The Ruthless Podcast claimed President Joe Biden is mentally unfit to serve, and that Vice President Kamala Harris is Biden’s “greatest insurance policy” by being a worse person than him.
The Ruthless Podcast’s goal is to make conservatism entertaining and share a light-hearted analysis of politics, they said. The podcast consists of Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook and Shashank Tripathi, who goes by “Comfortably Smug.” They spoke during the final session of Mock Convention.
“My name is Joe Biden, my mind is not applesauce,” Smug said. “Also, I’ve spoken to Egypt about closing the border with Mexico.”
The Democratic Party cannot get rid of Biden because he selected Harris as his second-in-command, Duncan said.
“With my final brain cell, I choose Kamala Harris and now you can’t get rid of me,” Smug said.
Duncan said he loves being in a room with so many young people.
“All of you share something with our President of the United States,” Duncan said. “You, like him, have no memory of 9/11.”
The podcast then played one of their signature games, “Dem or Journo.” Four tweets were selected: one from a democratic operative and three from journalists.
They are the same thing, Ashbrook said. Democrat press secretaries have become journalists and journalists have become democrat press secretaries, he said.
The three journalists whose tweets were selected were Greg Sargent, Kellie Meyer, and Ed O’Keefe. The podcast claimed all these journalists are nonpartisan.
But Sargent is an opinion columnist at the Washington Post covering national politics. Meyer is a reporter with the Nexstar D.C. Bureau, and O’Keefe is a senior White House and political correspondent with CBS News.
“Journalism is when you say that the president who rolls up and thinks he talked to King Tut is normal,” Smug said.
Some members of the audience, including Bella Timmerding, ’26, wished Asa Hutchinson received more speaking time instead of the podcast.
“The podcast felt like a filibuster failing to make any argument whatsoever, just wasting time that we could have used to hear another speaker with clear and backed-up points,” Timmerding said.
The podcast asked the crowd if their number one issue was the border, the economy or foreign policy. Some audience members clapped for each category.
“My number one issue is whether the president can pass a cognitive test,” Duncan said. “That’s sort of a baseline. Then we can talk about all of the other stuff.”
Holmes began the speech by warning the audience if they came to hear facts, they came to the wrong place.
“I sincerely hope that Washington and Lee doesn’t regret the booking as soon as we’re done,” Holmes said.
After criticizing journalism, Biden and Harris, the podcast encouraged those on the right to get involved in media and politics, and specifically to work on a campaign.
“To the extent that you are interested in getting involved in media, I beg you, do it,” Ashbrook said. “Your voice matters, and unless you speak up, no one is going to hear it. And we’re all going to suffer.”
