The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 12 - SAD! A Week In Review

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00:00:37.840 Sad.

00:00:38.740 That phrase, borrowed from a great man, is perhaps the most fitting way to describe a rough week.

00:00:45.160 Fleckus Talks, Zoe Rachel, and Josh Yasma will join the panel of deplorables to discuss it,

00:00:50.940 as well as why TV is dead, Netflix is killing you, and books have the worst words.

00:00:56.880 The worst words, folks, don't they?

00:00:58.660 Plus, the mailbag.

00:00:59.760 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:01:00.580 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:01:09.040 Generally speaking, this was a rough week for the president.

00:01:12.840 It was a rough week for America.

00:01:14.540 Now, I am always hopeful.

00:01:16.800 I always try to look for the bright side of things.

00:01:18.980 And there is a small glimmer in this week.

00:01:21.760 There's a bright side to it, which is that Kim Jong-un backed down.

00:01:26.120 So we're not all going to get blown up by North Korean nuclear weapons.

00:01:29.180 They have backed down on their threat to send a missile to Guam.

00:01:33.580 And President Trump was getting a lot of flack for his tough talk about North Korea.

00:01:38.260 He said that he would send fire and fury on them like the world has never seen, I think was the quote.

00:01:43.680 He said that the U.S. military was locked and loaded on North Korea.

00:01:48.880 And, of course, people mocked him.

00:01:50.160 They said he was a rube.

00:01:50.940 He was warmongering.

00:01:51.920 He was shooting from the hip.

00:01:53.740 But it seems to have worked.

00:01:55.380 North Korea's backed down.

00:01:56.460 Obviously, there were a lot of back channels that were going on between the State Department and North Korea and also with China.

00:02:02.100 But all in all, seems like a great deal, folks.

00:02:04.420 It seems like we got the art of the deal here.

00:02:06.500 North Korea has released some Western prisoners.

00:02:08.820 All in all, a nice bit of news for the week.

00:02:12.040 All of the rest of the news this week was absolutely terrible.

00:02:15.320 So, for the bad news, President Trump has been attacked on all sides, on the left and the right,

00:02:20.420 for his various responses to the Charlottesville attacks and the neo-Nazis fighting Antifa.

00:02:26.360 Here is the first statement that he made.

00:02:28.500 But we're closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia.

00:02:35.660 We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.

00:02:46.240 On many sides.

00:02:47.140 Now, the statement actually isn't untrue.

00:02:50.480 There were many sides of culpability here.

00:02:53.740 Antifa was beating people up, as they always do at these events.

00:02:57.780 But it was tone deaf.

00:02:59.080 And it also misses the enormity of the difference here.

00:03:02.380 Antifa did their usual pepper spray, beating people up, hitting people with gloves.

00:03:06.040 But the neo-Nazis did kill a woman and injure 19 others.

00:03:09.720 So, it was just a little bit tone deaf.

00:03:12.060 Everybody basically agreed he could have come out and named the neo-Nazis, even named Antifa.

00:03:18.260 But he didn't do that.

00:03:19.320 So, then he issued a second statement to correct that.

00:03:22.360 As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.

00:03:33.240 It has no place in America.

00:03:37.600 We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. 0.98

00:03:47.360 Yes, racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. 0.98

00:04:06.420 Excellent. 0.99

00:04:07.100 He comes out, he names these guys, he names the guys who threw the rally.

00:04:11.340 There aren't a lot of these people, by the way.

00:04:13.440 Their numbers do not seem to be growing, despite what you're seeing in the media.

00:04:17.360 But he goes out, he names them, we don't need them, nobody likes the Nazis, no mainstream conservatives showed up to this event, no alt-light showed up to this event.

00:04:25.400 Not even the people who play around and play footsie with the alt-right showed up to this thing.

00:04:30.700 So, good.

00:04:31.120 He names them, he'd already acknowledged that there was trouble on the left in the previous statement.

00:04:35.560 Seems like he's done.

00:04:36.600 But for some reason, he had to go out and address this issue again.

00:04:41.620 And in typical Trumpian fashion, it was a mixed bag.

00:04:45.720 There was, the third statement, the press conference, did start out very well when he was attacking those lying Democrat hacks in the media.

00:04:54.600 I think they do.

00:04:55.620 You know, as far as I'm concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day.

00:05:00.480 Wait a minute, I'm not finished.

00:05:02.780 I'm not finished fake news.

00:05:04.820 That was a horrible day.

00:05:06.040 I'm not finished fake news.

00:05:07.780 So beautiful.

00:05:09.440 Calls them out in a way that politicians have not done before.

00:05:12.760 It's just glorious.

00:05:14.800 But he didn't finish there.

00:05:16.260 He had to undo all the good he did in that second statement.

00:05:19.900 Do we have it?

00:05:20.640 I think there's blame on both sides.

00:05:22.680 You look at both sides.

00:05:25.240 I think there's blame on both sides.

00:05:27.120 So, okay, he has to go back.

00:05:28.820 He says there's blame on both sides.

00:05:30.640 As a result of this third statement now, CEOs begin abandoning the president's advisory councils.

00:05:37.020 There were two advisory councils in particular, the Manufacturing Council and the Strategy and Policy Forum.

00:05:44.580 It just got worse and worse.

00:05:47.660 The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, issued a statement, said that what Trump said about the attacks in Charlottesville runs counter to American ideals.

00:05:55.240 Kenneth Frazier, the CEO of Merck, criticized President Trump.

00:05:59.320 And, of course, with President Trump, he fights back.

00:06:02.020 So he immediately takes to criticizing the CEO of Merck.

00:06:05.240 That doesn't go very well.

00:06:06.920 CEOs from a ton of different companies who were advising Trump begin to drop off.

00:06:11.380 The leaders of Pepsi, IBM, Blackstone, BCG, Intel, Under Armour, everybody begins to jump ship.

00:06:17.060 So President Trump preempts them and he disbands himself those two advisory councils.

00:06:22.480 And we do have to nuance this a little bit.

00:06:24.680 The New York Times, which Andrew Klavan rightly acknowledges is a former newspaper, the failing New York Times had a headline today.

00:06:32.400 It said, CEOs long avoided politics.

00:06:35.140 Trump is changing the calculus.

00:06:38.160 How long have CEOs been avoiding politics?

00:06:40.360 I haven't noticed that.

00:06:41.360 I've noticed massive Pride Month campaigns at different companies.

00:06:46.220 I've noticed mandatory diversity seminars, mandatory harassment seminars, mandatory re-education seminars.

00:06:53.260 I see them wading into politics all the time.

00:06:55.540 They've been virtue signaling for a very long time.

00:06:58.400 But during the Obama administration, it was ratcheted up to a new level.

00:07:02.140 So typical fake news from the New York Times.

00:07:05.000 Nevertheless, they've really waded into politics here and appear to be jumping ship from the White House.

00:07:11.320 Now, to make matters worse, White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon decided to call a left-leaning outlet, the American Prospect, and give his thoughts on what is going on.

00:07:22.540 And it's a little unclear whether he got scaramoochied, whether Steve Bannon got mooched here and didn't know that it was an interview,

00:07:29.500 or if he was doing this intentionally to leak some information for the president.

00:07:34.060 It seems to be the former.

00:07:35.620 It seems like this did not go as planned.

00:07:38.600 But who knows?

00:07:39.460 You never really know with President Trump's administration.

00:07:42.640 So on the positive side, Bannon called white nationalists, quote, 1.00

00:07:45.740 a fringe element full of losers and a collection of clowns. 1.00

00:07:49.200 Absolutely true. 0.99

00:07:50.380 He said he thinks the media plays it up too much, and we've got to help crush it.

00:07:54.660 Also, absolutely true.

00:07:56.340 There are not that many of these guys, and the media love them.

00:07:59.500 They love tying them to the rest of the right.

00:08:02.700 Possibly bad for the administration.

00:08:04.800 He trash-talked his colleagues in the same way Scaramucci did, a little less colorful language.

00:08:10.020 And he undermined President Trump's North Korea strategy.

00:08:13.400 He admits on this phone call that North Korea has us by the gullioni,

00:08:17.740 that if we launch an attack on North Korea, they're going to kill a lot of people in Seoul.

00:08:23.920 They're going to attack Seoul with conventional weapons. 0.90

00:08:26.500 You could have 100,000 people die or more.

00:08:28.700 So the worst part of all of this for the administration is that we're talking about all of this nonsense,

00:08:35.380 and no policy is getting done.

00:08:37.600 We're not getting tax reform.

00:08:39.040 We were supposed to get that in the summer.

00:08:40.560 We're not getting Obamacare repeal, which was tried and tried again and stopped by members of the Senate

00:08:48.100 and the liberal Republicans in the Senate.

00:08:50.080 Instead, we're talking about Confederate monuments as if that matters at all,

00:08:54.900 as if this is the national crisis, is that we need to pull down these statues that have been up for 100 years.

00:09:00.440 And we're talking about the court politics, the court intrigue.

00:09:03.400 Who's getting fired?

00:09:04.480 Who's next out?

00:09:05.280 Who's coming up?

00:09:06.120 And it's all just a waste of time.

00:09:08.220 And now to round out the week, there has been a terrorist attack in Barcelona.

