The Michael Knowles Show


Ep. 166 - The Kim Summit: Reality vs. Fantasy (ft. Sean Spicer)


Summary

On this day in history, another renegade American president challenges a communist dictator to give peace a chance. President Trump sits down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un for a productive meeting that offers some hope for a denuclearized Korean peninsula and the world order. Then, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer stops by to shed some light on those media spin doctors, as well as the White House's strategy for dealing with them. Finally, on this day, no coincidence, another Renegade American President challenges a Communist Dictator to Give Peace a Chance.


Transcript

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00:00:37.580 President Trump sat down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for a productive meeting
00:00:42.540 that offers some hope for a denuclearized Korean peninsula and the world order.
00:00:47.840 But don't tell that to hysterical theoreticians on the left and right who fret and worry
00:00:52.880 that even though everything in reality is fine and actually a little bit good, in theory, everything is terrible.
00:00:59.660 We will analyze the costs and benefits of the Kim summit as well as the MSM spin doctors
00:01:05.360 who are setting Donald Trump up to fail.
00:01:07.840 Then, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer stops by to shed some light on those media spin doctors
00:01:14.220 as well as the White House's strategy for dealing with them.
00:01:17.440 Finally, on this day in history, no coincidence, another renegade American president challenges a communist dictator
00:01:24.000 to give peace a chance.
00:01:26.120 I'm Michael Knowles and this is The Michael Knowles Show.
00:01:35.780 Who knew? I think I'm a hippie now.
00:01:38.260 I'm a hippie. I want to give peace a chance and all of the Democrats don't.
00:01:42.360 They want things to start exploding or anything like that.
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00:03:36.780 Okay, a lot to talk about.
00:03:38.160 I don't know that I have ever seen a diplomatic event
00:03:41.600 receive stupider press coverage and analysis in my entire lifetime.
00:03:45.800 Other than maybe, do you remember that the koi pond incident?
00:03:49.820 Donald Trump was in Japan with Shinzo Abe
00:03:53.420 and he fed a fish and then the media tried to make this into some huge gaffe,
00:03:59.460 even though Shinzo Abe did the same thing.
00:04:01.460 So maybe other than that, but this is receiving really stupid coverage
00:04:04.680 on the left and the right.
00:04:06.680 And I don't know.
00:04:07.920 For reaction to pundits coverage, before I give my analysis,
00:04:13.380 in reaction to this historic Trump-Kim summit,
00:04:16.140 we turn now to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
00:04:19.000 Mr. Un, you have been watching CNN all morning.
00:04:22.180 What is your take on the analysis?
00:04:25.280 Why is everyone so f***ing stupid?
00:04:28.220 That's a great question.
00:04:29.200 That's actually my exact reaction as well.
00:04:32.020 The big takeaway here, the 30,000-foot view of this Kim summit,
00:04:36.700 Trump-Kim summit in Singapore,
00:04:38.680 is stop trying to make the first inning into the ninth inning.
00:04:42.740 Stop it.
00:04:44.380 Stop trying to make this into the final thing.
00:04:46.640 Like overnight, we're going to radically change the world.
00:04:49.520 We're in the first inning of this whole thing.
00:04:52.220 Secretary of State Pompeo is hashing things out.
00:04:54.920 We've been negotiating with North Korea for a very long time now.
00:04:57.840 Really for decades, but under this administration,
00:05:00.460 for months and months and months.
00:05:02.600 What you take away from this summit is broadly,
00:05:05.500 we are on track for a deal.
00:05:08.240 That's a good thing.
00:05:09.520 That's the broad scope.
00:05:10.520 A lot of things could have gone wrong here.
00:05:12.660 Imagine all of the things that could have gone wrong
00:05:14.480 that the media would have harped on and said,
00:05:16.700 this is the end of the world.
00:05:17.620 This is humiliating for America.
00:05:19.380 And because none of those things went wrong,
00:05:21.220 now they just have to make stuff up.
00:05:22.540 Here is what could have gone wrong.
00:05:24.120 Kim could have not shown up.
00:05:25.980 That easily could have happened, right?
00:05:27.400 That would have been absolutely humiliating, right?
00:05:30.180 He could have stormed out.
00:05:32.100 He could have shown up.
00:05:32.940 And then he could have stormed out,
00:05:34.680 like when Trump called him fat,
00:05:36.140 which actually happened.
00:05:37.320 And we'll get to the clip of it later.
00:05:39.920 It is hilarious.
00:05:41.020 Trump called him fat in public.
00:05:42.860 He could have stormed out right there.
00:05:44.260 That would have been awful.
00:05:45.120 Or Kim could have gotten there and said,
00:05:47.000 we're not going to denuclearize.
00:05:48.880 I got two words for you, Donald Trump,
00:05:50.480 and they ain't happy birthday.
00:05:51.860 And that would have been truly humiliating
00:05:54.040 for the United States.
00:05:55.260 The American president flies to this summit,
00:05:57.640 and then Kim could have said,
00:05:58.660 we're not going to denuclearize.
00:05:59.820 And Kim would have had a lot of leverage there, right?
00:06:01.560 Because he would have been playing on this sort of Obama paradigm
00:06:05.080 of Obama was so desperate to get any deal
00:06:08.360 with America's adversaries
00:06:09.620 that he was willing to give them everything
00:06:12.480 and to be humiliated.
00:06:14.580 Iran captures our sailors.
00:06:15.960 Iran demands we free up money in European banks.
00:06:18.620 Iran demands $100 billion of money flown over in an airplane.
00:06:25.400 He had a lot of leverage here, but it went very well.
00:06:28.660 Now, what could have gone better here?
00:06:30.040 Well, because it didn't go per...
00:06:31.900 I'm not saying this is some huge win.
00:06:33.780 This is a world-changing win.
00:06:35.240 No, this is a minor win.
00:06:37.120 This is a step in the right direction.
00:06:39.100 This is basically good,
00:06:40.900 but it's not worth screaming and pulling your hair right over,
00:06:43.440 and it's also not worth jumping around in the streets
00:06:45.560 to be thrilled about.
00:06:46.900 It's just a good sign.
00:06:48.260 Okay, we can smile.
00:06:49.400 That's nice.
00:06:50.220 What could have gone better?
00:06:51.100 Well, I guess we could have worked out a treaty overnight
00:06:54.280 for the immediate denuclearization
00:06:56.320 and an end to a 70-year conflict.
00:06:58.940 Overnight, with no concessions from the United States.
00:07:01.420 I guess that would have been better.
00:07:03.100 What are the odds that that would have happened?
00:07:06.160 Zero.
00:07:06.900 That does not exist in reality.
00:07:08.660 No negotiation would have let that happen.
00:07:11.280 The purpose of this meeting,
00:07:12.660 and you wouldn't know this if you watch the mainstream media,
00:07:14.820 but the purpose of this meeting
00:07:15.880 was to get some goodwill for continued negotiations,
00:07:19.440 to have the two heads of state here meet one another,
00:07:22.420 have Donald Trump feel the guy out,
00:07:24.300 Mike Pompeo's felt this guy out,
00:07:25.820 and that's what we got.
00:07:28.140 We got this.
00:07:28.800 It all worked out basically pretty well.
00:07:32.460 Now, don't pop the champagne.
00:07:34.360 We don't have a deal yet.
00:07:35.900 We've just got a good step in the right direction.
00:07:37.920 Anybody that was expecting more than that,
00:07:40.580 anybody who was expecting, you know,
00:07:42.880 some overnight magical thing
00:07:46.240 that would have gotten rid of all of North Korea's nukes
00:07:48.320 that they've relied on for decades,
00:07:50.460 they were trying to set up a narrative
00:07:52.300 that Donald Trump would fail.
00:07:54.200 That's what they were trying to do, right?
00:07:55.460 Because that obviously wasn't going to happen,
00:07:57.240 and so when that didn't pan out,
00:07:58.800 they could have said,
00:07:59.680 ha ha, see, we were right.
00:08:01.280 There is so much bad analysis out there about this meeting.
00:08:05.460 We'll try to get to all of the objections
00:08:07.160 and show why they're so ridiculous.
00:08:09.840 But let's begin with the main objection.
00:08:12.480 So the main objection here
00:08:13.900 is that Western democratic statesmen
00:08:16.880 would never meet with totalitarian dictators.
00:08:20.060 How awful, how terrible that would be.
00:08:22.400 That's never happened before.
00:08:23.880 This is totally unprecedented, awful.
00:08:26.380 No president has ever done this.
00:08:28.140 Well, except for a ton of other world leaders
00:08:30.540 from Western democracies,
00:08:31.820 like Churchill and Stalin.
00:08:33.640 Churchill met with Stalin, okay.
00:08:35.560 Well, okay, but other than that,
00:08:36.800 and Nixon and Mao.
00:08:38.120 Nixon went over and piled around with Chairman Mao,
00:08:40.360 another much more murderous dictator than Kim Jong-un.
00:08:43.900 And they piled around and like played ping pong
00:08:45.480 and swam around.
00:08:46.800 But other, and I'm sorry,
00:08:48.420 also Kennedy and Khrushchev.
00:08:49.560 So Kennedy met with Khrushchev,
00:08:51.240 a maniacal dictator of the Soviet Union
00:08:54.380 who almost blew up the entire world
00:08:55.880 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
00:08:57.940 But other, well, okay.
00:08:59.620 Also Donald Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein,
00:09:02.500 then a special envoy to the Middle East for Ronald Reagan.
00:09:05.780 Rumsfeld met with Saddam Hussein,
00:09:07.040 another murderous dictator who used WMD on his own people.
00:09:11.160 But other than, no really,
00:09:12.580 except for Reagan and Gorbachev.
00:09:14.440 Reagan meeting with Gorbachev
00:09:15.840 before the liberalizing policies
00:09:17.840 of glasnost and perestroika.
00:09:19.740 Reagan meeting with the Soviet dictator,
00:09:23.040 a guy who, you know,
00:09:24.160 enslaved a gazillion people behind the Iron Curtain
00:09:26.140 and palled around and smiled
00:09:27.900 and shook his hand and slapped him on the back.
00:09:29.420 Okay, so it actually happens all the time.
00:09:32.020 Oh, okay.
00:09:32.720 So I, I'm sorry,
00:09:34.620 because I thought,
00:09:35.260 because I watched CNN,
00:09:36.360 I thought this had never happened.
00:09:37.640 This was totally unprecedented.
00:09:38.860 This destroyed American credibility
00:09:40.420 on the world stage.
00:09:41.180 Actually, it happens all the time.
00:09:43.580 So this is actually much more of a no-brainer
00:09:47.020 than any of those, right?
00:09:48.180 Does anybody really believe
00:09:49.860 that Kim Jong-un
00:09:51.080 is on the same level of wickedness
00:09:53.560 as Stalin or Hitler or Mao?
00:09:57.280 Of course not.
00:09:58.800 Of course,
00:09:59.220 that's not to say Kim Jong-un is a good guy.
00:10:00.880 He's a miserable, awful, vicious, evil thug.
00:10:04.440 But as a matter of scale,
00:10:06.080 even as a matter of ideology,
00:10:07.940 there is not a chance
00:10:09.140 that Kim is on the same scale as Hitler, right?
00:10:12.220 So what is at the heart of Hitlerism
00:10:15.200 or of Stalinism or, you know,
00:10:18.060 it's expansion, right?
00:10:19.780 So Hitler's plan was to conquer
00:10:22.000 all of these countries,
00:10:23.140 conquer all of this territory,
00:10:24.520 expand, expand, expand.
00:10:25.480 Same thing with the Soviet Union.
00:10:26.940 Expand, expand, expand,
00:10:27.960 take over the whole world.
00:10:28.920 We're going to have this giant empire,
00:10:31.120 the Soviet empire.
00:10:31.840 What is Kim Jong-un's plan?
00:10:33.580 Is to maintain his own little neighborhood
00:10:36.780 over there in Northern Korea
00:10:38.760 to keep his own little tin pot dictatorship.
00:10:41.520 Kim is a gangster.
00:10:43.440 He's much more like Castro
00:10:44.700 than he is like Hitler.
00:10:46.340 He's like Castro.
00:10:47.260 He's a little dictator of a banana republic.
00:10:50.500 And by the way,
00:10:51.160 Barack Obama dealt with Castro.
00:10:52.640 Remember, Barack Obama deals with Raul Castro.
00:10:56.220 Everybody says this is wonderful.
00:10:57.760 And in that negotiation,
00:10:59.060 Obama gave Castro everything
00:11:00.560 in exchange for nothing.
00:11:02.700 Gave him everything.
00:11:04.000 Said American tourists can come here.
00:11:05.720 Even though I can't get the sanctions
00:11:07.420 repealed from Congress,
00:11:08.540 I'm going to make it much, much easier
00:11:10.280 for Americans to spend money there.
00:11:11.900 I'm going to practically stop enforcing
00:11:14.060 sanctions against Cuba,
00:11:16.340 the Cuban Embargo Act.
00:11:18.060 When Donald Trump deals with Kim Jong-un,
00:11:19.840 he gives him basically nothing.
00:11:21.860 Nothing yet.
00:11:23.920 Donald Trump gives Kim
00:11:25.080 basically nothing yet.
00:11:27.580 And the yet is where
00:11:28.600 the negotiations come in.
00:11:29.780 So lefties and Trump critics on the right
00:11:32.060 are spinning this summit
00:11:33.820 as this huge loss for America,
00:11:36.060 this huge win for North Korea.
00:11:37.960 This, we shouldn't pay that
00:11:39.140 really much attention
00:11:40.120 because we knew they would do this, right?
00:11:43.080 Sean Spicer was talking about this yesterday.
00:11:45.220 And we'll have him on later.
00:11:46.380 We're going to talk with Sean Spicer.
00:11:47.600 He's coming up.
00:11:48.420 But he was talking about this yesterday.
00:11:49.420 He said there's no bar
00:11:50.420 that Donald Trump could reach
00:11:52.700 that would get mainstream media approval
00:11:54.380 for this summit.
00:11:55.840 They'll find something wrong in the handshake
00:11:57.480 or what he says
00:11:58.540 or a joke that he made, right?
00:11:59.700 And that's exactly what is playing out.
00:12:01.480 But it gets so much crazier than this.
00:12:03.300 You've got to hear some of the hysteria
00:12:04.960 that is coming out of the mainstream media.
00:12:06.620 And we will explain why it gets to the central premise
00:12:09.620 of the left
00:12:10.780 and why basically everybody is reacting stupidly
00:12:13.380 to this summit.
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00:14:15.800 All right.
00:14:17.380 So back to the media hysteria
00:14:19.460 over this summit.
00:14:21.620 So Brent Budowski,
00:14:24.060 writing in The Hill,
00:14:25.180 he says,
00:14:25.700 this is the headline,
00:14:27.020 Trump let Kim get away with murder.
00:14:30.780 All right.
00:14:31.580 How's he going to go on from there?
00:14:33.080 This is what he writes.
00:14:33.860 Quote,
00:14:34.300 Trump is now a danger
00:14:35.600 to the Democratic Alliance.
00:14:37.460 By the way,
00:14:37.880 I thought he was a danger
00:14:38.720 after net neutrality
00:14:39.900 and tax reform.
00:14:41.620 Isn't that the big danger?
00:14:42.920 Isn't that going to kill us all?
00:14:44.200 Okay.
00:14:44.340 But now, I guess,
00:14:45.280 now he's super serious.
00:14:46.380 Now he's a danger
00:14:47.140 to the Democrat Alliance.
00:14:49.140 Budowski goes on,
00:14:50.100 quote,
00:14:50.620 he is the only president
00:14:51.640 in American history
00:14:52.740 who treats America's friends
00:14:54.380 like enemies
00:14:55.080 and its enemies like friends
00:14:56.520 until,
00:14:57.260 except the last president,
00:14:58.520 Obama,
00:14:59.080 who treated our allies
00:15:00.360 in Israel like enemies
00:15:01.320 and our enemies in Iran
00:15:02.460 like friends.
00:15:03.360 And, oh,
00:15:04.560 and a lot of statesmen
00:15:05.500 deal with adversaries
00:15:06.920 with both diplomacy
00:15:07.860 and with strong-arm tactics.
00:15:09.600 This, you know,
00:15:10.620 basically every claim
00:15:12.100 he makes is not true.
00:15:13.040 Statesmen regularly
00:15:15.180 meet with dictators.
00:15:17.020 This guy is upset
00:15:18.000 that Donald Trump
00:15:18.980 was mean
00:15:19.580 to Justin Trudeau
00:15:20.800 of Canada.
00:15:21.560 And it's funny,
00:15:22.320 we talked about Trudeau
00:15:23.040 yesterday
00:15:23.440 and how he's like
00:15:23.980 a little whiny little boy.
00:15:26.200 People forget
00:15:26.940 that Ronald Reagan
00:15:27.640 was also mean
00:15:28.360 to the last Trudeau
00:15:29.500 of Canada
00:15:29.980 because obviously
00:15:31.140 little boy Justin Trudeau
00:15:32.420 is,
00:15:33.200 he got his position
00:15:34.100 through nepotism.
00:15:34.880 His father,
00:15:35.820 Pierre Trudeau,
00:15:36.420 was a former leader
00:15:37.640 of Canada
00:15:38.080 and Reagan
00:15:38.940 didn't like him either
00:15:39.860 because they're like
00:15:40.640 these whiny lefty,
00:15:41.700 you know,
00:15:41.820 they're just not
00:15:42.400 enjoyable people
00:15:43.580 to deal with.
00:15:44.300 So, okay,
00:15:44.740 I guess they forgot
00:15:45.320 about that.
00:15:45.980 Here is some
00:15:46.840 mainstream media analysis
00:15:48.740 and build-up
00:15:49.500 to show you
00:15:50.160 exactly what I mean.
00:15:51.500 The optics
00:15:52.120 are very significant
00:15:53.280 and as you know,
00:15:54.420 a lot of analysts
00:15:55.320 have suggested
00:15:55.980 this is already
00:15:56.720 a public relations win
00:15:57.880 for North Korea
00:15:58.920 because the North Korean
00:15:59.900 leader is being
00:16:00.480 well-received
00:16:01.540 on the international
00:16:02.400 stage right now.
00:16:04.140 Is it already
00:16:04.780 a win
00:16:05.180 for Kim Jong-un?
00:16:06.320 And that's a big win
00:16:08.800 for him
00:16:09.480 regardless of
00:16:10.580 what comes out
00:16:11.080 of this summit,
00:16:11.680 him on the world stage
00:16:13.000 in a way that
00:16:13.860 no leader from North Korea
00:16:15.140 has ever been.
00:16:16.040 I think this is
00:16:17.040 a huge win
00:16:18.580 in terms of respect,
00:16:20.780 legitimacy.
00:16:22.920 So,
00:16:23.520 this is really funny,
00:16:24.540 isn't it?
00:16:24.920 This is,
00:16:25.440 they say,
00:16:25.960 hey,
00:16:26.180 regardless of what happens,
00:16:27.560 this is going to be
00:16:28.880 a loss for Donald Trump.
00:16:30.420 Well,
00:16:30.620 how do you know that?
00:16:31.500 You,
00:16:31.680 they're so transparent
00:16:33.900 in trying to set up
00:16:34.940 Trump to fail
00:16:35.980 they say,
00:16:36.640 no matter what happens,
00:16:37.840 he's going to lose,
00:16:38.500 right?
00:16:38.880 Okay,
00:16:39.160 can we all agree on that?
00:16:40.300 Like,
00:16:40.460 no.
00:16:41.700 He could lose
00:16:42.460 if,
00:16:42.680 you know,
00:16:43.500 Kim storms out
00:16:44.480 or insults the United States
00:16:46.040 on the world stage,
00:16:46.820 but he could win,
00:16:48.100 right?
00:16:48.260 It could be a sort of win.
00:16:49.880 And this is also funny
00:16:51.280 because do you remember
00:16:52.080 the Olympics,
00:16:53.140 which happened
00:16:53.940 five minutes ago?
00:16:55.540 Do you remember
00:16:55.940 during those Olympics
00:16:56.800 in Korea
00:16:57.440 how the left loved
00:16:58.980 putting the Kim family
00:17:00.000 on the world stage?
00:17:01.280 Because their argument now
00:17:02.200 is if you put Kim
00:17:03.320 in the spotlight
00:17:04.020 and you put him
00:17:04.620 next to American leaders,
00:17:06.420 then that's going
00:17:07.540 to be bad.
