Red State Reboot

The Grammys and Super Bowl might be over but that doesn't mean all the fun has to end!! Today, we’re going through our top 5 scams of 2024, plus some honorable mentions... In our discussion, we realize that all roads lead back to George Santos, so we finally give him the credit he deserves. And you won’t want to miss as we unleash the power of artificial intelligence to deliver a segment certain to both haunt and delight. But that’s not all… Today is THE DAY we unveil a new game on the pod, and any opportunity to relive Lauren Boebert at Beetlejuice the musical should always be seized… so, are you a hero, a weirdo, or a freak? There’s only one way to know for sure: LISTEN NOW!

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New episodes of Red State Reboot drop every Monday.

IG: @redstaterebootpod

Website: www.redstatereboot.com

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCES:

Bloomberg News. 2024. “‘Roaring Kitty’ orchestrated GameStop pump and dump, class action alleges.” Investment News. July 1. https://www.investmentnews.com/industry-news/roaring-kitty-orchestrated-gamestop-pump-and-dump-class-action-alleges/254929

Watson, Calum, Morven Mckinnon & Megan Bonar. 2024. “Willy Wonka experience: How did the viral sensation go so wrong?” March 2. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-68431728

Bradner, Eric, Kristen Holmes, et al. 2024. “Gaetz withdraws from attorney general consideration after Trump told him he didn’t have the votes in the Senate.” CNN, November 21. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/matt-gaetz-withdrawing-attorney-general/index.html

Chaturvedi, Amit. 2024. “JD Vance Couch Story: How A Joke Turned Into Trending Topic And Was Fact-Checked.” NDTV. August 7. https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/jd-vance-couch-story-how-a-joke-turned-into-trending-topic-and-was-fact-checked-6282160

Joffe-Block, Jude. 2024. “What the JD Vance couch jokes say about social media this election season.” NPR, August 1. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/31/nx-s1-5055854/vance-harris-social-media-rumors-jokes

King, Hope, and Sarah Grillo. 2024. “Trump swag sales skyrocket on Amazon.” Axios, July 16. https://www.axios.com/2024/07/16/trump-shooting-t-shirt-sales-amazon

Klee, Miles. 2024. “Hawk Tuah Girl Breaks Silence After Meme Coin Crash and Class Action Suit.” Rolling Stone, December 21. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/hawk-tuah-meme-coin-haliey-welch-crypto-1235213606/

Molly White. 2024. “Colorado pastor: ‘We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.’” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYB23Q3gJgE

Nelson, Danny. 2024. “Haliey Welch ‘Fully Cooperating’ With Lawyers Suing Over Failed HAWK Crypto.” Yahoo Finance. December 23. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hailey-welch-fully-cooperating-lawyers-155157694.html

Pereira, Ivan. 2024. “Matt Gaetz AG nomination: Timeline.” ABC News. November 22. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/matt-gaetz-ag-nomination-timeline/story?id=116102495

Rosenblatt, Kalhan and Angela Yang. 2024. “‘Hawk Tuah Girl’ says she’s ‘cooperating’ with lawyers in suit related to crash of meme crypto.” NBC News. December 20. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/hawk-tuah-girl-says-s-cooperating-lawyers-suit-related-crash-meme-cryp-rcna185049

Stars_Doulikedem. n.d. “House of Illuminati apologizes for ‘Willy’s Chocolate Experience’ event : r/popculturechat.” Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/1b4u47k/house_of_illuminati_apologizes_for_willys/#lightbox

“Trump Sneakers - Official President Donald Trump Footwear.” n.d. Trump Sneakers. https://gettrumpsneakers.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoquIp-vkkMADjKqddzSJJsVrB5Zy-mOjSwqoldqaYXER_K7HqWo

Yang, Angela. “Viral Glasgow Willy Wonka ‘Chocolate Experience’ inspires Los Angeles event.” 2024. NBC News. April 30. http

This episode is dedicated to Jimmy, following his brutal operation. Today, we’re catching you up on U.S. vs Skrmetti, an ongoing case with serious implications for the rights of trans kids; tackle Elon Musk and his open rants against his own child; decide if soccer dads on T are seeking gender affirming care; and debate the merits of microbangs. If you missed last week’s ep on dogwhistles, where we talked about how politicians often take pre-existing terms and flip the meanings to fit their cause (e.g. ‘biological’), you should catch up before listening to this episode! Spoiler alert: ‘gender-affirming care’ has become an anti-trans dogwhistle over the last few years.

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New episodes of Red State Reboot drop every Monday!

IG: @redstaterebootpod

Website: www.redstatereboot.com

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCES:

ACLU. 2024a. “Five Things to Know About Gender-Affirming Health Care.” American Civil Liberties Union, April 11. https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/five-things-to-know-about-gender-affirming-health-care.

———. 2024b. “L.W. v. Skrmetti/U.S. v. Skrmetti.” American Civil Liberties Union, December 11. https://www.aclu.org/cases/l-w-v-skrmetti.

Boyle, Patrick. 2024. “What Is Gender-affirming Care? Your Questions Answered.” Assoc. Of American Medical Colleges, May 9. https://www.aamc.org/news/what-gender-affirming-care-your-questions-answered.

Campaign for Southern Equality. 2024. “Trans Youth Emergency Project.” https://southernequality.org/tyep/.

Catulle, Katherine. 2022. “Flaws of the Tiers of Scrutiny.” Harvard Undergraduate Law Review. June 3. https://hulr.org/spring-2022/flaws-of-the-tiers-of-scrutiny.

GLAAD. 2024. “The New York Times’ Bias Continues to Endanger Transgender People.” GLAAD, February 16. https://glaad.org/the-new-york-times-bias-continues-to-endanger-transgender-people/.

Golde, Kalvis. 2025. “United States V. Skrmetti.” SCOTUSblog. January 2. https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/united-states-v-skrmetti/.

HHS Office of Civil Rights. 2024. “Discrimination on the Basis of Sex.” HHS. May 15. https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/index.html.

HHS Office of Population Affairs. 2022. “Gender-Affirming Care and Young People.” Report. HHS. https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf.

Telford, Taylor, Faiz Siddiqui, and Casey Parks. 2024. “Elon Musk said his trans child was ‘dead.’ She’s calling him out.” Washington Post, July 26. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/07/26/musk-transgender-vivian-grimes/.

The Trevor Project. 2024. “Understanding Gender Identities” September 26.

Today is the first full day under the Trump II regime. We’re scared shitless, maybe like a lot of y’all. And if you’re not…go off, we guess. Either way, with everything going on around us, we figured we could use a moment to pause and reflect on what TF just happened and how TF we got here…and ofc have a good laugh. So, we present to you, our Inauguration Spectacular! In this episode, we’re covering the hilarious, the disturbing, and the absolutely unhinged moments of Inauguration Day 2025…including the Carrie Underwood of it all.

Come back next Monday for some more regularly scheduled programming! Since the Inauguration was dogwhistle central (YIKES!), tune back in next week for our *Rabbit Hole* deep-dive on Jennifer Saul’s article ‘Dogwhistles, Political Manipulation, and Philosophy of Language.’

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New episodes of Red State Reboot drop every Monday!

IG: @redstaterebootpod

Website: www.redstatereboot.com Contact: [email protected]

Red State Reboot is your favorite political comedy podcast. Season 2 premieres August 11th!

Hosts Ben & Abby are besties obsessed with reading the news and talking shit. Listen every Monday as they cover serious topics… without ever taking themselves too seriously.

IG: @redstaterebootpod

Website: www.redstatereboot.com

Contact: [email protected]