The Scott Adams School - 05/26/26 Jeff Callahan Joins the Home Team.

going. Let me bring up Locals.

Good morning, everybody.

Morning.

Good morning. Hi, Booker.

Look who we have here.

Hi, Beverly.

Oh, I did it right.

I see Crusher, Montreal Galaxy, Kobe, Nefarious, Kobe, Kobe Yard Salad.

It's a delicious salad, you guys. Look, we have Jeff Callahan back with us on this beautiful Tuesday morning. There he is lots of fun stuff going on. So just right out of the gate, before I forget, Owen will be dropping out, um, around the halfway mark. So if he just disappears, don't blame me, okay? It wasn't my fault.

It's all my fault.

It's all his fault. All right, so let's get her going, you guys. Are we ready? YouTube, X, Rumble, Spotify. Hi guys! All right, let's go.

This is the place where we gather once a day at the same time For that amazing celebration, the thing that makes, well, everything better. You know it does. It's called the Simultaneous Sip, and you don't need much to participate. No, the requirements, very low. All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass, a tank or chalice or stein, a canteen, jug, or flask, a vessel of any kind. Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure, the dopamine at the end of the day, the thing that makes everything better, the simultaneous sip. Go.

Ah.

Now, aren't you glad you hurried to get your beverage, get in here on time, and enjoy it in the most simultaneous way possible? Yeah, I think you can feel your white blood cell count increasing. I think you all look a little bit younger. I can tell you're happier, more productive, smarter for sure. And all of that, all of that because of the simultaneous sip. Yeah, you'd like to take some credit yourself, but I don't think that's appropriate. I think it was the sip thing. That did it all.

Yeah, that would not be appropriate. And just for that, you guys, join me in one more extra sip, because if all that just happened, let's just hit it one more time. Let's go. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I needed extra white blood cells, I think, today.

Woo!

I like the old school ones where he's playing around with the formula and doing a little weave before he starts. It's great.

I know, it's so good.

I'm still waiting to see when he gets the Erica mug, though.

I know, not yet. I think— I forget what year we're in, but we're going day by day. We're getting there, peeps, we're getting there. Okay, so I have to just start with a Maria Bartiromo moment. We need it. We need a good title for our Maria Bartiromo obsession. And I realize it might just be my obsession, but I can't stop with her. So I'm sorry, whoever sent this to me, I forget who it was. Oh, hi, I'm Erica, you guys, and we are at the Scott Adams School. I'm so excited. I feel like everyone just knows, um, and we are joined with our special guest co-host today, Jeff Callahan, and always my amazing and beautiful and talented co-hosts Marcella and Owen. So, um, in Maria Bartiromo news, I'm sorry, I forget who sent this to me. This is an oldie but a goodie. I love this. So you should know Owen and I are huge Prince fans. Are you guys, Marcella or Jeff, do you love Prince?

I do.

I, I love Prince from the, um, from the 1989 Batman soundtrack. It's just—

love it.

It's everything. It's so good.

Oh, that's awesome. And Marcella, you're like, yeah, I love them.

No, I actually do.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, okay.

Because I like— I—

oh, it is the other way.

Okay. Owen and I are like obsessed with Prince. This is like our biggest thing in common, I would say. Um, So I just want you to know, I believe— I want to believe she handled this better than I would. Although I'll tell you what I told Owen, what I think I might have done. But just picture your Maria. Just picture your Maria. Ready? Let's go.

What do you feel like playing tonight if you were to play something for us? Um, if I was to play something for you, uh, I'd be your accompanist and you'd, uh, You do your thing.

But I'm not a singer.

Neither am I.

Yes.

Um, you look a little nervous.

I am nervous because we just went through this during the, during the commercial break, and Prince said that he would play a song if I were to sing, and I'm not a singer. Uh, but, um, and I don't know a lot of the words to the songs, so would you want to play something for us?

I'll play something for you.

Okay.

You, you thinking about what you want to sing?

She's dying.

How about Delirious? Go on.

I'm like, like, clinking out with the words.

You don't know any blues?

Blues?

I have a jazz.

I didn't know you were going to do this. I didn't know you were going to do this. Okay, how about one of your oldies, since you're telling everybody that you're not going to be playing your oldies anymore.

Purple Rain.

I don't know that one.

You do, you lie.

Okay, you sing it.

How could I even try?

Come on, I'm sitting here with Prince, I'm going to sing?

She's tearing up.

That's not what the audience want.

At least sit on his lap.

You're killing me.

That's the idea.

You are great, Prince. Thank you so much. I'm sorry, I wimped out. I'm just— I'm afraid because I don't have a voice. I'm sitting here with the genius of all music and you're asking me to sing.

Would you die? I mean, what would— all right, so Marcella, give us your female take on this.

Oh, I would have sat on his lap.

That's what I said.

Yeah, and I would have like created a song. I don't know, I probably didn't know all the words, you know. Um, but I think they had a talk earlier because she said our talk, or before the interview, so I would have expected the unexpected. From Prince, maybe. Um, I guess she wasn't, so I get it, you know, she didn't want to make a fool out of herself. But oh my God, she looks— she was blushing so much.

Oh my gosh, it's like the ultimate just like, please make this moment end vibe that you get from her. Jeff, now you know you're a dude, so I know it's different, but well, I look at—

I look at Prince and I say like unmatched aura, I think, is what the kids are saying. Like, it's just like, picks up that he's just like having fun, like he's in his element, staying in his lane. It's so good. It's so, so good.

