Latest / I Think Less of You Podcast / I only pretend to be a monarch

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I only pretend to be a monarch · I Think Less of You Podcast

0:15
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not still jet lagged.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: It's been weeks.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I got back from Armenia immediately the next day.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: I drove to Florida and I was driving around Florida first.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: I dealt with that ages ago.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: I went from Armenia to Georgia, but not the Florida, Georgia kind.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: You went to the nation of Georgia, not the state of Georgia.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: I did.
0:39
SPEAKER_02: I did.
0:40
I drove back past Lake Sivan,
0:43
which I went to with you because we were in Armenia together.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: You went to the two rival nations claiming to invented wine.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, one has better archaeological proof of it, but.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, don't tell that to our Armenian friends.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: They will not thank you.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: I know.
1:04
It was so funny when we were at that cave and they were like,
1:07
well,
1:07
we started wine.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: That's...
1:13
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, the thing is, they're not that far from each other.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: They're both relatively small countries.
1:20
From a historical standpoint,
1:21
let's be honest,
1:22
they're roughly the same people.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Genetically, that is not true, but yes, I see what you mean.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Like culturally,
1:32
SPEAKER_00: you go back,
1:34
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:35
SPEAKER_00: when wine cultivation was starting,
1:37
SPEAKER_00: they were,
1:38
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:39
SPEAKER_00: they were both basically the same.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's an argument over nothing.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, they should just merge.
1:46
They should just merge all those countries together and then go
1:49
fight Turkey and
1:52
SPEAKER_00: force the Azerbaijanis to stop being Muslim.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: This is great.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: This is great.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: We're going to start a holy war on our podcast.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: I just solved the Southern Caucasus.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
2:08
Unfortunately,
2:09
I don't know that that's the line that they're going to go
2:12
with.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: But we did have a really fun time there.
2:17
And I am glad that you got to go and see what being a travel
2:21
influencer is like.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: I was not going as a traveler.
2:26
I've been dribbling and driving out things from Armenia just
2:29
when I think in the
2:31
SPEAKER_00: morning if I think of something interesting to post about it.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just going to look around.
2:36
I don't – as you know,
2:38
unlike you,
2:39
I don't think about myself as an influencer.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: I think about myself as a user of – I use –
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Twitter, just as everyone else uses Twitter.
2:48
I just have more followers than some,
2:52
although many of them have more than I do.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not special.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking to influence anyone.
3:01
I'm just looking to share interesting thoughts I have or
3:04
interesting things I've seen.
3:06
Not exactly the tagline I used when pitching you as the other
3:11
influencer going on this trip.
3:13
Others may view me as an influencer,
3:17
but it's just not...
3:19
I can't self-identify as that.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: It's just...
3:23
SPEAKER_02: I get it.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: I call myself a digital publisher because I hate the word influencer.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: I get it.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying, like, you kind of were.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: And that is what I pitched you as.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to someone on Twitter this very morning, though.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: I posted about Mount Ararat.
3:40
And I was talking to someone who said that they listened to our
3:43
podcast that we did
3:44
while we were in Armenia with Charles and that he now is
3:49
considering going to
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Armenia.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, there you go.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: He should look at the Noi Travels website.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: He should absolutely look at the Noi Travels website.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: They don't have,
4:00
SPEAKER_00: they're not at the point where they have like travel packages,
4:02
SPEAKER_00: like pre-set up travel packages yet,
4:05
SPEAKER_00: right?
4:05
SPEAKER_00: But I assume they will be.
4:07
Yeah,
4:07
actually,
4:08
behind the scenes,
4:09
we are working on a couple that are happening this year.
4:14
I am likely going on one to Georgia and Armenia this fall,
4:21
centering all around wine.
4:23
So we will we will get down to the nitty gritty about who
4:27
actually invented wine.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: I was thrilled to be.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy I met Charles.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: He's a genuine dude.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: He has a lot of passion for it.
4:38
I am a very dispassionate person in many ways,
4:43
but I appreciate passion when I see it in others.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: I like seeing that kind of drive and love of something.
4:51
So it was great seeing him and meeting him and seeing him
4:56
working towards something
4:58
SPEAKER_00: that's deeply personally important to him.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: I mean, not hanging out with me.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: We fought a little bit on the trip.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: You fought.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: I was there.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: That's a fun rewriting of things.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: You can view it how you want.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: No, it was fun.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: It was a good trip.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of fun.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: I really liked Armenia.
5:30
I actually do stand by my description of it as being the
5:33
Pittsburgh of the South Caucasus.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: And you take that as an insult and I mean it as a compliment.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: So, you know.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:41
I'm just glad that Charles saw it as a compliment because I
5:45
have been talking to
5:47
SPEAKER_02: him about this for a few months.
5:49
And at first I was like,
5:51
oh,
5:51
we should bring my friend that I have a podcast with.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: He's really big on Twitter.
5:55
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know that he totally understood the vision that I had.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: And then he saw some of your tweets and he was like, oh, I get it.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad Lee came.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: I have a very odd off kilter sensibility.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm aware of this.
6:10
Yeah.
6:11
SPEAKER_02: Well, also, I mean, you have you use an old name on Twitter.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: People don't know who you are.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: So it it seemed like kind of a weird.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: There's this guy who goes by this guy.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: French nobleman's name.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I'm trying to explain it.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, you're just going to have to trust me here.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: I feel like personality wise, I, despite going by Angoran de Cousy, like,
6:43
I am online personality-wise very much more myself as you would
6:50
meet me in the real
6:51
SPEAKER_00: world than a lot of people are who use their real names.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, everything isn't about you.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Narcissist.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: Good God.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Hey!
7:03
But there's a lot of people who you may encounter in their
7:09
day-to-day life,
7:10
SPEAKER_00: and they're completely different than how they present themselves online.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Despite not using my real name on Twitter,
7:17
SPEAKER_00: how I am on Twitter,
7:18
SPEAKER_00: you can attest to this,
7:19
SPEAKER_00: how I am on Twitter is how I am in real life.
7:21
My whole thing is just having some jackass thing to say to
7:25
respond to literally
7:27
SPEAKER_00: everything I see off the cuff.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: So...
