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Solomon Schmidt Talks Inauguration Festivities With OneLegUpAlex 1-23-25 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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Speaker 1: All right and with me now come into the Live
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Speaker 1: from Washington, DC on one leg up with Alex Garrett
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Speaker 1: is actually someone connected to us through Lucas A. Ferrara. Yes,
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Speaker 1: the man who does shut it off with Martin Lucas.
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Speaker 1: I am once again grabbing one of his guests who
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Speaker 1: would kind of during my podcast, Solomon Schmidt. Solomon, you
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Speaker 1: are not only the author of Alan Derschwhich's biography, but
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Speaker 1: you are a historian since the age of twelve, and
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Speaker 1: when we talk on the radio on ninety seventy, you
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Speaker 1: and I vibe. So I'm like, let's take this to
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Speaker 1: the podcast.
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Speaker 2: You know, absolutely I appreciate you having me on.
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Speaker 1: Alex, Well, I'm having you on for a big reason
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Speaker 1: because something historical happened this week, aka the inauguration, And
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Speaker 1: I understand you were in DC for this inauguration, So
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Speaker 1: tell us your experience and what the energy was like
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Speaker 1: as President Trump was sworn in this week.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. So it was cold. My summary of
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Speaker 2: the last few days. I was not one of the
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Speaker 2: lucky few to make it into the rotunda like many
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Speaker 2: fellow Americans people around the world saw it on video.
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Speaker 2: But my experience over the weekend was. I spent quite
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Speaker 2: a bit of time walking the streets of DC naively
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Speaker 2: thinking I was going to get into the Capital One
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Speaker 2: Arena event. I showed up at three pm on Sunday
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Speaker 2: and the event was I think about to start at
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Speaker 2: that time. I was there with my father and we
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Speaker 2: figured we would try to try to get in at
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Speaker 2: the last minute if we could. Well. We took the
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Speaker 2: Metro the subway from our hotel to the Capitol One
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Speaker 2: Arena and we emerge from underground to find the streets
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Speaker 2: lined with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people, and
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Speaker 2: it's rating and people are in pond shows, and it's
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Speaker 2: grace skis and it's cold, and the security guards nearby
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Speaker 2: tell us. We say, hey, we're here for the Capitol
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Speaker 2: One Arena events, and they say, well, you're looking at
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Speaker 2: the line, and we were half a mile from the
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Speaker 2: arena still we said, oh, okay, so where does the
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Speaker 2: line start and he said, oh, it's way, way, way
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Speaker 2: way back. And then we met another gentleman who told
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Speaker 2: us that he had tried to go to the back
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Speaker 2: of the line to get in, and he went block
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Speaker 2: after block after block, and after following the line down
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Speaker 2: multiple streets, he finally just gave it up after trying
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Speaker 2: to get an uber to the event. My father and
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Speaker 2: I had to give up an uber and catch a
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Speaker 2: train to this event that was being held by Newsfacs,
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Speaker 2: which is a channel some folks might be familiar with it.
2:57
Speaker 2: You can usually find it right near Fox News on
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Speaker 2: your TV channel. It's got some really impressive hosts and
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Speaker 2: owned by a guy named Chris Ruddy, who I recently
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Speaker 2: became introduced to through Alan Dershowitz and the event. The
3:11
Speaker 2: event was attended by a lot of a listers. I
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Speaker 2: met Ted Cruz ed Henry, saw Doctor Oz who else,
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Speaker 2: number of different authors, Eric Matexas who is a prominent
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Speaker 2: Christian and conservative author, Greta van Susteren, who was a
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Speaker 2: fantastic event was held in the Andrew Mellon Auditorium right
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Speaker 2: down Constitution Avenue, a little ways from the Washington Monument,
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Speaker 2: which you could see as you entered the auditorium. And
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Speaker 2: you talk about the energy, well, there's a heck of
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Speaker 2: a lot of energy at that event. And the overwhelming
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Speaker 2: feeling I sensed from the folks walking around the streets
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Speaker 2: of DC was frus Oh my goodness. People had horror
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Speaker 2: stories of waiting since.
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Speaker 1: Seven am in the morning on Sunday, and they were
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Speaker 1: leaving their Louis Vatam bags behind just to get into
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Speaker 1: these events.
