The media is, of course, blaming President Trump for violence, but is that fair? What sort of rhetoric can actually be blamed for violence? We ll talk about that. Also, we'll talk about the Megyn Kelly firing at NBC and why everyone seems to hate this woman so much. Finally, as I celebrate my 7th wedding anniversary, I ll share the 2 most important lessons I've learned about marriage.
00:00:24.140Well, the media and the left and Democrats, I mean, these are all the same people, of course, but they have exercised no restraint this week when it comes to blaming President Trump for the pipe bombs that have been mailed to, I think we're up to about 12 different people now at this point.
00:00:45.220They blamed Trump. They blamed Republicans generally for the rhetoric, which allegedly has led to this.
00:00:52.380And in fact, CNN even announced that what they had up on their screen yesterday, it said that the intended recipients of the bombs were Trump's targets.
00:01:10.660That's the words they used, that the bomber was sending these bombs to Trump's targets.
00:01:16.280As if Trump had contracted this person, whoever it is, to send these bombs up.
00:01:24.820NBC ran a headline today saying, their headline was, Trump slams pipe bomb recipient CNN in overnight tweet.
00:01:36.260That's quite an interesting way to describe, to describe CNN, obviously trying to insinuate that there's something, you know, there's something reckless or something wrong with Trump criticizing CNN because someone mailed a pipe bomb to them.
00:01:50.100I got to tell you, I don't really see the connection there.
00:01:53.620I think it's bad that somebody mailed a pipe bomb to CNN.
00:02:41.200Judging by the media's reaction to the story this week, you might think if you didn't know any better, if you just dropped here from outer space and you were looking around and you were looking at the news coverage of these,
00:02:52.480of these, um, these devices that have been, that have been sent around, you might think that this is the first example of political violence or attempt, attempted violence anyway, in years.
00:03:08.660Um, and you might think that every example has been committed at the hands of right wingers.
00:03:14.280Is that, that's what you would think from the way that, from, from the reaction, that's what you would probably think.
00:03:32.280This is not like, uh, that's not what this is about.
00:03:36.220Um, this is about being honest and also understanding the scope of the problem, um, and also getting an idea of, of, of how our media operates.
00:03:53.300So let's just run through a few examples here, because the point is these, these examples I'm going to give, um, although these things happened, the media, they, the media didn't want to have any conversation about toxic rhetoric back then.
00:04:05.540Um, they didn't blame it on the Democrats, nothing like that, even though let's just go through, let's go through.
00:04:11.280Well, here's, here's a recent one that was, I think it was, it was in the news for about 12.5 seconds, but.
00:04:17.280Rison was sent to president Trump and other administration officials.
00:04:23.560As I said, it was in the news for a very brief time and then it was forgotten.
00:04:27.360Um, now of course, Trump was, he was never in any danger.
00:04:31.780His mail is, is screened, of course, and there's no chance that a, that a letter containing poison is ever going to make it to Trump's desk.
00:04:42.680Um, so you might argue that, well, that's the reason why it got very little attention and it really got, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm saying this right now.
00:04:51.220I think there are probably a lot of people watching this or listening to this that didn't even hear about it.
00:04:54.800This might be the first time you're hearing of it, but it really did happen recently.
00:04:58.560Someone mailed, tried to mail, uh, poison to president Trump.
00:05:02.480And maybe the reason we'll be given for why, why it wasn't news.
00:05:05.400Well, because it was screened out and never, it never made it anywhere near him.
00:05:08.620You know, so it was, um, so, you know, it wasn't big news.
00:05:14.160But the pipe bombs were also not any threat to their targets.
00:05:19.380Um, the people screening Barack Obama's mail or Hillary Clinton's mail, they're not going to hand them a suspicious envelope with a heavy object in the shape of a pipe bomb protruding out the sides of it.
00:05:32.560I mean, this, whoever mailed this device, mailed it in a, in an envelope, in a suspicious envelope so that you could even see the shape of what appeared to be a pipe bomb.
00:05:42.500Um, so there was just 0.0% chance that those envelopes were ever going to get anywhere near Obama or, uh, or Hillary or any of the other targets.
00:05:56.160But interestingly enough, the fact that the attempt was a dud was reason enough to ignore the story in Trump's case, but not in the case of Obama's and Hillary's.
00:06:08.840Um, another example, there was, um, there was an attack on the GOP at a congressional baseball game.
00:06:16.960Hopefully you remember this and outspoken Bernie Sanders supporter went to, uh, to the game with a hit list of Republican names with a loaded gun and a hit list of Republican names.
00:06:28.660He got to the game, you know, he saw that, um, there was some, one of the teams was out on the field practicing.
00:06:33.700He asked somebody, which party is that, is that Republicans or Democrats out on the field?
00:07:29.920See, this had nothing to do with rhetoric, they said.
00:07:32.700Uh, Nancy Pelosi was even asked at the time, you know, uh, do you think that the overheated rhetoric on the part of Democrats may have played a part in it?
00:07:54.620Another example, you may remember in 2016, um, there was a mass murder of police officers at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas.
00:08:05.240A murderous radical went on a rampage during a BLM protest, shot 14 police officers, killed five of them.
00:08:13.600But the media took great pains to clarify that the killer had nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, liberals, Democrats, nothing to do with it.
00:08:22.940Even though many prominent leftists had spent years up to that point claiming that racist, bigoted, murderous police officers are on the prowl hunting down innocent black men and executing them in broad daylight in the middle of the street.
00:08:40.440Still, we were told that, uh, although people have been saying that, uh, nothing to do, nothing to do with the mass murder of police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest.
00:08:51.220Um, and then, and then, finally, uh, well, this is just, I mean, I say finally, but just, this is just one other example I'm going to cite.
00:09:03.380I could have cited many more, but remember the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore.
00:09:07.400This was violence gripping the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore for days on end.
00:09:18.800People were, were, were assaulted by mobs.
00:09:21.180I mean, it was a lawless chaos in the street.
00:09:23.920And in those, in, in these, especially with Ferguson, but Baltimore too, but especially with Ferguson, which was the beginning of this trend of, of, of riots and so on, we can say without a doubt that left-wing rhetoric fueled and encouraged the violence because liberals and Democrats, people in the media, they were the ones spreading the patently false hands up, don't shoot myth, which became the rallying cry of the rioters.
00:09:51.180It was, it was, it was the reason why there was a riot and it was a lie.
00:09:57.780Uh, we could also talk about the various Antifa riots.
00:10:00.440We could talk about the, you know, Republican politicians who have been accosted by mobs, chased out of restaurants and so on.
00:10:06.300But none of these events prompted a national conversation about dangerous rhetoric.
00:10:12.120CNN never blamed Obama for the Ferguson riots or the Dallas massacre.
00:10:16.100Um, MSNBC never made Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters or any, or Chuck Schumer or any other Democrat answer for the shooting spree at a congressional baseball game.
00:10:25.980Um, the media rejected the idea that anyone other than the specific perpetrators themselves could be responsible for these attacks.
00:10:34.840And only now have they changed their mind on that.
00:10:38.560Now they're finally saying, oh, well, actually rhetoric could be to blame.
00:10:46.160What they're doing and we can't let them get away with it.
00:10:52.420And unfortunately calling, calling them out and calling them out for the dishonesty.
00:10:57.440If you do that, it's going to open you to charges of what about ism.
00:11:02.600But I think the, the, the, the accusation of what about ism that that's one of the cheapest things that people do.
00:11:07.960As if we're not like, if someone is making a claim and saying, well, this is the first time this has ever happened, then I'm allowed to say, well, no, actually here's some other times as well.
00:11:21.640And if someone is saying, well, there's some, Trump is, is, is creating this unique environment of toxicity.
00:11:27.820Well, if you're claiming that, then I don't have to just sit here and listen to that lie.
00:11:32.560I'm going to point out, well, no, what are you talking about?
00:12:08.420So let me tell you what I am saying on this issue of, uh, of, of rhetoric.
00:12:14.040Let's just talk about that for a minute.
00:12:15.480Um, first it should be stated that whenever somebody commits a violent act, the fault for that action lies completely on the shoulders of the person who committed it.
00:12:33.480You know, of course, even the most irresponsible rhetoric in the world can't physically cause someone to go out and shoot up a baseball game or mail a pipe bomb or whatever.
00:12:43.920So we know that, um, we can never lose sight of free will, personal agency, personal responsibility.
00:12:51.140However, it is also absurd, I think, to pretend that our words always have zero influence and are therefore never a part of the story.
00:14:38.120So maybe that's the way I put it, a kind, a certain sort of rhetoric that can be partially blamed for violence, malicious lies.
00:14:47.460When you're telling lies maliciously, trying to get people angry and upset.
00:14:51.900So that was, that was the thing that was so evil and so terrible and why we should really, we should never forget about what happened with Ferguson because, because the media, they were, they were deliberately lying about what happened.
00:15:05.820Even as city blocks were being burned to the ground, they were still lying and they still lie about it to this day.
