The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 206 - The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

00:00:00.380 Democrats have fallen victim to one of the three classic blunders.

00:00:04.240 Everybody knows the first, never fight a land war in Asia.

00:00:07.060 The second, less well-known, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

00:00:11.480 But the third is where they've stumbled.

00:00:13.640 Never challenge Donald Trump to a battle in the media.

00:00:17.260 We will analyze why the best defense is a good offense.

00:00:21.440 Then, a CNN contributor posts the stupidest tweet of the week.

00:00:24.760 Patrick Madrid joins the show to discuss how to approach politics as a Christian.

00:00:29.360 And then finally, the mailbag.

00:00:31.060 I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:00:40.240 Oh, I can't believe they fell for it.

00:00:43.440 This is something right out of the Princess Brides.

00:00:45.600 These media have fallen for the worst mistake they could possibly have done.

00:00:49.780 And Democrats, broadly.

00:00:51.300 Because the media are just the TV representatives of the Democrats.

00:00:55.300 So, we know the big news, it's on every website.

00:00:58.120 It's all anybody is talking about is the Cohen plea and the Manafort guilty verdict.

00:01:04.120 On some counts, not all counts.

00:01:05.920 Trump, they've got him.

00:01:07.280 They've finally got Trump.

00:01:08.620 Now, legal scholars are really mixed about all this.

00:01:12.560 We'll get into the legality of it.

00:01:14.260 We'll get into what the mainstream media are doing.

00:01:16.260 And we will get into why this is such a big mistake.

00:01:19.100 And they're going to run themselves into a wall if they keep it up.

00:01:21.480 Before we do that, I want to thank a new sponsor.

00:01:25.760 That's right.

00:01:26.280 We've got a new sponsor.

00:01:27.620 And that's because the future is so bright out there, folks, that you need blinds to put in your windows so that it doesn't just shine in and keep you up all night.

00:01:35.840 Blinds.com is wonderful.

00:01:38.580 Window treatments is one of those soulless, adulting terms for something necessary but extremely boring, which is your blinds.

00:01:46.760 You don't even need to think about them unless you move or they break.

00:01:50.500 Well, right now, taking the time to pick out blinds, it sounds expensive.

00:01:54.460 It sounds very boring.

00:01:55.220 It's something that I would never do.

00:01:56.820 If something doesn't hold my attention for more than 20 seconds, I don't do it ever.

00:02:01.420 And this includes blinds, which is why you've got to go to blinds.com because it makes it very easy for you.

00:02:06.140 If you're not sure what you want, if you don't even know where to start, with blinds.com, you get a free online design consultation.

00:02:11.820 This is especially true for the gentlemen out there.

00:02:14.240 I know you probably don't spend a lot of time designing your blinds scheme in your bedroom or living room.

00:02:20.280 Let them handle it.

00:02:21.060 It's so good.

00:02:21.560 Send them pictures of your house.

00:02:22.800 They will send back custom recommendations from a professional for what will work with your color scheme, your furniture, your specific rooms.

00:02:29.500 Outsource it, baby.

00:02:30.520 Let them handle it.

00:02:31.860 You are not the expert.

00:02:32.780 You don't want to deal with it.

00:02:33.800 Best part is if you accidentally mismeasure or pick the wrong color, looking at little old me right here,

00:02:39.460 if you screw up, blinds.com will remake your blinds for free.

00:02:43.920 They make it very easy for you.

00:02:45.360 There is no excuse to leave up those mangled blinds that make your place look like a set from The Wire or perhaps from The Daily Wire.

00:02:52.660 I don't know.

00:02:52.940 Definitely my set from The Daily Wire.

00:02:54.760 This is real.

00:02:55.280 I was, especially when I'd live as a bachelor, I just have, they'd all like fall down.

00:02:59.480 They'd be all mangled up.

00:03:00.480 I did not care whatsoever.

00:03:02.820 Don't do that.

00:03:03.440 Be an adult.

00:03:04.020 Have some respect for yourself.

00:03:05.380 What would Jordan Peterson say about that?

00:03:07.320 For a limited time, you can get 20% off of everything at blinds.com when you use the promo code Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.

00:03:13.240 Don't say I never did nothing for you.

00:03:15.040 Save one-fifth.

00:03:16.760 Blinds.com promo code Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.

00:03:19.820 Off of everything.

00:03:21.380 Faux wood blinds, cellular shades, roller shades, and more.

00:03:25.560 Ooh, getting fancy with those roller shades.

00:03:27.880 Blinds.com.

00:03:28.760 Go right now.

00:03:29.300 I'll wait.

00:03:30.240 Promo code Michael.

00:03:31.440 Blinds.com.

00:03:32.000 Promo code Michael.

00:03:32.640 Rules and restrictions apply.

00:03:34.220 Because we're not anarchists here, folks.

00:03:35.800 Obviously, some rules apply.

00:03:37.920 Let's get into it.

00:03:38.660 They're all talking.

00:03:41.080 This is it.

00:03:41.740 We've got Trump.

00:03:42.820 Because of the guilty and the this and the campaign finance.

00:03:47.360 Now, mind you, legal scholars are saying that it's far from clear whether Donald Trump could have even committed a crime with regard to the Michael Cohen testimony.

00:03:56.720 Even if Donald Trump instructed Michael Cohen, his lawyer, to make a payment regarding Stormy Daniels or any of these other girls coming out of the woodwork,

00:04:06.700 a number of lawyers say that that would not be a crime, including Alan Dershowitz, including one of the great legal scholars of this generation and the past generation.

00:04:14.600 He says there's no crime here.

00:04:16.760 It's certainly possible that Michael Cohen committed a crime, but it's basically impossible that Donald Trump committed a crime here.

00:04:23.180 And President Trump is more correct than his critics.

00:04:25.320 And that's from Alan Dershowitz, who is a liberal, who is not a conservative, even though people are pretending he is.

00:04:30.500 He's certainly a liberal.

00:04:31.880 Other lawyers are saying exactly the same thing.

00:04:34.400 So, mainstream media, what's your take on all this?

00:04:37.080 The president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, is named a co-conspirator of a federal crime.

00:04:42.740 Is that grounds for impeachment?

00:04:44.580 Do you think impeachment is more likely at this point?

00:04:47.500 Impeachment.

00:04:48.060 Impeachment.

00:04:48.560 Impeachment.

00:04:49.080 Impeachment.

00:04:49.760 Impeachment.

00:04:50.460 Does this move the needle at all?

00:04:52.620 More confidence to move forward on impeachment.

00:04:55.320 President facing impeachment.

00:04:56.720 Impeachment will be on the Democrats' agenda.

00:04:59.480 The I word.

00:05:00.420 Impeachment.

00:05:01.340 The I word.

00:05:02.540 Impeachment.

00:05:03.280 The I word.

00:05:04.260 Impeachment.

00:05:05.060 The I word.

00:05:05.900 The I word.

00:05:06.540 An impeachment.

00:05:07.340 Let's take a look at the process of impeachment.

00:05:09.780 Impeachment.

00:05:10.360 Impeachment.

00:05:11.020 Impeachment.

00:05:11.660 Impeachment.

00:05:12.200 Impeachment.

00:05:12.800 To impeach.

00:05:13.360 For impeachment.

00:05:14.060 Impeachment.

00:05:14.660 He would have been impeached.

00:05:15.640 All of it bringing impeachment back to the forefront.

00:05:18.020 Talking about impeachment.

00:05:19.040 Impeachment talk.

00:05:20.160 Impeachment is a more viable option. 0.97

00:05:22.040 Do you think it would be appropriate to immediately begin impeachment proceedings?

00:05:26.480 Impeachment.

00:05:27.260 Impeachable.

00:05:28.500 Impeachment.

00:05:28.920 Impeachment.

00:05:29.420 Impeachment.

00:05:30.800 Impeachment.

00:05:31.680 Impeachment.

00:05:32.460 Impeachment.

00:05:33.240 Impeachment.

00:05:33.760 Impeachment.

00:05:35.360 That was yesterday.

00:05:37.840 That was one day.

00:05:40.300 I don't even think it was all of yesterday.

00:05:42.340 That was the cable news networks.

00:05:44.440 Immediately you've got this plea deal from Michael Cohen.

00:05:48.040 You've got the guilty verdict from Paul Manafort.

00:05:49.860 Nothing really talking about the president.

00:05:52.160 The president hasn't been accused of a crime here.

00:05:54.380 And you've got legal scholars saying that he couldn't have conspired in this crime.

00:05:59.160 And on and on and on.

00:06:00.040 And the typically sober response from the mainstream media.

00:06:03.240 Impeachment.

00:06:03.660 Impeachment.

00:06:04.020 Impeachment.

00:06:04.360 Impeachment.

00:06:04.700 Impeachment.

00:06:05.080 Okay.

00:06:05.680 Okay.

00:06:06.200 So how does Donald Trump respond to this?

00:06:08.720 Because this is what we've all been waiting for.

00:06:11.740 There are two ways that President Trump could respond.

00:06:13.780 He could immediately go on the defense and say, I didn't commit this crime.

00:06:17.180 I couldn't just focus all of his energy on how he didn't commit a crime.

00:06:22.080 How the law is a little vague, but he didn't do it.

00:06:24.940 And it's very difficult to convict someone on campaign finance.

00:06:28.140 And it's especially hard to get the president for these sorts of crimes.

00:06:31.600 And this isn't what the framers meant by high crimes and misdemeanors.

00:06:34.520 He could have gotten onto all that.

00:06:35.520 And we would be drooling asleep on our desks, right?

00:06:38.280 That would be very boring.

00:06:39.400 So the one option is defense.

00:06:41.660 The other option is offense.

00:06:44.040 Guess which one President Trump picked?

00:06:45.620 I'll give you one guess.

00:06:47.840 So President Trump begins this massive tweet storm.

00:06:53.240 And not just a tweet storm.

00:06:54.480 This was a media blitz.

00:06:56.120 He was shooting videos at the White House.

00:06:58.100 He was doing radio interviews.

00:06:59.480 He was doing TV interviews.

00:07:00.800 He was just blasting out there.

00:07:03.920 It begins with a joke.

00:07:06.200 He puts up this tweet.

00:07:07.660 And the tweet says, quote, this is after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and sort of implied that Donald Trump committed a crime.

00:07:13.600 He said, if anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen.

00:07:20.720 And, you know, I think that the left has become so humorless here that they can't understand when the president is telling a joke.

00:07:30.020 That tweet is an objectively funny tweet.

00:07:32.840 That is a joke, right?

00:07:33.820 Like in the sitcom version of all of this, in the TV version, which is really what we're living through, there, you know, the president's lawyer, the guy's lawyer would come out and, you know, say, you're a criminal and you're going to be impeached.

00:07:44.400 And then the main character, his punchline would be, well, if you want a lawyer, I don't recommend you hire this guy.

00:07:52.160 Waka waka.

00:07:52.880 And the laugh track would play and the credits would roll.

00:07:55.360 He's telling a joke and it totally lands.

00:07:57.720 It's a very funny clip.

00:07:59.620 But he doesn't just leave it at the joke.

00:08:01.040 So he immediately hits them with humor.

00:08:02.760 Why does he hit them with humor?

00:08:03.900 Because humor deflates one's opponents a lot better than being angry and small and, you know, crass and vulgar.

00:08:13.000 Laughing at them is a much more effective tool.

00:08:15.760 And then you start punching.

00:08:17.020 And it's all big.

00:08:18.140 It's all spirited.

00:08:19.220 It's not specific.

00:08:20.460 It's not in the details of the law.

00:08:23.300 It's not in the details of policy.

00:08:25.000 It is big.

00:08:25.760 It is spirited.

00:08:26.480 And it is an offense.

00:08:27.800 Here is President Trump first leading the way, talking about that poor girl Molly Tevitt's killed by an illegal alien.

00:08:34.860 Molly Tevitt's, an incredible young woman, is now permanently separated from her family.

00:08:42.720 A person came in from Mexico illegally and killed her.

00:08:49.140 We need the wall.

00:08:50.820 We need our immigration laws changed. 0.99

00:08:53.680 We need our border laws changed.

00:08:56.300 We need Republicans to do it because the Democrats aren't going to do it.

00:09:01.540 This is one instance of many.

00:09:03.320 We have tremendous crime trying to come through the borders.

00:09:07.600 We have the worst laws anywhere in the world.

00:09:10.980 Nobody has laws like the United States.

00:09:13.480 They are strictly pathetic.

00:09:16.620 We need new immigration laws.

00:09:19.140 We need new border laws.

00:09:20.920 The Democrats will never give them.

00:09:23.020 And the wall is being built.

00:09:24.880 We've started it.

00:09:25.780 But we also need the funding for this year's building of the wall.

00:09:30.520 So, to the family of Molly Tevitt's, all I can say is, God bless you.

00:09:38.260 God bless you.

00:09:39.100 So, for those of you who are only listening who can't see, this is President Trump standing alone just outside the White House, just in front of a camera.

00:09:46.740 And he's going on about this killing of Molly Tevitt's, killed by an illegal alien, talking about the wall.

00:09:53.360 He's got a little dig in there about the family separation crisis scandal, manufactured scandal at the border.

00:10:00.160 He said, this girl has been forever separated from her family.

00:10:03.580 We need to build the wall.

00:10:04.780 We need to double down.

00:10:06.100 And so, where is this coming from?

00:10:09.040 The Molly Tevitt story has already come out.

00:10:11.280 It's come out for over the past few days.

00:10:13.280 He's hitting this because this is one of his most popular points, his most popular rhetorical points.

00:10:18.060 And it was central to his campaign, Build the Wall.

00:10:20.500 It's very popular because the mainstream media are going to try to convince you that a payment to a porn star two years ago is worth taking down this entire presidency.

00:10:31.540 And he's going out there, and he's going to hit you really hard.

00:10:34.720 But he's not just stopping with Tibbetts.

00:10:36.620 He then goes on, and he suggests that his critics owe him an apology because of how great the country is going.

00:10:43.200 Here's the next video.

00:10:44.000 This comes up right afterward.

00:10:46.520 When I got elected, you had some people that said, this is going to be the greatest thing to ever happen to our country.

00:10:52.580 I guess that's why I won.

00:10:53.620 We had a lot of people.

00:10:55.000 But you had others that say, oh, the market will collapse.

00:10:57.840 Lots of bad things will happen.

00:10:59.980 And take a look at what's happened.

00:11:01.960 We have the greatest, longest bull market in the history of our country.

00:11:06.820 They turned out to be wrong.

00:11:08.700 Some have actually apologized, but very, very few.

00:11:12.360 I think the rest will soon be apologizing because, honestly, the American public demands an apology.

00:11:19.920 We are doing better financially as a country than we've ever done before.

00:11:25.640 Same position, same right outside the White House, right in front of that camera.

00:11:29.100 Totally different topic, talking about how great the economy is, how everyone predicted.

00:11:33.800 And you remember this.

00:11:34.760 You remember in 2016, they predicted if Trump wins, the economy is going to tank.

00:11:38.420 We're going to go into a recession.

00:11:39.660 The global economy is going to crash.

00:11:41.740 What happens?

00:11:42.500 We have the strongest economy we've ever had.

00:11:44.540 We have record high employment.

00:11:46.060 We've got record low joblessness.

00:11:47.700 The global economy is doing better.

00:11:49.960 And he's calling people's attention back to that.

00:11:52.420 This doesn't begin to scratch the surface.

00:11:55.560 Donald Trump has tweeted 16 times yesterday.

00:11:58.600 He does not tweet that much.

00:11:59.800 He tweeted 16 times yesterday.

00:12:02.060 As of just early this morning, when I was going through the news, he had already tweeted three times this morning.

00:12:06.600 And not just little one-off tweets.

00:12:08.320 He tweeted several videos, big media appearances, all of this.

00:12:13.860 And what are the topics?

00:12:14.980 Was it just Molly Tippetts?

00:12:16.380 Was it just the economy?

00:12:17.280 Was it just the Michael Cohen issues and the Paul Manafort issues?

00:12:22.340 No.

00:12:22.720 He tweeted about all of the topics.

00:12:24.380 As of 10 a.m., he tweeted about deporting a Nazi, hurricane relief, how the Democrats want to abolish ICE, how he is killing ISIS.

00:12:33.300 He tweeted about a Medal of Honor.

00:12:35.280 He tweeted about the longest bull run in American history.

00:12:37.780 He tweeted about an illegal alien killing Molly Tippetts, the economy, Hillary, the South African farm expropriation that's going on right now, right now in South Africa.

00:12:47.000 The government has voted to steal farms from white farm owners on the basis of their race.

00:12:53.080 And the left is denying this.

00:12:54.300 They're saying that this is a white nationalist talking point, even though the government of South Africa has said this and has said that they're going to do this.

00:13:02.200 Apparently now it's facts or racism or something like that.

00:13:06.320 So he's tweeting about that.

00:13:07.640 He tweeted about the crooked press.

00:13:09.080 He's tweeted about repealing Obamacare, deregulation, and, of course, the rigged witch hunt.

00:13:13.700 He's tweeted about all of these things in the last 24 hours.

00:13:16.140 What we're seeing here is Donald Trump hard charging.

00:13:20.360 This is the superpower of Donald Trump.

00:13:22.820 It is the reason that it is good that he got elected over many of the other more qualified, more politically experienced candidates who were in that field.

00:13:32.060 Because Donald Trump does not just play defense.

00:13:35.700 He plays strong offense in a way that a lot of other politicians, especially Republicans, don't do.

00:13:42.100 He answers every charge.

00:13:43.760 It's not that he doesn't defend himself.

00:13:45.060 He's always answering the charge.

00:13:46.760 This is a rigged witch hunt.

00:13:47.760 I didn't do this.

00:13:48.540 I didn't do this.

00:13:49.180 But he doesn't just leave it there.

00:13:50.620 He punches back 100 times as hard.

00:13:52.960 This reminds me of the Rosie O'Donnell thing.

00:13:55.180 Rosie O'Donnell said that Donald Trump was bankrupt.

00:13:57.560 Donald Trump went on a holy jihad for the next five years, calling her every name in the book and trying to ruin her life, all the way up to the debate stage in 2016, a decade later.

00:14:09.000 This guy is scorched earth.

00:14:11.520 And it's the sort of thing we need right now because the forces trying to take it down are so corrupt.

00:14:16.220 This is not a novel idea that the best defense is a good offense.

00:14:20.360 This is an idea that was embraced by George Washington.

00:14:23.280 Mao Zedong talked about this.

00:14:24.700 Sun Tzu talks about this.

00:14:26.760 Machiavelli writes about this.

00:14:28.360 Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

00:14:30.280 Ronald Reagan frequently said, when you're explaining, you're losing.

00:14:34.400 If you're explaining, if you're defending, if you're going.

00:14:36.700 But if you're hitting fast, if you're hard charging, if you're fearless when it comes to these guys, you are in a much better position.

00:14:44.920 I was watching President Trump's rally in West Virginia the other day.

00:14:50.220 I was sitting with Cassie Dillon here at the office.

00:14:52.740 And this was right as the Michael Cohen news broke.

00:14:56.300 We thought, oh, he's definitely going to be off-footed by this.

00:14:58.840 He is, this is going to be, let's see what he does.

00:15:01.740 And she and I looked at each other.

00:15:03.460 It was the best that he's performed at one of these rallies in a long time, in recent memory.

00:15:10.120 Why is that?

00:15:11.020 Because Democrats think that they're going to off-foot him with these things.

00:15:14.460 This is where he thrives.

00:15:16.140 He actually doesn't do as well politically when things are going well and things are kind of normal.

00:15:20.740 That's not where Donald Trump thrives.

00:15:22.540 Donald Trump thrives in fighting and hostility and barbs and punching.

00:15:27.920 That's where he lives.

00:15:29.780 And in many ways, Democrats have backed themselves into his corner and are playing on his home turf.

00:15:36.280 Perhaps there's this legal question he's going to have to deal with.

00:15:38.860 That's going to be tough.

00:15:39.580 I'm not really commenting on the legal aspect of it.

00:15:41.980 Maybe we'll try to get Professor Dershowitz back to talk about that.

00:15:44.340 I'm just talking about politically.

00:15:46.140 He wins when he's got an opponent to punch.

00:15:49.140 Donald Trump wins when he's got Jeb Bush.

00:15:51.020 He wins when he's got crooked Hillary. 1.00

00:15:52.320 And now he wins when he's got these Democrats threatening his presidency over a porn star.

00:15:58.620 That's where he's going to win.

00:16:00.120 If they really wanted to off-foot him, they would just lay off.

00:16:03.280 They would just lay off and let him tweet about football players or something.

00:16:06.700 Try to start fights.

00:16:08.000 Donald Trump is always ready to punch people in the face.

00:16:12.320 If they really wanted to make him look bad or really wanted to get his presidency off on the wrong foot,

00:16:16.420 they would tone down the rhetoric, tone down the hostility.

00:16:19.140 But they just can't do it.

00:16:20.820 They've made one of the classic blunders.

00:16:22.980 You are never, I promise you Democrats,

00:16:25.080 you are never going to win a media war with a guy who has lived in the media since the 1980s.

00:16:32.180 It's just not going to happen.

00:16:33.560 This guy has lived in every aspect of the media.

00:16:36.380 He is a creature of the media.

00:16:37.980 He is, they make fun of him.

00:16:39.480 They say, oh, Trump consumes 10 hours of TV a day.

00:16:43.120 He probably does.

00:16:44.500 He probably does because he has his finger on the pulse of the popular culture.

00:16:47.760 Not a smart move for them.

00:16:49.000 But pretty good news for us because that's where we see him win.

00:16:52.400 If Trump didn't have foils, if he didn't have fighting,

00:16:55.080 if he didn't have rough, brutal attacks in 2016, he would not have won.

00:16:58.560 He wouldn't have won the general.

00:16:59.400 He wouldn't have won the primary.

00:17:01.000 It takes all of those attacks and he's let it happen.

00:17:05.260 We'll see what happens.

00:17:06.300 We'll see what happens with the legal intent or the legal aspect of this.

00:17:09.740 Did Trump have criminal intent?

00:17:11.980 Did the payment only have electoral benefit?

00:17:15.040 Was there personal benefit?

00:17:16.200 But who knows?

00:17:19.720 They're trying to make this a legal question.

00:17:22.660 It is a political question.

00:17:24.720 Impeachment is a political question, especially for Democrats who are running on impeachment

00:17:28.220 before legal questions were even really brought up.

00:17:32.000 This is a political question.

00:17:33.300 And who is better at these politics?

00:17:35.540 It really vindicates this argument.

00:17:37.400 At least he's a fighter.

00:17:38.260 This is really good news.

00:17:39.000 Before we get to Patrick, I want to bring Patrick Madrid on.

00:17:41.320 I do have to talk about the stupidest tweet on the internet today.

00:17:43.660 Just very quickly before we go.

00:17:46.020 The CNN contributor, Simone Sanders, big lefty. 0.58

00:17:49.860 She tweets, quote,

00:17:51.400 Molly Tibbetts was murdered because she told a man to leave her alone while she was jogging.

00:17:56.040 Her murderer happens to be undocumented.

00:17:59.280 That's lefty talk for illegal alien. 0.91

00:18:01.540 Because I was undocumented when I worked as a 14-year-old at Subway.

00:18:05.420 That was an undocumented person.

00:18:06.980 This guy's an illegal alien who broke our laws and was here illegally. 1.00

00:18:10.060 She goes on.

00:18:10.720 Her murderer happens to be undocumented.

00:18:12.360 This isn't about border security.

00:18:14.120 This is about toxic masculinity.

00:18:17.040 Molly Tibbetts lost her life because a man couldn't take her saying no. 0.71

00:18:21.080 Full stop.

00:18:25.820 If you're watching, Simone, I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

00:18:30.600 It's about border security.

00:18:31.980 It's about illegal aliens. 0.85

00:18:33.560 That's what it's about.

00:18:34.300 Toxic masculinity.

00:18:35.280 What on earth?

00:18:37.440 I think the issue here is that lefties must feel immense guilt because their reckless, lawless, immoral advocacy of open borders and not supporting border laws is leading to Americans being murdered time and time again.

00:18:53.860 There's a name for the mothers, angel mothers, of mothers whose kids have been killed by illegal aliens.

00:19:00.740 This is not the same, by the way.

00:19:02.120 People, they try to flip it.

00:19:03.980 They'll say, well, you must feel guilty if you're pro-Second Amendment at all the people who get shot.

00:19:07.700 No.

00:19:08.100 There's no gun control law that's been proposed in recent times that would have stopped any of these big shootings.

00:19:13.340 There's none.

00:19:13.800 However, immigration enforcement would have stopped all of these murders.

00:19:18.960 If we actually enforce the law, detained and deported illegal aliens in this country, none of the people killed by illegal aliens would have been killed by definition because they wouldn't be here. 0.98

00:19:29.800 It's really bad.

00:19:30.640 I understand why they feel guilt about this, but it's really horrific.

00:19:35.980 I mean, she's getting some blowback about this all over the Internet, and she really should.

00:19:40.380 That's a really vicious way to politicize a death and to try to wipe the blood off her hands, but she probably won't be able to. 1.00

00:19:47.320 Let's bring on Patrick Madrid so that we can talk about politics and Christianity and how to deal with this absurd political climate as a Christian. 0.84

00:19:55.480 Patrick, do we have you?

00:19:57.160 Yes, I'm here, Michael.

00:19:58.220 How are you?

00:19:58.700 Patrick, thank you for being here.

00:19:59.640 I'm a big fan of yours.

00:20:01.260 You will know Patrick Madrid as the host of the Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio.

00:20:05.820 He also has hosted a bunch of shows on EWTN.

00:20:08.800 He's an author and an all-around very smart guy and has a great Twitter account.

00:20:12.880 Patrick, we could talk about any number of subjects.

00:20:17.100 What I really want to talk about is how to approach politics in this political moment as a Christian without delving into a lack of charity or something like that.

00:20:28.180 I saw a few tweets from pastors around the country in the past few days.

00:20:32.440 One of them talked about this kind of wacky church where it's at a brewery and they talk about how Jesus was a Palestinian and he was killed by white supremacists and they donate their proceeds to Planned Parenthood.

00:20:48.460 And then this other pastor guy who said that, he said, Jesus wasn't white.

00:20:54.780 Jesus wasn't a Republican.

00:20:56.680 Jesus wasn't this.

00:20:58.020 He wasn't even a Christian. 0.80

00:20:59.960 Hashtag Wednesday wisdom.

00:21:02.020 Which really makes me wonder how he defines wisdom.

00:21:04.840 I don't want to be uncharitable toward these people.

00:21:08.600 How should Christians deal with this absurd, polarized political moment, especially when it comes to the left?

00:21:17.600 Well, thank you, Michael.

00:21:19.300 And thanks for having me on your program.

00:21:20.960 I'm not primarily into politics, although on my show we do veer into politics from time to time.

00:21:27.500 Can't help it.

00:21:28.160 It's just the way things are.

00:21:29.160 So I will begin by saying I'm an admirer of the way that you and Ben Shapiro and others handle it.

00:21:35.700 You go straight on.

00:21:36.820 You go head on to the absurdities.

00:21:39.260 Expose them for what they are.

00:21:40.400 I think that's very important that people need somebody to lead them and say, look, guys, this is ridiculous and here's why.

00:21:46.440 So that would be the first thing that I would propose.

00:21:49.100 And you're already doing a good job of that.

00:21:50.800 Oh, thank you.

00:21:51.360 Also.

00:21:52.140 Oh, you're welcome.

00:21:52.640 Yeah, and this is one of the reasons why I follow The Daily Wire, because it's a steady source for people to see exactly how it's done.

00:22:02.000 It's a fine line, I think, between using irony and perhaps a little bit of light mockery, perhaps.

00:22:08.680 And at the same time, like you said a moment ago, not offending unnecessarily.

00:22:12.460 We don't want to be gratuitously.

00:22:13.800 We don't want to insult people.

00:22:15.140 We don't want to do what so many people on the other side do to us routinely.

00:22:19.560 But at the same time, you have to stand and engage these people.

00:22:23.900 And what I found, Michael, as I know you found, is that as soon as the ideas get exposed in the public arena and people can actually see them for what they are and they can analyze the logic behind these beliefs, clearly we have the better arguments.

00:22:38.360 But it has to be done in public and it has to be done vigorously.

00:22:41.580 That's right, because, you know, I really admire your show.

00:22:45.460 I love listening to your show.

00:22:47.160 And I do sometimes that you I think you handle politics very well with good restraint and, you know, a nice charity and seriousness to it.

00:22:56.920 But it can be very difficult.

00:22:59.120 And so then I guess I'll ask on the religious aspect, too.

00:23:02.540 So much of what strikes me about political confusion, religious confusion is that people are largely ignorant.

00:23:09.840 They're ignorant in a way that past generations were not ignorant of basic concepts of either conservative politics, left wing politics, Christianity, the Catholic Church.

00:23:20.400 They're ignorant of these basic things.

00:23:22.080 In light of that culture where an education system has failed a whole generation of people, how do you advance any aspect of instruction or commentary from apologetics all the way to politics?

00:23:36.980 How do you how do you advance that in a culture with such a low degree of knowledge?

00:23:42.040 Yeah, you've pinpointed one of the real serious problems of our generation.

00:23:45.460 And I would argue that it's probably three generations worth now that academia has failed in terms of teaching basic concepts like critical thinking skills and and not that we should always be critical, but we should have clear thinking.

00:23:58.160 We should be able to think clearly about these issues.

00:24:00.320 So what I do and you'll hear it on the program and I'm happy to know that you listen.

00:24:04.780 What I do is I as often as possible, I use the Socratic method with callers who want to joust or they want to promote a view that I disagree with.

00:24:12.760 And as you know, the Socratic method is by by interrogating the other person, you're asking him the questions and he may not even realize that the burden of proof remains firmly on his shoulders, which is where it belongs typically in arguments like this.

00:24:26.800 So because people don't think critically anymore, they've resorted to bumper stickers and slogans and thought stopping epithets like racist and homophobe and nonsense like that.

00:24:38.140 The only way to get past those thought stopping slogans is to ask questions.

00:24:43.440 Well, if that's true, what about this?

00:24:45.020 And then how do you explain that?

00:24:46.440 And how about this?

00:24:47.460 And without them realizing what you're doing, you're actually picking apart their ideas.

00:24:51.480 But they're doing the heavy lifting for you.

00:24:54.120 And to the extent people can can see this on Facebook or Twitter or on the radio, for example, it has great effect, I find that that's that is a very good point.

00:25:03.100 And every time that I engage in that just in my personal life, even or at a speech or something, it's always much more effective, I find, because if your debate opponent can come to the idea on their own, then it's more likely to stick, I think.

00:25:17.600 One thing, speaking of the education system failing whole generations of people, one of the aspects of that is that the religiously unaffiliated, the nuns, the so-called nuns, have exploded, especially among millennials. 0.99

00:25:33.260 And I know so many millennials who were raised not just in a religious tradition that they reject, but without any religious tradition or religious education at all.

00:25:41.760 So a lot of people will write into this show.

00:25:43.660 I think a lot of viewers of this show are agnostic or they haven't really thought about it before.

00:25:48.560 Some are atheists.

00:25:50.600 But they'll say, well, how can I how can I believe in God?

00:25:53.920 Convince me of God.

00:25:55.180 Give me apologetics in 280 characters.

00:25:57.800 I'm sure you get this as well.

00:25:59.720 How do you do it?

00:26:00.480 How do you how do you convince people of God in 280 characters?

00:26:03.660 I don't know that that's possible, but, you know, the old saying, Michael, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

00:26:11.840 But I believe in the policy that you can put salt in his oats and make him thirsty.

00:26:16.320 So my good strategy.

00:26:18.960 Yeah.

00:26:19.220 I figure if guys like you and I can get the person at least to start thinking about it.

00:26:24.940 And I'm not at all surprised to know that you have atheists and agnostics and others who listen to your program.

00:26:29.920 The same is true for my program on relevant radio.

00:26:32.460 And what I find from them is they listen because there's something they don't agree with it, but there's something about it that they find at least worthy of their time to listen to.

00:26:40.820 And I'm content if I can just get that, if they'll just listen.

00:26:44.640 And if we listen in dialogue long enough, I'm hopeful that those ideas will become clear to them.

00:26:49.800 But how do you do it?

00:26:50.700 Well, you can't quote the Bible because you might as well quote the yellow pages.

00:26:55.900 That's right.

00:26:56.220 The Harry Potter or something.

00:26:57.460 Right.

00:26:57.960 Yeah.

00:26:58.160 I mean, it has no no authority in their eyes.

00:27:00.780 So I don't quote the Bible to them.

00:27:02.460 Nor should we.

00:27:03.960 I don't think it's useful to appeal to the things that we would appeal to if we were speaking, let's say, to a person who did believe in God but wasn't Christian.

00:27:12.100 Rather, I think our task is to use pure reason and demonstrate on the basis of the strength of the rational proofs for the existence of God that are ultimately unanswerable, I would argue, by the atheist worldview.

00:27:25.640 Richard Dawkins hasn't answered them.

00:27:27.180 Christopher Hitchens, may he rest in peace, didn't answer them.

00:27:29.740 Sam Harris hasn't answered them.

00:27:31.380 And we could go on down the list.

00:27:33.580 Those kinds of logical, rational evidences for the existence of God are key.

00:27:39.040 Now, some examples, if we have a moment, would be, you know, the classic question, why does anything exist at all?

00:27:45.900 And if we take a metaphysical approach to the question, we don't have to use the term metaphysics because that's scary for some people, but just raise the question of being.

00:27:53.560 You know, what does it mean to be and how do things come into being?

00:27:57.380 Can something come into being on its own?

00:27:59.480 No, because it didn't exist.

00:28:01.220 It can't give itself being, but it receives being.

00:28:03.580 And if it received being, it received being existence from something before it, but that had to receive existence from something before it.

00:28:11.300 It's almost like the caboose on a train.

00:28:13.500 It's only moving because the car in front of it is moving.

00:28:16.420 Right.

00:28:16.480 But that car is only moving because the car in front of it is moving.

00:28:19.220 And so we logically know, we assume, even if you don't see it, there must be an engine at the front of the train that doesn't need to be pulled because it's pulling everything.

00:28:29.340 And if it weren't there, nothing could move.

00:28:30.840 And so in a similar sort of way, even things like change in motion and being and all these things, they have evidences that believers really need to become more proficient at understanding how to explain it to an audience that has lost touch with so much of this patrimony that we used to know.

00:28:47.620 This is such a good point because the first chink in my armor, I know you were a cradle Catholic. 1.00

00:28:53.480 I also was a cradle Catholic, but I had a nice little 10-year saunter through the atheistic and agnostic landscape.

00:29:01.820 By the time I was 13, it was right around my confirmation, and I chose Thomas as my confirmation name because I was doubting.

00:29:08.240 Doubting Thomas.

00:29:08.880 That's right, which now I think is very unfair of me.

00:29:12.060 But the first thing to really knock away at that atheist armor was the ontological argument for God.

00:29:19.280 It was one of these rational arguments formulated by St. Anselm of Canterbury, and it was that first one.

00:29:25.840 And I think that argument actually worked on C.S. Lewis as well.

00:29:29.180 Everything came from there.

00:29:30.500 There might be something that in this rationalist sort of culture, that's the first way that you can bring people to God.

00:29:38.380 Obviously, there are many more evidences of God all around than just those.

00:29:42.960 Before I let you go...

00:29:43.960 I'm glad you came home, by the way.

00:29:45.060 I'm glad you came back.

00:29:46.160 Me too.

00:29:47.080 We need you on our team.

00:29:48.520 I appreciate it.

00:29:50.340 It's really nice to be back, I've got to tell you.

00:29:52.360 Life is just a lot nicer.

00:29:54.620 And I see this with my atheist friends and my agnostic friends.

00:29:57.540 And I really like being sort of a pugilist and snarky and everything, perhaps on Twitter.

00:30:03.500 But in real life, you can't really do that with your friends.

00:30:05.960 And it does pain me to see my agnostic and atheist friends who are living out, to some degree or another, 1.00

00:30:14.060 the miserable conclusions of that worldview when they don't have to.

00:30:17.380 The thing I do want to ask, before I let you go, specifically on the Catholic front,

00:30:24.480 is obviously the church is in grave distress at the moment,

00:30:28.340 not only because of the grand jury report in Pennsylvania,

00:30:31.020 but also because of confusion that is coming out of the Vatican,

00:30:35.140 doctrines that seem to be changing dramatically.

00:30:37.800 Even if they're not being presented as changing dramatically, there's just a lot of uncertainty going on.

00:30:45.020 How are faithful Catholics, Protestant Christians, non-denominational God believers, 0.82

00:30:52.580 how are we to react to what appears to be rank bureaucratic corruption in the Catholic Church?

00:30:59.380 Well, first and foremost, I think all people of goodwill, whether you're Catholic or any of the groups you just described,

00:31:06.260 we should name it and condemn it for what it is.

00:31:08.900 As you say, it is rank evil.

00:31:10.580 It must be named and it must be condemned publicly.

00:31:13.960 And thankfully, there are people who are doing that.

00:31:17.140 It is shocking, but it's not surprising, honestly.

00:31:20.220 I look back over the history of the church for 2,000 years and we've seen other epics where clerical corruption has been through the roof.

00:31:27.800 And so, although it's new to us and it's shocking to us in the near term, this is not the first time it's happened.

00:31:33.900 Now, that doesn't excuse it, certainly doesn't minimize it.

00:31:36.420 It doesn't, I don't say that to suggest that there's, well, it's okay, we can just get along.

00:31:41.120 It's a serious problem, but it's not the first time the problem has arisen.

00:31:44.720 So, I take from that a great deal of encouragement that we Catholics would have destroyed this church many times over if it were not something that had a divine beginning,

00:31:56.800 which is what we believe that it was founded by Jesus Christ.

00:31:59.740 And so, it's all the more reason that it's shocking that Catholic priests, cardinals, bishops have done this kind of thing.

00:32:06.660 So, I'll leave you, since I know we have to go, but I'll leave you with this thought.

00:32:09.820 I'm always comforted by that passage in Scripture that describes the storm that came up on the lake when the apostles were sailing on the Lake of Galilee.

00:32:19.280 And we have a little detail in the story that Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat,

00:32:23.980 and the storm was getting so bad that some of these apostles who were seasoned fishermen,

00:32:28.860 and they knew from being on a lake with a storm, they thought they were going to die.

00:32:32.720 And we're told that they were so beside themselves that when they woke up Jesus, they said,

00:32:37.260 Lord, you know, we're about to die here, can you help us?

00:32:41.640 And he calms the storm, and he says, why did you doubt, you have little faith?

00:32:45.180 So, personally, I think of that when I look at these headlines, because it seems, A, like this is a storm that will sink the ship,

00:32:52.900 and B, it kind of seems at times like Jesus is asleep.

00:32:55.660 But I know he's not, and so I'm trusting in what he said to the apostles,

00:33:00.500 and that would be my respectful suggestion to all people of goodwill,

00:33:04.620 those who believe in Jesus anyway, to consider that as they're facing these kinds of problems and headlines.

00:33:10.720 That is a tremendous point, and you've made me feel better.

00:33:14.040 This is the main purpose of me inviting guests on the show,

00:33:17.960 is so they can make me feel better about the world and the culture and everything.

00:33:21.580 Patrick, so good to have you.

00:33:23.120 Everyone should tune in to The Patrick Madrid Show.

00:33:25.140 They can find you on Twitter.

00:33:26.400 What is your Twitter handle?

00:33:27.920 My Twitter handle is at Patrick Madrid.

00:33:29.880 That's very simple.

00:33:30.660 I should have known that.

00:33:31.460 Very simple, and I hang out there a lot, so you'll find me there very easily.

00:33:35.200 Absolutely.

00:33:36.000 Patrick, we're going to have to have you back.

00:33:37.300 That was really good, and we'll talk to you soon.

00:33:40.140 Thank you, Michael.

00:33:42.400 That guy is so good.

00:33:43.400 I really love his show, his show on the radio.

00:33:46.060 I don't listen to a lot of radio.

00:33:47.480 I usually listen to either classical music.

00:33:49.540 I'll tune in to conservative talk radio in the morning,

00:33:51.600 but his show is one of the few that I will listen to regularly.

00:33:54.440 It's so, so good.

00:33:55.620 Okay, we've got a lot of mailbag to get to,

00:33:57.260 and I'm running late because it's a day that ends in Y.

00:33:59.740 So go to dailywire.com right now.

00:34:02.040 If you're already there, thank you very much.

00:34:03.300 You help keep the lights on.

00:34:04.540 You keep leftist tears pouring endlessly into my cup,

00:34:07.780 and thereafter, the last 20 tweets from Trump,

00:34:10.260 they're really pouring right in, baby.

00:34:11.740 So go to dailywire.com.

00:34:14.280 You get me, The Andrew Klavan Show, The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:34:16.960 You get to ask questions in the mailbag.

00:34:18.240 That's coming right up.

00:34:19.260 Questions in the conversation.

00:34:20.720 The big boss, Ben Shapiro, is up on that next month.

00:34:23.700 Go to dailywire.com.

00:34:24.760 We'll be right back.

00:34:35.680 I'm going to get through all of them today.

00:34:37.360 I'm going to do it.

00:34:38.140 I usually don't.

00:34:38.760 I usually get through half of them, but today we're going to get through all of them.

00:34:41.380 Mark my words.

00:34:43.100 First question from John.

00:34:44.840 Cardinal Michael.

00:34:46.080 You know, after these cardinals get ousted, 0.98

00:34:48.740 I think I might have a chance.

00:34:50.000 I might have a legitimate chance at becoming a cardinal.

00:34:52.620 Cardinal Michael, I wanted to let you know that my three-month-old son

00:34:56.220 smiled the biggest for you when I mentioned many conservative commentators

00:35:00.580 such as Shapiro Klavan and Dennis Prager.

00:35:03.140 So we are getting him examined this week.

00:35:06.760 Real nice.

00:35:07.440 Anyway, I wanted to know what the difference between nationalism and patriotism is.

00:35:13.340 Thanks.

00:35:13.860 Love your show, John.

00:35:16.060 Great, great question.

00:35:18.040 What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism?

00:35:21.520 Some conservatives want to pretend that there is a huge difference between these things.

00:35:26.140 And I say this respectfully because I think Ben has written about this.

00:35:28.940 I think Jonah has.

00:35:29.760 All the way up to Bill Buckley.

00:35:30.920 Bill Buckley has said this.

00:35:31.940 Bill Buckley said,

00:35:32.500 I'm a patriot, but I don't have one ounce of nationalism in me.

00:35:37.160 George Orwell talked about this.

00:35:38.860 He said, you know, patriotism is defensive and nationalism is offensive.

00:35:44.820 And it's this and that.

00:35:46.740 And I think it's an artificial distinction.

00:35:48.580 I think it's an artificial distinction.

00:35:50.200 And it's a term of political usage to throw at your opponents.

00:35:54.160 But I don't think it really means very much.

00:35:56.260 Patriotism and nationalism refer to love of country.

00:36:00.180 Patriotism in the modern usage is taken to mean good love of country.

00:36:03.860 Nationalism is taken to mean bad love of country.

00:36:07.700 And some of the distinctions that these people make will be that patriotism is ideological.

00:36:13.360 It's just about ideas.

00:36:15.180 And that's why it's good.

00:36:16.680 But nationalism is psychological.

00:36:19.260 It's just about the blood in the soil.

00:36:21.420 And it's just an unthinking, unconscious reflex of people to their own land.

00:36:27.500 But this doesn't make any sense.

00:36:29.040 The French army, after the French Revolution, was very ideological.

00:36:32.780 And it tried to conquer the whole world.

00:36:34.900 Because of ideology.

00:36:36.240 Not because of blood and soil.

00:36:37.700 Would you call that nationalistic?

00:36:39.280 People call it nationalistic.

00:36:41.020 But it fits the definition of patriotism that people who want to draw that distinction make.

00:36:45.140 How about the Nazis? 0.65

00:36:46.280 Were the Nazis just nationalistic?

00:36:47.860 They were certainly nationalistic.

00:36:49.240 But they were motivated by an ideology.

00:36:52.180 Perhaps more than any government in modern history, they were motivated by an ideology.

00:36:56.060 The ideology of Nazism, of fascism. 0.71

00:36:58.860 So is that patriotism?

00:37:00.020 Well, it seems to fit the definition of patriotism that many want to talk about.

00:37:04.140 They say that patriotism is all about ideals.

00:37:06.820 And nationalism is bad because it's all about just the tangible things.

00:37:11.480 In some ways, this is a little gnostic.

00:37:15.480 We'll actually get to that probably later in the mailbag.

00:37:18.340 But also, if patriotism is just about all about ideals.

00:37:22.500 And nationalism is not.

00:37:24.260 It's about the real tangible things.

00:37:25.940 Then what do we say of somebody who is a patriot?

00:37:29.080 They support American ideals, but they oppose the American nation.

00:37:32.960 Say they support open borders.

00:37:34.580 Say they support voting rights for foreigners. 0.91

00:37:37.480 Say they, what about that?

00:37:38.460 Is that, what is that person?

00:37:39.860 Is that a patriotic, anti-nationalist?

00:37:42.780 What does that, if you support the ideal but not the country of the ideal, what is that?

00:37:46.700 That's a mess.

00:37:47.560 That's a total mess.

00:37:48.380 And to say that, like the Orwellian definition, nationalism imposes itself on others.

00:37:54.080 Patriotism does not.

00:37:55.100 It's defensive.

00:37:56.860 Where do we see that in history?

00:37:58.340 American patriotism has led us to put those values out to the rest of the world.

00:38:03.320 American patriotism has a great universalizing character to it.

00:38:06.940 The West has a great universalizing character to it.

00:38:09.280 And that imposes on the rest of the world, not always militarily, but certainly culturally, economically.

00:38:15.020 And that's a good thing.

00:38:15.680 That doesn't matter if we impose American culture on the rest of the world. 0.85

00:38:19.560 Is that nationalistic and bad, therefore?

00:38:21.860 Or is it patriotic?

00:38:23.560 You know, if there is any distinction to be made, I don't use any distinction.

00:38:27.520 We're going to have an excellent author, Yoram Hazoni, on the show in a couple weeks to talk about the virtue of nationalism, which is his new book.

00:38:35.860 If there is any distinction, it's just this.

00:38:38.540 When people say patriotism, they're talking about the appropriate love of country.

00:38:41.660 When they talk about nationalism, they talk about the inappropriate or idolatrous love of country.

00:38:47.220 I think it is a totally false distinction.

00:38:49.920 People should not make an idol out of their country.

00:38:51.900 Even America, which is the greatest country in the history of the world, they shouldn't make an idol out of it.

00:38:55.660 That's not the only thing that we're serving.

00:38:57.860 We're serving God, country, and our communities in that order.

00:39:02.080 God, country, and our communities.

00:39:03.280 So there is something higher.

00:39:05.760 You wouldn't have America without the divine providence of the American founding and the metaphysical ideals to which America aspires and in many ways on which it was founded.

00:39:16.080 But you can't just abstract the ideals and not have the real thing.

00:39:20.120 It's totally false.

00:39:21.820 And usually when people do that, it's because they don't like one person's version of patriotism and they prefer a different version of patriotism.

00:39:30.220 So they try to draw a distinction without much of a difference.

00:39:33.600 Next question.

00:39:34.120 You know, at this rate, we're not going to get through even three questions.

00:39:36.340 Next question from Nathan.

00:39:38.040 Michael, I have been meaning to read the work of the great religious minds like Chesterton and Thomas Aquinas and also C.S. Lewis outside of the Chronicles of Narnia that I read as a boy.

00:39:47.720 And also some classical philosophers like Aristotle that I was never made to read in school.

00:39:52.080 What are some books to start with that are the closest to the source material as possible?

00:39:58.040 Well, what sort of material are we talking about?

00:40:01.340 The source material for Aristotle is Aristotle.

00:40:04.040 The source material for Lewis is Lewis.

00:40:06.240 The source material for what Lewis is writing about is the Bible or Aristotle or whatever.

00:40:11.100 I would say, it is true, often now you're not really taught, made to read Aristotle or Plato, basic things that you should read in school.

00:40:19.040 Well, just because of the order that you listed those in, I would say start with Lewis.

00:40:24.920 Never let it be said that I'm too popish, that I'm too much of a papist.

00:40:28.560 Start with the Protestants. 0.99

00:40:29.880 Start with Lewis.

00:40:30.960 Lewis is just wonderful to read.

00:40:34.160 He is captivating.

00:40:36.420 He is transformative.

00:40:38.100 He did transform much of my spiritual and intellectual thought.

00:40:41.480 Reading Lewis is like sitting down with an old friend.

00:40:45.040 It is utterly enjoyable every second you do it.

00:40:48.160 I got to visit Lewis' house in Oxford at the Kilns, and I felt like I was in the book.

00:40:54.600 I felt like I'd already been there before.

00:40:56.620 He's just wonderful.

00:40:57.740 He writes with extraordinary clarity.

00:40:59.500 He is perhaps the genius of the 20th century.

00:41:02.100 I just read a great book comparing Lewis and Freud as these opposing geniuses that define the 20th century called The Question of God.

00:41:10.980 Read Lewis first.

00:41:11.820 Start with mere Christianity. 0.99

00:41:13.400 Read Abolition of Man, Weight of Glory, Problem of Pain, Surprised by Joy.

00:41:18.280 There are so many good ones.

00:41:19.560 You can't really pick The Great Divorce is really good.

00:41:22.780 They're all just so-so.

00:41:23.680 Just read them all.

00:41:24.300 Miracles.

00:41:24.940 They're superb.

00:41:26.160 Read him first.

00:41:26.840 And then you'll get quippier lines from Chesterton, because Chesterton just had such a way with words.

00:41:32.760 But I think to just get into it and hang out with an old friend, read C.S. Lewis.

00:41:37.680 From Raymond.

00:41:39.400 If we kicked all the foreigners working in Hollyweird out of the country, how many people would be left? 1.00

00:41:44.280 Why do you think we import all these actors when there are thousands of out-of-work American actors with equal talent and appeal?

00:41:50.280 Well, as a former out-of-work American actor, I can speak to this pretty directly.

00:41:54.500 The reason is that the rule of thumb in Hollywood is write Yiddish, cast British, which is you get Jewish people to write the shows, and then you cast Brits to act in them. 0.73

00:42:08.820 And why is that?

00:42:09.760 I don't know.

00:42:10.420 Jewish writers tend to be very funny.

00:42:12.140 They're disproportionately represented in comedy writing, and Brits are disproportionately represented in American film.

00:42:18.560 There is a reason for this, and it gets to Hollywood itself.

00:42:20.900 One thing I noticed, having been in New York and L.A. for long periods of time, New York actors, generally speaking, are much better than L.A. actors.

00:42:30.740 They're just a higher caliber.

00:42:32.720 They perform at a higher caliber.

00:42:34.720 They're capable of greater depths of character, and they're just better.

00:42:39.600 Why is that?

00:42:40.900 Because if you go to New York to become an actor, you really care about the craft of acting.

00:42:46.460 Few actors in New York are famous.

00:42:48.140 They don't get paid very well.

00:42:50.120 Even on Broadway, you don't get paid very well.

00:42:51.860 Off-Broadway, you don't.

00:42:52.940 And the majority of them, if they work, work off-off-Broadway, get paid peanuts.

00:42:59.240 So you have to really care about the craft of acting and not primarily be chasing fame.

00:43:04.060 The same is true in England.

00:43:05.720 If you're an actor in London, there is a great theater scene in London, but you're not going there primarily for fame.

00:43:11.440 You're there for the craft of acting.

00:43:13.980 This is not true in Hollywood.

00:43:15.960 Broadly speaking, if you're an actor and you go out to Hollywood, it's to get famous and become a star.

00:43:21.320 There's a great line, I think it was about Katharine Hepburn, when the group theater was being founded in early days.

00:43:26.820 You know, Elise Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, starting American modern method acting.

00:43:32.380 She was there, and they were all kind of crazy communists who wanted to do plays in the woods.

00:43:36.620 And she walks in and she said, this is absurd.

00:43:38.840 I'm leaving.

00:43:39.620 I don't want to be doing this.

00:43:40.780 I don't want to roll around on the floor.

00:43:42.200 I'm going to become a star.

00:43:43.680 She goes out, you know, and the rest of them are rolling around on the floor acting.

00:43:49.020 This gets to also the difference in medium.

00:43:54.320 If you're acting in a film, you don't have control over that.

00:43:58.180 It's nonlinear.

00:43:59.400 You're shooting scenes totally out of order.

00:44:01.600 You have to do many takes of each shot.

00:44:04.460 And it's not the actor's medium.

00:44:06.580 It's a director's medium, and it's an editor's medium.

00:44:09.000 In theater, you're in an actor's medium.

00:44:11.580 So English actors just tend to come from the theater.

00:44:14.060 Just like New York actors, that's why they're better.

00:44:16.240 So as a former out-of-work actor, I got to give it to them.

00:44:18.840 They're good actors, those Brits.

00:44:20.600 We got time for a couple more.

00:44:22.320 From Nathan.

00:44:22.740 Hi, Michael.

00:44:23.800 I'm a public high school teacher, and a female student identified themselves as transgender and asked me to refer to them by male pronouns and a masculine name.

00:44:34.960 I need some advice on how to handle this situation.

00:44:38.320 Should I oblige them or refuse?

00:44:41.160 Man, that's tough.

00:44:42.220 There's a girl in your class.

00:44:43.520 She wants to be called a man.

00:44:44.880 She wants to be called by male pronouns. 0.90

00:44:46.980 She wants you to call her by a man's name.

00:44:50.180 There is an obvious answer, which is that you should not indulge this lunacy.

00:44:56.460 She isn't a man. 0.80

00:44:57.480 I have great compassion for her if she thinks that she's a man or very much wants to be a man.

00:45:02.140 She needs psychological counseling for that. 1.00

00:45:04.960 We should not indulge people who have delusions.

00:45:07.740 We should care for them.

00:45:08.520 There's nothing compassionate about indulging delusion, not on a personal level, not on a cultural level.

00:45:14.800 It doesn't mean you need to be a jerk and say, ha-ha, you're a girl, ha-ha, you know, nobody wants to do that.

00:45:19.300 But you shouldn't indulge delusion.

00:45:21.800 So there is a clear answer on that.

00:45:24.580 Here's the caveat.

00:45:25.340 If you refuse to go along with this PC thing and call a girl a boy and a boy a girl, you will lose your career.

00:45:34.240 You will lose it, guaranteed.

00:45:35.380 So, especially as a public school teacher, even as a private school teacher probably, certainly as a public school teacher, you'll lose your job.

00:45:43.320 So, this presents a real problem for you.

00:45:47.160 Are you going to go out there, take this moral stand, die on the hill, as the expression goes?

00:45:52.400 Or do you think that you can pick your battles and have to fight this one another day and try to affect the culture in another way?

00:46:00.580 I can't answer that for you because this will certainly cause financial and personal turmoil for you and your family if you do the thing that is clear, which is to call a boy a boy and a girl a girl.

00:46:12.120 I can't answer that for you because you've got to feed your family.

00:46:14.420 So, you've got to answer that.

00:46:16.520 I will say I don't think it's total cowardice to go along with the PC line because there are other ways that you can work within the system and really try to reform that.

00:46:25.300 And there's nothing honorable exactly about seeding the fight and leaving the field.

00:46:31.640 So, there's nothing wrong about being a little crafty.

00:46:35.980 But you're going to have to pick that for yourself.

00:46:37.840 If you think there's no way to fix this and we're going inexorably down this path and you've got to get out of that environment and that job, then you can call a boy a boy and a girl a girl.

00:46:47.700 But if not, then you might have to play along in some ways with the PC culture and try to change it from within.

00:46:55.540 From RT, Dear Mr. Michael Knowles, please explain what we should know and think about Gnosticism.

00:47:01.120 Yes, I saw this question come up.

00:47:02.660 This is a great question because we're in a very Gnostic age right now. 0.95

00:47:06.480 Even some conservatives are a little Gnostic.

00:47:09.400 Gnosticism broadly is salvation by knowledge, by the secret knowledge.

00:47:14.020 If you have the secret knowledge, you will be saved and transcended.

00:47:17.640 There isn't one single Gnosticism.

00:47:19.900 There are lots of different types of Gnosticism.

00:47:22.040 It refers specifically, capital G, to these beliefs around the time of the life of Christ and the early Christian church which denied that Christ was a human, that he was just God.

00:47:33.360 He was just an illusion that he was a human or denied that Christ died.

00:47:36.860 Or suggests that matter itself is evil.

00:47:39.500 Or suggests that God, the creator of matter, the God of the Old Testament, is evil.

00:47:44.960 There are all these Gnostic heresies. 0.99

00:47:46.940 Unfortunately, the early Christians got rid of them.

00:47:50.920 But they keep coming back.

00:47:52.120 They keep coming back.

00:47:53.180 St. Paul refers to Gnosticism.

00:47:54.860 He says, avoid profane babbling and the absurdities of so-called knowledge gnosis.

00:48:02.080 By professing it, some people have deviated from the faith.

00:48:05.080 There's a lot of babbling going on these days.

00:48:08.060 It's very New Agey.

00:48:09.380 But this also ties into our politics, which is that Gnosticism rejects the tangible and the material and the flesh in favor exclusively of the metaphysical, of the ideas, of the secret knowledge.

00:48:26.020 But we are united as individuals.

00:48:30.200 We are body and soul united.

00:48:32.280 It isn't just that we're soul and our body is evil, like the Albigensians thought.

00:48:38.640 It isn't just that we don't have a soul and that we, or that our soul is physical and we're just, you know, machines and robots like a lot of modern atheists think.

00:48:48.020 We're body and soul.

00:48:49.760 We're both of them together.

00:48:50.800 When you go too much in one direction or the other, you're entirely wrong.

00:48:54.280 You've got to hold that balance.

00:48:55.460 And that's what the Gnostics get totally wrong. 1.00

00:48:57.560 Do we have time for one more?

00:48:58.380 We've got to go.

00:48:59.680 One more.

00:49:00.500 You're too good to me.

00:49:01.500 From Becky.

00:49:02.760 Hi, Michael.

00:49:03.460 I was wondering, since there has been so much coverage about how the Russian bot Facebook ads must have swayed the election, could an argument be made that preemptively deplatforming Alex Jones and Gavin McGinnis could be construed as election interference?

00:49:17.000 Thanks.

00:49:17.500 Love the show.

00:49:18.160 Becky.

00:49:18.740 Yes, of course.

00:49:20.040 Of course it is.

00:49:22.180 By their definition of election interference.

00:49:24.780 By the left's definition of election interference.

00:49:27.480 Big tech is absolutely interfering in the election.

00:49:30.520 Because that phrase, election interference, doesn't mean anything.

00:49:34.500 It is a construction of left-wingers because they were upset that Donald Trump won the 2016 election.

00:49:40.620 What does it mean?

00:49:41.300 What does election interference mean?

00:49:44.040 President Obama famously interfered in the Israeli elections when he was president.

00:49:49.000 He famously sent his political crones to try to throw the Israeli elections.

00:49:52.960 What does it mean to interfere in an election?

00:49:55.580 I interfere in every election.

00:49:57.060 I really try to go and interfere in elections.

00:49:59.180 Absolutely.

00:50:00.060 So do companies.

00:50:00.800 So do people who make donations.

00:50:02.320 So do people who volunteer their time.

00:50:03.640 They're interfering in the election.

00:50:05.640 Of course, foreign powers have been interfering in our elections since our first elections.

00:50:11.800 It's an absurd euphemism.

00:50:14.040 It's one that tries to convince you that it's a legal term.

00:50:17.640 Kind of like collusion.

00:50:18.900 They say, well, he colluded.

00:50:19.680 They say, well, what's the crime of collusion?

00:50:22.200 Well, they interfered.

00:50:24.440 What is the crime of interference?

00:50:26.420 They brush their teeth.

00:50:28.740 No, that's not a crime.

00:50:29.580 What do you mean?

00:50:30.000 None of these things are crimes.

00:50:31.940 You're just saying words now.

00:50:33.520 You're absolutely right.

00:50:34.420 We should stick it back on them, though.

00:50:36.240 I think this is a great point.

00:50:37.800 I love to use the left's absurd rhetoric to attack them and to show them that they're doing that.

00:50:42.820 So that's the new one.

00:50:43.520 Let's talk about it.

00:50:44.380 Big tech interfering in the election.

00:50:46.220 I want subpoenas.

00:50:47.280 I want indictments.

00:50:48.500 I want a special counsel.

00:50:50.640 Let's get them.

00:50:51.180 I want to get Zuckerberg.

00:50:52.180 I want to drag them right in front of Congress again.

00:50:54.400 Same with Jack Dorsey and all the other ones.

00:50:56.060 Okay, that's our show.

00:50:58.240 You've got to binge the first season of Another Kingdom because we are shooting season two of Another Kingdom.

00:51:03.600 And it is really good.

00:51:05.000 I can say that in humility because I don't really contribute much to it.

00:51:09.720 You know, Drew writes it and then I have this hard job of reading it.

00:51:13.720 So he just gives me a script.

00:51:15.520 It's like that Ian McKellen line in Extras.

00:51:19.760 Oh, no, is it Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen?

00:51:21.380 Tomato, tomato.

00:51:22.460 And they said, you know how I act.

00:51:24.880 Somebody tells me where to go.

00:51:26.400 You know how I know what to say?

00:51:27.600 They hand me a script.

00:51:28.940 That's acting.

00:51:30.920 That's acting.

00:51:31.560 So binge season one because we've got season two coming and it is going to be really, really good.

00:51:35.800 Enjoy the weekend.

00:51:36.460 I'll see you on Monday.

00:51:37.140 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:51:37.860 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:51:38.740 The Michael Knowles Show is produced by Semia Villareal.

00:51:47.420 Executive producer, Jeremy Borey.

00:51:49.520 Senior producer, Jonathan Hay.

00:51:51.340 Our supervising producer, Mathis Glover.

00:51:53.900 And our technical producer is Austin Stevens.

00:51:56.560 Edited by Jim Nickel.

00:51:58.080 Audio is mixed by Mike Coromina.

00:52:00.380 Hair and makeup is by Jesua Olvera.

00:52:02.520 The Michael Knowles Show is a Daily Wire Forward Publishing production.

00:52:06.140 Copyright Forward Publishing 2018.

00:52:08.740 Thank you.

00:52:38.740 Thank you.

00:53:08.740 Did you know that over 85% of grass-fed beef sold in U.S. grocery stores is imported?

00:53:14.040 That's why I buy all my meat from GoodRanchers.com instead.

00:53:17.680 Good Ranchers products are 100% born, raised, and harvested right here in the USA from local family farms.

00:53:23.380 Plus, there's no antibiotics ever, no added hormones, and no seed oils.

00:53:27.580 Just one simple ingredient.

00:53:29.120 That's meat.

00:53:30.020 Best of all, Good Ranchers delivers straight to your door for added convenience.

00:53:33.040 So lock in a secure supply of American meat today.

00:53:36.140 Subscribe now at GoodRanchers.com and get free meat for life and $40 off with code DAILYWIRE.

00:53:41.220 That's $40 off and free meat for life with code DAILYWIRE.

00:53:44.540 Good Ranchers.

00:53:45.300 American meat delivered.

The Michael Knowles Show - August 23, 2018

Ep. 206 - The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript