"DNC Hypocrisy: Walls for Themselves, Open Borders for Everyone Else"
"The Democrats’ double standard on display at the Chicago convention."
"Michelle Obama: Preaching Humility from a $20M Mansion"
"Former First Lady’s speech on wealth skepticism clashes with her luxurious lifestyle."
"Kamala Harris: From Mockery to Media Darling"
"The DNC’s media machine transforms the VP’s image ahead of 2024."
Tim Walz: Another Day, Another Lie?"
"Democratic hopeful caught fabricating details of his family’s IVF journey."
The August 21, 2024, episode of The Unknown Podcast, featuring investigative journalists Michael Volpe and Richard Luthmann, dives into the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, exploring themes of political hypocrisy, media manipulation, and the broader national political landscape.
Volpe and Luthmann open the episode discussing the heavy security presence at the DNC, which includes a wall around the event and the requirement of an ID for entry—ironically contrasting with the Democratic Party’s stance against voter ID laws and border walls. They question whether the Democrats' actions align with their rhetoric.
The conversation shifts to former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the convention, where she expressed skepticism about people who "take more than they need," despite owning multiple multimillion-dollar homes, including a $20 million mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. Volpe and Luthmann critique the disconnect between the Obamas' luxurious lifestyle and Michelle Obama's calls for modesty and egalitarian values.
The episode also touches on Kamala Harris’ political transformation. Once widely criticized and unpopular, Harris is now being positioned by the media and Democratic establishment as a viable presidential candidate. Luthmann describes this shift as a "media coup," where narrative precedes facts.
Additionally, the podcast highlights a recent New York Times story revealing that Democratic hopeful Tim Walz lied about undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) with his wife. This misrepresentation and other misleading claims about his accomplishments raise questions about Walz' credibility and the broader issue of honesty within political campaigns.
Volpe and Luthmann promise to continue digging into political narratives and exposing hidden truths throughout the 2024 election season.
Michael Volpe 0:01
All right, welcome back to the second episode of what we're calling “The Unknown.” I am Michael Volpe from Chicago. I write at michaelvolpe.substack.com. This is Rick Luhmann from somewhere in Florida. You write at Luthmann, L, U, T, H, M, A, N, N - luthmann.substack.com.
I want to start with current events. The DNC convention is here in Chicago. Have you been watching any of it?
Richard Luthmann 0:27
I have. I'm worried for you safety, Michael, it looks like a war zone. You know. Talk about building the wall. They have to ‘Build the Wall’ around the DNC.
Michael Volpe 0:40
The up on Twitter and other social media. They pointed out that you need an ID to get in, and they're building a wall around it. They, the Democrats, don't think you need an ID to vote or to get in, and you don't need a wall to protect the country, but obviously, you need one to protect the DNC. It's relative. Look, I'm like five miles away, which is an eternity in Chicago, so I'm certainly in a safe area, and the protests have gotten a little bit violent. Still, I don't think it's actually been that bad, considering what you saw in ‘68 and just in general, in Chicago; I haven't been watching it too much, but I did want to get up one story and let me just let me see if I can find it. Hold on, all right. I can't find the story, but Michelle Obama talked about being skeptical, if you will, of people who take too much. And she's got, like, a seven-bedroom mansion on Martha's Vineyard. She's skeptical of people who take too much. What do you think of that?
Richard Luthmann 1:56
Well, it's an old saying. 'Just because you vote Democrat doesn't mean you have to live like one.' That's like a lot of the Democrat elites. Look, their convention is a production. That's what it is. They're producing it well. They're doing what could become the greatest media coup in history, taking someone like Kamala Harris, who was, you know, three months ago, universally lampooned, universally disliked, and universally kind of the redheaded stepchild of what was going on, and turning her into this, this presidential figure. And if you know, it's kind of amazing, so you know that's part and parcel with Michelle Obama and Barack Obama, who will be speaking tonight at the convention. Everybody's falling in line to tell a narrative and that's what it is. It is a narrative, and the facts aren't necessarily borne out. They don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Michael Volpe 2:56
Right. I do find it interesting that she talks about not getting, being skeptical of, people who have too much, and I can't seem to find it. And she's got a big, a big, a big mansion.
