1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,480 I told him I was gonna wear a bow tie. It's like a silent 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,440 solidarity. And then he said, yeah, great, and then he texted 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:11,800 me said, don't actually, don't ask not what your country can do for 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:18,800 you, ask what you can do for your country. Mister gerbutschaf tear down 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:29,239 this wall. Read my lifts. It's the Ricochet Podcast with Peter Robinson and 6 00:00:29,399 --> 00:00:32,640 Rob Long. I'm James Lilacson. Today we talked to Kevin Williamson about how 7 00:00:32,679 --> 00:00:36,039 everything's really better than you think, and Andrew Goodman, who's running for Congress. 8 00:00:36,079 --> 00:00:40,000 So let's have ourselves a podcasting. Towns that have been forgotten and left 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000 behind, were dead are coming alive again because of you all what we're doing 10 00:00:44,719 --> 00:00:49,479 now. I've just got to keep it going, finish the job. Believe 11 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:55,359 me, you'll never get bored with when we never get bored. Welcome everybody. 12 00:00:55,399 --> 00:00:58,679 This is the Ricoche Podcast, Episode number six hundred and thirty nine. 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:00,479 Wow, don't we get that far? Well? Why don't you join us 14 00:01:00,479 --> 00:01:03,519 at rickechtet dot com and see exactly what the whole enterprise is all about? 15 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,319 And you too can be part of the most stimulating conversations and community on the 16 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,519 web. I'm James Leix, back after a two week hiatus spent elsewhere, 17 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:15,159 which we'll talk about it at the end of the show, but nobody cares. 18 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,359 I wouldn't. Well, no, actually I would. Maybe I'll make 19 00:01:18,439 --> 00:01:19,599 up a whole bunch of stuff and make it sound really fast. I was 20 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,920 abroad, as rob said last week, and apparently this caused people on Twitter 21 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:29,519 to indicate that I'd had gender affirming surgery. Minnesota being the haven for that 22 00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:34,680 that it is joined by Peter Robinson and Rob Long. Gentleman. Biden has 23 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:40,040 announced his reelection, and you gotta love this, uh, this statement, 24 00:01:40,159 --> 00:01:44,319 this new phrase, Let's finish the job, because apparently it's gonna take eight 25 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:49,000 years to fundamentally transform America. What is the job exactly? I look that 26 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,400 base because it sounds like the country's not dead yet. Let's finish the job, 27 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,680 you know, Let's let's reach for the pillow, let's squeeze the IV 28 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:05,879 drip or whatever it is is. Let's finish this. Um. I'm surprised 29 00:02:05,879 --> 00:02:07,080 that he lined up that many. I mean, you know, he's he 30 00:02:07,159 --> 00:02:12,759 seems to be doing a pretty good job in the Democratic Party of getting reluctant 31 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,960 endorsements, or maybe even enthusiastic endorsements, because it helps to have Kamalay Harris 32 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,439 as your running mate. Anything her. Are you senting a Kennedy ground swell 33 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:30,840 here? That may that may derail Biden's efforts to have to remember two, 34 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:37,240 Robert Kennedy Junior is at nineteen percent in New Hampshire, I believe, And 35 00:02:37,319 --> 00:02:40,520 there's some doubt now about whether Biden will even contest. It's all kind of 36 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:46,919 a mess. But what's clear is that nobody really wants Biden, but the 37 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,199 Democratic Party has convinced it's actually, that's not quite true. Let's finish the 38 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,439 job is to the rest of America, as rob just demonstrated, a preposterous 39 00:02:55,719 --> 00:03:00,520 campaign slogan, but it's they seem to have decided to aim at the left 40 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:05,639 of the Democratic Party because what they think is, you know what, Biden 41 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,360 may simply be sleepwalking through life. But the people, however it gets done, 42 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,599 maybe it's Chuck Schumer, maybe it's AOC in the However it gets done, 43 00:03:15,439 --> 00:03:22,560 the progressive agenda is advancing, and let's finish the job is directed at 44 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:28,560 them. They seem to have decided that this guy weekend at Bernie's else sid 45 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,560 is my favorite comparison now that the legend of Alfide Great, the great Spanish 46 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,439 leader, who was so great that they propped him up in the saddle after 47 00:03:37,479 --> 00:03:40,800 he had died and still followed him into battle against the moors. That seems 48 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:45,639 to be what's going on here. But for the rest of the country, 49 00:03:45,639 --> 00:03:50,400 this is just nobody. Nobody wants this. Nobody wants Trump either. As 50 00:03:50,439 --> 00:03:54,879 far as I can that's not true. There's a kind of corresponding Trump no 51 00:03:54,960 --> 00:04:03,719 matter what group in the on the right that reflects the progressive left. But 52 00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:10,960 for ordinary Americans and there's still a majority, this is just bizarre. That's 53 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,960 all I've got. It's just bizarre. It's surreal. It's surreal. Yeah, 54 00:04:15,039 --> 00:04:17,199 well, I mean sort of like I mean the definition of running on 55 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,399 fumes, right, I mean, the way it's supposed to go is that 56 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,680 there's a bunch of people in line who were, you know, could could 57 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,560 be contenders for the big job, and they're being told by the party elders, 58 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,319 hey, hey, hey, you wait your turn, You wait your 59 00:04:34,319 --> 00:04:38,800 turn, you wait your turn, And there's a clamoring in the young lion 60 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:42,560 guts and just either guts the old lion at the in the primaries, or 61 00:04:43,079 --> 00:04:46,600 UM sits there in glowers it hurts the whatever like that. This is how 62 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,079 it works in both parties. I would have a hard time thinking about who 63 00:04:49,079 --> 00:04:55,160 are the young lions in the Democratic Party? The Democratic Party? Who are 64 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,920 the young who are the people in the Democratic Party? You're the own boy 65 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,639 four years? My god, that's gonna Who are those people who are in 66 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:06,000 UM? You know, the equivalent of Bill Clinton in nineteen ninety who thought, 67 00:05:06,079 --> 00:05:11,240 you know what, this is my time? And you know, the 68 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,759 Clinton campaign in ninety two is actually one of the best political campaigns ever. 69 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:20,319 It was unbelievably smart and disciplined and managed to do a thing that was very 70 00:05:20,319 --> 00:05:28,040 difficult to do at the time. And I feel like that's the I would 71 00:05:28,079 --> 00:05:30,480 say this all the time about Democrats, like the The solution for Democrats is 72 00:05:30,519 --> 00:05:38,319 so easy. Find yourself some southern moderate Democrats, make them governor of southern 73 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,480 states, which you can do even more so, even more possible now than 74 00:05:41,519 --> 00:05:45,680 once before. And then those people will run for president and they will win. 75 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,160 That's kind of how it works. But they don't. They don't want 76 00:05:47,199 --> 00:05:49,759 it. Used to it used to before the party got moved more to the 77 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:54,160 least right. See I mean, nowadays they're there are positions that they would 78 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,800 have to take that are absolutely, you know, antithetical to the wishes of 79 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:02,480 the modern democratic part pooh bas. I mean, if you're gonna if you're 80 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,360 gonna run in the South and and win in the South, you've got to 81 00:06:04,399 --> 00:06:08,759 be a little bit or pretend to be conservative on some social social issues. 82 00:06:08,759 --> 00:06:11,839 And that's a lot harder today than it used to be. Now you have 83 00:06:11,879 --> 00:06:16,000 to embrace a panoply of things which are not just liberal versions of contentious issues, 84 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,240 but redefinitions of the way that they of the way society is ordered, 85 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:23,879 the way people think about things. So it's you know, may work the 86 00:06:23,959 --> 00:06:28,439 ninety two but not now. I remember ninety two when Gore was put up 87 00:06:28,439 --> 00:06:31,160 as the vice president, they called the ticket the double Bubba if you remember 88 00:06:31,199 --> 00:06:34,000 that, making a reference to a kind of gum, as though al Gore 89 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:40,240 himself had had any bubba esque characteristics. Those days are gone. I can 90 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:45,040 name two members of the Democratic bench and they fit exactly the profile that Rob 91 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,560 just outlined governors of southern states. One is John, but I'm not sure 92 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:54,360 I can pronounce John Bell b E. L. John Bell Edwards is the 93 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,399 governor of Louisiana. Why does the rest of the Democratic Party ignore this man 94 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,560 who wins elections in Louisiana can somehow or other satisfy the Democratic establishment, the 95 00:07:03,639 --> 00:07:12,639 liberals and the upstate Conservative Democrats. John Bell Edwards's pro life, so they 96 00:07:12,759 --> 00:07:15,079 rule him out. Okay, there's another one. He's too young, but 97 00:07:15,319 --> 00:07:21,879 keep an eye on him. Was more Westley Moore forty four years old now 98 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:28,680 in his what third or fourth month as governor of Maryland. African American graduate 99 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:35,480 of Oxford JOHNS. Hopkins Valley Forge Military Academy. Very impressive guy a little 100 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:40,319 but they're the point I'm trying to make is they are there. The system 101 00:07:40,399 --> 00:07:45,519 does, even on the Democratic side, the system does work. Maybe a 102 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,360 little too slowly for them this time around. But Gavin K. Newsom would 103 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:54,560 be a better candidate than Joe Biden. Gavin Newson would be honest about honest 104 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,160 maybe the wrong word to use, but you'd have a real debate. There 105 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:01,360 would be a straightforward progressive agenda with somebody who has the energy and smarts to 106 00:08:01,399 --> 00:08:05,879 pursue it. That's what I want. I want to clean debate, an 107 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:11,240 election that's a real choice. I mean, one of the problems we're going 108 00:08:11,279 --> 00:08:16,199 to find is that the press is going to be even more enraging as it 109 00:08:16,279 --> 00:08:24,439 covers for Biden's increasingly disassociated state. Right so, you know, he's you 110 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,279 know, he only has a couple press conference. I remember when when when 111 00:08:28,319 --> 00:08:30,959 when if a president, if a Republican president, didn't have a press conference 112 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,559 once a week, they would talk about how why he was hiding that. 113 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,279 If you go with you Lexus Nexus headlines, the president seems to be hiding 114 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:43,360 from press. It's all Republicans who he's only had a press conference in up 115 00:08:43,399 --> 00:08:46,879 the past month. Biden doesn't have them, and when he has them, 116 00:08:46,039 --> 00:08:52,600 the questions are already prepared and his answers are already prepared. So which is 117 00:08:52,639 --> 00:08:54,720 an interesting little thing. We've been told this happens all the time, has 118 00:08:54,759 --> 00:08:58,000 been going on for quite some times. If that makes it better. The 119 00:08:58,039 --> 00:09:01,840 president photographed with a piece of pay or in his hand, with the reporter's 120 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,440 picture, how to pronounce the name and what they're going to ask? As 121 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:09,080 if the idea that you could spontaneously ask Joe Biden a question out of the 122 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:15,960 blue about anything within his purview and he would be. It's it's alarming, 123 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,840 to say the least, and those tend to reinforce the narrative that perhaps the 124 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:24,519 fellow at the top is not at the top of his game. I'd like 125 00:09:24,879 --> 00:09:28,960 to think that we have a guy that could just go out there and answer 126 00:09:28,039 --> 00:09:31,799 these things without cheap role notes like this, and do so in a way 127 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,360 that wasn't just a total word cell that makes you win, says, we're 128 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:41,039 kind of used to right, right, and we have one. But unfortunately 129 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:46,320 he's his oxygen as being constricted at the moment by that other fellow. So 130 00:09:46,399 --> 00:09:50,639 yeah, we're going into an election with octogenarians, with old men born in 131 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:56,000 the forties, I think, which is not a sign of robust vigor, 132 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,440 health and new spirits in the American public of ours. Hey, I interrupt 133 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,879 button. We'll be back right after this message. When it comes to cast 134 00:10:05,879 --> 00:10:09,679 to getting the American Republic, though, there's a there's there's nobody like our 135 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:13,600 friend Kevin Williamson, and we're going to have him on now. Kevin the 136 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:16,559 national correspondent for The Dispatch, writes the weekly Wonderland news letter, and he's 137 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,000 penn more than a half dozen books, most recently Big white ghetto and the 138 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,879 smallest minority. Kevin, welcome back. Hey, what's up? Hey? 139 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,919 You know it's been a long time. Um, you know, I was 140 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,159 just thinking back the other day. You made half of America hate you with 141 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,840 the statement about the death penalty for bors, and you made the other half 142 00:10:35,879 --> 00:10:39,120 hate you with the thing about getting you all and get out of your town. 143 00:10:39,159 --> 00:10:41,679 It's been a while since we've had a really broad, polarizing comment from 144 00:10:41,759 --> 00:10:48,080 Kevin Williamson around the same there's only two halves. Yeah, I know the 145 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:54,559 halves all right. So you were talking about Biden and his place in history 146 00:10:54,919 --> 00:10:58,440 just a minute ago. I was listening in and over the Dispatch. We 147 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,639 have a book club we do with our readers, and we just did uh 148 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:05,200 Bill Bryson's book on nineteen twenty seven. And if I'm remembering my math here, 149 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,120 Um, Calvin Coolidge had only been out of office thirteen years when Joe 150 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:16,039 Biden was born. Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. Yeah, I 151 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:22,840 think forty four one stars and bars. Oh my. So, um, 152 00:11:22,879 --> 00:11:28,919 we're we're we're closer in history, or we're we're further away in history from 153 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:33,840 nine to eleven than he was from the presidency. Of Warren Harding. Wow. 154 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,360 Wow, that doesn't say what you need to say, isn't that? 155 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:41,279 In some way? I mean, I guess the coole my course is like, 156 00:11:43,399 --> 00:11:48,799 as a conservative, a sort of out of it president who's only kind 157 00:11:48,799 --> 00:11:54,799 of doing stuff for about five hours a day is an ideal president in many 158 00:11:54,799 --> 00:11:56,759 ways, as as long as nothing happens, as long as they don't do 159 00:11:56,799 --> 00:12:00,840 anything, as long as they have no agenda as is, they're just gonna 160 00:12:00,919 --> 00:12:03,159 kind of we're for gridlocking it. Silent cow just kind of silent cow it 161 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,960 out right. Yeah, you know, I've got a got a piece in 162 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,240 the New York Post on Sunday that kind of kind of makes that that argument 163 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,960 that Biden's, you know, his best thing to do right now would be 164 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:18,600 to follow his instincts and take a nap and sort of, you know, 165 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:22,440 stay stay out of things, because you know, Biden has sort of two 166 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,960 two value propositions, right one that he was the return to normal guy after 167 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Trump and all the Trump craziness, and that didn't really work out because, 168 00:12:31,799 --> 00:12:33,559 believe it or not, Trump isn't the prime source of all the craziness in 169 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:37,200 our politics. He's, uh, he's more of a symptom of it than 170 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:41,000 a cause of it. You know, the sort of crazy angry partisanship and 171 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,440 social media driven tribalism and all that stuff was never was never going to go 172 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,080 away, so we don't have you know, return to kind of quiet and 173 00:12:48,279 --> 00:12:52,639 comedy and all that stuff. The second um, you know, possible value 174 00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:56,159 proposition from from Biden was that if not the president himself, then at least 175 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:03,159 members of his administration would be basically competent and that we could expect you know, 176 00:13:03,279 --> 00:13:07,080 some sort of certainly left of center democratic but kind of you know, 177 00:13:07,159 --> 00:13:11,799 reasonably competent, moderate ish, you know, steady hand on the tiller kind 178 00:13:11,879 --> 00:13:16,600 of performance from them. And you know, with GDP growth at one point 179 00:13:16,639 --> 00:13:20,679 one percent and real wage is still lower than they were on the day he 180 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,200 was elected president, and inflation running where it is. You know, we're 181 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,240 going into the season when people are gonna be taking summer vacations and what not, 182 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:33,519 with you know, airfares up ten percent over where they were before the 183 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:37,720 pandemic, hotel rooms up twenty percent, carbonal fees up fifty percent. That 184 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,600 sort of thing, um people are going to fairly or not. And I 185 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,960 think it's silly how much we associate the president with the economy. I know, 186 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,960 I've written and talked about this a lot. Every time to bring it 187 00:13:46,039 --> 00:13:50,399 up, I have to just reinstate it that it's it's pure superstition to think 188 00:13:50,399 --> 00:13:54,519 that the overall performance of something is complex as the US economy really depends on 189 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,240 the character of the person in the White House. But that's the kind of 190 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,480 you know, game he set up for himself and the way he's invited himself 191 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,840 to be judged, and I don't think that he's going to come up particularly 192 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,559 well in that judgment, which means that his you know, his best hope 193 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,799 is to get Trump or a Trump lat candidate against him in the general election 194 00:14:13,919 --> 00:14:18,519 so that it can be another episode in you know, hysteria and negative partisanship. 195 00:14:18,919 --> 00:14:24,720 But the president can dampen rude animal spirits. The president can set the 196 00:14:24,759 --> 00:14:28,159 tone for energy policy, the president can set the tone for a novel lot 197 00:14:28,159 --> 00:14:33,120 of things that do actually affect the way the economy is so and Biden certainly 198 00:14:33,159 --> 00:14:35,679 makes some mistakes on that front, particularly on the energy front, which is 199 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,639 really really entertaining. You know, we talk about infrastructure, but the actual 200 00:14:39,679 --> 00:14:43,919 infrastructure the country needs to build is things like fuel pipelines. You know, 201 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:48,279 I live in I live in Dallas, which a couple of years ago, 202 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,480 you couldn't buy gasoline in Dallas for a while because we had a big flood 203 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,399 down in Houston and it knocked out the one pipeline that really connects gasoline supplies 204 00:14:56,919 --> 00:15:01,240 from the refiner he's down there to the rest of the state and throughout the 205 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:05,440 rest of the country. And when you've got that multi vulnerability in a place 206 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,320 like Texas, um, you know, when you're within driving distance of where 207 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:13,759 they actually make the gasoline, suggests that we've got some fragility in the system 208 00:15:13,759 --> 00:15:18,440 that needs to be worked out through additional investments. But um, but gases 209 00:15:18,519 --> 00:15:24,840 yesterday, we're talking about when they talk about infrastructure. But fossil fuels are 210 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,639 yesterday. And you know, and and Biden, who probably would have scoffed 211 00:15:28,639 --> 00:15:31,919 at the idea of getting off of fossil fuels twenty thirty years ago because the 212 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:35,919 overwhelming majority of people thought it was ridiculous ideas now, of course just going 213 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,759 to sit back and think of England and let it happen, because the geist 214 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,320 of his party is demanding that we all get off of fossil fuels by twenty 215 00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:46,080 thirty. The Pentagon, I believe, had some note that they were going 216 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,399 to go to all electric vehicles domestically by twenty would it possible? According to 217 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,039 Kevin Georgia. According to Kevin, Biden is closer to being a fossil fuels 218 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,559 himself than he is to the presidency of Warren Harding. Um. Okay, 219 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:03,320 So your recent piece, which I read, I loved m as I love 220 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:07,279 everything right, but this one, Um, I have a question about it. 221 00:16:07,279 --> 00:16:14,159 So you you essentially are saying Americans are just wrong about the economy that 222 00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:19,039 we are. We are deluding ourselves into thinking that things are bad when things 223 00:16:19,039 --> 00:16:22,279 have never been better. Well, I would say things have never been better. 224 00:16:22,679 --> 00:16:27,360 But if you compare the way the United States economy got through COVID and 225 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,879 the post COVID period, even with a lot of you know, bad decision 226 00:16:30,919 --> 00:16:37,240 making to Washington, some some fairly bad policy about continuing emergency spending, especially 227 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,240 which has been a bad idea. It's really contributed to you inflation and some 228 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,440 other disruption. Yeah, we've done We've done pretty well. If you look 229 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:51,519 at things like growth and productivity, it's been solid. There's a sort of 230 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,080 myth we have that there was some great economic decline in the post war era 231 00:16:56,159 --> 00:17:00,159 in the United States, which just really simply the case. If you look 232 00:17:00,159 --> 00:17:03,839 at you know, US share of world GDP, it's about you know, 233 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,839 a quarter right now, which is where it was back in the nineteen nineties. 234 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,680 It's been higher and lower at various times. If you look at our 235 00:17:11,759 --> 00:17:19,039 you know, productivity growth, if you look at the long term trend in 236 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:25,799 things like you know, wages and consumer purchasing power and even inflation, even 237 00:17:25,799 --> 00:17:29,279 with the recent troubles with inflation, you know, we've had really pretty solid 238 00:17:29,279 --> 00:17:33,039 performance for a long long time, and that's continued under presidencies and congresses of 239 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:37,880 different parties, sometimes with the radically different economic priorities. You know, we've 240 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:45,359 got just a really wonderfully, amazingly productive and resilient economy, which contributes to 241 00:17:45,559 --> 00:17:48,960 having a productive and resilient society. And this kind of you know, bitching 242 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,079 and moaning and woe is us, and man, wouldn't it be great if 243 00:17:52,079 --> 00:17:55,799 it was nineteen fifty two and we could all go work in a tire factory 244 00:17:55,839 --> 00:18:00,920 again sort of stuff. It's just nonsense. You can have a nineteen fifty 245 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,200 standard of living if you want one right now on what you would make working 246 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,039 at seven to eleven. But nobody wants a nineteen fifty standard of living. 247 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:14,640 What they want is this illusion of you know, some kind of utopian post 248 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:19,119 war manufacturing and industrial golden age that wasn't all that great for the people who 249 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,839 actually lived in it. You know. I remember my my, my grandfather 250 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,200 worked for Phillips Petroleum, which was, you know, at the time, 251 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,000 considered a pretty good job. And he lived in Phillips, Texas, which 252 00:18:29,079 --> 00:18:32,480 was a Phillips company town, and you know, lived in a house that 253 00:18:32,559 --> 00:18:36,039 was probably eight hundred square feet something like that, you know, air conditioning, 254 00:18:36,079 --> 00:18:38,759 that sort of thing, and and that was you know, kind of 255 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:45,640 that was the steady, kind of middle class manufacturing, industrial lifestyle. And 256 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,359 to a man who probably lived through the Depression, that was pretty good. 257 00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:52,920 That was okay. Oh yeah, he was a girl during the depression. 258 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,839 Yeah, and you know nobody wants that. You know, these kids coming 259 00:18:56,839 --> 00:19:00,480 out of college right now saying, you know, our grandparents, nati is 260 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,920 so good or our great grandparents, Oh go try it. Yeah, So, 261 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,039 Kevin, where does the bitching and moaning. Let me frame it did 262 00:19:07,039 --> 00:19:10,079 a little different way. Here's what you'll hear over and over and over again. 263 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,319 One reason that kids are marrying later, One reason that the birth rate 264 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:21,119 is down is that you can't afford to raise a family on a single income 265 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:27,720 anymore. But that is that has to be in some basic way simply untrue. 266 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:34,440 Standards of living have continued to rise, and have risen dramatically from the 267 00:19:34,519 --> 00:19:40,319 late fifties early sixties, when I still have childhood memories of my mother having 268 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:45,400 to wash cloth diapers because nobody had invented disposable I mean, clearly, at 269 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,680 the point you make we live better now than we did, then where does 270 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,079 the bitching and moaning come from? Yeah, well, let me have preface 271 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,799 this by saying this, the forthcoming lecture on why people should get married younger 272 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,279 and start families is coming to you from a fifty year old man with a 273 00:20:00,319 --> 00:20:03,079 newborn baby. Yeah well, we want to get to that. I want 274 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:07,519 to hear. If anything would mellow Kevin Williamson, and I'm not sure anything 275 00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:10,640 would, it would be a newborn. We want to get to that, 276 00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:12,759 Kevin. Yeah, well, we won't talk about that too much anything, 277 00:20:12,839 --> 00:20:18,519 but yeah, it certainly is the case that if you are twenty seven years 278 00:20:18,559 --> 00:20:23,799 old, and you're a college graduate and you're making you know, some reasonable 279 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,160 but not outstanding income, and you want to get married and have some kids. 280 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,160 You're gonna have to give some stuff up. You know, you're not 281 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,559 going to have the same sort of lifestyle that you would if you were single. 282 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,079 Of course, there are some you know, there's some some good trade 283 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:42,000 offs there too, of course that I think that people maybe don't appreciate. 284 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,799 You guys probably all know Brian Kaplan, who wrote a wonderful book called Selfish 285 00:20:45,799 --> 00:20:49,559 Reasons to Have More Children. He's an economist and a kind of pointy headed 286 00:20:49,559 --> 00:20:53,400 libertarian, but but a very fun, fun writer. So, uh, 287 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:57,279 I think it's not really well. There's a couple of things going on. 288 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:04,000 One is anxiety about status, which is separate from anxiety about actual absolute economic 289 00:21:04,039 --> 00:21:07,920 position. And I think a lot of that is driven by social media, 290 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,200 the fact that we have so much more immediate access to how other people live, 291 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,359 you know, what their lives look like, what sort of vacations they 292 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,319 take, what their consumption looks like, and we end up comparing ourselves to 293 00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:26,759 people who aren't really our socioeconomic peers. The other is anxiety about change, 294 00:21:26,799 --> 00:21:30,000 and I think This is the really important one. You know, if you 295 00:21:30,039 --> 00:21:33,839 go back to the kind of middle Ages in the early Renaissance and you get 296 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,880 the beginnings of what will eventually become capitalism, where people start to have choice 297 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,519 about what kind of jobs they have and where they live and things like that, 298 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,880 their standards of living, you know, the real income, they're real 299 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,880 choices, they're real liberty economically, personally and politically, all increased radically, 300 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,880 and they're all very, very unhappy about it because all of these new opportunities 301 00:21:53,960 --> 00:22:02,279 and benefits came with responsibilities and disruptions that they did like, and they had 302 00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:06,599 to make choices that they didn't have to make before. And not everyone experiences 303 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,160 choice as this wonderful thing. Some people experience it is stress and anxiety. 304 00:22:10,799 --> 00:22:14,400 And I think that's one of the problems we run into in kind of policy 305 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,960 making, is that that whole culture is dominated by people who are mostly pretty 306 00:22:18,039 --> 00:22:22,000 high income, lots of opportunities in life, high performing, highly educated, 307 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,440 that kind of stuff, and they don't understand that people see what they see 308 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,039 as opportunity as anxiety. So we've been going through, you know, since 309 00:22:30,039 --> 00:22:32,480 the end of the Cold War, something that we call for lack of a 310 00:22:32,519 --> 00:22:38,240 better term globalization, and it also has left everyone economically better off in all 311 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:44,359 sorts of measurable ways. We've got more choices, higher incomes, better consumption, 312 00:22:44,799 --> 00:22:48,319 we're better fed, better house we get better healthcare, you can travel 313 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,720 more, all that, all that sort of stuff. But what you don't 314 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,680 have is as much stability as we had before that. So, you know, 315 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,279 my father as an adult had essentially two jobs. You know, he 316 00:23:00,319 --> 00:23:03,680 worked at one of them for twenty two years and the other one for twenty 317 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,839 one years or something like that, and then he retired. By the time 318 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,640 I was forty, I had had I don't know, sixteen jobs or something 319 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:17,119 like that for very short times. I recall one for three days I was 320 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,279 after forty. Yeah, I think I've had you know, thirty home addresses 321 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,079 or something like that, And which is great for people like me, you 322 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:27,759 know, we we kind of thrive on that, but not everyone wants that 323 00:23:27,839 --> 00:23:32,319 kind of life. Some people would like would take the trade off of having 324 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,759 you know, less income, less wealth less flexibility, lower levels of consumption 325 00:23:37,839 --> 00:23:42,640 if everything were quieter and more predictable and stable and guaranteed. And that's really 326 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:47,519 the source of a lot of our social tension I think is between a kind 327 00:23:47,559 --> 00:23:53,720 of upper class of professionals who value choice and opportunity and flexibility versus a class 328 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,680 of people who are socioeconomically maybe just one or two degrees below them, or 329 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,559 just simply or it in a different way, who have a stronger preference for 330 00:24:03,559 --> 00:24:07,079 stability and predictability and those sorts of things. Well, if we are going 331 00:24:07,079 --> 00:24:11,480 through a sort of you know, economic transformation like we did in the sixteenth 332 00:24:11,519 --> 00:24:12,960 century, Joe Biden might be the perfect man to lead us there, because 333 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,039 he remembers, well, I want to push back in a couple of things 334 00:24:17,039 --> 00:24:18,960 that you said. They are one. The economy. Yeah, in general 335 00:24:19,079 --> 00:24:22,960 stupendous, but of course it's a big country with a lot of moving parts 336 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,480 in a lot of places. I live in one of those cities that was 337 00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:29,759 absolutely devastated by the lockdown, a self inflicted wound, a gunshot to both 338 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:34,480 feet and the forebrain, and consequently we have a dead downtown. Everybody got 339 00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:38,119 used to staying home and working in their pajamas. Like San Francisco, you 340 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,559 have office occupancy rates that are nowhere. You've got a lot of leases coming 341 00:24:42,599 --> 00:24:45,599 up. They're going to have to be renegotiated downward, which drives the property 342 00:24:45,599 --> 00:24:49,440 taxes downward. When you could add a city like Chicago which also had the 343 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,440 emptying out, a seated like San Francisco, like Portland, which is going 344 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,720 through several self inflicted wounds at the same time, we have a real paradigm 345 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:03,160 shift about how American cities are organ And I don't think that's particularly stupendous. 346 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,160 I think it's breaking a model that worked, and the economic fallout is immediate. 347 00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:11,440 I mean, where I once lived in a thriving ecosystem, small businesses, 348 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,279 it's now dead gone eighty percent of it. And you replicate that across 349 00:25:15,319 --> 00:25:18,759 the country. That ain't good. So give me something hopeful to think about 350 00:25:18,799 --> 00:25:21,839 about that if you first of all, let me tell you that it's worse 351 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,079 than you think. You lived in New York City for a long time, 352 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,319 and New York is great as long as two things work. One is the 353 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,079 subways and the others the police department. You know, if they've got crime 354 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,920 basically under control and the subways work, new York's a great place to live. 355 00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:36,839 As soon as those things get screwed up, it's an unlovable place, 356 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,839 which is one of the reasons why I moved. But you know, the 357 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,920 cities really are screwed up right now in lots of ways. Every big city 358 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,799 in this country has got a lot of serious problems, and you would think 359 00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:51,720 that this would create all sorts of political opportunities for conservative to libertarian sort of 360 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,599 market oriented reformist candidates. Ask you all a trivia question here. So here 361 00:25:56,599 --> 00:26:00,000 in Dallas, we've got an election from air coming up. Anyone know who 362 00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:07,240 the Republican candidate is in Dallas? Yeah, she doesn't matter. I thought 363 00:26:07,319 --> 00:26:11,359 Dallas had gone to the left. Dallas is a very democratic city. Yeah, 364 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:15,759 certainly. But the truth is there isn't one. Isn't there one? 365 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,039 Our mayor here, Eric Johnson, who's an Okay mayor, and our elections 366 00:26:18,079 --> 00:26:25,559 for mayor technically nonpartisan vidas thing, you're pretty progressive Democrat is running unopposed the 367 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,960 Republicans. And there is a Republican Party of Dallas County that's got all sorts 368 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:33,000 of officers and stuff. They haven't even put up candidate. So we are 369 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,279 the third largest city in Texas and the ninth largest city in the country. 370 00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:41,079 Republicans aren't even in the race here. And this is a pattern that you 371 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,720 see all over the country where you've got Republicans, and I just use Republicans 372 00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:48,160 as a kind of shorthand for people who aren't you know, crazy lefties right 373 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:56,400 simply refuse to enter the contest. And that is, um, you know, 374 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,119 it's a real problem because so I accuse Texas as an example. Republicans 375 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,960 are so doomed in the cities that you know in Texas, which is again 376 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,279 a pretty republican state, although not as republican as people sometimes think it is, 377 00:27:07,319 --> 00:27:12,160 um the biggest city in Texas where Republicans reliably win any kind of election, 378 00:27:12,279 --> 00:27:15,799 from you know, mayor's races to the majority of the vote in a 379 00:27:15,839 --> 00:27:21,960 presidential race is my hometown Lubbock. Not fort Worth, Nope, not anymore. 380 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,720 Fort Worth currently has a Republican mayor. Tarrant County I think went for 381 00:27:25,799 --> 00:27:30,519 Biden in twenty twenty. And wow, I do think Cruiz one Tarrant County 382 00:27:30,519 --> 00:27:33,559 in his or. He didn't certainly didn't win the city of fort Worth. 383 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:38,359 And so Lubbock, Lubbock is what twelve people Okay, Right, So you've 384 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:45,119 got Houston, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, 385 00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:51,480 El Paso, all run by Democrats in the state that Republicans like me keep 386 00:27:51,519 --> 00:27:56,160 fantasizing about moving to because it's sobably great in Texas except for the parts of 387 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,799 Texas where where the people are. And now we've got but a my laughing 388 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,079 it's to avoid crying. I suppose, well, Texas has a slightly larger 389 00:28:06,039 --> 00:28:10,440 rural population, at least in terms of voter turnout. I think we're a 390 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,720 little more urban than the national average, but we still got enough people in 391 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,640 kind of exurban in rural areas you're charing for the vote that Republicans still do 392 00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:21,920 kind of reasonably well here. But that's not going to last very long. 393 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:23,880 And it's not just you know, the cities themselves, but now the first 394 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,079 rings of suburbs around the cities. So if you look at say Harris County, 395 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,079 where Houston is, of course Republicans are doomed in the city of Houston. 396 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:33,480 They have been for a long time. But if you start looking at 397 00:28:33,519 --> 00:28:36,880 the more Houston like of the suburbs, the more urban suburbs, Republicans are 398 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,680 competitive there anymore either. And it's not a surprise why, because they go 399 00:28:40,759 --> 00:28:42,519 out and give speeches about how the cities suck and the people who live there 400 00:28:42,519 --> 00:28:47,759 depraved, and that if you're you know, if your gold in life is 401 00:28:47,799 --> 00:28:49,440 to graduate from high school, go to an Ivy League college, and work 402 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:53,720 for a Silicon Valley startup, which is something a lot of people want to 403 00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:59,279 do. Republicans hate everything you've chose, and the whole their whole kind of 404 00:28:59,319 --> 00:29:03,400 you know, public course is based on running down the sort of institutions that 405 00:29:03,559 --> 00:29:07,359 a lot of people associate with upward mobility and a good kind of life, 406 00:29:07,759 --> 00:29:12,359 and one of those institutions is American cities. You know, I will forever 407 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:18,079 be on Ted Cruz's case, not because he was criticizing Donald Trump, which 408 00:29:18,079 --> 00:29:21,680 of course is a worthwhile thing to do, but for denouncing him as a 409 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,480 as the embodiment of New York values. Well, you went to Princeton, 410 00:29:25,559 --> 00:29:29,799 your wife works for Goldman Sachs. Come on, you know you're not some 411 00:29:30,039 --> 00:29:34,000 good old boy from Uvaldi, you know, haha, New York City people, 412 00:29:34,319 --> 00:29:37,720 and this sort of how do you do anythink Republicans do with the cities 413 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,920 just has to really stop. First of all, because we need better cities. 414 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,559 But also there's simply not going to be a competitive political party if they're 415 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:53,480 intently dependent on exerban and rural areas. So Kevin um Well, I just 416 00:29:53,480 --> 00:30:00,599 remember, I mean, I guess the first president I was really sort of 417 00:30:00,599 --> 00:30:03,559 aware of, like, you know a a I was a young teenager, 418 00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:10,319 was was Calvin Coolidge. Calvin Coolidge, um Eisenhower, like was Ronald Reagan? 419 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,359 Right? And one of the raps when Ronald Reagan was that he was 420 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:17,119 so dumb because he was so optimistic. Right, But the attitude from the 421 00:30:17,759 --> 00:30:19,920 so the smart people then was like this guy, he's a he's an Indian. 422 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,960 Listen to what he talks, that like Sunday days are ahead, you 423 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,599 know, it's morning in America, that there's a memory of human said, 424 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,720 there's not one problem we face as a nation. That's someone in this country 425 00:30:30,759 --> 00:30:37,240 isn't solving right now somewhere, which is I'm completely true. And then some 426 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,839 somehow, in the pastor of five ten years, um as the left has 427 00:30:41,839 --> 00:30:44,480 been or the left part, left half of the country and left half of 428 00:30:44,559 --> 00:30:47,400 media or whatever you want to call it, has become more and more entrenched 429 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,680 in the idea that things are really really terrible, things are really really awful, 430 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,240 not just in the economy with the wage with a you know, um 431 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,400 with the disparity and wealth gap, but also because we were assistant systemically racist 432 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,680 country and it's really no way you could possibly break out of that yoke. 433 00:31:04,839 --> 00:31:08,880 And the counter argument from the other side has been, they're right, it 434 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,720 is terrible. We aren't we it's terrible and disastrous for other reasons, but 435 00:31:12,839 --> 00:31:18,200 we're doomed. We don't have a country anymore. It's over um, and 436 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,000 they wonder why nobody likes them. They wonder why they're like struggling to like 437 00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:27,759 get to barely forty nine percent for either any candidate. Yeah, had a 438 00:31:27,759 --> 00:31:33,839 pretty good column about that week or so ago. It was about the debate 439 00:31:33,839 --> 00:31:38,319 It over is a guy's name Dylan Mulvaney trans Yes, And her argument was 440 00:31:38,359 --> 00:31:44,319 that, you know, Dylan Mulvaney seems like someone who's having fun, you 441 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,640 know, whereas ever, everyone who is exercised about this, you know, 442 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,119 seems sort of miserable and uh and terrible. And you know, if your 443 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:52,720 if your argument is everything sucks, we're all going to die, we're gonna 444 00:31:52,759 --> 00:31:59,039 be overrun by dirty foreigners and the country's over and we're losing our republican all 445 00:31:59,039 --> 00:32:01,680 this stuff. Now, everybody was assign up for that. Um. You 446 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,480 know, if you listen to the way Republicans talk, you would think that 447 00:32:05,519 --> 00:32:08,279 people in Provo had to get up and you know, get in snowplows every 448 00:32:08,279 --> 00:32:12,799 morning to drive the drag queens out of the way who were chasing their children 449 00:32:12,839 --> 00:32:16,359 around. And it's just not really the way the country actually actually is. 450 00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:21,039 And there's a lot to criticize about the United States. I mean, there's 451 00:32:21,039 --> 00:32:25,680 a reason I've got the you know, Swiss Immigration office bookmark on my computer 452 00:32:25,759 --> 00:32:29,759 and I'm you know, trying to figure out how to do those forms in 453 00:32:29,799 --> 00:32:34,920 German. But there's there's some real troubles in this country. But I think 454 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,440 you're right. Things are almost never as bad as the kind of you know, 455 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,720 political entrepreneurs want you to think they are, because it's really easy to 456 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:45,039 sell stuff through you know, fear and loathing and terror and all that. 457 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,119 Um. But also, the problems we actually have aren't the problems that people 458 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,720 say that we have. I think it's only the case that when we do 459 00:32:52,759 --> 00:32:54,200 point out a problem, though word, you know, a the problem doesn't 460 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,279 exist to be if it does exist, it's a good thing. And see, 461 00:32:57,319 --> 00:33:00,240 you're a hater for not going along with the agenda. It's not a 462 00:33:00,279 --> 00:33:01,440 matter of how many dry queens they have to get, you know, they 463 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,839 have to applow to get to where they have to be. It's the question 464 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,839 of is it meet right and proper in society to say, you know what, 465 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,519 this family friendly show here where they're talking in front of the little two 466 00:33:13,599 --> 00:33:16,559 year olds and having them stuff the dollar bills? Do we can can we 467 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:22,640 say that's wrong? We can say that can't We can have an argument about 468 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,799 that. We can discuss it without saying that the republic is crumbling because there's 469 00:33:25,799 --> 00:33:30,319 a lot of really ugly men in mask are out there moving around. But 470 00:33:30,359 --> 00:33:34,440 it's not. It's not a completely irrelevant issue if you can tie it to 471 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:40,200 a larger you know, not top down commy agenda, but a larger reevaluation 472 00:33:40,279 --> 00:33:44,799 and reconstruction of American sexual mores and gender theory and the rest of it. 473 00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:50,000 I mean, it's of a piece of things that we can talk about and 474 00:33:50,039 --> 00:33:52,599 it doesn't distract us from the ability to talk about other things. You know, 475 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,680 I wrote, I wrote, and I say a couple of years ago 476 00:33:54,680 --> 00:34:00,720 that I was pretty proud of called consider the Moose, and my my beginning 477 00:34:00,799 --> 00:34:02,720 argument is that we all spend a lot of time worrying about shark attacks, 478 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,799 but you're a lot more likely to be killed by a moose than by shark. 479 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:08,800 You know, moose are really aggressive, and there's a lot more of 480 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,920 them, and there are a lot more interactions with them, but they're just 481 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,880 not terrifying that way. And we tend to fixate on problems that have some 482 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,480 sort of exotic or dramatic character. So if you want to talk about your 483 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:22,440 trouble in American you know, sexual and family morice, yeah, you've got 484 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:30,360 a lot to talk about. But it starts with the divorce rate between nineteen 485 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:35,000 sixty five and nineteen ninety five being whatever it was, I'm insane number, 486 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,280 and the number of children being born out of wedlock and the rest of this, 487 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,920 and the normalization of all that. And I remember the debate about gay 488 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,719 marriage and people saying, well, this is just it for marriage. Well, 489 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,559 I mean, the sort of traditional version of marriage had been dead for 490 00:34:46,599 --> 00:34:50,559 a generation by that point. I mean, the real mystery was why gay 491 00:34:50,559 --> 00:34:53,320 people wanted to take up such a devace and devalued institution in the first place. 492 00:34:54,679 --> 00:35:00,880 So while yeah, the kind of you know, drag queen story, 493 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:06,880 our sort of stuff is certainly not at the top of the list of place 494 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,960 stuff like to take my own kids, and I think is good for children. 495 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:15,079 I don't think that actually is where the real problem in our society is. 496 00:35:15,119 --> 00:35:19,159 I think this is a small, dramatic thing that it's easy to get 497 00:35:19,159 --> 00:35:24,039 excited about, but the real problem is that nine of the people who are 498 00:35:24,079 --> 00:35:29,320 excited about it to have kids who have three different children by three different fathers, 499 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,280 and I've never even thought about getting married. I agree if I had 500 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,639 to choose, if I had to choose which one that I would fix, 501 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:37,480 which one that I could wave a magic wand it would be the destruction of 502 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,440 the American family and all the rest of it. But at the same time, 503 00:35:40,519 --> 00:35:45,239 having said that, and having that my top priority for fixing American society, 504 00:35:45,599 --> 00:35:47,679 when we had a little debate, when we had a signing of a 505 00:35:47,679 --> 00:35:52,840 bill here at the Minnesota State Capital that would protect transgender people they could come 506 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,840 to the state and have their surgery if they couldn't where they were elsewhere. 507 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,199 Big celebration, right, and there's this there's this drag guy who's dancing on 508 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,719 the North Star, which is usually in the floor of the Capitol, and 509 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:08,519 it's usually roped off. You don't walk on it because of reverence. And 510 00:36:08,519 --> 00:36:14,000 he's got ridiculous heels and some purple outfit and he's thrashing around and gyrating to 511 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,639 the applause of everybody else. And thankfully he didn't do what he did on 512 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,679 his Instagram page, which is to cover himself with blood and Hail Satan. 513 00:36:21,039 --> 00:36:23,559 But I'm looking at Hail Satan covered with blood, guy in his fishnet and 514 00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:30,880 his still letos dancing on the symbol of the state and this wonderful classical temple 515 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:36,199 of democracy, and thinking I would prefer this not to have happened. I 516 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:40,159 wish we hadn't gotten to the point where this sort of vimar ridiculousness is not 517 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:46,000 celebrated as stunning and brave. But that you know, what our Scandinavian forbears 518 00:36:46,079 --> 00:36:51,119 might have thought, of course, is something you can only imagine. But 519 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:52,360 okay, if that's dead topic here, I don't want to rehash it, 520 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,760 but I want to push back in something you said earlier, because the people 521 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:59,360 in the comments, will globalization helps us all? I agree, we all 522 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,280 benefited for we got a lot of cheap stuff, and we got list we 523 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,280 had a lot of I mean, I got a television, said I probably 524 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,679 paid sixty eight bucks for that is better than the movie screens that I grew 525 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:09,519 up with as a kid. But I was on Amazon the other day trying 526 00:37:09,519 --> 00:37:14,480 to find an espresso machine, and there's about one hundred and seventy eight espresso 527 00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:16,840 machines that I could get in this price point, all from companies that don't 528 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,280 exist. There's some fake brand name full of consonants and balls that they stuck 529 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:22,880 on the front of the thing. And we're not better off for that. 530 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:25,599 I don't want to be like Bernie Sanders saying why do you need one hundred 531 00:37:25,599 --> 00:37:30,360 and seventy eight espresso machines? You know, I'd be content with choice from 532 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:35,119 eighty one. But you look at that, and you look at also the 533 00:37:35,159 --> 00:37:38,559 fact that we seem to be particularly vulnerable during the pandemic two things that China 534 00:37:38,599 --> 00:37:43,840 made and we didn't. And we ask ourselves at the end of the day, 535 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,800 did we really benefit? But we did? But so much so that 536 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,480 let's do it again, Or isn't there a way that we can kind of 537 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,679 make cheap espresso machines here in America? And drugs and the rest of it 538 00:37:54,679 --> 00:37:58,840 too. I mean, shouldn't we onshore some of this stuff back. No, 539 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,239 you should go to Williamson and buy yourself a proper espresso machine made in 540 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:05,079 Italy, like a civilized person would. Right, Well, that's my plan. 541 00:38:05,159 --> 00:38:07,679 What's what brand would you suggest to the dilo? I have a mister 542 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:13,599 coffee myself. Oh oh, man of the people. Sure, I'm not 543 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:15,039 a man of the people. I don't like the people very much, but 544 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:22,360 I prefer coffee. And but also I have a you know, I've got 545 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:24,360 the hips your coffee shop down the street from me because I do live in 546 00:38:24,519 --> 00:38:30,440 uh America and I can get my you know, Vegan Collachis or whatever it 547 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:35,679 is or selling down Kevin. I'm going to insist on this, but you, 548 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:37,960 being you, you can find somebody just to flip the question off if 549 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,920 you want to. You are fifty years old. You just said this, 550 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:49,079 and you have a newborn. Yeah what's that? Eleven months? Yeah? 551 00:38:49,119 --> 00:38:52,440 Eleven months? First of all, congratulations, but but you have no idea 552 00:38:52,519 --> 00:38:57,639 how shocked many of us were when we heard Kevin Kevin is really getting married 553 00:38:58,119 --> 00:39:01,280 and that was and you didn't get us enough time to adjust to that idea 554 00:39:01,639 --> 00:39:07,159 before Kevin is going to Kevin is going to be a father? Okay, 555 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:12,840 so one of the many appealing at You're kind of a Menkin in that your 556 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,679 grouchiness is actually appealing. I want to know, give us, give us, 557 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:21,519 give us, give us the top three list. What fatherhood? How 558 00:39:21,559 --> 00:39:25,199 fatherhood has changed you, changed your thinking, changed your demeanor? What has 559 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:29,760 it done for you or to you? Kevin? You know I, um, 560 00:39:30,519 --> 00:39:35,400 I think my grouchiness is exaggerated. Um No, I don't think so. 561 00:39:35,679 --> 00:39:37,719 I don't think so. I was here from people who think that I'm 562 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:42,119 a really, you know, angry writer. I don't think I'm a particularly 563 00:39:42,159 --> 00:39:45,880 angry writer. I think I compared I compared you with Menkin. Won't you 564 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:52,000 take that? No, I don't like Mankin. I think Mincin was. 565 00:39:53,079 --> 00:39:57,039 I think Mencan was a genuine missing throw in a way that I'm not No, 566 00:39:57,199 --> 00:40:01,880 You're not all right, and also that it was a stick at He's 567 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,480 towards the end of his career was stick I mean he has. He was 568 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,639 a wonderful, gefted writer in a lot of ways. Don't get me wrong, 569 00:40:07,159 --> 00:40:10,280 Um, but I think you know, I think Mark Twain is more 570 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,079 cynical than than I was. Um Williamson compared itself to Mark Twain, not 571 00:40:15,119 --> 00:40:20,000 exactly I'm talking about here, but um so no, um, you know, 572 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:24,519 being father, um it it's well, okay, it's actually it has 573 00:40:24,519 --> 00:40:28,599 made me an angrier writer in some ways, or an angrier person, I 574 00:40:28,599 --> 00:40:36,559 think in some ways, um, because it makes me a lot more attuned 575 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,639 to, um, the fact that there are a lot of children out there 576 00:40:42,679 --> 00:40:47,719 who are relatively low priorities for their parents. Um as I certainly was. 577 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:51,119 Um. You know, I'll write about this, you know, one of 578 00:40:51,159 --> 00:40:57,199 these days. But um, yeah, I think actually having ah, I'll 579 00:40:57,199 --> 00:41:00,360 do a little Joonah Goldberg here. I think that, um, having a 580 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:06,599 dog makes you more I think, attuned to how people treat animals in the 581 00:41:06,639 --> 00:41:13,320 world, and I think having a kid does the same thing on a much, 582 00:41:13,599 --> 00:41:16,559 you know, deeper and more profound scale for thinking about how people are 583 00:41:16,559 --> 00:41:21,800 treated. I want to preserve this clip and then send it to your child. 584 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:24,480 On his eighteenth birthday, when you were eleven months old, son, 585 00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:28,760 your father compared you to a dog. Well, we have a very nice 586 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,920 year name pancake. And your father, by the way, was born during 587 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:37,159 the Nixon administration. It was yeah, just right before the big reelection. 588 00:41:40,599 --> 00:41:44,880 But you put your elderliness in contact for him. Well, you know, 589 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:46,519 on the subject to political swings, I think about that a lot because you 590 00:41:46,519 --> 00:41:49,840 think nineteen sixty eight, just a few years before I was born, it 591 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,480 seemed like the most left wing time in American history, and then seventy two 592 00:41:52,559 --> 00:41:57,159 Nixon wins forty nine states. So you know, the idea that we are 593 00:41:57,199 --> 00:42:05,440 at some kind of lost cause level of political insanity, I think is is 594 00:42:05,599 --> 00:42:08,400 not defensible. So yeah, certainly, you know, having kids just makes 595 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:12,960 you softer in a lot of ways. It makes you just aware of their 596 00:42:13,039 --> 00:42:17,039 kind of you know, vulnerability and dependence and all of that. It certainly 597 00:42:17,079 --> 00:42:22,000 makes you grateful for things like healthcare, you know. So again, we 598 00:42:22,039 --> 00:42:25,880 live in Dallas, as I mentioned, and Dallas is a great place for 599 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:30,480 medical care and that sort of thing. We had a little thing in the 600 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:31,800 see where we thought there might be a problem that turned out not to be 601 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,760 a problem. But they're like, well, we can give you, you 602 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,480 know, a fetal MRI, and we can do it two hours from now, 603 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:39,480 and it's going to cost four hundred bucks wow, or something like that. 604 00:42:39,519 --> 00:42:45,000 It's just amazing the stuff that you can do. And yeah, so 605 00:42:45,119 --> 00:42:47,159 you certainly learned to be grateful for those sorts of things. I wouldn't buy 606 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:52,599 an espresso machine from Amazon because a lot of they are manufactured things like that 607 00:42:52,639 --> 00:42:58,519 tend to be terrible. But we'd like to buy baby formula and baby food 608 00:42:58,639 --> 00:43:00,760 and all that kind of stuff. I can have it just delivered to your 609 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:06,679 home by the time. So um, yeah. We always jokingly stay peace 610 00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:12,119 be upon him when the name Jeff Bezos is mentioned, because make life so 611 00:43:12,199 --> 00:43:15,239 much easier for you kind of you know, bulk purchases. And that's right, 612 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:20,960 right, Well, we look forward to you giving the world an account 613 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,280 of the books that you have to read to your child, and how you 614 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:27,639 will agree or disagree with a little engine that could if you give a mouse 615 00:43:27,679 --> 00:43:30,320 a cookie. All the rest of these things are fraught with lessons if for 616 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:31,920 life, and man, you believe how many books I bought for this, 617 00:43:32,079 --> 00:43:42,119 you know, kid already right, bust out for toddlers, all right, 618 00:43:42,199 --> 00:43:45,320 Kevin, here at the beginning of a wonderful, wonderful journey, and you're 619 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:47,440 gonna have a great deal of fun. It's gonna be over too soon. 620 00:43:47,639 --> 00:43:51,880 So you know, we'll talk to you when your kids start moves away to 621 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:54,119 college. Which for you, I guarantee will seem like ninety minutes. Yeah, 622 00:43:54,159 --> 00:43:58,519 but I'm gonna be seventy two years old. You won't have any idea 623 00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:02,639 and I and you will. You will have mellowed so much. Kevin Williamson 624 00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:08,719 for the Dispatch, Thanks for joining us to congratulations on that baby. Thank 625 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:13,000 you. I wonder if he's getting a lot of sleep. You know, 626 00:44:13,119 --> 00:44:16,159 it's because they do tend to keep you up. I just remember when my 627 00:44:16,199 --> 00:44:20,400 daughter was born. There was those moments where I would just be so exhausted 628 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,119 seeing my wife do everything that I just had to take a nap. But 629 00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,639 luckily, in actually not luckily, in those days, it was hard for 630 00:44:25,679 --> 00:44:29,440 me to fall asleep because I was snooping on sheets that were like iron, 631 00:44:30,119 --> 00:44:31,400 not that they were like iron, but that they felt like it, or 632 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:35,360 that they were scratchy, or that they just came apart at the seams because 633 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:37,920 they were cheap. Nowadays, of course, you know, if I had 634 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:39,239 another kid again and I had to nap a little bit more than I do, 635 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:43,760 I would be content to know that Bolden Branch would take me where I 636 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:45,920 needed to go. And also, I gotta tell you this, it's getting 637 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:49,599 to be a little bit warmer here where you might be, not here forty 638 00:44:49,639 --> 00:44:53,280 five flipping degrees and rainy and drizzly. I want to actually go back to 639 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:57,800 bed into my nice, cozy Bolden Branch sheets. I'm just getting hot where 640 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,920 you are. You're thinking, are these sheets caused me peril when it's hot 641 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:02,840 and I go to sleep? No? No, no, no, no 642 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:07,559 no. Boll And Branch. They're the betting experts and they make the highest 643 00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:13,360 quality sheets with incredible craftsmanship. Each sheet set is slow made for an unmatched 644 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:15,639 softness with one hundred percent traceable organic cut, and they get softer with every 645 00:45:15,639 --> 00:45:20,519 wash. They signature him to sheets from Bolden Branch or bestseller for a good 646 00:45:20,559 --> 00:45:23,880 reason. Bolden Branch uses the highest quality one percent organic cut and threads on 647 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:28,079 Earth, and each sheet set is slow made, as I said, for 648 00:45:28,119 --> 00:45:31,039 a superior softness and a better night's sleep. They feel buttery to the touch 649 00:45:31,039 --> 00:45:35,159 and they're super breathable, so the perfect for both cooler and the warmer weather 650 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,639 to come. That is why they are loved by millions of sleepers. And 651 00:45:37,639 --> 00:45:42,920 you can hear more about that phab. There's ten thousand reviews of Bolden Branch 652 00:45:43,159 --> 00:45:45,880 various places in the Internet and they're all five stars. So I've told you 653 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:51,440 what I like about them year to year as we've had these little times together. 654 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,679 And again I have to report it's now been three weeks since I've told 655 00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:58,119 you that my sheets are softer than they were the last time because I've been 656 00:45:58,119 --> 00:46:00,360 away, but they were washed and they are in mentally even softer than they 657 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:04,559 were before. Keep in mind, Bolden Branch gives you a thirty night risk 658 00:46:04,639 --> 00:46:07,599 free guarantee, which I swear they do because they know that nobody having slept 659 00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:09,400 one night and then will ever take them back. I got free shipping and 660 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:14,800 free returns on all us orders. Sleep better at night with Bolan Branch sheets 661 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,039 and better in the afternoon too. If you take an app, get fifteen 662 00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:21,880 percent off your first order when you use the promo code Ricochet at bolin branch 663 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:27,400 dot com. That's Boldon Branch BLA n D Branch dot com promo code Ricochet. 664 00:46:27,679 --> 00:46:30,559 Exclusions apply. So he signed for details, and we thank Boldin Brands 665 00:46:30,559 --> 00:46:35,440 for sponsoring this the Ricochet Podcast. Now we welcome back Andrew Gutman. He 666 00:46:35,519 --> 00:46:38,239 became known as the Brearley Dad after trying to get the parents of his daughter's 667 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:43,079 school to stand up for their children's education. He's stuck with the fight against 668 00:46:43,159 --> 00:46:46,559 indoctor nation in schools, and he's running for Congress. How about that He's 669 00:46:46,599 --> 00:46:50,440 not all taught, but somebody who's actually going to get into the lions, 670 00:46:50,519 --> 00:46:52,719 Dan and do it needs to be done? Andrew, welcome back. Thank 671 00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:53,519 you for having me. I gotta say, first of all, I love 672 00:46:53,519 --> 00:46:59,599 minus pressol machine. I do not like I do not like Amazon. It's 673 00:46:59,599 --> 00:47:00,880 the company that should not exist. We can talk about that or not. 674 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:07,760 And I think I disagree with everything that Kevin said, but of course I'm 675 00:47:07,119 --> 00:47:12,079 I am now the politician that he is complaining about. So right, I 676 00:47:12,159 --> 00:47:15,199 like an especial machine. Two, I do, I just I never All 677 00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:21,920 the color coded cancils are are are something of a confusion to me because I 678 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:23,719 don't care as long as it's not the green one, because I know the 679 00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:27,840 green one's going to be espresso or is going to be decaf, except when 680 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:31,480 it's not all right. You're running against Lois Frankel, Yes, in Florida 681 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:37,280 in District twenty two. Tell us about your opponent and what do you hope 682 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:38,360 to do to win? Well? First, I have to get through the 683 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:42,559 primary. So it's a long road. We've got a not too long us 684 00:47:42,599 --> 00:47:45,760 as a primary. November's the election Lois has been. There's a sixth term 685 00:47:45,519 --> 00:47:51,000 congresswoman who has been there forever. She is not well liked by the people 686 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,679 who like me. They want to get her out. They've never had what 687 00:47:54,079 --> 00:47:59,480 I'm told is a viable candidate in district or district as a Republican. And 688 00:47:59,519 --> 00:48:02,760 there's a lot of excitement that I can be that viable candidate. But you 689 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:06,079 know, I feel I'm running for the same reason I wrote the letter two 690 00:48:06,119 --> 00:48:07,119 years ago that we've talked about in the show a bunch of times, and 691 00:48:07,159 --> 00:48:10,239 I talk about all the time on take Back our Schools, on Ricochet, 692 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:14,199 which is I had a duty two years ago to write that letter to parents, 693 00:48:14,199 --> 00:48:16,000 never expected it to go viral, and I feel the same sort of 694 00:48:16,079 --> 00:48:21,599 duty now that this is the next step of the parents movement. People like 695 00:48:21,679 --> 00:48:24,519 me, we call ourselves accidental activists, and we have to step up because 696 00:48:24,559 --> 00:48:28,400 I don't think kind of what your last guest was talking about. I don't 697 00:48:28,639 --> 00:48:34,119 think most people, and including most of our elected officials, fundamentally understand what 698 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:37,000 is going on in our school systems and what is at stake in this culture 699 00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,679 war, and so I hope to bring that to Congress. So, Andrew, 700 00:48:40,679 --> 00:48:45,519 I've got the twenty second Congressional district up on my screen right now. 701 00:48:45,559 --> 00:48:47,960 We start just north of Boca Ratan. We go all the way up to 702 00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:52,599 West Palm that takes in Lake Worth, Point in Beach, Delray Beach. 703 00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,360 Does it take in Palm Beach itself? I'm not clear about that. The 704 00:48:57,119 --> 00:49:00,800 challenge which has not become the fundraising capital of the Republican fundraising capital right in 705 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:05,199 the world. Okay, So you've got this little, long, narrow strip 706 00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:09,239 of sand Palm Beach where there's some rich Republicans, but the rich rest, 707 00:49:09,639 --> 00:49:15,320 well, the rest of that district is. First of all, everybody's pretty 708 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,840 rich who lives there. We've got one hundred percent urban it says, that 709 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:23,960 doesn't sound like Republican country. Really, we've got forty minorities, again, 710 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:31,320 not a Republican district. And then we've got the Cook partisan voting Index D 711 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:37,639 plus seven. Andrew, that's actually better than I thought. I've probably seen 712 00:49:37,719 --> 00:49:39,519 D plus ten the last time I check, but maybe that's after I announced. 713 00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:44,480 Okay, I mean, I just want you try to reform the New 714 00:49:44,559 --> 00:49:47,840 York City schools. This is one impossible task. You moved to Florida, 715 00:49:49,159 --> 00:49:52,679 you look around and say, let's do something else impossible here. What are 716 00:49:52,679 --> 00:49:55,960 you doing? We have to try, We have to fight. Look, 717 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:00,400 the Santis won the county, which was the first time in three or four 718 00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:04,000 decades at a Republican and won the county. Became very very close to winning 719 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,280 in this district. I think it was two or three points that he lost 720 00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:09,480 by. This is possible. And with more and more people like myself coming 721 00:50:09,519 --> 00:50:14,480 from New York and coming from other Blue states coming down here voting Republican. 722 00:50:14,519 --> 00:50:17,880 It's also thirty percent independence, and I think that I can reach those independence 723 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:22,320 in a way that previous candidates had no shot at reaching. I'm Jewish. 724 00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:24,880 It's one of the most Jewish districts in the country. We've never had in 725 00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:30,000 recent memory a Jewish Republican candidate. We think this is doable. My political 726 00:50:30,039 --> 00:50:34,360 consultants think this is doable. We're going to fight like hell to make this 727 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:37,119 happen. I mean, it's not easy. One more, I know Rob 728 00:50:37,159 --> 00:50:40,800 wants to get get him. Can I just ask anything? Okay? So 729 00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:46,320 here I used to feel and this is the quote. I used to feel 730 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:53,800 that I could name that I personally knew every conservative Jew in America, Norman 731 00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:58,480 pot Hoortz, his son John, And that gets you to about eighty percent 732 00:50:58,519 --> 00:51:02,400 of them, right, I mean a small community, isn't it You say 733 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:06,320 that being Jewish will help you, But isn't it overwhelming even in Florida. 734 00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:10,920 Isn't the Jewish community overwhelmingly democratic? Yes? Yes, but they are. 735 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,440 One of the differences with the Jewish community in Florida versus New York is they're 736 00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,880 pro Israel here, so that helps are not pro Israel in New York. 737 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:21,639 So you have that, and certainly I can speak to that. You know, 738 00:51:21,639 --> 00:51:25,239 my family has been involved in a lot of work in Israel. I 739 00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:30,840 think there is a realization on these culture, war and education issues. These 740 00:51:30,039 --> 00:51:35,239 these grandparents, and you have a lot of retirees obviously in this district and 741 00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:37,960 West Pump. These grandparents are seeing what is happening in their grandkids schools. 742 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:42,000 They don't like it. So we think there are some of them that are 743 00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:44,800 that are reachable and that we can talk to. You know, if I 744 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:46,519 win the independence, it's thirty percent independence. I win the independence, and 745 00:51:46,559 --> 00:51:50,119 I win. The Republicans, we win. We don't need a single Democrat. 746 00:51:50,159 --> 00:51:52,159 That's the way the math works. But you know, I think we 747 00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:59,639 can reach people that previous Republican candidates had absolutely no shot at reaching. Great 748 00:52:00,079 --> 00:52:01,960 I Andrew, it's Roblong in New York, thank you for joining us. 749 00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:07,920 So um, I haven't answered in my head to this question, but I 750 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:15,039 wonder wonder if it's the same one, Okay, whose campaign clearly Republican campaign? 751 00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:20,159 Do you think is the close model where you kind of model yourself after? 752 00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,440 I have no idea. I don't model myself after anybody. You know 753 00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:25,320 what I'm saying. When you run, when you're running for office, you 754 00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:28,800 want to look for a path, right, and you can see where other 755 00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:30,599 people have. Maybe there are a lot of issues, right, they've crystallized 756 00:52:30,719 --> 00:52:35,280 a few issues that really seem to resonate with people. Is there anyone that 757 00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:37,840 you think, okay, well, that that proves that somebody with my message 758 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:42,519 can win in what is in fact, I currently held as a blue district. 759 00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,639 Look, I think there are there are a number of outsider, you 760 00:52:45,679 --> 00:52:50,000 know, political outsiders that have been successful that you can look to. I 761 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:53,320 think I'm somewhat I don't want to overstate my uniqueness, but I think I'm 762 00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:59,039 reasonably unique in trying to do this. You know, a complete political outsider. 763 00:52:59,519 --> 00:53:01,079 Um. You know, I was not a Republican. I was an 764 00:53:01,159 --> 00:53:06,159 independent. I thought considered myself an independent my whole life. I'm a libertarian. 765 00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:09,360 But I don't have what's your answer? I don't have an answer, 766 00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:16,559 Um, Glenn youngcan Yeah. I thought he was more the Republican establishment that 767 00:53:16,679 --> 00:53:20,519 embraced this parents movement. And I know a lot of people that were in 768 00:53:20,519 --> 00:53:22,519 that parents movement in Virginia that really helped him. And yeah, but I 769 00:53:22,519 --> 00:53:30,400 mean he for for for the Purple voters in Virginia, he crystallized something that 770 00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:34,480 they have been feeling, which was that the schools that they're paying for. 771 00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:42,360 Yeah, an education in general is off the rails, and there that is 772 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,559 an issue I think. I mean, I don't know your district, so 773 00:53:44,599 --> 00:53:46,679 I don't know, but I feel like that's an issue that you I put 774 00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:50,199 his way. I have a lot of friends who are liberals and Democrats, 775 00:53:50,199 --> 00:53:52,639 and they will say things like I'm a really liberal Democrat. I am a 776 00:53:52,679 --> 00:53:57,679 progressive liberal Democrat. But and then they will list one or two or three 777 00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:01,920 or four or five or ten things sometimes which they differ on that current orthodoxy, 778 00:54:02,079 --> 00:54:05,239 and I'm like, well, I got some bad news for You're you're 779 00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:07,840 at the best, you're moderate, you're probably a conservative. No, no, 780 00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:12,280 no, I'm a liberal. So I know a lot of those people 781 00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,039 in New York. Yeah. Top three, the top three. The top 782 00:54:15,079 --> 00:54:17,519 three issues are always education. It's a one, two or three, depending 783 00:54:17,519 --> 00:54:21,960 on how old they are and how old their kids are. Yeah, yeah, 784 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:23,400 no, I think we reach you know. One of the things that 785 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:27,480 has been very frustrating to me since my letter happened and since the sort of 786 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:30,000 parents movement started, was that this became such a part as an issue. 787 00:54:30,039 --> 00:54:32,800 And that's the world we live in. We live in this polarized world. 788 00:54:34,039 --> 00:54:37,840 But this issue of education is should not be a partisan issue. They should 789 00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,400 not be a right left, Republican democrat issue. Most of the parents out 790 00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:44,320 there, when you talk to them, are not happy with the direction of 791 00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,559 these schools. They're not happy with the anti meritocracy, and they're not happy 792 00:54:46,559 --> 00:54:51,199 with what I would call some people criticize it the woke ideology, the gender 793 00:54:51,199 --> 00:54:54,519 and strance stuff, especially as motivating people. And so the question is, 794 00:54:54,519 --> 00:54:58,400 how do you reach those people. But if you can reach them, this 795 00:54:58,559 --> 00:55:01,039 absolutely crosses over the eye and I think, you know, that's the opportunity. 796 00:55:01,079 --> 00:55:05,760 So I think the education issue absolutely can motivate people in the center and 797 00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:08,400 in the center left. Well, people who are listening to this podcast and 798 00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:12,519 not seeing it on our little live zoom thing here don't know it. But 799 00:55:12,599 --> 00:55:16,159 Andrew is in front of a bookcase with lots of books, which we assume 800 00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:22,000 him, being a republican conservative, you will promptly ban and then burn at 801 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:24,920 the conclusion of our little conversation here. So good you can't see. The 802 00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:30,920 bottom right section is all my critical race theory books I've read. It's like 803 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:34,000 the whole string of that because I had to understand the ideology that I'm talking 804 00:55:34,039 --> 00:55:36,559 about. But no, we're not banning books. We're not banning. But 805 00:55:36,679 --> 00:55:39,719 look, I really call myself a classical liberal rather than a conservative. I 806 00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,320 mean I prefer that, I always have called that. I don't think there's 807 00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:46,880 that much of a distinction these days between classical liberalism and conservatism, and we 808 00:55:46,920 --> 00:55:51,920 need both those people. We need to explain it. We need to explain 809 00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:57,920 that exactly what classic classical liberalism means and reclaim the word. Andrew will talk 810 00:55:57,920 --> 00:56:00,199 to you again as the campaign goes on, and thanks for joining us, 811 00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:05,440 your good luck and thank you very much for having me Andrew Gutman dot com 812 00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:07,199 with that in the show notes for sure. Um, and good luck out 813 00:56:07,199 --> 00:56:10,360 there in the shoe leather, knock knock it on doors. That's the most 814 00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:15,079 important thing I will hold on. Here's how impressed I am. I want 815 00:56:15,119 --> 00:56:21,320 everybody to know the Gutman has one tea and one end, two ends. 816 00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:23,719 Oh my goodness. Okay, okay, so this is really important. And 817 00:56:24,559 --> 00:56:29,039 she's been rung all over the internet, but we own all the different doname 818 00:56:29,119 --> 00:56:30,760 names. So if you get it right, okay, okay, okay, 819 00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:32,760 can I give you I know you gotta run, but I can I give 820 00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:45,280 you one more model? Yes please? Um Alexandriacazio cortse She she unseated a 821 00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:51,280 unseated uh establishment democrat. We've been there a long time. No one thought 822 00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:53,000 she could do it. She marched around, she knocked on doors. I 823 00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,519 mean, you gotta give her credit. She took she she took that seat. 824 00:56:57,320 --> 00:57:00,800 She's a brilliant politician. Yeah, that's such a rumor. Rumored now 825 00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:04,159 running for Senate in twenty four. No reason you can't steal the playbook of 826 00:57:04,199 --> 00:57:07,639 people have been successful, even if you disagree with the great I guess this 827 00:57:07,719 --> 00:57:14,320 means when you in we'll be seeing you in pro ch jacket. All said, 828 00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:17,639 all right, thank you're crazy, but we love you for it. 829 00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:25,920 Well, gentlemen, on the way out here. A few minutes a week 830 00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:30,360 ago, I was in the dumpiest airport I've ever been in my life, 831 00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:35,039 a place called Luton. Oh sure, Luton in England, north north of 832 00:57:35,079 --> 00:57:37,880 London. It's not bad. It's just dumpy and it was cold. I 833 00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:43,000 mean it's like they didn't turn the heat on. And I caught an easy 834 00:57:43,119 --> 00:57:45,000 Jet, which is one of the ugliest airlines I've ever been on. It's 835 00:57:45,039 --> 00:57:50,599 got this orange logo and this squashed Cooper black typeface, and you got to 836 00:57:50,639 --> 00:57:52,719 pay for everything, including oxygen and water and the rest of it. But 837 00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:57,599 in the other hand, it delivered me safely to Barcelona, which is where 838 00:57:57,679 --> 00:58:00,320 I was. I was in England and then I was in Barcelon been to 839 00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:08,199 Barcelona, I highly yeah, would advise anybody who has to attempt to make 840 00:58:08,199 --> 00:58:13,280 a trip to that city, because if you are interested in work in urbanism, 841 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:15,719 in how places can look. It's just a revelation. As much as 842 00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:19,480 I love American cities and as much I love car culture and all the rest 843 00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:22,119 of it, and I have no breed, I have no beef for the 844 00:58:22,159 --> 00:58:27,559 suburbs whatsoever. There is part of me that just sings at this density and 845 00:58:27,599 --> 00:58:32,119 these stores and the shops and the trees and the universal height of the buildings. 846 00:58:32,119 --> 00:58:35,679 And it's in its course. I mean, it's just it was just 847 00:58:35,800 --> 00:58:37,159 a life of the thing. You know. I don't nobody cares. I 848 00:58:37,239 --> 00:58:42,719 took a vacation. What I wanted to say is this I find. And 849 00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:45,639 I found the same thing in England as well, that the idea that the 850 00:58:45,719 --> 00:58:50,880 ugly American that they hate us coming over there, they still like us. 851 00:58:51,480 --> 00:58:54,320 Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. They are still fascinated 852 00:58:54,360 --> 00:58:59,880 with America. And they say they're a young man who is the topest for 853 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:04,599 restaurant waiter, and he he wanted to know about America. He wanted to 854 00:59:04,639 --> 00:59:07,679 go, he wanted to go to Chicago, and he wanted what was my 855 00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:15,519 favorite state? You know? And question before and in England, when I 856 00:59:15,559 --> 00:59:19,840 was talking to some people who are incredibly civilized and and and they've you know, 857 00:59:19,880 --> 00:59:23,639 they've been places, but they've never been to America. And we've sort 858 00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:27,679 of conjured up this trip that they would take to take I was describing where 859 00:59:27,679 --> 00:59:29,760 they should go, and you know, part of it as a whole Florida. 860 00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:32,800 Why would I go to Florida because you learned something? And I realized, 861 00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:37,280 you learned something about America. No matter where you go, get a 862 00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:38,760 car, hit the highway, go to the diners, stay in the cheap 863 00:59:38,800 --> 00:59:43,320 motels. And they were enthralled with the idea of America. And they still 864 00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:49,119 believed in it. And for all of its strange craziness and the politicians they 865 00:59:49,159 --> 00:59:52,039 don't like, and the things they don't understand, and the guns are always 866 00:59:52,039 --> 00:59:55,719 mad about the guns. Um, we still hold a special place in the 867 00:59:55,719 --> 00:59:59,320 hearts of a lot of people who around the world. And that is a 868 00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:01,559 really stupid obvious thing to say, except that we forget it sometimes and think 869 01:00:01,559 --> 01:00:07,719 that we're just constantly being poormouth by the by our intellectual betters. So that's 870 01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:09,559 the only thing that I took away from the trip, aside from much I 871 01:00:09,639 --> 01:00:13,639 love England, that that I wish to share anything else, gentlemen. While 872 01:00:13,639 --> 01:00:17,440 I was away, I assume that you carried on we talked about you behind 873 01:00:17,480 --> 01:00:22,280 your back of course. Okay, I'll have to go back and listen to 874 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:22,920 that one. What did you say? Well, wait, wait a minute, 875 01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:27,880 you're Newton. You can't really say how much I loved England and then 876 01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:30,800 leave us with Luton? Luton? Where else did you physically? Well? 877 01:00:32,039 --> 01:00:36,079 Um, well, I went to London and then picked up my daughter and 878 01:00:36,119 --> 01:00:39,440 went to Walberswick, which is this small town coastal town in Suffolk where I 879 01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:42,719 go once a year where I have friends where we do some business stuff. 880 01:00:42,719 --> 01:00:44,960 And I was also speaking at an arts festival, so that was fun. 881 01:00:45,519 --> 01:00:52,280 You talk on the seat. Yes, well, they call up and asked 882 01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:53,920 if I would like to do so, as I said, yes, absolutely, 883 01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:57,480 and then they said what would you like to do? And I scrambled, 884 01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,719 And since I've been listening to Herbert Marshall do a very bad radio show 885 01:01:00,719 --> 01:01:06,360 in the fifties, I said, the British actors in American radio who defined 886 01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:08,440 the idea of England for the American audience and the post war period, great 887 01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:10,719 brilliant, come and do it. So then I had to come up with 888 01:01:10,760 --> 01:01:14,559 something to prove my point. And I was going to be speaking at the 889 01:01:14,760 --> 01:01:17,280 at the King Theater. Now, mind you, this arts festival scattered all 890 01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:22,239 about Halesworth and the rest of the small little Suffolk town, so it's all 891 01:01:22,239 --> 01:01:23,800 over the place. It's one of those things where they get a room here, 892 01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:28,840 they get a room here at the old Multiri multi factory and pop, 893 01:01:28,920 --> 01:01:31,119 pack you in here. So I was impressed here that I would be speaking 894 01:01:31,119 --> 01:01:36,039 at the King Theater, expecting, as I did, some sort of you 895 01:01:36,079 --> 01:01:39,280 know Edwardian place with Victorian with three leve cheers of balconies and some you know 896 01:01:39,400 --> 01:01:45,719 musty you know back stage areas and the King. Well I get to the 897 01:01:45,840 --> 01:01:49,639 King Theater and it turns out that it's a room in the d L. 898 01:01:49,840 --> 01:01:54,280 King Auto Dealership. It's where they had the little conferences and they got together 899 01:01:54,320 --> 01:01:59,840 for sales talks or presentations or whatever. Hi, cho up, I'm at 900 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:04,320 a dealership and Halesworth. But it was a good It was a you know, 901 01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:07,800 a nice seating a lot of people could pack in, and they did 902 01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:12,480 pack in its standing room only, and it was just absolutely marvelous. And 903 01:02:12,519 --> 01:02:16,039 then we did work on our continuing effort to bring the writings in the television 904 01:02:16,039 --> 01:02:19,639 shows of pigle inch back to his life. I step stay with their daughter 905 01:02:19,639 --> 01:02:22,880 and her musician husband, and that was great. It's the Garden of England. 906 01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:25,639 It's a small town. It's the growling sea at the edge of town, 907 01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:30,119 just constantly pawing at the at the island and taking a few inches away 908 01:02:30,199 --> 01:02:35,719 every millennium or whatever, running down the beach with a dog, seeing going 909 01:02:35,719 --> 01:02:38,599 to the pub for an astonishing quiz night, Sitting next to a guy who 910 01:02:38,599 --> 01:02:42,760 lives around the corner, who was in the last Star Wars, who was 911 01:02:42,760 --> 01:02:45,920 in the solo Star Wars movie. He got he got stabbed. I didn't 912 01:02:45,920 --> 01:02:49,920 want to bring it up. And his father was in the original House of 913 01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:52,599 Cards in England. Ian Richardson was his father. Oh you're kidding, Wow, 914 01:02:52,679 --> 01:02:58,679 Oh. Ian Richardson was a great actor, right serious, even though 915 01:02:58,679 --> 01:03:00,039 we only know him for the House of Card. And so is Miles and 916 01:03:00,039 --> 01:03:05,079 so you know in Miles's incredibly plumby voice and he's just the very picture of 917 01:03:05,079 --> 01:03:09,679 a British actor, speaks like so and you know, and then you find 918 01:03:09,679 --> 01:03:15,760 yourself and my favorite the we're sitting around with with Jan Etherton, who has 919 01:03:15,960 --> 01:03:22,840 has been she writes a sitcom for BBC Radio with Joanna Lumley and Roger um 920 01:03:22,559 --> 01:03:28,239 um Okay alum Okay and the comic actor. He's doing comedy work. He's 921 01:03:28,320 --> 01:03:32,559 absolutely he's wonderful in this series and sore and the talk turns to musical theater, 922 01:03:32,599 --> 01:03:37,519 as it does sometimes, because Dennis had written several privates on parade um 923 01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:40,719 a whole bunch of Dennis's composer and the rest of it. And I mentioned 924 01:03:40,719 --> 01:03:46,239 this theory that I'd heard been told was that my fair Lady is actually sort 925 01:03:46,280 --> 01:03:50,320 of a double meaning because it's how he lies. I do little would pronounced 926 01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:54,320 my fair mayfair, my fair mayfair, my fair lady. And I mentioned 927 01:03:54,320 --> 01:03:59,679 that in Dennis says bollocks, and I said, well, that's what I 928 01:03:59,719 --> 01:04:02,199 heard. Astrid picks up her phone and says, I know who to call, 929 01:04:02,320 --> 01:04:06,039 and she calls the woman who was the seventh wife of the man who 930 01:04:06,039 --> 01:04:11,679 wrote the lyrics for My Fair Lady, and she texts we were having a 931 01:04:11,679 --> 01:04:15,360 conversation here. It turns out that that my fair Lady made me a play 932 01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:18,079 in the words it's my fair lady, and the woman text bags almost immediately 933 01:04:18,239 --> 01:04:23,320 absolute balos. So if anybody brings that up to me, I can say, 934 01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:25,679 well, I was at a diner party. You know. We asked 935 01:04:25,679 --> 01:04:29,800 it his seventh wife about it, and she was quite quite quite clear didn't 936 01:04:29,840 --> 01:04:31,079 have So I mean, I go to this place and all these people are 937 01:04:31,119 --> 01:04:35,280 brilliant, and they're all intelligence smart, and conversation is sparkling, and it's 938 01:04:34,840 --> 01:04:41,559 just it's I mean, it's the greatest. It's it's my second home, 939 01:04:41,639 --> 01:04:44,719 and I love it so much and I have such fun when I was there. 940 01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:48,320 Now Barcelona, we stayed with the exchange students, with our old exchange 941 01:04:48,320 --> 01:04:55,400 student and her parents one and so we got a granular molecular level tour of 942 01:04:55,639 --> 01:05:00,400 eight eleven miles a day, walking through downtown Barcelona, through winding through the 943 01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:03,159 old medieval areas, going to the Roman ruins, and of course you got 944 01:05:03,199 --> 01:05:10,360 to see the gaudy church, which is ugly. It's fascinating. I think 945 01:05:10,400 --> 01:05:15,320 it's an insectisoid alien nightmare, but it's fascinating. And so you spent a 946 01:05:15,360 --> 01:05:18,119 lot of time. So just could be There's nothing I love more in life 947 01:05:18,159 --> 01:05:21,719 than to walk around a city with my daughter and just soak it all in 948 01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:26,639 the typeface of the buildings that the architecture, the history there's the manifestation of 949 01:05:26,679 --> 01:05:29,599 the way it is that this minute, the way it manifests what was five 950 01:05:29,679 --> 01:05:31,599 hundred years ago, that is my great joy into light in life and I 951 01:05:31,679 --> 01:05:34,880 got to do it again and so I can die happy. I was sad 952 01:05:34,880 --> 01:05:40,840 that I missed the podcast, but you know what, I think Barcelona a 953 01:05:40,880 --> 01:05:43,239 little bit better and now I have to go. We'd like to thank you 954 01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:46,079 all for listening. Bowl and Branch brought you this podcast. And you know, 955 01:05:46,440 --> 01:05:49,360 get yourself. If you haven't, just do it, get the sheets. 956 01:05:49,679 --> 01:05:53,199 You will sleep better for the rest of your life. And of course, 957 01:05:53,519 --> 01:05:55,920 Rob, would you like to tell them that there's a five star review 958 01:05:55,920 --> 01:05:58,119 waiting to be written on Apple podcast. There is. You can take a 959 01:05:58,119 --> 01:06:01,079 minute to leave a five star review and Apple podcast and the benefit of that 960 01:06:01,159 --> 01:06:04,280 is that the algorithm kicks in and more people can find the podcast. So 961 01:06:04,320 --> 01:06:09,400 please do that for us. And speaking of people, of course, Ricochet 962 01:06:09,440 --> 01:06:13,000 people meet in person in the real world in meat space as we used to 963 01:06:13,039 --> 01:06:15,199 call it a horrible term. Go to ricochet dot com and you can check 964 01:06:15,199 --> 01:06:18,519 the side panel. It'll tell you where and if or when there's a meetup 965 01:06:18,519 --> 01:06:21,800 near you, or you can meet your feeble or Ricochetti. Gentlemen, pleas 966 01:06:21,840 --> 01:06:26,159 would be back. Great to talk to you, and we'll see you in 967 01:06:26,159 --> 01:06:30,320 the comments at Ricochet four point next week, Next week, fellows, next 968 01:06:30,360 --> 01:06:38,840 week boys. Hello, I'm Dennis Neal and here's what's bugging me. The 969 01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:43,639 media are burying some of the biggest scandals of our lifetime, and I'm here 970 01:06:43,679 --> 01:06:45,880 to call them out on it and make fun of them for it. The 971 01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:51,119 Twitter files and government censorship, the Biden documents, the Hunter laptop, the 972 01:06:51,280 --> 01:06:58,239 lies of the FBI and the Russia Gate, host China spy balloons and toxic 973 01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:02,800 chemical burnoffs. Join me to hear things no other journalist will dare tell you. 974 01:07:03,280 --> 01:07:09,320 All that and more on What's Bugging Me Available for download and streaming every 975 01:07:09,360 --> 01:07:15,840 Thursday right here on the Ricochet Audio Network and wherever you get your podcasts Ricochet 976 01:07:17,559 --> 01:07:18,599 Join the conversation.