Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome 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 2: 0:20

Hello and welcome to the Jack Hopkins Show podcast. I'm your host, jack Hopkins. Today's going to be a very short and brief episode. It's one that I didn't have planned but, gosh, as I sat around thinking about it, some things you just can't post and get across with the same emphasis that you can on video or even audio. Video is better, because then you can get in the facial expressions and the gestures and all of the other nonverbal communication, all of the other nonverbal communication.

Speaker 2: 1:10

You know, the last couple of days on social media, I've been a real hard ass, intentionally. I've intentionally been a real hard ass because what I'm seeing on social media from the Democratic Party as a whole, as a whole and anytime you're talking about the whole, of course there are exceptions what I'm seeing is not encouraging, and I'll tell you what the context that I'm talking about, because when I say what I'm seeing is not encouraging, I mean within that context, the Democratic Party as a whole, in terms of all issues, is a hell of a lot more encouraging to me than the Republican Party. A hell of a lot more encouraging to me than the Republican Party, for goddamn sure. So make no mistake about that. But within the context of resistance and for, in times like this, I'm just not seeing it. I'm seeing a lot of people who will very conveniently put resistance you know, hashtag resistance in their profiles on Twitter or threads or any of them. That's simple. That's simple. Anybody can do that. What does it mean? In the grand scheme of things, I really don't think it means anything. What it means is I guess you are willing to put yourself out there as yeah, I'm not for a lot of this stuff that the rest of you aren't for, and say that you'll fight against, but it doesn't say anything about how hard or how specifically somebody is willing to fight against it. And I guess, look, I guess, if it comes down to, you aren't going to engage in any other type of resistance than posting, you know, resistance. It's probably still better for the movement as a whole. I guess. I don't know that that's true. I'm just saying it probably is better to the more people who have resistance. Maybe it's a better look, but what I'm saying is the kind of resistance I see people indicating that they are willing to support or take part in. It's just.

Speaker 2: 4:29

I see a lot of hesitancy and reluctance, if not just outright refusal to go there. And I'll give you an example of one of the acid tests that I've kind of run the last couple of days. And, by the way, when I say I'm doing an acid test or any kind of test to get feedback, it's only ever going to be something that I truly believe. In other words, I would never put something out there that I don't believe just to get people's feedback on If I put it out there test or not, acid test or not. At the core, it's something I support and get behind.

Speaker 2: 5:29

Now for an acid test, I may word it more aggressively just to invoke a deeper, visceral response, an emotional response, because as somebody that studied psychology and human behavior my entire life, I know that's where the real answers come from. If you want to get down to somebody's deepest beliefs, even those that they might not be aware they have and that function beneath the cusp of consciousness, you need to trigger them emotionally. That's when you get all of that other bullshit out of the way. That's where you get the manners, the politeness, that's where you get the political correctness, all of that nonsense that clouds and fogs and acts as a smoke screen for allowing you to see what really drives somebody and how they really feel. You get all of that out of the way if you trigger them intensely enough emotionally.

Speaker 2: 6:52

If you don't, you can never know if what you are getting or what they are reflecting in terms of what they are saying, if you're person to person, or what they are writing. Because the truth is in life, not only can we say anything or write anything that may or may not be true. We all do it all the time. True, we all do it all the time we do. And if you think you are the exception to this, then you probably ought to get real clear with yourself on just how accurate that is, because it's not. We all go around throughout each day putting on a front of some sort. It's not like we get up and say, okay, I've got to put this face on today, I've got to put this facade up today. That's not generally how it goes.

Speaker 2: 7:58

Most of it is just habit and conforming to society or under the heading of political correctness or politeness or whatever the fuck else category that you want to place it in, and or unconsciously suppressing what you actually think and feel and especially suppressing how intensely you express what you really think and feel. So when I really want to get to the core of an issue and say, okay, look, here's my hunch, here's my hunch in terms of what people are thinking. What beliefs are really driving people? What emotions are really driving people? I don't ask, I don't, just say I'm curious. Jack Hopkins would like to know what are your core beliefs that are really driving your behaviors right now. And then, when you finish with that, please list the main drivers, emotionally, that are pushing you right now. You might as well ask what kind of fucking peanut butter they prefer, because the usefulness of the answers that you get will be about the same.

Speaker 2: 9:38

People aren't going to say. One reason they're not going to say what's true is because almost none of them have any idea, because that stuff usually operates at a below conscious level. It's not that they're lying. I don't think anybody. I shouldn't say anybody. There's always going to be somebody.

Speaker 2: 10:04

I wouldn't say that most people are going to lie intentionally when they answer those questions. It's just that they really think that those are accurate answers. They don't have any idea that they're not and that the real answers are just beneath the cusp of consciousness. So it's not lying per se, it's just not accurate with consciousness. So it's not lying per se, it's just not accurate. So if you want to bypass all of that and get to the more accurate information, you've got to stir them deeply and intensely emotionally. And the easiest way to do that is controversy, because controversy, if you push it far enough, will eventually elicit anger. And there are two emotional states from which people are willing to well take that out. Scratch that Willing doesn't fit there. There are two emotional states in which people will loudly and unknowingly touch on their core beliefs and their core thoughts, and they are two states that seem at opposite ends of the spectrum of one another, but in terms of their power to push someone to puke out some unconscious stuff, they're very much alike. And that's extreme optimism and confidence.

Speaker 2: 11:50

Extreme optimism and confidence, I'm not very confident at the moment at how smoothly I can say optimism and confidence and anger. That's right. Extreme optimism and confidence and anger that's right. Extreme optimism and confidence and anger those are two states from which somebody will engage very emotionally. Now you can call extreme optimism and confidence, you can call that just thinking you know every fucking thing and that you can't be proven wrong. Pretty much covers the same state that I'm talking about as extreme optimism and confidence. And then the other one's pretty clear Anger. Sometimes between a husband and wife.

