Latest / Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar / 6/1/26: US Bombs Iran, Jeff Sachs On WH Econ Lies, Artists Bail On Trump 250th Event
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hey guys, Saga and Crystal here.
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- 0:33Speaker 1: Good morning, buddy, Happy Monday. We have an amazing show
- 0:36Speaker 1: for everybody today. What do we have, Crystal.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Indeed, we do a lot of breaking news that we
- 0:39Speaker 2: added to the show this morning. There is a new
- 0:41Speaker 2: exchange of fire between the US and Iran. Trump is
- 0:44Speaker 2: complaining about people chirping making it harder to get a deal.
- 0:48Speaker 2: Jeffrey sax Is goon and join us to talk about
- 0:49Speaker 2: all of that. He's also going to take a look
- 0:51Speaker 2: at the continued economic fallout, and it's some very interesting
- 0:55Speaker 2: comments from a economic advisor to the president. Kevin Hassett
- 1:00Speaker 2: is that his name Kevin anyway? After major cancelations, Trump
- 1:04Speaker 2: is floating canceling All America to fifty performances and just
- 1:07Speaker 2: giving a rally speech because we've never seen that before.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Israel is being integrated deeply into our fence industrial base.
- 1:13Speaker 2: Brandon Wikert is going to join us with his analysis
- 1:16Speaker 2: of that. But it is not too late to stop,
- 1:18Speaker 2: so we all need to take action right away to
- 1:21Speaker 2: make sure this provision does not go forward. Graham Platner
- 1:24Speaker 2: and his wife are responding to sexting allegations from a
- 1:27Speaker 2: disgruntled former campaign staffer, and a bunch of centrist Dems
- 1:31Speaker 2: are low key suggesting that Democrats should vote for the
- 1:33Speaker 2: Republican instead. And Janke Huger and Hassan Piker were both
- 1:38Speaker 2: blocked from entering the UK over their Israel criticism. Absolute insanity.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Jake is going to join us live to tell us
- 1:47Speaker 2: what happened in his reaction.
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- 2:30Speaker 2: To Jenkin last minute, so that extended the length of
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- 2:33Speaker 4: So may get out a little bit.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Late, and may get out a little bit late. We
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- 2:37Speaker 3: It is major breaking news and we do of course
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- 2:49Speaker 3: let's go ahead and start here with the situation in
- 2:52Speaker 3: Iran in deja vu for this show. We had something
- 2:54Speaker 3: planned for ceasefire, and yet it begins with an exchange
- 2:58Speaker 3: of fire last night between the United States and Iran.
- 3:01Speaker 1: I's going to put this up here on the screen.
- 3:03Speaker 3: Actually, arguably the more serious exchanges of fire that have
- 3:06Speaker 3: happened now, the United States has struck Iranian air defenses
- 3:10Speaker 3: on Kesham Island after Iran brought down an MQ nine
- 3:15Speaker 3: one or sorry, an MQ one drone, a four million
- 3:18Speaker 3: dollar surveillance drone from the United States. The US fighters
- 3:22Speaker 3: also claimed that they shot down two Iranian attract tack
- 3:26Speaker 3: dones that posed a threat to throat threat to ships
- 3:30Speaker 3: in the Strait of Hormuz and transiting oil tankers. So
- 3:34Speaker 3: Kuwait as of this morning, said that the country was
- 3:37Speaker 3: then under attack by ballistic missiles and drones. Alarms sounded
- 3:41Speaker 3: across the country, the United States taking out some air
- 3:44Speaker 3: defense systems, radar and drone sites on Kesham Island. So
- 3:48Speaker 3: all of this is very familiar. But the exchange of fire,
- 3:52Speaker 3: the serious exchange of fire here multiple different things happening.
- 3:55Speaker 3: US bases that were under attack actually come on the
- 3:59Speaker 3: heels of a more serious development, which is the hot
- 4:02Speaker 3: conflict in Lebanon, which of course we've been covering day
- 4:06Speaker 3: after day here on the show.
- 4:07Speaker 1: For this very reason.
- 4:08Speaker 3: Iran has said unequivocally that the ceasefire applies to Lebanon.
- 4:12Speaker 3: This was confirmed by the Pakistanis in the original April
- 4:15Speaker 3: seven announcement of the ceasefire. Of course, fire never actually
- 4:18Speaker 3: ceased in Lebanon. Iran was willing to give the United
- 4:21Speaker 3: States some ground where they were trying to negotiate a
- 4:24Speaker 3: ceasefire between the Lebanese government and between the Israeli government.
- 4:28Speaker 3: All of that apparently has currently as of right now,
- 4:31Speaker 3: seems to have failed. Here is a major reminder by
- 4:34Speaker 3: the Iranian Foreign Minister. Let's put this up here on
- 4:36Speaker 3: the screen again, literally breaking minutes before even doing our show.
- 4:40Speaker 3: This is from Sayid Arachi for immediate attention. The ceasefire
- 4:43Speaker 3: between Iran and the United States is unequivocally a ceasefire
- 4:46Speaker 3: on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one
- 4:50Speaker 3: front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.
- 4:53Speaker 3: The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of
- 4:57Speaker 3: any violation, and this come after immediate announcement from the
- 5:02Speaker 3: Israeli Prime Minister in response to the repeated and ongoing
- 5:06Speaker 3: violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist organization
- 5:09Speaker 3: has Bulah and the attacks against our cities and citizens,
- 5:12Speaker 3: I have instructed the IDF, together with the Defense Minister
- 5:15Speaker 3: Israel Cats to strike terrorist targets in the Daia district
- 5:20Speaker 3: of Beirut. So we again will almost certainly tomorrow have
- 5:25Speaker 3: some video of just absolutely apocalyptic scenes out of Beirut
- 5:30Speaker 3: as Israel's military will pound the country of Lebanon. Remember
- 5:35Speaker 3: this is strikes that are happening in the capitol while
- 5:38Speaker 3: Israeli forces continue to advance farther and farther into the
- 5:41Speaker 3: country with their own stated goal of never leaving a
- 5:45Speaker 3: serious portion and effectively taking over half of the country.
- 5:49Speaker 3: This continues as there were all more than fifty attacks
- 5:51Speaker 3: actually in northern Israel as of this morning from Hesbola.
- 5:55Speaker 3: So it does seem but this has been a low
- 5:57Speaker 3: grade conflict. Crystal has been happening the higher time of
- 6:00Speaker 3: the Ceaspire, but it is becoming clearer and clearer Israel
- 6:03Speaker 3: will not stop its advancement into Lebanon, and that the ceasfire.
- 6:07Speaker 3: Talks between the Israeli government and the Lebanese government, which
- 6:11Speaker 3: even then exclude Hezbolla themselves, do not even appear to
- 6:14Speaker 3: be progressing, which is endangering the entire framework or any
- 6:17Speaker 3: hope of such framework as of this morning.
- 6:20Speaker 2: Yeah, that's absolutely right, and we've known this from the beginning.
- 6:22Speaker 2: I mean, Iran has consistently stated that they are looking
- 6:25Speaker 2: for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities on all fronts.
- 6:29Speaker 2: They have focused on Lebanon from the very beginning. I
- 6:31Speaker 2: remember when Trump announced that he had accepted as a
- 6:34Speaker 2: basis for negotiations the Iranian Ten point Plan. It was
- 6:37Speaker 2: made very clear in that process that Lebanon was considered
- 6:41Speaker 2: essential to moving forward, and the Iranians have not backed
- 6:45Speaker 2: off of this whatsoever. Meanwhile, Trump has effectively given Israel
- 6:49Speaker 2: the green light to go forward with this, after at
- 6:51Speaker 2: one point saying that you know, they must stop and
- 6:54Speaker 2: demanding that on true social since then, he has now
- 6:57Speaker 2: effectively given them the green light to continue to and
- 7:00Speaker 2: attack within Lebanon. These Raelis and their supporters and allies
- 7:04Speaker 2: recognize that this could be a very effective way to
- 7:07Speaker 2: blow up the deals, so no one should be surprised
- 7:09Speaker 2: that that is exactly what they are trying to do.
- 7:12Speaker 2: Because they do not want this deal to go forward.
