#666 - Sen. John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a United States Senator who has represented Louisiana since 2017. Before that he was an attorney and state treasurer. Sen. Kennedy joins Theo to talk about their Louisiana roots, his experiences working across the aisle with Democrats, and why he thinks it’s time to regulate Big Tech. Sen. John Kennedy: https://www.instagram.com/senjohnkennedy/ ------------------------------------------------- Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ Perplexity AI: Ask anything at https://pplx.ai/theo Prize Picks: Go to https://link.prizepicks.com/LME0/THEO and use code THEO to get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Play Responsibly. Moonpay: Head over to https://www.moonpay.com/theo to sign up Mountain Dew: Look for American Dew limited-time packaging or find it in stores near you at http://mountaindew.com Quo: Go to http://quo.com/theo for 20% off your first 6 months. Watch on Spotify. Spotify subscribers get fewer ads on our episodes. ------------------------------------------------- Music: “Shine” by Bishop Gunn Bishop Gunn - Shine ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: [email protected] Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Mail stuff to: ATTN: TPW PO BOX 40137 Nashville TN 37204 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend X: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoVonClips Shorts Channel: https://bit.ly/3ClUj8z ------------------------------------------------ Producer: Zach https://www.instagram.com/zachdpowers Producer: Trevyn https://www.instagram.com/trevyn.s/ Producer: Nick https://www.instagram.com/realnickdavis/ Producer: Andrew https://www.instagram.com/bleachmediaofficial/ Producer: Halston https://www.instagram.com/halstonrays/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Theo Von?

  Today's guest is a United States Senator representing the great state of Louisiana. He currently resides in St. Tammany Parish, which is um, the place that I'm from. Uh, this is episode 666 of this podcast, but we stand with the Lord. He's got a book out called How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. Uh, it's an honor to spend time with one of the most humorous senators in our history, Mr. John Kennedy.

• 0:47Theo Von?

  But man, it's awesome, dude. What an honor just to see you.

• 0:50Speaker 01

  What an honor it is, man.

• 0:51Theo Von?

  And yeah, thank you, man.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  You're quite welcome.

• 0:54Theo Von?

  Thank you, John, for representing our state.

• 0:56Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 0:57Theo Von?

  Yeah, and I appreciate that. We've had a lot of good Louisianians on here. We've had Laney Wilson on here.

• 1:02Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:03Theo Von?

  Um, Mark Norman is a famous comedian, Dustin Poirier.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:06Theo Von?

  Uh, our UFC legend, uh, Kevin Gates, Boosie, um, who's a rapper out of Baton Rouge.

• 1:12Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:12Theo Von?

  Um, the Suicide Boys, for sure, Scrim and Ruby, um, and you. So, it's an honor, man. Um, what brings you over to Nashville, actually? I know you went to Vanderbilt, right?

• 1:24Speaker 01

  I did go to Vanderbilt. Um, Bill Hagerty is one of Tennessee senators, and they're having a big function tonight, and he asked me to speak. And, uh, I said, "Sure, I'll come. I'll just fly in." And it just so happened, we were doing your show, so it all worked out perfectly.

• 1:42Theo Von?

  Oh, that's awesome, man.

• 1:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I'll go wherever we're going, guys. Uh, I'll change into a suit and go over there and speak and, you know, cut up. And Nashville's gotten so big, Theo.

• 1:55Theo Von?

  Has it? Yeah, how's it changed? I mean, is it? It's turned into a real, I'll say this, a tourist destination. I feel like even more probably than it was when you were here?

• 2:03Speaker 01

  Yep. Well, it's all Nashville, even when I was here, was a banking and insurance center.

• 2:10Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  Now it's so much more. It's healthcare, it's tech. It's for the while Nashville was the fastest growing city for young people in the country. Now it's probably still in the top 10.

• 2:22Theo Von?

  I think it's, yeah, it's still a good place to bum a can of Skoll off of somebody too.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  You got it, man.

• 2:26Theo Von?

  You know, that's never lost.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  It's a very diverse city.

• 2:30Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:31Speaker 01

  Um, and it's, you know, Knoxville used to be the big city and Knoxville's still pretty big, but now Nashville's kind of where the action, it's always been country music.

• 2:42Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  A lot of good comedians came out of Nashville.

• 2:46Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's a good point. People don't even think about that Nate Bargatze's one.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:49Theo Von?

  Um, oh, I know that you grew up near where Jerry Clower's from and he's my favorite comedian.

• 2:54Speaker 01

  Yep. I grew up in a little town called Zachary.

• 2:57Theo Von?

  Yeah. Did you ever get to see Jerry?

• 2:59Speaker 01

  I saw him on TV.

• 3:00Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's it.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  Never met him.

• 3:02Theo Von?

  Yeah. Yeah, he was like an idol of mine growing up.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Funny.

• 3:06Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, dude. He was one of the best. He still is. I just saw an auction actually over there, auctioning off his suit that he wore and I think I'm gonna get that. I don't know if I'll ever wear it, but I think I'm gonna get it.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  Do you, do you still do comedy shows?

• 3:17Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, for sure. I just finished a tour and then I'm just taking a break right now and it's been kind of a, an adjustment, you know, just adjusting to something new.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  When did you know you, you, you, you were funny? When you were young? Did you know it when you were young?

• 3:32Theo Von?

  I think, you know, I was over at LSU and I was sitting, I lived in a place called The Commons over there and it's like an apartment complex over there. And it's just walls. Really in college, you just get walls. There's not, you know, they'll have faucets and walls. You don't get a lot when you get an apartment and, uh, and I remember sitting out there one day with the neighbors and this, I was just cutting up and, and this one guy, Kevin, he's, uh, he's like, man, you should be a comedian and I don't know if I'd ever really thought about it. And then my buddy's daddy played, uh, played Jerry Clower for me when we'd go on drives. And I think, um, I just kind of put it together for me at some point, you know? And I wanted a job where I, you could, like, comedy was nice because you always got to get away. It was like, you gotta perform here, you gotta perform there. You, you do a lot of quips, man.

• 4:16Theo Von?

  You have a lot of, uh, you have a huge sense of humor. Um, have, did you ever think about it or try it?

• 4:21Speaker 01

  I just, I.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  I just try to be myself, Phil.

• 4:27Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  You know, I have this saying, I don't remember who first told me, but when I was growing up, somebody told me, said, Kennedy, you always be yourself unless you suck.

• 4:37Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 4:38Speaker 01

  And if you suck, there's nothing we can do to help you.

• 4:40Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 4:41Speaker 01

  And I've never forgotten that, you know?

• 4:44Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's a good line, man.

• 4:45Speaker 01

  And, and a lot of, a lot of folks in Washington think they need to pretend to be somebody else and be very erudite and sound like a senator and that's okay for them, but it just doesn't work for me.

• 4:59Theo Von?

  Yeah. Yeah, I find it too hard. I think, I don't know, I, I, it's hard for me to find something that's too fake. It just hurts me kind of or something.

• 5:08Speaker 01

  Well, people, the, the American people can smell a phony man.

• 5:11Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  They can smell a phony a mile away.

• 5:14Theo Von?

  Yeah. But being off of comedy has been nice because I've had more time to watch. I've been watching some of the soccer. You've been watching the World Cup?

• 5:20Speaker 01

  Uh huh, a little bit.

• 5:21Theo Von?

  Yeah. Did Louisiana have a chance to get a game at all? Do you know?

• 5:24Speaker 01

  No, I don't think we did. I, the competition, Phil, was so, it was so intense because they just felt like big money and, and I don't know that we even bid. We might've put in a bid from New Orleans.

• 5:40Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  But it was expensive and you had to offer incentives. Uh, the World Cup's a big deal. You know, we're not, we're not big, that kind of football, we're not, we don't follow it much in, in America, but it, it, in the rest of the world, it is the thing, man.

• 5:56Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah. It's been nice to see. I just, actually, I went to a game down in Watalehara the other night.

• 6:01Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 6:01Theo Von?

  Um.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  It's fun to watch.

• 6:03Theo Von?

  Dude, it was so cool, man.

• 6:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:05Theo Von?

  And they treated us like so nice down there and just like, yeah, it was the first World Cup game that they'd ever had in Watalehara that Mexico had played in. And man, I got to go with my friend Gianni and Samantha and it was just, man.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  These guys are incredible athletes.

• 6:17Theo Von?

  Oh.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Unbelievable athletes.

• 6:18Theo Von?

  It makes me feel so lazy, even just sitting there in the stands. It's like they're running for so long.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  They're running for so long. It's start, it's stop.

• 6:26Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  It's contact. It's a lot of contact.

• 6:29Theo Von?

  And they can eat whatever they want. That's what I think the whole time. I'm like, these bastards can go after this. They can eat whatever, and they can eat whatever they want probably forever. Like they've done enough exercise.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 6:38Theo Von?

  Like they're kind of grandfathered in to have, to having abs, you know?

• 6:42Speaker 01

  I think, uh. Tennis is another sport that demands incredible endurance.

• 6:49Theo Von?

  Tennis is for the rich, though, I think, John.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  Well, I remember when I was in school in England, I went over and bought standing room only tickets at Wimbledon. And I watched, I got to watch Arthur Ashe on one of the outer courts, he was as close as you and me. And this guy was in such incredible, he wasn't muscular. You know, John McEnroe, if you met, I saw Jimmy Connors one time, wasn't muscular.

• 7:16Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  And they were from, from lower class backgrounds, they just started early.

• 7:22Theo Von?

  Huh. Yeah, I'll get, look, any, any urban kid, I'm gonna put a racket in their hand, they, that is one, that's a sport, they take over fast.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  But it's discipline, man, it's just repetition, every day, every day, and you've gotta be able to handle pressure.

• 7:39Theo Von?

  Yeah, I don't think I'd be good at it.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  You gotta be able to handle the pressure.

• 7:43Theo Von?

  I don't know.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Cause you're playing people that are as good as you are, and it's, it becomes a mental game.

• 7:50Theo Von?

  Yeah, especially at that high level, man. I think that's what people don't realize about a lot of these sports, like these in, like, when you get to a high level, it's a matter of inches. It's a, it's a little bit of a moment.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  It's inches and it's mental.

• 8:02Theo Von?

  If you even see these soccer games, you'll see the ball goes through and it's like, there's like a arm, a leg, a shoulder, a head, so many things that are just, I mean, half a millimeter away from it.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:11Theo Von?

  You know, every single shot. Yeah, I've enjoyed watching the World Cup, it's been good, it's been, it's been a nice time to have extra free time because that's going on.

• 8:23Theo Von?

  You live in Madisonville?

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:25Theo Von?

  Nice.

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Near, near Mandeville.

• 8:27Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 8:28Speaker 01

  I live right on the line between Madisonville and Mandeville.

• 8:32Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  Of course, it's, it's grown a lot since you grew up there.

• 8:35Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, I go back a good bit.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  It's, it's, well, you know, I mean, it's just, you all, you can't really tell the difference now between Mandeville, Madisonville, and Covington.

• 8:46Theo Von?

  Yeah. Yeah, my stepdad goes over there, a coffee house over there by Friends, right there on the lake. And has coffee.

• 8:54Speaker 01

  I know where you're talking about.

• 8:54Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  It's in an old house.

• 8:56Theo Von?

  Yep.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 8:58Theo Von?

  What's it called?

• 8:59Speaker 01

  Creole cottage.

• 9:00Theo Von?

  Yeah, something like that.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  Um, I can't think of that. I've, I've had meetings there before.

• 9:04Theo Von?

  Yeah, it's nice, man. I used to live right over a buddy of mine. His family let me live in their basement over there. Which, living in a basement in Louisiana, it's a, it could-

• 9:12Speaker 01

  It's dangerous. It can flood.

• 9:13Theo Von?

  Yeah, it could flood.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  And you can find varmints in there.

• 9:17Theo Von?

  Oh, definitely, man.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  You know?

• 9:18Theo Von?

  Your hair's clean in the morning, I know that. Something will run up and eat everything out of it.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  And, and snakes will crawl in there with you.

• 9:24Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  My wife called me, it got me out of it.

• 9:27Theo Von?

  Let's don't go from snakes to your wife, John. I think-

• 9:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a good, you're right about that. But she called me the other day. I was in the middle of a hearing and it was, she was hysterical and she showed me a picture. That there was this six-foot rat snake in my, in my, on my deck. And I said, just leave him alone.

• 9:46Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  You want him, you know?

• 9:48Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Don't hurt him. She said, I'll call the neighbor and they'll kill him. I said, don't do that.

• 9:52Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  He's a rat snake. Even if, even if you could pick him up, he might bite you, but it won't hurt.

• 9:58Theo Von?

  Yeah. Now, if you're a rat-

• 9:59Speaker 01

  If you're a rat, he'll eat you.

• 10:01Theo Von?

  Yeah, you got a problem, man.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  You know, he will eat you and spit out the bones, but-

• 10:05Theo Von?

  Oh, they always got something over there. I used to work over at Friends on the lake. You know where that is?

• 10:09Speaker 01

  I know Friends well.

• 10:10Theo Von?

  Yeah. So before they remodeled, it was just one story right down-

• 10:13Speaker 01

  It's highfalutin now.

• 10:15Theo Von?

  Oh, it's, yeah.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  It's, it's high-end now.

• 10:17Theo Von?

  It's fancy over there.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  But I liked it when, I liked it the old way. Uh, there was another place called Coffee's Boiling Pot.

• 10:25Theo Von?

  Yep.

• 10:25Speaker 01

  Uh, I used to, they've under new ownership and it's gotten a little more expensive.

• 10:30Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 10:30Speaker 01

  Um, uh, but it's just grown so much.

• 10:34Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah. And Baddo's, I used to go to Baddo's, get me a little burger.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  I still go, Baddo's is still there.

• 10:39Theo Von?

  Give me a chocolate malt over there.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  You got it?

• 10:42Theo Von?

  Oh, so much sugar in my face, I couldn't blink my damn eyes for an hour. But I, you know, but it was worth it, man. But I worked at Friends and I will tell you this, they used to-

• 10:49Speaker 01

  You were a waiter?

• 10:50Theo Von?

  Oh, no, I was a busboy forever.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  Were you?

• 10:52Theo Von?

  Yeah, I was never, I was never promoted. That was my, yeah. And then I got to a point where I was like, I'm not being a waiter, even if y'all want me to. You know, that was some of my energy. But um, but it was a good time over there and when they would cook duck, when the chef would cook duck, every now and then they had duck on the menu. And back in the busboy section where the ice machine was, they had these uh, these um, they had some uh, missing baseboards down there and these raccoons would come out of the wall. So one of the busboys would have to sit back there with a broomstick and just beat them back in it, literally just beat them back into the wall where they were cooking duck.

• 11:28Speaker 01

  We had-

• 11:29Theo Von?

  They, raccoons love duck.

• 11:30Speaker 01

  We, we had an outdoor cat for a while.

• 11:33Theo Von?

  Oh yeah.

• 11:34Speaker 01

  Wild, but he, but I would, would bring cat food out there. And it was always gone so quick and finally when I went out there one night and just kinda eat, a raccoon was coming out of the woods, just scarfing that stuff up.

• 11:47Theo Von?

  Just pretending to be a cat.

• 11:48Speaker 01

  We've got raccoons, I back up to woods, we've got raccoons, deer. Um, I went out one night to, to take out the garbage, opened up the top, a possum, you know.

• 12:01Theo Von?

  Yeah. Yeah, they act like it's theirs.

• 12:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Now raccoons, they're kinda cute, possums, uh-uh.

• 12:08Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 12:08Speaker 01

  Those things scare me.

• 12:09Theo Von?

  You'll see a cross bit of a catcoon every now and then, you'll see them, a couple of them start cross pollinating out there. If they, if the uh, if the humidity gets high enough, you'll see some of them animals start mixing species.

• 12:20Speaker 01

  As you well know, we've got everything.

• 12:21Theo Von?

  Oh yeah.

• 12:22Speaker 01

  We've got alligator, we've got more alligators uh, than we've got people now.

• 12:27Theo Von?

  Is that true?

• 12:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh yeah.

• 12:28Theo Von?

  You're lying.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  No, I'm not. It's just, we, we, 25 years ago, they were getting extinct.

• 12:34Theo Von?

  And watch the Democrats try to get them to register to vote.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  Yep. If, it wouldn't surprise me.

• 12:40Theo Von?

  Wouldn't surprise me, sorry to interrupt you, but I was gonna forget that joke if I didn't say it. Yes, Louisiana has more alligators than people, dear God. Get the kids away from the river.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  But tourists love them because they will, the, these boat tour guides go out and they feed them.

• 12:55Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:56Speaker 01

  And so when, when they see the, the uh, the boat, they come immediately and the tourists just eat it up. They think they're tame, they're not.

