WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:05.440 Meaning a live man like this, Man, you letting butterfly 2 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:07.719 flatting and wing big down in a forest. Man, it 3 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.240 gonna cause a tree fall, letting five thousand miles away. Man, 4 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:19.399 nobody see it. Nobody else see you don't need know. Man, 5 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:22.719 He's like you followed another story and you got it 6 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.960 like that mast Win Man go like a dang on pano. Man, 7 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:37.840 don't matter. Man, all right, this this is something a 8 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:41.799 little bit different, just you and me. I know we've 9 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:46.560 been doing the monologues lately, but it's an anniversary. Just 10 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.719 hit five hundred episodes round about four years of me 11 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:57.560 seemingly yelling into the void. And so I thought I'd 12 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.159 do two things at once. One a retrospective what's happened 13 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.280 over the last four years, both from the perspective of 14 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:12.120 this show and also the world at large. I'll be honest. 15 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.680 When I started this, it was a hobby, just something 16 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:18.400 I did as I wrapped up the first or the 17 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:23.840 last few weeks of college, splitting time between two different cities. 18 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:28.840 I remember well that first episode, episode zero, with Paul Fahrenheit. 19 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:32.560 The guys still have a lot of affection for we'd met, 20 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:37.200 had a great conversation. I wasn't doing anything, and when 21 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.959 he and I spoke kind of the sud, I was like, 22 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:42.599 well that went pretty well. I bet I could do 23 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:46.879 that again. Been lurking for a long time, and you 24 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.480 know what, figured it was a way to make my entrance. 25 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:53.719 And those first couple months were weird, right, I was awkward, 26 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:56.480 didn't really know what I was doing, what I wanted 27 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.719 to say. But you know, we found some sort of 28 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:03.560 red you know, we picked up the the old theme 29 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:07.760 song sense copyright strict, can't use it anymore. Stricken I 30 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:11.360 think that's the correct term of that form of that word. Obviously, 31 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:15.919 we went through the early berserk edit thumbnails and eventually 32 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.960 found our way to the og right format at a 33 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:24.240 buddy makeup for me, and you know, things kind of 34 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.599 carried on in that that kind of holding pattern until 35 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:30.680 well I was working at a factory, started doing more 36 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.840 episodes for five a week, the first big push, if 37 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:39.159 you will. But you know what, I got married, got 38 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:42.800 a real job, and it kind of faded into the background, 39 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:47.280 but you know, it kept growing, figured out what I 40 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:51.599 actually thought, more, got better at least I hope at 41 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:57.599 doing what I do. And yeah, almost a year ago 42 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:01.560 it well became what I do my full time gig 43 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:04.759 and if you can forgive me a moment to be model, 44 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:08.039 and uh, I appreciate that right. I couldn't do this 45 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:11.639 without you guys. You support what I do, and I'll 46 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:14.680 be honest, it's kind of rare right that I get 47 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:18.639 to do my favorite thing every day, So I appreciate 48 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:22.159 that right. Not to get too emotional about it, but 49 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.319 during those four years where you know, all these changes 50 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.879 happened to my program, well, the world kept changing. Two 51 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:36.800 feels almost unrecognizable from the Biden slump right twenty twenty two, 52 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:41.080 this feeling of the eternal lib Rich, that the lid 53 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.120 had been put back on and that this creeping global 54 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:50.120 homo darkness would you know, take over the world. I 55 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:55.400 collected what I thought. I have collected the ten biggest 56 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:00.800 news stories from plus or minus the past four years, 57 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.560 and there's some interesting trends in them. In my mind, 58 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:11.039 the biggest story is the Russia Ukraine War. And when 59 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:12.800 I say that, I don't mean it's the one I'm 60 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:14.960 the most interested in. I don't mean it's the one 61 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.240 that I follow the most closely day to day. But 62 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.879 that's at least in my mind. The moment where history resumed. 