Sedition or Stupidity? Why Are Democrats Defending Iran?

0:00So you believe the Iranian officials over the President of the United States? I believe that based on all the information that's available. Well, I tend to believe Iran more than I do. That's true. Because he could not acknowledge the truth even when it is he slapped in the face with it repeatedly. You're going to take Iran's word over the President of the United States, seditious. It's seditious. And that's where we've reached with this Democratic Party. You know that the Iranians are going to push out propaganda, but the rate at which Democrats who are elected by American voters are adopting that propaganda and spreading it, that is the most alarming thing to me. I remember when Ben Laden was knocked out during the Obama administration and every single Republican was like, hell, yeah. But it also shows how deranged the base of that party is. Exactly. That did go after him for being like, uh, Iran not having weapons is good to like, how dare you we stayed with the brave Iranian government again.

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3:12Fun time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smog Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right across the radio dial as always. Listen, there's a lot of absurdity going on in Washington DC. I can't remember a time where your average American would be more divorced from the conversation that is happening on a day-to-day basis this week, whether it's like DHS shut down and people stuck in TSA lines or the thing that really stuck out that's actually, if it wasn't so serious, it would be the best fun time because their interpretations of what's happening in Iran and by they, I mean, Democrats has gone so far beyond reality that I find that it gives you a little insight into the ethos of the Democratic Party in a way that almost nothing can. I mean,

4:13there's arguments about everything in politics, but there are objective facts and objective truths that everybody sort of just relies on. And if you've been a part of a debate or if you just sort of tangentially have a newspaper level understanding of international conflict, Iran, Esbola Hamas, the reasons why we're doing the things that we're doing, you have some basis in fact. Well, yeah, and I mean, you can get sober analysis of all these things from many places, but on fun time, Friday, I think we figured out a way to talk about something that's serious, but is seriously funny. It's seriously funny because these people are absolute idiots. Yeah. I mean, just clueless morons. And I don't know how it's not just like at this point, a parody, almost a stand-up comedy show of what it is that these guys are saying. Can you take it from the top? Let's Senator Schumer, the minority leader of this Senator who's been there for God knows how long. I mean, longer than I've been alive, it feels like,

5:17has had a straightforward message when it comes to Hamas, Esbola, Iran, four or 40 years. It's just like that's just point of view is that yes, I acknowledge they've killed a ton of Americans. They're intent when they say death to America and they want to end the existence of Israel, then they actually mean it and they follow through. Yeah, I mean, killing terrorists didn't use to be such a partisan issue in the United States. It didn't. I thought we were all on the same page for a very long time. Trump broke these people. Yeah, that's a thing is when the defining feature of the Democrats, since they no longer have any core beliefs or any ideals, they'll do anything they think can grant them power. They define themselves against Trump. So let's have a fun time, shall we? Let's watch some clips. This is clip three where Chuck Schumer is somehow pretzling himself into a position that is unique to these last 90 days of his life.

6:19So Senator Lee, is that we ought to get out? No, no, no, hold a second. You got to answer my question first. Yeah. Is it a good thing that that Iran, I think you would agree with me, epicenter of terrorism in the world since 1979? Is it good that their military infrastructure is being degraded in the degree that it is? Yes or no? It's, you can't because it's a premature question. What's going to happen next several months? No, no, I can ask that question. I said no, no, no, no, I can't. So you have you have the military side, you have the political side. I'm simply asking on the military side, is it good? Regardless of whether we agree with going in or not, is it good that Iran's military infrastructure has been searing again? I have to tell you Joe. Can't answer it. Can't answer it. You can't, what's going to happen three months from now? What is it worth it? What's going to happen? Will the world economy collapse? Will something what happened even worse? Will the whole energy infrastructure of the world go up and smoke? So when they do it without planning? When they do it without understanding? Let me

7:24answer the question for everybody in America. The answer, yes, it's good that the power is for Jean. Joe Scarborough, this isn't saying it has been and capabilities have been degraded radically. Dude, Joe burrow or Joe Scarborough being the voice of reason, but also Joe burrow is terrible. That's just like shocking. Again, we go back to to understand Schumer is to understand he lives every day of his life right now in absolute fear. He thinks AOC is breathing down his neck and he's worried that she's going to primary him if he does not do whatever the radical idiots who controlled the Democrat Party demand, then he's he's gone. He cannot even say, or arouse. Schumer can't even admit that when Joe Scarborough himself is having to say, this is the Iran is the epicenter of terrorism since 1979. Can you say it's good or bad? They have fewer weapons. Schumer can't even do that. He's that terrified of his left wing base.

8:28Yes, while the Schumer is trying to set himself up to the left of MS now. That's in MS now. It's an easy question to answer. Of course. It's a very easy question to answer. The terrorists have fewer missiles. Don't you think that's good? Oh, well, we don't know. I'm not sure. It is a mind blowing thing. It also speaks to like how politically inept Chuck Schumer is because you very obviously could have all of those qualifiers to the thing and still answer the question. Even if he was just like an inept politician, he could be like, of course, the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world should have less well weapons and I'm glad that they do not have a traversal statement. But I'm concerned about this that and the other, but he can't even do it that way because he's so unskilled. I think it goes beyond skill. I think it demonstrates his weakness in technic color that this guy is so scared of AOC or mom Donnie or somebody else coming from his laptop and taking his job. He just doesn't even want to

9:32say what's real. He can't have a clip that exists on the internet. It's true. Of him suggesting even for a moment that something that Donald J. Trump has done is has ancillary benefit. He can't have it. Yes, yes, it shows his weakness. Yes, it shows he is inept. Yes, it shows he's a coward, but it also shows how to range the base of that party is exactly that they'd go after him for being like, uh, I ran out having weapons as good to like, how dare you? We stayed with the brave Iranian government against. Oh, dare you. It's unbelievable. Well, and you get a little flavor for that Chris Van Hal and you remember he was down having cocktails with the Maryland man notoriously soft down in L say notorious very soft very soft chin looks like he's just sort of made out of play down in many ways, but he shows up and he's going to carry that left wing thing. He's in

10:32Maryland. He's very safe from the Republican incursion of any point of view and to his lexicon. And so he's he's shown up and he's got a very specific point that he'd like to make and clip for. Who do you think is telling the truth? Casey, unfortunately, we've learned that Donald Trump has been lying to the American people from the start and he keeps lying to the American people, which is never a good thing. So you believe the Iranian officials over the president of the United States? I believe that based on all the information that's available and Donald Trump's track record of why we know on line when he says that the Iranians are talking with us and they're about to give Donald Trump everything he wants. Yes, that's a lie. Okay, all right. I believe the Iranians. They're caricature of themselves. So this was a brief moment in time this week where this all happened, where the Trump administration came out and said that they're having meaningful conversations with someone

11:34unnamed entities, people or persons in Iran about a negotiation. At which point, the Republican guard, whomever within Iran, sends out some kind of thing through their proxies to say, we're not talking to anyone. At which point, people like Chris Van Holland, CNN, New York Times, all the others say, you see, Donald Trump's lying, he's not talking to anyone. Within 12 hours of this moment in time, you find out in fact they are and they're having very in-depth conversations and the negotiation is ongoing and they're making concessions already because Iran needs a deal and everybody knows that. But they wanted to pretend as though the real problem here was Donald Trump misrepresenting the level of negotiations in Iran, not the fact that the largest state sponsor of terrorism, the only state in the world who has

12:38committed 40 years of atrocities against American citizens in and of themselves, there are the truth whisperer here. There are the people that are telling us what's happened. Absolutely. And that's incredibly critical to understanding what's happening here. Is that subsequent to these idiots making themselves look like idiots publicly? We got information, specific details about the individuals who are representing Iran and that we do have delegation that's dealing with them and that there are all these, you know, all this work is being done on negotiating the resolution to this. The stunning takeaway from all of this is I'm old enough to remember. It doesn't matter who the president is. When there's military action, when we've got U.S. service members in a theater overseas, everybody lines up because, you know, patriotism doesn't end at this border. When our troops are overseas and could be facing danger,

