What Canadian conservatives can learn at CPAC： Ezra Levant in DC
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Summary
CPAC is the largest conservative political convention in the country, and it's a must-attend if you're a conservative who's looking for a way to get out and vote in 2020. I'm here in Washington, D.C., at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and I have some thoughts on Bernie Sanders.
Transcript
00:00:00.080
Hello, my Rebels. I'm down in Washington, D.C. for the CPAC convention.
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That's the largest conservative political convention in America in this very key election year.
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By the way, you can get the video version of this podcast by going to rebelnews.com.
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It's eight bucks a month to join Rebel News Plus, and I think it's worth it.
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Actually, I'm just across the water in Maryland at a huge convention center for the annual conservative meeting.
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It's hosted by the American Conservative Union.
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It's better known as CPAC, Conservative Political Action Something Something.
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And during the Trump years, well, it's more of a festival-type atmosphere.
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There are so many conservative groups who come here in a trade show style.
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There are so many would-be political candidates coming here to get support because it's who's who in the zoo for American conservatives and conservatives around the world.
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I've only been here for about half an hour, and people from around the world have come up to say hello.
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I just met a fellow from Australia who was a rebel fan and a conservative from there, Nigel Farage, definitely a hit with the crowd every year in the era of Trump.
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One of my favorite little things is that there is an old, an unused, but I think it used to be real, Air Force One 747 jumbo jet parked just outside.
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But I've got to tell you, when I drove up for a second, it fooled me.
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I thought, oh, my God, did the president literally park right there?
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I want to put my finger on the pulse of the American political situation in this incredibly important election year.
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I want to see how Americans do conservative conferences because we're terrible at it in Canada.
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And finally, I want to see if there's some interesting people we can interview.
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Now, I just arrived, but my friend, Abigail Hammond, who's been making videos with Rebel News for a few months, has been here for a couple of days.
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And I've been following your extended videos and photos and updates.
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Tell me a little bit how it's been for you the past couple of days.
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I've gotten the chance to talk with a lot of great individuals.
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And I think the key this year is the theme, America versus Socialism.
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And that's just a really powerful theme to have, especially because the most likely Democratic nominee is going to be Bernie Sanders.
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So we've gotten the chance to hear powerful stories, like from Mercedes Schlapp, talking about her husband, Matt Schlapp, is the head of CPAC.
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So she got to tell the story of how her father was in prison and her mother had made it to the United States.
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And finally, he was able to make it to the United States.
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So she understands and appreciates what freedom really is.
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Well, let me ask you this, because I actually see Bernie Sanders as a real threat to Trump more probably than any other candidate.
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Because, first of all, he's authentic, unlike the fake Pete Buttigieg or Mike Bloomberg, who's just awesome.
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And even though he doesn't elocute a good solution, some of the issues he talks about, the forgotten Americans, I think he's a real competitor for some Trump voters.
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I think he would be a tough opponent for Trump.
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And importantly, what do the people here at the CPAC convention think of that?
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Well, it's good you asked that question, because I've also had the chance to ask other individuals who they think the most dangerous candidate is from the Democratic side.
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So, essentially, one of the big issues on the table is college.
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You know, Bernie Sanders says he wants to make free college.
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And I think by educating people, like we have the head of the walk-away movement, who is, I'm trying to remember his first name right now, but his last name is Baracko.
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I think his name is Richard Brokho, or maybe I'm forgetting the first name, but Mr. Brokho.
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And anyway, he used to be a Democrat and a liberal.
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He found out about the fake news and about the lies being shared with, you know, everyone online.
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So, he's risen up, and many others have joined his movement to walk away from the left and bring in others, bring in all kinds of people.
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So, I think by having these campaigns and movements where you really educate the public that nothing is really free.
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If we give free college to people, everyone's taxes are going to go up, and we're not going to be able to truly afford it.
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So, by educating people that they don't really need to get a college degree, that we need to go back.
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Charlie Krook was in there from Turning Point USA, and he was saying, you know what, we need more plumbers.
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And so, by educating people that these are good industries to be in, that's one way to, you know, change the narrative and get people on your side.
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And also, just to continue through, continue with telling the truth of what President Trump has done, and the truth of what socialism really does to a country in time.
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So, you know, I think by speaking back to young people who don't really know their history, that will help them.
