Brad Blanks Live From Washington DC

Tommy: It's a very low barrier to get into the Gronk Squad.

Brad: That's crazy!

Josh: We've committed to do The Daily Talk Show for 10 years.

Tommy: Hi guys.

Brad: Hi guys.

Josh: Put it in the calendar. I'd just like to cheque the temperature in the room. I told you my squeegee story.

Tommy: It is outrageous.

Josh: Come on, let's go.

Tommy: It's The Daily Talk Show, episode 941, and our Gronk on the ground in the US, Brad Blanks. Welcome back to the show, mate.

Brad: Oh, Tommy, Josh, how are you, fellas? Happy New Year. It's all happening. Great, great to see your faces.

Tommy: Hey, how long do you keep saying Happy New Year? I mean, I'm still saying it. I'm even acknowledging Christmas. How long do you roll it on for?

Brad: Well, yeah, as I said it, I really haven't said it to anyone. I think there's just this deep affection for you guys that I said it for you. You made me feel like it's New Year's Eve right at this moment, you guys. So there you go.

Josh: And so you're out in Washington, you're in Washington, D.C., a different type of celebration. Tomorrow is the inauguration. Is that, is that correct?

Brad: That's right. Yeah. And always one of the great parties in America. And this will be my, well, third inauguration, if you can call it that. This one, it's a bit different, of course. But my first one was as a backpacker in 1997 for Bill Clinton's second term. And I ended up in the bar that was featured in the hit '80s movie St. Elmo's Fire, a bar in Georgetown. And I was doing shots with Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. I thought, how good's America? Well, what a country. And it was just a big party, obviously, for Bill Clinton, one of the great horn dogs of modern times. And then my second inauguration was Obama's. And that was inspiring and a party in itself. But that was more of a party. I was partying with like 80-year-old women that had bust in from Alabama that were so over the moon that they saw an African American president get sworn in. And that was a different type of party, but they brought bourbon. So all in all, very good parties in the inauguration. And of course, this one over what's happened the last 3 weeks. Uh, this is on deep, deep lockdown, the city, and, uh, very, very silent on the streets of Washington, D.C.

Tommy: I mean, it's— you think about Australian politics and bringing in someone like ScoMo and no sense of a party, maybe a celebration from people that are into politics, but the U.S. are a different breed in respects to people running the country and the powers that be. What is the vibe really on the ground right now compared to the Obama one? Like, what is the sense you're getting in Washington?

Brad: Uh, in terms of just on from the street, it is totally dead. This is, uh, like an army base, uh, uh, to people that have been— that have— other reporters that I've ran into, um, real-life reporters, not like me, um, that have worked in, um, Baghdad and Afghanistan, they say the city set up like that in terms of zones to get through, section by section, to get through areas of the city. And every corner is manned with soldiers, National Guard, with machine guns and army transport, which is a bit daunting. No sudden moves from me as I walked through there. I always kept my hands— I went up to a police— I went through one checkout, and I thought I could get through. They all sternly told me to go the other direction. But the first thing they do is cheque my hands. And I was like, geez, I don't want to get shot for holding a big clunky iPhone. So you tread very lightly as you walk through here. But the vibe, very quiet. I don't want to say solemn because it's still bringing in a president, but just quiet, very calm. And yeah, not much movement on the streets and not many members of the public.

Josh: What did it feel like, the domestic flight? So, you flew in at around 6 hours ago. Is it sort of business as usual or with COVID and everything, are things very different?

Brad: No, I got the— I drove the Lynch family minivan. Oh, you drove? Yeah, I drove the minivan down. Yeah, it was great.

Josh: How long was the drive?

Brad: That was about 6.5 hours from New York City. So, came in— actually, I broke it up. I stayed a night in Philadelphia, which was nice. Quite interesting, I woke up there overlooking, in my hotel window, I could see a glimpse of where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Liberty Bell. And I went, wow, what would these guys think of 200-odd years on as we come into D.C., which is on fully sort of military lockdown. But yeah, I haven't flown yet, Josh. But when I do, I'm going to be ringing you guys, and I'll give you a full account of flying with Americans.

Tommy: We want a vlog from you, mate, at least for the channel. What's the sense of the coronavirus mixed upon all of this? Because, I mean, there's two huge things going on in the US.

Brad: Yeah, I don't know. It's, it's, yeah, it's, it's out of control. It's, it's, it's sitting bluntly, blatantly on top of all this. So you, you, you're out there looking, trying to get through these checkpoints and you're still very socially distant. We're all masked up, which is great. And that's obviously why a lot of people haven't turned up, even to try and have a look at the barricades like I'm doing. But yeah, it was bound to be a virtual inauguration anyway before the events of January 6th, with maybe people socially distant throughout the National Mall, where the great big water areas between the Capitol and the Washington Monument leading up to the Lincoln Memorial. There would have been public in there, but the January 6th events pretty much ruled that out.

Josh: So where, where presidents sworn in, is it on the steps somewhere? I'm trying— like, can you give us a sense?

Brad: On the steps of— yeah, on the steps of the Capitol building. And they overlook that, you know, that huge grass area that runs then to the The water where, of course, as we saw in Forrest Gump when Jenny ran into the water, you know, screaming for Forrest as he was up the other end, which is where the Lincoln Memorial was. It's a beautiful— I know you guys have been there, I think. No, no, no.

Tommy: They use it in a bunch of movies. Messiah, that TV show, there's like a shot of him walking across the water like Jesus in front. It's so iconic. I mean.

Josh: Do you—

Tommy: when there is none of that shit going on, as in the barricades, how close can you get to it?

Brad: Yeah, you can get close. Yeah, yeah, you can. Well, in terms of the big day, I mean, let's say you're probably a couple of hundred yards, metres back. And in terms of Obama, you couldn't get— because of the crowds, you couldn't get up. So when Obama was there, I was, you know, probably 700 metres back and you could hardly see him, but they had screens all the way up to be a part of that inauguration. But it's a wonderful event. And if you like history, albeit American history, it's quite— the pageantry of it's quite impressive. And then the one from 4 years ago was more fascinating in the fact that it was Trump getting inaugurated and that, you know, I loved watching when Trump went to the White House and Obama and Michelle Obama were waiting there to accept them in and have them in for a cup of tea before the big event and things like that. Things that won't be happening for Trump and Biden.

Brad: Yeah.

Josh: And so what does the schedule look like for you for the day? How do you break it up? What are your plans?

Brad: Yeah, I'll do radio in the morning and then I'll— like, it's a really funny thing. I'm going to go over to— there's a Catholic church is where Joe Biden will— he'll do his prayers in the morning. And I'll go and try to see how close I can get to that. I don't know if it's actually in the zone or outside. From my Google mapping, it's just outside a zone. But as we know, it will be pretty well secure, but I'll try to see if I can get a glimpse there.

Josh: So, what do the zones mean? So, is it sort of separate, like separating the public from the events? Or like, and how do you get between the zones? Yeah.

Brad: No. So, they're not completely locking them down as of now because you— people are living within zones and people have to work within zones. So, they're in there. But I'm sitting there, you know, going through them going, alright, this is all— I think every zone will just be on full lockdown. From beginning to end tomorrow of the day.

Brad: Yeah.

Brad: So the scary thing is you look at all this and it's crazy. It's so much security and you're sitting there in your head going, all right, do they have intel that they know something? Or is this just, you know, are they just overcorrecting from, you know, 3 weeks ago that it was one of the biggest screw-ups in American history, what happened at the Capitol building? So are they just overcorrecting? It has to be optics.

Tommy: Like, if something happened, it's like, get it wrong once, get it wrong twice, that'd be the fool.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Is it, um, yeah. I mean, Brad Blanks, usually on red carpets, also now on the ground in what is the biggest moment in American politics history. What is, um, what's your feelings like as a, you know, as someone that does light stuff but also covering the harder stuff? What is your vibe? What's your feelings?

Brad: No, no, I do hard stuff. I try to find find the lightness in the hardest stuff. Um, no, here I'm actually analysing or going, there's no traction. And I love looking at other reporters. I'm just glad I don't have to be a real-life reporter because I'm watching these people, these international journalists, and they're standing there reporting nothing. There's nothing to report on other than, you know, it's, it's like, yes, it's really nothing going on. And, um, and And then you'll be obviously watching a lot of cable television, CNN and Fox News and MSNBC. I'm going through them all and they're all repeating the same story. Even they're struggling because tomorrow's the big day. Tomorrow's where you can break down his speech. And but all these people that are standing there now outside barricades with the White House, this little glimpse in the back of the Washington Monument, I feel sorry for them. But in some ways I'm like, holy smoke. I've got nothing to talk about as well. Yeah, because we all want something to chat about. And I tried talking to people, but people don't really want to talk because you've got a mask on. You know, like everyone's sort of a little bit afraid of each other and you can't really chat with the cops. You can't crack a joke. And I can see them looking at me. I look like a big beefy guy. I look like a guy that stormed the White House 3 weeks ago.

Brad: So I'm like, ah!

Brad: Big beefy white guy, you know, like, where's my Viking hat?

Tommy: What do you wear? Have you thought about, like, because you can't obviously go dressed up in a costume. Yeah, you'll definitely get spear tackled.

Brad: I'm trying to, like, I put on a rip curl. I thought rednecks wear a rip curl sweater. Yeah, I'm trying to bring out the inner surfer. Yeah, the inner Aussie surfer in me. But unfortunately, I look like a lone wolf. Where's that? I know, I look like a lone wolf bomber. I'm a cross between between, you know, of a cross between like a redneck and another undercover cop. So I don't appeal to anyone out there.

Tommy: The CCTV is him rocking up in a minivan in a rip curl. You're definitely up to no good.

Josh: Yeah, you're on the list. And so what's it when you see—

Brad: These are just great weapons.

Josh: When you see the headlines, it's pretty dark. You know, the FBI, you know, doing warnings and then you hear talks of full-blown civil wars. Like, do you get a sense that there's there's truth to that or we're going to see anything close to what's being sort of communicated?

Brad: Yeah, no, that's— it's a great question because I sit there and, you know, is it the intel? Has FBI got all these tips, you know, that we don't know something? But then the other side of me is it, you know, it'll go through, it'll be a peaceful transition tomorrow, and Biden will wake up Thursday morning, there'll be no incident, and he'll be president, and the country roars back. I get so many— all my friends in Australia will text me and email me and go, "How do you live in that country? It's crazy what's going on there." And it's hard to explain, but 95% of the people just get on with life. Everyone's— the traffic's packed, the roads are packed, people are working. My heart goes out to the people, small businesses that are crushed from the coronavirus. That's more important to me. Obviously, what happened 3 weeks ago was chilling and crazy that that could have happened, that people thought they could stop a transition of power. But most people in America just wake up, get their kids to school, and just get cracking. And that's how I feel. If there's no incident during the inauguration or on the day, that this country will roar back.

Tommy: Yeah, I mean, I was listening to a guy talk about the coronavirus and he referenced the situation in Melbourne and the severity of the lockdowns, which it was. It was pretty full-on. But then he started talking about how drones were patrolling, which is like, come on, bro, I live here. I haven't even heard of that. No, that's not what's going on. Is there anything that we wouldn't know over here based on the media and what they're sharing about the States and the situation? Like when you're driving, you're getting that sort of, it's like you're driving up to Shep, you're getting the experience of stopping in at a local area, local town.

Brad: Yeah.

Tommy: What's the, any sort of insights on the ground that wouldn't be covered?

Brad: Yeah.

Brad: Well, it's great, great that question because I'll be in like, you know, I've lived in a bubble for, you know, 10 months locked down in essentially suburbia New York and, and been back into the city like 10 times for a couple of nights at each time back into New York City. But it's so good to get out. And even, yeah, the drive from, you know, from up New York State down over the— over late night last night and this morning and pulling into gas stations. Again, these places are filled. There's people in there happy, all masked up, just getting on with life. So yeah, there's a real enjoyment from seeing people live their daily life, although we all know we've been in this together, lockdown. And the only indication, when I was driving, that there was something was from the fact that everyone was wearing masks when you go into the gas station or buy some food. But the different perspective was good, that everything is ready to go. There's this pent-up— want to be with other people again. So that's, that's how I'm taking it. And that's, you know, as I said, if it gets through the inauguration, fine. And we can get the vaccines going. It's, you know, yeah, we're going to be naked dancing in the streets by August. Fellas, I tell you what, get over here. It's going to be a circus.

Josh: Simultaneously, Donald Trump is organising his own farewell party. Do you know any person that's going? Like, are there any sort of celebrities that have actually communicated and said, yeah, I'm going to be going to the party?

Brad: No, I don't. I don't have the list, but I did. I laughed when I saw Anthony Scaramucci got an invite. The Mooch, if you remember, he was like, for 10 days he was his communications manager and Trump fired him or they left, split up after 10 days. And then the Mooch became one of Trump's most vocal haters out there. And he got an invite, which makes me laugh. Like, it's like a clerical invite, the accidental invite, you know, that someone invites the person you really didn't want. That school friend gets an invite to the wedding that you didn't really want there.

Josh: So are people broadcasting Trump's thing? Like, is it going to be on mainstream media?

Brad: Yeah, that will be broadcast. Yeah, that'll be in the morning. Obviously, it's never happened, I think, in 150 years where a sitting president hasn't been there for the inauguration. So it is a historic moment in its own way, albeit, you know, not sportsmanlike. But Trump will, will be. Yeah, he'll be at Andrews Air Force Base. It'll be like 7:45 AM. Where is he?

Josh: What state is that? In Washington, D.C., or where is it?

Brad: In Washington.

Brad: Yep.

Brad: Yes. 15 minutes along the highway. I passed it on the way into town today. And he'll get a chopper from the White House. And that's always pretty cool to see the president leave the White House in the chopper when they give the final wave goodbye. And he'll be in that, land at Andrews. And yeah, and it's being pitched as a red carpet extravaganza, which I tried to figure out, try to bring in some contacts to get over there. And I had one guy from CBS was like, oh, Brad, I don't think— I think it'll be very tough to get in, like a manager at CBS. And I was like, all right, I don't think this one's too hard to get into.

Brad: I think—

Josh: yeah, I think they're doing 5 invites at a time.

Brad: Yeah, that's right. They're doing plus-fives.

Brad: Like, have you ever heard of a party plus-fives? Like, geez, like, it's unbelievable. The plus-five.

Brad: I think I'd be fun. I think I could just turn up there in an Uber and just flash my old Victorian driver's license, and they'll think that's a press credential.

Brad: And I'll—

Brad: yeah. Just go straight in. But yeah, so he has a big fan base. He reckons he's got a full army band. And look, at the end of the day, for his— how can you say it— for what's gone wrong in the last 3 weeks with the end of his presidency, there was still 48% that voted for him. So there's still— and if that approval rating, they say, has dropped, let's say there's still 45, 40% of the nation that will still want to see their man Donald Trump fly off into the sunset. So that will be televised and there'll be some pomp and ceremony. But he hasn't been heard from for the last week. There's been no Trump sightings and the mainstream media have been waiting for his pardons that they say he'll pardon 100 people and that'll come out Overnight tonight, which is everyone sort of hanging on the last bit of correspondence they're going to get from this president.

Tommy: Joe Exotic number one is being pardoned. No, I saw like— do you see all those fake news reports that Joe Exotic's being pardoned?

Brad: Hey, isn't it weird how we've got to a stage where we're rooting for Joe Exotic to get a pardon? We want him to get that pardon, don't we?

Tommy: I just want him on TikTok, you know.

Brad: That's what we want. That's brilliant.

Brad: We want Joe doing TikTok videos, right? That'd be fantastic, wouldn't it?

Brad: Yeah, yeah.

Tommy: Cut the animals out. Hey, um, as a parent bringing up kids in the United States of America, what's that like? What's your feelings?

Brad: Uh, yeah, no, look, it's— our kids have been in tune with Trump, you know. My kids are 11, 8, and 6.. And they've, you know, being in New York City and, you know, middle of New York, they know Trump's from New York. They saw him in Home Alone 2. Yeah.

Josh: That Macaulay Culkin's wanting him cut out of.

Tommy: No, that's true.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah.

Brad: But Ben Stiller just said this morning or yesterday that he's going to keep Trump in Zoolander. So I think that's a victory for history and not editing films, which is good. But my kids— my kids are fine. I think they have a good understanding of what's going on and what's happening in a good tone. It doesn't— they didn't get sort of hurt or they didn't see it as— they just saw— I think they maybe— maybe they're just immune to the craziness of the presidency over the last 4 years. And then— and the Capitol thing was just the cherry on the cake where it was another day in the office of Dad having, you know, CNN on TV.

Brad: Oh, Trump.

Brad: What's Trump doing? All right. Yeah, he created an insurrection into the Capitol building. Oh, cool. Back to the colouring in and playing with stuff. And maybe so. I wonder if it's a good, good point.

Tommy: I wonder if it'll make them more interested in politics as they get older. Like, I remember John Howard as a kid. All I remember him for is his eyebrows, his bad bowling, and also the gun recall, um, the gun amnesty, you know, taking, taking my uncle's shotgun.

Brad: That was fucking annoying.

Tommy: But other than that, I didn't— I don't really remember any other politics. But when you're 6 or 7, you can— I remember shit. Josh remembers shit from 2.

Josh: Yeah, you would know about politics.

Tommy: These kids are probably, you know, proficient efficient in politics.

Brad: Yeah, that's a really good point because things will be burned into their mind. Like, they could— now that I think about it, I could probably name, you know, even my 6-year-old could probably name 3 crazy things that happened in the Trump presidency. And, and that's the thing, you know, um, which brings you to the whole thing that these TV networks and media kind of will miss Trump, and it's that they'd never say because he brought eyeballs. He brought like No, and I enjoyed Joe Biden's speeches, but I'm not always going to stop and cheque myself for 5 minutes, maybe walking through somewhere and just watch a Biden speech.

Brad: Whereas—

Josh: and it's not at the Four Seasons Landscaping as well.

Brad: I was looking for that on the way in.

Brad: I thought, I wonder where that is.

Brad: That'd be nice to go out there.

Brad: And I should have done your— I should have done this live from the Four Seasons for you guys.

Josh: So where are you now? So you were talking before we started. You're currently in a hotel room. You've got your phone. Are you going to see how close you can get to the White House or where do you think you can go?

Brad: Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll get out there and I'll call you as close. I'll call you from a barricade and see.

Josh: Okay, great.

Brad: Yeah, it'll be interesting if I get there and the barricades are actually shutting up and the soldiers really have their weapons out to stop riffraff from getting through. But that's— I'll attempt to do that for you guys.

Josh: Okay, great.

Tommy: So, you're on your ground. I mean, do you want to— You can even give us a little tour around the hotel room and out the lobby and down the—

Josh: Get it on now if you want, if you can.

Brad: We'll follow you. All right, great. Yeah, yeah.

Brad: All right.

Brad: Well, it could be a while, but we'll— let's— it's a 10-minute walk, if that's all right.

Brad: Yeah, that's perfect.

Brad: Put up with a semi-overweight, you know, big guy puffing and panting to you. A lone wolf.

Josh: That's the last joke before you go out.

Brad: No more. That's great. Yeah, thank you. All right, I'll get cracking now.

Josh: Okay, here we go.

Brad: I don't know what to do.

Brad: How do I do this? This is exciting live television.

Brad: Yeah.

Josh: So, Brad is now getting onto his phone. Classic hotel bed.

Brad: I've actually got to go to the bathroom, if that's alright.

Josh: Ones or twos?

Brad: The ones.

Josh: We'll edit this anyway. We can chop around. Okay, here we go, Brad. Where are you?

Tommy: Alright.

Brad: I actually don't know what street I'm on, but let's— I'm in right in the downtown business district of Washington, DC.

Josh: What's the time right now?

Brad: As you can see, we are at 7:34 PM and the streets are empty.

Brad: Look at that.

Brad: We're approaching one checkpoint.

Tommy: There's nothing like hearing American sirens, you know, really feel like you're in a movie.

Brad: Yeah, there's a bit of— yeah, so a bit of sirens, but yeah, nothing, um, just so— other than the sirens you just heard, complete silence. Yeah.

Josh: And so a checkpoint, what do you have to do? Do you have to provide some form of ID, or what sort of questions do they ask?

Brad: Yeah, um, they haven't— I've been going through them today and there's no questions. They just really look you up and down and make sure you're not a— not Not about to storm the Capitol building or do it.

Josh: So is it police or is it military? And so, and what's the difference between—

Brad: yeah, no, it's all the three, three, three of them. They're soldiers, military, National Guard, you know, called up. So there's 25,000 of them, uh, Secret Service as well. And they're pretty cool. They're, you know, it's good to see Secret Service. They're pretty focused individuals and not much chitchat, just yes and no questions. And, um, Here we go, firemen going past. But I'll lead— see over here, here's just a checkpoint that's not, yeah, not too crazy. See a couple of soldiers pushing each other around now.

Josh: And so what is the National Guard? Is that like the reserves? Like what's the equivalent in Australia?

Brad: Yeah, the reserves, yes. And they get called up quickly, they can turn it on quickly within hours. They get called up very quickly. And then the local police, which you have.

Tommy: Is that a military truck that I can see?

Brad: Yeah, that's a military jeep right there. Yeah. Which is pretty cool. Yeah, that's a little boy in you there, Tommy. That's awesome.

Tommy: Yeah, I know. Have they got guns?

Josh: Got guns?

Brad: Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, they have.

Josh: And so, what's the deal with Washington, D.C.? Are you allowed to have a gun?

Brad: Guns?

Josh: Are you allowed to carry them? Like, what's the deal from a civilian perspective?

Brad: No, not on this, because I'm only getting that information from, uh, a guy was found with accidentally in a checkpoint area with a weapon in his vehicle after his vehicle got searched. And he actually got let off. He wasn't— there wasn't an issue. But no, from— I don't know, outside, I'm pretty sure you have guns. If you have a licence for it outside the checkpoint, but no weapons in this area that I'm now in, this sort of green zone that they've been calling it. So, this looks like a bigger checkpoint and I'll see if I can get through here. I think I can.

Tommy: This one—

Josh: Any vehicles allowed through or is it just pedestrians?

Brad: Yeah, no, there are vehicles in this one. So, this just looks like a pedestrian checkpoint. But vehicles are getting in. Geez, look at— oh, here comes a— this is pretty cool, actually. I might— this looks awesome. We've got a troop of soldiers coming through walking up here in the van. Walking, yeah, walking, walking.

Tommy: How do you— do you feel scared, or are you— you feel like—

Brad: no, no, no, no, I just feel they might just tell me to piss off, I reckon, you know. Um, you know, but, uh, You've got your slingshot on you, it's all good.

Josh: You've got your fucking Rip Curl hoodie. Just show them your Rip Curl, you'll be fine.

Brad: I come in peace.

Josh: Yeah, I'm a surfer.

Brad: Oh wow. How are you fellas? Back to Australia, is he? The Allies. Yes, thanks fellas. Yeah, see ya. Yeah, that was good. They were happy guys. Finally some happiness from them. Finally, that's the first— that's the first smile I've seen today, fellas, I tell you. All right, I don't think I could get through here, but that was, that was worth it. At least I got something.

Josh: And so where are you? Can you explain like how close you are to the Capitol Building versus the White House? And how far are they apart anyway?

Brad: So now I'm running parallel, parallel to the whole, the strip, the National Mall, they call it. Not Chadston, like Chadston Shopping Mall. It's a Yeah, it's not that. It's just that long path that runs from the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Capitol Building, and I'm just parallel to that. So that's probably, you know, 800 metres to my left, and I'm gonna walk in and make that distance a little shorter. And so going through a checkpoint here, I'll just give you sort of my—

Tommy: wow—

Brad: perspective. So, this is interesting. Now there's no one here, and I think today in that white vehicle was Secret Service.

Josh: What sort of people are staying at your hotel? Have you seen anyone?

Brad: Yeah, all reporters, no fans.

Brad: Hey, bud.

Tommy: Wow, it looks like you've just entered a music festival, like through underneath a, like a marquee with barriers. Someone's just checked your bum bags to see if you had ekis on you. You're in, mate. You're in.

Brad: Yeah, I'm in. That's right, all right, so we're good now, we're in.

Tommy: And so Brad, these buildings around you, are people living in those? Are they apartments or businesses?

Brad: No, no, these are, these now I think we're in the government area, so these are all government buildings, federal, federal buildings, most of them would be. Yeah, and then you always could tell that the corporate ones are probably a bit newer like that there, but all right.

Tommy: Now I was just thinking, me asking you if you feel unsafe, it's probably one of the safer places to be.

Brad: Yes, yes, very safe, exactly. All right, so again, I don't think I nailed it when I said so, you might be able to see the tip of the Washington Monument through there. I don't know if you can. Yeah, yeah, that's the Washington Monument, and that's the middle, the middle of the Mall.. And to, you know, in that, in where that direction is the Capitol Building and this direction is, um, uh, the White House. So we're getting closer to where we can get at least a glimpse, um, of the White House.

Josh: So, and so, um, what time will you start in the morning then? What time will you be up and about?

Brad: Yeah, I'll do my first radio bit at about 6:15. AM in the morning. And become mid-morning. I'd love to get over to where Biden is going to church and have a look. But look, most of my day will be back to the hotel room watching it on, watching the actual inauguration. So I want to see the speech in my hotel room, and then I'll dip out again and see if there's any movement on the streets. But so far, it's been good. It's an eye-opener to be here because it's sort of a different feeling than previous inaugurations. All right, I'm getting closer to another checkpoint here and I'll give you a look as I approach.

Tommy: Is there any sports bars or bars in the area that are actually open?

Brad: There is, yes, there is. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna head there after this, but Fellas, I'm doing the dry January, so it's a real killer.

Brad: Oh yeah, no good.

Brad: Um, all right, so here we are. This is it. So this is, um, this actual area is called the Black Lives Matter protest area.

Josh: So this has that yellow paint on the, on the floor, on the, on the road.

Brad: Yep.

Tommy: Is that saying something, or is that just—

Josh: yeah, so it says BLM.

Brad: Yep, it is. It's actually spelled out Black Lives Matter, and it goes for the whole, whole street. Yep, yep. Wow. So here we are, um, a bit of music playing. Yes, yeah. So here we go. So that's the White House you can see in the back there with the Washington Monument. Yep, next to it.

Josh: And so with the, um, with everything that happened at the Capitol, do you find that, uh, friends of yours that are Trump supporters How do they reconcile it? Do they separate the president from what happened, or do some people think it's gone too far? And they, you know, what's your sense?

Brad: Yeah, that's a great— like, a few of them have gone down the rabbit hole of the QAnon, you know, the conspiracy theorists. Yeah, QAnon. Yeah, so it's a hard one, right? Yeah, when You know, we all love a good conspiracy theory. Yeah, I love— I would have read 100 JFK conspiracy books as a young fella. But as you get a bit older, you sort of realise that, uh, yeah, conspiracies don't really work, you know.

Tommy: It's all a bit silly. A little bit silly.

Brad: Yeah, it's all a bit silly. Yeah, there you go. That's some intellectual reply too. QAnon will quote me on that, put on their website, Brad Blanks thinks it's all a bit silly. Yeah, um, but I've had a few mates, um, you know, that are down that rabbit hole. Now you can't even, you can't even discuss it, you know, with them.

Tommy: Um, I think, you know, you know you've got a friend who's deep in it if they reference QAnon as Q. Oh really?

Josh: Yeah, nickname.

Tommy: Oh, who's gonna do it?

Brad: Yeah. Um, the, the member of the church where Trump went out with the Bible. So yeah, that's, um, right here, which is, um, which is— memory stood out.

Josh: It is so quiet right now. So what are you saying? So there's a few people with some cameras. Are there, um, what other sort of types come out at this point?

Brad: Yeah, I love how you politically correctly said other types. What types? And you're trying to get me to Is it people who are celebrating Joe Biden?

Josh: Is it more political? Is it protests?

Brad: Is it— Now you're trying to save yourself, aren't you? These are wonderful people, wonderful types, all having a great time celebrating the Joe Biden president. This young lady, this man here has been sitting here all day and he has a Mad Max jacket on. This is To Australia. Yeah, come and say hello. Look at this guy. All right, yeah. What's your name? Hi, my name is Smokey Sims. Smokey Sims. Smokey.

Josh: He's got a very cool mask.

Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I look at your, um, look at this. Wow, this is very cool.

Josh: So it's like a started jacket.

Tommy: Yeah.

Brad: Yeah, look at this! Is this security? Yes, so they won't touch me. This is just— no one will touch him, he said. I don't want nobody to fight nobody. Yeah, yeah, it smells good over here too. What do you do? You got some sage for negative energy coming last couple of days. Yeah, he says there's a lot of negative energy and he's just got some sage. That's what they call him, Sage. But yes, some wonderful people who look like they're camping out. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yep. So once I once camped out like these guys to get Spice Girls tickets back in '99.

Tommy: How long?

Brad: Very similar.

Tommy: How long do they plan on being there for?

Brad: How long will you be here for? Till inauguration, and after that, probably the day after that. They're going to be here till Thursday, the day after the inauguration. So we can celebrate and make sure they don't cause destruction because of the inauguration. Yeah, he's a bit worried about destruction, and so this man is the last line of defence to Joseph Biden.

Brad: And the jacket.

Brad: And the jacket. I just got to see if I can touch the jacket. It's a big moment. Oh, that's gonna stop a lot of crazy insurrectionists, right? Yeah, I love that guy. Yeah, he's a wonderful— Smokey, Smokey Sim. He's now big in Australia. Um, I love, I love this man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so there we go, we've got that. And, and, and as we see We have the church over here, we have one policeman, and there's a hotel. So, people are staying in this hotel, which is interesting.

Tommy: So, you can't get past that barricade though? That seems like it's really stopping everyone.

Brad: Yeah, that's the last one. I remember today there was a crowd of guys here talking to a couple of police officers, and I walked in to hear what they were talking about, and then I saw 3 other police officers walk up I think I made a sudden move, which is not the right thing to do. But it's interesting that there's no— not as busy as you would think. And this is the closest you can actually get to see a monument, you know, to see the White House and the Washington Monument. So it's bizarre. No one has come except me. And some Argentinian reporters.

Tommy: You're going to be passionate to go and sit there for that long. Like, if you can't actually see anything, it'd be like going to a concert and being outside the arena and hoping that you could hear a little bit of it.

Brad: Yeah.

Josh: What sounds like the best view is going to be in your hotel room on the TV.

Brad: Yeah.

Tommy: With room service.

Brad: Yes.

Brad: Yes.

Brad: Look at this. It's unbelievable. But yeah, this is it right from the epicentre of the inauguration. It's quite baffling that this— the whole world will be— what was sort of talking about this and watching this. Yeah. And tomorrow it's sort of the centre of media and there's nothing really going on here. But what—

Josh: it's so interesting. It reminds me of the Commonwealth Games, like the amount of people in Queensland.

Brad: That was sad.

Brad: Yeah, very sad.

Josh: But thanks, Brad, for giving us some insights on it all.

Brad: Yeah, no, that's great, guys.

Brad: Great to see you guys. And yeah, thanks for having me on.

Josh: Thank you. And you're going to be on Instagram doing a bunch of storeys and stuff like that throughout the day?

Brad: That's right. Yep. That's right. Yeah. Just selfies of me trying to get like a Washington Monument in the background and go like that or something. But I do, I do, I do love the soul, uh, interviewers. I love, I love that, you know. Oh yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's awesome. Yeah, um, anyway guys, awesome, yo, uh, crush it. Thanks for having me on.

Josh: Thanks, Brody. Have a good one. It's a Daily Talk Show.

Brad: Bye.