Louder with Crowder - July 01, 2024


A German and a Jew Walk Into a Bar | Talking With People


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

195.16225

Word count

6,616

Sentence count

540

Harmful content

Misogyny

10

sentences flagged

Toxicity

12

sentences flagged

Hate speech

15

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On this episode of Talking With People, I sit down with my good friend Paul and discuss the current state of America, our culture, and the upcoming election. Paul is a dual citizen living in the United States and Steven is a German-American living in Germany.

Transcript

Transcripts from "Louder with Crowder" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Two HHS-OIG armed agents showed up at our apartment, and he's been under criminal federal investigation ever since.
00:00:07.000 For blowing the whistle.
00:00:08.000 For blowing the whistle.
00:00:09.000 And they have never identified the crime, and the amount of corruption in this investigation is absolutely staggering.
00:00:16.000 Oh, of course.
00:00:17.000 A German and a Jew walk into the same public square.
00:00:19.000 I know, it sounds like the start of a corny and probably racist World War II joke.
00:00:25.000 This is actually the background story of this latest installment of Talking With People.
00:00:32.000 It's hard to think of two people who would most likely have different viewpoints than these two.
00:00:37.000 But the more I do this, I find that's the interesting thing about the United States today.
00:00:42.000 Conventional wisdom or preconceived notions don't always apply.
00:00:47.000 Making snap judgments or assumptions of someone's individual beliefs or political opinions based off of their immutable characteristics doesn't really work anymore.
00:00:57.000 And that's certainly on display with these two people as I discussed the current state of America, our culture, and the upcoming election.
00:01:04.000 Is it surprising?
00:01:05.000 In 2024?
00:01:06.000 Not necessarily.
00:01:07.000 Eye-opening?
00:01:10.000 Well, I'll let you be the judge.
00:01:12.000 This is Talking With People.
00:01:16.000 Hey, sir.
00:01:17.000 Nice to finally meet you.
00:01:18.000 I'm following your YouTube channel.
00:01:20.000 I didn't watch every video, to be honest.
00:01:22.000 That's better that you don't.
00:01:23.000 What was your name, sir?
00:01:23.000 Paul.
00:01:24.000 Paul, Steven.
00:01:25.000 Nice to meet you.
00:01:26.000 Nice to meet you in person.
00:01:27.000 So you're from Germany, but you're an American citizen now?
00:01:30.000 I'm from Germany, but my wife and I, we moved to the U.S.
00:01:34.000 in 2008.
00:01:35.000 And I'm a U.S.
00:01:36.000 citizen since 2018, so I'm a dual citizen.
00:01:39.000 So yes, I'm German, but I'm not really the right person to tell you everything about Germany, what's going on there right now.
00:01:45.000 For sure, to disappoint right away.
00:01:46.000 How do you like being in America?
00:01:48.000 I really love it.
00:01:50.000 We had a brief phase of two years where we lived back in Central Europe, in Switzerland to be more precise.
00:01:56.000 And after a few months I already noticed I need to go back to the US.
00:02:00.000 I really love the US.
00:02:02.000 I love the people.
00:02:03.000 I love the whole system.
00:02:05.000 every aspect about it. Every country has advantages and disadvantages for sure. But the openness
00:02:06.000 Sure.
00:02:12.000 and also the misconception that we just talked about it here, that it's a conservative country.
00:02:20.000 Some aspects are fiscally conservative, but central Europe, the German speaking regions
00:02:26.000 for sure are way more conservative, way more social conservative.
00:02:31.000 Really?
00:02:31.000 When you look at topics like abortion, which is one of the points I'm disagreeing with you here, it's 12 weeks.
00:02:41.000 It's 12 weeks in Germany.
00:02:44.000 That's where the cutoff is in Germany?
00:02:46.000 That's where the cutoff is in Germany, and also in Switzerland.
00:02:48.000 Austria, I don't know right now, possibly the same.
00:02:51.000 Because it's very Catholic countries.
00:02:55.000 Sorry, I'm taking over the interview right now.
00:02:57.000 A lot of people don't realize, sometimes there are issues that are seen as political here.
00:03:01.000 For example, you have people who have protested for cut-offs further than 12 weeks.
00:03:05.000 Right, right.
00:03:06.000 In California we have 24 weeks, which is kind of very far into the pregnancy, if you ask me.
00:03:13.000 And there are exceptions, too, beyond 24 weeks.
00:03:15.000 Right, right.
00:03:16.000 Anyway, I don't want to make this about abortion.
00:03:19.000 So would you say that's the biggest misconception maybe people in Germany have about the United States?
00:03:22.000 Yeah, and maybe the people in the United States are also about Europe or Central Europe, although Europe is a lot of different countries that are very different in terms of laws and all that, and societies, but I would say that's a big misconception because the U.S.
00:03:38.000 is usually ahead on a lot of social issues like gay marriage, for example, was first legal in the U.S.
00:03:47.000 I agree.
00:03:48.000 Germany followed much later.
00:03:50.000 Right.
00:03:51.000 Yeah, that would be one in which we...
00:03:52.000 I don't think that the government should be involved in the marriage business at this 0.98
00:03:55.000 point.
00:03:56.000 Right, I agree.
00:03:57.000 It's just the whole system is mucked up in the States.
