The Michael Knowles Show - Daily Wire Backstage： 2020 State of the Union Edition

00:00:00.000 Hey, Michael Knowles here, and do I have a treat for you. The latest episode of Daily Wire

00:00:04.120 backstage is right around the corner, and you do not want to miss it. Join me, Ben Shapiro,

00:00:09.180 Andrew Klavan, and the God King Jeremy Boring as we discuss the latest news and cultural events,

00:00:13.680 all while enjoying some fine whiskey and cigars. It is going to be all that and more. Take a listen.

00:00:19.600 A funny thing happened on the way to the caucus. 62% of the total is now in, and we have official

00:00:24.800 results with the popular vote. That's who people actually like, the actual audience we're talking

00:00:29.480 about here. We have, in first place, Ben Shapiro with 1.5 million somethings. In second place,

00:00:36.660 we have Andrew Klavan with considerably less something. And in third place, we have Michael

00:00:42.900 Knowles with just barely anything at all. Clearly, the winner of all of our delegates,

00:00:48.620 Elisha Krause. Elisha, tell us how people can get their questions in.

00:00:52.000 I'm actually really annoyed because I would expect this from Michael, but when Ben told me we were

00:00:56.600 all going to dress up like Supreme Court justices, I believed him. Really, guys?

00:01:04.940 Golly. All right, let me just RBG it up over here. She will be there tonight, right? She's not

00:01:09.740 skipping like AOC. So for our subscribers watching at home, if you want to ask the guys questions,

00:01:14.480 just head on over to dailywire.com and navigate to the shows page at the top. Click on backstage and

00:01:19.460 then type in your questions into the chat box next to the video. Another special perk for our

00:01:24.320 subscribers is this kind of AMA thing that we do every once in a while with our writers and editors

00:01:28.360 and all of the talent here. It's called Discussion, and that's only available to subscribers. And it's

00:01:34.020 going to be lots of fun. You can ask me how annoyed I am with Ben and where Michael is because we still

00:01:39.420 don't know. Allegedly with Ted Cruz smoking cigars in DC, I don't know. But only subscribers get to ask

00:01:45.940 the questions. So if you're not a subscriber, you can become one tonight and get those questions.

00:01:50.860 And we'll be taking all of your questions after President Trump's State of the Union address.

00:01:55.320 Thank you, Elisha. And thank you to everybody watching at home. We're sorry. Listen, we don't

00:01:59.200 control the fact that the American democratic system has fallen into complete ruin and disrepair.

00:02:05.760 And now the president stands up like a monarch for three to seven hours and talks on and on and on and

00:02:11.060 on and on while he's booed, hissed, cheered, walked out on or Instagrammed about in the case of

00:02:16.520 AOC tonight, who's not actually going to attend the State of the Union. She's just going to...

00:02:21.060 It's very serious, very somber, very personal decision. She'll be on Instagram talking about

00:02:26.480 it there. We don't control it. None of us like the State of the Union, but what we do like

00:02:30.840 is watching it with you and talking about the Iowa caucus, mostly because we love to say the word

00:02:36.040 caucus. It is one of the greatest words in politics. How does the Iowa caucus work? I used to

00:02:41.460 think that I was a political novice because I didn't know. It turns out it just means I'm a Democrat.

00:02:46.520 We're going to talk about all of that and more, but first we're going to talk about our friends

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00:04:34.760 scale without any long-term commitment. Do yourself a favor. It is just way better than

00:04:38.920 actually going someplace. Michael, you're in Washington, D.C. You broke up the band. This

00:04:44.020 has never happened before. We're all a little pissed, but we should take a brief moment to

00:04:51.260 celebrate your victory. You've been killing it over there. Tell us about it. Thank you very much.

00:04:56.200 I am co-hosting the number one show as of two days ago. We had the number one podcast for a week.

00:05:03.280 Unfortunately, Joe Rogan has come back and overtaken us, but it's the verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:05:08.680 We've been covering every single night. The senator comes over from the Capitol. He comes to a bunker

00:05:12.700 that we have somewhere in Washington. We stay up all night talking about the impeachment. It's a lot of

00:05:17.880 fun, and it made me think with all the conspiracy theories going around with the Iowa caucuses and all this

00:05:23.680 craziness with the Democratic ballot counting. I did have to wonder if it was Ben who orchestrated

00:05:30.360 this entire impeachment hoax just to get me 3,000 miles away on the other side of America.

00:05:36.440 If we could keep you there permanently, that'd be fantastic. I also did ask for a mute button for

00:05:40.680 this television. Unfortunately, it was not provided for me.

00:05:43.640 You know, I would like to point out we've got some pretty amazing technology that allows me to

00:05:47.920 beam in. My cigar smoke is coming off of the TV at the Daily Wire in L.A., and the Democrats can't

00:05:54.100 even get an Excel spreadsheet together to count some votes in Iowa. So this is like the best week

00:05:58.680 ever, right? I mean, like the Iowa caucuses are just spectacular. This was great because I will

00:06:02.840 admit to you that leading up to covering the Iowa caucuses, I was not a happy camper because

00:06:06.540 the leading contenders are all of my least favorite human beings, right? It was Bernie Sanders who's an

00:06:10.560 actual communist, like an actual 1930s. Oh, that's just a pejorative that you use because he's a 0.51

00:06:15.120 communist, right? It is, I will say, it is maddening and unbelievable to me that no one in the media

00:06:21.520 sees fit to ask Bernie Sanders why he says that he has the same, he said this, that he has the same

00:06:25.400 belief system now that he had in 1963, right? This is his selling point, is that he has never changed

00:06:28.900 at all. And in 1976, when he was my age, right, because Bernie Sanders has been an adult for one million

00:06:33.760 years. Okay, so in 1976, when he was my age, I'm 35, he was, I'm 36, he was 35 then, he said he wanted to

00:06:39.940 nationalize the energy industry, all of the major banks, and every major industry in the United

00:06:44.300 States. And no one has asked him. I think one person asked him, so what was the, what was the

00:06:48.560 deal with that? And he was like, well, I could, I was mayor of Burlington and I didn't do it, right?

00:06:52.240 Because you're mayor of Burlington, you get nationalized as mayor of Burlington. And you're

00:06:55.860 just calling, you're saying that he's a socialist. I guess that if you just mean that he believes that

00:07:01.260 the working man deserves to do better, then yeah, he's a socialist. Yeah, this formulation makes me

00:07:05.700 want to vomit so hard and never stop vomiting. Like my stomach lining comes up every time he does that.

00:07:09.940 If by socialist you mean that I would like puppies to have a life of their own, then yes, I'm a

00:07:14.480 socialist. Like, no, that's not what I mean. I mean public ownership of the resources and means

00:07:17.920 of production. That's what I mean, you asshole. But in any case, Bernie. I like that he, I like that 1.00

00:07:22.400 he just bleeped the hole. That's usually how it works on our side. I don't know about you guys.

00:07:29.680 I'm not sure he's figured this out yet. In any case, like, I'm tired. So in any case, I thought it was

00:07:35.280 going to be, the story's going to be Bernie, who is just an awful human being, or Elizabeth Warren, 0.83

00:07:38.460 who may be an even more awful human being because she pretends to be Bernie but doesn't 0.97

00:07:41.860 actually believe it. So think about how awful you have to be to pretend to be Bernie Sanders,

00:07:45.760 right? You don't actually believe the bullcrap he believes. It's just that you want to be him. 0.99

00:07:49.560 When you're used to pretending to be something you're not, as Elizabeth Warren is, I think

00:07:53.540 it just kind of comes out before you think about it. And then it was Pete Buttigieg who pretended

00:07:56.980 to be a moderate, but in reality just hates people who believe in the Bible and wants to see 0.79

00:08:01.180 them all burn in hell and makes this absolutely clear and calls everybody who disagrees with him 0.99

00:08:04.800 a racist. Like, this is his thing. So the story was going to be that one of these great minds 1.00

00:08:08.740 wins. And I was kind of ticked about that because reality, if I had to pick among the awful Democrats,

00:08:13.800 I would obviously pick Amy Klobuchar, who, number one, physically beats people with binders, 1.00

00:08:17.340 and number two, is actually not completely insane. And Joe Biden, who's a corpse, right, 0.71

00:08:22.640 and would do minimal damage to the country because he's dead.

00:08:24.940 I feel like the founding vision of the presidency is almost perfectly embodied in Joe Biden as

00:08:30.400 president. This is right. It's a guy who they can occasionally will out to sign something that

00:08:34.640 was passed by the legislature. Right. And they will him back. And like, we wouldn't have a state

00:08:38.100 of the union, right? They'd wheel him out and they'd just have a letter pinned to his chest.

00:08:41.560 And then they'd just wheel him back. It would be fantastic.

00:08:43.980 The state of the union is...

00:08:45.340 So I was expecting the Iowa caucuses to be terrible because I was expecting all the people

00:08:51.180 who I didn't want to win to win. We'd have to hear about how Bernie was going to be the

00:08:54.120 nominee. It was going to be awful. And then the light of God shone down. And the Iowa caucuses

00:08:59.280 end up being a complete and utter cluster F. And at this point, you have to wonder, you do,

00:09:03.920 you have to wonder, did Donald Trump at some point cut a deal with Satan? Because the man

00:09:09.100 has an unbroken streak of luck, like nothing I've ever seen. Now, for all this other stuff,

00:09:13.840 I'm willing to hear the 4D chess, 5D chess, underwater, upside down, hungry, hungry hippos

00:09:18.660 theory of how Donald Trump is manipulating things. But you are going to have to explain to me how

00:09:22.400 Donald Trump made the Democrats implode their own caucuses in Iowa. Like maybe it was by adding

00:09:28.040 Kansas City. The devil went down to Wharton looking for a soul to steal and he laid a golden

00:09:32.620 toilet on the ground at Donald's feet. And Donald whooped him. It's unbelievable. I mean,

00:09:38.480 my going theory was that by adding the city of Kansas City to the state of Kansas, he had somehow

00:09:43.340 thrown off magnetic alignment in that part of the country because, of course, Iowa is just north

00:09:47.120 of Missouri. So maybe by depriving Missouri of Kansas City, he had somehow thrown things off and

00:09:51.820 it screwed up the app. But... But it just reveals, it really just reveals the simple truth

00:09:55.400 about Donald Trump. No matter how bad Donald Trump is or no matter what you think of him,

00:09:59.400 the Democrat Party is worse and has always been worse. And it's not like they keep saying,

00:10:03.400 oh, he's corrupt. Really? This is the Democrat Party in Chicago. They're now hauling people away

00:10:09.540 by, you know, under the arms like the Keystone Cops are arresting the politicians in Chicago en masse.

00:10:14.680 But here's the wonderful thing, right? Because the rips on Trump that they were going to use

00:10:17.920 are, one, that he's evil, which, I mean, he's Trump, right? I mean, like, come on. And two,

00:10:22.060 that he is corrupt, which they tried with this Ukraine thing. That didn't really work. And

00:10:25.740 also Hunter Biden. I mean, like, seriously, like you. Right. But their final, the final arrow in

00:10:31.120 their quiver was one that kind of you could see, right? Which is that it's chaos over there,

00:10:35.800 right? Like, it's chaos inside the White House and it's incompetence and he doesn't know what he's

00:10:38.680 doing. And sure, some good things are happening, but it's complete bat shittery. And so why would, 0.97

00:10:42.340 let's put someone sober and competent? I would have said bleep shittery.

00:10:46.240 Okay, I'm confused about the rules, guys. I'm confused about the rules. And so instead,

00:10:53.180 just to counter the final quiver, the final arrow in their quiver, which is that he's incompetent

00:10:57.620 and it's all chaotic, they decide that they are going to take a process that involves a grand total

00:11:02.140 of 170,000 votes. More people will watch this broadcast tonight live than voted in Iowa last

00:11:08.060 night. And we will handle all of them. They will come to the site and we'll handle them. It will be fine.

00:11:12.400 Can I be alive? Can I be alive? Since I know that Ben will not point that no matter how long the show

00:11:15.940 goes, and it looks like it's going to be about seven hours, no matter how long it goes, Ben will

00:11:19.700 never point out that this has been the greatest, January, it's now February, January was the greatest

00:11:24.940 month in presidential history. I have never seen a president with as many successes as Donald Trump

00:11:30.320 had in January, in one month. A record stock market, a record stock market, Soleimani. Soleimani is a huge

00:11:36.880 win. A huge win. The peace plan, the Middle East peace plan was fantastic. The Middle East peace plan,

00:11:40.880 two trade deals, which, you know. No, those are good. Those are good. I mean, it's better than

00:11:44.720 nothing. I mean, this is all in one month. And didn't get impeached, just like every other

00:11:49.360 president in American history. So that means that by the Trump affirmative action standard,

00:11:53.360 that's like the best month ever. That's a pretty good month. That's a pretty good month for a

00:11:57.640 president. No, I mean, in the Gallup poll, right? I mean, he's up to 49 percent. And the other

00:12:01.360 poll. 63 percent approval on the economy. No one's beating him this way. And people are happier with race

00:12:06.400 relations than they've been, with security than they've ever been. I mean, it's amazing.

00:12:10.080 I mean, his race relations is breaking down in Iowa, right? I'm not exaggerating how well he's 1.00

00:12:13.100 race relations are breaking down in Iowa, though. Democrats are very angry. They realize that

00:12:16.020 everybody is white. And so now all the white people are trying to determine who's the most

00:12:19.700 white. And it's like shades of white, right? They've got like fluorescent eggshell. They've

00:12:23.980 got French vanilla. And they're all arguing amongst each other because there's a real race

00:12:27.260 crisis in Iowa. I think we're actually missing the biggest news out of Iowa, which is that

00:12:31.880 Bill Weld finished third. And I was, I thought he was a shoe in to finish second. Michael,

00:12:38.340 we're talking here about impeachment. You know more about impeachment than any of us

00:12:41.580 because you've been boots on the ground there with Senator Cruz. Talk to us a little bit just

00:12:46.460 about the insights that you're getting, hearing from the senator coming straight out every night.

00:12:50.840 The most interesting thing about impeachment to me is how nobody has their act together

00:12:56.580 whatsoever. So I went into this thing just assuming that everybody kind of had a plan and it was all

00:13:02.480 going to play out, but it was prescripted. No big deal. No, it turns out the U.S. Senate has

00:13:07.260 absolutely no coordination whatsoever. And it's just happening in real time. So Senator Cruz is

00:13:12.800 telling the story of they show up and they're listening to these droning speeches and they're

00:13:17.500 so boring. And then Adam Schiff makes a mistake. Adam Schiff gives the Senate Republicans an opening.

00:13:23.060 We don't need to go into it now because it gets very complicated. But then Cruz jumps up. He runs into

00:13:27.740 the cloakroom. He's trying to cut a deal with a couple other senators in there. They come back out.

00:13:31.980 Elizabeth Warren asks a stupid question. That gives another opening. That irritates Lisa Murkowski. 1.00

00:13:36.480 Lisa Murkowski decides she's not going to vote for witnesses. Like it's all playing out in real time.

00:13:41.060 And it actually made me feel kind of good about politics. One, because I don't think that the U.S.

00:13:45.460 government is competent enough to tyrannize us. But two, it made me feel good because it really means

00:13:51.280 that individuals do matter and that these speeches and these machinations and these deals really do affect

00:13:57.500 politics. I mean, we saw this play out in Iowa just the other night where, you know, the Democrats

00:14:02.540 accused President Trump of every manner of evil. But it turns out the Democrats have done it even

00:14:07.880 worse. They accused Trump of stealing the general election in 2016. The Democrats couldn't wait one

00:14:15.080 caucus before they stole one of the states. And that's Mayor Cheat Buttigieg.

00:14:19.700 It is true, right? Like Pete Buttigieg, they've got 60 percent reporting happening right now in Iowa.

00:14:27.460 That's all the people, right? It's like the Democratic three-fifths rule.

00:14:33.580 They've announced these results, which are built to take wind out of Bernie Sanders' cell.

00:14:40.220 We were talking last time we were together, they're going to have to come up with new ways to cheat 0.98

00:14:43.100 Bernie this time because they burned the boats after they cheated him last time. And they're doing it.

00:14:48.240 They're coming up with new ways to cheat the guy. Is it? He should get used to socialism. That's what

00:14:52.300 it's like. Oh, yeah. He didn't grease the right palms. Do we think that it's possible that the

00:14:58.000 Democratic Party will be so fractured by this primary that they don't unite? Or is Trump the

00:15:02.320 great uniter, no matter who they were? No. So the secret of the dirty secret of the Iowa caucuses

00:15:07.100 that no one really wants to talk about, it's been buried beneath three layers of coverage because the 0.90

00:15:11.160 turnout sucked. So they were expecting this to be, they were expecting this to be like an all-time

00:15:15.180 turnout. Like 300,000 people show up in Iowa. 240,000 people showed up for Obama in 2008.

00:15:20.480 This time it was 170,000, which despite population increases in the state is the same number as 2016,

00:15:26.220 which means no one showed up. The fact is enthusiasm on the Democratic side is not nearly

00:15:29.720 as high. Particularly, it's high in LA, right? We're in LA, so it feels really high. In New York,

00:15:33.580 it's really high. In DC, it's really high. In the middle of the country, nobody is sitting up nights

00:15:37.380 thinking about President Trump. And that was perfectly obvious in Iowa. And that is a serious problem

00:15:41.260 for them. Because what it really means is that if Bernie does not get the nomination for any reason

00:15:45.060 at this point, because Bernie will have come away with the most votes in Iowa, he's going to win the

00:15:48.440 most votes in New Hampshire. If he comes away for any reason, competitive with Joe Biden or Michael

00:15:53.380 Bloomberg, or it goes to a brokered convention and he has a plurality of the votes, but not a majority

00:15:56.780 of the votes, his people will walk. They're not going to stick around and watch him get jobbed a

00:15:59.920 third time. I mean, the man might not live to run again when he's 84. I mean, he can only run.

00:16:04.660 I said to Drew before the show, though, Bernie should be an inspiration for Drew. Drew's been

00:16:10.420 mostly useless for only 50 years of his adult life. He's still got 10 years to be useless and 0.99

00:16:15.240 then run for president. This thing about the turnout, though, is huge. It is a big deal because 0.95

00:16:19.600 all we've heard, the anger, the fury of the Democrat Party has been overwhelming and the fury of the

00:16:25.220 media. But the people, you know, what do they think? They're going to go back to the good old days

00:16:28.440 where Ma and Pa sat on the porch and watched the factory close. It's not that good for the Democrats

00:16:34.100 in the Midwest. Did you ever hear the conversation that happened in New Hampshire the other day?

00:16:38.040 John Kerry, Thurston Howell III, John Kerry was caught on camera, or on the phone, rather,

00:16:44.040 saying that the party's falling apart and they're following Bernie Sanders off a cliff

00:16:47.400 and maybe he has to run again. John Kerry got clobbered in 2004 by George W. Bush.

00:16:53.660 Bring me back, please.

00:16:55.420 What I like is that then later that day he put out a tweet saying that it was absolutely effing

00:17:00.740 untrue, and then he deleted the tweet because his entire presidential strategy is flip-flop.

00:17:07.180 Is that joke like 20 years to old?

00:17:09.080 That is out of my right.

00:17:09.660 Listen, I'm not a young man, but I am too young to run for president in 2020. If you are a candidate

00:17:15.280 running for president in 2020, not named Pete Buttigieg or Andrew Yang, you should go to Policy

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00:17:42.560 I do like to at least be perceived as a good person. The truth is none of us are omniscient.

00:17:47.080 We all get the future wrong. Ben lost hundreds of dollars to Michael and I by saying that Donald

00:17:54.140 Trump could not be elected president. And if I had made a monetary bet, Drew would have lost

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00:19:29.100 we are going to be watching tonight with you the State of the Union. President Trump,

00:19:33.160 what we believe is going to be the greatest show probably in the history of the republic.

00:19:37.460 President Trump, less than 24 hours after watching the Democrats collapse in Iowa and 24 hours before

00:19:44.640 being acquitted in the Senate for impeachment, is going to stand in front of a joint session of

00:19:51.360 Congress and tell them something. I've got to say, I've got to say that I hated this impeachment story

00:19:58.320 from the beginning. I thought it was a sham. I think everything Trump said about it is true. It's a

00:20:01.960 hoax. It's ridiculous. And I resented having to talk about it. I resented having to talk about the 0.99

00:20:06.600 guy who is doing a good job as president. You can pick on him for a lot of things and that's fine.

00:20:10.820 Right. But to talk about what he said to the president of Ukraine was was nonsense. But I

00:20:16.080 got to admit, watching him get the State of the Union while he's still on trial is kind of dramatic

00:20:21.380 and fun. I mean, yeah, I totally agree with this. So I hate I mean, I've given the speech. We've all

00:20:25.400 given the speech, I think, a thousand times. The State of the Union is a monarchic garbage institution. 1.00

00:20:29.260 We should go back to writing letters to Congress and be done with it because it's ridiculous. 0.98

00:20:32.220 The executive branch is not superior to the legislative branch. In fact, it's kind of the opposite in the

00:20:35.940 Constitution in terms of delegated powers. The treatment of the president as though he's the king is

00:20:39.540 disgusting. But putting all of that aside, watching Donald Trump go into a room of people

00:20:43.440 who hate him. Yeah. Is spectacular. Oh, yeah. Spectacular drama. And watching. I'm sorry.

00:20:48.660 The Democrat women are still doing this like we're going to wear white thing in honor of the 1.00

00:20:51.940 suffragists. I thought they did that last year because it's like the 100 year anniversary of

00:20:56.000 the amendment that allowed women to vote. Why don't the Republicans just show up in their union 1.00

00:20:59.660 uniform? Did we not like from 1864? Did we not? Remember that time we freed the slaves and you all you

00:21:05.040 Democrats were in favor of slavery? Remember nothing this week? The Democrats are racist.

00:21:09.540 And they think that white is better than black. So they have to wear white to show how great they 1.00

00:21:14.080 are. I also want to offer a counterpoint here to Ben because I agree. Yes, it is irritating that we

00:21:21.120 treat the president like a king. It used to bother me so much. After the past few weeks of the House

00:21:27.320 Democrats droning on trying to rip up our Constitution, I want Trump to go full Charles

00:21:33.600 the second. I want him to use the state of the union, dissolve the whole Congress, declare himself

00:21:38.240 king for life. I will say that I'm now going to cut against my normal advice to the president. So

00:21:43.160 normally I say things in this situation like don't be a tool and also don't be a tool. And if you could

00:21:49.220 avoid it, like just don't get up there and be a tool because seriously, like you have 49% approval

00:21:52.820 rating, 63% approval on the economy. The Democrats are falling apart in front of your face. Just play

00:21:57.020 it safe and be normal. Like go up there, be on teleprompter. You know what? Screw it. Because

00:22:01.020 because no, the time has come. The time has come. If ever it was time for Twitter Trump to make an

00:22:06.140 appearance at the state of the union today is that day. And if he does not take a massive dump all

00:22:10.320 over them and just mention Iowa 173 times and call out pencil neck shift and crazy Nancy, if he doesn't

00:22:16.440 go after crazy Chuck and if he doesn't yell at the Democrats and make fun of AOC for being at home

00:22:21.520 playing with the instant pot while Instagramming, then what do we pay for? I mean, what are we even doing

00:22:26.020 here if he's not going to do that? Seriously. Adam Schiff will get an ovation tonight from the

00:22:29.900 Democrats, right? Trump will have to say his name and the Democrats will give him a standing ovation.

00:22:33.800 Well, I don't know why Trump will have to say his name. Yeah. Why should he say his name? Why

00:22:36.360 should Trump say his name? When I say Donald Trump will have to say his name, I mean, because Donald

00:22:39.820 Trump is Trump and he will not have to implies compulsion. I think he's selling him short. I think

00:22:44.060 he's going to get up and give a quiet optimism. I agree. And then go home at three o'clock

00:22:47.440 morning and tweet some stupid stuff. We were talking about this earlier. Donald Trump is the only person in the 1.00

00:22:53.000 world who buys back his not mistake, right? Everybody else, you make a mistake and then

00:22:56.720 you're like, oh God, I can't believe I did that. I really, can I buy that back in some way? Donald

00:23:00.100 Trump is the only person who does something perfectly normal. And two hours later, he's

00:23:03.020 like, I shouldn't have done that. Got to go after it, man. You only live once.

00:23:07.640 Donald Trump is the guy who, when he's driving home and he thinks of the comeback that he should

00:23:11.680 have used at the party. Yeah, she drives back. Rush Limbaugh, by the way, is in the audience,

00:23:17.260 which is a cool thing. They didn't bring Rush to the State of the Union. He's giving him the Medal of

00:23:20.600 Freedom, right? Which is great. Which is well-deserved. Here come the members of the

00:23:23.880 Supreme Court and we have to pretend we like those guys. But they're not going to pretend

00:23:27.680 that they like the president. First of all, it is hilarious to me that we treat these people as

00:23:31.300 honored guests. I know Elena Kagan, right? She was dean of the law school when I was there.

00:23:35.040 She's a human. The way that we treat the Supreme Court justices as though they have been invested

00:23:40.180 with all the power and dignity of the office and they know all and are all wise. I like it better

00:23:44.760 when they fall asleep at the State of the Union and make faces at the president and stuff.

00:23:47.660 Like, what we have learned in the last couple of months is what people who watch already know.

00:23:52.320 This is never House of Cards. It's Veep. So let's treat this thing like Veep, right? I mean,

00:23:56.200 it's all a joke and it's all a ridiculous spectacle. And I'm really just hoping the president gets up 0.73

00:24:00.540 there and literally just takes his microphone and throws it at people. I mean, let's just go full

00:24:03.800 WWE. Tags in Mike Pence. Mike Pence jumps in from the rafters from the top rope. Mike Pence.

00:24:08.340 Let's just do this thing. Let's do it right. Come on.

00:24:10.720 I got to say, I was genuinely sad about Rush Limbaugh. I was genuinely sad about Rush Limbaugh.

00:24:14.140 That was genuine. Of course. Yeah, it's terrible. Way to kill the joke there, Drew.

00:24:18.700 But yeah, we're all the same. I know, but we had to stop him. Just to stop for a minute.

00:24:22.240 Because, I mean, none of us would be here if it weren't for him. That's right.

00:24:25.420 He just did so much for this country, really for the country. I mean, I grew up listening to Rush.

00:24:29.880 I mean, I think everybody who's conservative of my generation grew up in the car listening to Rush

00:24:34.000 because it was before the internet, really, and before you could listen to podcasts.

00:24:36.820 My first exposure to conservative thought was Rush Limbaugh.

00:24:39.960 Yeah, my dad introduced me to Rush Limbaugh when I was maybe 14, 15 years old.

00:24:43.760 We used to listen to him in the car together.

00:24:45.280 I mean, unbelievably talented broadcaster and a populist version of William F. Buckley,

00:24:49.740 by which I just mean that he was able to reach a crowd that Buckley was never able to reach.

00:24:53.120 I mean, Buckley was speaking up here, and Rush was speaking kind of for the common man.

00:24:56.300 And that's a pretty impressive thing. And we shouldn't talk about him like he's gone.

00:24:59.020 No, he's not.

00:24:59.440 He's perfectly well there, and he's going to, with the help of God, hopefully he'll be in recovery soon.

00:25:04.600 And Rush doesn't get enough credit, too, because you compare him to Buckley.

00:25:09.300 He and Buckley were actually friends. Obviously, they were speaking in different ways on different media.

00:25:14.780 But I loved in Rush's statement when he gave the announcement, he said,

00:25:18.460 you know, I really don't like talking about myself.

00:25:20.460 And this struck a lot of people as odd because he says, you know, I have talent on loan from God.

00:25:24.900 I do it with half my brain tied behind my back.

00:25:26.200 Yeah, but that's not talking about himself.

00:25:28.100 That's the joke.

00:25:28.560 That's right. And it's the joke he said.

00:25:30.520 He said, you know, I don't talk about myself unless it's satiric and parodic.

00:25:34.320 And, you know, I have this relationship with God.

00:25:37.280 I'm leaning on it more now than I used to.

00:25:39.500 But I just wanted to let you know because I respect the audience.

00:25:42.180 And he always respects his audience.

00:25:44.720 He never refers to his fans.

00:25:46.360 He always refers to his listeners.

00:25:47.960 And I think that respect is why he gets so much love back.

00:25:51.340 And we know since reality is conservative, we know God listens to his show to get his ideas.

00:25:55.960 So we have a lot of hope for him. 0.98

00:25:59.020 We also know with Rush Limbaugh that the response on Twitter yesterday is the most vitriolic, hate-filled garbage that I've ever seen. 0.91

00:26:09.500 On a platform ordinarily known for its poised, civility. 0.61

00:26:15.300 I read things, people's reactions to Rush Limbaugh yesterday, and I was actually embarrassed for people.

00:26:20.300 That's the thing.

00:26:21.260 You know, I just feel like people like that are already suffering.

00:26:23.980 I don't even engage with them.

00:26:24.960 I won't respond to them.

00:26:26.100 I won't tell them what I think of them.

00:26:27.420 I just think that's an evil unto itself that you pay for already. 0.99

00:26:30.800 Twitter is the dumbest place on earth and unredeemable except when the Iowa caucuses are melting down. 0.94

00:26:35.120 In which case it was the greatest thing that has ever been invented. 0.98

00:26:39.120 Okay, so before the State of the Union, let's quickly handicap the Democratic race.

00:26:42.880 Right now, if you had to put money on it, I'd bet on Bernie, but then he'd take all my money if I win.

00:26:46.260 So it really is not worth it at this point.

00:26:47.980 But I think that Bernie is still the frontrunner at this point.

00:26:49.960 What do you guys think?

00:26:50.820 Michael, what are you thinking?

00:26:52.000 I'd bet on Bernie except the Democrats are going to redistribute his votes.

00:26:55.160 And I really mean that seriously.

00:26:57.540 He would win.

00:26:58.700 Right now, it looks like he probably won in Iowa.

00:27:01.240 There are some shenanigans going on.

00:27:02.700 He's way up in New Hampshire.

00:27:04.300 The guy's even gaining in South Carolina, which he hadn't been doing well in.

00:27:07.740 I think if they were left to the will of the voters, he would get it.

00:27:11.960 And yet, the Democratic Party, this is not a conspiracy theory, they have tried time and time again to squash this guy's candidacy.

00:27:19.860 And they have the power to do it.

00:27:21.620 So I suspect there's a good chance they'll succeed again.

00:27:24.440 I don't think they will.

00:27:25.540 I don't think they will succeed.

00:27:26.640 I think it will be Bernie if things keep up this way.

00:27:28.880 And I don't think they will succeed because I think you're right in that the people who follow Bernie are not showing up for the second-tier candidate.

00:27:35.220 They'll burn it down.

00:27:35.940 They'll burn the place down. 1.00

00:27:37.240 They're communists. 0.90

00:27:39.260 Why wouldn't they?

00:27:40.020 Did you see that James O'Keefe was banned on Twitter today for his exposés about Bernie Stafford?

00:27:44.100 That's unbelievable.

00:27:45.000 It's like breaking the ball by telling the truth.

00:27:46.760 I completely missed this.

00:27:47.500 That's insane.

00:27:48.280 That's insane.

00:27:49.320 Perfectly predictable, but insane.

00:27:50.340 Yeah, anyone who hasn't been following this, O'Keefe has done a terrific exposé over the last couple weeks.

00:27:56.200 Sanders campaign worker after Sanders campaign worker after Sanders campaign worker, saying that they support gulags and violent revolution.

00:28:05.240 I mean, it's been a remarkable job.

00:28:08.900 Nobody even covered the fact that they made anti-gay slurs against Lindsey Graham.

00:28:13.400 You know, there's Rush.

00:28:14.220 There he is.

00:28:14.640 And the man himself with Melania Trump, Rush Limbaugh.

00:28:18.660 And we're waiting here for the president of the United States, who ought to make his entrance just any minute now.

00:28:24.060 We'll be watching the State of the Union along with you.

00:28:27.020 And then afterwards, we'll pop back on here and give you our analysis.

00:28:30.680 In the meantime, the year is just getting started, and it's already pretty crazy.

00:28:34.460 We know that you need to know everything from the best Iowa caucus ever to the amazing coverage of events like tonight's State of the Union address.

00:28:41.560 And the best way for you to stay informed is to become a Daily Wire member right now.

00:28:45.320 We'll give you 20% off of your membership.

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00:29:24.860 Is this the cabinet walking in now?

00:29:26.440 The president's cabinet is walking into the chamber.

00:29:29.700 So, question.

00:29:30.860 Do you guys have a rooting interest in the Democratic primaries?

00:29:33.420 So, I know there are a lot of people who are rooting for Bernie to win.

00:29:35.460 And it seems like a lot of folks in sort of Trump's orbit are rooting for Bernie to win.

00:29:38.000 No, I do not want Bernie to win.

00:29:39.080 I don't want Bernie to win.

00:29:39.540 I want Biden to be the nominee.

00:29:41.200 And the reason is because, if we learned anything from the 2016 election, is that anyone nominated can become president.

00:29:47.200 Correct.

00:29:47.680 And if Biden becomes president, it will not be the end of the republic.

00:29:50.720 I know that we're in the election now, and you're going to get burned at the stake if you say things like this.

00:29:55.280 But I'm just telling you, if Joe Biden is president of the United States, there's going to be some problems.

00:29:59.860 I won't be happy about it.

00:30:01.760 We will still have a country on the other side of it.

00:30:04.280 And if someone like Bernie accidentally, you know, think of all the things that happened.

00:30:08.320 He can be the nominee.

00:30:09.940 Trump can have a heart attack.

00:30:11.960 He can be the nominee.

00:30:13.140 The economy can collapse.

00:30:14.680 He can be the nominee.

00:30:15.720 And anything can happen.

00:30:16.780 Any of a hundred things can happen.

00:30:17.980 And he becomes the president.

00:30:19.060 And now the greatest country in the history of the earth has elected an actual communist to be president.

00:30:26.740 I don't see how we can possibly root for that just because we think it might be funny.

00:30:31.220 Well, that's one thing.

00:30:32.800 I root for it because it might be funny.

00:30:33.380 Because you think he's more beatable.

00:30:34.560 Also, I just don't think it will happen.

00:30:36.020 I have too much hope, too much faith in the country.

00:30:37.600 I do not think they'll elect Bernie Sanders.

00:30:39.420 And I would love to see his philosophy repudiated, as I think it will be, as Jeremy Corbyn's was in Britain.

00:30:44.600 The problem, though, is another lesson that we learned from the Trump election in 2016 is that a party will realign its values to support its nominee.

00:30:53.420 They will.

00:30:53.920 And if Bernie is the nominee, he doesn't even have to win.

00:30:56.320 If he is the nominee, the Democrats will be the party of communism.

00:30:59.840 No, wait.

00:31:01.260 But that's not true.

00:31:02.200 They realign.

00:31:03.720 But if he loses, they realign again.

00:31:05.760 Well, no, I'm not sure that that's right because they realigned for McGovern.

00:31:09.920 And then there were a few – there was like one election cycle with Carter, basically, where they realigned in sort of a more conservative direction.

00:31:15.920 And then by 1980, they were already realigning back toward McGovernism, right, because Teddy Kennedy was winning primaries.

00:31:20.280 And by 1984, you have Walter Mondale on stage proclaiming he's going to raise everybody's taxes radically.

00:31:24.140 So I do think that wherever is the outer bar that is set, that bar now becomes closer to the middle than it was.

00:31:31.940 That damage has already been done.

00:31:33.340 That may be true, but my other calculation is very simple, which is that if Bernie – if the possibility is Bernie has a 40 percent shot of being president and Biden has a 45 percent shot of being president,

00:31:42.640 I would much rather take Biden at 45 percent shot of being president than Bernie at 40 percent shot.

00:31:47.280 The differential isn't enough to justify Bernie being president.

00:31:49.980 You're Batman at the end of the Dark Knight saying, they won't blow up the boats.

00:31:53.900 Not in this town.

00:31:55.180 Not in this town.

00:31:56.980 And I'm –

00:31:57.940 Anytime I can be Batman at any point, I'm happy.

00:32:00.340 And I'm the Joker going, where were you in 2016?

00:32:02.740 You know, on the other side, though, of this whole, like, worry that it just goes left and left and left,

00:32:11.200 you did get – when Mondale got wiped out by Reagan in 84, you did, not so long after, get Bill Clinton,

00:32:17.060 who was, especially by today's standards, but really even by those standards, a sort of moderate Democrat.

00:32:22.240 I do wonder if you got a Bernie in there, and hopefully everyone survives, then maybe you can get a repudiation of that.

00:32:28.260 But even if not, even if you're worried that that'll realign the party, then by that logic,

00:32:33.240 shouldn't we be pulling for a guy like Bloomberg, who's sort of annoying, and he was a –

00:32:37.580 Oh, yeah, I'm just going to Bloomberg.

00:32:38.340 He wouldn't let me smoke when he was mayor.

00:32:39.320 I'll take Bloomberg over Biden.

00:32:40.440 But he's relatively moderate.

00:32:40.980 In a heartbeat, I'll take Bloomberg over Biden.

00:32:42.340 Yeah, if the –

00:32:42.840 Bloomberg still likes capitalism.

00:32:44.000 Bloomberg actually believes that the free market is a good thing.

00:32:46.080 And here he is, the president of the United States.

00:32:47.760 Here we go, guys.

00:32:48.540 All right, let's do this thing.

00:32:50.900 Whose music is that?

00:32:52.560 That's the president's music.

00:32:58.260 Madam Speaker, the president of the United States.

00:33:28.260 The president of the United States, the president of the United States.

00:33:58.240 Thank you.

00:33:59.380 Thank you, KARL Outers.

00:34:04.960 Thank you.

00:34:23.860 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:34:24.740 Thank you.

00:34:27.380 Mr. Secretary.

00:34:57.380 Thank you.

00:35:27.380 Thank you.

00:35:57.380 Members of Congress, the President of the United States.

00:36:13.540 Thank you.

00:36:43.520 Thank you very much.

00:36:45.520 Thank you.

00:36:49.520 Thank you very much.

00:36:53.520 Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States.

00:37:01.520 Thank you.

00:37:11.520 And my fellow citizens, three years ago, we launched the Great American Comeback.

00:37:25.600 Tonight, I stand before you to share the incredible results.

00:37:29.600 Jobs are booming.

00:37:31.600 Incomes are soaring.

00:37:33.600 Poverty is plummeting.

00:37:35.600 Crime is falling.

00:37:37.600 Confidence is surging.

00:37:41.600 And our country is thriving and highly respected again.

00:37:47.600 America's enemies are on the run.

00:37:53.600 America's enemies are on the run.

00:38:07.600 America's fortunes are on the rise.

00:38:11.600 America's future is blazing bright.

00:38:15.600 The years of economic decay are over.

00:38:19.600 The days of our country being used, taken advantage of, and even scorned by other nations are long behind us.

00:38:31.600 Gone, too, are the broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes, and constant excuses for the depletion of American wealth, power, and power.

00:38:49.600 In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline, and we have rejected the downsizing of Americans' destiny.

00:39:17.600 We have totally rejected the downsizing.

00:39:21.600 We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never, ever going back.

00:39:31.600 I am thrilled to report to you tonight that our economy is the best it has ever been.

00:39:51.600 Our military is completely rebuilt, with its power being unmatched anywhere in the world, and it's not even close.

00:39:59.600 Our borders are secure.

00:40:01.600 Our families are flourishing.

00:40:03.600 Our values are renewed.

00:40:06.600 Our pride is restored.

00:40:08.600 Our pride is restored.

00:40:09.600 And for all of these reasons, I say to the people of our great country, and to the members of Congress, the state of our union is stronger than ever before.

00:40:24.600 Thank you.

00:40:44.600 The decision I will lay out this evening demonstrates how we are building the world's most prosperous and inclusive society, one where every citizen can join in America's unparalleled success, and where every community can take part in America's extraordinary rise.

00:41:02.600 For the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy, slashing a record number of job-killing regulations, enacting historic and record-setting tax cuts, and fighting for fair and reciprocal trade agreements.

00:41:27.600 Our agenda is relentlessly pro-worker, pro-family, pro-growth, and most of all, pro-American.

00:41:56.600 We are advancing with unbridled optimism and lifting our citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed very, very high.

00:42:08.600 Since my election, we have created seven million new jobs, five million more than government experts projected during the previous administration.

00:42:18.600 The unemployment rate is the lowest in over half a century.

00:42:34.600 And very incredibly, the average unemployment rate under my administration is lower than any administration in the history of our country.

00:42:48.600 If we hadn't reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success.

00:43:16.600 The unemployment rate for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans has reached the lowest levels in history.

00:43:40.600 African American youth unemployment has reached an all-time low.

00:43:58.600 African American poverty has declined to the lowest rate ever recorded.

00:44:09.600 The unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level in almost 70 years.

00:44:17.600 And last year, women filled 72 percent of all new jobs added. 1.00

00:44:37.600 The veterans' unemployment rate dropped to a record low.

00:44:49.600 The unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached an all-time low.

00:44:55.600 workers without a high school diploma have achieved the lowest unemployment rate recorded in US history.

00:45:15.600 A record number of young Americans are now employed.

00:45:35.600 Under the last administration, more than 10 million people were added to the food stamp rolls.

00:45:41.600 Under my administration, 7 million Americans have come off food stamps,

00:45:46.600 and 10 million people have been lifted off of welfare.

00:45:50.600 In eight years under the last administration,

00:46:05.600 over 300,000 working-age people dropped out of the workforce.

00:46:24.600 In just three years of my administration, 3.5 million people, working-age people, have joined the workforce.

00:46:32.600 Since my election, the net worth of the bottom half of wage earners has increased by 47 percent three times faster than the increase for the top 1 percent.

00:46:57.600 After decades of flat and falling incomes, wages are rising fast.

00:47:07.600 And wonderfully, they are rising fastest for low-income workers who have seen a 16 percent pay increase since my election.

00:47:16.600 This is a blue-collar boom.

00:47:35.600 Real median household income is now at the highest level ever recorded.

00:47:56.600 Since my election, U.S. stock markets have soared 70 percent, adding more than $12 trillion to our nation's wealth,

00:48:08.600 transcending anything anyone believed was possible.

00:48:12.600 This is a record.

00:48:13.600 It is something that every country in the world is looking up to.

00:48:19.600 They admire.

00:48:25.600 Consumer confidence has just reached amazing new highs.

00:48:31.600 All of those millions of people with 401Ks and pensions are doing far better than they have ever done before with increases of 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 percent and even more.

00:48:46.600 Jobs and investments are pouring into 9,000 previously neglected neighborhoods thanks to Opportunity Zones, 0.84

00:48:54.600 a plan spearheaded by Senator Tim Scott as part of our great Republican tax cuts.

00:49:02.600 In other words, wealthy people and companies are pouring money into poor neighborhoods or areas that haven't seen investment in many decades,

00:49:25.600 creating jobs, energy, and excitement.

00:49:29.600 This is the first time that these deserving communities have seen anything like this.

00:49:39.600 It's all working.

00:49:41.600 Opportunity Zones are helping Americans like Army veteran Tony Rankins from Cincinnati, Ohio.

00:49:48.600 After struggling with drug addiction, Tony lost his job, his house, and his family.

00:49:54.600 He was homeless, but then Tony found a construction company that invests in Opportunity Zones.

00:50:01.600 He is now a top tradesman, drug-free, reunited with his family, and he is here tonight.

00:50:08.600 Tony, keep up the great work. Tony.

00:50:11.600 Thank you, Tony.

00:50:36.600 Our roaring economy has, for the first time ever, given many former prisoners the ability to get a great job and a fresh start.

00:50:48.600 This second chance at life is made possible because we passed landmark criminal justice reform into law.

00:50:55.600 Everybody said that criminal justice reform couldn't be done, but I got it done, and the people in this room got it done.

00:51:07.600 Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign,

00:51:26.600 Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, by far.

00:51:45.600 With the tremendous progress we have made over the past three years, America is now energy independent,

00:51:51.600 and energy jobs, like so many other elements of our country, are at a record high.

00:52:06.600 We are doing numbers that no one would have thought possible just three years ago.

00:52:12.600 Likewise, we are restoring our nation's manufacturing might,

00:52:16.600 even though predictions were, as you all know, that this could never, ever be done.

00:52:22.600 After losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations,

00:52:27.600 America has now gained 12,000 new factories under my administration,

00:52:33.600 with thousands upon thousands of plants and factories being planned or being built.

00:52:52.600 The companies are not leaving, they are coming back to the USA.

00:53:01.600 The fact is that everybody wants to be where the action is,

00:53:04.600 and the United States of America is indeed the place where the action is.

00:53:14.600 One of the biggest promises I made to the American people was to replace the disastrous NAFTA trade deal.

00:53:21.600 In fact, unfair trade is perhaps the single biggest reason that I decided to run for president.

00:53:34.600 Following NAFTA's adoption, our nation lost one in four manufacturing jobs.

00:53:40.600 Many politicians came and went, pledging to change or replace NAFTA, only to do so,

00:53:46.600 and then absolutely nothing happened.

00:53:50.600 But unlike so many who came before me, I keep my promises, we did our job.

00:53:55.600 Six days ago, I replaced NAFTA and signed the brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement into law.

00:54:14.600 The U.S.-MCA will create nearly 100,000 new high-paying American auto jobs

00:54:21.600 and massively boost exports for our farmers, ranchers, and factory workers.

00:54:27.600 It will also bring trade with Mexico and Canada to a much higher level,

00:54:38.600 but also to be a much greater degree of fairness and reciprocity.

00:54:42.600 We will have that. Fairness and reciprocity.

00:54:46.600 And I say that finally because it's been many, many years that we were treated fairly on trade.

00:54:58.600 This is the first major trade deal in many years to earn the strong backing of America's labor unions.

00:55:05.600 I also promised our citizens that I would impose tariffs to confront China's massive theft of America's jobs. 1.00

00:55:16.600 Our strategy has worked.

00:55:18.600 Days ago, we signed the groundbreaking new agreement with China that will defend our workers,

00:55:24.600 protect our intellectual property, bring billions and billions of dollars into our Treasury,

00:55:30.600 and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in the USA.

00:55:49.600 For decades, China has taken advantage of the United States. 0.90

00:55:52.600 Now we have changed that.

00:55:54.600 But at the same time, we have perhaps the best relationship we've ever had with China,

00:56:00.600 including with President Xi.

00:56:02.600 They respect what we've done because, quite frankly,

00:56:05.600 they could never really believe that they were able to get away with what they were doing,

00:56:11.600 year after year, decade after decade,

00:56:13.600 without someone in our country stepping up and saying,

00:56:18.600 that's enough.

00:56:19.600 Now we want to rebuild our country, and that's exactly what we're doing.

00:56:33.600 We are rebuilding our country.

00:56:36.600 As we restore American leadership throughout the world,

00:56:41.600 we are once again standing up for freedom in our hemisphere.

00:56:50.600 That's why my administration reversed the failing policies of the previous administration on Cuba.

00:57:09.600 We are supporting the hopes of Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to restore democracy.

00:57:15.600 The United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition

00:57:20.600 against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. 0.71

00:57:26.600 Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people.

00:57:45.600 But Maduro's grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken.

00:57:49.600 Here this evening is a very brave man who carries with him the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of all Venezuelans.

00:58:00.600 Joining us in the gallery is the true and legitimate president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido.

00:58:06.600 So, Mr. President, please take this message back to your family.

00:58:11.600 Thank you very much.

00:58:12.600 Thank you.

00:58:13.600 Thank you.

00:58:14.600 Thank you.

00:58:15.600 Thank you.

00:58:16.600 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:58:44.300 Great honor.

00:58:45.300 Thank you very much.

00:58:47.660 Please take this message back that all Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their

00:58:53.060 righteous struggle for freedom.

00:58:55.780 Thank you very much, Mr. President.

00:59:15.300 Thank you very much.

00:59:24.060 Capitalism destroys nations, but always remember freedom unifies the soul.

00:59:31.420 To safeguard American liberty, we have invested a record-breaking $2.2 trillion in the United

00:59:43.160 States military.

01:00:04.160 We have purchased the finest planes, missiles, rockets, ships, and every other form of military

01:00:10.060 equipment, and it's all made right here in the USA.

01:00:16.520 We are also getting our allies, finally, to help pay their fair share.

01:00:29.880 I have raised contributions from other NATO members by more than $400 billion, and the

01:00:48.320 number of allies meeting their minimum obligations has more than doubled.

01:00:53.800 And just weeks ago, for the first time since President Truman established the Air Force,

01:00:59.440 more than 70 years earlier, we created a brand-new branch of the United States Armed Forces.

01:01:05.680 It's called the Space Force, very important.

01:01:24.660 In the gallery tonight, we have a young gentleman, and what he wants so badly, 13 years old, Ian

01:01:33.400 Lon Faye.

01:01:34.400 He's an eighth grader from Arizona.

01:01:37.400 Ian, please stand up.

01:01:39.900 Ian has always dreamed of going to space.

01:01:42.940 He was the first in his class and among the youngest at an aviation academy.

01:01:48.340 He aspires to go to the Air Force Academy, and then he has his eye on the Space Force.

01:01:55.060 As Ian says, most people look up at space.

01:01:58.120 I want to look down on the world.

01:02:21.700 But sitting behind Ian tonight is his greatest hero of them all.

01:02:28.040 Charles McGee was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one century ago.

01:02:34.380 Charles is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, the first black fighter pilots, and

01:02:41.140 he also happens to be Ian's great-grandfather.

01:02:48.140 whoor

01:03:10.960 Incredible story.

01:03:23.440 After more than 130 combat missions in World War II,

01:03:29.120 he came back home to a country still struggling for civil rights

01:03:33.140 and went on to serve America in Korea and Vietnam.

01:03:36.840 On December 7th, Charles celebrated his 100th birthday.

01:04:06.840 A few weeks ago, I signed a bill promoting Charles McGee

01:04:12.700 to Brigadier General,

01:04:14.860 and earlier today, I pinned the stars on his shoulders in the Oval Office.

01:04:20.900 General McGee, our nation salutes you.

01:04:24.260 Thank you, sir.

01:04:24.920 From the pilgrims to the founders,

01:04:49.500 from the soldiers at Valley Forge to the marchers at Selma,

01:04:54.820 and from President Lincoln to the Reverend Martin Luther King,

01:04:59.940 Americans have always rejected limits on our children's future.

01:05:05.200 Members of Congress, we must never forget

01:05:07.300 that the only victories that matter in Washington

01:05:10.820 are victories that deliver for the American people.

01:05:14.380 The people are the heart of our country.

01:05:34.380 Their dreams are the soul of our country,

01:05:37.260 and their love is what powers and sustains our country.

01:05:41.480 We must always remember

01:05:44.160 that our job is to put America first.

01:06:02.680 The next step forward in building an inclusive society

01:06:05.980 is making sure that every young American gets a great education

01:06:09.520 and the opportunity to achieve the American dream.

01:06:13.980 Yet for too long, countless American children

01:06:16.300 have been trapped in failing government schools.

01:06:21.400 To rescue these students, 18 states have created school choice

01:06:25.080 in the form of opportunity scholarships.

01:06:28.740 The programs are so popular

01:06:30.200 that tens of thousands of students remain on a waiting list.

01:06:34.400 One of those students is Janiah Davis,

01:06:38.400 a fourth grader from Philadelphia.

01:06:40.960 Janiah.

01:06:41.400 Janiah's mom, Stephanie, is a single parent.

01:07:04.600 She would do anything to give her daughter a better future.

01:07:09.360 But last year, that future was put further out of reach

01:07:12.420 when Pennsylvania's governor vetoed legislation

01:07:15.660 to expand school choice to 50,000 children.

