The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1744 - Abracadabra, You're Black!

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00:00:30.000 President Trump's big, beautiful bill is being attacked simultaneously

00:00:34.960 for cutting too much government spending and too little government spending.

00:00:39.980 King Charles gives an Indian land acknowledgement in Canada

00:00:44.320 with monarchs like this who needs Democrats.

00:00:47.040 And the U.S. State Department is discovered to have the greatest

00:00:50.740 substack in the history of blogging.

00:00:53.660 I'm Michael Knowles, this is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:01:00.000 Welcome back to the show.

00:01:15.640 Harry Potter is going diverse.

00:01:17.960 There's a new Harry Potter TV show that has cast at least one black actor,

00:01:22.560 maybe multiple black actors in roles that are traditionally held by white people.

00:01:27.060 But of course, this is ridiculous because if Harry Potter wanted to truly reflect

00:01:31.400 the ethnic background of England, all the actors would be Pakistani.

00:01:36.340 I have much more to say.

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00:02:57.880 The big, beautiful bill.

00:02:59.100 It's kind of funny that this is the signature legislative achievement

00:03:03.240 or soon-to-be achievement of the Trump administration.

00:03:05.480 And we've barely talked about it on the show.

00:03:08.140 But that's because we're busy talking about all sorts of other stuff.

00:03:10.320 Culture and philosophy and religion and all the principles that are undergirding this administration.

00:03:14.880 So that the actual bill itself, I sort of feel like we don't need to cover that much.

00:03:18.440 However, it's made its way through the House by one vote.

00:03:22.200 Now it's got to get through the Senate.

00:03:23.560 Then they have to reconcile the two bills.

00:03:27.140 Then they need to sell it to the public.

00:03:30.060 But I think the public is going to be on board.

00:03:32.000 And here's my evidence.

00:03:34.280 People on opposite sides of the bill are criticizing it.

00:03:38.740 Obviously, the libs, they'll whine about anything that Trump touches. 1.00

00:03:41.520 But Elon Musk, the first buddy in the White House,

00:03:45.180 Elon Musk, who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the Trump campaign and campaigned with him.

00:03:48.260 Elon Musk, who led the Doge efforts to trim the fat out of government.

00:03:53.940 He doesn't like the bill.

00:03:56.900 So, you know, I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly,

00:04:04.400 which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it.

00:04:08.980 And I remind the work that the Doge team is doing.

00:04:11.740 I actually thought that when this big, beautiful bill came along.

00:04:14.180 I mean, like everything he's done on Doge gets wiped out in the first year.

00:04:19.380 I think I think a bill can be can be can be big or it can be beautiful.

00:04:23.640 But I don't know if it could be both.

00:04:25.920 My personal opinion.

00:04:27.760 That's a good line.

00:04:28.780 And it makes clear where Elon's criticism is coming from, namely that he's pretty libertarian.

00:04:34.660 So he says, well, the bill can be big or beautiful, but it can't be both.

00:04:38.380 Now, conservative, traditional conservative, doesn't necessarily mind a big bill, doesn't necessarily mind government doing all sorts of stuff,

00:04:48.260 as long as the government is operating within its proper limits and toward justice and the common good.

00:04:53.800 A libertarian says, no, no, the best kind of government is the smallest kind of government.

00:04:57.300 I want the government to be able to fit inside my pocket.

00:05:00.120 And that's Elon's criticism.

00:05:01.380 He's saying, oh, I've done all this great work on Doge, cutting out a bunch of fat, stupid spending from the government.

00:05:06.000 But now Trump is going to go spend a bunch, bunch more money, in part because he's got to wrangle congressmen and senators to extend his tax cuts,

00:05:13.480 which I'm sure Elon does like, and to extend the spending priorities of the Trump administration, not only from the first term, but also the new ones for the second term.

00:05:23.440 Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, you got big libs like Chris Murphy, the Democrat senator from Connecticut, criticizing the bill,

00:05:30.480 not because it cuts not enough spending, not because it's spending too much, but because it is cutting the spending that he wants.

00:05:38.900 Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, serves on the Appropriations Committee, and he joins me now.

00:05:43.760 Sarah, I do feel that there's a basic understanding in the public that the Republicans are cutting taxes for rich people.

00:05:49.100 They're going to kick people off health care. 1.00

00:05:50.800 And the approach in the House is basically saying, no, we're not.

00:05:55.220 What do you think?

00:05:56.160 How does this fight take shape in the Senate?

00:06:01.140 Well, I mean, what they're doing is wildly unpopular.

00:06:04.360 I mean, it's the most massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the rich in the history of the country.

00:06:09.300 And I don't think anybody's fooled because they're also watching Donald Trump use sort of every vehicle and instrument available to him to enrich himself

00:06:17.860 and his friends, often through, you know, just old fashioned graft and corruption.

00:06:22.860 So it's a pretty consistent story throughout this White House that whatever leverage they can press to try to make themselves richer, they're going to do that.

00:06:29.700 And in this case, they are throwing probably around 15 million people off of Medicaid.

00:06:35.540 I mean, that's the sort of population equivalent of about 12 states.

00:06:40.220 And they're going to use those savings in order to pass along in a tax break to a bunch of really, really rich people who don't want them.

00:06:47.560 Okay, so just 30,000 foot view, when you have people who are ostensibly on the right, at least the libertarian right,

00:06:54.020 and people on the left criticizing a bill for opposite reasons, the bill's probably fine.

00:07:01.240 It's probably pretty good.

00:07:02.340 It'll probably be relatively popular.

00:07:04.060 This is Chesterton's argument about the Catholic Church.

00:07:06.280 He said that the church was so interesting to him because it's criticized for opposite reasons,

00:07:11.240 for being too luxurious and for being too ascetic, for being too feminine and for being too misogynistic.

00:07:17.020 And he said anything that is attacked for opposite reasons so persistently, it's not that it's necessarily good, but it's definitely a great thing.

00:07:26.580 It's definitely noteworthy.

00:07:28.720 It's definitely something special.

00:07:30.420 Okay, so I think the big takeaway here also is that Trump is just, he's not a libertarian.

00:07:36.140 The libertarians would say the purpose of Doge is to cut government spending.

00:07:41.880 A conservative would say the purpose of Doge is to cut all the bad, corrupt, stupid spending so that we can redirect government resources toward good things,

00:07:51.940 because power is going to be conserved, power is going to be used, and it's either going to be used by us or it's going to be used by our opponents.

00:07:58.940 Now, Chris Murphy there, he says, well, I think we all understand that the Trump big, beautiful bill is going to kick people off health care.

00:08:07.460 First of all, I don't think we all understand that.

00:08:09.280 What are you talking about?

00:08:10.000 Oh, he's speaking specifically about Medicaid.

00:08:11.700 Okay, well, who are those people who are supposedly being kicked off Medicaid?

00:08:15.000 Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, just reveals 1.4 million illegal aliens are on Medicaid.

00:08:21.280 Medicaid is for American citizens only, and only for a specific subset of American citizens.

00:08:29.060 Right there, Chris Murphy whining that 1.4 million illegal aliens could be kicked off of Medicaid is Chris Williams whining.

00:08:36.600 Not Chris Williams, is Chris Murphy, rather, whining that the law is going to be enforced, that the basic aspects of the law are going to be enforced.

00:08:47.800 Then who are the other ones?

00:08:48.980 Millions and millions of people could lose Medicaid.

00:08:50.580 Well, who are they?

00:08:51.920 It's people who are abusing the system.

00:08:53.880 It's people who do not meet the criteria that should qualify them for Medicaid.

00:08:58.920 Trump is not a libertarian slash the entitlements kind of guy.

00:09:03.540 He has been very consistent throughout his decade now at the top of American politics.

00:09:09.200 He does not want to do as Paul Ryan wanted to do, as many of the reform conservatives and the libertarians and all these, the Tea Party wanted to do, and cut entitlements.

00:09:18.120 He has said, I ain't touching Social Security, I ain't touching Medicare.

00:09:21.660 Even on Medicaid, I guess he's got to tweak it a little bit, only so that the law is enforced.

00:09:25.740 That line of attack from Democrats, not going to work.

00:09:29.280 What spending is being cut?

00:09:30.680 Well, here's a good example.

00:09:31.980 Planned Parenthood is closing eight abortion mills.

00:09:34.980 Eight.

00:09:35.380 Across just two states, Iowa and Minnesota.

00:09:39.880 Why?

00:09:40.620 Because of the Big Beautiful Bill.

00:09:43.440 Planned Parenthood is now citing in public a threat to its funding as the reason for the closings.

00:09:48.380 Now, it's not just the Big Beautiful Bill.

00:09:51.260 It's also because back in April, the Trump administration froze Title X funding to Planned Parenthood, stripping Planned Parenthood potentially of 20 million bucks.

00:10:01.200 According to NBC News, that was almost three million bucks from Minnesota locations, and you'd say, well, okay, no big deal, right?

00:10:08.280 Because Planned Parenthood says they don't take federal money to pay for abortions, except that we all know that money is fungible.

00:10:16.220 So you say, okay, well, you're giving us three million dollars to pay our light bills and our heating bills, and okay, and then, well, we're going to take the money that we would have used to pay for the light and heating bills, we're going to use it to kill babies.

00:10:27.360 So, okay, put your money where your mouth is.

00:10:28.940 If the money's really not going to go toward abortions, then you're going to keep carrying out the same number of abortions, right?

00:10:33.580 No, you're going to shutter eight abortion mills, because President Trump, who was elected with the popular vote, just representing the will of the people, said, we're not going to give you taxpayer dollars to murder babies anymore.

00:10:47.860 And all those abortion mills are closing, which reminds us that culture is very often downstream of politics.

00:10:57.060 It reminds us that we need to engage in politics.

00:11:01.860 And I think there's a big takeaway here, because there are all sorts of hardcore culture warriors, guys who will talk real tough on abortion and transgenderism, who knows, maybe even so-called gay marriage.

00:11:12.840 They'll talk tough on the cultural issues.

00:11:14.360 But they won't support the politicians who are going to get the job done.

00:11:19.260 There were all sorts of really tough pro-life politicians who said they were never Trump.

00:11:26.020 Really tough anti-trans advocates who said, no, no, I can't vote for Trump.

00:11:30.840 All sorts of, and yet Trump's the guy who gets it done.

00:11:35.440 To me, the culture warriors who will not engage in the messy reality of government, I think this kind of thing shows you they're basically useless.

00:11:46.420 They can talk a good game, but they're not, if you are not, if you are a culture warrior and you are not actively working the levers of politics, not just at the presidential level, but dealing with senators and congressmen and working in the actual game of politics to get stuff done, which requires you to get your hands a little messy.

00:12:11.280 And it requires you to not always look pristine and perfect, and it requires you to compromise, and it requires you to deal in reality.

00:12:19.960 If you're not doing that, you're useless.

00:12:25.660 Electing Trump just shut down eight abortion mills in Minnesota and Iowa, with probably more to come.

00:12:34.340 That's good for me.

00:12:35.280 And it got Roe v. Wade overruled, by the way.

00:12:39.100 And it's getting a lot of other stuff done.

00:12:41.280 Talk a good game, that's fine.

00:12:44.680 Then get your hands a little bit dirty.

00:12:47.240 My, my, my.

00:12:49.680 There is one beautiful aspect of this administration that it's subtle, so people aren't talking about it all that much, but it's maybe the most inspiring thing I've seen, at least in the last week, come out of the admin.

00:13:03.440 And it comes from the State Department of all places.

00:13:05.640 It's supposed to be one of the most liberal parts of the government.

00:13:08.260 Hold up one second.

00:13:10.580 Oh, we'll get right back to the important stuff I'm saying first, though.

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00:14:44.440 We want to talk about culture warriors in government.

00:14:46.120 The State Department has a substack.

00:14:49.340 Substack, you know, the blogging platform.

00:14:51.060 The State Department has one.

00:14:52.520 And you say, well, that sounds really boring.

00:14:53.820 Well, I don't read any substacks.

00:14:54.940 Why don't I read State Departments?

00:14:56.140 It's the best one.

00:14:57.680 The State Department has the best substack.

00:15:00.720 They just posted a missional statement.

00:15:05.060 How the United States is to interact with the rest of the world, specifically Europe.

00:15:10.220 I'm going to read you just a little bit of this.

00:15:11.800 You should go read the whole thing.

00:15:12.980 This is beautiful.

00:15:13.660 It gives me a lot of hope, even more hope in the Trump administration.

00:15:16.620 But they just get it.

00:15:18.180 It's from Samuel Sampson, senior advisor for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the State Department.

00:15:25.900 Listen to this.

00:15:27.500 Oh, boy.

00:15:28.240 Just savor this.

00:15:29.180 The close relationship between the United States and Europe transcends geographic proximity and transactional politics.

00:15:37.880 It represents a unique bond forged in common culture, faith, familial ties, mutual assistance in times of strife, and above all, a shared Western civilizational heritage.

00:15:51.600 Yes, yes, yes, straight into my veins.

00:15:55.320 That's right.

00:15:55.700 Our relationship with Europe is not just, you know, a neutral relationship as we have with every other nation of the world.

00:16:03.540 We are closer to Europe than we are to Timbuktu.

00:16:05.980 That's true.

00:16:07.620 Geographically, that's true.

00:16:09.980 In the way that we've helped each other in the past, that's true.

00:16:12.080 But it's beyond transactional politics.

00:16:14.140 We have a common culture.

00:16:15.540 In some cases, a common language.

00:16:17.200 We have a common faith.

00:16:18.440 We are Christendom.

00:16:19.740 We have common familial ties.

00:16:21.760 And it's not wrong to say so.

00:16:23.100 It's actually good to acknowledge that we have bonds of kinship.

00:16:27.920 These people are our cousins.

00:16:31.140 And a shared Western civilizational heritage.

00:16:34.420 Love it.

00:16:35.600 The State Department goes on.

00:16:37.020 Our transatlantic partnership is underpinned by a rich Western tradition of natural law.

00:16:40.820 Let's go.

00:16:41.800 Natural law, virtue ethics, uh-huh, and national sovereignty.

00:16:46.620 Oh, I don't know if I can continue reading this.

00:16:49.540 I am getting a little too excited, I think.

00:16:53.100 Yes, our partnership is not just underpinned because Churchill and FDR got along.

00:16:59.300 It doesn't just exist because, you know, we trade with each other or something.

00:17:03.780 Or because of the UN or the IMF.

00:17:06.540 No.

00:17:07.600 It's a Western tradition.

00:17:08.480 And it's not just the tradition of John Locke and Rousseau and the Enlightenment and John Rawls and modern liberalism.

00:17:15.660 No.

00:17:16.880 Natural law.

00:17:18.160 Then on the ethics front, it's not just a utilitarian ethics.

00:17:21.340 And even deontological ethics and all this modern nonsense.

00:17:26.760 Virtue ethics.

00:17:28.420 That's right.

00:17:29.760 Aristotle to Alistair MacIntyre.

00:17:31.620 The late great philosopher Alistair MacIntyre who just recently died.

00:17:34.180 May he rest in peace.

00:17:35.200 That's right, baby.

00:17:36.740 And, third part, national sovereignty.

00:17:39.940 The N-word.

00:17:40.720 Not that one.

00:17:42.720 And not nuclear.

00:17:44.440 Nation.

00:17:45.080 The N-word.

00:17:46.300 This tradition flows from Athens and Rome through medieval Christianity.

00:17:51.180 Yes, that's right.

00:17:52.000 The Libs love to deride the Middle Ages. 0.94

00:17:54.040 They don't know a damn thing about the Middle Ages.

00:17:55.840 But they love to deride it.

00:17:56.880 They don't know any, not one lick about it.

00:17:58.980 They love the Renaissance, the rebirth, a polemical term in itself.

00:18:02.980 And yet, the glories, the real height of our civilization actually came during the high Middle Ages.

00:18:08.680 Athens and Rome to medieval Christianity to English common law and ultimately into America's founding documents.

00:18:14.640 Yes, the American Revolution was not a break.

00:18:17.220 It need not be a break with our Western tradition.

00:18:20.400 It can, in fact, be a part of that tradition if we understand it through what Pope Benedict XVI would call a hermeneutic of continuity.

00:18:28.680 Not a rupture, but continuity.

00:18:30.880 The Declaration, this goes on.

00:18:32.060 The Declaration's revolutionary assertion that men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights echoes the thought of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and other, I love this phrase, European heavyweights,

00:18:43.480 who recognize that all men possess natural rights that no government can arbitrate or deny.

00:18:48.140 Yes.

00:18:48.520 Some would argue, perhaps even some in the founding era would try to argue, that the Declaration of Independence should be understood as a break with the Middle Ages, with scholasticism, with classical antiquity.

00:19:00.240 No, as I've argued many times on this show, our plan of government, certainly our constitution, is in many ways an iteration of what St. Thomas Aquinas calls for as the highest form of government in the Summa.

00:19:16.200 And one hopes that the American civic tradition echoes a lot of what St. Thomas writes in De Regno on kingship.

00:19:23.060 Anyway, it goes on.

00:19:25.600 America remains indebted to Europe for this intellectual and cultural legacy.

00:19:28.440 Then there's a lot more.

00:19:29.240 I'll just give you the last few lines here.

00:19:31.720 This connection between Europe and the United States is also the reason we speak honestly when we disagree and have concerns.

00:19:38.180 When Vice President Vance addressed this year's Munich Security Conference, he made the reason clear, saying,

00:19:42.840 what I worry about is a threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.

00:19:49.840 Yes.

00:19:50.600 That's why J.D. Vance's speech was so good in Munich.

00:19:53.460 Finally,

00:19:53.840 the United States remains committed to a strong partnership with Europe and working together on shared foreign policy goals.

00:20:00.620 However,

00:20:00.920 this partnership must be founded upon our shared heritage rather than globalist conformity.

00:20:06.020 Yes.

00:20:06.580 Our relationship is too important,

00:20:08.560 our history too valuable,

00:20:10.280 and the international stakes too high to allow this partnership to be undermined.

00:20:13.740 Therefore,

00:20:13.900 on both sides of the Atlantic,

00:20:15.120 we must preserve the goods of our common culture.

00:20:18.360 Not some abstract BS from the Enlightenment.

00:20:21.420 Not some ideology that can connect everyone.

00:20:23.840 No.

00:20:24.640 The goods of our common culture.

00:20:28.000 The goods.

00:20:28.500 Even to talk about goods is so unusual,

00:20:31.880 given the shallow politics of our last half century.

00:20:36.300 Ensuring that Western civilization remains a source of virtue.

00:20:40.740 Virtue.

00:20:41.460 Even the V word coming back into parlance.

00:20:46.380 Virtue, freedom, and human flourishing for generations to come.

00:20:52.140 Beautiful.

00:20:52.660 It's a masterpiece of a blog post.

00:20:54.980 Very inspiring.

00:20:56.380 Wonderful to see this coming out of any government department,

00:20:59.240 especially the Department of State,

00:21:00.880 historically understood to be one of the most liberal departments.

00:21:04.080 This is great.

00:21:05.080 And right before the 250th anniversary of America's founding,

00:21:08.820 it reminds me,

00:21:11.000 as we look ahead to America 250 next year,

00:21:14.040 our understanding is going to change.

00:21:16.660 There was actually a very good piece in the American conservative the other day,

00:21:21.780 which is a paleo-conservative magazine founded by Pat Buchanan.

00:21:26.020 I think it was by Dr. Maitra.

00:21:27.980 I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly.

00:21:29.280 It was very good on historical revision.

00:21:31.120 He said, you know,

00:21:32.720 revision is a part of history.

00:21:34.640 You are constantly revising history,

00:21:36.840 uncovering new evidence,

00:21:37.960 rethinking things.

00:21:38.600 That's part of it.

00:21:39.740 I'll clean up his language a little bit. 0.99

00:21:41.320 You don't want to do revision in a stupid way,

00:21:44.140 which often happens with revisionists.

00:21:46.540 You don't want to do it in a stupid way that's disconnected from evidence

00:21:49.140 or is based primarily on some kind of contempt or prejudice or something like that.

00:21:54.040 But you want to rethink things, sure.

00:21:56.380 As we enter America 250,

00:21:58.200 we are going to rethink our country.

00:22:01.700 That is just part of the historical process.

00:22:03.860 That's part of national development.

00:22:05.380 That happens.

00:22:07.600 The question is,

00:22:09.400 will we have a deeper understanding of America

00:22:11.440 or a shallower understanding?

00:22:14.140 Will we go further in the liberal progressive direction of America being a rupture with the past

00:22:19.340 and a rupture that is so radical that ultimately it turns on itself?

00:22:25.580 That's what you see with the liberals.

00:22:28.040 America's not only a break with the old world, 0.78

00:22:30.120 but America's going to have to break with herself 1.00

00:22:32.200 and we're going to have to topple statues of Washington.

00:22:34.060 That's the radicalism of the left.

00:22:35.600 Or we're going to say, no, no, no.

00:22:38.280 The great men who built our country need not be understood

00:22:40.620 to have been breaking with the old world.

00:22:43.020 But America might be understood within the broader Western project.

00:22:47.040 Because if we untether ourselves from our foundations,

00:22:50.860 if we no longer have that ballast of the roots,

00:22:54.200 historical, cultural, philosophical, and religious of our civilization,

00:22:57.400 we're going to fly off into outer space.

00:23:00.000 We will be destroyed.

00:23:03.660 Now, speaking of the English relationship,

00:23:08.800 speaking of the old world,

00:23:12.260 King Charles is doing land acknowledgements in Canada.

00:23:14.820 I have a lot to say.

00:23:15.760 First, though, go to puretalk.com slash Knowles.

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00:24:02.000 I am heading overseas.

00:24:02.940 It's good to know.

00:24:04.080 Go to puretalk.com slash Knowles, Canada, W-L-E-S.

00:24:06.700 You're going to get the best, most reliable network.

00:24:11.180 Switch hassle-free in as little as 10 minutes.

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00:24:18.440 Pure Talk.

00:24:19.400 King Charles just shows up to Canada.

00:24:22.060 He is the king of Canada, after all.

00:24:24.400 He's in America's evil top hat,

00:24:26.480 and he opens up his remarks with a land acknowledgement.

00:24:31.800 I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered

00:24:36.480 on the unceded territory of the Algonquin and the Shinabeg people.

00:24:43.540 This land acknowledgement is a recognition of shared history as a nation.

00:24:50.360 While continuing to deepen my own understanding,

00:24:54.700 it is my great hope that in each of your communities

00:24:57.860 and collectively as a country,

00:25:00.380 a path is found toward truth and reconciliation

00:25:04.780 in both word and deed.

00:25:08.860 Fact check.

00:25:10.760 I'm pretty sure the land was ceded.

00:25:14.060 This is the unceded territory.

00:25:17.220 The Algonquin Indians.

00:25:20.360 I think they ceded it

00:25:21.900 because they're not there anymore,

00:25:23.940 and you're there.

00:25:25.140 So it got ceded.

00:25:27.520 They might not have willingly ceded it,

00:25:29.240 but they ceded it.

00:25:29.880 It's over.

00:25:33.240 This is pathetic.

00:25:34.000 Why is the king of England

00:25:35.260 speaking like a blue-haired,

00:25:38.400 trans, pans, lesbian at Oberlin College? 0.79

00:25:42.200 Why?

00:25:43.620 I think I know why.

00:25:45.880 You know I'm not a Charles hater.

00:25:48.280 I actually quite like King Charles.

00:25:50.140 I have a healthy respect for the English crown,

00:25:54.360 even though there's a little bit of problem that happened around,

00:25:56.980 you know,

00:25:58.260 James II,

00:25:59.520 William and Mary of Orange,

00:26:00.860 and, you know,

00:26:01.380 the parliamentary supremacy

00:26:03.240 and the supposedly glorious revolution.

00:26:05.260 We're not going to get into that right now.

00:26:06.620 Okay?

00:26:06.980 I have a great deal of respect for the English crown

00:26:08.780 and for King Charles,

00:26:10.100 who is in many ways a traditionalist.

00:26:12.960 Not of the Edmund Burke variety,

00:26:15.960 maybe that too,

00:26:16.860 but also of the René Guénon

00:26:18.240 and the kind of philosophical traditionalism,

00:26:20.600 granulism.

00:26:22.140 So anyway,

00:26:22.960 our views don't totally overlap,

00:26:25.480 but I have a great healthy respect for the guy.

00:26:27.960 I think he's doing this

00:26:29.320 not because he's become some blue-haired left-wing radical.

00:26:33.180 I think he's doing this

00:26:34.380 because he thinks this is his best shot

00:26:37.580 to hold on to power and prominence,

00:26:40.000 that the last century at least

00:26:41.800 has been an uninterrupted rehearsal

00:26:45.480 of the English crown losing its privileges,

00:26:48.820 losing its stature,

00:26:50.460 and just trying to hold on to something

00:26:52.460 as the other monarchies

00:26:53.580 were essentially all destroyed in Europe 100 years ago. 0.62

00:26:57.760 I think that's the calculation he's making.

00:27:01.580 Well, I have to change and adapt

00:27:03.740 or they'll throw me out and chop my head off. 0.80

00:27:05.980 And so, you know,

00:27:06.460 they have chopped the heads off

00:27:07.580 of some of his predecessors.

00:27:09.880 I think this is just a bad calculation.

00:27:13.340 I see how he got there.

00:27:15.220 I get it.

00:27:16.200 I think it's a bad calculation.

00:27:19.480 We want monarchs,

00:27:21.820 at least somewhere in the world,

00:27:23.020 maybe we don't want a monarch in America,

00:27:24.280 but we want monarchs to exist.

00:27:26.200 Americans get a kick out of the King of England,

00:27:28.000 at least.

00:27:28.540 We want the monarchs to be monarchs.

00:27:31.660 With monarchs like this,

00:27:32.860 who needs Democrats? 1.00

00:27:34.120 Lowercase d.

00:27:36.020 If you're going to have a monarch,

00:27:37.580 have him be a monarch.

00:27:39.620 That's how I feel about church.

00:27:41.080 If you're going to go to church,

00:27:42.120 have it be church.

00:27:43.840 Have there be smells and bells,

00:27:45.160 investments,

00:27:45.880 and serious worship.

00:27:47.600 I don't need to go to church

00:27:48.740 to go to a rock concert.

00:27:49.720 I can go to a rock concert any day of the week.

00:27:51.180 I don't need to go to church

00:27:52.060 to have some guy in a tight t-shirt

00:27:54.180 with a microphone on his ear

00:27:55.400 speak to me in a quotidian way.

00:27:58.160 I can listen to TED Talks, okay?

00:27:59.800 I don't need that at church.

00:28:00.820 I go to church to go to church.

00:28:02.320 I go to church to worship God.

00:28:05.000 If you're going to have a monarchy,

00:28:06.520 have your monarch act like a monarch.

00:28:08.680 He doesn't need to get down

00:28:09.900 and make ridiculous apologies

00:28:12.000 toward often cannibal natives 1.00

00:28:14.700 who were vanquished many centuries ago.

00:28:16.880 We don't need to do that.

00:28:20.680 He thinks it's going to help him hold on.

00:28:22.840 I'm skeptical.

00:28:25.180 I hate to tell the king how to do his job,

00:28:26.900 but I think the way the monarchy holds on

00:28:30.160 is by being a monarchy,

00:28:31.840 by embodying the best aspects of monarchy,

00:28:35.300 not trying to play act Democrat.

00:28:37.940 Now, speaking of the English

00:28:41.960 and their relationship

00:28:42.980 to non-English populations,

00:28:44.900 Harry Potter is going diverse.

00:28:47.860 Harry Potter has cast

00:28:50.760 at least one black actor to play Snape

00:28:53.300 and maybe multiple black actors.

00:28:55.000 It's unclear that, you know,

00:28:56.200 they cast little kids to play Harry

00:28:57.600 and Ron and Hermione,

00:28:59.420 and it's a little unclear.

00:29:01.000 Some people are saying

00:29:01.840 that the girl they cast to play Hermione

00:29:03.560 is black or something.

00:29:05.540 I don't know.

00:29:06.020 I don't know.

00:29:06.260 It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures,

00:29:07.440 and I just generally don't.

00:29:09.480 I think it's kind of weird

00:29:10.460 to be guessing the ethnic background

00:29:13.120 of 12-year-olds or 11-year-olds

00:29:15.840 or I'll roll Jesus.

00:29:17.220 Forget about that for a second.

00:29:18.260 Let's just focus on Snape.

00:29:19.840 Snape is being played by an actor,

00:29:22.560 Papa Esiedu,

00:29:24.380 which is pretty clearly not English.

00:29:27.760 You know, it ain't Thomas or Henry.

00:29:29.020 And of course,

00:29:31.460 as I mentioned at the top of the show,

00:29:33.440 if the TV network really wanted

00:29:38.000 the cast of Harry Potter

00:29:39.400 to reflect the population of England,

00:29:41.600 all the actors would be Pakistani

00:29:43.040 or at least Arab.

00:29:44.960 But I don't know that they'd be black,

00:29:47.800 and I don't.

00:29:48.700 But in the old days,

00:29:49.960 and if this show is to have taken place

00:29:52.340 a little while ago,

00:29:53.080 shouldn't they just cast the English?

00:29:58.720 Keir Starmer,

00:29:59.660 the Prime Minister,

00:30:00.400 Liberal Prime Minister of the UK,

00:30:02.160 had an interview and a debate

00:30:03.380 with Constantine Kislin

00:30:04.540 in which he argued,

00:30:06.460 essentially,

00:30:07.320 that there is no such thing

00:30:08.720 as the English people.

00:30:11.260 That Rishi Sunak,

00:30:13.120 who is Indian and Hindu,

00:30:15.740 is English.

00:30:16.780 That he's just as English

00:30:17.760 as, you know, Henry VIII.

00:30:20.900 And that's obviously not true.

00:30:22.640 Constantine's point,

00:30:23.260 I thought,

00:30:23.460 was quite moderate and well said,

00:30:24.920 which is,

00:30:25.540 well, he could be British.

00:30:27.280 There's a British empire.

00:30:29.280 Plenty of people can be British,

00:30:31.060 but he's not English.

00:30:34.060 The English are people

00:30:35.260 who descend from the angles

00:30:36.520 and other people

00:30:38.260 who have come along the way.

00:30:40.440 The question that,

00:30:42.260 even something as apparently trivial

00:30:44.400 as Harry Potter raises is,

00:30:47.120 can we accept that there is such a thing

00:30:49.320 as the English people?

00:30:51.460 Or no?

00:30:52.160 Or no?

00:30:52.540 When I was writing Speechless,

00:30:54.020 all slow,

00:30:56.600 but I snuck it in there on you,

00:30:57.520 didn't I?

00:30:58.160 When I was writing Speechless,

00:30:59.560 I was reading a book about,

00:31:01.480 thank you,

00:31:02.440 about political correctness.

00:31:04.980 And in it,

00:31:05.520 this book was written probably

00:31:06.460 20, 30 years ago.

00:31:07.520 And they said,

00:31:07.980 you know, look,

00:31:08.440 certain countries are ethnic countries.

00:31:10.300 And certain countries

00:31:11.460 are multi-ethnic,

00:31:13.380 multicultural,

00:31:14.920 liberal democracies,

00:31:15.820 like America and England.

00:31:17.640 I thought, hold on,

00:31:18.860 maybe America in the late 20th century

00:31:20.620 you could make that argument,

00:31:21.500 but England?

00:31:23.200 No English anymore?

00:31:24.440 I don't,

00:31:25.520 this is the question now,

00:31:26.560 is there's so much

00:31:27.180 racial identitarianism

00:31:28.380 for every other race

00:31:29.960 other than white people?

00:31:30.960 The question is,

00:31:31.940 is that really sustainable?

00:31:34.860 Or can we recognize that

00:31:36.120 there are white races?