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Speaker 2: Actually, yes, yes, it was crazy people, people lining up
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Speaker 2: ten twelve hours before the event was going to start
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Speaker 2: and not being able to get in. But people were
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Speaker 2: still I mean people were dressed from the socks up
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Speaker 2: in Trump gear. Hundreds and hundreds of different Trump vendors
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Speaker 2: and supporters just packing into all the restaurants and I
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Speaker 2: mean people. I was mentioned this to a journalist friend
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Speaker 2: of mine yesterday. Trump is like a religious figure. That
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Speaker 2: is how it struck me over this weekend. People talk
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Speaker 2: about him like they know him, like he's watching over them.
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Speaker 2: It's InCred edible, that level of connection that his supporters
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Speaker 2: and admirers feel to him, which I'm sure you've seen
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Speaker 2: and a lot of folks have picked up on it.
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Speaker 1: You know, Solomon, I've to say you are known as
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Speaker 1: what the youngest historian child story in America at the
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Speaker 1: age of started at the age of twelve, So you're a
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Speaker 1: history guy. I'm a history guy. I'm just excited not
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Speaker 1: only for the presidency, but the fact that you know,
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Speaker 1: now two hundred and forty nine year history has of
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Speaker 1: this year, we have forty seven presidents leading the way,
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Speaker 1: and I know a few of them have done it
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Speaker 1: terms apart, like Grover Cleveland, like Donald Trump. Doesn't it
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Speaker 1: get incopetence that we can keep going as a nation
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Speaker 1: throughout one undred birthday and beyond.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And something that struck me as I was watching
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Speaker 2: the proceedings. I don't know about you or your viewers,
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Speaker 2: but something that struck me was of course seeing President
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Speaker 2: Biden and Kamala Harris sitting right behind President Trump, but
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Speaker 2: also Hillary Clinton. I mean, here you had Kamala Harris
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Speaker 2: and Hillary Clinton, who were defeated by Donald Trump, watching
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Speaker 2: their political opponent assume power inside the Capitol rotunda with
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Speaker 2: George Washington looking down on them from the portraits behind
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Speaker 2: President Trump set during the Revolutionary War, and that time
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Speaker 2: with the statues of past leaders of our nation surrounding them,
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Speaker 2: Generalizing Hower, Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant.
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Speaker 3: What an extraordinary display of the system.
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Speaker 2: Our founding fathers gave to us. And not to sound
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Speaker 2: politically correct, but I mean, I know the fathers are
6:55
Speaker 2: the ones who drew up the document, but I always
6:57
Speaker 2: think it's important to say founding fathers and mothers, because
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Speaker 2: once you read about people like Abigail Adams. She may
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Speaker 2: not have written the Declaration of Independence, but boy, in
7:08
Speaker 2: a way she was as instrumental. Abigail Adams was just
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Speaker 2: quite simply one of the most extraordinary women in our
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Speaker 2: country's history. What she endured from from terrible blizzards to
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Speaker 2: British bombardments on areas of land near her home, to
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Speaker 2: wondering if John Adams, her husband, was going to be
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Speaker 2: hanged or captured or die on his sea voyages across
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Speaker 2: the Atlantic when he became the ambassador to Frame by
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Speaker 2: the way, Britain.
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Speaker 1: Dolly Madison also when the war on fire, she is
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Speaker 1: the one that.
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Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. So yeah, so what what? Yes,
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Speaker 2: it does give me confidence that we will continue on
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Speaker 2: and it was such a privilege to see system at work.
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Speaker 1: You make an extraordinary point that the women of that
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Speaker 1: time right up and until now, I mean the supporting
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Speaker 1: wives of you know, Obama and Clinton and you know
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Speaker 1: all the first ladies if you will, And then of
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Speaker 1: course it continues today with Milani. So there is that tradition.
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Speaker 1: So my question then is as a historian, do you
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Speaker 1: project a female present ever being elected one day?
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Speaker 4: Do you see that happening? Alex usually don't predict history.
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Speaker 4: I usually tell what happened. Prediction is dangerous, said C. S.
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Speaker 2: Lewis. I appreciate you asking.
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Speaker 5: And my my thought would be yes, I could certainly
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Speaker 5: see it happening.
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Speaker 2: I'm I'm surprised in some ways that it hasn't happened already,
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Speaker 2: because you notice a lot of different folks who may
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Speaker 2: not be radical feminists, but who are certainly very supportive
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Speaker 2: of women's rights. And certainly you had seventy two million
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Speaker 2: people who voted for Kamala Harris this last time around.
