Normally Podcast: SCOTUS Showdown, Birthright Citizenship Battle & Media Madness
4/2/202629 mincomplete
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.
0:02Guaranteed human. Hello and welcome to Normally, the show with normalish takes for when the
0:15news gets weird. I am Carol Markowitz, Mary Catherine Hamm is on vacation, and I've
0:19got the amazing Bridget Phetasy sitting in with me today.
0:22Bridget is a writer, comedian, host of the shows Dumpster Fire and Walk -Ins Welcome
0:27and, and these are her words because, hi, we're about the same age, a geriatric
0:31mommy. Hi, Bridget. So nice to have you on.
0:34Why do you have to make us a geriatric mommy?
0:36It's a medical term. I didn't make it up.
0:41You have at least children that are teens, right?
0:44Yeah, yeah. Yeah, mine's four.
0:46I'm like a legit geriatric mommy.
0:48You know, I think it keeps you youthful and looking good.
0:52It totally does. I'm just owning the term.
0:54I'm just taking it back.
0:56Yeah, that's right. You're recuperating it from the people who misuse it against you.
1:01So we're recording this on Wednesday, April 1st.
1:04It's April Fool's Day, like the worst day of the year on social media.
1:07Have you fallen for any April Fool's jokes today?
1:11No, I think April Fool's Day is for psychopaths.
1:15I've always hated April Fool's Day with every part of my being.
1:20And anyone who partakes in it is a psychopath.
1:23That's my kind of general theory.
1:25All right. I mean, I fell for one.
1:28Ajit Pai said he was going back to the FCC.
1:31And I was like, that's awesome.
1:32You were so good at it.
1:34And he was like, sorry, it was an April Fool's prank.
1:37Yeah. Yeah. And he's not a psychopath, but I hear you.
1:41I hear you. No, he's not.
1:42Well, I think it's also a time for just men to make jokes and women.
1:49People can kind of say what they want to say, but they can't say it
1:52on this day. So I'll give people a pass for that.
1:55Or people to make, you know, kind of offensive or lewd jokes and be like,
2:03oh, what? It was just April Fool's Day.
2:06Right. I mean, I see people doing that on non -April Fool's Day, but maybe,
2:11maybe you're right. Maybe people in their day to be like, oh, just hate April
2:14Fool's Day. All right. Well, we're going to get to the news.
2:19We're going to open it up with the birthright citizenship case that is in SCOTUS
2:24right now. Today, Trump showed up to the proceedings.
2:27He became the first sitting U .S.
2:29president to ever attend Supreme Court oral arguments.
2:33Why do you imagine that might be?
2:36I don't know. That's, I mean, it's crazy to me that no one's ever attended
2:40before. I almost feel like I would attend if I was president.
2:43I think I'd want to know.
2:45Yeah. So, you know, of course, the people who don't like him say it's because
2:50he wanted to, you know, kind of threaten him, threaten them with his presence.
2:55The people that do like him say, well, he's just taking this super seriously and
2:59he wants to be there.
3:01There is, you know, a longstanding kind of policy to keep distance between the executive
3:07branch and the judiciary. But Donald Trump is his own ballgame.
3:11He's like, I'd never even heard of that norm.
3:13What are you guys even talking about?
3:15Oh, that's interesting. I mean, I guess I can kind of understand it.
3:18But this court has proven over and over again that they're an independent entity.
3:22Yeah. They voted against his tariffs.
3:26Right. And look, the swing votes on this case look like it's going to be,
3:31I mean, Amy Coney Barrett almost certainly.
3:35And she's a Trump nominee.
3:36So, you know, we'll see what happens with this.
3:39But it is kind of a big deal.
3:41It will change the way that we grant citizenship in this country.
3:45I'm really of mixed opinion on it, although I lean in the Trump administration direction
3:51because I do see a lot of abuse of the system where, I mean, I'm
3:54on all these like Russian speaking Facebook boards where people are constantly posting like, hey,
3:59where's the easiest place to fly in, have a baby and like have it all
4:02go well? So I see this happening in real time.
