The Megyn Kelly Show - Silencing Free Speech and BLM's $6 Million Mansion, with Andrew Klavan

00:00:00.000 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.

00:00:02.860 Someone is trying to frame us.

00:00:05.160 Until our names are cleared.

00:00:07.700 We're fugitives from interval.

00:00:09.480 Like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.

00:00:12.840 Espionage?

00:00:13.560 You still as good a shot as you used to be?

00:00:16.580 Better.

00:00:17.400 Is there love language?

00:00:18.860 We like to walk that fine line between techno-thriller

00:00:21.360 and romantic comedy.

00:00:24.180 We make up our own rules.

00:00:25.940 NCIS Tony and Ziva.

00:00:27.400 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.

00:00:30.000 When I found out my friend got a great deal

00:00:32.300 on a wool coat from Winner's,

00:00:33.920 I started wondering,

00:00:35.580 is every fabulous item I see from Winner's?

00:00:38.680 Like that woman over there with the designer jeans.

00:00:41.400 Are those from Winner's?

00:00:42.940 Ooh, or those beautiful gold earrings.

00:00:45.380 Did she pay full price?

00:00:46.740 Or that leather tote?

00:00:47.740 Or that cashmere sweater?

00:00:48.940 Or those knee-high boots?

00:00:50.380 That dress?

00:00:51.220 That jacket?

00:00:51.880 Those shoes?

00:00:52.900 Is anyone paying full price for anything?

00:00:55.400 Stop wondering.

00:00:57.160 Start winning.

00:00:57.720 Winners find fabulous for less.

00:01:01.100 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:01:02.660 Your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.

00:01:11.820 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.

00:01:13.660 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:01:15.600 Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson,

00:01:17.620 one step closer to the Supreme Court,

00:01:19.880 with three Senate Republicans now supporting her nomination.

00:01:23.200 That plus, Black Lives Matter secretly bought a $6 million home

00:01:30.060 and actively worked to conceal it from the media

00:01:33.320 and then conspired when the media got a hold of it

00:01:36.060 on how to mislead them.

00:01:37.880 So we'll talk about that.

00:01:38.840 And also, a mother has now been fired

00:01:40.880 for speaking out against New York City Mayor Eric Adams' mask policy.

00:01:44.560 Remember we showed you and talked about that,

00:01:46.200 the folks that showed up to protest,

00:01:48.460 the fact that he's masking toddlers still.

00:01:50.440 He lost a legal battle.

00:01:52.580 The court said, you don't have the power to do that.

00:01:54.520 The masks are coming off the two-year-old kids in New York.

00:01:58.100 And then he filed an appeal,

00:01:59.400 and the appellate court sided with him,

00:02:00.960 and he's delighted.

00:02:02.140 And the parents are angry,

00:02:03.160 and a woman who spoke out about it just got fired

00:02:05.440 because she works for this city.

00:02:07.080 It's insane.

00:02:08.380 Here to discuss that and so much more

00:02:11.060 is somebody I've been trying to interview for a long time.

00:02:13.960 His name is Andrew Clavin.

00:02:15.700 He has a podcast over the Daily Wire once a week,

00:02:19.160 which is well worth your time.

00:02:20.960 But he's an extremely successful writer, thinker,

00:02:25.800 just one of those people who's got a lot of built-up wisdom

00:02:28.400 thanks to his time in this earth.

00:02:30.040 And it spans from faith to philosophy,

00:02:33.840 some of which is espoused in his new book.

00:02:36.240 It's just out today.

00:02:37.100 It's called The Truth and Beauty,

00:02:39.920 How the Lives and Works of England's Greatest Poets

00:02:42.340 point the way to a deeper understanding

00:02:44.560 of the words of Jesus.

00:02:46.880 Andrew, welcome.

00:02:47.700 So great to have you here.

00:02:49.440 Thanks, Megan.

00:02:49.960 It's great to be here.

00:02:51.040 Oh, I'm a big fan.

00:02:52.040 You're brilliant.

00:02:53.120 I love you.

00:02:53.600 My only complaint about your podcast

00:02:55.140 is that it doesn't come out enough.

00:02:56.560 You need to do more.

00:02:58.500 I had to cut back.

00:02:59.600 I was doing it four days a week,

00:03:01.020 and I just thought, you know,

00:03:02.100 I don't have that many opinions.

00:03:04.600 I know that's not true,

00:03:05.940 but you have other things that you do.

00:03:07.580 I mean, it's not like,

00:03:08.640 if I only believed you were doing the podcast,

00:03:10.820 I'd be on you more,

00:03:11.520 but I know you write

00:03:12.300 and you do a lot of other things,

00:03:13.480 and so there has to be time to think

00:03:14.900 and to actually build that beautiful brain.

00:03:17.400 Let me make a confession to you.

00:03:18.900 My first introduction to you

00:03:20.780 on a more serious note

00:03:22.560 was through your son, Spencer.

00:03:24.920 So a long time ago,

00:03:26.180 we first launched the podcast,

00:03:27.200 going on two years ago now,

00:03:28.640 I interviewed,

00:03:30.080 I've had him on many times,

00:03:31.280 Victor Davis Hanson,

00:03:32.400 who's a professor of classics and so on,

00:03:34.700 and a deep thinker,

00:03:35.980 and I confessed to him,

00:03:37.460 I didn't really understand what it meant

00:03:38.940 to be a professor of classics.

00:03:40.140 I'm very low bar, Andrew.

00:03:41.700 This is what you need to know about me.

00:03:43.060 That's what you're dealing with, okay?

00:03:44.840 I'm like, what does it mean?

00:03:45.920 Explain it to me.

00:03:46.720 So he did,

00:03:47.400 and I was like,

00:03:47.800 oh, I really want to know more about that.

00:03:49.600 And one of my listeners said,

00:03:51.060 you should try Spencer Clavin's podcast

00:03:53.100 called Young Heretics,

00:03:55.000 and he talks about the classics,

00:03:56.600 and he sort of gives you a,

00:03:58.660 it's actually not a base level education.

00:04:01.760 It's much, much, much more than that,

00:04:03.060 but he makes you love them

00:04:04.200 and just sort of walks you through

00:04:06.700 a lot of things

00:04:07.180 that I never learned in my schooling.

00:04:08.460 So then I got connected to you

00:04:10.800 and blah, blah, blah,

00:04:11.320 and I'm so delighted

00:04:12.360 to have the man who created Spencer Clavin

00:04:14.940 here on the show today.

00:04:16.540 One of my better works.

00:04:17.760 I appreciate that.

00:04:18.640 He's a rotten little kid

00:04:20.180 for being that smart,

00:04:21.120 but he is a brilliant, brilliant guy.

00:04:23.340 And he is also,

00:04:24.660 he got his PhD in classics from Oxford,

00:04:27.280 so he is well-educated.

00:04:29.240 Yeah.

00:04:29.500 Oh my God.

00:04:29.900 Like his resume is crazy good.

00:04:31.520 And when I started to read up on you

00:04:33.480 more in depth in preparing for today,

00:04:35.380 I realized how he got to be that way.

00:04:37.900 I mean, just your stories

00:04:39.000 about how you guys

00:04:40.160 used to spend time together

00:04:41.420 and the amount of time

00:04:42.760 you've put into your children.

00:04:45.740 And even to this day,

00:04:47.200 writing about, you know,

00:04:48.120 how you were preparing this book

00:04:49.440 that I mentioned in the intro,

00:04:51.780 sitting there with Spencer,

00:04:53.420 both of you guys now drinking a whiskey.

00:04:55.480 He's a grown up now.

00:04:56.800 Talking about philosophy,

00:04:57.980 talking about God,

00:04:58.920 talking about how to figure out

00:05:00.820 the meaning of the gospel.

00:05:03.220 It's great stuff.

00:05:04.600 It gave me an,

00:05:05.480 it inspired me to try to elevate

00:05:07.760 my own relationship with my children.

00:05:10.440 Well, it is something, you know,

00:05:12.280 he and I have been walking

00:05:13.940 and hiking and drinking a little bit

00:05:15.880 as we get older

00:05:16.640 and talking for so long

00:05:18.400 that we frequently joke

00:05:19.440 that we no longer know

00:05:20.600 whose ideas are which.

00:05:22.040 And I call him Clavin 2.0

00:05:24.040 because I expect him to take

00:05:25.320 our joint ideas

00:05:27.060 into the next generation.

00:05:28.140 And you're absolutely right.

00:05:29.440 This book would not have been written

00:05:30.660 without him,

00:05:31.280 not just because he,

00:05:32.920 not just because his ideas

00:05:34.060 are now interwoven

00:05:35.140 with mine inextricably,

00:05:36.520 but also because

00:05:37.860 I was talking to him.

00:05:39.320 The book starts

00:05:40.040 with a conversation

00:05:40.680 I was having with him

00:05:41.500 in which I was saying

00:05:42.180 some of the words of Jesus

00:05:43.400 are actually kind of puzzling,

00:05:44.620 you know,

00:05:44.920 to say, you know,

00:05:45.820 love your enemies

00:05:46.540 and I don't even like my enemies

00:05:48.020 and turn the other cheek

00:05:49.500 and I would happily like

00:05:50.600 just deck anybody

00:05:51.540 who attacked him

00:05:52.360 or his mother.

00:05:52.880 And he said to me,

00:05:54.660 you're trying to understand

00:05:56.080 a philosophy,

00:05:56.660 but you should be trying

00:05:58.020 to get to know a man.

00:05:59.480 And I realized

00:06:00.480 the minute he said it,

00:06:01.300 I thought that's the

00:06:01.840 most brilliant thing

00:06:03.360 anybody's ever said to me

00:06:04.420 because, you know,

00:06:05.180 when you know somebody,

00:06:06.280 your father,

00:06:07.500 your mother,

00:06:08.140 your wife,

00:06:08.860 whatever,

00:06:09.400 when you really know them,

00:06:10.280 you don't think,

00:06:10.880 well, this is their

00:06:11.360 philosophy of life.

00:06:12.360 I don't think this is

00:06:13.040 my wife's philosophy of life.

00:06:14.520 I just think

00:06:15.000 this is what she would say

00:06:16.460 if she were here.

00:06:17.740 This is what she would be thinking

00:06:19.020 if she were here.

00:06:19.740 And that's where

00:06:20.620 the book began.

00:06:21.500 It began with me

00:06:22.220 trying to reread the Gospels

00:06:23.960 without any theology whatsoever,

00:06:26.300 even the theology of Paul

00:06:27.540 and just try to get

00:06:28.200 to know the guy.

00:06:29.340 And it was a genuinely

00:06:30.720 powerful experiment

00:06:32.120 and resulted in this book.

00:06:33.240 And I hope

00:06:33.560 the things that I found

00:06:35.200 which have increased

00:06:35.860 my joy level substantially

00:06:37.340 will have the same effect

00:06:38.760 on other people.

00:06:39.960 Well, this is going to be

00:06:40.340 very useful to me

00:06:41.340 in my own relationship

00:06:42.440 with my youngest child,

00:06:43.580 Thatcher,

00:06:44.040 who's only eight

00:06:45.040 and he's about to make

00:06:45.780 his first communion

00:06:46.480 in the Catholic Church.

00:06:47.440 And he's got to,

00:06:49.460 they're going to perform publicly,

00:06:50.940 obviously,

00:06:51.300 in the church together.

00:06:52.240 And he's responsible

00:06:53.880 for the last two lines

00:06:54.880 of the Our Father.

00:06:55.880 Because I know you wrestled

00:06:56.820 with Sermon on the Mount.

00:06:57.700 It's right in there.

00:06:58.560 And talk about the meaning

00:07:00.100 of the words.

00:07:00.820 And you could read them.

00:07:02.080 Obviously, you're brilliant.

00:07:03.280 You understand the meaning

00:07:04.320 of words.

00:07:05.000 But you were looking for

00:07:06.360 sort of a higher level.

00:07:07.600 Like, what's really being said here?

00:07:10.360 And I thought the same thing

00:07:12.040 last night

00:07:12.480 as I was trying to explain

00:07:13.460 the Our Father to Thatcher

00:07:14.420 in those last two lines

00:07:15.460 and how, you know,

00:07:16.580 what do they mean?

00:07:17.640 And why are you saying them?

00:07:18.940 And why are we making you

00:07:19.880 memorize all this stuff

00:07:21.000 in advance of this event?

00:07:22.580 Too often we go through it

00:07:23.700 in a rote manner

00:07:24.700 as opposed to just

00:07:25.600 pausing to figure out

00:07:27.520 what is God

00:07:28.940 trying to tell me here?

00:07:30.960 It's really true.

00:07:32.260 And for me,

00:07:33.220 it's really important

00:07:34.640 because I'm one of these people,

00:07:36.300 I don't really care

00:07:37.360 that much about theology.

00:07:38.780 I like to discuss theology,

00:07:40.180 but I don't care.

00:07:41.640 People ask me all the time,

00:07:42.640 are the ends of days coming?

00:07:43.840 And I have no idea.

00:07:45.160 It actually says in the gospel

00:07:46.300 that I have no idea.

00:07:47.600 And they, you know,

00:07:48.480 they talk about other people's sins

00:07:49.980 and I don't think about

00:07:50.920 other people's sins too much.

00:07:52.480 What I really think about a lot

00:07:54.300 is what does God want me

00:07:56.000 to do today, this minute?

00:07:57.460 You know, what does he want me to say?

00:07:58.720 What does he want me to write?

00:07:59.640 How does he want me to work?

00:08:00.580 How does he want me to live?

00:08:02.400 And that's the only thing

00:08:03.420 I have any control over.

00:08:04.700 So that was kind of

00:08:05.480 my approach to the gospels

00:08:07.260 and it's kind of been

00:08:08.160 what I've been trying

00:08:08.700 to get out of the gospels.

00:08:10.260 You know, I talk about the fact

00:08:11.620 that in the Nicene Creed,

00:08:13.060 which is the basic statement

00:08:14.100 of Christianity,

00:08:14.760 it says Jesus was born of a virgin

00:08:17.120 and he died under Pontius Pilate.

00:08:18.840 And there's nothing

00:08:19.440 between those two things.

00:08:20.380 It's as if he never lived.

00:08:21.540 You know, he just was born

00:08:22.460 and he died.

00:08:23.460 And so figuring out

00:08:24.720 what he was doing in between

00:08:25.840 and why he was doing it

00:08:26.980 and what he was trying to say,

00:08:27.780 I think is a big deal.

00:08:28.720 And you're absolutely right.

00:08:29.760 When you say the Our Father,

00:08:31.240 you don't really think about it.

00:08:32.340 I mean, we can all say it by heart

00:08:33.860 and we all know it by rote,

00:08:36.640 but it just kind of goes silent

00:08:38.520 in your head

00:08:39.020 when you say it that way.

00:08:39.780 You have to stop

00:08:40.420 and look at every line.

00:08:43.640 You're so good at,

00:08:45.400 forgive the term,

00:08:46.280 but punditry.

00:08:47.300 You're really good at it.

00:08:48.420 Not everybody can do

00:08:49.820 what you do,

00:08:50.900 what Ben Shapiro does,

00:08:52.200 what Matt Walsh does,

00:08:53.400 just wind up

00:08:54.120 and talk for an hour straight

00:08:55.640 and release it as a podcast

00:08:57.060 that people actually

00:08:58.140 want to listen to, right?

00:08:59.280 They just want to hear

00:08:59.820 one man's opinion for an hour.

00:09:01.960 And so the people like you

00:09:03.080 who make that a success

00:09:04.360 are important.

00:09:05.720 Clearly you have something

00:09:06.700 valuable to say.

00:09:07.700 There's a reason people flock to.

00:09:08.740 So I was surprised to read

00:09:10.940 that you kind of recognized

00:09:13.800 that doing that,

00:09:15.420 you know,

00:09:15.640 the culture wars,

00:09:16.660 I think is how you put it,

00:09:17.880 wasn't necessarily God's mission.

00:09:20.620 It wasn't necessarily

00:09:21.680 going to make you feel more joyful,

00:09:23.980 but writing this book did.

00:09:26.060 Yeah, writing this book,

00:09:28.520 the experience of writing this book

00:09:29.700 was like standing

00:09:30.500 on a little laser dot,

00:09:31.960 you know,

00:09:32.120 in those cop shows

00:09:32.960 when the bad guy

00:09:33.840 gets the laser dot

00:09:34.740 on his chest,

00:09:35.480 you know,

00:09:35.660 that's,

00:09:36.040 I felt like I was standing

00:09:37.040 right on the dot

00:09:37.920 of where God wanted me to be

00:09:39.220 doing exactly

00:09:40.060 what he wanted me to do.

00:09:41.760 And I often feel like

00:09:42.800 that giving the podcast,

00:09:44.040 but not as precisely.

00:09:45.080 It was just,

00:09:46.080 my whole brain went silent

00:09:47.740 while I was writing the book.

00:09:49.300 I could barely even pray

00:09:50.900 in words anymore

00:09:52.280 because I felt

00:09:52.960 I didn't have to ask

00:09:53.860 any questions.

00:09:54.480 I just knew I had to finish

00:09:55.860 this book.

00:09:57.040 That's a,

00:09:57.300 it's a remark,

00:09:57.820 it was a remarkable experience.

00:09:59.960 And,

00:10:00.460 you know,

00:10:01.580 when that happens,

00:10:02.420 you just got to follow that.

00:10:03.440 And one of the reasons

00:10:04.080 I cut the,

00:10:04.680 the podcast back

00:10:06.320 to once a week

00:10:07.080 was because I wanted

00:10:08.240 to get back to my writing.

00:10:10.500 It's kind of what

00:10:11.380 I've trained myself to do.

00:10:12.580 It's what I've worked at.

00:10:13.420 It's where I think

00:10:14.000 I express myself

00:10:15.640 with the kind of precision

00:10:16.620 that matters to me.

00:10:18.120 I've been,

00:10:18.940 doing the podcast

00:10:19.780 has been a joy

00:10:21.180 and it has been a shock

00:10:22.500 as well

00:10:22.920 because writers,

00:10:23.980 as you may know,

00:10:25.020 they live very solitary lives

00:10:26.640 and most of us

00:10:27.480 are very well suited

00:10:28.560 to that life.

00:10:29.240 We're meant

00:10:29.860 to be solitary.

00:10:31.340 I would go

00:10:31.800 for weeks sometimes

00:10:33.060 without seeing anybody

00:10:33.840 but my family

00:10:34.580 and never even notice it.

00:10:36.180 It used to kind of

00:10:36.700 worry me a little bit.

00:10:37.840 And suddenly here I was

00:10:38.920 in front of a camera.

00:10:40.020 Suddenly people recognized me

00:10:41.240 on the street

00:10:41.880 which was a shock

00:10:43.140 because that doesn't happen

00:10:43.960 to writers either.

00:10:45.280 It was a real change

00:10:46.700 in my life

00:10:47.460 but I obviously,

00:10:48.540 I knew that it was

00:10:49.340 where I was supposed to go

00:10:50.420 and what I was supposed

00:10:51.120 to be doing.

00:10:52.220 I wouldn't have done it

00:10:53.460 30 years ago.

00:10:54.880 I wouldn't have known

00:10:55.560 what to say.

00:10:56.280 I wouldn't have known

00:10:56.780 what I thought about anything

00:10:57.860 but at this point

00:10:58.500 as you say,

00:10:59.060 I've been here,

00:10:59.940 I think I'm now 157 years old

00:11:02.000 and I've seen so much

00:11:03.540 and I do understand

00:11:05.780 certain things

00:11:06.520 especially,

00:11:07.220 you know,

00:11:07.400 I have a very young audience

00:11:08.460 and there are things

00:11:09.020 that they don't quite get yet

00:11:10.980 and they don't quite

00:11:11.620 know what's up ahead

00:11:13.300 and I do.

00:11:14.260 I actually do know

00:11:14.980 what's up ahead.

00:11:15.440 You can get older

00:11:17.260 and wiser,

00:11:17.860 you can get older

00:11:18.360 and no wiser

00:11:19.000 and I have kept

00:11:19.560 my eyes open

00:11:20.240 and so I do have

00:11:20.940 something to say.

00:11:22.260 It's been a gift.

00:11:23.100 The podcast

00:11:23.780 has absolutely been a gift

00:11:25.200 but I never feel

00:11:26.760 so much at home

00:11:28.400 as when I'm sitting

00:11:28.960 in front of the computer

00:11:30.440 and just putting words

00:11:31.900 on a page,

00:11:33.540 what we now call a page.

00:11:35.040 Well,

00:11:35.260 a word on your accomplishments

00:11:36.540 in one second

00:11:37.460 but I agree with you.

00:11:38.720 I'm married to a writer.

00:11:39.660 He writes,

00:11:40.620 well,

00:11:40.820 he has written fiction

00:11:41.660 but right now

00:11:42.200 he's in the middle

00:11:42.720 of a book.

00:11:44.300 It's nonfiction

00:11:44.840 and it's his favorite yet.

00:11:47.040 Anyway,

00:11:47.660 he basically describes

00:11:49.480 writing as

00:11:50.020 you observe for a living

00:11:51.540 and I like that.

00:11:52.860 That's true.

00:11:53.720 Right?

00:11:54.020 And so that's what you've done

00:11:54.960 and yet you've given us

00:11:57.200 the gift of then

00:11:57.880 repeating back to us

00:11:59.560 in the podcast form

00:12:01.080 which is so easy to consume,

00:12:02.280 right?

00:12:02.440 A book takes longer

00:12:03.300 for the person consuming it.

00:12:05.820 Those observations,

00:12:06.980 right?

00:12:07.100 Like all the goodness

00:12:07.960 of those observations

00:12:08.840 poured into today's news

00:12:11.080 and giving us perspective

00:12:12.500 on what's really happening.

00:12:13.520 That's what I find

00:12:14.260 invaluable about it.

00:12:15.180 Somebody who's

00:12:15.740 a little older,

00:12:17.280 wiser,

00:12:17.920 who's able to sort of

00:12:19.100 take all of your learning

00:12:20.600 and your exposure

00:12:21.700 to all these great writers

00:12:23.800 and all these great cultural icons

00:12:25.360 and so on

00:12:25.820 and say,

00:12:26.300 this is what's really happening.

00:12:27.360 This is why this is a problem.

00:12:28.920 This is why a moral code

00:12:29.840 is important.

00:12:30.500 This is why the Bible

00:12:31.160 is important.

00:12:31.560 This is why actually

00:12:32.620 learning religion

00:12:33.320 and understanding

00:12:33.920 and living by it

00:12:34.900 can make a difference

00:12:36.260 in your life

00:12:36.740 as opposed to just

00:12:37.380 going through the road

00:12:38.040 like, okay,

00:12:38.640 yes,

00:12:38.880 church on Sunday.

00:12:39.460 And interestingly,

00:12:41.420 it all comes from a man

00:12:42.760 who was raised Jewish

00:12:43.620 and then meandered over

00:12:45.580 into agnosticism

00:12:47.740 and then atheism

00:12:48.900 for a time.

00:12:49.980 So we'll get to the conversion.

00:12:50.940 But before that,

00:12:51.400 let me just tell the audience

00:12:52.160 about your resume

00:12:52.740 because it's great.

00:12:54.940 Author of such

00:12:55.860 internationally bestselling novels

00:12:57.200 as True Crime.

