The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast
The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast; where stories about the power of focus and resilience are revealed by the people who lived those stories
Jack Hopkins has been studying human behavior for over three-decades. He's long had a passion for having conversations with fascinating people, and getting them to share the wisdom they've acquired through years of being immersed in their area of expertise, and overcoming the challenges and obstacles that are almost always part of the equation.
The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast
Healthcare Challenges and Political Drama: Insights from an ER Physician
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***This episode was recorded with an ER Physcian who I connected with on Twitter/X. I found her posts to be peppy, to the point...and having an attitude that resonated with me, so I thought it might be fun to do an episode with her where we just talk about whatever came to mind. Only her first name will be revealed at any point.You can follow her on X: @AndreaR9Md***
Donald Trump's claim of being shot at the Butler rally – fact or fiction? We kick off this episode with a gripping discussion alongside Andrea, an ER physician with years of experience. Together, we dissect the plausibility of Trump's alleged injury, addressing the tragic security failures that led to the loss of lives at the rally. The conversation serves as a stark reminder of the critical need for transparency and accountability from those in power, especially when their credibility stirs controversy.
Have you experienced the side effects of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines? Tune in as we share personal stories about navigating the pandemic, from dealing with "Moderna arm" to the collective efforts of families and healthcare workers in protecting their loved ones. Our heartfelt dialogue emphasizes the ongoing importance of vaccination in the face of new COVID-19 strains, stressing community responsibility and the role of healthcare professionals in these challenging times.
Political strategies and ethical dilemmas take center stage as we examine the current political landscape and the impact of vague laws on medical practice. With insights from experts and personal anecdotes, we underscore the importance of federal oversight for consistent healthcare standards and the emotional complexities of voter outreach. Our episode concludes with a candid assessment of Donald Trump's influence on American politics and a hopeful nod to articulate leaders like Pete Buttigieg. Don't miss this enlightening conversation with Andrea, filled with expertise, reflection, and even a glimpse into her life with her adorable puppies.
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter https://wwwJackHopkinsNow.com
Donald Trump's Alleged Shooting Incident
Speaker 1Welcome to the Jack Hopkins Show podcast , where stories about the power of focus and resilience are revealed by the people who live those stories and now the host of the Jack Hopkins Show podcast , jack Hopkins .
Speaker 2Andrea , one of the things I've been really dying to talk to you about is the Butler rally Trump rally , where Donald Trump was allegedly shot by .
Speaker 3Is the key term there .
Speaker 2Right right Now . One of the attractive things about having you on is I knew you had been an ER physician and , while I have nothing even approaching that kind of experience , I was a hospital corpsman in the Navy and I also did some nursing for a few years , so I have enough of a foundation to know that certain things are adding up to me , and so I wanted to go to your expertise and see where I might be on to something and where maybe I'm clear off base . My number one doubt about the claim Donald Trump makes when he says I was shot . You know , two days before the FBI came out and did the , I guess , the press release where they had determined Donald Trump had been shot Two days prior , fbi Director Christopher Wray , under oath , said there was some confusion about that and they hadn't yet been able to determine whether it was a fragment , something that might have ricocheted .
Speaker 2They didn't really know . Now Donald Trump threw a fit and two days later , magically , the FBI suddenly knows Two centimeters . I looked for something in the real world that most people could identify with and that's the distance across the face of a nickel right , just a cold across it's not .
Speaker 3It's about a half an inch okay , yeah yeah , about a half an inch it's .
Speaker 2It's not a small wound no uh , as , as I'm sure you are well aware , any type of wound to the face , the head , the ear bleeds rather profusely because the capillaries are so rich and so close to the surface of the skin . So I've just kind of fed out a little bit of my thoughts and I'm going to toss it over to you . When you think about the fact that donald trump says he was shot which to me means that he was hit by an intact bullet fired from a weapon , and that he supposedly , according to ronnie jackson , had a two centimeter wound , and then two weeks later we see a photograph of his ear looking in perfect condition , what are your thoughts on this , andrea ?
Speaker 3Well , while I was in practice , the assault weapons ban was in place , so I can't say that I've ever seen a wound from an assault weapon , but I've seen plenty of gunshot wounds , plenty , plenty , plenty . And to me , if it actually hit , if a bullet , an actual bullet , hit his ear , that made a two centimeter wound and I actually think it was less than two weeks that we saw his ear healed ?
Speaker 2Yes , I believe that as well .
Speaker 3Yes , I mean , it's just unfathomable to me that that was a bullet , I think . I think many doctors and I saw a lot of posts and I wish I remembered who they were , but many doctors were saying , no , come on , no , no way was this a bullet . And you know , look , I mean a guy died . A guy died at that rally Right and I just feel like , you know , maybe we should be talking about him and and really looking into what actually happened . I mean , what ?
Speaker 3what a security failure that was oh boy I mean you know there's , there was this , didn't the the fireman ? He tried to protect his kids and was shot and killed . I mean , maybe we should be talking about him than Donald Trump's little Nick from probably debris , because obviously somebody was shot , people were shot . I definitely had a gun , but Donald Trump , in my opinion , was not shot with a bullet .
Speaker 2I agree and I'm glad you brought up the fact that two people are dead as a result of this rally . I , I see , and it's fine , look I when I post something . Uh , I don't . I'm not going to set rules about the opinions that people post in comments . Everybody's got their own take and their opinion and as long as their intentions are good and they're not being saying something that violates Twitter's or X's standards , I'm going to get me in trouble .
Speaker 3Whatever those are .
Speaker 2Sure , right , right , who knows right Exactly standard's and gonna get me in trouble , whatever those are . Sure , right , right , who knows right exactly ? Um , when I post about the ear discrepancy , a lot of people post or will comment below about you know that this was fake . It was staged and and and and . Look , I can understand was staged and and and , and . Look , I can understand why some people might be inclined to think that . Now I must say I'm not one of them because two , two people are dead . Right , we know there were people shot . That's , that's pretty real . Okay , that's pretty real .
Speaker 2Now , as far as the intricacies of all of that , as you stated , I think we need a very thorough investigation so that we can find out the hows and whys of why those two people are dead . But as it pertains to Donald Trump's ear , let me say this I wouldn't be making such a big deal of this if it were my neighbor Jim , who was at a rock concert where there was some type of shooting and where something struck his ear while the gunfire was going off . And then my neighbor Jim tells people yeah , I was one of the people that got shot . I wouldn't make a big fuss out of my neighbor Jim saying that it would be clear that , yeah , you were there . You were injured .
Speaker 2Something struck your ear and I'm not going to argue with you over whether it was a fragment or it was a bullet . But we're not talking about my neighbor Jim . We're talking about the former president of the United States , who is the most documented liar in terms of presidents and I would argue in terms of maybe anybody in history , and whether it's fair or not when somebody like that , who commands the national international audience that he does . The facts matter . The facts matter . Were you shot in that an intact bullet hit your ear , or were you struck by some type of fragmentation or some glass that ricocheted ? No question , when the answers are there to be had , they shouldn't stop until they have the answers and then share them with the public . That's that's why I make such a big deal of this .
Speaker 3Well , and especially since he's running around saying I took a bullet for you . I took a bullet for democracy . I took a bullet , I took a bullet . Well , okay , where's the proof right proof that you took a bullet , I took a bullet ? Well , ok , where's the proof Right Proof that you took a bullet ? Because I'm not seeing it ? And certainly if and you know like I posted something about it on Twitter and the Magabots and trolls attacked me . It was a graze . It was a graze . It was a graze . Wasn't a graze ? A graze at the tip of the ear would have taken off cartilage cartilage ?
Speaker 3yes , does not grow back right , which is is you know , I'm a , I'm a good healer . Like are you ? Are you serious ? Right that doesn't happen at .
