Ep 937 | Goodbye, DeSantis. What Now?
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Summary
Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race yesterday. I've got my passionate analysis on that and what the future might look like. Also, Mamas For Liberty destroys Joy Reid in a debate on MSNBC.
Transcript
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Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race yesterday. I've got my
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passionate analysis on that and what the future might look like. Also, Moms for Liberty completely
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destroyed Joy Reid in a debate on MSNBC. Oh my gosh, you have to see this. It's amazing.
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This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to GoodRanchers.com. Use
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code Allie at checkout. That's GoodRanchers.com. Code Allie.
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. That
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you're having a great start to your week. Obviously, if you follow me on Instagram,
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we got a lot to talk about today. I'm missing the wild bun on top of my head and the craziness
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with which and the fervor with which I spoke yesterday, but I do have a lot of important
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and passionate things to say today. And this is in regards to DeSantis dropping out of the
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presidential campaign. I've got a lot of opinions. I've got an analysis to give you. Before I get
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into my commentary, however, about it, I do just want to explain. I want to explain everything that's
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the race as it is. Look backwards just for a little bit and then look forward as we anticipate
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what's going to happen in this crazy election year. Before we get into all of that, I have happy,
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lighthearted news. And that is we've got Valentine's merch, y'all. Valentine's merch in
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So go to AllieMerch.com. I think you can still use code Allie10 for 10% off. Really cute Valentine's
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self-love won't save you because it won't. So we got the two totes and the four comfort color shirts
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and the one sticker for you at AllieMerch.com. Okay, let's get into this. So Governor Ron DeSantis,
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he ended his presidential campaign yesterday. Here is a short clip of his speech.
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Now, following our second place finish in Iowa, we've prayed and deliberated on the way forward.
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If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome, more campaign stops,
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more interviews, I would do it. But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time
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and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory.
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Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.
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Okay, so this came as a surprise to a lot of people who felt that after he came in second place
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in Iowa, that he was going to stick it out at least a little bit longer. But according to recent polling
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in New Hampshire, that primary is tomorrow. By the way, Trump is at 50%. Nikki Haley is at 39%. He
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might have seen that he was probably going to come in third place. Didn't want to do that. This is
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according to ABC News. DeSantis' decision to leave the race had been a subject of mounting speculation
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this weekend after he canceled high profile scheduled appearances on Sunday morning on NBC
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and CNN, a New Hampshire TV station as well, WMUR. However, DeSantis' campaign insisted amid this
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speculation that he was not about to bow out. Brian Griffin, the spokesperson for DeSantis' campaign,
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said the media hits were canceled due to a scheduling issue and will be rescheduled. The governor will be
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traveling Sunday morning with a campaign. It has public events scheduled Sunday through Tuesday in
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New Hampshire. People are also pointing to DeSantis' remarks after the Iowa caucus in which he said,
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this is our responsibility to carry this torch and preserve the sacred fire of liberty. Don't run away
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from this responsibility. We welcome this responsibility. I can tell you this, DeSantis said,
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as the next president of the United States, I am going to get the job done for this country.
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I am not going to make any excuses and I guarantee you this, I will not let you down. So understandably,
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a lot of people are disappointed. They are a little bit taken aback. Now, maybe some insiders probably
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know exactly what went down, but I think a lot of people who have supported DeSantis for a long time
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are wondering, wait, what happened to the torch that you were carrying? So in his statement, he also said
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this. He said, it's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald
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Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see
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Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump,
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such as on the coronavirus pandemic and the elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current
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incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee,
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and I will honor that pledge. He said he has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old
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Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley
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represents. So he endorsed Ron DeSantis, and then Trump had his own response to this. Trump released
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a statement saying, among other things, that he is honored by the endorsement from Governor Ron DeSantis and
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so many other former presidential candidates. It's now time for all Republicans to rally behind
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President Trump to defeat crooked Joe Biden and end his disastrous presidency. He said that Haley is a
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candidate of globalists and Democrats. He also had something to say about the nickname that he had given
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Ron DeSantis at one point. You'll remember he called him Ron DeSantis. I saw some diehard MAGA
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supporters also call Ron DeSantis, Rob, Rob DeSantis. Very, very clever. And someone asked him
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about this at a campaign stop yesterday. Here's what Donald Trump had to say.
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Okay. He just said, will I be using the name Ron DeSantis? I said, that name is officially retired.
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All right. So he moved on. Now, keep in mind that Trump has made allegations against DeSantis,
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not just saying, wow, I want to beat this guy. I don't think that he is the best person for the job,
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but he literally accused DeSantis of grooming underage girls when he was a teacher many years
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ago. Of course, these were completely baseless allegations, but now don't worry. They are on
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on the same team and he has retired any of his nicknames for Ron DeSantis.
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Okay. Those of you who follow my Instagram stories know that I have a lot to say about this. And as
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I talked about, you know, how disappointed I was because I really supported DeSantis. I still support
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him as governor. I think that he has done such a great job and I was excited about the prospect of
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him being president of the United States. And a lot of you said, wow, this is exactly how I feel.
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You are echoing my feelings and my reactions exactly. And so I wanted to give air to the perspective
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of someone who really supported DeSantis and his potential nomination, because there's obviously a lot
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of us out there, especially suburban moms. And I will never venture to say that I am representative
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of all suburban moms, of all Republican women, of all Christian conservative women, even. But there
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are thousands and thousands of us who feel the same way I do about all of that. And so I think it's
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important to try to represent that perspective as best as I can. And here's how we feel. That DeSantis
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is, was a culture warrior. He fought back against the gender ideologues. He protected girls sports. He
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stopped child genital mutilation in his state. He banned teaching kids about sex and gender switching
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in the classroom. He empowered parents to have a say over their kids' education. He did what Republicans
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are almost never willing to do. And that is stand up against corporations and not just any corporation,
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but one of the biggest companies in the entire world with the deepest pockets. And that is Disney.
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He took away their tax privileges when they dared to undermine the people of Florida by pledging to fight
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against the parental rights in education bill. And he won that battle. He won that battle.
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That is completely unprecedented for the classic traditional GOP politician. He signed a heartbeat
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bill, one of the most pro-life laws in the nation. He implemented programs to reduce fatherlessness and
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support cohesive families. He, more than any other governor that I can think of, actually pushed back
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against Fauci. He fought against the mask mandates, the vaccine mandates, not just arguing that the mandates
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are wrong. But also, eventually, he took the stance that the vaccine itself has risks. And to this day,
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very few Republicans will say that out loud. He shipped illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard.
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What? Who else has the courage to do that besides Greg Abbott? What other Republican politician has had
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the gumption to do something like that? He rebuilt the state at an unprecedented speed after Hurricane
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Ian. He addressed the needs of his state then. He and his legislators accomplished an incredibly conservative
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agenda. He turned a purple state, not just red, but deep red, turning Republican areas that were once dark
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blue. He was, without a doubt, the more conservative choice when it comes to primary candidates. Now, I voted
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for Donald Trump twice. I know some people are going to say, oh, you're never a Trumper. I voted for Donald
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Trump twice. And I did everything that I could do to convince my demo, the Christian suburban mom, to vote
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for him in 2020. I will still relentlessly say that Christians should never vote Democrat. But when it's
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between Trump and another more conservative option, I would not have voted Trump. Trump called DeSantis'
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heartbeat bill terrible. He said he wants more compromise. In that same NBC interview in September,
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where he called that heartbeat bill terrible, he said, quote, both sides are going to like me when it
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comes to abortion. And, quote, people are starting to think of 15 weeks. 15 weeks. Second trimester.
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When the baby would have to be dismembered to be aborted. 15 weeks. Trump could not give a straight
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answer when Megyn Kelly asked if a man can become a woman. DeSantis had Tom Askell to pray at his
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inauguration. Trump hoists up people like Kenneth Copeland and Paula White. And that might not matter to
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most of you, but it matters to me. It matters to people like me. Now, I know. You do not have to
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tell me. Trump did good things. I know that. Things I am grateful for. He was the only sitting
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president ever to attend the March for Life. Amazing. His SCOTUS picks got us the Dobbs decision
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that overturned Roe. That is incredibly impactful. He helped forge peace deals in the Middle East. I mean,
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how many lives were saved by those two things alone? His economy was booming. I know I speak
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for a lot of people when I say I miss that. So I understand. But some of these things are points
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in any Republican's favor, not in particular Trump. So Rubio or Cruz or even Chris Christie probably
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would have given us the same Supreme Court picks. They weren't chosen specifically by Trump. They were
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chosen by the conservative organizations who make these kinds of lists. Trump also, it's a concern I
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have is that he surrounds himself very often with very bad people. And then he refuses to fire some
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of the bad people like he did while he was president. Fauci, Christopher Wray, he could have gotten rid of
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them. He didn't. Trump didn't build the wall the way that he said that he was going to. He also signed
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the First Step Act, which was a soft on crime DEI bill, essentially. He has done little to nothing
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to help those who have been unfairly prosecuted for their peaceful involvement in January 6th.
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And also, what headway has been made in Stopping the Steal, a movement for which he has raised hundreds
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of millions of dollars from the American people? What about his former attorneys like Jenna Ellis,
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who's now facing legal consequences for helping Trump in his effort to prove that 2020 was stolen?
