The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 154 - Barack and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

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00:00:37.580 The winning won't stop.

00:00:40.280 Can't stop, won't stop.

00:00:41.780 Following up on shredding the Iran nuclear deal and freeing American hostages in North Korea,

00:00:46.780 the Trump administration has captured five of the top commanders of ISIS.

00:00:51.320 Plus, we're winning the culture bigly.

00:00:53.240 Then, James O'Keefe talks about his latest sting to take down the teacher unions.

00:00:58.140 Finally, the mailbag.

00:00:59.320 I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:01:08.000 Oh, hello there.

00:01:09.540 Hello.

00:01:09.900 Sorry, I was just catching up on a little light reading.

00:01:12.020 This would be reasons to vote for Democrats, a comprehensive guide.

00:01:15.700 And it's a little, it's so bright.

00:01:17.140 The future is so bright that not only do I have to wear shades, I have to wear my Make America Great Again hat.

00:01:21.640 That's how good this week is.

00:01:23.140 It's, you know, we have so much to get to today.

00:01:25.240 I mean, I'll leave it on.

00:01:25.840 That's fine.

00:01:26.360 We have so much to get to today.

00:01:28.320 So I'm going to have to go through it very quickly because we're also going to be talking to James O'Keefe about a phenomenal sting operation.

00:01:35.600 Basically, you know, all of the journalists in America have stopped doing their job.

00:01:39.480 And so conservative people with video cameras have become the only real journalists.

00:01:43.220 We'll talk to James about that really groundbreaking stuff.

00:01:47.400 You thought it was over.

00:01:48.640 You thought it was all over, didn't you?

00:01:49.760 This week, you thought, okay, we've shredded the Iran nuclear deal.

00:01:53.240 We've returned American hostages from North Korea.

00:01:55.900 We've practically destroyed Barack Obama's legacy.

00:01:59.240 That's enough.

00:02:00.120 That's enough for one week, right?

00:02:01.380 That's enough.

00:02:01.940 No, it isn't enough.

00:02:03.360 Because there's one aspect of Barack Obama's foreign policy legacy that is still sort of standing.

00:02:09.480 And that would be ISIS. 0.78

00:02:10.680 Now that, I'm sorry, what's that?

00:02:14.680 Once I'm trying to finish the show.

00:02:16.000 You see, ISIS is, what, what?

00:02:18.240 Oh, oh, I'm sorry.

00:02:19.760 Five top leaders of ISIS have been captured in a U.S.-Iraqi coalition.

00:02:24.780 Plus, Alwan Al-Ithawi, a top aide to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

00:02:30.760 I can't.

00:02:31.920 This week is like, they should have saved this for the week before the midterm elections.

00:02:36.020 Because it's, it's almost too perfect how these stories have just fallen.

00:02:40.180 So the United States has virtually decapitated ISIS as the cherry on top of Barack Obama's

00:02:45.980 terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

00:02:48.340 For comment, let's turn to former President Barack Obama.

00:02:50.520 It has to be a joke.

00:02:52.280 I do not believe this is happening. 0.53

00:02:54.200 I'm literally about to kill myself and I'm not kidding.

00:02:57.620 You better fix this right now. 0.98

00:03:01.060 I literally am going to die.

00:03:02.520 I need an ambulance.

00:03:03.640 I can't.

00:03:04.640 I know.

00:03:05.360 I'm sorry, Mr. President.

00:03:06.560 I'm sorry.

00:03:07.180 Let's talk to all of, all about this.

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00:04:54.060 Okay, the winning won't stop.

00:04:55.640 We just spoke with the former President Barack Obama.

00:04:58.280 It's been a banner week for Republicans and a brutal one for Democrats.

00:05:01.720 Brutal politically and culturally.

00:05:03.500 So we're going to run through it as quickly as we can before we get to James.

00:05:07.720 Barack Obama created the conditions that led to ISIS taking over Iraq and Syria.

00:05:13.500 Barack Obama then failed to fight ISIS.

00:05:16.780 And Barack Obama then called ISIS the JV team in 2014 to try to downplay it.

00:05:21.960 It's not a big deal.

00:05:22.740 Let me hear it.

00:05:23.160 Let me get some sand and bury my head in it.

00:05:25.060 Here is the exact quote from the former President.

00:05:28.480 President Obama speaking out about America's deadliest enemies.

00:05:31.480 His choice of words getting a lot of attention.

00:05:33.840 In an interview with the New Yorker magazine,

00:05:35.460 it compares groups linked to al-Qaeda to an amateur basketball team.

00:05:40.040 Quote,

00:05:40.840 The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate,

00:05:44.620 is if a JV team, meaning junior varsity team,

00:05:47.800 puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant.

00:05:51.080 End quote.

00:05:52.740 That's Barack Obama.

00:05:53.880 Wants to pretend that he's not referring to ISIS. 0.74

00:05:56.000 I had to take the hat off because I rely on my hair for about four inches of my height.

00:06:00.740 You know, I got some kind of poofy hair, so we had to lose the hat.

00:06:04.160 But it's still living within me.

00:06:05.240 The covfefe is within you.

00:06:08.000 So Obama tried to say,

00:06:09.800 Oh no, I wasn't calling ISIS JV.

00:06:12.500 Oh no, no.

00:06:13.320 Even PolitiFact, even left-leaning PolitiFact,

00:06:15.920 says absolutely he was referring to ISIS.

00:06:18.100 Then Barack Obama starts to call that group ISIS ISIL,

00:06:22.120 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, that whole region.

00:06:25.480 And the reason that they did that, the reason the entire Obama administration called it ISIL

00:06:30.140 when everybody else referred to it as ISIS,

00:06:32.700 is because ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,

00:06:36.440 as it's called in the English-speaking world,

00:06:40.420 ISIS highlights the foreign policy failures of Barack Obama.

00:06:44.280 Barack Obama chose to lose the war in Iraq, which we had already won,

00:06:47.540 chose not to get a status of forces agreement.

00:06:49.600 That country fell apart.

00:06:50.700 ISIS took over.

00:06:51.960 Barack Obama made empty threats in Syria.

00:06:54.380 His foreign policy was utterly bungled, utterly weak.

00:06:57.400 He wouldn't enforce red lines.

00:06:59.080 And Syria fell to ISIS.

00:07:01.000 So even the word ISIS might as well be called

00:07:03.940 the Islamic State of all of Barack Obama's failures. 0.84

00:07:06.860 So they couldn't do that.

00:07:07.680 They had to try to change the name.

00:07:09.020 But a rose by any other name,

00:07:10.860 and an Islamic militant group by any other name,

00:07:13.580 is just as deadly and just as,

00:07:16.480 must be taken care of just as much.

00:07:18.840 So, that JV team that Barack Obama referred to,

00:07:22.660 they didn't do anything right.

00:07:23.680 They're not Kobe Bryant.

00:07:24.580 They didn't, except they killed 38 Europeans at a Tunisian resort. 0.86

00:07:27.860 They bombed Turkey, killed 33.

00:07:29.360 Tunisia again, killed 24 foreign tourists.

00:07:32.120 Crashed a Russian flight, killed 224 people on that.

00:07:35.260 Bombed Ankara, bombed Beirut, slaughtered 130 in Paris,

00:07:38.380 slaughtered 86 in Nice, killed 12 in Berlin,

00:07:40.940 bombed the Manchester Arena in the UK.

00:07:42.820 That's not even a fraction of the attacks that ISIS has caused.

00:07:46.080 But the Obama says, no, it's JV, it's JV.

00:07:49.060 Hey, don't look, hey, don't look over there.

00:07:50.800 Don't believe your lion eyes.

00:07:52.260 Don't, no, no, no, they're not, they're not a threat.

00:07:54.160 So the Obama administration did very, very little to stop them.

00:07:59.000 Then in comes Donald Trump.

00:08:00.920 And the other Republican candidates campaigned on this,

00:08:03.360 probably Donald Trump more than anybody.

00:08:05.040 He campaigned on utterly destroying ISIS.

00:08:08.100 Then when he became president, he empowered the military to do it.

00:08:11.040 He routed ISIS out of its geographic stronghold last year.

00:08:14.060 Now he's basically decapitated the entire organization.

00:08:18.220 It's interesting that they're reporting on the five ISIS commanders that we've captured.

00:08:22.580 You know, Obama liked to just drone them out of the sky because it's relatively risk-free,

00:08:27.660 but it's much better to capture them so that you can get intelligence out of them.

00:08:31.300 Nevertheless, it's much more politically risky because if one of your

00:08:34.860 servicemen is shot or killed, it carries political risk.

00:08:38.760 So Obama went for the easy way out.

00:08:40.320 And the Trump administration has gone in and captured five of these people.

00:08:44.180 But the number is actually six because we also captured a top aide to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,

00:08:49.540 the leader of ISIS.

00:08:50.820 So why is the five number important here?

00:08:53.460 You might recall that Barack Obama released the Taliban five, I think they were called, right? 1.00

00:08:58.860 These five Islamic militants.

00:09:00.700 He just released them out of Gitmo for no reason at all.

00:09:03.400 He just released them so that he could try to close down Guantanamo Bay.

00:09:06.540 Very dangerous people who can be back on the battlefield. 0.94

00:09:09.000 He released five Muslim terrorists. 1.00

00:09:12.420 Donald Trump captures five Muslim terrorists. 0.80

00:09:14.420 But really it's six because the United States and Iraq captured a top aide. 0.94

00:09:19.940 Then he used that top aide to lure out five of his little buddies,

00:09:23.380 among whom were the head of a major ISIS territory and the head of ISIS internal security.

00:09:28.080 So much for internal security.

00:09:29.960 Guess that guy wasn't so good at his job.

00:09:32.180 He's like the Barack Obama of internal security organizations, right?

00:09:35.820 He just didn't, didn't quite do it right.

00:09:37.640 Didn't, didn't live up to his job.

00:09:39.620 This is the classic dichotomy we've seen in the last year and a half.

00:09:43.260 Barack Obama says something can't be done.

00:09:45.800 Barack Obama's administration can't do it.

00:09:48.000 Donald Trump completely does it within a year and a half.

00:09:50.900 Speaking of places where Obama failed and Trump succeeded,

00:09:53.760 last night Donald Trump showed up to greet the hostages that his administration freed from North Korea.

00:09:59.420 Here's President Trump and the hostages.

00:10:01.580 They are really three incredible people.

00:10:04.440 And the fact that we were able to get them out so soon was really a tribute to a lot of things,

00:10:11.200 including a certain process that's taking place right now.

00:10:15.840 And that process is very important.

00:10:17.820 So we will see what happens.

00:10:19.660 We have a meeting scheduled in a very short period of time.

00:10:22.920 You'll be hearing about it soon.

00:10:24.780 We have the location set.

00:10:27.120 And we will see if we can do something that people did not think was going to happen for many, many years.

00:10:34.360 And a lot of bad things could have happened in between.

00:10:38.000 So I just want to say this is a special night for these three really great people.

00:10:45.040 And congratulations on being in this country.

00:10:48.980 Thank you.

00:10:49.300 Thank you so much.

00:10:49.900 Congratulations on being in this country because being in this country is a great, great thing.

00:10:56.360 And the people who have been deprived of that know that,

00:10:58.840 even if Americans particularly who wear those pink hats and screech and shout, 0.93

00:11:03.400 even if they don't fully appreciate it.

00:11:04.880 President Trump says that really bad things could have happened.

00:11:07.620 I think what he's referring to is Hillary Clinton could have been elected president.

00:11:10.760 And then we wouldn't be seeing these hostages home.

00:11:12.920 Very low probability that we would have.

00:11:15.080 Something I noted too, or I noticed, but I forgot to note yesterday.

00:11:19.900 This happened at 2 a.m.

00:11:21.500 Donald Trump met them at 2 a.m. when they got off their airplane.

00:11:25.560 And he wrote about this.

00:11:26.620 He tweeted, I'm going to be there at 2 a.m.

00:11:28.040 I'm going to show up at 2 a.m.

00:11:29.040 He's all full of energy at 2 a.m.

00:11:31.920 Donald Trump is a media manipulator.

00:11:34.240 He knows what he's doing in the media.

00:11:35.960 This is not to say he's metternich and playing 25-dimensional chess,

00:11:39.620 but he really knows what he's doing in the media.

00:11:41.060 This 2 a.m. thing is a snub at Hillary Clinton. 1.00

00:11:43.820 Because for years Hillary Clinton said,

00:11:45.640 who do you want to answer the phone at 3 a.m.?

00:11:47.660 Who do you want? 0.96

00:11:48.160 That's me.

00:11:48.580 I'm going to answer the phone at 3 a.m., right?

00:11:50.560 Of course, when she was called at 3 a.m. in Benghazi

00:11:54.360 and when she lost the election, she didn't pick up.

00:11:56.200 But what Donald Trump is saying is 2 a.m.,

00:11:58.720 2 a.m. at the middle of the night happened.

00:12:00.140 I'm here.

00:12:00.900 The hostages have all thanked Donald Trump.

00:12:03.060 Imagine, imagine that you are,

00:12:05.160 one of these hostages was held for a pretty long time.

00:12:07.820 And some of the other ones are more recently, 2017 and afterward.

00:12:11.800 One of the hostages, Kim Dong-chul,

00:12:14.200 was arrested in October 2015,

00:12:16.380 sentenced to 10 years of hard labor.

00:12:19.060 Imagine, just imagine this.

00:12:20.860 You are Kim Dong-chul. 0.61

00:12:22.460 You've been in a North Korean prison since 2015.

00:12:25.720 Then some guy named Mike Pompeo shows up

00:12:27.940 and he says, you're coming back to America.

00:12:30.180 You've been in prison now for three years.

00:12:32.720 And this guy, Mike, who are you?

00:12:33.840 Mike Pompeo, oh, I'm the CIA director.

00:12:35.480 Oh, yeah, okay.

00:12:36.300 Who's the president?

00:12:37.160 Who's the president?

00:12:37.700 Who got me freed of this prison?

00:12:40.700 Donald Trump.

00:12:42.100 I, it would send me, 0.98

00:12:43.320 his head must have exploded.

00:12:44.720 What do you say?

00:12:45.460 I'm clearly, I died in prison.

00:12:47.400 I clearly am in a fantasy land right now.

00:12:50.280 Unbelievable.

00:12:51.280 We will get to what this means for Barack Obama

00:12:53.660 in just one second.

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00:14:48.660 Barack Obama actually admitted

00:14:50.720 that his administration is terrible on hostages.

00:14:53.480 You have to realize right now

00:14:55.000 all the mainstream media wants to do

00:14:56.460 is cover up, cover up, cover up

00:14:58.600 all of the terrible Obama administration

00:15:02.100 and how good Donald Trump's been.

00:15:04.520 Fortunately, we have tape.

00:15:06.400 Barack Obama said,

00:15:07.940 quote,

00:15:08.400 It is true that there have been times

00:15:09.960 where our government,

00:15:10.920 regardless of good intentions,

00:15:12.260 has let them down,

00:15:13.720 meaning prisoners overseas and hostages.

00:15:16.380 I promised them that we can do better.

00:15:18.480 But you didn't do better, Barack.

00:15:19.780 You didn't do better.

00:15:20.640 Donald Trump did better.

00:15:21.580 You made a mess.

00:15:22.140 He cleaned it up.

00:15:23.500 We've talked about Iran.

00:15:24.840 There's much more to talk about with Iran.

00:15:26.700 We'll have to save that for next week.

00:15:28.040 Before we get to James,

00:15:28.840 I just want to mention one little bit

00:15:30.040 on the culture,

00:15:31.100 a word on the culture right now.

00:15:32.800 So maybe you're familiar

00:15:33.640 with the website ClickHole.

00:15:35.460 ClickHole is,

00:15:36.380 it's one of these sites like The Onion.

00:15:37.800 It's a satire site,

00:15:39.240 kind of the news and all that.

00:15:40.300 It's like The Onion of BuzzFeed.

00:15:42.940 It's one of these internet satire sites, right?

00:15:44.780 This is a barometer of the culture.

00:15:46.940 ClickHole has launched a new website

00:15:48.580 called Resistance Hole.

00:15:50.300 And some of the headlines on it are,

00:15:52.180 Mr. Drumpf,

00:15:53.560 your newest nightmare is a website

00:15:55.520 called Resistance Hole.

00:15:57.140 And the whole site is parodying

00:15:59.060 the left-wing resistance,

00:16:01.120 the anti-Trump crowd on the left.

00:16:03.060 They're ridiculing them 1.00

00:16:04.460 because those people are ridiculous. 0.99

00:16:06.280 One of these articles goes, 0.99

00:16:07.720 for too long, Mr. President,

00:16:09.080 you've been destroying our country

00:16:10.300 from the inside out 0.96

00:16:11.120 with your lies and your treasons 0.97

00:16:13.440 and most shameful of all, 0.99

00:16:15.220 your rude tweets.

00:16:16.840 It's perfectly understanding

00:16:18.180 that the left

00:16:18.900 and part of the pearl-clutching right

00:16:20.880 is they're getting all worked up

00:16:22.860 over these little tweets,

00:16:24.020 over these little social faux pas.

00:16:26.380 This would not be,

00:16:27.180 look, if this were a conservative website

00:16:28.520 that we're doing it,

00:16:29.420 I'd say it's funny satire,

00:16:31.060 but not a big deal.

00:16:32.620 This is a totally mainstream satire website.

00:16:35.780 Look, we've seen Kanye West

00:16:37.240 shift the culture massively,

00:16:39.720 the pop culture massively,

00:16:41.020 in an openness to free thought,

00:16:42.620 in an openness to the Republican president.

00:16:45.420 We've seen the effect of that

00:16:48.160 on public polling,

00:16:49.120 major moves in opinion polling.

00:16:51.200 But this is the mainstream cracking

00:16:54.340 and finally saying,

00:16:55.600 look, those people in the pink hats 0.99

00:16:56.840 are ridiculous. 1.00

00:16:58.240 We have to make fun of them. 0.99

00:16:59.680 Another headline on the website,

00:17:01.280 game over, Trump.

00:17:02.360 An ancient order of Franciscan monks

00:17:04.860 has released a 13th century tapestry

00:17:07.360 depicting Donald Trump

00:17:08.760 colluding with the Russians.

00:17:12.160 That's funny 0.94

00:17:13.020 because the left has become insane

00:17:15.220 with this Russia conspiracy theory.

00:17:17.600 They've been running with it forever 0.98

00:17:18.780 and now it is ridiculous. 0.91

00:17:21.100 You're seeing the culture crack. 0.52

00:17:22.500 This is a really, really good move.

00:17:24.340 This is as important

00:17:25.760 as any story you're reading

00:17:27.080 in politics this week

00:17:28.040 because politics is downstream of culture

00:17:30.000 and this is a harbinger

00:17:31.280 of good things to come.

00:17:32.840 You know, they have another one too.

00:17:34.020 They have one making fun of the right too.

00:17:35.400 It's called Patriot Hole.

00:17:36.580 But there are always websites

00:17:38.260 making fun of the right.

00:17:39.440 That there is now

00:17:40.160 a basically left-wing publication

00:17:41.720 mocking the left.

00:17:43.140 That's phenomenal.

00:17:43.920 That is a great, great news.

00:17:45.520 We're joined now by James O'Keefe.

00:17:47.640 I spoke with James a couple days ago

00:17:49.880 about this incredible video of his.

00:17:51.940 Here's the latest sting operation

00:17:53.520 from Project Veritas.

00:17:54.920 Great journalists who go

00:17:56.400 and expose left-wing organizations

00:17:58.540 when the mainstream media won't do it.

00:18:00.000 Here is part of his latest video.

00:18:08.340 I got people who want drugs

00:18:10.420 and she five times was fired 1.00

00:18:12.660 and I got her job back five times.

00:18:14.680 But it's my job.

00:18:15.960 It's almost like being a priest.

00:18:17.540 It's my job to protect.

00:18:19.020 Listen, if you hit the kid,

00:18:20.160 you hit the kid.

00:18:20.900 It is what it is.

00:18:21.680 He needs to not tell a soul about this.

00:18:26.260 Nobody.

00:18:27.520 If this, that nobody brings it up from school,

00:18:30.000 I don't say boo.

00:18:32.040 Okay?

00:18:32.440 So after a certain point,

00:18:33.840 the camera is like erased.

00:18:36.420 Exactly.

00:18:36.900 That's why I would never want to bring it up.

00:18:38.500 The longer we wait,

00:18:39.300 the longer there's no camera.

00:18:40.660 Oh, that makes sense.

00:18:41.560 If you go to the Hamilton Board of Education

00:18:43.260 and report this,

00:18:44.540 they're going to call the police

00:18:45.620 and they're going to call parents

00:18:46.440 and all that.

00:18:47.360 We don't do that.

00:18:48.620 We don't do that here.

00:18:49.400 I'm here to defend

00:18:50.420 even the worst people.

00:18:52.680 But I don't want them coming here

00:18:54.680 with a bunch of lies.

00:18:55.380 I need to know the truth

00:18:56.240 so that we can bend the truth,

00:18:58.120 so that we can bend the truth.

00:19:00.880 So that's a president

00:19:02.220 of a teacher association

00:19:03.540 of a teacher union in New Jersey.

00:19:06.640 Let's cut now to my interview

00:19:08.100 with James O'Keefe.

00:19:09.040 He's a leader on this sort of interview,

00:19:12.160 this sort of undercover journalism.

00:19:14.160 Really cool stuff.

00:19:14.880 Let's go to James.

00:19:16.080 James, thank you for being here.

00:19:17.820 Great to be with you.

00:19:18.560 So, James, by sheer coincidence

00:19:20.920 or perhaps divine providence,

00:19:23.060 we are recording this interview

00:19:24.960 on Teacher Appreciation Day.

00:19:27.460 And this is a beautiful irony

00:19:28.800 because the teachers unions

00:19:30.300 do not appreciate you very much right now.

00:19:33.760 We know the Hamilton Teachers

00:19:35.700 Education Association president,

00:19:37.860 David Perry,

00:19:38.920 says that his job is to bend the truth

00:19:41.180 to defend the worst people

00:19:43.920 from allegations of physical abuse,

00:19:46.340 verbal threats against students.

00:19:47.860 He admits to lying.

00:19:49.480 He admits to violating state law

00:19:51.800 and school policy.

