The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 10： Welcome to the Woketopia – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

00:00:01.000 The embattled Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:00:03.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress

00:00:06.000 who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.

00:00:10.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.

00:00:13.000 He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.

00:00:16.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.

00:00:20.000 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer,

00:00:23.000 if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground,

00:00:26.000 then welcome, my fellow patriots.

00:00:29.000 You are in the right place.

00:00:31.000 This is the movement for you.

00:00:33.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:00:35.000 It's like a machine, Matt Gaetz.

00:00:38.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.

00:00:41.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.

00:00:46.000 They aren't really coming for me.

00:00:48.000 They're coming for you.

00:00:50.000 I'm just in the way.

00:00:54.000 Do us a favor while you're listening to the episode.

00:00:57.000 Notice that five-star rating on Apple iTunes if that's your listening platform of choice.

00:01:01.000 And if you're enjoying the video, make sure you've got those notifications turned on

00:01:05.000 so that you get our episode each and every Thursday.

00:01:08.000 Now, this week's episode is going to attack the politics and policy and ethic of fashion,

00:01:16.000 of all things, from my America First perspective.

00:01:19.000 You'll be surprised at the Dems I dunk on and praise in that segment.

00:01:24.000 But the main focus of the show is the Woketopia.

00:01:28.000 They have crazy rules and dangerous plans.

00:01:31.000 The hall monitors of the Woketopia are in Silicon Valley, of course.

00:01:36.000 And Senator Elizabeth Warren has a point on the dangers of big tech.

00:01:41.000 We need to break up these big tech companies.

00:01:45.000 Think, for example, Amazon.

00:01:47.000 You want to buy or sell goods on that platform.

00:01:50.000 You pretty much have to go to Amazon.

00:01:52.000 And Amazon makes money doing that.

00:01:55.000 But they also rake off all of the information that goes on in those transactions.

00:02:00.000 So Amazon then decides, huh, let's see what else is happening here.

00:02:05.000 Andy is running a pet food business and you had the idea and you had to do the proof of concept

00:02:14.000 and you had to finance it and get out there and start it.

00:02:17.000 Amazon looks at that and says, we can see from Andy's numbers that it's turned out real good.

00:02:23.000 So we'll just move Andy, the original guy, back to page seven and just scoop up all the business.

00:02:29.000 Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, I'd break them all up.

00:02:33.000 And I say that knowing full well that most of you are hearing or watching this podcast through one of these companies.

00:02:40.000 Whether we like it or not, they are the through point of access to the digital world.

00:02:45.000 Maybe that's why they should be regulated as common carriers to the extent that they do exist in any form.

00:02:51.000 Now, I've joined with Democrats in passing through the House Judiciary Committee legislation that would break them up.

00:02:57.000 Yes, I want to break up big tech so badly that I'm even willing to work with Elizabeth Warren and Hakeem Jeffries to do it.

00:03:05.000 I'm sure they have to hold their nose while working with me, too.

00:03:09.000 If my adversary and I seek the same outcome on a particular matter, I'm willing to achieve it despite our different desires for doing so.

00:03:18.000 Big tech hates America.

00:03:21.000 It's a chapter title in my book, Firebrand, and it's true.

00:03:24.000 Just listen to what our bipartisan investigation uncovered regarding how Apple serves as an anti-competitive gatekeeper for those who want to innovate and enter the marketplace.

00:03:36.000 The App Store is a feature of the iPhone, much like the camera is and the chip is.

00:03:43.000 My point is, and I'm sorry to interrupt, but I want to get to the point.

00:03:47.000 The point is that Apple is the sole decision maker as to whether an app is made available to app users through the Apple Store.

00:03:56.000 Isn't that correct?

00:03:57.000 If it's a native app, yes, sir.

00:04:00.000 In 2010, Apple introduced an online bookstore called the iBook Store where it offered e-books.

00:04:08.000 And the only major publisher that didn't agree to join iBook Store was Random House.

00:04:14.000 Random House wanted to offer its own e-books through its own apps and submitted their apps to be added to the App Store.

00:04:22.000 Amidst continued negotiations between Apple and Random House, senior VP Eddie Q said, and I'm quoting him, he quote, I'm quoting him when he said it prevented an app from Random House from going live in the App Store.

00:04:37.000 Q himself cited this app rejection as a factor in finally getting Random House to give in and join iBook Store.

00:04:46.000 Okay, all right.

00:04:47.000 So you were concerned about that the app basically undermined kids' privacy.

00:04:52.000 But another app that used this same tool was Appsure, an app owned by the Saudi Arabian government.

00:04:58.000 Do you recall what Apple's position was towards this app?

00:05:03.000 I'm not familiar with that app.

00:05:06.000 Okay.

00:05:07.000 Apple allowed this Saudi app to remain.

00:05:11.000 So there are two types of apps.

00:05:14.000 They use the same tool.

00:05:16.000 Apple kicks one out and said that one that was helping parents but keeps the one owned by a powerful government.

00:05:26.000 If that is correct, Mr. Cook, that apps that supposedly did the same thing, why would you keep the one owned by a powerful government?

00:05:40.000 I'd like to look into this and get back with your office.

00:05:45.000 It sounds like you applied different rules to the same apps.

00:05:49.000 Apple has sole control over who they allow to market their apps in their App Store, enabling them to eliminate opportunity for anti-competitive reasons or really for no reason at all.

