Latest / Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP) / Luke Thomas Political Live Chat, ep. 4
Transcript
- 0:03We're live. Hello everyone. Hello.
- 0:05Hello. Hello. On this uh 25th day of
- 0:09September, 2026, Luke Thomas live chat
- 0:11episode, well I should say political
- 0:12live chat episode 4. I appreciate
- 0:16everyone being here. We're going to let
- 0:17the room fill up a little bit and then
- 0:18we'll start taking a look at your
- 0:20questions. Thank you so much for joining
- 0:22me. Again, we still have to do these
- 0:23somewhat informally due to some of the
- 0:26limitations. Google uh YouTube is
- 0:31YouTube is a problem where the there's
- 0:34an issue with the back end that is
- 0:36limiting us from what we can do in terms
- 0:37of integration with other services. Uh
- 0:40YouTube has promised us that there is a
- 0:41fix that is available but until they
- 0:44deploy it we are a little bit stuck. I
- 0:46can do these obviously but I can't it's
- 0:48not like my live chat where I can put
- 0:49everything on the screen uh for using
- 0:52Streamyard or other tools. So I have to
- 0:54kind of wait I have to kind of wait but
- 0:56I appreciate you guys being here just
- 0:57the same. Look at some of these
- 0:59questions.
- 1:01Favorite pizza place near you. Favorite
- 1:04pizza place near me. Um,
- 1:07I don't know about near me, but I like
- 1:09Red Light Pizza is really good. Um,
- 1:12Slice and Pie is really good. Uh, what's
- 1:15the one that serves Oxtail out in
- 1:18Northeast? Um,
- 1:23near Michigan Avenue. I forget the name
- 1:25of that joint, but they they serve.
- 1:27Check just Google like Michigan Avenue
- 1:29Northeast Oxtail Pizza Washington DC.
- 1:33It's a dynamite joint out there. It's
- 1:35amazing. So yeah, Stelina's pretty good.
- 1:37Wise guys is pretty good. You know that
- 1:39kind of thing. Someone writes Comet
- 1:41Pizza. Comet ping pong. I haven't been
- 1:43there in years. Um it's still out there
- 1:46plugging away on Northwest now that all
- 1:47the [ __ ] [ __ ] crazies are leaving it
- 1:49alone. Um but welcome, welcome, welcome,
- 1:53welcome on this day. We'll go for about
- 1:54an hour. Uh, you know, listen, nobody
- 1:56has to do this, but if you want to help
- 1:59support the channel, you want to help
- 2:00support me, I did a live broadcast
- 2:02almost every single day this week. Uh, a
- 2:05a super chat donation goes a real long
- 2:07way. Folks often ask, "What's the best
- 2:09way to support the channel?" And there's
- 2:10so many ways you can do it. You can like
- 2:12a video, you can hype it, you can
- 2:14subscribe to the channel, you can share
- 2:15it, and basically all that's free. But
- 2:17then if you support it with um
- 2:22if you support it with super chats, it
- 2:24goes a long way. All right. Very good. I
- 2:28hope everyone had a great week. Uh
- 2:30again, as the room fills up here a
- 2:32little bit, I'll just tell you about the
- 2:33week. We did uh we did Monday's MK, we
- 2:35did MK Today, we had Jimmy Smith. That
- 2:37was great. Did the live chat yesterday.
- 2:40I had to do also yesterday the I did a
- 2:43live breakdown of the Gable Stevenson
- 2:46fight. uh against Shan Sharough. I'm not
- 2:48going to get into MMA here. I'm trying
- 2:50to keep these things distinct, but I'm
- 2:51just sort of pointing out on my
- 2:52substack. I got that done. So, that was
- 2:54up there as well. Did a bunch of
- 2:56interviews. Interviewed Nate Wilcox of
- 2:58MMA Draw, interviewed John Nash about
- 3:00the Ali Act. There was just a lot going
- 3:03on. And I've got politics interviews
- 3:04coming up, by the way. I don't want to
- 3:05kind of spoil it, but I've booked some
- 3:07for the middle of October, which I'm
- 3:10looking forward to. There's two two of
- 3:12them I've got locked in already. Uh I'm
- 3:14looking forward to those. One of which I
- 3:15I'll tell you one of them. One of them
- 3:16is going to be Zeke Hernandez. You guys
- 3:19might recall Zeke Hernandez is the
- 3:20author of The Truth About Immigration.
- 3:22He's an immigration scholar at the
- 3:23University of Pennsylvania. His work was
- 3:25extremely influential on my thinking. I
- 3:28talked to him about I talked to him in
- 3:31August of 2025 about what effects mass
- 3:34deportation was having on the country
- 3:35and what what was underpinning it and
- 3:38then what the future might look like.
- 3:39And I thought a year later, more than a
- 3:41year later at this point, let's check in
- 3:43with him to see how he thinks now that a
- 3:45year plus has passed about what this
- 3:48deportation campaign
- 3:50has done to the country and will what it
- 3:52will continue to do in terms of I think
- 3:54both trauma to the communities, but I
- 3:56think generationally uh negatively
- 3:58impacting it economically. As we know,
- 4:00immigrants are far more likely to be
- 4:02entrepreneurs, relatively speaking. Um
- 4:04they are far more likely in in any kind
- 4:06of firm that has immigrants there.
- 4:08they're far more likely to have
- 4:09inventions, patents, and other forms of
- 4:11innovation. Um, and so when you lose a
- 4:14bunch of that talent, not just that, but
- 4:16academia as well. What does that do long
- 4:18term to a society? So, I'm going to talk
- 4:21to him about that. That'll be in the
- 4:22middle of October, I believe. I'm not
- 4:24sure what the exact date is. So, that's
- 4:26coming up. That'll be fun is not quite
- 4:28the right word, I suppose, but uh I I
- 4:30look forward to the conversation just
- 4:32the same.
- 4:33But uh we had Benjamin Netanyahu
- 4:35yesterday at the UN dropping Hassan
- 4:38[ __ ] by name. You know, let me open up
- 4:39with a little bit of a statement on that
- 4:41if I may on this, which is um
- 4:47I actually think in some kind of way
- 4:52he might have done Hassan a favor.
- 4:55I mean, it's very weird that, you know,
- 4:57I mean, first of all, the fact that he's
- 4:59going after Hassan [ __ ] and then
- 5:00everyone else is going after Hassan
- 5:02[ __ ] It's like,
- 5:04are these efforts,
- 5:07talking points, campaigns,
- 5:10are these organized by some of the same
- 5:12people? It's a question I'm I'm now
- 5:15beginning to ask. But the reason why I
- 5:16say he actually might have done [ __ ] a
- 5:18bit of a favor is that um dude, when
- 5:21Benjamin Netanyahu is your enemy, you're
- 5:23doing all right.
- 5:25And for him to drop him by name, it's
- 5:27like, oh, really? You want to sound like
- 5:29Benjamin Netanyah Netanyahu? You know,
- 5:31Nerra Tanden, you want to sound like
- 5:33him. Liz Smith, you want to sound like
- 5:35him or whoever? You know, um I I I
- 5:39actually don't hate the ball work. I
- 5:40like a lot of what the Bullwork does. In
- 5:42fact, the Bullwork is going to
- 5:43Springfield, Ohio. It's a sort of like
- 5:45de facto rally for the Haitian community
- 5:47there, which I actually really
- 5:48appreciate from them. But, you know,
- 5:49Sarah Longwell has been all over Hassan
- 5:51[ __ ] Like, you want to sound like
- 5:52Benjamin Netanyahu? Really? Is that what
- 5:55you want to do? Okay, that's up to you,
- 5:57I suppose. Um,
- 6:00all right. Let's see what you guys got
- 6:01here.
- 6:05What is this?
- 6:07Uh,
- 6:08I don't know what some of this stuff is.
- 6:11Um, okay. again from the super chats. By
- 6:16the way, there's a there's a couple
- 6:17gifts that have been handed out. I'm not
- 6:19sure what some of this stuff is. The
- 6:20gold coins and the I don't know what
- 6:22that is, but I appreciate it just the
- 6:23same. Um, someone asked, "What happens
- 6:26if Trump declares martial law?" Yeah,
- 6:27then we're [ __ ] dude. I mean, you
- 6:30know, I don't know if we if we get to a
- 6:33point like that, I don't know what to
- 6:34say. And honestly, like I don't I I've
- 6:36made this point before, like on a couple
- 6:38of different levels. One is simply that
- 6:40Trump is capable of just so much
- 6:42destruction. Like if they do like a for
- 6:44example like if they withhold if they if
- 6:46they do a diesel export ban I mean this
- 6:49would just be calamitous.
- 6:51I don't know if they'll do it and I
- 6:52don't know if there'll be enough. Um I
- 6:55don't even know if the White House
- 6:56really even wants it fully. My
- 6:57understanding is like even right-wing
- 6:59economists are in the White House are
- 7:00like nah it's a bad idea. So I I don't
- 7:02know I don't know what will happen with
- 7:03that. But like the fact that that's even
- 7:05sort of coming up and like there there
- 7:06apparently was a report today. I haven't
- 7:07had a chance to read it. There was a
- 7:09report today that they might invade Cuba
- 7:10and they're trying to call on army
- 7:12reserveists to see if they can
- 7:13facilitate an invasion of Cuba. It's
- 7:15like, holy [ __ ] [ __ ] dude. The
- 7:17capacity of this whole thing to fall
- 7:18apart is insane. But I bring us all up
- 7:20to say if there is something left to
- 7:22salvage, that's kind of one part of it.
- 7:25But the other one, too, is like, do we
- 7:26like the dude did January 6 on his way
- 7:29out the door the first time? Like why
- 7:31are we expecting the way out this time
- 7:33to be like, "Oh, he'll just happily give
- 7:35the keys back to the teenagers."
- 7:38I mean, I really I I hope that I am just
- 7:40speaking out of paranoia. Truly, I mean
- 7:42that. I hope I am merely speaking out of
- 7:48I don't know, cynicism.
- 7:51But I I just think it's part of me is
- 7:55foolish
- 7:56that you oh we're he's this is all just
- 7:58going to end relatively normally. I hope
- 8:02I'm not expecting that's not me that's
- 8:03not me saying I think it ends in martial
- 8:05law. That's not what I'm saying. But
- 8:10dude, like acrimony follows this guy.
- 8:13Devastation follows this guy. you know,
- 8:16there's just no way to get this done
- 8:20simply. Um, I don't think I guess we'll
- 8:23see if you can keep those super chats
- 8:27coming. Um, Foiki writes, "Maybe doing a
- 8:32speech and could use some help." Oh,
- 8:35you're maybe you you are maybe doing a
- 8:36speech and could use some help. how to
- 8:38communicate to an audience
- 8:41what is different about this election
- 8:43and why is this one so urgent. So you're
- 8:46giving a speech about what is different
- 8:48about this election and why this one is
- 8:50so urgent. Um, I mean the problem is we
- 8:54end up getting to a place where we have
- 8:55this well this is the election the
- 8:56election that matters most and then I
- 8:59think a lot of people feel like um that
- 9:02as a rallying cry doesn't necessarily
- 9:06work.
- 9:08But I think on some level what you have
- 9:10to impart to the audience is that for
- 9:14all of the problems of the postworld war
- 9:16II established political order that the
- 9:19United States had been living under,
- 9:21there was still something of an
- 9:24appreciation for
- 9:26the technocratic parts of government.
- 9:30There was, you know, over
- 9:31overcredentialism, but it still did
- 9:34matter that you had the appropriate
- 9:36kinds of experiences in education.
