WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.200 I try to be honest on this show, and if 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.720 I'm being honest, the topic that's really dominating my mind 3 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:13.720 at the moment is the question of immigration, the tensions 4 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:18.359 about this subject between the Trump administration and the Catholic bishops, 5 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.679 as well as the recent intervention into this discussion by 6 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:31.359 Pope Francis. Now, I don't go on this show and 7 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:34.880 I don't blast the Pope. I don't criticize the Pope. 8 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:40.920 This is I think this stems from my own Catholicism. 9 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:45.320 I hate it when Catholics sort of treat the Pope 10 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:51.479 as just another kind of political talking head whom you 11 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.520 can call a moron at your pleasure. He's not. I 12 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.960 think he's deeper, thinker than that. I think he's a 13 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:07.920 better person than that. And I basically I kind of 14 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.239 view the question of, you know, criticism of the Pope 15 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:14.079 along the lines that I would if my own father 16 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.799 were doing something that I didn't like or I didn't 17 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.920 disagree with, How would I talk about it? If my 18 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.200 father were a prominent figure in public life and we're 19 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.840 doing something I disagreed with, I would probably ninety nine 20 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:34.319 percent of the time maintain a respectful silence. And if 21 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:39.319 I were pressed into talking about it, I would, you know, 22 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:44.120 do so with love and affection and respect, because I 23 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:50.040 love my father and I have that kind of an 24 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:56.079 attitude towards the Pope, as I think the early Christian 25 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:03.000 community would have had towards the apostles towards Peter. I'm 26 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:07.599 also not really anyone in a position of authority. Paul, 27 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.800 an apostle, was able to engage in fraternal correction to 28 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:23.039 Peter when Peter was sort of being kind of hypocritical 29 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:28.879 in his treatment between some of the more some aspects 30 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.080 of the early Christian community that wanted to maintain Jewish 31 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:36.120 customs and other aspects of the Christian community as represented 32 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.560 by Paul and Peter. Really that we're saying, no, Christianity 33 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:41.639 is open to the gentiles. We don't need to insist 34 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.159 on following the We do not need to insist on 35 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.560 following old law customs, kosher rules for food, et cetera. 36 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:58.280 So Paul was able to critique Peter. But I'm not Paul. 37 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.199 I'm not an apostle, I'm not bishop, I'm not a priest. 38 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:05.120 I'm a guy yapping on the radio, and I'm not 39 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.080 even necessarily someone with you know, I am a lawyer, 40 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.000 so I think I have some basis for discussing the 41 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:19.919 immigration question a little bit, and I want to sort 42 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.000 of talk about the tensions within Catholic teaching on this. 43 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.639 So Pope Francis issued just yesterday this letter to the 44 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.400 Bishops of the United States talking about the immigration question, 45 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:33.120 where it seemed as if he was directly responding to 46 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:37.000 Jade Vance. Jady Vance had mentioned this idea called the 47 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:41.599 Ordo amorris, the notion that there is a certain ordering 48 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:46.639 of love, of care and concern that everyone is supposed 49 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:50.879 to have. That this is just sort of obvious, natural 50 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.840 common sense, but also as a principle within Christianity that 51 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:57.719 you have certain kinds of obligations of care and duty 52 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:05.560 to the people closest to you. To care for someone 53 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:09.439 in need in your immediate sphere is a more urgent, 54 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.479 pressing obligation to you than caring for someone who is 55 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:18.399 half a world away. You know, I'm going to put 56 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:20.959 food on the table and clothing on the backs of 57 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.959 my own children before I do that for someone else's children. 58 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:26.560 If I neglect and my own children for the sake 59 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.800 of someone else's children, that would not be good and JD. 60 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.240 Vance is just basically making the point that we've I 61 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.879 think the broader point that Vance has been making that 62 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.879 I think has been missed by some of his more 63 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:45.279 liberal Catholic interlocutors, and that frankly, you know, the Pope 64 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:47.560 did not mention Vance by name, but he certainly didn't 65 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.319 mention this topic, and it's obviously a reaction to Vance. 66 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:57.319 I think the point Vance is making is that American 67 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:04.079 immigration policy has been so solicitous to welcome people from 68 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:10.920 other countries that it has resulted in detrimental outcomes for 69 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:17.000 our own citizenry. We have been so eager to let 70 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:23.000 in immigrants from other countries, whom, by the way major 71 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.920 capitalist big business can mistreat in the labor market. Okay, 72 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:31.959 why do we want Why do all these big companies 73 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.879 want a bunch of H one B visa holders to 74 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:37.959 come to America from India to work, you know, to 75 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.879 work engineering jobs. It's not out of an altruistic desire 76 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:46.199 to lift up the world's benighted masses, you know, and 77 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.519 bring in you know, wonderful people from India to do 78 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:54.519 this work. Part of it in many, many companies is 79 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:58.959 you can get away with paying an h one B 80 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.079 VISA holder less money, treating them worse because an H 81 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.319 one bvs A holder, it's almost like this indentured servitude. 82 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.720 If they lose their job, their rear end is going 83 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:18.439 back to India. So rather than hire an American engineer 84 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.279 who's an American citizen, who if you treat him badly, 85 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:25.079 if you don't pay him well enough, he can say, well, 86 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.360 screw this, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go get another job. 87 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:33.319 If you mistreat them, you know, I'm an American worker 88 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.680 could maybe say, hey, you're violating labor law, you're not 89 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.720 paying me what you owe, or you're violating overtime rules, 90 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:43.959 or you're you know, discriminating against me on the basis 91 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:48.759 of you know, exra y category. No worry about that 92 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:55.160 with H one bvs A holders. Why have Americans picking 93 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:59.519 your crops when you can have someone from Mexico, someone 94 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:05.600 from Mexico who is more leary about unionizing because maybe 95 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:09.879 they're only here on a green card maybe or well 96 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:13.680 green card is implies permanent status, but you know, maybe 97 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.120 they're only here on a work visa temporarily as long 98 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:17.920 as they have a job and they don't want to 99 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:21.600 lose a job. Maybe they've overstayed their visa, so they're 100 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:23.879 in a dicey situation. They don't want to lift their 101 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:27.800 nose above the water and give someone an occasion to 102 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:30.839 call ice or call it immigration authorities to ship them back. 103 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.560 I think there's this fundamental problem with American immigration policy, 104 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:43.120 that this fundamental injustice that's being perpetrated, that that people 105 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:47.040 on the bleeding heart left don't seem to want to 106 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:54.240 acknowledge that the reason why people like tons and tons 107 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.759 of illegal immigration and even in some cases a wildly 108 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:03.360 over expansive legal imageation market, is not out of an 109 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:09.199 altruistic desire to keep and care for the world's oppressed masses, 110 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:12.439 or even like you know, I think there is some 111 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:17.680 obligation that wealthy countries have to take in immigrants, to 112 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:21.639 allow people to migrate relative with relative freedom as long 113 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:26.079 as people follow legal processes, and the United States is 114 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.279 incredibly generous as far as it's immigration policies. There are 115 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:34.360 other countries that just say a total pause, we're allowing 116 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:37.360 in no new legal immigrants. In the United States never 117 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:43.559 does that. We are constantly allowing in hundreds of thousands 118 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:49.600 of legal immigrants every year. It's just that there's a process, 119 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:58.080 and I think a lot of illegal immigration is motivated 120 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:02.159 not it's not just a sense of how could you 121 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:08.240 be so harsh and draconian in, you know, enforcing American 122 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:11.240 immigration law to stop illegal immigration. This is so harmful, 123 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:13.799 This is so mean to the people who came here. 124 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:15.879 Why do you think they're here in the first place. 125 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:17.120 Why do you think you have so many of these 126 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:20.879 entities wanting them to come here, to overstay their visas, 127 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:26.600 to be here on a you know, a tenuous either 128 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:32.080 legal but only if you have a job or illegal basis. 129 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:40.000 It benefits big time businesses, that's whom it's benefiting, and 130 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.879 it is to the detriment of American workers. I see 131 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:49.639 no reason why other than proximity to Mexico, the California 132 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:53.840 agriculture industry came to be dominated by just immigrant, by 133 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:59.039 mostly ununionized immigrant labor. Other you know, the UfW tries 134 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.720 and the UfW is really a shadow of is really 135 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:06.200 not a very significant force anymore. It's not like most 136 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:08.919 I don't think most farm workers are members of UfW. 137 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:15.399 Why it developed like that rather than the automobile industry. 138 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.200 It's not like guys who were working the line at 139 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.799 Ford were not working hard. It's not like that isn't 140 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:30.320 a physically taxing job. But why did the American automotive 141 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:34.679 industry develop that way and not I don't know California 142 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:39.279 agg industry. Now that there's a seasonal nature to agricultural jobs. 143 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:41.039 I get it that maybe it makes it hard to 144 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:45.039 sort of build a house and settle down in one spot, 145 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:48.879 but and should certainly there are a lot of other 146 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:56.200 contingent factors. But this sort of vaguely racially, this vaguely 147 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:59.600 racist idea that only Mexicans are able to pick to 148 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.399 do the backbreaking labor of picking vegetables is I think ridiculous. 149 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.039 There are plenty of examples of Americans who did backbreaking 150 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:12.559 physical labor. Who do backbreaking physical labor. You know, why 151 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:15.159 are coal miners all Americans? Why are you know these 152 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.759 are hard jobs that Americans do. It developed that way 153 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:23.919 in California because California is close to Mexico, and it 154 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:29.080 is clearly financially advantageous in certain respects to have non 155 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:37.519 citizens people here quasi legally, people here illegally. So I 156 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:42.320 think none of that is being discussed, and I guess 157 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.440 it's a little bit. It's a little unrealistic to expect 158 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.000 Pope Francis, of all people, to be able to even 159 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:54.639 get in the weeds of that. He is an Argentinian 160 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:04.200 priest bishop who in Rome now, who is getting his 161 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:10.799 information about the American immigration situation from the most liberal 162 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:15.960 bishops in the United States. Pretty much. Of course, he's 163 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:20.639 not going to give a very two sided presentation to 164 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.159 the debate. Now. He reiterates Catholic teaching on the subject, which, 165 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.840 if you look at Catholic teaching on the subject, I 166 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.559 think can result in a variety of different approaches Legitimately 167 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.679 between disagreeing people to the immigration debate. I think there's 168 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.559 a lot of room for reasonable people of goodwill within 169 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:44.080 the Catholic Church to disagree on the parameters of immigration enforcement. 170 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.559 I think the bishops have been in America, and by 171 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:50.759 the way, both bishops, not just bishops who are very liberal. 172 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.799 I had I had Bishop Joseph Brennan, the Bishop of Fresno, 173 00:12:55.480 --> 00:13:00.360 on this show. I can assure you all there is 174 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:02.720 nobody more socially conservative you're ever going to meet in 175 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.000 your life than Bishop Brennan. All Right, he is a 176 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:10.960 die hard pro lifer. He is you know he's for 177 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.600 one thing, He's also just been a very dear friend 178 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:18.120 to me, a very faithful Catholic, and not like a 179 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:23.720 total He isn't like this caricature of the modern day 180 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:29.320 left pro immigration, you know, racial fraudster who thinks that 181 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:32.639 any immigration enforcement whatsoever is just tantamount to racism and 182 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:37.279 responds to any argument about immigration by saying, well, America 183 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:39.960 is a country of immigrants. No, He's like, yes, I 184 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:43.559 really think we should deport anyone who's in this I 185 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.679 think deportations are okay. I think anyone who's committed a 186 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.000 crime needs to be deported. I think Bishop Brennan has 187 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.720 legitimate concerns about the fairness of people who were allowed 188 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.120 to stay in the United States for long periods of time, 189 00:13:58.159 --> 00:13:59.840 who were allowed to stay for such a long time 190 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:02.240 that they set down roots, now all of a sudden, 191 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:08.080 all being deported because guess what, probably a lot of 192 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.480 his parishioners in the Sanawaquin Valley are like that, And 193 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:12.840 now a lot of those people are scared. They are worried, 194 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.279 they're concerned. They've made a life here, they're not sure 195 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:18.960 what they would go back to in Mexico or wherever. 196 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.600 He has concern for those people, and unfrankly, I do too. 197 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:28.480 I think that there is this fundamental unfairness that's resulted 198 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:33.399 in American immigration law as a result of non enforcement 199 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.200 of immigration law that happened for the past four years. 200 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.879 And I think that's what frustrates me, is that the 201 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:44.559 people from whom Pope Francis is getting all of his 202 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:49.519 information about the American immigration scene are some of these 203 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:54.360 most liberal bishops I think, who didn't raise a peep 204 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.039 about the problems that President Biden had been creating at 205 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:05.480 the border, exacerbation of the problems with people making phony 206 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.840 asylum claims, which has been I think the chief I 207 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:13.360 think that, more than anything has been the chief problem 208 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.240 at the border during the Biden years, the fact that 209 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:21.279 we have an asylum system in America. The asylum system, 210 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:24.759 it's not supposed to be a shortcut to immigration. It's 211 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.559 supposed to be you're in a bad, exigent circumstance in 212 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:32.000 you're you're putting a raft together made out of old 213 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:35.960 tires to float from Cuba to Miami because Castro is 214 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:42.000 gonna murder your family. You don't have time to or 215 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:46.279 the ability maybe to, you know, apply for a work 216 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.080 visa in the United States. You lash a raft together, 217 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.519 you float from Cuba to Miami Beach. You've come ashore, 218 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:56.320 you get picked up by immigration authorities and you say, hey, 219 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.039 I know I didn't come here the normal legal way. 220 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:04.919 I am seeking asylum. Castro is gonna kill me. Can 221 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.200 I come to the United States and we have a 222 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.200 system for that. Instead, what we've got are people marching 223 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:17.440 all the way up through Central America, through Mexico, through 224 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:21.519 safe parts of Central America, safe parts of Mexico, to say, ah, 225 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:25.399 I need asylum, when really what they're moving for is 226 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:28.799 an economic opportunity. Which that's fine, but you shouldn't be 227 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:33.159 using the asylum system to effectively cut the line. So 228 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.840 what do we do with these people? The Biden administration said, ah, 229 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.200 let them come in, and so we have wave and 230 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.799 wave and wave and wave of people where the Biden 231 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.039 Administration's like, ah, we're just not going to catch people 232 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.600 sneaking across the border illegally. We're not. We're gonna let 233 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.320 people in while we sit around and say we're going 234 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:55.360 to adjudicate their asylum claim, give them a court date 235 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.120 three years from now, that they're never going to show 236 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:59.720 up for and so now we just have all these 237 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:07.160 people in the country. But basically, this on again, off 238 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.319 again situation of American immigration enforcement I do think is 239 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.599 unjust for a lot of people who wound up staying 240 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:18.039 here on the basis of American presidents saying yeah, you 241 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:25.920 can stay. So when we return, I want to just 242 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:29.640 talk about maybe some dynamics about Pope Francis and things 243 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.200 like that, just to try to give some context for 244 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.279 the whole thing that is next on the John Girardi Show. 245 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.680 I'm discussing the recent letter that Pope Francis sent to 246 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.640 the bishops of the United States with regards to immigration, 247 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.400 and I want to talk about this just to give 248 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:52.480 some context for people. I think the perception of probably 249 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.440 most power talk listeners is Pope Francis is a left 250 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:02.799 wing lunatic and he hates Donald Trump. It may be 251 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:06.440 that he doesn't like Donald Trump. I wouldn't call him 252 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.440 a left wing lunatic. I think he has been very 253 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:14.799 concerned about immigration questions in many contexts worldwide, that that 254 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:20.720 is clearly something that really animates him. I wouldn't say 255 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:25.960 that he is unconcerned about social conservative questions. He's been 256 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:31.039 very few people in the world have been more anti 257 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:39.079 trans than Pope Francis, who, in spite of various whining 258 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:42.559 wringing their hands Catholic lefties said absolutely not. Nope, the 259 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:47.359 catholicarick absolutely posed it and actually helped develop Catholic teaching 260 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:53.279 over the course of his pontificate with regards to these 261 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.799 emerging trends and emerging issues with regards to transgenderism, all 262 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:02.960 in ways that are completely excellent and good. So I 263 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:06.000 want to give him credit where it is due. He's 264 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:12.519 unfailingly pro life, has reiterated, honestly with far harsher language 265 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:18.559 than I've ever used his opposition to abortion in context 266 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:24.960 after context. I will also, though, note this, with regards 267 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.599 to this most recent interaction, I would be willing to 268 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:32.720 bet a large sum of money that Pope Francis didn't 269 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:35.839 write a word of it. That maybe he signed it, 270 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:40.119 but he didn't write it. Pope Francis is eighty eight 271 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:46.240 years old. I don't need to tell any American about 272 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:52.359 you know, when someone's getting into their late eighties, you know, 273 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.599 it's kind of a difficult thing to expect them to 274 00:19:55.599 --> 00:20:03.279 be operating at a super high level. We just saw 275 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:06.000 this with a guy who was our president who was 276 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.720 clearly senile the whole time. And I'm not saying Pope 277 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.359 Francis is senile. I don't think he is. I think 278 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.799 he's actually still fairly I think he's still probably pretty 279 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:18.160 darn mentally sharp. But you don't have the same fastball 280 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.559 at eighty eight. I don't care how mentally sharp you are, 281 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.000 you don't have the same fastball at eighty eight. I 282 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.160 think that's why Pope Benedict the sixteenth resigned the papacy. 283 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.480 Some of you may remember this, that Pope Benedict in 284 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:36.440 twenty thirteen resigned. Was the first pope in like five 285 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:40.160 hundred whatever, how many years, I forget how many centuries 286 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:46.799 was the first pope to voluntarily resign his office. And 287 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.920 I think he did so because he saw what had 288 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.359 happened under John Paul the Second. John Paul the Second, 289 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.960 I think had a very strong sense of his duty 290 00:20:55.400 --> 00:21:01.240 and obligation to serve the church. And in spite of 291 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:03.319 the fact that he had Parkinson's disease and was suffering 292 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.039 very badly and was exhausted by the efforts of the papacy, 293 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.039 he said, no, I'm going to carry this cross like 294 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.519 Jesus did, and that's it. I'm not going to resign. 295 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.480 And I think Pope Benedict was saw that and saw 296 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:19.240 obviously he very so deeply admired John Paul the Second, 297 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:22.119 but I think he also realized maybe that's not the 298 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:24.960 best thing for the church to have a pontiff who's 299 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.920 well into his eighties, who cannot be as on top 300 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.240 of things as a younger man. And you know, popes 301 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.720 are living longer than they used to. Okay, in the 302 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:39.480 fifteen hundreds, if a pope dropped dead at age sixty eight, 303 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.960 no one was surprised. Popes are living to be they 304 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:45.359 have really good health care. They can live to be ninety. 305 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.599 And paup Francis only has one lung. He had some 306 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:50.319 kind of lung disease when he was young and had 307 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:53.119 one of his lungs removed. The fact that he's got 308 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:59.319 bronchitis right now. So again, I'm not saying Pop Francis 309 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:02.799 doesn't know what he signing, but I will say he 310 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:07.559 is reliant on other people. And I think I don't 311 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:12.319 know if there's some kind of a anti American bias 312 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:17.559 that's just present among Europeans and South Americans of which 313 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:21.559 he's kind of both. And I think he just sort 314 00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:26.279 of has this. You know, he actually said this in 315 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:31.480 a press conference he had on an airplane recently when 316 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:34.039 he was asked about Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and 317 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:36.039 he said, one of them wants to kill all the babies, 318 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:37.880 and one of them wants to get rid of all 319 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:42.000 the migrants. And that's it's sort of just his viewpoint 320 00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:44.799 on things that he thinks abortion is bad and he 321 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.440 thinks he has a vague sense that American conservative's position 322 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:53.359 on immigration is bad. But he doesn't have the level 323 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:57.599 of sort of nitty gritty detail understanding of it, I 324 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.519 would guess. And you know, maybe I'm being as umptuous. 325 00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:03.599 Maybe he does. Maybe I'm just wrong. I just don't 326 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:06.240 think he has the level of nitty gritty detailed understanding 327 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:09.519 of like, hey, do you realize how President Biden, like 328 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:14.079 royally screwed everything up, completely screwed up the asylum system 329 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.039 and people cutting the line via the asylum system, letting 330 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:20.559 them come into the country unchecked, everyone's miensing their court dates, 331 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.039 people overstaying whatever kind of parole Biden gave it. Blah 332 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.519 blah blah blah, blah blah, bah blah blah, the long 333 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.680 term economic harms to American the American working class that's 334 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:34.359 resulted from immigration, the benefits to capitalist enterprise to from 335 00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:38.079 illegal immigration that people just pay their workers less, on 336 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.839 and on and on, the sort of in depth America 337 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:44.640 specific details about the immigration question that I just I 338 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:49.000 think it would be unreasonable to expect him to fully understand. 339 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:51.359 And I think he's got a lot of advisers around 340 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:53.279 him who want him to talk about want him to 341 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:56.319 push him to talk about this, who seemingly didn't push 342 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.440 him to talk about things like abortion or whatever. So 343 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:04.279 at the end of the day, that's my thoughts. I 344 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:06.759 respect the Pope, I love the Pope. I'm never gonna 345 00:24:06.759 --> 00:24:10.920 blast him on this show. I want to treat him 346 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:14.000 the way I would my own father. I hope that's 347 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.480 what I've done. When we return. Is jd Vance initiating 348 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.400 a constitutional crisis of ignoring the court? Next? On the 349 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:25.400 John Gerardi Show. Jd Vance the other day had a 350 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.039 fairly simple statement that's been blown way out of proportion 351 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:36.000 into literally people calling it a constitutional crisis. I mean, 352 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:37.880 I guess it's not much of a surprise to anyone 353 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:42.039 given the level of lunacy and historyonics that people were 354 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:44.880 into during the first Trump administration, where everything Trump did 355 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:49.119 was the end of the world, that we you know, 356 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:51.319 get more of the same in the second Trump administration. 357 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:55.599 But and it's especially comical to see the American Bar Association. 358 00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:58.319 So for those who don't know, the American Bar Association 359 00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:04.079 is a joke. It is completely dominated by its actual 360 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:10.960 you know, leadership is dominated by left wingers, and they 361 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.720 are are now at this point where they're totally fine 362 00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:19.960 with accepting even the most wildly left wing, outlandish liberal 363 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.599 legal ideas and theories humanly possible that that would just 364 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.720 get laughed out of an actual, real life, real world courtroom. 365 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:29.759 Stuff that's like too liberal for the actual Biden doj 366 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:34.880 The American Bar Association was cheering the notion just a 367 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.799 few weeks ago that Joe Biden could create a constitutional 368 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.359 amendment to the United States could declare something to be 369 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:45.759 a constitutional amendment to the US Constitution, an amendment to 370 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.960 the US Constitution via tweet. When Biden declared an think 371 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:55.079 they equal rights amendment is part of the Constitution, It's like, yeah, well, there, 372 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:58.160 it is part of the Constitution now. Spite of the 373 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.640 fact that it you know, didn't get another states to 374 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:03.960 ratify it within the specified time frame, and a bunch 375 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.319 of states de ratified after initially ratifying it, and blah 376 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:13.519 blah blah blah blah. So the American Bar Association's ridiculous. 377 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:16.799 But they issued this big statement just earlier that the 378 00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:21.119 Trump administration this unprecedented attacks on the law because he's 379 00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:25.200 firing a bunch of government employees and because of this 380 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:31.279 statement by JD. Vance. So what advanced say? Vance said, quote, 381 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:39.240 judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power. Now 382 00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:43.720 people took that to mean the president is going to 383 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:51.720 ignore the courts, and frankly, this is a you know, 384 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:53.599 I think a lot of people like to think of 385 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.640 our constitution as this sort of perfect, sort of fail safe, 386 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:04.559 perfect mechanism with no holes, no lacune, no sort of gaps. 387 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.920 As far as well, what would happen if this happened? 388 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:10.960 And this has actually been kind of a long standing thing. 389 00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:16.119 The checks and balances that exist within our constitutional order 390 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:21.519 as we have it today is Congress rights the laws. 391 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:26.119 The president executes the laws. The president can only execute 392 00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:31.559 those laws that Congress writes. The president has some ability 393 00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:37.519 to use some level of executive discretion about how exactly 394 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:39.920 he's going to enforce the law within the parameters of 395 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:44.200 what Congress has written. So Congress has some ability to 396 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.599 check the ability. Congress has the ability to check the 397 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:52.160 power of the executive by delineating the area of its activity. 398 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.240 You will enforce the law. This is the law you 399 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:56.920 will enforce. You must stay within these parameters. You go 400 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:02.200 outside these parameters, you're outside the law. And the judiciary 401 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:07.559