13:41you'll line up. You circle the wagons for America. They can't even bring themselves to do that. I'm not shocked that they aren't supporting Donald Trump in this military action against Iran. Of course, that's part for the course. But like, I am surprised because you don't need to be a foreign policy expert to recognize that when you decapitate a government and you kill like 50, 60 of their leadership in the country that numerous powers are vying for what happens next in Iran, you've got the IRGC and the clerics who kind of have a nexus of power and then you have the other politicians there within the parliament and everything that are vying for power. So wouldn't it be sort of obvious that the Trump administration is trying to find somebody who they can deal with who's a reasonable human being, right? And that might not be. And then coming from the official statement of the IRGC. And that's the thing is what I wanted to say when I said that, you know,

14:42during overseas combat, you would line up and have some decency and support your country. I'm not saying the sense that you do lockstep whatever what I'm saying is reports came out that these lines that that right there that you heard CNN or that Senator going with and that you've heard the New York Times go with these are intentional disinformation campaigns being put out by the IRGC. These are propaganda that they're trying to put out to undermine America. Not just Donald Trump, they're trying to undermine America's authority globally by putting this stuff out there. It's like these ridiculous AI videos that they've put out of like a missile going from Iran and sinking American aircraft carriers. CNN would believe that because they're willing to go with Iranian propaganda designed to undermine America's authority. And I think that's the most troubling aspect. It's that you know that the Iranians are going to push out propaganda, but the rate at which

15:42Democrats who are elected by American voters are adopting that propaganda and spreading it, that is the most alarming thing to me. I remember when Bin Laden was knocked out during the Obama administration and every single Republican was like hell, yeah, I'm glad that you got Osama bin Laden. I'm glad that you got him and and you guys remember when Salomon he was turned to salsa Democrats were not praising Trump. They're saying world war three is beginning now that he's knocking out their military capabilities. They're like, no, I think the Iranians are on to something like this is this is extremely troubling, especially given the backdrop of how much money foreign influencers are spending in this country to try to gin up the left against America. Yeah, right. They're also counting on you having a sub 75 IQ. Yeah, true. They're they're counting on you not knowing anything about the world ever. I've never hearing the word Iran. If you just heard it in the last 30 days like my you know, I don't know, it's an argument,

16:43partisan argument. There's a lot of them in Washington. Do you see it is what are that? If you've lived any part of history, you would know how absurd that statement is. So I thought my initial reaction to Chris Van Hollen is like, he fucked up. In the same way that Harry Reid, when he said the war is lost as we have 20,000 soldiers in Iraq, if you were to ask him, January, if he'd be like, that was a mistake. I shouldn't have said that. So I'm guessing despite the fact that there's no repercussions for Van Hollen that I've seen within the media as there was with Harry Reid, I just figured he screwed up and they're going to try to walk away from it. Not the case. Our old friend, John Brennan, the worst of the worst. Yes. This guy is an absolute cancer on the body. He's a menace. He shows up. What do you think his talking point is? Clip five Iran, like they are an authoritarian regime who's known to lie. But like, I'm confused. What is going on? Help me calm me down. Well, I tend to believe it wrong more than I do. That's crazy. Because he could not

17:45acknowledge the truth even when it is he slapped in the face with it repeatedly. And they put his title up there for our YouTube listeners and it shocks you every time you see John Brennan referred to as former CIA director because that's like the last person you would want in a position of authority, let alone as CIA director. And now that guy has basically made his purpose undermining the American government, undermining President Trump overseas doing the bidding of America's adversaries. Honestly, I don't know why he's not in jail. Like the number of things he's done lying to the public spreading lies about Donald Trump. He was a rushigator. And like, he uses that title. I mean, right now, he's caching in off of it. That's why he's doing that TV. That's why he's a contributor being like former CIA director. And you have with a small Sanders being like, you know, can you inform me? Because make sense of this for me guy who's gotten everything wrong over the last 20 years. Exactly. And so he's dining out on his name,

18:49making money essentially lying to the American people. It's unbelievable. So blinded by partisanship. That's this guy. And it is, it is very troubling. But it's like if we're going to believe the Iranians with their intelligence reports, why are we then not allowed to believe them when they say death to America over and over again? Why if they're so credible about the facts on the ground, John Brennan? What a good point. Are we not supposed to believe them when they say they're going to eliminate our country that we are the great statement? Or like, I'll raise you one. Why should we believe a single thing Iran says about anything? Their nuclear program, their funding of proxies, their missile stockpiles, when they told us for years, they limited their capacity in ICBMs to to a range that wouldn't impair all the rest of the world. And they did that because they are responsible player in the regional politics of the Middle East. Then what do they do? Fire an ICBM into Diego Garcia. Yeah. The military base far beyond its reach, right? So they literally

19:49have a thousand miles away. They lied about the whole program from the get go from the job. And on that, all these idiots online, mostly left wing journals being like, we had a deal and play with Obama. And the Ayatollah issued a Fadwa against long-range missiles. And then they fire one at Diego Garcia. It's like, you're really trying to trust an Ayatollah who enjoys murdering Americans and you're trying to convince Americans to trust him too. Which also, and if you're a listener or a viewer of the ruthless variety program, you got this weeks ago when we had Senator Kennedy in here. And he raised the issue of Diego Garcia because the UK wants to sell it to Mauritius, which basically makes it a proxy for China, right? And then lo and behold, here weeks later, what's Iran doing? Deciding to attack it. Why? Because they're doing what China wants. Yep. Yep. No, I mean, look. Did you, right? Why? Why I raised the idea of like banking on you either having collective amnesia or having a sub 75 IQ is because they look, there's a fact sheet that the White House put out that I caught

20:56my eye. I've been well aware of this since I've been involved in politics. But at the beginning of March, they put out basically what Iran was responsible for in killing Americans over 46 years of time. Can we just toss this? It's just, it's just a scroll that you're going to, you're going to look at here. But it starts obviously with the hostages in 1979, which we've talked about by 1983. They killed 17 Americans at an embassy bombing. And then just later in that year, they killed 241 US military personnel in a marine barracks bombing. And you can go along the pathway each and every year for 46 years, including when John Brennan was presiding over the CIA for Barack Obama, where they were killing Americans individually. We're not talking about the collective reign of terror that they have upon allies in the region, Israel, anything

21:59out like not to mention as John Brennan knows they kidnapped and murdered a CIA station chief. Yes. Yes. They kidnapped and murdered a CIA station chief. But they didn't, it didn't, it's each and every year. It's not like we're talking about some era of the Ayatollah's reign. We're talking about each and every year on this White House fact sheet. They've got individual things listed where they have just subsequently killed Americans over and over again. If you are a member of Congress, if you are a CIA director, if you have access to the intelligence far beyond a newspaper level, you know that. And then you go on TV and you're saying you're going to take Iran's word over the president of the United States, seditious. It's seditious. And that's where we've reached with this democratic party. And I'm not being hypervile. You're not,

23:00but we are not. I mean, we are now in an era where they're shutting down the Department of Homeland Security because they object to something that was showed up in the news six weeks ago. They fired a Homeland Security chief. You know, all kinds of things to try to renovate and change a mission, but they're still there because of this narrow little minority of progressive psychopaths that they are using to try to govern their strategy in opposing Donald Trump at all costs. And the cost to it is you. That's it. But they're banking on you being too fucking stupid to realize that this is 46 years of history. This is 46 years of Americans dying. And they have the audacity to straight face a talking point, which is a talking point. If it shows up, wants it to mistake. If it shows up twice by two leading Democrats, that's part of the talking points. It's part of the progressive. We trust Iran more than we trust Donald Trump.

