Rebel News Podcast - Trump ends Syrian war with a tweet. Should America be the world's policeman？

00:00:00.000 Tonight, Donald Trump ends the Syrian war with a tweet, and the establishment is sad.

00:00:05.840 But should America be the world's policeman?

00:00:08.220 It's December 20th, and this is The Ezra Levant Show.

00:00:16.520 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:00:20.300 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:00:24.020 You come here once a year with a sign, and you feel morally superior.

00:00:27.000 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:00:37.680 Donald Trump announced that he's bringing home 2,000 American troops that are in Syria.

00:00:42.900 He just said it. We're done.

00:00:45.280 He tweeted it, and then he did a short video tweet, and it just became.

00:00:51.100 He said, we have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump presidency.

00:00:57.600 That's it.

00:00:59.480 I think both ideas in that short tweet are true.

00:01:02.060 I think ISIS has been defeated, as much as can be done for an amorphous group that doesn't have a formal structure,

00:01:07.620 doesn't have a formal geography, doesn't wear uniforms, or bear their weapons openly.

00:01:11.240 The geographical form of the Islamic State used to be, well, it used to look like a real country.

00:01:16.900 It was as big as the United Kingdom, with millions of people in it, actually,

00:01:21.100 especially in the captive city of Mosul.

00:01:23.380 But that's done now. It's over.

00:01:25.160 The ISIS capital of Raqqa was absolutely obliterated.

00:01:30.120 It's like something out of Dresden, Germany, just firebombed by the Allies.

00:01:35.540 It's just nothing left there.

00:01:38.740 500 U.S. special forces, lots of Allied air power, and some local Syrian and Kurdish militias didn't just conquer it.

00:01:44.780 They flattened it. You saw the video there.

00:01:47.800 So Trump just announced it in a tweet.

00:01:49.300 Now, that is not normally how the U.S. Constitution imagined policy on matters as grave as wars to be set,

00:01:54.860 but neither did the U.S. Constitution imagine America getting into the conflict in the manner it did so casually.

00:01:59.960 By contrast, three days after 9-11, the U.S. Congress debated and passed into law

00:02:07.440 something similar to a declaration of war, where it was called the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

00:02:15.040 It's a very short law. Let me read to you the operative sentence.

00:02:18.660 It's really a one-sentence law.

00:02:21.100 This is pretty much it.

00:02:21.900 That the president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons

00:02:31.740 he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001,

00:02:39.600 or harbored such organizations or persons in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism

00:02:46.760 against the United States by such nations, organizations, and persons.

00:02:50.680 That's it.

00:02:52.700 So basically, go and get anyone who attacked America on 9-11, or help them. 0.68

00:02:57.800 Go get them to make sure they don't do it again.

00:03:00.140 Passed by Congress, approved by the president, and so it happened.

00:03:03.100 By contrast, there was no authorization of military force to do what exactly in Syria?

00:03:09.000 That one-sentence law I read to you had everything in it, didn't it?

00:03:13.480 So what exactly was America doing in Syria?

00:03:16.520 Exactly, like precisely.

00:03:18.180 Fighting ISIS.

00:03:18.900 Okay, I get that. 0.98

00:03:20.640 They're the worst of the worst. 0.88

00:03:22.840 But the Syrians didn't invite America in. 0.90

00:03:26.040 Neither did the United Nations.

00:03:27.360 It was sort of the opposite.

00:03:28.280 Barack Obama wanted to keep his disastrous Arab spring going.

00:03:32.680 A wave of Islamist uprisings across the Arab world that toppled stable regimes.

00:03:37.180 I didn't much like Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, seen here with Paul Martin.

00:03:43.640 I didn't much like Hosni Mubarak.

00:03:46.040 Yeah, look at that, Paul Martin and Gaddafi.

00:03:49.000 I didn't much like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, seen here with John Khrushchev.

00:03:55.080 They're dictators.

00:03:57.600 But they were stable.

00:04:01.540 And they actually fought against the Muslim Brotherhood or Al-Qaeda.

00:04:05.120 But Obama threw both of them out, and ISIS took over Libya, and the Muslim Brotherhood took over Egypt. 0.89

00:04:12.720 And Obama had similar plans for Syria, too.

00:04:14.860 And frankly, so did many Republicans like John McCain, seen here with rebels.

00:04:20.680 Rebels, that's a nice way of saying it, rebels, who, McCain really would have invaded half the world's countries if he had his way, I think.

00:04:29.780 Now, I read to you what America was doing after 9-11.

00:04:32.860 And some would say that even going after Iraq, which was also a fairly modern, fairly secular dictatorship, was not rationally connected to 9-11.

00:04:41.920 But at least there was an explanation, an undergirding law, however flawed its execution was.

00:04:47.800 What was the American purpose in Syria?

00:04:50.840 I read, free the law to go to war against Al-Qaeda.

00:04:53.860 Go after the folks who attacked us, make sure they don't happen again.

00:04:56.320 All right.

00:04:56.840 What was the purpose in Syria?

00:04:59.100 Trump says it was to stop the ISIS side of the civil war.

00:05:02.080 All right.

00:05:03.060 Check.

00:05:03.920 Or was it to topple Bashar Assad and effect some sort of regime change?

00:05:09.440 Or is it to get rid of both?

00:05:11.720 All right.

00:05:12.220 And then replace them with whom?

00:05:13.380 I mean, really, it sounds like they wanted to replace every single faction and person in the country to save the country from itself.

00:05:22.420 That's the point about those parts of the world.

00:05:24.340 There aren't a lot of George Washingtons or John A. McDonalds waiting around to be great democratic leaders.

00:05:29.460 If there are any people like that, they're usually killed pretty quickly or driven into exile.

00:05:34.440 Well, it's usually a choice amongst awful alternatives in these countries.

00:05:40.520 Do you think the natural nature of Afghanistan is one of a liberal democracy, civil rights, things like that?

00:05:47.960 It took us in the West centuries, you could even say millennia, to truly master liberal democracy.

00:05:54.600 And we still get it wrong, as the 20th century in Europe shows us.

00:05:58.700 But that's after building on thousands of years since the Roman Empire with its rule of law, since the Greeks before that.

00:06:08.340 It's been 800 years since the Magna Carta in the UK.

00:06:11.220 Do you think Afghans are suddenly going to build an entire cultural history with their own Shakespeare's and Adam Smith's and John Stuart Mill's

00:06:18.100 and just suddenly become liberal Democrats like us?

00:06:21.900 What were we doing there?

00:06:22.960 I think it's fair to say, in Syria, Russia did the heavy lifting against ISIS, at least at first.

00:06:30.520 At least until Trump came along.

00:06:32.860 Russia has a naval port in Syria.

00:06:35.360 That's no small thing.

00:06:36.880 And a major air base, also, from which they staged operations against ISIS.

00:06:42.420 And to be sure, against other rebels against Assad.

00:06:46.580 Assad was Russia's ally, their colony, really. 0.91

00:06:48.940 And Iran sent in their ground troops, too, which is even more worrying.

00:06:54.240 But at least the Russians attacked ISIS, too. 0.91

00:06:56.680 Like the oil caravans.

00:06:59.640 Basically, just oil trucks that would smuggle oil from ISIS oil fields up to Turkey that ISIS would sell in the black market for millions of dollars to pay for their terrorist country. 0.80

00:07:08.360 Russia took out those oil convoys.

00:07:13.140 She took them out. 0.99

00:07:15.120 Obama could, of course.

00:07:17.280 But he chose not to.

00:07:19.880 And I know this is hard to believe.

00:07:21.300 I show this clip every time I mention it.

00:07:23.820 Obama did not attack these ISIS oil tankers for environmental reasons.

00:07:29.440 Here's a former senior Obama official admitting that bizarre fact.

00:07:35.300 We don't want to destroy these oil tankers because that's infrastructure that's going to be necessary to support the people when ISIS isn't there anymore.

00:07:47.960 And it's going to create environmental damage.

00:07:50.660 I thought the I in CIA stood for intelligence.

00:07:55.200 Imagine, yeah, we had them in our sights, but, you know, it would have been so much soot.

00:08:02.400 I mean, the carbon emissions are blowing up that ISIS oil. 0.74

00:08:06.360 We just couldn't do it.

00:08:08.740 That's Barack Obama for you.

00:08:11.000 What exactly were the Americans doing there?

00:08:13.240 I think there was there was some hope for some mythical liberal or moderate militia in Syria who's going to take over. 0.97

00:08:22.320 Talk about a fool's errand here. 0.62

00:08:23.740 I want to show you a real clip. 0.99

00:08:24.860 There's one more clip.

00:08:26.040 And again, you've got to see this to believe this.

00:08:27.960 This is a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. with a senior general who is in charge under Obama of the Syrian efforts.

00:08:35.380 Now, Congress had spent a half a billion dollars trying to recruit and train this elusive moderate militia in the vain hope that that what?

00:08:45.180 That they would take over the country from Assad, that they would govern all of Syria, that they would just be a U.S. puppet and follow orders. 0.60

00:08:52.220 I'm not exactly sure.

00:08:53.600 But after a half of a billion dollars, this general was asked, so how's it going?

00:09:00.140 How many guys do you have in this pro-American militia?

00:09:05.500 And you just got to hear the answer for yourself.

00:09:07.400 Take a listen.

00:09:08.740 A shocking admission by the U.S. general running the war against ISIS.

00:09:13.800 How few U.S.-trained Syrian rebels are left.

00:09:17.860 It's a small number.

00:09:19.380 And the ones that are in the fight is, we're talking four or five.

00:09:27.200 As I see it right now, this four or five U.S.-trained fighters, let's not kid ourselves, that's a joke.

00:09:35.080 Four or five.

00:09:38.700 So you could, like, name them.

00:09:41.840 We got Mohammed and Mohammed and Asif and Shabazz or whatever.

00:09:46.720 I mean, you don't even have to call it.

00:09:49.320 You can say the guys.

00:09:50.440 You can say the fellas.

00:09:53.920 Half a billion dollars.

00:09:55.040 I heard of the six million dollar man.

00:09:56.700 Those are a hundred million dollar man.

00:09:59.340 That's, that, can you believe that?

00:10:01.660 Yeah, I agree with that senator or congressman.

00:10:03.580 That's a little crazy.

00:10:06.300 So what was America doing there?

00:10:08.840 Nothing or maybe something.

00:10:11.100 I don't know.

00:10:12.880 Hillary Clinton had proposed literally shooting down any airplane in the skies over Syria.

00:10:16.600 Whether it was Syrian or Russian.

00:10:18.520 ISIS, of course, didn't have an air force.

00:10:20.440 Do you remember this?

00:10:21.020 I want to play you a clip.

00:10:22.580 It's a couple minutes long from the 2016 presidential debates.

00:10:25.820 Listen to all three presidential debaters.

00:10:28.740 I said three.

00:10:29.840 Here's a two-minute clip from two years ago.

00:10:31.540 Take a look.

00:10:32.400 Every day that goes by, we see the results of the regime by Assad in partnership with the 0.99

00:10:40.420 Iranians on the ground, the Russians in the air. 0.83

00:10:43.840 Russia hasn't paid any attention to ISIS.

00:10:45.900 They're interested in keeping Assad in power.

00:10:49.380 So I, when I was secretary of state, advocated, and I advocate today, a no-fly zone and safe

00:10:56.480 zones.

00:10:57.000 We need some leverage with the Russians because they're not going to come to the negotiating 0.99

00:11:04.620 table for a diplomatic resolution unless there is some leverage over them.

00:11:09.820 Russia has decided that it's all in in Syria, and they've also decided who they want to 0.57

00:11:17.420 see become president of the United States, too, and it's not me.

00:11:20.880 She talks tough against Russia.

00:11:22.980 But our nuclear program has fallen way behind, and they've gone wild with their nuclear program.

00:11:29.640 Not good.

00:11:30.600 Our government shouldn't have allowed that to happen.

00:11:32.900 Russia is new in terms of nuclear.

00:11:36.140 We are old, we're tired, we're exhausted in terms of nuclear.

00:11:40.820 A very bad thing.

00:11:41.940 Now, she talks tough.

00:11:42.920 She talks really tough against Putin and against Assad.

00:11:48.460 She wants to fight for rebels. 0.74

00:11:50.060 There's only one problem.

00:11:51.220 You don't even know who the rebels are.

00:11:52.740 Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you're two minutes is up.

00:11:54.780 And one thing I have to say.

00:11:55.980 You're two minutes is up.

00:11:56.660 I don't like Assad at all.

00:11:58.300 But Assad is killing ISIS.

00:12:01.060 Russia is killing ISIS.

00:12:02.920 Mr. Trump, let me repeat the question.

00:12:06.140 If you were president, what would you do about Syria and the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo?

00:12:13.840 And I want to remind you what your running mate said.

00:12:17.120 He said, provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength and that if Russia

00:12:22.240 continues to be involved in airstrikes along with the Syrian government forces of Assad,

00:12:26.780 the United States of America should be prepared to use military force

00:12:31.700 to strike the military targets of the Assad regime.

00:12:35.700 Okay.

00:12:36.400 He and I haven't spoken and I disagree.

00:12:38.580 I disagree.

00:12:39.300 You disagree with your running mate.

00:12:40.320 I think we have to knock out ISIS. 1.00

00:12:41.020 Look, I said all three debaters because it's a reminder of how extremely partisan the media

00:12:47.680 moderators were in that campaign.

00:12:49.860 And believe me, that wasn't the worst of it there.

00:12:52.620 But Hillary Clinton. 1.00

00:12:54.420 I mean, here's Bill Clinton yucking it up with Vladimir Putin.

00:12:57.880 I think this was a picture in St. Petersburg.

00:12:59.320 Look at them.

00:12:59.980 Old France.

00:13:00.680 While Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State, Bill Clinton was paid half a million

00:13:05.660 dollars to give a speech.

00:13:09.340 So she was Secretary of State.

00:13:10.720 He was picking up half a million dollar checks.

00:13:12.540 Oh, and it's a New York Times article here, by the way.

00:13:15.820 Millions more went to the Clinton Foundation from Russian interests.

00:13:19.840 Oh, and purely a coincidence, Hillary Clinton approved the sale of American uranium interests

00:13:25.000 to Russians.

00:13:26.580 So on the one hand, it's a laugh to think that Hillary Clinton wasn't bought and paid

00:13:31.720 for by the Russians and the Saudis.

00:13:33.380 I mean, remember Barack Obama?

00:13:35.360 Remember when he had that meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian, when he had a hot mic 0.54

00:13:40.780 on?

00:13:42.680 I just have to get through my re-election 2012 and then tell Vladimir Putin I'll make more

00:13:46.980 concessions.

00:13:47.720 Remember that hot mic incident?

00:13:49.380 This is my last election for you.

00:13:50.860 Yeah.

00:13:51.400 After my election, I have more talks about you.

00:13:54.760 Yeah.

00:13:55.300 Yeah.

00:13:55.380 Yeah.

00:13:55.520 And I transmit this information to Vladimir and I'll stand with him.

00:14:00.800 The 10-second clip is more proof of collusion than anything that Robert Mueller's come

00:14:04.820 up with in two years.

00:14:06.060 Yeah, don't tell me the Democrats were hard on Russia.

00:14:08.900 But if we could take Hillary Clinton at her word about the no-fly zone, you really didn't 0.93

00:14:14.280 enforce a no-fly zone over another sovereign country that has not invited you in?

00:14:19.800 What would that mean?

00:14:21.580 It's not just a naval base.

00:14:22.980 The Russians have a major air force base in Syria.

00:14:28.380 She would literally order U.S. jets to shoot down Russian jets?

00:14:35.720 Modern fifth-generation Russian jets?

00:14:39.080 Taking off and landing from the Russian air base there?

00:14:41.200 Really?

00:14:42.240 And for what purpose? 0.94

00:14:44.940 Hillary Clinton is a sociopath who delighted in the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, but 0.99

00:14:50.040 seemed to have forgotten to plan who would replace him. 0.99

00:14:53.740 We came, we saw, he died.

00:14:58.940 Did it have anything to do with your visit?

00:15:01.120 No.

00:15:01.460 Oh, I'm sure it did.

00:15:03.740 Boy, she loved that laugh.

00:15:05.860 She loved that little joke.

00:15:07.560 Ha ha ha ha! 1.00

00:15:08.480 Yeah, we killed him. 1.00

00:15:10.220 We totally killed him. 0.99

00:15:12.220 He died after we killed him. 1.00

00:15:16.640 Yeah, don't tell me that Trump is the madman, okay? 0.99

00:15:20.040 So that 2016 clip, the media as a partisan, those were awful debates, weren't they? 0.99

00:15:26.300 Hillary Clinton as A, a liar, and B, an insane warmonger, and then C, Donald Trump saying, 0.99

00:15:32.820 kill ISIS and get out. 1.00

00:15:34.080 That's what he said he was going to do, kill ISIS and get out, and guess what he did? 1.00

00:15:37.220 He just did, and he did it by tweet. 0.58

00:15:40.060 And then he followed up with some more tweets, including this interesting video that was roundly

00:15:44.820 mocked online and by the pundits, but I found it actually compelling.

00:15:47.980 What do you think?

00:15:49.540 We've been fighting for a long time in Syria.

00:15:52.100 I've been president for almost two years, and we've really stepped it up, and we have

00:15:57.200 won against ISIS.

00:15:59.080 We've beaten them, and we've beaten them badly.

00:16:01.700 We've taken back the land, and now it's time for our troops to come back home.

00:16:06.840 I get very saddened when I have to write letters or call parents or wives or husbands

00:16:13.100 of soldiers who have been killed fighting for our country.

00:16:17.820 It's a great honor.

00:16:19.580 We cherish them, but it's heartbreaking.

00:16:22.660 There's no question about it.

00:16:24.240 It's heartbreaking.

00:16:25.600 Now we've won.

00:16:27.160 It's time to come back.

00:16:28.940 They're getting ready.

00:16:29.820 You're going to see them soon.

00:16:31.040 These are great American heroes.

00:16:33.400 These are great heroes of the world because they fought for us, but they've killed ISIS,

00:16:38.780 who hurts the world.

00:16:40.260 And we're proud to have done it.

00:16:42.180 And I'll tell you, they're up there looking down on us, and there is nobody happier or more

00:16:48.080 proud of their families to put them in a position where they've done such good for so many people.

00:16:54.280 So our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back, and they're coming back now.

00:17:02.400 We won, and that's the way we want it, and that's the way they want it.

00:17:07.140 I think he's right.

00:17:09.380 We'll run that by a military vet from the U.S. foreign war in the Americas, so we'll get

00:17:16.880 an American point of view on that video.

00:17:19.080 Can I show you just one more video?

00:17:21.660 Before I show it to you, let me ask you a question about this next video.

00:17:25.000 I'm going to show you a video.

00:17:25.980 It's got a ton of circulation on social media.

00:17:28.860 Wouldn't surprise me if you've seen it.

00:17:30.120 I have a question for you.

00:17:31.640 Is this a heartwarming video that makes you feel good?

00:17:37.400 Or is this a heartbreaking video that makes you feel bad?

00:17:44.120 Is this a two-minute happy scene?

00:17:47.260 Or is it just the last two minutes of six months or nine months or 12 months of sorrow and loss

00:17:56.260 and alienation and worry and stress and sadness?

00:17:59.880 When you take your hand off a hot stove, is that a wonderful moment at the end?

00:18:06.420 Or is it the end of a terrible moment?

00:18:08.820 Well, you tell me.

00:18:09.560 Look at this video.

00:18:10.620 That's a big gift.

00:18:12.260 Two sandwiches.

00:18:17.300 Santa and Clyde.

00:18:19.820 Oh, my gosh.

00:18:22.460 You better open it.

00:18:23.600 Open it? 0.53

00:18:24.320 Open it, monkey.

00:18:26.260 Oh, I see the box already.

00:18:34.620 What do you think it is?

00:18:36.720 I don't know.

00:18:38.640 I don't even have an idea yet.

00:18:40.580 I think you're going to like it.

00:18:42.600 Yeah.

00:18:43.920 I don't know.

00:18:45.360 That's a big box.

00:18:48.240 Where's that cat?

00:18:49.540 Do you have room for this?

00:18:51.540 Two dogs.

00:18:52.620 Oh, my goodness.

00:18:53.580 What is that?

00:18:54.580 Look at that.

00:18:56.620 What's in there?

00:18:57.600 I'm firing. 0.95

00:18:58.640 I hate my...

00:19:00.160 I'm going...

00:19:02.780 Whoa! 0.71

00:19:05.320 What is it?

00:19:06.620 What is it?

00:19:08.620 What is it?

00:19:10.720 Oh, my gosh!

00:19:12.380 Oh, my goodness.

00:19:16.540 What is going on, buddy?

00:19:21.680 Oh, baby.

00:19:26.580 Oh, baby.

00:19:28.720 Oh, baby.

00:19:33.740 Thank you.

00:19:34.540 Yeah, I'm sorry.

00:19:44.780 That is not a happy moment.

00:19:48.580 That is the end of a lot of terrible moments.

00:19:53.480 And for what? 0.52

00:19:55.640 Let us grant that it made sense to go in there and smash ISIS. 0.94

00:19:59.760 Let's accept that.

00:20:01.380 But what's the point now?

00:20:02.400 And don't tell me Obama sent those troops in there in the first place to tackle Iran, 1.00

00:20:09.000 which is an argument I hear.

00:20:10.600 Obama was the president who approved Iran's nuclear program,

00:20:13.920 gave them more than $150 billion in payments.

00:20:16.340 And this video here is actual footage of more than a billion dollars in cold, hard cash

00:20:23.000 put on pallets and flown to Iran by Obama.

00:20:25.860 So, yeah, no, I don't believe that 2,000 Americans in Syria is about containing Iran. 0.69

00:20:30.480 Look, the world is a difficult place.

00:20:32.820 And these intrigues, what do they have to do with America's interests or Canada's interests?

00:20:36.800 And you'll forgive me if I note that the same politicians seem to switch sides with the winds.

00:20:41.780 A few years ago, it was respectable to hang out with Bashar Assad, 0.99

00:20:45.460 just like I showed you pictures of Mubarak and Gaddafi.

00:20:49.060 Here is Barack Obama's Secretary of State on the left, John Kerry.

00:20:55.060 That was back in 2009 when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,

00:21:00.160 having a fine meal with Bashar Assad, the dictator of Syria, son of Hafez Assad, the previous dictator of Syria.