00:09:11.980 We don't have a ton of information about it yet.

00:09:13.960 I assume we'll find out that we'll confirm that it was radical Episcopalians that committed it.

00:09:19.620 But until then, we don't know.

00:09:21.360 Really sad.

00:09:22.240 A sad way to start the week.

00:09:23.520 A really sad way to end the week.

00:09:25.800 And all around, it's been pretty, pretty rough.

00:09:28.860 So now we've got – we have to talk a little bit about Barcelona, I guess.

00:09:35.880 There isn't a lot of information yet.

00:09:37.600 But this is the first time that there has been a terrorist attack in a place where I have smoked a cigar.

00:09:44.560 This is in Las Ramblas, a major tourist center of Spain.

00:09:49.680 And so clearly, it does put certain things into perspective.

00:09:53.200 While we're talking about the court intrigue here, while we're talking about Confederate monuments,

00:09:57.320 we do have to wonder what is the bigger picture.

00:09:59.740 What are we fighting as a country?

00:10:01.120 What are the biggest threats to our freedom and to our homes and to ourselves and our families?

00:10:06.200 So, speaking of the bigger picture, let's widen this picture and bring on our panel of deplorables.

00:10:12.900 We have Zoe Rachel, Fleckis Talks, and Josh Yasma.

00:10:17.580 Zoe, everybody is always saying Trump is having a terrible go of it.

00:10:21.620 Is this week as bad for the administration as it seems or is it fake news?

00:10:28.420 But no, he's probably having a rough week, which just goes to show I guess money doesn't solve everything now, does it?

00:10:34.680 And I notice that these people out there, they want all this free education so they can make all this money, right?

00:10:41.420 All this money.

00:10:42.040 They want to make a whole bunch of money for stuff that they just want for free.

00:10:44.720 What do you need all that money for?

00:10:46.000 It just goes to show that, hey, people, when you guys are all successful and you make all that money that you want,

00:10:50.980 there's going to be people that are going to hate you too.

00:10:52.600 These college professors are going to be training another generation to hate you.

00:10:57.020 That's a strong point.

00:10:58.940 You know, money can't buy happiness.

00:11:00.560 Happiness also can't buy money.

00:11:02.780 We'll have to consider that.

00:11:04.780 Fleckis, how does Trump bounce back from this?

00:11:09.720 I think it's going to be what he always does.

00:11:12.240 He's just got to keep bringing it, work right past the media's narrative.

00:11:16.540 I mentioned it last time I was on the show that I watched the news backwards.

00:11:19.240 So whenever Trump's having a bad week in the media, I think maybe he's having a better week than people think.

00:11:26.080 I think he did a great job disavowing these hate groups on both sides.

00:11:30.700 I don't know what more he could have done with the information he had.

00:11:33.920 I think he's just got to be consistent and just keep plowing through.

00:11:37.700 It's a war.

00:11:38.420 That is right.

00:11:39.200 The consistency is a real issue because he gave his first statement, which was okay.

00:11:44.020 He gave the second statement, naming the people, probably a little bit better.

00:11:47.460 And then he gives his third statement and backtracks on the second and creates a lot of confusion.

00:11:52.300 Maybe it was 4D chess.

00:11:54.100 Josh, China seems to be cooperating with us on trade and North Korea.

00:11:58.940 Would you say that there is a glimmer of hope this week on the foreign policy front?

00:12:03.160 I think so.

00:12:04.320 I think that Trump has done a good job behind the scenes, but he hasn't done a good job articulating his vision.

00:12:12.740 He hasn't done a good job telling us what he's done behind the scenes.

00:12:16.560 We've had to rely on administration officials, op-eds, and reporting.

00:12:23.720 Are you suggesting that President Trump does not have the best words?

00:12:26.600 I'm telling you the best words, folks.

00:12:28.980 Because I won't stand for that.

00:12:30.540 He has a communication problem, for sure.

00:12:32.900 Even when he does something good.

00:12:34.520 He makes it seem like it's a bad thing or he doesn't articulate it properly.

00:12:38.640 That's the problem.

00:12:39.800 And perception is oftentimes reality.

00:12:42.280 Well, you know, all right, we've got to get into the news.

00:12:45.440 I want to keep this panel around for at least one news story, and then we'll have to say goodbye to all of you who haven't subscribed to The Daily Wire.

00:12:52.480 In the news today, Apple is spending $1 billion, a billion with a B, developing original content.

00:12:58.960 Netflix is going to spend $7 billion developing original content.

00:13:02.580 And Facebook is even developing original TV content.

00:13:05.900 Zoe, is TV dead?

00:13:10.300 Well, it's just like saying rock and roll is dead.