Speaker 2: 12:50

The issues that have needed to have been talked about for a long time will only surface in a moment of anger, either from both of them or one of them. Either from both of them or one of them. Now I'm not saying that that's the best way to approach your marriage and communication there. I've never done marriage counseling or that I knew I didn't want to go there at all. First of all, I've been married more than once. So I don't know, in that mind or in that frame of mind I was kind of like, yeah, you know, I probably shouldn't be telling other people how to get their marriage closer to perfect, because I'm still working on it myself and I'm not sure I haven't figured out yet. So that was always my thing. I was like nope, nope, nope, not going there. Besides that man, I've seen some of the ugliest shit I've ever seen in my life In a room where a therapist is working with a couple who hate each other, and it's like a frigging war zone, right. So I just never wanted any part of that. It's like a frigging war zone, right. So I just never wanted any part of that. So what did I use this concept for in my acid test the last couple of days? Well, I used it in an area where I, again, I very firmly believe in the idea that I was putting out. And that's the thing about me most of the time. Again, none of us are immune to this. Most of the time, you don't really have to piss me off to get me to lay out the core of what I really believe or what emotions are driving me at any given moment. Not only will I tell you, but I'll show you, I'll demonstrate it or display it. I'm not saying that's a strength, but I would be very slow to assert that that is a weakness.

Speaker 2: 15:29

I think it's extremely contextual and I think in some contexts in life. It's extremely useful and my experience has shown me that social media is one of those. And I guess I should add, I think it's extremely useful if there's useful content there, if there's something of value, if there's something there that somebody might use as the catalyst to learn, or maybe even learn from your rant or your post or your video straight from it. I think then it can be extremely useful. Where it's not, I think, even useful at all, it's when people don't have any substance, even useful at all. It's when people don't have any substance or maybe the person ranting just isn't particularly intelligent or at the very least not particularly educated in the area that they are commenting on. Now I know I've done that for sure. I've gotten much better at that.

Speaker 2: 16:51

I've kind of shifted more and more to you know what, if I'm going to comment on like legal expertise, on like legal expertise, I'm going to do my best to always throw in there somewhere that this is my opinion and that when it comes to the technicalities of law, I don't know any more about what I'm saying than the guy driving the school bus. That doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on it, and I think sometimes opinions need to be put out there, whether it's from an expert in that area or not, but it just needs to be again. There has to be something useful there, and if your opinion, even if it's not spot on, can serve as the catalyst for maybe an expert to come in and correct you. The way I see that is, there's a situation in which, had it not have been for your loud assertive opinion, there may or may not have been any compelling reason for that particular legal expert to come out at that moment and say what they did about that particular thing. And so I think sometimes, sometimes it's necessary and even, you know, really useful for people. But for the most part, I try my best. I try my best and I fail. Don't get me wrong, believe me, I fail. But when I do fail, I make a note of that and focus a little more on not commenting as though I know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Speaker 2: 19:04

When it comes to something like a legal matter or something that only a physicist really knows anything about, I try to stick to human behavior and psychology. I know that, that I know in terms of what drives people, how to read people, how to use the tools at my disposal to shape human behavior. All of that is my world, and I'm good at that. Other areas I can't think of too many I'm very good at. That's my shtick, so I try to stick there. But again, sometimes we need to get some accurate feedback, and so one area that I'm just as expert in, I suppose, as anybody else, is that of being a voter right.

Speaker 2: 20:13

We all or most of us, as we're finding out, it's fewer than we thought, but most of us have the right to vote. Now, that doesn't mean we all assess the candidates as accurately and as thoroughly or intelligently as everyone else, but in terms of casting the vote and knowing what our expectations are once we cast the vote, expectations are once we cast the vote, we are all as qualified as the next person. Now I know somebody may come out and want to argue that and get down in the weeds about. Well, what do you mean specifically when you say qualified? We're all equal qualified there. Then maybe they can make a valid argument. Then maybe they can make a valid argument. But in general, look, who am I to cast judgment on the process that you went through in your head or didn't, to vote? That's not to say that I won't cast judgment on that, but I'm saying who am I to do that? So if you see me do that, then either in your mind or in a post, say you know what? Fuck off, jack Hopkins. Who are you to know what process I should use or not? So I think we're all equal in that way. We have the right to vote, but when it comes to the people we vote for, now we're going to drill down a little bit.

Speaker 2: 22:01

Going into the election, I was look, in this election, I was going to be behind the Democratic candidate for President of the United States and the Democratic politician, or potential politician, on the ticket all the way up and down, because of what we faced with the opposition and what their agenda is, not one we have to guess on, but what their stated agenda is. So, going into an election, I did as I expected myself to do and that was throw my full support behind whoever it was. When it was Joe Biden, I threw my full support behind Joe Biden. When it became Kamala Harris, I threw my full support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Vice President Kamala Harris, and I think, during an election year, boy, once the candidates are in place, and particularly once they are on the ticket.

Speaker 2: 23:41

I think it's pretty counterproductive, if you're in that party, not to be throwing yourself behind them fully. And even when maybe your gut is going, oh boy, I wish there'd have been somebody else, you can think that. You can feel that as long as you realize that doesn't mean shit because it wasn't somebody else, it was Joe Biden until it wasn't, and then it was Kamala Harris. So all the ifs and shouldas and wouldas and couldas don't mean again, don't mean jack shit. It's the person that's there from that party to vote on.

Speaker 2: 24:28

Now, post-election, I have a whole different approach to this, an entirely different approach to this. Post-election for one thing, the election's over at that point. For one thing, the election's over at that point Nobody's going to be. You know, it's another four years before somebody is going to be getting into a new office, at least by vote, with the exception of the midterms. But in terms of presidential candidate, vice president, it's going to be another four years. At that point it goes back to.

