The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1666 - Trump Goes Nuclear On USAID

00:00:00.000 Over the past two weeks, President Trump has, among other actions,

00:00:03.900 deported thousands of illegal aliens, started trade wars with four separate nations,

00:00:08.840 and threatened to invade another nation. And the left whined about all of that.

00:00:14.580 Then Trump announced that he would restructure a single federal agency that most people have

00:00:21.640 never even heard of. And the left is now threatening to shut down the executive branch.

00:00:26.580 Which sort of makes you wonder what the left was doing with that single federal agency,

00:00:32.600 doesn't it? Kind of makes you think probably maybe it might need some restructuring.

00:00:38.520 Let's take a look. I'm Michael Knowles. This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:00:56.580 Welcome back to the show. Anti-Trump deportation protests have shut down the one-on-one freeway

00:01:06.240 in LA. A ton of people, looks like pretty much all of them waving Mexican flags. It's weird. I'm told

00:01:13.180 these are patriotic, assimilated Americans who just dream to be here in America. But they're all 1.00

00:01:17.380 waving a ton of Mexican flags, rather. Not a single American flag in sight. Anyway, I have one weird

00:01:23.360 trick to shut down those protests. There's so much more to say first, though. Go to

00:01:28.080 balanceofnature.com. Use promo code Knowles. Balance of Nature fruits and veggies is the most

00:01:32.940 convenient way to get whole fruits and vegetables daily, especially if you are focused on creating

00:01:37.040 a healthier, happier lifestyle. Nature's pretty good at giving us the nutrients we need through

00:01:42.280 our fruits and vegetables. So Balance of Nature takes fruits and veggies, freeze dries them,

00:01:46.840 turns them into a powder, and puts them into a capsule. You take your fruit and veggie

00:01:50.180 capsules every day, then your body knows what to do with them. Balance of Nature is just one

00:01:54.460 ingredient of a balanced lifestyle and has no intention of replacing a healthy diet, exercise,

00:02:00.260 sleep, or any other healthy habits. It's intended to be used in concert with other healthy habits.

00:02:05.780 I love Balance of Nature, especially, I just got over this bug that's been going around all of

00:02:12.440 Tennessee, right now, really all of the country. And it's nice. You know, you want to make sure that

00:02:16.940 you preserve your health. You make sure, especially when you're not getting all your fruits and

00:02:20.840 veggies, if you're on the road or if you're a little sick or you're this or that, do it the

00:02:24.780 simple way, the reliable way. Go to balanceofnature.com. Use promo code Knowles. 35% off your first order

00:02:30.160 as a preferred customer. Plus, get a free bottle of fiber and spice. Balanceofnature.com, promo code

00:02:35.020 Knowles.

00:02:35.800 President Trump is threatening to totally shut down and is at the very least restructuring

00:02:43.420 the U.S. Agency for International Development. Never heard of it. Many people probably have never

00:02:51.060 heard of this agency in their life, USAID. Some people might have heard of it, but they don't

00:02:56.240 know much about it. Well, staffers have been locked out. Yesterday, staffers showed up to USAID.

00:03:04.760 There was yellow tape around the building. Do not cross. The reason I'm hedging here on whether

00:03:11.680 it's being totally shut down or just restructured is Elon Musk has announced they're shutting it down.

00:03:17.800 President Trump has not exactly announced that, but Elon Musk has said that Trump agrees with him

00:03:22.720 that it needs to be shut down. From what we've seen so far, though, it might just be a massive

00:03:27.100 restructuring that's moving the agency underneath the authority of the State Department. And whatever is

00:03:33.940 happening to it, the left is furious. And I'm not talking about fringe, crazy, purple hair marching

00:03:39.920 the streets kind of left. I'm talking about elite, at least formerly influential, serious, suit and tie,

00:03:48.360 go to all the NGOs and the fancy lunches around Washington kind of liberal. I'm talking about

00:03:54.600 the libs who, until very recently, have had a lot of power. Ben Rhodes, who was a speechwriter for

00:04:02.080 Obama. He joined the national security team at the Obama White House. Big, big figure in the Obama

00:04:07.600 administration. He tweeted out, what is happening to USAID will cost untold lives around the world,

00:04:15.100 devastate America's standing and massively empower China and other countries. There's no excusing it. 0.98

00:04:20.000 It's a shameful, stupid cell phone without excuse and a harbinger of even worse to come. 1.00

00:04:28.520 We have a Democrat senator, senator from Hawaii, Brian Schatz, who is saying that he will stall 1.00

00:04:37.920 all Trump nominees, all Trump nominees to the whole executive branch and I guess judicial nominees

00:04:44.620 until USAID is back and functioning. Hold on, hold on, wait.

00:04:53.700 This Democrat senator thought mass deportations, fine. Multiple trade wars, fine. Threatening to

00:04:59.220 invade Panama, fine. Threatening, oh, I got, Trump threatening to invade Greenland. Sorry,

00:05:03.720 he threatened to invade two different countries. Fine. All of these things, totally fine.

00:05:08.140 But you close down one federal agency? No, that's it. We're going to throw a wrench into the whole

00:05:15.100 system of government? Wait, what? What is going on at USAID? Well, a friend of ours down in Latin

00:05:23.780 America, Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, thinks he has an answer. Amid all of this hubbub,

00:05:30.340 he posted on X, most governments don't want USAID funds because they understand where much of that

00:05:37.120 money ends up. He said specifically, at best, maybe 10% of the money reaches real projects

00:05:43.300 that help people in need. There are such cases, but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests,

00:05:50.380 and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda. Cutting the so-called

00:05:56.320 aid is not just beneficial for the United States, it's also a big win for the rest of the world.

00:06:01.500 This is telling you what the USAID money is really about. Well, most of it is really about. It's not

00:06:08.600 about primarily helping hungry people. It's not about just some pure act of charity. USAID, this agency

00:06:18.180 that has been protected from democratic control and oversight from even really the actions of the

00:06:26.320 elected executive branch for many, many years. USAID is used to promote the Libs agenda all around the

00:06:36.420 world with your taxpayer dollars. That's what this is about. You can't help but notice that the worst

00:06:45.740 people in mainstream American politics, the Ben Rhodeses and these Democrat senators, the absolute

00:06:54.920 worst people in the mainstream of American politics, are all particularly outraged over the closing of

00:07:03.300 this one single agency. Must mean that they're hovering over the target. Must mean that Trump and Elon and

00:07:14.420 Doge and the new administration have identified a really important feature of the liberal regime.

00:07:22.020 And they're probably right, certainly right to at least restructure it and maybe right to close it.

00:07:28.440 What specifically does USAID fund? Here is White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt just running

00:07:35.440 down a brief list of projects. Through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane

00:07:42.480 priorities that that organization has been spending money on. $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's

00:07:50.040 workplaces. $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland. $47,000 for a transgender opera in

00:07:58.640 Colombia. $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. I don't know about you, but as an American

00:08:05.200 taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap. And I know the American people don't either. 0.98

00:08:09.300 And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do, to get the fraud, waste and abuse

00:08:14.560 out of our federal government. Thank you, Donald Trump.

00:08:19.800 That's a brief list of examples. I love Snoop Dogg coming at the end there.

00:08:23.880 Da-da-da-da-da-da. There is Mrs. Levitt just absolutely beating the press into submission. 1.00

00:08:31.880 But the list could go on and on of the radical leftist programs that are being funded all around

00:08:37.680 the world by USAID. The one program that people are really upset about being stalled right now

00:08:43.580 is PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This plan began in 2003 under George W.

00:08:51.060 Bush. I believe President Bush said it was the accomplishment of which he was most proud from

00:08:56.100 his whole presidency. It saved lots of lives. It's given a lot of medical attention to people

00:09:02.120 with AIDS in Africa. But there are downsides to it, too. There are downsides and costs to anything

00:09:07.480 in life. Even as PEPFAR has saved a lot of people from AIDS and has given a lot of retroviral drugs,

00:09:14.160 and that's all really good stuff, the programs have intended and unintended consequences. One of

00:09:20.420 the unintended consequences is when you get a lot of U.S. taxpayer dollars to hire and pay top dollar

00:09:26.940 to doctors in Africa, then all the medical resources are going to go toward fighting AIDS.

00:09:32.120 But more people in lots of Africa, many parts of Africa, more people will die from diarrheal diseases

00:09:39.320 than they will from AIDS. So why are we focusing on just one disease? Particularly a disease that is

00:09:46.860 absent cases of rape and being born with it, passed through birth, is a lifestyle disease that raises all

00:09:56.280 sorts of questions. Even with the great successes of PEPFAR, and I'm largely a big defender of PEPFAR,

00:10:04.140 it's pretty impressive. Biden kind of screwed up PEPFAR because Biden tied PEPFAR to the promotion of

00:10:09.940 abortion and radical LGBT ideology, just like he tied all USAID to the promotion of abortion and radical

00:10:16.880 LGBT ideology. Do we want to promote that? I don't want to promote those things in America, 1.00

00:10:22.080 much less around the world. What about the other programs? Well, just to give you an example,

00:10:28.680 just one example of how USAID operates. USAID takes your money.

00:10:38.140 The IRS takes your money and gives it to the government. It is the government. Now,

00:10:44.140 you elect parts of the government, but you don't really elect certain agencies of the bureaucracy,

00:10:48.160 including USAID. So you give your money to the IRS. The IRS is in principle controlled by people

00:10:53.880 that you elect, ultimately at the top of the president. And then the money goes to USAID.

00:10:59.140 Then that largely unaccountable bureaucracy sends your money to various organizations around the world.

00:11:06.520 For instance, the Tide Center. The Tide Center is a left-wing institution that then takes the money

00:11:13.260 that you gave the government, that the government gave to them, and gives that money to groups,

00:11:17.720 such as Black Lives Matter. So then Black Lives Matter takes money from the Tide Center,

00:11:23.660 which took money from the government, which took the money from you. And it spends that money

00:11:27.800 murdering you, robbing your stores, setting your cities on fire, and shaking you down for more money.

00:11:35.180 Do you see the moral hazards of this kind of closed loop? All sorts of problems with it.

00:11:42.180 Now, there are going to be all sorts of large ideological calls looking at the abuses in USAID

00:11:50.120 to end all foreign aid and see, this is why we never should spend anything on foreign aid.

00:11:55.200 That is the wrong conclusion. I actually have a different view from most conservatives at the

00:12:00.260 moment, it seems. There's so much more to say. First, though, right now, text Knowles,

00:12:04.640 K-N-W-L-E-S-2-9-8-9-8-9-8. Have you seen the news from economists forecasting a depression?

00:12:10.560 Not a recession, a depression by the year 2030. In so many ways, I feel like we're living in the

00:12:15.840 1920s. 2020s bear a striking similarity to the 1920s. And also, that means that 1929 might be

00:12:23.700 coming right up. So we're in for a perfect storm as Social Security and Medicare hit a breaking point

00:12:28.660 with the largest generation hitting retirement. A smaller workforce means a smaller tax base.

00:12:33.580 Pair that with our growing national debt and rising cost of living, we have a big problem.

00:12:37.760 So what are you doing now to protect your family for the future? Gold is a safe haven in hard

00:12:43.820 economic times, and Birch Gold makes it easy to diversify a portion of your savings into physical

00:12:48.920 gold. Birch Gold will help you transition your existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold. It does

00:12:55.220 not cost you a penny out of pocket. Protect your future today. Text Knowles, K-N-W-L-E-S-2-9-8-9-8-9-8.

00:13:01.480 Get your free info kit on gold and a copy of The Ultimate Guide for Gold in the Trump Era.

00:13:06.820 But as a forward by Donald Trump Jr., there is no obligation, only information. Text MyNameKnowles

00:13:12.600 to 989898 today. The problem with USAID, the problem with foreign aid generally, is not that

00:13:24.440 it spends money spreading American influence. The problem with USAID and American foreign aid

00:13:31.240 generally, is that our liberal elites have been using our money to spread their toxic influence.

00:13:39.080 The problem is not spending money to influence things. The problem is what specifically we're

00:13:46.420 doing with the money. What specifically we're influencing. These specific substantive values that

00:13:52.440 we're spreading around the world. That's the problem. The problem is not the procedural norm

00:13:56.880 of foreign aid. The problem is the substantive good of promoting abortion and LGBT and upending 1.00

00:14:03.440 good governments that we should be friends with around the world. That's the problem.

00:14:07.340 Okay? I hear these arguments sometimes. We need to end foreign aid. Why are we spending money on

00:14:14.060 anything around the world? Because we're the global superpower. What do you mean? What are we

00:14:18.800 spending money? Because we're a very powerful country. We have interests around the world,

00:14:23.720 and we want to secure our interests around the world. We want to promote our influence.

00:14:28.920 And when we wield power, as a superpower does, as any nation does actually, to wield power costs money.

00:14:36.520 So that's what it's about. If you think about foreign aid as a purely charitable act,

00:14:43.280 then there's an argument for it, I think. But it's not going to be persuasive to a lot of Americans.

00:14:48.820 But if you recognize that foreign aid is a tool of empire, it is a tool, really, even of just

00:14:55.680 any nation state. It's a tool of influence and statecraft. Every nation does it in one way or

00:15:02.760 another. We're always trying to influence geopolitics to be more conducive to our flourishing.

00:15:08.500 It's been true of every little polis, every state, every major nation, and every empire in

00:15:15.680 the whole history of the world. Then you say, okay, in principle, I'm all right with foreign aid. 0.69

00:15:21.880 The question is, what are we influencing? How are we influencing people?

00:15:29.940 So I recognize there are people who say, we just need to end all foreign aid. I'm not that guy.

00:15:34.540 I don't think that's a strong view. And more importantly, for our discussion today,

00:15:41.520 I don't think Trump is that guy either. I don't think Trump is a guy who says, I just,

00:15:46.000 I don't want America to project any influence anywhere. I just want to keep to myself and be

00:15:49.840 a yeoman farmer and pretend that we're living in Thomas Jefferson's fantasy land in 1789.

00:15:57.440 That ain't Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a big guy. Donald Trump is not a put your head in the

00:16:04.520 sand and keep to yourself and just don't bother anybody kind of. Donald Trump is a big guy who

00:16:08.540 wants to project power, who's threatened to invade two countries in the last two weeks. Okay.

00:16:13.680 I strongly suspect that President Trump shares my view here. And yet we can have a ton of common ground

00:16:23.160 with the people who ideologically want to end foreign aid right now, because we recognize that

00:16:28.680 this is a tool of, of the liberals. What we are seeing here is it's, it's one of the most

00:16:37.600 interesting moments in politics in my entire life, because you're seeing an actual sea change.

00:16:43.600 You're seeing an act, what seems to be an actual shift in power.

00:16:49.440 So all of a sudden the libs who were so happy to, to be promoting using American power and influence

00:16:55.660 all over the world, they're not the ones who have the reins anymore.

00:17:01.200 Now we do. And so the question for us that I think is, is do we want to just shutter this and

00:17:05.400 not project influence anywhere? I think that's the mistake conservatives made on the domestic front

00:17:09.960 for many decades. We're not going to wield power. We're going to abandon the institutions.

00:17:13.380 We're going to give up on the schools. We're going to give up on Hollywood. We're going to

00:17:15.880 give up on, on corporate America. We're going to do our own thing. Forget about it. Left. You can

00:17:20.520 have it. Oh, good. Yeah. Great. We gave the whole country to the left. Look how that works. We're

00:17:24.300 going to give up on government. We don't like the government. Okay. Now the government's totally

00:17:27.380 populated by libs. They're, they're wielding it against our interests. You might not care about

00:17:32.220 politics, but politics cares about you. That's one option. Or you can say, oh, all right,

00:17:39.560 we got the juice now. Oh, we got the power. All right. Let's wield it for our interests,

00:17:45.760 for our political vision and for the common good. I think that's what Trump is doing,

00:17:49.900 which is why I suspect it's not that USAID is going to completely disappear. I think it's the

00:17:54.600 art of the deal or it, even if the agency disappears, there'll be some new version of it.

00:17:59.620 The question now is what are we going to be promoting? If it ain't going to be abortion and 0.97

00:18:04.440 LGBT LMNOP, what are we going to be promoting? You see, you're seeing the art of the deal working 1.00

00:18:09.760 very well already. Remember things are happening so quickly. It's actually hard to keep track

00:18:16.120 of hour by hour of, of, of the last thing we were talking about. I guess the last thing we were

00:18:22.260 talking about on this show was that Trump was threatening massive tariffs on Mexico.

00:18:27.020 if Mexico did not fix its border and all the usual suspects were saying, oh no, this is terrible.

00:18:36.060 It's going to raise the price of avocados, which don't even taste like anything. And this is going

00:18:39.380 to raise the cost of Modelo or whatever Corona. Okay. All right, whatever. It'll raise the cost of a

00:18:45.060 perfectly mediocre beer. That's fine. Well, guess what? Mexico already caved. Mexico, Mexico's president

00:18:53.160 tweets out. We had a good conversation with president Trump with great respect for our

00:18:57.520 relationship and sovereignty. We reached a series of agreements. Mexico will immediately reinforce

00:19:01.800 the Northern border with 10,000 members of the national guard to prevent drug tracking, trafficking

00:19:06.260 from Mexico to the U S particularly fentanyl. The U S is committed to working to prevent trafficking

00:19:11.720 of high powered weapons to Mexico, whatever, like that's a big problem. Our teams will begin working

00:19:17.400 today on two fronts, security and trade. They're pausing tariffs for one month now. Okay. What about

00:19:22.840 Canada? We were told we were seeing this all yesterday. Oh no, we're offending our allies.

00:19:28.340 Oh no, this is going to lead to a trade war. This might lead to an all out war. Oh no, this is

00:19:32.400 terrible. Well, what happens? Justin Trudeau sends out almost the same message. I just had a good call

00:19:38.260 with president Trump. Oh yeah. You, you know, you guys are all speaking real politely about president

00:19:43.220 Trump. Now I noticed you weren't all that polite about Trump six months ago, but now I had a good

00:19:48.480 call with president Trump says the leader of Canada. Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion

00:19:54.280 border plan, reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced

00:19:58.020 coordination with our American partners, increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Nearly

00:20:02.920 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border. China, Canada is making 0.98

00:20:08.440 new commitments to appoint a fentanyl czar. We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24 seven eyes on the

00:20:14.700 border, launch a Canada U S joint strike force to combat organized crime and fentanyl and money

00:20:19.880 laundering. This is good stuff. And we're backing it with 200 million bucks. Proposed tariffs will be

00:20:24.140 paused for at least 30 days while we work together. What's this about? In part, it's about what it says

00:20:29.980 it's about. In part, Trump has now gotten commitments from Mexico and China. I keep saying China. That's a

00:20:36.860 Freudian slip when I'm talking about Justin Trudeau and America's evil top hat, Canada. He's gotten

00:20:41.480 concessions for Mexico and Canada. We're going to, we're going to put more troops on the border.

00:20:45.920 We're going to restructure the government a little bit so that we can really pay attention to this.

00:20:50.160 We're going to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations. Going to make it easier to go after

00:20:53.400 them. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. Okay. That's all good. It's a, it's in part

00:20:56.000 about that, but it's in part about showing that he can do this, right? Canada and Mexico's response to

00:21:04.300 Trump was exactly the same as Columbia's response to Trump, but notice the escalation here.

00:21:09.480 Trump sends a couple of planes with criminal aliens down to Columbia. Columbia refuses the planes.

00:21:16.980 Trump says, I'm slapping you with a 25% tariff. I'm freezing your visas and your passports. I'm

00:21:22.180 going to sanction your elites. I'm going to, all of a sudden, what? Immediately, Columbia sends the

00:21:29.880 presidential plane up to America to get the criminal aliens. Oh, we're working with America. This is 0.78

00:21:35.360 great. Okay. So he starts with Columbia, shows, why does he focus on Columbia? In part, it's what

00:21:41.320 it was really about, the criminals, but in part, it's to show Mexico and Canada that he's serious.

00:21:47.080 And he elevates it. He tries the same trick with Mexico and Canada. Why does he do it? In part,

00:21:53.720 because of what it's about. In part, I think, to show the bigger players, China, Russia,

00:22:00.140 other people around the world, that he's serious. He's going to throw his weight around. He's going

00:22:06.360 to get what he wants. And so Mexico and Canada, when they concede, even if they're not conceding

00:22:12.320 all that much materially, they are conceding the principle that Trump is going to get what he wants.

00:22:18.020 He's going to bully people into the negotiating table, and then he's going to come to deals.

00:22:23.240 And that is a message. It is not primarily for Toronto or Montreal or Tijuana or Mexico City.

00:22:30.660 That is a message for Beijing and Moscow, for that matter. There's so much more to say. First,

00:22:37.160 though, go to donewithdebt.com. Do you wish you could have jumped into last year's stock market

00:22:42.400 boom? I get it. When credit card bills and debt are piling up, investing feels impossible,

00:22:46.720 but here's some good news. Done With Debt has your back with a fresh approach to tackling those

00:22:51.700 money headaches. Your team of negotiators and legal experts go to bat for you, working directly

00:22:56.520 with credit card companies and lenders to slash those bills, wipe out interest charges, and get

00:23:00.980 rid of those pesky late fees and penalties. They've got a proven track record of putting more money back

00:23:05.580 in people's pockets, money you could use to start building that investment portfolio you've been

00:23:09.520 dreaming about. Think about it. Instead of watching your hard-earned cash disappear into minimum

00:23:13.780 payments, you could finally start growing your wealth. Bottom line, donewithdebt helps turn crushing

00:23:19.080 debt into financial freedom. But some of their strategies are time-sensitive, so do not wait.

00:23:23.700 Start building the life you deserve. Go to donewithdebt.com. Talk with one of their strategists.

00:23:27.720 It is free. You go to donewithdebt.com. Donewithdebt.com today. Do not wait. I know how brutal debt

00:23:37.920 can be for people's lives. Go to donewithdebt.com. You know, we've had a lot of chatter about my

00:23:46.380 Michael and series over the past few days. A lot of internet chatter about it. So, I wanted to call

00:23:53.980 your attention to the many other episodes that we have out there. A lot of big ones. Probably our most

00:23:59.460 popular one is with Father Dan Rehill, the exorcist here in the Diocese of Nashville. And so many others

00:24:08.700 that have really taken off. One that has taken off is my conversation with Pearl Davis on marriage

00:24:15.900 and her view that men shouldn't get married and my view that men should get married. Do the risks

00:24:22.880 outweigh the rewards in modern marriages. Check out this teaser. But I'll see guys that take you

00:24:30.440 guys' advice. And sometimes, you know, it ruins their life. What would men do if they begged you

00:24:36.420 for advice? Again, I'm not in the business of telling men what to do, you know. But I think you

00:24:41.220 kind of are. Well, what percent of women do you think are marriageable? I think you're squirting the 1.00

00:24:45.140 issue. People are not going to return to marriage until you make the institution more fair. Well, what

00:24:49.520 they'll do is they'll return. It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what I say. You guys

00:24:53.300 have been preaching marriage for a decade. And the rates of marriage have still been going down.

00:24:57.600 Why? Because the cost is too high and the quality of women is too low. How do you fix it? Do you 1.00

00:25:03.160 want to get married? Watch the full episode. I guess a debate now on the Michael Knowles YouTube

00:25:15.700 channel. For the uncensored, ad-free version, subscribe. Watch exclusively on Daily Wire Plus.

00:25:24.460 Even Denmark. Okay, this is my last little button on President Trump and the art of the deal.

00:25:30.600 Colombia, caves. Canada, caves. Mexico, caves. Even Denmark, which controls Greenland.

