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<v Speaker 1>It's always a successful podcast, James, when you managed to

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<v Speaker 1>work in the word flounce?

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<v Speaker 2>Did I get in flounce?

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<v Speaker 1>Did I get there fence?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah I do too.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, next week we won't flaunce will swan about.

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<v Speaker 3>That's the good one too.

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<v Speaker 1>Ask not what your country can do for you, ask

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<v Speaker 1>what you can do for your country.

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<v Speaker 3>Mister Gorbucha.

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<v Speaker 1>Tear down this wall.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the Ricochet Podcast. I'm James Lanks, and we have

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<v Speaker 2>Stephen Aingward and Charles and C. W. Cook and we're

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<v Speaker 2>going to be talking to Daniel McCarthy about tearuffs, Trump

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<v Speaker 2>and other things. So let's have resup the podcast. Other

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<v Speaker 2>federal workers not revealing their names because of concern over retribution,

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<v Speaker 2>described to NBC News fear and panic and Orwellian nightmare.

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<v Speaker 4>Seventy thousand for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland,

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<v Speaker 4>forty seven thousand for a transgender opera in Colombia, thirty

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<v Speaker 4>thousand for a transgender comic book in Peru.

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<v Speaker 1>This is what they're mad about.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome Everybody Eats. The Ricochet Podcast part of our Boeing

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<v Speaker 2>series this year. It's number seven hundred and twenty seven.

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<v Speaker 2>James lolaxs in Minneapolis, which is due to get about

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<v Speaker 2>ten inches of snow in the next couple of days

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<v Speaker 2>or so. And I'm talking to Stephen Heyward and Charles C. W. Cook,

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<v Speaker 2>who I assume are at their polar opposites, one in Florida,

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<v Speaker 2>one perhaps in Well. Where are you, Stephen? I know

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<v Speaker 2>this is a great interest everybody.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I don't know about that. I'm in California, out

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<v Speaker 1>of the coast, but it is raining, so it's got snow,

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<v Speaker 1>but we are getting some rain.

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<v Speaker 2>There's that. Well, wherever you are in this country, I'm

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<v Speaker 2>sure that you've heard, of course, the nailing, washing and gnashing, gunashing,

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<v Speaker 2>and rending of garments that is attending day eighteen of

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<v Speaker 2>the of the you know, the Tasmanian devil like activity

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<v Speaker 2>going on from the Trumpe administration, a doge and whatnot.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm here to tell you I spend a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of time in a lot of time, but I go

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<v Speaker 2>to Reddit a lot because it's interesting. It used to

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<v Speaker 2>be one of those places where, oh, here's a niche

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<v Speaker 2>community that I like. Let's let's talk with some like

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<v Speaker 2>minded fellow citizens about this, that and the other. But

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<v Speaker 2>every single subreddit has been infected by a level of

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<v Speaker 2>craziness I haven't seen before. There is an utter conviction

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<v Speaker 2>that we are basically in nineteen thirty four Germany. It's

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<v Speaker 2>going to get worse. We are under the boot of

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<v Speaker 2>fascism at the moment, and it's interesting how it manifests itself.

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<v Speaker 2>In one subreddit, they were noting that a whole bunch

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<v Speaker 2>of subreddits had been turned off, had been banned. Now

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<v Speaker 2>they were porn subreddits, you know, r R slash feet,

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<v Speaker 2>our slash teens, stuff like that. But the general consensus

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<v Speaker 2>was was this was a switch that had been installed

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<v Speaker 2>by the administration or the Reddit administrators on the orders

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<v Speaker 2>of the administration, to test how easy it would simply

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<v Speaker 2>be to just shut Reddit down. Because, as we all know,

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<v Speaker 2>Donald Trump paces you know, the Oval Office at two

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<v Speaker 2>o'clock in the morning worrying about what Reddit is doing. Think, well,

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<v Speaker 2>that's paranoid nonsense. Let's go over here to where we're

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<v Speaker 2>talking about the best ways to store all of the

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<v Speaker 2>videos and books and things that we've downloaded, and there

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<v Speaker 2>they are talking about the fact that it is necessary

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<v Speaker 2>for everybody with a conscience to download as much information

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<v Speaker 2>as possible from federal government websites, because it's all going

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<v Speaker 2>to be taken down in the interests of installing the

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<v Speaker 2>imminent fascists. I'm I don't want to go to the

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<v Speaker 2>comic strip history one because I am relatively certain that

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<v Speaker 2>there will be an argument about banning Twitter links. It's crazy.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, now, hold on a minute, James, I had this

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<v Speaker 1>more than vague recollection of a few years ago, either

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<v Speaker 1>during Obama or during Biden, there was all this talk

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<v Speaker 1>of the federal government having available to it a kill

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<v Speaker 1>switch for the Internet so they could turn off the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing and for some national emergency, and gee, you know, boy,

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<v Speaker 1>a good thing. I didn't get that because Trump would

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<v Speaker 1>use it, of course, on twelve oh one, eighteen days.

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<v Speaker 1>Only eighteen days, by the way, it seems so much longer,

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<v Speaker 1>which is what's so glorious about it, Charles.

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<v Speaker 2>It seemed like a year, right, some highlights perhaps, if

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<v Speaker 2>you will. What's instructive about all this is, I don't

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<v Speaker 2>know if you guys know what the state of Minnesota

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<v Speaker 2>looks like when you think of Minnesota, do you do

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<v Speaker 2>you have a picture of it in your mind?

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<v Speaker 3>Charles, Tim Walls my favorite.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that's an image I mean geographically of what would

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<v Speaker 2>look like. We know that there's that pointy edge. We

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<v Speaker 2>know that there's that sort of irregular edge that nestles

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<v Speaker 2>and cuddles with Wisconsin and a fairly sharp and discernible

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<v Speaker 2>border with Iowa. But way up in the north, there's

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<v Speaker 2>this little promontory that pops up, some remnant of an

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<v Speaker 2>ancient map making dispute. It's a little tiny part that

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<v Speaker 2>pokes up into the butt of Canada. And I like

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<v Speaker 2>to think that USAID is like that. It's a very

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<v Speaker 2>small thing, but yet how illustrative and defining of the

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<v Speaker 2>entire organization the government. It truly is. What we are

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<v Speaker 2>seeing is the tip of the iceberg, the Minnesota part

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<v Speaker 2>that juts indicators.

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<v Speaker 1>We're seeing.

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<v Speaker 2>The curtain has been pulled back on the smallest of

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<v Speaker 2>plays and all the things. We're finding.

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<v Speaker 3>Where to start, James, anywhere to start. It's difficult with

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<v Speaker 3>this because it is being talked about, as you have noted,

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<v Speaker 3>in these hyperbolic terms, and yet it is extremely complicated.

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<v Speaker 3>It's extremely complicated on the merits, it's extremely complicated constitutionally,

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<v Speaker 3>it's extremely complicated even within the executive branch. And people

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<v Speaker 3>keep asking these questions that are simple. Do you think

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<v Speaker 3>it should exist? Well, which bits do you think Elon

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<v Speaker 3>Mash should be able to audit? It probably depends what

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<v Speaker 3>you mean. Do you think that this is the beginning

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<v Speaker 3>of a constitutional crisis? No, but it would be if

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<v Speaker 3>the president were doing things that it doesn't look as

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<v Speaker 3>if he's doing. And then you've got some of the

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<v Speaker 3>illustrative elements, as you noted, where whatever is found, however

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<v Speaker 3>stupid it is, the rejoinder is, well, it's only x

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<v Speaker 3>percent of the federal budget, which is not a defense.

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<v Speaker 3>It's just not an defense.

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<v Speaker 1>For a start.

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<v Speaker 3>If you took that as your excuse every time, you'd

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<v Speaker 3>never cut anything ever, because you would say, well, this

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<v Speaker 3>is not very much. Okay, fine, Second, the fact that

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<v Speaker 3>it's not very much doesn't necessarily matter, because aside from

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<v Speaker 3>what things cost, there is the question of should the

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<v Speaker 3>United States be doing it at all, even if it

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<v Speaker 3>were free, even if it made money, and some of

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<v Speaker 3>the things that we're uncovering the United States should just

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<v Speaker 3>not be doing.

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<v Speaker 5>Now.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm not including in that pepfar, which I think is

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<v Speaker 3>a good program, but I don't care if the encouragement

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<v Speaker 3>of Papua New Guinean tribesmen to become transgender makes the

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<v Speaker 3>United States a billion dollars a year. I don't want

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<v Speaker 3>the federal government to it, and so this is getting obfuscated.

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<v Speaker 3>I think in this broad now this is partly the

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<v Speaker 3>fault of the people who are investigating it, because they

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<v Speaker 3>have quite rightly made a big deal out of how

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<v Speaker 3>much money they're going to save. And that's all very good,

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<v Speaker 3>but they should have said at the same time, I

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<v Speaker 3>think in marketing terms, they should have said, we have

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<v Speaker 3>a dual mandate, one to find waste and fraud and

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<v Speaker 3>abuse and corruption, and some of this really is basically

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<v Speaker 3>log rolling for progressives, and we're going to find things

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<v Speaker 3>that America should not be doing at all. And you

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<v Speaker 3>know that the excuse, oh well, it's not very much

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<v Speaker 3>money just doesn't address that side of this.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's a great distraction to focused on the amount

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<v Speaker 1>of money involved. You know, I've been hearing for years,

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<v Speaker 1>going all the way back to the Reagan years from

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<v Speaker 1>appointees to usaid that it was not so much corrupt

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<v Speaker 1>and a slush on for liberal activist groups. I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's been growing in probably sens Obama is my hunch

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<v Speaker 1>about this but that it was just ineffective, wasteful, not

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<v Speaker 1>thought through, and so forth. I have a hunch that

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<v Speaker 1>what happened here is there may be some career people

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<v Speaker 1>inside USAID who raised the flag for the incoming Trumpers

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<v Speaker 1>that you really ought to look closely at how some

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<v Speaker 1>of these AID slush funds are going to activist groups.

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<v Speaker 1>By the way, I think most Americans have probably never

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<v Speaker 1>heard of USAID until five days ago. What they're hearing,

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<v Speaker 1>I think they don't like. But last thing for as

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<v Speaker 1>an opener, is the latest figure I saw just this

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<v Speaker 1>morning from the Columbia Journalism Review. Certainly not a member

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<v Speaker 1>of the right, vast right wing conspiracy, that AID grants

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<v Speaker 1>supported over six thousand journalists, over seven hundred different news outlets,

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<v Speaker 1>and as the way they put it, two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>seventy nine media sectors, civil society organizations. That's a euphemism

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<v Speaker 1>for something bad, more than thirty countries. One of the

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<v Speaker 1>publications we've heard about Politico and a few others, but

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<v Speaker 1>I'm shocked to learn that one of the publications that

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<v Speaker 1>has somehow gotten some of USAID money is Christianity. Today.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a whole separate story that they've sort of been

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<v Speaker 1>moving left for quite a while. But you know a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them is how in the world is Christianity

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<v Speaker 1>today getting money from the USAID. I want to learn

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<v Speaker 1>more about that. But this looks like they've really and

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<v Speaker 1>there's gonna be more of these kinds of things in

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<v Speaker 1>other agencies EPA regular state department. I remember going through

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<v Speaker 1>the COVID relief bill in twenty twenty one, that was

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<v Speaker 1>your past in haste, and I found in there, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a grant of three million dollars for gender education in Pakistan.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's not just USAID, it's everywhere, and good for

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<v Speaker 1>them for rooting this out. And I don't care if

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<v Speaker 1>it only saves a dime.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the things we used to make fun of. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>we're spending a lot of money for trends gender operas

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<v Speaker 2>in Ireland. You know, we make these ridiculous examples and

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<v Speaker 2>then they turn on to be exactly what they were doing.

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<v Speaker 2>You mentioned the Politico thing, of course, I think it

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<v Speaker 2>is interesting. It's been defended by a lot of people

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<v Speaker 2>who say, well, no, they need access to this. Interesting

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<v Speaker 2>that people in government in Washington need to pay money

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<v Speaker 2>to learn what's happening in Washington and government. But set

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<v Speaker 2>that aside, if you will, Charles Wright does. This is

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<v Speaker 2>the part that fascinates me, and you mentioned slush funds

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<v Speaker 2>is there's a Twitter account x called data Republican I

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<v Speaker 2>think is her handle, and she's developed all kinds of

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<v Speaker 2>tools that allow you to drill down. You enter in

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<v Speaker 2>various codes and whatnot, and it spits out thanks to AI,

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<v Speaker 2>these marvelous little grafts that tell you exactly how the

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<v Speaker 2>money flows. And the boxes that are marked red are

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<v Speaker 2>the ones that receive federal government money. And the almost

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<v Speaker 2>every single instance here it's all read on the left

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<v Speaker 2>and then on the right where the money eventually ends up.

