The Michael Knowles Show - The Great Replacement Conspiracy： Liberal Student DEBATES Michael Knowles

00:00:00.000 You're evading the question.

00:00:00.980 I'm not.

00:00:01.180 What's the number?

00:00:01.960 How many migrants should America take in for you?

00:00:04.120 There's a process, and we should lend everyone who abides by that process, right?

00:00:08.280 Oh, so it should be unlimited.

00:00:09.560 It should be unlimited.

00:00:10.640 You know, even after being screamed at, sprayed with fluids, burned in effigy, and nearly

00:00:15.860 blown up on campus, I still love speaking at universities, which is why I was thrilled

00:00:21.360 when this semester's YAF speaking tour brought me back to my old stomping grounds, Yale.

00:00:27.280 How do you prepare to give a speech on campus?

00:00:30.000 Well, what most sensible guest lecturers do is either wing it or just give the same speech

00:00:36.820 over and over, which is very tempting.

00:00:38.640 But I like to write a new speech every time because it lets me really focus in on the most

00:00:44.300 pressing issues of the time, whatever's going on that week, what's going on at that place,

00:00:48.720 and the current events angle gives me a greater ability to lure the audience into whichever

00:00:55.120 obscure philosophical point or tradition I actually want to talk about.

00:01:00.000 The principle is sort of like a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down.

00:01:04.040 How far in advance do you write these?

00:01:05.660 I generally write them, if I can, before I am walking on stage.

00:01:11.360 That is about the earliest that I write them, though.

00:01:13.980 There have been times I've been pulling up to the school, still finishing it, but most

00:01:18.460 of the time I have finished the speech before I had to give it.

00:01:21.400 How did you think Yale would respond to your talk titled, An Open Mind Makes Your Brains

00:01:26.440 fall out?

00:01:27.160 Do you agree with the title of his speech today?

00:01:29.520 Not necessarily.

00:01:30.620 Not necessarily.

00:01:31.660 That sometimes happens.

00:01:33.200 Do I agree with this?

00:01:34.280 I agree.

00:01:35.060 Yeah.

00:01:35.760 Do you agree?

00:01:36.300 Disagree?

00:01:37.080 I don't like Michael Knowles.

00:01:38.540 Oh, okay.

00:01:39.700 Yalees are all extremely left wing. 1.00

00:01:43.100 It's generally known as the gay ivy.

00:01:45.760 It's certainly the opposite of populist.

00:01:48.200 And the main political divide on campus is between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.

00:01:52.660 But Yalees are also sociopathically ambitious.

00:01:56.500 So I actually did not expect histrionics.

00:01:59.280 I knew to expect a more clovable kind of protest than the humiliating left wing displays that 0.88

00:02:05.760 other students put on at other schools.

00:02:07.940 So, you know, these kids, they don't want to lose their Goldman Sachs job.

00:02:11.260 I knew they were going to be more subtle about it.

00:02:13.140 And I was not disappointed.

00:02:14.320 The libs who showed up at Yale, though wrong, were polished and respectful, including the

00:02:20.280 treasurer of a group that I once regularly would beat in beer pong, the Yale College

00:02:26.160 Democrats.

00:02:27.000 Who won beer pong?

00:02:27.980 That's an interesting question.

00:02:29.100 No, no.

00:02:29.860 Who won more rounds of beer pong?

00:02:31.800 Looks like the Republicans won.

00:02:33.920 Woo! 0.99

00:02:35.560 Seriously?

00:02:36.920 Looks like the Republicans won.

00:02:39.300 I think it's great when we have prime individuals come to campus.

00:02:43.580 And while I vehemently disagree with a lot of what Michael Knowles stands for, I would

00:02:48.400 like the opportunity to have, you know, a sort of civil disagreement and see, you know,

00:02:53.040 which ideas went out.

00:02:54.540 Unfortunately, my producer did not bring any solo cups or natty ice.

00:02:58.140 But he did bring a couple of chairs so that this young liberal Yaley and I could sit down

00:03:04.260 face to face.

00:03:08.500 Zach, thank you for sitting down.

00:03:09.980 Of course.

00:03:10.560 So you're the head of the Yale College Republicans, right?

00:03:13.100 No, they're very opposite.

00:03:14.280 I'm the treasurer of the Yale College Democrats.

00:03:15.620 Democrats.

00:03:16.160 Okay.

00:03:16.600 That's all right.