00:03:59.000 I'm sure we've gotten a lot of that wrong.
00:04:01.000 So now here as a citizen, are you paying attention to this election coming up?
00:04:06.000 I'm paying attention to this election.
00:04:08.000 And to be honest, I don't really know who to vote for.
00:04:10.000 I just know that I won't be voting for Biden.
00:04:13.000 That's what I know.
00:04:14.000 But I'm really undecided whether I should.
00:04:17.000 Because I don't like Trump either.
00:04:19.000 So I'm not... I don't know if I... Let's start with why will you not vote for Biden?
00:04:22.000 Let's start with that.
00:04:23.000 I wouldn't vote for Biden for a host of issues.
00:04:27.000 The first thing is, I mean, he's very old.
00:04:30.000 And then there's the whole, and I mean Trump is old too, but Trump still got it together.
00:04:34.000 Let's be honest, there's different kinds of old. 0.99
00:04:36.000 There's different kinds of old, sure, so I wouldn't discriminate just based on the age of Biden, but if you hear him talking, he has some bright moments where he's coherent, but there are a lot of incoherent moments, and I don't feel this country should be represented by someone being 83, 84 at some point.
00:04:58.000 And then the second thing is I don't like Kamala Harris at all.
00:05:01.000 I think she's super incompetent. 1.00
00:05:03.000 I don't want her to be the president, which would be a very likely scenario with a 82, 83 year old Joe Biden.
00:05:11.000 And when you're talking about him dying or something, I'm talking about him not being capable anymore and people finally... It's a statistical, I mean, I wouldn't say likelihood, but a very real possibility for sure.
00:05:21.000 Right, so there's the matter of his age.
00:05:24.000 Then the debt is a big issue.
00:05:27.000 I mean, Trump, the other alternative, isn't fiscally conservative that much either.
00:05:33.000 But the budget that Biden already has unveiled or announced is 7.2 trillion, if I'm not mistaken.
00:05:42.000 And that's a step in the wrong direction.
00:05:44.000 So he's giving out a lot of handouts.
00:05:46.000 For example, his college Student loan forgiveness.
00:05:51.000 Thank you, student loan forgiveness, which is insane.
00:05:53.000 I mean, I don't mind if they would change the student, the college system, because they're spending a lot of money for advertising, charging a lot of money, so this is getting out of hand.
00:06:03.000 So I don't mind if he would pass laws to dampen that spiral of let's spend more money to get more money from our students down or help out... Hold on, don't move.
00:06:03.000 Yeah.
00:06:14.000 There's literally a spider right here.
00:06:16.000 See that?
00:06:16.000 Oh, thank you, thank you.
00:06:17.000 So that's an interesting issue, right?
00:06:18.000 It seems to me like you're pretty well-versed on the economy, or at least I have an understanding of fiscal issues.
00:06:23.000 If it were me, I would have freaked out.
00:06:25.000 If I see a spider, I would be insane.
00:06:27.000 So, the thing with student...
00:06:29.000 So that's an interesting issue, right?
00:06:31.000 It seems to me like you're pretty well-versed on the economy,
00:06:33.000 or at least have an understanding of fiscal issues.
00:06:35.000 A big problem, you know, with universities here is the amount of government funding they get.
00:06:39.000 So they're incentivized to make it unaffordable, right?
00:06:41.000 to make it unaffordable, right?
00:06:43.000 It's kind of like with health insurance.
00:06:44.000 For example, I just had an MRI done recently on my shoulder.
00:06:47.000 And they said, if you pay cash, it's $400.
00:06:49.000 With your insurance, it's $950.
00:06:51.000 Why?
00:06:52.000 Because they say, ah, you know what, insurance, we're going to charge you triple the amount.
00:06:56.000 And insurance will pay.
00:06:56.000 It's a third party, right?
00:06:58.000 Same thing with university.
00:06:59.000 If they say, hey, it's $5,000 a semester, great, that's what I can afford.
00:07:03.000 If they say, it's $40,000, I can't afford it.
00:07:06.000 Hold on, let's see what kind of grants, what kind of scholarships we can get.
00:07:09.000 So they're leaving money on the table unless they inflate those prices.
00:07:12.000 And so I agree, the costs are out of control.
00:07:15.000 I don't know that it's a solution that any government really can provide outside of kind of stepping out a little bit.
00:07:21.000 Because there's no reason for colleges to become more affordable right now.
00:07:24.000 Right, right.
00:07:25.000 Yeah, so I mean, as I said, I don't mind if he damps that down a little bit.
00:07:33.000 But on the other hand, just throwing out money for people who already signed a contract to get into debt, although I don't like the system around it.
00:07:42.000 But I think that's also a step in the wrong direction, given the 32 trillion in government debt right now, which is a problem for future generations.
00:07:53.000 Then the other thing is the border issue.
00:07:55.000 Although I realize it's an election year and a conservative talking point, but I also see this as a big problem, not just the amount of people that are coming in, but the unchecked amount of people coming in.
00:08:10.000 So, I mean, do we know if there are some Hamas fighters coming in?
00:08:15.000 Oh, we know.
00:08:16.000 There definitely are.
00:08:17.000 Possibly, and I mean, it's not that difficult to get your hands on some guns and... Right.
00:08:23.000 What's immigration like in Germany?
00:08:25.000 Because a lot of Americans, they don't realize how big the United States is, right?
00:08:28.000 Basically, our states are like your countries.
00:08:30.000 You know, you can drive an hour, be in another country, any direction, probably be in two different countries.
00:08:35.000 What's the process like in Germany for immigration?
00:08:37.000 Do they have a process where they verify people more effectively?
00:08:41.000 Well, I mean...
00:08:44.000 As I said I don't live in Germany anymore so I can't really and I haven't really looked into all these issues so I have a hard time commenting on that but people aren't... I mean some throw their passports away so no there's no checking or verification in terms of criminal background because there are probably no records of who they are.
00:09:07.000 but it's more organized in a sense that these people get government handouts.
00:09:07.000 Right.
00:09:13.000 So as soon as you are recognized as a refugee, you get the same amount of money a German 0.77
00:09:20.000 would get when they are basically, well, not unemployed, there are some stages between,
00:09:25.000 but poor, no income for a long time.
00:09:28.000 So you would get like, including some help for your apartment and all that, you would
00:09:34.000 get like about 800 euros a month.
00:09:35.000 Right, yeah.
00:09:36.000 So you basically walk into Germany, you get recognized as a refugee and you get $800 plus 200, I think it's 250 a month per child right now.
00:09:48.000 So you would get a lot of money.
00:09:51.000 Depends where you're coming from, right?
00:09:53.000 But relatively speaking a lot of money for just... Compared to what you paid in taxes.
00:09:53.000 Sure.
00:09:59.000 Yeah, for just being in Germany.
00:09:59.000 For sure.
00:10:01.000 Yeah.
00:10:01.000 So, I think that's another social issue that deepens or that makes this whole topic more problematic.
00:10:09.000 Right.
00:10:09.000 Because people walk into Germany and I mean they are, and this is getting very political, like there are a lot of controversial topic, right, as here, but they're walking through a lot of safe countries essentially to end up in Germany or other Like Central European or Northern countries that have a lot of welfare or benefits.
00:10:29.000 Right, yeah.
00:10:30.000 And that's how a lot of people see it and that's also a problem because I don't think that the current younger more left-leaning, I would outright say socialistic tending generation of people in Germany They would want open borders.
00:10:49.000 They would want a better, bigger social system, so more welfare.
00:10:55.000 The four-day week with full salary and all that, it doesn't really fit together.
00:11:01.000 Right.
00:11:02.000 And so that's a problem.
00:11:03.000 So you cannot keep up.
00:11:04.000 And I think Germany is running into a lot of problems.
00:11:07.000 Energy is getting really expensive.
00:11:08.000 That's a whole different topic though.
00:11:10.000 Oh sure.
00:11:10.000 No nuclear power anymore and the Russian gas and all that.
00:11:15.000 So the ordinary citizen has to pay a lot of money in energy bills.
00:11:20.000 At the same time they want to start the electrification of the vehicle fleet or the vehicle market and all that.
00:11:28.000 So I see Germany running in a lot of problem midterm and long term.
00:11:32.000 Sure.
00:11:34.000 So that's why I also have some skepticism about the social welfare state.
00:11:39.000 I don't think they can afford it for a long time and I mean you have universal health care and all that.
00:11:45.000 It's one thing that some Americans who I see as also uneducated being from an academic spectrum saying okay they have free health care and it's true to
00:11:57.000 some extent that it's on a social level I mean the manager the CEO pays the same
00:12:03.000 if he has a knee surgery like the poor person I mean that's the same here
00:12:09.000 essentially but you don't have to it's free basically if you don't have money
00:12:14.000 right That's what I was going to say.
00:12:15.000 It's very simple.
00:12:16.000 I was raised in Canada where we do have a socialized health care system and of course it's since collapsed and they've had to open it to private hospitals as they call them in the States.
00:12:24.000 Well they call them in Canada super hospitals now and here they would just be known as hospitals.
00:12:28.000 So I grew up there in Quebec with that and yeah the quality of care in Canada was not very good and you still had to pay for 70% of the medications you wanted.
00:12:35.000 So I think a lot of Americans think it's hold up a government card and you don't pay for
00:12:39.000 anything and that's not necessarily how it works.
00:12:41.000 I wanted to go back though, so you said for sure not Biden, but then you mentioned immigration,
00:12:46.000 these issues that obviously if you look at the polls, people tend to believe that one
00:12:49.000 of the candidates would handle better.
00:12:52.000 What is it that still has you on the fence, for example, if definitely not Biden but you're
00:12:56.000 undecided, which means not Trump.
00:12:58.000 Right, right.
00:12:59.000 So I'm pondering if I had to vote right now, I would probably vote to vote as a statistical protest for either RFK, although I haven't looked into his personality, he's still not going to win anyway.
00:13:10.000 Right, of course not.
