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What's up, Los Angeles?
Welcome to Love It or Leave It.
Live from Hollywood.
I'm John Leather.
We've got a great show for you tonight.
But first, let's get into it.
What a week.
It's been an okay week.
Trump kicked things off this week by suggesting that Iran could go ahead and take out L.A.
and San Diego for all he cares.
It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.
They could take out a city.
Let them take out Los Angeles.
Let them take out San Diego.
That's it.
We're trying, said an exasperated Iran on Hour 7 at the LAX Horseshoe.
Experts fear Iran could launch a bomb as big as Alexander Iñárritu's Digger.
I feel bad about that joke.
I want to see Digger.
I want to see the movie.
I really am excited about it.
Speaking of disappointing launches, FBI Director Kash Patel got engaged to country singer Alexis Wilkins this weekend.
Nice to see, Kash.
He's in a serious long-term relationship, as opposed to his usual puppy love.
Tweeted Wilkins, along with a photo of the two, went and got the law involved, replied Patel.
You called the cops.
That dog is a liar.
A New York Times-Siena poll this week showed Democrats either tied or ahead in five reliably Republican states,
with Democratic Senate candidates leading in Texas and Alaska.
I just need to say this on tape in case Democrats get trounced.
Producer Bill, bring me today's newspaper.
I don't believe those polls for a second.
We got it?
Great.
That's done.
Guys, I'm pretty excited about these polls.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed also announced that Barack Obama would be joining him on the campaign trail in Detroit,
which is a big vote of confidence because Obama doesn't like to be seen with losers.
At least that's what he said when he RSU'd.
He said, "No to my wedding."
Meanwhile, over in Ohio, GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy tried to pick up a large child, and nearly dropped him.
Here's what I know about kids.
If you're going to pick up a kid, you've got to be 1,000% sure you can lift that kid.
You should never be hitting a personal best with a stranger's child, and not to defend Vivek,
but that boy was not given a medal.
That's right.
He didn't get any help, just a limp sack of potatoes.
Exactly as we discussed, said Antifa's midwestern commander,
depositing $10,000 into the boy's Roblox account.
Here's President Trump on Saturday also campaigning in Ohio.
Just get out and vote.
If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big.
And we're going to shove it up their ass, okay?
Which, as we all know, feels bad, shouted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
The leader of the free world continued.
You know, when I see that telefrico in Texas, so he's been a vegan all his life.
He's campaigned on it.
He's a vegan, vegan, vegan.
I didn't even know what the hell a vegan was.
A vegan is vegetables.
A vegan is eating a piece of lettuce all day long.
You laugh at Trump not knowing how to say vegan, but I know that when he mispronounces words,
it's just a sign of how much of his vocabulary is born of a lifetime love of reading.
Anyway, Telerico.
We'll feel right at home in the Senate where there are plenty of vegetables, like Mitch McConnell.
On Monday, Vice President J.D. Vance defended the Trump administration using taxpayer dollars
to run campaign ads that promote Trump, which it's calling PSAs.
Do you think the PSAs are a good use of taxpayer dollars,
even in a midterm cycle where Republicans have a major cash advantage?
I don't think there's anything unusual or unorthodox about it.
I'm sure that some people probably don't like it.
But if you look at the message of those advertisements, they're not partisan.
They're not, you know, it's not like we're advocating for a particular candidate.
We're trying to tell a story, I think, about how great the United States of America is.
This is a great example of Vance being an intellectual zamboni for Trump.
But as a reminder, this is the ad that is not partisan and just telling a story about how great America is.
We will drive out the globalists.
We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists.
We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.
Classic public service announcement.
Only you can prevent forest fires.
This is your brain on drugs.
We will drive out the globalists and destroy the fake news.
And Trump demanded that you pay for this, even though he is sitting on a $400 million war chest.
I haven't seen a chest that big since Christine Ohm's husband.
Meanwhile, Politico this week shared new leaked audio of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton saying this.
The campaign and like what issues are going to matter because it's all coming, you know, from D.C.
Poor Ken.
It's like, damn, did D.C. force you to cheat on your wife?
And I'll tell you one thing these fancy D.C. consultants would advise.
Don't tell Texas voters that you're controlled by D.C. consultants.
Of course, the reason Ken Paxton is struggling in Texas, according to that new New York Times poll,
is that when asked which candidate has good character, 55% choose James Taylor Rico and fewer than a third choose Ken Paxton.
But Paxton has a plan to address voters' concerns about his values.
He's going to bully pediatricians.
Yes, Paxton is right now investigating doctors, suggesting they pressure parents to immunize their kids
because of bribes from big pharma and the insurance companies, which I buy.
You know, pediatricians, ask any of your doctor friends.
The kids in medical school who chose pediatrics are the fucking slimiest, greediest doctors of the bunch.
You see a toddler, they see dollar signs.
How much?
Well, let's just say doctors in Texas can legally. legally charge an administrative fee of $13.75 for vaccinating a child.
Ka-ching.
Does that cover the price of medical-grade freezers and a backup generator and an insurance policy
and the upfront cost of tens of thousands of dollars worth of vaccines
and the salaries of the staff to administer those shots and the administrative work
to seek reimbursement from insurance companies?
No, of course not, as one pediatrician told Kaiser Health News.
The goal, this doctor said, is not to lose money on the vaccines.
But she said it from her. yacht off of Corsica.
But this isn't stopping Ken Paxton from hounding doctors demanding 10 years of records
and any, quote,
reward, financial benefit, bonus, discount, return, rebate, or other consideration for vaccinating children.
One example, a vaccine supplier brought cookies to the office.
Paxton responded by demanding even more records.
As a result, that pediatrician who runs a small clinic in central Texas is considering giving up her practice.
Here's a photo from the Times.
They bring the vaccines to the kids.
On a little tray with monkeys on it.
This evil doctor must be stopped.
But of course, Ken Paxton cannot accept that pediatricians,
who have all seen what happens to kids who get sick and even die from preventable illnesses,
would provide vaccinations even when doing so is not profitable.
He can only imagine that there is some sort of angle, some secret inducement,
because that's how he sees the world, selfish and corrupt and mean.
And that is how he operates, which is why his own soon-to-be ex-wife,
a prominent Republican politician in her own right, filmed an ad where she
could not even bring herself to say his name or endorse him directly.
Let's watch the whole damn thing.
I'm Texas Senator Angela Paxton.
People have asked my thoughts about this election and turns out I have some.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room.
In a general election, it's not as much about the individual players on the team.
It's about getting the whole team across the finish line.
Either we hold every Republican seat or we hand the future of Texas to the other team.
That's why I'm voting for the Republican ticket on November 1st.
That's why I'm voting for the Republican ticket on November 3rd.
Let's hold the line together.
Texas PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.