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<v Speaker 2>It's some NGO, it's some private enterprise or the likes.

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<v Speaker 2>And you see how these institutions are. These organizations angos

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<v Speaker 2>get grants and then sort of wash them through other

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<v Speaker 2>through an educational facility so that they you know, Ford

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<v Speaker 2>gets the money and gives it to Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt

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<v Speaker 2>then gives it to uh, you know, Tides Foundation, which

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<v Speaker 2>pops up a lot and Tides gives it to some

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<v Speaker 2>local entity, which sounds perfectly wonderful doing marvelous things for

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<v Speaker 2>the people and the rest of it. But you just

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<v Speaker 2>see this money as it flows from the state to

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<v Speaker 2>the to the to the private enterprises, getting less and

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<v Speaker 2>less as it goes along, of course, because everybody's got

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<v Speaker 2>to take their cut. And when this is when, when

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<v Speaker 2>this visual is repeated over and over and over again,

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<v Speaker 2>it is hard not to assume that there's just a

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<v Speaker 2>tremendous amount of inefficiency going on here. And I think, yes,

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<v Speaker 2>the idea is to zero it out and build it

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<v Speaker 2>from scratch and justify anew every single one of these things.

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<v Speaker 2>Now you can say that's just simply too much work.

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<v Speaker 2>I think we got enough people in Washington who are

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<v Speaker 2>who could probably work nine to five figuring out exactly

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<v Speaker 2>how to do this and put it into a bill

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<v Speaker 2>so that instead of having is big slashing that money

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<v Speaker 2>that goes everywhere, that you have specific lines and specific

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<v Speaker 2>laws that empower and instruct instead of the blob And Charles,

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<v Speaker 2>I know you're with me on this, and Stephen too,

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<v Speaker 2>that it's not that we're opposed necessarily to spending United

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<v Speaker 2>States government money on philanthropic efforts. We just want something rigorous,

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<v Speaker 2>something codified, so that there are actuals so that Congress

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<v Speaker 2>does its job that we have a budget, not a

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<v Speaker 2>continuing resolution, but a budget. And do you think we

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<v Speaker 2>might actually get a budget out of this after two years?

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<v Speaker 2>Or does Trump lack the discipline to actually keep going

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<v Speaker 2>and follow this to its natural conclusion?

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<v Speaker 3>Can I rant about something for a second that's making.

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<v Speaker 1>Rant? Okay?

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<v Speaker 3>So I have for the last thirteen or fourteen years

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<v Speaker 3>written over and over again that we need Congress to

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<v Speaker 3>take back its powers, that delegation to the administrative state

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<v Speaker 3>is a problem. That the back and forth we get

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<v Speaker 3>every time we have a new president, because so many

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<v Speaker 3>of the decisions that should be made by Congress have

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<v Speaker 3>been farmed out, is unstable. And I've done this irrespective

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<v Speaker 3>of whether the president was a Republican or a Democrat,

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<v Speaker 3>because it's a structural question, not a partisan question. Most notably,

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<v Speaker 3>I think given the scale of the usurpation, I spent

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<v Speaker 3>a couple of years shouting at Joe Biden for trying

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<v Speaker 3>to spend four hundred trillion dollars billion dollars, not four

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<v Speaker 3>hundred trillion that's next time, four hundred billion dollars bailing

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<v Speaker 3>out student loans with public money that he was not

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<v Speaker 3>allowed to do. And I did not see this as

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<v Speaker 3>a partisan question, and I opened my arms and asked

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<v Speaker 3>other people to come in with me on the endeavor

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<v Speaker 3>and say, no, the president's not allowed to do this. Democrats, Republicans, independence, whatever,

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<v Speaker 3>just please accept that Congress is supposed to it is.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know what I got. I got nothing. I

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<v Speaker 3>got absolutely nothing. In fact, you've got the usual suspects

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<v Speaker 3>either stayed quiet about it or said no, he can

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<v Speaker 3>do it, or well, it's nice. We have had a

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<v Speaker 3>Republican president for what is it, fifteen days sixteen days now,

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<v Speaker 3>and that Republican president, as far as I can see,

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<v Speaker 3>is exercising powers that were delegated by Congress.

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<v Speaker 2>Now.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't want them to be delegated. I don't think

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<v Speaker 3>it is a good idea for Congress to say, here

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<v Speaker 3>is a massive change of money, you go spend it

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<v Speaker 3>as use effect. I'm totally with you, James. If Congress

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<v Speaker 3>has done that on any of these issues, I will

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<v Speaker 3>be the first person to stand up and say, I'm sorry,

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<v Speaker 3>President Trump, but you can't cancel it. But thus far

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<v Speaker 3>we seem to be in a situation in which the

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<v Speaker 3>president is just auditing what he is able to spend,

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<v Speaker 3>and in some cases saying I'm no longer going to

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<v Speaker 3>spend it, I'm no longer going to use the discre

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<v Speaker 3>that I have been given, that every president has been given.

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<v Speaker 3>And what is the press saying? It's a constitutional crisis.

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<v Speaker 3>So what we have is a scenario in which when

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<v Speaker 3>presidents Barack Obama did it with DHAKA, Joe Biden did

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<v Speaker 3>it with student loans, where the executive branch is literally

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<v Speaker 3>stealing the power of Congress, is literally usurping the constitutional

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<v Speaker 3>authority that has been given to Congress. These people are

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<v Speaker 3>silent or endorse it. And the second that a president

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<v Speaker 3>starts to use the delegated authority that they have actually

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<v Speaker 3>been given in a way that they don't like, they're say,

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<v Speaker 3>this is the coming of Hitler, this is the end

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<v Speaker 3>of the republic. This is a constitutional crisis. Is this

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<v Speaker 3>is insane. This is making me so cross because I've

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<v Speaker 3>been standing asking these people to come help for ten

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<v Speaker 3>fifteen years and they won't do it. And then the

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<v Speaker 3>second the president is actually doing what he's been allowed

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<v Speaker 3>to do. Agreed, he shouldn't be allowed to do it,

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<v Speaker 3>but he is. It's a constitutional You have got to

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<v Speaker 3>be kidding me. You have just got to be kidding me.

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<v Speaker 2>The Constitution. The Constitution matters when it matters, and it

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't matter when it doesn't. And if the President on

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<v Speaker 2>the way out can just say, oh, by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>this amendment is part of the Constitution, now, he can

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<v Speaker 2>do that. Although we've forgot about Joe, but I doesn't.

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<v Speaker 2>The Constitution is living and breathing, or is you know,

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<v Speaker 2>if they want to graft another limb on to it

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<v Speaker 2>in the sternam, then they'll do so. If they want

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<v Speaker 2>to hack off a foot, they'll do.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I take all of their protestations of constitutionality with a

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<v Speaker 2>bag of Morton salt. But I don't have an awful

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<v Speaker 2>lot of salt actually, because salt, I understand, isn't good

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<v Speaker 2>for you. I'm one of those people who's crazy about it, like, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>don't have salt. I love salt. I love fact. I

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<v Speaker 2>love all kinds of things as a matter of fact.

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<v Speaker 2>And you know what, I'm going to be heading to

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<v Speaker 2>the gym for a little while and I'm going to

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<v Speaker 2>be hoisting a lot of metal, and I feel good

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<v Speaker 2>about that for my age and all that. But one

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<v Speaker 2>of the things that I do make sure that I

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<v Speaker 2>know about is what my metabolism is doing because your

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00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.320
<v Speaker 2>metabolism has got to work properly and you will feel

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00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:54.600
<v Speaker 2>the benefits in every aspect of your life if it does.

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<v Speaker 2>I have a valuable tool that gives me insights to

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00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.799
<v Speaker 2>create a healthy metabolism for my corpus and it's called Lumen.

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<v Speaker 2>Lumen it's the world's first handheld metabolic coach. It's a

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00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:09.759
<v Speaker 2>device that measures your metabolism through your breath and on

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00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:12.759
<v Speaker 2>the app and it's this device into which you blow

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00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.319
<v Speaker 2>that connects with the app on your phone. Very cool,

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<v Speaker 2>very high tech. On the app, it lets you know

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<v Speaker 2>if you're burning fat or if you're burning carbs, and

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00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:22.759
<v Speaker 2>it gives you tailored guidance to improve your nutrition, your workouts,

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<v Speaker 2>your sleep, and even your stress management. Blow into it

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00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:27.759
<v Speaker 2>and you get a little profile of what you're doing

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<v Speaker 2>and you can tell what you can have for the

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<v Speaker 2>rest of the day. It's like a little menu planner. Ooh,

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<v Speaker 2>I can have lots of carbs. I love carbs. All

335
00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:35.160
<v Speaker 2>you have to do is to breathe into your lumin

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00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:37.039
<v Speaker 2>first thing in the morning, and you'll know what's going

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00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.119
<v Speaker 2>on with your metabolism, whether you burning the fats or

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00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:43.160
<v Speaker 2>carbs and then Lumen gives you a personalized nutrition plan

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00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.400
<v Speaker 2>for the day based on your measurements. I swear by

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00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:48.119
<v Speaker 2>this thing. And by the way, you can also breathe

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<v Speaker 2>into it before and after workouts and meals, so you

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<v Speaker 2>know precisely what is going on in your body in

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<v Speaker 2>real time, and Luman gives you the tips to keep

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<v Speaker 2>you on top of your health game. It is not

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<v Speaker 2>some fly by night little thing, you know, some little

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00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:05.400
<v Speaker 2>you know, plastic hooter that you would noisemaker that use

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00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:09.559
<v Speaker 2>on New Year's Eve. It is a quality instrument. You

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<v Speaker 2>know it from the time you pick it up and

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<v Speaker 2>when you set it down, and it's a little charging cradle.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a well engineered product. I love using it

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<v Speaker 2>of making a little ball bounce in the thing when

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<v Speaker 2>I'm blowing on it. It's once you integrate this into

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<v Speaker 2>your part of your daily life, you'll realize, Wow, this

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<v Speaker 2>is what's going on, this is what I should do. Cool.

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<v Speaker 2>Take the next step to improving your health by going

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00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.839
<v Speaker 2>to Lumen, dot me slash ricochet to get twenty percent off.

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00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:37.519
<v Speaker 2>You're a Llumin It's Lume and dot me slash ricochet

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00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:40.160
<v Speaker 2>for twenty percent off your purchase, and we thank Luman

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00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:45.480
<v Speaker 2>for sponsoring this the Ricochet Podcast and now were welcome

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<v Speaker 2>to the podcast. Daniel McCarthy, editor of Modern Age, the

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<v Speaker 2>vice president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and contributing editor

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<v Speaker 2>to American Conservative and The Spectator. You can find his

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<v Speaker 2>writings in countless of the publications. You can find him

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<v Speaker 2>on x at Tory Anarchist. Daniel, Welcome, Thank you, delighted

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<v Speaker 2>to be here. Well, Monday, you had a piece in

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<v Speaker 2>the Post New York called Trump's Canada tariff tiff, and

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<v Speaker 2>I think there should have just been Trump's tariff tiff

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<v Speaker 2>for alliterative purposes, tells America's friends to get real on

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<v Speaker 2>defense spending. We don't usually think of Canada when it

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<v Speaker 2>comes to defense spending. We're looking at Europe at what

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<v Speaker 2>they are or are not doing. Explain exactly how that relates,

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<v Speaker 2>because a lot of people may have looked at that

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<v Speaker 2>and said, why Canada. Maybe it's fentanyl, but there's something

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<v Speaker 2>else going on.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, there are a whole constellation of issues that we

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<v Speaker 5>have with Canada, one of them being Canada's role in

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<v Speaker 5>NATO and the fact that it's one of the relatively

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<v Speaker 5>few NATO members. Now that is still lagging behind its

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<v Speaker 5>defense commitment. So NATO members are supposed to commit to

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<v Speaker 5>spending two percent of their GDP on defense. That's obviously

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<v Speaker 5>for their own defense, it's also making sure that you know,

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<v Speaker 5>the entire alliance is financed, and Canada is lagging significantly

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<v Speaker 5>behind that. Canada spends about I think one point three

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<v Speaker 5>percent one point seven percent where between those figures on

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<v Speaker 5>its defense right now. I think it's actually one point

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<v Speaker 5>three it's significantly less than two. And Pierre Trudeau is

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<v Speaker 5>just not serious about meeting his obligations, and he said

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<v Speaker 5>it's actually going to take until the twenty thirties before

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<v Speaker 5>Canada is able to reach the mark that we expect

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<v Speaker 5>from our allies in NATO. So I think Donald Trump

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<v Speaker 5>is using tariffs here to put pressure on Trudeau, pressure

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<v Speaker 5>on Canada on a whole number of issues, including this

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<v Speaker 5>one of Canada being a free rider on national security

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<v Speaker 5>coming from the United States and the NATO Alliance.