Richard Luthmann 2:59
Didn't Netflix give them about a billion dollars?
Michael Volpe 3:05
There it is. So this is from Hot Air last night: Hope and Change “Shtick” with Michelle Obama babbling on about things they don't believe, while Obama's sycophants babbling about other "spiritual voids" were filled and emotional. The high point was apparently Michelle's speech, in which she tethered on about how very normal her family was and how they were egalitarians who were suspicious of rich people, and then they quote the tweet the Obama's Martha's Vineyard house has an estimated value of $20 million and has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, and that's just one of three houses. And yet she's saying she's quote, unquote suspicious of folks who take more than they need, suspicious of folks who take more than they need. How about that? Alright, so I wanted to start a segment. What I am going to do through the election is I'm going to dig deep because you do have to dig deep for this and find a negative story about either Kamala Harris or Tim Walz or the campaign in the mainstream media. They are out there, but it's going to take some investigation.
So let me show you what I found so far. Let me see if we can get this up. Alright, so Tim Walz made a big deal about him and his wife going through in vitro fertilization, and then there are a lot of pro-life people who don't like IVF because you destroy the embryo. Those made a big deal out of that, right? Well, it turns out he didn't actually go through IVF. He went through another common treatment, and, unlike IVF, this procedure does not involve lab-created embryos that may be discarded. So here he is saying they're going to destroy IVF, the pro-life people, and that's how I and my wife had a child, and he lied about it. It's not true, but this was broken in the New York Times. This is a New York Times story.
So when you say the mainstream media never does a negative story about the campaign, obviously, every once in a while they do a negative story, this is, this is kind of a big deal, and if we're adding up the lies, he didn't finish with the rank he claimed to finish with. He was never in a war zone. He was not the head coach of a State Football Championship team. He was an assistant coach. He was the head coach of a freshman team, and then he had a DUI, and then he got fired, and that was in Nebraska. He moved to Minnesota. He, he doesn't. He says he coached the State Football Championship team. So he doesn't really lie, but he's misleading. When you say you coach the team, people assume you were the head coach. He was an assistant coach, and now he lied about his wife going through IVF.
Richard Luthmann 6:21
Well, they need somebody on the ticket who will be braggadocious, right? Remember, they got rid of Joe Biden, who graduated top of his class in law school. And, you know, probably, he took Corn Pop out back, and Corn Pop was a bad dude. And, you know, his entire political career has been littered with gaffes. You see, we find, you know, just a few in a few short weeks by Walz. I guess that's an improvement, right? That's what the Democrat Party wants.
Michael Volpe 6:48
He is a marginal governor. He wasn't that accomplished in the Congress, so this wasn't a start. He's not Jewish, so he's not ticking off a certain portion of the Democratic Party. Um, Josh Shapiro, I think, would have been stronger in a different time and place. Uh, he's a lot more...
Richard Luthmann 7:11
He was stronger this time. Pennsylvania is a lot more valuable real estate electorally than Minnesota. Minnesota, a Republican President, hasn't won since, what, 1972? They have not won Minnesota. So Minnesota is already in that column. You know the guy…
Michael Volpe 7:27
But Michigan is also important. There are a lot of Muslim Americans in Michigan that, I believe, they believe would be upset by a Jew pro-Israel.
Richard Luthmann 7:39
Oh yeah, the Muslims, the Muslims in Michigan, would vote for Donald Trump, I think not.
Michael Volpe 7:43
Or they would stay home. Maybe they'd stay home anyway. That was, I believe, at least in part of the calculus. So that's the current events.
Volpe and Luthmann: The Unknown Podcast - Current Events Segment