00:21:08.560 And as you can see, it wasn't all business.

00:21:10.700 As you can see, they were dressed for a fine night out.

00:21:12.840 They were at a fancy Damascus restaurant.

00:21:14.400 And as you can see, their wives were with them.

00:21:18.340 The Senate Business Meeting, that's friends.

00:21:21.080 That's Kerry and Assad. 0.84

00:21:22.660 And they met at least six times that we know about.

00:21:26.320 In March of 2011, Vogue magazine, which was edited by Anna Wintour, an ally of Obama.

00:21:33.000 Vogue, a glamour magazine, published this glowing, sexy, soft-focus interview with the Assads,

00:21:39.600 focusing on Assad's wife, Asma.

00:21:42.640 Now, they've taken it down since, but Gawker magazine pirated it and put it back up on the Internet for the historical record.

00:21:48.800 Take a look.

00:21:49.360 Just scroll down.

00:21:50.420 Just scroll down.

00:21:51.420 Asma al-Assad arose in the desert.

00:21:53.860 That's the term of endearment I save for only my close friends like David Menzies.

00:21:58.520 Just scroll down through this.

00:21:59.680 This is not journalism.

00:22:00.980 And it's not quite fashion.

00:22:02.540 This is about making the Assads polite company in fancy circles in America.

00:22:06.700 The headline was,

00:22:07.700 A Rose in the Desert.

00:22:08.720 They called Asma the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies.

00:22:15.800 Now, it must be said she is glamorous.

00:22:18.420 She's not Melania Trump-level glamorous.

00:22:21.220 But just for comparison in the neighborhood,

00:22:23.840 here's the wife of Recep Erdogan, the authoritarian ruler of Turkey, just for contrast.

00:22:29.860 And here's the ruler of Pakistan with his lovely new bride.

00:22:33.820 At least I think that's who's under there.

00:22:35.880 Not sure.

00:22:36.480 So, by contrast, yes, Asma was fresh and magnetic.

00:22:41.000 And although Bashar Assad is a tyrant, we must say, he is by any measure less cruel than the ISIS terrorists who devoured so much of his country.

00:22:48.120 And Iraq, too, to set up their theocracy. 1.00

00:22:50.380 Under Assad, Christians were permitted to practice their religion.

00:22:53.540 Assad, as you can see by how he dresses, and obviously by how his wife dresses, sees himself as a modern, secular man.

00:23:00.140 In fact, Assad is Muslim, but part of a small sect called Alawites, who follow the Koran, but other books, too.

00:23:07.260 And in fact, ISIS wouldn't even regard them as true Muslims.

00:23:10.240 And they have more liberal interpretations.

00:23:12.000 For example, Alawites are allowed to drink alcohol, for example. 0.92

00:23:16.420 Here's a picture of Assad as a young man, that's him standing second from the left, with his family.

00:23:23.380 I'm glad I'm not from that part of the world, but if I was, I'd probably rather be ruled by this clan, the Alawites, than by most other tyrants in the region.

00:23:33.500 Again, I think how they treat women is shorthand for a lot of things, don't you?

00:23:39.780 How a woman is treated in a culture tells you a lot about how everyone's treated.

00:23:44.120 You think the liberal media establishment would like Trump pulling the soldiers out of Syria.

00:23:50.640 Trump is done with a war.

00:23:52.640 All the anti-war protesters, they're on the left.

00:23:55.600 And instead of cheering this, they hate the fact that Trump is declaring victory.

00:24:00.560 They prefer smearing the military and veterans.

00:24:03.940 They love how they denormalize the military after Vietnam.

00:24:08.840 They hate that part, but aren't they normally just for peace?

00:24:11.240 Even if they hate soldiers, don't they want to bring them back?

00:24:14.620 Bring the troops home?

00:24:16.560 You know, you have that lie of the left.

00:24:18.460 I love the troops, I just hate the war.

00:24:20.180 They actually hate both, but isn't bringing the troops home what they want?

00:24:24.280 And don't they especially hate the war on terror? 0.99

00:24:26.140 And don't they especially hate the war on terror against Muslim terrorists? 0.95

00:24:29.260 And don't they hate American imperialism?

00:24:32.060 Didn't the CBC here in Canada cheer, for example, when Justin Trudeau removed our six CF-18 fighter jets

00:24:37.200 from the fight against ISIS when ISIS was strong?

00:24:40.720 And when it had that UK-sized piece of real estate, 0.84

00:24:43.460 and when it was killing and raping Yazidis and Christians by the thousand?

00:24:48.060 Trudeau abandoned combat against ISIS while it was in the middle.

00:24:52.540 While ISIS was still powerful, he quit and ran away.

00:24:55.600 And the CBC loved him for it.

00:24:57.480 When I was in Iraq last year, I met a Kurdish general who helped beat back ISIS.

00:25:04.080 And he told me that he was very well aware that Canada quit the fight right before the final battle.

00:25:10.820 And he suggested that perhaps some of the men he commanded would still be alive now,

00:25:16.500 had they been able to benefit from Canadian jets coming in from the sky to take out clusters of terrorists.

00:25:21.940 But the CBC knew better.

00:25:23.420 It was wise for Trudeau to pull out.

00:25:25.320 So what does the CBC say about Donald Trump bringing the troops home?

00:25:30.500 They loved it when Trudeau did so before the final battle.

00:25:34.940 Well, here's what CBC's flagship show called The National had to say.

00:25:40.220 Analysts fear the vacuum left behind.

00:25:42.300 President Trump is running his Syria policy as if it's a reality TV show.

00:25:49.040 Well, it's very deep, isn't it?

00:25:52.040 Did you learn anything from that?

00:25:53.320 Or was that just another anti-Trump insult spoken by some leftists at a think tank?

00:25:58.320 I googled that guy.

00:26:00.020 And he's with a think tank in Washington called the Center for a New American Security.

00:26:04.660 Here's their list of donors.

00:26:06.640 Let's just start from the top, okay?

00:26:07.900 The biggest donors on down.

00:26:09.340 Now, you've got the Heinz Foundation.

00:26:12.520 That's John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz.

00:26:17.180 Then you've got Northrop Grumman.

00:26:19.260 Do you see that?

00:26:20.900 You know they make weapons, right?

00:26:23.480 Including, they made the F-14 Tomcat, fighter jet, for example.

00:26:29.600 You've got the Open Society Foundations.

00:26:32.460 Do you see that there?

00:26:34.140 That's George Soros.

00:26:35.560 That's George Soros' lobby group.

00:26:37.440 If you skim through this, there's a lot of arms dealers on the list.

00:26:40.520 People who believe fighting perpetual war is for perpetual peace.

00:26:44.780 Or as George Soros might say, invade the world's countries, welcome the world's refugees. 1.00

00:26:50.740 The welfare warfare state.

00:26:52.620 Look, if this were about defending a real democracy against tyrannical invaders, it would be something the West should consider.

00:26:59.820 Absolutely.

00:27:00.120 And by the West, I mean America, because Trudeau has cut our military so badly, we can't even have our annual flight exercise at Cold Lake anymore.

00:27:06.620 But we're not defending any democracy in Syria with our, or America's 2000s.

00:27:12.500 I'll stop saying we, since Trudeau has pretty much abandoned any fight against terrorism.

00:27:16.600 Even here at home, where he welcomes ISIS terrorists back to Canada.

00:27:20.640 Trump obviously saw the entire foreign policy establishment raging at him.

00:27:25.360 And I don't think he cares.

00:27:28.260 Today, he tweeted some more.

00:27:29.600 He said, does the USA want to be the policeman of the Middle East, getting nothing but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing?

