Rebel News Podcast - March 20, 2021


China humiliates America on American soil; and humiliates Canada everywhere


Episode Stats

Length

37 minutes

Words per Minute

161.04335

Word Count

5,995

Sentence Count

439

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

15


Summary

In both cases, China, China is strong and triumphant, and the West is meek and losing. On one count, they humiliate Antony Blinken, the new U.S. Secretary of State for Joe Biden. And boy, do they get away with it.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. Today, I take you through two victories for diplomacy from Beijing.
00:00:06.360 They had a great week. On one count, they absolutely humiliate Antony Blinken,
00:00:12.720 the Secretary of State for Joe Biden. I'll show you the footage of that.
00:00:16.960 And boy, do they get away with, well, I won't say murder, but kidnapping in the case of the
00:00:23.200 two Michaels. I'll show you Justin Trudeau's pitiable response. In both cases, China,
00:00:28.980 China, strong and triumphant, and the West, meek and losing. It's very sad. I'll show you the video.
00:00:35.560 I wish you could see the video. You'll understand what you hear about it, but boy,
00:00:39.540 just to see the faces. I'd love it if you saw the video version of the podcast.
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00:01:31.740 Tonight, China humiliates America on American soil and humiliates Canada everywhere. It's March
00:01:54.400 19th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:56.560 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:02:02.160 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:02:06.200 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody
00:02:11.060 right to do so.
00:02:16.820 Did you see this incredible exchange? It was in Alaska, where Joe Biden's new Secretary of State,
00:02:23.100 Antony Blinken, was meeting with his counterpart from the Chinese dictatorship. So they were on
00:02:29.060 American soil. And I just want to play a clip for you. And you tell me, who's the top dog here? Who's
00:02:35.460 the boss? Who's the superpower? Who's in charge? Who's confident? And who's on the defensive? Who's
00:02:40.620 assertive? And who's submissive? Who won and who lost? Take a look.
00:02:44.420 We'll also discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
00:02:52.660 cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion toward our allies. Each of these actions
00:02:59.140 threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability.
00:03:03.380 Well, you can't blame this problem on somebody else.
00:03:11.740 I have to tell you, what I'm hearing is very different from what you described. I'm hearing
00:03:18.000 deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we're re-engaged with our allies
00:03:23.840 and partners. I'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.
00:03:30.040 Well, I think we thought too well of the United States. We thought that the U.S. side will
00:03:42.940 follow the necessary diplomatic protocols.
00:03:46.460 So for China, it was necessary that we make our position clear.
00:03:54.080 So let me say here that in front of the Chinese side, the United States does not have the
00:04:08.580 qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.
00:04:12.980 There's a lot going on there. It's not a big thing. But I know that the American aide sitting
00:04:17.680 next to Blinken had her hair dyed purple. I understand that caused a bit of a ruckus
00:04:22.320 in the White House. Now, we live in modern times and you see purple hair and pink hair quite a bit,
00:04:28.620 but I've never seen it in a high-level professional at an international summit between the world's two
00:04:34.580 superpowers at a moment of great tension. That's a meeting where everything counts, every image,
00:04:38.960 every gesture, every statement, every symbol. I'm sure they spend time negotiating the shape of the
00:04:44.060 table. Who would sit where? Who would speak first? And for how long? Who would enter the room first?
00:04:49.080 Every single detail was managed or fought over. And the U.S. sends in someone with purple hair.
00:04:55.300 That sends a message too, doesn't it? And as to Blinken himself, he's a smooth, handsome,
00:05:01.820 perfect liberal. It's like if the New York Times newspaper became a human person and could talk.
00:05:07.040 And in fairness, he did say some good things. He mentioned Hong Kong and Xinjiang and Taiwan.
00:05:11.600 I like that. But how did he think that was going to go? Cameras rolling and a smooth-talking liberal
00:05:19.900 tries to shame China. Have you ever heard of the concept of saving face? That's a concept many
00:05:27.020 cultures follow, but it's particularly strong in China, particularly strong for a dictatorship.
00:05:32.080 And China knew that was coming and they smashed him with a prepared reply. They said,
00:05:37.900 we used to respect you, but we realized that was wrong. We used to think you were strong,
00:05:42.040 but we realized you were not. And in fact, they proceeded to throw in their face, the Americans,
00:05:48.820 the Black Lives Matter claim that America itself is bigoted and racist and ethnocentric. Take a look.
00:05:57.220 On human rights. We hope that the United States will do better on human rights. China has made steady
00:06:04.280 progress in human rights. And the fact is that there are many problems within the United States
00:06:11.840 regarding human rights, which is admitted by the U.S. itself as well. The United States has also said
00:06:19.400 that countries can't rely on force in today's world to resolve the challenges we face. And it is a failure
00:06:28.720 to use various means to topple the so-called authoritarian states. And the challenges facing the
00:06:38.760 United States in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years,
00:06:45.360 such as Black Lives Matter. It did not come up only recently. So we do hope that for our two countries,
00:06:53.000 it's important that we manage our respective affairs well, instead of deflecting the blame
00:07:00.260 on somebody else in this world. That's a tactic the Soviets always used during the Cold War too.
00:07:07.000 But in a way, the Democrats were asking for it for years, maybe even decades. Democrats have said
00:07:11.740 that America is immoral. America is racist, intolerant, sexist, transphobic. Trump's motto
00:07:19.600 was make America great again. He believed in American greatness, America first. The left always
00:07:24.720 says, no, America was never great. And it's certainly not great now. So why is it surprising
00:07:30.520 that your foreign enemies quote you back to you about how bad America is? The tactic is absolutely
00:07:36.820 no surprise. It's what enemies do to Western democracies if they sense weakness. Do you think
00:07:42.600 that China, like the Soviets, like Adolf Hitler, were suddenly going to be disabused of their deeply
00:07:49.120 held bigotries in some photo op with their enemy, Antony Blinken? And what did Blinken refer to?
00:07:55.980 A rules-based order that maintains global stability. Is that going to make the Chinese dictators say,
00:08:02.660 oh, gosh, it's got a good point there, guys. Let's better stop building our fourth aircraft
00:08:08.180 carrier. Let's better stop spying on the West. Let's better stop infiltrating Western universities
00:08:13.360 and stealing military and industrial secrets. And let's get full human rights to Xinjiang and Tibet
00:08:18.200 and Taiwan and the Falun Gong. And hey, let's go full democratic. Did they think that was going to
00:08:22.420 happen? I think the lamest part of the exchange was when Blinken said, I'm hearing deep satisfaction
00:08:30.000 that America is back. That's like saying, well, I heard from my mom that I'm actually great and my
00:08:36.600 mom really loves me. As the Chinese told him, the U.S. cannot speak from a position of strength.
00:08:42.560 The fact that everyone tells the Secretary of State of the United States that they really like him,
00:08:47.700 as if foreign diplomats don't lie and flatter for a living, as if the world doesn't all see America's
00:08:53.200 weakness now compared to under Trump. And that's the point. As Joel Pollack said,
00:08:59.040 Trump was tougher on China than Biden ever was or ever will be. Yet Trump managed to avoid pointless
00:09:04.520 public confrontations, which in this case ends very bad for Secretary Blinken and Jake Sullivan,
00:09:10.320 who are clearly used to talking within the bubble of comfortable left-wing illusions.
00:09:15.700 It's a very clever point by our friend Joel. Was there anyone in history tougher on China
00:09:21.040 than Trump? And yet he knew enough about how to get things he wanted, how to negotiate,
00:09:27.100 how to deal with people he hated and who hate him. Imagine making a living in the casino industry.
00:09:33.660 Imagine the characters you meet there. Or the Manhattan real estate industry. Imagine who you're
00:09:38.140 dealing with. You're dealing with the world's toughest and even most dangerous dealers.
00:09:43.200 Did you ever see Trump in a face-to-face public meeting with China? Make them lose face? Did you ever
00:09:49.280 see that? Did you ever see him appeal to a rules-based global order? Or did you see the opposite?
00:09:56.840 Trump lavishing praise on his enemies in public while actually gutting them in private. Trump put
00:10:03.480 hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese goods while flying over to Beijing and
00:10:09.320 looking like he loved them. And they never dared to speak back to him, did they? You ever hear them
00:10:14.620 talk to Trump the way they talk to Biden's guy? Maybe the most Trumpy moment with China, and again,
00:10:20.480 I was reminded of this by Joel Pollack. Remember when Trump invited Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator,
00:10:26.320 over to Mar-a-Lago? That's Trump's big marina club golf course in Florida. And they were in Mar-a-Lago
00:10:34.460 eating chocolate cake or whatever for dessert. And literally during that dinner,
00:10:39.880 Trump scheduled a military attack, a bunch of missile strikes on Syria. Now put aside the
00:10:47.620 wisdom of that strike. Think about the timing and what Trump was doing in China relations. The ice
00:10:53.880 in Trump's veins. That was the point, to casually start a little war and sit down for dinner with
00:11:02.680 another enemy, Xi Jinping, who finds out, probably with an aide coming up to him to whisper in his ear
00:11:08.520 during dinner, what Trump was doing while they were having cake. Trump was launching missiles while
00:11:15.100 he was, hey, how's your chocolate cake, Xi Jinping? Imagine the self-control needed for that.
00:11:21.820 What did that show? It showed that Trump was cool and calm, that he wasn't afraid to fire off missiles
00:11:26.920 just because, that he'd do so, so casually, he wouldn't even miss dessert for it. That sent a message
00:11:33.780 to Xi Jinping. That's what China knows and respects. Strength and confidence and a tough customer and
00:11:40.880 missiles that can hit anywhere in the world. Not a high school debate club champ who's talking about
00:11:45.300 a rules-based order and how everyone tells me I'm nice. Yeah. Trump was China's toughest enemy in 50
00:11:53.300 years. But they never disrespected him. They may have hated him. Biden is completely compromised by
00:12:01.600 China, by the way. Just look at his son, Hunter Biden, basically a Chinese intelligence asset.
00:12:06.160 But they just abuse America and Blinken and Biden because they want the world to see it and know it,
00:12:13.040 and they know they'll get away with it. But the only person lower than that is our guy,
00:12:19.160 Justin Trudeau. We're so stupid, we don't even know when they're disrespecting us like this.
00:12:24.880 Restoring, refreshing, strengthening the Canada-China relationship. We're quite proud. The
00:12:31.620 Prime Minister has been given a fond nickname in China, which he is called Tudou, which I believe
00:12:39.520 means potato. And he is, I can't say the Chinese word, it's young, Tudou, little potato, because his
00:12:46.380 father, Pierre Elliott, Tudou, was senior potato. Yeah, that was an insult, you fool. I say this
00:12:55.900 because today the first of the two Michaels, Michael Spavor, was on trial in China. Now I say
00:13:01.100 on trial because that's what it's called, but it was no trial. They don't have real trials in China.
00:13:06.480 They don't have real judges. They're show trials. It's like those elections that Saddam Hussein used to
00:13:10.920 have as dictator, where he got 99% of the vote. That's not a real vote, guys. It's just the illusion
00:13:16.580 of a vote for propaganda purposes at home and abroad. The Globe and Mail's Nathan Vanderclip
00:13:22.600 was there in China, and I'm glad he was. I got to tell you, I chide the Globe fairly often,
00:13:28.700 and they're on the take for Trudeau's government bailouts. But I cannot deny that the Globe and Mail
00:13:34.440 have Canada's most skeptical coverage of the Chinese Communist Party, and I am grateful for their work on the
00:13:40.600 China file, and I say that as a reader and as a citizen. What can I say? They're doing great work.
00:13:46.280 Let me show you some of Vanderclip's tweets on the subject, because he was there. Now he wasn't
00:13:50.740 allowed inside the courtroom. No one was, because it's not a real trial. It's a sham. But let me show
00:13:56.240 you what he tweeted today, and again, I salute him for this. It takes a little bit of courage to do this
00:14:00.000 too, by the way. Trial for Michael Spavor started at 10 a.m. over by noon. No verdict.
00:14:05.800 Can you imagine a two-hour trial? It's fake. Court statement on today's two-hour trial.
00:14:13.860 Michael Spavor and his defense attorney attended the court proceedings. The Dandong Intermediate
00:14:18.460 People's Court will deliver its verdict at a later date in accordance with the law. Yes, sure. The
00:14:23.060 verdict was written in advance, folks, and it'll be given to the judge to publish. That's how it works
00:14:27.500 in China. Here's another tweet. Foreign diplomats arriving at Michael Spavor trial. China has denied entry
00:14:34.880 to everyone. Ten diplomats from eight countries. Well, I'm grateful to those other seven countries.
00:14:39.700 I'd like to know who they are. And then this tweet is both pitiful and enraging.
00:14:45.280 At the Dandong Courthouse, Canadian diplomats seeking access. Yeah. It's 10 a.m. Trial for Michael
00:14:53.080 Spavor is meant to begin now. Canadian diplomats and other diplomats in media are still outside.
00:14:58.900 Hmm. And then here's a Canadian diplomat locked outside. Jim Nickel, Canada's charge d'affaires in
00:15:07.960 China at the Spavor trial in Dandong. We are disappointed in the lack of access and the lack
00:15:12.820 of transparency in the process. China has said its domestic law overrides international law,
00:15:17.840 which in fact is not the case. You see, people, as Anthony Blinken said, there's this rule-based,
00:15:22.560 that's all you got? You're disappointed, eh? That's all you got. An anonymous diplomat, have you ever
00:15:30.160 heard of him? He's not the ambassador. He's just some guy. I'm sure he's a good guy. But he's anonymous.
00:15:35.200 He's a low-ranking guy. He says he's disappointed. Listen, I'm disappointed when it's leftovers for dinner
00:15:41.480 again. I'm disappointed that my sports team lost if I had a sports team. I'm disappointed that the
00:15:47.580 construction on the road outside my house is taking so long. That's what the word disappointed is for.
00:15:51.740 Oh, that's disappointing. Two Canadian citizens kidnapped off the streets of China more than
00:15:57.440 two years ago, held in torturous conditions, denied all civil rights and diplomatic visits
00:16:01.720 in a sham trial. And a junior staffer says, oh, I'm disappointed. At least Anthony Blinken
00:16:08.820 is the Secretary of State, not some junior guy. At least he used words to describe his concerns about
00:16:15.020 Taiwan, Hong Kong, places like that. He's a weak man fronting an even weaker president, but at least
00:16:20.640 he had a shred of morality to what he said. Here's what our cowardly prime minister had to say.
00:16:27.700 Finally, let me say a few words about Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. Michael Spavor's hearing took
00:16:35.060 place earlier today. The court has not yet pronounced a verdict. Michael Kovrig's hearing is scheduled for
00:16:42.220 Monday. Let me be very clear. Their arbitrary detention is completely unacceptable, as is the lack
00:16:50.780 of transparency around these court proceedings. Our top priority remains securing their release.
00:16:58.780 We will continue to work tirelessly to bring them home as soon as possible. I want to thank our many,
00:17:06.400 many international partners, friends and allies for their solidarity and support. Going forward,
00:17:14.300 we will continue to be in close contact with the families during this difficult time. To their loved
00:17:20.620 ones know that today and every day, Canadians are with you and thinking of both Michaels.
00:17:27.680 Got it. So Trudeau is very upset by this. So upset, but he won't do a thing. He won't kick out any Chinese
00:17:36.380 diplomats or withdraw Canadian diplomats from China. He won't stop Canadian foreign aid to China. He won't
00:17:43.960 stop our Olympic delegation going to China. He won't stop the 100,000 sons and daughters of Chinese
00:17:51.380 Communist Party officials going to university in Canada, benefiting from our tax money for our
00:17:57.020 universities and also influencing politics on those campuses. He won't even vote in parliament to
00:18:03.900 condemn their treatment of Uyghur Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. He won't do actually anything,
00:18:10.640 but he'll say he's very concerned about the lack of transparency. Yeah. Two humiliations dealt out in one day
00:18:20.360 by China. They're the new superpower, my friends. Stay with us for a moment.
00:18:40.640 That's President Joe Biden stumbling three times on the stairs getting into Air Force One. Here's
00:18:59.580 another view of the same thing, more dramatic.
00:19:10.640 The reason we show you those is not to be unfair, though it was certainly fair in the eyes of the
00:19:29.100 media party. Anytime Donald Trump stumbled or made a wrong step, he was actually quite sure-footed. I
00:19:34.860 remember in one moment, he stood and shook hands with American military graduates for well over an
00:19:40.720 hour in the hot sun. He was known for giving press conferences well over an hour. The guy had stamina,
00:19:46.260 even though he wasn't in the greatest of shape. But Joe Biden, maybe anyone would have stumbled on those
00:19:52.400 airplane stairs. But coming as Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea all snub the United States,
00:20:01.440 it just projects weakness. As you may know, Vladimir Putin challenged Joe Biden to an online
00:20:09.360 summit, but only if it was live streaming. Why would he do that? Well, to show that Joe Biden
00:20:16.820 doesn't just stumble physically, he stumbles mentally. I do believe that American prestige is
00:20:22.820 receding. And loved or hated Trump-commanded respect. That's gone now. Joining us now via Skype from
00:20:29.100 the United States is our friend Ben Weingarten. He joined us on the American election night,
00:20:33.560 you'll recall. He also writes for the Federalist Newsweek and for our friends at Epoch Times.
00:20:38.320 Ben, great to see you again. I don't want to be unfair. Anyone can slip on stairs. You and I do.
00:20:43.560 People of all ages do. But it just fits with the theme of a stumbling, doddering old man who's not strong.
00:20:53.660 Yeah, I think it's sort of a metaphor for what we've seen. And I think you correctly identified,
00:21:00.720 which is that all of America's worst adversaries are essentially taking us on, at least rhetorically,
00:21:08.160 with what would be reckless abandon in the face of another administration, but which in the case of
00:21:13.840 this one seems to invites it. As you noted, the Iranian regime sees the Biden administration
00:21:20.120 offering to come to the table without preconditions to work on a respawn Iran deal
00:21:26.860 with these Chinese counterparts at this debacle in Anchorage, Alaska, attacking America for purported
00:21:34.340 human rights violations and invoking Black Lives Matter and a history of human rights violations on
00:21:39.720 the American side. When it comes to Russia, as you noted, with Vladimir Putin firing back,
00:21:43.860 demanding a debate, calling the president essentially a killer as well. And North Korea,
00:21:48.500 of course, threatening potentially something far more nefarious and worse, and maybe even in the
00:21:54.420 face of a, in the form of a nuclear attack or some other kind of military strike, put all of this
00:21:59.680 together. And it demonstrates by these responses, a lack of respect or fear for the Biden administration.
00:22:07.240 And incidentally, just in terms of the sort of mental acuity questions, and then also physical
00:22:13.600 questions. Look, why is it that Vice President Kamala Harris is the one taking calls from the top
00:22:20.220 leaders in other countries, principals in other countries, presidents, prime ministers, and the
00:22:24.460 like? That's something that's very uncharacteristic of any administration that I can think of.
00:22:29.160 And it speaks to the fact that there are legitimate questions about the fitness of the president
00:22:33.960 generally. But then also, even if he is fit to be commander in chief, whether or not his policies
00:22:39.520 are befitting of a commander in chief. Yeah. You know, there was a video, we played a clip of it
00:22:44.040 the other day. I'll just show it again. Biden was in an interview with a mainstream media outlet. It's
00:22:50.660 not even important which one. He was asked a question and he gave a sort of answer. And he was
00:22:55.800 the only one in the shot, but his answer wasn't great. And then surprise, the angle was widened and
00:23:02.800 Joe Biden's wife was there. And she patched up Biden's answer. You wouldn't have known she was
00:23:09.160 in the room. She was like a nanny for him. And she weighed in on policy matters. It wasn't a personal
00:23:15.920 interview. What are the two of you like at home? What's your family? Then you don't understand the
00:23:20.860 first lady being in the interview. But it was like she was his minder. Here's a quick recap of that.
00:23:26.260 Mr. President, in five weeks you've been in office, you have been taking many actions to revert
00:23:31.800 Trump administration's anti-immigration policy. But today, the Washington Post reports that
00:23:39.100 your administration has plans to open tents at Del Rio, a town close to the border. Can you confirm
00:23:47.360 that? Right now, there's thousands of unaccompanied children coming across the border. In Texas,
00:23:51.900 they opened up one, one that was a former one used in the administration, in the last administration.
00:23:59.960 Our hope and expectation is that won't stay open very long. That we'll be able to provide for every
00:24:05.780 kid who comes across the border safely to be housed in a facility that's licensed. And this
00:24:12.880 administration is doing it in a humane way. And that's really important. I mean, we want to make
00:24:19.700 sure that these children are safe, that they get mental health services, they get physical health
00:24:25.580 services, they get education. I just think that substantive weakness is being matched with personal
00:24:35.940 weakness. And I think that's the worst of all worlds for America. Enemies are thrilled, friends
00:24:42.500 are demoralized, the world gets worse. I don't know, that's how it feels from up here.
00:24:46.720 Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. And on one level, it's incredibly disconcerting that the
00:24:53.720 commander in chief apparently seems to show these signs of needing assistance, won't take a press
00:25:00.020 conference, won't take any questions from the press. And then you add the policies to it, and it's just
00:25:05.360 cataclysmic. On the other hand, I have long felt that the president was essentially a figurehead. He was
00:25:11.780 a figurehead candidate, and not really the one running the show. And that perception seems to be
00:25:19.160 meeting reality right now. And maybe the even more disconcerting thing is, what if the reality is that
00:25:25.080 this administration is really being run by the underlings in the administrative state, the deep
00:25:30.520 state, if you want to call it that, and beyond? I mean, remember, Susan Rice is the one in charge of
00:25:34.940 the domestic policy portfolio. Secretary Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan were
00:25:41.200 longtime senior Obama administration officials. Obviously, Kamala Harris is in a position of power,
00:25:47.220 perhaps the likes of which we've never seen as a vice president. So put all that together. And the
00:25:51.800 thing that's maybe even more disturbing is that it really is sort of the machine running the show,
00:25:56.720 the ruling class running the show. And Joe Biden is there as sort of a purported,
00:26:01.240 at least superficially moderate front man, but in reality, overseeing the most radical
00:26:06.180 administration, arguably in American history. And I think that's borne out by the fact that you've
00:26:10.780 seen wokeism essentially implemented throughout the executive branch. You see the filibuster under
00:26:16.340 assault, massive expansion of the courts potentially to come. Obviously, an open borders policy and the
00:26:23.300 president's response is to tell migrants, illegal aliens, please don't come over the border,
00:26:28.220 you shouldn't be coming, and on and on. Obviously, the environmentalist policies. And then, of course,
00:26:34.020 instituting a policy of equity over equality, which really speaks to a sort of critical race theory,
00:26:41.240 identitarian, cultural Marxism-infused sort of policy, and all of which, again, is a disaster for
00:26:47.700 the country.
00:26:48.100 Yeah. You know, having a doddering, smiling grandpa character as president, I see the strength
00:26:56.480 of it from a PR point of view. He doesn't say much. He doesn't get particularly combative with
00:27:04.200 journalists. He hasn't talked to journalists in nearly two months. Journalists perhaps say,
00:27:09.620 you know, hold back their toughest punches. Donald Trump was so combative, it sort of dared
00:27:14.960 journalists to take him on. What are you going to ask Joe Biden? And he'll just sort of grin and
00:27:19.360 say, come on, man, enough malarkey. So there's that goofy, harmless grandpa guy who's not actually
00:27:26.760 the decider, but he's a decoy. He's, you know, in magic. It's all about misdirection. It's not real
00:27:35.740 magic. Just have everyone look over there at the figurehead president while we're over here quietly
00:27:42.660 doing the real work. That's scarier, I think, because people are lulled by the decoy. I think
00:27:50.520 he's a decoy. And I don't even think he's a Manchurian president. I don't think he himself
00:27:55.460 has some compromised mission. You know, I think his son, Hunter Biden, wants to cash in, sure.
00:28:01.620 But I think Joe Biden just isn't there. It really feels like that old goofy comedy movie,
00:28:06.680 Weekend at Bernie's, where they prop up a guy just for its own reasons. I don't know. How's it
00:28:11.340 going to end? Like, well, I suppose it might end if he injures himself truly. If he has a,
00:28:16.640 God forbid, a stroke or falls. Like, you can imagine if he fell and stumbled all the way down
00:28:20.780 that staircase. That could have hurt a guy. That would hurt someone half his age. I think
00:28:26.040 that there's a real chance that there will be a critical health issue, maybe even within a year.
00:28:32.380 It's disturbing to even entertain these kind of scenarios and that we're even talking about
00:28:37.780 them. And it's funny, you mentioned Weekend at Bernie's and I described his campaign as sort
00:28:42.280 of a weekend at Biden's campaign. And really, you know, look, he ran his campaign essentially from
00:28:49.360 a basement, never really interacting with people in any sort of natural, organic setting. And he was
00:28:55.820 basically this septuagenarian, hermetically sealed candidate. He's a septuagenarian, hermetically
00:29:02.240 sealed president, clearly seems brittle. And that's on both the physical side as well as his,
00:29:09.300 again, sort of mental quickness and acuity. And so to your question, I mean, look, I've long held
00:29:15.220 the theory that in a perfect world from the Democrats' perspective, Joe Biden would stay in
00:29:20.480 office for two years and one day, and then Kamala Harris would succeed him. Why do I say two years and
00:29:26.540 one day? Well, per the constitution, technically Kamala Harris could serve out this final just under
00:29:33.080 two years and then actually be reelected twice. You could serve as president for a maximum of 10
00:29:38.900 years. It's sort of a quirk of the language. So consequently, I think that would be in the
00:29:43.960 Democrats' perfect world, how the tradeoff would happen. I assume likely they wouldn't want to make
00:29:49.640 it literally two years and one day because it would just be so obvious and contrived.
00:29:53.880 But I do think ultimately, from the Democrats' perspective, that's the best case scenario.
00:29:58.500 Yeah. And they can get through the midterm elections with Joe Biden as president and
00:30:02.020 then just have the switcheroo. I think that that is unfortunately a likely outcome. Let me ask you,
00:30:08.380 how are things looking in the Congress? I mean, both the Senate and the House are in the hands
00:30:13.640 of the Democrats. It's been not quite two months yet. So they're still very early.
00:30:19.900 Do you think that the more radical elements of the Democratic far-left agenda will be manifested
00:30:28.620 before the midterm elections of 2022 that I think we'll see some, perhaps the House, perhaps the
00:30:37.260 Senate go back to Republican hands, some sort of check and balance? Because right now you've got the
00:30:41.280 presidency in both houses of Congress. You could do a lot of crazy things. You mentioned packing the
00:30:45.920 courts. Do you think that there's enough conservative Democrats? Do you think there's
00:30:51.720 enough natural inertia there to slow down the craziest ideas?
00:30:58.340 Well, I'm very concerned about this. Interestingly, Politico this week ran a story about how Ron
00:31:05.300 Klain, the president's chief of staff, held a meeting with the top leadership of the Congressional
00:31:10.880 Progressive Caucus, including Ilhan Omar, who we've talked about at length in the subject of my book,
00:31:16.680 and others. And Politico said this really demonstrates just how far the Congressional
00:31:22.320 Progressive Caucus has risen in terms of its power and ability to potentially shape an agenda. So
00:31:27.200 leaving aside for a moment what happens on the legislative side, I do believe that the executive
00:31:31.940 branch will do everything it possibly can to put forth the entire radical agenda that the president's
00:31:38.540 already done so in a number of areas in terms of purportedly expanding voting access, which is
00:31:43.460 not really what the executive or relevant executive order is about, or of course, going back to the
00:31:48.340 Paris Climate Accord, myriad other policies. Similarly, we just talked before about equity versus
00:31:55.580 equality, and that sort of infused the whole litany of policies that the president oversees,
00:32:00.340 Keystone Pipeline, obviously, as well. So but beyond that, on the legislative side, to your point,
00:32:06.320 the president himself has indicated a willingness to rethink the filibuster, who could have seen this
00:32:11.520 coming? And I suspect many in the Senate as well, including those moderates, you know, all the
00:32:16.960 pressure in the world, and to a degree, also a lot of leverage sits on Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema
00:32:22.620 and others. And in the past, they've said that they would resist. But who knows? I mean, you can foresee
00:32:27.960 a scenario where some event happens, and it's used to say, well, look, the Republicans are just so
00:32:32.100 intransigent, such a threat to democracy, so extremist that in this scenario, we have to blow
00:32:37.720 up the filibuster for the good of our democracy. You could very easily see that kind of narrative
00:32:42.680 being crafted based upon a specific situation that crops up. And obviously, you know, if you look at
00:32:48.460 where the whole ballgame lies, and there are any number of issues where this could be court packing
00:32:52.540 is one, DC and Puerto Rico statehood is another, and amnesty of sorts, if not du jour, is another area
00:33:00.220 in which you could potentially see the makings of a permanent Democrat majority, potentially
00:33:05.540 of voters. Beyond that, H.R. 1, the first bill out of the House, poses an existential threat
00:33:12.400 to the republic, I would say, because it would essentially enshrine all of the election integrity,
00:33:18.500 shattering, undermining, eroding policies that were implemented under the pandemic emergency
00:33:25.460 standards, so extraordinary measures. And it will make all of them federal law, federalizing our
00:33:31.280 elections in the first place, which is arguably unconstitutional. But then second of all, creating
00:33:36.340 a scenario where all of the most corrupt and dubious policies that we saw take place in 2020 would
00:33:42.340 happen writ large across the country. And that, I believe, is the point of H.R. 1, again, is to ensure
00:33:48.300 that if it's ever close, Democrats will always be able to, as we talked about an election night,
00:33:52.740 win, given the margin of fraud, given their ability to organize when ballot harvesting is allowed.
00:33:58.560 They're very good at machine politics, and to the extent that they completely systematically erode
00:34:03.120 voter integrity in this country. So we get as far as possible away from people voting on one election
00:34:08.480 day, identifying themselves with a signature at a voting station that favors Democrats writ large
00:34:15.980 and in perpetuity. So that bill is in some ways the whole ballgame. But of course, the Democrats are
00:34:20.720 pressing on every single possible path that they can to achieve electoral dominance.
00:34:25.580 Yeah, well, no wonder China is feeling so confident these days. I mean, just the winds for China are
00:34:32.420 racking up everywhere. And even on the domestic side, the weaker the United States is, the stronger
00:34:37.320 China is by comparison. Ben, it's great to see you again. I want to give a shout out to your YouTube
00:34:42.140 series called Bad News, co-hosted with Emily Jashinsky. From time to time, we embed those videos on our
00:34:49.620 website. We'll continue to do so. Great to see you again. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.
00:34:54.280 I really appreciate it. Our pleasure. There you have it, Ben Weingarten. His own YouTube show is called Bad News.
00:35:00.680 And I think it's well named. That's the era we're in these days, my friends. Stay with us.
00:35:04.460 On my show last night, Bruce writes, I love your initiative, Ezra. Stephen Harper would be the man
00:35:21.000 to lead the conservative party back to victory as well as sanity. Look, tell me someone who could
00:35:27.040 match up like Donald Trump is 74. And I'm worried that by the time 2024 comes along, he might be too
00:35:32.760 old for the job if he's thinking of running again. There are younger contenders. I love that Ron
00:35:38.500 DeSantis, the governor of Florida. But in Canada, Stephen Harper's just 61. That is young. For prime
00:35:46.780 ministers, he absolutely could run next time. And don't tell me he's loving being a consultant.
00:35:52.920 I just don't think he is. Jane writes, cancel culture didn't exist when Harper was in government
00:35:58.720 in 2015. I don't know. He will have to deal with that. Yeah, but he just feels like a grown-up,
00:36:04.280 doesn't he? I just think Canadians miss that now. Gilly writes, Harper making a comeback is an
00:36:11.960 exciting proposition. Yeah, I mean, obviously I didn't talk to him about it. But I will send that
00:36:16.620 petition to him when the time is right. And I think he should come back if necessary. I think Pierre
00:36:21.880 Pauliev should have thrown his hat into the ring last time. I wish he did, but he chose not to.
00:36:25.160 Maybe it's time to bring in the guy who won a bunch of elections and gave Canada pretty good
00:36:32.240 government. Not perfect, but geez, pretty good. And right now I take pretty good over the crushing
00:36:37.460 loss that's about to be dealt to the Conservatives. That's a show for today. By the time you see this,
00:36:45.320 Sheila Gunn-Reed and I will have done a live stream of Erin O'Toole's speech to the Conservative Party.
00:36:51.000 We're starting that at 5 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Mountain Time. So when you're done watching
00:36:56.420 this, feel free to click on over and watch Sheila and I have a watch party and talk about Erin O'Toole's
00:37:03.420 speech. You'll be able to find that elsewhere on our website or our YouTube channel. All right,
00:37:07.900 until Monday, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home,
00:37:11.480 good night and keep fighting for freedom.