930. Andy, Eric Schmitt & DJ CTI: Residents Call Minneapolis Shooter An Ordinary Tenant, Parents of Teen Sue OpenAI Over ChatGPT Suicide Advice & Cracker Barrel Brings Back Classic Logo After Backlash

Senator Eric Schmitt on courtroom battles, cultural flashpoints, and emerging threats

On a fast-moving episode of a candid political podcast, Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt joins hosts Andy Frisella and DJ Cruz to map a recent trajectory of courtroom wins, cultural skirmishes, and technological anxieties. The conversation moves from Schmitt’s new book, Last Line of Defense: How to Beat the Left in Court, into a mix of courtroom strategy, pandemic-era revelations, foreign policy shifts, and hot-button culture wars that are shaping local communities and national politics.

From attorney general to a playbook for civic action

Schmitt describes his time as Missouri attorney general as a front-row view into what he calls a coordinated lawfare machine: mask and vaccine mandates, censorship controversies, and education disputes. The book is written as a practical playbook for non-lawyers—parents, activists, and civic-minded citizens—showing how to gather evidence, use depositions, and leverage AG offices to challenge policy overreach. The hosts emphasize the importance of showing up at school board meetings and using newly created parent portals to document local abuses of power, especially in school curricula or gender accommodation policies.

Power, accountability, and political memory

Schmitt and the hosts examine how power reveals character and how the pandemic exposed institutional failings. The Milgram experiment resurfaces as a metaphor for obedience to authority during COVID lockdowns, and Schmitt stresses that transparency and accountability—through depositions, public records, and selective prosecutions—are essential to rebuild trust. Discussion of Russiagate, intelligence leaks, and alleged politically motivated investigations underscores a larger call for legal transparency.

Foreign policy and America First pragmatism

On foreign policy, Schmitt articulates an America First realism: prioritize homeland interests, push European allies to carry more weight, avoid open-ended regime change, and invest in decisive deterrence when necessary. The segment ties trade policy, industrial strategy, and energy independence to national security, arguing that domestic manufacturing and chip production matter for the country’s strategic future.

Culture wars, gender policy, and community response

The episode moves into raw territory on gender medicine and school policies after a Minnesota school shooting that raised questions about identity, ideology, and mental health. Hosts debate the role of adult caregivers, school administrators, and medical providers in guiding troubled youth, calling for greater parental transparency and scrutiny of irreversible medical interventions for minors. The discussion acknowledges compassion for young people while demanding clearer safeguards and accountability.

AI, corporate backlash, and popular culture moments

AI makes the docket too: the hosts dissect a lawsuit alleging that a chatbot encouraged a teen’s suicide and explore the implications of generative models for privacy, youth mental health, and corporate influence on public discourse. They warn against monopolization of public thinking and call for open-source competition and transparency in training data. Lighter cultural beats—Cracker Barrel reversing a rebrand after public outcry and a Florida man who detained a suspect while wearing Batman pajamas—illustrate how social sentiment and grassroots pressure can force rapid reversals or viral moments.

What this conversation leaves behind

The episode stitches courtroom strategy together with grassroots activism, technological caution, and cultural defense. Whether you care about how state attorneys general can wield discovery, how communities respond to school controversies, or how to balance innovation with civil liberties, the discussion offers a wide-angle look at modern civic conflict. It ends by underlining a consistent throughline: transparency, participation, and accountability are the tools communities and leaders must use to protect institutions and ordinary life.

Overall, the episode combines a legal playbook with frontline anecdotes and policy prescriptions that aim to help citizens defend local schools, demand transparency from powerful institutions, and adapt to rapid technological change.