On this episode of Louder with Crowder, host Stephen Crowder sits down with best-selling author Michelle Malkin to talk about what it's like being a parent these days and what it means to be a conservative in 2019.
00:01:27.000Well, that's the best Christmas gift of all, and I have to say, and I'm not sucking up here, Stephen, but they are huge fans of yours, so we must have done something right, right?
00:01:37.000No, that makes me question everything I've just said.
00:01:40.000If you're showing them any of my content, you've made a horrible mistake.
00:01:45.000So speaking of content, you've written a lot.
00:01:48.000I mean, there's so much to talk about this week.
00:01:49.000We have North Korea and Seth Rogen and James Franco, but here's one thing, obviously.
00:02:13.000Yeah, well, that was his announcement on Facebook and Twitter this week that he was, quote, actively exploring the possibility of running for president, blah, blah, blah.
00:02:24.000I am not a fan, and I have not been a fan of Jeb Bush's for a long, long time.
00:02:30.000I think that the main argument from the salons, from the D.C. establishment, and the strategists, and the naval gazers in Washington and Manhattan, their argument will be that he has a solidly conservative Right.
00:02:52.000And I think that they're going to use that as a shield to try and immunize him from criticism from the grassroots on the right on two of, really, two of my defining national public policy issues, education and immigration.
00:03:07.000And on those issues, Jeb Bush finds himself in the same camp as many big government and big business progressives.
00:03:15.000He's for Common Core, and he is squarely and unapologetically for some kind of mass legalization for millions of illegal aliens.
00:03:27.000He's also in support of massive expansions of temporary visas for H-1B holders, and I have to question the wisdom and the lack of principle in supporting these policies that are Not good for American parents, not good for American students, not good for the current generation of American workers.
00:04:00.000He has a morning show that he runs nationally, and he takes Fridays off.
00:04:04.000So Bill Bennett has never been on air in Detroit, ever.
00:04:07.000And I mentioned one time that he actually sat on the floor with Jeb Bush supporting Common Core and that I think Bennett's a good guy.
00:04:14.000I think he's probably a good man, but I do think Common Core is one of those litmus tests.
00:04:20.000I don't think there are any litmus tests that should determine whether you're a conservative or not, but I think obviously abortion is one.
00:04:27.000But Common Core is one of those things.
00:04:30.000It's as close to a litmus test, I think, that we have for Republicans to see if they actually believe in constitutional parameters of government.
00:04:40.000And I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks that.
00:04:41.000I just think it's a really good barometer, and it's so telling that you mentioned that with Bush.
00:05:08.000As a way to pander to corporate interests, many of whom are benefiting from the Common Core racket and the taxpayer-funded monopoly of textbooks and testing companies that have been behind this.
00:05:25.000And I think it's not just that he has been at the forefront of something that goes against the grain of cherished principles of local autonomy and sovereignty over educational issues, the constitutional principles,
00:05:42.000obviously, that you just mentioned, but it's also the way in which he's dealt with opponents, and it has this progressive, elitist feel to it, the way he has attacked I want to get on that.
00:06:09.000And a lot of people don't know that and they think that I'm just being anti-establishment for the sake of it.
00:06:13.000And I think you've gotten that a lot too, Michelle.
00:06:15.000A lot of people don't give you enough credit.
00:06:16.000You know, the libertarians who just wanted to smoke a bunch of pot, I think, were then surprised when you came out and you had a very reasoned view on medical marijuana.
00:06:24.000And they're like, well, now we have to find another reason to hate her.
00:06:54.000Well, I think the best thing to do for listeners who are not familiar with his long record on this is to go to my website at michellemolkin.com and type in the search engine, Common Core Jeb Bush.
00:07:06.000And you'll find snippet after snippet of Jeb Bush accusing parents like me, and there are millions of us who have on-the-ground experience With how Common Core has usurped local control,
00:07:22.000sabotaged already pre-existing standards of academic excellence in our own backyards and local communities, and how he has attacked us for opposing academic excellence and not knowing what's best for our own children.
00:07:38.000And it's that kind of nanny-state elitism that obviously we expect from the left, from Hillary Clinton, and No Child Left Behind, and it takes a village and all that.
00:07:48.000But for someone who pretends to be a promoter of school choice, and that is how Jeb Bush has captured the hearts of so many establishment Republicans and establishment GOP pundits on the East Coast, And for him to not see that these two things cannot...
00:08:27.000What people don't understand, and you've written about this so much at your website, for those who haven't, go to michellemalkin.com.
00:08:32.000It's a federal power grab, and the federal government doesn't know how to best educate your children, A, better than Michelle Malkin knows how to educate her children, but then your state and your municipality, and to remove that ability, to remove that authority from municipal governments, that's a big power grab with which conservatives shouldn't be comfortable.
00:08:54.000So when I see someone like a Jeb Bush or a Bill Bennett out there really actively supporting it, How do you think they expect to rally the conservative base, or do they just not care?
00:09:06.000They don't care, and I think it's because there has been such a lack of accountability, and the fact that, you know, I think there are a lot of loyal, grassroots conservatives out there who have swallowed hard in so many of the past presidential election cycles, and they've been Sold on the idea that, well, we need someone who's more reasonable-sounding and pragmatic, and we can't have a consistent figure.