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He demonizes everyone who does not show him their full support, even if they were once
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on his team. Think about Kayleigh McEnany. From what I know, a very lovely person. She was a great
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press secretary for him. She apparently committed the crime of reading on Fox News what was the wrong
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poll numbers a few months ago. And so he said this about her on Truth Social. Kayleigh Milk Toast
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McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on Fox News. The rhinos and the globalists can have her.
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Fox News should only use real stars, he says of his former press secretary. He also misspelled
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Milk Toast, by the way. That was a cartoon character in the 1920s. It has nothing to do with actual
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milk. Anyway, this is what he does. No matter how good someone was to him at one point, this is what
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he does. And again, just a reminder that he accused Ron DeSantis based on nothing of grooming underage
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girls when he was a teacher. I mean, that's a very serious allegation, but that's what happens when
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you go against Trump. I know people have said about DeSantis that it wasn't his time, that he should
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have waited till 2028, they say. But that's not how it works. I respectfully disagree with that
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assessment. It was really now or never for DeSantis. He needed to strike iron while it was hot.
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It obviously didn't work out. But just waiting until 2028, it just wasn't a viable option. So I
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don't blame DeSantis at all for going for it. And these same people also say that DeSantis was a part
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of the establishment and they see Trump as some maverick. But that's just not reality. Trump was
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endorsed by almost every establishment Republican that you can think of. Lindsey Graham, literally the
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most establishment Republican, is one of his closest advisors. Now, I know for a fact that DeSantis upset
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the establishment because he showed everyone that it is conservative to be aggressive, that as a
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Republican, you do not have to sit back and let major corporations steamroll you in the name of helping
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the economy. You don't have to just sit there and let the public health establishment bully you. You
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can actually push back against them and people like that. You can still win elections by being
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aggressive in that way. Republicans have been saying for years that, oh, no, no, we can't go against
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these corporations. We can't go against their bureaucracy or else we'll lose elections, blah, blah,
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blah. DeSantis showed them that that's not true. That made the establishment very uncomfortable.
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I also know for a fact that DeSantis went against the wishes of some of his biggest donors by opposing
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Disney and signing the heartbeat bill. They did not like that. He was urged to back down on these and
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he didn't because he felt that it was the right thing to do. Now, I am not like Beth Moore. I don't
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indict the character of everyone who voted for Trump on the primary and say, well, there's no valid
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reason to do so beyond liking a bully and wanting someone who's verbally abusive. That's what she
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said on Twitter. And as I told her, that's not true. There are, of course, valid reasons that people
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have to vote for Trump in the primary, whether you agree with them or not. I happen to disagree with
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them. I don't think that you're bad or dumb or anything denigrating like that. I just don't agree
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with you. I think DeSantis gave us a better shot at 2024. And that is my biggest concern beyond
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anything else with Trump. I truly do not think that he can win in November. I don't think that
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he can rally the support. I don't think he can overcome the huge obstacles that will be placed in
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his way. I think that there's a good chance that he will be in prison, which would be absolutely
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awful for him and the country. It would be awful for the country. I think DeSantis could have won
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in the general. I don't think Trump can. Unfortunately, I will be happy to be proven wrong
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about that. I really will. But I truly, truly fear four more years of Biden. And I am just afraid that
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Trump will not be able to beat him. And even if Trump does beat him by some miracle, he will be a
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lame duck president from day one. Because four years isn't enough to make the kind of change that
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we need. Almost everything in the last four years that he did by mostly executive order has been
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reversed. Most, not all. Plus, he wouldn't have his reelection as a motivator this time around.
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So that's another concern. That's another concern I have. Better than Biden? Definitely. As I said
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on Instagram, honey boo boo would be better than Biden. The best pick that we had when it came to
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the primaries, in my opinion? No. I am also concerned about Trump's VP pick.
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It won't be DeSantis. Some are saying Nikki Haley. That'd be rough. A Trump Haley ticket. I mean,
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she's too moderate for me on abortion, on gender ideology, fighting against corporatism. Also a bit
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too much of a war hawk for me. The only people who want that, I think, who want that ticket are some
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mega donor centrist. Some people are saying Vivek. Glenn Beck, whose insight I very much trust,
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says that everyone is telling Trump to choose Vivek. Personally, I don't know if that's the
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right choice. I really like some things Vivek has said. But does he have a consistent, prolonged
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record of upholding conservative values? I don't know. I'm not sure about that. Others are saying
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Elise Stefanik. She is a Republican congresswoman from New York. She was one of the only Republicans
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to vote yes for the 2019 version of the Equality Act, which is a radically progressive bill that
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would make it impossible to protect single sex spaces. She also voted yes to the same sex marriage
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bill in 2022. She's very much a moderate or has been for a long time. She was extremely critical of
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Trump, by the way, in 2015 and 2016. I'm not saying people can't change. It's just an interesting
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choice. I'm just not sure what he would gain from that pick. Now, you know who would make me really
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happy? Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I really like Sarah Sanders, governor of Arkansas. She's a solid
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conservative. She's pro-Trump without being weird about it. You know what I mean? She's smart. She's
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articulate. Cute family. Seems down to earth. I know that Arkansas would be super sad to lose her,
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which I really understand. And Trump doesn't need help winning Arkansas. But if he needed help with
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a suburban mom vote, which I think he will, then she could be a really good choice. I really like her.