I know. And he's just like, so— like Owen and I were saying before, he's trolling her. I mean, this is— he is funny. Like, he's a really funny guy and he likes to joke around. So if you don't know that about him, it might really catch you off guard. But he's totally trolling her. Um, so Owen, would you have sat in his lap?

No, but I would have sung something. I think so. I mean, I, I think I told you before the show, like, I don't know for sure, and I, I don't want to be unfair to Maria because, you know, I don't— like, I, you know, there was one time where I was in front row center at one of Prince's shows, and if he just put the microphone in front of my mouth, I don't know what I would have done or how well I would have done, but I'm pretty sure I would have tried to sing. I would have tried to do what he asked me to do. And, um, you know, it's— again, it's not necessarily fair to Maria because if she doesn't know the words, I can understand how she doesn't even know how to start. But Come on, she knew Purple Rain. Everybody knows Purple Rain. She could have sung something.

I don't know. I mean, remember when he pulled Kim Kardashian up on stage to dance and she just stood there and he's like, get her out of here. She wouldn't play along. Yeah, she—

sorry.

Yeah, he brought her up like at the Garden on stage, like pulled her out of the crowd, and he's like, yeah, he's like, dance. Like, all she had to do was just anything, just move, and she just stood and she was like, nope. No, and then he's like, get her off the stage.

I was like, oh my God, entertaining. I mean, that's the whole thing. But yeah, I think, you know, to me it's just a huge missed opportunity for Maria because if she had sung anything, anything, even if it wasn't very good, you know, I think it would have been a huge thing. Like, she, she would have been able to say, I sang a song with Prince. And, you know, I know that Prince has made a lot of, you know, women into stars over the years, and Um, I, I was mentioning to Erica earlier that like even her— even his sound engineer, he had sing background vocals and he would have other people like that just like, hey, sing this, and have people do it that weren't necessarily professionals either. But you know, I can understand how she'd be embarrassed and not want to do it and not want to make a fool of herself. So I totally get the feeling, but I just think if she had been able to, to sing something, it would have been incredible and she would have won the day.

But if she had done that— oh, and I'm with Goldie. My point was she didn't do it, and that's why we're playing it today. And that's what made it go viral, was the— like, that everybody would just want. I think it's a, it's a girl thing too, right? Like, if, if it's a woman and you're like, it's Prince, you know, like, you kind of curl up like, oh my God. Um, not me. I would have been like, maybe Marcella, you never know.

Maybe.

That's just how I am. But I mean, if you knew the words to Delirious and you knew the words to, you know, Purple Rain and other things, then you might have been like, sure, I'll do it. Okay, let's go.

You know, that's the difference between now and, and before, because now you just like rock it, you know? Like, okay, take out your phone, like, ask AI to tell you the words for it and read them out loud. I don't know.

I would be like, let's Sometimes It Snows in April, like, you know, like throw one at him, right, Owen?

Sure. I mean, whatever song, you know. Yeah, I would say that one's probably a little less mainstream, everybody knows that song type of thing. I mean, and it would have been a very different vibe, but, um, you know, again, I'm sure Prince probably would have rolled with it because he can improvise on just about anything.

Wait, Maria plays the accordion?

Does she?

Do you guys play the guitar? Any of you?

I play it very badly.

What— drop your instruments. I can— I know Mike Burt's here, so I already know what he's gonna say, but drop your instrument— instruments in the chat that you play.

Yeah, I would say I, I've tried to learn the guitar for— since I was, you know, 21 or even less, um, and mostly inspired by Prince. I mean, I wanted to be able to play Prince songs, and I think that was part of the problem is that when I was a beginner, it's like, you can't play Prince songs. There's nothing simple about any Prince songs. There's not very much you can do. And I'm sure there are some that are easier than others, but like, you know, if you want to play Purple Rain, I, you know, go look up the actual chord like shapes. You have to be able to stretch your hand across that fretboard a lot, and it's really hard. And I know there are like, you know, campfire versions of it where they can make it better, but it doesn't sound like the record. So I wanted to do it the right way, but it's just like, it was kind of discouraging at the outset to say, oh, I got to work for years to get to the point where I could play any of this stuff.

All right, well, the chat did not disappoint with their instrument dropping. A lot of you seem to play the same one particular instrument. I'm proud of you all. Um, all right, so we're gonna move on. We can't— not that we can't sing, we can't sing or we'll get dinged, um, by YouTube for singing a song, even a few lyrics, even if we hum it. So we're off the hook. Okay, so moving along, um, Owen, before, you know, you drop off, we thought let's a little bit more serious news with you. And, um, I have Rubio here. If you want to set up this clip for me, um, that would be awesome. And I'll— and then I'll play it.

Sure. So Marco Rubio was over in India and having a bunch of discussions with them about the policy. Um, I think he got some concerns from them about like the visa situation. Um, and I think certainly from India, I can understand why they're worried about that. But it seemed like he basically took kind of a hard stance on it, that he was like saying, you know, it needs to be America first, and, you know, sorry, this is just the way it's got to be. But I guess we'll watch the clip and, and see what that is. But essentially the situation is he was over in India doing his diplomatic talk with them, and, uh, here we go.

Okay, let's take a look.