24:01If you have a family member or a friend like I have a friend who was in Iraq and was hit by a roadside bomb, and those are all courtesy Iran of Iran. And for a former CIA chief to be like, oh, you know, I trust Iran here is just despicable thing to say. There's no excuse for it. It's completely insane. So look, take it for what it's worth when we're didn't we're not dealing with a he said she said anymore. We're not dealing with two different ways of solving the same problem. We're not talking about people operating in good faith on any issue. It really boils now when you deal with things of war and peace, good and evil. And you can figure out how to get yourself into the evil to wedge yourself against the good because it politically motivates people who might vote for you. It's the lowest form of American politics. Yeah. I don't think that I've lived through it to be honest. I don't none of us have lived through this. This is brand new.

25:05Like this is you can't. This is brand new. It really is. I think what I've honed in on what the Democrats midterm message bumper sticker should be America deserve 9.11. I mean, dude, I mean, because like I think ideologically, like that's their entire philosophy now with a healthy segment that it was an inside job. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like these people have lost the plot all the way through. They have no idea what it is that they're doing here. But I will say the one beauty that we get on front fun time Friday is that you have a a countervailing balance to some of that that always comes from the president of the United States. There's a hilarious moment this week. A lot of serious topics. Yeah. But Hague says talking about something. Trump's got a reaction to it. You got to see it for yourself. Clip to president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon. The war department agrees our job is to ensure that. And so we're keeping our our hand on that throttle

26:09as long as it's hard as it's necessary to ensure that he achieved on that. So Hague Hague Seth gets animated, right? I mean, Hague Seth gets animated. He does this thing. He's talking about, you know, he's trying to re-emphasize how serious they are about all this. But he's talking about long and hard and he's doing the fist bump. And you just look at Trump and know we're having sat in, you know, in meetings with him. I know exactly what he's like, he looks at it like not sure the gesture was perfect there holding it long and hard. Hold it long and hard. His stuff is just tennis. And that's why Democrats hate him so much. It is no matter what, he's a show he can capture the attention of every American the second he walks into. He's a normal dude. So when a normal dude hears something like that, it's going to peak their touches. It's funny. It's funny. It's funny. All right. So when we come back, recall early in the week

27:14in Tuesday, we talked to Senator Cassidy, his opponent, Julia Letlow, is going to be with us where you get to fill out that map. Remember, we promised him we're going to hear from all the candidates. You're going to hear from all the candidates in Louisiana for second installment coming up after this. American Energy is growing with a renewed focus on American oil and natural gas where rebuilding our industrial strength and driving investment. Energy demand is rising and the United States has the resources to meet it. Here's the challenge. If we can't build the infrastructure to move that energy, pipelines, transmission lines and power plants, Americans won't feel the benefits. And while projects stall, China moves faster. Not because America lacks energy, but because Washington's permitting system is outdated and broken. Energy affordability depends on getting energy where it's needed, when it's needed. Yet critical projects remain stuck for years in delays and endless litigation. We have the energy. We have the workforce.

28:18Now it's time to build. Let's secure American energy leadership for generations to come. When America builds, America wins. Pass permitting reform now. Learn more at permittingreformnow.org. Paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. In America, parents call the shots for their families, not bureaucrats. But the so-called App Store Accountability Act puts your child at risk. This bill requires app stores to collect children's sensitive personal data while taking away power from parents over how their child's data is handled by tech companies. Parents should get to decide if their child's age is shared with apps, not politicians. Parents should attest to their kids' ages, not turn over birth certificates to tech companies. Congress, don't put kids at greater risk online and box parents out of making decisions for their families. Tell your lawmaker to put parents first. There are better ways to keep kids safe. NetChoice is dedicated to making the

29:21Internet safe for free expression and free enterprise. Learn more at netchoice.org-slash-keep-appstores-safe. Well, I want to welcome to the program a candidate for U.S. Senate and Congresswoman from the great state of Louisiana, Julio Loew. How are you? I'm so good. It's great to be with both of you today. Thank you for having me. Yeah, this is awesome. Thank you so much for coming in. This is a big race. Currently, you're in the House of Representatives. Why make the jump? Yeah. Well, I'd love to give you a little bit of my backstory. I never in a million years thought I would be here. I was an educator at heart in higher education specifically and loved that calling that the Lord had placed on my life at an early age. I thought I would spend out my career teaching. It's something that I'm passionate about and that I love. You are too lame. I was actually at the University of Louisiana in a row. I spent four years at too lame as well. Got it. I've just kind of been all over the map

30:23in Louisiana. But I'm pretty sure that my late husband Luke popped out of the womb knowing he wanted to run for Congress one day. But just had an amazing 20-year career worked for my predecessor Congressman Cooksy and then was the Chief of Staff for Congressman Abraham worked for Governor Bobby Gendle. So worked his way up the ladder into a potential run. He did six years ago, ran for this seat and won it. We were on one of life's mountaintops. I was so, so proud of him. But also learned so much from him along the way. In the car with him, working all 24 parishes. We have parishes in Louisiana. Just meeting the people where they were and hearing their concerns and needs. And they stole my heart during that time. They never gave it back. So again, we were on one of life's mountaintops. He won with 60% of the vote. And I was just so

31:23excited for him. And then tragically, I lost him five days before he was set to be sworn in to this seat due to COVID. And so my goodness, life doesn't prepare you for that immense tragedy and pain. Before I lost him, though, I tragically lost my younger brother in a car accident when he was 17. It rocked my family to the core. But one thing that I do know about grief is that everyone does it differently. And I really dug into the literature. I wanted to read what other people had said about losing a sibling. And you'll find a lot out there about losing a parent or losing a child or spouse. But there wasn't a lot about sibling grief. And I had these amazing college professors. I was in graduate school who said, Julia, why don't you write about it? And so I did. And it was cathartic for me to write about grief. Parlayed that into a PhD program at the University of South Florida wrote a dissertation on how people find meaning after loss. And so 20

32:27years later, here I am met again with the most tragic of circumstances, thinking, Lord, I thought I was going to get a pass, you know, what in the world? And I just for some reason said, go back, read with those people said to you all those years ago, interviewed five families. And there were so many nuggets of wisdom in their words. But one that really stood out to me was find a way to get outside of yourself and serve other people. And that is where the healing lies. And so when Congressman Abraham approached me about potentially running for Luke's seed, he said, Julie, you have, you have what it takes. You have the background. You have, you know, the experience, but most of all, you have the the willingness to serve and the desire to serve. And so what was that like where you're sort of picking up the pieces of your own personal life? Also, you know, running for for Congress at the same time, that must have been just an out of body experience. The toughest experience of my life, you know, people say she has, she's not

33:30battle tested. Are you kidding me? Been through some some hard times. But it also strikes me as like the least selfish thing a person could do in that moment, you know, because I remember when I've lost a family member, it was, I mean, it almost feels like the next day won't come. But then make your time about service of others is incredible. And to see the Lord's hand in every part of my life leading up to that, you know, I always believed it for everybody else, especially for Luke and other people. But now to see, well, I've do anything to get my brother, but Jeremy back and Luke back, I see the Lord's hand guiding me because I would have never been able to make such a life altering decision in that moment of pure tragedy and grief with a clear mind if I hadn't already been through grief before and know that that intense physical pain that you feel right now is not going to last forever. You have to make clear sound decisions because I had two little ones depending on me, a three year old and about to be a one year old at the time. And

34:31when I tell you, oh my goodness, so we ran and I won. And it was an incredible experience. The people of Louisiana lifted me up. They prayed for me. They encouraged me. But when I tell you the last five years of my life, it has given my life so much meaning and hope and healing. And another thing for my children to see that when life knocks you down, you have a decision to make, you know, will you give up or will you get up and keep moving forward with faith and hope? And that is my prayer that on my deathbed, they'll be able to say, we witnessed our mom, you know, when life knocks you down, you get back up and you keep moving forward. So hearing that now it makes sense to me that President Trump endorsed you for the for the Senate race, even before you announced you were running. Right. I mean, that's an incredible story. And yeah, that sort of locks you in. I just want to do it. Right. Yeah. So this time around, you know, I'm clicking along in the House of Representatives and just having the the most incredible experience serving the people

35:33that I love so dearly in Louisiana, thinking that, okay, maybe I'll finish out my days here as long as the people will have me. And this time it wasn't Congressman Abraham who came to me. It was President, you know, that said, you know, Julia, just I need someone who I can depend on over on the Senate side. You've proven that you can be a strong ally and partner. You know, you've been with me every time I've needed the vote. And I, you know, I would just like for you to pray about this and, you know, and I'm thinking to myself, oh, they're going to hit me every Sunday. I've never had a negative ad run against me, you know, and then I'm thinking to myself, think about who you're talking to right now. President Trump has everything thrown at him. So none of my crowd baby, I was going to work on that. But wow, what an incredible honor to run for the Senate. You know, but I think that's what's so unique, a little bit different about my stories that unlike Luke, I didn't spend my entire career planning this or, or, or fighting for it. And so I

36:34don't hold on to it so tightly. And I think that's why I've been able to, you know, relinquish that incredible seat in the house and move forward again with faith and hope with this new adventure of running for the Senate if the people will have me. So, you know, what did you learn during your time in the house representing the good people, Louisiana, that you think, you know, sort of prepared you to take this next, this next leap. Like, what is it that Donald Trump saw in you for this endorsement? Yeah. Well, I can tell you what I hope he saw. And a lot of that I learned from my husband. You know, it was a little skeptical about politics. I'd seen what we also on TV and bad actors and things of that sort. So, but being along for the ride with Luke, you know, we had eight years together and seeing that if your heart's in it for the right reason, you really can make a positive difference for the people that you represent. And one of his main goals was to

37:35procure a seat on appropriations. He was actually in his hospital bed calling the speaker, trying to, you know, secure that spot. It was probably what's going to happen as a freshman, but, you know, he had big dreams. But my goodness, he taught me that this is not my seat, as the people see. And every decision that you ever make, that needs to be at the forefront of your mind, that you represent the people and you cannot forget that. And it's not about you. It's not about fame or ego or, you know, where you see a lot of people up here get lost in that. Let your head down. Do a good job. I wish I wish all representatives were of that mindset. Like we've been talking on the, on the last week about the whole situation where Rand was mad about this mark. And it was like, honestly, you guys are all there to do the work of the people. Right. About what someone did to you. It's bigger than you. I mean, it's great to hear someone headed towards the Senate of that mindset because we do need more of that. Yeah. I mean, look, it's a positive vision. But as you know, you're getting accustomed to this.

38:38Campaigns, especially statewide campaigns like Senate races can be dirty business. You know, there's going to be attacks on you. And sure, it'll be highly contested. Three candidates in this race. I wanted to play for you a clip because we had Senator Cassidy in here. And he had an accusation against you. And I wanted to give you the opportunity to respond. Can we play that clip? Sure. Now, my wife and I have not traded individual stocks for quite some time. Yeah. By the way, my opponent, she's done quite well. And by the way, she's done well, just to point out, just to point out trading stocks that had business before the subcommittees appoint you, which she sits. Like the fence stocks, which had a subcommittee hearing two weeks prior to Iran hostilities breaking out. And this is, this is let low. We're talking. Yeah. Pretty well knows. Hmm. Okay. The accusation. Sure. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond. You know, when I was 18 years old, my dad took me down to Merrill Lynch and said, Julia, we're going to open an investment account for you. And I would encourage you every two

39:46weeks to put a tiny portion of your paycheck into your account. It's what millions of people across this country do. We save. And so it was teaching me that at an early age. And I have, for over 20 years, I've put away money. I think that's important to teach our children and to do, it's a fiscally prudent thing to do for your family. So I've been working with the third party over 20 years. And when I got to Congress, it was very important to me that I have absolutely no jurisdiction over that account. I make no, I do not direct it. I do not direct stock trading. None of it. It's actually twice removed from me. So Merrill worked with a third party in my investments because I knew how important it was to make sure that I didn't have accusations like that. It was brought to my attention last year that they were not reporting the filing on time for the disclosures. And so once that was made apparent to me, I immediately rectified it,

40:48filed it myself and have not had a problem moving forward. It was just my advisor did not know that that was part of the process, according to the stock act that you have to do that within 45 days. So it's kind of, it's not, it's not funny by any means. But to say that I'm benefiting off of public services is pretty funny. We actually did the math for the year that the disclosures weren't coming in on time. I think I was at my return to it 9% when the S&P was at 17%. So I'm a pretty lousy Nancy Pelosi. And it's just ludicrous to say that, okay, I'm a single mom. I'm running all my offices, congressional offices in Louisiana, I'm running my office up here, also running for the Senate. And yes, I have time to go back in the corner and in day trade. Are you kidding me? You know, like the way in the world. It's just absolutely wrong. It's ludicrous. And the committee

41:49that they're, the committee that he's saying that I was at, I wasn't even there. They're running this ad that I was at a committee hearing and then went back, got up, went and day traded. I wasn't, I wasn't at that committee hearing. And also I'm not on the defense subcommittee. So wouldn't even be invited to that one. So it's true. People will make up stuff when you're in these races. And I knew that going in. I knew I'd have a target on my back because I have President Trump's endorsement. This is a desperate attempt to try to paint me in a different light. But Louisiana smart. Like it's not sticking. You know, people, people understand my character, interesting. When you make a mistake, you own up to it. You fix it and you move forward. So I think that our numbers are going to continue to climb. His will continue to go down because he made the ultimate mistake. And that is not representing the people and what they wanted when he voted to convict Trump. That was the question that I would say in our comments, popped up the most when we had Cassie on is, well, I think it was when that sort of forewin

42:52homes, kind of like preview that we're going to have Cassie on, is they were like ask him about voting to convict President Trump, ask him about voting to, you know, convict President Trump. That was like the number one comment we got about Cassie. Is that the same concern that you're seeing when you're hearing that? Is it that big? Is that like also a Louisiana concern? Or is it just like, you know, our audience is all across the country? So when I was running five, six years ago, I was running on my platform or I couldn't go anywhere in the state without someone bringing it up. And I just thought, okay, well, you know, Tom will move on. People, they're still very, very upset that he turned his back on the President and subsequently them, you know, again, I go back to you, represent the people you vote accordingly. So yeah, it's very, it's a huge hot topic that people have not forgotten and the numbers prove it, you know, the polling note that all of that was presented to me before jumping into the race.

43:57If you get to the United States Senate, what would you say would be your first priority for the people Louisiana? Oh gosh, the people Louisiana, they are hard working, just salt to the earth, amazing people. Wherever I go, they want the government to get out of their business, you know, less federal government. I'm a firm believer in that. So all in gas is huge for Louisiana. Oh man, we need to deregulate that. We're on the right, we're on the right path with this administration. I would continue that work. I can't help but be passionate about my background and that's an education, a huge supporter of school choice. I was so honored to author the parents bill of rights on the house side. It was one of the top five bills that we got through when the Republicans took back the house. Y'all remember during COVID, you know, for the first time parents were sitting down and on these tablets, seeing what are children are being taught. This is what the kids are being taught. Yes, as I opening. Yes. And so what did they do? They went to their school boards and lawfully

44:59voiced their concerns and then what happened? They were pushed away, rebuffed and many put on a domestic territory. Yeah, you got Merrick Garland and the FBI investigating parents, concerned parents. It was crazy. So I was so proud to author that, passed it through the house, would love to continue that on. It died in the Senate, would love to codify that. So I just will continue that good work and education as well. Awesome. Well, I hear that you've brought us a great gift from the state. Can we can we go ahead and get that here? We got hot sauce. Yeah. And not just any. Could you tell us specifically about because we are hot sauce enthusiasts. I love it. I love it. So this is Pinola. They covered up the with with my logo on there, but it's Pinola sauce. It is from Lake Providence, Louisiana, a homegrown family owned business. Agriculture has been my number one industry in my district. And so I've just met some of the most amazing farmers, producers. And this is just an incredible American dream story.