7:32
SPEAKER_02: So endearing.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: No, you are exactly the same online.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: I have always been the one to say that, you know, the name you love it.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: And I love that for you.
7:42
I think that you would get just as many followers and
7:46
interactions under your own name.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: But that is my brand now.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's it is what it is.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:55
I remember like way back when we were first talking,
7:57
I was like,
7:58
why do you use this name?
7:59
SPEAKER_02: It's so weird.
8:00
And you were like,
8:00
well,
8:01
why does anyone want to follow just like some random guy?
8:04
SPEAKER_02: And I was like,
8:05
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of the point of Twitter, though.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: But yeah,
8:08
the thought process when I created the account and I actually
8:11
went for I think if
8:12
SPEAKER_00: you look at my account,
8:13
SPEAKER_00: I changed my handle in rapid succession like six times total.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: I was trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do to do with it.
8:25
But my thought process was I am a completely anonymous person
8:30
just in life.
8:31
So what does it matter if I might as well be an anonymous
8:35
account on Twitter?
8:36
There's literally no difference between following me for me or
8:41
following me for
8:42
SPEAKER_00: that,
8:42
SPEAKER_00: because either way,
8:42
SPEAKER_00: it's whatever.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
8:46
But yes,
8:47
Armenia,
8:48
wonderful place,
8:49
wonderful people,
8:50
a lot of Russians,
8:51
so many Russians.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: I was really surprised by the number of Russians.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: But it's because they are deep in the Russian cultural sphere.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: So...
9:05
It's also because we're still in the middle of the war and a
9:09
lot of Russians who
9:11
have business outside of Russia or aren't necessarily 100
9:15
percent on board with the
9:17
war or just want to be able to have freedom of movement have
9:22
moved to Georgia and
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Russia or Russia and Armenia because that's how they can
9:29
SPEAKER_02: keep existing.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: So you didn't go on to Tbilisi with me afterwards.
9:34
I went and hung out with some friends in Tbilisi for a few days
9:37
after our trip.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: And Tbilisi was even more Russian.
9:42
So I was laughing because the last time I had been to Armenia
9:46
and Georgia,
9:48
SPEAKER_02: not as many people spoke English in Armenia.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: And it was much, much, much more Russian.
9:55
SPEAKER_02: And this time it was kind of the opposite when I was in Tbilisi.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think, how do you pronounce your name?
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Marine?
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Marine?
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Marine?
10:06
SPEAKER_02: Marine?
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Marine.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Marine.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Our one very nice guy.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: We had two wonderful local guides in it.
10:12
But she was saying that the younger people in our...
10:16
Stop trying to break your microphone.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: This is...
10:21
She was saying that the younger people are all going out of
10:25
their way to learn
10:26
SPEAKER_00: English,
10:26
SPEAKER_00: that like,
10:27
SPEAKER_00: you know,
10:27
SPEAKER_00: that learning English is a big thing.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's which honestly is probably good for Armenia,
10:32
SPEAKER_00: because I think Armenia,
10:34
SPEAKER_00: they need America on their side.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: That was looking around like,
10:37
SPEAKER_00: you guys,
10:37
SPEAKER_00: you guys,
10:38
SPEAKER_00: you guys need a real a real friend in this world.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Not these weird, not freaking Iran and Russia.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were left with.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: I understand the regional politics.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: I understand Azerbaijan had the oil in Turkey.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Turkey was up until relatively recently trying to be westernized,
10:57
SPEAKER_00: although we need to really reassess some stuff because that's gone wrong.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: That's all gone backwards.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's why I was really excited that J.D.
11:07
Vance went to Armenia first vice president to visit Armenia and
11:12
announced that the U.S.
11:14
is going to be expanding our partnerships monetarily with
11:19
Armenia and going to be
11:20
SPEAKER_02: helping Armenia a lot.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: I think that's awesome.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: I would love to see that continue.
11:25
And I think that's a big part of why I was really excited to
11:29
get involved with
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Charles and with Noy because even something as small as tourism,
11:36
SPEAKER_02: American eyes drive,
11:39
SPEAKER_02: frankly,
11:39
SPEAKER_02: the world.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
11:40
just what we're interested in and what we're talking about and
11:45
where we pick to go
11:47
SPEAKER_02: vacation –
11:48
SPEAKER_02: actually drives foreign policy.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: I really love Armenia.
11:52
SPEAKER_02: I really love ancient Christian history.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: And I hope through us going,
11:58
SPEAKER_02: more people are interested in it and look at it and will consider it.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: And I have to say, like, we were right next door to Iran.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: There were large bombings happening as we were there.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I felt absolutely none of that.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: No, no, there was no resentfulness towards us for being American at all.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: I think there was interest in us for being American.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: They don't get as many Americans.
12:24
And that's I was as ostentatiously American as I could be the
12:29
entire time I was there.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: No, no, you really, really are.
12:38
SPEAKER_02: You wore your pirate hat everywhere.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: You are not a quiet person.
12:43
SPEAKER_02: Just this big, booming American man.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: Very jovial,
12:50
SPEAKER_00: you know,
12:50
SPEAKER_00: that's sort of the...
12:55
SPEAKER_00: But there was never any...
12:57
SPEAKER_00: There was never any opprobrium from anyone over,
12:59
SPEAKER_00: like,
13:00
SPEAKER_00: you know...
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Honestly,
13:01
SPEAKER_00: in Western Europe,
13:02
SPEAKER_00: when I've traveled to England,
13:04
SPEAKER_00: I've gotten more people being cranky about the fact that I'm American.
13:08
I was never...
13:09
I think I might have referenced,
13:10
mentioned this in our conversation with Charles.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember, but I was never once...
13:16
asked to answer for the foreign policy decisions of america in
13:20
armenia uh and every
13:23
time i've got what i went when i went to england when i went to
13:25
ireland with you
13:26
various people were just brought were brought up like american
13:31
foreign policy and
13:32
SPEAKER_00: american and like america's internal internal politics
13:37
SPEAKER_00: As if I was somehow had some, like, you know, was answerable for it.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: What the hell?
13:41
SPEAKER_00: What the hell, man?
13:42
SPEAKER_00: What do you think I am?
13:44
SPEAKER_00: So that didn't happen once in Armenia.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Nobody held anything about America against me or really for me.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: They're as interested in me as being,
13:53
SPEAKER_00: as I would be where I do an encounter in Armenian in America,
13:56
SPEAKER_00: be like,
13:57
SPEAKER_00: oh,
13:57
SPEAKER_00: you're Armenian.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: They had basically the same reaction of, oh, you're American.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: So...
14:04
SPEAKER_02: I will say the same.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: I go to Western Europe a lot.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm in Germany a lot.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: Germans are always like, oh, but Trump, oh, but Trump.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like,
14:14
eating schnitzel why do we have to bring this up like i don't
14:17
care people will hear
14:19
your accent and we'll be like oh but did you vote for that guy
14:22
and i'm like you
14:24
guys aren't even as like judgmental politically as as america
14:29
is why are we talking
14:30
about this like western europeans love to talk to americans
14:34
about this and love to
14:36
SPEAKER_02: kind of dog on us for trump and for anything on the right um
14:41
SPEAKER_02: But they also aren't as judgmental with their own families.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: They don't go to the lengths that Americans do.
14:48
Like they're not going to cut off their families because they
14:51
voted for AFD or something.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: It's just weird.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: But we have to deal with that.
14:58
Like you've pointed out,
15:00
like anytime I'm in Western Europe,
15:02
I do have to deal with that.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: And people are always asking me about things.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: In Armenia, it was like, oh, my gosh, you're American.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Let's be best friends.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: No one cared.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I appreciate that.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: I enjoy being a vague center of attention,
15:21
SPEAKER_00: but not for things that are so deeply outside my control.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to explain to you,
15:30
SPEAKER_00: random fellow in England,
15:32
SPEAKER_00: standing smoking a cigarette outside of the Radisson Hotel.
15:35
I'm not going to explain to you why I support what I do
15:38
politically because I know
15:41
SPEAKER_00: you have none of the context I have.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: You have only what you've been fed by the BBC.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: So it was nice to not feel that.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: It was nice to not feel like I was in a foreign country,
15:55
but I didn't feel like I was being singled out for the
16:00
decisions of my government
16:01
SPEAKER_00: and whether or not I agreed with them.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: No notes.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, Armenia, great place.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: I am not still jet-lagged at all.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: I am fine.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Armenia is eight hours ahead of the United States.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Flying there, it wasn't ideal, but within about 24 hours, it was okay.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: But flying back,
16:23
SPEAKER_00: Back in time, eight hours was a mess.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: One thing, I didn't sleep much on the way back.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: It was an 18-hour flight between my stop at Istanbul and home.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: And I was just kind of randomly nodding off for a couple days.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: I'd just be sitting there, and it was like I was on heroin, I imagine.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: I would just be sitting there just like...
16:49
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't heroin...
16:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't know,
16:52
SPEAKER_02: but doesn't that pep you up?
16:55
SPEAKER_00: No, it's an opiate.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: Heroin... Shows I've never... Sure.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: Heroin's an opioid.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: It makes you just kind of nod out, nod out.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: That's why fentanyl is similar.
17:18
Heroin tends to be cut with things like fentanyl because
17:21
fentanyl does a similar thing.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Fentanyl also makes you.
17:23
That's why you get what they call the fentanyl lead where you
17:28
kind of like –
17:30
lots of people in colorado have that these days it was it was
17:34
really nice being in
17:35
two countries where one i felt really safe walking around by
17:40
myself in tbilisi i
17:41
was not sober um walking back from having dinner with um my
17:48
husband's co-workers
17:50
SPEAKER_02: and tbilisi has this like main street that's
17:54
insanely busy there's no crosswalks you can't cross the street
17:58
you have to go down
17:59
underneath the street they have these weird tunnels and they
18:02
look like they're all
18:03
graffitied and they look like dark and sketchy like in america
18:06
you would totally be
18:07
murdered in them but i'm walking very drunk by myself a woman
18:13
at night walking
18:13
through this tunnel now granted i am like a giant so i don't
18:17
know that anyone's
18:18
SPEAKER_02: gonna mess with me but i felt totally safe um
18:22
SPEAKER_02: There's cameras everywhere.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: Like, it's very – it's a very, very safe country.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: In Armenia, I felt totally safe walking around by myself.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel that way even in my own town in America.
18:37
Well,
18:37
Armenia and I assume Georgia as well are very culturally
18:40
homogeneous.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they are – Except for the Russians.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but even that, again, they've been connected for so long.
18:49
I can't remember which one of our guides said that the thing
18:57
with Yerevan,
18:59
SPEAKER_00: especially,
18:59
SPEAKER_00: everyone knows each other for the most part.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Not literally everyone knows each other,
19:03
SPEAKER_00: but it's a big city,
19:05
SPEAKER_00: but it's also a very tightly knit one.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: So if you commit a crime and somebody sees you,
19:11
SPEAKER_00: somebody's going to hear about it and know it was you.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: It was Sonia.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: She was saying she's like,
19:18
SPEAKER_02: if if I went and robbed a store,
19:20
SPEAKER_02: I would have five aunties like knocking on my door the next day.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, she is a professional.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Sonia is a professional tour guide as Miranay.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Miranay?
19:31
SPEAKER_00: I have so much trouble with her name.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Miranay.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Miranay.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: Miranay.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Because her name is what I haven't encountered before.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: So I keep trying to, like, slot it into names that are...
19:46
SPEAKER_00: more familiar to me.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: But Sonya especially just seemed to know everybody everywhere we went.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: And granted,
19:53
SPEAKER_00: she's a professional tour guide,
19:54
SPEAKER_00: so it's kind of her job to know everyone wherever she goes.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: But still,
19:58
SPEAKER_00: it was quite impressive that she just,
20:01
SPEAKER_00: like,
20:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
20:01
SPEAKER_00: wherever we were going,
20:02
SPEAKER_00: she had connections with people.
20:04
We would be,
20:04
like,
20:04
at some random site,
20:06
and she'd be,
20:07
like,
20:08
stopping people and be like,
20:09
hey!
20:10
SPEAKER_00: And then, like, you know, chatting, catching up with them.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: It was really fascinating that...