Speaker 2I agree , at this point in history and and maybe we will be there someday but at this point in history we don't grow cartilage back . If we did , we would not have complete knee replacements , we'd just get the treatment to grow our cartilage back . I hope we see that someday , but as of now it does not exist .
Speaker 3No , it does not . So I just the whole thing is ridiculous . And you know what bothers me really about it was after the Republicans in Congress got all mad and sad about Donald Trump's , you know , getting mad that Chris Wray said that he thought it was debris and then that the FBI changed their story . I mean , what's up with that ? Right . You're the FBI . You're not supposed to be changing your story . What are you doing ?
Speaker 2Right , here's my thing If 48 hours before you testified under oath that there was some confusion , yeah .
Speaker 2And that it couldn't be pinpointed exactly what struck his ear . It seems highly unlikely to me that 48 hours later , you suddenly have clarity , conclusive evidence that , oh gosh , it was a bullet , yeah , struck the deer it , and which , and I know you , look , I , I . One of my big hang-ups is look , I , I understand . The word conspiracy or conspiracy theory is used by some people appropriately , but it's also a term that's been thrown around so much that it's often used by people who throw it at anything they don't agree with and say , oh , here comes the conspiracy theorist .
Speaker 3Right .
Speaker 2There's a fine line between a conspiracy theorist and a scientist in that they are both not satisfied with the current explanation . Now , the difference between , in my worldview which I'm not suggesting , this is everybody's worldview , but in my mind , the difference between a conspiracy theorist and a scientist is that a scientist asks questions about things to get more answers , whereas a conspiracy theorist starts right in with statements of certainty about well , this is what happened and I know , and I try I'm not going to say I've never been guilty of that , I'm sure I have , but I try my best to keep it an exploratory question . We need to know more , because this you've not provided us with something substantial enough for it to explain the discrepancies . You just haven't . And so at Children's .
Speaker 2We can't buy into your explanation .
Speaker 3And then that's exactly what it is . And I see posts all day long about you know it was staged , it was staged . And then that just to me is not like legit . I mean it was . I mean I mean , as I said , people die . I mean right , look , I wouldn't put it past trump to kill somebody for his political benefit nor would I you know , look , look , look what happened with covid he actually did do that .
Speaker 3But but this I mean . No , I mean there was a shooter . He got hit with a flying piece of debris . It nicked his ear , he bled , he did his little like fifth up thingy , and you know . Now he's selling what , Whatever he's selling something , selling his little book and his , his coins and his you know his stupid . I mean , what are even those trading cards like ? You don't even get like an actual piece of like cardboard with them right , right .
Speaker 2Yeah , I , I prefer the days when I got a little flat piece of gum and some and some baseball cards I could actually hold is that you know the guy is such a grifter , I mean I .
Speaker 3It's amazing to me really , um , after he trashed the economy , killed people with covet , that there are 40 of americans that are actually considering on about voting for this guy again .
Speaker 2I just I don't get it right and , and I have to say , andrea , that was such a icing on the cake moment for me as a republican you were a republican I was .
Speaker 2I'm a former Republican . Yeah , welcome to the club . Yeah , yeah , you know the whole COVID thing as I watched that and again , I don't even pretend to have the knowledge or level of expertise that a physician does , I'm not saying that at all but I had enough of a foundational experience about things that I felt I was noticing things that maybe somebody who'd never worked in the medical field wasn't paying attention to , and I was just my mind was blown and I'm like what the fuck is going on with this guy ? We've got some of the nation's top immunologists , virologists , we've got people from all around the world begging to share what they know with the leaders of countries around the world to allow them to better plan for this . And this guy is telling us in a couple of weeks it'll be like magic , it'll just and it will vanish .
Speaker 3And I have to tell you I was losing my fucking mind during during that well , I I can tell you from from my like experience , um , you know , when it , when it first started , um , I was seeing these really disturbing videos from italy with doctors posting , um , that they didn't have enough beds , they didn't have enough ventilators , they didn't have enough anything . And in the US we only had Trump saying , oh , it's going to go away , this is going to be nothing . And I'm looking at these videos from Italy going , oh my God , we're in deep shit .
Speaker 3And the funny thing is is that , like I was playing tennis at the time and all , like all these women that I play tennis with were coming up to me and asking me what do you think is going to happen ? What do you think is going to happen ? Even my coach , who owned the club , he's like , well , what do you think is going to happen ? And I'm like we're going to lock down . He's like , no , we're not . I'm like , dude , we are going to lock down because this is bad . I mean , you don't even know Like I'm in these videos , just like doctors posting desperate videos from Italy . I don't know if you remember seeing any of that .
Speaker 2Oh , I do , I do .
Speaker 3And you know , a lot of these people were just , they weren't on social media , they didn't really pay attention . And then there's Trump out there lying about it and I'm like , oh , we're going to lock down . And now I was living in Ohio at the time . If you , if you look behind me , that's a Delaware Bay .
Speaker 2Nice , nice .
Speaker 3So awesome . But yeah , I mean I was . There was no way that what Trump was saying was even remotely true about that virus and he just mismanaged it Like to a point where I mean , you know , I have no words , to be honest . It was just so bad . It was so bad and so many people died needlessly thing . It was so bad and so many people died needlessly and they're still dying needlessly because they're . They're now in the anti-vax . You know , people are still like I posted people are still taking ivermectin . For christ's sake , right you know it's .
Speaker 3It's not a drug that has been approved for covid , it's an anti-parasitic . And people will cite this stupid study . Somebody did this study that said that you know , ivermectin will do something to the mRNA or the RNA , and blah , blah , blah , but you have to take it in doses that are toxic . Right , that's what the study said . But they still post the study like oh , here's a medical study , doctor which is like yeah you know , and that's the fascinating thing for me about ivermectin .
Speaker 2So so let's just sit aside for just a moment the efficacy of of the drug , right ? Uh , I have seen fairly recent studies , I guess , indicating that , yes , it it might , as you said , in doses that are toxic , be somewhat effective for coke . But here's the thing pouring a fifth of Jim Beam bourbon on my daughter's abrasions from her bicycle accident has enough alcohol that , yes , it will serve probably as an initial and effective antiseptic . But we also have providine that we can get for , uh , you know , eight bucks at , uh , over the counter . That's commonly used and generally recognized , as this is what you would initially use .
Speaker 2So I think the big thing for me is why are you so hung up on the ivermectin ? Just because something could work , might work . We've got these new vaccines now I , I guess I just answered my own question , the own question . I do know they were all hung up on the idea that these vaccines were new , right , and the technologies they they didn't know enough about the technologies they thought there would
Vaccine Side Effects and Political Opposition
Speaker 2be . You know side effects and , as you as a physician , there are side effects to every drug .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean , there are . I mean , just look at your TV every 30 seconds and you see every pharmaceutical ad list of everything .
Speaker 3You're like , oh my God , I'm not taking that list of everything . You're like , oh my god , I'm not taking that right . But but what I guess ? Yeah , I mean the vaccines , for some people had , I mean , mild side effects . I mean I , I took both the moderna and the pfizer .
Speaker 3I took the moderna initially because that's the one I could get . Um , because I'm telling you , the minute I was able to get that vaccine , I was running my husband , who's still a practicing neurologist , got his like a couple months before me . And then I actually had what they call Moderna arm and a lot of people would say , oh , that's an allergic reaction . It's not . It's an allergic reaction because my arm got kind of red and swollen . But it's not , it's , it's called . It's literally called Moderna arm and it's a normal reaction that some people have . Mostly women get it um , and it's fine . I mean I never got sick . So I had the Moderna twice and then , um , as the newer vaccines came out , I switched to Pfizer and I don't nearly have like the Pfizer I'm fine with . So I don't get that , that same red , swollen arm .