• 13:04Theo Von?

  It's perversion to me, brother. I don't mess with the devil and I don't mess with his pets. That's one way I, that's how I operate, I don't mess with those types of things, that's for sure. Um, but yeah, it's nice for you, it's nice for you to be here, nice to just have a uh, a taste of home in the building, man.

• 13:21Theo Von?

  You started working in politics and you were

• 13:22Speaker 01

  Are we taping now?

• 13:23Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 13:24Speaker 01

  All right. Yeah, fine. I just didn't know.

• 13:26Theo Von?

  Oh, yes, sir. Sorry. Yes, sir, we are. Senator John Kennedy, thank you. And you're not related to Bobby Kennedy or any of those Kennedys, right?

• 13:34Speaker 01

  Well, if I am, I'm the poor side of the family.

• 13:37Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 13:38Speaker 01

  I don't think I am. My dad was from Oklahoma.

• 13:42Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:43Speaker 01

  And my mom was from central Louisiana.

• 13:46Theo Von?

  How did they meet? How'd your parents meet?

• 13:48Speaker 01

  Well, my dad, Theo, was from a depression family.

• 13:51Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  Eight brothers and sisters.

• 13:53Theo Von?

  Wow.

• 13:54Speaker 01

  He left home, hard for me to believe today, but when he was 14, to go to another town that had a high school. He lived with relatives. He worked as a janitor at night to pay his way. He went to University of Oklahoma.

• 14:15Theo Von?

  We just won the Natty Championship, baby.

• 14:17Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 14:17Theo Von?

  Let's go.

• 14:18Speaker 01

  He worked his way through school, got a degree in petroleum engineering, came to Louisiana to work in the oil fields and met my mom.

• 14:28Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 14:29Speaker 01

  And he went away for four years. He was in World War II. But I, my dad was my hero, man.

• 14:38Theo Von?

  Was he?

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, he really was.

• 14:40Theo Von?

  What was his name?

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Preston Kennedy.

• 14:42Theo Von?

  Preston Kennedy.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  I named my son after, my dad used to tell me, Theo, he would say, "Son," when I was growing up, I have three brothers. He'd say, "Son, you'll never understand love till you have a child." And I'd say, "Ah, come on, Dad," you know? He'd say, "No, it's not like the love of a spouse, or a sibling, or a girlfriend." And until you have children, you don't know that, but he was right.

• 15:08Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 15:08Speaker 01

  I named my son after Preston.

• 15:10Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 15:10Speaker 01

  And he's a good kid. There was a time, growing up, When I wa- I I figured my son was either gonna go into concert promotion or a minimum security prison. I wasn't sure which.

• 15:23Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  But but he he uh he he he's a he's a good kid.

• 15:28Theo Von?

  There's a picture up right there, huh?

• 15:30Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 15:31Theo Von?

  Oh, that's awesome.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  That's my late dad.

• 15:34Theo Von?

  There you go. Preston and and the other Preston, huh?

• 15:37Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 15:37Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  Yep, that's a great picture. I've got that somewhere. That was that was my younger days. This was when my dad was still alive.

• 15:46Theo Von?

  Oh, bless him, man.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  We were he was we were we were raised in Zachary.

• 15:50Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:51Speaker 01

  About 3,000 people.

• 15:53Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm. And that's close to uh Liberty?

• 15:56Speaker 01

  It's it's sort of close to Liberty. It's close. Liberty's about 40 miles away. It's close to Baton Rouge.

• 16:03Theo Von?

  Okay, yeah.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Um, now-

• 16:05Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, I know where it is now.

• 16:07Speaker 01

  Now, when I grew up, Zachary's big now. It's like 15, 20,000. There were like 3,000 people.

• 16:13Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  And it was really a small town. And uh I like that people say, what's a small town like? And and I tell them the truth. It's everybody knows your business. Everybody knows whose check is good and whose husband isn't. Everybody knows your business. But I would go back. Some people hated high school. I loved it.

• 16:35Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 16:36Speaker 01

  Happiest day I I-

• 16:37Theo Von?

  Oh, high school?

• 16:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:38Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, cuz I don't think I don't think people you don't realize at that age that you will never be in a place where you're kind of as protected, like in a in an incubator-

• 16:48Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 16:49Theo Von?

  And have all of everyone you know will be around. Every day, they show up, even though they're tired or whatever and they're miserable and they didn't do their homework or whatever, and they all like the same girl. It doesn't matter. Everybody you know will show up, and that never happens again.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  Nope. It it I had 100 people in my graduating class.

• 17:09Speaker 01

  We were the bucking, that's B, bucking Broncos.

• 17:14Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 17:15Speaker 01

  And I cared about two things. I cared about my studies because of my parents, but I cared more about basketball and I cared about cheerleaders.

• 17:24Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 17:25Speaker 01

  And I wasn't worth a damn at either one.

• 17:27Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  But I had a lot of fun trying.

• 17:29Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 17:29Speaker 01

  And you don't, but I talked to people all the time. They go, I didn't like high school. Man, I'd go back in a second.

• 17:36Theo Von?

  Oh, God. Well, they busted some guy. They had some guy had a growth deficiency. And he, or just the Lord didn't really let him grow up.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 17:46Theo Von?

  He was just a Simon Birch of a man, you know? And, and they busted him. He was like 31 and he went back to, uh, middle school or something. And he was, they called him on like two weeks into school.

• 17:56Speaker 01

  That's cool.

• 17:57Theo Von?

  One of the teachers saw him cashing a check over the weekend at a bank. And they busted him. This is a few years ago in Indiana. They caught a guy. But, and people were like, that's messed up. I said, look, I don't blame the guy.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  Well, you grew up in Banda Ville in Covington. It was probably small then.

• 18:11Theo Von?

  Oh, man.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  It's big now, but.

• 18:13Theo Von?

  Covington was perfect, man. I remember we'd get paddled by the principal.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 18:17Theo Von?

  I mean, Bill Brady, Bill Brady was our principal and he was the best. I saw him a couple of years ago at, um, at a buddy's funeral.

• 18:23Speaker 01

  You can't do that anymore, but I, we had it.

• 18:26Theo Von?

  Did you have like a milk delivery person and stuff like that?

• 18:29Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 18:29Theo Von?

  Nah.

• 18:30Speaker 01

  I, I remember.

• 18:31Theo Von?

  That's crazy, bro.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  I'll never forget. I had a civics class and my basketball coach was my teacher. And there was this one guy, I won't use his name because he's a friend of mine, but he was a great football player. And, uh, uh, he was having trouble with the exam. So he said, Kennedy, help me with this exam. We're sitting next to each other. And I'll never forget, well, okay, you know, I, he'd point to an answer. It was a multiple choice. And I'd go, huh. He'd point to another and I'd go, huh. And the coach called me, caught me.

• 19:05Theo Von?

  Oh.

• 19:05Speaker 01

  He called, come here. And you just, you, you bend over and he hits you with that paddle with holes in it. And you, you don't wanna, you don't wanna cry. It hurts like hell.

• 19:19Theo Von?

  Well, you don't wanna make any noise.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  You just, yeah.

• 19:22Theo Von?

  Like any noise you make is not.

• 19:23Speaker 01

  Cause then, then you're uncool.

• 19:25Theo Von?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Now, you don't do that anymore, but it worked for me. Next time, next time my friend got in trouble, he said, will you help me? I said, no. No, I think, you know, I, I, you, yeah, I've learned my lesson.

• 19:38Theo Von?

  Yeah, I learned my lesson the hard way, man. Here we go, right here, it said, uh, Perrysburg Police Arrested Labrador, Arrested Labrador Sierra on Monday. That's a man. Um, a 24-year-old suspect was enrolled in high school allegedly posing as a teenage boy for more than a year and a half.

• 19:56Speaker 01

  Really?

• 19:56Theo Von?

  That's pretty wild. Attending Perrysburg High School between January 11th, 2024 and May 14th, 2025. Shout out to that young fella trying to get an education.

• 20:06Speaker 01

  Good for him, I guess.

• 20:08Theo Von?

  Yeah, I guess. We don't, now, we don't know.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  We don't know why he went back.

• 20:10Theo Von?

  Yeah, we don't know why he went back. Now, if he went back to finish up a couple of courses.

• 20:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, if that's one thing, but you, you just might wanna delve in the background.

• 20:19Theo Von?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, you might wanna do a little recon on that fella. And also, I will notice in, in that photo, I think he was in a prison outfit, so.

• 20:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:27Theo Von?

  So, there may have been more to the story. Um, you started as treasurer in Louisiana?

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, my, my first job.

• 20:35Theo Von?

  Your political career, sorry.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  Yep, my first job, I worked for a governor, a reform governor named Buddy Romer.

• 20:40Theo Von?

  Oh, did you really?

• 20:41Speaker 01

  I worked for Buddy and, uh, um, then, um, Buddy got beat and I had left him to run for Attorney General. I, I lost, I came in third. My next job was, uh, another reform governor named Mike Foster. I had become friends with him and he won and he asked me to come run basically the tax department. And I did that for a while and then I ran for treasurer and I was treasurer for seventeen years before I came to the senate.

• 21:12Theo Von?

  Wow.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  Enjoyed it, learned a lot about finance, a lot about bond issues, underwriting, I managed all the state money, it was about four billion then, that's not a lot of money to a lot of people, but for Louisiana, it's a lot.

• 21:34Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's a chump.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  I enjoyed it.

• 21:36Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 21:37Speaker 01

  I like being a senator, but I enjoyed being state treasurer.

• 21:41Theo Von?

  What does a treasurer do, so, just so we know, so we're clear on it.

• 21:44Speaker 01

  Well, when you're in the state treasurer, just as you'd expect, you're in charge of the state's money. States borrow money to build roads or to build prisons or build schools, and you issue bonds, and you hire investment bankers, usually out of New York, not always, and bond lawyers. I was in charge of that. You have to be very careful, the rules, the security rules, you have to disclose everything. We had idle cash.

• 22:13Theo Von?

  Oh, that ain't good in Louisiana, bruh. That goes missing quick.

• 22:18Speaker 01

  But cash comes in and goes out quickly, but I was in charge of investing it in short-term instruments, sometimes just a day or two.

• 22:28Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 22:29Speaker 01

  But when you've got a cash flow that's in the billions of dollars, just investing it overnight, you can pick up a lot of money if you do it repeatedly. We had a lot of trust funds, I invested, I invested those. I spent a lot of time working with the legislature on ideas about how to make government more efficient, save money. I was in charge of the state's unclaimed property program.

• 22:55Theo Von?

  Were you really, dude?

• 22:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:57Theo Von?

  Dude, I think y'all sent me a thing one time. I think I had two hundred bucks on something. Thank you.

• 23:02Speaker 01

  Yep, we, uh...

• 23:03Theo Von?

  Thank you, dude.

• 23:04Speaker 01

  When a business has your money and can't find you, they can't keep it, they've got to turn it over to the state, and I was in charge of...

• 23:12Theo Von?

  Unless it's the federal government, they're allowed to just keep it.

• 23:14Speaker 01

  Well, no, the federal government's different.

• 23:15Theo Von?

  Yeah. They allowed to keep every cent.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  But I was in charge of getting the money back to people.

• 23:20Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 23:20Speaker 01

  And the most money I ever gave back to a lady.

• 23:24Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 23:24Speaker 01

  Man, it was great. She was a retired school teacher in New Orleans.

• 23:28Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  It was from her late husband. It's a long story, but she didn't know about the money. They were invested in stocks and they grew and grew and grew. I gave her a check for one million twenty-six thousand dollars. Yeah, man, it was cool.

• 23:40Theo Von?

  And did you walk over there and do it? Did you mail it to her?

• 23:42Speaker 01

  No, I called her and told her how we got it. She didn't have any children and she said, "Well, I want to come to Baton Rouge and get it." And so that's where my office was. So she came in and she cried, talked about her late husband. I gave her the money. She said, "I'm gonna use it to help people. I don't have any children." But when I went, walked her outside to escort her out, she had like ten nieces and nephews there just waiting. And I knew that money was gonna get spent.

• 24:14Theo Von?

  Get that check, boy. Oh, and that check comes in Louisiana, when that check comes, man, it's getting spent.

• 24:20Speaker 01

  But I'm glad we got you some of your money.

• 24:22Theo Von?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you, man. I needed it at the time, too. You know, so I appreciate that. Um, when, when you got a job and then Senator, how long you been working as a Senator for?

• 24:33Speaker 01

  Ten years.

• 24:34Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  It's, uh, some of the most interesting people I've ever been around.

• 24:40Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 24:41Speaker 01

  Um, right now, um, it's not pretty to watch. Um,

• 24:47Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Right now, Congress kinda looks like a breach birth, you know?

• 24:51Theo Von?

  What do you mean by that?

• 24:52Speaker 01

  Well, three wheels of stock, a, a, a shopping cart. We're not getting along.

• 24:56Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 24:57Speaker 01

  It's hard to reach consensus. We'll get through it. Um, but as we get closer to the midterm elections, still, it just gets more and more and more political. Uh, I think we're gonna have another shutdown. I sent on the appropriations committee and we're trying to put together a budget, but we're not getting any cooperation.

• 25:18Theo Von?

  What is the appropriations committee? What does that mean?

• 25:20Speaker 01

  That means I'm in charge of, not just me, but others. I'm in charge of, of drafting the, the, uh, the federal government's budget.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  And my, my part of it is what's called energy and water development. I'm in charge of the nuclear program. I'm in charge, well, my subcommittee is.

• 25:42Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 25:42Speaker 01

  I'm in charge of the Department of Energy. I'm in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers. And we put together the budget, but I've, you've got to get 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate. So I've got to work with my Democratic colleagues. And that sometimes is easy, sometimes it's not. The closer we, Senator Schumer, I think is going to shut, he's going to refuse to let us do a budget.

• 26:11Theo Von?

  Really?

• 26:11Speaker 01

  I think he's going to shut down government.

• 26:13Theo Von?

  That guy seems like a crook.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  I, well, look, I mean, I mean.

• 26:17Theo Von?

  That's an unfair statement, maybe?

• 26:19Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, that's fair. It's America, you can believe what you want. I don't hate anybody. I don't. And when I say my prayers, one of the things I ask God for, don't let me hate. And it's easy to start hating in Washington. And I refuse to hate. And that's one of the many things I ask God for. And I know Chuck well. We went to China together, met with President Xi. We don't agree on much. And Chuck's entitled his opinion. But as I tell him all the time, you know, he's, he's, how can I explain it? He's, he's very animated.

• 26:59Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 27:00Speaker 01

  He's like a five-year-old in a Batman costume, you know? You just want to tell him, chill out.

• 27:06Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 27:06Speaker 01

  But he hates President Trump, doesn't like President Trump. He thinks by creating chaos, it'll help his side in the midterm elections. And I fully expect him to withhold the budget, the votes on the budget and shut down government. And that would be, I hope I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize to him.

• 27:29Theo Von?

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• 28:14Theo Von?

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• 28:57Theo Von?

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• 29:40Theo Von?

  Check out Moonpay Agents at moonpay.com/agents. Crypto is risky and can be volatile, so do your own research and trade responsibly.

• 29:53Theo Von?

  I just saw that Tucker Carlson said he's not supporting, can you bring that up? Tucker Carlson said he's not supporting Republicans in the midterms.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Yep, I think he's leaving the Republican Party.

• 30:05Theo Von?

  Longtime conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said on a podcast that there's no chance I would support the Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. Not going to support the Democratic Party, Carlson was quick to add, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Carlson supported Trump in 2024. Did he say why? They're making decisions on the basis of other criteria, what's the, what's best for this company, what's best for Israel? Oh, that's right, he said he felt like it was becoming Israel first party and not America first. That's a big person to not have support from, you know, because he's been a big supporter of the Republican Party for a while. I've been a consistent defender, he says, for 35 years of the Republican Party.

• 30:50Theo Von?

  I mean, very consistent defender, but there's no defending this, he said, so no, I'm out. What do you, what's your response to that?

• 30:58Speaker 01

  Well, I know Tucker, he is very, very smart. He's very articulate. He has fallen out with President Trump and with those of us in the, in the Senate who support Israel. He primarily fell out with President Trump over the conflict in Iran. Now, I've been very supportive of the president on the conflict in Iran. I don't want America to be the world's policeman, but I don't want Xi Jinping in China, or the Ayatollah in Iran, or Vladimir Putin in Russia to be the world's policeman either.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  And these are hard men. They understand one thing, Theo, strength. If, if, if, if you, if you turn the other cheek to these people, they'll just stab you in the neck. Now.

• 31:57Theo Von?

  What proof of that is there?

• 31:58Speaker 01

  You just look at their actions. Iran is the world's foremost exporter of terrorism.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  Putin, who now, of course, runs Russia, wants to dominate Eastern and Central Europe, which is President Trump has gotten Europe to start spending more money on defense, but we've always had to defend them. I can tell you what President Xi, I haven't met with President Xi. He is very clear, he thinks that China is ascending, he thinks America's in decline, he thinks while they're building ships and nuclear weapons, he thinks all we do in America is sit around and debate whether a man can breastfeed.

• 32:47Speaker 01

  And he is, Putin and I totally and Iran are working together. And China's goal is to dominate the Indo-Pacific, to be free to roam in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America. He wants to dominate the Arctic, he wants to dominate space. But has he shown those things? Oh, yes. Okay. Absolutely. I mean, China is supporting Iran right now. China is supporting Russia in war in Ukraine, there's no question. China buys all of Putin's oil. We sanctioned a lot of their oil when Putin invaded Ukraine.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  So he can't sell it because oil is traded in dollars, he sells it to China. Look, I don't hate anybody. And the Chinese people, to the extent that the Communist Party in China will let you interact with them, are lovely people. Yeah. But they are determined, they hate America. And, and deep down, the Iranians are worse, but deep down, they want to kill us and hurt us the entire time we're dying. Now, that's my point of view. Tucker will have a different point of view. Yeah. He thinks, and he thinks that we're too close to Israel.

• 34:11Theo Von?

  I think a lot of people, these, from, from people that I see all the time, that's the number one thing that people say. They think we're too close to a country that's, that's, that's created a genocide against Palestine and then is like in conflict with these other people around them, that it seems like they're just like, kind of the bullies of the area, you know, it's like, it feels like they're the terrorist organization. That's what it seems like to a lot of people.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  A lot of people believe that. Um, I'll give you another point of view. Um, the real problem in the Middle East, since, forever, since God was a baby, the real problem in the Middle East has, is Iran. Uh, and Iran wants to dominate it. And Iran, Iran funds Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel is surrounded by people that want to kill them. They, Syria is different today, but Syria, Hezbollah was in control of Lebanon, Hamas, an arm of Iran,

• 35:14Speaker 01

  was in control of the Gaza Strip. Um, Hamas attacked Israel, and the Israelis fight back. And it, they took, they, they took over the Gaza Strip, and yes, a lot of Palestinians got hurt, and-

• 35:33Theo Von?

  Not got hurt, I mean, got killed.

• 35:35Speaker 01

  Got killed and hurt, and we, but, but, but Hamas would, Hamas would hold the, the, the Gazans hostage, they would put them out front-

• 35:49Theo Von?

  But how do we even know that? They killed 220 something-

• 35:52Speaker 01

  Because we've seen it.

• 35:53Theo Von?

  But they killed 220 something journalists that went there to document what was going on.

• 35:57Speaker 01

  There's no question there have been civilian deaths.

• 35:59Theo Von?

  They wouldn't let journalists in to even document what was happening there.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  There have been civilian deaths, but it is primarily the fault. I'm not saying Israel is blameless, but war is ugly.

• 36:10Theo Von?

  Yeah, but is this war?

• 36:12Speaker 01

  But it is war.

• 36:13Theo Von?

  You think it's war?

• 36:14Speaker 01

  It is war.

• 36:15Theo Von?

  They just had an article yesterday that came out from the UN, if you could find that, it was about, they'd done like a deep dive on, um, the killing of children, right? And some of the massacring, and really massacring of children. Israel continues to commit genocide, atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children, UN Independent Commission fines. Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection. Let me see what else here. Here are some findings of the commission. Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since October 7, 2023.

• 36:58Theo Von?

  Let me see Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons. This is all part of, let me see, United Nations.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Well, first, I wouldn't believe it if it came from the UN.

• 37:12Theo Von?

  Oh, really? They're not, do you feel like they're not liable?

• 37:14Speaker 01

  No, they're not, they're not.

• 37:15Theo Von?

  They're not, sorry, reliable?

• 37:16Speaker 01

  They're not objective.

• 37:17Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  They're not objective.

• 37:19Theo Von?

  Well, that's the thing.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  Number two, and I know children got killed, and it breaks your heart. Hamas kills children too. So does Hezbollah. So does Iran. Do you think, do you think the Ayatollah doesn't care about the Iranian people? The Persians are some of the most talented people in history. When they disagree with the Ayatollah, they hang them. They just hang them. And, and I think, I don't speak for Mr. Carlson, but he says it's not our business. And, and I guess to some extent he's right, but I'll tell you what is our business, is letting them get a nuclear weapon. Because if they get a nuclear weapon, these people are like Charlie Manson.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  They're crazy. I mean, there's, really crazy is rare. These people though are, with, with the Iranian leadership, it's commonplace. If they get a nuclear weapon, they will use it, not just on Israel, but on Europe and on us. And even if they don't, once they get a nuclear weapon, you will have other countries, Japan, South Korea, other countries, Saudi Arabia, get nuclear weapons as well. And the more people that have nuclear weapons, more likely you are to have war.

• 38:42Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  But Tucker would probably have another point of view. But I really. I like Tucker. I think he's really smart.

• 38:48Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, I think Tucker's a neat guy. I mean, from what I know about him, he seems like, um, I believe that he's earnest, like in his search, you know? I believe that he, um, I don't know. Yeah, my interactions with them have always been good, you know? It's just that when they, when they kill the reporters who are trying to get honest information, they're killing reporters, you know?

• 39:08Speaker 01

  I don't think it was intentional, but.

• 39:11Theo Von?

  They had one that they shot directly in the face and then at her funeral, they, um, they attacked the people who were carrying her. Can you find her name? We just talked about her last night. Sorry to go in all this. But, um, but they, at her funeral, they attacked, they even attacked the people who were giving her funeral. Shereen Abu Akhla was a prominent Palestinian-American journalist who worked as a reporter for 25 years for Al Jazeera, before she was killed by Israeli forces while wearing a blue press vest and covering a raid in the gin in, on the gin and refugee camp.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  That's terrible.

• 39:47Speaker 01

  But, but here's what you have to understand about the world.

• 39:55Speaker 01

  And I don't know why this is. If I make it to heaven, I'm gonna ask God. But there's some people out there in the world.

• 40:02Speaker 01

  They're not sick. They're not mixed up. It's not that their mama and daddy didn't love them enough. They just got black hearts. And some of them run countries. North Korea, Russia, China.

• 40:18Theo Von?

  But what are those countries actively doing right now? Like Bibi Netanyahu and the Israeli government is actively,

• 40:27Theo Von?

  from a lot of people believe, and I believe a lot of voters believe that they've, they're actively committing a, have committed a genocide in Palestine. And then they've gone into Beirut to Lebanon, to Iran. You don't believe they are.

• 40:38Speaker 01

  I don't believe that. I believe that Hamas dominate, which is an arm of Iran. Hamas dominated Gaza. Um, Hamas attacked Israel.

• 40:52Speaker 01

  Hamas was hiding behind the Palestinian civilians.

• 40:57Theo Von?

  All of them?

• 40:58Speaker 01

  All of them. All of them. You, you, if you didn't obey, if the Palestinian civilians didn't obey Hamas, they would kill him. Okay?

• 41:08Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 41:09Speaker 01

  Hamas was in complete control.

• 41:11Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  Israel attacked. When Israel attacked Hamas, many civilians got killed and it was regrettable. But what are you gonna do? Iran was hiding, physically hiding behind them. While that happened, Hezbollah from Lebanon, funded by Iran, attacked Israel. And all Israel has done is fought back.

• 41:33Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 41:33Speaker 01

  Now, I'm not saying that, that, that in the fog of war, there haven't been innocent people killed. They, there have been.

• 41:41Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 41:42Speaker 01

  And it's terrible. But it's not like Israel is, is the bad guy and Ha- Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran are the good guys. Cause they're not. And, and you, the, these weakness invites the wolves. I wish it weren't like that. I wish it weren't. I wish you could sit down and, and reason with them. But it's, it's like talking to Charlie Manson. He was stone cold crazy.

• 42:12Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 42:13Speaker 01

  And these people believe if you don't accept their religion, their form of Islam, then you should die. And they think they're on a mission from God. Now, look, I think that Islam is, if you wanna be a-

• 42:30Theo Von?

  You think that's true? And you would know, I mean, I, I don't have a-

• 42:33Speaker 01

  I think Islam, Hindu, you can, your religion is your business. In America, we have freedom of religion. But if, if my religion told me that I had to kill a bunch of other human beings to advance my religion's call, I, if Christianity taught that, I couldn't be a Christian.

• 42:57Theo Von?

  Yeah. Yeah, that would be heartbreaking.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, but they really believe that. And that's

• 43:05Theo Von?

  And how do we know that?

• 43:06Speaker 01

  Because they've done it. They've what they've done, what they did in October, was it October 7? They raided, they raped, they cut off Israeli people's heads. They kidnapped them. What they've done to American troops in Lebanon. It's widely known, look, look at what they did. They started shooting at the Saudis and the UAE. That's not the good people of Iran. That's their leadership, their religious outlets.

• 43:45Theo Von?

  And didn't we get, didn't we, didn't we take their Ayatollah out?

• 43:48Speaker 01

  We took the first one out. They've replaced him with his son, but he's, he's in hiding.

• 43:55Theo Von?

  Dang, bro. And that's nepotism. I mean, we gotta call that what it is.

• 44:00Speaker 01

  Well, nobody wants, nobody really wants to, to

• 44:04Theo Von?

  Nobody wants the job.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  Nobody wants the job, man. Our, our military is the greatest military in all of human history.

• 44:11Theo Von?

  Amen to that, dude.

• 44:13Speaker 01

  It's just extraordinary.

• 44:15Theo Von?

  We're so lucky, man. I mean, we're just lucky to be in a place where we can at least like think and try and explore ideas and try and learn. And even if we don't know stuff, you know, we can try our best. But wasn't there some evidence that Hamas was funded by? Israel, though, like it was back channeled through Qatar or something? Can you look that up?

• 44:39Speaker 01

  Qatar is, has funneled money to Hamas before.

• 44:43Theo Von?

  They're a middleman.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  No, we have, I'll be shocked. I'm a United States senator.

• 44:48Theo Von?

  Money from Israel, from Israel.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  No, I don't believe that.

• 44:51Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 44:51Speaker 01

  I just don't believe that. I know there's stories, but I just don't believe that. Because I've been to Israel, I've talked to the Israeli people. They don't want to be at war, but

• 45:02Theo Von?

  Then why are they at war with everyone then? It feels like over there.

• 45:04Speaker 01

  Well, they're, they're at war with Hezbollah. To the north because Hezbollah keep shooting missiles at them and digging tunnels. And they're terrorists and they're at war with Hamas because Hamas attacked them.

• 45:20Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 45:21Speaker 01

  And until they took out their missiles, kept shooting missiles. And they're at war with Iran because Iran is behind all of it. And I wish we didn't have to do any of this, honest to God. I've talked to President Trump about it. He didn't, he doesn't want to be in conflict with Iran. But we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. We cannot. These people are stone cold crazy.

• 45:49Theo Von?

  Yeah, I guess it's tough to say. I think when you see like videos and stuff online, it makes you just see like, um, I don't know, it just makes your heart hurt. Like, um, there was a, uh, there was a report the other day and that UN report that there was like a 14 year old kid.

• 46:08Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 46:09Theo Von?

  Who they got, who they shot and then they just stood around and watched him bleed to death. And when his mother tried to come to him, they just like would shoot at her. And then these soldiers just stood around and watched him bleed to death. And it's just kind of heartbreaking.

• 46:21Speaker 01

  I know, it all breaks your heart. And that's why you don't want to have to go to war. But put yourself in, in, in the, in the president's shoes. Our intelligence, here's what our intelligence showed, and I've seen it. It's classified, but I've seen it. But I can give you the, a general outline. Our, our intelligence showed that Iran was building up its missile capacity, both ballistic and cruise. And they were going to, to, uh, compile so many missiles and drones. That they were going to turn to America and Israel and say, we're restarting our nuclear weapons program.

• 47:06Speaker 01

  And if you try to stop us, we're going to destroy the rest of the Middle East. And by the way, our missiles can now reach London. And Paris, Paris, and, uh, and Germany.

• 47:21Theo Von?

  And you saw, you saw reports that said that?

• 47:22Speaker 01

  I've seen the intelligence.

• 47:23Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  And President Trump was faced, well, do I let them continue? He had already bombed their nuclear, some of their nuclear facilities. But he, he, he was faced with the decision, do I let them get to the point where they have so many missiles and drones, ballistic and cruise, that they could destroy the Middle East, that they could hit London, that they might even be able to hit the United States, or do I go in to stop them? And he did.

• 47:53Theo Von?

  Right.

• 47:55Speaker 01

  And we, we haven't destroyed all of their missiles. But if you go to, to Iran today, it, it, their whole swath of Iran there, they'll look like something out of Mad Max 4. I mean, it, um, we destroyed the public sector, the private, some big portions of the private, private sector didn't want to do it. It'll take them 20 years to recover. I mean, our military, I'm not going bubble rabbit. They went in and our military ate them and spit out the bones.

• 48:28Theo Von?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 48:29Speaker 01

  And, and, and they are not, right now, a nuclear threat. But they still have the sensor fuses to make, to take their fissile material and make it, uh, make a warhead.

• 48:45Theo Von?

  Yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't know that you had seen the intel on that.

• 48:48Speaker 01

  We have, we have a, a, a, a basement, an underground, uh, room in the, in the Senate that's, uh, we call it the SKIF. It's completely secure. You can leave all your electronics outside and, and I've been briefed, all of us have, by Rubio, by Secretary of Defense, by Secretary Rubio, uh, the Joint Chiefs, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

• 49:16Theo Von?

  And do you trust those guys?

• 49:17Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 49:19Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 49:20Speaker 01

  Absolutely. John Ratcliffe from the CIA, I trust every single one of them.

• 49:23Theo Von?

  Amen. Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't, yeah, I'm not in the space. So it's like, you know, it's from our perspective, just as a regular person, you just see all of this stuff and it's so, it seems like so one way. It seems like you were saying, like, you feel like the truth comes through and you know what it is, right? Like we were saying in the beginning or whatever, like what we see and what we see and perceive is, okay, this is, uh, this is real, or this is, um, uh, earnest, or whatever, you know? It's like, that's the way that so a lot of the, a lot of it seems. Um, let me get this note real quick before you go, and sorry to interrupt you. Um, this is here, "In a controversial deal, Israeli's government under Benjamin Netanyahu, supported Qatar's Qatar's payments to Hamas for many years

• 50:08Theo Von?

  and hoped that it would turn Hamas into an effective counterweight to the Palestinian Authority and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state." So maybe there was some funding, but it wasn't clear on what it was for?

• 50:19Speaker 01

  Well, if they gave aid, I don't, there's a footnote there, I don't know the authority for that.

• 50:23Theo Von?

  Yeah, I'm not sure either.

• 50:24Speaker 01

  If they, if they, if they gave aid through Qatar to try to help the, the people of Gaza, so they wouldn't, um, they wouldn't, uh, join, uh, join up with Hamas, that's a different thing from them supporting Hamas.

• 50:43Theo Von?

  Yeah. And what did you look up there? Just, I'm gonna look it up one more time. Uh, can you put, uh, Israel supported, did Israel support Hamas? Can you just put that question? Let me see. "Israel did not directly create Hamas, but from the late 1970s through the 1990s, the Israeli government provided covert support and funding to the Islamist movement that preceded it. This strategy was used to counterbalance secular Palestinian nationalist groups like the Palestine." So they may have inadvertently supported it by trying to support something else, I guess?

• 51:17Speaker 01

  Hamas is a spinoff of the Palestine Palestinian, BLO, Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization. But once Hamas spun off, they got all of their financial support from Iran, almost 90% of it.

• 51:35Theo Von?

  Got it.

• 51:35Speaker 01

  And without Iran providing the money, neither Hamas nor Hezbollah could exist, and they are terrorists.

• 51:44Theo Von?

  Understood. Did Iran fund Hamas? Let's look that up then.

• 51:49Theo Von?

  And thanks for discussing it with me.

• 51:50Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 51:51Theo Von?

  Yes, Iran is-

• 51:52Speaker 01

  Some important subject.

• 51:53Theo Von?

  Yes, Iran has funded, armed, and trained Hamas for decades. Tehran consists, considers the group a key part of its axis of resistance, and provides tens of millions of dollars annually to support its military and operational capabilities.

• 52:04Speaker 01

  And, and, and look, I'm not saying Israel is perfect. I'm not saying that, okay? None, none of us is, is perfect. But, look at it this way.

• 52:13Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  There are certain areas you, you, you could walk down, if you walk down at, at 2 o'clock in the morning in Nashville, let's say. There are people there that would hurt you.

• 52:27Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 52:28Speaker 01

  Now, I don't know why, uh, like I say, if I make it to heaven, I'm gonna ask why people, you know, wanna hurt other people. But they do. And, and, that's the situation that Israel's in.

• 52:42Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 52:43Speaker 01

  I, I, I'll give you an example, a more concrete example. Um, my wife hates guns.

• 52:48Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 52:49Speaker 01

  Okay, I respect that. Um, but I own guns.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  Now, do I believe, do, do, do, do I hate everybody else? No. I believe love is the answer. But I own a handgun, just in case.

• 53:03Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 53:03Speaker 01

  Cause I know there are people out there. And if they try to hurt me or my family, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna defend myself and my family.

• 53:12Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 53:13Speaker 01

  Um, and, and that's, I wish the world weren't like that. But it is.

• 53:18Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 53:19Speaker 01

  And some, there's some very powerful countries that they hate America. They just hate us, they do. And, uh, um, you can't reach them through diplomacy. Doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to them. But with, with a guy, I've looked at, looked President Xi in the eye. Okay? I've met this guy.

• 53:43Speaker 01

  With with hard men like President Xi, or the Ayatollah, or Putin in Russia, weakness invites the wolves. And trying, getting too close to them, it's like hand feeding a shark. We shouldn't want like that. We shouldn't want. I think President Trump has understood that. President Trump and I have our differences. We have two different styles.

• 54:10Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 54:10Speaker 01

  Okay. President Trump exists loudly. I told him one time. He said, Kennedy, how you like my tweets? I said, Mr. President, tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain cancer. He said, what? You don't like my tweets? I said, no, I didn't say that. I said, I like a steak every now and then. I just don't like to eat eight of them one time.

• 54:34Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 54:35Speaker 01

  And I said, you're the President of the United States. And you, you, he had, he, he just has no filter. He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought.

• 54:46Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 54:46Speaker 01

  But he's the president and I'm not. And, and that makes a lot of people mad. I've known him for 10 years. I've got his cellphone there in my briefcase. If I call my, his cell number, if I called him, he called me right back. I don't go hang around the White House, but we deal with each other straight up and we agree. When we agree, we agree. When we disagree, we disagree.

• 55:10Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 55:11Speaker 01

  And you've had him on your show. You've met him.

• 55:13Theo Von?

  Yeah. He's a busy guy.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  He's a, he's, he's, he, he exists loudly. He's, he's aggressively unpredictable.

• 55:22Theo Von?

  He's a busy guy, man.

• 55:23Speaker 01

  He is a busy guy.

• 55:24Theo Von?

  Yeah. That's one thing I just remember from, uh, from my interaction with him is that he's a busy guy.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  He's not as cool as Jeff Bridges, but, but he's pretty cool. You know who you need to have? My two favorite actors, not my... What, two of my favorite actors, Jeff Bridges and Denzel Washington.

• 55:42Theo Von?

  Oh, man.

• 55:42Speaker 01

  Denzel Washington came to see me one time, man.

• 55:44Theo Von?

  Really?

• 55:45Speaker 01

  It was, it was so cool. He was lobbying, cause I'm on the preparations committee, for Boys and, money for the Boys and Girls Club.

• 55:53Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  And this guy is what cool looks like, man. He sat in my office and we talked about movies.

• 56:01Theo Von?

  Dang, look at him.

• 56:02Speaker 01

  And, oh, man, he was, he was, he, he had just made the movie.

• 56:06Theo Von?

  You almost have the same hair, kinda different colors a little.

• 56:09Speaker 01

  Look, he is so cool. I told him, he said, he, he's, he didn't like to talk about his movies, but I said, "I think your best movie is Malcolm X." And, and he, he just made a movie, The Magnificent Seven, a remake of Magni- and he was telling me, he showed me pictures.

• 56:24Theo Von?

  That's a western, huh?

• 56:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:25Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 56:25Speaker 01

  He said, "Kennedy, I'm from inner-city Philadelphia. I had to get on a horse."

• 56:29Theo Von?

  (laughing)

• 56:30Speaker 01

  And he showed me pic- but anyway, he's just-

• 56:32Theo Von?

  Dude, that's awesome.

• 56:33Speaker 01

  And I like Jeff Bridges a lot, too.

• 56:35Theo Von?

  Yeah, that would be amazing to get to have him. Yeah, I mean, sometimes I can't even believe there's some of the people you get to talk to and stuff like that, and some of the people that you get to learn from, you know? Um, y'all ever think about how something gets its start? Like Mountain Dew. I always just thought that it appeared one day, just sitting in a cooler, just glistening, you know, just like a, just like a beverage stork, just brought it in from the great beverage beyond. But no, it's actually, it's, it's straight out of Tennessee. A real place, real people, two brothers working tirelessly to nail that

• 57:14Theo Von?

  citrus kick we all love today. Appalachian roots, baby. It's bold, it's loud, it's got that "I'll figure it out myself" attitude. That attitude is still in it today. Still bold, still unmistakable, still do. It's an American original that's been tasting great since 48. Yep, 1948, that's a while now, huh?

• 57:39Theo Von?

  And they're even putting it on the can as a tribute to the nearly 80 years of Tennessee roots and unapologetic American taste, American Dew. Limited edition. This is a hometown story in a can. Next time you grab a Dew, just know it's, it's more than just a drink. It's an American original Mountain Dew. Tasting great since 48. Hmm. I need to tell you that if your business communications are basically a, a burner phone and a prayer, you know, I'm talking about missed calls, uh, texts that nobody answered, customers following up for the third and fourth time. Well, well, then obviously things are a mess.

• 58:21Theo Von?

  And at some point you just, you hit that wall and you're like, all right, I'm done with this. Let's fucking QUO. Today's episode is brought to you by QUO, Q U O. The business communication system built so you never miss a call. Let's fucking QUO. Your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. So no more missed messages or dropped conversations, or somebody's handing it off to this person and they're not receiving it. You know what I'm talking about. Everyone sees the full thread, replies are faster and customers actually feel taken care of. Money is on the line. Always say hello with QUO.

• 59:03Theo Von?

  Try QUO for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Q U O dot com slash Theo. That's Q U O dot com slash Theo. Let's fucking QUO. Do you think that America will support a, like a pro-Israel candidate, like in the next election? Like Trump has been pretty pro-Israel overall. Do you think that will affect how they vote in the next election?

• 59:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's gonna be a big issue. Um, my Democratic friends.

• 59:37Speaker 01

  Not all of them, but the wing of the, what I call the loon wing of the Democratic Party that's in control, they hate Israel. And they support, they say they support the Palestinians.

• 59:55Theo Von?

  Well, they hate the government, not the people, right?

• 59:57Speaker 01

  No.

• 59:58Theo Von?

  Right, we're talking about the government.

• 59:59Speaker 01

  I don't want to believe they hate the people.

• 1:00:00Theo Von?

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  But they hate the government. That's fair. That's a good point. They hate the government.

• 1:00:04Theo Von?

  Yeah, and that points across the board in this conversation.

• 1:00:07Speaker 01

  That's a fair point. But they support Hamas. I mean, I'm sorry, they just do. That's why I call them loon wing of the party. And that will be a big issue within the Democratic primaries. But there are a lot of Republicans that think we're too close to Israel.

• 1:00:28Theo Von?

  Well, I mean, that's what's so interesting about Tucker's.

• 1:00:30Speaker 01

  Tucker's one.

• 1:00:30Theo Von?

  Well, Tucker's saying that. Because Tucker has one of the top 10 podcasts and platforms in America.

• 1:00:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:38Theo Von?

  So for that, for him to be, for that to be his direction and that to be how he feels.

• 1:00:45Speaker 01

  And he really believes that.

• 1:00:46Theo Von?

  Yeah. And I'm sure a lot of people feel exactly like he does, you know? So that's why I'm wondering, do you think like an Israel-first politician could win?

• 1:00:56Speaker 01

  Could win, could lose. Look, this is a big, wide-open, diverse country.

• 1:01:03Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:03Speaker 01

  For both the Republicans and Democrats.

• 1:01:05Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:06Speaker 01

  And in our country, you can believe what you want and say what you think. And I support this dialectic of ideas where ideas compete.

• 1:01:18Theo Von?

  Yeah, that has to have it.

• 1:01:19Speaker 01

  Yep. And that's why God made elections. But I want people, and my people in Louisiana, but people in America, to know where I stand.

• 1:01:29Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  And I have a lot of admiration for Israel. They're tough. They're tough as a boot. They fight back against people that try to kill them.

• 1:01:39Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:40Speaker 01

  Now, do I want a better life for the Palestinians? Absolutely. And I remember under President Clinton. He offered the Palestinians a deal to give them their own country. A big chunk of the West Bank, give them Gaza. They would have their own country. They said no. Their leadership said no.

• 1:02:02Theo Von?

  Let's just bring that up, just so I know that that's of the Camp David summit.

• 1:02:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:08Theo Von?

  Yeah, President Bill Clinton's primary effort to help Palestine get its own country culminated in the Clinton parameters of December 2000. This was an ambitious proposal for a two-state solution that followed the failed Camp David summit.

• 1:02:20Speaker 01

  And the political leadership of Palestine said no.

• 1:02:25Theo Von?

  Offered Palestine control over 94 to 95% of the West Bank, along with the equivalent of an initial 1% to 3% of land via territorial swaps.

• 1:02:33Theo Von?

  And what happened? Oh, this was the Oslo Accords?

• 1:02:37Speaker 01

  The Oslo Accords were next.

• 1:02:39Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 1:02:40Speaker 01

  They were after Camp David.

• 1:02:41Theo Von?

  Ultimately, a final deal was never solidified. The Clinton proposals and subsequent Taba summit negotiations brought the sides closer than ever before. Both sides voiced reservations and the deal collapsed at the end of Clinton's term.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  Yes, Sir Arafat. Arafat was in charge of the PLO. He was the leader of the Palestinians. I think if you put it to a vote of the Palestinian people, they would have said, they would have taken it.

• 1:03:03Theo Von?

  Who decided no? That's how I'm trying to get to that answer.

• 1:03:06Speaker 01

  Arafat turned it down.

• 1:03:07Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  And he was, he was head of the PLO, the political organization for all of the Palestinians. But I, if, I've always believed Arafat had put it to a vote of the Palestinian people, they would have accepted it. But Bill Clinton came that close.

• 1:03:24Theo Von?

  Well, it says here, the Israeli cabinet conditionally accepted the parameters, but issued a 20-page letter outlining reservations regarding security.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  Israel, you're talking about?

• 1:03:34Theo Von?

  And borders, yeah.

• 1:03:35Speaker 01

  Israel would have taken it. I'm telling you.

• 1:03:37Theo Von?

  I'm just saying that this, what this says.

• 1:03:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:39Theo Von?

  And then the Palestinian response, the Palestinian Liberation Organization accepted the framework, but also with heavy reservations. So why did it not go through? That's all I'm trying to figure out.

• 1:03:48Speaker 01

  Because I'm just, because Arafat backed out.

• 1:03:52Speaker 01

  And you ought to have President Clinton on your show. He, I'm sure he'll have to do it to talk about it. It's one of his, I've heard him speak before and say one of his biggest disappointments.

• 1:04:03Theo Von?

  Really?

• 1:04:04Speaker 01

  Because he thought he had it.

• 1:04:05Theo Von?

  While Chairman Yasser Arafat gave qualified agreement to the parameters in January 2001, the extensive reservations submitted by both sides prevented the parameters from materializing into a formal peace treaty. So I'm not saying you're wrong, but this has both sides.

• 1:04:18Speaker 01

  I would encourage you to, to talk to Bill Clinton.

• 1:04:22Theo Von?

  Yeah. I mean, it would be awesome. Have you ever met him before?

• 1:04:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, President Clinton?

• 1:04:27Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:28Speaker 01

  Oh, he wouldn't know who I am, but I've met him a couple of times.

• 1:04:31Theo Von?

  I bet he would know. Have you ever been to Fayetteville?

• 1:04:33Speaker 01

  Have I, have I been to Fayetteville? No, not in years. I might have, but I, it's been a long time.

• 1:04:38Theo Von?

  It's one of my favorite. I didn't realize it was such a great college town.

• 1:04:41Speaker 01

  I haven't, I wanted to see, I've been to LBJ's library in Texas. I'd like to go see Bill Clinton's library. I mean, President Clinton and I don't agree on some things, but like I say, I don't hate anybody, man.

• 1:04:54Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:55Speaker 01

  I, I don't, I mean, I don't, I wish President Biden well, you know? I was one of the few Republicans that got, that got to spend some time with him. And we just disagreed.

• 1:05:08Theo Von?

  Yeah. Well, I mean, I think he disagreed with.

• 1:05:11Speaker 01

  You ought to ask President Biden to come on his show. He'd probably do it.

• 1:05:15Theo Von?

  Do you think he's, no, nobody thought that he was?

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  Well, he's aged, he aged.

• 1:05:21Theo Von?

  He aged. He was aged in office. Why didn't nobody come out and say, hey, this guy's not doing well?

• 1:05:26Speaker 01

  Well, they should have. His staff should have.

• 1:05:28Theo Von?

  But, or his wife should have. Somebody should have like come to the aid of him as a human being.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, clearly in hindsight, his staff, they were trying to hide it from the American people. And at the end, um, it was so bad. Being president's tough. President Biden, bless his heart, he couldn't finish a sentence without taking a nap.

• 1:05:50Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:50Speaker 01

  I mean, he never.

• 1:05:51Theo Von?

  Well, everybody knew that though. It made us, I feel like it made us look like a joke to like the world in a way. Did you feel like that?

• 1:05:57Speaker 01

  Yes, but I knew what was going on and everybody on Capitol Hill knew what was going on.

• 1:06:03Theo Von?

  What'd you think was going on?

• 1:06:04Speaker 01

  I thought.

• 1:06:05Theo Von?

  Who was running the show?

• 1:06:06Speaker 01

  I think that he had four or five aides who were making all of the decisions. I've always believed that these aides had had, they're they're allegiance, I'm not gonna say they were in bad faith, they had allegiance to President Biden, but they also had contacts with President Obama. And I think they were making most of the major decisions.

• 1:06:28Theo Von?

  How many aides does a president have?

• 1:06:30Speaker 01

  Oh, God, in the White House, hundreds, include the old Executive Office Building, probably five or 600. I've never counted them.

• 1:06:39Theo Von?

  That many aides for the president?

• 1:06:41Speaker 01

  But there are four, there are always four or five people that tend to, that a president, whatever president, tends to rely on. And at the end, they, President Biden's aides did a very good job of secluding him and hiding it from the American people. They were lying to the American people. And when President Biden did that debate,

• 1:07:06Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  they couldn't hide him. And it was, it was, I was in Wyoming, I remember, for some, something, I don't remember, but I watched on TV and I was, this is a rare phenomenon. I was speechless.

• 1:07:21Theo Von?

  And so was he.

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  I mean, that's a good one, man. You're right. It was terrible. It was, it was embarrassing.

• 1:07:30Theo Von?

  Yeah, it was embarrassing, man. That's what it was. You know what, you know what upset me the most about that was, it, I felt like, to me, it showed people, this is how we think of our senior citizens, that we would put them in a space like this and let them be taken advantage of. Like, to me, it got to that point where it was like, what's it called when you take advantage of someone because of their age, whatever? Is it, I wonder if the, I'm not sure if there's a word or term about it.

• 1:07:55Speaker 01

  Elder abuse?

• 1:07:56Theo Von?

  Yes. That's what it seemed like. And it seemed like it, because like, in a lot of countries, they, they respect their elders so much, they bring them back into the home, there's that sort of thing. And it just seemed like that's what, it seemed to me like that was the view that people got of us. And that made me sick, like.

• 1:08:10Speaker 01

  Well, people, the people around President Biden had a lot of power.

• 1:08:16Speaker 01

  You know, power, what did Henry Kissinger say? Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

• 1:08:21Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:22Speaker 01

  I mean, people.

• 1:08:23Theo Von?

  That's true.

• 1:08:24Speaker 01

  People that were around President Biden, it was in their financial interest, it was in their, their emotional interest to maintain the power that was derivative from the president.

• 1:08:34Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:35Speaker 01

  And they kept him propped up.

• 1:08:36Theo Von?

  And what were they using? Do you think they were using anything to keep him up? I mean, you think, you almost think Hunter might have slipped him something, you know?

• 1:08:42Speaker 01

  No, I don't think that. I think that.

• 1:08:44Theo Von?

  I'm just joking, Hunter.

• 1:08:45Speaker 01

  I know you are. I think that.

• 1:08:46Theo Von?

  And Hunter, hopefully Hunter, Hunter knows I'm just joking. I actually talked to him the other day.

• 1:08:50Speaker 01

  Did you?

• 1:08:50Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:50Speaker 01

  How's he doing?

• 1:08:51Theo Von?

  We had a nice conversation. He was doing great.

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  He's been clean for a long time?

• 1:08:55Theo Von?

  Yeah, man. His story's kind of fascinating. I'm just intrigued by it, right? I would love to maybe get to talk to him sometime.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  He had a really bad addiction.

• 1:09:03Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:04Speaker 01

  That was clear.

• 1:09:05Theo Von?

  Oh, dude. Yeah. Most of us have been there.

• 1:09:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, it's, that's one of the, another thing I'm gonna ask the good Lord if I make it to heaven is, you know, why is there addiction?

• 1:09:19Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:20Speaker 01

  Because people, it's just horrible when something controls your soul. I don't need to tell you, you've been through.

• 1:09:30Theo Von?

  Yeah. It ruins a lot of families. It ruins, what it ruins is the people around you. That's the worst part.

• 1:09:34Speaker 01

  And there are a lot of people who aren't strong enough to beat it then.

• 1:09:37Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:38Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's just, it's, I have so much respect for people who beat a bad addiction, whether it's alcohol, or drugs, or, or OCD, or it just takes enormous willpower. And a lot of people don't have it.

• 1:09:56Theo Von?

  And it takes commitment, too. I mean, to go to a meeting five days a week, you know?

• 1:10:00Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:10:00Theo Von?

  To go do, to go drive across town to go someplace five days a week, you know? The people that do it, there should be a special day for those people that are, that are battling it, you know, and that are doing a good job. There really should.

• 1:10:13Theo Von?

  There's been kind of some more socialist candidates, right?

• 1:10:17Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:10:17Theo Von?

  Which I think is a term, a safe term to use. There's been some more-

• 1:10:19Speaker 01

  Democratic socialists.

• 1:10:20Theo Von?

  There's been like some more socialist candidates that have popped up and have garnered a lot of support.

• 1:10:25Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:10:26Theo Von?

  Do you think that the Republican Party, like, is there a response to that? That the Republican Party should kind of have? Or, or that the Republican Party, like, has to that sort of happening? Like, what is kind of the Republican Party's response to that? Or counteraction to that, if there is one?

• 1:10:42Speaker 01

  Well, Senator Bernie Sanders-

• 1:10:44Theo Von?

  You thought it was a good question?

• 1:10:45Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, it's a good question.

• 1:10:46Theo Von?

  Thanks, dude.

• 1:10:49Speaker 01

  Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Mayor Mamadani, and Mayor of New York,

• 1:10:57Speaker 01

  Mr. Graham Platner is running for, for Senate in Maine. They are socialists. They believe in, in a government-run economy.

• 1:11:10Speaker 01

  They believe that, my words, not theirs, you should send all of your money and all of your freedom to them and they can make decisions for you. I don't believe that.

• 1:11:22Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:23Speaker 01

  I, I, I believe in free enterprise. I think free enterprise has done more to lift people out of poverty than all the social programs put together. They believe in defunding the police. They were behind all of that. They believe that cops are a bigger problem than criminals. They believe in defunding ICE.

• 1:11:50Speaker 01

  They believe that, I know some of them that they think all white people are racist. I know some of them that they think Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head are all racist.

• 1:12:14Theo Von?

  Dude, to say Mr. Potato Head is racist, bring him up. He's mixed, isn't he?

• 1:12:17Speaker 01

  I mean- Um, I don't believe that.

• 1:12:20Theo Von?

  I mean, he's at least, he's half russet.

• 1:12:22Speaker 01

  I don't think the, I.

• 1:12:23Theo Von?

  Dude, hold on.

• 1:12:24Speaker 01

  Well, there's Mr. Potato Head.

• 1:12:26Theo Von?

  Bro, and look, first of all, look at the second Mr. Potato Head. Look at Mr. Potato Head.

• 1:12:31Speaker 01

  I just remember when they.

• 1:12:33Theo Von?

  That guy, you tell him.

• 1:12:33Speaker 01

  Show the first Mr. Potato Head.

• 1:12:35Theo Von?

  Okay, bring that your first one.

• 1:12:36Speaker 01

  That was the one they got mad at. No, there was another one.

• 1:12:39Theo Von?

  Bro, what are you talking about? Steve Harvey played him too?

• 1:12:43Speaker 01

  Look at the one in the middle on the second row.

• 1:12:44Theo Von?

  He gets all the roles.

• 1:12:46Speaker 01

  They, they got mad. They said the creators of Mr. Potato Head were racist.

• 1:12:52Theo Von?

  Oh, come on, bro.

• 1:12:55Speaker 01

  Now, I don't, look.

• 1:12:56Theo Von?

  Oh, I didn't know you. That's what you meant. I thought you meant the potato itself, man. The potato definitely.

• 1:13:02Speaker 01

  Mr. Potato Head.

• 1:13:03Theo Von?

  Oh, the potato definitely, uh, he's from Jackson. Um, but yeah, I don't think he's racist at all. The creators of it.

• 1:13:12Speaker 01

  I don't think Dr. Seuss was racist.

• 1:13:14Theo Von?

  No, he wasn't racist. I don't think so at all, dude. The Cat in the Hat?

• 1:13:18Speaker 01

  I remember.

• 1:13:19Theo Von?

  That's a black guy.

• 1:13:20Speaker 01

  But, but my point is, most, look, uh.

• 1:13:24Theo Von?

  Horton here's a who? That's not racist at all. It should be Horton here's a what? Or I think, I don't know. Never mind. Go on, America what?

• 1:13:36Speaker 01

  America's not perfect, but we're good and we caught the disease of slavery, but we beat it back.

• 1:13:43Theo Von?

  Yeah, and there's a lot of, there's a lot of speculation about how slavery started and where it started and what exactly happened. And I do think that over time, there's definitely this constant, like, there's definitely a ploy, it seems like by the media sometimes that tries to remind, like, it's like, tries to keep people locked into like a victim mentality sometimes.

• 1:14:01Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 1:14:01Theo Von?

  Um, and that's, it's okay to be a victim sometimes, but if all you are is a victim, I think it's tough to move forward sometimes.

• 1:14:09Speaker 01

  It is.

• 1:14:10Theo Von?

  Um, for any of us, uh, regarding anything. Um, yeah, what do you think are some of the pitfalls of long terms of like socialism that maybe people don't see that have happened in the past? If you have an example.

• 1:14:22Speaker 01

  I do not believe that the people in the Democratic Socialist Party that I just named, some of them I know, Senator Sanders is a friend of mine, I believe, deep down, they think they're smarter and more virtuous than the American people, and that they can make decisions for the country and the country will be better off. And I respectfully disagree with them.

• 1:14:52Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:53Speaker 01

  I trust the American people. This is the greatest country in all of human history. The whole world knows it. Everybody wants to come here. When's the last time you heard of somebody trying to sneak into China? People want to come here.

• 1:15:07Theo Von?

  That's a good point.

• 1:15:08Speaker 01

  And it's because we believe in free enterprise. We believe that our future can be better than our present or our past. We believe in free will and responsibility. You know, most Americans, they don't read Aristotle every day because they're busy earning a living. But they're plenty smart.

• 1:15:28Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:28Speaker 01

  They don't need a soul-crushing federal government to run their lives. And free enterprise works. Socialism, name one country where it worked. It doesn't work in Cuba.

• 1:15:46Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:46Speaker 01

  It didn't work in Argentina. It didn't work in the former Soviet Union.

• 1:15:51Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's what I think sometimes if we do get to that place of it, where if it were to grow that much, that could it work? Is it different? Would something be different this time? I don't know. You know, it's interesting to think about, you know, if it ever was really tried earnestly. It's hard to know. I'm not saying, I'm not voting in.

• 1:16:11Speaker 01

  It was tried earnestly in Cuba.

• 1:16:13Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:14Speaker 01

  And we see how that turned out.

• 1:16:15Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:16Speaker 01

  It was tried earnestly under Peron in Argentina.

• 1:16:19Theo Von?

  But do you think that Castro was earnest, like in the end, he kind of became corrupted, right?

• 1:16:23Speaker 01

  He was very corrupt. They've always been corrupt.

• 1:16:25Theo Von?

  But do you think in the beginning, he was earnest, like he tried to play himself as earnest, probably?

• 1:16:29Speaker 01

  Hmm, I don't know.

• 1:16:30Theo Von?

  Right.

• 1:16:30Speaker 01

  I think he was, I think he believed in the socialist philosophy.

• 1:16:34Theo Von?

  Right. But in the end, it just became about him.

• 1:16:37Speaker 01

  And, and, yeah.

• 1:16:39Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:39Speaker 01

  And Senator Bernie Sanders, I think he's been on your show.

• 1:16:43Theo Von?

  Yeah, I love Bernie. I love him. Did he comes in, he's got his bag. We like, we've sent him a little thing. He's like, I just want a couple of cookies on a plate. Like, he's like Santa.

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  It took me a long time to get to know Bernie, because he's, I thought he just didn't like me, because he can be kind of gruff. But he's kind of gruff. I remember one day, I got him to smile. I was walking over to the Capitol with another senator to vote, and Bernie passed me by, and he didn't speak, and I leaned over, and I said, Bernie. He said, what? I said, pay your taxes, man. We need the money. And he got a little smile. But he's a great guy. But he is genuinely a socialist. And he honestly believes that if you made money in business, that you had, you, you, you did it by taking advantage of somebody, or you stole it.

• 1:17:33Speaker 01

  And that's not been my experience. I know many successful businesswomen and businessmen that have created a lot of jobs. They earn the money, honestly. When you started out, nobody gave it to you. You did it through hard work. You took risks. If you had failed, nobody, the government wasn't going to be there to bail you out.

• 1:17:55Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:57Speaker 01

  And, and that, most of the businesses in America are small businesses. And these are people that, sometimes they mortgage their home to take a risk. And they work hard, and they create jobs, and I think that's American. That's why we're the greatest country in all of human history.

• 1:18:14Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 1:18:16Speaker 01

  But not everybody agrees with me.

• 1:18:19Theo Von?

  Well, I mean, I think, what I do think is, and I've thought about this, is I live here, you know, I want to support this place and believe in this place as much as I can, right? Like, and I think most of my life, there's been like this feeling of like, America, we're doing something good, like, we're forward-thinking, we care about the people and stuff like that. And then I feel like in the last few years, things have devolved some, like, I think people's faith in the political system has waned. I think we're not sure, like, it doesn't...

• 1:18:51Speaker 01

  I think that's true.

• 1:18:51Theo Von?

  I think it's, we don't, it's like, it's hard to feel like, it doesn't feel like it's even Republicans versus Democrats anymore. It feels like it's like, I don't know, I don't know if it's good versus evil or what it is, but it's like, it almost seems like, um,

• 1:19:07Theo Von?

  like, Bernie Sanders came on here the second time, and it felt like he was on here pleading at us. But it's like, we voted for politicians, like, you go up the hill and plead, you know what I'm saying? Like, we're the, it, it just seems like now, like, sometimes politicians are coming, like, on our own platforms, like, pleading to the people, it's like, um, I don't know, it just feels like, uh, it feels like something's not working.

• 1:19:33Speaker 01

  Just too much hate.

• 1:19:34Theo Von?

  And it starts to feel scary. What do you, what do you think that is? And do you think, like, you know, it feels like we used to have a purpose as a group, that it was America, and it was like, we were gonna, something was gonna happen, and that the country was gonna be better for your children than it was for you. There used to be that feeling, and I think it was probably that feeling whenever you were growing up and stuff like that.

• 1:19:53Speaker 01

  You can't hate, man.

• 1:19:55Theo Von?

  And it was when I was growing up. What do you think has changed? What do you think is like, like, how do we get, how do you get the American people to believe again in, um, in a political system that sometimes feels like it's not solving a lot for them?

• 1:20:08Speaker 01

  I think part of it is, not all of it, but part of it, there was social media. People can go on anonymously and say things on social media that they would never say to your face or another person's face. It's just too easy.

• 1:20:26Speaker 01

  I, I think, um... I think the federal government, as our country has gotten bigger and the world is more complicated, the federal government has gotten bigger, too big, and it has interfered in people's lives too much. You know, about 90% of my personal philosophy is, I don't want to hurt anybody unless I have to defend myself. Don't take people's stuff. I mean, if my son, what I would tell my son growing up, don't hurt other people unless

• 1:21:10Speaker 01

  you have to defend yourself. Don't take other people's stuff. And the third one for me is, leave me alone.

• 1:21:18Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:19Speaker 01

  I don't need government to run my life. I think, but I think a big part of it is social media. It's a cess, it is, I'm not saying it's all bad, but it's a cesspool, a snark. And the other thing, you've seen, you've seen a breakdown in America of the family unit, you have. And you've also seen, to each his own, but you've seen a breakdown, we've become a less religious country.

• 1:21:49Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:50Speaker 01

  Now, you know, for this freedom of religion, you don't have to believe in God, but...

• 1:21:55Theo Von?

  It helps.

• 1:21:56Speaker 01

  It helps, man. And I believe in God.

• 1:22:00Theo Von?

  Yeah, I do too.

• 1:22:02Speaker 01

  I have doubts when I pray, I ask for faith. I have enormous doubts. And anybody that says they're absolutely certain, you know, is just, that's why God called it faith. But I think it's a combination of things. And I don't know why people hate so much.

• 1:22:20Theo Von?

  Do you think that we're still a Christian nation?

• 1:22:23Speaker 01

  Um, yes, but less so.

• 1:22:26Theo Von?

  Do you think we would support a Christian leader for president, like a true, like a true Christian person that ran for president?

• 1:22:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:35Theo Von?

  When was the last really Christian person that we had run for president? The last like, or last person that seemed, that was very, that was truly religious?

• 1:22:42Speaker 01

  Well, probably in my lifetime, the most devout president we had was Jimmy Carter.

• 1:22:46Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:47Speaker 01

  Uh, he, he lived his faith. Now, he only served one term, and I didn't agree with some of his social policies. Um, but I think he lived his faith.

• 1:23:00Theo Von?

  People like Jimmy Carter, huh?

• 1:23:01Speaker 01

  And, and, and I will say this, when he left the presidency, uh, President Carter didn't go get rich. He didn't sit on a bunch of boards.

• 1:23:11Theo Von?

  He went into service, didn't he?

• 1:23:12Speaker 01

  He just helped people. And he, he, he established the peace, the Carter Center for Peace in Atlanta.

• 1:23:20Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:20Speaker 01

  In Atlanta. He was very active in Habitat for Humanity. And I really respected that. Uh, Jimmy Carter did not, was never wealthy.

• 1:23:32Theo Von?

  In 1982, he and his wife Rosalyn established the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Through this non-governmental organization, he monitored over 100 elections in developing democracies, mediated international conflicts, and championed human rights worldwide. He must have a big heart.

• 1:23:47Speaker 01

  He did have a big heart. He, uh...

• 1:23:49Theo Von?

  His wife died not long ago, is that right?

• 1:23:51Speaker 01

  Yep. Yep, his wife, Ms. Rosalyn, died before he did.

• 1:23:57Theo Von?

  Hmm, oh, okay.

• 1:23:58Speaker 01

  But not much before.

• 1:24:00Theo Von?

  Hmm. Um, I, I saw you talk actually about, uh, like, Facebook and Meta recently, about how their algorithm, right? This was a really awesome point that I saw you bring up, and you do such a good job of this, and thank you so much for just being somebody who like, shows up with good points, dude. You show up with some like, great stuff to say. And it's, um, it gives me faith. You give me faith like, in possibility of things being better, right? So, thank you.

• 1:24:28Speaker 01

  Thank, thanks for saying that.

• 1:24:30Theo Von?

  Thank you very much.

• 1:24:30Speaker 01

  Not everybody agrees with you, but I...

• 1:24:32Theo Von?

  And that's fine.

• 1:24:33Speaker 01

  I do work in my job, I have to, I have to, I probably spend...

• 1:24:39Speaker 01

  Thirty hours a week reading, at least.

• 1:24:42Theo Von?

  Dang.

• 1:24:42Speaker 01

  And to do it right. I like it.

• 1:24:45Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:45Speaker 01

  I'm not complaining.

• 1:24:46Theo Von?

  Have you read this yet?

• 1:24:47Speaker 01

  Uh, I have read that. It's my book.

• 1:24:49Theo Von?

  How to test. That is fucking great, dude. Sorry. I haven't even read the title yet. How to test negative for stupid.

• 1:24:55Speaker 01

  I'll sign a copy for you to extend.

• 1:24:57Theo Von?

  Please do, man.

• 1:24:58Speaker 01

  It's, I wrote it myself. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done.

• 1:25:02Theo Von?

  Writing a book?

• 1:25:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:25:03Theo Von?

  How to test negative for stupid and why Washington never will. Um, yes, thank you so much. We'll be happy to keep that. We'll put it up on our shelf for

• 1:25:10Speaker 01

  Good.

• 1:25:10Theo Von?

  A couple of months.

• 1:25:11Speaker 01

  Uh, but I spend, some of my colleagues are brilliant. They can, they're just, you know, a guy like,

• 1:25:21Speaker 01

  Marco Rubio, for example, Ted Cruz, uh, Gene Sheehan, uh, um, Peter Welch. I'm not gonna name all my colleagues in the Senate.

• 1:25:32Theo Von?

  Pull up Pete, man. I never even seen him.

• 1:25:33Speaker 01

  Peter Welch, he's from Vermont.

• 1:25:35Theo Von?

  Pull him up. Pull up Pete, Doug.

• 1:25:36Speaker 01

  These people are brilliant.

• 1:25:38Theo Von?

  There he is.

• 1:25:38Speaker 01

  But I have to.

• 1:25:39Theo Von?

  Dang, huh?

• 1:25:40Speaker 01

  I have to work at it.

• 1:25:42Theo Von?

  Oh, Peter looks like a, he looks studious, though.

• 1:25:44Speaker 01

  He's a smart guy. But he can probably spot me 50 IQ points, but I, he's not gonna outwork me. I,

• 1:25:52Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 1:25:53Speaker 01

  I'll work harder than an ugly stripper, man. That's how I was raised. I've always been able to outwork people.

• 1:25:59Theo Von?

  Yeah. Dang, dude, that's awesome.

• 1:26:03Speaker 01

  I might get in trouble for saying that.

• 1:26:05Theo Von?

  Don't, hey, no problems here. My god cousin, uh, is a stripper. So, he was.

• 1:26:10Speaker 01

  God bless.

• 1:26:11Theo Von?

  But I, I saw you talk about meta and how that, there's an algorithm act that's out there about how that, and I've talked about this before on this show. That's why this made me, this really like,

• 1:26:20Speaker 01

  Nah.

• 1:26:21Theo Von?

  This really rung true with me. It was like, yeah, why isn't the, cause the algorithm will lead you down a staircase

• 1:26:27Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:26:27Theo Von?

  of deviancy, um, anger, um, and can even lead people into conflict. It can lead you, it can take you from feeling neutral, looking at something on your phone, to feeling angry and going out into public and acting on that anger or on that belief.

• 1:26:45Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:26:46Theo Von?

  And there's no repercussions from it.

• 1:26:48Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:26:50Theo Von?

  Like on from Facebook or Meta or social media, Instagram, TikTok, there's no repercussions.

• 1:26:54Speaker 01

  When, when Facebook, I'll, I'll use Facebook as an example. When it first started, we passed a law. That said, if somebody goes on Facebook and writes a post and they defame somebody, that's between the person who posted it and the person they defamed, that you can't hold Facebook liable for posting. Fair enough. But now, Facebook has gotten so big

• 1:27:24Speaker 01

  that they control what you see. And they gather this data about you. And they want you to stay on Facebook a long time to look at the ads because they make a lot of money selling those ads.

• 1:27:39Theo Von?

  Right. So they gotta keep you on there.

• 1:27:40Speaker 01

  And, and so they, they send you stuff. They find out what your hot buttons are through algorithms. And they keep showing it to you and showing it to you and showing it to you. And all of a sudden, and some people can, can separate the wheat from the chaff and, and, and say, well, they're manipulating me. But other people, they just get angrier and angrier and angrier.

• 1:28:04Theo Von?

  And what do they expect? You're just gonna get so pissed off, you gonna buy an air fryer or something?

• 1:28:07Speaker 01

  I mean, they're make, they make their money.

• 1:28:10Theo Von?

  That's their strategy.

• 1:28:11Speaker 01

  I don't mean that Facebook's not that.

• 1:28:13Theo Von?

  You're gonna get so pissed off, you gonna buy a dog collar, you know?

• 1:28:16Speaker 01

  Facebook has, if you ask me the one reason for the demise of newspapers, it's social media because.

• 1:28:24Theo Von?

  I know. I miss a newspaper, don't you?

• 1:28:26Speaker 01

  Oh, well, yeah. But the world's changed.

• 1:28:29Theo Von?

  And you could hit a kid with it.

• 1:28:31Speaker 01

  Off, off of, of advertising.

• 1:28:34Theo Von?

  Yeah. The Algorithm Accountability Act is proposed, and this has been proposed for a while, I think. This was proposed.

• 1:28:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, we've been debating it for a long time.

• 1:28:42Theo Von?

  Originally for like five years ago, I think this first came into light. The Algorithmic Accountability Act is a proposed US bill aimed at requiring companies to examine and disclose how automated systems and algorithms affect people, especially in high stakes decisions like housing, credit, education, and employment. And this is perplexity here as our search engine. Supporters say the bill would give regulators, the, and the public, a clearer way to see when algorithmic systems are causing harm. I agree, there should be something on the device that goes off and says, now you're falling into an algorithm, you know?

• 1:29:14Speaker 01

  Well, it's

• 1:29:15Theo Von?

  Do you think something like this will Yeah, they manipulate it. Do you think something like this will come to light soon? Like, we've got to be getting there. I mean, you know, I mean, you have algorithms leading people into extremely strong beliefs.

• 1:29:27Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:29:28Theo Von?

  You know, like, some people say that the, um, the shooter at the, uh, was it the Charlie Kirk shooter was, um, radicalized by things that he had seen on social media.

• 1:29:39Speaker 01

  I don't doubt it.

• 1:29:41Theo Von?

  Or that a lot of these shooters are, you know?

• 1:29:44Speaker 01

  They, they, Facebook just, I think it was Facebook, just lost a big lawsuit.

• 1:29:48Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:49Speaker 01

  Um, uh, uh, filed on behalf of a deceased minor. That I think, I don't remember, uh, the, the details, but it was basically that the algorithms drove the young lady into suicide.

• 1:30:05Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 1:30:06Speaker 01

  And a jury awarded them money.

• 1:30:09Theo Von?

  Here we go. Campaigners welcome Meta and YouTube's defeat in landmark social media addiction trial.

• 1:30:15Speaker 01

  That's it. Man, who you got pulling this stuff up?

• 1:30:18Theo Von?

  Some white guy, it's a D E I hire.

• 1:30:20Speaker 01

  This guy, you just, they, you need a pay raise, man. You're awesome.

• 1:30:24Speaker 02

  Thank you, Senator.

• 1:30:25Speaker 01

  Tell Theo, at least he ought to buy you a car.

• 1:30:28Theo Von?

  Hey, dang, what?

• 1:30:30Speaker 01

  I'll be your agent, man. You can pull this stuff up. That's it. That's the case.

• 1:30:34Theo Von?

  That's the case. Uh, jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year-old's mental health. The woman, known as Kaylee, was awarded $6 million in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through U.S. courts. Amen. Praise God. Good for her. What happened? Do they have the exact, uh, thing that happened? Uh, the young lady didn't pass away. Uh, the Kay, it says right here. Kaylee started using YouTube at about six years old and Instagram at about nine, with no effective age-based blocking from the platforms. By age 10, she was experiencing anxiety and depression, conditions that were formally diagnosed later by a therapist. She became intensely preoccupied with her appearance,

• 1:31:20Theo Von?

  using Instagram filters that altered her face, smaller nose, larger eyes, and has since been diagnosed with body dysmorphia, a disorder involving obsessive worry about perceived flaws in appearance. Her lawyers argued that Instagram's design features such as infinite scroll and growth strategies focused on the young users contributed to an addictive pattern of use that harmed her mental health. Huh.

• 1:31:46Theo Von?

  The jury awarded Kaylee three main incumbensory damages and three main impugnative damages. Huh. Okay.

• 1:31:53Speaker 01

  I know the stuff's addictive.

• 1:31:55Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, it is. Well, I noticed myself. You start getting into beliefs. It starts leading you down certain holes of certain beliefs and then you got on your phone just to check a text and next thing you know, you get off with a belief.

• 1:32:06Speaker 01

  Well, it's all, it's all our kids know. Our kids, so many of our kids have become smartphone zombies. You know, they, they just, it's always this. And look, they're, they're, they're.

• 1:32:16Theo Von?

  What did we do though, John? Do you remember what we did?

• 1:32:18Speaker 01

  I didn't have social media.

• 1:32:19Theo Von?

  But I know, but what did, cause nowadays, if you imagine, it's kind of crazy to imagine.

• 1:32:23Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:32:24Theo Von?

  If you imagine some guy just sitting around.

• 1:32:26Speaker 01

  I read.

• 1:32:27Theo Von?

  Like this, not doing, but imagine somebody just waiting for something somewhere. Were they just sitting with their hands in their laps?

• 1:32:33Speaker 01

  I, I, I played ball. In my spare time, I played ball. I did my homework. We'd go to movies. Uh, I'd read a lot.

• 1:32:42Theo Von?

  But outside of some of that, say you just were sitting somewhere, I guess you would just sit there and think or just, because now.

• 1:32:47Speaker 01

  Well, they had magazines. I don't know.

• 1:32:50Theo Von?

  Yeah, that's true. We had magazine.

• 1:32:52Speaker 01

  Or you actually, believe it or not, talk to people.

• 1:32:53Theo Von?

  Even if you didn't like them, you had to talk to them then.

• 1:32:55Speaker 01

  You just talked to people.

• 1:32:56Theo Von?

  Remember that?

• 1:32:57Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:32:58Theo Von?

  Even if you didn't even like them.

• 1:32:59Speaker 01

  Yep. Now, when you, when you're around a lot of young people. Um, they're, they really are smartphone zombies, smartphone zombies. They're just like this all the time.

• 1:33:09Theo Von?

  People are hooked.

• 1:33:10Speaker 01

  And it has impact. I'm not saying all social media is bad. It, it, it, it, it has many good purposes, but it has been abused.

• 1:33:18Theo Von?

  It's abused and it's addiction, it's an addiction crisis.

• 1:33:21Speaker 01

  It is very addictive.

• 1:33:22Theo Von?

  And it's, uh, it's, and it, they've been able to make it more and more addictive and they know it. Um, is there lobbyists for this type of thing in the government too that are lobbying for these social media platforms?

• 1:33:32Speaker 01

  Absolutely. These guys are, these guys are strong as a horse rider.

• 1:33:38Theo Von?

  Why don't more lobbyists get called out by politicians?

• 1:33:41Speaker 01

  Well, I don't meet with many lobbyists, but in some states, they have an influence. I'm not gonna kill you. I mean, the

• 1:33:49Theo Von?

  Because I'm sure they're the ones keeping this act, like the algorithm act or whatever.

• 1:33:53Speaker 01

  Of course they are.

• 1:33:53Theo Von?

  I'm sure they're the ones keeping those things like at bay.

• 1:33:55Speaker 01

  Those aren't the only ones, but of course they are. And I don't want to just pick on Facebook, but organizations like Google, Facebook, they employ thousands of people, they have huge PACs. If you're from their state and you're a senator and Google comes to you and says, I employ 10,000 people and if you pass this bill, I'm gonna have to lay off half of them. Plus, they do have very powerful lobbyists. And they're just very powerful.

• 1:34:35Theo Von?

  So that's an instance where an elected official has to make a choice there.

• 1:34:39Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:34:39Theo Von?

  That's a good example of an instance, right? And that's something real that could happen.

• 1:34:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:43Theo Von?

  It's like, hey, we have 10,000, we employ 10,000 people in your state. If you pass this, then 5,000 of them are gonna lose jobs.

• 1:34:51Speaker 01

  And they're norm, they know how to use their power. I mean, if you ask me, what's, who's more powerful, the state of Tennessee or Google? I'd say Google. And the state of Tennessee is powerful. Lot of people, wonderful universities, beautiful natural resource. But these, the four, five or six social media companies are very powerful. And that's why we have, we're, we're, we have to be very careful. I support it, but we have to be very careful with artificial intelligence and AI.

• 1:35:28Theo Von?

  Well, the Pope, the Pope just came and spoke out against it. And that's kind of scary to think.

• 1:35:33Speaker 01

  And AI is, I, it's, this was, this was developed in America. It's just another example of American brilliance and ingenuity and innovation. But it's so powerful. It, it, it, it can make our lives better if it doesn't kill us all first. But if you develop a machine

• 1:36:00Speaker 01

  That can can know everything and then can start thinking for itself. And through its agents can take actions could shut down your entire infrastructure.

• 1:36:14Theo Von?

  But that's where I lose, that's where I start to lose. I get, but like what actions like so do you like, like my laptop's not gonna like come in and like, you know, attack me while I'm sleeping, you know what I'm saying? So it's not like that, right?

• 1:36:26Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:36:26Theo Von?

  So what actions, because I hear people say these, this, this thing, right? What you're saying, what actions are we talking about?

• 1:36:32Speaker 01

  Well, you can, I mean, I'm no expert, but you, you can create agents now that use AI.

• 1:36:40Theo Von?

  Yeah, we just had Jeff Bridges just had, he has a friend on.

• 1:36:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:36:43Theo Von?

  Chat GPT or whatever, and he talks to him all the time named Gary.

• 1:36:47Speaker 01

  You, you can.

• 1:36:48Theo Von?

  What the heck?

• 1:36:49Speaker 01

  You, you can do that. You can have an AI assistant.

• 1:36:52Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:53Speaker 01

  And give them almost unfettered authority to book you a plane ticket or rent you a car or remind you to have your oil changed or, you know, buy some Fig Newtons at the grocery store.

• 1:37:08Theo Von?

  Yeah, they're pretty, they're not bad.

• 1:37:09Speaker 01

  And they're, I love Fig Newtons.

• 1:37:10Theo Von?

  They're okay, they're good, they're pretty, they're all right.

• 1:37:12Speaker 01

  They're awesome, man.

• 1:37:13Theo Von?

  Sometimes they're great.

• 1:37:13Speaker 01

  Fig Newtons are better than sex. Not really, not really, not really. I take it back, but I like Fig Newtons.

• 1:37:21Theo Von?

  Look, I've had some bad sex.

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  I understand. I'm not gonna comment on that deal.

• 1:37:25Theo Von?

  All right. And I've had some bad Fig Newtons too.

• 1:37:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:37:28Theo Von?

  If they're not warm, I don't like them when they're real warm.

• 1:37:30Speaker 01

  I don't like them either.

• 1:37:31Theo Von?

  Like if they've been sitting in the, if they've been sitting in the sun, I don't like them.

• 1:37:35Speaker 01

  I'll tell you what else I grew up on is Vienna sausage, man.

• 1:37:38Theo Von?

  Oh, God, brother.

• 1:37:39Speaker 01

  Vienna sausage.

• 1:37:40Theo Von?

  Oh.

• 1:37:41Speaker 01

  You know.

• 1:37:41Theo Von?

  Makes my neck hurt.

• 1:37:42Speaker 01

  I'd go fishing, take Vienna sausage.

• 1:37:44Theo Von?

  One for the fish, one for you, huh?

• 1:37:45Speaker 01

  Absolutely. In fact, if you run out of worms or crickets, you can, if you can get the Vienna sausage to stay on the hook. I've caught many a brim and a catfish with Vienna sausage.

• 1:37:57Theo Von?

  Oh, you can catch a girl in Avondale with a couple of them too.

• 1:38:01Theo Von?

  I know that, bruh.

• 1:38:02Speaker 01

  Uh, that never worked for me, man. Uh, that never worked for me.

• 1:38:06Theo Von?

  That was a good reference though, wasn't it?

• 1:38:07Speaker 01

  That was damn good.

• 1:38:08Theo Von?

  Thank you.

• 1:38:09Speaker 01

  That was good. I can tell you're a Louisiana boy.

• 1:38:11Theo Von?

  You know, I, you know what? I think, um, you know, Louisiana's had a tough time and you know this. Louisiana has had a tough time over the years, like, uh, with like a lot of economic growth, right? We've, we've struggled some. Um, we've had a tough time with, um, a lot of job stability and job growth, right? Um.

• 1:38:29Speaker 01

  We were very oil and gas dependent.

• 1:38:31Theo Von?

  Right. We are. A hundred percent, right? And so, and so, and some of that's adjusted over the years, right? For sure.

• 1:38:36Speaker 01

  Or less so, but it's still important.

• 1:38:37Theo Von?

  But one thing that we do have is we have good people. We have resilient people. Um, and those, and we have good storytelling and some people say, well, that's not, there's not a lot of financial like incentive in that. And that's fine, but we, but there's a lot of like pride in that though, you know?

• 1:38:53Speaker 01

  Look, I've lived in five states in a foreign country. And I've never met people like the people Louisiana.

• 1:39:00Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:00Speaker 01

  You know, they're, they're, they're, they're God fearing, they're hardworking, they're fun loving. Um, they're authentic.

• 1:39:08Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:39:09Speaker 01

  And I, I, I tell my, my, um, I tell my, my Senator Cruz a lot, he's from Texas. I, I tell him, he'll start talking about Texas and I'll say, Cruz, look, Texas is a great state. You get all this wonderful publicity. God bless you. You deserve it. I love Texas. But Texas is five and a half times bigger than Louisiana, but we're 10 and a half times more interesting than you are, man.

• 1:39:36Theo Von?

  Let's go.

• 1:39:37Speaker 01

  Louisiana is an interesting state.

• 1:39:39Theo Von?

  I, I read somewhere that a hundred percent.

• 1:39:42Speaker 01

  Interesting people, um.

• 1:39:44Theo Von?

  The best, man. The best storytellers ever.

• 1:39:47Speaker 01

  We're, we're good at oil and gas and petrochemical and education and agriculture and aquaculture.

• 1:39:53Theo Von?

  Oh, we'll even eat fish that have been in a damn oil spill.

• 1:39:56Speaker 01

  We, we'll eat anything that won't eat us first.

• 1:39:58Theo Von?

  Yep.

• 1:39:59Speaker 01

  Um, we eat things that you, that most people would call an exterminator far to get out of their backyard.

• 1:40:07Theo Von?

  Just bring your fork, baby. That's it.

• 1:40:09Speaker 01

  Uh, but, but, um.

• 1:40:10Theo Von?

  Bring your fork.

• 1:40:11Speaker 01

  It's, it's home and I love it. It's never dull.

• 1:40:15Theo Von?

  No, it's not. I read somewhere that it's the most native state where people that are born there, die there. Did you ever hear that?

• 1:40:20Speaker 01

  That's true. We have, I forget the percentage, but we have a lot of people that are born in Louisiana and they never leave.

• 1:40:28Theo Von?

  Yeah. That's pretty special about something.

• 1:40:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:31Theo Von?

  You know what I'm saying? That's a, because that's interesting.

• 1:40:33Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:40:33Theo Von?

  It's so good right there. You don't even, some people don't even get out their chair.

• 1:40:37Speaker 01

  People in Louisiana, they have fun.

• 1:40:41Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:42Speaker 01

  And they enjoy life. Now, it doesn't mean they don't work hard. And, but we became very dependent on oil and gas. And when a lot of that changed, most of it, of course, has moved offshore. But when you're dependent on a natural resource, oil and gas, coal,

• 1:41:03Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:03Speaker 01

  iron ore, or whatever, commodities, you have boom and bust cycles. And when times are good, they're really good, man. But when times are bad, they're tough.

• 1:41:14Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:15Speaker 01

  Now Louisiana is much more diversified today. And so things are, things are better.

• 1:41:20Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:21Speaker 01

  But we're still, we're, you know, if you want a good time, if you want to get good food. A guy told me a joke the other day. He said, Kennedy, what's the difference between a zoo in Louisiana and a zoo in every other state? I said, what? He said, if you go to the zoo in every other state, each animal has its cage. And at the bottom is the name of the animal. He said, if you go to a zoo in Louisiana, each animal has its cage, and at the bottom is the name, and underneath the name is the recipe.

• 1:41:53Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:55Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 1:41:56Theo Von?

  Dude, that's perfect, man. That's so true, man. Yeah, Louisiana consistently ranks as the state with the highest percentage of native born residents who never leave. Amen. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, slightly more than 77% of Louisiana's residents were born in the state. Because the population is so sticky and transplants are rare, this largely, largely translates to most of its people being born there and spending their entire lives.

• 1:42:20Speaker 01

  That's where you got your start.

• 1:42:21Theo Von?

  Oh, spending their entire lives, right there.

• 1:42:23Speaker 01

  Then you went to LA and you Got famous and then he came to that, but you got your start at it, it, uh, I've been reading about.

• 1:42:30Theo Von?

  On a chafunkta over there.

• 1:42:31Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:42:32Theo Von?

  You know how the chafunkta got its name?

• 1:42:33Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:42:33Theo Von?

  This is my, oh, finally.

• 1:42:35Speaker 01

  I didn't know that.

• 1:42:35Theo Von?

  I got one for you then, John. The chafunkta got its name because a long time ago, they had like a Native American tribe. And they went there and they threw a big rock into the water and the sound it made was chafunkta.

• 1:42:48Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:42:48Theo Von?

  Yep.

• 1:42:49Speaker 01

  You're serious?

• 1:42:50Theo Von?

  Chafunkta. And it's kind of how a rock when you.

• 1:42:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:42:54Theo Von?

  The talent, kind of how it goes in. So yeah, that's it.

• 1:42:56Speaker 01

  I go fishing on the chafunkta.

• 1:42:57Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:42:58Speaker 01

  But that's where you got your start, you know?

• 1:43:00Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  You leave, you grad, you, where'd you go? UNO? You went to LSU for a while.

• 1:43:03Theo Von?

  Yeah, I went to LSU for a while, graduated from UNO. How do you think Lane's gonna do over there at LSU? Let's put a, put it out there. What do you think is gonna happen? And I wore my raging Cajuns today. I wore this for you today.

• 1:43:13Speaker 01

  Um, Lane is, how can I put it? He's a brilliant, uh, strateg- strata- whatever the word I'm going for.

• 1:43:22Theo Von?

  Strategic.

• 1:43:23Speaker 01

  He's a good strategist.

• 1:43:24Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:24Speaker 01

  He's brilliant. He knows how to recruit. He's got a great football mind.

• 1:43:28Theo Von?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:43:29Speaker 01

  Uh, sometimes he talks too much, you know?

• 1:43:32Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah. Look, Lane, look, look.

• 1:43:34Speaker 01

  But he'll say it, man.

• 1:43:35Theo Von?

  One of Lane's fans is Lane.

• 1:43:37Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:43:38Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, Lane's one of the smartest people on the planet. Just ask Lane. And he'll tell you. But, but, uh, he's, he's, uh, uh, he's, I think he's gonna be a good coach, but I'll tell you this.

• 1:43:49Theo Von?

  Love you, Coach. Love you, Coach.

• 1:43:51Speaker 01

  We, we, we paid him a lot of money. Now he's gotta go win.

• 1:43:53Theo Von?

  Now, that's a good point, bro.

• 1:43:55Speaker 01

  And I'm not saying he wasn't worth it, but he's making a boatload of money, a bucket full of money.

• 1:44:00Theo Von?

  Oh, he's making a part, uh, he's making like 4% of our GDP.

• 1:44:03Speaker 01

  And so our, you know.

• 1:44:05Theo Von?

  He's making like 4% of our GDP.

• 1:44:06Speaker 01

  He's gotta win now. He's just gotta win. But he did a great job at Ole Miss. He's been done.

• 1:44:12Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, he did.

• 1:44:12Speaker 01

  I, you know, I thought Nick Saban, I, this is probably here soon as, yeah, I thought Nick Saban was a great coach. I hated to lose him when he was at LSU.

• 1:44:21Theo Von?

  Yeah, I think everybody thought that.

• 1:44:22Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, a lot of people got mad at him, uh, for leaving. He went to the, to, to the Dolphins, I think.

• 1:44:29Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:29Speaker 01

  And then he went to Alabama. And a lot of my people in Louisiana, our people got mad at him. And I kept my mouth shut, but I'd say, look, because he went to Alabama, I said, at the time, Alabama offered him like five million dollars or something. I said, you're telling me that you would have turned down five million dollars?

• 1:44:46Theo Von?

  Oh, sure.

• 1:44:46Speaker 01

  Just so the people of Louisiana wouldn't get mad at you?

• 1:44:50Theo Von?

  We were still trying to pay him in banyeres, I think.

• 1:44:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. But he, uh, uh, I'm, he, he, he liked, I think he liked Louisiana.

• 1:44:58Theo Von?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, I know that he's happy there. He's having a good time, man. Lane's a good, look, Lane loves to have a good time. Um, I'm hopeful for him for sure, you know, and this is where he's at in his journey. So it's like, you gotta hope somebody, hope the best for somebody. Um.

• 1:45:13Speaker 01

  I don't know, but he's into hot yoga.

• 1:45:15Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah. I've been to a class with him.

• 1:45:17Speaker 01

  Have you?

• 1:45:17Theo Von?

  Yeah, I went to a class with him at frickin'.

• 1:45:19Speaker 01

  What's hot yoga like?

• 1:45:20Theo Von?

  I mean, it's, it depends on who laws in there.

• 1:45:23Speaker 01

  Yeah. I, I, we're, I don't want to go there, Theo.

• 1:45:26Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:45:26Speaker 01

  I gotta run for reelection, man.

• 1:45:28Theo Von?

  Yeah, yeah. I don't think your wife would be happy if you went there, but look, I went there right there. Lane Kiffin, right there, hot yoga, right there.

• 1:45:35Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 1:45:36Theo Von?

  And I, I wear a towel like that because I was raised by a single mother. You see that?

• 1:45:39Speaker 01

  Look at you guys.

• 1:45:41Theo Von?

  We was leaking in there, cut.

• 1:45:44Speaker 01

  Now, yoga's good for you.

• 1:45:45Theo Von?

  Oh, man, it's really good.

• 1:45:47Speaker 01

  It'll, it'll give you a good workout.

• 1:45:49Theo Von?

  Oh, definitely, man. Make me feel like a nine-four-year-old. Um, the Save Act, right? Let's talk about the Save Act.

• 1:45:56Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:45:56Theo Von?

  So that's a big thing that's happening right now, right?

• 1:45:59Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:45:59Theo Von?

  That's, that's like, kind of like.

• 1:46:00Speaker 01

  We're trying to pass it.

• 1:46:01Theo Von?

  You guys are trying to pass it. Can you explain to me what it is really quick? Can you explain to our listeners what it is?

• 1:46:05Speaker 01

  Um, it basically says that in order to vote in a federal election, you have to prove you are who you say you are. You've got to have that valid ID. And to register to vote, you have to prove that you're in our country legally as legally as a citizen. Only American citizens can vote. Now, there's some other provisions, but there, those are the two main provisions. Um, probably 80% of Americans support it. We can't get a single Democratic vote.

• 1:46:45Speaker 01

  Here's, I, here, this is not, I'm not speaking for President Trump. But here's the way I think you fix our elections and, and, and give people confidence in our elections. Number one, you have to be able to prove you are who you say you are to vote. And number two, that just what the president says and what we say in the SAVE Act, I'm a co-sponsor of it. But number two, we need to go back to an election day, not an election month.

• 1:47:16Theo Von?

  I agree.

• 1:47:17Speaker 01

  We need to know who won that night.

• 1:47:20Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:47:21Speaker 01

  Frankly, I don't care how you vote, that's up to the states, but the votes have to be counted that night.

• 1:47:27Theo Von?

  Why did that change so much? It used to be, didn't it used to be we knew that night?

• 1:47:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, we always did. Well, because some states changed their laws. In California, they don't know now for two weeks.

• 1:47:38Theo Von?

  They still don't know.

• 1:47:39Speaker 01

  And they still don't, I'm not sure. Because you can vote by mail and it, what matters is if it's postmarked. And sometimes the mail's slow and it takes 10 days, two weeks. If you're gonna vote by mail, now President Trump, Trump hates voting by mail, but some states love it. But if you're gonna vote by mail, the, the, the mail ballots have to be in far enough in advance for them to be counted and announced on election night.

• 1:48:10Theo Von?

  I think that makes sense.

• 1:48:11Speaker 01

  Because if you go past election night, whether you are a Democrat, whether it's a Democrat or Republican who, who, who loses, they're gonna think the election was rigged.

• 1:48:21Theo Von?

  Right, for sure. And so now they're saying if you mail it on the day of, it can still be counted later on.

• 1:48:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, we have, we have a month-long election.

• 1:48:29Theo Von?

  What are some of the side effects of this, that, what are some of the things that, that this also brings in that are? That people don't see, I know there was some issue with, um, what did I read? Something about, oh, you have to have two forms of identification?

• 1:48:45Speaker 01

  No, the, the, the Democrats say, well, I mean, these, this is my point of view. They may have another point of view. The Democrats say it's a way of suppressing the vote.

• 1:48:57Theo Von?

  Right.

• 1:48:58Speaker 01

  To require you to have ID. I don't know anybody that doesn't have ID.

• 1:49:02Theo Von?

  I agree. I don't, I think if you don't have identification, I don't think you should be able to vote.

• 1:49:05Speaker 01

  I mean, most people have a driver's license, but there are other forms of identica- identification that, that, that would be acceptable. And, and if you, if you don't have a driver's license and you don't have any identification, the chances are you're in our country illegally.

• 1:49:22Theo Von?

  Got it. And they say that, is it, is it that they're, they said they're gonna, you can't register online anymore? Would that be part of it too?

• 1:49:30Speaker 01

  If you, if you have ID, I don't have a problem registering online if you have proof.

• 1:49:36Theo Von?

  Right.

• 1:49:36Speaker 01

  That it is you.

• 1:49:37Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:49:38Speaker 01

  And I'm no technological whiz, but, but, uh, they're, they're, I give credit cards online and they can authenticate that it's me.

• 1:49:47Theo Von?

  Right.

• 1:49:47Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't mind using technology, but to register vote, to vote, you have to prove that you are who you say you are. You can only register once and you have to prove that you're an American citizen.

• 1:50:00Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:01Speaker 01

  I don't think that's unreasonable. I brought it up.

• 1:50:04Theo Von?

  I, I agree. Everybody's kinda, everybody thinks that there's some fraud happening with voting. It feels very un, it feels unreliable.

• 1:50:11Speaker 01

  Well, that's because sometimes it takes, it, when they have mail ballots, for example, it takes a month to get them all counted.

• 1:50:18Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:19Speaker 01

  And the loser is always gonna be suspicious.

• 1:50:21Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:22Speaker 01

  But on the Save Act.

• 1:50:23Theo Von?

  So are the people.

• 1:50:24Speaker 01

  Of course. And the people are not gonna have confidence. But on, on the Save Act, I tried to amend it into our, in our, to our reconciliation bill. I couldn't get a single Democratic vote.

• 1:50:37Theo Von?

  What did, what did the Democrats want in the bill?

• 1:50:39Speaker 01

  Uh, they just don't want it at all. They don't want it at all. They think that it will suppress votes.

• 1:50:45Theo Von?

  Got it.

• 1:50:46Speaker 01

  And not all of my Democratic colleagues, but many of my Democratic colleagues, whether they will admit it or not, they want illegal immigrants to be able to vote. And no, they're not American citizens. If I go to Nicaragua, wonderful country.

• 1:51:03Theo Von?

  My father's from there.

• 1:51:04Speaker 01

  Is he?

• 1:51:05Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:05Speaker 01

  Well, if I go to Nicaragua, wonderful country.

• 1:51:08Theo Von?

  You can't vote there.

• 1:51:09Speaker 01

  But I can't, I'm not, they, they, and I say, I want to vote, and they go, no. Kennedy, you know?

• 1:51:14Theo Von?

  It'd be like, look.

• 1:51:15Speaker 01

  You're not from here, butt head.

• 1:51:17Theo Von?

  Look, I agree 100% man. If you're not, if you're not a citizen, you can't vote. And there, I don't even understand how that's, how it's up for debate in anybody's head or mind that wants things to be organized in this country. I do not understand.

• 1:51:31Speaker 01

  Well, there are many people that believe, and it's what is behind a lot of it, and it's not all of them.

• 1:51:37Theo Von?

  Right.

• 1:51:38Speaker 01

  Okay, but there are many people believe, so I know there are many Democrats that believe that we ought to let anybody into our country, ignore immigration laws, and they see it as a, a, a way of, of, of getting new votes.

• 1:51:55Theo Von?

  Well, I mean, that, we had a lot of, uh, we had, um, a lot of border patrol, like, uh, hierarchy on, like during, um, like within the past four years, and we, there was a lot of that. There was a lot of like people just coming in, moving in democratic states, people like escaping like jurisdiction, just running away, just running off into the country and not being, not being followed.

• 1:52:15Speaker 01

  A lot of-

• 1:52:16Theo Von?

  We've seen a lot of that over the years, for sure.

• 1:52:18Speaker 01

  A lot of my colleagues think, and they're entitled to their point of view, they think that vetting people at the border is racist. I don't.

• 1:52:25Theo Von?

  I don't at all either.

• 1:52:26Speaker 01

  I don't. And here's the way I read, I don't remember what, where I read this, but, um, the American people, most of them, see our southern border like their front door. Most Americans lock their front door at night. They don't lock their front door at night because they hate everybody on the outside and they're racist.

• 1:52:45Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:45Speaker 01

  They lock their front door at night because they love the people on the inside, and they want to know who's coming in and out of their house.

• 1:52:51Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 1:52:52Speaker 01

  And that's the way it is with the border. We let more people in legally

• 1:52:58Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:52:59Speaker 01

  to become Americans, through legal immigration, every year than anybody else in the world.

• 1:53:04Theo Von?

  Wow.

• 1:53:05Speaker 01

  But legal immigration is legal. Illegal immigration is illegal. And the problem is that the people that, that were advising President Biden convinced him, he let in-

• 1:53:18Speaker 01

  Between eight million and fifteen million people. It was like the Price is Right, come on down.

• 1:53:25Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:25Speaker 01

  We had no idea who they are. Some of them, I'm sure, were decent people. But there were a lot of rapists, there were a lot of murderers, there were a lot of drug dealers.

• 1:53:35Theo Von?

  Hedophiles.

• 1:53:36Speaker 01

  We don't know where they are.

• 1:53:37Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:38Speaker 01

  And you can't run, no country in the world, no country in the world doesn't respect its borders and have immigration laws.

• 1:53:46Theo Von?

  Yeah. How many people get into, how many, how many people are allowed into China each year? I wonder, like, how many people get into their?

• 1:53:52Speaker 01

  They're very strict.

• 1:53:53Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:54Speaker 01

  They're very strict.

• 1:53:55Theo Von?

  How many people do they think illegally get into China every year?

• 1:53:58Speaker 01

  Who?

• 1:53:59Theo Von?

  You can look that up.

• 1:54:00Speaker 01

  The only people I know that want to try to sneak in from China to China are from North Korea.

• 1:54:06Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:06Speaker 01

  Because North Korea is so bad, they want to get out. But China does, China is, um, they, they are very monolithic in their culture. They don't like minority groups, the Uighurs, for example. They don't want any, they don't like Muslims.

• 1:54:25Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:54:26Speaker 01

  They, they, they like the Han Chinese and they want, it's run by a small group of men that are head, they want, that are head of the Communist Party. It's totalitarian, it's authoritarian. And if you get, they spy on you, cameras everywhere, they, they, they censor your social media. And if you get out of line, they will kill you and hurt you the entire time you're dying.

• 1:54:51Theo Von?

  Shit, I'm just trying to get some, uh, orange chicken.

• 1:54:53Speaker 01

  I'm just telling you, man, it's, and the, the people in China, I, I've been there.

• 1:54:58Theo Von?

  Yeah, I've been there.

• 1:54:59Speaker 01

  They're nice people, you've been there.

• 1:55:00Theo Von?

  I've had a nice time.

• 1:55:01Speaker 01

  Uh, but, but they have no freedom, man.

• 1:55:05Theo Von?

  But they're, yeah, they're specific. Um, before you go, you just mentioned, uh, you were talking, you, you mentioned like a surveillance state, right? And, and it feels like sometimes in America that we're getting to that, like with a lot of flock cameras and a lot of these data centers, like, to me, the data centers, it feels like they're just gonna hold all the information from like all this recording that's gonna go on, like in this surveillance state. Is that what you feel like is happening?

• 1:55:27Speaker 01

  Well. In order to have AI, artificial intelligence, and AI is here. We've got to properly regulate it, but it's here. You've got to have data centers. You've got to. Um, I'm okay with data centers as long as they pay their way, pay for their own electricity, pay for their own water, and the community accepts them. If, if you want to build a data center in a community, the community should have a say.

• 1:56:00Theo Von?

  I agree.

• 1:56:00Speaker 01

  It shouldn't be forced upon people.

• 1:56:03Theo Von?

  They're forcing one here in Nashville right now.

• 1:56:05Speaker 01

  And I, I don't have, I know they are down, downtown.

• 1:56:09Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:09Speaker 01

  And, and, uh, the data centers shouldn't go when they're not wanted. Uh, I don't have a problem putting them on, on, uh, our, our military bases.

• 1:56:19Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 1:56:20Speaker 01

  But they've got to pay their own way.

• 1:56:22Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:22Speaker 01

  They've got to pay their, and they can't cause people's electricity bills to go up and their water bills to go up. And they have to be properly regulated.

• 1:56:33Theo Von?

  What's your biggest fear with AI? Because I'll, I'll tell you mine really fast. Mine is that, say it starts to, you start to have this thing, right? Like where, like even Jeff Bridges was communicating with an AI. He's got a buddy named Gary that he's talking to. And even Gary even knows who his wife and family is and everything.

• 1:56:48Speaker 01

  Spooky, man.

• 1:56:48Theo Von?

  Spooky, right? Um, but it's all, it was cool. It was neat, but still it's like, what if we start to have this thing that everybody puts their information into? Because also AIs can, your information is not, is legally then also owned by them then. So if, if, if somebody ever was able to go subpoena information from an AI, they could use it against you in court or this, it's not, once you put it in, I believe most of these AIs, I think anyway, that it is still, it belongs to them as well.

• 1:57:15Speaker 01

  That's right, and it shouldn't.

• 1:57:16Theo Von?

  Right, and it shouldn't.

• 1:57:17Speaker 01

  That's your information.

• 1:57:18Theo Von?

  I agree.

• 1:57:18Speaker 01

  That's your data.

• 1:57:19Theo Von?

  I agree a hundred percent. So it's crazy. We're all sort of feeding our actual lives and things that we think and care about and questions into this information place. But my fear is that over time, people start looking to this, to these AI, like to these AIs as their god in a way, because they're going to go to them like, I need help with this. What do I do? I, I don't know how to feel about this. And the thing that they used to take to an actual god, they're now going to take to this like. Supercomputer. And so that's why I feel like sometimes the race is so

• 1:57:51Speaker 01

  It's very perceptive.

• 1:57:52Theo Von?

  That the race is so big because somebody's, they're trying to create the next god. That's what they're trying to do.

• 1:57:57Speaker 01

  And I have talked to people that have brains a lot bigger than mine that say within five years, not only will AI and these chat boxes know everything, but they will become independent and can think on their own. And the next step is be able, being able to, to act on their own.

• 1:58:26Speaker 01

  Let's take electricity, the grid here in Nashville. It's all based on computers.

• 1:58:32Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:58:33Speaker 01

  If, if AI can hack into the grid in Nashville on its own, or at the instructions of somebody else, they could shut down the solar city.

• 1:58:45Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:58:45Speaker 01

  They could cause, shut down there, cause 25 planes to crash at once.

• 1:58:51Theo Von?

  Yeah. What if they said all the Teslas right now drive off into the Cumberland River?

• 1:58:54Speaker 01

  They could do it.

• 1:58:54Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:58:55Speaker 01

  And that's why I don't want to get in the way of innovation.

• 1:58:58Theo Von?

  I do. We got enough.

• 1:59:00Speaker 01

  Well, no, we're, no, this AI stuff can really, it can be a blessing, but it can be a curse. If it's not properly regulated.

• 1:59:08Theo Von?

  But we don't have hardly any regulations in place right now.

• 1:59:10Speaker 01

  We don't have any.

• 1:59:11Theo Von?

  We don't have, think about that. We don't have any. There's a potential new electronic god about to show up.

• 1:59:17Speaker 01

  There's, and it's scary.

• 1:59:19Theo Von?

  And we have no regulations in place.

• 1:59:22Speaker 01

  No, it's scary.

• 1:59:23Theo Von?

  We don't have enough parking.

• 1:59:23Speaker 01

  And we're trying to put together some, but you don't want to ratchet down so hard to interfere with the regulation. I mean, to interfere with the innovation.

• 1:59:34Theo Von?

  I don't care if you do.

• 1:59:35Speaker 01

  But, well, but it can make our lives better.

• 1:59:37Theo Von?

  Our lives are, we're doing fine.

• 1:59:39Speaker 01

  I know, but I'm gonna give you an example. Um, it, it can.

• 1:59:45Speaker 01

  A CT scan or X-ray looking for cancer.

• 1:59:50Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:51Speaker 01

  A human has to read those things. Sometimes they miss a cancer.

• 1:59:55Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 1:59:55Speaker 01

  With AI, you run it through AI, they never miss.

• 1:59:58Theo Von?

  That's a good point.

• 1:59:59Speaker 01

  They never miss. Doctors, you go to doctor with a disease. It doctors diagnosis is based on their judgment. They can put it into AI, boom, hit it every time.

• 2:00:11Theo Von?

  Yeah, and he might doctor might be doing, who knows what?

• 2:00:14Speaker 01

  That can make our lives better.

• 2:00:15Theo Von?

  Eating a sandwich or doing anything.

• 2:00:16Speaker 01

  But it can also, it can also kill us all. Suppose AI.

• 2:00:21Theo Von?

  Damn, that's a big trade off.

• 2:00:22Speaker 01

  No, listen.

• 2:00:23Theo Von?

  John, that's a big trade off.

• 2:00:24Speaker 01

  It is a trade off.

• 2:00:25Theo Von?

  Look, if two people don't have, two people have cancer that don't, and otherwise we all die.

• 2:00:31Speaker 01

  But suppose AI gets to the point where it's so powerful and it can think for itself.

• 2:00:35Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 2:00:36Speaker 01

  And it decides to break it, break the nuclear code.

• 2:00:41Theo Von?

  Hmm.

• 2:00:42Speaker 01

  And set off nuclear, nuclear missiles, nuclear ballistic missiles with a warhead to hit, to hit China.

• 2:00:49Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:00:51Speaker 01

  Without any way to stop them.

• 2:00:54Theo Von?

  Could, do you think any country would ever use a ballistic, use like a nuclear weapon and blame it on AI?

• 2:01:00Speaker 01

  I think Iran would.

• 2:01:02Theo Von?

  You think anybody else would?

• 2:01:04Speaker 01

  No, because even though Vladimir Putin, which has the largest nuclear, uh, uh, stockpile in the world, even though he is a evil man with blood under his fingernails, he's irrational, he's, he's not stupid. He's, he's not crazy.

• 2:01:23Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:01:23Speaker 01

  He's shrewd and he knows the only reason that, uh, he does not try to take out America today. He has a bigger stockpile than us, but we've got a pretty big stockpile and we would retaliate. And it would be the end of Russia. It'd be the end of America. It would be the end of the world.

• 2:01:42Theo Von?

  How do we get, how do we get to such an ungodly place, you think?

• 2:01:49Speaker 01

  Many people, people are imperfect. And too many people have more zeal than wisdom.

• 2:01:56Theo Von?

  Too many people have more what?

• 2:01:57Speaker 01

  More zeal than wisdom. Ambition, uh, desire for power, uh, desire for money. Um, there's good in everybody, I believe that, but there's potential evil in everybody.

• 2:02:13Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:14Speaker 01

  We all struggle with it every day.

• 2:02:16Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm not saying I'm not a, I'm not a, I'm not, yeah.

• 2:02:19Speaker 01

  You know, I, when I pray-

• 2:02:21Theo Von?

  But there's a lot of, there's a lot of evil rocking out there.

• 2:02:22Speaker 01

  When I pray, I ask for forgive, forgiveness, and I, I don't try to catalog my sins 'cause I, I, I don't even know all of them.

• 2:02:30Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:31Speaker 01

  Pride, um-

• 2:02:33Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah. Sloth, envy?

• 2:02:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, um-

• 2:02:38Theo Von?

  Perverting, being a pervert or whatever, not a big time one, but just pardon.

• 2:02:41Speaker 01

  Envy's a big one. I mean, you, with social media, you see somebody driving a, you know, a Mercedes and you go, "I, I, I deserve a Mercedes."

• 2:02:51Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:51Speaker 01

  "Why should they have one and not me?" Well, most of the time, it's because they worked their rear ends off and they earned it.

• 2:02:57Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:58Speaker 01

  But, but, you know, people are imperfect.

• 2:03:03Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:03:03Speaker 01

  But, but if we appeal to our better nature and try to stop having our lives run by our, our appetitive desires, like a thirst for money or power, if we try to treat everybody else with some dignity and respect, um, that's the answer to me. I mean, I don't mean to sound like naive, because there's some evil people in the world.

• 2:03:30Theo Von?

  Yeah.

• 2:03:31Speaker 01

  And, and I, I mean it, weakness invites wolves. They, you, you turn the, your, your, your, the other cheek with some of these people, they'll stab you right in the neck, man.

• 2:03:40Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:03:40Speaker 01

  But not everybody's like that. And I think that's why, deep down, I think Americans, even though we stay angry at each other a lot, our country was founded on respect for everybody's humanity.

• 2:03:56Theo Von?

  Yeah, I agree. I believe that we have a moral compass.

• 2:03:59Speaker 01

  We are all created equal. We believe that. We believe in equal opportunity. We believe in free will. But with free will goes responsibility. And all power from government is derived by the people, not the other way around. Somebody, some of my colleagues want government to run everything, and you have to go to government and get permission. That's not America, man. I don't want any part of that.

• 2:04:28Theo Von?

  Anything else you want to share before you go, John? Anything specific you want to talk about?

• 2:04:35Speaker 01

  No, it's been fun, man. I'm just glad to see a Louisiana boy and a UNO graduate become famous.

• 2:04:39Theo Von?

  Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, I've been lucky. I work hard, but I've been lucky. And yeah, I don't know. But I'm grateful that people pay attention. I'm grateful I get to spend time with guys like you, to be honest, man. It's been so cool.

• 2:04:55Speaker 01

  I'm really jealous that you met Jeff Bridges, man.

• 2:04:58Theo Von?

  Yeah, dude, me too. And I met him. I'm jealous, and I met him, dude.

• 2:05:02Speaker 01

  He's like the prime minister of cool. And Denzel Washington. If you get Denzel Washington on your show, man, he is, he is like just a really nice guy.

• 2:05:12Theo Von?

  Oh, if I get him on, then you gotta, your wife's gotta make me some egg salad. I'm gonna come over there.

• 2:05:16Speaker 01

  Man, she'll make you some egg salad that'll make you, make you stand on one leg and yodel. She'll make some good salad.

• 2:05:26Theo Von?

  Does she?

• 2:05:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. She's a good cook. She likes to cook.

• 2:05:29Theo Von?

  Oh, that's nice, dude. Yeah, I'm gonna get me a good wife one of these days. Abita Roasting Company. Is that what it's called?

• 2:05:35Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:05:36Theo Von?

  Yep, that's it.

• 2:05:37Speaker 01

  It's an old Creole cottage with a sugar kettle in the front.

• 2:05:41Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:05:42Speaker 01

  And I've been there many times.

• 2:05:43Theo Von?

  Right there. When I'm home and you're home, I'll have to go over there.

• 2:05:46Speaker 01

  We'll go there together.

• 2:05:48Theo Von?

  That'd be cool, dude.

• 2:05:49Speaker 01

  I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

• 2:05:50Theo Von?

  Yeah, alright.

• 2:05:51Speaker 01

  And we can go over to friends and have an adult beverage.

• 2:05:54Theo Von?

  Yeah, and look, and you can write it off. It'd be a stay, it'd be a, uh, it'd be a deduction, won't it?

• 2:05:59Speaker 01

  No.

• 2:05:59Theo Von?

  We'll, we'll pay for it. I'll pay for it, you don't get accused of nothing.

• 2:06:02Speaker 01

  I'll treat you, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm paid okay in the, by the United States Senate.

• 2:06:08Theo Von?

  Okay, so it'll be just a personal expense?

• 2:06:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:06:11Theo Von?

  Okay.

• 2:06:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:06:12Theo Von?

  Okay, that's fair, man. I'd love that, man.

• 2:06:13Speaker 01

  And we'll swap lies and tell stories and you can tell me what Hollywood's like and Los Angeles.

• 2:06:20Theo Von?

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:06:21Speaker 01

  All those fake people out there, all those beautiful people.

• 2:06:24Theo Von?

  And you trade, and you trade me stories from just the swamp waters over there in Washington DC?

• 2:06:28Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 2:06:28Theo Von?

  Yeah?

• 2:06:29Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 2:06:30Theo Von?

  That's a deal. John Kennedy, Senator John Kennedy, thank you so much for your time, brother.

• 2:06:34Speaker 01

  Thanks, man. This has been fun. Thanks for having me.

• 2:06:36Theo Von?

  Amen.

• 2:06:36Speaker 01

  You're the Prime Minister. Cool yourself.

• 2:06:38Theo Von?

  Aw, thank you, bro. I appreciate you.