01:07:21.120 Janiah and Stephanie are in the gallery.

01:07:25.160 Stephanie, thank you so much for being here

01:07:27.580 with your beautiful daughter.

01:07:29.260 Thank you very much.

01:07:30.160 But Janiah, I have some good news for you

01:07:47.260 because I am pleased to inform you

01:07:49.640 that your long wait is over.

01:07:52.660 I can proudly announce tonight

01:07:54.260 that an opportunity scholarship has become available.

01:07:58.520 It's going to you

01:07:59.900 and you will soon be heading

01:08:01.880 to the school of your choice.

01:08:05.520 Applause

01:08:06.520 Applause

01:08:08.520 Applause

01:08:10.520 Applause

01:08:11.520 Now I call on Congress

01:08:28.340 to give one million American children

01:08:30.360 the same opportunity Janiah has just received.

01:08:35.060 Pass the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunities Act

01:08:39.300 because no parent should be forced to send their child

01:08:43.280 to a failing government school.

01:08:46.340 Applause

01:08:47.340 Every young person should have a safe and secure environment

01:09:03.540 in which to learn and to grow.

01:09:06.340 For this reason,

01:09:08.240 our magnificent First Lady has launched the Be Best Initiative

01:09:11.600 to advance a safe, healthy, supportive, and drug-free life

01:09:16.140 for the next generation

01:09:18.320 online, in school, and in our communities.

01:09:22.560 Thank you, Melania,

01:09:23.660 for your extraordinary love

01:09:24.940 and profound care for America's children.

01:09:27.940 Thank you very much.

01:09:28.780 Applause

01:09:29.600 My administration is determined

01:09:49.760 to give our citizens the opportunities they need

01:09:52.360 regardless of age or background.

01:09:56.120 Through our pledge to American workers,

01:09:58.380 over 400 companies will also provide new jobs

01:10:01.780 and education opportunities

01:10:03.380 to almost 15 million Americans.

01:10:06.480 My budget also contains an exciting vision

01:10:09.920 for our nation's high schools.

01:10:12.360 Tonight, I ask Congress to support our students

01:10:16.240 and back my plan to offer vocational

01:10:18.560 and technical education

01:10:20.520 in every single high school in America.

01:10:23.960 Applause

01:10:24.960 Applause

01:10:25.960 To expand equal opportunity,

01:10:43.240 I am also proud that we achieved record

01:10:46.500 and permanent funding

01:10:48.120 for our nation's historically black colleges

01:10:51.440 and universities.

01:10:52.880 Applause

01:10:53.880 A good life for American families

01:11:08.960 also requires the most affordable, innovative,

01:11:11.840 and high-quality health care system on earth.

01:11:15.020 Before I took office,

01:11:16.540 health insurance premiums

01:11:17.880 had more than doubled in just five years.

01:11:20.160 I moved quickly to provide affordable alternatives,

01:11:23.220 our new plans are up to 60% less expensive

01:11:27.940 and better.

01:11:29.220 Applause

01:11:30.220 I have also made an ironclad pledge

01:11:43.740 to American families

01:11:44.860 we will always protect patients

01:11:47.040 with pre-existing conditions.

01:11:49.140 Applause

01:11:50.220 And we will always protect your Medicare,

01:12:06.340 and we will always protect your Social Security.

01:12:10.220 Always.

01:12:10.780 Applause

01:12:11.300 The American patient should never be blindsided

01:12:24.000 by medical bills.

01:12:25.580 That is why I signed an executive order

01:12:27.760 requiring price transparency.

01:12:30.180 Applause

01:12:31.300 Applause

01:12:32.300 Many experts believe that transparency,

01:12:42.800 which will go into full effect

01:12:44.420 at the beginning of next year,

01:12:46.440 will be even bigger than health care reform.

01:12:50.020 Applause

01:12:51.300 It will save families massive amounts of money

01:12:57.640 for substantially better care,

01:12:59.420 but as we work to improve Americans' health care,

01:13:02.660 there are those who want to take away your health care,

01:13:06.200 take away your doctor,

01:13:07.600 and abolish private insurance entirely.

01:13:11.240 Applause

01:13:12.120 132 lawmakers in this room

01:13:16.800 have endorsed legislation

01:13:18.380 to impose a socialist takeover

01:13:20.560 of our health care system,

01:13:22.260 wiping out the private health insurance plans

01:13:25.000 of 180 million very happy Americans.

01:13:30.580 Applause

01:13:31.580 To those watching at home tonight,

01:13:35.380 I want you to know,

01:13:36.760 we will never let socialism destroy American health care.

01:13:41.080 Applause

01:13:42.080 Applause

01:13:43.080 Applause

01:13:44.080 Applause

01:13:46.080 Applause

01:13:48.080 Applause

01:13:50.080 Applause

01:13:51.080 Over 130 legislators in this chamber

01:14:01.420 have endorsed legislation

01:14:03.560 that would bankrupt our nation

01:14:05.280 by providing free taxpayer-funded health care

01:14:08.400 to millions of illegal aliens,

01:14:11.000 forcing taxpayers to subsidize free care

01:14:13.820 for anyone in the world

01:14:15.620 who unlawfully crosses our borders.

01:14:17.980 These proposals would raid the Medicare benefits

01:14:22.440 of our seniors

01:14:23.360 and that our seniors depend on,

01:14:25.400 while acting as a powerful lure

01:14:27.900 for illegal immigration.

01:14:30.780 That is what is happening in California

01:14:32.820 and other states.

01:14:33.860 Their systems are totally out of control,

01:14:36.460 costing taxpayers vast and unaffordable amounts of money.

01:14:41.100 If forcing American taxpayers

01:14:42.980 to provide unlimited free health care

01:14:45.240 to illegal aliens sounds fair to you,

01:14:47.400 then stand with the radical left.

01:14:51.180 But if you believe that we should defend

01:14:53.040 American patients and American seniors,

01:14:55.540 then stand with me and pass legislation

01:14:58.120 to prohibit free government health care

01:15:00.740 for illegal aliens.

01:15:02.380 Applause

01:15:03.380 Applause

01:15:05.380 This will be a tremendous boon

01:15:19.160 to our already very strongly guarded southern border

01:15:22.340 where, as we speak,

01:15:24.300 a long, tall, and very powerful wall

01:15:27.340 is being built.

01:15:28.320 Applause

01:15:29.380 We have now completed over 100 miles

01:15:43.180 and have over 500 miles fully completed

01:15:46.840 in a very short period of time.

01:15:49.760 Early next year,

01:15:50.700 we will have substantially more than 500 miles completed.

01:15:55.660 My administration is also taking on

01:15:58.580 the big pharmaceutical companies.

01:16:01.180 We have approved a record number

01:16:03.360 of affordable generic drugs

01:16:05.080 and medicines are being approved by the FDA

01:16:08.160 at a faster clip than ever before.

01:16:12.440 Applause

01:16:13.380 And I was pleased to announce last year

01:16:25.360 that for the first time in 51 years,

01:16:28.300 the cost of prescription drugs

01:16:30.140 actually went down.

01:16:32.100 Applause

01:16:33.100 And working together,

01:16:40.020 Congress can reduce drug prices substantially

01:16:42.860 from current levels.

01:16:45.380 I've been speaking to Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

01:16:48.400 and others in Congress

01:16:50.220 in order to get something on drug pricing done

01:16:52.980 and done quickly and properly.

01:16:56.100 I'm calling for bipartisan legislation

01:16:59.020 that achieves the goal of dramatically lowering

01:17:01.460 prescription drug prices.

01:17:04.300 Get a bill on my desk

01:17:05.840 and I will sign it into law immediately.

01:17:08.540 Applause

01:17:08.940 With unyielding commitment,

01:17:29.680 we are curbing the opioid epidemic.

01:17:33.760 Applause

01:17:35.760 Drug overdose deaths declined for the first time

01:17:39.460 in nearly 30 years.

01:17:41.380 Applause

01:17:42.500 Among the state's hardest hit,

01:17:48.500 Ohio is down 22 percent,

01:17:51.020 Pennsylvania is down 18 percent,

01:17:53.640 Wisconsin is down 10 percent,

01:17:55.780 and we will not quit until we have beaten

01:17:58.260 the opioid epidemic once and for all.

01:18:01.860 Applause

01:18:02.760 Protecting Americans' health

01:18:18.540 also means fighting infectious diseases.

01:18:22.500 We are coordinating with the Chinese government

01:18:25.540 and working closely together

01:18:27.140 on the coronavirus outbreak in China.

01:18:30.400 My administration will take all necessary steps

01:18:34.040 to safeguard our citizens from this threat.

01:18:37.180 We have launched ambitious new initiatives

01:18:39.280 to substantially improve care for Americans

01:18:41.780 with kidney disease, Alzheimer's,

01:18:44.240 and those struggling with mental health.

01:18:46.780 And because Congress was so good as to fund my request,

01:18:52.280 new cures for childhood cancer,

01:18:54.240 and we will eradicate the AIDS epidemic in America 0.99

01:18:58.800 by the end of this decade.

01:19:00.720 Applause

01:19:01.240 Almost every American family knows the pain

01:19:16.720 when a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness.

01:19:20.460 Here tonight is a special man beloved by millions of Americans

01:19:26.560 who just received a stage four advanced cancer diagnosis.

01:19:33.020 This is not good news,

01:19:35.120 but what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter

01:19:39.240 and winner that you will ever meet.

01:19:42.240 Rush Limbaugh, thank you for your decades

01:19:45.880 of tireless devotion to our country.

01:19:48.640 Thank you.

01:20:18.620 The recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and that you inspire, and all of the incredible work that you have done for charity, I am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

01:20:48.620 Thank you.

01:21:18.620 I will now ask the First Lady of the United States to present you with the honor, please.

01:21:27.780 Thank you, Bryce.

01:21:40.980 Thank you.

01:21:41.980 Thank you.

01:21:42.980 Thank you.

01:21:44.980 Thank you.

01:21:46.980 Thank you.

01:21:48.980 Thank you.

01:21:50.980 Thank you.

01:21:55.980 Thank you.

01:21:56.980 Thank you.

01:22:05.980 Thank you.

01:22:14.980 Rush and Catherine, congratulations.

01:22:40.180 Thank you, Catherine.

01:22:42.600 As we pray for all who are sick, we know that America is constantly achieving new medical

01:22:48.280 breakthroughs.

01:22:49.660 In 2017, doctors at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City delivered one of the earliest

01:22:54.740 premature babies ever to survive.

01:22:58.520 Born at just 21 weeks and six days and weighing less than a pound, Ellie Schneider was a born 0.93

01:23:05.620 fighter.

01:23:07.220 Through the skill of her doctors and the prayers of her parents, little Ellie kept on winning

01:23:13.120 the battle of life.

01:23:14.780 Today, Ellie is a strong, healthy two-year-old girl sitting with her amazing mother, Robin.

01:23:21.100 In the gallery, Ellie and Robin, we are glad to have you with us tonight.

01:23:28.100 Ellie reminds us that every child is a miracle of life.

01:23:33.780 And thanks to modern medical wonders, 50 percent of very premature babies delivered out of

01:23:54.460 the hospital where Ellie was born now survive.

01:23:55.460 It's an incredible thing.

01:23:56.460 Thank you very much.

01:23:57.460 Our goal should be to ensure that every baby has the best chance to thrive and grow just

01:24:01.460 like Ellie.

01:24:02.460 Ellie.

01:24:03.460 That is why I'm asking Congress to provide an additional $50 million to fund neonatal research

01:24:09.460 for America's youngest patients.

01:24:30.460 That is why I'm also calling upon members of Congress here tonight to pass legislation finally

01:24:50.560 banning the late-term abortion of babies.

01:25:19.560 Whether we are Republican, Democrat, or Independent, surely we must all agree that every human life

01:25:26.840 is a sacred gift from God.

01:25:29.320 As we support America's moms and dads, I was recently proud to sign the law providing new

01:25:34.980 parents in the federal workforce paid family leave, serving as a model for the rest of the

01:25:41.980 country.

01:25:59.360 Now I call on Congress to pass the bipartisan Advancing Support for Working Families Act,

01:26:05.840 sending family leave to mothers and fathers all across our nation.

01:26:12.840 Forty million American families have an average $2,200 extra thanks to our child tax credit.

01:26:24.840 I have also overseen historic funding increases for high-quality child care, enabling 17 states

01:26:40.180 to help more children, many of which have reduced or eliminated their wait lists altogether.

01:26:46.120 And I sent Congress a plan with a vision to further expand access to high-quality child care and urge

01:26:57.800 you to act immediately.

01:27:03.120 To protect the environment days ago, I announced that the United States will join the One Trillion

01:27:09.620 Trees Initiative, an ambitious effort to bring together government and private sector to plant

01:27:15.340 new trees in America and all around the world.

01:27:30.120 We must also rebuild America's infrastructure.

01:27:37.120 I ask you to pass Senator John Barrasso's highway bill to invest in new roads, bridges and tunnels

01:27:59.360 all across our land.

01:28:02.680 I'm also committed to ensuring that every citizen can have access to high-speed Internet, including

01:28:10.860 and especially in rural America.

01:28:18.360 a better tomorrow for all Americans also requires us to keep America safe.

01:28:34.240 That means supporting the men and women of law enforcement at every level, including our nation's

01:28:39.980 heroic ICE officers.

01:28:46.980 Last year, our brave ICE officers arrested more than 120,000 criminal aliens charged with nearly

01:29:00.980 10,000 burglaries, 5,000 sexual assaults, 45,000 violent assaults, and 2,000 murders.

01:29:10.980 Tragically, there are many cities in America where radical politicians have chosen to provide 0.67

01:29:16.740 sanctuary for these criminal illegal aliens.

01:29:21.980 In sanctuary cities, local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon

01:29:28.980 the public instead of handing them over to ICE to be safely removed.

01:29:34.980 Just 29 days ago, a criminal alien freed by the sanctuary city of New York was charged with

01:29:41.300 the brutal rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman.

01:29:46.300 The killer had been previously arrested for assault, but under New York's sanctuary policies,

01:29:52.300 he was set free.

01:29:54.300 If the city had honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would still be alive today.

01:30:02.300 The state of California passed an outrageous law declaring their whole state to be a sanctuary

01:30:08.300 for criminal illegal immigrants, a very terrible sanctuary with catastrophic results.

01:30:17.300 Here is just one tragic example.

01:30:19.300 In December 2018, California police detained an illegal alien with five prior arrests,

01:30:26.300 including convictions for robbery and assault.

01:30:29.300 But as required by California's sanctuary law, local authorities released him.

01:30:35.300 Days later, the criminal alien went on a gruesome spree of deadly violence.

01:30:40.300 He viciously shot one man going about his daily work. 0.58

01:30:44.300 He approached a woman sitting in her car and shot her in the arm and in the chest.

01:30:50.300 He walked into a convenience store and wildly fired his weapon.

01:30:55.300 He hijacked a truck and smashed into vehicles, critically injuring innocent victims.

01:31:00.300 One of the victims is a terrible, terrible situation.

01:31:07.300 Died 51-year-old American named Rocky Jones.

01:31:12.300 Rocky was at a gas station when this vile criminal fired eight bullets at him from close range,

01:31:20.300 murdering him in cold blood.

01:31:23.300 Rocky left behind a devoted family, including his brothers,

01:31:26.300 who loved him more than anything else in the world.

01:31:31.300 One of his grieving brothers is here with us tonight.

01:31:34.300 Jody, would you please stand?

01:31:36.300 Jody, thank you.

01:31:37.300 Jody!

01:31:38.300 Jody, our hearts weep for your loss, and we will not rest until you have justice.

01:32:01.300 Senator Tom Tillis has introduced legislation to allow Americans like Jody to sue sanctuary cities and states

01:32:08.300 when a loved one is hurt or killed as a result of these deadly practices.

01:32:22.300 I ask Congress to pass the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act immediately.

01:32:31.300 The United States of America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens.

01:32:37.300 In the last three years, ICE has arrested over 5,000 wicked human traffickers, and I have signed nine pieces of legislation to stamp out the menace of human trafficking domestically and all around the globe.

01:33:02.300 My administration has undertaken an unprecedented effort to secure the southern border of the United States.

01:33:11.300 Before I came into office, if you showed up illegally on our southern border and were arrested, you were simply released and allowed into our country never to be seen again.

01:33:27.300 My administration has ended catch and release.

01:33:34.300 If you come illegally, you will now be promptly removed from our country. 0.95

01:33:52.300 Very importantly, we entered into historic cooperation agreements with the governments of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

01:34:03.300 As a result of our unprecedented efforts, illegal crossings are down 75% since May, dropping eight straight months in a row.

01:34:12.300 And as the wall rapidly goes up, drug seizures rise, and the border crossings are going down and going down very rapidly.

01:34:37.300 Last year, I traveled to the border in Texas and met Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz.

01:34:44.300 Over the last 24 months, Agent Ortiz and his team have seized more than 200,000 pounds of poisonous narcotics, arrested more than 3,000 human smugglers, and rescued more than 2,000 migrants.

01:34:59.300 Days ago, Agent Ortiz was promoted to deputy chief of border patrol, and he joins us tonight.

01:35:05.300 Chief Ortiz, please stand.

01:35:06.300 Chief Ortiz, please stand.

01:35:29.300 Chief Ortiz, please stand.

01:35:30.300 Chief Ortiz, please stand.

01:35:31.300 CHAP систем.