00:13:12.620 It's like, no, rock and roll's not dead.

00:13:14.020 TV's not dead.

00:13:15.740 But I would agree that a deaf culture is being promoted.

00:13:21.040 It's like when they're talking about this stuff is bad for us.

00:13:22.740 It's like, yeah, a lot of this stuff is bad for us because they promote crappy messages.

00:13:26.620 Hey, if they're going to spend all this money, and it's funny, man, because they always say the Republicans are the ones with all the money.

00:13:32.180 But it looks like liberals are the ones with all the money to be able to invest in all this stuff, even if this was somebody else's money.

00:13:37.400 But it'd be great if these so-called rich Republicans, I'd like to find out who they are. 0.98

00:13:41.820 It'd be great if they would put their money where their mouth is and start investing in some content to compete with these fools. 0.98

00:13:47.580 Yeah, this is a plea from Hollywood. 0.97

00:13:49.380 If you're out there, Republicans with money, give us some TV shows or movies or fun something.

00:13:54.740 That's what I keep hearing.

00:13:55.500 Republicans are the ones with the money.

00:13:56.940 This Republican is like, where?

00:13:59.360 I'm looking for it.

00:14:00.100 I can't find them anywhere.

00:14:01.380 I still haven't even gotten all my book checks yet.

00:14:03.780 Josh, is this new on-demand model, is it good or is it bad for the consumer?

00:14:09.580 You can stay up late.

00:14:10.460 You can watch whatever show you want.

00:14:11.660 You can watch it for 100 hours.

00:14:13.140 Is that good or bad for us?

00:14:14.640 It's a little bit of both, I think.

00:14:16.660 That's a strong statement.

00:14:18.280 You're going to have to defend that.

00:14:21.620 Ultimately, it gives consumers more choice.

00:14:23.900 I can go to work during the day and then come back home at night and watch a show at midnight if I wanted to.

00:14:31.980 But I think there's something to be said about the fact that TV in decades prior gave the country a way to coalesce around something.

00:14:41.920 It was this moment of stillness, of this collective unity where we can all kind of put aside our politics, put aside our differences, and engage in the show.

00:14:53.460 And now TV watching seems to be a solitary act.

00:14:57.160 It seems to be individuals alone in their rooms watching on their laptops.

00:15:01.920 I think somebody's projecting here.

00:15:04.260 No, I think you make a very good point because there are two levels of this.

00:15:07.200 It used to be, on the one hand, you've got families coming together around a TV and watching it.

00:15:12.120 But there also was the fact that all of America was watching the same shows.

00:15:17.120 There weren't that many channels.

00:15:18.560 We had a common culture.

00:15:19.960 Fleckis, does this destruction of the common culture explain some of the crazy polarization we're seeing?

00:15:25.860 Yeah, I would say so.

00:15:28.980 I mean, they're really catering to the younger viewers who are very computer savvy, very tech savvy.

00:15:34.280 They want to watch these shows in their own time.

00:15:36.840 I think a lot of these people are watching the same shows, not necessarily like they used to back in the day,

00:15:41.620 where you tune in every day at 10 o'clock and see your program.

00:15:45.820 With this, though, I think it heads down a tricky road because all these companies are investing more into these liberal outlets

00:15:52.720 are now going to be pushing their narrative on so many other fronts.

00:15:55.840 It's going to be really hard to combat that.

00:15:59.200 That's absolutely true.

00:16:00.460 The one exception might be the Game of Thrones.

00:16:04.940 Game of Thrones is a kind of common thing.

00:16:07.160 It's always trending on Twitter.

00:16:08.460 There were rumors that it leaked.

00:16:09.800 Did you all watch the leaked episode?

00:16:16.100 Considering the Game of Thrones and leaking and how much nudity, that just sounds gross.

00:16:20.000 Well, that's an image that I won't be able to spoon out of my mind's eye, unfortunately.

00:16:26.080 I am so glad we don't have any criminals on our panel of deplorables.

00:16:29.140 But they're deplorable in many other ways.

00:16:31.200 But now, if you don't subscribe to The Daily Wire, you can't keep watching them.

00:16:35.520 We want to thank all the subscribers who have come along with us.

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00:17:02.080 We'll be right back.

00:17:02.600 So I have bad news about the binge-watching TV culture.

00:17:17.260 According to a study, there are so many studies,

00:17:19.580 a new study shows that binge-watching one series before bed is worse for your health

00:17:26.040 than watching the same amount of regular TV because of something called, quote, mental arousal.

00:17:31.740 How do they know what I'm watching?

00:17:33.520 Fleckus, one of the negative effects of these streaming platforms is it's so hard to find time to read books.

00:17:39.320 23% of Americans per year don't read a single book, and that rate has tripled since 1978.

00:17:45.620 Are we getting dumber, or is this TV, all these great TV shows, are they somewhat edifying?

00:17:53.420 It's hard to say. 0.94

00:17:54.580 I mean, I watch a lot of Netflix.

00:17:56.880 I'm in great shape.

00:17:58.020 You make an excellent argument.

00:18:02.580 I think that settles it.

00:18:04.280 I think that's it, right?

00:18:05.260 I mean, I'm in pretty good shape.

00:18:06.200 Let me be the poster boy of this.

00:18:09.180 Netflix doesn't necessarily make you not exercise and do stuff.

00:18:12.300 If you sit there and watch an entire season of a show on a Sunday, you know, last week,

00:18:17.560 I don't think it's going to affect you that bad.

00:18:19.660 Healthy like Fleckus.

00:18:20.700 Healthy like Fleckus.

00:18:21.760 Zo, science is always scaring us with nonsense like climate change and tobacco warning labels.

00:18:29.580 Do you believe this mental arousal thing that it keeps you from sleeping?

00:18:32.980 Is Netflix really killing us?

00:18:35.900 Man, anything that concerns Lil, I don't think in terms of arousal, it always ends up, you know, a pretty flaccid thought.

00:18:41.980 But, you know, I wanted to say something to the point that my man was talking about in terms of like, you know, this solitary watching.

00:18:50.880 You know, I think it's ironic that liberals, they talk about unity and bringing everybody together.

00:18:55.420 But this thing that they're promoting about this binge watching, you just watch it.

00:18:58.660 It's like there's no unity in watching TV anymore.

00:19:01.020 And people don't want to say nothing because they get into a conversation.

00:19:03.520 It's like, no, don't spoil it for me.

00:19:05.000 So people just be like, and not only that, this, it like separates the herd because now it's like you could just, you don't have to, you know, there's no pushback.

00:19:14.780 The culture is isolated by themselves and watching this stuff and these ideas that they're pumping into their brains.

00:19:19.980 And it's like there's no, no filter numbers anymore.

00:19:24.680 Right.

00:19:25.200 Yeah, no filter, no strength.

00:19:26.640 They got them by themselves so they could just pump their ideas into their heads just like one at a time.

00:19:30.860 And it's working, man.

00:19:32.140 Yeah.

00:19:32.480 We used to watch a TV show and then that's all anybody would talk about the next day.

00:19:37.240 And now you explicitly can, you can talk about anything but that because people are watching it on different timetables.

00:19:43.600 That is true. 0.99

00:19:44.640 Josh, you are a degenerate. 0.99

00:19:46.680 When was the last time you turned off the TV and read a book? 0.98

00:19:52.800 Several weeks ago, actually.

00:19:54.960 It's not bad.

00:19:55.680 It's better than most Americans, I guess.

00:19:57.500 Well, I was an English major.

00:19:58.680 So, but, you know, Zoe is right.

00:20:04.040 I think that there's something unhealthy about this solitary TV watching.

00:20:10.120 And I don't want to say that, you know, people aren't consuming text.

00:20:14.060 People aren't engaging with language because I think the mediums are changing.

00:20:17.500 I think people are reading more articles online.

00:20:20.220 I think people are consuming text on their phones.

00:20:22.940 I think so reading the dailywire.com, reading the dailywire.com.

00:20:26.660 Exactly.

00:20:27.240 And they never stop.

00:20:27.800 They never get it off their phone.

00:20:28.700 Exactly.

00:20:29.640 So I think the way we consume text is changing and that's going to keep changing.

00:20:37.140 But so we're on the verge of an almost kind of like a revolution where our own sort of printing press and the printing press is digital media.

00:20:49.540 Yuck.

00:20:50.080 I like the old media.

00:20:50.860 But speaking of that, you're probably right.

00:20:53.060 Speaking of those books and these new media, a new study, yet another study, has found, quote, a dramatic increase in swear words in American literature over the last 60 years.

00:21:04.760 Books published between 2005 and 2008 were 28 times more likely to contain swear words than books published in the 1950s.

00:21:14.940 And one study in particular found that there was one word that was 678 times more likely to be included.

00:21:21.600 I'll let you think about what word that was.

00:21:23.800 So WTF, man. 0.98

00:21:26.960 Why all the naughty language? 1.00

00:21:28.320 And, you know, I feel like I'm kind of on the spot here because my book is actually called Weapon of Ass Destruction. 0.98

00:21:37.080 And when people look for it, it's like, man, I tried to look up your book and I just keep running into gay porn. 0.97

00:21:43.340 And it's like, well, that was part of the strategy, man. 0.60

00:21:46.420 It's like to help get the liberals to get it on their radar somehow.