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Speaker 2: What those three million people who made the difference thought
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Speaker 2: that would be? That would be an interesting question to
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Speaker 2: get to the bottom of. We we did notice from
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Speaker 2: the speech. I noticed in the speech that right out of.
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Speaker 6: The gate, President Trump discussed the issues of illegal immigration
9:40
Speaker 6: at the crowd when arser when he talked about the
9:45
Speaker 6: measures he was going to put in place to stop.
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Speaker 1: It, well, that was that was It was very interesting.
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Speaker 1: He was up there actually obliterating everything about the Biden
9:54
Speaker 1: ministration about Biden, and Harris was sitting there. We also
9:59
Speaker 1: talk about statement statesmanship. Could he have said something differently,
10:04
Speaker 1: could he have done a little differently, or did he
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Speaker 1: handle it the way you would expect him to handle it?
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Speaker 2: You know, Monday morning quarterbacking is always easy because, by
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Speaker 2: the way, I found it one of the most inspiring
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Speaker 2: speeches of an inaugural address, and.
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Speaker 1: He did one in sixteen, but yesterday, or at seventeen,
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Speaker 1: but yesterday, it was really inspirational. The way you talking
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Speaker 1: about the optimism and the ambition. I felt that, you know.
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Speaker 3: I felt that right right well, some of some of
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Speaker 3: the passages he said where he watched eloquent about the
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Speaker 3: people who built America and the fact that America is
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Speaker 3: the great.
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Speaker 2: Industrial power of the world, and the great military power
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Speaker 2: of the world, and the great technological power of the world.
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Speaker 2: That was very inspiring. What he said about or what
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Speaker 2: he alluded to regarding President Biden's had been reminded me.
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Speaker 2: And people who like Donald Trump aren't gonna like this comparison,
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Speaker 2: but it reminded me right away of a speech given
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Speaker 2: and I believe two thousand.
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Speaker 7: And seven an inaugural address from Elliot Spitzer, who was
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Speaker 7: the governor of New York for about a year and
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Speaker 7: a half and in that speech, Elliott Spitzer, with George
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Speaker 7: Pataki and other Republicans sitting right near him, said something
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Speaker 7: to the effect of for too long Alby has been
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Speaker 7: asleep at the wheel.
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Speaker 2: And the people he was saying had been asleep at
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Speaker 2: the wheel were sitting right next to him, and people
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Speaker 2: were going, Wow, this is this is tough, this is embarrassing.
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Speaker 2: So that's That's not to insult President Trump. It's just
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Speaker 2: the comparison that came to my mind. We know that
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Speaker 2: some people, as they have since twenty fifteen, some people
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Speaker 2: have a real problem with the with the the world
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Speaker 2: or it's President Trump uses. It's clearly what his supporters
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Speaker 2: wanted to hear and his I'm sure his supporters would
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Speaker 2: say that President Biden and Kamala Harris had it coming
12:11
Speaker 2: to them, especially when it relates to the law fare,
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Speaker 2: which President Trump alluded to in the inaugural speech, which.
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Speaker 8: He said he would end, well, let me tell you,
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Speaker 8: I think you're right that you know, he took a
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Speaker 8: lot of this personally, what the Biden said, the Biden
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Speaker 8: vision did to him personally.
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Speaker 1: There's no right. Here's the point is that no matter
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Speaker 1: all the disunity that we find in election cycles and
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Speaker 1: even during presidencies. Here we are another president sworn in
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Speaker 1: the country runs along and so are we Just is
12:45
Speaker 1: this our fabric to just move along together, even if
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Speaker 1: we're not always unified. I feel like that's the bottom
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Speaker 1: line here.
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Speaker 2: I hear hopes so. And I'd like the word that
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Speaker 2: the President used, which was describing us as a family,
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Speaker 2: and I was really touched by that. And people who
13:03
Speaker 2: who don't like the President might just roll their eyes
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Speaker 2: at that, But I do see America that way. I'm
13:12
Speaker 2: sure you see America that way. I'm sure a whole
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Speaker 2: lot of people see America that way and all and
13:17
Speaker 2: always have, and there are always going to be folks
13:21
Speaker 2: who who try to divide us. But I'm an optimist
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Speaker 2: in some ways, Like Ronald Reagan, I believe that the
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Speaker 2: American people are by and large good people who care
13:35
Speaker 2: about their families, about God, about their country. And I've
13:40
Speaker 2: had the privilege, Alex of traveling to most of the
13:45
Speaker 2: states over the last number of years, and I've met
13:49
Speaker 2: thousands of people from all walks of life, and that's
13:52
Speaker 2: that's just been my overall impression.
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Speaker 1: Now ask you, you're twenty one, does that mean you
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Speaker 1: just cast your first presidential election vote.
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Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting you bring that up, and this could
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Speaker 2: turn into a long discussion. I decided not to vote
14:11
Speaker 2: this year, and I gave that careful consideration, and it's
14:16
Speaker 2: something I've been working through since I was fifteen years old.
14:20
Speaker 2: I got a lot of flak for it from some people,
14:23
Speaker 2: especially folks who think it's disrespectful to veterans or people
14:28
Speaker 2: from the revolutionary wartime so gave their life so that
14:31
Speaker 2: I could have the right to vote. I of course
14:33
Speaker 2: appreciate that very much, and I have dedicated books I've
14:37
Speaker 2: written to veterans, and have veterans in my family and
14:41
Speaker 2: among my friends. The main issue for me, Alex was
14:46
Speaker 2: I write about current political events, and I claim to
14:50
Speaker 2: be neutral and objective, and I just simply it may
14:55
Speaker 2: work for other people, but I simply just didn't feel
15:00
Speaker 2: I claiming to be neutral and objective as a commentator
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Speaker 2: and author on current political events and go out and
15:08
Speaker 2: cast my vote for a political candidate or party. And
15:14
Speaker 2: I was wrestling with this issue in my mind for
15:17
Speaker 2: a number of months, and then I learned about folks
15:22
Speaker 2: who I respect who made the same decision. One of
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Speaker 2: them is a guy named John Solomon, who's a journalist
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Speaker 2: with a TV company called Real America's Voice.
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Speaker 1: I did not know, but that is so John Solomon,
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Speaker 1: because he's a guy who's down the middle in the
15:38
Speaker 1: sense of all his reporting, So this makes sense to
15:40
Speaker 1: me that he.
15:41
Speaker 2: Would vote right. And John Solomon's point, which was interesting
15:45
Speaker 2: to me, he said, if I were the editor of
15:48
Speaker 2: a scientific journal, I would vote. But my line of
15:52
Speaker 2: work is in current political events and I claim to
15:55
Speaker 2: be neutral. So it was a tough decision on some level.
16:02
Speaker 2: But once I had made up my mind about it,
16:04
Speaker 2: I thought it was the right thing to do. And
16:06
Speaker 2: I know different folks in my life have thoughts against
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Speaker 2: it or for it, and the ones that make the
16:15
Speaker 2: most sense to me are one, it's not showing appreciation
16:19
Speaker 2: for the right to vote, and two, it's just a
16:22
Speaker 2: cowardly way to get out of sharing your presuppositions, because
16:26
Speaker 2: we all have presuppositions. But no, it really is for
16:29
Speaker 2: me about doing my duty as a historian. We need
16:32
Speaker 2: historians that we can trust. We need historians that we
16:36
Speaker 2: can believe are doing the best to tell us the
16:39
Speaker 2: truth as far as they see it. We need historians
16:42
Speaker 2: like and I'm not comparing myself to him. But we
16:45
Speaker 2: need historians like David McCullough, where for most of his
16:49
Speaker 2: life you have no idea what his politics are, and
16:53
Speaker 2: so I'm willing to take criticism for that. Again, I
17:02
Speaker 2: believe they understand that folks might have differing opinions, but
17:05
Speaker 2: that's just where I'm at.
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's it's amazing. It's almost like our
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Speaker 1: media outlets should be historic. If they're going to tell
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Speaker 1: the history of the country, they shouldn't vote either, because hey,
17:16
Speaker 1: they're the media. They're reporting on this. So I like
17:19
Speaker 1: what you're saying, because we find the media dipping their
17:22
Speaker 1: toes into politics a lot more than historians are. And
17:25
Speaker 1: that's not always right there, because there's to be telling
17:28
Speaker 1: us what it is, not in this planted way.
17:30
Speaker 2: I mean correct.
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Speaker 1: The Times yesterday or Monday said, well, guess what, this
17:36
Speaker 1: was a very dark speech. Are you right to say
17:39
Speaker 1: that it's the right? Is an old gray lady right
17:41
Speaker 1: to opine because they're supposed to just report the facts,
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Speaker 1: not an opinion piece on it.
