The Social Contract with Joe Walsh
We're In A Really Scary Place Right Now.
It should matter. Character should matter. Integrity should matter. Decency should matter. But to way too many Trump supporters today, none of these traits matter anymore. None of them. Trump is an utterly horrible human being, yet, to his supporters, that doesn't matter. This is a scary place to be. A scary place for our entire country.
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- Broadcast on:
- 10 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
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Now get back to business with that podcast of yours. (upbeat music) - America, we gotta get back to doing what's expected of us as free citizens in this democracy. That means being tolerant, being respectful, staying informed, and being engaged. I'm former Congressman Joe Walsh. Follow me here and join the millions of Americans who are renewing their social contract with each other. The social contract, it's on us. (upbeat music) - Hey, this may be a boring show today, and for that, I apologize if people are not exactly thrilled with what I'm about to say. But look, I have a fatal flaw. I come into the studio here with a mood, in a mood, and the mood I'm in, what's on my mind, what I'm thinking about, dictates what I'm gonna talk about. And this is what I wanna talk about this Thursday, just under four weeks out from this election. And I'll do my best to make sense here. A lot of this may not make sense. And for everybody who wanted to tune into me on TikTok, looks like I've been suspended from doing any live TikToks until October 16th. We'll look into that, must be my language. I don't know what it is, but to my TikTok audience, I apologize. We're in a scary place right now. I believe that in my bones. America is in a very scary place right now. Now everybody listening to me may agree with that, probably does agree with that, and probably agrees with that for very different reasons. Like many of you on the right and maybe many of you on the left will agree with me that America is in a very scary place right now. But we may disagree as to why we are in such a scary place. And I think we're in a scary place because of this. And to explain what I mean, let me begin with this. I sent out a tweet a couple of days ago, and I think I put it on every platform, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, everything. And it kind of just went like this. I said something like, you know, this should matter too. Kamala Harris is a good person. She's a nice person. Donald Trump is a thoroughly horrible human being. That should matter. That should matter. And I don't want to get into a discussion right now about whether you agree with me that Kamala Harris is basically a good person, basically a nice person. I don't even want to get into a conversation right now as to whether you agree or disagree with me that Donald Trump is a thoroughly horrible human being. I want to get into a conversation about the reaction I got to that tweet. Kamala Harris is basically a good, decent person. And Donald Trump is an utterly horrible human being. I want to talk to the reaction I got to that tweet. And there was plenty of, Joe, you're crazy, Kamala is not a good person, Kamala is not a decent person. There was plenty of that. There was also plenty of Trump's not a horrible human being. He's not an utterly horrible human being. There was plenty of that. Most of the reaction I got to that tweet, Harris is good, Trump is really bad, he's a bad person. Most of the reaction I got to that from way too many people was I don't care. I don't care, Joe, that Trump's a bad guy. I got so much of that. I don't care, Trump, I don't care, Joe, that Trump's a asshole. I got a lot of that. I don't care, Joe, that Trump is a liar. I don't care that he's not a nice guy. I don't care that he can't tell the truth. I don't care that he breaks all the rules. I don't care that he breaks the law. I don't care, Joe, that Trump's a really, really bad guy. I don't care. I want him to be president. I got so much of that. I'm not voting for a priest, Joe. I'm not looking for a teacher. I'm not looking for a mentor. I'm not looking for a saint. I got so much of that. I don't want a nice guy as president. I don't care that he's a jerk, maybe we need a jerk to be president. It was the reaction to what I said that really made me pause and realize we're in a really scary place right now because, and I think I knew this before I tweeted that for way too many Americans right now, character doesn't matter. That became evident in the reaction to my tweet, character doesn't matter. I don't care that Trump is a horrible human being. I just want him to be my president. That's what I got from the vast majority of Trump supporters. He's not my father. He's not a friend. I'm not looking for a best friend. I don't care if he's a jackass, Joe. I'm voting for him to be president. That's the bulk of what I got. It doesn't matter. These people told me a person's character doesn't matter. Integrity doesn't matter when it comes to who we put into the White House. Honesty does not matter in our president. Integrity, decency. I don't care. These things don't matter, I was told, when it comes to who we elect president. I think that's scary. I think that's a really, really scary place for us to be as a people. Let me say that, and I say this as someone who used to be a Trump supporter, who voted for Trump in 2016, someone who still talks with, speaks with, listens to, engages with Trump supporters every single day, look, there are Trump supporters who deny that Trump is a bad person. There are. There are Trump supporters who do not believe that Donald Trump is a horrible person. I heard from them when I tweeted that out, when I said Trump's an utterly horrible human being, a thoroughly horrible human being, I got plenty of Trump supporters who said, "No, he's not, Joe. He's a good guy. He's a leader." That didn't surprise me because ever since I turned against Trump six years ago, every time I say Donald Trump lies, every time he opens his mouth, I still get plenty of Trump supporters who tell me, "Joe, Trump doesn't lie. Trump doesn't lie." You remember the story, the true story, when I primary Donald Trump in 2020 and I was campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, and I was working the line of all the people who were going in to a Donald Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa, and I walked that line, when I walked that line of Trump supporters, I asked 40 Trump supporters, 40, if Donald Trump has ever told a lie, this was in January of 2020, has Donald Trump ever told a lie? I asked 40 Trump supporters that direct question and all 40 said, "No." All 40 in line told me, "No, Donald Trump has never told a lie." I understand that there are Trump supporters who deny that Trump's a bad guy, who don't believe Trump lies, who don't believe Trump does anything wrong ever. But most Trump supporters don't believe that. And by the way, the Trump supporters who deny that Trump's a bad guy, who deny that Trump's a liar and a cheat, and he thinks he's above the law and he's cruel and he's mean, all of that, and he's intolerant, he's a jerk, all of that, the Trump supporters who deny that he's any of that, like they think he's a really good guy who always tells the truth. I'll continue to always engage with them. They're not most Trump supporters, they're the most unreachable, true. But the reaction two days ago to my tweet, when I said Kamala Harris is basically a good person and Trump is basically a horrible human being, most of the reaction that I got from Trump supporters, most of it was, yeah, okay, Joe, Trump's a bad guy, but I don't care. I want a son of a bitch in the White House, I don't care. I'm not asking him to be my rabbi or my priest, I'm asking him to be my president. Most Trump supporters, publicly or privately, and did the reaction to this tweet reinforce this, most Trump supporters know that Trump is a bad guy, but they still support him. That's really important to understand. And by the way, I think this is scarier. The Trump supporters that deny he ever tells a lie, put them over there, man, will always try to deal with them, but most Trump supporters believe he's a bad guy, like most Trump supporters tell me. And again, the reaction to my tweet confirmed this, but this is what most Trump supporters have told me over the last six years, ever since I turned against Trump six years ago. Most Trump supporters have told me, yeah, look, Joe, I know Trump lies, I don't care. He's going to keep my taxes down. He's going to build a wall. He's going to get us out of all these international treaties, whatever, blah, blah, blah. They know it. They've told me over the years, Joe, I would never do business with Trump, right? But so what? I want him to be my president because I want him to kick CNN's ass. Trump supporters have told me I would never do business with him. I would never work for him. I'd never want my daughter to marry him. I'd never be friends with him. I generally really wouldn't trust him to do anything like I wouldn't want him part of my life, but fuck it. I want him to be president because I want the price of gas, man, to be down. That's what most Trump supporters have told me over the years. I believe that's where most Trump supporters are. Like, obviously that's not where I am because I broke with Trump six years ago because I can't support someone who's as bad as Trump. Like I can't support someone who lies every time he opens his mouth. I cannot support someone who believes he's above the law. I cannot support someone who breaks the law even if he's giving me policies I like. I cannot support someone who runs for office and loses and refuses to accept the result even if I generally agree with him on policy. That's where I break with all of my friends and supporters who support Trump knowing he's bad and I got to tell you, they know it and they've told me, I've had so many conversations with these supporters over the years who said, Joe, I know he's a dick. I know he's a bad guy. I would never trust my daughter with them. They've told me this. Think about that. Some supporters have told me they've said to my face, I would not trust my daughter or my wife with Donald Trump, but I'm voting for him for president. They've told me that. They've told me, Joe, I would never work for the guy because I couldn't trust him, but I'll vote for him for president. I'd never ever partner with him. They've told me because they can't trust him, but they'll vote for him for president. Thousands of Trump supporters have told me this over the past six years and this is what I was bombarded with after that tweet two days ago. I agree with you, Joe. He's a horrible human being, but damn it, I want him in the White House. I want him for president. I'm going to vote for him because of, and you name it, their own selfish self interest. He'll keep my taxes down. The price of groceries will be lower. He'll go after the people I don't like. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those owners to your contracts, they said, "What the f*ck are you talking about? You insane Hollywood s*ck." So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only, taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of details. Look, when I turned against Trump six years ago, I've had some of my former colleagues, Republican colleagues in Congress tell me privately, "Joe, I agree with you that Trump's a horrible guy, but he's our horrible guy, and he's going after the right people." Jim Jordan, Jim Jordan, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, and I used to be best friends. Jim Jordan told me that. Joe, I know he's a bad guy, but he's going after the enemy. He's going after the Democrats. They're socialist. That's where Jim Jordan and I broke, so I, that's out there. And that's out there with most Trump supporters. And I think this is a really, really scary place because what is this saying? What is it saying? It's saying that character does not matter. These Trump supporters are saying it doesn't matter if a candidate for president tells the truth or not. That does not matter. That's what you're saying when you say Trump is a horrible human being, but I'm voting for him. You're telling the world it doesn't matter that Trump lies. You're telling the world it doesn't matter that Trump cheats. You're telling the world it does not matter if Trump breaks the law. You're telling the world it doesn't matter if Trump attacks democracy. You're telling the world it doesn't matter if Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist and cruel and intolerant. You're telling the world it doesn't matter when you know he is all of these things, but you're okay with it because he's still got your vote because you agree with him on policy or because you so dislike CNN and MSNBC and the Democrats. That was really the break. That was the break five to six years ago with me and all of my supporters when I publicly broke against Trump, I pretty much lost all of my supporters. The difference was I could not support someone who lied to me every time he opened his mouth even if I agreed with that person on policy. I just couldn't. I couldn't vote for someone who thought he was above the law even if I agreed with him on policy. I couldn't. I couldn't vote for someone who would attack my democracy, who would attack the Constitution even if I agreed with him on tax policy or policy with Israel, I just couldn't. I couldn't support someone who appealed to the absolute very worst in us even if I knew that I'd be better off financially if he were in the White House. I just couldn't and I didn't and most Trump supporters can. I think this is a problem across the board. It's there now on the right because we have a living, breathing example on the right. We have a candidate in Donald Trump who is everything our founding fathers feared. He wants to be an authoritarian and the right most of his supporters are fine with that. They acknowledge that and they'll tell me, "Yeah, Joe, look, to be a dictator is wrong, but many will tell me, but you know what? We got real problems in this country." If it takes Trump being a dictator to fix the problems then I want Trump to be a dictator. That's anatomatively. Five, six years ago on my radio show, Trump building his wall. Like Trump said, when Congress didn't approve the money for his wall, Trump said, "Forget Congress, forget the Constitution. I'm going to grab the money from wherever I want to grab it from and I'm going to build the wall." I said, "No, that's, excuse me, no. You cannot forget about the Constitution. I want a wall as much as Trump does, but no, you can't break the Constitution to get your wall." I went on the radio that night and most everybody who called into my radio show said, "Joe, I don't give a damn if Donald Trump breaks or abuses the Constitution to get us the wall." I went home that night and I can't support that. You can't abandon the Constitution to get something you want. That's the point. That's the point. This is why this is such a scary place. We all have this to a degree and the Democrats in the left have this to a degree like we ignore some of our candidates' flaws because he's our guy, right? When Bill Clinton was in office or in a candidate and he was an absolute dog with and he assaulted and abused women, a lot of Democrats turned the other way because Bill Clinton was their guy. We're all capable of this, ignoring the character of our candidates because they're on our team. Right now, we've never had an example like this with Trump because Trump is an off-the-charts horrible human being. Trump supporters have told me, Trump, I say this often, but Trump supporters have told me over the years that Donald Trump, Joe, is everything I teach my kids not to be. Donald Trump is everything I taught my children not to be, but I'm going to vote for him. I've had Trump supporters tell me that. That's scary because that means you believe a person's character, the character, the character of the person we put in the White House does not matter. If you go down that road, if we go down that road, and I think this is scary for the whole country, because you can't walk back from this, Trump supporters, you're willingly voting for a horrible guy to put in the White House because he's your guy because he'll cut your taxes. Once you go down that road, there ain't no coming back, then baby, open the barn door. We will continue to put horrible, dangerous people in the White House because character will no longer matter. And if character no longer matters, then decency no longer matters. If honesty no longer matters, integrity no longer matters. And if these things no longer matter in the people we send office, they no longer matter with us, they no longer matter in us. If we don't care that our politicians lie to us, then we will more easily lie to each other. If we don't care that our candidates and our politicians need to be decent and have integrity, then we as a people will not have decency and integrity with each other. If it's perfectly fine putting an asshole like Donald Trump in the White House, someone who is cruel to everybody but his own supporters, then don't be surprised when a lot of the American people begin acting with more cruelty toward each other day after day after day. Because our politicians are just a reflection of us. Our politicians are us. We the people, right? Right? We the people. We are our government. We are the people we send to office. We send to Washington. And by the way, we're telling the people we send, like Trump supporters, you're telling Trump it doesn't matter. You've been doing that for years. You've been telling Trump for years. I don't care that you lie. I don't care that you cheat. I don't care that you committed crimes trying to overthrow an American election. I don't care. You've been telling Trump that for years and not just Trump, other politicians, which is why so many other MAGA politicians lie to you because you the people have told them you their supporters have told them it doesn't matter. So we will get more and more candidates a void of character. We will get more and more candidates and we will elect more and more people of a really poor and bad character because we ourselves are becoming more like this. You can't escape that guys. You can't escape. You can't just think Trump's a horrible human being, I'll put him in the White House, but out here, we won't be horrible to each other out here. It goes hand in hand. We are the people we send to Washington. We are the people we elect. And if we are okay electing people of just horrible character, for whatever reason, then we as a people, because they represent us, they reflect us, we as a people. The character of we as a people is going to become worse and worse and worse by the day. That's why this is such a scary place. A scary time that we're in right now. Keith I'm done right now. Thanks for listening everybody. Be brave. Thank you for listening. Remember to listen, share and follow the social contract with Joe Walsh on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and everywhere great podcasts are found. And be sure to leave a five star review. This has been the social contract with Joe Walsh. Mr. World here about to take the plunge on the world's fastest roller coaster. I hope it's as fast as the in-store labs at I-Class World. When you drop in there, they make your glasses the same day. You should give it a whirl. Just remember to keep your hands and feet inside the I-Class World at all times. Have two pairs of glasses for $89 fast at I-Class World, the world's best way to buy glasses. Visit I-ClassWorld.com to schedule your exam online and for offer details. (upbeat music)