00:12:58.560 Hello, do people remember

00:12:59.380 True Crime?

00:13:00.180 They made it into a film

00:13:01.420 starring Clint Eastwood

00:13:02.320 and Don't Say a Word.

00:13:04.440 Also made it into a film

00:13:05.460 starring Michael Douglas

00:13:06.660 and Brittany Murphy

00:13:07.860 if my memory serves,

00:13:09.180 right?

00:13:09.600 Poor Brittany Murphy.

00:13:10.920 She wound up dying too young.

00:13:12.580 You've been nominated

00:13:13.300 for the Mystery Writers of America

00:13:14.980 Edgar Award five times.

00:13:16.520 You've won it twice.

00:13:18.980 Your books have been translated

00:13:20.120 around the world

00:13:20.640 and Stephen King

00:13:21.740 calls you the most original

00:13:24.120 American novelist

00:13:25.160 of crime and suspense

00:13:26.580 since Cornell Woodridge.

00:13:28.640 Woolrich.

00:13:29.260 I got to look up

00:13:29.880 Cornell Woolrich now

00:13:30.800 but it sounds like

00:13:31.620 a massive compliment.

00:13:33.360 Anyway,

00:13:33.780 so that's awesome

00:13:34.920 and it explains your writing,

00:13:36.120 your devotion to writing.

00:13:37.000 You've clearly done very well.

00:13:38.340 So talk to me about

00:13:39.260 being raised Jewish culturally

00:13:41.220 though not necessarily religiously

00:13:44.060 and how you meandered away from that.

00:13:46.880 Well, yeah,

00:13:47.100 that was the problem actually

00:13:48.260 that I was raised

00:13:49.140 to respect the traditions

00:13:50.940 and to understand

00:13:51.760 the traditions of Judaism

00:13:53.220 but God was really

00:13:54.300 not a presence in my house.

00:13:55.840 My mother was,

00:13:56.740 my mother was the most

00:13:57.700 committed atheist

00:13:58.820 I think I've ever met.

00:13:59.860 She thought the entire thing

00:14:01.080 was silly.

00:14:02.400 She never,

00:14:03.380 when I converted,

00:14:04.020 she didn't care

00:14:04.960 because she thought

00:14:05.580 it's all nonsense anyway.

00:14:07.420 My father had more

00:14:08.540 of a sort of

00:14:09.080 deal-making relationship

00:14:10.860 with God

00:14:11.400 but none of it really

00:14:12.180 informed the Jewish traditions

00:14:14.180 that I was learning.

00:14:15.580 So when I was bar mitzvahed

00:14:16.680 which I was very reluctantly,

00:14:18.060 I already knew

00:14:18.640 I didn't believe in any of it.

00:14:21.220 You know,

00:14:21.820 I was given

00:14:22.480 a lot of presents,

00:14:23.660 a lot of jewelry

00:14:24.720 and gold

00:14:25.400 and savings bonds

00:14:26.680 and after about six months

00:14:28.360 I felt so guilty

00:14:29.320 for having

00:14:29.840 gotten up on a stage

00:14:31.240 and said things

00:14:31.940 that I didn't believe

00:14:32.840 that I actually crept out

00:14:34.480 in the middle of the night

00:14:35.360 with this leather box

00:14:36.860 full of jewelry

00:14:37.520 and thousands of dollars

00:14:38.840 worth of bonds

00:14:39.380 and I stuffed it

00:14:40.460 into the garbage

00:14:41.060 and threw it away

00:14:41.800 and I thought

00:14:42.320 I am done with religion.

00:14:43.900 I don't want to

00:14:44.480 have that sense

00:14:45.520 of hypocrisy anymore

00:14:47.080 and that really

00:14:48.360 continued throughout my life

00:14:50.500 in spite of the fact

00:14:51.440 in spite of the fact

00:14:52.620 that as I trained myself

00:14:53.680 to be a writer

00:14:54.520 and read the great works

00:14:56.440 of literature

00:14:56.920 that meant so much to me,

00:14:58.400 I started to realize

00:14:59.440 that the gospel

00:15:00.080 was at the center

00:15:00.820 of all of them,

00:15:01.580 that there was no

00:15:02.520 Western culture

00:15:03.180 without the gospel,

00:15:04.020 that there was no

00:15:04.580 Western sense of morality,

00:15:05.940 no sense of freedom

00:15:06.920 without the gospel

00:15:07.860 and all of these things

00:15:08.780 started to speak to me

00:15:09.800 and say,

00:15:10.600 you know,

00:15:12.000 if all of these,

00:15:13.420 if all the things

00:15:14.200 that you think are true

00:15:15.300 are true

00:15:15.680 and if all the things

00:15:16.400 that you find beautiful

00:15:17.160 are beautiful,

00:15:18.060 the gospels must be real

00:15:19.180 or at least

00:15:19.720 there must be a God

00:15:20.660 and the problem I had

00:15:22.240 is that I was

00:15:22.660 a very troubled young guy

00:15:24.120 and I had a difficult

00:15:25.800 relationship with my father

00:15:26.900 and in my late 20s,

00:15:28.380 I went nuts,

00:15:29.640 I went insane

00:15:30.180 and it was quite an experience

00:15:33.440 and I was in so much

00:15:34.440 emotional pain,

00:15:35.260 I was suicidal,

00:15:36.100 I was delusional,

00:15:37.020 I was in so much

00:15:37.720 emotional pain

00:15:38.440 that I thought,

00:15:38.960 well,

00:15:39.040 if I grab hold of God now,

00:15:41.340 it's just a crutch,

00:15:42.440 it's just a way of escaping

00:15:43.580 this terrible pain

00:15:44.640 that I'm in

00:15:45.020 and so I had this kind of,

00:15:46.460 it was kind of this

00:15:46.960 ornery sense

00:15:47.900 that at the moment

00:15:48.740 when I needed God most

00:15:49.880 and when I look back,

00:15:51.160 I realized God

00:15:51.700 was calling to me most,

00:15:52.900 I can't embrace God

00:15:54.080 because it would be fake

00:15:55.700 because I'm just

00:15:56.360 in so much pain.

00:15:57.140 By what I now consider

00:15:59.740 to be a miracle,

00:16:00.740 I found possibly

00:16:02.200 the only psychiatrist

00:16:03.380 who has ever healed a patient

00:16:04.700 and the patient

00:16:05.280 happened to be me.

00:16:06.580 He was a brilliant man

00:16:08.180 who died only a couple

00:16:09.200 of years ago

00:16:09.800 and he made me go sane.

00:16:12.820 I've never seen anything

00:16:13.660 quite like it.

00:16:14.320 I've never met anybody

00:16:15.220 who even claims

00:16:16.900 to have gone from the place

00:16:18.200 that I was

00:16:18.840 to the sense of adjustment

00:16:20.220 and joy

00:16:20.920 and happiness

00:16:21.460 and success in life

00:16:22.600 that I then had.

00:16:24.220 And I started to think

00:16:25.780 to myself,

00:16:26.280 well, gee,

00:16:27.020 you know,

00:16:27.540 all of the logic

00:16:28.700 that I followed

00:16:29.520 to bring me to God

00:16:31.300 still stands

00:16:32.520 now that I'm no longer unhappy.

00:16:34.800 And so I thought,

00:16:36.500 well, maybe now I can believe

00:16:37.460 because it's not a crutch.

00:16:38.440 I'm perfectly happy.

00:16:39.600 So funny how we reason

00:16:41.180 with ourselves.

00:16:41.860 Keep going.

00:16:42.900 Yeah.

00:16:43.220 And I started to pray

00:16:44.640 and just kind of accidentally

00:16:47.040 started to pray

00:16:47.880 and it transformed my life.

00:16:49.480 I wasn't praying

00:16:49.940 to any specific God,

00:16:51.260 but it transformed my life.

00:16:54.060 And after about five years,

00:16:58.240 I turned to God.

00:16:59.820 I turned to God

00:17:00.720 and I said,

00:17:01.260 you know,

00:17:01.740 you've transformed my life.

00:17:02.860 You've made my life

00:17:03.420 so much happier,

00:17:04.280 so much fuller,

00:17:04.860 so much richer.

00:17:05.940 What can I do for you?

00:17:07.380 You know,

00:17:07.640 you're God.

00:17:08.340 I'm just some schmo.

00:17:09.620 You know,

00:17:10.200 there's really nothing

00:17:11.280 I can do,

00:17:11.880 but I want to respond.

00:17:13.420 And it was as if God spoke to me.

00:17:16.120 I didn't hear a voice

00:17:17.160 or anything,

00:17:17.520 but very immediately

00:17:19.140 in response,

00:17:19.900 I felt you should be baptized.

00:17:22.680 And I remember

00:17:23.560 I was driving my car

00:17:25.040 at the time

00:17:25.380 and out loud,

00:17:26.200 I said,

00:17:26.720 you got to be kidding me,

00:17:27.720 you know,

00:17:27.960 because at that point

00:17:28.740 I was working in Hollywood.

00:17:30.720 I, you know,

00:17:31.320 had a terrific career

00:17:32.540 writing very hard-boiled

00:17:33.860 mystery novels.

00:17:35.640 I had had a tough time

00:17:37.460 with my father all my life,

00:17:38.620 but now we've kind of

00:17:39.240 developed a separate piece.

00:17:40.460 We were distant,

00:17:41.000 but we were friendly.

00:17:41.880 But that's all going to blow up

00:17:43.520 if I become a Christian.

00:17:45.400 But I had to.

00:17:46.460 I went back

00:17:47.180 and I reread the Gospels.

00:17:48.340 I'd been reading them

00:17:49.000 all my life as literature.

00:17:50.000 And I went back and thought,

00:17:50.860 well, what if I read them

00:17:51.600 as the truth?

00:17:52.740 And when I did that,

00:17:53.660 I thought,

00:17:53.980 oh, yes,

00:17:54.560 this is what I believe.

00:17:55.700 This is who I am.

00:17:56.540 This is the person

00:17:57.180 I've been talking to

00:17:58.020 all this time.

00:17:59.600 And so I was baptized

00:18:00.760 and it was,

00:18:01.740 it was,

00:18:02.780 it was remarkable.

00:18:03.600 I was baptized

00:18:04.500 kind of offhandedly.

00:18:07.340 I didn't really believe

00:18:08.500 in the ritual.

00:18:09.220 I just thought,

00:18:09.700 well, I should do it

00:18:10.300 as a matter of integrity.

00:18:11.720 Within three weeks,

00:18:12.700 my wife,

00:18:13.320 who knows me quite well,

00:18:14.960 turned to me and said,

00:18:16.340 you know,

00:18:16.880 you're a different person.

00:18:17.960 You are kind of serenity

00:18:19.740 and joy

00:18:20.740 and intensity

00:18:21.600 has come over you

00:18:22.540 that hasn't been there before.

00:18:24.900 And it has continued

00:18:26.220 in that vein.

00:18:27.100 And the more I explore

00:18:28.200 the Gospels,

00:18:28.800 the more I come

00:18:29.240 to understand them

00:18:30.880 and kind of move away

00:18:32.360 from sort of

00:18:32.920 rote Christianity

00:18:33.800 to a deeper relationship,

00:18:36.540 that joy has only

00:18:38.020 deepened and expanded.

00:18:38.980 So it's been

00:18:39.300 quite an experience.

00:18:40.680 Yeah, I know you joke

00:18:42.260 that your wife

00:18:43.140 married a liberal Jewish guy

00:18:45.520 and she wound up

00:18:46.060 with a conservative

00:18:46.640 Christian guy.

00:18:48.280 She's a very patient woman,

00:18:49.620 I know, yeah.

00:18:50.560 So because that was

00:18:51.300 another transition

00:18:51.940 in your life,

00:18:52.920 all of this weaves together

00:18:54.120 in your book

00:18:54.720 and in your, you know,

00:18:55.600 presentation

00:18:56.100 and your thoughts today,

00:18:57.040 this, all these transitions.

00:18:58.020 But you used to be liberal.

00:19:00.320 I mean,

00:19:00.440 you were raised in New York

00:19:01.360 like most New Yorkers.

00:19:02.920 You leaned left

00:19:03.680 and you've been,

00:19:05.860 you've said something

00:19:06.380 to the effect of,

00:19:07.320 you know,

00:19:07.860 part of the thing

00:19:08.740 that made you rethink it

00:19:09.840 was the lies told

00:19:11.300 about Ronald Reagan

00:19:12.140 versus the truth

00:19:13.620 of his results.

00:19:15.280 Right.

00:19:15.960 Well, right.

00:19:16.480 Every, you know,

00:19:16.960 I remember when

00:19:17.540 the Berlin Wall fell down,

00:19:19.120 I thought everything

00:19:19.900 that old guy said

00:19:20.780 came true.

00:19:21.460 You know,

00:19:21.600 everything that he said

00:19:22.460 was going to happen,

00:19:23.160 happened.

00:19:23.820 But what really cemented

00:19:25.600 this was that

00:19:26.300 I left the country.

00:19:27.660 You know,

00:19:28.340 it's funny.

00:19:29.000 This is back

00:19:29.620 at the end of the 80s.

00:19:30.960 I was at a dinner party

00:19:31.860 in New York

00:19:32.520 and we had a son

00:19:33.240 and we had a daughter

00:19:33.840 and I made the remark

00:19:35.420 at this dinner party.

00:19:36.660 I said,

00:19:37.120 you know,

00:19:37.280 boys and girls

00:19:37.760 are really different

00:19:38.480 and this is way back now,

00:19:40.420 right?

00:19:40.660 It's about 89

00:19:41.900 and the table fell silent

00:19:44.460 and everybody was embarrassed

00:19:46.740 that I would make

00:19:47.400 such an inept remark

00:19:49.220 and a politically

00:19:49.940 incorrect remark.

00:19:51.120 And I remember

00:19:51.820 we left,

00:19:52.340 we were in a restaurant

00:19:53.040 and we left the restaurant

00:19:53.760 and I turned to my wife

00:19:54.400 and I said,

00:19:54.860 we're leaving the country.

00:19:55.700 That's it.

00:19:56.000 I'm not going to be

00:19:56.600 in a country

00:19:56.960 where I can't speak

00:19:57.900 the obvious truth.

00:19:59.600 And so I moved to England

00:20:00.500 for seven years.

00:20:01.400 We all went to England

00:20:02.100 for seven years

00:20:02.860 and what happened there

00:20:03.880 was I was away

00:20:04.880 from American politics.

00:20:06.580 I didn't need to have

00:20:07.460 an opinion about

00:20:08.080 what was happening,

00:20:08.800 what Bill Clinton

00:20:09.360 was doing this week.

00:20:10.680 I didn't need to have

00:20:11.500 any opinions

00:20:12.160 about American politics.

00:20:13.120 I was completely immersed

00:20:14.180 in the life of England.

00:20:15.840 And when I got back,

00:20:17.220 I suddenly realized

00:20:18.800 that all my opinions

00:20:19.860 were suddenly aligned

00:20:20.900 with people

00:20:21.460 who were on the right.

00:20:23.200 And I remember

00:20:23.960 Rush Limbaugh

00:20:25.140 became a thing

00:20:25.860 while I was in England

00:20:26.700 and I heard about

00:20:27.540 how evil he was.

00:20:28.960 And so when I got home,

00:20:29.880 I thought,

00:20:30.120 well, I want to just hear

00:20:30.700 this evil guy.

00:20:31.400 It's kind of interesting.

00:20:32.040 I was listening to him thinking,

00:20:33.400 hey, gee,

00:20:34.000 you know,

00:20:34.200 he's not really that evil.

00:20:35.480 I kind of agree.

00:20:35.960 I do him evil.

00:20:37.420 Yeah, I do him evil.

00:20:38.880 And so it was a surprise.

00:20:40.820 I'm not sure

00:20:41.500 I would have been able

00:20:42.220 to make that transition

00:20:43.400 if I had stayed

00:20:44.220 in the country.

00:20:45.360 After all,

00:20:46.040 like, as you say,

00:20:46.720 I was a liberal Jew

00:20:47.560 from the coast.

00:20:48.840 You know,

00:20:49.320 I was surrounded

00:20:49.980 in the arts.

00:20:51.020 I'm working in the movies.

00:20:51.860 I'm working in publishing.

00:20:53.860 I wasn't meeting

00:20:54.860 any conservatives.

00:20:56.280 I used to call

00:20:57.200 the guys

00:20:57.720 at National Review Online.

00:20:59.520 I used to call

00:20:59.920 my imaginary friends

00:21:01.020 because I would go on

00:21:01.740 and kind of read

00:21:02.260 their conversations online

00:21:03.540 and think like,

00:21:04.320 yeah, that's what I think.

00:21:05.140 That's what I think, too.

00:21:06.120 Yes.

00:21:06.820 And, you know,

00:21:07.840 once 9-11 happened,

00:21:11.460 I remember the moment.

00:21:12.560 It was when David Letterman,

00:21:13.660 after 9-11,

00:21:15.340 obviously the late night comic

00:21:16.620 at the time,

00:21:18.140 came on and he said,

00:21:19.200 I really have to think

00:21:20.060 about this.

00:21:20.640 Why do they hate us?

00:21:22.180 And I thought,

00:21:22.900 what do you mean

00:21:23.220 why do they hate us?

00:21:23.980 They're the bad guys.

00:21:25.100 They're supposed to hate us.

00:21:26.480 You know,

00:21:26.700 they have this backward,

00:21:28.400 angry, hateful religion

00:21:29.600 talking about these

00:21:30.200 Islamist fanatics,

00:21:31.800 you know.

00:21:32.780 They're supposed to hate us.

00:21:33.960 We're the free guys.

00:21:35.020 We're the freedom people.

00:21:35.960 We're the people,

00:21:36.440 the tolerant people.

00:21:37.720 And I realized

00:21:38.660 that something,

00:21:39.560 having been out of the country

00:21:40.460 for so long,

00:21:41.000 I realized something

00:21:41.520 had gone terribly wrong

00:21:42.800 with our culture.

00:21:44.800 And I started going

00:21:45.840 to conservative meetings

00:21:47.120 and making little speeches

00:21:48.680 about how we had lost

00:21:49.960 the country

00:21:50.440 at the movies

00:21:51.080 and how conservatives

00:21:53.100 don't pay attention

00:21:54.200 to the culture.

00:21:55.880 And Megan,

00:21:56.260 they used to look at me

00:21:57.260 like I had wandered in

00:21:58.500 off the street.

00:21:59.360 Like I was kind of,

00:22:00.180 I was kind of,

00:22:00.760 it was kind of cute

00:22:01.440 that I worked in Hollywood,

00:22:02.400 but they had no idea

00:22:03.800 what I was talking about.

00:22:05.440 Now it's 20 years later

00:22:06.760 and more

00:22:07.420 and people call me

00:22:08.960 and they say,

00:22:09.560 you know,

00:22:09.880 we remember you talking

00:22:10.880 about the culture.

00:22:11.760 We really have to do

00:22:12.640 something about this.

00:22:13.460 It really does matter.

00:22:16.320 It really does matter

00:22:17.260 what happens,

00:22:18.060 what goes into our minds,

00:22:19.740 what comes out of our,

00:22:21.220 what comes out of Hollywood,

00:22:22.260 what comes out

00:22:22.660 of the publishing industry.

00:22:23.860 The left knows it matters.

00:22:25.660 That's why they silence us.

00:22:26.800 That's why they blacklist us.

00:22:28.060 When I started speaking

00:22:29.020 out conservatively

00:22:30.120 as a conservative,

00:22:31.860 my Hollywood career ended

00:22:33.480 and it ended really fast.

00:22:35.740 I mean,

00:22:35.940 my salary,

00:22:37.620 my income

00:22:38.320 went from seven figures

00:22:39.820 to zero

00:22:40.480 in a great,

00:22:41.520 great big hurry.

00:22:42.260 And it was,

00:22:44.080 it was quite amazing.

00:22:44.880 So they know,

00:22:45.840 they have always known,

00:22:46.760 they have known

00:22:47.120 for at least 60 or 70 years

00:22:48.660 that the culture matters

00:22:50.460 and we are only now

00:22:52.220 finding out

00:22:53.080 and we're only now

00:22:53.760 fighting back

00:22:54.520 and trying to not get

00:22:55.700 kicked off Twitter

00:22:56.520 and Facebook

00:22:57.120 and not be blanked out

00:23:00.220 in the movie making business

00:23:01.480 and the book writing business.

00:23:02.460 But it's taken a long time

00:23:03.700 for us to realize

00:23:04.860 that,

00:23:05.640 you know,

00:23:06.180 my friend Ben is right

00:23:07.280 when he says facts

00:23:08.000 don't care about your feelings.

00:23:09.360 But as I always point out to him,

00:23:10.560 feelings are a fact too

00:23:11.580 and you really have to

00:23:12.480 take care of the inner life

00:23:13.960 of not just yourself

00:23:15.440 but of the community

00:23:16.260 if you want them

00:23:17.500 to want to be free

00:23:18.680 because you can't force people

00:23:19.780 to be free.

00:23:20.440 It's a contradiction in terms.

00:23:22.220 Oh,

00:23:22.600 that's,

00:23:22.920 can you expand on that?

00:23:23.800 That's a good,

00:23:24.420 that's a good line

00:23:25.220 and it's a good point.

00:23:26.180 But what do you mean?

00:23:26.860 How do,

00:23:27.120 how do we do that in practice?

00:23:29.060 Well,

00:23:29.320 I mean,

00:23:29.560 the people,

00:23:30.340 you know,

00:23:30.680 as it was noted

00:23:31.760 at the time of the founding,

00:23:33.440 they said this,

00:23:33.980 this constitution

00:23:34.740 is only for a moral

00:23:35.940 and religious people.

00:23:37.520 You have to want

00:23:38.700 to be free

00:23:39.400 in order for that constitution

00:23:40.720 to mean anything.

00:23:42.080 Once you have

00:23:42.860 the New York Times

00:23:44.020 saying,

00:23:44.500 you know,

00:23:44.700 free speech,

00:23:45.260 you're weaponizing free speech,

00:23:46.540 we have to stop

00:23:47.200 all this free speech

00:23:48.120 and people nodding their heads

00:23:49.760 and agreeing with them,

00:23:50.720 that First Amendment

00:23:51.480 is not going to protect you

00:23:52.480 from anything.

00:23:53.480 I mean,

00:23:53.820 you know,

00:23:54.240 studies have shown

00:23:55.200 that the Supreme Court

00:23:56.200 makes its decisions

00:23:57.380 mostly in keeping

00:23:58.920 with public opinion

00:24:00.600 and as Lincoln said,

00:24:01.700 public opinion

00:24:02.280 in a free country

00:24:03.020 is almost everything.

00:24:04.760 Once the culture

00:24:05.920 has transformed

00:24:06.860 the heart of people

00:24:07.920 to lose their respect

00:24:09.820 for free speech,

00:24:10.700 to lose their respect

00:24:11.500 for disagreement,

00:24:13.160 for the inner lives

00:24:14.500 of other people,

00:24:15.540 what I call

00:24:15.860 the great speculation,

00:24:17.040 the idea that

00:24:17.760 your inner life

00:24:19.140 is as important to you

00:24:20.080 as mine is to me

00:24:20.940 and they are both

00:24:21.560 equally important to God.

00:24:23.060 This is the great speculation

00:24:24.480 on which our entire country

00:24:25.840 and our religion is based.

