The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1641 - Elon For House Speaker？

00:00:00.000 If Mike Johnson goes down, should Elon Musk be the Speaker of the House?

00:00:03.800 A major Republican senator seems to think it's a good idea.

00:00:07.120 I'm Michael Knowles. This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:00:08.560 Welcome back to the show.

00:00:28.660 An illegal alien from Mexico is on the run after allegedly filming himself

00:00:33.180 and distributing copies of the film of himself committing an unspeakable accident.

00:00:39.440 Unspeakable, I don't even want to say it, against an eight-year-old child.

00:00:42.440 These are the people that the Democrats let in.

00:00:44.700 These are the people that President Trump wants to deport.

00:00:47.880 There's so much more to say.

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00:01:55.860 Elon for Speaker?

00:01:56.960 Who's down for it?

00:01:58.560 I think it'd be pretty fun.

00:02:00.300 I'm into it.

00:02:01.940 What's the big deal?

00:02:04.060 He'd probably do a better job than a lot of people up for it, at least according to Rand Paul.

00:02:09.060 Rand Paul, major Republican senator, says the Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress.

00:02:13.180 That's true.

00:02:14.100 Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk.

00:02:17.980 Dot, dot, dot.

00:02:18.560 Think about it.

00:02:19.280 Dot, dot, dot.

00:02:20.220 Nothing's impossible.

00:02:21.820 Not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment,

00:02:24.480 aka the Uniparty, lose their ever-loving minds.

00:02:28.180 Now, before you say this is a crazy idea, some people are going to say it's a great idea right away.

00:02:33.680 Some people are going to say this is a crazy idea.

00:02:36.500 Every so often it's floated that the Speaker of the House will be someone who is not a member of Congress.

00:02:41.040 But that doesn't work.

00:02:42.240 And the reason it doesn't work is the Speaker of the House has one job.

00:02:46.580 The job is to twist arms.

00:02:48.720 The Speaker of the House has to apply leverage, needs to develop a system of sticks and carrots to corral his members to bring them all in line and get legislation passed.

00:03:01.780 That's the job.

00:03:02.900 It's a nasty job.

00:03:03.880 It's a tough job.

00:03:04.680 It intrinsically requires conciliation and compromise and wheeling and dealing.

00:03:10.760 And that's why Republican speakers, especially because of the ideological diversity of the Republican conference, tend to be terrible at it and get booted out of office, as Mike Johnson very well might soon.

00:03:21.460 So you say, well, Elon doesn't have any of that leverage.

00:03:24.520 You know, he hasn't been in Washington for a long time.

00:03:26.720 He doesn't know where the bodies are buried.

00:03:28.700 He doesn't really know how to wheel and deal in the halls of government power.

00:03:32.060 He's a powerful guy, but not in government.

00:03:33.540 Except for this.

00:03:35.840 Elon Musk controls one of the biggest communications platforms in the world.

00:03:42.320 Twitter, X now, breaks news before the establishment media.

00:03:47.680 Twitter moves public opinion before the establishment media.

00:03:52.420 Elon Musk's X is in no small part the reason that that continuing resolution got killed.

00:03:59.320 So he's got a lot of power there, power to move public opinion, and he's the richest guy in the world.

00:04:05.580 So when Elon came out, when the Republican congressmen were trying to slip through that continuing resolution, and they said, Elon said, anyone who votes for this should be primaried in two years.

00:04:15.220 That's a real threat.

00:04:16.180 But if I come out and I say, anyone who votes for something should be primaried in two years, it's a little bit of a threat.

00:04:21.440 I have a pretty big platform.

00:04:23.320 I don't have a ton of money.

00:04:24.920 I'm not going to be able to donate to all of these primary candidates.

00:04:28.040 Most people ignore that stuff.

00:04:29.200 When the richest guy on planet Earth, by a lot, says that he's going to make sure you are not reelected, that you are primaried and booted out of your seat, then you start to pay attention.

00:04:39.600 I'm not saying it's the greatest idea.

00:04:41.060 However, this is not totally crazy.

00:04:43.860 Of any private citizen who has ever been floated for Speaker of the House in my lifetime, and there have been a lot of them, this one seems to me the most plausible.

00:04:55.720 Some people would say, oh, we don't want the richest guy in the world being the Speaker of the House.

00:04:59.200 He has too much power.

00:05:01.720 He's not democratically elected. 0.99

00:05:04.100 Okay, so some people are going to say that the people who are democratically elected are such losers. 0.95

00:05:07.700 Yeah, we do want this guy. 0.85

00:05:08.800 He actually represents us better than they do.

00:05:11.580 Now, the question for Johnson is, will he be able to hold on to the speakership?

00:05:16.000 He's taken a lot of political blows over the past few days.

00:05:22.260 In fact, I'm heading out to AmericaFest to speak at Charlie Kirk's conference, TPUSA, out in Arizona.

00:05:28.300 Speaker Johnson was supposed to speak at AmericaFest.

00:05:30.960 He pulled out after the continuing resolution debacle.

00:05:33.520 And he pulled out because he probably would have been booed on stage.

00:05:36.860 And I actually have a fair bit of sympathy for Johnson.

00:05:40.740 I think Johnson, ideologically, is more conservative than many speakers we've had in recent memory.

00:05:47.460 But he's not doing a great job.

00:05:50.920 And he's not doing a great job, I think, because the job is basically impossible.

00:05:56.980 What's he supposed to do?

00:05:58.260 There are a handful of really right-wing Republicans.

00:06:00.820 There are a bunch of squish Republicans. 1.00

00:06:02.660 There are some Republicans who basically are just Democrats.

00:06:04.900 Democrats, the Democrats themselves, are pretty united.

00:06:09.040 What's he supposed to do?

00:06:10.920 It's the worst job in Washington.

00:06:12.480 Someone tweeted out, they said,

00:06:13.500 Hey, Michael, how do you like the sound of Speaker Michael Knowles?

00:06:16.280 Let me be totally clear.

00:06:17.500 I will not seek, nor will I accept,

00:06:20.900 the nomination of my party for the worst job in Washington, D.C.

00:06:24.280 I would not wish that job on my worst enemy.

00:06:27.860 So Johnson, he's in a real pickle here.

00:06:30.460 Can he hold on?

00:06:31.540 Some are floating that they've got to boot him.

00:06:36.440 President Trump, so far, is sticking with him.

00:06:38.400 Trump told Fox News Digital that Johnson will easily remain Speaker if he, quote,

00:06:43.640 acts decisively and tough and eliminates all the traps being set by Congress.

00:06:47.680 So, so far, he still has Trump's support.

00:06:49.680 And that's really what it comes down to.