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Speaker 2: That's just my thoughts. But well, the way I look
17:50
Speaker 2: at it when it comes to historians is historians should
17:54
Speaker 2: be journalists of the past. And I don't mean journalists
17:57
Speaker 2: who are writing opinion pieces like you said, people who
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Speaker 2: are investigating the most credible sources of information and then
18:06
Speaker 2: compiling that information into a format that's consumable and interesting
18:12
Speaker 2: and entertaining for people. And by interesting and entertaining, I
18:15
Speaker 2: don't mean that you embellish things. But that's the aim
18:19
Speaker 2: of a story. Of a storyteller is to write an
18:24
Speaker 2: exciting story, whether you do with fiction or history. Of course,
18:30
Speaker 2: with history, what makes it much harder than fiction is
18:33
Speaker 2: I spend weeks, months, years digging up facts. I'm working
18:40
Speaker 2: on a biography of JK. Rowling right now, and just
18:43
Speaker 2: to find little details like her hair color in the
18:46
Speaker 2: nineteen nineties, or the street that she walked on between
18:51
Speaker 2: her home and the cafe where she wrote Harry Potter.
18:55
Speaker 2: It goes without saying. You can't make these.
18:56
Speaker 9: Things up out of thin air.
18:57
Speaker 2: And sometimes you make it a source that you realize
19:00
Speaker 2: a week later was it accurate? Then you have to
19:02
Speaker 2: go back and replace it with a different source and
19:06
Speaker 2: find a second corroborating source.
19:09
Speaker 10: And so really, I mean, next, all historians should be
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Speaker 10: I suppose on one level, is this neutral objective storytellers,
19:18
Speaker 10: and of course other roles.
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Speaker 2: There are scholars we know who dig into who spend
19:23
Speaker 2: their whole life writing academic articles and things of that nature.
19:27
Speaker 1: So you know, this is the sixtieth presidential inauguration, and
19:31
Speaker 1: you start really following all this when you were twelve.
19:33
Speaker 1: So for kids, an inauguration might seem boring. I know
19:37
Speaker 1: they took actually Vance's kids out because they didn't want
19:40
Speaker 1: them to sit there through the whole thing. But for you,
19:45
Speaker 1: will you focus on every inauguration because of this love
19:47
Speaker 1: of history? Didn't you can remember or when did you
19:50
Speaker 1: start really following even that the inauguration too?
19:53
Speaker 2: Who I don't remember if I watched the inauguration of
20:00
Speaker 2: President Obama, which would have been about the time when
20:03
Speaker 2: I was starting to get interested in politics. I have
20:09
Speaker 2: very vivid memories around the time of President Trump's first inauguration.
20:15
Speaker 2: I was actually on Fox News in January of twenty seventeen.
20:20
Speaker 2: I had an interview in New.
20:22
Speaker 11: York City on Fox and Friends, and that day a
20:27
Speaker 11: host named Ainsley Earhart interviewed me on Fox and Friends
20:33
Speaker 11: and then went off to Trump Tower to interview Donald Trump.
20:38
Speaker 2: And after my interview in the studio.
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Speaker 12: My family and I, because I was only thirteen at
20:43
Speaker 12: the time, My family and I headed over to the
20:48
Speaker 12: tower to see if maybe President elect Trump would come out,
20:52
Speaker 12: and we sent one of my history Bytes books up
20:56
Speaker 12: the elevator with an assistant of his.
20:58
Speaker 2: Waited a couple hours, and then it came back down
21:02
Speaker 2: with the assistant and it was signed to solid best
21:05
Speaker 2: wishes Donald Trump. And Ainsley Earhart, who had interviewed me
21:10
Speaker 2: that day, saw the book while she was interviewing Donald
21:13
Speaker 2: Trump and said, I just interviewed that kid.
21:16
Speaker 9: So that was three days before his first inauguration, and
21:22
Speaker 9: you know, on a separate note, it's just it's amazing
21:26
Speaker 9: how first of all, how quickly the years go by
21:28
Speaker 9: eight years.
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Speaker 2: Since then, but also the fact that he's still around.
21:33
Speaker 2: It's still around and very much relevant and changing the world.
21:39
Speaker 1: It's incredible, truly a comeback. I mean, my personal story
21:43
Speaker 1: is real quick. Donald Trump and I knew each other
21:46
Speaker 1: from the Yankee Stadium era up in mister Steinman and Suite,
21:49
Speaker 1: And the atory I have is that Regis Philba went
21:51
Speaker 1: on his show and said, oh, Donald Trump took a
21:55
Speaker 1: picture of me and little Alexander, and this was just
21:57
Speaker 1: amazing that that's on record. My mom's got a degree
22:01
Speaker 1: in public history. She saved every little appearance. So I
22:05
Speaker 1: feel like we all have that historian. By the way,
22:07
Speaker 1: President Tump is a historian. Many people will be like,
22:10
Speaker 1: who's Mount, what's Matt McKinley, Who's William McKinley. Yet here
22:13
Speaker 1: he is talking about it because he loves history that much.
22:18
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a historian. Whether people want to.
22:21
Speaker 5: Make he is, he's he's certainly full of a lot
22:28
Speaker 5: of knowledge about our country and he's.
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Speaker 2: Making history, Alex, you know, and that's got to be
22:35
Speaker 2: it's got to be exciting for him to get back
22:37
Speaker 2: to the White House last night, pass near the Lincoln
22:40
Speaker 2: bedroom if he if.
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Speaker 13: He didn't go in it as well, Oh the history history,
22:46
Speaker 13: And I'm sure he recognizes that and and feels it
22:50
Speaker 13: in the moment.
22:52
Speaker 1: I remember he got the bust of Winston to troll
22:55
Speaker 1: back after Obama spent the way. I mean, he loves
22:58
Speaker 1: history that much. Now, real quick board, you're playing, We'll
23:03
Speaker 1: get the legal glaviator Alan Jwan's biography another go? But
23:08
Speaker 1: did he do that? Did he let you do that biography?
23:10
Speaker 1: Because it felt, well, I've been railroaded, so much I
23:13
Speaker 1: will be ben on my sort right now is that what.
23:16
Speaker 2: It feeling was not as far as I could tell.
23:19
Speaker 2: I had been researching the biography for four months before
23:23
Speaker 2: I approached him about doing an interviewer or multiple interviews.
23:30
Speaker 2: And when I got to talk with Professor Dershowitz and
23:34
Speaker 2: did an interview with him on my History by Its
23:36
Speaker 2: YouTube channel. At the end of that call, I told
23:40
Speaker 2: him the biography that I was working on about him,
23:43
Speaker 2: and that I wanted to make it the definitive book,
23:47
Speaker 2: and he said he would be enthusiastic about that, and
23:50
Speaker 2: we right then and there arranged to meet in New
23:54
Speaker 2: York City and he said that I would be able
23:57
Speaker 2: to have access to his archives at Brooklyn College. So
24:03
Speaker 2: it went from there. And you know, some people might
24:06
Speaker 2: think he controlled the narrative of the book, and I
24:12
Speaker 2: mean it's just not true. I mean, he we did.
24:17
Speaker 2: We had a number of interviews, and he was it
24:21
Speaker 2: was very, very willing to discuss Jeffrey Epstein, his first marriage.
24:26
Speaker 2: And he didn't read a single word of the manuscript
24:29
Speaker 2: before it was published. He read the book for the
24:32
Speaker 2: first time like like anyone else did. I mean, of course,
24:35
Speaker 2: he got basically the first copy. But as far as
24:39
Speaker 2: I know, he was not trying to try or he
24:45
Speaker 2: I was not working at his BST in any way
24:49
Speaker 2: he was. He went out of his way to make
24:52
Speaker 2: sure that it didn't have the appearance of being of
24:56
Speaker 2: being his a being his own basically censored version. I
25:04
Speaker 2: remember one time we were in Miami at dinner and
25:08
Speaker 2: my father took the bill, and Alan leaned in and
25:11
Speaker 2: he said, Mike, I don't want you to think I'm cheap,
25:15
Speaker 2: but until the book's over, I don't want anyone to
25:19
Speaker 2: get the impression that I was buying Solomon's favor. And anyway,
25:22
Speaker 2: once the book's published, I'll pay all the bills from
25:25
Speaker 2: here on out. I mean, he was very careful, and
25:29
Speaker 2: in fact, his only partial criticism of the book, or
25:35
Speaker 2: the thing that surprised him was how much I quoted
25:38
Speaker 2: his enemies, people like Noam Chomsky and Glenn Greenwald and
25:42
Speaker 2: other folks that he's had somewhat acrimonious relationships with. So
25:48
Speaker 2: I hope that answers your question absolutely.
25:53
Speaker 1: And Solomon, this has been so great. I want to
25:56
Speaker 1: have you back on but I want to ask you
25:58
Speaker 1: one more thing, because of your talking about all this
26:02
Speaker 1: Trump's Trump's also mentioned, you know the term annexing, right,
26:07
Speaker 1: and then that's a very historical term. Are we not
26:10
Speaker 1: done annexing countries and territories? I mean, that was the
26:14
Speaker 1: thing we did with Lewis and Park. Are we doing
26:17
Speaker 1: that again?
26:17
Speaker 2: The vibe or what it's fascinating. The thing I noticed
26:23
Speaker 2: with interest was that although President Trump mentioned acquiring or
26:29
Speaker 2: getting back or however he phrased it, the Panama Canal
26:33
Speaker 2: and renaming the Golf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,
26:37
Speaker 2: he didn't mention Greenland or Canada and his inaugural speech.
26:41
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that means he's not serious about his
26:44
Speaker 2: intentions there. The Greenland question is interesting. I had the
26:48
Speaker 2: pleasure of visiting Greenland a couple of years ago for
26:51
Speaker 2: some filming for my YouTube channel, and I asked some
26:54
Speaker 2: folks there as I went about my visits what they
26:58
Speaker 2: would think about joining the United States. And although I
27:02
Speaker 2: didn't do a robust survey, the folks I talked to
27:06
Speaker 2: didn't have an interest in that. They're just focused on
27:10
Speaker 2: becoming independent from Denmark and they've suffered at the hands
27:13
Speaker 2: of Denmark. There were a whole number of Greenlandic women
27:16
Speaker 2: who were sterilized by the Danish government in the nineteen eighties,
27:20
Speaker 2: and that is being litigated now in different lawsuits. As
27:26
Speaker 2: far as I've heard, Wow, so's it'll be interesting to see,
27:31
Speaker 2: especially where the Greenland question goes, because as I understand
27:35
Speaker 2: that other powers in the world, including China, would love
27:39
Speaker 2: to not just gain a foothold, I think, but perhaps
27:43
Speaker 2: gained control of Greenland for its natural resources. So, as
27:49
Speaker 2: I said a minute ago, prediction is dangerous, but the
27:52
Speaker 2: Greenland question is fascinating and it's something for us to
27:56
Speaker 2: keep our eyes on.
27:58
Speaker 1: So many resources. All right, real quick, because you are
28:01
Speaker 1: my historian, guy, right, you are the historian since you
28:03
Speaker 1: were twelve years old. Does a second term after you
28:08
Speaker 1: were voted out for four years work? Like? Did it
28:11
Speaker 1: work for Grover Cleveland? Will it work for Donald Trump?
28:14
Speaker 1: I mean, is there her precedent for this that we
28:16
Speaker 1: could say yes, this term after being out for four
28:19
Speaker 1: years will be successful? And will he be able to
28:22
Speaker 1: accomplish what he didn't accomplish in the first get to
28:24
Speaker 1: accomplish in the first term, or you know, after he
28:27
Speaker 1: lost the election? I mean, did Grover Cleveland accomplish his
28:30
Speaker 1: goals in his second term four years apart.
28:35
Speaker 2: To be frank, I am no Grover Cleveland expert, but
28:38
Speaker 2: I will piggyback off what other folks have said, which
28:41
Speaker 2: is that President Trump leaving office for four years allowed
28:45
Speaker 2: him to not clear his thoughts, but basically gain a
28:50
Speaker 2: perspective that perhaps you wouldn't gain if you went immediately
28:54
Speaker 2: from your first to second term. A better understanding perhaps
29:00
Speaker 2: states you had made a different set of people around
29:05
Speaker 2: you who you know that he.
29:07
Speaker 1: Didn't listen to established in you know. I think that's
29:10
Speaker 1: the big thing. He did not listen to establishment this
29:13
Speaker 1: time around. I think it'll be fun real quick before
29:16
Speaker 1: I let you go, because I know I gotta catch
29:17
Speaker 1: a flight back from back home from DC. Favorite historical
29:22
Speaker 1: place you visited is it the Capital? Is it Independence Hall?
29:27
Speaker 1: Or is it writ in downtown Manhattan, Federal Hall?
29:29
Speaker 2: Like?
29:29
Speaker 1: Have you visited all three?
29:32
Speaker 2: I believe I have visited all three. If I visited
29:35
Speaker 2: Federal Hall, it was a long time ago, I would say,
29:40
Speaker 2: although it changes with my mood, I would say I
29:44
Speaker 2: was incredibly moved to see.
29:46
Speaker 13: The Lincoln Memorial at night yesterday evening walking around the Capitol,
29:52
Speaker 13: and I climbed the steps in the dark and saw
29:55
Speaker 13: mister Lincoln's face looking back at me as I ascended
30:01
Speaker 13: the steps, through the columns into the as it says,
30:03
Speaker 13: the temple which was built your memory of mister Lincoln,
30:09
Speaker 13: and to enshrine him in this.
30:14
Speaker 2: This memorial, as he is enshrined in the hearts of
30:16
Speaker 2: all those for whom he saved the Union. That's the
30:20
Speaker 2: text on the monument behind the statue of mister Lincoln.
30:24
Speaker 2: And as you as you look out from the monument,
30:28
Speaker 2: the view that Lincoln the statue has is right across
30:33
Speaker 2: the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument and then behind
30:38
Speaker 2: that to the US Capital Dome. And the night I
30:41
Speaker 2: was walking around, the stars were out, and it was
30:46
Speaker 2: just breathtaking to think about the natural wonders overhead and
30:50
Speaker 2: the wonders of this civilization that incredibly brave and wise
30:58
Speaker 2: and determined and women gave to us. Wow, what a moment.
31:05
Speaker 1: Amazing And thankfully we have reenactors today, and I'm sure
31:08
Speaker 1: as a story and you're friends with a lot of
31:10
Speaker 1: reenactors who continue to the work of what these brave
31:14
Speaker 1: men and women did during the revolutionary years. I mean,
31:17
Speaker 1: these reenactments are so important. I'm sure you've had the
31:20
Speaker 1: honor of attending many.
31:23
Speaker 14: You know, I have a friend named Bill Potter who
31:27
Speaker 14: is probably one of the country's greatest Civil War historians,
31:32
Speaker 14: and he is he has been an avid reenactor a
31:36
Speaker 14: different times throughout his career, and although I haven't seen
31:40
Speaker 14: him in person, I.
31:41
Speaker 2: Did see him in a movie once. If you've ever
31:45
Speaker 2: seen the film Gods and Generals, there was I don't
31:48
Speaker 2: know if it was a prequel or a sequel to
31:50
Speaker 2: that movie called Gettysburg. Jeff Daniels was in it as
31:53
Speaker 2: Joshua Chamberlain, and there were I think hundreds of Nassausans
31:58
Speaker 2: reenactors used in that movie. And there's a shot where
32:01
Speaker 2: my friend mister Potter, who's this tall Virginia.
32:04
Speaker 6: With a white goatee, can be seen reenacting as I
32:08
Speaker 6: believe one of the Confederate soldiers.
32:10
Speaker 2: So that's my reenactment story there. You go.
32:15
Speaker 1: Well, my honor to have today and keep doing the
32:21
Speaker 1: great work, keep us updated all year. Look and maybe
32:25
Speaker 1: if there are things that we can look at what's
32:28
Speaker 1: happening historical perspective, I'll have you back on to discuss
32:32
Speaker 1: all that.
32:33
Speaker 2: It's an honor to be here with Lex. Thank you
32:36
Speaker 2: for the time, and it's a pleasure talking with you. You're
32:39
Speaker 2: an inspiring person.
32:41
Speaker 1: And by the way, you can follow Solomon on X.
32:44
Speaker 1: Tell us your handles there, Solomon.
32:48
Speaker 2: My ex handle is Solomon J. Schmidt and my Facebook
32:54
Speaker 2: is Solomon Schmidt desh author and my Instagram is Solomon
32:59
Speaker 2: Schmidt under score author.
33:02
Speaker 1: There you go. We will we will repost all of that.
33:06
Speaker 1: And I'm so honored to have you on. And thank
33:08
Speaker 1: you Lucas Ferrara for first having you on the show
33:10
Speaker 1: and making this connection happen.
33:13
Speaker 2: Hey, thank you to you. Alex. I appreciate you inviting
33:16
Speaker 2: me on.
33:17
Speaker 1: All right, Alex Scarett one leg up on the twenty
33:21
Speaker 1: twenty five sixtieth presidential inauguration with Solomon Schmid. He was
33:25
Speaker 1: in the area the whole weekend. Thanks for joining me, Solomon.
33:29
Speaker 2: My pleasure, Alex. Thank you.