00:24:27.340 It is the idea

00:24:28.140 that your freedom,

00:24:30.020 your inner freedom matters

00:24:31.140 and you should have the right

00:24:31.920 to speak your mind.

00:24:32.600 Once you lose the commitment

00:24:34.160 to that,

00:24:35.120 nothing's going to protect you

00:24:36.520 and we see it all the time.

00:24:38.600 We see it,

00:24:38.940 you know,

00:24:39.200 on social media

00:24:41.360 has been silencing

00:24:42.460 conservative voices.

00:24:44.680 They silenced

00:24:45.260 the President

00:24:46.120 of the United States

00:24:47.440 and nobody really protested.

00:24:49.820 I mean,

00:24:50.020 obviously people

00:24:50.780 on the right protested

00:24:51.880 but the mainstream

00:24:52.940 of the culture

00:24:53.680 did not say,

00:24:54.400 wait a minute,

00:24:55.000 you know,

00:24:55.460 I don't care how rich you are.

00:24:57.100 I don't care about the fact

00:24:58.520 that you're a private business.

00:24:59.520 You have no right

00:25:00.380 to destroy the culture

00:25:01.900 of free speech

00:25:02.620 that keeps this country going.

00:25:04.660 So culture is what,

00:25:05.980 you know,

00:25:06.500 James Joyce said,

00:25:07.620 it forms the uncreated

00:25:08.780 conscience of our race

00:25:10.840 and if our uncreated conscience

00:25:13.540 is created

00:25:14.260 in a small-minded,

00:25:15.760 punitive way,

00:25:17.280 it's going to be

00:25:17.940 a small-minded,

00:25:18.780 punitive country.

00:25:19.960 Up until the present,

00:25:21.000 up until the present,

00:25:21.840 it was really fashioned

00:25:22.880 in the open-minded,

00:25:25.020 freedom-seeking

00:25:25.940 traditions of the West

00:25:27.840 and that's who we were.

00:25:29.260 And so it was easy

00:25:31.080 to keep free speech alive,

00:25:32.380 not just keep it alive

00:25:33.300 but to expand it

00:25:34.260 continually.

00:25:35.760 Now we're really fighting

00:25:37.060 tooth and nail

00:25:37.800 to keep that culture

00:25:38.760 of free speech alive

00:25:40.940 and as I say,

00:25:42.060 if people don't want

00:25:43.000 to be free,

00:25:43.980 how will you make

00:25:44.800 them be free?

00:25:45.740 You know,

00:25:45.960 I hear people on the right

00:25:46.880 say all the time,

00:25:47.560 we need a strong man leader

00:25:49.300 who's going to,

00:25:49.820 you know,

00:25:50.000 enforce prayer

00:25:51.460 in the school.

00:25:52.460 Well,

00:25:52.620 how do you,

00:25:52.920 you know,

00:25:53.280 I think prayer

00:25:54.260 in the school

00:25:54.660 is important

00:25:55.240 but how do you enforce

00:25:56.140 it without taking

00:25:56.720 people's freedom

00:25:57.840 not to pray away?

00:26:00.360 We have to shape

00:26:01.560 people's consciences,

00:26:02.780 we have to shape

00:26:03.340 their souls

00:26:04.020 to the good,

00:26:05.060 you know,

00:26:05.300 not in a coercive way

00:26:06.720 but simply shape them

00:26:07.800 to the good

00:26:08.320 as Western culture

00:26:09.400 has been doing

00:26:10.160 for thousands

00:26:10.760 and thousands of years

00:26:11.820 and if we don't do that,

00:26:13.300 if we lose

00:26:13.820 the people's hearts,

00:26:15.340 we will,

00:26:15.920 the Constitution

00:26:16.680 won't do a thing for us

00:26:17.700 if we lose

00:26:18.140 the people's hearts,

00:26:19.060 we'll lose everything.

00:26:20.720 That is so insightful.

00:26:22.820 I,

00:26:23.240 I'm disturbed

00:26:23.960 and I'm also energized

00:26:25.020 by the new thoughts.

00:26:27.820 Of course,

00:26:28.520 I've heard,

00:26:29.120 it originally was

00:26:29.940 Andrew Breitbart's,

00:26:30.680 I've heard Ben say it,

00:26:31.820 that politics

00:26:33.080 is downstream of culture

00:26:34.180 but as a lawyer,

00:26:36.700 I practiced law

00:26:37.160 for 10 years,

00:26:37.900 I always believed

00:26:38.780 that the law

00:26:39.620 would save us,

00:26:40.520 you know,

00:26:40.680 the law would be

00:26:41.200 this bulwark

00:26:41.760 against some of

00:26:43.020 these cultural insanities

00:26:44.240 and it would hold,

00:26:45.680 the Constitution

00:26:46.220 would hold,

00:26:47.700 you know,

00:26:48.240 it takes some dings

00:26:49.160 here and there,

00:26:49.700 you don't have

00:26:50.080 a perfect Supreme Court

00:26:51.760 or courts of appeal

00:26:52.860 or judges at lower levels

00:26:54.520 but that ultimately,

00:26:56.040 you know,

00:26:56.340 when push comes to shove,

00:26:57.280 it will hold

00:26:57.860 and that,

00:26:58.920 and I've been heartened

00:26:59.680 this year to see

00:27:00.340 that the justice system

00:27:01.240 has gone,

00:27:01.740 in my view,

00:27:02.080 the right way

00:27:02.500 in some big cases

00:27:03.420 where there's been

00:27:04.200 a lot of public pressure

00:27:05.360 for it to come

00:27:06.960 to different results.

00:27:07.760 Kyle Rittenhouse

00:27:08.280 is just one example

00:27:09.200 but your point is

00:27:11.860 it resonates so deeply.

00:27:14.280 It,

00:27:14.480 it must be true.

00:27:15.640 I,

00:27:16.000 I agree.

00:27:17.080 You're right.

00:27:17.960 How could,

00:27:18.820 how can the court,

00:27:19.720 Constitution notwithstanding,

00:27:22.360 hold the line

00:27:23.740 against a culture

00:27:25.620 that if it grows

00:27:26.380 and grows and grows,

00:27:27.300 you know,

00:27:27.540 it was 10% of the people,

00:27:28.660 then it was 15% of the people,

00:27:29.800 now it's growing,

00:27:30.340 growing,

00:27:30.560 growing.

00:27:31.100 They're capturing institutions,

00:27:32.960 they're capturing,

00:27:33.660 of course,

00:27:33.920 universities and the media

00:27:35.000 and sports

00:27:35.680 and major corporations now.

00:27:38.140 How can it hold forever

00:27:39.340 if all of these cultural forces

00:27:42.020 and if it becomes the majority

00:27:43.280 look at them and say,

00:27:44.760 no,

00:27:45.020 free speech is not

00:27:45.900 what you think it is.

00:27:46.620 No,

00:27:46.940 the First Amendment

00:27:47.760 does not protect

00:27:48.600 quote,

00:27:49.140 hate speech

00:27:50.000 and hate,

00:27:50.720 hate is what I deem it to be.

00:27:52.740 You're right,

00:27:53.420 is that the writing's on the wall.

00:27:55.440 Yeah,

00:27:55.720 you know,

00:27:56.180 it's why,

00:27:57.100 it is why the founders

00:27:58.200 kept insisting

00:28:00.340 that we had to be

00:28:01.260 a religious

00:28:01.700 and a moral people.

00:28:03.300 It's because

00:28:03.620 if you don't govern yourself,

00:28:05.440 you literally can't govern yourself.

00:28:07.260 If you don't govern yourself,

00:28:08.220 you can't have self-government.

00:28:09.800 And once you lose that,

00:28:11.140 you know,

00:28:11.460 I frequently talk to people,

00:28:13.200 you know,

00:28:13.760 Lincoln said

00:28:14.500 that it's the declaration

00:28:15.660 that informs the constitution.

00:28:17.620 And that means

00:28:18.260 that our rights

00:28:18.960 are given to us.

00:28:19.840 They're endowed in us

00:28:20.600 by our creator.

00:28:21.600 The government

00:28:22.220 is simply there

00:28:23.160 to protect our rights.

00:28:24.680 It is instituted

00:28:25.640 to protect our rights,

00:28:27.000 but the rights

00:28:27.480 are already there.

00:28:28.300 The rights are there

00:28:28.800 before the government

00:28:29.580 gets there

00:28:30.140 and they are endowed

00:28:31.420 in us by our creator.

00:28:32.940 If people stop believing

00:28:34.780 in at least that creator,

00:28:36.700 you don't have to be a Christian,

00:28:37.720 you don't have to be,

00:28:38.400 you know,

00:28:38.580 you can be Jewish, Muslim,

00:28:39.680 you can be anything you want,

00:28:40.480 but if they stop believing

00:28:41.320 in that creator,

00:28:42.580 the creator who endowed us

00:28:43.900 with our rights,

00:28:45.000 then we've got

00:28:46.100 a serious problem.

00:28:47.520 You know,

00:28:47.740 I had this discussion

00:28:48.500 with Alan Dershowitz once

00:28:49.780 when he said,

00:28:50.160 no, no, no,

00:28:50.640 you know,

00:28:50.940 we can't make our rights

00:28:52.160 depend on God

00:28:52.880 because everybody

00:28:53.440 has a different God.

00:28:54.520 Well, in fact,

00:28:55.140 as an American,

00:28:55.880 you are essentially required

00:28:58.360 to have the God

00:28:59.900 who endowed you

00:29:01.060 with rights.

00:29:02.080 You don't have to believe in him,

00:29:03.300 but you have to act

00:29:04.080 as if you believe in him.

00:29:04.940 You have to live

00:29:05.460 as if you believe in him

00:29:06.320 because it's all based

00:29:07.600 on those things

00:29:08.320 and those basic things

00:29:09.760 have to be taught

00:29:10.600 and they have to be instilled

00:29:12.020 in people's hearts

00:29:12.880 and they have to be

00:29:13.980 embraced and loved.

00:29:15.740 Or again,

00:29:16.540 you know,

00:29:17.060 what's going to happen

00:29:18.000 when the Supreme Court says,

00:29:20.060 as you just said,

00:29:21.420 if the Supreme Court says,

00:29:22.420 well,

00:29:22.680 free speech doesn't include

00:29:23.880 hate speech,

00:29:24.820 like saying,

00:29:25.700 you know,

00:29:26.600 a woman is not a man

00:29:28.800 when she wants to be a man,

00:29:30.140 that's hate speech.

00:29:30.920 That has to be eliminated.

00:29:32.340 Well,

00:29:32.420 who's going to stand up

00:29:33.260 for that principle?

00:29:34.140 Not the New York Times.

00:29:35.220 They've already made it clear

00:29:36.120 they're ready to get rid

00:29:36.900 of free speech,

00:29:37.980 if it disagrees with them.

00:29:39.100 So who's going to stand up for it

00:29:40.500 if not the people,

00:29:41.380 if not a people trained

00:29:42.520 and schooled

00:29:43.700 and acculturated

00:29:45.360 to freedom?

00:29:47.440 Yeah.

00:29:47.780 And not Twitter.

00:29:48.960 Of course,

00:29:49.320 we've literally just seen that.

00:29:51.100 Right?

00:29:51.600 The Babylon Bee.

00:29:52.760 They tweet out that

00:29:53.840 Rachel,

00:29:55.340 what's her name?

00:29:56.600 Levine.

00:29:57.260 Levine,

00:29:57.740 thank you,

00:29:58.260 who's working for HHS.

00:30:01.660 She's a trans woman.

00:30:03.180 They tweet out

00:30:03.760 and she's recognized

00:30:05.000 by USA Today

00:30:05.820 as woman of the year

00:30:07.360 and the Babylon Bee

00:30:08.760 tweets out,

00:30:09.460 we recognize Rachel Levine

00:30:10.880 as man of the year

00:30:11.560 and their Twitter account

00:30:12.940 gets shut down

00:30:13.820 and they won't bend the knee.

00:30:16.000 And what does the head

00:30:17.100 of Twitter say?

00:30:17.880 He says,

00:30:18.540 yeah,

00:30:18.820 I'm not really that pro

00:30:20.080 free speech.

00:30:20.760 I actually think we should be

00:30:22.060 cutting away at free speech

00:30:23.320 around the edges

00:30:23.920 and that,

00:30:24.420 you know,

00:30:24.740 we should be cutting,

00:30:25.800 sort of cracking down

00:30:27.960 more on hateful speech.

00:30:30.320 Well,

00:30:30.900 on the bright side,

00:30:32.320 Elon Musk

00:30:32.940 had something to say

00:30:34.320 and then something to do

00:30:35.580 in response to that.

00:30:37.280 That's why I'll pick it up.

00:30:38.060 I'll squeeze in a quick break

00:30:38.920 right here

00:30:39.640 and more with Andrew Klavan

00:30:40.900 picking it up

00:30:41.720 with Twitter

00:30:42.280 and Elon Musk

00:30:43.700 right after this.

00:30:52.020 So,

00:30:52.520 Andrew,

00:30:52.920 Elon Musk,

00:30:53.840 it's been great

00:30:54.420 because he was sort of

00:30:55.340 teasing the world

00:30:56.240 about possibly

00:30:56.980 creating an alternative

00:30:58.460 to Twitter

00:30:59.100 and probably took a look

00:31:01.640 at the fact that

00:31:02.640 none of those

00:31:03.260 has worked out so well,

00:31:04.440 right?

00:31:04.640 Like Parler,

00:31:06.020 Gitter,

00:31:06.660 Gab,

00:31:07.140 whatever they are,

00:31:08.160 none of them

00:31:08.640 has really resonated.

00:31:09.500 The one that was getting

00:31:10.160 some traction,

00:31:10.780 Parler,

00:31:11.060 got shut down

00:31:11.660 and never really

00:31:12.200 totally recovered.

00:31:13.420 So now we find out

00:31:14.520 that he is making

00:31:15.800 a huge investment

00:31:16.620 in Twitter,

00:31:18.280 Twitter itself,

00:31:18.900 the Twitter,

00:31:19.700 and has,

00:31:20.640 as a result of

00:31:21.360 his latest investment,

00:31:22.440 billions of dollars,

00:31:23.400 become the largest

00:31:24.880 single shareholder

00:31:26.220 in Twitter,

00:31:27.060 almost 10%

00:31:27.640 of the company's stock

00:31:28.640 now in his hands,

00:31:29.800 which is cause

00:31:31.300 for celebration,

00:31:33.020 right?

00:31:33.320 Because Twitter's

00:31:34.300 the one that shut

00:31:34.880 down the Babylon Beat.

00:31:36.000 Twitter's the one

00:31:36.600 that silenced

00:31:37.120 the President

00:31:37.560 of the United States,

00:31:38.380 among others.

00:31:39.360 But Twitter is

00:31:40.440 controlled by the left.

00:31:41.400 It's largely leftist

00:31:42.660 and yet it is

00:31:43.840 the public square.

00:31:45.320 And so it's wrong.

00:31:46.120 It's wrong to have

00:31:46.860 conservatives shut down

00:31:47.840 there to the extent

00:31:48.700 that they are.

00:31:49.260 What do you make of it?

00:31:50.660 Well,

00:31:50.960 I have been railing

00:31:52.300 about this for years

00:31:53.780 because it just,

00:31:54.640 it drives me crazy

00:31:55.620 on the right.

00:31:56.980 You know,

00:31:57.340 I expect leftists

00:31:58.380 to be against free speech.

00:31:59.780 They're authoritarian,

00:32:00.900 they're small-minded,

00:32:01.700 and the things

00:32:02.720 they're saying

00:32:03.180 are untrue,

00:32:04.120 so they can't stand

00:32:04.900 debate or argument.

00:32:06.200 But on the right,

00:32:06.900 I expect people

00:32:07.660 to defend

00:32:08.320 the basic structures

00:32:09.960 of our country.

00:32:11.060 And what I hear instead

00:32:11.860 is, oh, you know,

00:32:12.740 Twitter, Facebook, Google,

00:32:14.320 these are private businesses,

00:32:16.100 so they have the right

00:32:17.260 to do whatever

00:32:17.860 they want to do.

00:32:18.560 We don't want the government

00:32:19.220 shutting down private business.

00:32:20.760 Well, that's nonsense.

00:32:21.600 I mean, new businesses,

00:32:22.540 and these are new businesses,

00:32:23.920 demand new regulation.

00:32:25.000 When you had factories,

00:32:25.980 they sent children

00:32:26.740 to work in factories.

00:32:27.700 The government

00:32:28.000 had to say,

00:32:29.080 no, you know,

00:32:29.560 you can't put children

00:32:30.580 in factories

00:32:31.060 and you can't have people

00:32:32.020 working 14-hour days

00:32:33.580 for no pay.

00:32:34.400 You know, everything,

00:32:35.860 everything that we do

00:32:36.740 has regulations,

00:32:38.640 but you need

00:32:39.200 intelligent regulations.

00:32:40.840 The power

00:32:42.180 that social media has

00:32:43.640 was created

00:32:44.320 by the government.

00:32:45.380 They gave them

00:32:45.940 the power

00:32:46.420 to put out content

00:32:47.620 without getting sued,

00:32:49.040 which a publisher

00:32:49.720 can't do,

00:32:51.060 but they also gave them

00:32:52.280 the power

00:32:52.760 to edit it,

00:32:54.260 which a platform

00:32:54.800 can't do.

00:32:55.400 The phone company

00:32:56.080 can't come on

00:32:56.780 and say,

00:32:57.500 I don't like

00:32:57.900 what you're saying,

00:32:58.640 Megan,

00:32:58.860 so you're not going

00:32:59.560 to be on my phone

00:33:00.440 company anymore.

00:33:01.600 They can't do that

00:33:02.480 and these guys

00:33:03.460 shouldn't be allowed

00:33:03.980 to do it either.

00:33:05.920 Obviously,

00:33:06.460 it's a new medium,

00:33:07.600 so there has to be

00:33:08.280 new regulations

00:33:09.040 and a new way

00:33:10.080 of protecting

00:33:11.040 both the rights

00:33:12.040 of the business owner

00:33:12.820 and the rights

00:33:13.320 of the people,

00:33:13.940 but most important

00:33:15.060 is protecting

00:33:15.780 free speech.

00:33:17.340 And so I'm glad

00:33:17.980 that Elon Musk

00:33:18.640 is in there.

00:33:19.220 Let's see what he does.

00:33:19.900 They just put him

00:33:20.320 on the board,

00:33:21.380 which I think is good

00:33:22.480 and gives him power,

00:33:23.280 but as you say,

00:33:24.120 the CEO of Twitter

00:33:25.480 is not committed

00:33:26.380 to free speech.

00:33:27.460 He believes that,

00:33:28.320 yes,

00:33:28.700 as he said,

00:33:29.360 well,

00:33:29.560 most people can talk,

00:33:30.760 but it's just the people

00:33:31.480 with opinions

00:33:31.980 he disagrees with

00:33:32.720 that he's going to silence.

00:33:34.340 And again,

00:33:35.180 once they silence

00:33:36.100 the president

00:33:36.540 of the United States,

00:33:37.740 no,

00:33:38.100 these are people

00:33:38.580 with too much power.

00:33:39.740 They have to be curtailed.

00:33:41.200 This is what the government

00:33:41.940 is for.

00:33:42.580 You know,

00:33:43.120 the government,

00:33:43.960 as I say,

00:33:44.400 is instituted

00:33:45.160 to protect

00:33:45.960 our God-given rights.

00:33:47.460 The First Amendment

00:33:48.380 protects those rights

00:33:49.800 from the government,

00:33:51.260 but the government

00:33:51.820 has to protect

00:33:52.500 those rights

00:33:52.940 from others as well.

00:33:54.300 And when you have

00:33:54.980 the kind of power

00:33:56.200 that social media has,

00:33:57.560 when you have Amazon

00:33:58.800 selling 90% of new books,

00:34:00.620 when you have Google

00:34:01.540 basically in control

00:34:03.480 of 90% of information,

00:34:05.160 the government

00:34:05.720 has to keep

00:34:06.680 that flowing information free.

00:34:08.460 It just has to.

00:34:09.500 And so,

00:34:10.240 you know,

00:34:10.520 I'm glad Musk

00:34:11.180 is doing this

00:34:11.780 in a free market way.

00:34:12.960 Obviously,

00:34:13.460 the less government,

00:34:14.340 the better,

00:34:14.720 the less regulation,

00:34:15.620 the better.

00:34:15.920 But that doesn't mean

00:34:17.060 that we can just let it go

00:34:18.320 and let people be censored

00:34:19.620 by venues

00:34:21.460 with this kind of power

00:34:23.080 is so massive.

00:34:24.380 I do not understand

00:34:25.580 why right-wingers

00:34:26.320 don't get this,

00:34:27.580 that they have to understand

00:34:28.900 that, you know,

00:34:29.440 the government is there

00:34:30.220 for a reason.

00:34:31.100 We don't have no government.

00:34:32.260 We need some regulations,

00:34:33.700 just like the Industrial Revolution

00:34:35.700 required new regulations

00:34:37.180 to deal with factories

00:34:38.480 and mass production.

00:34:40.020 This is something

00:34:41.300 that needs to be regulated too.

00:34:42.740 This is,

00:34:43.220 the invention of the internet

00:34:44.100 is the biggest thing

00:34:45.140 to happen to mankind

00:34:45.980 since the printing press.

00:34:47.800 It means we have to make sure

00:34:49.120 that our basic rights

00:34:50.340 and our basic humanity

00:34:51.900 is protected from.

00:34:53.460 Yeah,

00:34:53.660 because right now

00:34:54.300 we're talking about

00:34:55.040 the culture wars

00:34:56.540 and why they matter

00:34:57.480 and, you know,

00:34:58.300 sort of people's core beliefs

00:35:00.040 and secularism

00:35:00.940 and how that's changed.

00:35:01.880 I mean,

00:35:02.020 that really just set

00:35:02.640 the entire country off

00:35:03.640 down a dangerous path

00:35:04.700 of amoral behavior

00:35:07.720 and decision making

00:35:09.040 and it's infested virtually

00:35:11.000 all of our major institutions

00:35:12.660 right now.

00:35:13.200 Okay,

00:35:13.400 so people want to fight.

00:35:14.960 Now you see it.

00:35:16.460 I mean,

00:35:16.660 I don't know if it's reaching

00:35:17.460 its pinnacle.

00:35:17.920 I certainly hope

00:35:18.920 this is the pinnacle.

00:35:19.920 I have no idea.

00:35:21.000 But, you know,

00:35:21.320 the Andrew Klavan

00:35:21.860 making these arguments

00:35:22.640 in 2001 after 9-11,

00:35:24.220 if you could have seen us here

00:35:25.520 21 years later,

00:35:27.400 I wonder if even you

00:35:28.340 could have predicted

00:35:29.160 there'd be no more gender.

00:35:30.960 You know,

00:35:31.140 there'd be open racism taught.

00:35:33.300 Segregation is back.

00:35:34.320 You know,

00:35:34.540 I don't even know

00:35:35.400 if you would have foreseen that.

00:35:36.660 Okay,

00:35:36.860 so people want to fight

00:35:37.720 because things have gotten

00:35:38.480 so insane.

00:35:39.800 How do they fight?

00:35:40.700 Well,

00:35:40.860 you have to use your words.

