The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1654 - Joe Biden's Strange WARNING In His Final Speech

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00:00:37.780 Inauguration Day, January 20th.

00:00:40.220 Watch it with us.

00:00:41.460 Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, Andrew Clavin, and Jeremy Boring.

00:00:45.400 Live from D.C., Donald Trump's historic second term officially begins.

00:00:49.440 Coverage starts at 8.30 a.m. Eastern.

00:00:51.580 Watch live on Daily Wire+.

00:00:53.580 On Monday, history will be made.

00:00:57.440 The Daily Wire will be live from D.C.

00:00:59.120 as Donald Trump takes the oath of office.

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00:01:13.040 President Biden, the man who tried to put his political opponent in jail,

00:01:17.720 kept his bag man son out of jail with the most sweeping pardon in presidential history,

00:01:21.940 and just gave George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom,

00:01:25.680 has told Americans that his final warning before leaving office is to beware of oligarchy.

00:01:33.080 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:01:33.840 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

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00:03:10.500 Eisenhower left office warning of the military-industrial complex.

00:03:15.860 George Washington left office warning of engaging in entangling alliances with foreign nations.

00:03:21.980 We ignored that one pretty good.

00:03:23.640 And Joe Biden leaves office warning of oligarchy.

00:03:29.180 Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.

00:03:44.700 President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

00:03:49.600 He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power.

00:03:57.620 Six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well.

00:04:08.380 A tech-industrial complex.

00:04:11.280 Any idea who he's talking about here?

00:04:13.940 Any idea?

00:04:14.900 Joe Biden dedicated his final speech as president to just whining that Elon Musk backed Donald Trump instead of him.

00:04:21.860 That was it.

00:04:23.180 I also love Joe Biden ending not merely his presidency, his one term in office, but his 50-plus year political career.

00:04:31.760 He ends it in true form with plagiarism.

00:04:36.320 It's not quite plagiarism because he gives Eisenhower credit.

00:04:39.680 He says, hey, Eisenhower said this thing, and I'm pretty much going to steal it because I am Joe Biden.

00:04:45.600 I've never had an original thought in my entire life.

00:04:48.220 And whereas Eisenhower was warning about a real grave threat, I'm going to warn about how irritated I am that the tech industry, which previously backed me as an oligarchy, now isn't totally in lockstep behind me.

00:05:01.300 And that really makes me sad.

00:05:04.240 All right, good night, America. 0.98

00:05:06.460 Really, really silly. 0.57

00:05:08.560 When Washington warned of avoiding entangling alliances, he had a lot of credibility because that's what he did. 0.74

00:05:14.760 He, as commander-in-chief and as president of the United States, he recognized we want to work with nations, but we don't want to be permanently tied to those nations.

00:05:25.120 We don't want to get ourselves involved in a whole web of alliances that would drag us constantly into war.

00:05:32.500 When Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex, he had a lot of credibility.

00:05:36.580 He knew a lot about how the military worked.

00:05:38.640 And as president, he mostly kept us out of wars.

00:05:41.840 He tried to minimize how quickly we could be thrown into another global conflict in the early days of the Cold War.

00:05:46.900 With Biden, though, when he warns about oligarchy, all you can do is laugh.

00:05:51.980 Even specifically tech oligarchy, Biden, as vice president under Obama, and then as president, wielded government power to bully tech companies into backing the Democrats.

00:06:07.720 The Democrat Party has done this for a long time.

00:06:11.060 They've come in.

00:06:12.320 You even had Mark Zuckerberg say that the FBI came in, pressured Facebook, told them, hey, you've got to censor certain stories.

00:06:19.700 Frankly, even the deep state under Trump was doing this, were undermining their own democratically elected boss.

00:06:26.940 So, yeah, sure, the tech industry has behaved like an oligarchy, but only to benefit Democrats.

00:06:32.460 Then broadly, though, this fear of oligarchy.

00:06:37.080 Joe Biden has wielded the power of the state in an unprecedented way to try to put his opponent into prison.

00:06:44.040 The former president, at that time, number one threat to Joe Biden's political career, and now the future president, as of a few days from now.

00:06:53.900 He tried to put that guy in jail.

00:06:56.480 Then he issued this extremely sweeping presidential pardon to say that Hunter Biden should not be prosecuted for any federal crime that he did or may have committed over a 10-year period.

00:07:06.280 And what were those crimes?

00:07:07.380 Those crimes were, allegedly, peddling American influence, raking in money from people overseas as bribes to Joe Biden, and then allegedly kicking the money back to Joe Biden.

00:07:19.140 Oligarchy. 0.74

00:07:20.280 And then the pièce de résistance.

00:07:22.980 Biden, in one of his final acts as president, awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros.

00:07:30.920 Being on behalf of George Soros is Alex Soros.

00:07:34.200 Beware the influence of dark money in politics.

00:07:48.380 Money from unelected billionaires who are going to twist our...

00:07:52.320 Hey, is George Soros here, by the way?

00:07:53.760 I have a medal to give him.

00:07:55.120 Has anybody...

00:07:55.720 Has anyone seen George?

00:07:56.760 Old George?

00:07:57.260 Yeah, love George.

00:07:59.000 Tell him thanks again.

00:08:00.840 Anyway, back to my speech.

00:08:02.180 The dark power and the oligarchy.

00:08:05.880 Okay, all right.

00:08:06.820 This is...

00:08:07.140 When I was watching this speech, my first thought was, uh-huh, yeah, okay, right.

00:08:13.820 That's the warning.

00:08:14.540 Got it.

00:08:14.980 Thanks.

00:08:15.420 Bye.

00:08:16.080 Bye.

00:08:17.220 Whatever, Joe.

00:08:18.800 Okay, uh-huh.

00:08:20.540 Got it.

00:08:21.200 Yeah, we'll watch out.

00:08:23.840 We will watch out, in fairness.

00:08:25.180 We will watch out to make sure that the injustices that occurred on Joe Biden's watch, and in

00:08:31.940 some cases, at Joe Biden's direction, don't happen again.

00:08:34.880 That's true.

00:08:35.320 All right, thanks for warning us.

00:08:36.720 Democrats are still really, really mad that they don't get to hold on to power.

00:08:42.160 I think they really thought that they could.

00:08:44.460 Michelle Obama will not attend President Trump's inauguration on Monday.

00:08:48.120 And people haven't quite figured out why.

00:08:51.540 Michelle Obama is remaining mom on the subject.

00:08:53.740 She didn't go to Jimmy Carter's funeral, so some are saying, oh, she's out of town.

00:08:56.980 For that, she said she had a prior engagement.

00:08:58.900 But on the Trump inauguration, maybe she's trying to insinuate that whatever the conflict

00:09:03.340 was for Carter's funeral is also keeping her out of D.C. 0.90

00:09:06.240 But that was a while ago.

00:09:07.280 It's not going to really hold up.

00:09:08.420 A source close to Michelle Obama told People magazine that Obama will not, quote, pretend

00:09:15.640 for protocol's sake.

00:09:17.920 In other words, she's not going to go because she just hates Trump that much.

00:09:21.180 This source said, quote, there's no overstating her feelings about Trump.

00:09:26.420 She's not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol's sake.

00:09:30.120 Michelle doesn't do anything because it's expected or it's protocol or it's tradition. 0.92

00:09:36.440 Yeah, we noticed.

00:09:40.520 Breaking news.

00:09:41.720 Yeah, we noticed.

00:09:43.460 Michelle Obama has no respect for her country or her country's traditions or the American

00:09:49.840 people who have given her family so much, undeservedly so, gave her so much, made her

00:09:55.580 husband president for basically no reason, tolerated her frequent jibes and jabs at America. 1.00

00:10:03.020 The fact that when Obama was running the first time and was elected, she said that it was

00:10:07.080 the first time in her adult life she was ever proud of her country.

00:10:10.300 You know, this woman who was so disgraceful as the first lady. 0.98

00:10:14.700 America tolerated her. 0.92

00:10:16.260 They made her fabulously wealthy.

00:10:18.040 Again, really for no reason.

00:10:20.920 Not much reason, at least.

00:10:22.500 Gave her husband the greatest honor that the country can bestow on someone, electing that

00:10:26.660 person president.

00:10:27.380 But she won't do anything for tradition's sake or protocol's sake or for patriotism's sake.

00:10:33.880 Because Michelle Obama apparently doesn't care about anyone but herself. 1.00

00:10:38.580 And she will not be bothered to do anything to even give a little bit back to the country

00:10:43.160 that's given her so much.

00:10:44.960 Yeah, that has long been evident.

00:10:46.560 And that is part of the reason why Trump got elected immediately after the Obamas.

00:10:50.400 Because we were sick of that.

00:10:51.520 And we wanted people who would not just put their private interests first, or their little

00:10:56.020 hobby horses first, or their own ideological vengeance, their own ideological bitterness

00:11:02.360 first.

00:11:03.040 But people who were going to put America first.

00:11:05.720 That was the slogan of the campaign.

00:11:07.520 It was the slogan of the campaign this time.

00:11:09.680 And it's why Trump was a breath of fresh air after the Obamas.

00:11:13.380 Often, you will have presidents who, subsequent presidents, who are the opposite of the person

00:11:20.040 before them.

00:11:20.600 A great example of this would be Bush and Obama.

00:11:24.820 They at least appear to be opposites.

00:11:26.840 You know, Bush was kind of like a down-home cool guy you'd have a beer with.

00:11:30.100 And Obama had this air of the Ivy League, a very intellectual and sophisticated and cultured

00:11:36.040 sort of person.

00:11:37.020 You know, George Bush was seen as kind of like a nationalist cowboy.

00:11:39.700 Boom, boom.

00:11:40.580 And Obama would just go on an apology tour and say that America has no interest.

00:11:44.300 And we're so sorry.

00:11:45.280 We want to give everyone around the world everything.

00:11:46.960 Then you had a flip after that from Obama to Trump.

00:11:51.440 And I think people are still just so sick of it.

00:11:53.560 I'm not surprised Michelle Obama doesn't want to show up. 0.99

00:11:55.760 Her party and her ideological faction have never been less popular.

00:12:00.800 Now, speaking of events around the world and contrasting ideologies, I just had a fascinating

00:12:10.440 sit-down with a former KGB spy who lived in America undetected for a decade or two.

00:12:17.800 Well, certainly over a decade, maybe over two decades.

00:12:20.700 That would be Jack Barsky.

00:12:22.060 He's got an incredible story about his time in the KGB, the dangers of espionage, how he

00:12:26.580 left it all behind and found Christ, and what it means for American national security today.

00:12:31.740 Check out this teaser.

00:12:33.120 All they knew was that A, I was a hardcore communist, and that I was pretty smart.

00:12:38.500 Being recruited by the mighty KGB, that's like, I'm...

00:12:42.000 You're like James Bond.

00:12:43.440 You know, I had loved this woman, and I could shake her off like this.

00:12:46.400 Do you have to be kind of a sociopath to be a spy?

00:12:49.720 That's a good question.

00:12:50.820 I've never been asked that question.

00:12:53.020 What is the mission that you were sent into America to do?

00:12:56.140 Open up a business, and the KGB knew how to launder money and come to the United States 0.68

00:13:02.560 with $20 million.

00:13:04.420 With this kind of money, I would have made it into the upper echelons of society right

00:13:10.300 next to the Pentagon.

00:13:11.360 Right.

00:13:11.560 I would have been a very dangerous spy.

00:13:13.740 I thought I had become untouchable, with one exception, though.

00:13:16.700 Eventually, a betrayal by a KGB agent.

00:13:21.140 I became very depressed.

00:13:24.680 One day, I went to the altar at that church.

00:13:27.820 I think it was my subconscious again forcing me to get up, go up there, and the pastor asked

00:13:33.060 me, can I do something for you?

00:13:34.500 And I said, I want to give my life to Jesus.

00:13:37.900 It makes me almost cry.

00:13:40.020 Sorry.

00:13:40.620 Watch the full episode now at the Michael Knowles YouTube channel.

00:13:50.420 Do not forget to subscribe for the ad-free version on Daily Wire Plus.

00:13:55.840 We're winning.

00:13:56.760 We're winning.

00:13:57.340 The evidence is everywhere.

00:13:58.340 The FBI has just announced that it's going to close its Office of Diversity, Equity, and

00:14:02.780 Inclusion.

00:14:03.480 In fact, the FBI began to take steps to close down this office in December 2024.

00:14:13.360 Now, we're seeing the final DEI officers being shown the door.

00:14:18.420 This, according to reporting from Fox News.

00:14:21.200 Why?

00:14:22.620 We're talking already about how you're seeing actions within the government anticipating

00:14:28.860 President Trump's entrance.

00:14:30.700 So, the FDA bans red dye number three.

00:14:34.320 Why?

00:14:34.700 Trump's not officially in power yet.

00:14:36.680 Well, the FDA is doing that because they know that Bobby Kennedy is about to enter, and

00:14:42.520 it's just not worth even fighting it.

00:14:44.100 Let's try to curry a little bit of favor.

00:14:45.680 You're seeing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

00:14:49.040 Why?

00:14:49.420 Why is that happening days before?

00:14:50.920 Why is it going into effect one day before Trump's inauguration?

00:14:53.720 Is it because of Biden's diplomacy?

00:14:55.540 No, it's because they know Trump is the new sheriff in town, and they better play according

00:14:59.340 to his rules.

00:15:00.720 Why are you seeing the DEI office close before Trump takes office?

00:15:05.100 Why are you seeing Jack Smith, who tried to put Trump in jail?

00:15:07.580 Why are you seeing him resign from the DOJ before Trump takes office?

00:15:14.220 Because they know that the new sheriff is in town, and there's no use fighting it.

00:15:18.800 This is the big difference to me between Trump's win in 2016 and Trump's win in 2024.

00:15:23.320 In 2016, the left thought they could still fight and successfully undermine his administration,

00:15:29.480 and they had good reason to think that, and they were largely successful in that.

00:15:34.680 In 2024, the left has no fight left in them.

00:15:38.780 They've just given up.

00:15:39.780 You saw this with the Democrat senators who were whining and crying and generally depressed

00:15:44.440 at the confirmation hearings for Trump's nominees.

00:15:47.000 You're seeing this in the policies that are being implemented already in the executive agencies.

00:15:52.000 You're seeing this in the DEI apparatchiks being shown the door.

00:15:55.000 Shoot, we lost.

00:15:59.320 2016, they could say it was a fluke.

00:16:01.180 It was, the election was bought by the Russians. 0.87

00:16:03.580 It was undemocratic.

00:16:05.180 It was wrong.

00:16:06.020 It was illegal.

00:16:06.660 We won't concede.

00:16:07.540 Even Hillary Clinton, oh, it wasn't legitimate.

00:16:10.360 Oh no, it was somehow, something went wrong with this election.

00:16:13.420 But you know what?

00:16:14.760 When you win the electoral vote overwhelmingly, when you win the popular vote,

00:16:18.740 when you win, as I've noted before, one in five black guys, almost half of Hispanics,

00:16:23.460 40% of women under the age of 30, when you win huge portions of basically everybody,

00:16:30.660 you're just, there's no question about that victory.

00:16:35.020 And the left just seems so demoralized that what they're going to do

00:16:38.740 is they're going to have a tactical retreat,

00:16:40.700 and they're going to try to figure out how everything fell apart.

00:16:45.640 My favorite comment yesterday from HudsonDean2812.

00:16:50.120 Donald Trump turned YMCA from the LGBT anthem to the MAGA anthem,

00:16:54.200 the power of this man.

00:16:55.520 So true.

00:16:56.320 So true.

00:16:57.860 This is a tactic that I have really enjoyed for many years.

00:17:03.540 It's, I think, the power of the pink polo shirt.

00:17:06.660 You know, the pink polo shirt, some would say it's effeminate.

00:17:09.680 I say no.

00:17:10.700 The pink polo shirt is this preppy facade that restrains,

00:17:15.020 the beast, the virile animal underneath.

00:17:19.920 That's how I feel about, for instance,

00:17:21.940 dancing on one's table in suede loafers with a martini glass.

00:17:26.300 On the one hand, people think it's a little, you know,

00:17:29.860 perhaps light in the loafers, literally.

00:17:32.040 But on the other, I say no.

00:17:34.040 That is but a facade to keep the inner masculine beast restrained, 0.94

00:17:40.000 lest he become too virile and out of control.

00:17:44.740 OK, speaking of the intellect, the Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Besant

00:17:50.880 just had a marvelous confirmation hearing,

00:17:54.020 and he completely destroyed Democrat Senator Ron Wyden with facts and logic and tariffs.

00:18:01.180 I believe these tariffs, you can call it whatever you want in terms of trying to gussy it up.

00:18:08.980 They're going to be paid for by our workers and small businesses.

00:18:12.840 And all through the campaign, we heard they weren't, that foreign countries were going to pay it.

00:18:16.400 I think that's baloney.

00:18:17.700 It's going to be paid for by workers and small businesses.

00:18:20.740 So, your response?

00:18:22.020 Yes, Senator, I would respectfully disagree.

00:18:26.860 And the history of tariffs and tariff theory, optimal tariff theory, does not support what you're saying.

00:18:34.800 Traditionally, we see that the current, if we were to say use a number that has been thrown around in the press of 10%,

00:18:43.380 then traditionally the currency appreciates by 4%.

00:18:48.360 So, the 10% is not passed through.

00:18:51.200 Then we have various elasticities, consumer preferences may change.

00:18:57.640 And finally, foreign manufacturers, especially China, especially China,

00:19:03.420 which is trying to export their way out of their current economic malaise,

00:19:09.560 they will continue cutting prices to maintain market share.

00:19:14.480 Beautiful answer.

00:19:17.540 And Rob Wyden's response to this, which was cut off, is,

00:19:20.800 well, that's just all so academic.

00:19:23.200 That sounds a little too academic for me.

00:19:27.080 But I think tariffs are going to just pass on prices, price increases to the American people.

00:19:32.080 Well, sure, it is academic, or it's scholarly, or it's intelligent, I guess.

00:19:36.440 Yeah, it is.

00:19:37.440 And Besson clearly knows what he's talking about here.

00:19:39.480 But this exchange, to me, typifies just, it typifies the usual debate over tariffs in America.

00:19:50.120 And it also typifies each side.

00:19:52.860 Because the pro-tariff side is bringing serious economic arguments,

00:19:57.700 is actually drawing on political philosophy even beyond economics,

00:20:02.680 because we are not a society that serves a market,

00:20:05.800 but rather we are a society that has a market to serve us and our political ends.

00:20:10.380 And the anti-tariff side, the pure pro-free trade side,

00:20:16.540 is making arguments that are really not much more sophisticated than whatever they were taught

00:20:21.820 by their seventh grade history teacher.

00:20:23.240 That's where I think a lot of it comes from.

00:20:24.740 I think most people, if they've ever heard the word tariff,

00:20:28.020 heard about it in seventh grade history class.

00:20:30.820 And what they were taught is that we used to have a mercantile kind of economic system.

