The Michael Knowles Show


Ep. 1693 - Trump Revokes Chuck Schumer's Jew Card


Summary

Trump is de-Judaizing Chuck Schumer, and the Jewish people are cheering on the deportation of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil. Is this just another example of Jews trying to protect their enemies, or is it part of a larger anti-American agenda?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Chuck Schumer is officially no longer a Jew.
00:00:03.320 So declareth the president of the United States.
00:00:07.480 And Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I'm concerned.
00:00:10.400 You know, he's become a Palestinian.
00:00:12.420 He used to be Jewish.
00:00:13.660 He's not Jewish anymore.
00:00:14.760 He's a Palestinian.
00:00:16.140 Okay.
00:00:17.020 I think that does it.
00:00:18.780 I know it's still debated among scholars whether or not the Scottish-German-Presbyterian president
00:00:24.460 has the authority to de-Hebraize one of the most famous secular Jews in the world.
00:00:29.360 It is kind of like a modern, really a post-modern investiture controversy.
00:00:34.560 But I'm with Trump.
00:00:36.340 I suspect the reverse circumcision will be deeply unpleasant.
00:00:39.580 I suspect Democrats will rue the day that they developed all of that technology for trans surgeries.
00:00:45.020 But Trump is de-Judaizing Schumer because Schumer has opposed the deportation of the foreign
00:00:52.680 former student, former graduate student at Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, who led a bunch of pro-Palestine
00:00:59.140 demonstrations and made a general nuisance of himself around New York City.
00:01:03.740 But Schumer is not the only prominent Jew taking the side of the radical pro-Palestine activist.
00:01:08.960 Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, also top politicians in America, top Democrats, top Jews.
00:01:16.640 They are both demanding Khalil's release.
00:01:20.240 Meanwhile, Baptists and Catholics and lapsed Presbyterians are cheering on his deportation,
00:01:25.960 all of which tells you a lot about the true meaning of the Mahmoud-Khalil affair.
00:01:31.600 Hint, it is about a lot more.
00:01:33.900 It goes a lot deeper than Israel or Gaza.
00:01:36.900 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:01:37.500 This is the Michael Knowles Show.
00:01:57.220 Welcome back to the show.
00:01:59.500 The Scottsdale Police Department just arrested over 200 people in a child sex trafficking ring.
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00:02:16.120 Over 200 people arrested in a very wealthy part of the country for a sex trafficking ring involving children.
00:02:23.800 And no one's talking about it.
00:02:25.000 So we're going to talk about it.
00:02:26.060 There's so much more to say.
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00:03:41.780 Mahmoud Khalil, the former graduate student who has somehow dominated the news more than any real academic in the country for probably many decades.
00:03:53.000 Will he be deported or not?
00:03:56.220 Is holding a pro-Palestine demonstration a deportable offense?
00:04:01.960 Are the Republicans and Trump trampling on Mahmoud Khalil's free speech rights?
00:04:06.860 Is this just an example of the Israel lobby?
00:04:10.820 Jews trying to deport their enemies, even though the really prominent Jews are all demanding that he stay.
00:04:16.320 What's going on here?
00:04:17.480 We turn away from the Democrats and the Jews toward a Republican, Cuban, Italian, Irish, Southern Baptist, Senator Ted Cruz on a podcast I've heard of before, the Verdict podcast.
00:04:32.560 Have you ever heard of that?
00:04:33.560 Senator Cruz explaining why the Khalil deportation is a good idea and not a free speech issue.
00:04:39.660 There have been a number of people online, a number of leftists, who are saying, well, this is free speech.
00:04:44.740 This is allowed.
00:04:45.860 Let me be clear.
00:04:47.120 Under U.S. law, American citizens are protected by the First Amendment.
00:04:52.160 Foreigners are not.
00:04:53.520 A visa to come to this country as a student, that is a permissive decision.
00:04:58.800 And you do not have a right, if you are a guest to this country, to actively undermine America.
00:05:04.720 Let me be clear to anyone.
00:05:05.940 If you hate America, if you want to undermine America, do not come to this country.
00:05:11.140 And the Trump administration rightly arrested and plans to deport Mahmoud Khalil for organizing anti-Israel, anti-America, pro-Hamas protests.
00:05:23.340 And what's stunning, Ben, what do you think the reaction of the Democrats is to this?
00:05:27.580 They stand with Khalil.
00:05:30.140 They stand with the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protesters.
00:05:33.700 So if you want to know where you stand, if you stand with Israel, if you stand with American Jews, if you stand with freedom, if you stand with the right to be free from oppression and violence, that ain't the Democrats.
00:05:48.160 They stand with those engaged violence.
00:05:50.820 Okay, so Senator Cruz's primary point here is visas are a permissive decision.
00:05:59.120 No one has a right to a student visa.
00:06:01.640 Foreigners who come into this country cannot say, you know, I'm an American citizen.
00:06:05.920 You can't deport me for stating my mind.
00:06:07.780 We can choose to let you in or choose to exclude you for basically any reason.
00:06:12.900 And if you're here and you're doing things we don't like, we can send you home for basically any reason, too.
00:06:17.280 Foreigners are not entitled to all of the rights of American citizens.
00:06:24.040 So what is this really about?
00:06:25.300 You heard Senator Cruz bring up so many issues here.
00:06:27.900 He's anti-American.
00:06:29.020 Okay, that's one thing.
00:06:30.060 He's anti-Israel.
00:06:31.300 That's a different thing.
00:06:33.580 He's a Columbia graduate student.
00:06:36.940 Senator Cruz doesn't point this out explicitly.
00:06:38.580 But as far as I'm concerned, all the Columbia graduate students should be deported, even the ones who are American citizens.
00:06:43.660 He's demanding free speech rights, but he doesn't actually have some kind of right to free speech in the same way that an American citizen does.