20:15
SPEAKER_00: But she was so heavily connected to all the others around her.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: I've talked to her every day since we left.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't even have a number.
20:26
But you're so much more sentimental than I am,
20:29
and I feel bad about it,
20:30
which is great.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Again, the things that I am not, I always admire in others.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: You were crying about, like, it was wonderful meeting them.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: I hope to see them again sometime,
20:46
SPEAKER_00: but I'm not going to,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: like,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: you know,
20:48
SPEAKER_00: we're ships in the night.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: In my defense.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: In my defense.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: I was very drunk.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's fair.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: We drank a bottle of vodka for my birthday celebrations.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: We.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: We.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: You had some.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Two.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: You had some.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Two shots of vodka.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: I had two.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: They got me lit.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: I had like eight shots of vodka.
21:24
SPEAKER_02: I was...
21:25
SPEAKER_00: I was fine, though.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm just... He went to refill my cup.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: He went to refill my cup,
21:31
SPEAKER_00: and I put my hand...
21:32
SPEAKER_00: He didn't...
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Our driver...
21:34
SPEAKER_00: What was our driver's name?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I ever knew his name.
21:38
SPEAKER_02: It was, like, Garin or something.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Garin.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was it.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: He was refilling us all with the vodka.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: He went to refill Ryu.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: He did not speak English.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: At least not... Well, he didn't seem to...
21:52
SPEAKER_00: He understood bits and pieces, I think.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: But he went to refill my cup.
21:56
I just put my hand over the top and waved my,
21:58
like,
21:58
you know,
21:58
dismissively waved my hand.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And he accepted that.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: So,
22:02
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
22:02
SPEAKER_00: because I'm an American,
22:03
so I don't have to live up to their hard-drinking Armenian
22:07
cultural standards.
22:08
SPEAKER_02: Oh, the chef kept like the chef was sitting next to me.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: So to back up,
22:14
SPEAKER_02: the last day we were there,
22:16
SPEAKER_02: which was my birthday,
22:17
we went to this market and we went and picked out a bunch of
22:20
food for a traditional
22:23
SPEAKER_02: Armenian barbecue,
22:23
SPEAKER_02: which is called Korvats.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: And then we went to a villa that they had rented and
22:29
SPEAKER_02: And we had an amazing chef do a whole Corvats presentation for us.
22:35
SPEAKER_02: He talked about how he was cooking the meat, which was great.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: I got some really good tips from him,
22:40
like the salt on the onion thing and the way he got the onion
22:43
juice into the meat
22:44
SPEAKER_02: was an awesome,
22:45
SPEAKER_02: awesome tip.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: But then we sat down and had this huge dinner.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: It was amazing.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: It was so delicious.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: The quail was like out of this world.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Quail was good.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: I've never had quail before.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I've had quail.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: I love quail, but that was the best quail I've ever had in my life.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: Like, it's not all that good.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: His was amazing.
23:06
I guess I shouldn't bother to eat quail in the future because
23:08
it'll never live up
23:10
SPEAKER_00: to my first time.
23:11
I mean,
23:11
definitely have quail in the future,
23:13
but that was,
23:14
like,
23:15
out of control.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: It was so, so delicious.
23:17
SPEAKER_02: He was amazing.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: I've been talking to him on Instagram, too.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: But we sat down and had this dinner, and...
23:27
It was kind of like a Georgian Supra where you do toasts
23:31
throughout the night.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: So we took a shot of vodka after every toast,
23:36
SPEAKER_02: and there were like eight toasts,
23:39
SPEAKER_02: and I got sauced.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: And you apparently did not.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: I did many of those toasts with good old Diet Coke.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Or I should say Coke, I think it was Pepsi Zero.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: They don't really do the diets there.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: They do the zeroes.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they don't do the diets because of the aspartame.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: They don't trust aspartame?
24:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: That's a shame.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I love aspartame.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: I sent you a reel about that.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: You don't look at anything.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: I text you.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Often not.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: You know I hate going on Instagram.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: You send me things on Instagram.
24:17
I had to be really interested in the topic to bother to open
24:19
Instagram to look at it.
24:21
Okay,
24:21
but things like that I'll download and text you so that you can
24:25
just hit play.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: See, I'm not totally dumb.
24:29
I know that you won't open up Instagram unless it's,
24:31
like,
24:33
something very specific.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: No, Instagram's the devil.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: It's not as bad as TikTok, but it's close.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: Twitter's where it's at, or X, I suppose.
24:46
I'm increasingly moving towards using X just because it's never
24:49
going back.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: Can I just say,
24:52
SPEAKER_02: though,
24:52
I'm a little annoyed with the everyone's going gaga still for
24:57
everything Japan on
24:58
SPEAKER_02: Twitter because they're like,
24:59
SPEAKER_02: oh,
24:59
they're just posting food and lighthearted things and not
25:03
talking politics.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like,
25:05
It's almost like you had a friend who was posting food pictures
25:09
this whole time.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: You don't like her.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: The Japan thing is getting played out on Twitter, I think.
25:16
I'm glad that...
25:20
They did this when they rolled out auto-translate for Spanish
25:25
as well.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: There was like a week where...
25:29
Everything was flooded with Spanish,
25:31
and then eventually it just went away.
25:33
If nothing else,
25:34
if the Japan thing is getting played,
25:35
there's not that many people in Japan.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: It's not a populous country anymore.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: We're all going to see what they have,
25:44
SPEAKER_00: and then we're going to move on,
25:45
SPEAKER_00: because we've seen everybody in Japan's posts.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: But...
25:52
SPEAKER_00: No, the Japan thing was cute.
25:55
I think in the one group chat where I said this was a bad week
25:59
to be someone who's
25:59
SPEAKER_00: completely uninterested in Asia.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a beef with Japan.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm just not that.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: I find their culture to be extremely odd.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they're fine people, I'm sure.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: But what?
26:15
SPEAKER_00: I do.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: They're fine people, I'm sure, is wild.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: When the earliest European traders showed up in Japan,
26:32
SPEAKER_00: they brought things that were popular,
26:35
SPEAKER_00: important trade goods from Europe.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: But we have,
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember who,
26:42
SPEAKER_00: one of them wrote a letter that was sent back to Europe,
26:48
SPEAKER_00: to England,
26:49
SPEAKER_00: saying,
26:50
SPEAKER_00: They're like children.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: They're not interested in our cloths.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: They're not interested in our wooden goods.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: They're interested in bright, shiny things.
