Juno News - Kangaroo Courts, Grooming Gang Coverups and American Socialism (feat. Michael Steele)

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.

00:00:06.760 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.740 Coming up, a human rights commission says you don't have the right to fire a convicted pedophile,

00:00:17.480 the British government puts political correctness above the rule of law,

00:00:21.020 and could a national popular vote save American conservatism?

00:00:25.080 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:33.640 Hey everyone, welcome along to another edition of the Andrew Lawton Show here on the front lines of freedom,

00:00:40.740 or so we like to think sometimes.

00:00:42.820 Although today, very much so against the freedom killers that exist in government right now.

00:00:51.060 Not letting you fire someone for being a convicted pedophile.

00:00:55.160 This is not where I thought the freedom frontier would lead us, but it's where we are right now.

00:00:59.820 A decision from the Manitoba Human Rights Commission has found that you are not allowed to discriminate

00:01:06.340 against someone on the basis of them being convicted of heinous sexual crimes against children.

00:01:13.120 Now this really comes back to a University of Manitoba case,

00:01:17.000 where a man who's only identified as AB was fired after the university learned that he had been convicted of touching two children for a sexual purpose,

00:01:27.880 and also of making child pornography.

00:01:30.420 He served jail time, and he's got a lifetime ban from places where children under the age of 14 are likely to be present.

00:01:37.880 So the university fired the man and restricted his access to completing his education at the university.

00:01:44.680 It sounds like he had some agreement where tuition was part of him as employment or something like that.

00:01:51.340 I don't know for sure.

00:01:52.480 But we do know that he launched a complaint in 2015, but the university objected because they said,

00:01:59.220 you know what, you do not have the right to not be discriminated against based on your criminal record under Manitoba law, which is true.

00:02:07.320 But here's where it gets tricky, because he went to the Human Rights Commission,

00:02:12.460 which has now granted him the right to contest his firing.

00:02:16.300 So it doesn't sound like he's been immediately reinstated just yet.

00:02:19.920 But they've said that they will accept the complaint because this is, I think, the most egregious part of this.

00:02:27.260 The adjudicator of this panel, who's a government appointment,

00:02:31.900 says that criminal records are not specifically listed in the Human Rights Code,

00:02:36.940 but it should be protected by the code.

00:02:41.220 So you've got two injustices here.

00:02:43.080 You've got, on one hand, the fact that a child pornographer and convicted pedophile

00:02:48.020 apparently is owed an employer that's going to overlook these facts about him.

00:02:53.840 But also you've got these unelected bureaucrats in the Human Rights Kangaroo Court system

00:02:59.920 that are openly saying, you know what, this is not in the law,

00:03:03.480 but we wish it were in the law,

00:03:05.640 so we're going to act as though it is.

00:03:08.080 And that's insane.

00:03:09.280 I mean, imagine if a judge were, and don't get me wrong,

00:03:11.820 I have my fair share of issues with judges sometimes,

00:03:14.460 but if judges were to say, you know, we think this should be illegal,

00:03:18.280 so we're going to prosecute you as though it is illegal.

00:03:22.200 And you're like, well, hang on, I broke a law that isn't actually on the books.

00:03:25.920 So they're pointing to the fact that other jurisdictions in Canada have a prohibition

00:03:32.400 on discrimination based on criminal record, but Manitoba doesn't.

00:03:37.300 And for that matter, the university has said its issue is not that someone has a criminal record.

00:03:42.980 I don't think they'd have an issue with a guy who, you know,

00:03:45.720 maybe stole a pack of gum from the variety store a few years ago.

00:03:49.460 So they're saying that children are on that campus all the time,

00:03:53.480 minors are on the campus,

00:03:54.660 and they don't think that someone who is a convicted child pornographer

00:03:58.560 is necessarily the kind of guy you'd want around these children on a day-to-day basis,

00:04:03.980 which seems like a pretty reasonable proposition to me.

00:04:08.800 Now, look, I am a firm believer in second chances.

00:04:12.020 I'm a firm believer in forgiveness.

00:04:13.580 I'm also a believer in the right to freedom of association.

00:04:18.180 That includes for businesses to have the freedom to determine,

00:04:22.080 hmm, maybe we do not want a guy convicted of kiddie porn on our campus.

00:04:28.640 And this does not seem to be unreasonable.

00:04:31.860 Why are you denied the right to make that call?

00:04:35.280 And this is why human rights commissions and human rights tribunals across the world

00:04:40.680 are so dangerous because they oftentimes put this victim mentality

00:04:46.480 as being the primary role of importance that you could have in your life to be a victim.

00:04:52.360 And this trumps anyone's free speech rights.

00:04:54.980 This trumps anyone's freedom of association.

00:04:57.160 This trumps all of these other factors.

00:04:59.540 If you can say, no, no, no, I'm a victim of discrimination.

00:05:02.180 That's the most powerful thing that you can be in 2020.

00:05:06.360 So here's a guy who is facing so-called discrimination

00:05:12.880 because a campus decided this guy should not work here.

00:05:19.100 And they've now invented a new provision in law, which now is precedent.

00:05:25.660 This is now the precedent.

00:05:26.900 Now anyone else who goes through this can say,

00:05:29.080 ah, but in this case, you know, Manitoba versus AB

00:05:32.360 or University of Manitoba versus AB,

00:05:34.820 they've determined that this is now the way things go.

00:05:39.520 This is not a real court.

00:05:41.820 These are not real judges.

00:05:43.600 These are not real adjudicators.

00:05:45.260 These human rights bureaucrats are the same people

00:05:47.820 that went after Ezra Levant and Mark Stein

00:05:51.020 and the same type of people that have gone after

00:05:54.500 those who say things they don't like

00:05:58.060 because this is what the regime allows them to do.

00:06:01.680 It allows you to set a standard

00:06:04.120 that is lower than any criminal threshold,

00:06:07.400 but high enough that these bureaucracy,

00:06:09.740 these kangaroo court bureaucrats can go after you. 1.00

00:06:13.400 And people have to stop empowering these things.

00:06:16.200 Governments have to stop giving them legitimacy.

00:06:18.820 All of the people that sit on these panels

00:06:20.820 are appointed by the government of the day.

00:06:23.940 And in Manitoba, this is a conservative government

00:06:26.620 that's appointed at least some,

00:06:28.820 perhaps all of the adjudicators on this panel.

00:06:31.740 Same as the BC Human Rights Tribunal,

00:06:34.760 the Ontario Human Rights Commission,

00:06:36.260 the Canadian Human Rights Commission,

00:06:37.960 all of these human rights commissions

00:06:39.900 that have prosecuted people on so-called hate speech,

00:06:44.260 they have been appointed by politicians.

00:06:46.660 And in many cases, conservative politicians

00:06:48.960 who, despite saying the right things on free speech,

00:06:51.900 haven't actually done anything about this regulatory regime

00:06:55.680 that allows them to target,

00:06:59.200 that allows governments to target people

00:07:01.340 on the grounds of speech.

00:07:04.040 And I don't know where this is going to go moving forward.

00:07:06.640 I mean, the whole point that I thought we were past this

00:07:10.060 was when the Wax My Balls case in British Columbia happened,

00:07:13.800 when Jessica Yaniv or Jonathan Yaniv,

00:07:17.440 Jessica, a.k.a. Jonathan, or Jonathan, a.k.a. Jessica,

00:07:21.080 was demanding that all of these waxing parlors

00:07:24.280 were waxing her testicles. 0.81

00:07:27.360 And her testicles, as I believe Mark Stein had said,

00:07:30.720 are two words you don't expect to hear together,

00:07:32.780 but demanding that all of these different waxing parlors

00:07:37.080 and independent people waxing in their home,

00:07:39.780 demanding that they wax her testicles. 0.72

00:07:42.540 And the result of this was the Human Rights Tribunal saying,

00:07:47.340 okay, we kind of think you're trying to weaponize this.

00:07:51.020 We think that you're going too far.

00:07:52.940 And this didn't even strike a blow

00:07:56.460 to the end of these commissions.

00:07:58.540 This was not enough to put an end

00:08:01.000 to the extraordinary power that these commissions have

00:08:03.900 over individual people's lives.

00:08:06.180 This was just an anomaly.

00:08:07.820 Oh, okay, well, yeah, I mean, that was bad.

00:08:09.600 But no, no, no, there's real anti-discrimination work

00:08:12.060 that's being done by these commissions, folks.

