As we turn the page on 2025 and move into 2026, I thought it was time to reflect a little bit on where we ve been over the course of the last year. We ve had some remarkable guests on, controversial guests, from Charlie Kirk to Steve Bannon, to Steve Atriok, and so many more. Let s look back on this is Gavin Newsom.
00:03:19.260You going to push that line for the cause?
00:03:20.760Took us under his wing and showed us the game, as they call it.
00:03:25.760When Larry's killed, Gabe must untangle a dangerous past, one that could destroy everything he thought he knew.
00:03:31.640Listen to the Brothers Ortiz on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:03:36.960Many of you are likely familiar with my first guest on this podcast.
00:03:40.640It was nine months ago that I had Charlie Kirk on for an extended conversation.
00:03:45.560A lot of folks had a lot of opinions about that podcast, and a lot of clips traveled far and wide, a lot of headlines about the podcast.
00:03:54.520But lost in the headlines was a conversation that I thought was really important about what the Democratic Party needs to do better, what Democrats need to do more of, particularly as it relates to long-form podcasts.
00:04:08.000Getting, as Charlie said, out of these unsanitized conversations into the wild and connecting with folks in a more risky, more raw, and at times more emotional way.
00:04:22.020We pick up on this clip of that part of our conversation with this is Charlie Kirk.
00:04:27.580I'm part of it, and credit to you for doing long-form podcasting, because long-form podcasting does penetrate different audiences, right?
00:04:37.540But part of the problem of the Democrat Party that, for the health of the country, would be great to change is that Democrats cannot survive in long-form podcasting environments.
00:05:13.460But, like, there's something to be said that if you want to earn the respect of Forgotten America, you have to show them that you can intellectually joust with no script, no hard breaks, no producers in the East.
00:06:08.260So what Democrats are doing is you're still playing in a very old, hypersanitized media environment.
00:06:13.420And my advice is you've got to go where it's unpredictable, where it's treacherous, where it's dangerous.
00:06:17.640One of the other interesting guests we had on earlier this year was Steve Bannon, someone who's very familiar in the MAGA universe, very familiar to those supporters of Donald Trump.
00:06:29.240What is less familiar was Bannon, who was in the midst at the time of this conversation, in the midst of a debate with members of Congress, particularly Republican members of Congress,
00:06:41.820where he was actually arguing in favor of raising taxes on corporations and raising taxes on the 1%.
00:06:49.300In this clip, we have a conversation where I actually interject and challenged him that he was arguing for sounded a lot like California's progressive tax system.
00:07:02.900The idea that you're even talking about the corporate tax rate and the tax rate for the wealthiest among us and having, I mean, the fact that you're having this, we're having this dialogue about your different approach.
00:07:16.100I mean, in some ways, it's the California tax policy as it relates to more progressive tax policy that favors the working class.
00:07:48.800This year, we had a series of conversations with thought leaders about the issue of masculinity.
00:07:54.040One of the most compelling was with Scott Galloway, who just wrote a new book, Notes on Being a Man.
00:08:02.220Young men are being targeted by the deepest pocketed, most talented organizations in the world, specifically big tech, want to give them the sense that they can have a reasonable facsimile of life on a screen with an algorithm.
00:08:14.780Why go out and try and make friends when you have Reddit and Discord?
00:08:19.780Why go through the pain of putting on a tie, showing up on time, not partying during the week, and get a real job when you can trade stocks or crypto on Coinbase or Robinhood, which usually leads to disaster?
00:08:32.140Why go through the humiliation, the effort, the rejection, showering for God's sakes, working out, having a plan, showing resilience, approaching a stranger and expressing romantic interest when you have porn?
00:08:46.200The scariest stat I've seen is that 51% of American men age 18 to 24 have never asked a woman out in person.
00:08:53.700So I think the America today, you know.
00:08:57.380Scott, by the way, just because I can't help it, I got two young women behind the camera, literally both shook their head when you said that.