Speaker 2Yeah , I in fact I think that's the only I did the entire Pfizer series and then the boosters , and I don't even really recall if I had any side effects . They were just maybe a little bit of malaise for , you know , a day or two , just just as my immune system was ramping up in response to the vaccine . But other than that , no .
Speaker 3And as far as , like my husband and my parents , my parents are in their 80s they never had any side effects to the vaccine . My husband never had it , just me , just me , my parents , my dad just turned 82 .
Speaker 2He and his wife have had multiple boosters and you know complete series , multiple boosters , and you know complete series and they are scheduled , I think , later in this week to get one of the newer ones .
Speaker 3I think I would recommend that everybody get that . I mean , I know that there's a new strain of COVID coming out , but like I don't know when they're going to get that vaccine out , and I would just suggest everybody , if you can just go , get it . Yeah .
Speaker 3Go get it Because I mean I've been lucky . I have never had COVID , my parents have never had COVID , my husband's never had COVID and my husband works in the hospital where people get COVID all come in with COVID all the time and he's never gotten it . Wonderful , yeah , I mean the vaccines , and , as we all say , they're not . They may not prevent you from getting COVID , but they're going to prevent you from dying . Yes , and that's you know . You don't want to end up on ECMO . No .
Speaker 3We were seeing before the vaccines came out . I mean , you know , I don't want to be on a ventilator , you don't want to be on ECMO . I mean it was , I don't want to be on a ventilator , you don't want to be on ECMO . I mean it was so bad . And I think people memory hold bad things . I think .
Speaker 4Oh , I think so too they don't want to think about it .
Speaker 3They don't want to remember how bad it was . Right , I remember how bad it was . I remember because my husband's a urologist . He wasn't like an essential worker so he was doing virtual visits for a while , but when he went back into the hospital before vaccines were out , like we were scared , like I was scared to death .
Speaker 3You know , my daughter was going to school doing online learning , and you know , we were just , we were all scared to death . He used to come in um to the house and I was living in akron at the time , akron ohio and he would come in like we had a shower right off the garage and he would shower off the garage before he actually entered the house . So I mean it was . It was a really scary time it was it , I recall , during .
Speaker 2I don't know whether this would have been . Probably would have been 2019 or 20 . I can't recall . But I should start by saying I've never had COVID either and I contribute that or attribute that . I should say , and I contribute that or attribute that . I should say not contribute . I attribute that just mean death count , but I also mean in the midst of the confusion , where scientists are still working to try and get a handle on this and figure out , you know , all of the variables that are at play and how to best manage them .
Speaker 2Manage them and my family my side of the family we called off basically Christmas and Thanksgiving get-togethers , and my wife's side of the family they were going to go ahead and have a small , but a larger than I was comfortable with Thanksgiving and I said we're not going . Yeah , it's senseless . Neither one of us have had COVID . It's not like everybody that's going to be there is testing or is going to test before they come . And again , keep in mind , this was before . We knew everything that we know now . Yeah , and you know , somebody might say , look , well , you could have just let your wife and kids go and you'd just stay home . No , that would make no sense either , because when they come back , I'm going to be here Now . I want this 24 years younger than I . I'm 58 . My wife will be 33 , 34 . I better get that figured out before it comes up right later in this or next month . Rather , I better get that figured out too .
Speaker 2But you know , I explained to her . I said , look , you've got a lot more resiliency at this time . She was probably what , 30 , I was 55 , 56 . I said it's just not a smart move . And we didn't . It wasn't like we had a blowout about it , but I had to explain . You know , this is why and it just doesn't make sense .
Speaker 2And so I think a lot of people who avoided covid it was a combination of the vaccine and thinking intelligently , because you and I both know plenty of people who got the fucking vaccine and then went ape shit and just started doing everything like , oh , I'm good to go , I've got the vaccine Not thoroughly understanding this is like the flu vaccine is to prevent hospitalization due to influenza Same principle . It's not so that you never get influenza . And I think I don't know how we could have done so . But looking back , I think if we would have had more education . In discussions of those kinds of things like look , you've got the , and I know they did tell these things , I just don't know that it was enough , or in enough different venues where the bulk of the nation was able to get it .
Speaker 3Well I mean , but you literally had an entire political party .
Speaker 2Oh , absolutely .
Speaker 3The minute Biden said , ok , everybody go get the vaccine , it's free , they were like , oh no , don't do that , because Biden said it . I mean , I remember watching MSNBC one day and Chuck Todd Thank God he's . But Chuck Todd is like , well , I don't know how Biden is going to get all these vaccines in arms . But he did , he did . And , yes , the issue , the issue is but he did , he did and yes , the issue , the issue is but , but you have an entire political party . That's basically that has oppositional disorder . Right , they , everything that Biden does or everything that Harris wants to do , they oppose it . They have oppositional disorder . There's nothing , there's nothing good that that they do , that they're okay with . They just hate everything . They hate everything . And that's how , how do you govern , how do you be a political party and govern when all you want to say is no ? Right .
Speaker 3No , no , no no .
Speaker 2You bring up a great point Two or three years back . This is while I was well . It was longer than that , because I've been identified as a Democrat now since late 2018 , early 2019 , somewhere in that period , but just prior to that , I would often have some friends I had in the community suggest that I run either for mayor or sheriff in this small town that I live in . Now , one thing about me as a Republican I had always been a very big , outspoken advocate for the LGTBQ community , Simply because I'm just anti-bully about anything , right .
Speaker 2I identify with the underdog , I identify with the underdog , and when I see another underdog getting their ass kicked , there's just something in me that says you know what , we may lose this , but I'm going to fight with you , and so , even though I voted Republican , I had no qualms about speaking out , and so my point is my answer back to anybody who suggested that I ran for either of those offices was similar to what you just said , or for the reason I knew that most people in this small community of 6,000 people knew that I didn't toe the line when it came to the Republican Party . And how can you effectively do your job when you know that 8 out of 10 people are voting for somebody like Trump and who have the same mindset and the same position ? Now , many could argue and rightfully so that for that very reason , that's why somebody like myself needs to run , and I won't argue with that At the time , though . Argue with that at the time , though , I just it felt futile to me and that's pretty weak , I know , because those are the types of situations where we need to step forward anyway , but I wasn't thinking like that at the time . I was just thinking , look , they're going to tie my hands , as many different ways as they can , on the things that I would try to do and implement and you never would have won a primary right no I mean look what happened to kinzinger and cheney .
Speaker 3I mean they stood up for for the united states of america instead of Donald Trump and they lost their primaries . So I mean the Republican Party is gone . I mean , I don't really see a way forward for them unless , like they , if we do not win this election . Well , first of all , we're going to have an Orban-style . Yes , like they if we do not win this election . Well , first of all , we're going to have an Orban style . Yes , dictatorship .
Rethinking Democratic Strategy and Future
Speaker 3But if we win this election , I I don't see , I don't see how the Republicans come back , because who's left , who's who's there ?
Speaker 2Yeah , there's nobody there .
Speaker 3There's nobody there Like you , look at the Democrats and you see this deep bench . You see , you know Jasmine Crockett and Pete Buttigieg , and just all these , and Jamie Harris , jamie Harrison .
Speaker 2Yes , Jamie .
Speaker 3Harrison , jamie Raskin and just all these really great like people .
Speaker 2They're right . It's like the all-star team , gary .
Speaker 3Moskowitz .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 3And where's that on the Republicans ? I mean , you've got Lauren Boebert . Right . And Marjorie Taylor Greene . I mean , who do you have , ed ?
Speaker 2Kroon , you're right . So many of these people have , through the support and enabling of donald trump , the past nine years , if you , if you include the the campaign year before 2016 , 2016 they've got the scarlet letter on their sweater , right ? They ?
Speaker 3it's not like nancy mace with her yes , yes , right , yes .