00:06:51.260 Johnson will remain Speaker so long as he has Trump's support.

00:06:54.580 Donald Trump will choose the next Speaker.

00:06:58.260 Donald Trump is the guy.

00:07:01.020 Donald Trump runs the Republican Party.

00:07:02.940 He launched a hostile taker of the Republican Party in 2016.

00:07:06.400 He shook it up a lot, shook up some orthodoxies on things like trade,

00:07:10.540 on things like immigration, on things like foreign policy,

00:07:14.080 on things like the media, the way the government relates to the media.

00:07:17.800 And the American people voted for him.

00:07:19.680 The American people like him more than they like their congressmen,

00:07:22.800 more than they like their senators.

00:07:24.240 They gave Republicans a unified government because of that guy.

00:07:27.760 That's it.

00:07:28.300 You might hate Trump.

00:07:29.480 You might wish some other Republican won in 16 or 24 or whatever.

00:07:34.100 But that's just a fact, okay?

00:07:37.700 Sometimes in politics, you know, politicians will say,

00:07:40.320 listen, it's not about me.

00:07:42.280 It's about us.

00:07:42.920 It's not about me.

00:07:44.080 It's our victory.

00:07:45.260 It's all about all of us.

00:07:46.560 It's about this and that and this collective and this abstraction.

00:07:50.700 Nah, with this guy, it really is kind of about Trump.

00:07:53.180 He's the man.

00:07:54.320 He's the one who reordered the Republican Party.

00:07:56.860 So, Speaker Johnson needs to win the support of one man.

00:08:01.060 Forget about some members of the Freedom Caucus don't like him.

00:08:03.420 Forget about some members of the establishment don't like him.

00:08:06.080 Doesn't matter.

00:08:07.520 Those guys will fall in line if he keeps Trump's support.

00:08:10.040 So far, he still hasn't.

00:08:11.160 Now, I need to fess up to something.

00:08:14.780 This show, almost every day, airs live.

00:08:18.300 I wake up early.

00:08:19.700 I eat breakfast with my beloved family.

00:08:22.140 I come in here.

00:08:22.820 I do the show live.

00:08:24.540 That's not happening today.

00:08:26.180 As I sit here speaking to you, it is not actually the time at which you're listening to this.

00:08:30.000 I had to pre-tape this show before I flew out to Arizona so that I could speak at AmericaFest, which appears to be the largest conservative gathering of the year.

00:08:42.440 I don't know, maybe of several years.

00:08:46.560 Just as I was recording this show yesterday, I speak.

00:08:52.620 It's very confusing because I'm recording it now, but you're hearing this tomorrow, which for you is today.

00:08:58.140 It's kind of like Inception.

00:08:59.500 But scheduled just after the recording of this show is the vote for a new continuing resolution.

00:09:06.840 Johnson and the Republicans got a new deal.

00:09:08.680 They scrapped a bunch of the Democrat nonsense that went down in flames.

00:09:12.680 The new deal, as it was proposed yesterday, contains a three-month continuing resolution, two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, which President Trump wanted.

00:09:24.340 That's until January 2027.

00:09:26.540 A clean farm bill package, $110 billion in disaster relief.

00:09:31.440 Republicans want that.

00:09:32.360 Democrats want to pretend Republicans don't want that.

00:09:35.020 Clean health extenders without pharmacy benefit manager reform.

00:09:39.420 PAYGO scoreboard wiped to zero.

00:09:41.020 No E15 provisions.

00:09:42.760 You know, all sorts of little addenda that don't really change the calculation on the bill.

00:09:50.020 Now, it remains to be seen what actually ends up in the final version of that bill.

00:09:54.320 Scheduled just after the recording of this show is a vote, but they might actually have to change some of the House rules to even be able to vote on the bill that was proposed on the very same day.

00:10:03.020 So, it might go down.

00:10:04.620 It might require a rule change.

00:10:07.080 The deadline is coming up fast upon us.

00:10:09.520 You know, we're hours away.

00:10:11.120 And so, all I know about what happened on this vote last night is that it will have been chaotic.

00:10:18.720 That's all I know.

00:10:19.360 And that is by design, regardless of the actual specifics of this bill.

00:10:23.580 That is by design.

00:10:25.560 The whole, I mentioned this yesterday on the show, the whole point of this continuing resolution is for it to be painful and chaotic and last minute and for the leadership to be able to say,

00:10:35.740 oh, sorry, there's no time for you to read the bill to the members.

00:10:38.340 That's the whole, that's, this is not a crisis that just cropped up.

00:10:41.780 This is an intentional crisis.

00:10:43.300 And this is how Congress governs.

00:10:45.260 Congress governs by intentional crisis. 0.99

00:10:47.440 And Congress governs by intentional crisis, not merely because they're devious and deceitful and losers. 0.73

00:10:53.620 They govern by intentional crisis because there is a structural problem in the government.

00:10:58.160 They cannot currently govern any other way.

00:11:00.500 They have to keep the government going, but the incentives are such that they cannot actually come to a resolution any other way.

00:11:12.640 So, we can cast all sorts of blame and aspersions on Congress.

00:11:16.180 They deserve a lot of it.

00:11:17.480 But H.L. Mencken famously said democracy is the theory that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to get it good and hard.

00:11:23.920 There are plenty of parts of the government that are largely unaccountable to the people that we have no say over.

00:11:28.560 A lot of the laws that govern us, we have no say over.

00:11:31.680 But when it comes to Congress, we do still vote for these people.

00:11:35.020 And the people we vote for do still go there.

00:11:37.280 And so, we bear some responsibility for this.

00:11:41.120 Every man hates Congress, but he tends to like his congressman.

00:11:44.740 There is a conflict there.

00:11:47.720 Okay, so I'm not letting Congress off the hook by any means.

00:11:51.960 But if you live in a representative government, if you live in a democracy or a republic, at a certain point, you, the citizen, have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, you're going to start with the man in the mirror.

00:12:01.380 You're asking him to change his ways.

00:12:03.780 We tend to get the government that we deserve.

00:12:07.260 It doesn't reflect well on us to look at the government right now.

00:12:10.300 There's so much more to say.

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00:13:25.580 Speaking of old news, Wall Street Journal has a big, splashy piece out.

00:13:32.300 How the White House functioned with a diminished Biden in charge.

00:13:38.420 Long article.

00:13:39.300 I didn't read the whole thing.

00:13:40.920 Because it's old news.

00:13:41.860 Even though it was published yesterday, it's pretty old news, isn't it?

00:13:45.100 Breaking.

00:13:45.720 Joe Biden has dementia.

00:13:47.400 Oh, gee.

00:13:48.220 You don't say.

00:13:49.760 What year am I?

