Trump's triumphant speech at Davos shows the world how to act like a leader
Episode Stats
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Summary
Trump's speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is actually a great one, which is why the media won't show it anywhere. Trudeau's speech is hollow, vain, narcissistic, and full of empty platitudes.
Transcript
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Hey there, today I've got a podcast I think you're going to like, mainly because I don't
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I want to show you his speech that he gave at the Davos World Economic Forum the other
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day, and I bet you have not heard this speech anywhere because why on earth would the media
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I mean, it's actually a great speech, which is why they don't want to show it to you.
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I give you my thoughts in between various segments.
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I'd encourage you to become a premium subscriber.
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Just go to premium.rebelnews.com, and it's basically this podcast with me and visual
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elements, clips, audio charts, stuff like that, and of course I interview a guest every day
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You also get Sheila Gunn-Reed's show and David Menzies' show, so I think it's well worth the
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Tonight, Donald Trump goes to Davos and does his job talking about America's economy,
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It's January 23rd, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody
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Every January, the world's business elites gather in the town of Davos, Switzerland, for a giant
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jamboree of wealth and power called the World Economic Forum.
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Billionaires go there, corporate tycoons, but also politicians and other grifters, schemers,
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They smell the wealth and the power and want to get in on it.
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Just months after Trudeau was elected in late 2015, he went to Davos.
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Here's a picture of that meeting with George Soros there.
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Look at how Trudeau was sitting and how Soros was sitting.
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They assigned Aaron Wherry to do stories about Justin Trudeau's socks.
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Imagine going to journalism school, getting hired by a media company and being assigned
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That's North Korea-style state broadcaster cult behavior.
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I don't know if there's a connection between Jeffrey Epstein and Davos, but it's that kind
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Kevin Spacey, the accused molester, loves to go to Davos.
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He was with Trudeau and Aaron Wherry at a party, and Aaron Wherry was so excited to
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Prince Andrew, who was fired by the Queen for his activities with Epstein, he used to
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He's a head of government, but there's no there there.
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Normally, it's the empty celebrities like Kevin Spacey who have to impress with things like
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The heads of government, the heads of business, actually go to talk government and business.
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But you need to take as much effort to talk to your sons, my eight-year-old boy and my
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two-year-old, so little young still, about how he treats women and how he is going to
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Imagine having the world's investors in a room and talking about what a feminist you
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This from the groper, the fireer of Jody Wilson-Raybould and any other woman who got in his way.
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It's not really Donald Trump's kind of place, I don't think.
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Before Donald Trump ran for president, he was a celebrity, too.
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They'd all have loved him before, but they all hate him now.
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But still, he went this week and he gave a speech.
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And it was completely opposite the hollow, vain, narcissistic, woke emptiness of Trudeau's
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I want to play some clips of Trump's speech for you because I am completely certain the
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CBC did not show you any of this, and you'll see why.
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When I spoke at this forum two years ago, I told you that we had launched the great American
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Today, I'm proud to declare that the United States is in the midst of an economic boom,
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the likes of which the world has never seen before.
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We've regained our stride, rediscovered our spirit, and reawakened the powerful machinery
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And yes, America is winning again like never before.
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Now, it's a room full of arrogant, vain narcissists, true.
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But in some cases, I guess they have good reason to be arrogant and vain.
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I mean, if you're a billionaire, if you're a head of state, if you're royalty, if you're
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a superstar, you have some reason to be proud, even too proud.
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But the thing about Davos is that they all fake being woke and selfless and righteous.
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They all flew there on their private jets, but they're all nodding along piously to St.
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So yeah, they're all rich and powerful and proud, but unlike Trump, they don't dare say
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who they are, either because they're too politically correct, or they lack the courage to be who
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they are, or they support Greta and the other woke ideologies simply because those are great
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ways to increase your power over people through laws or regulations or taxes.
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Don't think Greta isn't being used by various power.
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Just last week alone, the United States concluded two extraordinary trade deals.
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The agreement with China and the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement, the two biggest trade deals
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They just happened to get done in the same week.
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These agreements represent a new model of trade for the 21st century, agreements that
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are fair, reciprocal, and that prioritize the needs of workers and families.
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America's economic turnaround has been nothing short of spectacular.
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Who would have imagined that Apple would be building computer factories in America?
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And though I wish Trump drove a harder bargain on China, he got more from them than anyone
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I think he's the first one to even try by staring them down, by tariffing them, by speaking
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truth to power, and by showing that he isn't scared of them.
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He literally warned China about getting too tough with Hong Kong right in the middle of
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But it also showed China that Trump simply didn't care if they pouted or if they quit the
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He's pushed China's economic growth to its lowest in a generation.
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And it's a good message for Trump to take to the blue-collar Rust Belt states in 2020,
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that unlike the Democrats, Trump actually went to fight China and he won.
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When I took office three years ago, America's economy was in a rather dismal state.
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Under the previous administration, nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs had vanished.
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Almost 5 million more Americans had left the labor force than had gotten jobs, and more
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than 10 million people had been added to the food stamp rolls.
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The experts predicted a decade of very, very slow growth, or maybe even negative growth,
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high unemployment and a dwindling workforce, and very much a shrinking middle class.
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Millions of hardworking, ordinary citizens felt neglected, betrayed, forgotten.
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Before my presidency began, the outlook for many nations was bleak.
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Top economists warned of a protracted worldwide recession.
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The World Bank lowered its projections for global growth to a number that nobody wanted to even think about.
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Pessimism had taken root deep in the minds of leading thinkers, business leaders, and policy makers.
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He goes on like that, but let me stop for a moment.
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I don't know if you remember, but Barack Obama was asked why he doesn't have growth in factories and jobs.
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He just says, well, I'm going to negotiate a better deal.
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Well, how exactly are you going to negotiate that?
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I wish we had someone in Canada who cared about jobs the same way Trump does.
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We would be if we were building $100 billion worth of oil and gas and pipeline projects that Trudeau has killed.
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For the first time in decades, we are no longer simply concentrating wealth in the hands of a few.
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We're concentrating and creating the most inclusive economy ever to exist.
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We are lifting up Americans of every race, color, religion, and creed.
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Unemployment rates among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans have all reached record lows.
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African American youth unemployment has reached the lowest it's ever been in the history of our country.
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African American poverty has plummeted to the lowest rate ever recorded.
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The unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level since 1953, and women now comprise a majority of the American workforce.
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The unemployment rate for veterans has dropped to a record low.
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The unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached an all-time record low.
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Workers without a high school diploma have achieved the lowest unemployment rate recorded in U.S. history.
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Wages are rising across the board, and those at the bottom of the income ladder are enjoying the percentage by far largest gains.
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Workers' wages are now growing faster than management wages.
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Earnings growth for the bottom 10% is outpacing the top 10%, something that has not happened.
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Paychecks for high school graduates are rising faster than for college graduates.
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When was the last time that any politician on the left spoke that way?
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Actually cared about blue-collar workers, outdoor workers, manual laborers, skilled trades, truck drivers.
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You can't if you prefer the environmentalists set to the working class.
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If you're for a carbon tax, you hate coal miners.
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I like that phrase Trump used at the beginning of that clip.
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You know, Jeremy Corbyn's U.K. Labor Party had the slogan,
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For the first time in decades, we are no longer simply concentrating wealth in the hands of a few.
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We're concentrating and creating the most inclusive economy ever to exist.
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We are lifting up Americans of every race, color, religion, and creed.
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Unemployment rates among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans have all reached record lows.
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African American youth unemployment has reached the lowest it's ever been in the history of our country.
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African American poverty has plummeted to the lowest rate ever recorded.
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The unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level since 1953,
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and women now comprise a majority of the American workforce.
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The unemployment rate for veterans has dropped to a record low.
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The unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached an all-time record low.
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Workers without a high school diploma have achieved the lowest unemployment rate recorded in U.S. history.
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and those at the bottom of the income ladder are enjoying the percentage by far largest gains.
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Workers' wages are now growing faster than management wages.
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Earnings growth for the bottom 10% is outpacing the top 10%,
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Paychecks for high school graduates are rising faster than for college graduates.
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They prefer the myth that America is about rapacious capitalists in top hats, the 1%.
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They like historically illiterate leftists better,
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like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for socialism,
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even though capitalism is what's actually lifting up poor people.
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We have created 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs,
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After losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations,
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hard to believe when you hear 60,000 factories,
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America has now gained in a very short period of time 12,000 new factories under my administration,
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and the number is going up rapidly, we'll be beating the 60,000 number that we lost,
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except these will be bigger, newer, and the latest.
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It must be nice to have a country that lets you build things without a gender analysis first.
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Gender impact, how does that fit into a pipeline approval process?
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So I'm really glad you asked that, because I think people are like,
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Well, imagine that you have a huge number of people going to a remote community, many men.
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And actually, once again, smart proponents understand this,
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It's just taking a smart approach to thinking about,
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okay, what's going to be the impact of a major development in a particular area?
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But then he talks about nationalism as opposed to globalism.
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And this is what surely bothered the George Soros set the most.
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A nation's highest duty is to its own citizens.
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Honoring this truth is the only way to build faith and confidence in the market system.
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Only when governments put their own citizens first
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will people be fully invested in their national futures.
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In the United States, we are building an economy that works for everyone,
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restoring the bonds of love and loyalty that unite citizens and powers nations.
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Today, I hold up the American model as an example to the world of a working system,
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a free enterprise that will produce the most benefits for the most people in the 21st century and beyond.