Speaker 2They've put themselves in such a position that they can never get the proverbial monkey off their back from their past behavior and identification . They could never resurrect the Republican Party of old because they are too strongly identified with Trump . Identified with Trump . And in the absence of those people , as you stated , who is there ?
Speaker 3There is no one . Yeah , I mean , I can't , I really can't think of anybody like off the top of my head , like that somebody does I mean Jim Jordan ? I mean good . God , I lived in Ohio . I mean , he wasn't in my district . Actually , my rep was Chantel Brown . I voted for her . But that's Akron , cleveland area . But Jim Jordan , I mean his district is so gerrymandered he's never going to like I love I . I mean I love these people trying to to defeat jim jordan .
Speaker 3but , frankly , it's not gonna happen right it's not gonna happen because the ohio legislature even though the voters of ohio , I can speak to ohio politics because I was there for almost 30 years the voters of Ohio voted to end gerrymandering and Mike DeWine and the rest of the like , frank LaRose and the rest of those fascists because they are . Yes .
Speaker 3And they're criminals too , I mean with all that first energy stuff . But they're just like . Like no , we're just going to ignore the voters . And they did right the voters . And so jim jordan's district is safe . I mean , he's got what ? A couple rural counties and some cows . I mean , basically , that's all you got in his it's , it's pathetic .
Speaker 2I recently had a guest on by the name of Eric Richardson , who's running for office here in in Missouri and who I had him on because we had a phone call , where in that phone call , in just a short period of time , the way he presented the idea that , even if it's widely known that you're probably not going to win , it's still important to run , as you mentioned .
Speaker 2You saw , I love these people who try , and he made a pretty compelling case and that's the gist of what we talked about on that episode is , if we don't run people against the Jim Jordans , then you never have the opportunity to have Jim Jordan under the microscope long enough during a campaign season , for example that you show the community , you show the state , the inherent flaws in somebody like Jim Jordan .
Speaker 2So if , for no other reason than you have that period of attack ads where you can highlight and put those people under the microscope , we hope it has a kind of a chip-chip-chipping-away effect over time and , as Eric Richardson pointed out , in some cases that may be a generation or more . Some cases that may be a generation or more , but the idea that we just keep fighting is so important , even , as you said , look in the near future . Nobody's going to beat Jim Jordan , and that's a that's a pretty tough and bitter pill to swallow , but if you are a realistist , um , that's the conclusion you're going to come to well , I mean I , I know you probably follow david pepper yes on twitter he that's .
Speaker 3His thing is that we , even though you know it's going to be difficult and it's going to be a while , but we need to like the democrats , need to make sure that they run somebody in every one of these districts . And I mean look at virginia . I mean , and , and even like the speaker of the house , mike johnson , in louisiana uh-oh , I have low power mode my phone . I may have to go in and get my charger .
Speaker 2Okay , that's fine , we can do that .
Speaker 3Okay , yeah , I was hoping to use my computer and I wasn't prepared to use my phone , but yeah , he ran unopposed . The reason he's Speaker of the House is because he had no opponent . I'm going to run and get my charger .
Speaker 2You got it so and we were talking about the importance of running running strong democratic candidates against these seats that at the outset we may be very confident that we're not going to topple now . Yeah .
Speaker 2But the idea is in thinking a generation ahead . And you know , in a world where the impulsivity and the demand for everything right now , that's a tough concept for many people to think okay , I'm going to do it because in another generation this might pay off for the Democratic Party . But there are people out there , thank goodness , who will think like that and who will run and who will run a real hard campaign just for that reason , and I tip my hat to them .
Speaker 3Yes , and I think I mean what David Pepper always says it's the infrastructure of the party . You know getting candidates to run in every race . You know building that infrastructure so that you know because that's what Republicans did right , while we were like whittling our thumbs and not doing anything , the Democrats kind of let them take over school boards . Which we are seeing now is like bananas and local governments and what and and . How scary that is , especially for when the election results come in . It's , it's scary .
Speaker 2I mean , look what's happening in georgia , my god that's a spooky situation , and I'm sure there are others that we could put into that category that are equally as spooky . You know one one of the things I'm curious as to whether you feel the same way as a former republican . One of the things I had always noticed , and I guess even as a Republican was bothered by when I looked at the Democratic Party it just didn't seem like they would ball up their fists and fight as hard as Republicans would right , for lack of better words . It didn't seem like they were willing to push the envelope and go beyond what was socially and politically acceptable to win . Now , I'm not suggesting breaking of the laws , because we've seen what that results in from the recent Republican Party . I'm just talking about being able to dig down , get that grit , tenacity and knuckle it out to the end .
Speaker 3Well , I mean , you know it's funny . I mean , as I said , like I've never been a Republican , I hope you didn't like misconstrue me , I've always been a Democrat .
Speaker 2Okay , I got you .
Speaker 3I have always been a Democrat , but I had said welcome to the club .
Speaker 2I got you Okay . Yes , I did misinterpret that .
Speaker 3Yeah , but I do feel like you have a point there . I mean , the Democrats have always been like wonky , and just too wonky , I guess . If you just want to say it , I mean look , I mean the Republicans have been dirty tricking like Willie Horton there was the Swift boats . I mean they've been doing this for years . I mean this is nothing new . Right .
Speaker 3It's gotten like weirder and more um , like , I guess . I guess for me , like the misogyny with the Hillary Clinton campaign was just like , like for me , I just it , just I was so taken aback by the misogyny there and now I'm seeing it again , but now it's just racism and misogyny . They call it what misogynoir .
Speaker 2Right , that's the thing . So many new terms have had to be developed to explain so much of what's happening For me it's .
Speaker 3I really appreciate that the Harris campaign and the . Democrats are fighting back .
Speaker 2That's what I'm leading up to .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean , and it's about damn time .
Speaker 2It is . You know , this is what I know . I started writing about this probably a couple of years ago , both in articles that I do and on my post on social media , of taking a different kick-ass attitude and , to my delight , there were a hell of a lot of Democrats who agreed with me , right . I wasn't sure initially how it was going to be perceived . I thought there may be this sense of , oh , look at this former Republican talking this shit , he doesn't belong in our party . That wasn't the case at all .
Speaker 2So many people had recognized the need for that and to see it actually happening Now I can confidently say I'm now seeing the kind of fighting and the attitude and the spirit in the Democratic Party that I always wanted to see , even as a Republican , and it may sound weird to hear somebody say that , but there was a part of me as a Republican , even though I was voting that way , that oftentimes felt like look , the only reason we kicked your ass on this issue is because you didn't fight us back hard . If you would have just fought us hard , you would have won on this issue , right , and that just used to disturb me to no end . So now , especially that I'm here in this , in this democratic party , I'm like my god
Medical Ethical Dilemmas and Residency Trends
Speaker 2.
Speaker 3Thank you , thank you for exactly like the power of sound bites , right oh , yes , absolutely the whole weird thing , it just , it delights me to no end . You're weird because you are weird and that the brilliance of that fist bump some lady . You go and you can't even order donuts .
Speaker 2You're weird right , you're weird . That's on the same level for me in terms of marketing brilliance as the uh two word phrase . A few years back , shit happens , that caught on right and yeah , for four years and still you , you hear it used by people fairly regularly . You know shit happens and everybody knows that phrase . Everybody probably has used it and they're weird , or you're weird . It's got that same kind of snap , that that same kind of just like velcro it hooks on to people and it doesn't let go and I , I think that's and it's also true exactly , you know , and I think that's the velcro part , that's the velcro right there .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's dicks , because it's true yeah , I mean .
Speaker 3I mean , the democrats have always been , as I said , wonky . They're talking about policy , they're talking about this , they're talking about that . When was the last time you heard a republican talk seriously about policy ? They just make shit up . That's it . Make shit up about the border they make shit up .
Speaker 2That's it Make shit up about the border .
Speaker 3They make shit up about you know that . They made shit up about the ACA . They made shit up about abortion . Oh my God , Don't even get me started on that , Right . You know , Democrats are , you know , supporting babies getting aborted after birth . Well , that doesn't happen . Aborted after birth well , that doesn't happen . That's not even a thing . Why ? And and the press has been letting them lie about that .
Speaker 2Is there anything ? As a physician , let me ask you this , because I agree with you to . To my knowledge , it's not . It's not even a thing so let me ask you then , as a physician , what might they be thinking of or have in mind when they say that , that they are exaggerating and blowing up into this what's the closest we could get to that medically ?
Speaker 3Oh , I know Well , they're talking about what Ralph Northam , who is the governor of Virginia , and what he was talking about at the time , was comfort care . Comfort care for an infant , a newborn who was born without , with a fatal condition . Nobody was saying they crushed their souls or their skulls or anything .
Speaker 3They were just saying to give them comfort , care and let them die . And Republicans just glommed onto that and , like now , all we hear is you know , they want to kill babies after they're born . Well , no , as everybody says on Twitter , that would be a school shooting like we had yesterday . Yes , tragically .
Speaker 3No , I mean like no woman is pregnant . You know , to term , like a full term infant is usually like 34 weeks on right . Nobody is aborting a 34 week infant . It just doesn't happen . It doesn't happen . And of course they they always , like all the maggots , always bring that Pennsylvania , dr Gosnell , but that's just bullshit . I don't even want to like I , I don't engage with MAGA , as you probably know , right , I just block them with MAGA , as you probably know .
Speaker 2Right , I just block them . I do too . I might throw a little barb at them right before I block them .
Speaker 3Yeah , I just don't . I don't even bother and like if any of my supporters are watching this . Can I just ask you ? It's just please . It's a waste of your time to argue with anti-vaxxers .
Speaker 2It is .
Speaker 3Just the MAGA like pro-life , which they're not people , and the amosexuals I mean it's a waste of time . It is . But yeah , so I think that's where this particular talking point came from , but it's absolute bullshit . I mean , no doctor and I've said this on Twitter many , many , many , many times is going to sit there and let a healthy , full-term infant die .
Speaker 2I was going to say let me and right there and ask you about this . I'm sure , as a as a physician , that I think many people think of malpractice insurance as something that you know just cover any stupid thing a physician might do , violating some really intense policy knowingly . Malpractice insurance probably doesn't extend out to cover that . In other words , if you , if you knowingly broke the law in some way , you're probably going to get indicted yes indicted , I mean like that guy in pennsylvania did he got yeah like that guy in Pennsylvania did , he got indicted .
Speaker 3Right . It wasn't just malpractice , it was you know .
Speaker 2He was indicted and is that always in the back of your mind as a treating physician ? No , I mean , for example , let's say you go up to the point to where it's going to start getting into a potential gray area as it pertains to the law . If there's something that is very clearly understood by the average physician as you can't go there , you can't do that . That's going to be an illegal act . Are you constantly having that in the back of your mind as you those situations or no ?
Speaker 3well , I mean I can , I can tell you 100 that never ever ever came up while I was practicing okay , cool but I can tell you now , probably it's occurring to er physicians and ob-gyns right now , because these republicans are writing laws that are ridiculously vague . Right , they don't know . I mean they're . Every hospital has a legal department , you know this , right , like every hospital has a legal department so they're .
Speaker 2I must admit I I knew there was a department that kind of handled some issues like that , but I guess I never really .
Speaker 3Yeah , no , there is a there is a legal department pretty much in every big hospital system , probably the little ones . They probably have a lawyer on retainer . These doctors are getting like like instruction from the legal department because these laws that Republicans write are really , really vague . They don't really tell you . I mean that's why they're letting women bleed out in parking lots like no doctor that I ever practiced with that , that I knew would ever do that , that I knew would ever do that . Right , I mean it's insane . I mean look at that crazy Ohio lawmaker who tried to put a clause in one of those anti-abortion laws that doctors had to re-implant atopic pregnancies , which that's insane .
Speaker 3You can't do that . That doesn't happen . So I mean , these laws are written by ALEC . You know what ALEC is ? Right , yes , ALEC . And then they're embellished by just nut job Republican lawmakers and you read them and they're impossible to navigate for a treating physician . They're impossible to navigate for a treating physician .
Speaker 2I mean , you don't go through medical school and residency to end your career in jail I was going to say is this resulting in a lot of early retirements ?
Speaker 3I don't know , but probably some , especially in red states . But what we have seen a trend in and I've been kind of following this is that medical students do not apply for residencies in red states that have these strict anti-abortion laws , and can I just tell you that that is going to impact the physician population in those states , and not just OB and not just ER , because physicians tend to marry physicians I'm married to a urologist right , so for years to come because they're just not going to go there and physicians tend to stay where they did their residency . I stayed in Akron , ohio , for 30 years where I did my residency . Well , I did my residency in Cleveland , but yeah , I was in Ohio for 30 years .
Speaker 2And do you think that ? Let me ask you about that . I'm just curious Do you think that's because you're already there and kind of established and so to some extent it's just like yeah , I don't want to go through a big move again , I'll just stay here ?
Speaker 3I think it's a number of factors . I mean , you know the doctors that you're working with . You know the people there , you've been there . Like my residency was three years long , my husband's was five years long . Um , you know , I mean , you just kind of get dug in . Also , he was from akron , I dragged his ass okay , yeah , but yeah , I think I , but , but I think it's it .
Speaker 3it is a like , because they tend to marry like who they work with . Either it's other health care workers , other doctors , nurses , you know , respiratory therapists , they just you know that's who they meet because they spend all their life in the hospital .
Speaker 2Would it be an understatement to say that this is going to lead to a health care crisis in red states ?
Speaker 3It's already happening . It's already happening Did you hear about ? Well , this may not be just the anti-abortion thing , but it's the not expanding Medicaid stuff that Republican governors are doing . Did you hear they had to drive one of the victims from the shooting yesterday about an hour and a half to two hours to a hospital because there was no local hospital that could take them ?
Speaker 2I did not yeah .
Speaker 3So I mean I just think , like , like Republican governors and Republican governance is not good for health care in this country . It's , it's , it really is just like I don't know . Like , even if you look at what was happening before Roe was overturned in , like southern Texas , I mean there were no . There were no like health care clinics for women . Right .
Speaker 3And now there's even less , and I don't know what . Texas is going to be bad . Texas is going to be bad . Iowa is already bad . Idaho is the case coming up in the Supreme Court , where they're trying to decide whether whether women deserve EMTALA or not . You know what EMTALA is right . Yes , yes . Yeah , whether women get to be treated like actual humans . You know the Emergency Medicine Transfer and Labor Act act as a physician .
Speaker 2When you think about something like that , is it just impossible to even get your head around that .
Speaker 3These kinds of discussions are even occurring . It is actually , yeah , I mean it's just , it's I I don't understand like , how , like because , because when Dobbs was overturned , even when it was leaked , like the Dobbs decision was leaked , I was like how are they going to , how are they going to navigate EMTALA ? Because EMTALA , like you can't just turn people away . I mean as an emergency physician , we know EMTALA . I mean we live and breathe and tell every day you just , you can't , you can't refuse to treat anybody on their ability to pay .
Speaker 3Anybody who presents to your emergency department gets a full screening exam and of course , there's always that you know what is a full screening exam ? Well , basically it's being put back in a room and getting a full workup . In my opinion , so when you say that women are being turned away and not even being really totally evaluated and left to miscarry in toilets and bleed out in a parking lot , how is that going to square with EMTALA ? And I've been saying that for well , as I said , since the Dobbs decision leaked and now we know , now it's in front of the Supreme Court and you know they're hiding it . They forgot that . Some of us remember that because they're going to do it after the election .
Speaker 2Is it something that even can square ? Even what Can it even square ? You said I was wondering how that was going to square .
Speaker 3Well , I mean clearly it shouldn't , but somehow the Supreme Court decided to take the case . Right . Which to me is insane , Like why would you take this case ?
Speaker 2What do you think results out of ? Let's say , they give it their fan book approval , right ? What kind of a gap ? Because I guess , metaphorically , when I think about two things squaring in my mind , I kind of see two things lining up edge to edge . So there are no gaps , right ? Everything's lined up . What are the gaps that occur if the supreme court sides with them ?
Speaker 3but decides that that mtala doesn't apply to a certain segment of the population like pregnant women . Well , I mean , you're gonna see , like , okay , so now state law trumps federal law , right , because mtala is a federal law and and these state , these crazy state laws . So , and of course , you know , women , yet again , are second class citizens . So , and , and that's why leaving you know , like , like how the Republicans like to say , oh well , we're going to leave it to the state because states can make their own decisions , except for the states , like a lot of these states are refusing to put abortion rights on the ballot , making it very difficult to put abortion rights on the ballot , because when they have been on the ballot , they've won . So , yeah , so it's federal law versus state law , and I always thought , I mean , I was always of the opinion , or people told me , that federal law trumps state law . But I guess that's what we're dealing with now with the supreme court , with the idaho decision .
Speaker 2So and and that that's a topic in and of itself . Yeah , I the whole state law versus federal law
Debating Federal vs State Medical Laws
Speaker 2thing . Look , I know that people much smarter they could could list pros and cons until january on this issue , but just in general , would it be better ? Wow , I'm just thinking about this . I almost don't even want to ask it because the answer seems so obvious Would it be better if there was just one law federal law be better if there was just one law federal law or just one law state law where each state decides everything for themselves ? Let's look at it as it comes to medical decisions .
Speaker 2I guess the answer to that is it depends . It depends what the federal law is or it depends on what the state law is as to whether it would be a good thing for potential patients . Right , because essentially we'd be saying , okay , we aren't going to have two different bodies that we have to balance out here , decide , you know , federal law , trump , state law , or the state law , trump federal law . That argument's gone , because now it's just , it's clear , it's only this . So in that situation then I guess a red state would just be screwed and a blue state would be good , and there would be no real opportunity , until a state was flipped , to do anything about it . What are your thoughts on that as a position ?
Speaker 3I mean as a position . I think that , for the most part , federal law tends to protect patients . Okay , it tends to protect patients , it tends to protect their rights , and the state laws that I have seen coming out are , as I said , crazy , like I don't know who votes these people in , but you have legislators like writing crazy shit laws . So you need a daddy . You need a big daddy like the federal government , or a big mommy Right Telling you no dummies , you can't re-implant an ectopic pregnancy . No , dummies , you can't let women bleed out in parking lots . No , dummies , you know , like a woman whose baby is non-viable but still has a heartbeat , who's getting septic , needs an abortion . Right .
Speaker 3These are laws that need to be , I think , come down from the federal government .
Speaker 2And I like that answer because not in every case , clearly , but in so many cases I think , the fact that there is a separate state law that was born out of a resistance or dislike of the federal law , so this state law , you know they legislate this new state law in an attempt to get around the federal law . So , coming back to the idea that you think federal law protects patients , I guess the argument could be made that many state laws are really an attempt to undermine the very federal law that protects them . And again , I know somebody could point to many exceptions to that , but it is something worth considering . You know the conflict that comes up as it relates to human rights comes up as it relates to human rights .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean , I think I think you know all these laws that even that are coming out in some of the red states about gender affirming care and things like that . I mean , and I , to be honest , I am not well-versed in that well-versed in that Sure , nor am I .
Speaker 3I just feel like you know doctors who do this care and a lot of them are urologists my husband doesn't do it , but a lot of them are urologists care deeply about these kids and the endocrinologists that take care of them care deeply about these children . And the fact that they are vilifying these kids and most of them aren't even getting anything done . They're probably going through therapy , for Christ's sake , before they even get anything done . I mean nobody's going in and cutting off the genitals of your 12 year old , for Christ's sake . You know , I mean the whole , the whole premise and the whole boogeyman thing that that Republicans do . It's just ,
Analyzing Political Discourse and Media Bias
Speaker 3it's bullshit . Everything they say is bullshit , I'm sorry . Everything they say is bullshit .
Speaker 3I mean they say bullshit about abortion . They say bullshit about about trans kids . I mean it's just . They say bullshit about the border . I mean do they ever tell the truth is what I want other ?
Speaker 2I guess MAGA , members of the political world , does anybody really have any idea ? And we both know the answer to this , but I'll ask it anyway does anybody really have an idea of what Trump is about policy-wise in the 2024 election ? Nobody has any fucking clue because he doesn't talk about policy . The only time he even touches on policy is when he realizes he's been made to look bad in the press about something that he said . So he just drums up some bullshit story and lies about what he would do , when in many cases I'm sure he doesn't even understand the policy that he's addressing .
Speaker 2You know there have been many people from his administration who have come out and said he didn't even know where certain well-known countries were , where they were located on the . You know he seriously he couldn't tell you where on the map it was located . So the idea that he would have any kind of thorough understanding of any of the policies he's talking about and I think for donald trump at least that's why he doesn't talk much policy , because he doesn't understand policy . His idea of governing is just to do what he wants the way he wants , without regard for anybody else .
Speaker 3Well , Trump is a vessel for groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2025 . He's just their vessel to implement their policies . And Vance , I'll tell you , was their pick . You know Vance was totally their pick Trump .
Speaker 3The only reason Trump is running for president is to stay out of jail and make himself rich . You know , I mean that's the only . He has no policy positions . He has no convictions . I mean , did you see his speech at the what the New York something today it with some financial group ? It was super sleepy and they asked him specific questions and of course it was like the typical Trump answer . Right . He has no policy . He has no convictions . Trump is running to stay out of jail and make himself rich .
Speaker 2That's it . That is it , and I don't know whether they've this is something they just didn't factor in , although I find that hard to imagine . They must have just decided that the flaws were less than the supposed strengths , with JD Vance .
Speaker 3But in my opinion he is like a walking disaster .
Speaker 2This guy can connect with other human beings about as much as an earthworm , right ? No-transcript ? You can tell the guy just doesn't have any idea . He's trying too hard and in in doing so he's revealing many of his flaws .
Speaker 2I know for non-mega people like my father is 82 years old , still a republican he's not . Won't vote for trump , for sure I . I think he'll probably vote for Kamala Harris . We've had that discussion but I know he absolutely will not vote for Donald Trump . But when I hear him talk about somebody like JD Vance , you know they just even Republicans again , I'm talking non-MAGA Republicans . They just don't have a good feeling about either of the two people that are going to be on that ticket . They even many of the Republicans I know personally who in that first term were kind of caught up in the rah-rah and , yeah , let's kick ass . And you know we're patriots . They've become very jaded with this whole thing because it's tiresome , you know . Look at this If you went to a rock concert your favorite band , let's just say I went to a Van Halen concert when they were in their heyday , which I did . I've been to a Van Halen concert .
Speaker 2Yeah , those are the Hallation shows , right when they were in their heyday , which I did . I've been to a Van Halen concert . Yeah , those are the Hallation shows , right ? Yeah , let's say I went to that every week and they always played the same set . They didn't introduce any new theatrics or pyrotechnics . I knew what the first song was going to be all the way up through the last song . There's a point at which you're going to be so saturated , even though they're your favorite band . You're going to be so saturated , you just can't do it anymore , right ? Yeah , you're going to . If you're not burnt out on music entirely , at that point , you're going to gravitate towards another band . That's to me . That's donald trump . He's the . He's the same concert with the same set list for nine years now . People who were in the crowd had their lighters up , raising hell . You know , yeah , in 2016 , 17 , 18 . At this point , they're saying , oh , yeah , I know what the next song is . This is bullshit , right ?
Speaker 3yeah , I mean he's a one-hit wonder yes he really is right he never says anything new , it's everything's in two weeks . So we're gonna look , look into it bigly , greatly . You know he never answers a question , he never .
Speaker 2He never has and for that reason I love , I absolutely love listening to pete budajek answer questions on talk shows . I I don't know if there's anybody who has more fluently and effectively provided real answers in their politics in history . I mean this guy , he's a work— , he's going to be president one day . I believe so , I believe so .
Speaker 3And we're never going to be able to spell his name .
Speaker 2Is that right ? True , so true .
Speaker 3I have to Google it every time I try to write it right ?
Speaker 2yeah , is it in the ears , at the eye now every time ? You know ? That's such a refreshing thing to me because and this applies to both sides quite often you know you listen to a campaign speech or you listen to them on interviews , you know during their term , and you hear reporters ask the questions that you would like to ask if you were there , and it's like we fall for it . Every time we think I'm so glad you asked that question , I want to know the answer , and yet we never really get the answer that we would have been demanding or that we would have kept asking until we got , because they've been coached in most cases on how to avoid having to answer the question . So it really makes it hard for people who work all day and have kids and have things they have to do all the time . It really makes it difficult for them to be an informed voter the time . It really makes it difficult for them to be an informed voter because nobody's ever giving real answers .
Speaker 2I don't know what the solution to that is Now . Clearly one possibility but it's not again for so many people is that you do your own homework , right , you read and you do these things , but in the world that we live in today , time is a commodity . There are only so many hours in a day and the expectation that the average voter is going to carve out the needed time to really be educated on all the issues they're voting on it's just not . It's just not realistic . What are your thoughts on that ?
Speaker 3well , I mean , I I think , um , I think the news media has kind of failed us . Like I think I think a lot of like left leaning people on Twitter have felt like the media has failed us . They , they present a horse race and then and then expect they don't really present , like what the candidates are are saying . Candidates are are saying right , and I I don't think that , like , I guess there's some people out there that really care about you know , this tax thing and that tax thing , um , but I think most people who vote it's it's it's an emotional thing . It's emotional . I , I , I agree that there's people , there are probably people out there who care , but they're not going to find much on the news media or or in the print media , because I have been personally so disappointed with new york times and the Washington Post . I mean , trump is literally spewing like crazy shit , like Hannibal Lecter , like he thinks he's a real person . What is that ? Right .
Speaker 3And then they're like well , harris hasn't , you know , told us her policies , but she has it's on her website . So I mean , because there's so many factors like if people aren't paying attention , they're not paying attention
Analyzing Emotional Manipulation and Political Leadership
Speaker 3. I mean , do we ? How do we reach these people ? I don't know . I mean we , we text , but I mean I , um , I knocked on doors in 2016 . I called voters in 2016 . I got my face slammed in doors a lot in 2016 . I'm sure I can tell you that . I'm sure I mean people just had just this horrible opinion of Hillary Clinton , which was clearly not true , but clearly media driven , In my opinion . Sure , well , and then in you know , in 2020 , with pandemic , I called voters , I texted voters . I did so in the midterms as well , and you know , it was really , it was really cool just talking to people .
Speaker 3You know , of course , they give you a list , so these are probably likely voters right so I'm not talking to people , I'm not knocking on doors and and there's no way I can knock on doors here because it's lower , slower , delaware and everybody's voting democratic anyway .
Speaker 2So I couldn't agree more with you on the . The idea that it's it's emotional , right , yeah , um , I mean , the research bears that out . We know that , even when people think they have purchased a car , a home or made some other major life decision rationally and that's the driving force , there may have been some of that involved , but the real leverage was emotional , and I've got a really quick story for you on that . I was a life and health insurance salesman . I just turned 21 . In fact , I was out in the field doing training , like two days before my 21st birthday , just waiting on the clock to tick so I could officially have my license right , and one thing that I was taught early on about sales was that decisions are made emotionally . Now , having not yet experienced much life or really had any money to speak of , I didn't own a home . I , you know , I made money . I spent money , savings , savings , investment . At age I didn't even comprehend any of that , and so and this is in 1986 , so when I'm going out and presenting somebody a long-term facility policy , for example , that was going to be $2,700 , $3,000 annually . I didn't even have $3,000 to my name , and so I just couldn't comprehend charging . So here's the deal comprehend charging . So here's the deal . I scared myself by how easy it was to manipulate people's emotions . Right , I found out I was very good at that . But for that reason I failed in the insurance industry . And it's because since I didn't yet understand how I would actually be doing somebody favor by selling them a medicare supplement or a long-term I hadn't my brain , hadn't yet wrapped around how you're doing something for them , right , you're not doing something to them , you're . You're actually legitimately doing something for them . I would go in and become a professional visitor , right ? I knew I could very easily influence these people emotionally and get them to buy that $3,000 policy . I knew I could . But at that time and at that age it felt wrong to me . I felt like it was almost like I was robbing a bank , right ? So what I would do , what I would do .
Speaker 2We had a cancer policy and I think at that time it was sold by Pione life out of rockford illinois , and it was 100 a year premium , you know , and it's one of those policies that just pays some additional expenses , you know , in addition , for cancer only . So it's very cheap hundred dollars a year and I think the commission on that was 50 , so you'd make a few bucks on each one of those . I sold those things like they were cotton candy . Why ? Because I felt , gosh , it's just a hundred dollars and and look , it takes care of some things that their insurance wouldn't otherwise do . So I sold the hell out of those .
Speaker 2It's funny the first year I was the rookie of the year on number of policies sold right , yeah , but but I was at the very bottom of the list in terms of income produced because I was only selling a hundred dollar policy .
Speaker 2So I was in conflict with myself . But but I came out of that understanding something very clearly that it number one it's easy to influence people emotionally , it's simple to do and that when you do it you can very rapidly get somebody eating out of your hand and bypass their whole prefrontal cortex processing and have them responding from that limbic brain and basically doing things that defy logic . If that's what you want to do and donald trump is the kind of person who has an insurance salesman would not only have sold them that policy that they could benefit from , but he would have illegally sold them two of them right just because he knew that he could get the commission in the short term that it would get kicked back and they'd have to refund their money . But he could already have invested the commission from the second one and tie it up . That's , that's the mentality of of donald trump . He , he does not have that ethical and moral uh sense .
Speaker 3No , he has no ethical or moral compass . I mean , the man is a psychopath .
Speaker 2Absolutely .
Speaker 3I mean , there's so many stories that I have read about . Did you ever hear about when he bought a racehorse ? Did you ever hear that story ? Okay , so this was before he ran for president . Apparently , he wanted to have a racehorse . So he goes and he agrees to buy this racehorse from somebody . The story is in the Washington Post . If you have a subscription to it , you can look it up . So he goes and he buys this racehorse from this dealer and he I think it was for like 125 000 and , of course , he renames the horse donald j trump shocker um , and then so this horse .
Speaker 3I guess it was an upcoming race , but the horse wasn't feeling well and the trainer told Trump like you know , we need to let this horse rest . We can't let it like train . And then Trump insisted upon forcing this horse to train . Well , the horse collapsed , lost its two front hooves . Well , the horse collapsed , lost its two front hooves , and then , of course , in typical donald trump form , he hadn't paid for the horse yet . So we refused to pay the , the owner of the horse wow , wow yeah no , it's , it's actually .
Speaker 3If you look it up in the washington coast , it's , it's there I will look that up . Yeah , he's a sociopath , he's a psychopath . He I mean , and that's the reason you know , thousands and thousands of Americans died from COVID . Oh , because this man was never going to help Americans .
Speaker 2No help americans . No , he . He just does not have the capacity or the capability to feel emotionally the kinds of things that someone who could respond to a national crisis or a pandemic and the people was affecting in a way that a good leader could . And that's the scary thing about the possibility of a second term .
Speaker 3I can't even fathom it . I don't know .
Speaker 2See the idea . I think so many Republicans and here was the big mistake so many Republicans that I have talked to have been long in hope that he would change aspects of his behavior . So what they don't understand is that Donald Trump is not capable of changing his behavior no , psychologically incapable of change , right ?
Speaker 2So they start from a premise that isn't even a possibility , right ? With Donald Trump , you get exactly what you get , and if you got it in 2016 , that's what you are going to get in 2025 and beyond , until he expires . He is who he is . You know what I ?
Speaker 3mean , I mean , but you , but you gotta like what . What drives me bananas today , or every day , is you know that the stories about biden's age , biden's Biden's age and Trump's out there just saying crazy shit and they never like the press never brings it up , right ?
Speaker 2Well , one thing I talk about , andrea , that obviously it's not he , she or , I guess , whoever sets officially sets that precedent . I've yet to discover , but it's something that most people probably don't think is appropriate to talk about , and maybe it's just out of fear . But let's be realistic about Donald Trump's life expectancy . At this point he's 78 years old . He's a man who has never had any type of exercise regimen . He's a man who has historically eaten fast food and just shit as his diet . He's a man who has constantly had himself in stressful situations , and that's the thing A lot of people think . Well , no , he doesn't feel any stress because he's a sociopath , he's a psychopath .
Speaker 2No no he's totally feeling stress , absolutely no , he's totally feeling stress .
Speaker 2So if you were an insurance underwriter looking at Donald Trump , right and he was wanting to buy life insurance Donald Trump , right and he was wanting to buy life insurance it just wouldn't be feasible for most people because he's such a poor candidate . So I don't think . If he's here another month , that's probably too long , because of the damage that he has done to this country and , one could argue , to the world , because of his involvement with , for example , putin , who right now is waging war in Ukraine , because he would like to go beyond Ukraine and into countries like Poland , for example , and do the same thing there . So Donald Trump has exacerbated the bad behavior , I feel , of other bad leaders around the world , of other bad leaders around the world . There's been this synergistic effect between Putin and Donald Trump .
Speaker 2That's been bad for Ukraine , it's been bad for the United States . It could shortly be bad for Poland and other European countries .
Anatomy of Trump's Alleged Shooting
Speaker 2One last thing , because I know you probably need to get going , I want to circle back around to Donald Trump at Butler and just simply ask you this question In your experience as an ER physician , is there a significant difference between the healing time of a 78-year-old human being and , say , a 35-year-old human being ? A ?
Speaker 3hundred percent . Yeah , I mean huge , huge .
Speaker 2Right , I'm 58 . I mean , I know , at 58 , I don't heal like I did when I was 30 .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean the whole thing that I'm a fast healer was ridiculous . I mean it was a nick . Right , it was a nick . I mean I've cut myself shaving .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 3Worse than that .
Speaker 2I had this discussion with somebody last week and I'm not sure if it's actually in an episode or if this was something we were talking about offline before we recorded , but it was another male and we were both talking about the experience that we've had nicking our ear , shaving hair off the back of our ears , you know and how even just a razor cut sometimes will take a week or more to heal .
Speaker 2You've got the little scabbing there and that's just a nick . So if you , if you buy into the two centimeter bullshit story , there is no two centimeter anything ? No , never was . That's my contention .
Speaker 3There never was it's bullshit , you were not shot I mean you can look at , you can look at the photos from the initial injury and see that it wasn't two centimeters , right ?
Speaker 2I mean , like doctors know what two centimeters look like , that wasn't three centimeters and let me , let me ask you one final question , because I wrote wrote about this yesterday . Of course it was just this hypothesis that I was just airing out in this post that I made . I hadn't done any research on it to look at those statistics that might be out there , but just anecdotally , in your experience , what percentage roughly of men 78 and older would be on a blood thinner ?
Speaker 3Oh well , gosh , you know I don't know off the top of my head , but I imagine , like you know , Like you know you , I mean you know , when you have like conditions like atrial fibrillation , which is super common , that would require a blood thinner if you've had a stroke , or you know , not always that they won't always put you on a blood thinner if you've had an MI , but mean , yeah , I mean I would say I would know the percentage , but yeah , there's probably plenty .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's my feeling that , whatever the percentage , it would be statistically relevant in terms of of what percentage it was . I can't imagine that it wouldn't be , and and the reason I I ask you that is because one of the uh comebacks that I get from maga folks right when he's on a blood thinner well , no , no , no , actually to the .
Speaker 2To the contrary , they tell me well , we'll look at the blood . You know if , if you say it was just a nick , I'll say , well , look at the blood . Well , two things there . Things there . One , ears bleed easily . Right , we both know that . But also , if it were true that he happened to be on something like Coumadin , then a mere scratch could cause his ear to bleed in what we were able to see while he was on stage . I mean , am I right in that ?
Speaker 3No , yes , definitely .
Speaker 2So I think there are many unanswered questions and I think because of who he is . I say it's only a big deal in the sense that he's running for president , that he has been president . We should be accepting generalized terms such as I was shot . We need a definitive answer from a definitive entity or agency that says here's what we've determined , here's how and why we determined that , and it pretty much excludes any other possibility . We need that kind of stuff about somebody as dangerous as Trump .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean we're never going to get it though .
Speaker 2No , we're not , we're not .
Speaker 3We're never going to get it .
Speaker 2I think that's where I feel this . I feel so compelled to keep it alive because you are right , we're not going to get it alive . Because you are right , we're not going to get it , we aren't , yeah . Therefore , the only leverage then we have out of that particular lie is to keep highlighting the inconsistencies . Right , to keep that in front , because , as you stated earlier , people have a tendency to forget the really bad things or to forget the things that , on the surface , might seem trivial . And and many people have attempted to make that argument that this you know my insistence that it wasn't an intact bullet . And who cares ?
Speaker 3well , I care because , yeah , I mean just another like there was an actual assassination attempt on a presidential candidate . We still don't know about the security failures . We still don't know what actually hit him because it wasn't a bullet right . Um , we still don't know . I mean , we just don't know , like , like , we don't know any information . I mean why and ?
Speaker 2I and and a guy died right sadly , sadly , and I think I want to end on that . In no way , shape or form do I want to diminish the deaths of either of the people you know . I'm sure there's more to the story of mr cook , who was the uh assassin , I guess , as the story goes yeah , um , I don't want to to diminish the fact that two people died . That's tragic . My position is not that there was a staged assassination attempt . I'm looking at one small segment of this that Donald Trump has been using as political leverage . So , yeah , I'm lucky , mine have marked , yet I have uh , yeah , these are mine I'm like
Interview With Physician
Speaker 2a dog .
Speaker 2People are good people , right ?
Speaker 2well , andrea , listen , I am so thankful and grateful for you uh agreeing to come on and and this is great fun I've never done anything like this before and I think I , I think my original message to you , I , I think I I said look , let's just get on and shoot the shit . You know , you seem like somebody that , uh , it would be fun to talk to , and the fact that you are a physician , there are a lot of things that are relevant and connect with your medical expertise . So let's do this and it'll be fun . And I can say , for my end , it's been great fun .
Speaker 3Yes , and for my end too .
Speaker 2All right Well listen . I will let you get to your puppies . I'll make this again sometime . Thank you so much , and I will talk to you soon alright , thank you bye .
Speaker 3Thanks for watching .
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