01:35:32.300 Tech Park, please stand.

01:35:33.300 If you are an october, you must stand in.

01:35:34.300 Cherylidades, please stand.

01:35:35.300 The nation of government thanks, which stand in Aprilwife,icks家 and Standards America.

01:35:36.300 Does anyone want to hold夠 from home? 0.99

01:35:37.300 What a faithful nation.

01:35:38.300 Thanks you and all of the heroes of Border Patrol and ICE!

01:35:39.300 Thank you very much.

01:35:40.300 Thank you.

01:35:41.300 To build on these historic gains, we are working on legislation to

01:35:43.300 replace our outdated and randomized immigration system

01:35:48.300 with one based on merit welcoming those who follow the rules, contribute to our economy,

01:35:52.300 economy, support themselves financially, and uphold our values.

01:36:04.460 With every action, my administration is restoring the rule of law and reasserting the culture 0.96

01:36:10.000 of American freedom.

01:36:17.280 Working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, thank you Mitch, and his colleagues

01:36:27.700 in the Senate, we have confirmed a record number of 187 new federal judges to uphold our Constitution

01:36:38.040 as written.

01:36:39.220 This includes two brilliant new Supreme Court Justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

01:36:45.760 Thank you.

01:37:07.960 And we have many in the pipeline.

01:37:16.040 My administration is also defending religious liberty, and that includes the constitutional

01:37:21.620 right to pray in public schools.

01:37:35.040 In America, we don't punish prayer.

01:37:37.680 We don't tear down crosses.

01:37:39.700 We don't ban symbols of faith.

01:37:41.960 We don't muzzle preachers and pastors.

01:37:44.720 In America, we celebrate faith.

01:37:47.700 We cherish religion.

01:37:49.460 We lift our voices in prayer.

01:37:51.760 And we raise our sights to the glory of God.

01:37:55.760 Just as we believe in the First Amendment, we also believe in another constitutional right

01:38:01.580 that is under siege all across our country.

01:38:05.200 So long as I am president, I will always protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear

01:38:19.580 arms.

01:38:20.580 In reaffirming our heritage as a free nation, we must remember that America has always been

01:38:36.140 a frontier nation.

01:38:38.200 Now we must embrace the next frontier, America's manifest destiny in the stars.

01:38:44.960 I am asking Congress to fully fund the Artemis program to ensure that the next man and the

01:38:51.300 first woman on the moon will be American astronauts, using this as a launching pad to ensure that America is the first nation to plant its flag on Mars. 0.99

01:39:04.200 My administration is also strongly defending our national security and combating radical Islamic terrorism.

01:39:33.200 Last week, I announced a groundbreaking plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, recognizing that all past attempts have failed.

01:39:42.200 We must be determined and creative in order to stabilize the region and give millions of young people the chance to realize a better future.

01:39:50.200 Three years ago, the barbarians of ISIS held over 20,000 square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria.

01:39:58.200 Today, the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100% destroyed, and the founder and leader of ISIS, the bloodthirsty killer known as al-Baghdadi, is dead.

01:40:11.200 We are joined this evening by Carl and Marsha Mueller.

01:40:30.200 After graduating from college, their beautiful daughter, Carla, became a humanitarian aid worker.

01:40:39.200 She once wrote, some people find God in church, some people find God in nature, some people find God in love.

01:40:49.200 I find God in suffering.

01:40:50.200 I've known for some time what my life's work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering.

01:40:59.200 In 2013, while caring for suffering civilians in Syria, Kayla was kidnapped, tortured, and enslaved by ISIS and kept as a prisoner of al-Baghdadi himself.

01:41:12.200 After more than 500 horrifying days of captivity, al-Baghdadi murdered young, beautiful Kayla.

01:41:23.200 She was just 26 years old.

01:41:25.200 On the night that U.S. Special Forces operations ended al-Baghdadi's miserable life,

01:41:31.200 the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, received a call in the Situation Room.

01:41:38.200 He was told that the brave men of the elite Special Forces team that so perfectly carried out the operation

01:41:46.200 had given their mission a name, Task Force 814.

01:41:53.200 It was a reference to a special day, August 14th, Kayla's birthday.

01:42:00.200 Carl and Marsha, America's warriors, never forgot Kayla, and neither will we.

01:42:07.200 Thank you.

01:42:08.200 Thank you.

01:42:09.200 Thank you.

01:42:10.200 Thank you.

01:42:11.200 Thank you.

01:42:41.180 The men in uniform demonstrate the infinite depth of love that dwells in the human heart. One of these American heroes was Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Hake. On his second deployment to Iraq in 2008, Sergeant Hake wrote a letter to his one-year-old son, Gage.

01:43:00.420 I will be with you again, he wrote to Gage. I will teach you to ride your first bike, build your first sandbox, watch you play sports, and see you have kids also. I love you, son. Take care of your mother. I am always with you, Daddy.

01:43:18.940 On Easter Sunday of 2008, Chris was out on patrol in Baghdad when his Bradley fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

01:43:29.820 That night he made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Sergeant Hake now rests in eternal glory in Arlington, and his wife Kelly is in the gallery tonight, joined by their son, who is now a 13-year-old and doing very, very well.

01:43:48.840 To Kelly and Gage, Chris will live in our hearts forever. He is looking down on you now. Thank you.

01:43:55.780 Thank you.

01:44:23.400 Thank you very much. Thank you both very much.

01:44:28.340 The terrorist responsible for killing Sergeant Hake was Qasim Soleimani, who provided the deadly roadside bomb that took Chris's life.

01:44:39.180 Soleimani was the Iranian regime's most ruthless butcher, a monster who murdered or wounded thousands of American service members in Iraq.

01:44:48.520 As the world's top terrorist, Soleimani orchestrated the deaths of countless men, women, and children. 0.79

01:44:55.460 He directed the December assault and went on to assault.

01:45:00.400 The U.S. forces in Iraq was actively planning new attacks when we hit him very hard, and that's why last month at my direction, the U.S. military executed a flawless precision strike that killed Soleimani and terminated his evil reign of terror forever.

01:45:18.460 Our message to the terrorists is clear.

01:45:37.400 You will never escape American justice.

01:45:42.340 If you attack our citizens, you forfeit your life.

01:45:49.340 In recent months, we have seen proud Iranians raise their voices against their oppressive rulers.

01:46:03.340 The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, stop spreading terror, death, and destruction, and start working for the good of its own people.

01:46:15.340 Because of our powerful sanctions, the Iranian economy is doing very, very poorly.

01:46:21.340 We can help them make a very good and short time recovery. 0.95

01:46:27.340 It can all go very quickly, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help. 0.98

01:46:33.340 We are here. Let's see which road they choose. 0.97

01:46:37.340 It is totally up to them.

01:46:39.340 As we defend American lives, we are working to end America's wars in the Middle East. 0.70

01:46:53.340 In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our warfighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are now underway.

01:47:03.340 I am not looking to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, many of them totally innocent. 0.99

01:47:12.340 It is also not our function to serve other nations as law enforcement agencies.

01:47:19.340 These are warfighters that we have, the best in the world, and they either want to fight to win or not fight at all.

01:47:27.340 We are working to finally end America's longest war and bring our troops back home.

01:47:47.340 War places a heavy burden on our nation's extraordinary military families, especially spouses like Amy Williams from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and her two children, six-year-old Eliana and three-year-old Rowan.

01:48:02.340 Amy works full-time and volunteers countless hours helping other military families.

01:48:08.340 For the past seven months, she has done it all while her husband, Sergeant First Class Townsend Williams, is in Afghanistan on his fourth deployment in the Middle East.

01:48:18.340 Amy's kids haven't seen their father's face in many months.

01:48:22.340 Amy, your family's sacrifice makes it possible for all of our families to live in safety and in peace, and we want to thank you.

01:48:32.340 Thank you. Thank you, Amy.

01:48:54.340 But Amy, there is one more thing. Tonight we have a very special surprise.

01:49:00.340 I am thrilled to inform you that your husband is back from deployment.

01:49:04.340 He is here with us tonight, and we couldn't keep him waiting any longer.

01:49:10.340 Ladies and gentlemen to remind us today.

01:49:12.340 Let our families have questions from Sometimes Evening Youth Center for One Day.

01:49:16.340 Don't organize the difficulties.

01:49:19.340 Thank you also for two minutes.

01:49:20.340 Thank you.

01:49:22.340 It's a pleasure.

01:49:35.340 Thank you.

01:50:05.340 Thank you.

01:50:35.340 U.S.! U.S.!! U.S.!!

01:50:45.340 Welcome home, Sergeant Williams. Thank you very much.

01:50:52.420 as the world bears witness tonight, America is a land of heroes. This is a place where

01:51:01.540 greatness is born, where destinies are forged, and where legends come to life. This is the home

01:51:09.200 of Thomas Edison and Teddy Roosevelt, of many great generals, including Washington, Pershing,

01:51:15.820 Patton, and MacArthur. This is the home of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart,

01:51:23.720 Harriet Tubman, the Wright Brothers, Neil Armstrong, and so many more. This is the country where children

01:51:31.680 learn names like Wyatt Earp, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley. This is the place where the Pilgrims 1.00

01:51:40.340 landed at Plymouth, and where Texas patriots made their last stand at the Alamo.

01:51:51.300 The beautiful, beautiful Alamo. The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the toughest,

01:51:59.340 strongest, fiercest, and most determined men and women ever to walk on the face of the earth.

01:52:05.780 Our ancestors braved the unknown, tamed the wilderness, settled the Wild West, lifted millions

01:52:13.740 from poverty, disease, and hunger, vanquished tyranny and fascism, ushered the world to new heights of

01:52:21.380 science and medicine, laid down the railroads, dug out the canals, raised up the skyscrapers,

01:52:29.300 and ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors built the most exceptional republic ever to exist in all of

01:52:38.180 human history, and we are making it greater than ever before.

01:52:43.460 This is our glorious and magnificent inheritance. We are Americans. We are

01:53:13.240 pioneers. We are the pathfinders. We settled the new world. We built the modern world. And we change

01:53:21.280 history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.

01:53:29.520 America is the place where anything can happen. America is the place where anyone can rise.

01:53:52.720 And here, on this land, on this land, on this soil, on this continent, the most incredible dreams come true.

01:54:02.680 This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited

01:54:11.580 frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories

01:54:21.920 are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American age, the American epic,

01:54:34.240 the American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising.

01:54:43.040 God's grace is still shining. And my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. Thank you very much.

01:54:58.080 And there she is, overtly tearing it up. You see that behind him? Classy.

01:55:10.900 Well, there you have it. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, letting all of us here at Daily Wire down

01:55:17.760 by giving a terrific State of the Union address. In contravention, both of our bias against states of

01:55:24.440 the Union generally and our high hopes that the president would come out and give us basically

01:55:30.860 WWE-style destruction of the Democrats. Instead, he chose to give truly one of the great State of the

01:55:37.100 Union addresses, I think. He's good at these. So he's good. So some of the best State of the Union, I mean,

01:55:40.720 his last year's State of the Union address was excellent. Every year we say this is like the best speech

01:55:44.280 he's ever given. And this is, again, one of the best speeches that he's ever given. He is by far the best

01:55:49.260 president I have ever seen in my lifetime at putting people in the stands and then telling great stories

01:55:54.220 about him. He's a showman. Because he's a TV guy, right? So he understands that if you actually reunite people

01:55:58.380 on TV, that is better than talking about reuniting. He shows. He doesn't tell, right? If you're going to give

01:56:02.260 Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom, you have him actually being given the Medal of Freedom on TV.

01:56:06.460 And so all of that was just fantastic. He really took the opportunity to say all the things in

01:56:12.560 the first 20 minutes that everybody can agree with, right? That the economy is fantastic. You

01:56:16.540 should reelect me because the economy is fantastic. And then he started clubbing the Democrats about

01:56:20.780 the ears over socialism and about health care and about illegal immigration. But he saved that stuff

01:56:25.460 for like 40 minutes in. So if you were just sort of the casual viewer, you're not going to understand

01:56:29.380 any of the headlines tomorrow from the New York Times about how divisive the speech is and how terrible

01:56:33.680 the speech is. Because you only watch the first half an hour where he's talking about how

01:56:36.340 fantastic the economy is, which again, is a very smart tactic. The best thing in the speech,

01:56:40.520 aside from obviously the reuniting of the family on screen, which I mean, that is a surefire winner.

01:56:45.340 There is no way to blow that. It's just spectacular no matter how it's done. The best thing that he

01:56:49.180 did was the very end right there where he tells the story of America, because that is the key

01:56:53.280 contrast that we are going to be looking at in this election, especially if it's Bernie Sanders.

01:56:57.460 That key contrast between America is a fantastic place. America was a fantastic place.

01:57:02.440 America has been filled with heroes and America is constantly trying to better herself. Our history

01:57:06.360 is great. We've made the modern world great. All of that is a direct contradiction to everything

01:57:11.520 that you've been hearing from Pete Buttigieg. The sort of Noam Chomsky.

01:57:14.960 The 1619 project. America was rooted in racism and slavery and bigotry.

01:57:18.860 America was a horror show. People's history.

01:57:20.840 Right, exactly. It's a direct refutation of the Howard's in bullshit that you've been hearing the 0.95

01:57:25.640 Democrats push on the campaign, the Beto O'Rourke nonsense. And they all have been mirroring this. 0.96

01:57:29.860 They've been all mirroring it. So Trump, the smartest move that he makes there, is he says,

01:57:33.780 America is great and we're making it greater than ever before. And to all the Democrats,

01:57:37.120 they hate Trump, right? But it looks like they're sitting for the part where he said that America

01:57:40.360 is actually great. It has been great. But the truth is that they wouldn't even agree with the

01:57:44.680 basic statement, right? I mean, the new Democratic Party, unlike Democratic voters, most Democratic

01:57:48.740 voters are still patriots. Most Democratic voters still believe that America is a uniquely amazing

01:57:52.680 place because they live here. How can you live here and not believe that? But by pointing that out

01:57:57.140 and by saying all of those things about American history, he's drawing a significant contrast that

01:58:02.180 Democrats are going to be hard pressed to win. Michael, I really don't think that this is an

01:58:08.080 exaggeration at all. I think this was the single greatest State of the Union address in American

01:58:13.660 history. Not all because of Trump, but largely because of Trump. It was in part because of the

01:58:18.760 moments, as Ben said, those moments were hard. I mean, tears came to my eyes at the Rush moment,

01:58:23.740 Tuskegee Airmen. I mean, the moments were just unbelievable. The second reason is because of the

01:58:28.720 Democrats' reactions. Nancy Pelosi couldn't stand for Rush Limbaugh's cancer diagnosis and the Medal 0.99

01:58:34.960 of Freedom. They couldn't stand for low black unemployment, for low Hispanic unemployment, for low 1.00

01:58:41.260 disabled unemployment. They couldn't stand for any of that. All the Democratic women and white couldn't 1.00

01:58:45.460 stand for low unemployment among women. Yeah. But the third reason, the third reason that this State of

01:58:51.880 the Union was probably, I think, the greatest ever given is because the State of the Union

01:58:56.820 simply is, in discrete measures, the greatest it's ever been. On economic policy, on foreign policy,

01:59:03.980 peace around the world, consumer confidence, manufacturing confidence. There's all this

01:59:08.120 political rancor. You saw that with the Democrats sitting down. But by all objective measures,

01:59:13.240 he was telling the truth. The State of the Union really is strong.

01:59:17.080 You know, all through this, you know, I have a really good friend who likes to say that facts

01:59:21.400 don't care about your feelings. All through this, all through this speech, I kept thinking of

01:59:25.840 something that the poet John Keats wrote to the other poet, Percy Shelley. He said, load every rift

01:59:31.420 of your subject with or, meaning don't just spout words, actually have those words apply to meaning and

01:59:37.760 to facts. And Donald Trump, as I keep saying, has done a tremendous job. You know, obviously we have

01:59:43.320 problems sometimes with his character. We have problems with sometimes the way he behaves. But he

01:59:46.960 is a guy who advertised himself as a fixer. He has fixed a lot. This country is in great shape.

01:59:53.200 It really is. It's in better shape. This is the most successful president I've seen since Ronald

01:59:57.380 Reagan. And is he, has he got the grace of Ronald Reagan? No, he doesn't. Maybe it's a different time.

02:00:03.160 Maybe it's a time when pugilism is required, when a certain kind of fight and a certain kind of

02:00:07.320 intensity is required simply to fight back against the incredible wave of anti-American hatred that the

02:00:14.340 press has sold and the Democrats have sold. He has done an amazing thing to this country. He has

02:00:19.600 turned its economy around. To me, to me, the biggest statistic in the Trump administration

02:00:24.940 is the statistic that the American life expectancy is growing again. People have stopped killing

02:00:31.320 themselves out of despair. And that that one statistic, that statistic that people were killing

02:00:36.940 themselves out of despair was a rebuke, an unanswerable rebuke to the elites who said it didn't matter,

02:00:42.720 to the elites who said that they were citizens of the world and America, you know, if America had

02:00:47.200 to suffer a little bit for the world to get better, that was fine. No. I mean, Donald Trump said,

02:00:52.060 no, that's not the way it's going to be. Obama said these jobs are never coming back. They came

02:00:56.700 back. Obama said, you need a magic wand. We didn't need to meet a magic wand. The speech was so great.