I, I, I take and accept what you've just said about the contribution, uh, that, that Indians have made to the in the U.S. economy. Over $20 billion have been invested in the U.S. economy by Indian companies. We want that number to continue to increase. And obviously, the expertise as well that they've provided into our economy has been very, very valuable. I don't want you to view, or anyone— I made this point yesterday in an interview— the changes that are happening now, or the modernization of our migration system into the United States is not focused, it's not India-specific. It is global. It's being applied across the world, we are in a period of modernization. And I'll be frank and honest with you, because it's important to talk about this. We've had a migratory crisis in the United States. This is not because of India, but broadly, we had over 20 million people illegally enter the United States over the last few years, and we've had to address that challenge. In addition to that challenge— and I think this is true for India, this is true for every country in the world, okay? Everything that you do as a country needs to be in your national national interest, and that includes your immigration policy. The United States, I believe, is the most welcoming country in the world on immigration. You know, every single year, a million people, roughly, become permanent residents of the United States and contribute greatly. My parents entered the United States as permanent residents in 1956 from Cuba. And so it's a process that's enriched us. But it has to be a process that's adjusted in every era to the realities of the modern times in which you live. And we are— and it's long overdue. So the United States is currently undergoing a process of reforming the system by which we choose who— how many people come into our country, who comes in, when they come in, et cetera. Any time you undertake a reform, any time you undertake a change in the system by which you admit people, or frankly, any time you undertake a reform in any system, not just on immigration, There are going to be— there's going to be a period of transition that's going to create, you know, some friction points and some difficulties and so forth. Ultimately, we think when this process is in place, once this process has been modernized— and that's really what it is, we are modernizing the U.S. immigration system for the 21st century so that it is an immigration system that's not just good for the America, but it's also good for the people that are coming. Once we are complete and once we've done the work of modernizing that system. I think we're going to come up with a system— we're going to wind up with a system that's more efficient and even better than the previous system, and in some ways may prove to be even more beneficial than the previous system was to people from India that seek to enter the United States to work and innovate. But obviously there's going to be a period of adjustment along the way. So what I want to leave clear is that the changes, while they may be having a disproportionate impact on a place like India that provide so many high-skilled workers to the US economy. It is not a system that is targeted at India; it is one that's being applied globally. But we're in a period of transition, and like any period of transition, there's going to be some bumps on that road, but we think ultimately our destination is going to be a better system, a more efficient system, one that works better than the one that we had in place previously and more sustainable. By the way.

He's great. Oop, am I there? Yeah. Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. Okay, my volume just got weird. Um, he's great. Uh, I love seeing him on the international stage. Marcela, I'm going to come to you first. Um, I, I like what he's doing. I like him on the world stage. We all have questions about immigration. Um, and I'd love to, you know, I'd love to— I love the talk about modernizing it. You know, the, the contributions of immigrants to our country, like, we get it. So I always say to Marcel, I'm like, you are our immigrant representative. So I'm the immigrant. I'm coming to you first. We're very diverse over here, aren't we?

You know, so the, the, the majority of the immigrants that come in from India, um, and everybody's gonna grok it right now and I'll be wrong, but to my understanding, it's under H-1B visas. And the idea of the H-1B H-1B was to, um, to allow certain workers that you didn't have at home. You know, it wasn't to get cheap labor from another country and then fire your employees that are here that are more costly. Um, so I think that what Marco is saying is that across the board, generally all laws will be enforced the same way. I think we talked about enforcing the laws the same way to everybody yesterday. And suicidal empathy— there is no empathy special for you or special for this person. And I think despite the fact that India has given a lot of great immigrants to this country, we need to look into how these companies are using H-1B to avoid paying people, you know, the right amount of money. And you know, I'm the first one to be a capitalist and, and, um, and not want government to enforce any kind of rules over business. But I think it needs to be looked into, um, and enforced. I don't think it has been, um, you know. So it is a competitive market where you have to, uh, sort of, uh, like, you know, be competitive against India, against Ukraine, against Russia, all these different areas where they have, um, you know, computer tech people. But I just, you know, it's not— I think India takes it personally, or, you know, as their country, but it is not. And I love the way that Marco, um, does things because he doesn't make them feel like they are the only ones that we are targeting. Um, he has a great way of, um, leading them to a certain relation where they have this good relationship. The, the other thing that happened in India, and I know I'll be quick, is that they signed an agreement between India and the US for the minerals, um, minerals and rare earths, um, in this was just today or earlier today, and that will help us against China because usually the supply chain had China in it and had China being controlled, um, that supply.

But all right, that was great analysis. Thank you. Okay, so, um, Jeff, I'm gonna come to you next. Um, I, I don't know your take on these things because you're still new to, to us, so tell us, you know, your, your thoughts on this.

Yeah. So Marco Rubio, whenever I hear him speak, uh, he just seems incredibly composed and incredibly well thought out. And what I'll call attention to is he said something along the lines of like, it's in every nation's best interest to do what's right for that nation. And I'm just a, I'm just a sucker for the Scott Adams, um, perspective of the high ground maneuver. Um, I, I mean, I, I, I just love seeing it executed. Um, and, and I think that there are some, some sort of offshoots and variations of it. And I think Marco Rubio hit it perfectly where he's like, look, we have to do what's right for us. And what's right for us is looking at everything that's going on with our immigration system and, and, and seeing if there's a better, more efficient, like a smarter way to do it. Uh, and to, to Marcelo's point, he, he does it in a way— Rubio does it in a way where you get the sense that he's just relaying how things are going to be. And he's, uh, uh, and he, he does it in such a matter-of-fact way that she's right when, when it, it does not come across as personal. It doesn't come across as, uh, you know, sort of targeted in any way. Uh, and so I find myself nodding along with Marco Rubio a lot more than almost anyone, just because sort of the delivery, the content, and, uh, he, he tries to find a way to do that high ground whenever possible. So I love to see it.

I agree. I think, I think he's been tremendous on the world stage for sure. Okay, Owen, tell us your whole kit and caboodle on this one. Sure.