00:17:08.440 That's going
00:17:08.780 to be really bad
00:17:09.460 except for five minutes
00:17:10.460 ago when it was great
00:17:11.300 when that dragon lady
00:17:12.500 became the breakout star
00:17:14.000 of the Winter Olympics,
00:17:15.080 right?
00:17:15.220 They said,
00:17:15.620 oh,
00:17:15.820 she stole the show.
00:17:16.900 She's the breakout star.
00:17:18.220 Oh,
00:17:18.320 but that was when
00:17:18.780 it was the Olympics.
00:17:19.440 That was when
00:17:19.860 it was a left-wing thing
00:17:20.860 doing it.
00:17:21.580 Now that Donald Trump's
00:17:22.340 doing it,
00:17:22.680 it's bad.
00:17:23.680 Do you follow that logic?
00:17:25.140 And by the way,
00:17:25.840 what's going to happen now
00:17:26.880 is the left is going
00:17:27.600 to say,
00:17:28.100 well,
00:17:28.400 sure,
00:17:28.960 okay,
00:17:29.260 that was hypocritical,
00:17:30.460 but now conservatives
00:17:31.380 are hypocritical
00:17:32.340 to enjoy this summit.
00:17:34.640 Not true.
00:17:35.340 Not true at all.
00:17:36.360 The Olympics
00:17:36.780 was the left
00:17:37.420 cheering on brutal dictators
00:17:39.180 despite Donald Trump.
00:17:40.980 This summit
00:17:41.600 is conservatives
00:17:42.900 dealing in diplomatic flattery
00:17:45.720 in the hopes of peace
00:17:47.280 after all of the other strategies
00:17:49.340 that we have tried
00:17:50.360 for several decades
00:17:51.280 have failed.
00:17:52.360 That is a huge difference.
00:17:54.700 All of the other strategies
00:17:55.920 have failed
00:17:56.780 and this one offers
00:17:58.880 at least sort of hope
00:18:00.440 for a victory.
00:18:01.980 So you remember
00:18:02.640 also about six,
00:18:04.020 seven months ago
00:18:04.500 when Donald Trump
00:18:05.580 was threatening war,
00:18:06.840 the mainstream media
00:18:07.480 said it was horrible.
00:18:08.640 Remember he was saying,
00:18:09.680 my button is bigger
00:18:10.660 than your button.
00:18:11.560 I've got fire and fury
00:18:12.920 and nuclear weapons
00:18:14.340 that I could write.
00:18:15.000 And they said,
00:18:15.420 that's awful.
00:18:15.860 That's going to lead
00:18:16.200 to World War III.
00:18:17.240 Now Donald Trump
00:18:18.100 is doing the opposite.
00:18:18.860 He's pursuing diplomacy.
00:18:20.140 The media,
00:18:20.700 do you know what they're saying?
00:18:21.380 You're going to be shocked
00:18:21.940 to hear this.
00:18:22.460 They're saying it's horrible.
00:18:23.520 They're saying it's awful.
00:18:24.240 It's kind of,
00:18:24.680 it's weird.
00:18:25.080 It's like he's kind of
00:18:25.800 damned if he does
00:18:26.340 and damned if he doesn't.
00:18:27.260 The real answer of course
00:18:28.400 is that we have to do both.
00:18:30.240 We need to have credibility
00:18:31.880 and the credible threat
00:18:32.740 of violence
00:18:33.200 and we have to pursue diplomacy.
00:18:36.060 The media are reporting
00:18:37.080 that this is a big win for Kim.
00:18:38.540 This is the huge win.
00:18:39.660 What did he win?
00:18:41.460 Ask yourself that
00:18:42.220 because they're all
00:18:42.580 going to report that.
00:18:43.220 That's going to be the headline.
00:18:44.280 This was a huge win for Kim.
00:18:46.340 Okay, what did he win?
00:18:48.940 Did the United States
00:18:49.840 lift the economic sanctions?
00:18:51.780 No.
00:18:52.380 We have some of the
00:18:53.000 stiffest sanctions in place
00:18:55.220 that we've ever had against
00:18:56.320 North Korea.
00:18:57.660 That's the main leverage.
00:18:58.860 That's actually what's at issue.
00:19:00.160 This negotiation
00:19:00.840 is between nuclear weapons
00:19:02.640 and economic sanctions.
00:19:04.140 That's what it is.
00:19:05.340 You get to,
00:19:06.180 you can either have
00:19:07.180 a gigantic nuclear arsenal
00:19:09.300 or you can participate
00:19:10.560 in global trade.
00:19:11.560 That's it, right?
00:19:12.480 And that's,
00:19:12.800 basically we're trying to get
00:19:13.660 the North Koreans
00:19:14.380 to give up the weapons
00:19:15.200 in exchange for participating
00:19:16.660 in the international community.
00:19:18.920 We still have all the sanctions
00:19:20.460 in place.
00:19:21.180 All of that leverage
00:19:21.880 is in place.
00:19:22.520 That's why it's not
00:19:23.260 like the Iran deal.
00:19:24.140 Now, what else did he win?
00:19:25.980 He got publicity
00:19:26.640 on the world stage.
00:19:28.100 Kim gets plenty of publicity
00:19:29.440 on the world stage
00:19:30.420 all by himself.
00:19:32.100 That's totally fine.
00:19:33.140 He already got legitimacy,
00:19:34.660 by the way,
00:19:35.160 on the world stage
00:19:36.040 from April's
00:19:36.880 Panmunjom declaration
00:19:38.260 in South Korea.
00:19:39.900 That was when
00:19:40.400 they went a couple months ago
00:19:41.640 to South Korea
00:19:42.360 and declared
00:19:43.400 they're going to pursue
00:19:44.100 denuclearization
00:19:45.060 and an end to the Korean War.
00:19:46.560 So he's already got that
00:19:47.820 legitimacy
00:19:48.500 on the world stage.
00:19:49.540 That's been building
00:19:50.480 for a long time.
00:19:51.820 So what else did he get?
00:19:53.000 He got a handshake
00:19:54.100 and some flattering words
00:19:55.580 from Donald Trump.
00:19:58.100 By the way,
00:19:58.620 I don't know if you've
00:19:59.180 watched any clips
00:19:59.960 of Donald Trump
00:20:00.560 over the past four decades,
00:20:02.120 but he can be a little
00:20:03.220 hot or cold, you know,
00:20:04.220 if you're nice to him
00:20:05.360 and he's getting
00:20:06.320 what he wants.
00:20:06.900 He can be effusive.
00:20:09.000 He can be over the top
00:20:10.360 flattering.
00:20:11.000 And then the minute
00:20:11.740 you turn on him,
00:20:12.680 he just knifes you
00:20:13.980 in the back
00:20:14.520 and he kind of goes
00:20:15.360 back and forth
00:20:15.940 because that's what he does
00:20:16.800 because he's a New Yorker
00:20:18.000 and he's a real estate guy.
00:20:19.380 You know,
00:20:20.360 that's how he talks.
00:20:21.480 I don't think people
00:20:22.260 put a whole lot of stock
00:20:23.360 in some flattering words
00:20:24.520 from Donald Trump.
00:20:26.380 And also,
00:20:27.200 American leaders
00:20:27.740 have always shaken hands
00:20:29.080 with murderous dictators.
00:20:30.840 In fact,
00:20:31.020 this goes all the way back
00:20:32.020 to the founding
00:20:32.440 of the country.
00:20:33.420 Thomas Jefferson
00:20:34.180 and John Adams
00:20:34.960 made nice
00:20:36.060 with the Barbary pirates
00:20:37.640 who were enslaving
00:20:38.880 our sailors
00:20:39.680 basically at the foundation
00:20:41.080 of our country.
00:20:41.880 They made nice.
00:20:42.680 They said nice words
00:20:43.520 to them.
00:20:44.220 They made concessions
00:20:45.240 to them, right?
00:20:46.180 This has been going on
00:20:47.020 since the very beginning.
00:20:48.220 So what did Donald Trump say?
00:20:49.380 Donald Trump said
00:20:50.000 Kim is talented.
00:20:52.220 This is obviously true.
00:20:53.600 It's sort of damning
00:20:54.360 with faint praise
00:20:55.060 because Kim's talent
00:20:56.000 is at enslaving
00:20:57.040 his own people
00:20:57.680 and murdering
00:20:58.420 all of his opponents.
00:20:59.960 But it's obviously true.
00:21:01.220 You know,
00:21:01.560 the guy took power
00:21:03.220 at age 26
00:21:03.980 and managed to keep hold
00:21:05.800 over this bizarro world
00:21:07.920 communist dictatorship
00:21:09.040 long after communism
00:21:10.500 was relegated
00:21:11.400 to the ash heap of history.
00:21:13.340 But also,
00:21:13.980 what else did Donald Trump
00:21:14.860 say about Kim?
00:21:15.580 Seven months ago,
00:21:16.360 he called him short and fat.
00:21:17.800 You know,
00:21:18.640 he sent out that tweet.
00:21:20.300 He said,
00:21:20.620 oh,
00:21:20.840 I would never call
00:21:21.920 Kim Jong-un short and fat.
00:21:24.240 Actually,
00:21:24.800 by the way,
00:21:25.380 Donald Trump
00:21:25.900 called Kim Jong-un fat
00:21:27.720 in the room
00:21:28.800 at this summit.
00:21:29.840 Listen to this
00:21:30.420 and then watch the look
00:21:31.340 on Kim Jong-un's face.
00:21:32.420 Very nice.
00:21:35.540 Getting a good picture,
00:21:36.600 everybody,
00:21:37.060 so we look nice
00:21:37.980 and handsome,
00:21:39.200 thin.
00:21:39.760 Beautiful.
00:21:40.340 Perfect.
00:21:41.720 Thank you very much.
00:21:51.400 So,
00:21:52.200 for those of you
00:21:53.320 who weren't watching,
00:21:55.120 you've got to look
00:21:55.840 at Kim Jong-un's face
00:21:57.420 in this
00:21:57.740 because he says,
00:21:58.720 you know,
00:21:59.020 yeah,
00:21:59.300 we've got to look
00:22:00.080 really thin,
00:22:00.980 really nice.
00:22:01.560 The camera pans over
00:22:02.760 and Kim Jong-un
00:22:04.360 looks there
00:22:04.720 like Larry David.
00:22:05.760 You just kind of see
00:22:06.400 we're going to look
00:22:07.200 really thin
00:22:07.800 and then it goes over
00:22:08.560 and you're like,
00:22:08.980 bum,
00:22:09.340 bum,
00:22:09.780 bum,
00:22:10.200 ba-da-da-da-da-da.