63 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:26.920 Francis Fukuyama eternally btfo'ed, and it felt as if finally 64 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:34.319 we had ended the nothing ever happens, something materially had changed, 65 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:39.879 something big had happened. Two countries, two real countries, were 66 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.519 at war. Also, the sort of long running, simmering Cold 67 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.920 War II with Russia that had been going on during 68 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.560 the Obama year, certainly though arguably much before that, had 69 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:55.439 then really heated up during the Trump administration or the 70 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.959 first one finally come to the four. We also started 71 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.240 to see the empire was perhaps weaker than we thought, 72 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:08.759 there was something beyond its power. No matter how much 73 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:14.600 money it dumped into this project, well, it couldn't win. 74 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:19.240 I don't pretend to know exactly what's happening in that war. 75 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:24.879 I don't follow it. It's not my beat, but it's 76 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:28.480 still going on. I know that it seems as if 77 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:33.399 Ukraine is sort of on the losing end of this 78 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.399 Pirit campaign. Obviously they've bloodied Russia's nose to some degree, 79 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:43.800 but the biggest, most powerful empire in the world couldn't 80 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.160 get done what it wanted to get done. And this idea, 81 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.600 that liberal, peaceful democracy, that McDonald's diplomacy, the idea, of 82 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.120 course being that two nations with a McDonald's would never 83 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.079 go to war. What was wrong? The eternal progress or 84 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:05.639 Star Trek future was fake and we knew it was fake. 85 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.160 But in the moment in the trenches, it feels as 86 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:11.480 if it's going to go on forever. And look, I'm 87 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:15.160 not a Slava Boo. I don't have really many opinions 88 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:20.480 on Vladimir Putin at all. But we saw a man 89 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:26.079 make a decision, a real decision, a decision with life 90 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:30.800 and death consequences, something that hasn't happened the land war 91 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:33.600 of this scale since World War II. It felt as 92 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:40.240 if history moved again. Now, obviously the next story, and 93 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:44.120 it's arguable which one is bigger in my mind, because 94 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:46.639 you almost wonder if the second could have happened without 95 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:54.279 the first. Is the Israel situation. Every element of that. First, 96 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:59.279 of course, the October seventh unpleasantness, shall we say, which 97 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:04.439 is into the resumption of the genocide and Gaza. She 98 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:08.319 had explosive political consequences here. First, on the left we 99 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.839 started to see this generational divide over the issue of 100 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:19.079 Israel hit and hit hard college presidents replaced protests smashed 101 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:22.800 with truncheons and horses, and all of a sudden, this 102 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:28.639 went from a secondary issue for sparks, for weirdos, for 103 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:34.199 politically minded leftist radicals to center stage. There was no 104 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.120 way to get around it, and at least in my mind, 105 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:40.519 it's the moment where public perception of the state of 106 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:48.759 Israel really began to shift. Now, obviously, again, I don't 107 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:53.040 think that conservatives, and not all, but more and more 108 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.720 conservatives would have swung against Israel so cleanly and so 109 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.680 quickly had it not been for the financial extortion of 110 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:06.160 the Zelenski regime, demanding more and more money, constantly lecturing 111 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:11.360 and hectoring other NATO powers to give them more, a 112 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:16.560 sort of entitled mentality of I need your stuff and 113 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:18.399 you're a monster if you won't give it to me. 114 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.720 And well, that isn't exactly the same as how Benjamin 115 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.879 net and Yahoo's talked to us, but it's the same pattern. 116 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:29.360 You need to get me out of this situation I 117 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:34.120 got myself into. It's your responsibility, it's your duty. Now. 118 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:38.159 The Israel issue is also what has created a split 119 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.120 on the right, a split that runs right through the 120 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:45.039 heart of maga. You saw this in well, the defeat 121 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.360 of Thomas Massey, which is basically an aftershock of the 122 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:57.480 Israel issue, the IQ, if you will. But that split, 123 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.200 which runs up to about age fifty five in the 124 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.639 Republican Party and round about the same depending on who 125 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:08.960 you ask in the Democratic Party, Well, it's completely changed 126 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.600 how politics are done. The old order. It's creaking. It's 127 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:17.320 not necessarily able to answer these questions. It's not able 128 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:21.639 to form coalitions in the same way. It's fundamentally changed 129 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.720 American politics another way in which this feeling of the 130 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.039 system groaning under its own weight with no end in sight. Well, 131 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:35.360 there's light at the end of the tunnel now. And 132 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.679 of course, as the old aphorism goes, when you see 133 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:39.639 light in a tunnel, you don't know if it's daylight 134 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:41.879 or a train coming your way. I don't want to 135 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:44.039 be a Pollyanna. I don't want to be overly romantic 136 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:49.240 about this, but it's a huge thing. I mean, the 137 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:54.399 Holocaust World War two is the central organizing myth of 138 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.080 the American Empire, right of the post World War two world, 139 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:01.440 and we're watching in real time as it is desacralized. 140 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.720 As many people both left and right are saying, well, 141 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:10.440 whatever happened to you? That doesn't give your grandchildren licensed 142 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:14.960 to bomb churches, to kill women and children, and demand 143 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.919 that we pay for it. To jump when we say jump, 144 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.759 to strike an alleged nuclear facility in a mountain in 145 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.399 the middle of nowhere, Iran that we've been assured was 146 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.240 two weeks away from plunging the world into nuclear fire 147 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:32.559 for longer than I've been alive. That realization is huge. 148 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:37.080 It strikes at the very core of the current moral order. 149 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:43.840 The next big story, of course, is Trump two point zero. 150 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.720 Regardless of your opinions on the man, he ran a 151 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:54.519 very successful campaign, built a wide, highly disparate coalition, pulling 152 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:59.200 in the podcast circuit young men men under forty swung 153 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.240 hard for Trump. Under thirty did to an even more 154 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:08.960 significant degree, And of course there are still unanswered questions. 155 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:13.919 The iconic image Fight Fight Fight at Butler that this 156 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:19.799 near disaster of a political assassination. It felt as if 157 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:25.519 it was a moment where history happened again. Where were 158 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:29.559 you when you found out? I remember, I bet that 159 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.840 you do too, And at that moment it felt as 160 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:36.840 if Trump had the mandate of Heaven. All eyes were 161 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:41.360 on him. He passed the test, and I'm not going 162 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.720 to say that was the sole factor. Kamala Harris was 163 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.440 an absolutely horrible candidate. There was this new group of 164 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:51.720 tech elites coming out to play politics. Of course, Elon 165 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.919 Musk buying Twitter a huge part of that, which is, 166 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.600 let's be honest, also shaped our perception of the Israel 167 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:02.840 issue and many others. But we were seeing, at least 168 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:07.399 for a moment, a new political coalition. Now check my 169 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.600 last episode with Stormy Waters for exactly how that's going. 170 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:19.279 But it was undoubtedly seismic. Something felt dramatic. One of 171 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.120 the other I won't even say this is a story, 172 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:25.320 but trends things that have dramatically changed since I started. 173 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:28.759 This is the AI revolution. I'll be honest. I hate 174 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:33.159 talking about AI and dating discourse or things that I 175 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:35.799 sort of feel like it's a wet paint sign. I 176 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.919 know exactly what's going to happen, but I can't stop 177 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:41.279 myself from doing it. Regardless of your opinions on it, 178 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:44.200 if you're an AI optimist, a doomer, or a nothing 179 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:48.759 ever happens type, Clearly it has changed the information landscape, 180 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:53.279 not only for the ability to create look at things 181 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.399 like the Will Stancil Show or the proliferation of early 182 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:01.240 memes about smoke detectors. Right, but even down to the 183 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.759 point of what is real, people are much less trusting 184 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:10.559 because almost anyone anywhere can make something very convincing. This 185 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:13.960 desert of the real that has been remarked upon for 186 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.600 thirty years, well it's getting drier. There is less and 187 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:22.080 less reality. It's more and more created something. I think 188 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:25.799 that even if it's not my favorite topic to appine on, 189 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:33.000 it has changed many aspects of our personal lives, but 190 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:37.559 also our political reality. On the stupid level, you have 191 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.840 I ran making lego edits of Donald Trump crying, which 192 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:46.679 is okay stupid, but uh, you know, my grandma is 193 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.679 worried about getting phone calls from someone who sounds like me, 194 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:57.559 worried about, you know, even the kind of her own grandchildren, 195 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:02.879 their voices being stolen used to get money out of her. 196 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:07.240 And that's a silly example. It's not the most impactful thing, 197 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.679 but in much the same way that social media, the 198 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:14.399 algorithm changed how people interact, changed how people were their 199 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.840 day Waye's done the same thing, and if projections are 200 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:22.440 to be believed, this isn't stopping soon, the economy may 201 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:29.720 well change. We may have a large population effectively useless people. 202 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.279 Not useless on a personal level, but someone for whom 203 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.080 there is nothing to do. I don't know if that's 204 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:39.720 going to happen. Smart people seem to think it might. 205 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.240 But if we're looking at trends forward, we both have 206 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:48.399 the resumption of history. We're no longer in the interminable 207 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.559 twentieth century. It's still lingering on. It's not dead yet, 208 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:57.759 but it feels as if finally something new is happening. 209 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:05.440 A different angle on this when I talked earlier in 210 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:12.120 this podcast about the political order becoming sort of moreribunt, 211 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:18.039 becoming ossified, losing its vitality. A big part of that, 212 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:20.519 and this is something you saw happen before the US 213 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:25.480 Civil War, is that the number of issues, well, it 214 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:30.600 really narrowed. There was really only one thing to argue about. 215 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.679 These kind of secondary issues which had organized politics were solved, 216 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:39.440 they fell by the wayside. And in my mind, the 217 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:43.200 two issues we are seeing exactly that is on abortion 218 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:45.879 and the Second Amendment. I don't want to bore you 219 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:48.039 guys with my rant on the Second Amendment, so I'll 220 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:52.960 stick to abortion. Roe versus weight being struck down. This 221 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:57.080 is a huge story. If you're from read America, you 222 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:02.320 grew up in a religious community, goal forever. My dad 223 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:05.200 was at the March for Life when he was a kid. 224 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.320 I haven't been to it. I probably should. But this 225 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.600 has been a central focus of American politics, on both 226 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.720 the pro and against side, a defining issue. And Okay, 227 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:18.720 kicking it back down to the state didn't exactly make 228 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:25.559 people with the feelings I have towards abortion happy whatever 229 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:30.279 camp you think I'm in, but it kind of solved 230 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.919 the issue, at least for a time. It went from 231 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.720 being top line politics to well, something that doesn't bite 232 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:42.000 as much. You can live in New York and sacrifice 233 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.679 as many infants as you want to Moloch, We're in Alabama. 234 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:49.799 It simply isn't happening. This has had effects on demography, 235 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:56.759 but not necessarily the ones people expected. For instance, fewer 236 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.200 black children are being aborted, but also fewer of them 237 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:04.279 are being born, which I think is something that almost 238 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.920 none of us expected. Interesting. You know, I'm again firmly 239 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.680 anti abortion. I think that that is a good thing 240 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:14.480 that it is not happening. But yeah, the results of 241 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:17.599 which are still kind of percolating. But I think everyone 242 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.799 was surprised by that, both that it happened, and it 243 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:23.799 seemed to be this sort of Solomon moment, ironically enough, 244 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:27.079 cutting the baby in half, solving the issue by hook 245 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:30.200 or by crook. And let's be honest, I've been pretty 246 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.000 harsh to the Trump administration, and I think fairly so, 247 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.079 but I have to be honest, killing Roe versus weight 248 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:42.079 automatically puts him in the top. I probably twenty percent 249 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:45.200 just off that alone. That's something I never thought would 250 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.839 be done. That's something I never thought we would get, 251 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:51.599 something sorely needed. And so if nothing else, it's sort 252 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:56.119 of like, well, every other politician was screwing me too, 253 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:00.960 so that kind of nets out, and you know, we 254 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.599 got Row, and that's important. Both on a moral level, 255 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:07.319 I viewed as one of the grave sins of the 256 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.880 American Empire, the murder of you know, millions and millions 257 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.680 of children, both directly and indirectly, depending on how much 258 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:20.000 of a peacenick you are, but also in the sense 259 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:23.880 that it felt like we were driving to a conclusion 260 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:25.720 all of a sudden, we were driving towards a new 261 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:30.680 political order that guns and abortion, the two issues that 262 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.720 had really defined the culture War. Well, all of a 263 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:36.759 sudden we could talk about something else, We could push 264 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.799 towards something else. And sure there are still fierce debates 265 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:46.359 over abortion and over the Second Amendment, but finally there 266 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.000 was at least a sign of some sort of resolution 267 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:55.720 to that, some way to talk about something else. Another one, 268 00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:00.079 which is if we're talking about finally the end of 269 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:05.079 the twentieth century. The death of Queen Elizabeth was sort 270 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:11.319 of symbolic. Ruled for seventy years, presided over the absolute 271 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:19.680 disillusion of the British Empire. And Okay, sure, an old 272 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:23.000 woman died. She was not a powerful monarch. Clearly, she 273 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.680 spent her entire career deferring, and many of the time 274 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:29.720 she chose to take an active chance or active stance were, 275 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.920 in my mind wrong. I don't agree with her position. 276 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.640 She screwed over the Rhodesions people that I have a 277 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:41.599 great deal of sympathy for. Actually, it's funny, I literally 278 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.279 have at whatever and I'm going to show you we 279 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.920 have some Rhodesian equipment in the in the recording studio. 280 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.799 The point is, this is another way in which it 281 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:56.960 felt like the twentieth century was done. A woman who 282 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.799 had been on the throne for most of it, through 283 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:03.680 effectively the entire post war era, the era of the 284 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:08.519 American Empire. She wasn't around anymore, and it felt as 285 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.480 if the last connection to that world went with her. 286 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:15.519 Also symbolically, the funeral was incredibly poignant, and I think 287 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:19.559 for many people we saw a sort of spark an 288 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:22.400 ember in the Ashes, a culture we assumed to be 289 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:26.240 dead that was still there. And were there embarrassing things 290 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:28.640 about it? Sure, were there things that were cringe, were 291 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:31.279 there things that you or I would not have done, 292 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.799 But it felt as if we saw the English spirit 293 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:40.440 dimly but still there. The fire is still burning, even 294 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:44.359 if it's only a few glowing coals, a sign up 295 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:49.720 for hope. I think, and look, the Anglos, the Brits, 296 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.799 they have it worse than us in some ways, but 297 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:57.640 I've been impressed with them, very impressed with them. Recording 298 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:01.720 this as the riot's rage across Spelfast. I realize they're 299 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:05.640 Northern Irish, but they're loyalists all the same. And when 300 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:08.119 you look at that, when you look at the rise 301 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:14.160 of restore Britain, to me, I see hope there and 302 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:18.400 four years ago I didn't see much at all, really, 303 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:23.839 And look, you guys know me. I don't tend to 304 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:28.359 be overly optimistic. Look at my profile picture. The man 305 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:31.359 with the head in his hands, that's me. But at 306 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:35.319 the same time, when we're talking about the end of 307 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.720 the Empire of lies, the end of the post war consensus, 308 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.200 when I say the lie can't last forever, that is 309 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:43.559 what I am talking about, at least part of it. 310 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:48.960 There are others, of course, But this moment we find 311 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.079 ourselves in feels as if, it's sort of, to use 312 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:56.200 an overused millennial phrase, a liminal space one and the 313 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.240 other the realm of Janus, the two faced god of 314 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:03.440 ending and beginnings. We're not quite there yet, but it 315 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:08.079 seems as if everyone feels it. And this moment when 316 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:13.759 Queen Elizabeth died, much like Land War in Europe, much 317 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:18.240 like Row Versus weighed well, it felt like things were moving, 318 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:23.640 things were changing. It was not eternal. To take things 319 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:29.839 into a slightly more mundane direction, we really can't talk 320 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:33.359 about the last two years, or bikes four years held 321 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:37.480 the last six without talking about the cost of living crisis. 322 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:43.039 This explosive mix of skyrocketing asset prices, whether you look 323 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:46.640 at homes, used cars, as I certainly want to do 324 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:52.680 new cars, food, groceries, energy, anything, it's getting more expensive. 325 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:58.640 It feels as if the merry go round is well, 326 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:03.000 it's sort of finding to a halt the idea that 327 00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:05.559 things always got better, that you could sort of just 328 00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:08.279 park your money and ride your way to prosperity on 329 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:11.960 this sort of general upward trend, Well, it's not there. 330 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:16.400 This sense of dispossession has built up an incredible amount 331 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.440 of political animosity on again both the right and the left. 332 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.559 How many people are involved in left wing politics because 333 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.079 they are hyper educated and cannot find gainful employment. The 334 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:30.880 stereotype of the PhD at Starbucks is certainly a stereotype, 335 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:35.359 but there's some truth to it. This boomer zoomer divide 336 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:39.359 is certainly felt hottest over the issue of Israel, but 337 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:41.960 a big part of it a sort of secondary theater 338 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:47.240 the Pacific to the European theater, if you will, is 339 00:23:47.319 --> 00:23:50.000 cost of living. This is an area where the Trump 340 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:54.759 administration has gotten really wrong footed, focusing on protecting luxury 341 00:23:54.799 --> 00:24:02.920 boomer communism, social programs, Medicare, social Security, while effectively letting 342 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:07.440 guys like you and me rot crushed under the weight 343 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:12.519 of inflation, crushed under stagnating wages, crushed under mass migration, 344 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.000 people competing for the rules we were assured were good 345 00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:25.440 paying jobs. This also ties into, albeit indirectly, the sexual 346 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.039 crisis men and women. It's been going on for a while, 347 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:31.880 but it feels as if it's getting worse and worse. 348 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.640 The inability of people to pair off and have children. Now, look, 349 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:39.519 it's not all bad. The white birth rate in America's 350 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:42.440 gone up under Trump, something again I think we need 351 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:47.200 to thank him for. But a large part of this 352 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:51.200 is economic. Young men as a class are suffering. They're 353 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:54.599 suffering in education, they're suffering in the job market. The 354 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.240 amount of men who have dropped out, who are neat 355 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.240 doing nothing, no friends, no pros, no girls, no ambition, 356 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:08.279 what's never been higher. And it feels as if it's 357 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:11.480 a hopeless situation. It feels as if you will never 358 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:13.519 own a house. It feels as if you will never 359 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.640 be able to afford the quality of life that your parents, 360 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:21.000 let alone your grandparents had at your stage. At least anecdotally, 361 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:25.319 everyone bar one or two examples in my peer group 362 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:32.119 is downwardly socially mobile, doing worse, maybe breaking even but 363 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.119 doing it in a different way, working harder, both parents 364 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:40.799 in the workforce. We're getting squeezed, We're getting screwed, and 365 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:44.039 it's bad in America, it's worse in Europe. The sky 366 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:48.880 high youth unemployment, crushing pension plans, somehow worse than what 367 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:55.039 we've got. This story cannot be overstated. It's a huge 368 00:25:55.200 --> 00:26:00.880 trend and shows no signs of improving. This is a 369 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.400 minor one one that's stuck out in my head. The 370 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:10.119 capture of Maduro, a moment that I didn't really care 371 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:13.319 about as much as others did. It's sort of a 372 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:18.359 part of being a regional hedgemon. That you mess with 373 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.480 the ban of republics around you, that you mess with 374 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:25.039 the smaller countries. It's human behavior. But I will say 375 00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:27.160 the US military came out of it looking much better 376 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:29.680 than they have in Iran. You have to give them that. 377 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:33.039 And I think a lot of people, myself included, were 378 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.480 hoping that that was a sign of a pivot to 379 00:26:35.559 --> 00:26:40.839 our sphere of influence away from forever wars. Unfortunately it wasn't, 380 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:44.079 but it seems to have been an opportunity, right we 381 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.880 could have been that instead of trying to be the 382 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.200 world's policeman all over again, failing to learn the lessons 383 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:54.759 of yesteryear. But it was a daring raid. A little 384 00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:57.359 bit of information on it. I can't reveal my sources 385 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:00.960 or what I know, but I will say, like cool, 386 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:05.160 you have to give him that, parading a captured enemy 387 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.000 through the streets of New York like a Roman triumph. 388 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.440 As the kids say, it's got aura give him again. 389 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:15.440 If nothing else props for that. And the last story 390 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:21.160 one that runs through all of these are the Epstein files, 391 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:28.519 which have really grabbed onto the public imagination Watergate for 392 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:33.079 a decade now. We saw it, of course, really flare 393 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:38.079 up initially when the man died, coleting into the Pizzagate stuff, 394 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:42.640 but it never stopped developing, the slow drip of information, 395 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:46.519 each file more monstrous than the last, the realization and 396 00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:49.720 how many people were connected to this man, both in 397 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:54.119 our politics and also in foreign politics. Members of the 398 00:27:54.160 --> 00:28:00.880 Norwegian government, prominent British politician Pete mandelssoon any number of 399 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:07.880 figures tied into this ethnic blackmail money laundering network, and 400 00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:11.359 of course this ties into both the growing dissatisfaction with 401 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.759