So, well, I mean, first I agree that he— I think Marco Rubio was very diplomatic and very persuasive in terms of how he delivered that. I think he did a great job in essentially not backing down, not trying to, you know, like give anything up or say, oh, we're gonna take care of you, or any of that. He just said, look, this is how it's gonna be and I'm gonna give it to you straight. But the way he said it with the phrasing, I think he did it in a very, very non-aggressive way. You know, he didn't say something like, it's not personal, it's just business, even though that's kind of his message. And, and so I think he did a great job with that. I think I think he's a good politician from that perspective in terms of how he delivers the message. But, um, you know, I also think he's right in terms of, um, just the problem we have with H-1Bs and other legal immigration that, you know, he didn't get into it, and probably that was smart. But the reality is that system has been horribly abused, and U.S. companies are abusing it. Um, I would say even the people that are getting the H-1Bs are being abused because it's kind of like a little bit like indentured servitude because the way that visa works, you can't get that visa until you're sponsored by a company. And once that company sponsors you, you're basically captive to that company. You can't just go get another job. I mean, you can if you, you know, find one, I guess. But it's very rare and it's hard to do. Like once you have a job, you're kind of stuck there until you get your green card and all that. And I think that's the hope with most of them is they're hoping to get the lottery. And I think only 30% or something get that. So, you know, it's kind of like they're just playing the odds and hoping they're going to be one of the lucky ones. And I've had personal experience with this. I've had someone on my project at work say, I've got to leave tomorrow because I didn't get my renewal of my H-1B, and so I'm going to Canada tomorrow and I can't work on this project anymore. And I had to replace that person. And, you know, it's very sad, and I'm sure it impacts those people too a lot. I mean, you know, it's basically them not getting what they were hoping for all those years. But, you know, I do think that even though personally I would say all the H-1Bs I've worked with, and it's been a lot, I mean, I've worked with a lot of people from India that that have gotten H-1Bs and other countries. But like, they're all great people that I worked with. And I do think India sends a lot of their best people here. I don't have any personal complaints about the people I worked with. It's just I do think that we probably could have found Americans that were just as qualified in many of those cases. I think that's the problem, is that in many cases companies are taking advantage of the system by saying we can pay less to these people and we know they're not going to quit. And so we don't have to give them raises or bonuses as much as an American, because if an American you know, doesn't like what they're— how we're treating them, they can go somewhere else. These people can't. And so I think they end up offshoring or onshoring some of these positions to Indians in large numbers. By the way, it's not a trivial thing. It's a lot of people.

It is.

And, you know, it's taking those jobs away from Americans. And if we need them, meaning you literally honestly can't find an American to do that, okay, I can buy that. You know, we should take Indians or whatever, whoever's the most qualified to do those jobs. But I think By and large, most of them are not like that. Most of them are people that you could have hired someone out of college from an American university that was in computer science or whatever field that you're talking about, and they're just as qualified and they could do the job just as well. Maybe you do have to pay them a little more, but you'd be giving that job to an American. And so, you know, right now we don't have a lot of unemployment, but we have in the past and we probably will again. And I think so it does need to be reformed, it needs to be fixed. And so I'm glad he's doing it and It does seem like we're making progress with the reforms. Another story I had posted today was that the visa applications for H-1B are down 38% since Trump made his reforms. Um, I think that was probably the $100,000 fee more than anything else, but it does seem like, you know, it— we're making good progress on that, but I think we have a long way to go.

It does, it does oftentimes feel like, um, foreigners are just saturating everything in our country between schools and jobs. So it's concerning. It's concerning. Um, all right, that's awesome. You guys all had awesome analysis about this. Um, Owen, do you have a hard out at 10:30 or at 9:30?

Yeah, I do. Sorry, I have to go in a few minutes.

Okay, so, um, aye yi yi. Okay, so I wanted to just get into Iran real quick. I have a clip. If Owen, if you have to go, go. Okay, but, um, let's, let's jump into this real quick. United States conducted self-defense strikes near the Strait of Hormuz Monday, and Iran's Supreme Leader is calling for an end to US military bases in the Gulf region, saying, quote, the hands of time will not turn back.

Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst joining us now live from Tel Aviv with the very latest.

Good morning, Trey.

Yeah, hey guys, good morning. Overnight, the United States conducted airstrikes against southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says these strikes were defensive in nature and went after mine-laying vessels along with a surface-to-air missile position. These were the first U.S. strikes that have targeted Iran since early May. A spokesperson for Iran's armed forces said any new aggression will be met with a far more severe response. The strikes come amid the backdrop of ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement between Iran and the United States. Overnight, President Trump laid out a condition that he has, saying on Truth Social, the enriched uranium nuclear dust will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission or its equivalent being witness to this process and event. Thank you for your attention to this matter. The other key issue has to do with the Strait of Hormuz. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the Trump administration position on this critical waterway during a gaggle today.

The straits have to be open. They're going to be open one way or the other. So they need to be open. What's happening there is unlawful, it's illegal, it's unsustainable for the world, it's unacceptable. That cannot happen. The straits need to be open, unimpeded, without tolls, and obviously that needs to happen We're also tracking developments in the conflict between Israel and—

All right, Owen is gone. I was like, Owen, I was gonna come right to you, and he's gone.

Like, that was like poof, he's speechless.

He is speechless. He's like, I, I can't— I have no words. Um, all right, so I would love to know— I, I don't, I don't fully understand what's going on with, you know, our— oh, by the way, you guys, if you think there's a crying baby, it's It's Stella, my cat. I'm screaming. Um, so anyway, uh, so what— so we went from like, you have to get rid of this, well, maybe you can just turn it into something else and leave it in a— in, uh, your country. And I don't know, I'm so confused about everything. I felt like it was like an all-or-nothing thing, and now it's like, oh well. So, um, you know what, Jeff, I'm gonna just come to you first on this clip. And how would you explain what is happening to someone like me?

Well, how I've been viewing this whole Iran Strait of Hormuz thing is, uh, I was reading Art of the Deal, or I was listening to Art of the Deal as I was cleaning out my chickens, uh, and, and, you know, chickens, chickens.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, I, I have backyard chickens. And, um, and I think most of what Trump does almost all the time is he's constantly shaping the next iteration of of a deal or negotiation. So I, I don't pay too much close attention to any specific requests that Trump does because I know that it's probably part of a larger strategy where he's trying to shape something, um, to his preference or just a preferable outcome. It doesn't have to even necessarily be the perfect outcome. I, I think of two ways to win, no ways to lose, where it's like Well, you know, we can take the uranium or we can destroy it there. And so he's giving a wide framework of potential options so that however the actual details shake out, he's going to win. And it's like he's been doing it for 10 years, 11 years, or, well, you know, his entire career, entire life. Yeah. And it's like it's some version of that. I can guarantee you that that's probably the thought process. It's something in that neighborhood. Uh, and so I, I kind of look at like what actually ends up getting done rather than the specific hows of the diverging paths that could get you there. Uh, and so when I see a story like that, I think, oh, it's, it's just Trump shaping another permutation of, of a preferable outcome.

Now I think it's— again, this is always just our own opinions. I think it's kind of complicated too because He also has to deal with, um, Israel. So it's like Israel's got their own goals, we have our own goals, Iran has their goals. And so it's kind of like, okay, I have to turn in all these different directions, I have to keep everybody satisfied and come up with a, I guess, a good way to get this done and get out is what I'm, I'm assuming the goal would be. So, um, I don't know, Marcella, do you, do you have a an idea? Do you know, do you have like a— I don't know, do you feel like it's going the right way?

Yeah, definitely it's going the right way. He's making something out of nothing because he's actually expanded— this is President Trump— he's expanding the deal between Iran and the U.S. to a bigger deal of the, of the region. Um, just a few days ago he posted this on Truth, and in it is a giant, uh, Bill Ackman sort of post, but And he says, therefore, I am mandatorily request— therefore, I am, I am mandatorily requesting that all countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords and that if Iran signs its agreement with me as President of the United States of America, it would be an honor to have them also be part of this imperial world coalition. What does that mean? That means that Israel will have to— is part of the Abraham Accords and will have relations with Iran, which they have never had. In the history of anything. So that Israeli normalization deal, uh, with the Abraham Accords brings it into an even bigger deal, you know. It's like he's making— like, he talks about the deal with Iran being either great or no deal at all. So he's going, he's going big or he's going home. And what I like about this position is that you talked about this, Erica, earlier on in many other shows, is that Israel can kind derail the negotiations with Iran by, you know, attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Hezbollah is quote-unquote a proxy of Iran, and or any other, you know, any other proxy that they have. And that will derail the relation. And you've talked about how Israel can destroy any kind of negotiations that we have as the US with Iran. But this is basically— he's listening to you, Erica. President Trump And he's saying, okay, now you have to— Israel, now you have to come, and, and everybody has to come and sign the Abraham Accords as well, right? Part of this giant group. Um, so he is, um, making everybody part of it too. So it's not just like a U.S. thing. Um, Jeff might have the right words for it, but you know, it's that kind of thing that he is just being Trump, making deals out of nothing, you know.

Do we know how these other countries are initially reacting to that? Because correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like most of these countries don't like Israel.

No, actually they've, they've gotten along with Israel quite well because they had the Iran enemy, right? So they have a common enemy. At least in the last few months, the UAE has been getting along with Israel as well as Saudi Arabia and Oman and Qatar have been getting along diplomatically. I mean, they're not best friends, right, but they've been getting along. The, the issue is Iran, right? Is Iran— Iran has never liked Israel, Israel's never liked Iran. And I think, um, there was a phone call, um, earlier last week between Bibi and Trump that didn't go so well, um, because I, I don't think Israel— I think the, the, the country that probably is more, more against it is Israel. That's just my take from the way that the Israeli news has been covering it. But it's funny you ask, Iran also had their Ayatollah, um, publish a new message today So Mustafa, uh, Khamenei published this on X, I believe, but I don't know if it's on their Telegram as well. He called the war against the US and Israel a victory for the Islamic resistance. Of course, two, two movies on one screen. We won. If we're gonna do this deal, we win. Um, he also said that Israel is nearing their final stage of a cursed demise, declared America will no longer have safe military bases in the region. They're probably going to try to negotiate that. That's, that's the, the thing that they want to do. They called an Iranian Hajj Pilgrim to spread the message of Iran's victory, um, invited all Islamic nations to unite towards a new regional order. So right now, um, most of the message that the, the Ayatollah, um, is putting out is messages for their own country to look like not to lose face in front of them. That's how I see it. Um, I don't know about—

yeah, I, um, I was gonna say that I was just reading some of the comments. Yes, Sandy, yeah, um, Israel needs our weapons. And then, you know, I know what the answer is going to be, but I'm just like, why can Israel have a nuke? Like, shouldn't everybody be disarming their nukes? I know that they're like a sitting duck in that region, but Shouldn't everybody be disarming their nukes? Okay, and I'm just gonna toss it to you, Jeff.

