The Country Artist Taking on MAGA

Speaker 1 Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Find Out podcast. Well, we had two really big episodes last week, but we've actually got one just as big today, and we're changing it up a little bit.

Speaker 1 I don't know if most of you know this, but most of the group in here has some sort of musical background. So music's been always really important to us.

Speaker 1 And we are super, super excited to have a country musician. And I guess we also have to refer to as a social media superstar, Brian Andrews, is with us today.

Speaker 1 And he's got a song that's out called The Older I Get, which you should go stream on Spotify.

Speaker 1 But actually, what we're going to talk to him today about is a little bit of music and a little bit of politics. So Brian, so great to have you here.
Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.

Speaker 1 I truly appreciate it. And I just am ecstatic to be on here, dude.
Oh, well, the excitement's all on, all on our end.

Speaker 1 But hey, so, Brian, I want, tell everybody a little bit about yourself because you do not, if we're going to stereotype, if I was to know that you were a country singer and you have that twang, that I would think

Speaker 1 that you were very cons I'm not even going to put political parties on it. I'll say conservative or far or, you know, because of the, you know, country tends to lean.
Right.

Speaker 1 Tell us a little bit about yourself and, you know, what happened to you over the last week that caused a lot of media to pick up and start talking about you yeah so i'm from a small town you know my hometown has a population of 3600 and um actually was born in idaho but it's in rural missouri or whatever and and you know i still do have a whole lot of you know like

Speaker 1 i wouldn't say like

Speaker 1 staunch Republican or conservative values, but I definitely still, you know, agree with conservatives on some topics.

Speaker 1 It's just that, you know, being from a small town and watching people go through things like, you know, what we're seeing now with the trade war and farmers and more recently over the weekend, you know, opening

Speaker 1 our markets to Argentinian beef and stuff like that. That's just going to hurt American farmers.
And seeing like when I used to work on the road, I was a welder.

Speaker 1 And seeing guys have to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week just to be able to provide for their families and stuff like that and then be gone for eight, nine, ten months out of the year.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 I don't know how these people continuously vote against their own best interest. And so,

Speaker 1 you know, my parents, I'm not oblivious to the fact that I probably think a little bit the way I think because of my parents. They're both teachers and they're Democrats.
I mean, my

Speaker 1 grandfather worked for General Motors for 30 years and was a Democrat his whole life. And, you know, so I

Speaker 1 understand that, you know, I definitely have influence from from my family when it comes to my political beliefs.

Speaker 1 But, you know, I think most of my political beliefs and just values as a person stem from my faith and

Speaker 1 being in a small town because I'm sick and tired of watching working-class Americans get screwed while billionaires are just raking in cash off the backs of our labor.

Speaker 1 Brian, can I ask, how old are you? I'm 29. 29, yeah.

Speaker 1 You're not crazy.

Speaker 1 I just have to put this out front. You're not crazy and your parents aren't crazy.
You're not,

Speaker 1 I wouldn't even frame it as my, my mom's a retired teacher. I wouldn't even frame it necessarily as like you're influenced by your parents' beliefs because they're Democrats.

Speaker 1 I would frame it as workers and educators are Democrats because. Democratic policies support workers and educators.
Exactly. Science and education isn't.
They're not Democrats because of it.

Speaker 1 It's the exact opposite.

Speaker 1 And I think people have just forgotten that. It makes me crazy.

Speaker 1 Like it sounds like it has had that same effect on you where you're looking around thinking, am I taking crazy pills? Because what are you guys doing to yourselves? And they do it anyway.

Speaker 1 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 And that's why, you know, like getting going in country music, you know, I make just as much rock music and stuff like that as I do country music, but my brand is country because that's my background, you know?

Speaker 1 And I think,

Speaker 1 you know, just in the wake of everything that I see going on,

Speaker 1 it pains me so much to see a genre of music that connects so well with rural America

Speaker 1 be directly intertwined with an administration and policies that continuously hurt them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So for me as a country artist, I think at first I was definitely pretty nervous to put this song out, you know, and I mean, you guys have heard it.

Speaker 1 It's controversial in some parts parts and some parts just aren't that controversial. But it was

Speaker 1 definitely nerve-wracking, I guess, because I knew that, you know, I knew my, my main listenership moving forward and getting bigger was as a country artist and as a country brand was probably going to be,

Speaker 1 you know, targeted towards Republicans and conservatives. But somebody's got to say it.

Speaker 1 And I mean,

Speaker 1 you know, like as soon as I put it out, I was a little bit worried. But then seeing the response back from it, it has been incredible.

Speaker 1 And I mean, to think, to think about all the people that I'm bringing back to country music because they had already swored off because of certain artists or, you know, certain songs or whatever

Speaker 1 is,

Speaker 1 and I mean, I feel very proud to be a part of that movement.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, Brett, I want you to talk a little bit about the background of this song and then also, I think the video that you did on TikTok.

Speaker 1 And first of all, and I also want to say, like, I'm not somebody, I think I told you on DMs, like, I'm generally more of a rock person.

Speaker 1 I grew up in a Beatles household and all this, but like, you know, I'm somebody that likes a little bit of country, but, you know, some of it has put me off because of basically the capitulation to Trump and the right from a lot, not everybody, or the ones that are on the left of center have just been quiet, which is also not good either.

Speaker 1 But, but, regardless of that, let's, I want to hear how, how did you come to write this song? And then, then the video that you put out, not a music video, but like a TikTok video.

Speaker 1 How did that all come up?

Speaker 1 Yeah, so when I first started writing this song, it was because I started seeing I wanted to actually write a song called What Would Jesus Do? Because for me, as a Christian, um,

Speaker 1 I and I still think I'm gonna write that song one day, but I think as a Christian, I look around at all these people who call themselves Christians in my small town and in surrounding areas, or the whole Christian nationalist movement, and I'm appalled and

Speaker 1 severely severely offended as a Christian by the things that they say.

Speaker 1 For me, it's like,

Speaker 1 how can you sit there and call yourself a Christian when I've watched you go to church on Sundays, leave church, go to the Mexican restaurant and have lunch, and then come home and get on Facebook and go to a Fox News post and say, I like my country like I like my tea?

Speaker 1 Yeah. That's fucked.
Yeah. That is an awful thing for you to say as a Christian.
You are talking about human fucking beings. How can you call yourself a Christian

Speaker 1 when there is a literal place that exists called Alligator Alcatraz? And when you see it on social media, you type a comment that says, I hope they teach them to run in zigzags. Jesus.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's insane. I mean,

Speaker 1 my question, because I don't think any of us here are religious. We're all kind of like, you know, just agnostic to atheist.

Speaker 1 So not coming from that community, it's really hard to understand how somebody like Trump took over Christians.

Speaker 1 Cause like for me, in like 15, when he came out, I'm like, okay, he can maybe win the primary if he could figure out how to court Christians. And he fucking figured it out.

Speaker 1 So like, how did he do that?