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Well, have you had a chance to talk to any political candidates or any interesting conservative celebrities?
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I know that whenever there's someone who's sort of a conservative celeb, they get mobbed by well-wishers and fans.
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I've got to brag, I've even had a few people ask to take selfies with me.
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I think it's probably a case of mistaken identity or something.
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But has there been anyone very interesting that you just enjoyed meeting or that had something interesting to say?
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She's running for Elijah Cummings' spot in the House of Representatives here in Maryland.
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She wants to come in and provide jobs for the people.
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And I think she's a great candidate because she's a minority and she's conservative.
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So I think we need more and more of these minority conservatives coming in and speaking to their people.
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You know, and so we also have other congresswomen who are coming in to do that as well.
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And so she's one of the main ones I got the chance to do with Kim Klasik.
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I know you recorded a video interview with her.
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So you're running for Maryland's 7th District to replace Elijah Cummings?
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So what are the challenges that are before you?
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What change do you want to bring to Maryland, to specifically Baltimore, correct?
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So right now we're dealing with a lot of blight, poor education system.
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I mean, basically, you name it, we're dealing with it.
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So I want to bring in not just transparency but a little bit of accountability.
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So Baltimore City, you saw a lot of federal funds go into this area, especially after the riots in 2015.
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President Obama did a great thing by sending federal funds to the area.
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Congressman Cummings did a great thing by getting them to the area.
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Just this morning, our mayor was finally sentenced.
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She was indicted for tax evasion and conspiracy.
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She was sentenced today for three years, three months probation.
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The Democrats have been in charge for a very long time.
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And in this seat in particular, in District 7, there hasn't been a Republican since 1953.
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In light of people like Bernie Sanders and the Socialist Squad, how do you speak to your
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people to get them to get you to be the chosen member of Congress?
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I basically say, you know, do you want capitalism or socialism?
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They have to remember, Bernie Sanders, he talks a lot about socialism.
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But he's a millionaire, and he's made all his money thanks to capitalism.
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And so people love to talk about, you know, how it's great to take from that 1% or 2% up top.
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But you ever notice, they don't ever actually leave office, right?
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So they want to redistribute money, but they never redistribute the power.
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And so I think what we really need to focus on is getting some new, fresh faces in Congress,
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If you look at anybody in the private sector, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren,
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a lot of these people would have retired by now.
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And to me, if you did a great job in Congress, you could have retired right back to your district
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because you know you could get a job in the private sector.
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But that's only if you did a good job on Capitol Hill.
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So I want to push term limits, something that's different from many Republicans.
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I'm actually for oral contraceptive birth control over the counter.
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I know in Baltimore City, we have a lot of young women that use Plan B basically as birth control pill.
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We have a lot of free clinics right now that give free pelvic exams.
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And so you could actually find out if a woman's a good candidate for these oral contraceptives
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And then they can get this birth control over the counter.
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A lot of women right now, they're going to Planned Parenthood for the birth control pill.
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And I think this is a great way to maybe defund Planned Parenthood
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if we lessen the amount of women that actually need to depend on them.
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And are you looking forward to versing the socialist squad in Congress?
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And I know that there's a conservative group of women that are coming up to be a conservative squad.
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Would you like to join in with them, to team up with them?
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I mean, but, you know, I'm not to say that I'm tough or anything.
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But, you know, you don't come to Baltimore looking for a fight.
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But, you know, if I could be in a conservative squad, then great.
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And I had the pleasure of meeting her in her district.
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I actually went and she toured me around some of those rat-infested, abandoned buildings.
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My God, does that district need a new congressman like crazy.
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What do you hope comes out of this for you as a young journalist with The Rebel,
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Is it just a chance for people to meet the people they follow on their Twitter feeds?
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One of them is it's a time for encouragement, you know, to be rallied up.
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And it's a time for Trump supporters to remember that the fight isn't over.
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Because sometimes we look at them and we're like, oh, Trump's in office.
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But we have to remember to go and vote on November 3rd.
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And truly the reminder that our country is on the brink of disaster if one of the socialist
00:11:06.720
So one of the main themes that was pushed this year was you need to go talk to your neighbors.
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You need to go talk to your neighbors and your friends.
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We need to be excited and we need to motivate people.
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So I think it was a rally to remember, hey, we've got to go vote.
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But also you need to go talk to your neighbors.
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And just giving us more data on socialism and the threat that it is so we can be ready
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I know you came over from your native Hawaii and so it's not quite as gorgeous or, but
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So, you know, great to see you again, my friend.
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Now, there's someone else who's been waiting patiently here.
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Now, you're an American and we're thrilled to have you with Rebel.
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And I'm going to bring her into the conversation.
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Or do you think we can learn things from here that we bring up to Canada?
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Is to understand, to really get a pulse of what is happening here in America
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and how we can actually use these successes, the successful tools being implemented here
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in America into Canadian politics, but also into Canadian culture.
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Because that's something, politics is downstream from culture.
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And there's a lot of things happening that are incredible here in America that we can
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And it could be messaging or strategy or polling or give me one thing.
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Tell me one thing, if you have one thing so far to take away that you might implement
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So one would be strategy, getting connected with the grassroots and intertwining advocacy
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as well as the politicians with the grassroots voices.
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That's one really key way, especially through social media messaging.
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We don't use it enough in Canada, utilizing the free tools that we have in our hands every
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And another one is surrounding the issue of life, life and liberty.
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And we don't talk about, especially specifically around abortion and human rights that we actually
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And so one speaker that I absolutely adored was Benjamin Watson.
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He was up on that stage, giving a fantastic speech on life, liberty.
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And I was thoroughly encouraged by that and took away a couple of really great talking
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So I'm really excited to use those and implement them in Canada.
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And, you know, I've seen probably half a dozen young Canadians.
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And the idea of coming to Washington from Alberta was always so far away.
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But anyone who's in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, it's like an hour and a half maybe to get
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out of here or a fun drive, like a road trip type drive.
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So I'm going to sign off now and wander around a little bit more.
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But I know that they're in high demand and they put in like selfies and stuff.
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But I'm going to poke around a little bit more.
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I don't know if you can see this enormous convention hotel that's attached to the CPAC conference.
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You can see out there, if it adjusts to the very bright lights behind me, that's a massive
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glass window as the camera catches up to the brightness.
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You can see a lot of airplanes coming and going because the Reagan National Airport is just
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And when you're down here, you see just how big the political game is, how serious people
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This is the big ocean, our little puddle in Canada.
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But I want to say this, so many people here at CPAC know the rebel.
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I have been stopped at least a dozen times for selfies, people saying hello.
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You know, our ideas, the themes that we talk about are universal.
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I mean, obviously, if we're talking about Justin Trudeau, that's going to be something
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Although some Americans see it as a cautionary tale or something to chuckle about.
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But so many of the large themes we talk about, whether it's freedom of speech or mass immigration,
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the Islamification of society, gun rights, trade, whatever, it's applicable down here.
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And so Rebel News is well known here in Washington.
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As I walk through the media alley, I guess you could call it, I see so many of our former
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journalists who come up are very friendly to me.
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I'd say that there's at least a half dozen rebel journalists who have gone on to greater things.
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I mean, even Sebastian Gorka did a tour of duty with us before getting a radio show of his own.
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I can understand why they would move to the big leagues after being on our little league team.
00:17:01.340
I feel like we are, as someone once called us, the Saturday Night Live of conservative video.
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We're where a lot of the talent starts, learns a bit of the trade, and then moves on.
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In fact, one of the things I'm doing when I'm down here is I'm looking for other talent that
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maybe I spot a little bit earlier than the Americans do to help us cover the 2020 election,
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But what happens in this big American election in 2020, what's that, just nine months from
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now, less than nine months, barely eight and a half months from now, will have enormous
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impacts, whether it's on trade or energy policy or the theory of man-made global warming or
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Imagine the difference between a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama versus Donald Trump that we
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So obviously, just talk about NATO and military matters, for example.
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So a lot of these issues that are being chewed over will impact Canadians for sure.
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I mean, if Bernie Sanders, a socialist, indeed wins here after Jeremy Corbyn lost in the UK
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and Jagmeet Singh lost in Canada, what a thing that will say about Canada itself.
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I saw a lot of newsmakers, but I didn't have time to pull them over and do a proper interview
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I showed you a little bit of Nigel Farage's, some background footage of Nigel Farage's speech.
