#247 America Unplugged: Decline, Disinformation & Broken Infrastructure

0:03 Donald Jeffries, Donald Jeffries, author of Hidden History and Survival of the Richest, host of The Donald Jeffries Show. Billy Ray Valentine, Billy Ray Valentine, host of The Infinite Fringe podcast, researcher, truth seeker from the Bronx, New York. Tony Arterburn, Tony Arterburn, radio host, combat veteran, precious metals analyst, and alt historian. Together they take on headlines of the week, decode the disinformation, and plow through the mainstream propaganda. Unauthorized, unscripted, and unintimidated. Unintimidated. This is America Unplugged.

0:59 I remember, turn the volume down for, but I have no, no reason to do that. Billy's not here, the great Billy Ray Valentine, isn't he? He's, uh, giving a series of lectures on street magic and levitation, and, uh, I hope that goes well down there in New York. I do have, uh, along, uh, for today's America Unplugged, the legendary Donald Jeffries. Sir, welcome back. Uh, to your own show. Oh, thanks for having me, Tony, and, uh, it's always a pleasure. I was, uh, not here last week because I didn't have the internet. Hopefully we won't have any glitches during it, but a company took over my internet and cable company, and I was without TV for 3 days and, uh, bad internet off and on too.

1:42 So it's, it's— I'm writing a Substack about it now, so please read. Uh, I can, I can put all the rants in there and try to put as much humor as I can into it because you got to look at this stuff funny, but it's just more indication that America 2.0 is running on fumes because they're just, you know, nothing works. And then it was coming more apparently, no one works either. I mean, no one seemed— but nothing works. I can't stress that enough. You try to— those of us that have lived long enough, 60 years ago, 50, 60 years ago, just, you know, things worked. You know, you might not have liked the way they worked, but, you know, that greatest generation was competent. And, uh, I don't know what the hell's going on now, but I have no— like, every time if I call this thing, yeah, like, I still have a few glitches and I have no confidence they're not going to screw up and I'll, I'll be out, you know, I'll be gone, the TV will be gone and the cable will be gone. So that's why I hesitate to call them. Okay, leave well enough alone, I guess, you know. Well, it's, it's true, Don, and I don't know what to ascribe that to.

2:43 I know that there's— I mean, in my wheelhouse, I think some of the issues is that the profit incentive just isn't there anymore. And then the consolidation of companies, you know, the bigger these companies get and you think, oh well, there's like regional competition, but like I have the same, the same issues like, you know, as in small business. And I hesitate to do any projects because I'm like, who's actually going to carry out any of this stuff? Like if I really want to make improvements, um, in hiring people or hiring services, and it's It's a toss-up. So no, you're, you're not alone, Don. And even stuff like internet, uh, like here in the Ozarks— I'm in Branson today— yeah, we've had issues with that where, I mean, it's, it— you have to go through so many different channels and then maybe get an outside person that's not even with that company to fix your internet. It's not like— no, and I think the answer is more Indian visa workers because, uh, that's, that's what we need because apparently we can't do the job. Without them. But, and, you know, people don't realize, and I wrote about this in Survival of the Richest, how our infrastructure is so bad that even things like internet— we are— I forget, I, and I have the statistics in the book, but we rank really low in terms of internet, average internet speed. I used to work with a guy, uh, one of the guys I worked with was from the Dominican Republic, and he, he would go vacation, go back home a lot, and every time he said, I can't wait to get back to a fast internet. Dominican Republic.

4:08 How can we possibly have a slower internet than the Dominican Republic? And I don't know if it's, it's done on purpose, but again, America has just become the biggest screw-up I've ever seen. I don't know what they're doing, but it's that life expectancy, infant mortality, all these important things. Childhood cancer rates are exploding, all this stuff. We're, we're behind on everything. The only thing we're number one in is, uh, incredible— the number of billionaires, I guess, and consolidation of wealth. But other than that We're not number one. No, that's true. And what's that— the story I read this years ago, so I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but somebody was in from Romania, was, um, debating with, with Bernie Sanders of all people. And Bernie was talking about, you know, this— it's a miracle, you know, Romania's got the fastest internet speeds, right?

4:57 And, uh, that basically getting down to why. And the guy said, well, we had a a communist, uh, dictator and we hanged him, and then there wasn't any more communism. We had free markets, and then all of a sudden we had, you know, the fastest internet. It's like that in the opposite too, when you have like these oligarchs who rule over you, like this concentration of wealth, because it's consolidation of companies, which means less competition, and you can't even break into those markets. Hence, like, the, the whole point right now of making AI like this quasi-god, or that it's omnipotent, and it's also to destroy everything unless we can, can control it. All that stuff, if you notice, that's coming from the people who own it.

5:41 And if you regulate everyone else out of it, then you're the only one at the top that could control it. There's a reason why they use that trick, uh, by the way. And so again, lack of competition is a big part of that upward mobility. People don't see that. I think that you do have competition in things like plumbing companies, electricians, Roofers, I think you still have competition in that, but a lot of the tech stuff or business related or, uh, the communications related stuff, you really don't. And you don't get the customer service that you used to, not on any degree or level like it was when I was growing up. Not even close. No. And AI makes it because you can see when you call any company, they do— they— you have to go through so many ropes to get to a human being. And I'll be shouting at the AI like it. And then the thing about, they'll, they'll, they'll give the AI, they'll give the woman the AI voice. They'll give her a name. Hi, this is Stella. I mean, you know, okay. So now I think you're real. I mean, why, why are you giving it a name?

6:44 It's ridiculous. And they, they want to, they want to help you, which they can't do. And that's why I'm not one of these people that think AI is a threat in terms of they're going to take us. Because first of all, the people that created AI, Why would they make them too powerful for them to control? I don't, I don't, I don't accept that. I think they want you to think that, right? They're going to screw your lives up, definitely. But I, I don't think they're, they're any threat because then they'd have to take over the people again. I just, I just, I don't, I just don't. I think they're here to make things more inconvenient for people to not be able to solve stuff because they, they can't do anything when you try to. It's, I'm sorry, I didn't get that question. They, they don't understand so many things and they want you to stay with the stupid AI person.

