The Michael Knowles Show - Ep. 77 - Cultural Death and Taxes

00:00:00.160 Today's show is all about death and taxes.

00:00:03.520 Republicans have come to an agreement on the final tax reform bill,

00:00:07.020 and there is a ton of fake news spreading about it.

00:00:09.540 So much, we will separate fact from fiction and go through the bill.

00:00:12.820 Then, on cultural death, we'll talk about racists,

00:00:16.060 the ones who are still on Twitter, the ones who are purged from Twitter,

00:00:18.880 and a glimmer of hope on identity politics

00:00:21.380 from flamboyantly gay Italian fashion designers. 0.96

00:00:24.720 Finally, on this day in history, 0.95

00:00:26.540 slick-willy Bubba Clinton gets impeached.

00:00:30.000 I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:00:39.180 There is so much fake news about this tax plan.

00:00:42.180 Oh, my goodness gracious.

00:00:44.180 What do you know about the plan?

00:00:45.220 Marsha, what have you heard about the plan?

00:00:46.520 Nothing.

00:00:47.080 You've heard nothing.

00:00:47.720 Well, that's because you don't read the news.

00:00:48.920 But what everyone else is hearing, if they're on Facebook or whatever,

00:00:52.340 is that it raises taxes on everybody, right?

00:00:54.840 Washington Post reports,

00:00:56.200 Why are Republicans raising taxes on millions of Americans?

00:01:00.780 That's Washington Post, Democracy Dies in Darkness.

00:01:03.140 Vox News reporting the same lies.

00:01:05.340 Here's the headline they ran in November.

00:01:07.040 Senate Republicans' tax plan raises taxes on families earning less than $75,000.

00:01:12.560 That's a total lie.

00:01:13.620 Washington Post reported the same thing.

00:01:15.260 Time Magazine, the same thing.

00:01:16.620 Matt Iglesias, who wrote that piece for Vox, said,

00:01:19.900 For those of more modest means, the news is not so good.

00:01:24.200 By 2027, after most of the individual cuts in the bill expire and the corporate cuts remain,

00:01:29.340 households earning between $75,000 and $100,000 will see, on average, no tax cut.

00:01:35.680 And households earning less than $75,000 will see, on average, a tax increase.

00:01:41.300 The shape is clear.

00:01:43.380 Most people are paying higher taxes, and the rich are paying less.

00:01:48.400 This is a complete lie.

00:01:50.980 This is a one.

00:01:52.280 Did you catch what happened in there?

00:01:54.160 Did you catch what he said?

00:01:56.120 After the tax plan goes into effect, and then in 2027, this will change.

00:02:00.100 In 2027, he's predicting 10 years out, but he leaves that out of the headline.

00:02:04.060 You don't want to include that in the headline.

00:02:05.180 So he's saying that once we cut taxes now, and then if those cuts expire in 10 years, taxes will go up.

00:02:11.520 Yes, that's right.

00:02:12.200 When you cut taxes, and then if 10 years later, they don't make those tax cuts permanent,

00:02:17.920 or they raise taxes, then taxes will go up.

00:02:21.280 But taxes don't go up now.

00:02:22.940 They are cut now.

00:02:24.540 It is true.

00:02:25.320 We could say that any tax cut is really a tax raise.

00:02:29.100 Any declaration of war is really a declaration of armistice.

00:02:33.240 It will happen at a future point.

00:02:35.040 We just can't quite say when.

00:02:37.260 Virtually, everybody gets a tax cut.

00:02:39.360 Now, ironically, my taxes may increase slightly.

00:02:42.980 This is very frustrating, but it's because I do well enough.

00:02:46.080 For some reason, Shapiro keeps paying me, and I live in la-la land where the marginal state

00:02:50.500 and local tax rates are approximately 750%.

00:02:54.340 So lefties have been saying that the tax plan is unpopular.

00:02:58.320 CNN breathlessly reports, quote,

00:03:00.620 In another article, also on CNN, of course, only 29% of Americans approve of the GOP tax

00:03:10.780 plan.

00:03:11.060 Now, what they forget to mention is that an even lower percentage of Americans supported

00:03:15.580 Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax plan, which led to an uninterrupted quarter century of prosperity.

00:03:22.400 They supported it.

00:03:23.900 Fewer people supported it before that was passed.

00:03:26.680 I wonder why that is.

00:03:28.220 I wonder why.

00:03:28.900 It just doesn't add up.

00:03:29.660 When all Americans have to go on is mainstream media reporting, they oppose Republican tax

00:03:35.740 reforms.

00:03:36.620 But then when the reforms become reality, the people like them because it made them richer.

00:03:41.900 It's, and I don't want to go too far here.

00:03:44.080 It's almost like saying there's a difference between the mainstream media reporting and reality

00:03:48.300 and further that that difference is intended to damage Republicans.

00:03:52.320 I don't know.

00:03:53.200 I don't know.

00:03:53.720 I'm just spitballing.