00:25:37.220 The Danish prime minister, Meta Fredriksen, says, I totally agree with the Americans that the high

00:25:45.640 north, the Arctic region, is becoming more and more important when we're talking about defense

00:25:49.720 and security and deterrence. And it is possible to find a way to ensure stronger footprints in

00:25:56.380 Greenland. So if this is about securing our part of the world, we can find a way forward.

00:26:00.380 But Greenland is part of Denmark and is not for sale. Wow, man, what a shift. Trump says,

00:26:09.720 we want Greenland. He's been saying this for months. We want Greenland, we're going to take it.

00:26:15.700 Most people assume that Greenland was an independent nation. Most people don't even

00:26:19.260 realize that Greenland, this huge landmass right next to America, is actually owned by Denmark,

00:26:26.060 this tiny little country on the other side of the Atlantic. And then they discover, hold on,

00:26:30.680 Denmark owns Greenland. A lot of Greenlanders say they like America and they don't really care that

00:26:34.880 much about Denmark. And Denmark says, absolutely not. You're threatening us. France, speaking for the

00:26:42.440 EU, says, this is a threat against your ally in the European Union. How could you dare suggest this?

00:26:47.960 We are so offended by this. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, after Colombia caved and Mexico caved

00:26:56.020 and Canada caved and Trump's the president and he's doing what he wants. Now, all of a sudden,

00:27:01.340 we got a little change in tune, don't we? Oh, no, actually, you know, I totally agree with Mr. Trump.

00:27:07.660 Actually, maybe we should increase the American presence in Greenland. That's a good idea. 1.00

00:27:12.000 Please don't take my country. That ain't your country, first of all, Denmark. 1.00

00:27:16.580 Mark, Greenland's a different country. It's closer to us and we have more interest in it

00:27:21.740 and we're the global hegemon. And I didn't exactly like your attitude the first time we talked about

00:27:27.360 this. Not even the first time. We've been talking about acquiring Greenland since the middle of the

00:27:31.080 19th century. This has been a U.S. State Department initiative and priority for 150 years. After World

00:27:38.800 War II, President Truman made a big effort to get it too. But now, okay, good. I'm glad you're coming

00:27:45.180 to the negotiating table. And that's what this is, by the way. When the leader of Denmark,

00:27:51.900 rather, it's confusing. The Greenlanders really like America. The Danish, they're coming around 1.00

00:27:57.600 on America. But when the leader of Denmark, which owns Greenland, says, look, we'll give America a

00:28:03.480 lot, but it's not for sale. They are negotiating. And that's what this is. This is all a big

00:28:09.460 negotiation. And the libs who clutch their pearls when Trump says, we're taking the Panama Canal back. 0.93

00:28:14.980 When Trump says, we're going to acquire Greenland. When Trump says, we're going to smack huge tariffs

00:28:21.100 on Mexico and Canada if they don't start enforcing their border better. The libs remind me of,

00:28:26.800 and excuse my blunt language, ladies. You know, I love the ladies, but they remind me of women trying 1.00

00:28:34.960 to buy a car. You know, when women, I know it's a stereotype, but stereotypes are all true. 1.00

00:28:41.800 They don't pertain to all the individuals of a group, but they're broadly true. That's where they

00:28:45.080 come from. When women are buying a car, they get really nervous. They don't like negotiations. 1.00

00:28:52.580 They don't like the anxiety. This is why women in practice actually don't often make as much money 1.00

00:28:58.380 as men in corporate America. One of the reasons is they just hate negotiating and they hate asking

00:29:02.980 for raises and they hate really tough deal-making, okay? But I remember the last time I was buying a

00:29:10.580 car. I was sitting with sweet little Elisa, and we were going to buy the minivan. And it's actually

00:29:17.460 a pretty tight automobile market right now, so there's not really much room for negotiating anyway.

00:29:21.960 But you got to get something off, right? You got to get a little bit of money off.

00:29:24.960 And I'm sitting there, and we're going back and forth, and the dealership says, okay,

00:29:28.280 well, here's the price, and we'll come down here for you. We got to add all this fake stuff onto the

00:29:32.520 car, like some paint job or whatever, some ceiling wax and some stupid navigation system that no one 0.98

00:29:38.240 wants. And I said, well, you got to take that off and this and boom, boom, boom. And we're going 0.98

00:29:41.940 back and forth. It's taking an hour. But it's just the dance, you know? And oh, I got to talk to my

00:29:46.840 manager. All right, you go talk to your manager. He goes, pretends to talk to the manager. Oh, this and that.

00:29:50.420 And I'm sitting there. And Elisa, she's going, oh, she goes, I hate this. She looks at me.

00:29:57.600 But you love this. And I said, I do. I love this. And men do. Men love it. Going in asking for a raise,

00:30:05.760 it's fun, actually. It's a little nerve-wracking, but it's fun. You talk to a man, a man will say,

00:30:12.360 you know what? It's fun. I felt good in that negotiation. You talk to a woman, a lot of the

00:30:16.720 time. She'll say, I didn't like that. I felt uncomfortable. I don't want to do it. I'd rather

00:30:20.540 not get the raise. I'd rather not get the discount on the car. That's how I feel about the liberals

00:30:25.420 with these things. Oh, please don't upset Justin Trudeau in Canada. No, please don't threaten any

00:30:31.800 tariffs on him. He's going to be really angry with us. Are you kidding me? It's Justin Trudeau. Who cares?

00:30:38.320 And by the way, he won't even be angry because he gets it. He knows what's going on. He runs a country.

00:30:43.280 He knows how statecraft works. He's not good at it, but he understands a little bit how it works.

00:30:49.300 Oh, no, we can't possibly threaten Mexico, what with their less than $2 trillion economy.

00:30:56.100 No, no, we, the global hegemon with a $30 trillion economy, we can't possibly ask them politely to get

00:31:02.880 the face-tattooed Satan-worshipping gangsters off the border and to stop poisoning our kids.

00:31:08.420 We couldn't. We don't want to offend them. Let's just leave it be.

00:31:12.060 What if they raise the price of avocados? Good grief, you pansies. Are you kidding me? 1.00

00:31:19.240 Chuck Schumer, give me a break. Now, in the case of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats,

00:31:24.600 what they actually want is to just keep the border open and keep all of these gangsters

00:31:27.620 coming to the country because they think it'll help them politically. But the people who are 0.62

00:31:31.820 sincerely worried, oh, no, we're going to upset the status quo by negotiating. Good grief.

00:31:38.900 With these people at the helm of our government for 60 years, it's a wonder we still have a country.

00:31:45.080 This is good stuff, man. This is fun. This is going to be the difference. This is going to be,

00:31:50.060 which way, Western man? Are we going to go the way of people who hate negotiating for a car or

00:31:54.460 the people who like it? Not everyone is as resigned as Denmark, Mexico, and Canada to President Trump's

00:32:05.700 presidency. Anti-Trump deportation protests have shut down the 101 freeway in Los Angeles.

00:32:13.880 Take a look at some of these protests. If you're only listening right now, I'll explain it to you.

00:32:24.320 There are about a billion Mexican flags. Big signs that say stolen land. Stolen land? What does that

00:32:31.240 even mean? Stolen land. We conquered some of this land. We purchased a lot of this land. We're just

00:32:37.500 talking about stolen land. From whom? Who are these people? They say they're Americans. The liberals tell

00:32:46.100 us they're Americans. They're undocumented Americans. But I don't see any American flags.

00:32:51.900 You'd think if they were Americans, documented or undocumented, you'd think they were Americans

00:32:57.280 and they were waving a flag. The flag they'd be waving would be the American flag, but it's not.

00:33:02.100 It's the Mexican flag. So I guess they're Mexicans. They're shutting down American highways, 1.00

00:33:10.220 waving symbols of another country, trying to subvert our political system in favor of political

00:33:19.160 preferences of the aforementioned other country. In what sense are they Americans? They are not in any

00:33:28.200 sense Americans. Other than that they're a bit entitled and eccentric. I guess maybe that's the 1.00

00:33:35.260 most American feature about them. But otherwise, they haven't assimilated much. However, I have a

00:33:41.100 solution. Usually when people on the left shut down highways, which happens frequently, you know,

00:33:47.120 BLM and all that, when they do that, the environmentalists, the LGBT, LMNOP activists, 0.70

00:33:52.780 all the rest. Usually I say, hey, cops, get them off the freeway. Stop it. You know, this is really bad.

00:33:57.900 It's slowing down traffic. Imagine someone's got to get his kid to the hospital or something. Get them

00:34:01.140 out of there. In this case, though, I have a different solution. For this one particular instance,

00:34:07.680 I would just recommend to the marchers that they keep marching. You see, because it looks to me

00:34:14.040 like they are marching south on the 101 freeway. So if my LA geography doesn't escape me, if they just

00:34:26.800 keep marching south, eventually they're going to hit the five and then they're going to, they should

00:34:32.320 just keep, get on that one, keep marching south. Basically just keep marching south until you reach a

00:34:39.660 little town called Tijuana. And then once you get, keep going just a little bit further and maybe the cops

00:34:46.420 could give them a little push and then you go from a growing problem to problem solved. You know, folks,

00:34:53.840 it's February, which means the usual crowd is claiming we don't do anything for Black History Month. We

00:35:01.820 have, okay, it's totally ridiculous to even claim that this year. We have the number one documentary of

00:35:08.420 the decade covering race in America. It's called Am I Racist? This was the surprise box office hit of 0.51

00:35:15.580 the year. And well, it's not the narrative that the left wanted, of course, but it is available

00:35:20.940 exclusively on Daily Wire Plus. We are pulling back the curtain with the making of Am I Racist, where Matt

00:35:27.800 Walsh and director Justin Folk and the whole team come together and discuss the movie. Watch it right

00:35:33.880 now, dailywire.com. My favorite comment yesterday is from Dry Floater. Now, I didn't pick this comment.

00:35:41.000 I didn't pick a comment yet. So I deferred to the producers on picking this comment. Let's see how they

00:35:45.000 did. Comment. I just bought 5,000 pounds of avocados to prepare for the avocado polyp, avocado

00:35:54.980 palips. Well, I got bad news for you. Val, you better really like avocados because you are not

00:36:10.160 going to be able to resell those for a huge markup. You are going to have to eat them. And the problem

00:36:14.060 with avocados is you buy them and then the moment you look at them, they start to turn brown.

00:36:20.020 They don't. Once you slice them, the avocados stay green for about four nanoseconds and then

00:36:28.660 they turn brown and look gross. So you better eat fast. Now, speaking of Tijuana, I want to turn

00:36:40.540 some attention right now to the old Tijuana tarragon. You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about

00:36:45.520 the old Peruvian parsley. You know what I, are you catching my drift? The old Haitian oregano.

00:36:52.140 You know what I mean? Talking about pot. Talking about marijuana, man, because there's a new report

00:36:59.160 out. Finds that memory problems from cannabis might last long after quitting. And this is according

00:37:11.360 to scientists. Research out of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Researchers tracked

00:37:17.720 brain changes in a major study. We haven't seen a thousand person study like this. And the effects

00:37:25.720 were noticeable in especially the part of the brain that is responsible for working memory.

00:37:33.300 According to the study, impacts on memory function, other mental tasks like emotional processing,

00:37:38.100 language, and logical thinking were not significantly affected by heavy cannabis use. However, working

00:37:45.780 memory looks like it could be affected long afterwards. These findings are published in the

00:37:54.040 journal, the journal of the American Medical Association. Okay. I'm not even going to get into

00:38:00.760 all the highlights of the study. You can read it yourself or you can just read news reports about the

00:38:04.660 study. Duh. Like duh, of course. Yeah. I don't, you know, I'm not the biggest promoter of the old

00:38:13.480 devil's lettuce. Okay. I'm not, I'm not saying it's the single worst thing in the world. I do think that

00:38:18.720 it's worse than booze and I think it's worse than nicotine. And I think the reason, in brief, the reason

00:38:26.400 that it's worse than booze is you can, you can drink without getting drunk. In fact, that's how you're

00:38:34.440 supposed to drink. This is traditionally in our culture, certainly in Christianity, we recognize

00:38:40.360 that it's not evil to drink. It's not sinful to drink. I mean, our Lord's first miracle is to turn

00:38:44.960 water into wine at a wedding for people who've been drinking for a long time. But that it is a sin to get

00:38:49.520 drunk. Totally lose your, your wits and your, you know, divorce your will from your reason and all

00:38:58.280 the rest of it. But, you know, to drink, to be a little sociable or, you know, that's fine. Okay.

00:39:03.660 It's very difficult to just smoke pot without getting high. I guess unless you're Bill Clinton

00:39:10.480 and you don't inhale, it's hard to do that. So that's one reason why. It's also, Tucker made this

00:39:16.320 point very well. The left wants you to smoke a lot of pot so that you're fat, lazy, and stupid. 1.00

00:39:21.440 His words, not mine. Send him the hate mail, not me. Whereas the right tends to prefer nicotine, 1.00

00:39:26.320 in particular cigars for me. But a lot of right-wingers now love the Zin packets because

00:39:30.700 nicotine focuses you, focuses you. It makes you more alert, more focused. You can be more productive.

00:39:37.600 So that's, that's the difference between the left and the right in a nutshell. Okay. All sorts of

00:39:42.100 reasons why I don't think marijuana is identical to booze and nicotine and why I think that booze

00:39:46.720 and nicotine in moderation are superior to marijuana. But regardless, let's say you love

00:39:50.880 pot. A lot of people listen to the show. They love the old Zin spinach. Okay. That's fine. I'm not,

00:39:55.500 I'm not, I'm not making a big deal about it. My issue, my big issue is with the people who pretend

00:40:02.680 that marijuana is the one substance in the world that has no downsides whatsoever.

00:40:09.380 Cane sugar. Cane sugar has a lot of downsides to it. But no, no, no. Water. You can, you can drink

00:40:15.160 too much water. You can die drinking water. But no, no. The one substance in the whole world that

00:40:20.220 has no downsides, it's only upsides, it's this magical herb, is marijuana. And that's obviously

00:40:26.460 not true. It's a finite world. It's a fallen world. We have limits. This is, it's a drug.

00:40:33.280 Of course there are downsides to it. Duh. In this case, in the case of a study like this,

00:40:40.960 science and common sense match up. When, when I was told for years that marijuana has no downsides,

00:40:48.820 only upsides, not at all addictive, even though it obviously is, it's all just totally great. I

00:40:53.880 thought, well, huh, that's a, the language of science speaking, but that contradicts my common

00:41:00.040 sense. And generally science and common sense should go together. Much like generally reason

00:41:06.540 and faith, actually always reason and faith go together. They're not, they're not opposed. Okay.

00:41:12.340 They compliment each other. That's how it should be here too. And so you could zoom out even past

00:41:17.080 the jazz cigarettes. When scientists tell you things that are totally outlandish,

00:41:25.640 that contradict other things that you know to be true, you should be skeptical of, of that science.

00:41:33.720 This is true when Dr. Fauci is saying it. This is true when Al Gore is making movies about it,

00:41:38.280 about how the world's going to end in five minutes because the sun monster, this is true

00:41:41.260 generally because we like, we think of knowledge as all divided up and compartmentalized and segregated.

00:41:50.200 That's not how it works. There is just the truth. There is the truth and we're trying to know

00:41:55.880 something about it and you can learn something about it through science and you can learn something

00:42:01.540 about it through common sense and you can learn through, you know, the inherited wisdom of the

00:42:05.100 ages. You can learn something about it through reason. You can learn something about it through faith.

00:42:09.060 You can learn something about the truth through chemistry and biology and music and mathematics

00:42:15.380 and anthropology and philosophy and English literature.

00:42:21.840 You can learn some, but it's all talking about the same truth, okay?

00:42:26.940 And that's an integrated whole.

00:42:29.460 Don't divorce your common sense for a supposedly higher sense.

00:42:33.020 Now, speaking of common sense, really, really good news

00:42:37.020 and a huge cultural shift going on in my state of Tennessee.

00:42:42.420 Have you heard of covenant marriage?

00:42:45.380 Covenant marriage, you're going to hear about it more and more.

00:42:49.720 There is a bill being proposed in Tennessee

00:42:52.200 that would establish covenant marriage into law.

00:42:57.660 Other states have done this already.

00:42:59.300 It was introduced into the statehouse here, January 22nd.

00:43:04.120 It would establish covenant marriages in Tennessee 0.98

00:43:07.360 as being between, quote, one male and one female

00:43:11.520 who, quote, agree that marriage is a lifelong partnership.

00:43:16.420 The legislation would make it harder for couples who agree to enter into this kind of marriage

00:43:20.800 to get a divorce in the state of Tennessee.

00:43:23.680 And the bill would go into effect July 2025.

00:43:26.500 I love this.

00:43:29.200 The representative, Gino Bulso, who proposed this bill,

00:43:34.880 and Chris Hurt, who originally proposed the bill before passing the sponsorship on,

00:43:39.360 they have my full support.

00:43:40.920 Anything I can do to help them, I'm happy to do.

00:43:43.200 This bill is reality with a few extra steps.

00:43:50.020 That's what covenant marriage is.

00:43:51.720 Covenant marriage is reality with a few extra steps.

00:43:54.200 Because what this really is, is just what everyone understood marriage to be

00:43:59.400 until relatively recently.

00:44:00.900 Until the Obergefell decision in, what was that, 2015,

00:44:07.300 everyone everywhere understood marriage to be the union of a man and a woman.

00:44:11.900 Not because we don't like fellas who have different views and desires.

00:44:17.940 Not because we don't like ladies who have different views and desires. 1.00

00:44:20.440 Not because we're phobic or hateful or anything.

00:44:22.380 But just because that's what a marriage is.

00:44:25.340 If marriage is not that, there is no way to identify what distinguishes marriage

00:44:30.180 from any other kind of relationship.