00:03:16.920 I played a lot of beer pong with the Yale College Dems when I was here.

00:03:19.820 I'm all for that sort of bipartisanship.

00:03:21.420 So you came up.

00:03:23.040 You disagree with me.

00:03:24.640 I do.

00:03:25.040 On a lot of issues.

00:03:26.040 Did I persuade you on anything?

00:03:27.820 No, you didn't.

00:03:29.160 Well, the thing is, I do go to a lot of conservative events, so I generally do hear some of the

00:03:33.520 ideas you've been expressing.

00:03:35.180 You've rejected them?

00:03:36.620 Rejected them.

00:03:37.080 Okay.

00:03:37.540 Any in particular?

00:03:38.820 Well, I'd really like to talk about immigration.

00:03:41.360 You know, I just saw there was an innocent man who was sent to El Salvador by Donald Trump,

00:03:45.940 and he had no criminal record.

00:03:48.740 Yeah.

00:03:48.880 You know, and he was sent to El Salvador based on a crown tattoo.

00:03:52.940 And it seems pretty clear now that he was not a gang member.

00:03:56.300 But now you might also observe there was an innocent girl named Laken Reilly who didn't

00:04:00.220 do anything wrong.

00:04:00.940 She was murdered by an illegal alien welcomed into another country by Joe Biden. 0.98

00:04:03.960 And that's horrible.

00:04:04.820 But I would, it's not an either or proposition.

00:04:07.200 Taking someone like the barber and sending him without due process to El Salvador is not

00:04:12.520 saving people.

00:04:13.360 I think you can have a moral immigration policy where you protect innocent people in the United

00:04:19.820 States, and you also do not hurt innocent people by sending them to basically a forced

00:04:24.780 labor facility.

00:04:25.460 But it occurs to me that we all only focus on the sob stories when they come out of the

00:04:30.440 American right.

00:04:31.700 But when we look at mass migration, where under Joe Biden, we had millions and millions of

00:04:36.600 illegal aliens come into the country every single year.

00:04:38.960 And it wasn't just Biden.

00:04:40.180 This has been going on in Democrat and Republican.

00:04:41.860 And Republican administrations.

00:04:43.280 Four decades now.

00:04:44.720 It seems to me we never focus on the sob stories of the Americans who, some were murdered,

00:04:49.360 some were raped.

00:04:50.500 Some just had their society turned upside down.

00:04:53.660 Some have lost jobs.

00:04:54.580 Some had their wages suppressed.

00:04:55.700 We never focus on that.

00:04:56.900 And so, okay, one guy during a mass deportation scheme, one guy falls through the cracks and

00:05:02.240 maybe should not have been deported, but he was.

00:05:04.480 I don't know.

00:05:04.880 To me, I look at that and I say, hold on.

00:05:06.680 You only have one mistake out of however many thousands since the inauguration.

00:05:11.280 And those actually aren't terrible numbers.

00:05:13.520 No system is going to be perfect.

00:05:15.280 What's the alternative?

00:05:16.580 I think the alternative is, you know, first off, you need an immigration system, right, 1.00

00:05:21.360 where people have a path to legally enter the U.S.

00:05:23.720 Why?

00:05:24.600 Because we're a nation of immigrants, number one.

00:05:26.580 Are we?

00:05:27.080 We are.

00:05:27.400 I don't think so.

00:05:27.780 Everyone, my grandparents fled here to flee the communists, right?

00:05:31.720 You know.

00:05:31.900 But my great, great, great grandparents came here on the Mayflower, which is a great cigar

00:05:35.160 company, by the way.

00:05:35.880 And they were not immigrants. 0.79

00:05:37.340 They were settlers.

00:05:38.300 They weren't indigenous to the land.

00:05:40.260 But they were not immigrants exactly.

00:05:41.660 And we've had long periods of American history where immigration was drastically reduced or

00:05:46.800 virtually non-existent.

00:05:48.280 So this notion that we're a nation of immigrants is a relatively modern notion, is it not?

00:05:52.520 We'll get to more Cross the Line in just one moment.

00:05:54.780 First, though, if you want the latest news, if you want to understand what the news actually

00:05:58.200 means, you got to come check out and subscribe to The Michael Knowles Show every weekday at

00:06:03.800 noon Eastern.

00:06:04.600 I will take you beneath the surface of daily political events to reveal their historical,

00:06:09.140 philosophical, even religious roots.

00:06:11.800 Catch it Monday through Friday, noon Eastern.

00:06:13.940 Now, back to Cross the Line at Yale.

00:06:16.640 Well, I'm going to give two arguments, right?

00:06:18.160 The first one's the moral argument.

00:06:19.060 I think we have a duty to help others.

00:06:20.720 I know you're a man of faith.

00:06:21.680 I'm also, you know, I am Jewish, but I, you know, we have...

00:06:25.180 You're Jewish?

00:06:25.640 I am Jewish.

00:06:26.240 I wouldn't have guessed that.

00:06:27.220 Yeah, I mean, a lot of people wouldn't have guessed that.

00:06:28.900 But there are actually 40 Asian Jews on campus.

00:06:30.700 But digressing from that...

00:06:31.800 That's got to be like all the Asian Jews in the world. 1.00

00:06:33.840 It's a significant number of us.

00:06:35.420 But I want to make this point because I think it's important, right?

00:06:37.460 Which is that, you know, number one, I think you have a duty to help others.

00:06:41.020 And even in, you know, Isaiah, it says, woe unto those who pass evil laws who hurt the poor.

00:06:45.580 You know, woe unto those...

00:06:46.460 We don't want to oppress the poor.

00:06:47.560 Okay.

00:06:47.800 So, the second is the economic reason, which is that,

00:06:51.680 immigration, in addition to being, I think, morally right,

00:06:54.720 is hugely beneficial for the U.S. economy.

00:06:57.200 Undocumented immigrants alone pay $100 billion in taxes.

00:07:00.060 And the other statistic I wanted to share is,

00:07:02.080 for every undocumented immigrant you deport, you actually are losing American jobs.

00:07:06.640 There's a study that came out that says,

00:07:08.520 because of the net effect of people who are going to innovate in the economy,

00:07:12.480 you know, work the jobs that a lot of Americans, you know, might not want to work.

00:07:16.500 You know, that's how a lot of people get started.

00:07:18.220 I think they might work.

00:07:19.240 You might have to pay them higher wages than slave or feudal wages to Guatemalan peasants, 0.99

00:07:24.600 but then that's the point.

00:07:25.640 You should pay a fair wage.

00:07:26.380 Well, my first job...

00:07:27.080 Because we don't want to oppress the poor.

00:07:27.640 My first job, I worked for a landscaping company.

00:07:30.220 Most of the people were from Central America.

00:07:32.620 And I also speak from Spanish.

00:07:34.040 I'm bilingual in Spanish and English.

00:07:35.540 And hardworking, great people, you know, not all of them, you know, had immigration status,

00:07:40.480 but we were out there cleaning people's yards, you know.

00:07:43.360 No one says illegal aliens can't work, but they just aren't supposed to be here. 1.00

00:07:48.460 Well, my point to you is that you asked me why I favor immigration.

00:07:51.960 And I said there's a moral issue, but also the fact that economically we benefit as a nation.

00:07:56.420 You know, again, $100 billion in taxes paid by undocumented immigrants.

00:08:00.020 And in fact, they pay Social Security taxes, but don't get Social Security because they're not U.S. citizens.

00:08:04.960 However, one can also pull up studies about the net drag on the economy because immigrants, 1.00

00:08:10.800 both legal and illegal, are more likely to receive welfare benefits than native-born American citizens.

00:08:17.020 Dramatically so.

00:08:18.060 Illegal immigrants the most, legal immigrants next, native-born Americans after that.

00:08:22.120 So you're saying, I just want to make sure I'm getting you correct here.

00:08:24.800 You're saying that undocumented immigrants are receiving more welfare benefits than no immigrants.

00:08:30.200 I don't think that's true.

00:08:31.480 And I actually would love for you to give me that study because I'd love to read it.

00:08:34.380 If it were true, would that change your view of mass migration?

00:08:37.680 It would make me like, I mean, it would be a really stunning fact, and it's definitely not true.

00:08:42.180 Would it change your view?

00:08:43.000 You're saying it's accurate.

00:08:43.580 It would cause me to consider.

00:08:44.620 So again, because I still have the moral argument here, which is that, again, I think you should help people in need.

00:08:47.900 Okay, should Japan take in an unlimited number of migrants?

00:08:50.780 It's not.

00:08:51.260 Should Israel take in an unlimited number of migrants? 0.98

00:08:52.580 So 3% of the U.S. population, and we can quibble over numbers.

00:08:55.960 Again, I know Trump always says 18 million.

00:08:57.380 I see Pew that says 11 million.

00:08:59.180 So that's 340.

00:09:00.160 I've seen 11 to 16.

00:09:01.080 It's hard to track.

00:09:01.780 But the United States has 340 million people, right?

00:09:04.160 And we have 11 million, maybe you say 18 million, undocumented immigrants.

00:09:07.420 That's around 3% or 4% of the population.

00:09:09.780 So the entire notion that we've been taking over by immigrants is just not true.

00:09:14.460 So you're just talking about illegal immigrants, which are conservatively ranked between 11 and 16 million.

00:09:20.220 But when you talk about all migration, when we're talking about all of mass migration,

00:09:23.660 we presently have the highest foreign-born percentage of the population that we've ever had in American history.

00:09:28.200 So you would grant that having foreign people in the country creates at least some social issues, 1.00

00:09:34.680 some problems of assimilation.

00:09:36.360 Would you not?

00:09:37.280 Well, I look at the Fortune 500 CEOs, and I see tons of immigrants there.

00:09:40.780 Yeah.

00:09:40.880 So if you're talking about—

00:09:41.920 I'm not just asking about GDP, buddy.

00:09:43.500 I'm talking about society.

00:09:44.400 Culture.

00:09:45.140 So how would you—so I'm actually very curious about this,

00:09:47.040 because an issue I've seen people in your political lean talk about a lot is culture, right?

00:09:50.880 What would you identify as American culture?

00:09:52.600 Because to me, the American culture is always changing.

00:09:54.960 It's a living culture, right?

00:09:56.340 We do things differently now than we did 20, 30 years ago.

00:09:59.600 Some people—

00:10:00.160 Right.

00:10:00.520 Why?

00:10:01.180 We used to speak English in this country, and recently we speak much less English,

00:10:05.260 and you have to press 1 for English because of—

00:10:07.780 And you have a problem with that.

00:10:09.080 Yeah, I think it's good for a nation to have a common language.

00:10:11.880 There's so much more to say.

00:10:13.100 First, though, go to hillsdale.edu slash Knowles.

00:10:15.980 History, economics, classical literature, constitutional interpretation.

00:10:19.980 Did your education cover these foundations?

00:10:22.280 Probably not, if you've been educated in the last 40 years.

00:10:27.000 So, while our world constantly evolves through time and technology,

00:10:31.460 certain fundamental truths about humanity and our place in the universe remain unchanged.

00:10:36.020 That is why I'm excited that Hillsdale College is offering more than 40 free online courses

00:10:40.340 in the most important and enduring subjects.

00:10:42.000 Learn about the works of C.S. Lewis, the stories in the Book of Genesis,

00:10:45.200 the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, the rise and fall of the Roman Republic,

00:10:48.080 and the history of the ancient church with Hillsdale College's free online courses.

00:10:52.820 I personally recommend Hillsdale's course, Theology 101, The Western Theological Tradition.

00:10:58.800 This course examines the great questions of Western theology from the ancient Hebrews through today.

00:11:04.040 Learn about the nature of God as revealed in the Bible.

00:11:06.400 Explore the great theological questions and controversies of the early church.

00:11:10.140 Study this history and the history of the Reformation, of the Counter-Reformation, of so much more.

00:11:16.740 However, Hillsdale makes it so simple to increase knowledge and curiosity.

00:11:21.160 The course is self-paced so that you can start whenever and wherever.

00:11:24.420 Go right now to hillsdale.edu slash Knowles, K-N-W-L-E-S.

00:11:27.780 It's free. It's easy to get started.

00:11:29.080 Hillsdale.edu slash Knowles.

00:11:31.180 Hillsdale.edu slash Knowles.

00:11:33.680 So, I think, you know, most people in the U.S. do speak English, right?

00:11:36.900 And again, my first job was working with a Spanish-speaking crew of landscapers.

00:11:40.920 Yeah.

00:11:41.140 And you know what?

00:11:41.720 That's a problem when a country doesn't all speak the same language.

00:11:44.060 Because we all did speak the same language for all of American history until very recently.

00:11:48.060 Well, I think we're melting pot.

00:11:49.020 Why do you think that?

00:11:50.120 Well, there's a ton of benefits.

00:11:52.480 Where does the idea of the melting pot come from?

00:11:54.280 I don't know the origin, but I like that idea.

00:11:56.560 It comes from a play in the early, I think it was the early 20th century.

00:12:00.100 And it was a good play.

00:12:00.940 It was written by a Jewish playwright, and it was watched by Teddy Roosevelt.

00:12:03.960 And Teddy Roosevelt loved the play, and he complimented the playwright there.

00:12:07.200 And it's about a Jewish guy who wants to marry a Gentile girl.

00:12:11.000 And this creates a lot of problems culturally, but they both decide that they're going to

00:12:15.540 leave some of their old identity and melt in to the American identity to assimilate.

00:12:21.300 So first of all, that means giving up one's cultural identity to a large degree, though

00:12:26.340 it does also mean adding a lot of culture.

00:12:27.700 You're adding something, right?

00:12:28.600 A little bit, yeah.

00:12:29.160 That's the analogy, right?

00:12:29.960 You're adding...

00:12:30.820 But you're giving up a lot of your own culture.

00:12:32.420 And you have seen this in waves of American migration that have caused problems, too.

00:12:35.680 When it was the Irish, when it was the Italians, when it was the Jews, when it was other 0.98

00:12:38.000 people, the problem with more recent mass migration from Latin America, especially illegal

00:12:42.520 immigration, is you don't really see so much giving away of the native culture.

00:12:47.400 You don't really see people hurriedly learning English.

00:12:50.180 They didn't used to have press one for Italian back in the early 20th century.

00:12:53.660 So the problems of assimilation have gotten much worse. 0.70

00:12:56.700 And I guess the question I would ask to you, since you're unwilling to say whether Japan,

00:13:00.340 which has virtually no immigration, should...

00:13:02.120 And their population is plummeting.

00:13:04.300 Like, you know, any economist right now would tell you that Japan is actually in a lot

00:13:08.020 of trouble because they don't have enough people there.

00:13:09.720 And frankly, immigration would help them.

00:13:11.060 Is Japan an immoral country because it doesn't take in a lot of immigrants? 1.00

00:13:15.020 Is the state of Israel an immoral country?

00:13:16.520 Well, the difference here is that we have millions of people who are fleeing harm and

00:13:20.440 coming to our doorstep.

00:13:21.520 And they're asking us, please help me, right?

00:13:23.880 And from a...

00:13:24.420 Yeah, because they know that we'll let them in because Joe Biden invited them.

00:13:26.860 Now we don't have anyone really coming to our doorstep because Trump has made clear

00:13:30.040 that he's going to deport illegal aliens.

00:13:31.400 Well, I saw those photos of CBP, you know, the border app, people who had scheduled legal

00:13:36.460 appointments, then Trump cut that off.

00:13:38.280 And I think you might like that.

00:13:40.080 But again, even regardless...

00:13:41.880 But I think you're evading the moral question because I'm not beating up on Japan and I'm

00:13:45.140 not beating up on Israel and I'm not beating up on Italy, which doesn't enforce immigration 0.99

00:13:48.480 laws, but probably would like to.

00:13:49.640 And I'm not beating up on virtually every other country on earth.

00:13:53.160 Do you think that those countries are immoral because they don't just...

00:13:56.000 Again, so the analogy is a little bit flawed here because I'm saying there's millions of

00:13:59.380 people coming to the U.S. who are asking for help.

00:14:01.400 Japan doesn't have millions of people showing up their doorstep to the extent that we have

00:14:04.940 that same thing.

00:14:05.640 Just this past week, CBP and NGOs at the border have closed up shop in certain places because

00:14:10.920 so few people have come to the border since Trump's deportation policies.

00:14:14.400 Well, the other Trump policies, right, with regard to the border, right, you know, the separation

00:14:20.200 of, you know, children from families.

00:14:22.840 He's trying to do things to deter people from coming that are cruel, right?

00:14:27.300 And it's part of the strategy.

00:14:29.080 He's not just sending them back.

00:14:30.300 He's just enforcing the law.

00:14:31.320 What's he doing that's cruel?

00:14:32.360 That's different than any other president's done?

00:14:34.140 What he's doing is different is...

00:14:35.420 Separating families?

00:14:35.460 You said Obama did that.

00:14:36.420 No, no.

00:14:37.180 The El Salvador thing really gets to me.

00:14:39.540 And again, we're two months into the admin and this really gets to me.

00:14:41.420 You're saying maybe one guy accidentally...

00:14:44.000 Not one guy.

00:14:44.760 These were people...

00:14:45.600 The issue here is...

00:14:46.180 How many?

00:14:47.340 I think this fight had 300 people or so.

00:14:49.180 I don't know how many innocent people were on the...

00:14:51.080 300 innocent people.

00:14:51.820 Not all innocent, right?

00:14:53.040 Some of them probably were...

00:14:54.240 So one guy.

00:14:54.440 But the point is, this speaks to, you know, I think we should hold our government to a

00:14:59.600 high standard, right?

00:15:00.620 Sure.

00:15:00.940 But what's the standard?

00:15:02.000 Because you're evading the question.

00:15:03.340 I'm not.

00:15:03.540 What's the number?

00:15:04.320 How many migrants should America take in per year?

00:15:07.060 You're asking me to make an immigration policy number?

00:15:09.720 I think...

00:15:10.120 Just asking for a simple number.

00:15:10.860 You're the one arguing that we have to take all these people.

00:15:11.640 Okay.

00:15:11.860 I can actually do this because I've done a little research on this topic.

00:15:14.480 I think the U.S. used to accept something around like 100,000 refugees a year, right?

00:15:18.960 And I would say...

00:15:19.720 And Trump has gotten that to zero.

00:15:20.640 So I could at least tell you right now that I think, you know, accepting those 100,000

00:15:24.360 refugees...

00:15:24.440 So you're 100,000.

00:15:25.400 Well, I'm just giving an example of a program.

00:15:25.800 That's what you want.

00:15:26.340 That's migration every year?

00:15:27.480 100,000?

00:15:28.180 Well...

00:15:28.380 You got a deal.

00:15:28.900 No, no, no.

00:15:29.240 I'll take it in a second.

00:15:29.600 No, no.

00:15:29.800 I'm talking about refugees specifically because the refugee acceptance program is...

00:15:32.640 But I'm asking you about total migration, how many per year?

00:15:35.580 I think there should be a process where, based on merit...

00:15:38.340 Look, I'm not getting...

00:15:38.940 Because the people come to the border, and there's actually law here, and it says when you request

00:15:43.160 asylum, you have to meet a certain number of standards.

00:15:45.440 Would you agree the vast majority of migrants are economic migrants, not asylum seekers?

00:15:50.520 Would you agree with that?

00:15:51.420 I think there's different motivations for people.

00:15:53.620 Like, if...

00:15:54.120 Let's say you're...

00:15:54.580 And what is the motivation of most of the migrants? 1.00

00:15:56.800 Is it economic migration, or is it asylum?

00:15:58.380 Sometimes both.

00:15:59.040 Because if you live in a society where there's no functional police, and, you know, and you

00:16:03.240 stand up a little bit, and then you're threatened by the gang, and then you come here...

00:16:06.440 You're telling me that the primary motive for millions of illegal aliens... 0.94

00:16:10.900 People seeking a better life.

00:16:12.100 I think that is...

00:16:12.680 Seeking a better life is very different than seeking asylum.

00:16:14.800 Well, it fits in the category, right?

00:16:17.020 Someone seeking asylum wants a better life.

00:16:18.460 They're trying to escape, you know, violence, right?

00:16:20.980 A square is a rectangle, I guess.

00:16:22.340 But a rectangle is not a square.

00:16:23.720 The people who are seeking political asylum because they're under imminent danger in their

00:16:28.840 home countries...

00:16:29.700 Credible fear is the standard, right?

00:16:31.520 They are...

00:16:32.220 But they can't get in now because Trump has stopped that, right?

00:16:34.000 So my point to you is, I think it's really wrong when people who actually are meeting the

00:16:38.040 legal definition for credible fear...

00:16:39.980 There's a set of laws in place.

00:16:41.060 You said 100,000 people, we're going to take...

00:16:42.360 That's specifically the refugee acceptance program.

00:16:45.040 I was giving you...

00:16:45.920 Why won't you give me a number for total migration?

00:16:47.920 Because I think it's case-specific.

00:16:49.520 Because again, there's a process.

00:16:50.540 Right.

00:16:50.560 Let's say the case of America, every year, how many migrants should we take? 0.98

00:16:54.060 You're the one advocating for migration.

00:16:55.600 How many?

00:16:55.960 Again, I'm talking about the process for how people come into the nation, right?

00:16:59.640 And that could be 2 million, it could be 3 million, but it's based on whether they

00:17:02.540 have credible...

00:17:03.140 I'm saying based on whether they have credible fear and they meet...

00:17:05.280 Again, I'm not an immigration attorney, but I know there's a standard...

00:17:07.960 You're an American, right?

00:17:08.740 And all of them...

00:17:09.300 Exactly.

00:17:09.740 I'm just saying...

00:17:10.240 Okay, so I'm asking your view as an American citizen.

00:17:11.640 Yeah, and I'm happily giving it to you, which is that there's a process, and we should

00:17:15.400 lend everyone who abides by that process, right?

00:17:18.200 Oh, so it should be unlimited.

00:17:19.540 It should be unlimited.

00:17:20.200 But by the process.

00:17:22.340 Okay.

00:17:22.700 Which is what...

00:17:23.420 Since Reagan, right?

00:17:24.360 Since Reagan, we've had a process for the way that asylum seekers come to the US.

00:17:27.040 So we've finally gotten to an answer, which is if people abide by the process, an unlimited

00:17:30.520 number of migrants should come every year.

00:17:31.900 Well, right now, it's around 2 to 3 million.

00:17:33.280 So I'd say you go, there's 2 to 3 million, come through the process, and everyone who qualifies

00:17:36.500 comes in.

00:17:36.840 Now, what would you say?

00:17:37.360 I'm completely fine with that, because again, the two arguments, morally, you help people

00:17:42.280 in need, and number two, we benefit hugely from an economic level.

00:17:45.500 So there's no limit, the moral argument?

00:17:47.400 I'm going to give you another...

00:17:48.440 I've been wanting to put in this fact, which is that if we were to increase the number of

00:17:53.040 refugees we accept in this country by just 10%, we'd increase our GDP by a billion dollars. 1.00

00:17:57.600 And in fact, the average refugee...

00:17:58.760 I'm a little skeptical.

00:17:59.420 The average refugee we let in, once they've acclimated, of course, right, they actually have 1.00

00:18:04.360 a higher income than the average American citizen.

00:18:06.260 And the reason is, when you flee persecution, when you flee violence, when you flee with

00:18:10.380 your family, you have a vested interest in working really hard and striving and living

00:18:15.560 the American dream.

00:18:16.320 I'm a little skeptical that the Somalis committing crimes in Minnesota are really going to take 1.00

00:18:20.140 GDP much higher.

00:18:21.360 But even if it were true, a country is more than GDP, we would admit.

00:18:25.200 And so I guess my last question...

00:18:26.860 There are morals as well.

00:18:27.940 Sure.

00:18:28.520 But a morality that only seems to apply to our country and not others.

00:18:31.440 No, I...

00:18:32.040 My question, the last question to you is, there was a Harvard-Harris...

00:18:35.180 I hate to bring up Harvard at Yale, but there was a Harvard-Harris poll that said that most

00:18:40.420 Americans, when you ask them if they support immigration, they say they do.

00:18:43.040 When you drill down into numbers, the majority, a clear majority of Americans, would like immigration

00:18:48.080 to be 500,000 or fewer total per year.

00:18:50.680 That's legal and illegal, which would represent a drastic reduction in migration.

00:18:56.240 This was not just one random poll.

00:18:58.060 This was backed up in a survey that came out last year by Gallup polling.

00:19:01.460 Harvard-Harris was the first one, Gallup was the first one last year, which also reflected

00:19:05.000 that most Americans want to drastically reduce all immigration.

00:19:09.640 So you want immigration to be, in principle, unlimited, and practically to be 2 to 3 million

00:19:14.360 per year.

00:19:14.860 Well, I think that's a straw man, right?

00:19:16.500 You just said that to me.

00:19:17.260 No, no.

00:19:17.600 What I'm saying to you is there's a process, right?

00:19:19.360 And it's...

00:19:19.720 Unlimited by people following the process.

00:19:20.000 I can't give an exact number, but around 2 to 3 million is what I would expect for the

00:19:23.460 amount of people coming to the U.S.

00:19:24.480 I don't know how many of them will meet the credible fear, et cetera.

00:19:27.060 But I'm just saying we need a legal process, and Trump has stopped that legal process.

00:19:30.420 No, there is still a legal process.

00:19:32.020 The border invasion declaration, again, I actually just made a presentation on this,

00:19:35.180 so I know the facts, which is that he has stopped even the legal immigration.

00:19:38.020 You keep going back to this point because you're evading the question that I'm asking

00:19:41.020 you, which is if the majority of Americans want to drastically reduce migration, and

00:19:46.220 you want to keep migration at multiples of that level and keep it there or even increase

00:19:51.060 it, why do you get to win out?

00:19:53.560 Why don't most Americans get to win out?

00:19:54.940 I dispute the premise of your point, right?

00:19:57.100 Because I think if we were to...

00:19:58.460 What's the premise?

00:19:58.860 I think the premise is self-government.

00:20:00.600 If we had a...

00:20:01.560 Let's just say this was an arena.

00:20:03.300 You know, there's a thought experiment where let's say everyone is watching a debate,

00:20:06.480 right?

00:20:06.660 And everyone will then come to a conclusion of the debate.

00:20:08.220 If everyone's watching, and then I tell everyone, you know, I give them two arguments.

00:20:12.080 Number one, the moral one that I've given to you, and number two, the economic one,

00:20:14.980 they would go towards...

00:20:15.600 They just...

00:20:16.060 You're saying...

00:20:16.360 Again, we have a difference of...

00:20:17.380 This is probably a difference of opinion here.

00:20:19.100 Okay, so you're saying the majority of Americans in both of these polls have called for less

00:20:23.280 migration, drastically less migration, because they just don't understand how great migration

00:20:27.440 is.

00:20:28.080 No, no, no.

00:20:28.480 I'm not saying that.

00:20:29.200 I'm saying that...

00:20:29.740 They don't understand.

00:20:29.860 I don't know what the...

00:20:30.660 They haven't heard your beautiful arguments for it.

00:20:32.100 I have to look at the exact...

00:20:33.360 So, I'm a bit of a polling nerd.

00:20:34.800 I look into the polls and the crosstabs, and, you know, if you ask Americans, you know,

00:20:39.240 their opinions on, like, helping others, on immigration, et cetera...

00:20:42.140 They love it.

00:20:42.500 No, yes, they love helping others, and they're way out of...

00:20:44.940 But when you get into numbers, they don't like it.

00:20:46.340 Wait, wait, wait.

00:20:46.680 But they're way out of line with...

00:20:48.520 They completely disagree with what the Trump administration is doing.

00:20:51.080 Because, again, there's horror stories out of nations, you know...

00:20:54.700 But most voters voted for Trump campaigning on mass migrations.

00:20:57.120 But I think people also voted because of prices, right?

00:20:58.900 I was actually knocking doors in Pennsylvania.

00:21:00.380 I love knocking doors.

00:21:01.560 From that, a lot of it was the prices, which now are going up because of Trump's tariffs.

00:21:05.620 Americans care about helping others.

00:21:07.340 They care about...

00:21:08.600 Well, I'll make a deal with you.

00:21:09.440 Yeah.

00:21:09.900 If your argument is it was really just because of the terrible inflation under Biden or whatever,

00:21:13.220 the price is going up, and the Democrats want to campaign on promoting

00:21:16.580 mass migration in the midterms and in the next presidential election, I'm all for it.

00:21:21.180 In fact, I might even donate to that campaign.

00:21:22.500 That's not the campaign I'm talking about.

00:21:24.640 I'm talking about a campaign that is about fundamental values, about, first off...

00:21:29.640 Of migration.

00:21:30.420 Not just...

00:21:31.300 It's values that spread to every issue.

00:21:33.220 And ensuring, right, also in migration, right, that we treat the poorest of the poor well.

00:21:37.560 Two to three million a year.

00:21:38.980 Great.

00:21:39.360 Whatever comes through the process.

00:21:41.220 Legal process, not trying to get down.

00:21:42.640 All right.

00:21:42.920 I appreciate the conversation.

00:21:43.920 I'll see you at the midterms.

00:21:44.740 A pleasure to meet you.

00:21:45.600 It's great to meet you as well.

00:21:46.140 And hopefully the next time we're back at Yale, you will be the treasurer of the Yale

00:21:49.960 College Republicans.

00:21:51.220 I think that's a little unlikely, but we'll see.

00:21:53.520 It's easy to join a protest and shout someone down.

00:21:56.120 It takes a lot more courage and curiosity to sit down and talk, especially with little

00:22:01.160 old me.

00:22:02.320 Until next time.

00:22:03.080 We'll see you next time.

00:22:33.080 www.youtubecranch.com to save 20% off and unlock free shipping.

00:22:37.280 Limited time only.

00:22:38.140 Exclusions do apply.

The Michael Knowles Show - April 21, 2025

The Great Replacement Conspiracy： Liberal Student DEBATES Michael Knowles

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript