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi. Prior to that, it was the insurrection, and I'm certain different political things that did not make major news that happened in between. This is becoming a pattern right where we are becoming a place that is unsafe. We're now running for public office, having a public voice is becoming increasingly dangerous. Do you see a way of this stopping before someone gets killed? Look what happened to Paul. Look at the response to

the Paul policy attack. Do you I mean what you need now is people coming together in the middle and saying this is unacceptable. That's that's where this stops. When people don't think about party, they say this is this is not who we are as a country. A democracy is where we solve our problems and decide on key issues by peaceful means. But it can't just be one side that that's saying that. And I would hope that

if it was a Democrat shooting. I don't know NERF Darts or of GOP, I don't know whatever, but I would hope that the people who I support politically would stand up and say, I don't care or what party we're in, this is not where we are. So until people start coming together, which requires two parties to start condemning this kind of stuff, it's just as it's a permissive attitude, permissive atmosphere for this kind of thing, and

so it makes it super super scary. I just say, you know it is there is only one side to this issue. It is only one size that is aggravating the violence, that is stoking the violence, that is celebrating the violence. But you're right until and so I guess that the answer is that things are just going to get more and more violent before they get better. Because I don't see Republicans coming out and saying this is

not who we are. They just don't say anything, or they cheer that person on and they become a celebrity in the way that Kyle Rittenhouse has. Yeah, I mean the message should be we're a country of rules. We're governed by rules. That's what makes our country great. That should be the message every time, and people who stand outside of that are not part of our establishment. Now, I haven't seen any response to pen Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure he doesn't have a ton of supporters right now.

But I was just say in general, the idea of supporting outcomes you don't like by violent means is something that is much more, much more pervasive and believes is very concerning. Yeah, we're we're in a very concerning dangerous place, and so I will tell people to continue to be vigilant and to stay safe. Jonathan, as always, thank you so much for making the time for woke a f We appreciate you. Stay safe everybody, and don't start smoothing

take care of so please. That is it for me today, dear friends on woke f as always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fun and also, friends, I am becoming increasingly scared and worried, so please continue to keep yourselves as safe as you can possibly be and as same as you can possibly be.