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I would be excited to support her. Now, I've got more to say about my demo, Suburban Women, and what I
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think it will take to vie for their vote, to win their vote. And I'll give my take on that in just a
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second. Suburban Women, we are a politically diverse bunch. We are. You've got liberals amongst us.
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You've got independents. You've got diehard Trumpists. And then you have a very large contingency
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of conservative Christian women whose vote needs to be earned. Now, for some conservative Christian
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women, Trump cannot earn their vote, period. If you think I'm wrong, you just don't know. I'm sorry.
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You just don't know. The evangelical space is largely made up of women who are pretty theologically
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conservative and pretty politically conservative. Now, as I've talked about a lot, I think they can
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sometimes get manipulated by the empathy shaming of the left. And so sometimes they'll try to take
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like the center left position on things like immigration and abortion, thinking that it's
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compassionate when it's not. I mean, that's part of a huge reason why I even have this show to try
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to speak to those people. And many of them will not vote for Trump, whether it's because of that,
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they think that he's not empathetic enough, or they just don't like him, or maybe they disagree with some
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of his policies. Now, I'm not saying whether they are right, but that's just the reality. You can roll
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your eyes. You can say, oh, my gosh, they're crazy. They're not really conservative if they don't
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support Trump. You can say all of that. I get it. But that doesn't change reality. They could have
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easily been convinced to vote for DeSantis, but they can't be convinced to vote for Trump. OK,
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that's some of them. Then you've got others who did vote for him in 2016 and 2020. But now they're
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not sure. They're not sure because, A, they really liked DeSantis. They liked his policies and his
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personality. And they were comfortable with the fact that they didn't have to defend him
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constantly to their friends and their fellow congregants. Or B, they kind of like RFK.
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Now, RFK is pro-choice. He said last August that he supports limiting abortion about 15 weeks,
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sometime after the first trimester. That is similar, by the way, to what Trump has said, though.
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However, I will say that with RFK, his campaign after August has since backtracked on that statement
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that he gave saying, no, RFK supports a woman's right to choose. And the campaign did not specify
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any limits whatsoever that he would advocate for. So even though I think him and Trump probably
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personally are on the same page when it comes to abortion, I do think that Trump, when it comes to
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Supreme Court picks and what policies he would actually vouch for, what bills he would sign, he is
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more likely to be pro-life than RFK would. However, for some women, and I would say in particular,
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for some non-Christian, politically independent suburban women, they would take RFK's position
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on abortion because they love his fight for medical freedom. They love his fight against
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pharmaceutical companies. And they're just tired of Trump. So all I'm saying is Trump is going to
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have to fight for the suburban woman's vote, the Christian woman's vote. I know, again, that
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hardcore MAGA, they like to roll their eyes at that and say, oh, we don't need you. Y'all are just
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stupid. Oh, but you do. Oh, but you do need this demographic. I mean, there are some truly deranged
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and depraved Trump apologists online, many of them who believe that he's just going to suddenly come up
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with all of these new voters, all of these new populist voters, but it's probably not going to happen.
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You still need evangelical women. You're still, you're just going to have to fight for their vote.
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That's all I'm saying. And Trump will get a lot of them. Like the abortion issue alone is a dividing
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line for a lot of women, rightly so, but some of them just won't be motivated to vote this time
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around like they were last time. They just won't be as excited this go round. You can berate them all
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you want. You can call them names. That's not going to change anything. Okay. DeSantis would have
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been, in my opinion, a better, easier pick. But look, let's just be honest. Like the DeSantis
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campaign was not as good as it could have been. It had so much potential. It did not meet that
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potential in a lot of ways. I think they thought that they would be able to ride his popularity as
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governor, but it just didn't work. Here are my views about the campaign for whatever they're worth.
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He waited too long to announce. The announcement of his campaign was awful. It was awful. They never
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overcame that. He was not put in enough adversarial situations throughout his campaign.
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And he's best when he is adversarial against the press, against Democrats. His best moments were
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against Gavin Newsom in that debate. That's where he shines. He was perfect in that debate. He was so
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good. He is not at his best when he is walking through crowds, talking to voters. He is not at
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his best in casual conversations. He wasn't at his best during the Republican debates,
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even though he did have some really strong moments there. There's just, I think, a discomfort and an
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awkwardness in those situations that can sometimes translate into weakness. He is at his best,
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at his strongest, I think, when he is combative. It's what we have all really liked about him.
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Now, personally, I did not mind the awkwardness. Like, I will take an awkward but effective conservative
00:27:35.740
leader all day long. Trump, on the other hand, is not awkward at all. He is extremely dynamic,
00:27:42.540
extremely charismatic. You see it in his interviews. You see it in town halls. You see it when he walks
00:27:47.880
into a UFC fight. And that shouldn't matter when it comes to whom we vote for. But it does. It does.
00:27:55.900
Because appearance matters. Charisma matters. It's mattered since Kennedy v. Nixon. It matters today.
00:28:01.920
To be fair, though, even the most charismatic person in the world probably would have lost to
00:28:08.640
Trump because it's Trump. Trump, on the Republican side, is just impossible to run against. And indicted
00:28:15.160
Trump even more so. If you look at the graph, at this graph, of the popularity of the Republican
00:28:23.660
contenders, Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, from January of last year to now, Trump's popularity
00:28:31.680
has only increased since last year, bumping up every time he was indicted. You can see that if you're
00:28:40.500
watching on YouTube. A bump in March of last year, when he was indicted in New York, continues to go
00:28:45.600
up throughout the summer, June, July, August, when he's receiving indictments in Florida and Georgia.
00:28:52.020
So you see that. And then you see DeSantis, on the other hand, was very competitive with Trump in the
00:28:57.640
polls until March of last year. Then Trump got indicted. Later, DeSantis launched his campaign,
00:29:03.100
which was a flop, and his numbers just kept on dropping. So that's where we are. Trump is
00:29:11.520
the presumptive nominee. We'll see how long Haley lasts. I've got some theories about that.
00:29:18.040
It is interesting now to think back on her comments last week after Iowa, when she said it was now a
00:29:25.260
two-person race, even though she came in third. Everyone was kind of scratching their heads,
00:29:30.180
wondering what the heck she was talking about at the time. But now we're all wondering, okay,
00:29:35.040
what did she know then? And as I mentioned at the top of the show, like, I also wonder what
00:29:40.840
transpired between Iowa and now. DeSantis made it seem after Iowa that he was in it for the long haul.
00:29:47.740
And his team told Fox Business on Sunday morning that he wasn't dropping out. And then he did. He did
00:29:55.580
on Sunday. And there's always more than meets the eye in these situations. We may never know.
00:30:03.560
What we do know, it's going to be a crazy year, y'all. It's going to be a crazy year. We know that.
00:30:09.360
We can expect the unexpected. And here's what we know for sure, is that God is still totally
00:30:14.880
sovereign. He's still completely good. Remember Daniel 2.21. He changes times and seasons. He removes
00:30:21.940
kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
00:30:28.200
And then Hebrews 13.8, what I always fall back on is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,
00:30:34.700
and forever. If God wants to use Trump, he will use him. So we should pray for him as we are instructed
00:30:43.360
to pray for all of our leaders, for wisdom, for discernment, for compassion, for understanding,
00:30:48.560
for the desire to know and to glorify God. Let us pray for God's mercy on our nation, for his unmerited
00:30:56.660
favor. May he help us. May he protect us. May he give strength to his people, to God's people during
00:31:04.240
this chaotic time. That's the most that we can hope for. That's what we should pray for. And other than
00:31:12.800
that, we really don't know. We really don't know what's going to happen. But there is absolutely
00:31:17.940
power in prayer. And God is going to bring himself glory. That is something that we can rely on. We
00:31:26.440
can rely on his goodness. We can rely on his faithfulness. We can rely on his trust-worthy
00:31:32.980
character no matter what. So we're hope-maxing and prayer-maxing in 2024. We're not doom-maxing.
00:31:42.800
As a lot of people will be. But I just kind of wanted to give you my feelings and
00:31:47.240
my assessment. Take it for what it's worth. And as I've said many times, we are not going to be
00:31:54.740
constantly in the politics and the numbers and in the polls this year. But we will be talking about
00:32:00.720
these things and why they're important. Politics matters. Politics matter because policy matters
00:32:06.580
because people matter. Politics affects policy. Policy affects people. And we as Christians know
00:32:12.080
better than anyone else that people made in the image of God matter. And so this election matters.