- 9:39Um and there was a belief in creating a
- 9:44broken and you know hypocritical and I
- 9:47understand it I understand that there's
- 9:48enormous criticisms to make in a variety
- 9:51of different capacities but still
- 9:52believed in a world of international
- 9:53alliances to help produce and maintain
- 9:57world stability. In other words, not
- 9:58just merely competent government at home
- 10:02and you know to what extent you want to
- 10:03call it honest I think is a much more
- 10:05interesting debate but certainly
- 10:06competent governance and then extending
- 10:10that in a more um to to international
- 10:13systems that we had hoped to hold bad
- 10:16actors to account prevent some of that
- 10:18and more
- 10:21and what you have to understand with
- 10:22Trump and I think this is obviously
- 10:23quite visible you know he has tried to
- 10:26utterly destroy the department of
- 10:27education. They have um you know uh the
- 10:34the abuse of the American military, the
- 10:36taking over national landmarks. Um you
- 10:39saw what Doge doing just you know
- 10:40cutting out parts of the administrative
- 10:42state, gutting the administrative state
- 10:44more generally, whether this is clean
- 10:46water protections, clean air
- 10:47protections, pollution protections,
- 10:49wildlife protections, national parks
- 10:51protections, giving away some of the
- 10:53stuff to billionaires. What you have to
- 10:55understand about the Trump order and the
- 10:56movement that he represents is that it
- 10:58is not part of that postworld war II
- 11:02um
- 11:03order of that political order. They're
- 11:05not from that. This is not merely
- 11:08distinct from that. What the the
- 11:10political movement that Trump represents
- 11:12and is now the head of it's not merely
- 11:15distinct from that. It is much worse
- 11:16than that. It is hostile to it. It is
- 11:20trying to undo it.
- 11:23And the question you have to ask
- 11:24yourself is is like for all the problems
- 11:26that we have with our institutions of
- 11:28which there were many in our practices
- 11:30of which Jesus Christ there was an
- 11:32enormous amount. Sure. And all of that
- 11:34partly explains the rise of Trumpism.
- 11:37But just from a from an from a material
- 11:40operational way in which you live, can
- 11:42you recall this many uh and in fact I
- 11:45know for a fact that you can't this many
- 11:47food born illnesses being uh visible in
- 11:51our food supply. No, of course you
- 11:53can't. But of course it it it and in
- 11:54fact, I've looked this up. Like even the
- 11:56cycllospora outbreak is the worst
- 11:58cycllospora outbreak we've ever had in
- 11:59the United States by a million miles.
- 12:02And then more to the point, the amount
- 12:03of food you're seeing having to get
- 12:05recalled is no accident because we have
- 12:07attacked the system of food safety in
- 12:09this country such that it simply does
- 12:11not work anymore. It's hard to make an
- 12:13argument that this is a superior way in
- 12:15which to function. You could say the
- 12:17same about um the assault on academic
- 12:19institutions. As I mentioned, part of
- 12:21that part of that class that I think
- 12:23Trump and his political movement, what
- 12:24they're hostile to, in that order that
- 12:26they're hostile to, that means they're
- 12:27also naturally going to be hostile to to
- 12:30the institutions that make it possible,
- 12:32including but not limited to um academic
- 12:35institutions. Like, who can look around
- 12:37and say from within the
- 12:41the the attacks made on this a have
- 12:46yielded any real positive result? I
- 12:48don't know what that would even be. And
- 12:50then more to the point that that more of
- 12:52this what will this do to our way of
- 12:54life? I mean there's an enormous amount
- 12:57of research that shows like one of the
- 12:59benefits of economic prosperity is not
- 13:00just material gain. People have more
- 13:02money, they save more money, they can
- 13:03spend more money, they can have more
- 13:05things. And of course having a bunch of
- 13:07things isn't necessarily a marker of
- 13:08happiness, but you know, we all know
- 13:10that abundance tends to be preferable to
- 13:13austerity in many ways. But it's more
- 13:15than that. It's that people's attitudes
- 13:17towards others actually improve. The
- 13:20kinds of things that they focus on or
- 13:22get agitated by are totally different
- 13:24and much much more um manageable. And
- 13:27that in a times of stagnation or
- 13:29austerity that is when not merely the
- 13:31fingerpointing begins but then the
- 13:33racial hostility goes up or any kind of
- 13:36hostility between groups within society.
- 13:38All of it makes it a much more toxic
- 13:40stew. Like dude, just look around. This
- 13:44is an assault on our way of life.
- 13:47It's an assault on our communities. It's
- 13:49an assault on the rule of law. It's an
- 13:51assault on our academic institutions.
- 13:52It's an assault on the international
- 13:54order. And we can make plenty of
- 13:56arguments about how our academic
- 13:58institutions were in need of change or
- 14:00international order. That some of the
- 14:01stuff perhaps did need to go away. It's
- 14:03not to say that these were things that
- 14:05were above reproach. Far from it. Again,
- 14:07their failures made all of this possible
- 14:09to begin with. But now we are getting to
- 14:11a point where look at what it is doing
- 14:12to the way in which we are living and to
- 14:14how society is governed and the things
- 14:16that have actually made for American
- 14:18prosperity. Those things are under
- 14:20direct attack.
- 14:23You just can't point to another
- 14:24election. Even I live through 2004 when
- 14:27Bush ran against John Kerry. You know I
- 14:29remember that race vividly. We are not
- 14:32living under anything even approximating
- 14:33that. And that was at, you know, 3 years
- 14:35after 9/11 and and a year after the
- 14:38invasion of Iraq, like like all this
- 14:40insanity and the country went right back
- 14:42to Bush. That was that was really bad.
- 14:45But it's not like this. This is utterly
- 14:47utterly utterly different. I mean, dude,
- 14:48George Bush, you can say whatever you
- 14:50want. He was the mastermind or, you
- 14:52know, pushed No Child Left Behind, which
- 14:54has gained something of an improved
- 14:58uh reputation over time. Again, that's
- 15:01not a fullthroated endorsement except to
- 15:03say that
- 15:05the
- 15:07upperbound criticisms of what it could
- 15:10end up being did not prove to be true.
- 15:12And again, you can have merits about
- 15:14whether that was good or bad. Contrast
- 15:15that with just trying to shut down the
- 15:17Department of Education.
- 15:19Like, what are we I mean, you know what
- 15:20I mean? Like, this is not even remotely
- 15:21the same. This is an assault on the
- 15:24order that has enormous fault, but also
- 15:27is the order that produced and
- 15:29maintained for quite a long while
- 15:31American greatness. And you have to ask
- 15:33yourself how much of that you're willing
- 15:34to tolerate. Not merely that, but as the
- 15:37point I started this qu answer,
- 15:40by an enormously incompetent
- 15:43group of people.
- 15:45I mean, like look around at the most
- 15:47thriving countries in the world right
- 15:49now, right? Think about this and think
- 15:51about all the different political
- 15:52systems that that might involve and none
- 15:55of these countries are going to be free
- 15:57from issue. All of them will have their
- 15:59issue, right? All of them. But and they
- 16:03have very different systems. Some might
- 16:04have, you know, uh much more controlled
- 16:07market economies, some less. Some all
- 16:10have high rates of immigration, some a
- 16:11lot less, right? They're all going to
- 16:12have some set of unique circumstances.
- 16:14But if there is one thing that underpins
- 16:17it is that they take government
- 16:19competency seriously. They want people
- 16:21who have math PhDs uh in charge of their
- 16:25labor statistics. They want people who
- 16:28have, you know, uh advanced degrees in
- 16:32um engineering or astrophysics or
- 16:35whatever uh in charge of any kind of to
- 16:38the extent that they have one a a space
- 16:40program or you know the people who are
- 16:41in charge of the water supply. They need
- 16:44to know both from experience and from a
- 16:47training perspective. They need to know
- 16:49how municipal water supplies need to be
- 16:52handled, right? There's a competency
- 16:54that is put through the government.
- 16:55Trump is hostile to that, dude.
- 16:58[ __ ] Pete Hexth is the
- 17:00Secretary of Defense. Like, under no
- 17:03argument could you ever make that this
- 17:05was a guy who was in any way qualified
- 17:08for this position. Cash [ __ ] Patel is
- 17:11running the FBI. It's not a model of of
- 17:14of governance that treats competency
- 17:18seriously. And any other one out there
- 17:20that you're going to look at is
- 17:22different models, different
- 17:23circumstances, different populations,
- 17:25different stories. The ones that perform
- 17:27at a high level, they have high level
- 17:29competency in their bureaucratic and
- 17:32technocratic practices.
- 17:39You see that the White House didn't let
- 17:41in a reporter from MS Now after a court
- 17:44ordered them to. They went back on it. I
- 17:45believe blowing off court orders is just
- 17:47the norm for them. So my understanding
- 17:49was that happened that morning and then
- 17:51they let him back in by the afternoon.
- 17:53However, I did see that they also didn't
- 17:55let him in for I think uh Xihinping's um
- 18:00state dinner. I don't know where we are
- 18:02from that point. So they were in they
- 18:04were they were excuse me they were out.
- 18:06They were in. They were out again. I'm
- 18:08not entirely sure, but it's not going
- 18:10great.
- 18:13Being a China hawk was key to MAGA red
- 18:16carpet now.
- 18:20Oh, cuz they rolled out the red carpet
- 18:21for Xiinping. I don't care about that
- 18:23stuff. Like, oh, that they they were on
- 18:26their hands and knees. I'm like,
- 18:29of all the things this is this is to me
- 18:31reminiscent of when the right was like,
- 18:33did you I don't know if you guys
- 18:34remember this. People always talk about
- 18:37the uh
- 18:41the tan suit that Obama wore and we all
- 18:44can agree that that was like one of the
- 18:45dumbest [ __ ] media freakouts of all
- 18:48time. But there was another one. You'll
- 18:50recall after Bush destroyed our
- 18:52reputation internationally. Obama went
- 18:55on something of an international tour.
- 18:57The right called it an apology tour. And
- 18:59I I don't know that that was the wrong
- 19:01way to describe it. I mean, obviously he
- 19:03didn't go through and be like, "Yo, I'm
- 19:04real sorry." But, you know, kind of we
- 19:06needed to, to be honest with you, we
- 19:08kind of needed to. We had [ __ ] up the
- 19:09world at that point. I think it was
- 19:11pretty important that we went and mended
- 19:12some fences, whatever you want to call
- 19:14it. And when he met I don't know who was
- 19:16it in Japan, I forget the name, but he
- 19:18bowed and he bowed so low that they were
- 19:23like, "Oh, he's being subservient to,
- 19:26you know, the Japanese and he is, you
- 19:28know, he's making a mockery of American
- 19:29power." And um that was just one of the
- 19:32dumbest things I'd ever seen in my life.
- 19:33This is what I mean, dude. Every single
- 19:35right-wing freakout, every single one,
- 19:38everyone is low IQ. Not for not
- 19:42necessarily the entire part of it, but
- 19:43at least some part of it is going to be
- 19:44low IQ. And then the other part of it
- 19:47that's going to be like that is the
- 19:49information will just be like factually
- 19:51incorrect. Um I forget what the example
- 19:54was that they used to defend Obama. I
- 19:55think it was that you know he was just
- 19:57just showing like you know normal
- 19:58deference and I think there's like how
- 20:00high you have to bow versus how low. I
- 20:02think he was trying to get that right. I
- 20:03mean, who gives a [ __ ] right? This is
- 20:05to me that, oh, Obama was bowing too
- 20:07low, you know, for the Japanese and it's
- 20:10like,
- 20:12I don't care. I don't care. I mean, I
- 20:14realize your point like like that being
- 20:17a China hawk in in MAGA was important
- 20:19and now they're just rolling out the red
- 20:21carpet for him. But, do they need like
- 20:22we need to have a positive relationship
- 20:24with China? Like, I guess is the thing
- 20:25like all the things to get mad about, I
- 20:28just can't, you know? It's like, oh,
- 20:29Trump wants to have a positive
- 20:30relationship with China. That's probably
- 20:32good. I mean, I don't think he'll manage
- 20:34it well, but I'd rather him have a
- 20:36positive one than a negative one, all
- 20:38things being what they are, right? I
- 20:40mean, do you trust him to have a
- 20:42negative one? Because I don't. He'll
- 20:44[ __ ] that up instantly.
- 20:49Hi, Luke. I was always on the fence with
- 20:51Scott G. Oh, Scott Galloway. His
- 20:53business takes usually good, but then I
- 20:55heard him say Bill Mars is hero and he
- 20:57lost all credibility with me. Love your
- 20:59LTGP content, by the way. Yeah, I just
- 21:01have a video I put up yesterday about
- 21:03this. If you guys didn't see Scott
- 21:05Galloway, who I don't understand quite
- 21:08why people like him so much. I wasn't
- 21:10even aware of who he was. And then he
- 21:12gave a series of takes on what ails
- 21:14young men and part of it made a lot of
- 21:16sense because what he argues is like
- 21:17when I grew up, you know, the UC
- 21:20university system was accessible. You
- 21:21could have bad grades and get in and
- 21:23look what all I gave to you. And fair
- 21:24play. I think that's important to note
- 21:26some of these contextual differences.
