Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 589 ｜ The Secret Reason DC Republicans Love Ketanji Brown Jackson

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, happy Monday.

00:00:02.080 Welcome to Relatable.

00:00:03.500 This episode, as all episodes,

00:00:05.720 is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:08.040 Get American meat delivered right to your front door.

00:00:10.360 Go to goodranchers.com slash Allie.

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00:00:23.180 All right, guys, we've got a great episode for you today.

00:00:26.860 We are talking to our new friend, John Schweppe.

00:00:30.360 He is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs

00:00:32.480 at the American Principles Project.

00:00:36.320 He is also a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute.

00:00:39.160 And I am having him on because he had a really interesting

00:00:43.260 and revealing thread about why there are some groups

00:00:46.540 and individuals who call themselves conservatives,

00:00:49.360 they are on the right,

00:00:50.760 who are supporting the nomination of Gitanji Brown Jackson.

00:00:54.000 And it has to do with something called criminal justice reform,

00:00:58.720 which, as we've talked about,

00:01:00.120 is actually a very destructive set of policies

00:01:03.560 that often leads to higher rates of crime and more victims.

00:01:07.840 So why are there some foundations, organizations,

00:01:11.080 politicians on the right

00:01:12.160 who are supporting so-called criminal justice reform

00:01:15.540 and are supporting Gitanji Brown Jackson,

00:01:18.340 especially with her disturbing record

00:01:20.200 and issuing such light sentences on child predators

00:01:24.320 and child sex abuse consumers.

00:01:27.520 And so I have a couple more things that I want to say

00:01:29.680 before we actually get into that interview.

00:01:31.740 But before we get into the serious stuff,

00:01:34.540 I want to talk about the slap heard around the world.

00:01:38.680 One of the most stunning moments in TV history,

00:01:42.820 I think, and that is when Will Smith at the Oscars last night

00:01:48.680 just slapped the heck out of Chris Rock,

00:01:52.360 who was hosting the Oscars.

00:01:54.280 It was, if you haven't heard of this,

00:01:56.220 heard about this yet,

00:01:57.160 if you haven't watched this yet,

00:01:59.260 you got to watch this.

00:02:00.420 Watch this on YouTube.

00:02:01.240 If you're listening, go back later,

00:02:03.060 watch it on YouTube because you got to see this.

00:02:04.960 All right, here it is.

00:02:06.360 Jada, I love you.

00:02:07.760 G.I. Jane 2, can't wait to see it.

00:02:09.840 All right.

00:02:10.140 I'm out here.

00:02:13.280 Uh-oh.

00:02:14.000 Richard?

00:02:18.260 Oh, wow.

00:02:20.320 Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.

00:02:24.460 Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth.

00:02:29.040 Wow, dude.

00:02:30.680 Yes.

00:02:31.160 It was a G.I. Jane joke.

00:02:33.220 Keep my wife's name out your fucking mouth.

00:02:38.180 I'm going to, okay?

00:02:40.140 Okay, just to give some context,

00:02:41.980 in case you weren't on Twitter

00:02:42.820 and you weren't seeing people talk about this,

00:02:45.340 Jada Pinkett Smith, she has alopecia.

00:02:48.160 And so she lost a lot of hair and she looks bald.

00:02:51.740 And so Chris Rock, calling her, you know,

00:02:54.560 in G.I. Jane 2.

00:02:56.080 G.I. Jane was a movie.

00:02:58.600 Demi Moore shaved her head.

00:03:00.460 And that was like a big thing back then.

00:03:02.360 And so he's just making a joke

00:03:03.540 because now she has a shaved head,

00:03:05.380 which by the way, like she looks really beautiful.

00:03:07.000 She can totally rock that look.

00:03:09.540 I don't even know if Chris Rock knew

00:03:12.620 that it was because of alopecia.

00:03:15.180 He might've thought that she just shaved her head.

00:03:17.500 I had no idea that she had alopecia.

00:03:19.240 That's not something that everyone knows.

00:03:20.820 Now, maybe he was,

00:03:21.800 and he was just making a joke at her expense,

00:03:23.960 which by the way, is something that comedians do.

00:03:27.460 Comedians like Chris Rock,

00:03:28.820 I mean, they test the limits of what someone can say.

00:03:32.020 They say offensive stuff.

00:03:33.640 So I have a few thoughts about this whole thing.

00:03:37.520 On the one hand,

00:03:38.800 I think it is completely justified for Will Smith

00:03:41.120 to feel offended on behalf of his wife.

00:03:43.580 Now, I will say when you see the footage,

00:03:46.420 you will see that right after Chris Rock tells the joke,

00:03:49.100 Will Smith was actually laughing.

00:03:51.240 And then he gets up a few seconds later

00:03:53.320 because I guess he saw Jada's face.

00:03:55.600 Jada was not laughing at all.

00:03:57.520 She looked very offended by it.

00:03:59.500 And so I don't know if he looked at her

00:04:01.380 and was like, oh, shoot, my wife is not happy.

00:04:04.960 Like, I don't want to sleep on the couch tonight,

00:04:06.500 whatever it was.

00:04:07.280 And so he decided to get up

00:04:08.600 and then slap Chris Rock to defend his woman.

00:04:11.640 Or if he was doing like a fake laugh,

00:04:14.880 like, ha ha ha, I'm about to kill you kind of laugh,

00:04:17.500 which is a little bit troubling.

00:04:18.880 Or he didn't really hear the joke,

00:04:20.400 but it's a little strange.

00:04:21.540 He looked sincerely jovial.

00:04:23.520 And like, he thought that the joke was funny.

00:04:25.600 And then he literally goes up there

00:04:27.240 and just slaps him.

00:04:28.220 And obviously, Chris Rock, you can tell

00:04:30.640 as he is about to get slapped,

00:04:33.400 he doesn't know what's coming.

00:04:35.060 Like, he thinks it's a joke.

00:04:36.200 And there's uncomfortable laughter

00:04:37.980 from the audience.

00:04:40.040 And then as Will Smith starts yelling

00:04:41.980 from the audience,

00:04:42.700 that's when you see everyone's face

00:04:44.460 kind of go serious.

00:04:46.020 Like, oh, this is real.

00:04:47.640 Like, that wasn't just a bit.

00:04:49.120 And there are these,

00:04:50.600 there are these, like, montages

00:04:54.340 of people's, of celebrities' reactions

00:04:57.480 going around on Twitter,

00:05:00.540 which were kind of funny.

00:05:01.620 Like, I don't actually think that it,

00:05:03.120 I think it was real.

00:05:04.000 I think it's something that really happened.

00:05:06.500 So that's one thought,

00:05:09.380 that maybe he was justified in being offended.

00:05:13.960 Will Smith was justified.

00:05:15.160 And, you know, someone going out

00:05:16.480 and fighting on behalf of your woman

00:05:18.220 or, like, punching a guy

00:05:19.540 on behalf of your girl.

00:05:21.340 Like, that's something,

00:05:22.180 that's a tale as old as time.

00:05:24.660 However, however,

00:05:27.820 it is still a little psychotic, okay?

00:05:32.560 For you to hear a comedian tell a joke,

00:05:36.660 yes, an offensive joke,

00:05:38.440 and then to get up on stage

00:05:40.640 in front of millions of people

00:05:42.740 or hundreds of thousands of people,

00:05:44.300 I don't know how many people watch the Oscars these days,

00:05:47.040 and to slap a comedian

00:05:49.360 for telling an offensive joke.

00:05:50.780 Like, that's a little crazy.

00:05:53.140 That's, I'm sorry.

00:05:53.980 That's a little wild.

00:05:55.940 I understand being offended.

00:05:58.720 Okay, fine, be offended.

00:06:00.220 Talk to him after.

00:06:01.080 Maybe you even take it outside

00:06:02.420 after the show.

00:06:03.740 Or maybe you mention it

00:06:04.900 in your speech

00:06:06.300 because he did end up winning an Oscar

00:06:08.300 and it was weird.

00:06:09.280 His speech was like,

00:06:10.400 are you talking about the character

00:06:12.280 that you played defending his family?

00:06:14.140 Are you talking about the moment

00:06:15.260 that you just had defending your family?

00:06:17.280 It was very confusing.

00:06:18.700 But there were so many different ways

00:06:20.700 that Will Smith could have handled it

00:06:22.800 rather than doing what he did.

00:06:24.760 I felt really bad for Chris Rock.

00:06:27.140 I don't think that the joke was great.

00:06:29.080 Like, I don't like making fun of people

00:06:31.460 for things that they can't control.

00:06:33.020 Maybe that's just because I'm sensitive.

00:06:34.640 I don't like those kinds of jokes either.

00:06:36.260 And if someone did that to my family,

00:06:38.940 like my child or something,

00:06:40.700 maybe I would go up on stage

00:06:42.400 and slap them too.

00:06:44.100 Like, maybe so.

00:06:45.440 There is that part of that,

00:06:46.820 that Will Smith has seen his wife

00:06:48.360 struggle with this thing

00:06:49.520 and it really, you know, hit home

00:06:52.200 and really he took it hard.

00:06:53.560 Like, if my spouse had some kind of special need

00:06:57.140 and someone made fun of it on live TV,

00:06:59.420 who knows?

00:06:59.940 Maybe I would want to go out there

00:07:01.320 and slap them too.

00:07:03.040 However, I don't think

00:07:03.980 that's a really great justification

00:07:05.340 for what he did.

00:07:06.660 And one thing I will say,

00:07:07.780 no matter what your perspective is on it,

00:07:10.360 is that Will Smith,

00:07:12.400 even if you think he was justified in this,

00:07:14.980 like even if you think he was justified

00:07:16.580 in doing what he did,

00:07:18.060 he's not a victim.

00:07:19.420 Like, he just assaulted someone

00:07:20.660 on live television for telling a joke.

00:07:23.660 He's not a victim.

00:07:24.780 And all of the people who were comforting him,

00:07:27.220 like on the side of the stage

00:07:28.680 and afterward,

00:07:29.200 you saw Denzel Washington,

00:07:30.660 whom I love, by the way,

00:07:31.580 and Bradley Cooper

00:07:33.620 and all these people saying,

00:07:34.840 like, it's okay, dude, it's okay.

00:07:36.400 I mean, is this the conclusion

00:07:37.920 of the culture that we've built

00:07:39.240 that words are violence,

00:07:40.580 but actual violence isn't violence?

00:07:43.000 That's kind of what it seems like.

00:07:44.100 I'm not trying to make it political

00:07:45.220 because I'm not saying

00:07:46.160 that this is necessarily

00:07:47.180 a political thing.

00:07:49.220 I'm not trying to make it

00:07:50.000 a culture war issue.

00:07:52.340 It's just a little,

00:07:53.160 but I did see it fall along

00:07:55.140 kind of predictable lines

00:07:56.280 that most people like on the right

00:07:58.100 or center right

00:07:58.940 were saying that was totally uncalled for.

00:08:01.500 Chris Rock is a comedian.

00:08:02.400 And then a lot of people on the left

00:08:04.360 who seem to kind of applaud it

00:08:06.960 and think that,

00:08:08.260 oh yeah, he's just defending his family.

00:08:10.780 And that's weird.

00:08:11.780 Like, what are the politics behind that?

00:08:13.760 Why would the left react that way?

00:08:15.460 Ayanna Pressley,

00:08:16.360 who is a far left congresswoman,

00:08:20.100 she actually tweeted,

00:08:21.600 she has alopecia as well.

00:08:22.900 And so she is bald.

00:08:23.820 And she tweeted,

00:08:24.620 alopecia nation stand up.

00:08:26.680 Thank you, Will Smith.

00:08:27.680 And then she posted a picture of herself

00:08:29.940 and says some other things.

00:08:31.940 Thank you, Will Smith.

00:08:33.960 It's just, it's honestly, it's strange.

00:08:35.920 Again, I don't want to make it political,

00:08:37.680 but why are you defending violence

00:08:39.700 because of someone's words?

00:08:41.200 Is that a good justification for it?

00:08:42.880 It does seem like the left

00:08:44.020 is more and more comfortable

00:08:45.160 with responding to offensive words

00:08:48.320 with violence.

00:08:49.360 I'm not saying that's

00:08:50.380 Will Smith's political motivation,

00:08:52.120 but the reactions to it,

00:08:53.600 how it fell along partisan lines,

00:08:56.060 very strange.

00:08:56.940 I think lots of things

00:08:58.160 are true simultaneously.

00:09:00.420 And so maybe there is

00:09:01.580 some nuance there.

00:09:02.580 At the end of the day, though,

00:09:03.740 Will Smith is not a victim.

00:09:05.300 I don't think that how he reacted

00:09:06.880 to that was justified.

00:09:08.300 And I think some people

00:09:09.460 should have some sympathy

00:09:10.520 for Chris Rock.

00:09:11.780 Like, there seemed to be

00:09:13.080 no sympathy in the crowd

00:09:14.180 for Chris Rock.

00:09:15.040 And there absolutely should be.

00:09:17.520 He probably didn't even know

00:09:18.940 the joke was going to be

00:09:20.060 that offensive.

00:09:20.660 And like, he is a comedian.

00:09:23.000 Crazy times, crazy times.

00:09:24.540 We are going to remember

00:09:25.580 that moment forever.

00:09:28.560 That's going to, like,

00:09:29.620 go down in the TV Hall of Fame.

00:09:33.940 All right.

00:09:34.620 Just want to set this up

00:09:36.220 a little bit

00:09:36.840 before we get into

00:09:38.080 our conversation.

00:09:39.860 So we have already talked

00:09:41.160 about Ketanji Brown Jackson

00:09:42.280 and her record,

00:09:43.740 particularly when it comes

00:09:44.600 to the sentencing

00:09:45.340 of child sex predators

00:09:46.660 and consumers

00:09:48.080 and distributors

00:09:48.940 of child sex abuse material.

00:09:51.120 And we're going to talk about

00:09:53.340 just some of that

00:09:54.660 heinous stuff today,

00:09:56.080 some stuff that I read

00:09:56.900 in the Washington Post

00:09:57.860 that I talked about

00:09:58.880 and added to a highlight

00:10:00.240 on Instagram over the weekend

00:10:01.600 that really is just stunning,

00:10:03.400 especially in light

00:10:04.240 of a lot of professing Christians.

00:10:06.020 Public support

00:10:06.720 of Ketanji Brown Jackson,

00:10:08.060 she does objectively

00:10:09.280 have a record

00:10:10.900 of issuing light sentences

00:10:14.220 for all kinds of criminals.

00:10:16.580 But I think it is

00:10:17.800 particularly disturbing

00:10:18.720 the light sentences

00:10:19.660 that she has issued

00:10:21.080 for child sex predators

00:10:22.420 and the justifications

00:10:23.780 that she has given for that.

00:10:25.400 I know some people

00:10:26.120 have sent me the article

00:10:27.040 from National Review

00:10:27.940 saying,

00:10:28.900 oh, you know,

00:10:29.440 well, it's really hard

00:10:30.480 to sentence

00:10:32.160 child sex predators

00:10:33.320 and, you know,

00:10:34.380 child pornographers

00:10:35.600 and all of that.

00:10:36.680 And so really,

00:10:37.260 we should be looking

00:10:37.980 at some other problems

00:10:39.100 about Ketanji Brown Jackson.

00:10:40.800 I'm not so sure.

00:10:42.060 I'm not so sure

00:10:42.700 that I buy that argument.

00:10:44.060 Yes, there could be

00:10:44.760 other issues with her

00:10:45.660 that she's light

00:10:46.400 on crime in general,

00:10:47.640 but that to me

00:10:48.240 is particularly egregious.

00:10:49.540 I think it's important

00:10:50.260 to focus on that

00:10:51.160 because it gets people's attention

00:10:52.540 that when you are soft on crime,

00:10:54.460 like these are the kinds of people

00:10:55.940 that are being let loose

00:10:56.960 back into the community

00:10:58.020 and are most often reoffending

00:11:00.580 and who are their victims?

00:11:01.820 Children.

00:11:02.660 And so I actually think

00:11:03.640 that it is very good

00:11:05.200 for Josh Hawley

00:11:06.020 and Senator Cruz

00:11:06.920 and for other politicians

00:11:09.580 to highlight this.

00:11:10.960 Now, is it true

00:11:11.820 that these senators

00:11:13.020 should also be trying

00:11:13.960 to pass legislation

00:11:14.860 that gives firmer guidelines

00:11:16.640 on sentencing

00:11:19.380 for these kinds of criminals?

00:11:21.160 Yes, I do think that's true,

00:11:22.360 so I think that's a fair argument,

00:11:23.780 but that doesn't mean

00:11:24.740 that we should turn away

00:11:25.800 from this record

00:11:26.420 when it comes to

00:11:27.040 Ketanji Brown Jackson.

00:11:28.520 Someone that we've had

00:11:29.140 on this podcast

00:11:29.920 once or twice,

00:11:32.900 I think just once,

00:11:33.780 is Rachel Bovard,

00:11:34.900 and she's awesome.

00:11:35.980 She used to work in D.C.

00:11:38.120 in the kind of libertarian movement,

00:11:39.800 and I don't know

00:11:41.860 if she would identify herself

00:11:43.140 as a conservative populist,

00:11:45.260 and so I don't want

00:11:45.760 to put that label on her,

00:11:46.900 but she has been someone,

00:11:48.200 one of the few,

00:11:49.600 or she kind of bucks

00:11:50.400 against a lot of libertarians today

00:11:52.440 who are not willing

00:11:54.540 to kind of break up big tech

00:11:56.060 and talk about big tech censorship,

00:12:00.080 and she also continually,

00:12:02.200 I think, really effectively

00:12:03.540 brings us back

00:12:04.400 to what conservatism actually is.

00:12:05.980 which is not just

00:12:07.160 opposing big government,

00:12:08.400 but opposing all kinds

00:12:10.020 of dangerous

00:12:11.520 and power-hungry bureaucracy,

00:12:14.360 including corporate bureaucracy,

00:12:16.980 and she wrote a good article

00:12:19.260 in The Federalist

00:12:20.460 about why we should care

00:12:22.580 about Ketanji Brown Jackson's

00:12:24.320 leniency towards sex predators,

00:12:26.860 and she argues that the Senate

00:12:28.140 should actually investigate this

00:12:29.700 and that this is

00:12:30.640 the conservative position,

00:12:32.040 and so here's part

00:12:33.140 of what she said.

00:12:35.040 She says that

00:12:35.760 Judge Jackson appears

00:12:36.600 to have a track record

00:12:37.380 of both advocacy

00:12:38.260 and sentencing decisions,

00:12:39.960 demonstrating extreme leniency

00:12:41.320 towards child sex predators.

00:12:43.340 Perhaps more concerningly,

00:12:44.800 her record also demonstrates

00:12:45.980 an attempt to normalize

00:12:47.600 a radical sexual ideology

00:12:49.200 of adults being attracted

00:12:50.400 to minors,

00:12:51.620 categorizing it as

00:12:52.900 not as flatly criminal,

00:12:54.800 but simply as misunderstood.

00:12:57.440 While at the U.S.

00:12:58.820 Sentencing Commission,

00:13:00.140 Judge Jackson advocated

00:13:01.120 for eliminating the existing

00:13:02.400 mandatory minimum sentences

00:13:03.780 for child porn,

00:13:05.240 suggesting that at least

00:13:06.460 some people who possess

00:13:07.340 child porn

00:13:07.880 aren't sexually motivated,

00:13:09.360 but simply in this

00:13:10.700 for the community.

00:13:11.740 That's something

00:13:12.340 that Ketanji Brown Jackson said,

00:13:14.060 and as I will mention

00:13:14.780 in the interview

00:13:15.420 with John

00:13:16.920 that we are about to have,

00:13:18.320 the Washington Post

00:13:19.200 also noted

00:13:19.900 that when she's sentenced

00:13:21.500 an 18-year-old,

00:13:22.840 the 19-year-old,

00:13:23.840 to only three months

00:13:24.680 in prison

00:13:25.180 for possessing

00:13:25.960 child sex abuse material

00:13:27.360 of kids as young

00:13:28.940 as eight getting raped,

00:13:30.420 she said that he was

00:13:31.200 just sexually curious

00:13:32.400 about his peers.

00:13:34.500 His peers.

00:13:35.420 And so she has

00:13:35.980 really, really troubling

00:13:38.040 rhetoric

00:13:38.720 when it comes to this

00:13:39.700 and a really troubling

00:13:41.000 record.

00:13:43.140 So, Rachel Bivard

00:13:44.680 goes on to say,

00:13:45.340 while on the federal bench,

00:13:46.420 Judge Jackson demonstrated

00:13:47.320 a continuous string

00:13:48.140 of departures

00:13:48.820 from sentencing guidelines

00:13:49.800 for sex predators.

00:13:51.060 The Biden administration

00:13:51.820 and its backers

00:13:52.520 have offered

00:13:52.900 no substantive defense

00:13:54.440 of Judge Jackson's record,

00:13:56.200 while the White House

00:13:57.060 has dismissed

00:13:57.620 Hawley's critique

00:13:58.260 as cherry-picking

00:13:58.960 that buckles

00:13:59.580 under the lightest scrutiny.

00:14:01.080 They just say

00:14:01.620 that kind of stuff.

00:14:02.780 They have failed

00:14:03.400 to demonstrate how.

00:14:04.660 They've resorted

00:14:05.220 instead to tossing

00:14:06.080 complete non-sequiturs

00:14:07.040 at Hawley,

00:14:07.480 calling him an insurrectionist,

00:14:08.640 and bizarrely

00:14:09.300 trying to tie him

00:14:10.200 to the candidacy

00:14:10.840 of former Alabama

00:14:11.620 Senate candidate

00:14:12.260 Roy Moore.

00:14:13.740 But the flags

00:14:14.540 in Judge Jackson's record

00:14:15.780 are not cherry-picked,

00:14:17.040 nor are they taken

00:14:17.780 out of context.

00:14:18.980 Rather,

00:14:19.600 they are a pattern.

00:14:21.220 Yes,

00:14:21.560 we have talked about this.

00:14:23.160 There were seven instances

00:14:24.460 that Josh Hawley

00:14:25.280 brought up

00:14:25.800 when he was

00:14:27.360 talking to her

00:14:28.320 about this,

00:14:29.480 and we talked

00:14:30.220 about them last week.

00:14:31.320 I'll just go through

00:14:31.840 a couple of them.

00:14:33.960 Defendant distributed

00:14:35.020 multiple images

00:14:35.880 of child pornography.

00:14:37.140 I say child sex

00:14:38.260 abuse material.

00:14:40.080 Possessed dozens

00:14:40.540 dozens more,

00:14:41.580 including videos.

00:14:42.820 Federal sentencing

00:14:43.520 guidelines said

00:14:44.220 97 to 121 months

00:14:45.980 in prison.

00:14:46.460 Prosecutors recommended

00:14:47.300 24 months in prison.

00:14:48.820 Judge Jackson gave

00:14:49.640 the defendant

00:14:50.000 three months in prison.

00:14:52.280 The defendant

00:14:53.060 distributed 33 graphic images,

00:14:55.060 distributed 33 graphic images

00:14:56.860 and videos of child sexual assault

00:14:58.320 on anonymous messaging app.

00:15:00.140 Federal guidelines

00:15:00.820 said 70 to 87 months

00:15:02.220 in prison.

00:15:02.700 Prosecutor recommended

00:15:03.560 70 months in prison.

00:15:04.920 Judge Jackson

00:15:05.480 sentenced to the lowest

00:15:06.600 sentence permitted by law,

00:15:08.220 which is 60 months.

00:15:09.140 Over and over again,

00:15:10.500 we have seen this

00:15:11.280 by Judge Jackson.

00:15:12.360 This is a fact.

00:15:13.420 This is her record.

00:15:14.620 And the media

00:15:15.080 is just trying

00:15:15.720 to call it QAnon.

00:15:16.800 If you look up,

00:15:18.120 you know,

00:15:19.000 Josh Hawley,

00:15:19.720 child predator hearing,

00:15:20.980 whatever,

00:15:21.640 you will see Variety.

00:15:23.260 You will see Vox.

00:15:24.700 You will see

00:15:25.260 all of these left-wing

00:15:26.640 and even libertarian outlets

00:15:28.180 basically saying

00:15:28.980 that he is just

00:15:29.860 perpetuating

00:15:30.520 some kind of

00:15:31.280 QAnon conspiracy theory,

00:15:32.840 some kind of

00:15:33.760 crazy conspiratorial nonsense

00:15:35.940 to put it

00:15:37.060 in the words

00:15:37.520 of Brene Brown.

00:15:39.120 So, I mean,

00:15:40.220 weigh these facts

00:15:41.340 about her disturbing pattern

00:15:43.020 that is recorded.

00:15:44.700 It is a fact.

00:15:45.760 There is no context

00:15:46.640 that makes it better.

00:15:47.760 There are no contexts

00:15:48.420 that makes her words better,

00:15:49.680 as we will talk about

00:15:50.460 a little bit today.

00:15:51.480 Weigh that against

00:15:52.200 the people that you see

00:15:53.040 defending her.

00:15:54.560 The people who are saying,

00:15:55.420 oh, we should still

00:15:56.240 celebrate her in some way.

00:15:57.860 Guys,

00:15:58.160 she has a pattern

00:15:59.020 of protecting

00:15:59.860 child predators.

00:16:02.160 The most egregious

00:16:03.260 crime that we can think of.

00:16:04.200 People who either

00:16:05.780 get paid for

00:16:06.900 or are consuming

00:16:08.960 the rape of children.

00:16:10.720 And as Ted Cruz pointed out,

00:16:12.280 some of these images

00:16:13.120 and videos include

00:16:14.300 sadomasochistic material

00:16:16.060 of infants.

00:16:18.200 All right?

00:16:19.520 We are talking about people

00:16:20.960 who then very often

00:16:22.160 go out to re-offend.

00:16:23.780 These are not

00:16:24.260 victimless crimes,

00:16:25.380 by the way.

00:16:25.860 You are causing a demand

00:16:27.160 for this kind of material

00:16:28.740 every time someone

00:16:29.620 like this consumes it.

00:16:31.300 Obviously,

00:16:32.120 it's an even bigger issue

00:16:33.780 to distribute it

00:16:34.620 and she is putting them in

00:16:36.040 for the lowest amount

00:16:37.580 of time possible

00:16:38.360 she has since her days

00:16:39.680 in college

00:16:40.100 in the early 90s

00:16:41.120 argued against

00:16:41.880 having any kind

00:16:42.860 of child sex registry.

00:16:44.640 Think about the

00:16:45.400 professing Christians

00:16:46.280 that you know

00:16:47.520 who are advocating

00:16:50.360 for her,

00:16:51.120 who are just saying,

00:16:51.700 oh, I'm just,

00:16:52.240 you know,

00:16:52.460 throwing the baby out

00:16:53.180 with the bath water.

00:16:54.120 Just consider that.

00:16:56.140 Consider that.

00:16:56.900 It probably is coming

00:16:57.960 from a place

00:16:58.540 of ignorance,

00:17:00.200 I would say.

00:17:00.800 But we're talking

00:17:01.660 about real decisions

00:17:03.200 that are affecting

00:17:03.960 real people

00:17:04.900 and real communities

00:17:06.180 and real children.

00:17:07.340 We're not just talking

00:17:08.000 about personality flaws here.

00:17:10.160 Like, we are talking

00:17:11.020 about,

00:17:11.900 we're talking about

00:17:12.700 real stuff here.

00:17:14.300 I mean, this matters.

00:17:15.180 This matters.

00:17:15.720 And so the question

00:17:16.400 that we have,

00:17:17.100 the question that we have

00:17:18.060 that we are going

00:17:18.600 to answer today,

00:17:19.520 why in the world

00:17:21.080 are there some

00:17:22.360 so-called conservative

00:17:24.140 organizations

00:17:24.900 and institutions

00:17:25.660 that are saying,

00:17:26.580 yes,

00:17:26.840 Ketanji Brown Jackson

00:17:27.800 is so awesome

00:17:29.560 and, you know,

00:17:30.980 we should be behind her

00:17:31.900 or who are saying,

00:17:32.900 well, you know,

00:17:33.280 we might disagree,

00:17:34.200 but, you know,

00:17:35.140 we're still going

00:17:36.240 to support her anyway.

00:17:38.340 Why?

00:17:39.000 Why is that?

00:17:40.120 So John Schweppe

00:17:41.360 is going to kind of

00:17:42.520 pull back the curtain

00:17:43.960 for us

00:17:44.440 and he's going to tell us,

00:17:45.740 he's in D.C.,

00:17:46.460 he's going to tell us

00:17:47.440 what goes on

00:17:48.820 at these D.C. cocktail parties

00:17:50.700 that provides the motivation

00:17:52.460 for supporting

00:17:53.440 someone like this.

00:17:56.660 Okay, John,

00:17:57.320 thank you so much

00:17:58.300 for joining us.

00:17:59.140 Can you first tell us

00:17:59.920 who you are

00:18:00.360 and what you do?

00:18:02.300 Well, my name's

00:18:02.900 John Schweppe.

00:18:03.740 I am the Director

00:18:04.920 of Policy

00:18:05.620 and Government Affairs

00:18:06.560 at a conservative group

00:18:08.160 based out of D.C.

00:18:09.320 called American Principles Project.

00:18:11.620 Got it.

00:18:12.200 And I'm so appreciative

00:18:13.340 that you are here

00:18:14.480 to spill the tea

00:18:16.060 as it were.

00:18:17.280 There was a thread

00:18:18.140 that got retweeted

00:18:19.160 many times.

00:18:20.020 I saw a lot of people

00:18:20.740 talking about it

00:18:21.540 and when I saw it,

00:18:22.480 I immediately said,

00:18:23.400 oh, I want to know

00:18:24.140 more about this.

00:18:25.000 This is really interesting.

00:18:26.000 The first tweet

00:18:27.040 of the thread said,

00:18:27.780 I'm tempted to share

00:18:28.440 a dirty little secret

00:18:29.320 about Washington, D.C.

00:18:30.460 that would explain

00:18:31.100 why many on the

00:18:32.000 quote-unquote right

00:18:33.140 are basically cheerleading

00:18:35.000 Ketanji Brown Jackson's

00:18:36.440 nomination,

00:18:37.400 but I really don't know

00:18:39.160 if folks could handle it.

00:18:41.080 So rather than reading

00:18:41.960 the rest of your thread,

00:18:43.220 can you just explain

00:18:44.560 what you mean by that?

00:18:45.960 Why are there some people

00:18:47.080 on the right

00:18:48.260 who are excited

00:18:49.160 about this nomination?

00:18:50.260 Sure.

00:18:52.240 So about a year ago,

00:18:53.700 I started researching

00:18:54.860 funding and how it affects

00:18:57.460 all these different

00:18:58.120 organizations out here.

00:18:59.860 And specifically,

00:19:00.460 I was focused more

00:19:01.760 on big tech companies.

00:19:03.380 So Google, Facebook,

00:19:05.400 Amazon, Apple.

00:19:08.000 And I was trying

00:19:09.100 to figure out,

00:19:09.640 you know,

00:19:09.860 why are some of these

00:19:10.680 conservative groups,

00:19:11.700 for example,

00:19:12.300 advocating for policies

00:19:14.100 that favor the big tech

00:19:15.120 companies when the companies

00:19:16.220 are censoring conservatives?

00:19:17.720 And when I did that research,

00:19:20.600 you know,

00:19:20.740 I found a lot of,

00:19:21.920 you know,

00:19:22.120 Google and all these companies

00:19:23.160 do publicly disclose

00:19:24.340 that information.

00:19:25.580 But I was hearing

00:19:26.420 from people in the know

00:19:27.900 that one wrinkle to it

00:19:29.820 was the Koch Foundation,

00:19:31.500 the Koch brothers,

00:19:33.080 and that they were giving out

00:19:34.140 a lot of tech money as well,

00:19:36.180 but that wasn't publicly available.

00:19:38.260 And so I started doing some-

00:19:39.440 And who are the Koch brothers?

00:19:40.020 What is the Koch Foundation

00:19:41.280 for those who don't know?

00:19:42.400 And we're saying,

00:19:43.480 for people who aren't familiar,

00:19:44.900 K-O-C-H.

00:19:46.800 You may have heard

00:19:48.060 about the Koch brothers

00:19:48.980 or kind of just,

00:19:50.640 they're these people

00:19:51.340 that a lot of people

00:19:51.920 can't really define

00:19:52.860 or point to,

00:19:53.700 at least people

00:19:54.160 who aren't super familiar

00:19:55.300 with them.

00:19:55.900 So can you just quickly

00:19:57.020 tell us who they are?

00:19:59.160 Well,

00:19:59.640 for a long time,

00:20:00.260 they were a boogeyman

00:20:01.060 for the left.

00:20:02.340 But they are a kind

00:20:04.140 of libertarian leaning.

00:20:05.300 They're not socially conservative.

00:20:06.840 They don't want to talk

00:20:07.640 about the social issues

00:20:08.580 like abortion

00:20:09.120 or transgenderism.

00:20:10.880 But they,

00:20:11.680 you know,

00:20:12.080 are wealthy benefactors

00:20:13.240 who have funded

00:20:14.220 a lot of politicians,

00:20:15.500 a lot of,

00:20:16.640 you know,

00:20:17.520 groups out here.

00:20:18.820 And what they try to do,

00:20:19.840 a lot of the business interest

00:20:21.240 stuff that you hear

00:20:22.960 from the Chamber of Commerce,

00:20:24.280 that's kind of where

00:20:25.060 the Koch Foundation

00:20:25.780 has been historically.

00:20:26.980 And so low taxes,

00:20:28.500 low regulations,

00:20:29.320 some things which really

00:20:30.040 aren't that bad,

00:20:31.180 but certainly a de-emphasis

00:20:33.420 on the social issues.

00:20:34.880 Right.

00:20:35.200 Okay.

00:20:35.500 So continue,

00:20:36.740 you kind of found

00:20:37.460 in your research

00:20:38.180 that they were behind

00:20:39.140 some of these things

00:20:41.000 that you were wondering,

00:20:41.960 hey,

00:20:42.080 why would conservatives

00:20:42.940 be funding

00:20:44.240 these organizations

00:20:45.400 or be on the side

00:20:46.420 of these tech companies?

00:20:48.520 Right, right.

00:20:49.060 So it's difficult

00:20:50.400 because unfortunately

00:20:51.380 almost all of this money

00:20:53.000 is,

00:20:53.540 as the Democrats

00:20:54.420 like to say,

00:20:54.900 dark money.

00:20:55.620 It's really hard

00:20:56.480 to kind of find

00:20:57.320 where it went

00:20:58.300 or who actually received it

00:21:00.100 unless the recipients

00:21:01.620 say so themselves.

00:21:03.440 So,

00:21:04.080 for example,

00:21:04.500 on this thread,

00:21:05.120 I had an interaction

00:21:06.040 with Robbie Suave

00:21:07.720 over at Reason Foundation.

00:21:10.120 I didn't know

00:21:10.640 Reason got Koch money.

00:21:11.620 I learned it

00:21:12.360 from that interaction.

00:21:13.600 So,

00:21:14.040 but basically,

00:21:15.440 you know,

00:21:15.640 a lot of this

00:21:16.120 is reliant on

00:21:17.080 my conversations

00:21:18.400 with people out here

00:21:19.400 talking to ex-Coke employees

00:21:21.420 who worked at these foundations

00:21:23.340 or these organizations.

00:21:25.440 But one of their biggest,

00:21:27.360 and this kind of circles back

00:21:28.520 to what the thread was about,

00:21:29.880 one of their biggest focuses,

00:21:31.400 in fact,

00:21:31.760 it's the main issue

00:21:32.720 on their site,

00:21:33.340 is criminal justice reform.

00:21:35.820 And that's an issue

00:21:36.820 that,

00:21:37.580 you know,

00:21:37.900 if you're a conservative

00:21:38.760 out here in D.C.,

00:21:39.960 you hear people talking

00:21:41.220 about all the time.

00:21:42.880 You know,

00:21:43.160 we need to make sure

00:21:44.020 you always hear the story

00:21:45.340 of, you know,

00:21:46.800 we don't want someone

00:21:47.820 who got caught

00:21:48.540 with possession of marijuana

00:21:49.560 to go to jail for 10 years.

00:21:51.580 And, of course,

00:21:52.420 you know,

00:21:52.620 when somebody says a story

00:21:53.580 like that,

00:21:54.000 it's hard to disagree with it.

00:21:55.200 Like, yeah,

00:21:55.640 I don't want, you know,

00:21:57.020 for someone to have

00:21:57.800 an ounce of marijuana

00:21:58.600 to have their life

00:21:59.620 totally ruined.

00:22:00.400 And usually,

00:22:01.340 just so people know,

00:22:02.060 that's not actually

00:22:02.860 what is happening.

00:22:04.060 People aren't typically

00:22:05.020 going to jail

00:22:06.020 for 10 years

00:22:06.540 because of an ounce

00:22:07.180 of marijuana.

00:22:07.800 It's typically something else

00:22:09.240 and that just happens

00:22:10.600 to be what they are

00:22:13.000 able to charge them with

00:22:14.420 or what the police

00:22:15.340 are able to book them on.

00:22:17.400 So that's a little bit

00:22:18.320 of a myth

00:22:19.320 that we hear

00:22:19.800 from the criminal

00:22:20.500 justice reform activists.

00:22:23.540 Absolutely.

00:22:24.420 And really,

00:22:25.460 the effects

00:22:25.920 of criminal justice reform

00:22:26.980 go much further

00:22:28.120 beyond that.

00:22:28.640 So without going down

00:22:30.240 too much of a rabbit hole,

00:22:31.360 and I do apologize

00:22:31.960 and please bring me back

00:22:32.900 if I do.

00:22:33.420 No, you can take us

00:22:34.240 down the rabbit hole.

00:22:34.940 We love rabbit holes.

00:22:36.400 So a couple years ago,

00:22:38.540 my organization

00:22:39.240 authored a report

00:22:40.380 about Black Lives Matter

00:22:41.840 and the BREATHE Act.

00:22:43.420 And this was like

00:22:44.260 the ultimate goal

00:22:45.840 of criminal justice reform

00:22:47.100 from the West perspective.

00:22:48.500 And it is, you know,

00:22:49.900 basically making sure

00:22:50.900 that if you're

00:22:52.060 under the age of 24,

00:22:53.540 you're never incarcerated,

00:22:55.020 that if you're in jail

00:22:56.100 currently for a drug charge

00:22:57.540 that you're released

00:22:58.160 immediately,

00:22:58.940 that there's no life sentences

00:23:00.500 for any crime ever,

00:23:02.280 all these different things.

00:23:04.060 And there's this overlap

00:23:05.480 between the right

00:23:06.380 and the left

00:23:06.940 on this issue.

00:23:07.900 So when we,

00:23:09.280 what brought this up

00:23:09.980 this week

00:23:10.480 was the confirmation hearing

00:23:11.820 of Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson

00:23:13.940 and Senator Josh Hawley

00:23:15.620 and Senator Ted Cruz's

00:23:16.920 questioning of her

00:23:17.880 over some of her lighter

00:23:19.460 sentencing in the past,

00:23:20.700 some really light sentencing

00:23:21.740 against sex offenders.

00:23:23.160 And a lot of people

00:23:25.240 on the right,

00:23:25.940 National Review,

00:23:26.760 wrote a piece,

00:23:27.800 plenty of people on Twitter

00:23:28.840 were defending this position.

00:23:30.640 And so what I was trying

00:23:31.340 to articulate

00:23:31.880 is that this position

00:23:33.340 is held by people

00:23:34.640 on the left and the right.

00:23:35.940 It's a very, you know,

00:23:36.960 established...

00:23:37.840 Defending the position,

00:23:38.720 defending Ketanji Brown-Jackson's

00:23:40.860 position

00:23:41.220 of issuing light sentences?

00:23:44.200 Yes.

00:23:44.560 Yes.

00:23:45.060 Okay.

00:23:45.220 Even, so, you know,

00:23:46.840 Josh Hawley brought up pedophiles,

00:23:48.880 which obviously

00:23:49.840 is probably

00:23:50.500 the least defensible example.

00:23:52.820 But when you're talking

00:23:53.880 about criminal justice reform,

00:23:55.200 it is a belief,

00:23:56.300 and this is a debate

00:23:56.920 that goes back decades,

00:23:58.440 but it's a belief

00:23:59.260 in rehabilitation

00:23:59.980 over deterrence,

00:24:02.100 over a longer sentence.

00:24:03.600 They call it

00:24:04.020 restorative justice

00:24:05.340 very often.

00:24:07.440 Yeah.

00:24:08.120 But unfortunately,

00:24:08.960 what happens,

00:24:09.900 and Hawley pointed this out,

00:24:11.300 I think Cruz did too,

00:24:12.520 a lot of these offenders

00:24:13.980 are recidivists.

00:24:15.220 And they, you know,

00:24:16.060 go to jail for three months,

00:24:17.500 as one of them did

00:24:18.540 that Hawley quoted,

00:24:20.580 and then they go back out

00:24:21.680 and then they offend again.

00:24:22.860 And so I think

00:24:23.620 the real issue here

00:24:25.420 is that D.C. is a blob.

00:24:27.240 There's a lot of money

00:24:28.480 that goes around

00:24:29.240 to make people out here

00:24:30.540 care about issues like this.

00:24:32.000 But if you talk

00:24:32.540 to anybody back home,

00:24:34.140 criminal justice reform,

00:24:35.200 if you really get into

00:24:36.200 what it is,

00:24:37.100 nobody supports that.

00:24:38.160 And including, you know,

00:24:39.940 people, minorities,

00:24:41.140 all sorts of people.

00:24:42.020 It's not just Republican voters.

00:24:44.200 Right.

00:24:44.760 And the left

00:24:45.820 is really good at this.

00:24:46.720 But as you mentioned,

00:24:47.480 it is some people

00:24:48.080 on the right.

00:24:48.660 But the left

00:24:49.460 is really good

00:24:50.380 at the language game.

00:24:51.620 They're really good

00:24:52.400 at slapping euphemisms

00:24:54.060 on the policy positions

00:24:56.760 that they want

00:24:57.660 so you don't actually

00:24:58.540 have to get into

00:24:59.160 the details

00:24:59.820 of what they are

00:25:00.660 actually supporting.

00:25:01.840 So like reproductive justice.

00:25:03.560 They put all these adjectives

00:25:04.740 in front of justice

00:25:05.480 and because no one

00:25:06.260 wants to be unjust,

00:25:07.480 no one wants to be

00:25:08.080 against justice,

00:25:09.280 you say,

00:25:09.660 yeah,

00:25:09.800 I'm for reproductive justice.

00:25:11.440 Sure, I'm for criminal justice reform.

00:25:14.200 But then, as you said,

00:25:15.100 once you get down

00:25:15.740 into the nitty gritty,

00:25:16.860 not just of what

00:25:17.500 the policies are,

00:25:18.660 which is basically

00:25:19.340 letting people out of jail,

00:25:20.800 them not getting prosecuted,

00:25:22.600 all this,

00:25:23.600 and then you look

00:25:24.440 at the consequences

00:25:25.700 of what those policies are

00:25:27.780 and how they're not

00:25:28.760 making people safe

00:25:29.920 and they're not actually

00:25:30.720 helping the criminals

00:25:31.620 that are committing

00:25:32.260 the crimes,

00:25:33.680 then you realize

00:25:34.840 it's really just

00:25:35.820 a bunch of hogwash.

00:25:37.620 Like,

00:25:38.460 letting people out of jail

00:25:39.580 or having fewer people

00:25:40.560 in jail

00:25:41.020 is not in itself

00:25:42.260 a just end

00:25:43.280 unless we are preventing

00:25:44.780 what people

00:25:46.580 are actually going

00:25:47.520 to jail for.

00:25:49.060 But you mentioned

00:25:50.140 Ketanji Brown Jackson,

00:25:51.380 one of the cases

00:25:52.200 that Josh Hawley

00:25:53.080 brought up

00:25:53.600 and I think was brought up

00:25:54.680 a few times,

00:25:56.060 the Washington Post

00:25:57.600 wrote an article about it

00:25:59.260 and they really wrote,

00:26:00.460 it was so disgusting,

00:26:02.440 a puff piece

00:26:03.340 about this

00:26:04.860 child sex

00:26:06.800 abuse consumer,

00:26:09.200 let's see,

00:26:10.720 Wesley Hawkins,

00:26:12.320 who Brown Jackson

00:26:14.060 had sentenced

00:26:15.260 to only three months

00:26:16.160 in prison,

00:26:16.660 even though prosecutors

00:26:17.560 had recommended

00:26:18.340 two years,

00:26:19.260 I think federal guidelines

00:26:20.460 were up to 10 years.

00:26:22.120 And really,

00:26:22.620 it was amazing

00:26:23.440 her reasoning

00:26:24.620 behind this.

00:26:25.460 First,

00:26:25.680 the author

00:26:26.080 in this Washington Post

00:26:27.680 article

00:26:28.280 tries to make us

00:26:30.240 feel sympathetic

00:26:30.920 towards Hawkins

00:26:32.140 and towards the judge

00:26:33.380 and make us feel

00:26:34.080 very angry

00:26:34.880 at the Republicans

00:26:35.680 who are asking

00:26:36.700 about this

00:26:37.320 and also very angry

00:26:38.760 about Hawkins's family

00:26:40.020 because at the end

00:26:41.060 they tell us

00:26:42.600 that the reason

00:26:43.480 that he looked

00:26:44.160 at child sex abuse

00:26:45.200 material was because

00:26:46.300 his family was homophobic

00:26:47.640 and he didn't know

00:26:48.440 where else to turn.

00:26:49.240 It's just really incredible

00:26:50.200 the journalism

00:26:50.740 these days.

00:26:51.500 But what Ketanji Brown Jackson

00:26:53.160 said was that

00:26:53.940 the reason that she

00:26:54.740 only sentenced him,

00:26:55.700 he was 18 years old,

00:26:56.880 19 when he was sentenced,

00:26:58.400 the reason that she

00:26:59.000 only sentenced him

00:26:59.920 to three months

00:27:01.140 in prison

00:27:01.540 is because

00:27:02.120 he was just looking

00:27:03.460 at images

00:27:03.960 of,

00:27:04.760 quote,

00:27:05.140 his parents,

00:27:05.680 peers

00:27:06.100 and that because

00:27:07.120 he was so young

00:27:07.780 it's not a big deal.

00:27:08.620 Well,

00:27:09.040 the records show

00:27:09.960 that some of the children

00:27:11.000 that he watched

00:27:11.680 being raped

00:27:12.160 were eight years old.

00:27:13.880 And so,

00:27:14.400 I mean,

00:27:14.620 this is really

00:27:15.240 nefarious stuff.

00:27:16.120 This is not

00:27:16.520 some conspiracy theory.

00:27:18.460 A lot of articles

00:27:19.700 are saying

00:27:20.320 that it's conspiracy theory.

00:27:21.660 You mentioned

00:27:21.960 Reason.com.

00:27:23.300 Josh Hawley

00:27:23.780 absurdly suggests

00:27:24.800 that Ketanji Brown Jackson

00:27:25.980 has a soft spot

00:27:26.860 for child predators.

00:27:28.600 Vanity Fair,

00:27:29.520 Vox,

00:27:29.880 they're all calling

00:27:30.440 this QAnon

00:27:31.360 and all this stuff.

00:27:33.520 It's really,

00:27:34.520 really bizarre to me,

00:27:35.540 even if you are

00:27:36.300 on the side

00:27:37.080 of criminal justice reform,

00:27:39.560 why would they go

00:27:40.760 out of their way

00:27:41.960 to try to defend

00:27:43.960 the light sentencing

00:27:45.360 of child predators?

00:27:47.700 Like,

00:27:47.880 what really is behind that?

00:27:49.320 That's totally shameless

00:27:50.480 in my opinion.

00:27:52.820 It is.

00:27:53.940 You know,

00:27:54.320 we talked previously

00:27:55.360 about Trump derangement syndrome

00:27:56.900 and I think Hawley

00:27:57.940 kind of creates

00:27:58.980 the same thing

00:27:59.620 on the left.

00:28:00.220 As soon as he brought this up,

00:28:01.840 they felt like

00:28:02.500 they had to oppose it.

00:28:03.480 But look,

00:28:04.740 I'll tell you,

00:28:05.880 just so your viewers know,

00:28:08.300 you know,

00:28:08.480 our organization

00:28:09.160 has worked on

00:28:09.840 protecting kids,

00:28:11.160 working on some

00:28:11.680 of this trafficking stuff.

00:28:14.380 When someone searches

00:28:15.660 for child pornography,

00:28:16.540 it's not like something

00:28:17.800 that accidentally happens,

00:28:19.340 right?

00:28:19.520 And I think that's something

00:28:20.320 that a lot of these folks

00:28:21.120 are trying to do

00:28:21.780 to gin up sympathy.

00:28:23.540 But on the top layer

00:28:24.540 of the internet,

00:28:25.140 the internet that we all use,

00:28:26.820 you're not going to find

00:28:27.560 child pornography.

00:28:28.560 It is actually removed

00:28:29.680 pretty effectively.

00:28:31.040 To go find it,

00:28:32.200 you have to dig

00:28:32.820 and you have to use

00:28:33.600 all of the,

00:28:34.160 you know,

00:28:34.380 the dark web

00:28:35.080 and all of these

00:28:35.580 different things.

00:28:36.620 And so for somebody

00:28:37.600 like that,

00:28:38.140 you know,

00:28:38.380 and again,

00:28:38.820 this is also just something

00:28:39.860 that we've seen this,

00:28:41.260 there's studies on it.

00:28:42.360 When someone is looking

00:28:43.600 for child pornography

00:28:44.600 for personal use

00:28:45.860 or whatever,

00:28:46.680 that is an indication

00:28:47.660 that they're going

00:28:48.340 to hurt a child.

00:28:49.800 Right.

00:28:50.040 That it's not,

00:28:50.700 it's not one of these things

00:28:51.660 where you can separate

00:28:52.440 the two things.

00:28:53.900 And so I,

00:28:54.800 I think it's despicable,

00:28:55.980 but it does kind of show

00:28:57.320 how,

00:28:58.560 you know,

00:28:59.020 I think morally repugnant

00:29:00.340 our establishment

00:29:01.040 is out here

00:29:01.840 that something like this,

00:29:03.320 which should be easily

00:29:04.240 a slam dunk issue

00:29:05.720 is,

00:29:06.560 is up for debate.

00:29:07.920 It's just,

00:29:08.720 it's very troubling

00:29:09.800 that they would try

00:29:11.180 to say that any criticism

00:29:12.660 of light sentencing

00:29:13.780 of child predators

00:29:14.960 and viewers of child

00:29:16.760 sex abuse material,

00:29:17.960 that that's QAnon.

00:29:19.580 I mean,

00:29:19.880 that's really,

00:29:20.880 really disturbing logic.

00:29:23.240 Now,

00:29:24.240 some logic that I saw

00:29:25.640 in National Review,

00:29:27.720 you mentioned National Review,

00:29:28.700 I think it was by Andrew McCarthy,

00:29:30.520 said basically that

00:29:32.340 Republicans shouldn't be focusing

00:29:34.440 specifically on

00:29:36.700 the child predator stuff,

00:29:38.720 but should maybe highlight

00:29:40.280 the fact that she

00:29:41.460 regularly has bucked

00:29:43.420 sentencing guidelines,

00:29:44.860 that she really is soft

00:29:46.200 on crime in general.

00:29:48.660 And that is why,

00:29:49.940 like the Cato Institute,

00:29:51.320 the Koch brothers

00:29:52.040 would be behind her.

00:29:53.740 Is that right?

00:29:55.600 Yeah,

00:29:56.060 yeah,

00:29:56.240 I think that's accurate.

00:29:57.340 You know,

00:29:57.580 I think McCarthy,

00:29:59.300 unfortunately,

00:30:00.000 this is just a question

00:30:00.800 of politics,

00:30:01.540 but when you,

00:30:02.580 you know,

00:30:03.280 use the inflammatory language

00:30:04.620 he did in National Review

00:30:06.660 to criticize Hawley,

00:30:07.940 everyone's going to run

00:30:08.860 with the top line headline

00:30:10.180 and the top sentence

00:30:11.380 and say National Review

00:30:12.780 debunked Hawley.

00:30:14.060 And I understand it.

00:30:15.200 I understood his piece.

00:30:16.360 And look,

00:30:16.900 I think there's a lot of truth

00:30:17.820 to maybe going

00:30:18.920 with the broad scope of things.

00:30:20.480 But,

00:30:20.980 you know,

00:30:21.160 I think most folks,

00:30:22.320 your viewers probably among them,

00:30:24.080 don't understand

00:30:24.920 or haven't heard

00:30:25.780 about this push

00:30:27.320 for lesser sentences

00:30:28.840 for sex offenders.

00:30:29.760 It seems really bizarre.

00:30:31.780 And so if we're not going

00:30:32.440 to have this debate now

00:30:33.680 during a high profile

00:30:35.040 Supreme Court hearing,

00:30:36.080 when are we supposed

00:30:36.620 to have it?

00:30:37.160 And so I think

00:30:37.500 that's the frustration

00:30:39.080 a lot of us have had

00:30:40.120 with this line of argument

00:30:41.040 is this is an argument

00:30:42.440 we should be having.

00:30:43.240 It's not a,

00:30:43.860 you know,

00:30:44.260 it's not a slur

00:30:45.400 or a smear

00:30:46.160 against Ketanji Brown Jackson.

00:30:48.380 It's a record

00:30:49.160 and we should be discussing it.

00:30:51.340 So you mentioned

00:30:52.500 in your thread,

00:30:54.480 you mentioned,

00:30:55.880 you said this,

00:30:56.620 the Kochs

00:30:57.180 and the movement

00:30:57.660 they cultivated

00:30:58.340 through targeted grants

00:30:59.320 were very successful.

00:31:00.900 Trump was unable

00:31:01.520 to get most of his priorities

00:31:02.720 passed during his term,

00:31:03.900 but the First Step Act

00:31:05.180 became law fairly easily.

00:31:07.660 Few,

00:31:08.120 besides Tom Cotton,

00:31:09.600 publicly opposed.

00:31:11.380 Remind us

00:31:13.740 what the First Step Act was

00:31:15.740 and why Trump

00:31:16.760 and so many Republicans

00:31:18.200 said,

00:31:19.080 yeah,

00:31:19.300 let's definitely do this.

00:31:21.920 Well,

00:31:22.460 the First Step Act

00:31:23.260 is a criminal justice

00:31:24.200 reform bill

00:31:25.040 and,

00:31:25.820 you know,

00:31:25.980 it did seek,

00:31:26.920 again,

00:31:27.180 it's that,

00:31:27.620 it's that example

00:31:28.220 of drugs I gave you

00:31:29.240 at the forefront.

00:31:30.600 That's what everyone

00:31:31.240 was told it was about.

00:31:32.980 But we've seen

00:31:34.180 and Cotton,

00:31:35.060 I think,

00:31:35.280 has documented this

00:31:36.060 pretty well

00:31:36.620 and some other sites

00:31:37.400 as well,

00:31:37.980 that there's been

00:31:38.860 a lot of criminals

00:31:39.800 with different types

00:31:41.280 of offenses,

00:31:42.000 gun offenses,

00:31:42.620 all sorts of things

00:31:43.360 that have been released

00:31:44.540 and,

00:31:45.720 and of course,

00:31:46.480 they're recidivists.

00:31:47.300 They,

00:31:47.420 they,

00:31:47.780 they do it again.

00:31:48.640 So this crime wave,

00:31:50.000 you know,

00:31:50.160 a lot of people

00:31:50.800 are trying to tie

00:31:51.780 and maybe it's fair.

00:31:53.060 I would,

00:31:53.480 I wouldn't know for sure,

00:31:54.420 but it might be fair

00:31:55.560 to tie this crime wave

00:31:56.700 in part to the First Step Act.

00:31:58.080 And so,

00:31:58.680 you know,

00:31:58.860 I think the president

00:31:59.620 and his advisors,

00:32:01.100 I think they were trying

00:32:01.860 to do the right thing.

00:32:03.100 I don't necessarily fault them

00:32:04.700 for signing that bill

00:32:05.760 when there was so little

00:32:06.980 opposition to it.

00:32:08.220 But when you look

00:32:08.820 at the money

00:32:09.320 and you look at,

00:32:10.140 you know,

00:32:10.340 what the Koch brothers,

00:32:11.260 the Koch Foundation

00:32:12.720 and all of them

00:32:13.120 were trying to do

00:32:13.940 as early as 2014,

00:32:15.420 2015 with this issue,

00:32:17.120 it's pretty clear

00:32:18.040 that there was,

00:32:18.900 they,

00:32:19.020 they kind of bought

00:32:20.000 a conservative,

00:32:21.820 unanimous opinion

00:32:22.880 on this out here.

00:32:24.200 And,

00:32:24.700 and that had a huge effect

00:32:25.780 where,

00:32:26.420 you know,

00:32:26.700 if maybe those grants

00:32:27.620 weren't out there,

00:32:28.700 maybe if,

00:32:29.720 you know,

00:32:30.180 things were a little bit different

00:32:31.240 and some groups

00:32:31.780 were opposing it,

00:32:32.920 maybe Trump wouldn't

00:32:33.640 have signed the bill.

00:32:34.980 Wow.

00:32:35.640 And I know this is

00:32:37.220 probably speculation,

00:32:38.420 but why?

00:32:39.460 Like,

00:32:39.640 is there some economic,

00:32:41.100 benefit,

00:32:41.860 like what is the

00:32:43.040 so-called conservative

00:32:44.260 or maybe libertarian

00:32:45.860 argument

00:32:46.620 for the kind of

00:32:48.100 criminal justice reform

00:32:49.260 that we're seeing

00:32:49.860 that very obviously,

00:32:51.140 especially if you look

00:32:51.860 at these progressive cities

00:32:52.960 where these policies

00:32:54.700 are at the forefront

00:32:56.400 and are most consistently

00:32:57.860 applied,

00:32:58.560 I mean,

00:32:58.880 you see a rise

00:33:00.300 in death

00:33:01.000 and destruction

00:33:01.800 almost every time

00:33:03.040 we hear a story

00:33:03.880 of being murdered.

00:33:05.180 The person who murdered them

00:33:06.360 or the person

00:33:06.840 who assaulted them

00:33:07.980 was out

00:33:09.900 because of,

00:33:10.740 you know,

00:33:11.100 a low bail

00:33:12.040 set by some kind

00:33:12.760 of progressive judge

00:33:13.780 or they

00:33:15.100 were just able

00:33:16.660 to,

00:33:17.280 you know,

00:33:17.620 fly through short sentences.

00:33:18.840 They had

00:33:19.540 previous very serious

00:33:21.760 violent

00:33:23.660 crime charges

00:33:25.340 and they were able

00:33:26.960 to go out

00:33:27.880 and re-offend.

00:33:28.740 I think

00:33:29.080 it's a crazy percentage,

00:33:31.020 a crazy high percentage

00:33:31.960 of people

00:33:32.400 who are recidivists

00:33:33.520 who go out

00:33:34.240 and commit

00:33:34.620 a similar

00:33:35.060 or worse crime.

00:33:36.480 Again,

00:33:36.740 so,

00:33:37.280 like,

00:33:37.520 what is the motivation?

00:33:39.380 The progressive motivation,

00:33:40.540 I'm like,

00:33:40.920 okay,

00:33:41.320 I feel like

00:33:41.980 they are just

00:33:42.600 bent on destruction

00:33:43.620 of the United States,

00:33:44.960 whatever.

00:33:45.620 I don't understand

00:33:46.420 the libertarian reasoning

00:33:47.600 behind this.

00:33:49.700 Yeah,

00:33:49.880 the progressive motivation

00:33:50.920 is definitely

00:33:51.540 the equity agenda,

00:33:52.640 right?

00:33:53.020 That,

00:33:53.420 you know,

00:33:54.300 if there's any,

00:33:55.900 you know,

00:33:56.420 if there's more blacks

00:33:57.120 in prison

00:33:57.560 than the general population,

00:33:59.360 that's evidence

00:34:00.420 of systemic racism

00:34:01.560 and so the only way

00:34:02.760 to fix that

00:34:03.320 is to release

00:34:04.060 enough criminals

00:34:05.040 onto the streets.

00:34:06.060 Even if that means,

00:34:07.400 which it does,

00:34:08.240 even if that means

00:34:09.200 that more innocent

00:34:10.520 black Americans die

00:34:11.660 because that's exactly

00:34:12.660 what happens.

00:34:13.360 I mean,

00:34:13.540 it's typically

00:34:14.180 intraracial

00:34:15.200 violent crime

00:34:16.200 of any race,

00:34:17.180 but we know

00:34:17.800 the homicide rate

00:34:19.040 among black Americans,

00:34:20.380 unfortunately,

00:34:20.840 is really high,

00:34:21.420 so you're just creating

00:34:22.340 more black victims

00:34:23.860 of murder

00:34:24.340 when you decide

00:34:25.220 to meet these equity quotas

00:34:26.660 without actually addressing

00:34:27.760 the root cause.

00:34:28.640 But no one seems to care

00:34:29.700 about the victims

00:34:30.340 in criminal justice reform.

00:34:32.660 No,

00:34:33.040 that's right,

00:34:33.380 and it's a tragedy

00:34:34.360 of the policy out here.

00:34:36.120 But I'll tell you,

00:34:37.260 you know,

00:34:37.440 so I think somewhat

00:34:38.420 libertarians probably

00:34:39.400 buy into the equity agenda.

00:34:40.960 They might not say it explicitly,

00:34:42.100 but I also,

00:34:43.460 I'm just going to say this,

00:34:44.420 Ali,

00:34:44.740 and I think this is,

00:34:46.100 you know,

00:34:46.620 just true.

00:34:48.020 You know,

00:34:48.520 I can't back it up,

00:34:49.440 but the reality

00:34:50.700 is that people out here

00:34:51.740 really do want

00:34:52.600 to be liked.

00:34:54.520 They want to be seen,

00:34:56.260 especially on the right,

00:34:57.020 as not racist.

00:34:58.620 And so embracing

00:34:59.700 things like this

00:35:00.600 are a way

00:35:01.160 to not be attacked

00:35:03.640 and to have that.

00:35:05.060 And so I think

00:35:05.860 the motivator

00:35:06.540 for a lot of these folks,

00:35:08.120 you know,

00:35:08.360 some of them probably

00:35:09.140 have some tragic stories

00:35:10.420 where they know somebody

00:35:11.720 who went to jail

00:35:12.320 for drugs

00:35:12.820 or something like that.

00:35:13.620 And look,

00:35:13.920 I'm sympathetic to that,

00:35:15.460 but I think for a lot of them

00:35:16.460 it is about cocktail parties.

00:35:19.060 And I know,

00:35:19.600 you know,

00:35:20.100 people make fun of that,

00:35:21.220 but it is just kind of

00:35:22.200 how DC works

00:35:23.160 and how this ecosystem is.

00:35:24.740 But what about,

00:35:26.020 I mean,

00:35:26.580 what about the Koch brothers?

00:35:28.040 Like,

00:35:28.300 what do you think

00:35:29.160 their motivation is?

00:35:30.420 Surely they,

00:35:31.400 maybe,

00:35:32.200 maybe they don't,

00:35:33.420 but surely they feel like

00:35:34.840 they have some kind

00:35:35.920 of pure motivation.

00:35:36.900 Like,

00:35:37.040 do you think

00:35:37.760 that the Cato Institute

00:35:39.580 and the Koch brothers,

00:35:41.000 like,

00:35:41.140 does it really come down

00:35:42.100 to cocktail parties

00:35:43.140 for them?

00:35:43.760 Or do they have

00:35:44.500 some kind of

00:35:45.520 economic motivation

00:35:47.960 or some kind of

00:35:48.720 power motivation

00:35:49.760 behind backing

00:35:50.900 these kinds

00:35:51.460 of destructive policies?

00:35:52.540 It could be economic

00:35:55.540 in a way

00:35:56.140 that we haven't

00:35:56.720 been able to discern yet,

00:35:58.020 but I'll tell you,

00:35:58.800 you know,

00:35:59.000 the Kochs are very much

00:36:00.760 have been concerned

00:36:01.700 about how they're perceived.

00:36:03.520 Remember,

00:36:04.040 they were very involved

00:36:04.940 in the Tea Party wave

00:36:05.860 back in 2010

00:36:06.640 and then the left

00:36:07.400 demonized them.

00:36:09.040 And,

00:36:09.120 you know,

00:36:09.540 these are corporate tycoons.

00:36:11.280 They don't really like that.

00:36:13.060 They were actually running

00:36:13.960 at their,

00:36:14.500 I remember this,

00:36:15.200 there was an advertising campaign

00:36:16.460 for their company

00:36:17.860 talking about all the great

00:36:19.040 human work they're doing

00:36:20.160 across the country

00:36:21.040 and they ran it

00:36:21.640 for like a year.

00:36:22.940 So I do think in part

00:36:24.300 it is about perception

00:36:26.060 and criminal justice reform

00:36:27.920 is an issue

00:36:28.360 if you poll it

00:36:29.100 the way that they talk about it.

00:36:30.560 It's probably an 80% issue.

00:36:32.360 And so it's an issue

00:36:33.700 where if they put that

00:36:34.560 first and foremost

00:36:35.780 in what they're doing,

00:36:36.700 maybe the left

00:36:37.440 won't hate them as much.

00:36:38.340 And I really do think

00:36:39.300 that's a part of it.

00:36:40.200 I know that seems cheap

00:36:41.460 or political,

00:36:42.660 but,

00:36:43.580 you know,

00:36:44.100 it's hard to discern

00:36:44.900 what else it could possibly be.

00:36:47.020 And what is Our Street?

00:36:49.600 So Our Street

00:36:50.560 is a group out here

00:36:52.100 that used to be seen

00:36:53.180 as on the right,

00:36:54.540 but they take a lot

00:36:56.060 of corporate money,

00:36:57.100 a lot of corporate money,

00:36:58.480 and they're involved

00:36:59.820 in various,

00:37:00.560 you know,

00:37:01.000 kind of right libertarian issues,

00:37:03.300 issues like defending

00:37:04.720 big tech censorship

00:37:05.800 and fighting against

00:37:07.180 the antitrust bills.

00:37:08.340 they often talk about

00:37:10.440 occupational licensing reform.

00:37:12.400 Why, though?

00:37:13.200 Why?

00:37:13.780 Just because they're

00:37:14.460 getting money

00:37:15.120 from these major corporations

00:37:16.520 and so they're just

00:37:17.460 going to be on the side

00:37:18.360 of these major corporations,

00:37:19.480 which is not,

00:37:20.220 by the way,

00:37:21.400 libertarian.

00:37:22.780 Libertarianism

00:37:23.260 does not equal

00:37:24.760 defending big corporations

00:37:27.040 that become

00:37:27.620 almost as powerful

00:37:29.020 and deleterious

00:37:30.300 as big government.

00:37:34.280 Well, that's,

00:37:34.840 so in my thread,

00:37:35.700 I was hinting at this

00:37:36.680 with talking about

00:37:37.840 how the Koch Foundation

00:37:38.880 cultivates support

00:37:40.180 with grants,

00:37:41.040 and this is what

00:37:41.800 corporations do out here.

00:37:42.940 It's a dirty little secret

00:37:44.060 everyone knows about,

00:37:45.480 but all of these,

00:37:46.540 not all,

00:37:47.000 but a good portion

00:37:47.800 of these think tanks

00:37:48.600 are for sale,

00:37:49.840 and if you go in there,

00:37:51.060 if you're oil and gas,

00:37:52.680 if you're, you know,

00:37:53.560 big tech, whatever,

00:37:54.760 and you go in there

00:37:55.540 with a, you know,

00:37:56.380 six-figure grant

00:37:57.480 and say this is what

00:37:58.480 we'd like to see,

00:37:59.920 they do it,

00:38:01.000 and so this is,

00:38:01.960 this is something I think

00:38:02.780 Congress needs to become

00:38:03.700 more aware of.

00:38:04.820 I just think maybe

00:38:05.940 they turned a blind eye

00:38:06.840 to it in the past,

00:38:07.780 but a lot of advocacy

00:38:09.020 out here is pay to play,

00:38:10.920 and, you know,

00:38:11.580 what we're trying to do

00:38:12.400 is to some degree

00:38:13.820 expose that.

00:38:21.060 Okay, talking about exposing,

00:38:22.820 this is a crazy connection,

00:38:24.760 and maybe,

00:38:25.680 maybe you mentioned this

00:38:26.460 and I just didn't see it.

00:38:27.360 So,

00:38:28.000 so what is it?

00:38:30.160 Paul Ryan,

00:38:31.900 so Paul Ryan

00:38:32.740 has a family connection

00:38:33.800 to Ketanji Brown Jackson.

00:38:35.140 It's like Ketanji Brown Jackson's

00:38:37.040 brother-in-law

00:38:38.900 is married to

00:38:40.560 Paul Ryan's sister-in-law.

00:38:42.400 Okay,

00:38:42.700 so there's a connection there.

00:38:44.120 And then Paul Ryan tweeted,

00:38:45.920 Jana and I are incredibly happy

00:38:47.240 for Ketanji and her entire family.

00:38:48.760 Our politics may differ,

00:38:49.720 but my praise for Ketanji's intellect,

00:38:51.420 for her character,

00:38:52.120 and for her integrity

00:38:52.880 is unequivocal.

00:38:55.440 Is there anything there?

00:38:56.660 Is there,

00:38:57.100 I mean,

00:38:57.720 what's going on?

00:38:59.760 Well,

00:39:00.240 I will say,

00:39:00.800 if they're family friends,

00:39:01.740 I'm not necessarily

00:39:03.140 going to fault him

00:39:04.160 for,

00:39:04.680 you know,

00:39:05.480 providing some support.

00:39:06.740 But look,

00:39:08.000 I think something

00:39:09.300 that people need to understand

00:39:10.520 is

00:39:10.980 if you're not really worried

00:39:13.160 about the social issues,

00:39:14.560 is a liberal justice

00:39:16.040 really that big of a deal,

00:39:17.440 right?

00:39:17.740 Like,

00:39:18.060 it's not.

00:39:19.380 And so,

00:39:20.440 if you're,

00:39:20.780 if you're somebody

00:39:21.300 who's motivated

00:39:22.120 by pro-life,

00:39:23.260 by,

00:39:23.740 you know,

00:39:24.040 fighting for women's sports

00:39:25.520 and against the transgender agenda,

00:39:27.740 fighting for guns,

00:39:28.820 all these things,

00:39:29.400 of course,

00:39:29.940 the idea of having

00:39:30.760 a far leftist

00:39:31.460 on the Supreme Court

00:39:32.140 is scary.

00:39:33.140 But I just don't know

00:39:34.180 if Paul Ryan's

00:39:34.840 really motivated

00:39:35.600 by that stuff.

00:39:36.660 It seems like,

00:39:37.440 to me,

00:39:37.760 he's always been

00:39:38.580 motivated much more

00:39:39.960 by the fiscal conservatism,

00:39:42.100 which is fine

00:39:43.100 in its own right,

00:39:44.000 but without the social conservatism,

00:39:45.900 it's bankrupt.

00:39:47.140 Yeah.

00:39:47.860 Wow.

00:39:48.480 Wow.

00:39:48.840 This is,

00:39:49.300 this is really interesting.

00:39:50.920 I mean,

00:39:51.120 I think that we can say,

00:39:52.680 okay,

00:39:52.960 maybe there are some good things

00:39:54.400 about this person.

00:39:55.460 I remember liking

00:39:56.100 her initial speech.

00:39:57.060 Of course,

00:39:57.380 we know that

00:39:57.980 progressive nominees

00:39:59.400 very often try to come across

00:40:00.920 as more moderate

00:40:01.720 and more conservative

00:40:02.760 when they are going

00:40:03.660 through these hearings

00:40:04.460 and then they almost

00:40:05.660 always rule to the left.

00:40:06.840 So I don't think

00:40:07.620 she's going to surprise us

00:40:08.720 with any of her rulings.

00:40:10.000 I think we know,

00:40:11.480 as you've explained,

00:40:12.920 why she is being supported

00:40:14.800 by the entities

00:40:15.500 that she's being supported.

00:40:17.220 I am just a little surprised

00:40:18.920 to see how much

00:40:20.640 the media is trying

00:40:22.260 to cover up

00:40:23.820 the sex offender stuff.

00:40:26.580 That does surprise me.

00:40:27.920 I would think,

00:40:28.520 okay,

00:40:28.660 you just ignore it.

00:40:30.200 They're not ignoring it,

00:40:31.520 but they're also

00:40:32.180 not really debunking it.

00:40:33.440 Like,

00:40:33.640 they'll have headlines

00:40:34.400 saying,

00:40:35.000 this is misleading.

00:40:35.940 This is misinformation.

00:40:37.480 We're going to debunk this.

00:40:39.200 And then they go through it

00:40:40.320 and they don't,

00:40:41.420 they're not actually

00:40:42.400 able to debunk it

00:40:43.380 because,

00:40:44.000 I mean,

00:40:44.360 it's all public record.

00:40:45.500 It's all,

00:40:45.960 it's all there.

00:40:46.700 Everything that Josh Hawley said

00:40:48.100 is,

00:40:49.240 is exactly right.

00:40:50.360 I mean,

00:40:50.620 it's true.

00:40:51.520 And I guess

00:40:52.600 it's not specific

00:40:53.340 to child predators,

00:40:54.380 but we should

00:40:56.380 be worried in general

00:40:57.700 someone who apparently

00:40:58.980 doesn't care

00:41:00.320 quite as much

00:41:01.040 about the rights

00:41:02.600 of the victims.

00:41:05.080 Well,

00:41:05.660 as the left

00:41:06.400 becomes more authoritarian,

00:41:07.560 I think they're getting

00:41:08.640 a little bit more lazy

00:41:09.940 with their argumentation.

00:41:11.400 And so with this,

00:41:12.240 they'd rather

00:41:12.840 just dismiss

00:41:14.140 Josh Hawley

00:41:15.160 as a QAnon sympathizer

00:41:16.600 and,

00:41:17.000 you know,

00:41:17.540 have social media

00:41:18.620 ban anything critical,

00:41:19.860 right?

00:41:20.940 So,

00:41:21.600 you know,

00:41:21.860 but I think

00:41:22.480 the big thing

00:41:24.020 I've seen come across

00:41:25.020 when people do engage

00:41:26.020 in debate on this

00:41:26.740 is,

00:41:27.600 why are you mad

00:41:28.300 at Ketanji Brown Jackson?

00:41:30.080 This is basically

00:41:30.840 what all of us believe.

00:41:32.540 And I don't think

00:41:33.480 that's necessarily

00:41:34.360 encouraging.

00:41:35.240 And it's certainly

00:41:35.880 something that I think

00:41:36.720 is going to require

00:41:37.540 us to keep an eye on

00:41:39.400 and for us to continue

00:41:40.500 to ask judicial nominees

00:41:42.260 going forward.

00:41:43.680 You wrote this

00:41:44.280 in the New York Post,

00:41:45.580 given all the criticism

00:41:46.600 of Jackson's weak record

00:41:47.740 on crime and sentencing,

00:41:48.800 not to mention

00:41:49.400 the White House

00:41:50.000 withholding 48,000

00:41:51.820 pages of documents

00:41:52.680 related to her time

00:41:53.580 on the sentencing commission.

00:41:54.860 I didn't know that.

00:41:57.360 Yeah.

00:41:57.940 And,

00:41:58.400 you know,

00:41:58.520 the crazy thing is

00:41:59.420 they were selectively

00:42:00.520 leaking those documents

00:42:01.680 to friendly media outlets.

00:42:03.200 So as they were

00:42:04.140 trying to rebut

00:42:04.800 Josh Hawley's criticism

00:42:06.120 and Ted Cruz's criticism,

00:42:07.820 the media was fact-checking

00:42:09.580 and they were having

00:42:10.160 help from the White House.

00:42:11.140 But yeah,

00:42:11.440 48,000 documents

00:42:12.820 or pages of documents.

00:42:15.320 And,

00:42:15.560 you know,

00:42:15.900 I think we would have

00:42:16.540 really gotten

00:42:17.120 to understand

00:42:18.400 the judge's

00:42:19.120 judicial philosophy

00:42:20.060 had we seen those documents.

00:42:21.240 How is that possible?

00:42:21.560 How is that allowed

00:42:23.300 that the White House

00:42:24.160 can just withhold

00:42:24.980 that kind of information?

00:42:28.440 In this world,

00:42:29.720 I mean,

00:42:30.080 with a media

00:42:30.840 that's totally

00:42:31.500 on your team,

00:42:32.280 this would never

00:42:32.940 have happened

00:42:33.600 under a Republican.

00:42:35.080 Right, of course.

00:42:35.380 If Trump had tried

00:42:36.000 to withhold documents

00:42:37.100 about Kavanaugh,

00:42:38.240 you would have seen

00:42:39.060 an FBI investigation,

00:42:40.540 you would have seen

00:42:40.900 all sorts of things.

00:42:42.260 But this is just

00:42:43.220 kind of the game

00:42:43.940 they play now.

00:42:45.540 And, you know,

00:42:46.020 we are,

00:42:46.880 I mean,

00:42:47.100 this is why we need

00:42:48.000 Republicans elected

00:42:48.960 because they're going

00:42:50.520 to cheat

00:42:50.900 and they're going

00:42:51.360 to collude

00:42:51.740 with their friends

00:42:52.300 in the media

00:42:52.780 and in the corporate world.

00:42:54.300 Yeah, I just,

00:42:55.060 I think the easiest way

00:42:55.940 to explain why the media

00:42:57.080 is the way it is,

00:42:58.400 why it doesn't speak

00:42:59.540 truth to power,

00:43:00.500 just pretend that it does,

00:43:01.440 why it doesn't hold

00:43:02.240 Democrats and the people

00:43:03.840 on their side accountable

00:43:04.740 is really simple.

00:43:06.860 I mean,

00:43:07.100 I think it's a principle

00:43:07.880 that we can all understand,

00:43:09.140 as unfortunate as it is,

00:43:10.060 is that it's really hard

00:43:11.300 to think objectively

00:43:12.140 and to write objectively

00:43:13.400 about your friends.

00:43:14.360 It's really hard

00:43:15.000 to criticize your friends,

00:43:16.420 people that you're close to,

00:43:18.040 people that maybe

00:43:18.840 you even feel

00:43:19.440 are giving you access

00:43:20.400 or giving you power

00:43:22.240 or insulating you

00:43:23.360 from whatever it is,

00:43:25.220 criticism.

00:43:25.960 It's really hard

00:43:26.800 to write objectively

00:43:27.980 about those people,

00:43:29.120 especially when you share

00:43:30.120 the same ideology.

00:43:31.400 So that is just one reason

00:43:33.060 why the media

00:43:33.740 is so corrupt

00:43:34.560 and why they are able

00:43:37.340 to get away

00:43:37.820 with the things

00:43:38.300 that they are.

00:43:38.980 One thing I want to ask you,

00:43:40.140 you also mentioned

00:43:40.740 in this New York Post article

00:43:42.040 the Breathe Act.

00:43:43.940 What is the Breathe Act?

00:43:46.460 So the Breathe Act

00:43:47.620 is the model legislation

00:43:49.480 that all the,

00:43:51.240 you know,

00:43:51.440 all that Black Lives Matter

00:43:52.520 funding had to go somewhere

00:43:53.980 and we know it went to

00:43:55.160 some of the founders' houses

00:43:56.600 and all that,

00:43:57.580 but part of it went to groups

00:43:59.280 that focus on this

00:44:00.320 and it's basically

00:44:01.720 a total revamp

00:44:03.280 of our criminal justice system,

00:44:05.200 gets rid of,

00:44:05.820 abolishes prisons,

00:44:07.300 the entire,

00:44:08.220 you know,

00:44:08.520 defund the police agendas

00:44:09.700 in there

00:44:10.260 and a lot of Democrats,

00:44:12.480 you know,

00:44:12.760 it came out

00:44:13.200 and endorsed this early.

00:44:14.420 Now they've kind of

00:44:15.080 run away from it.

00:44:16.280 Nancy Pelosi

00:44:16.820 isn't talking about it,

00:44:18.040 but this is,

00:44:19.440 at least from our perspective,

00:44:20.640 what we have to see

00:44:21.420 as the end goal

00:44:22.340 of the Black Lives Matter

00:44:23.860 movement

00:44:24.280 of some of these

00:44:25.440 radical woke folks.

00:44:27.680 And,

00:44:27.960 you know,

00:44:28.960 it's pretty crazy.

00:44:29.880 I mean,

00:44:30.000 when you look at

00:44:30.720 all the individual things

00:44:32.000 it does,

00:44:32.920 I mean,

00:44:33.100 it basically gets rid

00:44:34.020 of drug offenses.

00:44:35.440 Again,

00:44:35.740 like,

00:44:36.000 no more life sentences.

00:44:37.580 You know,

00:44:38.900 people under the age

00:44:39.720 of 24,

00:44:40.200 I could go out there

00:44:41.180 and do a bank robbery

00:44:42.600 with a gun

00:44:43.720 and if I was under

00:44:45.060 the age of 24

00:44:45.900 under the Breathe Act,

00:44:46.900 I wouldn't serve time.

00:44:48.580 So it's a very radical thing.

00:44:50.500 We actually have

00:44:51.200 a report out there.

00:44:54.200 It's called

00:44:54.500 Black Lives Matter

00:44:55.420 and the Breathe Act

00:44:56.520 and authored by myself

00:44:58.340 and some other folks

00:44:59.100 at American Principles Project.

00:45:00.680 But it's pretty crazy

00:45:02.160 and,

00:45:02.740 you know,

00:45:03.720 I think the Democrats

00:45:04.440 were smart

00:45:05.180 to run away from this

00:45:06.720 at least publicly.

00:45:07.960 But if they ever feel

00:45:08.840 like they have the power

00:45:09.580 to impose it,

00:45:10.440 they will do it.

00:45:11.700 Yeah,

00:45:12.020 absolutely they will.

00:45:13.360 Yeah,

00:45:13.520 it seems like

00:45:14.120 they have at least

00:45:14.760 rhetorically

00:45:15.360 kind of backed down

00:45:16.240 from the defund

00:45:17.720 the police language

00:45:19.180 at least temporarily.

00:45:21.160 But I have no doubt

00:45:22.280 if there is

00:45:22.840 another incident

00:45:24.080 like what happened

00:45:25.880 with George Floyd

00:45:26.500 or anything.

00:45:27.040 I mean,

00:45:27.240 it's been kind of

00:45:28.100 strangely quiet

00:45:28.980 on that front

00:45:29.720 talking about things

00:45:30.660 like police brutality

00:45:31.540 in general.

00:45:32.340 I feel like we

00:45:32.820 haven't heard a lot

00:45:34.080 about that

00:45:34.560 in the news recently,

00:45:35.320 but I have no doubt

00:45:36.260 if another crisis occurs

00:45:37.500 that they will use

00:45:39.000 that wave of crisis

00:45:40.320 to push something

00:45:42.480 as radical

00:45:43.160 as that legislation.

00:45:44.440 I mean,

00:45:44.640 I say repeatedly

00:45:46.020 on this show

00:45:46.820 that social justice

00:45:47.940 kills.

00:45:48.920 Social justice

00:45:49.440 is not just.

00:45:50.740 Social justice says

00:45:51.620 how can we try

00:45:53.020 to make outcomes

00:45:53.940 for all different groups

00:45:55.440 equal

00:45:56.160 without actually looking

00:45:57.580 at what is causing

00:45:58.500 the disparity

00:45:59.200 in the first place.

00:46:00.520 As Thomas Sowell says,

00:46:02.060 discrimination

00:46:02.860 or disparities

00:46:04.760 are not inherent

00:46:05.900 proof of discrimination.

00:46:08.020 If there is a disparity

00:46:09.040 in outcome

00:46:10.100 between two groups,

00:46:11.320 whether it's graduation rates,

00:46:12.520 whether it's incarceration rates,

00:46:13.980 that does not automatically

00:46:15.340 mean that discrimination

00:46:16.460 is the cause of that.

00:46:18.040 But the equity

00:46:18.780 social justice agenda

00:46:19.900 just assumes

00:46:20.700 that discrimination

00:46:21.380 is the reason why,

00:46:22.740 for example,

00:46:23.340 maybe there's a higher

00:46:24.360 proportion of Black Americans

00:46:25.800 in jail.

00:46:26.820 And so rather than

00:46:27.900 looking at the root cause

00:46:29.380 and solving the root cause,

00:46:30.820 they just say,

00:46:31.960 as you mentioned earlier,

00:46:33.140 well,

00:46:33.560 we just have to do

00:46:34.460 whatever we can

00:46:35.300 to make these numbers equal

00:46:36.700 if that means

00:46:37.640 releasing violent criminals

00:46:38.840 from jail

00:46:39.520 and creating more victims.

00:46:41.320 Unfortunately,

00:46:41.840 there are no equity quotas

00:46:42.960 for victim numbers.

00:46:44.500 Isn't that interesting?

00:46:45.620 There are only equity quotas

00:46:47.220 for the people

00:46:48.840 that are creating

00:46:49.660 the victims.

00:46:50.560 Huh.

00:46:50.820 It's almost like

00:46:51.420 there's a nefarious,

00:46:52.740 destructive motivation

00:46:53.800 behind all of this.

00:46:55.600 Well,

00:46:56.120 I'm very thankful.

00:46:56.900 I'm very thankful

00:46:57.380 for your perspective

00:46:58.260 in uncovering this.

00:46:59.660 Last question

00:47:00.180 I want to ask you,

00:47:01.000 I notice

00:47:01.500 that you call yourself

00:47:03.260 a populist,

00:47:04.860 and this is something

00:47:05.480 that I've seen

00:47:06.100 more and more

00:47:06.960 from people on the right.

00:47:08.880 I would say

00:47:09.200 my husband and I

00:47:09.940 talk a lot about,

00:47:11.300 talk a lot recently.

00:47:13.420 I think it was

00:47:14.580 Sagar and Jetty

00:47:15.520 that first kind of

00:47:17.320 made us start thinking

00:47:18.260 a little bit differently

00:47:19.040 about our conservatism

00:47:20.980 and our perspectives

00:47:23.100 of the change lab.

00:47:23.700 It's probably

00:47:24.260 the help of Tucker Carlson,

00:47:25.780 too.

00:47:26.680 Can you tell us,

00:47:27.460 though,

00:47:27.580 what is populism,

00:47:29.200 essentially?

00:47:29.700 Why do you call

00:47:30.120 yourself a populist

00:47:30.960 and not necessarily

00:47:31.740 a conservative?

00:47:33.960 So one of the

00:47:34.920 political figures

00:47:35.720 I really learned

00:47:37.080 a lot from

00:47:37.660 while he was alive

00:47:38.420 was Jeff Bell.

00:47:39.580 He worked at

00:47:40.580 American Principles

00:47:41.200 Project previously,

00:47:42.200 but, you know,

00:47:42.880 worked for Reagan,

00:47:44.040 ran for Senate

00:47:44.900 in New Jersey

00:47:45.600 a couple times,

00:47:46.300 and he had a book

00:47:47.700 called Populism

00:47:48.640 and Elitism,

00:47:49.860 and he kind of said

00:47:50.640 that this difference

00:47:51.820 between populist

00:47:52.700 and elitist

00:47:53.260 was kind of

00:47:54.080 the most important

00:47:55.180 political difference.

00:47:56.080 And basically,

00:47:56.560 what it comes down to

00:47:57.560 is elitism

00:47:58.660 is a belief

00:47:59.340 that the people

00:48:00.100 are too stupid

00:48:01.460 or, you know,

00:48:02.680 can't govern themselves

00:48:03.740 and we need

00:48:04.580 an expert class

00:48:05.720 to rule over them.

00:48:07.080 And populists

00:48:07.740 are people

00:48:08.140 who have a general

00:48:09.020 optimism about

00:48:10.000 the American people

00:48:10.940 and their ability

00:48:11.780 not only to govern

00:48:12.820 themselves,

00:48:13.320 but to make decisions.

00:48:14.880 And so I think,

00:48:15.660 especially with COVID,

00:48:16.740 and this is when

00:48:17.240 I started really using

00:48:18.080 that identifier,

00:48:19.620 I think we're on

00:48:20.820 the side of populism here.

00:48:22.200 And so while I'm still

00:48:22.980 a conservative

00:48:23.540 and I think that

00:48:24.860 conservative populism

00:48:26.020 is definitely a thing,

00:48:27.600 I have an optimism

00:48:28.760 in the American people

00:48:29.660 and I think that

00:48:30.260 generally when you

00:48:31.040 talk about populism,

00:48:32.420 Trumpism is definitely

00:48:33.420 a form of populism.

00:48:34.700 I think that's

00:48:35.400 the unique thing

00:48:36.260 that makes it great.

00:48:39.040 I'm curious

00:48:39.840 what you think

00:48:40.420 about our 2024 prospects

00:48:42.880 for President Trump,

00:48:44.960 DeSantis.

00:48:45.420 You don't have to say

00:48:46.140 exactly who you want

00:48:47.460 to be a candidate,

00:48:48.360 but where do you think

00:48:50.000 the country is going?

00:48:51.040 Who do you think

00:48:51.880 most conservatives

00:48:52.680 will get behind?

00:48:54.940 So the one thing

00:48:56.000 I learned from Trump

00:48:57.340 in 2016

00:48:58.460 is that we don't

00:48:59.800 know anything.

00:49:00.400 Yeah, very true.

00:49:01.580 So I think that

00:49:03.120 there's a conventional wisdom

00:49:04.380 that if Trump runs,

00:49:05.860 he will absolutely win

00:49:07.340 and he may.

00:49:08.720 I think he'll beat

00:49:09.460 the Democrat,

00:49:10.580 assuming it's Joe Biden,

00:49:12.020 but even if it was

00:49:12.720 somebody else.

00:49:13.800 But I also just think

00:49:14.960 it's too early

00:49:15.680 to count anyone else out.

00:49:17.140 So DeSantis has shown

00:49:18.440 himself to be

00:49:19.400 very impressive

00:49:20.120 as governor of Florida.

00:49:21.520 And, you know,

00:49:22.200 if there is a primary

00:49:23.020 between Trump and DeSantis,

00:49:25.220 you know,

00:49:25.600 we'll see what happens.

00:49:26.640 I think it would be

00:49:27.280 good for us anyway.

00:49:28.440 Yeah.

00:49:28.800 Yeah, I think so.

00:49:30.380 Do you think

00:49:31.060 that this issue of crime,

00:49:33.060 do you think

00:49:33.780 it will be

00:49:34.700 a key issue

00:49:36.120 in 2024?

00:49:37.400 You linked an article

00:49:38.360 in your thread,

00:49:40.120 Safe Streets

00:49:40.580 Required the Political

00:49:41.580 Will to Punish Crime

00:49:42.860 and American Greatness

00:49:43.780 by Austin Stone.

00:49:44.960 It was published

00:49:45.520 earlier in March,

00:49:47.520 and that's true.

00:49:48.640 I mean,

00:49:48.840 progressives certainly

00:49:49.620 don't have the political will,

00:49:51.140 but as we've already mentioned,

00:49:52.200 there are plenty of Republicans

00:49:53.300 who don't have the political will

00:49:54.540 either,

00:49:55.000 probably because,

00:49:55.960 not because they're

00:49:56.540 ideologically aligned

00:49:57.560 with the equity policies,

00:49:58.540 but because they're scared

00:49:59.600 of losing their backing

00:50:00.500 or seen as racist

00:50:01.400 or whatever.

00:50:02.880 So one,

00:50:03.460 do you think

00:50:03.980 that this will be an issue

00:50:04.900 for people

00:50:05.380 who are tired

00:50:06.060 of the crime

00:50:07.060 and the crime waves

00:50:08.080 and the DA

00:50:08.900 is not doing anything,

00:50:10.100 the judge is not doing anything?

00:50:12.300 And do you think

00:50:13.600 at least Republicans

00:50:14.960 will gain the political will

00:50:16.880 to push back against this

00:50:19.820 and make Safe Streets

00:50:21.340 an issue for their campaigns?

00:50:24.860 Well,

00:50:25.340 as to the Republicans deciding,

00:50:27.060 that's a really good question,

00:50:28.960 but I do think

00:50:29.660 it's going to be an issue.

00:50:31.280 And the reason for that is,

00:50:32.660 look,

00:50:32.840 as we're trying to build

00:50:33.920 this multiracial

00:50:35.600 working class coalition,

00:50:37.360 people are worried about crime.

00:50:39.160 They're worried about,

00:50:39.980 you know,

00:50:40.300 their kids

00:50:41.040 and making sure

00:50:41.920 that they can send them

00:50:43.300 to school

00:50:43.720 and not worry about

00:50:44.520 them getting mugged

00:50:45.260 or hurt.

00:50:46.400 And I think that's something

00:50:47.700 that's going to affect

00:50:48.420 suburban women.

00:50:49.640 It's going to affect Hispanics.

00:50:51.220 It's also going to affect

00:50:52.180 African-Americans.

00:50:53.760 And so,

00:50:54.420 you know,

00:50:54.860 I think Republicans

00:50:56.000 would be wise

00:50:56.660 to focus on this.

00:50:58.520 Unfortunately,

00:50:59.260 it's just kind of a reality.

00:51:00.620 Like as crime goes up,

00:51:01.700 as this stuff

00:51:02.380 continues to happen,

00:51:03.940 we're going to have

00:51:04.960 to talk about it more.

00:51:06.140 There's going to be

00:51:06.560 more tragedies.

00:51:07.820 But I think it would be

00:51:08.840 politically pretty silly

00:51:10.040 not for Republicans

00:51:11.640 to talk about it

00:51:13.660 and to make that

00:51:14.240 a big issue.

00:51:15.200 Yeah,

00:51:15.520 I agree.

00:51:16.060 I agree.

00:51:16.520 Well,

00:51:16.720 thank you so much

00:51:17.480 for giving us

00:51:18.440 your insight today.

00:51:19.320 I really appreciate it.

00:51:20.700 Where can people

00:51:21.580 follow you,

00:51:23.300 support you,

00:51:23.940 all that good stuff?

00:51:25.780 Well,

00:51:26.000 thanks so much

00:51:26.460 for having me.

00:51:27.380 So I'm at

00:51:27.960 Substack

00:51:28.560 at

00:51:29.180 johnschweppe.substack.com

00:51:31.260 and then on Twitter

00:51:32.400 at johnschweppe.

00:51:33.600 Okay,

00:51:33.920 we'll provide those links

00:51:34.840 in the description

00:51:35.340 of this episode.

00:51:36.780 Thank you so much

00:51:37.500 for coming on.

00:51:39.080 Hey,

00:51:39.380 thanks so much

00:51:39.800 for having me.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 28, 2022

Ep 589 ｜ The Secret Reason DC Republicans Love Ketanji Brown Jackson ｜ Guest： Jon Schweppe

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