00:09:32.000We can't have actually somebody who has put the pedal to the metal on their conservative principles because, oh, that won't be paddable.
00:09:39.000Well, how did that work out with Bob Dole?
00:09:41.000How did that work out with John McCain?
00:09:44.000On that note, Michelle, hold on one second.
00:09:46.000We have to go to break, and I want to bring you back because you are on fire.
00:11:33.000Obama had this exclusive interview with People magazine.
00:11:37.000The context is important here because she was trying to show she was down with the struggle of the post Ferguson agitators.
00:11:45.000So she illuminated all of these specific horrific examples of the vestiges of racism that still exist and that both she and her privileged husband still suffer from.
00:11:58.000So she talked about this very famous, infamous now, it turned infamous, incident a couple of years ago in 2012, when she supposedly went incognito to be among the regular moms at Target, and some shopper asked her to go reach the detergent high up on the shelf, and some shopper asked her to go reach the detergent high up on the shelf, and all of a sudden this thing has morphed into an example of her being an oppressed martyr
00:12:26.000Although when she first recounted this story on the David Letterman show shortly after the Target visit, You can go watch the video where she related the same anecdote as just a nice little example of how she could be among the hoi polloi.
00:13:04.000She's been doing it since she was at Princeton University, and I read her thesis.
00:13:08.000It was called Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community, and she talked about how she was being marginalized by the lily-white academic tower, the ivory tower, and how she had suffered afterwards, after she graduated,
00:13:23.000with the lily-white corporate world when in fact she's benefited time and time again from the largesse I don't know if I'm comfortable with this, because people are going to see this on YouTube, and you're not on camera.
00:13:44.000It's just me, this large white man, and people will associate what you're saying.
00:13:49.000And you can say it, but I can't say it if they're going to blame me, and it'll, in quotation, say Michelle Malkin.
00:13:55.000You know, I honestly, if I were in a store, I'll be honest, okay, Michelle, Firstly, I would never ask you to get something on the top shelf because I would imagine that you'd be challenged.
00:14:14.000She wants to show you the horseshoe triceps she has going on.
00:14:17.000So if I'm just looking for someone who looks like they are of good stock to help carry something heavy from a high shelf, she's got the reach.
00:14:57.000Yeah, and of course, another point here is the reason why you wouldn't ask me to get you anything is because I'm 5'1", and Michelle Obama is 5'11".
00:15:07.000You know, the idea that it's Jim Crow all over again, because some shorter person asked her to go reach the detergent on the top shelf.
00:15:15.000Well, if that's true, then every recruiter for the WNBA needs to be hauled out in cuffs.
00:15:20.000I mean, Harry, you're tall, and, you know, we need you to shoot a jumper over another, effectively, what is a giant.
00:15:28.000If they would have described Michelle Obama or my wife in the Old Testament, they would have been a giant, right?
00:15:37.000She's like the Bumble in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer putting the star on the Christmas tree.
00:15:44.000Well, you know, ultimately, I think what this shows is...
00:15:47.000It's not about the color of the skin of Barack or Michelle Obama.
00:15:51.000It really is about the thinness of their skin.
00:15:55.000Setting aside that this is a completely tall tale, pun intended, the idea that somebody asking her for a favor is tantamount to an international human rights crime, it just shows you that the level of cynicism That just reeks, that marinates this whole identity politics culture that they're involved in.
00:16:55.000As a Filipino, you know, obviously there's usually people would say, you know, Asians yellow.
00:16:59.000Is Filipino separated into brown if you're going to go into a color?
00:17:02.000Yeah, I'm a little brown woman, don't you know?
00:17:06.000I guess I don't see it that way, but you're not like...
00:17:11.000Well, I think it's because it's Southeast Asia.
00:17:14.000But, you know, in any case, I think the thing that I've learned from my days at Wacky Oberlin College and for the last quarter century, really, dealing with identity politics left is they have to reach...
00:17:41.000I mean, Oberlin is a cesspool of racial hoaxes.
00:17:45.000And I think that there is a connection here to all of the gender hoaxes that we're seeing as well with all of the, you know, these hyped rape claims that are falling apart.
00:17:57.000And it's been happening for years and years now.
00:18:00.000I think the difference is that And this is heartening to me, Stephen, that more and more people, whatever their color, are willing to and more courageous about just calling it out and not apologizing for it.
00:18:13.000Man, you've got to stop apologizing for your power.
00:19:08.000My wife and I, and every single friend my age, have agreed that racial tensions have never been worse than in our lifetime now is that something that that you would feel is mirrored with someone from your generation or or would your kids say that or is it just really a purely millennial thing because we all agreed racial tensions are worse now than ever because of stories like this where it's constantly brought up where you have to look at everything through the lens of race yeah um It's
00:19:41.000something that I've been so steeped in, whether it's in academia or having worked at liberal newspapers and worked in, you know, ground zeroes of racial tension.
00:19:53.000I was in Los Angeles at the time of the Rodney King riots, for example, and there have been so many of these paroxysms that Al Sharpton has been involved, and I wouldn't necessarily say that it's worse Okay.
00:20:23.000In large part because we have a person in office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who got there and whose wife got to where she is by milking and stoking that racial tension and racial hatred, and the double standard.
00:20:37.000We never talk about the systemic racism that's involved, for example, when the government is doing it and actively discriminating against people in the name of equality.
00:20:51.000And I think that the lack of truly candid and honest discussion about race is probably one of the most shameful developments of public policy in the public square in the last Well, yeah, you're right.
00:21:07.000And it's the racism, really, of soft expectations when you're talking about that.
00:21:13.000I was raised, and a lot of people get mad because I'm white American, so it's automatically, you know, like I said, there are certain things that I'm completely insensitive to, but you also have to understand I'm not a white American.
00:21:23.000I'm an English-speaking Canadian who was raised in French Canada, where they thought I was learning disabled until the third grade because I legally was not allowed to attend English schools.
00:21:36.000And it turned out, you know, French is my first language I learned to read and write, but then, you know, obviously we spoke more English at home, and that's the way I think.
00:21:43.000I think in English, so I was a step behind everyone because I was doing geography in French.
00:21:59.000And for someone here in the States to act as though there's that same kind of government institutionalized discrimination, it's a real reach.
00:22:17.000And it's great to always hear people like you who don't take the BS, but I'll tell you what, as you said, as a little brown woman, I'm using your terminology here, I think this, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, before Barack Obama, everything was race and it's still been that way, right?
00:22:33.000Because it's time for a black president.
00:22:35.000If you don't vote for him, you're a racist.
00:22:38.000And now everything is war on women, with Elena Dunham faking, you know, lying about the rape to the Virginia case, lying about rape.
00:22:45.000I think the reason they're doing this war on women thing right now is they're setting the stage for Hillary, war on women, sexism.
00:22:50.000If you don't vote for her, you're a sexist.
00:22:53.000Or someone like an Elizabeth Warren, because I think it'll be a female candidate.
00:22:56.000Do you see that, or am I just being crazy, conspiratorial white guy?
00:23:01.000No, I'm in the conspiracy camp with you.
00:24:13.000Yeah, well, in any case, the thing is that they've worn out their welcome, you know, even among the mainstream, and that's a good development.
00:24:25.000I think they've worn out their welcome politically, but I do think culturally they are bombarding young women right now with this idea that You know what's funny?
00:24:33.000If this were the case, Michelle, if all white men had a secret meeting behind everyone's back, and by everyone I mean everyone who's not a white male, and we said, okay, we hate everyone who's not us, right?
00:24:55.000Because the funny thing is, and like when I said earlier, you know, I said sweetheart, Why is it now that if I say, thank you, sweetheart, it's a term I use, why is it that I'm assumed I either want to rape that person or oppress that person, and I didn't just mean, thank you, sweetheart.
00:25:15.000I mean, it's got to be a shift for you.
00:25:17.000I mean, people have always been horrible, because I grew up in the generation where everyone had the YouTube comment section, so everything just devolved into the worst that humanity has to offer right away.
00:25:27.000But we assume the worst in everybody now.
00:25:29.000Sometimes sweetheart means sweetheart.
00:25:31.000Sometimes, hey, can you help me with this?
00:25:38.000And you did such a brilliant job answering that viral...
00:25:43.000You know, a horrible cat-call video with your trip to the mall.
00:25:48.000And, you know, in the heartland, in normal America, thankfully, common courtesies are still treated as such.
00:25:56.000But, you know, everything becomes, you know, this political grievance Olympics among these people.
00:26:06.000And, you know, whether it's Michelle Obama or Lena Dunham, and in increasing measures now, these enabling journalists to just ignore the facts to ply their false narratives.
00:26:22.000And I think it shows why it's so important that you are where you are, fighting in, you know, fighting in the podcast space, fighting on YouTube, you know, to try and get some rebalancing of common sense that we all need.
00:26:39.000Well, the real reason is my employers looked at the actuary tables and realized that I didn't quite appeal to the 73-year-old male who was buying self-lubricating pocket catheters.
00:26:51.000So I said, I guess it's podcast and YouTube for me.
00:26:55.000But I'm glad that your children are listening or they're seeing stuff and I can provide some stuff for them.
00:28:10.000And, you know, that's a problem not only for a lot of people who work in our business, but, you know, for the conservative, for the GOP establishment writ large.
00:28:23.000And it's important to be in this space.
00:28:25.000I mean, you know, winning, just being here is half the battle.
00:28:32.000And realizing that the world is so much bigger than a few cable news stations and a few mainstream Well, I hate to cut you off, but there is...
00:28:43.000Yes, you are absolutely right, and I hate to cut you off, but there is no small brown lady I would rather ride into battle with.
00:28:50.000Maybe that little chick from The Incredibles who made the costumes.
00:28:54.000She seemed like she would probably be pretty good in a foxhole.
00:28:57.000But, Michelle Malkin, thank you so much for being here, and last show of the year, so we hope to have you get back here in 2015.