The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 1789 - White Woman Beaten By Black Gang SPEAKS OUT

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00:00:14.900 These are questions that take cultures thousands of years to answer.

00:00:19.820 During Answer the Call, I take questions from people just like you about their problems, opportunities, challenges, or when they simply need advice.

00:00:27.500 How do I balance all of this grief, responsibility?

00:00:30.880 How do you repair this kind of damage?

00:00:33.180 My daughter, Michaela, guides the conversations as we hopefully help people navigate their lives.

00:00:39.180 Everyone has their own destiny.

00:00:41.200 Everyone.

00:00:46.780 The single mother who was beaten unconscious on the streets of Cincinnati by a mob after a jazz concert is speaking out for the first time since the incident,

00:00:55.560 which reveals some good news and some really, really bad news about the situation in the country.

00:01:01.460 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:01:02.160 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:01:02.880 There's potentially a new Republican presidential candidate trying to run in the MAGA lane in 2028.

00:01:29.340 It could upend the entire race. 0.90

00:01:32.520 It's the first candidate who's floated an idea where I thought, oh, wow, this could actually upend the whole race, everybody's plans.

00:01:39.560 We'll get to that momentarily.

00:01:40.880 First, I want to tell you about Old Glory Bank.

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00:03:01.720 You know the story.

00:03:03.200 We covered it a few days last week.

00:03:05.720 Cincinnati Jazz Festival.

00:03:07.440 There's a man and a woman.

00:03:09.580 I don't think they were together.

00:03:10.900 One's a tourist.

00:03:11.560 One's a single mother.

00:03:12.600 They were walking, white people.

00:03:14.040 Then there was a mob of black people who just beat them mercilessly, beat the woman unconscious. 0.59

00:03:19.900 She was bleeding out of her mouth. 0.71

00:03:20.940 Here's what she had to say at a press conference yesterday.

00:03:24.880 First and foremost, I just want to say that I don't want to relive what happened to me, you know, eight or nine days ago.

00:03:31.860 I'm here to talk about the future and how we can change it, how we can prevent this from happening to anybody else.

00:03:38.440 These heinous crimes have to stop.

00:03:42.040 You know, I never want this to happen to anyone else, especially a mother, a daughter, somebody who is loved.

00:03:49.460 So I just know what it's done to my family, not just to me.

00:03:54.920 And I think that moving forward, we do need more accountability.

00:03:58.620 And I definitely think that, you know, we we need more police officers.

00:04:05.420 But like he said, you know, the judges who are just letting people out with a slap, the man who attacked me and might have permanently damaged me forever should never have been on the streets ever.

00:04:19.420 And the fact that he had just gotten out of jail previously for something, he should have been in there for years.

00:04:25.700 Okay, so this woman went on to say, she said, I'm in excruciating pain all the time.

00:04:32.720 If it wasn't so important to be here today to be the voice for presenting this for the future, I wouldn't have left my aunt's basement in a dark bed with a blanket over my head.

00:04:41.420 It's been horrible.

00:04:42.360 I mean, this woman could have died and thought she was going to die. 1.00

00:04:45.580 It's kind of surprising she didn't die.

00:04:47.120 And the guy who did it to her, well, there was a whole mob of people.

00:04:50.860 But some of the people who have been arrested so far, and the guy she's referring to there, career criminals, been convicted of felonies, been, it was just recently, just weeks before this incident, was arrested again and let out on a very low bond, I think $400 bond or something.

00:05:09.740 So this guy certainly should be locked away for life, at least, at least.

00:05:15.040 And as far as I'm concerned, I don't know, three strikes, you're out.

00:05:17.360 If you keep committing violent crimes again and again, you prove that you are not able to live as a person in society, then we need some very serious punishments.

00:05:27.660 Because this was totally preventable.

00:05:32.700 This issue is not one of, you know, racking our brains, the sociologists at Harvard, what do we do?

00:05:39.100 How do we solve this intractable social problem?

00:05:42.800 It is a very simple solution.

00:05:44.300 If the courts and the politicians had just enforced the law and not let these guys out on basically a $2 bond, had they not let these guys off the hook, had they not given them just a slap on the wrist for their past crimes, this wouldn't have happened.

00:06:01.100 And this woman wouldn't have been knocked out cold in the street, and her kid would be doing better, and the community would be doing better.

00:06:07.380 However, this issue in Cincinnati and the violent crime around the country, it's just like the border under Biden.

00:06:14.700 Remember the border under Biden?

00:06:15.660 How do we solve the border crisis?

00:06:18.300 Oh, Joe Biden, look, I want to solve the border crisis.

00:06:21.040 I want to stop these millions of illegal aliens coming over, but I just can't. 1.00

00:06:24.140 I need new legislation.

00:06:25.560 I need the Republicans.

00:06:27.300 I need Trump to call up the congressman and tell him to vote for my legislation.

00:06:32.280 Otherwise, my hands are tied.

00:06:33.400 Then what happens?

00:06:35.520 Trump gets elected.

00:06:36.900 No new legislation is passed.

00:06:40.400 Crossings drop to zero because he just enforces the law.

00:06:44.300 There was nothing complicated about it.

00:06:46.160 There was no big debate to be had in the country.

00:06:48.540 There was no wrangling on Capitol Hill.

00:06:51.480 It's just Biden didn't want to enforce the law, and Trump did want to enforce the law.

00:06:56.300 Biden didn't want to enforce the law probably because it gives Democrats an electoral advantage if they flood the country with illegals.

00:07:02.160 And so, yeah, a bunch of girls are going to get raped, and a bunch of people are going to get murdered, and 75,000 people a year are going to be poisoned by fentanyl, and you're going to let terrorists in the country, and you're going to let Satan-worshipping gangsters into the country.

00:07:13.080 But, you know, that's a price to pay for a little more political power.

00:07:16.360 So he just didn't want to enforce the law.

00:07:18.900 Trump did want to enforce the law, and it worked.

00:07:21.140 You don't need any new laws in Cincinnati or really any of our cities around the country.

00:07:26.000 You just need people to lock up these savages, these absolute animals.

00:07:30.540 Just lock them up.

00:07:31.340 Just lock them up for the crimes they've already committed.

00:07:34.600 And ladies like this won't be bleeding out of their mouths on the street. 1.00

00:07:38.900 This gets to a distinction in politics.

00:07:43.620 Ronald Reagan famously did not refer to his domestic political enemies.

00:07:49.060 He would say, we have no enemies, only opponents.

00:07:53.280 We only have our opponents.

00:07:55.860 Enemies we would refer to as the people abroad. 1.00

00:07:59.280 You know, the Soviet Union, our geopolitical adversaries.

00:08:01.880 Those are our enemies, but the people we disagree with in America, they're just our opponents.

00:08:07.000 Donald Trump, you'll notice, is more keen on referring to his political enemies at home.

00:08:12.360 And the squishy Republicans say, this is terrible, and it's a degradation of our politics, and it's dangerous rhetoric, and whatever.

00:08:17.660 No, Trump is using it for good reason.

00:08:20.780 Ronald Reagan used his word for good reason, because there's a distinction.

00:08:24.480 An opponent is someone who shares your same goal, but disagrees about the means to get there.

00:08:32.660 That is generally how the word opponent is used in politics.

00:08:35.920 Look, we all have the same goal.

00:08:37.300 We all want a secure border.

00:08:38.640 This is like the 1990s.

00:08:39.540 We all want a secure border.

00:08:41.020 Republicans and Democrats, we want a secure border.

00:08:42.580 We just disagree about the means to get there.

00:08:44.220 We all want a thriving economy.

00:08:45.620 We just disagree about the means to get there.

00:08:47.460 We all want national security.

00:08:49.380 We just disagree about the means to get there.

00:08:51.520 We all want fairness in sexes or races or whatever.

00:08:57.240 We just disagree about the means to get there.

00:08:59.100 That's opponents.

00:09:01.460 Enemies have different goals.

00:09:03.760 They have fundamentally different goals.

00:09:04.960 That is what those terms mean in politics.

00:09:09.000 So 1990s, Bill Clinton, we need to secure the border and get rid of these illegal aliens. 1.00

00:09:13.240 Republicans say, yeah, we do need to secure the border and get rid of these illegal aliens. 1.00

00:09:16.660 Okay, here's my plan to do it.

00:09:18.240 Here's my plan to do it.

00:09:19.820 Those are opponents.

00:09:20.760 But when you have people who fundamentally disagree over what they even want to accomplish,

00:09:27.940 when you have Republicans say we need to secure the border, Democrats say, no, we don't.

00:09:31.440 We need to open the border.

00:09:32.780 Republicans say we need to get these security risks out of the country.

00:09:36.380 Democrats say we need to bring more of them in.

00:09:39.000 Republicans say we need to lock up the criminals.

00:09:40.800 Democrats say we need to abolish prisons.

00:09:42.640 Now you're talking about fundamental disagreements over what you even want to accomplish.

00:09:49.100 Whenever people say, well, the politics has reached a fever pitch,

00:09:51.760 there's just so much more tension, that dastardly Trump.

00:09:54.320 It ain't Trump who did it.

00:09:55.780 It's the mayor of Cincinnati who did it.

00:09:58.460 It's the mayor of Chicago who did it.

00:10:00.640 It's the Democrats in Congress who opened the border who did it.

00:10:03.140 It's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris who did it.

00:10:04.980 Don't blame Trump for that.

00:10:06.340 There is a fundamental difference between how politics works, at least publicly, at least in an explicit way, today than there was in the 80s or 90s.

00:10:17.500 Different world.

00:10:18.540 Okay, now, we're getting some good news out of the White House.

00:10:21.460 Really, really good news.

00:10:23.420 President Trump yesterday issued an executive order on debanking.

00:10:28.040 Debanking, it's a little bit of an egghead issue.

00:10:31.160 You know, it's not as sexy as keeping Big Hulk and dudes out of swimming or something.

00:10:36.900 You know, it's not quite as sexy as saving babies from the predations of murderers.

00:10:42.300 It's not quite as sexy as deporting 16 million illegal aliens.

00:10:46.900 It's not as saucy.

00:10:48.140 It doesn't get the blood up like some of those cultural issues.

00:10:50.480 But it's a major, major issue because it affects every American.

00:10:53.560 There has been a trend, not just in America, but throughout the West in recent years, whereby political conservatives, Christians, pro-lifers, defenders of the Second Amendment have been debanked.

00:11:11.780 And when you get debanked, you cannot operate in the modern marketplace, in the modern economy, in the modern political order.

00:11:20.080 And this issue is a little bit personal for me.

00:11:22.960 We'll get to that in a moment.

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00:12:39.960 Trump issues this debanking executive order.

00:12:42.580 What does this do?

00:12:43.280 This orders federal banking regulators to remove the reputational risk language from their guidance to lending institutions.

00:12:54.460 Reputational risk is a broad concept that allows lenders to debank people.

00:13:02.840 And it says, well, you know, look, this person, he manufactures firearms.

00:13:06.400 And even though that's protected by the Second Amendment and gun ownership's protected by the Second Amendment, I don't know, that just, that might compromise our reputation here at such and such bank.

00:13:16.060 So we're going to debank the makers of AR-15s, let's say.

00:13:20.660 Hey, we're, President Trump is unpopular after January 6th because of a bunch of lies that were told about him.

00:13:28.260 So we're going to debank the President of the United States.

00:13:31.360 Reputational risk.

00:13:34.520 All sorts of people get debanked.

00:13:36.280 And often they don't even know what's happening.

00:13:40.180 And they cannot find out what's happening.

00:13:42.140 This is what happened to me.

00:13:43.100 I was debanked for six months by a major payment processor.

00:13:48.960 And I couldn't get any information on it.

00:13:52.560 I talked to the payment processor.

00:13:54.280 I talked to the client, the vendor.

00:13:55.840 I talked to this.

00:13:56.520 I couldn't get any information whatsoever.

00:13:59.700 Happily, I have a big platform.

00:14:01.800 Thanks to all of you.

00:14:03.360 So I have a big platform.

00:14:04.400 I made this public.

00:14:05.380 And what do you know?

00:14:06.120 Two seconds later, my issue was resolved.

00:14:07.900 And in fairness to the payment processor, it turned out to have been started by an erroneous government filing.

00:14:16.720 So the problem initially was not with the payment processor.

00:14:21.280 Before that, it was with the government.

00:14:22.780 Now, there were lots of strange questions, timeline questions on this, why the government only contacted one payment processor, not other financial institutions.

00:14:30.260 It was pretty weird.

00:14:31.020 I'm still kind of looking into it.

00:14:31.960 But the issue there was the payment processor said, we're not allowed to talk directly to you.

00:14:37.960 You have to talk to the vendor.

00:14:38.920 The vendor says, no, we're not going to deal with this.

00:14:40.940 You've got to talk to the payment processor.

00:14:42.240 The government is not particularly accountable.

00:14:44.900 And so millions of Americans, potentially hundreds of millions of Americans, could be iced out of the financial sector and never even find out why.

00:14:56.600 And not only have no recourse, not even be able to figure out what their recourse could be.

00:15:00.340 And so this debanking, EO, this is really, really great.

00:15:03.920 It's retroactive in the sense that it says individuals, their businesses, and their families have been subjected to debanking on the basis of their political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.

00:15:14.080 And banks have 120 days.

00:15:16.080 Payment processors have 120 days to figure that out, let them know, try to fix the problem.

00:15:20.900 But I think we need to go a little further.

00:15:22.380 And we need right-to-know legislation, right-to-know legislation and regulation so that at the very least, people who are in my position, who don't have millions of followers on social media and a big platform and a big show, who are basically just screaming into the void when it comes to these major institutions,

00:15:42.300 so that they can know what the next steps are to get their rights back and to get back into the political order.

00:15:50.100 Because this is one of the cleverest and most devastating ways that the liberal political order can ice out people that it doesn't like.

00:15:58.580 Now, speaking of liberal companies surrendering, there are a lot of banks right now are sucking up to Donald Trump because they are afraid that the chickens are coming home to roost.

00:16:07.980 It's not just the banks.

00:16:10.000 Disney.

00:16:11.540 Disney.

00:16:12.120 This one is really sweet.

00:16:13.320 This one is personal.

00:16:15.540 Disney has just settled a lawsuit with Gina Carano.

00:16:19.460 You know Gina Carano.

00:16:20.420 My former colleague, Gina Carano, who was canceled by Disney for posting during COVID about how people were being oppressed.

00:16:33.720 Comparing the tyrannical government actions during COVID.

00:16:37.540 To tyrannical government actions in Nazi Germany.

00:16:39.960 And for this, she was bizarrely maligned as anti-Semitic or something.

00:16:45.860 It was very strange because, of course, she was making the opposite point.

00:16:48.360 But it was just an excuse to cancel her for contradicting the exalted Dr. Fauci and the rest of them.

00:16:54.940 Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian, the Star Wars franchise, and from Disney.

00:17:00.900 Daily Wire uncanceled Gina Carano. 0.93

00:17:02.600 And she came here.

00:17:03.360 We did a movie together.

00:17:04.180 And she did a bunch of our shows.

00:17:06.200 And she's great.

00:17:07.220 She just won her lawsuit. 1.00

00:17:08.320 This is what Disney had to say.

00:17:10.660 The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm are pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement with Gina Carano to resolve the issues in her pending lawsuit against the companies.

00:17:17.500 Ms. Carano was always well-respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff.

00:17:21.100 And she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect.

00:17:26.060 Oh, this is, they are eating so much crow, they are going to have to go to the hospital, I think.

00:17:31.580 They're going to have to have their stomachs pumped with all the crow they're eating.

00:17:33.960 With this lawsuit concluded, here's the kicker.

00:17:38.300 We look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the future.

00:17:42.400 This is complete surrender from Disney, which was the face of companies going woke.

00:17:50.620 So much so that Daily Wire shifted its business model, in part, to take advantage of their collapse, to take advantage of their extremism politically, because we knew that most Americans hated it.

00:18:03.080 So much so that the governor of Florida went to war with Disney.

00:18:06.360 So much so that Gina fought this lawsuit for four years. 1.00

00:18:09.480 Disney was the face of woke.

00:18:12.920 And not only are they losing, they're surrendering.

00:18:17.820 They're surrendering.

00:18:18.940 Got to give a hat tip to Elon Musk, too, who funded Gina's lawsuit against Disney.

00:18:23.180 Because Elon said, anyone who gets fired because of something that they posted on my app on Twitter, I'll fund the lawsuit.

00:18:31.420 Also because Elon is on a jihad against woke liberalism.

00:18:36.300 Gina won. 1.00

00:18:37.540 Why is this lawsuit coming out?

00:18:38.860 Why is Disney all of a sudden saying, oh, no, we actually love Gina?

00:18:41.740 Oh, no, everyone loves Gina. 1.00

00:18:43.180 Yeah, we want to work with Gina in the future. 0.61

00:18:45.900 This is more than we're going to lose in court.

00:18:49.240 This is we've lost in the court of public opinion.

00:18:51.600 This is we need to fundamentally change our business model.

00:18:54.280 This is American Eagle is right.

00:18:56.820 Jaguar is wrong.

00:18:58.340 This is woke is dead.

00:19:01.460 And this lawsuit, I don't think the statement was just written by the lawyers.

00:19:06.320 I think it was written by the accountants.

00:19:07.620 I think it was written by the executives and the shareholders.

00:19:11.080 This is a surrender.

00:19:14.840 That fever dream that we went through is over.

00:19:18.700 For now.

00:19:19.100 It's not that it can't come back, but it's over for now.

00:19:22.080 You know, I'm reminded of an eschatological point that was made by Cardinal Manning, who says there is a day to come.

00:19:27.600 He said it more eloquently than I, but he said there is a day to come that will reverse the confident judgments of men.

00:19:34.400 And this is a wonderfully consoling observation, political and theological observation.

00:19:40.900 There was a time some of you kids, some of you kids out there might not remember it, but I remember it.

00:19:46.220 There was a time when everyone believed that a man could be a woman.

00:19:51.280 And if you didn't believe that, you were looked on as an idiot and evil and as though you would be ostracized forever from polite society.

00:20:00.580 And most people went along to get along, but some people said no.

00:20:03.780 This is ridiculous.

00:20:05.100 This ideology is false and it needs to be eradicated from public life entirely.

00:20:10.300 And there were a number of people who said things like that.

00:20:12.940 There was a time when we were told that if you don't put a hanky on your face for three years

00:20:17.100 and let your grandma die alone and stand six feet away from people for whatever reason 0.51

00:20:23.080 and inject yourself with an experimental drug and believe Dr. Fauci about the supposed bat soup origin of the Wuhan virus, 0.71

00:20:31.280 even though there was a biolab that we were funding doing this kind of research right down the road.

00:20:34.880 If you didn't do and believe all this stuff, you were going to be ostracized from society.

00:20:39.120 You never work again and you'd never be invited to Thanksgiving again and you're just out.

00:20:43.440 Okay, and that's all done.

00:20:45.100 And we look at that now as if we woke up from a fever dream and say, oh my goodness.

00:20:50.060 All those people were wrong.

00:20:51.740 All those people who demanded we get the vaccine, who demanded we put the stupid hanky on our face,

00:20:56.540 who insisted that men could be women.

00:20:58.560 This is like, what?

00:21:00.460 Can you believe we believe that?

00:21:02.540 Can you believe we believe that?

00:21:04.460 That's what we are already starting to say.

00:21:07.660 That's what Disney's starting to say.

00:21:09.560 Big win.

00:21:10.380 And the wins just keep on coming.

00:21:12.440 The liberal apologies and retractions just keep on coming.

00:21:15.880 James Carville.

00:21:17.220 You know James Carville?

00:21:18.340 Yeah, James Carville, the Democrat.

00:21:20.080 He's Democrat political scientist.

00:21:21.800 He's talking about raging caging.

00:21:23.080 He's hard to understand.

00:21:24.180 But he's a big run.

00:21:24.840 He won an election for Bill Clinton one time.

00:21:27.720 He's been riding the coattails of that for 30 years.

00:21:30.540 He's that guy.

00:21:31.400 You've probably seen him on cable news or whatever.

00:21:33.780 James Carville went a little bit too far.

00:21:36.500 James Carville posted a video to his show page, I guess.

00:21:43.780 Made some statements that he has since retracted and apologized.

00:21:48.000 Some of them are still up on the internet, though, on other channels.

00:21:51.240 Here's the claim Carville made that got him into trouble.

00:21:54.040 We have to consider this possibility.

00:21:58.440 Okay.

00:21:58.780 I said possibility, but it's a real possibility that Melania was introduced to Donald by Jeffrey Epstein.

00:22:10.220 Maybe that's why we have this fierce resistance to find out what's going on.

00:22:17.020 Now, I'm a very serious political consultant, political scientist.

00:22:20.520 I think we need to consider the possibility that the moon is made of green cheese.

00:22:24.920 People say the moon is made of rock.

00:22:28.340 But I think we need to consider the possibility that the moon is made of green cheese.

00:22:32.280 We have to consider it.

00:22:34.300 Do we have to consider it?

00:22:35.340 Why?

00:22:35.560 There's no evidence for it.

00:22:37.480 Well, that never stopped me before.

00:22:39.580 It never stopped my political party before.

00:22:43.280 We don't have to consider it.

00:22:44.580 Hey, hey, James, what's your evidence that Melania Trump is a prostitute trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein?

00:22:53.760 That's a claim.

00:22:54.680 This is that's a very sophisticated way of saying I think the first lady the whole.

00:22:59.920 That's what he's saying.

00:23:01.280 That's what he's saying.

00:23:02.520 Very offensive.

00:23:03.980 Not just to Trump's, but to the United States.

00:23:06.460 And he's saying this without any evidence whatsoever.

00:23:08.120 And he's trying to insinuate that Trump is deeply involved in the Epstein underworld.

00:23:14.720 So it's just based on nothing.

00:23:17.620 And the Trumps pushed on it.

00:23:19.420 Melania pushed on it. 0.99

00:23:22.600 Carville got a letter.

00:23:24.680 And Carville immediately apologized.

00:23:26.800 And Carville immediately took the videos down.

00:23:29.420 Because Carville knows that he would lose that defamation suit.

00:23:33.280 Hard to sue for defamation, especially if you're a public figure.

00:23:35.880 He will lose.

00:23:36.520 So he says, we took a look at what they complained about.

00:23:40.960 I just mostly like doing the James Carville Cajun accent.

00:23:44.460 We took down the video and edited out the comments from the episode.

00:23:48.040 I also take back these statements and apologize.

00:23:52.120 Yeah.

00:23:52.960 Yeah, you better.

00:23:54.700 You better.

00:23:55.280 I get a kick out of James Carville.

00:23:56.700 I think he's a funny political character.

00:23:58.420 But yeah, you better.

00:23:59.220 That's a little bit.

00:24:00.120 That's a little bit too far.

00:24:01.260 We're not going to put up with that.

00:24:02.780 Hey, Manx.

00:24:04.040 You know how you were canceling people?

00:24:06.520 For their political views, their religious views, for defending their constitutional rights.

00:24:11.320 Yeah, you're going to want to apologize.

00:24:12.620 You're going to want to make good on that real quick.

00:24:15.680 Because we're going to punish you.

00:24:17.660 That's what's going to happen.

00:24:18.760 So you better watch out for that.

00:24:21.220 Yeah, Disney?

00:24:22.660 Oh, yeah.

00:24:23.480 Well, we all love Gina Carano. 0.93

00:24:24.840 We can't wait to work together.

00:24:25.880 We want to do a new movie with it.

00:24:26.960 Yeah, yeah, you better.

00:24:28.440 I'd get that pre-production rolling real fast.

00:24:31.700 Because forgiveness is great.

00:24:34.820 It's a wonderful thing to do.

00:24:35.700 We all should do it.

00:24:38.180 But we don't forget.

00:24:39.800 And prudence is a political virtue.

00:24:41.460 And we're not letting people get away with this stuff.

00:24:45.620 This doesn't even end, as far as I'm concerned, with the Trump term.

00:24:48.740 There's more to come.

00:24:49.440 We'll get to what that means, what comes after Trump.

00:24:51.980 Because there's a new figure who could be in the presidential race, upend the whole thing.

00:24:56.440 You want culture that fights back.

00:24:58.140 You want daily shows that are uncensored, unapologetic, grounded in facts.

00:25:01.360 You want entertainment that entertains without the pronouns, the lectures, and the ideological landmines.

00:25:06.260 It's all here.

00:25:07.480 Take a look at what's happening this month on Daily Wire+.

00:25:10.860 I don't care what you did in your career the last five years.

00:25:14.500 What are you going to do tonight?

00:25:15.620 Yeah, that's a very good question.

00:25:19.920 Are you ready?

00:25:21.060 I'm ready.

00:25:21.800 Let's do it.

00:25:26.340 The moment you've waited for is here.

00:25:30.480 Coming up on The Pope and the Fuhrer.

00:25:32.460 Here we are with yet another week of Ben Afterdark.

00:25:34.180 My podcast has a brand new home, The Daily Wire.

00:25:37.600 This is where you make a decision of conscience.

00:25:39.920 I'm somebody that never gave up.

00:26:00.260 Don't miss a moment of what's coming to Daily Wire+.

00:26:02.520 Now is the time to join a community that still believes in what you believe in, believes in common sense, believes in the truth no matter who it offends.

00:26:09.300 Go to dailywireplus.com.

00:26:11.080 Be part of the fight.

00:26:12.400 My favorite comment yesterday is from Dolores Martinez, 2434.

00:26:16.080 Remove the word Mexican.

00:26:17.360 These illegals are a majority from El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Honduras, Somalia, India, etc.

00:26:21.580 Not all Mexico. 0.99

00:26:22.700 Yes, I know that.

00:26:23.860 The title yesterday was something like ICE offers 50 grand to round up Mexicans or something, which I didn't come up with, but I did think it was the funniest title.

00:26:31.520 It's funny.

00:26:32.040 It's funnier that way, guys.

00:26:33.640 Yes, I know most of the illegal aliens are not from Mexico.

00:26:37.960 I know they're from all sorts of places.

00:26:39.780 Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guatemala.

00:26:42.140 I know.

00:26:43.520 But Mexican is funnier. 0.99

00:26:44.980 That's a funnier title.

00:26:45.920 And I think you appreciate the poetic diction of our titles.

00:26:52.540 We strive for excellence.

00:26:54.720 And I think you all have to acknowledge that's funnier.

00:26:58.320 Why is it funnier?

00:26:58.980 I don't know.

00:26:59.200 It just is.

00:27:00.100 It just is.

00:27:01.120 It's funny in its ignorance.

00:27:04.240 That's funny.

00:27:05.320 I make no apologies.

00:27:06.320 I will not change the title.

00:27:07.340 Unlike James Carville, I will not change what was uploaded to YouTube.

00:27:11.360 Okay.

00:27:12.000 Speaking of the presidency,

00:27:13.060 New candidate potentially in the race.

00:27:18.120 The Daily Mail is citing a well-placed source next to, close to this potential candidate

00:27:26.280 who claims that Steve Bannon is planning a 2028 run.

00:27:33.160 You know Steve Bannon.

00:27:34.900 He was one of the architects of the Trump 2016 campaign.

00:27:38.660 He was a chief strategist in the White House.

00:27:41.960 He hosts a very popular podcast, major political figure in the MAGA movement, went to war with

00:27:49.500 Elon Musk famously during Doge, has hit Trump every so often.

00:27:54.640 Trump and he have fought, and they've gotten back together, then they've fought, then they

00:27:57.820 get back together.

00:27:59.940 Steve Bannon might want the job himself.

00:28:02.240 I did not see this coming.

00:28:05.120 Steve is kind of quelling the rumors, but kind of not quelling the rumors.

00:28:10.100 He was asked about this.

00:28:11.680 His response, it's apparently two words, his response was Trump 2028.

00:28:19.520 And some people are saying, he's denying that he wants to run, because he said Trump 2028.

00:28:24.240 That's not a denial.

00:28:25.620 That's a confirmation that he wants to run.

00:28:27.820 A denial that he wants to run would be Vance 2028.

00:28:32.220 Rubio 2028.

00:28:33.420 I don't know, Kennedy 2028.

00:28:38.640 Trump 2028 means I'm not endorsing Vance.

00:28:42.160 I'm not endorsing Rubio.

00:28:43.800 I'm not endorsing any of the players who clearly want to run, because I want to run.

00:28:51.000 This is an interesting candidacy.

00:28:53.240 I'm not saying that I'd bet the farm that Steve Bannon is going to be president.

00:28:56.900 I don't think he's a likely nominee.

00:28:58.580 Put that on the table to begin with.

00:29:02.040 But Steve Bannon, more than any other candidate right now, could blow up this race.

00:29:08.800 Because right now, the heir apparent is J.D. Vance.

00:29:13.140 J.D. Vance, very, very competent vice president, very skilled politician, extremely intelligent,

00:29:20.780 finger on the pulse of the base, online enough to be relevant, not so online that he misses

00:29:26.360 the majority of the norming part of the country.

00:29:28.400 He's just, he's in a very good position.

00:29:31.300 He's a very talented guy.

00:29:34.280 Rubio would be the next guy, Secretary of State.

00:29:39.060 Rubio, we'll get to this in a moment, Rubio seems to signal Vance is too strong.

00:29:44.120 I'm not going up against Vance.

00:29:46.200 So Vance is the heir apparent with Rubio waiting in the wings.

00:29:49.560 Then there are going to be other people from Capitol Hill.

00:29:52.740 There are going to be people, other governors.

00:29:54.340 There are going to be other private citizens who kind of mix things up.

00:29:57.680 None of them fundamentally alter the dynamic.

00:30:02.360 The only person who alters the dynamic here is someone who can make a credible claim to

00:30:07.500 represent MAGA.

00:30:09.280 And that person, to my mind, is Steve Bannon.

00:30:13.380 Right?

00:30:14.680 I don't know, maybe Elon could make a run or something.

00:30:17.080 Oh, no, he can't.

00:30:17.640 I'm sorry, he's an African-American. 1.00

00:30:19.140 Not because he, no, I'm not saying African-Americans can't run for president.

00:30:21.700 I'm saying he wasn't, he was born in Africa.

00:30:24.060 You understand.

00:30:24.900 So he can't do it.

00:30:27.380 So is Steve Bannon.

00:30:29.200 He's the guy.

00:30:29.880 And he could say, no, all these other guys are fakers.

00:30:32.820 I'm the real MAGA.

00:30:33.820 I'm the OG MAGA.

00:30:35.920 I'm Trump's third term.

00:30:37.640 That's what he, that's what he's saying here.

00:30:39.820 Are you going to run?

00:30:40.620 No, I want the third Trump term.

00:30:46.280 Implicitly, he's saying, and he's not going to give it to you.

00:30:48.340 And he's not going to give it to you.

00:30:49.200 And he's not going to give it to you.

00:30:49.940 I'm going to give it to you.

00:30:52.100 Now, what does Trump think about all this?

00:30:54.220 But before the rumors that Steve Bannon was running, Trump was asked who he thought the

00:30:58.400 heir apparent would be.

00:30:59.900 He has thus far tried to brush this question off.

00:31:03.800 Oh, I'm not going to say yet.

00:31:05.720 This guy's good.

00:31:06.460 This guy's good.

00:31:06.940 This guy's good.

00:31:07.780 He gets a little bit more specific here.

00:31:11.720 This morning that you probably won't be running for a third term.

00:31:15.280 This weekend, Secretary of State Rubio said that he thought J.D.

00:31:19.460 Vance would be a great nominee.

00:31:22.200 You could clear the entire Republican field right now.

00:31:25.500 Do you agree that the heir apparent to MAGA is J.D.

00:31:29.840 Vance?

00:31:30.320 Well, I think most likely, in all fairness, he's the vice president.

00:31:33.380 I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with J.D.

00:31:37.860 in some form.

00:31:39.220 I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here.

00:31:43.420 So it's too early, obviously, to talk about it.

00:31:45.600 But certainly he's doing a great job and he would be probably favorite at this point.

00:31:51.740 So this is not, as it's reported, Trump's full-throated endorsement of Vance 2028.

00:31:56.620 That's not what this is.

00:31:57.600 He was asked a question by Peter Doocy.

00:31:59.300 He had to give an answer.

00:32:01.040 He was a little stronger than he's been previously.

00:32:04.580 Previously, I said, is J.D. the heir apparent?

00:32:06.540 He goes, no, not necessarily.

00:32:08.360 Maybe, but not necessarily.

00:32:09.640 Here, he says, look, right now, the favorite has got to be J.D.

00:32:13.660 Now, why is he willing to say that?

00:32:16.440 Because Rubio kind of endorsed J.D.

00:32:20.100 Rubio said, I think J.D. would be a great nominee.

00:32:22.860 So Trump's objective here is not to set the race in stone already six months into his term.

00:32:32.480 In fact, I'm sure, emphatically, he does not want to do that.

00:32:36.220 Trump's objective here is to keep all of his guys incentivized to keep working hard.

00:32:41.960 If he comes out and he says, hey, it's J.D., but before Rubio's comments, he just comes

00:32:46.100 out and goes, it's J.D., all these other guys are going home.

00:32:49.140 Why is Marco Rubio going to be doing five different jobs for the administration?

00:32:52.400 What incentive does he have to keep working?

00:32:54.360 He might be better served to quit as Secretary of State, go run for governor of Florida or something.

00:32:58.240 What incentive does Pete Hegseth have to keep working hard?

00:33:02.380 If Pete wants, I don't know that Pete wants to run for president, but he could as Secretary

00:33:05.420 of Defense.

00:33:06.040 What incentive does Tulsi Gabbard have, Bobby Kennedy have?

00:33:08.860 What do these two people have already run for president, albeit in a different political

00:33:12.580 party?

00:33:12.920 He wants to keep them all incentivized to keep doing a good job.

00:33:17.400 So that's his objective.

00:33:19.480 But the field is already starting to coalesce.

00:33:24.140 Why?

00:33:25.180 Because this political moment for the Republican Party, more so than during the age of George

00:33:30.920 W. Bush, more so than during the age of George H.W. Bush, about as much as it was during

00:33:38.580 the age of Reagan, this moment is all about Trump.

00:33:43.660 So really, we say Steve Bannon could totally upend the race.

00:33:46.440 He could if Trump lets him.

00:33:50.040 And J.D. could be the nominee if Trump wants him.

00:33:53.720 And Rubio could be the nominee, probably, if Trump wants him.

00:33:57.840 I think it's down to Trump.

00:33:59.380 Since 2016, people have been saying it's not about Trump.

00:34:01.600 It's about this idea or that idea.

00:34:03.360 The movement's not about it.

00:34:04.600 It is.

00:34:05.700 All these other guys who say, I'm MAGA.

00:34:07.260 No, I'm the essence of MAGA.

00:34:08.300 No, I'm the heart of MAGA, is Trump.

00:34:11.660 Trump's the guy who did it.

00:34:13.800 Trump's the guy who survived all of the political assassination attempts, the literal assassination

00:34:18.420 attempts, got part of his ear blown off, and won the popular vote as a Republican for

00:34:21.920 the first time in 20 years.

00:34:23.000 It's going to come down to him.

00:34:25.160 That's why people keep asking him who's the successor going to be.

00:34:28.860 And so right now, no question about it, it's looking like Vance Rubio.

00:34:32.180 Okay, there's a story I really want to get to.

00:34:35.140 I know my take is going to be super unpopular, but I don't care.

00:34:37.340 I'm telling you the truth, man.

00:34:38.420 You don't come to me to be flattered.

00:34:41.980 You come to me for the respect and dignity that I offer you, or the respect I have rather

00:34:48.300 for your dignity, the respect that I offer you to tell you the truth.

00:34:53.100 Alan Dershowitz was just up at Martha's Vineyard.

00:34:55.280 He's had a lot of problems at Martha's Vineyard recently because he represented Trump.

00:35:00.920 He was Trump's impeachment lawyer.

00:35:03.740 Even though he's a lifelong liberal and kind of a civil libertarian type, but he's a liberal.

00:35:10.200 He got all of his liberal friends at Martha's Vineyard.

00:35:12.640 They stopped talking to him.

00:35:13.440 Larry David would shout at him in grocery stores because he was associating with Trump,

00:35:17.220 because Mike Pompeo is one of his former students, because he says nice things about

00:35:20.260 Ted Cruz.

00:35:21.480 So Alan shows up to a farmer's market, goes up to a pierogi stand.

00:35:26.340 This video is taken.

00:35:27.860 We're entering in media race here.

00:35:29.240 But apparently, the proprietors from the super liberal enclave of the super liberal vacation

00:35:35.620 spot refused to sell Alan pierogies, apparently because he's a Zionist. 0.58

00:35:43.760 I have two pierogies stands, one for anti-Zionists and one for people who will sell to anybody. 0.99

00:35:49.600 So I'd ask you to please just sell me any one of your products to show that you're prepared

00:35:54.640 to sell to anybody and not allow your anti-Zionism to decide which people who will sell to.

00:36:04.400 Ethan, this man is calling me an anti-Zionist.

00:36:08.960 Excuse me, this man is a saint.

00:36:11.620 I also offer you this book, which I signed it to you, to Krim, who's learned the truth.

00:36:18.260 Thank you so much, Alan.

00:36:19.620 Thank you so much.

00:36:21.020 I am very surprised that you're here because of the things that you've been saying about

00:36:24.660 us and the business.

00:36:25.800 So this is not the first interaction.

00:36:29.620 Apparently, Alan showed up here before, said, OK, I want to buy some pierogies.

00:36:32.780 I love a good pierogi.

00:36:33.560 For those of you who don't know, it's a Polish dumpling. 1.00

00:36:35.360 It's very delicious.

00:36:36.620 And I said, wait, the Poles are liberal now? 0.99

00:36:39.680 I thought the Poles were conservative.

00:36:41.260 The Poles have saved Western civilization before. 0.92

00:36:43.800 Jan Sobieski, what is?

00:36:46.360 Well, apparently this person who runs the shop, Miskovic, uses they, them pronouns, OK?

00:36:55.240 And is a huge lib, apparently.

00:36:57.100 So, OK, Alan shows up there.

00:36:58.800 And you're trying to figure out, OK, what don't they like about Alan Dershowitz?

00:37:02.560 He represented Trump.

00:37:04.400 Could be the usual thing.

00:37:05.640 Is it?

00:37:06.040 No, it sounds like from this that it's because he's a Zionist.

00:37:10.880 He is very emphatically.

00:37:12.400 He's quite pro-Israel.

00:37:14.380 And Alan concluded this from some of the comments these people have made on social media.

00:37:18.720 And according to Alan Dershowitz, not only about support for the state of Israel, but

00:37:22.780 about Jewish cultural institutions generally.

00:37:25.300 OK, whatever.

00:37:25.880 I don't know anything about that.

00:37:27.780 What I do know is that Alan Dershowitz is completely in the right here.

00:37:32.480 I don't care if you don't like Alan Dershowitz.

00:37:34.940 I do like Alan Dershowitz, but I don't agree with him on a lot of things.

00:37:38.060 He's a liberal.

00:37:38.780 I'm a conservative.

00:37:40.160 He's an ardent Zionist.

00:37:42.100 I don't believe in the religious or historical premises of Zionism.

00:37:45.620 He, I do like that he defended Donald Trump in the impeachment.

00:37:49.140 That was good.

00:37:49.740 I do.

00:37:50.180 And he's a very intelligent man.

00:37:51.660 And he's very, he's a Harvard law professor.

00:37:54.440 I don't, I don't like Harvard really.

00:37:56.780 So look, there are a lot of reasons that people might not like Alan Dershowitz.

00:38:00.900 But this guy is completely in the right here.

00:38:03.820 Some people are going to make a comparison.

00:38:05.080 They're going to say, well, Michael, if Jack Phillips from Masterpiece Cake Shop doesn't

00:38:08.540 have to bake the cake for the transgender transition ceremony or for the gay, gay wedding, why 0.68

00:38:14.360 do the pierogi people have to sell pierogies to Alan Dershowitz?

00:38:17.400 If whether it's because they hate Trump or whether it's because they hate Israel or whatever,

00:38:21.340 they should have every right to refuse him.

00:38:22.680 That isn't true.

00:38:23.980 In fact, the conclusion from the whole Masterpiece Cake Shop saga was that if, if a couple of

00:38:31.140 guys who were lighting the loafers walked into the cake shop and just wanted to buy a regular

00:38:34.720 ordinary cake, Jack Phillips would have to sell it to them.

00:38:37.980 He never refused to sell it to them.

00:38:39.920 The issue is they ordered a custom cake.

00:38:42.800 They wanted him to use his artistic abilities to create a custom work to participate in something

00:38:48.000 that he deemed immoral.

00:38:49.680 So sure, if, if Alan had walked up to the pierogi people and said, I want a custom pierogi

00:38:54.340 in the shape of Netanyahu's head, then they would have every right to say no.

00:38:58.280 They don't have right that the right to refuse some service just because he's conservative.

00:39:03.300 He's not even conservative or pro-Israel or a Jew or a Harvard professor.

00:39:07.740 They don't have the right to do that.

00:39:09.740 Now, some are going to say, what are you talking about?

00:39:11.180 We have free association in America.

00:39:12.620 No, we don't.

00:39:13.480 No, we don't.

00:39:14.080 We haven't since the 1960s.

00:39:15.800 You might say it would be better if we had greater freedom of association in America.

00:39:19.720 Yeah, maybe.

00:39:20.300 We just don't.

00:39:21.540 We just don't.

00:39:22.480 So what happens inevitably is the liberals enforce the law in the toughest way possible

00:39:30.740 against their opponents, and then they completely shirk the law and evade the law when it's

00:39:37.180 convenient to them.

00:39:38.940 And when I look at this, this is a they-them refusing the president's lawyer and a strong 0.98

00:39:48.940 defender on, sometimes, of conservative things, refusing him on illegal grounds.

00:39:55.460 And I think Allen should sue them for all their worth and take all their pierogies, 100%.

00:39:59.480 Last point on this, people will say, well, he was Epstein's lawyer.

00:40:03.160 He's the most famous criminal defense attorney in the United States.

00:40:06.200 Yes, he also defended a fella who broke the record for being the first, didn't break the

00:40:12.040 record, he set the record for being the first NFL player to rush 2,000 yards in a single

00:40:15.560 season.

00:40:16.100 Remember that guy?

00:40:16.560 Okay, that's what he'll always be known for, as Norm MacDonald pointed out.

00:40:20.000 Yeah, he's a famous criminal defense lawyer.

00:40:22.300 Sometimes he defends innocent people like Trump, sometimes rather guilty people like

00:40:26.140 O.J. Simpson or Jeffrey Epstein.

00:40:28.920 Take them for every pierogi they're worth.

00:40:30.940 I love pierogies.

00:40:31.980 Okay.

00:40:32.860 It's my favorite time of the week.

00:40:34.640 The Mailbag, sponsored by Pure Talk.

00:40:36.240 Go to puretalk.com slash Knowles, K-N-A-W-L-E-S.

00:40:38.200 Get your free phone today.

00:40:40.680 Take it away.

00:40:42.060 Hey there, Mr. Knowles.

00:40:42.920 I got a question.

00:40:43.580 Do you have any advice or encouragement for someone who feels purposeless right now?

00:40:51.160 Like, they read the Bible, they pray, they still feel purposeless.

00:40:57.880 Like, they just go from day to day, not really doing much with their lives, just having that

00:41:04.460 purposelessness.

00:41:06.340 And they tried hanging out with friends, the friends don't really want to hang out with

00:41:09.680 them.

00:41:10.380 They don't have any hobbies.

00:41:12.380 They don't have any skills.

00:41:14.920 You know, like, do you have any advice for someone like that?

00:41:17.200 Not saying it's me.

00:41:18.620 Asking for a friend, of course.

00:41:20.660 But, like, yeah, do you have any advice for someone like that?

00:41:25.420 Thank you so much for listening and your amazing show.

00:41:27.840 We can't wait until you're back.

00:41:29.100 Not that you have to or anything.

00:41:30.940 That's very kind.

00:41:32.500 Sorry to hear about your friend's predicament.

00:41:35.380 Because it's very tough.

00:41:37.320 Very tough to be lonely.

00:41:38.520 And it's very tough to feel as though you're not going anywhere and you're not succeeding.

00:41:41.900 Those things are difficult individually.

00:41:44.640 And when they all compound, as they sometimes do, it can be very, very difficult.

00:41:48.500 So, I'm sorry to hear that.

00:41:50.220 But, yes, there is a way out of that.

00:41:52.500 You say you're praying, you're reading your Bible, that's all very good.

00:41:55.580 You got to do stuff.

00:41:57.280 You got to do stuff is what you have to do.

00:41:59.040 Because we're physical creatures as well as spiritual creatures.

00:42:02.440 So, you're not going to find your purpose by just, like, thinking really hard.

00:42:07.000 In modernity, that's what we think happens.

00:42:09.640 I'm just going to think really hard and I'm going to dig into myself so deeply that I'm

00:42:14.020 going to find my true self.

00:42:15.220 That's not how we work.

00:42:15.920 We're incarnate creatures.

00:42:16.620 So, you cultivate your identity by doing in the real world in time and space.

00:42:23.120 So, what I would suggest, you say you have no skills, you have no job, you have no skills,

00:42:28.220 you have no, go get a job.

00:42:30.460 Go get any job.

00:42:32.060 Go get any job.

00:42:33.920 If you can't get a job, volunteer.

00:42:36.800 Go volunteer for something.

00:42:39.540 Probably better to get a job.

00:42:41.760 Also good to volunteer.

00:42:42.820 Maybe best to do both.

00:42:45.780 And just start seeing what's going on.

00:42:48.740 Worst case scenario, you still don't figure out what you like and want to do, but you've

00:42:52.060 at least made some money.

00:42:53.140 You've at least been productive.

00:42:54.400 You can at least, I don't know, go take your family out to dinner or something like that.

00:42:58.600 You will meet people that way.

00:43:00.980 You will gain friendships that way.

00:43:03.620 And maybe friendships that are deeper than the friendships you have right now.

00:43:07.320 Because the friendships that you say are kind of weak, your friends don't want to hang

00:43:10.360 out with you.

00:43:10.860 Maybe those are friendships of convenience.

00:43:12.380 You happen to grow up in the same place.

00:43:13.920 You happen to go to the same school or something.

00:43:16.280 But those deeper friendships, friendships of either friendships of utility, which is

00:43:21.100 still a little weak, or friendships of the good, friendships of virtue, they're going

00:43:24.400 to develop from things that you're interested in.

00:43:26.480 Because two friends are like two people standing side by side, looking at the same thing,

00:43:30.340 pursuing the same thing.

00:43:31.920 That's what you got to do.

00:43:33.740 You got to, and anyone can do that.

00:43:35.460 But you can almost certainly get some job.

00:43:39.740 I saw some report yesterday, 11% of Zoomers are NEETs.

00:43:45.900 11% were in one in 10.

00:43:47.320 NEETs meaning not in education, not employed, not training at anything, not doing anything.

00:43:52.300 So you're far from alone in your loneliness and feeling of purposelessness, but just do

00:43:57.600 something.

00:44:00.640 The line that Andrew Klavan used to me once, he was giving me career advice.

00:44:04.540 He said, well, God can't drive a parked car.

00:44:07.960 You got, the car's got to be moving, man.

00:44:10.420 So that's what I, that's what I would do.

00:44:11.740 Don't despair.

00:44:13.120 Just do.

00:44:14.020 If you, you say you don't have any hobbies, go bird watching.

00:44:18.760 You say you don't have any hobbies, order some cheap canvases and paint acrylic paintings.

00:44:23.260 That's why I did during COVID.

00:44:24.620 Still terrible at it.

00:44:25.640 It was a great joy.

00:44:26.680 Go order a ukulele.

00:44:28.000 You don't have any hobby.

00:44:29.480 You know how you're going to get a hobby?

00:44:30.500 By doing stuff.

00:44:31.500 Next question.

00:44:32.000 Good morning, Big Mike.

00:44:34.800 You seem to be quite excited about the new ice job offers on your show on Thursday, August

00:44:39.880 7th.

00:44:40.800 You and I are in a similar state in life.

00:44:43.000 I have two kids under two and just getting started.

00:44:45.780 A beautiful wife, traditional Catholic, a good paying job.

00:44:49.260 Although you are several years older than I am.

00:44:51.840 And I'm a bit more physically conditioned.

00:44:54.080 No offense.

00:44:54.620 I have always had a love for this country and really wanted to serve the country in

00:44:59.680 some way.

00:45:00.900 Keeping prudence in the ultimate goal of making it to our eternal reward in mind, along with

00:45:06.280 about six months of basic training that requires living away from wife and kids, what are your

00:45:10.880 thoughts on someone in this state of life joining ICE?

00:45:13.680 It would be a significant pay cut and require being away from wife and kids for basic training. 0.92

00:45:18.120 Or is there something else you would suggest to fill this patriotic desire?

00:45:22.260 Just curious.

00:45:23.240 Thanks.

00:45:23.700 God bless.

00:45:24.920 Well, yeah.

00:45:25.540 I don't know that you need to take a big pay cut and leave your family in order to join ICE.

00:45:31.660 The ICE offer is very attractive.

00:45:33.700 I mean, the ICE offer is, it's offering, what, an average salary of like 90 grand a year,

00:45:37.620 plus a $50,000 signing bonus, plus maybe some performance-based bonuses, plus some student

00:45:42.000 loan forgiveness.

00:45:42.580 So there are a lot of people for whom the ICE offer is, even just on the financial level,

00:45:46.480 very, very attractive.

00:45:47.560 And it's obviously good to serve your country, especially on an important issue like this.

00:45:51.360 But it's not for everybody.

00:45:53.240 And it seems like to me, you're asking me the question because you're not all that drawn

00:45:58.100 to it.

00:45:58.340 You say, it'd be pretty rough, bad pay cut.

00:46:00.140 Is there something?

00:46:01.040 Look, there are plenty of things you can do in public service.

00:46:03.180 But I would say it's got to be tied to your desire.

00:46:06.360 The first thing that a political consultant will tell you if you're thinking about running

00:46:09.340 for office is, are you 100% committed?

00:46:12.880 And is your family 100% committed?

00:46:14.740 If not, don't do it.

00:46:16.620 Because it requires a lot of sacrifice.

00:46:19.700 If you're going to do public service well, it requires a lot of sacrifice.

00:46:23.080 If you're going to do it in a poor and corrupt way, then it doesn't really require sacrifice.

00:46:27.780 Then you get the Nancy Pelosi portfolio.

00:46:29.740 You know, it's the most lucrative job in the world.

00:46:32.160 But if you do it well, it requires sacrifice.

00:46:35.580 So, make sure you're on board.

00:46:38.480 It sounds like maybe you're not the top candidate for ICE.

00:46:41.840 All right, leave those jobs to someone else.

00:46:43.400 But there are plenty of ways to serve.

00:46:46.000 You know, run for dog catcher.

00:46:47.720 They want me to move to the Membrum Segmentum right now.

00:46:49.960 I'm not going to do it because I want to get through this voicemail bag.

00:46:53.060 Keep going.

00:46:53.720 Hi, Michael.

00:46:54.380 Love the show.

00:46:55.420 Except for on Theology Thursdays when I always find myself yelling the answers in frustration

00:47:00.300 at the screen.

00:47:00.960 I just wanted to push back a little bit on your position on the renewal of marriage vows,

00:47:06.920 which you had commented on in the past.

00:47:09.700 Just for some context, I also attend the TLM here in Oklahoma.

00:47:13.400 So, I would remind you of how during the Easter vigil every year, we all renew our baptismal

00:47:19.420 vows together.

00:47:20.920 Why do we do this?

00:47:22.140 It's not that our baptism didn't work in the first place, but rather because we as humans

00:47:26.720 need to be reminded of the pledges we made at baptism.

00:47:30.040 We need our intentions and our resolve to be reignited.

00:47:34.780 Now, before you start arguing with me that both the form and the matter of the sacrament

00:47:39.220 are present when renewing marriage vows, while they are not necessarily when we renew our

00:47:45.040 baptismal promises, I would just reiterate again that the purpose of the renewal in both

00:47:50.220 cases is not to receive the sacrament again, but rather to remind our human nature of what

00:47:55.960 we ought to be doing.

00:47:57.660 Love to hear your thoughts.

00:47:58.620 Thanks and God bless.

00:48:00.040 Okay, that was a very, very thoughtful question to make a good case for a side of the argument

00:48:08.060 that is not the most persuasive.

00:48:09.580 But that was a very, very thoughtful way to put it.

00:48:13.060 My issue with the vow renewals is more practical than that.

00:48:17.820 You raise a great point at a deeper level, which is that when you're reiterating your baptismal

00:48:24.680 vows, it's not as though the form and the matter are both present from the original sacrament,

00:48:28.980 from the efficacious and single sacrament.

00:48:31.640 But it's just a kind of, you're saying the same thing again.

00:48:34.120 Whereas with the vow renewal in marriage, it's a little different.

00:48:38.760 My issue with it is more practical.

00:48:41.560 Practically speaking, when I hear someone is going to have a renewal of vows, I say, oh,

00:48:45.900 that's the first step to their divorce.

00:48:47.500 Okay.

00:48:48.080 Just practically speaking, I've seen it happen.

00:48:52.200 This is when we, ah, yeah, the wife and I, we went through a tough patch, but we renewed

00:48:55.780 our vows.

00:48:56.540 Five seconds later, that couple's divorced.

00:49:00.200 Not every time, but a lot.

00:49:03.360 Because, yes, it is good to reiterate your marriage, Vaz.

00:49:06.980 You should reiterate it when you're sitting on the couch at night on a Tuesday.

00:49:10.860 You should.

00:49:11.180 I think about this.

00:49:11.920 I don't want to get too mushy or whatever.

00:49:13.220 I look over at Elisa, I say, well, I won't tell you everything I say to her, but I look

00:49:17.240 and say, girl, man, I really, yeah, things worked out for me, huh?

00:49:22.740 Yeah, this is all right.

00:49:24.540 You know, I'm not like really sappy or whatever about it, but I think, man, I got a good wife,

00:49:28.360 you know, I got a good wife. 1.00

00:49:30.620 And so you should do that.

00:49:32.540 And you can, if you want to have a more formal, structured way of doing that, go on a religious 0.97

00:49:37.060 retreat or something, maybe a silent retreat.

00:49:39.600 That's nice.

00:49:40.480 Especially if you have young kids.

00:49:42.280 But do that.

00:49:43.200 But I wouldn't kind of recreate a wedding.

00:49:47.660 I just practically, I don't think it works out.

00:49:49.800 And that's not, we don't even, we don't recreate our, the image and the aesthetics

00:49:54.180 of our baptism, you know, when we reiterate those vows either.

00:49:57.620 Okay.

00:49:58.560 Final question.

00:50:03.120 Hello, Michael.

00:50:04.060 My question concerns the ethical implications and justification of organ transplantation,

00:50:09.300 as it has been something you've been talking about on the show quite frequently as of late.

00:50:14.340 I am currently 19, but at 16, I received a heart transplant due to prior health issues.

00:50:19.180 Since then, I've obviously grown much in wisdom, intellect, and virtue.

00:50:23.560 And now I firmly echo your concerns.

00:50:26.380 And I believe that removing the care from someone else's life, cutting them open, and

00:50:30.840 essentially killing them, obviously can never be morally or ethically justified.

00:50:35.340 As I've been being a devout Catholic for over two years now, after being largely a strain,

00:50:42.600 this is something I really struggle to reconcile with with my faith and how to justify not justifying

00:50:49.140 it.

00:50:49.400 When I address these concerns with my family, who is still largely secularized, they consistently

00:50:54.460 urge me to justify the moral flaws in this practice, pushing me to focus on the donor's

00:50:59.140 good intentions.

00:50:59.920 It's often growing upset or irritated when I bring it up.

00:51:03.840 Please let me know what I should do.

00:51:05.620 These issues are weighing on me heavily, and your wisdom and input are greatly appreciated.

00:51:11.480 I think you've got to give the heart back.

00:51:13.720 No, I'm joking.

00:51:14.860 I don't mean to make a joke about this.

00:51:17.480 I guess I do mean to, but I don't mean to be light about it.

00:51:21.440 But I don't know why this should be weighing on you.

00:51:24.080 You don't need to feel guilty that you got the heart.

00:51:25.960 You didn't really have much to do with it, and you don't know if the heart was harvested

00:51:32.300 necessarily in an immoral way.

00:51:35.540 The issue with organ donation is precisely that, is the uncertainty.

00:51:40.120 Not necessarily all the time, but sometimes because of our definition of brain death and

00:51:45.940 apparently evolving notions of death, sometimes the organs are harvested from living people,

00:51:51.880 and it is in fact the harvesting of the organs that kills the person.

00:51:54.300 So that's the issue.

00:51:56.080 You don't know any of the details of that.

00:51:58.540 You're the recipient of this heart.

00:52:00.900 You don't need to feel bad for that.

00:52:03.260 If it's really bothering you, bring it up in confession.

00:52:05.460 I wouldn't worry about that at all.

00:52:08.140 I'll go further.

00:52:08.920 Even if you were to find out that the heart was harvested in an immoral way, you could say,

00:52:15.600 well, I'm grateful that I'm alive.

00:52:17.080 I'm grateful for the good that I am alive, but I would not justify a practice that is immoral

00:52:21.640 or that he's even potentially immoral.

00:52:24.660 Just like you could say, if you were the product of rape, if you were conceived in rape, you

00:52:29.060 could say, well, I'm grateful for the good that I am alive, but I'm not justifying rape.

00:52:33.220 This is, people have this issue, especially you see this with IVF, where they begin to

00:52:37.460 realize, oh, yikes, there are some serious bioethical problems with IVF.

00:52:43.120 It practically speaking skyrockets the abortion rate. 1.00

00:52:46.920 It generally comes to killing a dozen children or something and freezing them indefinitely

00:52:52.960 and has all these, many, many other implications.

00:52:57.020 And they say, but, you know, I wouldn't have my little nephew if not for IVF.

00:53:01.580 So I have to defend it.

00:53:03.020 You don't have to.

00:53:03.800 You can be grateful for good ends without justifying your moral means.

00:53:07.360 And in this case, you could, you actually have a lot of credibility.

00:53:09.340 You say, look, I'm a beneficiary of this system, but the system obviously needs to

00:53:12.760 be reformed and highly regulated and have guardrails put on because while those people

00:53:18.880 had good intentions, maybe the, maybe the people, forget about the donors, obviously,

00:53:23.440 who have literally given you their organs, but, but even the people who built the system

00:53:27.720 of organ donation, those people had good intentions too, but the road to hell is paved

00:53:31.980 in good intentions.

00:53:32.760 Good intentions can go wrong.

00:53:34.280 And so you need, you need those guardrails.

00:53:36.080 Okay.

00:53:37.140 It's Fake Headline Friday.

00:53:37.860 The rest of the show continues now.

00:53:38.940 You do not want to miss it.

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The Michael Knowles Show - August 08, 2025

Ep. 1789 - White Woman Beaten By Black Gang SPEAKS OUT

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