Welcome back, everyone to a new episode of You're Wrong with Molly Hemingway and
David Harsani. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to email the show,
please do so at radio at the Federalist dot com. We'd love to
hear from you now, Molly. Every episode of Your Wrong is special,
but this one is a very special episode where we answer reader questions. How
do you feel about these episodes? By the way, nervous? I get
nervous that you're can to ask me questions and I haven't thought about what to
say, but excited also excited to hear how you answer these questions from readers.
I will start with a personal one from Joy, and a number of
people have asked this in different ways, but they wonder, as someone who
lives in the DC area, in the swamp itself, is it difficult for
you not to go native? I guess is the question like, what do
you do not to be pulled into the same kind of you know, lockstep
thinking and lifestyle that a lot of people in DC live. That's a really
interesting question I usually and I have been asked actually by other people, like
when I'm out speaking on the road, why I haven't gone native like everyone
else, so many other people have in DC. And what I usually say
is that it's my church because my husband and I and our kids are very
involved in our church, and that's kind of our social community, that's our
friend set, that's who ay. They're not very political like at all,
so that's not what we talk about. And then all so you just have
a different central force in your life. And I don't even mean by that
God, although I do. I mean like your order of your week is
built around a totally different a political schedule, like when is church, when
is midweek service? What are we doing to get together to help you know,
the person who's in the hospital, or who's throwing the shower for the
lady that's having the baby. You know, Like it's just different. And
so there's that. But then I also think I have something that you have,
which is a contrarian nature, like a comfortability not being where everybody else
is. And I think having been a libertarian for a long time helped me
with that. Like being libertarian, nobody ever agrees with you, and you
just get used to people not agreeing with you, and you don't take it
personally and you don't get super upset and you kind of look for where you
can work with other people. And so that was good grounding for the current
time. Oh, in these we're always disappointed in everyone. We're always disappointed
in everyone. That's the case, except not you know, like you're you're
so you're such an outlier that it's kind of silly to be disappointed and everyone
you know, you're the one who's different. And then I was just going
to say that I think the number one thing is that I don't actually respect
the DC Beltway group thinkers. I think they're not very smart. I think
objectively speaking, they've done a very bad job with running the country, and
so I don't seek their praise because in fact, I almost feel like if
they do praise me, I have done something horribly wrong. So I think
all of those things help. What about you even though you don't live here?
Yeah, I moved away, No, I think because you know,
a lot of people I knew in d C kind of came up in d
C with jobs in d C. They know each other, you know what
I mean, Like they've become part of that culture in a way where I
you know, I started my career elsewhere and I lived in Denver for a
long time, and I just never felt really at home in DC. Though
I will say this, I think DC is kind of an underrated city as
a city. There's a lot to do there. It's not a terrible place
to raise your kids, you know. You know, I was born in
New York. It's not overwhelming in that way. D C is actually quite
an interesting city, I think. But yeah, I did move away because
it started to get to me. But for not even the political reasons.
It's just a very expensive place to live and it is very politics focused for
a lot of people. Everyone's like a lawyer somewhere, or you know,
everyone's working for the government in some capacity, or you know, rely on
the government, and as a person who basically hates the government, it was
uncomfortable. So I was happy to move away. Though you know, I'm
farther away from some of my friends and that's not great. But I've always
moved. I moved around a lot of my life, and I kind of
like experiencing different places. So, like your answer, it's very interesting.
Someone wanted to or in who we know, I would like to hear both
of our best pieces of parenting advice. Yes, yes, I will I
will now don't preface this by saying I am not you know. I don't
give out parenting advice because I don't feel like, you know. All kids
are different and all that you know, and all parents are different, all
situations are different. But I would say the one thing that I regret the
most is giving my kids too much access to the internet and phones too early.
I think that as if you can hold out, the longer you hold
out from them having sort of unfettered access or even fetter some fettered access to
the internet, the better. I think kids who pick up book, you
know, they'll stop picking up books like they used to. They'll stop sort
of being engaged in the real world as much as they used to be in
their stare at their phones. And I really regret not that we did it
very very early, but I regret that I didn't hold out even longer.
I feel like we could do a whole show on just talking about parenting stuff,
because I'm not sure if I have a single thing, but I do
love having children. I think my first piece of parenting advice would be to
become a parent if you're able and you be a willing partner. It is
as many kids as you can have. Yes, it's a it's just like
the most fun and it's been fun. And I now have you know the
older side of teenagers. It's been fun the whole time. I'm not saying
every day is without you know, a problem or something someone breaks their arm
or someone's sasses, you know. But I really enjoy my children and I
have enjoyed them every single pace. So if you're able to have children,
you should don't wait. And Mark and I got married and had our kid
within a year, so we we did not have really any time not being
pregnant hardly, and I'm so glad that worked out that way. Like we
would we just were open to whatever happened. But I'm really glad God gave
us a child right away. It's like you create these help create these people,
and then you get to hang out with them, like even when they
get older. My kids are a bit older than yours, you know.
I just love spending time with them. Obviously they're going out into the world,
but I think they're maybe because because they're like me, but I think
they have wonderful senses of humor, and they're very different too in many ways.
So it's just this this society you build around yourself. You know this
group and that it's loyal to each other, that love each other, and
it is the greatest thing that's happened in my life. So I really recommend
it. Okay, I want to just say I also agree with what you
said about technology. And we kind of stumbled into being low technology family by
not by accident, but the kids when they were very young. I punish
them by not letting them watch their TV show that day, like they used
to watch whatever, you know, the Backyardigans or something like that, and
they were so well behaved that day that I realized that in a weird way,
the TV show was the problem, and that if they didn't have that
as an option, they just became very creative and played on their own much
better. And then we learned just how destructive like internet connected cell phones are,
and so Mark in particular was really adamant that our kids would not have
that, and they haven't. I mean, one is old enough that she
does have a phone, but it's not connected to the Internet, and it's
great. And I do think part of the reason why my kids are so
delightful is because they know how to read books instead of serve social media.
But then the other thing I just would say is I think being consistent is
good as a parent. My mom told me when the kids were born that
just discipline is mostly just having a routine and sticking to it. And I
don't mean by that that you have to be like super hard and fast.
It could literally be something like we eat meals each day or something, you
know, but just kind of being consistent with whatever you can do in providing
some structure and then lessening that structure as the kids show that they're able to
handle that. And I should say in this is partially because I got to
work at the Federalist, you know, I got to be at home.
I got to have dinner with my kids every night and like create a schedule
where we spend time together all the time. And that's vitally important as well.
So let's go on, who is David's favorite coworker and why is it
Sean Fleetwood? Oh, I think Sean Flee would sent this email. It's
not Sean Fleood's. Okay, how did you two meet and what were your
first impressions of the other. I do remember when I first met you in
real life. We had spoken I believe through Twitter had I was a fan
of yours when you were at I'm sorry, I forget the name of the
site. Was it Get Religion, Get Religion? Yeah, we met at
a you had my dream job, and that's what I was told. But
when we started the Federal List, I think we had a meeting when we
first learned we were working with each other. And they're like that where the
Heritage Foundation is around the corners, like a coffee shop or something. I
forget what it is, but that's where we first met for a meeting,
and I think we hit it off right away. Yeah, I remember when
we were starting the Federalist you know, to start something out of nothing is
anxiety inducing. And I knew you and really liked you. I mean I
knew who you were, I should say, and really liked what you were
doing. And it made me feel so much more like we could do this
thing knowing that we were doing it together. And I don't actually remember the
first time I met you. I remember the first time we had like a
phone call. I remember exactly where I was in my old house. Oh
I don't remember that phone call. But we met and you were like,
wait are you David Harse, and I said yes, and then we hit
it off from there. I think right away. We worked very closely together
in our early Federalist years. Many many it was insane. We were very
much misled about how much work would be involved. Yes, remember being up,
We're like four o'clock in the morning, editing pictures, all of that.
But but I have to say it was also the most rewarding job I
ever had, because building something from scratch is such a incredible adventure, you
know, and I had never done that before. I've always worked for big
organizations, so that was a lot of fun for me. Still fun,
but you know, just the beginning part. I think maybe I'm sentimental about
it. I do want to say also that when you left for a period
of time, I remember I remember writing up a thing It's like, seriously
going to make me cry, nice, Like there's the nicest thing anyone has
ever. I was embarrassed by it, but I do appreciate it as well.
No, I was really sad, like you can tell because I'm crying
when you left. And I do remember a bunch of like people who I
really respect, like really writers I respect. They were like that was that
was really great that you wrote up like what you loved about his writing.
Yeah, that was very nice and I really appreciated it, and I appreciate
it now, and then I appreciate it so much it came back. I
don't know about this one. If you could listen to once on the rest
of your life, what would it be. I don't know. I don't
have an answer for that. Oh. I don't like things like that.
They're so limited because that's not how I do things. Or when people say
what's your number one favorite such and such, it's like, well today it's
this. But I do think about it in terms of like when people say
you can only take ten albums to a desert island where you'll be able to
listen to albums. And one thing I find interesting is that even though well,
what I listened to most is not classical music, that's what I want
to take if I'm going to a desert island. I don't know what that
means exactly. And so I really like Bach. I have an extensive collection
of Bach, and I would take, you know, the passions I would.
I also like Smetana Move Lost, I would take that. It's funny
because I too would be I think I know why the classical music. I
think it's kind of like utilitarian where it's the longest. It's got like really
long and involved songs with many instruments, so you're not you know, it's
not just this empty experience that you get bored of after a while. There's
a deep depth to it. But anyway, we didn't really answer that question,
but I will say this is a related question from another person whose name
is Josh. Giving your extensive musical knowledge and very tape, I'm curious what
your pre fight walkout song would be for disclosure purposes. Mine would be Mother
by Dan zigg. I think that's actually a pretty good one. Oh.
I have this friend Rick who we used to always talk about what you're at
bat song would be, and he thought it would be funny and would really
mess with people. If his at bat song was I'm So Pretty, that's
good, but I don't know. I would say mine would be Let's Dance
by David Bowie. Really I love that song. First of all, I
know, I know, and I feel like it just gives me all the
good feelings like I can do anything. And I also just like, you
know, I we go with something filmic. Is that a word filmic?
Like Shashtakach's Fifth Symphony? You know what I mean? Something very traumatic?
Okay, come out with the keep. You know. This is Pastor Matthew
Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church Missouri SI. The LCMS operates the second
largest parochial school system in the United States. What can you expect from a
Lutheran Church Missouri sented school. There's one race, the human race, and
Jesus died for the sins of every man, woman, and child, from
every land and every nation. Life begins a conception. All life is precious,
from womb to tomb, and every student, parent and teacher is created
in the very image of God. There's right and wrong, and we know
which is which from the Ten Commandments. There are only two sexes, male
and female. He created them. Marriage is the lifelong union of one man
and one woman. There's such a thing as objective, absolute truth, and
it's found in the person and work of Jesus Christ and his word. To
find a Lutheran Church Missouri centered school near you, visit LCMS dot org slash
schools. So there's another question here us kind of long, but it basically
He's asking if there's one can conspiracy theory you could believe, which one would
it be for you? Like bigfoot landing. I don't believe in any conspiracy
theories. That's my shtick. I like to ask people, you know,
what's like the one conspiracy theory they believe in. I like to ask famous
people, you know, like senators or people like that. And I think,
first of all, it's just a very good question or conversation starter for
if you're ever, you know, just wanting to kind of get a conversation
going at your house or something. And the number one thing that people in
DC say is that they do not believe the official story on how JFK was
was killed. That's just the if you I'm just I have asked so many
people and heard that so many times from people who are otherwise not prone to
conspiracy theorizing that it's made me be interested in looking into it a little bit
more. But I mean, it seems to me finally obvious that a communist
who didn't like JFK would shoot him, So I never really I think almost
we've been culture surrounding that that we probably are more conspiratorial about it now than
we were in the past. I'm not saying you just in general culture,
the number one thing leading to conspiracy theories right now might be that even at
this late date, no president has ever released the information on it. It
makes me assume that whatever it is must be just so bad. Like when
Donald Trump didn't release the info, I was like, oh, this is
bad. This one's bad. So it's not about whether he actually shot him.
It's more about like what led to him shooting him here or you know,
and some people do have questions about whether that person shot or not.
I heard a great conspiracy theory recently, which is that the super Bowl is
fixed. I don't think so. I do either. I think that the
obvious pushback to conspiracies are that if so many people are involved, it would
be almost impot possible for them to all to keep these secrets. So the
idea, who, how do you fix a Super Bowl? Well, either
the refs are in on it somehow, but players have to be in on
it. And you're telling me that no one ever spills the bean on some
beans on something like that seems unlikely to me. So yeah, the theory
that someone was sharing with me was that, like, if you look at
the colors of the Super Bowl logo. Each year the winning team is dominant
in the color of the logo. I just liked it because it was kind
of so silly and absurd. Do I believe it? I do not believe
it. Do I believe that, like NBA games are frequently rigged? Sure,
sure, no problem, But I don't really see how that would work.
Like I think, and I'm writing about a book about this sort of
but I think like the lack of trust we have in institutions and elites because
they lie to us so often, is only going to make us more conspiratorially
minded moving forward, because what can we believe? You know, they lied
to us so often. Ovid the Russia collusion stuff, you know, on
and on. So well, I just want to say that too, because
I'm I think you and I both have the same skeptical nature. It's almost
like an anti conspiracy theory nature. So someone will say, In fact,
someone was just asking me, did you see that at George H. W.
Bush's funeral, these like everyone got an envelope and they all looked really
surprised when they got the envelope. Everybody but Donald Trump, So sorry,
everybody, meaning the former presidents, and I was like, yes, probably
like a last minute instruction on where to go when you leave the church.
You know, Like in my mind, it's just like I can think of
a thousand reasons why there's nothing weird about getting an envelope. And that's kind
of my nature as a journalist too, to kind of think through things.
So when the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump was secretly world's mastermind Russian spy,
you know, took root around the media, I kind of devoted my life
to showing why that was ludacros as I learned more about how ludacrous it was.
I will say going through that, going through the process of debunking that
widely held left wing conspiracy theory, made me be more open to the idea
that they had done similar operations in the past and that they'll do similar operations
in the future. So, like Mark Elias tweeted recently that he wasn't sure
what the details were, but he was pretty sure that Donald Trump was about
to be doing something illegal with regard to the election. He didn't know what
it was, but he was sure. You know. I was like,
Oh, this is him signaling that, you know, he's the one who
funneled with no consequences, the money from the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign through
his law firm to the people who cooked up the Russia collusion conspiracy theory.
So I was like, Okay, so he's working on his next conspiracy theory
that he will see with low information voters and left wing journalists. You know,
Sorry, I'm not answering that one, and I want to know any
writing answer. Sorry, but what you're saying, I know we're not supposed
to really be talking about politics here, though. I will say that the
destruction of the modern of the media itself a reporting of journalism, adds into
this because they were the ones, even in the past, who would debunk
these sorts of stories or create a firewall or whatever, and they don't do
that anymore. So it's very difficult they do the opposite. I saw a
few weeks ago someone was reminding people that Glenn Kessler, who's supposedly the fact
checker at the Washington Post, had ripped Ted Cruz a new one because Ted
Cruz had talked about like the possibility that the COVID coronavirus had escaped the Wuhan
Institute of Virology, where they were working on coronavirus manipulation, and Glenn Kesler
was like, what the senator doesn't see is that there's a computerized animation showing
that that's not likely. So we rate this, you know, untrue.
I was like, oh, dear, you know, a computerized animation showing
that the that the virus could not have escaped the lab. That's really decisive.
But yeah, the media are so bad at this. They're actually pushing
the conspiracy theories and helping censor people who fight against them. Well, they
actually take crude conspiracy theories and professionalize them, shining them up, you know,
create these stories that seem plausible with all kinds of journalistic language. So
anyway, yes, yes, good point. Okay, with all the negative
issues facing our country and the constant media attacks on conservatives, how do you
keep your pleasant dispositions and keep a balance with your families? This is from
Barb from Buffalo. Like that question, Barb, I don't know how do
you do it? I don't know whytch things. I have a pleasant disposition
at all. I have to be honest with you, but I do not.
I am not bothered by people attack me, so not for the most
part, and you get it. I should say this. You always say
everyone's nice to you, but I would say that you have a much bigger
profile, so you probably get a ton more reactions to everything you say and
do, right, I honestly view this as a spiritual gift. I don't
mean to be like to have like a serious answer to these silly questions,
but I think people are kind of born with dispositions and that they are gifts.
They're not things you are responsible for. And I do not know why,
but I have always had a pretty optimistic outlook, or that's not quite
the right way to say it. I sort of don't care about whether what
I'm doing will actually lead to success or not. I just focus on whether
what I'm doing is the right thing or not, and so I don't get
super upset if the thing I'm doing leads to a bad outcome because I never
expected it in the first place. Is that pessimism or optimism, Gosh,
I don't know. I don't know, but I can vouch for this in
a sense. So I don't really care either. And a lot of my
interests are esoteric, I would say, but sometimes I want to write something
and like Molly no one's going to care about this, and you're like,
is it the right thing to do than write it? Or is it true?
Then write it? And that's you know, something I like about you,
And I think that is a gift in a way. Sometimes I wonder,
though, is does it make Would I be more popular if I only
honed in on the things people want to talk about? If I only if
I you know, it's more I don't know how to say a populist in
the way I approach things, but I can only see the world the way
I do, and obviously you as well. I think another thing is that
I have a very bad memory, and I think it's also a gift.
I don't remember bad things that people have said or done to me. I
do remember if they said something mean to like you, but for myself personally,
and so it just makes it really easy to if you're not holding grudges.
And again that's not because I'm a good person. It's literally just because
I have a bad memory. But it's a gift. Well, I would
say this to Hell. I have that problem as well. So what I
do is I have a notebook and I keep an enemy's list of people who
have wronged me and said mean things about me, and I you know,
and I keep track. Actually, I am quite I actually get over stuffed
pretty quickly unless it's something very personal or something hateful about like Jews or something.
You know what I'm saying, Like, it's just like Harsani doesn't always
talking about Harsni's an idiot. That doesn't really bother me very much at all.
Here's another serious question. Well, but I just want to say one
other thing. I actually do think the fact that so many people go out
of their way to be nice to me does also help. And I find
it interesting. They'll say they'll say things like, you know, I just
felt I felt like I should be praying for you, and I'm praying for
you, and I wanted you to know that I'm praying for you, and
I'm like, I'm glad that you're praying for me. It does, it
does help, And or they'll just say I'm so glad you wrote this,
or I'm so glad you said this. I've been wanting someone to do this,
and I feel very frustrated when people don't do it, and when you're
dealing with all of that negative stuff inside of DC knowing that there are real
people who are good people, who are all across the country who are like
cheering you on. It does truly help. I don't know if I could
do it if it were that nobody were behind me, Like I can deal
with all the DC hostility, but I'm not sure if I could deal with
DC and general hostility, I'd probably just yeah, you could deal with it,
well, are you? Like? Like I, it took me fifty
years to learn how to take a compliment, Like so if someone said something
nice to me, I would immediately put myself down or say something snarky or
negative or sarcastic. So now lately I'm like I say, I've been taught
by my wife to say thank you. You know it. So I'm very
uncomfortable when anyone says I'm more uncomfortable, I swear to you if someone's like
raising me, you know, than I am when someone's just attacking. So
when like you wrote that wonderful piece about me, I don't know, I
didn't know that alread yet. My mom always said she could handle people being
mean, but the moment someone was nice, she would be reduced to tears.
I don't know, it's weird. I don't know if it's my upbringing
or whatever. I will say that when my husband had to talk to me
about this, because I'm always impressed and surprised when people like recognize me outside
of my house, you know, like on the street, at airports at
different places, and it really embarrasses me because I'm not used to people being
nice to me, like who are strangers kind of you know. And Mark
was like, Molly, you have got to stop like being so embarrassed about
people being nice, Like you have to like, you know, go ahead
and talk like you people ask you for autographs and stuff like that or just
selfie is or yeah, that must be weird. I mean it probably used
to by now, but really, you know when people when you write a
book and people are like, I'm so sorry, would you mind signing my
book? I'm like, there is literally not an author in the world who
gets upset being asked for an autograph on their book, right. I can't
even believe anyone would want my autograph, honestly, I'm just noone cares what
they're saying, but I'm so happy that someone's reading it, or you know,
I just get That's one thing I would say, never feel badly about
asking an author for a signature of their book. It makes them feel so
great to know that people are reading and enjoying their work. Yeah. Absolutely,
this is kind of a serious question, but I'll ask it anyway.
What concerns, if any, do either of you have about possible violence from
the left, extremists, et cetera if Trump wins in November? Could it
be work? Could? Could? I guess saying, could it be worse
than the BLM riots from a few years ago. I am actually quite concerned
because I don't think I don't think either side's going to really accept the outcome
of this election. But the left has shown that they can actually mobilize sort
of an act of I know everyone talks about January sixth, but the left
is far more proficient and as far more widespread reach in ext reaction and violence,
and that has been sort of a leftist specialty for a very long time,
going back to the French Revolution. Probably, So, yeah, I
am very concerned. I understand why you're concerned, And I will also say
that one of my big failures is that I lack imagination to see what other
people are planning on doing. But in a way, I'm not super I
mean, I'm not saying that I don't expect it to happen. I do,
but there are a few mitigating issues. So one is that there will
be a lot of pressure, I think, on people to accept election results.
That will make it a little bit more difficult for the left to mobilize.
They're internally divided. Their street action right now is really focused on Jews
and fighting Israel and I depending on how things go in terms of Israel's war
with Moss, like if it's over by the fall, then yes, that'll
make it easier for there to be street action against democracy, isn't there isn't
it easy to find some pretext, you know, a single shooting. It
doesn't even have to actually be a bad shooting, you know what I mean,
or something I mean, a cop shooting, or you know. It's
just so easy for them to find something to kind of rally the troops.
And they already have these organizations that and Soros funded people who can go out
there and do it. No being more negative than you about this, No,
I think you're right. But what I was also going to say is
that we have experienced a little bit of a little bit not enough of a
pushback against some of the these movements that are hysterical that lead to dramatic bad
action, whether that's you know, the COVID response or BLM riots or other
things like that. And so I think that if they do it, and
they will again something this year, I'm just not sure. Like you even
saw with the takeover of campuses that people were not really feeling it as much
as they had in the past. Corporations weren't bending the knee, Kamala Harris
wasn't offering to bail out, you know, people who were setting buildings on
fire or whatever. So I'm just not sure if it'll work as well.
I do also worry that, you know, one of the things that's really
bad about law fair and making it where like none of the institution, like
the only institution in the country that truly works right now is the Supreme Court,
and the left is working very hard to destroy that one too. Once
you do that, you give people less reason to play within the system.
And so I worry about that on both sides, right and left, that
they will move to political violence. It's one of the reasons why we're in
desperate need of like not just statesmen, but domestic political leaders who can kind
of guide through this difficult process, and we just don't seem to have that.
So I'm worried. But the Democrats' inability to accept the results of the
twenty sixteen election are really kind of the original sin of our current moment.
I feel like what they were willing to do to stop Trump has destroyed so
many institutions, both before he was elected and after, and even the twenty
twenty, like the j sixth stuff, is really best understood as a reaction
against what the regime was willing to do to maintain power. So it's a
very destabilizing thing that Democrats ran their resistance efforts after twenty sixteen and until they
are four to accept an election that they've lost. I don't see it getting
better, but I do see things getting truly better. If they were to
accept the results of an election they lost, well, they might one day,
but even imagining them except a Donald Trump election, especially after he already
lost and now he's come back, that seems a heavy left. I think
the Democrats are counting on your economic ignorance so they can get re elected.
The Watched Out on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day Chris helps
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Okay, here's a question the MLB. Basically, the person whose name
I'm trying to find and I can't find, is asking. And I think
we might have talked about this a little bit at one point. But you
used to your Cardinals fan, used to be a big baseball fan, but
you gave up on them. Is there any way to recover that. Has
baseball turned a corner? Are they better now? And also, how are
you a Cardinals fan if you're from Colorado and you lived in the DC area?
Where did this question come from? I unfortunately I don't see. I'm
curious. Okay, so I'll first off start about how I became a Cardinals
fan. I was born in Colorado and grew up in California, and my
dad was a big football fan, so he kind of raised me to be
a Broncos fan. And my mother was a huge baseball fan, so she
raised me to be a Cardinals fan. Because she is from Saint Louis originally,
so she was born in Saint Louis. Her family are all Cardinals fans.
That's continued to this day that like most of my relatives are Cards fans.
And she would take me to Chavez Ravine in LA to see the Cards
play the Dodgers like once a year. Some of my best earliest memories or
of that, I got to see Fernando Valenzuela, you know, just great,
great. We had great seats that were given to by parents by a
local businessman on the third baseline in the club section, which it was really
cool, and I might even remember like one time the guy sitting in front
of me got mad at me because I kept accidentally kicking his seat. Really
important memories, you know. And I saw a picture's duel that went into
extra innings that ended up won. Nothing like, I got to see really
great things. So then I moved to Colorado and continue to be a Cards
fan. I would go see them all the time, saw them all the
time, and you know, make trips out of it, and put a
lot of time and energy and effort into being a fan. And in twenty
twenty, I did not like that they embraced the racist BLM riots, that
they came out, that they had several players who were really pushing for that
Marxist ideology. I really opposed the racism of BLM, and I really opposed
Marxism. And I also just like wanted baseball to be one of those places
where you could sit next to, you know, a Chuck Schumer type and
it didn't matter because you were focused on the field. And so I did
this really silly thing of writing them a letter and saying, like, if
you do anything else political, like I'm not going to be a fan anymore,
I'm not going to give money. And so they'd also, you know,
bought into the COVID restrictions pushed by Anthony Fauci and others and shut down
the season. And so the next year, Joe Biden asked everyone to boycott
the state of Georgia for working to improve the integrity of their election system.
And I was appalled by this. I thought this was like horrific what he
was doing, and it was horrific for anyone to go along with it.
And I was particularly appalled that Major League Baseball went along with it. They
pulled the All Star Game from Georgia and moved it to Colorado, and I
just decided that these people hate me, and if you hate me, I
don't need to give you money. And so I realized that they tried to
quote unquote walk it back by returning the All Star Game or so, I
don't even know. I did truly stop watching. I mean I stopped watching,
I stopped supporting, I stopped giving money. I was at breakfast with
a kid from church on Sunday and he was like telling me all about the
Cards. He's a huge fan, and I couldn't even couldn't even pretend to
be part of the conversation because I have no idea what's going on, so
what I wouldn't need. No, I'm saying like, oh, you know,
and he and I used to like have really fun conversations. I did
give him like this awesome vintage cards jacket this year that is so cool.
But anyway, my point being, what I need is something I will never
get. What I need is an apology, and they're never going to apologize.
So it's done. And I'm really sure it was from Daniel in Perryville
Misery. Good question, Daniel, anyway, I don't judge other people for
continuing to love baseball. I wish I could get over this. I don't
even I mean, I truly wish I wasn't so constrained. And I've had
very high profile individuals who are baseball fans try to get me back on the
wagon. So I don't want to say like never, but they just it's
like if your spouse cheats on you, you've just kind of lost something,
you know, And that's kind of how I feel like. I just feel
like they cheated on me and they hate me, and they haven't really done
a good job of doing anything dramatic to get me back, and I know
they don't care about me at all, you know. So sorry that was
a way too long answer. No, it was good. Here's a complaint,
Gosh, I didn't write the name day. I wish that you and
David would embrace the true diversity of your devoted audience. I have at the
slightest idea, who any of these obscure rock and roll musicians are. Would
you please attend a concert at the Kennedy Center we're met and give us a
full report. You need to palent cleanse after all the discussion of popular music.
Now I have to say, I feel like the music we took about
isn't very obscure most of the time at all. I mean, last episode
we were talking about Leonard Cohen, and we've spoken about like New Order.
I mean, those are like massive bands. I try to keep I like
obscure music a lot, and I try to keep that off the show anyway.
I guess it's more of a defense for me. I just to say
that the last time I went to the Kennedy Center I heard Sue f Sufjan
Stevens. That was great. I was pregnant with my oldest And then the
time before that was when my husband proposed to me at the Kennedy Line.
Oh really, that's that's exciting. I need to go back there. That
would be fun. It just seems like so expensive. I did see an
opera up at gosh, what's that place where Salmon rushed he was stabbed?
Wow? Was that in New York somewhere? It's yeah, I don't remember,
come on, hold on, hold on pause. It the Chautauqua Institution
in New York. I was speaking up there two summers ago, and I
got to see an opera and I was like, Oh, I do like
opera. I should go to this more. But then I looked into tickets
and it's so expensive. So we'll do our best, dear listener. But
I mean, we've spoken about Bach, we've Isn't that more obscure? Is
an opera these days more obscure? Yes? I can promise you that an
opera is more sure than most of the musicians we talk about. But we
do have a diverse crowd. We have to do what they ask. So
I have two questions I think they're related here. One of them is from
David and Bentley, Louisiana. He mentions that President reaganet had repeatedly said liberty
was never more than one generation away from extinction. He is basically saying that
it's the younger generation that has finally succumbed basically to the I would say the
educational systems kind of propaganda and leftist bent and he mentions the Hamas protests and
so on. So essentially he's asking, do you think that basically there's any
redemption, Is there any way out of this, or is it just that
we're lost because of younger people in our society who have been brainwashed? What
do you think? I think that it is a huge problem there, maybe
not as big as we think, because I have seen polling of young people,
and even most young people in college, for instance, do not agree
with the protesters and are generally pro Israel or not that that's the only topic
we're talking about. I do think it's a can't I do think higher ed
is a cancer on this country in the sense that they have been completely taken
over or most of the most of our lead institute learning institutions have been taken
over by the hard left. I'm not even talking about people who are like
you know, I don't know, who have sort of center left opinions like
when I was younger, But I'm talking about basically communists. And it's not
like there's some weirdo now teaching at this school or that school. They literally
run the place in many many of these institutions, and that is a serious
problem. Not because most people with young people are affected by that, but
that a lot of the young people end up at the state's apartment, who
end up teaching again, who end up in media, are you know,
have that kind of point of view and those people are in a sense running
the country and that is incredibly dangerous. How about you. I don't know
the answer to these questions. I think their interests. I do think things
could get very bad, very quickly, and it could be over. I
also think that you have to just fight and stay nimble and look for opportunities
to improve things. So if I can, sorry, I'm like all over
the place on this, but I'm reminded of something Charles Kroudhammer said to me
during like twenty sixteen, where he was saying that for years he'd been saying,
like how bad the situation was getting in the country, but it always
seemed to be fine, and he was wondering if maybe he had overestimated the
serious nature of the problems. And this was partly a conversation really about Trump
and support for Trump, which he opposed, but he was always very open
minded and looking for explanations about why people were supportive of him. But he
was thinking, like maybe the breakdown in the country that he had been predicting
was happening, and that the loss of support for institutions and the you know
sort of like change in character of the country, that that really was happening.
And so I think sometimes it's such a slow decline usually that you can
kind of you kind of cope and think like, oh, it's not so
bad. It's pretty bad. Right now, we've got open embrace of all
sorts of bad things, whether it's you know, killing of children, mutilation
of children, complete rejection of the constitutional order, a completely unaccountable bureaucracy,
like an embraceive tyranny that you would have hoped never would have happened in this
country. But also things can change, Things can change, so you could
see an you know, sometimes something else bad will happen, but it will
result in a clarified thinking. You know, so an outside threat or you
know, other countries that are experiencing turmoil might provide some focus to us too.
I don't know. My point is being you fight and fight and fight,
and you look for opportunities. So even though it's dark, and on
that point too, I would just say, as bad as progressive education is,
the progressive education model what's happening in government schools. There has been an
absolute revolution in classical learning. That's happening in you know, church schools,
secular schools, homeschools. Like there's there's a nice contingent of people who are
actually getting a good education and who are giving getting the skills to withstand the
peer pressure of their of their generation. So that makes me a bit optimistic
too. Yeah, I would say that people think that there's historicism, like
there's a trajectory of history and it happens. I would say that just think
about events like nine to eleven. You know, I'm not saying everything changed
for the better, but everything changed and our politics changed, and so that
happens all the time. There's no inevitability in anything. But that said,
it's like you were saying, how things kind of start corroding and then you
know, it gets worse slowly. But I think there's also like things that
happen that accelerate the process. And I've noticed that since the Trump presidency.
I think that process not because of Donald Trump, so that's part of it.
In a way, things have accelerated. Like I just if you ask
a normal aggressive now I think they hate this country. I think they think
where that we are the evil in this country. And that's always been a
position of like the Chomsky college student, but now it is like a position
of people on CNN, on the Washington Post editorial board, and it gets
worse and worse. And if you ask them, is the Constitution generally a
good thing to follow in this and that I don't think they would like.
I don't think they like those ideas. You know, you'd always be like
people talk about Nash I'm all over the place, but people talk about nationalism,
and everyone's like, well, America isn't the same. It's not an
ethnicity. It's an idea that we all have to accept. I actually believe
in that, but they don't believe in that idea anymore. So then what
do we have. We just have a bunch of people here who don't have
a shared understanding of our history or shared understanding of the things that we stand
for. And we're there now. I think we're there now. I think
it's a huge problem and I don't know how it's going to end, but
I am concerned, all right. So that was fun for this uplifting episode.
So this person asks, I'm just going to just so this person also
asks or another person, I'm sorry, what are their places? Like?
Ivy League schools are lost, even a lot of state schools are lost.
Where should can a person send their kids? And do they need a degree
for everything that they're interested in the society? Obviously, I think you'd say
Hillsdale is a place where one can go to avoid that sort of thing,
right. I feel like you might be better at speaking to this because your
kids are older, and so we're just kind of starting this whole process.
I do think Hillsdale is a good choice for many people. It's also a
very competitive, very small school, so most people who want to go there,
like the vast majority of people who want to go there, aren't going
to get in, so there have to be other options. I do like
the core curriculum that we provide at Hillsdale. I think it gives you great
a great basis from which to do whatever you want to do, you know,
whether that's math or sciences or humanities whatever. Like, it's a great
broad education that will serve you well. So I'd be looking for schools that
do something along those lines. But I have nieces, you know who are
I am a niece who's on a full ride engineering scholarship. I don't think
it really. I think she's been you know, she's at a large state
school that has served her well, and she's not really embroiled in any of
the silliness there. So each kid matters each school. Listen again, I'm
going to say that I don't I'm not handling this this advice for whatever you
want, but I would there are very few schools I would trust with my
kids they were on some kind of social science, you know. But STEM
degrees I think are different. Even though even there this stuff has kind of
seeped in in many ways. But I think if you're going to school for
something that's serious, like a STEM degree or what And I'm not saying other
things aren't serious, but I think you need school obviously for anything math or
science or that kind of thing. As far as like do I need degrees
for things you're interested in? I mean, like journalism. I don't think
that anyone should get a journalism degree. That's a two year trade school at
best and an internship, you know though, you know, I mean you
need to learn how to write, you have to be you know, there
are certain things you need to learn for journalism, but a lot of it's
common sense and hard work. So, you know, I wish we didn't
cheat these kids and parents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars because of government
moral you know, hazard that they've created with these the loan racket. It's
sending kids to school to do those sorts of things. That's just my view.
I'm sure there are good schools that have good social science programs as well,
but not the Ivy League ones. What is the one essential book that
you've written that people need to immediately purchase on Amazon or Barnes and Noble,
et cetera, et cetera. I've only written two, all right, Which
one would do you think that if people had to? Well, I don't
know. Both your books are kind of important. I don't know how about
you answer both. I've written a few books, and if I the one
I had the most fun writing and I think is the best other than the
one I'm working on now, I would say is my gun book First Freedom.
It's a history book, and I think that people had the wrong impression
of it when it came out and thought it was just going to be another
political book about guns, not there's anything wrong with political books about guns,
but it's really more of a cultural history of why guns are important to Americans.
I did a lot of research for that book, and I'm very proud
of that book. Proud of most of my books, except for one,
which I think was hacked up, but I'm not going to get into that
now. But got that book. I think if you're going to read anything
by me, it would be the one to read if you're interested in that
topic. Does the Federalist offer to words? Then I wanted to give ah,
Oh my god, I've always said mention something. Sorry. I yeah.
So my first book I did with Carrie Severino, who is awesome,
truly one of America's great people. Justice on Trial, the Kavanaugh Confirmation,
in the Future of the Supreme Court. It is about Kavanaugh, and I
love what we put in there about Kavanaugh, but it's also about the Supreme
Court and why its composition matters, and how nominations have gone in the past,
even like how Republicans failed for so many years prior to Trump to uphold
the promises they made their voters. And it's just I liked that book.
I like how it turned out. I liked how it was edited and all
that. And then the other one, which I did not have so much
fun writing, but which ended up selling even more, which I think I
hear more from people about, was rigged, how the media, big tech
and Democrats seized our elections, and so it looks at election stuff, and
I wrote it because I needed to know what was going on after the twenty
twenty election. And there's nothing in there that's not substantiated. You know.
It's not like, oh, this could have happened or that could have happened.
It's all about like what actually happened, what money went into it,
how it was orchestrated, how it played out in different states. And I
think it was helpful to a lot of people to see what was done to
take over our elections, you know, and how important it is to know
what's going on so you can fight it. And so I think that even
though I really preferred the first one, in many ways, I think that
one might be more important for our current moment. I don't know what.
Let me add to this. I would say that the reason I loved writing
first rooms because I was learning as I wrote, and I think that that
is the most fun way to write. But so I want to say Justice
on Trial. Both of your books are great, obviously, but Justice on
Trial was an incredible piece of journalism in a way that in history, that
gave you such good context as to what's going on in the courts. And
you know, I think even today, if you're just watching the delegitimization of
a court by the left, you read that book and you understand the roots
of that, and it is just, you know, one of my favorite
political books. I want to say, so kudos to you. What's I
don't know the quite what's the longest you could reasonably go without checking your phone?
Well, I have to say last week I kind of like shut off
my phone for days basically and just to like, it's just I can't.
I'm not going to say I'm overwhelmed, but I was kind of just sick
of everything already, and sometimes you just need that break. So I would
say, you know, twenty four hours. It's a bad question. I
don't I'm angry at the question. It's a great question, but it indicts
me as a person, like I don't think I could go very long without
it. Sometimes I tell my husband that I want to get a dumb phone,
and he reminds me that I do my entire life on my phone and
that I would not be able to continue, you know, doing what I
do if I didn't have the phone there. And one thing I like about
it is that it does enable me to be with my children. Like I
can go to a game or something and then just like in the parking lot
before I go in, make sure there's nothing that I have to address or
like when it's done, you know. And so it does enable me to
do a lot with my family that I like. But I kind of wish
I could check it, And probably the answer is on the weekends when I
don't actually check it for most of time. I mean, you're a mom
with kids at home, so you have to like be you know, available,
right and also you know you're running. You're the editor in chief of
the Federalist dot com, so you need to be there too. This is
a complaint. Sometimes when you're samantling the left's latest severe to alarming excesses,
one or both of you will say, quote, it's insane, and I
will think, no, it's not. Some of these voters may be crazy,
but the leaders know exactly what they're doing. They're depraved, monstrous,
demonic, but insane. No, we have to stuff using insane. I
think I think it was I think I was in a meeting with Chris Bedford
and some senators. I think he was the one who made this point,
like there's nothing insane about what they're doing. It's very strategic. And I
do agree that we shouldn't call it insane when they are just like really wielding
their power smartly. But it just feels so crazy. I disagree. I
think when you sometimes have you did you see some of those protesters being interviewed
or whatever? I mean, I think there are a lot of people who
are a bit insane. I guess. I guess it's hyperbole to some extent,
but you know what I'm saying, Like, I think they're true.
There are true beliers out there who are just unhinged. I get unhinged maybe
a better word. All Right, I think this will be our last question
before we call it a day, before we call it a podcast. It's
from Brianna. What is a dream podcast guest for you? Like, if
you can interview anyone like, let me even expand it and say anyone in
history or and then anyone living. Is that too much to put you on
the spot with In the universe of things that have existed, this definitely puts
me on the spot. So can you tell me what your answer is while
I think of one I have. I'll preface this again by saying that I
have actually met a lot of the people who were my heroes when I was
younger who influenced me, and I have to say most of those meetings were
not as fulfilling as I expected. I think a lot of people who I
met, who I liked a lot, were not as fun to be around.
If I could interview anyone, I mean, this is weird, and
it's not because I am like a worship him or anything, but I would
love to like speak to Ronald Reagan, you know. I think that'd be
a really good one and weirdly to kind of dispel a lot of myths about
him, you know, both the you know, both the the worshipful myths,
but also some of the other myths. So that's just one that popped
into my head. Obviously historically speaking, you know, I'd love to talk
to like Alexander Hamilton or something living I don't really know. I mean,
if we're going through history, you're gonna say, Jesus, aren't you?
I was thinking Moses. Moses would be I mean, King David. His
story is insane, right sat Ron. Sometimes I get excited about thinking about
in heaven you get to talk to these people, which just let's still questions,
that's full of active living. I don't know I would probably so I'm
not very good at asking questions in an interview context. It mostly works when
I really when I feel like either slightly antagonistic towards someone, you know,
so like a Hillary Clinton might be a good interview where I could kind of
ask her about the Russia collusion hoax that would be interesting to me, or
other people who like had to kind of sit there and answer questions or you
know that type of thing that's interesting. Totally cheesy. But what I love
about this podcast is that I frequently forget that I am recording a podcast.
I always feel like it's just like I get to talk to you. And
that's my idea of a good podcast, when it's less about like we're going
to tackle this such and such, and it's more like, hey, what
did you think about this or that? And I that's what I value.
So you know what my answer is cheesy as it is, David Harseli,
and you say Molly having yeah, no, no, you say thank you.
I was gonna oh thank you. See I kind of like sarcastic about
it. Yeah, I don't, I do, I do? I do?
I mean, listen, we got tons of mail and a lot of
It's like, Molly's my favorite person on Earth. I get to interview Molly
every week, ask whatever I want. Can it really is cheesy? We
better stump? Yeah. I guess I could have come up with some musicians
or something. I think that would be more interesting than political people, right,
who are usually pretty boring and have stock answers to everything you know.
No, I think that while musicians are wonderful, creative geniuses, I also
wonder if if they would be really boring to interview that's interesting, they probably
would be. I have to say, I'm listening to this podcast now that
has very famous actors on all the time, and I'm kind of taken aback
by how like listen, I never had very high opinion of actors, but
a lot of them are quite boring and not very intelligent. Anyway, of
course, we have to end the end the podcast by insulting people. But
that was a very enlightening and interesting conversation. We'll be back next week,
and I hope everyone will as well. Until then, be lovers of freedom and