EZRA LEVANT ｜ Shocking new poll by Trudeau-connected lobbying firm shows nearly half of Canadians want to sell the CBC!
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Summary
A new poll shows that nearly half of Canadians want to sell the CBC, a 5-alarm fire for the Liberals. Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. I'll talk about that with Ben Weingarten. And I'll take you through an incredible new poll by a liberal polling firm showing that nearly HALLELUDS of Canadians are now in favor of selling the CBC.
Transcript
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Hello, my Rebels. Incredible news today. Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. He was by far
00:00:04.680
their biggest talent and biggest draw. I wonder what he'll do next. I'll talk about that with
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Ben Weingarten, but also I'll take you through an incredible new poll by a liberal polling firm
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showing that nearly half of Canadians want to sell the CBC. This is a five alarm fire for the
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liberals. We'll take you through the poll. Hey, let me invite you to become a subscriber to
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Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. It's only eight bucks a month,
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but we need that dough to pay our bills because as you know, we don't take any money from the
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government. We're one of the few Canadian media that don't. Go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe,
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eight bucks a month. Bob's your uncle. All right, here's today's podcast. Tonight, a shocking new
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poll by a Trudeau-connected lobbying firm shows that nearly half of Canadians want to sell the CBC.
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It's April 24th, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
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He's ready for freedom. Shame on you, you censorious bug.
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Hey, stick around. We're going to have a hearty conversation with our friend Ben Weingarten
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about the shocking departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox News. I got a lot to say, and I know Ben does
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too, but hey, let's talk first about the liberals. They're so crooked. They're always selling
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influences just in their blood. I saw the shocking news, speaking of shocking, about the $13 billion
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payment to Volkswagen, one of the richest, largest companies in the world, to get them to build,
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what, a factory worth $7 billion in Ontario? Yeah, the math doesn't really add up. Trudeau's never
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been good with math. How many Liberal Party lobbyists do you think got their payoffs for that?
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This is a government that bans natural private sector investment in all the oil sands or mines
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or pipelines, but they tax the productive sector to give a free factory to one of the world's richest
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multinationals? By the way, do you really think these will be new jobs? They're just going to hire
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away talented autoworkers from other companies in the industry. This is inflationary. It's wasteful.
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It's the government picking winners and losers in business. It's extremely unenvironmental,
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by the way. If you think car batteries are environmental, I encourage you to Google
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rare earth minerals like lithium and just see how they're mined and by whom and in what conditions.
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And Google what happens to those batteries when the car is done. Yeah, non-environmental.
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This is the government that shut down tens of billions in natural investment and pipelines and
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literally turned away the leaders of Germany and Japan when they came to us begging to buy
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our clean natural gas. Trudeau said there was just no business case for it.
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We are in a situation in the short term where we will do what we can to contribute to the global
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supply of energy by increasing our capacities in the short term and explore ways to see if it makes
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sense to export LNG and if there's a business case for it to export LNG directly to Europe. And that's
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something that economic conversations are going on between businesses in Canada and in Germany.
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Then those countries signed huge deals, including with America and with the dictatorship of Qatar.
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There literally is no possible business case for spending $13 billion to getting a $7 billion plan.
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So Trudeau loved it, obviously. I wonder how deep Gerald Butts and the rest of the lobbyists are into
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this one. So yeah, corruption is normal for these folks. And I mentioned that because I note that a
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year after Trudeau became prime minister, his communications director, Katie Purchase, her husband,
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Parade Sergis, opened up a lobbying firm to lobby Trudeau. Let me say that again. I mean,
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it's not shocking at all, the husband of Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff, is part of a firm
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that bills $84 million to Trudeau to manage rent assistance. So it's not really rent assistance,
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it's Liberal Party insider assistance. This is what they're all doing. Anyway, the company set up by
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the husband of Trudeau's communications director is called Spark Advocacy. And they published a poll the
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other day. It's a liberal shop, a Trudeau influence machine. So I'd normally take what they say with a
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huge grain of salt. It's going to be pro-Trudeau propaganda. So when it's critical of Trudeau,
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or at least embarrassing to him, when they report something dangerous to him, when they warn him of
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something, I take it seriously because you know they don't say that normally or lightly. So look
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at this. I spotted this yesterday. CBC support is softer than you might think. It's not quite 100
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years old and it's not a sure thing it will make it to 100. That's their headline. And there's a story,
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as you can see, written by Bruce Anderson, another Liberal Party insider who is the dad of that same
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Kate Purchase, Trudeau's first communications director. So it's all in the family over here.
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Let me read. Shut it down? As conservative leader Pierre Poiliev ratchets up his campaign to defund the
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CBC, many observers are tempted to believe that he is alienating a huge swath of Canadians.
