In this episode of the Ruthless Variety Program, hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook dissect Kamala Harris's awkward campaign relaunch and what it means for a bankrupt Democratic Party.

From her Gen Alpha "skibidi" vibes to failed youth appeals, we break it all down with zero holds barred.

Then, tune in for an exclusive interview with RNC Chairman Joe Gruters on crushing fundraising records, election integrity lawsuits, midterm battle plans, and a potential game-changing "Trumpapalooza" convention to defy history and secure Republican majorities.

Key topics: Kamala's rebrand flop, Democratic desperation, health insurance greed, media meltdowns, Supreme Court wins, grassroots strategies, and holding the House & Senate in 2026. Perfect for fans of sharp political satire and insider GOP insights. Subscribe now for weekly episodes packed with laughs and analysis!

#RuthlessPodcast #KamalaHarris #RNCMidterms

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We open by laying out what actually just happened with the SAVE Act and why it matters right now. The bill clears the House, heads toward the Senate, then gets stripped out during a government funding move. We walk through the numbers, the polling, and the quiet shift from open opposition to procedural delay. We also get into why voter ID keeps pulling strong public support while Democratic leadership keeps finding reasons to slow-walk it.

From there, we get into the arguments we keep hearing and why they don’t hold up under scrutiny. We talk through the bipartisan Carter–Baker commission findings, the Real ID framework, and the data showing how few registered voters lack identification. We also address the push to blame online narratives and personal attacks instead of dealing with the policy itself, including outside agitators trying to redirect frustration away from Senate leadership decisions.

After that, we move fast. The lightning round hits a law firm offering to evict Billie Eilish from a Los Angeles mansion on behalf of a native tribe and the plan to reinstall a Christopher Columbus statue on White House grounds. King of the Hill returns with a fresh matchup, Florida enters the taco business with cold-stunned iguanas, and we sit down with Byron Donalds for a wide-ranging conversation on ICE, immigration enforcement, and the Florida governor’s race. We close by asking what it will really take to get elected Democrats to stop dodging voter ID and deal with it head-on.

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The left has become insufferable theater kids 🎭 — staging Iwo Jima reenactments with the wrong flag 🇸🇴, blocking Minneapolis streets with shipping crates 🛑, and screaming “no one is illegal on stolen land” while living securely mansions 🏰.

Josh, Smug, and Duncan and Ashbrook break down the performative outrage 😤, the foreign money behind it 💰, the recycled San Francisco protests 🔄, and why social media + cash incentives have turned activism into cringe cosplay 📱🤡

Plus: NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson joins for a deep dive on the 2026 midterms 🗳️ — record fundraising 💰, prime pickup opportunities 🗺️, Democrat civil war 🤯, redistricting battles ⚔️, and why turning out Trump voters is everything 🇺🇸

Also in this episode: Australian strip club chair fights 🪑🥊, the immortal name “Dick Bigger Jr.” 😂, cold-stunned Florida iguanas 🦎❄️, and more unhinged variety 🔥

Keep the faith , hold the line, and own the libs!

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🎙️ We’re live in Philadelphia to kick off America 250, and we’re coming in hot: big crowd, big venue, and a full night built around pride in the country and what it still makes possible. We talk about why celebrating the 250th isn’t just a party—it’s a push to re-learn what holds this place together. Then we bring out the NFL’s own Jaws, Ron Jaworski, and the conversation lands on values, work ethic, leadership, and what it takes to win when the stakes are real—on the field, at work, and at home.

🇺🇸 From there, we sit down with the people turning “one small step” into action across communities. We get into why this moment matters, how grassroots pressure actually moves decision-makers, and why civic confidence is slipping for too many people. We also talk through why Philadelphia’s history—Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Constitution Center—hits different when you stand in the middle of it.️

🐘 Then the fellas bring the games. We play Dem or Journo and Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity joins us to talk service, manufacturing, watching taxpayer dollars, unclaimed property wins, and what it looks like to run a massive office like a serious operation.

💥 Finally, Guy Benson steps in with a sharp take on immigration, federal enforcement, and the outrage of taxpayer fraud—then we cap the night with Hard Pivot, a game where Guy shines as bright as they come.

00:00 - America 250 kicks off live in Philadelphia

06:23 - Ron Jaworski joins the progrum

09:45 - Leadership and the American dream mindset

15:08 - Dick Vermeil, team culture, and paying the price

29:35 - America 250 toolkit and celebrating all year

33:06 - AFP leaders on “one small step” and civic action

38:34 - Libre Initiative and Hispanic outreach

42:33 - Concerned Veterans of America and veteran voices

49:00 - Demerge Snow: wild quotes about American history

1:03:21 - Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity on service and stewardship

1:15:21 - Guy Benson on immigration, enforcement, and fraud outrage

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🎙️ The fellas sit down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for a wide-ranging conversation that hits policy, politics, and the pure theater of the moment. We talk through what Trump Accounts are built to do—seed money, compounding, and a real push toward financial literacy—plus how the private sector and states may stack on top of it. We also get into the broader economic pitch: growth, inflation, deficits, and why Bessent thinks the private sector is about to do the heavy lifting.