- 7:15Speaker 2: Trump seems unwilling to do what it takes to ring
- 7:18Speaker 2: them in, and the Iranians are still drawing a hard
- 7:20Speaker 2: line around this, so, you know, to call it a
- 7:23Speaker 2: major obstacle, it's an impossibility if some dynamic doesn't shift.
- 7:27Speaker 2: Trump also posting kind of a revealing truth social that
- 7:31Speaker 2: we can put up on the screen here. As you know,
- 7:34Speaker 2: deal negotiations seem to be teetering. I guess we'll say,
- 7:38Speaker 2: he said, Iran really wants to make a deal and
- 7:40Speaker 2: it will be a good one for the USA and
- 7:42Speaker 2: those that are with us. But don't the Democrats and
- 7:45Speaker 2: various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans understand that it is much tougher
- 7:50Speaker 2: for me to properly do my job and negotiate when
- 7:52Speaker 2: political hacks keep negatively chirping at levels never seen before,
- 7:57Speaker 2: over and over again that I should move fast or
- 7:59Speaker 2: move slow, or go to war or not go to
- 8:01Speaker 2: war or whatever. Just sit back and relax, sager. It
- 8:06Speaker 2: will all work out well in the end. It always does.
- 8:10Speaker 2: That really reminded me of one of the things Tucker
- 8:13Speaker 2: said about his conversations with Trump when he was urging
- 8:16Speaker 2: him not to engage in this foolish and disastrous war.
- 8:20Speaker 2: Is that Trump said to him, effectively, don't worry, It's
- 8:22Speaker 2: all going to be fine. And Tucker was like, well,
- 8:25Speaker 2: why what makes you say that? Why do you think that?
- 8:27Speaker 2: And he said exactly this, because it always works out.
- 8:30Speaker 2: It'll be fine, because he's always landed on his feet.
- 8:33Speaker 2: He's going to land on his feet this time. Not
- 8:35Speaker 2: based on any sort of reason or logic or rationality
- 8:38Speaker 2: or plan to extricate ourselves from this mess, just a
- 8:42Speaker 2: blind narcissistic faith in his own sort of like divine
- 8:46Speaker 2: right to always have things work out. And so that's
- 8:48Speaker 2: what he's selling to the public. The other interesting thing
- 8:51Speaker 2: Sager I think to note here is, you know, in
- 8:53Speaker 2: his comments about chirping, you could imagine and he sort
- 8:56Speaker 2: of alludes to that, it could be the neocons that
- 8:59Speaker 2: he's annoyed with in terms of chirping, because they're pushing that, oh,
- 9:03Speaker 2: we need to we need to go back to more war,
- 9:06Speaker 2: we need to be more aggressive. You know, we've got
- 9:08Speaker 2: to make sure that we don't give wrong absolutely anything
- 9:11Speaker 2: in terms of this deal. We've got to be as
- 9:13Speaker 2: hawkish as possible. But that is sort of undercut the
- 9:16Speaker 2: notion that he's pushing back on them as undercut by
- 9:18Speaker 2: the fact that earlier he encouraged everyone to go and
- 9:21Speaker 2: watch Mark Levin's show.
- 9:22Speaker 4: Oh that will say, that would be a very encouraging sign.
- 9:25Speaker 3: That would be a very comforting thought if we did
- 9:27Speaker 3: not have this. Let's put a five up there on
- 9:29Speaker 3: the screen over the weekend, the President posting on truth
- 9:33Speaker 3: Social watch Mark Levin tonight at eight a big show,
- 9:38Speaker 3: which immediately then is followed by this Mark Levin interview
- 9:42Speaker 3: with the former Israeli ambassador.
- 9:44Speaker 1: Let's take a listen.
- 9:45Speaker 5: Tell me what is the mindset in Israel with the
- 9:48Speaker 5: Israeli people and so forth.
- 9:50Speaker 6: Very concerned, Mark, I'll be very frank with you, very
- 9:52Speaker 6: concerned that if the regime is thrown a lifeline through
- 9:57Speaker 6: sanctioned relief, through the unfreezing of frozen assets you're talking
- 10:01Speaker 6: about tens and tens of billions of dollars, then it
- 10:04Speaker 6: will continue to fund his bullup. It'll continue to fund
- 10:06Speaker 6: hamas he'll continue to build intercontinental ballistic missiles that have
- 10:10Speaker 6: threatened us.
- 10:11Speaker 7: And what I want to say to the President if
- 10:14Speaker 7: I had that elevator talk with him, as they talk
- 10:16Speaker 7: about in Washington, where you get caught an elevator with
- 10:18Speaker 7: somebody for two minutes. I'd say to them, as president, you
- 10:21Speaker 7: have an opportunity to go down history not as one
- 10:23Speaker 7: of the great presidents of American history, but one of
- 10:25Speaker 7: the great leaders of all time, the ultimate game changer.
- 10:30Speaker 7: And I know it's difficult and under your mints pressures
- 10:33Speaker 7: economically politically, but stay the course, stay the course, and
- 10:39Speaker 7: run out the clock on these guys because they have
- 10:41Speaker 7: a clock.
- 10:42Speaker 5: And you know what else, Let's say my team loses
- 10:46Speaker 5: the midterm elections in the House of Representatives, They're still
- 10:51Speaker 5: not going to be able to stop the commander in chief,
- 10:54Speaker 5: the President of the United States, under our Constitution, from
- 10:57Speaker 5: doing what he needs to do and what he wants
- 10:59Speaker 5: to to do. War Powers Act, No War Powers Act,
- 11:03Speaker 5: and all the rest of it unless they intervene in
- 11:07Speaker 5: a budgetary way and literally cut us off. But that's
- 11:12Speaker 5: on them if they do it.
- 11:14Speaker 3: So that's basically we're all ungrateful knits and it's all
- 11:19Speaker 3: worth it in the end. You also just love having
- 11:21Speaker 3: a literal Israeli politician who is you know, from the
- 11:25Speaker 3: United State. It's actually I think believe you renounced the
- 11:27Speaker 3: citizenship to be able to become the Israeli ambassador to
- 11:30Speaker 3: the United States. Then talk to Trump about how he
- 11:32Speaker 3: can go down as a great man of history. So
- 11:35Speaker 3: that is apparently where things are right now. We do
- 11:38Speaker 3: have the great professor Jeffrey Sachs to break some more.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Of this down, the situation with Iran, let's get to it.
- 11:44Speaker 2: So joining us now to break down all of these
- 11:46Speaker 2: developments and war is Columbia University professor and economist and
- 11:50Speaker 2: great friend of the show, Jeffrey Sacks.
- 11:52Speaker 4: Great to see Zar.
- 11:52Speaker 1: Good to see Zar, Great to be with you.
- 11:54Speaker 8: Thank you.
- 11:54Speaker 2: So we just went over some of the developments this morning.
- 11:58Speaker 2: We've had a new exchange of fire between the Iran
- 12:00Speaker 2: and US and Iran and Kuwait. We also have Trump
- 12:04Speaker 2: coming out and complaining about people chirping as he's trying
- 12:07Speaker 2: to make a deal.
- 12:08Speaker 4: Obviously, Israel continues to.
- 12:10Speaker 2: Bomb inside of Lebanon, and Iran continues to insist that
- 12:14Speaker 2: is a red line for them. So what do you
- 12:16Speaker 2: see as going on right now? Do you think we
- 12:19Speaker 2: are actually close to a deal or is this whole
- 12:22Speaker 2: thing falling apart and degrading.
- 12:25Speaker 9: I don't know if there can be a deal, But
- 12:28Speaker 9: there can be a solution, and the solution is quite straightforward.
- 12:34Speaker 9: The United States should leave.
- 12:36Speaker 8: That's all.
- 12:37Speaker 9: The United States and Israel had an idea. It was crazy,
- 12:42Speaker 9: it failed, But the idea was that in one day
- 12:46Speaker 9: they would take over Iran. That was literally the idea,
- 12:51Speaker 9: that they would kill the leadership, put in a new
- 12:54Speaker 9: leader of their choice, and then we'd all live happily
- 12:58Speaker 9: ever after in their fantasy land. This failed. Within hours,
- 13:04Speaker 9: Iran consolidated its a government, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
- 13:16Speaker 9: consolidated its control, and most importantly, Iran demonstrated the capacity
- 13:22Speaker 9: to retaliate and to retaliate very effectively. And the United
- 13:27Speaker 9: States and Israel can do nothing about this. In other words,
- 13:32Speaker 9: there is no military solution period. Trump continues to act
- 13:39Speaker 9: as if he can make total demands on the Iranian
- 13:45Speaker 9: side that Iran has no interest in agreeing to, and
- 13:52Speaker 9: from Israel's point of view, of course, Yahoo simply wants
- 13:57Speaker 9: the war to continue and to escalate. So Israel uses
- 14:02Speaker 9: the United States. It abuses the United States, the US
- 14:06Speaker 9: lets itself be abused, and this is where we are.
- 14:11Speaker 9: Nothing has changed since March first, and Trump can fulminate,
- 14:17Speaker 9: he can make demands, he can make threats. None of
- 14:21Speaker 9: these threats is credible. He knows it, the US intelligence
- 14:27Speaker 9: agencies know it, the Pentagon knows it. There's no military solution,
- 14:32Speaker 9: So what should be done? I personally don't see how
- 14:36Speaker 9: there can be an agreement on complex issues like the
- 14:42Speaker 9: nuclear brief. You're going to have Kushner and Witkoff negotiate
- 14:49Speaker 9: a nuclear arms control agreement?
- 14:52Speaker 8: Are you kidding? Of course not so.
- 14:56Speaker 9: The idea that this is somehow real negotiations is.
- 15:02Speaker 8: Ludicrous.
- 15:03Speaker 9: The idea that Iran, in this circumstance where you have
- 15:07Speaker 9: a war criminal nearby net Yahu saying we need to
- 15:13Speaker 9: kill all of them unilaterally giving up anything is absurd.
- 15:19Speaker 9: When you are facing a Donald Trump who says, let's negotiate,
- 15:23Speaker 9: and then he bombs you the next moment, it's absurd.
- 15:27Speaker 9: So I personally don't see how there can be a
- 15:30Speaker 9: negotiated agreement. But I see a perfectly fine solution, which
- 15:36Speaker 9: is the United States leads, goes home, declares victory, of course,
- 15:41Speaker 9: the greatest victory in the history of humanity, and Iran
- 15:46Speaker 9: opens up straight again, and yeah, maybe collects a dollar
- 15:51Speaker 9: a barrel of oil, because that would be about seven
- 15:55Speaker 9: billion dollars a year against maybe fifty billion dollars of
- 16:02Speaker 9: destruction by Israel and the United States in the last
- 16:06Speaker 9: ninety days. So no problem, nothing even to discuss next year.
- 16:13Speaker 9: If you don't send Kushner and Witkoff, but you actually
- 16:18Speaker 9: send some competent people, then the nuclear issue can be
- 16:23Speaker 9: brought up again. Of course, we know the ultimate irony
- 16:27Speaker 9: is the nuclear issue was solved eleven years ago and
- 16:31Speaker 9: Trump ripped it up. So this is immaturity, it's petulance,
- 16:38Speaker 9: it's stubbornness, it's the Zionist lobby, it's a refusal to
- 16:44Speaker 9: face facts. It's an old, ignorant man as our president.
- 16:51Speaker 9: But there's an obvious answer. Get the oil prices down.
- 16:55Speaker 9: Go home, have a shot at your midterm elections, which
- 16:58Speaker 9: Trump now.
- 16:59Speaker 8: Says he does and care about. Good if he doesn't.
- 17:03Speaker 9: But I don't want it to be decided on the
- 17:06Speaker 9: basis of continued war. But in any event, just go home.
- 17:11Speaker 9: You tried something, you try to stunt. Someone sold you
- 17:15Speaker 9: a line. We know who it is. Barneer and bb
- 17:20Speaker 9: sold Trump a line. He alone in the room bought it.
- 17:24Speaker 9: The others thought it was farcical, but he bought it.
- 17:28Speaker 9: They tried it, it failed.
- 17:30Speaker 8: Well, what are you going to do?
- 17:31Speaker 9: Keep trying the same farcical failure. That's that's where we
- 17:36Speaker 9: are right now. No need for a deal, No need
- 17:39Speaker 9: for a deal.
- 17:40Speaker 2: Of course, the professor forgets that they've also added someone
- 17:43Speaker 2: from the Foundation for the Defensive Democracies to the negotiating team.
- 17:47Speaker 8: So surely I'm sorry, fair enough, fair enough.
- 17:51Speaker 1: I did one last question on a ronswir zooming out.
- 17:54Speaker 3: You travel the world, you speak to a lot of
- 17:56Speaker 3: diplomats Europe and Asia. What has the been the reaction
- 18:00Speaker 3: behind the scenes. You talk to a lot of these
- 18:01Speaker 3: world leaders and a lot of these diplomats. What are
- 18:04Speaker 3: they all thinking right now about the United States in
- 18:06Speaker 3: the aftermath of the Iran War.
- 18:08Speaker 9: I think everyone sees that the United States government is incompetent, irrational, incapable.
- 18:17Speaker 9: So this is a display of the lack of any
- 18:23Speaker 9: process or foresight. They see an old guy surrounded by
- 18:30Speaker 9: yes men, by sick ephants, making decisions that net who
- 18:37Speaker 9: passes to him, and it's not impressive. So I think
- 18:43Speaker 9: the world doesn't quite know how to handle this. They
- 18:46Speaker 9: have business to do with the United States. But this
- 18:49Speaker 9: has been a display of profound incompetence, and that I
- 18:55Speaker 9: think is the overriding fact. Of course, they're staff also
- 19:01Speaker 9: there are energy prices of sword. This hurts people across
- 19:07Speaker 9: the world. They don't like this, They want this to end.
- 19:11Speaker 9: But the main thing that they see is instability and
- 19:16Speaker 9: incompetence in the United States.
- 19:20Speaker 2: So, Professor, what we have you here today. We wanted
- 19:23Speaker 2: to lean into your expertise as an economist to help
- 19:26Speaker 2: us assess what is going on here with the economic
- 19:29Speaker 2: fallout from the Iran war. Is we have some pretty
- 19:32Speaker 2: interesting comments here from Kevin Hassett, who is a top
- 19:35Speaker 2: economic advisor to the president, who is seeing positive signs
- 19:40Speaker 2: in the fact that Americans are spending more.
- 19:43Speaker 4: Let's take a listen to that.
- 19:44Speaker 10: One of the reasons is that people are spending more
- 19:47Speaker 10: on guts, but they're also spending more on everything else,
- 19:50Speaker 10: not just groceries, but restaurants and so on. And I
- 19:53Speaker 10: think that that's a sign that you would see when
- 19:56Speaker 10: people are optimistic about the future. So generally, what we
- 19:59Speaker 10: see when people are worried they're going to lose their job,
- 20:01Speaker 10: which they shouldn't be because in additional claims for employment
- 20:04Speaker 10: insuran's about the lowest they've ever been. When they're worried
- 20:06Speaker 10: they're going.
- 20:07Speaker 8: To lose their job.
- 20:07Speaker 10: So that's why they stop spending like crazy and start
- 20:10Speaker 10: saving money because they're worried they might not have to
- 20:12Speaker 10: pay they might have the money for their paying their rent.
- 20:14Speaker 10: And so what we're seeing right now is spending based
- 20:17Speaker 10: on optimism about the future.
- 20:19Speaker 8: And if you consider how big.
- 20:21Speaker 10: The boom is going to be, like right now Atlanta
- 20:23Speaker 10: fens Shepp now is about a four percent growth for
- 20:25Speaker 10: the current quarter. If you look at how big the
- 20:27Speaker 10: boom will be when the straits open, then it's reasonable
- 20:31Speaker 10: for people to be optimistic.
- 20:32Speaker 11: Well, we hope there is reason for optimism with the
- 20:34Speaker 11: straight and beyond.
- 20:35Speaker 2: So Professor he says, Oh, not only are they spending
- 20:38Speaker 2: more on gas, they're spending.
- 20:39Speaker 4: More on everything.
- 20:40Speaker 9: Was that AI generated by the way, that's really make
- 20:43Speaker 9: it up.
- 20:43Speaker 1: Real's actually said that twice.
- 20:45Speaker 9: That's that smile seemed completely phony, And of course every
- 20:51Speaker 9: word he was saying was a lie. Because consumer confidence
- 20:55Speaker 9: has plummeted. People are suffering. The American economy has two.
- 21:00Speaker 8: Parts to it.
- 21:01Speaker 9: There is a digital and war industry, which is booming.
- 21:06Speaker 9: Let's say it's booming on Pentagon contracts, it's booming on war.
- 21:12Speaker 9: So if you look at the Silicon Valley and you
- 21:16Speaker 9: look at the AI bubble and now AI bubble for
- 21:21Speaker 9: autonomous weapons and palanteer information systems and the like, Yeah,
- 21:27Speaker 9: this is good if you happen to be the few
- 21:30Speaker 9: people that own our government. But for the rest of Americans,
- 21:35Speaker 9: they can't believe what's going on. And that's why Trump's
- 21:39Speaker 9: approval rating reached the grand number of thirty four percent
- 21:45Speaker 9: against I think it's fifty eight percent disapproval rating in
- 21:50Speaker 9: the most recent Economist poll, but somewhere around their fifty
- 21:53Speaker 9: eight to sixty percent. People are disgusted. They can't pay
- 21:56Speaker 9: their bills. The United States budget is totally a joke.
- 22:05Speaker 9: Seven percent of GDP budget deficit. Trump's asking for a
- 22:10Speaker 9: five hundred billion dollar increase of military spending.
- 22:14Speaker 8: This is nuts.
- 22:16Speaker 9: This is exactly what we're seeing in the domestic management
- 22:21Speaker 9: that the rest of the world is watching in the
- 22:24Speaker 9: American escapades in the Gulf.
- 22:26Speaker 8: Complete incompetence.
- 22:28Speaker 9: And I hope they pay hasse it well, because you know,
- 22:32Speaker 9: to be a grown person and stand up and say
- 22:36Speaker 9: such nonsense I hope he gets some compensation for that.
- 22:41Speaker 3: Well, we have another one for you here. He is
- 22:43Speaker 3: talking about credit card debt. Let's take a listen.
- 22:45Speaker 11: Credit card debt, though, because that's another issue. Wall Street
- 22:47Speaker 11: Journal says in the first quarter of this year, the
- 22:49Speaker 11: percentage of credit card balances that were at least ninety
- 22:52Speaker 11: days delinquent rose to thirteen point one two percent, according
- 22:56Speaker 11: to data released in May by the Federal Reserve Bank
- 22:58Speaker 11: of New York. That's the high level in fifteen years
- 23:01Speaker 11: and the most since the period following the two thousand
- 23:03Speaker 11: and eight financial crisis. People say they're using those cards
- 23:06Speaker 11: to get through necessities because they can't afford what's going on?
- 23:11Speaker 11: So your message to.
- 23:12Speaker 10: Them, right, Well, we talked to the CEOs of the
- 23:15Speaker 10: credit card companies all the time, and we do see
- 23:17Speaker 10: some increased stress, like the numbers at the Wall Street
- 23:21Speaker 10: Journal quotes. But for the most part, the delinquency is
- 23:26Speaker 10: different from default, and there's not any kind of threat,
- 23:30Speaker 10: the financial threat to the credit card companies that they
- 23:33Speaker 10: don't feel like they're heading towards default scenarios. It's just
- 23:36Speaker 10: that people are taking a little bit longer.
- 23:38Speaker 3: He assures, A sort of the credit card companies are
- 23:40Speaker 3: going to be okay. As for the customers, he's not
- 23:43Speaker 3: so sure.
- 23:44Speaker 8: I love that smile.
- 23:45Speaker 9: I just have to keep emphasizing that this is a
- 23:50Speaker 9: This is quite a commentator, but yes, you know, it's
- 23:55Speaker 9: also absurd they talk to the CEOs. I'm sure the
- 23:59Speaker 9: ceo they're doing just fine, thank you. But the people
- 24:03Speaker 9: who's credit card bills from necessities, as the Fox News
- 24:08Speaker 9: was kind enough to remind us, is soaring. So we
- 24:13Speaker 9: have two Americas. One has most of the people in it.
- 24:18Speaker 9: They're not feeling well. They hate this war. By overwhelming majorities,
- 24:24Speaker 9: they can't pay their bills. They are falling further and
- 24:27Speaker 9: further behind. And then we have the CEO class of course,
- 24:32Speaker 9: and we have Anderill and we have palent here, we
- 24:37Speaker 9: have all of the big tech companies. They're having a
- 24:40Speaker 9: glorious time. War is good business and things are revving up.
- 24:44Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you more about your analysis earlier
- 24:49Speaker 2: of how this is kind of bifurcated economy and what
- 24:52Speaker 2: I've been seeing is, you know, in previous eras, it's
- 24:54Speaker 2: not like the stock market was perfectly predictive of the
- 24:57Speaker 2: well being of the average American.
- 24:59Speaker 4: But you that was at least some sort of correlation.
- 25:02Speaker 2: Now it seems to be a reverse indicator that the
- 25:06Speaker 2: better the stock market does because it is all consolidated,
- 25:09Speaker 2: concentrated into these AI tech companies, the better the stock
- 25:14Speaker 2: market does, the more that the average American suffers, because
- 25:18Speaker 2: what they're being rewarded for with these AI companies is
- 25:21Speaker 2: their ability to replace human workers. And I wonder if
- 25:25Speaker 2: you see it the same and how you're analyzing that impact.
- 25:28Speaker 9: At this point, there are two things going on. One
- 25:32Speaker 9: is exactly what you said, and it's a deep trend
- 25:36Speaker 9: which did not start with AI. It started with automation
- 25:40Speaker 9: robotics already more than forty years ago. And we see
- 25:45Speaker 9: it in one key, very interesting number. You can take
- 25:49Speaker 9: the national income in the United States and ask what
- 25:53Speaker 9: part goes to workers and what part goes to capital income.
- 25:59Speaker 9: And I was a student of economics graduate school decades ago.
- 26:06Speaker 9: In the late seventies, we used to say that the
- 26:09Speaker 9: share that would go to workers was about two thirds
- 26:14Speaker 9: of the total national income. Now just the most recent
- 26:19Speaker 9: data puts it at about fifty percent. In other words,
- 26:23Speaker 9: it's gone from abouto point six five too point five.
- 26:28Speaker 9: That is a big deal. What's happening is more and
- 26:32Speaker 9: more of the national income that's produced is going to profits,
- 26:37Speaker 9: is going to corporate earnings, is going to rents, to
- 26:42Speaker 9: ownership of patents and so forth. And what workers get
- 26:48Speaker 9: is absolutely falling as a share. But for a great
- 26:54Speaker 9: part of our society, what workers get is falling in
- 26:57Speaker 9: absolute TERMSI I will speed that up. Artificial intelligence substitutes
- 27:06Speaker 9: these algorithms for human labor, and whatever anyone says, this
- 27:13Speaker 9: is a process that's been going on for decades, and
- 27:16Speaker 9: wages are stagnant or falling for those segments of the
- 27:22Speaker 9: labor force where that substitution can occur. Twenty let's say,
- 27:27Speaker 9: thirty years ago, it was people on the assembly line.
- 27:30Speaker 9: Those jobs didn't go to China. Those jobs went to
- 27:33Speaker 9: the robots. Now the jobs are going to claud and
- 27:38Speaker 9: to others. And this is happening actually with a new swath.
- 27:43Speaker 9: We know it's with the college graduates this year. They're
- 27:47Speaker 9: not finding jobs when they come out, and this is
- 27:51Speaker 9: showing up as this shift of national income. The second
- 27:55Speaker 9: thing that's happening, I think most likely this is always
- 28:01Speaker 9: a judgment that only can be made X post, is.
- 28:04Speaker 8: That we really have a bubble. We really have the
- 28:07Speaker 8: Elon Musk thrill.
- 28:08Speaker 9: That we got the gazillion dollar companies and the trillion
- 28:13Speaker 9: dollar man and all the rest. I see no way
- 28:18Speaker 9: personally that the valuations that are being put on a
- 28:22Speaker 9: big tech and on the IPOs can in any way
- 28:26Speaker 9: be justified. Because one of the core features of these
- 28:31Speaker 9: technologies is that they diffuse. There really is competition. There
- 28:36Speaker 9: isn't somehow control by the first mover. China runs AI
- 28:43Speaker 9: on an open source stack because it's trying to compete
- 28:47Speaker 9: with the United States, so it's trying to get users
- 28:49Speaker 9: all over the world. That means there's going to be
- 28:52Speaker 9: a lot of open source ways to access this very
- 28:56Speaker 9: powerful technology. And all these huge, huge revenues that are
- 29:02Speaker 9: being anticipated by these companies that are now fifty times
- 29:08Speaker 9: earnings or one hundred times earnings or infinite because there
- 29:10Speaker 9: are no earnings, I don't think this is going to
- 29:13Speaker 9: materialize in the way that is expected. So on top
- 29:17Speaker 9: of the fundamental shift towards profits, which I think is
- 29:21Speaker 9: real and deep, there's also I think a financial bubble
- 29:26Speaker 9: that is underway.
- 29:30Speaker 3: Professor, When we zoom out a bit again looking to
- 29:32Speaker 3: your own work and what you've looked at in the classroom.
- 29:35Speaker 3: What are the parallels in history to these types of forces,
- 29:38Speaker 3: to people coming out in the workforce in the midst
- 29:41Speaker 3: of great technological change of a great amount of wealth,
- 29:44Speaker 3: concentrated and potentially bubble assets.
- 29:47Speaker 1: What does that look like and manifest in a society.
- 29:51Speaker 9: Well, this has happened repeatedly. These technologies we call GPT
- 29:57Speaker 9: general purpose technologies, which means something like the steam engine,
- 30:02Speaker 9: which was the great invention of two hundred and fifty
- 30:06Speaker 9: years ago, created the factory world, and not just in
- 30:12Speaker 9: one sector but across the economy, and it created the
- 30:15Speaker 9: railroad and many other things. Electrification was a general purpose technology.
- 30:22Speaker 9: AI is a general purpose technology, an extraordinarily powerful one
- 30:27Speaker 9: in my view. I don't believe it's hyped. I think
- 30:30Speaker 9: it's amazing and real. But what you find with general
- 30:34Speaker 9: purpose technologies is that generally they raise overall output in
- 30:40Speaker 9: the economy, but dramatically redistribute the output as well. In
- 30:47Speaker 9: the first Industrial Revolution, with the steam engine, there were
- 30:52Speaker 9: vast numbers of losers. The economy started to boom, especially
- 30:57Speaker 9: in Britain, which was the first industrialized name, but those
- 31:01Speaker 9: masses in the Satanic mills, these were women and children,
- 31:06Speaker 9: who used to have jobs in rural areas, for instance,
- 31:11Speaker 9: spinning yarns. All of that went away with mechanization. They
- 31:15Speaker 9: ended up as degraded workers. And it was exactly that
- 31:21Speaker 9: what we call misrization becoming more miserable that led Karl
- 31:27Speaker 9: Marx and Friedrich Engels to issue the Communist Manifesto in
- 31:34Speaker 9: the eighteen late eighteen forties. So that was real. Then
- 31:40Speaker 9: over time, new institutions were developed to share the increase
- 31:46Speaker 9: of output. Actually, Bismarck in the New German State in
- 31:53Speaker 9: the eighteen seventies and eighteen eighties invented public pensions as
- 31:58Speaker 9: a way to ensure that this booming economy would help
- 32:02Speaker 9: more and more people. Well, this has been a repeated phenomenon.
- 32:07Speaker 9: Big technological advance, the overall size of the economy increases,
- 32:15Speaker 9: but the way that the pie is divided in the
- 32:18Speaker 9: proverbial expression changes dramatically. And we're going to have that
- 32:23Speaker 9: with AI as well. And the American political system for
- 32:28Speaker 9: at least fifty years has been don't help anyone, We're
- 32:34Speaker 9: on our own, you know, good luck to you, and
- 32:38Speaker 9: in an AI era that would prove devastating. Now Trump
- 32:45Speaker 9: appealed to those who are suffering both in twenty sixteen
- 32:51Speaker 9: and twenty twenty four on a clever political messaging that
- 32:57Speaker 9: was fundamentally false. He said China took your jobs. He
- 33:02Speaker 9: said the migrants took your jobs. He didn't say technology
- 33:08Speaker 9: has changed how we live and redistributed the national income.
- 33:13Speaker 9: That is the right answer. There are no jobs coming
- 33:18Speaker 9: back from China. By the way, I go to Chinese
- 33:20Speaker 9: factories all the time. They don't have workers in them
- 33:22Speaker 9: anymore because they're all automated. There aren't jobs coming back
- 33:27Speaker 9: from China. What we have is a technological revolution, basically
- 33:33Speaker 9: positive actually in that we can do more, We can
- 33:37Speaker 9: be more clever, we can have more sophisticated drug discovery
- 33:42Speaker 9: or better healthcare diagnostics or many other things.
- 33:48Speaker 8: But it's not going to fall equally.
- 33:50Speaker 9: It's going to miserize part of our society unless we
- 33:55Speaker 9: actually decide for the first time in more than half
- 33:58Speaker 9: a century, to act like a society rather than to
- 34:02Speaker 9: act like a group of individuals out in a brutal
- 34:06Speaker 9: competition with each other. But we don't even have that
- 34:09Speaker 9: kind of understanding in our political discourse right now. But
- 34:13Speaker 9: the AI is moving forward relentlessly with or without it,
- 34:17Speaker 9: and by the way the number of meetings every day
- 34:22Speaker 9: in every sector talking about loss of jobs, reshuffling of
- 34:26Speaker 9: the workforce. This is happening everywhere right now, and we
- 34:31Speaker 9: don't have any public policy framework, and we won't under Trump.
- 34:36Speaker 8: This is something way beyond him.
- 34:39Speaker 2: I think we do have a public policy framework under Trump.
- 34:42Speaker 2: Rather than going in the direction of making sure that
- 34:44Speaker 2: people will not be e miserated, what they've done is
- 34:48Speaker 2: you mentioned earlier that you want to dramatically increase. He's
- 34:50Speaker 2: already increased the defense budget dramatically, but he wants to
- 34:53Speaker 2: up it even further. And then we've also seen this
- 34:55Speaker 2: tremendous increase in the domestic law enforcement budget and an
- 34:59Speaker 2: emphasis on mass surveillance, et cetera. So it seems like
- 35:03Speaker 2: the direction they want to go in is a sort
- 35:05Speaker 2: of crackdown, authoritarian crackdown to make sure that there if
- 35:09Speaker 2: they're unhappy, are not going to have the ability or
- 35:11Speaker 2: will be too afraid to get out of line.
- 35:15Speaker 1: But that's exactly right.
- 35:16Speaker 9: But I would just add one more point to that,
- 35:18Speaker 9: which is that specifically the surveillance state and specifically the
- 35:23Speaker 9: war economy are big business, precisely for the AI industry.
- 35:29Speaker 9: So It's not only incidental that they want to crack down.
- 35:32Speaker 9: These are gold mines for them, more war phenomenal. Look
- 35:37Speaker 9: at the biggest booming stock market in the world right
- 35:40Speaker 9: now is Israel, because it's basically a war machine. It's
- 35:44Speaker 9: basically a surveillance, intelligence, and military machine. So war is
- 35:50Speaker 9: good for the not for the stock market.
- 35:53Speaker 2: For the stock market, Well, do you see the introduction
- 35:58Speaker 2: of AI. As you mentioned before, we've had general purpose
- 36:01Speaker 2: technologies introduced before.
- 36:04Speaker 4: You know, they over time.
- 36:06Speaker 2: Once you had a transition, they benefited I think the
- 36:09Speaker 2: population overall, although there are some that may dispute that,
- 36:12Speaker 2: but the difference may be twofold. Number one, how quickly
- 36:17Speaker 2: AI has been developed and is being disseminated.
- 36:21Speaker 4: And number two.
- 36:22Speaker 2: You know, previous general purpose technologies were meant to replace,
- 36:26Speaker 2: like the horse for example. This is explicitly meant to
- 36:29Speaker 2: replace human beings, and the developers of it will tell
- 36:32Speaker 2: you that and tell you things like we intend to
- 36:34Speaker 2: make all of human labor irrelevant, human beings effectively irrelevant
- 36:39Speaker 2: to you know, productivity, growth and economic output, et cetera.
- 36:43Speaker 4: So do you see it as a more grave threat.
- 36:47Speaker 2: To the you know, the prosperity and happiness of mankind
- 36:52Speaker 2: than previous general purpose technologies.
- 36:55Speaker 9: Well, it's happening so much faster than anything else. And
- 37:00Speaker 9: we have metrics which we call adoption rates, how long
- 37:04Speaker 9: does it take a certain number of users to use
- 37:06Speaker 9: the technology. And we've never seen anything like what we
- 37:10Speaker 9: have Right now, Chat ept is announced and within weeks
- 37:15Speaker 9: it's one hundreds of millions of users worldwide. So we're
- 37:18Speaker 9: seeing something that is happening completely at an unprecedented scale,
- 37:25Speaker 9: and I think that that will continue. In terms of
- 37:30Speaker 9: what it means for human well being, there are two issues.
- 37:35Speaker 9: One issue is the distributional issue that we say gainers
- 37:43Speaker 9: economically could compensate those who lose because the overall pie
- 37:48Speaker 9: grows elon mosk. You know, it doesn't really need a
- 37:52Speaker 9: trillion dollars of personal network or whatever, six hundred or
- 37:55Speaker 9: seven hundred billion, I didn't check this morning.
- 37:58Speaker 8: It doesn't need that.
- 38:00Speaker 9: If we actually distributed well being in our country, we
- 38:04Speaker 9: could have a broader gain. Then there's the meaning of
- 38:09Speaker 9: life and the meaning of work question, which is that
- 38:12Speaker 9: these technologies in a fair society would mean less work.
- 38:20Speaker 9: The robots can do physical labor and the AI can
- 38:25Speaker 9: do cognitive work of various kinds. Is that a good
- 38:29Speaker 9: thing in principle? Again, if it's done thoughtfully, it could
- 38:35Speaker 9: very well be a good thing, because we would have
- 38:38Speaker 9: more time for friends, for family, for leisure, for culture,
- 38:42Speaker 9: for exploration, for other things. If the drudge work is
- 38:48Speaker 9: actually carried out mechanically so per se earlier technologies. It's
- 38:57Speaker 9: not true that they've always created new jobs to replace
- 39:00Speaker 9: the old jobs. We actually work less hours per day
- 39:05Speaker 9: on average than one hundred years ago by far. As
- 39:09Speaker 9: a matter of fact, the numbers are quite astounding. The
- 39:14Speaker 9: average work time of an adult American is about three
- 39:20Speaker 9: hours twenty minutes at this point something like that. That's
- 39:25Speaker 9: for an economy of a thirty trillion dollar output. Now
- 39:30Speaker 9: that counts weekend time, that counts retirement time, that counts
- 39:34Speaker 9: time in school, that counts vacation time, leisure time, and
- 39:39Speaker 9: so on. But the point is, we don't work like
- 39:42Speaker 9: our grandparents and great grandparents did. They worked not only
- 39:46Speaker 9: at physical labor, but they worked round the clock, maybe
- 39:49Speaker 9: six days a week. And this is a big change.
- 39:53Speaker 9: And on the whole I believe it's a plus. But
- 39:56Speaker 9: American society, as we've been discussing, is quite distinctive it's
- 40:02Speaker 9: barely a society. Our political system is so corrupted it's
- 40:07Speaker 9: not regarded as a society. It's regarded as a group
- 40:10Speaker 9: of particular interests, of which Silicon Valley itself is interest
- 40:15Speaker 9: group number one. It's more powerful than every other interest group,
- 40:20Speaker 9: partly because the generals are desperate for this technology. The military,
- 40:25Speaker 9: the government has put its hands into Palenteers more important
- 40:31Speaker 9: than the rest of our government. They're watching everything we do.
- 40:35Speaker 9: They're building the surveillance state. So in this sense, we
- 40:40Speaker 9: have a political and ethical problem that's quite fundamental in
- 40:44Speaker 9: this country. And again with this current gang these are gangsters.
- 40:51Speaker 9: They're not in any way, shape or form even remotely
- 40:56Speaker 9: aware or interested in these questions used always.
- 41:02Speaker 2: Sir, Yeah, I went in a different direction in the
- 41:04Speaker 2: segment than I expected, but a really fascinating discussion, professor.
- 41:07Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time and analysis.
- 41:09Speaker 1: As always, thank you, sir, good see you soon.
- 41:14Speaker 3: Turning down to America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday, let's
- 41:18Speaker 3: go ahead and start with what a disaster it seems
- 41:21Speaker 3: the celebration will be. Let's put see two up there
- 41:24Speaker 3: on the screen from Trump. I understand artists are getting
- 41:27Speaker 3: the Yips having to do their performance on Wet's Day.
- 41:30Speaker 3: So I am thinking about bringing the number one attraction
- 41:33Speaker 3: anywhere in the world. The man who gets much larger
- 41:36Speaker 3: audiences than Elvis in his prime does so without a guitar.
- 41:39Speaker 3: The man who loves our country more than anyone else.
- 41:41Speaker 3: The man who some say is the greatest president in history.
- 41:44Speaker 3: The goat Donald J. Trump to take the place of
- 41:48Speaker 3: these highly paid third rate artists and give a major
- 41:51Speaker 3: speech rallying the country forward like I have done ever
- 41:54Speaker 3: since being president. And he goes on to, you know,
- 41:57Speaker 3: basically talk about why he's so fantastic.
- 42:00Speaker 1: This comes on the heels of C three.
- 42:02Speaker 3: Let's put this up here on the screen after many
- 42:05Speaker 3: of the some say second.
- 42:07Speaker 1: Rate artists actually no by trumpson admission.
- 42:09Speaker 3: Third rate artists that were announced as the featured performers
- 42:13Speaker 3: for Freedom two hundred and fifty the Great American State
- 42:15Speaker 3: Fair have dropped out, including Martina McBride, Young mc Millie, Vanilli,
- 42:22Speaker 3: the Commodores, Morris Day and The Time, and Brett Michaels.
- 42:27Speaker 3: It seems that Vanilla, Ice, Flow Rider and C plus
- 42:30Speaker 3: C Music Factory will remain. I will confess I did
- 42:34Speaker 3: not know who any of these people were except for
- 42:38Speaker 3: Vanilla Ice and flow Rider.
- 42:40Speaker 2: Okay, let me just say the most shocking part of
- 42:43Speaker 2: this whole story is that I had to explain to
- 42:45Speaker 2: both Sager and Mac who Millie Vanilli was. I don't
- 42:48Speaker 2: have a clue, and the whole controversy surrounding how you
- 42:52Speaker 2: know they were these hit artists and then it turns
- 42:54Speaker 2: out they were just lip syncing.
- 42:55Speaker 1: It was all.
- 42:56Speaker 4: It was a big thing.
- 42:57Speaker 2: So it was humiliating when they announced that, Evenilly, who's
- 43:00Speaker 2: literally like a fake artist who is going to be performing,
- 43:04Speaker 2: And then even more humiliating when Milli Vanilly was like.
- 43:07Speaker 1: Nah, he's like too good for this. We're good, We're
- 43:10Speaker 1: not doing this.
- 43:11Speaker 2: I mean yeah, And I love I also love how
- 43:14Speaker 2: Trump is like just out and out announcing like, yeah,
- 43:16Speaker 2: I'm going to do the same old shit that I
- 43:18Speaker 2: always do, as I've done, you know, give another speech,
- 43:20Speaker 2: as I've done since I began to lead the country,
- 43:23Speaker 2: or whatever it is that he said, like, yeah, it's
- 43:25Speaker 2: not going to be a special day and soccer. I
- 43:27Speaker 2: feel like, you know, another president that hasn't made the
- 43:32Speaker 2: office of the presidency all about them, you know, building
- 43:36Speaker 2: monuments and putting their name on everything, and you know,
- 43:39Speaker 2: instituting loyalty tests for literally every single position in the administration.
- 43:43Speaker 2: Another president, you could imagine you helping to put together
- 43:47Speaker 2: a celebration like this that would feel non political, where
- 43:50Speaker 2: you could have artists that have a different political ideology
- 43:53Speaker 2: that still feel comfortable because they're like, it's not a
- 43:55Speaker 2: celebration of this one man, it's a celebration of the country,
- 43:58Speaker 2: and it's a celebart two hunred and fifty years. Okay,
- 44:00Speaker 2: we can do this, and I'm sure all the other
- 44:02Speaker 2: celebrations that we've had for the centennial and the Bison
- 44:05Speaker 2: Telli or whatever were like that. But because Trump has
- 44:09Speaker 2: this authoritarian tendency to personalize everything about the office and
- 44:14Speaker 2: make it all about himself, it is impossible to participate
- 44:18Speaker 2: an event like this without low key endorsing Trump and
- 44:23Speaker 2: what Trump is all about, or getting used for his
- 44:27Speaker 2: spectacle and self aggrandizement. And of course this is all
- 44:30Speaker 2: being hosted like around his own personal birthday, so that
- 44:32Speaker 2: doesn't help the matter either.
- 44:33Speaker 3: Yeah, it's actually funny to back up your point. Let
- 44:36Speaker 3: Matt Walsh do the talking. Let's put C four up
- 44:39Speaker 3: there on the screen as we like to do as
- 44:41Speaker 3: we like to do. I'm actually pretty pissed at how
- 44:44Speaker 3: badly they've bungled America two fifty. First they tried to
- 44:47Speaker 3: invite Millie Vanilli in a bunch of other absurdly washed
- 44:50Speaker 3: up geriatric one hit wonders. Then when that didn't work,
- 44:54Speaker 3: they decided to convert the event into a Trump rally. Well,
- 44:56Speaker 3: Trump will talk about himself for ninety minutes. This should
- 44:59Speaker 3: have been a man sive, raucous celebration of the country
- 45:02Speaker 3: in its two hundred and fifty history. Will now it
- 45:04Speaker 3: will be a political rally identical to the ten million
- 45:07Speaker 3: other ones that we have already seen.
- 45:09Speaker 1: I completely agree Matt Walsh.
- 45:12Speaker 3: But I was doing some ruminating this morning, and I
- 45:14Speaker 3: was thinking a little bit about about why. You know,
- 45:17Speaker 3: in some ways it's fitting. So the last major celebration
- 45:20Speaker 3: that we had was the bi centennial in nineteen seventy six,
- 45:24Speaker 3: and I actually think if you think back to that time,
- 45:27Speaker 3: nineteen seventy six was a very bad year. We were
- 45:29Speaker 3: coming off the heels of losing the war in Vietnam.
- 45:32Speaker 3: This was the beginning of like the Carter Stagflation era.
- 45:36Speaker 3: There was a deep amount of questioning in the United States,
- 45:39Speaker 3: it's like, who are we were this great superpower that
- 45:43Speaker 3: seems to have run a mock We have no idea
- 45:45Speaker 3: what we're doing. Internally, there was the weather underground, there
- 45:48Speaker 3: was all this insanity, bombings all across the United States,
- 45:52Speaker 3: the new left kind of air. That Democratic Party doesn't
- 45:55Speaker 3: know what it is. Even the Republican Party itself is
- 45:58Speaker 3: like going through the gold Water Revolution and the falling
- 46:01Speaker 3: apart and the New Deal and so look, I mean,
- 46:04Speaker 3: you know, we can feel very pessimistic about where the
- 46:07Speaker 3: country is, but things ended up being okay, at least
- 46:09Speaker 3: in the eighties and the nineties, and so I don't know.
- 46:11Speaker 3: I mean, it does seem as if the bi centennial
- 46:13Speaker 3: and the you know what is it, the America two
- 46:15Speaker 3: fifty will share at least some of the DNA of
- 46:18Speaker 3: all of that. But you're not wrong in terms of
- 46:20Speaker 3: Trump himself making it Trump making it about himself. I
- 46:23Speaker 3: also think it's a reflection of the country. You know,
- 46:26Speaker 3: I was looking. The one that actually will shock everybody
- 46:30Speaker 3: is the centennial, the centennial of the United States and
- 46:33Speaker 3: even America one fifty. If you go back and you
- 46:36Speaker 3: look at the way that people talk and celebrated in
- 46:39Speaker 3: nineteen twenty six. The amount of reverence the Americans average
- 46:43Speaker 3: everyday Americans had for the founding Fathers. They could tell
- 46:46Speaker 3: you not only they could probably recite, you know, significant
- 46:49Speaker 3: portions of the Constitution, of the Declaration of Independence. They
- 46:52Speaker 3: could tell you a lot about America's founding fathers, about
- 46:55Speaker 3: the Federalist papers and more.
- 46:56Speaker 1: I'm talking about everyday school children being able to do so.
- 46:59Speaker 3: Even putting George Washington, you know, he was celebrated during
- 47:02Speaker 3: the America one fifty.
- 47:03Speaker 1: We're very, very far apart from that. It's not just
- 47:05Speaker 1: about being divided.
- 47:06Speaker 3: It's just like you know, we talk about screens a
- 47:08Speaker 3: lot of the social disconnection and other things that we
- 47:10Speaker 3: have here in the nation. So it does actually seem
- 47:13Speaker 3: quite fitting. Trump was elected here in twenty twenty four,
- 47:17Speaker 3: which is a sign of a crazy country. I think
- 47:19Speaker 3: we can all at least say some of us can
- 47:21Speaker 3: admit now. And so this is, you know, in many ways,
- 47:24Speaker 3: we get, we get what we deserve, and in particular
- 47:27Speaker 3: it's here is Trump now for his birthday celebration, ostensibly
- 47:31Speaker 3: for freedom two fifty. Let's go ahead and put this
- 47:34Speaker 3: video E C one please on the screen. Trump is
- 47:38Speaker 3: now turning the White House into a UFC stadium to
- 47:42Speaker 3: celebrate his eightieth birthday. Again, it's UFC two to fifty,
- 47:45Speaker 3: so ostensibly it's for the two hundred and fifty. At
- 47:48Speaker 3: Birthday of America, we'll have some five thousand spectator. I
- 47:52Speaker 3: love that they threw some of this into the reflecting
- 47:54Speaker 3: pool and the East Wing and the you know, the
- 47:56Speaker 3: rose garden and all these other crazy things.
- 47:58Speaker 1: The stadium being built with a White House lawn.
- 48:02Speaker 2: By the way, the contract I can't remember which outlet
- 48:05Speaker 2: did some digging. The contract for painting the reflecting pool
- 48:08Speaker 2: this blue color or whatever, of course went to some
- 48:11Speaker 2: Trump aligned contractor, and the profit Margins are in a
- 48:15Speaker 2: no bid contract act with the Profit Margins. Yes, that escalated,
- 48:20Speaker 2: so so yeah, you know, even in all of this,
- 48:23Speaker 2: of course, it's got to be got to be peppered
- 48:26Speaker 2: with some Trumpian corruption too. It wouldn't be a celebration
- 48:28Speaker 2: of Trump's birthday without some Trumpian corruption.
- 48:30Speaker 3: I got no hate to the UFCU, but let's all
- 48:33Speaker 3: be honest, Like we're gonna have shirtless dudes and gladiator
- 48:36Speaker 3: fights of the White House.
- 48:36Speaker 1: Lawn, Like what are we doing here?
- 48:38Speaker 3: Like it's ridiculous and to use and to turn the
- 48:41Speaker 3: White House again the south lawn of the White House
- 48:44Speaker 3: of the United States. This is a place for garden
- 48:46Speaker 3: parties or for you know, I can't even say the
- 48:50Speaker 3: Easter egg roll, right, Like, these are the types of
- 48:52Speaker 3: events they're supposed to be happening here. To turn it
- 48:54Speaker 3: into an explicitly like politically aligned who could say it's
- 48:57Speaker 3: not come on, Dana White, he is like the original
- 48:59Speaker 3: Trump's and then to turn it into some major spectacle
- 49:02Speaker 3: which will all be broadcast. I believe on paramount plus
- 49:06Speaker 3: that Trump aligne right right, Yeah, in terms of what
- 49:09Speaker 3: we're talking about here, we're talking about tens of millions
- 49:11Speaker 3: of dollars that are being spent with the gigantic arena.
- 49:13Speaker 3: Call me a buzzkill, don't care because it's all you know,
- 49:17Speaker 3: put in the veneer of it's all about Trump himself
- 49:20Speaker 3: and America two fifty. So I'm just look, all I
- 49:22Speaker 3: can say is I'm trying to take a step back
- 49:24Speaker 3: and say, yeah, the bi centennial, it was a bad
- 49:26Speaker 3: year two so it's not you know, like even though
- 49:28Speaker 3: these are supposed to have some sort of reverence and
- 49:31Speaker 3: all this, like I think we'll be all right in
- 49:33Speaker 3: the end of it.
- 49:34Speaker 1: But yeah, it made me sad. I actually made me sad.
- 49:37Speaker 3: It's looking at the original one, the one hundred and
- 49:39Speaker 3: fiftieth birthday, and just looking at the way that they
- 49:41Speaker 3: celebrated that at the time, and their genuine reverence for
- 49:45Speaker 3: the founding and like the intellectual backbone of the nation.
- 49:49Speaker 3: I have a nineteen oh three at list in my house,
- 49:52Speaker 3: which was printed by the Philadelphia Inquirer. I found at
- 49:55Speaker 3: a bookstore, antique bookstore. The level of time and effort
- 50:01Speaker 3: that they spent on the founding history of the United States,
- 50:03Speaker 3: of the myth, the origins and all that. And yes
- 50:06Speaker 3: it has many problems, none of which were acknowledged in
- 50:08Speaker 3: the atlas. I will definitely grant you that. But it
- 50:11Speaker 3: was clear to me, and you're actually well fingered. You
- 50:13Speaker 3: could see some of the original owners. They spend a
- 50:15Speaker 3: lot of time on this section. The amount of time
- 50:17Speaker 3: that people spent and actually wanted to celebrate the founding
- 50:20Speaker 3: in the birth of the nation at the one hundred and
- 50:22Speaker 3: fiftieth birthday, or even at that time. I'm talking about
- 50:24Speaker 3: nineteen oh three, it would shock the average you know,
- 50:27Speaker 3: young person, I think today and so That's that's really
- 50:30Speaker 3: what depresses me is we're gonna have gladiator fights like
- 50:32Speaker 3: literal bread and circus, and yeah, within their bread without
- 50:37Speaker 3: the bread. You're right, because everything is so ridiculously expensive.
- 50:40Speaker 3: Anybody else driving July fourth, I'm excited to see how
- 50:44Speaker 3: expensive gas is all the way up the I ninety
- 50:46Speaker 3: five corridor.
- 50:48Speaker 1: That that's what you know.
- 50:49Speaker 3: Kind of it really sticks with me is the cultural reflection,
- 50:53Speaker 3: because this is who we are. We are the UFC, right,
- 50:55Speaker 3: we are the UFC on the South Line. We are
- 50:57Speaker 3: in the social media era, no reverence for education, for
- 51:01Speaker 3: our founding to even talk or to feel excited.
- 51:03Speaker 1: About where the nation is going.
- 51:05Speaker 3: The only thing I can console myself with is that's
- 51:07Speaker 3: kind of how the bi centennial was too. Nineteen seventy six.
- 51:10Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to read a book to
- 51:12Speaker 3: know it was a horrible year and there were a
- 51:13Speaker 3: lot of a lot of same questions I think swirling
- 51:16Speaker 3: in the air.
- 51:16Speaker 1: We got through it. I'm sure we'll get through it now.
- 51:19Speaker 3: But I think it's a genuine reflection of who we are,
- 51:21Speaker 3: I really do, from the artists, to our culture, to
- 51:24Speaker 3: the UFC.
- 51:25Speaker 1: To I agree himself.
- 51:26Speaker 2: I mean those images are too perfect. I saw somebody
- 51:29Speaker 2: say that the White House now looks like a six,
- 51:32Speaker 2: like a shuttered six flags that they're destroying because between
- 51:36Speaker 2: the you know, UFC cage or whatever that's being constructed,
- 51:39Speaker 2: that looks like a roller coaster, defunct roller coaster to
- 51:42Speaker 2: one entire side just being complete in total rubble. As
- 51:46Speaker 2: Trump constructs his ballroom bunker slash military hospital, which which
- 51:52Speaker 2: he's obsessed with, I mean, he's truly obsessed with. Like
- 51:54Speaker 2: this is not just a liberal talking point.
- 51:56Speaker 4: I think it was.
- 51:57Speaker 2: The Washington Post did an analysis of all the things
- 52:00Speaker 2: that he's said recently, and the thing that he brings
- 52:03Speaker 2: up the most is the freaking ballroom. He talks about
- 52:06Speaker 2: that certainly more than gas prices, inflation, the I don't.
- 52:10Speaker 4: Know, the war in Iran, the ballroom.
- 52:13Speaker 2: And I think a big part of it is actually
- 52:15Speaker 2: the military hospital seems to be a particular fixation now
- 52:19Speaker 2: because he, like many you know, absolute narcissistic people, is
- 52:24Speaker 2: obsessed with his own longevity and like imagines that he's
- 52:27Speaker 2: going to live forever and sort of rain over us
- 52:30Speaker 2: for eternity from this impenetrable bunker that he is constructing.
- 52:35Speaker 2: But you know, he feels the need to build these
- 52:39Speaker 2: monuments and celebrations to himself. I think it's embarrassing anytime
- 52:42Speaker 2: an adult like demands other adults celebrate their birthday, Like
- 52:45Speaker 2: that's just to me an embarrassing thing to do. And
- 52:48Speaker 2: he's demanding the entire freaking world celebrate his own birthday.
- 52:53Speaker 2: That is a real insight into his ego. But he
- 52:55Speaker 2: feels the need to build these monuments and host these
- 52:59Speaker 2: celebrations to himself because I think he's very fearful that
- 53:04Speaker 2: at the end of his life he won't be celebrated
- 53:07Speaker 2: in the way that he has always craved that in
- 53:10Speaker 2: the end, the consensus opinion will be that he and
- 53:13Speaker 2: his presidency was an absolute disaster.
- 53:17Speaker 4: For the United States.
- 53:18Speaker 2: So he's trying to leave these impressions in stone, you know,
- 53:21Speaker 2: with his monuments and his name on this and name
- 53:24Speaker 2: on that, and physically remaking the White House itself as
- 53:27Speaker 2: a sort of cheat code to leave his mark on
- 53:31Speaker 2: the world. But yeah, you're right, it looks exactly like
- 53:34Speaker 2: what America is today. I hope that we come through it,
- 53:37Speaker 2: but I do think we have some existential risks that
- 53:40Speaker 2: weren't present in nineteen seventy six, I mean AI being
- 53:43Speaker 2: the prominent one the advent of autonomous killer robots. Obviously,
- 53:49Speaker 2: climate change has moved quite along. We have so much
- 53:52Speaker 2: global instability in a nuclear armed world where nuclear proliferation
- 53:56Speaker 2: is only going to accelerate. I think we all believe
- 53:58Speaker 2: that's the logic that has been created. So we are
- 54:02Speaker 2: facing some truly existential risks at a time when the
- 54:05Speaker 2: population is you know, dumbed down on algorithmic social media
- 54:11Speaker 2: and reality TV.
- 54:13Speaker 1: Correct.
- 54:14Speaker 3: Last thing C six couldn't not mention this Trump is
- 54:17Speaker 3: currently pushing for a two hundred and fifty dollars bill
- 54:20Speaker 3: with his face on it Act because it will be
- 54:24Speaker 3: the highest I think denominated currency in terms of the bill.
- 54:28Speaker 3: Also a reminder that it now takes two hundred and
- 54:30Speaker 3: fifty bucks to buy what used to cost.
- 54:32Speaker 1: One hundred dollars. So there you go.
- 54:35Speaker 3: Also a great reminder of what America two fifty is
- 54:38Speaker 3: all about?
- 54:38Speaker 1: Two hundred and fifty bucks.
- 54:40Speaker 3: You know, anybody else going to the grocery store recently
- 54:43Speaker 3: and again just being like what what.
- 54:44Speaker 1: Forget about it?
- 54:45Speaker 3: You're looking to get away two hundred and fifty dollars. Yeah,
- 54:48Speaker 3: for the last five years, every single time you go.
- 54:50Speaker 3: It just ticks up and up and up. Now I'm
- 54:53Speaker 3: researching how to learn how to make my own kids
- 54:56Speaker 3: fruit leather. All right, this is this is where things
- 54:58Speaker 3: are now. All Right, we got Brandon and Wiger standing by.
- 55:02Speaker 1: Let's get to it.