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A pro-worker, pro-citizen, pro-family agenda demonstrates how a nation can thrive
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when its communities, its companies, its government, and its people work together for the good of the whole nation.
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How opposite to Trudeau, who cares for foreign countries more than he cares for entire provinces
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Trudeau loves the UN, certainly more than he loves Alberta.
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Trump is doing one thing Stephen Harper didn't do.
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Harper could have completely remade the judiciary in Canada over his nine years, but he didn't.
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Some of that blame goes to Peter McKay, his former justice minister,
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who's now running for the Tory leader in Canada.
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We are also restoring the constitutional rule of law in America,
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which is essential to our economy, our liberty, and our future.
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And that's why we've appointed over 190 federal judges, a record, to interpret the law as written.
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190 federal judges, think of that, and two Supreme Court judges.
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Hey, could you imagine Trudeau even saying the following words?
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To every business looking for a place where they are free to invest, build, thrive, innovate, and succeed.
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There is no better place on earth than the United States.
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Yeah, no, yeah, Trudeau preferred to talk about his own feminism.
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You've got a room full of billionaires, and you talk about your own feminism.
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Before I was elected, China's predatory practices were undermining trade for everyone.
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But no one did anything about it except allow it to keep getting worse and worse and worse.
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Under my leadership, America confronted the problem head-on.
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Under our new Phase 1 agreement, Phase 2 is starting negotiations very shortly.
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China has agreed to substantially do things that they would not have done,
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measures to protect intellectual property, stop forced technology transfers,
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remove trade barriers, remove trade barriers and agricultural goods and on agricultural goods where
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we were treated so badly, open its financial sector totally, that's done,
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and maintain a stable currency, all backed by very, very strong enforcement.
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Our relationship with China right now has probably never been better.
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We went through a very rough patch, but it's never, ever been better.
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My relationship with President Xi is an extraordinary one.
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He's for China, I'm for the U.S., but other than that, we love each other.
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I think Xi Jinping hates Trump very much, and I think Trump loves beating up on Xi Jinping.
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I mean, he's doing it right here, right now in this speech.
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It's Trump's way of saying he'll fight you, and he'll keep fighting you,
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That's a man who's negotiated a thousand deals, tiny and huge, in his career.
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One of the toughest industries in the world, New York City real estate.
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I mean, if you're not dealing with the unions, you're dealing with the mob,
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you're dealing with government regulators, you're dealing with competitors.
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Imagine how tough it is to do business in Manhattan.
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To protect our security and our economy, we are also boldly embracing American energy independence.
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The United States is now, by far, the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world.
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While many European countries struggle with crippling energy costs,
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the American energy revolution is saving American families $2,500 every year in lowering electric bills and numbers that people said couldn't happen.
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And also, very importantly, prices at the pump.
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We've been so successful that the United States no longer needs to import energy from hostile nations.
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With an abundance of American natural gas now available, our European allies no longer have to be vulnerable to unfriendly energy suppliers either.
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We urge our friends in Europe to use America's vast supply and achieve true energy security.
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With U.S. companies and researchers leading the way, we are on the threshold of virtually unlimited reserves of energy,
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including from traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, next generation nuclear power, and gas hydrate technologies.
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You wouldn't know it, but Canada actually has about five times the oil reserves in the United States.
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We have more oil in Canada than any other country besides Venezuela or Saudi Arabia,
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but we produce a fraction of what America does.
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Instead, we're bringing in carbon taxes, calling for gender analysis of projects,
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and importing oil from Saudi Arabia and from America by rail, if you can believe it.
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And you know, when Trump talks about the environment, and he does, he doesn't talk about made-up problems like a puff of carbon dioxide,
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which is not a real problem. It's not pollution. It's natural.
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Donald Trump talks about, you know, the environment.
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At the same time, I'm proud to report the United States is among the cleanest air and drinking water on Earth,
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And we just came out with a report that, at this moment, it's the cleanest it's been in the last 40 years.
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We're committed to conserving the majesty of God's creation and the natural beauty of our world.
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Today, I'm pleased to announce the United States will join One Trillion Trees Initiative,
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being launched here at the World Economic Forum.
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And in doing so, we will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing,
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We have a trillion trees in our northern forests already.
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We don't actually have to plant any more trees at all, ever, in our future.
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We have more trees than we ever need, ever will need.
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But at least, at least if Trudeau were planting trees, he wouldn't be destroying the country, killing jobs,
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and I suppose we'd have some pretty parks in the cities.
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Instead, we've got a global warming cult leader who believes that oil is actually evil.
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This is the opposite of Trudeau's climate cult.
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This is the opposite of Greta Thunberg shouting at everyone.
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because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action.
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But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom
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They are the heirs of yesterday's foolish fortune-tellers.
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And I have them, and you have them, and we all have them.
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And they want to see us do badly, but we don't let that happen.
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They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s.
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These alarmists always demand the same thing, absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives.
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We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty.
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America will always be the proud, strong, and unyielding bastion of freedom.
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In America, we understand what the pessimists refuse to see.
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That a growing and vibrant market economy, focused on the future, lifts the human spirit,
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and excites creativity, strong enough to overcome any challenge, any challenge by far.
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And he's not mean most of the time in this speech.
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Centuries ago, at the time of the Renaissance, skilled craftsmen and laborers looked upwards
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and built the structures that still touch the human heart.
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To this day, some of the greatest structures in the world have been built hundreds of years
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In Italy, the citizens once started construction on what would be a 140-year project.
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The Duomo of Florence, incredible, incredible place.
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While the technology did not yet exist to complete their design, city fathers forged ahead anyway,
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These citizens of Florence did not accept limits to their high aspirations.
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In France, another century-long project continues to hold such a grip on our hearts and our souls
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that even 800 years after its construction, when the cathedral of Notre-Dame was engulfed in flames
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Such a sad sight to watch, unbelievable sight, especially for those of us that considered
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it one of the great, great monuments and representing so many different things.
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The whole world grieved through her sanctuary, now stands scorched and charred and a sight that's
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When you got used to it, to look at it now, hard to believe.
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But we know that Notre-Dame will be restored, will be restored magnificently.
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The great bells will once again ring out for all to hear, giving glory to God and filling
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All right, I've shown you a lot, but I wanted to because I know no other media in Canada
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and precious few in the U.S. media party would show you.
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Above all else, we will forever be loyal to our workers, our citizens, and our families,
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the men and women who are the backbone of our economies, the heart of our communities,
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Let us bring light to their lives one by one and empower them to light up the world.
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God bless your countries and God bless America.
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Yeah, that's what a world leader sounds like, America's leader, but also the leader of the
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He praises himself, sure, but mainly he praises his country and its workers and builders and
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Well, in nine days, the United Kingdom will formally leave the European Union.
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It was a referendum that passed in 2016, even before Donald Trump was elected.
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But finally, Brexit will happen at 11 p.m. on January 31st.
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Wexit is being discussed seriously in Alberta and Western Canada in reaction to Eastern Canada's
00:28:32.420
And of course, for decades, Quebec has talked about secession.
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Well, is anyone talking about the United States?
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As anyone who compares the politics of, say, Silicon Valley with that of the heartland
00:28:50.140
Well, now, a new book suggests that perhaps there's a time to break up the United States.
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It's a shocking thesis, and it's in a book called American Secession, The Looming Threat
00:29:05.800
The author is a guest who's appeared on our show several times before to great audience
00:29:12.560
I'm talking about Professor Frank Buckley, a professor at George Mason University's Scalia
00:29:20.420
We've talked to him in the past about his book, The Republican Workers' Party, Fascinating
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Thesis, and I'm delighted that he joins us now via Skype.
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American secession, it would not have come to mind.
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I mean, America, by so many measures, is a great success.
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Why do you think American secession is something that needs to be considered?
00:29:44.280
Well, maybe it's because I'm here, Ezra, as a refugee from Quebec.
00:29:48.420
So secession, and I'm originally from Saskatchewan, so secession seems perfectly natural.
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I mean, it's the history of pretty much the whole world.
00:29:58.380
Well, the whole world is pretty much staring down a secession movement, and we've been
00:30:04.960
But on the other hand, we've never been so divided.
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I mean, we were frankly, I think, less divided in 1860 in many ways.
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But we've got the wokiest parts of the country in places like Oregon and California, and then
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you've got some more traditional states, like, well, my own used to be that way, in Virginia.
00:30:28.960
And yet we think we can have one set of laws for the whole darn country, and it's not working
00:30:38.380
And so I think for a lot of reasons, we should expect to see something like a secession movement.
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And the great thing is, this time it'll be politically correct, because we'll see it from
00:30:53.840
I mean, you know, as you're aware, politics in America have become crazy, and I have a
00:31:02.420
Back in 1992, Irving Kristol said the culture wars are over, the left won.
00:31:07.840
Then Donald Trump got elected in 2016, and at that point, it became clear that, you know,
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the left had not quite won the war and may indeed be losing the war.
00:31:18.560
And as that happens, I think the left is going to start wondering, do we really want to be
00:31:23.520
a part of a country when we think half of its members are deplorable?
00:31:28.340
And, you know, and the divisions are geographic, right?
00:31:31.780
I mean, they weren't totally geographic here in 1860.
00:31:35.780
Virginia took three votes on secession in 1861, and the first two failed, and it was only when
00:31:41.900
Lincoln called up the troops that the third one passed.
00:31:44.720
And as for us, take a look at that 2016 map of how we voted, and it's not just that there
00:31:51.760
are reds and blues that are very geographic, but the reds are deep reds, and the blues are
00:31:56.840
deep blues, and the sense of alienation from the other part of America is very strong.
00:32:02.960
Well, listen, I get what you're saying, and if you look at a county-level map of red and blue,
00:32:11.120
and we'll put that on the screen now, I mean, Donald Trump enjoys looking at this map because
00:32:14.900
if you just measure county by county, almost the entire map is red, but those blue counties in the
00:32:22.960
big cities in New York, Chicago, California's cities, especially San Francisco, but also LA,
00:32:32.320
they are geographically small, but like you say, they're extremely liberal. Like, I don't know what
00:32:37.220
the math was in Manhattan, but I'd be shocked if the Republicans got 10% there, and that's Donald
00:32:42.020
Trump's home borough. So, I mean, really, aren't you talking about a separation of some cities?
00:32:49.860
I have not had a chance to tuck into your book yet, but it's very interesting. I mean, Singapore
00:32:55.300
is a city-state. Hong Kong used to be a city-state. Is that really the answer? Get Manhattan out of
00:33:02.380
things, get San Francisco and LA and Chicago out of things, maybe Miami, and the rest is one big
00:33:07.520
right-wing country? Well, you're right. The states themselves are very divided. If secession were to
00:33:14.000
happen, however, it would be on a statewide basis. You'd see a referendum in some place like California,
00:33:22.240
and obviously, there'd be a lot of people who disagree, but nevertheless, it would be a state-led
00:33:27.220
initiative. On the other hand, as you note, there are pockets of, you know, unionists in California,
00:33:35.440
for example. So another possibility here would be if California actually proceeded with it,
00:33:42.400
you'll see movements for breakups within a state as well. New York upstate would be totally unionist,
00:33:50.160
on my scenario, and, you know, Manhattan, the New York City itself would be separatist. Staten Island
00:33:58.660
would be totally unionist. So you'd get the kind of divisions where people in San Diego County would
00:34:06.520
be asked, do you really want to be part of the same state as Los Angeles? And I think we know what
00:34:11.740
the answer is. So, you know, the jigsaw puzzle can break up that way. Well, let me ask you this. I'm,
00:34:18.620
I mean, I admire America, but I am not American. I don't have a deep knowledge of the Civil War. I know
00:34:25.040
two things about it. First of all, it was by far the bloodiest of all of America's wars. In fact,
00:34:31.000
if I'm not mistaken, more Americans died in the Civil War than all other wars combined. Correct me
00:34:35.420
if I'm wrong on that, Professor. And it's the pain of that and the legacy of that continues to this day.
00:34:44.760
So to, to propose secession, I'm not sure if you're quite proposing it as much as observing it.
00:34:51.160
Let me start by asking a basic question. Is it even legal? I mean, I don't think Abraham Lincoln
00:34:57.320
thought it was legal. Is it legal for a state to leave the union?
00:35:02.380
Well, two questions there. One is, would it be bloody as the Civil War was bloodied? My answer
00:35:07.700
is no. And, you know, here I am channeling my experience in Quebec. There was violence in Quebec
00:35:14.800
in the 1960s and early 70s, but the violence completely stopped when the hotheads realized
00:35:22.100
they could get their way through legal means, through secession. Right? So there's no violence
00:35:26.880
in Quebec after 1976 and the election of the PQ government. You know, the other thing is,
00:35:33.080
well, what about the Anglos in Quebec? Well, you know, you, you know the story well, so do all
00:35:37.920
Canadians, right? We English Montrealers spoke of bill 101 and how it suppressed English rights,
00:35:45.260
but we also called it bill 401, right? Because we thought, you know, what's going to happen is
00:35:51.260
we'll take the 401 down to Toronto, which about 300,000 English Montrealers did. You know, so my,
00:35:58.120
you know, my, my advice, my suggestion is don't worry about violence, but buy stock and U-Haul.
00:36:04.280
The next question is, is this illegal? You know, and, and the, the Supreme Court in 1868,
00:36:13.960
once the civil war was good and over said, secession is illegal. But if you had to look
00:36:19.280
at this prospectively, right, before there was a conflict, I think the Supreme Court might well
00:36:27.560
hesitate before empowering the president to send in the troops and invade the way they
00:36:34.260
invaded my Alexandria in April, 1861. And Virginia was unionist until it saw itself under attack.
00:36:44.560
So I, you know, so I, I don't think anybody would want to create an Abraham Lincoln again. I mean,
00:36:51.460
we'd be more likely to see a James Buchanan. But the other thing here is if it, you know,
00:36:56.400
this would inevitably end up before the Supreme Court. And I think two, two things would happen.
00:37:02.120
Number one, the originalists on the Supreme Court would recall that the framers of the Constitution
00:37:09.640
believed that the country could split apart. They, they didn't believe that there was an
00:37:14.400
indissoluble union. They actively contemplated a breakup of the country that was very much on the table.
00:37:21.380
The other thing that might, that the US Supreme Court might look to, frankly, is the Canadian Supreme
00:37:30.100
Court on the clarity reference. And what the Canadian Supreme Court said, I thought made a heck of a lot
00:37:35.860
of sense. It said, number one, there's no absolute right of secession. On the other hand, a secession
00:37:41.940
referendum is not a nullity. But rather, it's a sort of thing that should get people talking.
00:37:47.300
And if people started talking once there were, it was a secession referendum. Well, you know, at that
00:37:55.060
point, a number of things would be on the table, like how do you split up the federal debt? But, you know,
00:38:00.740
also, you know, a kind of renewed federalism of the kind we used to enjoy before the federal government
00:38:09.860
thought it could rule everything. And before the US Supreme Court, you know, armed with the idea of an
00:38:16.420
expansionary imperialistic liberalism, saw fit to dictate what our laws as to abortion and the like
00:38:24.900
should be. So, you know, we're not going to want to do the civil rights revolution in any state.
00:38:30.820
But, you know, if Alabama wants to tighten laws as to abortion, I don't see why California should have
00:38:42.420
In Canada, the secession movement in Quebec, which is now 50 years old, or older actually,
00:38:51.460
drained so much energy and attention and morale and focus. And it hijacked so much of the national
00:38:59.540
conversation. And I sense that WEXIT, Western Canada, seeking an independent status, if unchecked,
00:39:07.220
will do the same. It just seems, I mean, there may have been legitimate grievances in Quebec.
00:39:13.860
I believe there are legitimate grievances in Western Canada. But I know that the secession conversation
00:39:21.060
had such a cost to it. And it dominated other issues. And I look at America now, and I can see for
00:39:28.820
myself cultural divides. We saw that huge rally of gun owners in Virginia versus gun grabbers. So yeah,
00:39:36.900
there are issues. But I just can't imagine America being so strong economically, strong militarily,
00:39:42.900
strong on huge things that matter, if it were fighting a 5-, 10-, 20-year internal fight over
00:39:52.740
breaking up. I mean, I accept that there are great differences between San Francisco and,
00:39:58.420
let's say, Wyoming or West Virginia. But I don't know, it just seems like this would be a 10% tax on
00:40:07.860
the economy and morale and conversation of America. I'm just brainstorming here.
00:40:13.540
Well, you're right about one thing. Secession is a bit of a tough sell for Canadians, because Canadians
00:40:20.980
went through that experience for a 50-year period. And it was profitless. It diverted attention from
00:40:28.260
things that needed to be done. But it's a little different here. Number one, we don't have the
00:40:32.820
historic memory of, you know, how messy it was in Canada. And number two, we've got a different
00:40:40.260
constitutional structure where things just don't get done. I mean, we'll have, we have permanent
00:40:45.300
grid law under the separation of powers in America, which one doesn't have in a parliamentary system.
00:40:53.620
So, you know, if you're worried about things not getting done, believe me, they won't get done
00:40:58.340
under any circumstances. The only way of getting things done actually would be probably to secede,
00:41:03.140
right? And, you know, at that point, the Erring sisters might depart in peace and pass whatever
00:41:09.780
kind of woke legislation they want. So it's, you know, it's the separation of powers in this country
00:41:16.740
that creates an incentive for secession. And then you have those great divisions. I mean,
00:41:21.940
here I am in Alexandria across the river from DC, and every morning, the Washington Post arrives in my
00:41:27.860
doorstep. And it's one more argument for secession, right? It's just gripping with contempt for the kind
00:41:33.620
of people who might disagree with its stance. And, you know, and, and, you know, the thing is,
00:41:39.860
the left doesn't have a stop instinct. So they won the gay marriage debate, and they instantly shifted
00:41:48.420
to transgender rights, right? So there is not almost no paper, almost no edition of the Post,
00:41:57.540
that won't have something on, on transgender people. I mean, I don't know where they, you know,
00:42:02.100
if they won that one, which they are, I don't know where they'd go next. I don't know what's left,
00:42:07.060
basically. Well, in your blurb, which I've reviewed, I haven't read the whole book yet, but boy,
00:42:14.340
you've tantalized me. You talk about a secession light. And I first saw, well, that sounds like
00:42:19.460
sovereignty association that was pitched by the Quebecers. What it, and that seems to suggest
00:42:26.980
that you think that maybe there's a baby step or a halfway step, maybe to let out some of the
00:42:32.500
pressure that's short of breaking up the union. I have to tell you, it would make me very sad
00:42:36.900
if the United States were to break up. Sentimentality is no reason to stop doing something. But I like the
00:42:44.500
fact that America is mighty. As you point out, it's one of the largest countries in the world,
00:42:48.820
both geographically and population wise. I like that because I, I want a strong counterweight to
00:42:55.300
China and Russia. And I don't, it's, it would make me sad if America were to be lessened in some way.
00:43:02.340
Is there some halfway house? What do you mean by secession light?
00:43:05.220
Well, you got a couple of questions there. First of all, um, to session light would be,
00:43:13.300
yes, something like sovereignty association. It would in fact be a form of devolution where we've
00:43:19.620
reversed federal encroachments on state rights over the last 50 or 80 years, uh, particularly through
00:43:26.580
the Supreme court. And I, you know, I think that would be great. I mean, you know, here I am in,
00:43:31.860
in Virginia, I couldn't care less what the gun laws in Massachusetts are. You know,
00:43:36.900
if they want to live in an unsafe state, that's their business. But, you know, don't tell me that
00:43:41.860
what our laws have to be here with respect to same sex marriage and the like. So, you know,
00:43:47.460
that would be by way of calling a truce in the culture wars. The other thing you talk about is,
00:43:54.180
is how you're happy with America being strong, you know, and living here,
00:43:59.940
you know, trying to get a feel as somebody who's moved to the country about how Americans feel
00:44:05.540
about their country. I, I, I believe that for many of them, you know, the great attachment is to the
00:44:12.900
glory of belonging to the country that owns all the guns in the room. That is its military might,
00:44:21.380
but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. And Americans voted against,
00:44:26.180
you know, the military might or the military expansionism in the 2006 congressional elections
00:44:35.060
that gave the house to the Dems. And in 2016, I mean, Donald Trump, and I, you know, I, I advise
00:44:42.420
Trump on policy matters. Donald Trump explicitly rejected the neocon desire to wage war in foreign
00:44:50.900
countries. I mean, he wanted to bring us back to Washington's farewell address, where he said,
00:44:55.700
look, you know, here we are in North America, we don't have to worry about being invaded by
00:44:59.860
neighboring countries. We're not in Europe, thank God, and let's profit from that.
00:45:04.580
You know, and yet we spend more on the military than the next 21 countries put together,
00:45:10.980
right? Military budget, about 680 billion a year. So if we split into two countries and have that,
00:45:18.820
I mean, would that be such a bad thing? Nobody would invade us, we wouldn't have to worry about
00:45:23.940
things. And, and a lot of Americans are beginning to think we don't have to be the world's policemen.
00:45:29.620
And as for those woke states like California, if you told the Californian,
00:45:36.180
on secession, you don't have to put the bill for the country's military budget,
00:45:41.860
and that'll save you enough money to have a form of national health for Californians.
00:45:50.340
Well, it's very interesting. I have not heard these ideas before. And I, I wonder if,
00:45:58.420
if the real impact of this book and these ideas will simply be to get Americans thinking about
00:46:05.700
how they can solve some of the problems you outline in less dramatic ways in full secession.
00:46:11.620
You're talking about devolving powers, respecting the original intent of the constitution,
00:46:15.220
getting out of foreign adventurism, as Washington suggested. Those would all be happy outcomes.
00:46:22.100
I don't know. I just, it, I'm a foreigner, so I, I don't have a direct stake in America,
00:46:28.100
but I think many people around the world see it, see its strength in the, and its glory as a,
00:46:36.740
as a form of protection and as a form of a role model. I tell you, I look at those protesters in Hong
00:46:42.980
Kong, flying American flags, playing the American anthem, talking about American ideas. And I think that,
00:46:53.300
that greatness, I wouldn't want it to be diminished. I wonder what Hong Kongers think
00:46:58.980
is the essence of America. I've been thinking a lot about them because I think in some ways they,
00:47:05.540
they are the most outstanding freedom-oriented people in the world right now. I just am endlessly
00:47:11.940
impressed by that. I don't know where my question is going here, other than I just,
00:47:16.660
as a foreigner, I, I, I'm grateful that America is great. Last word to you, Professor.
00:47:22.980
Well, I agree with everything you said, but the crucial point to understand here is that
00:47:28.580
only Americans get to vote on American policy, not people in Hong Kong and not people in Canada.
00:47:34.740
So, and that's been the Trump message. The Trump message has been, let's be self-interested.
00:47:40.020
We're not out there to do anything other than to protect our own, not to protect people in other
00:47:46.100
countries. Yeah. You know, we have concerns about the sea lanes in the South China seas. That's about
00:47:52.260
our trade. We have concerns about protecting Americans abroad and we can launch drone attacks on, on
00:47:59.940
murderers who do that. Um, but the, there's been a fundamental shift in American foreign policy under
00:48:08.580
Trump where your kinds of arguments are found to be less pressing or, you know.
00:48:14.660
Yeah, well, I'm not saying it's an, I mean, I agree with you. I, I mean, I don't think America
00:48:19.620
should be the world policeman. I spent a fair bit of time reading the Afghanistan papers. What an
00:48:24.420
unmitigated disaster that unplanned fire hose of trillions of dollars with, I mean, it's just
00:48:33.380
absolutely, I'm against American adventurism and the Globocop approach. I guess I, um, I, I just want,
00:48:41.540
I don't want America to be diminished and that's as an outside friend and ally. I did say last word to
00:48:47.700
you and then I, then I felt like I had to jam in another word. Tell me what you, let's, let me switch
00:48:52.900
gears because I got you on, on the Skype. I know that you've, uh, had the president's ear on a few
00:48:58.820
matters. We're in the, we're less than a year away, um, till the election in November. I can't
00:49:05.780
say that any of the Democrat, uh, contenders are, uh, impressive to me. Who knows if Hillary will throw
00:49:11.700
her hat in in the late entry. It looks to me like, uh, the cards are lining up well for Trump to
00:49:18.420
have a success in his reelection. Give me your thoughts on 2020.
00:49:23.220
Well, first of all, 2020 includes the impeachment. That's obviously going to fizzle,
00:49:28.180
right? It's going to be a tremendous embarrassment. And then you get people on the left
00:49:33.780
running on the most left-wing policies that you could possibly imagine, right? I mean,
00:49:39.460
you know, of course they're socialists, right? I mean, they're running on socialism
00:49:44.420
and they're not going to win on that. And that, you know, I, so I, I think I don't want to say
00:49:50.900
anything is assured in American politics, but I'm very confident Trump would be reelected.
00:49:57.700
And at that point, the left is going to have to decide, you know, do we, uh, lower our guns a little
00:50:04.820
bit and try to get along a little better with people we despise? Um, or do we look for some out,
00:50:12.980
some way of getting out of all of this stuff? And that's when I think they'll start looking at
00:50:18.740
secession. I mean, we already have massive interposition. We, we have states have declared
00:50:25.140
themselves sanctuary states, uh, who don't enforce federal immigration laws. Um, you know, Portland,
00:50:33.460
Oregon, Oregon, they permitted a mob to, uh, threaten ICE workers, federal immigration workers
00:50:42.020
to forbid them from leaving their building. Finally, the federal government had to send in
00:50:46.820
federal marshals to protect its own employees. Um, that's, you know, that's not Fort Sumter,
00:50:53.540
but you know, something that wasn't all that far either.
00:50:56.740
So, you know, we have massive interposition, even attempts at nullification of federal laws
00:51:04.340
that are, you know, that's tantamount to secession. So it's a smaller step than you might think.
00:51:10.980
And the animosities here are so deep. It's not so hard to imagine. Indeed, it's easy to imagine.
00:51:19.300
Hmm. You know what? Uh, hearing it that way, perhaps the book is more
00:51:23.860
a hand book or a manual for upset Democrats the day after Trump wins again, more so than for
00:51:33.220
Republicans. Maybe that's your point. I look forward to reading the book. Professor,
00:51:37.140
you've been very generous with your time today, and I look forward to when we next speak.
00:51:43.700
Right on. Well, there you have it, Professor Frank Buckley. He's at George Mason University's
00:51:49.380
Scalia School of Law. And he joined us today via Skype
00:51:53.380
from Alexandria, Virginia. Stay with us. More Ahead on the Rebel.
00:52:06.180
Hey there. Final thoughts today. What do you think of Donald Trump's speech at Davos?
00:52:11.460
In a way, it was boring. And what I mean by that is it wasn't a dramatic,
00:52:19.060
a new initiative. It wasn't trying to be fashionable. It wasn't like it was just exactly what you would
00:52:25.060
expect the leader of the United States to say to a gathering of the world's investors and
00:52:30.900
billionaires and political leaders. Like it, it wasn't exciting or dramatic or innovative. It was just
00:52:38.020
good. It was great. But on terms that fancy Justin Trudeau would say, oh, that's so obsolete. We're
00:52:46.660
about climate feminism or social justice or transgender pride or whatever. Stuff that actually
00:52:53.380
has nothing to do with the World Economic Forum. I remember when Justin Trudeau was given the floor
00:52:58.020
at Davos. I think it was last year. And he went on and on and on about gender quotas for boards.
00:53:04.100
And look, give that speech at the Pussyhat March. Give that speech to a high school class or something,
00:53:12.020
to a teacher's federation. You've got the world's billionaires in a room and you're not wooing them
00:53:18.820
with economic arguments. In fact, you're scaring them with gender and transgender regulations.
00:53:25.060
What an idiot we have as a prime minister. All right. That's our show for today. Until tomorrow,
00:53:30.180
on behalf of all of us here at Red Bull World Headquarters, good night and keep fighting for freedom.