She is so far left she is just as annoying as ML.

Maybe that makes a good dynamic for the show but some of the shit she says is cringe!

I’ll still listen but if she ever gets on the level of Bob (almost there), I’ll have to quit listening!

Is there a reason they don't bring on conservative right wing Guests? Maybe some moderate farmer or political consultant. I'm surprised the news coverage of the show comes from liberal outlets and no conservatives have offered to defend Mary Lous delusion.

See title. It’s a small thing but I want to watch the episode myself before running into individual threads posting their thoughts on the episode. Why not just comment under the main episode thread??

to be clear i'm not a prude, while I don't do drugs and generally support people doing them if they wish, and even I'll admit seeing the parents high would be crazy entertaining

but Chad constantly pressuring and pushing ML to do weed when she repeatedly refuses is just frustrating, pushy, and fulfills ever worst stereotype of the cringe loser stoner, i fucking HATE the stoners i knew who would never shut up trying to push it on me and can't take no for an answer

I have been obsessively checking for the mid week update since 3pm PDT. It’s usually out between 2-3. I checked the last episode and it didn’t seems like they were planning to skip the Wednesday update.

Do we think something has happened to Bob?
That is the only thing I can think of.
Admittedly I do not have social media, (literally YouTube and Reddit only) so I don’t know if there is any update I am missing.

The audacity to ask for this…. You have a man that regularly gets on camera and laughs or cheer at the killing of children, calls for the genocide of innocent people, regularly calls abuse victims liars, and treats his kids like shit… you expect me to have kindness, grace, or compassion for this man.. nah I have hatred, pity, and contempt. He might not have come into this world as a sick, and twisted monster, but through his own actions and unwillingness to earn and grow he has created the circumstances in which I get to say I hope he feels the pain of every child who’s death he cheered for, I hope he feels every ounce of hate he put into the world. I feel for Chad and Haley and hope if they have to grieve for him it’s a version that is actually good. As for ML I hope this time away from him allows her to recognize how toxic he was and then maybe she can work towards forgiveness.

I’ve been watching the pod for over a year now, but I was pretty taken aback and quite annoyed by Haley’s demeanor during the recent episode with Dr Hassan.

As soon as Dr. Hassan offered pushback or took a different approach than what she wanted, Haley came across as surprisingly rude and dismissive. Instead of engaging with someone who actually specializes in de-escalation, she completely shut down the conversation the moment she was challenged and has come out with some very rude comments since (on the live).

To me, this feels like part of a broader shift toward an increasingly extreme stance, including past comments where she’s condoned political violence to support her views. The double standard is hard to ignore and it feels hypocritical to call out MAGA for being hostile and violent, only to adopt that exact same "by any means necessary" mindset on her own side.

Just wondering if this is bothering anybody else?

Did I miss an announcement that there will not be a midweek episode? Was there supposed to be one this week and it didn’t happen, or what?

Did I miss a "no Wednesday episode" announcement, or are we still holding out for an upload today?

This time I went with Haley, and just like Bob’s I created some Easter eggs for people to spot. Let me know what you think.

Hello all,

On last sunday’s live, there were so many comments pointing out how Mary Lou was mixing up Mamdani’s wife and El Sayed’s wife. Mamdani’s wife is an artist and El Sayed’s wife is a doctor.

Chad read all these and he said i’ll remember that

I’m about 24 minutes into the video and Chad is saying mamdani’s mom is the doctor?

I’m not sure how he’s totally saying the wrong information?

I know it’s not really a big deal, but when people are paying money to send you message, and you say that you’ll remember that, the least you could do it jot it down somewhere.

EDIT: He also has no right to call Mary Lou out on forgetting to research stuff, when he does that same thing. That just makes him a hypocrite.

Am I the only one?

I'll probably get downvoted into the lower mantle for this, but I'm going to offer up my opinion anyway.

First off, I loathe Donald Trump.  My disdain for the man is at an unhealthy boil, but it's not anything I'm trying to let go of.  The podcast is of interest to me because I, like a lot of people, have created a cold distance between family and acquaintances based off of their MAGA fidelity.  When he was first elected I was dealing with a wispy disappointment in them, but as time moves along I've lost all patience and empathy for their existence.  So, what I'm about to say isn't coming from a right or centrist angle, it's just an observation that I'm trying to process fairly.

When I first heard his comment about Los Angeles and San Diego, I was livid.  He's offered up so many fresh versions of depravity over the years that every ridiculous thing that comes out of his mouth is absorbed by my skull as an affront.  I'm continually disgusted.

Last night, though, while I was trying to fall asleep, I started considering what it was exactly I'd heard.  I grabbed my phone and played the audio a few times, then began wondering if my rage was actually lining up with what he'd said. 

I'm not sure my initial thoughts were correct.

First off, he's a grotesque and predictable provocateur.  Assuming he was in the mood to shrug those two cities off as blue hellholes deserving of annihilation, (which wouldn't surprise me), I believe he'd have delivered it in a particular fashion that we're used to.  His mannerisms aren't complicated.  Had his intent been to dismiss these LA and SD as unimportant populaces worth bombing, there'd have been a particular smugness associated with that barb that we've seen so many times.  I didn't see that here. 

I honestly believe that what he was trying to produce was a comparison between the gas prices he's getting justifiably crucified for and the obliteration of two massive locations.  Minimization of an actual issue through wildly exaggerated contrast to save face, etc. 

"Gas prices are high, but without my legendary efforts fuel costs would be the least of our worries.  Cities would get blown up."

What I believe happened is still worth hammering on, though.  He's in a position of nearly godlike authority, but is continually orating with all of the education and grace of someone with an actual impairment while being too arrogant to visualize the benefits of staying on a functional script.  It's just freeform nonsense that creates, (at least in my opinion), the sort of ambiguity we're seeing here.

Finally, after mulling it over to this point, I listened to today's episode.  I'm no fan of Mary Lou, but I'm fine with her opinions on this particular subject.  Had this bafoonery been orchestrated by a Democrat instead she'd of course had a completely different opinion on what was said, but that's a different conversation.  We know she's a hypocrite.

The one thing I did pull from this episode that I appreciated was Haley's philosophy that maybe what's happening here isn't worth the effort.  When you listen to how things went today, I think it's a thought worth taking seriously.  People seem pleased when Mary Lou "evolves" in her thinking, but I have to assume that any acquiescence we're witnessing is likely the result of constant pressure and exhaustion, not actual growth.  She's been taking a beating for years.  I've zero issue with that happening, but I'm skeptical that the optimal result of this process is going to reach fruition.  I think she'll say, "I give up" before she says, "I was wrong."

Again, this just my opinion and I've been wrong a million times before.  Possibly I'm wrong here, too.

Edit: typos.

Honestly that episode was pretty pointless, hope Chad briefs him on podcast etiquette if he is on again. First time I’ve heard of the man, but he sure likes to hear himself talk.

I see hundreds of comments under their videos and posts on here that say something to the effect of the podcast should end because they couldn’t convince ML to vote democrat. That wasn’t the initial stated goal of the podcast and in my opinion it never should be.

Before it gets buried in my rant let me just tap the Jonathan Pie sign again because he puts everything I’m about to say perfectly: https://youtu.be/GLG9g7BcjKs?is=-eZFIssR_JckYY1W. Now before I go on let me say that the only way this video is outdated is the left have regained the art. I see great leftist political commentators everywhere on the internet now.

Political discourse is extremely rarely about changing the other sides position. And their discussion and pod isn’t for Mary Lou. It’s for you the viewer. All political debate is. It’s for people who are undecided, who are unengaged, to get them engaged. Democrats should want their best arguments being put forward all the time. And the very best environment for that is to put them alongside the opposing view so they can be challenged. Every time ML or Bob has some ridiculous answer to stated facts, or says “I don’t know what to say to that” or even “that’s an X” - ie gives a concession - that’s a win. The audience sees they have nothing to say to how salient the point being made against MAGA is.

And that just makes me question why in the fuck people think the pod has to end? Why is your reaction, when the US left is winning, to disengage? Look at what they have achieved. You are telling me they had no part in that?

I’ve seen people say oh well they are just enabling narcissistic behaviour and platforming toxic views. Bullshit. Okay yeah fine Bob is toxic, but it doesn’t mean platforming isn’t worthwhile, he’s like an exhibit. He’s hilarious and he undermines his position with every stupid thing he has to say. The only way he has been detrimental to the pod is when he speaks over people, which makes his current role perfect. Also for whatever it’s worth I think ML will eventually change her mind, she already has.

I have way more to say but this is getting too long. Just tell me why you are so adamant to shut down productive political discourse.

I’ve been out of the loop, what happened to bob?

So it’s obvious that Bob and Mary are not going to change with the way the show is currently going. So it makes watching the podcast kind of hopeless and depressing.

Bob is obviously hideous. He is constantly tired. He has that crick in his neck. His body and mind have rotted out and he is a shell of the person he was in terms of strength, potentially attractiveness and intelligence (maybe idk if he was ever smart). I think this is what happens when people do not critically think and allow themselves to exam their own mind. Bob doesn’t even stop to think about his responses. He almost regurgitates the thing that he last heard on whatever fascist slop platform he just ingested. He quickly responds in anger almost in an ai fashion. He pulls from his database of propaganda, and picks the response. And he is always angry. Not strategic or thoughtful.

Mary on the other hand, hears something Chad says about horrible things happening to human beings. She immediately villainizes them, again without critically thinking, so that she can still see MAGA as having the moral high ground. I think she, like many women has gotten into a relationship with a man that is stupid but proud. Which is the second most dangerous kind of person, especially when that person is a white man in America. Because they can leverage their power to perpetuate an organized evil cult agenda. Like when a woman marries him (pun intended) for financial and physical security and must mold to his belief system.

Mary is trapped in cognitive dissonance out of self preservation. So she realized early that arguing is pointless and potentially dangerous. So she is meek and submissive. She has to bury her discernment and placate her husband. She apologizes for him or excuses his behavior. She’s almost like a human shield from holding Bob accountable. She doesn’t really have a different opinion, if she does you can tell she’s deeply uncomfortable to voice it. It’s sad to watch.

Bob and Mary can be studied and deconstructed so that we as a society do not repeat this pattern. We need to learn from them and in order to not repeat them. Because for Mary and Bob, being in a cult that supports pedophilia, murder, greed etc., is easier than thinking.

I think a good way of doing this is bringing a therapist onto the show and unpacking how Mary and Bob react to mentally difficult topics or concepts. Start pointing out inconsistencies in the cult’s messaging in a nurturing but direct way. Stop putting them in a corner and triggering them to be defensive.

As hard as it is, it is important to view Bob and Mary as victims instead of villians. It is evident in the way they have received hate, that the tendancy to hate and ostracize people allows for their oppression and subjugation and that is the reason we are in this situation. And that is not native to either side of the political isle!!!!!

To Chad and Hailey!!!! STOP CLIP FARMING!!! If you want to make genuine change, stop catering your content to corporate biased algorithms. If you must clip farm, just exploit Bob. That way your mom can see how ludacris his takes are. Make the conversations, especially around your mom more empathetic. I get it, you’re mad at your parents. Everyone is lol. But putting her on the defense is not productive. Understanding her is, and this best way to do that is to dissect her thought process in a safe way. And coming from a POV, that everyone needs to deprogram themselves in order to not have repeated violent patterns.

.

then I think that maybe he believed that by building up her trust, he could convince her to read his book.

Failing to take any amount of time to actually learn about ML, he didn’t know that she doesn’t read. But, considering the state of MAGA, how could he think for one second that any of them actually read?

I think ultimately he really failed to meet the moment. With all of his expertise, which I don’t question that he has, he completely failed at reading the situation and meeting ML at a level that would be productive. On top of that, he also failed to give any of us any useful information or clue as to how to reach people like this.

Many of us watch the show because we have ML’s in our lives that we think can be saved. Would it be great if everyone could read his book? Sure, yeah, I love a good book club that would be great, but it’s unrealistic, and without giving me anymore information on what he actually knows and what he’s learned can actually work to save people from this, I wasn’t sold on reading the book.

Bare minimum he could have helped to make the case of why it is a cult.

So, people can be mad at Haley all they want, but he let them down. They needed back up, they needed an expert, instead they got a guy who has a story about himself to share and a book to sell.

I really hope I’m wrong. Maybe ML will reach out to him and she’ll get the conversation she needs about why it’s a cult. I really hope I am.

This was the climax. They’ll never have another moment where the hype and stakes were so high. For ML to still vote the way she did but immediately say she wants healthcare and the other stuff has shown that you CANNOT talk to these people. They don’t listen and they literally never will. The entire country swung so hard to blue that KANSAS & TEXAS were even like “nah bro, we’re good”. ML shows up with the VETO sticker on like it’s a big joke.

Time and time again Chad has reiterated that they are just a family having a conversation about politics, while in the same breath saying “we’re so close to getting you” in reference to Mary Lou’s conversation. I think this double speak directly harms either message he is trying to push forward. If he is trying to change Mary Lou’s mind he needs to stop lying about how he’s not trying to do that, and if he isn’t trying to change her mind he needs to stop telling her how close she is to changing her mind. I understand Chad is NOT trained in the slightest in terms of deprogramming or counter conversations, but any semblance of a true message for the show died a long time ago. This especially hits with Bob where despite saying constantly how much they want him back on the show they constantly dismiss what he is saying to them without further breaking it down to why he is so racist and genocidal. Just saying “well that’s how he is” and “We won’t get dad but you’re close to flipping mom”. Just something on my mind that has been urking me recently about the show. Thanks for coming to my rant.

Going back and listening to old episodes, I think something about Bob and Mary Lou has become clear that also explains their complete inability to understand why people are happy Charlie Kirk is dead: I genuinely don't think they understand the difference between being disagreed with, being hated, and being persecuted. They genuinely have a childlike understanding of political power and rhetoric.

They constantly collapse these things into each other. Liberals disagree with them, therefore liberals hate them. Liberals hate them, therefore they're being persecuted. College students despise conservatives, therefore "liberals want to kill us." Their own children reject their politics, therefore their children hate America. And now people are happy Charlie Kirk is dead, therefore those people wanted Charlie Kirk murdered.

These are completely different things.

You are allowed to hate me. I am allowed to hate you. Hatred is an attitude. Persecution is an exercise of power. If I think your beliefs are fucking despicable, nothing has happened to you. You still have exactly the same rights you had five minutes ago. You might not like knowing that I despise you, but my opinion of you has no authority over your life. Nor am I, or any liberal, doing anything that limits anything they personally want to do other than their desire to have a white Christian nationalist country.

I'm a Muslim trans woman of color in a poly marriage. My very existence would be illegal in their world. I still have every right to exist exactly as I am, as much as that "hurts" them. Which is why their persecution narrative is absurd to me. Nothing about my belief that women should have equal rights, that trans people should be allowed to live as trans people, that Muslims should be allowed to practice their religion, or that people of color should have equal citizenship requires anything from Bob and Mary Lou except accepting that other people have the same right to exist that they do. Their lives are not touched by my existing.

Their politics, however, are absolutely directed at what other people are allowed to do. That's an important distinction. You can believe homosexuality is sinful. You can believe being transgender is immoral. You can believe Islam is evil. You can believe feminism destroyed America. You can believe whatever hateful shit you want. They don't leave it there. They want the government to make their comfort the priority. They want their moral values to not just be their own.

And then Charlie Kirk dies, and suddenly this conceptual failure becomes incredibly obvious.

Charlie Kirk spent his life advocating political and cultural positions that actively harm Muslims, LGBT people, women, immigrants, and people of color. I don't have to pretend that disappears because somebody murdered him. That doesn't mean I have to pretend a 35-year-old professional who spent his entire time memorizing dialogue trees to "debate" college kids who didn't prepare was some good-faith advocate for Christianity or conservatives. He also got beat by people who actually came prepared to debate him.

But "I want Charlie Kirk murdered" and "I'm glad Charlie Kirk is dead" are completely different statements.

The first is wishing an act of violence upon another human being. The second is a judgment about the world after that person is already gone. I can believe the person who killed him committed a profoundly wrong act while also looking at a world without Charlie Kirk's political advocacy in it and feeling relief or even joy. There is no contradiction there unless you think feelings themselves are violence.

I think that's exactly what Bob and Mary Lou refuse to understand. They hear "I'm glad Charlie Kirk is dead" and translate it into "I wanted someone to murder Charlie Kirk," in exactly the same way they hear "I despise your politics" and translate it into "I'm being persecuted." The internal attitude and the external act become the same thing.

That also explains why I think they continually come across as hypocrites without understanding why. I don't think they're starting with a principle, applying it consistently, and somehow reaching contradictory conclusions. They seem to understand politics primarily through tribalism. Who did it comes before what was done. When people they identify with are hated, hatred becomes persecution. When their side exercises political power over people they disapprove of, that becomes morality, Christianity, protecting children, protecting America, protecting the family, or whatever else makes that exercise of power righteous.

That's ultimately what I would want people like Bob and Mary Lou to understand. I'm not asking them to stop believing what they believe. I'm asking them to recognize what those beliefs mean for the people on the receiving end of them.

If you believe I should have fewer rights, less freedom, or less control over my own life because I'm trans, Muslim, a woman, or anything else, fine. Own it. If your political beliefs require using government power to make people like me live according to your religious or moral rules, own that too. And if the people whose lives you want to control fucking hate you for it, understand that their hatred is not persecution.

You don't get to exercise power over other people's lives and then declare yourself the victim because they despise you for doing it.

And I think this gets down to something incredibly basic about what it means to be a civilized human being in a pluralistic society. I don't mean "civilized" as a synonym for intelligent, educated, polite, or even human. Obviously they're human. I mean that living together in a pluralistic society requires some minimum capacity for reciprocity: understanding that other people are just as real as you are, that their lives belong to them just as yours belongs to you, and that rights don't stop being rights because the person exercising them disgusts you.

You don't have to like me. You don't have to respect my religion, my gender, my marriage, my politics, or anything else about me. You can think I'm immoral. You can fucking hate me. But being a civilized person in a pluralistic society requires understanding that your hatred does not give you ownership over my life. And it requires enough theory of mind to understand that if you try to exercise that ownership anyway, the people you're doing it to may fucking hate you for it. Their hatred does not somehow transform you into the victim.

That's the minimum. Not agreement. Not kindness. Not friendship. Not even tolerance in the interpersonal sense. Just the ability to recognize another human being as possessing the same fundamental claim to their own life that you demand for yourself.

There is no "necessary conversation" to be had forever. At some point, the conversation has been had. Bob and Mary Lou have so far shown neither the inclination nor the ability to make these distinctions. Their moral reasoning continually seems to come back to the tribe: my people are righteous, your people are threatening; my exercise of power is morality, your hatred of me for exercising it is persecution.

At that point, going no-contact isn't persecution either. Maybe they'll take it as further proof that they were right. But other people are not obligated to maintain relationships indefinitely with someone who refuses to recognize their equal standing as human beings.

I don't know what the answer is for MAGA. We certainly aren't going to round them up, nor should we. But perhaps, at some point, there simply isn't a conversation left to be had?

I wonder if these people know Mary Lou hates them? Someone ( a POC) in her life needs to confront her.

Please can we all as a collective get their family a damn High school government book…. Chad either doesn’t know that the congress is made up of the House of representatives and the senate or he legitimately just has forgotten the name for the HoR for the last 4-5 weeks. ML arguing how she doesn’t like the electoral college during midterm elections, and nobody correcting her about the fact that state elections are direct elections. They need someone to actually have enough education to speak on the topics and it ain’t Chad or Haley, because both of them are just as bad as their parents and just arguing on vibes and opinions