The Political Upheaval and a Star's Tragic End

Seasoned politician Mike Pence bows out of the presidential race, paving the way for a heated battle for the Republican nomination. That's the reality we're grappling with in this episode, as we dissect possible reasons behind this intriguing political change-up. We dig deep into the implications this might have on the race, discuss the uphill task candidates face securing campaign funding, and question whether Pence's strained relationship with Trump's supporters played a part in his early exit. 

Ever found yourself wondering if a moderate political leader could cater to America's diverse interests? We've questioned this too, and we draw parallels between scouting for the ideal political candidate and the recruitment process for an NFL head coach. We then shift gears to discuss the new House Speaker, Mike Johnson, and his ambitious commitment to decentralizing the House's power. We take a closer look at his  principles of American conservatism and ponder on the possible ripple effects of his appointment.

Let's take a moment to pay homage to a beloved figure, Matthew Perry. His untimely departure has left fans heartbroken, and we examine his iconic role in Friends, his struggle with substance abuse, and the speculation surrounding his death. We discuss the dangers of mixing alcohol with hot tubs and address his advocacy for the COVID-19 vaccine, which has sparked conversations about the potential connection between his death and the vaccine. Join us as we navigate these waters, blending politics, celebrity culture, and public health in one riveting listen.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

I guess I'm gonna go back to the other side. Well, welcome everybody, or I guess welcome to me. Welcome back to me, I guess I'm welcoming myself back clay.

Speaker 2: 0:10

Is that is that weird? Yes, thank God Else's back. You guys don't have to listen to me for another hour.

Speaker 1: 0:19

Thank God she's back. Oh, my goodness, Listen, I think I might told you. I think I think you got me out of a job here. They're gonna be like oh no, I'm back to dumb it down. This is a fair thing.

Speaker 1: 0:31

This is, this is a fair thing, All right, listen, we're not gonna dumb it down. We've got some great topics today, we've I joked just before. I'm gonna make the joke again, even though it's semi not funny We've got, we've got two mics and a Matthew we're talking about today, and I'll, we'll, we'll be back. Oh, my goodness. So it was really a poor taste joke on my part there. I'm gonna own it because, uh, that the last one there is is a tragic one, a sad one, but, um, we're gonna get to the other stuff. For some reason, it's really just a bad idea. We're gonna get to the other stuff first. I guess it depends on how you feel about this guy, whether it's a, you know, sad thing for you, or you could care less, or you're thrilled. We're gonna. We're gonna talk about how we feel about it, but Mike Pence has dropped out. He's the first notable One to drop out. There was one or two others that that are already gone. Um, but I was surprised. Were you surprised or no?

Speaker 2: 1:47

I'm surprised this early.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:49

I am surprised. So I was not surprised that he I didn't think he was gonna make it to even the final three, but I, this early is a little bit shocking. I would have thought he would have made it to the, you know, maybe the spring, sometime, you know, at least past the holidays into maybe, you know, march or something like that. But you know I mean a lot of it has to do with money and funding. None of this stuff is cheap. I mean, I don't know how much that played into his decision, but you know nobody, no poor people, make it to the White House. You know you you've either got to be independently wealthy or you have to have a lot of money backing you. But yeah, early, early, surprise for sure.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I did read somewhere along the line there that that he did did have a cash strapped Campaign, so he was struggling Already with that and of course, you know, I mean he's got, he's got all kinds of struggles, I think, with the American people and, and namely, probably right off the bat, maybe the most obvious is as, as Trump's vice president, he, you know, in a lot of Trump supporters eyes, he was a traitor to Trump, you know, and and I, not a single one of them, I can tell you got got past that and said I'll give him a chance. I, so he was already Dead in the water for a really significant part of the population.

Speaker 2: 3:20

Yeah, we've been saying that if it's not President Trump as the GOP Republican candidate, whoever was not Trump but got his endorsement was gonna be. You know that that was gonna be the one, and Vice president Pence was never going to get his endorsement. It could it. It wouldn't matter who the other person was, or you know he was never gonna get the stamp of approval from President Trump. So he's fighting a losing battle. Like you said, he was dead in the water from the get-go. You know very much like Chris Christie, you know I think it's also dead in the water. I think there's room for negotiation with some of the other candidates that are still in there. But vice president Pence is. He was done truthfully before he even got started and I think he, maybe he I don't know. Do you think he? He thought he could overcome that. You think he thought, you know like in his head, he could beat the, the opposition between him and president Trump?

Speaker 1: 4:15

I just, you know, I tell you, I just feel like he went. It's hard for me to look because I don't think he's a stupid man by any means, but it's hard for me not to believe that he went into this a little delusional. I don't know how he thought he could ever would have gotten around that or blasted through that. Maybe there's arrogance there. Maybe he you know, there was a level of arrogance thinking that you know what he was running on is Much better than you know anything else that he has to offer, because obviously he's got a very dry personality some people will say zero personality and and you know, there's just so many things about him. I think that put too many portions of the American public off, you know, and I and there are some people that would say he's too conservative. You know there's always the, the twos, this and that, and he was mocked throughout and.

Speaker 1: 5:10

I don't agree with that Personally, but but that is the thing you know, people, people maybe want. Well, if they don't want Trump, they want someone who's a little bit moderate and I guess they don't see him as being that. But I think his the biggest Nail in the coffin for him was his role in in J6 and the, the elections and and all of that. So, yeah, I mean he was doomed, but I do agree with you that I thought he would have lasted longer.

Speaker 2: 5:39

Yeah, it's um, you know we're starting to see some some interesting things take shape in the election, both sides of the aisle. Obviously, this, like you said, this, is the first notable casualty you know in the election so far. You know, even you know Kennedy switched from being a Democrat to an independent. I mean, that's, that's very different from you know, vice president Pence taking, I think what did they say they? He paused his campaign. Yeah, I think that I think that has to do with what they can do with the funds, like if he doesn't shut it down he can still use. I don't know. But but anyway, he's the first notable casualty in all this. And then you know you've got Kennedy moving from Democrat to independent.

Speaker 2: 6:24

And I think the interesting speculation that I've been seeing a lot lately on the Democrat side is Gavin Newsom. Yes, playing a lot of global politics in the name of being the California governor. Yeah, you know he is the California governor but you know, taking trips to China, probably a little bit out of line for a state governor, and I understand it's coastal and you know the ports and all that stuff, but at the same time that's some that's overstepping. There's a lot of speculation out there that they're waiting. He is the, he is the heir apparent Right or the DNC, to finally come to the. You know well, we can't, we can't backbite anymore. So they're gonna throw Newsome in there as a last minute. But I don't know.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Yeah, it's actually really. You're right. It's really interesting In so many ways as far as what the, the Democrats are gonna do, who they're gonna put forward, because, whether they're saying it or not saying, everyone knows Joe is done, joe's done, joe's done. You know, he's just a. He's just a mumbling, bumbling puppet right now and Nobody really has any high expectations. So there, there's a lot of maneuvering that's got to be going on in the background.

Speaker 1: 7:48

I'm sure you remember well that there's still mumblings about that, although I think it's somewhat squashed. Michelle Obama has been tossed around out there as a Possibility, but I think you know, so far the standard answer has been that she has no interest. That doesn't really mean much, you know, you know, with the amount of time that we have still before us. But yeah, it wouldn't be any surprise whatsoever to see Gavin Newsome move forward here. You know, they all know as much as they know about About Biden not being anything of any value at this point. They know that, likewise, kamala Harris same thing can't get the support, can't get anything. So she knows it too, whether she'll admit it or not. But Oof Fascinates me though.

Speaker 2: 8:46

Some of this is. I think some of this is them fishing, right, I think? Because, like you said, the Michelle Obama thing came out. I mean, you and I talked about it maybe a month ago, but I but I haven't heard anything since. So you got to imagine there was a little bit of fishing. Throw it out there, see what the public reaction is to that, see if it garners any interest or any, you know, gains any momentum. No, maybe not. Okay, let's leave that alone. You know, maybe that's the same thing there that you know the DNC is doing with Newsome right now. Right, right, throw it out there, see what it looks like, see what kind of reaction there is.

Speaker 2: 9:19

You know, without coming out and saying you know President Biden is incompetent and capable, you know not gonna make it through the next 18 months. You know all that stuff right. So I imagine there is some of this is fishing. I mean, you know, I think, vice president, you know Harris Kamala, your buddy, she's been there never, nobody was ever gonna back her to be president within the first Probably six months of this administration. She, she showed her cards for Kate or lack of capability right away. So I think now, I think there's a little bit of exploratory stuff going on to see who a viable candidate is in replacement for, you know, the sitting president and I think you know they, they didn't want Kennedy Like. I think they made that abundantly clear with the whole no secret service protection thing. Right, yeah, yeah, right, you know yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:14

I'm a Kennedy, I got it. I got my own money. I don't really need you guys. I got name recognition. I'll do my own thing. I'll just run as an independent. So now they're you know, they're trying to figure out what's next. Yeah, and at the same time You've got the entire you know fleet of GOP candidates that are still out there trying to. So many who? Yeah?

Speaker 1: 10:35

Yeah, there's a woman I'm drawing a blank on her name, williamson over on the Democrat side. She's still in there running.

Speaker 1: 10:42

She put herself forward there. She's an interesting character, I thought. But again there isn't the name recognition. I mean she would have to do something pretty wild To me, in my humble opinion, she sounds like a cuckoo bird. She calls herself a spiritual advisor or something. She wrote self-help. So she's crunchy, granola, fruity, All of those things. Is she really that far out there? I have no idea. But just by reading the little bits about her I'm like, oh, I had to dismiss it already, but I just can't see it. You're Gavin Newsom's. I could see you're Michelle Obama. I mean, that's actually the one I thought they would have pushed really hard because she checks so many boxes for them. Oh sure, Right, I mean, that's a wow. I'm really surprised that we're not seeing more of that. But who knows, Like we keep saying it's just too soon. There are so many wild things in the soap opera of our government going on that I mean just sit back with your popcorn and wait for the next season to start, yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:02

And you've got to believe that they've been relying upon James Carville for so many years to do strategy, election strategy for the party. And now he's basically come out and said listen, all this super left, way left, crazy left, stuff's got to stop. And I think that the DNC itself is. They're probably at an impasse. He's probably in a position of listen. I'll tell you what I want to tell you. It's probably not what you want to hear, but I'm going to tell you.

Speaker 2: 12:34

Whether you follow it or not is up to you, and they're not going to follow it. So there's probably some lack of direction right now, I would bet, in the DNC, lack of continuity for sure for them to plan out and I think maybe that's why some of this fishing is going on to try and figure out. I'm sure Carville could sit down and go hey, listen, your option one, two, three, in his great Southern charm, and they should listen to him because he's far from stupid. I mean, the guy really is an expert, but they're not. So there's a lot of balls up in the air right now and they, just like you said, grab your popcorn, because the next 12 months and eight days or so are going to be very, very action packed, I guess.

Speaker 1: 13:23

Yeah, yeah. And I would say the American public right now is, and probably has been for quite some time we're just looking for. Well, there's people who love to keep fighting and keep the divide going on. But I would say the average moderate Americanist saying can you just get somebody who's moderate on both sides? Give me a moderate from both sides and put those two head to head and let me pick from that. I'm so tired of the extremes, the extreme personalities, the extreme politics and all of that stuff. Can we just have some people who are sane? That would be nice, right.

Speaker 2: 14:09

American, like just somebody who's out for the good of America. Yes, a pleasant surprise. That would be pretty nice. Don't worry about the fringes, they're going to do what they do and just worry about the middle and doing right by them. And I think if that person found themselves with any kind of financial capability, any financial backing whatsoever, they'd probably go pretty far in the race. Truth.

Speaker 1: 14:37

Yeah, absolutely. But the problem with that is and I think we both know it and anybody watching probably knows it too that anyone that fits that description. They don't want anything to do with politics, they don't want the job.

Speaker 2: 14:50

Yeah, you know, your statement.

Speaker 1: 14:53

You can't get somebody like that to run, who is legitimately, sincerely, the way that we need them to be. And there's our quandary, there's our problem right there that we can't get the man or woman that we truly need to actually run for the job.

Speaker 2: 15:13

It's amazing. Years ago, when I was working on my master's degree, I was taking a personnel management class and the teacher walked in. The professor walked in one night. I was in night school and she posed this question and it was why do the same six or every time an NFL head coach is fired? Why is it the same six or seven names come back up every time? They've been fired four times They've.

Speaker 2: 15:47

You know, the last two teams that they coached finished three games under 500. They've not proven to be great coaches overall, but yet they're interviewed and considered to be hired over and over and over again. Why is that? And it was truthfully an hour-long discussion about the pool is this big, like there's only so many people that you can draw from to be an effective decent, and this is 15 years ago? Well, yeah, 15, 16, 17 years ago. You know there's only so many of those people that you can pull from that. Really, can that understand the job, understand the league itself, understand recruiting, understand the trade and running for political office, especially federal level political office? How big is that pool? It's pretty small.

Speaker 2: 16:34

And then you factor in not just can they, but do they want to, which is your point, right? There's probably a lot of people out there who are capable, but there are very few of them that really want to do that as a full-time job, and that's kind of where we're stuck.

Speaker 1: 16:53

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I wish I had a good answer to that, but of course I don't. So hopefully somebody watching or listening does, and they can solve all of the problems. You know, wouldn't that be nice if somebody just swooped in and said okay, listen, I got this, here's what we need to do, here's what we need, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that. But human nature and our country's nature is to no matter who gets put forward, somebody is gonna have a problem with it. Lots of somebody's gonna have a problem.

Speaker 1: 17:24

So I guess that's the way it works in the nature of democracy, right.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Yeah, which I mean that kind of rolls us into our second topic.

Speaker 1: 17:34

You know yes it does.

Speaker 2: 17:35

So the second, the next topic we're talking about tonight for everybody out there is the new speaker of the house and he's talking about the process, right. So we're talking about Mike Johnson and before we even get to him, it was obviously the ousting of McCarthy and Mike Johnson he's the fourth right. He was the fourth candidate and I think Jordan I think there was two gonna be a third vote maybe, or maybe there was a third and gonna be a fourth, before he backed out and I think the next candidate behind him lasted a matter of hours and the guy was like yeah, I'm not doing this. I don't even remember who it was. That's how short it was.

Speaker 1: 18:15

I don't remember. It was so quick. It was like you heard a whisper and then they were gone.

Speaker 2: 18:20

Yep. So now we've got representative, now speaker of the house, Mike Johnson. But again it was, I hate to say it was due to lack of options, but they had to find somebody who was capable and wanted the job. Yeah, and that was one of the harder things to do. It was, you know, find somebody that both could get elected. You know essentially a past within that vote within the house and wanted to do the job at the same time. Not an easy thing to do.

Speaker 1: 18:50

No, no, especially based on what just happened to McCarthy. You know they got to be sitting there, gone, and I don't know if I want this, because you know, look, you know how quick the tables can turn on me and you know, could this potentially be career suicide, really, you know. So I mean it's a big ask. And and the other the funny big ask is and I can admit I said who the heck is Mike Johnson.

Speaker 3: 19:17

I don't know who he is.

Speaker 1: 19:19

You know, and that was like the collective question. You know it was like who, who is this guy? Where did he come from and how did he get in this spot? And you know. So of course everybody started scrambling to get news on him. And if you're, if you're a conservative, particularly if you're a conservative Christian on the right, you're going oh, I love this guy, I love this guy. You know he's the, you know he's the hero we need right now. If you're on the left, you know your head is spinning and you're spinning fire and you're absolutely appalled and horrified for the same reasons that the Christian conservative right. It loves him. I would, for myself, I would say, cautiously, tentative, maybe loves him. You know we don't see optimistic.

Speaker 2: 20:04

That's, yeah, cautiously optimistic.

Speaker 1: 20:07

Yes, and you know, I mean, as a good politician does, he says the things that you want to hear and gives a great rousing speech. Actually, you know what. We have his, we have his speech. Let's play that it's it was. The actual whole thing was like probably about 1517 minutes. I was able to get it down to like five minutes, so let's, let's give. I got the highlights, so let's give that a watch.

Speaker 3: 20:30

I want to thank my dedicated wife of almost 25 years, kelly. She's not here. We couldn't get a flight in time. This happened sort of suddenly, but what we're going to celebrate soon. She spent the last couple of weeks on her knees and prayed to the Lord and she's a little worn out we all are.

Speaker 3: 20:49

I want to say to the American people on behalf of all of us here we hear you, we know the challenges you're facing. We we know that that there's a lot going on in our country, domestically and abroad, and we are ready to get to work again to solve those problems and we will. Our mission here is to serve you well, to restore the people's faith in this house, in this great and essential institution. We stand at a very dangerous time. I'm stating the obvious. We all know that the world is in turmoil, but a strong America is good for the entire world. I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that that God is the one that raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you, all of us, and I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment in this time.

Speaker 3: 21:40

It was in 1962, in 1962 that our national motto in God we Trust was adorned above this rostrum. And if you look at the little guide that they give tourists and constituents who come and visit the house, if you turn in there to about page 14 in the middle of that guide, it tells you the history of this and it says very simply these words were placed here above us. This motto was placed here as a rebuke of the Cold War era philosophy of the Soviet Union. That philosophy was Marxism and Communism, which begins with the premise that there is no God. This is a critical distinction that is also articulated in our nation's birth certificate. We know the language well, the famous second paragraph that we used to have children memorize in school and they don't do that so often anymore, but they should. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, not born equal, created equal, and they are endowed by the same inalienable rights, with the same inalienable rights life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. That is the creed that has animated our nation since its founding, that has made us the great nation that we are. Our nation's greatest ally in the Middle East is under attack the first bill that I'm going to bring to this floor in just a little while will be in support of our dear friend Israel, and we're overdue in getting that done. We're going to show not only Israel but the entire world that the barbarism of Hamas that we have all seen play out on our television screens is wretched and wrong, and we are going to stand for the good in that conflict.

Speaker 3: 23:19

We have a catastrophe at our southern border. The Senate and the White House can no longer ignore the problem. From Texas to New York, wave after wave of illegal migrants are stressing our communities to their breaking points. We know that our streets are being flooded with fentanyl and all of our communities, children and even adults, are dying from it. The status quo is unacceptable, inaction is unacceptable and we must come together and address the broken border. We have to do it.

Speaker 3: 23:49

Everybody in this room should think about this. Here's the stats Prices have increased over 17% in the last two years, credit card interest rates are at the highest level in nearly three decades and mortgage rates are now at a peak we haven't seen since 2001. We have to bring relief to the American people by reining in federal spending and bringing down inflation. The greatest threat to our national security is our nation's debt and while we've been sitting in this room that's right the debt has crossed almost $33.6 trillion and we are going to establish a bipartisan debt commission to begin working on this crisis immediately.

Speaker 3: 24:31

We all know that we also live in a time of bitter partisanship.

Speaker 3: 24:35

It was noted and it's been on display here today, when our people are losing their faith in government, when they're losing sight of the principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Speaker 3: 24:48

I think we've got to be mindful of that.

Speaker 3: 24:50

We're going to fight. We're going to fight vigorously. We'll call them the seven core principles of American conservatism, but let me concede to you all, I think it's really quintessentially the core principles of our nation. I've hold them down to individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets and human dignity. Those are the foundations that made us the extraordinary nation that we are, and you and I today are the stewards of those principles.

Speaker 3: 25:22

But I've made a commitment to my colleagues here that this speaker's office is going to be known for decentralizing the power here. My office is going to be known for members being more involved and having more influence in our processes and all the major decisions that are made here, for predictable processes and regular order. My office is going to be known for trust and transparency and accountability, for good stewardship of the people's treasure. Last thing I'm going to say is a message to the rest of the world, and we want our allies around the world to know that this body of lawmakers is reporting again to our duty stations. Let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear. The people's house is back in business.

Speaker 1: 26:09

Okay. So I mean a lot of bold proclamations there, a lot of bold statements. He is putting his faith right out there, front and center, no bones about it. And you know very well spoken. So you know I'm surface impressed. How are you?

Speaker 2: 26:29

feeling, I think one. I give him credit for staying honest to who he is. I think one of the first things that he did after being sworn in invited you know, those of faith, of Christian faith to come and pray with him on the floor of the house, which, again, is a bold thing to do, unfortunately in today's day and age, as strange as that is to say, but so I give him credit for that. I think you know the statements that he's making are the statements that need to be made from his position, from his new job. But I think probably the most noteworthy thing in this entire is his age. When was the last time that somebody who not only is younger but looks younger not put into a position like this, you know, in a leadership position?

Speaker 1: 27:27

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 27:29

This is growth, this is progress. This is what most of America has been waiting for. You know, the fight between the two 80 year olds to get into the White House is ridiculous, I mean, for that's the best we can do right now. You know, and then you go back. Mccarthy wasn't a young man, nancy Pelosi is, you know, like I don't know, crypt keeper? Yeah, father time and mother nature's first born you know, I mean, she's been around forever.