27:00
The more bright,
27:00
shiny things we can send them,
27:02
the more trade we can do with them.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: What they want, they want our toys.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Which I always thought was very interesting.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: It's somewhat still accurate.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: They're very into this very bright, fast movie.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever watched Japanese TV?
27:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: It's just rapid fire cut scenes.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: There's things going on all over the screen.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: It's insane.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: So I have no beef with the Japanese.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm just not really that interested in their culture.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm unabashedly Eurocentric in outlook.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: Look, honestly, I am too.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: I just wouldn't say it like that.
27:51
Well,
27:51
it's the difference between you and I.
27:53
I'm sure they're fine people.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: You just put it all out there.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: There's fine people on both sides.
28:01
Yeah.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: No.
28:08
SPEAKER_02: All right, Donald.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: What are your takes on Iran, then, while we're on hot takes?
28:16
SPEAKER_00: There are fine people on both sides in Iran,
28:19
but the fine people on the Iranian side are not currently
28:22
running the country.
28:26
The Iranian people are – I'm actually – I had a professor in
28:30
college who was Iranian.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: He was an economics professor.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: I used to hang out in his office and chat with a really cool guy.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: But, yeah, the Iranian government, you know me.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm still all rah-rah.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: We need to get this done in Iran.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going – I think that post-Vietnam especially,
28:54
the American people are far too susceptible to the day-to-day
29:00
vagaries of war and
29:01
SPEAKER_00: getting worn out really quickly with like any kind of vague adversity.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Me?
29:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of over it, but I also have a take that is very out there.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: What's your out there take?
29:18
SPEAKER_02: I think that if we were a monarchy and we were okay with colonization,
29:27
this would have all been over with and it would have been much
29:32
better and we would
29:34
SPEAKER_02: not still be at war.
29:35
SPEAKER_02: And I think that we should have a monarchy.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: I know everyone is out, no kings protesting this weekend.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: We do not have a king in America.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: What I'm saying is maybe we should.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: I don't want it to be Donald Trump.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: And also, I actually think a king might not be such a bad idea.
29:53
SPEAKER_02: I would like to make America a monarchy.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Back here in the real world.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: Legitimately,
30:02
SPEAKER_02: if we were okay with colonization,
30:04
SPEAKER_02: if we just went in and finished this once and for all,
30:09
SPEAKER_02: I think it would be so much better.
30:10
SPEAKER_02: We...
30:12
SPEAKER_02: We are bound by democratic niceties when it comes to things like war.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: And I think it prolongs it.
30:22
I think it makes things a lot more difficult for the people on
30:27
the ground that we do support.
30:28
We both really want Iranians to be in charge of their nation
30:34
for non-Islamic
30:37
SPEAKER_02: terrorists to be running the country.
30:40
SPEAKER_02: And I think that the way that we are constrained by,
30:46
SPEAKER_02: you know,
30:47
SPEAKER_02: the Jane Fonda sentimentality about war,
30:50
SPEAKER_02: I just
30:53
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it helps anyone.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: I wish we would just go in.
30:56
SPEAKER_02: We would regain the spoils of war.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: We would just take over and be done with it.
31:03
SPEAKER_02: I wish we would do that in other countries as well.
31:05
I think that we should go back to colonizing the world for the
31:12
British protector.
31:13
It's not British anymore because they're not even Christian
31:17
themselves at this point.
31:18
SPEAKER_02: But I don't mind...
31:22
christian countries going in and retaking the globe i would
31:28
like another you know
31:31
well that's i think in your mad riblings there was a decent
31:34
point stop i haven't
31:38
had all of my celsius yet this morning that uh the big change
31:43
of the 20th century
31:44
has been that wars are no longer fought for expansion um that
31:48
that was and i think
31:49
SPEAKER_02: they should be
31:50
They were much more clear-cut pre-20th century because you were
31:54
going in—if you
31:55
SPEAKER_00: were fighting someone,
31:56
SPEAKER_00: the end result was clear.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: The end result was we're taking over this territory.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: And really,
32:02
it's only America and Western Europe that hasn't continued that
32:05
into the 20th
32:06
SPEAKER_00: century.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look at Soviet Russia.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Soviet Russia was still taking over territory.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Even, like, places like Cuba—
32:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: But no,
32:16
SPEAKER_00: places like Cuba,
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Cuba,
32:19
SPEAKER_00: which is technically an independent country,
32:23
SPEAKER_00: they were basically a fiefdom of Soviet Russia.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: For as much as opprobrium has been thrown at...
32:36
over the course of 20th century,
32:38
we didn't actually set up fiefdoms in the same way.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: We didn't set up like little satellite states.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: We set up,
32:46
SPEAKER_00: we had people who we were aligned with,
32:48
but we very much didn't want to be perceived as being like the
32:53
Soviets in that way
32:55
SPEAKER_00: of basically,
32:55
SPEAKER_00: you know,
32:56
SPEAKER_00: just mostly taking over in all but name,
33:00
SPEAKER_00: far-flung places.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: We're the worst for it.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: You know,
33:07
SPEAKER_00: strategically probably,
33:08
but that's where Donald Trump is proving to be interesting
33:13
because he – I've said
33:14
SPEAKER_00: this before.
33:15
Donald Trump is very much playing in – being a player in the
33:20
world as it is rather
33:22
than as the world as diplomatic niceties would have made us
33:27
pretend it is.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: So,
33:30
SPEAKER_00: you know,
33:30
that's he's apparently giving a speech and apparently he's
33:33
going to say that NATO
33:34
SPEAKER_00: has been completely useless.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: He's looking into ways to get us out of NATO.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm I need to think about this topic.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: I want to see what he says for one thing.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: But I think NATO has its uses.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: I think that the point that's.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: If NATO is just purely a one-way street,
33:52
SPEAKER_00: if it is America coming to help them,
33:55
SPEAKER_00: they shut their ports to us.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: We're not even involving them.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: We just want to use a port to refuel,
34:04
and they're shutting their—I think that is a fair argument for
34:08
that it is not in
34:09
SPEAKER_00: America's interest to be in NATO.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: But again, I need to give thought to this.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: I haven't thought a lot about it.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: If we kicked certain members out of NATO, I think... Yeah, Turkey.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: You always want to kick Turkey out of NATO.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: That's always your answer.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: That's literally your answer to every question.
34:28
Look,
34:30
if you have the solution,
34:31
I don't understand why we have to pretend we don't.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: There is a very problematic member of NATO that we have to constantly...
34:44
SPEAKER_02: bandy about, and I don't know why they are a member of NATO.
34:49
They are supplying jihadis with lots of money,
34:53
with lots of strategic power.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why they are a part of this organization.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: Our number one ally has said that they are next in line, and I-
35:10
The problem with long-term strategic alliances like this—I
35:14
don't think I've said this before.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: I think I've said this online, but I don't think I've said this in here.
35:20
The problem with long-term strategic alliances like this is
35:23
that it assumes that
35:24
SPEAKER_00: everyone is static.
35:26
It assumes that all the players that are in the alliance are
35:31
going to remain the
35:33
SPEAKER_00: same in Outlook.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: And this hasn't been true.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: The diplomatic and cultural world of the West has changed a lot.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: between when NATO was started and now.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: So even with Turkey,
35:53
SPEAKER_00: you look at NATO,
35:56
SPEAKER_00: when Turkey was,
35:56
SPEAKER_00: they were in the early 90s,
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Turkey gets into NATO.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: The Turkey that exists now is not the same Turkey as existed.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: The Turkey under Recep Erdogan is not the same country now.
36:10
anything but name and even by name they're demanding that we
36:13
change their name so
36:14
we stop calling them turkey so but well no they still say
36:18
turkey but it's in their
36:20
weird squiggly language which i refuse to i'm sorry i'm
36:25
spelling it like the animal
36:27
SPEAKER_02: it's no
36:28
SPEAKER_00: The animal derives its name from their country.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember why.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: It's a weird circuitous thing.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: I'll have to look into that.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember why.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: But the turkey is called that because of the country of Turkey.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: So it's absurd.
36:44
But it's like the country Guinea demanding that people call
36:48
them something else
36:49
SPEAKER_00: because they're tired of being associated with a guinea fowl.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, look, man.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: It's got that name because it's a guinea fowl.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: Also, guinea fowls are delicious.
36:56
SPEAKER_02: They should embrace that.
36:58
Yeah.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: As are turkeys.
36:59
SPEAKER_02: Much like quail.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: No,
37:03
but like if you look at the Turkey that was allowed into NATO
37:08
and the Turkey of
37:09
SPEAKER_00: Erdogan are completely different things.
37:12
Erdogan has – all the progresses that Turkey had made in
37:17
westernizing itself and in
37:19
becoming a good faith member of the international community as
37:24
we saw it in the 90s
37:27
SPEAKER_00: has been undone in the meantime.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:30
Which is funny because Erdogan actually started out being a lot
37:35
more secular and
37:37
and trying to play up the secularization of Turkey and really
37:41
making like he really
37:44
wanted Istanbul to feel a lot more European and to not have
37:48
forced head coverings,
37:49
SPEAKER_02: things like this.
37:50
He still wants Turkey to be seen as a secular part of Europe
37:56
while also acting very
37:58
SPEAKER_02: out of Turkey.
37:59
SPEAKER_02: So it's...
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Well, because he didn't want to let go of power.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, power tends to corrupt.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to hang on to power.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: He needed the hardline Muslims to keep power,
38:21
to be the backbone of his attempts to hang on to power for the
38:25
rest of his life.
38:27
So,
38:28
yes,
38:28
but I actually think that – I think he needed to appear secular
38:35
to hold on to power.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: I think he actually is a hard-blind Muslim.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: I think it sticks in one half.
38:43
SPEAKER_02: He didn't start off that way,
38:44
SPEAKER_02: but if you look at his daughter,
38:47
SPEAKER_02: she was an ISIS doctor and,
38:50
SPEAKER_02: like,
38:50
SPEAKER_02: a major,
38:50
SPEAKER_02: major funder of terrorist networks.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:55
At the end of the day,
38:56
it's six of one half dozen of another because the results are
38:59
the same.
39:04
The problem with NATO is simply that it assumes that countries
39:13
aren't going to
39:14
SPEAKER_00: change,
39:15
SPEAKER_00: and all these countries have changed massively.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: You don't have strategic alliances that last this long for a reason.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: Like,
39:23
SPEAKER_00: if you look historically,
39:25
the strategic alliances that actually maintain are always the
39:33
much stronger power
39:34
having strategic alliance with a very weak power in a useful
39:38
part of the country,
39:39
SPEAKER_00: of the world,
39:40
SPEAKER_00: for the much stronger power.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Like,
39:41
if you look at the French and the Scottish had very long legacy
39:47
of alliances,
39:48
SPEAKER_00: not because the French cared about the Scottish,
39:51
SPEAKER_00: But or because the Scottish really cared about the French,
39:54
but because they both hated England and France found it useful
39:57
to be able to be
39:59
SPEAKER_00: allied with Scotland,
40:00
SPEAKER_00: to be able to haggle England.
40:03
So that's NATO probably needs to dissolve just a new alliance
40:08
organization needs to
40:09
SPEAKER_00: reform under new terms with with new countries.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: We just need to recolonize the world in America's interests.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Pax Americana, manifest.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: Like I said,
40:25
SPEAKER_02: everyone's out there,
40:26
SPEAKER_02: no kings protesting,
40:27
SPEAKER_02: and I'm like,
40:28
SPEAKER_02: more kings,
40:29
SPEAKER_02: please,
40:30
SPEAKER_02: let's be kings.
40:31
I play a monarchist on the internet,
40:34
but I'm not willing to go full Curtis Yarvin.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm there.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm there.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm fine.
40:44
If nothing else,
40:45
if you put a king in,
40:47
the American people would probably want a Kennedy.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: So the problem, there is a paucity of reasonable people to install.
40:59
SPEAKER_02: Not given the current crop of Kennedy's that we're stuck with.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: Of that ilk.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't.
41:07
If in the 60s we've been like,
41:08
you know what,
41:09
we want a king,
41:09
it would have been JFK.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what would have happened?
41:11
SPEAKER_00: We're doing a mess.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: A Catholic king.
41:16
SPEAKER_02: An Irish Catholic king is just.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Bad move.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't play out.
41:24
SPEAKER_02: But, you know, maybe if we find someone else, not Trump.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: I do not want Trump to be the king that I'm envisioning here.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: Because Trump ain't no spring chicken.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't want Donnie Jr.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: as a...
41:41
king next yeah and i don't know that i want jd to be the king
41:46
uh i i don't know
41:48
that i have an actual king in mind there's the problem these
41:52
these things these
41:53
things are always better in theory than practice in theory it's
41:57
a great plan we can
41:59
SPEAKER_02: make my husband the king he'd be pretty good
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Communism is a great plan in theory as well.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: But then,
42:06
SPEAKER_00: you know,
42:07
SPEAKER_00: the rubber meets the road and you realize,
42:09
SPEAKER_00: oh,
42:09
SPEAKER_00: man,
42:09
SPEAKER_00: it looked right on paper.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
42:12
SPEAKER_02: I like to eat far too much to embrace communism.
42:17
SPEAKER_02: I'm too much of a fat ass for communism to take hold.
42:21
SPEAKER_02: Let's be honest.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: So you were in Georgia after the thing.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: You were there for the – this is in Orthodox news.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Did it?
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Did it?
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Did it?
42:31
SPEAKER_00: Did it?
42:31
SPEAKER_00: Did it?
42:33
SPEAKER_00: You were in Georgia for the funeral of the Patriarch of Georgia.
42:38
SPEAKER_02: I was there.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: It did happen while we were in Armenia,
42:44
SPEAKER_02: and I was aware that the Georgian Patriarch,
42:47
SPEAKER_02: Ilya,
42:48
SPEAKER_02: had died.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: I didn't really think about that much as I was extending my trip.
42:54
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to go see my friend Archil that my husband works with,
42:59
SPEAKER_02: and I just wanted to go back to Tbilisi because—
43:01
Frankly,
43:02
I really love kinkali and I didn't get any while I was in
43:05
Armenia.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I'm going to get kinkali.
43:07
SPEAKER_02: And I eat so much kinkali, I gain like 10 pounds.
43:11
But I was there during Patriarch Ilya's funeral,
43:16
which was a very surreal experience.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: It was very, very odd.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: Number one, like Tbilisi was in mourning.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: All of the flags were at half-staff.
43:26
SPEAKER_02: The radio tower was not lit up at night,
43:29
SPEAKER_02: except for the last night I was there after he had been buried.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: And I got to attend some of the proceedings for his funeral.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: It was...
43:40
insanely interesting they estimated about four million
43:44
Georgians had gone through
43:46
and been able to pay their respects to Patriarch Ilya during
43:51
the time that I was
43:52
there there were just long long lines of people I think it was
43:56
about eight hour
43:57
line that you had to stand in if you wanted to go and pay
44:01
respects I did not end up
44:03
SPEAKER_02: standing in that line for very long because I I
44:07
SPEAKER_02: can't stand in line for eight hours.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: I really wanted to, but that was not going to happen.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: But I was able to go and attend.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: After he had been buried,
44:20
they have a memorial set up in Sione Cathedral in the old town
44:26
in Tbilisi,
44:27
SPEAKER_02: and I was able to go and light some candles and do my venerations.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: But it was a really interesting experience.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: I am on some
44:37
Russian newscast because one of Kirill's bishops that was
44:42
attending was at Sioni
44:44
Cathedral when I was there the day after and physically ran
44:49
into me because this
44:50
Russian news crew like pushed me and it's a really tight
44:54
entrance and I was like
44:56
jostled by this news crew that was there to get footage of this
45:01
Russian bishop and
45:03
SPEAKER_02: they ended up flinging me into him.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: And I am sure that made some Russian news.
45:12
I feel like the fact that the Georgian patriarch died is likely
45:17
news to many people
45:18
in America because no one in America really cares about or
45:21
knows anything about the
45:22
Orthodox world other than the eight American Orthodox
45:27
practicing of which number
45:30
SPEAKER_00: you are counted.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
45:32
I will also say that most Americans don't even know that
45:35
Georgia is a country.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: So the fact that they are an Orthodox country, which nobody knows about.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, but Patriarch Ilio is a really interesting person.
45:48
SPEAKER_02: One of the ways that he was combating.
45:51
So Georgia in post-Soviet times was not very Christian because
45:55
Soviets outlawed.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: religion, and a lot of the area had become Muslim increasingly.
46:04
Patriarch Elia also realized that the birth rates in Georgia
46:09
were dropping.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: So he instituted a policy that if you had more than three children,
46:17
SPEAKER_02: he personally would become the godfather of any child,
46:20
SPEAKER_02: like your third child and any child afterwards that was born.
46:24
SPEAKER_02: So
46:26
SPEAKER_02: He was the godparent of over 51,000 Georgians.
46:33
SPEAKER_02: It's a huge honor to have a priest or a bishop become your godfather.
46:38
So to have the actual patriarch of your country to become your
46:42
godfather was this
46:44
SPEAKER_02: like massive,
46:45
SPEAKER_02: massive,
46:45
massive honor that he spurred a whole growth spurt or a growth
46:51
spurt like a baby
46:52
SPEAKER_02: boom.
46:53
because everyone wanted to have the patriarch as their child's
46:56
godparent.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that.
47:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: He single-handedly reversed part of their population decline.
47:08
If you look in the region,
47:10
Georgia's birth rates are going up,
47:14
and it's in part because of this.
47:17
But now he's dead,
47:18
so there's no one to be godfather to the third children.
47:21
It must have become more of a thing,
47:23
and now all the priests and whatnot are doing it as well.
47:26
I think it's going to become a thing,
47:28
and the next patriarch will have to do the same.
47:31
It's a policy that was really unique and really special,
47:35
and it had great results.
47:37
SPEAKER_02: So I'm sure that that will continue through the next patriarch.
47:41
But it's a really interesting way of solving population decline
47:45
within the religion.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I think kind of peculiarly too orthodox.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine most,
47:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
47:58
most Protestants wouldn't get especially excited about their
48:01
priest or their
48:03
SPEAKER_00: minister.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: No, but Catholics would.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Just think, if your child could, if the Pope was your kid's
48:12
godparents no no no that's not the the pope it wouldn't be the
48:16
pope it would be
48:16
your bishop sure but if you have like the archbishop if you had
48:19
dolan as your
48:21
SPEAKER_02: child's godparent that would be an amazing honor
48:25
SPEAKER_00: I guess.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm not actually entirely clear what the role of a godparent is.
48:30
They're supposed to be the person who shapes your relationship
48:35
with your religiosity.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: You're so Protestant right now.
48:40
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
48:41
My understanding of the purpose of a godfather is to be the
48:44
person who shapes your
48:45
SPEAKER_00: relationship with your religiosity.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: But obviously the...
48:50
patriarch of georgia isn't really going to be doing that
48:53
personally for you if
48:54
you're a child it is but in orthodoxy we take it a step further
48:58
we actually see
49:00
them as a part of your family so like my god children none of
49:04
them can marry my
49:05
kids or my kids um my god kids can't marry each other we are
49:12
very much seen as like
49:14
SPEAKER_02: we're your family now um we know that isn't how genetics works right
49:19
SPEAKER_02: I understand that.
49:20
I'm saying you have your religious family and you have your
49:24
genetic family.
49:25
SPEAKER_02: In orthodoxy, we see your godparent as an actual family member.
49:33
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot more.
49:36
Well,
49:37
you're not an emotional person,
49:38
so you're not going to buy into any of this.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: You're like, OK, crazy person.
49:42
SPEAKER_00: So they were having the Patriarch of Georgia over for family meals?
49:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, no.
49:53
SPEAKER_00: On high holidays?
49:55
SPEAKER_02: Well, my friends did.
49:57
Well,
49:57
the friends that I was visiting while I was in Tbilisi,
50:01
the Patriarch would...
50:02
SPEAKER_02: often go into their office.
50:04
SPEAKER_02: So it was really sad for them.
50:06
SPEAKER_02: My husband works for an Orthodox aid organization.
50:11
SPEAKER_02: So of course, the patriarch was involved with them.
50:14
SPEAKER_02: And they operate a lot in Georgia.
50:17
SPEAKER_02: But it was a really fascinating time to be there.
50:21
SPEAKER_02: It is a really beautiful display of their religion.
50:25
SPEAKER_02: And I was really honored to be able to take part in some of that.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: You're short-circuiting my cynicism.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: You're trying to move us on for my cynical remarks.
50:39
SPEAKER_02: It's what I do, just like when I was crying at my birthday dinner.
50:45
I know you had a hard time making fun of me because you thought
50:48
it was actually
50:49
SPEAKER_02: kind of adorable.
50:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't judge others for these things.
50:54
SPEAKER_00: I just don't personally feel them.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: Right, you don't judge others for it.
51:05
That was also,
51:06
that was three days before my birthday as well,
51:08
you'll recall.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: You made them give me a cake, which was not appreciated.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: The cake itself was very good.
51:15
SPEAKER_02: I made them give you a cake and sing to you, and you were so mad at me.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: It was great.
51:19
SPEAKER_00: I didn't want that.
51:20
SPEAKER_02: I texted a picture of you holding the cake to your wife,
51:23
SPEAKER_02: and she was like,
51:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't think he likes this.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a birthday person.
51:29
I'm honestly not really a holiday person in general,
51:34
but I don't like a fuss being made over me.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: I cut a big chunk off my finger while we were there.
51:46
SPEAKER_00: A chef was doing a demonstration.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: I actually sliced a chunk of it, which is mostly healed now.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: It was actually healed better than I thought it would.
51:54
SPEAKER_02: You were bleeding profusely.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: It would not stop bleeding.
52:00
SPEAKER_02: You were bleeding.
52:00
leading so much i was leading a lot and uh people like the the
52:05
various like people
52:07
kept like coming up like our guide and the various people the
52:09
restaurant where uh
52:11
they kept coming over and like you know trying to minister it
52:13
was like it was fine
52:14
they're like do you need anything you go to the hospital no i'm
52:16
fine this is good
52:17
SPEAKER_00: i'm good um
52:21
SPEAKER_00: It didn't stop bleeding for a couple days.
52:23
SPEAKER_02: I felt so bad.
52:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, here, I'm the one who got you on this trip.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, God, he chopped his finger off.
52:36
SPEAKER_00: You can't even see it.
52:37
SPEAKER_00: We can barely see it now.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: All right.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: I felt so, so bad.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: But you definitely do not like a fuss made over you.
52:48
SPEAKER_02: Meanwhile, I'm like, please make all the fuss over me.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I kept trying to get him back off.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: I was like, just give me the rag to wrap around.
52:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
52:58
SPEAKER_00: Just don't worry about it.
52:59
SPEAKER_00: Let me go outside.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: I'll smoke a cigarette.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Cigarettes make everything feel better.
53:05
SPEAKER_02: You took it like a champ, though, I have to say.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: I would have been complaining the whole time, as we know.
53:11
SPEAKER_00: No, I didn't.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: I just didn't want to get blood on stuff.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: That was my big concern.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, what I ended up doing was they got me, like, gauze.
53:20
SPEAKER_00: And I wrapped it with gauze.
53:22
SPEAKER_00: The gauze was getting, like, really gross and red.
53:24
So I took a kitchen cooking glove,
53:30
like a silicon thing or whatever,
53:32
neoprene.
53:32
SPEAKER_02: It's called a latex glove.
53:35
regular kitchen glove they're usually not made of latex anymore
53:38
because latex
53:39
allergies but um uh i i so i i put that over the it was like
53:44
black so you couldn't
53:45
see through it so i i then pulled that on over the uh over the
53:49
bloody bandage um so
53:51
i looked like michael jackson and with that i think we're good
54:00
i think we did it
54:01
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
54:02
SPEAKER_00: I'll talk to you soon.
54:03
SPEAKER_00: All right.
54:04
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
54:05
SPEAKER_02: Bye.