Speaker 1 I, dude, I honestly don't know. I say all the time, I'll never forgive Trump for what he's done to people that I love and that I know.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 it,

Speaker 1 it is insane that so many Christians are willing to back this guy. One of the most abhorrent figures we have seen.
Terrible, dude. In the political space.
And so,

Speaker 1 you know, that's where the song came from. I mean, the whole song was wrote out.
And then the bridge part where it says, raise your right hand, plead the fifth. That shit wasn't even in the song yet.

Speaker 1 And we had the song completely done. And I remember I got home from L.A., I had already started, or I wrote both the verses that say, you know, the older I get,

Speaker 1 the more I wish Christians tried to act like Jesus or the first one where it talks about, you know, the, I can't tell the difference between superheroes and super villains.

Speaker 1 That part I had already had written out. And when I got home from LA after writing the chorus with the guys who produced it,

Speaker 1 the song was done. And it was right the day I got home the next day, the DOJ came out and said that the list didn't exist.

Speaker 1 And I was like, I was like, what the fuck? Yeah. And so I sat there and festered on it.
And then, like, a day after that, I had seen the

Speaker 1 stuff that they were talking about with sending the Marine Corps into LA for all the ice raids and everything. And I was like,

Speaker 1 What fucking planet are we on?

Speaker 1 So it just made me so fucking mad. And so when I was sitting there thinking about it, I kept having this line: raise your right hand, plead the fifth,

Speaker 1 trying to cover up names on a list. And I was like, dude, I've, I've got to figure out how to put that in this song.
And so I'm sitting here listening to the song over and over.

Speaker 1 And in the instrumental breaks that we had in the song, I was sitting there putting them on a loop on my computer and I was just writing.

Speaker 1 And I was like, raise your right hand plead the fifth trying to cover up names on a list

Speaker 1 and then the lion say that it doesn't exist i was like oh you know okay and then and then i was like in the second part i want to touch on on parts that you know everyday people can see around us because that's how i felt when i was writing it is like i'm looking around and while this doesn't directly affect me i know there's people in the world that it does affect and so i want people to to feel how i felt in that moment where i can take i can zoom out and say this isn't fucking cool.

Speaker 1 Work two jobs, try to make rent. Nobody can afford to buy a fucking house right now, let alone fucking pay for rent.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Heaven help you if you're born with brown skin. That was in direct reference to the shit we were seeing happen in L.A.

Speaker 1 And mind you, I was in LA the week after all those protests and riots were going on.

Speaker 1 It was perfectly fine. Of course.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 then the Gaza Strip thing, I mean, we've been, everybody has seen that. The humanitarian aid.
I mean, like, you can say what you want to about us funding,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 which I

Speaker 1 completely cannot believe that we did for so long, funding a genocide.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 at bare bones, if you're trying to get away from the war topic itself,

Speaker 1 not

Speaker 1 letting aid into these people is one of the most anti-Christian shit things that I have ever fucking seen. Brian,

Speaker 1 I was religious for a long stretch of

Speaker 1 my life and am not anymore. And the two to three year long deconstruction process

Speaker 1 that I experienced was precisely because of what you're describing.

Speaker 1 There's this horrible

Speaker 1 clash that occurs in your head when you are learning about Jesus and

Speaker 1 all the New Testament stuff. He's just like indiscriminately helping people.
He trusts everybody. He he loves everybody.
There's no judgment ever.

Speaker 1 And then you hit adult life in this country and you find out that, what, 60, 70%

Speaker 1 of Republican voters or of Christian voters are Republicans and they're voting for people who would put Jesus in

Speaker 1 prison and chains. I mean,

Speaker 1 they would straight up deport Jesus if he were here illegally, if he were here without documentation.

Speaker 1 You can't, you can't live with that level of cognitive dissonance in your head for very long.

Speaker 1 And so you have to do either what you've done, which is like, you know, I didn't have a platform when I was 18.

Speaker 1 You do what you've done, which is say, like, I got to do something. It's going to cost me some listeners.

Speaker 1 It's going to, you know, it's going to create a polarizing environment around me, but like, I have to do that, or you just have to leave that whole thing. And, you know,

Speaker 1 exactly.

Speaker 1 And it's almost like I look at people saying the, oh well you don't belong in country music bullshit like i look at people who tell me uh you don't or if you don't like it here get out right uh you dog this is a great

Speaker 1 genre of music and i it'll be a cold day in hell before i let you motherfuckers through

Speaker 1 well well and if you think about some of the the greatest country music uh artists right they would all say the exact same thing that you are saying johnny cash uh whalen jennings uh chris kristofferson who I think I told you, I saw him on the street one day,

Speaker 1 like 10 years ago, and like about fainted. And my wife was like, who the hell was that? Because he was like 80 or something.

Speaker 1 And I was like, that's Chris Kristofferson. She's like, who's that? I go, he wrote me and Bobby McGee.
She went, oh, wow. Yeah.
But they are all, and Willie Nelson as well. Yes.

Speaker 1 They were all, well, he is still liberal for sure. Yes.
I mean, in 2006, Willie Nelson wrote a song. It was just released digitally, but it was right before the Obama presidency.

Speaker 1 And he wrote a song called Cowboys Are Secretly Frequently Fond of Each Other. And it's just about how cowboys in a small town in Texas are sometimes gay and kiss each other.
And that's okay.

Speaker 1 I mean, Johnny Cash in The Man in Black, that song is a solidarity song with the poor. and the people who need help in this country.
And he was a huge, staunch advocate for prison reform.

Speaker 1 One of the funniest fucking things in this whole last week is when I got on X and people were just fucking dragging dragging me. Oh, God.
And it was like watching your

Speaker 1 dignity just be ripped to fucking treads right in front of your face. And then I saw one person said, We need less Brian Andrews and more Johnny Cash.
And they posted the photo. Yes.

Speaker 1 And they posted the photo of Johnny Cash flipping off the prison warden at San Quentin. And I was like, the fucking irony in this photo is at levels that you will never fucking comprehend, dog that's

Speaker 1 less Jesus and more Christ yes well right well now it's the same when they say keep keep the government's hands off my Medicare right my social security or something like that

Speaker 1 but so Brian so on top of the song like we you did you did do this video I think you called it a crash out yeah video and i think that's where a lot of the attention came because again you know not to be stereotypical but when you again you see brian andrews coming across your screen you don't necessarily expect the words that came out of your mouth.

Speaker 1 So tell us a little bit about why you did that video and the reaction that it, that it generated after that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think most of it was because, you know, I've been talking my shit on social media for about

Speaker 1 the last year now, like getting more like open about the way I think and things like that. And,

Speaker 1 you know, I knew this song was going to be polarizing anyway. So I just fucking dug into it.
I mean, Luke, I sent it to you about a month ago. And, you know, I knew, I knew it was coming or whatever.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 when I was thinking about promoting it, I kept seeing comments like on those other videos saying, oh, he's crashing out or fucking, you know, because I'm loud or whatever.

Speaker 1 And they'd say, oh, he's fucking paid or whatever the fuck. So I was like, you know what? You want to see one? I'll fucking give you one.

Speaker 1 So that's where that came from. And I thought of all that shit and I've wrote it out before.

Speaker 1 And I thought maybe like if I say this

Speaker 1 quietly, people will fucking get it.

Speaker 1 But as I was making the video, it was making me so fucking mad

Speaker 1 that I kept having to fucking redo takes. And I was like, you know what? Fuck it.
I'm just, I'm just

Speaker 1 never had that experience before.

Speaker 1 So I was like, I'm just going to fucking roll with it and fucking feel the anger. Yeah.
Because I think that's an emotion that a lot of us are feeling right now.

Speaker 1 So I want it to be as raw as possible because I want people to be able to relate to me in that moment and how I felt because I think we all should be this fucking mad.

Speaker 1 I don't know anything about being angry. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, you two cornered the market. Oh, yeah, we got cornered.
We both got pickup trucks, both getting angry in the front seat.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 your video, your video has been seen over 1.5 million times. And a bunch of the videos that you've done since have been seen millions of times.

Speaker 1 And the only reason or the only way that that happens on these platforms is if you hit, you know, you hit on something that people are feeling. And I think you're right.

Speaker 1 And I think a lot of us on the left are looking around and, you know, looking at some of our more religious relatives and friends. And, you know, I was, I grew up Catholic.
I don't really practice.

Speaker 1 I don't practice now, but like, I, you know, I went to Sunday school and stuff and all the things that they told us to believe. And I'm like, well, where is that? Like, where is that now?

Speaker 1 Like, I don't understand.

Speaker 1 And I think a lot of times we on the left are a little afraid to

Speaker 1 question

Speaker 1 people and or really call out the religious parts or the hypocrisy. And I think for you to, you know, be from where you are and, and your background, it, like, I think it really hit on people a lot.

Speaker 1 And I think people really, you know, appreciate it. You also got some shit for it, but I would say being on X is sort of like having like any

Speaker 1 of the parts ripped out of you.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's like a badge of honor, even though it's not fun to read the comments, except for that one. But I don't ever, I don't ever go there.
That place is

Speaker 1 cool.

Speaker 1 I literally texted my label and I was like, I'm pretty, I'm thinking about deleting X because I was like, I'm getting, dude, there was fucking accounts with fucking three or four million followers, and I was just getting fucking smoked, dude.

Speaker 1 I mean, that video probably got shared. It probably on X alone, it probably has fucking like close to 10 million views.
So, I mean, the shit was getting fucking crazy.

Speaker 1 And I was like, you know, the shit people fucking say on there. So I was like, bro, I don't know if this fucking worth it.
But I mean,

Speaker 1 at the same token, you know, I was texting my dad and I was like, dude, I'm just getting fucking rolled over there. And he was like,

Speaker 1 dude, that place is like a fucking cesspool of nothing but fucking Elon Musk sympathizers and like people who apologists. Yeah.
It's like the elephant graveyard in the Lion King.

Speaker 1 You must never go there. Yeah.
So I was like, whatever, dude. Honestly, I don't give a fuck.
And then,

Speaker 1 you know, I mean, the response, just like you said, has been overwhelmingly. you know, positive.
I knew that I was going to draw a line in the sand.

Speaker 1 But like I said, I mean, when I think about all the people that I'm bringing back to country music, it makes me feel proud. You know what I'm saying? So, like, I don't,

Speaker 1 the, you know, I was having talks with my team about it, and they were like, you know, well, we just don't want you to alienate your audience. And I was like, well,

Speaker 1 what am I going to do? Alienate people who already don't fucking listen to my music.

Speaker 1 Well, and what if you like, take a stance, bring, bring the audience to me. Don't alienate the audience is alienating themselves by being pieces of

Speaker 1 If they're choosing their music based on how sexist and racist and homophobic it is, they are the one with the problem, not the musician who's not sexist, racist, and homophobic.

Speaker 1 Like, stop fucking pandering. Everybody, the whole world, stop fucking pandering to monsters.
Exactly. And that's the fucking thing, dude.

Speaker 1 Like, for me, country music used to stand up against injustice and not advocate for it.

Speaker 1 So I think that at the end of the day, if the modern country audience doesn't listen to my music, fuck fuck them. You know what I mean? I mean,

Speaker 1 I love people, and you know, I think that like we all have clouded judgment at times for sure. You know, I'm not a perfect Christian.
I'm definitely not a perfect person.

Speaker 1 And I say dumb fucking things that I know I shouldn't say. And I say fucking, or and I do things that I know I shouldn't do.

Speaker 1 But at the end of the day, when you really take a look back on it, you should be able to look at yourself and say, I've grown as a person, not fucking stayed in the same exact fucking spot. And

Speaker 1 I'm just not gonna, going to, I'm not going to let a genre of music that I love so much

Speaker 1 be just

Speaker 1 this

Speaker 1 right-wing cult of music that nobody else even wants to listen to. So my, my grandfather lived in a small town.
He hunted deer his whole life. I mean, the same thing that I do.

Speaker 1 I mean, we go, he taught me how to fish, how to hunt bullfrogs, how to gig frogs.

Speaker 1 I mean, every, the most country man I've ever met in my life, and he was as he was a Democrat because he worked for General Motors in a union for 30 fucking years.

Speaker 1 Like, and now they want to fucking attack the left like we're a fucking death sentence to the U.S.

Speaker 1 Right. No, dog.
Like, it's, it's fucking crazy that you think I'm a fucking lunatic because I want kids who are born into prop poverty to be able to fucking eat.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 Like, what are we talking about?

Speaker 1 You're not fucking fooling me, dog. I might be from a small town, but I'm not stupid and i don't believe that these people are either i just think that they're having a bad fucking moment i i think um

Speaker 1 you're starting a a difficult conversation and it's a conversation that the country has to have both with country music and with christianity um

Speaker 1 and the first waves of those those conversations are going to be really painful and so first thank you for just doing the thing that's hard and uncomfortable that shit is no fun

Speaker 1 it's it's it's scary scary and ugly and potentially dangerous. But I would say, you know, it has to happen.

Speaker 1 And the fact that you're out there, if there's 10 million views on on Twitter, let's say 9 million of them are like, fuck that guy forever.

Speaker 1 But then 1 million of them, you know, half of those people are like, well, fuck that guy. But he kind of makes me think about it for a second.
Yeah, fucking exactly, dude. Egg, fucking exactly.

Speaker 1 I knew when I wrote this song, if I would just fucking get it to the right fucking ears, then maybe if it came from someone who looked and talked like them, they might fucking think about it for longer than half a fucking second.

Speaker 1 Right. And if you can antagonize any positive thought, like this is not something, it's not going to be six months from now where Christians are like, we get it now.

Speaker 1 It's, this is, this is going to be slow and painful. And those are the hardest battles to fight, but they're the most important ones to win because they're durable.