Yeah, you know, from what I understand about President Trump, he, he doesn't like nuclear weapons. You know, I think he respects the— like, the only times I've ever really seen him just like almost be lost for words is when he talks about the devastation of a nuclear weapon. And I think that's appropriate, right? Like if you, if you've done any, any research into what a nuclear weapon can do, you're like, oh man, maybe we shouldn't have done that. Like maybe, maybe we should have kept that box closed. And so you bring up a good point. It's like, you know, should, should any country have nuclear weapons? The reality is you could say like maybe we should all give them up, maybe we should all have them. Like, the reality is we live in a world where some, some superpowers have them, some superpowers don't. And it's a, it's a tough question. I don't, I don't think that there's any, any world in which Israel would give up their undisclosed amount of nuclear weapons because their, their position has always been we will neither confirm nor deny that we have, that we have nuclear weapons. Right. But I do, I do think that probably a good move by Trump is saying like, hey, there is a much larger table, which instead of it being sort of a three-way negotiation between Israel, Iran, and the United States, it's now a— you know, you can just picture the table of like a really giant table with all of these different countries. And every country's role is somewhat diminished, Israel being one, where it's like you got to hop on the train of, of peace that's moving. Like, you have to run to catch up with the train, grab the handrail, the conductor has to lift you up. Like, there's, there's something magic that Trump does every once in a while where it's kind of the, the train is moving, you better get aboard.

He's like, come along, come along. Yeah, I, I love that. I love the, um, come along feeling because nobody— I don't care if you're a country or a person, but nobody wants to feel like the odd man out. And if they're pretending they do, it's I feel like it's like that kid that was bullied and they're like, "No, I like it over here," or they are the bully because they're insecure. So I look at it the same way. I think the Abraham Accords are the most brilliant thing I've seen. I never thought I'd see it. So that's an amazing thing. So can we have another grouping? That would be fabulous for everybody. But there's so much history. And then I just don't know. Well, I don't want to like start getting like the whole Gaza thing now into the Israel thing, into the Iran thing. But it's just so much. And I just feel like we are, whether it's right or wrong or indifferent, I'm just saying, guys, we just are so intertwined with Israel, with all of their beef with everybody that it's just like, whoo, you know, are we spread too thin? You know, on their behalf? Are we okay here? Um, I don't know. Uh, so that's what worries me. So I just want Israel to just kind of like play it cool. Don't drop any unnecessary— but everybody just calm down.

Go for that, for that one last smack, right? Like, look, we're so close. It would probably be good for us to get out of our entanglements, focus on the homeland, please. Um, which would be helpful for the midterms and just helpful Like, beyond politically, like, it even goes back to the H-1B thing. Like, help middle-class America. Like, that is a winning message. Like, that's— we'll talk about it in a second, but that's why Spencer Pratt's doing so well. It's like, you re— like, you really have to focus on providing a good life for middle-class America.

We run the ship. We run the ship. And I talked about this yesterday, right, you guys? We were talking about Oprah, and I was just like, you have to either be like like totally check all the boxes— my blue hair, my trans, my, you know, poor upbringing, and, you know, we had to pee outside in a pot— like, okay, to, you know, like the richest of the rich. And then you're just like, and for you in the middle class, like, we're gonna ignore you. You just keep driving the ship, creating the jobs, paying the taxes, you know. But Oprah's gonna give all of them a car, and you guys are all rich, and you can do what you want. And then you're like, what about us? You know, like, there's no incentive for the middle class to do better because they're just going to take way more from you. You have to go from like middle class to freaking wealthy to not feel the pain in between there, and that's just very difficult to do. Um, so yeah, I, I would really love to see focus on our country, on the homeland. I would love to see every country do their absolute best to take care of themselves. And like, I know not to sound like a bitch, but it's really like not our problem, but we're making it our problem. So it's kind of like enough now. And that's like where the, the like fatigue comes in. It's not like we don't— we want everyone to be safe and peaceful and prosper and, you know, live in harmony. However, it can't be ongoing and never-ending, and at the expense of our country. And that's what a lot of us are seeing. And I'd much rather, you know, I'll always vote for the Republican. I will never vote for the loony Democrats. But there are people that will because they feel ignored again. Um, and yeah, I want to go right into Spencer Pratt on that because I, I always say, like, you know, he's Trump 2015. He he's—

he—

I, I told you guys, I'm not to be like, I told you so, but I told you guys that he does not want a Trump endorsement. He just like, leave me alone, like, I'm good over here. And Jeff, I wish you were here that day because, you know, Joel thought it was a good thing, you know, maybe people thought it was a good thing, and I'm like, leave him alone, he's fine. Like, he's appealing to the, the Angelinos, and I love that about him, that he just stays in the middle of the road. It's the perfect, perfect thing. So give us all your Spencer— oh wait, But look at this, you guys.

Oh yeah.

Spencer posted that he is listening to Jeff's book, Confidence Maxing. He posted it on his X account. Isn't that amazing?

Yeah.

You know, you've— it's really gratifying to spend a year of your life pouring everything you know into a book. And then Spencer Pratt just casually drops the, oh yeah, by the way, I'm listening to the audiobook right now.

Right in the middle of everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Looks like it's like he, he's got all this extra time, you know, he's running for mayor, like he's probably just like lounging by the pool listening to my book, right?

Congratulations.

He only sleeps like 2 or 3 hours a night and it's like, okay, well, I mean, yeah, so congratulations, that was a huge endorsement.

So what did you— let's start there. What did you think? I loved his response about Trump and I loved how he said the only persons endorsement I want are the moms.

Yeah, the moms and the animal lovers.

Yes.