4:07But there is something to the whole thing that in America you're born here and
4:11then you're American and that's not the way it is anywhere else.
4:14You could live in Japan your whole life and never be Japanese, etc.
4:18So I'm mixed but leaning towards the Trump position on this.
4:24So you are of the opinion that illegal or not, if you're born here, you
4:34should be granted citizenship. No, no, I should I should clarify if you're here illegally
4:39or on vacation, which, again, is a certain segment of the population, then no.
4:45And the court might have a narrow ruling on this and rule that some people
4:51like if you're here illegally and you have a child and, you know, you follow
4:54the process and that child is a natural born American.
4:57But they may say that people here on vacation or people here illegally, it doesn't
5:03apply to them. Yeah, because now you have these crazy stories of, you know, like
5:08Chinese billionaires bringing their sperm over, which is not like I on her Sally was
5:14on my podcast actually this week.
5:16It'll drop Thursday. And she said something that stuck out to me.
5:21Our our constitution isn't a suicide pact.
5:24So it shouldn't be. that we just get to have all of these values weaponized
5:29against us all the time.
5:32And as I understand this, the Trump administration or the Trump lawyers or whoever is
5:37arguing for Trump are trying to say that the 1890s ruling was the correct interpretation.
5:47Right. But the other side has got a good argument and that they're saying, but
5:51it's been interpreted in the looser interpretation many times since then.
5:58Right. Can you imagine in like 1868, they thought they could imagine that people would
6:04come here and have children specifically on vacation for those children to be American or
6:10that we would have the deluge that we had at the border.
6:13I think that that is another part that gets forgotten in this.
6:16The people who wrote these policies were not thinking about an open border where everybody
6:23could come in and everybody had the ability to.
6:26I think that they just couldn't imagine that at the time.
6:29So, yeah, I don't know.
6:32I don't know where this is going to go.
6:34Do you have any predictions for us?
6:36Do you think the court will?
6:38I don't know. My feeling too, just the kind of normie feeling that I have
6:42is leave aside the open border immigration people who are walking around protesting no kings
6:51while the Supreme Court votes against the king likely.
6:55Their whole thing is like no king, no kings but us.
6:59That's what's so frustrating about this.
7:02Yeah. They even looking at, this is what's so crazy to me.
7:06You look, when I look at this, say that they do vote, you know, five,
7:11four, six, three, whatever it is in against Trump on this one and voted against
7:16him on the tariffs, proving that they are an independent entity that will vote against
7:22the quote unquote king. That doesn't even register to the Democrats at all.
7:27They will still get power back, probably eliminate the filibuster, pack the court because they
7:33don't want an independent entity.
7:35And that's what just keeps sticking out to me about looking at the, you know,
7:41zooming out and looking at the, at the big picture.
7:43Right. Small picture. I think it's interesting because I think the average normie, they're fine.
7:49They don't want someone who was born here and doesn't speak Spanish or doesn't know
7:54anything about Nigeria to have to go back.
7:57So it does feel like, and maybe this is something they address in this, in
8:01this ruling. If they were to vote in favor of Trump, I still think you
8:08have to grandfather in all of the 20 million people who were born here and
8:14to illegal immigrants and don't have any connection to where they're actually from.
8:19I think the average person is like, well, we don't need to send them back.
8:23They don't even know the language.
8:26But moving forward, it seems like birthright tourism should not be legal.
8:33And these are just obvious things.
8:35Like you say, you know, the normies understand all this kind of stuff intrinsically.
8:39It's just us on the Internet who are arguing this ridiculous kind of minutia.
8:44Of course, people who don't live here shouldn't get to be American citizens if their
8:49kids are born here. Like what?
8:51Obviously. I think if I had to make a prediction, I think it's going to
8:55be a narrower ruling. It's not going to be all encompassing.
8:59It's going to have some parameters around it.
9:02And, you know, again, that would be my preference anyway.
9:05So maybe I'm just rooting for that.
9:08Yeah. I don't know. I will see.
9:11I kind of feel like it's always, I feel like I should pay more attention
9:16to the Supreme Court. Because once I actually dig into it, it's so fascinating.
9:21Yeah, I love it. I like that.
9:23I like that. And I do pay attention to it when I hear, you know,
9:27yesterday's ruling was really fascinating about special, especially like my husband's a therapist.
9:32So this is something that we were paying attention to.
9:35But I, I, I, at one point in my life, I wanted to be a
9:39lawyer and I went to debate and law justice.
9:43And so I can totally tweak out on this.
9:45And, and I like, I think both sides in this case have a good argument.
9:49What bothers me is people are saying, oh, the Supreme Court's ruling against Trump saying
9:54that he doesn't have the power to do that.
9:56But that's not even what this case is about.
9:59Right, right, right, right. Yeah, I could totally see Bridget the lawyer, by the way.
10:03I could see a second career, third career, I don't know.
10:06No, I'm not combative enough.
10:08No, I could see it.
10:09I don't think you need to be combative.
10:11I think you're specific and, you know, have an eye for detail.
10:14I could see it. Thank you.
10:16Maybe after the, you know, the four -year -old goes to college.
10:21No, their lawyers are going to be replaced by a clot.
10:24That's true, too. All right, I could see you looking up your cases on the
10:29internet and reading about them on AI.
10:34So, all right, we're going to take a short break and be right back with
10:38more on Normally. We are back on Normally where we're going to do a segment
10:46on highs and lows in the news right now.
10:50Today, as we record this, four astronauts are are heading out on a 10 -day
10:55journey around the moon. Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen are doing
11:02this 10 -day trip. They'll be testing life support systems and navigation and spacecraft controls
11:08to prepare for a future moon landing in 2028.
11:11My kids are insanely excited about this.
11:15Like, my 10 -year -old, who we thought has no interest outside of football, has,
11:19like, been talking about nothing else for many, many days.
11:23Yeah, it's, I get, I couldn't sleep last night.
11:27I was so excited and nervous.
11:28Wow. I just get so, there, I don't know.
11:31I come home, when I get home really late from comedy, I always stop and
11:37look up at the sky.
11:38And my daughter has been obsessed with space since she was born.
11:41She, when she was really little, she told me she was going to live on
11:45Earth and Mars, which is very funny.
11:47And she could name the planets in the sky when she saw, she was just
11:51obsessed with it. And it inspired, it's always inspired so much wonder and awe.
11:58And it feels like that aspirational thing that, you know, there are these moments where
12:03you look around, and I used to have these moments even at music festivals, which
12:07sounds silly. Oh, I get it.
12:09Yeah. You know where you hear the music and you're seeing people and they're dancing
12:12and everybody's just driving and getting along and the music is playing or you're at
12:18a really amazing concert and the Disney Hall and this amazing, beautiful architecture.
12:23And you're like, this is stuff that humans do well.
12:27This is what makes humanity, it gives me chills.
12:30It makes me, I'll get emotional thinking about it.
12:32And I feel like this is another one of those moments where we can all
12:37join together and be hopeful and aspirational.
12:42And even in the, having seen it, like what Elon's doing in the private sector,
12:47having these rockets take off more than once.
12:50And it's, it's a crazy time in a new space race.
12:55And this was, I mean, every time I fly, I get this.
12:59Like how, this is crazy.
13:01You are so cute. I had no idea you were so like, I don't know.
13:05Is it optimistic? It's not even optimistic.
13:06It's like, you're just full of heart.
13:09I really love that. Truly.
13:12I'm so, I'm just so excited about this.
13:14I can't wait to, I, I'm excited and fearful because I was also a child
13:19in 1986. And so I have the, the like deeply ingrained trauma of, of course,
13:26I was worried about talking about this in advance of it on the show today,
13:30but I was like, okay, we're going to do it.
13:31It's a, it's a high point for, for America.
13:33It's a, like you said, a point of something to unite us.
13:37And I just love that about it.
13:39We actually have a clip of NASA press secretary, Bethany Stevens, talking about the launch
13:43and that power to unite Americans.
13:45Let's play that. I was wondering about this because there's a level of national pride
13:51in something like this. You know, you, you see NASA astronauts circling around the moon
13:56for this 10 day mission and everybody gets excited about it.
14:00It's something that could even bring a country together.
14:02So if you could talk a little bit about that and outside of the space
14:06element and the science element of this, what does this do for the country?
14:10Absolutely. I think you're incredibly right.
14:12This is a unifying moment for the nation.
14:14We can all unite behind going back to the moon.
14:17As we've mentioned several times, it's been over half a century since we've been there
14:21under the Obama administration. Moon landings were canceled and every single president for 35 years
14:27has vowed to get back to the moon under president Trump.
14:29We're going to make that dream a reality.
14:31Well, we will be watching later this evening.
14:33And then in 10 days time, we will be watching the descent as well.
14:36It's really cool. I'm, you know, looking forward to seeing that them go up today
14:41and I hope everything goes safely and everything works out okay.
14:45And we're talking about this tomorrow about how amazing everything went and how cool it
14:50was to see it. I mean, depending on what part of the internet you're on,
14:54it could be our first time.
14:57I mean, if it's already our first time, these people are not going to believe
15:00it's happening anyway. Green screen, like a really, really good green screen.
15:05Oh boy, we're all H.
15:08Jones now. We really are.
15:09So the lows of what's going on in our news.
15:13Christy Noem's husband, Brian Noem, was exposed yesterday as a cross -dressing fetishist who's into,
15:25I don't even know, something called bimboism.
15:29It's bizarre and weird and a picture of him, many pictures have surfaced of him,
15:34but he's in these like prosthetic boobs that are all misaligned and the nipples are
15:39pointing in every direction. I just don't want to be on this part of the
15:45internet. I did not want to see that.
15:47I did not have any interest in this.
15:50And yet his fake boobs were all up in my face.
15:53Well, now I know why Christy was shooting dogs.
15:59Have you seen the joke that was like, you know, knowing what we know now,
16:03maybe the dog shot itself?
16:04Oh, no. I saw one that was a play on the Game of Thrones and
16:08it was a dog. Yes.
16:10Tell it. Oh, Brian, it was me.
16:12Yep. Tell Christy it was me.
16:14There was, but wasn't it allegedly some illegal immigrant who leaked this?
16:21Yes. Thank you. do not buy that story okay i don't i mean i know
16:26that that is what that is what they're saying um i look my poker spidey
16:31sense is like i call there's no way that that's really what happened look is
16:36there a legal immigrant maybe involved sure but that they figured out that he was
16:41christy noem's husband and then got revenge because of christy noem's dhs policies like it
16:46just seems like a little far -fetched to me i i don't want to say
16:50that the most obvious explanation is the right one which is that christy noem was
16:53famously fired from her role at dhs on march 5th after she was unable to
16:58answer whether she was having an affair with married top aid cory lewandowski at a
17:02congressional hearing now this was like the most open secret in dc ever right everybody
17:08knew that christy noem and cory lewandowski are having an affair allegedly um so now
17:15that she says that these photos have you know devastated her the family was blindsided
17:19by this and they asked for privacy and prayers at the time i just don't
17:23buy any of that i do not buy that she didn't know i and my
17:27my guess is that she had something to do with these pictures leaking to get
17:30the pressure off of her and cory it's it's ugly it really is these poor
17:36kids and grandkids yeah yeah that's what i was thinking of it's i feel bad
17:40for the kids and grandkids it reminds me too of how tmz is now chasing
17:45down all the senators and representatives and they're in in washington dc and they've got
17:51a new office which i was joking it's just it's not weird though because it's
17:56it's not weird because politics is entertainment now we have yes and hollywood is dead
18:03by the way that that point that you made is really the real one hollywood
18:07is dead there's nothing to see there so and and they're showing us everything on
18:12their own social media sites anyway so right yeah you gotta tmz exists to uncover
18:19secrets and things that people don't want exposed and hollywood has exposed everything and there's
18:24no shame left so yeah let's go after the politicians but it's weird because dc
18:28was always hollywood for ugly people so tmz is kind of lowering itself a little
18:34bit here of course in pursuit of this yeah yeah i don't know i mean
18:39i'll be reading it i was like oh no having said all that um i
18:45will be clicking over i mean drudge report used to exist for this kind of
18:49thing but he was just an aggregator i think tmz will be really looking into
18:54different stories and and pursuing leads um yeah we'll see we'll see how that goes
18:59down i still think there's plenty of corruption and stuff in hollywood but i don't
19:04i don't know that it's a kind that tmz could expose because it's more it
19:09would be more like how things like the academy are skewed to present movies that
19:16nobody actually likes or watches what is this right yeah or how people in writers
19:21rooms are kind of forced to get you know staff their rooms a certain way
19:27because of dei policy like how how is how is tmz gonna cover that and
19:32to make certain comments on the shows and to pitch it from a certain perspective
19:36all of that yeah also tmz is also on the left so they wouldn't even
19:40they wouldn't even see a problem with that they'd be like right yeah obviously they
19:44have dei and they have to push a certain perspective don't we all yeah but
19:48are they gonna investigate like ilan omar's you know marriage probably not that'd be interesting
19:55all right we're gonna take a short break and be right back with one more
19:59segment of normally with guest host bridget fetasy we are back on normally where bridget
20:07just had a really blockbuster piece called leave me behind if you haven't read it
20:13i highly highly recommend it it's just the pursuit of the audience and shifting your
20:19opinions and trying to fit in with the kids is also embarrassing and those of
20:23us in gen x fully understand that bridget tweeted today over a million views on
20:29my leave me behind piece here that is crazy whatever's going on in new media
20:32reminds me a lot of what happened with old media 2015 to 2021 everyone is
20:37in some weird bubble and meanwhile normal people are looking around going tell us about
20:42it what was the piece like to write it's so funny because i wrote it
20:47i had i've had these pieces just lying around i had one a couple weeks
20:51ago that was about just the love letter to normie women for holding it down
20:56because i feel like there's not much we talked about it on this show on
21:01normally okay so there's then this one was also just lying around i would sometimes
21:07when i um warm up so i'm writing a book which i can't talk about
21:12but when i want sometimes i'll sit down and i won't be ready to write
21:16the book and then i'll have something else in my mind and now i'm just
21:19like just write it just get it out sometimes i have a column at spectator
21:22and i have a sub stack so i can put it there so i'll just
21:25let myself get it out of the way and i had these pieces just lying
21:28around and this was really born out of just the frustration i was feeling but
21:32also i started feeling like that person that i was in 2015 to 2021 when
21:39people started kind of whispering to me like what happened to so and so what's
21:44going on with so and so am i crazy and so normal people are watching
21:49and they see these huge platforms going in one direction.
21:54A lot of it, I think, is probably AstroTurf, too.
21:57I don't even trust those numbers.
22:01Normal people are saying, much like in 2015 to 2021, when the left started losing
22:06their mind, they're going, am I crazy?
22:10Am I the crazy one?
22:12And I think what always surprises me is that I write this thing, and it's
22:18very bloggy. It's a little bit navel -gazy.
22:23And I had been reading The War of Art, and it was really something just
22:26to ground me in what I was doing because there is so much pressure when
22:32you're in the media space to try and chase the numbers.
22:36And I have to always remember, one, it's not about me.
22:41It's about connecting to people, which is always what I'm trying to do endlessly and
22:46imperfectly. making sense of the world very publicly is not easy.
22:54When you're making sense, trying to make sense of the world publicly, and there are
22:58all of these other incentives, like money involved and, like, numbers and analytics, it can
23:08feel very hopeless and frustrating.
23:10And then I would see these influencers, and they were all saying, which to me
23:18undermines their own influence by saying, oh, we see where the under -40 population is
23:24going on XYZ topic, usually Israel.
23:27And to me, I say, well, then do you not have any influence at all?