00:19:53.440 And we only know this

00:19:54.640 because your outfit,

00:19:55.840 Project Veritas,

00:19:56.920 did an undercover investigation 0.97

00:19:58.460 to expose these corrupt leeches on society. 0.96

00:20:03.640 James, my first question, 1.00

00:20:05.180 do you have cojones made of steel or titanium? 0.98

00:20:08.220 How do you have the guts 0.98

00:20:09.900 to go up against some pretty bad hombres like this?

00:20:13.560 And what sort of backlash do you get

00:20:15.680 when you release your investigations?

00:20:17.860 How much time do you have?

00:20:19.480 I wrote, I talk about this ad nauseum

00:20:21.860 in my book, American Pravda,

00:20:23.240 but I mean, there's two types of courage

00:20:25.120 to fight a war.

00:20:25.940 As von Klausowitz argued,

00:20:27.600 there is the physical courage

00:20:28.820 to sort of, you know,

00:20:30.260 walk up the hill with a bayonet

00:20:31.540 and then there's moral courage.

00:20:32.780 And it's not me

00:20:33.760 as much as it is my team,

00:20:35.580 our brave cadre of undercover journalists

00:20:37.720 who spent a lot of time in the field

00:20:39.560 exposing these crooks and fraudsters.

00:20:41.820 But this is an unbelievable

00:20:43.600 and truly extraordinary series of events.

00:20:47.040 Two teachers union presidents

00:20:48.740 have been suspended.

00:20:50.280 The Democrat governor of New Jersey

00:20:52.260 and the Democrat president

00:20:53.560 of the state Senate of New Jersey

00:20:54.940 have both praised me and Project Veritas.

00:20:58.220 I am not making that up.

00:20:59.980 Two Democrats have praised Project Veritas.

00:21:02.340 You heard that right.

00:21:03.440 Calling for bipartisan legislative hearings

00:21:06.260 over situations in these tapes

00:21:08.780 where the president of these unions,

00:21:10.880 Kathleen Valencia, was the other person.

00:21:12.900 She was actually talking

00:21:13.860 about an actual incident,

00:21:15.600 not my undercover hypothetical,

00:21:17.500 an actual incident

00:21:18.720 where they actually protected a teacher 0.89

00:21:21.400 who had sex with a teenage girl student. 0.93

00:21:23.380 And she said, 0.98

00:21:24.340 we protected their pension.

00:21:25.780 Nobody went to jail.

00:21:26.660 David Perry said he protected shoplifters,

00:21:29.280 drug abusing teachers.

00:21:30.400 He said, it's my job to defend

00:21:32.020 the worst of the worst.

00:21:32.960 And yes, this is sort of the Abu Grave

00:21:35.120 of the great society

00:21:36.220 that for so long,

00:21:37.600 this organization has never been challenged.

00:21:39.760 It's power tends to corrupt

00:21:41.240 and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

00:21:43.500 And if you question,

00:21:44.320 if you take one penny,

00:21:45.900 if you even dare to hold them accountable,

00:21:48.120 you hate the children.

00:21:49.660 So what you have is a,

00:21:50.680 you have a system

00:21:52.180 that has resisted any accountability

00:21:54.720 and has become systemically corrupt.

00:21:56.820 And don't take my word for it.

00:21:58.500 Dave Perry, who's been suspended,

00:22:00.520 president of the Trenton area

00:22:02.040 teachers union in New Jersey there,

00:22:04.120 says that that is my job

00:22:05.980 to defend the worst of the worst.

00:22:07.880 And it just gets,

00:22:08.520 I mean, I can't make this up.

00:22:09.560 We just got a restraining order

00:22:10.760 overturned against us

00:22:12.220 in the state of Michigan.

00:22:13.500 Randy, an hour ago,

00:22:15.060 this is breaking news,

00:22:16.060 Randy Weingarten,

00:22:16.860 head of the AFT,

00:22:17.660 that's the American Federation of Teachers

00:22:18.940 in Michigan,

00:22:19.580 has now been overruled

00:22:21.660 by a federal judge.

00:22:22.700 And we are releasing

00:22:23.780 part three tomorrow morning.

00:22:25.840 This is incredible work

00:22:27.260 because with regard

00:22:29.040 to these teachers unions

00:22:30.100 in particular,

00:22:31.260 it's this awful confluence

00:22:33.200 of factors.

00:22:34.380 Samuel Gomper is a great

00:22:35.760 champion of labor.

00:22:36.680 FDR, a communist by my lights,

00:22:39.900 you know,

00:22:40.140 is certainly a champion of labor.

00:22:42.620 Both of these men

00:22:43.880 said that it would be absurd

00:22:45.440 to have government unions,

00:22:47.660 to have public sector unions,

00:22:49.100 because it's totally different

00:22:50.940 than a private sector union.

00:22:52.340 You have the government

00:22:53.160 negotiating with itself.

00:22:54.760 So there's no incentive

00:22:55.960 to balance each other out.

00:22:58.160 There's no incentive

00:22:58.800 to keep costs down

00:23:00.000 or to root out the bad people.

00:23:01.920 You're, it's the government

00:23:03.720 just negotiating

00:23:04.580 with the government.

00:23:05.200 When you add to that

00:23:06.480 with the teachers union case,

00:23:08.280 that you have these children

00:23:09.660 that you can demagogue,

00:23:10.980 that you can say,

00:23:11.640 if you oppose us,

00:23:12.720 you hate the kids, 0.90

00:23:13.500 just as you say.

00:23:14.580 You have this huge opportunity

00:23:16.820 for corruption.

00:23:19.280 What forced you,

00:23:21.500 what made you set your sights

00:23:23.020 on this teacher union?

00:23:24.380 And with all of the events

00:23:26.000 that have transpired

00:23:26.700 since your investigation,

00:23:28.400 do you think we're turning

00:23:29.760 a corner with teachers unions

00:23:32.000 in this country

00:23:32.560 and with public sector unions broadly?

00:23:35.340 I think we're experiencing

00:23:36.680 a great awakening,

00:23:37.700 as they say,

00:23:38.840 on social media.

00:23:40.220 I think people are waking up.

00:23:42.060 People are getting woke,

00:23:42.980 however you want to say it.

00:23:44.380 I think things are happening.

00:23:45.420 Kanye certainly is.

00:23:46.040 Kanye is saying that.

00:23:47.100 I think people are seeing the,

00:23:48.920 I mean,

00:23:49.240 St. Augustine said,

00:23:50.260 the truth is like a lie

00:23:51.260 and you just sort of let it out.

00:23:52.900 I believe in video

00:23:53.800 because I don't think

00:23:54.560 words matter anymore.

00:23:55.460 I think if I did

00:23:56.600 what Ronan Farrow did

00:23:57.580 and Jane Meyer

00:23:58.160 and I wrote an article

00:23:58.920 with sources,

00:23:59.640 no one would believe me.

00:24:00.300 They'd call me a criminal.

00:24:01.080 They'd call me a liar.

00:24:02.140 People would dismiss it.

00:24:03.300 We have them on videotape

00:24:05.080 and even the,

00:24:06.200 I mean,

00:24:06.360 this is truly extraordinary

00:24:07.980 in New Jersey,

00:24:09.480 which is,

00:24:10.100 I mean,

00:24:10.220 these are no right wingers.

00:24:11.360 The president

00:24:11.800 of the state Senate,

00:24:13.260 Sweeney is his name,

00:24:14.720 said that giving

00:24:15.480 the public employee unions,

00:24:16.900 and remember,

00:24:17.220 these guys are supposed to,

00:24:18.320 they're in bed

00:24:18.740 with the public employee unions.

00:24:20.300 Sweeney says,

00:24:21.180 letting the NJEA,

00:24:22.560 that's the education

00:24:23.320 association there in New Jersey,

00:24:24.520 investigate itself

00:24:25.420 is like the fox

00:24:26.720 guarding the hen house.

00:24:27.920 His words,

00:24:28.500 not mine.

00:24:29.540 So the power

00:24:30.340 of cinema verite,

00:24:31.660 that is,

00:24:32.300 and I hope your program

00:24:33.240 plays some of these bits

00:24:34.400 because they're just unbelievable.

00:24:36.160 They're actually talking

00:24:37.120 about bending the truth.

00:24:39.760 If you hit the kid,

00:24:40.720 you hit the kid.

00:24:41.280 It looks like

00:24:42.000 out of a Sopranos episode,

00:24:43.540 the sorts of things

00:24:44.280 these guys are saying.

00:24:45.420 I mean,

00:24:45.760 it's so powerful

00:24:46.800 and it's so manifestly damning

00:24:48.580 and hashtag

00:24:49.360 Me Too movement,

00:24:50.840 especially in light

00:24:51.540 of this

00:24:51.900 attorney general

00:24:53.220 of New York

00:24:53.580 resigning.

00:24:54.520 And there's more coming

00:24:55.480 and now they're issuing

00:24:56.260 restraining orders.

00:24:57.320 They're issuing

00:24:57.740 restraining orders

00:24:58.480 against me

00:24:59.000 from releasing.

00:25:00.400 You can't make this stuff up.

00:25:01.980 I mean,

00:25:02.300 have you ever heard

00:25:03.300 of an organization

00:25:05.240 issuing a restraining order

00:25:06.720 against a journalist?

00:25:08.120 Well,

00:25:08.320 you pose a real threat,

00:25:09.600 James.

00:25:10.000 CNN doesn't pose a threat,

00:25:11.300 but you do.

00:25:12.760 I know.

00:25:13.060 And I know that we're hated.

00:25:15.500 I know they write a lot

00:25:16.160 of nasty things about us.

00:25:18.080 I know that my Wikipedia page

00:25:19.700 has like 500 citations,

00:25:21.980 you know,

00:25:22.360 that I'm a criminal 0.85

00:25:23.420 and a hoaxster.

00:25:24.380 But at the end of the day

00:25:25.340 and the final analysis,

00:25:26.660 these two presidents

00:25:27.700 of the teachers unions

00:25:29.100 have been suspended

00:25:30.280 and the governor

00:25:32.020 of New Jersey

00:25:32.780 is calling for hearings.

00:25:34.020 And Randy Weingarten

00:25:35.200 is very scared

00:25:36.200 of what we're going

00:25:37.220 to release tomorrow

00:25:37.780 because tomorrow,

00:25:38.640 and now I can say this

00:25:39.640 because the judge

00:25:40.340 has lifted the restraining order,

00:25:41.740 tomorrow we have

00:25:42.480 the documents.

00:25:43.160 That's right.

00:25:43.820 We have the documents

00:25:44.740 from their filing cabinets

00:25:46.080 and we're going

00:25:46.820 to release them tomorrow.

00:25:47.880 We never,

00:25:48.260 we never signed

00:25:49.000 a non-disclosure agreement.

00:25:50.100 We broke no laws.

00:25:51.740 We've got many lawyers

00:25:52.740 at Project Veritas.

00:25:53.560 We pay a lot of money

00:25:54.340 for all these lawyers.

00:25:55.440 We broke no laws.

00:25:56.420 We have video.

00:25:57.580 We have sources.

00:25:58.780 We have documents.

00:25:59.980 We have undercover footage

00:26:01.220 inside of the office

00:26:02.200 and it will break

00:26:03.500 tomorrow morning

00:26:04.360 at 7 a.m.,

00:26:05.340 8 a.m.

00:26:06.220 Eastern time.

00:26:07.320 We will break that video

00:26:08.220 that Randy Waring

00:26:08.920 did not want you to see.

00:26:10.500 And I think

00:26:10.880 to answer your question,

00:26:11.680 I think we're experiencing

00:26:12.620 a great awakening.

00:26:13.680 I think people

00:26:14.300 are waking up.

00:26:15.440 I think people

00:26:16.000 are realizing

00:26:16.640 that this is what happens

00:26:17.760 when you have a media

00:26:18.580 and it's criminal

00:26:19.300 what the media

00:26:20.380 is doing in this country,

00:26:21.940 not reporting

00:26:23.100 on sacred cows

00:26:24.240 because they like

00:26:25.200 the idea of them.

00:26:26.260 I assume you're talking

00:26:27.060 about Hillary.

00:26:27.920 That's the sacred cow 0.99

00:26:28.800 you're talking about.

00:26:30.300 There are other

00:26:30.940 sacred cows as well.

00:26:32.260 Many sacred cows.

00:26:33.420 Absolutely.

00:26:34.220 Well, you bring up

00:26:35.240 this point about

00:26:36.140 video versus print

00:26:37.980 and it's true.

00:26:38.980 If you went out

00:26:39.580 and first of all,

00:26:40.420 if you tried to sell

00:26:41.280 a piece to the New York

00:26:42.940 or Vanity Fair

00:26:43.860 or say,

00:26:44.260 laugh you out of the room,

00:26:45.100 but Ronan Farrow

00:26:47.980 has done good journalism

00:26:49.160 and he's covered

00:26:50.100 these things

00:26:50.600 but he's one

00:26:51.440 of the lefties.

00:26:52.120 He's one of them

00:26:52.860 that let him in

00:26:53.960 even if he's going

00:26:54.720 after Harvey Weinstein.

00:26:56.240 He's got plenty

00:26:56.720 of left cred.

00:26:57.280 He had a show

00:26:58.400 on MSNBC.

00:26:59.540 He's from show business.

00:27:00.680 His father probably

00:27:01.880 is Frank Sinatra

00:27:02.580 if we're all being honest

00:27:03.360 but he comes from

00:27:04.540 that world

00:27:05.180 and you do not.

00:27:06.700 They'll blackball you there. 0.99

00:27:08.560 So what you do,

00:27:09.380 you put out the video.

00:27:10.800 You put out video

00:27:11.720 that is undeniable.

00:27:13.720 Who are you going

00:27:14.360 to believe?

00:27:14.640 Believe me

00:27:14.920 or your lion eyes.

00:27:16.200 You've got the video

00:27:17.280 right there

00:27:17.860 and what do they say?

00:27:19.440 They say,

00:27:19.980 oh, that's deceptively edited.

00:27:22.780 That's the euphemism

00:27:23.680 they use.

00:27:24.600 They say,

00:27:25.200 oh, don't believe

00:27:26.020 your lion eyes.

00:27:27.100 That's deceptively edited.

00:27:28.580 Well, so are

00:27:29.100 when you put words together

00:27:30.320 in a magazine article,

00:27:31.520 they're actually

00:27:32.000 selectively edited together.

00:27:33.680 That's right.

00:27:34.240 It's hyperbole.

00:27:35.100 How do you tell a story

00:27:36.120 without putting together

00:27:37.980 concepts and words?

00:27:39.880 But video is different.

00:27:41.100 Video is a time slice

00:27:42.320 of reality.

00:27:42.980 In fact,

00:27:43.700 the Perry video

00:27:44.360 is 20 minutes long

00:27:45.480 of like a 25-minute interview.

00:27:47.260 We only cut out

00:27:48.260 the bathroom break

00:27:49.180 and getting out of the car.

00:27:50.620 And even if we didn't

00:27:51.400 make a single cut,

00:27:52.260 they'd still say,

00:27:53.120 but he came,

00:27:54.100 he went back

00:27:54.740 into the office.

00:27:55.540 They'll always make up

00:27:56.640 some obfuscation attempt.

00:27:59.400 But in the final analysis,

00:28:00.460 these people have been suspended.

00:28:01.720 And I think that's the power.

00:28:03.000 Video transfixes in a way

00:28:04.640 that words don't.

00:28:05.820 And the power of the truth

00:28:06.840 is it doesn't need

00:28:07.540 to be explained.

00:28:08.340 You know,

00:28:08.820 what we do is

00:28:09.460 we expose the great lies,

00:28:11.980 the great,

00:28:12.840 and there's a thousand people

00:28:14.360 investigating

00:28:14.980 the National Rifle Association

00:28:16.560 and nobody looking

00:28:17.740 into the public employee unions

00:28:19.100 with trillions of dollars

00:28:20.520 of unfunded liabilities

00:28:21.780 with child abuse.

00:28:23.200 And if you're

00:28:23.700 a mathematician out there,

00:28:24.820 so we didn't visit

00:28:25.500 every office.

00:28:26.120 We visited

00:28:26.600 a very tiny fraction of them.

00:28:28.280 And we caught

00:28:29.080 two presidents

00:28:29.960 of the teachers union

00:28:30.960 talking about

00:28:31.880 covering up child abuse.

00:28:33.540 Well, just do

00:28:33.980 basic confidence interval.

00:28:35.240 Do basic statistics.

00:28:36.240 How many hundreds

00:28:37.300 of presidents

00:28:38.000 of the teachers unions

00:28:39.060 out there

00:28:39.560 covered up child abuse?

00:28:41.280 And that's why

00:28:42.180 I don't think

00:28:42.980 they're going to attack us anymore.

00:28:44.640 I think you're actually

00:28:45.660 going to see,

00:28:46.780 and mark my words,

00:28:48.140 because tomorrow

00:28:48.800 is our next video,

00:28:50.000 you are actually going

00:28:51.260 to see people

00:28:51.980 change their minds

00:28:52.720 on the issue.

00:28:53.920 I wouldn't be surprised

00:28:55.420 because your work

00:28:56.600 has quite a large effect.

00:28:59.100 And that point,

00:29:00.500 you know,

00:29:00.760 with the NRA,

00:29:01.420 the NRA exists

00:29:03.100 to protect

00:29:03.720 my constitutionally

00:29:04.720 protected civil rights,

00:29:05.860 to defend those civil rights.

00:29:07.340 And they have

00:29:08.040 all the dogs

00:29:08.800 going after them.

00:29:09.600 The entire mainstream

00:29:10.440 media apparatus

00:29:11.160 are going after them.

00:29:12.320 Meanwhile,

00:29:13.020 the teachers unions

00:29:13.940 are what should be

00:29:15.120 an illegal entity,

00:29:16.660 an entity that even FDR,

00:29:19.120 as left wing

00:29:19.840 and consequential president

00:29:21.320 as FDR,

00:29:22.520 said should never exist.

00:29:24.240 And those guys

00:29:25.080 are absolutely

00:29:26.140 burglarizing our wallets.

00:29:28.080 They're bankrupting

00:29:28.920 our future.

00:29:29.640 And they get off

00:29:30.540 scot-free.

00:29:32.420 You've done

00:29:33.100 a lot of these

00:29:33.740 investigations

00:29:34.400 and they've

00:29:35.600 turned the corner

00:29:36.960 on a lot of issues.

00:29:38.220 You've gone after

00:29:39.320 Planned Parenthood.

00:29:40.120 You've gone after

00:29:40.740 ACORN.

00:29:42.280 If you had to pick

00:29:43.920 some of your favorite

00:29:44.920 or the most consequential

00:29:46.100 or the ones

00:29:46.780 you're happiest

00:29:47.360 you went after,

00:29:48.300 the best enemies

00:29:49.100 you could have,

00:29:50.020 what do you think

00:29:50.860 they would be?

00:29:52.980 Well,

00:29:53.660 Churchill said

00:29:54.660 that if you're

00:29:55.700 making enemies,

00:29:56.380 it means you've

00:29:56.860 stood for something.

00:29:57.720 I think that

00:29:58.300 to address that part of it,

00:30:00.380 I think,

00:30:00.860 as Rush Limbaugh

00:30:01.660 has said,

00:30:02.580 to be hated

00:30:03.320 is a difficult

00:30:04.620 thing for people

00:30:05.760 to get over.

00:30:06.520 But I think

00:30:07.280 in this day and age

00:30:07.980 to be hated

00:30:08.480 is a sign of respect

00:30:09.540 and a sign of success.

00:30:10.760 And those are two

00:30:11.440 very good cigar-smoking

00:30:12.820 conservative men

00:30:13.640 too.

00:30:14.060 Both of them.

00:30:14.320 They both share

00:30:15.920 that in common.

00:30:16.800 But I think

00:30:17.260 that's one of the things

00:30:18.060 that people always ask us

00:30:19.260 at Project Veritas

00:30:19.960 is,

00:30:20.700 oh my god,

00:30:21.280 you go through

00:30:21.940 so much despised

00:30:24.140 from the mainstream media.

00:30:25.100 People hate you so much.

00:30:26.000 And I would say

00:30:26.340 that that's the toughest

00:30:27.540 thing to psychologically

00:30:28.480 get used to

00:30:29.820 that is to be hated

00:30:31.440 for exposing reality.

00:30:33.520 I would say

00:30:33.920 the thing we're most proud

00:30:34.800 of is probably

00:30:35.420 the investigation we did.

00:30:37.260 I would say

00:30:37.620 the two ones

00:30:38.200 that we're most proud

00:30:39.060 of here,

00:30:39.720 the recent one

00:30:41.240 on Twitter

00:30:41.720 exposing shadow banning

00:30:43.520 and getting Twitter

00:30:45.180 lobbyists grilled

00:30:46.300 before Congress

00:30:47.060 about them shadow banning people.

00:30:48.580 I think that's a big deal

00:30:49.280 because I think

00:30:49.680 the social media companies

00:30:50.600 have become

00:30:51.000 the big trusts

00:30:52.440 of the early 20th century.

00:30:55.440 The new trusts

00:30:57.240 are the social media companies

00:30:59.160 and if they have

00:30:59.600 the power to censor

00:31:00.600 and shadow ban

00:31:01.900 as their people said

00:31:02.880 into our hidden camera

00:31:03.740 what you see and hear

00:31:05.380 then they can literally

00:31:06.660 augment reality.

00:31:08.080 They can affect

00:31:08.700 what you're

00:31:09.520 this program

00:31:10.220 is being broadcast

00:31:11.060 on social media

00:31:11.920 right now

00:31:12.420 and if they can

00:31:13.320 shadow ban that

00:31:14.180 and by the way

00:31:14.960 it might not be

00:31:16.260 being broadcast

00:31:16.780 right now.

00:31:18.040 They are doing that.

00:31:19.720 I need visual confirmation.

00:31:21.460 Again,

00:31:21.660 if I just put out

00:31:22.420 anonymous sources

00:31:23.380 no one would believe me

00:31:24.520 they would call me a liar.

00:31:25.980 I don't have the power

00:31:26.720 that Ronan Farrow has

00:31:27.880 in the culture.

00:31:28.920 I have to get

00:31:29.440 visual confirmation.

00:31:31.100 I have to get verbal.

00:31:32.180 I have to get

00:31:32.840 the people's lips

00:31:33.520 in the camera

00:31:34.500 saying they're doing it.

00:31:35.740 We'll do it.

00:31:36.300 That's the first.

00:31:36.780 The second thing

00:31:37.260 that we're most proud of

00:31:38.060 is the video

00:31:38.980 on Bob Creamer

00:31:39.740 that Trump cited

00:31:41.040 in the presidential debates

00:31:42.020 talking about inciting

00:31:42.820 violence at Trump rallies

00:31:43.880 with all the Mueller

00:31:45.040 stuff going on.

00:31:45.900 We actually have

00:31:46.720 Hillary Clinton's operatives

00:31:48.400 on hidden camera.

00:31:49.620 Remember that one?

00:31:50.160 They were saying

00:31:50.660 we incite violence

00:31:52.020 at Trump rallies.

00:31:52.860 We commit voter fraud.

00:31:53.820 The videos were mentioned

00:31:55.060 in the debates

00:31:55.600 in front of 75 million people.

00:31:57.000 It prompted Bob Creamer

00:31:58.480 to resign.

00:31:59.780 Scott Fulval

00:32:00.300 was fired

00:32:00.880 and they're suing me.

00:32:03.680 But in any just world,

00:32:05.140 in any just world,

00:32:06.400 in a system

00:32:07.000 of equal justice

00:32:07.840 under the law,

00:32:08.900 Bob Mueller

00:32:09.420 would be investigating that

00:32:10.620 because they admit

00:32:11.740 to laundering money

00:32:12.660 from the Clinton campaign

00:32:13.800 through a series

00:32:14.440 of subcontractors

00:32:15.540 to make it look

00:32:16.820 like Trump people

00:32:17.900 are violent

00:32:18.560 and the Russia stuff

00:32:20.120 has no evidence

00:32:21.140 and they're still going.

00:32:22.480 So we live

00:32:22.860 in a very unjust world.

00:32:24.880 Premise number one,

00:32:26.140 where the only way

00:32:26.980 we can break through

00:32:28.000 or rock, beat, scissors

00:32:29.400 is through the power

00:32:30.800 of video

00:32:31.420 and immobilizing

00:32:32.960 of free people

00:32:33.760 bypassing

00:32:34.580 the mainstream media

00:32:35.440 while facing lawsuits

00:32:37.200 and incarceration.

00:32:38.380 It's truly

00:32:39.000 an extraordinary

00:32:39.600 series of events

00:32:40.280 but we will win.

00:32:42.060 We will win

00:32:42.900 because we have them

00:32:44.100 and we have the truth

00:32:45.400 on our side

00:32:46.200 and we're releasing

00:32:47.360 part three

00:32:47.960 of our teachers union

00:32:48.980 expose tomorrow morning

00:32:50.500 which Randy Weingarten

00:32:51.500 did not want you to see.

00:32:52.620 And you're doing journalism.

00:32:54.320 That's the basic point of it.

00:32:56.280 You're doing journalism.

00:32:57.920 In the real scheme of things,

00:33:00.480 in the way that these roles

00:33:01.740 are supposed to go,

00:33:02.940 reporters are supposed 0.99

00:33:03.920 to be rats. 0.99

00:33:05.000 They're supposed to go in 0.94

00:33:05.940 and get the stories

00:33:06.860 that they're hard to find

00:33:08.040 and you've got to go undercover

00:33:09.020 and you're exposing those stories.

00:33:12.500 CNN doesn't do that.

00:33:13.900 A recent survey

00:33:14.760 from the Media Research Center

00:33:15.920 shows that over the last three months

00:33:17.740 45% of network news TV coverage

00:33:22.080 of Donald Trump

00:33:23.320 has been about policies or issues.

00:33:25.940 A full 65% have been about porn stars

00:33:29.040 and expensive tables at the EPA

00:33:31.020 and 91% of that coverage total

00:33:34.060 has been negative.

00:33:35.320 91% of the evaluative comments

00:33:38.440 just commentary about that.

00:33:40.460 But where is the investigation?

00:33:42.380 Where is the actual work of journalism?

00:33:45.480 It's happening because you're doing it.

00:33:47.280 You and very few other people.

00:33:48.980 Do you have any hope

00:33:49.880 for the future of journalism

00:33:51.740 in the United States?

00:33:53.040 Do you think that this edifice

00:33:54.300 of CNN, ABC, Washington Post

00:33:56.800 that that is going to crack

00:33:58.240 basically the Democrat communications firms

00:34:01.480 that pretend to be news outlets?

00:34:03.120 Do you think that that will crack

00:34:04.640 and that real journalism

00:34:05.780 will come back up

00:34:07.120 as a serious force

00:34:08.620 in American politics?

00:34:09.600 Or is it just going to be you

00:34:11.140 and a video camera

00:34:12.540 and a few other people

00:34:13.640 trying to get stories out

00:34:15.060 that the mainstream media

00:34:15.840 are going to keep covering up?

00:34:17.320 I think it I have a lot of hope.

00:34:19.740 In fact, I spend every day of my life

00:34:21.520 fighting cynicism and hopelessness

00:34:23.220 that pervades our country.

00:34:24.320 When I speak in front of audiences,

00:34:25.600 when I recruit people,

00:34:26.680 there is a lot of hope,

00:34:27.760 but people need to understand

00:34:28.800 something very clearly.

00:34:30.220 This requires a tremendous amount

00:34:31.920 of moral courage

00:34:32.740 to do this sort of thing.

00:34:33.580 I'm not I'm not trying

00:34:34.380 to pat myself on the back here.

00:34:36.340 I've got a team of dozens of people

00:34:38.520 that surround me

00:34:39.260 that are very selfless.

00:34:40.920 They don't have a byline.

00:34:42.020 They're out there in the field.

00:34:43.420 They're like germs.

00:34:44.320 They're everywhere.

00:34:44.960 You don't know it,

00:34:45.700 but they're recording

00:34:46.360 waste, fraud and abuse.

00:34:47.620 And they're going to make you

00:34:48.640 the unwilling Internet celebrity

00:34:50.240 if you're doing something wrong.

00:34:51.440 But I think, you know,

00:34:52.780 I've been incarcerated.

00:34:53.800 I've been jailed.

00:34:54.560 I've been sued.

00:34:55.300 I've got 15 lawsuits

00:34:56.440 against me right now.

00:34:57.520 I've had the restraining order

00:34:58.660 against me in the state of Michigan.

00:34:59.780 Which allows the media to go.

00:35:01.640 O'Keefe has a restraining order

00:35:03.360 against him in federal court.

00:35:04.860 And then the journalists go,

00:35:06.220 oh, that's controversial.

00:35:07.920 They create this this

00:35:09.980 this nexus of controversy

00:35:11.920 and they pollute the airwaves.

00:35:14.260 And it's not that these journalists

00:35:15.460 are are bad people.

00:35:17.080 I wouldn't even say

00:35:17.920 many of them are bad journalists.

00:35:19.320 I think they're part of a system

00:35:20.360 supported propaganda function

00:35:21.780 that does what Noam Chomsky

00:35:23.440 calls manufacturer's consent.

00:35:25.340 And it's not just

00:35:26.140 because it's political.

00:35:27.100 It's economic.

00:35:27.840 They're not going to

00:35:29.060 disrupt the apple cart,

00:35:30.760 upset the people

00:35:31.820 in the intelligence agencies

00:35:33.080 and in the deep state

00:35:34.220 and in government

00:35:35.120 and the people who control,

00:35:37.180 at least they think control,

00:35:39.140 the decision making authority

00:35:40.460 in these government agencies.

00:35:41.520 Another quick example is

00:35:42.440 a lot of people were afraid

00:35:43.760 to report our abuses

00:35:44.880 inside the Hillary Clinton campaign

00:35:46.860 that led to resignations

00:35:47.920 because they were afraid

00:35:48.960 that when Hillary was elected,

00:35:50.400 she would regulate them.

00:35:52.340 When she was inevitably elected.

00:35:53.920 When she was inevitably

00:35:54.780 or invariably,

00:35:55.760 this was like a natural thing

00:35:57.100 that was going to happen.

00:35:58.000 They were afraid.

00:35:58.680 This is back in October of 2016

00:36:00.460 that when she was elected,

00:36:02.500 that she was going to retaliate.

00:36:04.620 And that's the banana republic.

00:36:05.900 And my point to you

00:36:07.860 is that the hope

00:36:08.740 comes in the moral courage.

00:36:10.220 The hope comes in that

00:36:11.800 that David versus Goliath

00:36:14.080 in the courtroom

00:36:15.100 or in the court of public opinion

00:36:17.040 says, I don't care

00:36:18.260 if you brand me

00:36:19.560 with a scarlet letter. 0.96

00:36:20.460 Go ahead and jail me. 0.89

00:36:21.980 Go ahead. 0.53

00:36:22.820 Make my day.

00:36:24.200 Shut me down. 0.63

00:36:25.300 Put me in jail.

00:36:26.180 Hold me in contempt of court

00:36:27.400 because I'm going to release

00:36:28.540 this video tomorrow morning.

00:36:29.840 And the more that we do that,

00:36:32.280 in other words,

00:36:33.240 the more that we double down

00:36:35.020 instead of back down,

00:36:36.000 as corny as that might sound,

00:36:37.380 we will win.

00:36:38.100 The problem is,

00:36:38.860 and you're not going to like hearing this,

00:36:40.520 a lot of people

00:36:41.400 in the conservative movement

00:36:42.320 are to blame.

00:36:43.120 You have to grow a pair

00:36:44.480 and you have to stand behind

00:36:46.460 the people who are fighting.

00:36:47.940 And the moment you condemn

00:36:49.620 someone who is,

00:36:51.460 they will jump over that

00:36:52.600 like white on rice.

00:36:53.640 That's exactly right.

00:36:54.720 This is a point I try to make

00:36:55.980 on this show pretty frequently

00:36:57.860 is that it's very easy

00:36:59.620 to sit and talk or whatever

00:37:01.900 and tweet and have opinions.

00:37:03.960 But when people are out there,

00:37:05.720 when your own guys are out there

00:37:06.840 fighting,

00:37:07.840 they're on your team,

00:37:09.140 they're fighting

00:37:09.600 for your political goals,

00:37:11.100 you got to give them cover.

00:37:12.400 We're not,

00:37:12.940 we're political partisans here.

00:37:15.300 We're doing something.

00:37:16.060 Fighting for the truth.

00:37:16.700 Right.

00:37:17.180 Fighting for the truth.

00:37:17.840 I was attacked because

00:37:18.700 I didn't condemn Alex Jones

00:37:19.880 the other day by someone on Twitter.

00:37:21.160 And I was,

00:37:22.060 I was advised by people

00:37:23.220 smarter than me to me

00:37:24.500 to don't even engage people.

00:37:25.820 But here's the thing

00:37:26.780 with the rules of engagement

00:37:28.140 are changed.

00:37:28.900 The reason I don't condemn people

00:37:30.600 is because I know

00:37:31.960 how they're going to play that.

00:37:33.100 They're going to create a headline.

00:37:34.380 They're going to cause

00:37:35.100 angst and division.

00:37:36.100 Right.

00:37:36.380 We're fighting an asymmetrical

00:37:37.560 war for truth here.

00:37:38.700 And the rules of engagement

00:37:39.840 are different.

00:37:40.500 And if you want to do,

00:37:42.060 enter the arena,

00:37:43.440 see what it's like

00:37:44.020 to go out in the field

00:37:44.740 and do journalism

00:37:45.360 and see what it's like

00:37:46.060 to have the establishment

00:37:46.760 attack you.

00:37:47.700 You have to have the backs

00:37:49.200 of people who are out

00:37:51.220 in the arena

00:37:52.120 as Teddy Roosevelt would say it.

00:37:54.140 Don't condemn them.

00:37:55.160 Don't criticize them.

00:37:56.420 Support it.

00:37:57.440 And have the courage

00:37:58.200 to stand behind those who do.

00:37:59.620 And they ask me,

00:38:00.360 when people ask,

00:38:01.420 they'll say,

00:38:01.760 what do you have?

00:38:02.260 Alex Jones is a good example

00:38:03.520 because he's,

00:38:04.180 you know,

00:38:04.660 frequently shirtless

00:38:05.580 and yelling about things.

00:38:06.660 And they say,

00:38:07.080 what do you say?

00:38:07.760 Say something mean

00:38:08.560 about Alex Jones.

00:38:09.500 They say,

00:38:09.620 what do I care about Alex Jones?

00:38:11.120 What do I care?

00:38:11.580 What are you asking me for?

00:38:12.640 Are there not bigger issues

00:38:14.760 in the country?

00:38:15.780 Have you not watched

00:38:17.060 any James O'Keefe videos?

00:38:18.480 Are you not?

00:38:19.020 I would much rather talk

00:38:20.620 about teachers union presidents

00:38:22.200 that are talking

00:38:23.520 about violating laws

00:38:24.740 and defending teachers

00:38:26.020 who abuse students

00:38:26.900 than what a radio host says

00:38:29.160 someday on his radio show.

00:38:30.760 Get your priorities in order.

00:38:32.040 Absolutely right.

00:38:33.080 And I got to say,

00:38:34.180 on that Banana Republic point,

00:38:35.840 you're absolutely right.

00:38:37.360 This,

00:38:37.520 when you see,

00:38:38.120 CNN actually said,

00:38:39.500 they did a commercial

00:38:40.180 where they said,

00:38:41.040 we are a banana

00:38:41.820 or something like that.

00:38:42.700 I couldn't,

00:38:43.160 didn't get it quite right,

00:38:44.020 but they are,

00:38:44.740 they are a banana

00:38:45.660 and you're doing real journalism

00:38:47.860 and I can't wait

00:38:48.500 to see the new video.

00:38:49.840 It's just really,

00:38:50.520 keep up the great work.

00:38:51.760 We'll,

00:38:52.200 I'll let you go back 0.96

00:38:53.500 to toppling

00:38:54.700 the left-wing edifice,

00:38:55.940 but it's really good stuff

00:38:57.580 and I can't wait

00:38:58.040 to see the new video.

00:38:59.520 Stay tuned.

00:39:00.220 Tomorrow morning comes out

00:39:01.300 and you'll see it

00:39:01.980 all over the internet.

00:39:03.180 Thanks, James.

00:39:04.160 Thanks.

00:39:04.940 James O'Keefe

00:39:05.780 coming to us

00:39:06.420 from that hidden

00:39:07.180 Project Veritas bunker

00:39:09.140 somewhere in the hills

00:39:10.040 of Pakistan

00:39:10.640 or something like that.

00:39:12.520 So,

00:39:13.080 we've got to say goodbye

00:39:14.040 to Facebook and YouTube.

00:39:14.940 We're running too late

00:39:15.720 already as it is.

00:39:16.740 We have a lot of mailbag

00:39:17.540 to get to,

00:39:18.140 so let's get to it.

00:39:20.040 Oh,

00:39:20.220 do you hear that?

00:39:21.460 Oh,

00:39:21.620 it's like bells chiming,

00:39:22.760 birds singing.

00:39:24.220 It's almost time

00:39:24.940 for the next episode

00:39:25.620 of The Conversation

00:39:26.360 featuring me,

00:39:27.140 little old Michael Knowles.

00:39:28.520 On Tuesday,

00:39:29.080 May 15th

00:39:29.660 at 5.30 Eastern,

00:39:30.600 2.30 Pacific,

00:39:31.660 I will be taking

00:39:32.260 all of your questions,

00:39:33.340 easing your anxiety,

00:39:34.740 answering you live on air.

00:39:36.460 Every query

00:39:37.220 that is burned

00:39:38.040 in your heart

00:39:38.660 will be resolved.

00:39:39.820 Best of all,

00:39:40.440 it's an extra hour-long dose

00:39:41.840 of little old me.

00:39:42.940 I promise I will not

00:39:44.200 be wearing pants.

00:39:45.220 Even if it looks like

00:39:46.120 I'm wearing pants,

00:39:46.800 they'll have added that

00:39:47.520 in post-production.

00:39:48.620 Alicia Krauss will be there too

00:39:49.760 and that'll be very nice.

00:39:50.740 She's a lovely gal. 1.00

00:39:52.100 This month's episode

00:39:52.740 will stream live

00:39:53.340 on Daily Wire's YouTube

00:39:54.100 and Facebook pages.

00:39:55.000 It will be free

00:39:55.440 for everyone to watch,

00:39:56.240 but only subscribers

00:39:57.120 can ask the questions.

00:39:58.660 To ask questions

00:39:59.340 as a subscriber,

00:40:00.160 log into our website,

00:40:00.940 dailywire.com,

00:40:02.040 head over to the

00:40:02.460 conversation page

00:40:03.340 and watch the live stream.

00:40:04.620 After that,

00:40:05.100 just start typing

00:40:05.700 into the Daily Wire chat box.

00:40:06.860 I will answer questions

00:40:07.940 as they come in

00:40:08.580 for an entire hour.

00:40:09.800 Subscribe to get

00:40:10.380 your questions answered

00:40:11.020 by me,

00:40:11.640 little old me,

00:40:12.320 Michael Knowles,

00:40:12.940 on Tuesday,

00:40:13.440 May 15th,

00:40:14.260 530 Eastern,

00:40:15.080 230 Pacific.

00:40:16.000 Join the conversation.

00:40:17.260 You know what you get

00:40:17.940 at the Daily Wire,

00:40:18.740 don't you?

00:40:19.060 You know what you get

00:40:19.540 at dailywire.com.

00:40:20.240 You get all the shows,

00:40:20.980 you can ask questions

00:40:21.960 and all that.

00:40:23.800 Come on, guys.

00:40:25.360 You didn't even know.

00:40:26.600 Woe to you 1.00

00:40:27.320 who didn't know.

00:40:28.060 You thought you'd survive

00:40:29.220 the Iran deal

00:40:30.120 being shredded.

00:40:31.200 You thought you'd survived

00:40:32.640 all of the hostages

00:40:33.940 coming back from Korea.

00:40:34.980 You said,

00:40:35.620 I don't need to subscribe.

00:40:36.900 I don't need to get

00:40:37.340 my Leftist Tears Tumblr.

00:40:39.180 They just decapitated

00:40:40.500 most of ISIS. 0.96

00:40:41.760 And then you drown.

00:40:42.860 Don't get caught in that.

00:40:44.160 How many times

00:40:44.800 do I have to tell you?

00:40:45.460 Get a Leftist Tears Tumblr

00:40:46.560 to protect yourself

00:40:47.240 and your family.

00:40:48.040 We've got a lot

00:40:48.540 of mailbag questions.

00:40:49.960 Stay tuned.

00:40:50.400 We'll be right back.

00:40:50.960 I have five minutes

00:41:01.460 to answer these questions.

00:41:02.680 So you know what?

00:41:03.120 We're going to go.

00:41:03.540 Okay, we're going to start now.

00:41:04.340 Here we go.

00:41:04.820 James.

00:41:06.100 Hey, Michael.

00:41:06.980 Do you believe

00:41:07.620 the New Deal

00:41:08.340 and its Keynesian economics

00:41:10.300 extended the Great Depression

00:41:11.780 or helped end it more quickly?

00:41:14.940 That's a great question.

00:41:16.100 It extended the Depression.

00:41:17.560 It extended the Depression.

00:41:19.140 That's it.

00:41:19.540 Very few people

00:41:21.880 would seriously argue

00:41:23.040 otherwise anymore.

00:41:24.320 Very few people.

00:41:25.580 It quite clearly

00:41:26.920 extended the Great Depression.

00:41:28.640 FDR prolonged

00:41:29.900 this awful depression

00:41:31.260 and people who are not

00:41:34.140 economists have taken

00:41:35.140 very inaccurate conclusions

00:41:38.520 from that experience.

00:41:40.020 A good study came out

00:41:40.840 in 2004 from UCLA economists

00:41:42.800 Harold Cole

00:41:43.880 and Lee Ohanian

00:41:45.300 and it showed

00:41:46.200 that the New Deal

00:41:46.900 stymied economic recovery

00:41:48.800 for seven full years.

00:41:50.500 Ohanian,

00:41:51.040 who is the vice chairman

00:41:52.020 of UCLA's Econ Department

00:41:54.020 wrote,

00:41:55.220 quote,

00:41:55.840 why the Great Depression

00:41:56.700 lasted so long

00:41:57.540 has always been a great mystery

00:41:58.800 and because we never

00:41:59.940 really knew the reason

00:42:00.800 we have always worried

00:42:01.780 whether we would have

00:42:03.020 another 10 to 15 year

00:42:04.200 economic slump.

00:42:05.260 We found that a relapse

00:42:06.480 isn't likely

00:42:07.120 unless lawmakers

00:42:08.140 gum it up

00:42:09.080 with ill-conceived

00:42:10.920 stimulus policies.

00:42:12.080 So what they conclude here

00:42:13.680 is that anti-competition

00:42:15.120 and pro-labor measures

00:42:16.360 that FDR pushed

00:42:17.640 that went into effect

00:42:18.400 in June 1933

00:42:19.360 are the most responsible

00:42:20.940 for extending

00:42:21.720 the Great Depression.

00:42:23.100 FDR believed

00:42:24.040 that the depression

00:42:24.740 was caused by competition

00:42:26.260 because competition

00:42:28.320 lowers prices sometimes,

00:42:29.940 sometimes it lowers wages,

00:42:31.160 other times it doesn't.

00:42:32.520 So he allowed businesses

00:42:34.420 to collude basically.

00:42:36.140 He promised that there

00:42:37.720 would not be

00:42:38.120 antitrust threats here.

00:42:40.220 He caved into wage demand

00:42:42.320 so wages rose

00:42:43.640 a full 25%

00:42:44.920 above market value.

00:42:46.720 In 11 key industries

00:42:47.820 after the New Deal

00:42:48.620 wages were 25% higher

00:42:50.340 than otherwise

00:42:50.920 would have been

00:42:51.460 and unemployment

00:42:52.980 was also 25% higher

00:42:54.540 than it would have been.

00:42:55.480 Prices across 19 industries

00:42:57.240 were artificially high.

00:42:58.960 Same figure,

00:42:59.760 about 25%,

00:43:00.660 23% higher

00:43:01.960 than they would have been.

00:43:03.280 Demand had stalled

00:43:04.200 and gross national product

00:43:05.520 dropped around the same amount,

00:43:07.640 about 27%

00:43:08.740 below where it should have been.

00:43:10.920 When you start tinkering

00:43:12.000 in the economy,

00:43:12.680 especially on those huge levels,

00:43:13.900 you're going to have

00:43:14.200 terrible effects.

00:43:16.060 Another extraordinarily slow recovery

00:43:18.900 occurred under Barack Obama's watch

00:43:20.780 when he decided to tinker

00:43:22.040 with one-sixth of the economy

00:43:23.200 to waste gazillions of dollars

00:43:25.040 on stimulus policies

00:43:26.560 that didn't do anything.

00:43:29.180 Yet, those who do not learn

00:43:30.560 from the past

00:43:31.040 are bound to repeat it.

00:43:32.760 Hopefully, we can start

00:43:33.520 learning from the past.

00:43:34.540 I see an awakening happening

00:43:35.620 in the United States

00:43:36.580 led by Donald Trump

00:43:39.200 and Kanye West

00:43:40.020 and everybody in the middle.

00:43:41.060 So, maybe we'll finally learn

00:43:42.840 from the past.

00:43:43.740 From Ben.

00:43:44.540 Hey, brother Michael.

00:43:45.460 Seems you finally got some praise

00:43:46.760 by Ben Shapiro.

00:43:48.860 How does it feel?

00:43:49.920 I know you get a lot

00:43:50.660 of religious questions.

00:43:51.580 Hopefully, you can read this one.

00:43:52.600 If you could give

00:43:53.560 someone dead or alive

00:43:54.900 truth serum,

00:43:55.540 who would it be?

00:43:56.160 I'd give Ben truth serum

00:43:57.360 to see if he really meant it.

00:43:58.740 Because if he really meant it,

00:44:00.320 if Ben actually is giving

00:44:01.500 compliments on my show

00:44:03.340 or giving me praise,

00:44:04.900 we'll know that the apocalypse

00:44:06.140 is happening.

00:44:07.060 We will know that,

00:44:08.080 forget, you know,

00:44:08.720 peace in Korea,

00:44:10.100 nuclear Iran,

00:44:11.380 all of these big,

00:44:12.200 you know, crazy things.

00:44:13.640 If Ben starts complimenting

00:44:15.260 my show,

00:44:15.980 that is the greatest evidence.

00:44:17.400 The rapture is coming.

00:44:18.820 Make your peace

00:44:19.400 with your creator.

00:44:20.500 Next question from Evan.

00:44:22.160 Dear Michael,

00:44:22.820 historian extraordinaire

00:44:23.800 and thorn in the side

00:44:25.080 of one Ben Shapiro.

00:44:26.920 I'm from Pennsylvania

00:44:28.040 and in school,

00:44:28.860 I had a decent amount

00:44:29.620 of Pennsylvania history.

00:44:30.940 Do you think that

00:44:31.600 the founder of PA,

00:44:32.600 William Penn,

00:44:34.020 would today be considered

00:44:35.140 one of these trust fund

00:44:36.480 leftist kids

00:44:37.520 that want socialism

00:44:38.920 or would he be boxed

00:44:40.840 into another category?

00:44:42.060 I only bring this up

00:44:42.920 because of his great experiment

00:44:44.260 of creating a perfect society

00:44:46.780 in the awful city

00:44:47.760 of Philadelphia.

00:44:49.400 Blesses on your nuptials, Evan.

00:44:51.380 Yeah, Philly certainly

00:44:52.380 isn't the city of brotherly love.

00:44:53.720 I was just there.

00:44:54.760 It's not the perfect society.

00:44:58.340 So, look,

00:44:59.800 obviously William Penn

00:45:00.820 was a pacifist Quaker

00:45:02.040 and actually was,

00:45:03.720 I think,

00:45:04.140 the first person

00:45:04.800 to propose a version

00:45:05.700 of the European Union.

00:45:06.820 So his thinking

00:45:07.480 had some problems.

00:45:08.960 He didn't have the right idea

00:45:10.120 about many things.

00:45:11.540 But,

00:45:12.780 I don't want to lump him in

00:45:14.160 with all the crazy 0.99

00:45:14.960 lefty 0.97

00:45:15.740 trust fund kids

00:45:17.360 that we see on campuses today.

00:45:18.880 He's writing

00:45:19.400 in the 16th century,

00:45:20.720 17th century rather.

00:45:22.020 He grew up

00:45:22.640 under Oliver Cromwell.

00:45:24.880 King Charles I

00:45:25.720 was beheaded

00:45:26.300 when Penn was a child.

00:45:28.140 He lived through smallpox,

00:45:29.380 through a plague epidemic.

00:45:30.580 He lived through the great fire

00:45:31.800 of 1666.

00:45:34.060 His circumstances

00:45:35.300 shaped him.

00:45:36.100 And I don't really mind

00:45:37.300 so much

00:45:37.840 people who embrace

00:45:38.960 bad ideas

00:45:39.760 the first time around.

00:45:41.620 When there are all these

00:45:42.240 awful things happening,

00:45:43.620 society is shifting

00:45:44.360 in such massive,

00:45:45.260 massive ways

00:45:45.880 as it was in the 17th century.

00:45:47.840 And so they try out

00:45:48.800 some new idea

00:45:49.560 or they're brought

00:45:50.220 towards some new idea.

00:45:51.820 I mind people

00:45:52.520 who insist on embracing

00:45:53.680 bad ideas

00:45:54.440 after they've been shown

00:45:55.740 to fail.

00:45:56.240 I don't even,

00:45:57.880 I don't really even mind

00:45:59.460 people who embraced Marx

00:46:02.240 when Marx was writing

00:46:03.420 or shortly thereafter.

00:46:05.100 I, you know,

00:46:05.540 people try out

00:46:06.540 new ideas

00:46:07.160 when they're in fashion.

00:46:08.360 I mind the people

00:46:09.260 who wear Che Guevara

00:46:10.000 t-shirts today

00:46:10.840 because we've seen

00:46:11.660 the horrors

00:46:12.400 and misery

00:46:12.860 and destruction

00:46:13.460 that those political

00:46:15.440 and economic systems

00:46:16.420 have wrought.

00:46:17.160 If you,

00:46:17.760 in the face of all

00:46:18.400 of that evidence,

00:46:18.960 are going to wear

00:46:19.340 your Che Guevara t-shirt, 0.99

00:46:21.360 then you deserve shame 0.97

00:46:22.840 and you should 0.54

00:46:23.420 reconsider your choices.

00:46:25.020 But for those guys

00:46:26.300 the first time around,

00:46:27.260 you know,

00:46:27.520 I think we can have

00:46:28.100 a little historical sympathy

00:46:30.840 or empathy for them

00:46:31.900 and I always hate

00:46:33.940 looking back

00:46:35.860 and criticizing

00:46:36.960 the people

00:46:38.140 who helped create

00:46:39.100 our society.

00:46:40.100 I find it's like

00:46:40.920 spitting on the shoulders

00:46:41.780 of giants.

00:46:42.960 You know,

00:46:43.280 we're standing

00:46:43.860 on the shoulders

00:46:44.320 of giants

00:46:44.860 and we think

00:46:45.400 we're flying,

00:46:46.000 we're not flying,

00:46:46.720 even if we can see

00:46:47.400 a little further than them.

00:46:48.500 So I don't want to be

00:46:49.240 ungrateful toward them.

00:46:50.800 Next question from Norman.

00:46:52.660 Norman Sr.

00:46:55.020 Where is this?

00:46:57.160 Rising political star

00:46:58.240 Knowles.

00:46:59.320 Thank you very much.

00:47:00.300 Today I heard Ben Shapiro

00:47:01.280 express an erroneous view

00:47:02.600 that you are a unique,

00:47:04.080 you are uniquely poised

00:47:05.340 to rebut as a Catholic.

00:47:06.560 In his interview

00:47:07.540 with Jordan Peterson,

00:47:08.980 Ben asserted

00:47:09.720 that the Enlightenment

00:47:10.400 was opposed to tribalism

00:47:11.960 because Enlightenment thinkers

00:47:13.400 are individualists

00:47:14.640 rather than collectivists.

00:47:16.320 You and I know

00:47:17.080 that the Enlightenment

00:47:17.880 and the Reformation

00:47:18.840 before it,

00:47:19.780 which broke away

00:47:20.600 from the Universal Church,

00:47:21.740 actually contributed

00:47:22.640 to a resurgence

00:47:23.640 of tribalism

00:47:24.400 in the form

00:47:24.840 of nationalism.

00:47:26.220 Some Enlightenment thinkers

00:47:27.180 became individualists

00:47:28.320 or rationalists

00:47:29.260 as you call them.

00:47:30.160 Others became collectivists.

00:47:31.660 Do you think Ben Shapiro

00:47:32.600 really believes

00:47:33.460 his tidy historical dichotomy

00:47:35.200 or is he promoting it

00:47:36.680 because he thinks

00:47:37.460 it is politically useful

00:47:38.540 for conservatives

00:47:39.540 to think this way?

00:47:41.000 I don't know why

00:47:41.800 Ben is suggesting that.

00:47:43.180 I thought it was

00:47:43.760 a good interview

00:47:44.320 and actually as I see it,

00:47:46.440 both views are correct,

00:47:48.020 both what Ben said

00:47:49.260 and the legitimate critiques

00:47:52.600 that you've made of that.

00:47:53.820 As Ben said,

00:47:55.720 the Enlightenment

00:47:56.400 does consider itself

00:47:57.840 opposed to tribalism.

00:47:59.340 It does pose itself

00:48:00.720 as an opposition

00:48:01.440 to tribalism,

00:48:02.500 as a universalism,

00:48:04.160 as basically saying

00:48:05.040 we're going to transcend

00:48:05.840 so much

00:48:06.400 and have these

00:48:07.140 universal principles

00:48:08.120 that we can all access,

00:48:10.200 particularly through

00:48:10.860 our reason,

00:48:11.760 this raising up

00:48:12.740 of reason or rationalism.

00:48:14.420 Now, you and I know

00:48:15.320 in reality,

00:48:16.320 the Enlightenment

00:48:16.980 just wrought

00:48:17.700 a lot of new tribalisms.

00:48:18.900 It wrought a lot

00:48:19.900 of nationalism

00:48:20.500 and communism,

00:48:21.580 even individualism,

00:48:23.080 all of the isms.

00:48:24.480 Not all of the Enlightenments

00:48:25.580 are made equal.

00:48:26.580 The Enlightenment

00:48:27.140 in Scotland

00:48:27.740 was much better

00:48:28.480 than the Enlightenment

00:48:29.380 in France

00:48:30.020 with all the guillotines.

00:48:31.700 I think a case in point

00:48:33.120 here is on why

00:48:34.860 the Enlightenment

00:48:35.320 broadly isn't so great

00:48:36.600 or why it's solving problems

00:48:40.060 in not the right way

00:48:41.040 or ultimately

00:48:42.140 why it failed.

00:48:43.800 You can see it

00:48:44.580 in the 20th century

00:48:45.400 moral philosophers

00:48:46.220 Robert Nozick

00:48:47.380 and John Rawls.

00:48:48.900 So, Nozick,

00:48:50.900 let's call him

00:48:51.820 the broadly conservative

00:48:52.980 point of view,

00:48:54.420 speaking broadly,

00:48:55.520 Nozick defines justice 0.98

00:48:56.660 from a position

00:48:57.480 of inalienable rights,

00:48:59.820 defending inalienable rights.

00:49:01.920 Rawls defines justice

00:49:03.380 from a position

00:49:04.340 of equality

00:49:05.100 with respect to needs.

00:49:07.160 So, we hear the kind

00:49:07.900 of lefty positions here

00:49:09.340 and lefties do tend

00:49:10.100 to like Rawls a lot.

00:49:11.580 These appear to be

00:49:12.800 opposing positions,

00:49:13.840 don't they?

00:49:14.200 The inalienable rights

00:49:15.200 or the equality

00:49:16.160 with respect to needs.

00:49:17.260 They appear to be opposing.

00:49:19.060 Really, they're drawing

00:49:20.020 from the exact same

00:49:21.120 confused premises.

00:49:22.560 So, Nozick traces

00:49:24.120 entitlement to all

00:49:26.400 legitimate acts

00:49:27.480 of original acquisition,

00:49:29.660 even though there's

00:49:30.160 no such thing as,

00:49:31.800 there's no evidence

00:49:32.560 for original

00:49:33.940 legitimate acquisition

00:49:34.960 in the history

00:49:35.820 of the world.

00:49:36.940 Is the United States

00:49:38.680 acquired legitimately

00:49:40.020 or did we take it

00:49:40.880 from some Indians

00:49:41.540 and did those Indians 0.98

00:49:42.360 take it from other Indians 1.00

00:49:43.280 and did they,

00:49:44.140 you know,

00:49:44.380 where do we really see

00:49:45.520 these perfectly pristine

00:49:47.140 legitimate acts

00:49:48.000 of acquisition?

00:49:49.320 Rawls, for his part,

00:49:50.620 traces equality

00:49:51.440 in respect to needs

00:49:52.820 to what any rational person

00:49:54.820 would choose

00:49:55.400 for society

00:49:56.120 if he were behind

00:49:57.480 a veil of ignorance

00:49:58.560 and couldn't decide 0.59

00:50:00.000 his own position

00:50:00.760 in society.

00:50:02.020 So, this is,

00:50:02.620 you hear people talk about,

00:50:04.160 this is the main thing

00:50:04.860 people hear about

00:50:05.520 with John Rawls

00:50:06.200 is the veil of ignorance.

00:50:07.480 If I could construct

00:50:09.060 a society

00:50:09.600 and say,

00:50:10.420 okay,

00:50:10.640 I don't know

00:50:11.520 which position

00:50:12.020 I'm going to have,

00:50:13.220 I would want one

00:50:14.100 that's quite equitable.

00:50:15.760 In reality,

00:50:16.700 even though we're looking

00:50:17.320 at this as the right

00:50:18.060 and the left,

00:50:18.760 these are two sides

00:50:19.520 of the same coin.

00:50:20.700 Both of these pretend

00:50:21.720 that we come into the world

00:50:23.260 as atomized individuals

00:50:25.040 without any community

00:50:26.340 or duty

00:50:26.920 or conception

00:50:27.620 of the good for man.

00:50:28.840 That is a product

00:50:29.640 of the Enlightenment.

00:50:30.460 That comes to us

00:50:31.060 from the Enlightenment

00:50:31.620 and it's just wrong.

00:50:33.620 Now,

00:50:34.460 why did the Enlightenment

00:50:35.560 do this?

00:50:36.020 The Enlightenment

00:50:36.480 is trying to recover

00:50:37.360 something that is being

00:50:38.180 lost in modernity

00:50:39.280 and is being lost

00:50:40.900 from the moment

00:50:41.460 of the Protestant Revolution

00:50:42.560 most particularly.

00:50:44.560 It's trying to recreate

00:50:45.800 ancient conceptions

00:50:47.100 of virtues,

00:50:48.780 the unified moral authority

00:50:50.320 that was in the church

00:50:52.320 before it cracked up

00:50:53.380 and it's trying to do that

00:50:54.640 by other means.

00:50:55.740 It's trying to recover.

00:50:57.120 Martin Luther rejected Aristotle,

00:50:59.240 rejected this classical

00:51:00.440 moral framework

00:51:02.340 and ethical framework.

00:51:03.720 So it's trying to recover it

00:51:04.700 by other means.

00:51:05.480 How do we get the good

00:51:06.260 without God?

00:51:07.420 How do we get

00:51:08.040 this ethical framework?

00:51:09.280 How do we get this Christendom

00:51:10.200 without the things

00:51:11.580 that made it Christendom

00:51:12.440 and it failed?

00:51:14.000 So you get,

00:51:15.360 sometimes you hear

00:51:15.860 that people

00:51:16.200 when you go so far left

00:51:17.140 you end up right

00:51:17.800 and when you end up

00:51:18.920 so far right

00:51:19.520 you end up left.

00:51:20.140 When you end up

00:51:20.500 so far left

00:51:21.660 you become a communist

00:51:22.480 sort of authoritarian

00:51:23.380 sort of monarchist

00:51:24.940 who knows, right?

00:51:25.980 You're kind of floating

00:51:26.760 between these things.

00:51:27.680 This is where it comes from

00:51:28.600 because the Enlightenment

00:51:29.420 as a project

00:51:30.400 I think failed.

00:51:32.080 The question is

00:51:32.600 what do we do now?

00:51:33.320 How do we pick up the pieces?

00:51:34.460 There was a book

00:51:34.920 that we passed around here

00:51:35.780 a few months ago

00:51:36.380 that's really, really good

00:51:37.160 on this

00:51:37.500 After Virtue

00:51:38.440 by Alistair McIntyre

00:51:39.740 and it tries to deal

00:51:40.760 with this problem

00:51:41.440 of you have a cracked

00:51:42.720 moral framework

00:51:43.480 what are you supposed to do?

00:51:45.140 Okay, do we have any time

00:51:46.220 for one more?

00:51:46.740 We got to get out of here.

00:51:48.040 We got time for one more?

00:51:49.620 Okay, we're going to do one more.

00:51:51.080 The, the,

00:51:51.980 okay,

00:51:52.460 Mr. Knowles

00:51:53.120 from Justin.

00:51:54.480 I recently found out

00:51:55.340 my girlfriend is pro-abortion.

00:51:56.940 She's neck deep 0.99

00:51:57.540 in a four year

00:51:58.120 social science degree

00:51:59.160 so maybe this shouldn't

00:52:00.300 surprise me

00:52:00.960 but she's a Christian.

00:52:02.100 Every time we argue

00:52:03.000 about a moral issue

00:52:03.740 she says that all sin 0.95

00:52:04.580 is equal

00:52:04.960 and no one is to judge.

00:52:07.060 What would your rebuttal

00:52:07.960 to this be?

00:52:08.500 I don't want to stone women 1.00

00:52:09.620 who get an abortion.

00:52:10.940 I just want it to stop.

00:52:11.980 Yeah, good idea.

00:52:12.880 Sincerely, Justin.

00:52:14.560 Okay, so to begin

00:52:15.960 I've heard this before too.

00:52:17.040 All sin is exactly the same

00:52:18.320 and you know

00:52:18.900 so don't criticize me

00:52:20.500 for supporting 0.89

00:52:21.120 killing a bunch 1.00

00:52:22.100 of little babies. 1.00

00:52:23.580 All sin is not equal.

00:52:25.500 It is not equal.

00:52:26.640 We hear this

00:52:27.340 from John.

00:52:28.700 John writes,

00:52:30.020 St. John writes

00:52:30.980 quote,

00:52:31.280 All wrongdoing is sin

00:52:32.780 but there is sin

00:52:33.680 which is not mortal.

00:52:35.040 So just from that line alone

00:52:36.520 we know that not all sin

00:52:37.640 is made equal.

00:52:38.620 Not all sin is mortal.

00:52:40.180 All wrongdoing is sin

00:52:41.200 but there is sin

00:52:42.320 which is not mortal.

00:52:43.160 Therefore there are

00:52:43.680 different types of sin.

00:52:44.940 St. Paul writes about this.

00:52:45.920 St. Paul says

00:52:46.560 that there is the possibility

00:52:47.980 of losing salvation,

00:52:49.520 of being cut off

00:52:50.440 and therefore we must

00:52:51.480 remain in Christ

00:52:52.300 lest salvation be lost

00:52:54.240 and we know from James

00:52:55.780 that not all sin

00:52:56.900 causes salvation

00:52:57.740 to be lost.

00:52:59.100 Even though all

00:52:59.640 salvation can be lost,

00:53:01.280 James writes quote,

00:53:02.800 We all stumble

00:53:03.520 in many ways.

00:53:04.680 If we all stumble

00:53:05.340 in many ways

00:53:06.120 not all sin is mortal.

00:53:07.400 Not all sin causes

00:53:08.140 salvation to be lost.

00:53:09.120 There are different

00:53:09.440 kinds of sin.

00:53:10.380 So there are two points here.

00:53:12.700 One is sin is bad.

00:53:15.400 All sin is very,

00:53:16.500 very, very bad.

00:53:18.200 Now on the flip side

00:53:20.200 we don't want to downplay

00:53:21.580 how bad all sin is.

00:53:23.020 We don't want to downplay

00:53:24.240 lusting in your heart.

00:53:26.780 On the other flip side

00:53:27.700 we don't want to downplay

00:53:28.440 the seriousness of certain sins

00:53:29.600 like abortion. 0.52

00:53:30.160 So to say

00:53:31.020 oh we all sin

00:53:31.920 abortion you know

00:53:33.200 it's the same thing

00:53:33.980 as stealing a pack

00:53:34.740 of bubble gum

00:53:35.420 and you know

00:53:36.740 who can judge

00:53:38.700 you know really.

00:53:39.820 That is a way to ignore

00:53:40.780 the moral seriousness

00:53:41.800 of abortion.

00:53:42.720 So I think

00:53:43.380 it's a clever

00:53:44.380 crafty little way

00:53:45.460 to try to get out of it

00:53:46.320 but it just isn't true.

00:53:47.320 It's not supported

00:53:47.900 by the scripture.

00:53:49.460 It's certainly not supported

00:53:50.260 by sacred tradition

00:53:51.140 and it's not supported

00:53:52.300 by our own moral reasoning.

00:53:53.420 Okay on that note

00:53:55.080 I've got to get out of here

00:53:57.260 we're running way way late.

00:53:58.600 Thank you for being here

00:53:59.480 I'm Michael Knowles

00:54:00.120 this is The Michael Knowles Show

00:54:01.140 have a good weekend

00:54:02.080 try to survive all the covfefe

00:54:03.460 don't OD on it

00:54:04.360 and I'll see you on Monday.

00:54:05.240 The Michael Knowles Show

00:54:10.820 is produced by

00:54:11.640 Senia Villareal

00:54:12.820 Executive Producer

00:54:14.080 Jeremy Borey

00:54:15.160 Senior Producer

00:54:16.000 Jonathan Hay

00:54:16.760 Our Supervising Producer

00:54:18.400 Mathis Glover

00:54:19.360 And our Technical Producer

00:54:20.720 is Austin Stevens

00:54:21.920 Edited by Jim Nickel

00:54:23.420 Audio is mixed

00:54:24.580 by Mike Coromina

00:54:25.620 Hair and Makeup

00:54:26.940 is by Jesua Olvera

00:54:28.340 The Michael Knowles Show

00:54:29.500 is a Daily Wire

00:54:30.280 Forward Publishing production

00:54:31.580 Copyright

00:54:32.340 Forward Publishing 2018

00:54:33.620 The Michael Knowles Show

The Michael Knowles Show - May 10, 2018

Ep. 154 - Barack and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

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