- 21:28But then you know on the other side um
- 21:33he basically makes the argument like the
- 21:35problem that young men face in society
- 21:36is that they have to be um they have to
- 21:39achieve status and I was waiting to hear
- 21:41like okay so what's your antidote for a
- 21:43world where if men don't achieve status
- 21:45then they don't hold value and his
- 21:47answer was yeah men should just achieve
- 21:48status and I was like okay well you're
- 21:51not really helping here are you? Um, and
- 21:54then he gave a series of takes. He did
- 21:56an interview with Jessica Tarla. People
- 21:57were beating up Jessica and I didn't
- 21:59like her questions either, but I
- 22:01genuinely
- 22:02think that she has one of the more
- 22:04difficult jobs in lefty media and it's
- 22:06lucrative, but it's tough. And so I I do
- 22:08appreciate her. But for Scott Galloway
- 22:10to be like, you know, do you understand
- 22:11uh I think he even said as a Jewish
- 22:13person, um, you know, why this offends
- 22:16me for you to call this a genocide.
- 22:18speaking to Abdul Al sayed and it's like
- 22:20dude what the [ __ ] does that even mean?
- 22:22Like your religious affiliation gives
- 22:24you greater insight into what does or
- 22:26doesn't constitute genocide. If
- 22:28anything, it just bakes in your bias
- 22:30about what you're willing to see and not
- 22:32see. And he doesn't want to see like
- 22:35dude, this is I've said this before,
- 22:36man. There is a fissure in the
- 22:37Democratic party. There is a fissure at
- 22:39least in terms of between the base and
- 22:41the leadership. That's part of it. And
- 22:44then the other part of it is and it
- 22:46falls in along similar uh uh camps, but
- 22:50this idea of like we want to hold Israel
- 22:52to account. We believe the Palestinian
- 22:54story versus, you know, the sort of
- 22:57mushmouth, well, Palestinians deserve
- 22:59rights to freedom and happiness, but we
- 23:01just have to go kill them because
- 23:02ultimately they just want to take
- 23:03Israel's side. There is a clear there's
- 23:06a clear contrast uh between these these
- 23:09various entities. And my belief is,
- 23:12listen, if we need these people for 2026
- 23:16and for some measure of subsequent
- 23:18elections, I could probably hold my nose
- 23:20and tolerate it to defeat MAGA because I
- 23:23do think defeating MAGA is the most
- 23:24important thing. But I will just be
- 23:26honest with you, I don't think you can
- 23:28make common cause intellectually and
- 23:30morally long-term with people who cannot
- 23:33reconcile with Israel's crimes. I don't
- 23:35think you can do that. And I don't think
- 23:37you should do that. I don't think you
- 23:39should do that. I really don't I I made
- 23:42up the po I made the point in my video
- 23:44that if you look you know following the
- 23:46New Deal the New Deal had this enormous
- 23:48influence obviously on society and and
- 23:50the and the working class and more and
- 23:52it had uh obviously enormously
- 23:55pronounced effects in a number of
- 23:57different ways. But the thing I want you
- 23:59to focus on is one of the tragedies of
- 24:01the New Deal was that a lot of what made
- 24:03the various democratic alliances as a
- 24:06voting block across the states possible
- 24:09to to you know create these large
- 24:10majorities obviously to make legislation
- 24:12like this even possible. But then you
- 24:14know the interests of some southern
- 24:16Democrat might not be the same as a
- 24:18northern Democrat or however you want to
- 24:20slice it. But they would kind of get
- 24:21along under the presumption that yes,
- 24:23sometimes there would be benefits for
- 24:26black people and other racial minorities
- 24:28or other kind of groups within New Deal
- 24:30expansion, but none of that was really
- 24:32guaranteed. And in fact, a lot of New
- 24:34Deal growth happened at the expense of
- 24:36civil rights. But what eventually
- 24:38happened with the Democratic party is as
- 24:40voting patterns changed as as I think
- 24:43demographics changed um the party
- 24:46decided to be a multi-racial coalition
- 24:49that was maximum on expanding the right
- 24:52to vote and expanding civil rights
- 24:54protections and this caused them a break
- 24:57with the Southern Democrats circa 1965.
- 25:00Now you can say that they made that
- 25:02choice for the because they had enough
- 25:04votes where that was that that new block
- 25:06that they were trying to um that new
- 25:09electorate that they were trying to put
- 25:11together.
- 25:12It was to their advantage to do so to
- 25:14make that switch. There was there were
- 25:15certain arguments to be made in that
- 25:17regard, but they nevertheless had to
- 25:19give up on Southern Democrats to do
- 25:21that. and they just didn't want to be in
- 25:22bit. You can't be a party that's a
- 25:24multi-racial multi- you know uh kind of
- 25:28coalition in that in the 1960s and then
- 25:30still be in business with you know the
- 25:32strong Thurmans of the world or
- 25:33whatever. So they made a break and I see
- 25:37a similar break with the the the parts
- 25:41of the leadership and then the parts of
- 25:42the donor class and then everyone else
- 25:45that cannot reconcile with the crimes of
- 25:47Israel. I I see a similar break coming
- 25:50with them. At least I I I think that a
- 25:52similar break should be coming with
- 25:53them. I don't know how you produce that.
- 25:54I don't know when that would be
- 25:55produced, but I don't understand how you
- 25:59can have a party that takes its own
- 26:01ethics in any way seriously and you just
- 26:04allow people within leadership to guide
- 26:07policy in a way that doesn't recognize
- 26:11extermination campaigns.
- 26:13How do you How do you do that? I don't
- 26:15know how you do that.
- 26:20Anyway, so Scott Galloway
- 26:23um you know there's many points I make
- 26:27in the video. He always talks about like
- 26:28genocide is like wiping out huge
- 26:31portions of the population and of course
- 26:33you know any death is bad and there's no
- 26:35small amount of death but like he's like
- 26:36well you know there was like these huge
- 26:38chunks of the population that were taken
- 26:40out in various other genocides and like
- 26:42that's true that's a thing that did
- 26:44happen. Um, but I I made the point which
- 26:46he he neglected to make which was like
- 26:48you look at Shrebanita where 8,000 men
- 26:50and boys were killed. That ended up
- 26:52being about 2.4% of the population.
- 26:54That's less than the population total
- 26:56that was killed in Gaza. Again, all of
- 26:58these discussions are macob and gross.
- 27:00And I don't even like having them. But
- 27:01such that mathematical numbers are the
- 27:04thing that would be a demarcating line,
- 27:05which they're not, but they were for
- 27:07Scott Galloway. He doesn't mention that
- 27:09one. And that one, the Shrebanita
- 27:11genocide, is the first uh continental
- 27:13European genocide since the Holocaust.
- 27:16And no one debates that. And and and
- 27:19that number at 2.4% is less than the
- 27:21aggregate total for Gaza. And then he's
- 27:23also like, "Oh, they let in vaccines,
- 27:25[ __ ] They weren't vaccinating
- 27:27the Palestinians. They were letting in
- 27:29aid groups who were begging to do it and
- 27:31had and were fought with friction the
- 27:34entire way. Like what?" And he's like,
- 27:35"Oh, and they're giving him 2500
- 27:37calories, you know, per meal per day."
- 27:39[ __ ] we know they did a starvation
- 27:41campaign. What the [ __ ] are you talking
- 27:43about?
- 27:45It's This is what I mean. It's like It's
- 27:47like imagine it rained yesterday and
- 27:50they want to tell you it didn't rain.
- 27:52Like, this is not rain. This is another
- 27:54thing, but it's not rain. And you're
- 27:56like,
- 27:58"It rained, dude. No, no, no. That's not
- 28:01rain. That's that's that's uh that's
- 28:02something else. So, it looks like rain,
- 28:04but it's not rain. And it really offends
- 28:06me when you call it rain. I don't care.
- 28:08You It's like, what? I don't care. I
- 28:11don't care that it offends you. This
- 28:12means nothing to me. You know, it's just
- 28:14absurd. I don't I don't quite get it.
- 28:19Uh, thoughts on Netanyahu's UN speech?
- 28:22Is he more despised globally than Trump?
- 28:24Could a new Israeli PM bring peace to
- 28:26the Middle East? I don't think so, dude.
- 28:27I mean, I think maybe Netanyahu is
- 28:30uniquely bad. I I I don't I'm not saying
- 28:32that everyone that could take his job is
- 28:34as bad as him. That's not quite my
- 28:36point. But I think Israeli society I
- 28:39mean speaking of people unwilling to
- 28:41account for their own crimes. Israeli
- 28:42society seems very much unwilling to
- 28:45take account of that.
- 28:48Um what did I think of the speech? From
- 28:50what I saw it was hostile. He was
- 28:52threatening to that he could blow up the
- 28:54place if he wanted to in a manner of
- 28:58speaking. As I mentioned, he he shouts
- 28:59out uh in in a reverse kind of way
- 29:02Hassan [ __ ] which was weird. You know,
- 29:05he made a the Hezbollah pedager joke,
- 29:07you know, and almost kind of intimated
- 29:09like we could not that we could do that
- 29:11again, but like we've got more tricks up
- 29:13our sleeve. I mean, dude, the guy the
- 29:16guy is one of the great butchers of our
- 29:19time, right? That's who he is. He's one
- 29:21of the great butchers of our time. And
- 29:24in any kind of just or sane world, he'd
- 29:27be behind bars or much worse than that.
- 29:30Um,
- 29:32we do not live in that kind of a world.
- 29:33Not right now anyway. Not not at the
- 29:35present moment and perhaps not ever, but
- 29:37certainly not now. Um,
- 29:40he is filled with impunity as so many
- 29:42Israelis are and is merely leadership
- 29:46is. He feels entitled to threaten, to
- 29:52attack, to intimidate. They were going
- 29:56through, did you see this? There was
- 29:57video of like um staff from Netanyahu's
- 30:01delegation that was going through and
- 30:03seeing which one which states had walked
- 30:05out and making a list because virtually,
- 30:08you know, the vast majority of the UN
- 30:09walked out and so they were trying to
- 30:11make a list to see who it was, you know.
- 30:16Um they're they're it's a it's they
- 30:18cannot convince you, dude. The Israelis
- 30:20have come to a place where they can
- 30:22they're not even trying to convince you.
- 30:24They just they just want to strongarm.
- 30:27It's just force. They just believe in
- 30:30force. Force of attack, force of death,
- 30:34force of um coercion of some kind. But
- 30:39it they they've given up on
- 30:42and I think in large part hearts and
- 30:43minds. I mean, there's some effort of
- 30:45them trying to claw that back, but I I
- 30:47think they're going to realize there's
- 30:47not much that can be done in that
- 30:49regard. And so now what they're doing is
- 30:50just just trying to coersse the world
- 30:52through various different ways in which
- 30:54that can be exercised. It's a broken
- 30:57it's a broken uh
- 31:01that I think that country is in deep
- 31:03need of um
- 31:08repair.
- 31:12thoughts on the state of Kanye West at
- 31:14this point. I mean, I've not kept in
- 31:15close observation of like what he's
- 31:18doing.
- 31:20Um, except to say that he's I I I I
- 31:23realize that he has apologized for his
- 31:25past mania
- 31:26and you know, you could take that for
- 31:28what it's worth. I suspect that there is
- 31:30something to be said for that that like
- 31:32he his drug use and God only knows what
- 31:33his habits were. Remember the dentist
- 31:35that was supposedly giving him nitrous?
- 31:36I mean, God only knows, right? you know,
- 31:39so I think some measure of grace is
- 31:41afforded to him, but not much. And
- 31:44certainly, I don't think he's made
- 31:46atonement for his insane insane racism,
- 31:49insane anti-semitism,
- 31:51you know, and then being allowed to go
- 31:54and tour. And people were like, well,
- 31:55he's the headliner of the tour. It's not
- 31:56like he can get pulled off. And sure, I
- 31:59mean, if people want to go see that
- 32:00thing, they can. But I think for me,
- 32:03having seen an era of artists that were
- 32:05at least under some kind of pre some
- 32:08kind of pressure to not do that kind of
- 32:10a thing,
- 32:12we live in an age of
- 32:16um moral decline
- 32:20where
- 32:23it's not like morality has utterly
- 32:25evaporated. In fact, there is great
- 32:27consternation about it. But the
- 32:33degree to which it could be a
- 32:35influencing factor in decisionmaking,
- 32:38the degree to which people felt a social
- 32:40responsibility to honor it, the degree
- 32:42to which it featured in our in
- 32:45conversations and then daily
- 32:46calculations, that has all just kind of
- 32:48declined. It's not evaporated. It's not
- 32:50gone, but it's declined. And I think you
- 32:55can see that kind of a thing. Like I
- 32:57don't understand. I I can respect that
- 32:59Kanye West is very very talented. I'm
- 33:00not here to make some kind of argument
- 33:02that he never made good music. That
- 33:03would be very very silly. But I would
- 33:06say that like, you know, people have
- 33:08like gotten into ways of life and then
- 33:12not thought about how the sausage is
- 33:14made or considered what would it mean
- 33:16for the circumstances that made me like
- 33:18this to change and then to like adjust
- 33:21their relationship to it. I've had to do
- 33:22that with MMA for a lot. you know, I
- 33:25don't have the same relationship to MMA
- 33:26that I had 10 years ago. I don't know
- 33:28how I could. I don't know how I could.
- 33:30And I see some people trying to do that
- 33:32and it's very very weird to me. It it
- 33:34makes you make moral accommodations or
- 33:37other kinds of accommodations that you
- 33:38otherwise would not make. And like when
- 33:41it's a choice between like uphold I mean
- 33:43and all of us are flawed. All of us make
- 33:44bad decisions. All of us have done bad
- 33:47things. I've done bad things. I'm sure
- 33:48in the future I'll do bad things. Like
- 33:50bad things like I can't get away from
- 33:51that. But at least trying to find a
- 33:53north star of personal and then social
- 33:56accountability. This has we are in an
- 33:58era of decline, a moral decline. And uh
- 34:04I don't think it's an accident that the
- 34:05leader of the free world is one of the
- 34:08chief purveyors of
- 34:11uh not decline himself but you know I
- 34:16mean this is the kind of environment
- 34:18that the leader of the free world
- 34:19fosters. He fosters a world where
- 34:22vandals are free to roam and looters are
- 34:25free to take.
- 34:29Look, a bit of a hypothetical here. If
- 34:31things go well and MAGA loses the
- 34:33midterms and election, what do you
- 34:35believe happens to everyone that
- 34:37supported this nonsense from the celebs
- 34:38to the politicians? It's a great
- 34:40question.
- 34:44I don't know.
- 34:50Um,
- 34:55I think it really depends on
- 34:59how bad things get between now and the
- 35:02midterms.
- 35:03I think it depends a lot on how bad
- 35:05things get between now and 2028
- 35:08and to what extent it becomes
- 35:11politically toxic to have been MAGA.
- 35:14Um, I also don't know what comes next
- 35:17after Trump dies to MAGA. I think it
- 35:20comes apart. I don't think those forces
- 35:22don't like I don't think they cease to
- 35:24exist, but they cease to exist as some
- 35:26kind of coalition. And I don't know
- 35:28really what happens to them. I don't
- 35:30think we're in a place yet where we can
- 35:33definitively say that um you know a big
- 35:37loss at the midterms turns being
- 35:40formerly MAGA into
- 35:43you know a place where all those people
- 35:45are going to earn approprium and
- 35:48ostracism. I don't think we're there
- 35:49yet. I will also say it's not I I cannot
- 35:52overemphasize this enough dude. All what
- 35:55the Democrats can talk about is just
- 35:57winning elections. But to me, like one
- 35:59of the reasons why the DSA candidates
- 36:00are at least more interesting is they
- 36:02also have a vision. Like there might be
- 36:04some uh I'm sure there are there are
- 36:06some centrist candidates who are doing
- 36:08better than progressive challengers in
- 36:10certain states. And maybe it's important
- 36:12that they win rather than the the
- 36:14alternative. And I can live with a world
- 36:15like that at least for right now. But
- 36:17the point I'm trying to make is dude
- 36:19none of this is going to count unless
- 36:21you can govern. Consider Zoron Mandani,
- 36:24right? Did you guys see some of the uh
- 36:26stuff he did this week and then some of
- 36:27the speeches that he made this week? And
- 36:29one of the speeches that he made, I
- 36:30forget where this was, it was some kind
- 36:32of panel he was sitting on. The point he
- 36:34was trying to make was if you want
- 36:35people to buy into government in terms
- 36:38of big picture stuff, big challenges,
- 36:40really tough ones that require some form
- 36:42of of electorate or social buyin. You
- 36:45know, you can't just go to them when
- 36:47it's time to sell them that. you have to
- 36:49do the other parts of governing,
- 36:51including the very micro parts of
- 36:52governing that make it possible. Namely,
- 36:55filling potholes, you know, um having
- 36:58the parks cleaned up and the water
- 37:00fountain works at the at the city tennis
- 37:02court or something along those lines,
- 37:04right? People can trust that the world
- 37:07around them and the small things and the
- 37:09government showing that a they can fix
- 37:11them and that they can do it in a
- 37:12responsive, you know, pretty quick way.
- 37:15This tells them that like that is what
- 37:18creates the runway for liftoff to the
- 37:21bigger kinds of political projects that
- 37:23you want to build attention and frankly
- 37:25a coalition around. Right? You have to
- 37:28do the the all the parts of governing,
- 37:30even the small parts. And then more than
- 37:32that, look at what he did yesterday
- 37:33where he announced there was going to be
- 37:34I think 70,000 tickets to go to the
- 37:36arts. Understand what mom Donnie has
- 37:39done. They put in child care to help
- 37:40families in that regard. They did uh
- 37:42during the summer they did they opened
- 37:44up like parks late and rec centers late
- 37:46so parents could go have like a date
- 37:49night or just you know just an evening
- 37:50off and that there would be all these
- 37:52resources to have kids would have a
- 37:53place to go and parents would have you
- 37:55know some degree of uh uh um relief but
- 37:59then also cleaning up all of these uh
- 38:03playgrounds and making the the water
- 38:04fountains usable and like making these
- 38:06facilities nice to create a more social
- 38:08environment and now promoting the arts
- 38:11on top of it, right? And then making all
- 38:13of this accessible. It's the most
- 38:14pro-social
- 38:18governing in a world of fraying
- 38:20socialization
- 38:22I've seen in quite some time. It's not
- 38:25just about we got to fix small things.
- 38:27We have to fix the kind of fraying
- 38:30social fabric that we can. And we don't
- 38:33want overreach from the government in
- 38:34that regard. But I don't think promotion
- 38:36of the arts really qualifies as such.
- 38:38The point I'm trying to make is I don't
- 38:40expect everyone to be mom Donnie. New
- 38:41York City is New York City. He is one
- 38:43man. But do you see the difference? Look
- 38:45at his popularity. If you actually look
- 38:47at his numbers a lot of times after an
- 38:49election there'll be a bump and then
- 38:50they kind of level off. His are still
- 38:52going up.
- 38:54His are still there. What is this 6
- 38:56months later? No, no, no more than that.
- 38:57Nine months later, whatever it's been
- 38:59like his are still going up. That is
- 39:02very unusual, but it's not surprising
- 39:04because he is governing in a way big and
- 39:07small. aggressive and unimportant
- 39:11promotion of the city culture, promotion
- 39:13of the arts, making the arts accessible
- 39:16no matter your background, working class
- 39:17or whatever it may be. And creating a
- 39:20generally pro- family, pro-social
- 39:22environment with the way in which you
- 39:24are pursuing legislation. Dude, that's
- 39:27why that's how Democrats win. That's how
- 39:30the left wins. That's how that is how so
- 39:33just getting back to power because Trump
- 39:35is such a [ __ ] I mean, honestly, like
- 39:38he's doing the work for the Dems. That
- 39:40I'm not saying it doesn't mean anything.
- 39:41It it can mean quite a bit, obviously,
- 39:42but
- 39:45I don't know what happens to MAGA until
- 39:47I see what happens to the Dems.
- 39:49There has to be a major contrast.
- 39:53Do they have that in them?
- 39:57I think your take on Cali and the Warner
- 40:00Brothers merger is wrong. Okay. Cali has
- 40:02no leverage, zero drop job growth except
- 40:06the laughable inhome care assistance and
- 40:09health care. Uh I I appreciate you
- 40:11pushing back, but I just simply don't
- 40:13agree. They had a strong hand. I've seen
- 40:16now uh Alvaro Badoya, who was the former
- 40:18FTC commissioner, also an attorney,
- 40:20speak to this fact. But the fact that
- 40:21they won on many arguments and got the
- 40:24TTRO passed showed you that they had it.
- 40:26They they freaked out at the idea of
- 40:29Paramount leaving, but it was never a
- 40:31real bluff. Sorry, it was a bluff to
- 40:33begin with. It was never real. Just the
- 40:35mechanics of what it would take to get
- 40:37them out of there um would have taken
- 40:40years, years, and years to do, which
- 40:42they can now just do anyway on the sly.
- 40:45So, you're not really protecting
- 40:46anything if that's a thing that they
- 40:48really want to do. More to the point, I
- 40:50just want you to wrap your head around
- 40:51the idea about two things. one, if you
- 40:54are cool with a a company threatening
- 40:58the government such that that makes them
- 40:59entitled to antitrust exemptions, we
- 41:02don't believe in governing the same way.
- 41:04And I think the second point that I
- 41:06would make is, dude, this is just dem
- 41:08logic on steroids, guys. We're going to
- 41:12talk a big game. When it comes time to
- 41:14deliver, we're going to do almost, not
- 41:16quite, but almost nothing. And then
- 41:18we're going to try and tell you there
- 41:19was just nothing we really could have
- 41:21done. [ __ ] that [ __ ] I'm not tolerating
- 41:24this anymore. I'm not tolerating it. I'm
- 41:26not tolerating it from a party that
- 41:29thinks that has made the art of
- 41:31surrendering part of its culture. Nope.
- 41:34Nope. Nope. Don't buy it. Not going to
- 41:37be bullied by it. Not going to be
- 41:39intimidated by it. No sir. If they had
- 41:42lost on the TTRO, we'd have a different
- 41:44conversation. But they won on it. They
- 41:46won on that whole thing. And very and on
- 41:47multiple different levels, they won
- 41:49that. They had a hot hand to play. And
- 41:51at a bare minimum, even if you wanted to
- 41:53make a deal, make a better deal, right?
- 41:56Make a better deal. Even if you had to
- 41:58say, "Listen, we are not going to pursue
- 42:00this, but you got to come to the table
- 42:01correctly." They didn't do any of that.
- 42:03They didn't do any of that. And there
- 42:05was public pressure from from Governor
- 42:07Gavin Newsome, from Basera, from Bass,
- 42:10and then Bonsa obviously just punted in
- 42:12the end himself. Dude, this is a party
- 42:14that is incapable of going to the mat
- 42:18for important challenges. It has no
- 42:20theory of governance. It doesn't know
- 42:22what it wants to do, right? It doesn't
- 42:24have clear for mo for the most part
- 42:25doesn't have a clear sense about what it
- 42:27wants to do. And more importantly, has
- 42:29no appetite for battle.
- 42:32Nope. [ __ ] all that. Nope. Not buying
- 42:35it. Mm-
- 42:38Are you God damn it? Are you open Are
- 42:41you open to doing more adversarialish
- 42:43convos? Yes. With the right kind of
- 42:45person who's interesting enough? Sure.
- 42:47Yeah. right now I'm kind of just like
- 42:49having to seek out what is interesting
- 42:52to me. Um,
- 42:55and you know guys, I mean I mean I'm
- 42:57also trying to cover MMA full-time
- 43:01while doing this. Like it's hard. It's
- 43:04hard to again I've been asked to do
- 43:06debates a few times and I'm not opposed
- 43:08to it but until I can cut some things
- 43:10out of my life I don't I just don't have
- 43:12the time to I don't have the time to
- 43:14prep for that [ __ ] Dude, yesterday I
- 43:16had to, you know, obviously get the kid
- 43:18up, take him to school, blah blah blah.
- 43:19I mean, wife's here, but I still have to
- 43:20do most of She does the afternoon, I do
- 43:22the morning. And uh and then I had,
- 43:26let's see, I had to do the rundown for
- 43:28MK. I had to do the presentation and
- 43:30then re-upload the gable breakdown. I
- 43:34had to do the live chat and then I had
- 43:36to do the video on Scott Galloway. Like
- 43:38just all these different things in all
- 43:40these different directions. I have to
- 43:41shoot it, edit it, the whole nine yards.
- 43:43like it's just it's too much. It's too
- 43:45much. So like having a conversation with
- 43:47someone adversarialish. These are one of
- 43:49these things where it's like um
- 43:51once I get further into the reading, I
- 43:53tend to find people like that and then
- 43:55also, you know, having the time to prep
- 43:57for things like that. It's just tough.
- 43:58It's tough. But yes, I'm very open to
- 43:59it. Those tend to be the better
- 44:01conversations anyway, you know.
- 44:04Uh frustrated with both parties. Do you
- 44:06maybe maybe in the same way do you think
- 44:08we'll see an independent president in
- 44:10our lifetime who changes things for the
- 44:11better? I have no idea.
- 44:16Um
- 44:18I don't know.
- 44:20I don't I don't know what our future
- 44:22governance looks like.
- 44:25I wish I could tell you that. Oh, I
- 44:26think that this is absolutely a thing. I
- 44:28don't know that I believe that it is. Um
- 44:32this is what I mean. Like, oh, it's
- 44:33going to be great to see MAGA defeated
- 44:35at the ballot box. Yeah, but if you
- 44:36don't govern in a way that seals the
- 44:39vict that to me is just knocking them
- 44:41down.
- 44:43B. Hit him with a shot. But what's the
- 44:45coffin nail? The coffin nail is
- 44:46governance.
- 44:51Oh Jesus. Oops. Hold on. Mixing
- 44:53channels. Don't you think there's a wide
- 44:56open space for an obnoxious Kins
- 44:58Kolinsky like lefty on the mic in MMA?
- 45:00Yes. Being MAGA is just unoriginal now.
- 45:03Yes. I don't know if you mean as a
- 45:04fighter or a media personality. problem
- 45:06with doing this kind of thing. I don't
- 45:07know if you guys have noticed, I'm much
- 45:09more active on my politics channel now
- 45:11than I am my my uh by my politics um
- 45:15Twitter account than I am my my my
- 45:17normal Twitter account. And it's because
- 45:19dude, like
- 45:21the fan base in MMA has gotten into a
- 45:24point where I can't I don't know what to
- 45:26do about it. Like let me give you an
- 45:27example. I'll take someone who comes up
- 45:31on my feed on my MMA channel and I cover
- 45:33I mean I I subscribe to or I'm you know
- 45:36I follow a bunch of different kinds of
- 45:37interest news you know tech reviews you
- 45:40know all kinds of stuff and I'll just
- 45:42retweet someone who makes an interesting
- 45:43point of someone I like and this has
- 45:45happened numerous times somebody in my
- 45:48in the mentions will will will [ __ ]
- 45:50tweet at them some version of like well
- 45:53don't you think all lives matter and
- 45:56it's like oh my god bro and I'll be
- 45:58tagged in it and then the person I like
- 46:00will respond to that person and I get
- 46:01tagged and it's so [ __ ] embarrassing
- 46:04and to the point where like I just can't
- 46:05share [ __ ] because with people I I like
- 46:08whose work I like because it just gets
- 46:10picked up by the [ __ ] dumbest bottom
- 46:13feeders. Like it just is the the the
- 46:17I don't know how to say it, dude. Like
- 46:18the tax on stupidity you have to pay now
- 46:21to engage in some of these platforms
- 46:22with some of these audiences. It's a
- 46:24little too much for me. I can't even
- 46:26like retweet an author I like because
- 46:29there's like the response is just in and
- 46:31it's like half of it's misspelled. I'm
- 46:33like, "Oh my god, it's it's
- 46:36embarrassing. It's embarrassing to be
- 46:37around that [ __ ] Not MMA fandom per se,
- 46:40but like that particular kind of it, you
- 46:42know, because I know there's a lot of
- 46:43great MMA fans and I I I've met them
- 46:45all. I've been one. Like, yeah, they
- 46:47exist, but on some of these online
- 46:49spaces, it is [ __ ] awful." And also
- 46:52just all the rage that was sent my way,
- 46:55you know, for trying to tell the truth
- 46:57about MMA, about how right-wing had
- 46:58become and just how much it soured me on
- 47:02how, you know, unreceptive the entire
- 47:05community was to it. It changed my
- 47:07perspective. I'm not trying to convince
- 47:09anyone in MMA about anything anymore. I
- 47:11don't care. You know what I mean? Like,
- 47:14I told everyone what the truth was and
- 47:16they hated it. And
- 47:19uh, okay, don't worry. message received.
- 47:21I'd rather take this to an audience
- 47:24that, you know, um not merely is more
- 47:27receptive to it, but that I can
- 47:28intellectually engage with. You know,
- 47:31that's just that's not even possible uh
- 47:33for the most part in some of these
- 47:34combat sports spaces. So, like, you
- 47:37know, if someone wants to deal with all
- 47:40of that [ __ ] trying to convince an
- 47:42audience that's largely not convincible,
- 47:45be my be my guest. But I don't know how
- 47:47much interest I have. I'm going to do my
- 47:49thing politically in political
- 47:51directions. And there might be some MMA
- 47:52overlap with that, but I'm not in any
- 47:55like I could not be clear about this. I
- 47:57am not in any way interested in trying
- 48:00to convince anybody in MMA anymore. Let
- 48:02them think what they want to think. It's
- 48:04I don't care. I don't care. It's not
- 48:08my ability to affect opinion is limited
- 48:12to to to to nothing. And I don't think
- 48:16it's a productive use of my time trying
- 48:18to convince people like that.
- 48:22How did Western media framing change
- 48:24after October 7th? And did all that and
- 48:26did that shift obscure or amplify the
- 48:29deeper historical context
- 48:31behind Israel and Gaza? Say it again.
- 48:33How did Western media framing change
- 48:34after October 7th? I mean, dude, I'll be
- 48:36honest with you. Like, it didn't there
- 48:38was, you know, the Is it Where is that
- 48:40book? Is it here?
- 48:43I had it here before.
- 48:47I forget where I put it, but um uh Adam
- 48:49Johnson's book, How to Sell a Genocide.
- 48:52And initially, one one of the less
- 48:54there's many lessons of that book. The
- 48:56the main one being that
- 48:59anti-Palestinian bias is not merely some
- 49:01kind of vague editorial accusation. It's
- 49:04an empirical reality that you can
- 49:06measure. That's sort of one of the
- 49:08conclusions. But the other conclusion
- 49:09that um you see happened there is that a
- 49:13lot of the cover that was run for Israel
- 49:15within western media were not practices
- 49:18that they had invented on the fly.
- 49:22There might have been editorial
- 49:23directives that were you know sent down
- 49:25from on high. That is true that fact
- 49:27that's well documented. But a lot of
- 49:30those practices were longstanding. They
- 49:32just got turned up a little bit. In
- 49:34other words, there was already a bit of
- 49:35a playbook for this kind of a thing. And
- 49:39that is what enabled them to do that.
- 49:40Now you're asking
- 49:43how did western media framing change
- 49:44after October 7th? I honestly believe
- 49:47that access to social media in this
- 49:50regard I think it was helpful as well as
- 49:52the media coverage from entities outside
- 49:56of western media and in fact the assault
- 49:58that some of those entities faced to.
- 50:00So, you know, for example, Al Jazzer uh
- 50:03cameramen and you know, reporters being
- 50:06ritually slaughtered, you know, that
- 50:07kind of a thing. Uh Gaza was the biggest
- 50:10graveyard for journalists of any
- 50:12conflict uh any military conflict, I
- 50:15think, dating back like 200 years. It's
- 50:17more than any all of them who died, I
- 50:18think, in in the entire 20th century.
- 50:20Like some insane Brown University did a
- 50:23study on this. An insane insane amount
- 50:25of of death was seen there. I think the
- 50:28most since the Civil War for
- 50:29journalists. So like I think it's all of
- 50:32that. It was that the the there you know
- 50:34eventually some of the larger media
- 50:36organs had to make concessions a bit
- 50:38over time. Some were better than others.
- 50:40The Washington Post was better than the
- 50:41New York Times in this regard. But it
- 50:43was really I'm not going to say
- 50:44alternative media as such. Although I do
- 50:46think they played a pretty substantive
- 50:47role, but I wouldn't say that the
- 50:49framing has changed. Not even changed
- 50:51within leadership. I mean, Biden helped
- 50:54make the genocide possible and then
- 50:55Trump is, you know, presiding over a
- 50:58ceasefire that's not really real, but
- 51:00the policy from the government has not
- 51:02changed. Um, there's the ground swell of
- 51:05change that you can see everywhere that
- 51:08is real. Ask those people how they came
- 51:10about it. My journey is a little bit
- 51:11different because my mom is Lebanese.
- 51:13Things about Israel that are now
- 51:15commonplace. my mom was telling me from
- 51:17my earliest days. This is not, you know,
- 51:19this was it's it's weird for me to
- 51:21finally see that the rest of the world
- 51:22come around, but it wasn't new to me per
- 51:23se. Um,
- 51:26does that obscure amplify the deeper
- 51:29historical context? Well, see, it it it
- 51:31doesn't obscure it. It actually
- 51:32amplifies it. And this is the point I
- 51:34made about Scott Galloway. The reason he
- 51:37can't reconcile with Israel's crimes is
- 51:41because if you pull on that string about
- 51:44why they're doing that, why why are you
- 51:46having this ferocious military response?
- 51:49Well, it's in response to October 7th.
- 51:51And if you begin to pull on that string,
- 51:53like, well, why was Sinoir and Hamas
- 51:55doing that such a, you know, in its own
- 51:59way, much smaller than what Israel did
- 52:01to it, but in its own way, this
- 52:02destructive, violent act on October 7th.
- 52:05And then you begin to pull on this
- 52:06string and then you're like,"Well, why
- 52:07is there a Palestinian resistance? And
- 52:10what what when did Hamas get started and
- 52:12why did the government of Israel support
- 52:14it? And how long has this occupation
- 52:16been going on and what happened to the
- 52:18two states?" Like you you end it ends up
- 52:20taking you to a place where you have to
- 52:22then ask questions about the entire
- 52:25project of that nation and how it came
- 52:28to be and and the Nagba that happened as
- 52:31a result of it. It forces you to
- 52:33confront, if you really pull enough on
- 52:35it, it forces you to confront the real
- 52:38underlying cause of of of much of this
- 52:41strife. Um, and I they're not ready to
- 52:45do that.
- 52:50I bring this up because you're now
- 52:52seeing a shift in celebrities
- 52:53acknowledging what is happening in
- 52:54Israel and Gaza. Oh, and speaking out.
- 52:56Yes. And distancing themselves from it.
- 52:58There's a pendulum swing taking place.
- 53:00Yes, it's a fair point.
- 53:02When I was a kid, there was some of
- 53:03this. I bring this up all the time. I'm
- 53:05not saying he's some hero, but I'll I'll
- 53:07never forget this. When John McEnroe
- 53:09refused to play in a parttheid South
- 53:11Africa, uh, and he could have. And so
- 53:15there is some precedent for this. You
- 53:16used to see a little bit more of Beasty
- 53:18Boys. I don't know if you guys remember
- 53:19this. Um, shouts to the Beasty Boys.
- 53:21Rest in peace to um they're not all
- 53:23here, but they were big on um
- 53:27um
- 53:30they were big on what the they were was
- 53:32it Mongolian rights? What was the
- 53:34festival they used to do?
- 53:37Let me look that up. You know what? I
- 53:38see Hassan sometimes look stuff up when
- 53:40he's on the air and I never want to do
- 53:42it because it derails me. beast boys
- 53:51Tibet that's what it was uh Adam Ya who
- 53:54was MCA co-unded the Miller rapa fund in
- 53:57'94 after converting to Buddhism and
- 53:59studying Tibetan culture the nonprofit
- 54:02organization raised awareness and funds
- 54:04concerning human rights and Chinese
- 54:05occupation of Tibet so that was a big
- 54:07thing in the '9s um was that so there is
- 54:10some precedent for that but I just think
- 54:11that like yeah you're starting to more
- 54:14celebrities speak out about it. I do
- 54:15think that some of them, of course, many
- 54:17of them have no interest one way or the
- 54:18other and they're doing it just for some
- 54:20kind of, you know, image sake, uh, to be
- 54:24on the right side of history. You know,
- 54:25they don't really care. But I I would
- 54:27just say the more social forces that we
- 54:30can employ to push back the again, they
- 54:33will abridge our civil liberties if we
- 54:36let them, the Israeli uh lobby in this
- 54:40country. Um, it's important to get as
- 54:41many voices, powerful or otherwise, to
- 54:43make that possible.
- 54:46Someone says, "Remember in an interview
- 54:47Gatei said if he wasn't a fighter, he'd
- 54:49be a social worker because he likes
- 54:50helping people. Now he's shilling for
- 54:52MAGA as they tear families apart. No
- 54:55frontal lobe development." This person
- 54:57writes, "Um,
- 55:00yeah. Yeah, but again, like with MMA,
- 55:06I don't care anymore. I'm I'm I'm being
- 55:08dead. I don't I could not imagine,
- 55:11you know, I'll tell the rest of the
- 55:13world what's happening within MMA if
- 55:15they care again, you know, because they
- 55:17care during the White House card. I
- 55:19don't know if they will again, but if
- 55:20they will, um, and then maybe things
- 55:22improve, right? There's there's a new
- 55:23story to tell. Uh, I'm happy to do that.
- 55:27But I am not I don't like and sometimes
- 55:29I'll get people within MMA who tweet me
- 55:32on my political account. I'm not
- 55:34responding to them. I don't have any
- 55:36desire to engage with that at all. Like,
- 55:40y'all want to believe dumbass [ __ ]
- 55:42despite people spending [ __ ] years of
- 55:45their life trying to talk you out of it
- 55:47and then spending now all this time
- 55:49watching that watching that worldview
- 55:52which got a chance to do whatever it
- 55:54wanted unfettered utterly collapse under
- 55:56the weight of its own comic absurdity
- 55:58and failure. And
- 56:02let him I don't care. I I I honestly Oh,
- 56:05fighter X says so and so and believes so
- 56:07and so. I don't care. I don't care.
- 56:10They're It's not worth my time.
- 56:15LK all day. I don't know what that
- 56:16means, but thank you for the donation.
- 56:20What would you say to a 30-year-old male
- 56:21who knows politics is important to keep
- 56:24up with, but doesn't know where to start
- 56:26and doesn't know who to trust? Great
- 56:28question. Great question.
- 56:31Um,
- 56:37they say all politics is local.
- 56:40If you don't know who to trust, you can
- 56:42start by seeing who's making a
- 56:44difference in your local community. I
- 56:46mean this sincerely. You can literally
- 56:48get a front row seat to it. 100% you can
- 56:52get it. Um, now in places like where I
- 56:55live, it's just one party that tends to
- 56:57control everything. But depending on
- 56:58where you live, that may not be the
- 57:00case. Or there may be various different
- 57:02neighborhood or other kinds of school or
- 57:04other advisory boards that have a real
- 57:06mixed kind of put together situation.
- 57:08You could then begin to see um what
- 57:10issues do they care about? What did they
- 57:12deliver on? What did they [ __ ] up? Who
- 57:14was responsible for that? And you could
- 57:16begin to build out a worldview or at
- 57:18least some kind of understanding of the
- 57:20world around you. Let's say maybe that's
- 57:21a better way to put it from there. All
- 57:23politics is local. It doesn't have to be
- 57:25just your town. It can be your state. It
- 57:26can be, you know, some area of
- 57:29geographic proximity that's of concern
- 57:30to you. And I think you can start from
- 57:32there. And you can begin to say like,
- 57:34you know, I want to understand the
- 57:37decision-making that happens around me
- 57:39that affects my life. The best place to
- 57:42start is the one right in front of you.
- 57:44Truly, I mean that. And if you don't
- 57:45know who's right, do your best to make
- 57:47an ascert uh, you know, to ascertain the
- 57:49situation and then go from there. I
- 57:52think also what I would say is the same
- 57:54kind of rule is going to apply to media.
- 57:56Now this is different these days because
- 57:59local media has been so decimated. But
- 58:01to the extent you can find local media
- 58:03that will be by far your best bet.
- 58:06They're going to know people better.
- 58:08They're going to know the community
- 58:09better. They're going to know the
- 58:10situation better. And again, there's
- 58:11this whole problem with local media. I
- 58:13fully grant. But I honestly believe if I
- 58:15didn't know where to start and I didn't
- 58:17know who to trust and I didn't know what
- 58:18to do, I would start like that. Pol all
- 58:21politics is local. Start with the world
- 58:24in front of you and then build from
- 58:25there on out. And that's both in terms
- 58:28of who's running for office, what
- 58:30changes that they're implementing, um
- 58:32who's covering that, you know, and then
- 58:34begin to see who is talking about these
- 58:37issues honestly, who gets predictions
- 58:40are harder to make, but you know, whose
- 58:41general view about what makes things
- 58:44work or doesn't is proving to be true
- 58:46over time. And then you can begin to
- 58:47sort of like put all of this together.
- 58:50Excuse me.
- 58:54Did you see Prime Minister Carney
- 58:55admitting to the New York Times that the
- 58:57Canadian government has modeled in
- 58:58response to a potential US invasion just
- 59:00in case? Yes. Why wouldn't they? Why
- 59:03wouldn't they? You know how foolish
- 59:05you'd have to be to be a Canadian
- 59:06military general and not think about
- 59:08what like, okay, if they invade us, what
- 59:11does that look like? How do they do it?
- 59:13How do they take over? How do they
- 59:15capture territory? And did you see what
- 59:17they came to? The answer is that uh the
- 59:22Canadian military realizes of course
- 59:24they have no ability to resist us if we
- 59:26wanted to take it. Canada doesn't really
- 59:27have an army in the same way or a
- 59:29military I should say in the same way
- 59:30that we do. Um they would easily be
- 59:32defeated and and everybody knows that.
- 59:34That's sort of what Trump does all his
- 59:35chest. Trump loves to be a [ __ ] bully
- 59:37to easy targets, right? That's what he
- 59:39does, especially within his own
- 59:40hemisphere. He's such a [ __ ] [ __ ]
- 59:43But um so what they surmised was that
- 59:46what would be much more difficult for
- 59:47them is that the you would have pockets
- 59:49of resistance, armed Canadians
- 59:51particularly in more remote areas acting
- 59:54in ways like the Mujahaden or you know
- 59:57even uh you know just more decentralized
- 1:00:00militias that have that kind of uh you
- 1:00:03know drone attacks that kind of a thing
- 1:00:04and they thought that would be the most
- 1:00:06important threat that Canadians could
- 1:00:07offer. Yeah dude we live in a [ __ ] up
- 1:00:09world. This is what I mean about the
- 1:00:11previous question. How do I tell them
- 1:00:12this election is the most important? I
- 1:00:14think if you just tell them this
- 1:00:15election is the most important, it'll
- 1:00:17just be in one ear, out the other. Tell
- 1:00:19them that the people we have elected are
- 1:00:21trying to destroy it from the inside out
- 1:00:22in ways that has never happened before,
- 1:00:25probably in American history. Yeah. Tell
- 1:00:27them that.
- 1:00:32Oops.
- 1:00:34on
- 1:00:39thoughts on Max Blumenthal having his
- 1:00:41phones confiscated when he returned to
- 1:00:42the US after covering the Ayatollah's
- 1:00:44funeral in I in Iran. Yeah, deeply
- 1:00:47concerning. Uh not again one of these
- 1:00:49things where I just feel like if you're
- 1:00:50going to travel and you're a political
- 1:00:52reporter, you should have a burner phone
- 1:00:56uh or a burner computer or all of them.
- 1:00:58If there's anything else that you're not
- 1:01:01like you don't don't travel with a main
- 1:01:03one if you can avoid at all avoid it is
- 1:01:04what I would say is partly that. But of
- 1:01:07course dude this is a guy who reports on
- 1:01:09the evils of US hegemony US empire. He
- 1:01:14reports on the you know uh and and and
- 1:01:19all of that which that entails and the
- 1:01:23US government is obviously especially
- 1:01:24under Trump is going to be
- 1:01:26extraordinarily hostile to it. Does it
- 1:01:28portend the confus, you know, does it
- 1:01:30portend an abridgement of speech and
- 1:01:32then media freedoms? I don't know if
- 1:01:34we're in that part yet, but clearly
- 1:01:36they're trying to send a signal too,
- 1:01:37right? Like what they want to do,
- 1:01:40clearly what they what the Trump
- 1:01:41administration wants to do is
- 1:01:42prosecuting media is, unless they can
- 1:01:44just get the rules changed, is a little
- 1:01:45harder. but prosecuting any kind of
- 1:01:48activism or anything that they see as in
- 1:01:51any way aiding
- 1:01:53any kind of actual movement or political
- 1:01:57organizing. They're going after that.
- 1:01:59They got the guy from Spain. What was
- 1:02:00his name? The Palestinian um
- 1:02:04well both journalist and to an extent a
- 1:02:06benefactor as well. What's his name? I
- 1:02:08forget his name. And the Spanish
- 1:02:09extradited him to the US. This is a
- 1:02:12clear-cut case of that. or look at NSPM7
- 1:02:14where what they're trying to do is, you
- 1:02:16know, getting speech is a little harder,
- 1:02:18right? It's a lot tougher of a thing,
- 1:02:20but getting political organizing,
- 1:02:22getting activism, getting they want to
- 1:02:24arrest protesters. That was a new uh
- 1:02:26wrinkle that came out this week. that is
- 1:02:28a little bit more under current law
- 1:02:29anyway a little bit more doable
- 1:02:31especially you know oh there's these uh
- 1:02:33there was the shooting at the outside of
- 1:02:34the ICE facility and people are getting
- 1:02:3650 20 30 years for various forms of
- 1:02:39extra conspiracy related to this NSPM7
- 1:02:42um um edict
- 1:02:46this is making prosecution of those
- 1:02:49kinds of political activities much more
- 1:02:51possible so what they're trying to find
- 1:02:53probably is evidence of that within his
- 1:02:55phone to what extent is there any kind
- 1:02:56of political organizing
- 1:02:58more than just I'm writing unflattering
- 1:02:59things about US empire. And I suspect
- 1:03:02that's a huge part of it.
- 1:03:04Thoughts on Sha trashing Mackmore,
- 1:03:07calling him a grifter, and saying he
- 1:03:08ain't [ __ ]
- 1:03:10and then promptly fumbles eyes in the
- 1:03:13beauty of the beholder. I don't know
- 1:03:15what that last part is. I mean, yeah,
- 1:03:17dude. Like,
- 1:03:19guys, there I don't understand. Are
- 1:03:22there an insufficient number of places
- 1:03:24by which to get Brendan shop criticism
- 1:03:26on the internet? Do you have to come to
- 1:03:28me for that?
- 1:03:31Obviously, I don't agree. You know,
- 1:03:34that's true, but Cali is declining and
- 1:03:36is antagonizing the one thing keeping
- 1:03:38them afloat already. San Francisco Tech,
- 1:03:40you will reach critical mass eventually.
- 1:03:42I recognize talking about the situation
- 1:03:44in California um with Paramount.
- 1:03:46recognize these are delicate situations.
- 1:03:48And the reality is the one thing I will
- 1:03:50say in the AG's defense is that the real
- 1:03:53job there was supposed to be done by
- 1:03:56um the federal government and they just
- 1:03:58abandoned it and and it left the states
- 1:04:00in a in a in an unenviable position. I I
- 1:04:03recognize that. Um but we cannot live in
- 1:04:06a world where large corporations can
- 1:04:09extort the state out of punishment. I
- 1:04:13just think that's a line in the sand we
- 1:04:14just should never be crossing.
- 1:04:20You think Warner Brothers will still
- 1:04:22produce diverse films like Sinners and
- 1:04:24Barbie or will we see less of those
- 1:04:27under this merger and thought on
- 1:04:29thoughts on Elon being an investor?
- 1:04:31First of all, remember who's funding for
- 1:04:34first of all Elon might be a funder guy.
- 1:04:36Remember he was hostile. Okay. So, one
- 1:04:38of the funny things that happened with
- 1:04:39Mom Donnie when he gives away 70,000
- 1:04:41tickets to the opera for average New
- 1:04:43Yorkers, people were noticing. It's
- 1:04:46like, "Wow, you mean to tell me the
- 1:04:48immigrant here is the one who is
- 1:04:50promoting Western culture?" I've been
- 1:04:52trying to tell you guys some of the very
- 1:04:54best Americans are immigrants because
- 1:04:56they are strivvers to be the best uh
- 1:04:59Americans. That's what they do. That's
- 1:05:02what they're here to do. Oh, they're
- 1:05:03here to take. Yeah, if you're a [ __ ]
- 1:05:04idiot, that's what you think, right?
- 1:05:06They are many of them, many many many of
- 1:05:08them especially the professional class
- 1:05:10they are strivvers for American
- 1:05:12identity. They are the ones that do the
- 1:05:14best about representing what we do well.
- 1:05:16So to me it is no accident that you have
- 1:05:18an immigrant doing that. But the point I
- 1:05:19want to make was you saw people being
- 1:05:21like wow you know here is the left
- 1:05:22really and a socialist promoting the
- 1:05:24arts. You know they beat the
- 1:05:25conservatives to it. They didn't beat
- 1:05:27the conservatives to it. The
- 1:05:28conservatives are hostile to art.
- 1:05:30Fascism is hostile to art. This is
- 1:05:34wellestablished.
- 1:05:36consider all of this anger over the
- 1:05:38Odyssey. And I saw the movie. I didn't
- 1:05:39think the movie was that great to be
- 1:05:40honest with you. I mean, I realize it's
- 1:05:41an epic feat of of movie making, but I
- 1:05:44didn't it didn't strike me as like
- 1:05:45particularly all that interesting. Uh,
- 1:05:47and the things he was caring about like,
- 1:05:49oh, there was a trans person playing
- 1:05:50Achilles or whatever. And it's like or
- 1:05:53whoever the [ __ ] played it, I can't
- 1:05:54remember anymore, but you know, there
- 1:05:55was a the Elliot Page was in it like and
- 1:05:57but but Elliot Page was in this movie
- 1:05:58for like I'm not even kidding like like
- 1:06:0040 seconds. Like not at all. like the
- 1:06:03the kind of thing that like of all the
- 1:06:05problems that the movie had that was
- 1:06:07such that you could even identify that
- 1:06:08as one which you couldn't but let's say
- 1:06:10you did it's a pretty minor one relative
- 1:06:12to everything else in the movie they are
- 1:06:15hostile to the arts they want to cut
- 1:06:16funding to the arts they have been doing
- 1:06:19that they are very very
- 1:06:21the celebration of western culture
- 1:06:23through the arts that's a thing that
- 1:06:25they might pay lip service to at times
- 1:06:27but from a
- 1:06:30you know this is not a movement that
- 1:06:32really revels in shares in that kind of
- 1:06:34a thing. And now you're going to put
- 1:06:35investors like that in charge of movie
- 1:06:38making. And then remember who owns 49.5%
- 1:06:41of this? The Saudis, the Qataris, the
- 1:06:44Emirates.
- 1:06:47You mean to tell me that's going to have
- 1:06:48no role on the kinds of movies that get
- 1:06:51made?
- 1:06:53Like there was a lot of consternation
- 1:06:55about China making a bunch of movies and
- 1:06:57then spitting out, you know, not merely
- 1:06:59pro-China propaganda on the movies that
- 1:07:02come out and then sneaking that into
- 1:07:03American cinemas and like all this sort
- 1:07:05of like this way to to to to
- 1:07:08surreptitiously get in pro-Chinese
- 1:07:10talking points. They were doing all of
- 1:07:12that. They were doing all of that and I
- 1:07:14heard so many conservatives complain
- 1:07:16about it and then they're just
- 1:07:17cheerleading this [ __ ] deal. Like I
- 1:07:20don't know precisely what influence this
- 1:07:23will ultimately have. This is all
- 1:07:24speculative. But given what we've seen
- 1:07:26in other scenarios given what this one
- 1:07:29provides and just sort of given the
- 1:07:31general hostility to the arts that so
- 1:07:33many on the right have yeah I'd be a
- 1:07:35little worried about it. But as I
- 1:07:36mentioned before just in terms of the
- 1:07:37numbers they put out 17 movies uh no
- 1:07:41sorry 18 movies collective. No
- 1:07:4417 17 movies um together the two studios
- 1:07:48separately this last year. Okay, they
- 1:07:51only pledged to make 15 for the next for
- 1:07:55the next uh for the next two. They're
- 1:07:58pledging to do even less than they're
- 1:08:00already doing and they put it in
- 1:08:02writing.
- 1:08:08Are there any independent news
- 1:08:10organizations you recommend? Yes, I
- 1:08:12become a big fan of Breaking Points and
- 1:08:13independent journalists like Kyle
- 1:08:14Kolinsky. Sure. I read uh Drop Site.
- 1:08:17Drop site news is one of my favorite
- 1:08:19places that I read. Guys, I'm reading a
- 1:08:21lot of news about Latin America. The
- 1:08:23Economist is unreliable, dude. The
- 1:08:26Economist, The Economist is so bad. Um,
- 1:08:29if you guys want good I I suspect that
- 1:08:32many of you do not wish to say this, but
- 1:08:33I just want to say it out loud. If you
- 1:08:35want good coverage of Colombia, because
- 1:08:38dude, the Colombian media is so [ __ ]
- 1:08:40right-wing, it's crazy. Um, Colombia
- 1:08:43Reports is pretty good. Comio is pretty
- 1:08:46good. Uh, El Pais Colombia is really
- 1:08:48good. Ela El Pais Colombia is maybe one
- 1:08:51of my favorite ones. They do phenomenal
- 1:08:54work. Really, really good. But I'm
- 1:08:55trying to think. Okay. Um, other
- 1:08:57independent I read John G. I love his
- 1:09:00Substack. Um, Chris Hedges. Chris Hedges
- 1:09:04is phenomenal. Um, I do read Reuters
- 1:09:07time to time. I do read AP News time to
- 1:09:09time. Um, but you know, there's always
- 1:09:11there can be issues with that. But as a
- 1:09:13general thing, it tends to work. Okay.
- 1:09:16Um,
- 1:09:18what else do I do? I read the locally. I
- 1:09:20read the Washington Sun. Um,
- 1:09:23I read Empire or I anything that Empire
- 1:09:26files, which is Abby Martin. Uh, I I
- 1:09:28take a look at that. Um, I read
- 1:09:32um,
- 1:09:34you know, I read some of the lefty
- 1:09:35stuff. Um, American Prospect
- 1:09:38on occasion, Mother Jones, you know,
- 1:09:40that kind of a thing. Um, trying to
- 1:09:43think of like news outlets I go to.
- 1:09:44Yeah, I mean that'll get you started.
- 1:09:51New donk to politics. It seems like this
- 1:09:53administration is very chaotic. You're
- 1:09:55you're very right. There's a new scandal
- 1:09:57or attack on democracy daily. Yep. It's
- 1:10:00exhausting. Yes. Were some past
- 1:10:03administrations like this and I just
- 1:10:04didn't notice? No. No.
- 1:10:07No. I've never seen anything like this.
- 1:10:09The one thing that's different is this
- 1:10:11term relative to the first term and
- 1:10:13frankly relative to many terms I've seen
- 1:10:16there is less uh turnover this time, you
- 1:10:20know, but like Pete, do you guys
- 1:10:21remember Signalgate with Pete Hexath
- 1:10:24when he was like texting war plans to
- 1:10:26Jeffrey Goldberg from the Atlantic? We
- 1:10:28all just memory hold it. Like the guy's
- 1:10:29been incompetent for a very long time.
- 1:10:31That would have ended a political career
- 1:10:32previously. Um
- 1:10:35but
- 1:10:37no th this is the insanity of this
- 1:10:42administration is beyond description. I
- 1:10:44mean Obama set kind because Obama faced
- 1:10:48for example because Obama faced so much
- 1:10:51friction trying to work with the
- 1:10:53Republican Senate for most of his term.
- 1:10:56He ended up doing a lot of executive
- 1:10:57orders uh to get around that. And many
- 1:11:00of that worked but many of that much of
- 1:11:02that didn't. it, you know, it was hit or
- 1:11:03miss. Uh, but the practice of using an
- 1:11:06enormous amount of executive orders, it
- 1:11:08really ballooned under him. So, like I
- 1:11:11can't say that Trump doing all the
- 1:11:13executive orders is part of that or is
- 1:11:16some some kind of new thing, but like
- 1:11:18like all Trump things, he saw one thing
- 1:11:19and then [ __ ] ratcheted it up to the
- 1:11:22nth degree. So like just coming out, you
- 1:11:24know, the first part of 2025 and there's
- 1:11:26a new executive order every day or we're
- 1:11:30trying to take and and also like you
- 1:11:32know most people most administrations
- 1:11:33even if the Bush administration they
- 1:11:36didn't feel this way. Conservatives
- 1:11:37historically have been somewhat
- 1:11:38pro-immigration
- 1:11:40but let's say he didn't and they didn't
- 1:11:42like you know Roie Wade and they didn't
- 1:11:44like um you know birthright citizenship.
- 1:11:47They still were not trying to do
- 1:11:48executive orders to just undo things and
- 1:11:51thinking like, oh, a president can write
- 1:11:53a memo and all of a sudden that like,
- 1:11:54you know, birthright citizenship,
- 1:11:56birthright citizenship doesn't exist
- 1:11:57anymore. They wouldn't. They didn't have
- 1:11:59the same kinds of attacks in that
- 1:12:01particular way. Now again, this is not
- 1:12:03me trying to whitewash the Bush
- 1:12:04administration, which was enormously
- 1:12:07destructive, but internally they were
- 1:12:10not quite as committed to, this is what
- 1:12:14I mean, they were not committed to
- 1:12:16undoing the order of things and the
- 1:12:18institutions that made it possible in
- 1:12:20the way that that the Trump
- 1:12:22administration and the movement it
- 1:12:23represents are. This is an assault on
- 1:12:26what we have built.
- 1:12:29With the straight of horses largely
- 1:12:30closed, the Houthis is controlling Babel
- 1:12:32Mandeb. Do you think there's a real risk
- 1:12:34Trump eventually resorts to using
- 1:12:35nuclear weapons against Iran? It's a
- 1:12:39I would have to imagine he would not,
- 1:12:41but
- 1:12:44you know, is there a tactical nuke he
- 1:12:46might agree to?
- 1:12:49Might he try something else that's not
- 1:12:51that and it produces a response from the
- 1:12:53Iranians and it sets off, you know, an
- 1:12:56an escalation that can't be contained? I
- 1:12:59don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
- 1:13:02I really hope not. I I would not say
- 1:13:05that's top of mind, my my concern.
- 1:13:09But, you know, if we were to leave the
- 1:13:10Middle East with some kind of negotiated
- 1:13:13settlement with Iran, does Israel drop
- 1:13:16one?
- 1:13:18Have you thought about that? You know,
- 1:13:19does Israel drop one onto Iran? I don't
- 1:13:22know the answer to that.
- 1:13:25This is an observation from a
- 1:13:26non-American. It doesn't affect me
- 1:13:28really. So, not bait. I've been curious
- 1:13:30how it is there. There are almost no
- 1:13:33non-white voices in MMA media except
- 1:13:35former fighters except before the MAGA
- 1:13:38pivot. Yeah, dude. It's a great
- 1:13:39question. It's This is one that's more
- 1:13:41for the MMA chat, so I'd like to keep it
- 1:13:42that way in general. Um, but the MMA
- 1:13:45media class is mostly white dudes. I
- 1:13:47mean, the the sport is mostly white
- 1:13:49dudes. the the the participants in the
- 1:13:51gyms are different, but from a fan
- 1:13:53audience, I mean, honestly, dude, if you
- 1:13:55think about, just to back up a little
- 1:13:56step, one of the things that
- 1:14:00UFC did really well was a lot of like
- 1:14:03young white males had kind of distanced
- 1:14:05themselves from boxing a little bit in
- 1:14:06the 90s, at least that process had
- 1:14:08begun. And into the 2000s, there was be
- 1:14:12you could see a departure that had
- 1:14:14happened. they, you know, they
- 1:14:16reintroduced that demo to being fight
- 1:14:19fans again. Uh, not into boxing, but
- 1:14:22into a different kind. And that's, you
- 1:14:24know, that's that's an actual thing that
- 1:14:26took place that I did not imagine it
- 1:14:27ever would. But it has come to define,
- 1:14:30you know, ultimately who gets a say in
- 1:14:31the sport. I mean, there are some non
- 1:14:33there are some voices that are, but like
- 1:14:35here's one like, you know, aside from
- 1:14:37Karen Bryant, have you ever seen uh a
- 1:14:40black woman, for example, doing fight
- 1:14:42breakdowns? The answer is probably not.
- 1:14:45Is it because they can't do them? Of
- 1:14:46course not. So then they're either not
- 1:14:48getting the opportunities or they're not
- 1:14:50trying or they're not there at all. And
- 1:14:52then you have to ask yourself, why is
- 1:14:53that? You know,
- 1:14:56do you think you could find a BC-ike
- 1:14:58partner for your political channel?
- 1:14:59Maybe someone who could play the dozens
- 1:15:01with you in politics or do you want to
- 1:15:03just fly solo and do interviews here and
- 1:15:04there? No, I don't mind. I to be honest,
- 1:15:07both is the answer. Both. What I have
- 1:15:10found is that I'm happiest when I have
- 1:15:13my own space to do a little bit of what
- 1:15:14I like, you know, but I also feel like
- 1:15:18being a part of a team is something that
- 1:15:21I really benefit from as well. Not just
- 1:15:23a partner, but the team that comes
- 1:15:25around that the partner, of course. I
- 1:15:26mean, of course, it's really, really
- 1:15:27important. I mean, I don't mean to
- 1:15:28undermine VC in any way whatsoever.
- 1:15:30Like, he's you know, like MK is not the
- 1:15:33same without him, obviously, right? Um,
- 1:15:35how could it be? But I think also the
- 1:15:38thing is like, you know, when BC and I
- 1:15:40were really killing it on Showtime, we
- 1:15:41had a huge team around us and they
- 1:15:43enabled us to do so many things. Um I I
- 1:15:46do, you know, I'm happy for the people
- 1:15:48that still remain like Long Island Luke
- 1:15:49and there's some producers behind the
- 1:15:50scenes you guys don't know, but like um
- 1:15:54you know, I'm grateful for them, please.
- 1:15:55I mean, it's amazing that I've got them
- 1:15:56still in my life, but at the same time,
- 1:15:58you know, like I just know I I I I have
- 1:16:03had enough experience to know under
- 1:16:05which conditions I feel like I can
- 1:16:06thrive.
- 1:16:09Um, any resources or videos you'd
- 1:16:11recommend in the current political
- 1:16:12situation in Colombia? Yes, I just
- 1:16:13mentioned a bunch. My girlfriend and her
- 1:16:15family are Colombian and are really and
- 1:16:16really support the government. Oh, [ __ ]
- 1:16:19Sorry, bro. Comio is big, dude. Reista
- 1:16:23Seana is awful. Awful. Uh, Blue Radio,
- 1:16:29Blue Rario is not that good. Um, Kakol
- 1:16:32is hit or miss. Eris is hit or miss.
- 1:16:36Newestle is hit or miss, but Comio is
- 1:16:40good. And dude, I'm telling you, El
- 1:16:41Pais, El Pais, Colombia. El Pais
- 1:16:44Colombia. That's the one that I go to
- 1:16:46more than just about anyone. And then
- 1:16:48Colombia reports to, which is in
- 1:16:49English.
- 1:16:53Bro, did y'all see what the president of
- 1:16:55Colombia did? First of all, he's
- 1:16:57walking. Oh, hold on. Ah, how did that
- 1:17:01happen? There it is. Sorry.
- 1:17:05His name is uh Abel Lardardo de la
- 1:17:08Espriela. His name is Abel Lardo de la
- 1:17:10Espria. Okay. Um, we call him Adl. Adl.
- 1:17:14So Adl, first of all, they he is trying
- 1:17:17Oh my god, dude. How did we not talk
- 1:17:19about this?
- 1:17:22Did y'all see what happened in Colombia
- 1:17:24this week? The United States government
- 1:17:26sent out a travel warning to people to
- 1:17:29be either not go or leave if they could.
- 1:17:33Uh Santa Marta. Santa Marta. Okay, we
- 1:17:36can just call it Santa Marta. All right.
- 1:17:38Why is that relevant? Well, number one,
- 1:17:40it's one of their major coastal cities.
- 1:17:42Uh Cartahena is the main one, but it's
- 1:17:45Santa Marta is up there. Plus, Santa
- 1:17:47Mart is very close to what they call um
- 1:17:49um the I'll say in English, Tyrrona
- 1:17:51Park, and it's like this almost like a
- 1:17:53wildlife preserve and it's got insane
- 1:17:56beaches and mountains and you know, it's
- 1:17:58it's incredible. The the biodiversity in
- 1:18:00Colombia is second to none. Why is this
- 1:18:02relevant? Because Das Brijo comes in and
- 1:18:05says, "I'm just going to do maximum
- 1:18:06warfare on, you know, narot traffickers
- 1:18:08and whatnot." Which a lot of Colombians
- 1:18:10really wanted to hear.
- 1:18:12But what ended up happening is they
- 1:18:14killed some uh of the uh this group
- 1:18:17called the ACSN. And
- 1:18:20you know, there's a million different
- 1:18:21militias and guerilla groups in parts of
- 1:18:24Colombia. And I'm not saying that that
- 1:18:27was the wrong answer, but it looked to
- 1:18:28me like the government was unprepared
- 1:18:31for the response because the response
- 1:18:32was they killed the government kills a
- 1:18:34few of the leaders. Then that group
- 1:18:37makes the city itself, including the
- 1:18:39tourist areas, shut down and businesses
- 1:18:41that didn't. These guys were riding
- 1:18:43around on mopeds. You ever see two guys
- 1:18:44on a motorcycle or a moped in Colombia?
- 1:18:47Be a little careful about that because
- 1:18:49one's driving and the other one is
- 1:18:50[ __ ] got pistolas at the side, bro.
- 1:18:53Anyway, so so they kill this guy. The
- 1:18:57these the the ACSN wants to shut it's
- 1:19:00the uh concistadores
- 1:19:02Sierra Nevada, something like that. I
- 1:19:04forget their name. ACSN. and they were
- 1:19:06taking themselves with videos going to
- 1:19:08businesses that were still open and then
- 1:19:09shooting up the place and then taking
- 1:19:11kids hostage and [ __ ] like super [ __ ]
- 1:19:13up. So the whole city was shut down.
- 1:19:14Eventually they have to send the
- 1:19:16military back in to bring the streets
- 1:19:18back. Dude, I did my vacation in Santa
- 1:19:20Marta in August.
- 1:19:23I was just I was literally just there.
- 1:19:26It's a wonderful place. Amazing place. I
- 1:19:29did all those shows there. You guys have
- 1:19:31seen me do those shows where I was in
- 1:19:32various different places um during the
- 1:19:35summer. That was in Santa Marta.
- 1:19:38Uh and interestingly, the president goes
- 1:19:42through and like to try to show a force,
- 1:19:45the [ __ ] president had a
- 1:19:47walkie-talkie on his belt and a pistol.
- 1:19:53Can you imagine that? Like Trump walking
- 1:19:55around with just a pistol on his side,
- 1:19:57like going door todo and [ __ ] like he's
- 1:19:59part of [ __ ] Seal Team Six,
- 1:20:02dude.
- 1:20:04Like Colombia made such a bad mistake
- 1:20:07with him. Such a bad mistake. It's crazy
- 1:20:10to me, dude. Latin America is weird,
- 1:20:12man. Because
- 1:20:14during the time of Urbe, they had what
- 1:20:16they were called they called them in
- 1:20:18English false positives, where they
- 1:20:20would say, "Hey, we killed 20 gorillas."
- 1:20:23And um you know and they would they
- 1:20:26would have body bags or they would have
- 1:20:28you know identities and then what they
- 1:20:31ended up finding out were then people
- 1:20:32from the countryside were just going
- 1:20:33missing and the government was just
- 1:20:35killing a bunch of people and then
- 1:20:37saying it they were all gorillas in the
- 1:20:39end when they weren't. They were false
- 1:20:41positives. This happened under um um
- 1:20:43Urribe who's still able to have a life
- 1:20:45somehow in Colombia. But you get the
- 1:20:47idea, right? And they just said like,
- 1:20:50"Dude, Latin America's weird because
- 1:20:53their situation is
- 1:20:55they don't really want to confront their
- 1:20:58inequality. They don't really have the
- 1:21:00social support for it and they don't
- 1:21:02have the like the the upper class and
- 1:21:05it's a very stratified stratified
- 1:21:07society. They don't really have the
- 1:21:09appetite to combat poverty. They don't
- 1:21:13really have the appetite for it. They
- 1:21:14would really rather just suppress it and
- 1:21:16then the social forces that come from
- 1:21:18that. And that just leads to maximum
- 1:21:21[ __ ] warfare. And so they put in this
- 1:21:23guy back in power because the last one
- 1:21:25and I get Gustavo Petro was like not
- 1:21:29there's a lot of criticisms you can make
- 1:21:30of Petro, but one thing he he was a
- 1:21:32former gorilla himself and a and a math
- 1:21:34professor and all this. He he he wanted
- 1:21:36he he wanted to continue a lot of what
- 1:21:39his predecessor had done, Juan Manuel,
- 1:21:42one of the one of the predecessors, Juan
- 1:21:43Manuel Santos, um to make peace with,
- 1:21:46you know, FARC and various other groups.
- 1:21:48And I'm not saying he was an effective
- 1:21:50steward of that. I think there's a
- 1:21:51criticism to make there for sure, but
- 1:21:53you know,
- 1:21:55it's like
- 1:21:59you can't just beat poverty with guns
- 1:22:03unless you just kill everybody.
- 1:22:06And so the the path to trying to beat
- 1:22:10that through weaponry seems misguided to
- 1:22:14me.
- 1:22:16They love that [ __ ]
- 1:22:19Good input, Recali and Warner Brothers.
- 1:22:20Appreciate it. I appreciate you. All
- 1:22:22right. Is that it for today? Yeah, we
- 1:22:24went for about what? Oh, an hour and a
- 1:22:26half almost. Not bad. All right. Uh,
- 1:22:28boys and girls, thank you so much for
- 1:22:30being here. I greatly Oh, we got one
- 1:22:31more. Not that nukes are the solution,
- 1:22:32but if Iran already for sure had their
- 1:22:34own nukes, would we have attacked? No.
- 1:22:37Would it change Israeli posture? Yes.
- 1:22:41The most vindicated man in the world, it
- 1:22:43brings me no joy to say, but it is true,
- 1:22:45is Kim Kim Jong-un.
- 1:22:52Trump has outwardly said, "We're not
- 1:22:55[ __ ] with them because it would be
- 1:22:57bad." And he even said, "If Iran had
- 1:22:58them, we wouldn't be able to do
- 1:23:00anything." He literally makes the
- 1:23:01argument that US empire wouldn't be able
- 1:23:03to bully Iran if they had nukes. Again,
- 1:23:07the most destabilizing force in the
- 1:23:09world right now is us.
- 1:23:12It is what we are doing. Look at what we
- 1:23:14are doing to the energy supply of the
- 1:23:16world. Right? For what gain, I couldn't
- 1:23:18possibly tell you. um
- 1:23:23if you could put a meaningful constraint
- 1:23:25on that again I don't there's there's a
- 1:23:28question about like you know what what
- 1:23:31kind of nuclear deterrence is the most
- 1:23:34um not really effective but the most
- 1:23:36available to us and I think some of
- 1:23:38those paradigms are no longer around but
- 1:23:41in a world where the dominant superpower
- 1:23:44is attempting to aggressively use both
- 1:23:47bullying tactics for adversaries um as
- 1:23:50well as allies and to threaten basically
- 1:23:53anything that moves. It is hard to see
- 1:23:56how the rest of the world being able to
- 1:23:58steal itself against it creates for more
- 1:24:01instability.
- 1:24:03Um and Kim Jong-un has avoided all of
- 1:24:06this because he can just send nuclear
- 1:24:10weapons down range.
- 1:24:12This is what Hassan [ __ ] was talking
- 1:24:14about and people were killing him for
- 1:24:15it. It was stupid. All right. Uh thumbs
- 1:24:18up on the video. Thanks to all who hung
- 1:24:19out. Thanks to all who donated. We'll
- 1:24:21keep this going for as long as we can. I
- 1:24:24appreciate you all. Have a great
- 1:24:25weekend. We'll talk soon. And until
- 1:24:26then,
- 1:24:28keep reading. Bye.