The Michael Knowles Show - The Conversation Ep. 15： Michael Knowles

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00:00:37.740 Hello, everyone, and happy Thanksgiving.

00:00:39.560 We're live with our newest episode of The Conversation.

00:00:41.980 I'm your host, Alicia Krause.

00:00:43.580 And with me is the, you know, questionable, reputable, dislikable.

00:00:48.540 Am I making up words?

00:00:49.740 Yeah, some of those.

00:00:51.020 Michael Knowles.

00:00:51.700 You should all be thankful you're not stuck on this couch with him like I am.

00:00:54.780 You will be taking your questions live for an entire hour.

00:01:03.280 Please remember, our conversation is streaming for everyone to watch on Facebook and YouTube and on DailyWire.com.

00:01:09.520 MySpace, Zanga, I think we have something going on.

00:01:13.220 Do you remember Zanga?

00:01:13.620 Yeah, we're on there.

00:01:14.780 Live Journal.

00:01:15.700 Aim for all of you AOL email users.

00:01:18.120 So it's live for everyone to watch, but only subscribers get to ask the questions.

00:01:21.520 Click the link in our video description if you want to ask a question of Michael or become a DailyWire subscriber.

00:01:28.140 And be sure to tune in for next month's episode.

00:01:30.460 It's going to be with a wonderful editor-in-chief and co-founder of The DailyWire, Ben Shapiro, on Tuesday, December 18th at 5.30 p.m. Eastern, 2.30 p.m. Pacific time.

00:01:40.300 We also got a backstage coming up in December that should be a lot of fun.

00:01:43.180 Oh, excellent.

00:01:43.820 I wonder if it's going to be a Christmas-themed backstage.

00:01:46.520 Perhaps.

00:01:47.320 We can smoke Christmas-themed cigars.

00:01:50.900 They're rolled with dark and light tobacco, like a nice little candy cane.

00:01:54.460 Like a Cuban candy cane, you know? 0.98

00:01:57.140 Remember the bubblegum cigarettes?

00:02:00.380 Oh, yeah.

00:02:00.900 That's what got me hooked.

00:02:02.140 Really?

00:02:02.540 Oh, yeah.

00:02:03.300 At a young age.

00:02:04.480 Oh, yeah.

00:02:05.080 A little 15-year-old me.

00:02:06.160 The tobacco industry decided to...

00:02:08.180 Oh, yeah.

00:02:08.960 They were great.

00:02:09.420 They never light, though, is the trouble with them.

00:02:11.060 Oh.

00:02:11.520 That's the trouble.

00:02:12.000 So you were a pyromaniac and addicted to sugar at a museum child?

00:02:14.700 Yeah, I tried all of the vices when I was a kid, and I've persisted in all of them as

00:02:19.040 an adult.

00:02:19.500 We were talking about the importance of the sides at Thanksgiving earlier.

00:02:22.920 Maybe we'll have some Thanksgiving-related questions.

00:02:25.740 Perhaps.

00:02:26.240 We got the first one, though.

00:02:27.080 Ready to roll?

00:02:27.980 Here we go.

00:02:28.480 Evan wants to know, Michael, since the panel of deplorables, i.e. the Knoll's Army of Beauties,

00:02:33.040 have been disbanded and Friday Live has been canceled, I have to wonder, does sweet little

00:02:38.160 Lisa get jealous seeing you with other attractive women? 1.00

00:02:40.420 I had to hide when Ann Coulter came on the show.

00:02:42.760 I told Elisa there was no show that day.

00:02:45.000 Don't even watch.

00:02:46.340 Forget your iPhone.

00:02:47.220 There's nothing on, because I can't give up my aunt.

00:02:51.020 I mean, it was so sad to give up Friday Live, the panel of deplorables.

00:02:55.020 This was part of our vows, though.

00:02:56.620 When we got married, they added this in to the liturgy, to the Catholic ceremony, is you

00:03:03.240 cannot surround yourself with beautiful young conservative women on a daily basis. 0.93

00:03:07.480 And we make sacrifices for marriage, and that's the one that I made.

00:03:11.520 But once a month for the conversation?

00:03:13.560 But once a month, that's...

00:03:14.600 That feels really vain, but it was a subscriber that said I was pretty, for the record.

00:03:17.620 That's true.

00:03:18.080 It was right in there.

00:03:18.820 It was him, not me.

00:03:20.600 Him and my mom think so.

00:03:22.720 So MB says...

00:03:24.140 Oh, sorry. 0.96

00:03:24.640 Carlos Gomez says, MB, Ben said that you were a degenerate in college. 0.96

00:03:29.300 Did you party, sleep around, and smoke pot? 0.96

00:03:32.600 I like beer.

00:03:33.560 Did you like beer?

00:03:34.260 I like beer.

00:03:35.880 I like beer.

00:03:36.880 I still like beer.

00:03:38.080 I still...

00:03:38.900 And in college, you know, sometimes I would drink too much beer.

00:03:42.780 Did you ever drink beer in college?

00:03:44.960 Do you?

00:03:45.420 What do you drink?

00:03:46.160 What do you like to do?

00:03:47.400 Yeah, I was under the impression in college that there's a time and a place for everything,

00:03:52.260 and that place is college.

00:03:53.920 I also...

00:03:54.860 You know, we talk about religion a lot on the show, and I had this reversion to Christianity

00:03:59.020 at about 23.

00:04:01.540 But, you know, from the time I was 13...

00:04:02.980 Perfectly timed.

00:04:03.680 I know.

00:04:04.260 Talk about providence.

00:04:05.560 From the time I was 13, basically from my confirmation, until about a year or two years

00:04:10.580 out of college, I was an atheist, or I would have called myself agnostic.

00:04:15.200 And I consider this last period, you know, late teenage years, early 20s, I consider this

00:04:20.920 my St. Augustine period, because one of the great fathers of the church, St. Augustine,

00:04:25.340 said, Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.

00:04:27.700 And the other one that gives me some hope is St. John Vianney said, not all the saints

00:04:32.520 started well, but they all ended well.

00:04:35.000 So you see a lot of them had a little bit of a rough start, but I think that's what a

00:04:39.600 lot of teenagers have.

00:04:40.440 Are you giving yourself sainthood right now?

00:04:42.000 Well, I'm aiming for it.

00:04:43.100 That's what I got out of that.

00:04:43.680 We're called to be saints.

00:04:44.480 Uh-huh.

00:04:44.800 We're called to, but I'm just saying, like, elevating yourself to sainthood is kind of

00:04:49.860 vain.

00:04:50.300 Well, no, you just have to have a goal for it.

00:04:52.360 You know, this is actually a serious point.

00:04:54.840 In our society, we're so afraid of asserting anything or trying to go after a goal that

00:04:59.460 we always say, oh, you know, I just feel like, or this, or, but true humility does

00:05:03.980 away with false modesty.

00:05:05.320 We have to assert, we have to shoot for things, and then sometimes we fall into that college

00:05:11.840 trap.

00:05:12.320 All right, Gabriel wants to know, do you think that Jews, Christians, Muslims, and even

00:05:15.700 Eastern polytheists are worshiping slash pursuing the same God?

00:05:20.220 To what extent do you think each of these belief systems are credible?

00:05:23.900 No, they're obviously not worshiping the same God because they say so.

00:05:27.340 We know that, just to use the example, today is Muhammad's birthday. 0.70

00:05:30.600 It's his 1,447th birthday.

00:05:33.380 The God of Muhammad, as described by Ibn Hazm, an incredible, very bright 11th century Islamic

00:05:40.200 scholar, is a different God from the God of Christianity. 0.96

00:05:43.300 He is a God, Allah is a God of pure will.

00:05:46.780 He is a God of such will that he is not bound by his own logic.

00:05:51.560 If Allah so willed it, he could compel all of us to become idolaters or pagans. 0.90

00:05:57.760 That is the God of Islam.

00:05:59.660 The God of Christianity is not that God. 0.95

00:06:01.520 The God of Christianity is a God who is logic itself, is the divine logic of the universe.

00:06:06.940 In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.

00:06:12.120 You have the combining of will and intellect, will and reason, will and logic.

00:06:16.760 That separates things.

00:06:18.280 You know, Islam was founded in the 7th century after Muhammad was on a trip with his uncle,

00:06:24.460 Abu Talib, in Syria, and they met a heretical Christian monk named Bahira.

00:06:29.600 And this monk was either an Aryan or an historian.

00:06:32.520 It's unclear.

00:06:33.040 You see the aspects of that Christian heresy develop throughout the religion of Islam.

00:06:39.600 This is not to denigrate Islam.

00:06:41.360 It's to point out the differences.

00:06:43.080 And of course, this is true of the non-theistic religions as well, Buddhism and Hinduism.

00:06:47.280 There was a piece in the New York Times today where a Muslim writer said,

00:06:51.960 Muhammad never fought back against his enemies. 1.00

00:06:55.100 He always turned to the other cheek, for lack of a better word.

00:06:58.420 In the liberal, secular West, we want to turn every religion into Christianity. 0.99

00:07:03.640 We want to turn every religious leader into Jesus Christ.

00:07:06.580 And then we want to reject those religions. 1.00

00:07:08.540 But not all religions are the same.

00:07:10.380 We're reacting to one religion that some of us have a little cultural understanding of,

00:07:14.680 and we're pretending in our ignorance of all of the other ones.

00:07:18.040 But the left, especially in our secular culture, can't take other religions seriously.

00:07:24.360 And the actual claims of those other religions seriously, because they don't take religion itself seriously.

00:07:30.120 So you have Barack Obama lecturing Islamic radicals on what Islam is.

00:07:35.380 What is Barack Obama going to teach Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has a PhD in Islamic studies from Baghdad?

00:07:42.220 What is he going to teach him about Islam that he doesn't already know? 0.95

00:07:46.300 It's a ridiculous presumption. 0.94

00:07:48.740 And if we started to take religion more seriously, I think we could understand that. 0.98

00:07:52.920 All right.

00:07:53.500 Andrew says,

00:07:54.040 Hi, Michael and Alicia.

00:07:55.080 I know that men and women are complementary to one another.

00:07:57.600 But what are some examples or traits that both sexes bring to the table for each other?

00:08:02.660 Oh, where does one begin?

00:08:04.700 One example could be modesty.

00:08:07.320 Women are more modest than men are. 0.97

00:08:10.340 Men are more aggressive and more assertive.