00:22:11.780 It's really
00:22:12.480 perfect,
00:22:13.960 perfect way to start too
00:22:15.260 because it's not just
00:22:16.800 an offhanded thing.
00:22:18.160 That's a little dig.
00:22:19.660 That's a very Trumpy,
00:22:21.380 very New York
00:22:22.120 little dig
00:22:22.820 to say,
00:22:23.860 who's boss here,
00:22:24.740 right?
00:22:25.220 Oh,
00:22:25.480 we're going to look,
00:22:26.300 hey,
00:22:26.460 you've got to work
00:22:27.420 pretty hard
00:22:27.900 to make us look thin,
00:22:28.940 okay?
00:22:29.760 You get it,
00:22:30.980 don't you,
00:22:31.300 Kimmy?
00:22:31.620 You get it,
00:22:32.180 little Un.
00:22:32.880 I don't know what,
00:22:33.820 is it Un-ee
00:22:34.340 or whatever
00:22:35.040 Kim Jong-un's nickname is?
00:22:36.320 He probably doesn't
00:22:36.940 have a nickname.
00:22:38.260 Now,
00:22:38.660 okay,
00:22:39.000 the big concession
00:22:40.140 that is being reported
00:22:41.220 here
00:22:41.520 is that Donald Trump
00:22:43.200 said that he would
00:22:44.020 cancel a joint
00:22:44.940 military exercise
00:22:45.960 with South Korea
00:22:47.140 as a concession
00:22:48.520 toward denuclearization.
00:22:50.320 And everyone's
00:22:50.840 freaking out.
00:22:51.300 They say,
00:22:51.460 oh,
00:22:51.640 South Korea
00:22:52.060 didn't know about this.
00:22:53.120 By the way,
00:22:53.500 South Korea
00:22:53.960 issued,
00:22:55.480 the president
00:22:56.100 of South Korea
00:22:56.580 issued a statement
00:22:57.480 talking about
00:22:57.940 how wonderful
00:22:58.700 this summit was,
00:22:59.780 how great
00:23:00.240 Donald Trump did.
00:23:01.120 So,
00:23:01.440 you know,
00:23:01.820 those headlines
00:23:02.460 take them
00:23:03.380 with less than
00:23:03.960 a grain of salt.
00:23:04.880 But also,
00:23:05.780 the point that
00:23:06.360 everybody's missing here
00:23:07.360 is that the war game
00:23:08.440 that's being talked about
00:23:09.300 isn't scheduled
00:23:09.920 to happen
00:23:10.340 for a full year.
00:23:12.340 The joint military
00:23:13.260 exercise that's been
00:23:14.080 canceled
00:23:14.540 isn't scheduled
00:23:15.780 to happen
00:23:16.140 for a year.
00:23:16.860 By the way,
00:23:17.780 you'll recall
00:23:18.620 another big event
00:23:19.840 in Korea
00:23:20.300 was recently canceled
00:23:22.640 and then it
00:23:23.240 wasn't canceled.
00:23:24.240 The summit
00:23:24.860 that he said
00:23:25.480 that at,
00:23:26.020 right?
00:23:26.800 Donald Trump
00:23:27.420 said the summit's
00:23:28.020 canceled.
00:23:28.460 Too bad it's over.
00:23:29.440 And then a couple
00:23:29.880 days later,
00:23:30.420 Kim comes back
00:23:31.000 to the table.
00:23:31.460 He says,
00:23:31.740 okay,
00:23:31.900 it's back on.
00:23:32.620 This is obviously
00:23:33.520 just a negotiating
00:23:34.420 tactic.
00:23:35.240 He's obviously
00:23:35.900 saying,
00:23:36.720 look,
00:23:37.000 we're going to
00:23:37.440 try to not have
00:23:39.200 to have this
00:23:39.840 military exercise.
00:23:41.680 But then he later
00:23:42.800 said in that same
00:23:43.840 discussion,
00:23:44.500 right,
00:23:44.640 he says,
00:23:45.320 look,
00:23:45.680 in six months
00:23:46.260 we'll see if Kim
00:23:46.960 does what he says
00:23:47.560 he's going to do.
00:23:48.300 If not,
00:23:48.820 I'm going to have
00:23:49.200 to say something else.
00:23:50.140 I'm going to have
00:23:50.500 to change my mind.
00:23:51.480 He told a joke.
00:23:53.960 I'm going to come up
00:23:55.200 with an excuse
00:23:55.680 to explain it
00:23:56.440 or something.
00:23:57.280 But what he's
00:23:58.340 signaling there
00:23:59.000 is,
00:23:59.720 okay,
00:24:00.600 in a year,
00:24:01.360 I sure would like it
00:24:02.320 if we don't need
00:24:02.840 that joint military
00:24:03.620 exercise.
00:24:04.420 Because by the way,
00:24:05.160 we only need
00:24:05.660 these provocative
00:24:06.340 exercises if North
00:24:08.540 Korea is provoking
00:24:09.580 us and saying
00:24:10.120 they're going to
00:24:10.780 blow up the world
00:24:11.680 of nuclear weapons.
00:24:12.780 That's why we
00:24:13.380 have to show them
00:24:14.220 that we've still
00:24:14.740 got giant planes
00:24:15.520 that can blow
00:24:16.220 them to smithereens.
00:24:18.600 Also,
00:24:19.120 by the way,
00:24:20.240 this handshake
00:24:20.980 did not come
00:24:21.500 cost-free
00:24:21.960 to North Korea.
00:24:22.940 They're saying,
00:24:23.420 oh,
00:24:23.680 well,
00:24:23.900 it put him
00:24:24.420 on the world stage
00:24:25.100 with the president
00:24:25.640 and that's a big
00:24:27.280 propaganda win.
00:24:28.880 I don't know,
00:24:29.640 maybe.
00:24:30.200 I mean,
00:24:30.480 he's already
00:24:30.880 been elevated
00:24:31.540 to these levels
00:24:32.580 of running a country.
00:24:34.680 He does run
00:24:35.220 his own country,
00:24:35.940 right?
00:24:36.400 But this handshake
00:24:37.840 doesn't come
00:24:38.240 cost-free.
00:24:39.140 Information is
00:24:39.740 very tightly controlled
00:24:40.740 into and out
00:24:41.880 of North Korea.
00:24:42.940 Now we have
00:24:43.580 images of Kim Jong-un
00:24:44.940 palling around
00:24:45.820 with Donald Trump,
00:24:47.080 talking about
00:24:47.640 friendship between
00:24:48.760 him and Donald Trump,
00:24:49.820 a new era.
00:24:50.800 We're going to let
00:24:51.160 the past
00:24:51.600 be the past.
00:24:52.720 That undoes
00:24:53.680 a lot of
00:24:54.120 North Korean
00:24:54.600 propaganda.
00:24:55.320 There's been
00:24:55.660 propaganda throughout
00:24:57.000 North Korea
00:24:57.520 for the past
00:24:58.340 70 years
00:24:59.140 about how
00:24:59.820 America's
00:25:00.480 this evil country
00:25:02.780 and we're going to
00:25:03.300 come,
00:25:03.580 we're still at war.
00:25:04.380 They're the enemy,
00:25:05.100 they're inhuman,
00:25:07.060 and now you see
00:25:08.200 this picture
00:25:08.680 and they're
00:25:08.960 palling around,
00:25:09.760 right?
00:25:10.260 And Donald Trump
00:25:11.260 is the big guy
00:25:12.000 in the room.
00:25:12.580 Just physically,
00:25:13.300 he's this giant guy
00:25:14.500 compared to
00:25:15.140 short,
00:25:16.040 fat,
00:25:16.260 little rocket man.
00:25:17.100 He's smiling,
00:25:18.160 he's calling
00:25:18.780 Kim fat in the room.
00:25:20.560 It's hard to undo
00:25:21.440 those images too.
00:25:23.100 It's hard to undo
00:25:23.760 those images
00:25:24.240 and those cut against
00:25:24.960 a lot of North Korean
00:25:25.680 propaganda.
00:25:26.560 So even that,
00:25:27.760 which is the only
00:25:28.540 possible win
00:25:30.280 that North Korea
00:25:31.320 could say they got here,
00:25:32.460 even that is a
00:25:33.220 double-edged sword.
00:25:34.480 But this is the
00:25:35.180 big lefty argument,
00:25:36.100 right?
00:25:36.240 The big lefty argument
00:25:37.140 is optics.
00:25:38.400 They say,
00:25:38.700 oh, the optics
00:25:39.320 just didn't look good.
00:25:41.520 I don't know why
00:25:42.240 they didn't look good.
00:25:43.140 Oh, the optics
00:25:43.980 of Donald Trump
00:25:44.780 standing there
00:25:45.420 with it didn't look good.
00:25:46.420 And this is my
00:25:47.280 central argument
00:25:48.240 about the left.
00:25:49.220 The left cares
00:25:50.040 about the appearance
00:25:50.780 of the thing
00:25:51.360 rather than
00:25:52.160 the thing itself.
00:25:54.160 So, you know,
00:25:55.240 they say,
00:25:55.860 who cares if it works
00:25:56.780 in practice?
00:25:57.700 Does it work
00:25:58.480 in theory, right?
00:25:59.500 That's their argument.
00:26:01.200 Bad optics.
00:26:02.200 Bad optics for whom?
00:26:03.260 Who is this bad optics for?
00:26:04.860 This is another
00:26:05.600 central premise
00:26:06.580 of bad optics, right?
00:26:08.380 It's this prejudice
00:26:09.260 of the left.
00:26:10.180 The left thinks,
00:26:11.020 oh, we would never
00:26:11.840 be duped
00:26:12.340 because we're smart people.
00:26:13.480 But those rube,
00:26:14.520 idiot masses,
00:26:15.200 they can be duped
00:26:16.360 by optics.
00:26:18.060 That's the premise
00:26:19.320 and that's the prejudice.
00:26:21.000 Oh, it's bad optics.
00:26:22.260 What do you mean?
00:26:22.580 What are you saying
00:26:22.980 bad optics?
00:26:23.980 What you're saying
00:26:24.520 is it's not actually bad
00:26:25.660 but it looks bad
00:26:26.540 to stupid people, right?
00:26:28.680 Everybody else
00:26:29.280 is so much stupider
00:26:30.300 than we,
00:26:30.980 we blessed few
00:26:32.280 in the media,
00:26:33.340 you know,
00:26:33.600 and that's why
00:26:33.980 the bad optics matter.
00:26:35.180 That's totally wrong.
00:26:37.060 In real life,
00:26:38.580 the actual people
00:26:39.460 who get fooled
00:26:40.000 by optics
00:26:40.620 are precisely
00:26:41.360 the people
00:26:41.780 who worry
00:26:42.260 about those optics
00:26:43.080 so much of the time
00:26:44.480 in the mainstream media.
00:26:45.980 This is why
00:26:46.420 Donald Trump
00:26:46.840 communicates so well, right?
00:26:48.380 People understand
00:26:49.240 what Donald Trump means
00:26:50.260 and the mainstream media
00:26:51.480 worry about the optics.
00:26:53.140 All the theoreticians,
00:26:54.380 they worry about the optics.
00:26:55.860 You know,
00:26:56.020 Donald Trump announced
00:26:56.760 his presidency
00:26:57.360 or his presidential campaign.
00:26:59.280 He said,
00:27:00.060 Mexico's sending criminals
00:27:01.180 over the border.
00:27:02.860 Now,
00:27:03.120 the mainstream media,
00:27:04.220 the Never Trump movement,
00:27:05.240 they all worry.
00:27:06.000 They said,
00:27:06.280 oh, the optics.
00:27:07.440 People said,
00:27:07.780 what was wrong
00:27:08.280 with what Trump said?
00:27:09.080 He said,
00:27:09.500 well,
00:27:09.820 it's not that it was wrong
00:27:11.020 exactly,
00:27:11.900 it's that the optics
00:27:12.700 were bad.
00:27:13.740 People knew what he meant.
00:27:15.460 Americans knew what he meant.
00:27:16.580 They are sending criminals
00:27:17.380 across the border.
00:27:18.560 Not everybody's a criminal,
00:27:19.780 you know,
00:27:20.000 but they are.
00:27:20.380 There are a lot of crime
00:27:21.140 comes across the border
00:27:22.520 from Mexico.
00:27:23.520 First of all,
00:27:23.940 by definition,
00:27:24.600 illegal immigration is a crime.
00:27:26.020 Also a ton of drugs.
00:27:26.920 Also a ton of gang members.
00:27:27.900 Also MS-13.
00:27:29.160 Speaking of MS-13,
00:27:30.320 that animals remark,
00:27:31.700 he said,
00:27:32.300 MS-13,
00:27:33.040 they're animals.
00:27:33.620 And they said,
00:27:34.300 oh, the optics.
00:27:35.640 Oh, the optics.
00:27:36.180 It sounds like
00:27:36.740 he's calling immigrants
00:27:37.600 animals.
00:27:40.720 No, it doesn't.
00:27:41.440 He didn't say that.
00:27:42.260 Well, yeah,
00:27:42.520 but it's maybe
00:27:43.180 idiots would think that.
00:27:44.560 Right.
00:27:44.800 But you,
00:27:45.600 mainstream media,
00:27:46.300 you are the idiots.
00:27:47.580 The people are not the idiots.
00:27:49.700 You are the idiots.
00:27:50.960 And finally,
00:27:52.760 the final,
00:27:53.760 because we'll have to move on.
00:27:54.820 We've got to get Sean Spicer on.
00:27:55.980 The final stupid media narrative here
00:27:58.120 is that this was reckless,
00:28:00.740 impulsive.
00:28:01.480 It was driven by ego
00:28:02.660 and narcissism.
00:28:03.900 It's reckless.
00:28:04.620 What was he doing?
00:28:06.060 Donald Trump has been
00:28:06.880 explaining this for decades.
00:28:08.140 He's been talking about
00:28:08.760 doing this for decades.
00:28:09.560 Here's Donald Trump
00:28:10.200 explaining precisely
00:28:11.060 what happened in 1999.
00:28:13.960 North Korea is totally
00:28:15.000 out of control.
00:28:15.840 And would you rather
00:28:16.520 have a very,
00:28:18.020 very serious chat
00:28:19.120 with them now?
00:28:20.560 And if necessary,
00:28:21.920 you might have to do
00:28:22.940 something fairly drastic.
00:28:24.500 Or would you rather
00:28:25.340 have to go after them
00:28:26.380 in five years
00:28:27.020 when they have more
00:28:28.180 nuclear warheads
00:28:29.140 and missiles than we do?
00:28:30.400 You go in,
00:28:31.080 you start negotiating.
00:28:32.180 And if you don't stop them
00:28:33.280 from doing it,
00:28:33.720 you will have to take
00:28:34.600 rather drastic actions.
00:28:35.920 Because if you don't
00:28:36.560 take them now,
00:28:37.620 you're going to be
00:28:38.040 in awfully big trouble
00:28:39.120 in five years from now
00:28:40.080 when they have more
00:28:40.660 missiles than we do.
00:28:41.920 We're a bunch of saps.
00:28:43.380 What if the North Koreans
00:28:44.500 don't play ball,
00:28:46.080 develop a nuclear capability,
00:28:48.760 go forward with
00:28:50.000 their missile development?
00:28:51.880 Does the United States
00:28:52.900 act unilaterally?
00:28:53.920 Excuse me.
00:28:54.440 If spoken to correctly,
00:28:56.860 correctly,
00:28:57.880 they will play ball.
00:28:59.500 Look on another front
00:29:00.540 what happened recently
00:29:01.640 where Clinton has asked
00:29:03.600 our trade,
00:29:04.440 our so-called trade partners,
00:29:05.580 to come so we can
00:29:06.520 renegotiate some fairness
00:29:07.740 into trade, right?
00:29:09.220 They don't show up.
00:29:10.200 They say we're not coming.
00:29:11.500 Why would Germany show up?
00:29:12.820 Why would France show up?
00:29:13.900 Why would Japan show up?
00:29:15.220 They've been ripping
00:29:15.820 this off for years.
00:29:16.860 So why would they come here?
00:29:18.260 It's ridiculous.
00:29:20.200 It's interesting that
00:29:21.700 these old clips
00:29:22.980 do shed a lot of light
00:29:23.900 on Donald Trump's thinking
00:29:24.880 because he's thinking
00:29:25.960 about this.
00:29:26.660 Essentially,
00:29:27.060 he pivots at the end,
00:29:27.640 he's just talking about trade,
00:29:29.100 right?
00:29:29.340 He goes from talking about Korea
00:29:30.300 to talking about trade
00:29:30.960 because he views these things
00:29:32.080 as trade negotiations,
00:29:33.520 as business negotiations.
00:29:34.660 And this is Donald Trump's strength.
00:29:36.600 First of all,
00:29:37.160 what else are we going to do, right?
00:29:38.480 These other strategies
00:29:39.400 haven't worked.
00:29:40.780 So why not give this a shot?
00:29:42.580 What's the loss?
00:29:43.400 The loss is nothing
00:29:45.600 that Kim doesn't
00:29:46.540 basically already have
00:29:47.620 and nothing that can't
00:29:48.280 be revoked.
00:29:49.020 But this is Donald Trump's strength.
00:29:51.600 Donald Trump negotiates
00:29:52.620 with the worst people
00:29:53.580 on earth, right?
00:29:55.300 The idea to not meet with Kim
00:29:57.960 is one of fear.
00:29:59.240 Oh, I fear.
00:29:59.880 What if this may lead
00:30:01.000 to this optic
00:30:01.680 and that doesn't...
00:30:02.700 Just do it.
00:30:04.140 Just do it.
00:30:04.780 Just do it now.
00:30:06.260 And then if that doesn't work,
00:30:07.620 we'll do something else, okay?
00:30:08.580 Just don't be afraid.
00:30:09.820 Stop being so fearful
00:30:10.680 and just try something.
00:30:12.240 But this is Trump's strength.
00:30:13.620 He negotiates
00:30:14.140 with the worst people on earth.
00:30:15.560 These real estate guys
00:30:16.780 in New York,
00:30:17.560 mobsters,
00:30:18.180 literally mobsters.
00:30:19.060 If you want to do
00:30:19.540 New York real estate,
00:30:20.280 you have to talk to the mob
00:30:21.180 and you certainly did
00:30:22.220 in the 70s and 80s
00:30:23.260 before Rudy Giuliani,
00:30:25.040 Donald Trump's lawyer,
00:30:25.880 cracked the mob in New York.
00:30:28.320 Reality television,
00:30:29.560 I mean TV,
00:30:30.260 those people are...
00:30:31.080 Trust me,
00:30:31.380 I see them all the time
00:30:32.200 in Hollywood.
00:30:33.060 They're like the worst people
00:30:34.180 on earth.
00:30:34.960 And politics, right?
00:30:36.440 So he deals with these people
00:30:38.340 and he's negotiating
00:30:39.400 in a way that you would talk
00:30:43.060 to thugs,
00:30:43.900 in the way that you would
00:30:44.480 talk to gangsters.
00:30:45.640 And that's what literal gangsters
00:30:47.520 are in New York real estate
00:30:48.480 and it's what Kim Jong-un is.
00:30:49.900 He's a gangster
00:30:50.520 and Trump is talking to him
00:30:51.600 like a gangster
00:30:52.180 and we'll see what comes from it.
00:30:53.840 It's certainly a step
00:30:57.100 in the right direction.
00:30:57.820 To call it an amazing win
00:31:00.440 is obviously premature
00:31:02.100 and to say that this is possibly
00:31:04.720 the end of the world
00:31:05.420 is also clearly wrong.
00:31:07.260 This was a step
00:31:07.800 in the right direction.
00:31:08.700 If it goes in the wrong direction,
00:31:10.280 we'll pull it back.
00:31:11.500 Nothing lost.
00:31:12.720 Those sanctions
00:31:13.220 are still in place.
00:31:14.380 We still have the position
00:31:15.180 of strength.
00:31:15.800 We've got to bring Sean Spicer on
00:31:16.920 to talk about all this
00:31:17.780 ridiculous media spin.
00:31:19.220 I spoke with Sean last night.
00:31:21.200 We're going to have him
00:31:22.440 after the break,
00:31:23.140 but I'm sorry
00:31:23.580 if you're on Facebook
00:31:24.180 and YouTube.
00:31:25.560 Sorry, guys.
00:31:26.260 I don't know what to tell you.
00:31:27.320 You've got to go to
00:31:27.720 DailyWire.com right now.
00:31:29.340 DailyWire.com.
