1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: California continues to be the absolute worst, DC is getting 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,799 a little bit better, and Trump works to broker a 3 00:00:06,879 --> 00:00:10,199 peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. All that and more 4 00:00:10,359 --> 00:00:26,679 on the Kylie Cast. Hi everybody, and welcome to the 5 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,559 Kylie Cast. I am Kylie Griswold, Managing editor at The Federalist. 6 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,600 If you'd like to email the show, you can do 7 00:00:32,679 --> 00:00:35,520 so at radio at the Federalist dot com. We always 8 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,039 love to hear from you, and if you're just listening 9 00:00:38,039 --> 00:00:41,079 to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, be sure 10 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,679 to go over and check out the full video version 11 00:00:43,719 --> 00:00:46,399 of the show on my personal YouTube channel or the 12 00:00:46,439 --> 00:00:50,320 Federalists channel on Rumble. Of the two major parties in 13 00:00:50,359 --> 00:00:55,000 American politics, only one is concerned about making America safer 14 00:00:55,159 --> 00:00:58,920 and better, making America great again, which wouldn't be necessary 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,600 if it weren't for the other made party doing everything 16 00:01:01,679 --> 00:01:04,760 it possibly can to make America more dangerous in pretty 17 00:01:04,799 --> 00:01:07,599 much every single way. The first example of that this 18 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,079 week was an absolutely tragic case. Perhaps you've seen the 19 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,599 video of an accident where a semi truck driver did 20 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,359 an illegal U turn and killed a family of three 21 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,040 in Florida. Here's the videos it's pretty hard to watch. 22 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 2: A deadley crash here at Florida getting national attention, including 23 00:01:27,599 --> 00:01:31,120 from the White House. Surveillance video shows a trucker making 24 00:01:31,159 --> 00:01:34,680 an illegal U turn and that's when a minivans slammed 25 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,120 into it, killing three people inside. 26 00:01:37,599 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: This is obviously a terribly tragic situation, so hard to watch. 27 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,040 Our hearts go out to the family and friends of 28 00:01:44,079 --> 00:01:47,319 those who are killed in this accident. Just absolutely awful. 29 00:01:47,879 --> 00:01:51,159 But this whole thing is made worse by the fact 30 00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:54,599 that the driver of this eighteen wheeler was an illegal 31 00:01:54,799 --> 00:02:00,680 immigrant who obtained CDLs unlawfully from the Deep States of 32 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,879 both Washington and California. And this, of course is happening 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,479 just as Gavin Newsom is desperately trying to get ahead 34 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,439 to be a viable candidate for president. He's been cleaning 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,639 up or attempting to clean up his record and walk 36 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,400 back his previously held positions on things. He's been trying 37 00:02:17,439 --> 00:02:20,800 to imitate the Trump effect, the way that Trump communicates, 38 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,199 He's been trolling him online. It's just very obvious that 39 00:02:24,199 --> 00:02:27,159 he's desperate to run for president, and then this this 40 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,439 horrible accident that was caused by the failed policies of 41 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,319 his own state, where an illegal immigrant can get a 42 00:02:33,759 --> 00:02:36,719 not only a driver's license, but a CDL to drive 43 00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:39,879 one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road. It's 44 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,400 just Democrat failures all the way down. It's Democrats falled 45 00:02:43,439 --> 00:02:45,520 in every single way, not only because of states like 46 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,680 California giving illegal aliens special licenses to operate these dangerous vehicles, 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,000 but the mainstream Democrat parties embrace of illegal immigration and 48 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,400 open borders. Of course, throughout the previous administration, Joe Biden 49 00:02:59,479 --> 00:03:02,000 and Kamala Harris claimed that there was absolutely nothing that 50 00:03:02,039 --> 00:03:04,000 they could do, and that it was actually Republicans that 51 00:03:04,039 --> 00:03:06,960 were preventing Democrats from closing the border. It was such 52 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,159 an absurd lie. And of course the second trum Trump 53 00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:13,039 gets into office, he closes the border. Those border crossings 54 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,719 have dropped dramatically to the point that they are at 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,080 record lows. Nobody's crossing the border, and so it's very 56 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,319 clear which party wants the border closed, wants a legal 57 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,719 immigration to end, and which party does not. And of 58 00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:26,680 course it is the Democrat Party and governors like Gavin 59 00:03:26,759 --> 00:03:30,479 Newsom that want to welcome people and not only welcome 60 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,719 them into their sanctuary cities and sanctuary states like in California, 61 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,719 but to bestow upon them special privileges that not even 62 00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:41,360 all Americans get to operate machinery that is deadly and 63 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,560 kills Americans. We learn even more about this situation this 64 00:03:45,639 --> 00:03:49,719 week when we learned that federal investigators actually gave this 65 00:03:49,879 --> 00:03:55,080 illegal alien semi truck driver an English language proficiency assessment, 66 00:03:55,439 --> 00:03:59,280 which he failed, and he failed it miserably. Out of 67 00:03:59,479 --> 00:04:04,280 twelve verbal questions, he answered only two, only two questions correctly, 68 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,719 and he could only accurately identify one in four traffic 69 00:04:08,759 --> 00:04:11,560 signs twenty five percent of traffic signs. And yet the 70 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,919 state of California gave this man, who wasn't even allowed 71 00:04:14,919 --> 00:04:17,800 to be here, a license to operate an eighteen wheeler, 72 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,000 even though he could only identify one of four traffic 73 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,160 signs and answer two of twelve verbal questions correctly. And 74 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:26,120 in fact, it wasn't just California. Before California, it was 75 00:04:26,199 --> 00:04:28,360 the state of Washington that gave him a license to 76 00:04:28,399 --> 00:04:30,959 drive this vehicle. This is, of course, also an example 77 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,199 of how the evils of blue states, the problems that 78 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:39,800 blue states produce and institutionalize, bleed into red states. This 79 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:44,079 horrific accident happened in Florida, where the governor Ron de 80 00:04:44,199 --> 00:04:48,680 Santis actually takes illegal immigration and law and order very seriously. 81 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:50,959 But then you have a state like California, which is 82 00:04:50,959 --> 00:04:54,600 a sanctuary state. But of course California also doesn't close 83 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,560 its own borders. They can't contain the crime within their 84 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,720 own state, and so what you have is a state 85 00:04:59,759 --> 00:05:04,000 that flouts the law, that does not regard American life 86 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,639 or Americans in general, their rights and their liberties, and 87 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,720 instead they prioritize and give special treatment to illegal aliens. 88 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,879 And then those illegal aliens move all around the country 89 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,720 after they get their safe harbor in California and their 90 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,480 CDLs in California. And so what we end up with 91 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,399 is free states and law and order states like Florida 92 00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:27,680 that bear the brunt of the crime and lawlessness of 93 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,680 states like California. But immigration, of course, is not the 94 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,240 only area where Democrats are making America more dangerous while 95 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,639 Republicans work to make it better. Another ongoing example is 96 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:41,000 the out of control crime and Democrat controlled Washington, d C. 97 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,839 And Trump's federal takeover of it. This federal takeover of 98 00:05:44,879 --> 00:05:49,160 the District of Columbia happened earlier last week, and although 99 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:51,959 Democrats in the media are crying foul, the numbers are 100 00:05:52,079 --> 00:05:56,040 actually improving. Crime in DC is actually trending downward since 101 00:05:56,079 --> 00:05:59,079 this federal takeover. But of course Democrats and their media 102 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,120 allies hate it. They are crying foul. They are claiming 103 00:06:02,199 --> 00:06:05,120 Trump just wants more authority and more power, which is 104 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,759 such a ridiculous read on the situation. Here's a headline 105 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,480 from The Guardian, quote Trump's Washington d C takeover is 106 00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:14,480 straight out of a fascist playbook. A piece in Rolling 107 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,279 Stone reads quote, Donald Trump's DC takeover is the usual 108 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:23,079 Trumpian blend of idiocy, cruelty, and I'm censoring here bs 109 00:06:23,399 --> 00:06:27,040 A New Republic headline says, quote Trump makes wild claim 110 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,399 to excuse his fascist Washington takeover. End quote. The chairman 111 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,600 of the DNC, Ken Martin, said, quote what we're seeing 112 00:06:34,639 --> 00:06:36,800 right now is just a full on attempt by this 113 00:06:36,879 --> 00:06:40,759 authoritarian regime to march us toward full on fascism. And 114 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,319 we have to stand up right now in this moment 115 00:06:44,439 --> 00:06:45,399 as democrats. 