00:32:18.720
I know it's very tempting for us to just look at the chaos and confusion of the moment and to just
00:32:23.840
want to hide from it all. And to just pretend like it's not happening. To close the blinds in our home
00:32:31.120
metaphorically. And to pretend like the craziness going on in the world isn't really happening. But look,
00:32:36.320
this craziness affects people. Like children are on the line. Lives are on the line. Bodies are on the
00:32:41.780
line. Livelihoods are on the line. Freedom is on the line in many ways. And even though politics,
00:32:49.320
they're not the number one way, the primary way that we can love our neighbor, they are a way to
00:32:55.660
love our neighbor. They're an important way to love our neighbor because the policies that are
00:33:00.340
implemented affect them. They affect especially the most vulnerable. And so while we were not made
00:33:06.920
as finite, fallible people to carry the weight of the world, to know everything that was going on at
00:33:11.440
once, to have empathy and compassion for every single person in every single dire circumstance
00:33:15.820
in the world, only God has the capacity to do that. We still have to do what we can to take
00:33:22.980
responsibility for what's happening in our communities, in our nation, and use the resources
00:33:28.880
that God has given us, the tools that God has given us in order to make better the tiny spot of earth
00:33:37.040
on which God has providentially placed us, the tiny speck of eternity in which he has specifically put us
00:33:43.900
for his glory and the good of others. That's all we can do. And that involves doing what? The next right
00:33:49.880
thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. And that is going to look different according to
00:33:56.060
the individual, according to what life stage you're in, what season you're in, what responsibilities
00:34:01.400
he has given you, what resources and tools he has given you. But that's all any of us can ever do.
00:34:08.780
And this year doesn't change that. An election year doesn't change that. That is always the calling of
00:34:14.120
God's people. Okay. I also wanted to talk about the story that happened over the weekend. So Joy Reid of
00:34:34.360
MSNBC, we have the privilege of talking about her analysis kind of consistently on Relatable, actually.
00:34:41.600
She's a recurring star. And she is a host on MSNBC. And you know what? I'll give her credit for doing
00:34:49.320
this. She had Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice on the show to debate book banning. Now,
00:34:57.880
I'm sure she had her on because she thought Joy Reid probably thought she was going to absolutely
00:35:02.260
dominate this conversation and make Tiffany look stupid. But if you know Tiffany, if you've talked to
00:35:08.320
her at all, as I have, you know, that that would be impossible to do because she is a very smart woman, a
00:35:14.080
very adept woman. She knows her stuff. That's why she started Moms for Liberty. That's why it's taken off
00:35:19.440
because she represents the concerns, the thoughts, the feelings of so many parents across the country
00:35:25.800
who do not want books about gender switching, sex and sexuality in their school libraries. I know,
00:35:33.260
such a radical position. And Moms for Liberty is so relentlessly attacked and lied about by the left.
00:35:40.240
I mean, you know, they're called every name in the book Nazis, fascists. They're asked,
00:35:44.680
why do you get to control what my kids read in school when really they are just advocating for
00:35:49.900
parental involvement, the right of parental involvement in school curriculum, in the books
00:35:56.880
that are made available to children? And there, you know, you'll hear that it's book banning and
00:36:02.320
all of this stuff. No one is banning the books. There have always been restrictions on what kind of
00:36:08.880
books go into school libraries. You think Mein Kampf is available in school libraries? Do you think it's
00:36:15.560
okay if parents say, I don't really want that in the library? But for some reason, it's just a bridge
00:36:21.700
too far when parents say, I don't think that I want my sixth grader to have access to a book about,
00:36:29.700
I don't know, anal sex. I know, just crazy, radical extremist position. So here is Tiffany from Moms for
00:36:36.980
Liberty making her case to Joy Reid on MSNBC over the weekend. I want to give you just some-
00:36:43.340
No books are being banned. No, hold on a second. Well, no, Joy, but I want to be clear. No one's
00:36:45.960
banning books. Write the book, print the book, publish the book, put the book in the public
00:36:50.820
library, sell the book, right? We're talking about a public school library. Children don't have
00:36:56.420
unfettered access to the internet at school. I did a FOIA, records request, and I wanted to see
00:37:03.020
what kinds of internet sites are banned in schools, if we're going to talk about banning, right? And the
00:37:08.600
subject matter in the books that moms are concerned about are the same things that kids don't have access
00:37:13.480
to on the internet. So it just feels very hypocritical, right? No, why is no one out
00:37:18.120
there protesting for, you know, free the internet in schools? Yeah, that's a totally legit point. Of
00:37:24.940
course, there is some content that is going to be restricted when it comes to schools, because we
00:37:30.760
understand and have always understood that kids, as their minds are developing, they're so
00:37:36.940
impressionable that it is very important that we filter what kind of pictures and what kind of
00:37:44.740
depictions they have access to. Of course. But I mean, the nefarious and scary thing is, is that the
00:37:54.620
people who are putting the kind of books that talk about gay sex and pedophilia and all kinds of
00:38:02.020
sexual themes, that they want these kids in their most impressionable and formative years to be
00:38:09.800
imbibing this kind of depravity. They want them to. They want these ideas in their heads. They want
00:38:15.460
these kids to be sexualized. Now, I'm not saying that Joy Reid wants these things. I think that she is
00:38:21.700
probably, to borrow a phrase, a useful idiot when it comes to this stuff. But I think absolutely,
00:38:27.360
the activists, the progressives do want these kids to be sexualized at a young age. And that is why
00:38:33.600
they want these books in school. Now, Joy Reid rebuts, tries to rebut, Tiffany, by saying,
00:38:41.620
parents are targeting books by taking things out of context. That's always their retort.
