The Matt Walsh Show - November 27, 2025


Thanksgiving Is Not A Sinister Holiday ｜ Proof For Your Liberal Friend


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

165.11034

Word count

2,110

Sentence count

175

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate and be thankful for all the wonderful things we have and all the things we are thankful for. But is it really a holiday that should be celebrated at all? Is it time to end it?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.920 At Desjardins, we speak business.
00:00:03.860 We speak equipment modernization.
00:00:06.020 We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets.
00:00:09.940 And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes.
00:00:14.240 Because at Desjardins Business, we speak the same language you do.
00:00:17.940 Business.
00:00:18.720 So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us.
00:00:23.440 And contact Desjardins today.
00:00:25.520 We'd love to talk business.
00:00:30.000 Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking.
00:00:36.480 But it requires actionable steps.
00:00:38.760 Now is the time to modernize Canadian laws so that adult smokers have information and access to better alternatives.
00:00:46.260 By doing so, we can create lasting change.
00:00:49.440 If you don't smoke, don't start.
00:00:51.880 If you smoke, quit.
00:00:53.500 If you don't quit, change.
00:00:55.920 Visit unsmoke.ca.
00:00:57.480 Daily Wire Plus annual memberships are 50% off during our Black Friday sale.
00:01:03.300 That includes inside annual and all-access memberships.
00:01:06.040 It's more to enjoy than ever before.
00:01:07.960 That means more new daily shows from the most trusted voices in conservative media.
00:01:12.600 Uncensored, ad-free, and available an hour before you can see or hear them anywhere else.
00:01:18.180 More new series that capture conviction, courage, and the human story.
00:01:21.740 More documentaries that challenge the culture and expose what's really happening.
00:01:24.640 And when we say premium, we're proving it with the long-awaited seven-part epic series,
00:01:28.740 The Pendragon Cycle, Rise of the Merlin.
00:01:30.780 The Legend begins streaming January 22, 2026, exclusively on Daily Wire Plus.
00:01:36.600 All access members get early access to episodes one and two at Christmas Day.
00:01:40.260 50% off Black Friday is our biggest sale of the year.
00:01:43.460 It only happens once a year.
00:01:44.640 When it's gone, it's gone.
00:01:46.160 Go to dailywire.com slash subscribe and join now.
00:01:49.820 The Pilgrims overtook the Native Americans and took everything that they had worked so hard for. 1.00
00:02:01.540 Well, you know, Thanksgiving is a wonderful time.
00:02:04.200 It's my favorite holiday.
00:02:05.660 It's a time for celebration, gratitude, time to gather around the table with your family,
00:02:11.640 enjoy a wonderful meal, reflect on all the things that you're thankful for.
00:02:15.680 Unless you are a deranged leftist, in which case you will insist that Thanksgiving is not so simple.
00:02:22.460 There are nuances, as you like to say.
00:02:25.220 Thanksgiving is deeply problematic.
00:02:27.440 And that's why every year around this time of year, you'll start seeing articles like this one,
00:02:31.940 which was just published in The Nation, headline,
00:02:34.180 Should America Keep Celebrating Thanksgiving?
00:02:36.560 Now, the article presents two competing perspectives.
00:02:38.820 Both sides of the discussion are put forward.
00:02:40.400 And you have to give The Nation credit, at least, for giving both sides of the debate.
00:02:44.600 As dumb as you might think the debate is, at least they gave both sides.
00:02:48.580 And, you know, that's honestly more than I would expect from this publication.
00:02:52.440 So here's the first argument, presented by a guy named Sean Sherman.
00:02:56.240 Quote,
00:02:56.440 The sanitized version of Thanksgiving neglects to mention the violence, land theft, and subsequent decimation of indigenous populations.
00:03:04.460 Needless to say, this causes tremendous distress to those of us who are still reeling from the trauma of these events to our communities.
00:03:11.960 Thanksgiving's roots are intertwined with colonial aggression.
00:03:15.220 One of the first documented Thanksgivings came in 1637,
00:03:18.740 after the colonists celebrated their massacre of an entire Pequot village. 0.96
00:03:22.600 I do not think we need to end Thanksgiving, but we do need to decolonize it.
00:03:29.240 That means centering the indigenous perspective and challenging the colonial narratives around the holiday and every other day on the calendar.
00:03:35.980 By reclaiming authentic histories and practices, decolonization seeks to honor indigenous values, identities, and knowledge.
00:03:42.740 This approach is one of constructive evolution.
00:03:45.080 In decolonizing Thanksgiving, we acknowledge this painful past while reimagining our lives in a more truthful manner.
00:03:53.780 Now, by the way, in case this wasn't clear, that was the pro-Thanksgiving side of the debate.
00:03:59.820 So they have two sides of the debate.
00:04:01.400 That's what the pro-sound side sounds like.
00:04:04.840 The Thanksgiving defender is a guy who thinks that the European settlers were evil, genocidal colonizers.
00:04:11.860 So, if that's what he thinks, here's what the opponent of the holiday has to say.
00:04:16.840 You want to give thanks?
00:04:18.220 Give thanks to native nations who granted settlers some form of legitimacy by entering into treaties recognizing them to be in our homelands.
00:04:25.320 Those treaties recognize that Americans are now under our spiritual custody and have rights to pass through our country. 0.97
00:04:31.540 As soon as Americans were able to impose their will on indigenous nations, the treaties were violated. 0.64
00:04:36.960 Some indigenous nations do not have treaties, and legally this means their nation should be intact.
00:04:41.260 Those of us who have treaties have defensible legal claims to lands that are now occupied by private American settlers under U.S. law.
00:04:48.840 November is already Native American Heritage Month.
00:04:52.000 Thanksgiving could be something better.
00:04:53.760 A day to appreciate the truth of a Native American history and Native Americans' contributions to our lives.
00:04:59.140 Let's tell a different story by dropping the lie of Thanksgiving and begin a truthsgiving.
00:05:04.960 Yes, let's tell the truth of Thanksgiving, he says.
00:05:09.100 Let's tell the story that no one's ever heard before.
00:05:12.920 And that's why every year around this time, there are dozens of articles and videos talking about the alleged truth that nobody is allegedly talking about.
00:05:21.660 With the holidays coming up, all those dinners, all those moments around the table with family, I want to make sure every meal is special.
00:05:28.120 That's why I use Good Ranchers. 0.98
00:05:29.860 All their meat is 100% American, raised on local farms, delivered right to my door.
00:05:35.240 Quality, well, truly incredible.
00:05:36.900 Whether it's a holiday roast, bacon for breakfast on Christmas morning, a chicken for a nice family dinner, knowing exactly where my meat comes from gives me and my family peace of mind.
00:05:46.800 Honestly, people notice the difference, too. The flavors are truly just better all around.
00:05:51.800 Holidays are about bringing people together, creating memories over good food.
00:05:55.520 And when you're serving America's best meat, those meals become even more meaningful.
00:05:59.420 It's the kind of quality your family deserves and the kind they'll be talking about long after the holidays are over.
00:06:04.500 I used to think you could only get a really great steak at like an expensive steakhouse, but Good Ranchers delivers that same quality right to my door.
00:06:11.580 Now I can impress family and guests without dropping, you know, 100 bucks every time we eat out.
00:06:16.360 And here's the deal. All new subscribers to any Good Ranchers box using code Walsh will get an additional $100 off your first three orders, $40 off your first, $30 off your second, $30 off your third, and free meat for life when you subscribe.
00:06:30.720 So hit up GoodRanchers.com this holiday season full of delicious meals.
00:06:35.100 Again, use code Walsh, GoodRanchers.com.
00:06:38.520 Let's get back to the table.
00:06:39.800 It's true that the traditional story of Thanksgiving that they used to tell young children in school decades ago is simplistic.
00:06:50.060 And there's probably a certain element of legend to it.
00:06:53.360 Every country has its legends.
00:06:54.920 Every country has its foundational myths.
00:06:57.960 There is nothing sinister about that.
00:07:01.140 Stories are passed down through the generations.
00:07:03.700 Details are lost over time.
00:07:05.280 Sometimes details are added.
00:07:07.720 All to preserve the central theme or message in the story.
00:07:12.080 Every culture has its legends.
00:07:14.400 And really, our understanding of all historical events from centuries ago is at the very least incomplete.
00:07:22.360 We don't have camera footage to review.
00:07:24.280 So we can only go by what people involved said happened.
00:07:29.020 Or what people who talk to people involved said happened.
00:07:32.840 None of this is revelatory.
00:07:34.220 We all understand this.
00:07:37.980 Okay, so every time they say, well, did you know, you know, what they told you in second grade about Thanksgiving?
00:07:43.640 Did you know that wasn't the whole story?
00:07:45.000 Of course it's not the whole story, you idiot.
00:07:47.040 It was in second grade.
00:07:48.100 I assume it wasn't the whole story.
00:07:49.980 None of that changes the basic meaning of Thanksgiving or undermines or debunks the basic central story of Thanksgiving.
00:07:57.700 Besides, the old simplistic story of the holiday has now been replaced with a new simplistic story.
00:08:05.460 In the new simplistic version, the Native tribes were all a bunch of peaceful tree-hugging hippies in tune with the earth and nature, singing kumbaya when they were viciously slaughtered by the white man.
00:08:17.020 The pilgrims overtook the Native Americans and took everything that they had worked so hard for. 1.00
00:08:23.080 The actual truth is that the Native tribes were in a constant state of war long before any white man set foot on these shores.
00:08:29.080 Violence was an integral part of so-called indigenous culture, all indigenous cultures, because it was not just one culture. 0.68
00:08:35.240 These were disparate tribes stretched out all over the hemisphere, and violence was an integral part of all of them, no exceptions. 1.00
00:08:45.000 As for their contact with European settlers, sometimes the contact was peaceful on both sides.
00:08:50.160 On some occasions, the settlers committed atrocities.
00:08:52.900 On some occasions, the Indians committed atrocities.
00:08:55.540 On some occasions, the atrocities on either side were basically unprovoked.
00:08:59.080 On plenty of occasions, there was mutual combat between the two sides.
00:09:03.300 They don't mention any of this.
00:09:05.240 They never do.
00:09:06.500 They never acknowledge even one of the many, many, many countless instances of Indian tribes inflicting horrific, savage violence on innocent colonists, including women and children.
00:09:19.760 And on each other.
00:09:21.760 They never acknowledge it because they don't want you to realize that this land was not stolen.
00:09:26.060 It was conquered, fair, and square.
00:09:28.600 The previous conquerors of this land were then themselves conquered.
00:09:32.800 That's the way it goes.
00:09:34.160 By the way, I've got news for you.
00:09:35.720 400 years ago, almost everybody's life was brutal and tragic.
00:09:40.240 If we're supposed to be sad about misfortunes suffered by people we never met way back in the distant past, then we will never stop being sad.
00:09:47.560 Almost everyone everywhere suffered greatly back in those days.
00:09:51.340 There are plenty of people still suffering greatly today.
00:09:53.680 If you want to empathize with people's pain, maybe choose people who are currently living, not people who had decomposed in the ground 400 years ago.
00:10:01.400 Not people who died 300 years before the automobile was invented.
00:10:04.840 Now, in final analysis, history contains an essentially infinite amount of suffering and atrocities and outrages and injustices.
00:10:15.180 It also contains heroism and sacrifice and courage and achievement.
00:10:19.600 It is up to us to decide which of those things in our national history we will focus on.
00:10:26.660 I contend that the healthiest category to focus on, the thing that you focus on if you want to be a thriving and happy and healthy society, is the latter.
00:10:35.520 Which isn't to say that we outright deny and never discuss the former.
00:10:39.080 Of course we acknowledge that bad things were done in our history.
00:10:41.740 We shouldn't try to erase that from the history books, and nobody is.
00:10:45.140 But ultimately, you will look back on your history with pride and gratitude or with resentment and despair.
00:10:51.500 You will focus on the triumph or the tragedy.
00:10:53.860 The people of all other nations across the world, or at least the non-Western world, they choose to focus on the triumph of their ancestors, which breeds national pride and patriotism and gratitude.
00:11:06.900 In the modern West, we are the only ones who have decided to basically ignore all of the positive and concentrate almost exclusively on the bad.
00:11:16.400 So much so that even our day of Thanksgiving has become, at least in some corners, times of mourning.
00:11:21.720 And what has that strategy gotten us?
00:11:24.960 It's only made us resentful, sullen, depressed, ungrateful.
00:11:29.340 It has made us worse people, and our country a worse country.
00:11:35.500 That's why I will not partake in this historical self-flagellation.
00:11:40.420 Instead, I celebrate the incredible valor and intrepidness of my ancestors.
00:11:45.140 I take pride in this country's history, in those who made it possible for this country to exist in the first place.
00:11:53.400 I am happy that they came here and that they conquered.
00:11:57.120 I am thankful for their conquest.
00:12:00.440 I will give thanks for it on Thanksgiving.
00:12:04.120 And for so much else.
00:12:05.240 And for everybody else, I will say, they are, today, cancelled.
00:12:11.540 Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door.
00:12:20.080 Expertly cleaned and folded.
00:12:21.680 So you can take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you.
00:12:27.720 Like tea time you.
00:12:29.700 Mmm.
00:12:30.520 Or this tea time you.
00:12:33.080 Or even this tea time you.
00:12:35.620 So did you hear about Dave?
00:12:36.840 Or even tea time, tea time, tea time you.
00:12:39.720 Mmm.
00:12:40.200 So update on Dave.
00:12:42.720 It's up to you.
00:12:43.800 We'll take the laundry.
00:12:45.240 Rinse.
00:12:45.840 It's time to be great.