00:31:31.000 You subscribe.
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00:31:41.160 can ask the questions.
00:31:42.240 Many are called,
00:31:42.860 but few are chosen.
00:31:45.200 And also today,
00:31:46.380 we've got a great show
00:31:47.320 coming up later on today.
00:31:48.700 It's going to be
00:31:49.140 a Father's Day special
00:31:50.380 broadcast on the Daily Wire.
00:31:52.440 It's going to be
00:31:53.080 the big boss,
00:31:54.220 Ben Shapiro,
00:31:54.800 Andrew Klavan,
00:31:55.700 leader of the multiverse,
00:31:56.900 myself.
00:31:57.800 We're going to have
00:31:58.380 Zoe Rachel,
00:31:59.600 a longtime friend
00:32:01.020 of all of us
00:32:01.600 and of the show,
00:32:02.340 and international television
00:32:03.780 and film star,
00:32:04.480 Nick Searcy,
00:32:05.300 Peabody Award winning.
00:32:06.260 We're going to all be there
00:32:07.020 hanging around,
00:32:08.160 smoking cigars,
00:32:08.920 drinking scotch,
00:32:09.460 and talking about
00:32:10.320 the importance of fatherhood.
00:32:11.800 That's going to be on
00:32:12.340 later today.
00:32:12.860 Be sure to tune in for that.
00:32:14.740 Okay, we're going to
00:32:15.300 bring on Sean Spicer,
00:32:16.180 then we'll tie this
00:32:17.080 all back together
00:32:18.080 on this day in history,
00:32:19.240 but we'll be right back.
00:32:20.340 Okay, so I talked
00:32:33.720 to Sean yesterday.
00:32:34.540 Sean Spicer,
00:32:35.480 really cool guy,
00:32:36.500 former spokesman
00:32:37.740 for the president,
00:32:38.800 White House press secretary.
00:32:40.000 He's got a new book
00:32:40.740 coming out called
00:32:41.520 The Briefing,
00:32:42.720 and I usually read the book
00:32:44.300 before the interview.
00:32:45.080 The book,
00:32:45.440 it really is not out yet.
00:32:46.620 I don't have an advanced copy of it.
00:32:47.940 It's coming out next month,
00:32:48.880 but talking to Sean,
00:32:50.560 I've talked to Sean
00:32:51.000 about what's in the book.
00:32:51.880 It sounds really interesting.
00:32:52.900 I can't wait to read it.
00:32:54.200 By the way,
00:32:54.800 that Father's Day special
00:32:55.600 is going to be at
00:32:56.120 4 p.m. Pacific today
00:32:57.780 and 7 p.m. Eastern.
00:32:59.420 Be sure to tune in for that.
00:33:01.140 And here's our talk
00:33:02.640 with Sean Spicer.
00:33:03.940 Sean, thank you for being here.
00:33:06.100 Thanks for having me.
00:33:06.920 So you had the hardest job
00:33:09.120 on planet Earth,
00:33:10.680 a White House press secretary,
00:33:12.600 spokesman for the
00:33:13.640 president of the United States.
00:33:15.520 How would you rate
00:33:16.600 your tenure at the White House?
00:33:18.400 You can be a letter grade,
00:33:19.820 numerical,
00:33:20.560 Siskel and Ebert,
00:33:21.280 thumbs up.
00:33:22.000 How do you think that you did
00:33:23.220 looking back on it now?
00:33:25.480 You know,
00:33:26.040 I think that
00:33:27.000 considering the nature
00:33:28.500 of Trump's presidency,
00:33:29.740 that he was a disruptor,
00:33:31.400 that this is a guy
00:33:32.160 who didn't come at this
00:33:32.920 with a group of political loyalists
00:33:35.060 that a lot of people
00:33:36.500 have had in the past,
00:33:37.480 I think we did really well.
00:33:38.820 When you look at
00:33:39.400 what we accomplished
00:33:40.200 in the first six months
00:33:41.220 and the groundwork
00:33:42.560 that that laid
00:33:43.380 to things like tax reform,
00:33:45.360 you know,
00:33:45.800 I think it really was
00:33:47.220 a disruptive time,
00:33:48.380 but it also was
00:33:48.960 a productive time.
00:33:49.980 Absolutely.
00:33:50.580 I certainly agree with that.
00:33:52.060 Can you take us
00:33:52.840 behind the scenes
00:33:53.920 a little bit?
00:33:54.600 I've always wondered
00:33:55.420 about that job
00:33:56.160 more than the chief of staff,
00:33:58.120 more than even the president,
00:34:00.280 what it is like
00:34:01.220 in that pressure cooker
00:34:02.060 for the press secretary.
00:34:03.480 What does a typical day look like?
00:34:05.660 It's a great question
00:34:06.860 because I think
00:34:08.680 there's a question of
00:34:09.740 what does the job
00:34:10.620 normally look like
00:34:11.460 and what does it look like
00:34:12.480 under a Trump administration?
00:34:13.680 Because one of the things
00:34:15.340 that I did
00:34:16.020 is really speak
00:34:17.440 to a lot of my predecessors
00:34:18.620 and try to understand
00:34:19.800 the battle rhythm of the day,
00:34:21.160 what happens,
00:34:22.160 the process
00:34:23.020 that they all undertook.
00:34:24.260 And that was vastly different
00:34:25.380 under Trump
00:34:26.020 because,
00:34:26.720 you know,
00:34:27.940 for the most part
00:34:28.860 throughout my career
00:34:29.600 and throughout the career
00:34:30.180 of most press people,
00:34:31.160 you're advising
00:34:32.180 the principal
00:34:33.120 as far as what to say,
00:34:34.520 when to say it,
00:34:35.260 and, you know,
00:34:35.960 even what platform to use.
00:34:37.460 With Trump,
00:34:38.420 he's pretty much
00:34:39.440 the lead
00:34:39.860 on a lot of those things
00:34:40.800 and that's a very
00:34:41.520 different dynamic.
00:34:42.360 And when it came
00:34:44.080 to the briefing,
00:34:45.160 obviously the intensity
00:34:46.380 and scrutiny
00:34:47.260 during the Trump administration
00:34:48.600 was vastly different
00:34:50.240 than it has been
00:34:51.120 under any previous administration.
00:34:53.040 And so,
00:34:53.720 the job in itself
00:34:54.660 is very,
00:34:55.340 very different
00:34:55.860 than it was in the past.
00:34:59.740 And part of the,
00:35:00.820 you know,
00:35:01.060 you mentioned the book earlier,
00:35:02.780 I walked through
00:35:05.180 a day in the life,
00:35:06.120 what it used to be like
00:35:07.140 to get ready every day.
00:35:08.200 And the only way
00:35:09.040 to really,
00:35:09.680 you know,
00:35:09.840 the short end of it
00:35:10.540 is it was like
00:35:11.240 getting ready
00:35:12.400 for a final exam
00:35:13.460 every day.
00:35:14.840 Well, you know,
00:35:15.560 I really look forward
00:35:16.540 to reading it.
00:35:17.400 I always try to read the book
00:35:18.920 before the interview,
00:35:19.880 but I don't have a copy yet,
00:35:21.060 so I'm eagerly looking forward
00:35:22.740 because it sounds really good.
00:35:24.780 And I agree,
00:35:25.480 obviously,
00:35:26.420 the Trump administration
00:35:27.220 is just a different beast
00:35:28.920 than these previous administrations.
00:35:30.720 I thought you handled
00:35:32.020 yourself wonderfully.
00:35:33.260 I was a big cheerleader
00:35:35.100 of Sean Spicer
00:35:37.040 and Sean Spicer.
00:35:37.960 I knew there was one.
00:35:39.080 I knew there was one out there.
00:35:40.460 Yeah, right.
00:35:41.100 You know,
00:35:41.280 it's funny.
00:35:42.020 Can I tell you a funny story
00:35:43.360 that you just brought that up?
00:35:45.060 I've been at an event
00:35:47.300 for my son
00:35:48.260 in the last hour or so,
00:35:50.100 and I walked in
00:35:51.200 and one of the other parents said,
00:35:52.800 gosh,
00:35:53.660 that tweet you put out
00:35:54.880 about Trudeau
00:35:55.560 was hysterical.
00:35:56.920 And I said,
00:35:57.920 are you being serious?
00:35:59.520 Because you know
00:36:00.240 that's not me, right?
00:36:01.660 And they were like,
00:36:02.320 what do you mean?
00:36:03.620 I was like,
00:36:04.260 you're following
00:36:05.100 a parody account.
00:36:06.200 That is,
00:36:07.580 a lot of people will,
00:36:09.080 I'll see those tweets
00:36:09.960 all the time.
00:36:10.620 And I think the reason
00:36:11.540 the parody works so well
00:36:12.820 is because the account
00:36:15.540 of Sean Spicier
00:36:16.680 or the,
00:36:17.540 you know,
00:36:17.720 the spicier version,
00:36:19.220 it actually does channel
00:36:20.760 a lot of that spirit
00:36:22.320 you brought to it.
00:36:23.240 I mean,
00:36:23.520 I actually always,
00:36:24.420 I always felt you were,
00:36:25.640 I felt you were far kinder
00:36:27.580 to those blood sucking leeches
00:36:29.300 in the media
00:36:29.900 than they deserved it all.
00:36:31.440 I thought,
00:36:31.860 you know,
00:36:32.080 you handled them very well.
00:36:33.940 Do you have any regrets about them?
00:36:36.640 I found they would always try
00:36:37.900 to gin up these fake gaffes about you.
00:36:40.740 Like,
00:36:41.040 you know,
00:36:41.400 you were lost in the bushes
00:36:42.660 or something,
00:36:43.440 or you made a completely
00:36:44.940 accurate statement
00:36:46.080 about the number of people
00:36:47.340 who viewed the inauguration
00:36:48.360 and they would pretend
00:36:49.360 like you were saying
00:36:50.160 these crazy things.
00:36:51.420 Do you have regrets about that?
00:36:52.740 Do you wish you had,
00:36:53.620 I don't know,
00:36:54.740 been harder on them or something?
00:36:56.780 Well,
00:36:57.080 there's a lot of interactions
00:36:58.200 that,
00:36:59.080 that I've had,
00:37:00.060 you know,
00:37:00.420 whether it's personal
00:37:01.240 or professional,
00:37:01.820 when I'll look back and say,
00:37:03.280 you know,
00:37:03.560 could I have been better at that?
00:37:04.600 And I think just because
00:37:05.640 there,
00:37:06.640 you know,
00:37:06.840 it's a lot of the advice
00:37:08.340 that I look back on
00:37:09.940 was stuff that,
00:37:10.720 you know,
00:37:11.120 most of our moms teach us.
00:37:12.540 Right.
00:37:12.740 Two wrongs don't rake a right
00:37:13.940 just because they said
00:37:14.720 it doesn't mean you do too.
00:37:15.940 And,
00:37:16.040 and,
00:37:16.640 and so there were times
00:37:17.640 when I think,
00:37:18.480 um,
00:37:19.340 I,
00:37:19.600 I probably let them get a,
00:37:21.600 let them get the better of me
00:37:22.680 once in a while,
00:37:23.400 or I,
00:37:24.160 we escalated too quickly,
00:37:25.260 but you're right.
00:37:26.420 I mean,
00:37:26.580 there were times when I,
00:37:27.440 I looked at and I thought to myself,
00:37:28.740 wait a second,
00:37:29.160 the job of the press secretary
00:37:30.340 is to speak on behalf
00:37:31.880 of the president
00:37:32.400 of the administration
00:37:33.080 of the American people.
00:37:34.340 Uh,
00:37:34.660 and it was too often
00:37:35.380 that I had to talk about myself
00:37:37.000 and that's,
00:37:37.580 that's not a good place
00:37:38.780 to be as a press person.
00:37:40.200 Right.
00:37:40.640 And well,
00:37:40.940 this gets to a real question
00:37:42.520 because there seems to be
00:37:44.040 this media crack up
00:37:45.480 in the last few years.
00:37:46.640 In the old days,
00:37:47.640 the networks dominated.
00:37:49.160 Republicans had to play
00:37:50.200 with these guys,
00:37:50.860 even though they were
00:37:51.380 quite hostile.
00:37:52.560 Now we have all
00:37:53.100 of these other outlets.
00:37:54.040 We have Twitter,
00:37:54.520 we have live streaming.
00:37:55.780 You've been in
00:37:56.720 Republican communications
00:37:57.860 for a long time.
00:37:59.220 You know,
00:37:59.420 people know you primarily
00:38:00.280 as the press secretary.
00:38:01.820 You were communications
00:38:03.040 director for the RNC,
00:38:04.640 House Budget Committee,
00:38:05.760 chief strategist
00:38:06.400 of the RNC.
00:38:07.080 You've known them
00:38:07.800 for a long time.
00:38:09.280 Uh,
00:38:09.460 this question has two parts.
00:38:11.180 Should Republicans
00:38:11.980 still talk to outlets
00:38:13.400 that are hostile to them,
00:38:14.760 the New York Times,
00:38:15.820 or should we,
00:38:17.060 uh,
00:38:17.300 tell these lefty mouthpieces
00:38:18.920 to go pound sand?
00:38:20.940 And second,
00:38:21.760 are there any good journalists
00:38:23.200 that you would still recommend?
00:38:24.720 These guys are doing hard work.
00:38:26.500 They're not just partisan hacks.
00:38:27.940 Two great questions.
00:38:31.600 On the first one,
00:38:32.720 yes,
00:38:33.040 we should talk to them
00:38:33.960 because you don't
00:38:34.940 cede ground.
00:38:35.700 You don't grow the audience.
00:38:36.960 You don't allow people
00:38:38.040 to hear conservative ideas
00:38:39.460 if you ignore them.
00:38:40.960 I believe,
00:38:41.920 just like,
00:38:42.560 you know,
00:38:42.940 that if you look at
00:38:43.960 what the church does
00:38:45.120 in terms of missionaries,
00:38:46.280 the idea is to go out there
00:38:47.780 and to spread the good news.
00:38:49.160 And I think if you are
00:38:50.000 a social and fiscal conservative,
00:38:51.600 then part of what you want to do
00:38:53.320 is go out there
00:38:53.840 and explain to people
00:38:54.520 because what happens
00:38:55.500 more than anything
00:38:56.560 is a lot of these
00:38:57.920 mainstream outlets
00:38:58.720 either,
00:38:59.180 you know,
00:39:00.120 cover conservatives
00:39:00.920 in a very nasty way
00:39:01.920 or don't cover issues
00:39:02.840 of importance.
00:39:03.980 And so by being out there,
00:39:05.840 it allows people
00:39:06.540 who might be watching
00:39:07.300 and say,
00:39:07.720 hey,
00:39:07.800 I never thought of that issue
00:39:09.140 in that way
00:39:09.800 or I never knew
00:39:10.960 that I shared the views
00:39:12.660 of,
00:39:13.020 you know,
00:39:13.180 a particular person
00:39:14.020 who might be espousing them
00:39:15.060 on a policy
00:39:16.420 or what have you.
00:39:17.100 And so I think
00:39:18.040 it's a great way
00:39:18.580 to grow the movement.
00:39:19.760 And secondly,
00:39:20.620 yeah,
00:39:20.780 there are a lot
00:39:21.340 of great reporters
00:39:22.040 in that briefing room.
00:39:24.100 And,
00:39:24.380 you know,
00:39:24.860 the interesting thing is,
00:39:26.520 and I actually have
00:39:27.380 a part in the book
00:39:28.200 where I talk about this,
00:39:29.460 where there are
00:39:30.200 some really good reporters
00:39:31.320 at a lot of reputable outlets.
00:39:33.080 It's not,
00:39:33.920 it's not always just
00:39:35.100 the broad brush,
00:39:36.200 the Washington Post,
00:39:37.120 the New York Times
00:39:37.720 or whatever.
00:39:38.340 There are good reporters
00:39:39.400 at a lot of these institutions.
00:39:41.900 And what I want to do
00:39:42.980 is make sure
00:39:43.420 that we call balls
00:39:44.220 and strikes better,
00:39:45.320 that we call out
00:39:45.960 the bad reporters
00:39:46.860 and then we praise
00:39:48.220 the good ones.
00:39:48.800 Because when we just say
00:39:50.280 fake news
00:39:51.180 or the New York Times
00:39:52.780 is horrible,
00:39:53.820 then we sort of dismiss
00:39:55.700 the ones that are actually
00:39:56.680 doing a decent job.
00:39:58.260 And I think what has
00:39:59.160 really killed things
00:40:00.000 is two things.
00:40:00.660 One is social media,
00:40:02.060 where reporters
00:40:02.840 almost act as if
00:40:04.340 people don't have
00:40:05.100 Twitter accounts themselves
00:40:06.340 because they express
00:40:07.520 these opinions
00:40:08.180 and things
00:40:08.940 that really expose
00:40:11.160 their liberal bias.
00:40:12.820 And second
00:40:13.360 is the need
00:40:14.320 for a lot of these reporters
00:40:15.540 to get on television
00:40:16.660 will make them say
00:40:17.940 and do outrageous things
00:40:19.380 to sort of
00:40:20.360 get themselves booked.
00:40:22.420 That makes perfect sense.
00:40:23.880 That, you know,
00:40:25.220 the sensationalism
00:40:26.600 of it,
00:40:27.740 obviously,
00:40:28.440 not every reporter
00:40:29.620 is just Jim Acosta
00:40:31.060 who I believe
00:40:31.700 is played by Will Ferrell
00:40:33.060 these days on television.
00:40:35.160 You know,
00:40:35.500 there are people
00:40:36.320 at these outlets
00:40:37.280 who aren't just the editors.
00:40:38.580 They're all doing work.
00:40:39.740 And I agree.
00:40:40.300 I think it might be
00:40:41.140 something about
00:40:41.620 our Catholicism
00:40:42.760 that we just are
00:40:43.420 perfectly willing
00:40:44.500 to talk to anybody
00:40:45.800 and go into
00:40:46.820 the belly of the beast.
00:40:47.740 But I have taken
00:40:48.960 too much of your time.
00:40:49.760 You've got to run.
00:40:50.700 You are with your family
00:40:51.860 right now.
00:40:52.400 That's another important thing.
00:40:53.340 Thank you.
00:40:53.460 You know,
00:40:53.700 the funny thing is
00:40:54.280 after reading your book,
00:40:55.880 I really felt inspired.
00:40:58.240 You know,
00:40:58.380 people ask me all the time,
00:40:59.220 why did I want to write a book?
00:41:00.000 And I just felt
00:41:00.660 your book really laid out
00:41:02.800 a lot of the policies
00:41:03.880 that I think were so key
00:41:05.880 to the Democrats'
00:41:07.540 current state of being
00:41:08.340 that I just needed
00:41:09.300 to kind of put
00:41:09.840 my thoughts to paper.
00:41:11.340 But I think it was
00:41:12.460 a lot more writing
00:41:13.420 than you probably did, though.
00:41:15.340 Well, perhaps,
00:41:16.080 although I did a lot of research
00:41:17.480 and I will say, Sean,
00:41:18.560 I always knew you were
00:41:19.260 a gentleman,
00:41:21.240 but now I know
00:41:22.040 that you're a scholar as well.
00:41:23.560 So I look forward
00:41:24.380 to reading yours.
00:41:26.360 There were a couple.
00:41:27.300 At some point,
00:41:28.020 we have more time.
00:41:28.640 I want to debate
00:41:29.300 a couple of the issues
00:41:30.460 that you raised in there.
00:41:31.940 Right around the 200-page mark,
00:41:33.500 I thought you got into
00:41:34.180 some pretty meaty stuff.
00:41:35.300 It does.
00:41:35.960 It's an esoteric reading, too.
00:41:37.940 So we'll really have to go
00:41:39.140 into the different layers
00:41:40.100 that we have there.
00:41:41.160 But I suppose that'll be
00:41:42.040 for a future episode.
00:41:43.460 Sean, thank you so much
00:41:44.640 for being here.
00:41:45.180 I really appreciate it.
00:41:46.360 And I'll talk to you next time.
00:41:47.640 You bet.
00:41:48.000 Thank you.
00:41:49.720 Gotta love that guy.
00:41:51.060 So the book, by the way,
00:41:53.140 is The Briefing.
00:41:54.320 I look forward to reading it.
00:41:55.880 I've got a pre-order
00:41:57.500 and it's going to be great,
00:41:59.700 I'm sure,
00:42:00.240 because Sean Spicer
00:42:01.620 was there at the moment,
00:42:03.420 you know,
00:42:03.680 at this moment
00:42:04.360 of this colossal
00:42:06.320 new administration coming in.
