On Sunday, LGBT protesters decided to march through Los Angeles, shutting down traffic as they went, before meeting up in gay Mecca West Hollywood with speeches from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and RuPaul. But the theme of the day was not tolerance and diversity, but hatred for President Trump. On Monday, the first anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, President Trump marked the event by stating that a radical Islamic terrorist targeted the gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation. It s a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation, and an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity. All of which shows that identity politics for the left is more of a strategy than a principled adherence to the notion of protecting supposed minority victims. While the left maintains that government must be bigger, stronger, and more invasive, in order to protect the rights of various political identity groups, and while the left polarizes those identity groups for political purposes, the truth is: identity politics is a mask for leftism, not an outgrowth of it. Which means that it s foolish for conservatives to engage in identity politics to counter the left. For the left, each identity group is a brick already stacked in the leftist wall, merely cemented in place with identity group politics. The right can try to chip away at the cement, but the brick is still going to be part of the "winding in place" of the leftist "walls." The problem is, instead is that the wall itself is not the brick itself, but rather the idea itself. We should try to destroy the wall, not the idea of people as atoms in a larger, broader bricks to begin with and the idea that people as individuals not as atoms a tool for the endgame but an end game of the whole thing that is the goal . in which people or ? which means that what does that mean? I want to know who you want me to be? Ben Shapiro: What do you think of me to do with the gate before I open up the front door before I go to the gate? I ve got a ring that allows me to actually see the person I ve done it in minutes, right?
00:00:00.000On Sunday, LGBT protesters decided to march through Los Angeles, shutting down traffic as they went, before meeting up in gay Mecca West Hollywood, where they were treated to speeches from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and, of course, RuPaul.
00:00:15.000But the theme of the day was not tolerance and diversity.
00:00:19.000Resist stickers festooned garbage cans and telephone poles.
00:00:22.000People milled it out in anti-Trump t-shirts.
00:00:24.000In fact, the usual Pride March was recast into a Resist March against the Trump administration.
00:00:31.000Which is actually kind of weird given that Trump is pro-gay marriage and is the first politician to enter the White House with that position.
00:00:37.000Monday marked the first anniversary of a jihadist massacring patrons at an Orlando gay nightclub, an event Trump marked by stating, quote, a radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation.
00:00:53.000It's a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation.
00:00:56.000It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity.
00:01:01.000Trump is the first major Republican politician to publicly loft a gay rainbow flag, but Trump is also the first Republican politician to have the honor of watching an LGBT march morph into a movement against him personally.
00:01:13.000All of which shows that identity politics for the left is more of a strategy than a principled adherence to the notion of protecting supposed minority victims.
00:01:21.000While the left maintains that government must be bigger and stronger and more invasive,
00:01:25.000In order to protect the rights of various political identity groups, and while the left polarizes those identity groups for political purposes, the truth is that identity politics is a mask for leftism, not an outgrowth of it.
00:01:37.000If identity politics were truly organic, if dividing Americans by identity groups truly led them to coalitional politics, you'd expect alliances to shift.
00:02:16.000Leftist pandering to identity politics is very often a political ploy designed to grant individuals a feeling of solidarity with fellow identity group members, but it's not an actual principled opposition to a candidate based on that candidate's adherence to the identity group's priorities.
00:02:32.000All of which means that it's foolish for conservatives to engage in identity politics to counter the left.
00:02:37.000For the left, each identity group is a brick already stacked in the leftist wall, merely cemented in place with identity group politics.
00:02:44.000The right can try to chip away at the cement, but the brick is still going to be part of the leftist wall.
00:02:49.000Instead, conservatives should try to blow up the wall completely.
00:02:51.000We should try to treat people as individuals rather than as members of identity groups.
00:02:55.000Destroy the notion of people as atoms in broader bricks to begin with.
00:02:59.000Identity politics is dangerous, but it's more of a tool than an endgame.
00:03:02.000The left knows that, which is why an LGBT march can turn into an anti-Trump march at the drop of a hat, even if Trump is fine with Caitlyn Jenner using the women's bathroom at Trump Tower.
00:03:25.000We'll talk about Trump actually getting some things done, Republicans actually getting some things done while the media are busy focused on the Comey mania.
00:03:32.000But before we get to all of that, first, I want to say thank you to our sponsors over at Ring.com.
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00:05:01.000Okay, so lots to get to about in terms of the fallout from the from the Comey testimony last week.
00:05:09.000And again, the Comey testimony sort of did two things.
00:05:11.000Number one thing it did was it got rid of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
00:05:15.000So if you recall, the Democratic narrative was Trump had worked with Russia to steal the election, and then after stealing the election, Trump had fired James Comey in order to prevent that from coming out.
00:06:15.000The Democrats are now pivoting off of the Trump-Russia stuff and now pivoting toward the Trump-Flynn stuff.
00:06:19.000So, the most damning part of Comey's testimony and the part that was apparently codified in a memo was this part that says that Trump essentially brought Comey into a room by himself, told everybody else to leave, told Attorney General Sessions to leave, told DNI Coats to leave.
00:06:35.000So let's everybody get out and then turn to Comey and said, I hope you can find your way clear to letting Flynn go.
00:06:40.000And Comey says he took that as a directive.
00:06:43.000Number one, obviously he didn't really take it as a directive because he didn't slow down his Flynn investigation.
00:06:47.000But what the left would say is, okay, Trump meant it as a directive.
00:06:51.000Comey may not have taken it seriously enough to act as a directive, but the fact that he was fired over it demonstrates that this is obstruction of justice and the fact that he
00:06:59.000He said the same thing to Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, and the same thing to the National Security Agency leader, Mike Rogers.
00:07:06.000He said the same thing, that he wanted to let Flynn go.
00:07:57.000And it's important to keep this in your mind, okay?
00:07:59.000Because when you talk about impeachment,
00:08:01.000Trump does not have to have committed, technically, a crime in order to be impeached.
00:08:06.000All that has to happen is the Congress thinks he's done something bad enough to impeach him.
00:08:11.000You don't have to be convicted of a crime in order to be impeached.
00:08:13.000The reason that's worth noting is, one, the left, when they claim that Trump did something illegal, they can be wrong and still try to impeach.
00:08:18.000And two, just because Trump didn't do anything illegal doesn't mean that he was acting very smart or good with regard to FBI Director Comey.
00:08:26.000Now, Trump obviously has the right to fire the FBI director,
00:08:28.000Whether he has the right to intimidate the FBI director is another story.
00:08:33.000So there are three statutes, but here's the problem.
00:08:35.000There are three statutes that basically cover obstruction of justice federally.
00:10:11.000And the reason I'm going through this is because I want people, left and right, to have a good picture of what the law is before they start spouting off nonsense.
00:10:19.00015... 18 U.S.C., 1512 C. This provision of the law covers anyone who, quote, obstructs, influences, or impedes an official proceeding or attempts to do so.
00:10:28.000It's not clear an FBI investigation is an official proceeding.
00:10:31.000And in this case, you'd actually have to prove intent.
00:10:32.000You'd have to prove that Trump actually wanted to shut this down.
00:10:35.000And typically, that doesn't just mean saying things.
00:10:38.000It means you have to take, quote, a substantial step toward the accomplishment of shutting it down.
00:10:42.000And as Flynn has testified, he is not aware that there was really any
00:10:47.000Hard evidence to attempt to shut down the Flynn investigation.
00:10:50.000So it would be a long, a long punt to have to, to have to try and prove this.
00:10:57.000This is the provision covering destroying evidence related to a federal investigation.
00:11:00.000So this one would basically say that if you, this, this would deal like specifically with a federal investigation, like an FBI investigation.
00:11:06.000If Trump had destroyed documents, that's one thing.
00:11:08.000Him saying something to Comey is not the same thing.
00:11:46.000And as far as the Lynch stuff, even the left acknowledges now that the Loretta Lynch stuff is very damaging because Loretta Lynch basically did straight out what the left is accusing Trump of doing with regard to Comey.
00:11:58.000So if you recall back to last week, James Comey testified that Loretta Lynch, who is Obama's Attorney General, told him she wanted the Hillary investigation referred to as a quote-unquote matter.
00:12:08.000And he said that he felt nauseous, or queasy I think is the word he used, with regard to Loretta Lynch's involvement in the Hillary investigation.
00:12:15.000Now, this goes to Comey's credibility.
00:12:17.000It really does, because the fact is, Comey didn't say anything publicly.
00:12:22.000He didn't actually stop her from getting what she wanted.
00:12:24.000In fact, he started using the term madder, just like Loretta Lynch wanted him to, which suggests that Comey is a guy who really wants to keep his job.
00:12:31.000I mean, he wanted to keep his job with Trump.
00:12:35.000Call me for all of his rectitudinal talk about how he is the spine of moral decency.
00:12:40.000This is a guy who didn't say much when Loretta Lynch said, I want you to basically skew this thing.
00:12:45.000Instead, what he did is he said, listen, I think Hillary's innocent, so I'm going to do Loretta Lynch's work for her so Loretta Lynch won't be accused of having skewed the investigation.
00:12:54.000I mean, that's bad stuff with regards to James Comey.
00:12:56.000The left realizes this is pretty damaging right now.
00:13:00.000And so here is Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator from California, basically acknowledging that what happened to Loretta Lynch is pretty bad and has to be investigated.
00:13:08.000Now, the reason that Dianne Feinstein is saying that, of course, is because she wants to be able to say, listen, Loretta Lynch should be investigated and so should the president.
00:13:56.000And, you know, when he intimidated Comey, that was really bad.
00:13:58.000But when Loretta Lynch did the same thing to Comey, now that was okay.
00:14:01.000Here's Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader.
00:14:03.000Look, I heard what Jim Comey said, and he said he was troubled by it.
00:14:07.000I respect him a great deal, but I haven't heard Loretta Lynch's side of the story, so I'm not going to come to a conclusion as to who was right or wrong, or whether it rises to the level that she should come testify.
00:14:19.000Okay, so he doesn't think she should come testify, but Trump should definitely come testify.
00:14:22.000Again, this just demonstrates there's a ton of hypocrisy on both sides.
00:14:26.000So people who are very disturbed by what Loretta Lynch did in the last election cycle, you should be disturbed that President Trump told James Comey that he hoped that the Flynn thing would be dropped.
00:14:50.000But if you're disturbed by Lynch, you should be disturbed by Trump.
00:14:53.000And if you're disturbed by Trump, you should be disturbed by Lynch.
00:14:55.000People who are disturbed by neither are consistent.
00:14:57.000People who are disturbed by both are consistent.
00:14:59.000People who are disturbed by one or the other are wildly inconsistent, and I would suggest that you examine your partisan bias if you are disturbed by Lynch, but not by Trump, or if you are disturbed by Trump, but not by Lynch.
00:15:09.000This holds true for both sides of the aisle.
00:15:12.000With all that said, President Trump, you know, he has his own response to all of this.
00:15:16.000I already laid out what I think his response should be, what the smart response would be, right?
00:15:20.000Which would be, okay, you know, on the obstruction stuff, right?
00:15:23.000Look, the Trump-Russia stuff is great.
00:15:24.000He already can say that I've been vindicated on that, and he is saying that.
00:15:28.000His real response on the obstruction stuff should be, I didn't legally break the law, and by the way, I didn't even do anything to intimidate Comey because he clearly wasn't intimidated.
00:15:37.000I was just saying stuff because that's what I do.
00:15:40.000I mean, for God's sake, why are you taking me so seriously?
00:15:43.000That'd actually be his smart response.
00:15:44.000I want to get to how he's actually responding and why it's not so great in just a second.
00:15:50.000But first, I want to say thank you to our sponsors over at carshield.com.
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00:17:34.000But last Friday, in case you missed it, because it was late in the afternoon, President Trump gave a press conference, and at that press conference he said something deeply stupid.
00:17:41.000He said he was willing to go under oath to say that James Comey had lied.
00:17:58.000Instead, what Trump should have said is, everything he said is basically true, but he misconstrued everything because he insists on seeing me in the worst possible light, where he saw Loretta Lynch and Obama in the best possible light.
00:18:09.000We now know that Comey did not write contemporaneous notes over the Loretta Lynch stuff.
00:18:13.000He didn't write contemporaneous notes even when he came to a one-on-one meeting with President Bush back in the 2000s, according to Comey.
00:19:13.000Okay, if you are a Trump defender, if you're somebody who likes Trump, this is not him playing 40 chess, this is him being aggressive and getting out over his skis.
00:21:08.000I was tweeting that out because I think that Comey is not interpreting things correctly.
00:21:12.000I mean, again, all of this is so easily explainable if he just had the brains to look at this in realistic fashion as opposed to, I just have to call everybody who's a liar, who's disagreeing with me.
00:22:04.000But Trump has already kind of foreclosed that defense by doing the whole Comey lied about the entire situation.
00:22:11.000And then Trump goes out on Twitter and he says,
00:22:20.000Okay, again, if we're going to talk about cowardly leaks, the president leaks all the time, we'll talk about the legality of Comey's leaks.
00:22:47.000That's what he should be talking about.
00:22:48.000You know, even in that tweet storm where he goes after Comey, he's talking about the good in the economy and then he goes after Comey.
00:22:54.000How about just talk about what you want to talk about?
00:22:56.000You know, one of the keys to politics, this is like politics 101, is you always answer the question you want to answer in the way you want to answer it.
00:23:02.000You don't always have to answer directly the question that's being thrown in front of you.
00:23:35.000This week, actually, I think what we're going to do is, my dad and I have come out with this book on the White Sox, and I think we're going to do the mailbag.
00:23:42.000My dad is, I think I'm going to bring him in studio.
00:23:44.000So, you can meet my dad, and if you have questions for my dad in the mailbag, then you can actually ask my father questions in the mailbag this week.
00:23:51.000So go over to dailywire.com, become a subscriber.
00:23:53.000You can ask my dad anything, which frightens me, but you can ask my father any question you want.
00:23:57.000We'll be having him in studio, assuming we're in our new studios by then.
00:24:00.000So go over to dailywire.com right now, check it out, $8 a month.
00:24:03.000Plus, if you get an annual subscription, then you get a free signed copy of the aforementioned book.
00:24:07.000You get a free signed copy of this book, Say It's So, by me and my father.
00:24:11.000All about the 2005 Chicago White Sox season, but mostly it's just about baseball and father-son relationships, and it's about three generations of White Sox fans waiting to see them win a World Series.
00:24:20.000So it's a great Father's Day gift, and you get a free signed copy when you go to dailywire.com right now and subscribe.
00:24:26.000Great Father's Day gift, so go over there and check it out.
00:24:29.000Or if you just want to listen later, go over to iTunes or SoundCloud and leave a review at iTunes.