💰 Then we sprint to catch up with Senator Ted Cruz after President Trump riffs—very publicly—about Cruz as a possible Supreme Court pick. Cruz gives us a definitive answer, explains why he doesn’t want the robe, and lays out how he sees his role in the middle of policy fights instead. We also get the behind-the-scenes origin story of Trump Accounts—from a late-night Vegas poker table to drafting the provision that ends up in the bill.️

👑 After the interviews, we talk through what we heard, what it signals for the midterm conversation the fellas are building toward, and we get into listener comments on early Senate predictions. We close it out with our Thursday staple, King of the Hill, where Cheri Jacobus takes on champion Steve Schmidt.

00:00 — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

03:16 — What Trump Accounts are and why the media isn’t covering it

09:18 — Smug’s big announcement

10:34 — Markets, compounding, and why this is meant to change behavior

14:22 — Davos: what happened with Gavin Newsom

23:32 — Fraud, NGOs, and “benefits turned into business”

31:19 — What “too small to succeed” means

33:32 — Smug’s baby news

44:15 — Trump’s Cruz riff: Supreme Court chatter goes public

45:35 — Ted Cruz on possible SCOTUS nom

59:18 — King of the Hill

Subscribe for more unfiltered conservative commentary, interviews with top leaders, and laughs! Hit that like button if you're ready for America's comeback. #RuthlessPodcast #ScottBessent #TedCruz #TrumpAccounts #EconomicBoom #SupremeCourt #maga

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 The fellas are laying the whole Senate map on the table and getting real about what’s actually at stake for the next two years.

We get into why holding the Senate matters so much for a Trump administration, from confirmations to the very real threat of impeachment politics coming roaring back if Democrats get the chance.

Then we start walking state by state through the early battlefield, where the money is going to flood in, where the margins are going to be brutal, and where Republicans can realistically grow the majority.

 We start with North Carolina, because the fellas think it’s shaping up to be one of the most expensive races in American history—potentially a $600 million monster. We talk through the matchup dynamics, why the Democrat name ID advantage is real early, and why the race changes once the spending begins. Then we jump to Georgia, where Ossoff’s entire plan looks like it hinges on Republicans not showing up in the rural areas in a midterm—so the primary becomes its own test of who can actually build the kind of turnout operation it takes to win.️

 From there, we hit the rest of the map: Susan Collins once again fighting upstream in Maine while Democrats try to sort out their own mess, Michigan opening up with Democrats in a fractured primary and Republicans feeling like they’ve got a real shot, and the Texas situation that could turn into a full-blown runoff slugfest with massive consequences.

We also get into Alaska’s quirks and why polling there is always a mess, Ohio’s matchup potential, Iowa’s open seat and why candidate quality matters, and the Louisiana calendar that’s set up to produce a low-turnout sprint into a runoff.

 Then we talk with US Attorney Jeanine Pirro about crime in D.C., what changes when prosecutors actually prosecute, how the federal component of her office plays into major cases, and why she’s approaching public safety like it’s the job—not a press strategy.
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➢Melania from Amazon MGM Studios captures the personal moments that come with stepping into the role of the First Lady for a second time - in theaters exclusively on January 30th, 2026.

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🎙️ No better start to a Friday than the fallout from the church disruption in Minnesota, and for once, we actually get the kind of consequences we hoped for. We talk through the arrests, the perp walks, and the sheer audacity of watching people try to rewrite what happened in Minneapolis. However, there is a continued refusal to bring charges against Don Lemon. We go through what it says about Minnesota’s political rot, what it says about activist media, and why this whole “I’m just reporting” act falls apart when the so-called journalist is obviously part of the operation.

🫏 We saved this for your Friday: Krysten Sinema getting dragged into a divorce filing that reads like a political thriller written by a horny screenwriter. We get into the alleged affair, the weird trips, the gifts, the encrypted messaging, the drugs, and the “this can’t be real” details that somehow keep piling up. It’s messy, it’s ridiculous, and it’s exactly the kind of story that makes you wonder how anyone in Washington functions in public at all.️

🏠 Then, we sit down with HUD Secretary Scott Turner to discuss housing, homelessness, and disaster recovery. He tells Ashbrook that HUD uncovered $1.9 billion in misplaced funds and moved to return those dollars to the Treasury. Turner also explains why they cut contracts, including $4 million in DEI-related contracts.

00:00 - Crime, punishment, and chaos

04:10 - It’s perp walk season

05:58 - Activist goes on CNN and tries to rewrite the story

10:07 - Another perp walk: “Da Woke Farmer” gets arrested

15:47 - Activists + media collusion

19:44 - Krysten Sinema scandal is totally wild

28:15 - Divorce filing details: affair allegations and power dynamics

37:30 - MDMA, “boring” missionary talk, and peak absurdity

47:33 - Variety with a great pic and taking a whale ride

57:49 - HUD Secretary Scott Turner

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🎙️ Once again the left has given the American people a bait-and-switch with the promise of “moderate Democrats” in VA and NJ. We walk through how that brand gets sold, why it keeps working in purple places, and what happens the minute governing power shows up. Virginia Governor Spanberberger shows how a “most bipartisan” claim turns into a very different set of priorities once the ink is dry.

🐘 Border Czar Tom Homan explains how the same enforcement tools that were treated as normal for decades are now used as a political weapon. He walks us through how the rhetoric shifted, why “enforce the law” became controversial, and why he thinks so much of the outrage is less about policy and more about denying wins—no matter what it costs in public safety.

🌽 Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins discusses a year of governing and the White House efforts on warp-speed execution. Namely: trade, prices, inputs, exports, and making sure America stays the breadbasket for ourselves and the rest of the world. Then Rollins lays out why the administration wants real food back on plates, why whole milk is returning to schools, and how the old low-fat dogma flipped incentives in the worst direction.

00:00 - Dems reveal their moderates were a bait-and-switch

04:02 - Spanberger drops her moderate face

07:15 - The campaign ad pitch vs the record

15:40 - Mikie Sherrill rhetoric ramps up

20:06 - Eric Swalwell on ICE and law enforcement

25:57 - Border Czar Tom Homan

42:41 - Davos, Greenland talk, and Macron’s sunglasses

51:21 - King of the Hill: Steve Schmidt vs Rick Wilson

59:34 - Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins

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🎙️ We break down the left’s overt hatred of religion in America - on display Sunday in Minneapolis. More than unhinged, it’s dangerous. Then we get into Don Lemon showing up on the scene and trying to dress the whole thing up as “First Amendment” theater, while the fellas call out what’s really happening: organized chaos with a media camera crew conveniently on-site. We dig into the growing sense that the activist left is operating with zero fear of consequences, and why the DOJ is actually stepping in.

⚡The political hypocrisy tour continues with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro confirming what everyone already knew: Kamala Harris’s team was obsessively paranoid about Israel and anti-Semitism politics during the VP vetting process. We react to the insane details, including the question that basically asks if Shapiro was some kind of undercover operative, and we connect it back to a broader pattern of the modern Democratic coalition’s hatred of religion.️

💥 Virginia Democrats are openly gunning for a 10–1 map and Republicans in places like Indiana are refusing to play hardball when it matters in the redistricting fight. We talk through why this stuff is never polite, never clean, and why pretending the other side won’t do it to you has become a political death wish heading into the midterms.

⛷️ Variety with ski jumpers “ehancing” suit measurements, Bears fans painting their nails during a playoff run, and airlines quietly celebrating Ozempic.

Come join us with AFP in Philadelphia - get tickets here http://a250philly.com/ruthless

00:00 — The left’s “religious tolerance” problem

06:06 — Consequences, law enforcement, and why this can’t keep sliding

09:04 — Don Lemon shows up and hides behind the First Amendment

18:33 — The organizers post the whole op on Facebook

23:55 — Why Shapiro mattered for the Harris ticket

46:02 — Redistricting fight: Texas, California, Indiana, and Virginia

58:56 — Ski jumping suit scandal goes nuclear

01:06:12 — Bears fans embrace matcha and mannies

01:08:37 — Ozempic saving airlines millions

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🎙️ Watching SCOTUS this week, it’s obvious that the left’s entire legal theory collapses once someone asks simple questions. We talk about why this case isn’t just about sports, and why the arguments we’re hearing put far more than one issue at risk. Serious question, though, is Ketanji Brown Jackson the dumbest current justice, or the dumbest justice ever? I bet she doesn’t understand.

👩🏻‍⚖️ Then, we break down why this thinking from left-wing justices collapses under even mild pressure. It also exposes years of sloppy logic, and why watching actual litigators respond to it is both painful and deeply satisfying. This reveals the broader pattern we’ve seen for years: vibes over facts.

🏀 Bruce Pearl joins us for a deep conversation on leadership, college basketball, NIL disorder, and the cost of speaking freely. He explains why accountability matters in sports and politics, reflects on coaching at the highest levels, addresses campus anti-Semitism, and makes the case for courage, clarity, and responsibility in public life.

00:00 - Supreme Court arguments and the definition problem

03:30 - Why laws collapse without clear definitions

06:30 - The Alito moment and unintended consequences

09:18 - Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s “I don’t understand” problem

12:40 - Lawyers dunking on the bench

15:34 - Language games

19:58 - MAGATKO

23:02 - Why the mob never expects pushback

25:16 - Tim Walz audio and unforced errors

35:30 - Dem or Journo returns

45:24 - What the media used to brag about

46:01 - Coach Bruce Pearl joins the Progrum

55:32 - NIL, college sports, and leadership

01:03:09 - Speaking freely and paying the price

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