00:35:41.920 You have to speak them.

00:35:42.980 You have to write them.

00:35:44.320 You've got to think them

00:35:45.300 and you've got to come

00:35:46.980 to understand them

00:35:48.020 so that you can think them

00:35:49.080 through by reading other people

00:35:50.900 who have written about them

00:35:52.180 and so on.

00:35:52.900 Well,

00:35:53.160 so we're talking about

00:35:53.960 how does one do that?

00:35:55.180 Through a process of going

00:35:56.420 on the internet,

00:35:56.980 through a process of buying

00:35:57.680 somebody's book,

00:35:58.580 through a process of listening

00:35:59.440 to podcasts.

00:36:00.240 They're shutting all that down.

00:36:01.900 It's the same as a boxer

00:36:02.900 going into the ring

00:36:03.480 and having both hands tied

00:36:04.360 behind his back.

00:36:04.980 He can't win.

00:36:05.920 He can't win

00:36:06.540 if you don't have

00:36:07.080 the means to fight.

00:36:09.380 And so the left

00:36:09.920 is taking away

00:36:10.760 the means to fight

00:36:11.660 that conservatives

00:36:12.260 or people who are just

00:36:13.180 open-minded.

00:36:15.400 You know,

00:36:15.900 a lot of my friends,

00:36:16.540 almost all of my friends

00:36:17.400 are New York City liberals.

00:36:19.720 They're in this with us.

00:36:21.120 They're more on our side

00:36:22.440 than they've ever been.

00:36:24.540 So we need to fight

00:36:26.200 for the process

00:36:26.880 to remain fair,

00:36:27.880 for our voices to be heard,

00:36:29.180 for us to have a chance

00:36:30.400 to opine

00:36:31.620 and listen to other people's opinions.

00:36:33.540 But then we get to the matter

00:36:35.180 of what should we say?

00:36:37.100 What should we believe?

00:36:38.040 What should we think?

00:36:39.320 What is the counter-argument?

00:36:40.340 And that leaves me to gender

00:36:42.540 because I've heard you talk

00:36:44.760 about the gender issue a lot,

00:36:45.960 both gender roles,

00:36:46.780 which I'd love to discuss with you,

00:36:48.000 and just gender as a,

00:36:49.400 you know,

00:36:49.740 is it determined by one's biology?

00:36:51.980 Is it something you pick,

00:36:52.880 like a color palette?

00:36:55.560 And let's just talk about gender

00:36:56.900 as a biological matter first, right?

00:36:59.140 Like, are there women?

00:37:00.500 Are there men?

00:37:01.060 And Ketanji Brown-Jackson,

00:37:02.440 you know,

00:37:02.660 I couldn't tell you, right?

00:37:03.860 And the fact that we've come

00:37:05.320 to that place in society

00:37:07.500 where you've got someone

00:37:08.820 who's about to take

00:37:09.580 a Supreme Court seat,

00:37:10.560 not able or willing

00:37:12.080 to define what a woman is.

00:37:15.360 Yeah, I mean,

00:37:16.140 what the left has succeeded

00:37:18.220 in doing

00:37:18.800 is they've succeeded

00:37:19.880 in convincing us

00:37:20.740 that generalizations

00:37:21.860 are an insult

00:37:23.100 to anyone

00:37:23.580 who doesn't fall

00:37:24.440 within that generalization.

00:37:26.500 So if I say

00:37:27.240 human beings

00:37:28.620 are a two-legged creature,

00:37:30.480 somebody is going to write

00:37:31.640 to me and say,

00:37:32.080 well, my beloved son

00:37:33.560 was born with only one leg.

00:37:34.860 Is he not a human being?

00:37:36.180 Well, yes, he is.

00:37:36.900 But human beings

00:37:37.520 remain a two-legged creature.

00:37:39.340 There are men and women.

00:37:40.380 This is a fact of life

00:37:41.520 that has been recognized

00:37:42.320 since the beginning of time.

00:37:44.240 Men and women have traits.

00:37:45.960 Those traits are different

00:37:47.060 from one another.

00:37:47.740 They have needs.

00:37:48.480 They have abilities.

00:37:49.340 They have powers.

00:37:50.140 They have roles,

00:37:50.940 all of which are

00:37:51.960 different from one another.

00:37:54.100 Until you secure the core,

00:37:56.300 until you secure the core

00:37:58.260 of what people want,

00:37:59.300 you can't be tolerant

00:38:00.520 toward exceptions.

00:38:01.860 So what the left does

00:38:02.640 is they say,

00:38:03.600 well, this guy is an exception

00:38:04.740 because he thinks he's a woman.

00:38:06.080 What are you going to do?

00:38:06.700 Are you going to be hateful

00:38:07.500 to this person?

00:38:08.540 Well, no, I don't think

00:38:09.440 we should be hateful

00:38:10.280 to that person.

00:38:10.800 But first, we're not going

00:38:11.580 to lie to him.

00:38:12.360 We're not going to tell him

00:38:13.040 he is a woman

00:38:13.720 just because he says he is.

00:38:15.380 So that's the first thing.

00:38:16.320 We can't lose the truth

00:38:17.820 just to make people feel good.

00:38:19.220 That's absurd.

00:38:20.300 The second thing is,

00:38:21.220 yeah, I understand

00:38:22.400 there are exceptions.

00:38:24.340 But the fact is,

00:38:25.360 the mom and dad family

00:38:26.860 is a bulwark of freedom.

00:38:28.760 It is the way people learn

00:38:30.080 to be.

00:38:30.860 It is the way people learn

00:38:31.920 to control themselves.

00:38:32.960 It's where they learn discipline.

00:38:34.080 It's where they learn values.

00:38:35.500 All of those things happen

00:38:36.660 in a family

00:38:37.400 without the government intervening.

00:38:39.100 And they keep us free

00:38:40.200 by happening there.

00:38:42.400 That other people,

00:38:43.560 that some people can't participate

00:38:44.840 in mom, dad families,

00:38:46.320 that some people are different.

00:38:47.660 All of that is fine,

00:38:48.820 but you don't have tolerance

00:38:50.820 for them until your core

00:38:52.020 is secure.

00:38:53.340 So when I think

00:38:55.220 mentally ill teachers

00:38:56.900 come in and say

00:38:58.100 they have the right,

00:38:59.440 this somehow amazing

00:39:01.280 created right

00:39:02.060 to tell our children

00:39:03.380 that they're the wrong gender

00:39:04.740 or that they get to choose

00:39:05.940 whether they're a man

00:39:06.660 or a woman,

00:39:07.160 that they may want

00:39:07.800 to have an operation

00:39:08.620 and that they should

00:39:10.580 check that out

00:39:11.200 and their parents

00:39:11.720 don't have a right

00:39:12.240 to know that.

00:39:12.940 When you see them doing that,

00:39:14.660 you really see them

00:39:16.020 violating certain core ethics

00:39:18.820 and certain core values

00:39:20.140 that without which

00:39:22.680 tolerance can exist.

00:39:24.040 So the left always gets

00:39:25.360 ahead of these things

00:39:26.240 by inventing language

00:39:27.920 to make you sound hateful

00:39:29.580 if you want to discuss it

00:39:30.500 with them.

00:39:30.800 So you're phobic,

00:39:32.000 you know, you're racist,

00:39:33.300 you're sexist,

00:39:33.860 you're all these different things.

00:39:35.220 I think that the first thing

00:39:37.500 we should recognize

00:39:38.200 is that gender

00:39:39.720 and gender differences

00:39:40.640 are one of the chief joys

00:39:42.020 of most people's lives.

00:39:43.600 They are the thing that,

00:39:44.500 they are sources

00:39:45.620 of untold beauty.

00:39:47.320 They are a consolation

00:39:48.780 for the tragic facts of life.

00:39:51.900 Most of us,

00:39:52.640 most of us find meaning

00:39:54.660 and happiness

00:39:55.380 and security and home

00:39:56.880 in the love of someone

00:39:58.680 of a different gender.

00:40:00.640 Now, that there are people

00:40:01.740 who don't do that

00:40:02.440 and there are people

00:40:02.880 who have trouble with that,

00:40:04.240 that's fine.

00:40:04.940 I can live with that.

00:40:05.960 But since this is

00:40:07.320 the vast majority of people

00:40:09.180 and since this is

00:40:09.840 the core of society

00:40:11.220 and since this is

00:40:11.980 the source of our freedom,

00:40:13.860 I think first we protect

00:40:15.040 that core

00:40:15.580 and then we can have tolerance.

00:40:17.440 And when you have people

00:40:18.100 invading that core,

00:40:19.300 I think you have

00:40:19.780 to brush them back.

00:40:21.300 So how do we do that?

00:40:22.640 Right, because,

00:40:23.500 and by the way,

00:40:24.220 all the stuff

00:40:24.720 that you just said

00:40:25.340 actually happened

00:40:26.900 to my child

00:40:27.800 at our New York City

00:40:28.920 private school,

00:40:30.180 all that stuff,

00:40:30.940 every single thing

00:40:32.280 you listed,

00:40:33.120 you know,

00:40:33.440 are you sure

00:40:34.600 you're really a boy?

00:40:35.760 You could possibly

00:40:37.020 be a girl.

00:40:37.920 Here's how you would

00:40:38.500 become a girl,

00:40:39.240 including you would

00:40:40.200 take puberty blockers

00:40:41.320 and then,

00:40:41.880 it's not like my child

00:40:42.600 had any of these issues.

00:40:43.560 They were saying it

00:40:43.940 to his entire third grade class,

00:40:45.240 third grade class.

00:40:46.940 You could take puberty blockers

00:40:48.340 and then when you get

00:40:49.120 to be 18,

00:40:49.940 you can have an operation

00:40:50.920 to have your penis chopped off

00:40:52.100 and build a vagina

00:40:53.520 and then you'll be a woman.

00:40:54.980 I mean,

00:40:55.140 this literally happened

00:40:55.940 to my son's class

00:40:57.420 of eight and nine year olds

00:40:58.760 and hence we are no longer

00:41:00.140 at that school,

00:41:00.940 which is one of the best schools

00:41:01.860 in the nation.

00:41:03.060 But it's not, right?

00:41:04.140 No, it isn't.

00:41:04.940 If they're abusing

00:41:05.720 your child ever,

00:41:06.380 they could be getting them

00:41:07.740 into Princeton

00:41:08.300 and Harvard and Yale

00:41:09.120 all day long,

00:41:10.020 which is not our goal,

00:41:11.000 but that's how they determine,

00:41:11.940 you know,

00:41:12.160 whether it's great school

00:41:12.900 or it's not.

00:41:14.140 But if they're punching

00:41:16.320 your child in the face

00:41:17.320 behind the scenes,

00:41:18.000 you would see

00:41:18.360 how abusive it was.

00:41:19.600 Well, that's what

00:41:20.040 they were effectively doing.

00:41:20.980 These are rhetorical punches

00:41:21.920 in the face

00:41:22.420 and they were every day

00:41:23.180 and they were everywhere

00:41:23.740 and they were on race

00:41:24.480 and they were on gender

00:41:25.120 and all the other favorite things.

00:41:27.500 So, but what,

00:41:28.280 this is something I,

00:41:29.360 I'm somebody

00:41:29.940 and I get a lot of crap

00:41:30.740 from my audience sometimes.

00:41:32.080 I will say somebody's pronouns,

00:41:33.960 their chosen pronouns.

00:41:34.700 If somebody says,

00:41:35.740 you know,

00:41:35.940 they're trans woman,

00:41:37.120 I'll call them she.

00:41:38.560 I'll,

00:41:39.620 I don't refer to them

00:41:41.460 as a woman.

00:41:41.840 And I'll say they're a trans woman

00:41:43.000 because facts are facts,

00:41:44.620 right?

00:41:45.020 There's a difference

00:41:45.780 between a trans woman

00:41:46.620 and a woman.

00:41:47.240 That's just,

00:41:47.860 it's trans woman means

00:41:49.000 you're a biological male

00:41:49.920 and you've decided

00:41:50.440 to walk around

00:41:51.040 and live the rest of your life

00:41:52.040 identifying as female,

00:41:53.420 which is fine by me.

00:41:54.480 I actually don't mind that.

00:41:56.120 But why would you say the pronoun

00:41:57.800 and why wouldn't you if not?

00:42:00.700 Well, you know,

00:42:01.320 it's a thing that the left

00:42:02.980 has ruined is good manners.

00:42:05.180 You say the pronoun like that

00:42:06.920 because you're polite.

00:42:07.660 You want to be nice to the person.

00:42:08.880 The person has this issue in life,

00:42:10.520 you know,

00:42:11.500 that you're not trying

00:42:12.420 to exacerbate,

00:42:13.240 you're not trying

00:42:13.600 to make his or her life worse.

00:42:16.080 You're trying to be nice.

00:42:17.800 And they use that

00:42:18.760 to essentially eradicate reality.

00:42:21.900 And that becomes unfair.

00:42:24.940 So yeah,

00:42:25.500 in talking to an individual person,

00:42:27.560 would I say,

00:42:28.100 I might well say,

00:42:29.360 look,

00:42:29.680 I don't agree with you,

00:42:30.820 but I'll call you

00:42:31.460 whatever you want.

00:42:32.220 I might preface it with that.

00:42:33.940 But of course,

00:42:34.520 I would try to be polite

00:42:35.480 and try to be kind,

00:42:36.480 but I will not let my kindness

00:42:37.860 and I will not let my politeness

00:42:39.340 be used to eradicate

00:42:41.100 basic truths

00:42:42.060 and basic values.

00:42:43.500 You know,

00:42:44.020 when you're describing

00:42:45.100 your son's experience in school,

00:42:47.120 and I find it appalling.

00:42:48.720 I mean,

00:42:48.900 I find it appalling

00:42:49.640 that you should

00:42:50.160 have that happen to you.

00:42:52.960 The left manages

00:42:54.080 to skip over

00:42:55.160 first principles

00:42:56.140 so that

00:42:56.980 when you go in and say,

00:42:58.260 you don't really have the right

00:42:59.080 to say that to my son,

00:43:00.080 they say,

00:43:00.320 well,

00:43:00.400 you're hateful

00:43:00.880 because you don't accept

00:43:01.760 transgenderism.

00:43:02.880 No, no,

00:43:03.140 you've got to go back a minute.

00:43:04.640 The first thing is,

00:43:05.620 that child is your charge.

00:43:08.260 They didn't create him.

00:43:09.620 They don't take care of him.

00:43:10.940 They're not responsible for him.

00:43:12.220 You are.

00:43:13.220 So they're violating

00:43:14.180 a basic first principle

00:43:15.880 of your rights.

00:43:16.920 I mean,

00:43:17.120 teach them to read,

00:43:18.040 teach them math,

00:43:18.980 teach them history,

00:43:19.780 but you have no right

00:43:21.080 to teach them values

00:43:22.320 that are in conflict

00:43:23.380 with the values

00:43:24.080 of his family,

00:43:25.160 not only in conflict with him,

00:43:26.380 but really completely

00:43:27.700 opposite of the values

00:43:29.400 of his family.

00:43:30.000 You don't have that right.

00:43:31.580 And so that's the first thing.

00:43:33.080 You know,

00:43:33.220 that's the first principle.

00:43:34.300 You have the right

00:43:34.700 to your opinion,

00:43:35.280 but you don't have the right

00:43:36.300 to have your opinion.

00:43:37.340 Wait,

00:43:37.360 before we move on

00:43:37.960 to the second thing,

00:43:38.660 let me give the counter argument.

00:43:39.800 It would be,

00:43:40.680 well,

00:43:40.960 I mean,

00:43:41.300 the KKK members

00:43:42.620 would have come into this class

00:43:43.840 back in the 1950s

00:43:44.900 and said,

00:43:45.340 what you're teaching

00:43:46.180 is anti my core values.

00:43:48.300 I created my child

00:43:49.100 and I don't want you

00:43:49.800 to be teaching them

00:43:50.520 that race doesn't matter,

00:43:53.180 right?

00:43:53.380 Back then,

00:43:53.960 that was controversial

00:43:54.760 to the racists.

00:43:56.540 They were the ones

00:43:57.200 who believed

00:43:57.640 that race mattered

00:43:58.560 and it mattered entirely.

00:44:00.220 So, right,

00:44:00.380 so what,

00:44:01.060 so the teacher's response

00:44:01.940 would be,

00:44:02.260 this is basic,

00:44:02.840 this is about basic goodness

00:44:03.880 and tolerance.

00:44:05.320 Those are school

00:44:06.260 and societal values

00:44:07.840 and if you don't stand

00:44:09.100 for those,

00:44:09.680 you don't belong

00:44:10.180 at this school.

00:44:11.080 Well,

00:44:11.540 there are a million

00:44:12.360 true and nuanced reasons

00:44:14.660 why that's not true.

00:44:15.720 I mean,

00:44:15.860 first of all,

00:44:16.280 there's a tremendous difference

00:44:17.540 between the color

00:44:18.760 of a person's skin

00:44:19.800 and the actions

00:44:20.600 that he takes.

00:44:21.700 Actions are,

00:44:22.560 in fact,

00:44:22.840 responsible to morality

00:44:23.840 and people have,

00:44:24.880 you know,

00:44:25.100 people of different sexualities

00:44:26.320 take different actions.

00:44:27.360 We have the right

00:44:27.860 to hold different opinions

00:44:29.460 and different values

00:44:30.540 about those actions.

00:44:31.740 We don't really,

00:44:32.680 I mean,

00:44:32.880 you have the right

00:44:33.500 to be a racist,

00:44:34.320 I suppose,

00:44:35.140 but it doesn't make

00:44:36.300 the same kind of sense

00:44:37.600 to hate someone

00:44:38.260 for the way he looks

00:44:39.160 or the way he speaks

00:44:39.980 or the way his skin,

00:44:42.040 what his skin color is

00:44:43.120 as it does to say

00:44:44.180 you are taking certain actions

00:44:45.360 which I find immoral.

00:44:46.560 So that's,

00:44:47.020 that is one important difference.

00:44:49.140 But the other important difference

00:44:50.540 is this,

00:44:51.260 all through human history,

00:44:52.640 it has been recognized

00:44:53.520 that there are men and women.

00:44:54.540 There's exactly 0% science

00:44:56.500 that says you can change

00:44:57.760 from one to another.

00:44:58.700 Every cell in your body

00:44:59.720 is gendered.

00:45:00.660 And so they're actually

00:45:01.560 teaching something

00:45:02.480 that's false.

00:45:03.740 They're telling people

00:45:04.760 something that's false.

00:45:06.040 And to say that,

00:45:07.240 you know,

00:45:07.880 it's morally okay

00:45:09.560 to be transgender,

00:45:10.560 it's morally okay

00:45:11.240 to be schizophrenic,

00:45:12.180 but you don't want to be.

00:45:13.360 It may not be something

00:45:14.360 that is desirable

00:45:15.200 and that's something

00:45:15.800 that each family

00:45:16.480 really has to decide

00:45:17.540 for itself.

00:45:18.400 So God bless them

00:45:19.560 for thinking that something

00:45:20.420 that has never been thought before

00:45:21.840 is the moral order

00:45:23.140 that they've suddenly discovered.

00:45:25.100 But no,

00:45:25.540 they don't have a right

00:45:26.300 to teach that to your child

00:45:27.700 and it is far,

00:45:28.620 far different,

00:45:29.160 obviously,

00:45:30.080 than what you're talking about

00:45:32.300 with racism in the KKK.

00:45:33.820 That said,

00:45:34.760 that said,

00:45:35.600 I do believe

00:45:36.460 that Klansmen,

00:45:37.760 as much as I despise racism

00:45:39.400 and as much as it hurts my heart,

00:45:41.420 you know,

00:45:41.700 I do believe

00:45:42.740 that people have the right

00:45:44.180 to teach their children

00:45:45.160 their values

00:45:45.800 even when those values

00:45:46.900 are bad,

00:45:48.260 you know?

00:45:48.620 And I think that in this case,

00:45:49.980 in this case,

00:45:50.600 you're talking again

00:45:51.420 about values

00:45:52.020 that have been human values

00:45:53.580 since the beginning of time.

00:45:55.020 There's zero science

00:45:55.960 to contradict those values.

00:45:57.300 All the science,

00:45:58.060 in fact,

00:45:58.320 confirms them.

00:45:59.200 So what on earth

00:46:00.280 are they talking about

00:46:01.240 except teaching your child

00:46:02.440 their delusions?

00:46:03.860 Well,

00:46:04.020 you know,

00:46:04.380 you know,

00:46:05.100 now it's,

00:46:05.920 your child's going to kill himself

00:46:06.920 if you don't get more affirmative.

00:46:09.120 You have to start affirming him.

00:46:10.880 And unlike you,

00:46:11.580 we care about him.

00:46:12.580 Unlike you,

00:46:13.180 we care about your child's mental health

00:46:15.140 and his well-being.

00:46:16.520 And,

00:46:17.000 you know,

00:46:17.120 that's really what they do

00:46:18.360 to parents now

00:46:19.120 when it comes to this

00:46:19.840 transgender stuff

00:46:20.620 and their justification

00:46:21.540 for not looping parents in

00:46:22.920 if a child

00:46:23.420 under these enormous pressures

00:46:25.420 starts to submit

00:46:26.720 and just to get these people

00:46:27.620 off the back

00:46:28.240 and be like,

00:46:28.720 oh,

00:46:29.040 okay,

00:46:29.400 yeah,

00:46:29.660 maybe I'm a girl.

00:46:30.840 I mean,

00:46:31.280 truly,

00:46:31.760 it's like they're trying

00:46:32.720 to recruit.

00:46:33.920 It's,

00:46:34.240 it's as if it's recruiting ground.

00:46:37.600 I think I,

00:46:38.620 your latest episode

00:46:39.500 of your podcast,

00:46:40.260 I looked it up

00:46:40.620 and I listened to it.

00:46:41.360 It was called,

00:46:41.900 okay,

00:46:42.300 groomer.

00:46:43.640 That's something

00:46:44.160 you can say to these teachers.

00:46:45.600 They were saying,

00:46:46.500 don't say gay.

00:46:47.120 And they were putting up

00:46:47.680 billboards that said gay.

00:46:48.720 And I thought we should put up

00:46:49.480 billboards to say,

00:46:50.080 okay,

00:46:50.460 groomer,

00:46:50.820 because really,

00:46:51.840 I mean,

00:46:52.440 there is no excuse.

00:46:53.940 There is a really

00:46:55.300 zero percent excuse

00:46:56.600 to talk to a third grader

00:46:58.720 about his sexuality

00:46:59.680 if you are not his parent.

00:47:01.240 I cannot understand.

00:47:03.180 I,

00:47:03.580 listen,

00:47:03.740 I think 90% of the country,

00:47:05.800 70% at least,

00:47:07.160 would say that that's immoral.

00:47:08.380 If you put it in those terms,

00:47:09.640 if you say you have no right

00:47:11.420 to talk to someone

00:47:12.580 who is not your child

00:47:13.880 about their sexuality

00:47:15.180 when he is little,

00:47:16.420 I think we all agree with that.

00:47:17.980 And,

00:47:18.180 you know,

00:47:18.620 when I was a kid,

00:47:19.400 the police used to come

00:47:20.800 and visit our classroom

00:47:21.760 and teach us

00:47:22.560 if anyone did that,

00:47:23.980 you should call the cops.

00:47:25.840 You know,

00:47:26.060 now they want to make

00:47:27.300 a Disney movie about it.

00:47:28.680 I think that they have gone

00:47:29.860 well,

00:47:30.780 well arrived

00:47:31.780 where the mainstream

00:47:32.600 of the country is.

00:47:33.560 And I think that's going

00:47:34.100 to be reflected,

00:47:34.860 by the way,

00:47:35.180 in the next election.

00:47:36.460 Okay,

00:47:36.880 now wait,

00:47:37.520 because this is another thing

00:47:38.700 I heard you say.

00:47:39.280 You're optimistic.

00:47:40.180 You're optimistic

00:47:40.960 about culture,

00:47:42.140 about these things

00:47:42.620 we're talking about.

00:47:43.180 And that's,

00:47:43.780 that's a good place

00:47:44.480 for a pause.

00:47:44.940 Quick Commercial Break.

00:47:46.340 More with Andrew Klavan

00:47:48.000 coming up.

00:47:54.520 Back with me now,

00:47:55.560 Andrew Klavan,

00:47:56.380 host of the Andrew Klavan Show

00:47:57.660 with the Daily Wire team

00:47:59.080 and author of the new book,

00:48:01.140 The Truth and Beauty,

00:48:03.300 in which he explores

00:48:04.560 the gospel

00:48:05.420 and the meaning

00:48:06.360 of God's word

00:48:08.060 through poems,

00:48:11.320 through literature,

00:48:12.480 through great writers

00:48:13.460 who you would know

00:48:14.960 and he found it

00:48:15.680 a very joyous exercise.

00:48:17.700 And that brings me to,

00:48:18.780 I want to continue

00:48:19.380 our discussion of gender.

00:48:20.900 One of the works

00:48:22.080 that you took a look at

00:48:23.040 was Frankenstein.

00:48:26.600 And this,

00:48:27.540 I never saw this coming.

00:48:28.960 This is what's so creative

00:48:29.920 and innovative

00:48:30.380 about your book.

00:48:32.160 Frankenstein,

00:48:32.640 the way you studied it

00:48:34.880 and the way you see it

00:48:35.960 is basically a story

00:48:38.400 about the usurpation

00:48:40.700 of the power of women

00:48:43.500 that they made a man

00:48:46.260 without a mother.

00:48:47.680 The science eliminated

00:48:48.920 the principle of femininity

00:48:50.600 from the creation

00:48:52.060 of human life.

00:48:53.400 This is so interesting to me

00:48:54.680 because to me,

00:48:55.680 this dovetails

00:48:56.320 with what we're talking about

00:48:57.560 because,

00:48:58.200 you know,

00:48:58.940 the next question

00:48:59.980 in the discussion

00:49:00.540 of our gender discussion

00:49:01.960 is,

00:49:02.220 who cares?

00:49:03.980 Relax.

00:49:04.700 If somebody wants to say

00:49:06.020 they're a tree,

00:49:07.120 they're a tree.

00:49:07.700 Like,

00:49:07.940 what does it bother you

00:49:09.160 that some guy suddenly says,

00:49:11.160 you know what?

00:49:11.560 I think I'm a woman

00:49:12.380 or some woman says,

00:49:14.080 you know what?

00:49:14.340 I think I'm a man.

00:49:15.060 I'm going to live my life

00:49:15.820 like that.

00:49:16.680 What do you care?

00:49:17.960 And you make the case

00:49:19.780 kind of through

00:49:20.620 the examination

00:49:21.480 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

00:49:22.680 and other works here

00:49:23.880 advertently or not

00:49:25.080 that it does matter.

00:49:27.900 It matters incredibly.

00:49:29.960 I mean,

00:49:30.140 beginning with

00:49:30.860 the question

00:49:31.900 of your inner life.

00:49:33.040 I mean,

00:49:33.220 this is what you lose

00:49:34.220 when you lose your faith

00:49:35.160 is you lose the sense

00:49:36.140 that your inner life

00:49:36.960 means anything.

00:49:37.900 So we've come to a place

00:49:39.140 where either people think

00:49:40.400 your inner life

00:49:40.860 doesn't mean anything,

00:49:41.840 that your morals

00:49:43.720 are as good as my morals

00:49:44.880 and your culture

00:49:45.540 is as good as my culture

00:49:46.520 or they think it means everything.

00:49:47.660 You can change

00:49:48.240 your sex

00:49:49.000 on the spot.

00:49:50.620 Well,

00:49:51.340 one of the people

00:49:52.000 dealing with these questions

00:49:53.060 was Mary Shelley,

00:49:53.980 who was a teenage girl.

00:49:55.720 She had run away

00:49:56.560 with the poet Shelley.

00:49:57.760 He had left his wife for her.

00:50:00.060 Shelley,

00:50:00.740 both Mary Shelley's mother,

00:50:02.380 who was one of the first feminists,

00:50:04.160 her father,

00:50:05.620 Shelley himself,

00:50:06.640 they all believed in free love

00:50:08.180 and they all despised marriage.

00:50:10.460 And as a result of this,

00:50:12.060 Mary Shelley

00:50:12.600 got pregnant several times,

00:50:14.760 lost her children.

00:50:16.020 Nobody felt much sympathy for her

00:50:19.100 when her children died.

00:50:22.100 Byron was sleeping

00:50:24.320 with everybody,

00:50:25.120 man and woman.

00:50:26.440 And so she conceived

00:50:28.260 of this horror story,

00:50:29.760 this horror story

00:50:30.700 about a man

00:50:31.320 who creates a creature

00:50:32.500 out of old body parts,

00:50:34.280 basically,

00:50:34.640 and brings it to life.

00:50:36.180 And she herself said,

00:50:37.820 this is a story

00:50:38.500 about what happens

00:50:39.200 when man usurps

00:50:40.260 the rights of God

00:50:41.120 to create life.

00:50:42.180 And I point out in the book,

00:50:43.520 it's really not

00:50:44.340 because man creates life

00:50:45.540 all the time.

00:50:46.340 Men and women create life

00:50:47.300 all the time

00:50:47.800 out of the materials

00:50:48.600 they have.

00:50:49.700 What Frankenstein does

00:50:50.860 is he creates a creature

00:50:52.080 without a woman

00:50:53.140 and he takes away

00:50:54.900 the power of women.

00:50:56.320 And this is all

00:50:57.060 throughout the book.

00:50:58.580 Frankenstein becomes

00:50:59.580 a monster

00:51:00.280 because he has no parents.

00:51:01.980 He has no one

00:51:02.580 to love him,

00:51:03.420 to teach him

00:51:04.060 how to be a human being.

00:51:05.440 He hides out

00:51:06.240 the monster Frankenstein

00:51:07.480 hides out

00:51:08.060 at one point

00:51:09.040 with a family

00:51:10.060 and all he can do

00:51:11.000 is drink in

00:51:11.880 what it means

00:51:12.800 to watch a mother

00:51:13.700 raise her children,

00:51:14.640 to watch a father

00:51:15.440 take care of his wife

00:51:17.040 and his family.

00:51:18.920 And he ultimately,

00:51:19.740 the monster comes back

00:51:20.820 to Dr. Frankenstein

00:51:21.980 and says,

00:51:22.440 I will leave you alone

00:51:23.440 if you will just do one thing.

00:51:25.220 Build me an Eve.

00:51:26.780 You made an atom,

00:51:28.000 now build me an Eve

00:51:29.020 so I can become

00:51:29.680 a complete human being.

00:51:32.040 This is,

00:51:32.840 has become,

00:51:34.300 you know,

00:51:34.560 Mary Shelley,

00:51:35.160 like I said,

00:51:35.500 she was a teenage girl

00:51:36.300 when she wrote this.

00:51:37.400 She invented the modern

00:51:38.740 science fiction genre.

00:51:40.260 And this is a theme

00:51:41.200 in science fiction

00:51:42.040 to this day.

00:51:43.120 When you watch

00:51:44.360 the stories

00:51:45.700 about dystopia,

00:51:47.000 when you watch stories

00:51:48.080 like The Matrix

00:51:49.120 about machines

00:51:50.320 taking over the world,

00:51:51.640 the first thing to go

00:51:53.080 is the woman.

00:51:54.360 When you think about

00:51:55.020 Aldous Huxley's

00:51:56.100 Oh, you watch a Disney movie.

00:51:57.080 Andrew,

00:51:57.440 watch a Disney movie.

00:51:58.740 This is a running joke

00:51:59.640 in our family.

00:52:00.400 They kill off the mother

00:52:01.360 in virtually all these,

00:52:02.600 before we got to

00:52:03.380 Disney's current craziness,

00:52:04.840 we had the mother

00:52:05.640 being killed off.

00:52:06.300 I mean,

00:52:06.500 Bambi's the most famous

00:52:08.160 or infamous.

00:52:09.240 Right.

00:52:09.500 But I mean,

00:52:10.020 every other Disney movie,

00:52:12.260 the mom's dead

00:52:12.920 within the first two scenes.

00:52:14.980 This this is it,

00:52:15.800 you know,

00:52:15.980 because how do you

00:52:16.900 find your humanity then?

00:52:18.560 If if you live in a world

00:52:20.580 in Brave New World,

00:52:21.580 the dystopian novel,

00:52:23.300 the first thing they do

00:52:24.300 is they raise children

00:52:25.840 in incubators

00:52:26.600 and they get rid of mothers

00:52:27.500 in The Giver,

00:52:28.140 which is also a famous

00:52:29.100 dystopian novel.

00:52:30.200 They relegate motherhood

00:52:31.800 to the lowest

00:52:32.540 women in the society.

00:52:35.320 If you watch

00:52:36.240 The Terminator

00:52:36.960 when the machines

00:52:37.860 want to destroy

00:52:39.100 the rebel leader,

00:52:40.280 what do they do?

00:52:40.860 They go back

00:52:41.440 and hunt in time

00:52:42.440 and hunt for his mother,

00:52:44.520 who's in the first movie.

00:52:45.840 She's just a girl.

00:52:46.700 She's just a girl

00:52:47.380 who wants to date

00:52:48.180 and talk about her hair.

00:52:49.520 But her power is

00:52:50.660 that she becomes a mother.

00:52:53.020 And the poets

00:52:53.840 wrote about this

00:52:54.500 so beautifully,

00:52:55.580 Wordsworth,

00:52:56.120 especially,

00:52:56.620 who lost his mother young,

00:52:58.200 wrote in his

00:52:59.120 autobiographical poem,

00:53:00.540 he wrote about

00:53:01.120 how a mother

00:53:01.760 in communicating

00:53:02.780 with her baby

00:53:03.680 turns that baby

00:53:05.260 into a human being

00:53:06.520 and connects that baby

00:53:07.840 to the world

00:53:08.740 through her love.

00:53:09.980 This turns out

00:53:10.680 to be a scientific fact.

00:53:12.060 I mean,

00:53:12.280 babies are born

00:53:13.000 with what's called

00:53:13.560 motor neurons.

00:53:14.480 When they're born,

00:53:15.400 they're really not

00:53:16.400 distinguished in their own minds

00:53:18.240 from their mother.

00:53:18.940 They're really actually

00:53:19.760 still connected to their mother,

00:53:20.980 even though they're

00:53:21.760 outside the womb.

00:53:22.980 It's in that interchange

00:53:24.180 between the mother

00:53:25.640 and the child

00:53:26.640 that those motor neurons

00:53:27.680 come to life,

00:53:28.420 that the child realizes

00:53:29.400 himself as an individual

00:53:30.960 and as a creative person

00:53:32.360 and can go forth

00:53:33.580 on his own.

00:53:35.080 This is a spiritual task

00:53:36.760 of motherhood

00:53:37.320 that we don't think about.

00:53:38.580 I do not believe.

00:53:39.740 I know we're all supposed

00:53:40.480 to say,

00:53:40.840 oh, men can do this too.

00:53:42.200 No, they can't.

00:53:43.100 It's actually a special task

00:53:45.220 and I think it is a task

00:53:46.220 best performed

00:53:46.900 by the person

00:53:47.800 who gave birth

00:53:48.420 to that child,

00:53:49.200 even though sometimes

00:53:50.120 we have to make do

00:53:51.600 in this tragic life

00:53:53.180 without that.

00:53:54.520 This means,

00:53:55.260 this means

00:53:55.880 that when somebody

00:53:56.800 says to you,

00:53:57.540 oh, she's just a homemaker,

00:53:59.480 she's just a mom,

00:54:00.620 she's a stay-at-home mom

00:54:01.740 and relegates that

00:54:02.640 to a second tier,

00:54:03.680 they're actually relegating

00:54:05.420 the most important task

00:54:06.920 a person can do

00:54:07.900 to the second tier

00:54:09.380 of our business,

00:54:11.220 which means

00:54:11.780 that a woman

00:54:12.220 who goes in

00:54:12.820 and types words

00:54:13.560 into a computer

00:54:14.300 or shuffles paper

00:54:15.240 or goes to get coffee

00:54:16.420 for her boss

00:54:17.180 or even is the boss

00:54:18.860 is actually

00:54:20.220 not doing something

00:54:21.820 more important

00:54:22.640 than the woman

00:54:23.400 who is raising

00:54:24.160 that child

00:54:24.700 to be a full soul.

00:54:26.720 And I don't say this

00:54:27.520 in a condescending way.

00:54:28.700 One of the reasons

00:54:29.400 that feminism

00:54:30.020 became a thing

00:54:32.120 at this moment,

00:54:32.840 one of the reasons

00:54:33.540 Mary Shelley's mother

00:54:34.660 was one of the first feminists

00:54:36.180 is because

00:54:37.200 if you look back

00:54:37.920 at the Bible, Megan,

00:54:38.780 you look back

00:54:39.240 at Proverbs 31,

00:54:40.460 Christians are always

00:54:41.060 talking about,

00:54:41.540 oh, I want a Proverbs 31 woman.

00:54:43.520 Proverbs 31

00:54:44.180 is the description

00:54:44.960 of the best woman,

00:54:46.740 the virtuous woman.

00:54:47.680 It's not a description

00:54:48.740 of some 50s housewife

00:54:51.000 vacuuming in her heels.

00:54:52.900 It's a description

00:54:53.460 of a businesswoman

00:54:54.300 who buys land,

00:54:55.440 of somebody

00:54:55.880 who plants an orchard,

00:54:57.180 who sells the fruit

00:54:58.260 of that orchard,

00:54:58.920 and then also has time

00:55:00.760 to feed her family

00:55:01.700 and take care of her home

00:55:02.820 and make her husband proud

00:55:04.400 and give her husband honor

00:55:05.840 through her behavior.

00:55:07.700 That's a very extensive thing.

00:55:09.440 When the Industrial Revolution

00:55:10.460 came along,

00:55:11.360 which is right around the time

00:55:12.420 I'm talking about

00:55:13.120 in this book,

00:55:14.140 when the Industrial Revolution

00:55:15.120 came along,

00:55:15.700 all of those home industries

00:55:17.700 were taken away from women.

00:55:19.540 Suddenly clothes,

00:55:20.500 women used to be called

00:55:21.160 the distaff

00:55:21.840 because they made the clothes,

00:55:22.960 which was a major,

00:55:23.900 major industry.

00:55:25.000 Suddenly clothes

00:55:25.620 were going to be made

00:55:26.320 in factories.

00:55:27.260 Suddenly food

00:55:28.060 was manufactured

00:55:28.920 off the farm.

00:55:30.120 Suddenly children

00:55:30.960 were taken off

00:55:32.140 to the cities

00:55:32.780 to work in factories

00:55:33.580 and didn't come back

00:55:34.740 to help on the farm.

00:55:36.500 So even the children

00:55:37.380 that women were producing

00:55:38.520 weren't as valuable

00:55:39.840 as they used to be.

00:55:40.940 And I'm just talking

00:55:41.480 about economics,

00:55:42.200 but it was just true.

00:55:43.660 What you had after that

00:55:44.880 was a kind of idealization

00:55:46.740 of women.

00:55:47.580 You had this kind of idea

00:55:48.900 that was big

00:55:49.580 in the Victorian age

00:55:51.580 of the angel in the house.

00:55:53.220 And a woman was an angel

00:55:54.340 in the house.

00:55:54.980 Women weren't people anymore.

00:55:56.200 They were kind of

00:55:57.000 these high goddesses

00:55:58.320 of domesticity,

00:56:00.160 you know,

00:56:00.280 the domestic goddesses

00:56:01.360 we joke today.

00:56:02.520 Well, no wonder feminists

00:56:03.600 started saying,

00:56:04.240 you know,

00:56:04.900 I'm really a human being.

00:56:06.640 I would like to have

00:56:07.220 an important place

00:56:08.040 in my society

00:56:08.800 if you've stripped away

00:56:10.140 my home industries,

00:56:11.140 if you've stripped away

00:56:11.880 the economic value

00:56:13.060 of what I do,

00:56:14.120 all I'm left now

00:56:15.380 is as a dependent,

00:56:16.900 as we say,

00:56:17.540 in the tax business.

00:56:19.520 You know,

00:56:19.820 what is my value?

00:56:20.920 I want to have value

00:56:21.960 like men have value.

00:56:22.840 So that's why Mary Shelley,

00:56:24.360 I think,

00:56:24.620 at this moment

00:56:25.180 actually perceived

00:56:26.120 that something was happening,

00:56:27.580 that machinery and science

00:56:28.860 were actually antithetical

00:56:31.220 to the spiritual task

00:56:32.560 of womanhood.

00:56:33.800 I personally,

00:56:34.760 when you talk about

00:56:35.300 me being hopeful,

00:56:36.020 one of the things

00:56:36.440 I'm hopeful about

00:56:37.220 is that computers

00:56:37.880 have brought back

00:56:38.620 home industries,

00:56:39.500 have made it easier

00:56:40.420 to run a business

00:56:41.180 out of your home

00:56:41.940 and that women

00:56:42.360 will start to discover.

00:56:43.480 I think some of them

00:56:44.320 started to discover

00:56:45.120 during this pandemic

00:56:46.180 and its lockdowns

00:56:47.220 that they're needed.

00:56:48.180 They're needed

00:56:48.780 by their children.

00:56:49.580 You don't just create

00:56:50.280 a child in a moment

00:56:51.180 when you go into labor.

00:56:52.220 As you know,

00:56:52.880 you create a child

00:56:53.740 in every moment

00:56:54.740 that you're with that child

00:56:55.740 and every moment

00:56:56.420 that that child sees

00:56:58.260 his mother's love

00:56:59.320 or her mother's love

00:57:00.220 in her eyes.

00:57:01.860 So, you know,

00:57:02.980 what Mary Shelley perceived

00:57:04.460 was that science,

00:57:06.080 which was then

00:57:07.620 and still now

00:57:08.500 was largely

00:57:09.060 a masculine pursuit,

00:57:10.680 was somehow

00:57:11.440 undermining

00:57:12.560 the position

00:57:13.300 of women in the world,

00:57:14.360 the essential position

00:57:15.400 of women in the world.

00:57:16.920 And it continues

00:57:17.560 to do that.

00:57:18.240 I mean,

00:57:18.380 who can deny

00:57:19.160 that soon babies

00:57:20.420 can be born

00:57:21.060 out of a machine?

00:57:21.980 They probably will be

00:57:22.960 born out of a machine.

00:57:24.480 Who will be the woman

00:57:25.480 wise enough to say,

00:57:26.560 you know what,

00:57:26.940 it's painful to have labor,

00:57:28.300 but actually it's necessary

00:57:29.760 that I have this connection

00:57:30.820 to my child,

00:57:31.740 that this child grows

00:57:32.900 under my heart.

00:57:34.720 You know,

00:57:34.980 there's going to be

00:57:35.940 probably,

00:57:37.120 you know,

00:57:37.920 the fewer women

00:57:38.920 who actually say that,

00:57:39.940 but they're going to be

00:57:40.500 the most important women

00:57:41.460 in the world.

00:57:42.460 So,

00:57:43.040 I just think these,

00:57:44.140 you know,

00:57:44.840 poets aren't prophets,

00:57:45.860 writers aren't prophets,

00:57:46.760 but if they observe

00:57:47.440 the world they're in

00:57:48.440 closely enough,

00:57:50.060 it actually will tell you

00:57:51.400 where the world is going.

00:57:52.380 And I think Mary Shelley

00:57:53.540 was a seer.

00:57:54.680 I think Frankenstein

00:57:55.440 is not just the source

00:57:56.720 of great horror movies

00:57:57.740 and great jokes

00:57:59.620 and great imitations

00:58:00.460 like the Mel Brooks

00:58:01.280 Young Frankenstein.

00:58:02.300 It is also one of the wisest books

00:58:04.240 of gothic horror

00:58:05.420 ever written

00:58:06.040 and an absolute

00:58:06.780 work of genius.

00:58:08.160 It's so exciting.

00:58:09.260 I'm going back

00:58:09.980 and reading it today.

00:58:11.180 Today.

00:58:11.960 It's a great book.

00:58:12.920 It's a great book.

00:58:13.300 It gives me something else

00:58:14.480 to think about.

00:58:15.020 And this is how you write

00:58:15.620 about it in the book.

00:58:17.800 This is in part,

00:58:18.860 you say,

00:58:19.180 perhaps this is what

00:58:20.740 she's envisioning,

00:58:21.620 but perhaps the humanizing

00:58:22.820 tasks of femininity,

00:58:24.480 creating life out of matter,

00:58:26.320 homes out of houses,

00:58:27.700 minds out of brains,

00:58:29.560 and souls out of bodies.

00:58:31.100 Before I move on,

00:58:31.780 that's great.

00:58:32.380 The humanizing tasks

00:58:33.440 of femininity include

00:58:34.740 creating life out of matter,

00:58:37.060 check,

00:58:37.660 homes out of houses,

00:58:39.300 check,

00:58:40.200 minds out of brains,

00:58:42.100 check,

00:58:42.400 and souls out of bodies.

00:58:43.900 I love this definition.

00:58:45.280 Love will fall equally.

00:58:47.420 This is the sort of

00:58:48.240 dystopian future envisioned.

00:58:49.740 We'll fall equally

00:58:50.300 on the genders

00:58:50.940 or will be chosen

00:58:52.600 like a profession

00:58:53.420 by anyone who happens

00:58:54.420 to have the talent

00:58:55.020 and the proclivity.

00:58:56.120 You go on to write,

00:58:56.780 or perhaps

00:58:57.420 by losing those passions

00:58:59.400 and fears,

00:59:00.660 by losing our genders

00:59:01.840 and our mortality,

00:59:03.600 we will have lost

00:59:05.160 our essential selves.

00:59:07.820 Right?

00:59:08.040 Think about that.

00:59:08.620 Perhaps your femininity

00:59:09.580 is central

00:59:10.580 to your essential self

00:59:12.680 or your masculinity,

00:59:14.040 depending on the case.

00:59:15.080 Perhaps in eradicating

00:59:16.320 our troubles,

00:59:17.580 we will have created

00:59:18.640 nothing but a convenient

00:59:19.600 little nightmare

00:59:20.360 of purely materialistic existence,

00:59:23.220 a depersonalized personhood

00:59:25.520 in a world less fit for man

00:59:27.760 than for machines.

00:59:31.680 I never thought of my femininity

00:59:34.680 as central

00:59:37.440 to my essential self.

00:59:40.760 But it is.