00:13:11.000 Or the Libertarian Party as a statistical protest, which it doesn't help, I know, but although I'm here in the state of Texas, the same as the state of California where I lived before, it doesn't really matter if you vote or not because it's Trump is going to be in here.
00:13:26.000 Distinctly red, yeah.
00:13:27.000 Biden is going to be in California.
00:13:28.000 Anyway, so I don't...
00:13:29.000 So it's not a matter where I'm saying, like, this is such a great decision for me.
00:13:33.000 But right now, I wouldn't vote for Trump.
00:13:36.000 That was the question.
00:13:37.000 Yeah, because you said definitely not Biden and undecided on Trump.
00:13:40.000 Mostly for his personality, his persona.
00:13:45.000 But overall, if you have to ask me, and I know it sounds like a contradiction why I
00:13:49.000 wouldn't vote for him, I think he would be slightly better for the country.
00:13:52.000 Right.
00:13:53.000 probably a lot of German, I have a YouTube channel, a German YouTube channel, a lot of
00:13:58.000 I'm going to link it to my channel.
00:13:59.000 Yeah, go ahead.
00:14:01.000 Tell them your channel.
00:14:03.000 It's DerStadtBewohner.
00:14:05.000 Okay.
00:14:05.000 I probably would have to spell it, but I don't want to waste your time.
00:14:08.000 We'll have a German guy in the office spell it.
00:14:10.000 I don't know how to do it.
00:14:12.000 So Trump is wildly unpopular in Germany.
00:14:16.000 Sure.
00:14:16.000 Because also it's like the media there is basically like CNN.
00:14:21.000 So it's like your whole... So it sucks? 0.99
00:14:24.000 Yeah, so it's, yeah, what, probably, maybe, yeah. 0.96
00:14:27.000 So, well, I think if you want to be really informed, you have to watch both Fox and CNN and all the other media that are either more like on the conservative or on the liberal spectrum.
00:14:38.000 But the German media, there's the problem that most of them, there are some conservative media for sure, but they don't really care about the Right.
00:14:46.000 American issues that much. So they tend to focus more on the conservative local
00:14:51.000 topics. Right. But they wouldn't really report the conservative side of the US
00:14:56.000 that much. Sure. I mean there are some conservative media who do that but the
00:14:59.000 the main media what the public media like NPR. Right. But it's just a bigger
00:15:05.000 thing in Germany. It's like Canada we have the CBC. Right.
00:15:08.000 So they would they would just report from a democratic CNN perspective. Right.
00:15:14.000 So just like as an ordinary German, you would only see the CNN perspective of American politics. 0.96
00:15:21.000 That's one of the reasons why they hate Trump.
00:15:24.000 Probably most people hate Trump or are disgusted by him or whatever you want to phrase it.
00:15:31.000 Um, so anyhow, um, I think he would be slightly better for the country than Joe Biden.
00:15:38.000 But just slightly, but I'm not really sure if I can get myself over myself to vote for him.
00:15:38.000 Yeah.
00:15:43.000 All right.
00:15:44.000 Well, what'd you say though?
00:15:45.000 You say slightly, but what we see is a pretty stark contrast.
00:15:48.000 Let's kind of take COVID out because that sort of was an anomaly, but the first three years of Donald Trump, Versus what you've seen with Biden economically.
00:15:55.000 I mean, the border issue you mentioned, you know, 1.9 million crossings under Trump's tenure with Biden.
00:16:00.000 It's over 7.6.
00:16:01.000 I thought it was 5.
00:16:03.000 No, it's over 7.6.
00:16:04.000 Just the southern border.
00:16:05.000 Yeah.
00:16:05.000 Just the southern border.
00:16:06.000 I mean, that's a huge change right now.
00:16:09.000 Like that's that's a I would say a stark contrast, not slight.
00:16:13.000 If the immigration issue is an issue, would that be something that if you kind of spend more time on, you think could maybe veer you one direction?
00:16:20.000 Yeah.
00:16:20.000 Yeah.
00:16:21.000 Right.
00:16:21.000 Right.
00:16:21.000 I mean, for me, the ship has sailed, so to say.
00:16:24.000 I mean, in the right direction for me.
00:16:25.000 mom's also French-Canadian. It's got to grind your gears to go through that 1.00
00:16:28.000 process and to see people, literally registered sex offenders, still get
00:16:32.000 DACA, DACA effectively, you know, passes to come in here into this country right now.
00:16:37.000 I mean for me the the ship has sailed so to say, I mean in the right direction for
00:16:41.000 me, but for me I'm more not concerned but a lot of my German viewers send me
00:16:52.000 emails, ask me, hey, do you have any tips how to immigrate to the US?
00:16:55.000 and I would love to live in the U.S.
00:16:57.000 I'm a truck driver in Germany and it's like, yeah, great, I mean, they're looking for truck drivers here, as an example, but you won't get a visa, so you can never be a truck driver here unless you win the green card lottery, which has a 1 to 50 chance or something.
00:17:09.000 Right.
00:17:10.000 So, yeah, I mean, That is a conundrum, right, that you cannot legally, if you have good intentions, want to work, you cannot legally or it's very difficult to legally immigrate to the U.S.
00:17:22.000 but then on the other hand people are just walking across the border.
00:17:24.000 Right.
00:17:25.000 Would I recommend doing that in terms of your legal status here in the U.S.
00:17:30.000 so you don't have a social security number or it's really hard to get one and stuff like that?
00:17:34.000 Probably not.
00:17:36.000 It's easier to steal stuff.
00:17:38.000 Possibly, yeah.
