WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.040 Yeah, oh, I missed it. You know. It's one thing 2 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.480 I do keep up with closely, Charlie is your Twitter game, 3 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:07.719 which is one of the top five percent in the world. 4 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:13.279 But I think, ask not what your country can do 5 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:16.960 for you, ask what you can do for your country. 6 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:24.559 Mister Garbachoff, Tear down this wall. It's the Ricochet Podcast 7 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:28.359 with Steve Hayward along with Charles C. W. Cook breaking 8 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:31.800 it all down with our special guests Scott Jennings, author 9 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:36.320 of a Revolution of common Sense, So Let's have ourselves 10 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:40.240 a podcast in which she's quoted as referring to you 11 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.960 as excuse me and again not my words, sir, but 12 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:46.240 a conspiracy theorist of a decade. 13 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.520 As like I'll trust I'll trust what you said. I 14 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:50.240 haven't looked at the article. I of course have heard 15 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:55.719 about it, but conspiracy theorists sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, 16 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.159 but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true. 17 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:02.520 Welcome everybody to the Ricochet Podcast, number seven hundred and 18 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:06.120 sixty nine. I'm Steve Hayward out in California along with 19 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.879 Charles C. W. Cook in Florida. James is indisposed overseas 20 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:13.640 a lot to get to this week as always, but Charles, 21 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.120 since I have the host parrogative this week, I've been 22 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.959 curious for a long time, and I'm sure some listeners 23 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.359 are too. What does c W stand for in the 24 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:25.319 middle of your name? 25 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.959 It's Christopher William Charles, not real concealed weapon. 26 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.640 Oh, I think that's what we're spreading around though. That's 27 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.120 a good one, right, right, I mean it's I think, 28 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:39.719 as you know, it's slightly unusual for Americans to have 29 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:40.719 two middle names. 30 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.680 Although my way i've been you know why I write 31 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:46.799 with it? Maybe I've told you because I had repeated yes, 32 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:50.560 because of Charlie Kirk the post. Yeah right, it's getting 33 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.640 my hate mouth, so I thought it was only fair 34 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:55.120 to distinguish myself from the right. 35 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:59.319 And Yeah, although the names are the same, you're pretty 36 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:03.239 different people, both in appearance bearing views what you write it. 37 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.359 But you know you can see how it happens. There 38 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:10.960 is actually a Canadian born novelist named Stephen Hayward, exact 39 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.680 same spelling as mine. I don't think he's very political. 40 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.120 I haven't read any of his novels, but he happened 41 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:18.599 to be down at I think he's still teaching at 42 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:22.919 Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and he was there. It 43 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:24.719 was that year that I came to the University of 44 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:27.080 Colorado at Boulder, and we would get confused once in 45 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.719 a while, which I thought was the poor man, because 46 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:38.879 I was the controversial one and he's just teaching English literature. Yes, 47 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.039 when I used to write a lot of cover stories 48 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.879 for the Weekly Standard, I would get fan mail saying, 49 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:46.680 what of a great article? And my wife loves you 50 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:51.599 because she says you're the cute one on Fox News. 51 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.879 And then we have gotten each other's email a couple 52 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:57.520 of times when people have both of them, and including 53 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.719 one day my wife missus twenty years ago when our 54 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.719 kids were small and we were both working in downtown Washington, 55 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:06.240 and my wife sends out an email saying, Hey, can 56 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:08.759 you pick up the kids from preschool? But she sent 57 00:03:08.759 --> 00:03:09.639 it to Steve Hayes. 58 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:11.560 Did he do it? 59 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.000 No? He wrote back and said, happy to, but you 60 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.319 want to check with your husband first. So we've had 61 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.599 fun with that over the years. Yeah, that does happen. 62 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:26.080 So all right, gosh, it's on that happy note, which 63 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:29.439 I wish we could continue. What a what a horrible week? 64 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:34.319 I mean, this shooting in Australia, this Brown University shooting 65 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:38.960 which apparently involves also apparently it's now i think confirmed, 66 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.840 the same person shot the scientist at MIT, making this 67 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:47.319 quite different from your normal campus mass shooting event. So 68 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.479 it was still a lot to learn about that, and 69 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:53.199 then the terrible Rob Ryer story. But I think let's 70 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.039 maybe spend a minute or two on Australia. You know, 71 00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:58.560 the Muslim angle, of course is well known and well 72 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:02.759 talked about. But Charlie, especially with you being the Second 73 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:07.599 Amendment advocate, liberals are being notably silent on the fact that, 74 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.599 as they've been telling us for twenty years, there are 75 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.080 no guns in Australia. How could this possibly happen? 76 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:17.160 Take it away, Well, there are guns in Australia. There 77 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:20.120 are four million or so guns, and there are more 78 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.759 guns now than there were twenty five years ago when 79 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:27.879 the last vestiges of the reforms of nineteen ninety six 80 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:34.079 went into force. What Australia did in the nineteen nineties 81 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:38.560 after the Port Arthur massacre was past. All of the 82 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:42.600 gun control provisions that American gun controllers would like here, 83 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:50.160 including confiscation and the melting down of guns and bands 84 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:57.120 on most modern weapons, but there are still guns in Australia. 85 00:04:58.120 --> 00:04:58.399 Now. 86 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.680 I'm of the view that thenineteen ninety six law didn't 87 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.839 do a great deal. I think it may have very 88 00:05:03.879 --> 00:05:10.000 slightly reduced the suicide rate. Suicide rates are tricky and 89 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.079 nevertheless interesting, because you will find nations where there are 90 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.959 no guns really at all. South Korea and Japan have 91 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:21.160 much higher suicide rates than say the United States, because 92 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:25.079 we get substitution effects. But I think in Australia it 93 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.040 may be fair to say that their suicide rate was 94 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:30.240 slightly diminished out last thing on that I don't think, 95 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:32.680 and this is the American in me. I don't think 96 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.800 that you should pass gun control laws to protect people 97 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:39.600 from themselves. Maybe that makes me a libertarian, but I 98 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.800 think the case is much stronger, although I'm against it, 99 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:48.000 when you're arguing that you should protect people against others. Anyhow, 100 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:50.680 Australia did that in nineteen ninety six. I don't think 101 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.839 it did very much. What did did not do, clearly 102 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:58.319 was make it impossible to stage a massacre because you 103 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:00.959 can't stop this. You can't stop it with guns, in 104 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:03.079 my view, but really you can't stop it at all. 105 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:07.079 And if you look around the world, when people who 106 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:11.680 wish to harm large numbers of innocent people cannot get 107 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:14.160 hold of guns, which they usually can. There are mass 108 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.680 shootings in Sweden and Germany and France and the Netherlands 109 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:21.319 and so forth. But when they can't get hold of firearms, 110 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:26.240 they get hold of cars or trucks or knives or bombs. 111 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.639 And I'm something of a fatalist on this, and so 112 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:32.199 I don't turn this answer into a two hour disquisition. 113 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:36.360 Let me put it like this. My view, basically, Steve, 114 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.600 is that it is possible, with good policing and a 115 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.519 lot of thought and effort and sometimes money, to reduce 116 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.560 daily crime. I think we've learned this around the country 117 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.839 over the years. If you know where the crime is committed, 118 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:52.959 if you know who's committing it and why, then you 119 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:57.319 can reduce it. I don't think it is easy to 120 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:02.160 reduce mass killings mass shootings. Once the guns are in 121 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:04.480 a country, somebody who wants to do a lot of 122 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.600 harm at a random point that could never be predicted 123 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.399 is most likely going to be able to do it. 124 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.800 And as such, the fact that Australia has responded to 125 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:18.680 this by saying, well, now will gun control even harder 126 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:23.600 is to me ridiculous and an application of responsibility. And 127 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:27.120 if you look at the one big thing that they're 128 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.959 trying to do, which many gun controllers in America would 129 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 like to do as well, it's reduced the number of 130 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:35.519 guns each person or household is allowed to own. But 131 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:39.360 what's that going to do? I only have two hands, Yeah, 132 00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:42.519 I mean, I'm not being facetious. If you are not 133 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.439 of my view, if you don't have the Second Amendment, 134 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.560 if you don't have an American conception of individual rights, 135 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:53.360 what's that supposed to do. These guys needed one gun each. 136 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.439 They did have more, but I think they had a couple. 137 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:59.040 They wouldn't have cared about that law, and they wanted 138 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.399 to kill Jewish people on Hanika. That the idea that 139 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.959 you're going to stop this by slightly tweaking and already 140 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:09.680 draconian set of laws is preposterous. So I think this 141 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.160 is a great example of the limitations of gun control 142 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.439 and the magical thinking that always goes into the claim 143 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.720 that if we just tweaked it a little bit more, 144 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:20.800 then we could stop this, or that you can't. 145 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.680 Yeah, And the fact that normally you would have expected 146 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:26.759 this kind of shooting to have been at a mosque 147 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:30.240 or some Jewish community center or something. The fact that 148 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:32.919 it was done out of Bondi Beach, which I've visited 149 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.679 many decades ago, is I think, you know, unexpected, you're 150 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:39.320 not going to police everywhere. The other thing, just briefly 151 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.279 about suicide rates. That long story while I'll skip over it, 152 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.799 but maybe fifteen twenty years ago, I was trying to 153 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:48.960 do a deep dive into American suicide rates by method 154 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:51.679 and so forth, and what I discovered was, are the 155 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:54.519 quality of our suicide statistics are very poor For a 156 00:08:54.600 --> 00:09:00.639 simple reason. A lot of times suicide invalidates certain life 157 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:03.919 insurance contracts, so you want to not have that be 158 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.039 listed as the cause of death on a death certificate 159 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:08.840 or a corner's report. Other times there's families who want 160 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:12.200 to not have an acknowledge that somebody has overdosed deliberately. 161 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.399 And whereas a gun suicide that you can't I mean, 162 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.919 maybe you could call it accidental, but I think when 163 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.080 the police and corner investigate, they can't fudge that too far. 164 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:26.879 And so our statistics are skewed and incomplete. And but 165 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:29.840 in the case of where like Australia. Our gun suicides 166 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.639 are harder, going to be harder to disguise or classify 167 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:38.159 something else than maybe the statistical difference is significant and measurable. 168 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:43.360 I don't know the other. Uh. I don't want to 169 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:46.840 make a shooting comparison. But Susie Wiles shot herself on 170 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.120 the foot this week, or so we're told with her 171 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:53.159 Vanity Fair interview where she made all these comments about 172 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.600 Trump has a alcoholic personality. Russ VOIGHTDT is a right 173 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:04.720 wing zealot Dvance believe in conspiracy theories and so forth, 174 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:08.120 and they're all saying it's taken out of context. I 175 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.159 have some theories about how this happened. Actually it's not 176 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.279 a theory. I'm surprised that someone as shrewd and effective 177 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.960 as Susie Wiles would have thought she would be treated 178 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.679 fairly by Vanity Fair. And I mean I've been around 179 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.759 long enough to know and to study this also that 180 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.399 what I call ventriloquist journalism runs rampant right and it's 181 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:32.360 the social skill. I mean, these elite media reporters Eric 182 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.799 Wemple in this case, But sixty minutes is the best 183 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:37.039 example I know. A couple of people have been on 184 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.679 sixty minutes, and Mike Wallace took him to the cleaners. 185 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:41.559 And they say, the way he does it is you 186 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:44.600 get relaxed with him. He makes you think he's your 187 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.720 best buddy, and then you start saying things you shouldn't say. 188 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.120 And there have been so many examples us over the years, 189 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.159 going back to in my recollection David Stockman in nineteen 190 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.639 eighty one to The Atlantic, to a very left wing 191 00:10:55.720 --> 00:11:00.480 reporter named William Grider, who took things out of context, 192 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.759 got Stockman to drop his guard and say embarrassing things 193 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:06.919 about Reaganomics, and why else appears to have done the 194 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:11.000 same thing. And I'm just astounded that an administration who, 195 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.879 more than any other is self conscious that the major 196 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.679 media is their enemy, would have fallen under this trap. 197 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.519 That's exactly my takeaway. I do think some of the 198 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:25.279 things she said are impossible to imagine in context being 199 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.799 any better than they were out of context. And for example, 200 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:32.759 saying that Elon Muskus a ketamine addict, unless she said 201 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.840 and that's a good thing at the end, then you 202 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.159 do wonder. But I can see some of it. What 203 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.399 shocks me, like you, is that she thought that the 204 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.799 inflammatory parts of what she was saying, We're not going 205 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:47.519 to be lifted out and either printed in isolation or 206 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.679 at least emblazoned on the front cover. And I say 207 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:56.000 that because Susie was is actually a fixture of where 208 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:59.080 I live, Jacksonville. She moved to Jacksonville in the eighties 209 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.039 and she's run a bunch of businesses here. Some of 210 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:04.679 them were PR firms. One of them she ran with 211 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:10.080 Tony Biselli, who was Jacksonville Jaguars Hall of Famer, played 212 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:15.080 in the NFL for eight or nine seasons. So I 213 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:19.919 am aware how solid her reputation is and how many 214 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.799 times she's been around the block. She's not twenty five. 215 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:26.879 So when I saw this and then the inevitable tweet 216 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:29.720 that said, well this is outrageous media bias and I 217 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.039 was taken out of context, I wanted the same, How 218 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:34.720 could this possibly have happened? I will say that I 219 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.679 think she might get away with it because I think 220 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:41.080 Trump will recognize the instinct. The only thing she said 221 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:45.399 about Trump was that he has the personality of an alcoholic, 222 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.000 which is something that Trump has set himself on stage 223 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.440 over and over again. And he has a very funny 224 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:51.279 line about this where he says, can you imagine what 225 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:53.759 I'd be like if I drank so because he didn't 226 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:57.480 go after him, sorry, because she didn't go after him, 227 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.480 and because she behaved in the way he does, which 228 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:02.759 is just to let it all out. I wonder if 229 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:07.879 he will actually recognize the mode and say, all right, 230 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:08.679 it's fine. 231 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.120 Well I think he did. I mean I caught secondhand 232 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.639 or a little clip of him saying, oh, yeah, that's 233 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.279 an accurate description. And then Jade Vance. I thought it 234 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.759 was also very clever he said, well, I believe conspiracy 235 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:20.840 theories that are true. That he rattled off three or 236 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:25.840 four and so sort of. And the calmness of the 237 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:29.360 White House reaction I think is kind of curious. I'm 238 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:31.480 reluctant to go as far as the saying I wonder 239 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:33.399 not that this is on purpose, but they knew it 240 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.960 was coming. He decided reacting calmly was better than going 241 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.639 off with a tantrum. The other thing I wonder, though, 242 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.440 is I mean, I don't know how much intrigued there is. 243 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:47.080 Unlike Trump one, nobody has been dismissed yet or fired 244 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.759 or moved around. And I think Trump has screened more 245 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:53.799 carefully for loyalty that's a plus the minus, of course. 246 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.000 On the other hand, I don't know if you caught this. 247 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:00.639 Maybe three weeks ago, there was a very our story 248 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.600 about Cash Patel in the New York Post by Carol Markowitz, 249 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:10.000 who's otherwise a very pro Trump columnist and knowing nothing 250 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:12.840 and not having any inside information. I did wonder, I 251 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.679 wonder if that's a planted story. You know, you're hearing 252 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:17.639 a lot of stuff, a lot of criticism of Patel 253 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:22.320 from other Republicans and people in Washington, and Dan Bongino 254 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.919 this week announced that he's leaving as the number two 255 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:30.480 person at the FBI. I wonder if the Markowitz story 256 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:36.120 was planted, and whether some of what Susie Wilds was 257 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:40.559 saying to the reporter is also playing the Washington game 258 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.519 of getting some damaging stories circulating in the press to 259 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:45.200 ease some people out. I don't know if that's just 260 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:49.240 pure speculation on my part, but that's interesting. 261 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:54.200 I mean, if one assumes that Trump is unhappy with 262 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:59.559 Pam Bondy, which probably should be, that was the yeah, 263 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:03.080 guess criticism that she could have leveled. She essentially said, look, 264 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.639 she blew this big task. There's no getting around that. Again, 265 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:12.200 that's not taking out of context. That's an attack. So 266 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:17.279 perhaps you're right either way. I think there was some 267 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.240 damage done there. I don't think the whole thing was 268 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:21.000 a setup. I don't think this is all seventy two 269 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.200 d chests. So I'm surprised that it happened. 270 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.240 Yeah, yeah, it seemed surprised me. That's right, because she seems, 271 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:31.519 for one thing, she doesn't do interviews, she doesn't go 272 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:34.120 onto Sunday talk shows like most chiefs of staff do, 273 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:37.919 and seems to run a pretty tight ship there except 274 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:41.039 for here's an exit question. We'll get out quickly here. 275 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:44.919 But so you know, Trump had that really appalling tweet 276 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.960 about Rob Reiner. One thing I've noticed about Trump's tweets. Oh, 277 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:50.759 by the way, you know, the deal has been as 278 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.559 we've heard, I'm happy with mean tweets if I get 279 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.720 three dollars gallon gasoline, okay, But this ABU is the privilege. 280 00:15:57.559 --> 00:15:59.840 But one thing about his tweets so far in Trump 281 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:03.840 two is that there's still very much in character as 282 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.120 we know in but they seem to be proof read. 283 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:09.240 I'll put it that way right now. 284 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:13.600 He dictates is that it okay seeing the video of him, 285 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.039 I think it was from election night where he sits 286 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.960 and there's a young lady in this video and he 287 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.879 dictates it and then he says, read it back to me, 288 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:21.679 and then he says. 289 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.360 Send, I didn't know that. Actually, Well that explains a lot, 290 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.840 but they seem a little different than Trump one, where 291 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:35.080 you know, we haven't had kofifi yet, which my favorite. Right, Okay, 292 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.000 well we'll leave that for now, and let's take a 293 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.799 quick break for some sponsor messages, and then we will 294 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:45.600 come back with our special guests. And now we welcome 295 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.879 to the podcast. Scott Jennings the senior political correspondent for CNN, 296 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.320 America's favorite pundit, as a lot of people say of him. 297 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.440 He's been a long time political consultant, a lecture at 298 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:00.440 Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and just announced the week 299 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:04.440 the replacement on Salem Radio on weekdays for Charlie Kirk's 300 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.559 old radio spot. He's also the author and the book 301 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:11.079 We Want to Talk About Today, A Revolution of Common Sense, 302 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:15.519 How Donald Trump stormed Washington and fought for Western civilization. 303 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.119 Scott, welcome. It's a real pleasure to have you join us. 304 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:20.680 Thank you, and good to be with you all. Honored 305 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.200 by the invitation. I'm a regular listener, longtime listener, first 306 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:24.759 time caller. 307 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:30.480 As they so, revolution of common sense, and you know, 308 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:32.160 I've read enough to know and listened to you enough 309 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.680 to know that you point out that Trump differs from 310 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:39.200 the usual even conservative politician in Washington. He doesn't use 311 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:44.880 the normal Beltway vocabulary. He's the major figure at The 312 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:47.319 other person who's like this to some extent was Ronald Reagan, 313 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:50.400 but Trump even more so. So you know, he won't 314 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:55.240 call them undocumented immigrants or undocumented aliens, right, which is 315 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.440 the politically correct term. They've been forced down on float 316 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:00.279 for thirty years, and it's not accurate, right. You know, 317 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:05.559 he ridicules paper straws, you know, a man in women's bathrooms, 318 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.640 a so forth and so. Anyway, So when did you 319 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:11.559 first pick up on that? I know that you've confessed 320 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:13.759 to being sort of a late convert to Trump, or 321 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.640 maybe medium convert to Trump, But when did you first 322 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.000 pick up on the fact that that common sense turned 323 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.039 out to be Trump's superpower? 324 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.920 Well, I was thinking about writing a book after the election. 325 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:26.160 I'd never written one before. 326 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:28.359 But I was sitting on the set at CNN on 327 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.359 inauguration day and Trump uses this phrase a revolution of 328 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.799 common sense and his inaugural address, and I turned to 329 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:37.839 Van Jones and I said, that'll make a great book title. 330 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:41.759 And a couple of weeks went by and I thought about, 331 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.000 how would I do this, and I went to pitch 332 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:46.119 him on it in the Oval office in early February. 333 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:50.160 But it really all started with hearing him phrase his 334 00:18:50.200 --> 00:18:54.079 own political branding that way. Later in the book, I 335 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:55.920 go to Michigan with him on his one hundredth day 336 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:58.759 in office, and he says to the crowd in Warren, Michigan, 337 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:01.160 whether you're right or your left, or whatever the hell 338 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:01.720 you are. 339 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:02.920 It's just common sense. 340 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.480 And so my interactions with him, my observations with him, 341 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:09.880 is that that's how he thinks of himself. I asked 342 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:12.400 him once, actually, do you consider yourself more of a 343 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:16.079 conservative or more of a common sense person? And he said, well, 344 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:18.680 most of the time conservative is common sense. But he 345 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:22.480 left himself a little wiggle room, you know, But that's 346 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:24.720 how he portrays it. I told him, I thought one 347 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:27.000 hundred of the usual suspects would come along and write 348 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:29.799 books crapping on him for the first one hundred days. 349 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:32.000 What he intended to do, and then somebody who has 350 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.119 voted for you three times, likes you and wants you 351 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:36.279 to succeed, ought to get a crack at it, and 352 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.200 he eventually agreed. 353 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:41.160 And here's the book. Yeah, so you're from western Kentucky. 354 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.400 I think that's interesting because while all the political commentators 355 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:49.200 have tended to look at how Trump broke the blue 356 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:52.200 Wall states in twenty sixteen and again in twenty twenty four, 357 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.400 you know, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and so forth, but a 358 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:00.240 few astute people I know said, you know, the really 359 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.680 interesting state to look at for Trump is Kentucky. Not 360 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:06.599 because it was a state that flipped, but maybe you 361 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.000 know Elliott County, which I think is out in eastern Kentucky. 362 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.240 It is so Elliott County is a sign a political scientist, 363 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.559 so I know these weird things. Elliott County has been 364 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.519 deep Democrat forever. It did not even vote for Ronald 365 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.519 Reagan in the nineteen eighty four landslide election. Year it 366 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:25.759 went heavily for Barack Obama twice, and then in twenty 367 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:29.759 sixteen it went heavily for Donald Trump. That tells you 368 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:33.400 something about Trump Democrats. We used to talk about Reagan Democrats, 369 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:36.960 but the Trump Democrats story in places like Elliott County, Kentucky, 370 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.480 and I think elsewhere you mentioned your own father is 371 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:44.079 an old Clinton loving Democrat who came around to Trump. 372 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.440 So I mean, isn't your state your home state, in 373 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:50.440 some ways the most emblematic state for what Trump did. 374 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.799 Yes, I mean we had been trending somewhat read since 375 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:57.799 the Obama years, but Trump put it on blast. In fact, 376 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:00.160 Kentucky was the last state that had a Democrat at 377 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:04.079 state legislature in the South until twenty sixteen, the night 378 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.319 Trump was elected, we finally flipped the state House in Kentucky. 379 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:09.039 We'd had the Senate for a number of years, and 380 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.319 so it had been somewhat resistant to the movement towards 381 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.240 the Republican Party in the way that the rest of 382 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:17.039 the South had moved, particularly at the local level. And 383 00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:19.799 we still have a Democratic governor today, although I think 384 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:23.279 that's going to change in twenty twenty seven. But yes, 385 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.440 there are a lot of people in Kentucky, in east 386 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:30.000 and West who had been a career and lifelong Democrats. 387 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:32.799 Their parents and grandparents were Democrats who referenced my father, 388 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:35.960 Jeff Jennings from Dawson Springs, Kentucky. 389 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:36.319 Where I grew up. 390 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:38.720 I mean, these are the biggest Clinton people I knew 391 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:40.599 when I was growing up. They were in unions, they 392 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:43.160 loved Bill Clinton. They were Democrats. My grandfather was a 393 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:46.759 New Deal Democrat. I was a recial Republican from the 394 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.960 time I was eighteen. I came of age during the 395 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:52.519 gingrich Republican Revolution of the nineties, and so I felt 396 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:55.319 kindly towards that and it always appealed to me. But 397 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:57.400 you know, I grew up around all these Democrats. But 398 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.559 my dad was the first guy to tell me Donald 399 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:02.400 Trump was going to be the next president. And I, 400 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:04.480 of course, as a trained political operative, told him he 401 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:06.920