The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 192 - Trump Gives Soaring SOTU Address, Democrats Embarrass Themselves

00:00:00.000 Today on The Matt Wall Show, President Trump gives a very effective, powerful State of the Union address. 0.92

00:00:05.080 Meanwhile, the Democrats embarrassed themselves, made fools of themselves, so the night was a big win for Trump.

00:00:10.340 But we'll analyze it a little bit more, kind of dissect the events of the evening. 0.97

00:00:15.620 Also, Kamala Harris engages in some inexcusable transphobic bigotry, at least according to the standards set by liberals. 1.00

00:00:25.760 So we'll talk about that. And finally, I'll answer your emails, including a question about the very bizarre Liam Neeson story that's been on the news recently.

00:00:33.960 So I'll give my take on that today on The Matt Wall Show.

00:00:42.220 So the State of the Union address was last night, as I'm sure you're aware.

00:00:46.320 It was good. Good speech. Trump did a great job with it.

00:00:50.440 I thought the speech was inspirational, soaring, well delivered, hit the right notes, love the pro-life bit.

00:00:57.700 I'll talk more about that in a minute. I like the part about the wall. We'll talk more about that as well.

00:01:02.300 I thought he made the case for the wall very well.

00:01:05.920 Now, unfortunately, it's not going to matter in the long term.

00:01:08.380 It won't matter really by next week, because nobody is going to remember this speech.

00:01:12.840 By like tomorrow, everyone will have forgotten and moved on.

00:01:15.420 Now, not because the speech was not memorable. I thought it was was memorable or should be memorable,

00:01:24.140 except that nothing is memorable in our culture because nobody remembers anything for more than 24 hours.

00:01:28.960 We just everything moves on and everyone forgets everything.

00:01:32.420 Nothing lasts. Nothing matters.

00:01:35.060 That is my cheerful thought to begin the day.

00:01:37.360 But still, you you have to make the most of the opportunities that you are given.

00:01:41.980 And even if they are fleeting and Trump definitely did a good job with the speech.

00:01:48.440 As I have said many times, Trump is the scripted version of Trump is vastly superior to the unscripted version.

00:01:59.180 There's there's no competition.

00:02:00.620 And I and it's just I can't believe that anyone would dispute this anymore.

00:02:04.960 Compare something like the State of the Union address or take really any of his scripted speeches.

00:02:10.200 But look, take the State of the Union, compare that to how he is on Twitter, for instance, or to the kind of speech that he would give to a rally somewhere in Pensacola, Florida or whatever.

00:02:24.740 Compare the two.

00:02:25.740 And it's just there's no question that the scripted version is much, much more compelling, more coherent, just much more focused and everything.

00:02:39.960 It's just it's just much better.

00:02:41.740 And I know that when I say that, it seems like an insult because it seems like it's just another way of saying that Trump is only good when he's saying things that other people have written for him to say.

00:02:53.240 But that's not actually an insult.

00:02:56.780 And by the way, that's true for probably most people.

00:03:02.340 Most people, you're going to sound better with a speech written by a speechwriter than you will just off the cuff talking into a microphone.

00:03:11.080 That's I say I think pretty much everyone sounds better the other way.

00:03:14.600 So it's not really an insult.

00:03:18.140 And there's something else to it also that the reason why I think Trump is compelling when he's giving scripted speeches is that he is willing to say things in speeches that other Republican presidents won't say.

00:03:35.580 And that's what that's why that's the really could be the very valuable thing about Donald Trump is that he is willing to put out a message.

00:03:48.440 Now, he needs help crafting it.

00:03:50.480 But if he gets help crafting it, he's willing to say this thing.

00:03:52.960 So, for instance, as I mentioned, he talked about the wall.

00:03:55.380 And that whole chunk of the speech was very good.

00:03:59.580 It was also something that you probably wouldn't hear from any other Republican president.

00:04:03.800 We haven't heard from any other Republican president.

00:04:06.300 And this is where Trump is extremely effective when he's delivering a message that is his message, his unique message.

00:04:14.560 But he's had help putting it all together.

00:04:17.320 So let's take a look at him.

00:04:19.480 Here he is making the case for the wall.

00:04:21.840 My administration has sent to Congress a common sense proposal to end the crisis on the southern border.