00:03:55.040 That's just what it seems like to me.

00:03:56.380 I don't know.

00:03:56.660 So enough about the fake news.

00:03:58.540 What is really in the plan?

00:04:00.300 Well, most importantly, basically everybody gets a tax cut.

00:04:03.120 Virtually everybody.

00:04:04.200 I might even get a tax cut depending on how things shake out.

00:04:08.680 The final version of the plan maintains seven individual income brackets instead of the

00:04:13.680 four as the House proposed, instead of consolidating it to four.

00:04:17.180 And it lowers the rate slightly.

00:04:18.760 So the top rate falls from 39.6% to 37%.

00:04:22.220 All of the rates basically fall.

00:04:24.160 It's too bad.

00:04:24.940 It would be better if we could consolidate these tax brackets, but c'est la vie.

00:04:30.120 Everybody's basically getting a tax cut anyway.

00:04:32.520 It just doesn't make it quite as simple as we had been promised by consolidating the brackets.

00:04:38.340 The final bill scraps the personal exemption, but it just about doubles the standard deduction.

00:04:45.040 That's fine.

00:04:45.660 That comes out in the wash.

00:04:46.840 It repeals the Obamacare mandate.

00:04:48.280 Very, very good.

00:04:50.040 The Republicans had trouble repealing Obamacare on their own.

00:04:53.440 There was too much squishiness in the House and in the Senate.

00:04:57.020 The President Trump pushed for it, but it didn't quite come out.

00:04:59.340 So that's fine.

00:04:59.900 We'll repeal the Obamacare mandate in the tax bill.

00:05:02.700 This is really good.

00:05:03.460 This will almost necessarily lead to major reform, if not outright repeal of Obamacare,

00:05:08.760 because we've now removed the funding mechanism for it.

00:05:11.240 Excellent, excellent news.

00:05:12.620 And also, this is a matter of personal liberty, an important matter of liberty.

00:05:16.760 That Obamacare mandate is the first time in American history the federal government has said that every single citizen

00:05:21.880 has to purchase a product from a private company, or there will be a penalty, or a tax, or a penalty tax,

00:05:28.120 or whatever you want to call it to get this thing through judicial review.

00:05:33.300 Now that's over.

00:05:34.360 This is very good news for American liberty, very good news for returning to a constitutional framework for our country.

00:05:41.340 Now, the final bill doesn't eliminate the death tax, that's too bad, but it does double the exemption to it.

00:05:46.980 So I think now it's around $12 million or exempt before you have to pay the death tax.

00:05:50.760 We should get rid of the whole thing.

00:05:52.360 All of that wealth has already been taxed at the income, the corporate level, the capital gains level, wherever.

00:05:57.460 We don't need to tax you for dying. 0.99

00:05:59.160 That's a stupid idea, but okay, that's fine. 0.99

00:06:01.660 Doubles the exemption, very good. 1.00

00:06:03.200 Child tax credit doubles to $2,000 per child.

00:06:05.660 This is also not a great idea, but I understand these people are working in the Senate.

00:06:12.900 They have to go back to their constituents.

00:06:14.780 They want a little insurance if this is painted by the Democrats as just a big tax break to the rich.

00:06:20.260 Very easy for me to talk into a microphone, harder to face your constituents.

00:06:23.680 Fine, who cares?

00:06:25.000 It limits state and local tax deductions.

00:06:27.320 Bad for me, good for the country.

00:06:28.520 So in the final bill, it allows a deduction of up to $10,000 in state and local sales, income, and property taxes.

00:06:37.140 Previously, it was basically unlimited.

00:06:39.640 This is very good for the country because under the current tax regime, there is no incentive for state and local governments to lower their taxes because it just comes out of the federal government.

00:06:51.100 It's basically a federal subsidy for high state and local taxes.

00:06:54.420 That's not good.

00:06:55.240 What this does is slowly take away that perverse incentive.

00:06:59.580 So hopefully over time, la-la land, my state of California, will get its act together and stop taxing us into oblivion.

00:07:06.160 The final bill maintains the mortgage interest deduction for existing homeowners.

00:07:11.100 This was a big demagogic aspect of tax reform.

00:07:14.980 They said if you're going to lose the mortgage interest deduction, it's going to kill homeowners.

00:07:18.180 They've allowed it to remain whatever, not a big deal.

00:07:21.420 Going forward, for people who are now buying homes, they can still deduct interest on up to $750,000 in mortgage debt.

00:07:30.500 That's down for $1 million.

00:07:32.280 This is not a huge deal.

00:07:34.340 Basically maintains the status quo, although it's a little bit better, I guess.

00:07:37.800 So it's a step in the right direction.

00:07:39.420 Tax breaks for charitable contributions and retirement savings plans remain.

00:07:43.600 We were told that would go away.

00:07:44.740 Again, bad for simplifying taxes, but probably good incentives all in all.

00:07:50.200 I would much rather give my money to charities that do what I want them to do, that are doing the good as I see the good,

00:07:57.660 than give it to the federal government, regardless of what they're doing, just to waste, because there's so, so much waste and inefficiency.

00:08:04.540 The final bill maintains medical expenses deduction.

00:08:07.000 We were told, we're constantly harping on how people with chronic illnesses would be bankrupted by this.

00:08:12.780 Didn't happen.

00:08:13.420 Not surprised at all.

00:08:14.600 This does not tax graduate student tuition as income.

00:08:18.600 So that was one thing we were promised, is it was going to put all of these little graduate students protesting, you know,

00:08:24.220 when they're on lunch break from their gender studies class to protest President Trump or whatever thing they know nothing about.

00:08:31.000 It was going to tax them into oblivion, which I think is pretty good.

00:08:35.120 Basically, what we have done so far is to subsidize a very bad university system in this country, and that's no good.

00:08:48.180 Whatever.

00:08:48.900 It's out in the wash.

00:08:50.000 They're not going to make that into the final bill.

00:08:54.040 Fine, I guess.

00:08:54.700 I was hoping we could maybe try to fix the universities and the crisis of higher education in the country through this tax bill,

00:09:00.880 but that might just be too difficult.

00:09:03.220 Sad.

00:09:05.120 Now, there's no change to the student loan interest deduction.

00:09:08.540 There's no change to education credits.

00:09:10.300 There's no change to the graduate student taxation.

00:09:12.740 There's no change to classroom expenses deduction.

00:09:15.300 There's no change to capital gains taxation.

00:09:18.780 On the individual level, this tax plan is fine.

00:09:21.680 C'est la vie.

00:09:22.000 But what this tax reform really focuses on is business.

00:09:25.780 So the chief business of the American people is business.

00:09:28.720 That means the deduction for pass-through income remains.

00:09:31.980 The corporate tax rates drop hugely, hugely, bigly from 35% to 21%.

00:09:38.120 Very, very good.

00:09:39.340 Even Democrats have gotten on board with this before it was President Trump doing it.

00:09:43.160 Now they all hate it.

00:09:43.860 It eliminates the corporate alternative minimum tax.

00:09:46.680 Very good.

00:09:47.780 The alternative minimum tax is what happens where, because of the tax code, if in one year the U.S. business has major losses or something,

00:09:55.100 or they're writing off losses, they have to pay a certain amount of tax.

00:09:58.920 That's a terrible idea.

00:09:59.800 We should have an alternative maximum tax.

00:10:01.940 But that's very nice that we're getting rid of it.

00:10:03.840 U.S. businesses holding assets overseas will now be allowed to repatriate that money at 8% or 15.5% for liquid assets.

00:10:13.060 This is incredible.

00:10:14.340 Currently, U.S. businesses have $2.5 trillion overseas because the U.S. had the highest marginal and effective corporate tax rate in the world, practically.

00:10:23.700 Now, we could bring that money back.

00:10:26.460 It would be a huge boon for the economy, and all of the incentives are there to do it.

00:10:30.320 This is pretty different from the last administration.

00:10:32.900 Let's flash back to Barack Obama's attitude toward business.

00:10:36.420 If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own.

00:10:41.520 You didn't get there on your own.

00:10:43.380 I'm always struck by people who think,

00:10:45.800 well, it must be because I was just so smart.

00:10:48.380 There are a lot of smart people out there.

00:10:51.160 It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.

00:10:53.740 Let me tell you something.

00:10:54.760 There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

00:11:02.020 If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.

00:11:08.140 There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.

00:11:10.260 Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we had that allowed you to thrive.

00:11:19.460 Somebody invested in roads and bridges.

00:11:21.420 If you've got a business, you didn't build that.

00:11:24.820 Somebody else made that happen.

00:11:26.680 Didn't you know?

00:11:29.760 Didn't you know if you have a business, you didn't build that.

00:11:32.100 Somebody else made that happen.

00:11:33.600 I didn't know that, but that's the major shift.

00:11:35.920 All in all, this simplifies the tax code.

00:11:38.900 So right now, taxpayers spend nearly 7 billion hours just to comply with the current tax code,

00:11:46.620 an amount of time which is worth $263 billion.

00:11:51.400 30% of people filing their taxes itemize them, so they break down the little things they're going to deduct.

00:11:56.680 That creates mountains of paperwork.

00:11:59.120 With this now higher standard deduction, that number of people who itemize their taxes will drop to under 8% by most analysis.

00:12:07.200 30% to 8%.

00:12:08.320 That's going to save a lot of time.

00:12:09.680 More than 30 million taxpayers will save time.

00:12:12.520 The National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates that the drop in itemizing alone,

00:12:17.900 just that, will save 210 million hours in compliance burdens.

00:12:22.340 That's a savings of $13 billion annually.

00:12:25.760 This is a big, big win.

00:12:27.920 Sadly, it could be a way bigger win on individual taxation, but all in all, great stuff.

00:12:33.020 I'm not going to complain.

00:12:33.920 This is really, really good stuff all around, despite the constant negative press.

00:12:37.620 Covfefe.

00:12:38.280 Okay, we've got to talk about cultural death.

00:12:40.740 But before we get to cultural death, let's talk about the thing that resembles death, 0.88

00:12:45.300 but it isn't death because you get to wake up in the morning.

00:12:47.200 That would be sleep.

00:12:48.120 Now, sleep is very, very important.

00:12:49.740 As you can tell, I haven't slept in days because I flew back to New York over the weekend.

00:12:54.840 And I've moved around a bit.

00:12:57.960 I moved from New York up to Connecticut and then back to New York over to L.A.

00:13:01.900 Every time I move, I get a new mattress.

00:13:04.180 Mattress shopping is truly awful.

00:13:06.820 It is really, really terrible.

00:13:08.740 There are a ton of online mattress retailers popping up these days.

00:13:12.220 They all offer a one-size-fits-all solution to a better sleep.

00:13:15.960 So, I would always go into the stores to get a mattress.

00:13:21.160 That experience is dreadful.

00:13:22.980 If you look online, they just have this one-size-fits-all.

00:13:25.500 But guess what?

00:13:26.000 One-size-doesn't-fit-all.

00:13:28.000 Helix Sleep offers something that does not exist anywhere else.

00:13:31.060 It is a mattress personalized to your unique preferences and sleeping style that will not set you back thousands of dollars.

00:13:36.880 So, what do you do?

00:13:37.960 Go to helixsleep.com slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S.

00:13:43.820 Take their simple two-to-three-minute sleep quiz and they will build a custom mattress that will be the best thing that you've ever slept on.

00:13:49.440 Now, two-to-three minutes, that is the maximum amount of time that I will do anything.

00:13:54.500 It's the maximum.

00:13:55.860 I'm a millennial.

00:13:56.540 I don't want to move.

00:13:57.260 I want to sit at my computer and I have ADD.

00:14:00.260 I can't focus on anything for more than three minutes.

00:14:02.420 Luckily, it will not take a lot of time.

00:14:04.140 For couples, they'll even personalize each side of the mattress.

00:14:07.760 And this is very important because for me and my fiancée, sweet little Lisa, we have a particular sleep pattern.

00:14:13.560 I prefer to sleep on a mattress that is hard and she prefers to sleep on a mattress that I am not on. 0.99

00:14:18.420 So, you can personalize it.

00:14:20.260 It's very important because those are incompatible sleep references.

00:14:24.120 Everyone from GQ to Cosmopolitan to the New York Times are all talking about Helix.

00:14:28.480 And once you try it out, you will know why.

00:14:30.200 So, your custom mattress arrives direct to your door in a week.

00:14:33.760 Shipping is completely free.

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00:14:36.840 If you don't love it, they will pick it up and refund you in full.

00:14:40.320 That's a pretty good deal.

00:14:41.140 There is no risk whatsoever.

00:14:42.560 Go to helixsleep.com slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S, like Beyonce.

00:14:47.240 Right now, you will get $50 towards your custom mattress.

00:14:50.580 Merry Christmas.

00:14:51.200 That's my Christmas gift to you.

00:14:52.560 $50 toward a custom mattress.

00:14:54.920 It's very important.

00:14:56.060 Where you sleep is very important.

00:14:57.800 You're going to spend a third of your life on it.

00:15:00.220 I spend about two-thirds of my life sleeping.

00:15:02.240 So, make sure that it's good.

00:15:03.940 Helixsleep.com slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S, for $50 off your first order.

00:15:09.100 Helixsleep.com slash Knowles.

00:15:11.700 Okay.

00:15:13.080 Enough of that sleep.

00:15:14.160 We've got to wake up.

00:15:14.820 We've got to wake up, people, to our terrible culture.

00:15:17.660 So, there's actually some good news and there's bad news on our cultural death, death and decay. 0.91

00:15:22.520 Let's start with the bad news and then we'll end happy.

00:15:25.100 Now, this is all around bad.

00:15:26.500 You might have seen, if you were tweeting yesterday, Twitter is further clamping down on free speech.

00:15:31.660 Very bad.

00:15:32.400 It's purging its platform of racists.

00:15:35.280 Only a specific kind of racist. 1.00

00:15:36.760 Probably stupid, but whatever. 1.00

00:15:38.140 But it's only those specific racists that's very bad again. 0.99

00:15:41.620 First of all, if we're going to purge Twitter users and purge Twitter of anything, how about we focus on, I don't know, ISIS.

00:15:48.580 Maybe ISIS would be, that'd be nice. 1.00

00:15:50.360 It'd be slightly more urgent than some dummies in their basement tweeting out articles about IQ as if that means anything to society or to culture.

00:15:58.020 Now, I was blocked recently by a verified user.

00:16:02.080 That's where you get the little blue checkmark.

00:16:03.640 His name is Kevin Allred.

00:16:05.320 He's a professor of Beyonce studies.

00:16:08.180 That's a thing.

00:16:09.100 I'm not, this is not a joke.

00:16:10.300 He's a professor of Beyonce studies. 0.99

00:16:11.480 He tweeted, F white America. 0.99

00:16:14.180 F white America. 1.00

00:16:15.240 All around. 0.99

00:16:15.840 Very anti-white things.

00:16:17.580 And he's still around. 0.97

00:16:18.860 They haven't purged any of the anti-white racists, of course.

00:16:22.800 So people who are of other ethnic backgrounds, they get to say whatever they want about white people and there's no backlash.

00:16:30.100 That isn't surprising.

00:16:31.200 That part, I'm not surprised at all.

00:16:32.720 The Twitter has this double standard.

00:16:34.220 If Democrats didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all. 0.83

00:16:36.820 What is surprising is that there is apparently no rhyme or reason even among the pro-white racists as to who stays and who goes. 0.88

00:16:44.580 So they let Richard Spencer, he's the famous one who has the fascist-looking haircut and got punched in the face on the street. 0.87

00:16:50.920 They let him stay.

00:16:52.140 They let David Duke stay. 0.91

00:16:53.440 David Duke is one of the most virulent racists in the country.

00:16:55.760 But they kicked off Jared Taylor. 0.56

00:16:58.200 Jared Taylor is this guy.

00:16:59.540 He basically comes off as Bill Buckley without the wit or wisdom.

00:17:03.160 But he has this lockjaw accent.

00:17:05.480 And he pronounces the word white as white.

00:17:08.480 Ho-ho-ho-white. 0.99

00:17:09.540 I'm an activist for the ho-ho-ho-white people. 1.00

00:17:12.600 And it really doesn't make a lot of sense.

00:17:14.740 They're letting these other guys stay on but not him.

00:17:17.100 Now, if you're going to clamp down on racism, if Twitter's going to have a policy that it won't tolerate race-mongering, race-baiting language,

00:17:23.520 it should apply that rule fairly to all racists of all varieties, all ages, and all races.

00:17:29.660 Jared Taylor, perhaps unwittingly, puts this issue into stark relief.

00:17:33.920 We are on completely opposite sides.

00:17:37.960 On the contrary.

00:17:39.260 I think in a way we are mirror images in that you are fighting for your people.

00:17:44.800 I'm fighting for mine.

00:17:47.020 He's talking to Univision host Jorge Ramos, and he is exactly right.

00:17:51.780 He is precisely right.

00:17:53.360 They are mirror images.

00:17:54.940 They're mirror images of one another.

00:17:56.920 These race-baiters on the left and these white race-baiters on the right, on the alt-right or whatever, they're mirror images.

00:18:04.020 But that's not a good thing.

00:18:04.840 I wouldn't go bragging about that.

00:18:06.400 I wouldn't write home and boast and say, ah, yes, I'm a mirror image of Jorge Ramos.

00:18:11.060 If I looked in the mirror and I saw Jorge Ramos, I would smash the mirror.

00:18:13.840 I would throw it out. 0.77

00:18:14.740 That's a terrible idea.

00:18:16.760 But they are.

00:18:17.640 They have the same premises.

00:18:18.920 This is why the alternative right is in many ways much more like the left.

00:18:23.220 They have a lot of premises, and a lot of them ground themselves in post-Christianity. 1.00

00:18:30.880 Racism is very stupid. 1.00

00:18:32.900 It's very stupid. 1.00

00:18:33.920 I know it seems sort of edgy right now, and it seems taboo because Twitter is banning white racists. 1.00

00:18:43.460 But nevertheless, it's very, very stupid. 1.00

00:18:46.040 Richard Spencer wrote in his alt-right manifesto, quote, race is real. 1.00

00:18:50.220 Race matters. 0.57

00:18:51.400 Race is the foundation of identity. 0.94

00:18:53.900 Now, race is real.

00:18:54.740 I guess that's true.

00:18:55.720 Race matters. 0.57

00:18:56.940 Maybe.

00:18:58.240 Certainly that's less true.

00:18:59.880 And race is the foundation of identity. 0.76

00:19:01.600 That isn't true at all.

00:19:02.520 That is not true at all.

00:19:04.720 People might think that.

00:19:06.680 That's the sort of thing that adolescents think.

00:19:10.780 You remember in high school when you're like 13 or 14, you try on all of these personalities.

00:19:15.100 So you paint your nails black and you're really gothic, and then you're a skateboarder, and then you're wearing popped polo shirts or whatever.

00:19:22.960 You try on various identities.

00:19:24.580 That's what children do.

00:19:26.040 But there is an answer to this, and in the West there's an answer, and it's explicitly not race.

00:19:32.180 For everybody that's true, but especially for the West because in the West we ground our identity in Christianity.

00:19:39.740 In Christianity they give us the exact answer, the animating force of the West. 0.87

00:19:44.580 And that answer is, we see it in Moses when he talks to God.

00:19:48.800 Moses says, who are you?

00:19:50.040 And God says, I am that I am.

00:19:52.220 And we see it when Christ is speaking to the Pharisees. 0.93

00:19:55.160 The Pharisees say, you're not even 50 years old.

00:19:59.260 How could you possibly be older than our father Abraham?

00:20:01.880 And Christ says, before Abraham was, I am. 0.66

00:20:05.160 When you lose your grounding of identity, when you disconnect it from the I am, the essence, the metaphysical, the divine logos from the I am, then you're left with a pathetic question, which is, who am I? 0.99

00:20:17.040 And you try on all of these stupid ideas. 0.98

00:20:19.100 So I could say, what am I? 1.00

00:20:20.300 Am I essentially a conservative?

00:20:22.340 Am I essentially Italian?

00:20:24.640 Am I of Italian descent?

00:20:26.340 Am I essentially a mathematician?

00:20:28.460 Am I essentially a this or a that?

00:20:30.440 Am I essentially a hula hoop dancer?

00:20:33.340 No, all of those are trivial.

00:20:34.980 They're ancillary.

00:20:36.540 The question of race is just like that.

00:20:39.340 Unfortunately, these guys like Taylor and Richard Spencer and David Duke, they never got past that adolescence.

00:20:46.060 They never matured into adulthood to answer that question as a serious person does, which is the essence of my identity has to be greater.

00:20:55.820 It has to be transcendent.

00:20:57.100 It can't be a trivial and physical aspect of my own body or my own being.

00:21:03.760 Now, on the bright side of culture, there is a glimmer of hope here.

00:21:07.200 We have Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana.

00:21:10.460 So Gabbana recently said in an interview basically just this.

00:21:14.060 He was doing an interview with the Italian newspaper, the Corriere della Sera, and he said,

00:21:17.980 The family is not a fad. 0.98

00:21:20.140 In it, there is a supernatural sense of belonging.

00:21:22.860 I'm just surprised at how still to this day people call me gay. 0.94

00:21:26.460 He is a gay guy. 0.59

00:21:27.380 He's in relationships with men. 0.54

00:21:28.760 But why, he says, in reality, I am a man.

00:21:32.660 Gay in reality, I am a man.

00:21:34.620 The word gay is just a word, an invented word that is used to identify people.

00:21:38.240 But I don't want to be identified or classified based on my sexual choice.

00:21:43.720 Homosexuality has always existed. 1.00

00:21:44.980 It's not new.

00:21:45.800 I'm not gay.

00:21:46.480 I'm a man.

00:21:47.400 That's it.

00:21:48.520 Blaise Pascal said similar things, by the way.

00:21:51.060 He wrote in his Pensee and the Thoughts of Pascal, one of the great geniuses of the modern era.

00:21:56.380 He said, No man should be known by his book, which is pretty bad because I do get known by that blank book sometimes.

00:22:01.980 No man should be known by what he writes.

00:22:03.500 They shouldn't say you're a mathematician or you're a this or you're a that.

00:22:05.980 Yeah, only be a gentleman.

00:22:07.940 Be known as a gentleman.

00:22:09.200 This is more encompassing.

00:22:10.640 Only be known ultimately by that which is totally transcendent and infinite and all-encompassing, the I am, 0.98

00:22:16.360 rather than these stupid little categories that try to take what is a great thing, mankind, 1.00

00:22:23.660 and fit him into a little box which is ideological and stupid. 1.00

00:22:28.340 Gabbana understands all of these little ancillary identifiers are trivial. 0.99

00:22:31.940 They're insufficient.

00:22:33.340 Really good stuff.

00:22:34.100 That's an excellent mark for those Italian fashion designers.

00:22:38.660 Got to love those Italian conservatives.

00:22:40.360 They have a good sense of the world.

00:22:42.780 And now, let's move on to this day in history.

00:22:48.260 Before we move on, unfortunately, oh, this is bad news because we have such a good this day in history today.

00:22:53.620 This day in history is when Bill Clinton was impeached.

00:22:57.320 This Leftist Tears Tumblr is going to fill to the brim as it did 20 years ago, 19 years ago.

00:23:03.420 But if you're not on the DailyWire.com right now, you can't see the whole rest of the show.

00:23:07.580 If you're on Facebook or YouTube, you've got to go over to DailyWire.com.

00:23:10.520 Thank you for those who are already members.

00:23:12.220 Helps us keep the lights on in here.

00:23:14.040 If you're not already a member, sign up.

00:23:15.540 If it is $10 a month or $100 for an annual membership, what do you get?

00:23:20.120 You get no ads on the website.

00:23:21.480 You get me.

00:23:22.020 You get the Andrew Klavan show.

00:23:22.860 You get the Ben Shapiro show.

00:23:23.800 Blah, blah, blah.

00:23:25.540 There it is. 1.00

00:23:27.400 This day in history, 19 years ago, Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for being a dirty, rotten, lying, sexual deviant. 0.99

00:23:37.080 And so if you want to be able to celebrate that and not drown in all the lefty tears, especially now that the Clintons are totally dead politically, you have to go to TheDailyWire.com. 0.99

00:23:46.180 You can have those leftist tears.

00:23:47.320 Hot or cold, always salty and delicious.

00:23:49.540 DailyWire.com right now.

00:23:50.560 We'll be right back.

00:24:01.240 Are we ready now, Marshall?

00:24:02.420 Can I do it now?

00:24:03.100 Can we get into Bubba now?

00:24:04.180 Yeah, we can do it.

00:24:04.760 We can do it?

00:24:05.220 Okay.

00:24:05.400 It's time for this day in history.

00:24:07.080 This day in history.

00:24:10.620 Oh, what a great day.

00:24:11.600 I remember I was just a wee little lad on this day in history in 1998.

00:24:15.660 But Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.

00:24:21.380 Let's roll the clip.

00:24:22.880 House Resolution 614 resolved that Mr. Hyde, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. McCollum, Mr. Geekes, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Booyer, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Shabbat, Mr. Barr, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Rogan, and Mr. Graham.

00:24:35.460 Are appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial against William Jefferson Clinton.

00:24:39.920 On this vote, the yeas are 228.

00:24:43.920 The nays are 206. 0.99

00:24:46.380 The nays are 206. 0.99

00:24:46.400 Article 1 is adopted.

00:24:49.640 Sad.

00:24:50.340 Sad for Bill.

00:24:51.100 Now, why was he impeached?

00:24:53.380 I did not have sexual relations with that woman. 0.99

00:24:58.300 These allegations are false.

00:25:00.520 But then, about five minutes later, he admitted this.

00:25:04.280 Indeed, I did have a relationship with Mr. Lewinsky that was not appropriate.

00:25:08.660 In fact, it was wrong.

00:25:11.040 It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part,

00:25:15.640 for which I am solely and completely responsible.

00:25:20.080 I misled people, including even my wife.

00:25:25.060 I deeply regret that.

00:25:27.360 That was quite a change.

00:25:29.880 Now, how could Bill Clinton make both of those statements with a straight face?

00:25:33.460 It's because he's also the guy who said this.

00:25:35.140 New of your relationship with Ms. Lewinsky,

00:25:39.660 the statement that there is no sex of any kind in any manner,

00:25:44.280 shape or form with President Clinton was an utterly false statement.

00:25:49.660 Is that correct?

00:25:50.360 It depends upon what the meaning of the word is.

00:25:56.780 Yes.

00:25:59.880 It depends on what the meaning of the word is.

00:26:04.380 Is.

00:26:05.260 Huh?

00:26:05.720 Get it?

00:26:07.260 It's unbelievable.

00:26:08.980 Watch that.

00:26:09.760 What he's referring to is when he told his aides,

00:26:13.280 there's nothing going on with Monica Lewinsky. 1.00

00:26:16.260 Now, he was following the classic mob advice of deny till you die.

00:26:21.100 So, Bubba explained himself.

00:26:22.520 He said,

00:26:23.260 If is means is and never has been,

00:26:26.620 that is one thing.

00:26:28.520 If it means there is none,

00:26:30.580 that was a completely true statement.

00:26:32.560 Uh.

00:26:33.200 Now, if someone had asked me on that day,

00:26:35.500 are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky?

00:26:38.960 That is, ask me a question in the present tense,

00:26:41.260 I would have said no.

00:26:42.140 And it would have been completely true.

00:26:44.160 Ah.

00:26:45.440 Completely, completely true, he says.

00:26:47.200 Completely true.

00:26:48.120 Slick Willie Clinton.

00:26:49.680 So, he got impeached.

00:26:51.120 Clinton was the second president in American history to be impeached.

00:26:55.060 Four charges were considered.

00:26:56.500 There was perjury, obstruction of justice,

00:26:59.560 a second perjury, and abuse of power.

00:27:01.480 The first two passed.

00:27:03.200 The House decided not to pursue the second two.

00:27:05.500 So, he lied about a year and a half long sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky,

00:27:09.780 a 21-year-old intern who, when he was 49 and 50 years old.

00:27:15.920 So, Democrats tried to play it off as some little fling. 0.99

00:27:18.940 Clinton's associates and his wife and campaign managers smeared the women as bimbos and trailer trash. 1.00

00:27:24.380 But remember, this isn't some fling. 0.99

00:27:25.840 We're talking about the president of the United States and his employee,

00:27:28.460 who was 28 years younger, certainly young enough to be his daughter.

00:27:32.360 Consider for a moment the performed anger right now that we're seeing from Democrats

00:27:36.940 at Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, even Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, on and on and on.

00:27:42.440 What they did doesn't hold a candle to what Bill Clinton did.

00:27:44.840 All of those guys doesn't hold a candle to what Bill Clinton did.

00:27:47.680 Among the more lurid findings of the investigation against him

00:27:50.600 are Bill Clinton's creative use of a cigar on the lowest-level staff member and his employee.

00:27:56.340 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but not for Bill Clinton.

00:27:59.580 And, of course, Lewinsky wasn't the only accuser.

00:28:01.740 Even at the time of the Lewinsky affair, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones 0.65

00:28:06.520 was suing Clinton for sexual harassment, including his exposing little bubba to her in 1991, uninvited.

00:28:13.060 Former White House aide Kathleen Willey accused Clinton of groping her without consent in 1993. 1.00

00:28:18.580 Imagine, imagine then, we just saw this frank and fake resignation, but at least he had to go through it.

00:28:23.160 Imagine that in 1993.

00:28:24.740 Clinton admitted an extramarital affair with Jennifer Flowers.

00:28:27.220 He's had variously documented extramarital affairs with countless other women. 0.95

00:28:32.180 And Juanita Broderick, then a nursing home aide, claimed Clinton raped her so viciously that he made her bleed. 0.87

00:28:38.200 Nevertheless, Clinton was acquitted, ostensibly because Democrats concluded that 0.63

00:28:42.140 I did not have sexual relations with that woman really meant, yes, I did have sexual relations with that woman. 0.99

00:28:48.680 You know, I mean, I understand how you could get confused.

00:28:51.420 Now, it was a party-line vote, basically, for Democrats who were joined by a handful of squishy Republicans,

00:28:58.280 including Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Olympia Snow.

00:29:01.060 We can draw a few lessons from this affair.

00:29:03.780 First of all, Republicans should not squish.

00:29:05.860 Stop squishing.

00:29:07.140 The Democrats don't squish.

00:29:08.460 They don't do it.

00:29:09.280 There was a party-line vote.

00:29:10.840 Republicans shouldn't do it either.

00:29:12.060 There's no reward for doing it.

00:29:13.980 Do we look back with pride on the legacy of Olympia Snow?

00:29:17.440 We look back, there's going to be a big statue to Olympia Snow.

00:29:19.560 How about Arlen Specter?

00:29:21.120 No, I don't think so.

00:29:22.160 Go big or go home.

00:29:23.580 Winston Churchill explained why he would continue to fly after his third plane crash, a nearly fatal plane crash.

00:29:30.200 They said, aren't you going to stop?

00:29:31.160 Why are you doing this?

00:29:31.980 You should stop flying.

00:29:32.980 He says, I love life, but I do not fear death.

00:29:37.300 Me too.

00:29:38.200 Speaking of me too, only now that the Clintons are no longer politically useful to Democrats

00:29:42.680 is the party willing to raise a ruckus over sexual assault.

00:29:46.000 Convenient timing.

00:29:46.900 Very cynical timing.

00:29:48.140 That's another takeaway.

00:29:48.980 The cynicism.

00:29:50.080 Democrat politics are always, at all times, cynical.

00:29:54.060 The party of slavery, of the KKK, of urban destruction, of appeasement, of disloyalty and division. 0.59

00:29:59.100 Very cynical party.

00:30:00.800 Don't believe them.

00:30:02.060 Some pearl-clutching Republicans think we should be wise as doves and innocent as serpents.

00:30:06.760 That will not turn out very well for us.

00:30:08.740 We have to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

00:30:12.220 FBI agents last year texted about an insurance policy in case Trump won.

00:30:16.840 They had that conversation in the office of the director of the FBI.

00:30:20.480 Democrats have called for impeachment since last November simply because they don't like this president and they really don't like how effective he has been.

00:30:28.900 This investigation about Russian collusion may have been started just to stop Trump from getting elected.

00:30:35.240 That's what a lot of evidence shows now. 0.99

00:30:37.360 Republicans better not let themselves get played for fools. 1.00

00:30:41.840 Okay. 0.99

00:30:42.140 I always love when history relates to the present.

00:30:44.580 It's always nice when we can learn some very important lessons from that.

00:30:48.000 Okay.

00:30:48.320 That's our show today.

00:30:49.720 Tune in tomorrow.

00:30:50.720 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:30:51.320 This is The Michael Knowles Show.

00:30:52.360 Get all of your mailbag questions in for Thursday.

00:30:55.100 We'll see you then.

00:30:55.760 The Michael Knowles Show is produced by Marshall Benson, executive producer Jeremy Boring, senior producer Jonathan Hay, supervising producer Mathis Glover.

00:31:10.580 Our technical producer is Austin Stevens, edited by Alex Zingaro.

00:31:15.620 Audio is mixed by Mike Coromina.

00:31:17.880 Hair and makeup is by Jesua Olvera.

00:31:20.060 The Michael Knowles Show is a Daily Wire Forward Publishing production.

00:31:23.820 Copyright Forward Publishing 2017.

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00:31:48.560 An

The Michael Knowles Show - December 19, 2017

Ep. 77 - Cultural Death and Taxes

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