HOT AIR, HOLY MATRIMONY, AND POLITICAL MADNESS

We track a week where hypocrisy becomes policy, from New York’s AC push to celebrity privilege to political parties excusing the inexcusable. We also wrestle with politicized sports, escalating conflict with Iran, NATO’s shifting defense posture, and the painful reality of the Charlie Kirk murder case moving through court. 
• summer hiatus timing and why the show works as a two-host format 
• New York City power grid stress and the public reaction to a 78-degree thermostat message 
• rent control economics and how mandates can force owners out of housing markets 
• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Madison Square Garden wedding and the “rules for thee” optics 
• World Cup integrity questions after a red card controversy and FIFA intervention 
• how politics and social media amplify some scandals while minimizing others 
• Grant Platner’s allegations and what it reveals about party incentives and moral tradeoffs 
• Iran’s renewed attacks, U.S. strikes, and the looming fight over a formal war declaration 
• NATO agreement pushing defense spending toward 5% GDP and what changes after Ukraine 
• Charlie Kirk preliminary hearing basics, evidence fights, and why humanity matters in murder cases 
You can find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, even on X. If you’re enjoying the World Cup or if you’re a cursory soccer fan, check out my series Soccer All Summer under me, Clay Novak, C Novak author. And I’m having my first book signing on the 18th of July in Oswego, Illinois at the Barnes and Noble. Let us know what you think.

Transcript

Welcome Back And Summer Hiatus

SPEAKER_03 0:24

This is the else coach.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Well, hey there. What is up, my friend?

SPEAKER_03 0:33

How are you? We missed last week. That was my fault, folks. That that one's on me.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Listen, it it it happens. Yeah, it's sometimes scheduling is just crazy. Things come up. What are you gonna do? Right.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Yeah. You are a busy guy. Yeah, you and I were talking before the before we started recording. And so I was out uh running a uh veteran charity uh shooting competition. It was a fundraiser for the board of directors. I sit on the Alan J. Lynch Medal of Honor Veterans Foundation. And so we had our annual uh sporting clay shoot last Wednesday, and it just it was all it just yeah overtook everything, everything I had going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

So yeah, couldn't couldn't fit in recording, it just wasn't no, no, and I wouldn't expect you to. That's like that's such a huge undertaking. There's so many moving parts with that that like to be like, okay, let me put the brakes on and go chit-chat for an hour, and it just doesn't work. All good. We're uh we're getting pretty close to our summer hiatus, too. We should probably talk about that quickly. Um, guys that have been following us uh for a while now know that we take our summer hiatus. We have we have we even decided specifically what our dates are. We always do August.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Yeah, I don't think we have, but uh, you know what this means is like we're approaching three years, we're almost at our three year we're almost at our three-year work anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I love it. How cool is that? Yeah, I've chained him to his uh to his desk there. I won't let him leave me. I'm like, oh, I did. What was that a few weeks ago? I did a solo and I was like, yeah, I don't love this. I don't love this. This is more fun to to have somebody to to bounce things off of, and you know, and you know, let's be honest, you take on the topics that I I just I can't do it, Clay. I can't do it. Some of those topics, and they're important. They're they're like obviously really valuable to talk about and and necessary to talk about, especially with the perspective that you have with your background and everything. It's like it's you know, it's great to talk about. But for me to sit and talk about them like on my own, like who wants to listen to her talk? She doesn't know anything about this stuff, you know. So yeah. So it's a as always, it's a great, it's a great, great, uh complimentary back and forth. We have like same team, different perspectives, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Different uh, I don't know, something I always I describe us as a as uh you know a baseball announcing team, you know how they always have play by play, yes, or commentary, right? And I am the play by play, and you are the color commentary, and that's I love that.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

That's why I love that. That was perfect, perfect. And uh speaking of perfect, as always, you pick the perfect topics for us to talk about. We do have a little uh little intro to give you a little tease of what we're talking about, so we'll share that with you right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

We've got sweaty businesses, celebrity marriage, politicized sports, collapsing candidates, death chance, NATO drama, and a murder hearing. In other words, a normal week in 2026. Welcome to the show.

AI Graphics And The Week Ahead

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yeah, so I gotta say, so you know, I I put that through AI, my pal AI, and uh I said, make me here are our topics, here's what we're talking about, based on all of this, uh, create a an image, a graphic for me to uh use for the show opener. And so I use Chat GPT and Chat GPT, I most of them probably are, I don't know, but um they're they they have like rules and regulations and certain things they cannot, will not do. So if they suspect at all that you're doing anything to mock anybody, um they they won't make it. So chat other ones will obviously. We see all those kind of videos and memes and everything. There's ways around it, you know. So I I had to tell it like if you can't use the exact image of this person, these people, do um someone that resembles them. And so my point being that center image was supposed to be uh platinar, and uh they were way too complimentary to that guy, way too complimentary to that guy. He he would not look that that decent on his very best day. So just just wanted to throw that out there.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

You got a crush on him? Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

I I know. I mean, AI must have a crush on him, you know. Who wouldn't have a crush on him? What a great guy he is. He's so awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Oh, all right. We're not talking about him yet, though. We're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about right, we're gonna talk about another really swell guy, like just a guy that embodies everything that America stands for and believes

NYC Thermostat Order And Hypocrisy

SPEAKER_01 5:16

in, right? Yeah, I hope y'all hear that sarcasm. We're talking about mom Donnie, who um um basically told everybody that they need to turn down their thermostats to 78 degrees. He told him this last week. I turned it up. I'm sorry. I say turn it out, I mean turn it up, I'm sorry, yeah, because it was too stressful on the grid. So he was telling, um, he was telling, he was telling New Yorkers. Did you see the responses from uh some people on the street? Yeah, he was like, tells me to told me to turn it up, I'm turning it down to 68. Like, of course, you know, give me a break. Real New Yorkers are not going to listen to that guy. Now, maybe if it was somebody else, you know, maybe it's a case of who's who's saying it and how they're saying it. You know, I think I feel like maybe let's go back to the good old days, maybe of like Giuliani or something. And and he's like, guys, listen, the the the you're killing the grid, we're killing the grid, you know, we're having brownouts, we're having blackouts, like let's all let's all work together. I know it sucks, but blah, blah, blah. This guy, not so much, not the same effect, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Especially when he's telling, you know, landlords and business owners that he's gonna raise their taxes and he's gonna do all these other things. And then he says, Hey, crank your, you know, keep your air conditioning at 78 because the grid can't handle it. And so, you know, there's a lot of things that go into that. One is um, it's one of the worst heat waves we've had in a while, quite a few years, actually. Yeah, um, you know, it's in the it was in the hundreds in the heat index. Uh, and then of course, you've got the fact that there's an encouragement for more people to use EVs, which are another draw on the power grid. Everybody's concerned about the data centers, which are another draw on the power grid.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So many well thought out ideas, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Yeah, and and then again, like what he's doing to businesses, business owners, um, build building owner landlord types, you know, property management companies, and and all of that, and then telling people to keep it at 78. And then did you see that one of the uh I don't know if it was part of his security team or his cleaning crew at the mayoral mansion, uh, found in a, I think they said it was a 2,000 square foot enclosed section. So my guess is probably one of the living room, dining room, entertaining spaces that they have in the mayoral mansion. Uh, so 2,000 square feet open, right? No wall, but just a big open space. Air conditioner set to 67.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Oh, what a surprise. What what's that saying? Rules for thee, but not for me. Yeah, like that. I mean, that is such a given. You know, that guy and his nasty rotten wife are sitting there with their feet up, AC on blast, just living the dream while everybody else, you know, is is sweltering and dying. Not that, you know, anybody who listened to them or it isn't in a situation where they even have access to um good air conditioning. Yeah, uh, you know, this is so typical, it's so predictable, right? I uh you almost don't you just kind of sit back and shake your head and go, I mean, everything we could have told you was gonna happen is happening, you know. This is all so predictable, and it's predictive, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:46