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<v Speaker 1>Dan it's Steve Hayward out in California, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>you could have just stopped a moment ago by saying

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<v Speaker 1>Pierre Trudeau is sorry. Justin Trudeau is not serious. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>he's such an un serious person. Look, I want to

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<v Speaker 1>ask you three or four things. You have for quite

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<v Speaker 1>a long time staked out a position on the I

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<v Speaker 1>think the non interventionist camp, i'll call it that way

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<v Speaker 1>right and against it. I have a lot of sympathy

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<v Speaker 1>for this, against foreign entanglements and military events overseas. I

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<v Speaker 1>think that viewpoint has caught on with a lot of people.

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<v Speaker 1>But two things in particular. Right now, what, Well, let's

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<v Speaker 1>start in reverse order, reverse chronology. So the last couple

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<v Speaker 1>of days, Trump has let fly with this idea that

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<v Speaker 1>we ought to take a role in rebuilding Gaza and

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<v Speaker 1>moving people out, and you know, we'll have a I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know, it's like a real estate deal, an ownership

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<v Speaker 1>stake and the resource that will be built. What do

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<v Speaker 1>you think of this prospective entanglement? Do you like this?

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<v Speaker 1>How do you are you enthusiastic for it? Or does

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<v Speaker 1>this violate the McCarthy proviso?

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<v Speaker 5>Well, I think Trump likes to state a maximalist position,

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<v Speaker 5>and oftentimes a shocking position, right from the beginning of

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<v Speaker 5>a negotiation, in order to completely shake up the existing position.

418
00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:45.559
<v Speaker 5>So you know, I mean there's a kind of almost

419
00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:49.440
<v Speaker 5>ritualistic element to the way foreign policy negotiations are typically

420
00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.599
<v Speaker 5>conducted everybody knows exactly where everyone else stands, and all

421
00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:58.000
<v Speaker 5>the maneuvering involves a lot of not saying what everybody knows.

422
00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:00.599
<v Speaker 5>In this case, Trump has, you know, of thrown the

423
00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:03.000
<v Speaker 5>chess pieces in the air. Nobody knows whether they're going

424
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:04.759
<v Speaker 5>to land or what's going to happen. Now that said,

425
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:06.880
<v Speaker 5>I really don't think Trump is going to send troops

426
00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:08.319
<v Speaker 5>to Gaza. I don't think we're going to have a

427
00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.079
<v Speaker 5>military occupation. I do think he's saying, you know what.

428
00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:13.440
<v Speaker 5>First of all, I mean, it's been interesting to see

429
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.599
<v Speaker 5>typical hawks like Lindsey Graham now suddenly having to sound

430
00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:19.880
<v Speaker 5>like doves as they say, wait a minute, this proposal

431
00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:22.240
<v Speaker 5>goes too far. So okay, Now he's, you know, sort

432
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.680
<v Speaker 5>of testing the limits of where the morehawker side of

433
00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:28.240
<v Speaker 5>his own party will stand. Second, he's also telling the gozens,

434
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.960
<v Speaker 5>wait a minute, why the heck do you want to

435
00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:31.960
<v Speaker 5>come back to this, you know, land of yours, which

436
00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.839
<v Speaker 5>has been reduced to brubble. And if you do come back,

437
00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:36.680
<v Speaker 5>how is it going to be any different than last

438
00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:39.039
<v Speaker 5>time when you guys launched an attack on Israel. So

439
00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.079
<v Speaker 5>I think that too, is again getting to the core

440
00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.000
<v Speaker 5>of the dispute here and is kind of forcing negotiators

441
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:45.799
<v Speaker 5>to be more honest about what they actually want and

442
00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:46.440
<v Speaker 5>are willing to do.

443
00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:48.720
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean, I think it calls the bluff of

444
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.079
<v Speaker 1>all the Arab countries who say they're pro Palestinian and

445
00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:52.759
<v Speaker 1>won't ever do anything to lift a thing. I like

446
00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.880
<v Speaker 1>that aspect of it. The nier one, perhaps for you,

447
00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:59.920
<v Speaker 1>I think, is a prospective attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

448
00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.720
<v Speaker 1>And I can't remember if you've written on that or not.

449
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:06.480
<v Speaker 1>I know Tucker Carlson and other people are saying absolutely no, no,

450
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:08.519
<v Speaker 1>we should you know, we should not go along with

451
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.359
<v Speaker 1>Israel and any kind of military action against Iran. Where

452
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:12.240
<v Speaker 1>do you land on that?

453
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:15.160
<v Speaker 5>I think Israel's quite capable, as it has before, of

454
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.480
<v Speaker 5>taking out Iran's nuclear capability by itself. So I'm not

455
00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:20.440
<v Speaker 5>too worried about the United States having to be involved

456
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:22.599
<v Speaker 5>in that. And it really is a matter for Israel

457
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.319
<v Speaker 5>to decide what's appropriate for its security. Obviously, as a

458
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:27.599
<v Speaker 5>neighbor of Iran, it's got the most skin in the

459
00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:30.000
<v Speaker 5>game here, and so I think the United States should,

460
00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:32.519
<v Speaker 5>you know, not be actively involved in that. But also

461
00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.319
<v Speaker 5>should not be telling Israel that this is something they

462
00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:38.039
<v Speaker 5>can't do. We're not Israel's keeper. They are a sovereign nation.

463
00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:40.200
<v Speaker 5>They can act according to their own interests.

464
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:43.039
<v Speaker 1>Well, but isn't it an our interest? I mean, Iran

465
00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:45.400
<v Speaker 1>has declared that the two great enemies of the world

466
00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:48.799
<v Speaker 1>are Israel and the Great Satan. That's US. I mean,

467
00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:51.200
<v Speaker 1>you know, they threatened US, we know they sponsored lots

468
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:54.160
<v Speaker 1>of terrorism. Leave aside the question of whether Israel can

469
00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.799
<v Speaker 1>do it alone. I know there's disagreement among military experts

470
00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:58.839
<v Speaker 1>on that, but it seems to me that Trump might

471
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:01.079
<v Speaker 1>do it. And if Trump do do it, what does

472
00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:02.039
<v Speaker 1>Dan McCarthy say.

473
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.000
<v Speaker 5>Well, I don't think Trump's going to, you know, be

474
00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:07.119
<v Speaker 5>having the United States take the leading role here. And

475
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.640
<v Speaker 5>I don't think the United States is going to be

476
00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:13.279
<v Speaker 5>acting directly with Israel in order to take out Iran's

477
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.799
<v Speaker 5>nuclear capability that they're trying to develop. I think, you know, again,

478
00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:19.200
<v Speaker 5>Israel has a very good track record of being able

479
00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:21.759
<v Speaker 5>to keep Iran in check, and so I expect that

480
00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:24.440
<v Speaker 5>to continue. Now if that's not the case, you know,

481
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.279
<v Speaker 5>then again it's a different chess board, and you have

482
00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:28.519
<v Speaker 5>to actually look at what's happening. I would be very

483
00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:31.319
<v Speaker 5>skeptical of the ability. I mean, we can certainly, you know,

484
00:24:31.319 --> 00:24:33.119
<v Speaker 5>have missile strikes, we can do a number of things.

485
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:35.559
<v Speaker 5>I think if we get into regime change and occupations,

486
00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:37.799
<v Speaker 5>then we'd have a real nightmare on our hands. So

487
00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:40.240
<v Speaker 5>it's all. And the other thing too, is that it's

488
00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:42.880
<v Speaker 5>very hard to tell. Obviously, there are signs that the

489
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:47.240
<v Speaker 5>Iranian regime is weakening. There are signs that, you know,

490
00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:49.720
<v Speaker 5>it is indeed, its oppressions have reached a point where

491
00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:52.759
<v Speaker 5>the people are showing their discontent. On the other hand,

492
00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:54.599
<v Speaker 5>it's hard to know exactly, you know, how deep that

493
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.599
<v Speaker 5>reaches into the countryside in Iran. So I'm kind of

494
00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:01.079
<v Speaker 5>optimistic actually that you know, Iran's regime, like the Soviet

495
00:25:01.079 --> 00:25:03.519
<v Speaker 5>regime you know in the nineteen eighties, is not necessarily

496
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.759
<v Speaker 5>going to be around for that much longer. But that said,

497
00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.559
<v Speaker 5>I mean, containment, I think is the white policy for

498
00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:10.039
<v Speaker 5>the US there, And if something more than containments needed,

499
00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.079
<v Speaker 5>I would think Israel is the best person, the best

500
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:13.039
<v Speaker 5>state to undertake that.

501
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:15.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, well, I certainly agree with you that we

502
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:17.519
<v Speaker 1>don't want to be contemplating boots on the ground or

503
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.640
<v Speaker 1>in Iraq type regime change strategy. I think we've learned

504
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.279
<v Speaker 1>our lesson about that. I've got one more sort of

505
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:27.039
<v Speaker 1>challenge to you before I turned it over to Charles.

506
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:31.319
<v Speaker 1>So I'm enjoying your most recent article in the Dispatch,

507
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:33.480
<v Speaker 1>where I didn't think I would see Dan McCarthy writing

508
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:36.559
<v Speaker 1>anytime soon. But you're paired off with the Andy Smarrick

509
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:42.759
<v Speaker 1>on Trump's appointments, especially of Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Junior,

510
00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:45.519
<v Speaker 1>and you give a good spirited defense of those. I

511
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:47.839
<v Speaker 1>could pick some knits with the way you characterize Reagan,

512
00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:49.799
<v Speaker 1>but I don't want to bore listeners for that. But

513
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:53.039
<v Speaker 1>I do want to pick one knit. You mentioned briefly that, oh,

514
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:56.680
<v Speaker 1>National Review, in the old days of Fusionism went tilted

515
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:00.319
<v Speaker 1>too far in accepting expert social science, and don't think

516
00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:03.440
<v Speaker 1>that's correct. I mean, I mean, yeah, they used to

517
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.759
<v Speaker 1>have Ernest vonden Hogg, but he was usually trashing the

518
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:09.079
<v Speaker 1>established social science. So I thought you were being a

519
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.039
<v Speaker 1>little mean to National Review there, which seems to be

520
00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:13.400
<v Speaker 1>a popular sport these days. And I'm doing this for

521
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.319
<v Speaker 1>Charles benefits, so he doesn't have to be put on

522
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.559
<v Speaker 1>the spot. But I'm an old guy's been reading it forever.

523
00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:20.680
<v Speaker 1>But maybe the last point is, or maybe could turn

524
00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:24.440
<v Speaker 1>this into a question is Yeah, I share all of

525
00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:28.319
<v Speaker 1>the sort of Russell Kirk and other conservatives disdain for

526
00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.519
<v Speaker 1>social science on very deep levels, but I'm also a

527
00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:33.440
<v Speaker 1>consumer of it. And there's you know, some of the

528
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:36.680
<v Speaker 1>best social science the last generation has been by people

529
00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:39.839
<v Speaker 1>like Charles Murray and James Q. Wilson. And you know,

530
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.079
<v Speaker 1>when our guys do it well, or back to Ernest

531
00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:44.440
<v Speaker 1>Vonden Hogg forty years ago, when our guys do it well,

532
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:47.640
<v Speaker 1>we clapper the heck out of the left. So maybe

533
00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:50.160
<v Speaker 1>maybe can I get Dan McCarthy to say just the

534
00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:53.240
<v Speaker 1>kindest little thing in favor of decent social science? Or

535
00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:54.240
<v Speaker 1>is that a bridge too far?

536
00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:54.920
<v Speaker 3>Well?

537
00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:56.839
<v Speaker 5>I wonder if I came off the wrong way in

538
00:26:56.839 --> 00:26:59.400
<v Speaker 5>that article, because I wasn't trying to say that social

539
00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:01.319
<v Speaker 5>science doesn't have a place on the right, and in fact,

540
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:03.720
<v Speaker 5>I wasn't even trying to say that National Review had

541
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:05.759
<v Speaker 5>tilted too far towards social science. I have a line

542
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:08.680
<v Speaker 5>in there. I think about James Burnham having a problem

543
00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.480
<v Speaker 5>with Richard Weaver, thinking that Weaver was too literary to philosophical.

544
00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:15.279
<v Speaker 5>You know, perhaps too southern. Even so, that was the

545
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.039
<v Speaker 5>kind of contention that I wanted to get at. Also,

546
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:19.720
<v Speaker 5>the other thing being that obviously James Burnham had a

547
00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:23.119
<v Speaker 5>long standing feud with Frank Meyer. Meyer thought, you know,

548
00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:26.000
<v Speaker 5>conservatism needed to be an ideology or kind of you know,

549
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:30.759
<v Speaker 5>a well articulated philosophy. Burnham thought that conservatives should be

550
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:34.400
<v Speaker 5>more empirical, more machiavelian. Even so, that's the kind of

551
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:36.519
<v Speaker 5>dispute I was getting at. And in fact National Review

552
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:38.519
<v Speaker 5>was a lot of fun, and I think, you know,

553
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:40.839
<v Speaker 5>to the extent that comes through today can still be

554
00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:43.160
<v Speaker 5>a lot of fun when these kinds of clashes between

555
00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:47.440
<v Speaker 5>different methodologies among conservatives arise. That said, I do think

556
00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:51.920
<v Speaker 5>that the vast majority of social science is absolutely worthless.

557
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:56.279
<v Speaker 5>And the idea, the fundamental idea that if only you know,

558
00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:58.599
<v Speaker 5>we put science in government, that if we have the

559
00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:02.000
<v Speaker 5>right technocrats large of our bureaucracy, we're going to get

560
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:05.599
<v Speaker 5>wonderful outcomes. I think that's wrong. And even conservative you know,

561
00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:08.599
<v Speaker 5>conservatives from think tanks and you know, who have social

562
00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:12.160
<v Speaker 5>science credentials or you know, credentials in you know, even

563
00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:15.079
<v Speaker 5>economics and things that are relatively more grounded than most

564
00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:17.799
<v Speaker 5>social science. I'm just skeptical of their ability to actually

565
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.400
<v Speaker 5>govern and maneuver the country in the direction they want

566
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.039
<v Speaker 5>to go. I think there's actually and that's you know,

567
00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:25.920
<v Speaker 5>one reason why I favor a much more decentralization and

568
00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:28.400
<v Speaker 5>also just you know, more of a sense of dealing

569
00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:31.000
<v Speaker 5>with human beings as the essence of politics rather than

570
00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:34.559
<v Speaker 5>dealing with sort of Benthamite abstractions of maximum utility.

571
00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:36.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we'ren' heated agreement on that.

572
00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:40.039
<v Speaker 2>Dan Benthamite abstractions, I believe is going to be the

573
00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:43.920
<v Speaker 2>name of this particular podcast for mass Appeal, although I

574
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:45.480
<v Speaker 2>love that locusion.

575
00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:53.039
<v Speaker 3>So what interests me is defining success for this Trump administration.

576
00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:54.880
<v Speaker 3>And I think, Daniel, you and I don't have the

577
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:59.160
<v Speaker 3>same politics, although it overlaps in some areas. I have

578
00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:02.920
<v Speaker 3>confused I think some readers recently, because you know, on

579
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:05.680
<v Speaker 3>day one I will say, well, Trump's done this great thing,

580
00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:07.200
<v Speaker 3>and I really like it and I'm so glad that

581
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:09.039
<v Speaker 3>he did it, and then on a d two I say, ah,

582
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:13.359
<v Speaker 3>don't do that. And because we're in this honeymoon period

583
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:17.759
<v Speaker 3>for Trump, it is sort of looks odd to some

584
00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:21.640
<v Speaker 3>because they want to be all in right, so I

585
00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:30.599
<v Speaker 3>wonder what, from your perspective would a successful second Trump

586
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:34.160
<v Speaker 3>presidency look like. Right, neither of us is in a cult,

587
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.200
<v Speaker 3>so neither of us is sort of tied to Trump

588
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:38.920
<v Speaker 3>or so angry with Trump that we will reject it

589
00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:41.200
<v Speaker 3>when he does things that we like. So if you

590
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:44.240
<v Speaker 3>were to look forward four years, what would he have

591
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:46.720
<v Speaker 3>to achieve maybe two or three things in the next

592
00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:48.440
<v Speaker 3>four years for you to say, well, that was a

593
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:51.519
<v Speaker 3>really good presidency and he moved the country and the

594
00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:54.160
<v Speaker 3>right and the Republican Party in the direction that I

595
00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:55.240
<v Speaker 3>Daniel McCarthy like.

596
00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:55.920
<v Speaker 2>Sure.

597
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.839
<v Speaker 5>So in terms of foreign policy, what I would say

598
00:29:59.880 --> 00:30:02.960
<v Speaker 5>is that you need to have our allies being capable

599
00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:05.599
<v Speaker 5>of providing more of their own security, more of their

600
00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:08.200
<v Speaker 5>own defense. So I'd like to see NATO members Trump

601
00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:10.440
<v Speaker 5>is said, perhaps NATO members should be contributing five percent

602
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:13.079
<v Speaker 5>rather than two percent of their GDP towards their defense.

603
00:30:13.559 --> 00:30:15.599
<v Speaker 5>I think it can be a mistake to look purely

604
00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:19.839
<v Speaker 5>at those percentages. It's really a matter of the threat environment,

605
00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:22.279
<v Speaker 5>and when you have Russia engaged in an invasion of

606
00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:24.880
<v Speaker 5>Ukraine right now, obviously Europe should be spending not just

607
00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:27.160
<v Speaker 5>two percent, but a lot more trying to keep their

608
00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:29.960
<v Speaker 5>neighborhood as peaceful as possible. So one thing I want

609
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:32.119
<v Speaker 5>to see is more of a kind of tiered defense

610
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:36.079
<v Speaker 5>system where our allies are contributing more for themselves. We

611
00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:38.279
<v Speaker 5>are still there, but we are the provider of security

612
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:40.359
<v Speaker 5>of last resort, rather than what we are now, which

613
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:42.319
<v Speaker 5>is more or less the kind of sugar daddy that

614
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.519
<v Speaker 5>everybody goes to for their first line of support. In

615
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:47.599
<v Speaker 5>terms of social policy, I think Trump is already making

616
00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:50.720
<v Speaker 5>tremendous advances, So getting rid of the federal government's role

617
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:53.680
<v Speaker 5>in affirmative action, DEI, all these other things, that's exactly

618
00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:55.920
<v Speaker 5>the right move. I tend to think that Trump is

619
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.359
<v Speaker 5>actually right strategically for the pro life movement in terms

620
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:01.000
<v Speaker 5>of saying that you have to focus on the local

621
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.440
<v Speaker 5>before you can hope to do anything at the national level.

622
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:05.720
<v Speaker 5>So I think Trump is correct to keep abortion as

623
00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:07.920
<v Speaker 5>much as possible in the States rather than trying to

624
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.000
<v Speaker 5>make a federal issue of it right now, where pro

625
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:13.759
<v Speaker 5>lifers would certainly lose. And then in terms of taxes

626
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.559
<v Speaker 5>and domestic issues, you know, economics. I want to see

627
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.960
<v Speaker 5>first of all that Doge continues to do the fantastic

628
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.440
<v Speaker 5>work it's doing right now, stripping out this entire ecosystem,

629
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:27.960
<v Speaker 5>this class system whereby the federal government takes our taxpayer

630
00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:31.240
<v Speaker 5>dollars gives them to mostly left wing NGOs. These left

631
00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.680
<v Speaker 5>wing NGOs, of course, then take that money and spread

632
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:37.960
<v Speaker 5>it around their friends. It upholds an entire ecosystem of

633
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:42.039
<v Speaker 5>progressivism that I'm very happy to see defunded. I like

634
00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:43.759
<v Speaker 5>to see tax cuts, you know, I'm not one of

635
00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:46.839
<v Speaker 5>these conservatives who thinks that suddenly there's something virtuous about

636
00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.240
<v Speaker 5>taxing the American people more. We're taxed enough already. In

637
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:52.960
<v Speaker 5>terms of trade policy, I kind of like what I

638
00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:55.960
<v Speaker 5>see from Trump so far, where he's willing to use,

639
00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:58.720
<v Speaker 5>you know, the threat of tariffs to get you know,

640
00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:02.359
<v Speaker 5>various kinds of concession, just open negotiations, you know, from

641
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:05.279
<v Speaker 5>a position of strength. I do you know, think that

642
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:09.119
<v Speaker 5>if he suddenly slapped you know, twenty five percent tariffs

643
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:11.720
<v Speaker 5>on Canada and Mexico, maybe on Europe. I mean, who

644
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:14.519
<v Speaker 5>knows who else would get those kinds of tariffs. If

645
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:16.799
<v Speaker 5>you do that too, suddenly you're going to have price shocks,

646
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:20.920
<v Speaker 5>You're going to have supply problems, all all sorts of issues. Now,

647
00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:24.160
<v Speaker 5>whether you could have a more gradually implemented, large scale

648
00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:26.119
<v Speaker 5>tear of plan that I think, you know is probably

649
00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:28.440
<v Speaker 5>something you and I would disagree on. Yeah, but I'm

650
00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:30.960
<v Speaker 5>a gradualist, I'm a conservative. I'm someone who tends to

651
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:34.720
<v Speaker 5>look with a certain degree of anxiety upon sudden drastic

652
00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:37.079
<v Speaker 5>shifts from one direction to another. That said, I think

653
00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:39.759
<v Speaker 5>Trump so far is not so much trying to do something,

654
00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:42.960
<v Speaker 5>you know, grabbing the steering wheel and suddenly turning the

655
00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:44.920
<v Speaker 5>car one hundred and eighty degrees. I think what he's

656
00:32:44.920 --> 00:32:47.160
<v Speaker 5>actually doing here is setting up a very interesting set

657
00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:48.640
<v Speaker 5>of moves for negotiations.

658
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:49.359
<v Speaker 1>That's fine.

659
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:51.480
<v Speaker 3>I agree almost everything you just said. I think we

660
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.599
<v Speaker 3>probably do disagree on tariffs in your last point, but

661
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:57.640
<v Speaker 3>that's pretty much what success would look like to me

662
00:32:57.680 --> 00:32:59.920
<v Speaker 3>as well. It's interesting though you didn't mention the border.

663
00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:04.599
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I take that for granted. Perhaps that obviously cutting down,

664
00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:06.480
<v Speaker 5>you know, not just illegal immigration. But I think Trump

665
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:09.440
<v Speaker 5>is exactly right. We need to first of all, the

666
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.519
<v Speaker 5>way in which so called birthright citizenship has been interpreted

667
00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:15.319
<v Speaker 5>by Supreme Court and is defended by all the progressives.

668
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:17.839
<v Speaker 5>It really has a very flimsy grounding. And we know

669
00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:19.960
<v Speaker 5>the Supreme Court has made, you know, mistakes in the past,

670
00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:21.720
<v Speaker 5>so I think it's time that we get the Supreme

671
00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:24.480
<v Speaker 5>Court to revisit the idea of birthright citizenship and give

672
00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:27.960
<v Speaker 5>it a more constrained definition. Clearly, you know, the notion

673
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:31.319
<v Speaker 5>of what it constitutes to be subject to America's jurisdiction,

674
00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:34.400
<v Speaker 5>which is the you know, the wording that is used

675
00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:36.799
<v Speaker 5>to say, well, look, anyone you know on our territory

676
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:40.480
<v Speaker 5>subject to our jurisdiction, including illegal immigrants, including legal immigrants,

677
00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:43.960
<v Speaker 5>therefore they must be covered by birthright citizenship as well.

678
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:46.680
<v Speaker 5>But you know, being subject to the jurisdiction actually means

679
00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:49.319
<v Speaker 5>different things for American citizens because we're still subject to

680
00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:51.160
<v Speaker 5>the United States and jurisdiction even when we don't live

681
00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:53.440
<v Speaker 5>in the United States, because we are taxed even if

682
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.559
<v Speaker 5>we're living abroad. And obviously no Mexican citizen, either a

683
00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.039
<v Speaker 5>legal immigrant or an illegal one, is subject to that

684
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.480
<v Speaker 5>kind of jurisdiction. So I think there's you know, Trump

685
00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:04.359
<v Speaker 5>is doing the right thing to question this building block

686
00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:07.640
<v Speaker 5>of kind of illegal immigration and of leftist you know,

687
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.400
<v Speaker 5>promotion of mass immigration in general. And then you know,

688
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.599
<v Speaker 5>I do want to see legal immigration limited as well

689
00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:15.960
<v Speaker 5>as illegal immigration, and I think that, you know, I

690
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:18.559
<v Speaker 5>tend to side more with the critics of the vig

691
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:21.199
<v Speaker 5>Ramaswami on H one B visas than I do with

692
00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:24.280
<v Speaker 5>you know, Ramaswami himself, although I acknowledge, you know, certainly,

693
00:34:24.280 --> 00:34:27.039
<v Speaker 5>when you have absolute, you know, Olympian level talents, when

694
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:29.599
<v Speaker 5>you have Einstein level geniuses, yes you want to bring

695
00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:31.400
<v Speaker 5>them into your country, but you don't want to have,

696
00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:33.679
<v Speaker 5>you know, a kind of indentured servitude for tech workers

697
00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:34.639
<v Speaker 5>with H one v's.

698
00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:36.480
<v Speaker 2>I want to get back to tariff for a second,

699
00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:39.159
<v Speaker 2>because I don't like them. But that's just me. We

700
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:41.599
<v Speaker 2>talked before about what he wants out of Canada. It's

701
00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:43.480
<v Speaker 2>kind of obvious what he wants out of Mexico, which

702
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:50.000
<v Speaker 2>is do something about the cartels and immigration. But China

703
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:53.199
<v Speaker 2>we have, if I understand this correctly, the riivocation of

704
00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:56.599
<v Speaker 2>the the Minimus, the the idea that they can just

705
00:34:57.119 --> 00:34:58.760
<v Speaker 2>dump a whole lot of stuff here directly into the

706
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:00.519
<v Speaker 2>country and they don't have to pay any tear on it.

707
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:02.800
<v Speaker 2>The other day, I was making eggs for breakfast, as

708
00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:05.079
<v Speaker 2>is my wont and I have this wonderful little this

709
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:08.280
<v Speaker 2>egg beater. You push down on it and it whips

710
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:10.840
<v Speaker 2>your eggs. It's the second one I bought, because the

711
00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:13.679
<v Speaker 2>first one, after two or three months, started leaking black

712
00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:16.880
<v Speaker 2>oil into my eggs I bought. I bought another one

713
00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:19.679
<v Speaker 2>within two or three from a different and mind you,

714
00:35:20.119 --> 00:35:23.159
<v Speaker 2>this was a different one from a different company on

715
00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:26.320
<v Speaker 2>Amazon that had a list of consonants for its name

716
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:29.000
<v Speaker 2>that you know XK five three seven two, as opposed

717
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:30.519
<v Speaker 2>to the other one, which was nine three you know,

718
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:32.880
<v Speaker 2>made up brand names. It's all coming from the same

719
00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:35.280
<v Speaker 2>Chinese factory, and I'm using it, and it dumps black

720
00:35:35.320 --> 00:35:37.039
<v Speaker 2>oil into my eggs, And I said, all right, that's it,

721
00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:41.079
<v Speaker 2>you know, twice bit and thrice whatever. Stupid me, but

722
00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:45.079
<v Speaker 2>I'm kind of used to like buying cheap junk from China,

723
00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:48.840
<v Speaker 2>and it's like, I'd rather pay a little bit more

724
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:52.760
<v Speaker 2>and have quality goods made right here that employ American citizens,

725
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:55.800
<v Speaker 2>if such a thing is possible these days? Is that

726
00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:58.199
<v Speaker 2>what Trump is trying to do? What does he want

727
00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:01.599
<v Speaker 2>out of China from the terra Does he want disengagement?

728
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:04.639
<v Speaker 2>Does does he want, you know, for the people to

729
00:36:04.679 --> 00:36:06.840
<v Speaker 2>just simply move their factories elsewhere to India or Vietnam

730
00:36:06.920 --> 00:36:10.719
<v Speaker 2>or heaven forfend Indiana. What's the endgame with the with

731
00:36:10.760 --> 00:36:11.719
<v Speaker 2>the Chinese tariffs.

732
00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:15.679
<v Speaker 5>Well, it's always difficult to predict an endgame for Donald Trump,

733
00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:18.320
<v Speaker 5>because you know, he's a strategist who has, you know,

734
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:21.840
<v Speaker 5>kind of natural genius that does not necessarily, you know,

735
00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:25.880
<v Speaker 5>follow either ideological tracks or you know, predictable ones that

736
00:36:25.960 --> 00:36:29.360
<v Speaker 5>you know, other folks might envision. He's an entrepreneur. An

737
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:31.039
<v Speaker 5>entrepreneur has to be able to kind of envision and

738
00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:33.880
<v Speaker 5>make a future that doesn't even exist yet. I think

739
00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:36.880
<v Speaker 5>decoupling is clearly a major component, however, of what Trump's

740
00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:39.400
<v Speaker 5>trying to do here. He wants to encourage, you know,

741
00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:42.360
<v Speaker 5>the taking of industry and of trade away from China

742
00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:46.519
<v Speaker 5>and putting it anywhere else possible, ideally here in the

743
00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:50.559
<v Speaker 5>United States with more manufacturing. But friend shoring is better

744
00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:54.119
<v Speaker 5>than having, you know, a trade dependency on China, so

745
00:36:54.679 --> 00:36:57.679
<v Speaker 5>you know, I think one of Secretary Rubio's accomplishments in

746
00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:00.800
<v Speaker 5>visiting the Caribbean and Central America in the past week

747
00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:04.639
<v Speaker 5>has been to try to deepen trade friendships and relationships

748
00:37:04.920 --> 00:37:08.079
<v Speaker 5>with the nations of Central America and the Caribbean in

749
00:37:08.199 --> 00:37:11.039
<v Speaker 5>order to try to you know, create more of an

750
00:37:11.079 --> 00:37:14.760
<v Speaker 5>industrial capacity more of a trade base here in the Americas,

751
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:16.920
<v Speaker 5>for both the goods we want to sell to them

752
00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:20.280
<v Speaker 5>and also for their ability to develop and sell to us.

753
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:23.320
<v Speaker 2>And of course, to interrupt you for a second, because

754
00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:26.280
<v Speaker 2>you mentioned the Caribbean in the area Panama declining to

755
00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:29.199
<v Speaker 2>re up with Belton Road, I'm waiting for somebody to say, well,

756
00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:30.480
<v Speaker 2>they weren't going to do it anyway, and Ruby it

757
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:34.280
<v Speaker 2>didn't get anything out of them. Is this significant? I

758
00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:37.599
<v Speaker 2>think it is. I mean, countries eventually wake up to

759
00:37:37.639 --> 00:37:39.400
<v Speaker 2>the fact that this is not a good deal for

760
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:41.679
<v Speaker 2>them in the long run. Do you think that others

761
00:37:41.880 --> 00:37:45.440
<v Speaker 2>that this is the beginning of a diminution of Chinese

762
00:37:45.480 --> 00:37:46.360
<v Speaker 2>influence in that a way.

763
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:48.639
<v Speaker 5>Well, I do. But you know, Belton Road is the

764
00:37:48.760 --> 00:37:52.440
<v Speaker 5>you know, symbolic headline item. But the more important thing

765
00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:56.239
<v Speaker 5>behind the scenes is simply the level of economic penetration

766
00:37:56.519 --> 00:38:01.480
<v Speaker 5>power and especially technological infrastructure influence that China is able

767
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:05.800
<v Speaker 5>to wield over our nearest neighbors, the Caribbean and Central America.

768
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:08.159
<v Speaker 5>And I think one of the successes of Secretary of

769
00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:10.719
<v Speaker 5>Rubio's visit has been to work on a lot of

770
00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:13.400
<v Speaker 5>those things that are further down the agenda saying that,

771
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:15.960
<v Speaker 5>you know, we need to have you know, supplies, especially

772
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:18.800
<v Speaker 5>for you know, high technology coming from America. Five G

773
00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:21.280
<v Speaker 5>networks for example, we want those to be American based

774
00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:23.679
<v Speaker 5>five G networks. We do not want Huawei to be

775
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:27.960
<v Speaker 5>you know, the primary communications NOE for Central America and

776
00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:31.320
<v Speaker 5>the Caribbean. So I think there's been significant progress there

777
00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:33.559
<v Speaker 5>and I'm hoping that's going to continue. And I think

778
00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:35.559
<v Speaker 5>that you know, most of the nations of the region

779
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:38.000
<v Speaker 5>do understand that it's much better to be you know,

780
00:38:38.039 --> 00:38:40.880
<v Speaker 5>America's friend, much better to have these dependencies if you're

781
00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:43.360
<v Speaker 5>going to have them on America, don't have them on

782
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:46.840
<v Speaker 5>communist China, because Communist China really you know, is going

783
00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:48.079
<v Speaker 5>to use that in ways that are going to be

784
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:50.079
<v Speaker 5>harmful to the US. Then the US is going to

785
00:38:50.119 --> 00:38:53.039
<v Speaker 5>have to retaliate by you know, limiting perhaps our trade

786
00:38:53.079 --> 00:38:56.079
<v Speaker 5>and relations with people would like to be our friends,

787
00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:58.679
<v Speaker 5>because there are neighbors. A whole number of bad things

788
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.880
<v Speaker 5>will happen if China is economic influence grows in Latin

789
00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:04.639
<v Speaker 5>America in general, but in the Central America and the Caribbean.

790
00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:07.280
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, I don't know why anybody would would buy their

791
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:09.559
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I am reasonably certain that the egg beater

792
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.559
<v Speaker 2>I described that broke has an RFID backdoor into it

793
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:15.679
<v Speaker 2>that China comes down to access my smart home network.

794
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:18.880
<v Speaker 1>Stephen, Well, well, actually, James, what we learn from your

795
00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:20.679
<v Speaker 1>example is that you're a very rich man if you're

796
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:23.360
<v Speaker 1>using leg egg beaters, because eggs are now you know,

797
00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:27.079
<v Speaker 1>a million dollars apart. Whatever it is, Dan, I got

798
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:30.119
<v Speaker 1>one last question for you. You referenced early on what

799
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:32.599
<v Speaker 1>has been obvious to me for a long time, and

800
00:39:32.719 --> 00:39:36.480
<v Speaker 1>that Trump likes to make these outrageous seemingly outrageous and

801
00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:40.480
<v Speaker 1>completely beyond the pale suggestions on Gaza or the tariffs

802
00:39:40.519 --> 00:39:41.800
<v Speaker 1>and all the rest of that. And you point out

803
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:44.880
<v Speaker 1>rightly that this is a long standing negotiating tactic of Trump,

804
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:48.159
<v Speaker 1>and I wonder if you're going to reach the point

805
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:51.400
<v Speaker 1>of diminishing returns right. It is amazing to me that

806
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.159
<v Speaker 1>people have not figured this out about Trump, but it's

807
00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:57.119
<v Speaker 1>still working for him like a charm. But reach a

808
00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:00.039
<v Speaker 1>point of diminishing returns, doesn't he At some point you

809
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:02.880
<v Speaker 1>really have to draw the line and really follow through.

810
00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:06.159
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I don't know whether it's invading Panama or

811
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:08.719
<v Speaker 1>seizing Greenland. I mean I think those are crazy ideas,

812
00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:11.159
<v Speaker 1>but it does seem to be getting it does seem

813
00:40:11.159 --> 00:40:13.840
<v Speaker 1>to be getting results. Like you say, but what happens

814
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:17.039
<v Speaker 1>if he doesn't? Where do you think Trump needs to

815
00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:18.960
<v Speaker 1>draw a line? I'll do the question that way.

816
00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:19.239
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

817
00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:20.840
<v Speaker 5>I mean, at some point somebody is going to call

818
00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:22.400
<v Speaker 5>his bluff and say, hey, I'm not going to give

819
00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:24.239
<v Speaker 5>you any concessions because I know you're actually not going

820
00:40:24.320 --> 00:40:27.000
<v Speaker 5>to follow through and slap us with tariffs. And I think,

821
00:40:27.039 --> 00:40:31.320
<v Speaker 5>you know, Trump, he's certainly created a persona for himself,

822
00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:33.960
<v Speaker 5>a public identity in the past several years here as

823
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:36.320
<v Speaker 5>a tariff man. He says, it's the most beautiful word

824
00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:38.239
<v Speaker 5>in the English language. I mean, that's something you didn't

825
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:40.480
<v Speaker 5>even hear from Pat Buchanan back in the nineties. This

826
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:44.639
<v Speaker 5>is this is you know, certainly creating a public impression

827
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:48.039
<v Speaker 5>of being quite not just willing, but eager to employ

828
00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:50.920
<v Speaker 5>tariffs in a big way. So I think, you know,

829
00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:53.519
<v Speaker 5>there will come a time when someone's going to call

830
00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:57.000
<v Speaker 5>his bluff. And you know, I think Trump is quite

831
00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:59.559
<v Speaker 5>willing to use tariffs. Now he probably doesn't want to

832
00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:01.559
<v Speaker 5>do it. You know, if you have twenty five percent

833
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:04.079
<v Speaker 5>on Mexico, twenty five percent on Canada, all going into

834
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:06.960
<v Speaker 5>effect the same moment. That's a big disruption. On the

835
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:09.719
<v Speaker 5>other hand, if Canada doesn't get serious about what he's

836
00:41:09.719 --> 00:41:13.119
<v Speaker 5>asking of Trudeau, it's entirely possible. Maybe we have a

837
00:41:13.159 --> 00:41:16.079
<v Speaker 5>deal with Mexico, but we don't have a deal with Canada. Immediately,

838
00:41:16.119 --> 00:41:18.159
<v Speaker 5>Tariff's going to effect for a while, and then the

839
00:41:18.199 --> 00:41:20.159
<v Speaker 5>Canadians come back and say, oh gosh, we should have

840
00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:22.679
<v Speaker 5>taken you seriously the first time. Now we're willing to

841
00:41:22.679 --> 00:41:25.000
<v Speaker 5>make a deal about fisheries or NATO or other things.

842
00:41:26.679 --> 00:41:28.920
<v Speaker 2>Daniel McCarthy, we thank you for joining us again. You

843
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:32.639
<v Speaker 2>can catch him on x at Tory Anarchist, where you

844
00:41:32.679 --> 00:41:35.920
<v Speaker 2>can find that zest accommination of words explained to you

845
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:38.639
<v Speaker 2>in a variety of tweets. How often do you? Are

846
00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:40.800
<v Speaker 2>you one of those sitting on the sitting on the

847
00:41:40.840 --> 00:41:45.119
<v Speaker 2>app all day, or are you doling out a gem

848
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:47.800
<v Speaker 2>every fortnight or what exactly is you?

849
00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:51.119
<v Speaker 5>I do look at it rather more often than is healthy,

850
00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:55.800
<v Speaker 5>I think, and I certainly participate to the extent that's reasonable.

851
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:59.440
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, wait a minute, Dan, I mean, you've got

852
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:02.639
<v Speaker 1>the down, but you're the least anarchistic person I can

853
00:42:02.679 --> 00:42:03.039
<v Speaker 1>think of.

854
00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:07.679
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I'm bit just stating on Twitter a fair bit. Yes,

855
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:09.440
<v Speaker 5>I think it's it's reasonable to say.

856
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:12.239
<v Speaker 2>But good well, we'll see you there and uh and

857
00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:14.599
<v Speaker 2>ketchup and your insights and your observations. Thank you Daniel

858
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:16.239
<v Speaker 2>for joining us in the podcast today.

859
00:42:16.599 --> 00:42:17.760
<v Speaker 5>Thank you.

860
00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:19.000
<v Speaker 2>You know. The one thing that we haven't heard from

861
00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:22.599
<v Speaker 2>Donald Trump actually is that he sent out his minions

862
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:25.440
<v Speaker 2>to do his bidding, fly my pretties and the rest

863
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:28.440
<v Speaker 2>of it. Right, But we when we hear about layoffs

864
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:30.840
<v Speaker 2>at the EPA or a thousand people landing up something

865
00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:32.639
<v Speaker 2>like that, a whole bunch of the at the I

866
00:42:32.840 --> 00:42:35.320
<v Speaker 2>R s and in the works. But we haven't actually

867
00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.039
<v Speaker 2>heard Trump say you're fired yet. That's his classic line,

868
00:42:38.039 --> 00:42:40.639
<v Speaker 2>that's his tagline. We need him to say it. But

869
00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:43.679
<v Speaker 2>if you're an HR person, or if you're somebody who

870
00:42:43.800 --> 00:42:46.000
<v Speaker 2>needs an HR person, you know, those are hard words

871
00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.159
<v Speaker 2>to say. They're tough human being at the end of

872
00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:51.280
<v Speaker 2>the end of that sentiment. So if you're a business owner,

873
00:42:51.719 --> 00:42:54.400
<v Speaker 2>have you ever felt actually kind of lost when it

874
00:42:54.400 --> 00:42:57.599
<v Speaker 2>comes to HR? You know, it's okay, it's okay, it's

875
00:42:58.039 --> 00:42:59.599
<v Speaker 2>it's not what you do best. I mean, it's not

876
00:42:59.639 --> 00:43:03.199
<v Speaker 2>suppose to you to your business. But what business people

877
00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:05.559
<v Speaker 2>do well is find solutions, and the solution to your

878
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:10.559
<v Speaker 2>HR problem is Bamboo HR. Bamboo HR is a powerful,

879
00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:14.039
<v Speaker 2>but flexible, all in one HR solution for your growing business.

880
00:43:14.480 --> 00:43:17.840
<v Speaker 2>Stop spending countless hours on payroll and time tracking and

881
00:43:17.920 --> 00:43:20.280
<v Speaker 2>benefits and performance management.

882
00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:20.480
<v Speaker 5>No.

883
00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:24.239
<v Speaker 2>With HR from Bamboo HR, these hours are shaved down

884
00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:27.440
<v Speaker 2>to minutes. So I over thirty four thousand companies trust

885
00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:30.400
<v Speaker 2>Bamboo HR because it's an integrated system that is designed

886
00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:33.559
<v Speaker 2>to handle your current and your upcoming HR needs. Plus,

887
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:37.920
<v Speaker 2>Bamboo HR prides itself on being super easy, easy to use,

888
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:41.159
<v Speaker 2>easy to learn, easy to implement, and very easy to love.

889
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:44.559
<v Speaker 2>Bamboo HR they handle everything from hiring and onboarding to

890
00:43:44.679 --> 00:43:48.440
<v Speaker 2>payroll and benefits. When business owners switch to Bamboo HR,

891
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:50.880
<v Speaker 2>the intuitive interface will stand out right away. You can

892
00:43:50.920 --> 00:43:52.400
<v Speaker 2>take a couple of minutes to check out the free

893
00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:55.519
<v Speaker 2>demo and see how nimble and affordable this valuable tool

894
00:43:55.559 --> 00:44:00.000
<v Speaker 2>can be. HR is hard, but Bamboo HR is easy.

895
00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:03.320
<v Speaker 2>Reclaim your time and do what you do best. Check

896
00:44:03.320 --> 00:44:06.599
<v Speaker 2>out the free demo at Bamboo hr dosh com slash

897
00:44:06.800 --> 00:44:10.159
<v Speaker 2>free demo see for yourself at all that Bamboo HR

898
00:44:10.199 --> 00:44:12.519
<v Speaker 2>can do and how truly affordable it can be too

899
00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:17.199
<v Speaker 2>at bamboo hr dot com slash free demo. Bamboo hr

900
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:19.840
<v Speaker 2>dot com slash free demo. Do I have to say

901
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:23.000
<v Speaker 2>it again, bamboo hr dot com slash free demo, and

902
00:44:23.079 --> 00:44:26.519
<v Speaker 2>we thank bamboo hr for responsoring this the Rocachet Podcast.

903
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:30.960
<v Speaker 2>Well here we are again, closing up another episode, but

904
00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:33.559
<v Speaker 2>plenty of time to chat amongst ourselves. There was a

905
00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:35.320
<v Speaker 2>description of Twitter that I saw the other day. A

906
00:44:35.320 --> 00:44:41.239
<v Speaker 2>wonderful little exchange included a news report, then John from

907
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:45.039
<v Speaker 2>Commentary weighing in, and then Selina Zito, and it all began,

908
00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:47.639
<v Speaker 2>I think with somebody who was saying that they were

909
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:50.400
<v Speaker 2>facing quote and Orwellian Knightmarre. I believe that wasn't what

910
00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:52.880
<v Speaker 2>it was because they no longer knew whether or not

911
00:44:52.920 --> 00:44:56.480
<v Speaker 2>they had the lifetime protection that a federal job afforded

912
00:44:56.519 --> 00:45:01.280
<v Speaker 2>them hm. And was pointed out to this person that

913
00:45:01.360 --> 00:45:06.960
<v Speaker 2>actually this is what most people called real life in

914
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.159
<v Speaker 2>a dynamic economy. And also the people the federal government

915
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:12.599
<v Speaker 2>didn't seem particularly interested in the plight of the people

916
00:45:12.639 --> 00:45:15.760
<v Speaker 2>who were having their industries destroyed, downsized, or it made

917
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:19.760
<v Speaker 2>irrelevant by various government decisions. Nobody asked to call. Everybody

918
00:45:19.800 --> 00:45:21.599
<v Speaker 2>told the coal miners to learn to coal, but nobody

919
00:45:21.639 --> 00:45:25.079
<v Speaker 2>seems to be We're supposed to have sympathy for the

920
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:28.760
<v Speaker 2>somebody who lives in suburban DC and has been sitting

921
00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:31.760
<v Speaker 2>at home for four years, tapping away with a cat

922
00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:32.280
<v Speaker 2>in their lap.

923
00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:37.039
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, I remember a story. It's not quite

924
00:45:37.079 --> 00:45:39.480
<v Speaker 1>about federal employees. But I don't think federal employees losing

925
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:42.199
<v Speaker 1>their job will create mass sympathy with the American people.

926
00:45:42.760 --> 00:45:44.679
<v Speaker 1>But if you go all the way back to Proposition

927
00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:46.960
<v Speaker 1>thirteen in California in the seventies, that was the big

928
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.840
<v Speaker 1>property tax cut measure, that was the signal opening salvo

929
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:55.280
<v Speaker 1>of the tax revolt. And I remember someone quoted the

930
00:45:55.280 --> 00:45:58.280
<v Speaker 1>newspaper a local government person saying, if this passes, it's

931
00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:02.599
<v Speaker 1>going to devastate our budgets. It's gonna require huge spending cuts.

932
00:46:02.599 --> 00:46:06.440
<v Speaker 1>It's gonna be terrible for government in California. And the

933
00:46:06.480 --> 00:46:08.760
<v Speaker 1>person said he looked out at the audiences at rotary

934
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:11.840
<v Speaker 1>clubs and wherever, and always saw were people smiling. And

935
00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:13.960
<v Speaker 1>of course Prop thirteen passed by a nearly two to

936
00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:16.239
<v Speaker 1>one margin, And it was that point that guy said,

937
00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:18.920
<v Speaker 1>I changed my mind about Proposition thirteen. Well, I think

938
00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:22.039
<v Speaker 1>something similar is going on now. I think there's no

939
00:46:22.159 --> 00:46:25.679
<v Speaker 1>sympathy for people who well, the bargain's always been kind

940
00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:27.880
<v Speaker 1>of phony. We need to have higher salaries and lavish

941
00:46:27.880 --> 00:46:31.079
<v Speaker 1>pensions for public employees at the state and federal level

942
00:46:31.119 --> 00:46:33.800
<v Speaker 1>because they don't have, you know, to compensate for the

943
00:46:33.880 --> 00:46:37.559
<v Speaker 1>lack of you know, pensions and stock options and things

944
00:46:37.639 --> 00:46:39.599
<v Speaker 1>like that. But of course when you look into these things,

945
00:46:39.599 --> 00:46:43.280
<v Speaker 1>you find that the pensions it's bankrupt in Chicago and

946
00:46:43.320 --> 00:46:46.119
<v Speaker 1>Illinois and so forth, and California is also way behind.

947
00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:50.960
<v Speaker 1>And so this is long overdue. And it amazes me

948
00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:53.079
<v Speaker 1>how Democrats want to die on all these hills. They

949
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:56.000
<v Speaker 1>want to just end the transgender business, you know, aid

950
00:46:56.079 --> 00:46:59.199
<v Speaker 1>to media groups and all the rest. And I'll land

951
00:46:59.239 --> 00:47:03.400
<v Speaker 1>here Democrats revealing that they really are the most incompetent

952
00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:07.719
<v Speaker 1>political party. Republicans maybe the stupid party, but Democrats seem incompetent.

953
00:47:08.360 --> 00:47:14.599
<v Speaker 3>It's also now a violation of the original deal. You

954
00:47:14.679 --> 00:47:19.280
<v Speaker 3>go back one hundred years to when the federal government

955
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:23.239
<v Speaker 3>was hiring. In this case, because the prohibition, the Treasury

956
00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:28.039
<v Speaker 3>Department had to hire two thousand staff to enforce the

957
00:47:28.119 --> 00:47:34.719
<v Speaker 3>Volsteed Act. The deal, the explicitly advertised deal was you

958
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:37.400
<v Speaker 3>will make less money than you would in the private sector,

959
00:47:37.639 --> 00:47:39.800
<v Speaker 3>you will get less benefits than you would get in

960
00:47:39.800 --> 00:47:43.400
<v Speaker 3>the private sector, but you have better job security. Now

961
00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:47.480
<v Speaker 3>government workers, especially at the federal level, have both the

962
00:47:47.559 --> 00:47:51.760
<v Speaker 3>job security insane levels of job security and pensions that

963
00:47:52.360 --> 00:47:55.960
<v Speaker 3>can't be matched in the private sector and salaries that

964
00:47:56.039 --> 00:47:58.400
<v Speaker 3>are on average hire. Now you have to be careful

965
00:47:58.440 --> 00:48:01.000
<v Speaker 3>how you passe that between me and and so forth.

966
00:48:01.079 --> 00:48:08.079
<v Speaker 3>But the deal that was once offered has been essentially

967
00:48:08.159 --> 00:48:12.440
<v Speaker 3>reworked so that government employees win on both sides of

968
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:15.079
<v Speaker 3>the coin. And one of the reasons for that is

969
00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:20.800
<v Speaker 3>that the public sector unions have put themselves in a

970
00:48:20.840 --> 00:48:26.960
<v Speaker 3>position in which they get to play both the employee

971
00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:32.440
<v Speaker 3>and employer. Under Franklin Roosevelt, who was hardly a mean

972
00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:37.400
<v Speaker 3>right winger, the idea of a public sector union was

973
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.760
<v Speaker 3>deemed to be ridiculous. It was only in the sixties

974
00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:45.159
<v Speaker 3>under Kennedy via an executive order, that public sector unions

975
00:48:45.199 --> 00:48:47.679
<v Speaker 3>became permissible. And the reason was obvious is that if

976
00:48:47.719 --> 00:48:51.320
<v Speaker 3>you have a private sector union, and I think the

977
00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:53.800
<v Speaker 3>way the government puts his thumb on the skills is outrageous,

978
00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:56.119
<v Speaker 3>but just in theory, if you have a public sector

979
00:48:56.320 --> 00:48:59.519
<v Speaker 3>a private sector union, then you have two people in

980
00:48:59.559 --> 00:49:03.320
<v Speaker 3>the equation that have an interest in meeting one another

981
00:49:03.400 --> 00:49:05.280
<v Speaker 3>in the middle. Because you have a guy who owns

982
00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:07.079
<v Speaker 3>a business and he needs things to be done, and

983
00:49:07.079 --> 00:49:09.880
<v Speaker 3>if he doesn't get his employees or employees on side,

984
00:49:09.880 --> 00:49:11.400
<v Speaker 3>then he'll go out of business. But you also have

985
00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:13.320
<v Speaker 3>people who have jobs and they don't want to lose them.

986
00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:15.280
<v Speaker 3>They don't want the company to go out of business either.

987
00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:17.440
<v Speaker 3>I don't think it always works exactly like that. I'm

988
00:49:17.480 --> 00:49:19.920
<v Speaker 3>not that naive, but the idea makes sense in theory.

989
00:49:20.119 --> 00:49:23.280
<v Speaker 3>You have these two, So that's not true here. So

990
00:49:23.320 --> 00:49:28.000
<v Speaker 3>we've ended up with this absurdly sprawling, largely useless federal

991
00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:31.159
<v Speaker 3>workforce that gets to set the terms of its own

992
00:49:31.199 --> 00:49:35.280
<v Speaker 3>employment by bullying the people who employ them with its votes.

993
00:49:35.320 --> 00:49:37.800
<v Speaker 3>That should never have existed in the first place in

994
00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:40.880
<v Speaker 3>that setup, and that violate the original deal, which was

995
00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:43.239
<v Speaker 3>come here for the job security. But you'll make less money.

996
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:44.840
<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's just something that's got to be done

997
00:49:44.840 --> 00:49:45.320
<v Speaker 3>about it.

998
00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:51.039
<v Speaker 2>Well, it may take somebody to cut through the Gordian knot.

999
00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:54.880
<v Speaker 2>Is Elon Musk our dollar a year man as they

1000
00:49:54.960 --> 00:49:56.760
<v Speaker 2>used to call them, because you remember back in the

1001
00:49:56.920 --> 00:49:58.760
<v Speaker 2>I think in World War two, they would hate they

1002
00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:01.079
<v Speaker 2>would bring in a dollar a year somebody from private

1003
00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:04.039
<v Speaker 2>industry who would take no compensation, but do this because

1004
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:05.559
<v Speaker 2>he had to know how, and because he had the

1005
00:50:05.559 --> 00:50:09.519
<v Speaker 2>patriotic spirit. Patriotic if you wish to do the right thing.

1006
00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:13.199
<v Speaker 2>What I'm looking forward to because all of what we've

1007
00:50:13.199 --> 00:50:15.079
<v Speaker 2>been seeing with the USA idea is just to tune up.

1008
00:50:15.119 --> 00:50:20.760
<v Speaker 2>It's just it's it's you know, it's the overture. It's

1009
00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:22.960
<v Speaker 2>giving us the themes that we're going to be hearing

1010
00:50:23.079 --> 00:50:28.199
<v Speaker 2>the operator to come. But the Department of Education is

1011
00:50:28.239 --> 00:50:30.400
<v Speaker 2>in the sites now because every day it seems like

1012
00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:32.599
<v Speaker 2>the administration wakes up and says, all right, we need

1013
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:38.800
<v Speaker 2>another galvaniced seismic, tectonic shift shock. You know, nobody's talking

1014
00:50:38.840 --> 00:50:44.360
<v Speaker 2>about Greenland anymore because invading, occupying, and rebuilding Greenland is

1015
00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:47.400
<v Speaker 2>like that, that's so a fortnight ago. We're so far

1016
00:50:47.480 --> 00:50:51.079
<v Speaker 2>beyond that. These things will be dropped depth charges and

1017
00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:53.480
<v Speaker 2>then everybody will absolutely freak out about them, and then

1018
00:50:53.719 --> 00:50:56.159
<v Speaker 2>necessarily something has to be done about them, and perhaps

1019
00:50:56.199 --> 00:51:00.840
<v Speaker 2>necessarily something will be the Department of Education. The I

1020
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:04.320
<v Speaker 2>began this hour by talking about the shrieking Unreddit and

1021
00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:08.519
<v Speaker 2>the rending of garments. The reaction on Reddit to the

1022
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:11.199
<v Speaker 2>elimination of the Department of Education or even just pairing

1023
00:51:11.280 --> 00:51:14.840
<v Speaker 2>it back to its statutory confines, which I believe that

1024
00:51:14.840 --> 00:51:16.639
<v Speaker 2>they can do by executive action. You have to get

1025
00:51:16.840 --> 00:51:20.679
<v Speaker 2>Congress to get rid of the cabinet. Is uniform in

1026
00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:26.400
<v Speaker 2>that this is a concerted effort to stupefy the American

1027
00:51:26.440 --> 00:51:29.440
<v Speaker 2>people and make them dumb, so that I don't know,

1028
00:51:29.480 --> 00:51:32.719
<v Speaker 2>I guess ten eighteen years hence they willingly accept the

1029
00:51:32.719 --> 00:51:35.079
<v Speaker 2>fascism in which they've grown up, that they're not critical

1030
00:51:35.119 --> 00:51:38.480
<v Speaker 2>thinkers anymore. That the idea that if the Department of

1031
00:51:38.599 --> 00:51:42.599
<v Speaker 2>Education does not exist, there is no education in America.

1032
00:51:42.719 --> 00:51:43.199
<v Speaker 1>That's it.

1033
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:46.280
<v Speaker 2>That's kind of what they believe, which does not speak

1034
00:51:46.280 --> 00:51:48.679
<v Speaker 2>well for all these kids who grew up under the

1035
00:51:48.679 --> 00:51:52.519
<v Speaker 2>Department of Education and didn't get the basic civics listed,

1036
00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:56.199
<v Speaker 2>because that's not the point. And then simultaneously, some of

1037
00:51:56.199 --> 00:51:58.840
<v Speaker 2>these people will be coming in from our slash teachers

1038
00:51:58.960 --> 00:52:01.480
<v Speaker 2>or public school credits, where people are talking about the

1039
00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:04.400
<v Speaker 2>inanities and the horrors that they face trying to teach

1040
00:52:04.400 --> 00:52:09.000
<v Speaker 2>an uneducatable generation, which has nothing to do with the

1041
00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:10.920
<v Speaker 2>amount of federal spinning and has everything to do with

1042
00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:13.039
<v Speaker 2>cultural events and the rest of it. So, I mean,

1043
00:52:13.280 --> 00:52:17.039
<v Speaker 2>the idea that education right now is dependent upon A

1044
00:52:17.159 --> 00:52:20.440
<v Speaker 2>the federal teat and b federal instruction is nonsense because

1045
00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:23.599
<v Speaker 2>we've lived under this and we've seen what's happened. We've cratered,

1046
00:52:24.800 --> 00:52:25.559
<v Speaker 2>we could be better.

1047
00:52:25.639 --> 00:52:28.920
<v Speaker 1>We saw the latest reading scores came out what ten

1048
00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:33.119
<v Speaker 1>days ago with dismal results. And yeah, I mean, I've

1049
00:52:33.159 --> 00:52:35.119
<v Speaker 1>been raised the question here on Twitter and elsewhere. Can

1050
00:52:35.159 --> 00:52:39.679
<v Speaker 1>anyone point to any international development trends that USAID has

1051
00:52:40.199 --> 00:52:43.320
<v Speaker 1>been a principal agent of? And likewise, can anybody point

1052
00:52:43.400 --> 00:52:46.920
<v Speaker 1>to any improvements in public education since the department was

1053
00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:48.760
<v Speaker 1>founded in nineteen seventy nine, And if you look at

1054
00:52:48.760 --> 00:52:52.000
<v Speaker 1>the data, the answer is resounding no. The problem is

1055
00:52:52.119 --> 00:52:55.079
<v Speaker 1>too many Americans are sentimental. And I think, how the

1056
00:52:55.119 --> 00:52:59.320
<v Speaker 1>part it's about education, the EPA's environmental protection and we

1057
00:52:59.519 --> 00:53:02.199
<v Speaker 1>like all those things, and so sort of a labeling thing.

1058
00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:05.559
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, it's add this other thought, which is I

1059
00:53:05.599 --> 00:53:09.599
<v Speaker 1>am watching again another perhaps example of democratic incompetence on this.

1060
00:53:10.159 --> 00:53:13.679
<v Speaker 1>They're all attacking Musk. Who elected Musk, to which you

1061
00:53:13.719 --> 00:53:17.559
<v Speaker 1>ask who elected all these bureaucrats that he's reviewing right now.

1062
00:53:17.880 --> 00:53:20.840
<v Speaker 1>And people have also saying at some point Trump's big

1063
00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:23.239
<v Speaker 1>ego and narcissism will cause him to have to break

1064
00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:26.239
<v Speaker 1>with Trump because Trump's richer and getting all this press,

1065
00:53:26.440 --> 00:53:28.840
<v Speaker 1>and I think you're missing that Trump is sorry. The

1066
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:32.519
<v Speaker 1>Musk is such a useful lightning rod for Trump, and

1067
00:53:32.559 --> 00:53:35.519
<v Speaker 1>he's confusing and dividing the opposition that otherwise would be

1068
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:38.360
<v Speaker 1>focused wholly on Trump and Trump alone. And so I'm

1069
00:53:38.360 --> 00:53:41.639
<v Speaker 1>just sitting back and popping more popcorn and enjoying the

1070
00:53:41.679 --> 00:53:42.400
<v Speaker 1>whole spectacle.

1071
00:53:43.159 --> 00:53:47.000
<v Speaker 3>Again, leaving inside the constitutional questions, it does take Congress

1072
00:53:47.039 --> 00:53:50.119
<v Speaker 3>to abolish the Department of Education, although not, as you say, James,

1073
00:53:50.119 --> 00:53:53.039
<v Speaker 3>to make it sit within its statutory limits, which it doesn't.

1074
00:53:54.400 --> 00:53:57.599
<v Speaker 3>If the Department of Education were to disappear tomorrow, I

1075
00:53:57.719 --> 00:54:01.599
<v Speaker 3>truly believe that nothing of value would be lost. This

1076
00:54:01.679 --> 00:54:05.480
<v Speaker 3>is why there is this great disconnect in politics at

1077
00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:10.599
<v Speaker 3>the moment, because, leaving aside again the debate over structure,

1078
00:54:11.880 --> 00:54:14.639
<v Speaker 3>the people you're discussing on Reddit, and many people within

1079
00:54:14.639 --> 00:54:17.320
<v Speaker 3>the Democratic Party honestly seem to believe that if you

1080
00:54:17.519 --> 00:54:20.440
<v Speaker 3>even let one bureaucrat go, the whole thing will fall apart.

1081
00:54:20.480 --> 00:54:22.599
<v Speaker 3>And I think the opposite is true. I think you

1082
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:26.639
<v Speaker 3>could fire half of the federal workforce and no one

1083
00:54:26.679 --> 00:54:31.199
<v Speaker 3>would notice. It would make the country better to do that.

1084
00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:36.280
<v Speaker 3>And you know, this is the problem that the Democrats have.

1085
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:39.880
<v Speaker 3>Republicans will suffer if they if they seem callous or

1086
00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:43.000
<v Speaker 3>they go too fast. But the problem that the Democrats

1087
00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:47.199
<v Speaker 3>have is that reaction that was just mentioned with the proposition.

1088
00:54:48.199 --> 00:54:51.079
<v Speaker 3>Remind me which one it is, Steve in California thirteen.

1089
00:54:53.199 --> 00:54:55.519
<v Speaker 3>It's that reaction is that if you look at polling

1090
00:54:55.559 --> 00:54:58.119
<v Speaker 3>on this the sob stories that I keep reading in

1091
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:00.239
<v Speaker 3>the New York Times that people say I have took

1092
00:55:00.280 --> 00:55:02.199
<v Speaker 3>her and for a third day of the week, I

1093
00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:05.840
<v Speaker 3>can't even imagine it. I cried myself to sleep this morning.

1094
00:55:06.199 --> 00:55:10.320
<v Speaker 3>Just sounds completely insane to people. Yeah, but they don't

1095
00:55:10.360 --> 00:55:12.880
<v Speaker 3>know that because they don't talk to anyone outside of

1096
00:55:12.880 --> 00:55:13.320
<v Speaker 3>that group.

1097
00:55:14.280 --> 00:55:16.800
<v Speaker 2>During the height of the last tech bubble, when there

1098
00:55:16.840 --> 00:55:19.119
<v Speaker 2>was just so much money slashing around and everybody had

1099
00:55:19.159 --> 00:55:21.760
<v Speaker 2>their nice little show place office buildings, one of the

1100
00:55:21.760 --> 00:55:24.159
<v Speaker 2>things you used to see a lot on Twitter as

1101
00:55:24.159 --> 00:55:27.159
<v Speaker 2>it was known, or reels perhaps or vine even was

1102
00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:31.880
<v Speaker 2>my day at the Twitter office, in which some young

1103
00:55:32.320 --> 00:55:34.719
<v Speaker 2>twenty something would show up with the you know and

1104
00:55:34.760 --> 00:55:37.800
<v Speaker 2>and flounce through the wonderfully appointed atrium and go to

1105
00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:40.920
<v Speaker 2>their desk and get their get the cappuccino and a

1106
00:55:40.519 --> 00:55:43.960
<v Speaker 2>little Claire, and then have a meaningless meeting with a

1107
00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:45.960
<v Speaker 2>couple of other people. They're staring at screens and talking

1108
00:55:45.960 --> 00:55:48.320
<v Speaker 2>about something, and then lunch on the deck in the

1109
00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:51.239
<v Speaker 2>sun with the sprouts and the and then it would

1110
00:55:51.239 --> 00:55:53.360
<v Speaker 2>be some other pointless and then it'd be yoga, and

1111
00:55:53.400 --> 00:55:55.199
<v Speaker 2>then it would be then they would take their dinner

1112
00:55:55.199 --> 00:55:57.320
<v Speaker 2>home and the rest of it. And it all looked

1113
00:55:57.320 --> 00:56:00.519
<v Speaker 2>like this ridiculous experience, I mean, very very nice to live,

1114
00:56:00.559 --> 00:56:05.639
<v Speaker 2>I suppose, but producing exactly what Twitter did. One thing.

1115
00:56:05.880 --> 00:56:08.280
<v Speaker 2>It took in tweets, it gave out tweets. It was

1116
00:56:08.320 --> 00:56:10.880
<v Speaker 2>back and forth. What they were talking about. I don't know.

1117
00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:13.760
<v Speaker 2>Musk comes in and fires eighty five percent of them,

1118
00:56:13.960 --> 00:56:20.239
<v Speaker 2>and Twitter somehow staggers on someone. You could get rid

1119
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:21.920
<v Speaker 2>of all of those people who are having all day

1120
00:56:21.960 --> 00:56:24.320
<v Speaker 2>meetings about this, that or the other thing, and and

1121
00:56:24.400 --> 00:56:28.400
<v Speaker 2>it turned out not to be essential to the thing

1122
00:56:28.480 --> 00:56:29.280
<v Speaker 2>that they were doing.

1123
00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:32.079
<v Speaker 3>So how far is this profitable? Did you see this'?

1124
00:56:32.199 --> 00:56:34.599
<v Speaker 3>Its revenues have been cut in half, but its expenses

1125
00:56:34.679 --> 00:56:37.440
<v Speaker 3>have been cut to a quarter of what they were.

1126
00:56:37.559 --> 00:56:39.519
<v Speaker 2>Right right, which you know is the model that he

1127
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:43.000
<v Speaker 2>was seeking. And now I will grant that the advertising

1128
00:56:43.159 --> 00:56:46.960
<v Speaker 2>on Twitter is extremely low compared to quality, compared to

1129
00:56:46.960 --> 00:56:48.079
<v Speaker 2>what it used to be. And it used to be

1130
00:56:48.119 --> 00:56:50.239
<v Speaker 2>all the big brand names, right, they were all out there,

1131
00:56:50.760 --> 00:56:54.559
<v Speaker 2>and then they all pulled back because because Muscus a

1132
00:56:54.559 --> 00:56:56.519
<v Speaker 2>fascist and turned it into a right wing sess pool,

1133
00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.840
<v Speaker 2>which I find into an interesting comment because I am

1134
00:56:59.840 --> 00:57:02.320
<v Speaker 2>on Twitter a great deal, as our previous guest said,

1135
00:57:02.360 --> 00:57:04.679
<v Speaker 2>more than I should be, and I find the amount

1136
00:57:04.800 --> 00:57:09.960
<v Speaker 2>of left wing invective or arguments is precisely what it

1137
00:57:10.039 --> 00:57:12.679
<v Speaker 2>was before. What I don't find are the throttling of

1138
00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:16.239
<v Speaker 2>ideas and opinions that are at the moment unpopular and

1139
00:57:16.280 --> 00:57:19.079
<v Speaker 2>deemed to be hurtful disinformation that we have to do

1140
00:57:19.119 --> 00:57:21.760
<v Speaker 2>something about. That's the other part about this. One of

1141
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:23.480
<v Speaker 2>the notes that we have here for the podcast is

1142
00:57:23.480 --> 00:57:28.840
<v Speaker 2>how basically the resistance appears to be rudderless that you

1143
00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:33.840
<v Speaker 2>have a democratic party having learned nothing. Putting David Hogg

1144
00:57:34.119 --> 00:57:37.039
<v Speaker 2>as the vice chair of the DNC, that you have

1145
00:57:37.480 --> 00:57:42.199
<v Speaker 2>these rallies where people are waving the flags of other nations,

1146
00:57:42.239 --> 00:57:45.679
<v Speaker 2>which does not necessarily endear them to the population amongst

1147
00:57:45.719 --> 00:57:48.559
<v Speaker 2>which they wish to live, and that you have all

1148
00:57:48.599 --> 00:57:50.840
<v Speaker 2>of these, you know, people hyperventilating in the steps of

1149
00:57:50.920 --> 00:57:55.280
<v Speaker 2>various state capitals insisting that fascism is on the way

1150
00:57:55.480 --> 00:57:58.239
<v Speaker 2>or here as in Minnesota, one of the placards said,

1151
00:57:58.280 --> 00:58:01.639
<v Speaker 2>there are no illegals on stolen Okay, make that argument

1152
00:58:01.679 --> 00:58:04.000
<v Speaker 2>and see how that goes for you. So you want

1153
00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:06.719
<v Speaker 2>to say, well, you know what got them on the run.

1154
00:58:06.719 --> 00:58:08.199
<v Speaker 2>They'll never be able to pick it up and figure

1155
00:58:08.199 --> 00:58:12.280
<v Speaker 2>it out. But of course perhaps they will or can they?

1156
00:58:12.719 --> 00:58:15.400
<v Speaker 2>Is there a Clinton out there waiting to be born

1157
00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:19.599
<v Speaker 2>who can triangulate and get them back? That may be

1158
00:58:19.599 --> 00:58:21.679
<v Speaker 2>a whole another podcast that we should have. We kind

1159
00:58:21.679 --> 00:58:23.800
<v Speaker 2>of gotta go, it's been an hour. I gotta hit lunch,

1160
00:58:23.840 --> 00:58:26.880
<v Speaker 2>I gotta go to the gym, anything else, guys, or

1161
00:58:26.880 --> 00:58:29.920
<v Speaker 2>you just contend to let me go with a self

1162
00:58:29.960 --> 00:58:31.559
<v Speaker 2>indulgent peroration and leave it at that.

1163
00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:33.519
<v Speaker 1>No, that was a good one. I don't want to

1164
00:58:33.519 --> 00:58:36.639
<v Speaker 1>try and top that. Who's been great talking with you, James.

1165
00:58:36.880 --> 00:58:38.719
<v Speaker 2>As every general it has been fun talking to you too.

1166
00:58:39.039 --> 00:58:42.000
<v Speaker 2>We remind you that Luman, of course, and Bamboo HR

1167
00:58:42.039 --> 00:58:44.079
<v Speaker 2>were our sponsor's the great product. Use Luma to get

1168
00:58:44.119 --> 00:58:46.639
<v Speaker 2>your metabolism in shape and Bamboo HR to get your

1169
00:58:46.800 --> 00:58:49.360
<v Speaker 2>HR in shape, and between the two of them, you'll

1170
00:58:49.519 --> 00:58:52.119
<v Speaker 2>feel better. We hope you feel better after listening to

1171
00:58:52.159 --> 00:58:54.360
<v Speaker 2>this and are emboldened to give us a five star

1172
00:58:54.440 --> 00:58:56.360
<v Speaker 2>review wherever you happen to be able to do so.

1173
00:58:56.760 --> 00:58:59.000
<v Speaker 2>We also want you to go to ricochet dot com

1174
00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:02.239
<v Speaker 2>if you manage to listen to seven hundred and twenty

1175
00:59:02.360 --> 00:59:06.760
<v Speaker 2>six podcasts without figuring that out. Ricochet dot com is

1176
00:59:06.760 --> 00:59:08.719
<v Speaker 2>the well spring from which we come, and you would

1177
00:59:08.719 --> 00:59:12.400
<v Speaker 2>love to dip your cup in there and imbibe of

1178
00:59:12.400 --> 00:59:18.079
<v Speaker 2>its fresh, clean, artisanal waters. Same civil debate. Mostly thanks

1179
00:59:18.119 --> 00:59:21.239
<v Speaker 2>for joining us, folks. We'll see you, Charlie Stephen, We'll

1180
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:23.639
<v Speaker 2>see you next week, and we'll see everybody in the comment,

1181
00:59:23.679 --> 00:59:25.559
<v Speaker 2>said Ricochet four point.

1182
00:59:25.480 --> 00:59:30.800
<v Speaker 1>Zero Ricochet who join the conversation