Speaker 1 And so I appreciate what you're doing because like those people, they have friends, they have family members, they'll have kids.

Speaker 1 If they're a little bit less shitty, or if they they come all the way over and they figure it out on their own, like those are both wins.

Speaker 1 And it takes really painful, uncomfortable things like this to start that process,

Speaker 1 knowing that it's not going to finish it. So it doesn't feel very satisfying, and it's, yeah, it's scary, but

Speaker 1 thank you. Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, I just feel like I'm just trying to do my part.

Speaker 1 And to be honest with you, as a guy who is a straight white dude from a small town who's never been on the receiving end of of

Speaker 1 rhetoric like they use or policy that they pass

Speaker 1 it was pretty fucking easy for me to say right at the end of the day straight white dudes have had the same rights in this country for 250 fucking years and if you keep your mouth shut you'll have them for another 250 years yeah yeah you can just choose to not do anything which is how we got

Speaker 1 the tyranny of evil man is what i think to stand by and do nothing well that's how we've gotten into this mess and i think that's why we're doing this show because we want to say, wait a minute, like not all straight white men or white men in general or men at all act like this or think like this.

Speaker 1 And that we are trying to reclaim what masculinity truly is, which is to, you know, defend and protect your family, but also be empathetic and lift people up who need a helping hand, not a shove out the door like these people are.

Speaker 1 And that's why, like, you know, like I said, even though I'm not religious now, I just, I roll my eyes at these, you know, evangelical Christians in particular who claim that they want to live this godly life and then just don't, like, they cut snap benefits for poor kids.

Speaker 1 Like, how do I know how to square that? Like, it's not, it's just, you can't.

Speaker 1 They just said if the shutdown continues, that November, there won't be fucking food stamps anymore. Yep.

Speaker 1 But don't worry, they have the, they have money for, for new jets for Christy Gnome, and they have money for artillery shells to fire over the fucking gnome stamps.

Speaker 1 So, so for people who don't know, I did a video on this this weekend. The Department of Homeland Security actually just bought two luxury Learjets.
Gulfstream. Gulfstream.
Gulfstream jets.

Speaker 1 Are they Gulfstreams? Gulfstreams, which are crazy expensive, for the tune of $137 million for Christy Noam and the Bozos at DHS to fly around on. How many hungry kids do you think that could feed?

Speaker 1 Or how many families could have health care? Tim, kids can't eat a jet, Tim.

Speaker 1 Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Where are you coming from? Have you met a child? I mean, come on.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's just, it's crazy to me, but, but, Brian, so you, you got, you know, with this, this crash out video, you know, I saw articles from People magazine about you.

Speaker 1 Like, how, I mean,

Speaker 1 how has that felt? I'm sure this is probably the most press that has, has come to you, but how has it been overall? Positive, negative, overwhelming, probably everything?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think the majority of the press has been.

Speaker 1 Like the press itself is good, you know, and I think it's like, I think it's such a conversation starter because just like you guys said, you know, it's coming from someone who looks like I look, you know, and so

Speaker 1 the,

Speaker 1 you know, especially like NBC doing the whole thing, the whole bit, you know, and everything like that, I think it's been overwhelmingly good.

Speaker 1 I think there's only been like, I think Breitbart and fucking Fox News did

Speaker 1 unsurprised. Yeah.
Shocker

Speaker 1 garbage.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So I was getting some pretty fucking wild DMs from that.
Oh, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 But I mean, yeah, overall, it's been, I think that there's like when I see that press, it's like hopeful to me as a country artist or just as a musician in general that

Speaker 1 things, the pendulum is swinging back.

Speaker 1 You know, and so I think it's just like it's small, but it's a sign of hope, you know,

Speaker 1 because I mean, media does control a lot, you know, whether we want to agree or disagree. It has

Speaker 1 a very staunch influence on how people vote at the ballot box. So

Speaker 1 I think that it's been over, I'm glad to see that it's been overwhelmingly positive. I mean, I've definitely never dealt with this much press in my life.

Speaker 1 So living in a small town like I do by myself with just me and my dog, it's a little weird. But

Speaker 1 I mean, it's something that I knew was coming. Like when I put, when I wrote the song and we got the final master back, I was like, this, I know what this could do.

Speaker 1 And that's what, when I was sending it to, you know, people like Luke and stuff like that and I was like I just want people to get honestly I sent it out to people because I wanted reassurance you know I was a little bit nervous myself you know and and so sending it out like that and just the response I got from those people I was gonna say I hope that gave you a good one yeah definitely definitely validated me and I was like you know what

Speaker 1 fuck it dude

Speaker 1 I think the thing that's really wild is like not you know I I'm not gonna pat myself on the back for making for showing up at all, for doing the right decision or making the right decision for a straight white guy in this country

Speaker 1 because it's so easy.

Speaker 1 Like, it is so fucking easy to leave your house and just not be shitty when you have every lever of power at your disposal all of the fucking time. Yeah, what are they mad about?

Speaker 1 And nobody's coming after you. I know.
Well,

Speaker 1 they think that

Speaker 1 power is a limp is a zero-sum game. And I'm like, dude, we can all have rights.
Like, you can all have healthcare. Like, it's not at your expense, but it's also amazing because it's effective.
Because

Speaker 1 Republican men, they don't listen to blue-haired lesbian baristas from Seattle.

Speaker 1 You can platform those people. You can give them every microphone.

Speaker 1 Those, those people are just like, look at the freaks. Like, the freaks are going to be freaks.
They're all freaks. And that's, and they just shut it down.

Speaker 1 But when they hear somebody like you, hopefully somebody like us, they, it at least confuses them. And when you're confused, you try to reconcile those thoughts.
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 It makes you at least look in the mirror for half a second. You know what I mean? Zach, I think you made a great video once that I watched.

Speaker 1 It was like...

Speaker 1 No, no, no.

Speaker 1 You make a lot of great content.

Speaker 1 One is good enough.

Speaker 1 One that resonated with me was like,

Speaker 1 you know, like, I don't think you're a piece of shit if you think we should have strong borders. Right.
I think you start becoming a piece of shit when you advocate and fucking laugh

Speaker 1 for the U.S. Supreme Court saying it's okay that we can racially target people or rip families apart outside of courthouses of people trying to come here the right ways.

Speaker 1 So, like, that shit for me was like, I feel that to my core because I'm surrounded by conservative people. Even my best friends that I drink beer with on the weekends are conservatives.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 And so, like, it's

Speaker 1 one of those things where like, even we can definitely get in heated talks sometimes. And sometimes they'll sit there and they'll be like, you know what? I don't want to argue about it anymore.

Speaker 1 And it's like, okay, so now I know that anytime I start making fucking sense, you don't want to talk about it no more. But when you go home tonight, you'll fucking think about it.
Yep.

Speaker 1 You are fucking

Speaker 1 hitting the head.

Speaker 1 The hit, hitting the nail on the head, goddammit. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So that's, that's where I'm at. I mean, it's like, you think about things like, you know, Christians talking about, oh, well, I'm pro-life and don't believe in abortion because of my religion.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, okay, that's great.