You can't say let's talk about the elephant in the room and then not name the elephant in the room.
It's the elephant, the giant elephant.
His name is Ken.
He cheated on you.
But boy, the thrill she's going to have when she cast that vote for Tellurico.
Ken has his secrets.
Now, Angela has hers.
Speaking of secrets coming out after Senator Tom Cotton held up a bill called the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight
saving time permanent, Trump took to Truth Social where he posted that the bill
would be a great bipartisan win for the United States Senate,
adding, call Tom on his cell phone,
and then he concluded Tom Cotton's actual cell phone number in the post.
Someone should give out Trump's cell phone number,
said Donald Trump Jr., eagerly clutching a pen and notepad.
Cotton stood his ground, saying that no one likes changing the clock,
me included, but Congress has enacted permanent daylight savings time
multiple times before and repealed it each time
once Americans experience the absurdly late sunrises in winter.
Our Kansans don't want their kids going to school in the pitch dark.
They also don't want their kids learning sex ed
or large chunks of American history once they get there,
but that is not a clock problem.
I'm going to leave the time.
I want to just do my usual reminder, which I can't stop myself from doing.
So there's a bill. It's called the Sunshine.
I move over here when I'm doing things that the team won't like.
The bill is called the Sunshine Protection Act, all right?
It's been going around a few times.
It actually accidentally almost passed a couple years ago, believe it or not.
It was like a mix-up, and it almost became the law.
It would allow states to choose between permanent standard time
and permanent daylight saving time
because a lot of states, California, Florida, some others,
really want to move to permanent daylight saving time.
Now, the polling on this issue is quite bad
because people don't actually know.
It depends on how you ask the question.
The problem is we did do this.
Tom Cotton is right.
When we did this before, everyone's like,
yeah, more summer.
That's not how time works.
People like the summer because the days are longer,
and yes, the sun sets later,
but the sun rises earlier because the day is longer.
And so all of a sudden, we switched to permanent daylight.
That's not how we do it.
So permanent daylight saving time,
and then in a lot of the country,
especially on some of the edges of time zones
and in the northern states,
it is dark until almost 9 a.m., right?
Arkansas would be one of the states
that would be negatively impacted by this.
So here is my proposal,
which is I have told directly to all of these senators,
and yet for some reason,
they don't do exactly what I say,
which is there needs to be a third option,
which is that states should be allowed to choose
to continue to switch their clocks
so that some states could choose permanent standard time,
some could choose permanent daylight saving time,
and others could switch every couple,
as we currently do.
Now, some people are like,
but that's going to be so confusing.
That's the system we have now.
Most states switch.
A couple don't.
We all survive.
Do we always know what time it is in Arizona?
No.
Do we care?
No, it doesn't matter.
And if we need to know,
you know what tells us?
Our fucking phones.
Fellow Senator John Kennedy responded
to Trump's post on Meet the Press.
The president, as we know,
can be sometimes,
he exists loudly.
He can be,
he can be tempestuous.
He can go from zero to a-hole
in about three seconds.
I don't think he should have given out
Tom's cell phone number.
Zero to a-hole is, of course,
another way of describing the Kinsey scale.
And speaking of a-holes,
according to the New York Times,
Kristi Noem signed off on a deal
to buy five planes from a donor
on her very last day
as the head of the Department of Homeland Security.
And I guess you're not allowed to buy five airplanes
on your last day at work anymore
because of woke.
The purchase of the five planes
caught Noem's successor,
Mark Wayne Mullen,
by surprise,
which is ironic.
The Department of Homeland Security
was actually created
as a response to surprise planes.
Disgraced former Republican House Speaker
Dennis Hastert has died at age 84
after leaving office,
federal investigators
tracking suspicious bank withdrawals
learned that Hastert had sexually abused him.
He had abused students during his time
as a high school wrestling coach
decades earlier
and had been paying his victims
to conceal his crimes.
So I will say,
Vivek Ramaswamy isn't the worst Republican
at picking up kids.
Speaking of the worst shit possible,
that's a great joke.
All right?
I know it's a tough joke.
I know it's hard to hear,
but that was a great joke,
as was the 9-11 joke.
Speaking of the worst shit possible,
fears of another global pandemic
are growing after the pandemic.
A doctor reports that a Russian lab worker
died from plague.
The worker reportedly broke a test tube
containing the pathogen
at the ominously named
Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia.
Yes, she's the one who dropped it,
added Comrade Bean.
According to reports,
the victim might have exposed up to 200 people.
She reportedly broke protocol
when she walked around the hospital
asking colleagues,
does this broken test tube smell like plague to you?
Authorities have imposed quarantines
at some of the hospitals
and several medical facilities in the region
and, of course,
Don Jr.'s wedding.
President Trump was asked
if he's concerned by news of an outbreak,
to which he responded,
yes, noting,
That's a disease we used to be able to control,
but somehow those microbes
have gotten stronger and smarter
than like an army.
This obviously fits with speculation
that the anti-plague facility
in Irkutsk, Siberia
may actually be part of a biological weapons program,
as we've had a pretty good handle on the plague
since it last hit Russia
in the late 70s.
And the mnemonic plague,
while deadly,
responds to antibiotics
when treated early.
An aggressive quarantine
might be in response to fears
that this strain of plague
is engineered to be resistant.
And that is especially worrying
when we see here on this map
that the plague may have taken hold in Irkutsk.
Because as you can see,
Irkutsk is here.
That gives you access to Kamchatka,
to Mongolia,
to Siberia, right?
That gives you a hold on Eastern Asia.
Does that give you full control of Asia?
No, that's very, very difficult.
But from that,
from that position,
you can go into Alaska with the plague.
You can take Japan.
You can come down into Southeast Asia.
Now you're in Kamchatka.
You're sitting pretty.
You're building up in Kamchatka.
The plague is getting stronger.
Don't fall for that siren song of Australia.
You get stuck down there.
People know.
People know what I'm talking about.
It's so intoxicating, Australia,
because it's the only continent
you can just hold.
Hold Indonesia.
You got all of Australia.
You think, oh, I'm good.
I got all these points.
You're dying down there.
You're stuck down there.
And for the listeners,
to this as a podcast,
that was a map of the game risk.
Finally, hundreds of wiener dogs
paraded down the Champs-Elysees this week
as part of Paris's annual sausage walk.
Ask Secretary of Health and Human Services,
RFK Jr.,
is it all you can eat or a la carte?
All right, we've got a great show for you tonight,
and we'll be right back.
Hey, don't go anywhere.
There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.
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And we're back!
We'll be joined by former Congressman Adam Kinzinger
in a moment, but first,
Cricket Con is happening in Washington, D.C.
from November 5th to 7th.
And on that Friday, November 6th,
I'm hosting a very special episode of Love It or Leave It
live from our nation's capital.