00:06:01.000 But it's not the quality of apps that they seek to ensure.

00:06:06.000 It is the quantity of their profit.

00:06:09.000 Those that pose a viable threat or really any threat to Apple developed software, well, they seem to suddenly be taken out of the market for the children, of course.

00:06:20.000 We were concerned, Congresswoman, about the privacy and security of kids.

00:06:25.000 The technology that was being used at that time was called MDM.

00:06:30.000 And it had the ability to sort of take over the kids' screen and a third party could see it.

00:06:38.000 And so we were worried about their safety.

00:06:40.000 The same technologies that were unacceptable for outside competition were just as swiftly snatched up by Apple and rebranded as their own as soon as they were taken off the Apple Store.

00:06:52.000 Sure is a win for companies like Apple.

00:06:54.000 No longer do they need to come up with ideas of their own.

00:06:58.000 They just have to wait for the competition to plant the newest seed in the ever-growing apple tree so that they can pluck and harvest.

00:07:07.000 When you see evidence of this anti-competitive behavior, you have to wonder,

00:07:11.000 why isn't the Department of Justice taking stronger action against Apple or really anyone else cheating the economy to kill innovation and competition?

00:07:21.000 The truth is that at the Department of Justice, the intensity of antitrust litigation is all about the jobs these DOJ officials want when they leave government service.

00:07:35.000 DOJ doesn't want to do nothing about big tech.

00:07:38.000 After all, if you want to sell the antidote, first you have to sell the virus.

00:07:43.000 But they don't want to do anything to actually hurt big tech in any real way.

00:07:48.000 Those are their future employers, after all.

00:07:50.000 There is a revolving door between the DOJ and big tech as I laid bare here during debate in the House Judiciary Committee.

00:07:59.000 There is a final piece of evidence here, Mr. Chairman, and I did not expect to obtain this when we had our transcribed interview of the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Berman.

00:08:10.000 But in the inquiry of Mr. Berman, the majority asked a number of questions about why Attorney General Barr was asking him to leave the Southern District of New York and take over as head of the Civil Division.

00:08:22.000 And Mr. Berman explicitly says that the reason that the Attorney General is trying to coax him into the acceptance of that assignment is that it would be, and I'm quoting direct from the transcript here, a good resume builder.

00:08:34.000 Mr. Berman testifies, he said that I should want to create a book of business once I return to the private sector, which that role would help to achieve.

00:08:43.000 How improper for Attorney General Barr to be attempting to lure the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to the Civil Division of the Department of Justice for the explicit purpose of building a business and then engaging in the revolving door back to the private sector to be able to leverage those contacts.

00:09:00.700 To be honest, it's going to be very difficult for Congress to pass these breakup big tech bills.

00:09:14.720 They eked out of committee with Republicans and Democrats on both sides.

00:09:19.640 It's complex and messy to say the least.

00:09:22.220 And as you can see from the Barr-Berman fiasco, the DOJ is in on the big tech employment grift.

00:09:29.000 So outgunned, outfunded, small companies are having to go at it alone in the courtroom.

00:09:37.480 They're suing for their lives, for injunctions to just open slivers of the marketplace for competition.

00:09:44.220 Usually they lose.

00:09:46.080 But a company called Epic Games just won.

00:09:49.360 And you better believe Apple felt it.

00:09:51.140 Previously, Apple required all transactions within the $100 billion mobile games market to go through their payment system.

00:10:00.500 And they take a hefty, mandatory 30% commission for all transactions.

00:10:05.440 You can't escape it.

00:10:06.940 It generated nearly $20 billion per year for Apple with a 75% profit margin.

00:10:13.840 And now, they can't do that anymore.

00:10:16.620 Epic Games just got a federal judge to say that Apple must allow game developers to push purchasers to payment processors outside the Apple system.

00:10:27.840 This is huge.

00:10:29.600 In the days following the ruling, Apple lost $85 billion in valuation because now the marketplace has more choice.

00:10:37.160 Choice empowers consumers and it drives innovation.

00:10:40.740 And I'm for it.

00:10:41.920 It isn't just Apple who tries to scrub out its competition.

00:10:46.640 We have large conglomerates like Facebook who are more than willing to throw their elbows in the face of any competitor that comes their way.

00:10:56.200 You can see me here questioning Facebook's very own Mark Zuckerberg defending the acquisition of anyone that might pose a threat to their market dominance.

00:11:06.120 Mr. Zuckerberg, what is a digital land grab?

00:11:08.660 Congressman, I'm not sure what you're referring to.

00:11:14.380 Well, in the emails that your company produced to the committee, there's one from David Wehner in 2014 where he's describing under the mergers and acquisitions advice within the company that you need to engage in a land grab.

00:11:31.560 And he says, I hate the word land grab, but I think that's the best convincing argument and we should own that.

00:11:37.660 And it goes on to describe a strategy wherein Facebook would spend 5 to 10 percent of its market cap each year to shore up its market position.

00:11:45.800 Does that refresh your recollection?

00:11:47.320 Yes, Congressman, thanks for the opportunity to address this and frankly, to correct the record, because I believe that what he was referring to was a question that was incoming from investors about whether we would continue to acquire different companies.

00:12:06.440 I don't think that that was that wasn't referring to an internal strategy was referring to an external question that we were facing about about how we would how investors should expect us to act going forward.