23:34Right, right. So you're just going to pivot in that direction because you think they're
23:38right or you're saying that that's what's popular?
23:41Do you know how many things have been popular throughout history that were wrong?
23:46So we're just, you don't have, and then it makes me question, do these people
23:52believe anything at all? Right, right.
23:54And, but then instead of looking outward, I always have to look inward and say,
23:59what is my purpose? What do I value?
24:02What do I believe? My transition from being very liberal to where I would say
24:08probably center -right at this point, I didn't just react to the left.
24:15I was very, very intentional in making sure that I wasn't only just reacting to
24:22the left, and I engaged with a lot of right -wing media.
24:26And I think a lot of people who came from the left just reacted and
24:29didn't necessarily engage with it.
24:32So I really remember, I remember a long time ago, Ben Shapiro actually had something
24:37where he said, what are your values?
24:38And I was like, values, huh?
24:41Like, what are my values?
24:42Ben Shapiro, always making you think about it.
24:46Values, what a strange and interesting concept.
24:49And what are my values in relation to what is this amazing thing?
24:53Like, I read the Federalist Papers, which I hadn't read probably since high school.
24:58I just went back into the great gift we were given in this country and
25:04trying to understand what conservatives were trying to conserve.
25:08Also living through the never -Trumpers pushing back against Trump.
25:14And it's been just very interesting and confusing.
25:20And I've been wrong about a lot of things, and I will continue to be
25:24wrong about more. But I have found that that kind of spidey sense of saying
25:30you're not alone and you're not crazy, that instinct is usually, usually I tap into
25:38something way bigger than I even expected to when I put a piece like that
25:43out. And you won't be chasing the opinions of children, probably.
25:48I mean, it's funny because we were all neglected by our parents.
25:53Like, women are our parents.
25:56And so it's like, people are like, you know, we had a, I don't feel
26:03like the older generation chased our opinion at all.
26:06They just kind of looked at us because they were just neglecting us completely for
26:12many of us. So they didn't, they didn't, they were old enough to understand that
26:18you, okay, I was young.
26:20I was a hippie. I was, I thought all these things.
26:24Now I got older. I have bills to pay.
26:26I'm, I think you change.
26:29And I can let the 20 year olds be 20 year olds, but I don't,
26:32I don't need to, I don't need to chase them.
26:37I can listen to what they're saying and try and hear them and try and
26:39understand them. Yeah. And I can try and urge them to resist the instinct to
26:46become a victim because I've also been there and I can teach them what I
26:52know about recovery and being a, you know, wild child, we'll say, I guess, politely
26:59that I, and trying to make sense of America right now, but they're gonna, they're
27:07not, that's not how influence works.
27:10Right. You know? Influence doesn't work by like trying to be cool.
27:14Yeah. There's no way to actually be cool.
27:16So don't I think it's the same of people who are chasing the young people
27:21and trying to cater their opinions to them.
27:23I see them as the same as like the people who try to dress like
27:27young people. Like everybody sees through it.
27:30Just stop it. It's like the mom trying to be cool for her kids.
27:34Yeah. Like you're being a bad parent.
27:36Right. And also the kids do not think that's cool.
27:39They think it's cringe. Very, very cringe.
27:42And the kids see through it.
27:43Absolutely. Yeah. Kids are not like, oh, my mom is so cool wearing the same
27:47outfits as me. Not at all.
27:49Not at all. No, most kids would rather have their parents be really annoying dorks.
27:55Yeah, definitely. Even if they are like, oh, mom, you're such a dork.
27:58It's better than like smoking cigarettes with their kids or whatever.
28:03Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on, Bridget.
28:06She is Bridget Phetasy. Check her out on Walk -Ins Welcome and Dumpster Fire.
28:10Thank you, Bridget. You are awesome.
28:12We talk about you a lot on Normally, and I'm loved having you, best host,
28:16with me today. Thank you for having me.
28:18It's always a pleasure to catch up with you.
28:21Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.
28:25Get in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail .com.
28:28Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, act normally.
28:35This is an iHeart Podcast.
28:38Guaranteed Human.