Tim Miller: It Was Dumber than You Might Have Imagined

[0] Welcome to the Boat Work podcast.

[1] I'm Charlie Sykes.

[2] It is February 10th, 2020, and as we head into this desperately needed Super Bowl weekend, the good news is the Chinese balloon is still dead.

[3] There's a new Monmouth poll out showing that Donald Trump trails Florida's Ronda Santis in a two -way race, asterisk there, two -way race, 53 to 40%.

[4] We haven't talked about this much, but I mean, the death toll in Turkey in Syria is just absolutely horrific.

[5] big political story of the day, Mike Pence gets his subpoena, you know, that is a BFD.

[6] If you've been following it, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has been getting a hero's welcome in Europe.

[7] I love the picture of the King of the West, meeting a guy named Charles in London.

[8] Elon Musk is acknowledging that he has blocked Ukrainian troops from using his Starlink technology.

[9] Meanwhile, the House's weaponization committee turned out to be absolutely the goat rope that everybody expected.

[10] I mean, it's almost, I don't know, just bear with me. for a second.

[11] It's almost like Jim Jordan is just not very, very good at this.

[12] And as I mentioned in my newsletter morning shots this morning, I tested positive for COVID last night.

[13] Right before I did the 11th hour on television.

[14] So I gutted it out.

[15] I did this.

[16] This should be fun.

[17] Tim Miller, you've had COVID, right?

[18] You gutted that out, right?

[19] Not really.

[20] No, you're like the Patrick Mahomes out there on a hurt ankle on COVID going to MSNBC and the Big Friday podcast.

[21] I'm just, I'm proud of you.

[22] You're a warrior, Charlie.

[23] Yeah, I mean.

[24] Not me, I'm a baby.

[25] I'm a baby.

[26] I would have had, I'd have taken my horse pills, the Ivermectin, you know, would have taken all of my zinc.

[27] I did zinc.

[28] And just cuddled up, cuddled up in the bed for three days.

[29] Well, I did that.

[30] I actually did cuddle up in the bed for about two hours.

[31] And then I got in dressed up and went down to TV.

[32] But, hey, screw Ivermectin.

[33] I am loaded with Paxlovid.

[34] Is that how you pronounce it?

[35] Paxloven.

[36] Pax Lobit and NyQuil.

[37] I have to tell you that these are the wonder drugs.

[38] I have no idea why Ron Johnson is not having, you know, congressional hearings about, you know, NyQuil as the answer to everything.

[39] So, hey, can we do a little bit of promotional business before we get into a...

[40] Let's do it.

[41] We got a lot to promote.

[42] Well, you know, I've talked about this before.

[43] Look, most of the stuff, I'll be really candid.

[44] Most of the stuff that we have at the bulwark is free because we don't think you can save democracy from behind a paywall.

[45] But the Bulwark Plus community is, I think, unique.

[46] And I don't think I'm saying that simply out of special pleading.

[47] If you become part of this, you know, you can get this podcast.

[48] And by the way, there's a big story in the New York Times about, you know, podcast disinformation.

[49] Steve Bannon is the greatest source of disinformation in America today.

[50] And I mentioned in my newsletter, you know, there are choices because Steve Bannon has the number five political podcast in America today.

[51] Who is number six?

[52] Yes, who is number six at his heels?

[53] I wonder.

[54] I have a guess.

[55] Iveguess is a Candace Owens.

[56] The Bullwork podcast is the number six political podcast in America.

[57] Now, we have been, like, up to four, we've been down.

[58] So we've been consistently in the top ten.

[59] So if you could, you know, see it in your heart to have us beat Steve Bannon, I think it would be a great moment for America.

[60] But anyway, back to Bullwork Plus, you can get an ad -free version of this, the next level, the focus group with Sarah Longwell, begged to differ with Mona Sharon and her crew.

[61] The Bullwark goes to Hollywood and across the movie aisle, and actually behind the paywall, which means something that we keep for the members, just between us, which is a podcast that I do every week with Mona Charon, and the secret podcast that I can't tell you about because it's secret and also, of course, the Thursday night live stream.

[62] And, of course, we have a suite of newsletters.

[63] I'm guessing, Timothy, if I asked you to name all the newsletters, you probably can't, because there's so many of them.

[64] There's morning shots.

[65] There's the triad.

[66] We have a new one, press pass by Joe Perdicone.

[67] We have overtime, and Sunny Bunch has a newsletter.

[68] So, again, I think that one of the special things about the bulwark plus community, and I think one of the reasons why people join is they, want to be part of this conversation that almost never's occurring anymore.

[69] I mean, everybody's gone into their own bubble.

[70] And you look at, say, the top 10 political podcasts, and it's sort of the good news, the bad news.

[71] I mean, the good news is we're in the top 10.

[72] Bad news is number three is Candace Owens.

[73] Four is an NPR politics podcast, but then there's Bannon's War Room.

[74] Number eight is the verdict with Ted Cruz.

[75] I mean, so...

[76] Is he still in the Senate, or is he just in the podcast?

[77] business these days.

[78] That is an interesting question.

[79] I don't know whether you agree, Tim.

[80] I think one of the real highlights of the bulwark is reading the comment sections that we have.

[81] And again, that's a benefit for bulwark plus members, but I am continually blown away.

[82] I don't always agree, and sometimes I'm annoyed.

[83] I'll admit this.

[84] But, you know, how lucid and eloquent and thoughtful the comments are in our community.

[85] I guess what I'm getting at it is it's a club you want to be a member of.

[86] I'm learning from the comment section.

[87] Like a lot of times, you know, you've got me, and I'm just When you're doing this podcast, as you know, many hours a week, you're just popping off on a lot of topics.

[88] And sometimes you're popping off on things you know really well, and sometimes you know a little bit.

[89] And just this week, I was popping off about how I was a little bit annoyed by Joe Biden's Buy America stuff.

[90] And, you know, the comments, you're getting these comments that are with all these details of all the reasons I'm right, I love that when the commenters come in with details and facts about how these policies are deleterious.

[91] every once in a while, you know, the commenters also come in and tell me why I'm wrong, which I don't like as much.

[92] But it's vibrant.

[93] People are smart.

[94] The people here are smart.

[95] It's really something.

[96] They really are.

[97] They really are smart.

[98] And this is something I've always thought about.

[99] I don't want to be part of that club.

[100] I don't want to be associated with that.

[101] But if you read the comments, we get a sense of this is a good group to hang out with.

[102] So as I was pumping the Paxlovid and NyQuil and various other drugs into me last night, I was thinking, you know, if I can't get up in the morning to write my newsletter, that's going to be okay, because all I would want to do, and I did other things, too.

[103] But as I was going to bed in this drug -induced state, I was thinking, I just want to resend out Tim Miller's, absolutely outstanding piece about the soft DeSantis boys, spelled B -O -I -S, which will leave aside.

[104] Important.

[105] And, you know, because I was sitting there and I was reading some of the comment.

[106] you know, the horse race commentary about, well, you know, how is DeSantis responding to being, you know, called a pedo?

[107] you know, is he being forceful enough?

[108] How does this actually play?

[109] But you went to a really interesting place, you know, how shocked, shocked and offended all of these folks are, these anti -anti -Trump folks or people in Mago World are just shocked that Donald Trump would actually smear and say shitty things about Rhonda Sandus.

[110] And I look at around like, well, this goes too far.

[111] When did this start?

[112] This crosses the line.

[113] I have to say that I sat up in my chair when your piece came through and you guest wrote the triad.

[114] So people may have seen this in their mailbox.

[115] And you said, have you seen this movie before?

[116] Remember when Trump threatened to reveal Ted Cruz's supposed affairs, when he accused Ben Carson of being a child to molester, when he falsely claimed the Jeb -like Mexican -Alegals because his wife was one?

[117] When he alleged that Mika Brzezinski was bleeding from her face after plastic surgery.

[118] When he retweeted someone who used a Pato Biden hashtag, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

[119] And by the way, here in Wisconsin, Wisconsin primary, I remember that whole Ted Cruz affair thing.

[120] It was everywhere.

[121] And, of course, Ted got over it.

[122] And then you point out an array of people who gleefully supported Trump for president twice, despite this decades -long pattern of behavior.

[123] Now, all caps, very concerned about his nastiness.

[124] Byron York, I love this line.

[125] I'm sorry, I do.

[126] Byron York, the Washington examiner's saddest Trump licksbiddle.

[127] Lamented that Trump is going lower and lower.

[128] Former editor for Trump fan blog American greatness, Pedro Gonzalez, is now under the impression that his one -time hero is unserious.

[129] and acting based on his insecurities, you don't say.

[130] Claire Monster and miniature tough boy, Dave Rabeboy, called it bottom feeder stuff, which she should know.

[131] Tim, I want to say this to your face across several time zones here.

[132] This is a great point because, I mean, the lack of any sort of self -awareness is chef's kiss here on the part of these people.

[133] Thank you.

[134] In the comment section, vibrant as ever.

[135] So you just get in there.

[136] Bullwark Plus, everybody.

[137] You meet a lot of friends when you make fun of the saddest Trump Lickspittles.

[138] You know, you can find commonality across ideological divide.

[139] That's nice.

[140] I liked watching these friendships blossoming in the comments.

[141] But I was fired up.

[142] I wrote this in a coffee shop in about 45 minutes.

[143] All the best stuff happens when you're just getting your dander up.

[144] Because I was seeing me some of these tweets.

[145] It was the buyer in New York tweet that made me the most map.

[146] I was just like lower and lower, really?

[147] Donald Trump, lower and lower?

[148] What is actually...

[149] How long has this?

[150] this been going on?

[151] Is there gambling in the casino?

[152] Like, what, you know, what was actually prompting all of this, right?

[153] Like, that is the thing that was driving me, and it's obvious.

[154] The thing that was prompting this is that they know that the person that they used for a little while who practiced this just absolute wanton cruelty against anyone who possibly threatened him was now threatening the person that they want to replace him.

[155] You know, because they see Trump as a loser.

[156] They're ready to move on.

[157] They have their new precious.

[158] Ron DeSantis, John Chate has been really good over at New York MAGA just chronicling just how wide and deep the DeSantis level of fandom is in conservative media.

[159] And so now, you know, as I wrote to the end of the article, they're like flopping around on the ground like a French soccer player, you know, pretending that they got tripped and they need a red card.

[160] They're mad at Trump about this.

[161] Yeah, cheap shot on the French.

[162] Great World Cup match.

[163] They're still French.

[164] And it's still soccer.

[165] So there's the hypocrisy element of this, which is maddening in itself.

[166] But it also is kind of what we've been seeing for the last eight years.

[167] The thing that really, you know, got my dandrum was just over the subject matter and how DeSantis himself responded to it, right?

[168] Because I think we've been raided down this for a minute, but if you, for whatever reason, haven't seen this.

[169] What prompted this article is that Trump on his social media site, whatever it's called, was posting some memes, as he's want to do.

[170] DeSantis appearing to be drinking, you know, Can't See a Dism Cup, with three girls who are, I guess, in college, maybe possibly underage.

[171] We don't know that.

[172] Yeah, we don't know.

[173] Like, this is all.

[174] From the context, it seems like he took a gap year where he was a teacher, and I guess he's hanging out with these girls.

[175] And that's what these pictures that surfaced.

[176] Okay.

[177] So Trump, you know, shares these memes.

[178] Trump didn't write this because he doesn't use big words.

[179] But other people, you know, one of them wrote that it was a fibophili -esque, which is, you know, the step above pedophile, you know, sleeping with older teens when it's inappropriate.

[180] thing?

[181] Yeah, fibophilia.

[182] Yeah.

[183] Roy Moore was in a fibophiliac.

[184] That's why I knew that word from Roy Moore's time.

[185] Weren't we all at one point?

[186] I don't think it's a fibophilia if it's teen on teen.

[187] I don't think that's a fibophilia.

[188] I think it's grown up on teen.

[189] It's a febophilia.

[190] Oh, okay.

[191] All right.

[192] Okay.

[193] I stand correct.

[194] People who are pedophiles is an important distinction.

[195] Right.

[196] It's like, well, no, actually, I'm an epipophile.

[197] Anyway, terminology of the lesson of the day.

[198] The other meme suggested that Ron DeSantis was grooming.

[199] That's a key word here, grooming these young women.

[200] And so Trump shares both of these.

[201] And that is what leads everyone to say, oh, this is so low.

[202] Oh, you're a bottom feeder to accuse Ron DeSantis of grooming.

[203] And I said, you just have to take a moment sometimes and just say, really?

[204] It's unfair to call Ron DeSantis a groomer, the person who has mainstreamed this accusation against anyone and everyone that serves his political ends.

[205] Do we not remember that it was Ron DeSantis's spokesperson who was calling not just gay teachers in Florida groomers, but anyone who opposed the don't say gay bill as a groomer sympathizer.

[206] And, you know, we have Chris Rufo, his friend that he put on the board of the college there, accusing teachers being groomers.

[207] He had the lives of TikTok lady whose whole life is calling people groomers, children's hospital employees, drag queens, teachers.

[208] Like, that's her whole feed, this lives of TikTok feed, is about making accusations against mostly LGBT folks, that they're grooming others.

[209] DeSantis invited her to the governor's mansion.

[210] He also accused the lieutenant governor, who was running on Chris's ticket, I'm blanking on her name, of protecting pedophiles, right?

[211] This has been his go -to move calling people groomers and pedophiles.

[212] And now Donald Trump calls him a groomer, and it's like, oh, we're supposed to be clutching the pearls?

[213] Really?

[214] Like, these fucking guys are just so soft.

[215] and so weak, and they're just trying to protect that little dough boy that they can go and smear any teacher, any public servant, any children's hospital employee, and get attaboys and plaudits on Twitter, because Ron's taking it to the left, take you into those elites, the public school teachers, and yet Ron has to take one meme targeting him from Donald Trump, and now we're smelling the vapors.

[216] Fuck these guys.

[217] See, now, this is where your piece was so value added, because my first reaction was this is really kind of a dumb move.

[218] by Donald Trump, A, because he's got all, well, no, wait, wait, that he's got all of these pictures with him and Jeffrey Epstein, you know, and the Teen USA.

[219] I mean, he's got, and the Playboy, Plame Aids, all of this stuff out there.

[220] So perhaps not the wisest thing.

[221] Not to mention the fact that there appears to be pushback from, you know, some erstwhile maga types who are, you know, protecting their precious.

[222] But listening to you now, given how deeply Santos has become invested in pushing out his own groomer memes, is this another one of those examples of unappreciated reptilian cunning from Donald Trump?

[223] Because he knows that Santos can't really defaic—he can't say, accusing someone of a groomer is a terrible thing.

[224] We can never do that.

[225] That is just completely awful when—and then comes Tim Miller with all the receipts showing all the time that he's done this shit himself.

[226] I love your little COVID brain mix up there.

[227] We have to keep it in.

[228] Katie, don't cut it.

[229] You're calling DeSantis Santos.

[230] There is something there.

[231] There's a parallel there.

[232] DeSantos.

[233] That really was.

[234] Nice catch.

[235] I'm carrying you this morning, Charlie.

[236] You're doing great.

[237] So I've got two political observations on this.

[238] One is, I do think that it's challenging, and it has been for 10 years to do normal political analysis on Donald Trump, right?

[239] And I think that this example, well, tried to zag here and cut through the clutter is like, for starters, I don't think enough people wrote about this.

[240] There was attention because it's like Donald Trump, dog bites man, Donald Trump does me. Yeah, exactly.

[241] On the other thing, it's like former president of the United States accuses top rival of being an a fibophile.

[242] Like, I don't know, that feels like a news story before 2015.

[243] Pretty big news story.

[244] You know, if Barack Obama was out there like Colin Mitt Romney in a feebophile, I think that would have made the front pages.

[245] So anyway, there's that element to this.

[246] There's the element of how it's hard to do.

[247] judge.

[248] Is Trump, you know, you get into figure skating judging, right?

[249] Now, is this a good hit by Trump?

[250] Is this a reptilian cunning?

[251] Or is this another piece of evidence that he's lost his fastball?

[252] And the answer to that question is kind of like, it's hard to really know, right?

[253] And people that are particularly, I think, ill -suited to judge that are like, D .C. and New York dwellers, for whom, like, this is, who are very much not the target audience of Trump's lashing out here.

[254] So, I don't know.

[255] I think it is, it's possible, right, that Trump sees that he's got the his vulnerability here and is going to go pick at it with DeSantis and that that might work.

[256] I think that it's also possible that he is showing, if you listen to Sarah's focus groups, that he is showing a little bit of bad judgment in that in 16, he was able to push back against this claim that he was doing Republican on Republican crime by always being like, I'm a counterpuncher, I'm a counterpuncher.

[257] He's not counterpunching here.

[258] Like he's going straight to it on the person that a lot of his fans like, for whatever reason, in DeSantis.

[259] And so I do think it's possible that it's a little bit evidence that, okay, well, maybe that Ritalian Cunning is still there that he knows that this is a scab to pick, but maybe his timing is off.

[260] And he's like old Norma Desmond, old man, you know, back to your Olivia Nosey podcast in Maralago, not realizing that the world is not passed by.

[261] All of that stuff, though, we don't really know.

[262] We're not experts on.

[263] So maybe the thing that everybody should be focusing on is that hypocrisy and just, you know, the absurdity of the DeSantis crowd crying foul.

[264] I agree.

[265] So I actually, when I wrote about this in my newsletter this morning, I cited a somebody from my past, sort of, conservative talk show host in Wisconsin named Jay Weber.

[266] I've known Jay for years.

[267] He used to be the morning, well, he still is the morning host on WISN radio.

[268] I was not on the same station.

[269] I was on W -T -M -J, but I knew Jay.

[270] I actually had worked at ISN for a while.

[271] I knew Jay very well.

[272] And what I really remember going back to, well, let me just read his tweet, okay, because he was a perfect example of the Byron York brain that you were describing before.

[273] He tweeted out yesterday, I didn't defend Donald Trump against smears and shitty lies for seven years in order to have him turned around and used the same techniques against DeSantis and Republicans who threaten him in 24.

[274] If he continues on this path, I'm flatly out on him, which is bullshit on several levels because I remember Jay very well back in 2015 and 2016 in Wisconsin where he was saying the same things about Donald Trump that I was.

[275] See, I was not alone as a conservative talk show host back in the day being anti -Trump.

[276] Almost everybody was.

[277] I remember pitching Jay when I was on the yeah, our principals pack, the anti -Trump pack.

[278] I remember and I didn't like, you know him, but I remember him being like amenable to anti -Trump pitches back then in 16.

[279] Absolutely.

[280] And he and I would exchange, emails, and I don't know whether DMs or whatever, you know, kind of like, hey, at a boy, and hey, you know, keep up the good work and everything and all of that stuff.

[281] And I think, you know, seven years ago today, he was on the air calling Donald Trump Orange Julius.

[282] So he wasn't defending Donald Trump.

[283] But then, of course, like so many others, he, you know, did the flipping.

[284] And he became a reliable, as he acknowledges, he became a reliable turd -polisher, you know, defending Trump against anything, defending Trump all this time, and now he is shocked and appalled and really, really hurt to find that Donald Trump is actually insulting.

[285] So, you know, seven years ago, Donald Trump was, you know, this massive campaign of, you know, lying Ted Cruz and all the women Ted Cruz and look at the things that, you know, look at things everybody else is doing.

[286] It's like it's dropped into a memory hole, but also his point, if he continues on this path, which, by the way, of course he will because he's Donald Trump, I'm flatly out on him.

[287] No, you're not.

[288] You'll come back.

[289] You will do that flip -flop just like you did before.

[290] You will come crawling back and say, well, I still don't like, you know, these, you know, accusations of pedophilia.

[291] But on the other hand, he's, you know, certainly superior to any of the evil Democrats who want to, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank.

[292] You know that he's going to do that.

[293] So, Jay, you know.

[294] This is the problem of having too long a memory.

[295] Even when you have COVID brain, you remember all this stuff.

[296] The J thing is reminiscent of a schick I had in 2016 when I was trying to get people on board for never -Trump stuff, which was, here's the thing.

[297] You're going to be never -Trump, or at least anti -Trump, or against Trump eventually.

[298] Like, it might not be now.

[299] It might be when he embarrasses you in the White House.

[300] It might be when you try to beat him in 2020.

[301] It might be when he runs as a third -party candidate like Teddy Roosevelt, 24.

[302] But, like, so you might as well just be against him now.

[303] Like, you might as well just be with us now and just get the whole process over with.

[304] And Jay is a prime example of that.

[305] So, wait, you pitched him on stuff.

[306] Oh, yeah.

[307] You never pitched me. Did you pitch me?

[308] It was you, Vicky, Jay.

[309] But did I talk to you back then?

[310] Or was I just too easy?

[311] I was, we don't need to worry about Sykes.

[312] No, yeah, because you interviewed Trump.

[313] I did.

[314] And so, boy, I'd have to go back and look at my emails.

[315] But, like, during that Wisconsin, in primary period, you know, we were sending Trump Ompo out to radio folks.

[316] I definitely remember sending it to Vicki.

[317] I'd remember, Jay, I thought I sent stuff to you.

[318] I don't remember.

[319] I mean, you nailed him in that interview back in 2016.

[320] That's the one thing I have a clear memory of.

[321] Look at your monitor right now.

[322] See what I'm holding up?

[323] See what I'm holding up there?

[324] Do you see this?

[325] I just pulled this out of my drawer.

[326] It's the front page of the Monday, May 16th, 2016 New York Times.

[327] Okay?

[328] And there's a story by Jeremy Peters.

[329] Once again, another flank of the GOP warms up to Trump.

[330] And it talks about how, what is it, evangelical Christians are lining up.

[331] And one day, I got a FedEx envelope from the Trump organization on Fifth Avenue to me and written on the front page of the New York Times in Sharpie.

[332] You're a loser.

[333] Charlie, I hope you can change.

[334] your mind with a line -driven pointing at that story.

[335] Charlie, I hope you can change your mind.

[336] Look forward to your show, Donald Trump, and then below it, in big, all caps, I will win, exclamation point.

[337] I'm going to put this back in my special FedEx on below.

[338] That's pretty good.

[339] But I'm a digital hoarder.

[340] I don't know about you, Charlie.

[341] I'm a digital hoarder, so I have all my emails and text messages.

[342] This will come back to haunt me at some point.

[343] But here it is.

[344] Yeah, here's me sending you an old clip of Trump attacking Governor Walker for being too unyielding in his fights.

[345] March 23rd, 2016.

[346] You reply.

[347] All caps.

[348] Thank you.

[349] Gold.

[350] So we did.

[351] We exchanged.

[352] There are a couple other little exchanges here.

[353] Me doing my job as a flack.

[354] You rip in Donald Trump.

[355] God, so it goes back.

[356] Isn't that something?

[357] It's like, all right.

[358] So a couple of other things I really want to get to today.

[359] I want to talk about the Annapolina Luna story for people going, who?

[360] The new George Santos and the weaponization.

[361] committee.

[362] Can we just start with the weaponization committee?

[363] Because I understand that you, for your sin, spent time watching it.

[364] I guess I'm struck by a couple of things.

[365] Number one, how badly organized it was.

[366] What a sort of, you know, Star Wars bar scene of witnesses they have.

[367] I mean, when your whole deal is, I mean, you have your first big thing, and it's Senator Ron Johnson, who hasn't met a conspiracy theory, he doesn't like, you know, Putin fan girl, Tulsi Gabbard, Chuck Grassley, Twitter user Jonathan Turley, retired FBI agent who didn't know what a smartphone was.

[368] You know, and the contrast with the January 6th committee was pretty amazing.

[369] I mean, that committee spent months putting together its evidence, right?

[370] And it looks like Jim Jordan and his people just like printed out some old Fox News clips.

[371] So what did you think?

[372] You watched this thing.

[373] Yeah, I suffered through it.

[374] I was thinking about writing about it, but I mostly just wanted to be able to comment on it, you know, it was an informed manner rather than a Twitter matter.

[375] And it was so annoying that I just I didn't get my dander up like I did on Ron DeSantis.

[376] And so I just decided to sort of save my takes for the podcast here.

[377] I know that this is hard to believe, but it's even dumber than you probably think and expected.

[378] And I use that word particularly dumber because it wasn't crazier than you expected.

[379] It was like about as crazy as you expected, maybe even slightly less.

[380] But it was just, it served no purpose.

[381] The arguments that they were making were all contingent. jecture.

[382] They had very little actual evidence to add to any of their arguments, any of their silly arguments about the weaponization of the deep state and big tech.

[383] I still really understand what, I guess they're trying to claim that the Twitter censorship regime, which is the number one issue for Republicans all over America, despite the fact that Elon Musk now on Twitter and apparently does whatever cat turd ask them to do.

[384] I don't understand why that's a big issue, but that's their number one issue.

[385] They connect that to the weaponization committee because the FBI, I guess, sent some emails to Twitter requesting that they take certain things down, threats, violent speech, things of that nature.

[386] And so much of the committee is like old people complaints about the internet.

[387] You know, Jonathan Durley is like, oh, ranting on and on about how Twitter is the marketplace of ideas, and this is a free speech space.

[388] And, you know, Debbie Oster and Schultz, was never really my favorite.

[389] It's like, Jonathan, do you?

[390] She was great.

[391] Yeah, do you have any particular expertise in this matter?

[392] And he's like, well, I read the Twitter files.

[393] And she's like, but I mean, have you worked for Twitter or do you know anything about the way their processes for vetting and for deleting it?

[394] Basically just have a Twitter account.

[395] That's it.

[396] Yeah, it's like, I have an account.

[397] I have an account.

[398] I'm a user of interest and I'm a legal expert.

[399] And so That was a classic.

[400] Yeah, it was a classic change, but he's going on and on.

[401] And it's like, I feel like I'm in a crazy world.

[402] Donald Trump has a social media account.

[403] His chinless spokesperson, Jason Miller, is a social media, or not account, platform.

[404] There's truth, there's getter, there's 8chan, there's gab.

[405] And Twitter itself was bought by a pro -Rondesantus troll, Elon Musk.

[406] Are we really concerned about the threat to free speech seems to be thriving to me online?

[407] Like, who is, like, no one is targeting anybody.

[408] if anything, it's conservatives that are doing better than ever on the Internet.

[409] So here's the problem they have, that they are, in effect, like speaking in tongues in Fox Newspeak, that if you're not deeply immersed in that, everyone's in a while you're going, what are they talking about?

[410] Because, I mean, they come from this world where this is what they have been regurgitating for months and months and months.

[411] So in their heads, it makes sense.

[412] And when they say it out loud, it's like, okay, unless I had like a scorecard to keep up with them, wouldn't understand what they're talking about here.

[413] Okay, so now very self -consciously, you know, having escaped from tribal politics, I really believe very strongly in the adage, you know, that do not fawn upon the mighty, do not become a fanboy, do not put your hopes on any politician.

[414] And this frustrates people because people want to say, no, you should only say that the ex -person is absolutely wonderful and fantastic and that they are always succeeding.

[415] And no, I'm just not doing that, except I got to say this new guy, Dan Goldman, the new congressman, you may have, you know, seen him before, he was on various other committee.

[416] I mean, he, as a staffer, he was amazing yesterday.

[417] And this is not the most important moment, but I have to admit, last night as I was, you know, trying to keep myself awake until the 11th hour last night, and I've pumped myself all full of COVID drugs.

[418] I have to give credit where credit is due.

[419] I'm listening to the Lawrence O'Donnell Show, and he played this extended clip of Dan Goldman cross -examining this former FBI special agent named Thomas Baker, who, you know, the geniuses of the Republicans figure, we're going to get this expert on the FBI, a guy that retired more than 20 years ago, has a book to sell, has become, you know, a real fan of Seb Gorka.

[420] I mean, he's appeared on podcasts of Seb Gorka, former Trump advisor, who has ties to all of these, you know, anti -Semitic organization.

[421] I mean, he's full MAGA.

[422] And so, and the guy is allegedly going to be talking about how the FBI has changed.

[423] And it's really changed and gone downhill, you know, since 9 -11.

[424] And before 9 -11, we were okay.

[425] But after 9 -11, just listen.

[426] It runs about two minutes, but how Dan Goldman takes apart one of the Republicans star -war.

[427] witnesses, Thomas Baker, former FBI Special Agent, go.

[428] When did you retire from the FBI?

[429] I retired from FBI employment about 20 years ago.

[430] 1999, right?

[431] It's a year.

[432] Yeah, and I've continued to be engaged with the FBI in a number of levels since then.

[433] Okay.

[434] So you retired two years before 9 -11, right?

[435] That's correct.

[436] And are you aware that one of the reasons that 9 -11 occurred was that the FBI and the intelligence community did not coordinate sufficiently.

[437] Did you agree with that?

[438] That's a conclusion of the September 11th Commission, and it's very valid, I think.

[439] And so you read that like I did, and that's all the information that you had, because you were not at the FBI.

[440] And as a result of 9 -11, that the Department of Homeland Security was created, right?

[441] A year or two after that, yes.

[442] So you never worked in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security when you worked for the FBI, right?

[443] I was working as a consultant during most of those years.

[444] When you worked for the FBI, when you were paid by the FBI as a special agent, did you work with Homeland Security?

[445] No, it didn't exist.

[446] Okay.

[447] And you never investigated foreign interference in our elections, did you?

[448] No, I personally did not.

[449] And you have no experience investigating Russia's efforts to interfere in our elections through cyber attacks and social media, do you?

[450] Other than what I've studied and researched.

[451] And in 1999, when you left, did smartphones exist?

[452] of a sort.

[453] Really?

[454] Yes.

[455] What?

[456] Well, we had phones.

[457] We had smartphones.

[458] You know what a smartphone?

[459] Okay.

[460] Did you ever do any search warrants for emails?

[461] Search warrants for emails.

[462] No, I did not.

[463] Did you ever investigate domestic extremism?

[464] Oh, God.

[465] I started to feel bad for this guy live at this point.

[466] I investigated the Clu Klux Klan on many occasions.

[467] No. Did you ever investigate any insurrections on the Capitol?

[468] No, there was none.

[469] Okay.

[470] And I appreciate that your service, sir, but you would agree that a lot has changed in the FBI in the 23 years since you left, correct?

[471] Good and bad, and I have stayed engaged on a number of levels.

[472] One last question.

[473] I read tweets about the...

[474] Just for context of why I started to feel bad.

[475] So this is the kind of commentary you only get for people who suffer through hours with this fucking committee.

[476] just before this, and this poor FBI guy, Baker, was just getting smoked.

[477] Colin Allred, who is a rep out of Texas, former football player, I thought this might have been even better, the Goldman's.

[478] I mean, he is just lacing into this guy about whether or not January 6 was domestic terrorism.

[479] And so, you know, I mean, he just was in for a pounding.

[480] Baker was not prepped.

[481] Unlike, you know, Liz Cheney and our friends on the January 6th committee, who made sure all those witnesses were prepped, it did not seem like there were a lot of work.

[482] went into prepping Thomas.

[483] I still don't even know, having watched hours of it, I don't even know what his point was.

[484] The point of him there was, I guess, to have an FBI official to validate that they are also concerned about politicization in the FBI, but he didn't, he wasn't bringing any receipts.

[485] You would think, if they want to have an insider whistleblower, they would find someone who work there in this millennium.

[486] If you would think so.

[487] Okay, hey, we're getting lots of special requests from our colleagues for you and I to talk about this amazing story about James O 'Keefe from Project Veritas, the report yesterday was it, my pal, that you're a good buddy, James O 'Keefe from Project Veritas, one of the rock stars of the right is the guys that do the undercover stuff often.

[488] Sometimes they get something, and a lot of it's sketchy, though, but Project Veritas and James O 'Keefe have been dancing close to the line for a while.

[489] and now he's put on leave while they investigate things.

[490] So there are so many anecdotes on all of this, but one of our colleagues, Amanda, wants us to comment on something from The Daily Beast, this anecdote, okay?

[491] In December, Project Veritas acknowledged improperly giving James O 'Keefe $20 ,500 in excess benefits to pay for Project Veritas staff to accompany him to Virginia as he performed a lead role in a production of the musical Oklahoma.

[492] In the memo, one employee worried that all the money spent on musicals risk alienating donors.

[493] All the theater stuff and how it's handled makes me very uneasy, the memo reads it later.

[494] In the end, we were in a deficit now.

[495] Our fans of potential fans beyond do not respond positively to all of that stuff.

[496] Now, as I recall, you shared a video of him dancing a few months.

[497] So he's like into, musicals he's oh yeah he's a theater kid are you ready for this charlie i mean i'm just i am bringing the inside scoop on everything i didn't i did not know i was not prepped for this i did not know that this question was coming but yet i still have the inside scoop not only is he a big theater kid just this uh project veritas conservative rap fucker there's this video the other the other week of him he was chasing this new york times reporter down the street just the york times reporters like videoing him back and james the keep is just screaming at him and it's like Oh man, great work here, James.

[498] He is a big theater kid.

[499] I guess apparently spent $20 ,000 in Oklahoma.

[500] But not only that, he has, on the Project Barriott staff, a choreography department.

[501] At least one, maybe several people who work for him, who just organized their dances and their plays at these Turning Point USA conferences.

[502] Who does that for us at the bulwark?

[503] Well, I would think it should be Jim Swift, but I don't know for sure.

[504] But I went to, I got into the Project Veritas after party when I was at the Turning Point USA conference, and that is where I took the video that people, we can put it in the show notes, or I'll put in the comments section.

[505] So this way, this makes your Buller Plus membership worthwhile.

[506] I'll put the video in the comment section if you haven't seen it of this podcast.

[507] And, you know, he is doing a, you know, that's like, every day I'm shuffling, do, do, do, do, do, do, too, anyway, either note or you know, he's doing, he's shuffling to that song.

[508] And no one's watching.

[509] And I'm just there up close and personal with my smartphone.

[510] on monitoring these dance moves.

[511] And, you know, I started kibitzing with his staff.

[512] And he's got this coterie of people that follow them everywhere, security, and other people, I started talking to some of them.

[513] And I guess that, you know, for purposes like this, events like Turning Point USA, they have a choreography department that plans their kind of dances that they do when they're revealing their lib -owning videos.

[514] So that's where the big donor money is going.

[515] And I guess this Daily Bee story indicates that some folks are.

[516] are unhappy with that use of resources and that James is going to be on leave, which is really unfortunate for him and for us, really, to not to miss out on that kind of high art. It does seem that the grifters are at the stage now where the grifters are all like going after the spoils all together.

[517] It's kind of like, you know, the hyenas, you know, decided that we better get our bit right now.

[518] Do you see that story about Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA is about to lose students for Trump?

[519] They had apparently had that.

[520] And so now the students for Trump, and so now Trump, which is one of the major grift organizations, is breaking – I mean, they're all fighting with each other who gets control, who has the domain names and everything, which is not that surprising because you have a certain kind of person who's attracted to this world, and there's a lot of money.

[521] The stakes are very, very big, right?

[522] It is like the Little Foxes.

[523] Speaking of the kind of people attracted to this, so we've had the George Santos saga, which I am not bored with at all.

[524] As you can tell, I still have it on my mind.

[525] Story in the Washington Post about Anna Polina Luna, who, by the way, was one of the Congress people who was also supporting the AR -15 pin earlier this week, George Santos, and her had it on as a signal, guys, we're up for anything you guys are up for.

[526] We will wear anything.

[527] So what's the story with her?

[528] Apparently, she's a little bit of a fabulous or a lot of a fabulous.

[529] She's kind of, and again, why does this keep happening to the Republic?

[530] I have two points on this.

[531] So for Anna Palina Luna herself, she has become close to Matt Gates.

[532] There's some whispers about that, which I'll leave at that, but I think that they're close friends.

[533] And she's a Florida, new Florida Congresswoman.

[534] This story about her by Jackie Alamey, great reporter over the Washington Post.

[535] One of my favorite points of it is just right off the lead here.

[536] She's been really pitching herself, I think, in Trump's party, there have been obviously some concerns about the party's outreach to Latinos.

[537] So there's like a recruitment effort.

[538] We want candidates for Latino to show, you know, and to maybe help the party do better.

[539] with that demographic.

[540] And so she pitched herself as a Mexican -American.

[541] I guess she was the first Mexican -American woman to represent Florida in Congress.

[542] We're slicing these identity politics categories pretty thin here, but that's the one way she pitched herself.

[543] Turns out, when she was serving in the Air Force Base in Missouri, she described herself as Middle Eastern Jewish or Eastern European.

[544] Now, Mexico is not in any of those areas.

[545] And then she changed her last name to her mother's last name as, I guess, an homage to her mother's family.

[546] So I guess this would be like if I decided I wanted to run for Congress, changed my last name to Saffa and said I was Lebanese, I think, would be the equivalent of this, which I think my friends from the rest of my life would find pretty odd.

[547] But I identify as Lebanese now.

[548] And my mother is half Lebanese, and I'm taking her family name.

[549] And I don't understand the problem with this.

[550] It was actually my mother, a lot of mom on this podcast.

[551] She suggested when Jeb was doing bad that he take on Columba, his wife's last name.

[552] He's like, you know, maybe that's how you get rid of the Bush baggage.

[553] So this kind of fun, silly, tongue -and -cheek suggestion was apparently taken by Anna Paulina Luna, who was also, you know, with Gates on going against McCarthy.

[554] And so she's now, you know, taken on this far -right firebrand persona in Congress.

[555] The anecdote I was used about this is related to our friend Bill Crystal.

[556] Bill is the kind of guy, the old, wise beard, you know, that gets called.

[557] Sorry, Bill, take that as a compliment in which it's intended, that gets called when somebody who, let's say they went to Harvard and they went to officer training school and they served in the military or they started a business and they're like, you know what, I think I might want to run for Congress in Florida.

[558] I'm going to move home to Tampa and run for Congress.

[559] I'd like to get some advice from somebody.

[560] Bill's the kind of person that people call.

[561] You know, when I first met Bill, you know, whatever that was, about a decade ago, he'd get those calls.

[562] And sometimes if the person needed press advice, I'd talk to them.

[563] and, you know, these really talented people, a lot of them would want to run as Republicans, like, you know, center -right Republicans.

[564] Now, it's somebody that is talented, that doesn't want to, like, shovel Trump shit, college -educated because of our education polarization.

[565] They're not running as Republicans, right?

[566] They don't want to run as Republicans.

[567] So they called, well, like, can I run a Democratic primary?

[568] Is there a third -party option, right?

[569] Like, the types of income, it's a supply and demand issue.

[570] Everything's Adam Smith, the kinds of candidates that want to run.

[571] run, they're calling Bill, and they don't want to run a Republican primaries.

[572] If they do, they're quickly dissuaded once they realize what they're going to have to do to win a primary.

[573] And so enter people like Annapolina Luna and George Santos.

[574] If you are a grifter who wants to get into Congress, it is much easier to just pretend like you're a MAGA, particularly pretend like you're a MAGA person of color where they're going to just vault you to the top of the line because they feel like they need to help their brand position with minorities.

[575] you know, you're going to very easily win a primary, and if it's in a safe district or it's in a Republican district, you're going to be a member of Congress.

[576] You can't do that on the Democratic side, right?

[577] The depth of people who are running in like an open, look at what's happening in the California Senate race.

[578] You know, there's going to be 100 Democrats that get into these open seats, everybody with various different impressive resumes.

[579] You know, you can't just rift your way in by putting on a Joe Biden, like, you know, Scranton Joe hat and changing your last name.

[580] and calling it good, right?

[581] Like, you're going to run into some other formidable challengers.

[582] And so I think that kind of supply and demand question is why we're saying more and more of the Santos and Lunas in the party.

[583] And, of course, they fit right in there.

[584] Speaking of the Ku Klux, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green has had quite a week.

[585] Apparently yesterday, they had a closed -door briefing about the Chinese balloon, and she disrupted it by screaming apparently, bullshit, and she's very, very proud about it.

[586] I'm not going to ask what's going on with her because I think it's pretty obvious.

[587] I mean, she's playing the card for all of it it's worth.

[588] She's loving the attention.

[589] You know, it does feel it's a little bit unchained and it's like, how far does she take this?

[590] We're at the point now where a sitting member of Congress screaming bullshit becomes her like go -to signature move.

[591] I don't even know if I have a question there.

[592] Well, she's matured.

[593] She's learned a lot.

[594] matured.

[595] I'm impressed.

[596] Was it Comer?

[597] Who did say that?

[598] No, it's McCall, Texas Congressman.

[599] Again, one of the supposed closet normals that we hear so much about.

[600] Okay.

[601] It's the Super Bowl.

[602] You got to pick?

[603] Yeah, I'm picking the Chiefs.

[604] I'm pretty annoyed with the NFL as a, you know, as a Broncos fan.

[605] There was this moment on Monday Night Football, maybe about eight years ago now, where this famous throw of Mahomes where it could have been six years ago, where he like throws left -handed.

[606] And he's like falling down.

[607] And it's just this unbelievable Michael Jordan, a football -esque play.

[608] And it was against the Broncos.

[609] I remember watching it and texting my brother and saying, we're going to be losing to this asshole for 20 years.

[610] Like, I'm going to be Charlie Sykes's age by the time the Broncos get out of this division.

[611] I was just fucking cold.

[612] And I saw it.

[613] And I just saw it.

[614] And I just saw my future.

[615] And so I had some years of bitterness and pettiness towards the homes over this.

[616] But now you just got to appreciate it.

[617] And it's just unbelievable.

[618] He's on the high ankle sprain.

[619] and they beat the Bengals last week.

[620] You know, they got a little help from the refs.

[621] That's my only concern.

[622] I agree with you, but that is my concern.

[623] And the shot on age, it was just, it was like, do better, Tim.

[624] I'm sorry.

[625] Because you know what?

[626] As soon as I mentioned, I had COVID, you were online actually looking up actuarial tables.

[627] Why?

[628] Charlie, no. I want you to be, keep around for the Donald Trump Jr. 2032.

[629] It's going to be Friday.

[630] It's going to be Friday.

[631] We're going to be in the Iowa caucuses covering that.

[632] You're stuck here.

[633] Time is a flat circle.

[634] Well, and of course, you know, the convention's coming here to Milwaukee.

[635] You know that, right?

[636] I guess I knew that, but I hadn't registered the Charlie Sykes impact.

[637] I want to shock you here.

[638] I'm actually looking forward to Rihanna's halftime show.

[639] Really?

[640] What are your favorite Rihanna songs?

[641] I actually have a new one.

[642] Okay.

[643] From Wakanda, Lift Me Up.

[644] Okay.

[645] Which I'm hoping that she sings, so.

[646] Okay.

[647] All right.

[648] You had some other business as well.

[649] Yeah, okay, two final items.

[650] One is just, I received a lot of negative emails and comments about my comment last week that the eggs prices were in evidence that inflation has not left us.

[651] And I just want to say to folks that I appreciate being held accountable, but, you know, I was making a tongue -in -cheek comment.

[652] And yes, the egg price increase is due to the avian flu, not to the broader inflation.

[653] But I sometimes get a little bit annoyed with our Democratic fanboy friends.

[654] I can get fan -boys too, Charlie, who want to be like, you know, inflation.

[655] It's not a problem.

[656] These people are crazy that they're still complaining about everything.

[657] The economy's great.

[658] Everything's great.

[659] It's like, the economy's good.

[660] The jobs, numbers are good.

[661] We now have more people in the workforce than we did before COVID.

[662] I'm impressed with that.

[663] I think the recovery has been pretty good on balance.

[664] But, you know, if inflation goes up by X percent in a given year and then stays static, well, like, people are still, the prices have still gone up.

[665] People's groceries have still gone up.

[666] So, yeah, the eggs example was maybe not the most.

[667] precise.

[668] It was a passing comment, but I like to be held accountable and to be clear with our fans.

[669] But you could have chosen many other items in which it is inflation.

[670] So it's like, okay, avian flu for eggs, people, inflation's a real problem.

[671] Like the grocery bill is still very high.

[672] I grocery shop for my family.

[673] I'm aware.

[674] Finally, I just, I don't have any other vehicle to express this.

[675] So here it is on the Borg podcast.

[676] And I just, I just want to do a two minutes of hate on Kevin Durant, if you don't mind.

[677] And And everyone can turn this off if they don't care about the NBA.

[678] But Kevin fucking Durant was on the Oklahoma City Thunder 10 years ago.

[679] It was like going to be the next big thing after LeBron James.

[680] He's super talented.

[681] I get it.

[682] He's on Oklahoma City Thunder.

[683] They lose to the Golden State Warriors in seven games.

[684] Great series.

[685] One of the best NBA playoffs series of the millennium.

[686] And after he loses, he's a free agent.

[687] What does he do?

[688] He signs with the Golden State fucking Warriors.

[689] Like they just beat him in this epic series.

[690] and then he went and signed with the people that beat him.

[691] It just goes against the whole spirit of the crucible of sport.

[692] It's like, why would you do that?

[693] You did not want another try.

[694] You did not want to kind of triumph over this super team that you almost were the one person that could crack.

[695] So I didn't like that about Kevin Durant, and that made me not like my hometown Golden State Warriors.

[696] I've held that against him.

[697] Okay.

[698] So then he leaves the Golden State Warriors, and he said, well, I'm not getting enough credit for winning on this super team, duh.

[699] and so he's like, I want to start my own super team.

[700] So he goes across the country and he starts a squad in Brooklyn.

[701] He signs up with conspiracy theorist Kyrie Irving and the most, maybe the most annoying player in all of the NBA, James Hardin, and creates another super team.

[702] This team collapses.

[703] They've won only seven playoff games over the course of the three or four years that they've been together.

[704] This year, they're in fourth place.

[705] They're right there.

[706] Hardin is gone now, but it's still Kyrie and KD.

[707] They're right there competing in the East, conceivably could have made the final.

[708] and Katie and Kyrie decide that they want to be traded from this team.

[709] They created this team.

[710] The people of Brooklyn were excited.

[711] They bought in.

[712] And now they're like, oh, we're demanding trades.

[713] So now Kyrie is sent to Dallas.

[714] Kevin Durant is sent to Phoenix.

[715] And my beloved Denver Nuggets, my long -suffering Denver Nuggets, who've done this the right way, who've built from internally, who have this beautiful generational player, Nicole Yokic, were winning the West.

[716] This was going to be our a year and now Kevin Durant is like now said oh I want to sign up with another super team so now the nuggets are going to have to defeat him in the Western Conference you know in his little bald spot when he signed up with the Suns and it's just like this is not I have just a level of hatred for this that is unlike anything since like my childhood for sports and so I have like a child's purity of athletic hate right now and so if you are a Phoenix Suns fan I just want to let you know that we are now persona non -grada until you are defeated, which you will be.

[717] And if you win the championship this year, I hope you feel bad about it.

[718] So that's my message to the Phoenix Suns fans and to Kevin Durant.

[719] Tim.

[720] Yeah.

[721] Do you realize that most people watch sports and follow sports to relax, to step away from the stress of our lives?

[722] That's not me. I think this is apparent.

[723] I need something to just really, really.

[724] really focus me, you know, away from, you know, the rest of this bullshit.

[725] Can we agree on this, though?

[726] Can we have one final agreement?

[727] Do you not agree with me that Kevin Durant's behavior has just been appalling?

[728] Of course it's appalling.

[729] Okay, great.

[730] I'll humor you on this.

[731] Okay, thank you.

[732] What was our other agreement then?

[733] Bert Bacharach, legend.

[734] Bert Packerach.

[735] Is he going to be performing with Rihanna?

[736] Is he still around?

[737] Okay, that's just cold.

[738] He died yesterday, the age of 94.

[739] Damn.

[740] I'm sorry to the...

[741] the Vakarack family.

[742] Oh, come on.

[743] The guy, he's responsible for 52 top 40 hits.

[744] 52, Alfie, walk on by, promises, raindrops keep falling on my head.

[745] What the world need now is, love.

[746] That's a good one.

[747] Do you know the way to San Jose?

[748] All were big hits before you were born, right?

[749] Is that what you're going to tell me now?

[750] No, I think that what the world needs now is love, and that should be a nice message.

[751] And after we finish the podcast, I'm going to just put that on in my home.

[752] I'm going to Blair it.

[753] We're going to see what my five -year -old thinks about that.

[754] And I'm going to try to calm down about Kevin Durant.

[755] He and Hal David, were the Rogers and Heart of the 1960s.

[756] And our absolutely brilliant executive producer, Katie Cooper, and Jason Brown are going to put together a little bit of a Bert Bacacac tribute for us.

[757] Just really quick, though, really quick.

[758] What decade were the Rogers and Heart the Rogers and Heart of?

[759] Believe it or not, that's actually before.

[760] Is that Mr. Rogers?

[761] Will Rogers?

[762] Who are we talking about?

[763] Rogers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rogers and lyricist Lauren's Heart.

[764] They worked on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943.

[765] I like learning.

[766] You learned about a Phoebephelia.

[767] I'm learning about Rogers and Heart.

[768] I actually have a full list of all of there, which I will actually spare you.

[769] Have a great weekend.

[770] Feel better, Charlie.

[771] Feel better.

[772] I appreciate you, gutting it out and hanging out with me today.

[773] And we'll catch you next week.

[774] Paxlovid, NyQuil.

[775] What else am I taking?

[776] Zinc.

[777] Vitamin C. Zinc.

[778] Pepsid.

[779] Like super doses of Pepsid.

[780] Lots of vitamin C, including gummies.

[781] I love that.

[782] So we are there.

[783] I love a gummy.

[784] All right, we will be back on Monday.

[785] Well, at least somebody will be.

[786] Have a great weekend.

[787] But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red.

[788] Cry is not for me.