00:13:50.460 Did I fall into a coma?

00:13:51.540 What year am I in?

00:13:53.220 This is an article coming out December 19th, 2024.

00:13:56.160 Subheader. 0.98

00:13:56.940 Aids kept meetings short and controlled access. 1.00

00:13:59.600 Top advisors acted as go-betweens and public interactions became more scripted.

00:14:04.220 The administration denied Biden has declined.

00:14:08.600 Great.

00:14:09.160 Thanks for this report.

00:14:10.060 Where was this report six months ago during the presidential race?

00:14:13.300 Hmm?

00:14:14.320 Where was this report a year ago?

00:14:16.840 Two years ago?

00:14:18.300 Where was this report in 2020 when Biden was clearly in decline even then?

00:14:22.820 I didn't see this report.

00:14:23.940 Don't forget, the Wall Street Journal has a relatively conservative editorial page.

00:14:27.460 But in terms of the news reporters, kind of left wing, just like all of the establishment media.

00:14:32.240 Where was that?

00:14:33.300 Where were you, media, when I needed you?

00:14:37.220 Where were you, journalists, when it mattered to uncover that Biden has dementia?

00:14:42.840 It's not just the journal.

00:14:43.620 Chris Saliza, formerly of CNN, a journalist who is actually better than the usual crop of the left wing journalists.

00:14:52.380 But here's what he had to say.

00:14:53.480 Here's his mea culpa on not digging into Biden's dementia.

00:14:57.100 As a reporter, I have a confession to make.

00:15:00.980 I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden's mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.

00:15:11.160 So let me explain.

00:15:12.040 Joe Biden was president from 2020 to 2024.

00:15:18.020 I worked at CNN through 2022.

00:15:20.320 During that time, the early part when I was at CNN, 2020 to 2022, people would regularly, Republicans would regularly ping me and say, why don't you ask more questions to Joe Biden and how he's doing?

00:15:33.880 He's 76, 77, 78-year-old man.

00:15:37.640 And I would sort of brush them off because what I would say is, well, there's no obvious evidence that he's declining.

00:15:47.160 Yeah, he moves a little slower.

00:15:48.420 He talks a little slower.

00:15:49.540 But there's no evidence that he's declining.

00:15:52.480 He walks a little slower, talks a little slower.

00:15:54.440 That would be evidence that he's declining.

00:15:56.900 But it's a little more than that.

00:15:58.340 I appreciate that Saliza is doing a minor, tiny little mea culpa here.

00:16:02.360 I think we need a little bit of a bigger mea culpa.

00:16:05.740 Oh, there was no evidence.

00:16:07.520 The guy was babbling.

00:16:08.600 He'd be staring incoherently.

00:16:10.380 The guy looked like he was drooling.

00:16:11.840 He was stiff as a board when he was walking around.

00:16:14.020 He couldn't remember the name of God.

00:16:15.420 You remember that?

00:16:16.100 One nation under, you know, you know the thing.

00:16:18.980 I understand Joe Biden was never the sharpest tool in the shed, but he used to at least be a kind of a slick talker.

00:16:26.380 Ever since he left the Obama White House, he has not been his old self.

00:16:32.360 And so Saliza admits here, he says, I brushed off those concerns.

00:16:35.700 But, you know, I shouldn't have done that.

00:16:37.360 Anyway, here's my confession.

00:16:39.320 Okay, good confession.

00:16:41.460 But you need repentance when you confess.

00:16:44.120 And you need to ask forgiveness.

00:16:46.940 And then, then you can receive absolution.

00:16:52.440 But we got to go all the way here.

00:16:55.560 I don't want to read these reports.

00:16:57.640 Wow, can you, breaking.

00:16:59.340 Joe Biden was diminished and the White House lied about it.

00:17:01.580 I need you there when the White House is lying.

00:17:04.580 That's when I need you there.

00:17:05.480 But you don't want to do that.

00:17:07.060 Or CNN didn't want you to do that.

00:17:08.560 And the liberal media don't want you to do that.

00:17:10.200 Because the liberal media don't exist to ask tough questions of liberal politicians.

00:17:14.540 The liberal media exists to act as the propaganda arm for the liberal politicians.

00:17:18.900 The media didn't just accidentally miss that story.

00:17:22.660 They didn't just, you know, out of innocent neglect, forget to report on that story.

00:17:28.200 They covered up Biden's decline just as much as the White House did.

00:17:32.160 They're totally culpable in it.

00:17:33.760 And so now, even some of the White House aides, they're coming out.

00:17:39.140 And the Journal of Reporting is though, you know, this is some great journalistic find.

00:17:43.360 No, you're all admitting that you lied.

00:17:46.060 Anyone who was not speaking openly about Biden's senility, they're all kind of the same.

00:17:52.960 The White House staff, the campaign staff, the journalists, Kamala Harris.

00:17:58.500 You're admitting you actively lied to us.

00:18:01.340 So the question is, why should we keep trusting you guys?

00:18:05.980 Now, speaking of Joe Biden, the hits just keep on coming with the man who is still, I guess, technically president.

00:18:13.120 Joe Biden just commuted the sentence of a woman who is implicated in the killing of two of her husbands and one of her boyfriends.

00:18:19.980 Joe Biden granted clemency to just under 1,500 people last week.

00:18:27.380 The White House boasted about this, by the way.

00:18:28.960 This should be a shame, given some of these people.

00:18:32.200 But the White House boasted.

00:18:33.400 They said it was the largest grant of clemency in one day in American history.

00:18:38.360 Within that grant of clemency, there were 39 pardons.

00:18:41.400 One of them, according to reporting from the Washington Free Beacon, is Josephine Virginia Gray.

00:18:46.600 Josephine Virginia Gray was sentenced to 40 years in prison back in 2002 for insurance fraud.

00:18:55.100 What was the insurance fraud?

00:18:56.840 The insurance fraud was her receiving payouts after the implausible murder of all three men that she was romantically involved with, two of whom she was married to, between 1974 and 1996.

00:19:12.320 She was then re-sentenced to the same amount of time again in 2006 after she appealed.

00:19:18.620 This woman collected $165,000 in these three insurance settlements combined.

00:19:22.940 Three guys dead so that she can get $165,000.

00:19:28.080 That's a lot of money, but it's not, I don't know, it's not even that much.

00:19:30.640 You think about three guys dead.

00:19:32.820 She was charged with murder by Maryland state authorities, but she was never convicted for murder because she was convicted in federal court in 2002 for insurance fraud for violating the Slayer's Rule, meaning if you kill someone, you don't get to get the insurance money for their death.

00:19:49.120 And then as a result, they said, okay, well, she's going to be in prison basically for the rest of her life, so we don't need to pursue the murder charges.

00:19:57.800 And Biden just commuted her sentence because he said, well, it was a nonviolent crime.

00:20:02.860 Insurance fraud is a nonviolent crime, I guess.

00:20:05.940 Insurance fraud because you murdered people, that is a violent crime.

00:20:09.120 That's at least a, the underlying crime there is rather violent, it would seem to me.

00:20:14.020 Let's are off the hook.

00:20:14.760 This is the Democrats on crime, and it gets worse from there.

00:20:20.440 It's important to focus on these because you have to, in order to set Trump up for the best kind of administration, you have to show people just how bad the situation for law and order is in this country.

00:20:31.240 Joe Biden granting clemency for a woman implicated in three murders, convicted for insurance fraud related to those murders.

00:20:37.780 But here's an even worse crime.

00:20:40.700 Well, a different kind of crime.

00:20:42.040 It strikes the heart as worse, but both are pretty egregious.

00:20:46.820 An illegal alien from Mexico is on the run after filming and distributing video of himself committing unspeakable actions against an eight-year-old child.

00:20:56.100 This is a family show, so I won't say what those actions are.

00:20:58.380 You can probably interpret and infer what I mean.

00:21:02.360 He's on the run in Florida, having been accused of filming himself committing this horrific act against a child in Martin County.

00:21:09.300 He's a 37-year-old illegal from Mexico.

00:21:13.000 He has an active warrant for his arrest.

00:21:16.540 This is not the only story like this.

00:21:18.820 And the Trump administration needs to highlight every one of these stories.

00:21:23.340 Because I promise you, when the deportations start, how many illegal aliens are there in this country?

00:21:29.440 11 million, 15 million, more?

00:21:31.000 Remember, when the mass deportations start, you know that the liberal media, the dishonest, lying liberal media, are going to post pictures of sweet little babes who are being pulled out of their homes by the mean old police.

00:21:46.360 And they're going to pretend that all these illegal aliens are sweet, wonderful dreamers who never did anything wrong. 0.99

00:21:51.380 And that is not the case.

00:21:52.500 It's these guys.

00:21:53.620 It's these guys who are going to be deported. 0.97

00:21:55.380 Some of the most heinous, hideous criminals ever. 0.71

00:21:58.260 Welcomed in by Joe Biden.

00:22:00.280 Welcomed in by the Democrats for decades to commit unspeakable acts on children, rarely held to account.

00:22:06.300 The acts committed, they were totally needless.

00:22:08.420 They were only even in this country because the Democrats rolled out a red carpet for them and refused to enforce immigration law.

00:22:13.640 Every one of these stories, the Trump administration needs to expose because the deportation policy is a matter of reason.

00:22:23.100 It's a matter of reason.

00:22:23.820 It's a matter of justice.

00:22:24.620 Of course, a country needs borders to be a country.

00:22:26.540 That's what delineates a nation.

00:22:28.120 Of course, the American people have the right to enforce their basic immigration laws.

00:22:32.960 Of course, this is what the American people voted for, not just in the electoral college, but the majority of Americans voted for this.

00:22:37.920 Trump ran on this as a major issue.

00:22:40.320 That's a matter of reason and logic and facts.

00:22:43.960 But selling the deportations will be a matter of emotion.

00:22:50.140 There's no question about it.

00:22:52.020 When the deportations hit, it is going to pull on heartstrings.

00:22:55.660 I don't care how rock-ribbed a conservative you are.

00:22:58.060 The liberal media are going to play on every little one of your heartstrings.

00:23:01.040 And you should not be duped by this.

00:23:03.420 You should not allow the media to trick you.

00:23:05.160 The Trump administration needs to come out aggressively and show the reality of what illegal immigration means.

00:23:10.160 Like horrific crimes that are implied by illegal immigration.

00:23:12.900 That's a matter for our side of communicators.

00:23:17.540 The Libs have their communicators.

00:23:18.800 That's all the news networks.

00:23:19.740 That's the New York Times.

00:23:20.560 It's the Washington Post.

00:23:21.120 We need our communicators to push the truth out there.

00:23:25.460 There's so much more to say.

00:23:26.280 First, though, go to strongholdrescue.org.

00:23:29.660 As Americans, we are blessed to have people like the Navy SEALs and Army Rangers to represent us and defend us during the worst of times.

00:23:36.300 However, most countries, when war and violence break out, there is often no one to help the people caught in the middle.

00:23:41.300 That is where an organization called Stronghold Rescue and Relief steps in.

00:23:44.720 Founded by a former Navy SEAL, Stronghold sends small teams of U.S. veterans, like former Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, into active war zones to conduct rescue missions and deliver life-saving care in the most remote and dangerous places imaginable.

00:23:58.000 At this very moment, Stronghold teams are deployed on the front lines of the war in Burma, assisting tribes facing genocide and ethnic cleansing.

00:24:05.740 Some of these brave men will, unfortunately, remain deployed over Christmas to meet the urgent need in Burma.

00:24:10.920 Stronghold is able to serve others because they're funded by a subscription model similar to Netflix.

00:24:15.860 Every month, thousands of supporters each pitch in a little bit to keep Stronghold running.

00:24:20.160 If you would like to become a supporter too, visit strongholdrescue.org right now.

00:24:24.280 When you become a monthly supporter, you'll receive the same kind of T-shirt that Stronghold teams wear during their real-world operations.

00:24:30.360 Right now, a private donor has pledged to double the donation of every new supporter, up to $25,000 total.

00:24:36.140 So head on over there right now, strongholdrescue.org.

00:24:39.580 My favorite comment yesterday is from Daxopoulos8753, who says,

00:24:45.220 That money, the money that the congressmen voted to give themselves in raises, or tried to vote to give themselves in raises, the CR went down.

00:24:53.160 That money should be tied to actually doing your job well, like it is for the rest of us. 0.97

00:24:57.300 I kind of kicked a hornet's nest yesterday because I said, of all the things in the stupid continuing resolution, 0.94

00:25:02.280 to me, the least shocking one was the congress giving themselves a modest raise. 0.95

00:25:06.980 I think it was like a 4% raise, or less than 4% raise, after 15 years of not having had any raise.

00:25:12.560 And I said, you know, this is not, this is a relative, I don't really care.

00:25:16.460 Maybe it's an unpopular opinion.

00:25:17.440 I don't care if they give themselves a tiny little raise.

00:25:19.000 It doesn't affect the budget at all.

00:25:20.120 They haven't had one in 15 years, whatever.

00:25:21.440 But then people say, well, they don't do their jobs.

00:25:23.740 The problem is, they do do their jobs.