I'll be joined by New York City Councilmember Chi Osei
and more special guests to be announced.
Then on Saturday, November 7th,
you can head over to our website,
and hang with me and all your friends from Crooked
at all-day Crooked Con at the Washington Convention Center.
You can check out the lineup and get tickets
for both our live show and the full day of Crooked Con
at CrookedCon.com.
All right, please welcome to the show,
formerly of Congress and currently of CNN,
it's crying Adam himself, Adam Kinzinger.
Hi, good to see you.
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the show.
Oh, it's good to be here, thanks.
Thanks.
I have to talk about the elephant in the room with you.
Okay.
But I will.
But unlike some people who can't actually say the elephant
once they get the elephant.
That's right.
So it was reported last week that the CTFC
is investigating you for bets on Kalshi
related to whether or not you would receive a pardon
from Joe Biden, which you ultimately did,
which I'm glad.
What's going on?
I mean, look, it's clearly,
I want to be very clear about the timeframe
they're talking about.
I had been out of Congress for two years.
I had just learned what Kalshi was,
made about $25,000,
bets or predictions.
including a 190 dollar bet okay on there was a list of like 30 people who can get a pardon and
i'm like oh that's my name i'll click on that among some other stuff dumb bet nothing illegal
about it and i looked back in fact and made sure that i followed the rules it's like you can't be
in an organization have prior knowledge stuff like that this is clearly an attempt to try to
intimidate me and my view is that they probably looked into this realized there was nothing
and then the cftc or calci provided three anonymous sources to politico to say that
there's an investigation and nothing further from that i've received no outreach from calci
cftc or anything so this is none the only thing i heard the first thing i ever heard about it was
in talking with politico so i say bring it on i mean clearly there's trying to intimidate me and
it's not gonna work uh do you think the market these these prediction markets it is like a wild
west yeah uh would you want to see them reined in by congress
yeah
and in fact that's an interesting point because in november i wrote an article basically calling
out calci and saying that this is a very abusable opportunity and i got within 24 hours a letter
threatening to sue me for what i said there a cease and desist they got a hold of me in 24 hours
then they claim they're trying to get a hold of me on this but somehow can't find me despite the fact
so yeah i think there's so much and the thing that woke me up to it is in the summer of 25 i guess
will a u.s senator go and visit syria before may and i remember thinking if you're a u.s senator you
could literally just bet and go and visit syria and uh or have a cutout make that bet for you
you're basically ultimately calci polymarket these organizations are saying we're creating
a stock in essence an asset is what they're saying but there's actually no value behind it besides
you may be willing to come in and take the other end of that bet i look i'm not i'm a free market
guy if people want to do that with their money fine but there is it's rife for abuse as we've
seen uh now you were recently in ukraine and you got to look at the drone factory that's powering
the resistance against russia's invasion what did you learn there i mean look the ukrainians are
incredible people i mean you know one of the things i remember actually i was still in congress when
the full-scale invasion took off and i was briefed by the cia and they said look within a week at the
time of the invasion you know ukraine's going to capitulate we'll probably try to fund some kind of
an insurgency and obviously ukraine stayed up and has been able to defend themselves and the
beautiful thing about this is like if you go to a trench in ukraine you're going to find somebody
that played the piano somebody that was a college professor a machinist three people with nothing in
common but are literally putting their lives on the line for democracy and that's what i got to
see you saw a number of ways they're changing battlefield medicine which is just a whole
other story in and of itself and i think that's what i got to see and i think that's what i got to
do but in the united states we're used to if we introduce a new weapon or a new tactic you know
it takes a year or two to do it then it has to go out to bid x y and z literally these these ukrainians
are coming up with a way to defeat a russian tactic the russians then in turn defeat their
tactic and so their innovation cycle is like two to three weeks at a time it's incredible it's a
moral shame of what we've done to ukraine you know not just sort of turning our back on them i would
argue but it's a moral shame of what we've done to ukraine you know not just sort of turning our
we have a responsibility as a democracy to defend them or you know provide them the weapons that
they need but we're really missing an opportunity to advance our military here if you look at iran
for instance we were intercepting shahed drones that are twenty thousand dollars to make with
three thousand three million dollar patriot missiles i saw the ukrainians put up a drone
that's maybe a thousand dollars to hit russian shaheds and this is what they offered us in
october that president trump said no to by the way and
i but look i'm sure hegseth's on it uh yeah he sure is but there is you know the serious part
of this is you know hegseth is talking about getting rid of the beardos and the weirdos and
and he doesn't want trans people he doesn't want fat people uh he has this idea of what like a
warrior ethos is and finally we should have people should be well trained and and strong and
and that's important but uh having you know big muscles and a low bmi is not that important
it's not that useful if you're getting hit by a quadcopter you know and so like clearly like we
do not have the the people at the in the leadership that are thinking kind of creatively about what
the future of a war that we might fight would look like yeah and look i can i can speak this as a you
know former republican having lived in this culture where to them the culture war is a religion and
there's been this kind of narrative that like obviously the military's gone woke america's gone
woke and everybody's weak which is not true but the culture war is a religion and there's been
the reality of it is the military has changed no longer it's not world war ii anymore where you have
guys that are charging a farmhouse now you actually need like computer nerds sitting in the
back flying on an ipad a first person view drone now ukraine for instance is implementing technology
where one operator can fly 10 or 20 drones some of them driven by ai until the kind of final 100
yards to make that decision those are the warriors we need and unfortunately we have a lack of people
necessarily wanting to serve in the military i'm all for standards like i'm a military officer
myself i retired two years ago i understand there's importance to standards but we also
need a military that is recruiting the best and the brightest among us and it's not necessarily
whoever can do pull-ups with pete hegseth yeah i would sort of i wonder if we could try to get
hegseth to watch the most recent season of lioness like i don't think he's going to read i don't think
he's going to read an article but maybe he could just watch when they go to ukraine well yeah can
i also say
too it's like this is it's like the the republican party and specifically the kind of
of the republican party is like in one collective midlife crisis i mean what they talk about this
it's this obsession with testosterone it's the obsession with muscles and i mean i work out but
i don't do it because i want to go around and be tough for me it's just health but it's a
it's not just that you're not telling the truth it's a little that's not true it's a little are
you doing are you doing your flexibility are you doing enough core are you not you're not you're
not you're going to be one of those because you want to be a really strong guy that falls down in
the shower yeah true if i do all my core then i can't build my biceps as much because it's really
you've got to just kind of take it you've got to take it you're gonna you know what's gonna happen
you're gonna be in a very big arms and you're gonna shuffle you're gonna be you're gonna shuffle
because you're not gonna be flexible oh you do stretch you do stretch okay i just don't have
much core not enough core okay okay obvious okay um but yeah it's like a big collective
midlife crisis right now and it's really goofy hey how's your midlife crisis going that's great
i got past it after january 6th that was a good trigger and then you know forces you to deal with
everything for me it was getting out first on survivor okay so uh though that was my that was
my i think going getting out early that's when you do like the apocalypse now scene just staring at
the ceiling fan wondering what your life is about yep i did that i had a lot i had a fair amount of
time to do that in fiji because they made me stay for a while uh so you oh wait oh you live in texas
these days i do yeah uh how are you feeling about the midterms actually pretty good um look i i had a
conversation the other day with talarico he seems very optimistic and his optimism doesn't come from
the public polls it comes from their internal polling and uh and the public polls are obviously
good as well i mean texas is clearly a republican state and so my fear is that it's kind of this
white whale again you know that gets away from us but something feels really different which is ken
paxton as you well alliterated like he is such a terrible candidate such a terrible person
he looks stupid on top of that
too i mean it just looks dumb yeah like he like you can't be evil and have no charm
you gotta have something gotta be something trump at least has some charisma he does yeah
zero he's got nothing and and talarico the interesting thing is like as a as a christian
myself his ability to talk about faith in a way that i think is actually more in line with what
christianity is and what your christian nationalism has had an impact it's not like
you know 50 percent of republicans are going to go and vote for talarico but if
it's 10 15 if some republicans just stay home it could be a victory and if i had to put good money
on something and clearly i like to bet uh i would put it on talarico uh so now you great
i love action and i downloaded cal sheet to my one of them to my phone
and i haven't put in my debit card because i know that once it happens
yeah you're in i'm in i know it's a problem i'm not gonna do it don't do it like i'm not gonna do
it
and then i think like oh you know betting on politics like i don't like is it right you know
i talk about it i don't want to like but if i believe a candidate and a candidate and i think
they're going to win and i think they're undervalued in the market shouldn't i be able to bet on
politics it'd be stupid not to yeah but my my my concern with these markets though is like it's
different than a game like if you're playing in a game you could throw a game in theory but you can't
force yourself to win it this is human behavior that we're betting on and it's human behavior that
has an impact beyond the game and it's human behavior that has an impact beyond the game
i'm a bears fan the bears win the bears lose this has an impact on people's lives and when you start
infecting that with money i worry about where we're going to go with that oh yeah i think it's
morally reprehensible uh all right so uh you you voted to impeach trump the second time uh you're
one of 10 republicans to do it uh you said voting against the first impeachment was your biggest
regret in congress so it's a big change why do you think so few of your republican colleagues
who you're in the rooms with this entire time why why do you think that's a big change
How do you think so few were able to walk that same path?
- I mean, look,
ultimately we have become a very tribal society and i think our politics is our tribal tattoo
we we see we identify with our political party our friend circle is and it's particularly bad
if you're in politics your whole social circle is based around your political identity so i actually
think that people fear more than they fear death they fear being kicked out of their tribe they
fear the isolation i think like eight out of ten adults would step in front of a train to save like
a three-year-old kid that's wandering in front of it but clearly in congress only a few people are
willing to actually step in front of the political train so i think that's part of it you have a lot
of old people that basically spent their whole life trying to get to congress and know that if
they vote that way it's the end of their career and ultimately there's so much moral cowardice
out there i mean the thing that i've always said is i've got a the name of a buddy of mine that died
in iraq in 2018 that i wear on my wrist and i had actually just gotten out of iraq when i ran for
2010.
and i just remember thinking it was kind of fortunate that i had this thought but i'm like
if i'm going to take a vote that is going to send people to war and i'm a fairly hawkish i was fairly
hawkish in congress or outfit them for war if i'm going to ask an 18 a 19 a 20 year old to give their
life for this country i have to be willing to give my career for the country what a small sacrifice
in comparison to people who give their lives and i'm telling you i saw and you've seen this too
so many people that'll go to
dover and salute a casket coming back with a flag on it and have tears maybe they're legitimate tears
talking about how amazing it is we have young people willing to sacrifice for this country and
then they go on and i've seen this literally go on the floor of the house trembling because they're
going to vote no on something that they know they really want to vote yes but the party says vote no
we have so many people in politics and congress specifically specifically in the gop that are
just completely unworthy of that job
one thing that's been interesting to watch is there have been the people that have that were
willing to break away uh you're in that category i think you know my friends at the bulwark in that
category and what's been interesting is once you shit once you kind of are in exile from your old
political home not only do you uh not only do you are you advocating against donald trump and in
favor of democracy but but other views suddenly that's true what other what ways have you found
now that you are kind of cast out from being a republican that you realize oh you know what like
i actually the you know the liberals have a point here like i was i was too uh stuck with orthodoxy
over there yeah i mean when you have an when you're in a political group you have a there's
a motivation to kind of conform right because you're not going to go looking for reasons you
disagree with something and so for me i was always fairly moderate anyway so i would always kind of
go against the right and the party but when i got out the things you can kind of take a deep breath
and look at are the things that you're not going to agree with and the things that you're not going to
look at more on gun control issues for instance right like i'm a gun owner um and i was always
again kind of centrist on gun issues but then it kind of gave me the opportunity to look at those
again issues of democracy you know issues of what is the government doing so you talk about like john
lewis voting rights act stuff like that uh just people's individual rights and then financial
stuff like we we had this orthodoxy in the gop about you can never raise taxes that's great when
you have a balanced budget but when you have a balanced budget and you have a balanced budget
the problem is when you're spending money and you're saddling the next generation with debt
they can't pay and they should be rightly pissed off by the way that this has been done to them
you can't sit back and say we can grow out of this because we can't eventually you're going to have
to raise taxes as well as like spending so it kind of gives you the ability to take a deep breath and
say okay what do i really believe and i'll tell you the thing that's been most effective for me
was my faith and just being able to actually and i hate this term it's overused like deconstruct my
faith but that's what i did it was like what do i really believe as a christian the what are the
red letters in the new testament what is jesus really saying and the thing i came to a massive
conclusion on is he really doesn't care what government looks like what he cares about is
people and that has been so misconstrued into we have to have a government for of and by jesus
christ and jesus is like dude i didn't ask you guys for that i just care about souls speaking
of souls uh and and uh that's not a good transition
but i'll tell you what is reading what's on this card of course tearing apart the fabric of
democracy is the only impeachable offense like the one uh you uh voted to impeach trump over
uh let's rule on a few of them now in a game we're calling impeach to the choir
uh here's how it works oh i'm going to read you about a social faux pas and you'll vote to impeach
or to acquit now i'm aware acquit to impeach or not impeach and then there's a trial in which you
can convict or acquit but for the sake of simplifying it so it's impeach or acquit
here we go first up taking off your shoes on an airplane totally impeach come on guys leave your
shoes on i'm sorry leave them on leave them on leave them on we can smell that the worst though
by the way is when it's barefoot and i had this the other day i saw a barefoot shoes off situation
i almost vomited directly onto them there's um uh something i would call other people's toes uh i
know what toes are supposed to look like and then you see other people's toes you're like my god toes
can be anything yeah uh next up looking at your phone while on a date uh i'm gonna go acquit though
it's inappropriate this would be one of the like shouldn't have done it but let's acquit yeah yeah
i mean you don't know what's happening but you shouldn't stare at your phone no you shouldn't
stare but you can look uh excusing your own behavior by saying i'm a scorpio uh that's it
that's it with that i'm an impeachment that's an impeachment i'm a pisces so i'll acquit it
you're gonna impeach i can't
oh really oh uh you're a pisces you're a scorpio you're i'm an adult
uh let's see uh holding up your phone uh and recording a concert instead of watching it
impeach impeach impeach listen just live your life and experience things and at no point in your life
have you ever looked back at a single second of a video that you took at a concert and even looked
at it you forget it exists
impeach uh super impeach i'm sorry sarah recommended that a book to me called lucid
dying in which a doctor describes near-death experiences in which it is routinely the
experience of people on the verge of death that they have some kind of life review in which they
get to re-experience uh all of their life in a kind of 360 uh degree review that moves back and
forward through time and i think what's cool about that is like you don't need the video
of the beyonce concert because you'll get to go again yeah you can see it all that's a good point
uh and one last question uh keeping your airpods in while you're checking out at the grocery store
uh i'm gonna quit it inappropriate but i'm gonna quit it yeah i think look i think
you can take you can do the old like see but the thing about that is i feel the the going through
if you're the the idea of like oh you want to talk to me it's about as long as it takes for
this to be like it's like my natural mode is not talking to you and this needs to be over
because i'm not i'm not even extending you the courtesy of imagining that this could be a
conversation i'm not even extending you the courtesy of imagining that this could be a conversation
this could really only be a sentence because i'm not how i'm i this is going back in so soon yeah
we're doing business and i say that i as someone who has did it quite recently i've done it quite
i know i know but i want you know what i'm gonna resolve right now do it too it screws up whatever
you're listening to yeah like it's half the time it's working and then it's like yeah i i you know
but what's a quit oh yeah well we're still gonna quit but we're all gonna do better yeah um be
better humans what republicans tried to say to trump that's right yeah that works
that works well thank you adam kinzinger subscribe subscribe to your sub stack adam
kinzinger.com and check out country first uh for more info about how uh you're fighting to protect
democracy regardless of political affiliation and we'll be right back thank you hey don't go
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And we're back!
He worked for the White House, but only after they killed his character on the show house.
She nearly killed herself clinging to the side of a plane, Tom Cruise style. Please welcome Cal Penn
and Michelle Carey. Hi, thanks for being here. Thank you for having us.
Wait, I didn't get a hug. How you doing?
Welcome to you both. Thanks. Michelle, I'll start with you. Now, you famously
did the same stunt Tom Cruise did in Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. People might not
realize exactly what happens in order to orchestrate these stunts. Can you tell us
what needed to happen in order to put this stunt together on your own? We have the clip.
I want you just to help us understand what we're looking at here.
That's me. That's what we're looking at. So yeah, this is a clip from my show Challenge Accepted
where I attempt the world's toughest stunt.
And I'm not a professional stunt person. So my whole thing is just fully diving into something
for months at a time. And this was absolutely insane for a variety of reasons. The first is
that the only other person to do this is Tom Cruise and Paramount. So how could we do that
without those things? But I think the funniest part of the experience was submitting the paperwork to
the FAA for this. Because you have to submit a huge, huge amount of paperwork to the FAA.
It's a huge stack of paperwork that classifies this as an experimental flight by the government.
Sure. But I'm so proud of our team. I mean, that was like a crew of 50 people who pulled it off
together. It was this multi-month journey of doing something epic. And I just think it's
really exciting when you're told you can't do something and then just doing it anyways.
Yeah. I mean, when it works out. But so, and did the experiment work? Did we prove
what we needed to prove? Well, yeah, I'm sitting here. Yeah. Okay, great. And I love that. So
there's obviously a tremendous amount that goes into that stunt, but on the actual day,
in the actual moment, and you're attached to the side of the plane, how much work are you doing?
Or are you just tied to the side? Oh, you're questioning the craft. I'm not. I'm curious.
I'm curious about, look, I think that's amazing and brave and really cool. And I'm so proud of you.
But on the actual day, aren't you?
Are you just tied to the side of a plane?
Well, I mean, one could be tied to something and not have a great outcome. So there's a lot of
training that you have to do for something like that. Yes, there is a safety line and that's
important, but I had to do all of this crazy training. Like I would stand in front of giant
special effects fans, just holding that position. I had to do all of this weight training to
strengthen the body. Because basically this is what makes you have to be, you have a safety,
but you need to try it as best you can. Because yes, the rope is there,
but if you let go, bad. Yeah. Like you could, if your body's just limp in the wind,
it doesn't have a good outcome. So you have to have a lot, like you can be smacked against the
side of the plane. So you have to have a ton of strength to build up to resist that. And then
also part of the training for under the fan is to do sensory exposure so that you don't
hyperventilate and you remember to breathe. Because so much wind.
There's so much wind. It's like drinking from a fire hose. So you have to prepare to remind yourself,
okay, I can breathe.
I have to get through this because there's so much air. A lot of people would hyperventilate or
go hypoxic. So if you had let go and you're just sort of banging against the side of the thing,
like, like, like, like, you know, like, you know, in the seatbelt, when the seatbelt is actually
closed in the door and then you look in your rear view mirror and like, oh no, the seatbelt's banging
against the side of the car. Like if that were you, what would they have done?
There, you know, there is like, there was a ton of like emergency procedures that we had to go
through for something like this. This is like several months of
preparation. So in a situation like that, the door would have opened, they would have pulled me in.
But inside the plane, there's an entire team of people watching on a monitor,
looking for any signs of anything that could go wrong. And they were told, you know,
rescue me if needed. And Cal, uh, you do your own stunts as well. Like I understand you,
you've eaten several hamburgers in the filming of these.
Without choking. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so you're in the, um, now I feel like there's, there's less daring do
in the upcoming Anna Nicole Smith biopic. Trust me, I'm a doctor.
What a segue. All of the segues today.
But you play Anna Nicole Smith's doctor. I do. Uh, and, uh, you almost kissed the actual Anna
Nicole Smith in real life. Uh, I wouldn't say almost, but I remember, yes. So the, the way back
in the day when I first moved to LA, I was at some event, some promotional event. And this is at like
the peak of, uh, Anna Nicole Smith. And I was like, oh my God, I'm going to be a doctor. And I'm
reality show. Um, and also like nascent days of reality TV in America. And I remember seeing her
at this party. I was at an L shaped bar. I was at the end of this bar and, um, she was there with
like four cameras and she was, you know, whatever the personality that she had on that show was.