00:08:13.900 And we've got to keep them going.

00:08:15.440 And we've got to keep giving them all this power

00:08:17.380 and all this license.

00:08:18.720 So I don't know if AB is at all reformed

00:08:23.140 in the sense of having moved beyond the things

00:08:26.520 that got AB arrested, charged, convicted,

00:08:29.480 and imprisoned in the first place.

00:08:31.760 But what I do know is that a vast majority of people

00:08:35.040 would be uncomfortable working alongside someone

00:08:37.660 who is, as a matter of law, a convicted pedophile.

00:08:41.180 And someone would be very unhappy

00:08:43.560 about sending their child to a university

00:08:46.900 knowing that there is going to be a convicted pedophile

00:08:51.740 who is in the staff of the university.

00:08:54.200 And we don't know the job.

00:08:55.660 We don't know if they're a janitor.

00:08:56.960 We don't know if they're a professor, no idea.

00:08:59.820 And it doesn't really matter all that much.

00:09:02.340 For the state to say that employers do not have the right

00:09:05.760 to decide for themselves whether they want to associate

00:09:10.720 with someone like that is for the state to say

00:09:14.360 that you do not have the right in your own life, basically,

00:09:18.120 to set boundaries that will extend

00:09:20.580 to your place of employment if you're an employer.

00:09:23.040 And look, imagine if this were a small business owner.

00:09:26.340 Imagine if this were a little coffee shop owner,

00:09:29.460 not a university that's publicly funded,

00:09:32.160 a coffee shop owner that said,

00:09:33.440 oh, you know what, I'm not comfortable.

00:09:35.280 You know, my child was abused by someone.

00:09:37.800 I'm not comfortable hiring someone who's been convicted

00:09:40.160 of sexually touching children.

00:09:41.880 And the state says, nope, that's discrimination.

00:09:45.300 You can't do that.

00:09:46.240 You cannot say that.

00:09:48.220 It would be horrible.

00:09:49.760 And oftentimes, the people that lose the most

00:09:52.220 to these human rights bureaucracy kangaroo courts

00:09:55.540 are people that don't have the means to fight back.

00:09:58.960 I'm not sympathetic with the University of Manitoba

00:10:01.920 because I care about the University of Manitoba.

00:10:04.900 I'm sure it's a fine place.

00:10:06.340 I don't know anything about it.

00:10:07.760 The reality is I'm concerned about the precedent

00:10:10.760 that this decision by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission

00:10:14.260 is setting, given that all of these government agencies

00:10:17.780 in Canada like to look to each other,

00:10:20.020 which is what happened here.

00:10:21.200 Manitoba said, oh, well, we see other provinces

00:10:23.200 are doing this, so we're gonna do this now.

00:10:25.520 And then another province is gonna look to Manitoba

00:10:27.720 and say, oh, oh, okay, well,

00:10:29.160 they've protected this guy's rights

00:10:30.900 and he's a convicted pedophile, 0.76

00:10:32.280 so we're going to now try to do this ourself.

00:10:35.300 And eventually, you've got these unelected adjudicators

00:10:39.200 passing things into law

00:10:41.540 that were never actually passed into law by anyone elected

00:10:44.540 because they've decided to read meaning into these things

00:10:48.940 that was never put there by legislators.

00:10:52.660 And look, I would love, I mean,

00:10:53.760 not that I would like it if legislators put it there,

00:10:55.900 but at least you'd have the ability to oppose it

00:10:58.740 if someone that you could vote out of office put it in

00:11:01.660 versus someone that most people have never heard of,

00:11:04.220 are never going to hear of,

00:11:05.860 and someone that no one can get rid of.

00:11:08.540 I mean, the people here, you can't vote out

00:11:11.540 if you're a taxpayer,

00:11:12.620 if you're a citizen that cares about this.

00:11:14.620 These people are,

00:11:15.620 and I don't like using the term deep state excessively,

00:11:18.900 but these are the people that are there

00:11:20.660 regardless of who's in power

00:11:22.600 because no one throws them out.

00:11:24.500 People just give them complete free reign

00:11:26.440 to do whatever they want.

00:11:28.160 And you have to say no,

00:11:30.220 not just for the immediate implications

00:11:32.160 of not being able to say,

00:11:34.340 I do not trust a pedophile,

00:11:36.440 but for the broader implications

00:11:38.920 of I do not want the government telling me

00:11:41.000 who I can or cannot hire

00:11:43.340 and imposing the heavy arm of the state's power

00:11:48.720 on me to make the determination

00:11:51.160 that the government wants me to make,

00:11:53.180 which is rarely going to be the right decision, folks.

00:11:55.740 It's rarely going to be the good call

00:11:57.640 when the government's the one making it.

00:11:59.940 In any case, we've got to take a break.

00:12:01.960 When we come back, more of The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:12:04.160 Stay tuned.

00:12:04.640 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:12:14.500 Welcome back to the show.

00:12:16.580 You may remember it was about a year ago,

00:12:19.140 maybe a year and a half ago,

00:12:20.300 I sat down with Tommy Robinson in the United Kingdom.

00:12:24.120 Tommy Robinson being now a former candidate

00:12:27.220 in the UKIP for the European Parliament

00:12:30.400 and ultimately someone who was subjected

00:12:34.300 to that heavy arm of the state

00:12:36.780 that I mentioned earlier

00:12:37.940 for daring to speak out against an issue

00:12:40.640 that the government was ignoring.

00:12:43.360 Tommy Robinson was,

00:12:44.700 for a great period of time

00:12:46.140 in the last several years,

00:12:47.560 the only voice speaking up

00:12:49.740 about the grooming gangs across the UK,

00:12:53.440 other parts of Europe as well,

00:12:54.740 but in particular the UK

00:12:56.340 that were predominantly Pakistani Muslim men

00:13:00.500 targeting girls, young women,

00:13:04.180 raping them, trafficking them,

00:13:06.500 kidnapping them,

00:13:07.360 the whole operation that was happening

00:13:09.900 under the nose of police,

00:13:12.780 politicians, other law enforcements.

00:13:15.440 And Tommy Robinson was the guy

00:13:17.180 that was saying,

00:13:17.800 you know what,

00:13:18.120 we're not putting up with this anymore.

00:13:19.680 Rough around the edges, sure.

00:13:21.160 But the only guy standing up for these people

00:13:24.540 and ultimately working to expose them.

00:13:26.860 Now, you fast forward to where we are now.

00:13:31.780 Tommy Robinson was thrown in jail

00:13:33.700 for contempt of court

00:13:35.020 because the state didn't like

00:13:37.020 that he was filming and commenting

00:13:39.200 outside a courtroom on this case

00:13:41.580 that the mainstream media was virtually ignoring.

00:13:44.560 And you also look at how even now,

00:13:48.320 even now that people know

00:13:49.940 these things have happened,

00:13:51.680 people know some of the names

00:13:53.020 of those involved,

00:13:54.020 people have seen some justice be served,

00:13:56.440 the government is still trying to keep this shut.

00:14:01.260 From the UK Independent,

00:14:03.080 grooming gang review kept secret

00:14:05.260 as home office claims releasing findings,

00:14:08.200 quote,

00:14:08.600 not in the public interest, unquote.

00:14:12.340 Now, this is from Lizzie Dearden,

00:14:13.860 who is the home affairs correspondent

00:14:15.840 for the Independent.

00:14:17.520 She says that a freedom of information request

00:14:19.920 was refused so that ministers,

00:14:22.300 cabinet ministers in the UK

00:14:23.560 would have, quote,

00:14:24.900 safe space, unquote,

00:14:27.000 to discuss policy.

00:14:28.740 So they've done the official research

00:14:31.040 on the characteristics of grooming gangs

00:14:33.560 and they're not releasing it.

00:14:35.500 Now, why could that be?

00:14:38.020 What characteristics are they trying to conceal?

00:14:41.600 Well, the fact is,

00:14:42.600 it is not politically correct

00:14:44.240 to talk about the reality of this

00:14:46.220 because it is one particular religious group

00:14:48.620 that is identified as being the culprit

00:14:50.720 in the vast majority of these cases

00:14:52.540 and that is Islam, Muslims.