Speaker 1 But did you ever fucking, yeah, I was like, did you ever fucking think about the fact that 70% of the women who get abortions in the United States are at or below the federal poverty line? Yep.

Speaker 1 Did you ever think that 30% of those fucking people that get abortions in the United States are 100% below the federal poverty line?

Speaker 1 Did you ever stop to think for a fucking second that maybe so many people wouldn't get abortions if you weren't supporting politicians who handed them a financial fucking death sentence when they had a child.

Speaker 1 Testify.

Speaker 1 This is the goddamn truth. I've been shouting this from the rooftops.
Dude, but it's crazy, man. And like,

Speaker 1 I just, I don't understand where people can look at something so

Speaker 1 black and whitely when it's a much... more nuanced conversation.
Right. Yeah.
Well,

Speaker 1 I mean, I can tell you the precise moment when I became pro-choice.

Speaker 1 I used to be conservative. Like one of the most influential political influencers in my life was my grandmother, who was like a go-to Catholic church multiple times a week kind of person.
Right.

Speaker 1 I was, I was like, no premarital sex, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was 16.
and had an accident happen.

Speaker 1 I thought I was being responsible, but you know, when you're, when you're new at these things, like you

Speaker 1 accidentally, you don't know what you're, what the fuck you're doing, right?

Speaker 1 And like that moment, I was like, everything that I fucking believed in evaporated because I was like, I thought I was so careful and I was in love, right?

Speaker 1 So like all of the other things that like made it okay in my mind. I was like, I did everything fucking right.
And then I don't know what a condom ripping feels like

Speaker 1 when I'm 16.

Speaker 1 So, and, and that is why conservatives are not empathetic.

Speaker 1 It's until, and I was that, until it happens to you, until you're the person affected,

Speaker 1 you don't have a reason to feel that empathy. And you have to like suffer, I think, in life.

Speaker 1 If you're anything like me, you have to suffer a little bit to learn why empathy is necessary. I agree.
I totally agree. I don't think I was born with empathy.

Speaker 1 Like, maybe, maybe I'm a shitty person, but I feel like a certain amount of suffering in my life where I was just like, all of these fucking things, I'm doing everything right and I'm still falling through the cracks.

Speaker 1 Like, I'm still, I'm still getting fucked by you by the universe. Yeah, that is what made me finally just be like, oh, actually, maybe I should be a little bit nicer.
Yeah, absolutely, dude.

Speaker 1 I used to say when I was a kid, I used to laugh at people who would say,

Speaker 1 like, when I was 12, 13-ish,

Speaker 1 I would laugh at people who would say that

Speaker 1 addiction is a disease. And now I have a very, very strong empathetic attitude towards addicts because I was a fucking pillhead when I was fucking 18.

Speaker 1 You know, I mean, these problems and things that we see in the world can truly happen to any one of us.

Speaker 1 And it's so heartbreaking that it takes it happening to either yourself or someone you love for you to give a fuck.

Speaker 1 And so that's when I, like, you know, going through those hardships, I would agree with you.

Speaker 1 You know, that's where, when I started really leaning left is when I went through things like that and came out of it and said, you know what? Life just ain't that fucking easy. No, it's just not.

Speaker 1 I mean, I wonder thumping anybody that can't, you know, that's in those spots. Oh, yeah.
There's no point to it.

Speaker 1 I think like, and I'm curious because you're from a small town.

Speaker 1 Like, I've had a theory for a long time that people from like rural areas and small towns, a huge percentage of the reason they don't end up feeling empathetic or like they have a lot of like negative feelings towards people who are sort of you know from cities and shit is because they just don't have any exposure to it right like so they just can't imagine it it's the same thing as all this stuff it's like until you're exposed to it you don't understand it so like i i i wonder like how the fuck do you solve that problem because like i think a lot of people who grew up in small towns like a lot of my family is from small towns and like you're lucky if they go 50 miles from their house ever in their whole life How can you possibly expose somebody in that position to like, hey, maybe there's another way to look at stuff and all this shit.

Speaker 1 America is terrible. Right.
Like

Speaker 1 national service. How the fuck do you do it outside of that? Dude, if I could, if I were king for a day, I would make national service a fucking, like, like, pay for your, your two-year associates.

Speaker 1 Like, go serve. You don't have to serve in the military.
You don't have to be uniformed. Like, if you want to be a firefighter, great.
But shit, like,

Speaker 1 I don't know, working in food kitchens. Like, just any EMS, right? Like, all of these types of things, people who I've known known who've had the benefit of that kind of service,

Speaker 1 going to a place outside their state, outside their, you know, small town, going into a city has made them a much better,

Speaker 1 smarter, more empathetic person. Yeah, 100%

Speaker 1 spot on. I worked on a subway for three years when I was in high school.
Had a guy fucking throw a sandwich and a glass plate at my head. Had a whole bunch of shit happen.

Speaker 1 100% the reason I am the way I am, or at least part of it. Right.
Yeah, dude. I totally agree.

Speaker 1 I washed dishes at a bar when I was in college for three years for eight bucks an hour, and that made me pretty, you know,

Speaker 1 775 at the subway. Yeah, it's pretty sympathetic to people who just don't have a lot.
And so that's where, like, dude, I'm so sick and tired of seeing, you know,

Speaker 1 and I think that people, to what you said, Zach, I think that people are waking up a little bit because I mean, I've, I've, I know, like, farmers in my community that are starting to be like, yo, what the fuck?

Speaker 1 Yeah. You know, I mean, like with this whole soybean crisis, which is fucking insane.
Yeah, crazy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Insane that we bailed out Argentina to the tune of $20 billion before we bailed out American farmers, just so China could go buy soybeans from Argentina before they bought them from U.S. farmers.

Speaker 1 It was 40.

Speaker 1 Well, I think it was 21st, and now they're getting ready to do another 20 billion. Yep.
Yep. Yes.
It's 40. And he's opening the U.S.
beef market to Argentinian beef.

Speaker 1 How is that going to help? I thought he was America first. Yeah, dude.
And that's what I'm saying. I may be wrong on that,

Speaker 1 but I'm pretty sure that's because I had a buddy of mine come up to me this weekend and said, hey, I went up to my dad when the crop thing was going on. He's like, well, at least we still have beef.

Speaker 1 And he's like, I went up to him yesterday and was like,

Speaker 1 I don't think we got beef no more.

Speaker 1 I mean, I've had people, farmers in my community straight up come up to me and be like, dude, I appreciate your videos.

Speaker 1 And they'll say, like, hey, you know, if we didn't, they've had farms for 150 years. I mean, these century farms.

Speaker 1 And they'll say, you know, if we didn't have our equipment paid off, we wouldn't make it.