116 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:46,079 Speaker 3: End quote. 117 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: And he's not the only Democrat that's saying this. Mainstream 118 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,480 Democrats like Hakim Jeffreys and Hillary Clinton are both claiming 119 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,319 that crime in DC is at a thirty year low. Meanwhile, 120 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,519 the DC Metro Police Department is actually under investigation for 121 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,879 allegedly fudging their crime statistics to make this city look better. 122 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,199 They've allegedly been doing this by changing the classifications of crime, 123 00:07:09,319 --> 00:07:12,360 so when something happens, they record the crime as something else. 124 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,959 So if they're responding to a violent crime like a 125 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,160 shooting or a carjacking or a stabbing, they might record 126 00:07:18,199 --> 00:07:21,439 it as an injured person being taken to the hospital 127 00:07:21,519 --> 00:07:24,279 or sick person being transported to the hospital, or they 128 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,879 might record it as a theft, which sounds much more 129 00:07:26,879 --> 00:07:30,160 sanitary and less violent than a carjacking. But even with 130 00:07:30,279 --> 00:07:33,279 this manipulation of the data in DC, the numbers still 131 00:07:33,279 --> 00:07:35,839 are not good. There's a great piece in The Federalist 132 00:07:35,879 --> 00:07:38,800 this week from John Lott who points out that the 133 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:43,319 numbers only include crime that is actually reported to police, 134 00:07:43,399 --> 00:07:47,000 and we know that victims do not often report crimes. 135 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,079 In fact, they report them less than half the time. 136 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,199 Lot says victims only report about forty percent of violent 137 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,399 crimes and thirty percent of property crimes across the country. 138 00:07:57,839 --> 00:07:59,680 That's far less than half. That does not give you 139 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,560 a good indication of what the actual numbers are, how 140 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,399 bad the crime actually is. And Lot also notes that 141 00:08:05,639 --> 00:08:09,360 where criminals are unlikely to face any consequences for their crime, 142 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,680 reporting drops even lower, because, of course, what's the point. 143 00:08:13,759 --> 00:08:15,720 Why would a victim report a crime if the police 144 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,560 aren't going to do anything about the perpetrator. But Lot 145 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,160 also shows that if you look at the FBI's crime data, 146 00:08:22,439 --> 00:08:26,839 the numbers are horrific compared to the national average. Keynotes 147 00:08:26,879 --> 00:08:30,399 that when it comes to violent crime, DC is fifty 148 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,480 four percent higher than New Mexico, which is the most 149 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:38,000 dangerous state, and two hundred and twenty percent above the 150 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,000 national average. That's for violent crime. For just the murder rate, 151 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:47,159 DC is one hundred and sixty nine percent higher than 152 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,039 the deadly estate, which is Louisiana, and over five hundred 153 00:08:51,039 --> 00:08:54,960 percent higher than the national average. That's horrific for murder. 154 00:08:55,159 --> 00:08:57,919 When it comes to robbery, DC is three hundred and 155 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,759 seventy percent higher than Maryland, which is the worst state 156 00:09:00,799 --> 00:09:05,480 for robbery, and almost one thousand percent higher than the 157 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:08,360 national average. But no matter what the stats say, whether 158 00:09:08,399 --> 00:09:10,879 you're looking at the fudged DC crime statistics or the 159 00:09:10,919 --> 00:09:14,039 FBI statistics. The reality on the ground is that DC 160 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,399 residents do not feel safe. You can ask pretty much anyone. 161 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:22,000 There's running jokes in DC that safeway is actually called unsafeway. 162 00:09:22,279 --> 00:09:24,919 You can't even go into any CBS or Walgreens and 163 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,679 actually just buy anything off the shelf because everything is 164 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,600 locked up behind plexiglass, and I mean like everything, even 165 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,759 really small things, because looters will come in and do 166 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,039 smashing grabs and just leave with a bunch of stuff 167 00:09:36,039 --> 00:09:39,600 and face no consequences for it. The Federalist's DC office 168 00:09:39,799 --> 00:09:45,519 was recently blocked. It had the entrance blocked by a drunken, disorderly, belligerent, 169 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,720 homeless person who was sitting in front of the door, 170 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,919 completely blocking the entrance. And so we had interns, these 171 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:53,840 young female interns who had left the office to go 172 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:55,919 get lunch. They came back and couldn't get back in 173 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,360 the office. Then we had other interns that were still 174 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,879 up in the office that couldn't get out. In addition 175 00:10:00,919 --> 00:10:03,600 to it just being like an unsafe situation for young women, 176 00:10:03,639 --> 00:10:05,159 it's also a fire hazard. You need to be able 177 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:06,679 to get out of your building. And one of the 178 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,279 Federalist employees called the police did not get any kind 179 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,360 of response. Called the police back another hour later, and 180 00:10:13,399 --> 00:10:15,360 the police had no record of the first call because 181 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,799 there was a shift change. So when the police finally 182 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:22,039 showed up to the Federalist's DC office, he told the 183 00:10:22,039 --> 00:10:26,960 Federalist employee that, well, you know, this is public property, 184 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,919 so there's really nothing we can do, even though this 185 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,320 homeless person was blocking the entrance up against our door, 186 00:10:33,519 --> 00:10:36,120 which is absolutely not public property. That's private property, and 187 00:10:36,159 --> 00:10:38,720 it's a fire hazard. But this is small potatoes compared 188 00:10:38,759 --> 00:10:41,399 to the type of crime that people experience in DC 189 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,279 on a regular basis. I lived in DC for a 190 00:10:44,279 --> 00:10:47,039 few years after college, and shortly before I left the city, 191 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,000 I had come out of church in the early evening. 192 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,759 It was still plenty light outside, still the daytime hours, 193 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:55,720 and I got into my car, which was parallel parked 194 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,240 in a safe neighborhood, safe neighborhood of Capitol Hill. And 195 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,039 as I get into my car, I look ahead and 196 00:11:02,639 --> 00:11:05,320 there is a double parked car from somebody who must 197 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,320 have been delivering something to a house in that neighborhood. 198 00:11:08,519 --> 00:11:12,480 And I watched a man wrestle a carjacker from his minivan. 199 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,919 And that is a normal. Not normal, It's very abnormal. 200 00:11:16,039 --> 00:11:19,039 It is a regular occurrence in even the safe parts 201 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,279 of DC. I know another woman who I used to 202 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,519 go to church with in DC, and she and her 203 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,000 husband were running an errand I believe it was on 204 00:11:27,039 --> 00:11:29,919 Capitol Hill. He was driving. She had moved to the 205 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,320 back seat to sit next to her baby, who was 206 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,720 also in the backseat, and her husband went into a 207 00:11:35,799 --> 00:11:38,879 store for just a couple of minutes and a carjacker 208 00:11:38,919 --> 00:11:41,559 got into her car while she was in the back 209 00:11:41,639 --> 00:11:45,600 seat with her baby. Just an absolutely terrifying, awful situation 210 00:11:45,759 --> 00:11:48,440 for this young mother. You'll recall a few years ago 211 00:11:48,919 --> 00:11:53,320 there was a carjacking that left a law abiding Pakistani 212 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,200 immigrant dead on the street of DC. He was ejected 213 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,480 from his own car as he tried to wrestle it 214 00:11:58,519 --> 00:12:02,279 from carjackers. And the car jack were a thirteen and 215 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,840 a fifteen year old girl. Two girls, one of which 216 00:12:05,919 --> 00:12:08,440 was three full years away from even being able to drive, 217 00:12:08,759 --> 00:12:14,360 and these girls just brazenly carjacked this uber eats driver's 218 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:17,000 car and left him dead. And the girls had the 219 00:12:17,039 --> 00:12:21,279 audacity after his lifeless body is lying on the sidewalk 220 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:26,240 to express concern that their phones were still in the vehicle. 221 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:31,320 Just absolutely sick, no accountability, horrific, horrific place to be 222 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,440 and live. I also had a situation when I was 223 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,960 living on Capitol Hill where our entire block was surrounded 224 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,399 by police officers. I couldn't leave my apartment that whole 225 00:12:38,399 --> 00:12:40,639 evening because there was a dangerous criminal on the loose 226 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:42,000 and they couldn't find him and he was just running 227 00:12:42,039 --> 00:12:44,519 around DC and they had narrowed him down to our block, 228 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:46,559 and so we were just stuck inside because there was 229 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,200 this strange lunatic running around causing mayhem. And that kind 230 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,039 of stuff happens all the time. The Pakistani immigrant carjacking 231 00:12:54,159 --> 00:12:58,000 murder happened right outside of National's Stadium, where the National 232 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,799 Baseball team plays. These should be safe parts of town, 233 00:13:01,879 --> 00:13:04,480 but they're not, because no part of d C is 234 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,240 actually safe. Even Marine Doud of The New York Times 235 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,000 admits that crime is bad and critiques Democrats for going 236 00:13:12,039 --> 00:13:14,600 to war with Trump over cleaning up the city. Because 237 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:19,000 you have these mainstream Democrats like Hillary Clinton, like Haquem Jeffreys, 238 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,360 like Chuck Schumer down playing the out of control crime. 239 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,720 Chuck Schumer came out and talked about the fact that well, 240 00:13:26,759 --> 00:13:29,399 he feels perfectly safe in DC. What is Trump even 241 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,279 talking about? And it's like, you're a grown man with 242 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,960 a security detail. Of course you feel safe, Others not 243 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,919 so much. But this is a pattern for Democrats. They 244 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,480 have to root against law and order prevailing in DC 245 00:13:41,799 --> 00:13:43,840 because if Trump can show that it's possible to clean 246 00:13:43,919 --> 00:13:46,639 up DC, then he'll also show that it's possible to 247 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:50,120 clean up other Democrat hell holes like LA and Chicago. 248 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,480 But Democrats are choosing not to and they can't let 249 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,519 Trump have the victory here, so instead they root against 250 00:13:56,919 --> 00:14:00,200 law and order. But cleaning up DC is not even 251 00:14:00,279 --> 00:14:03,120 the only good thing Democrats are rooting against this week. 252 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,240 Of course, thanks to Trump's efforts to broker peace between 253 00:14:06,279 --> 00:14:10,600 Russia and Ukraine, Democrats are also rooting against ending a war. 254 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,600 Here to discuss this with me is Federalist Senior editor 255 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,480 John Daniel Davidson, who had an excellent piece on the 256 00:14:16,519 --> 00:14:20,240 topic this week at The Federalist. John, Welcome, thanks so 257 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:20,960 much for joining me. 258 00:14:21,279 --> 00:14:23,279 Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for having me, Kylie. Good to see you. 259 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, good to see you too anytime. So, last week 260 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,559 we had Trump meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and 261 00:14:30,639 --> 00:14:33,240 this week, we had him meeting with Vladimir Zelenski in 262 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,639 the White House and of course a whole bunch of 263 00:14:35,639 --> 00:14:39,360 other European leaders. Can you give people who maybe didn't 264 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,120 tune into all of that coverage kind of a thirty 265 00:14:41,159 --> 00:14:43,919 thousand foot view of what those discussions entailed, what the 266 00:14:43,919 --> 00:14:46,879 purpose of them was, and what they accomplished or didn't. 267 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, in very broad terms, nothing has changed. I think 268 00:14:53,039 --> 00:14:57,120 our colleague Sean Davis said this earlier this week on 269 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,440 some news program. Nothing changed on the ground, either in 270 00:15:02,039 --> 00:15:06,960 the military or political situation from this time last year. 271 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,639 The only thing that has changed is the US president. Right, 272 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,279 Trump is in the White House now, not Biden. The 273 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,639 war started on Biden's watch. Trump says he wants to 274 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,639 end it. So Trump is putting effort, unlike his predecessor, 275 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:29,559 into finding a diplomatic solution to this crisis, a peace negotiation, 276 00:15:30,039 --> 00:15:32,759 a political settlement. That's always how this war was going 277 00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:36,039 to end, right, So Trump is using some political capital 278 00:15:36,039 --> 00:15:39,000 and using his very strong position as president of the 279 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,600 United States to make that happen. So first was to 280 00:15:42,679 --> 00:15:45,799 reach out to last week here in Alaska, where I 281 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:51,000 am meeting Putin at the Elmendorf Air Force Base for 282 00:15:51,279 --> 00:15:55,039 direct talks between the US and Moscow to try to 283 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,320 figure out what kind of settlement could be reached to 284 00:15:58,399 --> 00:16:00,759 bring an end to the fighting. Now, the media made 285 00:16:00,799 --> 00:16:03,000 a big deal about the fact that before the meeting 286 00:16:03,559 --> 00:16:06,200 with Putin, Trump said if I don't get a ceasefire, 287 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,279 I'm not going to be happy. And then of course 288 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,480 there was no ceasefire after that meeting, and so the 289 00:16:11,519 --> 00:16:15,759 media is, you know, as with one voice cried out, 290 00:16:16,799 --> 00:16:20,240 Trump got played and this was a big failure humiliation 291 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:25,480 for the United States. Well, as Marco Rubio said on Sunday, obviously, 292 00:16:25,799 --> 00:16:29,600 in those discussions between Trump and Putin and their top advisors, 293 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,440 which included Marco Rubio, enough progress was made to justify 294 00:16:35,799 --> 00:16:38,279 Trump and Putin coming out to make joint statements to 295 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,600 the press, a follow up phone call the next day 296 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,519 with Zelenski of Ukraine, and then every major European leader 297 00:16:46,559 --> 00:16:49,679 along with Zelenski flying to Washington, d C. On Sunday 298 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,240 for a meeting with Trump on Monday morning this week. 299 00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:57,879 So clearly, even if Trump didn't get the ceasefire, he 300 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,600 wanted none of what has happened, and since Fridays meeting 301 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:06,079 with Putin in Alaska would have happened if they hadn't 302 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,000 made some big breakthrough. And we got an insight into 303 00:17:09,039 --> 00:17:11,960 what some of that breakthrough might have been from Steve Witkoff, 304 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,880 Trump's envoy, who was at the meetings in Alaska and 305 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,319 was also in this White House meeting with the European 306 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,200 leaders in Zelenski on Monday. And one of the things 307 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:26,079 Steve Witkoff has said is that a big breakthrough in 308 00:17:26,279 --> 00:17:30,640 negotiations with Putin is getting Putin to agree in principle 309 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:36,640 that they would accept some sort of security arrangement that 310 00:17:36,759 --> 00:17:41,640 Ukraine might reach with European powers and the United States. 311 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,559 That was akin to a Article five NATO like agreement 312 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,400 of mutual security. Not NATO membership, but a NATO like 313 00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:54,119 Article five type agreement. That's a huge deal. And the 314 00:17:54,279 --> 00:17:57,680 broad outlines of that of Putin being able to accept that, 315 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,519 as I argued in my piece, were obvious before this 316 00:18:01,599 --> 00:18:05,640 war started. But the fact that Putin is now coming 317 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:07,759 to the table and saying I'll accept some sort of 318 00:18:07,759 --> 00:18:11,880 security guarantees for Ukraine, obviously on the condition that Ukraine 319 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,319 give up some of its occupy the territories that Russia 320 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,599 is occupying right now in Crimea and in some of 321 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,039 the eastern provinces of the country. And so where we 322 00:18:20,079 --> 00:18:23,119 are now after this meeting on Monday in the White 323 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,440 House with all these European leaders is they want to 324 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,640 move ahead to direct meetings between Zelenski and Putin and 325 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,160 then a trilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenski and Trump 326 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,319 just really cement a peace agreement, bring an end to 327 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:40,440 the war and have a stable kind of settlement of 328 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:45,599 the territorial claims and the security arrangements for Ukraine and Russia. 329 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,519 And so that's where things stand now. It's moving very quickly. 330 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,000 And despite what the media says about Trump getting played, 331 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,759 the leaders of Europe were singing a very different tune 332 00:18:54,759 --> 00:18:57,720 on Monday, praising Trump for getting this great breakthrough and 333 00:18:57,720 --> 00:18:59,640 for being the only one who could break the logjam 334 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:04,079 and bring Putin to the table. And so it's really remarkable, 335 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,400 and we can talk about this if you want, that 336 00:19:07,079 --> 00:19:10,720 the media is so anti Trump, they are actually rooting 337 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,759 against peace in Ukraine as though they want the war 338 00:19:14,799 --> 00:19:19,240 to continue, if only to deprive Trump of credit for bringing. 339 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: It into it, right, which I mean, we've we've really 340 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,839 known that all along I mean Trump is the master negotiator. 341 00:19:24,839 --> 00:19:27,240 We saw this with other peace deals that he's broker 342 00:19:27,519 --> 00:19:29,359 in other parts of the world, and the media are 343 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,160 always always cheering against him. It's almost like this war 344 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,720 in Ukraine had nothing to do with wanting democracy to 345 00:19:34,759 --> 00:19:37,079 prevail or with peace, and everything to do with denying 346 00:19:37,079 --> 00:19:41,240 Trump a victory and just pumping war for democrats and 347 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:41,880 the neocons. 348 00:19:43,559 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 3: Well, it's a small price to pay, you know, A 349 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,039 war in Ukraine is a small price to pay to 350 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,480 get Trump and and you know, and call him a loser, 351 00:19:51,599 --> 00:19:54,039 you know, you know what, what are a couple a 352 00:19:54,079 --> 00:19:59,920 couple thousand more Ukrainian soldiers dead compared to that, right. 353 00:19:59,039 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: As far as the leftis can, yeah, that's the ultimate goal. 354 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,000 So you write in your piece, you brought up the 355 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:08,880 territorial disputes and land concessions potentially. You wrote in your 356 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,440 piece quote that Ukraine's current borders are a relic of 357 00:20:12,519 --> 00:20:14,960 Soviet propaganda. Can you explain what you mean by that? 358 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is something that anyone with familiarity with the 359 00:20:21,759 --> 00:20:26,559 history of Ukraine and the Soviet Union is going to 360 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,319 is going to understand. And we actually ran a great 361 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,400 piece by a friend of mine. Mario Loyola, who's at 362 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,240 the Heritage Foundation three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 363 00:20:36,279 --> 00:20:38,920 February of twenty twenty two, a much longer piece than mine, 364 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,440 where he laid all of this the history of this 365 00:20:41,599 --> 00:20:46,839 out and basically made the argument, Look, Ukraine's borders are indefensible, 366 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,160 They're a relic of Soviet propaganda, and the way to 367 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,079 avoid war is to adjust these these borders and to 368 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,039 adjust the territorial claims so that Ukraine can be a 369 00:20:59,079 --> 00:21:04,279 stable holiday. Essentially, his argument, which I agree with and echoed, 370 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:08,160 is that Ukraine can have political independence or it can 371 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,680 have territorial integrity, and it can't, but it can't have both. 372 00:21:11,839 --> 00:21:15,440 And what I mean by that is this, Ukraine's borders 373 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,599 as they are right now were invented by Soviet Premier 374 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,759 Khrushchev in nineteen fifty four, and the purpose of creating 375 00:21:23,799 --> 00:21:27,000 this entity called Ukraine in nineteen fifty four was to 376 00:21:27,039 --> 00:21:31,079 make it seem like the Warsaw Pact was this authentic 377 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,559 coalition of strong states, and the reason that Soviet Union 378 00:21:35,599 --> 00:21:38,720 wanted to create that impression is to hold up the 379 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:43,440 Warsaw Pact to sort of this counterweight Institution to the 380 00:21:43,519 --> 00:21:47,440 United Nations. The West has the United Nations, the Soviet Union, 381 00:21:47,559 --> 00:21:50,720 and the Soviet world has the Warsaw Pact of these 382 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,799 strong Soviet states, and so Ukraine was supposed to be 383 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,920 one of the Soviet states, while the borders were just 384 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,200 an invention of Soviet propaganda to make Ukraine seemed bigger 385 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,160 than it really was, to make it seem more militarily 386 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,720 and strategically important than it really was. And of course 387 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,480 it blended the fact that much of what we call 388 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:18,000 Ukraine today was ethnically, historically linguistically Russian, and the fact 389 00:22:18,039 --> 00:22:20,720 that the difference between Ukraine and Russia was sort of 390 00:22:20,759 --> 00:22:23,440 fluid for a long time, and it's not like it's 391 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,480 not like we're talking about you know, you know, Germany 392 00:22:26,519 --> 00:22:30,640 and Italy or France and England. Khrushev himself was a Ukrainian, 393 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,319 for example, So the borders that that's where the borders 394 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,960 of Ukraine came from, and why it included Sevastopol and 395 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,799 the Crimean Peninsula and these areas in the east that 396 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,960 are ethnically and historically Russian. And so that was fine 397 00:22:47,279 --> 00:22:50,920 as a piece of Soviet propaganda, so long as Ukraine 398 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,079 remained a Soviet republic and the Soviet Union remained a 399 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,839 viable entity. When the Soviet Union collapsed in nineteen ninety one, 400 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,240 it created this geopolitical problem because now Ukraine was going 401 00:23:03,279 --> 00:23:06,119 to be an independent country, but it had these borders 402 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,920 that made no sense at all and trapped tens of 403 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:13,559 millions of Russians inside Ukraine, not to mention the problems 404 00:23:13,559 --> 00:23:17,240 with the Soviet nuclear arsenal that was stationed in Ukraine 405 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,880 at the time as well, and so and so. What 406 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,240 the US response to that was, Ukraine can't have these 407 00:23:25,319 --> 00:23:27,920 nuclear weapons because it's not a real country, and so 408 00:23:28,279 --> 00:23:32,440 the weapons were transferred back to Russia. Some vague security 409 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,640 guarantees were given to Ukraine, but no territorial adjustment of 410 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,480 its borders was undertaken at that time. And the thinking was, 411 00:23:40,279 --> 00:23:42,920 as long as Ukraine kind of stays in the Russian orbit, 412 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,799 this is okay. But the moment that Ukraine, at the 413 00:23:46,839 --> 00:23:50,680 prompting I should mention of Obama's CIA and State Department, 414 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,920 decides to turn away from Russia and try to integrate 415 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,079 with Europe and the European Union, this was going to 416 00:23:57,079 --> 00:23:59,839 be a real problem. This is what my friend Mario 417 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,079 by political independence or territorial integrity, but not both. If 418 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,079 Ukraine really wanted political independence, was going to have to 419 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,559 adjust its borders because Russia was never going to allow 420 00:24:11,039 --> 00:24:14,799 the deep sea port at Sevastopol, which is Russia's only 421 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,160 access to a warm water port, to fall into Ukrainian 422 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,480 hands if Ukraine was going to be a European country. 423 00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:26,079 So this whole thing, this whole sort of domino effect 424 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:28,839 that has been playing out for more than a decade now, 425 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,799 was totally foreseeable if you understand what Ukraine is and 426 00:24:33,839 --> 00:24:39,000 how it got its borders and the significant security imperatives 427 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:44,680 that are implicated in Ukraine's unstable sort of territorial shape 428 00:24:44,759 --> 00:24:47,480 right now. And so that is the qu that Putin 429 00:24:47,559 --> 00:24:49,640 and Trump and Zelenski are going to have to solve 430 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,279 to bring it into this war. 431 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,519 Speaker 1: Right right. That gets to Russia's strategic imperatives, which was 432 00:24:55,559 --> 00:24:57,480 the next thing I wanted to ask you about. You 433 00:24:57,519 --> 00:25:00,000 wrote in your piece that here's the quote, give it 434 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,880 Russia's strategic imperatives and Ukraine's indefensible borders, which you just 435 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,799 spoke about, the broad outlines of a peace settlement are 436 00:25:06,839 --> 00:25:09,680 exactly what they were in February twenty twenty two, before 437 00:25:09,799 --> 00:25:13,400 Russia launched the invasion. As you said, Mario, loyalist peace 438 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,319 laid this out. This was always gonna happen. This was 439 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,000 always going to end in a negotiated settlement. But I 440 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,880 think democrats and neocons can't even handle the idea of 441 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,079 discussing Russia having a real strategic imperative here because to 442 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,319 them it's just Zelensky, good guy democracy over here, and 443 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,640 then you have putin evil dictator, bad guy war criminal 444 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,960 over there. But it's not as simple as that, as 445 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,759 you said, because Russia really does have real strategic imperatives. 446 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,319 And I mean, you talked about the weapons, and you 447 00:25:42,319 --> 00:25:45,000 talked about the land, but what other strategic comparatives are there? 448 00:25:45,039 --> 00:25:48,480 Like why can't neocons and democrats or maybe they just 449 00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:50,079 don't want to, but why can't they wrap their heads 450 00:25:50,079 --> 00:25:51,920 around the fact that there's more to this than just 451 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,400 a good guy and a bad guy. There's real, real 452 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:55,519 imperatives in play. 453 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,839 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, No, that's a great point that the sort 454 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,119 of the neocons in the world or hawks will not 455 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:08,720 recognize that Russia has any legitimates strategic interests in Ukraine 456 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:15,119 or or In in Ukraine's southern or eastern areas. But 457 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,119 the fact is, you know, they may see Putin as 458 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:22,799 like this illegitimate ruler, and Moscow the regime in Moscow 459 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,920 is like this rogue regime, and that Putin's a murder 460 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,799 and a thug, and all those things are true. Like 461 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,200 I'm not saying that Putin is a good guy, but 462 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,359 I'm saying what I'm saying is from a from a 463 00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:41,039 geo strategic standpoint, from and from a US foreign policy standpoint, 464 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:46,960 and just historically speaking, Russia has major strategic interests in 465 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,839 the Crimean peninsula. And you can go back centuries to 466 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,880 see to trace the the interests that Russia has in 467 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,880 having access to the Black Sea, access to the Mediterranean. 468 00:26:59,319 --> 00:27:03,000 That's the only way that Russia has access to the Mediterranean, UH, 469 00:27:03,319 --> 00:27:07,880 is through the the southern those southern warm water ports 470 00:27:08,079 --> 00:27:12,480 in Odessa and in Sevastopol. UH. And it will never 471 00:27:12,839 --> 00:27:16,200 give them up. And when when you when you understand 472 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,000 that Russia will never give them up, you also have 473 00:27:19,079 --> 00:27:22,480 to then recognize that, uh, there's nothing the West can 474 00:27:22,559 --> 00:27:28,519 do to compel Russia to abandon these strategic interests in 475 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,480 having access to the Black Sea. And access to the 476 00:27:31,519 --> 00:27:36,799 Mediterranean because Russia is a nuclear power. They they they're 477 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,759 they're the other major nuclear power in the world besides US, 478 00:27:41,039 --> 00:27:43,720 and so that is a just a that is a 479 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:48,400 historical and present day fact. It's reality. And this I 480 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,759 get at some of this in my piece at part 481 00:27:50,799 --> 00:27:52,880 of the disconnect here I think with the media and 482 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,079 with like Neokon warhawks in Washington is that they love 483 00:27:57,839 --> 00:28:02,759 theory and uh and and doctrine right that they kind 484 00:28:02,759 --> 00:28:05,680 of dream up in Washington and their think tanks and 485 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:12,960 at their conferences. But the problem with that, which the sordid, 486 00:28:13,319 --> 00:28:18,279 failed history of neo Kon interventions testifies to, is that 487 00:28:18,319 --> 00:28:21,000 the theory doesn't match up with the reality on the ground. 488 00:28:21,519 --> 00:28:25,680 You don't need to be you know, a scholar at 489 00:28:25,759 --> 00:28:29,880 AEI or you know, right think pieces for The Atlantic 490 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,400 the New York Times to understand that the history and 491 00:28:34,519 --> 00:28:38,759 geography have more to do that they bear more directly 492 00:28:38,799 --> 00:28:43,839 on this conflict than theories about popular sovereignty or NATO, 493 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,680 you know, the status of you know, NATO admission in Brussels, 494 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,880 Like those things don't stand up to something as solid 495 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,319 and real as the deep water port at Sevastopol home 496 00:28:58,359 --> 00:29:01,880 of Russia's Black Sea fleet. That port will never move. 497 00:29:02,319 --> 00:29:07,160 That is just a geographical reality that is not amenable 498 00:29:07,559 --> 00:29:13,680 to theories of international politics, right, and so you have 499 00:29:13,759 --> 00:29:16,359 to deal with that. And the way to deal with 500 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,359 that is to recognize that Russia will never give up 501 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,160 that port and they're a major nuclear power. So if 502 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,640 you want to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, 503 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,440 you have to give Russia some of what they need. 504 00:29:27,799 --> 00:29:29,480 You don't have to give them everything, you don't have 505 00:29:29,519 --> 00:29:32,519 to hand them over the whole of Ukraine, but you 506 00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:34,559 have to give them some of what they need. And 507 00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:37,160 you have to give Ukraine some of what it needs 508 00:29:37,839 --> 00:29:39,799 so that it feels secure that they won't have to 509 00:29:39,839 --> 00:29:43,359 be fighting this war every five years and appealing to 510 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,359 the West. And this is the kind of statesmanship that's 511 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,440 based on reality, on historical and geographic realities that the 512 00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:54,480 United States used to practice. We used to have real 513 00:29:54,519 --> 00:29:57,079 statesmen that understood these things and they could actually solve 514 00:29:57,119 --> 00:30:01,680 geopolitical problems. That's why you had things like Teddy Roosevelt 515 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,720 in nineteen oh five going and negotiating a direct end 516 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:11,319 to the Russian Russo Japanese war in Japan because he 517 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,279 had he and he and the people around him understood 518 00:30:15,319 --> 00:30:18,279 how to deal with real powers that had real interest 519 00:30:18,359 --> 00:30:21,599 in the real world, not some theory about the Biden 520 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,599 and Anthony Blincoln Biden Secretary of State popping off constantly 521 00:30:25,599 --> 00:30:27,759 over the past three and a half four years that 522 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:32,039 nobody can veto NATO membership. Well, yeah, you know who 523 00:30:32,039 --> 00:30:35,480 can veto NATO membership Russia when it invaded Ukraine, it 524 00:30:35,599 --> 00:30:39,559 vetoed Ukrainian membership in NATO. That's just a reality, you know, 525 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:41,599 I saw these people have got to get their heads 526 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:42,279 out of the sand. 527 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I don't know, John, talking about geography kind 528 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,079 of sounds like you're a putin stooge. I don't think 529 00:30:47,079 --> 00:30:48,359 that's the only way to read that though. 530 00:30:48,559 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. If you mentioned geography, what what are 531 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,519 you a putin stooge? It's right, the weakest, it's the 532 00:30:54,559 --> 00:30:57,920 weakest comeback in this whole discourse. Yeah, but you see 533 00:30:57,920 --> 00:30:58,799 it all the time. 534 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,039 Speaker 1: Right, And what do you think this the reason is 535 00:31:02,359 --> 00:31:04,240 that we don't have these statesmen or that you know, 536 00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:06,599 we have such a diconomy between people living in a 537 00:31:06,599 --> 00:31:09,160 fantasy world versus reality. I mean, is it really mostly 538 00:31:09,279 --> 00:31:14,160 largely financial incentives with the you know, military industrial complex. 539 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,400 Is it people wanting to be the savior of the world, Like, 540 00:31:16,519 --> 00:31:20,440 why is it that this is the DC blob is 541 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,119 so primed for war and that this is this is 542 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,240 the like majority opinion in Washington, Like why is this 543 00:31:26,319 --> 00:31:27,079 the norm? 544 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 3: Well, I think part of it is what you said, 545 00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,960 is the profit motive the military industrial complex. You know, 546 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,119 one of the arguments that we have heard over and 547 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,799 over throughout the course of this conflict as it regards 548 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,319 US aid to Ukraine. You hear this from ridiculous neo 549 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:50,359 cons like Markdeson and Max Boot and other and you know, 550 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,680 some folks at the Wall Street Journal that the aid, 551 00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:56,160 the billions and billions that we're sending to Ukraine, and 552 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,880 it's not going to Ukraine, it's going to US defense contractors. 553 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,359 So it's actually created American jobs program. War is good 554 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:07,079 for American I know, which is I mean, if that's 555 00:32:07,119 --> 00:32:10,440 your argument, you know, that's you know, you're welcome to 556 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,160 make that argument, but I don't think it's gonna win 557 00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:17,119 over a lot of ordinary Americans who don't see perpetuating 558 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,799 and waging proxy wars abroad is as like a viable 559 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:26,279 US jobs programs for domestic weapons manufacturers. But so that's 560 00:32:26,359 --> 00:32:28,119 part of it. And I think the other part of 561 00:32:28,119 --> 00:32:31,160 it is after the when the Cold War ended, I 562 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,400 think there was this this shift in in sort of 563 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:40,079 the academic foreign policy blob in Washington, d C. That 564 00:32:41,319 --> 00:32:43,960 that more or less followed the lines of like Francis 565 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,480 Fukuyama's at the End of History, right, that like, the 566 00:32:46,519 --> 00:32:54,279 big conflicts were over, and the era of grand strategy 567 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:59,799 in geopolitics is over, and we're not going to have 568 00:33:00,119 --> 00:33:02,759 to you know, we can sort of we have a 569 00:33:02,759 --> 00:33:08,559 blank slate, and we can impose our theories on reality, 570 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,440 and we can impose our theories on peoples and nations, 571 00:33:12,559 --> 00:33:17,000 and there's no need for grand strategy. There's no need 572 00:33:17,039 --> 00:33:21,880 for you know, the kinds of military doctrines and hard 573 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,640 kind of military strategy that prevailed during the Cold War, 574 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,960 because the Soviet Union's gone now and so we can 575 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,839 kind of be, you know, a new world order, as 576 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,039 George H. W. Bush put it, and as Hillary Clinton 577 00:33:35,079 --> 00:33:37,880 put it in twenty sixteen, we can have open markets 578 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,519 and open borders and all of this. To get back 579 00:33:41,559 --> 00:33:44,480 to the point about profit redounds to the benefit of 580 00:33:44,519 --> 00:33:49,640 a post national global corporate elite that doesn't really care 581 00:33:50,559 --> 00:33:55,000 about the interests of nations or the fates of peoples 582 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,559 because they're they're sort of they've transcended all that and 583 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,880 they can and they and they want kind of a 584 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,920 blank slate in the world to be able to, you know, 585 00:34:05,039 --> 00:34:08,360 move capital around the world like pieces on a chess 586 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:14,320 board for their profit at importing, you know, exupporting manufacturing 587 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,679 to slave labor markets in China, importing cheap goods to 588 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,960 the West. Meanwhile, you know, I mean, so there's a 589 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,760 lot there, right, But I think I think the big 590 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,039 shift is after the Cold War, there was this idea 591 00:34:28,199 --> 00:34:31,079 that we don't have to do grand strategy anymore. We 592 00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:33,559 don't have to worry about things like geography and history 593 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,719 because all of that's over and we can we can 594 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:38,440 let theory be our guide. 595 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:43,679 Speaker 1: Now, right, right, So what's next? You already mentioned, you know, 596 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,519 Ukraine can have political independence or territorial integrity, but it 597 00:34:46,559 --> 00:34:50,920 can't have both. It sounds like the US will likely 598 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,960 end up giving Ukraine these NATO like security guarantees, although 599 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:56,920 Trump has said it won't intail boots on the ground, 600 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,000 so hopefully he sticks to that. I'm curious what you 601 00:34:59,039 --> 00:35:02,559 think about those security g guarantees. But Trump is also, 602 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,360 like you said, trying to currently broker a meeting between 603 00:35:05,679 --> 00:35:08,280 Putin and Zelenski and then between or among the three 604 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,519 of them. What do you think about those security guarantees 605 00:35:11,559 --> 00:35:13,360 and how do you think this is actually going to go? 606 00:35:13,519 --> 00:35:15,440 Like is Putin going to sit down at the table? 607 00:35:15,519 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 3: Is he not? 608 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:17,639 Speaker 1: What's next? 609 00:35:18,599 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 3: I think that uh, you know, as I argued in 610 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,639 the piece, the broad outlines are pretty clear and they 611 00:35:24,679 --> 00:35:29,199 haven't really changed, and that it will involve some uh, 612 00:35:29,559 --> 00:35:33,079 some kind of transaction where Crimea and some part of 613 00:35:33,119 --> 00:35:36,320 those eastern provinces Donyetes, k Luhansk and some of the 614 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,360 areas that where Russia is occupying. You know, the vast 615 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:45,159 majority of these provinces along Ukraine's eastern border will be 616 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:52,239 transferred to Russia or placed into Russian custody in perpetuity, 617 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,440 in exchange for some coalition of the West to guarantee 618 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:02,000 Ukraine's security, uh, in the form of a treaty, a 619 00:36:02,039 --> 00:36:06,119 binding treaty, that this would be put down. One of 620 00:36:06,159 --> 00:36:08,400 the things I mentioned Steve Whitcoff earlier, one of the 621 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,239 things he mentioned that was part of Trump and Putin's 622 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:16,079 discussion in Alaska was enshrining some of these things legislatively 623 00:36:16,599 --> 00:36:20,320 in Russia as well, so that everybody is kind of 624 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:25,280 on the same page, and everybody has agreed that this 625 00:36:25,519 --> 00:36:27,840 territorial settlement will just will be what it is. It'll 626 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,519 be permanent, and the security arrangements will be permanent as well. 627 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,440 I don't think it's going to involve actual US troops 628 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,840 going into Ukraine because I think there would be such 629 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:41,920 a backlash domestically for Trump that I don't think he 630 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:46,920 wants to risk that. There's just no appetite among the 631 00:36:47,559 --> 00:36:52,960 Trump and Republican base for sending troops into Ukraine. But 632 00:36:53,039 --> 00:36:55,519 I think it will it probably looks something more like 633 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,960 which is also which won't make a lot of Republicans happen, 634 00:37:00,159 --> 00:37:03,960 but the US bank rolling some sort of a coalition 635 00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:09,079 force to peacekeeping force to go into Ukraine made up 636 00:37:09,079 --> 00:37:13,599 of European soldiers in European military equipment, and that that 637 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:18,440 would be for a time, that that will be the 638 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,559 reality in Ukraine. As as the peace process, you know, 639 00:37:21,599 --> 00:37:23,800 if they if they go forward with the peace process, 640 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,960 and it's going to happen in stages and each side 641 00:37:27,039 --> 00:37:28,360 is going to have to verify that they're doing what 642 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,119 they're supposed to be doing. There'll be some sort of 643 00:37:30,559 --> 00:37:36,239 European military presence inside Ukraine proper, not necessarily in the 644 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,920 in the territories in question that Russia is occupying, and 645 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,039 that you know, we just saw, I don't know if 646 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,159 maybe it was yesterday, a massive drone attack by Russia 647 00:37:47,159 --> 00:37:51,519 against Ukraine. Russia is trying to push its battlefield position 648 00:37:51,599 --> 00:37:54,400 into the best possible scenario so that when sort of 649 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,280 the lines are frozen, it has the most control over 650 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:00,440 these territories that I think it wants to have become 651 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,559 part of. It wants to NX into Russia as part 652 00:38:02,599 --> 00:38:06,880 of the peace agreement. So that's what's the settlement is 653 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,440 going to look like. I think Putin has resigned himself 654 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,039 to the fact that there's going to be some sort 655 00:38:13,079 --> 00:38:16,760 of Western European military presence in the parts of Ukraine 656 00:38:17,119 --> 00:38:21,280 that don't get NX to Russia, and that is probably 657 00:38:21,599 --> 00:38:26,639 he probably resigned himself to that shortly after he launched 658 00:38:26,639 --> 00:38:27,800 the war in twenty twenty two. 659 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: Well, everybody should go read John's excellent piece on the 660 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,719 Federalist website. It's called the Ukraine War was always going 661 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,400 to end this way, and I would also recommend that 662 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,719 everyone go back in the archives and read the excellent 663 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,039 piece from Mario Loyola that we both referenced here from 664 00:38:45,119 --> 00:38:48,440 February twenty twenty two in Russia crisis, Ukraine should be 665 00:38:48,519 --> 00:38:51,800 prepared to trade land for independence. If you want more 666 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,599 geography history talk, that's your place to get the lowdown 667 00:38:54,639 --> 00:38:57,039 on that. So thanks so much, John, I really appreciate 668 00:38:57,039 --> 00:38:59,880 your insights and I hope to have you back soons. 669 00:39:00,039 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 3: Kylie is my pleasure. 670 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,000 Speaker 1: All right, before I wrap up here, I'm going to 671 00:39:08,079 --> 00:39:11,159 do some quick Kylie's Picks of the week. A few 672 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,760 locations I recommend, some food, some culture, some entertainment, a 673 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,639 little bit of everything. You may have noticed that last 674 00:39:17,679 --> 00:39:20,800 week there was no Kylie cast Abnormal on a Thursday, 675 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,760 but that's because I was completely off the grid in 676 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,880 New Hampshire. It was also my birthday. My husband and 677 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,440 I were traveling to a wedding, a family adjacent wedding 678 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,880 that was in New England, and we had a really, 679 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,280 really lovely time. But I could not do the Kyli 680 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,800 cast unfortunately, because I was nowhere near my studio and 681 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,280 had none of the equipment that I needed. But that 682 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,440 trip did give me some excellent recommendations that I do 683 00:39:43,599 --> 00:39:46,639 want to share with you. So on the food front, 684 00:39:46,679 --> 00:39:50,000 I have a few in New Hampshire. I would highly 685 00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:53,719 highly recommend a donut shop in Conquered I did not 686 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,639 get birthday cake on my birthday, but I did get 687 00:39:56,679 --> 00:40:01,920 a birthday donut at the New Hampshire Don't Company. Wonderful variety, 688 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,400 very pleasant, kind staff, really delicious. They have a good 689 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,039 rewards program, and I was able to get a fluffer 690 00:40:09,119 --> 00:40:11,440 nutter donut, which, if you don't know what a fluffernutter is, 691 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,360 it's a very East coast New England thing. I think 692 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,960 Pennsylvania maybe also claims it as their own, but it's 693 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,320 definitely a very New England thing. And it is a 694 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,559 sandwich that is marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. And the 695 00:40:23,599 --> 00:40:25,599 only reason I really know about this is because my 696 00:40:25,679 --> 00:40:28,320 mom used to send them with me in my lunch 697 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,119 sometimes as a child. RFK Junior would not approve. They 698 00:40:32,119 --> 00:40:38,559 are very very bad for you, no nutritional redemptive qualities today, 699 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,559 but very very delicious and especially delicious when you can 700 00:40:42,559 --> 00:40:45,039 eat them guilt free on your birthday in donut form. 701 00:40:45,159 --> 00:40:48,079 So New Hampshire Donut Company had an excellent fluffer Nutter 702 00:40:48,159 --> 00:40:50,719 Donut would recommend, and they also had other great donuts 703 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:54,000 too that my family and I did try. They had 704 00:40:54,039 --> 00:40:57,280 an apple cheesecake one and some other just just wonderful flavor. 705 00:40:57,320 --> 00:40:59,199 So if you find yourself in Conquered New Hampshire, definitely 706 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,480 check out New Hampti Donut Company. There's also a really 707 00:41:02,639 --> 00:41:06,880 lovely coffee shop on main Street and Conquered Revelstoke Coffee. 708 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,280 We found ourselves there multiple mornings of the week, just 709 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,679 a really they had excellent coffee, kind staff. But it's 710 00:41:13,679 --> 00:41:16,280 also really unique in there. They have a machine that 711 00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:21,199 self draws pictures, and so you can scan a QR 712 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,400 code and tell it what to draw, and it takes 713 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,079 it a really long time, but then you can watch 714 00:41:25,119 --> 00:41:27,679 it and be entertained by this self drawing thing on 715 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:29,559 the wall. The one morning that we were in there 716 00:41:29,599 --> 00:41:31,320 was a big elephant picture. A different morning that we 717 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,519 were in there was a scene from the Wizard of 718 00:41:33,519 --> 00:41:35,400 oz And actually the first time we saw the Wizard 719 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:36,920 of oz one we didn't know what it was because 720 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:38,360 it was so early in the process. And then when 721 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:40,039 we came back a couple of days later we saw 722 00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:43,119 the picture was much more developed and just really really 723 00:41:43,199 --> 00:41:45,519 a unique, unique thing and excellent coffee, So check out 724 00:41:45,519 --> 00:41:48,360 revel Stoke Coffee if you're in Conquered, as well other 725 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,800 food recommendations. A different day of our trip, we took 726 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:56,519 a day trip to Maine, which was wonderful, and my 727 00:41:56,599 --> 00:41:58,760 husband and I have a tradition of when we're up there, 728 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,440 we often will spend an evening in Portland. Portland main 729 00:42:02,559 --> 00:42:04,320 is not a place that I would recommend for anyone 730 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:08,400 to live. It is exceptionally liberal, lots of androgynous people 731 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,679 experimenting with their gender, a lot of weed, a lot 732 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:16,480 of other awful things that you find in leftist hell 733 00:42:16,519 --> 00:42:21,440 whole cities. But they have excellent, excellent food and specifically seafood, 734 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:26,840 and so we started with a drink at Hard Short Distilling. 735 00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:30,239 They are known for their gin specifically, but they also 736 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:35,000 have bourbon drinks, and their gin drinks were spectacular, wonderful. 737 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:40,280 I sometimes have low expectations for distilleries because you know, 738 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,320 it's not gin that you're familiar with, so my taste 739 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:44,239 completely different, or you know, just not be as good 740 00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,760 as the tried and true stuff that you're used to, 741 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,239 but the drinks were fantastic. From there, we went to 742 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,679 Duck Fat, which we got their poutine. Oh my goodness. 743 00:42:54,119 --> 00:42:57,760 As someone from Wisconsin, I love a good cheese curd. 744 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,960 I also had low expectations for this because it is 745 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:04,159 of course not in Wisconsin or Canada. But it was 746 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,360 probably the best poutine I have ever had, Absolutely excellent, 747 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:09,719 And if you find yourself in Portland, definitely get poutine 748 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:12,679 from Duckfat. And so that was half of our dinner. 749 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:14,880 And then the other half of our dinner we went 750 00:43:15,039 --> 00:43:18,039 to get oysters, one of my favorites, and of course 751 00:43:18,039 --> 00:43:21,880 they're excellent in Maine, not so excellent in the Midwest, 752 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:23,920 so we don't get to have good oysters here very often, 753 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,280 and so we went to Even Tide to get oysters. 754 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,559 We've been there before. It is a restaurant that's pretty 755 00:43:30,559 --> 00:43:33,960 small frequently has very long wait times, but we were 756 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,199 able to get this really teeny like countertop type table 757 00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:41,440 right away, and they're just to die for, the best 758 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:45,239 oysters I've ever had. Definitely, it's the place in Portland 759 00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,679 to get oysters. So if you go, definitely get oysters 760 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,079 from Even Tide. As for places to visit, in New England, 761 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,519 my husband and I took one afternoon to go hike 762 00:43:55,679 --> 00:43:59,519 the Flume Gorge, which is in Franconia Notch. We found 763 00:43:59,519 --> 00:44:01,119 the price to be a little bit steep. I think 764 00:44:01,119 --> 00:44:03,719 it was somewhere around twenty dollars a person, but also 765 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:05,760 you don't have to pay to park, so that was good. 766 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,559 A lot of the national parks or state parks obviously 767 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,320 require you to pay to park there. We didn't have 768 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,199 to do that, so it kind of even itself out somewhat. 769 00:44:14,599 --> 00:44:17,760 But we spent the afternoon hiking the Flume Gorge and 770 00:44:18,039 --> 00:44:24,559 it was gorgeous, beautiful wildlife, beautiful scenery, these gorgeous cliffs 771 00:44:24,599 --> 00:44:29,559 and hiking trails and super tall trees and just gorgeous waterfalls, 772 00:44:29,599 --> 00:44:34,559 the sounds, the sites absolutely lovely. Of course, fall is 773 00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:36,440 the time when you want to go visit New England, 774 00:44:36,599 --> 00:44:38,679 but we found that this was a perfect activity to 775 00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,480 do in the hot days of August because the temperature 776 00:44:42,519 --> 00:44:45,320 in the Flume Gorge drops significantly, so you can get 777 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:49,880 a nice, lovely cool air hike, fresh air hike through 778 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:52,840 the Flume Gorge in August, and I would just highly 779 00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:55,199 highly recommend that you do it, knowing though that you 780 00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:57,840 are going to pay a little bit to get tickets 781 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,280 to enter, but the trail are pretty accessible. There's a 782 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,519 bit of varied terrain, but it's not an intense hike. 783 00:45:04,599 --> 00:45:06,159 You're not hiking up a mountain in a way that's 784 00:45:06,559 --> 00:45:09,480 extremely difficult, and in fact, there were many many families 785 00:45:09,559 --> 00:45:12,039 with young children that we saw on the trails, so 786 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:14,559 definitely a family friendly activity. Check it out if you're 787 00:45:14,559 --> 00:45:18,079 in that area of New Hampshire. We also went up 788 00:45:18,119 --> 00:45:21,559 the coast of Maine and we visited the Nubble Lighthouse, 789 00:45:21,599 --> 00:45:23,519 which is one of the most if not the most 790 00:45:23,519 --> 00:45:26,159 photographed lighthouse. It was just beautiful and we had the 791 00:45:26,159 --> 00:45:27,960 perfect day for it, so I would recommend if you 792 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,400 are driving up the coast of Maine stop, I believe 793 00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,199 it's in New York to see the Nubble Lighthouse. And 794 00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,480 of course all of the driving through New Hampshire, you're 795 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,960 either getting mountains or you're getting ocean, or you're getting both, 796 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,360 and it's just wonderful. We also got the chance to 797 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:44,079 swim in Lake Winnipesake, which was especially fun. It's a 798 00:45:44,079 --> 00:45:46,800 beautiful lake, but it was especially fun because our dog 799 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:49,599 Winnie is named after Lake Winnipesaki, so it was fun 800 00:45:49,599 --> 00:45:52,599 to be able to swim in her namesake in New Hampshire. Again, 801 00:45:52,679 --> 00:45:55,440 beautiful weather for it, perfect temperature, just a lovely day. 802 00:45:55,639 --> 00:45:58,400 As for entertainment, we have not really been watching anything 803 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:00,719 while we've been traveling, but we did have a lot 804 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,079 of time in the car, so we did listen to 805 00:46:03,199 --> 00:46:05,960 a lot of music. We really enjoy listening to a 806 00:46:06,119 --> 00:46:08,519 primary album when we're traveling somewhere, and then later when 807 00:46:08,519 --> 00:46:10,239 we listened to that same album, it makes us think 808 00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:11,719 of the trip that we were on when we were 809 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,159 listening to that album, and so we did that. Earlier 810 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,239 this year, we took a trip to France and we 811 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:19,760 happened to be on our trip to France when John 812 00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,840 Bellian dropped his new album Father Figure, and so we 813 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:26,159 listened to that album NonStop in France. And now whenever 814 00:46:26,199 --> 00:46:27,800 I hear it, I just think of France and I 815 00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:31,159 just have to say, I highly, highly recommend this album. 816 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:34,960 It's hard to know what to even call John Bellion's 817 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,519 genre of music if you haven't heard it. He does 818 00:46:37,559 --> 00:46:42,639 a lot of genre blending. It's very he's very pop, 819 00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:47,880 hip hop, R and B, some alternative rock, some indie pop. 820 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,239 He kind of blends a lot of different styles, which 821 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,760 just makes for a really interesting listening experience. And we 822 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,000 found so all of his old stuff is excellent, really 823 00:46:56,039 --> 00:46:59,000 good stuff. Go in the archives, dig deep. John Bellion's 824 00:46:59,039 --> 00:47:03,280 work is so interesting, so good. But his most recent 825 00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:08,559 album is so conservative coded. It is so it has 826 00:47:08,599 --> 00:47:12,440 so many Christian themes, and I mean, I'm talking everything 827 00:47:12,559 --> 00:47:17,400 from the importance of family and the pitfalls of prioritizing 828 00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:21,239 fame and fortune, and the beauty of marriage and the 829 00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:26,239 hard work of marriage, and the importance of God being 830 00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:30,880 the one who is leading your life, who is Lord 831 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,880 of your life. You'll hear those themes in songs like 832 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:37,960 Father Figure at the title track Kid Again. There are 833 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:39,679 several others on the album that are just excellent. But 834 00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:41,480 I want to read you some lyrics from two of 835 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,119 my favorite songs on the album that both have very 836 00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:48,039 overt Christian and conservative themes. One from my favorite song 837 00:47:48,039 --> 00:47:50,760 on the album, which is get It Right. Here are 838 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,079 the lyrics to the Bridge and thanks for loving me 839 00:47:54,119 --> 00:47:57,519 through my selfishness going through old pictures that Dexter flicked. 840 00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,960 My life's a shipwreck without you anchoring and leveling. I 841 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:04,639 know a lot of CEOs with billions and resentful kids. Yikes. 842 00:48:05,199 --> 00:48:07,239 I also know a lot of famous people that are 843 00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:09,960 wishing for an average life, talking tombs on the night 844 00:48:10,039 --> 00:48:13,480 stand at sixty five, the good stuff, babies and sleepless nights, 845 00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,440 the craziness of man and wife, the good, the bad, 846 00:48:16,559 --> 00:48:18,960 the dark, the light. I'm with you till we get 847 00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:21,320 it right. God is my witness. I'm with you till 848 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,119 we get it right. Oh, it's such a good song. 849 00:48:23,199 --> 00:48:25,719 The other one that I just love. It's just such 850 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:30,119 a beautiful parenting song. It's called My Boy, and the 851 00:48:30,119 --> 00:48:31,679 first time I listened to it, it made me tear 852 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:35,000 up because it's really emotional and really lovely. The lyrics 853 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,719 to that one go, Lord, it's tough to hold my 854 00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:39,840 son and be here in the moment. I need to 855 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:42,440 keep him safe, tell him which direction this world is going. 856 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,760 I feel the shame for my lack of faith when 857 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,519 you walk the ocean, Eve, bit the apple. My faith 858 00:48:47,599 --> 00:48:49,679 is weak and my trust is broken. I hate the 859 00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:51,920 weakness of owning up to the sins of past. I 860 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:53,800 hate the weakness of giving up what I used to have. 861 00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:56,360 I hate the weakness of showing my son what makes 862 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,320 me sad. He said, a present father is worth way 863 00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:04,559 more than perfect Dad, and that song ends with a 864 00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:08,719 recording of his son singing Jesus loves Me, and it's 865 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:11,760 just it's it's really beautiful. The themes of family and 866 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:16,039 commitment and responsibility and maturity and growing up and marriage, 867 00:49:16,079 --> 00:49:19,119 they're all they just absolutely permeate the entire album. And 868 00:49:19,159 --> 00:49:21,719 so even if what I described as the genre doesn't 869 00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,719 sound like your typical cup of tea, you should check 870 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,599 it out just to listen to the wonderful messages of 871 00:49:27,639 --> 00:49:29,360 the album. And if you only listen to two songs, 872 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,400 let them be get It Right and My Boy, because 873 00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,880 they are there two of my favorites. So that's gonna 874 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:36,880 do it for me today. Thank you so much for 875 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,239 tuning in to the Kylie Cast. I'm so sorry I 876 00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:42,119 missed last week, but I'll be back here next week 877 00:49:42,159 --> 00:49:45,960 with more. Until then, just remember the truth hurts, but 878 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:46,679 it won't feel u