00:06:50.320 What is this really about?
00:06:51.600 There is a charge that this guy is being deported because of Israel.
00:06:59.120 That if he hadn't come out against Israel, if he were just an ordinary anti-American protester, if he were just supporting some other cause around the world, that he wouldn't be deported.
00:07:10.480 I don't really totally buy that, in part because of what we opened the show on.
00:07:15.560 One of the most ardently pro-Israel Jewish politicians in the country is also one of the loudest voices to keep this grad student in the country.
00:07:23.740 I'm not sure if you say, well, it's only because of Israel, only because he's anti-Israel and pro-Palestine.
00:07:31.820 That's the only reason he's being deported.
00:07:33.400 Have you ever seen other demonstrators be deported?
00:07:36.120 I'm trying to ask, well, what would the other example be?
00:07:39.100 What are the big leftist demonstrations in recent years?
00:07:43.140 BLM?
00:07:44.320 There weren't a lot of foreigners involved in BLM, much as I would like to deport the people who marched with BLM.
00:07:49.640 Those are American citizens.
00:07:51.040 That's a different issue.
00:07:51.780 The Me Too movement, all those screechy feminists with the pink hats, much as I would like to deport them, they were American citizens.
00:08:00.660 The pro-Palestine anti-Israel protests uniquely attracted lots of people who aren't, some are citizens, but many were not citizens.
00:08:09.900 Many, like this guy, were here on visas or had green cards or were just studying over here.
00:08:17.080 It's a different situation.
00:08:18.320 So you could deport those people in the way you couldn't deport people from other leftist protests.
00:08:22.940 What is this about?
00:08:25.120 Obviously, it touches on Israel-Palestine.
00:08:26.980 There's no doubt about that.
00:08:28.160 But this goes deeper than that.
00:08:30.600 This is about what do we think about free speech.
00:08:32.620 And I'm really happy about that because, as you know, I wrote a book called Speechless, number one national bestseller, highly recommended you pick it up, which said that we're getting free speech wrong.
00:08:42.180 Free speech is, the debate really is not over pure free speech versus total censorship.
00:08:46.920 It's about competing standards and norms.
00:08:49.260 And we have the right to standards, and we have the right to restrict speech that is disordered or illegal or not conducive to human flourishing.
00:08:56.600 So in this case, you're seeing Republicans take up that more traditionally conservative point of view.
00:09:02.000 This is about the border.
00:09:06.160 We are now in the midst of mass deportations.
00:09:08.760 It's no surprise that this guy is potentially being deported during that big wave.
00:09:13.200 This is about immigration generally.
00:09:15.700 Most Americans want less immigration total, illegal and legal.
00:09:20.360 For decades in this country, we've been told we have two options on immigration.
00:09:23.440 More illegal immigration from the Democrats or more legal immigration from the Republicans.
00:09:27.480 But if you look at public opinion polls, Gallup, Pew Research, most Americans want drastically less immigration overall.
00:09:35.040 So, yeah, we do want to deport some people who aren't.
00:09:37.800 Even the conversation, what's the purpose of immigration?
00:09:39.900 The Libs say that foreigners have a right to be in America.
00:09:43.400 Even many of the squishy Republicans for years have said, well, they have a kind of a right to be in America.
00:09:47.120 But now what we're saying is, no, no, no, these people don't really have a right to be in America.
00:09:51.240 The purpose of immigration is to make our country better.
00:09:54.080 If diversity is our strength, a dubious proposition advanced by Dan Quayle in the 90s, but if that really were the case, then great.
00:10:01.320 Show me how it makes us stronger.
00:10:03.020 I don't think this guy is making us stronger.
00:10:04.620 So you have this weird situation where the most prominent Jews in the country, Jews tend to be Democrats, though there are many good, strong, conservative Jews.
00:10:12.380 But especially the unobservant Jews tend to be Democrats.
00:10:15.640 And so you got the most prominent Jews in the country in politics saying that they got to let this pro-Palestine guy stay.
00:10:21.460 And then you got what?
00:10:22.140 You got Ted Cruz, who's a Cuban, Italian, Irish, Southern Baptist.
00:10:26.880 You got President Trump, who's a Scottish, German, Presbyterian.
00:10:31.220 You got Tom Homan's the guy in charge of deportations.
00:10:33.700 Tom Homan's a Catholic.
00:10:35.560 And what is Homan?
00:10:36.960 Homan Dutch, maybe?
00:10:38.080 I don't know.
00:10:38.640 Anyway, they're the ones who are on the side of deporting the guy who's pro-Palestine.
00:10:44.540 It's not that it has nothing to do with the Israel-Palestine conflict.
00:10:47.180 It obviously does.
00:10:47.840 But it goes much deeper.
00:10:48.900 And it goes to the kinds of political debates that have transformed the right and have defined the battle between right and left for about a decade now, at least.
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00:12:24.400 Speaking of the culture war, the representative from Delaware in the U.S. Congress, Tim McBride, who calls himself Sarah, a fella who dresses like a lady, the first member of Congress who insists he is a member of the opposite sex, he just came out, gave a speech with other House Democrats, accusing Republicans of being obsessed with the culture war.
00:12:49.240 We will not take a lecture on decorum from a party that incited an insurrection.
00:12:54.400 I appear to live rent-free in the minds of some of my Republican colleagues.
00:13:01.360 I wish that they would spend even a fraction of the time that they spend thinking about me, thinking about how to lower the costs for American families.
00:13:11.840 I wish they would spend a fraction of the time that they spend thinking about me, figuring out how to make government actually work better, rather than making it work worse in order to prove that government can't work.
00:13:24.800 Huh?
00:13:26.000 They are obsessed with culture war issues.
00:13:28.820 The Republican Party is obsessed with culture war issues.
00:13:33.440 It is weird and it is bizarre.
00:13:35.700 And the American people deserve serious legislators, serious elected officials, who are focused on bringing people together to deliver real results for the American people.
00:13:48.360 The man who shows up to Congress in a skirt is accusing us of being weird and bizarre.
00:14:01.160 The man who has made a personal jihad out of forcing himself into women's bathrooms against the protestations of women, including his female colleagues in Congress, people like Nancy Mace.
00:14:11.800 That guy is accusing us of being weird.
00:14:13.700 A man who makes a sexual delusion at best and perversion at worst, the center of his identity is accusing Republicans of being obsessed with culture war issues.
00:14:29.540 First of all, on the culture war, a reminder, Republicans, conservatives are not now and never have been the aggressors on the culture war.
00:14:40.780 We're not the ones who are radically trying to change things.
00:14:44.560 We thought it was perfectly fine until, what, 2015, 2016, that men were limited to the men's bathroom and women were limited to the women's bathroom.
00:14:55.000 And boys were restricted to boys' sports leagues and girls were restricted to girls' sports leagues.
00:15:00.440 We thought that was fine.
00:15:01.540 We had no problem with that.
00:15:03.260 You guys are the ones who changed things.
00:15:05.020 You guys are the ones who said that Husky Hank has a constitutional right to strip down naked next to our daughters in the public pool.
00:15:12.900 That was your aggression.
00:15:15.340 And that was a rather intense aggression in the culture war.
00:15:19.040 And then we objected to that, and you said we're the aggressors.
00:15:21.640 You said we're the ones who are obsessed.
00:15:23.840 But then, furthermore, in this term culture war, what is the culture war?
00:15:29.020 You know, the culture war is a very, very bad thing when it's the other side who's winning.
00:15:37.280 Have you ever noticed that?
00:15:38.480 In fact, the phrase culture war is usually just a polemical term to try to dismiss the complaints of one's political opponents.
00:15:47.840 The Democrats didn't seem to have a problem with the culture war when they were redefining marriage, the bedrock political institution.
00:15:54.940 They didn't seem to have a problem with the culture war when they were forcing fellas into the ladies' bathroom.
00:16:00.340 They didn't seem to have a problem with the culture war when they were toppling, even beyond the sexual issues, when they were toppling statues of the founders of America.
00:16:06.480 They didn't seem to have an issue with the culture war when they were radically rewriting the curricula to oppose truth, beauty, and justice, goodness, the American way, everything in between.
00:16:15.920 No, no, no, no, they only have a problem with the culture war when, where did this come from?
00:16:20.660 It's because one of Tim McBride's colleagues in Congress referred to him as Mr., which is a respectful thing to do to your congressional colleague who's a man.
00:16:29.600 Because a Republican member of Congress, Keith Self, who came on the show a few days ago, because Congressman Self refused to be forced to lie on behalf of Tim McBride's sexual confusion.
00:16:45.860 Because of that, now this guy's throwing a big news conference, accusing us of being obsessed with the culture war.
00:16:50.960 At a basic level, though, what is the culture war?
00:16:53.240 What is culture?
00:16:54.580 Culture is the customs, the institutions, the beliefs, the behaviors of a people.
00:17:03.300 That's what the culture war, that's what the culture is.
00:17:05.560 So a culture war is just trying to change culture in some way, to advance, to defeat one's opponents in the culture.
00:17:12.060 But that's what politics is.
00:17:13.280 Yeah, it's a polemical term and it's kind of silly, culture war, but whatever it means, yeah, I should hope Republicans are engaged in it.
00:17:22.800 That's the job of Republicans, is to engage in politics.
00:17:26.420 That's why most American voters elected Donald Trump, is to engage in politics and change politics for the better.
00:17:33.320 What are the Democrats doing?
00:17:34.420 They're not concerned about the culture, they're not trying to change the culture.
00:17:37.580 Oh, wow, what are they doing there?
00:17:38.600 Are they whittling, are they sewing, are they knitting?
00:17:43.620 What do they do in D.C.?
00:17:44.940 No, they're engaged in the culture war.
00:17:46.400 It's just right now they're losing.
00:17:48.300 And they're rightly losing.
00:17:49.840 Because they show up.
00:17:52.460 Much of what the Democrats have pushed forever has been absurd.
00:17:55.680 But now it's so visibly absurd.
00:17:58.860 When it's people like Chuck Schumer who are generally polished and put together and wear their necktie and speak in a kind of dry, educated way with his Harvard degree,
00:18:06.580 then you sometimes miss out on the absurdity and the radicalism of what they're pushing.
00:18:11.140 But when it's a fellow wearing stiletto heels and a skirt in the halls of Congress, it's clear that what they're pushing is absurd.
00:18:16.900 And they have the audacity to call us weird and bizarre and obsessed with politics.
00:18:25.160 Okay.
00:18:27.000 All right, buddy, whatever.
00:18:28.860 Now, they don't want to talk about the culture.
00:18:30.980 Well, I don't know what they want to talk about.
00:18:32.120 They want to talk about technocracy or efficiency.
00:18:34.340 That's fine.
00:18:35.640 Getting down to brass tacks.
00:18:38.300 He says, Tim McBride says that the Republicans would rather stop the government than, you know, make sure the government is going on well.
00:18:48.040 Okay.
00:18:48.440 Well, what about that government shutdown we were supposed to have?
00:18:51.700 It's not the Republicans who are trying to stop the functioning of the government.
00:18:54.360 It was the Democrats.
00:18:55.660 And everyone knows it.
00:18:56.400 And President Trump made this point from the Oval Office.
00:18:58.120 If it shuts down, it's not the Republicans' fault.
00:19:02.260 You know, we passed a bill where we had an incredible Republican vote.
00:19:08.120 We only had one negative vote, a grandstander, you know, one grandstander.
00:19:12.000 There's always a grandstander in the lot.
00:19:13.600 But it was amazing.
00:19:16.480 People were amazed that the Republicans were able to vote in unison like that so strongly.
00:19:22.380 If there's a shutdown, even the Democrats admit it'll be their fault.
00:19:28.620 And I'm hearing a lot of Democrats are going to vote for it.
00:19:30.940 And I hope they do.
00:19:31.640 So, that was yesterday.
00:19:33.720 Things are moving very quickly.
00:19:35.060 The things that move very quickly generally in the Trump second term.
00:19:38.020 It truly feels, and I like basically everything that's going on, but it feels as though Trump was inaugurated five years ago.
00:19:45.800 It was January 20th.
00:19:47.140 We're not even at March 20th yet.
00:19:49.180 It's less than two months.
00:19:51.620 So much is that.
00:19:52.320 So, yesterday, he says, hey, even the Democrats are admitting if the government shuts down right now, it's their fault.
00:19:58.800 Because essentially all of the Republicans voted to fund the government, voted for this continuing resolution.
00:20:05.040 You had all but one in the House.
00:20:07.340 You had all but one in the Senate.
00:20:09.480 So, it's up to Schumer.
00:20:10.720 Because the Republicans would need 60 votes, not just 51, but 60 votes in the Senate in order to advance the bill, in order to go to cloture.
00:20:22.720 And Chuck Schumer said, well, you don't have the vote.
00:20:25.360 So, it was the Democrats who were going to shut it down.
00:20:28.580 But the Democrats are on record for many years now, invading against the horrors of a government shutdown, saying it's contrary to democracy.
00:20:37.340 People will die.
00:20:38.900 This is the end of our country.
00:20:40.400 It's terrible.
00:20:41.680 The people who shut down the government, they've given up their right to govern.
00:20:45.960 And so, now the Democrats don't want to look like huge hypocrites.
00:20:48.340 They realize they're just backed into a corner.
00:20:50.560 What happens yesterday?
00:20:52.320 Chuck Schumer caves.
00:20:54.880 Republican rejection leads us to a decision.
00:20:58.900 And it's not really a decision.
00:21:00.560 It's a Hobson's choice.
00:21:03.020 Either proceed with the bill before us, or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown.
00:21:12.240 This, in my view, is no choice at all.
00:21:19.380 While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.
00:21:29.880 For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option.
00:21:34.780 It is not a clean CR.
00:21:36.040 It is not a clean CR.
00:21:38.040 It is deeply partisan.
00:21:40.460 It doesn't address far too many of this country's needs.
00:21:44.720 But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.
00:21:55.960 Listen to this.
00:21:57.300 Oh, man.
00:21:58.300 And he knows it's so embarrassing.
00:22:00.540 He knows he's in the corner.
00:22:02.500 He says, oh, I know I said I wasn't going to vote for this.
00:22:05.180 And I know I said we were willing to shut the government down.
00:22:08.560 But I was bluffing.
00:22:09.460 Trump called my bluff.
00:22:10.520 And now I don't want him to shut the government down because that'll give him even more power.
00:22:16.100 No, I wouldn't.
00:22:19.300 Not really.
00:22:20.160 Not really at all.
00:22:21.520 If you didn't fund the government, if you shut it down, you would not be giving him more power.
00:22:27.240 You'd just look like a big jerk.
00:22:28.780 I guess in the long run, you might be giving him more power because you guys would get blown out during the midterms.
00:22:34.480 But no, this is a flimsy excuse.
00:22:37.140 You bluffed and you lost.
00:22:39.820 So do I care that much about the government continuing operations?
00:22:43.300 A little bit.
00:22:43.880 It's good that they'll be able to do this.
00:22:45.200 It is a win for Trump.
00:22:46.600 This is a loss for Schumer and the Democrats.
00:22:48.900 L after L after L for the Dems.
00:22:52.240 But, and poor Chuck Schumer, he's still licking his wounds because he's no longer Jewish by official decree of Emperor Donald.
00:22:59.200 But beyond this continuing resolution, this makes me much more bullish on Trump's other negotiations.
00:23:07.260 Because what have we been hearing for days?
00:23:08.740 Oh, Trump's, he's going to blow up the government.
00:23:10.820 Oh, Trump, he's, look at these, he's destroying the norms and everything.
00:23:15.200 Everything's going to get worse.
00:23:16.140 And then what?
00:23:16.800 No big deal.
00:23:17.440 No government shutdown.
00:23:18.620 Government shutdowns under Obama.
00:23:20.820 No government shutdown under Trump.
00:23:23.460 But what are the big negotiations he's engaging in now?
00:23:27.160 Ending the Ukraine war.
00:23:28.340 And we hear, oh, he's going to give everything to Putin, always a bad negotiator, resolving the Israel-Gaza war.
00:23:35.020 Oh, no, Trump, this is crazy.
00:23:36.940 He doesn't know what he's doing.
00:23:38.060 Oh, he's a bad negotiator.
00:23:38.960 He's going to get us a bad deal.
00:23:39.900 I don't know.
00:23:40.960 This is the first big deal that Trump had to secure in his second term.
00:23:46.720 And he got everything he wanted over the intransigent Republicans, over the House Republicans.
00:23:52.120 That's like herding cats.
00:23:53.340 Over the Senate Republicans and over the Senate Democrats and over Chuck Schumer, who's a very talented politician.
00:23:58.840 And still, Schumer went down in flames and Trump got everything he wanted.
00:24:01.700 But it makes me bullish on Trump's other deals this term.
00:24:06.560 There's so much more to say.
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00:25:25.980 My favorite comment yesterday is from Patrick Coley, who says, no shirt, no shoes, no service.
00:25:32.860 We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.
00:25:35.900 This was posted on every 7-Eleven window in the U.S. in the 70s and was strictly enforced.
00:25:40.440 Funny you mention the 70s because, in principle, it actually couldn't have been enforced.
00:25:46.420 The notion that we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, that has not been really enforceable since the Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960s, which, whatever good it did, whatever good it promised to do, it didn't really deliver on much.
00:26:02.360 But whatever good it promised to do, it took away an essential aspect of the American political order, which is freedom of association.
00:26:10.000 So, actually, businesses don't really have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.
00:26:15.680 And in America, relating to immigration, which is what you're talking about here, relating to Mahmoud Khalil and the other foreigners who are causing nuisances in our streets, in recent years, we've been told, no, we don't have the right to kick them out.
00:26:28.880 No, no, no.
00:26:29.300 They're as American as apple pie.
00:26:31.080 I mean, you know, they don't have papers.
00:26:32.460 They're not citizens.
00:26:33.480 They're foreigners.
00:26:34.160 They hit our country.
00:26:34.840 But, you know, they're, no, they're American.
00:26:36.560 We can't do anything.
00:26:37.120 And Trump's coming in and he's saying, no, we do reserve the right to refuse service.
00:26:41.760 Bye.
00:26:42.300 Get out.
00:26:43.100 The American people voted for me on that basis.
00:26:47.560 President Trump has taken one minor L in recent.
00:26:52.120 Look, it's not, he's not going to bat a thousand.
00:26:53.800 Okay, nobody can bat a thousand.
00:26:55.020 This is not, this is not abstract philosophy here.
00:26:58.420 Politics is an applied science.
00:27:00.400 And so nobody gets every single thing he wants.
00:27:03.320 So one of the rare losses so far for Trump just happened yesterday.
00:27:09.380 This is his director nominee for the CDC.
00:27:13.640 Reported here in the New York Times.
00:27:16.280 Dr. David Weldon.
00:27:18.300 He was the pick to head the CDC.
00:27:20.080 He just issued this statement following withdrawal of his nomination.
00:27:23.460 I'll give you the, I'll give you the broad scope.
00:27:25.320 It's quite, quite long.
00:27:26.320 It's worth reading this official statement of Honorable Dave Weldon, MD, withdrawing 12
00:27:32.740 hours before my scheduled confirmation hearing in the Senate.
00:27:35.520 I received a phone call from an assistant at the White House informing me that my nomination
00:27:38.860 has been withdrawn because there were not enough votes to get me confirmed.
00:27:42.100 Who refused to vote for him?
00:27:44.020 Susan Collins from Maine.
00:27:45.220 She's one of the squishies of the Republic.
00:27:47.120 She's arguably a Republican, but she's very squishy.
00:27:49.540 It's because this guy has been smeared as anti-vax.
00:27:55.820 Now he says, I reminded them that I actually give hundreds of vaccines every year in my
00:28:00.680 medical practice.
00:28:01.360 So not only is this guy ideologically not totally anti-vax, he personally administers vaccines.
00:28:10.700 For some reason, Colin's staff couldn't get over that no matter what.
00:28:14.880 So there were 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats on the committee.
00:28:18.780 Losing one was a problem, but also the White House staff, he suspects, withdrew his nomination
00:28:25.320 because Republican chairman, Dr. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was also voting no.
00:28:29.740 And he's also an internist.
00:28:30.920 He's also a medical doctor.
00:28:33.160 Apparently these two guys had known each other for years, but he was also throwing around
00:28:36.740 the claim that this guy was anti-vax or that he believed vaccines cause autism, which
00:28:41.360 Dave Weldon says, I've never said.
00:28:44.640 And then big pharma.
00:28:45.920 He says, the concern of many people is that big pharma was behind this, which is probably
00:28:49.400 true.
00:28:50.140 They are hands down the most powerful lobby organization in Washington, D.C., giving millions
00:28:54.580 of dollars to politicians on both sides of the aisle.
00:28:57.140 They also purchased millions of dollars of advertising in newspapers, magazines, and on
00:29:01.300 TV.
00:29:02.140 For any news organization to take on big pharma could be suicide.
00:29:08.260 Many media actually carry water for big pharma.
00:29:10.620 So he says, look, I love Bobby Kennedy.
00:29:12.560 Bobby Kennedy was furious that my nomination was withdrawn, but there it goes.
00:29:16.840 It's worth reading the whole thing.
00:29:21.640 The vaccines are going to be a major political issue right now.
00:29:24.800 And as politics, as applied science, we're going to get an experiment to see who's right
00:29:29.640 on the vaccines because you've got the media powered in no small part by big pharma.
00:29:37.360 You've got politicians going into overdrive, fear-mongering people on the next big epidemic,
00:29:41.880 which is going to be measles.
00:29:43.500 Measles had been pretty much wiped out in America following the introduction of the measles
00:29:47.980 vaccine about half a century ago.
00:29:49.620 So now people have more concerns about vaccines, especially bombing children with many, many
00:29:55.780 vaccines, many, many more than even existed when I was a kid, when they're really, really
00:29:59.520 little.
00:30:00.020 And there are some concerns about what that does to kids.
00:30:03.060 So vaccination rates are declining and measles rates presumably will increase.
00:30:08.820 Now, what's funny is you're seeing all these headlines about how the measles are taking
00:30:11.740 over the country this year and all this fear-mongering.
00:30:14.800 There were also measles outbreaks last year, but last year Joe Biden was president.
00:30:18.800 So you just didn't hear anything about it.
00:30:20.260 This year, Trump is president and it's a hot topic because Bobby Kennedy is at HHS and supposed
00:30:26.560 anti-vaxxers are being nominated for the CDC.
00:30:29.100 So now we're going to see in real time.
00:30:32.000 Even conservatives are very nervous about the measles.
00:30:35.440 Even people who had been anti-vaccine for their own children, they're now saying, should
00:30:40.440 I get the measles vaccine?
00:30:42.540 So what is it?
00:30:43.380 But let's not forget, 50 years ago, people just got the measles.
00:30:50.760 In fact, this is a clip that's been going around from the Brady Bunch, one of the most
00:30:53.780 popular sitcoms of all time.
00:30:55.740 This is how Americans understood measles outbreaks half a century ago.
00:31:00.340 Peter, what are you doing home from school?
00:31:07.720 They sent me home.
00:31:09.960 Measles.
00:31:10.720 That's either measles or a strange case of red freckles.
00:31:13.480 You have got a temperature.
00:31:14.980 They told me 101.1.
00:31:17.540 What's the record?
00:31:18.740 Never mind.
00:31:19.520 Oh, are you sure it's the measles?
00:31:21.160 Well, he's certainly got all the symptoms.
00:31:23.140 A slight temperature, a lot of dots and a great big smile.
00:31:26.200 A great big smile.
00:31:26.800 You want Miller, hello?
00:31:27.480 No school for a few days.
00:31:28.740 Say hello to my dotted son for me.
00:31:30.400 Tell him I'll bring him some comic books and I'll see you later, dear.
00:31:32.680 Okay, honey.
00:31:33.340 Bye.
00:31:36.420 Boy, this is the life, isn't it?
00:31:38.320 Yeah.
00:31:38.960 If you have to get sick, you sure can't beat the measles.
00:31:41.840 That's right.
00:31:42.680 No medicine.
00:31:43.640 Inside or out.
00:31:44.500 Like shots, I mean.
00:31:45.460 Don't even mention shots.
00:31:47.420 Yuck!
00:31:49.880 Measles.
00:31:51.140 Measles.
00:31:52.580 Measles.
00:31:53.440 Well, all the kids have now had the measles.
00:31:55.420 So have I.
00:31:56.420 Well, I had them years ago.
00:31:57.620 Looks like the Bradys are finished with the measles.
00:32:00.420 Hold it.
00:32:05.480 Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:32:06.940 And there's the laugh drag.
00:32:08.100 Uh oh.
00:32:08.900 Alice has now.
00:32:10.400 You know, Alice is a bit older than the kids.
00:32:12.120 And you say, oh no, she's going to be on death's door.
00:32:13.960 We're all going to die.
00:32:15.660 You should just like get the measles.
00:32:17.260 I never had the measles.
00:32:18.300 I had the measles vaccine.
00:32:19.620 I had chicken pox.
00:32:20.440 Now kids don't even get chicken pox because they get the chicken pox vaccine.
00:32:23.480 So I don't know.
00:32:24.600 I'm not a doctor.
00:32:25.860 I'm not like this former CDC nominee Dave Weldon.
00:32:29.600 I'm not a doctor like Bill Cassidy.
00:32:31.560 I'm not a doctor like, I don't know, any of these people.
00:32:34.220 But it is not unreasonable for people who have just lived through a traumatic national experience
00:32:42.940 that is COVID, during which our public officials lied to us specifically about vaccines.
00:32:50.820 We now know they lied.
00:32:52.420 It's not even just that they got it wrong.
00:32:54.160 They lied.
00:32:55.300 They now say the purpose of the vaccine was never to prevent infection.
00:33:00.740 Previously, they told us the purpose of the vaccine is to prevent infection.
00:33:05.320 They lied.
00:33:06.680 Then they said, well, it'll prevent transmission.
00:33:08.880 But actually, it didn't prevent transmission.
00:33:10.240 Then they said, well, you know, I don't know.
00:33:11.620 It'll do something.
00:33:12.940 It is not unreasonable for a people who have been lied to specifically about vaccines to
00:33:19.620 have some questions about vaccines, especially when vaccine measles, rather, was a punchline
00:33:26.900 in sitcoms 50 years ago.
00:33:29.740 And all those same people are fear-mongering to us now, telling us that we're all going
00:33:33.460 to die from it.
00:33:35.360 But it's a big fight.
00:33:36.480 It'll be borne out in practice.
00:33:37.880 We'll see who's right.
00:33:38.520 Who's right?
00:33:38.860 Bobby Kennedy?
00:33:40.240 Guys like Dave Weldon?
00:33:41.780 Or Big Pharma?
00:33:42.940 We'll see.
00:33:44.120 We'll see.
00:33:45.380 Story I want to get to before the mailbag.
00:33:47.260 Crazy story.
00:33:48.940 The Scottsdale police have arrested 202 people in a 12-day multi-agency human trafficking sting.
00:33:56.800 This is between January 22nd and February 15th.
00:33:59.720 This was an operation to arrest sex buyers, child predators, individuals involved in sex
00:34:05.880 trade trafficking.
00:34:06.720 The operations were decoy-based, so no children were directly involved in it, but children
00:34:11.820 were ostensibly involved in it.
00:34:14.280 Charges rained from child sex trafficking, prostitution, pandering, luring a minor for sexual exploitation,
00:34:19.800 attempted sexual conduct with a minor, possession of narcotic drugs, and felony flight.
00:34:23.500 202 arrests, 53 felonies, and 149 misdemeanors.
00:34:28.480 What?
00:34:31.240 That's a shocking news story.
00:34:33.680 Next layer.
00:34:35.200 It's another shocking news story that the news is not talking about this mass arrest on child sex trafficking.
00:34:43.380 Next, tertiary level to this news story.
00:34:49.860 It happened in Scottsdale, Arizona.
00:34:52.540 Scottsdale, Arizona is a very rich part of the country.
00:34:57.080 It's not that this happened in the ghettos somewhere.
00:34:59.380 It's not that this happened in the shadows somewhere.
00:35:01.360 Scottsdale, Arizona.
00:35:02.200 The median household income in Scottsdale, Arizona is $107,000 per year.
00:35:06.540 That's much higher than the national median household income.
00:35:12.140 National median household income is $75,000 a year.
00:35:15.620 So you're talking about over a third higher.
00:35:20.060 Scottsdale, Arizona, when you consider towns and cities that have over 50,000 people in them,
00:35:25.100 it's in the 87th percentile of wealth.
00:35:27.840 When you look at education, 59% of Scottsdale, Arizona residents have a college degree compared to 31% nationally.
00:35:36.540 This is not a problem that afflicts what our elites would call the unwashed masses.
00:35:43.720 This weird sex stuff, specifically child sex stuff, it seems to be a problem that afflicts the elites.
00:35:50.280 A pathology, I should say, that afflicts the elites.
00:35:53.880 That's really weird.
00:35:56.000 Not totally unexpected for anyone with some familiarity with history, but it's really weird.
00:36:02.560 And it's really, really weird that no one's talking about it.
00:36:06.540 What's that about?
00:36:12.120 I'd like to hear.
00:36:12.860 I don't have more facts on the ground here because this story came out and there's just so little coverage of it.
00:36:18.440 Why?
00:36:18.880 Why isn't the news covering this?
00:36:20.000 Very strange.
00:36:21.320 Now, do you want to watch more of the Michael Knowles show?
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00:36:52.720 Finally, finally, we've arrived at my favorite time of the week, when I get to hear from you in the mailbag.
00:37:00.200 Our mailbag is sponsored by Pure Talk.
00:37:01.800 Go to puretalk.com slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S.
00:37:05.900 Get a year of Daily Wire Plus for free with a qualifying plan.
00:37:10.500 Take it away.
00:37:10.960 Hi, Michael.
00:37:12.720 Katie from Chicago here.
00:37:14.060 Love your show.
00:37:15.100 I know you feel very strongly that there are no pets in heaven.
00:37:18.720 However, I had a conversation with a Lutheran minister who I admire who explained to me that he believes heaven is the place where your joy is made complete.
00:37:27.300 So, if when you go to heaven someday, you need your pet there in order for your joy to be made complete, then they will be there.
00:37:34.740 And truthfully, I've gone my whole young adult and adult life believing this as well.
00:37:39.460 What are your thoughts on this take?
00:37:40.820 I'm curious.
00:37:41.840 Best of luck and take care.
00:37:43.400 Let me know.
00:37:44.240 Good question.
00:37:45.680 Do we eat cookies in heaven?
00:37:48.380 Do we eat physical cookies, specifically chocolate chip Toll House cookies?
00:37:54.920 Do we eat those cookies in heaven?
00:37:56.320 Are they there?
00:37:57.900 No, because heaven is incorporeal.
00:38:02.180 But what if you need cookies to have the fullness of your joy?
00:38:05.980 I really like cookies.
00:38:07.340 Do I get to smoke cigars in heaven?
00:38:08.920 That's a better example probably for me.
00:38:11.480 Cigars are a big part of my joy on earth.
00:38:13.820 Do I get to smoke cigars in heaven?
00:38:15.000 I don't.
00:38:16.360 There will be the incense, you know, in the choirs of heaven that we see in the images of heaven and revelation.
00:38:23.260 But no, you don't smoke physical cigars in heaven.
00:38:27.060 But I need them for my joy, don't I?
00:38:28.860 No, no, no.
00:38:29.780 The completion and perfection of your joy is in God.
00:38:33.760 Let me put this in an even more practical way.
00:38:36.620 There is a place called hell.
00:38:40.520 Hell is real.
00:38:41.680 People go there.
00:38:43.000 People you know go there.
00:38:44.540 Maybe people you love go there.
00:38:47.040 Maybe it's even quite likely that people you love are in hell.
00:38:50.180 But what if you need them to be in heaven for the completion of your joy?
00:38:54.860 C.S.
00:38:55.120 Lewis takes up this question in The Great Divorce.
00:38:56.900 And he says it's impossible for us to imagine it.
00:38:59.560 Just as it's impossible for a child to imagine there's anything more wonderful than cookies and chocolates and candies.
00:39:06.560 It's impossible for us to imagine.
00:39:08.140 But perhaps the blessed in heaven actually takes satisfaction in the justice that leads to the torment of the damned in hell.
00:39:18.040 We can't really imagine that.
00:39:20.260 But maybe that's the case.
00:39:22.720 Because maybe we can't comprehend God.
00:39:26.420 Because if we could, he wouldn't be God.
00:39:28.000 We can't fully comprehend God.
00:39:29.960 No, pets don't go to heaven because animals don't have rational souls.
00:39:34.540 They have souls that are proper to their being.
00:39:36.420 But they don't have rational souls.
00:39:38.840 So they don't go to heaven.
00:39:41.380 There could be animals, not in heaven, but in the new heaven and the new earth after the second coming, after the final judgment.
00:39:49.240 Maybe there could be animals in principle.
00:39:51.320 I don't know.
00:39:51.680 It could be the case.
00:39:53.040 But pets themselves, no, they can't go to heaven.
00:39:57.920 Because their souls don't have an existence outside of the material of their bodies.
00:40:04.840 We do because we're made in the image and likeness of God and we have reason.
00:40:08.140 But they don't.
00:40:09.860 So, sorry.
00:40:11.820 No, I heard someone describe this as, it's not the fideist heresy, it's the fidoist heresy.
00:40:16.600 That is, pertaining to Fido.
00:40:18.380 Next question.
00:40:18.880 Hey, Michael.
00:40:20.540 I'm a big fan of the show and your book, Speechless.
00:40:23.020 You often speak of how the left has taken over the arts, specifically film and music.
00:40:27.480 And as a Christian conservative and a musician myself, I hate seeing the music movies and TV shows made today declining both in quality and in morality.
00:40:36.540 And so my question is, what are some real things we can do to take back the arts?
00:40:42.640 I have a great example.
00:40:43.840 And providentially, I actually have a prop with me right now.
00:40:47.760 I had to bring this in today for a bit that we're filming after the show, for those of you who are listening.
00:40:53.720 This is my ukulele.
00:40:55.400 I've played ukulele since 2004, maybe.
00:41:01.860 I don't know.
00:41:02.160 I've played ukulele for the now vast majority of my life.
00:41:08.100 I'm not even that good at ukulele, but I love ukulele.
00:41:11.940 I could go months without playing, but sometimes I play it every single day.
00:41:15.800 I just love it because I find it very relaxing.
00:41:18.440 I find it charming.
00:41:19.260 What I get out of music is not that I'm going to be a rock star.
00:41:22.520 There aren't that many ukulele playing rock stars.
00:41:24.560 I get a great deal of joy out of music.
00:41:26.620 It works my mind.
00:41:28.780 It relaxes me.
00:41:30.160 I can hear beautiful things and then try to recreate them in a paltry way, or I can even imagine things, write little songs myself.
00:41:39.840 All of that is to say, if we want to bring reason back to the arts, if we want to bring seriousness back to arts and culture, we need to engage with it ourselves.
00:41:51.580 And not just in an instrumental way, pun unintended, not just in an instrumental way to make money or something or to build a big company.
00:41:59.300 We actually have to love it.
00:42:01.800 We have to help to shape our loves in a good way and then be guided by our love toward good art.
00:42:09.580 You're not going to force a bunch of Chamber of Commerce type Republicans to suddenly care about symphonies and ballet.
00:42:18.280 And if all they really care about is spreadsheets, you can't force them to do it.
00:42:21.760 You have to cultivate that kind of love.
00:42:23.280 And the way to do that is in your living room.
00:42:25.160 It's to play ukulele around your kids.
00:42:26.820 You know, it's to learn the piano.
00:42:29.080 You don't have to be good.
00:42:30.140 You can just do it.
00:42:31.820 It's like Winston Churchill with his paintings.
00:42:35.780 Winston Churchill wrote a great essay, Painting His Pastime.
00:42:38.600 He said, if you're reading this essay because you want to start painting, you will never be good.
00:42:42.480 Get that out of your head.
00:42:43.780 That's not the point to be good necessarily.
00:42:46.760 It's to get better at it, to grow in love for it.
00:42:48.680 And then you can really appreciate music and arts.
00:42:50.500 That's what you got to do.
00:42:51.260 But that starts in the living room.
00:42:54.140 Some things can be a little bit more top down in our country.
00:42:57.020 That one, you need to be cultivating that for a long time in your private life.
00:43:02.160 Next question.
00:43:03.660 Hey, Michael.
00:43:04.220 Just wanted to get your thoughts on a phenomenon that I've observed, which is there are a lot of Christmas Easter types of Catholics who go get ashes on Ash Wednesday.
00:43:12.880 I'm at a university, and I got ashes at our Newman Center, and it was just filled with all kinds of people that I'm sure don't regularly attend Mass.
00:43:21.260 And I even went to a parish nearby for Mass, and it was like Christmas-level packed in there.
00:43:27.060 Even my roommate, who hasn't been to Mass in years, went to get ashes.
00:43:30.660 So what do you think the reason for that is?
00:43:32.900 It seems like it may be almost kind of a fad of sorts.
00:43:36.040 Like, people kind of like to show that they're Catholic, but not really in a religious sense, more of just a cultural sense.
00:43:44.140 And if it is that, is that even a good thing?
00:43:46.700 You know, for all these people to just be treating it as kind of a cultural celebration rather than contemplating its real significance and, you know, their own state of lukewarmness in the faith.
00:43:56.500 I'm curious to get your take on it.
00:43:57.940 Thanks.
00:43:58.180 Yeah, it's weird that actually Ash Wednesday is probably more popular in churches than Christmas or Easter.
00:44:06.620 The churches are more packed for some reason.
00:44:09.820 And so on the really shallow side of things, it might just be that people are tribal.
00:44:18.340 Another way of putting that is people are social.
00:44:20.840 People do not merely have individual identities, but collective identities.
00:44:25.080 We on the right have tried to deny that in recent decades, but it's true.
00:44:28.680 It's part of human nature.
00:44:29.920 We're not islands unto ourselves.
00:44:31.640 We are social creatures.
00:44:33.020 And so they do.
00:44:34.080 They want to visibly express their Catholic identity, even if they don't really live that out, which is better than nothing.
00:44:40.860 You know, I'd rather them go to confession and receive the sacraments.
00:44:45.180 But I'd rather them at least feel some identity, some calling toward the church than none at all.
00:44:53.800 That's good.
00:44:54.320 But at another level, the most charitable view of it, I think, is it's somewhat hard for people to grasp the resurrection, which is what Easter is about.
00:45:03.620 That's really hard for people to grasp.
00:45:05.260 It's hard for people to grasp the incarnation.
00:45:07.680 How does God become man?
00:45:09.680 That's hard.
00:45:10.600 That's a hard thing to understand intellectually.
00:45:14.900 Christmas is about the incarnation.
00:45:16.640 Easter is about the resurrection.
00:45:18.020 Ash Wednesday is about something much simpler.
00:45:20.340 You die.
00:45:22.020 We all know.
00:45:22.700 We all will die.
00:45:23.420 That's what the priest rubs the ashes in the cross on your forehead and says, remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.
00:45:29.260 We know that.
00:45:30.520 We will die.
00:45:31.260 Even our deluded age, we still, most of us still know we're going to die.
00:45:34.860 So it's a more natural part of religion, as opposed to more supernatural.
00:45:42.080 We know we're going to die.
00:45:43.700 People can grasp that.
00:45:45.420 And that's a good starting place.
00:45:46.560 Because when you recognize that you're going to die, then you begin to think about the solution to this problem.
00:45:52.280 And that is a very serious problem.
00:45:53.740 Okay, it's Fake Headline Friday.
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00:46:02.680 Thank you.
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