46:05And they sell all over the country and the world. So I can't wait for y'all to try. Wow. They do like a direct to consumer thing and buy it online and stuff. Absolutely. I love that because I just I love hot sauce. You know, I'm like a Somalia. I have a nice paired hot sauce for a lot of the meals that I have. And I mean, if you're going to eat good, you know, Creole food or something, you're you're going to need hot sauce. I feel like it pairs right. What's your favorite hot sauce mug? Tell me a comment when she came in. It's crystal. Also crystal scruzy and phenomenal crystal scruzy. To baskets from to baskets go. Yeah. We do it right. I'll tell you what food in Louisiana. Can't be really can't be. That's the best. All right. So we always ask three questions to every guest on the ruthless variety program. He's important. The audience. These are like the litmus test. Now they're easy questions. Don't worry. Don't break it out in the sweat. But I think they reveal a lot about people in their background and character and that sort of

47:06thing. So number one, if you could plan your last meal on earth, what would it be? Fraud chicken and fraud. Oh, that's a great pick. Yeah. Wow. Nothing nothing healthy. No, no, no other, no other sides are in there. Maybe some mashed potatoes to eat with the fraud. Yeah. Chicken, you know, yeah. And we're using hot sauce there. And then a big sweet tea. Sweet tea. Washing it all down. I like that. I like that. Well, so, you know, somebody with your background and everything that you've done in your life. At some point along the way, you're busy. You're doing so many things. You're raising a family, you know, all this sort of stuff. You think to yourself, man, I would have been good at that, but I don't have the time. Or maybe when I was a little kid, I thought I would be good at that. Blue sky, if you could have picked a new career, could be crazy. Ted Cruz told us he'd play basketball so it doesn't have to be realistic. It doesn't have to be. But if you could blue sky it and do

48:08something else with your life, what would it be? Yes, just wild. I always wanted to be a meteorologist. I'm obsessed over the weather. I just, I mean, I study it. It is, but, you know, I just didn't have quite what it takes to make it through the that science and math. And change is fast and Louisiana. You get all the seasons. Well, so I always worried about that. You know, like, it's kind of be a tough job if you get it wrong. And then people see at the grocery store and they're like, Hey, Duncan, what about that rain you said was common? That's true. That's true. You get a lot of criticism in that role and this role. It's high stakes. It's high stakes. All right, final question. And this one's a little esoteric. So bear with me. Our theory is that all successful people are motivated by one of two things. The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. And that isn't to say anybody likes losing or doesn't like winning, but it's the mentality that gets you over the hump to the next success in your life. We like to think of Michael Jordan as sort of the ultimate agony of defeat guy.

49:11Accomplished so much six NBA championships, but it was all the negativity. He'd have to invent slides of other people to motivate him to win. He wanted to beat the other guy. And then like the thrill of victory is sort of the happy go lucky. We like to say Phil Mickelson. You know, he could see a 230 yard shot over water and pull out a two iron and be like, I'm going to hit it. And it's like fill your up by three strokes. Like just, you know, hit it up the fairway and you're going to win, you know, the whole thing. But he's like, I could hit that shot. Thriller victory, agony and defeat. Where on that spectrum do you find yourself? Oh, I'm a thrill of victory. I'm a positive person. I was just talking to my team on the way here. It's like, don't send me the negative stuff. You know, what feels me is that, you know, we're delivering a positive message. That's what's so difficult about races like this. I just, I wish we could just tell our stories and thrive on the positivity and what we're going to do, deliver for Louisiana. But I will say this, I've learned more in my failures.

50:17Suffering than I have on any mountain top. And while you said it perfectly, no one welcomes suffering and no one welcomes failure, but you will grow more as a person. And you will be battled tested when it comes time to walk through the fire again. That's the truth. That is well, well put. If people want to help your campaign or follow along and learn more, where do they go? Julia let low calm. Let me make it easy. Thank you so much, Congressman. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, very interesting conversation you guys had. And right here on the ruthless variety program, you have two major candidates running in a primary in the state of Louisiana, a very important state this fall. Shots fire. Yeah. Shots fire. It is an important race. And it's going to have a lot to do with the complexion of the Senate. I hope dearly that none of us are concerned about the state of Louisiana in November. Well, you're probably right. But a lot from a policymaking standpoint that people have to consider

51:18in that important primary. I'm glad we could get both them locked in in one week. We got one more to go on that one. We're taking through. We're taking through. It's best weekend here in the ruthless variety program. Well, when you think about elections, you think about where Democrats have taken this country boy, it weeks you want to drink. But before you do, you ought to take Zibiotics because I know firsthand and all the fellas do here. You can really help you out in a lot. It is a first kind of game-changing pre-alcohol drink that when you take it before you drink, it sort of works out in a little bit better way than it would without it. It's based by science, right? Well, I mean, yes, they have had PhDs developed this and their science to back it up. But all I know is that it actually works. Like nothing else. I'll just say that it works. I mean, we, everyone should drink responsibly. However, we have stress test to this. Numerous on the road stress. It is so reliable. Like I legitimately will not drink without it. And I,

52:28you know, I'm always happy when we're doing shows on the road to hand it out for folks to try for the first time if we're going to go out for drinks afterwards. And without fail, they tell me it works because the reason you're feeling terrible the day after a big night is not because dehydration. You can try chugging all the gator in the world. It doesn't matter. It's because when you drink alcohol, your stomach breaks it down into these toxic biproducts, right? Right. And Zibiotics knocks all that right out. And if you're like us who like to have a good time, but also keep pretty busy schedules on weekdays and on weekends. Yeah. Get going. You got to get up and get going. You better feel good the next day because you're going to have a day full of fun. Yeah. And that's why we always say there is no tomorrow without Zbiotics today. Well, and that's why you got to go to Zbiotics.com slash ruthless to learn more. You get 15% off your first order when you use ruthless at the checkout. Zbiotics is back by 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they're going to refund

53:30your money. No questions asked. Remember to hit Zbiotics.com slash ruthless and use the code ruthless at your checkout for 15% off. And we're back and our friends left us smug. What the heck? Yeah. I know that you and I take this show incredibly seriously. And no matter the circumstance, no matter what comes up is true day in day out, we're here for our audience. And that's why we're here. And we're going to have a great time. Yeah. We are. So Ashbrook and Holmes unfortunately had to leave us a little bit early on today's episode. But we wanted to make sure we gave you another hack madness update. We are now to the sweet 16 smug. This is where the we separated from the chat. Yeah. It's actually become extremely serious now because one matchup I really want to key in on over in the fake news division is where we've got number one seed Abby fill up versus number five seed Brian stelter. It's it's a straight up CNN showdown. But at the same time,

54:31it's kind of like a battle between the old versus the news. Stelter famously was fired like a dog returned back to CNN. Yeah. Abby Philip who's job is basically like unleash Scott. Let's dunk on everybody and then act mad about it. I want to see who who actually wins there because in my opinion, if this is about who is is more of a hack, it's like, are you a hack on your own right? Are you riding someone else's wave? Yeah. It kind of feels like Abby rides someone else's wave. But at the same time is stelter the same stelter that won the championship so many years ago. It's a good question. And you know, I talked about this a little bit on the previous show, but you have to wonder how much the clip economy of cable news takes over here for Philip in that she's in the clip always with Scott Jennings, you know, trying to somehow moderate this thing and let left wing lunatic win the argument, even though Scott's fantastic at his job. And you wonder if being in all those clips helps her get the edge here. That's the thing is a lot of this comes down to notoriety.

55:36Who's the bigger name? Who's more well known? And like we've reflected in this year's bracket, the media attention economy has kind of moved away from the mainstream outlets. You're seeing less of the wappos. You're seeing less of the CNNs. You're seeing more like, you know, a big story is Hassan's rise. This year, like a lot of people are out there voting for Hassan. And that's why the showdown in the way too online. You've got Hassan Piker versus Rick Wilson. I think this is going to be almost the same thing. A huge story here is the old versus the new Hassan is kind of like the future of of of left wing derangement. It's interesting. You mentioned that because for our new listeners and viewers, we've been doing hack madness for a very long time now in the seventh annual. Yeah. And every bracket, you know, has its different quirks and everything. But I think this year is sort of set apart in how many new faces there are, how many alternative media faces there are, how many like real lunatics in the podcast space there are. And they're sort of rising to the top. It's like, we got a Star Wars Wars bar here in the sweet 16. We got Jennifer

56:41Welch against many Hassan. Yeah. I mean, that's Titans of misinformation. That's a thing. And you had many Hassan. I can't even remember what publication he was with until he started Zeteo. Well, he started that before I can't remember who is bankrolling his opinions. But currently it's Zeteo. And you have him facing off against Jennifer Welch, who's essentially basically just like a drunk wine mom willing to go further left than anyone else. Like she's willing to be like parody, parody. We're laughing. She's going to be like Chuck Schumer hasn't gone far enough. Yeah. She's angry a lot. And that's kind of like what the left wants right now. Yeah. No, it's true. I think you've highlighted some good ones here. The Hassan Pike or Rick Wilson. I think is a great one. I think that many Hassan, Jennifer Welch, great one. I gotta know, we lost some, I think, real stars in the second round here. Aaron Rupar. Yeah. Sad to see him surprising, surprising, because he's a prolific clipper. His job now is basically being a video clip guy. Sunny Hauston. Crazy on the view. Yeah. We lost her. That's that's a shame. We lost some Titans,

57:46Margaret Brennan, a former champion of Hack Madness, Nicole Wallace. But the one that I'm really sad we lost. I thought I can guess this one. Olivia Nuzzi. That's it. Olivia Duzzi, who had the misfortune of having to battle in a play in game against Ryan Liza, her former lover, and then gotten to the next round against Keith Alberman, who she all, you know, also had a relationship with who ends up on top, defeated her, takes her out. Tough out for her. I'll say at the same time, like the last thing, she's not really like publishing anything anymore. She's not really out there doing anything. She, she put that book out. I guess the book sales were not great, which I mean, there were essentially just like torpedoed by Ryan Liza, her lover, who put his substack out of all the dirty laundry. So I can understand, you know, I think the voters have done an excellent job winnowing this field. And for the folks who are listening, folks who

58:47are watching right now on YouTube now is this week's 16 voting is underway. You should go to my ex account at comfortably smug. And I'll have it pinned right at the top vote for every single one. I have them one after the other. It's super easy. And it's coming down to it. I mean, we're in the 16. Yeah. And if you filled out a prediction bracket at ruthlesspodcast.com and you navigate there to the hack madness, you can see the live prediction rankings. You know, we had over 1500 people submit brackets to this thing. And there's a list. I mean, some people had perfect brackets after the first round. That's very, very impressive. Our listeners and viewers, they know what they're talking about. We have to get to another interview here. But before we do, another plug for the map. This map is very important to us. It's our pride and joy. It's where you can find all the interviews for all the most highly contested and important races around the country in this midterm. You just go to ruthlesspodcast.com backslash map. And then you can peruse the states in

59:51which we have interviews. We're talking like Senate battlegrounds, talking to important gubernatorials, important battleground races in the house, which brings me to this next interview from North Carolina's first congressional district, Laurie Buckout. This is an important race. Don Davis is the incumbent Democrat there. The district has been redrawn. It's a lot. Are you stuck staring at your W2? Are tax refund worries holding you back? You probably have FOMO. The fear of messing up. The fix? Using turbo tax on into a credit karma. They find every credit and deduction to help you get every refund dollar you deserve. Or your money back. It's time to overcome your fear of messing up and get your taxes done right. Start filing today in the credit karma app. More favorable to Republicans. Now it's a huge opportunity to keep the house. Let's go to that interview. Well, I want to welcome to the program the Republican nominee of

1:00:53North Carolina's first congressional district, Laurie Buckout. How are you? Hey, doing great. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. You ran in this district before lost by a razor thin margin. Now you're coming back. You're the nominee. We just had the primary North Carolina. We have a new district map there that looks pretty advantageous versus the old map that you had to run in. Yeah, it does. It is. Last one was like a D1 Democrat. This is a lean Republican by five points. It's an R5 brought in some counties in the southeast, some of the beach counties down there. Beautiful down there and very Republican. It's a great gang to have on board. We're really enjoying the district. It's huge. It's 25 counties. It's about a quarter of the landmass of North Carolina. A whole bunch of folks, of course, but I'm having a great time. We're out everywhere in the district all the time. It goes from the border of Virginia all

1:01:53the way down along the beaches for the most part. The more head city of that area and halfway across the state. We're going to get into your background, which is incredible in a minute, but you mentioned 25 counties. That is a pretty big and spread out district. Lots of different types of people voting in that district. I know you're traveling the whole thing from tip to tip. I just wonder what are you hearing most from voters as you're traveling county to county? Is it safety? Is it the economy or some combination of the two? What's on their minds? It's a real Trumpi district for starters. Trump has won this district in the last three in the last three elections. It's very, very Trumpi. They love them. They really appreciate the close border. Drugs have infiltrated this district big time from Biden's open border. They love having a close border. That's a big deal. Cracking down on the illegal alien criminal aspect has been a big deal. Having ice come through our sheriffs cooperating with them, etc. has been really well

1:02:55received. They are focused on the economy. Gas price is going down and then creeping around a little bit, but I think they understand the big picture because they are Trumpi. They watch them. They understand he's a strategist. A lot of good stuff in support of President Trump. The economy is a big discussion right now. The affordability question, but I think everyone sees a big picture there as well. You know, the stuff with Iran and with tariffs and everything. It's a positive message. So this is a pro Trump district and currently they're represented by Don Davis, right? I do nothing. Don, yeah. Apparently no his name and I couldn't list a single thing done in Congress. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about this guy. Okay. So Don is, let me see, what did the Air Force Academy? He kind of grew up in Texas. Apparently his mother moved to Texas when he was a child and grew up in Texas. Went to the Air Force Academy. He started a little time in the Air Force got out and immediately went back and became a small town mayor and then he went

1:03:57into the General Assembly. So except for the time in the Air Force, he's been a full-time politician, you know, living off of tax dollars. So went to the General Assembly, did some time there. I think as a rep and then a senator worked his way up. The district, the old district I was running in had been a Democrat for 143 years. So he was just another line of people who have really done nothing to move the needle in the district. I mean, top 10, bottom, bottom 10% of the country in terms of poverty or top 10, if you want to say 10% poorest, whatever, for many, many years and he's done really nothing to move the needle every once in a while, you know, when bills come through that he may have voted on. He walks around with a giant cheque. You're like the publisher clear house, you know. He shows up and it's got his name on it and your tax dollars and he shows up. He's always there for a ribbon cut. Yeah, he's there for a ribbon cutting and envelope opening. Yeah, he'll be at those. So he is coming out to those right now with the, you know, the cheques voted against the big beautiful bill, of course, not real popular because this is a working class district. These

1:04:58are people who are working for a living, you know, working families, shrimpers, voters, farmers, agriculture is number one industry in North Carolina. A lot of farmers, truckers, you know, and I just found out today that 91% of all trucky companies, trucking companies are owned with 10 vehicles or less. So these are small businesses, quite a few of those in North Carolina. And so he's voting against all the things that really hurt small businesses and working families, tax cuts, etc. So I got great guy. I read something recently about some controversy with like Ubers and him. Oh my god. Oh, oh my god. Yeah. So when he was down in the, he was down the border last year for photo ops. Yeah. I mean, you know, ribbon cuttings and photo ops. Yeah. So he's got selfies with himself down there on the board, you know, doing, doing this kind of thing. I mean, it's like AOC crying at the migrant cages, you know, those staged photos, right? Yeah. So you see him doing the same thing. So he racked up like I think over a thousand bucks in Ubers in one day or maybe I think

1:06:022,300, 2,800 something huge in a like in one day. And we figured out that he could have actually ubered home from Texas to North Carolina with that amount of money and just gone home and stayed home, which would have been the best thing for the district. So we don't know what he's doing. I mean, that's a whole lot of ubering around a one day for photo ops. Yeah. Well, he's obviously not the best guy to represent this district to put it mildly. But I know that you have an extensive career that you built in the US Armed Forces. You were in the Army and you actually did some time in the current Department of War just recently and you were a part of Operation Midnight Hammer from the Department. I know I know there's probably not a lot you can talk. Tell us all the secret stuff. I'm wondering if there's anything you can share about that successful mission and your time in the Army. Well, so I was in the Army for 26 years and came in at a Ronald Reagan, which was great. You know, he signed my commissioning certificate. Amazing. Pretty cool stuff.

1:07:04Yeah. In fact, I had folks who had been commissioned before or retired before. They wanted me to go back and have Secretary Hegseth or President Trump signed their certificates retroactively and like white out, you know, the Biden signature, whatever. I'm like, dude, I'm sorry. I can't do that. I would love to. I couldn't. But at any rate, yeah. So it had a full military career in the last year after I lost the last election, got called up by the Trump administration. So what do you want to do? Which was great. And so I said, what do you got that cyber? They said, well, we have a deputy assistant secretary of war for cyber at, you know, the war department, formerly the defense department, war department, some way cooler. So I went in and did that, but got, got fleeted up because the confirmed, the Senate confirmed person didn't come in for many months. So I did the job for the whole summer for about, I don't know, seven months or so, had a blast doing it. And I was in control over U.S. Cyber Command. U.S. Cyber Command is amazing. It's got thousands of folks

1:08:05who are on networks globally, you know, taking care of business, not just defending America, but, you know, making sure our adversaries are not out there coming after us. So they have a global presence and they're doing really fantastic work. And you'll go up there to Fort Mead where they work and you'll see these young Marines and their battled, battled rest uniform, you know, all muscled up behind a keyboard and just, and just as fired up about that mission as they would any other fire mission and any other type of combat. Because this is open combat well on the internet. Yeah. Can you explain that? Because I don't think people, people care cyber. And, and I think they understand that that's a part of warfare now in the modern age, but people don't know what that is comprised of really. Yeah. So you have everything from rogue agencies to, you know, anonymous hackers out there to nation states that are coming after us, Russia's coming after us, Iran's coming after us. And when I say us, they can go after anything from our, our banking infrastructure to our hospitals, whole hospitals, ransom by taking charge of their databases, their data, shutting down their

1:09:08computers, that sort of thing. Or they can come after our federal enterprises, you know, they can go into our department of war databases. They can go into, you know, the federal trade commission and things like that. And they do. So you not only have to have the private folks defending, you know, defending their own infrastructure, you know, on mobile companies, they have to defend their list. Hospitals have to defend their data. But you have to have the federal government engaged as well. So our organization helped them now in something like midnight hammer and we're going to talk hypotheticals, right? Yeah. Right. Right. Right. So, you know, you've got, you know, Iran fat dumb and happy. They're like, oh, Americans bad. La, la, la, whatever. Defending their little, you know, uranium stuff. And all of a sudden, they're like, huh, how come our radars aren't working? Or how come our computer screens are dead? Or hey, Akbar, I can't talk to you. What's going on over there on your computer, right? And all the kind of that stuff's not working. Or it shows that

1:10:13the radars don't show any incoming incorrect aircraft. This, this is how everybody looks at me in the office when the Wi-Fi goes out. Right. They say, Akbar, what are you doing? Duncan, what's up? Fix it. IT guy. See, they're yapping. I know. There it goes. So you have these guys, the guys, you know, calling for the IT guy. Yeah. He's like, I don't know what's going on. Then the bombs start to drop. So yeah, it's pretty cool. They do a lot of good work. I am vastly oversimplifying this as you can imagine. Okay. Yeah. But bottom line is it takes a whole lot of work in advance to do that. Yeah. They got to be, you know, sussing out the landscape there, making sure they can get into it, making sure they can get into networks, work with other folks. Yeah, it's great. So Department of War, you've run for Congress. Yeah. Colonel. Have you all, like, what is it about your early life that sort of led you to a life of public service? You know, I think my parents both, sir, both my parents were World War II. My dad was a POW World War II. Where did he, sir?

1:11:16In the Ardennes Offensive Battle of the Bulge. Yeah. My grandpa did too. Oh, Infantry Company Commander. Yeah. In Lightning Division. Oh my goodness. Okay. So I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah. So POW there fought his way out. Wow. Escape three times. And the third time he lost a tooth, the German POW guard hit him in the face with his rifle butt. He left the tooth and took off and took a bunch of folks with him. Just, you know, original bad ass stuff, right? Yeah. And then he was in Korean Vietnam. I was, I was a little girl and he was in Vietnam when he came back. And so that service ethic for me going in the military was sort of a natural thing. Got an ROTC scholarship under Ronald Reagan, which was very cool, like I said. And it just kind of kept going. I married a former Delta operator, West Point graduate, right? And so he had a history of service going back to the 1700s, going back to the French and Indian wars. The Buckouts have served in the military in the army. Infantry men in the army going back 250 years. It's crazy. It's incredible. Yeah. It's crazy.

1:12:19So for me, it was natural to stay in. And there you go. Yeah. So I'm wondering. A lot of folks have done more. A lot of folks have done more. So I'm humble about myself. Well, but it is an incredible story. I mean, it's, it's quite a lineage, you know, something you can really hold your head high about because your family has done this much service to the country. It's only natural for you to take the next step and try to offer the kind of representation that Eastern North Carolina actually deserves in Washington. And you mentioned the big beautiful bill working families tax cut. I know that huge for so many people in that part of the state, you know, this is money in their pockets. And I'm guessing you're hearing an awful lot about that when you're talking to them. Absolutely. And they love it, which is why it's a kind of a Trumpi area too. You had this is working families you have down there. And they really, really need some relief. And frankly, I'm running because I'm sick of it. Biden was a turning point for me. I think Obama was bad enough. It was very, very frustrated. When Biden came in, I think it went from crazy to absolute madness.

1:13:24You know, the wide open border, healthcare, COVID stuff, everything was just out of control. So we moved to a Democrat or Republican district that became a Democrat district, saw the vulnerability. And I'm like, you know what? I'm a mom. And that's probably the big thing too. I've got two 20 something young men who are they are constitutional conservatives, which is cool. Eagle Scouts. Good boys. Yeah. Good boys. And we need to be fighting for the kind of future that that we had when we were growing up. And we who of us could have imagined the madness that the Democrat party has become today. Yeah. Yeah. It's unrecognizable. I'm really an unrecognizable. Especially in places like North Carolina where you could typically see like some blue dog demographics historically. People who you could deal with who are reasonable. And I feel like the national party has swallowed people like that whole and they're all just radical. Absolutely. You should be able to talk. You know, you still can in these small towns. Yeah. So that's why the unaffiliated are really big parties. Right. Because they didn't follow the Chuck Schumer's of the world. No, they did not. And you know, so they are, you know,

1:14:26Mima would be turning over in her grave if you registered Republican. But if you went independent, that means you can vote for a Democrat share of. And down there again, these are a blue dog Democrat. And that's cool. And then you can vote for a Republican president. So you do have a lot of independence down there. Yeah. And so you know, you work on them. Again, they're very receptive to the Trump message, very receptive to America first. Closing the border is just common sense. You know, giving more folks over their paycheck to keep in their pocket is just common sense. And then you have folks who are voting against those working families like Don Davis, voting against, you know, no tax on tips. What? Right. Who does that? That's just nuts. Yeah. Literally designed for working class people. It is. It is. And that is the district. It is working class people. And they're great. Now, so we have three questions for the ruthless variety program. You know, these are important. Okay. Okay. Got it. You know, I'm feel like you're going to nail all of these. But I think before we do that, I heard you also brought us tribute that I did bring you tribute. We get the tribute. Yes. From once comes the tribute. We must see it now. We must see it. Here it is. Bring it forth. Bring it forth. There you go.

1:15:29There's this. There you go. That is a Weldon Mills from North Carolina. That's a whiskey. Yeah. And it's called soldier whiskey. Okay. I don't know what makes it soldier whiskey. But look, it's got the branches on the army. The seals. Nice. On the service, right? Check that out. Marine Corps there. The whole nine yards. Look at that. And that's a North Carolina whiskey. That's pretty cool. I know. It's very, very cool. So I imagine you guys are going to pour and get liquid up on me right now. I'm going to ask you the first question. And then as you think about it, I'm going to take a nice pour from this. So our first question of the final three here. Get it? If you could plan your last meal on earth, what would it be? You know, I tell you what, I'm a big barbecue fan. I'm a meat eater. I don't know if it would be brisket or chop pork. Now, now I want to tell you down North Carolina. It's whole hog. All the whole. They chop it up. And you don't know what part you're going to get. Yeah. But they're all chopped together. And it's really delicious. Kind of sauce we do. Are we doing like a vinegar base? That's the Eastern

1:16:32North Carolina, right? Vinegar with a little bit of cayenne in it. You know, a little spicy vinegar. It's really good. And if it's a crunchy part, it might be an ear, but it's a really good one. So, you know what I mean? Or the brisket's great. Colored greens. I'm a big, colored green fan. They're delicious. It's hard to beat. It is hard to beat. And they cook them in potlicker, which is, you know, the bones from the pig and all kinds of wild stuff goes in there. And I mean, it's just great. It's incredible flavor. It really is. It's really, really good. So yeah, I'd be happy with that. That'd be good. I like that. Are we doing any other sides there? Is there like a cornbread? Is there a potato salad? Do you think it anything else? Man, coleslaw. Coleslaw. Coleslaw is great. Yeah. Coleslaw, cornbread. They also have corn sticks. What's that? It's a, it's a, like, french fries shaped cornbread kind of deep fried. I don't know how they make them and stay in that shape. I'm a little scared to ask how they make these things. They're like popsicles and then they deep fry them, but they're cornbread. They're really good. It sounds delicious. It sounds delicious. I like doing the bread. And then you put the barbecue on it,

1:17:33and then you lump on a little coleslaw, make a little sandwich. Bam. That's the best. It is the best. It is the best. It is the best. Yeah. All right. It's a question. I could die after that. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, down a little bit of bourbon there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That would work. Question two is our blue sky question. You know, you've had an incredible career in public service, but somewhere along the way, I'm sure you thought to yourself, hey, I'd be really good at that. You know, maybe it's a pipe dream. Yeah. You know, maybe it's, you know, playing sports or something crazy. You never really thought of it. But somewhere along the course of your life, you're like, I would have been good at that blue sky. Okay. But make anything. What would you do? You know what? Blue sky, and it turned out to be a complete fail. I want to be a veterinarian when I was a little girl. Oh nice. I grew up in a cattle farm, right? Now, let me tell you a wild story. We got a second here. Okay. Well, story. The vet came out. We had a calf trying that was stuck inside a cow like a cork in a bottle, right? So so we call the vet, Dr. Dan, the vet comes out and I happen to be on a horse and he's like, are you saddled up? He called me and said, yeah, I'm saddled up. We got this because I was

1:18:36going to ride the range, checking all the cattle and he goes, all right, get a rope. So I'm literally on the horse and I've got the rope around the horn of the saddle and and we are backing up in as tight around the feet of the calf. Yeah. And we are like backing up and that horse is pulling that calf out of that cow. The cow is not pleased about all that going on and having had two kids, I can only imagine. Yeah, the cow doesn't get enough adrenaline. The cow doesn't get it. The cow doesn't get a damn thing. So so but anyway, after that experience, I'm like, I don't think I really want to be a vet. That's pretty harsh. So yeah, that was a blue sky. That faded away. That's hardcore. So the last final question here is we think everybody who's successful in life is motivated by one of two things. Yeah. The thrill of victory or the agony and defeat. And it's not that anybody likes losing or doesn't like winning, it's that what motivates you to take the next step in your life or your career and our typical agony and defeat guy is Michael Jordan. You know, he

1:19:41had to invent slides in order to propel him into future success. You know, he's always motivated by that one that got away in your thrill of victory person. We like to say it's like Phil Michelson. He might have 230 over water, but he's going to pull out a three iron and try to hit it because he's made that shot before. The thrill of victory is what motivates a guy like that. So where on that spectrum do you find yourself? Thriller victory. I mean, I for damn sure hate to lose. I really do hate to lose, but the thrill of victory. I like to be on top. I like to win. Feels good. Yeah. And you know what? I tell you, being in a position where you can serve really feels good. Maybe I'm kind of like a sheep dog. If you put a sheep dog loose in a room of people that got to hurt them, you know what I mean? Yeah. I like to serve. It really feel it hits something inside me and I really enjoy it. So yeah, thrill of victory. So you can do that. Absolutely. But the agony and defeat from that last race did not love that. Yeah. Sure. What do you think you learned in that experience? Because I do feel like many times you learn more from your defeats

1:20:47than from your victories. You know, you do, you do. So very, very collaborative with absolutely everybody in the district. I think it was last time, but you know, had to learn more about the district because it was big last time. This time really, really, really making sure a lot of groundwork is out there. Like I said, the district is more red and my folks will laugh. I'm staying off a social media a little bit more except for the show right here. Oh boy. And yeah, so I'm just focused really on how to be eventually serving. So looking at the key parts of the district, absolutely digging in very deep into the into the economic drivers of the district, talking to folks who are running businesses, talking to fishermen, which is kind of a new sector. I didn't have a lot of those last time I ran, but this is the whole coast now. So there's a whole lot of that talking even more to farmers, which I really enjoyed last time, digging more into the business aspect. And just even being out more talking to families,

1:21:50which is great. I mean, that's my that's my bread and butter if you like, love that part. If people want to help your campaign, where do they go? They go to my website, which is great. Okay, it's www dot Lori Buckout for Congress. Buckout has a weird H in it. The BUCK H O U T, you don't say it. It's just in there. And Lori Buckout for Congress dot com or look at Don Davis's tweets because he's always going after me because he's scared to death. And then you can you can follow me off of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that works too. Right. Well, thank you very much for joining us. This was fantastic. And this is a must win district. This is how we keep the United States, you know, house representative. So I hope you win. We need you. We need you. Well, I tell you, I've had a great reception up on the hill talking to leadership and stuff this week. Well, it's awesome. So how does it taste? I got to know. Oh, that's good. Is it good? Oh, that's good. It's very good. Very smooth. Very smooth. I got to go meet some people. And I cannot drink right now. So, you know, I don't understand. I got it worked out for you. That's great.

1:22:54That's great. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for joining us. I really enjoyed it. Awesome. Thanks a lot. Well, she's great. You know, and I think it's it's good that we have a candidate who has some experience in this race. Like I said, front line battle ground district one that's going to be key to keeping the majority in the house. Great lady loved having her on. And we're going to need this win. We need all the voters in North Carolina. Get out there. Make sure we keep our Senate seat when this congressional district we need it. This is going to be a very difficult midterm. The Democrats are going to have all their left wing dark money out there flooding the zone. We need to get the votes out there. Make sure we hold it down. Yeah. No, it's true. It's true. Well, I hope everybody enjoyed it. Like and subscribe to the Ruthless variety program. Make sure you do that. It helps us get the word out. It's help helps us find new people here for the show. Don't forget sweet 16 of hack madness is live on smugs Twitter account. That's comfortably smug. Go to that account. You can do all of the voting. It's getting it's getting to be close to

1:23:58the the the cream of the crop here in the tournament. And with that, I think we did it smug. I think so absolute banger of an episode me and Duncan. And thank you Julia let low and thank you Laurie book out our guests today. So until next time minions. Keep the faith. Hold the line and own the lips. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay Ruthless.