Speaker 2: 25:14

For me, it goes back to the mode I was in up until about a year before the election, and that is feeling free to criticize in any legitimate way the leaders of my party. And when I see a reluctance from people to do that, when I see a reluctance from people to do that, boy, it bothers the hell out of me. And it bothers the hell out of me because it's one of the loudest cries people in this party had about Trump and the Republican Party. You know the constant posting of they could have called him out, they could have stopped him, they could have said something. Where were the people with balls to come forth and say enough, we're not supporting him on this. We need to get. See what I mean.

Speaker 2: 26:21

Now I know some of you out there might be thinking well, jack, it was an entirely different set of behaviors and actions. True, a lot of the people that you are talking to who are also thoughtful and think about things a little bit before they just spout off if it's something that they're not happy with either. I was about to say you have an obligation a moral and ethical obligation, in my opinion to fucking say something and to say it loudly enough and to direct it at the person that it pertains to. Now I see another phenomenon here, when it comes to this topic, I see it quite often and that is someone who will say sending them letters or posting, tagging, you know, the president or the vice president or some other politician. That doesn't do shit. You've seen that. I'm not even going to ask if you've seen it, you have.

Speaker 2: 27:59

But then you have also seen this example when something hits the news, like it did recently, where Blue Cross oh yeah, see, I don't even have to complete it. Where Blue Cross oh yeah, I don't even have to complete it. Where Blue Cross was going to, you know, not pay for anesthesia beyond a prescribed time for a surgery People flipped the fuck out. Flipped the fuck out and public outcry caused them to alter their decision. Now, some of those same people who, when you are suggesting to speak out and condemn politicians in your own party or anyone when they are not engaging the way that the country needs them to, or at least that you think the country needs them to, the people who tell you that doesn't do shit will be the same. Some of the same people who are sharing every goddamn meme that says never say public opinion or public outcry doesn't make a difference. Look, blue Cross, blue Shield, they retracted that decision. So you know, it's like look, fucking, pick one, pick one. Either it does no good at all, or public outcry and public outrage have the power to shape politics. Pick one.

Speaker 2: 29:43

There are enough examples to show us that there have been many times where that kind of condemnation has influenced a decision and altered that decision decision. Now, nothing is 100% and I don't think I hope nobody's saying, well, yeah, but it doesn't work all the time, jack. Well, when you've got a fucking crystal ball that will let you know specifically ahead of time when it's going to work and when it's not, shoot me a message. Nobody knows ahead of time. And since nobody knows ahead of time, on the off chance that it will influence policy and decisions of various types, speak out, don't be afraid to criticize. So what's that have to do with resistance? Well, it has to do with resistance.

Speaker 2: 31:00

For this reason, with resistance, for this reason, the kind of resistance that has changed the world throughout history I mean, really changed the world has involved the kinds of behaviors that most people weren't really excited or probably didn't feel really good about having to do. In fact, a lot of it probably cut across the grain of everything about them, the grain of everything about them, and that's one of the reasons so few ever really engage in that type of resistance. Well, it's much the same for people who are too afraid or just simply flat out refuse to criticize leadership in their own party. It just doesn't feel right to them, which usually means they are worried about their peer group. They're in this little click, this little circle, and everybody kind of stays inside the lines. There are no-nos, there are things you can do to kind of float close to the edge that nobody will boot you out of the circle over. But for the most part there are clear lines of demarcation and if you get outside of those lines intensely or very far you risk being pushed out.

Speaker 2: 32:54

And the need most people have for acceptance by their peer group is so strong that relatively few people are, they're not willing to go there. It's not that they don't think and agree with those things that people who don't give a fuck about going outside the lines it's not that they don't agree with it, that it's more important to them to stay in line with their peer group than it is to show any kind of approval or support for that thing they secretly like. That is not a recipe for resistance. In fact that's the opposite of fucking resistance. I say again, that is the opposite of resistance. Resistance has not a goddamn thing to do with feeling good, with feeling accepted and with staying comfortable. It just doesn't. And I think that's the one thing most people don't understand when they write that word resistance. Resistance to them is, you know, being so bold as to post a comment that cuts against a Republican politician, Although I've seen a hell of a lot less boldness even there since the election. I've seen accounts that have gone from slamming his ass every day to like nope, my lips are zipped, to like nope, my lips are zipped, I'm not saying shit that could come back to haunt me. I was a resistor up to a point, and then my fear took over, right, so I just don't. And God forbid. You know, if you are a resistor, you are a resistor to anything that is hurting the direction you want the country to go. I just happen to have an example. I do, if you can believe it. I've got an example of that In his book on tyranny 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder.

Speaker 2: 35:40

He talks about and this is on page 18, anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy, and go back. I really like this line. It's so simple. That's what makes it so profound. The first sentence on chapter 1, on page 17, says most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. So I say to you then, a couple of days as I recall maybe it was three, as I recall, maybe it was three After the election, the headlines read President Biden I'm paraphrasing President Biden says he's committed to a smooth transition, to a smooth transition, and I about lost my fucking mind, as did many of you listening, as did many of the people who are interested in how their peer groups will respond.

Speaker 2: 37:16

But it comes back to that whole that need, that deep need. Most people have to be accepted and approved of by their peer group, as angry as they might have felt, boy, I mean to post something about that would be like saying I don't support every goddamn thing that President Biden does just because he's President Biden and is a Democrat. That would be too much like that. And so it pisses them off. They're angry about it, but they say nothing. You know who says what they're thinking about and how they really feel about things.