00:20:36.200 Then we had this kind of economic protection into the 19th and early 20th century.

00:20:43.180 But then we discovered free trade, and free trade was really great.

00:20:46.520 We kind of had discovered it a little earlier, but we didn't really put it into practice.

00:20:49.400 And then it worked, and it was really great.

00:20:50.780 And tariffs are always bad, and free trade is always good.

00:20:53.240 And Trump, in his commonsensical, not academic way,

00:20:58.000 pointed out the flaw in this argument in 2016.

00:21:01.880 He said, hold on, if tariffs are always bad, how come every other country uses them?

00:21:07.840 And by the way, we use them sometimes too.

00:21:10.040 George Bush protected steel.

00:21:11.360 Ronald Reagan protected steel.

00:21:12.940 So if tariffs are always bad, how come all of our adversaries,

00:21:16.980 many of whom are killing us on trade, use tariffs?

00:21:21.120 And Scott Besson gives a great answer there.

00:21:24.380 He said, well, because, you know, tactically they work sometimes.

00:21:28.500 And actually, those price hikes are not always passed on to the American people.

00:21:31.740 There are lots of good reasons for tariffs from the standpoint of national security.

00:21:35.440 We learned this during COVID.

00:21:36.360 You cannot be totally reliant on a foreign country, much less a foreign adversary,

00:21:43.280 for your manufacturing, for your medicine, for your technology, for your food in some cases.

00:21:48.940 That's crazy, because then the moment that a conflict breaks out,

00:21:51.720 you're going to starve, and you're going to die of your diseases, 0.89

00:21:53.780 and you're not going to have any resources that you need.

00:21:55.920 But even from an economic standpoint, gutting your entire manufacturing base might not be a great thing.

00:22:06.480 Even from an economic standpoint, not protecting your vital national industries might not be a great thing.

00:22:14.640 Because, as Besson says here, you might have countries like China that are dumping some of their goods below market prices

00:22:21.620 to try to gain market share, illegally violating trade treaties.

00:22:25.060 And then what are they going to do?

00:22:26.020 The moment that they've totally captured the market, then they're going to have control.

00:22:29.800 They can do whatever they want.

00:22:30.840 They can hike the prices.

00:22:31.460 They can do whatever they want.

00:22:33.260 Or they can steal your intellectual property.

00:22:35.180 It's another way that China's violated trade treaties.

00:22:37.520 And so on and so forth.

00:22:39.180 And it's not just China.

00:22:40.000 There are a lot of other countries that are cheating on trade, too.

00:22:41.980 So this is an example of an issue where I think there's so many people who were just raised in late 20th century right-wing propaganda

00:22:53.480 that said, now, beep-boop, beep-boop, tariff's always bad.

00:22:56.940 We love free trade all the time.

00:22:58.320 Well, hold on.

00:23:00.400 Abraham Lincoln founded the Republican Party practically, and he said that if you gave him a tariff,

00:23:06.020 he would give you the greatest country in the world.

00:23:07.920 Republicans were largely in favor of protection for a long time.

00:23:10.920 Maybe there's a reason for it.

00:23:12.500 I'm not saying that we don't trade with anyone.

00:23:14.480 I'm not saying that trade is a bad thing intrinsically.

00:23:17.160 But, guys, come on.

00:23:18.040 Let's restore a little bit of prudence here.

00:23:19.500 Love it.

00:23:20.040 Besson really humiliated those Democrat senators, and I think he's going to be a good Treasury Secretary.

00:23:25.060 More Trump picks.

00:23:25.840 Trump has named his ambassadors to Hollywood.

00:23:29.360 Did you do a double take?

00:23:30.680 Ambassadors to Hollywood.

00:23:31.480 What's that?

00:23:32.060 He says, it is my honor to announce John Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone to be special ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.

00:23:39.460 They will serve as special envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to foreign countries, back bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.

00:23:49.140 These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I'll get done what they suggest.

00:23:53.260 It will be, like the United States of America itself, the golden age of Hollywood.

00:23:57.640 I love it.

00:23:58.820 First of all, why do we have ambassadors to Hollywood?

00:24:01.000 Because we have ambassadors to all hostile foreign territories.

00:24:04.140 So if we're going to have ambassadors to, I don't know, Botswana or something, we might as well have them to Hollywood.

00:24:10.940 But also because, you see this here when he talks about the golden age of Hollywood, the golden age of Hollywood was an era in which Hollywood had to play ball according to national standards and norms.

00:24:24.940 Sometimes it was suggested that the government ought to enforce these standards and norms, and then in response to threats from the government, Hollywood said, no, no, no, don't worry, we'll censor ourselves.

00:24:35.560 And I know that censorship word is supposedly a bad word on the right.

00:24:40.240 It's not a bad word to me. 1.00

00:24:41.860 But it is kind of weird that during the period in which Hollywood censored itself, when we had the Hays Code, we had most of the greatest movies ever made.

00:24:51.940 Most, just name off the top of your head, the very greatest movies ever made, with some exceptions.

00:24:57.760 Maybe with The Godfather is an exception, which was made afterward.

00:25:02.500 Those were the greatest movies ever made.

00:25:04.040 Maybe there's something to it.

00:25:05.920 Maybe there's something to rhyme and meter and limits that actually allows an industry to grow.

00:25:11.900 Because, by the way, before we had Hollywood self-censorship, we had this era of completely degenerate movies.

00:25:17.520 Like, you know that movie, what's it called, Freaks?

00:25:19.300 The one where it's like, oogle boggle, oogle boggle, one of us, one of us.

00:25:23.360 And it was all kind of obscene and weird and creepy and filthy.

00:25:26.040 Those are not the movies that play on Turner Classic Movies.

00:25:29.040 Those are not the ones that you go back and stream and rent.

00:25:32.800 They were no good.

00:25:34.040 You want a golden age of Hollywood?

00:25:35.860 Let's send, especially these guys.

00:25:37.880 These guys are each in their own lanes.

00:25:41.800 John Voight, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone.

00:25:43.980 Great, great actors and filmmakers.

00:25:46.700 I absolutely love it.

00:25:48.660 Now, big question.

00:25:50.400 Big, big question here.

00:25:51.600 Who is going to be the next senator from Ohio?

00:25:57.480 Because J.D. Vance is the vice president.

00:25:59.360 He's going to be the vice president as of Monday.

00:26:01.400 So there's an open Senate seat in Ohio.

00:26:02.980 And President Trump has just suggested Vivek Ramaswamy.

00:26:07.540 How's that for a cliffhanger?

00:26:09.820 I want to talk about it more, but we got to get to the mailbag.

00:26:11.920 So maybe we'll talk about that on Monday.

00:26:13.400 Monday is the big day.

00:26:14.560 The Daily Wire will be covering the inauguration live from D.C., bringing you every moment as

00:26:18.880 Donald J. Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

00:26:22.460 Because 47 is the magic number, we're celebrating with 47% off new Daily Wire Plus annual memberships.

00:26:27.900 We're tossing in a free $20 gift for joining the fight.

00:26:30.420 With Daily Wire Plus, you get all of our shows uncensored and ad-free, along with unlimited

00:26:34.620 access to exclusive movies, documentaries, and series that are reshaping culture.

00:26:39.320 Do not miss it.

00:26:40.340 Use code 47 at dailywire.com slash subscribe for 47% off your new membership today.

00:26:45.920 Finally, finally, we've arrived at my favorite time of the week when I get to hear from you

00:26:49.080 in the mailbag.

00:26:49.680 The mailbag is sponsored by Pure Talk.

00:26:52.520 Go to puretalk.com slash Knowles.

00:26:54.500 You'll save an additional 50% off your first month.

00:26:57.800 Take it away. 0.96

00:26:58.920 Michael, after listening to your episode 1645 about the horrors of Muslim rape gangs in the 0.98

00:27:05.660 UK and throughout Europe and their government's response to it, I wonder how the people have

00:27:11.300 not risen up and taken the law into their own hands.

00:27:14.080 These globalist leftist Satanists are trying to subjugate the free peoples.

00:27:20.260 I have read books and could write books about the jihad and their 21st century efforts to 0.54

00:27:25.720 conquer the free West.

00:27:27.760 These passive-aggressive tactics of the offensive-defensive strategy is easily understood by military

00:27:34.020 men and psychologists.

00:27:35.860 They come into our countries pretending to be helpless, then rape and rob our people, and 1.00

00:27:41.320 when our people retaliate, they cry that they're the victims.

00:27:45.300 This has been the method of jihad for centuries.

00:27:48.440 We need a comparable crusade in the 21st century.

00:27:51.940 A second hijra is the only solution that will work short of going to war. 1.00

00:27:57.080 Do you think that President Trump understands what is happening and will put people in place

00:28:01.460 who will send them back?

00:28:02.520 All right.

00:28:04.740 Well, very feisty question.

00:28:07.020 Trump certainly understands the threats of radical Islam, that's for sure. 1.00

00:28:10.180 Remember when he killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? 0.93

00:28:12.680 Like a dog, like a dog, the leader of ISIS died.

00:28:15.760 However, to your broader point, that the only way to combat Islam, which has been warring with 1.00

00:28:20.500 the West for roughly 1,400 years now, that the only way to do it is to launch another crusade,

00:28:27.100 this would be difficult.

00:28:29.560 One, because the land now that would have been the kingdom of Jerusalem, the holy land

00:28:36.560 that was to be regained in the first crusade, is now not controlled by various Muslim caliphates,

00:28:43.740 but is controlled by the state of Israel that was established with the backing of the Christian

00:28:47.900 West.

00:28:48.420 So that would complicate establishing a kingdom of Jerusalem.

00:28:51.580 But even to your broader point of maybe not just a crusade, but something like a Reconquista,

00:28:55.560 something like a Charles Martel, or Battle of Lepanto, or Battle of Vienna, repelling,

00:29:02.140 invading Muslim hordes, even then, it's difficult to see how it works because of one major problem 1.00

00:29:08.940 that Christendom has, the society once called Christendom, which is that we no longer have

00:29:13.540 unity.

00:29:14.860 You know, the first crusade occurred.

00:29:16.780 I was just recently, oddly enough, debating this point on Piers Morgan's show with some

00:29:21.520 left-wingers who were a little challenged on historical facts about the crusade.

00:29:26.560 But the crusade began because Emperor Alexius in the East asked the Pope for support because

00:29:33.320 the Seljuk Turks were running roughshod over Christians and killing Christians in the Holy 0.97

00:29:37.680 Land and creating problems in the Eastern Empire. 0.98

00:29:40.640 So the Pope, after the Council of Clermont, declared a crusade.

00:29:44.420 And the popular cries that came up at this announcement were,

00:29:48.540 Dieu le voule, or Deus vult, God wills it.

00:29:51.640 And then there was a people's crusade, which was this group of miscreants who decided to run off

00:29:57.520 as preparations were being made for the actual first crusade.

00:30:00.380 They ran off.

00:30:00.900 They didn't even know where the Holy Land was.

00:30:02.280 And as Hilaire Belloc says, they died well-merited deaths in the dusty sand of Anatolia.

00:30:07.920 But then there was the real crusade, which had some serious success,

00:30:11.180 although it ended up actually weakening relations between the West and the East because

00:30:15.520 the crusaders got a little heavy-handed with some of the imperial territories in the East.

00:30:20.040 And there were later crusades, but really after the Battle of Hattin, it was probably lost.

00:30:25.240 So the question right now is, if we barely had anything resembling East-West unity in the 11th

00:30:32.400 century, now not only do we have to deal with division between East and West, we have to deal

00:30:37.680 with division within the West because we've had the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago

00:30:41.540 that cracked up the unity of Christendom.

00:30:43.880 So who would lead the crusade?

00:30:47.760 The East wouldn't call for it, and the circumstances wouldn't exist for the East to call for it, 0.91

00:30:51.760 really.

00:30:52.100 The East was essentially already conquered by the Muslims. 1.00

00:30:55.160 And then in the West, would it be the Pope?

00:30:58.040 Would the current Pope lead a crusade?

00:31:00.680 I wouldn't expect that.

00:31:01.960 Would it be some Protestant pastor, some evangelical Protestant pastor?

00:31:07.240 Is Pastor Keith going to lead the crusade?

00:31:08.600 I don't think so.

00:31:09.340 Is the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican Church?

00:31:12.780 I don't think so.

00:31:13.700 So who's going to do it?

00:31:14.660 You need unity to engage in such an endeavor, if even such an endeavor were prudent or possible.

00:31:21.980 And it doesn't look likely.

00:31:23.980 Okay, next question.

00:31:25.640 Hello, Mr. Knowles.

00:31:28.120 Fellow Catholic here.

00:31:29.460 Given the current state of our border, which I do think needs to be secured in every way possible,

00:31:36.880 I am also an immigration restrictionist myself.

00:31:40.400 But I guess my question would be, as a fellow Catholic,

00:31:44.300 and someone that looks out for other Catholics as well,

00:31:48.200 how do you think we should handle or not handle the refugee situation going on in Nicaragua,

00:31:57.000 given that the persecuted Catholics and the ones in the other part of the world as well?

00:32:03.700 Again, I'm in no way pro-open borders, or I'm also an immigration restrictionist in this time.

00:32:15.320 But any way you think we can manage this to protect Catholics would be greatly appreciated.

00:32:21.360 Thank you for your advice.

00:32:23.620 Okay, good question.

00:32:24.760 This is often how people ask this question, too.

00:32:27.020 They say, look, I oppose open borders and taking in more people.

00:32:30.280 But what about this group that I really like?

00:32:32.780 And so in this case, we're talking about a group that I personally really like a lot and would like to help.

00:32:37.860 So the issue you're identifying is that the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua has been all tough on Catholics in particular,

00:32:44.720 arresting priests, that sort of thing.

00:32:46.660 So how do we fix that?

00:32:48.060 The best way to fix that would be for a strong U.S. president to, through a system of sticks and carrots, diplomacy and pressure, 0.73

00:33:01.080 get hostile regimes to get in line.

00:33:05.640 And there are plenty of ways to do that, especially in Nicaragua.

00:33:07.960 You know, there's a lot of Western investment in Nicaragua, notably in the cigar industry.

00:33:12.340 So it would be helpful if we said, hey, guys, you know, we want to keep investing.

00:33:16.720 You guys make a great product down there.

00:33:18.680 But you got to be a little less rough around the edges.

00:33:22.760 How about we all work together?

00:33:24.920 That would be one way to do it.

00:33:25.960 That's ideal, too, because then people get to stay in their own countries. 0.99

00:33:28.940 Now, in terms of what do we do with certain refugees, 0.79

00:33:32.440 whether we're talking about Nicaragua or Venezuela or North Korea, you know, what do we do?

00:33:37.400 I don't think anyone is suggesting that the United States needs to totally close itself off to legitimate refugees.

00:33:41.940 The problem is that the Democrats have lied about what a refugee is.

00:33:46.500 And they've pretended that millions of fighting-edge male economic migrants are somehow refugees, you know,

00:33:52.400 little dreamer children or elderly women or anything like that.

00:33:55.940 And it's just not the case.

00:33:57.540 So, sure, should we take in some refugees?

00:34:01.080 Fine.

00:34:01.640 People who are likely to get on board with the American program,

00:34:06.560 people who are legitimately in need through America's grace and charity and mercy,

00:34:12.560 we can let some small number of people in.

00:34:14.160 But right now, you know, we've taken, what, between a million and 1.3 million legal immigrants per year.

00:34:20.680 Another, what, 2 million?

00:34:22.240 Who knows at this point?

00:34:23.120 3 million illegal aliens per year?

00:34:25.040 You know, that's just way too many people.

00:34:26.480 So, okay, you take in 25,000, 50,000 refugees.

00:34:29.820 Okay, fine.

00:34:30.480 If we get rid of all of the other migration and you go from 4 million people, what, 3 to 4 million people a year to 25,000 or 50,000, okay, great. 0.92

00:34:39.220 That's a win.

00:34:39.820 And you'll get people who are more conducive to your national flourishing.

00:34:44.060 Anyway, next question.

00:34:45.060 There seems to be a debate growing amongst Christians on the abortion issue, and I'd like your take on it,

00:34:51.900 and I'm going to put forward what I think is happening, and maybe you can say if it's accurate or not.

00:34:57.460 But people who call themselves abolitionists seem to think that voting for a better law rather than the perfect law is a sin.

00:35:07.940 In other words, if you vote for any law that might be better than what we currently have but doesn't federally ban abortion

00:35:14.700 and levy major prison sentences against both the mother and the abortionist, then you are committing a sin.

00:35:22.280 You are guilty of partiality and justice or something.

00:35:25.780 On the other hand, people like myself who are incrementalists who understand that we have to take our wins when we can

00:35:32.520 and politics is a process, we seem more concerned with saving babies.

00:35:39.880 So what's your point of view, and is this an accurate representation of the debate? Thanks.

00:35:44.340 Well, taken to its extreme, the argument of the abolitionists amounts to political quietism,

00:35:50.940 to pulling out of the political order, because voting for any candidate,

00:35:53.920 you know, if you vote for a candidate who will tolerate continued use of cell lines derived from the stem cells of aborted babies from the 1960s,

00:36:04.080 then you would be just as guilty of partiality and justice, wouldn't you?

00:36:07.980 So if voting for a candidate, any kind of candidate, involves some kind of remote cooperation with evil,

00:36:20.120 when you're talking about a global empire like the United States,

00:36:23.740 then the only logical conclusion of their view is to just not participate in the political system,

00:36:29.260 which, to my mind, could be deemed sinful in itself.

00:36:35.040 It, at the very least, would be vicious.

00:36:37.100 At the very least, it would be cowardly. 0.91

00:36:39.140 At the very least, you would be, it would be imprudent.

00:36:43.700 And I think it would be unjust, actually,

00:36:45.640 for people who do have the right kind of idea to pull out of the political system.

00:36:49.560 So, no, I'm not really taken with those arguments.

00:36:54.220 I hate abortion, and I'd like it to go away.

00:36:56.460 But I'm not one for political quietism.

00:37:00.220 I think that you need to get the wins that you can when you can get them.

00:37:05.120 And I think you need to have the courage to deal with the difficulties and the vicissitudes of politics.

00:37:12.440 I think courage is the virtue that is the prerequisite for all of the other virtues.

00:37:16.940 And I think that pulling away because one doesn't get what one in one's limited reason considers to be the perfect policy.

00:37:25.960 I think, basically, that amounts to a cowardice, even if people don't intend it or admit it.

00:37:30.940 Okay, that's our show.

00:37:32.600 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:37:33.320 This is the Michael Knowles Show.

00:37:35.040 We will have so much more coming up right now.

00:37:37.860 So, you've got to go to dailywire.com.

00:37:39.440 Use code Knowles for two months free on all annual plans.

00:37:42.400 We have Fake Headline Friday coming up.

00:37:46.940 We'll be back next week.

The Michael Knowles Show - January 17, 2025

Ep. 1654 - Joe Biden's Strange WARNING In His Final Speech

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