00:27:41.080 Do we want to be there forever?

00:27:42.700 Time for others to finally fight.

00:27:45.700 I think that's right.

00:27:47.000 Once upon a time, there was a rationale for America to fight Arabian wars, maybe to defend access to OPEC oil, if that's the reason.

00:27:57.380 But now America produces more oil than Saudi Arabia does.

00:28:00.340 And Americans are tired of fighting and dying for countries that are ungrateful and, more to the point, don't have freedom and democracy in their national blood.

00:28:08.540 Time to bring the troops home.

00:28:10.040 There's a border in America for the troops to guard.

00:28:12.820 Trump is failing at that.

00:28:14.540 But actually, look at this.

00:28:15.480 Look at this.

00:28:15.920 Just three days ago, this U.S. military veteran, a triple amputee, as you can see, his name is Brian Colfage.

00:28:23.540 He set up a GoFundMe page.

00:28:25.320 You know what that is?

00:28:25.700 It's just a crowdfunding page.

00:28:28.000 To build the wall on the southern border.

00:28:30.340 It sounds insane.

00:28:31.280 I mean, it's a billion-dollar, multi-billion dollar project.

00:28:34.420 But he started it.

00:28:37.440 And look at this.

00:28:38.980 In just three days, as I say this, he's actually raised more than $6 million.

00:28:44.680 By the time this goes to air, I bet it'll be $8, $9, $10 million.

00:28:50.560 Now, how's it $1 billion?

00:28:52.140 Well, this is crowdfunding.

00:28:53.140 People are voluntarily chipping in.

00:28:55.640 Now, it's insane.

00:28:57.940 Or is it?

00:28:59.060 A billion dollars.

00:29:00.180 That's a fraction of a sliver what America spends in places like Syria to protect.

00:29:04.940 To protect who?

00:29:06.580 How about protecting America from its actual invaders? 0.98

00:29:09.600 I think that GoFundMe is great.

00:29:10.920 I think it's patriotic.

00:29:12.140 And I think its real purpose is not to pay for the wall.

00:29:16.000 I think it's an effort that will hopefully shame Donald Trump and the Congress into fulfilling

00:29:21.620 Trump's biggest and most important promise of protecting the United States itself.

00:29:25.860 That is a mission anyone can understand.

00:29:28.400 And a mission that we here in Canada sorely need, too.

00:29:34.080 Stay with us for more.

00:29:34.940 We've been fighting for a long time in Syria.

00:29:54.060 I've been president for almost two years, and we've really stepped it up.

00:29:58.260 And we have won against ISIS.

00:30:01.060 We've beaten them, and we've beaten them badly.

00:30:03.700 We've taken back the land, and now it's time for our troops to come back home.

00:30:09.320 I get very saddened when I have to write letters or call parents or wives or husbands of soldiers

00:30:16.560 who have been killed fighting for our country.

00:30:19.840 It's a great honor.

00:30:21.580 We cherish them.

00:30:23.140 But it's heartbreaking.

00:30:24.660 There's no question about it.

00:30:26.260 It's heartbreaking.

00:30:27.600 Now we've won.

00:30:29.160 It's time to come back.

00:30:30.940 They're getting ready.

00:30:31.920 You're going to see them soon.

00:30:32.940 These are great American heroes.

00:30:35.380 These are great heroes of the world because they fought for us.

00:30:38.820 But they've killed ISIS, who hurts the world.

00:30:42.260 And we're proud to have done it.

00:30:44.240 And I'll tell you, they're up there looking down on us.

00:30:47.200 And there is nobody happier or more proud of their families to put them in a position

00:30:52.720 where they've done such good for so many people.

00:30:56.200 So our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back, and they're coming back now.

00:31:04.600 We won.

00:31:05.540 And that's the way we want it.

00:31:06.920 Well, that's U.S. President Donald J. Trump announcing with some personal flourish

00:31:15.180 that he is bringing home some 2,000 U.S. military personnel who are in Syria.

00:31:21.780 It's interesting that he references soldiers who were killed in Syria and speaks on their behalf.

00:31:30.600 That was pounced upon immediately by liberal critics who usually are anti-war,

00:31:37.440 but I think are anti-anything Trump says.

00:31:40.480 So pulling troops home is something they suddenly don't agree with.

00:31:44.520 Now, neither I nor Donald Trump have served in the military.

00:31:49.520 He went to an academy as a youth, but he avoided service in a hot war.

00:31:56.360 And I think this is the sort of subject that we must defer in some regard

00:32:01.400 to those who have actually risked their lives and served and sacrificed.

00:32:06.800 I'm not saying that only people who served can speak about these matters,

00:32:10.140 but I think on touchy subjects, I think we should listen to them first.

00:32:14.760 And so it is with pleasure, and it's an honor also,

00:32:18.260 that I bring to you one of our rebel talents.

00:32:20.640 I'm talking about Kurt Schlichter.

00:32:22.100 He's the host of Take That, twice a week on The Rebel.

00:32:25.420 But did you know he is also a military veteran?

00:32:28.740 And he joins us now via Skype.

00:32:31.100 Kurt, great to see you again. Thanks for joining us today.

00:32:33.540 Well, thanks for having me, Ezra.

00:32:35.160 And I appreciate what you said, because you pointed out that we all have a say in this.

00:32:41.680 Yeah, I was in the military.

00:32:42.620 You can assess my experience.

00:32:44.000 I was in Desert Storm.

00:32:45.500 I was not in Iraq, Round 2, or Afghanistan.

00:32:48.880 I did go to the Army War College.

00:32:50.720 I did command a battalion.

00:32:52.820 But everybody's got a right to give their view, and all the views are important.

00:32:59.220 Some of us may know some technical stuff that others don't.

00:33:02.640 And I think what that leads me to is what Donald Trump did.

00:33:07.020 And again, I'm of two minds on this.

00:33:10.960 I could be convinced either way.

00:33:13.360 I think the people who are anti-Trump, or in many cases, just anti-Trump, they don't have a coherent reason for being against what he says,

00:33:22.760 or it goes against what they believe right up to the point where he was inaugurated.

00:33:26.740 But I also understand that there are some risks with pulling out.

00:33:32.200 I'm particularly concerned about our Kurdish allies.

00:33:36.300 Are they going to be safe?

00:33:37.700 What are we going to do?

00:33:38.400 What does pulling out actually mean?

00:33:40.800 I think we have a lot of questions.

00:33:42.180 But, you know, Ezra, there's a lot of questions about the policy that we're on now, too.

00:33:48.420 And I can't seem to get an answer.

00:33:49.880 I'll go on Twitter, and I'll say, OK, how many lives are you willing to spend to restore something like order?

00:33:59.380 Because you're not going to restore democracy.

00:34:01.580 And anyone who says you are, I'm done with you.

00:34:05.620 You're not going to – to restore order to Syria.

00:34:08.380 How many lives?

00:34:09.300 What is the number? 0.96

00:34:10.180 And, you know, all I get is you're Putin's puppet. 1.00

00:34:12.840 You're stupid. 1.00

00:34:15.060 You're a Trump blankety blank. 1.00

00:34:18.920 And, you know, as a lawyer, because I'm also a lawyer, when somebody doesn't give me a straight answer, Ezra, I assume that they're trying to pull something on me.

00:34:29.680 I assume they don't have a good answer or their answer hurts them.

00:34:33.260 And I'd like answers.

00:34:34.460 I'd like to know how many lives does whatever your objective in Syria justify?

00:34:39.660 How much money does it justify?

00:34:41.320 And what are those objectives?

00:34:42.960 And I can't seem to get a good answer on this.

