THE TRUTH ABOUT AUTISM
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
197.3218
Summary
Jack Posobiec is joined by Leland Vittert of NewsNation to discuss the tragic loss of Charlie Chaplin and the impact his life had on the country. Jack and Leland talk about Charlie s impact on the political landscape, and how his legacy will live on forever.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
I want to take a second to remind you to sign up for the Poso Daily Brief.
00:00:06.760
It'll be one email that's sent to you every day.
00:00:08.640
You can stop the endless scrolling, trying to find out what's going on in your world.
00:00:11.720
We will have this delivered directly to you totally for free.
00:00:30.000
This is what happens when the fourth turning meets fifth generation warfare.
00:00:40.500
A commentator, international social media sensation, and former Navy intelligence veteran.
00:00:46.960
This is Human Events with your host, Jack Posobiec.
00:01:06.440
We're always talking about the fake news and the bad, but we have guys, and these are the
00:01:19.140
Folks, Americans are tired and frustrated by a stalling economy, inflation, endless wars,
00:01:27.420
But thankfully, there's companies like Patriot Mobile that still believe in America and our
00:01:32.080
And I'm proud to partner with them personally because Patriot Mobile is on the front lines
00:01:36.220
fighting for the First and Second Amendments, the sanctity of life, and our military and
00:01:41.620
Take a stand for conservative causes by putting America first and switching to Patriot Mobile
00:01:46.240
You will get the same great nationwide coverage as the big providers because Patriot Mobile
00:01:53.200
Plus, they back their service with a coverage guarantee.
00:01:56.260
Their 100% U.S.-based customer service team will find the best plan for your needs.
00:02:03.240
Go to PatriotMobile.com slash POSO or give them a call 972-PATRIOT.
00:02:07.580
Right now, you get a free month when you use promo code POSO.
00:02:11.160
Don't get fooled by other providers pretending to share your values or having the same coverage.
00:02:18.200
Switch to America's only Christian conservative mobile provider, Patriot Mobile.
00:02:22.120
Go to PatriotMobile.com slash POSO or call 972-PATRIOT for your free month of service today.
00:02:29.420
I've got a special guest coming on now for Human Events Daily.
00:02:32.980
First time that he's ever been on my show, but I've been on his show.
00:02:45.240
And I just wanted to say, you know, so you and I got to, didn't know each other too well,
00:02:48.740
but, you know, you really came out and did great coverage of when Charlie passed away,
00:02:57.380
You came out and did several days, I believe, of shows out there, even directly from the
00:03:02.360
vigil itself right outside of our Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.
00:03:06.680
And I just wanted to say thank you for giving it the spotlight that you did and for coming
00:03:11.860
And I know it's not easy to make the trek, but I, you know, myself and, you know, a lot
00:03:15.900
of the people that, that work with Charlie, that knew Charlie, we really appreciated it.
00:03:20.940
And we appreciated you, the very warm reception from TPUSA and the folks there.
00:03:26.780
You know, when we obviously learned about Charlie's death and saw the effect it was having on the
00:03:33.060
entire country, I think it was something that we needed to be at.
00:03:35.900
Um, and it's one of the things I love about NewsNation is our connection to our audience
00:03:42.500
Um, and the, the nerve that Charlie's assassination touched, uh, NewsNation outrated both CNN and
00:03:52.760
MSNBC during, uh, before, during, and after his funeral service, we covered the whole thing
00:03:58.920
And I think it speaks to Charlie's influence, um, that no one, I think in life probably fully
00:04:06.280
Certainly I didn't, even though I have covered him since 2015 and knew him since 2015, his
00:04:11.740
influence on the national political conversation and the effect that his assassination had is
00:04:16.540
something I think we're still trying to figure out.
00:04:19.400
And, uh, I'll be quiet in a minute, but I would be remiss if I didn't say to you, Jack,
00:04:24.720
that I think the fact that Turning Point in the midst of its founder, leader, sort of spirit
00:04:33.220
animal, everything Charlie was in the midst of his assassination and that grief and that
00:04:38.360
sadness to be able to pull off an event, uh, and fill a football stadium and a basketball
00:04:46.980
Those are the kinds of events that take months to plan, you know, political conventions with
00:04:51.420
the president and the vice president and everything else.
00:04:55.920
And it speaks to the just incredible organization and professionalism, uh, that Charlie built
00:05:01.480
that I think people just did not really understand and appreciate in his, uh, living time.
00:05:09.460
The entire team there, Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action, the, and it's, it's just
00:05:16.920
It was his ability to, and I think a lot of people didn't, you know, he would always joke
00:05:20.400
with me and he would say, you know, you know, Jack, if I fail at this politics thing, I'll
00:05:28.440
And, uh, you know, people, you know, see the videos of Charlie and he could throw the
00:05:34.120
And he honestly could have probably considered, you know, considered or pursued a career in
00:05:37.900
that if he wanted to, but it was his ability to see talent and then put people who had
00:05:44.000
that talent in places where it made sense was how he built those organizations.