Speaker 1 And some people don't have their equipment paid off. Sure.
A lot of people. So, so, Brian, are these people

Speaker 1 is it do you see them voting a different way next time? Or is this a the first step in a multi-year or just

Speaker 1 honestly? I'd have to see how the next three years go of this current administration

Speaker 1 because the last four years to them was such a

Speaker 1 like in their mind, it was detrimental.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 it would take,

Speaker 1 and this is why, like, I think Gavin Newsom is going to be very,

Speaker 1 a very good candidate.

Speaker 1 And I'll vote for him if he becomes the primary, you know, and I'm depending on who's in the primary, I'll definitely probably vote for him then too. But

Speaker 1 my ideal candidate for a small town,

Speaker 1 you know, guy that leans a little bit left.

Speaker 1 And I think even people now that are watching the shit go on that lean a little bit right, I think the ideal candidate would be someone who is from a red state that's a Democrat.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 somebody who looks like a farmer or somebody who looks like a blue-collar guy, you know, or speaks. That's what Gavin Newsom is killing right now.
Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 these people

Speaker 1 will not, if Trump has taught me anything, it is the fact that he is so relatable to these people because he fucking talks like them. Yes, exactly.
And so I think that

Speaker 1 that would be like, dude, and I mean, I fucking

Speaker 1 really don't like Bill Clinton, but when he, like, if he, when he first started running, the guy from the southern guy from Arkansas, the southern Democrat from Arkansas, that would, that was the ideal candidate.

Speaker 1 And I think that's why he had so much success. You know what I mean? And like, I don't know, dude.
I think it's like, I think about it when I was a kid. People weren't this fucking divided.

Speaker 1 I mean, I remember being

Speaker 1 leaning left in high school and everybody still was a Republican and stuff like that. But like

Speaker 1 during Obama's first campaign before he got elected, people were not this divided. And, you know, like in 2008.

Speaker 1 I remember being in high school and we would talk to each other and I'd say, you know, something along like of policy issues and we'd argue back and forth, you know, in class and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 And people would kind of understand, at least kids would understand you.

Speaker 1 But now I literally just had a conversation with someone like in July that said to me, I just don't like Obama because he put our put our country in so much debt that our, even our great grandkids won't be able to pay it off.

Speaker 1 And I was like, they just passed the largest debt ceiling bill in united states history right

Speaker 1 they don't like facts these people don't like facts they don't well they don't give a about facts that's the hardest part is they're entrenched in this belief system they're like that's it this is this if they can tell a lie that identifies with their bigotry then they're good with it that's that's all that matters well but they're also they're also told by their media that they're right but they're but they're telling lies that identify with their bigotry right like they didn't like that they lost to the black guy and so fox news says yeah but obama made us all poor.

Speaker 1 And boom, they're happy to parrot that shit because it's easier than saying, I don't like the black guy. Right.
Which is, I mean, this is why I don't want to say that.

Speaker 1 I'm constantly. This is why I'm always advocating for like the Trump administration to be like a complete fucking catastrophe where everybody has to look at it and go, look what you did.

Speaker 1 You can't like, that's why I want this fucking government shutdown to drag the fuck on and shit to keep going wrong. I want people to feel the pain of this.

Speaker 1 And I know that's a really unpopular thing to say, but otherwise, we'll just keep getting that narrative to work. If people don't feel the pain of what they voted for, they'll vote for it again.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 We have to stop it. Yeah, I understand where you're coming from.
And that's the thing. Like, I think that, like, here's the thing.
Grocery prices are not down in the slightest. Oh, they're fine.

Speaker 1 And before the election, it was, well, we got to get them grocery prices down, you know, and like even people in my hometown, they're like, dude, I'm sorry, but, you know, Biden has just ballooned like the everyday costs of living.

Speaker 1 And I'm like,

Speaker 1 okay, what the fuck ever? And then he wins or whatever. And now the conversation has changed from, well, Biden did it to, well, Biden did it.
So it's going to take us a while to get out of the hole.

Speaker 1 Right. Yep.
But eventually that'll change.

Speaker 1 I made a video on that. There's only so far he gets.
There's only so much rope he gets, right? He doesn't get to claim it was Biden in two years. Yeah, that's

Speaker 1 well, MAGA will hang with it, but the swing voters that don't pay attention and jumped in and went, I just voted for prices, they'll be like, well, this motherfucker didn't fix it, so I'm not voting for him again.

Speaker 1 And then it'll shift back. And that's really

Speaker 1 permanent.

Speaker 1 They'll never be. They'll never be permanent.
No, they'll always be the pendulum that does back and forth. Right.

Speaker 1 I mean, unfortunately, I think there's a huge chunk of this country that doesn't give a shit how bad things are as long as people like Trump are in power, they're cool with it. You know,

Speaker 1 but he'll, they'll, MAGA will lose its power if the swing voters see that, oh, this is bad forever. Like, I'm never going back to this approach, you know.

Speaker 1 Well, that's my main thing. It's like, dude, MAGA won't last forever.
Like, what are you going to do when it's all over? Yeah.

Speaker 1 When it's all over, what are you going to do? Because you've just fucking shit on everybody. No, I mean, it's horrible.
I mean, here's the question. Do you think it dies with Trump?

Speaker 1 Or do you think if Trump died, it would continue? No, I think J.D. Vance has inherited the throne, so to speak.
And

Speaker 1 I also think that, like,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 you see.

Speaker 1 all this happening and these people are more willing to keep parroting these talking points because even if they disagree with a lot of the shit, they know if they admit or they think to themselves, it's not even true because we would welcome them back or not even welcome them back, but like

Speaker 1 just welcome them back to sanity. You know, like

Speaker 1 if these people think to themselves, well, if I admit he's a bad person, then I'm admitting I'm a bad person.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 1 And I can't fucking do that.

Speaker 1 Yep. You can start spot on.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, I've been saying the same thing.
Like, I know that J.D.

Speaker 1 Vance doesn't seem to have the same charisma or stage presence as Donald Trump, but the systems of power around him,

Speaker 1 up to and including all of the fucking billionaires who've aligned themselves with Trumpism, they're not going to suddenly turn away from that. Because,

Speaker 1 like, should Trump fucking croak after his next McDonald's,

Speaker 1 JD Vance is the president, right? And all of the levers of power, whether it's Oracle,

Speaker 1 you know, and their new role in TikTok or fucking Mark Zuckerberg, all of our means of communication have been consolidated. Yeah.
And there's, you know, outside of

Speaker 1 voting, there's like not a whole fucking lot of way to wrest that back from them. I think the interesting thing is, I think if J.D.

Speaker 1 Vance did take over as president now, you fast forward three years and MAGA would look way different than it does now.

Speaker 1 Like, I I think with Trump being like, MAGA would survive and the institutions of what they want would be the same. But, like, he's an opportunist and he knows that this is not a good long-term play.

Speaker 1 I think if he was in charge, he'd be like, I'm going to dial it back just a little so I can keep this going, you know, because Trump doesn't give a fuck. Yeah, what we have to do is make people

Speaker 1 like these politicians who are not Trump, like even Republicans in the Senate and in the House that

Speaker 1 you know are there now, we have to make them more fearful of the power of the people than they are of Trump?

