Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Davos, Crime, and Culture Wars

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Normally Podcast: Davos, Crime, and Culture Wars · Normally

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, guys, she'll was normal. Take it for Wenday news.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: He gets weird.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: I am Man Pferent, I am Carl Marcowitz.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: It's Wednesday, but it feels like Monday. This week is
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: just it's full of news and it's too busy.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: I need another day off.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: It is too busy.
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: I got to go up to Maine and meet Laurel Libby,
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: the state legislator who's that's amazing. You'll remember her free
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: speech case and then the legislature up there went all
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: the way to the Supreme Court and she got a
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: Supreme Court or saying hey, you're not allowed to shove
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: her up because she's what she says about gender.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So did a little podcast with her. She's loved one.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I love that she's speaking and that she's allowed to speak.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I would think the we're so pro First Amendment people
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: before that, but then they weren't.
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, you know what I love about it is
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: that the Democrats in Maine were dumb enough to overplay
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: their hands so hard that they made a smart woman
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: a national figure who never would have been had they
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: not done that.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good good move, guys, good move.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: Maybe not never would have been, but definitely catapulted her.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: So good to sit down with her.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Nice was main warm.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: No, No, Maine in January is very very cold, as
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: it's going to be on I guess everywhere.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, next week. So I was just getting prepped.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: You know, people wanted banter. I'm banstering. Do you listen
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: to Noah Khan? He's this great musician my okay, cool,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: fifteen year old daughters very into him.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: See I'm not that cool.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you need that's who it is.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: You need a teenage daughter.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Yours are almost there to tell you what the cool
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: music is.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But he's really great, and he was trending yesterday because
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: he has a new single coming out. But the reason
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I mentioned him is he's from New England. A lot
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: of his songs are from about New England. He has
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: a song called Maine. He grew up I think in
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: New Hampshire. Really excellent. You should check him out.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool to.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Introduce him to your daughters, you know, Okay, Yeah.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: One more bit of banter, just so everybody can feel
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: my impending doom. I'm supposed to travel this weekend.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I like we're getting news about that in Florida. We're
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: not even like on the path, but people are, you know.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I keep seeing these like newscasters saying things might get
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: real bad this weekend.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Just I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna get out of town and I'm not gonna
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: get back in.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I fear that is my fate. So I'll keep you
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: guys posted.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Please let us know.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: We'll see where you're recording next week's episodes from. If
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: you have electricity, oh, blessed right.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It could let it be.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: It won't be in Davos, I'll tell you that, Nodvos.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: But that's where everybody is this week. I wonder if
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: they'll make it home in this storm. Anyway, I feel
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: like they might.
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: The World Economic Forum has gathered in in Davos, as
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: they do customarily. Apparently attendant's very high this year, partly
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: because of Donald Trump's saberatting on Greenland, which has energized
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: the European sector to show up at Davos and hear
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: what he has to say, and to also say their
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: piece while they're there.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So things are maybe a little rowdier than usual at Davos.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Which I think they have come to expect during the
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Trump presidency. They had him for four years. They know
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that this is a guy who says what he's thinking.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I love when he calls the Prime Minister of Canada.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Mark, I just yeah, Mark. My favorite moments of Davos
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: are Scott Pissent.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: So far.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: He has been a lot of fun to watch.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: He called Governor Newsom, he said, who strikes me as
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: patch of Batement meets Sparkle beach Ken.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe the only Californian who knows less about economics than
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. He's here this week with his billionaire sugar
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: daddy Alex Soros, and Davos is the perfect place for
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: a man who, when everything else is on lockdown, when
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: he was having people arrest going to church, you know,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: obviously went out and went to the most expensive restaurant
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: in the country.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Bessent added, shame on him.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: He's too smug, too self absorbed, and too economically illiterate
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: to know anything. And then he said let me know
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: if you need any further clarification, which is hilarious. But
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: on the serious side, Scott Bissent said that Europe is
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: still buying Russian oil, which is an amazing thing to say,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: because Europe is obviously funding, as are we the war
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: that Russia launched in Ukraine. To still be buying Russian
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: oil when you're funding the warren Ukraine is some real
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: good economics, Like.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: You know, it's been drawn for years, guys, and you
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: haven't you know, figured out a way around this. I
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: also want to point out that Newsome, while the entire
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: rest of the Western world was kind of coming together
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: to express some annoyance at Donald Trump, you would think
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: that he would find himself on the right side of
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: that argument for the.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Left, and yet he doesn't. What he said instead was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that they're not.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: Standing up to Trump at the World Economic Forum. I
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: can't take this complicity people rolling over. I should have
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: brought bought a bunch of knee pads for all the
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: world leaders.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: It's pathetic. So he's actually again, his attempt to be
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Trump is just making him left Trump.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: It's very weird. He's not.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: You can't be as good as Trump while trying to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: be Trump. You can be Gavin Newsom. You could try
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: to do that. Yeah, that was a weird comment because
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: they are all kind of attacking Trump.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Most Yes, one would think that this would be your
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: moment to hang with those guys.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: So a lot of people are going gaga over Canadian
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: Prime Minister Mark Carney Mark Carney's speech.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: At Davos, and I think we have a bit of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that to give you a flavor of it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: We knew the story of the international rules base order
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: convenient trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, And we knew that
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity
• 6:09
  Speaker 6: of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful,
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: and American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, open
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: for frameworks for resolving disputes. So we placed the sign
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: in the window, We participated in the rituals, and we
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality.
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy,
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: But more recently have begun using economic integration as weapons.
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: Tariffs is leverage, financial infrastructure is coercion, Supply chains as
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: of your subordination.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Wow, there's a lot going on here.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: One.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I think people are over the moon because they're just
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: starved for an Obama like speech, and this was like
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: felt like an Obama speech.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I will say yeah, and that he said a lot
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: but didn't really say very much.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: I will say a sure cut above Trudeau, who is
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: definitely doing his life's work by now dating Katy Perry.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I think they've broken up.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Oh did they just bring up?
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Let me keep you updated.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I think over the weekend that news might have broken
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: that they are no more.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Well, you know what, We'll see who comes along next.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: But I do think the gossip mags might be a
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: better place for him.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: So he's saying a couple of things. I'm a little confused.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: From the liberal perspective, is American hedgemoney or hegemony good
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: or bad?
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: It may it was good and now it's bad. Well,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: but lefties always tell us it's bad. So well, they're bad.
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: They're warning the end of American hegemony. Yeah, but I
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: was always told it was bad, So there's that.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: This also seems very convenient for Canada to live in
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: this space where no, there's a we're not going to
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: acknowledge the truth about the world or being kind of fake.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: As long as everything's working out great for us with
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: our next door neighbor, who, by the way, supplies all
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: of our defense, right, we're just going to.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Hang with that.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: And then he boldly proclaims as soon as it's not
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: working for them, by.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: The way, that was all a lie. Right, I don't
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: know how that's playing so well.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: And then lastly, all the things he mentions about uneven
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: enforcement of trade laws, about using supply chains to threaten people,
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: about not living by the rules of the international arth,
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: those are all things that China and Russia have been
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: doing for decades, right. And as soon as Trump does
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: something on trade he doesn't like, he's like, this is
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: an unfair practice. That's right, are going to break from
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: the from our western partner.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: It's why is it now?
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Right, And he is famously pivoting towards China. China and
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Canada are apparently going to have a much closer relationship.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: This is very foolish, very and Trump said to him,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Canada lives because of us.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Mark, remember that before you make those speeches. I do.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I did kind of enjoy that that Trump is where
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: he just lets him know. I think that Canada is
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: offended by Trump has said and done about, you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: in the last year that he's been president.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: I understand that, I do.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: I understand that jokes about the fifty first date and
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: all of that didn't hit the way that people might
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: have imagined Canada would take it. Having said that, pivoting
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: towards China seems like the dumbest idea ever when.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: We're right on their border.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Just where do you think you are to behave this way?
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: And who do you think you are?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: And The Washington Post's editorial page opined, frustrations with one
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: American president need not give way to the agenda of dictators.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Quote.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: I had discussions with President g about the situation in Greenland,
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: about our sovereignty and the Arctic, about the sovereignty of
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark, Carney said,
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: And I found much alignment of views In that regard
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: what says the Washington Post, there is verse versaal agreement
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: within NATO that the Arctic must be protected from China
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: and Russia. Any suggestion that Ottawa and Beijing agree on
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: geopolitical strategy concerning the Arctic is either deeply insincere or
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: worryingly naive. So he yes, I think Trump has needlessly
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: made this into a relationship that is on the rocks
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: when it I think if he hadn't trolled Canada in
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: the first place, you'd have a conservative leader there now,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: but we don't have that. So I think he misread
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: that and caused this to become something didn't need to be.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: And you should.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: Read that, by the way, your allies could be petty
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: enough to turn towards your adversaries when you're a jerk
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: to them. Yeah, like they might be counterproductive enough to
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: do that. Canada has done many counterproductive things to itself
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: over many years, so I think he should have taken
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: that into account. But this does seem like very unwise, right.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I don't think things are going to go better for
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Canada after this, Like I don't think Trump is going
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: to be warmer towards Canada.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Well, and the idea.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: I guess his thesis was all of the middle level
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: powers need to get together somehow to counter this fight
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: between the large powers, which somehow the US is the
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: least responsible member of.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: The trio of Russia in America.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: I get you don't like Trump, but that is not
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: a realistic way to look at this. And the fact
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: is when he says subordinate, we do provide open shipping
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: lanes and defense for basically the entire Western world.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: That's just a fact.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Rebecca Heinrichs from the Hudson Institute, she's very smart. She said,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the fact that Carney's speech has gotten so much praise
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: is just madness. If you care about sovereignty, rule of law, pluralism, liberty,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you don't increase investments in and reliance on the CCP,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: the Chinese Communist Party. That's absolutely correct.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Also, can we talk about using Vakalo hovel? Oh yeah,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: an example of how to buck totalitarian systems while castigating
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the US but cozying up to China.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, hmm, I don't think so. I don't think so.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: Mark, Quickly, what is your take on what the Greenland
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: play is.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: I'm so back and forth on this.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Originally I like super anti it just it seems dumb,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: like why do we want Greenland? I've read more about it,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I understand the play. I understand that Russia and China
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: are potentially coming for it, and we want to prevent
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: that from happening because it is a direct line to us.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: It strategically makes a lot of sense for them to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: try to occupy Greenland.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Denmark cannot defend it.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: And neither Let's be real here, if all of Europe
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: joined together could not defend Greenland. So from America's perspective,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: if it belongs to us, we can defend it, and
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: we will defend it. I'm still mixed on it, just
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: because there's so many other things I'd rather be spending
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: our time and energy on.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: But I get it now.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: Well, and even if it's strategically wise, that bluster is
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: not necessarily the way to get it done. Although he
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: could be doing his Trump thing where he's like, look
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: how scary it sounds.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Doesn't letting us buy it seem less scary?
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think that's a responsible way.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: Of doing business. But he does not view these things
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: the same way I do. And we all knew that
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: this was part of the package, So I'm not exactly surprised.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm sort of torn on who's in the
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: right here. But I'm not sure that Carney's new plan
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: for how this is going to go down it's gonna work,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: because honestly, like if Canada doesn't want to be subordinate,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: and and I don't mean this as a like a
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: veiled rhetoric, they have to militarize. Yeah, they have to
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: have a giant economy, they have to have the things
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: they currently do not have. How are they going to
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: have those? They're currently euthanizing large numbers of their population.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and they think that's like a good thing, a
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: good thing.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Don't know Canada.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Let's say you did.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: We did a little Scott Bessent, but let's do the
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: CEO of Citadel to put a button on the Davos gathering,
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: just so you get several points of view from there.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Gave an idea of why perhaps the business community and
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: many people in America went toward Trump as a backlash
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: to the Biden administration policy.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Here's a little bit of that.
• 15:01
  Speaker 7: You cannot imagine how painful it was each and every
• 15:06
  Speaker 7: day under the bio administration to look at what new,
• 15:10
  Speaker 7: crazy proposal was being put into place to solve a
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: problem that didn't even exist. I mean, our constant friction
• 15:19
  Speaker 7: at Citadel with the government across unteen different aspects of
• 15:26
  Speaker 7: our business was exhausting. And to have that literally end
• 15:31
  Speaker 7: on one day, Election Day just gives you so much
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: energy as I'm sure to go back and build your
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: damn business. So the biggest sea change I've seen across
• 15:43
  Speaker 7: American executives has been just like the giant side relief.
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: I can now go and focus on building my business,
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: and that prior administration we happen to be a creditor
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: of Spirit. Their merger with Jet Blue was stopped spirits
• 16:04
  Speaker 7: and bankruptcy. Today, there were so many decisions that were
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: so poorly thought out in terms of economic consequences. It
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: cost the US economy dearly. I cannot emphasize that enough.
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: And so the Trump administration is making slow progress on
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: deregulation thus far, but the end of the regulatory onslaught
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: has been just an extraordinary boom for American business.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, the idea that Biden administration was the enemy
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: of a lot of these businesses, and we're seeing that
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: in smaller ways in California and in New York, where
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: these leftist governments are literally forcing these businesses out of
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: their states. The Citadel decision. Actually, they were a great example.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: They moved to Florida during blast, you know, I don't know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: four or so years from Chicago, and when they left,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: they left a giant gap in the Chicago business community
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: but also in the philanthropic community.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And it's a real big deal.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: It's a real big deal. And one more note on
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: the NATO alliance. Ruta, who is the NATO Secretary General,
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: was on stage saying, do you think any of us
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: would have gotten to two percent spending on on defense
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: had it not been for Donald Trump? And so when
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: people tell me, and I am open to it, that
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: he's being reckless and messing with these relationships, I also
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: remember that I was wrong about it the first time around,
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: because getting those numbers up was important, and we are
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: now there.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: So there's several different ways to look at this.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, that was a learning experience.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I think that the fact that we were wrong about
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: certain things about the Trump administration the first time around,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I think we're more careful about than necessarily criticizing. We're
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: not criticizing, because we've definitely still criticized on here, but
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: opposing his policy ideas and his bluster.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: Sometimes the US to works.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: European military spending going up is very good for them,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: very good for us.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: They can enjoy their Carney speech. But I was not
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: as impressed as many.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, we're going to take a short break
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: and be right back and talk about more obvious things
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: that everyone knows but doesn't say.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Be right back.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: We are back with perhaps a contrast to what we've
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: covered a bunch in the past, which is Minneapolis.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: It's worth bringing up.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Memphis, which is a city where the federal government had
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: a bunch of folks go in to do law enforcement.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: National Guard ICE there as well. And in Memphis they
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: took a very different approach than they took in Minneapolis.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: The mayor there did not want ICE there, he didn't
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: want National Guard there, but he said, we do have this.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Large crime problem.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: So if you're here, here's the people I want to
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: help you deal with gang bangers.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Real criminals, violent criminals. Make our city better. Let's do it.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And lo and behold, they did it.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: So fighting crime works.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: It turns out, yes, that having a an obvious presence
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: that fights crime brings down crime levels. Now, of course,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: some of these statistics are a little bit hard to
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: attribute specifically to what, but basically everyone is in agreement,
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: even those who didn't want the presence. In Memphis, Yeah,
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: the violent crime rate has fallen precipitously compared to twenty
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: twenty four. The police chief says, we've had significant gains
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty five and we hope to sustain that
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: by putting together a strategy that continues to keep crime
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: moving down. And the Memphis Mayor, Paul Jung said, for
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: the past two years, we've put in the work. We've
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: reached a historic low and serious crime by staying focused
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: on what matters in every community.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: And by having a bunch of help. But look, we
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: keep saying that part of what puts this in a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: really pitched environment in Minneapo is that there is no cooperation.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: When there is cooperation, you have a very different picture.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, right, And there's so
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: many videos now of Democrats talking about ice operations before
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: the Trump presidency and how they were super into it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: They did ride along so Obama's ice operations and they
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: were very, very pro what.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: ICE was doing.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: But then Donald Trump became president and that became not acceptable.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, I think the idea that Democrats
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: are going to oppose ICE no matter what when it
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: clearly works for them to work with ICE it works
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: for their cities, They're only causing harm to their own people.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: As usual.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: This Mayor plugged ICE into multi agency task forces, pointed
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: them at the worst violent offenders, and when someone dangerous
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was already sitting in jail, he handed them over quiet
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: custody transfers, maximum bad guys removed. Yeah, I mean that
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: seems like a good plan.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: It works.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: It works to fight crime, It works to work together
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: to fight crime.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: Do it?
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Another place it's working is on the Washington metro system.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: So much like all large cities in America, DC tried
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: to commit suicide during COVID and just chased everyone out
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: and let everyone do whatever they wanted to do. And
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: the metro system, which had formerly been, if not super efficient,
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: quite clean and basically civilized, became really bad and much
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: more dangerous, and so people stopped writing it. And there's
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: a guy in charge who actually has made changes that
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: have worked, and one of those changes, wouldn't you know
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: it is to enforce the law. So what they did
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: is they started getting fair evaders in trouble. And what
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: they noted in that philosophy is not everyone who fair
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: evades commits crimes, but almost universally everyone who commits serious
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: crimes on the Metro is a fair evader. So if
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: you take care of that, you can change the nature
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: of your Metro system for people who are law abiding
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: and would like to write it. Metro says ABC seven
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: reports that in twenty twenty five it has its lowest
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: crime rate in at least twenty five years, with crimes
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: such as robbery, assault, and theft seeing especially large drops.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: Metro's Board of directors asked the Metro Transit Police Department
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: chief and other officials about the drop at a board meeting.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Anyway, they have.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: Done actually a commendable job, which I rarely say about
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: a DC based government entity. But it is safer to ride,
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: it is more pleasant to ride, and they did it
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: by punishing people broke the law.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: I feel like that's such a good idea. They should
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: like give it a name, like maybe fixing broken windows something.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's what they did in New York to bring
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: down crime. That's what Rudy Giuliani did in New York
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: in the nineteenth freaking nineties. And here we are thirty
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: years later with DC being like, you know what works,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: What works is punishing people for smaller crimes before they
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: go on to commit bigger crimes, or taking them off
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: the streets for the smaller crimes before they go on
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: to commit the bigger crimes.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we know, we know, but.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: There's always there's always this attempt to rewrite history. Every
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: time it works, they say, well, that can't be the
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: thing that works because they don't think that's cool. And
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: it's like, well, no, that is what works. And by
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: the way, if you stop somebody from farravating, and maybe
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: it does stop them from a deeper involvement in crime,
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: great for that person as well, right, Like if they've
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: gone down for farravating and then it's a different story
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: for their life.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Hey, that's positive.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, But I do think even while Washington is learning
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: this lesson, even while San Francisco said, hey, we might
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: have gone too far, Minneapolis, yeah there are city, and
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: now Virginia are like, I don't know, it seems like
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: maybe we should make crime legal, right.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: What if there were no criminals? Wouldn't that be better?
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: We're rebranding the crimes. I don't think it's gonna work.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna make quality of life worse for
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: a bunch of people.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I feel like we're going to just keep learning the
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: same lessons that we learned thirty plus years ago, which
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: is fighting crime helps reduce crime.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: I know it's a take.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: It's a take, it's a complicated take, but it seems counterintuitive.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: But it might work.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, all right, We're going to take a short break
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: and come right back with a lighter story. Is it
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: a lighter story? Actually, I don't know. Family dysfunction. Maybe
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: not lighter, but funner, funner to discuss. Be right back,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: we are back on normally where you know. I have
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: to admit when I lived in Scotland in the late nineties,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: the Spice Girls came out and one of my worst
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: predictions ever I said, this is never going to hit
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: in America.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Incorrect.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, other predictions I made at that time around then
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: was texting. Nobody's ever going to want to text. Everybody's
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: going to want to pick up the phone and make
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: phone calls. Oops, yeah, all right, don't trust me for predictions.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: But Victoria Beckham, she was a spice girl and she's
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: gotten more and more in the news over the last
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: decade plus. There was a documentary about her relationship with
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: her soccer star husband David Beckham. She produced a line
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: of clothing that it was actually quite good makeup that
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: people actually liked. Usually celebrities make a bunch of crap
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: and nobody really likes it. They just buy it for
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the name, but her stuff was considered fairly actually good.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Now she's in the news because her son, Brooklyn Beckham,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: got married a few years ago and there's been a
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: very public rift. But it's really heated up in the
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: last few days. Catch us up on it, Mary Catherine.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Yes, So it began right with Victoria and David Beckham
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: are like this, these power couple, two thousand's power couple.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: And then they have four beautiful children, and this family
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: is sort of like a packaged deal in the public
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: mind that you know, we've all seen these kids grow up.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: And now Brooklyn, the oldest, goes off and gets married. Well,
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: he gets married to Nicola Peltz, who is a billionaire
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: heiress and actress and once that happens, there is friction
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: between the Beckham family of origin and Nicola and Brooklyn,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: and the big question is whether Nikola is causing this
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: or Brooklyn is very much of his own volition separating
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: from his perhaps toxic, famous family. And he posted a
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: huge story on Instagram and everywhere statement about his family, saying,
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: I don't want to reconcile with them. Here's the many
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: things they've done wrong. They have wronged us in all
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: these ways, including most notably that during the first dance
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: at the wedding, his mother allegedly took over the first
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: dance and danced inappropriately with Brooklyn Beckham, her son, to
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: everyone's dismay, and that he will not be reconciling with
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: them period.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: That's that's where it stands. And now everybody's trying to figure.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: Out, like what's actually going on right here talking.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, until there's tape, I'm not sure I believe that
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: of Victoria Beckham. I haven't seen Victoria Beckham dance inappropriately
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: ever in any setting, right.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's funny because people are saying that she
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: generally dances inappropriately. But I watched some video of other
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: you know, times that they say that she danced inappropriately,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: like there was a dance with her father that people
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: pointed to.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: I didn't think she was doing anything. She was like offbeat, but.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I don't think she dances particularly well. Right.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: That seems like a different criticism, And this.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Seems very over the line, like whatever you want to
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: say about your mom, first of all, don't, don't take
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: it to the public.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Don't. But second of all, like she danced sexy with you?
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Is that what we're going with.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I really thought that I was pretty pro Brooklyn before.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I understand that his parents probably were overbearing and they
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: probably did maybe not treat the problems very that well.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Very strange family to grow up in.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, yeah, but this did seem to me like
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: too much, too far.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: I agree again, I am definitely more team Victoria.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I've always liked her. She not always liked her.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: She actually in the past spice days, I thought this
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: is a person I will not end up liking. And
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: then over the years she's really grown on me.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: She really has. Yeah, I can see that.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: And so more team Victoria. I also just think that,
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: like putting this out there in this way is odd
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: that that criticism in particular is odd, and that it's
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: also sort of convenient that after having lived the NEPO
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: baby life right with your multimillionaire parents for all these years,
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: and having been quite vocally supported in all of your
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: endeavors by them, but as soon as you marry a billionaire,
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: you're like peace, I don't need you guys anymore.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: I don't like that.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't like that either, And it just
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: generally keep the family stuff off the media front page,
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: like there's no reason that we should be knowing all
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: of this about them, and it's been ongoing. This is
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: not new, This is like this, This like ongoing Becka
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: you know, Beckham Peltz family strife has been going on
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: for a very long time. It should be up to
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: the parents, I think, to kind of squash it, to
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: be the bigger people. But when the sun is behaving
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: like this in public, I don't know there's much.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: That they could do.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, my guess would be that the Beckham parents will
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: be chill about it and pretty classy. We will see
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: what happens. But I think people relate to it because,
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: like in law, strife is always things and joining two
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: families is tough, and so everyone can see part of
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: their experience in this, and so they're all trying to
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: game out who's that fault.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Do you take ahead to your own kids and how
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: you're going to be the best in law ever?
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Because I do, Yeah.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And it's funny, Actually, it's funny.
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: You'll see people thinking about how they're going to be
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: the worst in law ever, and they'll be they'll be
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: openly choking about how they're going to.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Be that, and I'm like, well, that doesn't seem like
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: a wise decision.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Look, it's tough because somebody is marrying into your family
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: system might have a very different system.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: And in the Beckham's case, she.
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: Has quite a bit of power because she doesn't need
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: the Beckham's systems, say, to serve her.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: So they should, like, you should want that, right, They don't.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: They don't want some gold digger who like is only
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: maturing him for the Beckham name.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: She's clearly not.
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: So look, if all I know is if Victoria Beckham
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: were my mother in law, I would just enjoy that.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: If David Beckham were my father in law, there's so
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: much here.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like we would have a lot of
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: fun together.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Let's stop blow this. Yeah, let's stop blow it up
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: just because she's not a great dancer. Just because she's
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: not a great dancer doesn't mean it was inappropriate.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, Bright, leave Victoria Beckham alone, Leave Push Fights alone.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for joining us on normally.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you could subscribe anywhere.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: You get your podcasts. We've been reading your mail.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Get in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail dot com.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, act normally