7:26 They won't hire a receptionist. Like every company used to have. Not that it was a great job, but it was a job. You have to go through— I have to yell, I want a human representative, I want to speak to a representative, over and over. And finally, I— yes, but before I take— send you— before I do that, I have to know, give me specifics on what you're calling about. And it— they make you— the process is excruciatingly long, and I'm sure a lot of people just hang up. But it's— and nobody talks about this stuff. And like I said, if I'm no capitalist, but if I was starting a business, the first thing I'd do is I'd advertise the fact no automated menus. You're going to talk to a human being. Nobody does that. I mean, I, I don't understand it. And it's, and they're, they're word for word the same. Listen closely because our menu options have changed. Para español, prima el dos. You know, it's the exact same thing, same voice.

8:18 I don't know. To me, that's not competition. Well, that's the issue. And, uh, well, I mean, side note, that's, that's why I built like my business and what I do on a smaller level. Like, you can always get in touch with a person and we make it really easy. Just side notes, a little plug there for me. I do hire humans and I will never be run by AI. The only thing I would use AI for is price sourcing and other things to make stuff easier for me to get access to info, but that's it. Everything else, all the communications, like you're texting with an actual person, you're messaging with an actual human. Uh, I'll never do— I'll never get into that automated stuff. That's just the walls they put up once they control it, you know. Once they control a space and there's really no competition, like, uh, like the customer service you would get using a city water supply. Like, they don't— you have to use their water, you know. I mean, it's that you owe them money, you know, not the other way around. What are your choices? Yeah, there you go. You don't have a choice. And, uh, you know, it's, it's And it's not like the humans are great shakes either. I mean, I, I have problems with a lot of the human representatives, you know, especially the ones from India who are probably speaking maybe better English than I am, but their accent is hard to determine. And they're not gonna, they're not gonna fool you by saying, hi, I'm Kyle from— no, you're not Kyle.

9:30 It's not your name. You get somehow I'm gonna, I'm not gonna, you know, notice your accent if you do that. But, and it pisses me off because again, it's outsourcing. It's the same kind of thing. Those people are in India. They're not, they're not here by all. Or they could be visa workers, because we know now that the H-1B visa workers are coming in and they're working at 7-Elevens and things like that. They're doing jobs Americans can't do. They're not just necessarily doing IT. But someone who worked in IT for many years, I can tell you I worked with a lot of Indian visa workers, and, uh, they aren't any better than American work. They're not doing any jobs that Americans can't do. So that's a huge lie. But anyhow, that's I'm kind of all over the place. It's good to see Ashley. How you doing, Ashley? Yeah, always good to see Ashley. Say, I'm, I'm last minute. I texted her because yesterday I got busy. I was here at the shop in Branson and Billy called me and he couldn't make it today because of his levitation seminar.

10:23 And I said, look, uh, I got it, no big deal. And I thought I'll text her later, then I forgot till I got here and opened up the, uh, the studio. So thanks for being here, Ash. I appreciate you. Um, Don and I were just talking about the— and you want to add in your opinion, um, we're talking about like how weird customer service has gotten and, and consolidation of companies, in my opinion, is the root cause of that, where you have less competition. But could also be culturally, um, it also goes like something different going on with this generation and up-and-coming, you know, people that would populate workforce or small business. I noticed that Drudge had a headline today that said that less less and less young people are like going to get driver's licenses. They're just like opting out and like shrugging. Like it's not like an important thing like it used to be, or a rite of passage. Maybe that is adding to all this.

11:13 Who knows? What, uh, you want to add anything to this before we skip on to subject 2? Sure. Yes. Um, I agree. I have observed that in real life. So this is one of the things, you know, that Billy Ray is talking about is what are we observing in real life and what is, what is proof, what is evidence? Well, I have, I had heard about the trend of kids not caring about their driver's license And then I have seen it multiple times in other families. The kids don't care like they used to. Like, back in my day, kids, the day you were 15, you had already taken driver's ed so you could have your learner's permit for 1 year. And then the day you were 16, you're at the DMV taking that test. Like, that's how it used to be, and that has completely changed, which is really interesting to observe. But the other thing that I wanted to add add to that is last night on Fool Me Twice, we were talking about the book The Hidden Persuaders. So how they basically use psychology and hacking human beings to increase consumerism. And part of that was by differentiating their products. Like that was part of how they tried to sell to people. But now I think that we have reached a threshold, you know, somewhere on some kind of some kind of, uh, graph, which I'm not a graph person, but if somebody is, make a graph. What is the point where the customization and options to people and differentiation matters versus where we're at now? Because you see this kind of unification, like cars are

12:44 the same, phones are the same, and even to what, uh, y'all were talking about at the beginning, like what Don was experiencing with internet, you you're getting to kind of like back to the, the point where Henry Ford was. Like, you can have any phone you want to as long as it's an Apple or an Android. You can have any internet you want to as long as it's Spectrum and as long as you're fine with it not working every third day. Yeah, that's the new company, or Spectrum. We have the Spectrum. I knew it because Spectrum sucks. Like, that's what I have terrible internet for and have had every time I've had them. That's how it goes. So anyway, that's what it made me think of, is that we're kind of getting back to that you can have anything you want as long as it is X, Y, and Z. And that, that is really a shift from the— and, and perhaps this could be the indication that we're looking at for the circular economy, renting things.

13:39 And all of this also coincided with originally they made products that lasted, and that was not— that didn't work out for them because they couldn't sell more stuff. You don't have that problem anymore. You know, nothing lasts the way that it used to. So I think all these things kind of coincide. And, you know, pardon my French, but they call it the enshittification. And I do think that's actually legit. I think it ties very well into the conversation that we're having here. Now, there's something metaphysical about it too. It's beyond physics. It's beyond like cause and effect at some level. Because you notice too in the West, and this is a phenomenon that I've seen people like Tucker Carlson talk about and others, where just look at the, the downfall of our architecture.

14:27 Like the— any kind of beauty, any kind of aesthetic beauty has also been wiped out. Like I was able to buy one of the last, uh, Dodge Challengers. You know, it's a great car, and the last one they made was 2023. So I ordered one. I ordered one of the last ones. And it's like one of the, like, the cool cars. And then you're right, like, everything I, I look around, I'm like, what would I buy now if I just wanted to go buy something cool? I can't think of anything. Like, even if you go to some of the— like, even, even Lamborghini put out this really terrible, like, electric car that everybody was just like, that looks like garbage. Um, but I think it's, it's so much like efficiency in a fiat economy, and there's something to that. Like, creating more efficiency instead of creating something that's— that lasts or that has inherent value or, or that is authentic.

15:17 There's something of like, we just populate with shopping centers and Walmarts and all this stuff, and then everything's a cookie-cutter version of another thing. There's just less and less innovation, it seems, even with like AI. And you, you don't even— like, you can create graphics now out of nothing, you know, like, and there's still less less and less, uh, things to look at. It's weird, right? And one quick thing before you throw it back over to Don that I wanted to say. Yes, uh, so on Knights of the Storm, we had talked with Eric Peters a few different times, and that was one of my questions for him, or basically my statements, was that I consider what you're seeing with modern-day cars the equivalent of brutalist architecture. It's the modern day of brutalist architecture, except for maybe those buildings were built, you know, more sturdy.

16:02 But it's the same way with a lot of new homes. That people could actually afford. It's like cookie cutter, cookie cutter, same, same, same, same, same, same, same, same, same. And it's like, what, what does this actually do to the human spirit? Like, back in the day, let's say in the '50s or the '60s, imagine the cars that you could get, the colors, the shapes. Like, it was aesthetic. It did something for you. And I don't mean just like, oh, like, uh, from a materialist sense, I'm better than you, keeping up with the Joneses. Like, it, it It meant something. It was a sign of the times. And I really see where we're at today as sort of the modern-day brutalist architecture of like, this is where we're at. And things, uh, I was in Blowing Rock in North Carolina yesterday, which is amazing.

16:50 Tiny little mountain town. It's beautiful up there. There's all this stonework. There's homes that actually were built of stone. Like, how much would it cost you to try to build a home from stone today. Today it's crazy, you know. So I think it's all these things, and I think that you're right, Tony, there is like a metaphysical, a spiritual implication, but it's also symptomatic of that in some way. Don, was the high point of our, uh, civilization in the last, uh, 50 years, was it the Georgia Guidestones? Is that— maybe so. And we still can't even find out who did, who did that. No, I mean, it was— and what Ashley says, I mean, I, I learned to drive, uh, my parents' car, which was a, a, a yellow, bright yellow Plymouth Duster. You know, that was, uh, yeah, you know, you're not gonna find them now. What, like, you know, every car is gray, like gray or silver like ours, 99% of them. So when you're like in a big parking lot, I, I have the recurring dream I can't find my car.

17:50 And a couple times I couldn't find it, you know, for a long time. But if you had a bright yellow car, it really stood out. You're not going to lose that anywhere. But now you've got rows and rows of little boxcars that are pretty much the same from a distance, you know. So yeah, there is— there's no, uh, diversity, if you will. Someone should be demanding more diversity in car colors and things. And even things like— people laugh at like the '70s because, uh, you had the bright yellow appliances and things like that and the crazy orange carpets and things. But, but at least it was different. It was kind of hippie mentality. And now everything's gone neutral. And I'm a realtor, so yeah, neutral neutrals better. White walls, beige carpet, of course. But, but, um, I think, you know, again, that everything looks the same. But yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's— I don't think there's any kind of progress. And I think Tony touched on that, is it? And we were talking about Nikola Tesla on my show yesterday with Steve Ubaini. And we look at that, that era, the late 1800s and early 1900s, and all the incredible progress that was made. And you look now Over 100 years later, and I don't know what progress is being made.

18:56 AI, supposedly. And people either fear AI and think it's going to take over, which I don't agree because again, I don't think the people making it would put themselves in danger, but it's not making things better. It's not. You can create some, you know, more realistic videos. Maybe you can be like South Park and have a naked Donald Trump and make fun of his penis. And I guess that is that progress. I don't know. You know, that's what they did. That's what they're using it for. And, uh, but, you know, to, to do something like, uh, it's not, it's not going to do any of the— it'll, it'll take out jobs like McDonald's and things like that maybe, but it's not going to benefit mankind. And that's the thing, those inventions, the great inventions, the light bulb, the phonograph, the movie projector, radio, and later television, and finally the computer chip, which is pretty much the last great invention, and then the internet. We're not, we're not progressing.

19:50 And so that's why when people— I get so angry when people talk about— because I'm up on these things. There's so many people that, that are under the impression that like we have a marvelous medical system. And anybody that's invested in that, it's, it's anything but that. It's horrific. It ranks so low in every category. And you, if you tell people, you know, life expectancy rates have been dropping now for several years. They just, they, they just parrot, well, you know, people are living longer now. No, that's not true. They're not. They were. They're not now. So you watch those St. Jude's commercials and, and you tell yourself, why are childhood cancer rates exploding? When I was a kid, I— nobody's kid had cancer. I didn't walk around fearing I was going to get cancer because kids didn't get it. Why do they get it so often now? You know, 6-month-old babies with brain cancer never happened before. That's incomprehensible. But I see stories coming up on my feed all the time with that. And you have some, you know, the St. Jude's and people give to that. We give to it.

20:47 But, uh, you know, it's— we're not progressing. I don't see anywhere we're progressing. Again, 50 years ago, everything paid— everybody paid a living wage. We had incredible benefits that younger people can't even comprehend. I don't believe the benefits I had. It's just a crappy blue-collar job that wasn't a union job, but we had so many benefits. I tell people I never worked my entire 8. I don't think in 15 years that I did that job, I don't think I worked an entire 8-hour shift unless I was working a double, which I did a lot. I always, I always came in late and left early and nobody said anything. And I always paid for the 8 hours because somebody was there covering it. That doesn't happen now. And, uh, I think we've lost something. But, uh, anyway, it never gives me— I never am at a loss to write and talk about things because things were different.

21:34 Well, they certainly are. And maybe there's a direct correlation between offensive comedic jokes and childhood illness now. And maybe that's the thing, right? We're more offended than ever, and also, uh, kids are sick. Yeah, you're not allowed to ask those questions, Don, not in this era. Um, and I, I think, uh, well, we, we'll have to do a, an autopsy of after this election cycle, which we're kind of in this in-between weird place because we're about to see, in my opinion, as somebody— we'll get into this if you want, um, I've been following politics since I was a kid and I, I feel like just intuitively we're about to see a massive political shakeup in the United States with these midterms.

22:16 Not that I'm— I'm not taking part in it, I'm not taking a side in it, I just, I just want everybody to know, I think from somebody's had their pulse on things for a long time, this one feels different to me. Uh, I think there's going to be a massive backlash. As a matter of fact, it directly correlates to the headlines of Drudge today, which it just has the headline in all in red that Iran is, is threatening attacks on the United States of America. Uh, obviously, I mean, that's what, what took you guys so long? I mean, it's been a— it's been like we've been at war for, uh, since February and, well, before that with, you know, the 2025 bombing by the Trump administration. So, uh, that correlates to the price of energy. And in my sector, which is all flows together, by the way, um, precious metals are completely discounted and on sale right now because the markets of the world are responding to this never-ending thing going on in the Middle East with Israel and the United States attacking Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, which is having massive political implications here in the United States that haven't been felt yet.

23:19 But I promise you, people are hurting. Like, the, the, the ability to, to buy groceries the same way, or just travel, or anything— all of that and everything that it touches is bleeding into the quality of life of people here. Not to mention all the other things that happen with this administration— the lack of accountability on the Epstein files, and like the whole, you know, uh, cognitive dissonance where you're, you're not supposed to even ask about him anymore. Everybody who said— and this is what got me there thinking about, uh, RFK Jr. with Maha and all that stuff and how empty that is now. He's going around talking about how Fauci was right about the, the measles outbreak. It's that— I mean, it's just— he needs to read his own book. Didn't he have a best-selling book, man? I mean, so all of that stuff like come crashing down, and, uh, we're about to see I don't know, we're just on the edge of that.

24:13 This is my opinion, and again, it's not— so I'm not— I probably won't— I don't know what I would vote for or against at this point if I'm going to vote in Texas. If it's not local, I don't even know what I would be doing. Um, so I'm not really engaged in it, but I do feel— I'll throw it to Don first— are you— are we on the cusp of the— one of the most consequential political shakeups in the United States history, or am I— well, I think it'll be different because I, I don't see any way that— but again, I think these things are rigged. But I mean, I It certainly looks like the Democrats should probably win both houses. And, but what— this is why it's so sad. The Republicans pretending to be the alternative, and you're gonna, you're gonna be reminded again of how insane the Democrats are.

24:55 And unless they can get us out of Iran, which they won't be able to do, and, and maybe stop the stranglehold of Zionism, they may mouth things for the Palestinians, but that's not going to do anything. And they'll talk about affordability. They'll get nothing done. But you'll, you'll see, and if especially presumably they'll win the White House back the next election too, then the border will be wide open again. And because nobody was deported under Trump and nothing was done about the problem, you'll again see how disastrous it is. Look at France. We have places like France and Europe that are, that are being overrun. We're not even sure what's happening there. How much of it is the crazy migrants and how much of it are angry students? I, I don't— there's all kinds of stuff going on there. Nothing like that is happening here, but maybe it will eventually. But again, it's, it's a circle because the Republicans failed to do— they failed to counter the absolute insanity of the woke Democrats. And so now a lot of people think, well, I don't know, I kind of miss the Democrats because Republicans have done such a horrible job.

25:54 And Donald Trump is over, you know, making bizarre comments about some man's ass or something. This is— he's out of his— I don't know what he's doing at this point, but It's so far removed from draining the swamp that it's not even funny. Kash Patel, as far as I know, Kash Patel, the only person the FBI has prosecuted— and this is on January 6th with Trump still, uh, mouths, you know, hey, they should get something, we should do something for them— and they, they were obviously mistreated. I had tons of them on my podcast. But Kash Patel, the only person he's prosecuted is this Black autistic kid who they're framing for, for planting a bomb, who didn't plant a bomb any more than any of us did. That's the only prosecution I see associated with January 6th. They're doing nothing as usual. And I gauge things on X. It's probably maybe stupid to gauge my algorithm because on my X it's insane feminists and white-hating Blacks and, uh, you know, Jews that think they're being persecuted everywhere. That's what I get.

26:51 But I also get a lot of Republicans who are completely— think, you know, every time Trump says this should happen or that should happen, they, oh my God, boom, he just did it, you know. And he He told you last week he wasn't going after Obama or these people, and they still talk about Obama did this. I said, he told you he's not going after him. What does he have to tell you? So they've done nothing. I don't know what kind of deporting they've done, but it hasn't been a mass deportation. He didn't solve that problem. He didn't solve anything. He just created a huge mess. And the main task of the Democrat when they come in is probably de-gold-plating the White House and cleaning up the reflecting pool and Renaming the Kennedy Center the Kennedy Center. That's, that's his main accomplishment, I guess. But it's, it's so sad because the Democrats are not the answer and they've just gotten more insane. They're crazier than ever because so, and you'll see that when they get in there and everybody's like, oh man, I miss Republicans. That's what they do. They miss the Republicans, miss Democrats because they each bring their own brand of insanity. Nothing ever gets better.

27:51 And that's where we are. And that's, yeah, I agree with you, Tony. It's the futility of voting. But as I said, if Tucker Carlson forms his third party and he winks at me enough or whatever, I, you know, maybe, maybe I'll be sucked into voting again. I don't know. I hope not, but I, you know, I've been fooled before, so who knows. Actually, I'm gonna throw it to you before I respond to that. Any thoughts? Um, well, I mean, Don's got me cracking up over here. Yes, Don, your X algorithm, it is trying to, to mess with you. Do not believe your lying X algorithm, Don. Um, but the other other thing, um, yeah, I think it— I am very curious to see how this Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Traitor Brown, Thomas Massie kind of, uh, setup goes. And no, I am not falling for it, but I do like some of the stuff that they say.

28:49 I find Tucker Carlson to be, uh, you know, I find him to be interesting, entertaining, likable, whatever, even though, uh, no, I, I don't— I think he's, uh I think he's a spook, but that's my opinion only. And then the other thing that I wanted to say about this, oh, I think we need to really become experts on neurolinguistic programming, guys. I think that we do because I think that's going to be how we break quite literally the spell. This is what I think that they're doing. I think that they have been able to hack that from the early days of propaganda research to now all of the data collection that they have on people. And I believe that they are Like, for example, with some of the things that Trump was discussing about his second term when he was coming in, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And they always do this. I know that. But I think that there's something for them just showing you something.

29:48 And then for the large part of the public, that satisfies them, even though nothing actually happened. That's that way with the Epstein files. We had these, um, you know, these like conservative influencers who in my opinion are absolutely being directed by somebody backstage. They come up, they hold up their stupid binders, and that's the show that you got. That's the magic show. That's enough for something to put something to bed in your brain. They know that, and that has to be what that's what some of this stuff was about, you know, the whole like Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, we're gonna wipe them out, we're totally changing the FBI, we're gonna burn it to the ground day one, you know. And just giving lip service to that by the platform that they had does something to satisfy something in the brain to be like, oh yeah, yeah, like I think it's, you know, he's based, it's going well.

30:51 So that was my, my thoughts on that. And then the other thing, I don't know if we have time to talk about this, Tony, but, uh, I know that Vivek is running for the, uh, for the governor. Yeah, I mentioned it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I'd be curious to get your thoughts on that, if that would be one of the areas that actually still goes red. And, um, just curious for, for both of your thoughts on that. But anyway, back to you, Tony. Yeah, did you, um, what was the ad that was played that was so controversial that, that Ramaswamy— is that he's behind that, correct? It's like the blowback of whatever ad he was running in Ohio. Well, they, they used, they used her mother. Uh, she's estranged from her mother. First I heard, you know, I do lots of shows on estranged adult children estranged from their parents. It's a terrible problem in America. But apparently, and I, you know, again believe all women. I don't know. But she supposedly was raped by her stepfather when she was 12. So if that happened, obviously I don't think you want to go there if you're the political opponent.

31:52 But they kept going there and they asked Trump about it. He says, I don't care. So that's Trump. He doesn't care if she was raped when she was 12. And she's a horrible candidate. She's no good. She's a typical Democrat. But she's gonna— he actually made it so she will engender some sympathy because I don't think she was running on— I don't know, but I don't think— I doubt she was running on the fact I was raped when I was 12. But he took this, he took the mother and the mother saying she's lying and everything. So they use the mother and that of course triggered it. So she can, now she can open up the issue. So it's against the stupid party. They opened a door for her and that's probably, she, that might be enough because Vivek is not real, even though again, that one interview he had, he had my book Hidden History behind him on the shelf.

32:33 So I don't know what happened to him. He probably should read it. But, uh, at this point he's sick. Again, I don't think there are any winners in that race, as in all of them. Well, I think that's, that's, uh, kind of the point of all of this, is that even the, the wounds seem to be self-inflicted. The Republican Party was given a once-in-a-multigenerational chance to, like, you know, turn the engine of the economy back on, put us on a better footing internationally, and they made it completely worse, blew it at epic proportions. Uh, disenfranchised their base, uh, humiliated them. I mean, again, that's like— we have that character that's animated through AI called Magotard that I see all the time in my feed. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

33:18 But that comes from a genuine place of just, again, the— like an abused spouse kind of way, the way that the conservative base or the right wing has become. It's an inert thing. Uh, so it could be a complete psychological operation. It could be incompetence or a mixture of all kinds of things. I don't know. But I do know that the consequences of the plays they've been running are, are about to start showing up. And this— what's next? And you're right, Don, it's the Democrats. They're not the answer. It's not. It's not. If you think, you know, when you get the next Democratic administration, if they have both houses of Congress, you think the money printer is going to Brrr, baby. It's gonna go brrr like you've never seen before. You're gonna get ready, ready for more guys with shaved heads and red dresses stealing luggage. I mean, that's sort of— that's what you're gonna get. We forget those good old days, but that's what's coming back. Yeah, it'll come back with a vengeance.

34:12 And, um, yeah, you know, I mean, again, it's— we're in perilous, strange times. I think there's probably some opportunity in here, but, uh, I'm doing my best to navigate it myself just on, you know, having to live in this world and having to pay bills. So I know everybody else that listens to this is pretty much in the same predicament, but it's best to have the intel. Uh, I think nothing really quite sums up, uh, the strangeness of our times as, as much as this video I want to play. Uh, have you both seen this Trump rally where Trump's in the middle of talking about appointing one of the people, uh, that were supposed to be governor to the UN.

34:53 And, uh, then all of a sudden he stops and makes like an involuntary noise. Have you seen this? I'm gonna put it— I heard about it, I didn't see it. Yeah, yeah, let me, let me play this for everybody. I'm sure that the audience has seen it, but I, I want to play it just to, uh, to reiterate. I found this to be Stranger than— it's not like, you know, he's— he just belches or something. Let me see if I can find it. It's another thing about videos and stories, and they've got so many pop-ups, and like, it's— it's— is Tony breaking up for you, Don? Yeah, yeah, he is. Yeah. I think you're freezing a little bit, Tony. Even like I found it earlier. Yeah, he is. Maybe he has Spectrum too. He probably has Spectrum.

35:57 Tony is totally frozen for me at the moment. Tell me he's not gone. They've completely silenced him. No video or audio from Tony. They didn't want us to see the video of, uh of, uh, Trump making noises. But, uh, lost you, Tony. Oh, we see the video, but it's frozen. That's internet. Who knows? Yeah, I got the same internet company you guys do. Yeah, that's what Don was asking. As my son said, and somebody in the chat room said, but they should call them On the Spectrum because that's how it runs. Standby, I'm gonna try I'm still trying to find it.

36:46 It's— while you're pulling that up, Tony, I did want to say that earlier this week, uh, Judge Napolitano, for a laugh, he did show a montage of the ridiculous stuff that Trump has been saying, um, this week about examining someone's ass. And then, you know, first I examined his ass, like all this crazy stuff. And then I did get a a short from Billy Ray Valentine about that. So it's definitely making its rounds on the internet, but it's been turned into some funny videos as well. Yeah, and he said another point— he came up with something where he talked to his crowd and he said, if any of you get sick, if any of you need doctors, I'm not having my doctors, uh, treat you. Or so it made no sense at all, but it's like— and you could say, I think they cheered or something. It's like, that was stupid. It's so stupid, and I don't know how people or why people are still showing up there, but I know people in real life that are still dedicated to President Trump.

37:48 Yeah, you know, to this day. And I'm just thinking, how can you be in existence in the same reality supposedly that I'm in and you're still supporting this? He was the voice. He was the— he was the opposition. He's the only opposition they were given. And again, they— I haven't forgotten how crazy the Democrats were. And they, you know, they, they can fool me too if they wink and see— talk about Israel a lot, you know. Okay, that sounds good, you know. But, uh, I know what, what they are. I, I haven't forgotten the guy in the red dress that sold luggage and the, uh, what was it, Rachel Levine or whatever the one that was— looked like the unhealthiest whatever the hell he, it, she is in the world that was in charge of some health thing or something for the Biden administration. So I'm, I'm forgetting that stuff.

38:39 Yeah, but a lot of people, they, they have no problem with what has transpired. Like, really? We just started a war for, for out of nowhere, for nothing, in February, and your gas prices have doubled and you don't care? Sorry, Tony. As long as Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon, that's the important thing. That's— no, I appreciate you guys taking the shot. Appreciate you carrying the show. I literally had this pulled up, and then as soon as I go to look at the page, the whole internet starts to crash. And then of course, you know, all these new websites, whatever media aggregation is so terrible now. There's so many pop-ups and so many things that you can't even navigate it. Yeah. It's insane. You can't even search anymore.

39:22 Um, so sorry about— I had this pulled up beforehand. Let me see what— give me 2 more minutes if I can find another clip of it, and, uh, we'll see if we can pull it up. I just wanted to— if the audience hadn't heard this, it's so weird. Uh, somebody on— I saw one of these commentators said it sounded like a death rattle, and I'm like, oh, that's like an inaudible thing. Let me see. Yeah, Vince Agnelli, we, yeah, we, we do have lunch with a few people who remain loyal to Trump, and I, I see them on X, and again, it's the same kind of thing. My algorithm is full of those people too that just, uh, they're, they're clueless. They just don't— they get so excited when he says something that he has no intention of doing and contradicts what he hasn't been doing, and they, you know, boom, bam. You know, Trump just— oh, did you see that? Trump just lowered the booms. Like, Trump just said something. Wow, he said a lot of stuff, but it just— he said a lot of stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's such a wasted opportunity. This is the second term he had, and he could have done so— if he had just done 1/10 of what he promised. But he, he's— he hasn't done anything as far as I know. He didn't even change daylight savings time. He can't get that done.

40:37 I mean, it's so, you know, something really insignificant in the big picture, but he couldn't even do that. So, you know, it's, it's just, it's very frustrating. And the problem that I have is not that you align with their talking points more. Officially give up. Oh, you giving up the thing? Yeah. It's, it's not that people have— they align more with these talking points or those talking points. The The thing that I think really baffles me is people's inability to criticize their own party in any way, shape, or form. The people that are really within the two-party paradigm. And one of the things that, you know, I see a lot of geopolitical commenters online, and a lot of them are coming from the left, but that doesn't mean that they are aligned with the Democratic Party. So So many of them, even if they're left-leaning, they still are able to recognize sort of this two-party illusion that we have. But so many people that I, that I see in regular day life and I have conversations with, they don't really have the ability to step away and just to realize, like, I can align with the traditional ideals of where these people stand, or I'm a humanitarian, or I, you know, I want fiscal, uh, responsibility, or whatever that is.

41:58 They, they can— cannot separate themselves from the two-party paradigm, you know, from the team. It's really interesting to see, but it's also a little frustrating. Well, that's part of the disintegration of the, uh, the two-party system, and that duopoly I think is also coming to fruition. And I don't know what happens after that. I mean, it literally— it's, it's failing through entropy. Uh, it's failing to capture more and more of the people. So it's only, it's only got its, like, its base there at the center, and those things are dwindling on both sides, by the way. Both the base of the, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are shrinking.

42:40 And so they're gonna have a hard, hard enough time, a very, I think, harder time, uh, keeping us in that same back and forth. And that's going to be part of what's coming up next. I don't know, you know, as far as the, the elections are concerned, there's going to be some sort of— this is going to be a major move, in my opinion, which is going to affect markets, it's going to affect geopolitics across the board. And, uh, we may have a, you know, global conflict to me seems more inevitable, but we've been saying this for years. I mean, there's a lot of those moving pieces that you may not be able to stop anymore, uh, such as Russia-Ukraine or things going on with the Strait of Hormuz or what's happening in the Middle East. Um, you know, you have the, the Houthis taking out Saudi oil refineries, you have Zelensky taking out Russian oil refineries in the middle of an energy crisis.

43:29 And, uh, that's why you're seeing like the prices in metals, uh, you know, gold has historically been a safe haven asset to have in the face of uncertainty. But the one thing they didn't, they didn't calculate into that is what oil does to inflation. So when the price of oil goes up, inflation goes rampant because it's an unexpected shock. And that unexpected shock causes speculation that these central banks are going to raise rates. Well, guess what? Making stuff more expensive to borrow doesn't mean there's going to be more oil. So it makes it— it's a snake eating its own tail. It just gets worse and worse until you have an economic calamity. So just something to think about, folks. I mean, there's a lot of stuff they're going to, you know, be consequential after the next 30 days going into next year. That's something to think about. Yeah, and I think that we'll, we'll see the Trump effect after, after he leaves. And this, this is going to be the last election before he, uh, before he, you know, the last midterm.

44:31 And I, I think they'll lie about it, but I can't believe that you won't have much lower turnout than normal because I think so many people, most of his base, I think is turned off to him. I hope. I think they are. There's still some. I see them on X, but I think the vast majority, and they're just, they're not going to be fooled anymore. Okay. Yeah. The Democrats are evil and incredibly bad, but I can't vote for the Marco Rubio types, Nikki Haley types, just because of that. Because they're worse on Israel, and they're worse that they want to criminalize antisemitism. Yeah, the Democrats have a whole list of terrible things they want to do, but the lesser of two evils thing isn't flying anymore. And just at some point, I think people are realizing, and I hear from them all the time, that— and somebody in the chat talked about never believe anything a politician promises, and that's absolutely right, but Trump promised more than all politicians, I think, in the history of the world combined, and he still promised me stuff. He'll see— he'll still say so, we don't really need the income tax.

45:32 I mean, he just never delivers on anything, or he does the exact opposite. He's now trotting out Doge without saying it's Doge. Hey, we need to pass this act so we can get free. You mean Doge that you, that you stopped and didn't do anything about? He's— it's, it's, it's— if this was not a conspiracy, he would say he fumbled an opportunity like nobody ever has in one. But obviously it is a conspiracy because it was meant to happen. Oh, do you have it? Do you have it on there now, Tony? I think, I think I've got it. You want to try one last? Yeah, go ahead. He was a lieutenant governor, and I'd say 90% of the reason I took the governor— I took the governor, I put her over at the United Nations because I wanted this guy to be— I wanted this guy— What is that?

46:18 One more time. Yeah, one more time. The governor I took the governor. It's not voluntary. It wasn't like— it wasn't for effect. It was something that was involuntary. It's very strange. Yeah, yeah. And I think he's— again, he's, he's, uh, 80, so you know, that, that kind of stuff. It's, it's not impossible that, uh, that, uh, that, that, you know, he could be developing a lot of these problems on— I mean, there's so many things. Again, the people that— and I think they've kept so many of us in kept me in the Trump agnostic camp is the incredible, some mostly irrational hatred he received. Because he really— and ultimately he hasn't done much at all until he took the dark turn last year and started saying the Epstein files are hoaxes. And then of course started the ridiculous war with Iran, uh, and, you know, captured the president of Venezuela. He started doing these awful things when he finally decided to do something that were all bad. He still hasn't done anything good. And, uh, but so neither side wants to hear that because the other side thinks he's done all these horrible things. And they think he's a ridiculous racist when he's, he's the farthest thing from a racist possible. He's pardoned more Black rappers, I think, than anybody in the history of the world. He's definitely not a rapist— racist. He never talks about white people at all. And under his administration, I might add, even before, since 2020, I, I keep pressing this stat. The Bureau of Labor tells us that only 6% of the jobs created since 2020 have gone to white males. So that's, that's quite a racist over saying that. But, uh, you know, and that's

47:50 again, these are— he, he's been such a disappointment. And, and, uh, good to see Angel Blue. Yeah, I do want to fit in that, but Angel Blue, thank you for reminding me. Uh, if you haven't listened to my radio show, please do. I have a, I have a daily Monday through Thursday radio show now on KHNC. You can listen to it, 1360khnc.com, out of Colorado. Even though of course I access it remotely, uh, when it's just me talking for an hour. But my theme song, I Won't Back Down, is back, and, uh, you know, things like that. And we have commercial breaks, and, uh, so it's a little different thing, and people can call in. So I'd love to— love to— thanks for reminding me of that, Angel Blue, who's a loyal listener, and a couple others. I know Karen Carpenter was listening and texting me on it too. So people can listen to that. But anyhow, uh, I wanted to get that promo in, but I, I think that this— it will— it would be interesting to see what, what they have planned for after Trump, because I, I just don't see those 70, 80 million people that voted for Trump, and maybe 100 million voted for him at least once, I don't know.

48:49 But I think 70, 80 million that voted for him the third time, you're staying loyal, that 70 million at least. All those people, the vast majority of them have to be disillusioned because they have to see, you know, the ones that are left, the MAGA cult They're, they're still believing his 4D plan, you know, the 4D chess and trust the plan and all that nonsense. But the rest of us understand, no, there was no mass deportation. Nothing happened on immigration. He apparently closed the border. But then they're also raising the specter of the latest, um, caravan, migrant caravan. Well, where's the caravan coming? How's it coming through the closed border? But they're still talking about that. So, and that's— they don't, you know what, even things like the, uh Somalian, you know, the Somalian daycare center things.

49:32 Has anyone been prosecuted for that? I don't think so. Were the Somalians deported? I don't think so. This is the thing. He never— and that's just on one issue. We're not talking about the infrastructure, which he's never talked, which he criticized, and the repudiation of everything he said about the, uh, the foreign wars, the senseless wars where he's actually started the dumbest one ever and become interventionist and capturing the president of Venezuela, killing all those fishermen that had nothing to do except they're out fishing. And horrible things like that. They've just— it's— he's got, you know, a psychopath like Pete Hegseth as his Secretary of War, calling it Secretary of War and Secretary— this is a guy who ran against war and he's decided to rename the Secretary of Defense, um, the Secretary of War. I, I wanted to, uh, yeah, I also want to mention, uh, before I forget that I'm gonna be on Beyond the Pale tonight, RB Ham Show. Beyond the Pale, listen to it on his Rumble channel. And Bronx Stopper asked me, am I going to be posting the replay of the radio show? I can't post it, but on the website, uh, which is, uh, again, I think it's 1360khnc.com, uh, there's— I think they're gonna have the archives up there. I have to ask them and I'll put a link out there. So I just want to do some promotion. I'm really, really glad to hear that, uh, I Won't Back Down, the theme song, is back. It's been many years, Don. It's been since, uh I think I was on your last show.

50:53 I think we— yeah, on, uh, Truth Frequency Radio, I think. Yeah, TFR days. Yeah, I was on— I think I was on your last show, and that was 2021. So it's been, it's been over 5 years, or right at 5 years. And so I'm glad, I'm glad that the old, uh, Don Jeffrey Show is back. That's really cool. Uh, actually, you know, you take all this and, uh, everything that we talked about in the, in last 55 minutes or so. Where do you think this takes us in the next couple of years? You have any predictions or you want to outline the future a little bit for us? Give us some, set some trends, at least in your mind, of where we're headed, things to look for.

51:34 Yeah. So, of course, this is my speculation. And I also wanted to say with the Trump video, I mean, it sounds like his Neuralink is glitching. That's what it sounded like to me, a Neuralink glitch. But as far as where we're headed, this is one of the things that I was thinking about in regards to our discussion today, right? So if you subscribe to some of these major players in the NGOs and the think tank milieu, we are very, very rapidly approaching 2030. Now, is that just a general goal for them? I couldn't possibly say. I'm not part of a giant think tank with huge amounts of cash. But I do think that that is something for us to keep our eye on.

52:24 Maybe go back and revisit Report from Iron Mountain. Let's go back and revisit some of the things that the World Economic Forum has discussed. My friend Tim Hinchcliffe, of the sociable studies. I mean, he makes himself watch all of these people while they're speaking at the World Economic Forum. God bless him, because I could not sit there and do that. But so these people that are kind of identifying what these huge think tanks are saying and, you know, some of the other stuff like in the book, The Israel Lobby from John Mearsheimer or some other people that have been speaking on that and have been discussing stated goals. Benjamin Netanyahu?

53:06 What were the stated goals of Israel? You know, we know about the Greater Israel Project. And I think that some people consider that to be conspiracy. But I do not think that is debatable. I do not think that the Zionist project in regards to that is debatable at all because we have seen constant bombing in South Lebanon. We know that. We know what's taking place in Gaza. We know that the rhetoric that the Jared Kushners and people like that are talking about, And we now have members of the government in Israel who are saying that, you know, they basically think that they should be able to run the entire Middle East. Like, that's the goal. So I don't think we can say that Greater Israel is a theory. So I think that we need to keep an eye on that. I think that we need to keep an eye on this, like what you and I were talking about this week, Tony, the artificial creation of peak oil. I personally don't subscribe to peak oil.

54:05 From a resource sense. I do not believe that it's dinosaur bones deep in the ground. I don't think it's a thing. Now, that's not an expert opinion. That's just me. But I think that we are really getting the squeeze put on us with this. And even though it's super boring because nothing's kind of happening, but something's kind of happening. And Tony and I have talked about this several times, like, as far as what is taking place in the Middle East. But, and I said to Tony earlier this week, I think we are one assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand away from this whole thing kicking off. So that, that's what I'm concerned about. I think that the artificial squeeze on oil and our, um, ability to travel is going to continue.

54:52 I think there's going to continue to be distractions like what Tony was talking about earlier this week. Oh, a comedian said said something offensive. Like, this, this is so insane. Um, so just kind of a muddying of the waters. And it may not even be an all-at-once thing, but it could be. But I, I just think maybe it's going to be this continual natural decline of, uh, what could have been and what was for a time the greatest country on the planet as far as opportunity for the middle class and the working class. Like, it was it was a real vibe back in the day, like what Don was talking about earlier. And, uh, just an anecdotal story, and I'm sorry to be blabbing, but back in the day I worked in manufacturing, and there was a man who was— he was getting ready to retire, and he was an older guy, really nice man.

55:45 But by this point, he was night shift supervisor. Well, the night shift gig was not great because it was, uh, 4 12-hour shifts on, 4 off. I mean, it was better than the people rotating, which was horrible, but it still wasn't great. Well, anyway, one night he tells me the story and he said, when I used to work here back in the day, we would have beer with our lunch and then we would go back to run our machine after lunch and I would kick my feet back, kick my feet up, smoke a cigarette, and watch it run. And I thought, what a vibe, because those days are long gone. And it also reminds me of the beginning of The Sopranos. And I know that I talk about this, I talk about all this stuff. I'm sorry for repeating myself, but Tony Soprano captures that he's in a higher position than his father in the mob. It should be smooth sailing for him, but he's talking to his counselor, the first episode and he's like, do you ever get the sense that like you missed out on the best part?

56:52 And I just think, go watch the first episode of The Sopranos because I think that's exactly what, like my story about being able to just smoke a cig and watch your machine run, or what Don was talking about, these amazing benefits for the working class, like it's gone. And I think that sort of, uh, sums that up very well. Okay, I'm done. Over to you, Tony. Excellent synopsis. That's why I chose that question. I engineered it so we would get a little bit more out of Ashley today. Good job. Um, it is a vibe. And, uh, speaking of vibes, uh, one of the best vibes you're ever going to find is Donald Jeffries, uh, with his books and his work and everything that he does. And, uh, donaldjeffries.media, which isn't plugged enough, it's the website that we put up many years ago. Go check out Don's website, it's still up.

57:40 It's funded by, uh, Wise Wolf Gold and Silver, by the way. Uh, happily, uh, we, we sponsor all of Don's stuff and when we can. Uh, Don, uh, you got your radio show, uh, you want to plug that one more time so people can find it? And yeah, it's 1360khnc.com. The archives will be up there eventually. And you're right, I don't plug the, plug the website enough. donaldjeffries.media. Uh, my Substack is the place, uh, to, uh, to follow my main place, which is donaldjeffries.substack.com. I protest. I'll hopefully finishing one today or tomorrow about, you know, what I've been experiencing with the kid. Just basically bad-mouthing, uh, America 2.0, which was what I do most of the time. So, and everybody can relate to it because you're all experiencing it.

58:22 Awesome. Well, it's, uh, always great to hear from you, Don. I'm glad we got to do the Don and Tony plus Ashley show today. It wasn't quite like just me and Don, which we always have a great show, but you got to sprinkle in some Ashley and we, uh, we end up having a proper America Unplugged. So thank you both for being here. Next week we should have Billy Ray Valentine back, better than ever. You know, hey, he gets to do like victory laps now, uh, you know, I mean, and, and without, without the real reward of being right. That's the thing. I'm sorry, Billy, when you're right it doesn't matter because by the time reality catches up with you and everybody else, they look around and go, oh yeah, that's right, you know, they shrug their shoulders. I'm sorry, I've been doing this for years, but But Billy was right about, um, a gut level. And we have to— I think you have to give him that. And you go back and look at some of the, uh, comments on Apple. Uh, by the way, if you want to get on the show, give us a 5-star review on Apple.

59:15 I'll catch up on those next week and you can say anything you want. But some of them were really critical of Billy being so anti-Trump. And it turned into— I mean, Don and I were both agnostic for the most part. We were like, hey, let's see if this— any of this works. Um, and it did. Not only did it not work, but it's been one of the most detrimental phases of American history. They've in, you know, and we're not out of the woods at all. So, uh, you know, props to, uh, to my good friend Billy Ray and, uh, in his brain for, for, you know, I think giving everybody an ample warning. So here we are, and, uh, we'll continue the discussion next week. Ladies and gentlemen, americaunplugged.com, find, uh, all the, the shows where I think we're at episode 200 and, uh, is it 260-something I can't remember.

1:00:01 It's one of the— it's, it's way up there. We're, we're almost to the 300s. So, uh, go and check out our podcast and subscribe. And then, uh, Don's shows also get loaded up there. So we appreciate each and every one of you for being here on a Saturday. Let me see, uh, I'm operating— Beans is my producer today. Let's see if she can help get the, uh, the outro up. I want to make sure that we, we, uh, properly play ourselves out. As you guys burn everything to the ground, okay? You just burn it down. Billy said it was okay. We got it fully insured.