00:44:33.200 It's not hateful.

00:44:34.480 It's just reality.

00:44:36.640 Okay?

00:44:37.160 And then, this isn't just distinguishing covenant marriage from same-sex marriage or something.

00:44:42.440 This goes further.

00:44:44.560 His son does an error that began really 50, 60 years ago,

00:44:47.320 which is the error of liberalizing divorce. 0.95

00:44:50.280 Marriage was understood for all of history.

00:44:53.160 Certainly in our civilization.

00:44:54.780 But broadly speaking, everywhere.

00:44:56.980 As the union of a man and a woman,

00:45:00.180 for life,

00:45:02.220 ordered toward the procreation and education of children,

00:45:05.340 and as a secondary matter,

00:45:06.640 ordered toward the mutual support of the spouses.

00:45:08.540 That sounds like a mouthful.

00:45:09.960 I'll say it one more time.

00:45:11.780 It's the lifelong union of a man and a woman,

00:45:14.040 for the purpose of,

00:45:15.920 inclined toward,

00:45:17.380 the begetting of children,

00:45:19.040 and the educating of children,

00:45:20.200 and also for the mutual support of the husband and wife.

00:45:23.160 That was it.

00:45:23.960 The reason for that is not oppression,

00:45:28.680 and it's not patriarchy,

00:45:30.040 and it's not heteronormativity,

00:45:32.340 and it's not,

00:45:32.840 it's that that is the only definition that marriage can have

00:45:36.980 that would permit marriage to exist 0.54

00:45:39.920 as a different kind of relationship,

00:45:43.120 as a distinct kind of institution,

00:45:45.680 separate from boyfriend and girlfriend,

00:45:49.620 separate from just ordinary lovers,

00:45:53.180 separate from roommates.

00:45:55.960 It's the only thing that gives marriage a definition.

00:45:59.720 And there are all sorts of downstream effects of that,

00:46:03.760 especially as pertains to children,

00:46:05.360 but this is really good stuff.

00:46:07.820 And I mention it,

00:46:08.740 not just to call attention to a law in Tennessee,

00:46:11.000 but to point out,

00:46:12.800 I was so right, man.

00:46:15.040 I, you know, I hate to say I told you so,

00:46:16.600 but I was so right.

00:46:17.540 I have said four years.

00:46:19.340 I've long predicted,

00:46:20.200 and I've been called crazy,

00:46:21.820 and backward,

00:46:23.280 and,

00:46:23.840 and,

00:46:24.960 I don't know,

00:46:26.880 desperate, I guess,

00:46:28.580 for saying,

00:46:30.080 marriage is not a lost issue for the right.

00:46:33.640 Marriage is not a lost issue.

00:46:34.680 So many people,

00:46:35.760 so many conservative Republicans,

00:46:38.020 so-called,

00:46:38.720 told me,

00:46:39.060 Michael, give up on the marriage thing.

00:46:41.100 Oh, it's just over, man.

00:46:42.380 It's,

00:46:42.500 and actually,

00:46:42.960 it's,

00:46:43.120 maybe it's better that it's over.

00:46:44.060 It's,

00:46:44.160 no,

00:46:44.320 just give up on it.

00:46:45.060 I said,

00:46:45.340 I can't give up on it,

00:46:46.660 because it's reality,

00:46:48.400 and I can't lie.

00:46:49.680 That's why I can't give up on it,

00:46:50.980 okay?

00:46:52.540 Because I can't say with a straight face

00:46:54.940 that we can redefine marriage.

00:46:57.540 In any serious way.

00:46:58.880 We just can't,

00:46:59.600 it's just not a thing we can do.

00:47:01.600 Not,

00:47:01.960 no offense to anybody,

00:47:02.940 no hatred to anybody,

00:47:04.000 no people can live their lives,

00:47:05.600 no one's saying they can't live,

00:47:06.300 but,

00:47:08.720 say,

00:47:09.560 people,

00:47:09.860 are you,

00:47:10.380 you're telling me

00:47:11.280 that we conservatives believe in

00:47:13.940 enduring human nature,

00:47:15.620 we believe in eternal truths,

00:47:17.600 transcendental moral order,

00:47:19.200 that reality reasserts itself in the end,

00:47:21.000 but you're telling me

00:47:22.060 that the fundamental political institution

00:47:26.140 is irretrievably destroyed

00:47:29.280 because some random lawyer 0.90

00:47:31.180 on the Supreme Court

00:47:32.260 wrote romantic poetry

00:47:33.700 during a,

00:47:34.340 during a,

00:47:35.300 a decision

00:47:37.060 in his majority ruling?

00:47:39.540 Are you kidding me?

00:47:41.680 I think,

00:47:42.580 I think that institution

00:47:43.980 is a little more enduring.

00:47:45.020 I think reality

00:47:45.820 is a little more enduring

00:47:47.020 than all that.

00:47:48.020 This is what's happening.

00:47:49.540 You're going to see this

00:47:50.180 in more and more states.

00:47:51.460 You're going to see this

00:47:52.200 in more and more states

00:47:52.960 because it reflects the truth

00:47:55.360 and reality,

00:47:56.040 and people desire that.

00:47:57.360 And even as,

00:47:58.620 if we're taken to flights of fancy

00:47:59.840 for long periods of time,

00:48:01.180 ultimately,

00:48:02.900 reality is going to,

00:48:04.480 going to kick back in.

00:48:06.060 Today is,

00:48:07.460 Tee Hee Hee Tuesday.

00:48:08.300 The rest of the show continues.

00:48:09.260 Now,

00:48:09.580 you do not want to miss it.

00:48:10.640 Become a member.

00:48:11.160 Use code NOLLSCANNWL.

00:48:12.200 Yes,

00:48:12.360 or check out for two months free

00:48:13.280 on all annual plans.

00:48:27.360 .

00:48:28.620 .

00:48:40.360 .

00:48:41.220 .

00:48:46.060 .

00:48:46.320 .

The Michael Knowles Show - February 04, 2025

Ep. 1666 - Trump Goes Nuclear On USAID

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript