Obama's Podcast Appearance Was... Sad, Charlie Kirk Medal Ceremony, And Digital ID Is Here

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. The LOOPcast is brought to you by The Loop, every American Catholic favorite morning newsletter. We have a great show prepared for you today. Obama kind of came out of the shadows, and I did a little context into his appearance. It became more interesting than I thought at first, and so it's a little bit of a taste into, I think, the revolution, and I think even a larger point is kind of a cultural change of maybe what he represented and how he sounds now.

So, looking forward to especially get Josh's thoughts on his favorite president. And then, we have a lot more we dive into. Erika's going to talk to us about digital IDs in the UK, kind of crazy. Letitia James' situation got a little bit more interesting over in New York. And, of course, we do the Medal of Freedom ceremony. It was very touching. We're going to go through some of the highlights there. But good news, Twilight Zone, you know, as we always do, it's going to be a great show.

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Excellent. Okay, so Obama comes out of the shadows. Josh, really happy to get your perspective on this. I saw him. He's back. I saw the clips. I think a lot of people saw the clips, and before we get to the clips, what I thought was even more interesting is I did not know who Mark Maron is, and I had never heard of the WTF podcast. Have either of you heard of Mark Maron or the WTF podcast? Honestly, no. Not me.

Okay, so Erika? Well, so I had heard of it before. I've never watched it before. I heard of it back when Barack went on it the first time, so it was like, oh my gosh, a president's going on a podcast? Yes, so that's what I thought was kind of crazy because, so of course, in 2015, I'm not going to embarrass you guys by saying what age I was, but I wasn't as politically engaged, and podcasts were kind of this, you know, oh, there's this edgy, you know, it's this new thing.

It's not radio, but it's kind of like radio, and you can just send it to whoever you want. And as you said, that was kind of, I think he was the first sitting president to appear on a podcast, and I went back to go find the episode. It was in 2015, and here is the, I'll share the image. The Rolling Stone had a picture, but there was no video of it. I don't think there was video of it, and here's a picture of what that looked like.

You know, it was like edgy at the time. Someone was just amidst a messy room. Like I said, snipers in the room. It's his garage. He literally is in the garage of Marc Maron. In the garage, and they were saying like, oh, I was going back and reading what they were saying about this in 2015. Like, oh, it really humanized President Obama. Like, this concept that you would do something like this was so foreign and kind of hilarious to see now.

What has become of the podcast media? I mean, we're literally podcasting right now, but, I mean, Trump largely feels like he won a lot of the youth, the youths, if you will, because he was able to go on a podcast in Sound Organic, with the opposite being Kamala Harris going on and completely freezing.

Or did you hear about the podcast that she did with the guy and they buried it? Did you hear about that? Oh, because it was so bad. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He asked her to bury it. Well, that was... So, that was like questions on a subway. It's like a video series. It might be a micro podcast or whatever. Yes, like they literally, yeah, they did. So, your claim here, basically, Tom, is that 2024 was the presidential election where the podcast dominates.

No question. But back in 2015, when he did this first interview, it was a... I mean, let me help you set the stage. I know you were kind of young outside of politics, but like, yes, I mean, absolutely the case that presidents would have long-form interviews, like more than like, I mean, all you had were. You go on the Sunday talk shows, you know, Sunday morning, like meet the press or something like that, and they start grilling you with questions, and you're going back and forth, and they might do a five-minute segment where you're rapid-fire questions, and that was considered long because, of course, the only other experience you had was like a press conference, and they cover like a 30-second news package, and you're in or out the door.

There was no longer-form stuff. The only way you could get anything in long form in politics was by actually watching C-SPAN. You know, like, there was nothing else. I mean, there was no other, you know, here's, they film speeches of people in Congress, or they bring people on for an hour-long program, they talk back and forth. Even cable news had just descended in a food fight. You wouldn't get these long forms if you let a politician share their vision at length, you know, minutes and minutes and minutes, and then you could come in and ask a question.

So, it really is, that was... A game changer, in a way, the beginning of the change of this, and I'm all for it. Yeah, because what was the, I feel like the standard you hear often said is, oh, would I get a beer with that guy? And to your point, there was no real, other than literally having a beer with someone, or I guess going on a walk with said politician, how, it was hard to gauge. You almost had to like read between the lines.

It's kind of funny that that's the line we use, because George W. Bush gave up beer in the 70s, and Donald Trump never had a beer. It's like the last two Republican presidents. Would you have a Diet Coke? They haven't had any beer in this century.

So, anyway, I guess all of that to be said, I don't know how much we even appreciate how crazy that was, but what was interesting to me was, so former President Obama went on the WTF podcast as a surprise return for final guest for Marc Maron, and Marc Maron, a comedian, I think also somewhat of a pioneer of the platform, but talked about how he's burning out. And, you know, wanted to have him on as the last guest because it's a big episode, and I went to go check.

So, I watched the clips, and of course, we're going to go into some of the clips, but what immediately stuck out to me was it's only at 178,000 views on Barack Obama's YouTube channel, which doesn't suggest to me there's a ton of interest, and I also was thinking, like, as such.

Like, former President Obama was so much of an icon, I feel like, for people of the left. Like, he was thought of, in a similar way of Trump, as just dominating his time in politics for two terms. He wore the tan suits. He was cool, you know. He was black. He made it messianic with the Ebola, because it was the sun coming up. And I just thought, so he comes on now, low viewership, the clips look bad, and everyone's kind of like, where were you?

Like, now you're coming out. And being like, oh, you know, he addressed the Democratic losses in it, saying he blamed progressive holier-than-thou attitudes and voter apathy, especially over Gaza, while praising partial victory like Obamacare was just a perfect... The first half answer is at least half right. I mean, it did hurt Gaza stuff, Michigan, I guess, but it's only 10% of the answer, really, actually. But the partial victory of Obamacare made me laugh, because it seems like he's very obsessed with his legacy.

But I'll play some clips here, and then we can get into some thoughts. I mean, what was unusual for me was, obviously... A lot of what I represented, a lot of what Michelle and I had tried to project, the values, our thinking about America, my successor seemed to represent the opposite. Right.

Yeah, that work is good. And so, I think there is a lot of anger, a lot of... Sadness, some fear among a big chunk of the country. Yeah, I mean, you said your country was a bunch of crap, and that your wife thought, you know, she was only proud of America now that you got elected, you know. This guy is such a piece of human garbage, just like absolute, hates our country, hates everything it stands for, spent eight years setting the whole world on fire.

Well, one of my favorite clips was his disappointment that we don't have a parliamentary system, Josh. You've also said, maybe you guys can agree on this, but here's the parliamentary system clip. One of the problems with the American political system is, although we have political parties, we don't have a parliamentary system. So, basically, the president, in my case, Democrat.

I leave office, and there's no obvious person who's now the shadow prime minister, the leader of the party for the Democrats, right? Pause, pause, pause. Pause. That's because you incompetently chose Joe Biden as your running mate, you idiot. You're supposed to have the next guy in line be the one that's supposed to succeed you.

So, that was a fail on your part. 100%. Lack of succession plan. Like I said, the Democrats completely screwed up. Everyone always says their party is stupid, and the other party are geniuses. We guys can't get around together, and the other party would step on their mother's throat in order to win. This is a case where Democrats were stupid.

They should have said... As he's leaving office, he should have said, Joe Biden is the guy in 2016, but they felt they couldn't say no to a woman, so they let Hillary Clinton do it. They would have won in 2016 with Joe Biden. End of story.

Interesting. Interesting. We got to finish it out. There were a lot of terrific people who were doing good work, but we have this weird situation where you don't have a designated person who's speaking on behalf of the whole party. So, I actually found myself drawn back in.

Day-to-day politics or commentary? Don't make me sing. More than I had wanted to be. Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, in 2007. No one believes you. Yeah, there's no disappointment is going on there. Oh, my goodness. That's right. The leader of the opposition was him.

It was. Like, as he's leaving, you know, like his term is coming to an end, and we know that, you know, Donald Trump is going to be sworn in. That's how he coordinated all the intelligence agencies to conjure up this Russia hoax and pin it on Trump, when in fact it was him all along. Right. Barack Obama deserves to be in jail.

Well, Josh, Josh, no one's above the law, and well, you can just listen to him. Yeah, we don't want. You know, kangaroo courts and trumped-up charges, that is what happens in other places that we used to scold for doing that.

We want our court system and our Justice Department and our prosecutors to be, and our FBI to be, just playing things straight and looking at the facts and not meddling in politics the way we have seen lately. Yeah, we don't want... Erika? This is the architect of the Russia hoax, like, saying this thing. And, okay, does, like, at this point, does he really believe... No, aside from that, I mean, like... Wait, wait, wait, let Erika finish.

Does he honestly believe in his mind that he played it straight, that he went by the facts, or is this just the... He just doesn't care. I mean, this was the Russia hoax. This was the... I mean, the shadow... He is the shadow president of the Biden administration. Absolutely.

He just sits there. He's like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say we don't want everything that I've been saying. I love the irony that this came out the week we have another No Kings protest coming up this weekend. Everyone, get ready. Get your signs out, blue hairs, because we're going to protest kings. I'm like, this is the guy. He's the king.

He's literally saying he needs shadow prime ministers. We want an FBI, we want a Justice Department that plays it straight, no kangaroo courts, no political prosecutions. Dude, you conjured up the Russia hoax to try to thwart Trump's first term, and then when he's out of office, what do you and Biden do?

Right? You drum up all these charges and try to throw him in jail. Like, you keep impeaching him and trying to put him in, you know, you know, you had Letitia James, you had all these guys are trying to prosecute. Robin Bragg. Right. Because you're afraid, you did everything you could. You were willing to use the office of the presidency through Russiagate.

You know, to try to thwart an incoming president that was duly elected by the American people, then when he loses four years later, you spent, you know, your running mate, your old running mate, Biden is now in charge of the Justice Department, and he's using all the apparatus of the federal law enforcement to try to drum up charges and to put Donald Trump in jail. Like, we so forget this stuff. We're this close for Donald Trump's head being blowed off, and we're also this close for him spending, you know, he could be in jail right now.

People, like, forget this. Oh, yeah, for hundreds of years. They need to be behind bars, and that would have, I mean, so, I mean, it's like the cojones on this guy. Yeah, so maybe what sticks, because everything you're saying is, like, provably correct, and I think maybe that's the point. I think that in 20, he hasn't updated his speech code. From 2015 to 2025. Like, that used to work. Like, everything he said used to work, and there'd be no way for you to really...

Like, I think Trump, the genius of Trump is like, Trump is a New York real estate brawler, says what's on his mind, uses every tactic at his disposal to work towards his ends. And I think the Democrats did that too, but Trump just revealed that they act exactly the same. And so there's no more veneer of moral high ground of like, we don't want Trump to up courts, because it's all so laughably proved false, and Trump proved it false. So, I think maybe almost what I took away from this interview was, I'm just a little bit sad.

Like, the speech code hasn't updated at all. No one's legacy, I feel like, has been tarnished more than Obama's. Like, he used to have this kind of, like you said, Messiah-type complex that I think is just gone. And a lot of it is through his own fault. Like, everything. And now he is nowhere close to the influence or power that maybe he once did. And I actually don't know exactly. Why he retreated so much from that spotlight. Maybe he was tired, maybe he thought he'd be fine, but clearly, like the other parties, he's in shambles right now.

Tom, they're still operating in the world where they wish they didn't have social media. They wish they didn't have a situation where voters could communicate with other voters about what's truly going on. Like, they still operate in the mindset, like, I wish today was a Walter Cronkite, when they had complete control, near complete control of information.

Like, 95% of American voters were getting their information through approved outlets that would sanitize the news for their protection. And the fact is now, through social media, anyone can get onto Instagram. Or Facebook or Twitter or whatever and say, hey, this is crazy. Like, Barack Obama is talking about he wants an FBI that's clean and plays it straight. Dude.

Look at what they did to Mark Hawk with the FBI. Look at what they did to Donald Trump. So, they're not able to get away with as many of these lies, and that's, by the way, why they also want to put curbs on social media, because they don't like the fact that you have the right to communicate. Free speech, we don't believe that. Yeah, this is the... I mean, it's all a joke. Yeah, he is also the architect of the government that we got the Twitter files from, right?

This was the censorship regime, because like Josh is saying... They hate that you can clip up these interviews now, throw them on Twitter, and anyone can comment on them, or point out the inconsistencies, or point out the hypocrisy, and while that's not enough to just be like, oh, they're such hypocrites because we actually also have to keep them out of power and from ever having power again, they hate that. They hate that about the podcast. I think that one of the...

analyses of him going back on Mark Maron here, and like what Mark did was the total regret in a way that Obama must have had looking back and saying, you know, he was the cool president, he was going to go on these podcasts, he plays basketball in his jeans, you know, he's just like the cool guy. But he opens up this media to the executive branch, this way of communicating with the American people. And then in comes Trump, who does it 150 times better.

than obama ever could have done it um because like you said there's just something more genuine and authentic about him going on um and people pick up on that but this again it's worth recalling though like in 2009 the the left thought that they had reached their moment of triumph you know in their minds george wb bush was the perfect republican foil he was kind of dumb you Folksy, cowboy hat, you know, pretend like, ah, shucks, I believe in you, bombing the hell out of foreign countries.

All he cares about is golfing and cutting taxes, and, you know, in comes Barack Obama, who cares about you, and he's so cool, and he's so hip. The biggest thing about Barack Obama you can never forget about his legacy, though, is how much, what did the American people think of him at the end of eight years? You couldn't possibly, you cannot fathom a more I don't know.

Obvious rejection of Barack Obama than the fact that they went with Donald Trump after him. I mean, I'm sorry. It's like such a total, like, we are going to take the loudmouth populist. You know... From New York City, didn't go to Yale. Yeah, like... Sex scandal ridden. Yeah, we would rather have him. Like, we hate you so bad, how you damaged this country. We're putting this guy in there. And you would think that'd be a moment of reflection, of like... Yes!

Would you? Would you think that? No reflecting was done. There was no self-reflection. A lack of self-reflection by the media. Like the media, again, the media's gamble in 2015 was like, Donald Trump is, you know, saying so many crazy things. We'll make Republicans look bad if we air everything he says. They gave him hundreds of millions of dollars in free advertising in 2015, in the hopes that he would become the nominee of the party, and therefore, obviously, tank Republicans' chances. Because he can't win, I believe.

People are looking at it and go, yeah, I kind of like that. That is refreshing. Can we get that? We need something completely different from you, Barack Obama. So, here is a great example, I think, of kind of everything we are talking about in terms of the division. So, there is a flashpoint with Letitia James, Tish, I think she is known in these Mom Donnie rallies. But if anyone remembers, again, and so much of this, it is so funny, like, do you think we just forgot?

Like, this was so... Like, two years ago. This is not long ago. Attorney General of New York, she ran for the Attorney General spot. She's been in office since 2019 on getting Donald Trump legally. Basically, centered her entire campaign, like, I'm going to get Donald Trump. We can indict him. We can get him. So, she did. I mean, she brought a civil case against Trump in which he was found liable of bank fraud, even though no bank said that he defrauded them, which is fun.

And then she won a half billion dollar judgment, but an appeals court has already overturned it. So, it is contentious. It is ongoing, but she is currently the Attorney General of New York. I can't get over this. I can't remember if we went into this on depth on the show, but this is the exact, you know, in detail, what is going on with her. U.S. Department of Justice indicted James on federal charges of bank fraud. Again, you can't make it up.

Whoopsie. And making false statements to a financial institution. The case stems from a 2021 mortgage application for a three-bedroom home in Norfolk, Virginia, purchased for $325,000. Prosecutors allege that James falsely claimed the property was her primary residence. To qualify for a favorable 2.7 interest rate under a government-backed loan program intended for owner-occupied homes. Just awesome. This is the top lawyer in New York, by the way.

In reality, investigators claim she never lived there, instead using it as a rental or family property, which violated loan terms and constituted fraud. So, if convicted on two counts, she faces up to 60 years in prison, 30 years per count, or fines of up to a million dollars each. She was referenced to the Department of Justice by the Federal Housing Finance Agency after reviewing this loan, citing inconsistencies like her New York voter registration and primary address. What gets better is, you find out, no, indeed, she isn't living in the house.

Her grandniece is living in the house. And she is currently described as a fugitive or absconder with a criminal history, raising questions about James potentially harboring her. The grandniece in her 30s has a record including 2011 conviction for assault and battery, a misdemeanor and second-degree trespass in Virginia. Court records show she failed to appear for probation reviews, leading to an absconder status, meaning she evaded supervision without being actively wanted for arrest. She's reportedly living in this Norfolk home for about five years, along with other family members.

Neighbors and property records confirm family occupancy. But no citing of James herself. So, it gets better, right? How could she live there? She's the Attorney General of New York. Josh, Josh, that's not it. That's not it. Not only is she the top lawyer in New York, which how could you possibly live in Virginia? She's harboring fugitive family members. She's a lawyer. However, we forget something. Okay.

Now, to me, this just strikes me as hilarious. She, as you said, centered her entire campaign on trying to prosecute Donald Trump, as if, in other words, like not even caring whether or not he's guilty. It's like, I'm just going to find the crime. Her ad literally said that. I rewatched it this morning. It was like, I'm going to follow the money and find what he did wrong when you elect me. So then.

What is this, KGB? Now, Bill Pulte is, you know, with the government agency appointed by Trump, he's the one looking into this, you know, Letitia James, and lo and behold, finds out that she's guilty of mortgage fraud, and some Democrats are like, wait a minute now, it just seems like you're going after her, select a prosecution. It's like... You know something? This was the game that this was played. Like, you know, Democrats would hush, hush at Republicans, like, I don't know, we can, it's Kelvin ball, we can do whatever the hell we want against you, but you, you know, if you ever try to return favor or return fire, we'll scold you for violating the, you know, the Republic and the rule of law.

You know what? That game's over. We are making you play by the rules that you inflict on everyone else. Sorry. Yeah. It's not a great place to be. Dare I say this sounds almost like kangaroo courts and trumped-up charges?

Kind of sounds like that. But it sounds like there's actually something there there. No, there is something there, and that's the point. I mean, it's like, maybe the point that all of this just says to me is like, the age of asymmetric political warfare is over.

And I voted for that, and I think that's correct. Like, let's just all be playing the same game, and you don't get to claim some type of moral high ground anymore, and you don't get to play against the Washington generals.

Like, the Republican Party now has teeth, and we plan to use it, just like the left had teeth and planned to use it for two terms. And I don't even see this as an eye for an eye. It's like, well, let's just operate on the same playing field. It's the only way we're going to get back to a system where we... I agree on a rule of law and having some sort of code of conduct and morals, the way we do it and stuff like, oh, we're just not going to do that.

The only way we're going to get there is by pushing back right now. We have tried over the last 20 years warning, hey, if you do this, this is going to be a problem, and the Democrats have ignored those warnings year in and year out, and they have pummeled us and pummeled the American people and caused great damage, great harm. To millions of people. So, we have to stand back and fight, and we're only going to get there by making these people feel the pain that they've inflicted on other people.

Yeah, and I do want to address the concern that I hear from a lot of conservative friends, and we see it online. Circles of our friends, right? That, well, we want to take the moral high ground. We don't want to use tactics that are trumped up charges, etc., etc. And I would say the difference being that the best possible outcome of Trump using these tactics to go after the people who went after him could be that more people, just in the future, just start following the law.

Right? Like, I don't want him to plant evidence. I don't want trumped up charges. If he's like, you know what we're going to do? We're just going to apply the law to Letitia James, which in the past, maybe people were like, well. You know, you've won the presidency, take the moral high ground, just let the past be the past, and move on, and take that. No, I just want the law to be applied. So, if she actually broke the law, then we should prosecute that, for sure.

Like, the thing with the left, with the Trump thing, is that she created charges that had never been prosecuted before. There was no standing because the bank that he supposedly... went and, you know, was defrauding, said, no, we never had fraud occur for us, so we never complained, so we never brought charges. All I would like is that we get back to a place where, if there is evidence of breaking the law, we pursue that evidence, and we prosecute it and hold everyone accountable to the same.

That would be the best possible outcome here. And I think to get back to that, we absolutely need the Trump administration to use the DOJ To investigate and prosecute these crimes. Yeah, doesn't that make you think of no one is above the law? I mean, hilariously said on the left. It makes me think of that. Which I would like. Yes. Borderline would be sweet. Let's get back to Magna Carta. Magna Carta, I would settle for the document under the oak tree at this point.

We are so far from that. Let's get on back to that. Yeah. And that goes for everyone, by the way. Right, left. No one should be above the law. I'm all for it. Okay, B Block now. We had that Medal of Freedom ceremony. It was really sweet. Actually, it got covered, but it was a little...

It got covered, but it wasn't a lot. I think it was because it was kind of somber, although I think they played like Dancing Queen. They were playing like happy music at the beginning, which was interesting, but a little context. It would have been Charlie Kirk's 32nd birthday. President Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Erika Kirk. Just before we get into that, though, I believe we have a sponsor for this blog. Ah, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, our good friends here.

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Awesome. Yeah, a lot of people in the chat are saying Trump looked exhausted. I have something on that. I know, seriously. Trump, fresh from brokering a Middle East ceasefire, joked he raced back halfway across the world because he lacked the courage to ask Erika to reschedule due to the date's significance. It was his 32nd birthday. Yeah, he landed at 2.50 a.m. He was supposed to get back in a minute. He lands at 2.50 a.m. He gets up at 9 a.m. He is receiving the Argentinian delegation.

Then he has lunch with the Argentinian president, Javier Millen, who must be exhausting. to be in the same room with him, because, I mean, chainsaws. And then, he gets up in the rose garden, and it's like, isn't the guy almost 80? What's going on? It's just incredible. Yeah. It said it was attended by about 100 guests. It featured clear skies despite forecasts of rain. Trump quipped, God was watching. So, I'll play the remarks, and we'll go from there.

Today, we're here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I've ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber, the late, great Charlie Kirk.

He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America. He loved this country, and that is why this afternoon it is my privilege to posthumously award Charles James Kirk, our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thank you.

It's outstanding. Very sweet. I love it. It looked like, I'm not sure if this is true, the first time in American history a Christian cross has been engraved onto the Presidential Medal of Freedom in honor of Charlie Kirk. I don't know if you're a historian, Josh, but there you have it. That's cool. Well, it's just an improvement. Go ahead. I just can't help but think about that one woman that went viral on TikTok or whatever it was in the immediate aftermath of his assassination, saying, the best part about this is no one will remember him.

This is over. He's just gone. And it's like, honey, you don't understand anything. You know, again, this, I think it's been a month later, and it's still raw. Like, it's still, like, I still know that you guys want to murder us, you know?

You want to murder our people, our friends, and that is what we saw with the Attorney General candidate in Virginia, sending out text messages wishing the death of not only a political opponent, but his children. And so, again, the courage that Charlie Kirk showed in every one of his days of his life has been nothing but inspirational, and it is great to see. And it really...

You know, it's making people see with open eyes just exactly the kind of spiritual battle that we are facing in this country, that some people have embraced the darkness, unfortunately. A lot more people than we may have wondered, like, gosh, these are people that I went to high school with. These are people I worked with, you know, and they say these vile things. About Charlie Kirk, and it's like, if I, you know, this is what I'm saying most people are saying, and if I share with them what I really, well, actually, I like Charlie Kirk, like, and you just get like this, I'm telling you, man, Charlie Kirk.

Love the guy. Watershed moment. It was like a 9-11. It was like, not in the terms of how many people died and the suffering, obviously, but it was one of those just moments like, where were you when Charlie Kirk was shot? Like, where were you when JFK was shot? I think that we're going to be watching the Charlie Kirk effect for the rest of our lives and seeing how it redounds in American society.

Like you said, Josh, I think it was just revelatory, and the mask came off of a lot of people. You can tell a lot about a person, how they react when someone dies. That's something Charlie said once, and I think he lived that out for sure.

But yeah, continued prayers for Erika. This is when it gets really hard, right, after a trauma like that in your life. You're a month out. You get to six weeks out. You get to eight weeks out. The meal trains dry up.

The flower bouquets have died, and you're like, I have to get down to work now. I have to buckle up, and it's hard. No, it's true, because what people say is, is there anything I can do? And you say that because you don't really know. Right. And obviously, you should pray, but check in with them, you know? Yeah. And you get these marks. So, like, obviously, for Erika, it's tough because it would have been Charlie's birthday. Birthday. You know, and then you get Thanksgiving.

Without Charlie, then you get Christmas without him, and you get New Year's Day without him, and then there's Easter, and then you're like one year from his death. And so, it does take a while. You get those, because now, every time you're running into one of these milestone parts on the calendar, you're having to think about, oh gosh, I don't have him. And that's tough, and so the prayers should continue, obviously. We should always pray for, you know, the widows and the children that are left behind by this.

It's tragic. Yeah. Civic Martyr. If he can die for his point of view, I can speak up a little bit. I want to just add one little coda. I would like President Donald Trump to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well to Patrick James Buchanan before God calls him home. I'm here for it. Yes. Let's make it happen, people. Come on. Throw it out there. Erika, good news. What you got? Oh, good news. Okay, I was going to do this Washington state.

They decided not to prosecute priests for breaking the seal of the confessional, but then... I was scrolling this morning, and my little kids, the six and eight-year-old daughters, were like, mom, mom, mom, what's that? This is the best Pope gift yet. Forget the pizza, forget whatever, forget the motorcycle. It's an Arabian horse, a white Arabian horse named Proton, and this Polish horse breeder sent, and look at this animal. This is like the most beautiful animal I think I've ever seen, and look how happy Pope Leo looks with his new horse.

And I just have visions of, like, the papal states and, like, the Vatican armies, like, mounting these Arabian horses, and that's probably not going to happen. Dude, just... But I love... No, I love the story behind this. So, this is a Polish, like, millionaire billionaire horse breeder who does Arabian horses. He was scrolling Twitter, and he saw a picture of Pope Leo riding a donkey in Peru when he was bishop, and he's like, that guy needs an upgrade. I'm going to give him one of my Arabian horses.

Well, maybe he should just jump on the horse and grab a sword and kick the Muslims out of Europe like, you know, the apparition of St. James in the 9th century. I'm just saying, it's there. I mean, you could lead a whole new crusade on an animal like that. This is just... Leo the Moor Slayer, I mean, come on. I love this. Publio doing anything is just the best palate cleanser of all time. Seriously, look at that smile, dude. I know, he's so happy about the horse.

It's a great palate cleanser. You're welcome. Glad he got a horse. That's an animal Popemobile. If he ever wants to ride around, maybe he can take it to the Vatican estate. Yeah, maybe instead of the Popemobile, ride around St. Peter's Square with that, like Copa waving in the back. And also, let's be real. You know Brian and Popelaire probably talk behind the scenes about cubs and the bears, right?

Probably. They have to be. I don't think there's a world in which it hasn't come up one time. It has to come up at least once. I don't know. Josh might know. That always brings a smile to my face. He's keeping it close to his chest. Josh, you're playing it tight. I get it. I'm just saying. Hold those cards tight to your chest. All right, Josh. You're up. I just don't think we can give too much credit at this point to Donald Trump for everything he did in the Middle East, and so I thought this was a really good clip.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich going on and talking about the accomplishments. So, let us just roll this. Let us just roll a quick clip. I give Jared Kushner some credit here. In May of 2016, speaking to AIPAC, Trump outlined a vision of peace in the Middle East. That is 2016, nine years later.

He's developing the reality. Now, that is a level of strategic discipline and strategic commitment that almost nobody gives him credit for. He's so much smarter than the left knows. I mean, Sean Hannity, you are right. I mean, Sean Hannity is not necessarily the brightest bulb there is, but it is true. You can get lost in Donald Trump throwing a bunch of mud around and just think he is a carnival barker. The guy has got a plan, and he executes on his plan.

Just because he understands the nature of the media and getting the food fight going doesn't mean he is not trying to execute on the things. The assumption here for the last 10 years is that Donald Trump... Is a man of an appetite and a short attention span, it's like, you know, that's what Democrats think, and they ignore him at their peril, and he is running up the scoreboard right now in ways, left and right, domestic and foreign, so.

Okay, I got two that will be quick. First one, very interesting. Santa Clara is one of the first law schools to publish 2026-2027 tuition, okay? Graduate plus loans. Are people familiar with the graduate plus loans? Oh, I'm familiar with all those loans, yes. They previously had no limits. So, whenever you get bored and you watch a Dave Ramsey clip of someone saying that I'm in $600,000 of debt, I'm in $400,000 of debt, typically, it's graduate plus loans or a graduate loan of some kind.

It's just like a blank check. Basically, you can just get as much as you need. Starting next year. Professional school borrowing will be capped at $50,000 a year. Okay, keep that in mind. For graduates. For graduates. Professional school, yeah. Keep this in mind.

Okay, so what do you think tuition 2026-2027 is going to be? At Santa Clara, I'm going to guess exactly $50,000. Am I right? Exactly $50,000. Oh, but that must have been... Winner, winner. It went up from the previous year. I mean, I'm sure it's... Right? I mean, it had to have been. Incorrect. Wait, what? Wait, what? Wait, what?

Do you mean it must have been $50,200 and they dropped it like $200, right? Is that what happened? It went from $63,280 to exactly $50,000. Wait a minute, Tom. Are you telling me that the Santa Clara School of Law dropped their tuition by $13,000, and it just so happens to be the exact amount that the government caps the loans for? Yep, correct. What a coincidence. Huh. So, you're telling me Donald Trump and the Department of Education...

Putting in reforms that are so evil and harmful is actually maybe helping students after all? Yep. Yep. Turns out, they were right. I mean, really, this is like the easiest problem to solve of all time. I would actually love to see graduate plus loans go down to zero dollars, and then actually see what a law school would charge.

Seriously, I mean, it's so obvious what's happened. The government got involved, they hand out blank checks to students for the most part. Schools raise tuition to almost exactly what the blank check amount is. Yep, 100%. So, I'm glad something's being done. I mean, this is the most obvious way to help out students right now is schools got to bring down tuition. It's crazy. I would love an incremental decrease of that over the next few years, like bring it down. It has to be a little more gradual.

This is one of the grad stuff. On the undergraduate stuff. Starting on July 1st, heads up to parents on this, that they're going to also cap the total amount that parents can borrow per year. So, it'll be $20,000. So, I told my daughters, because I'll have two in college next year, I'm like, look, $20,000 is the most I can borrow.

Like, you know, you need to factor it in. Maybe you should go to community college for a couple years first, say, just free here in Michigan, free, quote, unquote, tuition-free, taxpayers pay for it. I get it. Okay, I'm not dumb. Maybe do that for a while before then you go on to the next stage, you know. But I just have to share this in this story. I don't even know who this guy is. Paul Stein had the perfect comment about this, because we were thinking about this policy where now the law schools, the graduate schools aren't going to be able to do a blank check.

They can't charge whatever they want for tuition. And his comment on this was, won't somebody think of the poor vice deans of diversity and office supplies who will suffer from this? The vice dean of office supplies. But what if the hot tub won't be able to be built this year at Santa Clara? I mean, it's all administrative costs. The thing is, colleges are the cash cow. They have not had to, you know, if they wanted it, they just build it. Like, you know, it's been, go for it.

It's a country club. It's a four-year country club at this point. And it frustrates me that, I think, when people defend free markets, which I do. Believe in as well. But then they defend the status quo. I almost feel like they're misguided sometimes. We live in this quasi-free market system in which a shocking amount of Americans are employed by the government, either state or federal, and then colleges are essentially an extension of federal funding, as you mentioned. They just get a steady stream of cash.

They never have to adjust the same way that the private sector does, and I'm trying to think there's another big industry that's basically government sanctioned. I mean, I would say over half. Health care. Oh, health care. Oh, yeah. Right. Obamacare. Obamacare, which Obama is so proud of, which, I mean, the funny thing about that system is people are bringing up the, and I talked to Riley more about this.

People are saying that this shutdown is over the subsidies, like the fact that the COVID-era subsidies are going to stop, and so everyone's premium is going to skyrocket. That might be true to an extent, but the reason that is true is because Obamacare is completely out of control. There is no way to stop this oncoming wave of inflated costs because of how the government interacts with insurance companies, which interact with the hospitals. It is bloated. It is terrible. So, if you factor in just those three sectors, That is the majority of the American economy.

If you factor in what is going on with AI, like AI basically, they are artificially inflating their worth by making deals with people based on equity and shares. So, they look a lot bigger than they are. So, if you take a look at the American GDP with those in mind, we essentially are operating on a form of socialism, which I don't think is… I am not completely anti some type of social safety net for certain people, but of course, it has to be targeted and it has to be smart, and we have gotten so bloated to the point right now where we are basically making a gamble on our economy on AI, which I am not super comfortable with, personally.

And that's why I always caution people, be careful about defending the status quo or free markets, because what you're defending really isn't that. And I think there are a lot of common sense things we can get together and be on board with, one of which I think was Doge, which largely, hopefully, is continuing, but even just look at what they did here with this cap. There's a lot of really smart, small things that can be done to actually return us to a place where we can innovate, we can get some of our money back, we can have the markets adjust to free market mechanics.

I think that's a great point, Tom. A lot of times, we tend to support the market economy, but what had been happening on the college campuses over the last 40 years is Democrats decided to completely turn on the spigot and allow tons of money being borrowed to college kids who are 18, 19, 20 years old, don't really have an idea. I mean, they can't... They have never had any work experience. They cannot go to a bank to get a loan for a car, but they can be given hundreds of thousands of dollars for loans to graduate and, you know, for undergrad and graduate school, and why are they, you know, and again, the Democrats do not even care about whether or not they graduate.

They do not care if they get a degree that actually helps them find meaningful employment. They do not care. They just want to give money to colleges and universities so they can hire. Like, you know, what is it? Michigan has like 200 different people that work in different DEI. I mean, that's what this is about. They don't actually care about kids. Home Depot is doing more to help the next generation. You go work at Home Depot. I'm not getting any money from this, not any nickel from it, but my friend Steven pointed this out, that you work at Home Depot now, and you can actually get training and classes on how to do HVAC, and how to be an electrician and a plumber, all this kind of stuff, and you get a certificate, and then you can get yourself out onto the job.

I mean, like, that's doing more for our country than Beer State University. Sorry. It's true. I'm a fan of Home Depot. I think you're correct, and yeah, I have concerns about the economy, but... That's a whole other, but I think we're... Yeah, that was a good, that was very generic. What was that segue, brother? I have concerns about the economy. I don't know where I'm segueing to, but I'm just like... Oh, man, maybe J.K. Rowling. Oh, dude, I didn't even think about this.

The military-industrial complex, oh my gosh. Like, I guess something's being created, but our Pentagon budget's like a trillion dollars, and like, they're completely dependent on the government, too. So, I'm like, we got way too much dependent on the government. We don't really live in capitalism. And the red strings are, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. Yeah, that's me, basically, all the time. Do we have enough time for... Well, they shut the government down because of, you know, they want to make sure that we had generous subsidies for Obamacare.

I mean... Right. And they just cut checks. They just printed money to cut checks to everyone that just ended up screwing us in inflation. Oh, my gosh, man. All right. Sorry, but I started off with good news. That was good news. Yes. I don't want to get into bad news. That was good. All right. Yes. We did a thing, and it actually had an effect. Now, Erika, I want you to tell me about what's going on in the world with digital IDs.

Okay. So, you think you're going crazy thinking about the military-industrial complex and healthcare and government subsidies. You think you're going crazy? I'm going to just blow your mind even more. All right. Here we go. Digital ID systems. So, I'm just going to set the stage. What are they? What's going on? They're here. Digital ID systems consolidate your personal data, so your financial, your medical, your biometric data, into these centralized platforms that can be used to monitor, restrict, or control your individual behavior.

These are marketed as tools for convenience and security, but they're also A vehicle for mass surveillance from the government. Of course. And we've seen this in China. We already covered in China how they have the social credit system. So, you know, if your social credit score gets too low in China, you can't take the subway. You can't get into your apartment. You can't start your car. I mean, it's crazy in China. And now...

Shocker. The UK is considering its own version. Not just considering, but this last week, Keir Starmer came out and said, in fact, we are going to mandate digital IDs in this government by 2029. It is nicknamed the Brit Card, and people's minds are just exploding. But that sounds so cute and unassuming. The Brit Card? Oh, the Brit Card. Yeah, well, here's what's actually going on. We also have Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. Really, they're saying, we're going to mandate this by 2029.

We also have former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Gaza, technocrat fame, whatever that is, lobbying heavily for digital ID and nonprofit, the nonprofit that he controls, through the nonprofit he controls. This effort is also being backed in the UK by Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Oh, my gosh. You got it. I am so excited for Tom. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, he needs to own another thing. This dude owns everything. So, here's what Keir Starmer came out with when he was addressing the global government something the other week. This is the video that sparked this whole, all these headlines right here. Love that it's just shared by an ex-account named Big John with the St. George flag. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. And that is why today I am announcing this government will make a new free of charge digital ID mandatory.

For the right to work. What? By the end of this Parliament. Let me spell that out. You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It's as simple as that.

Because decent, pragmatic, fair-minded people, they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them. And, of course, the truth is, we won't solve our problems. If we don't also take on the root causes, looking upstream to tackle poverty, conflict, climate change.

Issues that aren't just intolerable for those of us who care about inequality and injustice wherever it's found in the world. Okay, okay. So, you're like, all right, well, maybe, you know, I have to have a driver's license to work here to fill up my W-2. I need to have a social security number. Well, it's not just about working. If you roll the tape, this was a press conference that he held this week for the purposes of saying, it's great, the hostages are back.

But the question of digital IDs came up here as well. Here in India, I think it is a billion people have digital ID. It has been taken up on a voluntary basis in huge numbers, not least because it means that you can access your own money, make payments so much more easily than is available with others. So, I think now we need to go out and make that case of the huge benefits that this will bring. There needs to be a national debate about it.

The more people see the benefits that come with this, the more, as has happened in other countries, people say, that will make my life easier. So, people are basically, decent people are going to say, I am happy that my life would be easier if I had these digital IDs. Another Labour Party MP this week got up in front of Parliament and said, not only that, but in Estonia, you use your digital ID to get your kid into daycare. In Finland, you can use your digital ID, when their baby is born, you don't even have to fill out any paperwork.

It is all automatically digital ID'd in the hospital. It's this creep of what it's actually for being rolled out. The UK is exploding. We're having massive protests, not only against the crackdown on free speech over there, but now over these digital IDs.

It's absolutely chilling, because in spite of the fact that they had over a quarter of a million people sign a letter of protest to the Labor Party, Keir Starmer decided to double down on it this week and say, no, this is absolutely necessary for the future. We are going to have digital IDs. It's not a question of if, it's when. Yep, they are going in for the kill.

Question for you. Do you know what his approval rating is at, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? Well, I mean, it makes Joe Biden look like a prom king, if that is what you are asking. I believe it is at 13% or something like that. Yeah, I mean, it fluctuates between 16% and 18%. Oh, that is higher than I thought.

Yeah, like I said, Joe Biden would win prom king over there in the UK. Absolutely crazy. So, what does this mean for the United States? Well, I was digging into it. In the United States, we have what I would say a more fractured approach to rolling out digital IDs, but it is here. So, we have the Real ID Act and mobile driver's licenses, which are sort of early steps towards a national digital ID system. But at this point, thank God for our federal system, it is more of a state-by-state.

So, at this point, we have 21 states. Almost half of our states have waivers for their mobile driver's license or their digital ID driver's license. The idea of the real ID chip that everyone needs a real ID now to fly, that's because our driver's licenses are microchipped at this point. So, we're making these steps towards digital ID, and I think it's important to keep our antenna up at this point. Isn't there something in Florida, too, about... So, okay, so unfortunately, what comes to mind about this, and look, I'm not here for the mark of the beast, total surveillance state, et cetera, but I think what a lot of people are...

What I'm frustrated about is that our country's borders are wide open, and like, for example, we have people that are driving commercial, have licenses that are not, don't speak English, have been causing accidents, that kind of thing. There's no name on the license. The superintendent of the public schools in Des Moines, Iowa, is an illegal alien in Boston, Maryland. Criminal record. Thank you for illustrating my point. I mean, we have people here that, you know, really should not be here, and that are causing problems in communities, and to the point where they're killing people in certain instances.

But also, potentially, committing crimes or just leaving us. We don't trust who is even in our own communities, in our own neighborhoods, etc. Any attempt, so now the attempt by DHS to actually remove illegal aliens, which is, I think, crazy about this, the state system where the states know who these people are, but refuse to give them up, and so you get the clash between federal and state, and so I know that in Florida, I think they had something for like work authorization, you had to prove that you were a citizen, so I don't know what kind of question I'm posing here.

I think there needs to be. actual attempts to identify who's in the country do i think it needs to be centralized and tied centralized and tied to whether or not you can get food or you know if you're vaccinated you can't go to school or something like that obviously not but like i guess where do we stand in all of that you know is this is this related i'm sure they're using this as an excuse to really push for mass surveillance everywhere i hear all the conspiracies about larry elson and um palantir and that they're they're using immigration enforcement as an excuse to basically push forward towards this kind of Centralized IDs.

The irony being that these were the very people. Keir Starmer is the poster child for open borders. I mean, these are the same people who opened up the borders and said, come on, boat people. He's flooded England with millions of illegal aliens who now reside there. And, I mean, talk about Dearborn, Michigan. That's like the whole island, right, of England. So, what you're talking about is the very people. flooded the country are now like, oh, we have to fix the problem.

Never let a good crisis go to waste. And it's absolutely this Trojan horse of now we can justify digital ID. The thing about, so yes, do countries need to know who is inside their borders? Should we have methods of identification and proving that whether you're a US citizen or here legally or not? Absolutely. The difference is that the capabilities of the digital system. Allow the government not only to identify if you're a citizen or not, but to tie together all of your most personal information.

There is so much digital population data out there right now, and they have made no secret of the fact that their goal is to tie it all together, and they're going to sell it to people as, you need this for your security, and you need it for your convenience, right? Bread, circuses, and security. That's it. That's what people want, and they're counting on the fact that the British people Are just going to roll over and say, sure, you can put everything I am, my vaccine records, my healthcare records, my financial records, my travel records, things I own, my employment records.

All into one central place for my security and my convenience. And why is this concerning? Because, well, we had the Biden administration say- We had the pandemic. Yeah. We know what they're going to do with it. Like, I wish we had more faith. We wanted to issue a rule saying, you know, basically empower the labor department to make it so that everyone in the country pretty much wanted to get a job, would have to get the vaccine. Like, this is the problem.

And so then if they know all of your health history, they can say, wait a minute now, why haven't you done this? Why haven't you taken this medicine? So, there are these concerns, and again, what frustrates Americans so much about this is that you have access to all this data, you can dump out and control our lives, and yet you can't control our borders? Right. Like, you know, again, it just drives me kind of crazy. It's like, Well, it makes me think back to 9-11 and the Patriot Act.

They used the crisis as an opportunity to violate the civil liberties of Americans, and to the point, there's all this stuff coming out now that they knew a few of these people that hijacked the planes. They knew they were in California. They gave them... Like, IDs through, like, Saudi Arabia. So, like, to your point, Josh, like, it's not like there wasn't prior knowledge, or there's a level of incompetence, I guess. Maybe at the end of the day, what gives me some hope is the, like, idiocracy theory.

Like, there would need to be some smart string puller at the top that's capable of, like, you, like, weaving all this together, and I just, I don't know if that is there. Maybe in the UK that's different. I don't know. But I don't even like that we're moving close. To that. So, I don't know. It's hard. I feel like people are kind of drawing the line here of like, we want to have legitimate enforcement of our law, especially when it comes to immigration, but we don't want to use that legitimate action as an opportunity to enforce draconian, you know.

Because we see what happened in China, right? Like, people are talking about it in the chat. Like, in China, it's so dystopian. Like, if you put your ID up to an ATM, and you're a foul of whatever the government is in support of, they will just reject your bank card. You just can't get money out, right? Like, you can't get money. You can't eat to that point. You can't take the train. You can't take the bus. Right.

And you can't get into your apartment building. I'm seeing what happens. Yeah, it does happen. And again, that doesn't terrify the elites in this country or the United Kingdom. They actually lust over it. They love that idea. Yeah, I mean, make their job easier, I guess. No, listening to the talks at, like, the WEF, or listening to, you know, it is, this is Larry Ellison, come on, bro. Yeah. Let me just, okay, let's show that clip, because it was so crazy.

I know the clip you're talking about, you had it. Yes, I do. Like, you can't, people should not be talking like this. Your body cams will be transmitting that. The police will be on their best behavior, because we're constantly watching and recording everything that's going on. Citizens will be on their best behavior.

Because we're constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on. When you come to government- I mean, give me a break. If you want to stop people from pooping on the sidewalks in San Francisco, you don't need body cams. You just need to clean up the city. Exactly.

Give me a break. Yeah, we don't need to continue. It's a five-minute compilation of him just saying the most dystopian and crazy surveillance- Yeah, I got to give you my- I got to leave. TZ, what you got, Josh?

Well, I want to do my, again, one of the things I like about Trump and Vance is they don't play the old media games anymore. So, we have this scandal, obviously, involving the Attorney General candidate in Virginia, who wished death upon his political opponents and their children.

Then, Politico discovers a bunch of text messages that they got between a bunch of college Republicans, and they said a lot of horrible things, like bad things, like racist things, whatever. It was like edgy Hitler jokes. Kind of stupid college kids, or whatever. Yeah. And so then, in the old rules, every single conservative, every single Republican would be required to get out and say, oh, this is so terrible, I can't believe this is, oh, this is the worst thing ever, blah, blah, blah.

And go through this ritual performance of humiliation in front of the media and saying. I'm not a racist. I'm not homophobic. I'm not sexist. I'm not evil. And both sides are equally bad. This is a moral equivalency thing, yep. And I love the fact that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance aren't putting up with this crap anymore. It's just so obviously performative bull crap, okay? So, J.D. Vance says, he posts a picture of the text messages that this attorney general candidate in Virginia posted, where he talks about how he wants His opponent's children to die, and J.D.

Vance said, responding to this scandal that Politico is losing their crap over about these college kids saying stupid things, right? J.D. Vance says, this, in other words, the guy running for attorney general, this is far worse than anything said in any college group chat, and the guy who said it, Could become the Attorney General of Virginia. Right. I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence. So, thank you, J.D. Vance.

I'm with you. This whole idea, and it's all so one-sided, because the The death star of the mainstream media, when the left says something outrageous and horrible, they don't go to every single Democrat ever in any elective office. Oh, you're the Westminster city councilman. You must denounce this. Oh, you're the undersecretary for Treasury. You need to denounce this. They go through this thing with Republicans, though, like every Republican. Okay, well, you better apologize for what these people who aren't you said, because, you know, that makes you Hitler if you don't denounce it.

And J.D. Vance is like, I'm sick of this crap. No, screw you. Not for it. Sorry. Yep. Thank you. That's what I voted for. Yeah. The group chat was stupid. It was dumb. It was stupid and horrible. It's stupid and horrible, but it's like, this is what dumb college... That's kind of the thing, too, is you almost have to... They would shame you and make you do the humiliation ritual when, behind closed doors, everyone knows that this kind of stupid, edgy stuff happens.

And, like, everywhere, on both sides, and it's like... Tell me what the college Democrats are saying, you know? Right, exactly. Like, okay, leak all their chants, too. Like, you know, how many... Yeah, after Charlie Kirk. Do you watch after Charlie Kirk? What was going on? It's your group text as opposed to what people are... Publicly sharing on social media, a different ballgame, right? Exactly. That is why I love the podcast medium, too, because you would basically get jumped by this, and then you would only have a three-minute segment where you had to respond to that, where you don't even get the opportunity to talk.

Trump goes on a podcast, he could just be honest and be like, yeah, people say stupid stuff all the time. What are we talking about here? We are talking about Jay Jones, who is about to become the top lawyer in Virginia. That wanted someone's kids murdered, openly talking to a colleague. So, yeah, like, am I saying what happened? It kind of reminds me when people, like, try to purity test over, like, bad language in the past, like, just to get away from what the argument is about.

They'll, like, confront you with, oh, you said this bad word. Are you going to disavow that? And it's like, okay, people say bad words sometimes. Or to talk about anything of substance, right? Like, there was an interview that J.D. Vance did last weekend or two weekends ago, and the host, the entire time, was like, Dana Bash, or one of the top CBS interviewers, and all they wanted to talk about was what someone had texted 500 years ago about someone else, and he's like, you're talking to the Vice President of the United States.

You could ask me anything of substance with world order, domestic affairs, and you're talking to me about this story? And it's just a way for them to avoid talking about substance, because they know That if they ask him a question of substance, or they actually focus on the issues that matter to Americans, the message of MAGA and the message of Trump makes sense to people. It makes sense, it's common sense, and people will respond to it positively. And so, instead of talking about anything of substance with the vice president, they're like, let's talk about some college tweets that these kids made, and it's to avoid that.

Yeah, the Democratic media doesn't like that. So irrelevant. Okay. Substance is not their friend. Erika, you're up. All right. So, I want to go full circle with Barack Obama. We started the podcast with Barack and his legacy, and here's how he has chosen, he and Michelle have chosen, to enflesh, to incarnate. A visual of their legacy. And Josh, you have design taste. I'm great to get your perspective on this. Yeah, we have drone footage of the Barack Obama Memorial Library, which is rising above the plains outside Chicago.

Are you sure it's not being put in both areas? I think the word Death Star was mentioned earlier on the podcast, and look at, I'm sort of speechless. I mean, I knew the guy was. Sort of like post-modern brutalist in his politics, but... Oh, I hate brutalism. This is... They're stained glass here, though. ...brutalism at a whole new level.

I think. It's like a... I'm not even sure. Is that a golf course? I take it back. Dude, this is kind of sick. I tell you, that building is as ugly as his legacy. Are these like golf holes? What are these little... Pretty much. What this building says to me is self-loathing. Like, seriously, it would take someone who really, really hates themselves to build something like that as the image of their legacy to America. It's ugly. It's windowless. I mean, you could go on that metaphor for a long time.

I've never understood brutalism. I don't understand brutalism. It's hatred for humanity. It's hatred for beauty. Right there on the south side, if you want to stop by. Well, I mean, you're welcome, Chicago. This is how Barack Obama is going to revitalize Chicago with a tourist trap like that. I mean. You think people are really going there?

No, for sure. I know some people who are already planning their trip. Are you serious? Pop up, bro. Yes. The same people who have something on their wall titled, When Hope Left the White House. Hope we change. Yeah, the hope and change. My favorite hope and change reference was from the masterpiece Megamind, if any of you have seen that delightful film. It's when they had the, instead of hope, it was nope, and it was Megamind's face in the same kind of homage.

It's awesome. It's pretty much. All right, mine's quick. I was going to have it in Good News, but it also is kind of Twilight Zone, so just listen to, this is Keira Knightley answering a question about J.K. Rowling.

I saw your voicing Professor Umbridge in the new Harry Potter audiobooks. I was wondering, are you aware that some fans are calling for a boycott, given J.K. Rowling's ongoing campaign against trans people? I was not aware of that, no. I'm very sorry. You know, I think we're all living in a period of time right now. We're all going to have to figure out how to live together, aren't we? And we've all got very different opinions, so I hope that we can all...

All right, let's go back to the laugh again. Let's go back to the, I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry. I just want to point out. It's over. This is enough to get you murdered in 2022, basically. Yeah, it's over. At least in terms of like, you know, PR, Hollywood, like all of that, like you'd be blacklisted forever if you reacted like that in 2022. The fact that she laughed.

After that question, it's over. Nature is healing. Nature is healing. The strange grip that this had, and Keira Knightley, dude, Pirates of the Caribbean, awesome, sick. I need to go back and watch those again. She looks a lot better now that she's not anorexic, too, by the way. Yeah. Worst Lizzie Bennet ever. The JK Rowling stuff, if I may, really quickly.

She, talk about civic martyr, she came out swinging on that and never faltered, and I don't think she ever got enough credit for it, and she's still getting attacked for it, not as much because the tides have kind of changed. And I just watched something about, who is the, Hermione, was it? Emma Watson. Emma Watson. She wants to make friends again. Emma Watson, after like really classlessly trashing her and not giving her, and JK Rowling, let's just point this out again, is directly responsible for her success.

And all of her, you know, after the movie success, took a young girl, aspiring girl, gave her a role, and like really mentored her and was sweet to her by all accounts. And to have her just kind of classlessly trash her, just kind of get in these little digs and jabs over the years, it's like, I've seen it and be like, first of all, you have no respect. And like, if someone takes a different, basically what Kira is saying here, she has a different opinion on you than that.

So, you could at least show the public respect of defending her in public, of just like, you know what, I don't agree with her per se, but I really respect her. I think she's a great woman. That's not what she said. And so, recently, she kind of had a...

I was in an interview where she was like, oh, like, actually, and she was trying to roll back because she's sensing that the tea leaves are changing, and saying, oh, you know, she's great, whatever. Like a mother. J.K. Rowling came out and nuked her on Twitter. I've never seen her. Nuked her on Twitter, and she was quiet the whole time. Basically, like, all the jabs, she was keeping track, but didn't say anything. But it was her trying to come back in the good graces now, and being like, oh, no, it was actually great.

I sent her this letter, and she... Nuked her on Twitter. And so, I just think that moment caught on camera was just like, it's so great. Like, we're just, we're past it. It's over. You can just say your mind again. You can say obvious truth again and not have to worry about losing all your future opportunities. And I think it's really like a decisive cultural victory for after things like what is a woman. And a lot of people had to stick their necks out like J.K.

Rowling did, Megan Murphy. We don't necessarily have to have somebody agree with us 100% of the time to recognize that they're. Advancing the cause and helping us by attacking lunacy. So, I mean, J.K. Rowling and I probably disagree on 60, 70 percent of stuff, but on this whole stuff on transgenderism, she has been delightful, and she keeps ringing this bell and hammering this point, and this one guy, this one American decides to chime in. His name is Billy Jensen, and he responds to J.K.

Rowling. He goes, could you put the same energy toward fighting fascism? We are having a bit of a moment over here. Well, here's the problem when you tweet like this with somebody who spends her lifetime writing, right? She goes, writing fascism. It must be so hard in the trenches, knee deep in the mud, bullets flying all around you. It's great you find the time to tweet, though.

Yeah, I think that's how, that was the lesson Emma Watson learned, too. It's like, don't tangle on social media with someone who made their fortune. Yeah, no, I wouldn't. Writing, like, the defining masterpiece of, yeah, children's literature. I mean. Writing, writing what made you famous, what gave you the success, like, it's just a shock. I don't get that. Like, it's like. Loyalty is nothing, I guess. I don't know. No, actually, the media wants you to enlist those relationships in order to attack, right?

That is why they bring out Mary Trump to attack Donald Trump. This is the way it has always been. They get the Cheney's kid to blast him on gay marriage and stuff, and then he turns out a few years later, I don't even like gay marriage. It is all these games. Cheney likes that oil, baby. That is all he ever cared about. That is right, dude. Let me get some of that oil. Okay. Great show, gang. So, if you haven't checked it out yet, we had two great interviews last week.

Shroud of Turin and Erika did a deep on the Mississippi Miracle. Fantastic. Both still actually getting views, which is really awesome. So, if you want some more LOOPcast, go check it out there. We've got a great deep coming for you tomorrow on No Fault Divorce. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. It's in the works. It is. It's going to be great.

And then, yeah, should be here for a Friday show. If you want to help us out, check out our sponsors, Charity Mobile, Alvin Brewery, Mutual Funds, Homeside Alac. Thank you for sponsoring the show. Join the Champions Club, kathiebloat.org slash champions. Best place to do that. Best way to support us. Thank you to all of our champions listening.

And leave a review. We appreciate the show. But we are going to end in daily prayer today. We have the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila. Shout out. Peace day. First female doctor of the church. And the fifth anniversary of my grandfather's birth into eternal life. Love you, Jack. Extra prayers today. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes.

Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, our leader, Guadalupe, pray for us. Great show, gang. We'll catch you on the next one. Peace.