00:34:46.800 Kurt, you mentioned what our objectives would be.

00:34:49.960 And I'm saying our.

00:34:50.940 Of course, Canada abandoned this fight soon after Justin Trudeau took over.

00:34:55.600 He withdrew our six CF-18 jets and support.

00:34:59.040 So when I say our, I'm saying the moral West.

00:35:01.940 But, of course, it's America that's doing the heavy lifting.

00:35:03.960 Let me read Trump's very succinct tweet yesterday.

00:35:07.640 Very economical in its words.

00:35:10.000 He said, we have defeated ISIS in Syria.

00:35:13.860 My only reason for being there during the Trump presidency.

00:35:18.080 And what I like about that, Kurt, is he's saying my objective was defeat them.

00:35:22.380 I have defeating them.

00:35:23.960 I have defeated them.

00:35:25.120 So sticking around for collateral purposes to be a globo cop because there's some, you know,

00:35:33.740 idealistic hope that we can find a George Washington of Syria. 0.96

00:35:37.620 Those aren't the goals.

00:35:38.940 I like the economy of thinking there.

00:35:41.420 And anyone who has a different goal should should elaborate on it.

00:35:45.260 What is your goal now that ISIS is down to one percent of its original strength?

00:35:50.000 Well, exactly.

00:35:51.560 And look, I, you know, in the Army War College, I'm a graduate.

00:35:55.700 You know, we're taught, you know, hey, when you don't have an objective, you have problems.

00:35:59.300 And, of course, the United States probably forgot about establishing objectives over the last 17 years.

00:36:05.600 Now, again, I'm not anti-war in Syria.

00:36:08.620 I don't think that it is inherently wrong for us to be in Syria.

00:36:12.380 That's not what I'm saying.

00:36:13.700 I'm saying, why are we there?

00:36:15.300 What are we willing to pay for?

00:36:16.760 How are we going to not be there?

00:36:18.380 Because that's important.

00:36:19.900 What do we intend to accomplish?

00:36:21.820 I can't get a good answer.

00:36:23.320 And, again, I'm also not one of those people who is a knee-jerk anti-peacekeeping nation-building guy.

00:36:31.360 Because I was on a successful mission.

00:36:33.540 I was in Kosovo, and we succeeded in a peacekeeping nation-building mission there.

00:36:39.060 So, again, I'm not here advocating for anything except clarity.

00:36:45.780 And I'd like to see – I do like that the president's being clear.

00:36:49.060 That is leadership.

00:36:51.060 Now, you might not agree with where he's going, but he is taking a stand against the establishment, saying,

00:36:56.320 I promised this, I've been telling you I'm going to do this, and now I'm going to do it.

00:37:02.600 So this should not come as a shock to anybody, although a lot of people are acting shocked.

00:37:07.040 Yeah.

00:37:07.600 You know, I just, in my monologue, played some old clips of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, you know, toppling Hosni Mubarak in Egypt,

00:37:17.660 letting the Muslim Brotherhood come in, toppling Muammar Gaddafi. 0.93

00:37:20.880 Even – and I'm no fan of either man, but Gaddafi had given up his weapons of mass destruction,

00:37:27.940 had paid more than a billion dollars in compensation to terrorism victims.

00:37:32.600 I've never heard of that happen in the history of the world.

00:37:35.200 He was trying to reconcile with the West, and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama toppled them,

00:37:41.220 but they didn't answer the question, and then what?

00:37:44.780 And I think that's the big question throughout the Middle East.

00:37:47.420 Okay, so you topple Saddam, and then what?

00:37:50.040 You topple Bashar Assad, and then what?

00:37:52.340 And who is the good guy?

00:37:55.700 This is a battle of the least bad guys.

00:37:58.060 There's no good guy.

00:37:59.620 I mean, if the standard is – because the standard seems to be, well, ISIS can come back,

00:38:03.900 because I think everybody's agreed that they've suffered major strategic and tactical defeats over there,

00:38:08.680 and that their area where their unchallenged power exists is very, very small, if it exists at all in Syria.

00:38:18.480 Do they have the potential to come back?

00:38:19.940 They certainly do.

00:38:20.820 We saw that in Iraq.

00:38:22.800 And Obama's actions in Iraq, which led to the rise of ISIS,

00:38:28.440 are an important lesson that we shouldn't ignore no matter where you stand on the issue overall.

00:38:33.200 But the idea that there's a potential that a bunch of Islamic radicals are going to rise up again,

00:38:41.420 well, that's an invitation to stay forever.

00:38:44.580 If that's your standard, you know, if that's your standard, say that's your standard.

00:38:48.600 If your standard is, I think we just occupy the whole area, okay, now we can talk honestly.

00:38:53.540 But when you start saying, well, you know, Putin's excited about this,

00:38:58.020 you know, Putin's got maybe 4,000 guys in there.

00:39:00.560 That's a brigade.

00:39:01.220 What's the influence of a brigade?

00:39:04.240 Maybe like 20 square miles, 30 square miles of all of Syria?

00:39:08.180 Come on.

00:39:09.340 Come on. 0.93

00:39:10.560 That's just silly.

00:39:12.060 I think it was Gordon Chang, who I generally respect. 0.57

00:39:15.040 I mean, I find Gordon Chang very wise on the question of China.

00:39:19.060 And he's very skeptical of China, and he's a big booster of Trump's China policy.

00:39:24.400 So I know that Gordon Chang is not an anti-Trumper, and I know he's an American patriot.

00:39:32.520 His worry is this, and help me out with this one, because it's the only criticism I've seen

00:39:37.240 that is registering with me, partly because it's Gordon.

00:39:39.800 He says this may telegraph to other bad actors that maybe Donald Trump doesn't have the stomach

00:39:48.220 for a lengthy and potentially bloody military project.

00:39:54.360 And he was worried that China might take some adventurous steps in the South China Sea or whatever,

00:40:01.720 maybe even Taiwan.

00:40:04.080 He was worried that maybe Vladimir Putin would take advantage and go further into Ukraine.

00:40:10.840 So Gordon Chang, where he was not precisely about Syria, it was what other people might

00:40:16.180 think about Trump's resolve.

00:40:18.480 Do you think there's any merit to that criticism?

00:40:22.380 Substantively, I don't think it reflects on Trump's resolve.

00:40:25.700 I think Trump actually would have a much easier time if he just let this go on.

00:40:33.720 But what matters is perception.

00:40:36.700 Could an enemy draw that perception from what's happening in Syria?

00:40:40.960 And I suppose they could.

00:40:43.300 But I don't think, you know, the idea that we're wrapped up in Syria is probably, you know,

00:40:52.380 probably pleases the Chinese.

00:40:53.880 The simple fact is we're focused on a low-level bandit hunt out in the Syrian desert when our

00:41:01.700 real threat is a high-tempo conventional war against North Korea and China right now.

00:41:09.340 That is what we should be preparing for.

00:41:10.920 And to a smaller extent, Russia.

00:41:12.560 I think Russia in a lot of ways is a paper tiger. 0.84

00:41:16.900 Paper tigers could still cut you.

00:41:18.660 But the simple fact is, you know, are our enemies going to be really thrilled, unhappy

00:41:24.020 that we're, or happy that we're pulling ourselves out of a quagmire?

00:41:27.360 And that, you know, that goes for Afghanistan, too.

00:41:30.920 I don't know if quagmire is the right word, but an engagement that may or may not be giving

00:41:36.240 us a huge strategic benefit.

00:41:37.940 I think maybe I'm a little biased.

00:41:45.520 A friend of mine got shot in Afghanistan last month.

00:41:48.840 Guy I've known for years, guy who came up with me in the military and some traitor shot

00:41:54.260 him, almost killed him.

00:41:57.060 But he's a tough dude.

00:41:59.000 You know, so this is, you know, this is personal.

00:42:00.680 And I'm wondering, is the life of my friend and the other comrades who I don't know, worth

00:42:07.860 it in Afghanistan anymore after all these years?

00:42:10.240 Is it worth it in Syria? 0.98

00:42:11.600 And I think those are important questions to ask.

00:42:14.320 You are not helping Putin because you ask those questions and you force people to take

00:42:18.320 a position.

00:42:18.960 I would like the Congress to do its war making job and either declare that we are at war

00:42:24.660 against ISIS and we're going to stay in Syria until they are gone and pounded into

00:42:30.520 rubble and people fear to whisper America's name or we're going to pull out.

00:42:34.880 I want to see them take a stand right now.

00:42:36.660 It's only Donald Trump and he gets all the heat, but he's willing to take it.

00:42:42.540 So what's the right answer?

00:42:44.580 I can't tell you.

00:42:45.700 I want to hear more and we can certainly do it wrong.

00:42:48.300 If we betray our Kurdish friends, we're doing it wrong.

00:42:51.180 You know, you're so right.

00:42:53.140 Kurdistan is the closest thing we'll find to a liberal democracy in the region.

00:42:58.620 We had the interesting experience of visiting there and seeing some of the Christian refugees

00:43:04.600 that were cleansed, so to speak, ethnically cleansed.

00:43:08.440 It's a terrible phrase by the ISIS terrorists.

00:43:11.980 The new enemy, of course, for them is the Iranians. 1.00

00:43:15.700 But I was just remarking, I was just thinking as you were talking that the Americans have

00:43:19.780 been on the ground in Afghanistan for 17 years now.

00:43:22.400 That's clearly the longest war in American history, I think.

00:43:27.900 And, you know, is it unlimited?

00:43:31.060 It's not like having a military base in Germany that's just sort of a base.

00:43:34.680 This is active engagement.

00:43:37.640 This is stuff.

00:43:39.020 We are unwilling to do what it takes to turn the tide.

00:43:43.340 As a country, it seems pretty clear we are not going to put in 100,000 more guys and tell

00:43:48.200 them, you know, go get them.

00:43:49.840 We're just not going to do that.

00:43:51.160 OK, all right.

00:43:52.380 And there's nothing left.

00:43:53.560 So what are we going to do?

00:43:54.480 There's no good guys there.

00:43:56.020 Hey, can I end by asking you something about Canada?

00:43:58.500 And I know it's on the Air Force side, and that's a different side of things than you

00:44:03.740 were on.

00:44:04.620 But I wonder if you have any thoughts on it.

00:44:08.120 You know, the red flag exercises in the United States developed in Vietnam.

00:44:13.980 There was a study that the vast majority of pilots, airs being shot down, et cetera, were

00:44:23.600 in the first 10 missions.

00:44:25.580 So they set up red flag to basically do those 10 missions in exercises over America to send

00:44:32.500 over, to work out the bugs.

00:44:35.000 It was such a success.

00:44:36.040 Yeah.

00:44:36.260 This was the Top Gun exercise.

00:44:37.780 It was Top Gun.

00:44:38.380 Great idea.

00:44:39.380 And in Canada, we started something called Maple Flag, you know, maple being our maple

00:44:45.860 leaf.

00:44:46.240 Right.

00:44:46.420 And for 40 years, we've been doing it.

00:44:49.660 And the only time it was interrupted in Canada was when we had major overseas deployments

00:44:53.820 for, like, including for KOSPO, by the way.

00:44:57.600 Just last week, Justin Trudeau announced that he is shutting down the Maple Flag exercise,

00:45:04.240 the two-week exercise every year at a major air base in my home province of Alberta.

00:45:09.160 And they're saying, well, we need to refocus, and we need to manage resources, and we need

00:45:13.620 to innovate.

00:45:14.100 And that was something, it wasn't just for Canadians.

00:45:17.140 NATO pilots, and even non-NATO, Australians, New Zealanders, Israel even came once, Singapore

00:45:22.360 came.

00:45:23.440 Canada just shut down our version called Maple Flag.

00:45:27.460 And I wonder if America even knows, if America, what does America think of Canada in terms

00:45:33.500 of being a NATO ally anymore?

00:45:35.240 I just am so depressed about that, because that was the best thing our air force did every

00:45:39.160 year.

00:45:39.380 Well, look, I got to tell you, among American military, the Canadians' reputation is, it

00:45:48.020 couldn't be higher.

00:45:49.240 They've stood by us.

00:45:50.380 They are solid, squared away, brave, resourceful.

00:45:53.440 Yeah, they are, you know, they're under threat from a leader who, frankly, doesn't do what

00:46:03.360 he needs to do as far as defending his country. 0.84

00:46:06.040 And I think it's a damn shame that they're not getting this vital experience.

00:46:11.780 I hope that they can make it up somehow.

00:46:13.620 Hopefully, they can continue working with the United States and NATO forces.

00:46:17.460 But this is common in the West.

00:46:22.220 We've decided that, you know, as people, that, you know, we're not worth defending ourselves

00:46:29.860 anymore.

00:46:30.660 Yeah.

00:46:31.080 It made me terribly sad.

00:46:32.900 Sad.

00:46:33.280 And it is very sad. 0.94

00:46:35.280 Guys will die.

00:46:36.760 I think so.

00:46:37.680 Guys will die in combat because they don't have that vital training.

00:46:41.720 But, you know, Trudeau will be, you know, by then he'll be off partying with rock stars

00:46:47.360 and dancing.

00:46:48.920 And he doesn't care.

00:46:49.860 He doesn't care.

00:46:50.760 It's not important to him.

00:46:51.720 It doesn't matter to him.

00:46:53.860 Yeah.

00:46:54.120 And that's a sad thing.

00:46:55.280 His own military does not matter to him.

00:46:57.800 It is not a priority.

00:46:58.780 Yeah.

00:46:59.120 It is very sad.

00:47:00.060 That's just it.

00:47:01.760 Well, Kurt, listen, I appreciate you taking the time.

00:47:04.020 And, you know, I have to say, although I don't have skin in the game, the idea of bringing

00:47:11.080 American men and women home and not putting them at risk and all the stresses to the families

00:47:17.560 and the stresses to the communities, the cost is the least of it.

00:47:21.460 The financial cost is the least of it.

00:47:23.360 I think this is good news.

00:47:24.940 And let America go to war only when it is necessary and required and certain objectives

00:47:33.180 and sharpen, but not a 17-year or a 10-year open-ended mission.

00:47:39.060 I think this is a good news thing.

00:47:40.680 Last word to you, Kurt.

00:47:42.320 I think that once you leave Washington, D.C., you have a very different perspective because

00:47:46.700 it ends the people in Washington, D.C. who send their sons and daughters over there to

00:47:50.160 fight.

00:47:50.880 And those are the people who elected Donald Trump.

00:47:53.880 And Donald Trump was absolutely clear about what he intended to do.

00:47:56.720 You can't say he was hiding it.

00:47:58.840 And they voted for him.

00:48:00.180 That matters.

00:48:01.160 Yeah.

00:48:01.700 Well, Kurt, thank you so much.

00:48:02.960 It's always great to have you, to talk with you on my show.

00:48:05.740 I enjoy your videos.

00:48:07.280 We call them Take That because you dish it out.

00:48:10.800 And you know what?

00:48:11.280 We get a little itchy.

00:48:12.220 We admire you for a lot of reasons.

00:48:13.800 And the fact that you actually lived up to your ideals and served your country.