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I want to show you a little bit more of it because I find him very interesting for what he did
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But his lessons for this convention are right on point because, of course, he fought an
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anti-Western, anti-British, anti-American, hardcore socialist, pro-terrorist, frankly, labor leader
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He fought all the fancy people when he ran the Brexit party, and he won.
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Brexit won, and a pro-Brexit prime minister won.
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Let me share with you the speech of Nigel Farage to CPAC, the Conservative Public Affairs
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This is very, very high risk for me, I've got to tell you.
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But they'll remember 1776, they'll remember feeling they were a put upon colony.
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They were being taxed without being represented.
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They were being told what they could and could not do.
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And the American people said they'd had enough of that.
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And so you had your Declaration of Independence, and you won your independence from us and went
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on to become the most successful, phenomenal country mankind has ever created.
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But we too, we too, as a United Kingdom, have a pretty amazing history, pretty remarkable
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history of who we've been and what we've represented.
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In fact, so we decided, we decided the last thing would be, at the end of my last speech,
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And I thought it was quite a nice, gentle, quite light-hearted way of leaving this political
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And as I was doing this and the rest of the Brexit Party MEPs were with me, the woman in
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the chair, who sums up humourless, leftist, globalist, unpleasantness, not only cut the microphone
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off for the first time in my 21 years there, but very unpleasantly said, you're leaving
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And that's what the United Kingdom did at 11pm on the 31st of January, 2020.
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And now that flag is not just a symbol of the United Kingdom, that flag now across Europe
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is a symbol of liberty, a symbol of breaking free of this globalist project.
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And I want, I want, I don't just want the United Kingdom to leave the European Union,
00:22:10.940
So I wonder what you as a crowd think of Bernie Sanders.
00:22:40.720
You should be donating money to Bernie Sanders.
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You should be making sure, and I think he's going to do it anyway, but you should be making
00:22:54.500
You need a Democrat Party that are as far left-wing and as anti-American as they possibly ever
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can be, because when that happens, what will happen in November this year is not only, not only,
00:23:11.560
will you get four more years of this great President Trump, but I think, I think with Bernie, you
00:23:23.720
won't just get Trump, I think with Bernie, you can retake the House too.
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But Donald Trump winning a second term isn't just about the freedom, prosperity and success
00:23:53.880
There's something even bigger that Donald Trump represents.
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A second term for Donald Trump in a world that has just had Brexit means we can, by the end
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of this decade, end the globalist project, bring back the nation-state as the primary goal.
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This is, this is, we are living through a big moment in history.
00:24:27.120
You are part of a big moment in history, and with four more years of Donald Trump, we will
00:24:38.240
Well, that's our show for today, I'm going to try and grab a few more interviews from interesting
00:24:53.740
people while I'm down here, and show them next week if I can.
00:24:57.700
I guess I spent too much time saying hello and schmoozing, and I did get here a little bit
00:25:03.240
But I hope you enjoyed a little bit of a flavour down here.
00:25:06.240
If I had to learn something from this conference, it's, I guess what the conference itself is
00:25:12.500
trying to learn, how to transform Conservatives from being the outsiders, from being the opposition,
00:25:18.240
from being the dissidents, to being a more permanent governing force.
00:25:23.240
Donald Trump, in every sense of the word, was an insurgent, was a dissident.
00:25:30.240
A lot of the Conservative mindset is that of a dissident, the deplorables.
00:25:34.240
Well, how do they transform that from a momentary victory over the socialist trend to a more permanent
00:25:43.240
How do they more permanently put the left on the back foot and make Conservatism the default
00:25:51.240
That's something they're trying to wrestle with here, and I think individual delegates are,
00:25:56.240
I'll probably be thinking about this some more, and I'll share more with you.
00:25:59.240
I guess the one thing I know for sure is Canada has nothing like this.
00:26:05.240
We do our occasional rebel get-together, 500 people, sometimes 1,000 people even.
00:26:10.240
We have an event coming up in Regina, more than 1,500 registered.
00:26:13.240
But nothing with this kind of depth, this kind of must-attend, where people across the Conservative
00:26:19.240
We don't have that in Canada, and I think we need it.
00:26:23.240
The thing is, I don't think we could have it, because I think the establishment would squash
00:26:30.240
They would undermine it, smear it, and Canadian Conservatives would lose their courage.
00:26:35.240
Well, those are my thoughts from here, just across the river, in Maryland, from Washington,