Speaker 2: 27:55

So to see someone who's a little younger, on the younger side, at least as far as Washington DC is concerned. You know, in a position like this is promising, I think, for everybody.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Now, I think we'll see how long we'll see how long it lasts, right, right, yeah, you know they're already trying to.

Speaker 1: 28:11

You know, define things, pick up stuff and things, and you know so. For everybody who doesn't know, I took down kind of the basics on who Mike Johnson is, as you said, on the younger side for what we've been seeing otherwise. He's 51 years old. He's been married for nearly 25 years to his wife. They have four kids. He's from Louisiana. He's, I guess, in his fourth term or was in his fourth term when all this came about. He practiced constitutional law for 20 years, which I think is very valuable to know.

Speaker 1: 28:51

In his position, he is generally considered well liked, but he's also considered to be kind of milk toast, because that was the exact word. I actually on my notes, I actually put it in quotations, you know so, okay, so, because he's a socially conservative, as we talked about, he is, you know, on the liberal, you know hate list, of course, and yeah, and what else? Oh, a couple of the big ones, trump ally, a supporter of Trump, and of course that will put some people off within the party, or has put some people off, I'm sure, and he was a part of a suit in Texas to decertify the election results in Texas and like three other states, and so that gives probably some eyebrow raising for some people. And yeah, I mean, I guess, as with everything, time will tell. We'll see if he's a man of his word. Like I said, he put a lot of bold statements out there of what he's going to do in his position, so let's see if he can do it right.

Speaker 2: 30:09

And he's already taken fire. I mean just from the simple prayer. Right, he is a man of faith. He doesn't hide that. It's definitely out there. I've already heard the phrase. Let me make sure I get this right far right. Fascist theocracy. That was an idea. I did see that Because he is a practicing Christian, he is now a far right extremist, religious extremist, pushing fascism, religious fascism in the United States, right, like in a day, like literally in a day.

Speaker 1: 30:54

In a day he's going to. Yeah, he's a good grief. It does make you shake your head, doesn't it? And he did respond to that. I don't know, I could probably pull it up at some point, but he did respond to that basically said listen, I'm not making everyone become Christians. That's not what I'm about. I mean, I'm not going to stop anybody from believing what they believe. This is simply who I am and what I believe. And from my perspective, it's like how about have a little respect and appreciation for somebody who does stand for their convictions and doesn't sway whichever way the wind blows to, just to be popular?

Speaker 2: 31:35

So but yeah, listen, the squads shown us right, especially in the last three weeks yes you can stand for your convictions, and you can stand for religious convictions high to political convictions, right, as long as you're not a conservative.

Speaker 2: 31:52

Yes, it's okay to do the other direction, right, Right, but it, but it's not okay, you know, to do it if you're a conservative, and that's, you know, that's the frustration, that's the divide that exists. Again, In a day he became a, you know, religious, fascist, extremist, theocrat, whatever they call them. You know, in a day, immediate attack, divide. No attempt for you know part, you know, to bridge the gap at all was immediately tear him down as fast as humanly possible. And that's unfortunately the way both politics, especially in the house, are kind of operating, or in Congress in general, but also portrayed in mainstream media Like what? Who went to mainstream media? Or what mainstream media outlet came up with that that everybody else jumped on, it went. Yes, that's the storyline we're going with.

Speaker 1: 32:49

And it went everywhere, Everywhere.

Speaker 2: 32:51

Yeah, because it's not. It's not helping in a day that is just so counterproductive. It's not even funny.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Right, and you know.

Speaker 2: 33:02

I'm sorry, no, it just it's super frustrating that that, at every turn and both sides are guilty, and the entire mainstream media, I don't care what network you listen to or watch, they're all guilty of it. The fact that we as a nation can't even attempt to establish, you know, a bridge building, you know effort, because it's torn down by those in the Beltway and those on the television At first opportunity, is one of the most frustrating things there is for me as an American citizen. It's appalling.

Speaker 1: 33:40

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, with specific relation to Mike Johnson and that response he had to those comments, to those, you know, accusations essentially is what they are. I also liked you know that he pointed to his Christian faith and in a, in a true you know, I know there's a lot, a lot and understandable argument over Christians and their beliefs and how they live their lives and how they share their beliefs and all of that stuff. But you know, the core of Christianity is to love God, love people, and which is exactly what he stated in, you know, in his response to that, you know, he says, I don't know, basically paraphrasing quite a bit obviously, but he was like I listen, I don't know what to tell you. You know, as a Christian, it's love God, love people, and that's what I intend to do.

Speaker 1: 34:39

And I said, okay, he's, you know, he's saying the right, true things. You know, just just just walk the walk. You know, don't just talk the talk, he's walking the walk and and it's you know it tremendously. I fail daily at that. No problem with the love God, love people. They make it hard, they make it hard Clay, don't they Sure.

Speaker 2: 35:01

Yeah, and, and you know, again, I give him a lot of credit for being out there with it. He doesn't seem to manipulate it to his, you know, advantage. Right, you know I grew up, you know, outside of Chicago and and if you want to say it pronounced in a Chicago accent, in a Catholic house, right, well, catholic, catholic. I went to Catholic school for eight years. You know the president is Catholic, the former speaker of the house is Catholic. When, when it's when it suits them, right, and listen, I'm not. You know, I'm non-practicing, having, in a long time, god and I have a great relationship. I don't, you know, outwardly practice. I don't go to church, I don't go to mass, but I don't profess to be anything that I'm not either, right, right, I mean, you know, if you profess to be a Catholic, I know what that looks like because I spent a good portion of my life looking at that in the mirror, and I know what the beliefs of the church are, and I can tell you that I know it's a great debate in America, but the former speaker of the house, pelosi, and the current president of Biden, are not practicing Catholics. They're not practicing the beliefs of the church and, and, and you know, our current speaker of the house, like you said, seems to be walking the walk and talking the talk, and we'll see how long that lasts.

Speaker 2: 36:23

I will give him the benefit of the doubt, as you have. He seems to be that guy, but again, we'll see. We'll see how long that lasts and I hope that it lasts for his entire tenure. I really hope that's who he is because I think, as a nation built on a Judeo-Christian belief system, our justice system, our morals and ethics of this nation are built on those. Things have been since the, you know, the founding fathers. I hope that he has that and he, you know, continues to bring that back unabashedly. Be unashamed in who you are. I'd rather have that than somebody who manipulates their religion to their benefit. You know, when an election cycle rolls around or when there's a prop opportunity with the press.

Speaker 1: 37:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:12

So you know, good on him yeah, I'm not him, but good for him for being who he is.

Speaker 1: 37:17

Right, yeah, absolutely. And you know a little bit of hope in that he brought it up and brought it out at a time where it doesn't really serve him any major purpose, like you got the job you're in, you know so. So you know that's interesting that he made the choice to say you know, right here, right now, everybody's watching, here's who I am, you know, and very bold, very bold, and I think the right kind of bold. So it'll be, it's going to be, you know, like we keep saying I feel like we have to say it every darn episode too to, you know, remind everybody is get your popcorn.

Speaker 2: 37:59

Grab that popcorn.

Speaker 1: 38:01

Right, yeah, keep it going. I don't know Pop secret. I don't know. Whatever you, whatever you, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:09

Oh, by the way, there's the next GOP debate. I think is next week, next Tuesday, ooh.

Speaker 1: 38:16

That'll be fun yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:19

More for us to talk about.

Speaker 1: 38:21

Yes, I can't wait, I'm excited for it, sort of.

Speaker 2: 38:26

Yeah, well, hopefully better than the last one. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:30

I mean it's kind of been the problem, but it kind of you know, keep you know it goes back. There are instances where people say we should not receiptin it sleepy. But that's okay, that's all right. The next one should be interesting maybe.

Speaker 2: 38:40

Well, it's going to be smaller.

Speaker 1: 38:42

That's right, which I think helps it's kind of hard when you have a lot of people up there and everybody's got to get their face time and get their moment.

Speaker 1: 38:52

You never really get any meat, you never get any real substance. So as the playing field narrows, hopefully we'll get some more substance and more insight into these people See who they really are when the pressure's on like that. But I think we should take that switch. We're going to step out of politics. We're going to talk about Matthew Perry. This is actually really sad and I know there's going to be some people that are like, oh, an actor, whoop-de-doo, an actor, die big whoop. But to be honest with you, I haven't been hearing a lot of that. I've been seeing and hearing exceptional amounts of sadness, disbelief, heartbreak over it, which a lot of times I kind of balk. When somebody is expressing, like a complete stranger, just an average person is saying, oh, my heart is so broken.

Speaker 1: 40:00

I can't believe he's gone because it's just weird. I don't get that type of deep connection, but what I do get is the nostalgia and the sentimentality. I mean, this is a guy, along with his castmates, that you know, a huge portion of the country and other countries too, spent their whatever night it was on I don't even know to tell you the truth, but spent their, let's just say, thursday, for the sake of you know spent their Thursday nights in front of the TV, watching these people and laughing with them and enjoying their character's journey. So you do get attached and I 100% get that. But Matthew Perry, boy oh boy, 54 years old, we still don't know cause of death. Right, that's the latest.

Speaker 2: 40:48

We don't know the cause of death, still, yes, yeah, so you know you and I are of the friends generation, you know, I mean we really like, we are in that sweet spot, like we watched. The 10 years of that show were of the perfect age. You know his character, chandler, is iconic. I mean, that guy brought sarcasm to an entirely new level, yes, and really was a great character. And I think through the years, you know, and really since the show ended, it's become more, you know public knowledge.

Speaker 2: 41:19

He struggled with, you know, substance abuse and addiction over the years. You know, multiple times it sounded like, you know, recovering and then failing and then recovering, which is not uncommon for anybody who struggles with that. And I give him a ton of credit for somebody who kept trying right. He kept going back. He kept, you know, picking himself up out of the dirt and trying again and trying to be better and those kinds of things. And you know he's one of those people that, you know, tried very, very hard to please everybody. That was why he was so good as that character was. He just wanted to make everybody around and laugh. That was his only goal. But yeah, at 54 years old, even with a history of substance abuse and addiction, 54 years old is still incredibly young for anybody to pass away Now there.

Speaker 2: 42:17

Like you said, cause of death is still unknown. There are some things that came out right away. There were no. He had been sober for a number of weeks, I think somewhere in the three to six week range at a minimum, before he died. There were no drugs found on the scene.

Speaker 2: 42:38

I think initial reports are saying no drugs or you know found in his system and no alcohol, which you know there's always that danger with a hot tub. Right, you're not supposed to drink alcohol and sit in a hot tub. You know that is a life threatening kind of thing. But the speculation is cardiac arrest. That's what I'm hearing Again, for everybody out there. That is speculation. The note the coroner's report has not, you know, definitively said what the cause of death was, but I've heard most of the speculation is it's cardiac related. Cardiac arrest type incident is what, unfortunately, you know, took his life. Whatever it was three or four days ago. But yeah, incredibly tragic, very, very sad for those around him, for all of us that watched him for 10 years, like watch the reruns now and listen Absolutely. In today's society some of the stuff that's on friends is not age dwell.

Speaker 1: 43:45

Right, still funny, it's still funny.

Speaker 2: 43:48

It's still funny. But there's some stuff on there that hasn't hasn't aged well in today's eyes, right, but but really seemingly a great person, you know, and really a loss, I think, just in his person and personality, sense of humor, his performances as specifically as Chandler. He did a number of other things. He did movies, you know, the whole nine yards, the whole 10 yards. I think there was a sequel with Bruce Willis and he did some other things along the way. But he really was a talented guy when it came to comedy and just making people laugh.

Speaker 1: 44:24

Yeah, absolutely, he really was, and I did.

Speaker 1: 44:27

You know, like most people kind of went back and watched a lot of those clips that people are putting up and you do, you have those moments where like oh God, I remember that scene, that was so funny, wow, he was really really good, he was really good and and I know there's, there's people they're going to watch and listen to or have seen the reports and everything, and roll their eyes and say you know, there's so many more important things going on in the world than some actor's death.

Speaker 1: 44:56

And, and you know, my answer to that would be he's like so many shows that we either grew up with or just watched in our lifetime that was part of the fabric of our lives. I mean, we get so many quotes and mannerisms and sayings from these shows that you don't even realize that you're, you're, what you're doing or saying is from a show you know. I mean how many take Seinfeld, for example Yada, yada, yada. You know how many people were saying that for for ever. It's because of the show and and friends is no different, different. You know, if you say the word pivot, the scene comes to everybody's mind immediately.

Speaker 1: 45:38

And if you know, you know and of course you know, you all know, and you know the thing of that show with him in particular, that now, when you look back watching it over the the seasons, when you know, after the fact, that he was struggling throughout the entire series with addiction and I believe he said at some point that when I was skinny I was on, you know, this particular drug and when I was heavy I was on this, you know. So imagine being him and looking back at what is an iconic career, really iconic role, and only seeing your addiction and your illness throughout. It's very, very sad to me. You know that he should be able to, or anybody should be able to, look on their work with pride and joy, and that's what he looked, had to look at, you know, and see, see through that lens.

Speaker 1: 46:40

One of the things I love about reading about him is that throughout his whole addiction and recovery process, he actually I believe he started like a home for addicts I think it was called like Perry House, that that people you know, if you were struggling and trying to get clean, you could go there and get help. So even through all of his struggles, he was trying to help other people and I think that's, you know so. So commendable and noble and worthy of sharing. Because to have gone through that, like so many celebrities and famous people do they, everything they do, is in the public eye. So you know he had to go through that and the ridicule I mean you know the memes that were made and just the mean spiritedness of people who got enjoyment, you know humor, out of his suffering is insane. It's crazy how vicious.

Speaker 2: 47:37

If you go back to the reunion show that they had just a few years ago, right, he was, you know, clearly, I think they came back and said that he had had a procedure or, you know, had been on some sort of anesthetic or something, was being treated for something. You know, he clearly was not on the night of that. I mean, there was definitely. He was off. He was a little speech slurred. You know, he wasn't what everybody anticipated and there was very little sympathy. There was very little. There was a lot of concern, but there was also a lot of, I guess, matthew Perry's back on the sauce or whatever you know. People just immediately jumped to those conclusions because we all did know by that point in time that he had struggled for so many years off and on. But you know and this is not, you know, we're not trying to make this political, but there is something to this and we talked about him being 54, you know, which is too young for anybody, even in a life, in a history of adult life, of substance abuse and addiction that he battled as much in as often as he did. 54 is still young for somebody who is reportedly clean and sober. Right, yes, I understand there's a toll that it takes on your heart. There is, you know all of those things, right, it does wear on your body, that addiction does.

Speaker 2: 48:58

But he was a. He was an advocate for the vaccine, right? Yes, and right it's. He wasn't shy about it, so I'm not going to be shy about it, but there's, you know he was. He was big into pushing the vaccine, you know, through COVID, right? But this is another point of that, another data point where we collectively need to go back and look at how the vaccines were developed. This is another. This is someone massively in the public eye, right? Is not, you know, an unfortunate? You know 20-something? You know? Mail out on a basketball court having a cardiac arrest that nobody knows or nobody's ever heard of, except for the?

Speaker 2: 49:45

other nine guys on the court. You know what I mean. It's not that this is a right celebrity very much in the public eye who has clearly passed away before what anyone would consider normal. Right was a big advocate for the vaccine yeah, I mean partner at the house right eyebrows, right like this, should you know, pride somebody, any care who is somebody to go back and look at this right, that's right. That's should be the normal reaction yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 50:16

And and you know there's definitely. You know, of course, they get labeled conspiracy theorists for for even mentioning that. So welcome to the club of you know being labeled conspiracy theorists for asking a very reasonable question based on data and proof that that this is causing some serious cardiac issues in quite it, quite a few people. And yeah, and like you said, I mean I'll pull the picture up again. I'm not sure if they're gonna be able to to read the, the text there. I certainly can't without my glasses on, but you know he's basically saying that. You know he's super jabbed, his buddy saying more or less paraphrasing again so, yeah, I mean it is, it is worth questioning and looking at to see if it had any kind of relationship and and you know, I would assume I would, I would think, I guess I shouldn't assume, I would think that the coroners would, would do that. I don't know if we're gonna find out anything, but but speaking of that, there are, of course, you know, theories and conspiracies that you know are running rampant right now, at least over on the tick-tock. You know, you mainstream, regular media people maybe don't know these inside things, but there's lots of people talking about.

Speaker 1: 51:34

He read a memoir. It is called friends, lovers, and the big terrible thing and it's fairly recent I mean, it's within the past couple few years that he wrote it and people are making a very big deal about the. The last chapter in his memoir he's talking about calling himself Batman or Matman or something like that and they're they're making these ties that you know he hadn't posted anything on Instagram and in months and months, and then all of a sudden, there was like a strange flurry of posts from him and you know, with the moon and Batman and calling himself Matman. So you know, what they're suggesting, apparently and clearly, is that this was not a natural death, that you know there was some foul play. I can't imagine why there would be nobody's really coming up with that. That I've seen in this moment.

Speaker 1: 52:31

I do think it's, you know, a little tinfoil hatty, I would say, based on, I mean, this guy. He really had and I didn't know this until I looked this up, but let me just read this to you guys, because it's a little breathtaking what he went through medically. I had no idea. I think you're gonna be shocked to Clay. So in 2018, he had multiple medical episodes pneumonia this I've never heard of in my life, but I'm gonna just read what it says exploded colon I. That's what it says. He was on life support for a period of time and he was in a two-week coma and he had for nine months he had a colostomy bag and numerous or multiple some stomach surgeries. I mean. So this guy went through it, I mean like big time, and I have no idea, and I won't even speculate, if that anything to do with his addictions and drug issues.

Speaker 2: 53:34

I don't know if they're related or not, but suffice to say the guy, the guy went through a lot of stuff medically so I have a hard time believing that there could be any foul play yeah, I think that, yeah, with a medical history like that, now he is, you know, again going to the vaccine and really following the guidelines from the CDC and everybody else at the time, you know he would fall into that predisposed category. Yes, right, I mean, he would be, he would be one of those people that would be, you know, at-risk predisposed. So, of course, if you was following the guidelines of the medical community, yeah, he would go get the vaccine and, yes, he would go get the boosters and it, because that's what, that's what everybody was being told to do. And, right, you know, he again, I don't blame my it's, this is not a fault thing as far as he is concerned, but again, right, it's all there, it's all public, it's all on record because he made it that way.

Speaker 2: 54:38

But we, we is, and he's not alone. Unfortunately, there's been a number of athletes, high world-class, level athletes, who have fallen victim to the same thing cardiac arrest, people who've been, you know, who are super active cardio people, random, you know, at a higher level, higher currents level than previous to the vaccine, are falling victim to this. But this he, he gives this the potential for a public face and I I sure that his face becomes the face for this.

Speaker 2: 55:12

You should always be the face for Chandler Bing right yeah always be that face, yeah, but if this, you know, if this brings some light to that and it's for somebody to do some investigating, you know on behalf of everybody else who you know has the potential that to fall to the same thing, that I think we benefit as horrible as that sounds we benefit from from him passing away at such a young age you know, right, just terrible. Yeah, funny guy. You know, like I said, the level of sarcasm he delivered was just unmatched he could do.

Speaker 1: 55:48

He could have done a master class on right that would have been actually brilliant if he had done something like that. That'd be really, really cool. But yeah, I mean I, you know, kalei, I think that sums it up perfectly. It's. It is simply, whether you liked him or not, whether you care about celebrities or not, it is a tragedy, it's a it's very sad and you know, it makes me sad. That's all I can say about it. It makes me sad and I agree with you. I do hope that it does spurn at least some more questioning from people who wouldn't have necessarily been questioning beforehand. So hopefully that that does at the very least that. But he left, I think. I think he left a great legacy and phenomenal memories for so many people and I wish all his loved ones and and people who care about him peace and and all of that kind of stuff. I can't, I can't believe an hour is already up. I just looked at the time kidding me. How did that even happen?

Speaker 2: 57:00

I feel like we just started a minute ago listen, I did the same thing last week when I was by myself. I looked up and I was like whoa boy by the run at my mouth. So good to have you back, obviously. So I'm not just the one you know. We run our collective mouths for an hour and it goes very, very quickly. But I'm glad to have you back this week, obviously, and thanks everybody for tuning in. And since you're back, we'll keep saying that we're welcoming Elsa back to her own show from me. Keep moving, keep shooting, but you go ahead and close it out tonight.

Speaker 1: 57:33

Thank you, my friend. It is great to be back. I missed you all, but I'm so glad to have clay who can, who can take the reins and carry the show with style and ease. But I am happy to be back and, as always, we would absolutely love to hear from you, tell us your thoughts on tonight's topics and give us some, some ideas that you'd like to hear for the next show. And until then, take care and we'll see you guys in the next one. Bye, bye.