Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Trump’s State of the Union: Hockey Controversy, Democrat Optics & the Teachers Union Literacy Wake-Up Call

Transcript

Normally Podcast: Trump’s State of the Union: Hockey Controversy, Democrat Optics & the Teachers Union Literacy Wake-Up Call · Normally

0:08
Speaker 1: Hey guys, I'm back on.
0:09
Speaker 2: Normally the show is normal as takes for when the
0:11
Speaker 2: news gets weird.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm my Covene and I'm Carol Marcos. How are you doing,
0:15
Speaker 1: Mary Catherine.
0:16
Speaker 2: I'm good. I saw a survey the other day from
0:19
Speaker 2: the Institute of Family Studies that said that parents who
0:21
Speaker 2: have strict rules for their kids on bedtime, screen time,
0:25
Speaker 2: and homework time have healthier, happier teens and relationships with
0:30
Speaker 2: their kids. So I'm hoping that's the truth. Right, We're
0:34
Speaker 2: trying to get our little ones to finally go to
0:36
Speaker 2: bed instead of just throwing them in there and having
0:38
Speaker 2: a free for all. So we're being a little more strict.
0:43
Speaker 2: And Dad told them a couple times the other night, Hey,
0:45
Speaker 2: you got to quiet down, you gotta go to bed,
0:47
Speaker 2: and they didn't, and on like the third time, he
0:49
Speaker 2: took away their baby doll and their stuff lying there,
0:52
Speaker 2: little their little buddies, and I hear this uproar, and
0:55
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, what's happening. They got and I'm like, oh, okay,
0:58
Speaker 2: got it. So we say to them, the second you
1:00
Speaker 2: quiet down and lay down in your bed, get your
1:03
Speaker 2: lying and your baby doll back, and they're like, okay, immediately, quiet,
1:07
Speaker 2: give them to them. Everybody sleeps. No one's traumatized me,
1:10
Speaker 2: their lives. The next morning, the four year old comes
1:14
Speaker 2: to Steve with an Easter story book and she points
1:17
Speaker 2: to Jesus and she says, Jesus, no take Stuffy's dad.
1:23
Speaker 2: Jesus no take stuffies.
1:25
Speaker 1: You know takes stuffies. I felt like Jesus might take stuffies.
1:29
Speaker 1: I don't know.
1:29
Speaker 2: She's really new testamenting us mercy.
1:32
Speaker 1: Anyway, it works, it works, you know, the whole parenting thing.
1:36
Speaker 1: They tell you it works, and then you do it,
1:38
Speaker 1: and it works. It's amazing.
1:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're doing the thing over here, but we are
1:43
Speaker 2: getting called out occasionally by our own children.
1:45
Speaker 1: Listen, not all of us could be Jesus exactly.
1:49
Speaker 2: That was our argument. We're doing our best over here anyways. Right,
1:55
Speaker 2: shall we talk about the state of that union? Oh?
1:59
Speaker 1: Must we? Okay, fine, let's do it. You know, I
2:03
Speaker 1: have to say I am a super political nerd, and
2:06
Speaker 1: I hate watching the State of the unions. They're just
2:08
Speaker 1: the amount of time it takes, the sitting, you know,
2:11
Speaker 1: the standing up, the sitting down, the applause. I really
2:14
Speaker 1: I prefer to read it, and I know that that's
2:17
Speaker 1: kind of you can't really do that because you need
2:18
Speaker 1: the vibe you need, you know, Rashida plame mouthing KKK
2:25
Speaker 1: instead of USA. You need the whole atmosphere in the room.
2:30
Speaker 1: She really did, Like, as they're chanting USA USA, she
2:34
Speaker 1: looks over at elan Omar and she is saying she's
2:38
Speaker 1: mouthing kkk kkk, Like what what you know? It's yeah, so,
2:44
Speaker 1: but I mean you need to see it. You need
2:46
Speaker 1: to see betterman in a suit, the hockey team, the
2:48
Speaker 1: chanting USA, the honoring of a World War two bet.
2:51
Speaker 1: I mean it needs to be a visual thing. I
2:54
Speaker 1: just wish there was like an edited version I could
2:56
Speaker 1: watch that could be like half an hour.
2:59
Speaker 2: I have to say I always enjoy it more than
3:02
Speaker 2: I think I will going into it. I'm going, oh
3:04
Speaker 2: my gosh, I'm gonna spend two and a half hours
3:06
Speaker 2: of my life doing this. And then the response on
3:08
Speaker 2: top of it. Right, however, I think I like the
3:13
Speaker 2: new model where Trump just treats it like this is
3:16
Speaker 2: your life. Who's gonna come next? We have no idea?
3:19
Speaker 1: Well, yes, he knows how to put on a show,
3:22
Speaker 1: for sure, and that's why it's worth watching, actually watching
3:26
Speaker 1: and not reading.
3:27
Speaker 2: And I think it probably gets more eyeballs, It probably
3:30
Speaker 2: gets more attention. I have long said that I would
3:33
Speaker 2: vote for someone who just promised to send a letter
3:36
Speaker 2: like the old school presidents did. You're not better than TJ, like,
3:39
Speaker 2: just send a letter, And so I agree with you
3:41
Speaker 2: on that part. On that front. And also, no president
3:44
Speaker 2: in a modern era can give up this golden opportunity
3:48
Speaker 2: right to stand in front of the whole country and
3:50
Speaker 2: really have just such an advantage over opponents like you can't.
3:56
Speaker 2: The best you can do is no harm when you're
3:58
Speaker 2: sitting listening to him speak, whether it's even in a
4:01
Speaker 2: Biden situation, just be boring, suck it up, sit there
4:05
Speaker 2: in the gallery and then have your talking points afterwards
4:08
Speaker 2: and make your human I think the yelling, no matter
4:10
Speaker 2: who you are, no matter if you're right on the facts,
4:13
Speaker 2: doesn't work. It slame. The response always looks slame.
4:18
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I always feel bad for the person
4:20
Speaker 1: who's making the response, no matter who it is. I mean,
4:23
Speaker 1: you know, Bobby Jindall, Marco Rubio last night, Spamburger, They
4:27
Speaker 1: always look so small in comparison. But yeah, I thought
4:31
Speaker 1: there was a lot of outbursts yesterday. I was surprised
4:34
Speaker 1: they let it all go on as much as they did.
4:37
Speaker 1: I mean, how many times did elan Omar yell things?
4:40
Speaker 1: She was just like basically having a conversation with Trump
4:43
Speaker 1: like that the rest of us weren't really privy to.
4:47
Speaker 1: I thought that that was a bit much thinking back
4:51
Speaker 1: to you know, when Joe Wilson interrupted Obama in two
4:54
Speaker 1: thousand and nine and he screamed, you lie, he ends
4:57
Speaker 1: up getting censured by the House. Nothing's going to happen
5:01
Speaker 1: to anybody who who yelled back last night. Another point,
5:05
Speaker 1: of course, you were saying, you know that they look
5:07
Speaker 1: petty when they're yelling. They look super petty when they're
5:10
Speaker 1: not standing for the US hockey team, and you look
5:13
Speaker 1: super petty when they're not standing for the various guests
5:16
Speaker 1: that Trump has brought, some of them victims of horrible crimes,
5:20
Speaker 1: or you know, Erica Kirk, or just the whole thing.
5:25
Speaker 2: Look venezuelan political prisoner.
5:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, reunited with his family.
5:29
Speaker 2: I mean come on, yeah, I think, yeah, he had
5:34
Speaker 2: He has a way with these things. And you and
5:36
Speaker 2: I talked about the Gold medal winds before the internet
5:40
Speaker 2: blew up. Internet, we touched on.
5:43
Speaker 1: It, but who knew they were going to make it
5:45
Speaker 1: a three day story.
5:46
Speaker 2: Yes, So like this thing spun out of control and
5:50
Speaker 2: attempted to break containment and become a big, a big
5:54
Speaker 2: to do, which is the idea that Trump told a
5:57
Speaker 2: horrible sexist joke and all the men on the team
6:00
Speaker 2: laughed at it. You know, I've actually listened to the video,
6:03
Speaker 2: and in fact, the joke is like basically just silly aside.
6:06
Speaker 2: And then the men say absolutely the women should come
6:09
Speaker 2: to the White House, and then they.
6:10
Speaker 1: Just chause they're awesome.
6:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then they chant two for two, which is
6:14
Speaker 2: a celebration of the women. But the Internet really got
6:17
Speaker 2: mad about this, and I think the bat signal went
6:20
Speaker 2: out about halfway through the day, Carol, because I saw
6:23
Speaker 2: Stephanie Cutter and Joe Scarborough be like, hey, guys, maybe
6:28
Speaker 2: we shouldn't cancel the men's school metal winning hockey team
6:31
Speaker 2: because they can't help themselves.
6:33
Speaker 1: They really can't. My whole like normy world was celebrating,
6:38
Speaker 1: Like the people who I know vote Democrat were celebrating
6:40
Speaker 1: the US men's hockey team. It wasn't a political issue
6:44
Speaker 1: until the left forced it to be a political issue,
6:48
Speaker 1: and they were on the losing side of that. Again,
6:49
Speaker 1: if you're not standing for the US men's hockey team
6:53
Speaker 1: after they have this giant win on the world stage
6:55
Speaker 1: and everybody's going nuts and everybody's raw, raw America, what
6:59
Speaker 1: do you think, who are you and who are you representing?
7:02
Speaker 1: That wouldn't want you to stand?
7:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems self defeating. And it was a wonderful
7:08
Speaker 2: moment to watch them come in from the back of
7:09
Speaker 2: the gallery. And also, I just want to point out
7:11
Speaker 2: that it's normal for teams that represent the country to
7:16
Speaker 2: be honored by the head of the country. That is normal.
7:20
Speaker 2: So them coming is not out of the ordinary. It's
7:22
Speaker 2: normal for American heroes to be at a State of
7:24
Speaker 2: the Union. Reagan's pointing up to the gallery and pointing
7:28
Speaker 2: out American heroes, Obama's pointing out American heroes in the gallery.
7:31
Speaker 2: This is a normal thing. It was a very cool moment.
7:35
Speaker 2: Love their matching sweaters. Won't love myself.
7:38
Speaker 1: I love it. How come everything's sold out? Like nobody
7:41
Speaker 1: told me where you know we're supposed to be buying
7:44
Speaker 1: this stuff. I would have done it in advance.
7:46
Speaker 2: He then gives the Medal of Freedom to the goalie,
7:52
Speaker 2: big moment for goalies. As a former soccer goalie, you know,
7:55
Speaker 2: you spend a lot of time waiting back there for
7:58
Speaker 2: your chance to make a difference, and so I think
8:00
Speaker 2: he really speaks for all of us when he's up
8:02
Speaker 2: there getting a board. But I think that one was
8:06
Speaker 2: a surprise and very cool.
8:08
Speaker 1: Very yeah. I almost felt like he came up with
8:11
Speaker 1: it on the spot. He was like a lot of
8:16
Speaker 1: athletes have gotten this, well not a lot those a
8:18
Speaker 1: few athletes that have gotten Yeah, he was trumpy about it.
8:23
Speaker 1: I almost feel like in the moment he was just like,
8:25
Speaker 1: you know what, let's do this. And that's the thing again,
8:28
Speaker 1: he knows how to make it a show. I know
8:32
Speaker 1: people hate that, I could completely understand, but the man
8:37
Speaker 1: knows how to put on a performance. And speaking of
8:39
Speaker 1: when Biden would give the State of the Union, we
8:43
Speaker 1: would all sit there holding our breath, like just make
8:46
Speaker 1: it through and look. I you know, obviously you and
8:50
Speaker 1: I were never team Biden, and yet we were like
8:54
Speaker 1: rooting for him to do a good job because we
8:56
Speaker 1: didn't want the American president to fail in front of
8:59
Speaker 1: the whole country. It's just I don't see that same
9:02
Speaker 1: semblance of not patriotism but unity from the left. Oh,
9:07
Speaker 1: neither patriotism either. Let's not let's be serious here, but
9:11
Speaker 1: I'm specifically talking about they just won't unify, and it's crazy.
9:16
Speaker 2: I mean, their take is that he's just beyond the pale.
9:20
Speaker 2: But if you make that rule, you make that rule
9:22
Speaker 2: for every Republican ever, which is what they do to
9:25
Speaker 2: do from now until forever.
9:27
Speaker 1: Right, Mitt Romney was beyond the pale. I mean he Yeah,
9:30
Speaker 1: Mitt Romney gave a woman cancer and wanted to kill dogs.
9:33
Speaker 1: Like I remember all this this isn't just about Trump.
9:37
Speaker 1: And again the fact that they're Okay, let's say you
9:40
Speaker 1: hate Trump and that's that's that's your life view. What
9:45
Speaker 1: are you doing hating the US men's hockey team? Like,
9:48
Speaker 1: how does that make sense to you? And I was
9:50
Speaker 1: thinking that the most I hear of this kind of gendered,
9:55
Speaker 1: you know, conversation is when I talk to my daughter
9:58
Speaker 1: and we say things like we're gonna have to the boys.
10:00
Speaker 1: We're going to dinner, the boys are going to have
10:03
Speaker 1: to come.
10:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's people do it.
10:06
Speaker 1: It's a joke, like relax, just relax.
10:08
Speaker 2: Well, and they I think I was watching this hockey
10:13
Speaker 2: nontroversy be turned into something because the I think a
10:16
Speaker 2: lot of it might be bots also, but they're swarming
10:19
Speaker 2: the social medias of these guys to say that they're
10:23
Speaker 2: out of line and they're terrible and they're losing all
10:25
Speaker 2: their fans. I mean it's actual insanity.
10:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:28
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, in the real world, each of these guys has
10:31
Speaker 2: gained three hundred thousand Instagram followers in the last five days, right,
10:35
Speaker 2: because normal people don't think this way. But I think
10:38
Speaker 2: some of it is an allergy to the unity and
10:41
Speaker 2: the patriotism that was displayed. And that's why I think
10:45
Speaker 2: maybe bots are involved, because what do the Russians in
10:47
Speaker 2: the Chinese want to do in our happy team fund? Yeah,
10:50
Speaker 2: us to be mad at each other over a double
10:52
Speaker 2: gold over time, it's yeah, hockey win.
10:55
Speaker 1: It's crazy, right, But I mean there are You're absolutely right.
10:59
Speaker 1: I think it's a lot of it is about operation,
11:01
Speaker 1: But there are prominent voices on the left like actually
11:05
Speaker 1: angry about this.
11:06
Speaker 2: Just a useful idiot for sure. Yeah.
11:08
Speaker 1: Jessica Valenti, who I believe her book is called abortion.
11:12
Speaker 1: She tweets, this isn't my newsletter's usual beat, but I
11:15
Speaker 1: had to write something about the US men's hockey team
11:17
Speaker 1: locker room talk, and then she quotes it as being
11:20
Speaker 1: I can't help but wonder how many of these players
11:22
Speaker 1: have daughters, and whether they've told them that they can
11:24
Speaker 1: be hockey players one day too, How many have told
11:26
Speaker 1: them that the women's game matters just as much. Do
11:29
Speaker 1: they think their daughters will still believe them after they
11:31
Speaker 1: hear their dads laugh? Yeah, they will. They will believe
11:34
Speaker 1: them because it's a joke. Relax. Red Stea's Steven Miller
11:38
Speaker 1: points out that, of course, Jessica Valenti didn't have a
11:41
Speaker 1: single post about the women winning golden overtime last week,
11:45
Speaker 1: nothing about the game, nothing about the medals, not even
11:48
Speaker 1: a repost.
11:49
Speaker 2: That's a tell. That's a tell.
11:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:52
Speaker 2: And the women's team, by the way, has several members
11:54
Speaker 2: have been or at least one member has been asked
11:57
Speaker 2: about this. Ellen Hughes pushed back, pushed back by being normal,
12:02
Speaker 2: And one of the women was interviewed somewhere and she
12:04
Speaker 2: was like, it was what it was, and I'm focusing
12:07
Speaker 2: on the positive and this amazing win by both teams
12:09
Speaker 2: and the unity and the outpouring of love. Yes girl, Yeah.
12:13
Speaker 1: Well, they also can't say it's no big deal because
12:16
Speaker 1: like so many people are going to come after them.
12:18
Speaker 1: They understand that. They can't laugh it off because you're
12:21
Speaker 1: going to have the Jessica Valenti's of the world calling
12:24
Speaker 1: them pick me girls or whatever and saying that they're
12:26
Speaker 1: not standing up for women. There's just no winning for them.
12:29
Speaker 2: Which is why I thought she handled it well. She
12:31
Speaker 2: was like, nod, move on, that's that's the correct But
12:35
Speaker 2: the fact that they have to be put in this position,
12:37
Speaker 2: all of them at all, is so silly. Over accepting
12:42
Speaker 2: a phone call from the President of the United States
12:44
Speaker 2: of America, my friend Vic Mattis pointed out to me
12:47
Speaker 2: that Mondale was in the locker room with the nineteen
12:51
Speaker 2: eighty team and Carter received them at the White House. Again,
12:54
Speaker 2: these are normal things. Don't let the left take your
12:58
Speaker 2: joy from you and make these things out abnormal. They're not.
13:01
Speaker 1: I mean, if you really don't like the US men
13:03
Speaker 1: hockey team, you just let us make this into a
13:05
Speaker 1: four day story like.
13:07
Speaker 2: It has been.
13:07
Speaker 1: And you know what, days one and two. I was
13:10
Speaker 1: annoyed at the response. Days three and four, I was like,
13:13
Speaker 1: bring it, continue on with your insanity. You look crazy.
13:17
Speaker 1: You look crazy to the average normal person watching and
13:20
Speaker 1: the people who didn't stand for them. Last night, I
13:22
Speaker 1: got texts from my not you know, not in politics
13:25
Speaker 1: friends saying, did they really not stand for the US
13:29
Speaker 1: men hockey?
13:31
Speaker 2: No?
13:32
Speaker 1: Really?
13:32
Speaker 2: Not?
13:33
Speaker 1: All right? What about that response? What do we think?
13:36
Speaker 1: I actually, I feel like you're not going to like
13:39
Speaker 1: what I'm about to say. But Abigail, Yeah, Abiguel's van
13:44
Speaker 1: Berger came off as normal.
13:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of her specialty. I would note the
13:50
Speaker 2: line from her profile in the New York Times, where
13:52
Speaker 2: when asked how she was a successful CIA officer, she said, well,
13:56
Speaker 2: you want to appear trustworthy.
13:58
Speaker 1: She's very, very good at that. In her speech she says,
14:02
Speaker 1: I mean in the most innovative and exceptional nation in
14:05
Speaker 1: the history of the world. And I was like, Wow,
14:08
Speaker 1: a Democrat called us an innovative, the most innovative and
14:12
Speaker 1: exceptional nation in the history of the world.
14:14
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get in trouble for that right now. She no,
14:18
Speaker 2: she can put on the face. I will say, just
14:20
Speaker 2: as a TV note, why are we in that tight
14:22
Speaker 2: shot where all I can see is a white wall
14:24
Speaker 2: and a white shirt and her white face and her
14:26
Speaker 2: white hair. I just like Let's. It actually was a
14:31
Speaker 2: beautiful room and a pretty nice setting. It was the
14:33
Speaker 2: House of Burgesses in Williamsburg. Spring it out a little bit.
14:36
Speaker 2: The audience, again, this is the disadvantage of being in
14:40
Speaker 2: a small room. After we've just seen a joint session
14:42
Speaker 2: of Congress, it's eleven o'clock. They've told them they have
14:45
Speaker 2: to speed it up. There's an audience there, which I
14:47
Speaker 2: think is smart because you have someone to play off of.
14:49
Speaker 2: That's probably partly why she sounded pretty good. However, the
14:53
Speaker 2: audience was clearly told that they could clap for exactly
14:56
Speaker 2: two point five seconds, don't clap, and it sounded like
15:01
Speaker 2: a track. But I think she hit mostly the right notes.
15:04
Speaker 2: Was didn't do any harm, which, as a State of
15:08
Speaker 2: the Union response is about all you can do. Can
15:10
Speaker 2: I ask you one question about the yeah in the gallery?
15:13
Speaker 2: How effective for the president or damaging for Democrats? Do
15:17
Speaker 2: you think the moment was when he said stand if
15:20
Speaker 2: you believe it is your duty to protect American citizens
15:25
Speaker 2: as opposed to your first priority, which we know is
15:28
Speaker 2: illegal immigrants.
15:29
Speaker 1: I have to imagine he did that for the midterm ads.
15:32
Speaker 1: It is such a powerful visual. It's really like how
15:36
Speaker 1: do they not stand I come on, come on, you know.
15:41
Speaker 2: They don't want to do what he says, right, and also.
15:44
Speaker 1: A lot of them don't believe it.
15:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's why it's to me, it is a
15:51
Speaker 2: concern of mine when I look at my governor, who's
15:54
Speaker 2: looking normal, giving a response, yeah, And then I look
15:58
Speaker 2: at the policies of her party and her I say,
16:02
Speaker 2: you do place illegal immigrants and citizens who commit crimes, yeah,
16:08
Speaker 2: above law abiding, tax paying citizens. That is the result
16:13
Speaker 2: of your policies. And it is not ghost for me
16:16
Speaker 2: to wonder who you're working for, speaking of working for,
16:20
Speaker 2: are you working for me? Abigail? That's right, absolutely true, right.
16:24
Speaker 1: I look, I'm just talking about her the way she sounds, Yeah,
16:29
Speaker 1: the trustworthy stuff she sounds like. You're like, if the
16:33
Speaker 1: Democrats were more like this, it wouldn't be so bad.
16:35
Speaker 1: And then it's like her policies don't match what she
16:38
Speaker 1: says at all. He just you know, I also about
16:41
Speaker 1: highlight from Ben Dominic tweets, Abigail Spamberger speech was riddled
16:46
Speaker 1: with AI flags. Began with this line, we are gathered
16:49
Speaker 1: here in the chambers of the House of Burgess and
16:52
Speaker 1: seventeen oh five the people of Virginia Colony gathered here
16:54
Speaker 1: to take on the extraordinary task of governing themselves. Ben right,
16:58
Speaker 1: this is a lie. The bill, I think, Spaanberger addstination
17:01
Speaker 1: from isn't three hundred and twenty one years old. It's
17:03
Speaker 1: not even one hundred years old. My house is older
17:05
Speaker 1: than her speech location. Maybe yours too. She was speaking
17:08
Speaker 1: from a replica, not even on the same ground that
17:11
Speaker 1: the Rockefeller's funded in nineteen thirty as a tourist site.
17:14
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing. It all sounds good, but
17:18
Speaker 1: it's not real.
17:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. That's going to be
17:21
Speaker 2: in a bunch of ads. I don't know if it's
17:23
Speaker 2: enough to stem the midterm tide, but it is a
17:27
Speaker 2: thing that people worry about. It is the reason that Republicans,
17:31
Speaker 2: despite just an onslaught of bad press, have the edge
17:37
Speaker 2: and trustworthiness on the issue of immigration.
17:41
Speaker 1: Well yeah, yeah, and absolutely.
17:43
Speaker 2: No matter how much ihan Omar yells at Trump, I
17:47
Speaker 2: don't think that's going to change that part of it.
17:49
Speaker 1: Right, I mean, Chuck Schumer is still pushing his amnesty
17:53
Speaker 1: for what he says is eleven million illegal immigrants. He's,
17:57
Speaker 1: by the way, had the same number legal eleven million
17:59
Speaker 1: for like ten years now, it has not.
18:01
Speaker 2: Moved even added any no zero.
18:03
Speaker 1: But you know in his plan about this, like, oh,
18:06
Speaker 1: we give them amnesty and for that we get to
18:09
Speaker 1: secure the border. And it's like Trump has already secured
18:12
Speaker 1: the border. Yeah, what are you arguing for here? And
18:15
Speaker 1: I just don't think the average American is going to
18:18
Speaker 1: want amnesty for the people who broke the law to
18:20
Speaker 1: come here. I saw you highlight the CDL issue on
18:25
Speaker 1: Yes X. I think that is such a normy coded issue.
18:29
Speaker 1: I think people learning that illegal immigrants can get a
18:33
Speaker 1: commercial driver's license, I think that's an eye opener for
18:37
Speaker 1: a lot of people.
18:37
Speaker 2: I think that that moment is a moment that where
18:40
Speaker 2: a lot of people learned that we don't already prevent
18:43
Speaker 2: them from doing that. Yeah, and I think the CDL
18:46
Speaker 2: thing might be more salient than a lot of Washington
18:49
Speaker 2: denizens think, because where I came from with a thousand
18:53
Speaker 2: good old boys, it was a career goal to get
18:57
Speaker 2: a CDL. It was a big deal at open doors.
18:59
Speaker 2: It gave you higher pay. A lot of guys I
19:02
Speaker 2: knew got for driving moving trucks in the summer, things
19:04
Speaker 2: like that. So they could make more cash. It was
19:08
Speaker 2: like a large deal, a medium to large deal. The
19:11
Speaker 2: idea that this is happening regularly, and it is happening regularly,
19:15
Speaker 2: that people Americans are killed by illegal immigrants who have
19:18
Speaker 2: these CDLs, who cannot drive. And the reason I know
19:21
Speaker 2: that they cannot drive, these aren't simple mistakes is because
19:23
Speaker 2: there is dramatic dash cam of these events, which is
19:28
Speaker 2: also something that will make it more salient. And I
19:31
Speaker 2: just think we're not even doing the easy stuff.
19:34
Speaker 1: Just do the basics, Yeah, exactly right.
19:38
Speaker 2: Can before we move off of this, can I just
19:40
Speaker 2: mention Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who was the helicopter
19:44
Speaker 2: pilot in Venezuela who was shot three times in the
19:47
Speaker 2: leg and still extracted everyone. He was awarded the Congressional
19:50
Speaker 2: Medal of Honor last night. Another Medal of Honor recipient
19:54
Speaker 2: Royce Williams, who like shot down a bunch of MiGs
19:57
Speaker 2: many many years ago in a thirty five minute dogfight.
20:00
Speaker 2: But he wasn't allowed to reveal all of that or
20:02
Speaker 2: be honored for it because at the time, during the
20:04
Speaker 2: Cold War, it would have caused problems, and so he
20:06
Speaker 2: has waited all these years to be one hundred years
20:09
Speaker 2: old and yet his Medal of honor. Buddy Taggart was
20:13
Speaker 2: also there, a World War Two veteran who is turning
20:15
Speaker 2: one hundred on July fourth. And then we also had
20:18
Speaker 2: Petty Officer Scott Ruskin, who was the rescue helicopter guy
20:22
Speaker 2: who took one hundred and fifty plus little girls and
20:25
Speaker 2: women and staff out of the flooded camps in Texas
20:30
Speaker 2: in two thousand and five or twenty twenty five. And
20:33
Speaker 2: finally Andrew Wolfe, the National Guard member who was shot
20:36
Speaker 2: in the head and was sitting next to his mother
20:39
Speaker 2: and standing and so glorious to see him healthy there
20:43
Speaker 2: despite the fact that his compatriot, of course was honored
20:45
Speaker 2: with a posthumous purple Heart from the President as well.
20:49
Speaker 2: Her family was there to be honored too, so.
20:53
Speaker 1: It was beautiful. That was the highlight for me. The
20:57
Speaker 1: honoring of the service members is really top.
21:00
Speaker 2: Of my list, and I'm so glad to see people
21:02
Speaker 2: get the Medal of Honor who we went through a
21:06
Speaker 2: long period of time where they didn't give it to
21:07
Speaker 2: anyone who hadn't passed away, and it's like, no, give
21:10
Speaker 2: it to people who deserve it.
21:12
Speaker 1: Our living all right, We're going to take a short
21:15
Speaker 1: break and come right back with more on Normally. We
21:22
Speaker 1: are back on Normally and talking the continuing attacks on
21:28
Speaker 1: Erica Kirk. Erica Kirk was at the State of the
21:31
Speaker 1: Union last night, and you know, I love to see
21:34
Speaker 1: her in public and living. I think that's what Charlie
21:38
Speaker 1: would have wanted. I think that's the right thing to do.
21:41
Speaker 1: And yet the Daily Mail chose to highlight this as
21:45
Speaker 1: a headline as Erica Kirk finally comes out of hiding.
21:49
Speaker 1: Finally all capital letters comes out of hiding at State
21:52
Speaker 1: of the Union, Shock New expose, plagues, giggling widow who
21:56
Speaker 1: can't shake questions over her tears and those leather pants.
22:01
Speaker 2: Wow, that's so so with you, by the way. I
22:06
Speaker 2: love how she's in a double bind where she's finally
22:10
Speaker 2: out of hiding, but also when she appears that is
22:14
Speaker 2: bad too. So what is she supposed to do exactly?
22:19
Speaker 1: It's so galling and discussing. I don't know what to
22:23
Speaker 1: say about it. It's one thing that Candace Owens, who
22:26
Speaker 1: is an absolute monster, is going after Erica Kirk. It's
22:30
Speaker 1: another thing that the Daily Mail is piling on and
22:33
Speaker 1: it's also another thing that so many people remain completely
22:37
Speaker 1: silent on what Candace is doing to their allegedly their friend,
22:42
Speaker 1: Charlie's widow. And I said this yesterday on X But
22:47
Speaker 1: you know, would Charlie be surprised that his absolute bestest
22:51
Speaker 1: friend in the public sphere is actually Ben Shapiro, who
22:55
Speaker 1: has defended Erica at every single turn, has been there
22:59
Speaker 1: for her, has taken so many shots because of it,
23:02
Speaker 1: and yet he has defended her continuously, and his so
23:06
Speaker 1: called friends are completely silent, and his really good friend
23:10
Speaker 1: Candae is the one trying to destroy his widow.
23:13
Speaker 2: Now, it's truly disgusting. It's something beyond what I actually
23:17
Speaker 2: could have imagined. And I can imagine some things. I've
23:20
Speaker 2: been a widow in the public eye, and people can
23:21
Speaker 2: be really, really awful to you, particularly if you insist
23:25
Speaker 2: on speaking living being in public obviously living. People who
23:31
Speaker 2: don't like you already or don't like what you stand
23:33
Speaker 2: for will do not take kindly to that and will
23:36
Speaker 2: tell you about it. But this level of sustained bullying
23:40
Speaker 2: over this long period, and we were talking daily content
23:45
Speaker 2: from someone who can send hordes of people to harass you,
23:50
Speaker 2: I've been amazed at her ability to stand up despite it.
23:54
Speaker 2: I think she has been really remarkable throughout and she
24:00
Speaker 2: must be just praying through it every day, because there's
24:02
Speaker 2: it makes no difference what she does. The people who
24:06
Speaker 2: don't like her, particularly Candace, who like I guess, just
24:09
Speaker 2: got friend zoned the hardest of any person in the
24:11
Speaker 2: history of mankind. She's gonna hate everything she does regardless,
24:16
Speaker 2: but she has behaved with bravery and kindness. There was
24:21
Speaker 2: one moment where Candace was like, here's a video of
24:24
Speaker 2: Erica Kirk telling an internal meaning, hey, employees, if he
24:27
Speaker 2: needs to take some time off to grieve, then do so,
24:30
Speaker 2: and alleging that that was somehow a knock against him, like,
24:32
Speaker 2: oh wow, a compassionate manager. Do tell it. Just the
24:38
Speaker 2: motivations I don't understand. I can't understand. We're going to
24:42
Speaker 2: do a full investigative series now and the people I
24:47
Speaker 2: don't want to give attention to it. Yeah, and I
24:49
Speaker 2: also don't want to give it a pass, like you
24:51
Speaker 2: have to you have to thread this needle. And I
24:54
Speaker 2: understood turning point, trying to turn a blind eye for
24:58
Speaker 2: a little while. Yeah, a little while.
25:01
Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like they need to come
25:02
Speaker 1: out guns blazing now No, I mean.
25:04
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, like the first two weeks.
25:06
Speaker 1: Right, understand understand that.
25:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could be like, Okay, this person seems to
25:10
Speaker 2: be liable. Yeah, let's let's see where this lands. Let's
25:14
Speaker 2: not let's not Barber streisand affect it. But there's no
25:17
Speaker 2: danger of that anymore. And I think you can't give
25:21
Speaker 2: this a pass. It is just some of the most
25:23
Speaker 2: awful stuff I've ever seen in politics or widow dumb
25:27
Speaker 2: I've done both.
25:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I remember just when I would see comments
25:31
Speaker 1: to you that I get flaming mad and it was
25:35
Speaker 1: just horrible. You know what's crazy here? You said, people
25:39
Speaker 1: who don't agree with your opinion will come after you.
25:42
Speaker 1: The thing is this is largely people on the right
25:45
Speaker 1: and normy, non political types like I have a normy
25:49
Speaker 1: friend completely invested in candae is getting to the bottom
25:52
Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk's murder because it's explained to me bullets
25:56
Speaker 1: don't do that when they hit a neck, and I'm like,
25:58
Speaker 1: what the hell do you know about what bullets do
26:01
Speaker 1: when they hit a neck? Like how have you become
26:04
Speaker 1: an expert on this? And it's really it's hard to watch.
26:08
Speaker 2: I would echo Alibthstucky, who has said, you know, we
26:11
Speaker 2: need to be discerning. Not every incident, particularly real life
26:17
Speaker 2: incidents with real people's lives in the balance, is a
26:20
Speaker 2: soap opera, Yeah, a true crime podcast. They are real
26:24
Speaker 2: people's lives. And as you and I try to be
26:27
Speaker 2: with every news cycle, even though it's hard, even though
26:30
Speaker 2: there's so much news, we try to gather information, be
26:34
Speaker 2: fair about what we're seeing, and be fair about what
26:37
Speaker 2: we're telling, and to have things that back it up.
26:39
Speaker 2: And there are people who are happy to make a
26:42
Speaker 2: ton of money not backing anything up, but creating these
26:47
Speaker 2: soap opera true crime threads, right that lead you only
26:53
Speaker 2: to frankly crash outs, just crashing out.
26:57
Speaker 1: Yeah.
26:59
Speaker 2: I was just note tangentially that part of this crash
27:02
Speaker 2: out about the US hockey team has brought in Meredith Godreau,
27:05
Speaker 2: who is the widow of Johnny Hockey. He died a
27:10
Speaker 2: year and a half before this event and would have
27:13
Speaker 2: been on the Olympics team. They of course honored him
27:15
Speaker 2: with his jersey on the ice and brought his children
27:17
Speaker 2: on the ice. And there's a lot of really nasty
27:19
Speaker 2: talk online about how she hasn't signaled hard enough in
27:22
Speaker 2: this way. They they can't just get wiped clean of
27:25
Speaker 2: their sins by being nice to a widow for five minutes.
27:28
Speaker 2: I mean, it is crazy stuff out there.
27:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, awful. I want to just add that, you know,
27:35
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people focus on the antisemitism
27:39
Speaker 1: of stuff like people like Candace. I think that's really important,
27:42
Speaker 1: only because I think that's a tell. My issue with
27:46
Speaker 1: someone like Candace is, you know, the anti Semitism stuff
27:49
Speaker 1: is it's definitely bad. But I think she leads people
27:52
Speaker 1: into conspiracy nonsense, and that is so bad for all
27:57
Speaker 1: of us. It's not just going to be bad for Jews,
27:59
Speaker 1: is going to be bad for all Americans, and it
28:02
Speaker 1: is already. And you know what else, I posted some
28:05
Speaker 1: old pictures of me and you on X the other night.
28:08
Speaker 1: You and I've obviously known each other a long time.
28:10
Speaker 1: When people hear about this show, they asked me, you know,
28:12
Speaker 1: how did you guys meet? And I was like, well,
28:14
Speaker 1: the first thing that we ever did together was at
28:17
Speaker 1: the Ground zero site in New York. I think it
28:19
Speaker 1: was like two thousand and three, nine to eleven. Conspiracies
28:22
Speaker 1: were starting to become really popular, and you and I
28:25
Speaker 1: did this thing where we handed out pamphlets that said
28:29
Speaker 1: the real truth about nine even and when you opened
28:32
Speaker 1: it it was like nineteen Arab hijackers some planes into build.
28:36
Speaker 1: We were the real story. We're ahead of our time, Carol.
28:39
Speaker 2: We were such cheeky young women. Look at us out there.
28:42
Speaker 1: I know it's been a we've we've had some you know,
28:45
Speaker 1: I think we've and we stayed normal through all of it.
28:48
Speaker 1: I don't think that you and I either have ever
28:50
Speaker 1: veered off into insanity. And look, you know a lot
28:55
Speaker 1: of people describe it as like, oh, those from the
28:57
Speaker 1: before times. You know, people who were on the Inn
29:00
Speaker 1: not early, are kind of still normal insane. And it's
29:03
Speaker 1: the people who realize, like five years ago, ten years ago,
29:05
Speaker 1: that they could make money doing insane stuff on the
29:07
Speaker 1: Internet that have lost their minds. I think people just
29:11
Speaker 1: need to not follow the really insane stuff, even if
29:15
Speaker 1: it's sensationalists, even if it's fun to watch.
29:18
Speaker 2: Well, and there was someone I can't remember who was,
29:20
Speaker 2: or someone from the Daily Wire who had worked with
29:22
Speaker 2: Candice in the past, and said, look, if you are
29:24
Speaker 2: drawn in by this, if you're if you find it
29:26
Speaker 2: really compelling, know that you are listening to a very
29:30
Speaker 2: gifted communication.
29:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is.
29:33
Speaker 2: A person who has spent a lot of time drawing
29:36
Speaker 2: people in. But in this case, your fandom is being
29:40
Speaker 2: used for something profoundly evil. Yeah, and that's that's just real.
29:46
Speaker 1: That's the gist of it. You're harming Charlie Kirk's widow. Like,
29:50
Speaker 1: listen to yourself. Think about that. You were a fan
29:53
Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk and now you're trying to destroy his wife.
29:56
Speaker 1: How could you live with yourself mother of his children? Guys. Yep,
30:01
Speaker 1: we're going to take a short break and come right
30:03
Speaker 1: back with one more segment of Normally. We are back
30:10
Speaker 1: on Normally, where one of our favorite topics is literacy.
30:15
Speaker 1: And The New York Times actually had an op ed
30:20
Speaker 1: by somebody who noted the literacy rates were higher in
30:23
Speaker 1: places like Louisiana and in Mississippi and that maybe maybe teachers'
30:30
Speaker 1: unions have something to do with that. I mean, the
30:33
Speaker 1: fact that this is in the New York Times is
30:35
Speaker 1: actually quite good. You know, we're maybe a little bit
30:39
Speaker 1: surprised by it, but the line is, in fact, in
30:42
Speaker 1: American public education's dismal last decade, it is red states
30:47
Speaker 1: with weak unions and stronger centralized control states like Mississippi
30:50
Speaker 1: and Louisiana that offer good news. Fourth Graders in these
30:54
Speaker 1: states now read slightly better than the students in California
30:57
Speaker 1: New York, which spend far more perfume and have lower
31:00
Speaker 1: child poverty rates. That's a big point, by the way,
31:03
Speaker 1: the poverty rates. Another positive outlier is the District of Columbia,
31:07
Speaker 1: which offers twenty seven thousand dollars raises to help retain
31:11
Speaker 1: great teachers merit pay.
31:13
Speaker 2: Huh you don't say, you know, I'm saying right. Yeah.
31:16
Speaker 2: It's interesting because Alex Stapp, who was tweeting about this
31:20
Speaker 2: from the I believe it's the Institute for Progress is
31:24
Speaker 2: the name of it. Yeah, he said this seemed crazy,
31:27
Speaker 2: this stat can't be true. So he fact checked it
31:30
Speaker 2: and was like, actually, yeah, this is true.
31:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, you should. You should. You should listen to normally
31:34
Speaker 1: Alec really yeah.
31:35
Speaker 2: And you sort of. The truth is if you lay
31:39
Speaker 2: aside your priors. Now I have anti union priors obviously,
31:42
Speaker 2: but in looking at the numbers, an honest assessment requires
31:45
Speaker 2: you to say that the ability of kids to learn
31:48
Speaker 2: is inversely proportional the strength of the union, Like the
31:52
Speaker 2: stronger the union is the less learning is happening in
31:55
Speaker 2: your state for all economic sectors, but obviously the least
31:58
Speaker 2: among us are going to get the worst of it.
32:01
Speaker 1: Look, the thing is that we know that the teachers'
32:05
Speaker 1: unions play a direct role in the harm of the
32:09
Speaker 1: education of children. We knew that during the pandemic, the
32:12
Speaker 1: places where the unions were the strongest is where the
32:16
Speaker 1: kids didn't go to school. That is an insane reality
32:21
Speaker 1: that people who are pro union need to face. I mean,
32:23
Speaker 1: I think that's what it comes down to for me,
32:26
Speaker 1: is that a lot of the times people refer to
32:28
Speaker 1: these unions as strong. I mean, it's even in this
32:30
Speaker 1: New York Times column they say, you know, strong in
32:33
Speaker 1: red states with weak unions. It's not the unions that
32:36
Speaker 1: are weak. It's the politicians are stronger in these states
32:40
Speaker 1: and say no to the unions, say it's a special
32:42
Speaker 1: interest group, and they say, no, I'm not going to
32:43
Speaker 1: do what's best for you, I'm going to do what's
32:46
Speaker 1: best for the kids. When you have that line, you
32:50
Speaker 1: see that the unions being strong or weak is irrelevant.
32:54
Speaker 1: It's the politicians who set the agenda, and they could
32:57
Speaker 1: say no to the unions and politicians and the states
33:00
Speaker 1: and blue areas choose not to well.
33:03
Speaker 2: I would argue constituencies in places like Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana
33:08
Speaker 2: are also just less willing to hold these unions up
33:13
Speaker 2: as somehow precious to their way of life. They don't
33:16
Speaker 2: believe that. Like they want to be supportive of good teachers,
33:19
Speaker 2: they want to be supportive of kids learning, and to
33:21
Speaker 2: the extent that those work together, great, but the union
33:24
Speaker 2: is not going to come ahead, more likely in a
33:28
Speaker 2: less a less union heavy area than somewhere like New
33:33
Speaker 2: York or northern Virginia, where you get just such a mess.
33:36
Speaker 2: I do think this is definitely a vibe shift going
33:40
Speaker 2: on here where centrist democratscrats or like sort of normy
33:45
Speaker 2: Democrats are trying to say, hey, if we want to
33:47
Speaker 2: be the party of government, the government has to work,
33:50
Speaker 2: and it's not working. The premise of this piece is
33:52
Speaker 2: public labor unions prevent government from delivering services in any
33:58
Speaker 2: kind of way that normal people can appreciate. So what
34:01
Speaker 2: are we going to do about it? And the fact
34:02
Speaker 2: is you have to get yelled at by unions and
34:03
Speaker 2: you have to fight them, and I don't think they
34:05
Speaker 2: can do that.
34:05
Speaker 1: No, they absolutely can't. I mean, I always point out
34:08
Speaker 1: that on day one of the Biden administration, Randy Winingarden
34:12
Speaker 1: and her counterpart were in the White House day one.
34:18
Speaker 1: They sent the message that these are their most important
34:21
Speaker 1: people that need to be in the White House on
34:22
Speaker 1: day one, And of course kids were largely not in
34:25
Speaker 1: school at that time when Biden took office in January
34:27
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, and he still wanted the teachers' union support,
34:31
Speaker 1: and he still wanted their adoration and cooperation and all
34:36
Speaker 1: of that. And look, you know, he came into office
34:39
Speaker 1: saying he's going to have the kids back in school
34:42
Speaker 1: in one hundred days. He didn't. And the union stood
34:45
Speaker 1: in the way of that. And I'm never going to
34:47
Speaker 1: forget or forgive. And the literacy thing is just another
34:50
Speaker 1: piece of it where they're standing in the way of
34:53
Speaker 1: kids learning to read, learning to read better, doing better
34:57
Speaker 1: in school, having more productive schooling. You know, anti unions
35:00
Speaker 1: all the way.
35:01
Speaker 2: And over and over again, you will see that if
35:04
Speaker 2: power is the goal, not children learning, not delivering services,
35:08
Speaker 2: they will sacrifice delivering services and children learning fay time
35:11
Speaker 2: to have the money and the power from the unions.
35:13
Speaker 2: And that money, by the way, comes from you when
35:15
Speaker 2: it's a public employee union.
35:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of it's yours, yep, yep, absolutely well. Thank
35:21
Speaker 1: you for joining us on normally. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,
35:24
Speaker 1: and you could subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get
35:26
Speaker 1: in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail dot com.
35:30
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, act normally