00:48:19.240 And of course, you were doing it to defend the United States.

00:48:21.360 But you were defending us, too, even if it wasn't on the top of your mind.

00:48:25.940 And here at the Rebel, we're grateful to you.

00:48:28.920 Well, look, I was a colonel.

00:48:30.060 I didn't do anything.

00:48:30.920 It's the young guys who did everything.

00:48:33.020 And we're proud to serve side by side with the brave Canadian forces.

00:48:38.940 There's no one better.

00:48:40.160 Right.

00:48:40.360 And they could not have higher respect from Americans.

00:48:43.240 I salute them.

00:48:44.540 Merry Christmas to you and your country.

00:48:47.360 Thank you very much.

00:48:48.160 It's a beautiful way to end it.

00:48:49.220 Merry Christmas to you, too.

00:48:50.440 Take care, my friend.

00:48:51.860 Thank you.

00:48:52.420 All right.

00:48:53.020 Well, there you have it.

00:48:53.680 Kurt Slichter.

00:48:54.840 He's the host of Take That.

00:48:56.360 You've got to watch.

00:48:57.100 He's got a great sense of humor.

00:48:58.300 And he's a patriot all the way down.

00:49:00.080 He's just fighting.

00:49:01.540 He's still fighting.

00:49:02.260 Can you see it?

00:49:03.660 All right.

00:49:04.360 Stay with us.

00:49:05.540 More Head on the Rebel.

00:49:06.300 Hey, welcome back.

00:49:18.600 On my monologue yesterday about Trudeau dropping in the polls, James writes,

00:49:21.980 The 30% support for Trudeau is the liberal base.

00:49:26.140 Probably won't fall much below that.

00:49:28.500 My focus is on the 10% between 30% and 40% because that is what will win the election. 0.97

00:49:33.280 James, I think that's pretty good reasoning on your part.

00:49:38.380 There are some diehard lefties that will never move over, some diehard conservatives that will

00:49:43.020 move over.

00:49:44.240 That said, even saying these words in answer to you, I think, well, look what happened in

00:49:49.340 Quebec.

00:49:50.340 A new party out of the blue, the Coalition Avenue in Quebec, crushed the liberals, put them

00:49:55.720 to a historic low.

00:49:57.300 And in fact, if you look at all the upstart parties combined, it was more than the traditional

00:50:02.100 parties.

00:50:02.860 There was the Quebec Solidaire ultra-left party.

00:50:06.540 And Trudeau is clearly moving hard to the left, taking advantage of Jagmeet Singh's total

00:50:11.880 weakness in the NDP.

00:50:13.140 I think I mentioned to you a couple months ago when there was a by-election in Leeds-Grenfield,

00:50:19.060 going from memory here, the new Democrat got 3% of the vote.

00:50:21.960 Now, the conservatives want a majority there, but if your NDP nationwide is losing 10 points,

00:50:30.040 that's probably going to go to your liberals.

00:50:32.920 So where does the conservative party go?

00:50:35.540 Normally, it might ooze to the center.

00:50:39.420 And clearly, that's what Andrew Scheer was thinking.

00:50:41.200 But here is Maxime Bernier.

00:50:42.900 And although he doesn't have the infrastructure, he has charisma and online presence.

00:50:47.680 And he is really leading a national discussion.

00:50:50.540 I really think it's clear that Andrew Scheer is copying Maxime Bernier on issues, whether

00:50:57.960 it's immigration or just trying to copy his style.

00:51:03.160 That's my way of saying we could be in a disruption cycle like they were in Quebec.

00:51:11.280 Remember, there's a new coalition party in New Brunswick, the People's Alliance, I think

00:51:17.440 it's called. We interviewed the leader of it.

00:51:21.360 Jason Kenney in Alberta is nominally a conservative.

00:51:24.320 But again, they mashed up a couple of parties there.

00:51:28.140 I think you're right.

00:51:30.160 But don't close your mind to the possibility that we could see a redrawing of the lines and

00:51:38.100 the disruption federally.

00:51:39.580 Isn't that what we've seen throughout Europe?

00:51:41.700 Isn't that what we saw in Brexit?

00:51:43.180 Isn't that what we saw, in fact, in Donald Trump?

00:51:44.780 Robert Wright's Trump approval, 47 percent, Rasmussen.

00:51:51.220 Justin approval, 35 percent, Angus Reid.

00:51:53.620 Enough said.

00:51:54.760 You are so right.

00:51:56.240 And that is with 90 percent hostile press towards Trump and 90 percent, you know, dating game

00:52:02.980 style, Rosemary Barton love letter press for Trudeau.

00:52:07.180 It's quite something, isn't it?

00:52:08.220 On my car ride interview with Joel Pollack, Paul writes, the GOP lost Congress because

00:52:15.480 they failed to act on many issues.

00:52:17.020 Throwing out Trump over this will hand the country over to the Democrat globalists. 0.80

00:52:20.720 There will be plenty of blame to go around, but America will never come back from it.

00:52:24.340 Well, that's the thing.

00:52:25.280 I mean, I found the U.S. midterm elections very interesting, as I'm sure many of you did.

00:52:31.600 And I accept the conventional wisdom that the battle over Brett Kavanaugh and the Supreme

00:52:36.960 Court motivated Trump's people to fight and get out and vote because they saw good.

00:52:42.500 You're not willing to bend the knee to the political correctness.

00:52:44.760 So there was some good news there.

00:52:47.040 In fact, I think Trump grew in the Senate, if my memory serves.

00:52:49.840 But I look at Texas.

00:52:53.540 In my mind, Texas is the most right wing of places.

00:52:56.580 I know technically it's not Utah, West Virginia, places like that.

00:52:59.660 And Wyoming are actually more right wing, mathematically speaking.

00:53:03.020 But Texas is Texas, for God's sakes.

00:53:06.440 And a white Obama named Beto O'Rourke got 48% in Texas for the Democrats.

00:53:17.700 And of course, he's running for president.

00:53:21.000 If the Democrats can come within a one and a half points of turning Texas blue.

00:53:26.540 By the way, if Texas goes Democrat, there is no math.

00:53:29.660 That ever gets you to a Republican majority.

00:53:32.580 Just the sheer size of Texas.

00:53:34.480 I think it's the second largest state by population now after California.

00:53:38.480 It's California, Texas, and Florida in a close second and third.

00:53:42.100 It would be like if the Dems lost California to a Republican.

00:53:45.780 By the way, that did happen.

00:53:46.820 Reagan, Nixon.

00:53:48.360 Nixon was governor.

00:53:50.200 California, if my memory serves, or was he senator?

00:53:52.260 Reagan was governor.

00:53:52.860 If California ever went Republican, Democrats would never win again.

00:54:01.220 If Texas goes Democrat, Republicans will never win again.

00:54:04.900 And it came within 1.5% of happening.

00:54:07.700 1.5% chance of happening.

00:54:09.860 That's why the wall is the live or die issue for the Dems.

00:54:12.680 Because the wall keeps out their future voters.

00:54:15.200 If you look at the counties in Texas that went most pro-Democrat, it's the one closest to the border.

00:54:22.000 That's what happens when you have 13 million illegals. 0.99

00:54:24.800 I can assure you they vote 99% for Democrats.

00:54:29.620 That's exactly why Justin Trudeau is doing it up here too.

00:54:33.420 Well, that's our show for the day.

00:54:35.480 On behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.

00:54:39.020 Good night.

00:54:40.180 And keep fighting for freedom.

00:54:41.200 Good night.

Rebel News Podcast - December 21, 2018

Trump ends Syrian war with a tweet. Should America be the world's policeman？

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