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Not necessarily. I'm thinking of Chantal Ibert, the Toronto Star. Oh, she's also with the Trudeau
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Foundation, by the way. But she doesn't mention that most of the time. It's a little secret she
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doesn't bother telling her readers about. She wrote this the other day. It's an article in the
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Toronto Star. Pierre Poiliev is in trouble in Quebec and he is himself to blame. And if you click the link,
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here's a bit of the story. Pierre Poiliev is in trouble in Quebec and he has himself to blame.
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Francois Legault is already playing nice with Justin Trudeau and attacks on the CBC aren't
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helping, Chantal Ibert writes. And if you look at the story, I'll read a line from it. Until now,
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Poiliev's English-only vendetta against the CBC has largely gone unnoticed in the province.
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That ended with the conservative leader's latest vocal efforts to depict the CBC as a propaganda tool
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of the liberal government. In Quebec, Poiliev's high-profile crusade raised a host of fresh
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questions as to how a conservative government would treat Radio Canada. That's the Quebec
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meaning of the CBC. Funny enough, Chantal Ibert does not disclose that she also works for the CBC.
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Bit of a pattern here. Defends Trudeau, defends the CBC while she has taken cash from each of them.
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Sounds about right for a Quebec liberal, but is it true? Is attacking the CBC really as dangerous
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to the conservatives, as the Toronto Star and the CBC say. I mean, it's usually crazy to take
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political advice from your opponent, but is it true? Well, let's ask the consummate Liberal Party
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family, Kate and Perry and Bruce over there at Spark Advocacy. Our Spark Insights research reveals
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that across the country, 45% are drawn to the argument, shut the CBC down and save tax dollars,
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and only a bare majority of 55 choose, I value the CBC and want it maintained, given these two
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alternatives, sample size 1,200 nationwide. And the polling was done by Abacus Data.
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That's crazy, 45-55? Even with the CBC and the rest of the media in full war mode,
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the Toronto Star helping, Trudeau personally helping, almost half the people are ready to flush the CBC.
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I'll read more. This is a liberal firm, I repeat.
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To be sure, conservative voters, 66%, lead the way in enthusiasm for shutting down the corporation,
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but just over one in three, 36% of liberal voters feel this way, and a third of NDP voters do too.
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A striking number in the mix has to do with younger people. Majority of those under 30,
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55%, would close the CBC down. And while Albertans, 57%, lead all regions in desire to end the CBC,
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see, Quebec residents are not that far behind, 47%. Yeah, young people just don't trust the CBC.
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55% of people under 29 want to defund it. Of course they do. They're watching Netflix or Amazon
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Prime or Crave or HBO or Disney Plus or a sports network or whatever. No one wants to watch the CBC,
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let alone be forced to pay for it. I'm surprised that so many seniors like the CBC. Normally seniors are
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more conservative, but I guess they're just in a rut. They're in a habit of watching in a routine. You watch
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something for 40 years, you know, before the era of 100 channels and a million websites, you get used to it.
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It's comfy. Even if you don't like it, it's like an old pair of, you know, slippers. Obviously, conservative
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party and PPC party members hate it, but even a third of the NDP. And if 36% of liberals disagree
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with Trudeau and want to sell it, he's in trouble. Obviously, I'll burden the prairies.
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But almost 50-50 in Ontario and Quebec. But my favorite question is the one reason for this.
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Defund or not to defund, that's a good question. But look at this. Is CBC news propaganda?
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While most people don't think CBC news is propaganda, a striking 40% believe the opposite.
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Once again, young people are far more likely than older people to feel this way.
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Again, young people are the most skeptical. 55% say the CBC is propaganda. It goes down by age. Again,
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you'd think older people would be savvier or more skeptical. And look at the provincial stats. The
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prairies despise the CBC, but they're only returning the favor on issues that matter to the prairies,
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from the oil sands, to mining, to pipelines, to agriculture, to the carbon tax, to firearms,
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to provincial rights, to opposition to forced trench bilingualism. The CBC is a propaganda agency.
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It's not even really a question or a matter of opinion. It's just true. Here's what liberal Bruce
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Anderson had to say. What to make of it? Times have changed in the media landscape and there's far
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less attachment to the CBC than once was the case. Presumably, this has to do a lot with the explosion
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of options for news and entertainment in the digital age, which is reflective in the massive age
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differences. But there is also possibly a lack of anticipation or consideration of what would be
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lost if the CBC was no more. If people think it's not that necessary, then cutting government spending
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in this area seems like an easy choice. Yeah, guys, you don't know what you're missing. You don't know what
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you'll lose. Sure. Yeah. There's tons of 18 and 20 year olds who just can't get enough of this hour
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is 22 minutes and the politically correct comedy. Yeah, they don't know what they're missing.