00:04:30.380 It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling and plans for a new physical barrier or wall to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry.

00:04:51.840 In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall.

00:04:58.440 But the proper wall never got built.

00:05:01.820 I will get it built.

00:05:03.620 This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier, not just a simple concrete wall.

00:05:30.580 It will be deployed in the areas identified by the border agents as having the greatest need.

00:05:40.000 And these agents will tell you where walls go up, illegal crossings go way, way down.

00:05:47.820 San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in our country.

00:06:07.760 In response, a strong security wall was put in place.

00:06:12.520 In response, this powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings.

00:06:20.580 The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime, one of the highest in the entire country, and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities.

00:06:38.400 Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country.

00:06:54.920 Simply put, walls work and walls save lives.

00:07:01.300 So, the kind of wall, the kind of barrier that he's calling for now is so sensible and so modest that Democrats look like absolute lunatics being opposed to it.

00:07:16.760 And this shows, again, how effective Trump can be when he has help crafting his message.

00:07:21.520 Because during the campaign, when he was off the cuff, he was talking about a wall, Mexico's going to pay for it.

00:07:26.360 It's going to be a big, beautiful wall.

00:07:27.500 There's going to be one door in the wall.

00:07:28.860 And so, you had this image in your mind of this huge, 40-foot, concrete, towering, something that looks like from Lord of the Rings or something type structure, stretching across the entire border, like the Great Wall of China.

00:07:44.180 And that's the way he was talking about it on the campaign, off the cuff.

00:07:48.460 And it was very easy for Democrats to oppose that, because they could say, well, that's crazy.

00:07:52.600 Obviously, we're not going to do that.

00:07:54.640 It would be a total waste of money.

00:07:55.760 It would take years to build.

00:07:57.120 Well, there would be billions upon billions upon billions of dollars.

00:08:00.680 He'd be building a wall across stretches of border where nobody's even crossing anyway.

00:08:05.000 So, it's very easy for them to oppose that.

00:08:07.620 But now that he's kind of crafted the message more, it's become something that you really can't oppose. 0.95

00:08:15.760 Well, you can, and you just look crazy doing it.

00:08:18.860 Because now he's talking about, all right, we're going to put strategically built, strategically placed steel barriers along the sections of the border that the Border Patrol asks us to put.

00:08:31.800 You know, we'll consult with them.

00:08:32.960 They're the experts.

00:08:34.260 They know what's going on on the border.

00:08:35.660 They'll tell us where they need the barriers, and we'll put them there.

00:08:37.700 As I said, it's modest.

00:08:40.960 It's completely sensible.

00:08:44.760 We already have stuff like that.

00:08:46.820 There are already sections of the border that have these kinds of barriers.

00:08:50.880 And so, all Trump is really saying is, let's finish it.

00:08:53.760 Let's put those barriers in the other places where it's needed, according to the people who are experts in this kind of stuff.

00:09:02.360 Why would you oppose that?

00:09:04.800 There is no reason at all to oppose that.

00:09:08.400 It just doesn't make any sense.

00:09:11.280 Well, Democrats oppose it because they simply cannot support common sense things anymore, especially if Trump proposes them, or if any Republican proposes them.

00:09:21.320 They just can't.

00:09:22.380 They can't support it.

00:09:23.280 Speaking of which, at these State of the Union speeches, the fun part, of course, is always to see what people stand to clap for, and then what lines cause them to sit solemnly with their hands folded in their laps.

00:09:37.600 And you can learn a lot about a party or about a politician based on that.

00:09:41.220 So, here's just one example.

00:09:44.460 Here's a clip of Trump talking about putting an end to child sex trafficking.

00:09:51.020 Now, you would think, when it comes to applause lines, that's the safest applause line you could possibly offer, is we're going to put an end to child sex trafficking.

00:10:03.180 Right.

00:10:03.420 I mean, everyone can applaud that.

00:10:05.380 Unless you are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

00:10:08.280 Here she is.

00:10:09.460 Now, here's the line, and I want you to watch her reaction to it.

00:10:12.480 Today, he leads investigations into the scourge of international sex trafficking.

00:10:22.800 Elvin says that if I can make sure these young girls get their justice, I've really done my job.

00:10:32.360 Thanks to his work and that of his incredible colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from the horror of this terrible situation.

00:10:48.180 And more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars.

00:10:57.400 That's pretty remarkable.

00:11:17.220 She begrudgingly stands after a while and doesn't clap.

00:11:22.360 You could see her practically rolling her eyes, like, all right, I'll stand.

00:11:27.560 And then she just sits there with her hands folded, refusing to clap.

00:11:32.840 And I remind you, everyone else is clapping at the idea of fighting child sex trafficking.

00:11:40.000 AOC can't even stand for that or clap for that.

00:11:42.840 But if you really want to see the Democrats looking sullen, then let's check out their reaction to Trump talking about ending late-term abortion.

00:11:52.840 As I said, I thought this was the best part of the speech.

00:11:55.760 This was the most effective moment.

00:11:58.160 And once again, this is something that I think Trump needs help framing and coming up with the words to address this sort of issue.

00:12:13.900 But this is also a message that you're not going to hear it from other Republicans, especially at a State of the Union.

00:12:20.740 And especially in terms this direct and straightforward.

00:12:25.780 Other Republican presidents maybe have spoken briefly about protecting the unborn or protecting life, and then they just quickly move on.

00:12:33.380 But Trump goes into more detail.

00:12:36.320 So, now what I'm going to do is I want to play the whole bit for you.

00:12:40.360 But I'm going to play first just the beginning of him when he's describing late-term abortion.

00:12:46.200 And I want you to focus on Chuck Schumer's expression.

00:12:50.760 And then we'll play the rest.

00:12:52.400 So, here is Trump describing the murder of fully developed infants in the third trimester who can feel pain.

00:12:59.200 And I want, again, I want you to watch Chuck Schumer as he describes it.

00:13:03.320 Here it is.

00:13:04.700 Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb.

00:13:16.200 Moments from birth.

00:13:18.660 These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and their dreams with the world.

00:13:27.160 Okay.

00:13:28.400 I mean, the guy, he's literally turned into a Batman villain.

00:13:32.400 I mean, he is like the penguin now from Batman.

00:13:36.380 He's sitting there with this evil grin as Trump talks about children being ripped from their mother's womb.

00:13:42.720 That's the phrase.

00:13:44.320 Children ripped from their mother's womb.

00:13:46.580 They never have a chance at life.

00:13:48.460 And Chuck Schumer is sitting there with this smile.

00:13:52.160 I mean, he's excited by the thought of it.

00:13:55.780 It's so creepy.

00:13:59.120 Schumer, he looks giddy about abortion.

00:14:02.980 I would call him a ghoul, but I feel like that would be unfair to ghouls. 0.62

00:14:06.460 And then here's the, here's, so here's the rest of Trump's remarks on abortion.

00:14:12.120 And as, as you watch this, I want you to watch, especially the white pantsuit brigade, all of the Democrat women. 0.59

00:14:19.580 I want you to watch how they react.

00:14:21.180 Here it is.

00:14:21.540 And then we had the case of the governor of Virginia, where he stated he would execute a baby after birth.

00:14:31.060 To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children.

00:14:43.540 Who can feel pain in the mother's womb. 0.98

00:14:47.080 Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.

00:15:15.320 Now, he's not calling for an end to all abortion here.

00:15:37.240 He was just calling for an end to late-term abortion.

00:15:39.880 The killing of babies who can feel pain and are, in many cases, viable outside of the womb.

00:15:46.360 But the Democrat women are totally bummed by that. 1.00

00:15:49.540 You saw them.

00:15:50.160 They were sitting there completely bummed out about the idea of not killing babies.

00:15:54.560 Because they're so psyched about killing babies that anytime someone talks about not killing babies,

00:16:00.220 they immediately start pouting.

00:16:01.900 When they're on the verge of tears, almost, as Trump is just saying,

00:16:05.040 Hey, let's not kill babies in the third trimester. 1.00

00:16:07.160 You know, they can feel pain in there.

00:16:08.540 And let's not do that.

00:16:09.520 And all the liberal women are sitting there like, no. 1.00

00:16:13.840 That's my impression of Democrat women. 1.00

00:16:17.300 No.

00:16:19.700 Honestly, if you were writing your own comic book,

00:16:23.340 and you decided to invent a political party as the villains of this comic book world,

00:16:29.920 this is what you'd create.

00:16:31.240 The modern Democrat party is a comic book villain. 0.93

00:16:34.560 They are cartoonishly evil at this point. 0.82

00:16:38.240 That they would be scowling at the idea of protecting.

00:16:44.080 You've got Trump saying, we have to protect all innocent life.

00:16:46.400 And these women are scowling about it. 1.00

00:16:49.020 Are you kidding me?

00:16:50.040 But it wasn't all sullenness on the part of the Democrats.

00:16:55.480 They did erupt in raucous applause one time.

00:17:00.040 And this was supposed to be an inspirational moment of unity or whatever.

00:17:04.680 But I found it pretty gross, to be honest.

00:17:06.600 So watch this.

00:17:07.780 All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before. 0.77

00:17:20.040 Don't sit yet.

00:17:41.420 You're going to like this.

00:17:42.200 And exactly one century after Congress passed the Constitutional Amendment,

00:17:51.960 giving women the right to vote,

00:17:54.620 we also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before. 0.96

00:18:01.580 Thank you.

00:18:02.580 Thank you.

00:18:03.580 Thank you.

00:18:04.580 Thank you.

00:18:05.580 Thank you.

00:18:35.580 All right. Now they're excited. They're applauding. Why? Because they're applauding

00:18:41.580 themselves. They couldn't applaud protecting babies. They had trouble applauding the end

00:18:47.140 of sex trafficking. They obviously didn't applaud protecting the border, defending our laws,

00:18:53.360 but they'll applaud themselves. Yay, we're women. We got elected. Great. Good for you.

00:18:59.580 Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Personally, I don't care that you're women. I don't care that a bunch 1.00

00:19:05.000 of women got elected. I wouldn't care if no women were elected. I wouldn't care if only 1.00

00:19:09.040 women were elected. If there were zero women in Congress or only women, it makes no difference 0.86

00:19:13.340 to me. I don't care at all in the slightest. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters

00:19:19.480 to me is, with politicians anyway, it's what laws, what policies do they support? That's

00:19:29.400 the only thing I care about. So excuse me if I'm not welling up with tears of pride and joy

00:19:37.040 because a bunch of infanticidal, self-obsessed, identity-politic-pushing, egomaniacal women 1.00

00:19:44.160 got elected, which is what most of them are this time around. I mean, the vast majority 0.98

00:19:50.120 of these women that were elected are Democrats, and they all fall into that category because 0.94

00:19:55.440 that's what the Democrat Party is now. So there is no, oh yeah, well, they're intent

00:20:01.220 on killing babies, but at least they're women. Okay. So they have two X chromosomes. Who cares? 1.00

00:20:07.940 I don't, doesn't matter to me. It's not progress. Okay. When you elect infanticidal people to Congress,

00:20:14.980 it doesn't matter what gender they are. That is not progress. That is a step back. So yeah, 1.00

00:20:21.580 if I could replace all those women with pro-life men, I would do it in a heartbeat. Absolutely. 0.81

00:20:26.660 Call me misogynist. I don't care. By the way, I don't want to belabor the point too much, but

00:20:32.520 just by way of comparison, here is the white pantsuit brigade applauding a 10-year-old cancer

00:20:41.240 survivor. Watch this. When Grace completed treatment last fall, her doctors and nurses cheered.

00:20:48.720 They loved her. They still love her with tears in their eyes as she hung up a poster that read

00:20:57.240 last day of chemo.

00:20:59.800 Thank you very much, Grace. You are a great inspiration to everyone in this room. Thank you very much.

00:21:24.480 Okay. So they applauded, um, kind of unenthusiastic, polite applause, just sort of,

00:21:31.040 you know, the applause for, I just want you to compare the applause for themselves was exponentially

00:21:37.320 more enthusiastic and raucous and congratulatory, self-congratulatory in their case. Um, that's what

00:21:45.300 they're excited. That's why I say self-obsessed egomaniacs. That's what they're excited about.

00:21:48.860 It's about themselves congratulating themselves. So all in all, Trump came off, uh, very well and

00:21:57.280 the Democrats did themselves no favors. So big win for Trump. One other thing I wanted to mention,

00:22:04.420 um, Kamala Harris reacted to Trump's pro-life message last night with a tweet. And the tweet

00:22:11.380 was, uh, your standard Democrat cliche. She said, um, politicians should not tell women what to do 1.00

00:22:17.380 with their bodies. Okay. Only it was one of those things where that you see on Twitter, where in

00:22:23.420 between each word, there's a clapping hand emoji. I mean, you've seen that, right? Which, what is that

00:22:29.860 anyway? What, who does that in real life? Who in real life will clap in between each word to emphasize

00:22:37.880 their point? I've never seen it. So how did that become, what would that even look like? Politicians

00:22:42.440 should not tell women. I mean, what is that? Does anyone do that? Putting that aside, I find it 1.00

00:22:51.320 interesting that, um, Democrats are still using this talking point. And you see how, you see how, uh,

00:23:00.120 the Democrats, liberals, they just, they are not consistent and they make no effort to be consistent

00:23:10.720 and they hold views that are so crazy and so delusional that they, they can't really apply

00:23:18.300 them consistently. So in this case, if they were actually being consistent, um, well, they can't

00:23:26.080 use slogans like this anymore. Politicians should not tell women what to do with their bodies. Well, 1.00

00:23:32.800 according to them, men can get pregnant. Isn't this transphobia? Shouldn't Kamala Harris? This 1.00

00:23:38.920 should be a big scandal on the left. Kamala Harris is a transphobic bigot because Trump was talking 1.00

00:23:47.180 about abortion. And what is Kamala Harris? She immediately associates that with women. And she says, 0.91

00:23:55.380 don't tell women what to do with their bodies. Well, a man can get pregnant, can't he?

00:24:00.640 So this is not, you can't define what we are not defined. We, we, we make up our own genders,

00:24:05.640 right? We're not defined by our biology. I'm not going to have my gender assigned to me at birth.

00:24:13.000 So how dare you Kamala Harris? How dare you associate pregnancy and babies and reproductive health 1.00

00:24:20.840 with only women? That is transphobia. So all this stuff, no uterus, no opinion. If you're not a woman,

00:24:28.300 you can't have an opinion about it. Um, women's rights, women's health, all of it. You have to get 1.00

00:24:33.040 rid of all of that. You can't say that stuff anymore. According to your own ideology, that is all gone.

00:24:39.060 You can't do that because it doesn't mean anything anymore. Remember there is no women's health. 1.00

00:24:45.100 What does that mean? If by women's health, you're referring to, uh, you know, abortion,

00:24:51.940 anything that has to do with, then the phrase women's health is exclusionary, transphobic,

00:24:58.880 right? So you see, they can't, they can't even put all the pieces of their own agenda and their own

00:25:10.180 ideology together. And they don't even try because they know that everything conflicts with everything

00:25:15.600 else. It all contradicts each other because it's all so crazy. So when they're arguing for this,

00:25:22.280 when they're making this argument, then, you know, they'll make one argument over here and then

00:25:25.800 they'll put that argument down on the shelf and put it and just leave it to the side. Then they'll go

00:25:29.300 over here and make a different argument that contradicts that argument, but they keep it all

00:25:33.360 together. They never put it together into one cogent, coherent, um, system of thought because they can't.

00:25:40.180 All right. Um, let's check some of your email. Go to the inbox, mattwalshowatgmail.com,

00:25:49.940 mattwalshowatgmail.com. If you want to chime in with a question, comment, concern, uh, whatever it

00:25:56.000 may be. Insult is fine too. So this is from Ashley. She says, hi, Matt. One interesting thing I noticed

00:26:03.680 about the Washington Post commercial was that they showed footage of D-Day and the landing on the moon,

00:26:08.780 neither of which had journalists even present. Such a dumb commercial. Keep up the good work. 0.99

00:26:14.360 That's a good point. Uh, the, yeah, the filming, how was, I didn't even notice that. I, I, I'd have to go

00:26:21.260 back and watch the commercial. I'll take your word for it. They had the, uh, the moon landing. Okay.

00:26:27.440 The moon landing was filmed by the astronauts themselves. So, so apparently the moon landing

00:26:31.340 has become an instance of journalistic courage as well. They had nothing to do with it. All they did

00:26:35.740 was just reported on the news. Great point, Ashley. Um, Derek says, hi, Matt. Hey, Matt. I recall in an

00:26:44.240 episode a few weeks ago, you mentioned you watch competitive bass fishing. Just curious if you are

00:26:48.440 a bass fisherman as well. If so, that's awesome. I strongly encourage you to get involved in the

00:26:52.060 sport. Help spread knowledge of the awesome sport. That's, that's an American made sport. See you on

00:26:57.180 the water. Uh, I do. I, I don't even know if I could call myself a bass fisherman because I feel like

00:27:04.440 you have to get to a certain level of expertise, um, before you can really describe yourself

00:27:10.140 in that way. Much like, you know, if you write a blog post once every two months, you can't

00:27:16.520 really call yourself a writer, right? You've got to write a lot more to, so, um, I don't

00:27:22.480 know if I rise to that level, but I do, I do try to get out on the water and, uh, and, and

00:27:27.180 fish mostly for bass. Um, I can't say that I'm especially good at it, but if you have

00:27:33.260 any tips, Derek, please let me know. Curtis says, Matt, have you heard about the Liam

00:27:39.680 Neeson issue? I was wanting to get your thoughts on the subject. Uh, hi Curtis. Yeah. I have

00:27:43.940 followed that a little bit. Liam Neeson admitted that many years ago, uh, after his friend was

00:27:49.000 raped and she told him about it. This is back in Ireland. Uh, and he, in a follow-up interview,

00:27:55.080 he said this was 40 years, 40 years ago. Um, and she was raped, told him about it, said

00:28:01.060 that it was a black man who did it. And then he admitted in this interview that he then 0.99

00:28:05.280 prowled the streets for about a week looking to get into a violent altercation with a black 0.95

00:28:11.020 man, um, so that he could get his revenge. And he wanted to take revenge on any person 0.97

00:28:16.900 who looked like the rapist, not even just on the rapist himself. So, uh, he says no violence

00:28:23.640 occurred, but that's what he was hoping for for a week because he was so angry about this

00:28:28.000 horrible thing that happened. Um, and he admits that it was terrible. He says it was awful. He's

00:28:32.940 remorseful about it. Uh, he volunteered this whole story, which was not smart, rather a dumb move to 0.94

00:28:38.480 do, but, uh, but he volunteered it, said it's an awful, horrible thing. He's expressed great remorse

00:28:46.100 for it. So what's my take? Well, I think there is no take really to have, there's no opinion to have

00:28:51.540 on it. Yes. It's, it's awful. Of course, to consider taking revenge on any person who has the same race 1.00

00:28:58.380 as a guy who did a horrible thing that of course is awful and terrible. And, but Neeson knows that

00:29:05.300 he said so himself. It was a very long time ago. He's repented of it, obviously. Um,

00:29:12.720 so what, what, what is there to say about it? I know it's become this big thing, viral thing,

00:29:18.520 and people are, I just don't know what opinion you can offer because we could say, well, that's

00:29:22.760 terrible. That's a horrible thing. You shouldn't do that. And Liam Neeson says, yeah, I know. That's

00:29:27.340 why, that's my point. I was offering this as a story of a thing that I'm, that I feel great regret

00:29:32.760 and remorse for. So, okay. All right. Let's just move on with our lives. I don't know what the,

00:29:38.300 I don't know what else to say. Um, this is from Patty. She says, hi, Matt. I am,

00:29:42.500 familiar with the question of the eternal fate of unbaptized babies, having been troubled by it

00:29:46.480 for years, but I must add a few corrections to the way you presented it. At least in the case

00:29:50.900 of Catholic theology, mid 20th century catechisms explained it as one, a theological supposition

00:29:56.600 that was not doctrine. It did not have to be believed. And two, that babies who died without

00:30:01.460 being baptized would not go to hell, but to limbo, a place of perfect natural happiness. One such as

00:30:06.320 Eden was before the fall and to which the souls of the good went before Christ opened the gates of

00:30:10.400 heaven. It was not a punishment and there was no torment involved. Still, I always rejected

00:30:14.580 the idea that God would not want all his children with him and that he would have to withhold the

00:30:18.660 beat, the beatific vision from souls who were unbaptized through no fault of their own. A learned

00:30:24.280 priest told me that the view of unbaptized babies going to limbo instead of heaven is no longer upheld

00:30:29.520 by Catholic theologians. Right, Patty. Well, I don't think that, I don't think you're correcting

00:30:33.220 anything. I didn't say anything that contradicts that. Uh, I don't think I did anyway.

00:30:37.160 Uh, as far as limbo, it was, as you say, a theological theory based, in my opinion, on

00:30:45.420 nothing other than the imagination of theologians. They constructed this whole realm called limbo

00:30:52.440 basically out of whole cloth. It was just, there's no basis for it. It's just something that

00:30:56.660 they came up with. Um, so in my opinion, we are not only not required to believe it, but I think that

00:31:03.900 we should, we should believe it because it's not based on anything other than the speculations

00:31:09.660 of medieval theologians. And I, I just don't know why that should really carry any weight in this

00:31:16.300 case. Um, and the other problem is it also seems, so I know that if you speculate something like

00:31:24.000 limbo, uh, you think, well, you get around the whole hell thing there because even though you're 1.00

00:31:29.060 just, you've just made up this thing called limbo in your mind, you've gotten around, around hell

00:31:33.080 because you're saying, well, maybe, you know, they're not, it's not active suffering and torment,

00:31:36.540 but, um, first of all, if it's eternal, if it's eternal separation from God, not to mention from,

00:31:43.800 I mean, this is placed just for, I mean, if it's eternal separation from God, not to mention all of

00:31:50.140 your loved ones and everything, uh, I don't know how that would not be eternal torment.

00:31:54.900 How is that not suffering? But in any case, um, the other problem with it is that it,

00:32:04.500 it, uh, it kind of, it, it strips power from God. It suggests that God is not powerful enough to

00:32:13.940 figure out a way to get these babies into heaven, that it sort of presents a problem to him that he

00:32:19.020 can't fix. And so he has to cast them out somewhere else. And the other issue is that it takes

00:32:24.800 kind of a, it turns the atonement into some pretty weak sauce, doesn't it? If it can't even cover

00:32:30.660 dead infants, if dead infants are not covered by the atonement, then haven't you just severely

00:32:37.080 mitigated the effect and the power of Christ saving sacrifice? Um, so anyway, I agree with you from

00:32:45.560 Lenny. He says, Matt, I thought your reasoning as to why babies don't go to hell was not good.

00:32:50.060 You said that a just and merciful God wouldn't send babies to hell. How is that your determination?

00:32:56.200 Isn't it possible that you just don't understand justice and mercy? I just don't see how you could

00:33:00.920 presume to make those kinds of declarations. I think it's very possible that some young people,

00:33:05.520 even babies are damned upon death. I would never presume to tell God he can't do that. We are all

00:33:12.180 sinners after all, none are righteous, none at all. Well, Lenny, as I explained yesterday,

00:33:18.700 and here you are talking about, you're not talking about some limbo that you've made up. This is a,

00:33:23.580 you're talking about babies going to hell to be tormented for all eternity. That's what you're

00:33:27.880 talking about. You said damned, right? Um, well, as I explained yesterday, if the word mercy has any, 0.97

00:33:40.260 has, has a definition that includes damning infants to trillions of years of torture,

00:33:46.980 um, then the word has no discernible meaning at all. It just, it doesn't mean anything to say

00:33:53.720 mercy. I want you come up. How about this? I'll give you a challenge, Lenny. Come up with a

00:34:00.220 definition of mercy, come up with a discernible, meaningful definition of the word mercy that

00:34:06.280 could possibly include torturing infants for trillions of years. Can you do that? Because if you

00:34:12.060 can't, then that creates a logical problem. So it's not about putting God in a box or anything

00:34:18.620 like that. This becomes more of like, can God make a square circle? And the answer is no, because it's

00:34:24.600 illogical. It is a logical contradiction. Can God make a boulder so big that he can't lift it? No,

00:34:30.940 it's a logical contradiction. I would say that a merciful God damning infants to an eternity of

00:34:43.960 suffering is a logical contradiction. You've just put two opposite things together and you can't do

00:34:51.580 that. Uh, when we call God just and merciful and loving, we must mean something. Okay. These words have

00:34:59.040 to carry some meaning. And if when we say God is merciful, if all we really mean to say is God is

00:35:06.140 what he is, then again, the sentence doesn't mean anything. And we have no guarantee in that case

00:35:11.520 that God is not cruel and unjust and evil. If you're telling me that all we can say about God is,

00:35:19.360 well, he is what he is and whatever he is, that's what he is. True. But if that's all we can say about

00:35:24.600 God, then we have no guarantee at all that he's not, that he's not a cruel monster. Right? Point

00:35:30.640 being, if we, if, if all we can say about God is that he, is that he is what he is, um, then we end

00:35:37.540 up with a sort of like deism, right? Where God is this totally mysterious force that we cannot say

00:35:45.480 anything about. Um, but if you insist, as I'm sure you do, and as I do, and as scripture does,

00:35:57.420 and as Christianity has for thousands of years, um, that God is merciful as opposed to cruel,

00:36:06.720 then we must have some definition of mercy that excludes cruelty. Right?

00:36:15.180 If we include cruelty, such as the cruelty of torturing infants, if we include that in the

00:36:20.720 definition, then again, we're back to this place of deism where we can't say anything about God

00:36:25.960 because none of the words mean anything. So I say that God doesn't damn babies to hell because 0.97

00:36:32.860 when I say that I believe that God is merciful and loving, I mean it. I actually mean, I intend for

00:36:40.460 that sentence to mean something. And so that's all. Now, I understand that the, well, a loving God

00:36:50.020 wouldn't do that argument is often used to fallacious effect. Oftentimes you'll have atheists and others 0.87

00:36:56.940 who use that argument in, in, in, in illegitimate ways. So I understand that. But there are certain

00:37:05.100 things that we can say a loving God wouldn't do because for the millionth time, if there's nothing

00:37:12.700 that we can rule out, um, then calling God loving means nothing and stop saying it. You don't mean

00:37:21.020 anything when you say it. So there we go. Another example, you know, I, I, that we could say, well,

00:37:32.300 God can't do, God can't lie. Okay. I, I feel very confident saying that God as a, as an all perfect,

00:37:37.860 all good, all loving, uh, being cannot lie. So am I putting God in a box? Am I, am I, am I daring to

00:37:48.320 tell God what he can and can't do? No, I'm not telling him what to do, but I am making a declaration

00:37:55.820 about what he does and doesn't do. Doesn't lie. Because that would be in contradiction with an,

00:38:04.200 an all loving and all perfect being. And I would argue that sending babies

00:38:10.880 two trillions of years of torment is also in a contradiction.

00:38:19.000 It may, you know, either it contradicts, it could contradict, now I say it contradicts his mercy.

00:38:24.700 Uh, the only other option is that it contradicts his, his, um, his omnipotence, his, his, his,

00:38:30.740 his power. Um, because if we're saying that there's like, there's nothing he can do,

00:38:37.360 right? He just, he, for some reason he has to send them there. He can't figure out a way to

00:38:41.620 bring them in. Well then now you've just taken power from him. So by entertaining this idea,

00:38:46.580 you either strip him of mercy or you strip him of power. And I think that that is the presumptuous

00:38:52.240 thing. And also the very damaging thing, because when you go around saying this, uh, it's very

00:38:58.280 scandalizing. And I think it turns many people off of faith and God, and it gives them an impression

00:39:04.160 of God as this utterly monstrous figure. And, uh, I, I don't think that's a good thing to do.

00:39:11.580 All right. We'll leave it there. Thanks for watching everybody. Thanks for listening.

00:39:15.620 Godspeed.

00:39:23.020 Yesterday on daily wire backstage, we had a blast reviewing the state of the union address.

00:39:26.800 There were drinks, there were cigars, there was mockery, all sorts of the stuff that you are

00:39:31.220 looking for in any analysis of the state of the union address. Go check it out. That was yesterday

00:39:35.180 on daily wire backstage.

The Matt Walsh Show - February 06, 2019

Ep. 192 - Trump Gives Soaring SOTU Address, Democrats Embarrass Themselves

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