00:25:27.300 The republicans who obstruct the democrats are doing their jobs.

00:25:30.300 The democrats who obstruct the republicans are doing their jobs.

00:25:32.680 There are people in congress for whom we should say it is a national disgrace that they are sitting in congress.

00:25:38.600 These people don't have integrity.

00:25:40.440 They don't have intelligence.

00:25:41.380 It's disgraceful that some of these people are in congress.

00:25:44.660 But someone sent them there.

00:25:46.600 They did get elected.

00:25:47.680 The dysfunction of congress is a little bit just the personal failings of the members.

00:25:52.760 It's more just a structural problem.

00:25:54.940 And it reminds us of the Mencken quote.

00:25:56.480 I'll quote it a second time on the show.

00:25:58.020 Democracy is the theory that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to get it good and hard.

00:26:04.160 Speaking of criminals, Luigi Mangione.

00:26:07.280 I was trying not to say the killer's name, but it's everywhere now.

00:26:10.020 So I guess the cat's out of the bag.

00:26:11.520 He is the murderer who killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO in cold blood.

00:26:16.880 He was extradited to New York at a court hearing with 100 supporters outside.

00:26:24.120 Supporters of a cold-blooded killer who murdered a poor guy right before Christmas who has a wife, who has kids.

00:26:29.800 Just murdered him.

00:26:31.620 And some people cheer him on.

00:26:32.960 Now, some of the supporters there, these people, I have a picture of it.

00:26:39.300 If you're only listening to the show, go look it up.

00:26:40.900 Some of these people, they're down a bad path.

00:26:45.040 They don't look like things are going well for them.

00:26:46.820 They said, free Luigi signs.

00:26:49.460 Privatized healthcare is a crime against humanity. 0.99

00:26:51.460 These are people, they're communists, they're lunatics, they're freaks. 1.00

00:26:55.360 Freaks. 1.00

00:26:57.580 Morally, completely ignorant. 1.00

00:27:00.000 Okay, there's that. 0.99

00:27:00.740 There is an ideological aspect to the support for Luigi Mangione.

00:27:04.480 People who are just envious and covetous and without morality and consequentialists and all the rest.

00:27:11.420 Every ism, every isst that's nasty, they've got it. 1.00

00:27:14.260 Sure.

00:27:14.720 There is another side to it, though.

00:27:16.760 Okay.

00:27:17.520 And the other side is, I think part of the reason some people are supporting him,

00:27:22.020 this guy's got a 20% approval rating according to an Emerson poll that just came out.

00:27:25.880 One in five people in America views this murderer positively.

00:27:30.740 I think it comes down to the fact that he's pretty good looking.

00:27:34.260 As crazy as that sounds, I think that's actually what it's about.

00:27:36.880 The New York Times ran a story about him.

00:27:40.040 This is what the Times wrote.

00:27:41.300 This is the New York Times, paper of record.

00:27:43.200 Luigi Mangione, the online version of him was an Ivy League tech enthusiast who flaunted his tan,

00:27:49.700 tanned, chiseled looks in beach photos and party pictures with blue blazered frat buddies.

00:27:55.480 Do we need to pour some cold water on whoever wrote this for the New York Times?

00:27:59.540 They're not the only ones.

00:28:01.040 He's a good looking guy.

00:28:03.400 And he wouldn't be the first murderer, relatively good looking murderer, that attracted people's

00:28:10.240 attention.

00:28:11.040 It reminds me of Ted Bundy. 0.97

00:28:12.320 Women were throwing themselves at Ted Bundy, this psychosexual sadist, the serial killer who 0.94

00:28:17.940 would commit all truly unspeakable acts to all sorts of people. 0.82

00:28:22.980 There was a woman, Carol Ann Boone, who was probably the most prominent of Ted Bundy's

00:28:28.780 admirers.

00:28:30.460 She moved to Florida.

00:28:31.880 She moved across the country to be close to him.

00:28:34.860 She married him. 1.00

00:28:35.780 She had a kid with him, this complete psycho murderer. 0.96

00:28:39.320 However, because despite all of the evidence that Ted Bundy had beheaded and murdered and 0.97

00:28:45.240 abused all of these people, peeping Tom, total, total psycho, because she still believed that

00:28:52.200 he was innocent.

00:28:52.860 He wouldn't do that sort of thing.

00:28:53.820 She had all sorts of pet names for him, sweetie pie, all that sort of thing.

00:28:58.540 What is that about?

00:29:00.220 Well, that I'm afraid, you know, I love women. 1.00

00:29:02.340 I'm very pro-woman.

00:29:03.520 I don't have a whiff of misogyny.

00:29:05.660 But I am clear about the distinction between the sexes.

00:29:09.260 This is a woman problem. 1.00

00:29:11.040 This is the problem of women who can fix him. 1.00

00:29:16.480 Maybe if you're a woman, maybe you've experienced this.

00:29:19.280 If you have women in your life, you can talk to them about this. 1.00

00:29:23.760 The women who say, no, no, I can fix him. 1.00

00:29:26.700 And men don't have this problem as much, but women do. 1.00

00:29:30.600 They look at a guy. 0.99

00:29:31.920 He can be a stone cold psycho killer.

00:29:36.260 But if he's even moderately attractive, the one will say, oh, no, he doesn't really mean it. 0.95

00:29:41.740 Don't worry.

00:29:42.300 Women, they're very nurturing by nature. 1.00

00:29:45.140 Women are somewhat more persuadable in certain circumstances, and they can fix him. 1.00

00:29:52.820 I think that's a big part of it.

00:29:54.820 I'm all for delving into the deep ideological and philosophical roots of social phenomena,

00:30:00.860 as you well know.

00:30:02.700 But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

00:30:04.800 Sometimes it's just because the guy has chiseled looks, and he goes and gets tanned.

00:30:11.320 And I have to remind you, lest I be sued, that Luigi allegedly murdered that guy.

00:30:20.440 He is but a suspect.

00:30:22.900 He is not yet convicted of any crime, even if he is convicted of the crime, as it seems

00:30:27.980 likely he will be, given the abundance of evidence.

00:30:30.520 But he's still a suspect.

00:30:31.340 If he is convicted of this crime, there will still be women who find him attractive.

00:30:38.000 Not a good bet.

00:30:38.840 Not a good bet to try to fix him.

00:30:41.460 Luigi, Ted Bundy, anybody.

00:30:43.560 Speaking of bad bets, Business Insider has a perspicacious take on 2024.

00:30:51.340 Points out that 2024 was the year America started to bet on everything.

00:30:54.840 And you don't even have to read the article.

00:30:58.100 You know that this is true.

00:30:59.200 In 2024, we saw the rise of meme coins.

