Western Standard - License to Speak： Liberal Censorship, TMX Win, and Democrats Fall in Iowa - The Pipeline, Episode 7

00:00:00.000 You're listening to The Pipeline, the Western Standards National Affairs program recording

00:00:14.700 this Wednesday, February 5th, 2020. Each week we break down the issues, discuss them in depth,

00:00:21.060 and examine some of the broader implications for Western Canada and beyond. Featuring from Calgary,

00:00:27.000 the Western Standards publisher, Derek Fildebrandt. Good day, Derek. Good day. And Dave Naylor from

00:00:34.020 Calgary, our news editor at the Western Standard. How are you doing, Dave? Good, Paul. Beautiful

00:00:40.640 downtown Abbotsford this week. All right. Change of scenery. The other side of the mountains, as they

00:00:46.680 say. And your host today is myself, digital editor Paul Holmes, coming to you live from beautiful

00:00:54.340 Victoria, British Columbia, on the water of the Pacific Ocean. Today, we're going to talk

00:01:01.840 about media licensing in Canada. What the? We're going to talk about the Trans Mountain pipeline,

00:01:09.460 the dismissal of the latest lawsuit. And as time permits, we're going to talk about a little

00:01:15.180 bit of US politics, because it was just dominating the news cycle here in Canada with the Iowa

00:01:20.660 Congressional Caucus, the State of the Union, and of course, Trump's approval rating being

00:01:25.860 at an all-time high. So we'll talk about that as time permits. But first of all, before we

00:01:31.700 dive into any of that, I just wanted to remind everybody that we are a membership-driven news

00:01:39.120 and commentary and organization. And we really need people to sign up so that we can continue

00:01:48.120 to bring you amazing things. Obviously, the news on the website and great improvements

00:01:54.000 and expansion of the podcast network as well. So go to westernstandardonline.com and click

00:02:01.240 on sign up to become a member and help keep us on the air, as they used to say. So let's

00:02:08.320 dive right in. Media licensing in Canada. Derek, I'm going to go straight to you on this one,

00:02:13.280 because I feel like, you know, you have a few opinions on this.

00:02:18.280 Yeah, it's...

00:02:20.280 Over to you, Dave. Why don't you set this up for us?

00:02:28.280 Well, I think we have to give Derek a few moments to collect his thoughts.

00:02:32.280 I need to compose myself here.

00:02:34.280 It's the rage in his eyes. I can't see what's happening.

00:02:36.280 It's Canada's heritage minister, Paul, on the weekend. This is a guy that 99 out of 100

00:02:45.280 Canadians couldn't pick out of a police lineup, came out and was meaning that, hey, maybe it's

00:02:51.280 time for the government to start licensing media outlets. Of course, that set off an immediate

00:02:58.280 firestorm across all of Canada, mainly amongst, you know, all the actual media people. They

00:03:06.280 went berserk, and the minister was forced to do a bit of a back crawl on Monday when he

00:03:13.280 met the media, but it was too late. The damage was done, as Derek is about to tell you.

00:03:20.280 Derek, media licensing, what's the problem?

00:03:25.280 Well, a generally non-totalitarian state do not require the media to have licensing to be

00:03:35.280 able to participate in public debate and news. So this came out of a very long and extensive report

00:03:44.280 from the CRTC, the Canadian Radio...

00:03:48.280 Telecommunications Commission.

00:03:50.280 Telecommunications Commission. A generally terrible organization to begin with that does all sorts

00:03:56.280 of things, restricting the free press already in Canada in different forms of licensing, primarily

00:04:02.280 for the traditional old telecoms. And the CRTC has been itching for decades now to sink its claws into

00:04:12.280 other forms of media, particularly as online media. And media, broadly speaking, both news, opinion,

00:04:19.280 and entertainment has begun to dominate everything from Netflix to the Western Standard. And they released

00:04:29.280 in these recommendations some pretty startling findings that you would not expect to see outside of the

00:04:37.280 Politburo of the Soviet Union. And what really grabbed everybody's attention, and there was a lot of terrible

00:04:44.280 stuff in there, but what really grabbed people's attention was their recommendation to the government

00:04:49.280 that all media in Canada, big and small, be required to be licensed by the government and that the government

00:04:57.280 would set standards around content. Not that the government would be necessarily dictating word for word what everybody would

00:05:06.280 be printing or speaking about, but that it would be holding the media to account rather than media holding

00:05:13.280 government to account that the government will hold media to account for what they say is truthfulness and

00:05:19.280 and journalistic standards, etc. This is the kind of stuff that you see exclusively in the domain of totalitarian states.

00:05:30.280 We already have all sorts of wild restrictions placed on free speech in Canada and many Western states.

00:05:35.280 But this was going to a whole new level. And it had very predictable outrage that came from it. Days later, the

00:05:45.280 minister seemed to try and walk back his comments. They didn't really seem to be much way for it. Even the left wing

00:05:52.280 press thought that this was a bridge too far into 1984. But in walking back his comments, he said, No, we're not going to require

00:06:00.280 licensing of everybody in the media. But he seemed to maintain that they still accept the government's

00:06:06.280 recommendations that the government is going to be setting standards. And so what form this takes is still

00:06:13.280 unclear. But it could take many forms like the government producing itself a list of approved media organizations in

00:06:22.280 different classifications and penalizing or making it illegal to advertise with media outlets that don't meet

00:06:30.280 government government standards. So on the entertainment side, that could be making it illegal to do advertising for

00:06:37.280 entertainment media that don't do can con requirements or on the news and opinion side. Outlets like ourselves who

00:06:46.280 couldn't give two farts in the wind about what the government thinks of us might say that it'd be illegal for

00:06:53.280 people to advertise with us. So they haven't they haven't defined but his walking back of comments was strictly on the idea of

00:07:01.280 licensing, but everything surrounding licensing and government control over the media, they did not walk

00:07:07.280 back. So it's very ambiguous about where we stand.

00:07:10.280 So I think most listeners and and certainly ourselves, we can come up with a long list of dystopian possibilities

00:07:18.280 around what state regulation of media looks like. But to play devil's advocate a little bit, Derek, you know, what is the

00:07:28.280 when you look at other industries, take the financial industry, for example, financial industry has a lot of

00:07:34.280 self regulation and also has a ton of government regulation. And a lot of people think government regulation in

00:07:42.280 that realm is is good. It protects consumers, you know, and I think in many cases, it's filling the vacuum of self regulation.

00:07:54.280 And is that maybe the problem. And Dave, maybe you have thoughts on this as well. Is that maybe the problem with

00:07:59.280 journalism is has as journalism as a profession failed to regulate itself to a recognizable standard.

00:08:07.280 And so the government thinks that this is this is the their opening to to come in, whether it be opportunist or whether they see it legitimately see a problem and want to solve it.

00:08:18.280 I don't know if you guys have thoughts on around that as opposed to, you know, the dystopian other extreme is there is there some role for government?

00:08:31.280 Well, I was waiting for Dave, but I'll just say no, there is no good role for government whatsoever, period, full stop, no asterix, no, no, no fine print.

00:08:41.280 There's no role for government, period. I mean, the the the apologists of this, the statists and liberal sympathizers have said, well, you need a license to own a car.

00:08:52.280 Why not a license for this? Well, I'm a bit of an extremist. I'm not even sure you should have a license for a car.

00:08:57.280 But but I won't go there because I know I'm in a very small fringe libertarian minority on that.

00:09:03.280 But what is licensing other than the government making something illegal and selling the right to do it back to you at a cost and with conditions attached?

00:09:12.280 The media in particular is the free speech and a free press is the pillar of any free society without that freedom.

00:09:20.280 No other freedom is possible whatsoever.

00:09:23.280 And what they're what the government's proposing here is that the same people who lied and covered up the SNC Lavalin corruption affair are going to be responsible for making sure that the press is truthful, that the press is press is honest in the new media environment.

00:09:42.280 And I media to talk about themselves too often, but we're new. So we can we haven't done it too much.

00:09:47.280 But I mean, not everybody in the press today subscribes to the press corps.

00:09:52.280 They don't all subscribe to the big black tie broadcasters and journalism associations anymore.

00:10:00.280 We don't. And and many independent media do not.

00:10:03.280 We don't have any interest in participating in that.

00:10:06.280 We're not playing by the old boys club's rules here.

00:10:08.280 And some players in that are going to engage in misinformation or outright lies and propaganda on the left and in the right.

00:10:16.280 And and that's frustrating to many people if you've been on the receiving end of that.

00:10:24.280 But the answer to that would be strengthening laws around libel and defamation, allowing people to take private action in the court to ensure that these kinds of mistruths are not are not out there.

00:10:37.280 Instead, this is the government trying to be the arbiter of what is right and truthful.

00:10:41.280 And I cannot think of a less credible body regardless of what parties in power.

00:10:46.280 I cannot think of a less credible organization than a government to ensure that the press is honest and truthful.

00:10:54.280 I'm not finding myself in disagreement with a lot of what you're saying.

00:10:57.280 I'm the guy who has a problem with with the government issuing marriage licenses.

00:11:01.280 But Dave, you you have a unique in this circle, you have a unique perspective as a as as a journalist.

00:11:10.280 You know, is there something that journalism needs to do to prevent this sort of this, you know, thing from being perceived as a necessity?

00:11:20.280 Well, I think the the key thing is to keep it out of the government's hands.

00:11:25.280 To me, if you're producing journalism that that nobody wants, that isn't being read and that is considered fake news, the marketplace will decide your fate.

00:11:37.280 People will stop subscribing to your newsletter or your podcast or they will not go to your website.

00:11:44.280 You know, the government getting involved just is saying to me that the Canadian public is not smart enough to realize what news is and what fake news is and what slanted news is.

00:11:57.280 And to me, you never underestimate the credibility of your reader.

00:12:01.280 Well, and of course, it's not even about competencies.

00:12:04.280 It's about perception of corruption and perception of influence. Right.

00:12:08.280 Even if the dystopian reality were not what happened, you know, the fact that the government would step in at all would open up question marks about, well, you know, are they trying to influence the media?

00:12:20.280 Even if they're they go to great lengths not to, it's going to be hard for them to avoid that kind of perception.

00:12:25.280 So why would you want to even step into that?

00:12:27.280 This this is the next logical step after the six hundred million dollar a year media bailout.

00:12:33.280 Many of us, including many in the mainstream media, warned that this was government meddling in the media, that the media, those running the newsrooms, those running editorial pages, even if they don't want to be influenced by the prospect of government cash being dangled in front of them, are going to be unduly influenced by it.

00:12:55.280 I mean, it's a tough business. The print guys are going out of business left, right and center.

00:13:00.280 It's it's difficult for even the alternative media to break in.

00:13:03.280 You know, we're we're fighting to do so, but it's not an easy battle.

00:13:06.280 And the temptation to tow the government's line to accept government cash is going to be there.

00:13:12.280 And they all warned. Many of us warned that this was undue meddling, but they all dismissed us as conspiratorial kooks, believing that this is going to result in some kind of 1984 government control over the press.

00:13:25.280 But we are now seeing what is an unbelievable.

00:13:29.280 Well, I never actually imagined that it would get this far.

00:13:32.280 And I am as paranoid about government as it comes.

00:13:35.280 And I never believed they would go this far.

00:13:37.280 So they back down from direct media licensing.

00:13:40.280 But I think they are they have every intention of going forward and finding other ways, as I said, around deplatforming and demonetizing through penalizing potential advertisers for non licensed media or non government approved media.

00:13:55.280 They also might go, I think it was Dave who alluded to it here.

00:13:58.280 They might require that Facebook put put things on social media feeds.

00:14:04.280 If you're a non government approved website like Western standard will be Facebook's already doing that.

00:14:11.280 Yeah, but using their own standard as opposed to a government standard.

00:14:15.280 They've organizations to try to figure out what's legitimate what's not true, but many of Facebook's rules around that are under pressure from the US government already.

00:14:25.280 And so they are self censoring themselves and cracking down.

00:14:29.280 The Canadian government might go further and much more extensively than Facebook already is.

00:14:36.280 Surely there is fake news out there.

00:14:38.280 There's a ton of it.

00:14:39.280 Our grandparents seem to fall forward a bit easier, like Nigerian Prince is asking for money in an email chain. 0.98

00:14:46.280 But, you know, some people do get duped by fake news.

00:14:49.280 But the price of fighting fake news by government control over other credible media sources is just not worth the cost.

00:14:58.280 So the solution is the free market and better laws.

00:15:03.280 Speaking of laws, I always say less laws.

00:15:06.280 Fair enough.

00:15:09.280 A better court system.

00:15:10.280 Speaking of court systems, we had news about the Trans Mountain Pipeline, the very latest lawsuit to try to prevent the construction.

00:15:20.280 Dismissed.

00:15:21.280 Dave, fill us in on the details.

00:15:23.280 Well, not only was it dismissed, Paul, it was thrown out as far as the judges could throw it.

00:15:29.280 It was a unanimous verdict, three to nothing, that cleared hopefully what is the last hurdle for the TMX to go through.

00:15:40.280 I think most significantly the judges said that Indigenous people in Canada do not get a veto over these type of massive projects.

00:15:52.280 So the small band of Indigenous groups that are fighting the TMX immediately filed to the Supreme Court for an appeal.

00:16:01.280 That is unlikely to be heard because of the unanimous verdict in the federal court.

00:16:07.280 So I think the only thing that's left for pipeline opponents now is civil disobedience.

00:16:12.280 So I think the next thing we're going to see is people handcuffing themselves to the site in Burnaby.

00:16:18.280 And you're going to have a similar sort of standoff like what's going on right now up in Smithers with the coastal gasoline pipeline.

00:16:27.280 So the next move will have to be, you know, what do the RCMP do with these civil disobedience protesters?

00:16:35.280 And that's going to be very, very interesting in the weeks to come, Paul.

00:16:39.280 Well, and I and for those who haven't been following the story and Dave, feel free to chime in on this.

00:16:45.280 You know, all of this followed on a previous lawsuit that where these I believe it was the Supreme Court of Canada actually ruled that the government had not sufficiently consulted with First Nations.

00:16:59.280 And as a result of that lawsuit, they went back and did, you know, quite a rigorous consultation.

00:17:08.280 But, you know, there's obviously groups that are just determined, you know, consult all you want.

00:17:14.280 We want this thing stopped.

00:17:16.280 And unless that's your answer, we're not going to we're not going to let up.

00:17:21.280 Is that is that the background?

00:17:23.280 Yeah, I mean, there's been so many appeals and whatnot, it's hard to keep track of them all.

00:17:27.280 But the federal did go back and consulted extensively.

00:17:32.280 And that's one of the reasons that the federal court threw out this latest appeal.

00:17:36.280 So they really have no other cards to play legally.

00:17:40.280 Even B.C. Premier Horgan has admitted there's no more he can do.

00:17:45.280 So when you look at it, all that's left is civil disobedience.

00:17:49.280 And I guess it's how far these protesters are willing to take it.

00:17:53.280 Derek, what do you think?

00:17:55.280 It was a rare good decision from from a high court.

00:18:00.280 I'm generally unimpressed with with the judicial philosophies of many of our high court justices

00:18:11.280 and both the Supreme Court and the provincial Supreme Courts.

00:18:14.280 But this was this was a solid decision that they couldn't have ruled any other way.

00:18:18.280 What surprised me, though, is it was less a ruling and more of a spanking.

00:18:21.280 They threw it out and they threw it out hard.

00:18:24.280 They accused they accused these bands of posturing.

00:18:29.280 I was that was their term. 0.99

00:18:31.280 They threw them out and they essentially said, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. 0.99

00:18:36.280 Do not come back that it was a nuisance. 0.98

00:18:39.280 And very importantly, as you both have already said, they ruled that First Nations do not have a veto.

00:18:44.280 And in many cases, what are we talking about when we say First Nations?

00:18:47.280 Are we talking about full nations, individual bands and reserves?

00:18:50.280 Or are we talking just hereditary chiefs?

00:18:52.280 Because many of the pipeline opponents are hereditary chiefs who are born into position

00:18:57.280 and have no real legitimate role beyond being a mini Queen of England. 1.00

00:19:01.280 And they they claim to speak on behalf of bands when the elected councils are actually often in favor of it.

00:19:08.280 And in many cases, these these chiefs are taking money from foreign sources to oppose pipelines.

00:19:13.280 It's very political. It's a damn downright almost corrupt in many cases. 0.98

00:19:17.280 But it was a solid decision. 0.96

00:19:19.280 But it's very interesting now how this is going to play out in B.C.

00:19:23.280 as you alluded to with the coastal gas pipeline.

00:19:27.280 And John Horgan is now facing the exact same thing.

00:19:33.280 I think Don Braid at the Calgary Herald had a really good column on this yesterday after the decision came down.

00:19:39.280 That John Horgan is, you know, none of us want to see the coastal gas pipeline in Alberta not go forward.

00:19:46.280 But there is a bit of schadenfreude that John Horgan is now facing the same kind of people.

00:19:51.280 In many cases, the exact same people who do not respect the rule of law in these.

00:19:56.280 And he's pleading for people to respect the rule of law after he himself has has bent it as much as possible for political ends.

00:20:04.280 So it's but all of this is to say, I still think the pipeline opponents have won, even though we've won virtually every Supreme Court decision.

00:20:13.280 We won the regulatory board decisions and it is now technically going for it.

00:20:18.280 And I do think the TMX pipeline will get built.

00:20:21.280 I still think the opponents have won because they have forced the taxpayers to nationalize this pipeline at tremendous cost of the taxpayer that we will probably not recover.

00:20:32.280 They have and they have created such massive uncertainty in the investment climate that no one's saying is going to propose a major interprovincial pipeline in Canada again beyond the Alberta Saskatchewan border.

00:20:44.280 So while this pipeline goes forward, I believe, I think in the long term we have won this battle, but I believe we have lost the war because we have given these people far too much slack in believing they can use consultation processes as not consultation, but as a veto.

00:21:01.280 And I think you're right. I think this is the last great pipeline that's going to be built in Canada.

00:21:08.280 You know, no investor certainly is going to do another one. And, you know, 50 years from now, it's not going to none of this is necessarily going to matter.

00:21:17.280 But, you know, I think in the short term, let's let's just hope it gets built and gets operational without too much interference beyond the legal realm, which has been exhausted.

00:21:30.280 But all right, well, let's move over just for fun to American politics, just so we can gloat as Canadians about our great electoral systems.

00:21:40.280 The Iowa caucus results. We still don't have three days later the or two days later the the actual results.

00:21:49.280 We know that Pete Buttigieg is slightly ahead of Bernie Sanders and way off in fourth place is a fellow named Joe Biden.

00:21:59.280 So I don't know why don't we just go around the table and give me your thoughts about the Iowa caucus who wants to start Derek.

00:22:09.280 You look like you want to start.

00:22:12.280 Well, I love I loved it. I had there is I had a screenshot. It was I think more I think was roughly 24 hours after the polls had closed and it showed everybody at zero percent.

00:22:22.280 And I said, it's just the way I like my Democrats. None of them.

00:22:26.280 It's it's a bit of a cluster. I mean, I've spoken favorably of the American primary process in the past, but I was actually not a primary.

00:22:36.280 It's not a great interparty Democratic vote. It's a very archaic system where you meet in your local church basements and gymnasiums and you literally stand in different corners to support different candidates.

00:22:47.280 And you have people moving around the room and debating in real time till they meet certain thresholds.

00:22:52.280 It's all very complicated. It sounds fun. And I used to live in Iowa. Funny enough, I think the average voter in Iowa is more powerful than the average politician around the world.

00:23:01.280 If I had stayed in Iowa as a kid, I'd be a very powerful voter. They're the most powerful voters possibly on the planet.

00:23:08.280 And super engaged in everything political.

00:23:11.280 Yeah, I mean, it is.

00:23:13.280 Council meetings have thousands of people show up in Iowa.

00:23:17.280 But they, this all happened because the Democrats, the official answer is because they had a huge software meltdown with a new app they were supposed to use.

00:23:28.280 But very strangely, it was captured live on CNN. There was a Democratic Party, essentially a poll captain who's there to, he was on hold for hours and he was talking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN.

00:23:39.280 And after waiting on, on hold for an hour or more, they just hung up on him. They refused to even accept his results.

00:23:46.280 So they're there. On the surface, we can blame this on software bugs, but there's the more conspiratorial minded think that there's more going on.

00:23:56.280 It's hard to say what is if there is something going on, it would be to disadvantage the outside candidates from the whole point of Iowa is not actually that there's very many delegates at stake for the Democratic nomination.

00:24:08.280 It's that it gives you that early burst of energy for outsider candidates and the two who are virtually tied are Buttigieg. Can you say his name properly?

00:24:17.280 Buttigieg.

00:24:18.280 Buttigieg.

00:24:19.280 Buttigieg.

00:24:20.280 Buttigieg.

00:24:21.280 You be the judge. You Buttigieg. 0.97

00:24:23.280 Yeah, you Buttigieg.

00:24:25.280 And Bernie Sanders. Those are two anti-establishment candidates. Although Buttigieg is not seen as extreme, but he's not the establishment favorite.

00:24:30.280 Right.

00:24:31.280 And neither of them get that huge shock of media for the outsider candidate that you'd normally get with an Iowa upset.

00:24:37.280 Joe Biden dismissed it long before because he wasn't going to do well there. And Bloomberg wasn't even on the ballot there. So those are the two big establishment candidates.

00:24:49.280 And so if you were suspiciously minded, you could say that this fact that there was essentially no results to give you that shock out of Iowa favors the establishment candidates Biden and Bloomberg and disadvantages the others.

00:25:08.280 Either way, it's hilarious.

00:25:10.280 Dave, what do you think?

00:25:11.280 The big winner last week with the caucuses is Trump. There's no doubt about it. Iowa is all about momentum.

00:25:18.280 Paul.

00:25:19.280 Mayor Pete and Sanders now leave Iowa for New Hampshire with momentum.

00:25:28.280 Biden, I think, is in trouble. He did very poorly in Iowa. As Derek says, he wasn't expected to do well there, but he's still coming out of there with zero momentum.

00:25:41.280 There's talk about him having money trouble as they move into New Hampshire. But, you know, Mayor Pete will have an extra, you know, spark in his cup.

00:25:52.280 And as I said, the big winner is Trump. I think Trump had the best week of his presidency. The State of the Union, I thought was perhaps his strongest speech as president. The theatrics of Nancy Pelosi ripping up his speech behind him will enrage his base.

00:26:11.280 And on Wednesday afternoon, he's going to be acquitted in the Senate with the impeachment charge. So coming out of this, Trump is on a roll and New Democrats are having to deal with the Iowa fiasco and trying to figure out how to get out of that slump.

00:26:29.280 It really is the best week for Trump all for all the reasons you mentioned in there. It's also polls coming out showing that he was at a 49% approval rating, which in Canada, maybe doesn't, you know, doesn't sound, you know, wow.

00:26:45.280 It's actually Canada would be amazing. But when he was, when he was elected the first time, Paul, his approval rating was in the thirties.

00:26:51.280 Exactly. Yeah. So 49 is pretty high for him. The highest he's ever been.

00:26:57.280 It's the highest he's ever been. And, um, and it's very rare for somebody this close to an election to lose with such a high approval rating, especially an incumbent. And so, uh, yeah, so we might be headed for Trump's second term.

00:27:13.280 And I really feel like the reason for that is Democrat incompetency and meltdown and division. Um, you know, they were so determined to throw it, you know, this, you know, to throw out a bad meme, the orange man bad, you know, just determined absolutely to get, um, you know, to get Trump out of office.

00:27:37.280 And I think they shot themselves in the foot with that whole, um, you know, the whole impeachment thing and then that being thrown out.

00:27:44.280 And then I guess the, um, the other piece of it is, um, you know, Trump, uh, um, you know, is not like has all these character flaws, but most, most people seem to just look beyond that. Right.

00:27:58.280 I had the displeasure of watching the CNN after speech show and it was literally out of control shrieking by every single one of their panelists who are all, uh, Democrat supporters, but they were all yelling over each other to try and say how bad the speech was. It frankly looked ridiculous. 0.94

00:28:17.280 Uh, you know, meanwhile, Trump is just rolling merrily along. I think most political scientists would say they don't see anybody in that democratic field. 0.63

00:28:27.280 That is going to lay a hand on Trump in November.

00:28:31.280 Well, and I think you could break it down. You know, there is the, that progressive wing, uh, you know, that would get behind Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

00:28:40.280 And then there is the more establishment wing that would be happy with the Joe Biden, maybe a Pete Buttigieg, um, but certainly a Bloomberg.

00:28:48.280 And I think all of those candidates, um, are not going to please the people on the other side.

00:28:54.280 Maybe Pete Buttigieg could be the uniter and maybe that's what they're hoping for.

00:28:58.280 But, uh, you know, he's progressive enough for the progressives and establishment enough for the establishment.

00:29:04.280 But, um, you know, if they don't figure out, um, a candidate that they can all get behind, this is a done deal.

00:29:10.280 We may as well just call the results today. Derek, any other thoughts?

00:29:14.280 Well, I think I forgot which one of you said it, but I think, uh, whoever did was corrected.

00:29:18.280 This was the best week of his presidency, at least politically for him.

00:29:22.280 Uh, it's quite bizarre that an impeachment becomes a political plus for the person being impeached, but it absolutely has here.

00:29:31.280 It, um, you know, whatever you think of Trump and I was initially, uh, extremely opposed to Trump during the Republican primaries.

00:29:39.280 I only came around, uh, round to him later on, uh, essentially just, I would have voted for the guy, uh, just as a big, uh, middle finger to the democratic and political establishment.

00:29:49.280 I think that's why most people voted for him.

00:29:51.280 Or at least a lot of those.

00:29:52.280 A lot of them.

00:29:53.280 Yeah.

00:29:54.280 Um, but he has, uh, his, I mean, he still does his, uh, two in the morning, uh, tweeting from the toilet rants, but, uh, his state of the union speech, I thought was, uh, a, a rare statesman like event at exactly the right time.

00:30:12.280 He doesn't do it often.

00:30:13.280 And I wish we'd see more of it.

00:30:14.280 Um, but his state of the union speech, which Americans do watch in pretty large numbers.

00:30:20.280 Um, was relatively statesman like, particularly by Trump standards.

00:30:24.280 And, and he played it well talking about what he's accomplished and vision for the future.

00:30:29.280 It wasn't full of politics.

00:30:31.280 Um, and I always sympathize with, um, the other party leaders who have to sit behind the president and look polite.

00:30:38.280 So Nancy Pelosi, she's a Democrat. 0.99

00:30:39.280 She has speaker of the house.

00:30:40.280 She has to sit there and you know, she can't really clap along cause she doesn't agree with it. 1.00

00:30:45.280 She hates the guy.

00:30:46.280 I don't really know what she's supposed to do, but her, her temper tantrum tearing up the speech. 1.00

00:30:51.280 Maybe it played well with the base that she's increasingly catering towards.

00:30:55.280 But, uh, it, it looked, uh, like a hissy fit.

00:30:59.280 The Democrats have looked like they just never accepted the results of the election and, uh, have always just wanted to impeach him.

00:31:05.280 And this is just their excuse.

00:31:07.280 So most people dismiss it.

00:31:08.280 And what I, what I think the real result of this is going to be is, is twofold in the next election.

00:31:14.280 It's going to energize absolutely every Trump supporter and Republican to come out in massive numbers because they know that, uh, the Democrats will just try to overturn the election.

00:31:24.280 They will try to impeach him again.

00:31:26.280 The day after Trump has reelected, I guarantee it that may even start it even before he's sworn in for a second term, but very importantly, and I haven't heard anyone touch on this yet.

00:31:34.280 Is that I think this is going to help Republicans to potentially retake the House of Representatives.

00:31:39.280 Totally.

00:31:40.280 Yeah.

00:31:41.280 Americans often like to send a divided executive and legislature to Washington because it checks the power of one another.

00:31:48.280 It's, it's generally a positive system.

00:31:50.280 That's why people, uh, you know, presidents often lose their, uh, their house or their Senate, uh, in the midterms.

00:31:57.280 I think there's a good chance that Republicans are going to retake the house, uh, in, uh, next November, because Trump is going to be a president.

00:32:03.280 Because Trump is going to be able to make a very strong argument that even if he's reelected, the Democrats will just try to impeach him the next day.

00:32:09.280 And this will be political games, uh, going on and on and on.

00:32:12.280 And so you need to elect Republicans to the house, uh, to, to govern rather than Democrats who will just continue to, uh, re litigate, uh, impeachment.

00:32:20.280 So I, it's impossible to say how this is all going to turn out.

00:32:23.280 The only way this can get any better for Trump, I think is if Bernie Sanders gets the Democratic nomination.

00:32:28.280 And I think, I think on all those points, you're dead right.

00:32:31.280 The, um, the, the invigoration of the Republican base is going to hit those down ballot, um, you know, all over the country.

00:32:40.280 Um, you know, for senators and Congress and state representatives, um, you know, we're going to see a massive Republican upswing just as a result of the president's, um, popularity and, uh, and that invigorated base showing up to vote.

00:32:55.280 So I think you're absolutely right.

00:32:57.280 And, and a lot of people aren't talking about that yet because you know, it's, it's hard to predict, but you know, I mean, just by sheer, sheer mathematics, a bunch of people show up to vote for the president that wouldn't otherwise have voted three months ago.

00:33:09.280 Uh, it's going to have some effect down ballot for sure.

00:33:12.280 Um, I mean, the time between now and next November is going to be startlingly starting startlingly like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow.

00:33:21.280 The Democrats got there and there was nothing to sack, nothing to capture.

00:33:25.280 And now it's a long retreat back with nothing to show for it.

00:33:28.280 And I think by the time they get to November, they're going to be very demoralized.

00:33:32.280 Well, and just quickly before I go to Dave, the, this whole exercise with the impeachment, you know, Nancy Pelosi came out.

00:33:39.280 She said, we're not, we don't want this to be political.

00:33:41.280 We want it to be bipartisan.

00:33:43.280 They literally had no Republican votes either in the house or the Senate for this while we're talking here.

00:33:51.280 It was just announced Mitt Romney in the Senate will vote to convict Trump.

00:33:55.280 But that's not, that's not very surprising.

00:33:57.280 He, uh, he's not a fan.

00:33:59.280 I mean, like Trump, it was pretty mean to him.

00:34:02.280 So there's a lot of personality there.

00:34:03.280 And, and he's also a, um, he's a, a relatively liberal Republican.

00:34:09.280 Um, you got one, you got one.

00:34:12.280 They're going to get one Republican, which, which will be an important symbolic vote.

00:34:16.280 Sure.

00:34:17.280 The guy that inspired Obamacare.

00:34:18.280 Um, so, uh, so, so we got that.

00:34:22.280 Um, but you know, ultimately, um, they, all of the things came down to maybe poor decisions and character flaws.

00:34:32.280 Uh, they didn't, they didn't bring up anything, any, you know, crimes, any misdemeanors, any of these things that, you know, you're supposed to, um, uh, you know, convict the president of and these, you know, they just didn't do it.

00:34:46.280 And, um, and so you can dislike Trump all you want.

00:34:50.280 Uh, you can think he has massive character laws.

00:34:52.280 You can think he made bad decisions, but are any of those really good reasons to impeach?

00:34:57.280 And I think an honest person needs to take a step back and say, well, probably not.

00:35:01.280 Right.

00:35:02.280 Over to Dave.

00:35:03.280 It's almost at a time.

00:35:04.280 And I think so are we.

00:35:06.280 Yeah.

00:35:07.280 Dave, final thoughts.

00:35:09.280 Uh, Pelosi didn't want to impeach to start with.

00:35:12.280 It was a bad move.

00:35:14.280 And they'll be running around seven years from now, still trying to impeach Trump, uh, and get him out of office after seven years.

00:35:21.280 There we are.

00:35:22.280 Well, thank you very much, Dave from Abbotsford.

00:35:26.280 Downtown Abbotsford.

00:35:27.280 Downtown Abbotsford.

00:35:28.280 Downtown Abbotsford.

00:35:30.280 Derek coming to you from Calgary.

00:35:32.280 Myself, Paul from Victoria.

00:35:34.280 Uh, thanks for joining us this week.

00:35:36.280 Remember to like, or subscribe, um, on, or both on YouTube.

00:35:42.280 And, uh, if you haven't found us on your favorite podcast app, you can go check us out there.

00:35:48.280 Uh, for all the different places you can find us, go to westernstandardonline.com slash podcasts, or click on that podcast link.

00:35:55.280 And you can find us on your favorite podcast app.

Western Standard - February 06, 2020

License to Speak： Liberal Censorship, TMX Win, and Democrats Fall in Iowa - The Pipeline, Episode 7

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