Speaker 2: 38:07

More often than not it's the little accounts, it's the small accounts, it's the people with maybe 500 followers. If that, why? Many of them do not give a fuck. Their peer group is not of enough size and magnitude that they give a fuck. They're like you know what, I don't give a shit. This is how I feel. This is how I see it. I'm angry. That shouldn't have happened like that and I'm going to fucking say something. That's where the real blunt, real visceral honesty often comes from is those small accounts. They don't have an image to uphold. They don't have a circle, so to speak, of any magnitude, where they are more worried about the feedback from the circle than they are voicing their own opinion, how they really feel about something that is in deep conflict with what they've been told and what we were told and they told us.

Speaker 2: 39:50

By the way, let me preface this by saying they were correct. They told us this because it's true. They told us that Donald Trump was a threat to democracy, that Donald Trump was a threat to democracy. They told us that he was a criminal and they supported and stayed silent about people within their own party, other leadership, who said he should be barred from running for president. You know whether it be the 14th Amendment or criminal case. They knew and they told us they knew. They rang the three alarm, five alarm fire bells, and rightly so.

Speaker 2: 40:49

So when, three days later, when the people who have gobbled that up and shaken their head you're goddamn right, he can't be allowed to take office, he is a threat to democracy and society and to human beings. When, three days after the election, they see a smiling, open-armed President Biden voicing that his main focus is to make sure there is a smooth transition, it's a fucking problem. It's a fucking problem. That's how a democracy dies, and what President Biden engaged in is absolutely an example of most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given and, on the quote on the other page, anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. Well, I am here to tell you that, in my opinion which I happen to think is reflective of a lot of people's opinions, opinions the biggest political tragedy we've seen for a while is that of President Biden lovingly and embracingly switching his focus to a smooth transition and then largely not saying another goddamn word about the danger of Trump and how he's a threat to democracy, how he's a national security threat and Kamala Harris and, by the way, I love Joe Biden and that's one thing I think too that often bothers me.

Speaker 2: 43:13

People think you have to either. You can't criticize somebody unless you hate them or dislike them, and that's a load of shit. That's somebody that grew up in fairy tale land. The people you criticized are oftentimes most often going to be the people you love. So the idea that expressing anger or displeasure requires you to dislike or hate them, that's batshit, crazy talk. To me, it has nothing to do with liking or hating them. It has to do with assessing the job they are doing and holding them to what they said and expecting to see behavior that mirrors what they. We have seen nothing from either President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris that indicates or would be indicative of them reflecting the kind of visceral, five-alarm-fire approach they took prior to the election Nothing.

Speaker 2: 44:44

And if you're somebody who's going to argue and say that's not true, leave the comment, I guess, at your own peril, because I'm going to come back at you hard because that's bullshit. We haven't. We have seen nothing that matched the intensity that they showed us prior to the election, from anybody, from anybody. So far, what have we got? Let's see. So far, we've got Blumenthal, who suddenly thinks Elon Musk is a champion for freedom of speech and the leader in the tech industry. Keep in mind Dick Blumenthal engaged in stolen valor Valor. I can't talk. Richard Blumenthal engaged in stolen valor, valor, valor. Look it up, valor, look it up, google it. That's some shit there.

Speaker 2: 46:13

When somebody that's got a seat in Washington is going to lie about their military service in the way that he did, I don't have them in a good person category, I just don't. So I'm less shocked say something that I don't know whether it's true or not. There's a good chance that it's true, and so with him, I'm not cutting him any slack, because if he's impacted that much by his stroke, then he needs to get the fuck out. But I guess if there's anything resembling slack that I'm cutting him, it's that people go through some deep personality changes, or can I shouldn't say people do they often do after suffering a stroke. They can go through bouts of depression, and, if I'm not mistaken, I think Fetterman had suffered with some depression prior to being elected in the first place.

Speaker 2: 48:05

So it's quite possible that Fetterman's pivot towards suggesting a pardon is multifactorial, right it? I can't help but think his is influenced in some way and to some degree by his stroke, because his position is just so damn contradictory to what we've seen from him in the past Clyburn. James Clyburn, that dude needs to get the hell on down the road. He needs to go. I could look up, I guess guess how old he is. Put it this way he's old enough. He needs to go, because somebody who was involved with the civil rights movement like James Clyburn, somebody who's been around and seen as much as he has seen fucking, knows better than to watch eight years of Trump and then tell the president of the United States who, by the way, is a good friend of his, you should pardon Donald Trump. That fucking guy needs to go. Is he suffering from dementia, alzheimer's? Is he using medicinal or illicit marijuana? I have no idea and frankly, in his case I don't give a shit. He's been there long enough. Go. This old shit of 80 plus year old politicians needs to end. It needs to end, end, it needs to end.

Speaker 2: 50:28

Look at the crisis that we had at the last minute over President Biden's age. Now you can tell me. Look, why wasn't I saying anything about this in this run up to the election? Because it was a run up to a fucking election and Donald Trump was the person on the other party. That's why you get behind your candidate when somebody who says you know what I'm going to shred the Constitution is the person on the Republican ticket. That's not the time for that. Once the election's over, it's no man's land. It's back to reality is there are very few people I know who would hire someone 80 plus for many positions at all.

Speaker 2: 51:32

My dad is 82. Love the guy to death. He's still pretty active. Death, he's still pretty active. If I had to pick between him and somebody younger for some matter of importance, I'm not picking my dad. He's 82. People start slipping. He started slipping. People start slipping, he started slipping. And I can hear it. Now You're going to tell me all of the people that you've met over 80, who you know, who haven't shown any signs of slippage yet.

Speaker 2: 52:16

First, I don't buy that. I think that's bullshit. And two, even if you do and the person you're talking about it's a legitimate case of that it's not the norm. Statistically that is not the norm. So I think we need to quit pretending that somebody over the age of 80 is a viable candidate for somebody who. We need to be thinking sharply and to have the processing speed required to function in a fast-moving political environment environment. That's not just true about the Republican candidates that we can't stand or that we hate, or who are trying to shred the Constitution or for it anyway, that we'd like to somehow remove and get gone. It's not just true of those, it's true of people in both parties. If we can use that for an excuse for anyone, we can use it for an excuse with everyone. That's one of those things I can't even believe would really ever seriously be debated. I can't even believe would really ever seriously be debated.

Speaker 2: 53:48

The trajectory of life and aging is not some fucking mystery. I'm not the man at 58. I was at 48. I wasn't the man at 48. I was at 38. And on and on it goes. It's a fact of life. And anybody who tells you they are the same person at 48, physiologically, neurologically and any other ology it's a handy phrase, it's a comfortable phrase for them to say, or probably it usually starts with somebody telling them oh, you look just as good or you can do about everything that you could do at 38.

Speaker 2: 54:37

It doesn't matter, it may look like that, it may seem like that, it may seem like that, it's not like that. The body moves in one direction as we age. Now, someday that may change With AI and the types of medicines and DNA manipulation, and on and on and on. That may result technologically. Someday that might not be the case, I don't know. I do know that right now it's the case, it's the case for me, it's the case for you and it is the case for every man or woman we will ever vote for. So that's the thing.

Speaker 2: 55:30

Rather than experience a crisis with that again, like we did, how about let's avoid a crisis like that again? How about let's not bullshit ourselves and say, yeah, it doesn't matter that he's 78 and would be 82 when his term is over. It does matter. Physiologically, neurologically, psychologically, it fucking matters. It's the leader of the free world. It matters for his aides, which typically that's not where you find an 80-year-old although I'd say there are certainly examples of where there have been but most of the time the president's closest aides aren't going to be that old.

Speaker 2: 56:28

But if someone is suggesting that, okay, these three people should be your aides and they are 79, 81, and 80. It's not a good idea. It's not a good idea. You know, you utilize those people, you put those people on speed dial. You get people in those positions that haven't outlived the male life expectancy, who, when they need to draw upon the wisdom, experience and knowledge of these people 79, 80, 81 years old while serving the president. They can call them, they can even meet with them, they can email them, they can do a video chat and incorporate their vast experience, their wisdom, their knowledge.

Speaker 2: 57:46

But let's stop pretending that putting these people in those positions is a good fucking idea. It wasn't, it's never been and it never will be again, at least in until technology has shown us conclusively oh, guess what we can do now? We can pretty much freeze the aging process. So when you're like 65, in terms of the progression at a cellular level, we can pretty much freeze that in time. At a cellular level, we can pretty much freeze that in time. Yeah, you will become. If you live another, you know, 10 years, 15 years, you'll be 80 years old in calendar time, but physiologically you'll still be 65. If and when something like that happens, then it changes the calculus on what I've been talking about. It hasn't happened, though, and I don't think it's going to anytime soon.

Speaker 2: 58:48

So for now, let's deal with reality, and let's deal with the reality that having somebody running for president the age President Biden was this year makes a lot of fucking people really fucking nervous and it's not good for a campaign. And that's just the truth. You don't have to like it, you don't even have to agree with it, but if we are going to spend equal amounts of time researching and pulling out the facts on aging and cognitive processing and everything else that's pertinent to that debate, I'll win that debate and you will lose, because it's a fact. It's a fact that's supported by science and, after all, aren't we the party of science? Well, I've found that sometimes we are and, depending on the topic at hand and how we feel about it, sometimes we're not. Well, science isn't one of those things you can ethically be that way about. If you're going to be for science and say science is the best guide we have, then be consistent with it. Apply that in anywhere. Science is relevant to the discussion or the debate and with the age of a candidate, it's very relevant to that discussion or debate. So going full circle.

Speaker 2: 1:00:48

Then I come back around to this idea of resistance thing that has to happen before any significant group of people can resist in conjunction with, you know, a lot of other people. They first have to be able to accept hard truths, and one of the hard truths that people seem to be struggling with is that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have not shown any real leadership since the election. They have not shown the type of leadership that you would expect to pick up a history book about and read about a similar experience and a set of threats to the nation and national security and then see how it was handled and go, oh yeah, god damn man, that president was. That's a leader. That is an example of a real leader. That's a leader. That is an example of a real leader.

Speaker 2: 1:02:05

Nobody that's being honest with themselves is going to assess President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris post-election and ever read anything that's written honestly and go man, wow, you talk about examples of great leaders when democracy was taking in its last breath. Wow, that's never going to happen. Based on what we've seen from either of them post-election, nobody's ever genuinely and authentically going to be able to say that and believe it, because it's simple, they have not risen to the occasion and so it's not. Even you can't come at me and say, well, you say they millions of dollars to do so, so don't try to put this back on me of. Well, who are you to set the frame for what it is we face right now. Take me out of it.

Speaker 2: 1:03:36

President Biden and Vice President Harris set the frame in their campaign in this run-up and before that, of course. Well, to Hispanics, to migrants, to just US citizens period. They told us that and they told us he can't get back in the White House. He can't get back in the White House. So when I get on their ass for treating Donald Trump like any other person who is just waiting the time to expire so he can be sworn in and being all smiles and cheery and not coming out and talking about the things that the people who voted for them expect to hear, based on what they told them during that last year, you don't want to debate with me on that, unless you're somebody who can really have really thick skin, because I won't be nice.