So think for the future, you know, he is trying to do things like uh take control of properties within the city to do rent control, he's trying to establish these government grocery stores, he's trying to, you know, it's all c it's straight communism. We all recognize that. Those of us that are old enough to remember, you know, East Germany, the old Soviet Union, all of those things. Uh but this is just a taste of what's coming if all of the things he's trying to do get done, because when there is a shortage, he's just gonna ask people to do without right. That's those are the bread lines, folks. Yeah, you hear that term, but those are real things, right? Yeah, people would literally in the Soviet Union and in East Germany would wait in line with ration tickets to get loaves of bread because there were shortages, you could only get so many, didn't matter how many people you had, didn't matter, like you were limited on the assets and the groceries and the food and the gas and everything, really, I think everything but liquor. Um was rationed regularly, and this is exactly what he's doing. He's rationing power, literal power, because of air conditioning. Yeah, and that's that's what he is gonna do. That's exactly what the communist, you know, mindset is like, oh, well, we all have to chip in, which means everybody's life sucks except for people like him, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Right, except for the elite, except for them. Yeah, and you know, I would I tend to think that momdani's mistake is is that he's rushing all of his little little mandates and commands and orders instead of doing it bit by bit, because that's a lot of the way that the communists did it. That's how, you know, people because that's what people always ask, right? Like, how did people give up their freedoms and their rights and their liberties so easily? And it was because they did it in little increments, little ways to get you to be obedient and to comply and to do the things and they use the same tree, you know, all do it for all of us, you know, do it for the collective whole, do it for your fellow man. We're all in this together, you know, all that sneaky language that makes you feel like, you know, you have to. But I think with mom Donnie, first of all, he's picked the wrong place. I mean, like I said, New Yorkers, real New Yorkers, they're not putting up with that. They're not, they're not gonna listen to any of that, you know. So there's some fight left in them. Unfortunately, you know, I mean, Pandora's box has been open and this guy is in and he's he's active. Um, but I I feel like he's trying too hard too fast, too much, and maybe the pushback will be enough to, you know, kick him in his hidey hole. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

So he what he doesn't have that the old communist regimes had, you know, whether it was Soviet Union, Cuba, even in China, um, he doesn't have the violent arm to enforce things, right? So he doesn't have the secret police or any of those things that those communist nations had to enforce their edicts. So I I actually think I think he's doing the opposite. You think he's doing it bit by bit. I think he, or you think he should do bit by bit. I think what he's doing is throwing everything against the wall, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

That 60% of it sticks, and then he can take that other 40% and then kind of re regenerate it. So he's trying to overload everybody with this stuff. That's what I think he's doing.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yes, no, I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

And I and I think that's you know, that's the the mindset that he's in is like just jam all this stuff in there, and we'll whatever doesn't stick, we'll come back and readdress in a year or two years or 18 months or whatever. Yeah, um, but he but he doesn't have that that one key component that all of those communist regimes had, which was the violence, you know, the threat of violence or the violence to enforce these things. Because truthfully, no New York City cop is walking around like they are in London enforcing these crazy, you know, laws. Like nobody's walking around in New York checking air thermostats, right?

SPEAKER_04 12:58

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Whereas in London, like you do a uh Facebook post and somebody's knocking on your door, literally knocking on your door.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

So he doesn't have that. So that that I think is the saving grace for the city of the Oh, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

That's that is the saving grace right there. I watched a video the other night uh from um uh a man who whose grandfather owned one of those buildings, you know, apartment buildings in New York, and um, you know, had it for, you know, the the the usual great story. Immigrants came here, saved every penny, bought the, you know, bought the building, had it for, you know, 50 plus years, passed ownership down to probably the son and now the grandson. So this is the grandson. And um, you know, so he was asked, this was an interview, you know, and they asked, like, how is this affecting you? And he's like, I I don't think we're gonna be able to sustain. We can't keep it. These are old buildings. The, you know, what they want is because they want you to, you know, freeze the the rent so it can't go, can't go up, you can't charge them more. Sounds great to the people that are want to rent. Not so great when repairs need to be made, updates need to be made, which of course those things need to be done. So if the money coming in doesn't match the money or or actually exceed the money that's going out to maintain, what do you think is gonna happen? And of course, you know, people are like, oh, this wasn't good thinking on mom Donnie's part. Oh, it was excellent thing. That is the point. That's the plan to push out the owners, buy up and take over all of those properties and have them government run. So anybody who thinks that like this is like mom Donnie's so stupid, he doesn't know what that's gonna what's gonna happen. Wrong, he 100% knows what's gonna happen. That's the plan. So it's just you know, it's infuriating and and so heartbreaking to watch. You know, this is like a family, and and there's tons like it that have owned these properties for decades. Now, obviously, I'm not giving any real sympathy to slum lords, that's a whole other conversation. So, you know, that's totally different. This is just good, honest people, you know, making a living and um just providing housing for people in in a place where it's becoming impossible to do. And and you know, what's their alternative? Because you want to say to them, hang in there, don't let them push you out because you know we know what's gonna happen. But if they can't survive, if they can't afford it, I I mean, what's the answer?

SPEAKER_03 15:31

And and right now they can't even sell it because nobody wants to take that on. Yeah, because they can see the future and it's it's not hard to see. So, yeah, you know, I mean, what this is truthfully is theft. You know, there's been Chicago is notorious for them, but they've been built everywhere, you know, low-income high-rise, which have all been torn down, by the way, in Chicago. Um but the low-income high-rise, those were at least built knowing what they were supposed to be Section 8 housing, right? Yeah, they were built with taxpayer dollars, but everybody knew what was happening. This is government stealing, taking, forcing out, you know, fraudulently taking these buildings to turn them into Section 8 housing, which is really what this boils down to. So and and your taxpayer dollars, the people of New York City, are gonna pay for this, right? And oh, by the way, not the state of New York, but just the city. And as all of these big corporations leave New York City, where do you think all the tax money is gonna come from?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

It's gonna come from the people that stay there. And eventually, when the number of people living in government section eight housing outnumbers or outpaces in you know, cost the number of people who and businesses who live there who, you know, provide the tax dollars to support them, then the city turns upside down and it crumbles on itself.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

So this is uh, you know, it's basic economics. Those of us that know the difference, we all know what this looks like. We know what the outcome looks like. Um, and because we've seen it, you and I grew up with this. We watched it on television, right? But this younger generation who, you know, as we said, he gives them free stuff, and that's what they're voting for. They didn't see this when they were kids. They don't, they didn't have that inner look that we had on television often enough to know. You know, they would do the look across the wall into East Germany, or we would get peeks into the Soviet Union here and you know, every now and again. They don't know that stuff, and it's not being it's not being taught in school. So um there, yeah, this is this is the direction New York's going. And and they truthfully, they need to get this, they never should have elected him in the first place, but they need to get this guy out of office as fast as possible. Yeah, because he's getting to the point already where the damage he is doing is going to be irreversible.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Yeah, ironically, I think the only hope, so ironic, the only hope for New York are the the celebrities, like the celebrity crowd who love and live in New York and love the theater and and you know, everything that New York represents for that community. Um they're probably the only ones that can actually have enough. It's so crazy, so ridiculous, isn't it? Like, let's get the celebrities to save the day. Uh things I'd never thought I would say, but um, you know, right? Uh things I'd never say for 200, Alex. It's true. It's true. I mean, because they're the only ones that have are platformed enough that, you know, people actually would listen to, people like that would listen to. But um, but yeah, I mean, in the meantime, you know, anyone who can afford to get the heck out of Dodge, they're leaving. They're leaving. The and the people that are left, and you know, my heart breaks for the people who would love to leave, but they can't afford to leave, and they're trapped in this, you know, disgusting system where they're just going to be uh, you know, uh financially, physically, emotionally abused by this system that they're deliberately creating. It's gross, so gross.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Yeah, pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah. Um, so let I mean it's a segue.

Swift And Kelce Wedding Backlash

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Let's go from the the hot, sweaty, uh, overburdened New York to probably the you know best air-conditioned wedding in in the country, right? I mean, so this blows my mind a little bit. Like when when I give my brain time to actually like think about it, because otherwise we neither one of us ever would.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Wait, hold on a second, folks. For the those of you that are for those of you that are listening and didn't see that graphic, uh, what Elsa's talking about is the uh Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey wedding that happened in New York at Madison Square Garden in the midst of the please turn your air conditioning up to 78. Yes, uh debacle.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Please turn it. Thank you. I am no I am notorious for skipping right over that intro and just leaping right in. Who would have thought I would do things like that? Basically, everyone who's ever met me. So, yes, um, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. Is that how you pronounce his last name? Kelsey. Okay, thank you. Um, so it was very hush hush. Nobody, I mean, there were rumors, right? Like like days or maybe even longer. I don't know. I don't we neither one of us really follow this. So it's a miracle that we're even talking about it, but it was a big enough story that we could. Um, so yeah, I I did not realize this was actually going down. I think a day or two maybe beforehand, I saw some posts on Instagram that were saying, like, rumor has it that the wedding of the century is gonna happen at Madison Square Garden. I remember reading that and I was like, that's silly. No, they're not gonna do that. Who would pick Madison Square Garden for their wedding? Well, they would. They would, and they did, and apparently it was a you know, um a big deal. And I'm trying, I'm trying so hard to be interested in. Aren't you trying so hard? We're trying hard, guys. Um, but you know, so some interesting. Here's what I think is um a couple of things I do think are curious and interesting about it. What I find curious and interesting is that in all with all of the money that you have, they have all the places in the world, in the country that you could get married that are beautiful and scenic and spectacular and all the great things. They chose Madison Square Garden. I don't get it. Is it because like it's you know, did she put on a concert for her friends and family after? Like it's so weird to me. Do you do you know any explanation of why?

SPEAKER_03 21:59

I I don't know the why. I so I know there's a couple of things. One, um, I know that they they had to rent it for three days because of all of the setup. Um I know that the guests had to sign an NDA.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

I did read that.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

Um, I know that the plus, if you got an invitation for a plus one, they had to be your spouse or fiance. There were no random dates allowed.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

No randos. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

They were trying to control the information out there. Um, there are rumors that there were things like um a garden built inside the garden, like a living garden as part of this. Um what else did I hear? Um, Adam Sandler was the he he actually conducted the wedding.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Oh he was I like him, so I think that's cute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Um, but like this this is not something I follow. I was like you. I I saw a headline come across my phone that said, Hey, you know, here's pictures of so-and-so on the red carpet for the wedding, right? Um, so it was like an award show, they had a red carpet. But the what I said at the beginning is what bothers me the most is that in the midst of all of this, one, they had to shut down all the streets around Madison Square Garden, which were magically suddenly cleared, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Of all the homeless people and drugs, all of those things.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Um, the police, the entire police force was on recall, and uh hundreds of them were on overtime because they had to provide all the security, right, to to close down the roads and to divert traffic and all of those things. Um, and they also it was in the middle of this flipping heat wave. Yeah, so you know, which I get it. They picked the days for this thing whenever they didn't know what the weather was gonna be, but I can promise you that they didn't turn the air conditioning up to 78 in MSG.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah, there is no way in in hack they probably had you know oh yeah, everything blast. There's no question about it. There's no question about it. Let's you know, let's be real.

SPEAKER_03 24:12

So 1200 people, by the way. 1200 people that was the that was the number I got.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Okay, listen, I'm sure I have no doubt that it was spectacular, and I'm sure when she produces her film for the wedding, because it will be a you know, it'll be a massive epic production that will go into theaters and you know it it's gonna be all you know it's gonna be all of that.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

You're so right, you are so right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Right? This will be um, you know, Taylor's Taylor, the movie, the wedding.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Oh, by the way, this Travis guy, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Oh, yeah, that guy, yeah, him, whatever his name is. Yeah. I'm listening I I'm I have no petty bones in my body. I I am happy for them. Uh if you have the means to do that, good on you. I think that's you know, just lovely for you. Not so lovely for the people of New York. It's you know, that part, I agree with you, Clay, 100%. You know, the the you know, rules for me, uh rules for the not for me, whole thing, gross, the um use of law enforcement and all of those things. Uh all of that stuff is really messy and simply wrong. You know, it's simply wrong. The good parts. I've got good parts to this. And with a little bit of irony, you know, Taylor Swift is is part of that whole liberal mindset, right? She's always shaking her her little fist at everybody and telling them, you know, how they should vote and how they should live and how they should be, and what's what it is to be a good person and a good human and all that stuff, and very girl power and you know, women, blah, blah, blah. All of the things, all of their cliche stuff and things. And then what happens, Clay? What happens? They go completely traditional.

unknown 26:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Wedding, marriage, vows, you know, all of the traditional things that that crowd tells everybody else that you don't need. You don't need to do that. It's, you know, that's bad. That's oppressive. All of those things. What do they all do? Where's the uh who's the other one? The um the podcast girl, Alex something or other, but she's got that podcast, and she is forever preaching about you know how great promiscue uh promiscuity is and cheating and all of those things. What is she? She is married, she's expecting her first child. But they do not live what they preach. They tell you, the the fans, all of these garbage crappy things, which by the way, all of their advice is garbage advice. And if you want proof that it's garbage advice, they're not living their own advice, they are doing the traditional things, they are getting married, they are having families, they are doing these wonderful, wholesome things in their real life. And you're just part of the game for them. So I I would wish that people would, these young people, older people too, I don't know. I wish they would wake up to that and and see the contrast of what they're telling you of how to live your life, which is, you know, sleep around, don't get married, don't have kids, you know, don't read your Bible, all of that stuff. And yet here they are living the exact opposite. So I hope they take note of that. So I think it's wonderful that they um got married and that they're doing traditional things. I hope they have a whole gaggle of little babies, little Taylor. I why can't I keep his name right, Travis? Little Taylor and Travis's running around throwing footballs and singing into microphones. Good on them.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

I uh so there things have been noticed though, because I've seen things on the kind of the liberal side on social media that said, hey, imagine all of the good they could have done with that money that they spent on the wedding. There has been some of that, which is good. I'm sure there's pushback. It's good to see people, you know, uh identifying the double standard, um, along with the simple things like, oh, you had to have an ID, a photo ID to get into the wedding. And oh, there was it wasn't open to everybody. And there was security and and gates and walls and like all of those things. So those things were easily pointed out. Um the the you know what the money could have been applied to, you know, has been pointed out. Um, I actually have a totally opposite take from you. I think this is 18 months uh and it's over with. I think this is gonna be the most expensive divorce in history. And uh, and and I see I honestly, whether they stay married or not, I see zero children for them.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Yeah, I I would like to see that. I would like to see them live have a long, wonderful, happy marriage. This whole Madison Square Garden thing, the movie that is very likely to come from it, all of those things reek of show marriage.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Um now, in fairness, I have absolutely no idea what their private life looks like. No, no clue whatsoever. I don't see any of that stuff because I just don't, I don't follow it. So they've probably been all over the the tabloid news, not the tabloid news, the entertainment news. They probably are all over it all of the time with their travels and adventures and things, but I never see anything that they do. So I am hopeful for them for the institute of marriage and and the um what that looks like, you know, what that represents and and how that could positively influence people. I do not disagree with you though, that the likelihood of the marriage lasting, uh, all of that stuff, the odds are very high against them. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

That's right. All you Swifties can yell at us. It's okay. We'll be all right.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah, oh yeah, I'm sure they'll yell at us. Yeah, how dare you even talk about her? Get get Taylor's name out of your mouth.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Okay. We'll stop talking about her. Next we'll stop.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

We'll move on. We'll move on to the next thing. Hang on. If my clicker was working here, we will. Uh World Cup

World Cup Controversy And Political Meddling

SPEAKER_01 30:50

was touched by you just go right ahead. World Cup, World Cup touched by politics. I knew I'd spit it out eventually. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

So, folks, I've been doing uh I said this a couple of weeks ago, I've been doing this series soccer all summer. I'm a soccer guy, have been my whole life. Uh, and so every single day, multiple times a day, I've been doing social media stuff. And I've been watching this very closely. For those of you that hadn't weren't following the World Cup, uh, a U.S. player in the last round of group games, but or the correction, in the first knockout game, like lose and you go home game, um, an American player was given a red card by the referee, which meant he was not only kicked out of that game and the U.S. had to play uh down a man for the rest of the game, but also that he would be suspended for the next game. Um, in the rules for the tournament, there's no appeal process for that. Uh except in this case, uh FIFA, which is the World Football Association, which puts on the World Cup, they have essentially a get out of jail free card where they can arbitrarily, without anybody asking for an appeal or having a formal appeal process, they can rule on things off the cuff. And so President Trump, uh, now there's a lot of argument about this red card, okay? Whether it should have been a red card in the first place, whether the instant replay procedures were followed correctly, which they weren't. Um, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, you could argue for and against whether or not he deserved the red card, but the the rule was he got the red card and he should be suspended for the next game, which was the game against Belgium, another lose and go home game. Florian Balligan is the player's name. President Trump called President Infantino, the president of FIFA, and said, Hey, can you take a look at this? I I it it looks maybe like it shouldn't have been a foul or like processes weren't followed, or whatever. And magically, 24 hours before the Belgium game, uh, FIFA, they did not take back the red card, but they suspended the suspension. So the one game suspension that would have kept the U.S. player for uh Flo Balligan out against Belgium was suspended. In other words, if he catches a uh another red card in the next year, it will probably go from a one-game suspension to a three-game suspension or something like that. But they suspended the suspension, and of course, the entire world got involved with this. Everybody had an opinion. Uh some people had opinions based on the fact that it was President Trump, um, which inside and outside the United States, people had opinions that he shouldn't have gotten involved. Um, people had opinions that FIFA is and has been corrupt for decades, which is also true. Um you had people arguing on behalf of the game itself. Like this this puts the integrity of the game at risk. Politics and political leaders should stay out of things like this. And it put a very, very dark cloud over what had been thus far an exceptional tournament, not only in play, but the way it was being conducted and the the fan interaction and how things were going and everything else. But as soon as President Trump got involved, um everything turned sour. And the US ended up getting Florian Balogun back. He played in the game against Belgium. We got our ass beat anyway, and we got eliminated. And there was a lot of good, you got what you deserved on the backside of it.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Um so you know President Trump can't help himself. No, right? This is this is one of those things where truthfully politicians need to stay out of it. You just like you don't get involved in sport like this. It's not this, it is sport, right? It's not national defense, it's not the reputation of a nation. Truthfully, it's not it's not the economy, it's not so like the president needs to take a back seat and just kind of let things and and and I say this about all politicians, right? Sure, because now Pandora's box is open, and you've got a lot of countries that are like, well, our prime minister or our president, or whoever we should call, you know, uh president of FIFA, and there's a lot of calls for the president of FIFA to resign. Um so it's put a big black cloud over everything that good that was going on in the tournament. That's a shame. And on the so nothing like this is go ahead. Uh or the day before. So France beat Paraguay. Okay. Um, and a female senator from Paraguay, France has a a player, Killian Mbappe, he's one of the top five players in the world, uh, arguably, is from Cameroon, which has French citizenship eligibility because they were a colony and all this other stuff. And she, this female senator from Paraguay, put out some very racist, very racist stuff about Mbappe on social media. What? Um, yeah. Um some of it was political, some of it was oh, yeah, a colonized Cameroonian acting as you know, because he wants to be French, blah blah blah blah blah. But then there were some things put in there great, very racist. But on the killer is as bad as that is, it drew ten times less attention than the incident or the issue with President Trump. Because that because it's President Trump, because the United States, because of the global view, sure that overpowered what truthfully was a I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

To me, that's a way bigger deal.

SPEAKER_03 36:41

Way worse. He was way worse, personal thing. Um, so politics has touched this World Cup more so than any World Cup in the past, and it really is a shame. I truthfully, I wish President Trump would have just stayed out of it. Sure. Um, I think it I think it became a problem, I think it became a social media problem. I think it interfered with player preparation, I think it interfered with a lot of things, right? But he can't help himself when it comes to America and anything American and an American team representing America. He feels obligated to get involved. And this is one of those times where he should have just not.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Okay, so the call, the general consensus was that the call was bad, correct? Like that's pretty well agreed upon.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

The call itself is probably what I've seen on social media is probably 50-50. I think there's half of the people think it was deserved, and half of the people think it wasn't. I would say for the people who slowed down, took a breath, and looked at how the process for instant replay was violated, those people all agree that he got the red card because they didn't follow the right process, right? They okay the rules say basically for a red card for conduct like this, you can't use slow motion film footage because they know it looks 10 times worse in slow motion. You can only watch the instant replay at game speed, right? Interesting. Okay, and so the the um the uh they call it VAR visual assistant uh uh referee, incident replay guy, told the official, hey, you should probably look at the monitor and you need to look at it in slow motion, which is a blatant violation of the process. Okay, right? Okay, so initially there was no call at all. Then the instant replay guy said, Hey, we're looking at this, it looks bad. You should probably come take a look at this. Then the referee looked at it and he looked at it in slow motion, and then he turned around and he gave the red card to the US player. So the process wasn't followed, whether it was about call or not, technically, in the process, the the processes for instant replay were not adhered to. So the red card never should have happened. Um again, you could argue whether or not the foul was deserved it. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

So it's really about the process. Okay, okay. All right, so next question. If it were anyone other than President Trump making that phone call, would the reaction, do you think, be the same?

SPEAKER_03 39:20

No, I I think it would be it, depending on who it was.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Like, let's say, I don't know why this name would even come in. Let's say Robert De Niro, don't ask me why that name would even come to me.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

If but like if Macron did it for France or you know, Steer Karmer or Pier Starmer did it on his way out for England, people would be upset. Um, but not I don't think nearly as upset because not only do you have the people from outside the United States that don't like President Trump, you have the people from inside the United States that don't like President Trump. Sure. So you got a lot of splashback because it was him that made the call. Um, and and that's what really made it worse.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

All right, so let's stick with political figures for a minute. So do you think if Kamala Harris was the one that made the phone call and got that reversed, would people like I'm just trying to determine is it because they act the same?

SPEAKER_03 40:18

Yeah, I don't think they would at all.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

No, okay, yeah. And has this happened in this capacity before in other no, it's never happened before that a political leader has made a phone call and said, Hey, what's going on there?

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Not that not that I have seen or heard of. There have been there have been incidences where um these red card suspensions have been suspended uh for various reasons. They did it actually for Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the most famous players on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Even I know that name.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Right before the World Cup. He would have had a suspension that carried over into the World Cup, the into the opening games, right? That got the suspension got suspended so that he could play in the World Cup. So and nobody's talking about that.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Right. So the rules are very bendy, they're very, very bendy rules.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

And again, that's the that's the thing about FIFA and the accusations of how corrupt that organization has been for as many years as it has been. But I really think the reaction is mostly because it was President Trump.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Interesting. Yeah, very well. I'm I'm sorry here that that uh that uh kind of Paul was put over over the whole thing, and it couldn't be just uh an enjoyable and it's it's been a great tournament.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

I mean, it really, really has. There's been I get messages and phone calls and text messages and Facebook messages from people who have never been soccer fans, yeah, who are into it, and and and again, I've been creating content a couple of times a day. By the way, folks, you can follow me on Facebook and Instagram, soccer all summer, uh under me, Clay Novak, C Novak author. Um, and and people have been, you know, chiming in and loving it and asking questions and and all those things, but this particular issue has just put a big black cloud over the whole tournament.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

It's pretty that's a shame. So I'm gonna be honest, the only thing that I have been watching, like video after video after video on TikTok, I don't even know if he's playing in this. He must be if they're paying this much attention to him. Uh, but the blonde guy early I'm a little obsessed with watching his videos. I I'm not yeah, yeah. Um, I don't know anything, I don't even know who he's playing for. I just I I know that the dad was a big name.

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Pro player, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Uh, I know his sister is hilarious. Uh like this is all TikTok life going on over there. That's it, that's all I know. And um, if I were to watch, so when's he playing? Because I'll watch that.

SPEAKER_03 42:56

He's Norway, and yeah, they made it through into the final eight. And so their match is, I think, are they playing? They're either playing Friday or Saturday. Uh second. Uh, France-Morocco is tomorrow. Okay, Friday is Spain, Belgium, and then Saturday there are two matches, Norway versus England. That's the one you want to watch, which will be on at 5 p.m. on Saturday, your time. Okay, and then after that at uh 9 p.m. East Coast is Argentina, Switzerland.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Wow, okay, all right. I would I would like to see that. I just I find him highly entertaining, and of course, you know they're awesome.

SPEAKER_03 43:39

The whole Norway team has been they've like embraced their Viking, like they have Viking script and Viking numbers, like old Nordic script on the back of their jerseys, and yeah, they're doing this Viking row when they win. And it they're they're awesome, they're a great team to watch, and they're a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

So cool. Yeah, I love Norwegians. I just I could look at them all day. I just want to look at them. Norway, like Chuck. About polar opposites here, but Norwegian is such a bizarre track to take on this, but just go with me, guys. Norwegians and Samoans are I could look at them all day and never get tired. They're just so magnificent looking. Like, yeah. So yeah, random. Sorry, guys. It was so random and took us off track. I mean, it's kind of my job here. Kind of my job. All right. So that's very interesting. Um, all that stuff. And yeah, I don't have too much of an opinion. I don't know. Can I cast an opinion on it? I think I'm gonna agree with you. Uh, it would have been better if Trump didn't get involved. I I think, you know, and and I would say that for anyone outside of the organization, nobody outside the organization should have any kind of agree.

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Right? Whether it's politicians, celebrities, whatever. Nobody should be able to influence that. I think that should be its own little island. They make their own rules and and all of that. There you go. I weighed in. All right, let's weigh in on something else.

Senate Candidate Scandal And Party Morals

SPEAKER_01 45:07

This guy, this guy, Plattner. Uh so, right. I mean, right? Uh you could have called this in your sleep, right? Like this did not even take much thought whatsoever. Um, so Grant, if for whoever doesn't know, Grant Platner, the progressive main Senate candidate, is under pressure to drop out after serious. I mean, like the other stuff was pretty serious too, guys. Um, but after serious sexual misconduct allegations on top of earlier controversies involving a Nazi-linked tattoo and disturbing, super disturbing past online posts. I mean, you know, this whole thing, it's so again, predictable, first of all. Uh, one of the most telling things that I have seen in this that kind of sums it all up, just encapsulates the entire left mindset was um the cackling hens of the view. I don't know if you saw this, but the cackling hens of the view, uh, in particular, Sonny, how do you pronounce her last name? Hoisten. Hosting Sonny Hosten um flat out said, yeah, we know, we know he's um, he's a homophobe, he's a liar, he's um abusive. Like he's went down the entire list and said, Yeah, we know that he's all of those things, but she literally said the word, but we really need him in this seat because we've got to fight Trump and his, you know, his people. This, I mean, talk about the the absolute morally corrupt mentality you have to have to say, yeah, we know that he's pretty much a full-on garbage human with no redeeming qualities. We think he's a monster, we think he is literally the worst other than Trump, because Trump just exists. And it's okay that he's all of these things, but we're gonna set that aside because we need him. That is the left mentality. They don't care.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

This is um, they're starting to care because this is an actual rape allegation from his ex-girlfriend, and there is like significant levels of proof to this. So she has text messages about it, her therapist has notes about it. Like, there is a plenty of evidence that this happened, and and it's oh, by the way, not long, not all that long ago, 2021. Um, ex-girlfriend accusation that he broke into her apartment and rap and raped her. Um, and that, and listen, she's also a left loony as well. And she said, I have held back, you know, um saying anything about this because I agree with his politics, and I think that you know, he should like she said the same thing Sonny Hoston said, like, yeah, I know he's a horrible human being, but you know, this is it's important for him to win. But you know, so this has now come out, so it's and the the DNC is like at odds, you know, on on whether or not he should drop out, but they're rapidly approaching. I think it's the 18th. What's today? Today's the eighth. Oh, by the way, folks, Wednesday, July 8th, uh is when we're recording. But the 18th, so they've got 10 days where he can drop out and they can replace him. Um, and so they've got to make a decision real quick. Now, two things about that. One, uh, he is evidently trying to stick his nose in there and pick the person that replaces him. And the the Democratic Party of Maine or whoever it is, uh, is basically telling him, first things first, you need to get out of the way and shut up. Then we'll figure out who's coming in behind you. But this is Kamala Harris all over again.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

Whoever hasn't won any primaries, right? Hasn't won anything at all. They're gonna be put in the seat, you know. So this was a win-win for them. Either they backed him and he got elected, or he imploded and they replaced him with whoever they wanted to anyway. This is Joe Biden part two.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

This is that absolutely, absolutely. They had their backup plan, they had their backup plan ready. And, you know, like you said, whatever, whichever way the wind blew, they were just gonna go with it because as long as they had somebody in there that they could control, pull the little puppet strings, tell them to dance monkey dance, uh, say what we want you to say, do what we want you to do. And they're like, Yeah, okay, cool. And you know, this guy, yeah, he doesn't matter. I mean, he's gonna be um, you know, he's gonna be uh the the newspaper at the bottom of you know somebody's birdcage. That's the equivalent of you know where he'll end up essentially because he's meaningless to them. Um, but you know, to to me, for me, the biggest tell about the mentality of of the Democrat Party is is this to add the word, to use the sentence to say he's um he's a liar, he's uh misogynist, he's an alleged rapist, he's uh Nazi um loving person, he's uh anti-Semite, like all the entire list, which is like pretty freaking long. Yeah and then to say the word but there's no but. There's there's a period at the end of that sentence and to turn around and walk away. But for these people, there's a a but. Give me a break. So gross, so gross. Anyone who uh is calling themselves a democrat right now and knows all of this, if has followed this whole thing, and is justifying this guy with the Yabba Trump, you lost all ground. Any tiny little sliver of ground you might have had is completely eroded, it's gone. You should be ashamed of yourself. That's that. That's all I got on that. Uh, what else we got? Here

Iran Escalation And NATO Defense Spending

SPEAKER_01 51:29

we go. The Ayatollah funeral calls for jihad and vengeance. What a surprise. I feel like the heading for everything in this show should be called What a Surprise, right? Go ahead. You know I'm making you start this.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Yeah, part of the the ceasefire that was negotiated under, you know, that where the MOU was supposed to be turned into an actual agreement that we talked about two weeks ago. And remember, two weeks ago, we were hoping that we would never have to talk about Iran again. And we also both said that there was no way that that was happening.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Um, so while the MOU was supposed to be turned negotiation was continuing to turn it into a formal agreement. Um, part of that was to allow the nation of Iran to hold a funeral for the Ayatollah, right? To have their national celebration for him and blah blah blah blah blah. So of course you get that many radicals together, and of all of the things are gonna happen, specifically, you know, people calling for jihad, people calling for revenge against the United States, including Americans, by the way. There were there were influent American influencers over there.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yes, I'm forgetting that guy's name, but I hope to keep him over there, stay over there, loser.

SPEAKER_03 52:41

Choose to forget that. But yeah, and then of course, as soon as that is over with, and as soon as you know the calls for jihad are out, and you know, everybody's Al Akbar and all those things, um, you know, they start they start the war over with. They start over again. They started firing on commercial ships, yeah, right? Which even NATO has stepped in and said, Okay, like you guys, you know, you guys have stepped over the line. So they started firing on commercial ships, and you know, CENCOM did what CENCOM does. So they launched and they hit 90 targets in one night, uh, including air defense, drone sites, all kinds of things, radar sites, small boats. They, I mean, they blew up as everything they could find. Um, and then they did it again 24 hours later through the next period of darkness overnight. So um, and then President Trump, which, you know, this'll a little bit transition into our next topic, but President Trump at NATO, right? He just went to the big NATO conference in Europe, and in his very first press conference, he said, listen, the ceasefire is done. I'm tired of dealing with these people. They're not, they're not uh negotiating in good faith. Um, you know, they hit us, we hit them back 10 times harder, which is true in this case.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

Um, but he said, There, this is this is done. We're done with this. And so here's what's gonna get sticky in the next few weeks is that there's gonna be calls from Congress that if President Trump is gonna do this, he's gonna have to have a formal declaration of war from Congress. They're gonna stick to this one. Um there's enough there's enough rhinos slash republicans in there that are are gonna back the war declaration that he is either gonna have to make this formal or or he's gonna have to stop it. Because they're not gonna allow this to continue to go on based on the past, where are we at? Probably 75 days now.

SPEAKER_04 54:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:34

Um, they're not gonna let this keep going. So um that was his that was his one of his first interviews, and he got tons of backing from NATO, interestingly enough.

SPEAKER_00 54:44

Very interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

That NATO Secretary General, right? The guy in charge of NATO was like, yes, Iran stepped over the line. No, they shouldn't have been firing on commercial ships. Yes, the U.S. is justified in their retaliation. There should be more of this, right? And so that, you know, Iran is Iran is Iran. You and I talked about it. These people are they're never, it's never in good faith.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Never, never, never.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

They there's nothing trustworthy about them. You should never assume that that what they're saying is true, and everything that they're doing has a disingenuous purpose behind it. This is wait, and everybody looks at this, and then you know, you have Hamas digging tunnels. I can promise you right now, Hamas is redigging tunnels and moving munitions around for their next attack into Israel. That's absolutely right, no question about it. And and I ran exactly the same way. They wanted to cease fire long enough to bury the Ayatollah and fire things right back up again.

SPEAKER_01 55:41

So the only thing that they've been honest about is that when they say that they want to kill us all, yeah, through America, yes, yeah. Like that's that's the only thing that they're being that's the only honest thing that has ever come from them 100% in the whole history of all of this. And um, what do you think the timeline is here? Like um what's next, basically?

SPEAKER_03 56:08

Um well, is Congress in or out of session? I think they're out of session.

SPEAKER_00 56:14

I think they are right.

SPEAKER_03 56:15

So they would have to call an emergency session for them all to come back uh to get them in for a vote, uh, in which case President Trump's got at least that much time to keep doing what he's doing, him and Secretary Heggs. And so I would bet I he will probably be unencumbered for two weeks, I is my guess. So he'll have two weeks to keep doing what he's doing before Congress comes back and they start demanding for uh a discussion about a war declaration, which again, folks, hasn't happened since World War II. So um, in which case, in the next two weeks, we'll figure out how to do what we need to do and then figure out how to extend it for another two weeks, yeah, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, um, that's that's my guess is that we've we've probably got two weeks of this. Ex folks expect gas to go back up, uh expect prices to go back up, all of those things to happen. Uh that'll the markets will react to to the last 36 hours. Um, all of those things are gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 57:21

Yeah. Oh boy. But well, we can't say we didn't see it coming, right?

SPEAKER_03 57:26

Yeah, but at NATO, here's the good news like President Trump, with the exception of Spain, got all of NATO to agree, you know, for generations. We couldn't the the agreement was 2.5% of your GDP had to be, you know, as a member of NATO, 2.5% of your GDP had to be dedicated to defense, you had to spend it on defense until not that long ago. Nobody but the US was abiding by that. Yes, right. Uh and we've talked about that a few times on this show. This NATO conference, everybody agreed to five percent. How about that? With the exception of Spain, um, but and and allocated a little differently. So three point five percent mandated to defense, like legitimate defense. So yeah, people, equipment, bullets, whatever. 1.5% could be allocated to defense-related infrastructure and cyber protection. Um, okay. So it's a 3.5 to 1.5 split, but everybody in in NATO agreed to a 5% GDP spending on defense because I think that they all had that wake-up call uh with Ukraine that they realized that nobody was prepared to fight that war without the United States. And when we all gave them the finger, they all realized that they were screwed. So talk about them. Yeah, it's pretty interesting that they jumped to five percent.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

Yeah, very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

I think it's by 2035. So I think there's like a slow increase over the next nine years or so to get us there.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

Oh, it'll be like a gradual or okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Well, it's about time everybody starts pulling their weight, right?

SPEAKER_04 59:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Enough of uh enough. I mean what Trump has said all along, enough of uh, you know, the US foot in the bill for everything and everybody just skating by and we don't get anything out of it. We get nothing, nothing out of it. So yeah, no, good. All right, well, there's some there's some good stuff coming out of that, right? Yeah.

Charlie Kirk Hearing And Conspiracy Claims

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Brother, all right. Uh the topic I'm dreading talking about, uh the Charlie Kirk trial. Well, preliminary hearing really is uh what it is. Uh let me start just by kind of giving the overview here. The plint preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson accused of murdering Charlie Kirk is underway in Utah. Prosecutors are presenting video, DNA, and motive evidence. This is not just a trial story, it is a national mirror, which it is. I mean, we're just yeah. Um, so the key facts of this are Reuter's reports. Prosecutors showed video that they said places Robinson in a sniper position on a Utah Valley University rooftop. He faces seven charges, including aggravated murder and prosecutors' plan to seek the death penalty. The defense is challenging DNA methods and suggests doubt about whether someone else may have been involved. Um yeah, so I am I I'm not I have not been glued to my uh screen watching all of this. Uh I am getting the highlights, probably much like uh a lot of you are too. Um I saw the video, I'm sure you did too, Clay, of the judge watching the uh the watching the moment. And uh his his reaction, you know, uh I'm sure for some including myself, and I'm sure for so many other people who were unfortunate enough to uh have to have seen that video and seen that moment. And of course, of course, of course, the the people that were there who saw that in real time happen, uh, my heart goes out to them so much because you don't unsee it. You don't, you just you never you never not see that uh in your head. And uh my heart actually really broke. I I cried. What a surprise. I cried. Of course I cried. I cried, I cried for the judge because now he can't unsee it. And I know he's a big boy, he's probably seen lots of terrible things, but his gut instinctive natural reaction that it was uh if for anybody who has not seen his his reaction, he was watching the the replay of the the video, the moment that Charlie was shot, and um the moment that it happened. You're not obviously we weren't watching it, they don't show it to us. He's watching it on a screen, like a laptop or whatever. And um, he visibly jump and and flinches and and kind of like you know, tried to very quickly just as quickly recover and and you know keep that kind of stone face, but your reaction is reaction, you're a human being, and and you know that's what happened. Um, so that in itself was gut-wrenching, knowing that uh Erica and Charlie's parents and you know, loved ones. I know John Don Jr., Trump Jr. was uh there also. Uh knowing that these people are, you know, reliving this horror, this absolute nightmare, while that person uh is sitting there laughing and just having a good old time. I don't think he's really having a good old time, but uh just sitting there uh, you know, emotionless really for the most part is is basically what they're saying. Um it's just just awful. It's just the whole thing is just awful. Um, what what's going on right now is all of the things that are coming out, which you know, those of us who have not been on the Candace Owens crazy train and all of the other people like her that have been dragging Erica Kirk through the mud and turning point USA uh staff, workers, people through the mud and back again, dragging them down to hell is where she's been dragging them. Um, and all of the things that she has, you know, questioned. You know, she's just I'm just asking questions is her favorite line to say. Um everything is now coming to light. You know, she has said that she didn't believe that he was there. She didn't believe it. She didn't believe I don't believe that he was there. I don't believe Tyler Robinson was there at all. Well, he's on video now, uh at multiple four plus, I think, different times, uh timestamps uh on video. He was there. Yeah, he was there. DNA evidence, all of the things that are being presented are in direct conflict with everything that she has been saying all along. And you know, and these people, these people on the candy crazy train, um, you know, they're just gonna dig, they're just gonna dig their heels and they're they're just they're already doing it. They're they're um, you know, doubling down. They don't want to believe anything. Oh, that evidence is playing. Oh, it's all a conspiracy. Everybody was in on it. Do you know how many people have to have to be kept quiet and like the odds of that many people to be able to keep this, like you're talking about the medical examiner, you're talking about law enforcement, you're talking about bystanders, I mean you're talking witnesses, you're you're the number of people that would have to make this whole strung together theory, half-ass theory that she is strung together over months and months now, um, and changes daily, basically, when something, you know, disproves something that she says. Um, I I'm so I've been so incredibly disgusted with what I've seen from my fellow conservatives that are on the opposite side of this topic. I have never witnessed such deplorable, disgusting behavior and comments uh and treatment of another human being from people who are supposed to be better than the other side. Um, they should be ashamed of themselves. I don't, you know, as a Christian, I'm supposed to forgive people. Um, boy, boy, I gotta tell you. I gotta tell you, I had a really hard time. It is really, really hard. I am having a really hard time with that. Um, you know, the things that these people have said about them to me, about me for being in support, all of that stuff. Um, all I can say is may God have mercy on your souls, because you are going to need it when all of this is said and done. And I hope that you have the decency to feel the shame that you should feel. That's all I can say on it. So that's that's all I got on that one, Clay. What am I missing? Because you know I got to go the emotional route. So if I if I'm missing things that are important and factual and should be said, please, please do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:46

I I think this is, you know, it's preliminary hearing. So I think a lot of people are losing sight of the fact that this is not there's no jury in there. There's no this is about um submission of evidence. This is all very procedural. Uh and and a lot of these things are what um whatever this kid's name is, I can never remember the the defendant, the accused is trying. It's about what he is trying to keep out of the trial, and what the prosecution is trying to submit into evidence for the trial. And so, yes, the film footage is important, the DNA is important, all of those things are important. Um, but also, you know, the defense did not want a camera in the courtroom, right? And for these very reasons, right? They don't want the emotional reaction. Um, and so that's what we're getting, which is good because I I think that we no matter what, no matter what our rule of law says, you can't remove emotion from this, right? You can't you should be, we should all be emotional when it comes to a murder case, right? To the but in a controlled sense, you've got to be able to take the evidence, look at the evidence, evaluate it, see what's viable, legal, all of those things. But we could we should never lose the humanity of something like this, which is exactly what the defense wants. Yes, they want this to be dehumanized as much as humanly possible. Because if the if the jury is disassociated, if they're unemotional, if they look at this too clear very clinically, then I think the defense has a chance. But if you look at this with any kind of humanity whatsoever, um, then that's you know where this goes out the window. So um again, preliminary portions of this entire process, which is gonna go on for a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:37

And and that's where we're at. So I think you hear thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Yeah, I I think um I think what's very interesting, very telling also is that the things that from what I'm hearing, the defense is not really arguing any of the points uh or any of the actual evidence, but they're they're trying to everything is on technicalities, right? On procedural stuff, you know, which is I know is very standard. I know that the I realize that that's a standard tactic for them to do. Um, but you know, it's it's also just it's just interesting because the the the facts and the evidence and the proof of things is pretty, you know, um clear, I think, you know, based on what we're hearing and seeing so far. So that their only angle is to go for the technicalities, you know, procedural stuff, um tells you tells you a lot in itself. So um, yeah, I just um I I my my prayers go out to the family uh and the friends and the people that actually knew Charlie and uh were a part of his life, and uh, you know, for the rest of us who who have been deeply impacted by uh by his life and uh by his death. Yeah. So I hope that justice is served and whatever that looks like, uh, that's what I pray for. So yeah. And that is all

Wrap Up And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_01 1:10:00

I got. Clay, what do you got for everybody?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:03

Um that's that's all we got for the night, folks. I mean, we uh, you know, next week will be more of the same. And we'll yeah, Elsa and I will figure out when our break's gonna be, but uh we do have a summer break coming up, and as always, we appreciate you guys tuning in. You can find me on you know, uh Facebook, LinkedIn, uh, Instagram, even on X. Um, if you're enjoying uh the World Cup or if you're a cursory soccer fan, check out my series Soccer All Summer. And I'm having my first book signing on the 18th of uh July in Oswego, Illinois at the Barnes and Noble, where my first few books I will be signing. Uh, you can check out my social media pages for those as well. And as always, from me, keep moving, keep shooting.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

I love it. Congratulations. That's awesome. Those are fun to do. All right, guys, we will see you next week. Thank you again for watching and for engaging with us in the comments section. Uh, let us know what you think, and we'll see you next week. Take care. You've got a story worth sharing. Now it's time to tell it well. Whether you're an author, entrepreneur, influencer, or podcast guest, stepping in front of the camera.