00:14:55.360 And that's not to say that Muslims are violent,

00:14:57.340 it's not to say that Muslims are rapists,

00:14:58.900 it's to say that these rapists are Muslims 0.98

00:15:01.460 and these grooming gangs were Muslims. 0.58

00:15:04.260 And police have even conceded, by the way,

00:15:07.580 that the reason these grooming gangs

00:15:09.680 operated with impunity for so long

00:15:11.800 is because they were Muslims

00:15:13.740 and police departments didn't want to be seen

00:15:16.040 as racist or Islamophobic

00:15:18.320 to go in there

00:15:19.220 and start doing anything about it.

00:15:21.280 So it is political correctness

00:15:23.420 that cost so many people

00:15:25.760 their innocence

00:15:26.700 and in many cases, their lives.

00:15:28.780 Political correctness

00:15:30.800 that allowed these things to function

00:15:32.800 for as long as they did.

00:15:34.420 And even now,

00:15:35.960 political correctness is protecting

00:15:38.180 the culprits, the perpetrators.

00:15:42.220 Why is it not in the public interest

00:15:44.400 to have transparency?

00:15:46.080 We're talking about 19,000 victims,

00:15:49.080 at least.

00:15:50.060 19,000 victims that were identified

00:15:52.160 by authorities in just one year.

00:15:54.820 And the Home Secretary of the UK

00:15:56.680 said that there would be

00:15:58.180 no no-go areas of inquiry.

00:16:00.760 This is what Sajid Javid said

00:16:02.700 to the Independent.

00:16:03.560 No no-go areas of inquiry.

00:16:05.540 So everything was going to be open.

00:16:07.220 Everything was going to be transparent.

00:16:09.020 We're going to be able to see all of this

00:16:10.720 and really shine the light on it

00:16:12.660 to identify the problem.

00:16:14.320 And now they're saying,

00:16:15.200 oh, well, you know,

00:16:15.740 we can't release our findings.

00:16:17.500 So why not?

00:16:20.100 What are you afraid of?

00:16:21.920 What are you afraid of?

00:16:23.480 And why is it that those 19,000 victims

00:16:26.520 are less significant to you

00:16:29.780 than the hundreds and thousands

00:16:31.440 of just evil, malignant tumors

00:16:35.240 in society that were behind this?

00:16:39.380 Why are the victims not as important

00:16:41.660 to protect and stand up for

00:16:43.340 as the perpetrators

00:16:45.080 in the eyes of the British government

00:16:47.440 right now?

00:16:48.780 Because this is what he said.

00:16:50.080 I will not let cultural 1.00

00:16:51.720 or political sensitivities

00:16:53.240 get in the way of understanding

00:16:54.600 the problem

00:16:55.180 and doing something about it.

00:16:57.540 We know that in these high-profile cases

00:16:59.540 where people convicted

00:17:00.900 have been disproportionately

00:17:02.340 from a Pakistani background.

00:17:05.180 I've instructed my officials

00:17:06.400 to explore the particular context

00:17:08.420 and characteristics

00:17:09.260 of these types of gangs.

00:17:10.940 So they've conceded

00:17:12.040 they know where the problem is.

00:17:13.900 Why then not allow

00:17:15.300 the research to be seen?

00:17:17.700 There's been nothing since then.

00:17:19.220 That was almost two years ago

00:17:20.840 and the government has said

00:17:22.300 absolutely nothing since then.

00:17:24.520 They've given no more details,

00:17:26.140 no more information.

00:17:27.500 This story in The Independent

00:17:28.800 revealed that the paper found

00:17:30.380 the work had been completed

00:17:31.980 but would only be used

00:17:33.740 for internal policy making.

00:17:35.640 Now that means

00:17:36.240 that they have a report

00:17:37.420 that they're just going to bury,

00:17:38.780 shove it a corner

00:17:39.440 and never speak of again.

00:17:41.160 So that if anyone challenges them

00:17:42.780 on not doing anything,

00:17:44.100 they can say,

00:17:44.700 oh no, we spent a year and a half

00:17:46.600 commissioning a significant report on this.

00:17:49.480 Then release it.

00:17:51.320 Release the report.

00:17:52.720 If you don't release the report,

00:17:54.880 you are proving

00:17:55.860 that you actually do care

00:17:58.520 more about political correctness

00:18:00.080 than you do about

00:18:01.620 protecting the rule of law,

00:18:03.200 protecting the integrity

00:18:04.240 of your towns and communities.

00:18:07.000 And my goodness,

00:18:08.220 this is going to be

00:18:09.460 an absolute riot

00:18:11.320 on the hands of the British state

00:18:13.160 if they continue to do

00:18:15.000 exactly what happened

00:18:16.320 up until this point

00:18:17.320 that led to all of those problems

00:18:19.280 with the grooming gangs

00:18:20.300 in the first place.

00:18:21.140 If the government continues

00:18:22.640 to turn a blind eye

00:18:23.880 because of these cultural sensitivities

00:18:26.480 that they said

00:18:27.220 wouldn't play a role in this.

00:18:30.140 And the interesting thing was

00:18:31.820 when this started,

00:18:33.160 I didn't actually go into this.

00:18:36.540 When I started following this case

00:18:38.100 as a cheerleader of Tommy Robinson,

00:18:40.340 in fact, I said

00:18:41.440 I was quite agnostic on him

00:18:43.260 even if I think

00:18:44.400 that there are some problematic parts

00:18:45.920 of things he said in the past.

00:18:47.560 I also recognize

00:18:48.440 that he is

00:18:50.000 in this particular instance

00:18:52.760 being subjected

00:18:54.240 to something

00:18:54.800 that is horribly unfair,

00:18:56.420 horribly unjust

00:18:57.220 and horribly unproductive

00:18:58.880 at the hands of the state.

00:18:59.940 And I actually put my concerns

00:19:01.620 about Tommy right to him

00:19:02.980 and you can go back

00:19:03.700 and listen to that interview

00:19:04.720 if you'd like.

00:19:05.880 And I still remain convinced

00:19:08.600 that it's a travesty

00:19:10.020 what the British government

00:19:11.140 has done to him.

00:19:11.880 He has served more jail time

00:19:14.600 than many of the people

00:19:16.300 responsible for the grooming gangs.

00:19:20.400 And some of them

00:19:21.000 have been thrown away

00:19:21.980 and good riddance to them as well.

00:19:23.700 But there are others

00:19:24.480 that have never,

00:19:25.660 never been captured

00:19:26.740 where cases have not been investigated.

00:19:29.220 And Tommy Robinson

00:19:30.180 has served more time

00:19:31.600 behind bars

00:19:32.820 than many of the people

00:19:34.660 who were kidnapping,

00:19:36.260 raping,

00:19:37.060 and just destroying 0.62

00:19:38.960 the lives

00:19:39.800 of young girls,

00:19:41.680 not just young women,

00:19:42.540 young girls

00:19:43.220 across Britain.

00:19:45.940 And the one thing

00:19:47.520 that the government

00:19:48.140 finally did is,

00:19:49.560 okay, we're going to explore this,

00:19:50.920 we're going to do a report,

00:19:51.980 and this is now buried,

00:19:53.600 shelved,

00:19:54.160 never to be spoken of again.

00:19:56.760 And this is supposed

00:19:57.800 to be justice?

00:20:00.700 Political correctness

00:20:01.780 is the closest thing

00:20:02.700 Britain has 0.95

00:20:03.300 to a state constitution

00:20:04.760 right now.

00:20:05.280 My goodness.

00:20:06.040 We've got to take a break.

00:20:06.940 When we come back,

00:20:07.580 more of The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:20:09.040 Stay tuned.

00:20:10.900 You're tuned in

00:20:12.000 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:20:15.560 Welcome back, everyone,

00:20:16.740 to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:20:18.400 This story,

00:20:19.360 I find,

00:20:19.980 actually quite amusing.

00:20:21.200 So Bernie Sanders

00:20:22.160 did a sit-down

00:20:23.240 with Anderson Cooper

00:20:24.240 on 60 Minutes,

00:20:25.620 and he did the whole

00:20:26.840 Mussolini made the trains

00:20:28.100 run on time thing

00:20:29.020 with Cuba,

00:20:29.660 where he said

00:20:30.160 it was unfair

00:20:31.240 to say that,

00:20:32.820 quote,

00:20:32.900 everything is bad

00:20:34.020 in Cuba,

00:20:34.800 unquote.

00:20:35.540 And he had talked

00:20:36.420 about the literacy campaign

00:20:37.760 that Fidel Castro

00:20:38.720 put in

00:20:39.320 and other things

00:20:40.320 that Cuba has done 1.00

00:20:41.460 apparently so well.

00:20:42.620 And he does this

00:20:43.980 just so brazenly.

00:20:45.980 And, you know,

00:20:46.340 for a guy who is

00:20:47.280 the closest thing

00:20:48.440 American political class

00:20:50.300 has had to a communist,

00:20:52.080 at least you can admire

00:20:53.420 that he's so brazen

00:20:54.640 about what he wants

00:20:55.700 and what he wants

00:20:56.720 to implement

00:20:57.220 in the United States.

00:20:59.340 But Bernie Sanders

00:21:00.160 sits down

00:21:00.800 and says out ironically

00:21:01.800 that you can't say

00:21:02.820 Cuba's all bad,

00:21:04.240 conceded that there

00:21:05.180 was an authoritarian

00:21:05.940 nature there,

00:21:08.080 but ultimately said

00:21:09.620 that Cuba

00:21:10.940 has just become

00:21:11.920 such a pillar of success

00:21:13.520 in so many other ways.

00:21:15.080 And what was interesting

00:21:16.260 is that this ended up

00:21:18.160 earning Bernie Sanders

00:21:19.980 not much love

00:21:20.740 in the United States,

00:21:21.620 but he was on the front page

00:21:23.160 of the Cuban newspaper

00:21:24.280 in a favorable way.

00:21:25.940 I might don't speak

00:21:27.000 Spanish at all,

00:21:27.820 but grandma or grant,

00:21:29.340 maybe it's just grandma,

00:21:30.740 which is the official organ

00:21:32.580 of the Central Communist

00:21:33.960 Party Committee of Cuba

00:21:35.360 had very favorably

00:21:37.280 written about Bernie Sanders

00:21:38.520 saying that he recognizes

00:21:40.040 Cuba's contributions

00:21:41.320 in education and health.

00:21:43.800 Now, of course,

00:21:44.960 when he is praising

00:21:46.060 a communist dictatorship,

00:21:48.520 the state media

00:21:49.560 in that communist dictatorship

00:21:50.980 is very fond of Bernie Sanders.

00:21:53.200 But again,

00:21:54.700 I find it very fascinating

00:21:56.200 that anyone in the United States

00:21:58.300 who is from Cuba,

00:22:00.260 who has fled Cuba,

00:22:01.800 they are just seething right now.

00:22:03.940 There was actually

00:22:04.760 a Miami Herald op-ed

00:22:07.060 from someone who said,

00:22:07.880 I went to school in Cuba

00:22:08.920 under Castro.

00:22:10.160 Here's what it's like,

00:22:11.300 Bernie Sanders,

00:22:12.080 from a Cuban national

00:22:13.220 who talks about

00:22:15.020 the cheap propagandist

00:22:16.960 talking points

00:22:17.860 that the American left

00:22:19.420 pedals on Cuba

00:22:20.400 and how that is so at odds

00:22:22.880 with what she experienced

00:22:25.060 and what actual Cubans experience,

00:22:27.080 which is why they flee

00:22:28.680 to the United States

00:22:29.680 on Javex bottles.

00:22:31.280 You don't risk your life

00:22:33.040 fleeing a country

00:22:34.220 when everything is as hunky-dory

00:22:36.120 as Bernie Sanders thinks

00:22:37.600 or a lot of the leftist politicians

00:22:39.620 in the West

00:22:40.260 that insist Cuba

00:22:41.520 is just this utopian paradise.

00:22:44.140 But the thing that I find fascinating

00:22:46.260 is that this guy's winning.

00:22:48.060 This guy's winning.

00:22:48.860 There was a time when this would be

00:22:50.460 like the kooky

00:22:51.300 Marianne Williamson

00:22:52.800 of the primary.

00:22:54.240 But Bernie Sanders

00:22:55.220 is in the lead.

00:22:56.620 The Democrats

00:22:57.100 are completely unfazed

00:22:58.720 and, if anything,

00:22:59.780 encouraged

00:23:00.500 when he talks

00:23:01.660 this way about things.

00:23:03.120 So I have to unpack

00:23:04.160 what's going on

00:23:05.440 in American politics

00:23:06.500 right now.

00:23:07.460 Former Republican

00:23:08.360 National Committee Chairman

00:23:09.620 Michael Steele

00:23:10.480 and I sat down

00:23:11.440 last week

00:23:12.340 when I was in Miami,

00:23:13.460 actually,

00:23:13.860 which has Little Havana.

00:23:15.220 This is where

00:23:15.760 most of the Cuban expats

00:23:17.600 in America live

00:23:19.000 or, at the very least,

00:23:19.980 the first place

00:23:20.660 they touched down

00:23:21.580 in America.

00:23:23.080 And, my goodness,

00:23:24.200 the riots

00:23:25.960 that,

00:23:27.560 well,

00:23:27.780 the opposite of riots,

00:23:28.800 actually,

00:23:29.120 the celebrations

00:23:29.940 in Miami

00:23:31.240 when Fidel Castro

00:23:32.740 died

00:23:33.380 should give you

00:23:34.340 an indication

00:23:34.980 that the Bernie Sanders

00:23:36.020 narrative of Cuba

00:23:37.160 is not accurate.

00:23:38.540 But I wanted to share

00:23:39.280 my interview

00:23:39.760 with former Republican

00:23:41.140 National Committee Chairman

00:23:42.220 Michael Steele.

00:23:43.220 We talked about

00:23:43.860 what things are

00:23:44.560 happening in the

00:23:45.800 Democrat primary

00:23:46.880 heading to November

00:23:47.860 when the election

00:23:48.600 takes place.

00:23:49.480 And we also spoke

00:23:50.540 about a reform initiative

00:23:51.920 that is ultimately

00:23:53.440 bipartisan

00:23:54.240 but could help

00:23:55.280 conservatives

00:23:55.940 to revamp

00:23:57.360 the way Americans 0.99

00:23:58.620 vote in presidential

00:23:59.500 elections,

00:24:00.220 embracing a national

00:24:01.600 popular vote.

00:24:02.480 So here's my sit-down

00:24:03.460 with Michael Steele.

00:24:05.140 I'm sitting down

00:24:05.840 with the former

00:24:06.480 Lieutenant Governor

00:24:07.140 of Maryland,

00:24:07.780 also the former

00:24:08.400 Chairman of the

00:24:09.240 Republican National

00:24:10.040 Committee,

00:24:10.500 Michael Steele.

00:24:11.420 Michael,

00:24:11.760 good to talk to you.

00:24:12.400 Thanks for taking the time.

00:24:13.320 It's great to be with you,

00:24:14.080 Andrew, absolutely.

00:24:14.960 Good to see you, man.

00:24:16.000 Let's talk first off

00:24:17.280 about where we are

00:24:18.500 in the course

00:24:19.340 of American politics

00:24:20.760 right now

00:24:21.260 because I think that

00:24:22.100 it's been an eventful

00:24:23.440 last four years,

00:24:24.560 certainly.

00:24:25.180 And as we look forward,

00:24:26.300 a lot of people,

00:24:27.560 I think,

00:24:28.380 on the left

00:24:29.200 are going down

00:24:30.300 that same road

00:24:31.000 that we saw

00:24:31.540 before 2016,

00:24:32.740 which is that,

00:24:33.900 well, there's no way

00:24:34.780 anyone can vote

00:24:35.480 for Donald Trump again

00:24:36.460 and we have to do this.

00:24:38.040 And then on the right,

00:24:39.040 you have, I think,

00:24:39.880 a lot of the resistance

00:24:41.300 to Donald Trump

00:24:42.500 from conservatives

00:24:43.460 seems to have

00:24:44.760 abated a bit

00:24:45.580 in my view.

00:24:46.240 And I'm wondering

00:24:46.580 if you'd agree with that,

00:24:47.520 the people that were

00:24:48.080 never Trumpers

00:24:48.740 that are now,

00:24:49.680 okay, well,

00:24:50.360 I guess it's not that bad.

00:24:52.180 Yeah, I think

00:24:52.760 on the first point

00:24:53.520 with respect to how

00:24:54.660 the left is

00:24:55.600 approaching this election,

00:24:57.860 they're turning

00:24:59.960 into a clown show.

00:25:01.140 I was just the tip

00:25:02.180 of, I think,

00:25:02.700 of what will be

00:25:03.160 a very dangerous iceberg

00:25:04.380 for them.

00:25:05.040 not just on the process

00:25:07.880 size and just getting

00:25:09.020 the vote out,

00:25:10.200 but just generally

00:25:11.040 in their understanding

00:25:13.220 of where the American

00:25:14.160 people are,

00:25:15.020 what the American

00:25:15.660 people are thinking

00:25:16.540 and how they feel

00:25:17.540 about the upcoming election.

00:25:19.160 There's a lot of

00:25:20.340 mixed emotion about it

00:25:21.700 in some quarters

00:25:22.460 and they're very strong

00:25:23.360 emotions in others.

00:25:24.280 There's no doubt

00:25:24.740 about that.

00:25:25.240 You have those who,

00:25:26.480 there's no way on hell

00:25:27.300 I will ever vote

00:25:28.040 for Donald Trump.

00:25:29.540 And then you even have

00:25:30.500 those who voted

00:25:31.000 for him in 16

00:25:31.660 who have peeled off.

00:25:32.880 But you still,

00:25:33.540 to your second point,

00:25:35.040 and it's not just

00:25:36.300 among conservatives,

00:25:37.540 among center-right

00:25:38.640 independents,

00:25:39.780 for example,

00:25:40.860 who are looking at this

00:25:42.320 and they are making

00:25:43.360 a different calculation

00:25:44.380 and assessment

00:25:45.060 largely based on

00:25:46.440 how they see

00:25:47.600 the Democrats performing.

00:25:49.260 So, you know,

00:25:50.160 the president,

00:25:50.940 in my estimation,

00:25:51.620 is in a very good

00:25:52.400 position right now.

00:25:53.560 He's very strong,

00:25:55.400 certainly on the economy.

00:25:57.220 He's over 50 plus,

00:25:58.540 52, 53 percent

00:25:59.980 approval on the economy.

00:26:01.660 I think that number

00:26:02.220 is actually a little bit higher.

00:26:03.680 His job approval

00:26:04.800 is at 49 percent,

00:26:06.360 two points higher

00:26:07.160 than Barack Obama

00:26:08.040 at the same point

00:26:09.440 in his first term.

00:26:12.020 So I think

00:26:12.820 where the president

00:26:13.720 is positioned,

00:26:14.760 you can say,

00:26:15.480 look,

00:26:16.220 Mueller,

00:26:17.380 impeachment,

00:26:18.340 all helped.

00:26:20.060 Because it really spoke

00:26:21.980 to a narrative

00:26:22.500 that conservatives

00:26:23.420 were saying

00:26:24.120 that you go down

00:26:25.400 this road on impeachment,

00:26:26.640 you're going to bite off

00:26:27.900 something you can't chew.

00:26:29.740 And I think

00:26:30.600 that's what's turned out.

00:26:31.620 because the American people

00:26:32.640 at the end of the day,

00:26:34.020 it wasn't in their mind

00:26:35.240 to sort of throw out

00:26:36.080 a president.

00:26:36.940 So all of these factors

00:26:37.940 have played into

00:26:38.880 where this election

00:26:40.380 is at this point.

00:26:41.420 The Democrats are now

00:26:42.320 going through

00:26:42.640 their primary process.

00:26:43.680 The president is just

00:26:44.380 sitting back

00:26:44.840 and enjoying the moment.

00:26:46.320 And we'll see

00:26:47.340 once there is a nominee,

00:26:49.340 who that nominee

00:26:50.000 is will matter.

00:26:52.100 How they perform

00:26:53.120 in the upcoming campaign

00:26:54.700 will make the difference

00:26:55.780 between whether or not

00:26:56.940 Democrats can recapture

00:26:58.760 those bricks they lost

00:27:00.620 out of the blue wall

00:27:01.600 in 2016

00:27:03.100 and whether or not

00:27:04.620 the president

00:27:05.100 is able to build

00:27:06.160 on the momentum

00:27:07.140 from a good economy

00:27:09.520 and the other things

00:27:11.180 that have happened

00:27:11.800 and turn it into

00:27:13.280 a victory in November.

00:27:14.800 You mentioned

00:27:15.180 that who the Democrat

00:27:16.140 is is a relevant

00:27:17.820 question here.

00:27:18.500 And I was wondering

00:27:18.860 if you could explain

00:27:19.460 a bit more about that

00:27:20.340 because right now

00:27:20.960 we see the Democrats

00:27:22.040 very much eating their own

00:27:23.820 and people that in the past

00:27:25.200 would have been,

00:27:25.700 I think,

00:27:25.840 very formidable candidates,

00:27:27.100 the more moderate among them

00:27:29.500 are now absolute jokes to it.

00:27:31.780 It seems like the Democrat

00:27:32.860 at the time.

00:27:33.760 No, you're absolutely right.

00:27:34.860 And so if they want to go,

00:27:37.400 if they want to go land

00:27:38.440 on Bernie Sanders,

00:27:39.700 thank you very much.

00:27:41.980 January 21,

00:27:43.300 we'll be watching

00:27:44.000 Donald Trump

00:27:44.700 re-inaugurate,

00:27:45.940 inaugurate as the

00:27:46.880 end of the second term.

00:27:48.340 If you want to,

00:27:49.020 if you want to dance

00:27:49.820 with Elizabeth Warren,

00:27:50.780 thank you very much.

00:27:52.040 Donald Trump will be

00:27:53.140 the next president

00:27:54.160 of the United States.

00:27:55.300 If you want to,

00:27:55.920 if you decide

00:27:56.700 to take the risk

00:27:57.700 and go with

00:27:58.580 someone like a Bernie Sanders

00:28:01.000 or,

00:28:02.180 I mean,

00:28:02.400 excuse me,

00:28:02.880 a Joe Biden

00:28:03.540 or Michael Bloomberg,

00:28:05.840 that's a different dynamic.

00:28:07.920 You know,

00:28:08.200 I've said for a while now

00:28:10.260 that the nominee

00:28:10.880 of the party should be,

00:28:12.020 of the Democrats,

00:28:12.880 should be,

00:28:13.480 if they want to be competitive.

00:28:14.740 It's not a guaranteed win

00:28:15.960 by no stretch,

00:28:16.700 but if they want to be competitive

00:28:18.140 against Trump,

00:28:19.560 Joe Biden is the one

00:28:21.000 who,

00:28:21.620 referring back to those bricks,

00:28:22.980 can grab those bricks back

00:28:24.360 that they lost.

00:28:25.600 And that's Michigan,

00:28:27.160 Wisconsin,

00:28:27.720 and Pennsylvania

00:28:28.280 in 2016.

00:28:30.460 Because he has,

00:28:32.020 he has that innate

00:28:33.460 sort of Uncle Joe charisma.

00:28:36.420 People know him.

00:28:37.560 They're very familiar with him.

00:28:39.740 Yes,

00:28:40.140 he can be a little bit

00:28:41.080 out there on various things,

00:28:43.240 but in their mind,

00:28:44.960 he's stable.

00:28:45.740 And the thing that a lot

00:28:47.020 of,

00:28:47.200 I've heard voters say to me

00:28:48.260 as I've traveled

00:28:48.880 around the country,

00:28:49.700 is look,

00:28:51.100 I'm not worried

00:28:52.360 about arguing

00:28:53.060 about the future

00:28:53.880 of the country

00:28:54.420 or the future

00:28:54.940 of the Democratic Party

00:28:55.880 or the future

00:28:56.360 of the Republican Party.

00:28:57.660 I'm looking at someone

00:28:58.760 who can take me

00:28:59.520 out of this spin zone,

00:29:00.820 out of this crazy space

00:29:02.140 that we're in right now.

00:29:03.240 I want a more settled presidency

00:29:05.460 that I can rely on

00:29:07.320 and I don't have to get up

00:29:08.420 and spend every day

00:29:09.600 and every waking hour

00:29:11.160 of that day

00:29:11.760 talking about

00:29:12.640 what the president's tweeted

00:29:13.880 or what the president's say.

00:29:14.720 So people are looking

00:29:15.600 for some degree

00:29:17.540 of normalcy,

00:29:19.640 if you want to use that word,

00:29:20.520 if I, you know,

00:29:21.000 go with that.

00:29:22.020 But it's going to be

00:29:23.280 a tall order for them.

00:29:24.480 And I think that,

00:29:26.080 you know,

00:29:26.500 they've got to figure out

00:29:27.900 whether they want to be woke

00:29:30.780 or if they want to win

00:29:32.260 because that's your only choice

00:29:34.440 at this point.

00:29:35.700 If you want to win,

00:29:36.940 then you're going to identify

00:29:38.180 that candidate

00:29:38.880 and I think they're easily identifiable

00:29:40.860 who can appeal

00:29:42.280 to the middle of the country,

00:29:43.220 who can speak to those farmers

00:29:45.360 and to those blue-collar workers,

00:29:47.740 to those moms 0.99

00:29:48.620 who are sitting around

00:29:49.140 kitchen tables

00:29:49.820 trying to balance budgets

00:29:51.020 with two weeks left

00:29:52.460 in the month

00:29:53.740 and no money, right?

00:29:56.520 So that's real life.

00:29:58.720 And Democrats have not been

00:30:00.500 very good,

00:30:02.080 in my estimation,

00:30:03.120 at speaking to real life.

00:30:04.580 They speak to the ideal life,

00:30:07.560 you know,

00:30:08.140 where, you know,

00:30:09.100 everybody's on the same page

00:30:10.400 on global warming

00:30:11.220 and we've got free education

00:30:12.580 and we're going to harangue

00:30:14.860 the hell out of billionaires

00:30:15.900 and grab all their cash

00:30:17.000 because they don't deserve it.

00:30:18.200 They never earned it anyway.

00:30:19.980 You know,

00:30:20.120 it's like you hear

00:30:20.620 on the debate stage

00:30:22.040 when they look at Mike Bloomberg.

00:30:23.480 Well, there were workers

00:30:24.520 that worked for you.

00:30:25.540 I was like,

00:30:25.980 look, dude,

00:30:26.540 yes,

00:30:26.800 because he employed them.

00:30:27.980 You get it?

00:30:28.800 He employed them.

00:30:30.100 When Obama had said,

00:30:31.520 I think it was 2008,

00:30:32.580 you didn't build that,

00:30:33.820 that was seen as a gaffe.

00:30:35.160 But now that standard

00:30:36.200 Democrat policy,

00:30:37.460 the fact that,

00:30:38.120 well, you didn't do that,

00:30:38.960 no.

00:30:39.220 Right, right.

00:30:39.820 No, exactly right.

00:30:40.560 So there is a,

00:30:41.920 in my estimation,

00:30:42.660 a complete misreading

00:30:43.880 of the electorate

00:30:45.060 that the Democrats

00:30:45.700 have been just,

00:30:48.280 they're very expert at

00:30:50.080 misreading the public.

00:30:52.400 They did it with Hillary Clinton

00:30:53.500 and to some extent

00:30:56.760 they did it with Obama

00:30:59.020 in his second term.

00:31:01.180 And that's what gave,

00:31:03.100 I think,

00:31:03.560 the fertile ground

00:31:04.580 for a Donald Trump candidacy

00:31:06.700 in addition to the sheer

00:31:08.400 incompetency of Republicans

00:31:10.140 to actually put the finger

00:31:11.280 and the pulse

00:31:11.740 inside their own ranks

00:31:13.640 to figure out exactly

00:31:15.160 how much on the heels

00:31:17.260 of the Tea Party movement

00:31:18.300 the base had shifted

00:31:19.760 and why that base

00:31:21.520 was still angry.

00:31:23.820 We had,

00:31:24.420 when I was national chairman,

00:31:25.920 had mitigated some of that.

00:31:27.400 We had,

00:31:27.840 I think,

00:31:28.340 a very good working relationship

00:31:29.820 with Tea Party leaders

00:31:32.280 around the country.

00:31:33.060 We elected a lot

00:31:34.400 of their candidates,

00:31:35.440 constitutional conservatives

00:31:37.660 to the Congress

00:31:39.200 and the state legislatures.

00:31:41.680 Some have retired since then.

00:31:43.920 A few have lost their seats.

00:31:46.080 But their frustration

00:31:47.900 grew anew

00:31:49.660 after 2012

00:31:51.120 and boom,

00:31:52.640 Donald Trump came in

00:31:53.760 and sort of picked

00:31:54.340 at that wound

00:31:55.160 and launched a populist,

00:31:59.100 not resurgence,

00:32:00.840 but sort of energy

00:32:03.740 that they were like,

00:32:06.080 I can ride with that.

00:32:07.580 And so now,

00:32:08.640 even internally

00:32:09.400 for the Republicans,

00:32:11.040 looking either

00:32:12.560 after 2020

00:32:13.920 or after 2024,

00:32:16.000 how does that ground

00:32:17.560 shift further

00:32:18.300 to sort of continue

00:32:20.460 the progress

00:32:21.400 of electing

00:32:22.320 national office

00:32:23.880 holders,

00:32:25.140 et cetera?

00:32:25.580 I'm actually glad

00:32:26.700 you mentioned

00:32:27.340 the populism

00:32:28.220 because I wanted

00:32:28.960 to talk to you

00:32:29.520 about the popular

00:32:30.840 vote shift

00:32:31.720 that we're seeing,

00:32:32.560 mostly from the left.

00:32:34.000 I mean,

00:32:34.260 certainly the Democrats

00:32:35.120 are saying they want

00:32:35.900 to tear up

00:32:36.300 the Electoral College.

00:32:37.800 There is another way,

00:32:39.200 and we're seeing this

00:32:39.820 in Virginia,

00:32:40.400 most recently

00:32:40.980 in other states,

00:32:42.140 to have popular vote

00:32:43.540 that uses

00:32:44.440 the Electoral College.

00:32:46.060 And I find it interesting

00:32:47.540 because most of the resistance,

00:32:49.260 certainly that knee-jerk resistance

00:32:50.680 to electing a president

00:32:51.860 by national popular vote

00:32:53.280 seems to come

00:32:54.460 from Republicans

00:32:55.360 because of the old

00:32:56.600 narrative that,

00:32:57.720 you know,

00:32:57.900 your states like

00:32:59.100 New Hampshire,

00:33:00.720 Iowa,

00:33:01.380 Wyoming

00:33:01.740 are going to be

00:33:02.560 overlooked.

00:33:03.500 But I think the populism

00:33:04.960 aspect is very interesting

00:33:06.400 because if populism

00:33:07.680 is where conservatism

00:33:09.340 is headed

00:33:09.780 in some form...

00:33:10.800 In the short term.

00:33:11.800 Yeah,

00:33:12.100 you'd think that would

00:33:13.300 actually invite

00:33:14.380 or welcome

00:33:15.140 a popular vote.

00:33:17.160 You do,

00:33:18.580 and it should,

00:33:20.940 but I think

00:33:21.560 what then clouds

00:33:23.240 that conversation

00:33:25.000 is a number

00:33:26.960 of things

00:33:27.480 that we've talked

00:33:29.260 about,

00:33:29.680 and that is

00:33:30.660 ballot security

00:33:33.240 and whether or not

00:33:34.220 this new approach

00:33:36.740 deals with the fraud

00:33:38.340 that can

00:33:39.060 and has taken place

00:33:40.420 in elections

00:33:41.720 in the past,

00:33:43.260 and not just in the past,

00:33:44.540 but in the recent past.

00:33:47.180 And also,

00:33:48.100 I think there is

00:33:48.820 this general idea

00:33:50.440 that,

00:33:50.980 well,

00:33:51.620 are we going to be

00:33:53.240 electing the opposition?

00:33:54.900 You know?

00:33:55.280 Well,

00:33:55.560 the idea of a national

00:33:56.600 popular vote

00:33:57.340 is that every citizen

00:33:58.560 has access

00:33:59.720 to the ballot,

00:34:00.760 their vote will count,

00:34:02.080 their vote will matter,

00:34:03.380 and it will be a part

00:34:04.720 of making a difference.

00:34:06.120 You then move away

00:34:07.240 from the situation

00:34:08.300 that we find ourselves

00:34:09.320 in where a candidate

00:34:10.760 wins the popular vote

00:34:12.300 but then loses

00:34:12.920 in the electoral college

00:34:14.000 because that is the way

00:34:15.060 the current structure works.

00:34:16.860 What we're looking at

00:34:18.300 with national popular vote

00:34:19.540 is sort of creating

00:34:20.580 a level playing field

00:34:21.500 where all 50 states

00:34:22.700 are competitive.

00:34:24.060 Why?

00:34:24.620 Because guess what?

00:34:25.600 Candidates now have to

00:34:26.680 campaign in all 50 states

00:34:28.260 because you're building

00:34:29.960 towards a national total,

00:34:32.240 not just winning Wisconsin.