00:21:49.380 But despite that, I think that is the only profanity that is in my book.

00:21:54.580 And even ASS's acronym, it stands for American Socialist States.

00:21:58.640 So, but, yeah, for some reason, people want to use profanity to give punctuation to their point.

00:22:05.020 You know, it's like, you know, if I just drop this curse word, it's going to make my point so much more valid.

00:22:09.200 And I'm like thinking about, you know what, when God, you know, spoke the universe to existence, he didn't have to say that, man.

00:22:17.140 He just said, let there be light.

00:22:18.120 He just chilled.

00:22:19.160 The universe can't be existed.

00:22:20.580 That's power, man.

00:22:21.580 You don't need to curse to be powerful.

00:22:23.460 Yeah, you don't see God using a lot of naughty language in those really strong statements in Genesis.

00:22:29.100 I don't know what text you're reading.

00:22:30.560 Yeah, well, Marshall has a particular Bible.

00:22:34.060 Josh, is this a reflection of our more shallow culture?

00:22:38.100 A reflection of our thought?

00:22:40.000 You know, David McCullough said that to write well is to think clearly.

00:22:43.060 That's why it's so hard.

00:22:44.260 Is that what it's a reflection of?

00:22:46.220 I don't know if it's a reflection of our more shallow culture.

00:22:48.880 I think that publishers are trying to attract consumers, and they're willing to do anything to track consumers, even if that includes profanity, eroticism.

00:22:57.040 There's a reason Fifty Shades of Grey was so successful.

00:23:00.080 It wasn't because it was a brilliant plot.

00:23:01.940 It was because, you know, it was catering to a specific kind of consumer.

00:23:06.040 And the character development.

00:23:07.500 Exactly.

00:23:08.100 That's absolutely brilliant.

00:23:09.160 I mean, Shakespeare.

00:23:09.680 Profound ideas.

00:23:11.440 Absolutely.

00:23:13.760 You know, that's absolutely true.

00:23:15.740 And you're right, Zoe.

00:23:16.880 When you use swear words too much, they get a little watered down.

00:23:20.860 You know, it's sort of like how conservationists say we have to kill animals so that we can preserve animals.

00:23:26.840 There is an argument that we have to stop using swear words so that we can keep using swear words effectively.

00:23:33.520 Fleckus, do we need to clean up our language?

00:23:35.100 I don't think so.

00:23:36.360 I think this is a sign that freedom of speech is alive and well in the U.S.

00:23:41.460 I think this is a great thing.

00:23:44.620 Man, there's nothing wrong with the First Amendment and no one's stomping on it.

00:23:48.160 And free speech is alive and well.

00:23:50.280 That's what this tells me.

00:23:51.240 The First F-ing Amendment. 0.73

00:23:53.280 Absolutely.

00:23:54.000 Okay.

00:23:54.360 Well, on that note, I got to say goodbye to you guys.

00:23:56.740 Our panel of deplorables, Zoe Rachel, Fleckus Talks, and Josh Yasma.

00:24:01.080 I will also note, by the way, that my own book, Reasons to Vote for Democrats, A Comprehensive Guide, does not include a single swear word.

00:24:08.220 So if you're looking for family-friendly reading, that's a great place to go look.

00:24:11.420 Okay.

00:24:11.640 It's time for the mailbag.

00:24:12.740 We have a lot of great mailbag questions, so I'm going to run through them as fast as I can.

00:24:17.020 First one from Brett.

00:24:17.920 I have no advice for authors looking to write their first book because I've never written a book, though I am a number one international best-selling author with a presidential endorsement.

00:24:37.320 Author, not a writer.

00:24:38.820 It's very confusing.

00:24:39.600 I would ask Andrew Klavan or Shapiro for any advice on writing books since they have written them before.

00:24:46.340 From Jeff.

00:24:48.060 Hey, Michael.

00:24:48.680 I have really enjoyed your show and the people you have brought on.

00:24:51.640 I was wondering who you have read or listened to about your faith to help you continue down the Catholic path.

00:24:57.720 I'm Catholic, and I really enjoy reading and watching YouTube of Bishop Barron, Peter Kreef, and Scott Hahn.

00:25:02.800 Thanks.

00:25:03.800 Those guys are all great.

00:25:05.260 I can recommend some people in particular.

00:25:07.060 My own priest in New York who will be officiating my wedding next year is Father George Rutler.

00:25:14.520 Ruttler is an amazing guy.

00:25:17.040 I've read a lot of his books and all of his columns in Crisis Magazine.

00:25:21.060 He writes a weekly column, and you can get his homilies online at the Church of St. Michael in NYC.