02:01:02.240 The showmanship was great. The showmanship was great, but the speech was great because it applied to

02:01:07.460 things that were actually happening. And this is the thing that has amazed me. I remember

02:01:11.740 at Christmas time, I remember sitting there with the newspaper and turning to my wife and saying,

02:01:15.960 I've never read this much good news. And now as January has unfolded with the trade deals and

02:01:21.440 Soleimani getting killed and the record stock markets and the record job numbers, it's an amazing

02:01:26.980 moment. And Donald Trump really does get the credit for it. His administration gets the credit

02:01:31.920 for it. And I think the Democrats look terrible because they're not applauding success. It's the

02:01:38.000 substance of the speech that made it great. I want to talk about that opening 20 minutes,

02:01:42.240 because I think that it was some of the most savvy craftsmanship that I've ever seen in a state of

02:01:48.180 the union, especially going into an election year. But first, I want to talk about our friends over

02:01:51.480 at Bravo Company Manufacturing. It seems like every backstage we talk about Bravo Company Manufacturing,

02:01:56.520 and it's because Bravo Company Manufacturing, one of the great supporters of this show and one of the

02:02:01.740 great supporters of our Second Amendment. The president, by the way, during the speech,

02:02:05.700 saying that as long as he is president, he's going to defend the right of Americans to keep

02:02:09.700 and bear arms. And that's what our friends at Bravo Company Manufacturing are all about.

02:02:13.500 When the founders crafted the Constitution, the very first thing they did was to make sacred the

02:02:17.240 rights of the individual to share their ideas without limitation by government. That's the First

02:02:21.180 Amendment. But the Second Amendment they enumerated was the Second Amendment. That's why they call it

02:02:26.080 the Second Amendment. And that is the right of the population. We learned so much on the show.

02:02:29.900 I know. I really bring my A game. That is the right of the population to protect our First

02:02:35.220 Amendment rights and to protect our own persons with force. That's what the Second Amendment is

02:02:39.840 all about. As Ben likes to say, it isn't about your right to hunt. It isn't about your right to

02:02:43.980 go engage in target practice, speed shooting. It's about your right to protect yourself and your

02:02:49.220 rights. Owning a rifle is an awesome responsibility. I've talked before on the show about how I think

02:02:54.060 I took you to buy your first firearm. You did. I've taken like half the people who work here

02:02:58.960 to buy their first firearm. Took Michael to buy his first firearm. The truth of the matter is though

02:03:04.120 that I don't like hunting. I don't really like target shooting. It's the responsibility that causes me

02:03:10.460 to own the firearm. I feel like as an American, it is our responsibility to own a weapon as a bulwark

02:03:16.580 against people coming to take our weapons. Building rifles is no less a responsibility. If it's a responsibility

02:03:22.160 to own one, it's a responsibility to give us a quality one. And that's what Bravo Company

02:03:25.600 Manufacturing, or BCM, is all about. They were created in a garage by a Marine veteran more than

02:03:30.180 two decades ago. BCM built a professional-grade product built to combat standards. Bravo Company

02:03:35.680 Manufacturing is not a sporting arms company. They engineer and manufacture life-saving equipment.

02:03:40.860 That's how they see it because that's what it is. The people at BCM assume that when a rifle leaves

02:03:45.340 their shop, it will be used in a life-or-death situation by a responsible citizen, law enforcement

02:03:49.860 officer, or soldier overseas. Not they hope it will, they assume it will, and they give that much care

02:03:54.520 to its creation. To learn more about Bravo Company Manufacturing, head over to bravocompanymfg.com

02:04:00.260 where you can discover more about their products, special offers, and upcoming news. That's

02:04:04.020 bravocompanymfg.com. If you need more convincing, you can find out more about Bravo Company Manufacturing

02:04:09.340 and the awesome people who make their products at youtube.com slash bravocompanyusa.

02:04:14.960 Say, the first 20 minutes, Michael, of this speech, the president truly gave a State of

02:04:21.300 the Union. He enumerated almost in bulleted form all the sort of measurable KPIs, the key

02:04:29.120 performance indicators of what's going on in our country, and he gave a report. I've never

02:04:34.920 seen a president actually do that. I found it to be overwhelmingly effective. What was your

02:04:40.000 response?

02:04:40.400 I think that's why we liked it so much, because we generally hate these State of the Union

02:04:44.760 addresses. They're so boring and meandering. And this one, he actually gave a State of the

02:04:50.320 Union. And the reason he did it, the reason he was so savvy is because the State of the

02:04:54.260 Union is strong. I was a little afraid that it was just going to all be a diatribe about

02:05:00.180 this farcical impeachment process. And I think what I left this speech, especially that first

02:05:05.580 20 minutes of the speech, what I left thinking was, oh, yeah, this impeachment is going to

02:05:10.540 be a punchline in the history books. And the actual substance of the history is going to

02:05:15.380 be all the great stuff that we've seen over the last three years.

02:05:17.700 So a few things that are worthy of pointing out. One, Nancy Pelosi's behavior is atrocious, 0.95

02:05:21.440 right? She opened this thing, and normally you say, it is my high honor and pleasure, distinct

02:05:26.580 privilege to present the president of the United States. Instead, she said, ladies and gentlemen,

02:05:29.220 the president of the United States, because she wasn't going to give him the time of

02:05:31.500 day. And then she offered him her hand, and he brustly turned his back on her. So that'll

02:05:36.040 be the big headline tomorrow, that they had this little tête-à-tête. At the very end

02:05:39.120 of the speech, I believe she does this normally, but she made it very overt tonight. At the

02:05:42.700 very end of the speech, while he was still up there, you could see her physically take 0.99

02:05:45.260 the speech and tear it in half before the cameras went off. She looked pretty puerile up

02:05:49.720 there.

02:05:50.320 There were several times where it appeared that she was talking to herself. Did anyone else

02:05:54.060 notice that?

02:05:55.660 A few times you were ever reading along on your computer as it went. But there were several times where

02:05:59.840 she would look over kind of in the middle distance between herself and Pence, kind of out on the

02:06:04.940 horizon somewhere, and she would just start talking as the president was reading.

02:06:07.780 I wonder if she was mouthing somebody to something in her caucus or something. But you did see a

02:06:11.020 couple of kind of outbursts by a member of the caucus. Apparently Congressman Tim Ryan

02:06:14.220 walked out in the middle. Presumably AOC is drinking and Instagramming right now. But

02:06:18.580 I will say one thing. So it is eminently true that the president's record is particularly on the

02:06:24.840 economy, but also on foreign policy. Spectacular. Spectacular. I mean, the one area that no president

02:06:29.480 ever touches ever, the only one who ever did was Reagan, is spending cuts, right? Nobody ever

02:06:33.620 talks about how they're going to cut spending in the State of the Union. I remember Bush never did

02:06:36.420 it. It drove me up a wall. Nobody ever talks about minimizing government, which I thought was

02:06:39.780 part of conservatism until the last five minutes. But no one ever met. But that's not just on Trump.

02:06:43.900 That's on every Republican. I will point out the reason we all feel good tonight is because what

02:06:48.860 we just saw tonight is what Trump could be if he contained himself 20%. Okay, not 100%, 20%. If we saw this

02:06:55.900 Trump every day. So for all of the, we laugh along and we chuckle along at the tweets and all this

02:06:59.440 stuff, you and I, all of us in this room, and one person in DC, we all know that if Donald Trump

02:07:04.920 were this every day, the man would win 60% of the vote. And he could do it still.

02:07:09.260 Right. Well, we were talking about this off air, which is that the good news is that the American 0.99

02:07:12.840 public's attention span is all 7.2 seconds. So if Trump does it for like four days before the

02:07:16.620 election, then he'll probably be okay. But this sort of contained Trump, and we saw this last year

02:07:23.140 with the State of the Union too, because we were all like, wow, that was great. That was

02:07:25.720 really spectacular. If Trump could just contain it, and if he could channel the showmanship

02:07:29.680 into moments like the Tuskegee Airmen getting up, which is an unbelievable thing. I mean,

02:07:33.980 it's an unbelievable thing. You have the Democratic Party today claiming that America is not worth

02:07:37.520 fighting for, that America is garbage. The American is fundamentally changed. And there, 1.00

02:07:41.620 you had Tuskegee Airmen who are coming home to segregation, risking their lives for a country that did not

02:07:46.740 respect them as human beings, but recognizing that the potential in the Constitution of the United States

02:07:50.980 and the Declaration of Independence was such that they were American citizens, and America was still

02:07:54.920 the last great hope of man. I mean, that's an unbelievable thing. If Trump could, I mean,

02:07:59.160 it's the great frustration of my life, right? I mean, it really is, politically, is that Donald

02:08:02.820 Trump has all the potential to truly be, you know, we, they're the people who are fans, he's the best

02:08:06.880 president ever, he's the best president of recent memory. He's talking about you, Michael. Yeah,

02:08:10.080 I am talking about you. Right. But the fact is that if Donald Trump were able to be this guy

02:08:16.860 all the time, it would be almost impossible to argue against that. Yeah, but if he was this guy,

02:08:21.100 he would not have gotten elected. I have to pause for just a second. By the way, I don't think

02:08:24.240 that's true. I just don't think that's true. I got to stop for just a minute and talk about this

02:08:27.380 thing with Rush Limbaugh, this moment with Rush Limbaugh. That was great. Because every single

02:08:30.360 one of us in this, in this room and on this, I've always said Knowles was kind of two-dimensional

02:08:35.040 and now... Actually, I'm part of the manifest destiny over Mars right now. I'm pioneering

02:08:40.460 science for it. But I have to say, every single one of us has taken hits from Media Matters and

02:08:45.020 from Twitter. And I mean, somebody today wished that when I said something nice about Rush,

02:08:49.440 he said, I hope you're next. We've all gotten this stuff. But Rush has gotten it.

02:08:52.740 They don't know you're already dead and you've been dead for 30 years. Exactly. They don't even

02:08:54.680 know. Rush has gotten it a thousand times more. He got it when nobody else existed like him,

02:08:59.680 when there was nobody else to compare him to. He was out there alone. And to see him win that

02:09:04.340 medal, that highest medal that a civilian can get in America, and to see him honored by the

02:09:09.320 President of the United States and the Congress. In front of a joint session of Congress.

02:09:11.700 It was kind of like, it was kind of like all of us getting a little stardust on us. And I just

02:09:16.380 thought like, you know, this is an amazing thing. And Trump has brought us there. And the only thing

02:09:20.200 I say, I understand what you're saying, Ben. I don't think you're, I don't think you're being like

02:09:24.020 crazy to say these things about Trump. I understand. I really feel that it's a kind of a tragic

02:09:29.440 situation in that only a guy like Trump could have gotten elected. And some of the things that got

02:09:33.560 him elected work against him. I think that that's just...

02:09:36.220 We agree that if he does this the rest of the election cycle, he will be better off. And not only that,

02:09:39.400 he'll whomp the person who's on the other side. And not only that, some of his biggest supporters

02:09:42.840 tell me that when I'm out on the road and I'm talking to them.

02:09:44.980 Everyone. Everyone knows this.

02:09:45.540 They all say it. However, however, it is because he has got a little bit of Rush in him. He's got

02:09:51.640 a little bit of that spirit of conservatism, a little bit of that pugilistic spirit, that we

02:09:56.840 have this moment when this guy, Rush, who was... You know, the first time I heard of Rush,

02:10:01.000 it was because I was in London. And I read in a London paper, a friend of mine in New York,

02:10:05.600 a very big literary agent, was saying, nobody should publish Rush Limbaugh's book.

02:10:10.500 And I wrote to her. I wrote to her in those days with a pen, right? The internet was just starting.

02:10:14.940 I wrote to her and I said, you know, this is the voice that's being silenced. I wasn't really

02:10:19.180 conservative then. I just said, you know, but we can't silence these voices.

02:10:22.460 Who did you hand the pen to when you were finished?

02:10:24.980 Nancy Pelosi. She just happened to be there.

02:10:27.600 But no, this is a tremendous change in American society that this voice, Rush's voice,

02:10:35.840 Trump's voice has become acceptable. And I think it took a lot of pugilism and a lot of

02:10:40.460 toughness to get there. And I want to push on this just very slightly because I don't think we,

02:10:46.820 I don't think on this topic right now we wildly disagree. I think we all agree Trump's strengths

02:10:52.620 and his weaknesses are possibly the same. We all agree that if this Trump would be the dominant

02:10:59.360 Trump, his chances at re-election would be...

02:11:01.380 Because he's pretty damn pugilistic in the speech, by the way.

02:11:03.060 Yes, he was. 0.95

02:11:03.780 But he's thoughtfully a pugilistic.

02:11:05.060 Right. I think the one distinction between Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh, and I think

02:11:09.380 it's an important one, when people talk about Rush Limbaugh, the first thing that most people 0.90

02:11:13.640 who don't like him will say is that he's arrogant.

02:11:15.480 Right.

02:11:16.040 What they don't understand is that Rush is actually one of the most self-deprecating people

02:11:20.100 that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. And he, and his, every boast that he makes about

02:11:27.060 himself...

02:11:27.740 Is a joke about him.

02:11:28.440 Is a joke about himself.

02:11:29.620 That's right. Of course.

02:11:30.300 You know, talent on loan from God.

02:11:32.160 He doesn't actually think he's...

02:11:33.460 Yeah.

02:11:33.700 Exactly.

02:11:34.060 Of course. He's a humble guy. If you've ever spent any time with him, he's a self-deprecating

02:11:38.060 guy. He has a good sense of humor about himself. I have not found that to be the case

02:11:42.940 with President Trump. I don't think Trump easily laughs at Trump. I think Trump might

02:11:48.860 laugh at Trump's jokes, but I don't think that Trump laughs at Trump. And I actually

02:11:52.360 think he has that in common with Barack Obama. I've said since the beginning that I think

02:11:56.360 in some ways Donald Trump is like bizarro Barack Obama. He's the...

02:12:01.640 Funhouse mirror Barack Obama.

02:12:03.500 The funhouse mirror Barack Obama. That Barack Obama couldn't laugh at himself ever. And one

02:12:08.480 thing that they both have in common is when they would go to the... Is it the Al Smith

02:12:11.160 dinner? Yes. That happens in D.C. and you see it every election and the candidates get

02:12:14.840 up in their white tie and they tell jokes about themselves. And neither of them would

02:12:20.180 laugh at the jokes that were made at them, neither Obama nor Trump. When they go to the

02:12:24.180 White House correspondence dinners, they rarely crack a smile at the jokes that are being made

02:12:28.460 in their direction. Both of them are people who take themselves quite seriously. And I think

02:12:36.860 that that's actually where Trump gets himself into trouble.

02:12:39.540 Trump is also an American figure in every sense of the word. You know, America is a

02:12:43.620 great big country. We have great big flaws. We do things wrong. We're a little garish.

02:12:49.640 The idea of the ugly American. I've been over in Europe. I've seen ugly Americans and all 1.00

02:12:52.920 this stuff. Trump embodies all those things. He embodies the greatness of America. The absolute, 0.98

02:12:57.720 you know, I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to put my name. You like that building? I'm

02:13:00.920 going to put my name in gold letters on top of the building. That is an all-American way to be.

02:13:05.160 But he also embodies some of our flaws. And I think that, you know, I think that embracing the

02:13:10.640 bigness of America, the Trumpness of America, is not such a bad thing in a moment when the New York

02:13:16.460 Times is telling us that we're the worst country on earth.

02:13:19.080 And I do think there's a little bit of a difference in degree here. You know, I'd push back a little

02:13:24.120 bit on your point, Jeremy, which I think is mostly true. But there are these moments that you see Trump

02:13:29.220 break the act a little bit. I remember this one time he was talking about how he never had a beer.

02:13:34.160 He said he was probably the only president who could say he never had a beer. It was the only good

02:13:38.220 thing you could say about him. Could you imagine if he was a drunko, he'd be the worst?

02:13:42.680 And look, I'm not saying you get a ton of moments of public humility from Trump, but there are a few

02:13:48.100 that show you maybe some of his braggadocio is an act, or maybe more of it is an act than we think.

02:13:55.220 So the upside of this is that this was fantastic. It really was. It was terrific.

02:13:59.080 First rate, A-plus, top Trump, right? I mean, this is the best.

02:14:01.900 Coming on top of the Iowa catastrophe.

02:14:03.480 Fantastic. Fantastic. And in the middle of he's about to be acquitted by the same people who are

02:14:07.300 sitting there making lemon face at him while he was doing this, right? I mean, they were really

02:14:11.440 sour, and they sucked on just eggs and lemons.

02:14:14.040 Yeah, every lemon.

02:14:15.060 Right, exactly.

02:14:15.780 Every one, all the lemons.

02:14:16.600 They actually made lemons out of lemonade. It's almost impossible to do. But with that said,

02:14:23.720 what this says to me is that if that's as good as Trump can be, and we all know that that Trump

02:14:29.540 wins, if he somehow loses this election under these conditions, the only person to blame is

02:14:34.440 Donald Trump. Because this Donald Trump cleans the clock of any Democrat who runs against him.

02:14:40.500 They all look like Lilliputians against this. The fact is he has a great record. The fact is that

02:14:44.820 he is fully capable of laying out, or at least when he's scripted, he is fully capable of laying out 0.99

02:14:49.560 a fulsome argument as to not just Democrats suck, but why Democrats suck, right? I mean, he was giving 0.99

02:14:54.260 paragraphs long why Democrats are wrong on health care for illegal immigrants. That's right. And 0.96

02:14:58.580 why Democrats are wrong on Juan Guido and socialism, and why Democrats are wrong on all these things.

02:15:03.220 And it wasn't just a tweet. This is why I think that Twitter is some of the worst thing that ever

02:15:06.600 happened to Trump. And I know that his base loves it. I know it's him going around the media. I know

02:15:10.380 all of that. But if it were, if like long form Trump, if his thought, we all spend an enormous

02:15:17.640 amount of time, everyone in the media does, spends an enormous amount of time doing explications of

02:15:21.780 Trump, right? Trump gives you a shorthand, and then you just spend the next 40 minutes trying

02:15:25.000 to explain what he meant. It's Talmudic, right? They give you like this much text, and then you

02:15:28.520 give like pages of Talmudic explanation of what exactly Trump meant. And maybe Trump meant some

02:15:33.160 of it, and maybe he didn't mean any of it. But the bottom line is that when Trump explains himself,

02:15:36.620 whether it's written by speechwriters or not, it doesn't matter because the president's,

02:15:39.340 this is always written by speechwriters. But when he explains himself in full like this,

02:15:44.900 they can't touch him. You know, I've actually written to some of the speechwriters in the White House

02:15:49.260 telling him that one of Trump's best moments was, I think was during the World Series. They put out

02:15:54.740 an ad saying, he's not Mr. Nice Guy. Yep, this is great. This is what he, and I think he needs to

02:15:59.220 make that speech as the election comes on, because one of the groups of people who obviously have

02:16:04.780 turned against them are suburban women. And the one thing about suburban women is they all have 1.00

02:16:08.320 suburban husbands, and their husbands are not always Mr. Nice Guy, because sometimes you ask your

02:16:12.360 husband to do the stuff that needs to be done, that needs a little bit of nastiness that maybe you're 1.00

02:16:16.680 not going to do. And I think that Donald Trump needs to say to people, I know a little bit,

02:16:21.380 I see myself. But this goes to Jeremy's point, which he has to have, if he had a little bit

02:16:25.140 of self-awareness, right? If he just said, listen, no, no, but I mean, if he expressed it, right?

02:16:29.040 If he expressed it more clearly, like, listen, I know I'm a jerk, right? Like, everybody knows I'm a 0.99

02:16:32.840 jerk. And you know what? I'm doing good stuff, and you're going to have to forgive me for being a 0.99

02:16:36.020 jerk, or you don't have to forgive me for being a jerk, or you don't have to forgive me for being a jerk. 0.99

02:16:37.720 I don't care. Look who I'm dealing with. That's all he has to say. Sometimes it takes a tough guy to get stuff done. 1.00

02:16:41.700 And beyond that, like, listen, pay no attention to the me behind the curtain, right? Pay no attention

02:16:46.720 to that. Just pay attention to what I'm doing out here. And I think that that is a winning pitch,

02:16:50.140 and does inure him to some of this. The big problem is when you have the legion, honestly,

02:16:54.080 I think it's an actual problem. When you have the legion of defenders who are willing to defend

02:16:57.460 every ridiculous thing that he says, it actually encourages him to say more ridiculous things. 0.91

02:17:01.720 I also want to say that I don't think that his garishness is the problem. I actually find his 0.96

02:17:04.860 garishness charming. It's charming. I agree with that. 0.77

02:17:06.900 Garishness is...

02:17:07.900 It's his boorishness, right?

02:17:09.060 That's right.

02:17:09.380 His meanness. And his inability to back off of a bad position. Or as we were talking about

02:17:15.500 before, his inability, his tendency to snatch victory, defeat from the jaws of victory.

02:17:21.820 This is his big problem. I think his garishness is funny. I know that none of the three of you

02:17:25.360 watched it because I was going around the office trying to get you guys to watch it. When the

02:17:28.640 president gave his speech regarding the Chinese trade deal, it was one of the great moments in

02:17:36.300 American history. I'm going to go as far as to say, it's like Gettysburg address,

02:17:40.420 a farewell address by Washington, Trump announcing his trade deal with China. He has the Chinese

02:17:46.980 ambassador standing over his shoulder.

02:17:48.800 That was funny.

02:17:49.660 And he proceeds to say great things about China and horrible things about China,

02:17:53.660 almost like seamless.

02:17:54.980 Back and forth, yeah.

02:17:55.600 And this governor is here who's also an ambassador. And he loves China. And he told me to be nice

02:18:00.420 to China. I had to tear up half of my speech about China because he loves China so much. And he was

02:18:05.080 very helpful. Also, our trade secretary. Oh, he doesn't agree with the governor. China is mean.

02:18:10.660 China is terrible. They're an awful place. You see the Chinese ambassador kind of standing over 1.00

02:18:14.440 China.

02:18:14.900 I think people love that about Donald Trump.

02:18:17.080 Sure, sure.

02:18:17.340 Right.

02:18:17.520 That he doesn't...

02:18:18.560 Perfect example. Perfect example. So Baghdadi gets killed.

02:18:21.520 Yes. 0.88

02:18:21.740 And Trump does the whole, and he was whimpering, and he was crying like a little pansy in the

02:18:25.600 corner. And the media is like, was he actually whimpering? Was he actually crying?

02:18:29.440 Right.

02:18:29.580 Where's the actual evidence that al-Baghdadi didn't die like a martyred hero?

02:18:33.460 Right. And everybody's like, okay, so fine. So let's say Trump's embellishing. Are we really

02:18:37.680 going to sit here and whine about the fact that Trump is making fun of the worst person on earth?

02:18:41.440 Like, good. Good. I hope that guy's burning in hell. And I'm glad Trump made fun of him. And

02:18:45.000 screw that. There's a difference between that and Donald Trump then going on Twitter

02:18:51.100 and saying what he says that we all know is stuff that's not...

02:18:55.540 Or more than that.

02:18:56.380 Quid pro quo.

02:18:57.280 Right. Quid pro quo is terrible. And that Donald Trump... Every act of foreign policy is quid

02:19:02.580 pro quo. The only reason you give foreign aid to any nation is to get a behavior in response.

02:19:08.500 So when Donald Trump insists immediately out of the gate, there was no quid pro quo,

02:19:13.080 and then he can't back off of that position. And then we get all the way to this point of

02:19:16.640 impeachment and the Bolton, uh, the Bolton transcript leaks. And we get into this position

02:19:21.220 of, aha, there was quid pro quo. Now Donald Trump is in an unforced error because quid pro

02:19:27.080 quo was never the standard of whether or not this was a correct action. Oh, let me think...

02:19:30.340 I don't think that's the thing.

02:19:30.960 No, but the other example...

02:19:31.900 Let me think...

02:19:33.080 He was never... He set that bar.

02:19:36.080 This is right.

02:19:36.520 And when you set that bar with the public, but... And then you fall short of that bar.

02:19:40.940 I think it's the stuff where... I think it's the stuff where John Bolton suddenly becomes

02:19:44.340 the worst person in America.

02:19:45.580 Right. I agree with that.

02:19:45.960 And we've seen him on Fox News being welcomed like a... Like unto a god. I think it's...

02:19:50.240 It's the stuff...

02:19:51.120 Well, I agree, but that flows from...

02:19:52.960 Even when he attacks... Even when he attacks Bloomberg for being short...

02:19:55.520 Mini Mike...

02:19:56.100 It's funny, but it is...

02:19:58.600 It's puerile, and it minimizes him as a human being. It minimizes everybody else.

02:20:01.360 I think those are the things...

02:20:02.060 When he does the thing with the hurricane where he draws on the map with the sharpie...

02:20:05.520 Right. And then we have to have the entire weather...

02:20:07.480 That's just geography, Ben. I mean, that's just...

02:20:09.120 And there is a Kansas City, Kansas. It's right there.

02:20:11.560 But this is actually my point, is that the group of people who are like, okay, now we're

02:20:15.440 going to do a fulsome defense of why Kansas City is... The airport's actually in Kansas.

02:20:20.500 And it's like... Or we could just go, yeah, it's just Trump being Trump, and we move on

02:20:23.260 with our lives.

02:20:23.640 And Obama said 57 states and all this people...

02:20:25.940 Right. And who cares? And honestly, who cares? But the problem is that Trump cares.

02:20:29.440 And the more you care, the more Trump cares.

02:20:31.280 The thing is, though, I think you guys have paid too much attention. I really do.

02:20:34.980 I think you pay too much attention to outliers. The thing is, most of this country, most

02:20:39.540 of this country is somewhere around the middle. I mean, it's to the left of the middle and

02:20:43.080 to the right of the middle. And most of the country, including Trump supporters, are going

02:20:46.600 like, yeah, I wish he'd stopped tweeting so much, but I love what he's doing. And I think

02:20:50.500 that we sometimes pay too much attention to the guys who say like, yeah, you know, yeah,

02:20:55.580 that's right, Mike Bloomberg is short. You know, those guys are going to have their

02:20:59.240 day. They're going to have their columns. They're going to have their Twitter feeds. But

02:21:01.940 I don't think that they're the people who are... Well, but the point is that if Trump's Twitter

02:21:04.860 feed is a way of going around the media so he can talk directly to the public, then he

02:21:07.580 doesn't need people... I'm not supporting him in doing this. I'm just saying that the support

02:21:11.260 for him doing this is not as scary as you think it is. So here's the thing. As I've said

02:21:15.580 a thousand times at this point, politics is about making it very difficult to vote for

02:21:18.380 your opponent and make it very easy to vote for you. Sure. And Trump is excellent at the

02:21:21.840 former and he is rotten at the latter. And the fact is that if Donald Trump were even

02:21:25.880 half rotten at the latter, right, if we got this tonight, that makes it easy, right? That's an easy,

02:21:30.180 you pull the lever. This Trump right here, you commit voter fraud for this Trump, right?

02:21:35.500 I know, it's true. That's a joke. Media matters. No one's committing voter fraud,

02:21:37.780 except in Iowa where Bernie was screwed, I tell you. But other than that, the fact is that

02:21:43.500 the Trump tonight makes people comfortable. Yeah. That was a comfortable Trump, right? That

02:21:47.800 was comfortable. And every time he makes people feel uncomfortable, the issue becomes Donald

02:21:51.020 Trump as opposed to this great cornucopia of wonder that lies before us, right? The thing is,

02:21:55.760 as Jeremy said, and I think this is absolutely true, we're not really far apart on these

02:21:59.640 things. No, I do think we leave certain things out. And one of the most important things we leave

02:22:03.660 out is the effect of the media. And I think that the media has been so corrupt, so left-wing,

02:22:08.560 so single-minded in their attempt to destroy not just Donald Trump, but Romney, McCain.

02:22:15.100 Derangement syndrome started out as Bush derangement syndrome. So they've been calling us Nazis for a

02:22:20.760 thousand years. And that's why Trump is there. But I don't think this is fair. They have a strange new

02:22:24.200 respect. And I think that that atmosphere is why Trump is there.

02:22:29.520 It is people finally saying, you know what? You know, I'm not a Nazi. I'm not even a racist.

02:22:33.900 I go down, my neighbor is some other race than me, and I love them.

02:22:37.640 That's an explanation, but it's not a justification.

02:22:40.300 I accept that. I totally agree with the diagnosis. I don't agree with the prognosis.

02:22:46.320 Meaning the diagnosis is correct, and now we need the cure. And the cure is the very focused

02:22:51.480 Trump that we saw tonight. And you know what? There's no, I don't know who thinks it's a great

02:22:55.540 sin for Trump to read off the teleprompter. There is no great sin in reading off the teleprompter.

02:22:59.260 No, of course. And there was no great sin for Obama either.

02:23:01.000 There is no great sin in having your tweets read by one person before they go out. Not

02:23:04.160 a thousand people, one person before they go out. There is no great sin.

02:23:07.540 Melania would be a good one. 0.99

02:23:08.580 This is fine. Seriously. Like anybody in the West Wing, those people, I promise you, are

02:23:13.180 begging that they would be allowed that sort of access. And so like even a shred of it,

02:23:17.600 this is what's so frustrating. It's why, like, it sounds like I'm bitching about the

02:23:20.600 president. And I really, I really, I really am not. We want him to win. We want him to win.

02:23:24.760 This guy, this guy is, was fantastic, right? And would be unifying. I mean, half his speech

02:23:30.140 was about reaching out to minority communities. Half the speech, literally.

02:23:32.920 Well, this is the beauty. This guy is the guy that people want to have for their president.

02:23:37.300 Right.

02:23:37.660 And against this guy, to your point, Ben, every comer on the Democrat side looks like a,

02:23:43.460 like a child.

02:23:44.980 Yeah, that's right.

02:23:45.660 But when Trump acts like a child.

02:23:47.720 Exactly. This is right.

02:23:48.540 That's right.

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02:25:31.360 Absolutely. Out on your hikes. You know who we should talk to? Remember Alicia?

02:25:36.280 Oh, yeah. Oh, you mean Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Oh, yeah. Ruth Bader Craft. We made the world dress up. 0.99

02:25:47.880 Will you at least give us an ovation in your white outfit there, Alicia? Oh, yeah. Sorry. No, 0.90

02:25:53.720 I'm just making sure that you guys are doing all the reads properly. That's what this is. Now that I

02:25:58.020 know that, I can tear it up. Good job on that. Bravo company. Should be pleased. Also, you know

02:26:05.720 what's funny? I feel like Trump just makes people more Trumpy because according to Mary Bruce, who's

02:26:10.620 a White House correspondent for ABC News, she tweeted that when Nancy Pelosi was asked why she ripped 0.99

02:26:15.300 Trump's speech up, Speaker Pelosi responded, it was because it was, quote, a courteous thing to do

02:26:20.960 considering the alternative. It was such a dirty speech. Ooh. Whoa. What was the alternative? 0.84

02:26:26.620 She was going to wipe her ass with it or what? Like, ugh. Anywho. Yeah. It's also interesting 1.00

02:26:32.100 because the State of the Union is a constitutional requirement. And the reason that the president

02:26:36.380 hands a typed copy of the speech to the Speaker of the House is because that is actually the

02:26:42.160 fulfillment of the constitutional responsibility, not giving the speech. So what she just tore in half,

02:26:47.320 official document. Well, not only that, it doesn't belong to her. Yeah. It's an actual official

02:26:51.680 document. The Democrats used it. Rooting things. Nancy Pelosi actually thought she was ripping up 1.00

02:26:57.280 the Constitution. So she made a mistake. In that case, this is such a dirty thing. I'm like killing

02:27:02.020 full-term babies. Very dirty, dirty thing. Yeah. I'm just wearing my white over here to remind those 1.00

02:27:06.780 women that they don't own the color white. Pro-life women can rock it too. I think that's the first time 1.00

02:27:11.380 any of those women have worn white. Yeah. He used to be an angelic color, but anywho. Moving along.

02:27:17.320 We have a question from somebody that wanted to know about the infrastructure part of the

02:27:21.280 president's speech. He wants to know if he passes all of that legislation, is he not concerned about

02:27:26.140 growing the national debt? And is his infrastructure plan conservative? He is not concerned about growing

02:27:32.420 the national debt. He's not concerned about the debt. He literally promised that he was going to

02:27:37.420 provide full parental leave, that he was going to make sure that Medicare and Medicaid and Social

02:27:42.640 Security were not touched, and also that he was going to build space for, send people to

02:27:47.200 Mars, build an entire new education program, and build new infrastructure. I'm going to go no

02:27:51.840 on him caring about blowing out the debt and the deficit, but no Democrat or Republican does.

02:27:57.140 They are all on the same page. He's in a safe position because he knows that Congress won't

02:28:00.700 pass anything he says up there. He could literally get up there and say, I'm calling on Congress right

02:28:06.140 now to give every American a brand new Ford F-150. It means nothing. Obama literally used to do

02:28:12.020 this. He used to get up there and give a litany of things. He'd be like, I want everybody to have a

02:28:15.180 new unicorn. And half the Congress was like, yeah, unicorn! I hate my old unicorn!

02:28:18.960 To be fair, we do not know what his infrastructure plan looks like, which could, it could be an

02:28:25.820 incentive plan that I would support, you know. I mean, it doesn't have to be, unless the government

02:28:30.780 You were doing so well tonight. We have no idea what it looks like. I'm pretty sure we know what

02:28:36.880 it looks like. Really? Yeah. I'm fairly certain that he's not just going to leverage a bunch of

02:28:40.660 private people into paying for the roads, Drew. No, he actually cited someone who had authored

02:28:45.260 some legislation, right? Yeah, and he got like one person clapping. That was my name, people.

02:28:51.800 That was my name. Michael, what do you think on this infrastructure bill? You know, I think that

02:28:56.100 we all cheered on the Tea Party era, every single one of us. And there was this big moment for

02:29:01.640 entitlement reform. Paul Ryan put forth a number of plans. He worked with Ron Wyden. He worked across

02:29:06.580 the aisle. And we were all rooting for that. And I think one of the lessons of that era turning into

02:29:11.820 the Trump era was that we got it a little bit backwards. We were hoping that we could get our

02:29:16.120 fiscal house in order. I remember Governor Mitch Daniels at CPAC one year said that the new red

02:29:21.480 menace is the menace consisting of ink. And really, we probably should have taken Andrew Breitbart's

02:29:27.020 advice, which is that the political issues are downstream of cultural issues. And really,

02:29:32.020 the way to fix our fiscal house is first to deal with the cultural issues, which President Trump

02:29:36.540 has tapped into. Maybe that's not what we would prefer. And that's not what the early

02:29:40.560 20 teens were about. But I think that's what we've learned. You know, I hate to say this,

02:29:44.400 but that's that may be the smartest thing that Michael says. That's so funny, because I was about

02:29:47.800 to say, see, Drew, what? Alicia, let's hear some questions from our dailywire.com subscribers.

02:29:54.280 Absolutely. And by the way, everybody did tear up at the military family reunion and the moment

02:29:59.140 when Rush Limbaugh got that, like, medal. Presidential medal. Presidential medal.

02:30:03.800 I mean, he's great at this. He should really host a game show. I mean, it was like The Apprentice,

02:30:10.240 but nobody got fired. So a lot of Daily Wire subscribers are commenting that they just love

02:30:15.060 those moments. And this question is for the whole crew. They want to know, what do you think is going

02:30:19.520 to happen to the Democratic Party after they lose this mutual hatred of Trump? Because there tend to be

02:30:25.600 these establishment Democrats. You know, God King has mentioned Joe Biden might not be as

02:30:29.780 threatening as communist Bernie Sanders. So what happens after they lose this mutual hatred of

02:30:34.680 Trump? Do you believe that the Democratic Party will shatter once he is no longer in office?

02:30:39.300 I personally believe this. I sound like Bernie. I happen to believe. But I actually think that the

02:30:46.680 Democrats are going to go far left on this, maybe as far left as Bernie. I think they're going to lose.

02:30:51.280 Obviously, nobody knows the future. I'm riffing. But this is what I think is going to happen.

02:30:56.360 And I think they're going to have to reconsider. Their resistance has been a failure. Their

02:31:01.600 resistance has been a failure in every possible way. The only way it could be a success is for

02:31:06.860 them to win the next election. I don't think they will. They might, but I don't think they will.

02:31:11.480 If they don't, I actually do think that new forces within the Democrat Party are going to rise up

02:31:16.240 because most of the Democratic Party, as you point out, including the voters, but many of the

02:31:21.020 politicians themselves are really moderate. They're moderate left-wingers who have stuff to say that

02:31:26.560 is part of the American argument. And I think that there is a chance, just being optimistic here,

02:31:31.640 there is a chance that if they are decimated in the next election, as they so deserve to be,

02:31:36.800 that they may have to reconsider and move to the center.

02:31:39.960 So one of the things I love about Drew is that he's so close to death and yet so optimistic.

02:31:43.200 It really is. It really is an amazing thing. I'm optimistic for you. I'm being optimistic.

02:31:46.660 I appreciate it for future generations. Plant a tree that you'll never see grow to fruition.

02:31:53.920 I'm out here for the laugh.

02:31:56.400 So I think that the actual answer to this question is that the Democratic Party is going to continue

02:32:01.240 to move left. The young people are in the Bernie camp. They're not in the Biden camp.

02:32:05.000 It's all old Democrats who are in favor of the Biden camp.

02:32:07.180 This is where you guys are wrong. And wait, this is where old age actually comes in handy.

02:32:10.980 Young people are ignorant. Youth and ignorance are actually synonyms. 1.00

02:32:15.240 And they will learn. They will learn that guys like Bernie are... 0.98

02:32:19.660 Right. But the problem is, if you start off at Bernie Sanders, you end up at Elizabeth Warren.

02:32:22.740 Meaning that to start off that far to the left where you're like supporting an actual commie

02:32:26.860 is not quite the same thing as I supported Walter Mondale and now I support Bill Clinton, right?

02:32:30.320 You're moving gradations here. And the biggest problem of all, of course,

02:32:34.420 is that when you look at sort of the demographic shift inside the Democratic Party,

02:32:37.960 what you are seeing is that it is being led by the intersectional coalition. And this is not a

02:32:42.200 racial point. This is the point that the pitch that the Democrats have been using since the

02:32:46.840 Barack Obama era is that minorities in this country have been put upon by the American

02:32:50.520 superstructure. This is the Ta-Nehisi Coates case. And that these groups who have been dispossessed

02:32:55.020 need to fight back against the privilege they were denied by rupturing the system as a whole.

02:33:00.320 And so the Democrats have banked on this kind of coalition of dispossessed minorities and enough 1.00

02:33:06.520 white people who can absolve themselves of being called racist by going along with it,

02:33:11.040 which is how you saw this. I don't know if you saw this insane piece in The Guardian about liberal 0.66

02:33:14.220 white women who are now paying $2,500 a pop to Sarai Rao and some other crazed person to be 1.00

02:33:21.480 lectured on their own racism. I think the most likely outcome, no matter which way we go, 0.84

02:33:25.460 here's the thing. If Biden runs and he loses, let's say Biden gets the nomination,

02:33:28.160 he loses, they're moving left. If Bernie runs and they lose, then I think they'll do the same

02:33:32.060 thing that Trump would have done in 2016 if he had lost. Blame the never Trumpers. Blame the

02:33:35.480 moderate Democrats for not showing up in mass numbers. Why didn't you show up for us? We

02:33:38.500 showed up for you kind of thing. And then what you will see is it'll be a good move for the

02:33:42.820 Republican Party because as the Democratic Party moves to the left, it does clear the center for

02:33:47.540 Republicans to take some of that. And I think you are seeing some of that, particularly in the middle

02:33:51.540 of the country, which is why Trump was able to breach that blue wall. But I think the wish that the

02:33:56.220 Democratic Party is going to move back to a centrist party. I do not see that happening.

02:34:00.200 Let me offer an alternative theory. And I'm not, I've learned since 2016.

02:34:05.380 Nothing's predictable, yeah. But it is possible, you know, there's the theory,

02:34:11.040 the great man theory of history, right? It is possible that Bernie Sanders, it's amazing,

02:34:18.880 right? You've got AOC, you've got Ilhan Omar, you've got Rashid Tlaib, all these guys. And yet it's

02:34:23.000 80-year-old Bernie Sanders, who is the populist figure on the left. It may be that Bernie is a

02:34:31.000 unique character on the left. That it's actually the fact that he's 80, it's the fact that he has

02:34:35.680 a funny accent, it's the fact that he seems unthreatening. I mean, he's been out saying

02:34:38.920 this stuff for 438 years and nobody's listened. Suddenly he gets into his late 70s and he becomes

02:34:45.140 this sort of beloved figure for young people. It's not other 80-year-olds who like Bernie,

02:34:51.040 it's 20-somethings who like Bernie. It is possible that at a much greater, to a much greater extent,

02:34:57.920 but a similar phenomenon to what we had on the right with Ron Paul, where it was the zaniness

02:35:04.040 of Ron Paul and the sort of physical stature of Ron Paul and the age of Ron Paul, all of that is

02:35:10.440 what was required for Ron Paul to be Ron Paul. And it's possible that when Bernie is no longer,

02:35:15.400 you know, if Bernie were to run and lose, it's possible that that clears the way for kind of a new

02:35:20.000 demagogue on the left, which could be more of a Barack Obama type figure who we're not all talking

02:35:25.360 about today, just like we weren't talking about Barack Obama four years before his election.

02:35:29.520 But you could see sort of a new wave of Democrats come in.

02:35:31.900 Who are the Democratic stars? Elizabeth Warren came in second in Iowa. 0.93

02:35:34.760 Here's the reason I'm not as pessimistic as you are. The Democrats have bet heavily on the ignorance

02:35:41.840 of the young. And the New York Times, the 1619 Project, is a bet that they can keep the young

02:35:47.740 ignorant. It is, we can lie to you and you will believe our lies. And the thing about ignorance is 0.82

02:35:53.040 that it doesn't last. It is not, it's not something that you can keep going for a long time. And I

02:35:59.000 think that, that they're going to lose that bet. I do believe that they are going to lose that bet.

02:36:02.800 At a cultural level, they've kept it going for some 50 years. So I think that...

02:36:05.360 Well, it has taken them 50 years to get the youth to this level of ignorance. But ignorance falls

02:36:11.720 apart really quickly when it meets reality. I mean, reality has a voice. And this is the thing that

02:36:15.880 no political observer ever takes into account. Reality has a voice. You do someday show up and

02:36:21.860 say, hey, you know, I earned $100 and here's my check for $50. Where's the other 50 bucks? And

02:36:26.980 people say, well, that's taxes and it's going to be poor. But the argument that you're making is that

02:36:31.580 the Democratic Party is going to move to the center if Trump swamps them. I think the argument that

02:36:35.140 you're now making is that the Democratic Party will move back to the center after Bernie Sanders

02:36:38.840 is president and the economy tanks.

02:36:40.120 No, no, no. Not at all.

02:36:41.560 Because this is what happened in Britain, right? I mean, Britain moved way to the left after World

02:36:44.320 War II. And then they completely collapsed in on themselves like a dying star. And then

02:36:47.240 Margaret Thatcher comes along. Same thing in the United States with Reagan.

02:36:49.340 That is a possible future. It definitely is a possible future. But I don't think it's going

02:36:53.380 to happen. I think Bernie, I think Bernie may win. I think he's going to lose the main

02:36:57.300 election. I think that Trump is going, I do think that Trump is going to be reelected. And again,

02:37:01.840 we've all learned that we don't know what the future is.

02:37:03.460 From your mouth to God's ears.

02:37:04.300 I hope you're right.

02:37:05.980 And I think that there's got to be voices. There have got to be voices in the Democrat

02:37:10.320 Party that are now silenced by the rage and hatred of Donald Trump and the belief that

02:37:15.460 he can be brought down. There is this intense belief that Donald Trump can be brought down.

02:37:19.340 Bringing up this left wing move of the UK after World War II, and then it goes back right

02:37:24.160 with Thatcher, which coincidentally happens at the same time as Reagan. It's important not

02:37:28.540 to look at this in isolation. It is true that America leads the world in pretty much everything.

02:37:32.760 But there is something happening beyond America. At the same year that we elected Trump, you

02:37:38.780 had Brexit in the UK. You had these right wing movements beginning in Italy and throughout

02:37:43.740 Europe. It does seem that there is a sort of a waking up among the West that this kind

02:37:49.080 of stale liberalism is insufficient, not just economically, but spiritually and politically.

02:37:55.420 And so I don't see that dying out anytime soon. They tried to re-litigate Brexit how many times,

02:38:01.400 and Brexit still went through. I think we actually have a pretty decent future, at least for the

02:38:06.580 near future.

02:38:07.020 It is true. The national elections, by the way, in Britain, I did a paper on this in college,

02:38:10.100 and it's held true ever since, that if you look at the prime ministerial elections in Britain,

02:38:13.340 they very closely mirror the American presidential elections.

02:38:15.880 I agree with you. I so agree with this. And I also think, you know, we have to get rid of the 1.00

02:38:19.460 idea that there's going to be some victory that lasts forever. No political victory lasts more than

02:38:23.980 25 years. If you win for 25 years, that's a long time. And I think we are set up right now

02:38:29.620 for a 25-year victory. We may not get it, but we are set up for it.

02:38:33.380 I'll have what she's having.

02:38:36.860 Three of the five of us on this show will still be here in 25 years.

02:38:39.960 That's right.

02:38:40.540 And if you would like to continue hearing from us.

02:38:42.940 And by the way, I'll be laughing like a crazy man.

02:38:44.980 You can head over to dailywire.com and give us a little bit of your hard-earned money. We can use

02:38:50.980 it around these parts. If you become a member right now using the promo code DW2020, you'll get

02:38:56.900 20% off of your membership. Yes, 20% off of your membership. You get the articles ad-free. You'll

02:39:01.960 get access to all of our live broadcasts, our show library, full three hours of the Ben Shapiro show

02:39:06.280 every single day, as well as some select bonus contents, the mailbag and other wonderful things.

02:39:11.300 And if you become an all-access tier member, you will get to join us after this show and several

02:39:15.240 times throughout the week for a live sort of AMA-style discussion that we do on the website where we

02:39:21.240 get to answer a ton of questions. In the meantime, let's answer one more question on the show.

02:39:25.280 Elisha? I hope that Drew's here until 100.

02:39:28.600 Yeah, really. I'm feeling great.

02:39:34.140 He's like really old, right?

02:39:37.040 All right. His last question is a good one, and I'm kind of disappointed, and I think this

02:39:41.520 Daily Wire subscriber is as well. Are y'all surprised that Trump didn't bring up the impeachment?

02:39:46.820 I'm delighted that he didn't. I thought it was a brilliant move.

02:39:50.240 Surprised, yes.

02:39:51.460 Are you surprised?

02:39:52.040 I am surprised.

02:39:52.480 He rarely has discipline to avoid taking jabs. The fact that he didn't take a jab about impeachment

02:39:58.880 and he didn't take a jab about Iowa is good Trump, to quote Ben, but I will also add, for

02:40:05.580 me, surprising Trump.

02:40:07.680 So he did reference impeachment, right? There was one point where he pretty obviously was,

02:40:13.520 where he said, when we work together for the good of Americans, wink, wink, nod, nod, right?

02:40:18.260 And all the Democrats were like, no, we can't do that.

02:40:20.640 Yeah, he said the only victories that matter are the victories on behalf of America.

02:40:25.820 Right, exactly. That was like, oh, F yourself. That was pretty obviously an impeachment reference.

02:40:32.280 But yeah, I mean, he contained it. Was I surprised? A little bit. Whenever he contains himself,

02:40:37.480 that's kind of a surprising thing. Was I happy that he did it? Yeah, smart politics. You don't want

02:40:42.240 to bring up something that really is not going to help you in any way. He did get a bit of an

02:40:44.840 impeachment bounce because Americans don't like this. The Gallup poll showed that he was down to

02:40:48.320 like 38% approval rating in October. He's up to 49% approval rating now. So that's a pretty

02:40:52.580 significant bounce. Was I disappointed that I didn't get the fisticuffs that I had foreseen and

02:40:58.560 maybe hoped for in the immediate lead up? I mean, now that it's all over and the better angels of my

02:41:04.040 nature have kicked back in, I'm very happy the president gave a good speech and I hope that he

02:41:08.640 is this until the election or until the next seven minutes when he gets back on Twitter and starts

02:41:12.660 retweeting random Twitter or making memes of him beheading Nancy Pelosi or something.

02:41:17.140 I was not surprised. This is the speech I expected from him. It's the speech I thought

02:41:22.180 he would make. I'm much more worried about what he's going to tweet tonight than I was about the

02:41:26.900 speech. You know, I was surprised and it was a political masterstroke, but maybe I shouldn't

02:41:32.820 have been surprised. Maybe I should have been more like Drew because you've got the billionaire

02:41:36.600 who's married to the gorgeous woman who speaks five languages, who became the head of network

02:41:40.980 television, you know, top rated show, a big real estate mogul, won the presidency on his first

02:41:45.460 time running for office. Maybe the guy has better political instincts. I swear to God, Michael,

02:41:51.140 if you were in this seat right now, I would beat the living hell out of you. 0.99

02:41:54.820 If I have to be another encomium genius of Donald Trump. Like, okay, let's be real about this for one 0.98

02:41:59.480 second. He read a speech that was written for him off of teleprompters. It was great. Loved it.

02:42:03.340 Also, sweet baby, within seven minutes, we were just saying, even Drew, who's with you on the Trump

02:42:13.200 train, right? You're the conductor and he's shoveling the coal right into that engine. And Drew is over

02:42:17.300 here going, well, God, I hope that we don't check Twitter right after this and Trump is retweeting 0.98

02:42:21.000 porn. Like, we all know what this is. Just cut your s*** for a second. 0.69

02:42:24.440 Hey, Knowles, you know, I told Jeremy that I was afraid that you would leave us because when you 1.00

02:42:30.200 throw a crocodile into the swamp, he swims away. Are you coming back from Washington one of these

02:42:35.840 days? Well, I guess when I finish my cigar, I'll try to fly back over there. Hopefully we'll be

02:42:42.360 able to have a couple of weeks back in LA. You are going straight from here to do an episode of

02:42:46.080 The Verdict with Ted Cruz, yes? I am. I'm going to be up all night, probably, but it should be a

02:42:50.820 pretty exciting one. I thought it was going to be very boring with a very boring speech and now

02:42:55.120 we're going to be up until five in the morning. Well, if anybody hasn't gone over and listened

02:42:59.100 to The Verdict with Ted Cruz, we're really proud. We're proud of it. Michael's doing some of his

02:43:03.080 best work. The senator is fantastic. Certainly Michael's best work. And it is the first show of

02:43:08.620 its kind where you get immediate inside baseball insight from someone who's sitting in the room

02:43:15.500 actually experiencing all of this in real time. For the rest of us, we're going to go over to

02:43:19.020 thedailywire.com and do our discussion right now. We'd love to hear from you. Come over to the

02:43:23.920 website. If you're already an all-access member, we'd love to hear from you. If you're not one,

02:43:28.140 use that promo code DW2020 and subscribe. We're going to get through as many questions as we can

02:43:33.120 here. You'll hear from Ben, Drew, myself, Alicia. We might even get one or two from Michael before he

02:43:37.760 has to go do the show. And we really appreciate you guys spending this really just insufferably long

02:43:42.420 evening with us. And we look forward to doing one of these again. You know, never.

02:43:46.160 Thanks, everybody.

02:44:16.160 Now's the time when you hit that like button for me so we can keep smoking cigars and drinking

02:44:20.320 whiskey for your amusement. Or in Ben's case, eating popcorn directly off the floor. He's weird.

The Michael Knowles Show - February 05, 2020

Daily Wire Backstage： 2020 State of the Union Edition

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