And it's like he does the article I'm working on now that is going to be part 4 is on Spencer Pratt's use of the high ground, which his entire campaign is, is a continuous seeking and capturing of the high ground of different conversations. And it's, it's very easy for him to, to execute on because when you look at how how LA is currently doing and the leadership in LA and potholes not being filled and rampant NGO abuse is probably the right, the right phrase. It's so easy for someone just to come in with not all that radical ideas and say, hey, look around, how is your life going? Did you have to step over human excrement on the way to Starbucks? Like, are you afraid of getting your arm chopped off by someone with the machete? Um, I, I, um, posted yesterday, there's this— he's actually a pretty famous copywriter, uh, his name is Craig Clemens, and he posted a video of his car got broken into in LA. And like, if I'm remembering right, his, his car actually got stolen, and along with two, two baby seats in the back, and He called 911. They told him to go down to the police station and report it. He went down to the police station. The police station was closed. It was closed at 6 p.m., like bankers hours closed. And then they had a little note on the door that said, hey, you know, if it's an emergency, go ahead and, you know, tap the intercom, the blue intercom button. He goes over to the blue intercom. He had a video about this and he's like, the intercom doesn't work. And it's like, at what point is it just purgerific Los Angeles? Like, It's so easy for someone like Pratt to just come in and say, hey, where I am, the decay will no longer be. And that's exactly what we're seeing. That's why he's surging. And that's why I still stand by my argument that on June 1st, it will feel like he is running unopposed. The only thing I may have gotten wrong is I may have, uh, it may not even be till June 1st. Maybe he feels, maybe it feels like he's running unopposed right now.

Huh, interesting. So somebody asked Marcel, I don't know You know, California is wild with the ballot harvesting, right? So how do we know that this— I mean, we don't know. I mean, to me, I feel like this could be a huge problem. I mean, not to put you on the spot about that, but anything about it. I was just thinking there's so much interference.

Yeah, there is interference with ballot harvesting. There's a lot of, you know, legal immigrants in that area. In certain areas of LA, there's also very elderly people that are susceptible, and there's a lot of homeless people, as we saw, that people are trying to register to vote and to vote. And there's mail-in ballots, like, right, you know, I, I'm not a believer in, in mail— mail-in ballots because I think there could be a lot of— it's more open to fraud. There's so many different ways of of having the machine staying the machine, you know. Um, so I, I would want to know what Spencer is doing to overcome those issues. I don't think— I don't even think anyone can overcome those issues at all besides having a lot of lawyers nearby and, um, being able to do some kind of enforcement. Of the ballot boxes, you know. So I know that there's the mayor race, but then there's the governor race as well. And for Steve Hilton, who is, you know, who is one of the candidates that may pass to the final election, there was the Garden Grove thing where they moved 50,000 people out of there. And a lot of people were saying, what about the ballot boxes? What Who's taking care of those and things like that? So, um, it's— it— the politics in, in Los Angeles is not, um, not easy to deal with. I used to work in the government, and I know how, um, how treacherous it can be, like, even as a regular employee. It's like, it's like, I can't even explain to you, but it's like Shakespeare. Like, there's always intrigue in the castle, you know, there's all these talks and all that. Um, so I think Spencer Pratt is doing a great job, uh, regardless, because he is taking on the machine. He is the David against the, um, the Goliath. And you know what, win or not, and, and hopefully he wins and you both are right, um, I think he still will be taking on the machine because once he becomes mayor, the machine is still there. The, the LA County Supervisors are still leftist as can be and socialist, um, and the way that the, the LAPD chief is running things, the way the sheriff, the district attorney is a lot better than before, but you're still going to be dealing with all of these obstacles beyond the regular obstacles you have, which is like crime and poverty and all sorts of things. So you know what, he is brave, he is amazing, because no one in the past, maybe since 1997, has taken on the machine to this level. So I give him props for that.

Amen, me too. So Jeff, what do you know about the ballot harvesting and watching the ballot drop boxes? It's a huge— for governor, I mean, God, LA, listen, join hands, okay? You guys join hands mentally and then say to yourself, the universe owes me, because it does, because you people, you've been through enough. Okay, the universe owes you. Let's go. So go ahead, Jeff. Sorry.

Yeah. And I'll be, I'll be transparent. I don't know enough about that side of it.

No.

Well, now what I would say would be similar to like a Trump 2016, my hunch would be it's probably best for Spencer Pratt to go ahead and win June 2nd because my, my, my sort of gut read on it is more time equals, uh, more potential for shenanigans, right? Um, I think it would be very interesting if, uh, um, Spencer Pratt connected with someone like, uh, oh gosh, uh, I think his name's Cliff Maloney. Uh, he, he and, he and Joshua Leisig just recently released the book Run Right, um, and purely for, for get out the vote sort of stuff. And it sounds like I, I have seen some Spencer Pratt posts where he's been talking about like, go, go around and collect ballots from your friends and all that stuff and drop them off. And like, so I think he, he is aware of that. He hasn't talked a whole lot about it publicly beyond just normal get out the vote stuff. Um, I think it would be incredibly interesting if, uh, I, I don't know what Trump could do necessarily, but if, uh, he was to, I don't know, send send the appropriate personnel there just to watch, you know, sort of these, these drop boxes and stuff like that. I think that behavior changes once people are being observed. And so if there could just be some sort of apparatus for increased perception of observation, that may be enough to change or at least put a chill on people doing certain things.

Laura Trump did that during the last Trump. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and, and who knows, like, that, that could have had— I think it's one of those things where we may not know for years or decades, but that may have had a gigantic impact that was extremely quiet, because when something goes right, you don't really notice anything, right?