00:08:13.260 And women are more modest.

00:08:15.700 This comes out in the song, Baby, It's Cold Outside.

00:08:17.960 So Baby, It's Cold Outside is, I really can't stay.

00:08:19.960 That's a date rape song. 1.00

00:08:21.000 How dare you? 0.97

00:08:21.120 Oh, I forgot. 0.99

00:08:21.960 I forgot it's a song about rape. 0.98

00:08:23.020 How dare you? 0.97

00:08:23.440 I know.

00:08:23.940 That's the new line.

00:08:25.340 You know, the woman says, I really can't stay. 0.96

00:08:28.140 And the guy says, but baby, it's cold outside.

00:08:30.600 Maybe you stick your hand in here.

00:08:32.320 She's paying lip service, at least, to the virtue of modesty.

00:08:36.320 And he is trying to go after his woman.

00:08:38.500 He's trying to seduce.

00:08:39.240 Pursue.

00:08:39.640 He's trying to pursue the woman.

00:08:41.260 And women like to be pursued. 1.00

00:08:42.280 That's exactly.

00:08:42.960 At least they used to.

00:08:43.920 Do they still?

00:08:44.760 You're a better expert on this than I am.

00:08:46.380 No, I think that, I mean, I've been married a little bit longer than you.

00:08:49.300 That's true.

00:08:49.600 That's true.

00:08:50.000 And it is something, I think, in every healthy marriage, you have to keep dating.

00:08:54.060 And there is, not that I like.

00:08:55.340 I know.

00:08:55.800 I mean, I tell Elisa this all the time.

00:08:57.140 She gets angry.

00:08:57.940 I say, no, I've got to go out on a couple of dates to have a healthy marriage.

00:09:00.560 Oh, God.

00:09:01.240 No, that's not what you mean.

00:09:02.160 But you have to keep dating.

00:09:03.080 You have to keep pursuing her.

00:09:04.620 That's right, yes.

00:09:05.400 And buying her flowers or, my love language is time.

00:09:08.740 So, like, quality time is very important.

00:09:11.140 And the time that my husband and I spend together.

00:09:11.920 My love language is Italian.

00:09:14.920 I thought that was everybody's love language.

00:09:16.480 Yeah.

00:09:17.100 Yes and.

00:09:17.900 Yes and.

00:09:18.780 Yes.

00:09:19.320 No, that's absolutely right.

00:09:20.460 So, my question was, what are some, even though the sexes are different, I think his question

00:09:23.960 was, what are similarities that the sexes have?

00:09:26.520 Oh, I thought he was saying, what are the traits that they bring to the table?

00:09:29.400 No.

00:09:29.640 Maybe we, let's go back to that question.

00:09:31.780 I want to see that question again.

00:09:32.620 We want to see it again.

00:09:33.340 Where is it?

00:09:33.600 I thought that he was.

00:09:34.360 I want to see the language.

00:09:34.980 He was addressing.

00:09:35.460 What are some examples of the traits that both sexes bring to the table for each other?

00:09:39.240 So, I think that is the complementary.

00:09:40.780 Okay.

00:09:41.120 So, modesty is one of them.

00:09:42.820 For men, it would be assertiveness. 0.73

00:09:44.180 But these days, men are not assertive.

00:09:46.600 They refuse to be.

00:09:47.720 They are the sensitive man or the soy boy or the vegan or whatever the euphemism you want

00:09:52.820 to use.

00:09:53.100 Remember pajama boy?

00:09:53.700 The pajama boy.

00:09:54.600 Yes.

00:09:55.120 So, you need men to be men. 0.77

00:09:56.900 When men behave like women, it doesn't make them better men. 1.00

00:09:59.840 It makes them the worst men.

00:10:01.740 So, that would be one of them.

00:10:03.400 Another one for women is moderation. 1.00

00:10:05.720 Women are much more moderate than men. 0.91

00:10:07.160 I was at a bachelor party two weeks ago.

00:10:09.120 Moderation is not a male virtue.

00:10:11.340 It is not one men are particularly good at.

00:10:13.600 Men, however, are a little bit bolder.

00:10:15.380 They exhibit more courage.

00:10:17.820 I don't mean to say that women are not courageous.

00:10:19.760 Women have more endurance. 1.00

00:10:21.200 But men are more likely to undergo risky behavior.

00:10:24.460 That's why they're more likely to be entrepreneurs.

00:10:26.300 That's why they're more likely to fall off a mountain.

00:10:28.060 It cuts both ways.

00:10:28.840 It's also more likely why they're to run for political office.

00:10:32.100 That's right.

00:10:32.360 Because women are more risk averse. 1.00

00:10:33.960 That's right.

00:10:34.440 That's exactly it.

00:10:34.500 So, there's this whole movement right now for, oh, yay, she power.

00:10:37.600 Women must run for office. 1.00

00:10:38.740 And it's kind of like, well, one, maybe they don't want to.

00:10:41.040 And two, we're generally more risk averse.

00:10:43.280 Of course.

00:10:43.660 I mean, there's a real irony with modern feminism, which is that during the second wave of feminism, feminists like Shulamith Firestone decided they were going to deconstruct gender categories.

00:10:53.660 There's no female trait. 1.00

00:10:55.300 There's no male trait.

00:10:56.500 There are no female virtues. 0.84

00:10:57.480 There are no male virtues.

00:10:58.740 And what it ended up doing is forcing women to become men. 0.55

00:11:02.420 If there's no category of men and women, you see this now, especially in the transgender movement, which denies the existence of gender altogether. 0.92

00:11:11.080 If there's no categorical difference between men and women, it raises this question, what are women?

00:11:15.820 And if women are just supposed to do everything that men do and be exactly like men, then the question is, why do we have feminism? 1.00

00:11:22.700 Well, shouldn't we just have humanism or mankindism or something like that?

00:11:28.040 It's a real confusion.

00:11:29.380 But I think if women, not to lock themselves in a box, but to lean in at least in some ways to natural inclinations, they'll be much happier. 1.00

00:11:38.820 During the rise of second wave and now third wave feminism, study after study has shown women have become much less happy. 0.99

00:11:45.240 That's in relative terms to men and in absolute terms to their prior happiness.

00:11:49.840 And most importantly in this, too, men don't get off the hook.

00:11:53.240 Men have to behave like men. 0.99

00:11:54.780 It might be unpopular.

00:11:56.160 You might have feminists and political ideologues calling you toxic or whatever. 1.00

00:12:01.720 It doesn't matter.

00:12:02.480 That's the point of manhood.

00:12:03.940 You've got to listen to all that nonsense and push right through it.

00:12:06.440 All right.

00:12:06.800 Next question comes from Joel.

00:12:08.040 I guess he's in Georgia, and he talks about how Georgia might become purple due to the trend of technology and cybersecurity jobs that are moving to the state with the Army Cyber Command in Fort Gordon.

00:12:18.380 How can Republicans gain those suburban or urban votes with such a demographic?

00:12:23.920 I really enjoy redistricting.

00:12:25.960 I'm a strong proponent of redistricting.

00:12:28.460 This is why it's very important to win state houses, because it's very difficult.

00:12:32.620 Traditionally speaking.

00:12:33.100 You realize that's going to be like just plucked in.

00:12:35.560 Good.

00:12:35.900 I try to be very honest about my political views.

00:12:39.160 You know, the left is very good at stealing elections.

00:12:41.680 I don't know why the right can't use perfectly legal means to try to even the playing field.

00:12:45.960 But traditionally speaking, the left wing wins in the cities, and the right wing wins in the countries, and the suburbs are where they both go and do battles.

00:12:55.580 But, of course, the nature of a suburb changes.

00:12:58.600 There are districts, districts that I grew up in, that were once leaned red.

00:13:02.820 Then they were kind of moderate.

00:13:04.840 Now they lean right.

00:13:05.620 This is what happens when people get pushed from the cities into the suburbs, and then the suburbs maybe into the exurbs, and the exurbs become more suburban.

00:13:13.040 This is a process that is constantly in flux.

00:13:16.540 But I think the most important thing Republicans can do is stand by their message.

00:13:22.080 Don't try to focus group it.

00:13:23.920 Don't try to appeal to the mythical suburban housewife or whatever other political character we have. 0.91

00:13:30.860 Stand for something.

00:13:32.500 Stand for policies.

00:13:33.760 Push those policies.

00:13:35.100 Stop trying to tell people what you think they want to hear.

00:13:38.280 It's not going to work.

00:13:39.040 It didn't work for John McCain.

00:13:40.300 It didn't work for Mitt Romney.

00:13:41.840 Donald Trump managed to tell everybody what they didn't want to hear.

00:13:45.360 He somehow manages.

00:13:46.560 Even me, I'm a big fan of the president.

00:13:48.460 He says certain things, and I think, oh, gosh, why did he have to say it that way?

00:13:52.300 He does, because he's authentic at least.

00:13:54.200 And you at least feel that you're not being played.

00:13:56.420 In that old version of politics where you think, how do I pluck this voter off?

00:13:59.700 You would hear a politician speak, and you would say, now, what does that really mean?

00:14:04.840 You would hear it.

00:14:05.520 You say, oh, if he says that, it really means this.

00:14:07.020 Because he's using the talking point.

00:14:08.400 The talking and the slogans.

00:14:10.320 And one nice thing about having a political apparent amateur, obviously, he's not an amateur,

00:14:17.520 in the White House, Donald Trump, is all of that goes away.

00:14:21.600 And it's really a breath of fresh air.

00:14:23.000 I say embrace that. 0.97

00:14:24.080 Don't try to suck up to people. 0.91

00:14:25.580 Call it like it is. 0.59

00:14:26.340 It worked for Chris Christie when he ran for governor.

00:14:28.020 Worked for Mitch Daniels when he was the governor of Indiana.

00:14:30.520 Worked for Donald Trump when he got himself elected president.

00:14:34.680 Talk straight.

00:14:35.560 Talk straight to people.

00:14:36.440 Be frank with them.

00:14:37.580 The American people are smart.

00:14:39.220 They're as smart as you and me.

00:14:40.480 We're not so much better than they are.

00:14:43.140 I think they respect you for that.

00:14:44.740 It's interesting, because wasn't the Straight Talk Express?

00:14:46.840 The most ironically named campaign bus in history.

00:14:50.980 John McCain's 2008 bus, maybe 2012, or maybe 2000 as well, was called the Straight Talk Express. 0.84

00:14:58.540 And then he used the most mealy-mouthed, ridiculous political slogans to undermine the Republican Party.

00:15:04.400 Yeah, you need to do the real Straight Talk Express. 0.92

00:15:06.180 The Straight Talk Straight Talk Express.

00:15:07.440 That's what I recommend.

00:15:08.980 R.I.P.

00:15:10.120 R.I.P.

00:15:10.740 It's been a little while now, right?

00:15:14.300 Are we allowed to now?

00:15:15.420 What?

00:15:15.640 Am I not allowed to?

00:15:16.440 As the mom of the office, I'm just saying, be nice.

00:15:19.600 No, I'm being very nice to Senator McCain.

00:15:23.220 This is the tough thing.

00:15:24.420 You have to calibrate when you're allowed to criticize people again.

00:15:27.660 I think in the scheme of political history, you and I are both nerds.

00:15:30.200 I don't know if everybody knows this.

00:15:31.200 But we've actually run campaigns and worked on campaigns and done the grassroots and the door knocking.

00:15:35.500 And so there is legitimately, in the scheme of history, things that you could look back and, I mean, I don't even know that it's John McCain's fault.

00:15:41.640 I think I'd throw Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace under that bus. 1.00

00:15:44.160 Yeah, I mean, the buck stops with the candidate.

00:15:46.500 But he surrounded himself with certain advisors who were not smart for him.

00:15:52.360 And you know what's interesting, too, is before he ran for president, he was pretty conservative.

00:15:55.900 And then his political positions changed so dramatically.

00:16:00.120 He gutted the First Amendment with that campaign finance, Bill McCain-Feingold.

00:16:03.960 He just consistently attacked his own party, attacked the conservative elements within it.

00:16:08.840 It was really frustrating to see that.

00:16:10.600 But he positioned himself as a moderate Republican.

00:16:14.120 And I'm really glad that now the lines are a little clear.

00:16:17.300 We complain about polarization in politics.

00:16:19.740 At least I know which party stands for what.

00:16:22.220 At least now it's not just a country of John Kasichs who are trying to play it both ways and just relentlessly tell me that their father was a mailman.

00:16:28.740 I don't care about that your father was a mailman.

00:16:30.540 I care about what you're going to do about health care and taxes and judges.

00:16:35.040 Give me that.

00:16:35.720 Or actually signing the heartbeat bill.

00:16:37.780 Right.

00:16:38.140 Oh, yes, of course.

00:16:39.040 Oof.

00:16:39.420 Don't get me started. 0.72

00:16:40.480 Eitan says, hello, Michael, master of trolls.

00:16:43.060 Your lectures always seem to be thought out and well prepared.

00:16:46.180 I don't know about that, but OK.

00:16:47.740 Any insight into how you prepare for them?

00:16:50.680 Yes, plagiarism.

00:16:51.740 I read other people's speeches that other people haven't read and then I just repeat them.

00:16:56.820 Exactly.

00:16:57.440 No, I thank you for I actually really appreciate that because I do try to prepare for these speeches.

00:17:01.800 As the author of a blank book, a bestselling blank book, I feel that I really must bring something to the table at these speeches.

00:17:09.920 So I prove yourself.

00:17:10.860 Well, I really well, I need to offer something.

00:17:12.720 I guess I could just stand up there and just go slack jawed for 40 minutes.

00:17:17.300 But I like to focus in on a topic.

00:17:20.180 And then, you know, there are a lot of books right now that people never encounter in their undergraduate curriculum, in their graduate school sometimes, because the curricula have narrowed so much.

00:17:32.300 We just read a very narrow number of modern writers or little excerpts.

00:17:36.960 And so you have this vast quantity of rich writers.

00:17:41.280 When it comes to philosophy or theology, people don't read all of the works of Chesterton or Belloc or Lewis or obviously medieval or ancient writers.

00:17:51.660 When it comes to history, so many wonderful writers just simply are not assigned.

00:17:55.620 So I go to the old bookshelf.

00:17:56.920 I pluck one out, and I really consider them a great opportunity to pick up on all of this.

00:18:02.900 You know, one of my last speeches was on manliness, how to be a man when you look like a mad owl.

00:18:08.120 I love that one.

00:18:09.000 That was for Young America's Foundation, right?

00:18:10.440 That was for Young America's Foundation.

00:18:12.260 And one of the great books on that is Manliness by Harvey Mansfield.

00:18:16.120 It's a relatively recent book, and nobody reads it.

00:18:19.260 It hasn't gotten reviews in political science journals, but highly recommend that.

00:18:22.960 Maybe after the speeches, I'll release a reading list because—

00:18:26.040 That's a good idea. You should do a Christmas wish list for DailyWire.com.

00:18:28.980 That's pretty good. That's a very good idea.

00:18:30.400 You're welcome.

00:18:32.080 Ryan says,

00:18:33.060 Is my understanding correct that the Constitution serves to protect the negative rights of citizens?

00:18:39.000 If so, is the right to vote a positive or a negative right?

00:18:42.620 Well, it protects negative rights, certainly.

00:18:45.460 I mean, really what you're thinking of is the Declaration of Independence.

00:18:48.880 The Declaration of Independence outlines those negative rights, the negative rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

00:18:55.440 Those aren't rights to a positive good.

00:18:57.700 Those are rights to be left alone and left to maintain your own liberty.

00:19:03.040 But the Constitution establishes institutions.

00:19:06.700 So it establishes the judiciary.

00:19:08.260 It establishes the White House or the executive branch.

00:19:11.460 It establishes the legislature.

00:19:13.220 That's more than a negative right.

00:19:14.860 That's actually establishing the foundations of our government.

00:19:18.440 You know, I got to talk to Scalia, the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia, twice before he died.

00:19:25.500 And he said, I'm sure you all can rattle off the Bill of Rights, which protects many negative rights.

00:19:32.280 He said, but how many of you know, could rattle off all the other articles of the Constitution?

00:19:37.260 How many of you could rattle off the Federalist Papers?

00:19:39.860 He said, every tinpot dictator has a Bill of Rights.

00:19:42.120 But we have the foundations and the institutions of a government that protects those rights.

00:19:48.040 And that's what really matters.

00:19:49.960 That's what's really important.

00:19:53.140 And so there is a combination.

00:19:56.380 And I think sometimes conservatives get a little bit lost up here in the ethereal, in the abstraction.

00:20:01.900 We're only protecting negative rights.

00:20:03.680 We're able to protect those negative rights because of the firm foundations and the culture that we have.

00:20:08.580 And the people who run the culture and our geography and all of these real tangible things.

00:20:13.760 And more and more, I think you're seeing that come into the conservative conversation.

00:20:18.080 And I think that's a wonderful development.

00:20:20.100 All right.

00:20:20.320 Marcus wants to know, why is it that the most self-absorbed people seem to be the least self-aware?

00:20:26.300 I'm sorry.

00:20:26.840 Were you talking to me?

00:20:29.000 But I know.

00:20:30.300 Yes, I got it.

00:20:31.160 I got it at Kohl's.

00:20:32.400 No, I don't.

00:20:32.900 And that's a movement watch.

00:20:34.180 This is a movement watch.

00:20:35.060 Yeah, this is a movement watch.

00:20:36.040 I'm sorry.

00:20:36.260 Oh, of course, because if you're staring at yourself, you can't look out at anything else.

00:20:41.300 You know, a man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package indeed.

00:20:45.500 You see this all the time when you're having conversations.

00:20:48.360 This is kind of ironic because these conversations are just soliloquies.

00:20:51.940 But when you're actually at a dinner or a bar or something, you're having a conversation with someone.

00:20:57.160 The person who's talking the whole time at the end of the conversation will always say,

00:21:01.580 wow, that was a wonderful conversation.

00:21:03.020 You're a great conversationalist.

00:21:04.440 You really know how to talk.

00:21:05.300 But you really just listen to them.

00:21:06.360 You just listen the whole time.

00:21:07.540 You might have been thinking of, you know, your laundry list or whatever you have to do.

00:21:11.520 Yeah, of course, they're oblivious.

00:21:15.080 You know, this is a very interesting world, and you should never be bored in it.

00:21:19.640 But if you're constantly worried about everything you're doing, this expands not just to talking about your achievements,

00:21:25.920 but this expands to obsessing about what you eat, obsessing about what you wear, obsessing about how people are seeing you,

00:21:33.820 you're not going to enjoy it.

00:21:34.800 You're going to get bored.

00:21:35.740 It's going to be very tedious.

00:21:37.080 This happens to everybody.

00:21:38.440 But when you go to a party and you introduce yourself to someone and they introduce yourself to you,

00:21:42.400 you will forget their name within three seconds.

00:21:44.840 You ever do that?

00:21:45.660 You go, you meet somebody, and they say, hi, I'm Johnny.

00:21:47.460 You say, hi, I'm Michael.

00:21:48.480 And you say, what was that guy's name?

00:21:50.040 And the reason that you do that is because you're thinking, how is this guy relating to me right now?

00:21:55.520 What does he think of me?

00:21:56.540 How should I introduce myself?

00:21:57.980 And then you miss the opportunity to meet somebody.

00:22:00.640 So get out of your own head.

00:22:02.620 If you stop thinking about yourself, you'll be less bored.

00:22:07.460 You'll be more interesting to other people, and the world will seem a lot brighter.

00:22:10.340 Or in L.A. and New York, they ask the three most important questions that are never your name.

00:22:14.580 It's what do you do, where are you from, and where do you live?

00:22:17.540 Who's your agent?

00:22:18.240 And in L.A., who's your agent?

00:22:21.040 That's right.

00:22:21.440 It's like their level.

00:22:22.460 And then they'll determine whether or not they need to know if your name is Michael Knoll.

00:22:25.000 Oh, yes, that is so.

00:22:26.460 Especially when I was, you know, years ago, I would go to these things.

00:22:30.700 I'd introduce myself.

00:22:31.700 And you could just see them as you're talking to them.

00:22:34.660 You say, oh, yes, I'm represented by this disreputable agent.

00:22:37.340 And they're just kind of looking over your shoulder, scanning for somebody more famous.

00:22:41.520 That's welcome to L.A.

00:22:42.860 Yep.

00:22:43.680 Joel says, as a promoter of traditions, what are your thoughts on eggnog?

00:22:48.240 Real with eggs, not packaged.

00:22:50.260 Also, thoughts on the FDA tyranny on issues like raw milk ban, e-cigarette ban, food temperature requirements, etc.

00:22:57.980 I'm a big fan of eggnog, especially at Christmastime.

00:23:02.140 But my recipe is a little bit different.

00:23:03.680 What I do is I take out, obviously, I take out a nice thing of eggnog and I take out a nice bottle of rum.

00:23:10.220 And then I put the eggnog right back in the fridge.

00:23:13.000 And then I pour all the rum into the glass.

00:23:14.960 And it's one of my favorite cocktails.

00:23:16.600 That's why I love eggnog so much.

00:23:17.780 As for the FDA, yes, they obviously overreach.

00:23:21.720 And when we mention this, when conservatives mention that any administration of the federal government overreaches, the left says, well, do you want diseased food?

00:23:31.220 Well, do you want diseased air, unclean air?

00:23:34.440 No, we don't.

00:23:35.020 We're talking about an agency that is overreaching.

00:23:39.020 The e-cigarettes are a great example.

00:23:40.880 The e-cigarette is a safer alternative to smoking.

00:23:44.200 We're probably going to get kicked off the air for saying that.

00:23:46.380 Smoking is terrible for you, especially smoking cigarettes.

00:23:49.240 It is awful.

00:23:50.160 Do we know everything about the e-cigarette yet?

00:23:52.220 No.

00:23:52.960 Is it a good way to get off of that awful tar that's ripping up people's lungs and just give you nicotine with water vapor?

00:23:58.520 I suspect it is.

00:23:59.580 I'd put money on it.

00:24:00.680 I'd double down.

00:24:01.820 Absolutely, I would.

00:24:02.680 And yet, it's not just the FDA, but so many other government institutions overreach on this.

00:24:08.300 You see, in bars now, they'll say no e-cigarettes.

00:24:11.040 Santa Monica.

00:24:11.860 Santa Monica.

00:24:12.100 The entire city of Santa Monica said you cannot smoke an e-cigarette in a restaurant, bar, or public space.

00:24:17.260 You know what that shows you?

00:24:18.820 It shows you that the secondhand smoke bans, it was never about public health.

00:24:24.660 Obviously, there's no study that shows anything about the negative side effects of secondhand smoke.

00:24:29.440 That's a television thing.

00:24:30.840 But it was never about public health.

00:24:32.960 It was never even about other people's comfort.

00:24:34.780 It was about telling you what to do.

00:24:37.100 It was about controlling you.

00:24:38.900 Because now they invented e-cigarettes.

00:24:40.640 It's water vapor and nicotine.

00:24:42.300 And they say, oh, you can't do that either.

00:24:43.900 You say, why can't you do that?

00:24:45.040 Because I said so.

00:24:46.260 Because I, the big hand of the state, the nanny state, I'm going to tell you what to do.

00:24:50.720 It really made them show their hand.

00:24:52.380 But I don't know how to fight back exactly.

00:24:53.920 All right, Dave, speaking of alcohol and smoking, all of your vices.

00:24:58.580 Oh, yeah.

00:24:58.860 Dave wants to know, do you prefer whiskey neat or on the rocks, especially when paired with a cigar?

00:25:03.620 It depends on the whiskey, as with all things.

00:25:06.820 So, for, if I'm pairing it with a cigar, I think my favorite whiskey, I go back and it changes all the time.

00:25:13.320 But with a cigar, I think the best whiskey is Johnny Walker Black Label.

00:25:18.300 As Christopher Hitchens pointed out, the preferred scotch of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, of the Libyan dictatorship, of a faction of the Saudi royal family, of many of the worst people on the face of the earth.

00:25:33.600 Johnny Walker Black Label.

00:25:34.760 The reason I like it with a cigar is because it makes your experience about the cigar.

00:25:40.280 People always make fun of me for drinking Johnny Black.

00:25:43.400 Because Johnny Black is sort of, you know, there isn't too much flavor.

00:25:46.240 It's a little smoky.

00:25:47.660 You can't have a powerhouse of both things.

00:25:50.180 If you have some delicious Macallan 25 or even Lagavulin 16 or something, it's going to overpower the cigar. 0.97

00:25:57.860 And then you're not going to get to experience the cigar, you sick hedonists. 0.95

00:26:01.000 So, you've got to calm down. 0.96

00:26:01.900 Now, if I'm going to have some Macallan 25, for instance, I wouldn't put a big chunk of ice in that.

00:26:07.960 I'd put just a few drops of water maybe to open it up.

00:26:10.400 But you've got to tailor it to the particular whiskey.

00:26:14.480 And if you want me to do a taste test of this, feel free to send me a bottle of Macallan 25.

00:26:20.920 Please feel free.

00:26:21.780 You can send it to the Daily Wire, and I will do it on the air for you.

00:26:24.740 Okay.

00:26:25.380 Can I be a part of that?

00:26:26.240 Yeah, I think you might be able to have a few sips of that.

00:26:27.780 Sweet.

00:26:28.120 Okay.

00:26:28.700 Sawyer says, what's your opinion of the Jones Act?

00:26:31.120 Oh, I don't know very much about it.

00:26:32.160 Do you know anything about the Jones Act?

00:26:33.300 A little bit, like from my Claremont Institute.

00:26:35.080 You tell me.

00:26:35.820 Please don't make me do that.

00:26:36.740 I need to pull up my notes.

00:26:38.340 Yeah, okay.

00:26:39.080 All right.

00:26:39.480 I'm sorry.

00:26:39.920 I've got to punt on that.

00:26:40.780 I don't know.

00:26:41.380 I know as much as people read about, but I don't have enough to give a really informed view,

00:26:47.540 and I don't want to torpedo it.

00:26:49.440 In other words, this is not the robotic walking encyclopedia that is Ben Shapiro.

00:26:53.000 That's right.

00:26:53.540 That conversation is next month.

00:26:54.880 I'm not plugged into Wi-Fi right now to just be reading the wiki page of the Jones Act.

00:27:00.440 No, Ben, like, has it memorized.

00:27:02.020 I'm sure he has the text of the bill memorized, too.

00:27:04.220 When you mentioned Scalia earlier, and he said, how many of you can name the Federalist

00:27:07.860 Papers?

00:27:08.360 I was thinking, Shapiro.

00:27:09.560 Ben is currently reciting Fed 51.

00:27:12.080 He already got through the first 50.

00:27:13.540 So, wow, that's impressive.

00:27:14.780 Ricardo says, why was democracy as we know it born in majority Protestant countries instead

00:27:19.680 of Catholic ones?

00:27:20.940 Well, oh, this is a long answer, I'm afraid for you.

00:27:24.180 Embrace yourself.

00:27:25.340 Embrace yourself.

00:27:26.620 The modern liberal movement and liberal democracy, you see this come out of Protestant countries 1.00

00:27:34.840 because Europe cracked up.

00:27:36.720 Before the Protestant Revolution, there was a unity of Europe.

00:27:41.900 Hilaire Belloc said, Europe is the faith and the faith is Europe, or something to that

00:27:45.540 effect.

00:27:46.400 Not to say that the faith is some blood and soil, but they were so closely intertwined.

00:27:52.680 And with the crack up, with the crack up of the Protestant Revolution, you had Luther make 0.95

00:27:57.760 his stand, but without terribly much intellectual rigor to that movement.

00:28:03.240 John Calvin provided the intellectual rigor, but this created almost immediately fault lines

00:28:09.600 within the Protestant movement.

00:28:11.280 This ultimately spread to the defender of the faith, according to the Pope, Henry VIII, when

00:28:17.120 he broke England away from the Catholic faith, and you see then the rise of nationalism.

00:28:22.000 This was only solved by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, I believe.

00:28:27.400 And with the Peace of Westphalia, this ended these wars between Protestants and Catholics

00:28:31.760 between various nations.

00:28:33.160 Because there was, prior to the Protestant Revolution, one faith, there was the Great Schism in the 0.98

00:28:40.220 East, and yet even that wasn't as influential as the Protestant Revolution.

00:28:46.100 You still had the lungs of the church, the East and the West.

00:28:49.380 When the West cracked up, you had to somehow make sense of 50 zillion different groups all 0.98

00:28:55.560 claiming to have the one true faith that just coincidentally cropped up in the 16th or 17th

00:29:00.740 century, and one of the ways to deal with this was democratizing our politics, liberalizing

00:29:08.480 politics, and eventually leading to what we have now as religious tolerance.

00:29:16.220 Obviously, you can make lemonade out of lemons, and there have been wonderful things that came

00:29:21.260 out of this, but it was a direct response to what was the crack-up of Europe.

00:29:25.720 And a good book on this is by Jacques Borsin called From Dawn to Decadence.

00:29:29.600 It traces the modern era from the Protestant Revolution.

00:29:32.900 That is the decisive moment.

00:29:34.880 And it led to some very nice things, some materially very nice things, but it also likely sowed the

00:29:40.900 seeds for the undoing of the Western consciousness.

00:29:44.520 So forget that question about the Jones Act.

00:29:46.620 You just got a whole...

00:29:47.560 How did you have all that in your head?

00:29:49.000 Well, because I don't want to read anything about public policy.

00:29:51.540 I just want to read about...

00:29:52.680 I mean, I could go on forever on this topic.

00:29:54.580 Another good book on this is Hilaire Belloc's How the Reformation Happened, which Drew gave

00:30:00.200 to me, even though he's a Protestant.

00:30:02.240 He gave it to me because he likes it when he sees me give Jeremy boring grief about Protestantism.

00:30:08.380 So he just gave it to me as little factoids that I could use.

00:30:11.080 So you can picket the God King during the backstage?

00:30:13.440 That's right.

00:30:13.860 Although it's a very fearsome thing to picket the God King, because then eventually he can

00:30:17.300 turn on the laser eyes and unleash his wrath, and you'll turn the stone. 0.79

00:30:20.320 I mean, as much as Ben wants to fire you, the God King is truly the only one with the power

00:30:23.600 to do so.

00:30:24.260 That's true.

00:30:24.920 And he's just sitting there on his throne, just waiting, just abiding time.

00:30:28.640 That's right.

00:30:28.740 Petting the dog.

00:30:30.600 Like, Austin's power.

00:30:31.200 That's right.

00:30:31.720 His little cat or something.

00:30:32.900 Yeah, that's right.

00:30:33.860 Hello, Michael.

00:30:35.900 All right.

00:30:36.620 He's on vacation.

00:30:37.480 We shouldn't give him that much of a hard time.

00:30:39.240 All right.

00:30:39.540 Joel wants to know, Papist Knowles, where is your crucifix?

00:30:43.340 Do you have one hanging on your rearview mirror, or is it too dangerous in California?

00:30:47.800 No, it's right here.

00:30:48.360 It's just right around my neck.

00:30:49.800 This is because I am a papist, as you point out.

00:30:52.060 I'm also Italian, so we wear gold jewelry around our necks.

00:30:55.620 Some of the Italians wear the little cornicello, the little horn sign, the sign of the cuckold, 1.00

00:31:00.700 actually, is what it is.

00:31:01.720 That's a story for another day.

00:31:02.980 I wear the crucifix.

00:31:04.060 I've had this crucifix since I was eight years old, and I like it very much.

00:31:08.000 Though one does wear it under the shirt, not just because we'll be tarred and feathered

00:31:12.160 here in atheistic California, but because you want to keep the faith close to your heart,

00:31:16.300 and you don't want to wear it as a jewelry for people's outside consumption, but to keep

00:31:23.060 it for you to remind yourself of the faith.

00:31:24.840 All right.

00:31:25.280 We're almost at the halfway point, so we've got to roll through all of these questions.

00:31:28.960 And remember, our conversation is live for everyone to watch, but only subscribers get

00:31:33.440 to ask the questions.

00:31:34.260 So click the link in our video description to ask questions or sign up at dailywire.com,

00:31:39.260 and be sure to tune in for next month's episode on Tuesday, December 18th at 5.30 p.m. Eastern,

00:31:44.560 2.30 p.m. Pacific, featuring our very own co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily

00:31:48.600 Wire and, you know, host of the most-listened-to conservative podcast of the country.

00:31:52.400 Fastest-growing.

00:31:53.240 Fastest-growing.

00:31:53.920 And most-listened-to.

00:31:54.740 Yeah.

00:31:55.080 Wow.

00:31:55.420 What's his name?

00:31:56.280 I believe that would be Mr. Ben Shapiro.

00:31:57.840 There we go.

00:31:58.680 Next month.

00:31:59.280 That'll be fun.

00:32:00.040 That's pretty good.

00:32:00.180 I'm just going to play Christmas music in the background the whole time, which Ben actually likes,

00:32:04.120 because, as he says, Elisha, all the Jews wrote it.

00:32:06.980 Well, it was all written by Jews, and I also loved at the Daily Wire store, Ben has his

00:32:12.780 Hanukkah sweater, and it's, I think he's got a menorah coming out of his head, and it says

00:32:18.220 something to the effect of, get lit this holiday season.

00:32:21.200 It's really, really excellent.

00:32:22.680 People should check out the, I mean, we've got lots of cool products over there.

00:32:25.200 We do.

00:32:25.660 On the Daily Wire store.

00:32:26.940 I've got a Christmas sweater up there.

00:32:28.280 I think it's a stogie with smoke coming out, and it says, remember Democrats, Christmas is

00:32:33.040 December 26th.

00:32:34.240 Be careful.

00:32:34.860 That'll get you suspended from Twitter.

00:32:36.320 They're going to shut down your show.

00:32:37.600 I know.

00:32:38.780 Suspended from Twitter forever, if you tell them that Christmas is on the wrong day.

00:32:43.140 That's right.

00:32:43.500 I mean, let's be honest.

00:32:44.140 Democrats don't really care about Christmas anyway.

00:32:45.760 It's true.

00:32:46.020 They're more of a Festivus kind of people, you know.

00:32:48.300 They're more of the winter solstice.

00:32:49.700 Laurel wants to know, hello, Michael.

00:32:51.620 What is your favorite type of pasta?

00:32:53.540 The shape of the pasta, not the type of sauce.

00:32:56.040 Percatelli.

00:32:56.960 Percatelli.

00:32:57.340 Which one's that?

00:32:57.820 Probably.

00:32:58.600 You don't get it out here too much.

00:33:00.060 It's like a really thick bucatini, a very thick pasta.

00:33:03.400 It looks like a bowl of worms.

00:33:04.760 It's almost impossible to eat, but I love it.

00:33:07.660 Is it my go-to all the time?

00:33:09.080 No.

00:33:09.440 It's a finicky pasta.

00:33:10.680 It can be very difficult.

00:33:12.160 Sometimes I'll settle for the bucatini.

00:33:14.220 Obviously, spaghetti are just fine.

00:33:16.620 Linguini, ferrucine are fine.

00:33:18.520 I prefer the longer pastas, though.

00:33:20.540 I don't always go for the rigatoni or the penne.

00:33:23.500 Okay.

00:33:23.840 Or the bow tie.

00:33:25.020 Yeah.

00:33:25.640 I don't.

00:33:26.260 Oh, I do.

00:33:26.900 Oh, gosh.

00:33:27.800 Oh, my gosh.

00:33:28.960 What?

00:33:29.380 I've got to change my answer.

00:33:30.620 Uh-oh.

00:33:31.060 I forgot about it.

00:33:31.560 Gnocchi?

00:33:32.140 No, I love gnocchi.

00:33:32.980 Very close.

00:33:33.280 Does it count as a pasta?

00:33:34.400 It's a dumpling.

00:33:35.020 Is it a pasta?

00:33:35.580 This is a longstanding debate.

00:33:36.840 Okay.

00:33:37.260 Or Italians, white people?

00:33:38.360 I don't know.

00:33:38.900 It's a longstanding debate.

00:33:40.580 I have to change my answer, even above Percatelli.

00:33:43.800 Cavatelli.

00:33:44.380 Oh, okay.

00:33:44.920 Those beautiful little, they got a little cheese in them.

00:33:47.160 You got them fresh.

00:33:48.440 I'm going to get them right around Christmas time.

00:33:49.800 Oh, that sounds delicious.

00:33:50.880 Bring some back for me, please.

00:33:51.960 Yeah, will do.

00:33:52.500 Trenton says, what do you think the balance between Catholics and Protestants, if any, should

00:33:56.220 be here in America and the world?

00:33:57.820 Well, obviously, at the final judgment day, we'll all be Catholics.

00:34:00.640 But before then, in America, America is a Protestant country. 0.73

00:34:04.340 This is undoubtedly true.

00:34:06.860 We've got Thanksgiving coming up.

00:34:08.720 Four of my ancestors were on the Mayflower.

00:34:11.220 One of them was a pilgrim.

00:34:12.660 Three of them were degenerates.

00:34:14.340 One was the first man executed for murder in America.

00:34:17.660 Another one was a mutineer who was on-

00:34:19.660 I kind of should have gone to Australia.

00:34:20.880 I know.

00:34:22.000 The other guy was a mutineer who, a shipwreck that he was in is the basis for Shakespeare's

00:34:27.520 The Tempest.

00:34:28.820 Another one was a rabble rouser. 1.00

00:34:30.480 The really good guy was Samuel Fuller.

00:34:32.980 He would be shocked and horrified by my papism.

00:34:36.520 So America is a Protestant country.

00:34:38.200 It's founded by Protestants on Protestant ideas.

00:34:41.140 They tried to have a Catholic colony, Maryland.

00:34:43.820 It didn't last very long.

00:34:44.860 It's a Catholic colony, did it? 0.88

00:34:46.540 Arthur Schlesinger says that anti-Catholicism is the most enduring,

00:34:49.660 Bias in the United States. 0.90

00:34:51.580 I think that might be true.

00:34:53.080 The biggest mass lynching in the history of the United States was in 1891.

00:34:58.540 It was against 11 Sicilians, Catholic Sicilians.

00:35:02.040 So it's very nice when we have toleration for Catholicism in the United States.

00:35:07.300 But increasingly, especially under the Obama administration, you had a lot of anti-Catholicism.

00:35:11.720 He literally went into legal battle with a group called the Little Sisters of the Poor,

00:35:16.580 a group of Catholic nuns.

00:35:18.900 Pretty outrageous.

00:35:21.000 You know, half of American Catholics don't practice the faith very much.

00:35:24.660 The majority of American Catholics, I believe, do not go to church weekly.

00:35:29.000 And half of American Catholics support abortion.

00:35:33.400 This is not true among evangelical Protestants.

00:35:36.560 Mainstream Protestants, mainline Protestants are basically the same way.

00:35:40.620 Evangelical Protestants, like your people, they go to church more.

00:35:43.740 They're more pro-life.

00:35:45.480 And what's been really nice in recent years is that Catholics and evangelicals have formed

00:35:51.000 a political alliance to defend the unborn, to defend religious liberty in the United States.

00:35:56.500 These are people who are still going to church.

00:35:58.600 And that's really wonderful.

00:36:00.300 I think that's a great balance.

00:36:01.620 I think it's probably the best balance we've ever had in American history.

00:36:05.240 And I really hope that we can maintain that going into the future.

00:36:09.200 It's a powerful political alliance.

00:36:10.860 All right, Margot says, hi, Pope Covfefe.

00:36:13.440 Am I saying that right?

00:36:14.360 I believe it's Covfefe, yeah.

00:36:15.740 Covfefe?

00:36:16.400 Speaking of Islam, do you think we'd ever have a Muslim president of the United States?

00:36:20.540 And what would the ramifications potentially be?

00:36:22.460 There are so many politically incorrect jokes I could make right now.

00:36:25.120 But I'm not going to do it.

00:36:26.060 That would be wrong to do such a thing.

00:36:29.360 I don't think we will. 0.66

00:36:31.260 I think if we did have a Muslim president, the country would be basically unrecognizable. 1.00

00:36:36.580 Even now, presidents still pay lip service to Christianity, even though we've had many 0.84

00:36:41.700 post, now I think two post-Christian presidents.

00:36:44.860 Barack Obama didn't seem to be terribly Christian.

00:36:49.040 I think he said he was Christian, but he also drew on the fates of all religions.

00:36:53.240 He criticized Christians for the crusades.

00:36:56.580 Clinging to their guns and religion. 0.63

00:36:58.160 And clinging to guns and religion.

00:36:59.820 Barack Obama strikes me as the spiritual but not religious type.

00:37:03.320 You know, very interested in himself, but not too concerned about the nature of metaphysics

00:37:08.520 and the divine.

00:37:10.120 And obviously, Donald Trump is a thrice-married, lapsed Presbyterian.

00:37:13.620 But he does at least, one, he's excellent for Christians and for pushing the things that 0.97

00:37:19.200 Christians want. 1.00

00:37:20.160 And he does pay lip service to it as well.

00:37:22.340 We may be in a post-Christian period. 0.98

00:37:24.800 We may have the fast-growing religious groups in the United States are the nuns, the religiously

00:37:28.800 unaffiliated, the spiritual but not religious.

00:37:30.960 So we may get to a point where we're electing practical atheists or practical agnostics.

00:37:36.660 But if we were at the point, and a person might call himself Muslim who really is a practical 0.88

00:37:41.760 atheist, if we got to the point in America where we had a serious, practicing Muslim elected 0.97

00:37:48.460 president, I just suspect that the culture of the country would be so different we wouldn't

00:37:52.880 recognize it.

00:37:53.620 Well, and it could potentially be.

00:37:54.740 I mean, you see studies how so many millennials are unchurched.

00:37:57.760 Yes, no, I think, well, I mean, I think perhaps it's just as likely we get a Muslim president 0.96

00:38:03.220 as a practicing Christian president in the future.

00:38:06.540 I'm not, I'm really not disparaging Muslims.

00:38:08.660 I'm just saying it seems that the culture is trending in an atheistic direction.

00:38:12.360 And we're probably going to see that reflected in our politicians.

00:38:15.100 All right.

00:38:15.320 Sam has a very important question.

00:38:16.720 He wants to know, Michael, why does Ben hate you?

00:38:19.300 What have you done to incur the most terrible wrath of our future president?

00:38:22.600 I think I received the applause of our current president.

00:38:26.880 I think that was part of it.

00:38:28.440 The real issue, and I say this as a bestselling author, Ben and I, you know, he and I are bestselling

00:38:34.480 authors.

00:38:35.640 And you have how many books?

00:38:38.000 Well, how many books have I sold is the real question.

00:38:42.560 Ben made this point when I became a bestselling author that he was a little upset because he

00:38:48.920 has written, I don't know, a dozen books or something at this point.

00:38:51.300 And, but I sold more copies of not a book than he sold of all of his books with words.

00:38:59.320 And this is very difficult, you know, obviously among us bestselling authors, there's always

00:39:03.740 a little bit professionally where you go back and forth, you bounce ideas off of one another.

00:39:08.740 But I've tried to teach Ben my secrets, which is to stop doing all that research.

00:39:13.500 Okay.

00:39:13.940 For one, stop putting all those hours in.

00:39:16.660 I mean, the guy works like a dog.

00:39:18.040 He's got two kids.

00:39:19.040 He's running multiple shows.

00:39:20.000 Stop doing anything.

00:39:20.860 His wife's a doctor.

00:39:21.780 I heard his wife's a doctor, you know, that's got to be trying.

00:39:24.820 And to stop putting all those words in the books, he hasn't taken my advice.

00:39:28.700 Once he takes my advice, he's going to be so happy.

00:39:31.520 He's not going to be angry at anybody, the world, but I think he's going to keep putting

00:39:34.580 words in them.

00:39:35.260 He should write a comprehensive guide to writing by Michael Knowles.

00:39:40.380 That's going to be my next book.

00:39:41.760 For Michael Knowles.

00:39:42.640 And it's by Ben Shapiro, but it's just blank inside.

00:39:44.620 Yeah.

00:39:44.980 That's going to be my, you know, it's like strunk in white.

00:39:47.160 That's going to be the guide to writing.

00:39:48.460 Yeah.

00:39:48.680 The Principles of Writing by Michael Knowles.

00:39:50.280 Ryan wants to know, is the GOP better or off, I'm sorry, better off or worse off with

00:39:55.400 never Nancy as the Speaker of the House for Democrats?

00:39:57.600 Or would Republicans be better if they found someone else to be the Democratic leader?

00:40:01.880 This is a confusing way you phrased it because when I think of never Nancy, I think of Alexandria

00:40:06.320 Ocasio-Cortez.

00:40:07.300 And the people, the 16 congressmen that were against her being Speaker.

00:40:11.100 That are opposing Nancy being the Speaker.

00:40:12.700 We are way better off with Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker. 0.96

00:40:15.620 She is a superb Speaker for Republicans.

00:40:18.500 We have spent zillions of dollars vilifying this woman. 1.00

00:40:22.620 Not that we really needed to.

00:40:23.920 She's done a good job of it herself.

00:40:26.520 She's a weak adversary. 0.99

00:40:28.260 I mean, she's a good adversary, but she's a weak leader as she doesn't have a ton of 0.90

00:40:33.440 support within her own party.

00:40:34.860 The only reason she didn't get thrown out is she's still a pretty good fundraiser and

00:40:38.280 can make it rain.

00:40:39.920 But she's very left wing. 1.00

00:40:41.720 She and Ocasio-Cortez are out left winging themselves.

00:40:44.540 Ocasio-Cortez invaded Nancy's office. 1.00

00:40:47.240 Nancy said, bring them on. 0.99

00:40:48.540 I encourage everyone to participate in democracy.

00:40:51.340 They're all very far left.

00:40:52.440 But she is very good.

00:40:54.140 And she is the most likely Speaker to sow discord within the Democrat Party.

00:41:00.100 There are stronger, younger candidates who could take it over.

00:41:04.120 But she is, and she's a shrewd politician. 0.99

00:41:07.040 So I think it really worked out as well as it can be.

00:41:10.600 And we've got to keep the cameras on her.

00:41:12.280 And we have to keep the cameras on her opponents, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 1.00

00:41:16.480 Because before, you got a great show with Trump.

00:41:19.080 Before, you got a pretty good TV show.

00:41:20.640 But now, you've got Trump, you've got the adversary, and you've got even more drama.

00:41:25.800 Because the adversary has an adversary within her own party.

00:41:28.940 Season, what is this now?

00:41:30.340 Season three?

00:41:31.000 Season three is going to be the best one yet.

00:41:32.600 I'm wondering if there will ever be a point where Trump goes, oh, the enemy of my enemy

00:41:36.740 is my friend.

00:41:38.220 And Pelosi and the Donald will become besties because they're against the kind of more left

00:41:44.380 wing of the Democratic Party.

00:41:45.880 And because Pelosi specifically is that shrewd politician and wants more power.

00:41:49.640 They can't do it.

00:41:50.740 The left in particular can't do it.

00:41:53.320 They've boxed themselves in on this Trump is Hitler narrative.

00:41:56.460 They've boxed themselves in so hard.

00:41:58.720 I don't think they could make a deal with him.

00:42:01.100 I'm frankly surprised they're even going to get criminal justice reform through.

00:42:05.660 Because if they're describing the man as a fascist who's eroding our freedoms, destroying

00:42:11.800 our democracies, stealing elections, working with the Russians, whatever.

00:42:15.540 How can you work with that man on anything?

00:42:17.360 I agree with Ben and Drew and Jeremy and everybody who say that if the Democrats had come in and

00:42:24.340 tried to work and make a deal with Trump, they might have had some success.

00:42:28.040 But they just, they can't win for losing.

00:42:31.340 It'll be, 2020 is going to be so fun.

00:42:33.080 I know.

00:42:33.700 Just around the corner.

00:42:35.300 Max says, I just lost a significant amount of money in the market recently.

00:42:39.000 Do you think it will recover or will it wait until the Dems are out of the house?

00:42:42.220 I think we all lost a lot of money in the market recently.

00:42:44.460 The stock markets are tumbling, tech stocks are tumbling.

00:42:47.700 Yeah, it's really falling.

00:42:49.460 I don't know if this was a reaction to the Democrats being in the house.

00:42:53.980 The partisan in me wants to blame it on them and the timing is a little suspect.

00:42:57.460 But we have had, I think, basically the longest bull run in American history so far.

00:43:02.460 So, you know, this has taken a very long time.

00:43:05.900 At some point, we're due for a market correction.

00:43:08.240 We're really past due at this point.

00:43:09.640 Plus, we're going to have to see how the Fed manages things.

00:43:13.060 During the midterm elections, Donald Trump was saying his biggest threat is the Federal Reserve.

00:43:17.240 If they raise interest rates too fast, it's going to damage the economy and his electoral chances.

00:43:22.640 You know, America, broadly speaking, don't take your money out.

00:43:26.280 America is still a good bet. 0.99

00:43:28.140 If you've got time, and demographically speaking, if you watch this show, you're probably on the younger side.

00:43:33.260 So they've got time.

00:43:33.760 So they've got time.

00:43:34.760 Leave your money in.

00:43:35.440 America is still a good bet. 0.99

00:43:37.820 But in the short run, yeah, it's going to hurt people.

00:43:40.620 And the way to lose money in the stock market is to take all your money out when it falls to nothing.

00:43:46.100 That's a good way to lose all your wealth.

00:43:47.660 All right.

00:43:48.020 Rachel wants to know, Michael, who's your favorite philosopher?

00:43:51.020 Oh, where does one begin with that question?

00:43:53.000 I don't know.

00:43:53.420 I'll just name some of my favorites.

00:43:55.640 Aristotle's right about everything.

00:43:57.460 Plato gets a great many things right as well.

00:44:00.260 Of modern, obviously, I like some of the, I like John Locke.

00:44:07.860 I don't go as crazy for John Locke as some people do.

00:44:10.380 Like Ben goes crazy for him.

00:44:11.940 I don't do that.

00:44:13.620 Of living philosophers, I really like Alistair MacIntyre of recent philosophers.

00:44:18.260 Michael Oakeshott is terrific.

00:44:20.200 I really enjoy, obviously, Thomas Aquinas takes Aristotle and brings him, baptizes Aristotle, makes him, and creates so much of our Christian philosophy and so much of our Western culture.

00:44:36.840 So it's hard to beat Thomas Aquinas.

00:44:39.160 I don't know.

00:44:39.840 We could go on and on and on.

00:44:41.040 I really do like to focus, though, on, everybody is always talking about enlightenment philosophers and people thereabouts.

00:44:48.980 Because I'm contrarian and because the world is much bigger than just a 200-year period in certain parts of the world, I like to focus on ancient philosophers, medieval philosophers, and some more modern philosophers as well.

00:45:07.220 I think it's important to expand and balance our view because all we read in school is, if we are even privileged to have this assigned.

00:45:14.420 I'm sure the majority of the people watching, due to their age, were not taught any of this in school.

00:45:19.700 Of course, yeah.

00:45:20.380 I mean, maybe you'll be assigned Locke, Rousseau, maybe Nietzsche, you know, the guy who predicted modernity and ruined it.

00:45:28.820 Hobbes, maybe.

00:45:29.760 I suppose the first proto-liberal philosopher would be Hobbes.

00:45:33.260 So you're assigned those guys.

00:45:34.780 But, you know, history began before the 17th century.

00:45:37.880 We like to pretend that there was a dark ages.

00:45:40.800 That didn't really exist.

00:45:42.620 And the more you dig into the medieval, the more you dig into ancient philosophy, you'll find the ruins.

00:45:48.780 Or you'll find maybe the way to save our culture, which is currently lying in ruins.

00:45:53.840 All right.

00:45:54.400 Peter wants to know,

00:45:55.300 Michael, I live in California, and should a conservative stay and fight for the policies and laws that they believe in or move on to a freer state?

00:46:03.340 You should stay and make money.

00:46:04.460 That's what you should do.

00:46:05.140 I mean, you should stay if the opportunity is here, which is true.

00:46:08.780 There's a lot of economic opportunity in the cities, and especially the cities on the coast.

00:46:13.140 New York, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco.

00:46:16.680 So go there and get yours.

00:46:18.060 Don't surrender that to the left.

00:46:19.880 They don't get to make money.

00:46:21.040 They don't even have much of a work ethic a lot of the time.

00:46:23.340 So you should go there and get out of it what you can get out of it.

00:46:27.560 But I wouldn't hold out false hopes.

00:46:30.700 What is insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

00:46:34.480 I don't expect a different result when I go to the ballot box in Los Angeles.

00:46:38.180 Plus, we've just lost Orange County, California, the birthplace of Reagan conservatism.

00:46:43.180 That was a tough blow.

00:46:44.960 I don't weep about it.

00:46:46.080 I think there's a lot that we can get out of L.A.

00:46:47.920 Right now, there was an article about this in Vox the other day talking about us and other people.

00:46:52.560 There was a conservative renaissance happening right here, right on this very spot that we're sitting in.

00:46:57.880 It can happen here.

00:46:59.140 It's happening in Los Angeles.

00:47:00.380 Before that, 50 years ago, Bill Buckley started the conservative movement in New York and Connecticut.

00:47:05.980 Who would have expected that?

00:47:07.200 And Manhattan was the epicenter of the conservative movement.

00:47:10.460 So you can get good things out of there, even if it's not good policy.

00:47:13.800 You can get good thinkers.

00:47:15.000 You can get good communicators.

00:47:16.440 You can get good candidates.

00:47:17.820 And you should take these places for what they're worth and not knock your head against a wall because you're not electing Republican mayor of Los Angeles.

00:47:26.600 That just ain't going to happen in the near future.

00:47:28.280 All right.

00:47:29.260 Rachel says, Michael, what's your favorite holiday tradition?

00:47:32.160 Again, so very many.

00:47:34.840 On Christmas Eve, the Italians do an extraordinary feast.

00:47:39.420 They do a lot of all the fishes.

00:47:41.820 Yeah, it goes on and on and on.

00:47:43.240 That was always my favorite as a kid.

00:47:45.480 I really like Christmas Eve because of the anticipation.

00:47:49.600 And this gets to a broader point in the culture.

00:47:51.660 I was at Starbucks the other day.

00:47:52.880 November 1st, they started playing Christmas music wall to wall, nonstop.

00:47:56.840 And this reminds me that people can never be happy because I was complaining about the war on Christmas.

00:48:02.800 Starbucks wouldn't acknowledge Christmas.

00:48:04.500 Now I'm complaining that Christmas is too early.

00:48:06.440 People can never be happy in this world.

00:48:07.940 But what that misses out on is the season of Advent.

00:48:11.960 Advent is a wonderful season.

00:48:14.140 It's a solemn season.

00:48:15.600 It's a season of anticipation.

00:48:17.540 You are awaiting the incarnation, the most incredible moment in the history of the world other than the resurrection, the salvation of mankind, God coming down and taking on human flesh and being born as a little baby in a cave, in a manger.

00:48:32.160 And that anticipation is so wonderful.

00:48:36.220 Don't just skip ahead to dessert.

00:48:38.000 The whole dinner, the whole meal is so wonderful to enjoy that.

00:48:41.420 And then Christmas Day is a time of celebration.

00:48:43.500 But I love the anticipation of the whole Christmas season as we're waiting for the rebirth in the spring.

00:48:49.600 Also, don't forget Thanksgiving.

00:48:51.580 I can't get into it.

00:48:53.040 I'm just not that into Thanksgiving.

00:48:55.040 I know.

00:48:55.280 Well, I mean, I like the history.

00:48:57.180 I like the history of it.

00:48:58.200 I could do a whole conversation with Elisha, by Elisha, about the importance of Thanksgiving.

00:49:03.260 I mean, look, I like eating and I like drinking and football, take it or leave it.

00:49:07.080 But, you know, I don't know.

00:49:08.100 I do that every day of the week.

00:49:09.020 See, I feel like Thanksgiving is the perfect cornerstone to starting off the Advent season.

00:49:15.320 Hmm.

00:49:16.460 Yeah, you're giving thanks.

00:49:17.780 That's true.

00:49:18.280 That's true.

00:49:18.680 We could do a whole hour on it.

00:49:20.400 Dalton wants to know,

00:49:21.800 Hey, Mike, as we all know, you are a fan of tobacco.

00:49:24.240 What are your opinions on the smokeless tobacco products like dip, chewing tobacco, and snuff?

00:49:30.180 I wonder if this guy is a kind of, oh, he is.

00:49:32.580 He's a cowboy and he says he's a southern boy.

00:49:34.780 This is very important to him.

00:49:36.080 That's a great question.

00:49:37.260 You got a skull ring?

00:49:38.700 Well, I love smokeless tobacco, but none of the ones that you mentioned.

00:49:42.500 I love nasal snuff.

00:49:44.700 Nasal snuff is the most whimsical, dandy-ish of all of the forms of tobacco.

00:49:49.680 It's this finely ground tobacco powder.

00:49:51.920 I picked some up on my drive from New York to L.A.

00:49:54.540 I got it in North Carolina.

00:49:55.680 If you buy a jar this big, it is a lifetime supply of snuff.

00:49:58.660 You take it a little bit.

00:49:59.860 You put it on your fingers.

00:50:01.340 You kind of sniff it.

00:50:02.280 You don't snort it.

00:50:03.220 You sniff it, and then you sneeze a lot, and it wears away at your nasal cavity, and it gives you post-nasal drift. 0.84

00:50:08.080 And it's a very stupid thing to do, but it feels kind of nice. 0.83

00:50:11.020 It was very, very popular for a long time. 0.99

00:50:13.600 You can think of guys in the American West, cowboys doing it.

00:50:16.800 You can think of popes doing it.

00:50:18.460 A number of Catholic popes did snuff.

00:50:21.120 One saint, St. Philip Neary, did so much snuff that it became an issue during his canonization process because he was—

00:50:28.100 It was a vice.

00:50:28.840 Well, no, not—actually, that wasn't the issue.

00:50:31.340 Really?

00:50:31.680 That was being debated.

00:50:32.760 The reason it was an issue in canonization is you're supposed to be incorrupt.

00:50:37.240 Your body is not supposed to decay if you're going to be a saint.

00:50:39.300 And when they did the examination, they realized his nose had fallen apart.

00:50:44.480 And they said, see, he's not incorrupt.

00:50:46.380 And they said, no, no, no.

00:50:47.160 It fell apart during his life because he snorted so much tobacco up his nose.

00:50:50.660 So that's my favorite one.

00:50:52.640 I've also—I've occasionally done snus. 0.78

00:50:55.460 You ever do—that's another ridiculous form of tobacco. 0.64

00:50:58.080 It seems like very yuppie Yale-type version. 0.97

00:51:00.700 It's Swedish.

00:51:01.620 It's very sweet.

00:51:02.140 I know.

00:51:02.460 It's like dip without the coolness.

00:51:04.540 This subscriber is like a real man.

00:51:05.680 I know.

00:51:06.220 I can't pack that horseshoe liver.

00:51:07.920 You know, wrangling cattle.

00:51:10.480 I'm simply—

00:51:11.120 And you're like—

00:51:11.920 I'm not physically intimidating enough to pack that lucky lipper all around my gums.

00:51:16.920 Plus, that one actually does—I don't mean to be a scold, but that one really does have

00:51:21.640 some pretty serious health effects.

00:51:23.580 You know, you can see the leukoplakia wears away a lot.

00:51:26.580 I prefer my cigars because you don't inhale them.

00:51:29.440 It's probably not good for you, but some of the most famous cigar smokers in history are

00:51:33.640 some of the oldest people.

00:51:35.360 Okay.

00:51:35.540 George Burns, Winston Churchill, that oldest man in America smokes 12 cigars a day.

00:51:40.060 Dang.

00:51:40.280 I'm sticking with that one.

00:51:41.260 All righty.

00:51:42.140 Caleb says, Senor Covfefe, how did you go from acting to your job at the Daily Wire?

00:51:47.340 Well, now I'm the real thing.

00:51:48.960 That's what happened.

00:51:50.500 Show business and politics are very similar in many ways.

00:51:54.140 It's true.

00:51:54.700 They say politics is show business for other people.

00:51:56.460 There's lots of money in both.

00:51:57.360 Yeah, right.

00:51:58.280 Yeah.

00:51:58.580 Or no money in both, actually.

00:52:00.240 A lot of money is spent and wasted in both.

00:52:02.020 That's right.

00:52:02.440 And for most people in them, you don't make a lot of money.

00:52:06.220 But politics and acting are very, very similar.

00:52:09.540 And I don't just mean it in this glib sense of you lie on camera or you like to see pictures

00:52:15.820 of yourself or something.

00:52:16.980 In a very real sense, if you're in both of those fields, you have to be really concerned

00:52:22.020 with the truth.

00:52:22.980 You want to find the truth.

00:52:24.420 Bad actors are not looking for the truth.

00:52:26.540 They're just putting on a representational show.

00:52:28.940 But good actors find the truth of a character.

00:52:31.500 They live truthfully in imaginary circumstances.

00:52:34.660 And good politicians are looking for the truth, too.

00:52:36.880 The other one is you have to love people.

00:52:38.760 If you're an actor and you're constantly creating characters, engaging with characters,

00:52:43.520 poking the human condition, probing it, you have to really like people.

00:52:47.360 You have to like examining them, how people tick, how people move, how people think and react

00:52:52.660 to other people.

00:52:53.620 And the same with politicians.

00:52:54.760 If you don't like people and you're a politician, find another line of work.

00:52:58.900 You are at spaghetti dinners all the time.

00:53:00.520 You've been on campaigns.

00:53:01.800 You are constantly shaking hands.

00:53:03.440 You're constantly talking to people.

00:53:04.980 Kissing babies. 0.77

00:53:05.500 You're constantly kissing babies. 0.97

00:53:06.920 And so those things go together.

00:53:08.600 I had always worked in politics.

00:53:10.120 I've worked in politics now professionally about 10 years, shockingly, even though I look

00:53:14.060 like I'm 15.

00:53:15.080 I really right around 18, I was on my first campaign.

00:53:19.740 Well, a lot of they hire them at 18 because they don't pay you anything.

00:53:22.660 They pay you nothing.

00:53:23.340 I mean, I think I made 75 cents an hour if you actually break it up.

00:53:26.560 After the fuel and the coffee.

00:53:27.440 That's right.

00:53:27.920 And then I got a speeding ticket and it all went away.

00:53:30.360 But so that was always kind of my day job as an actor.

00:53:34.160 And so I was working here a little bit on the sly.

00:53:36.980 And then after the blank book blew up, I noticed my phone stopped ringing from my agents.

00:53:41.880 And you can't hide that sort of thing forever.

00:53:44.640 So I'm really glad.

00:53:45.860 I mean, I love acting.

00:53:46.820 I love politics.

00:53:47.600 I'm glad to be doing the real thing.

00:53:48.840 All righty.

00:53:49.340 Rick says that he needs advice.

00:53:50.800 He's waiting, wanting to get back into the church, but finds himself reluctant.

00:53:54.900 He says, I'm thinking of trying a non-denominational church, but I am Catholic and feel I'm betraying

00:53:59.980 the church.

00:54:00.540 Any advice is appreciated.

00:54:02.060 Well, you know, my views on which denomination is correct. 0.96

00:54:05.360 I'm a Catholic.

00:54:05.940 But I will point out, when I was an agnostic atheist, I loved reading Protestants.

00:54:12.220 C.S.

00:54:12.520 Lewis, of course.

00:54:14.160 He seems a little bit Anglo-Catholic.

00:54:16.600 But other evangelicals, I liked listening to Tim Keller, who's at that church in New York.

00:54:21.900 Redeemer.

00:54:22.420 Redeemer.

00:54:23.400 Presbyterian.

00:54:24.400 Presbyterian church.

00:54:25.540 I liked listening to some other people.

00:54:27.640 I was convinced, in some ways, or compelled back to Christianity by a Calvinist philosopher

00:54:34.600 at Notre Dame named Alvin Plantinga.

00:54:36.720 So there is something to pick up from these places.

00:54:40.900 I think, ultimately, I became convinced that the Catholic church is the Catholic church, that

00:54:47.200 it is the church instituted by Christ.

00:54:49.680 And so that's why I, through my meanderings, reverted to the Catholic faith.

00:54:56.660 I don't think there's anything wrong with you talking to a lot of Protestants, checking 1.00

00:55:00.800 out Protestant things, seeing what is speaking to you, especially now that the Catholic liturgy

00:55:07.180 in America is so degraded that it's very hard to have a sense of the divine when there are 0.97

00:55:14.260 awful acoustic guitarists playing ridiculous, sentimental clap trap in your ears. 0.95

00:55:19.700 So I'd feel free to explore that. 0.97

00:55:21.640 You know where I stand, but only the Holy Spirit is going to lead you, so you should

00:55:25.660 follow him.

00:55:26.640 All right.

00:55:27.080 Dave says, you pointed out that lefties seem incapable of separating a person's politics

00:55:31.440 from their character or moral status.

00:55:33.600 Why is this?

00:55:35.000 Yeah, because the personal is the political for the left.

00:55:37.660 The left adopted this slogan in the 1960s.

00:55:40.040 It came from a 1969 essay by a prominent feminist writer.

00:55:45.160 Her name escapes me now.

00:55:46.280 And they realized in the 1960s that the radical left understood that what was holding them

00:55:54.260 back from total revolution were the personal loyalties that we have to one another.

00:55:59.380 Men to women in particular.

00:56:00.680 Shulamith Firestone, very influential second wave feminist, said that love is the greatest

00:56:05.800 obstacle to women's liberation. 1.00

00:56:07.680 The love for women to men and men to women.

00:56:10.040 And so what they had to do was personalize everything.

00:56:14.800 There was no difference between private acts and public acts.

00:56:18.080 Everything was scrutinized.

00:56:19.820 You could have your career destroyed because of a comment you made offhand.

00:56:24.520 And it's really awful.

00:56:26.180 It really coarsens our society.

00:56:28.380 Liberal society, such as we have in the United States, demands a separation of the public and

00:56:33.560 private.

00:56:33.900 We are called to be public citizens and govern ourselves.

00:56:37.480 We also are governing ourselves so that we can live our private lives and pursue our private

00:56:42.640 interests and our private goals and take care of our private relationships.

00:56:46.220 The left eroding that is a huge impediment and a huge detriment to our society.

00:56:52.340 They're beginning, I think, to see the effects of that as the entirety of Hollywood has been

00:56:57.320 taken down over Me Too, as the personalization, the nastiness of politics has opened their

00:57:04.280 eyes that they're not immune to it.

00:57:05.600 But if we don't recover it, we're not going to have a liberal society left.

00:57:08.600 All right.

00:57:08.960 This is the final question.

00:57:10.100 OK.

00:57:10.420 We've made it to the end of Michael Knowles' conversation, guys.

00:57:13.080 Thank you so much for hanging in there with us.

00:57:14.580 And thank you to our subscribers who helped put covfefe in our cups and ask all these great

00:57:19.720 questions.

00:57:20.120 Jeffrey wants to know, why do you think a majority of Hollywood is on the left?

00:57:24.120 Because they don't work.

00:57:25.380 Because they're never working.

00:57:26.520 That's why.

00:57:27.840 I'm telling you, as a former working actor, even working actors aren't working most of

00:57:32.760 the time.

00:57:33.780 As actors.

00:57:34.420 As a period.

00:57:35.840 I mean, they're loafing around.

00:57:37.400 And yes, I have a lot of friends in the arts in New York and L.A., a lot of actors, writers,

00:57:42.240 and directors.

00:57:43.060 And they access unemployment.

00:57:45.280 They go on the dole and they refer to welfare as the federal arts subsidy.

00:57:49.940 Unironically.

00:57:50.460 I kid you not.

00:57:51.920 I don't blame them.

00:57:53.080 I have so much respect for actors.

00:57:55.020 I love the craft of acting.

00:57:56.120 And it is a hard, tough, awful life.

00:57:58.900 You are constantly going out and auditioning.

00:58:01.400 Your job is to audition.

00:58:02.820 Your job is to prepare material.

00:58:05.320 And you're being rejected 90% of the time.

00:58:07.640 If you're good.

00:58:08.340 I mean, if you're a really good actor, you're only being rejected 90% of the time.

00:58:11.880 Most people are being rejected 98% of the time.

00:58:14.280 And that's very hard.

00:58:15.340 But what it means is that through most of your day, you're just kind of going around.

00:58:19.940 You're working on a script.

00:58:21.440 You're working on your monologue.

00:58:23.060 You're driving.

00:58:23.940 You're sitting in an audition room.

00:58:25.840 Even when you're on set, even when you book a movie or a TV show, you're just sitting around

00:58:29.680 doing nothing.

00:58:31.240 And so on the one hand, this gives people very fanciful ideas and a very bizarre sense of

00:58:36.840 how our society and economy works.

00:58:39.160 But also, it is a fantasy.

00:58:41.600 You're living in a fantasy.

00:58:42.900 The work itself is a fantasy.

00:58:44.520 And the process of getting to the work is a fantasy.

00:58:47.020 And leftism is a fantasy, too.

00:58:48.700 It is a fantasy economically, politically, and spiritually.

00:58:52.420 And so it's very difficult to resist that.

00:58:54.900 There are a handful of conservatives in Hollywood.

00:58:56.840 I know every single one of them.

00:58:58.420 We all know each other because they're so under siege.

00:59:02.100 And I do find, broadly speaking, the conservative people in show business are the smartest.

00:59:08.280 Or at least the best in form, the most rational, the most balanced, the most even keel.

00:59:13.960 When I was in a very, I won't say his name, but a very well-known acting studio, legendary

00:59:20.800 acting teacher.

00:59:21.960 And when he auditioned me to come in, he said, do you think you're too smart to be an actor?

00:59:26.860 This was a very nice compliment.

00:59:28.300 You know, I'd gone to a good school. 1.00

00:59:29.420 But he meant it seriously because actors have to be gullible fools. 1.00

00:59:33.240 And leftists do, too. 0.99

00:59:36.240 That's a wrap.

00:59:36.940 Yeah, that was the final question.

00:59:38.460 Good final question.

00:59:39.280 And thank you again to our amazing subscribers.

00:59:41.780 Thanks for joining us, everyone.

00:59:43.100 And don't forget that if you want to be a part of next month's conversation, it's going

00:59:46.920 to be taking place on Tuesday, December 18th at 5.30 p.m. Eastern, 2.30 p.m. Pacific,

00:59:52.320 featuring our very own Ben Shapiro.

00:59:54.140 And only subscribers can ask the questions.

00:59:56.840 So thank you for doing that.

00:59:58.680 Thank you for being here.

00:59:59.580 I'm Alicia Krauss.

01:00:00.900 I'm Michael Noltz.

01:00:01.840 Have a happy Thanksgiving.

01:00:02.820 Happy Thanksgiving.

01:00:03.380 See you next time.

01:00:04.060 I'm Michael Noltz.

01:00:06.540 I love you.

01:00:07.440 rant.

01:00:07.940 I love you.

01:00:08.500 Happy Thanksgiving.

01:00:09.060 I love you.

01:00:09.460 I love you.

01:00:09.780 Have a happy Thanksgiving.

01:00:10.100 Bye.

01:00:27.380 Philippe.

01:00:27.980 I love you.

The Michael Knowles Show - November 21, 2018

The Conversation Ep. 15： Michael Knowles

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