00:12:18.820 And I think he was discussing the fact that as mobile phones were growing in popularity, there were a lot of new ways that people could connect and communicate that were part of this overall broader space and market around human connection and helping people stay connected and share their experiences.

00:12:37.420 Okay, well, Mr. Zuckerberg, it seems to be both internal and external, because then in an email from you in 2012, we see a similar sentiment expressed.

00:12:47.540 You write, we can likely always just buy any competitive startups.

00:12:52.280 So is your desire to limit competition by purchasing your competitors consistent with the message to your investors that the way you'll run your company is through digital land grabs?

00:13:08.380 Congressman, I'm not sure I agree with the characterization of how we communicated with investors.

00:13:13.640 But your words, but I think the broader point is that there were a lot of new ways that that people can connect that were created by smartphones.

00:13:23.240 This is about your merger and acquisition strategy.

00:13:25.400 You went on to say one thing about startups is you can often acquire them.

00:13:28.960 So, I mean, I'm not interested in how people connect.

00:13:30.880 I'm interested in how you how you acquire businesses to limit competition.

00:13:34.560 Gentleman, as time has expired, but the witness may answer the question.

00:13:39.180 Congressman, in order to serve people better and help people connect in all the ways they want,

00:13:43.640 we innovated and built a lot of new use cases internally and we acquired others.

00:13:49.360 And that, I think, has been a very successful strategy at serving people well.

00:13:56.760 And a lot of the companies that we've been able to acquire have done have gone on to reach and help connect many more people than they would have been able to on their own.

00:14:05.500 You've grabbed a lot of land.

00:14:07.300 I would say I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

00:14:09.180 Not only are big tech companies willing to spend their money to remove those who seek to compete against them,

00:14:13.640 they are willing to lose money to do so.

00:14:16.660 $200 million worth, in fact.

00:14:18.860 Take a listen.

00:14:19.460 We saw one of your profit and loss statements, and it appears that in one month alone, Amazon was willing to bleed over $200 million in diaper profit losses.

00:14:31.960 Mr. Bezos, how much money was Amazon ultimately willing to lose on this campaign to undermine diapers.com?

00:14:41.500 Thank you for the question.

00:14:42.700 I don't know the direct answer to your question.

00:14:45.420 This is going back in time, I think, maybe 10 or 11 years or so.

00:14:49.220 Normally, I view the government as a last resort to solve just about any problem.

00:14:54.100 But this is the last resort.

00:14:57.220 American innovators should not be shut out of a marketplace just because there's a bigger company willing to snuff them out for the monopoly with anti-competitive practices.

00:15:07.600 This is why I support the antitrust legislation that is currently being put forth in Congress.

00:15:13.780 Specifically, bills like the American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prevent companies like Apple and Amazon from giving preference to their own products and stifling those who would compete for the digital space.

00:15:27.720 It is bills like this that will put American innovators first, allowing them the opportunity to prosper and grow American technology.

00:15:36.380 I urge others to support these bills, as does our friend Tucker Carlson.

00:15:41.280 Well, the House Judiciary Committee just passed six bipartisan antitrust bills today that could finally, in the end, lead to breaking up the big tech companies and saving the nation.

00:15:51.800 One bill, it's called the American Choice Innovation Online Act, prohibits big tech companies from giving preference to their own products on their platforms.

00:15:58.980 That's a typical piece of antitrust legislation.

00:16:02.100 It also prevents them from discriminating against their competitors.

00:16:04.840 Another bill is called Ending Platform Monopolies Act, and that bill could force tech companies to break up in the end and sell their assets.

00:16:14.180 That bill passed by a single vote, in part thanks to two Republicans, Matt Gaetz and Ken Buck.

00:16:21.280 Republicans have talked about big tech censorship for years.

00:16:24.800 Ooh, we're against censorship.

00:16:26.480 Yet only a handful supported these bills.

00:16:28.400 In fact, most Republicans on the committee opposed them.

00:16:31.880 Why?

00:16:32.880 Well, let's see.

00:16:34.820 Big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, and Apple lobbied heavily against these bills.

00:16:40.340 Apple CEO Tim Cook even called Nancy Pelosi personally to complain about them.

00:16:45.820 Who else took the side of big tech to oppose these antitrust efforts?

00:16:49.480 Well, let's see.

00:16:50.240 House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did that.

00:16:52.460 He said these bills would give government antitrust agencies too much power.

00:16:56.620 Really?

00:16:56.920 More power than Google has?

00:16:58.780 Probably not.

00:17:00.220 We don't know where he got that talking point.

00:17:01.800 Maybe from Jeff Miller, his old friend.

00:17:03.700 Who's Jeff Miller?

00:17:04.440 Well, he's a Republican consultant and fundraiser.

00:17:06.900 He's been close to McCarthy for decades.

00:17:08.920 He also, not incidentally, is a lobbyist for Apple and Amazon.

00:17:13.000 Those two companies have paid his firm more than a million dollars combined since he began representing them two years ago.

00:17:18.780 So these bills are at a committee.

00:17:20.700 They still need to be voted on in the House and the Senate.

00:17:22.840 And by the way, they are not perfect.

00:17:25.120 No bill is perfect.

00:17:26.920 But this may be the best chance to pass antitrust legislation that will curb the power of big tech that is strangling our democracy.

00:17:33.820 And so, of course, we're rooting for Congress to do just that.

00:17:36.480 Back in June, the House Judiciary Committee undertook the task of considering this legislation.

00:17:41.200 The Ending Platform Monopolies Act was reported out of committee by a vote of 21 to 20.

00:17:48.380 I'm proud to have been the 21st vote in favor of it.

00:17:51.980 But Nancy Pelosi hasn't signaled that these bills are coming to the floor for a full vote.

00:17:57.460 We must wonder why.

00:18:00.000 During the 2020 election cycle, Google's parent company, Alphabet, contributed 80% of its $21 million to Democrats.

00:18:10.820 In the same time, Microsoft, through their employees, contributed 75% of its $17 million in donations to Democrats.

00:18:19.940 Furthermore, Amazon contributed roughly 86% of its $8.9 million in individual donations to Democrat candidates.

00:18:29.200 Facebook, 80% of its $6 million to Democrats.

00:18:33.120 Apple donated $5.7 million, of which nearly 80% went to Democrats.

00:18:39.680 Now, there are other packs and vehicles that these big tech companies move many more millions of dollars through,

00:18:46.740 but this just gives you a sense of the ratios and where their minds and hearts truly are.

00:18:52.360 Sometimes, the best government money can buy is a government that you know won't litigate against you from the DOJ

00:19:00.500 or legislate against you from the DCCC.

00:19:05.780 I recently went on a fact-finding mission to Portland, Oregon.

00:19:09.620 How is life in the Woketopia? 0.97

00:19:11.580 Portland is basically Antifa's Batcave.

00:19:14.660 Portlandia, the show, it reminds us that this is the place millennials go to retire.

00:19:21.200 A liberal paradise embodied in a city.

00:19:24.580 They're defunding police, embracing taxpayer-funded needle exchange.

00:19:28.940 Water and food are put out for the homeless.

00:19:31.680 The rich are heavily taxed, like a neo-modern reparations of sorts.

00:19:37.220 Social services abound, but I have to use the term service rather loosely.

00:19:42.460 All bathrooms are gender-neutral, but for customers only, of course.

00:19:48.360 And there are far fewer of those.

00:19:51.900 It's easy to tear down, harder to build.

00:19:55.220 This has been the hallmark of the left since Marx moved into his friend's basement and started writing.

00:20:00.040 As is tradition, development in Portland is absent.

00:20:03.680 Destruction is everywhere.

00:20:05.740 They have to fence and barbed wire their storefronts and streets like at Sarajevo in the 90s.

00:20:11.000 Here in America, today, in 2021.

00:20:14.540 And if you ask a Portlander why their storefronts are boarded up like Florida anticipating a hurricane,

00:20:20.780 they tell you it's for a good cause.

00:20:22.720 BLM and the oppression and senseless shooting of black Americans by police. 0.99

00:20:28.580 When walking the streets of Portland, I can tell you it's not the police you're afraid of. 0.97

00:20:33.380 It's the zombies who just got done chasing the dragon.

00:20:36.040 By the way, I guess somebody ought to tell the 15,000 Haitians camped at the southern border in Del Rio, Texas to turn around and go home, 0.98

00:20:45.240 least they be subjected to our evil, irredeemable country and its systemic racism.

00:20:50.940 Having said this, we did meet some pretty great folks in Portland, especially in law enforcement.

00:20:56.060 But at times, I had to remember that this wasn't a foreign trip to Haiti or Syria.

00:21:02.180 Every day, people in America's cities are living in filth and squalor.

00:21:09.480 Often because the utopian-sounding policies pushed by the left result in chaos and failure.

00:21:16.960 I wonder if they named this place Outrage before or after the riots.

00:21:20.560 It would seem that there would be reasonable basis for both.

00:21:23.480 I came across a comic book store that undoubtedly serves as some sort of underworld meeting place in the dark hours.

00:21:30.940 Nothing like friendly ladies from the Women and Women First bookstore. 0.99

00:21:35.400 Daughter.

00:21:36.420 Yeah.

00:21:37.680 Hi, welcome to Women and Women First. 0.89

00:21:39.760 Hi.

00:21:41.180 What happened to your pants?

00:21:44.040 They're frayed.

00:21:46.920 The PSU bookstore sent me here.

00:21:48.960 I'm actually just getting a bunch of books for class, for my women's studies class.

00:21:52.760 Do you have like a computer system where I can just look it up?

00:21:55.600 No, no, we're that computer.

00:21:57.040 We're that.

00:21:57.500 You're... 0.99

00:21:58.180 Okay, um, different daughters, vaginas, and owner's manual. 1.00

00:22:02.520 Slow down. 0.99

00:22:03.480 Different daughters.

00:22:04.500 We carried...

00:22:05.040 If we could order that for you, it'll take a year to get here.

00:22:08.220 It has to be written.

00:22:09.600 They had this amazing poster in the front window.

00:22:13.220 So, 198 methods of non-violent action.

00:22:18.340 Many of these methods we support strongly.

00:22:21.400 Like one, public speeches.

00:22:23.420 Nine, books.

00:22:25.040 Twenty, prayer and worship.

00:22:27.420 Thirty-eight, marches.

00:22:29.600 Forty-seven, assembly of protest or support.

00:22:33.260 Now, the left would be wise to support these principles without selective abandon.

00:22:37.000 After all, they tried to cancel Josh Hawley's book because they didn't like his viewpoint.

00:22:43.180 California venues canceled political assemblies of support for Marjorie Taylor Greene and me

00:22:49.160 because they're triggered by America First content.

00:22:53.460 I covered in an earlier episode that the Democrat governor of New Jersey has me under criminal

00:22:58.420 investigation for giving a political speech.

00:23:00.760 Hundreds of our fellow Americans have been targeted by the FBI for participation in non-violent

00:23:07.420 activities on January 6th.

00:23:09.760 But if this 198 methods for non-violent action is a playbook, it's various parts incoherent,

00:23:17.020 contradictory, weird, downright grisly, and yes, violent, meaning perfectly Portland.

00:23:24.460 So let's detail the plan the left has devised in their Portland paradise for the rest of us

00:23:30.580 to resolve conflicts for society.

00:23:33.560 Mock awards, 14.

00:23:35.420 Mock elections, 17.

00:23:37.260 And even mock funerals, 43.

00:23:40.580 It sounds quirky to start.

00:23:42.700 Until you get to protest disrobings at 22, please know, can you imagine a society where 0.99

00:23:49.340 when we get mad at each other, one advantage we have to get our way is to be so physically

00:23:55.020 disgusting that the thought of us taking our clothes off would force the other side to

00:24:00.440 relent.

00:24:01.520 If the left is serious about number 22, Republicans maybe have to nominate like Chris Christie just

00:24:07.900 for deterrence.

00:24:09.620 Actually, of those two options, seeing him as the nominee would be worse.

00:24:17.000 Self-exposure to the elements at 158 seems intense.

00:24:21.180 You've got to be all in for that, to say the least.

00:24:24.200 At a MAGA rally, the only thing you have to do to expose yourself to the elements might

00:24:28.620 be enduring a little bit of rain.

00:24:31.660 Rude gestures at 30 or taunting at 32 seem an unlikely way to make America great or kind

00:24:39.120 again.

00:24:40.500 Meanness won't be the way to achieve number 33, fraternization.

00:24:44.840 Is this encouraging sleeping with the enemy?

00:24:48.500 Naughty naughty Portland.

00:24:50.520 54 is turning one's back.

00:24:52.640 We've actually seen that successful before when police turned their back on failed New

00:24:57.380 York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

00:25:00.000 De Blasio embraced the anti-police Portland agenda.

00:25:04.680 I'll say what you will about Michael Bloomberg, but New York City was a more vibrant place with

00:25:08.300 him in charge.

00:25:08.960 He may have taken away your guns and super gulps, but he didn't surrender the streets 1.00

00:25:13.960 like de Blasio.

00:25:16.080 De Blasio went full Portland and it shows.

00:25:19.060 Never go full Portland.

00:25:21.800 They support embargoes 92 through 96 and severing diplomatic relations 154, but not with communist

00:25:29.240 countries like Cuba.

00:25:31.160 Black Lives Matter opposes that blacklisting.

00:25:34.320 The fact that 11.3 million predominantly non-white people are being truly oppressed 90 miles from

00:25:41.880 the United States is less significant to the Woketopia than supporting a communist ideology.

00:25:49.060 For the tyrannical left, politics runs deeper than blood or color.

00:25:55.940 Excommunication is method 58.

00:25:58.540 They welcome people pooping on their streets. 1.00

00:26:01.760 I observed a man pick up an abandoned half sandwich and then pee into a mailbox.

00:26:07.220 He might be elected the next mayor.

00:26:09.920 A young activist actually approached me to sign a petition recalling the current mayor,

00:26:15.220 Wimpy Ted Wheeler.

00:26:16.720 So it might happen sooner than you think.

00:26:19.900 Bad news for Wheeler.

00:26:21.020 I'm sure he thought that he would be big man on campus by standing with and supporting

00:26:25.220 the rioters during the destructive summer of love.

00:26:28.300 I stand with you no matter what.

00:26:33.260 And if they launch the tear gas against you, they are launching the tear gas against me.

00:26:40.160 So you can do all of these destructive things.

00:26:42.860 You can even agree with the people who are being destructive.

00:26:46.580 But disagree politically?

00:26:49.040 Excommunication.

00:26:50.020 It's the Portland way, it seems.

00:26:51.580 It's not just that the Woketopians would excommunicate you. 0.94

00:26:56.080 I think they'll excommunicate themselves if you give them time.

00:27:00.040 60, 61, 64, and 65 call for ending sports and social gatherings, withdrawing from social

00:27:07.060 affairs and institution, refusal to leave home, and total personal non-cooperation.

00:27:13.920 Was the Woke playbook co-authored by Ted Kaczynski or something?

00:27:18.960 Sounds like the pandemic lockdowns are a catalyst for this paradise.

00:27:23.280 But it all seems so sad and lonely.

00:27:26.240 The list now starts to get explicit.

00:27:29.300 119 calls for economic shutdown.

00:27:31.660 They seem to have achieved much of this already in Portland.

00:27:34.480 Businesses can't survive this.

00:27:36.000 But is your family better off with a shutdown of the American economy, all for the sake of

00:27:42.060 woke Marxist control?

00:27:44.460 Would shutdown be good for you?

00:27:47.280 I say we shut down bad ideas, not the American way of life. 0.68

00:27:51.240 And we should get the chance to do so if they follow the left's plan dutifully.

00:27:56.480 123-131 call for boycotts of elections and government service.

00:28:00.840 Tell you what, I suggest the left follow these commandments first.

00:28:04.580 And don't forget 121, refusal of public support.

00:28:08.480 Nothing will stick it to the man like you tearing up that government welfare check right

00:28:12.720 in our faces.

00:28:14.020 Portland, be true to your Nike identity on this one.

00:28:17.140 Just do it.

00:28:18.440 Boycott the elections.

00:28:20.020 Tear up the government support.

00:28:21.300 Actually, that might lead to better life in Portland.

00:28:24.180 Now things get spooky at number 69.

00:28:27.680 Collective disappearance.

00:28:30.140 Is this some sort of cult death pact like Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid stuff?

00:28:34.580 Real grim.

00:28:36.500 If the woke mob collectively disappeared, just how would the rest of us cope?

00:28:41.960 The list goes on to showcase the real goal.

00:28:46.060 And it's not disappearing.

00:28:48.140 Social disobedience.

00:28:49.580 63.

00:28:50.840 Non-obedience.

00:28:52.020 134.

00:28:53.320 Disobedience of laws.

00:28:54.560 141.

00:28:55.580 Blocking lines of command.

00:28:57.120 143.

00:28:58.040 Obstruction.

00:28:58.920 144.

00:29:00.060 Ignoring court orders.

00:29:01.320 146.

00:29:02.160 You see, they are playing for keeps.

00:29:04.120 Are you paying attention?

00:29:05.840 It starts to feel more like I'm walking into shocking art supplies.

00:29:10.940 Hey, are you an art student?

00:29:13.840 You're not answering because you're an art student.

00:29:15.480 You just want to keep quiet and just sit there and sulk.

00:29:17.900 Well, if you are an art student, come down to shocking art supplies.

00:29:21.540 Shocking art supply and craft.

00:29:23.200 You want to be radical?

00:29:24.020 This is the radical store for you.

00:29:25.260 We're talking about shock.

00:29:26.500 We're talking about honesty.

00:29:27.780 Rebellion.

00:29:28.440 Subversion.

00:29:29.140 Urban.

00:29:29.540 Urban.

00:29:30.080 Urban.

00:29:30.580 Urban.

00:29:31.220 Haunting.

00:29:32.380 31.

00:29:33.360 Haunting officials.

00:29:35.700 Inviting people into a political movement predicated on using haunting as a force for change.

00:29:42.440 Does a voodoo doll come with membership in this political group?

00:29:46.820 148.

00:29:48.340 Mutiny.

00:29:49.520 On the 198 methods for nonviolent change, number 148 is mutiny.

00:29:56.640 Mutiny isn't a term we traditionally associate with nonviolence.

00:30:00.780 Catch the signal here, not the noise.

00:30:03.520 They also put the word nonviolent in front of a bunch of stuff that would typically ignite

00:30:09.060 violence and they know it.

00:30:11.060 Harassment, 161.

00:30:12.940 Raids, 168.

00:30:14.480 Air raids, 169.

00:30:15.980 What in the world is a nonviolent air raid?

00:30:19.220 I could see that escalating quickly.

00:30:22.120 Land seizure, 183.

00:30:24.300 Not typically a nonviolent act.

00:30:26.560 Occupation, 173.

00:30:28.360 An invasion, 170. 0.98

00:30:30.560 Just another run-of-the-mill nonviolent invasion.

00:30:34.380 178 is guerrilla theater.

00:30:36.180 This could just be confusing to people.

00:30:39.220 Now the list rounds out with the express objective.

00:30:43.880 Overload administrative systems.

00:30:46.420 Seeking imprisonment.

00:30:48.100 And number 198.

00:30:49.840 Setting up a parallel government.

00:30:52.600 They want to take what we have.

00:30:55.440 Ignore it.

00:30:56.680 Overload it.

00:30:58.000 Attack it. 1.00

00:30:59.340 Destroy it. 1.00

00:31:00.600 And replace it. 0.91

00:31:01.920 They want to build a parallel society under these crazy rules.

00:31:06.720 God help us.

00:31:07.760 It may look something like Portland.

00:31:09.760 The truth is, as barking mad as all of this is, we shouldn't take it lightly.

00:31:15.500 If all we do is mock them and go back to work, we'll end up living under these rules.

00:31:20.460 The political left is gaining ground in America today. 0.97

00:31:23.140 So calling out their lunacy and hypocrisy is not enough. 0.90

00:31:28.280 The left makes gains. 0.91

00:31:30.200 And establishment Republicans just complain about it on far too many days.

00:31:34.920 We have to fight this.

00:31:36.760 The left controls the executive and legislative branches of our government.

00:31:40.920 They're scheduling and scheming to pack the Supreme Court.

00:31:44.260 The only thing stopping the left's Portlandia dream or nightmare is us.

00:31:51.180 America first conservatives.

00:31:53.860 And if you want to see how they would operate if they had supreme unchecked power to take over

00:31:59.260 and control our country, look no further than the microstates they control now.

00:32:03.660 From Portland to California to Chicago, Baltimore, D.C., New York City.

00:32:08.500 This isn't the country I want for our great people.

00:32:11.800 But great Americans live in those places under this terrible rule.

00:32:16.460 If we're going to stop this dystopic future in its tracks, we are going to have to get real tough, real fast.

00:32:24.100 The future is up for grabs.

00:32:25.920 And we have no choice but to win it.

00:32:28.580 For there is no distant land to run to.

00:32:30.980 No place to go.

00:32:32.380 Should we fail in saving America?

00:32:36.660 Fashion.

00:32:37.140 It's very political.