00:25:27.200 It's in Hell's Kitchen.

00:25:29.660 Rarely does a Sunday go by that I don't read them or listen to them.

00:25:32.860 They are really, really good.

00:25:34.600 He is a really interesting man.

00:25:36.880 You should look up some biographies of him.

00:25:38.500 I think he was Bill Buckley's priest.

00:25:40.440 He's got a long association with the conservative movement and people on the right, and he was a hero of 9-11.

00:25:48.480 He's just a really, really amazing man, and I think his writing, more than basically anybody's, has brought me back to the Catholic faith and to ecumenical Christianity writ large.

00:26:00.240 So I highly recommend reading him.

00:26:01.900 And then, of course, C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton are also great, and unfortunately, only one of those guys has YouTube videos, so you can explore them at your leisure.

00:26:14.040 From Val.

00:26:15.760 Question.

00:26:16.300 Hey, Michael.

00:26:17.000 I was wondering if you could give your opinion on Gen Z and what the post-millennial generation might mean for the conservative movement.

00:26:22.600 Thanks.

00:26:23.100 I love them.

00:26:24.240 They are the best people ever.

00:26:26.700 We had the greatest generation in the 30s and 40s, but they're pretty close.

00:26:31.320 Maybe they'll be better.

00:26:32.060 I don't know.

00:26:32.400 They have a lot of time, and we might be going to war with Korea or something. 0.62

00:26:35.800 They're great.

00:26:36.440 I think my generation, the millennials, grew up and were enamored of Barack Obama.

00:26:41.500 I got to college right when Obama won in 2008, and we just totally fell for this guy.

00:26:47.240 We were a little soft.

00:26:48.920 We were helicopter-parented, participation trophies, all of that.

00:26:52.080 From what I know of Gen Z and the post-millennials, they are reacting to that.

00:26:57.380 I think they see the world a little bit more clearly.

00:26:59.720 They cut through some of the BS and some of the ideological constructs that we were imbued with when we were kids, and I think they're just great, and they should keep on doing it.

00:27:09.660 From Tyler.

00:27:13.000 Question.

00:27:13.620 Knowles of the—oh, I'm sorry.

00:27:15.480 From Tyler.

00:27:16.140 Here's the question.

00:27:16.860 Yo, Mike, will you please answer this phenomenal question?

00:27:20.400 And that's the entire mailbag question, and the answer is yes.

00:27:24.040 From Joe.

00:27:25.320 Question.

00:27:25.820 Knowles of the trolls.

00:27:26.680 You hear a lot of people talk—a lot of talk about how Republicans, and specifically Trump, are the largest threat to our republic. 0.96

00:27:33.300 These comments typically made by people who would rather wipe their tuchus with the Constitution.

00:27:38.440 However, on an international front, there are threats in the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran.

00:27:43.780 Ultimately, the domestic threat of seeing the browns versus the reds in our streets strikes me as most jarring. 1.00

00:27:48.600 What do you think is the largest threat to our great nation?

00:27:51.540 I will read you a poem to answer that.

00:27:54.660 Some say the world will wind up Nazi.

00:27:57.140 Some say liberal fascist.

00:27:59.140 From what I'm told by paparazzi, I hold with those who forecast Nazi. 1.00

00:28:04.400 But if it must return to ashes, I think I've read enough of Marx to know Antifa clashes, always throw off sparks, and also thrashes.

00:28:11.240 I hope that answers your question.

00:28:12.380 From Patrick, question.

00:28:15.320 Do you think the Republican Party will move toward libertarianism, not populism, or rather to the left, in order to survive?

00:28:23.200 A lot of people ask that.

00:28:24.300 How are we going to survive?

00:28:25.100 How are we going to survive in this culture?

00:28:26.380 Because the culture is so against us.

00:28:28.780 We get it from Hollywood.

00:28:29.900 We get it from the mainstream press all the time.

00:28:31.660 We see it in our Facebook feeds with hysterical lefties.

00:28:34.400 But we are winning.

00:28:36.100 If you look at the actual numbers, we are winning so much we're almost sick and tired of winning.

00:28:39.940 We took almost 1,000 seats under Barack Obama's presidency in the state houses.

00:28:44.440 We took 24 out of 32 governorships in those places with Republican state houses, or Republican legislatures, rather.

00:28:51.480 We took the Congress, obviously.

00:28:53.000 We took the Senate.

00:28:53.540 We took the presidency.

00:28:55.100 I think we're doing pretty well.

00:28:57.140 Between libertarianism or conservatism or on those fringes, some people advocate white identity politics,

00:29:03.200 I think what we have to do is always refer back to human dignity and ordered liberty.