00:17:39.000 You just show up here, you talk about free healthcare, you just show up to an emergency room, don't pay the bill, there's no way to track you.
00:17:45.000 That's a huge burden.
00:17:46.000 Same thing with social safety nets here, you have people who benefit from those.
00:17:49.000 You know, we talk with a lot of people here on the street, and that's a big... In America, here's the thing, I'm sure you've noticed this, if someone says, hey, we have a problem with illegal immigration, they say, and by they I mean the left and a lot of Europe, that's racist.
00:17:59.000 Right, and Americans are afraid to speak out.
00:18:01.000 Yeah, that term is so overused that you cannot even say something like, okay, 36% of the population commit 50% of the murders, then you're immediately a racist, but it's just a fact.
00:18:14.000 So, yeah, but that's the same in Germany.
00:18:14.000 Right.
00:18:16.000 So that would be called an auto-racist if you criticize immigration.
00:18:21.000 Right.
00:18:22.000 If you are not for open borders, which I think is insane from a security but also a society perspective.
00:18:30.000 One other thing speaking of that probably people would also say since I just said the 30.6% that I'm a racist possibly but one difference in the whole immigration thing is also that what I see here why I don't see this as problematic as in Central Europe is that you have people from a Rather Christian background. 0.96
00:18:53.000 I'm not religious, but on the other hand, culturally, people from Mexico or Venezuela, they, I would dare to say, fit more into the American society.
00:19:03.000 They have rather conservative social values and it's not such a culture clash at work.
00:19:10.000 That's what we're seeing in Germany and Central Europe.
00:19:13.000 A lot of people come from Islamic countries and don't share the same values.
00:19:17.000 Which I have a critical view on.
00:19:19.000 I mean, there are moderate people, but I don't know how far we want to get with this.
00:19:23.000 Probably don't want to go that far because we're on an open street and if you say too much they blow stuff up.
00:19:27.000 But that's one other social issue that is more...
00:19:34.000 Well look, the thing is, my perspective is, you have the right, as a country, to say these are our values, and it's fine if you come from a country that doesn't share those values, for example, women, their right to drive, you know, for example, or the way they view civil rights, right?
00:19:48.000 That's not the same in the Islamic world.
00:19:50.000 They can stay there and preserve those cultures, but Germany has a right to say that's not how we do it here. 0.68
00:19:54.000 The problem is the guilt that is often, you know, your brow beaten with, and in the States, You're seeing that change with immigration.
00:20:00.000 A lot of people were... I mean, we've interviewed a couple of Hispanic Americans, and I've seen it's a problem.
00:20:05.000 And I have family, you know, who came here from Mexico.
00:20:08.000 A big shift that I've noticed, where I think, like you said, it's so overused that people just say, OK, let's talk about the numbers.
00:20:14.000 And I'm hoping that that at least carries into the election.
00:20:17.000 So I know you're undecided, but I appreciate your rational approach to it.
00:20:21.000 And this... One more time for your... What's the channel?
00:20:23.000 Der Stadtbewohner translates to The Urbanite or The City Dweller.
00:20:28.000 Yeah.
00:20:28.000 Okay.
00:20:28.000 Yeah.
00:20:30.000 No surprise there.
00:20:30.000 European, you're an urban fella.
00:20:32.000 I started in German, so it's... You probably come here going, where's the public transit?
00:20:32.000 Right, right.
00:20:36.000 Right.
00:20:37.000 Well, I mean, that's a different story.
00:20:38.000 I like driving a car, so I don't like public transit.
00:20:41.000 Yeah, well, so do I. But I was, again, raised in Montreal.
00:20:41.000 Right.
00:20:44.000 We're a robust public transit system, but it's terrible.
00:20:46.000 I'm not a fan.
00:20:48.000 German cars, you know, they tend to be pretty good.
00:20:50.000 You got that right.
00:20:51.000 Not a huge fan that they were commandeered by the Nazis, but so was Hugo Boss, so we take the good with the bad, you know. 0.81
00:20:56.000 Although I would, for reliability, rather drive a Toyota than a BMW or a Mercedes.
00:21:01.000 It doesn't have the same soul!
00:21:02.000 But yes, if you want it to work every single time.
00:21:05.000 The BMW is more fun to drive.
00:21:06.000 It is, yeah.
00:21:06.000 I don't even think they have a word for like AAA or tow truck in Japan.
00:21:09.000 They just, no, no, turn key.
00:21:11.000 And they get it working.
00:21:11.000 Right, right.
00:21:12.000 But it was Paul?
00:21:13.000 Yeah, Paul.
00:21:13.000 Thank you very much, Paul.
00:21:14.000 I appreciate it, brother.
00:21:15.000 Thank you.
00:21:15.000 You too.
00:21:16.000 You have a great day, too.
00:21:16.000 Thank you.
00:21:17.000 Yeah, you too.
00:21:18.000 Those aren't public rec pants, are they?
00:21:20.000 What pants?
00:21:21.000 Those pants are kind of like dress pants, but they're more like... So these are poly... Are we still on... No, it's okay.
00:21:28.000 These are polyester pants.
00:21:30.000 Oh, okay.
00:21:30.000 They look more comfortable than jeans.
00:21:31.000 Yeah, I'm muggy right now, so... I was like, ah, I'm envious of the pants.
00:21:37.000 That spider almost killed you.
00:21:38.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:21:38.000 You don't even realize.
00:21:39.000 It was just a little spider going down his chin.
00:21:41.000 I was like, I'm not gonna be able to focus on anything.
00:21:43.000 Can I do a selfie?
00:21:44.000 Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
00:21:49.000 Thank you very much, Paul.
00:21:49.000 Thank you so much.
00:21:50.000 Thank you.
00:21:50.000 I appreciate it, brother.
00:21:51.000 Thank you.
00:21:52.000 Sir, I know you've been waiting this whole time.
00:21:53.000 No, that's okay.
00:21:53.000 Yeah, hi, I'm Andrea.
00:21:54.000 Hi, nice to meet you.
00:21:54.000 Andrea, do you mind if I just grab a sip of water real quick so that I don't smell like a turtle cage?
00:21:59.000 All right.
00:21:59.000 Thank you.
00:22:00.000 Hello.
00:22:00.000 Great to meet you.
00:22:01.000 Nice to meet you, Paul.
00:22:02.000 Thank you.
00:22:03.000 Be well.
00:22:05.000 Matthew, thank you, Matthew.
00:22:14.000 Pleasure to meet you, man.
00:22:15.000 Be well.
00:22:15.000 Thank you, man.
00:22:17.000 So Andrea, I know you've been waiting.
00:22:18.000 I appreciate you being patient.
00:22:20.000 But Andrea, we've been asking people here, just kind of gauging the temperature.
00:22:23.000 Are you paying attention to this election?
00:22:24.000 Is it at the front of your mind?
00:22:25.000 Absolutely.
00:22:26.000 Alright, Andrea, what are the main issues of this election?
00:22:29.000 Top three, weaponization of the DOJ.
00:22:30.000 I don't know if that was the one that you guessed.
00:22:33.000 A little bit of personal experience with that one, actually.
00:22:36.000 You know, I would actually say social issues.
00:22:38.000 I think that's a surprising one.
00:22:39.000 People tend to discount some of the social issues.
00:22:42.000 But to me, the transgender issue is, you know, top, front and center.
00:22:46.000 And then immigration.
00:22:46.000 Okay, like which social issues?
00:22:48.000 Particularly the transgender issue. 0.81
00:22:50.000 You know, transgender ideology in schools is a huge one.
00:22:56.000 Gender-affirming care being performed on minors and being subsidized by the government.
00:23:00.000 Huge issue.
00:23:03.000 And then I think Okay.
00:23:06.000 Alright.
00:23:08.000 I was way off.
00:23:09.000 I thought you were going to say, because the only white people we interviewed so far were like, we want to make sure abortion is still a thing.
00:23:14.000 I was like, oh, I bet you that was coming over.
00:23:16.000 Yes, yes.
00:23:16.000 because I actually went to Colombia and I'm a young Jewish woman and I work for
00:23:20.000 the government. Which in my personal, I'm here in my personal capacity by the way.
00:23:24.000 Of course, yes. You'll still probably be audited. They tend to think I'm a Democrat but that's absolutely not the case.
00:23:29.000 Why do you think people would, why do you think that is?
00:23:31.000 Why do you think that young white or Jewish professional women would tend to be Democrat? 1.00
00:23:35.000 You know, I think it's how you're raised. I think it's a cultural thing.
00:23:40.000 I think it's a lot of the schools that people go to.
00:23:44.000 I mean, I will say I was definitely in the minority when I was in school on the East Coast as a Republican.
00:23:51.000 I can imagine.
00:23:52.000 It's difficult to speak out.
00:23:54.000 I think it's not a safe space to share your opinions.
00:23:56.000 And I think that it's just what people grow up.
00:23:58.000 And women are convinced that the thing that they have to care about is abortion. 1.00
00:24:01.000 And I care about that, too, on the opposite side.
00:24:03.000 I'm very pro-life.
00:24:04.000 But I think it's what's trendy and what's I want to go to the weaponization of the DOJ because that's a big one for me.
00:24:12.000 Do you think that maybe this is shifting a little bit as far as younger Jewish women, considering what we've seen across the country with the protests, the pro-Hamas protests, and what's been happening with Israel and Gaza?
00:24:23.000 Yeah, which is absolutely horrifying, and I hope so.
00:24:27.000 I mean, I guess I would hope that people are waking up a little bit about these dangers of this kind of woke left ideology.
00:24:37.000 I went to Columbia a few years ago.
00:24:40.000 I graduated in 2018.
00:24:41.000 I can't imagine being a young Jewish woman on that campus right now. 0.71
00:24:47.000 I've heard colloquially from a few people that the Israel issue in particular is changing their opinion.
00:24:54.000 We'll say my husband actually used to be a Democrat.
00:24:56.000 He's very much not now.
00:24:58.000 But the one issue that sort of opened his mind was that he said that he started realizing his family in Israel.
00:25:03.000 And he started realizing that the stories that he was hearing about what was going on in Israel from the media and what you actually hear on the ground, what's going on in the world, are completely different.
00:25:11.000 And if they're lying to you about something like Israel and making you feel something for a terrorist organization that rapes women and kills babies, I can't imagine what else you're being lied to about.
00:25:24.000 I can give you a couple of tips. 0.87
00:25:25.000 Everything.
00:25:27.000 Almost everything.
00:25:28.000 You mentioned the weaponizing of the DOJ.
00:25:30.000 Now obviously for most people it's been the economy, immigration.
00:25:34.000 But you said that seems like there's something very personal there.
00:25:37.000 What is your concern?
00:25:39.000 So, you know, my husband actually was a whistleblower.
00:25:42.000 He was working at a children's hospital in Houston, Texas.
00:25:46.000 And while he was there, the hospital said that they had stopped performing transgender procedures on minors.
00:25:51.000 And that was absolutely not the case.
00:25:53.000 He knew that three days after the hospital announced that they were going to stop performing gender-affirming care on minors in response to potential investigations by the state of Texas, They implanted a hormone-blocking device in an 11-year-old girl, which would essentially render her infertile and cause a whole host of health problems that would leave her chained to the hospital for the rest of her life.
00:26:13.000 So we started realizing, you know, from people that he talked to, from documents that he was seeing, that this was going on.
00:26:18.000 And so he anonymously blew the whistle to a journalist, Christopher Rufo, for those of your viewers who know who he is.
00:26:25.000 And so he, you know, everything was completely redacted, reviewed by many attorneys.
00:26:29.000 But he wanted the public to know what was going on and so he published that story anonymously in May of 2023 and it actually helped sway some votes to ban gender-affirming care on minors in the state of Texas.
00:26:41.000 The vote on that bill was a couple days later.
00:26:45.000 A month later, day of his residency graduation, two HHS-OIG armed agents showed up at our apartment, and he's been under criminal federal investigation ever since.
00:26:56.000 For blowing the whistle.
00:26:57.000 For blowing the whistle.
00:26:58.000 And they have never identified the crime, and the amount of corruption in this investigation is absolutely staggering.
00:27:05.000 Oh, of course.
00:27:06.000 I've got to imagine you said he used to be a Democrat.
00:27:08.000 I'm guessing that he thought the Democrat was a party of Snowden and Assange, right? 1.00
00:27:13.000 V for Vendetta, all that shit. 0.99
00:27:15.000 And then he experienced it firsthand. 1.00
00:27:16.000 I think so.
00:27:17.000 Well, to be clear, he hasn't been a Democrat since he was about 19 years old.
00:27:21.000 Same as me.
00:27:22.000 I mean, I think, you know, there's that.
00:27:23.000 I think I was just trying to point out that there's this tendency when you're young to do the thing that's cool and that seems, you know, sympathetic to the victim.
00:27:32.000 And I think that's where some of this is coming from, social media.
00:27:35.000 And I think as you sort of start to learn more, have these personal experiences, you know, have certain issues that, you know, hopefully for a lot of Jewish people, Israel will be one of them.
00:27:44.000 Right.
00:27:44.000 Completely agree.
00:27:45.000 I don't want that.
00:27:45.000 Are you doing that for my benefit?
00:27:47.000 real world that people's ideologies tend to change as they get older?
00:27:50.000 Yeah, hopefully.
00:27:51.000 I mean, I think that we need to be careful, for example, like the anti-Semitic hate speech
00:27:54.000 bill that just came through was a disaster.
00:27:56.000 Oh, completely agree.
00:27:57.000 Yes.
00:27:58.000 I don't want that.
00:27:59.000 Are you going to do it again for my benefit?
00:28:00.000 Exactly, like who is this for?
00:28:01.000 I know.
00:28:02.000 No, and I think it's important, you know, for example, you'll get, and as someone who
00:28:07.000 obviously supports Israel's right to defend itself wholeheartedly and right to exist,
00:28:11.000 I still don't think our tax dollars should be going to Israel.
00:28:14.000 I think that they should have the right to defend themselves.
00:28:17.000 And morally, of course, we support them, but I'm always a little bit nervous when I see one side throwing out, whether it's racism from the left or anti-Semitism from people on the right, saying, if you don't support this bill, it's anti-Semitic.
00:28:27.000 I don't think it's anti-Semitic to hold a position that execute every last member of Hamas until every hostage is freed, but you don't need to do it with our dollar because you're your own nation. 0.86
00:28:35.000 No, fair enough.
00:28:36.000 And I think one of the big mistakes that Israel has made is tying it to the Ukraine funding.
00:28:40.000 Yes.
00:28:41.000 So I think we get into this issue of trying to distinguish what I think is a very legitimate cause, personally Israel, from Ukraine, which I don't support funding for at all.
00:28:53.000 It could be a legitimate cause, but it doesn't require billions and billions of U.S.
00:28:57.000 It doesn't require billions and billions of United States money.
00:29:03.000 Are you seeing, one thing that we've noticed today too is we've seen, we've interviewed
00:29:06.000 some people who were Hispanic and some black Americans here too who did say, you know,
00:29:12.000 I didn't vote for Trump.
00:29:14.000 Then we had Trump and we had Biden, and they've seen the contrast.
00:29:17.000 They're going, I think we probably need to right this ship, and they're veering back.
00:29:20.000 Have you noticed that in your circles with people who might tend to have historically been Democrat?
00:29:24.000 Not so much around East Coast liberals, some of our social circles.
00:29:30.000 But I hope that's the case.
00:29:32.000 It seems like that.
00:29:33.000 Trump had a rally the other day of 100,000 people in New Jersey, so I hope that some of those are Democrats who are changing their minds.
00:29:40.000 Why do you think, when we look at the numbers, it's interesting that some polls have, for example, Donald Trump winning the Hispanic vote, certainly closing that gap, you know, a huge amount in the last four years, and gaining, for example, with black votes quite a bit.
00:29:51.000 The one area where he's not is white women. 1.00
00:29:55.000 Yes, absolutely.
00:29:55.000 Why do you think that is?
00:29:57.000 I think that's a great question.
00:29:58.000 I wish I knew the answer to it, honestly.
00:30:01.000 I think it's culture.
00:30:02.000 I think it's I don't know.
00:30:07.000 I would think white women would be more conservative. 1.00
00:30:11.000 You mentioned the sex change for minors. 0.50
00:30:13.000 Sorry, I don't use the term gender affirming.
00:30:15.000 No, I shouldn't either.
00:30:16.000 You're absolutely right about that.
00:30:17.000 I don't want to concede that territory.
00:30:18.000 I don't want to concede that language either.
00:30:19.000 But you mentioned sports.
00:30:21.000 And the only demographic, at least last year when these polls were taken, the only demographic that supported biological males competing in women's sports as a majority was white American females.
00:30:30.000 You didn't even see it with Hispanic females. 1.00
00:30:32.000 You didn't see it with, I think it was pretty evenly split with black females depending on the poll, but certainly not white males and no males of any race.
00:30:39.000 Exclusively white females, white liberal females, well white females as a whole, supported biological men and women's sports. 1.00
00:30:48.000 Why?
00:30:48.000 Why do you think that is?
00:30:52.000 I honestly don't have an answer for you because it's me.
00:30:55.000 It's shocking.
00:30:56.000 I can't even imagine, especially, you know, I'm having a baby in a few months, so I cannot even imagine wanting her to compete against biological men in sports. 0.99
00:31:06.000 So I unfortunately cannot explain it.
00:31:08.000 What do your female friends say when you talk with them about this? 1.00
00:31:10.000 You know, a lot of my female friends don't agree with me. 1.00
00:31:14.000 You know, I think I think others just want to be nice.
00:31:21.000 I think my liberal female friends think that it's the nice thing to do to use the pronouns, to give them the health care, to allow men and women sports. 0.99
00:31:33.000 I think that's what it ultimately comes down to, is that they think theirs is the nice, humane position, and everyone else is a transphobe, which is absolutely ludicrous to me. 0.81
00:31:43.000 I would agree. 0.90
00:31:44.000 The immigration issue.
00:31:45.000 So that's one that everyone else has discussed here today.
00:31:47.000 It's a big issue.
00:31:48.000 Usually top two issues right now are economy, immigration.
00:31:51.000 Some people say the state of democracy.
00:31:52.000 I don't really have a clear answer as to what that means.
00:31:55.000 How do you view the immigration issue here in the United States?
00:31:57.000 What's the biggest problem?
00:31:59.000 I mean, I think the number of, you know, illegal immigrants and the burden on the state that we're having and crime. 1.00
00:32:04.000 I mean, you know, personally, as somebody who lives in Texas, lives in a border state, the growing levels of crime absolutely terrify me.
00:32:12.000 Yeah, 7.6 million is what it is now under Biden.
00:32:14.000 7.6, just the southern border.
00:32:15.000 And almost 3 million this year, I think?
00:32:18.000 Yes, over 3 million this year alone.
00:32:20.000 So imagine, take that, and if you were to add another 4 years, that could fundamentally change states if you just have no voter ID forever.
00:32:27.000 Absolutely.
00:32:27.000 You don't get it back.
00:32:28.000 Yeah, there's your state of democracy.
00:32:29.000 Yeah, that's exactly right.
00:32:32.000 So, I think I know how you're lining up to vote.
00:32:35.000 Do you have these conversations with your friends who are more liberal?
00:32:39.000 Or do you try to be more agreeable with them?
00:32:42.000 I think I would say, you know, we tend to not talk politics.
00:32:45.000 I think they know how I feel, I know how they feel, so we try not to.
00:32:48.000 But, you know, personally I'm voting for Trump.
00:32:51.000 Would you be willing to change that a little bit going into this election?
00:32:53.000 Talk to them about it more?
00:32:54.000 You know I should.
00:32:55.000 Because they're only going to listen to you. 1.00
00:32:56.000 You know if anyone like me or any of these lugs says something like, straight white male, privilege, shut up. 0.99
00:33:01.000 Yeah, well, I'll try to. 0.92
00:33:03.000 And certainly, like I said, I was telling you a little bit about my husband's story, speaking out, getting that story out, having people understand what's going on, has definitely been a priority for us.
00:33:12.000 So I can certainly talk about it more.
00:33:15.000 Well, Andrea, I really appreciate it.
00:33:16.000 And congratulations on the pun in the oven.
00:33:19.000 You're not showing at all.
00:33:19.000 You're going to be one of those people that just looks like a beach ball, right?
00:33:22.000 Yeah, probably.
00:33:24.000 Thank you very much.
00:33:25.000 And tell your husband Godspeed.
00:33:26.000 I know that's not easy.
00:33:29.000 It turns out that you may gain some new perspective as well as provide some for other people out there regardless of the chasm that you think may exist between you both politically.
00:33:41.000 There really is a lot of good that can come from just getting out there and talking with people.
00:33:49.000 Join MugClub today for $89 annually, or try it Mugless for $9 a month.