Speaker 2: 1:05:26

We've got to wake up to reality. We've got to stop looking to political correctness and how we think our peer group will feel or think about it as a measure of how we are supposed to act, what we are supposed to say or supposed to not say. That is bad juju. It's bad juju and the kind of changes and the kind of behaviors, kind of actions that actually do pull democracy back from the precipice of going over the edge into hell. They don't come from, they are not born out of that mentality, they are not born out of that mindset. They're born out of people who are willing to face reality, who are willing to speak about reality realistically and honestly, even if it's ugly and painful to acknowledge. And then we have to have people who are willing to realistically and honestly talk about. Talk about the solution to being able to continue to live freely, about the closest I've seen come to that recently. And he's been amping things up in terms of what he's been willing to put out there as Mark Elias, which nothing against him, but it's a little bit surprising because I've just never really seen that kind of fire from him before. I mean, he's obviously a very smart guy and a very sharp lawyer and wins a lot of cases that are critical to democracy, but I just never saw him as the kind of guy that would come out with fucking fire in his ass like he has. But he has and I've seen it now and I'm telling you there's a man who understands, there's a man who's done with the mamby-pamby political correctness bullshit. There's a man who's talking about winning and understands what it means to fight. He understands what it takes to win. And if you don't follow him and I'm sure you already do you should.

Speaker 2: 1:08:08

Another one, and I've mentioned him the last, I don't know week Adam Kinzinger. I love that guy and every time I see somebody say, yeah, but he's still a Republican, shut up, fuck. The guy voted and campaigned on behalf of Kamala Harris. What fuck? What else do you want you want? That guy understands what resistance is. That guy is fearless. That guy knows what it takes to win and he's not afraid to post what he says, not afraid to post what he thinks, and he sure the fuck is not doing any of that based on how he thinks his peer group is going to respond. He's his own fucking man. That's one reason I respect him so much. He doesn't give a shit whether you like him or not. He's going to say it and he's going to express it and he's not mamby-pamby. He's rock-solid in whatever it is he believes. And just because he doesn't believe everything exactly like you do, if that's the only reason you can't fully appreciate somebody like Adam Kinzinger, then you are being way too picky when it comes to who helps fight for democracy Juvenile. So, hey, you know what Some of the people listening to this episode of the Jack Hopkins Now podcast some of them may have decided you know what I don't like how he's talking, I'm going to unfollow him or I'm going to block him.

Speaker 2: 1:10:31

Look that if you are speaking authentically and honestly, that should always be happening to you. You should always be losing followers at a similar rate to the ones that you are gaining, because if you are being honest and speaking what you really think and feel, then it's not about trying to keep everybody happy. It's not about trying to make sure nobody doesn't like you. It's about one thing speaking how you truly think and feel, and the ones who are right for you and feel, and the ones who are right for you, you will attract them. The ones who are not right for you, you will repel them, and so it's a constant process of refinement. So that's how it has to be.

Speaker 2: 1:11:42

If you speak and communicate authentically and it can be no other way, because nobody's going to agree with you on everything all the time the ones that I think, wow, I'm sure, glad you're here are the ones who can listen, and when something comes up that they don't agree with. It's no big fucking deal, it's just some point they don't agree with. But they don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. They appreciate the difference and they look at the bigger picture and say you know what? There are very few people out there talking as authentically and as fearlessly, without regard for whether they're pissing someone off or not, like this guy or that woman or this person, person. And that's exactly how. When people tell me that's the way they see me, I think great. Not because I have a need for them emotionally to see me that way, but structurally it's great because I know I'm now communicating with more people who are open to truly understanding what resistance is, what it takes to win, and that personal sacrifice will be involved.

Speaker 2: 1:13:09

That you don't resist and remain comfortable. You don't get to stay under a nice warm blanket in your favorite little cabin in the woods and keep that feeling in that location and really be a part of the resistance. You're going to have to step out into the cold or out into the heat. You might have to do that somewhere. You don't want to and that somewhere might have a real risk or danger to you, at the very least as far as who all is willing to accept you, which a lot of people are more scared of that than they are of a bullet. But that's the reality of real resistance at a time like this. So if you are still listening at this point, you get it Most likely or maybe you just kept listening because you hate me enough that you just wanted to keep hating for till the end. But more likely, if you are still listening, it's because at least some of these ideas have resonated with you and we are in agreeance on at least some of these.

Speaker 2: 1:15:23

If we don't feel comfortable in speaking out against leadership when it's appropriate or useful, in an attempt to shape their behavior in a direction more consistent with what they previously told us and believed and that we agreed with, if we can't do that, then this isn't a fucking democracy in the first place. I say again if we can't and won't do that, this is not a fucking democracy we are trying to protect anyway. Well, I'm not willing to accept that idea. It is a fucking democracy. It is worth fighting for, and those who want to live in a manner that's inconsistent with saving it, just get the fuck out of the way. That's all we ask. Get out of the way, don't stand in the way or clutter the alleyway when those who do understand it are engaged in saving it.

Speaker 2: 1:16:27

So I think I've presented this about as authentically and realistically as I'm able to. There's nothing contrived about it. There was absolutely nothing scripted, as is the case with any podcast or any video of mine that you see. I've never scripted a video or a podcast in my life. I don't even create outlines for my podcasts. Matter of fact, I don't even have a concept in mind for my podcasts. I figure I'm 58 years old and the person that I'm having on as a guest has probably been around a while too.

Speaker 2: 1:17:17

If we aren't capable of sitting down and engaging in a conversation without having to write a bunch of shit out in the first place, then neither one of us should be on air talking, because at that point it's not an authentic conversation. It's one step closer to contrived. If there's anything I hate, it's contrived are too contrived. If there's anything I hate, it's contrived.

Speaker 2: 1:17:44

Authenticity is what I've always tried to be about in my communication and scripting. There's just nothing authentic about it. I kind of feel that way about. I mean, I understand some of the reasons why they do use teleprompters, but I have to say I'm still. There's a part of me that says just fucking, talk to us. If you know this subject well enough, you ought to be able to just talk to us. You ought to be able to. You shouldn't have to get up and do this every other paragraph. You ought to be able to just get up, look into the camera or look down at the people in the audience and fucking talk Speak. If it's in your head already. Have a conversation, talk about it.

Speaker 2: 1:18:57

The world is too scripted and that's why people are feeling like they're not having or being part of authentic conversations in politics either. Again, either party. It's like if you want to talk to us, have a town hall where you're actually engaging with a live human being and you don't have a scripted answer, you don't have a teleprompter to help you out, and if you can't do that, then don't go into politics. Just don't go into it. Realize that's a skill you need and that you need to know your topics well enough that you can do that. And if that's something you go oh fuck, I could never do that then okay, that would be an indicator that politics is not for you. That's how you get closer to authenticity and real conversations that people feel a connection with.

Speaker 2: 1:19:57

And as bad as I hate saying anything that even remotely sounds like acknowledging something useful from Trump, that is one reason he connects with so many people at those rallies it's because he goes off script. I say again, it's one of the reasons he connects with so many people at those rallies and it's because he goes off script. They don't give a shit whether the content is meaningful or whether they're learning anything from it. What they know in those moments is that he's not reading off of something and that he's speaking from the gut and making eye contact with people in the audience and on an emotional level, they feel that. And even if he is saying something meaningful which we know almost never happened they probably don't even hear it anyway. But what they do receive and feel down to their bones is that he's not reading something, he's looking at and speaking directly to them and they're connecting emotionally.

Speaker 2: 1:21:30

There are a lot of changes we need to make in this party and the other day somebody posted something about that and somebody said what about the other party? I'm not in the other fucking party, are you? I guess you're probably not, because you follow me here and I'm a Democrat, and so is about everybody else that follows me. Why, every time somebody brings something up about the changes we need to make, there's always somebody going. What about the other party? That's like coming home after you knocked the window out of the neighbor's house with a baseball and your dad's about ready to whip your ass and you say wait a minute, tommy broke the window out of their car two weeks ago and most dads, at least of the era I grew up, would have at least been of the mind, if not verbalized it. I don't give a shit what Tommy did. What Tommy did and what goes on there has nothing to do with what goes on here. You are my son, you broke out that window and that's the window and the son that I'm dealing with.

Speaker 2: 1:22:57

So there's got to be an openness to look at our own party and demand changes within it. If that's the party we are going to be voting for, then we have to start putting pressure on so that the things that have been roadblocks for us when it comes particularly to being able to sway independence our way, vote for our candidate in our party. Then we've got to first of all accept that we're not a perfect party, and when you say a party's not perfect, that means there are things that need changed. And when you say a party's not perfect, that means there are things that need changed, and again, for the purpose of being able to get enough votes to win a goddamn election, rather than going on as business as usual, not speaking up when people need to be called out and then expecting independents to pull their head out of their ass and wake up to the fact that you know what we're doing already. That's the way it should be. So wake up, independents. That's not how it works. That's not how it works.

Speaker 2: 1:24:24

I've really never been involved directly with a full political campaign and I know how it works in that regard. It doesn't work that way. If you want those votes, you make the changes as a party you need to make so that those votes that you want they go. Ah, okay, now I can vote for you. I can do it now. I can vote for you now.

Speaker 2: 1:24:57

All of that shit that bothered me so much that I was like nope, no way, those are no-goes for me. I'm not voting for your candidate. We rounded the edges off of those or we got rid of those. We focused on the big issues that apply to the biggest majority of people and we got the independent votes that we could never seem to get. Now will we have another election? I should say, will we have another presidential election? I have no clue, even if you're saying, okay, well, just which way do you lean? I have no clue, I don't. Oh, I could tell you something that sounded convincing, but it would be bullshit because I really don't have any clue. We might, we might. We might not.

Speaker 2: 1:26:09

So anybody who and I get it not every time we post something are we being technical or meaning to be absolutely factual about it, I get that, but when that's the way somebody is intending to communicate, and anytime you hear somebody say there will never be another election four years from now, it might turn out that, oh, I guess they were right, but they don't fucking know either. They have no idea. Just like the person who tells you with certainty, oh, there will absolutely be another presidential election, they're talking out their ass. The same way, the person who's telling you there will absolutely never be another election, nobody fucking knows, and that's the most honest thing I can say about whether we'll have another election. Nobody knows. What I do think that I know a little something about it's that if we do to the degree that the things that I've been speaking about are ignored, we'll probably lose that fucking thing too.

Speaker 2: 1:27:36

I come from a unique place in terms of somebody that posts from within the context of a Democrat, with posts that are going out to primarily Democrats, somebody who voted Democrat and has for every Democratic candidate for the last six years. But where I came from, when you leave the Republican Party after 50 years. It's not like you step through some fucking force field that sucks everything you've experienced and ever believed out of your body and head. It doesn't work that way. That experience, those experiences, those 50 years of experiences, will have shaped you in a way that you cannot completely shake off, and anybody who would tell you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about, and anybody who would tell you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. I will carry those influences with me for the rest of my life. No-transcript, excuse me. So I'm definitely a blue. I'm not even a blue dot, I'm a blue speck in a red state, and because of that and because of the previous 50 years, I know how Republicans think, and because of that I know a hell of a lot about how independents think as well, especially the ones that the party this party hasn't been able to pull, because those are the ones that have got heavier amounts of that Republican influence running through them. They identify as an independent, but, much like me, they probably came from a long history of having been a Republican or raised around Republicans or having lived in a Republican stronghold. And so, even though their title, their preferred title, says independent, there's still a healthy Republican influence going on with them and I know what that influence is and I know the reasons you can't get those votes for the Democratic Party. And I also know that if this party doesn't wake up to that, doesn't get interested in that and is not interested in making the shifts that need to be made to win a goddamn election, then they're going to lose elections again.

Speaker 2: 1:30:58

So, as I wrap this up, I really, as I thought about it again, there wasn't much time to put too much thought into it, because it was fairly impulsive actually to sit down and do this episode that you're watching now. But there's really no difference, I suppose, in me doing this one or the one I'm going to be doing with someone next week, because I'm not really going to think about that one either until they come on my screen, because I don't want to have anything contrived or pre-planned. I want it to be just like we ran into each other in a coffee shop and are having an authentic conversation, and if you want to have an authentic conversation, you have to have one, and when you are sculpting your conversation ahead of time, you've just shit the bed when it comes to having an authentic conversation. And that's what I wanted to make sure this one was about too Authentic. I suppose I curse less on my podcast episodes because I really I don't think of the podcast episodes of being about me at all. I strive I don't know how well I do that from your perception, but I strive to make it about my guest. So if I get, if I find myself having allowed myself to get too emotionally intense or put who I am too much in front of people, then it runs the risk of becoming about me and I don't want that. When I want it to be about me, then I do a solo episode like this one, but when I have a guest on, I want it to be about my guest. So I do my best to just stay out of the way or to not do anything that would put the spotlight on me more. Here I'm just giving you me.

Speaker 2: 1:33:32

If somebody came in, a good friend or even whoever came into my house and sat down with me to have a cup of coffee, I'm not one to go. Oh, I don't know what he thinks or believes, so I better not say X, y, z, I just I talk how I talk. I always figured that if it's something that is offensive or so bothersome to someone. They've got the right to get up and leave, but I've always seen that as something I can't be. How authentic can I be if I go around the world presenting myself in a way that's not authentic? Or it's not in the way that I would talk at home, or it's not in the way I would talk to a longtime friend. To me that just again you hear that word come up again To me that feels contrived, that feels fake, and I'd rather have somebody who I just met leaving my home going fuck man, that guy who I just met leaving my home going. Fuck man, that guy. Yeah, he's not your average cat, but God damn it, he's honest. He's not holding anything back. I didn't ever feel he was saying anything to be offensive. It's just how he talks. And either they all appreciate that or they won't, and I can't control that and have no desire to. But if they don't, then okay, leave. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it and I don't suppose they will either, or shouldn't?

Speaker 2: 1:35:18

I just think we need more authenticity, and for more authenticity we have to be willing to face and experience uncomfortable things, operate in uncomfortable areas in that uncomfortable zone. Now it's no longer uncomfortable for me. It was it used to be when I first said I'm breaking out of my shell here. I've been living kind of an inauthentic life in terms of who I am. When I first decided that, okay, I'm not doing that anymore, I'm going to be who I am with everybody. All the time. It was new and it was uncomfortable and it was scary. And the more I did it, the less new it became, the less uncomfortable it became and the less scary it became, until eventually guess what's uncomfortable and scary now? You guessed it. The idea of conforming to what I think somebody else expects of me, or speaking in a way that I think they'll approve of. That's very uncomfortable to me now. That's very scary to me now. That's very scary to me now Because those things are reminders that you've lost yourself again.

Speaker 2: 1:37:01

You've disappeared. You're in a conversation but you're not present. This character that you think they will like or approve of is the one doing the talking, but you are gone, and that's no longer acceptable to me. In my teens and 20s that was kind of the way I lived, but then I realized I could live like this the rest of my life and I'll never really know who I am, because I'm almost never allowing myself to be who I am, and I would imagine that somebody who is from the LGBTQ community.

Speaker 2: 1:37:45

You know exactly what the fuck I'm talking about, because there was a time and maybe it's still happening. There was a time, at least probably, where you lived in that same manner. You weren't who you truly were, you didn't express yourself as you truly wanted to and you conformed so that you'd keep the acceptance and the approval of others. And if you don't live like that anymore, it's probably because at some point you said you know what? Fuck all of you, I'm not here to please you. I'm not on this earth to please all of you. I'm here on earth to be the fullest expression of myself there can be and to use that, whatever it is, to do some good in this world, to do some, to leave my mark in a way that made at least one life better, and more than that if possible.

Speaker 2: 1:38:55

So I hope maybe you've enjoyed this episode as much as I have, because I've enjoyed it thoroughly and I think I'll be doing some more of these in the future, where I just kind of have a thought and I sit down and I do do an episode and let it go where it goes, and that's one reason I hate the idea of outlines. I don't want to go where I thought it should go half an hour ago. I don't want to feel confined to okay, a half an hour ago I thought it should go here and then there, but a half an hour later I'm not feeling like that anymore and the flow of it is feeling more like it wants to go there instead of there. But, damn it, the outline says there. So that's where we go Now. I can't do that, or I could. I won't do that. Do that as thoughts come to us as they do in real life, where we thought we wanted to go, or what has been spoken of, oftentimes creates a different path that leads to a different topic or subject than the one an outline would have put in place. So I'll probably do more of these. I like speaking in the way my brain operates and that is go with that flow and when it signals oh, based on what you just said, this would make sense to talk about now. So let's talk about that.

Speaker 2: 1:40:56

This is Jack Hopkins and I have enjoyed the last hour and 40 minutes. Hope you have as well. If you haven't, then you probably aren't still here. You've probably signed off already. But if you haven't and you are still here, I say to you don't listen so long the next time, so long the next time. Just quit early and do something else that you do enjoy. So I will talk to you again soon and until then, have a great evening, morning, day or whatever's appropriate for when you listen to or watch this. I'll talk to you again soon.