Lovett & Tim Miller DESTROY Vivek Ramaswamy's Response To Backlash of His Attack Ad

the nba's back on prize picks pick a shootout in the west and a boards battle in the east on prize picks you can make all the picks you want all in the same app and now prize picks is available nationwide so what are you waiting for download the prize picks app today and use code spotify that's code spotify to get 150 installing in lineups if you win your first five dollar lineup prize picks run your game must be present in certain states visit prize picks.com for restrictions and details hey everybody welcome back to speech center and welcome back to tim miller tim it has been too long way too long way too long and you know i don't know i need more love it in my life i'm glad you're here today because i have actually one of our topics that i think is uh well suited for uh you and me the neil bush endorsement that's right the neil bush endorsement james salarico in texas i didn't even yes i would love your comment on that but i was thinking more of what's been going on in ohio and the the the moral core of of what's left of the republican party it was great having nate silver here uh but uh you know here here we're back with speech center classic okay is that is there a competition now between me and nate is he is he potentially coming from my slot um you know here's the thing speech center co-host i don't want that in your head i don't want you thinking that that's a possibility whatever happens with this show happens with this show but i want you to show up for you well we should just do a little market research in the meantime and commenters please let us know who you'd like to stay on this is yeah perfect i'd be interested in your thoughts perfect on today's show it's the home stretch of the midterm so let's get right to it here's trump in north carolina feeling compelled to share what he thinks of ohio senator john husted's uh corpus so he's over here i'm over here and i'm studying his body i've never studied the body of a man before it's not my thing nothing wrong with it of course nothing i always proceeded by saying nothing wrong but it's never been my thing to be honest with you but i looked at his ass and then i looked at his legs and it might i said his ass is like it's like a pile of muscle then i looked at his legs and i said man his feet are big then i looked at his shoulders and i tapped him on the shoulder and it actually hurt my hand it was like a piece of steel and he said this guy is a monster who hasn't fallen for a mid-white guy you know yeah i've been there just and also just not just your your usual body parts he's not just an ass or a face man you know he's he's he's interested in shoulders he's interested in legs feet he's a foot guy have you seen john husted's ass have you taken a look at john husted's ass it's pretty normal it's just a butt i don't think there's anything remarkable about it normal minus maybe yeah sure sure like for example i bumped into westmore when he was in joggers once and i examined his body and you can understand i can't even a straight man would just be overwhelmed there's been a lot of conversation about the way that john ossoff is being uh photographed and uh recorded at his events with a shot that seems meant to accentuate uh his features and john ossoff nothing against him he's got kind of a you know kind of a nerdy you know kind of a nerd that started to go to crossfit it's kind of a nice you know he's looking nice he's keeping it tight what's happening when you kind of just look at like a 55 year old guy that's like right in the middle of the bell curve and are thinking all i can think about is just sticking my nose in between his vast cheeks so i have two i have two uh substantive thoughts about this okay thought number one husted isn't particularly attractive he's actually very ordinary as you're pointing out but he's uh he has a look that i do think trump has uh strived for his entire life he admires it he has always sought it which is a kind of waspy vaguely new england or elite goldman sachs yale style of man you could have cast him as the bully in like an 80s prep school yes movie and he'd look comfortable just as an extra right you could have cast him as the bully in like an 80s prep school absolutely you could have cast it who's dead as an extra if you casted trump as an extra you'd look at him like something's not right about that and i sympathize i went to williams college the kind of place where you'd see a husted style guy i have a similarity trump is a an outer borough guy i'm a long island guy like you get that idea of like he tries to put on the suit and he never gets it quite right he tries to do the hair he never gets it quite right he's always a bit of an outsider it's like part of what has driven him and he doesn't look like one of those guys and his hair never looked like that because he partly because he was balding and partly he just didn't come to him naturally and so he has this like reverence deep inside of his psyche for that sort of guy that to me is where it's coming from there the second is and this is i would say less substantive you know like in there there there are different kinds of aging and deterioration and there are certain forms of it in which emotions become much more forward and present they're not as able to be you're not as disciplined john bainer crying all the time john bainer crying all the time and i just wonder if with Trump is as he gets older is like is he just losing a little bit of the what little barrier he had but he's just a little bit overcome with finding this guy fucking hot our bi king Donald Trump the brain barrier what was it the brain there's like uh there's situations of this during COVID like well there's the blood brain barrier the blood brain barrier yeah maybe it's weakening maybe this all started because he was forced to campaign with Ken Paxton and he was so overcome with disgust at how like physically repulsive Ken Paxton is that he could not help himself but bring it up even in endorsing him and then that kind of started him down this path that now when he goes to campaign for other people it's like this relief that at least I am not next to the hideous gargoyle that is Ken Paxton all right now before we get to the biggest midterm political story of the week I do want to talk about Marco Rubio who answered questions about the Starshield Starlink slowdown in Ukraine this is the internet service provided by Elon Musk's company there are reports that the internet in Ukraine slowed dramatically to the point where it was harming Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russia that has led to a an argument over who is responsible and this moment with Marco Rubio the Secretary of State the president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Sparshield and by Mr. Musk that's a private company the president doesn't run that company and can't direct that company to do anything by the way we're no longer going to be defensive about this topic okay because with the United States if it were not for the assistance of the United States including under the Trump administration there would be no Ukraine right now Ukraine as a sovereign state would not exist that doesn't mean the bravery of the Ukrainian fighters should not be highlighted because they have absolutely very bravely and fought for their country and done extraordinary things with the aid that's been provided to them standing up to a much larger country but let's be clear there there would be no Ukraine today were it not for the assistance the United States has supplied Ukraine in the billions of dollars going back to the Biden administration and and going and through this administration as well is this a torture that you're putting me through it was reported that Elon Musk slowed down the internet and it was also reported that it was actually the U.S. government that caused the internet to slow down uh and that actually blaming Musk was misinformation then the U.S. government comes in and says actually we're not the ones responsible it was Musk that was responsible it's all a little bit uh confusing Tim what was your reaction rage rage Elon Musk is the largest donor to the president's campaign and Elon Musk was like shadow president for a while like the idea that Rubio is like well you know that was Mr. Musk's decision like it's just some other some guy you know it's like the it's like the middle manager at Verizon you know and like he's sorry that your 5G wasn't working that well and I don't you know I don't that's not really part of us like it wasn't that's not the situation we're in it is a government contractor and the government contractor is also the biggest donor to the president a former employee of the government so it's like their story is preposterous and yeah and if you take Marco at his word that he actually cares about the Ukrainian people then what a secretary of state and national security advisor and archivist would do if if the largest donor to the president was throttling you Ukraine's internet would be to call him up and say give him the fucking internet back right Elon basically he's not just responding on the Musk front he's saying look at all the things that we are doing for Ukraine of course we're still we are the reason Ukraine is still around and therefore you cannot accuse me of abandoning my morals yeah you know what else wouldn't exist without the assistance and the largesse of America secretary of state Marco Rubio he would be fucking living in Cuba like running errands as a fucking errand boy for his brother-in-law's drug dealer he'd be stuck on that island that we're currently starving and blockading and now he's sitting there being like well well Ukraine should be great what is it with these guys and being like oh you should be grateful you should be grateful to me because I'm so generous it's like you've done fucking nothing for the Ukrainian people Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives okay and we stopped giving aid when Trump came back in like we're giving it the same level that Biden did this administration is not the second Trump administration has not done anything in particular for the Ukrainians or added anything and by the way you know that if Joe Biden had been elected or Kamala had been elected. Marco would be out there talking about how we're not doing it up. Yes, that the critique that would have come from someone like Marco Rubio right now would have been basically something along the lines of Biden and the Biden administration, the Kamala Harris administration. They're afraid to change the status quo ante. They're afraid to do anything that is escalatory, which signals to Putin what his own limits are. And there would be an effort to say that they are being weak on Ukraine and failing on Ukraine on the Starlink front. Are you weak? Do you want Ukraine to have Starlink? Do you want Ukraine to be able to defend itself? Because, by the way, this isn't just a matter of communication. This Internet is how they can use drones to defend themselves, especially against attacks on civilians. And either you are being feckless and weak or you're getting what you want, which isn't. Did you see J.D. on, did you suffer through J.D. with Tony D. on Sunday? And Tony D. asked him about Abdul El-Sayed's criticism. The Iran war. And J.D. does this thing that he's like, well, it's easy to criticize what happened seven months ago. But like, where are you now? Yes. You did this. You got us into the stupid Iran war. Your donor is the one that throttled their Internet. You're the fucking secretary of state and national security advisor and vice president. You have agency. OK, like, but they don't want to engage on that. Right. They want like they want to exist in a meta discourse where they criticize the critics because that's a safe space. Pod Save America breaking news is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Let's be honest, ZipRecruiter is everywhere. Why? Because top talent is everywhere, too. Just like you, your ideal candidates are tuning into business, sports and podcasts just like this one. When these candidates hear all these ads, it increases the chances of them going to ZipRecruiter and responding to your job post. So ultimately, you meet them sooner. Of course, you can't meet them unless you go to ZipRecruiter.com slash crooked to try it for free. Once you post your job, ZipRecruiter's matching technology finds top talent quickly. And ZipRecruiter has a new feature that shows you the most interested qualified candidates first. So you meet them faster. No wonder four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. But you've got to go to ZipRecruiter.com slash crooked to post your job for free. Again, that ZipRecruiter.com slash crooked. Oh, and if you forget where to go, don't worry. You'll hear another ZipRecruiter ad soon enough. But let's land on what has been the biggest political news of the week, as I'm sure everyone watching this is aware of Vivek has gotten behind an ad against his opponent, a physician named Amy Acton, an ad that uses a two camera statement from Amy Acton's mother. Despite Ramaswamy knowing full well that Amy Acton was removed from her mother's home at age 12 due to sexual abuse that led to Amy Acton's mother's husband, Amy's stepfather, being charged with rape. Amy Acton's mother remained married to that man. They have apparently, according to reports, not actually seen each other since that day in court in 1978. Tim, I just, I wonder if you agree with this. In all my time following politics and all my time on this earth, I do believe this is the most disgusting ad I have ever seen. When this story first broke, I was like, this is upsetting. But like, I assume that this is just, it's going to be one of these things where they leak it. They like due to some MAGA influencer or whatever, and pretend like it wasn't theirs. Like we want to get this out of the ether. It was, it would have been a disgusting, desperate thing to do. And, but then as you would say today, like they don't know, they say, no, we're, we're putting this out on TV, $4 million. So the short answer to your question is yes. Yes. I can't even, I don't know what would even be comparable. So in the polling, uh, Vivek Ramaswamy, this sort of, uh, tech, uh, guy, deeply, uh, uh, discomforting personality, very hard to listen to or see just a very charmless, uh, person. This is their October surprise in their communication with the press about why they are putting money behind this as they, they found that it was effective with a subset of voters that they were trying to reach. Here's Vivek Ramaswamy, uh, defending his decision to run this ad. I would love for this race in this election. To be about the substantive issues that impact Ohioans. And unfortunately, Amy Acton has been hiding from those issues. She won't debate me. She doesn't allow cameras at her events. And I think her record of continuously, certainly during this campaign, I would say spreading some defamatory, disparaging lies about me and my family that does deserve to be scrutinized. I've never met Amy Acton, which is a regret. I wish I'd met at least my opponent. I've also never met her mother. She was not compensated. He has like the worst hair and sideburn combo that I've ever seen in my life. Right. Um, and he has a very unappealing face. Um, the substance of what he had to say was worse than the face, even though I would say, and, um, how do you do this as a human? Yeah. Like, you know, as a thing that I say, like as a human, how do you think that this is something that you can abide and sleep at night without becoming a total sociopath? And I do, you know, wonder like, what did the donors to Vivek think about their money being used for this? I'm sure some of them are okay with that, but like, there have to be some that it makes them feel a little icky that their money is being spent on this, you would think. But I don't, you know, Vivek's like, oh, she won't debate me. So then I can feature an ad with her monstrous abuser of a mother. I looked, the spokesperson, uh, uh, put her name to that statement. And I actually was like, let's look this person up. I wanted to see if they were on, on social media. And I was like, I couldn't find social media, but found that she's just a consultant, communications consultant for some kind of communication. I worked at some kind of communications firm and her bio was public. And in her bio, it says something about her participation in local charities in the region. And because this to me is so far beyond normal politics, I really was struck by that. This idea that like, Hey, like you've put your name on this statement. You shouldn't be doing that. Like repent, this is wrong. You're actually now you've, you've lost yourself in order to kind of help Vivek Ramaswamy, a completely mediocre and uninspiring person in the home stretch of his flailing campaign. Like repent, wake up. Do you know who, uh, Vivek's, uh, presidential campaign spokesperson was? Uh, who was Vivek's? Tricia McLaughlin. So he does, uh, he does kind of draw these, it's going to flies to honey for Vivek finding the spokespeople who will defend the indefensible people that know Tricia was the DHS spokeswoman under Kristi Noem. If you're a PR person or you're a campaign operative, um, you don't have to like completely, you know, check your judgment or morals at the door. You don't, there's no like kind of special bonus. You are helping somebody that wants to be the governor. You're not defending, you know, somebody who can't afford an attorney. Like you're choosing to be a consultant or to go take this job. And I think that like this idea that, that being in a political consulting, this is really a very Republican thing. It's funny. The democratic problem is like the total opposite, right? Where like every, every word they should have a, have the say on every single thing that the campaign does. Right. And so I think that's, I think that's, I think that's, I think this is my identity. I am, I, this is my morality is your morality or else. Yeah. But so like there is some, there is a healthy middle ground here, but like on the Republican side now, it has become like this comforting thing where like, you just get to act like a sociopath with impunity. Cause it's like, well, that's just part of the job. Like whatever it's campaign politics, it's rough and tumble, you know? Here's what I have been unable to stop thinking about since I saw the ad and that the campaign was going to be behind it, which is, first of all, I don't think it's going to work. I think it's a terrible, I think it shows terrible political judgment, man. I just think on points, it's a bad idea. It connects back to Trump to me in this way. And I'm curious what you think about this, which is basically Donald Trump represents the, the perfect embodiment of I Donald Trump do not have as part of my identity, any spirit of integrity or fair dealing or honesty. Uh, so my validation must be external because if I lose, I can't say I lost while being righteous. I'm not righteous. I just lost. And so I better fucking win no matter what. And I should win at all costs. The same thing then happens to people that embrace Trump. If you're someone like JD Vance or Marco Rubio or Vivek Ramaswamy, if you've gotten behind the Trump project, you have given up on this idea that you care about character. You may claim you do, but you know, you haven't, you know what you're behind. You can lie to the world, but you can't lie to yourself. And so therefore you now need to win at all costs, right? Because you no longer believe that it is better to lose with dignity because you've already given up your dignity. You don't believe in winning with integrity because you don't have any integrity anymore. And so you better fucking win because you no longer can validate yourself with a sense of who you are. You have to win. But the other part of it is they then lose perspective. They then start to assume everybody must be this way because that's their bubble, but they're not. And so they think, oh, this is going to work, but they don't, they, they've lost insight. They've lost a connection to how people actually are. So they get kind of bullying and vindictive. They think people want to see the raids on the street. They think they, people want to see trans people bullied, right? They like, this becomes a political weakness too. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. And I do think that the political side and the misjudgment Like you've seen that, like you've seen it on, the immigration stuff and in other and other things i do and i think that they misjudge the other side too this happens both ways and in various things but like you know i was watching ben shapiro today there's a ben shapiro thing about this he's like well the democrats turned out put out videos from robert f kennedy's family talking about him how is this any different it's like what yeah i was uh are you a fucking idiot like are you a baby you have a baby brain like it's different in a million ways yeah the uh the uh the performatively obtuse factory was was working 24 hours a day can i get one other observation on this stuff about jd we've let jd go yeah let's get back to jd whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern what is my concern is who's going to govern the next generation of american government but i have to admit that i'm a little bit disgusted when i see republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional democrats and other democrats want to do to the united states of america this has been sticking on me all day which is um to the degree to which this is a morality play in which it's hillbilly elegy like and amy acton is jd and jd is his abusive mother like like he wrote a whole book about this about like about how a person about himself like how a person can like rise above their station and how above like i know some of there was some cultural rot you know in his community that led to drug abuse and led to abusers and yes and the challenges facing this community and like the way out of it was what he did basically and it was a very self-important book because it's jd look this is maybe a little too much psychoanalyzing of a person from afar and i just i asked you don't want to put jd on the couch don't want to put jd on the couch but but i do a little bit because i actually think he's never on the couch and this is we see him on his couch because he does not in therapy so we see his couch and there was a moment where he he really his it's a line he goes back to all the time like they're not showing enough gratitude they are not showing enough gratitude right he often it's people of color it's immigrants he he said that about abdul that abdul is a weasel who's not showing enough gratitude he was raised by his step-grandparents but seems to resent white native-born americans abdul is native-born same as jd raised by grandparents same as jd ambitious very smart right wanted a big life they both wanted big lives and they're seeking their big lives they're they're rising above their upbringing and when vance sees abdul doing that he says all these things like he's ungrateful he has a a disdain or some version of a disdain for for americans and i think where are you getting that from my guy where are you getting that from and it's from himself it's from himself he feels that it is amazing to watch this project and kind of accidentally let his contempt slip out all the time can't stop it i don't know and i think we've discussed this before and we'll continue to because it's it's a fascinating uh and depressing character study of somebody's probably going to be the republican nominee next and it's just like there's something about this story in particular where like it's just so on the nose it's like it's like you're defending the mother it's like it's like the the i i know that him and his mother have made up now but like the the person that was creating the challenges that he had to overcome in the book was his mother right and like now we have like even a more nefarious caricatured version of the same type of mother that amy acton was able to overcome and he's like you know my mother at a point what a show what a show tim it's good to see you vivek ramaswamy in truly a very tough category becoming the most despicable figure of 2026. do you think he knows do you think he can even see what he's allowed himself to become or is he just so far gone i don't believe so no no i don't think so in this case i think that i think he needs to do a lot of work a lot of a lot of internal work tim this will be our last conversation before the midterms any final thoughts for this last pre-election speech center on college game day there is this is a football show yeah yeah it comes on before the college football games every saturday they have a thing where they you know all the guys predict the games and you know at the bottom if everybody predicts the same you know if everybody is like george is going to win this weekend then it's like a jinx you know and auburn ends up winning which we saw this past saturday i don't want to do that here on this speech center i don't want to do that i i have optimism i think particularly if you are if you are you're living in red america like this might be the best chance you got for a while to get a w in some of these places so i think it's important that we you know everybody run through the tape call their friends do what we can to try to uplift some some really a really good slate of democratic candidates particularly the senate that we i can hang out with andy andrews in south carolina she's awesome yeah i don't think it's crazy to think that she could win there could be an incredible move towards democrats incredible antipathy towards these republican candidates and we could just barely get close enough but not get there in a couple of very red states and have the same thing happen in a bunch of blue states it first of all wouldn't change that there was a genuine revulsion as to what's happening with trump and it wouldn't change the fact that even if we do win uh we are in a difficult slog for the foreseeable future and i think it's a good thing that we're in a difficult slog for the foreseeable future so uh i am very hopeful but i also i do think i i appreciate him you putting it in perspective and that speech center check out tim on the bulwark go follow tim everywhere you follow him around follow tim around the internet appreciate you buddy love you we'll see you soon you when an intruder approaches a home they expect a camera what they don't expect stop this is simply safe police are on the way using smart ai cameras live us-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds don't just record a break-in stop it from ever happening plan starting around a dollar a day right now get 60 off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe.com spotify 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at 49.99 a month visit simply safe.com licenses for alarm license information starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling 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