00:05:49.180
And he was making them bigger and bigger, the events and the organization was getting
00:05:53.900
And obviously now it's exploded in terms of size and growth and interest since his
00:06:00.360
But, but it was because he built everything to put, you know, everyone who was there and,
00:06:06.860
you know, whatever small role I played, you know, to also kind of just be on the front
00:06:11.000
lines and have a front row seat to all of that as it was going on around me or, you know,
00:06:20.200
I mean, it was one of those situations where everybody was just saying yes to everything.
00:06:23.200
When, whenever we needed something, the Cardinal stadium was fantastic.
00:06:28.340
I mean, they just said, yes, of course, right away.
00:06:30.240
So many people really stepped up and even, you know, even stories about people that I'm
00:06:34.080
not really at liberty to say because they wanted to help out, but didn't necessarily
00:06:37.560
want, want to get credit for it or anything like that.
00:06:40.500
They just wanted to do it because it was the right thing.
00:06:42.380
And I, I, I, you know, look, none of it makes what happened right, but it was, it was truly
00:06:47.900
an amazing thing to just be a very, very small part of that, that I was.
00:06:56.420
And, uh, you know, I, it struck me that day when I walked in to the stadium and that Charlie
00:07:02.880
had always told us that he wanted to do a stadium show.
00:07:07.160
And, and it was sort of his, his vision and he would send us messages.
00:07:13.980
And, and in a sense, and I know, you know, he's looking down, but in a sense, you know,
00:07:18.060
he knew that maybe on some level, he knew that we'd get there without him physically
00:07:25.700
Well said, but you know, one of the things that you passed me that, you know, in, in
00:07:30.480
the midst of all this, and I had no idea that this was going on, you've just released it.
00:07:34.940
You're now a New York times, bestselling author.
00:07:45.820
It's about your father, your relationship with your father, but also, and this is really
00:07:51.600
This is an issue that we've talked about a ton from Bobby Kennedy and his work and Nicole
00:07:56.340
Shanahan and her work about living with autism and growing up with autism.
00:08:05.000
You've received an incredible response for it and well-deserved because I've had a chance
00:08:10.500
I haven't read it all yet, but I've, you know, flipped through a lot of it.
00:08:15.400
What was it like, you know, coming out and publicly telling your story like this?
00:08:21.740
And, you know, Jack, you're nice to say everything you did about the book for 42 years.
00:08:31.640
You know, my, my parents didn't tell anyone, no teachers, no counselors, no friends, nobody
00:08:36.660
that I had been diagnosed when I was five or six years old.
00:08:41.320
And through all of that, you know, we as a family handled everything together, the learning
00:08:48.180
disabilities, the bullying, the isolation, the emotional trauma and difficulties.
00:08:53.880
And now at 43 going through therapy, if you will, on national television is not exactly
00:09:02.600
a thrilling experience, but it has been proven worth it because of the hundreds, if not thousands
00:09:10.560
of emails, social media responses, everything I have gotten to born lucky because born lucky
00:09:16.460
is hope for every parent of a kid having a hard time.
00:09:21.600
Doesn't matter if it's autism or ADHD or anxiety or bullying or the social media disasters that
00:09:29.040
This is proof of the power and agency that parents have.
00:09:33.200
And I think you're very right to point out parents aren't told that.
00:09:36.100
They're not told how much power they have to help their kids and shown.
00:09:40.080
Uh, they're told to just put their kids in bubble wrap and meet them where they are.
00:09:44.160
My dad chose to try and adapt the world to me rather than adapt me to the world, um, is
00:09:51.820
very different, um, than what's out there right now.
00:09:54.800
And born lucky, I think is showing how many families that are having a hard time that they
00:10:02.620
Well, and I just have to say it because it's, you know, there's obviously when, when we look
00:10:06.900
at what Bobby Kennedy's doing and Nicole Shanahan and they, and there's so many parents out
00:10:12.000
there that are dealing with, uh, these issues or have children who are dealing with these
00:10:18.360
So even you just coming out and being public about your diagnosis and being public about
00:10:23.300
your childhood and then, you know, by the, I, you know, I don't know how to say this without
00:10:31.240
I was just completely shocked when you said that.
00:10:33.380
And even I'm, I'm rarely speechless, but I'm like, what, you know, it just, it made
00:10:39.160
And I'm reading through this and I, and I realized that that's why you wrote the book.
00:10:43.680
It's because of the effect of your father, the effect of growing up the way that you
00:10:48.560
And it's, it's a testament to the fact that other people can do this as well.
00:10:58.820
Born lucky isn't a prescription or a cure, right, Jack?
00:11:01.160
It is this story about what great parenting can do.
00:11:05.760
George will wrote the forward and he said, this is proof of the mountain moving power of
00:11:10.440
parental love, which parents aren't told, you know, being a strong parent isn't celebrated
00:11:18.620
And you think about when I was about six years old, my parents were told they had to
00:11:22.000
have me evaluated worst thing any parent can hear.
00:11:24.580
So they take me to one of those medical testing centers and they're in there for a couple
00:11:31.220
We've all been there, linoleum floors, stale coffee, old magazines.
00:11:36.860
Speaking of waiting, we're going to have to wait to catch the end of that because we are
00:11:39.760
up on a quick break, a hard stop, but I'll hold you right there.
00:11:57.760
And he's been my friend right from the beginning of this whole beautiful event.
00:12:01.740
And we're going to turn it around and make our country great.
00:12:05.240
All right, Jack, we're back on with Leland Vittert.
00:12:14.480
We're talking about his new book, Born Lucky, all about the role that parents can have and
00:12:22.500
the incredible role that parents have and coming forward with his own story of growing
00:12:30.620
So, Leland, where we where we left everyone, the cliffhanger was that they're in the waiting
00:12:36.640
They've got that disgusting prison halogen lighting, which I hate so much.
00:12:43.120
So they're waiting for their little boy, six years old, me to be brought back after all
00:12:48.340
And the woman says there's very, very difficult things going on with him and hard to understand
00:13:04.480
But if a kid touched me in school, I'd turn around and slug him.
00:13:07.140
And I was a fat little kid, so I could do some damage.
00:13:10.160
That was the behavioral issues and couldn't relate to kids my own age.
00:13:15.260
If there were socks on my feet that I didn't like or a jacket I didn't like or whatever,
00:13:23.180
So an IQ test is that the halves of an IQ are put together to form your IQ score.
00:13:33.100
It was the biggest spread they'd ever seen between the two halves.
00:13:36.900
She said to my parents, we've never seen anything like this.
00:13:39.060
It's very difficult to understand what's going on inside his head.
00:13:45.080
And then one says, there's not much you can do.
00:13:47.100
And the woman goes, you know, just sort of meet him where he's at.
00:13:56.760
And so I wrote Born Lucky to give parents the hope that my parents didn't have, that
00:14:02.820
My dad decided he was going to adapt me to the world.
00:14:05.880
So no special time on tests, no, you know, accommodations in school, no discussions with
00:14:13.480
teachers or principals or anybody about my diagnosis.
00:14:15.880
And he said, look, he's not going to be good at school.
00:14:22.480
The three things that kids normally get self-esteem from.
00:14:24.560
So he started when I was five or six years old, having me do 200 pushups a day to try
00:14:29.820
and teach me what self-esteem was, what hard work was.
00:14:32.580
He said, there's two things you can control in life, your character and your work ethic.
00:14:36.440
And if you take pride in those two, that is going to make all of the difference for you.
00:14:41.780
And that began him being my first and for 18 years only friend as he helped me adapt all
00:14:58.440
No, no, I still, I still, I still run five miles about three times a week and I lift
00:15:08.340
So the physical fitness part, and I, and I think it's, it's interesting, but you kept
00:15:14.540
And I got to tell you, you know, as we've is, is autism has become in the news and we
00:15:18.040
didn't write this knowing that Bobby Kennedy was going to start making autism.
00:15:21.760
The scientific question of our time, which I'm so happy it is now and hopeful that nobody
00:15:27.000
has to go through the hell that I went through as a kid.
00:15:29.860
But I think the push for physical fitness for kids, especially kids who are having a hard
00:15:37.780
time, whatever that means, autism, ADHD, anxiety, spectrum, whatever it is, it was such an enormous
00:15:50.560
And so one of the pieces that I, I, I mean, it just shocked me that it, it, it jumped out
00:15:55.420
at me in the book other than the 200 pushups was the fact that your father quit his job
00:16:03.920
You referred to him as a full-time parent coach.
00:16:07.080
So how does that even work from just, just a household perspective?
00:16:13.540
You know, first to tell you that dad was fortunate.
00:16:18.000
He had started a few companies and done quite well.
00:16:20.840
But certainly was in the, the high, you know, the, the pinnacle of his career.
00:16:24.500
He was, you know, doing phenomenal, you know, sort of, there was so much more he could have
00:16:30.420
Uh, and he, he said to me that I knew your only chance, meaning my only chance was for
00:16:39.440
And when I got home and I said, well, dad, as we were working on this book, cause you
00:16:42.280
know, he didn't tell me I had this diagnosis until I was in my twenties.
00:16:46.280
But as I started interviewing him for the book, I said, what would you have done if you couldn't
00:16:51.360
You know, if you couldn't have been financially secure.
00:16:54.320
He said, I would have worked the night shift because I realized I was going to be your only friend.
00:16:58.800
And the only chance you had was for me to be there with you, to put you back together
00:17:05.020
And by that, I mean, you know, there was no taking away the adversity.
00:17:09.680
There was no accommodations or, you know, behavioral accommodations or academic accommodations.
00:17:16.240
He said, you're going to have to endure the bullying.
00:17:18.460
You're going to have to go through the, the isolation and the physical bullying and the
00:17:24.940
I mean, you know, you think about it, there was a teacher, I think, you know, you know what
00:17:30.340
My dad, uh, came to visit me one day and they had put me with the girls in PE for a
00:17:36.140
Imagine what that does to a father because, uh, I was so, uh, bullied, but by seventh
00:17:44.440
So the kids were mean to me and the teachers were too.
00:17:46.760
You know, I had an art teacher who didn't think I was going to become Picasso.
00:17:49.500
And this art teacher said in front of the entire class, you know, if my dog was as ugly
00:17:54.940
as you, Vitter, I'd shave its ass and make it walk backwards.
00:18:06.900
What dad didn't tell me, Jack, was that, uh, middle school is great training for a Washington
00:18:11.520
And then he would make me inside joke, but that's a good one.
00:18:19.520
Um, and then he would get me, you know, he would put me back together and he would make
00:18:25.180
But what I didn't know until we started working on the book and I interviewed him and my mom
00:18:29.280
is that, you know, he would leave my bedroom every night after two or three hours of me
00:18:33.020
taking my frustrations and emotions out on him.
00:18:35.480
And that he would go downstairs late into the night and sit in the living room and cry
00:18:39.760
himself, um, just because of the emotional toll this was all taking, uh, on him.
00:18:44.660
And I just think it's a, a remarkable story also about my dad.
00:18:51.980
So many have come on the born lucky journey and it's a New York times bestseller.
00:18:54.960
And I said to my dad last night, when I saw him, I said, you know, dad, um, being a bestseller
00:19:00.280
I said, but you are the subject of a bestselling New York times book.
00:19:03.400
Um, which I think is a really fitting tribute, um, to all he did and all he sacrificed.
00:19:10.200
I mean, I, I, I, I can tell how much you love your dad and how important your dad is.
00:19:16.680
And, you know, my, my dad, um, look, and we didn't have that kind of, uh, situation, but
00:19:23.380
I mean, we've got that kind of relationship and, and, and my dad is absolutely the person
00:19:30.260
And, uh, you know, I, I, I remember when, when Charlie got, uh, when Charlie got shot, you
00:19:36.420
know, my dad just, just gave me a call and he was, he was just calling me like every single
00:19:42.060
So we, you know, I pull out to Phoenix, but then my dad was still calling me just every
00:19:45.480
Hey, just, just calling, you know, literally just that, just calling, just checking in on
00:19:51.820
You know, uh, sunny boy, he always calls me sunny boy.
00:19:54.980
I, I, I noticed I've pulled some, some of the foundational parenting principles out of
00:19:58.960
this though, have no expectations about the future, right?
00:20:04.180
Never allow your child to feel they've disappointed you.
00:20:07.220
You mentioned the depository of the frustrations, just listening, literally just listening before
00:20:13.360
And then, and I love this line, by the way, the currency of high school and, you know, middle
00:20:22.400
Man, there, you, we put so much pressure on kids, right?
00:20:25.680
When hormones are hitting them, we do the hierarchy, we're ranking and stacking everybody.
00:20:29.720
And it's like, for what, like what, you know, and that was that there's that joke about people
00:20:35.620
And it's like, none of us, you know, you know, go back to any of that.
00:20:45.040
Tell people just final sentence on the book and where they can go get it.
00:20:52.120
I know Jack is going to tweet out the link and put it on social media, much bigger social
00:20:57.480
Born Lucky, so we'd be honored to come on this journey with us.
00:20:59.800
And I'll tell you, Jack, you brought up, you know, Charlie Kirk's funeral where this
00:21:03.820
The only other time I ever felt the kind of emotion I felt at Charlie Kirk's funeral was
00:21:10.360
And that's sort of one of the stories in the book about the rest of my life and what
00:21:15.540
my dad was able to set me up for was to be able to go overseas, become a foreign correspondent
00:21:20.020
and now have a wife and a wonderful chance that I would have never had had he not shown
00:21:25.800
No, I mean, and you've been all around the world.
00:21:29.020
You've covered so many, obviously, very tight situations.
00:21:32.580
And, you know, it all started with 200 pushups a day with dad back home.
00:21:41.520
Ladies and gentlemen, as always, you have my permission to lay a short.