They had a bunch of attorneys watching. Yeah, I mean, Marcella, get all the attorneys. No, you— they're all—

no, there's actually attorneys are watching this election. Um, I wanted to look up his name. He's very famous. He's in the he's in the California Senate, or he's a representative, a legislator in California. He's a Republican. He— Carlos de Mayo. So Carlos de Mayo and other groups are actually going through the, uh, through the rolls, the voter rolls, and making sure that the person is an actual dead or— yeah, so he has different lawyers working together, uh, not just for this election but for the election of the governor the governor election. And that's been a, like, a point in California is that there's been a lot of decedents, a lot of people that are dead that vote, and it's not good, you know, like, there's no way. And so they have sued before for those records, and they have, uh, Carl DeMaio, sorry. I, I listen to him all the time and he is wonderful. He is one of the main leaders in California for Republicans. And, um, sorry, Carl.

No, that's great. I mean, that's great to know.

So that's— that gives me hope. And talking about elections, we have Texas. Uh, I don't know if there's people in Texas here, but I don't—

Texas, are you here? Drop yourselves in the chat if you're from Texas and you're voting today.

Um, or if you're not from Texas and going to Texas to vote, don't tell us.

Yeah, or if you're in Texas and you're dead and you can vote today, it's for, uh, Ken Paxton. And, um, oh my God, no, but who's running for AG that we were just saying?

Chip Roy.

Chip Roy, dude, bring it on! Give me some masculine energy, let's go! I love that. So good luck to everybody there. Texas, I don't recognize you anymore. You got to get back to being the big badasses that you're supposed to be. Enough with this nonsense. I love that. You guys, we have 4 minutes left. Andy, I beat you to my time, Nazism. So what do you— what— so Jeff, tell us what you have coming up now for like the winding down for Spencer? Like, how are you gonna be covering him and helping him?

Yeah, so I, um, I'm going to continue writing articles, continue giving analysis, and, uh, I mean, he apparently pays attention to me, which is kind of a wild thing to say. Uh, not that I'm all that important in the big scheme of things, um, but I, I will try to call attention to, to things that I think he could maybe do to, to sort of close the last— gosh, it's all— it's, it's not, not long now until the second—

suggest people watching the ballot boxes like Laura Trump did.

Yeah, so that, you know, that would be a really good step in my opinion, uh, and, and that, that could absolutely be something, something that I cover. Um, I think, uh, it would be really interesting if and I know he's done a— he's shared some stuff about people going around and harvesting ballots from homeless people, and anything he could do to call attention to the fact that this is going on where, you know, these people may not be eligible to vote in Los Angeles City election. I would like to see him just like be mayoral, call a press conference and say, you know, I want these records preserved because when I'm mayor, you know, we're going to be looking into a lot of this stuff. I think that there's some things he could do there just to call attention and call that observation to watching those kinds of things.

Okay, Jay Plemons, you heard that. Make it a clip. We need, as Jeff said, Spencer to call a press conference to say preserve all these records and documents because we want to know for real, for real. I love that. Um, and I just want to shout out to, um, to Steve Hilton, you know, good luck. You are fighting a valiant fight. You're a decent, smart, California, America-loving man, and The country and the country of California would be lucky to have you, um, because it's really turned into a wack country. Um, all right, so Marcella, we're, we're rooting for you, girl. We're rooting for you over there in California. We love you. Um, you guys, let me just do a quick little housekeeping here. Tomorrow Dr. Drew is in the house. We're gonna call for the doctor. So, um, be sure to tell your friends invite a friend over to see Dr. Drew. And, um, I don't know what we're going to discuss. We'll see how it goes. Probably let him riffraff around with us. And then we have on Friday, BJ will be back with us. You guys are missing BJ. He'll be here Friday for Fun Friday. Um, what else do we want to say? Oh, so many good things coming up. Oh, if I was just prepared, I could tease you. Oh, I think I can do it. No, my computer's going to freeze. I'll give you a little tease on Thursday. Just remind me for the tease on Thursday. Okay, you guys. So, Jeff, Marcela, any closing comments for everybody? Marcela, you go first. Just—

I just wanted to wish my nephew a happy birthday.

Happy birthday. What's his name?

Felipe.

Felipe. Feliz Navidad. I think he's 15 today. Feliz cumpleaños. Was that better?

Yeah, not Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, but he'll take it, you know.

Hey, why not?

He's probably very embarrassed.

Oh, don't be embarrassed. Happy birthday.

He's 15 today, so.

Oh my gosh. And then Jeff, any closing arguments? Arguments?

You know, I'll leave the legal arguments to Marcella. I'll just say it's been fun hanging out with you guys today, and we always, we always talk about some interesting things. And everyone should go enjoy, enjoy their Tuesday.

We love that you could come on. I asked Jeff so last minute when I knew that Owen had to bail out. I'm like, hey Jeff. He's like, sure thing, I'd love that. So listen, you guys, I want to say, because I think I cut myself off yesterday, Mindy Yesterday was my girlfriend Mindy's birthday. Love you, sister. I hope you had a great time on your trip. I'll talk to you later today. And also, I have another dear, dear Gemini friend— I love you, Geminis— whose birthday is today, and I just want to shout out to you, happy, happy birthday. You are the best. Okay, um, all right, you guys, we want to thank, uh, Shelly and Scott Adams, uh, for allowing this show to go on. You guys get out there, be useful, mentor, teach, be kind, lead with kindness and love. I know that sounds really weird coming from me today, but I had a situation yesterday and I was reminded to lead with kindness and love. And, um, you guys do the same. And Scott, we miss you, we love you. And, uh, a closing sip to Scott, you guys. To Scott.

Scott.

Bye, y'all. I wonder if I can just keep locals on. Let me see if I can do it, you guys. Let me see if I can just— and oops, let's see if I could