00:29:09.140 If we refer back to those foundational principles, I think we can read the American founding documents

00:29:15.800 and the American ideals through them, and we won't go wrong.

00:29:18.680 But we've always got to stay focused on ordered liberty and human dignity.

00:29:22.960 If we do that, I think we're going to just keep on winning.

00:29:26.180 From Cole, dear Mr. Rodham Clinton Knowles, I'm glad that you could reference my cousin.

00:29:30.960 I noticed when you advertise the subscription for the Daily Wire, you don't show off the

00:29:35.120 Leftist Tears mug.

00:29:36.480 Is this because Ben found out that you were related to HRC and won't let you use one?

00:29:40.920 Love the show.

00:29:42.000 My condolences to you for being related to Hillary.

00:29:44.180 That is not the reason.

00:29:45.400 It's actually because Steven Crowder smashed my Leftist Tears Tumblr on his own show.

00:29:50.340 So sad.

00:29:51.580 Another question from Kyle.

00:29:53.640 Master Knowles.

00:29:55.060 A couple of times on the show now, I've heard Roaming Millennial mention that she is hoping

00:29:58.940 to have a family within five years.

00:30:00.840 I think I see where this is going.

00:30:02.640 While I am unsure of the status of her love life, I believe I could help her reach that

00:30:07.320 goal.

00:30:08.180 I am a straight, white, cisgender, conservative male.

00:30:10.560 So long as she can see past all of the privilege and unconscious bias I innately possess, I think

00:30:15.680 we could really make it work.

00:30:16.700 Thanks, Kyle.

00:30:17.600 Kyle, I have said this before and I will say it again.

00:30:20.040 We are auditioning Roaming Millennial to become a sister wife once I get married to sweet 1.00

00:30:25.820 little Elisa, my fiancé, and we start our apocalyptic right-wing polygamous cult. 1.00

00:30:31.320 She's mine.

00:30:32.340 Hands off.

00:30:33.600 From James.

00:30:35.380 Hi, Michael.

00:30:36.080 Do you believe the alt-right's philosophy is similar to the Left's in that it is somewhat

00:30:40.240 of a pseudo-religion?

00:30:41.840 As I believe it was said on yours or Claven's show, the Left prefers the essence of something

00:30:46.580 rather than the content of that thing.

00:30:47.960 I think what you mean is they prefer the appearance or the semblance of something rather than what

00:30:51.700 actually makes it that thing, what animates it.

00:30:53.780 I find it quite sad to quote a great man.

00:30:55.580 Thanks, James.

00:30:56.480 Yeah, I think they're two sides of the same coin.

00:30:58.520 I think they, and I think they would admit that too.

00:31:00.900 They say these identity tactics have been working for the Left for a long time and we're

00:31:04.780 going to start doing it too.

00:31:06.160 This disreputable, dishonorable behavior has been working for the Left.

00:31:09.240 We're going to do it too.

00:31:10.340 So yeah, absolutely.

00:31:11.500 It's on the flip side of the Left.

00:31:12.860 I would say it's a pseudo-religion in that it is an ideology and ideology replaces religion,

00:31:20.040 but it's also pseudo-philosophic.

00:31:22.780 Their ideas really don't hold together.

00:31:25.300 They try to put off this image of logic and philosophical coherence.

00:31:30.660 I don't think they have any of it.

00:31:31.920 I think it's like most modern art.

00:31:33.800 You think it must be profound because the artist tells you that it is, but if you scratch below

00:31:38.960 the surface, you realize it's a bunch of nonsense, and I think there is an essential

00:31:43.400 paradox at the heart of their ideas, which is that they defend Christendom, but they hate 0.85

00:31:47.560 Christianity and they don't practice it.

00:31:49.540 So I definitely discount them as I would discount the Left, and I think we should disregard all

00:31:56.740 of that and just read some books, man, and defend Western civilization and culture in a

00:32:01.860 serious way and in a way that will lead us toward more order, liberty, and human dignity

00:32:06.660 and more winning, winning, winning.

00:32:08.680 Okay, that's enough.

00:32:09.580 It was a rough week.

00:32:10.720 We will be back tomorrow.

00:32:11.900 Join us.

00:32:12.260 Hopefully it will be a better...

00:32:13.360 Oh, I'm sorry.

00:32:13.860 We'll be back on Monday.

00:32:15.160 Hopefully it will be a better week and you can survive the weekend.

00:32:17.720 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:32:18.680 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:32:20.000 Thank you for watching.

00:32:20.800 Thank you.

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00:32:35.860 Thank you.

00:32:36.660 Thank you.

The Michael Knowles Show - August 17, 2017

Ep. 12 - SAD! A Week In Review

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