Um, and I remember thinking, I wonder if, uh, she has a reality show because that's
her real personality or if she has that personality because she's got a reality show now.
And I watched her make out with every single person,
at that bar, like just going down the line. And as she got closer and closer, I just sort of realized
like, oh, I'm, I'm the last one. And through the transit of property of making out with somebody
at that moment, I didn't want to make out with 17 people. So I grabbed my drink and I went to
a different place to stand. Um, that has nothing to do with the movie really, but it was, it's a
great story. And that was the moment you found out you were gay. So you're saying,
no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm more sort of, I'm sort of a gap, my, a gasp at the horror of
whatever that was and all that it was. Um, now, uh, Michelle, you're getting ready for a stunt
in which you're flying a plane. Kind of, but you just did an advanced, wait, you're not going to
fly a plane. Is that a secret? Well, I am currently getting my pilot's license. Does anyone here
a pilot? Okay, good. It's so hard guys. So I'm currently getting my pilot's license, um, for
many reasons. And we're making an episode about that. But one of the fun reasons I am attempting
to get my pilot's license is because later this year, we hope to fly a house using only helium
balloons. Oh, Oh, so you're going to go up. We're going up. Oh, so you're not going to go up.
You're learning to fly a plane so that you can fly a house. Well, there's a lot of overlap.
You'd be surprised. Yeah. I think all the time. I think a plane is just kind of like a tubular
house with no beds. Exactly. You know, both go up. And by the way, Christine Ohm used to
basically sleep with someone. It basically did a lot of home-based activities in that plane.
You know, when you think about that, so you can really make a, make a, um, uh,
Hey Cal, you ever do, you ever do anything like that? Uh, fly a house? Yeah. You ever fly a house?
Uh, I rode a cheetah. Wait, that's crazy. Why did you do that? Not a real one. Just in a movie.
Right. Yeah. Wow. I keep forgetting that I'm sitting next to you. Yeah, you did say you do
your own stunts. You do your own stunts. Yeah, that's true. So that's you. That's actually you.
Uh, yeah, usually. Yeah. Well, I haven't done that. No, you've done much crazier stuff.
Hey, can I ask you a question? Are there any stunts you don't want to do that? You're like,
no, we're not doing that. That's too crazy for me. Yeah, of course. Like what? Like
probably climbing Mount Everest. Yeah. I think it's just been done. Yeah. I don't,
I, it seems like it's like, it seems like a crazy place to go to wait in line. You know what I mean?
Yes, exactly. You know, exactly. I feel like it's been well covered. Yeah. And I don't like being
cold. Yeah. And it's just a lot of, it's just a lot of midlife crisis in one place. You know what
I don't know how you guys, Oh, stand up is scarier to me than hanging off the side of a book. I've
said this once. I've said it, that the bravest human beings in a society are its comedians.
Do you agree? Yes. Wait, Cal, this interview is so fun. How are you changing your life for
Harold and Kumar for how am I changing my life? Michelle does crazy things to get ready for her.
Uh, so we don't know if the movie hasn't been greenlit, but we, we all are hopeful that we get
to, don't give me that look, you know, it's we're, we're hoping, but we don't know. Um,
so I have not changed my life at all, but okay. How should I change my life? Um, that's really a
question for you. I mean, I just think like, can you get back, like, can you, how to get back into
that character? Oh yeah. Go method with it. Do you ever do method? I'm not a big method actor.
Oh, what's your strategy?
Uh,
I like, you know, the text-based stuff.
Like reading?
Yeah, looking at the script, doing all the research.
I'll tell you, I mean, okay, reading the lines.
I'm learning, I'm learning.
No, I feel like this is something one of my mom's friends would ask me,
and I fail at the answer every time.
I'll give you an example.
So in the first one of those movies, right,
there's a scene where my character is high as shit,
and he performs gunshot surgery on a patient
who just came in with a gunshot wound.
So I spent like three days at the UCLA Medical School Library
researching gunshot wounds and how to do surgery,
because in the scene, my character genuinely knows how to do it very quickly.
So I can't be in on the joke,
otherwise it's not funny for the audience, right?
So I actually had to know how to do it,
at least look like I knew how to do it.
So it's that kind of stuff.
So that is kind of method.
I think a method would be like if I also was either high for real
or stayed in character as a doctor the whole time
from the time I showed up to work to the time I left.
Could you do that procedure now if it just happened here?
You're going to call me out like that?
No, no, I'm just curious.
That's so cool.
You know, I can't do that,
but I've played a doctor several times,
and I remember I feel like I could do a spinal tap.
Oh, wow.
That's crazy.
It's a crazy.
That's a crazy, arrogant thing to think, isn't it?
I went to drama school.
When people talk about dumb men
and the things we think we can do,
I always think of this example.
I'm like, I think I can perform a spinal tap.
You know, it's funny.
I did a famously perfect panel about the show The Pit,
and there was a part of me that thought Noah Wiley,
who deserves all the praise in the world,
thinks that he can be a doctor.
Like if there's a call for a doctor,
and he's on a plane,
like part of him is like,
I shouldn't answer,
but I could answer.
All right, here are my pitches for the fourth film.
Okay, yeah.
Harold and Kumar explore their sexuality.
Harold and Kumar go to Greenland.
Harold and Kumar get deported.
Harold and Kumar try fentanyl,
and that was that.
These are very creative options.
I'd be scared to do the things you do.
Sure.
You know what's interesting about,
this is our first time,
you have like, you know,
I used to think like, okay,
there's like, there was politician charisma,
and then there's like Hollywood actor charisma,
and there's like rock star charisma,
and then, and they're different,
and they're different, you know,
and like politicians have much less than Hollywood,
and then there's like, you know, rock stars in Hollywood,
but there's, you have, I don't know,
it's like a very, you're very captivating,
and intense,
and charismatic in a way that I think is why
so many people are like drawn to you.
You're like, you're just so winning.
It's really interesting.
Oh my gosh, thank you.
Especially compared to Cal.
I feel like I should clip that
and put that on the back of a book
or something in the future.
Is it like,
it's like, it's like really intense.
And I'm like, oh.
I feel like you're scared of me.
No, no, this is my natural,
so people often think that.
I am,
so I haven't been in therapy in a while,
but when I used to go,
when I had time,
I thought I didn't have anxiety.
And then I described what it's like
to be inside of my body,
and the doctor was like,
no, no, no, that's only anxiety.
You're just anxious all the time.
Your base level is basically akin to someone
on the verge of a panic attack,
but you just ride that wave.
And that's where I'm at right now at all times.
The last thing I think before I go to sleep,
right as my eyes are closing is,
like,
is the big one going to be tonight?
Fall asleep,
wake up in the morning,
and I think,
what did I forget to do?
So, so I'm not-
No, I have a lot of empathy for that
because I,
I struggle with those feelings too.
Even like doing all the stuff that I do.
You do?
So the way that I started
doing whatever it is I do,
because I listed all of my fears on a whiteboard
and there were a lot of them.
And I connected each to a situation
that would force me to confront it.
And if you go back to the beginning,
which I don't suggest
because those videos aren't so great,
like, it started with me going to a restaurant
and like, I'm going to order something
I've never tried today.
And that's the video.
And then slowly,
it has escalated into whatever this is.
Wow.
So you should come hang with me sometime.
I would love that.
I would love that.
If we were to do a stunt together,
which one would you be excited to do?
Boy, I think I'd like to be in that up house.
You'd go up?
Yeah.
You'd go up?
I'd go up.
Now, inspired by Michelle's daring do,
tonight, we're challenging both of you
in a segment we're calling
The Egg of Truth, colon,
Stunt on Them Hoes.
The Egg of Truth.
It's too long.
They're just messing with me.
Here, we have our golden egg of truth.
All right.
And here, inside this are a series of lighthearted dares
and a series of jokes.
We have a series of truth questions,
which we'll just all pull from.
However, there's an added twist that my team came up with.
You are allowed to pass on a truth or dare,
but if you do, I have to do them.
This stinks.
Here, you want to take one first?
You go first, Michelle.
Okay, wait.
So to clarify, we're doing this,
but if we don't feel like it, you're doing it?
Yeah.
Okay.
But where does the egg come in?
So you're doing all of these.
That is the egg.
We're just holding the egg.
You just take one and eat it
and just decide if you want to do it.
Okay, I got it.
Okay, I'm going first?
Go for it.
Pick one.
Let's see here.
Truth.
What is your honest opinion of Dakota Johnson?
Okay, I think she has fantastic hair.
Her hair is incredible.
And you know what I learned recently?
What?
I learned that everyone in Hollywood wears wigs.
Everyone has wigs or extensions.
Everyone.
If you look at a red carpet, wigs and extensions.
This is news to me.
But I don't know.
I don't know if her hair is real or not,
but that's the first thing I think of
when I think of Dakota Johnson.
Fabulous hair and fabulous bangs.
Wow.
What a truthful and completely harmless answer.
All right, Cal, you're up.
Okay.
Dare, deliver a breakup speech to the wicker man
from the upcoming Olivia Colman movie, Wicker.
I have no idea what this movie is,
so I'm going to give this to you.
Oh.
Hey, hey, wicker dude,
the guy I wished into existence,
and you're made of wicker,
and you're a Skarsgård,
and you have sex with me.
Even though the person helping me with this speech
may not have yet seen the movie,
I think there's probably something pretty fucked up
about introducing a golem into the world,
even if it's fun for a little bit,
and even if it's cute,
and quaint,
because in Jewish tradition,
the golem that you bring about
by conducting a ritual on mud
and then circling it until it comes alive,
it seems like it's going to be good,
but it never is.
Like in the book Puttermesser's Papers,
she makes a golem,
and then she gets to become mayor of New York,
and while I never finish the book,
I think it doesn't end good.
So we're done.
Thank you.
Okay, my turn?
Yeah.
Oh.
Okay, what's this?
Truth.
Oh my God.
Based on a question Donald Trump is constantly asking,
tell us,
would you rather jump in the ocean and get electrocuted
or jump in the ocean and get devoured by sharks?
Yeah, what would you prefer?
Easy answer.
I think it's easy.
I agree.
I think it's electrocution.
Yeah, yeah.
Just because it's faster?
Yeah.
Are we clapping for that?
Yeah.
We're clapping for electrocution?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, that's fine.
Compared to sharks?
No good.
No good.
I want to see that movie where that guy gets swallowed by a whale.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I want to see a whale movie.
That one looks crazy.
My only fear is that a lot of times movies will do things like they'll say,
this is a movie about being inside of a whale,
and then like, oh, we're in the backstory.
And it's like, if I'm not in that whale, I'm not having a good time.
I want to be in that whale the whole fucking time.
Like I saw Back Rooms, which I liked.
Whenever I'm not in the back rooms, let's go.
I'm back into the fucking back.
Back Rooms.
I don't want to know what life is like outside the back rooms.
I want to be in those back rooms.
It really is crazy how Hollywood, besides Harold and Kumar 4,
is constantly like recycling ideas.
Like that's literally the Bible.
Yeah.
I often say that to me, the Harold and Kumar, this is our last hope.
It's original IP.
What do you mean it's our last hope?
I don't know.
I was just going.
It sounded great, but it really, I'm like, what do you mean?
Harold and Kumar and our last hope.
Um, okay.
Uh, it was.
Deliver Rutger Hauer's famous tears in the rain, Blade Runner monologue.
I think someone has to do this.
Cal, you want to take it?
I don't know it.
You'll see it.
I mean, I don't know the movie either.
Blade Runner?
Blade Runner.
I know.
If they don't cast me in it, I don't know the movie.
So.
Because reading.
In order for me to see your movie, I have to be in it.
That's so cool.
I think that's so cool.
Go ahead.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
Okay.
To this camera?
Sure.
I'm not an actor, by the way.
Just putting that out there.
He is.
All right.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I've watched sea beams.
I don't know what that is.
Glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
Time to die.
And that's the Egg of Truth, and we'll be right back.
Thank you, Cal Penn and Michelle Carre.
See Cal, and trust me, I'm a doctor in theaters on October 16th,
and watch Michelle's show, Challenge Accepted, on YouTube at Michelle Carre.
We'll be right back.
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As someone tuned into politics, you've probably seen the constant bickering about who belongs
in the pro-democracy movement.
Well, we think it's best to have these conversations in person, and hopefully it will also be more
productive.
Cricket Con is right after the midterms, and it is going to be the first time we come together
to hash it out in person and kick off the 2028 debate.
We just posted a ton more info about what to expect from the big event from November
5th to 7th.
So check it out at crookedcon.com and get your tickets now.
See you in D.C.
And we're back!
Please excuse the smell of burnt rubber because we're shifting into high gear for a segment
we call The Rat Wheel.
Yeah, that was fine.
That was fine.
Let's get Adam Kinzinger back on stage.
Adam!
Come on back in.
Here's how it works.
Time for The Rat Wheel.
We spin the wheel wherever it lands.
We rant about the topic of our choosing.
What is the purpose of the wheel?
We still don't know.
Let's spin it.
Because we're all going to go.
Right?
So why do we even have the fucking wheel?
It's landed on Adam.
Adam, what would you like to rant about?
Why do I get to go first?
Okay.
I think the thing. I'm over. Okay, I'm over Hunter Biden.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, guys.
And I've got to say it.
And it's not like because I think he's, you know, whatever.
Like, I like this whole go out and be open and talk to everybody tour.
That's great.
I think that's all good.
It was the cryptocurrency thing that got me.
When you're introducing your own new cryptocurrency and it was like what we were talking about,
creating an asset out of nothing, I have an issue with that.
And it collapsed 99% in the first day.
And then he spent the whole time on the internet trying to figure out how to do it.
And then he spent the whole time on the internet trying to push it up.
I'm sorry.
I don't dislike Hunter as a person.
I have a deep respect for what he's been through.
The cryptocurrency thing got me.
So I'm sorry.
I'm over Hunter Biden for the moment.
I think that's a fair point.
Let's spin it again.
Michelle, what do you got?
I am so upset about what I'm about to say.
Planes should not be so hard to talk about.
Turn on.
Let me tell you, when you walk past the cockpit,
you're like getting on your American Airlines flight.
You take a peek in.
There are like 3,000 buttons in there.
Okay.
The person who drives the plane has to know how to use all of them.
You understand this.
And let me tell you, there is a key in an ignition to turn on a plane.
But you have to do like 55 steps before that.
You have to push all of these buttons.
You have to do it in the right order.
And I feel like as a species, we've evolved such that you can turn on a car with the turn of a key.
Why aren't planes the same?
Why?
Why are we taking 55 steps to turn on the engine of a plane?
Save pilots.
You could.
You could always just skip the checklist, though.
Makes it easier.
You'll miss important stuff, but you know.
Yeah, I don't know why.
Presumably there's a reason.
Well, there are a lot of things that have to happen.
But I just think it should be like a Rube Goldenberg machine.
You turn the key and then. A bunch of mice do the stuff and then you go.
Yeah, no, I think you're making a really good point.
I'm getting a little nervous about getting on the house now.
Well, a house, we don't need any of that.
Because you just drop a sandbag and we float into the sky.
Great.
And do we have parachutes?
We'll see.
Okay.
Only one way to find out.
I'd feel better about it if I had a parachute.
All right, let's spin it again.
Cal, what would you like to rant about?
I'd like to rant about manifesting.
This one really bugs me.
Yeah.
Because you got people who are like, I just, I'm just manifesting this thing.
I'm just like putting it out in the universe.
I'm just like putting it out there.
I'm like manifesting that this happens next year.
I'm like, so you're planning?
You're planning without doing any of the work?
You're wishing.
You're wishing and putting it on a board.
That's it.
I don't need the full minute.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Such an important point.
It has landed on me.
And I would like to talk about something which is personalized spam.
I don't know if anyone is getting more and more ornate and personalized spam.
Clearly like AI inflected.
But I'll give you an example of one of these notes.
Hi, John.
How are you keeping?
I caught you on Neil Brennan's blocks recently and honestly did not expect to hear such an open take on everything from ADHD to breakups.
I've barely managed to talk.
I've barely managed to talk to my own friends about that stuff, let alone on a mic.
Serious fair play for putting it all out there like that.
Anyway, I'll stop going on.
The actual reason I'm emailing is that it seems like people coming to your website still land on a pretty generic store page.
That usually means some of the traffic your hosts already send just drops off.
What the fuck was that?
What is this?
What?
That's just spam.
That was about getting me to use some sort of a service.
I don't like it.
That's it.
Don't draw me in with a compliment.
Those work on me.
When we come back, second thoughts.
Look, this has been another perfect evening.
And yet there are some places where I might perhaps have aired.
There could be room for improvement somewhere.
I'm not sure where.
But we'll find out because our producers have produced a list of places where they think I could have done a better job over the course of the episode.
And I'll share those with you.
And if you have any second thoughts about tonight, you can share them here, too.
It's a place to learn and grow together.
Let's see.
Now, first of all, I should not have admitted to being excited about the polls.
That's a jinx.
I want to unjinx it.
I don't trust the polls.
I did it.
Let's see.
I did a long, unscripted rant about daylight saving time.
And it wasn't the first occasion in which I've done this.
And it was too late for the team to stop me.
Also, you guys didn't like that 9-11 joke as much as I like the 9-11 joke.
But I think you're wrong.
You guys also didn't like that pedophile joke as much as I did.
Again, I think you're wrong.
I attacked Adam Kinzinger for not doing Pilates.
And I'm sorry.
It's all right.
Thank you.
I said the phrase.
I love action.
About gambling.
Let's see.
I made the case for betting on politics.
Let's see.
Oh, I asked Michelle about her incredible stunt.
And I said, aren't you just tied to the side of the plane?
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
You can receive criticism.
I can hear it, too.
I didn't ask you about the upside-down Houdini stunt.
And I should have.
Okay.
And I think that was stupid of me.
I should have asked you about that.
That's cool.
Oh, you're being so hard on yourself.
Yeah.
How else do we improve?
Feeling like you've done a good job is not real.
That's not a real feeling.
The only real feeling is the places where you need to improve.
A sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that you can't trust.
You should only trust the feelings that tell you to do more, be better, try harder, improve.
Find the places where you were wrong or weak.
Repair those.
Address them until you die.
I think you do need to seek out a therapist.
Um, so. Anyway, we've got to start making that list of places where I could. For my stunts, you know?
Yeah.
But you did an upside-down water escape?
I did.
That's so crazy.
That's so cool.
Wow.
You're so cool.
Oh, thank you.
So much cooler.
Adam, do you have any regrets about tonight?
No, not at all.
I loved it.
Everything about it was perfect.
Cal, what about you?
Maybe cumming, but beyond that.
Yeah, once you were here, you're kind of. Yeah, no, not the first to say it, not the last.
Not the first guest to have regrets for being here.
Cal, what are your regrets?
No regrets.
Always nice to see you.
It's so good to see you.
We used to, you know, we worked together at the White House.
And boy, does that feel like a long time ago now.
2009, you know?
Boy, things were going to be different.
And then they were, and then they got more different reverse.
You know?
What a downer to end the show on.
But we're on the way back with the midterms, am I right?
And that's our show.
Thank you so much to Cal Penn.
Michelle Correa and Adam Kinzinger.
There are 27 days until the midterms.
We will be back Friday with Derek Tran, Sarah McBride, and comedian Tig Notaro.
Have a great night, everybody.
Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production.
Our show is produced by Kendra James, Bill McGrath, Kelsey Gante, and me, John Lovett.
Our production team includes Hallie Kiefer, Sarah Lazarus, Raman Borsellino, Peter Miller, David Tolles,
Claudia Shang, Jay Banks, Raul Calderon, Gavin Purcell, and Matt DeGroat.
And our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.
Crooked Con is right after the midterms, and it is going to be the first time we come together to hash it out in person
and kick off the 2028 debate.
CNBC!
CNBC.
Podcast Summary
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