00:34:35.060 You want,

00:34:35.540 yeah,

00:34:35.780 you can win Wisconsin,

00:34:37.220 that's fine,

00:34:37.940 or you can lose Wisconsin

00:34:39.280 as long as you're building

00:34:40.700 a number that is strong enough

00:34:42.380 to be added to what

00:34:43.380 you're doing in California.

00:34:44.940 Here's the other thing

00:34:45.680 that I think is very important,

00:34:46.820 particularly for

00:34:47.640 those jurisdictions

00:34:49.860 in the Southwest

00:34:51.880 and the West,

00:34:53.260 particularly Republican

00:34:54.260 jurisdictions.

00:34:56.460 And that is

00:34:57.460 when you're in that space,

00:35:00.320 all of a sudden now

00:35:01.760 when 8 o'clock comes

00:35:03.560 on the East Coast,

00:35:05.080 they're not shut,

00:35:05.820 they're not calling

00:35:06.400 the election.

00:35:07.580 They can't call the election

00:35:09.140 because there's still

00:35:10.340 three hours of votes

00:35:11.720 to be tabulated

00:35:13.620 and counted

00:35:15.020 in the Western part

00:35:18.360 of the country.

00:35:19.420 So for those

00:35:20.440 particularly Republican

00:35:21.740 voters

00:35:23.400 who are sitting

00:35:24.260 on the one-on-one

00:35:25.780 trying to get home

00:35:26.880 or try to get

00:35:28.020 to the voting polls

00:35:28.900 and at 8 o'clock

00:35:30.040 on the East Coast

00:35:30.820 in the past,

00:35:31.940 they're,

00:35:32.360 you know,

00:35:32.680 oh yes,

00:35:33.940 we call the race for,

00:35:35.240 they turn around

00:35:36.060 and go home.

00:35:37.000 I'm not going to vote now

00:35:38.100 because hell, 0.53

00:35:38.660 they just called the race

00:35:39.580 for the Democrat

00:35:40.640 or they called the race

00:35:41.660 for the Republican

00:35:42.320 and I'm done.

00:35:44.400 But now,

00:35:45.640 you want to,

00:35:47.240 you want that vote

00:35:48.120 to get to the polls

00:35:49.040 because that number,

00:35:51.320 no matter what it is,

00:35:52.720 is going to add

00:35:53.500 to a national number.

00:35:54.840 So when you look

00:35:56.040 at these elections,

00:35:57.260 there's a whole new dynamic

00:35:58.500 and Donald Trump,

00:35:59.540 to his credit,

00:36:00.720 has said

00:36:01.540 and acknowledged

00:36:02.340 that if there were

00:36:03.540 a national popular vote

00:36:04.760 in place in 16

00:36:05.700 or 20

00:36:06.760 or in any campaign

00:36:07.600 he's in,

00:36:08.120 he would campaign differently.

00:36:09.440 He would be campaigning

00:36:11.180 in states

00:36:12.200 that right now

00:36:12.900 are either flyer states

00:36:14.120 or the states

00:36:14.840 that they ignore

00:36:15.440 because there's no,

00:36:16.480 they're not a competitive

00:36:17.280 part of the battleground

00:36:19.440 calculation.

00:36:20.900 And that works both ways.

00:36:22.120 I mean,

00:36:22.300 states that aren't battlegrounds

00:36:23.420 because you know

00:36:23.800 you're going to win them

00:36:24.460 and states that aren't

00:36:25.460 battlegrounds

00:36:25.920 because you know

00:36:26.320 you're going to lose them.

00:36:27.340 So in the end,

00:36:28.220 you've got,

00:36:28.720 you know,

00:36:29.400 California,

00:36:30.020 New York,

00:36:30.560 which are the biggest states

00:36:31.560 in the union

00:36:32.060 that get no real campaigning

00:36:34.460 from either the Democrats

00:36:35.380 or the Republicans.

00:36:36.640 Right,

00:36:36.880 right.

00:36:37.100 And so to that point

00:36:38.640 as an example,

00:36:40.060 if,

00:36:40.460 you know,

00:36:40.940 typically there are,

00:36:42.400 I know that I'm just going

00:36:43.560 to play with the numbers

00:36:44.160 so go with me here.

00:36:45.300 If there are 3 million

00:36:46.480 California independents

00:36:49.960 and Republicans

00:36:50.560 who vote for the Republican

00:36:52.060 candidate

00:36:52.580 in a typical

00:36:53.300 presidential election

00:36:54.760 and you now

00:36:57.160 have the opportunity

00:36:58.140 where you've got

00:36:59.260 a million people

00:36:59.960 on their way

00:37:00.620 to the polls

00:37:01.260 at 5 o'clock

00:37:02.340 to go

00:37:03.160 and now all of a sudden

00:37:03.800 you've got 4 million,

00:37:04.840 now you've just added

00:37:06.820 another million

00:37:07.520 to your national total

00:37:08.680 and if you,

00:37:09.900 if you,

00:37:10.340 and you couple that

00:37:11.120 with places like New York,

00:37:13.740 New Jersey,

00:37:14.840 Florida,

00:37:15.880 Ohio,

00:37:17.040 elsewhere,

00:37:18.080 all of a sudden now

00:37:19.140 you can see

00:37:20.020 just where

00:37:20.820 you have now

00:37:22.060 created margins

00:37:22.860 for you to win

00:37:23.840 as opposed to,

00:37:25.880 well,

00:37:26.260 okay,

00:37:26.620 I got 3 million votes

00:37:27.680 in California,

00:37:29.100 whoopee.

00:37:30.020 So it,

00:37:30.700 for me,

00:37:31.480 again,

00:37:31.740 it changes the way

00:37:32.580 the game is played.

00:37:33.440 It is something

00:37:34.460 worth looking at

00:37:35.500 and I think

00:37:36.080 on the heels

00:37:36.800 of the,

00:37:39.260 certainly in the

00:37:40.940 Democratic primary

00:37:41.940 in Iowa

00:37:42.520 and the mess

00:37:44.240 that is,

00:37:44.960 I mean,

00:37:45.120 first off,

00:37:45.540 let's just do away

00:37:46.480 with the caucus system,

00:37:47.440 people.

00:37:47.900 Can we,

00:37:48.220 can we just be honest

00:37:49.440 and say the idea

00:37:50.660 that you're going

00:37:51.880 to engage

00:37:52.620 in the least

00:37:53.340 Democratic

00:37:53.980 aspect of voting

00:37:55.600 where you tell people

00:37:57.120 you have to be

00:37:58.200 in a location

00:37:58.980 between hour one

00:38:00.360 and hour four

00:38:01.260 and if you're not

00:38:01.920 there at hour

00:38:02.700 four plus one

00:38:03.580 minute,

00:38:04.200 you're not there,

00:38:04.880 we're going

00:38:05.120 to lock you out,

00:38:06.000 you can't vote.

00:38:07.220 That to me

00:38:07.820 is undemocratic.

00:38:08.720 And no secret ballot.

00:38:09.900 It's really the only

00:38:10.480 area where there's

00:38:11.300 no secrecy

00:38:11.940 of who you're

00:38:12.280 voting for.

00:38:12.700 You're literally

00:38:13.060 standing in the

00:38:13.980 corner.

00:38:14.480 Right,

00:38:14.900 so talk about

00:38:16.400 peer pressure

00:38:17.080 and your neighbors

00:38:17.920 are,

00:38:18.320 oh,

00:38:18.540 you standing

00:38:19.020 there for Trump

00:38:19.780 or you standing

00:38:20.480 there for Biden

00:38:21.340 or you standing

00:38:21.980 there for,

00:38:23.060 you know,

00:38:23.300 so it's,

00:38:23.800 it's,

00:38:24.060 it's ridiculous.

00:38:25.340 Go,

00:38:25.840 go to,

00:38:26.780 you know,

00:38:27.280 a primary system.

00:38:28.840 I think when I

00:38:30.220 was national

00:38:30.680 chairman,

00:38:31.200 I advocated for

00:38:32.400 a national

00:38:33.060 primary.

00:38:34.600 Pick a day

00:38:35.400 in April,

00:38:36.040 pick four weeks

00:38:37.040 in April

00:38:37.460 and each week

00:38:38.640 you have four

00:38:39.440 region,

00:38:39.940 you have a regional

00:38:40.820 primary over

00:38:43.240 those four weeks

00:38:44.100 and you're done

00:38:45.040 by the end of

00:38:45.640 the month

00:38:46.000 and you know

00:38:46.600 who your nominee

00:38:47.200 is going to be.

00:38:48.660 And so there

00:38:49.780 are a lot of

00:38:50.240 options and

00:38:50.900 opportunities.

00:38:51.480 I think the

00:38:52.060 Democrats are

00:38:52.640 certainly going

00:38:53.060 to look at that.

00:38:53.720 I think Republicans

00:38:54.360 should revisit that

00:38:55.460 as we did

00:38:56.340 when I was

00:38:57.160 national chairman

00:38:57.880 and made some

00:38:58.460 recommendations

00:38:59.000 on how our

00:39:00.260 primary should

00:39:00.880 unfold in order

00:39:02.960 to,

00:39:03.380 again,

00:39:03.660 the goal is

00:39:04.340 to get out

00:39:05.260 as many of

00:39:06.200 your voters

00:39:06.660 as you can't

00:39:07.300 possibly can

00:39:07.940 to identify

00:39:08.640 new voters

00:39:09.540 and get them

00:39:10.980 to the polls.

00:39:12.480 Do you like

00:39:12.840 a popular vote

00:39:13.700 because you think

00:39:14.380 it would favor

00:39:15.100 conservatives

00:39:15.740 or do you just

00:39:16.480 think it would

00:39:17.200 dampen an

00:39:18.480 electoral edge

00:39:19.280 that right now

00:39:19.940 the Democrats

00:39:20.440 have in your view

00:39:21.400 under the

00:39:21.780 status quo?

00:39:23.080 Oh,

00:39:23.220 I think it favors,

00:39:24.000 I think it favors

00:39:24.980 conservatives.

00:39:25.840 I think it,

00:39:26.440 it plays to

00:39:28.020 the idea

00:39:28.820 that the

00:39:29.520 nation

00:39:30.300 as a whole

00:39:31.980 is a center

00:39:33.400 right nation

00:39:34.000 and I think

00:39:35.320 that in a lot

00:39:36.080 of communities,

00:39:37.160 particularly when

00:39:37.780 you're looking

00:39:38.640 at minority

00:39:39.180 communities,

00:39:39.780 Hispanics and

00:39:40.340 African Americans,

00:39:41.480 the presumption

00:39:42.320 is that's an

00:39:42.960 automatic democratic

00:39:43.940 vote.

00:39:44.320 I can tell you

00:39:44.840 firsthand as a

00:39:45.580 black man,

00:39:46.080 that's not true.

00:39:47.160 I can tell you

00:39:47.980 firsthand as the

00:39:48.780 former county

00:39:49.760 chairman,

00:39:50.320 state chairman

00:39:50.880 in Maryland,

00:39:51.560 as well as

00:39:52.400 national chairman,

00:39:53.400 that's not true.

00:39:54.240 And we have,

00:39:56.680 I believe,

00:39:57.840 very fervently

00:39:58.640 still within us

00:40:00.100 the capacity

00:40:01.040 to make the

00:40:01.680 case to a

00:40:02.380 cross-section

00:40:03.000 of voters

00:40:03.540 that they

00:40:05.200 will find

00:40:05.640 appealing.

00:40:06.680 And this

00:40:07.140 new format

00:40:08.640 allows us

00:40:10.040 the opportunity,

00:40:11.180 again,

00:40:11.640 to go into

00:40:12.320 places that we

00:40:13.220 have just

00:40:13.660 regressed from

00:40:14.600 because,

00:40:16.200 oh,

00:40:16.320 it's a blue

00:40:16.760 state,

00:40:17.380 you know,

00:40:17.740 or we're not

00:40:18.180 going to win

00:40:18.560 that state.

00:40:19.080 Well,

00:40:19.600 now you're

00:40:20.340 going to play.

00:40:20.960 And guess what

00:40:21.500 else is essentially

00:40:22.860 important here?

00:40:24.280 Going back to

00:40:24.860 that California

00:40:25.420 example with

00:40:26.380 that million

00:40:27.500 extra voters

00:40:28.740 who decided

00:40:29.260 to continue

00:40:29.880 on to the

00:40:30.420 polls as

00:40:30.860 opposed to

00:40:31.280 turning around

00:40:31.700 and going

00:40:32.020 home at

00:40:32.620 five o'clock,

00:40:33.500 that helps

00:40:35.000 your down

00:40:35.400 ballot.

00:40:36.220 It helps

00:40:36.760 your down

00:40:37.260 ballot candidates

00:40:38.080 as well because

00:40:38.700 now you've

00:40:39.180 just added a

00:40:40.220 fresh one

00:40:40.900 million voters

00:40:41.840 for governor

00:40:42.760 and for the

00:40:43.700 U.S.

00:40:44.140 Senate and

00:40:44.680 for,

00:40:45.220 you know,

00:40:45.900 county commissioner

00:40:46.820 and so forth.

00:40:48.460 So I think

00:40:50.280 for Republicans,

00:40:51.500 we need to,

00:40:52.260 you know,

00:40:52.700 look at it

00:40:53.500 very objectively.

00:40:54.840 It makes

00:40:56.260 constitutional

00:40:57.160 muster.

00:40:58.240 It meets

00:40:59.440 all the

00:41:00.040 constitutional

00:41:00.800 requirements.

00:41:01.920 It's a compact

00:41:02.720 amongst the

00:41:03.520 states,

00:41:03.880 no different

00:41:04.540 than the

00:41:04.920 lottery compacts

00:41:05.820 that we're

00:41:06.060 very familiar

00:41:06.620 with.

00:41:07.220 Certainly those

00:41:07.960 in the western

00:41:08.600 part of our

00:41:09.480 nation who

00:41:10.620 are in

00:41:11.200 water compacts,

00:41:12.640 you know,

00:41:13.800 know what

00:41:14.680 that's like

00:41:15.240 if you're

00:41:15.720 sharing the

00:41:16.420 Colorado River.

00:41:17.540 So it's a

00:41:20.540 form of

00:41:21.000 cooperation

00:41:21.600 among the

00:41:22.120 states where

00:41:22.600 they say,

00:41:23.180 look,

00:41:23.860 we're going

00:41:24.420 to agree

00:41:25.000 that this

00:41:26.380 body of

00:41:27.420 us,

00:41:28.160 that total

00:41:28.820 270 electoral

00:41:30.300 votes,

00:41:31.760 agree that

00:41:32.800 whoever wins

00:41:33.700 that national

00:41:34.500 popular vote,

00:41:35.300 that grand

00:41:36.180 national total,

00:41:37.620 we agree to

00:41:38.680 commit our

00:41:39.580 electoral votes

00:41:41.120 to that

00:41:41.580 candidate.

00:41:42.280 Why?

00:41:43.220 Because that

00:41:43.640 candidate will

00:41:44.340 have competed

00:41:44.980 in all of

00:41:46.280 our states.

00:41:46.920 That candidate

00:41:47.420 will have

00:41:47.840 competed in

00:41:49.540 most of our

00:41:50.580 communities.

00:41:51.580 And I think

00:41:51.980 that more than

00:41:52.840 anything else is

00:41:54.240 how we begin to

00:41:55.100 re-engage

00:41:55.620 citizens in the

00:41:57.380 most important

00:41:58.120 franchise they

00:41:59.220 have.

00:42:00.120 Michael Steele,

00:42:00.920 thank you so much

00:42:01.500 for chatting.

00:42:01.960 I really appreciate

00:42:02.480 it.

00:42:02.800 I really enjoyed

00:42:03.480 it.

00:42:03.680 Thank you.

00:42:04.580 My thanks to

00:42:05.160 Michael Steele

00:42:05.740 and my thanks to

00:42:06.520 all of you for

00:42:07.660 tuning in,

00:42:08.360 writing in,

00:42:08.980 supporting this

00:42:09.600 show in

00:42:10.300 whichever way

00:42:10.960 you do.

00:42:11.720 We'll be back

00:42:12.340 in just a few

00:42:13.260 days with more

00:42:13.960 of the Andrew

00:42:14.540 Lawton Show.

00:42:15.260 Thank you,

00:42:15.820 God bless,

00:42:16.320 and good day.

00:42:17.260 Thanks for

00:42:17.640 listening to

00:42:18.120 the Andrew

00:42:18.520 Lawton Show.

00:42:19.360 Support the

00:42:19.880 program by

00:42:20.400 donating to

00:42:20.980 True North

00:42:21.420 at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - February 27, 2020

Kangaroo Courts, Grooming Gang Coverups and American Socialism (feat. Michael Steele)

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