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Here's more. These numbers don't exactly say that conservative leader Polyev has a winning strategy,
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but they should put to rest the notion that he's speaking to a tiny sentiment of the
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most rabid parts of the right wing. Hey, by the way, have you ever heard someone in the
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establishment say the words rabid left wing, by the way? But Bruce and the liberal lobbyists are
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obviously worried. So the liberal lobbyists say the CBC should do some lobbying. I presume they
00:11:01.020
should hire their firm. Let me read. The CBC, regardless of how the near term of this debate
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plays out, clearly has a fight on its hands to reconstruct a strong attachment with Canadians and
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to bolster credibility, something that will be made more difficult, the more politically contentious
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the topic becomes in national politics. Hey, speaking of which, you know, the president of
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the CBC, Catherine Tate, you know, she's an American who's based in New York, right? And she commuted
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to Toronto back and forth to New York every week in America. And she refused to move up to take the job
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permanently. She's the one who had to fly every week during COVID because she was so essential. You
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couldn't leave your house, but she had to fly. You did that, Catherine Tate? Did you know,
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this is a great story I saw the other day, that not only is she an American, but she literally
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donated money to Hillary Clinton's campaign. An American living in America, donating to Hillary
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Clinton. That's who's running Trudeau's CBC state broadcaster. Gee, I wonder why she's just not
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clicking with 45% of Canadians or any young people. Stay with us for more. A big conversation about
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Well, I enjoy working with Rebel News and every once in a while, we do a video that goes super
00:12:24.780
viral. I think back a couple of months ago when we were in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic
00:12:29.420
Forum. And the video that Avi Amini and I took when we encountered the president of Pfizer just on the
00:12:36.700
street, Albert Boerlin. We scrummed him. We had a walking scrum for three minutes. That was seen
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on Twitter alone. The video was watched 20 million times. And there's a thrilling feeling
00:12:47.820
because anywhere you go in the world for a few days, and actually for months thereafter,
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people refer to that. It's very exciting. And the only place where you could dial that up and be sure
00:12:57.660
for it to happen was, at least in my life, whenever I was invited to appear on Tucker Carlson's
00:13:03.580
show on Fox News. It was live, which was very exciting. It made you on your adrenalized,
00:13:09.020
best foot forward. Typically, his guest segments were very brief. They were five minutes or less.
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But as soon as I stepped out of the satellite TV booth in Toronto, my phone would blow up.
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People all over America and indeed the world were watching. People sometimes who I hadn't spoken to in
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years said, I saw you on Tucker. The reach of that show was staggering. What we could only hope to
00:13:35.740
achieve once a year with the odd viral video like in Davos, you could dial up every single night. An
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enormously powerful show. And I would have to imagine that despite the attempts to blacklist it and
00:13:48.060
blackball it for advertising, I can only imagine it was an enormously profitable show too. When you have
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up to five million people tuning in, by far the largest show on cable news in America, you're
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making money. Of course, he was a major driver behind Fox News' subscription program called
00:14:06.540
Fox Nation. But shocking news today, Tucker Carlson is out. His last show was on Friday and there's a
00:14:16.300
there's a little rebel news angle to it as well. As you may have seen in his two-minute trailer the other
00:14:21.820
week, Tucker was working on a documentary about Canada that heavily featured rebel news. Just for
00:14:29.020
your enjoyment and to sense what I don't think you will ever actually see, what we will ever actually
00:14:34.300
see, here is that trailer that Tucker Carlson was going to release in full one week from today. Take a look and lament.
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Welcome back from the Fox studio lot in Los Angeles. We're happy to be here for more than a hundred
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years. The United States has as a matter of official policy opposed dictatorships around the world.
00:14:58.540
But what if tyranny arrived right next door? What would that look like? And what would our government
00:15:04.220
do in response? Would we liberate the people living under authoritarian rule as we have around the
00:15:09.340
world? That is the topic of our upcoming Tucker Carlson originals documentary, O Canada. Here's a
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first look at what we found. The cost of freedom is always high,
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but Americans have always paid it. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in
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other countries. The United States of America is different. Fortunately for the oppressed,
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O mankind. We like to say people kind. Exactly. All right.
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The police then then moved in and arrested me. Bye daddy.
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No place in arrest right now. I was arrested and cuffed and put in jail.
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The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing. We care about saving innocent lives.
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The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.
