Truth in the Barrel | THIS WEEK UNFILTERED 04.17.25 This week Amy and Denver shout out Green River Whiskey (link below) before they give their reactions to the decisions that made this week so hard. The Republican’s SAVE ACT has just passed the house. What are its Handsmade Tale implications, and how is it being sold to the American people? What is the latest on the El Salvador situation? Since when is their no due process for legal Americans? Does President Donald Trump want to make his own Iran nuclear deal and why is he consulting the likes of Bill Maher? Stick around for Denver and Amy’s rapid fire finale! 04:07 The SAVE ACT 15:58 We’re Throwing Out Legal Americans Now 26:18 Trump’s Potential Iran Deal. Is There Even A Plan? 39:00 Quick Shots! The Rapid Fire Round *This episode was recorded on April 17, 2025, and aired on April 17, 2025. About Truth in the Barrel: Amy and Denver are both military veterans, political junkies, and whiskey lovers who sit on opposite sides of the aisle but have one thing in common: they love the United States of America. Truth in the Barrel was born of Amy & Denver’s commitment to country, the Constitution, and a well-curated collection of the world’s finest bourbon. Join them weekly for deep dives into timely topics, interviews with recognizable guests, and a dose of call-in fun. Green RIver Whiskey: https://greenriverwhiskey.com/visit-us/ Visit Our Website: www.TruthintheBarrel.com Subscribe to Truth in the Barrel: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthIntheBarrel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0JQcSj5mwVyGDJ8DcXwlu9?si=5f2bd1d1b0c64e6f Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truth-in-the-barrel/id1804092329 Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook, TikTok: @TruthintheBarrel
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts of Truth in the Barrel and what is the podcast about?
Hello and welcome to Truth in the Barrel. We've got a lot to get through today, like our government shipping people off to foreign prisons, the SAVE Act, what's that, a possibility of a nuclear Iran and some rapid fire at the end. This is Truth in the Barrel unfiltered. I'm Amy McGrath. I'm here with my co-host and international man of mystery, Denver Riggleman.
Also, international man of the flu that I'm getting over. So, I apologize for my voice. I sound like Clint Eastwood after a long night, you know, on the desert or something. But also, don't forget everybody. We're on about every social media platform, including True Social, which I know people think is nuts. But X, Blue Sky, you can go to YouTube and also on all our pods, right?
Any of your favorite podcasts, you need to look at us because... We love having these discussions. And also, you know, we still have bourbon as part of this, right, Amy? I mean, not only talking truth, right? We got bourbon as part of this.
Chapter 2: What is Green River Whiskey and why do Amy and Denver recommend it?
Yeah. And before we start talking about all the important topics, we need to talk about whiskey. That is super important. So what am I sipping today? Okay. This is Green River. Green River Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey. It's from Owensboro, Kentucky. Dates back Denver to 1885, which is really cool because that's the year that my great-grandparents were born. That's really cool.
And this is called the Whiskey Without Regrets, which I love. The other reason I like it is not only for the taste, and it's really good whiskey, but it served as the official whiskey of the United States Marine Hospital back in the late 1800s. And that ended up becoming what we now know as the National Institute of Health. It was the official whiskey of the Public Health Service back then.
We should still have an official whiskey for the NIH. We should. We were just at the New Orleans Bourbon Festival and Green River was there. What great folks, right? Yeah, cheers to Green River. What did you say before we got on air here, Amy? The frog in my throat?
Es könnte sein. Sie haben es in den 1800er Jahren gebraucht. Es ist medizinisch.
Das ist so, wie viele der großen Distillerien durch die Prohibition gingen. Sie haben sich als medizinisches Whisky identifiziert. So haben sie es gemacht. Und das ist das, was so cool ist mit Green River. Es ist eine unglaubliche Tagline auf deiner Romance, Whisky ohne Regret zu sagen. Aber wir alle wissen, dass zu viel Whisky meistens Regret bedeutet, egal was.
Und das ist das, was das Leben spannend macht. Genau.
And the other thing about Green River is this is like the westernmost distillery if you do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. That's like the furthest west that you can go, at least officially. But it's really good. And here's the thing I'll also say to everybody out there. If you want us to highlight your whiskey or your bourbon
Maybe you know of one with a good story or has a great taste or even better yet both. Send it our way. We would be happy. Denver and I would be very happy to taste your.
Oh, absolutely.
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Chapter 3: What is the SAVE Act and why is it controversial?
Hier ist das andere Ding. I will say, though, that 77 million voters who voted for Trump would probably think that this is great legislation, Amy. And that's the thing that really bothers me. And I think, again, why we're doing this show, Truth in the Barrel, is to show people that Chip Roy is not putting in this to save America.
Chip Roy is not putting in this bill for some kind of constitutional, you know, brass shining for him. He's putting in this bill to show that he's still part of Team Trump. And he's putting in this bill to support conspiratorial notions of a stolen election.
Let's though get into what does the act say? Because as you said before, a lot of people are going to be like, oh, well, yeah, this sounds good. Let's make sure that our elections, that undocumented immigrants can't vote in our elections. But let's get into the details, okay, about this act. So what it says is, anyone registering to vote or changing their registration must appear in person
At an election office with a valid U.S. passport, a birth certificate or naturalization papers that prove not only your identity, but also your citizenship. And get this, Denver, driver's licenses, military IDs, your new real ID, that's no longer accepted. That would no longer be accepted as proof of citizenship.
And the SAVE Act requires that the name on your passport matches the name on your birth certificate. Now, Den, how many married women do you know whose married name matches the name on their birth certificate?
That wouldn't be a thing.
Mine does not, by the way. I mean, when I was born, they didn't know I was going to marry. I mean, this is ridiculous. Sixty nine million other married women fall into this category. And it would make it just extraordinarily difficult for us every single time we move to go into an election office. Then what's an election office? Aren't we closing down all of our offices?
That's a good question. This is stupid. Is it a polling place? Is it your local election input area where you actually go in to actually sign up? That's the thing. Are we in the show me your papers? United States right now? Show me your papers. What are you doing on the street? Why does your birth certificate not match your passport? Well, I was married for 37 years. That is no excuse.
Off you go to El Salvador.
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Chapter 4: How will the SAVE Act impact voting rights for married women and rural voters?
No, I don't think that would fly at all. Do you?
No, I mean, this is dumb. I don't understand. Four Democrats voted for this shit. It's unbelievable.
I bet Jared Golden was one of them. And you know, I'm thinking this. Do I think American citizens should be the only ones voting in elections? Yes. Amy, sure. Of course. But when you're talking about real service to people, legislation should be serious. And it should be addressing a problem that is real. Das ist ziemlich lustig.
Ich muss es sagen, weil manchmal unser Produzent Amy und Dinge da oben stellt, er sagt, es ist wie der echte He-Man-Women-Haters-Club. Das ist ziemlich wahr. Und was ich auch sagen wollte, ist, dass dieses unseriöse Gesetz, das ich gesagt habe, kam von Konspiratoren, Fantasisten, ist eine Weiterentwicklung.
Wir gehen zurück zu Chip Roy, der wollte, dass er in dem Trump-Club ist, der, ich glaube, der He-Man-Club ist. My biggest worry is that as our legislation gets more and more unserious, how does that affect real people? And if there's people serious, Amy, we're serious people.
We like to have fun and joke around, but when it comes to service, there has to be a serious element to this in some place when we're talking about this legislation. And Amy, when you're talking about women, There seems to be this massive misogynistic vein of crazy that's sort of buttressing all of this.
And it's almost like it's the misogyny ridden, I color my beard group, you know, like at times Ben Shapiro or Matt Walsh or J.D. Vance, right? Or some of these other crazies out there. If you go look at some of these Christian white nationalists who think that women shouldn't vote or they're against suffrage, they all color their beards with really black coloring stuff.
And I'm not quite sure of maybe that that's infecting their brains, because I'm to the point that when you see this type of unserious legislation, you have to wonder where we go from here. And so for anybody to listen to this and say, oh, Denver and Amy, you guys don't understand. You don't understand that only Americans should vote.
Okay, guys, if you want to show your papers and your passport, you know who this hurts? This is my whole rant. You know who this really hurts? Rural voters who vote for Trump.
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Chapter 5: What happened in the deportation case of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia to El Salvador?
Right? What is this? Mayberry? Yeah. We got Don Knotts walking around. Right? So it's ludicrous. So you have a guy who's been accused of actually making deals with gangs, payoffs, all that kind of stuff. A guy who has this authoritarian bent, who builds this huge prison to intimidate the population of El Salvador. Right. All of a sudden. Oh, of course he loves any strong man. Trump loves.
I mean, he wants to spoon with the guy. Right. So, I mean, that's what's going on here. And so there's a quid pro quo going on here with money and favor changing hands. And then we have an El Salvadoran president again dressed like he just came out of a movie, you know, like Narcos saying he wouldn't return a person, a judge to be here legally. Ja, genau.
Well, in the Supreme Court 9 to 0 said that Donald Trump and his administration needs to facilitate the return of this guy. He was, you know, he was sent there illegally. And Donald Trump has basically said, no, we don't. Weil seine Ausgabe ist, Al Salvador will ihn nicht zurückgeben, also wollen wir ihn nicht zurückgeben. Wir tun nichts. Wir müssen nichts tun.
Ich meine, hier ist der Grund, warum dies auch für die täglichen Menschen wichtig ist. Wenn das zu diesem Mann passieren kann, kann es zu jedem passieren.
anyone and donald trump is even talking about this hey i wanna i wanna send home groans to your prison in el salvador what what are you talking about you know in this country we have criminals right and when they get sentenced they go to jail and those jails are right here in the united states we don't we don't send them off to saudi arabia we don't send them off to el salvador that's just not what we do in america
It's so out of bounds. It's hard to get your arms around it. You know, our constitution and due process is what separates us from the animals and the autocrats. And if we let that go, we're screwed. You know, I keep saying, it's not a slippery slope anymore. We're not going there.
It's in front of us. It's right here. It's here. And good on, you know, the Maryland senators, lawmakers who have gone down there and trying to make a difference in highlighting this. You know, it's, somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to do it.
They let in the mouth-breathing MAGA representatives, but they wouldn't let in the Maryland senator. And right then, the president, if we had a real president, Und nicht ein Typ... Weißt du, was ich mir fast denke, Amy? Oh Gott, das ist altartig. Und ich weiß nicht... Ich weiß nicht, ob das... Erinnerst du dich an The Naked Gun? Die Filme The Naked Gun?
Oh, ja.
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Chapter 6: Why is the deportation of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia a constitutional and human rights concern?
And I'm going back to truth in the barrel, that you wanted another media stream independently, where we could get sort of this common sense, facts-based stuff out there. So there you go.
No, you're right. All right. So, another important event that's happening this week is Donald Trump, our president, is looking for another Iran deal. He really wants a new deal on this. And he sent his negotiator, his longtime business associate, out there to the Middle East to try to make a deal. But, you know, It's important right now because Iran is very, very close to a nuclear weapon.
They're also very vulnerable, so now is a good time to make a deal. But Donald Trump's sort of ratcheting up the pressure here, saying, quote, if they don't make a deal, there will be bombing. All right. So, look. I just want to start out in saying we should have a deal.
It would be in our interest, in the interest of the United States of America and the world, to make some sort of deal to make sure Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. I want to make sure that everybody understands that perfectly clear. So good on the Trump administration for trying. But, number one, Donald Trump should have never undermined
The 2015 Iran deal that Obama, along with the other members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, put together to make sure that Iran did not get a deal. That's number one. And you may disagree with me and I'm going to kick it back to you in a minute, but he never should have undermined that.
Nummer zwei, der Trump-Team, den er da übernimmt, um dieses neue Deal zu negotieren, ist, wie die meisten seiner Kabinette, nicht genau der A-Team, Den. Der Ambassador, sein Name ist Ambassador Witkoff. Er hat nur studiert, er hat nur studiert, dieses Thema der Iran-Nuklearpower und nukleare Waffen in den letzten drei Wochen.
Trump hat auch diesen Mann als seinen Hauptverteidiger für den Ende der Krieg zwischen Russland und Ukraine designiert. Wie funktioniert das für Sie? Und er ist auch in Bezug auf die Frieden zwischen Israel und Hamas. Er ist also nicht so erfolgreich mit dem. Aber jetzt hat er diesen langjährigen Geschäftsführer, diesen Real-Estate-Mogul, getestet.
that he knows to create this new deal with iran and just to start out in the last few days this ambassador goes on tv goes on fox news and he says iran does not need enrichment over 3.67 then 24 hours later then he goes back on the news and says that iran must stop its nuclear enrichment altogether
Nun, das klingt ein bisschen wie viel Mumbo-Jumbo für viele Leute, aber für die Leute, die verstehen und wissen über nukleare Waffen und Negotiativen, das ist das ganze Herz, worüber du sprichst. Und es scheint mir, dass dieser Kerl keine Ahnung hat, was er tut.
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Chapter 7: What is the political and ethical significance of the El Salvador situation?
Come on, acronym man.
Here's the thing. When we were in Congress and I was part of trying to dismantle the JCPOA. There were some things there that we got. We had the partisan talking points. We had nonpartisan talking points. We had my staff. We had to strip it all back. We were looking at what the JCPOA actually meant. I remember the Brennan Center coming. I talked to everybody, right?
Like, what is this really about? It came down to the fact why we were actually dealing with the JCPOA between 2019 and 2021. You remember that's when Soleimani was killed, right, Amy? Yes. I was there when that happened.
By the way, that was a very high leader within Iran's military.
Ja, und jemand, der, wenn er getötet wurde, und übrigens, der Person, die mit ihm getötet wurde, war eigentlich genauso mächtig. Wir können das in einem anderen Show machen, wenn wir über iranische Führung und die RGC sprechen. Sie haben Terrorismus im Irak von Iran und das Schiassuni-Issue sponsoriert. Ich liebe es, darüber zu sprechen.
Das ist mein Bailiwick, einer meiner Bailiwicks, wie es deiner ist. So when we were looking at it, we were looking at these massive money flows for state-sponsored terrorism, but also looking at the long-term effects of the JCPOA, which a lot of us thought we needed something. Some of the more moderate Republicans, we needed an agreement. But enriched uranium was still allowed long-term.
Plus, you know, with the sanctions that were being lifted and a lot of the money that was flowing into Iran, we were seeing increases in state-sponsored terrorism as the JCPOA was actually being executed. And We had to give them notice before we actually went in and did actual inspections. So there was things that were good and things that were really bad.
And me as being somewhat versed on counterterrorism, I'm like, this sucks. We would need a whole new structure. Therefore, the JCPOA is no longer in existence. So me and you can have a long talk about that. I think, yeah. And, you know, when we started the show, we're going to disagree on some things. However, the issue is we do need some kind of agreement that is enforceable.
Ich hoffe, er ist erfolgreich.
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