00:32:39.000 Sometimes it's destructive and deadly.

00:32:42.540 A fashion faux pas has killed many a career on the runway. 0.98

00:32:46.720 Politics is the runway for ugly people. 0.99

00:32:49.860 And fashion can be weaponized. 0.62

00:32:51.620 Who could forget George H.W. Bush's socks?

00:32:54.820 We make fast calls on people's fashion all the time, whether we realize it or not.

00:32:59.720 In an article published in the March 2020 issue of Nature Human Behavior,

00:33:03.760 authors O, Shafir, and Todorov of New York University and Princeton conclude that a clothing's quality defines how others perceive competence.

00:33:15.280 After all, for many, why do good when you can look good?

00:33:19.820 Image as a metric of competence is a rising trend.

00:33:23.740 The generation that did it all for the gram is very visual. 0.76

00:33:27.080 They didn't sit up at night talking on the landline for hours like Gen X or on AIM Instant Messenger with four friends at once chatting like me and all the fellow Xennials out there.

00:33:39.240 Conservative media went nuts when AOC wore a Tax the Rich dress to the Met Gala.

00:33:44.260 I loved it.

00:33:45.320 First, she looked great.

00:33:46.740 In an era when Victoria's Secret cancels fashion shows and surrenders to wokeness, it's nice for people to lean in and look good.

00:33:55.360 Second, and perhaps more importantly, the troll is epic.

00:34:00.020 Most people would do everything at the Met to fit in amongst the elite.

00:34:04.340 She knew what she was doing, getting attention on her terms on their turf.

00:34:08.840 Bravo.

00:34:10.120 Other strong female figures have used fashion in politics as well. 1.00

00:34:14.300 Well, Kimberly Guilfoyle has a look. 1.00

00:34:17.780 It says power, control, achievement, excellence, success.

00:34:22.820 These reinforce MAGA political themes.

00:34:26.220 Men get in on it too.

00:34:27.680 Tucker had the bow tie forever.

00:34:29.540 A wasp embraced for sure, even if he hasn't worn it for years.

00:34:33.600 The best dressed congressman is Congressman Jeff Van Drew.

00:34:37.700 He's a really good person, actually.

00:34:39.360 Just take a moment and ask yourself, what district do you think he represents?

00:34:44.300 Of course it's the Jersey Shore.

00:34:47.780 Van Drew was elected a Democrat, switched to become a Republican, and won re-election anyway.

00:34:54.160 That is a boss Nucky Thompson move if there ever was one, and the wardrobe is there to drive home the point.

00:35:00.800 But if there is a political figure I want to commend for using fashion to make a point that should be front of mind to American consumers, it's Jill Biden. 0.86

00:35:11.820 Jill Biden is the first First Lady to have the courage and resolve and power to outfit repeat.

00:35:21.400 While she changed up her mask and accessories to freshen the look, Jill Biden wore this classy and stylish Narcisco Rodriguez piece to the Tokyo Olympics and in Florida with well-known American tyrant Dr. Anthony Fauci.

00:35:37.160 This wasn't the first lady economizing choices to accommodate a carry-on. 0.99

00:35:42.480 She isn't budget-restricted.

00:35:44.420 She was making a point, and it's one America-first nationalists, populist localists, and woke environmentalists alike need to hear. 0.98

00:35:55.180 Fast fashion sucks. 0.94

00:35:57.420 There's nothing chic about waste. 0.99

00:35:59.380 A culture which throws away its things will itself be tossed away.

00:36:06.480 The average piece of clothing in America is worn seven times and discarded.

00:36:11.280 Seven times!

00:36:12.620 And I know that some of you must be wearing things once and throwing them away, because I have worn this Dewey Destin's tank top over 700 times.

00:36:21.960 We haven't made the clothes we actually wear in our country for a long time.

00:36:26.180 The prices lower, the quality lower, and when we're done wearing trendy, cheap, crappy stuff, we pollute the third world with it while patting ourselves on the back for donating to charity and destroying domestic industry. 0.87

00:36:43.600 America is the largest importer of garments in the world.

00:36:46.620 Nearly 40% of apparel products that are sold here are imported from China.

00:36:53.480 Fast fashion.

00:36:54.840 This is the research that startled me most.

00:36:58.400 Discarded textile products are the second largest industrial polluter on planet Earth, behind only oil, according to Forbes.

00:37:08.380 Aside from the buy-once, wear-once, throw-away culture of detached consumerism, many people have falsely woven this lifestyle into a charitable cause.

00:37:18.580 You can indulge your vanity while virtue signaling.

00:37:21.400 You can have it all.

00:37:22.200 Cheap goods make cheap men.

00:37:25.760 And cheap fashion cheapens us. 0.99

00:37:28.280 And our crap tends to end up in Africa, not to clothe the naked, but to clog the rivers, smother the beaches, and billow over the landfills. 1.00

00:37:39.040 If you donate your clothes to people in need, they aren't going to build a statue to you unless it is made out of unwanted, discarded clothes. 0.99

00:37:48.400 Over 15 million articles of clothing arrive in Ghana every week.

00:37:52.680 Probably about half of it bought at H&M.

00:37:55.460 This is an indictment of globalism and its dysfunctionality. 1.00

00:38:00.020 This crap comes from China and ends up in Africa. 1.00

00:38:03.660 We wear it, I guess, once or twice in between. 1.00

00:38:07.120 Child labor and slave labor in China.

00:38:09.820 That is the manufacturing force behind the poorly made Chinese garments that last two or three washes before disintegrating against your office chair. 1.00

00:38:19.560 China makes more than seven times as many textiles as the second largest producer, which is India.

00:38:26.120 Is there something wrong with a society that destroys our businesses in the name of tolerance but won't tolerate an outfit repeat?

00:38:34.920 America, at her golden age, had people wearing their Sunday best every Sunday.

00:38:40.820 People had two pair of shoes, one for the work week and one for church.

00:38:44.860 Now people are keen on hoarding shoes, clothes, accessories.

00:38:48.840 It's mental.

00:38:50.480 America once manufactured well-made lasting fabrics and garments that can still be found as relics in respectable vintage establishments across the country.

00:38:59.940 So let's bring classic back, not just as a look, but as a way to think about how we appoint ourselves.

00:39:08.860 I know it's the 21st century and Instagram's outfit of the day hashtag obsession is all the rage.

00:39:16.840 But fast fashion is ruining our planet with rampant pollution.

00:39:22.000 Are cheap, crappy, trendy clothes a good trade for soulless mercantilism?

00:39:27.060 I know it's hard to resist buying that skimpy summer dress for $7.99 that you'll wear once before realizing it makes you look like a rectangle.

00:39:37.200 My female staff wrote that last line. 0.99

00:39:39.660 I wrote this one.

00:39:41.420 We know clothes make the man, but do they make earth worse?

00:39:46.900 There's a lot we can disagree on as Americans, but we should all agree as a nation we are better than the sale rack at Express.

00:39:54.400 Instead, invest in timeless pieces, knowing that you'll feel powerful in them.

00:40:00.700 And you also can hold on to those pieces, taking care of them and respecting our planet in doing so.

00:40:07.040 By resisting the urge to fast fashion, you're not only helping save the planet from endless trash,

00:40:13.500 you're also contributing to a world where laborers aren't exploited for profit.

00:40:18.080 The evils of fast fashion are greatly on display in globalism's ugly underbelly.

00:40:26.260 Not all of us can be like elite AOC who wore a dress once and then never likely will wear it again.

00:40:32.640 You know, everyone talks about how courageous it was for her to wear that dress initially, and maybe it was.

00:40:37.500 Again, like I said, I'm not dunking on the move, but she should wear it again. 0.99

00:40:41.940 Again, it shows she's not in for the fast fashion trend. 0.56

00:40:45.700 Now, most of us don't even have gala events to attend, much less opportunities to design our own outfits.

00:40:51.480 But we all can do our part in helping preserve the planet. 0.81

00:40:54.960 And the people in Africa who have to deal with our crap, and the people in Asia who are underpaid and enslaved, they'll thank you. 0.89

00:41:03.900 Even if they can't thank you directly, it'll certainly be a better life for them. 0.96

00:41:07.740 And hopefully one day, America first will prevail on trade, on globalism, in our hearts, and in our lives.

00:41:16.480 And we will go back to making great American garments again.

00:41:21.540 How a disclaimer, I've bought inexpensive clothing made from faraway lands for seemingly trendy looks with very negative results.

00:41:30.920 I thought the 90s were coming back.

00:41:32.980 I may have missed that by a few years and went full 1985 Miami Vice.

00:41:36.520 My wife still asks me, what were you thinking?

00:41:39.880 I think that entire outfit didn't cost a hundred bucks.

00:41:43.140 I know.

00:41:44.020 It shows.

00:41:45.640 I should be better.

00:41:47.200 The research for this episode has inspired me to be better.

00:41:51.420 Now, legislatively, we could look at alternatives to the international free trade system that doesn't seem to be free at all or fair.

00:41:58.740 For example, we've made progress in the National Defense Authorization Act that's being considered and hopefully will be sent to President Biden.

00:42:07.400 Namely, the Berry and Kissel amendments require certain goods to be purchased right here from American entities manufacturing them.

00:42:17.500 And we agree with those Buy American provisions.

00:42:20.440 But let's extend that.

00:42:22.380 So much of our clothing is bought online.

00:42:24.700 We should encourage major companies to be transparent regarding their supply lines.

00:42:29.180 I mean, in food, we've gotten so much healthier with labeling and transparency.

00:42:34.600 In fashion, we could learn a lot about what food labeling taught us about the supply chain.

00:42:39.900 Who wants to buy the cheapest thing if it comes at the price of our nation?

00:42:45.000 I'd like to know what I'm buying, where it comes from, and who made it.

00:42:48.900 If we can't break up Amazon, we should certainly clean up Amazon's supply chain.

00:42:55.040 We should tax Chinese goods for the environmental harms they cause and focus closer to home. 1.00

00:43:02.360 We might even find that our neighbors make for better trading partners.

00:43:06.080 They're more like us and part of a united front.

00:43:08.640 Friends don't let friends ruin the planet.

00:43:13.060 Sometimes, we just need to slow down and think about the best way to look our best with what's nearest.

00:43:21.740 Thanks so much for listening to Firebrand.

00:43:23.900 Make sure you use your time to go into that review section.

00:43:28.020 Give us a suggestion for upcoming topics for episodes.

00:43:31.380 And we'll see you next week on Firebrand.

00:43:38.640 Firebrand, Firebrand.

00:43:48.900 Firebrand.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - October 07, 2021

Episode 10： Welcome to the Woketopia – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz

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Summary

Transcript