00:38:48.520
They're taking things out of context. There's nothing wrong with, for example, the book that
00:38:54.800
Joy Reid is holding up in this segment, All Boys Aren't Blue. This is just an inclusive LGBTQ book.
00:39:03.180
Well, here's what Tiffany has to say about that. What is the expertise that you have and other
00:39:09.340
Moms for Liberty advocates have to decide that a book, an award-winning book like All Boys Aren't
00:39:15.020
Blue isn't appropriate for students to read? What is your expertise? What a tragic story of a young man
00:39:20.440
who's anally raped by his adult family member. So you have incest, rape, pedophilia. In what context
00:39:26.540
is a strap-on dildo acceptable for public school? Just, I mean, that's my question to you. Tell me
00:39:32.700
what the context around the strap-on dildo or the rape of a minor child by a teacher.
00:39:38.540
Hold on a second. No, no, no. We're talking about public school.
00:39:43.340
Yeah. Yeah, Joy. Tell me. Tell me. I would like all of you out there who are opposed to what Moms
00:39:50.220
for Liberty is doing and who says, oh, they're just Nazi fascists. Tell me. Tell me, in what
00:39:57.160
context do you think that's acceptable for an elementary schooler, middle schooler, heck,
00:40:02.260
even a high schooler at school to be reading, to have access to? Why do you think that's appropriate?
00:40:08.780
Why do you want that kind of context or that kind of content in school? Like, why do you want kids
00:40:17.200
to be reading about anal rape? Why do you want kids to be reading about the sexual assault of a
00:40:23.340
child? And like, there's a whole other segment that we could do about that common thread when it
00:40:30.820
comes to adults who are sexually confused and confused about their gender, the sexual abuse that
00:40:36.060
they endured at a young at a young age. And they will they'll make comments like, oh, well, this is
00:40:42.280
representation. You'll remember that I had a mom on who went viral for reading very disturbing passage
00:40:49.720
that was in her eighth graders book or that her eighth grader had access to in their middle school
00:40:58.760
library. She read a very disturbing and sexual passage out of this book at a school board meeting.
00:41:05.900
Of course, she was shut down because the content was inappropriate and yet was made available to
00:41:10.140
children. And the excuse that she got from the Texas school district, a conservative area in Texas,
00:41:15.820
was that this is representation. We need to represent kids who are molested in their books.
00:41:23.220
What re-traumatize them? We need to represent pedophilia. We need to represent gender switching
00:41:30.240
and sexual confusion and depravity. Depravity. No, we don't. No, we don't. That is a sick and sorry
00:41:36.480
and wicked excuse. Good job, Tiffany. Good job, Moms for Liberty. You totally dominated this debate
00:41:44.640
because Joy Reid, per usual, had no idea what she was talking about. And their position is completely
00:41:50.660
indefensible. Anyone who I'm talking about, any large influential account who says that, oh,
00:42:00.460
banning books. These are book banners. These are such scary people who want to ban books. It's so
00:42:05.480
fascist and Nazi like it, whatever. Anyone who says that, I want you to ask them directly, why do you
00:42:13.780
think depictions of the anal rape of children need to be in public school libraries?
00:42:20.660
Give your response, please. That's that's what you should be asking these people who are decrying the
00:42:28.060
book banning from Moms for Liberty. So I know it's very, very disgusting and disturbing to even say
00:42:35.060
things like that. But if kids are able to read it in public school libraries, we have to be able to say
00:42:40.960
it. We have to be able to call it out and shame on Joy Reid and anyone else, especially any other mom
00:42:47.360
that goes to bat for this kind of content being in public schools. It is sick. It is disgusting. May God
00:42:53.460
have mercy on your soul. Now, I've got one other just like point to make that I made on Twitter
00:42:59.720
about why conservatives so consistently win. So, I mean, shamefully for the left, why they so consistently
00:43:08.760
dominate these kinds of debates. And it's it's a principle that you see time and time again when it
00:43:15.840
comes to liberals and conservatives debating these issues. And I'll get to that in a second.
00:43:31.620
Okay. Conservatives almost always, almost, almost always beat leftists in debates because of a few
00:43:38.780
things. Number one, left-wing journalists greatly overestimate their own intelligence and greatly
00:43:45.340
underestimate conservatives' intelligence. Hollywood depictions of stupid southerners and
00:43:50.560
sophisticated metropolitan progressives fuel this delusion that they have. Most of them, I know some
00:43:56.660
people are going to say this is rude. It's just the truth. Most of them are simply not smart. Okay.
00:44:00.800
They've got degrees, but they are, quite frankly, midwits. You can call that rude, but it is true.
00:44:06.940
Number two, they mistake their ability to repeat poetic talking points as understanding of an issue.
00:44:14.540
They don't know the details. Typically, they don't really know the facts of what they're talking
00:44:18.520
about. They are completely unaware of the other side's argument. Like they do not know that the
00:44:22.560
other side actually has a coherent argument. So most of them have no real grasp of the issues at hand
00:44:29.080
because they have never had to. Their rewards that they have garnered in their academic and
00:44:35.780
professional careers have been earned, not by their skill or by their knowledge, but by their
00:44:40.460
ability to convincingly echo their party's platform. Number three, they're typically not
00:44:47.400
skilled debaters because, again, they have never had to be. They've never had to be. They have been told
00:44:53.740
that any opposition to their progressive positions is just hillbilly hogwash that shouldn't even be
00:45:00.540
dignified with consideration. Conservatives, on the other hand, we are more likely to understand
00:45:06.860
the issues at hand and to know the fact of each story that we're discussing because we are in the
00:45:11.700
minority. And so we see the progressive position represented everywhere. So we are constantly in a
00:45:17.820
state of defensiveness, constantly formulating arguments for why the majority opinion on a particular
00:45:22.280
issue is wrong. So debate comes more naturally to us. We know their arguments better than they do.
00:45:28.660
Plus, it is always better to be underestimated than overestimated. Also, just an aside,
00:45:35.700
like my personal advice on that is to use that to your advantage. Use being underestimated to your
00:45:43.360
advantage. Always over-prepare for any debates that you might be having or any conversations that
00:45:50.920
you might be having. I remember a few years ago, y'all probably remember this, I brought a professor on
00:45:57.180
to debate school curriculum. He said that like criticizing school curriculum for being too
00:46:02.940
sexual was an antisemitic conspiracy theory, which is just insane. And so I invited him on the show
00:46:07.960
and I was actually nervous. Like I was nervous. All of the, all of his followers and my replies were
00:46:12.960
like, oh yeah, he's going to put you in your place and he's going to make you feel so stupid.
00:46:17.960
Yeah, you're the one to take her down a notch, whatever. And so I was actually kind of nervous
00:46:22.340
and I kind of regretted inviting him on the show. I mean, he's a professor. And then I had him on.
00:46:28.980
Oh my goodness. I was shook. I was so shocked when his only response to me laying out my side was,
00:46:37.360
uh, well, uh, well, uh, well, uh, well, for 10 minutes. And I didn't even say anything
00:46:42.700
groundbreaking. I just prepared. I assumed that he was going to know more than me. And he assumed that
00:46:48.740
I was going to know less than him. And it was the opposite. It was the opposite. And I've watched
00:46:52.940
this happen a thousand times. And I think it's good. Continue to over-prepare. Never think that
00:46:57.360
you are going to be smarter than your opponent. Always assume that they are going to be smarter
00:47:01.280
than you, but liberals are the opposite. They assume that the conservative they're going against
00:47:05.440
is stupid. And then when they end up actually knowing more than they do, they just freeze.
00:47:09.880
So lib journalists and academics and activists, uh, they're, they're always stunned. They're always
00:47:16.160
stunned by their own inability to defend their positions when a knowledgeable conservative
00:47:20.060
confronts them, but they have no incentive. Unfortunately, they have no incentive to change
00:47:24.460
their minds and every incentive to continue empty-headedly repeating what they have been
00:47:29.940
told. But the debates still matter. Okay. The debates still matter because there's a large
00:47:34.280
contingency, contingency of normies, uh, that can still be swayed by reason. Um, so all that to say
00:47:41.520
great job moms for Liberty. Great job, Tiffany. Um, we have to keep having these conversations,
00:47:47.780
keep having these debates, keep knowing our stuff and keep presenting things as they are. I don't know
00:47:54.480
if that's going to help us win the election 2024, but, uh, we got to try our darndest because the truth
00:48:00.580
matters. And again, truth policies, curriculum, um, and, uh, news stories, headlines, all these things
00:48:08.600
matter. They affect real people and real lives. All right. That's all we've got time for today.