Speaker 1 And so, I think that's where, like, the protests and everything, those are accomplishing a lot more than people think they do.

Speaker 1 Even on the right, when they pair at this talking point, like, oh, fucking, look, looking great for you. You had your protests.
Now, what? You know, fuck you. I don't give a fuck, dude.

Speaker 1 That was a show of solidarity. Absolutely.
And it makes these Republicans think to themselves, hmm.

Speaker 1 In four years, he's going to be gone, and I still have to campaign. Yep.

Speaker 1 Should I really be tying my fucking sails to this guy's fucking boat?

Speaker 1 Well, we have seen that generally he doesn't have coattails if he's not on the ticket.

Speaker 1 So that's that's an interesting piece to this is that that's why we tend to do well better in elections where he endorses somebody, but he's not on the ballot. We usually beat that person.

Speaker 1 And I think that's the same thing.

Speaker 1 And it's worth pointing out that the No Kings rallies this weekend, I think they have, it's essentially been confirmed that they are the largest single day protest in American history.

Speaker 1 You know, the right is going to continue to

Speaker 1 seven million more.

Speaker 1 You know, I've seen, and you know it's big because they've been talking about it on Fox News.

Speaker 1 They've been talking on the White House about what a disaster it's been, which is how you know it's been successful because they were going out and attacking it before it even happened. Right.

Speaker 1 Hate America.

Speaker 1 Yeah, hate America. I heard some dickheads say that while I was out, too, by the way.
Really?

Speaker 1 The protest I went to was like downtown and there's a bunch of restaurants downtown and we were walking and there's this guy and his i think his family's sitting there and he somebody i think his like little kid asked him he's like what is that and he unironically said it was the hate america rally and i my head was like a

Speaker 1 swivel i said what did you say and he goes it's the hate america rally i said oh so you're sticking up for the pedophiles then that's what you're protecting because that lady over there says Her sign says, get rid of pedophiles.

Speaker 1 And you're calling that hating America. That is a crazy thing to say.
And his face just fucking drained.

Speaker 1 That's what I thought. And then I just, yeah, I mean, I loved seeing all the American flags because, you know, like, I think for me,

Speaker 1 you know, I'm extremely proud of

Speaker 1 being from the United States and like all the things that we've been able to do through history and through time to make a better America for everyone in it.

Speaker 1 And it's about fucking time we stopped letting these unpatriotic motherfuckers call us that word.

Speaker 1 Right. Amen.

Speaker 1 Well, and how about this? Do you know how many arrests were made at the rallies? Yeah, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Hold on, fucking zero. Zero.

Speaker 1 Donald Trump has more arrests on his record than they did at the No Kings rally.

Speaker 1 I mean, New York City, right? New York City, which the Times Square was completely jam-packed. It was overflowing with hundreds of thousands of people.
Zero arrests.

Speaker 1 And look, we have more police than anybody. So, like, if someone was going to do something, they were going to get caught.

Speaker 1 But I did hear that there were in the neighborhood of 10 to 20 counter-protest MAGA protesters who got arrested. Yeah,

Speaker 1 oh my God, it's my favorite thing. That's a fucking wonderful video.
So, as long as you know the N-word and then

Speaker 1 before we laugh about this for a second, there's this guy, it was in Denver, and someone was filming him, and he was, he used all kinds of derogatory, horrible comments.

Speaker 1 He used the F-word to reference gay people.

Speaker 1 Did he use the F-word? He was the N-word, yeah.

Speaker 1 And he's being videoed, He knows he's being videoed. And then some guy is like up to comes up to him and then runs away.
And he's trying to chase the guy, and he trips on his own feet.

Speaker 1 Nobody around him. Nobody touched him.
Everyone's laughing. Nobody touched him.
Gets up, tries to run again, and then eats it again and stands up.

Speaker 1 And he's got this like massive gash over one of his eyes. All self-inflicted.
All self-inflicted. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Speaker 1 So the skateboarder did take his glasses.

Speaker 1 That is why he was chasing this skateboarder.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 I am one who loves to see MAGA get physically injured for fucking around and finding out.

Speaker 1 He did steal something.

Speaker 1 Like, you know, you take a man's glasses and he eats shit and busts his face open. I still think it's funny.
That sucks. I mean, I still like got a chuckle out of the video.
I'm not saying that.

Speaker 1 It's the worst thing that's ever happened, but we should just acknowledge that like someone stole something from him. Yeah.
That's not right. Chris.

Speaker 1 What a buzzkill. Buzz kill.
Dude,

Speaker 1 among us, I am the one who's so quick.

Speaker 1 I think it's still, I think my favorite favorite protest video is still from, was that the first No King's Day or was that, was it hands-off that that dude got fucking head-butted?

Speaker 1 That one was pretty fun.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he was some kind of white trash.

Speaker 1 He was at a protest and was like in this, in these ladies' face and was like grabbing them and shaking them. And this dude comes out of the fucking crowd like Batman and just wham,

Speaker 1 pinbuffs him right in the fucking kisser. Jesus.

Speaker 1 And then the guy, and then the rest of the story is not so fun because the little dick fucking idiot runs back to his truck and pulls an AR out, but then he ended up arresting. Oh, there you go.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, to Chris's point, I think that, you know, like, if there's anything being fucking blasted through the media in the last week has taught me, it's that,

Speaker 1 and i just made a video about this but you know no matter how many of these people obviously wouldn't even you know

Speaker 1 wouldn't give a flying fuck if i dropped dead tomorrow or wouldn't stop on the side of the road if i was on fire to piss on me

Speaker 1 i still want these same people

Speaker 1 to be able to afford health insurance or to be able to go work 40 hours a week and then come home and enjoy their time with their children or or not have to come home after working 80 hours a week and flip the light switch on and wonder if the lights are going to come on because they're so far behind on their light bill.

Speaker 1 And that's my main sentiment. And that's the biggest difference between me and them is that, you know, we weren't born to just play or pay bills and die.

Speaker 1 I like that line. You use that in a video.
I like it. Yeah, that's, I just, I just fucking posted it.

Speaker 1 I was like, I mean, it's, it's all about like, because people ask me all the time, especially in my small town, people that I grew up with and that I know, man, you're just, you're really far gone now, dude.

Speaker 1 Like, are you okay? Who radicalized you? You did, dude.

Speaker 1 Wanting better for you. Yes, wanting better for you radicalized me, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's funny. I've gotten the exact, I'm from a small town in Maine, and I've gotten the same thing, like, where friends of friends

Speaker 1 will tell me, like, oh, like everyone says, like, people are like, oh, what happened to him? And I'm like,

Speaker 1 I haven't changed. Like, you guys changed.
You guys got more, you know, aggressive and, and wanted to blame other people for your, for your problems, because that's what you're being told. Right.

Speaker 1 It's like Fox News and Donald Trump and, you know, Facebook and all these things are just telling you over and over again that someone's else's fault. Like part of it, I kind of, I, I get it.

Speaker 1 I get frustrated when I go like, you know, the argument about who is committing most of the political violence in this country, which it's overwhelmingly the right.

Speaker 1 And they are all convinced, especially after Charlie Kirk, that it's all the left. And I ask them all to Google it and they won't do it.
Yeah. Because they know, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 They know, but they won't. They can't admit it.
Yeah. And I mean,

Speaker 1 it's just, it's so sad.

Speaker 1 And it's the, it's a crying damn shame that there's a fact out there that eight fucking people own more money and have more money than four billion fucking people can find, yep, combined.

Speaker 1 But these same people still were able to convince most of these people that vote for them that illegal immigrants at the emergency room and poor people on welfare are the reason they're broke.

Speaker 1 Yep, yep, yep, yep, 100%.

Speaker 1 It's a big club, and you ain't in it.

Speaker 1 Wait, I have one question before we wrap up here. We've been talking about a lot of divisive shit, but I got one more divisive thing to bring up.

Speaker 1 Oh, God, the last time you asked the last question, you got called an asshole. So, are we going to be in the same boat? It's about music because I feel like we have.
Oh, no,

Speaker 1 no, no, no, no, no, no, I know where this is. Let's go away, dude.
Oh, are you really doing this? Brian, what's your take on Nickelback?

Speaker 1 Bro, I love Nickelback.

Speaker 1 I've been making this podcast with these dickheads for six months, and they have shit on me for my love of Nickelback for months.

Speaker 1 You were here for the first time around. You were here for the first time around when we saw.
We were here for Nickelback, and it was terrible, you guys. Don't do it to us again.

Speaker 1 No, dude. If I, dude, I bet I catch myself at least once a month going, This is how you remind me of what I really am.
This guy gets it. That's why it's bad.
It's brain cancer. It never leaves.

Speaker 1 That fucking 2000s butt rock was the shit. I love it.
Did you divorce dad rock? Divorce dad rock. Yeah.
Divorce dad rock. Did you feel the same way about Creed? I love Creed, dude.
Oh, God.

Speaker 1 We're editing the podcast now.

Speaker 1 Bro,

Speaker 1 dude, one of my fucking at most of my shows, sometimes I'll, like, if we get an encore or whatever, I'll come out and say hire.

Speaker 1 Oh, man.

Speaker 1 Dude, because

Speaker 1 You probably do spirit animal here. I would say you probably do do it better than Scott Staff, I would say for sure.

Speaker 1 And then your little bit of nickelback, I would like to see you do a real version of that because maybe I would actually enjoy it. Maybe it is.

Speaker 1 Also, we were also, it was pummeled into our brains for several years non-stop.

Speaker 1 Before streaming, when you had no choice,

Speaker 1 if you wanted new music, you either had to like wing it and guess at Sam Goody on a CD, or you had to turn on the radio.

Speaker 1 You couldn't go into a store, You couldn't turn on a station without just being

Speaker 1 abused. Abused.
I call it Yarl rock because they all sound like they're saying Yarl all the time. But it's all the post-grunge.
Like it started with God Smack through Nickelback and all that. Yeah,

Speaker 1 it was a whole thing for like 10 years. I think that divorced dad rock has such a huge influence on popular country music today.

Speaker 1 And so like for me, when I make like rock songs like that, I love doing that. And then, I mean, I don't know.
Well, growing up, I used to listen listen to a lot of pop-punk music too.

Speaker 1 So, you know, just living in the Midwest and everything. So,

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 But, I mean, I love Nickelback. I like Creed.

Speaker 1 Three Doors Down, three doors.

Speaker 1 Got a little shine down. Shine Down.
Fuck, yeah, dude. Fucking love.
Dude, Shine Down follows me on Instagram. And it's amazing.
I'm so tense.

Speaker 1 I remember the day it happened. I was like, I don't know.

Speaker 1 I thought we were going to invite you back, Brian. I know, me too.

Speaker 1 So close. So close.
It's going so well. And for live dance.

Speaker 1 I guess it's Luke used to have a, he used to end the show with a get fuck segment, but I think we're the ones getting fucked now by Luke. That was what this one was.

Speaker 1 I don't like that phrase. I don't like that phrasing at all.

Speaker 1 We were trying to learn the right crazy plan in the background. It's really nice.

Speaker 1 Can you take me?

Speaker 1 Dude,

Speaker 1 that's already better. That's already better.
That's already already.

Speaker 1 Brian, I heard your the chimes in the background. Your clock at three o'clock went off, so I know we've been going for an hour.

Speaker 1 But we wanted to thank you not only for being here, which is obviously awesome, but for doing what you're doing. I know it's not easy,

Speaker 1 in particular in the in the line of work and the in the categories that you tend to perform in is not an easy thing to do. So we really, really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 And I loved that when you put your statement out the other day and you like did it as a carousel and you're like, I know a lot of people are upset.

Speaker 1 And then you swipe by and he goes, I stand by everything that I said. We need more people like you doing exactly what you're doing.

Speaker 1 And it's just great to have you on and have known, get to know you a little bit over the past week.

Speaker 1 And I want to make sure that everybody goes and streams all of Brian's music, regardless of some of his influences that we can't talk about anymore.

Speaker 1 Including the new single, The Older I Get, which is super good. And you should stream it and show support for him.
So with that, I'm going to say goodbye. Oh, you know what I didn't do? Oh,

Speaker 1 God. I didn't hawk our merch.
Well,

Speaker 1 let's let's do this a slightly different way. So, Chris, I know you don't like when I try to give things away, but I was wondering: can we send Brian a hoodie or something?

Speaker 1 Like, we gotta, we gotta, he needs some, he needs some stuff, right? Let's send him some merch.

Speaker 1 How about you guys send me some and I'll send y'all some. Oh, deal.
I like that.

Speaker 1 There we go. And I think everybody's going to be really happy to

Speaker 1 take that shit away.

Speaker 1 There was,

Speaker 1 I don't know if it was the last episode or two episodes ago, Rich, we talked about merch for kids.

Speaker 1 We can do it.

Speaker 1 Our merch guy listens to our show and sent me an email over the weekend. So we physically can print this stuff.

Speaker 1 Hey, I just want you guys to know, by the way, you guys are getting around. Somebody sent me a DM this last week and it said, dude, you should go on the Find Out podcast.
Yes.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Now you can tell them that you were on. And also, this is part of our pitch, but so you know, all of our stuff is made in America and printed by Union,

Speaker 1 Union Shop Partisans.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and they're super comfortable. And everybody else, if you want to buy yours, you can get it at findoutpodcast.com.

Speaker 1 And you can also don't forget to subscribe to our substack at findoutpodcast.substack.com. Brian Andrews, thank you very much for joining us.
Thank you, everybody, for listening.

Speaker 1 Have a wonderful week. We'll be back on Thursday.
Thanks, everybody. Thanks for having me, guys.
Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 Good.