00:59:41.680 I mean, just when asked

00:59:42.680 the question directly,

00:59:43.500 of course it is.

00:59:46.300 Yes, of course.

00:59:48.000 That's absolutely right.

00:59:49.300 You know, one of the things

00:59:50.300 these poets rediscovered

00:59:51.820 was that the inner life

00:59:53.060 is in collaboration

00:59:53.920 with creation.

00:59:56.380 The words were called

00:59:57.480 the collaboration

00:59:58.020 with the one great mind.

00:59:59.840 And this is an essential fact

01:00:01.520 about us,

01:00:02.040 that we're not just rattling

01:00:03.220 around in our brains.

01:00:04.240 It's not just us

01:00:05.360 talking about our sex drives

01:00:06.800 or talking about our history

01:00:08.000 or our past

01:00:08.740 or what has happened to us.

01:00:10.220 It is us in collaboration

01:00:11.640 with reality.

01:00:13.080 No matter what you do,

01:00:14.380 it is a new thing.

01:00:15.920 When Megyn Kelly

01:00:16.500 walks down the street,

01:00:17.440 it is different

01:00:17.920 than when Andrew Klavan

01:00:18.820 walks down the street.

01:00:19.620 It has never happened before.

01:00:20.920 It will never happen again.

01:00:22.020 That experience

01:00:22.640 that you're having

01:00:23.240 is unique.

01:00:24.500 It is an act of creation

01:00:25.720 and it is an act of creation

01:00:27.060 out of creation,

01:00:28.140 but it is also

01:00:28.840 a collaboration

01:00:29.600 with creation.

01:00:31.060 Not to write a poem myself,

01:00:32.360 but it's a collaboration

01:00:33.180 with the creation.

01:00:34.900 If you stop collaborating

01:00:36.140 with the creation,

01:00:37.300 you have gone off

01:00:38.240 in a way that is not

01:00:39.180 going to be healthy for you.

01:00:40.340 If you start saying,

01:00:41.100 well, I have a man's body,

01:00:42.180 but I'm not really a man.

01:00:43.480 I'm a woman.

01:00:44.100 You're just fantasizing.

01:00:45.500 It's when you collaborate

01:00:46.540 with the facts of your body.

01:00:48.640 It's when you collaborate

01:00:49.300 with the facts of your life,

01:00:50.440 including death,

01:00:51.300 that you start to understand

01:00:52.920 who you are.

01:00:54.520 And this idea

01:00:55.680 that we are free of that,

01:00:57.100 that we are liberated

01:00:58.300 from our physical selves,

01:00:59.920 it's so insane.

01:01:01.420 Well, it's basically insane.

01:01:02.620 I mean, it is insanity

01:01:03.520 when you're free from reality.

01:01:05.120 That is almost

01:01:05.860 the definition of insanity.

01:01:07.200 Well, there's a reason

01:01:07.800 it's in the DSM-5.

01:01:09.420 I mean, there's a reason

01:01:09.940 it's gender dysphoria.

01:01:12.200 It's also unhealthy.

01:01:13.400 You know, it's unhappy.

01:01:14.740 If you want to have joy,

01:01:15.780 if you want to have real joy,

01:01:17.540 ask yourself

01:01:18.220 what you're supposed to do,

01:01:19.360 what God wants you to do

01:01:20.420 with this moment in time,

01:01:21.760 and you will find

01:01:22.680 an amazing amount of joy.

01:01:24.160 And by joy, again,

01:01:24.940 I don't mean happiness

01:01:26.020 when I say joy.

01:01:26.920 I mean gusto

01:01:27.440 and life in abundance.

01:01:29.200 You know, joy,

01:01:29.760 sometimes you're sad,

01:01:30.760 sometimes you're happy,

01:01:31.480 but you can always

01:01:32.140 be deeply involved in life.

01:01:33.660 If you're escaping from reality,

01:01:35.240 you're not going

01:01:35.840 to have that experience.

01:01:37.260 Okay, but to me,

01:01:39.100 this whole discussion

01:01:39.840 explains why I personally

01:01:42.620 and many other women

01:01:44.180 and men for that matter

01:01:45.060 have such a visceral reaction

01:01:46.580 when even those of us

01:01:48.460 who are more tolerant,

01:01:49.560 right, towards,

01:01:50.360 like more supportive,

01:01:51.560 I'd say,

01:01:51.940 of, you know,

01:01:52.220 the terminology

01:01:52.720 and the pronouns

01:01:53.200 and all that.

01:01:53.640 Okay, have such a visceral reaction

01:01:55.520 when you use terms

01:01:56.300 like, you know,

01:01:57.860 chest feeding, right,

01:02:00.000 or like people who have

01:02:02.480 whatever, vaginas

01:02:03.880 instead of women, right,

01:02:05.480 birthing peoples.

01:02:07.180 It's offensive.

01:02:08.580 It deeply cuts.

01:02:10.600 I haven't been able

01:02:12.360 to actually define why.

01:02:13.820 I just know it's

01:02:14.800 really offensive to me.

01:02:16.740 That is not an inclusive effort.

01:02:19.820 That is an effort

01:02:20.780 along the Mary Shelley lines

01:02:22.520 of eradicating women,

01:02:24.320 of erasing us entirely,

01:02:26.300 of changing things

01:02:27.840 that I know

01:02:28.240 are fundamental to me,

01:02:29.260 although I hadn't totally

01:02:30.440 been able to articulate why.

01:02:32.820 You know,

01:02:33.340 the left is always talking

01:02:34.340 about social constructs.

01:02:35.580 Gender is a social construct.

01:02:37.300 That's a complete falsehood.

01:02:38.640 I mean,

01:02:38.980 what gender is

01:02:40.040 is a social construct

01:02:41.400 in collaboration

01:02:42.500 with the reality of gender.

01:02:44.420 So in other words,

01:02:45.400 there's no inherent reason

01:02:47.320 why a woman should wear a dress

01:02:48.720 and a man should wear pants.

01:02:50.060 That is a performance

01:02:51.160 to remind us

01:02:52.220 of who we are.

01:02:52.940 We perform our gender roles,

01:02:55.140 but they are enhancing

01:02:56.340 something that's already there.

01:02:58.340 The idea that we should

01:02:59.400 create a world

01:03:00.380 that has no reference

01:03:01.520 to reality

01:03:02.200 is a Marxist idea,

01:03:04.020 the idea that we can correct

01:03:05.160 our false consciousness

01:03:06.220 because then Marx

01:03:08.100 will have been right

01:03:08.880 about everything

01:03:09.480 instead of wrong

01:03:10.280 about everything.

01:03:11.460 This is the problem

01:03:13.100 the left is trying to solve,

01:03:14.380 the fact that Marx

01:03:14.980 was wrong about everything.

01:03:16.520 And so what they want to do

01:03:17.360 is they want to change

01:03:19.060 the rules of reality.

01:03:20.220 But no,

01:03:21.120 social constructs

01:03:22.660 grow out of reality.

01:03:24.060 These are our traditions

01:03:25.060 and our traditions

01:03:26.160 are the wisdom of the dead.

01:03:27.700 Our traditions

01:03:28.100 are passing down

01:03:29.180 things that we've

01:03:30.180 already figured out.

01:03:31.460 When we say,

01:03:32.380 oh, all men are created equal,

01:03:33.820 meaning all are equal

01:03:34.720 in God's eyes,

01:03:35.780 we don't have to figure

01:03:36.620 that out again.

01:03:37.260 We don't have to go back

01:03:38.000 and debate whether whiteness

01:03:39.520 is a terrible thing

01:03:40.520 and people who are white

01:03:41.500 are somehow demons.

01:03:42.840 We're done with that.

01:03:43.840 That's our tradition.

01:03:44.680 We can now move on

01:03:45.760 in keeping with that tradition,

01:03:47.440 just like we move on

01:03:48.860 in keeping with our genders

01:03:50.220 when we say,

01:03:51.200 you know what,

01:03:51.880 now because of technology

01:03:53.200 and because times have changed,

01:03:54.700 women can have a fuller role,

01:03:56.160 more choices,

01:03:56.900 they can be free.

01:03:57.980 That is in keeping

01:03:58.920 with the traditions

01:04:00.240 of freedom

01:04:00.880 and respect for women

01:04:01.780 that have been with the West

01:04:02.800 since forever.

01:04:03.820 We've always been

01:04:04.740 a society

01:04:06.220 that was basically

01:04:07.320 respectful of women,

01:04:08.600 even though women

01:04:09.180 had a certain role.

01:04:10.380 So all of those things

01:04:12.080 are collaborations

01:04:12.840 with reality.

01:04:13.800 When the left says,

01:04:14.440 oh, it's just

01:04:14.960 a social construct,

01:04:16.000 ask yourself

01:04:17.100 what it's constructed of.

01:04:18.620 It's constructed

01:04:19.280 of an interaction

01:04:20.280 between the human heart

01:04:21.640 and the spirit,

01:04:23.260 the heart that made

01:04:24.180 the human heart.

01:04:25.120 And I think that,

01:04:25.840 you know,

01:04:26.060 we don't just take

01:04:26.800 those things down

01:04:27.560 and throw them away.

01:04:28.440 You don't tear down a fence

01:04:29.360 until you know

01:04:29.980 what's on the other side of it.

01:04:30.980 And as the left has proved,

01:04:32.160 what's on the other side

01:04:33.020 of it is misery and chaos.

01:04:34.780 I know you're big.

01:04:36.240 You've mentioned it

01:04:36.760 on the husband-wife,

01:04:38.660 you know,

01:04:38.940 male-female partnership

01:04:40.480 at the helm of the family.

01:04:43.200 Of course,

01:04:43.720 I'm living my own life that way,

01:04:44.940 but I have lots of friends

01:04:47.160 who are in same-sex couples

01:04:48.700 who are not just living joyfully,

01:04:50.920 as you would say,

01:04:51.560 but have children.

01:04:52.800 You know,

01:04:53.020 they've either used

01:04:54.840 artificial insemination

01:04:55.980 or they've used a surrogate

01:04:57.120 or what have you.

01:04:58.380 And I know this is personal to you.

01:05:00.160 Spencer's out as gay

01:05:02.080 and he's written in The Atlantic

01:05:04.460 a great piece

01:05:05.220 about telling you about it

01:05:06.440 and how awesome you were,

01:05:07.520 by the way.

01:05:08.400 Now, you know,

01:05:08.880 people thought maybe

01:05:09.540 you weren't going to be great

01:05:10.920 because you were

01:05:11.260 a conservative Christian,

01:05:11.980 but you were great.

01:05:13.380 So how does that,

01:05:14.880 how do we process that?

01:05:16.220 Because at the beginning

01:05:16.780 of that LGBTQ

01:05:17.520 is the LG, right?

01:05:19.940 And to me,

01:05:21.600 I think a two-parent household

01:05:24.060 is what's important.

01:05:25.460 I don't think it's as important

01:05:27.260 that they be a man and a woman.

01:05:28.800 I can see the pluses,

01:05:29.860 clearly.

01:05:30.280 You know,

01:05:30.460 I can see it just in my own marriage.

01:05:31.520 I've got certain gifts.

01:05:32.260 My husband's got others.

01:05:33.820 We meld together

01:05:35.500 like a yin and yang.

01:05:36.520 But I can see two gay men

01:05:37.880 having a lot of those same

01:05:39.460 differences that I have

01:05:40.800 for my husband,

01:05:41.460 you know,

01:05:41.660 from one another

01:05:42.320 and same for women.

01:05:43.440 So how do you look at that?

01:05:45.600 Well, first of all,

01:05:46.460 I've lived my life in the arts.

01:05:47.660 So half the people I've known

01:05:49.160 and worked with are gay.

01:05:50.100 They've been my respected colleagues

01:05:51.800 and my very,

01:05:52.940 very close friends.

01:05:54.000 And again,

01:05:55.320 Spencer,

01:05:55.780 who is as close to me

01:05:56.700 as my own beating heart

01:05:57.840 is a gay guy.

01:05:59.280 And I knew that,

01:06:00.460 I suspected that

01:06:01.460 from the time he was three years old.

01:06:04.200 So,

01:06:04.420 so yeah,

01:06:05.240 of course,

01:06:05.940 we should love one another.

01:06:07.460 We should treat one another

01:06:08.380 with respect.

01:06:09.140 I don't see anything wrong

01:06:10.840 with saying

01:06:12.020 that the best thing

01:06:13.780 for a child

01:06:14.820 is a loving

01:06:15.720 male and female

01:06:17.520 or loving male

01:06:19.140 and female parents.

01:06:20.800 You know,

01:06:21.360 life is,

01:06:21.940 life is very unfair

01:06:22.880 and it's very tragic.

01:06:23.980 And in America,

01:06:24.760 we want to say,

01:06:25.420 well,

01:06:25.500 this is just as good.

01:06:26.680 That's just as good.

01:06:27.940 I don't think it is.

01:06:29.080 I think this,

01:06:29.680 this is the best thing.

01:06:31.240 That doesn't mean

01:06:32.420 that there is not a,

01:06:33.360 there are not accommodations

01:06:34.600 that can be made.

01:06:35.540 If a gay couple

01:06:36.260 adopts a child

01:06:37.940 who would not have

01:06:39.100 no parents

01:06:40.020 if he didn't adopt them,

01:06:41.240 if they weren't adopted,

01:06:42.400 you know,

01:06:42.820 I think that's an improvement.

01:06:44.020 That's a step up

01:06:44.920 in the world.

01:06:46.200 But there's nothing wrong

01:06:47.620 with saying

01:06:48.100 this is the best situation.

01:06:49.700 And I actually think

01:06:50.740 that society

01:06:51.700 has a right

01:06:53.360 to privilege

01:06:54.840 male,

01:06:55.620 female families

01:06:56.860 to elevate them

01:06:58.260 in,

01:06:58.640 in the eyes

01:06:59.420 of the society

01:07:00.220 without discriminating

01:07:02.680 necessarily

01:07:03.220 against other kinds

01:07:04.660 of families.

01:07:05.960 Again,

01:07:06.640 when your core

01:07:07.340 is strong,

01:07:08.380 you can be very

01:07:09.240 accepting of exceptions.

01:07:11.720 And I think

01:07:12.140 that we should understand

01:07:13.300 that, yeah,

01:07:13.800 this is a value.

01:07:14.800 This is a natural value.

01:07:16.480 It is a natural thing

01:07:17.760 for man and woman

01:07:19.100 to come together.

01:07:19.960 It is a natural thing

01:07:20.900 for them to want

01:07:21.540 their child

01:07:22.080 to form a family

01:07:22.900 as they formed a family.

01:07:24.520 All these things

01:07:25.400 are part of nature

01:07:26.480 and we can collaborate

01:07:27.400 with that nature

01:07:28.120 without excluding

01:07:29.520 or attacking

01:07:30.560 or bullying the people

01:07:31.860 who don't fit in

01:07:33.080 with that basic pattern.

01:07:34.740 This idea

01:07:35.600 which originates

01:07:36.420 I think with Nietzsche

01:07:37.600 that we have to make

01:07:38.600 allowances

01:07:39.700 for every exception

01:07:41.000 and chain,

01:07:42.320 rewrite the rules

01:07:43.100 of society

01:07:43.720 and rewrite the rules

01:07:44.560 of nature

01:07:45.080 for every exception

01:07:46.480 that comes along

01:07:47.060 is ridiculous.

01:07:47.700 We can be loving

01:07:48.360 to people

01:07:49.100 who don't,

01:07:50.340 who don't fit the mold

01:07:52.040 but we shouldn't

01:07:53.000 get rid of the mold.

01:07:53.700 The mold was actually

01:07:54.540 given to us.

01:07:55.240 It actually,

01:07:55.800 when you talk about

01:07:56.240 gender assignment,

01:07:57.240 we have a gender assignment.

01:07:58.480 It's our gender.

01:07:59.220 That was assigned to us.

01:08:00.420 We didn't choose that.

01:08:01.380 It was given to us.

01:08:02.540 But again,

01:08:03.340 you know,

01:08:03.780 the guy who doesn't fit in,

01:08:05.200 the lady who doesn't fit in,

01:08:06.340 the person who's not going to,

01:08:07.300 you know,

01:08:07.500 has no domestic,

01:08:09.060 the woman who has

01:08:09.660 no domestic feeling,

01:08:11.020 the guy who's a gay person

01:08:12.900 who doesn't want to,

01:08:13.780 you know,

01:08:14.880 have a female partner.

01:08:16.840 These are things

01:08:17.420 that can all be accepted

01:08:18.420 and all be loved.

01:08:19.360 You know,

01:08:19.800 I think America

01:08:21.600 has been traditionally

01:08:23.720 very accepting

01:08:24.720 of eccentrics

01:08:25.500 and offbeat people.

01:08:27.340 But the idea

01:08:28.420 that that

01:08:29.220 should then become

01:08:30.440 the center of life

01:08:32.040 which cannot support life,

01:08:33.740 cannot create life

01:08:34.680 and is not the thing

01:08:36.200 that got us

01:08:37.040 to the place

01:08:37.600 that we,

01:08:38.480 to which we have come

01:08:39.760 is absurd.

01:08:40.820 This is one of the key things

01:08:42.160 and one of the things

01:08:42.820 that Wordsworth,

01:08:43.760 a poet in my book,

01:08:45.020 discovered

01:08:45.420 is that

01:08:46.200 your traditions

01:08:47.540 make you who you are.

01:08:49.120 So when you tear down

01:08:50.420 a statue

01:08:51.000 of Thomas Jefferson

01:08:52.480 because he held slaves,

01:08:54.380 you are tearing down

01:08:55.260 the statue

01:08:55.740 of the person

01:08:56.440 who taught you

01:08:57.180 that slavery is wrong.

01:08:58.960 You come,

01:08:59.420 we live in time,

01:09:00.640 we travel through time,

01:09:02.040 we become who we are

01:09:03.240 both as an individual

01:09:04.220 and as a society

01:09:05.380 over time.

01:09:06.640 And if you get rid

01:09:07.740 of the people

01:09:08.360 who brought you here

01:09:09.480 because they weren't

01:09:10.640 here themselves,

01:09:11.840 you're getting rid

01:09:12.640 of the shoulders

01:09:13.820 on which you stand.

01:09:15.400 And I think that this is,

01:09:16.820 you know,

01:09:17.040 if we have a tradition

01:09:18.200 as we do

01:09:18.940 of male-female families,

01:09:20.500 if we have

01:09:21.340 a natural connection

01:09:23.060 to male-female families,

01:09:24.280 there's nothing wrong

01:09:25.260 with privileging that

01:09:26.180 without excluding

01:09:27.100 or bullying

01:09:27.680 or hurting

01:09:28.220 or harming

01:09:28.860 people who are different.

01:09:30.360 I don't see

01:09:31.180 how you can have tolerance

01:09:32.460 when every single

01:09:34.060 exception becomes the rule.

01:09:36.500 That doesn't make sense to me.

01:09:37.780 This is how it's described

01:09:39.060 by activists,

01:09:40.300 both sort of BLM,

01:09:42.120 sort of woke people

01:09:43.020 and people who are pushing

01:09:44.780 the sort of crazy

01:09:46.600 gender ideology.

01:09:48.200 You need to center me now.

01:09:50.800 Me and my people,

01:09:52.420 like, you know,

01:09:52.840 they need to be centered.

01:09:54.280 You are not centering

01:09:55.360 the LGBTQ community

01:09:57.820 in that comment.

01:10:00.220 He's like, right.

01:10:01.440 This is absolutely true,

01:10:02.600 by the way,

01:10:03.000 that we're not centering them.

01:10:04.040 And if you talk to Spencer,

01:10:05.160 he would say,

01:10:05.560 I'm not in the center.

01:10:06.360 I'm, you know,

01:10:06.900 I'm not in the center.

01:10:08.060 I'm an artist.

01:10:08.620 Most people aren't artists.

01:10:09.660 You know,

01:10:09.840 I live in the house

01:10:10.900 made by ordinary people.

01:10:12.340 I shouldn't say ordinary people,

01:10:13.500 but people who aren't artists.

01:10:15.020 If there are no,

01:10:15.840 look,

01:10:16.300 we could get rid

01:10:16.860 of every male artist

01:10:17.860 on earth and survive,

01:10:19.200 but we can't get rid

01:10:19.960 of soldiers and cops.

01:10:21.340 You know,

01:10:21.660 we could get rid

01:10:22.320 of every lady doctor

01:10:23.340 who's around,

01:10:24.000 but we can't get rid

01:10:24.660 of moms.

01:10:25.240 You know,

01:10:25.440 there are certain things

01:10:26.080 that are absolutely essential

01:10:27.460 and those essentials

01:10:28.220 need to be kept in place.

01:10:30.440 I live in the house

01:10:31.400 made by people

01:10:32.160 who are not eccentric

01:10:33.280 artists like me.

01:10:34.520 I respect them.

01:10:35.500 I work for them.

01:10:36.320 My job is to entertain

01:10:37.520 and amuse

01:10:38.240 and hopefully

01:10:38.800 enlighten them.

01:10:40.420 But if I say,

01:10:41.380 put me at the center,

01:10:42.740 that society

01:10:43.500 is not going to last

01:10:44.520 very long.

01:10:45.160 You do not want me

01:10:46.060 at the center.

01:10:46.740 I wasn't made

01:10:47.480 for the center.

01:10:48.020 I was made

01:10:48.420 to be what I am.

01:10:49.180 And I think

01:10:49.780 the same thing

01:10:50.280 is true of gay people.

01:10:52.580 Andrew's got

01:10:53.080 a special relationship

01:10:53.980 with his wife

01:10:54.600 and writes

01:10:55.300 some very funny things

01:10:56.440 about their process

01:10:57.280 when he writes his books.

01:10:58.280 I want to ask him

01:10:59.040 about that.

01:10:59.900 And then speaking of BLM,

01:11:01.640 more trouble

01:11:02.760 coming their way

01:11:03.800 on how they spend

01:11:05.100 the money they get

01:11:05.900 and their attempts

01:11:06.880 to cover it up.

01:11:12.120 All right, Drew.

01:11:13.020 So New York Magazine,

01:11:16.080 to its credit,

01:11:16.800 because you're not

01:11:17.120 expecting this story

01:11:17.920 to come from New York Magazine,

01:11:19.500 reporting now

01:11:20.660 that Black Lives Matter

01:11:22.700 secretly purchased

01:11:24.360 a $6 million house.

01:11:28.420 And not only

01:11:29.500 was it $6 million,

01:11:30.700 but it was spectacular.

01:11:33.340 So they got a lot

01:11:34.820 for their money.

01:11:35.380 Apparently,

01:11:35.860 they got,

01:11:36.560 it's in Southern California,

01:11:38.080 6,500 square feet,

01:11:40.000 more than half a dozen

01:11:41.160 bedrooms and bathrooms,

01:11:42.940 several fireplaces,

01:11:44.020 a soundstage,

01:11:45.080 a pool,

01:11:45.980 a bungalow,

01:11:47.020 parking for more

01:11:47.660 than 20 cars,

01:11:49.140 and so on and so forth.

01:11:50.240 They paid for it

01:11:51.180 in cash

01:11:52.200 in October 2020

01:11:54.100 as the donations

01:11:55.300 were pouring in

01:11:56.720 post-George Floyd.

01:11:59.160 They report that they,

01:12:00.860 the transaction

01:12:01.340 has not been

01:12:01.840 previously reported.

01:12:02.760 BLM's leadership

01:12:03.580 had hoped to keep

01:12:04.760 the house's existence

01:12:05.720 a secret.

01:12:07.040 Well,

01:12:07.320 then they shouldn't

01:12:08.000 have filmed

01:12:08.540 their little promo videos

01:12:09.860 for YouTube

01:12:10.680 sitting in front of it

01:12:12.280 because somebody

01:12:13.260 noticed.

01:12:13.980 Look at that.

01:12:14.460 That's the BLM

01:12:15.360 three leaders

01:12:15.920 sitting in front

01:12:16.920 of their beautiful home,

01:12:18.200 Patrice Cullors,

01:12:19.000 Alicia Garza,

01:12:19.940 and Melina Abdullah.

01:12:21.460 In that video,

01:12:22.140 which we're showing

01:12:22.600 a picture of

01:12:23.120 for the YouTube watchers,

01:12:25.120 Patrice Cullors,

01:12:26.260 who was under fire

01:12:27.240 for having $3 million

01:12:28.420 worth of homes,

01:12:30.340 again,

01:12:31.320 linked to her

01:12:32.060 charitable work

01:12:33.200 as the head of BLM,

01:12:34.560 she was lamenting

01:12:36.360 the right-wing media

01:12:37.660 attacks,

01:12:38.960 saying,

01:12:39.700 I've just been

01:12:40.640 in survival mode

01:12:42.160 as she sat before

01:12:43.200 a $6 million home

01:12:44.960 that the donations

01:12:46.800 had purchased,

01:12:47.920 the New York Magazine

01:12:48.780 points out,

01:12:49.640 to the benefit

01:12:50.980 of Black Lives Matter

01:12:52.580 leaders personally.

01:12:54.580 A little bit of

01:12:55.200 extra flair here,

01:12:57.740 New York Magazine

01:12:58.300 reached out to BLM

01:12:59.540 on March 30th

01:13:00.540 asking about the house,

01:13:01.660 which is known

01:13:02.080 internally as,

01:13:02.820 quote,

01:13:03.040 campus,

01:13:03.580 and the writer,

01:13:05.740 Sean Campbell,

01:13:06.840 writes,

01:13:07.200 quote,

01:13:07.380 afterward,

01:13:08.400 leaders circulated

01:13:09.760 an internal strategy memo

01:13:11.060 with possible responses

01:13:12.440 ranging from

01:13:13.620 can we kill the story

01:13:15.160 to our angle

01:13:16.840 needs to be

01:13:17.660 to deflate

01:13:18.660 ownership

01:13:19.240 of the property.

01:13:20.760 The memo also describes

01:13:21.820 the property

01:13:22.240 as a safe house.

01:13:23.300 It's a safe house

01:13:23.940 for leaders

01:13:24.400 whose safety

01:13:25.320 has been threatened.

01:13:26.700 Then he writes

01:13:27.340 that the notion

01:13:28.640 that the house

01:13:29.140 is simultaneously

01:13:30.120 a confidential refuge

01:13:32.280 and a place

01:13:33.560 for broadcasting

01:13:34.240 to the widest

01:13:34.940 possible audience

01:13:35.640 with their YouTube

01:13:36.460 videos

01:13:36.980 might be somewhat

01:13:38.380 in tension.

01:13:40.080 So what are we

01:13:40.540 to make

01:13:40.900 of BLM now

01:13:42.560 with the benefit

01:13:43.100 of hindsight

01:13:43.620 and the number

01:13:44.620 of investigations

01:13:45.520 into this group

01:13:46.400 state after state

01:13:47.860 after state

01:13:48.640 for them misusing

01:13:49.640 funds and not filing

01:13:50.700 the proper reporting

01:13:51.560 and failing to disclose

01:13:52.460 what they're doing

01:13:53.180 with people's dollars?

01:13:54.000 There's always been

01:13:55.080 a con grafted

01:13:56.220 on the larger

01:13:56.780 con of the

01:13:57.440 mainstream news media.

01:13:58.980 I mean they call

01:13:59.580 themselves Black Lives

01:14:00.860 Matter because the

01:14:01.700 left is so good

01:14:03.060 coming up with

01:14:03.940 these titles

01:14:04.540 like so good

01:14:05.600 with language

01:14:06.220 you know making

01:14:07.460 the good sound

01:14:08.740 evil making

01:14:09.480 the evil sound

01:14:10.200 good.

01:14:10.480 They're just great

01:14:11.080 at it.

01:14:11.300 So Black Lives Matter

01:14:12.080 I got to give them

01:14:13.080 applause for that.

01:14:14.600 If you went on

01:14:15.160 their website

01:14:15.680 early on before

01:14:16.640 they got caught

01:14:17.400 and changed it

01:14:18.120 it was not just

01:14:18.880 a Marxist website

01:14:19.940 it was a Maoist

01:14:20.900 website.

01:14:21.340 It was dedicated

01:14:22.340 to the destruction

01:14:23.500 of the family

01:14:24.220 dedicated to the

01:14:25.060 destruction of the

01:14:25.720 culture

01:14:26.080 dedicated to the

01:14:27.500 destruction of most

01:14:28.580 of the things

01:14:29.320 that people in this

01:14:30.420 country hold dear

01:14:31.720 but they call them

01:14:32.440 Black Lives Matter.

01:14:33.380 I wanted to start

01:14:34.200 my own organization

01:14:35.560 called Kittens Are Nice

01:14:36.880 and have you send

01:14:37.800 money to me

01:14:38.500 because if the

01:14:40.120 mainstream media

01:14:41.020 would fall for that

01:14:42.080 I thought they would

01:14:42.620 fall for anything.

01:14:43.760 You know again

01:14:44.220 they skip over

01:14:45.180 they manage

01:14:46.180 the left always manages

01:14:46.960 to skip over first

01:14:47.900 principles.

01:14:48.520 Is there such a thing

01:14:49.080 as a Black life?

01:14:50.380 I mean is that really

01:14:51.220 something that

01:14:51.780 Americans accept

01:14:52.680 as a reality

01:14:53.380 to begin with?

01:14:54.420 When I moved

01:14:55.480 recently and I was

01:14:56.340 looking for a new

01:14:57.060 church the first

01:14:58.000 thing I excluded

01:14:58.860 was any church

01:14:59.780 that had a banner

01:15:00.420 on it saying

01:15:01.180 Black Lives Matter

01:15:02.020 because I thought

01:15:02.540 you know in Christ

01:15:03.760 there is no black

01:15:04.780 and white.

01:15:05.300 In Christ we're all

01:15:06.140 one part of this

01:15:07.200 one body.

01:15:08.120 So if you believe

01:15:08.760 Black Lives Matter

01:15:09.540 you don't believe

01:15:10.560 in Christianity

01:15:11.340 and I think that

01:15:12.640 this is a very

01:15:14.320 it's always been

01:15:15.240 it has always been

01:15:16.160 a con

01:15:16.640 and the problem

01:15:17.640 we're facing

01:15:18.320 and this is a

01:15:19.280 genuine bigger

01:15:20.080 problem is we're

01:15:20.860 in an information

01:15:21.980 crisis.

01:15:23.040 The left is right

01:15:23.840 about this when

01:15:24.340 they talk about

01:15:24.880 misinformation

01:15:25.480 the problem is

01:15:26.380 they're the ones

01:15:26.900 who generate it

01:15:27.640 but when we have

01:15:29.120 a news media

01:15:30.400 I started out

01:15:31.660 in newspapers

01:15:32.220 I started out

01:15:33.020 working in newspapers

01:15:33.880 with guys who were

01:15:34.520 left-wing and right-wing

01:15:35.520 half the time

01:15:36.120 you didn't know

01:15:36.580 where they stood

01:15:37.220 and if you strayed

01:15:38.640 and I was a liberal

01:15:39.280 then and I would

01:15:39.900 stray to the left

01:15:40.620 if somebody would

01:15:41.800 take you outside

01:15:42.580 and say hey

01:15:43.040 that is not the way

01:15:43.740 we do this here

01:15:44.400 we report the facts

01:15:45.560 and just the facts

01:15:46.400 the media has

01:15:47.560 become corrupt

01:15:48.340 our news media

01:15:49.740 is vividly

01:15:50.980 vividly corrupt

01:15:52.000 and deeply corrupt

01:15:53.000 and so when you

01:15:53.740 come along

01:15:54.160 and you say

01:15:54.560 Black Lives Matter

01:15:55.480 and you participate

01:15:56.440 in riots

01:15:57.420 with the open

01:15:58.520 intention of

01:15:59.220 destroying our

01:15:59.820 society

01:16:00.260 and you have

01:16:01.120 clowns on the

01:16:02.360 media saying

01:16:03.000 oh well these

01:16:03.520 riots were mostly

01:16:04.440 peaceful

01:16:04.920 you know

01:16:05.500 it's like

01:16:06.440 you have a

01:16:07.880 serious problem

01:16:08.760 I'm not sure

01:16:09.540 the problem

01:16:10.040 is these particular

01:16:11.060 con men and women

01:16:12.080 they are con men

01:16:13.340 they are con women

01:16:14.160 but really I think

01:16:15.340 the larger problem

01:16:16.380 is a media

01:16:17.360 that has lost

01:16:18.180 touch with

01:16:19.080 its actual job

01:16:20.700 its job of

01:16:21.540 reporting the news

01:16:22.900 not objectively

01:16:24.240 just fairly

01:16:24.980 all they have to do

01:16:25.880 is give both sides

01:16:26.700 and tell both sides

01:16:27.420 and when you see

01:16:27.880 violence

01:16:28.280 you call it violence

01:16:29.060 this is a violent

01:16:30.420 Maoist organization

01:16:31.820 and the fact that

01:16:32.780 it uses your money

01:16:33.680 to buy themselves

01:16:34.620 a six million dollar

01:16:36.200 house doesn't surprise

01:16:37.080 me even a little bit

01:16:38.060 yeah same

01:16:39.080 so what would you

01:16:40.780 recommend

01:16:41.220 you know a lot of

01:16:42.220 a lot of people

01:16:42.700 are still being subjected

01:16:43.980 to this DEI

01:16:45.180 mandatory training

01:16:46.240 at their workplace

01:16:47.220 or it's being foisted

01:16:48.600 on their kids

01:16:49.260 at their school

01:16:50.240 you know you see it

01:16:51.080 in the books

01:16:51.560 that come home

01:16:52.460 with your kid

01:16:52.980 or you find out

01:16:53.620 they have to go

01:16:54.320 to these mandatory

01:16:55.060 DEI trainings

01:16:55.980 even to get into

01:16:56.860 some of in particular

01:16:57.880 the New York City

01:16:58.480 private schools

01:16:59.160 what would you say

01:17:00.440 to people faced

01:17:01.260 with that command

01:17:02.880 in order to work

01:17:03.880 in order to send

01:17:05.260 their kid to school

01:17:06.020 the two things

01:17:08.200 I would say

01:17:08.620 the first thing is

01:17:09.400 courage is required

01:17:10.620 it is a requirement

01:17:11.640 we got here

01:17:12.440 by people dying

01:17:13.580 face down in the mud

01:17:14.680 fighting tyrants

01:17:15.960 in order for us

01:17:17.140 to be free

01:17:17.680 you don't have to do that

01:17:19.000 I hope

01:17:19.460 all you have to do

01:17:20.620 is you have to speak up

01:17:21.620 you have to tell people

01:17:23.060 what you think

01:17:24.000 when you say it

01:17:26.040 when in those moments

01:17:27.040 when it matters

01:17:28.140 right

01:17:28.500 now that doesn't mean

01:17:29.500 that you stick your head

01:17:30.420 in the cannon's mouth

01:17:31.200 that doesn't mean

01:17:31.740 you get your kid

01:17:32.320 thrown out of school

01:17:32.980 doesn't mean you get

01:17:33.560 fired from your job

01:17:34.420 what it does mean

01:17:35.460 is you start to find

01:17:36.500 the people who agree

01:17:37.360 with you

01:17:37.740 and band together

01:17:38.740 so that you have

01:17:39.420 some force

01:17:40.180 in the workplace

01:17:41.200 I mean this is something

01:17:42.080 that happened

01:17:42.640 at Disney

01:17:43.500 at Disney

01:17:43.960 they have

01:17:44.480 this LGBTQ

01:17:45.920 minority

01:17:47.220 that is vicious

01:17:48.600 and will destroy you

01:17:49.940 and will take your job away

01:17:51.220 well the people

01:17:51.980 who are conservatives

01:17:53.340 at Disney

01:17:53.820 and there are many

01:17:54.480 many of them

01:17:55.020 are cowering away

01:17:56.380 I saw it in Hollywood

01:17:57.380 when I worked in Hollywood

01:17:58.680 and people would come up

01:17:59.620 to me in meetings

01:18:01.020 and they would whisper

01:18:01.900 and say you know

01:18:02.740 I saw you on Sean Hannity

01:18:04.520 you were great

01:18:05.200 I'd say why are you whispering

01:18:06.440 we're in the right

01:18:07.540 why are you whispering

01:18:08.720 you know

01:18:09.060 and I think we have to stop that

01:18:10.680 we have to stop assuming

01:18:11.880 that we're going to blow

01:18:13.260 ourselves up

01:18:13.920 just by speaking the truth

01:18:15.160 but again

01:18:15.900 that doesn't mean

01:18:16.540 to be foolish

01:18:17.400 that means strategize

01:18:18.700 find people

01:18:19.860 to gang

01:18:20.400 to gang together

01:18:21.840 with you

01:18:22.300 and fight back

01:18:23.560 because what they're doing

01:18:24.780 is wrong

01:18:25.500 they are in the wrong

01:18:26.640 not you

01:18:27.200 it is wrong

01:18:28.100 to teach people

01:18:28.820 that whiteness

01:18:29.620 is an essential quality

01:18:30.880 just like it's wrong

01:18:31.640 to teach people

01:18:32.240 that blackness

01:18:33.200 is an essential quality

01:18:34.480 it's wrong

01:18:35.040 to teach people

01:18:35.780 that you have to

01:18:37.180 you know

01:18:37.760 believe in

01:18:39.080 that somebody can change

01:18:40.080 his gender

01:18:40.540 when in fact

01:18:41.300 they can't

01:18:41.980 so I think

01:18:42.800 these are things

01:18:43.420 that we can do

01:18:44.240 hopefully it doesn't

01:18:45.160 have to go into court

01:18:45.860 but maybe it does

01:18:46.480 have to go into court

01:18:47.260 if you can fight

01:18:48.460 back against this

01:18:49.260 as long as you don't

01:18:50.040 fight alone

01:18:50.580 and as long as you

01:18:51.280 have courage

01:18:51.800 and I think those

01:18:52.400 are the two things

01:18:53.140 we have to do

01:18:53.820 we can't let it go

01:18:54.900 you know

01:18:55.380 I've been fighting

01:18:56.240 now for American culture

01:18:58.060 I've been talking

01:18:58.740 about American culture

01:18:59.640 for all this time

01:19:00.720 for decades

01:19:01.340 but American culture

01:19:02.380 is not just the movies

01:19:03.560 and it's not just guys

01:19:04.480 like me writing novels

01:19:05.460 and it's not just plays

01:19:06.960 and all that

01:19:07.420 it's every single thing

01:19:08.560 that we do

01:19:08.980 every single one of us

01:19:09.880 has a little piece

01:19:10.840 of the flame

01:19:11.360 of our culture

01:19:11.940 in his hands

01:19:12.600 and has to keep

01:19:13.520 that flame alive

01:19:14.360 and you can't do it

01:19:15.480 by hiding it

01:19:16.140 under a bushel

01:19:16.700 you can't do it

01:19:17.600 by saying

01:19:18.420 oh I'm going to fly

01:19:19.600 under the radar

01:19:20.320 I'm going to stay safe

01:19:21.340 you have to do

01:19:22.420 what people have done

01:19:23.160 for freedom

01:19:23.700 from the beginning of time

01:19:25.200 which is you have

01:19:25.740 to fight for it

01:19:26.480 and that means

01:19:27.100 fighting the domestic battle

01:19:29.260 as well as battle

01:19:30.080 sometimes overseas

01:19:30.980 you know

01:19:32.420 I said last week

01:19:33.160 in the wake

01:19:33.600 of the Will Smith slap

01:19:34.560 I felt like culturally

01:19:36.220 we lost a little

01:19:37.060 something that night

01:19:37.880 you know

01:19:38.220 that 30 years ago

01:19:39.960 that wouldn't have

01:19:40.680 happened

01:19:41.040 that just the

01:19:41.840 the guardrails

01:19:42.900 that were up

01:19:43.500 would have made

01:19:44.240 very clear

01:19:44.900 to any actor

01:19:45.660 thinking about doing

01:19:46.460 that your career

01:19:47.200 will end

01:19:47.760 if you do

01:19:48.400 even if you win

01:19:49.040 best actor later

01:19:49.840 it will end

01:19:50.840 you will be shunned

01:19:51.560 we don't tolerate

01:19:52.340 that kind of behavior

01:19:53.180 and we saw something

01:19:54.980 very different

01:19:55.660 with Will Smith

01:19:56.340 that night

01:19:56.920 now

01:19:57.280 now that the Hollywood

01:19:58.340 crowd has realized

01:19:59.100 people didn't like that

01:20:00.780 and you shouldn't

01:20:01.760 support it

01:20:02.380 they're

01:20:03.000 they're more like

01:20:03.560 oh it was horrible

01:20:04.240 horrible

01:20:04.600 and then you've got

01:20:05.520 the glommers

01:20:06.120 like Amy Schumer

01:20:06.860 like I was deeply

01:20:08.020 triggered and traumatized

01:20:09.340 like lady

01:20:09.860 it's not your trauma

01:20:10.780 just stop it

01:20:11.500 take a seat

01:20:12.460 this isn't about you

01:20:13.860 hello

01:20:14.380 sorry sweetheart

01:20:15.400 this one's not about you

01:20:16.460 but I do think

01:20:18.720 culturally

01:20:19.300 it said something

01:20:20.700 not good

01:20:21.420 about where we are

01:20:22.540 right now

01:20:22.920 as Americans

01:20:23.740 what did you make of it

01:20:25.040 yeah I think it said

01:20:26.420 something essential

01:20:27.180 you know

01:20:27.600 it's not that the people

01:20:28.540 in old Hollywood

01:20:29.560 were necessarily

01:20:30.600 better people

01:20:31.640 it's that the people

01:20:32.580 in charge

01:20:33.260 were businessmen

01:20:34.120 and they were

01:20:34.620 deeply responsible

01:20:35.480 to the American public

01:20:36.600 they wanted to give

01:20:37.700 the public what they wanted

01:20:38.820 so they could have

01:20:39.420 people in the seats

01:20:40.320 when the movie business

01:20:42.120 was taken over

01:20:43.220 by the artists

01:20:44.000 when the studio system

01:20:45.340 was destroyed

01:20:46.100 and when the movie business

01:20:47.700 became an international business

01:20:49.160 so that they're making

01:20:49.860 more money in China

01:20:50.700 than they're making it here

01:20:51.580 they no longer feel

01:20:52.920 that responsibility

01:20:53.760 so Will Smith knew

01:20:55.340 that he could get up

01:20:56.180 and smack Chris Rock

01:20:57.280 or thought he could

01:20:58.040 without any consequences

01:20:59.620 whatsoever

01:21:00.360 these people have been

01:21:01.540 getting up

01:21:01.880 you know

01:21:02.120 the Oscars

01:21:03.000 used to be watched

01:21:04.140 by 55 million people

01:21:05.660 these were watched

01:21:06.220 from between 10

01:21:07.100 and 15 million people

01:21:08.780 and the reason is

01:21:09.880 is these guys felt

01:21:10.840 it was okay

01:21:11.640 to get up

01:21:12.460 and tell us

01:21:12.960 that we were idiots

01:21:13.760 if we voted

01:21:14.380 for somebody

01:21:14.880 that they didn't

01:21:15.780 support

01:21:16.540 they're actors

01:21:17.580 you know

01:21:18.100 I mean they're actors

01:21:18.940 they're writers

01:21:19.840 they're talented

01:21:20.800 they're blessed genetically

01:21:21.960 they look great

01:21:23.080 that's their job

01:21:24.340 it's just like

01:21:25.240 news people

01:21:26.540 have to do their job

01:21:27.400 and report the news

01:21:28.280 entertainers have to

01:21:29.340 do their job

01:21:29.820 and entertain

01:21:30.280 we don't care

01:21:32.000 what they think

01:21:32.740 and the same spirit

01:21:34.120 that made them think

01:21:35.220 that they could get

01:21:35.840 on stage

01:21:36.460 and lecture us

01:21:37.180 and we would continue

01:21:37.880 to watch their

01:21:38.560 crummy award show

01:21:39.540 where they patted

01:21:40.340 each other on the back

01:21:41.320 is the spirit

01:21:42.280 that made Will Smith

01:21:43.120 think that he could

01:21:43.800 get up and smack

01:21:44.620 a guy smaller

01:21:45.460 than he was

01:21:46.140 who was holding a mic

01:21:47.260 and trying to run a show

01:21:48.300 so it was essentially

01:21:49.420 a sucker punch

01:21:50.280 and show himself

01:21:51.920 to be some kind

01:21:53.160 of chivalrous man

01:21:55.020 after allowing

01:21:56.020 or basically agreeing

01:21:57.800 to his wife

01:21:58.400 sleeping around

01:21:59.180 and saying I'm not

01:22:00.120 in a monogamous

01:22:00.740 relationship

01:22:01.340 it's like he said

01:22:02.160 keep my wife's name

01:22:03.080 out of your mouth

01:22:03.660 but you could put

01:22:04.340 other pieces of her

01:22:05.180 in your mouth

01:22:05.660 so I mean

01:22:06.040 I don't really think

01:22:06.980 that that was

01:22:07.420 an act of chivalry

01:22:08.420 we were watching

01:22:09.180 it was an act

01:22:09.700 of entitlement

01:22:10.280 and our entertainers

01:22:11.860 have become so rich

01:22:12.840 so protected

01:22:13.540 so elite

01:22:15.560 that they no longer

01:22:16.720 feel entitled

01:22:17.420 to the audience

01:22:18.140 who made them

01:22:18.700 what they are

01:22:19.240 and it is

01:22:19.740 it's amazing to me

01:22:21.500 it is amazing to me

01:22:22.420 to watch late night comedy

01:22:23.580 like Stephen Colbert

01:22:24.620 and have him tell you

01:22:25.840 like hey

01:22:26.520 you know

01:22:26.800 you shouldn't be

01:22:27.260 complaining about gas prices

01:22:28.340 drive a Tesla

01:22:29.020 like I do

01:22:29.700 I mean

01:22:30.140 that's a guy

01:22:30.780 who hasn't been

01:22:31.940 outside much

01:22:32.680 he's not getting out

01:22:33.520 enough and talking

01:22:34.220 to the people

01:22:34.740 who make him

01:22:35.900 what he is

01:22:36.640 that is such a great

01:22:38.800 take

01:22:39.180 God I really appreciate

01:22:40.160 that

01:22:40.420 I was just thinking

01:22:41.120 you know

01:22:41.380 my husband

01:22:42.280 I wrote about this

01:22:42.900 in my book

01:22:43.220 but my husband

01:22:43.740 has defended my honor

01:22:44.760 more than once

01:22:45.720 but he's never

01:22:46.600 punched somebody

01:22:47.140 in the face

01:22:47.560 or sucker punched

01:22:48.240 anybody

01:22:48.580 but he certainly

01:22:49.520 when I was under attack

01:22:50.440 like somebody shouting

01:22:51.360 right at me

01:22:52.200 has gotten in people's

01:22:53.400 faces saying

01:22:54.040 you talk to my wife

01:22:55.440 you know like that

01:22:56.280 and you're gonna get it

01:22:57.260 I appreciate that

01:22:58.920 I to me

01:22:59.500 that's what a real man does

01:23:00.600 yes he will stand up for you

01:23:01.780 but he won't sucker punch

01:23:02.860 somebody who's just trying

01:23:03.820 to make a joke

01:23:04.340 who's literally getting paid

01:23:05.240 to tell jokes

01:23:05.920 and be up there

01:23:06.880 and keep the crowd entertained

01:23:08.300 it's not all about one person

01:23:09.820 it's about entertaining

01:23:10.600 the greater crowd

01:23:11.660 and you understand

01:23:12.740 sometimes it involves

01:23:13.600 you taking a couple of licks

01:23:14.780 because it's fun to make fun

01:23:16.160 of the rich and famous

01:23:16.960 we all sort of understand

01:23:18.280 that going into these Oscars

01:23:19.920 they lost it for a minute

01:23:21.560 but anyway

01:23:22.400 I so I

01:23:23.020 I like chivalry

01:23:24.000 that wasn't chivalry

01:23:25.140 that was a big ego

01:23:27.380 who saw an opportunity

01:23:28.400 to try to make himself

01:23:30.120 look like a big man

01:23:31.360 and it wound up

01:23:32.380 having the opposite effect

01:23:33.500 absolutely true

01:23:35.400 and I myself

01:23:36.420 have done that

01:23:37.380 what you're talking about

01:23:38.360 stood up for my wife

01:23:39.260 and gotten in people's faces

01:23:40.400 but in that case

01:23:41.580 I think

01:23:42.260 if it had really bothered me

01:23:43.500 or if it had bothered her

01:23:44.520 which seemed to be the case

01:23:45.480 because Smith was laughing

01:23:46.580 at the joke

01:23:47.060 until he looked at his wife

01:23:48.040 you know

01:23:48.800 I would have spoken

01:23:50.000 to the guy afterwards

01:23:50.800 and I think in that case

01:23:52.160 I really would have put my arm

01:23:53.300 around his shoulder

01:23:54.260 and said my brother

01:23:54.980 you know

01:23:55.460 you went over the line there

01:23:57.120 that's the way you handle

01:23:58.480 that particular situation

01:23:59.540 because the guy is not being hostile

01:24:00.860 he's not

01:24:01.620 he doesn't mean to do

01:24:03.240 anything insulting

01:24:04.400 he meant to tell

01:24:05.180 what sounded to me

01:24:05.980 like a friendly joke

01:24:06.880 so it was a complete overreaction

01:24:09.000 I think it came from the fact

01:24:10.540 that Smith has been humiliated

01:24:11.820 by his wife in public

01:24:13.020 where she went on podcasts

01:24:14.460 and talked about

01:24:15.320 the affair she was having

01:24:16.480 you know

01:24:17.460 and I think

01:24:18.140 his career

01:24:19.140 has been undermined

01:24:20.260 Denzel Washington

01:24:22.040 said to him

01:24:22.520 when you get to the top

01:24:23.340 that's when the devil

01:24:24.000 comes after you

01:24:24.660 and that's exactly

01:24:25.560 what happened to this guy

01:24:26.680 this guy was one of

01:24:27.440 you know

01:24:27.840 he was really the last movie star

01:24:29.240 he was the last guy

01:24:30.460 who could open a movie

01:24:31.480 the last guy

01:24:32.100 that where he went

01:24:33.020 to a Will Smith movie

01:24:34.540 you know

01:24:35.040 there aren't that many stars

01:24:36.040 like that anymore

01:24:36.740 I mean you might like

01:24:37.660 somebody in movies

01:24:38.400 but you don't go to his movie

01:24:39.580 necessarily

01:24:40.320 Will Smith was the last guy

01:24:41.660 where he actually went

01:24:42.520 to a Will Smith movie

01:24:43.540 and he has blown that

01:24:44.920 entirely

01:24:45.720 and he will never

01:24:46.500 he'll never get it back

01:24:47.480 because nobody is going

01:24:48.920 to forget

01:24:49.340 that they saw that

01:24:50.520 and they're not going

01:24:51.260 he can no longer be

01:24:52.940 the hero in the film

01:24:54.700 without us

01:24:55.220 bringing that to mind

01:24:56.840 so it was really

01:24:57.820 a big big mistake

01:24:59.080 now you and your wife

01:25:00.620 do not have an open marriage

01:25:01.740 I presume

01:25:02.280 we do not

01:25:03.680 only because I fear

01:25:05.260 for my life though

01:25:05.980 you have to explain to me

01:25:07.840 so you and Ellen

01:25:08.500 have been married

01:25:08.900 since 1980

01:25:09.780 solid marriage

01:25:11.020 you met her hitchhiking

01:25:13.080 yeah

01:25:13.920 what

01:25:14.700 she was

01:25:15.140 she was hitchhiking

01:25:16.760 I kept my car

01:25:17.960 I lived in San Francisco

01:25:19.020 and went to school

01:25:19.680 in Berkeley

01:25:20.160 I kept my car

01:25:21.260 in a garage there

01:25:22.280 and I was walking back

01:25:23.440 and she was

01:25:24.760 an absolute beauty

01:25:26.000 she was a model level

01:25:27.080 beauty

01:25:27.440 very tall

01:25:28.620 and I saw her hitchhiking

01:25:30.140 and I said to myself

01:25:31.060 look at that gorgeous Amazon

01:25:32.640 those are the words

01:25:33.340 that went through my mind

01:25:34.200 I thought

01:25:34.680 I gotta get my car

01:25:36.020 and I ran up

01:25:36.740 to get my car

01:25:37.780 so I could pick her up

01:25:38.560 so you weren't even

01:25:39.080 naturally driving

01:25:39.960 oh you made the driving happen

01:25:40.800 I wasn't even driving the car

01:25:41.500 no

01:25:41.720 and it was a one way grid

01:25:43.200 I had to go all the way

01:25:44.060 around the corner

01:25:44.740 I went through this

01:25:45.380 I went through this

01:25:46.960 residential area

01:25:48.820 at 50 miles an hour

01:25:49.920 I can still see

01:25:51.240 the old lady

01:25:51.980 I almost ran over

01:25:53.240 like looking at me

01:25:54.160 with terror

01:25:54.720 as I kind of

01:25:55.460 swerved around her

01:25:56.760 and yeah

01:25:58.060 I pulled up

01:25:58.640 and then

01:25:58.880 of course

01:25:59.580 I was very suave

01:26:00.260 I said

01:26:00.640 you know

01:26:00.860 going my way

01:26:01.520 my dear

01:26:01.920 you know

01:26:02.200 and she got in the car

01:26:03.300 and she sat down

01:26:04.480 and I immediately

01:26:05.180 I just felt this little click

01:26:06.840 and I just thought

01:26:07.640 huh

01:26:07.940 you know

01:26:08.240 this is actually new

01:26:09.540 and we were

01:26:10.220 living together

01:26:11.460 very shortly after that

01:26:12.700 and married a couple

01:26:13.560 years later

01:26:14.120 and we really

01:26:15.200 it really has been

01:26:16.120 a gift from God

01:26:17.560 you know

01:26:18.220 it's been 42 years

01:26:19.420 of marriage

01:26:19.860 we had

01:26:20.700 we have had one fight

01:26:21.980 about 35 years ago

01:26:23.480 it's not that we always agree

01:26:25.360 it's not that we don't have

01:26:26.180 to discuss things

01:26:26.940 it's just the only time

01:26:27.680 we ever like lost

01:26:28.460 our tempers with each other

01:26:29.560 it's been a romance

01:26:30.920 and I

01:26:31.560 we frequently joke

01:26:33.540 that we did everything wrong

01:26:34.720 we lived together

01:26:35.760 you know

01:26:36.100 we sort of

01:26:37.040 just didn't pay attention

01:26:38.240 to the rules

01:26:38.760 but we just

01:26:39.840 were chosen

01:26:40.820 to be together

01:26:41.660 like this

01:26:42.160 and it has been

01:26:42.820 one of the great gifts

01:26:43.980 of my life

01:26:44.480 it really has

01:26:44.980 love hearing that

01:26:46.820 this is what you write

01:26:48.060 about her

01:26:48.520 she is one of

01:26:49.760 you say wonderful things

01:26:51.340 and she is also

01:26:52.020 one of the best editors

01:26:53.180 I've ever met

01:26:54.100 my process is

01:26:55.560 she reads it

01:26:56.380 critiques it

01:26:57.060 I scream at her

01:26:58.060 and tell her

01:26:58.420 she doesn't know

01:26:58.860 what she's talking about

01:26:59.720 then I do what she says

01:27:00.820 it works great

01:27:01.860 which wait for me

01:27:04.320 I say

01:27:04.660 wait and then you go on

01:27:06.780 then you go on

01:27:07.300 this is from the truth

01:27:08.320 and beauty prologue

01:27:09.460 my wife Ellen

01:27:10.680 to her

01:27:11.180 to her alone

01:27:12.240 falls the unenviable

01:27:13.420 task of reading

01:27:14.220 my shambolic first drafts

01:27:16.260 into which I seem to throw

01:27:17.100 every thought I ever had

01:27:18.020 since childhood

01:27:18.580 when she heroically

01:27:19.780 took on my earliest effort

01:27:21.180 at the truth and beauty

01:27:22.180 she told me

01:27:23.060 it was such a mess

01:27:23.940 that there were times

01:27:24.860 while reading it

01:27:25.560 when she actually

01:27:26.480 doubted my sanity

01:27:27.440 my serene reply

01:27:29.360 should be printed on t-shirts

01:27:30.540 and sold at writers conferences

01:27:31.840 quote

01:27:32.280 no no

01:27:33.380 it's a great book

01:27:34.220 I just have to cut out

01:27:35.320 all the bad parts

01:27:36.120 it's true

01:27:39.440 she is

01:27:39.740 you know

01:27:40.000 I've written two

01:27:40.960 non-fiction books

01:27:41.880 my memoir

01:27:42.340 and this one

01:27:43.100 and both of them

01:27:44.260 were twice the size

01:27:45.480 in the first draft

01:27:46.940 and I essentially

01:27:48.280 handed Ellen a pen

01:27:49.300 and said

01:27:49.720 just tell me

01:27:50.440 tell me what parts

01:27:51.380 have to go

01:27:51.940 and you know

01:27:53.260 it's funny

01:27:53.640 in both cases

01:27:54.580 more this one

01:27:55.540 more the truth and beauty

01:27:56.320 I knew I had

01:27:57.340 a wonderful book

01:27:58.620 at the core

01:27:59.920 and I just had to

01:28:00.820 take away

01:28:01.640 all the other stuff

01:28:02.560 that I thought

01:28:03.060 I thought was so important

01:28:04.220 that I put in there

01:28:04.940 but it's

01:28:05.620 it's wonderful

01:28:06.620 to have an in-house editor

01:28:07.840 like that

01:28:08.300 she is great

01:28:08.880 yes

01:28:09.340 that's how it goes

01:28:10.340 between my husband

01:28:11.000 and me too

01:28:11.480 so he writes his draft

01:28:12.560 and then I'm

01:28:13.680 you know

01:28:13.940 I'm pretty honest

01:28:15.060 on my feedback

01:28:15.640 and I'll write

01:28:16.400 in the margin

01:28:16.780 boring

01:28:17.400 boring

01:28:18.100 boring

01:28:18.740 and I'll be like

01:28:19.660 wow

01:28:19.960 okay

01:28:20.340 I didn't have to be

01:28:21.160 quite so brutally honest

01:28:22.820 I'm like

01:28:23.160 you know what

01:28:23.620 better you hear

01:28:24.120 from me now

01:28:24.920 than you hear

01:28:25.560 from some editor

01:28:26.500 or some would-be publisher

01:28:27.460 or some critic

01:28:28.600 later

01:28:29.480 and he's always happy

01:28:30.720 but you know

01:28:31.200 was it Hemingway

01:28:32.060 he said little darlings

01:28:32.920 no writer wants to get rid

01:28:34.080 of his little darlings

01:28:34.900 and you need your actual darling

01:28:36.440 Samuel Johnson

01:28:37.080 yeah

01:28:37.340 okay

01:28:37.840 you need your actual darling

01:28:38.860 to help you separate

01:28:40.220 and realize

01:28:41.400 they're not all that important

01:28:42.700 to you

01:28:42.900 absolutely

01:28:44.600 absolutely true

01:28:45.460 and it really does

01:28:46.660 it really does make

01:28:47.660 a huge difference

01:28:48.840 to have somebody

01:28:49.440 who cares about you

01:28:50.520 even though

01:28:51.120 as you say

01:28:51.780 frequently

01:28:52.280 my wife is blunt

01:28:53.520 as well

01:28:53.940 but it makes a difference

01:28:54.900 that you know

01:28:55.860 it's really a gift

01:28:57.120 to have somebody

01:28:57.600 who will criticize you

01:28:58.560 while rooting for you

01:28:59.620 not everybody gets that

01:29:01.020 you know

01:29:01.280 a lot of times

01:29:01.780 people who criticize you

01:29:02.580 are actually trying

01:29:03.240 to tear you down

01:29:04.040 but when someone's

01:29:04.800 trying to build you up

01:29:05.640 criticism is actually

01:29:06.700 a beautiful thing

01:29:07.440 yes that's exactly right

01:29:09.040 okay so now

01:29:09.700 on that sunny note

01:29:11.040 talk to me more

01:29:12.200 about your optimism

01:29:13.340 because I know

01:29:14.160 you're feeling actually

01:29:15.160 unlike so many

01:29:16.700 pretty good

01:29:17.820 about where we are

01:29:19.040 right now

01:29:19.320 in the culture wars

01:29:20.160 in the country

01:29:20.780 it's not that you don't

01:29:21.880 recognize the problems

01:29:22.840 not at all

01:29:23.740 but you're seeing

01:29:24.760 some signs of hope

01:29:25.620 and so

01:29:26.660 like some green shoots

01:29:27.740 what is it

01:29:28.740 that's making you feel good

01:29:30.060 well for one thing

01:29:31.400 we have a party

01:29:32.480 the democratic party

01:29:33.580 is now

01:29:34.240 as their central platform

01:29:36.220 is is we have the right

01:29:38.300 to take your children away

01:29:39.420 and tell them to

01:29:40.520 you know

01:29:41.000 be mutilated

01:29:41.740 to change their sex

01:29:42.940 that's actually like central

01:29:44.320 to their point of view

01:29:45.640 it's not like a side thing

01:29:47.040 that they're saying

01:29:47.920 everything that they have done

01:29:49.760 has been exposed

01:29:50.620 so for instance

01:29:51.460 the green new deal

01:29:52.500 was a major component

01:29:54.280 of the ukrainian invasion

01:29:55.680 Russia would never have

01:29:57.260 invaded ukraine

01:29:58.100 if we were still

01:29:59.060 doing what we've done

01:30:00.220 under trump

01:30:00.780 and producing enough energy

01:30:02.400 to share with the world

01:30:03.640 so we can undercut

01:30:04.620 his petro economy

01:30:06.360 so that's

01:30:07.380 that's pretty much

01:30:08.260 kind of done

01:30:09.040 globalization

01:30:09.860 which was a real threat

01:30:11.240 because globalization

01:30:12.020 doesn't make sense

01:30:13.140 unless

01:30:13.760 unless it is

01:30:14.980 colonized by

01:30:16.240 american values

01:30:17.200 or western values

01:30:18.440 of freedom

01:30:18.920 globalization

01:30:19.880 we now understand

01:30:21.260 was a mirage

01:30:22.260 and

01:30:22.980 and of course

01:30:23.960 the economy

01:30:25.020 is a mess

01:30:25.760 the inflation

01:30:26.380 i loved

01:30:27.080 in the washington post

01:30:27.920 jennifer rubin wrote

01:30:28.760 if it weren't for inflation

01:30:29.960 you know joe biden

01:30:31.060 would be doing

01:30:31.640 a great job

01:30:32.440 you know it's like

01:30:32.880 if i weren't dead

01:30:33.620 i'd be alive

01:30:34.240 yeah that's all true

01:30:35.620 so so the failure

01:30:37.100 you know republicans

01:30:38.020 get thrown out of office

01:30:39.000 when they don't do

01:30:40.120 the conservative things

01:30:41.520 they say they're going to do

01:30:42.480 democrats get thrown

01:30:44.000 out of office

01:30:44.560 when they do do

01:30:45.480 the leftist things

01:30:46.500 they're going to do

01:30:46.980 because not only is leftism

01:30:48.260 wrong per se

01:30:49.560 and wicked per se

01:30:50.640 it also doesn't work

01:30:51.800 i mean this is

01:30:52.360 also a gift from god

01:30:53.760 that the thing that is bad

01:30:54.820 also makes things worse

01:30:56.220 so i'm looking at

01:30:57.660 a genuine red wave

01:30:59.580 in the midterms

01:31:00.640 but more important

01:31:01.520 than that

01:31:01.900 more importantly than that

01:31:02.820 i'm looking at

01:31:03.580 a culture

01:31:04.360 that is turning the corner

01:31:05.620 that is starting to say

01:31:06.900 you know what

01:31:07.500 we've had enough

01:31:08.260 this is enough

01:31:09.540 you cannot

01:31:10.200 take my child

01:31:11.400 and do that to my child

01:31:12.620 when you have

01:31:13.360 you know

01:31:13.840 when mom comes home

01:31:15.260 when you wake up mom

01:31:16.320 and you're messing

01:31:17.040 with her kid

01:31:17.700 it's not a good look

01:31:19.280 you know

01:31:19.540 i mean ever since

01:31:20.240 ever since you were a kid

01:31:21.320 you know that when mom

01:31:21.980 comes home

01:31:22.320 you got to straighten up

01:31:23.060 when these school board

01:31:24.360 people started saying

01:31:25.640 you've got to investigate

01:31:26.380 parents as terrorists

01:31:27.660 the democrats

01:31:28.860 like a bunch of idiots

01:31:29.860 actually did it

01:31:31.060 they actually did it

01:31:31.940 you know

01:31:32.180 what do you think

01:31:32.880 the parents are going to do

01:31:33.800 they're going to go

01:31:34.480 yeah i want to

01:31:35.040 i want to vote for those people

01:31:36.100 who see us as terrorists

01:31:36.980 but but i think more importantly

01:31:38.460 is the culture

01:31:39.080 the daily wire is taking strides

01:31:40.800 in the culture

01:31:41.440 i think a lot of conservatives

01:31:43.040 suddenly understand

01:31:44.260 that you you cannot

01:31:45.340 it's not free

01:31:46.200 to go to some toxic

01:31:47.780 left-wing movie

01:31:48.820 uh and have them

01:31:49.820 pour this garbage

01:31:50.720 into your brains

01:31:51.680 or your child's brains

01:31:52.740 or any of our brains

01:31:53.940 and i think that

01:31:54.560 that turning point

01:31:55.700 uh has been a long time coming

01:31:57.480 but time's up for these guys

01:31:59.120 they're creeps

01:31:59.880 and they're wrong

01:32:00.560 about just about everything

01:32:02.120 and it is time

01:32:03.260 to take the culture

01:32:03.940 back from them

01:32:04.480 and look

01:32:04.760 like i said

01:32:05.340 i've been talking about it

01:32:06.020 for 20 years

01:32:06.680 now i see it happening

01:32:07.960 and it does make me

01:32:08.900 extremely hopeful

01:32:09.980 love it

01:32:11.840 great note to end it on

01:32:13.360 i hope you come back

01:32:14.660 will you come back

01:32:15.260 oh it's been a delight

01:32:16.680 yes i would love to come back

01:32:17.760 anytime

01:32:18.020 oh awesome

01:32:18.920 it's so it's truly

01:32:20.300 it's the chewing rubies

01:32:21.540 in my mouth

01:32:21.980 listening to you speak

01:32:23.080 it's like yes

01:32:23.700 great more

01:32:24.460 i just just go

01:32:25.460 every topic

01:32:26.380 we need two more hours

01:32:27.380 and hopefully we'll get them

01:32:28.800 on another day

01:32:29.480 andrew clavin

01:32:30.020 thank you so much

01:32:31.020 uh again

01:32:32.040 the new book is called

01:32:33.000 the truth and beauty

01:32:34.480 how the lives and works

01:32:35.780 of english

01:32:36.240 england's greatest poets

01:32:37.920 point the way

01:32:38.900 to a deeper understanding

01:32:40.240 of the words of jesus

01:32:42.100 and he writes in the book

01:32:42.960 that it advanced

01:32:44.120 his heart's journey

01:32:45.100 toward god

01:32:46.060 okay advance

01:32:47.220 your heart's journey

01:32:48.560 toward god

01:32:49.540 by reading a book

01:32:51.100 that will help you learn

01:32:51.920 on so many different levels

01:32:53.920 right

01:32:54.260 uh anyway

01:32:55.320 our thanks to andrew

01:32:56.080 i want to tell you that

01:32:57.060 uh we're gonna have

01:32:57.820 gary kasparov

01:32:58.840 tomorrow for the full show

01:33:00.480 we wanted to do

01:33:01.120 an in-depth profile

01:33:02.360 of him

01:33:03.000 and all the crazy

01:33:04.640 crazy chess success

01:33:06.140 he had at such a young age

01:33:08.020 in russia

01:33:09.160 uh he's a fascinating guy

01:33:11.040 and what's his take

01:33:12.060 on where things stand

01:33:12.880 right now

01:33:13.340 in ukraine

01:33:14.240 we're gonna go through

01:33:14.920 all of that together

01:33:16.240 there are updates there

01:33:17.300 and across the country

01:33:19.020 on several items

01:33:20.160 and if you want to post

01:33:21.380 a comment about the show

01:33:22.440 just go to the review section

01:33:23.900 in apple podcasts

01:33:25.240 make sure you subscribe

01:33:26.460 to the show

01:33:26.780 and give us five stars

01:33:27.520 por favor

01:33:27.960 and then give us a review

01:33:29.500 i love reading them right now

01:33:30.800 i read them every day

01:33:31.700 and uh love all the guest

01:33:33.360 suggestions on there

01:33:34.380 i go through them

01:33:35.140 all the time

01:33:36.060 and i screen grab

01:33:36.760 the ones that are good

01:33:37.660 and for me

01:33:38.720 and i forward them to my team

01:33:39.880 so you could be of help

01:33:41.020 thanks for listening

01:33:41.900 see you tomorrow

01:33:42.400 thanks for listening

01:33:46.220 to the megan kelly show

01:33:47.340 no bs

01:33:48.240 no agenda

01:33:48.980 and no fear

01:33:50.120 you

The Megyn Kelly Show - April 05, 2022

Silencing Free Speech and BLM's $6 Million Mansion, with Andrew Klavan ｜ Ep. 293

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