00:15:13.460They still won't admit that this was all based on a lie.
00:15:24.700Also, um, rhetoric that explicitly calls upon people to engage in violence.
00:15:32.300So obviously if you're out there telling people to do this stuff, then yes, you, you get part of the blame.
00:15:38.680Maxine Waters told her followers to quote, create a crowd and get in the faces of Republicans and make sure they know they aren't welcome anywhere.
00:15:48.300Um, there was a, there was a, there was a, an editor for think, think progress who's, who said that, um, that, uh, Republicans should be confronted where they sleep, which means at their homes.
00:16:02.860He was telling angry mobs to go to people's homes.
00:16:06.320So yes, um, in, in that case, uh, these people are very clearly directly encouraging, calling for civil unrest and violence.
00:16:20.700And so when it happens, is it partly their fault?
00:16:24.840Obviously they're specifically asking for it, encouraging it.
00:16:30.340So obviously they share part of the blame.
00:16:32.520Um, now here are some kinds of rhetoric that are sometimes blamed for violence, but in my view, cannot be blamed and do not contribute to violence.
00:16:46.020And, uh, and, and, you know, um, people should, to, to blame it for violence is, is dishonest.
00:16:54.060I think, um, tough, but honest rhetoric.
00:17:01.540If you're, if you're, if you're being tough, if you're, you know, using, um, strong language, but you're being honest and what you're saying is true, then no, I don't think you can be blamed for violence.
00:17:17.240So I'll give it, I'll give you an example for myself.
00:17:21.600Uh, someone wrote to me yesterday, a Democrat wrote to me, it was respect, you know, they were respectful about it, but they said, uh, they said that they, they agree with me that a lot of our, you know, the political rhetoric these days is toxic and it, uh, you know, and, and so on and so forth.
00:17:35.520But they, they, they, they challenged me and they said, well, what about the things that you say about abortion and about abortion doctors?
00:17:42.380You just said a couple, a couple of days ago that abortion doc, that every abortion doctor is really no different from Kermit Gosnell, that they're all murderers.
00:17:55.100And, and, and, and, and what if someone goes and they shoot up an abortion clinic, isn't that partly your fault for saying these things?
00:18:00.540And my answer to that is, is no, it wouldn't be my fault because what I'm saying is true.
00:18:09.420Now, clearly I don't condone, um, violence.
00:18:13.040I, I, I don't condone anyone going to an abortion clinic and shooting it up, which is something that despite what the, how the left presented it presents it, that very, very rarely happens.
00:18:23.240Um, there have been only a very few fatal attacks on abortion clinics over the last several decades.
00:18:30.660It is a, it is a very rare occurrence, but I don't condone it.
00:26:37.900Final thing I want to mention, getting away from the news for a minute, Monday is my seventh anniversary with my wife.
00:26:50.800Seven years, I realize, is not quite long enough to go into wise, sage mode and start doling out marital advice.
00:27:00.120I think you have to hit probably the quarter century mark for that, so I'm pretty far away from it still.
00:27:06.680Well, I think, actually, I think quarter century or when your first kid graduates high school.
00:27:12.920I think when that, whichever comes first, that's when you can start being the wise sage and doling out advice.
00:27:17.540So I'm not there. I'm not even close to that.
00:27:20.260But I have learned a couple of things through seven years and three kids.
00:27:23.680And I thought that maybe I could mark this occasion by passing on just the top two things that I've learned about marriage in seven years.
00:27:32.420And so if you've been married a while, if you've been married longer than me, then there's no need to listen to this.
00:27:36.760You can just turn it off and stop listening.
00:27:37.900This is advice or insights that I intend only for those who haven't been married at all or haven't been married very long because they can't disagree with me.
00:27:49.820They just have to accept whatever I'm saying and assume I'm right.
00:27:54.200All right. So two things that I've learned.
00:27:56.680I think I've learned probably more than two things, but I'll give you two.
00:29:17.080Decorative pillow on your bed that nobody will see besides you.
00:29:22.800So my wife puts pillows on our bed that are only there for her to look at for 10 seconds before she takes them off the bed so that we can go to bed.
00:29:33.820This is, you know, the decorative pillow industry is 100% driven by females.
00:29:38.780If every woman on Earth was beamed into space by aliens tomorrow, the decorative pillow industry, along with the wrapping paper industry and the Greek yogurt industry and the fancy soap industry, they would all collapse overnight because this is completely a female thing.
00:29:53.420There's something biological, neurological about it.
00:29:56.360I don't understand it, but it's a female thing.
00:29:58.820So we've been drowning in pillows because women love pillows.
00:30:01.580When I lived alone as a bachelor for five years, I had one pillow to my name, just one.
00:30:10.840And I used it on the couch and then I brought it to bed at night.
00:30:29.460But then I got married and at some point very early on, probably like in the first week of our marriage, my wife apparently rented a dump truck and went to the home goods distribution center and bought every single decorative pillow in the region.
00:30:43.260And then came and dumped them into our house.
00:30:47.000And my life has been overtaken by pillows ever since.
00:30:49.760So that's the first thing, especially if you're a man, really, this is advice from getting married, just realize that your life will be overtaken by pillows and never, ever, ever assume that you're actually allowed to use any of those pillows.
00:31:03.580Second thing I've learned, perhaps on a more serious note, I've learned in marriage, and I know that this is, you know, this will not sound like a revelation and it's really not, but I have learned the necessity of gratitude.
00:31:22.960Gratitude, I think most people, when you ask them what's the most important character trait to bring into a marriage, you know, they'll say patience, they'll say loyalty, they'll say honesty, and those are all very important.
00:31:36.600But I think that gratitude can make an argument for belonging next to the big three of fidelity, honesty, and patience.
00:31:44.300I think really it's a big four, because I think you've got to put gratitude there.
00:31:47.480I think gratitude is just as important as those.
00:31:52.960And I think more marriages than we realize have been destroyed for lack of gratitude.
00:31:59.540I mean, there could be a marriage where both spouses are faithful, honest, even patient, but there's no gratitude, and it ruins the marriage.
00:32:14.020The thing is, as everyone says, marriage is work.
00:32:23.840But when you begin to feel that the other person doesn't notice what you're doing, doesn't care, doesn't appreciate, isn't grateful, and when that feeling really metastasizes onto the marriage like a cancer, it can be fatal for the marriage.
00:32:44.360And I think this is especially the case once kids are involved, because the thing about kids is that they require a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, and yet they will never be grateful.
00:32:58.240Yes, you teach them to say please and thank you, but they will simply never understand.
00:33:04.560As long as they are children, they will never understand what you do for them, how hard you work for them, how many sacrifices you make for them.
00:33:12.800They will never understand the anxiety and the heartbreak and the worry and the stress and everything.
00:33:18.000They will, they can't, they're not capable of understanding it.
00:33:22.220And that is actually part of what parents do.
00:33:24.680Part of the burden we carry for our kids is that, is that we, you know, we shoulder these burdens so that our kids can just skip merrily through life, not realizing that really any of it is happening.
00:33:38.880Um, and that's, and that's what being a kid is all about.
00:33:42.640That's what being a kid is supposed to be about.
00:33:45.380And they're just, so they, they can't be really grateful for us because they don't understand what we do.
00:33:52.120And they're not going to understand it until years down the line when they have kids of their own.
00:33:56.320And then they realize that, oh yeah, um, right.
00:33:59.340So parents, especially mothers, I'll say, get used to expending all of this energy, doing so much for their kids and with very little appreciation.
00:34:09.820And, and that's why it's even more important once kids are on the scene for spouses to appreciate each other.
00:34:14.860Um, and you know, I'll say in my situation, my wife stays at home with the kids and I know that I have to make sure that my wife knows that I appreciate what she does.
00:34:29.340Because it's hard work being a mom, it's emotionally draining, it's physically taxing.
00:34:33.680And, um, uh, and aside from my wife, my, you know, aside from my wife herself, I'm the only other person in the family capable of understanding what she does.
00:34:45.860And the burden she carries and therefore being truly grateful for what, for it.
00:34:51.080The kids aren't going to understand it.
00:34:52.420The dog and the cat aren't going to understand.
00:34:57.040So that's why it's so important for me to be grateful.
00:34:58.760Though I know that I, I still, uh, uh, could stand to improve quite a bit in the gratitude department or at least in the expressed gratitude department.
00:35:08.140I'm always eternally grateful for my wife, but part of my job as a husband and father is to express that, um, gratitude, to show it even more importantly and to communicate it in somehow.
00:35:19.100And it's also, of course, important for husbands to be appreciated too.
00:35:24.060Um, fortunately I, I do feel appreciated in my family, but, um, my wife does communicate her appreciation.
00:35:28.660But, but I know that there are, there are, there are many families where that's not the case.
00:35:32.220I talk to men who feel, talk to men all the time who feel like they go to work, they slave
00:35:38.100away in a thankless job to provide for their families.
00:35:40.920They come home and they're immediately thrust back into the father role, which is okay.