00:42:08.320 And he dealt with the press
00:42:09.080 really, really well.
00:42:10.820 You know, it's funny
00:42:11.560 because a lot of people
00:42:12.440 criticize him
00:42:13.000 for being too harsh
00:42:13.660 on the press.
00:42:14.320 I think he was far
00:42:15.000 too nice to them.
00:42:16.680 But I thought he did
00:42:17.800 a really good job.
00:42:18.680 Look forward to reading the book.
00:42:20.080 Before I let you go,
00:42:21.240 we only have a couple minutes
00:42:22.060 here at the end,
00:42:22.580 I do want to point out
00:42:23.400 something on this day
00:42:24.080 in history
00:42:24.540 related to this Kim summit
00:42:26.160 because people aren't
00:42:27.560 drawing the connection
00:42:28.500 and it's because
00:42:29.420 as with so many things
00:42:31.980 that come around
00:42:32.960 with Donald Trump,
00:42:33.780 they're looking just
00:42:34.740 at the surface level
00:42:35.700 and they're not seeing
00:42:36.960 all the little jokes
00:42:38.000 and all of the little coincidences
00:42:39.440 that happen underneath it.
00:42:41.220 So let's get to
00:42:42.280 this day in history.
00:42:43.660 On this day in history
00:42:47.660 in 1987,
00:42:49.840 Ronald Reagan
00:42:51.220 went to Berlin
00:42:52.680 and gave a very famous speech
00:42:55.220 to a Soviet dictator,
00:42:56.420 Mickey Gorbachev,
00:42:57.320 to tear down this wall.
00:42:59.480 The Kim summit
00:43:00.080 took place
00:43:00.780 on the same day.
00:43:02.920 Now it seems like
00:43:03.420 it was yesterday
00:43:03.940 because, you know,
00:43:04.780 it was in Singapore
00:43:05.300 and we're here
00:43:05.980 in the United States,
00:43:07.420 but this was June 12th.
00:43:09.280 So the Kim summit
00:43:10.160 took place on June 12th.
00:43:11.500 Tear down this wall
00:43:12.580 took place
00:43:13.140 on June 12th.
00:43:14.540 This could be a coincidence,
00:43:15.920 but it's a pretty big coincidence
00:43:16.880 and you've got to remember
00:43:17.720 the people around
00:43:18.500 Donald Trump,
00:43:19.380 the people setting up
00:43:20.320 this summit
00:43:23.020 with North Korean dictator
00:43:25.540 Kim Jong-un,
00:43:27.040 these are pretty
00:43:27.820 sophisticated people
00:43:28.920 who've been around politics
00:43:30.200 for a very long time.
00:43:31.460 Now I think Donald Trump
00:43:32.320 is pretty smart as well,
00:43:34.060 but a lot of people,
00:43:34.980 they say,
00:43:35.220 oh, he's a dummy.
00:43:35.940 He's a dummy.
00:43:36.760 They don't,
00:43:37.280 they fail to realize,
00:43:38.320 by the way,
00:43:38.740 that all the really
00:43:39.540 successful presidents
00:43:40.360 have played dummies.
00:43:41.560 Ronald Reagan did it.
00:43:43.280 Bill Clinton actually did it.
00:43:44.960 George Bush did it.
00:43:46.580 They forget that part.
00:43:48.100 But even if you think
00:43:48.960 that Donald Trump
00:43:49.460 is a dummy,
00:43:50.020 all the people around him
00:43:50.820 are pretty sophisticated.
00:43:51.780 Mike Pompeo,
00:43:52.880 John Bolton,
00:43:53.500 these are guys
00:43:54.220 who were around
00:43:55.280 during the Reagan years
00:43:56.180 and it's really hard
00:43:57.520 for me to believe
00:43:58.000 that that is a coincidence.
00:43:59.340 And it's,
00:43:59.660 by the way,
00:44:00.080 both of those speeches,
00:44:01.220 the summit
00:44:01.760 and the tear down
00:44:02.440 this wall speech
00:44:02.980 were about the exact same thing.
00:44:05.200 It was an appeal
00:44:05.980 to renew arms reduction talks.
00:44:08.580 Here is Ronald Reagan
00:44:09.360 at the Berlin Wall.
00:44:11.040 There is one sign
00:44:12.600 the Soviets can make
00:44:14.120 that would be unmistakable,
00:44:15.880 that would advance
00:44:17.800 dramatically the cause
00:44:20.080 of freedom and peace.
00:44:22.760 General Secretary Gorbachev,
00:44:25.160 if you seek peace,
00:44:28.020 if you seek prosperity
00:44:29.480 for the Soviet Union
00:44:30.800 and Eastern Europe,
00:44:32.860 if you seek liberalization,
00:44:34.620 come here to this gate.
00:44:38.040 Mr. Gorbachev,
00:44:39.760 open this gate.
00:44:41.340 Mr. Gorbachev,
00:45:02.200 Mr. Gorbachev,
00:45:07.580 tear down this wall.
00:45:10.180 What a speech.
00:45:15.460 And a line written,
00:45:16.480 by the way,
00:45:16.860 I think,
00:45:17.140 by Peter Robinson,
00:45:18.260 who also has
00:45:19.020 the great show
00:45:19.740 on Common Knowledge.
00:45:21.560 Tear down this wall.
00:45:22.840 Ronald Reagan
00:45:23.260 applies two techniques here.
00:45:25.060 He's harsh there,
00:45:26.160 right?
00:45:26.400 Tear down this wall.
00:45:27.380 Tear down this wall.
00:45:28.100 He's also nice.
00:45:28.880 If you seek peace.
00:45:29.960 And he was nice
00:45:30.600 to Gorbachev,
00:45:31.340 he would flatter him.
00:45:32.320 He would shake his hand.
00:45:33.260 He would pat his back.
00:45:34.180 Here's just a little clip
00:45:35.220 I pulled up on the internet
00:45:36.280 of Ronald Reagan
00:45:37.080 flattering dear old Gorby
00:45:38.700 and the significance of that.
00:45:40.480 Today,
00:45:41.120 we are commemorating
00:45:42.640 an event that is
00:45:43.600 highly symbolic.
00:45:45.040 Ronald Reagan
00:45:45.740 and Mikhail Gorbachev
00:45:47.120 shook hands
00:45:48.420 on the step
00:45:49.380 you see behind you.
00:45:51.320 It had all started
00:45:52.620 right here
00:45:53.260 with a handshake
00:45:54.560 that changed history.
00:45:56.700 They shook hands.
00:45:57.920 This is, you know,
00:45:58.640 when we look back
00:45:59.660 at history,
00:46:00.240 we sometimes remember it
00:46:01.420 in a very distorted way.
00:46:03.180 We just remember
00:46:03.720 Reagan bearing down,
00:46:05.200 tear down this wall.
00:46:06.300 But there was also
00:46:07.500 the friendliness
00:46:09.540 to Mikhail Gorbachev.
00:46:10.960 We just remember him saying,
00:46:12.100 we're going to build up
00:46:12.740 Star Wars,
00:46:13.460 SDI,
00:46:14.140 we're going to run you
00:46:14.820 out of the arms race,
00:46:15.560 right?
00:46:15.760 We forget that Ronald Reagan
00:46:17.120 was begging for the abolition
00:46:18.600 of nuclear weapons
00:46:19.540 with the leader
00:46:20.880 of the Soviet Union,
00:46:22.080 stormed out of a meeting
00:46:23.060 because they couldn't
00:46:24.680 abolish nuclear weapons.
00:46:26.580 There are two sides of this,
00:46:27.780 and there have to be two sides
00:46:28.960 to these negotiations.
00:46:30.320 The harsh,
00:46:31.060 the credible threat
00:46:31.660 of violence,
00:46:32.360 the tough guy,
00:46:33.540 and the diplomatic niceties
00:46:35.720 and the diplomatic flattery
00:46:37.400 and the handshaking
00:46:38.060 and the back patting.
00:46:39.020 So far,
00:46:39.800 that's what we're getting
00:46:40.460 out of this.
00:46:40.960 That's a good day.
00:46:41.780 That's a win.
00:46:42.800 Might all go wrong tomorrow
00:46:44.160 and then in six months
00:46:45.340 Trump is going to come up
00:46:46.340 and say it was all wrong.
00:46:47.340 That's going to be
00:46:47.680 all over again.
00:46:48.640 But for today,
00:46:49.700 this is a good move
00:46:51.440 in the right direction
00:46:52.140 and we should be
00:46:53.340 happy about it.
00:46:54.700 Not thrilled,
00:46:55.600 not popping champagne,
00:46:57.020 just happy.
00:46:57.820 It's a good step
00:46:58.420 in the right direction.
00:46:59.560 Take yes for an answer,
00:47:00.740 people.
00:47:01.120 Come on.
00:47:02.080 Okay,
00:47:02.660 we've got some really crazy shows
00:47:05.620 coming up this week.
00:47:07.040 I don't want to ruin it for you,
00:47:08.640 but we decided
00:47:09.600 my first week
00:47:10.260 after the honeymoon
00:47:10.860 is just going to be
00:47:11.520 this insane week.
00:47:13.260 It's going to be pretty wild,
00:47:14.300 so be sure to tune in tomorrow
00:47:16.080 and through the rest of the week.
00:47:18.160 In the meantime,
00:47:18.780 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:47:19.480 This is The Michael Knowles Show.
00:47:20.380 Get your mailbag questions
00:47:21.180 in for Thursday.
00:47:21.900 I'll see you tomorrow.
00:47:28.560 The Michael Knowles Show
00:47:29.940 is produced by
00:47:30.760 Senia Villareal,
00:47:32.340 executive producer
00:47:33.220 Jeremy Borey,
00:47:34.420 senior producer
00:47:35.140 Jonathan Hay,
00:47:36.280 our supervising producer
00:47:37.540 Mathis Glover,
00:47:38.860 and our technical producer
00:47:39.860 is Austin Stevens,
00:47:41.460 edited by Jim Nickel.
00:47:42.980 Audio is mixed
00:47:43.700 by Mike Coromina.
00:47:45.280 Hair and makeup
00:47:45.940 is by Jesua Olvera.
00:47:47.860 The Michael Knowles Show
00:47:48.640 is a Daily Wire
00:47:49.400 Forward Publishing production.
00:47:51.040 Copyright
00:47:51.460 Forward Publishing 2018.
00:47:57.780 The Michael Knowles Show