00:31:38.460 And there are,

00:31:38.820 just as there are

00:31:39.960 ethnic countries

00:31:40.600 with every other race,

00:31:41.540 there are ethnic countries

00:31:42.160 with at least vaguely white people.

00:31:44.540 You know,

00:31:44.840 I know the Italians

00:31:45.400 are a liminal case,

00:31:46.260 but can we accept that or no?

00:31:49.900 I suspect we're heading more into that

00:31:51.520 because I don't think

00:31:52.360 you can have a situation

00:31:53.100 where every race

00:31:54.340 has greater than 50% racial ID,

00:31:57.380 racial consciousness,

00:31:58.400 and have white people

00:31:59.340 be the only group that don't.

00:32:01.360 I just don't,

00:32:01.880 whether you think

00:32:02.300 that's a good thing

00:32:02.680 or a bad thing,

00:32:03.040 I just don't think

00:32:03.600 that's sustainable.

00:32:04.620 Now, speaking of the Commonwealth,

00:32:06.620 before we get into the mailbag,

00:32:08.780 the South African president,

00:32:10.240 who's been under fire

00:32:11.040 because he was in the Oval Office,

00:32:13.880 President Trump

00:32:14.460 played those clips

00:32:15.200 of South African politicians

00:32:16.540 and crowds

00:32:18.300 calling to murder

00:32:19.400 white farmers,

00:32:20.560 the boas,

00:32:21.180 the farmers,

00:32:21.860 the white people.

00:32:22.980 And then Trump administration

00:32:24.420 says they're going to take

00:32:25.040 in a very small number

00:32:25.820 of refugees

00:32:26.540 who are being targeted

00:32:27.520 for rape and murder.

00:32:28.800 And that's the one group

00:32:29.560 of refugees

00:32:30.100 that the left

00:32:30.780 apparently doesn't like.

00:32:31.740 They want to send them back.

00:32:33.060 So the South African president

00:32:34.900 has just revealed himself

00:32:36.200 to be a little bit of a liar,

00:32:38.420 a little bit dishonest,

00:32:39.600 because in the Oval Office,

00:32:41.300 Trump showed him

00:32:43.080 the videos

00:32:43.660 of the South African politician

00:32:45.800 chanting,

00:32:46.460 kill the boar,

00:32:47.700 kill the farmer,

00:32:49.100 shoot to kill.

00:32:50.480 And the South African president,

00:32:53.340 Cyril Ramaphosa,

00:32:54.720 looked bewildered,

00:32:56.080 kind of smiled a little,

00:32:57.380 lat chuckled a little,

00:32:58.200 didn't,

00:32:58.560 what, what,

00:32:59.300 I don't,

00:32:59.700 what's that?

00:33:00.300 I don't,

00:33:01.640 now he is explicitly

00:33:03.340 defending the calls

00:33:04.580 to kill the white people. 0.71

00:33:06.340 for us.

00:33:08.860 And when it comes

00:33:09.600 to the issues

00:33:11.440 of arresting anyone

00:33:12.860 for any slogan,

00:33:14.160 that is a sovereign issue.

00:33:16.540 It's not a matter

00:33:17.960 where we need

00:33:18.860 to be instructed

00:33:19.640 by anyone

00:33:20.440 that go and arrest

00:33:21.980 this one.

00:33:22.520 We are a very proud,

00:33:24.560 sovereign country

00:33:25.360 that has its own laws,

00:33:27.620 that has its own processes,

00:33:29.120 and we take into account

00:33:31.160 what the constitutional court

00:33:32.580 also decided

00:33:33.560 when it said that,

00:33:35.860 you know,

00:33:36.200 that slogan,

00:33:37.380 kill the boar,

00:33:38.160 kill the farmer,

00:33:39.380 is a liberation chant

00:33:41.860 and slogan.

00:33:44.200 And it's not meant

00:33:46.360 to be a message

00:33:48.380 that elicits

00:33:49.480 or calls upon anyone

00:33:51.000 to go and be killed. 0.72

00:33:52.040 And that is what

00:33:53.160 our court decided.

00:33:55.440 So,

00:33:56.480 they will probably

00:33:58.300 want to arrest people

00:33:59.720 willy-nilly.

00:34:01.200 We follow

00:34:02.340 the dictates

00:34:03.380 of our constitution

00:34:04.480 because we are

00:34:05.560 a constitutional state.

00:34:07.660 We follow

00:34:08.720 the constitution.

00:34:09.780 How about you follow

00:34:10.300 the English language?

00:34:12.120 We follow the,

00:34:12.980 and the courts

00:34:14.020 have said

00:34:14.700 that that slogan,

00:34:17.140 kill the boar,

00:34:18.460 kill the farmer,

00:34:20.080 shoot to kill,

00:34:21.240 that does not mean

00:34:23.140 that anybody

00:34:24.400 should be killed. 0.59

00:34:25.760 Where did you get

00:34:26.480 that silly idea?

00:34:27.440 Now you want to arrest

00:34:28.280 people willy-nilly.

00:34:29.240 That is so crazy.

00:34:29.900 Where did you get the idea?

00:34:31.040 The courts have said

00:34:31.960 that when we chant

00:34:34.420 by the thousands,

00:34:35.700 kill the boar,

00:34:36.820 shoot to kill,

00:34:37.900 chop his freaking head off. 1.00

00:34:39.320 They don't quite say that,

00:34:40.020 but they,

00:34:40.520 we'll kill them.

00:34:42.580 That does not mean

00:34:43.680 we want to kill them.

00:34:45.080 How silly.

00:34:45.820 What a silly misunderstanding.

00:34:47.620 Okay.

00:34:48.640 All right,

00:34:48.980 that's fine.

00:34:49.380 I get it.

00:34:49.840 You know,

00:34:50.080 there's a,

00:34:51.240 a little bit

00:34:52.040 of a tense history

00:34:53.960 and fraught political

00:34:55.020 situation in South Africa.

00:34:57.340 Whatever.

00:34:57.960 What I care more about

00:34:58.980 is the political situation

00:35:00.400 in America,

00:35:01.060 which is that,

00:35:02.260 just as we've been

00:35:02.940 talking about all week,

00:35:03.640 how Trump is really good

00:35:05.140 at getting his enemies

00:35:06.080 to defend the indefensible.

00:35:07.160 The libs

00:35:08.120 who oppose

00:35:09.680 the Afrikaner

00:35:10.960 refugees,

00:35:12.020 the 59 of them,

00:35:13.160 however many there are,

00:35:15.120 the libs in America

00:35:16.540 who oppose

00:35:17.220 taking them

00:35:18.240 and his refugees 0.64

00:35:18.760 are now going

00:35:20.500 to have to defend

00:35:21.740 the kill all

00:35:23.380 the white people

00:35:24.040 chant.

00:35:24.960 They're going to have

00:35:25.540 to defend that

00:35:26.020 because the justification

00:35:27.400 for taking the refugees 1.00

00:35:28.380 is that top

00:35:29.660 South African politicians

00:35:30.680 are chanting,

00:35:31.600 kill the bower, 1.00

00:35:32.220 kill the farmer,

00:35:32.920 shoot to kill,

00:35:34.260 effectively kill

00:35:34.860 all the white people.

00:35:35.960 The libs

00:35:36.520 who are opposing that

00:35:38.260 and Trump's putting that

00:35:38.920 on a big international stage,

00:35:40.640 oval office meeting,

00:35:41.600 playing the videos.

00:35:42.320 He wants this

00:35:43.120 to be a topic

00:35:43.620 of conversation.

00:35:44.260 The libs

00:35:45.200 who oppose that policy

00:35:46.760 are now on the side

00:35:48.940 of people chanting

00:35:49.600 shoot the white people.

00:35:52.000 Good luck in the midterms.

00:35:53.400 Good luck, Dems.

00:35:54.100 Have a good time.

00:35:55.240 Right now,

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00:36:17.920 My favorite comment yesterday

00:36:18.860 is from Isaac Cubes

00:36:19.740 who said,

00:36:20.280 not to be confused

00:36:20.780 with Ice Cube,

00:36:21.400 but Isaac Cubes,

00:36:22.380 who says,

00:36:22.920 isn't it great

00:36:23.540 to see two people

00:36:24.320 with illegitimate

00:36:25.180 supposed PhDs

00:36:26.280 in the same room?

00:36:27.340 Okay,

00:36:27.620 I don't have

00:36:28.240 an illegitimate PhD.

00:36:30.440 I have a very legitimate

00:36:31.900 doctorate of humane letters

00:36:34.240 honoris causa.

00:36:35.880 D-lit H-C

00:36:36.800 or I think D-H-L 0.98

00:36:38.520 which means I'm

00:36:39.580 sort of like

00:36:39.940 a shipping company.

00:36:41.120 Professor Jacob,

00:36:42.020 we've never said

00:36:42.620 that he has a doctorate.

00:36:43.500 He's a professor.

00:36:46.520 Finally,

00:36:47.040 finally,

00:36:47.400 we get to my favorite

00:36:48.000 time of the week,

00:36:48.380 the mailbag,

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00:36:57.620 Hi, Michael.

00:36:58.540 My question is in regard

00:36:59.880 to your recent take

00:37:01.520 on that pro-Palestine

00:37:04.620 activist

00:37:05.680 who murdered

00:37:06.400 two people in D.C.

00:37:07.660 and your response

00:37:10.240 was that,

00:37:10.820 you know,

00:37:11.040 we don't want

00:37:11.440 to be on the side

00:37:12.000 of violence.

00:37:12.460 We don't want

00:37:13.000 to be on the side

00:37:13.680 of, you know,

00:37:14.960 the people who are

00:37:15.920 wearing keffias 0.97

00:37:17.160 going to violent protests.

00:37:19.420 We just want to

00:37:20.800 avoid,

00:37:21.620 sidestep,

00:37:22.320 all of that.

00:37:22.940 And you've diplomatically

00:37:24.640 placed yourself

00:37:25.600 in a neutral zone

00:37:27.880 in this conflict

00:37:28.620 and I would say

00:37:29.740 that I

00:37:30.660 and many of my peers

00:37:32.140 find ourselves

00:37:32.980 in a similar spot.

00:37:34.580 What would you say

00:37:35.580 to someone

00:37:35.980 who argues

00:37:36.640 that we could

00:37:37.520 say something similar

00:37:38.920 about siding

00:37:39.700 with Israel,

00:37:40.540 that Israel

00:37:41.020 has performed

00:37:41.660 a bunch of atrocities

00:37:43.020 against the Gazans

00:37:44.820 and we don't want

00:37:46.820 to be on the side

00:37:47.460 of, you know,

00:37:48.100 people murdering

00:37:49.080 women and children.

00:37:50.420 It just kind of seems

00:37:51.320 like this snowball

00:37:52.220 of violence

00:37:53.140 just goes so far back

00:37:55.100 that it's impossible

00:37:56.320 to pick a side,

00:37:57.380 at least for me.

00:37:58.960 But I'm just,

00:37:59.920 I guess I'm just curious

00:38:00.640 for those people

00:38:01.220 who are intent

00:38:02.280 on picking a side

00:38:03.760 and they're intent

00:38:04.660 on finding

00:38:06.020 a good

00:38:07.180 and a bad

00:38:07.900 or at least

00:38:08.500 like an overall good

00:38:09.820 and against

00:38:10.500 an overall evil,

00:38:12.140 what would you say

00:38:13.020 to those people?

00:38:14.600 Well, a couple

00:38:15.240 little corrections here.

00:38:16.640 I am not

00:38:17.340 opposed to violence.

00:38:19.580 I support

00:38:20.400 justified violence.

00:38:22.220 So I don't,

00:38:23.020 I'm not afraid

00:38:23.540 of being on the side

00:38:24.140 of violence.

00:38:24.620 The United States

00:38:25.180 commits a lot

00:38:25.660 of violence,

00:38:26.640 but I like

00:38:27.040 justified violence.

00:38:28.940 Violence and self-defense

00:38:29.940 would be justified.

00:38:31.140 Violence,

00:38:31.760 the,

00:38:32.420 by a legitimate

00:38:33.320 civil authority

00:38:34.040 against convicted

00:38:35.000 criminals, 0.62

00:38:35.460 that would be

00:38:35.900 legitimate violence.

00:38:37.280 So I'm not,

00:38:38.220 it's not that I'm

00:38:38.640 against violence.

00:38:39.620 That helps to

00:38:40.760 work you out

00:38:42.640 of the apparent

00:38:43.880 conundrum.

00:38:44.420 I don't think

00:38:44.680 it's much of a conundrum

00:38:45.420 that you say there

00:38:45.960 at the end,

00:38:46.300 which is,

00:38:46.600 well, Israel commits 0.74

00:38:47.120 a lot of violence.

00:38:47.700 Yeah, yeah,

00:38:47.940 it's not,

00:38:48.440 not all violence

00:38:49.100 is made equal.

00:38:49.680 Now, you say I'm neutral

00:38:51.300 on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

00:38:53.200 That's not exactly true.

00:38:55.200 I am, I guess,

00:38:56.100 broadly supportive

00:38:56.960 of Israel,

00:38:57.700 but in a way

00:38:58.860 that is different

00:38:59.360 from the most

00:39:00.080 of the pro-Israel people.

00:39:01.300 I don't believe

00:39:02.000 the religious premises

00:39:02.980 of Zionism.

00:39:03.700 I don't believe

00:39:04.100 the historical premises

00:39:04.980 of Zionism.

00:39:06.320 I'm Christian,

00:39:07.000 so I don't really buy that.

00:39:08.220 However,

00:39:10.300 broadly speaking,

00:39:12.020 my rule of thumb

00:39:13.120 is an even more

00:39:15.700 modest version

00:39:16.340 of what you've articulated,

00:39:17.480 which is,

00:39:18.420 more or less,

00:39:20.300 whichever side

00:39:20.820 Greta Thunberg's on,

00:39:21.900 I'm on the opposite side.

00:39:23.600 I'm not saying

00:39:24.340 that's 100% effective,

00:39:25.620 but it's 99% effective.

00:39:27.960 Whatever side

00:39:28.720 most of the Democrats

00:39:30.580 are on

00:39:31.100 and Greta Thunberg

00:39:32.020 and the shrieking 0.98

00:39:33.060 Columbia graduate students

00:39:35.740 and the people

00:39:36.640 who engage

00:39:37.280 in unjust violence

00:39:38.780 and terrorism,

00:39:39.780 which is targeting civilians

00:39:40.960 to affect political ends,

00:39:42.700 I'm on the opposite side.

00:39:45.220 But that doesn't mean

00:39:46.360 that my interests

00:39:47.080 are exactly aligned

00:39:47.880 with Israel's.

00:39:49.080 The state of Israel

00:39:50.180 would have it

00:39:50.900 in its rational self-interest

00:39:52.180 to probably glass Gaza 0.93

00:39:54.180 or at least remove

00:39:54.920 the entire population

00:39:55.720 of Gaza,

00:39:56.180 put them somewhere else

00:39:57.020 and have regime change

00:39:58.360 in Iran.

00:39:59.040 I'm not sure

00:39:59.820 that that's exactly

00:40:00.560 in the American interest.

00:40:01.960 So my interest

00:40:02.800 as an American

00:40:03.420 is to wrap that war up quickly.

00:40:05.140 And you're seeing

00:40:06.080 that play out right now

00:40:07.000 in the reported tensions

00:40:08.080 between Trump and Netanyahu.

00:40:09.520 It's not that Trump

00:40:10.080 is anti-Israel.

00:40:10.820 They have a town

00:40:11.280 named after him in Israel.

00:40:13.240 But his interests

00:40:14.320 are a little different

00:40:14.880 from Netanyahu's interests

00:40:15.880 and they're trying to come

00:40:16.500 to a practical,

00:40:17.480 prudential solution.

00:40:19.300 That's the side

00:40:20.040 that I'm on.

00:40:21.560 It's not exactly neutrality.

00:40:23.540 It's prudence.

00:40:25.220 It's prudence,

00:40:25.800 which is the paramount

00:40:26.520 political virtue.

00:40:27.280 Next one.

00:40:28.640 Hi, Michael.

00:40:29.500 This question is in regard

00:40:30.920 to the Afghans

00:40:32.080 coming to the United States,

00:40:33.520 the fact that they're white,

00:40:34.480 all this pushback.

00:40:35.880 I'm with you.

00:40:37.700 Everything that you were saying,

00:40:39.100 I'm like nodding along.

00:40:40.260 Yes, I totally get it.

00:40:41.140 That makes sense.

00:40:42.180 But now I'm kind of confused

00:40:43.600 about the counter argument

00:40:46.100 that it does seem kind of random

00:40:48.560 that we're accepting them

00:40:50.800 into this country

00:40:51.540 when I'm sure there are

00:40:52.260 other countries

00:40:52.780 that have refugees.

00:40:56.580 The one that my friends

00:40:58.180 bring up most often

00:40:59.160 is the Gazans

00:41:01.840 and why aren't we accepting

00:41:03.920 innocent citizen

00:41:05.540 Gazan refugees.

00:41:08.120 And to that,

00:41:09.100 I've kind of just been saying,

00:41:10.360 okay, well,

00:41:10.620 that's a war zone.

00:41:11.560 It's a little bit different.

00:41:12.560 This is not a war zone.

00:41:13.620 This is like people

00:41:14.500 fleeing from their government.

00:41:15.720 It's kind of a different thing.

00:41:17.620 I guess I'd just appreciate it

00:41:19.340 if you could flesh out

00:41:20.560 your thoughts

00:41:21.020 a little bit more on this

00:41:22.060 because I'm like

00:41:23.500 what you would say

00:41:24.500 to our liberal friends

00:41:26.120 because it does seem

00:41:29.320 kind of odd to me

00:41:30.080 that we haven't accepted

00:41:31.100 other refugees

00:41:31.800 or maybe it just hasn't been

00:41:33.160 as much of a news story

00:41:34.220 and I'm unaware.

00:41:35.920 Yeah,

00:41:36.440 I would love to hear your thoughts.

00:41:37.840 Thank you.

00:41:38.560 Sure.

00:41:39.040 The reason is that

00:41:40.180 we have more in common with them.

00:41:42.040 There are vastly fewer of them

00:41:45.560 and they're more easily assimilable.

00:41:48.140 That's why.

00:41:49.520 We have more in common with them.

00:41:51.240 It's that we speak the same language.

00:41:52.640 Even though they said

00:41:53.260 they speak it in a little bit

00:41:54.680 of a crisis,

00:41:55.440 it's a freaking way.

00:41:56.500 I guess it'll basically understand them.

00:41:58.460 And they're Christian

00:41:59.180 and they descend

00:42:01.060 at least in part from the British

00:42:02.300 as we descend from the British.

00:42:04.140 And we just have more in common with them,

00:42:06.120 which means they'll be

00:42:07.040 more easily assimilable.

00:42:08.100 And also,

00:42:08.940 there are many fewer of them.

00:42:12.120 There's something like

00:42:12.500 59 South African refugees

00:42:14.020 who are trying to come here right now.

00:42:15.220 At most,

00:42:15.820 there would be 70,000,

00:42:16.900 I think.

00:42:17.940 There are 2 million people in Gaza.

00:42:20.460 The South African Boers 1.00

00:42:21.960 are Christian broadly.

00:42:24.060 The Gazans

00:42:24.580 are almost entirely Muslim.

00:42:27.260 How many Christians 0.95

00:42:28.200 are left in Gaza?

00:42:29.740 Sometimes the pro-Palestine propaganda

00:42:31.920 tries to promote

00:42:33.160 the notion that

00:42:34.400 Gaza has this flourishing

00:42:35.820 Christian population.

00:42:36.560 I think there are like

00:42:37.160 600 to 1,000 of them.

00:42:38.360 So if it were Gazan Christians, 0.92

00:42:40.400 I would be much more inclined

00:42:41.500 to say,

00:42:41.860 yeah, bring them over here. 0.85

00:42:42.780 But we have much less in common

00:42:44.500 with the Gazans.

00:42:45.200 And there are over 2 million of them.

00:42:46.620 We're going to take

00:42:46.960 2 million Gazans in?

00:42:48.360 I don't think so.

00:42:50.340 We're going to take

00:42:51.020 2 million people

00:42:52.200 who don't share our religion,

00:42:53.680 don't share our language,

00:42:55.440 who, broadly speaking,

00:42:57.040 are not so friendly

00:42:57.920 toward the United States,

00:42:59.980 sometimes dance in the streets

00:43:01.200 when our towers topple.

00:43:02.660 That's not going to work.

00:43:04.100 That's just not going to work.

00:43:05.740 And there's nothing wrong

00:43:06.660 with observing that.

00:43:07.900 There's nothing wrong

00:43:08.800 with giving greater care

00:43:10.680 and greater concern

00:43:12.540 to people who

00:43:13.300 share your beliefs,

00:43:15.340 share your history,

00:43:16.360 share your language,

00:43:17.240 share your religion.

00:43:18.000 There's nothing wrong with that.

00:43:19.420 We want to have charity

00:43:20.500 for everyone around the world.

00:43:22.460 But we need,

00:43:23.760 well, we need prudence too.

00:43:25.920 Prudence is the theme

00:43:26.780 of this mailbag.

00:43:27.520 Next mailbag question.

00:43:29.640 Hey, Michael.

00:43:30.260 This is Jeff.

00:43:31.000 And I'm getting married tomorrow.

00:43:32.380 I used to be an atheist,

00:43:34.640 but I'm not so sure

00:43:35.640 about that anymore.

00:43:37.600 She doesn't practice 0.99

00:43:38.760 any religion either,

00:43:40.040 and really neither

00:43:41.000 do either of our families.

00:43:43.280 And between listening

00:43:45.580 to you and Jordan Peterson,

00:43:46.920 I've started to open up

00:43:47.960 to religion some more.

00:43:50.000 And I'm not really sure

00:43:51.300 how to reconcile everything.

00:43:52.680 I was also hoping

00:43:55.540 to get some tips

00:43:56.480 to follow as a newlywed couple.

00:44:00.940 Thank you for your help

00:44:01.980 and your insight.

00:44:05.160 Beautiful.

00:44:05.880 Wonderful.

00:44:06.400 Congratulations on the wedding.

00:44:07.940 You're in the position

00:44:09.100 of a lot of people,

00:44:10.060 especially millennial

00:44:11.120 and Zoomers,

00:44:12.600 who were not really

00:44:14.040 raised with religion.

00:44:15.000 Then they realize

00:44:15.560 the old gods

00:44:16.080 of the copybook headings

00:44:16.860 keep coming back.

00:44:17.560 They start to really

00:44:18.640 take seriously

00:44:19.180 eternal questions.

00:44:20.540 And they realize,

00:44:21.080 oh, it turns out

00:44:23.100 that all the great thinkers

00:44:25.960 and saints were right.

00:44:27.420 That, you know,

00:44:28.400 it's true, God exists,

00:44:29.660 and we should do

00:44:30.440 something about it.

00:44:31.100 So you say,

00:44:31.920 well, I don't know

00:44:32.300 what to do with that.

00:44:33.060 Okay, here's what I would do.

00:44:34.400 Go to church.

00:44:36.200 You know, my view

00:44:37.220 is I'm a macro-snapping papist,

00:44:38.780 went 10 years

00:44:39.360 in the wilderness

00:44:39.880 as an atheist,

00:44:41.840 came back in,

00:44:43.200 explored different flavors

00:44:44.800 of Christianity.

00:44:45.880 So I would recommend

00:44:46.640 you go to a Catholic church

00:44:48.100 and then avail yourself

00:44:49.420 of the sacraments

00:44:50.320 because we have,

00:44:51.000 I think,

00:44:51.220 a sacramental faith

00:44:52.480 and read your Bible

00:44:54.040 and read the doctors

00:44:54.980 of the church

00:44:55.520 and, you know,

00:44:55.960 I'd encourage all of that.

00:44:57.140 But if you're not,

00:44:58.940 I don't know,

00:44:59.280 if you're not totally sure,

00:45:00.080 you're not totally ready,

00:45:01.020 you know,

00:45:01.220 you just kind of want

00:45:01.800 to dip your toe in,

00:45:02.520 just do it.

00:45:04.680 Just do it.

00:45:05.800 Just go to church.

00:45:07.140 Just pick up that Bible.

00:45:08.620 Just watch a lecture

00:45:09.560 from, I don't know,

00:45:10.320 the Thomistic Institute

00:45:11.240 or the Augustine Institute

00:45:12.300 or some,

00:45:13.260 listen to Father Mike Schmidt's

00:45:14.340 Bible in a year. 0.99

00:45:15.460 You know,

00:45:15.720 just kind of do it.

00:45:17.840 Don't worry

00:45:18.400 that you don't know everything.

00:45:19.600 Don't worry

00:45:20.000 that you have questions.

00:45:20.720 I think it was

00:45:21.000 St. John Henry Newman,

00:45:22.360 probably the greatest theologian

00:45:23.680 ever to write in English

00:45:25.240 who said,

00:45:26.520 10,000 questions

00:45:27.340 don't make one doubt.

00:45:29.220 Just,

00:45:29.880 just do it.

00:45:31.960 Okay,

00:45:32.140 last question.

00:45:32.680 Hey Michael,

00:45:35.280 as another year of my life

00:45:36.660 has gone by,

00:45:37.540 I couldn't help but think

00:45:38.680 about life itself.

00:45:40.140 My question to you is,

00:45:41.640 what is your philosophy

00:45:42.660 on how one should live

00:45:44.480 and how long one should live?

00:45:46.940 Obviously,

00:45:47.540 we should not be

00:45:48.260 in a hurry to die,

00:45:49.600 but at the same time,

00:45:50.700 we should not be afraid to die.

00:45:52.800 Our purpose on the earth

00:45:54.180 is to repopulate

00:45:55.080 and carry on our bloodline,

00:45:56.800 which I want to do

00:45:57.720 more than anything,

00:45:58.600 but is impossible.

00:46:00.380 But with life itself,

00:46:02.080 are we to live every day

00:46:03.260 like it was our last?

00:46:04.880 Do we have to earn

00:46:05.900 our keep in heaven?

00:46:07.440 Or are we to enjoy

00:46:08.820 life on earth

00:46:09.620 that the Lord gave us

00:46:10.940 before it becomes

00:46:12.180 a thing of the past?

00:46:13.580 I know this is

00:46:14.320 a rather deep question,

00:46:15.480 but I really appreciate

00:46:16.480 your insight.

00:46:18.500 Okay,

00:46:19.060 well,

00:46:19.280 good question.

00:46:19.820 My philosophy of life

00:46:22.020 is this.

00:46:23.820 Credo in unum deum

00:46:27.360 patrem omnipotentem

00:46:28.940 factorem celi et terre

00:46:30.220 to translate

00:46:32.740 for those of you,

00:46:34.280 probably actually many of you

00:46:35.280 have much better Latin

00:46:36.500 than I do.

00:46:37.040 My Latin's a little bit weak.

00:46:38.460 I believe in one God,

00:46:39.400 the Father Almighty,

00:46:39.980 maker of heaven and earth,

00:46:40.720 and Jesus Christ

00:46:41.260 is only son our Lord,

00:46:41.980 who was conceived

00:46:42.280 by the Holy Spirit,

00:46:42.840 born of the Virgin Mary,

00:46:43.480 suffered in a bunch of blood,

00:46:44.380 who was crucified,

00:46:44.940 died, and was buried.

00:46:45.500 He rose again on the third day.

00:46:47.860 Some of you know the rest.

00:46:49.740 I believe,

00:46:50.240 my philosophy of life

00:46:51.200 is the Catholic faith.

00:46:53.000 And that's going to be

00:46:54.000 unsatisfying to some.

00:46:55.000 Ultimately,

00:46:55.400 it will be very satisfying.

00:46:56.400 But to some people,

00:46:57.240 they're going to say,

00:46:57.580 no,

00:46:57.800 I want something original.

00:46:59.540 What's your own zesty

00:47:00.860 little spin

00:47:01.660 on the philosophy of life?

00:47:02.920 Come on,

00:47:03.360 I want a self-help guru

00:47:04.680 who's going to,

00:47:05.660 come on,

00:47:05.940 I want a guy

00:47:06.520 to give me something new.

00:47:07.860 No,

00:47:08.440 ain't nothing new

00:47:09.100 under the sun, kid.

00:47:10.040 And if you find something new,

00:47:11.440 some new philosophy of life

00:47:12.580 is wrong.

00:47:14.000 That's what it is.

00:47:15.040 Because we know

00:47:15.840 the scope of history.

00:47:16.680 We know how it starts.

00:47:17.520 We know the pivot of history,

00:47:18.600 which is the incarnation.

00:47:19.500 We even know

00:47:20.080 how it's going to end,

00:47:20.940 and yet here we are

00:47:21.740 in this suspended

00:47:22.700 time of history

00:47:23.380 doing our best

00:47:24.180 to cooperate

00:47:24.620 with God's grace.

00:47:25.620 So,

00:47:26.540 no,

00:47:27.260 I'm not looking

00:47:27.680 for anything new.

00:47:28.320 I'm looking for things

00:47:28.900 that are old,

00:47:29.620 that are paradoxically

00:47:30.640 ever ancient

00:47:31.460 and ever new.

00:47:33.020 And that's my philosophy

00:47:33.880 of life.

00:47:35.020 You say that

00:47:36.060 the purpose of life

00:47:37.320 is to

00:47:38.300 pass on your genes.

00:47:40.940 No,

00:47:41.180 that's what a materialist

00:47:42.100 might say.

00:47:42.640 That's what a,

00:47:43.800 I don't know,

00:47:44.240 someone for whom

00:47:45.060 Darwinian evolution

00:47:46.400 is the highest truth.

00:47:48.080 That's not what I would say.

00:47:49.780 That's part of life

00:47:50.840 often,

00:47:51.520 but I don't think

00:47:52.840 a priest

00:47:53.580 has failed

00:47:54.460 in his life

00:47:54.980 by the opposite.

00:47:55.680 I don't think

00:47:56.020 someone who is single

00:47:57.720 or who is infertile

00:47:59.120 has failed

00:47:59.920 to fulfill

00:48:00.680 his or her purpose.

00:48:02.140 Far from it.

00:48:02.960 The purpose of life

00:48:03.640 ultimately

00:48:04.220 is to know God,

00:48:06.620 serve him in this world,

00:48:07.320 and enjoy him forever.

00:48:09.160 And that even

00:48:10.080 is knowable

00:48:10.740 by reason

00:48:11.420 because we know

00:48:12.240 that there's more

00:48:12.780 to life

00:48:13.180 than mere matter.

00:48:13.980 So to reduce

00:48:14.700 the ultimate things

00:48:16.360 to matter

00:48:17.200 is incoherent.

00:48:18.780 It's irrational.

00:48:20.800 That's what I recommend.

00:48:21.780 The Carpe Diem religion,

00:48:22.980 you say,

00:48:23.260 should we just seize the day?

00:48:24.400 Chesterton also wrote

00:48:25.320 about the Carpe Diem religion.

00:48:26.960 He said,

00:48:27.260 it's not the religion 0.99

00:48:27.860 of happy people,

00:48:28.580 it's the religion

00:48:29.120 of very unhappy people

00:48:30.200 who are grasping,

00:48:31.780 who are desperate,

00:48:32.720 who just want to feel anything,

00:48:34.560 one little titillation,

00:48:35.920 and please give me some joy.

00:48:37.640 But it's not going to give them

00:48:38.600 ultimate satisfaction.

00:48:40.200 It's a very,

00:48:41.520 it's a myopic religion.

00:48:44.240 You got to get a deeper one.

00:48:45.840 Okay, speaking of,

00:48:46.760 it's Theology Thursday.

00:48:47.900 The rest of the show

00:48:48.560 continues now.

00:48:49.280 You do not want to miss it.

00:48:50.660 Become a member

00:48:51.180 and use code Knowles,

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The Michael Knowles Show - May 29, 2025

Ep. 1744 - Abracadabra, You're Black!

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