00:16:28.700
Well, Tucker Carlson is out. A report in the LA Times suggests that Rupert Murdoch, the big boss
00:16:34.700
himself, was the one who made the call. I don't doubt that for a second. You don't fire your most
00:16:39.660
successful TV asset without the boss making the decision. People say it may have been related to
00:16:45.340
his coverage of the deep state, including the role of Ray Epps, the accused FBI informant in
00:16:51.420
getting Republicans to storm the Capitol buildings and what my friend Gavin McInnes calls the great
00:16:56.780
meandering. Others say it may have something to do with the settlement paid by Fox News to Dominion
00:17:02.620
voting systems. I don't think Tucker Carlson was particularly deeply involved in that. But whatever
00:17:07.100
it is, it is a seismic event when the most compelling figure on the right of center in the highest profile
00:17:14.780
TV show in America is suddenly defenestrated, thrown out the window. Joining us now via Skype to
00:17:22.300
talk about it is one of our friends who is not quite the biggest, but one of the brightest voices in
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American broadcasting, our friend Ben Weingarten, who joins us now via Skype. He's a columnist with
00:17:32.700
Newsweek and Epoch Times. And like me, I'm sure he was in awe of the power and the reach of Tucker
00:17:40.780
Carlson. Ben, am I right? Was Tucker, perhaps other than Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, perhaps the most
00:17:48.060
consequential figure in American conservative movement? I think you're absolutely right. And as a
00:17:55.340
testament to it, the long knives were out for Tucker for years on the left with attempts to blacklist
00:18:02.700
him, Chuck Schumer calling for him to be taken off of TV, a whole litany of people who wanted Tucker
00:18:11.020
gone precisely because he actually put forth compelling counter narratives that resonated with
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millions and millions of Americans and gave voice to their hopes, fears, ambitions, and also covered
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the contrarian stories or saw the angles to stories that others would not and interrogated them
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forthrightly and with passion and conviction. And I think that's why he garnered such a massive
00:18:42.300
audience. And it's a huge loss, I think, for Fox. It's a huge loss for the country and arguably the
00:18:49.180
world. Although by the same token, I expect that whatever Tucker does next will be exceptional and
00:18:56.380
impactful. And I should add on a personal note, you know, you noted Tucker's how powerful he was when
00:19:03.180
you would go on his show and expose to Americans what was going on in Canada and the increasingly
00:19:09.900
draconian and illiberal policies being imposed there, which presaged a lot of what we've seen
00:19:16.300
happen in America. But on a personal level, you know, I've corresponded with Tucker numerous times,
00:19:22.060
very humble, very down to earth, always willing to be supportive and helpful. And so on a personal
00:19:28.380
level, I feel a loss for him and again, for the country. And what you saw on television was who he was
00:19:35.980
and is. And I only expect great things to come. Yeah, I think you're right. I've never met him in
00:19:41.980
person. But the Democracy Fund, which is the civil liberties charity in Canada founded to fight the
00:19:47.180
lockdowns, he attended via zoom on a giant screen, a one hour civil liberties town hall in Toronto.
00:19:55.900
It was broadcast around Canada, of course, for an hour to talk about civil liberties in Canada.
00:20:03.260
And I think he truly cares. I mean, most Americans forget about Canada because it's that boring,
00:20:08.860
cold place where nothing much ever happens. But Tucker keeps an eye on Canada. And he really often
00:20:14.700
he would cover stories that the Canadian regime media themselves wouldn't cover. And I that's why
00:20:21.420
I'm very sad that his Canada documentary may never air. You know, I checked the stock market.
00:20:27.980
And Fox News is a publicly traded company. And I'm not sure where it is right now. But at the exact
00:20:32.620
moment I checked, the stock was down 4% in the one hour after that announcement, which is about $650
00:20:41.420
million US or about a billion Canadian dollars. Imagine a billion dollar value. That's an incredible
00:20:51.260
amount. And as you say, whatever Tucker Carlson does next, I understand his executive producer
00:20:56.060
was sacked at the same time. That duo, they could go anywhere. They could join an existing rival network
00:21:06.140
like Glenn Beck today said, please come join us. Daily Wire would do the same. He could start his own
00:21:12.540
thing. He could go to Rumble. And and wherever he goes, I think he'll meet. It's it's sort of on a much
00:21:19.820
larger scale when Project Veritas lost James O'Keefe. He was so integral to that brand that when he popped
00:21:27.100
up with his O'Keefe media group, a lot of people just follow. They said, I'm here for James O'Keefe.
00:21:31.660
And I think that Fox News has has a lot of quality people in it. Besides Tucker, it wasn't just a
00:21:37.020
one man show. But where Tucker goes, millions will follow. And who knows? Maybe he'll start his own thing.
00:21:44.460
I'm actually sort of excited to see where he goes next, even though I'm very sad he's left boss.
00:21:50.460
Yeah, to some extent, you know, stepping back and looking at the trajectory of media and a world
00:21:56.220
where Substack has empowered so many truly legitimately independent journalists, where,
00:22:02.140
as you noted, platforms like Rumble have sprouted up and the regime hasn't been able to crush them yet.
00:22:07.740
But maybe the more intriguing question than why and how did this go down as it did is what happens
00:22:15.580
next for Tucker? What's his next act? And what is that presage in terms of the state of
00:22:22.860
non legacy corporate progressive globalist media? So I think it's very intriguing and I'm sure he'll view
00:22:30.620
this as a huge opportunity and to some extent liberating as it is for anyone who leaves a major
00:22:37.820
corporation to either strike out on their own or pursue other opportunities as well. So it'll be
00:22:43.660
fascinating to see what this means for the marketplace of media itself, what it means for Tucker and then
00:22:49.420
what it means for, you know, the dissident voices in the West who he's helped elevate to to such great
00:22:56.140
heights. You know, I was just watching a clip of his yesterday on the Ukraine war. And that war
00:23:05.500
is so establishment, both Republicans and Democrats. I mean, talk about your deep deep state. There's a
00:23:11.820
lot of shenanigans there. And it is very difficult to question that war, let alone oppose it. And the
00:23:19.100
things he would say and the bluntness with which he said it, I just yesterday is watching him talk about
00:23:24.140
it. And I marveled at that. Wow. Fox lets him have his say. And, you know, he has other contrarian
00:23:33.100
dissident voices that you wouldn't even say are on the right, like Tulsi Gabbard or Glenn Greenwald.
00:23:37.980
Or, you know, there are some people he has on his show who I think you would even call leftists,
00:23:43.820
but they're principled leftists and they're they're often contrarian. They're non-compliant.
00:23:49.100
And he spoke so bluntly. I just wonder what it was in the end that did him in. I don't believe
00:23:58.220
it was the Dominion voting system thing. I think it was the fact that every single thing he said was
00:24:05.020
contrary to the dominant narrative. And I don't care how big you are at Fox and I don't care how big
00:24:11.020
Fox is in the world. The deep state is bigger. And I'm frankly, in retrospect, surprised he lasted so
00:24:18.700
long. He lasted so long. Yeah. And, you know, I think there's an interview or I think I saw some
00:24:25.980
reporting talking about how one day he will follow as well. He was talking to someone whose head had
00:24:31.100
rolled over wrong thing. And he essentially said that it'll happen to me, too. And as you know,
00:24:37.020
there's so many different issues where he took a contrarian line, which just flew in the face of
00:24:42.380
what elite kind of conformist conventional wisdom was. You ticked off some names. I'd add RFK Jr. to
00:24:49.980
that list who we had on recently after he announced his presidential run. These are people you're not
00:24:55.660
allowed to have on in good company. And he was willing to slay sacred cows, whether it was the
00:25:03.260
Russo-Ukrainian war, whether it was January 6th and the myriad narratives around January 6th,
00:25:09.100
whether it was the Chinese coronavirus and the vaccines, we can go on and on. He'd talked about
00:25:13.660
the things you're not allowed to or not supposed to talk about. And I think that's why he garnered
00:25:17.580
such a massive audience and it resonated with those who had no voice in so many other media.
00:25:23.900
So that was why he was so successful, because he struck a chord because he said things that people
00:25:28.220
felt in their heart, but couldn't articulate or didn't have voice for and to. And that was why
00:25:33.980
he was such a powerful force and I think will remain a powerful force. It's also worth noting,
00:25:39.180
you know, Dan Bongino recently also said that it was an amicable thing, couldn't agree to terms with
00:25:45.020
Fox. But it's interesting to see what's shaking out in the marketplace. And the poetic aspect of this,
00:25:50.540
if there isn't anything to laugh about, is that Don Lemon also fell today at CNN, obviously a favorite,
00:25:58.780
you know, personality that Tucker focused on as well. It's sad today, but that is, I guess,
00:26:06.060
you know, kind of an interesting toad. It seems like there's a big shakeup that's going on across
00:26:10.700
the corporate media world today. Yeah. Don Lemon, just for our viewers who've never heard of him,
00:26:16.140
and in fact, many Americans have never heard of him. He just, you know, both were TV personalities.
00:26:23.260
One had 10 times the viewership of the other and was likely fired for ideological reasons.
00:26:27.660
Here's a clip of Don Lemon making a strange statement about women in their prime. I think
00:26:33.500
this was the beginning of the end for Don Lemon. I don't really understand this comment and I think
00:26:40.060
he'll be replaying it over and over in his mind for the rest of his life. Take a look at Don Lemon
00:26:44.940
talking about when women are in their prime. Nikki Haley is in her prime. Sorry. When a woman is
00:26:50.460
considered to be in her prime in her twenties and thirties and maybe forties. That's not, wait,
00:26:54.860
that's not according to me. Prime for what? It depends. I mean, it's just like prime. If you look
00:26:59.420
it up, it'll say, if you look, if you Google, when is a woman in her prime, it'll say twenties,
00:27:03.660
thirties and forties. I don't necessarily agree with that. So I think she has to be careful
00:27:09.580
about saying that we, you know, politicians aren't in their prime. I think they need to qualify. Are
00:27:13.100
you talking about prime for like child appearing or are you talking about prime for being president?
00:27:18.300
The facts are Google at everybody at home. When is a woman in her prime? It says twenties,
00:27:22.620
thirties and forties. And I'm just saying Nikki Haley should be careful about saying that politicians
00:27:26.860
are not in their prime and they need to be in their prime when they serve because she wouldn't be in
00:27:30.780
her prime according to Google or whatever it is. Yeah. That's a, that was an unusual way to end it,
00:27:37.180
but I don't think that, I think that was just the last straw. And I think that Don Lemon just
00:27:43.020
didn't have the army. That's the thing about Tucker Carlson is like flavorful media, like rebel news.
00:27:50.220
People love Tucker. I mean, there's no one would say, I love Don Lemon. I'd follow that man to hell
00:27:56.220
and back. I would do anything for Don. I must watch Don Lemon. No one talks like that. No one says that in
00:28:02.140
Canada about CTV or global news, no one believes in Don Lemon as a leader, a thought leader and
00:28:09.740
anything leader, but people felt that way about Tucker and even people around the world. I'm a
00:28:13.500
Canadian and many of the issues are only collateral to my Canadian-ness, but I found him, like you say,
00:28:19.740
very articulate. And what always I found remarkable, like I said, his show is done live and obviously he
00:28:26.220
has a team and there's preparation and there's a script, but it always blew me away how quickly
00:28:30.940
he could move, how quickly he could digest complicated issues and express them every night
00:28:36.620
of the week live. I, that is a very difficult thing to do. My show is live to tape. So if there's a big
00:28:43.580
screw up, we can fix it. If something goes wrong, he just went nothing but net. Now you just, it was
00:28:49.420
incredible. There's a real talent there. The guy's been in broadcasting for decades. You might remember
00:28:53.980
in the early days in Crossfire, which was the two by two debate show on CNN, which I really thought
00:28:58.620
was good. They wouldn't do Crossfire anymore, by the way, because that, that suggests that you can
00:29:03.340
have a contrarian viewpoints, but on everything from global warming to Ukraine more, you're not
00:29:09.260
allowed to. So the whole concept of Crossfire is impossible today. You know what? I, I'm going to take
00:29:16.220
your approach, Ben, and I'm going to be hopeful about what comes next. I'm wobbled and rocked a little
00:29:22.460
bit because I always thought Fox news was the big, strong castle, the fortress that would never fall
00:29:28.860
to the bad guys. But I feel like, um, the night of the castle was just ejected from there and it,
00:29:34.780
and I'm, I'm a little nervous. Well, I hope it's not the case. I think it's a huge loss. However,
00:29:40.700
you look at it clearly Fox believes that the benefits outweighed the costs of Tucker. There are
00:29:48.140
people there with a lot more experience who get paid a lot more to think through those questions.
00:29:52.700
But all I can say is it's sad for Americans and for the world that he will not continue to have
00:29:59.100
that platform. But I have no question that he will continue to speak boldly and courageously.
00:30:05.100
And he spoke pretty darn freely on Fox. I suspect he'll be even more liberated without a corporate
00:30:10.780
structure over him, potentially, depending upon where he goes next. And I think it's,
00:30:14.780
it's important to stick the silver lining in a fairly dark taste for the West generally.
00:30:19.420
Yeah. You know, um, there's a saying that graveyards are full of, uh, of indispensable
00:30:25.100
men. It's a way of saying that no one is irreplaceable. I mean, there are some people
00:30:29.740
that are one in a million or one in a billion. I think of Elon Musk and I'm scared by the risks
00:30:33.980
he takes. I mean, he, uh, has said contrary things to the narratives, even more blunter and more in
00:30:40.620
the form of a troll than Tucker Carlson in, in quick tweets. Elon Musk has said shocking things
00:30:46.860
about everything from transgenderism to frankly, the war in Ukraine. And I worry for him, even though
00:30:52.220
he's the richest man in the world and one of the smartest men, everyone is vulnerable in their own
00:30:57.020
way. And, um, it's, who knows? I mean, in one theoretical future, Tucker Carlson could work
00:31:04.300
on Twitter. I mean, uh, Elon Musk has talked about long form video on Twitter, making Twitter the
00:31:10.220
everything app like, uh, like WeChat is in, in China. Um, I mean, I don't think that would happen.
00:31:16.700
I don't think Tucker Carlson would want to do that, but that is an incredible possibility.
00:31:22.940
You know, a couple of months ago, there was a bit of a foo for all between, um, Stephen Crowder,
00:31:27.660
who's a commentator and comedian on the right, who, who was with blaze media and YouTube. And then,
00:31:32.700
uh, and he had a contract negotiation with daily wire and it fell apart and it was a little bit
00:31:37.260
acrimonious, but the, the startling thing from that whole engagement, Ben, I don't know if you
00:31:41.100
were following it, is that the daily wire offer to Stephen Crowder, it had lots of asterisks and,
00:31:47.260
and, you know, uh, caveats in it, but it was a $50 million offer, five, zero million.
00:31:55.420
And there's no doubt. I mean, Stephen Crowder would be the first today that Tucker is even much bigger
00:32:00.540
than that. I think that if Tucker does this right, he could be even bigger than he was on Fox and he
00:32:09.660
could do all sorts of things where he owns the content, owns the data, owns the list and builds
00:32:16.300
up a machine. He is such a tent pole, as they say, that he could create a whole new vehicle, let alone
00:32:24.540
if he joined something incredible that it was already existing like daily wire or blaze media.
00:32:29.100
I'm trying to be positive because I think he's the sky's the limit for him. I really do think that.
00:32:34.380
And he's probably safe enough. He's probably saved enough money that he's not, he's not in any rush.
00:32:39.980
He probably got a big severance under the terms of his contract. I'm sure they paid him out.
00:32:45.420
You know, he, he may have had a eight figure payout for all we know. So I think he's a, he's a man.
00:32:52.220
He's, I think he's only in his mid fifties. I think he can do whatever he wants. Maybe this is,
00:32:58.620
you know, one door closes, another door opens kind of moment. I'm just brainstorming in real
00:33:03.420
time here, Ben, because this is, this only came out a few hours ago and I'm still sort of
00:33:09.340
Yeah. Look, I think he was at the height of his powers. There have been plenty of prominent
00:33:14.780
personalities to leave major networks in the past and few have been able to then actually go build
00:33:21.260
a small or large empire on their own. Several have tried. Tucker will have the benefit of other
00:33:27.900
entrepreneurs who have taken that risk before. There's also more technology that allows one to
00:33:34.620
be able to potentially go out on their own. Like you said, he has an impassioned fan base,
00:33:40.140
people who would go to that monologue every single night. He's an exceptional writer speaker. He's
00:33:46.140
obviously incredibly hardworking. And I think if anyone was going to be able to achieve that
00:33:51.180
potentially on their own, it's Tucker and have a direct relationship with their viewers and interview
00:33:57.260
interesting people and do what he was doing at Fox nation and elsewhere as well.
00:34:01.260
So, you know, I think if there was ever a time and a person to put it all together and be able to
00:34:05.580
succeed, he might be the one and it's going to be fascinating to watch. And wouldn't it be the
00:34:10.540
quintessential kind of American story of, you know, the rises and falls in the careers of exceptional
00:34:18.460
folks in the public discourse space in the media and beyond, as you noted, one door closes, but
00:34:24.140
perhaps that leads to an even greater triumph after the fact. And again, either way, what I think is most
00:34:29.900
imperative is that Tucker's voice needs to be out there. It needs to be amplified. And he puts
00:34:35.580
forth the perspective that that's interesting. It's unique. It's compelling. It's provocative.
00:34:39.740
It's funny as well. And that's why he was as successful as he was and as successful as he will
00:34:44.780
be going forward. I believe. Well, you remind me that he's fallen and risen before. He did great on
00:34:51.580
crossfire until they sacked him as a result of an attack on him. At least that's what it looked to
00:34:58.220
be by Jon Stewart, the liberal comedian. Well, he came back and he helped found the Daily Caller,
00:35:03.900
which is a fairly serious and significant website. And then, of course, his show on Fox. So here's a
00:35:09.420
guy. In a way, he's a serial startup guy. I mean, I think he's more talent than business. But there's a guy
00:35:17.820
who's been knocked down and gets back up, knocked down and gets back up. And this is a kind of a knockdown,
00:35:23.980
obviously. But I think there's exciting things afoot for him. And I can only imagine the offers being sent to
00:35:32.220
not just by Glenn Beck and Daily Wire, but it wouldn't surprise me of OAN and and other groups
00:35:39.420
like that. It wouldn't surprise me if Spotify is making a hell of a deal, a hell of an offer right
00:35:43.740
now. And it wouldn't surprise me if he's thinking, well, maybe I'll start my own thing. Very, very
00:35:49.820
interesting. And I appreciate you talking to us about it. I care about Tucker Carlson because I felt like
00:35:56.140
he actually cared about Canada. And that's a weird thing for Americans to care about. Most Americans just
00:36:00.860
simply. They don't hate Canada. Of course not. They just they're not moved by Canada. They find
00:36:05.500
Canada boring. And for the longest time, we liked that, I think. I close as I ended, which is,
00:36:12.700
I'm a little bit sad that we will likely never see that documentary on Canada that really starred
00:36:20.540
Rebel News personalities. I was interviewed. David Menzies was interviewed. Alexa Lavoie was interviewed.
00:36:25.580
I think it was going to be really the story of Rebel News. And I and I don't know if we'll ever see
00:36:30.220
that. It certainly won't air on Fox Nation. They sort of they're sort of erasing the past,
00:36:35.500
I think, with him. Ben, it's great to catch up with you. I meant to talk to you about your latest
00:36:41.100
essay in the Epoch Times. We'll just put it on the screen for a minute. With dissent now criminalized,
00:36:47.100
free speech faces a big chill. And of course, that's a comment about some extremely partisan prosecutions
00:36:54.300
by the Biden presidency. By the way, Tucker Carlson was heavy on this story. We don't have time to
00:36:59.740
talk about it today, Ben. But I feel like we talked about the important news in the conservative
00:37:04.220
movement. And and for us as conservative media in Canada, who had a connection with Tucker,
00:37:08.620
I think it was the right thing to do. Really glad to see you. And like me, I'm sure you'll be waiting
00:37:14.780
to see what Tucker does next. Won't that be amazing? Thanks again for your time.
00:37:19.420
Thanks for having me. I wish things were still boring, but we have the blessing and curse of living in
00:37:23.260
interesting times. That's what that's exactly what they say. There you have it, Ben Weingarten.
00:37:27.820
You can see his work at newsweek.com and at the Epoch Times, some of our
00:37:33.020
favorite people over there. Stay with us more ahead.
00:37:46.780
Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me. Chris says,
00:37:50.300
Hi, Ezra. If I were a big tech CEO, I would make sure no links to Canadian content would be allowed.
00:37:54.860
After all, I'm in the business of making money and not in handing it out. C11 can only work if
00:37:59.980
there is financial gain for big tech. C11 and C18 are opposing forces from a financial perspective.
00:38:06.140
As a CEO, I'm first beholden to my investors. Canada will go dark on the internet. I don't think
00:38:13.420
I quite understand everything you're saying there. But the whole idea of the internet is that you click
00:38:18.860
from link to link to link to link, and that's the fun of it, and that's why it works. That's the
00:38:22.620
network effect, as they say. And people share, and it's the most democratic grassroots idea that's
00:38:30.780
ever been promulgated. That's what's so amazing about it. The idea that you have to pay for the
00:38:37.020
pleasure of linking to someone is anathema to the entire concept. I don't think it's gonna work.
00:38:42.460
That's what C18 would require big tech to do for the mere pleasure of having someone show up in a
00:38:51.100
Google search. Showing up in a Google search is a good thing. That's why Google makes their money by
00:38:57.020
selling those searches. It's crazy that Google would have to pay someone to link to them. It feels
00:39:03.020
like the law was written by someone who's never used the internet before. Jack says,
00:39:08.780
now that Tucker Carlson is no longer with Fox, where do we go from here to get our rebel message
00:39:13.980
out to Americans and Canadians besides the web? You know what? I had a good discussion about this
00:39:18.620
a moment ago, as you know, with Ben Weingarten. I don't know the answer. Tucker really loved Canada.
00:39:23.500
I love talking about Canada, and I'm just so frustrated that our documentary with him
00:39:28.940
is not coming out. At least I don't think it's coming out. I'd be surprised if it does.
00:39:33.020
He cares more about Canada than most American media and certainly most of any size.
00:39:40.860
I like the fact that he cared about Canada because there's something quirky about the
00:39:43.900
Canadian establishment. They often don't care if there's a problem raised domestically. But when
00:39:51.340
foreigners take notice of it, oh, they noticed us. That's certainly how it was with the truckers.
00:39:55.580
And you remember during the Trucker Commission inquiry, evidence was brought forward that Trudeau was
00:39:59.740
embarrassed overseas, and that's what made him want to crack down on the truckers. He was embarrassed
00:40:05.100
in the face of other world leaders. That's our show for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of
00:40:11.020
us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.