00:31:02.460 We were just discussing the other day how a new cryptocurrency called Fartcoin amassed

00:31:07.620 a market cap of over $800 million, larger than many Fortune 500 companies.

00:31:12.260 Even Bitcoin, which many people maintain, is a solid investment, is a solid asset, is a

00:31:21.360 form of currency.

00:31:22.400 But I think most people who invest in Bitcoin, most people who buy Bitcoin, are doing that

00:31:26.540 because they just want to see the price go up.

00:31:28.580 So it's a speculative asset.

00:31:30.780 It's just kind of gambling for most people.

00:31:33.540 Sports betting.

00:31:34.380 There was a Supreme Court decision in 2018 struck down a federal prohibition on sports

00:31:38.520 betting.

00:31:39.060 Sports betting is spread everywhere.

00:31:40.620 There, 38 states plus District of Columbia has sports betting.

00:31:45.820 This is not great.

00:31:47.500 All of the betting.

00:31:49.420 Now, I say this as someone.

00:31:51.620 With friends of mine, multiple friends of mine, for going back 15 years now, whenever

00:31:55.620 we have a meal, we go down, we have lunch, or we go to the bar, have some drinks, we will

00:32:00.800 play rock, paper, scissors, shoot for the bill.

00:32:03.600 We don't really split bills.

00:32:05.420 We're not even that generous.

00:32:06.780 Oh, please let me get this.

00:32:07.800 No, no.

00:32:07.960 We play rock, paper, scissors, shoot for, I'm talking 15 years, thousands and thousands

00:32:13.420 of dollars over the years.

00:32:15.140 You figure 15 years, the people you spend the most time with, you play every single bill.

00:32:18.260 That's a kind of a gambling.

00:32:19.600 Even last night, I bought my annual lottery ticket.

00:32:23.660 I saw a friend of mine bought a lottery ticket.

00:32:25.100 I accidentally bought three, actually, because I don't really know how to buy lottery tickets.

00:32:27.360 Look, I play poker sometimes.

00:32:29.520 I'm not totally opposed to gambling.

00:32:32.160 Gambling, I don't think, is intrinsically sinful.

00:32:35.100 But gambling is, I think, acceptable.

00:32:39.660 I believe St. Thomas Aquinas agrees on this.

00:32:42.200 It's acceptable when it is a form of entertainment, when it is a way to facilitate conversation.

00:32:47.200 You sit around, you play a low-stakes poker game, you're having conversation.

00:32:51.220 It's a way for guys to hang out.

00:32:53.200 So that can be really good.

00:32:54.300 It can be kind of fun.

00:32:55.940 Harmless entertainments.

00:32:57.040 That can be fun.

00:32:57.520 Games.

00:32:58.000 There's a role for games in society.

00:33:00.080 Where it becomes disordered is when you get a little too invested into it.

00:33:04.800 When you begin to think of gambling and games as investments.

00:33:08.180 That's really bad for the country, because it becomes irresponsible.

00:33:13.460 Because it is unreasonable.

00:33:15.940 We're talking about games of chance.

00:33:18.240 We're talking about the wheel of fortune that you cannot control.

00:33:21.780 It begins to wreak a little bit of desperation.

00:33:25.700 If you've ever known a real gambler, you know, real gamblers are desperate.

00:33:31.260 I kind of hate gambling.

00:33:32.820 Even though I do a little bit for the meal here, or the coffee, or the whatever.

00:33:36.460 I kind of hate gambling, because I hate losing money, and I expect I'm going to lose money when I gamble.

00:33:40.320 Do it for a little bit of fun, okay.

00:33:41.900 But if you do it where you say, I really want that money, I really need that money, that seems desperate.

00:33:48.340 Because you can make money by working.

00:33:50.880 You can make money by planning, and working, and being diligent.

00:33:55.000 I think this reflects a broader issue for the country.

00:33:57.520 Because I think the country, in many, many ways, has become irresponsible.

00:34:01.740 Certainly, we've abused our liberty to licentiousness, just as our founding fathers warned us.

00:34:05.700 Not to.

00:34:06.520 I think the country has become unreasonable.

00:34:09.040 I think our politics is now largely a matter of irrational will, just clubbing each other over the head.

00:34:15.420 And the country's become desperate.

00:34:17.700 One in five women is hooked on depression pills.

00:34:19.520 If that's not desperation, I don't know what is.

00:34:21.260 People report being lonelier, sadder, more anxious.

00:34:26.080 Men are dying deaths of despair, suicide, overdosing.

00:34:29.320 That's a desperation.

00:34:30.440 That's not good.

00:34:31.000 It's not that gambling is making us desperate and irresponsible.

00:34:34.760 It's that the gambling is a symptom of that.

00:34:37.100 The fact that even our investments now are largely gambles.

00:34:41.400 Now, a little good news before we get into the mailbag.

00:34:44.680 From my own state here.

00:34:46.400 This is in the Tennessean.

00:34:48.760 Headline, Nashville's star is fading.

00:34:50.800 The big sort is creating a rural and red revolution. 0.90

00:34:53.620 I said, well, that's kind of odd.

00:34:54.800 What do you mean Nashville's star is fading?

00:34:55.960 Everywhere I look around, there are cranes going up in Nashville.

00:34:59.560 Huge building.

00:35:00.580 Housing prices are going way, way up.

00:35:02.520 What are you talking about Nashville's star is fading?

00:35:03.660 Well, the argument is Nashville is a liberal stronghold in a red state.

00:35:11.920 That's what's fading.

00:35:13.860 And why is that?

00:35:15.180 A lot of people are moving to Nashville.

00:35:16.520 I was one of those people.

00:35:17.600 They're moving.

00:35:18.460 Well, I'll just quote from the article.

00:35:19.720 As widely reported, the Californians and New Yorkers flocking to our state come for largely political and cultural reasons, helping to explain how Trump's electoral margin of victory in Tennessee increased by roughly 4% from 2020 to 2024.

00:35:34.360 That's the good sign.

00:35:37.960 The population growth coming from blue states, myself included, within the last five years, coming from blue states has made the state that everyone's moved to significantly more red, significantly more conservative.

00:35:51.600 There's a good sign about the big sort.

00:35:53.680 When I first went to move to Tennessee, it was a local.

00:35:56.660 I was looking around, and she said, hey, don't you California my Tennessee?

00:35:59.320 I said, lady, I'm not your problem.

00:36:00.540 I promise you.

00:36:01.140 I promise you, that is not what I'm moving here for, and that's true for many, many other people.

00:36:07.140 This is what's called the big sort, that people, the conservatives are going to move to conservative places, the liberals are going to move to liberal places.

00:36:15.780 It's actually one way in which our government might become more representative, a little glimmer of hope with all the dysfunction in politics.

00:36:24.220 If you have communities that are more ideologically or philosophically coherent, then you're going to have representatives who better represent the interests of the constituents.

00:36:38.260 2025 is almost here, folks.

00:36:40.100 It's sure to be a defining year for America's future.

00:36:42.080 We need you in this fight with us right now.

00:36:44.500 Join Daily Wire Plus during our Christmas sale.

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00:36:48.740 I will be speaking live at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest today, 2024, streaming exclusively on Daily Wire Plus.

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00:37:30.540 Finally, finally, I've arrived at my favorite time of the week.

00:37:34.880 When I get to hear from you in the mailbag.

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00:37:43.260 Take it away.

00:37:44.740 Hey, Michael.

00:37:45.280 Got another music question for you.

00:37:47.280 I've been tasked with putting together my first Christmas mass and need some help putting together the catalog.

00:37:52.720 This is a two-part question.

00:37:54.300 First, what are some of your favorite Christmas songs and who sings them?

00:37:57.880 Doesn't have to be church-related.

00:37:59.980 Second, what Christmas hymns would you recommend for this mass?

00:38:03.300 We have three that have been required by the pastor to play, which are O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, and Joy to the World.

00:38:11.080 I thought about putting together a couple very seldom heard songs, such as Mary Did You Know, for example, and Mixed Traditional and Modern together, Despite Your Disdain.

00:38:20.620 So, to sum up my question, any requests?

00:38:23.940 And for the record, this is a Catholic mass.

00:38:26.060 Thanks.

00:38:26.860 Good.

00:38:27.300 Yes, don't do the modern stuff, please.

00:38:28.980 And there's a song that's kind of an Advent song, I guess, but it's so joyful that I would consider it a Christmas song, too, which is,

00:38:36.800 Come thou long-expected Jesus born to set thy people free. 0.99

00:38:40.580 That's a good song.

00:38:41.300 I'd recommend that.

00:38:42.060 And then you already mentioned O Come All Ye Faithful.

00:38:43.800 I would just ask that perhaps you consider doing it in Latin.

00:38:47.900 I really like the Latin.

00:38:48.680 And part of the reason I like that song is, especially in the Latin, some have suggested it is a Jacobite song.

00:39:01.560 The Jacobites, for those of you, it's a little hobby horse of mine, but it's the claim that the throne of England really belongs to the steward heir, who is now a Bavarian prince named Franz, who has a brother named Maximilian, who has a daughter named Sophie, who has a son named Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein.

00:39:18.860 It's kind of a long story.

00:39:19.760 But the argument is that James II was booted out illegitimately by Parliament in an act of parliamentary supremacy that really screwed up the UK government, and they invited these interlopers, William and Mary of Orange, and that was the problem.

00:39:32.360 So there were these risings to restore the rightful king.

00:39:34.960 And Adeste Fidelles, O Come All Ye Faithful, has some clues in there that it's also about the Catholic heir, the Bonnie Prince Charlie.

00:39:43.720 One of them being, Regem Angelorum, King of the Angels, but it also could be read, Regem Anglorum, perhaps, King of the English.

00:39:53.260 So anyway, that's like a nice little secret.

00:39:55.700 It's a little more esoteric, but that's a good one to do.

00:39:57.880 Okay, next question.

00:40:00.080 Hey, Michael.

00:40:01.280 Love everything you do.

00:40:03.360 I accidentally stole from Walmart and immediately thought, I need to seek higher counsel.

00:40:09.360 I went Christmas shopping for my three sons, and when I got to my van, recognized that I had stolen two books, $20-ish each, that I was planning to gift to my sisters.

00:40:25.800 I went back in to pay for them, and both the doorman and the lady at the checkout was like, just keep it.

00:40:35.900 What are you doing, man?

00:40:36.840 Probably because I didn't want to admit that they had let me slip past them.

00:40:43.400 Not only do I want to do the right thing, but I want to look at my sons in the eyes and say, be honest and know that I am doing the right thing.

00:40:52.240 But how do you reconcile the fact that the Walmart employees were pushing me to steal?

00:40:59.300 What are your thoughts? 0.97

00:41:00.020 I think your interpretation is probably right, or they just are morally ignorant and darkened. 0.88

00:41:08.160 But, yeah, part of it, I'm sure, is, oh, shoot, we didn't do our jobs right. 0.91

00:41:11.400 Well, let's just cover this up.

00:41:12.840 You are right.

00:41:13.460 You should pay for it.

00:41:14.300 You should pay for it because your soul is worth more than $40.

00:41:18.980 That's why.

00:41:19.540 You know, if you're going to sell your soul, you better sell it for more than $40.

00:41:23.340 You actually can't sell your soul, but you can sin, which damages your soul.

00:41:26.900 So you should pay the fee.

00:41:29.040 You would say, oh, no, I insist.

00:41:31.040 So my soul is worth more than $40.

00:41:32.840 Sorry.

00:41:33.880 I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, and I don't want to offend God.

00:41:36.520 Take my $40.

00:41:37.520 Sorry.

00:41:38.280 I don't know.

00:41:39.380 You guys are going to have to deal with repercussions.

00:41:41.280 Okay, I'm not telling anyone, but take my $40.

00:41:43.560 I agree.

00:41:44.500 It would be different.

00:41:46.560 This happened to me the other day.

00:41:47.660 I was at a corner bakery in D.C., and I was getting some food for my kids.

00:41:53.420 And I mentioned my kids, and the lady behind the counter, very nice.

00:41:56.640 She said, oh, how old are your kids?

00:41:57.880 How many do you have?

00:41:58.740 She said, I want to give you a couple cookies.

00:42:01.380 I said, oh, that's so sweet.

00:42:03.080 And I respect her authority as a worker.

00:42:05.520 She doesn't own the place, but she's a worker there.

00:42:07.300 And I respect her authority and judgment to be able to give me a couple cookies.

00:42:10.600 I didn't insist on paying for the cookies.

00:42:12.680 But in this case, you were not offered something by the store.

00:42:16.940 You just accidentally took something, and then they didn't want to—they wanted to brush it under the rug.

00:42:21.480 The staff didn't want to admit that they missed out.

00:42:24.800 Pay the $40.

00:42:25.940 Next one.

00:42:26.580 Hey, Michael.

00:42:28.680 I got into a very heated argument with a friend the other day about, is it cheating to be looking at lewd drawings, whether it be of a human woman or cartoon characters, instead of watching traditional pornography?

00:42:40.940 I argued that, yes, it is, as the drawings are meant to portray women in provocative manners and is demeaning.

00:42:47.380 But my friend argues that it is no different than seeing a painting in an art gallery and getting turned on by it.

00:42:53.060 I then retorted that those paintings are meant to depict the beauty of the feminine figure in the same way something like the Statue of David is meant to portray the majesty of a male figure, 0.83

00:43:01.780 to which my friend replied, if he becomes sexually attracted to it, it's no different than porn.

00:43:06.820 Honestly, it's like talking to a painting, and even the paintings would understand better.

00:43:11.280 I'd really love your perspective on the matter.

00:43:13.420 Thank you.

00:43:13.900 And I will say it, since we can't say it in public anymore, apparently, but I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas.

00:43:20.960 Thank you very much.

00:43:22.060 Good question.

00:43:22.840 Yes, you're right.

00:43:23.740 Don't look at lewd images, whether they are photographs, whether they are paintings or cartoons or other drawn images that look a lot like photographs.

00:43:35.580 If it's lewd, don't look at it.

00:43:37.640 What's the difference between looking at pornography or looking at some naked lady, I don't know, the birth of Venus or something? 1.00

00:43:46.400 What's the difference?

00:43:47.660 I don't know, man.

00:43:48.300 If you're walking around beautiful art galleries, becoming aroused by Botticelli, something's gone wrong in your head.

00:43:56.040 Work that out, okay?

00:43:57.720 Maybe take a cold shower.

00:43:59.620 But what is the distinction?

00:44:01.800 Why is a naked woman okay in one instance in a depiction, but not in another? 0.93

00:44:06.420 It's about whether or not the image appeals to the prurient interest.

00:44:11.140 It's a word that we don't even really use much anymore.

00:44:13.080 If it is intended to cause arousal.

00:44:16.160 If it is lewd.

00:44:18.020 If it is obscene.

00:44:19.560 And you know it when you see it.

00:44:22.000 So, yeah, that's wrong.

00:44:23.500 If you look at a lewd image and you say, well, that's a photograph and that's wrong, but that's just an AI-depicted image that looks like a photograph, but it's not really a photograph.

00:44:33.980 And so one is okay and the other is not.

00:44:35.880 You're being really obtuse and you're trying to find a way out of it.

00:44:40.600 If something is drawing up in you, your base passions contrary to reason, then, you know, tell your buddy, stop coping.

00:44:48.680 Don't look at it.

00:44:49.340 Next one.

00:44:49.640 Hello, Mr. Michael.

00:44:52.160 This is Stanley in Utah.

00:44:54.000 Earlier this week on your show, you played a one-round game of yes or no with producer Davies, and the question was asked, is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

00:45:02.880 A quick brag.

00:45:03.660 I also call that you would call that an advent movie, and I'm glad that you ended up agreeing with that.

00:45:08.100 Using the word Christmas movie the way most people do, I wanted to make an argument to you that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie, because I feel that if I can convince you, a person who actually listens to facts and logic and will keep an open mind based on that information, if I can convince you, I think I can convince anyone.

00:45:26.380 First off, what is a Christmas movie?

00:45:28.340 A Christmas movie, in my mind, is not simply set during Christmas.

00:45:31.920 If that were the definition, then we'd have to consider movies like While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock or the second Batman movie, Batman Returns with Michael Keaton.

00:45:41.940 Those would have to be Christmas movies, then, simply because they're set during Christmas.

00:45:45.780 My definition of a Christmas movie is one that you would only watch during that Christmas or, for your sake, Advent season.

00:45:53.620 For example, you probably would not watch movies like White Christmas or Home Alone on a given day in July.

00:45:59.540 Die Hard is a movie that, if someone came in and I was watching it in the middle of summer, they wouldn't say, hey, why are you watching this Christmas movie right now?

00:46:07.840 They would just sit down and enjoy the movie with me.

00:46:10.140 Anyhow, that's my contention.

00:46:11.600 I would love to know if that was convincing to you.

00:46:13.920 Have a great day.

00:46:14.780 That's a persuasive argument, but then does that mean that it's also not an Advent movie?

00:46:22.180 You've convinced me on what is a Christmas movie, but our next Daily Wire documentary has to be, what is an Advent movie?

00:46:27.280 Hmm.

00:46:28.860 We'll get to at least one written mailbag question from George.

00:46:33.020 Michael, what is the woke right?

00:46:35.460 I keep seeing this term bandied about on X.

00:46:38.000 Seems like every other post, but when I ask someone for a definition, all I get is grief for asking.

00:46:42.900 It just seems to me that it's another instance of conservatives cutting their own throat, which they seem to do quite often.

00:46:49.200 They often do.

00:46:49.620 The woke right is a polemical term that means pretty much anything and therefore means nothing.

00:46:54.760 The liberals, classical liberals and libertarians and neoconservatives sometimes use the term woke right to refer to classical conservatives who are not liberals or libertarians or traditionalists or fascists or the Nietzschean right, the irreligious right, or really anyone who's not a liberal.

00:47:14.680 Conversely, the illiberal right, be it Nietzschean, be it alt-right, be it this right or whatever kind of right, they sometimes use the term woke right to refer to the liberals and the libertarians and the neoconservatives because they are more liberal.

00:47:33.040 They share more in common with the left, and so they're kind of like the woke.

00:47:38.360 And so it's really the term is just being thrown by everyone at everyone else in order to claim what it really means truly to be conservative.

00:47:49.000 So I don't use it.

00:47:49.760 I don't find that term to be helpful really at all.

00:47:52.740 You know, if we're going to try to argue about the heart of conservatism, then just come down to it.

00:47:59.100 You know, the people who say, you're on the woke right because you're not a liberal like me.

00:48:01.920 Well, no, I'm a conservative.

00:48:02.880 I'm a conservative because I'm not a liberal.

00:48:04.980 So you're, you know, you're, we're not all the same.

00:48:07.460 There are a lot of people on the right and a lot of groups that don't agree with each other.

00:48:10.580 The classical liberals, the post-morality, post-Christian Nietzschean right, the traditionalists, the neocons, the populists, you know, they say, I'm not the first to observe it, that obscure political monikers are the right-wing version of gender pronouns.

00:48:28.540 And because there are all these ideologically incompatible groups, that's part of the reason that the Republican conference can't really ever get anything done in government, why they have a lot more trouble doing that, because the left is united.

00:48:38.100 They're all basically progressive of one shade or another, whereas on the right, we never seem to agree on anything.

00:48:43.720 The rest of the show continues.

00:48:45.060 Now, you do not want to miss it.

00:48:46.100 Become a member.

00:48:46.560 Use code NOLSKNWLES at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.

The Michael Knowles Show - December 20, 2024

Ep. 1641 - Elon For House Speaker？

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