Latest / Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP) / Luke Thomas Gets Political *live* | UFC White House from all angles | LTGP Live Chat
Transcript
- 0:00Okay. All right. I think I should be
- 0:03live.
- 0:04Let me know if you can see me. I'll wait
- 0:08here. I'm doing this via a You can see
- 0:10me just mouth breathing. I'm doing this
- 0:12via a different setup than I than I will
- 0:15next time. Ne I normally use uh
- 0:18Streamyard. Normally I use Streamyard
- 0:20and then with Streamyard I um
- 0:24I'm able to like integrate the way which
- 0:26you're normally accustomed to seeing on
- 0:28my MMA channel. Uh, I don't have that
- 0:31here for you this time. We're going to
- 0:32do this one a little bit differently
- 0:34just to start. But, uh, I'm hoping
- 0:36everything sounds good. I don't know if
- 0:38it does. I'm assuming that it does, but
- 0:40let me know. I will wait here for all of
- 0:42you. Let's open this up.
- 0:49All right. How do I sound? Do I sound
- 0:51good?
- 0:54I sound okay.
- 0:57Three streams today, bet. Yes, indeed.
- 1:00How do I sound?
- 1:04I just need a Oh, sounds good. Okay,
- 1:06great. A little quiet, but I clear
- 1:08audio. I can fix that. I can fix the
- 1:09little quiet part. Let's fix that.
- 1:13Let's fix that. Okay.
- 1:16Audio seems low. It should be a little
- 1:17bit better now. How is it now? Should
- 1:19should read a little bit better now.
- 1:21Yeah. Okay. Very good. Well, welcome
- 1:24everyone. This is something of a maiden
- 1:25voyage. Now, I want to be clear about
- 1:27something. We've never had a We've This
- 1:29channel has never gone live. This is the
- 1:32very first time. Now, I've gone live a
- 1:35million times on my MMA channel and I've
- 1:37gone live a million times on my MMA
- 1:40channel and talked about things other
- 1:42than MMA. So, in some sense, this is not
- 1:46new, but it still is new. It still is
- 1:48different. It still is important. Um,
- 1:50and I just want to say this channel, I
- 1:52did not know what was going to happen
- 1:54with it. I really did not. I I kind of
- 1:56wanted to like I don't know just kind of
- 1:58like maybe throw the fishing reel out a
- 2:00little bit and was like are there fish?
- 2:03Are they going to bite it? If they buy
- 2:04it, are they any big? And it was way way
- 2:07better than I ever thought it would. I
- 2:09honestly feel like if I could lean into
- 2:11this completely, I could really take
- 2:13this thing places. Um but we have to
- 2:16start where we are and and where we've
- 2:17grown. And I just want to say thank you.
- 2:19First of all, I got I mean, I can't do
- 2:20anything else except start the show by
- 2:23saying thank you very much for helping
- 2:26to make me see that this was maybe
- 2:28something that could be something. And I
- 2:29you know, I still have to do the work to
- 2:30get it there, but it's be been because
- 2:32of the enthusiasm and it's been because
- 2:35of the
- 2:37response that I've been able to um
- 2:42I don't know, it's given me some
- 2:44comfort. It's given me some comfort. Uh,
- 2:47someone's asking, "When is the optimal
- 2:48time to mow your lawn?" When I'm not on
- 2:50the air, right? That's going to be
- 2:51that's going to be the answer literally
- 2:53no matter when I'm on the air. You know,
- 2:55there's never a time, per se. Um,
- 2:59anyway,
- 3:00thank you guys so much. Truly, I mean
- 3:02that. Truly, I from the bottom of my
- 3:04heart, I really, really, really, really,
- 3:06really mean that. Um,
- 3:09I'm I don't want to bore you with the
- 3:11details, so I will keep this extremely
- 3:13brief. And you've heard me say this
- 3:16before, so I in in the interest of not
- 3:18taking up any more of your time, I'd
- 3:19like to move on very quickly. But
- 3:20suffice to say,
- 3:24my life has basically not been the same
- 3:27since I got word that Showtime might be
- 3:30going away in April of 2023. I have
- 3:34basically not known peace since then. Uh
- 3:38but to the extent I have found some
- 3:40peace, it has often been by able being
- 3:43able to contribute content to this
- 3:46channel to talk to all of you. Uh not so
- 3:49much in this way. We're doing it for the
- 3:50first time, but
- 3:53in
- 3:55I don't know.
- 4:00My soul took me here. I don't know what
- 4:02how else to put it. my soul took me
- 4:03here. I
- 4:05watching Trump destroy the city and the
- 4:08country uh I mean yeah he turned the
- 4:09fountains on but that you know
- 4:11absolutely demolish the job market here
- 4:13and uh the economy on top of it.
- 4:17Watching him do that and then the
- 4:19country and then you know the hemisphere
- 4:20and then the world more broadly. I just
- 4:22felt like I couldn't just and then the
- 4:24UFC just deciding to cozy up to them was
- 4:27so appalling to me and honestly
- 4:31my conscience has been I don't know how
- 4:34you feel. What's that line from um Sweet
- 4:36Home Alabama? Does your conscience
- 4:38bother you? My conscience in being
- 4:40associated with all of it has been
- 4:42bothering me. Yeah. For a long time.
- 4:45Anyway, um,
- 4:49so it's been a long journey to even get
- 4:51to a point where we're having a live on
- 4:53this channel. This is not how they're
- 4:55always going to be. I don't know. I'm
- 4:57going to find a time to do it that is
- 5:00good for all of you, good for me, good
- 5:03for this channel, something I can do,
- 5:05you know, in a replicated way. Um, and,
- 5:08you know, probably distinct from my
- 5:10other live chat if we're just being
- 5:11realistic. But nevertheless, I want to
- 5:15make sure that I'm clear with you that
- 5:16like I'm going to make programming here
- 5:18and content here in ways that make sense
- 5:20for this place that is, you know,
- 5:22central to its own interests. All right.
- 5:26All right.
- 5:36Let me see something here.
- 5:42Ah, because I didn't use um Streamyard,
- 5:46I cannot put your questions on the
- 5:48screen. But let's get to some of them.
- 5:50Let's get to some of the questions and
- 5:52see what you got. Especially, you know,
- 5:54I'll I'll take them if they're not this
- 5:56way because it's the first one. But if
- 5:58you do want to put in a super chat, that
- 6:00would be super awesome. I'd be really
- 6:02really uh grateful for it. you know,
- 6:04supporting my work and uh being here for
- 6:07it already has been something that has
- 6:09blown me away and I really appreciate
- 6:10it. But if you people often ask me,
- 6:12what's a good way to support you?
- 6:13Honestly, super chats are a great way.
- 6:14That's certainly not the only way. A
- 6:15paid subscription on on um on on
- 6:19Substack is good as well, but um you
- 6:23know, beyond. So, let me know. I'm going
- 6:25to change what I see so I don't see the
- 6:27flats. Do we have any questions?
- 6:29Questions either in the super chat,
- 6:31questions not in the super chat.
- 6:34Um, let me know. Can I just tell you
- 6:36that while while we're waiting
- 6:39it has I
- 6:42I cannot believe
- 6:45um
- 6:48I cannot believe
- 6:51how little appetite there is for any
- 6:54interrogation about the you well okay I
- 6:57keep saying I can't believe but I can
- 6:59believe it but it has been a little bit
- 7:00hard for me to process the degree to
- 7:03which this is so obviously significant
- 7:05between two entities and then for that
- 7:07to be something introduced into MMA
- 7:10media coverage as some kind of a sin and
- 7:13then to watch MMA media not even try and
- 7:15chew the fat on this one is so insanely
- 7:19disappointing and dispiriting to me.
- 7:21Really quite a revealing moment if I do
- 7:23say so myself. Um
- 7:26someone's asking uh Breaking Points
- 7:28mentioned having you on to talk UFC 250.
- 7:31Is that going to happen? Yes. Crystal
- 7:33reached out to me and asked me if I
- 7:34wanted to go on. I told her yes. Um I
- 7:37have to I have to confirm a time that
- 7:39she offered uh with her producer which
- 7:41I'll which I'm waiting to hear about but
- 7:44you know they already offered a time. I
- 7:46already said like I've where are we in
- 7:48this stage? We have both verbally
- 7:49committed. You know what I mean? We've
- 7:51verbally committed it. We just have to
- 7:53lock in the final details. But she
- 7:54definitely hit me up and she definitely
- 7:55asked me and I definitely said yes. So
- 7:57we'll figure it out from there. But at
- 7:59any event, dude, to watch MMA media just
- 8:01do nothing related to this is quite
- 8:03shocking. There really isn't um any
- 8:05media that I feel like sort of like
- 8:07Kareem Zadan that is getting any of this
- 8:10right because on the MMA side, there's
- 8:12no appetite whatsoever for any
- 8:14introspection or any examination of a
- 8:17Trump angle. There's just less than
- 8:19nothing.
- 8:20And then um on the political side, there
- 8:25is no appetite for the fights, which
- 8:27okay, fine, by itself is not the
- 8:29problem, but then there's no
- 8:30institutional knowledge of MMA. And so
- 8:33they're just completely reliant on
- 8:37what they're just told. Um, oh, the UFC
- 8:39said X, Y, and Z in a press release.
- 8:41Then they just take it as fact. There's
- 8:42really no there's really no other part
- 8:45of it that they that they go through.
- 8:48And as a consequence, it's like everyone
- 8:50is
- 8:52doing different things and they're we're
- 8:54not all having the same conversation. I
- 8:55feel like, you know, one of the things
- 8:57you can get, if I can plug it on my
- 8:59Substack I have with Kareem, you know,
- 9:01you can get a conversation between two
- 9:03people, we don't talk about the fights
- 9:04in that one. Okay, fair enough. But we
- 9:07do talk about the political implications
- 9:10and then also from a place of
- 9:11understanding MMA. We're not outsiders
- 9:13learning about MMA. We were we were
- 9:15insiders who are now, you know, I I
- 9:17guess I guess I'm not an outsider at
- 9:18this point. Um certainly Kareem is. I
- 9:21guess I'm not too far far behind.
- 9:24So
- 9:26there's just been a lot of like,
- 9:28you know, either naive on one side or
- 9:30hostility on the other. And it's it's
- 9:32created a very strange media
- 9:34environment. Let's get to some of these
- 9:36questions. Are you going to fight Ryan
- 9:37Grim? No, probably not.
- 9:39Um,
- 9:43I think he should keep the political
- 9:44questions on the other chat so so some
- 9:47other Chuds can get an opportunity to
- 9:49What the [ __ ] Oh. Oh, to hear the other
- 9:53point of view.
- 9:56How do we watch these appearances you're
- 9:57going to be making? All right. So, let's
- 9:59talk about it. Um Pablo Tori I what he
- 10:01told me we recorded on we recorded after
- 10:04the pregame preview and what he told me
- 10:06was that was going to be out on Friday.
- 10:09So I guess we're waiting for that. And
- 10:11then uh CNN I'm on at I think like 6:30
- 10:15tomorrow morning. That one's from home.
- 10:17They changed that one. That was supposed
- 10:18to be in studio. That will now be at
- 10:20home. But then the afternoon slot, um,
- 10:23they they've told me to book I don't
- 10:25think I'm going to be on the entire
- 10:26time, but to block out from 2:00 to 4:00
- 10:29p.m. tomorrow as well. And I think
- 10:31there's supposed to be some French
- 10:32newspaper that I have to talk to at
- 10:3410:00 a.m. I'm not sure what the state
- 10:36of that is.
- 10:38Uh, Luke, is it cool to ask political
- 10:41questions on your other chat as I'm a
- 10:43member there and I want to save dough?
- 10:44Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Again, I don't
- 10:47have a great system just yet. This is
- 10:49the very first one. We've got a lot of
- 10:51different, you know, things to fix in
- 10:54order to make it all work, including
- 10:56finding the right balance of what to do
- 10:58with that chat, what to do with this
- 10:59one, when to go live, when not to go
- 11:01live. When do you use communism as a
- 11:04derogatory term? What's wrong with
- 11:06Marxism in your opinion? I am not a
- 11:09scholar of Marxism. I think that most
- 11:11people who claim to have an
- 11:12understanding of it do not. To the
- 11:14extent that I have read about Marxism,
- 11:16the things that I have read in it are
- 11:17not faithfully repeated
- 11:19in the media, particularly the modern
- 11:21media environment. So I'm not going to
- 11:23sit here and give some dissertation of a
- 11:24of a dude. Understanding Marxism
- 11:27requires scholarship.
- 11:30People talk about it like they know that
- 11:32what they mean by that is um failed but
- 11:36but you know authoritarian
- 11:40uh state-run
- 11:42state organized
- 11:45kind of a situation like what what you
- 11:47imagine like 1980s propaganda of life in
- 11:51shitty Soviet satellite states to look
- 11:53like. That's what they imagine it to be.
- 11:55Uh, we got a a live chat, excuse me, a
- 11:58donation here from Christopher says, "I
- 12:00appreciate you, Luke. Thank you." Thank
- 12:01you. Thank you, sir. I appreciate you.
- 12:05Let's see. Luke, do you think there
- 12:06could ever be a time Palestine and
- 12:08Israel can reconcile? In less than 100
- 12:10years, Jews and Germans have a
- 12:12relationship with some Jews regaining
- 12:13citizenship
- 12:15in I don't know how far it goes.
- 12:19Um,
- 12:21I mean, I think that kind of time scale
- 12:23makes a lot of things possible.
- 12:26uh it's 2026. I mean consider 1926. We
- 12:29are in the roaring 20s with not even yet
- 12:32heading into the great depression. Think
- 12:34about the ways in which life was
- 12:36transformed over the following you know
- 12:3874 years to say nothing of another 26 on
- 12:41top of that. So with that in mind I
- 12:44would imagine that um yes you have to
- 12:46keep your mind open to any number of
- 12:48different possibilities again especially
- 12:50given that kind of time horizon. But
- 12:53what I would say is um I just think
- 12:56we'll get to some kind of conclusion.
- 12:59I I I I it just seems to me like force,
- 13:02maximum force is the plan. Uh
- 13:05territorial maximum force in moving even
- 13:07now above the Latani River in in
- 13:09Lebanon, destroying Beirut, destroying
- 13:12that country more generally, taking
- 13:13they've already taken parts of Syria. We
- 13:16already know what the whole greater
- 13:17Israel part as well. You know, um this
- 13:20is what they want to do. This is what
- 13:21the game is. this is what the game plan
- 13:23is. And consequently, um I think that
- 13:28some of these questions
- 13:30won't like what you're asking as a
- 13:33relevant to is there I guess what I'm
- 13:35driving at is is there even going to be
- 13:36a notion of Palestine in a 100 years? I
- 13:40don't think that's an idle question.
- 13:44I don't know the answer to that. But it
- 13:47feels to me that when you just look at
- 13:49the you ever seen these maps in the West
- 13:50Bank of the growth of Israeli uh uh
- 13:54illegal settlements and how the
- 13:55settlements are just rapidly taking over
- 13:57and how u essentially like you know you
- 14:01can identify for example Palestinian
- 14:02homes in the West Bank for a number of
- 14:04different reasons. Not least of which is
- 14:05they all have water tanks overhead
- 14:07because they don't have indoor plumbing.
- 14:08You know it's like a total Jim Crow
- 14:10scenario. It's actually worse given
- 14:11given the state of settler violence in
- 14:13these places. And then you look at what
- 14:15Gaza has been just completely turned
- 14:16into a pulp. I don't know what their
- 14:18plans are, but their plans are not to
- 14:20keep Gaza and the West Bank un under any
- 14:23kind of Palestinian control and frankly
- 14:25Palestinian identity or history or
- 14:27anything. The plan is to get rid of all
- 14:30of that. Quite quite obviously that's
- 14:32the plan. You know what I mean? All
- 14:34right, here we go. I appreciate you,
- 14:36Luke. Let's see here. Oh, let me thank
- 14:38you for that one. Thank you, sir. Do you
- 14:40think MMA turns people right? I am
- 14:42solidly left on economics but have been
- 14:45becoming more right on social issues.
- 14:47You're probably becoming more right
- 14:48because you might be around people like
- 14:50that. Um to be clear,
- 14:54what's this last one? Okay. Um does it
- 14:57turn people right? I don't I I think if
- 14:59you're if you listen if you grow up in
- 15:02or you are surrounded by any kind of
- 15:04environment that presses a certain kind
- 15:06of worldview or Jesus or presses a
- 15:09certain kind of um
- 15:13how do we say this just messaging
- 15:17ideation of a particular sort eventually
- 15:20there does tend to be something of an
- 15:22osmosis effect even sometimes
- 15:24subconsciously it can actually happen
- 15:26it's not it's not altogether impossible
- 15:28Um, and sometimes it can be deeply
- 15:30persuasive, right? All of these things
- 15:31can happen. Do I think it turns you that
- 15:33way? I think in a sense, right? So, one
- 15:37of the things that I've had to confront
- 15:38is that I mean, MMA definitely is a, you
- 15:41know, again, everyone sort of makes fun
- 15:42of me for it at this point for saying
- 15:44MMA is a right-wing sport, but what I
- 15:45mean is even in a different world, that
- 15:47would still be true. What that's not my
- 15:50complaint. My complaint has never been
- 15:52that MMA is NASCAR. Oh, it's right
- 15:54coded. Isn't that a problem? That's not
- 15:56my issue.
- 15:58That's not my issue at all. I don't care
- 16:00about that. I know that might sound
- 16:01surprising to some, but I really don't.
- 16:03Like you can't some some things kind of
- 16:05one people like like guys, do you think
- 16:08my views were widely disseminated when I
- 16:10was in the Marine Corps? Do you think a
- 16:13bunch of people in the enlisted
- 16:15artillery unit I was in found my ideas
- 16:18persuasive? [ __ ] no they didn't. Of
- 16:20course not. But that doesn't like you
- 16:23know what I like that that some parts of
- 16:25the of life are just like that. The
- 16:27difference for me is how those forces
- 16:28were marshaled and then operationalized
- 16:31as a way to advance Donald Trump staying
- 16:33out of prison. That's the part to me
- 16:36that's the problem. So
- 16:42understand that even if there was a
- 16:44different lead promoter who had no
- 16:47interest in politicizing the sport in
- 16:50this way, what would ultimately happen
- 16:53is it would still be comprised by people
- 16:56of a right-wing kind of, you know,
- 16:58partisanship, maybe center right, and
- 17:00there would be more diversity of
- 17:02thought, too, I think. But you know you
- 17:05would still predominantly or at least
- 17:06you know in some kind of way lean lean
- 17:08right. The the the the issue again it is
- 17:11not that it is how taking that putting
- 17:14that into a political plan that is the
- 17:18problem. That is the that is that is the
- 17:20beginning and end of the problem. And
- 17:21because it has done that and because
- 17:23that has been offputting to some who
- 17:25disagree with it and because that has
- 17:26homogenized the fan base. You're asking
- 17:28am I turning you more? Well, now there
- 17:31is such an echo chamber of
- 17:33self-reinforcing
- 17:35elements of the right all sort of
- 17:37channeling through. I mean, how many
- 17:38pro-andrew Tate manosphere things have
- 17:40you seen the last few years? Fighters
- 17:42being called on it like, "Oh, this guy
- 17:44is, you know, see the New York New
- 17:46Yorker uh story on him." It's like, you
- 17:48can't believe that these fighters ever
- 17:50went to the Matford, but I guess you
- 17:51can. And they're like, "Oh no, he's top
- 17:53G." It's like, "Oh my god, dude, you're
- 17:54so [ __ ] lost. You're so lost." um all
- 17:58of that is kind of simmering through and
- 17:59and and among a number of other
- 18:01different influences as well. So yes,
- 18:03now being in proximity to this
- 18:05politicized homogenized thing, it could
- 18:07be rubbing off on you. Yes.
- 18:11Let's see here.
- 18:14Eric asks, "Reminining about Oh, sorry.
- 18:17No, from NN says, "What's it like to
- 18:19find this avenue of politics in sports?
- 18:21I feel like you are one of the only ones
- 18:22who covers it in MMA and one of the few
- 18:25that covers it from good faith
- 18:26perspective sports. I don't really want
- 18:28to do this. Um I don't want to be the oh
- 18:31he covers politics and sports guy. I
- 18:34don't I I know I know that's what I am
- 18:35doing. Uh I would like to be able to do
- 18:39things beyond just that particular
- 18:41nexus.
- 18:42I'd like to have be able to say beyond
- 18:44it. Uh I don't know if that is possible
- 18:46but that is the attempt. So,
- 18:49it feels weird because it's s it's such
- 18:52like there's so much media and yet
- 18:55there's such a gap at the same time.
- 18:57It's quite it's quite weird, you know?
- 19:00Uh but also, I mean, who the hell saw
- 19:02any of this coming? Like, you think when
- 19:04I got into MMA, you know, and I really
- 19:06wanted to do something with it in
- 19:07February of 2007, do you think that that
- 19:10was I thought, you know, 19 years later
- 19:13we'd be doing this? It's it's just it's
- 19:15just bonkers, you know? So, it's a very
- 19:17s it's maybe part I'm trying to point
- 19:19out is maybe part of the reason why
- 19:21there's a gap is because it is such a
- 19:23bizarre intersection
- 19:26in time.
- 19:29Reminiscing about Covington, a pioneer
- 19:31of right-wing MMA archetype, have you
- 19:33reflected on the novelty taboo that
- 19:36existed when he came up versus now? I
- 19:38mean, at first he was trying to be
- 19:40something of a wink wink. I I I I don't
- 19:43know all the taxonomy of pro- wrestling,
- 19:45good guy, bad guy thing, but it looked
- 19:48to me like what he was trying to do was
- 19:49get attention by triggering anyone he
- 19:51could, any stuffy lib that was in the
- 19:55fan base at that time while also
- 19:57signaling to the other ones who like him
- 19:59to rally around him. Right? In other
- 20:01words, to be polarizing in the same way
- 20:02you would as a political figure to get
- 20:04other if you're Michael Nolles, you want
- 20:06to be supported by Ben Shapiro and and
- 20:08and then you also want to trigger all
- 20:10the people on the left. like it was it's
- 20:12the same kind of dynamic, but then
- 20:14something kind of happened along the
- 20:15way. The sport homogenized in a pretty
- 20:17strong direction, so there was no one
- 20:18left to trigger except other fans. And
- 20:21then what was required of him, if you'll
- 20:23notice, remember he was going out in the
- 20:24colonial outfit, too. Remember, he had
- 20:26the full-on like colonial Williamsburg
- 20:28thing because there was no one left to
- 20:30really trigger like that. You there was
- 20:32no one left. And he was doing other
- 20:33stuff too, like he was giving away the
- 20:35plot of Star Wars and stuff like that,
- 20:38which which in fairness is a scumbag
- 20:41move, but also really
- 20:48It's a little funny. It's a little
- 20:50funny. It's a scumbag move. I'm not
- 20:51defending it, but I'm sorry. Like
- 20:53watching people be like, I can't believe
- 20:55you [ __ ] ruined Star Wars.
- 21:00Oh man, that was I got I got a little
- 21:02bit of a chuckle out of that. I I have
- 21:04to admit. Um
- 21:07anyway,
- 21:09he had to alter the gimmick because
- 21:11there was no one left to trigger
- 21:14and between that and inactivity and
- 21:16other issues related to his professional
- 21:18accomplishment, the whole thing just
- 21:20kind of fizzled. And a bunch of other
- 21:23people became right-wing, like vocally
- 21:25right-wing without any of the thetick,
- 21:29you know what I mean? Like Bryce
- 21:30Mitchell or Sean Strickland, they're
- 21:32like, you can say what you want about
- 21:33them and there is a lot to be said, but
- 21:36they do stick. Oh, sorry. Sorry. They
- 21:38don't do shick. They just kind of talk
- 21:39how they feel. And it made what what
- 21:41what he was doing look even weirder. So
- 21:44it just it just everything just kind of
- 21:46fizzled. It just fizzled. He would have
- 21:48had a much better show of it like in MMA
- 21:51in the early 2010s or something. That
- 21:53would have been a great time for him. A
- 21:55great time. All right, let's see here.
- 21:59Oops. Hang on.
- 22:03Not supporting the White House card with
- 22:05my money. All you can do as a consumer.
- 22:07Hope you'll have a watch along. I will.
- 22:08I'll have a watch along and I'm going to
- 22:10have a post-fight show here. So, fight's
- 22:13going to be over. I'm going to do a
- 22:14post-fight show on the fights and then
- 22:16when that's over, I'm going to be back
- 22:17here and doing I mean, I might change my
- 22:20mind between now and then, but the plan
- 22:21for now is to then come live here. I
- 22:23guess we'll see what kind of audience is
- 22:25there. If not, I might do a wrap-up and
- 22:26then post it later after the fact, but
- 22:29um the plan is for now anyway to go live
- 22:32here after the post fight show, but
- 22:33we'll see how that goes. I'm pretty
- 22:34tired. I haven't slept well in a while.
- 22:36All right,
- 22:41Mr. Fancy Dick says, "I think you
- 22:43mentioned you were once a speech
- 22:44writer." Yes. "Does it feel like a full
- 22:46circle career moment re-entering the
- 22:48political sphere?" Yes, it does. Yes, it
- 22:50does. That is such a great question. It
- 22:52feels insane to me. It feels insane to
- 22:55me. Um I never anticipated it, never
- 22:58wanted it. Um never never thought twice
- 23:03about it. I don't know. It was just
- 23:04strange. It was just strange. I wanted
- 23:08to get as far away from it as possible
- 23:10when it was in my face and I thought MMA
- 23:14would be a safe refuge. Boy, the naivity
- 23:16on that, huh? Can you imagine? I was
- 23:20like, I just want to get away from this
- 23:22completely. And then
- 23:26it just tells you how politicized the
- 23:28sport is, how politicized our age, I
- 23:30think, generally is. Um,
- 23:34and this is why it's just I mean, dude,
- 23:38all these [ __ ] media people being
- 23:40like, "Oh, yeah, quietly. I really like
- 23:42what you're doing, man. Shut the [ __ ]
- 23:43up." Like,
- 23:45not watching MMA media just completely
- 23:48whiff on this. I think it's radicalizing
- 23:51me if I can just be honest with you. I
- 23:53think it's radicalizing me to just
- 23:54watch, dude. to watch this country not
- 23:58punish Jan 6 properly is part of the
- 24:01reason why we're here and the White
- 24:05House thing the people think I'm against
- 24:07the fights like the fights dude I don't
- 24:08give a [ __ ] about the fight I mean
- 24:10they're fights like they're I value what
- 24:12they are as they mean for the fights but
- 24:13I'm saying as a thing to be mad about
- 24:15I'm not mad about the fights I want to
- 24:17be very clear about that I'm not mad
- 24:18about I'm not mad at about the fights I
- 24:20am concerned about the union of these
- 24:22two entities that is that is what I'm
- 24:25concerned about I'm concerned about what
- 24:26it means for MMA and I'm concerned about
- 24:28what it means for the country and I'm
- 24:30concerned about the UFC being in
- 24:31relationship with and this is literally
- 24:34not even debatable a guy who tried to
- 24:38use a fake elector scheme to steal a
- 24:40presidential election
- 24:43#Kenneth Chzbro
- 24:47and when the long arm of the law was
- 24:50descending on this guy that is when the
- 24:52UFC went to bat for him when law enfor
- 24:55enforcement was catching up with him
- 24:56slowly and too slow in fact but
- 24:58nevertheless that's when it was and they
- 25:01helped return him to power and they not
- 25:03only get this as the reward they are now
- 25:06inshing the UFC inside the federal
- 25:09government they're signing deals with
- 25:11the FBI apparently they're signing deals
- 25:13with state department today they're
- 25:15getting this event which I don't think
- 25:17it'll necessarily be the last you think
- 25:18they're going to never use this claw
- 25:20again really they're going to do all
- 25:22this [ __ ] and then can tear it apart and
- 25:25never will you see it again. They're
- 25:26going to take this thing on the road
- 25:28maybe now that they've got it under
- 25:30control. Take it to a more temperate
- 25:32climate or, you know, Southern
- 25:33California or something. I don't know,
- 25:34something like that. Like, do you think
- 25:36they're just going to they're going to
- 25:38spend all this money to have a feat of
- 25:40engineering
- 25:42to just get rid of it? Well, I guess
- 25:44we're done here.
- 25:46You know, that seems naive. That seems
- 25:49naive. I don't I don't I don't buy that.
- 25:52Um, so
- 25:55I don't know. I lost track of where they
- 25:56were in the question. It's a full circle
- 25:57moment in the political sphere. But
- 26:01it's just crazy that there's this union
- 26:03and I honestly I'll tell you all the
- 26:05truth. If we could go back to 2019,
- 26:08snap our fingers and go back and come
- 26:11and then go through there's no pandemic
- 26:13and the UFC doesn't politicize. If
- 26:15someone says you have to give up
- 26:16everything to go back there, the answer
- 26:17is yes. I would. I I didn't really want
- 26:22to do this. I just felt like I kind of
- 26:25had to. Felt like I had no choice
- 26:30and that's why I'm doing it. So, yeah.
- 26:37All right. Let's see.
- 26:40Uh we have the refused entries,
- 26:42deportations and treatment of brownskinn
- 26:44teams officials entering USA for the
- 26:46World Cup done to oh what have the
- 26:49refused entries, deportations and
- 26:50treatment of brownkinn team/officials
- 26:53entering the USA for the World Cup done
- 26:55to US image worldwide. I mean on some
- 26:57level it's not new because tourism is
- 27:01down to the United States virtually
- 27:04everywhere. I do believe that there are
- 27:05some that might be a little bit up or
- 27:07holding steady, but so many countries,
- 27:10their overall flights from 2015 to 20 or
- 27:13sorry, 2025 to 2026, they're all down.
- 27:15They're all down. They're all down
- 27:17relative to to what they were previously
- 27:20all throughout Europe in many parts of
- 27:21Latin America as well. It's all down.
- 27:24Um, so that comes from these stories of
- 27:27us holding people who, you know, there's
- 27:30green card holder. I saw a guy who was
- 27:31an Irish green card holder that there
- 27:33was some kind of, you know, incredibly
- 27:36minor issue he, you know, you guys have
- 27:38seen these stories that there was some
- 27:40easily fixable minor issue that they
- 27:42used to throw someone in ICE detention.
- 27:43And he was in an ICE uh detention center
- 27:47calling Irish News to complain about how
- 27:49much weight he'd lost. There's no food.
- 27:51They're not taking care of them. Like
- 27:52he's detailing these harrowing
- 27:54conditions. These stories spread. the
- 27:57the the the UK grandma that sits in ICE
- 27:59detention for 6 weeks before being
- 28:01deported. Like the nastiness with which
- 28:03they did it. Don't you remember the MMA
- 28:04coach who came over from Australia? I
- 28:07forget his name. Subic. Subetic. Uh I
- 28:10forget his I forget his last name. And
- 28:12they they tried to, you know, throw him
- 28:13in. Remember, they didn't some places
- 28:15don't have ice detention centers, so
- 28:16they just they're just borrowing open
- 28:18parts of prisons to house some of these
- 28:20people in. All of these stories went
- 28:22back. This is merely a continuation.
- 28:24It's kind of been out of the headlines
- 28:26recently, right? right? We haven't
- 28:27noticed it as much. It was much bigger
- 28:28in the first and second, maybe even the
- 28:30third quarter of 2025, maybe 2025
- 28:33overall. Um, some of that has gone down.
- 28:35They're a little bit quieter about it. I
- 28:36think they're making some maybe some
- 28:38less aggressive choices absent the World
- 28:41Cup in terms of screening, although in
- 28:43refugees, it's just all all but like I
- 28:45think a handful quite literally a
- 28:47handful of just white South Africans.
- 28:49But these these these are well-known
- 28:51stories and it's going to only going to
- 28:52get worse. Like what's the upshot of
- 28:54this? Well, all the people who tried to
- 28:56come here as fans who got turned away
- 28:57for some minor issue, which is common,
- 29:00or had a really awful experience coming
- 29:02through, but maybe got through or just
- 29:04got sent back in some kind of a way.
- 29:06Like, they're all going to go home and
- 29:08tell stories and they're going to talk
- 29:09to their local news and then local news
- 29:11is going to broadcast this to people.
- 29:13It's only going to exacerbate the
- 29:15existing collapse in the image of the
- 29:18United States abroad. How could it be
- 29:20anything else? How could it be? We
- 29:23already It's not like we're I'm
- 29:24speculating about the decline in
- 29:26international travel here. I'm basing my
- 29:28argument on a fact that's already been
- 29:30established.
- 29:34This is already where we are. Guys, did
- 29:36you not see on top of that that gigantic
- 29:39Wall Street Journal report more people
- 29:41or not? And people think, "Oh, it's it's
- 29:43all the Mexicans of illegal status." No,
- 29:44no, no. It's plenty of other people.
- 29:48More Americans for the first time since
- 29:49the Great Depression left the United
- 29:51States last year than entered
- 29:54since the Great Depression. That's
- 29:56almost a hundred years.
- 29:59So you're asking, what's the World Cup
- 30:01going to do? It's going to magnify all
- 30:03of the things that the world has already
- 30:05seen about us. How can we possibly look
- 30:07at the world and say, "Oh, Trump is not
- 30:09us. We did it twice. We did it twice. It
- 30:13absolutely is us. It's not the totality
- 30:16of us, but it's us. Yes, that is us. I t
- 30:21I bring no joy in saying it. That's us.
- 30:25This is where we are. This is who we
- 30:27are.
- 30:30Um, so it's going to just really
- 30:32collapse stock. And then again, we've
- 30:34torn out all the soft power mechanisms
- 30:36that we had. I think I discussed this on
- 30:37the previous chat. And we're going to
- 30:39replace it with cage fighting. like what
- 30:41does this meaningfully do to bolster
- 30:42relations with a country for gain other
- 30:46than I don't know make them compliant
- 30:47with state department demands. I don't I
- 30:49don't really know. I guess we'll have to
- 30:50see how that all works. But this is now
- 30:52no different like there's there's no
- 30:54difference now between the Saudi Arabia
- 30:57using their sovereign wealth fund to
- 30:59riod stuff all either through
- 31:01sponsorship or their own events than
- 31:03what you're seeing between UFC and state
- 31:04department. They are sports watching. It
- 31:06is matterof fact at this point. It's not
- 31:08even ambiguous.
- 31:12Have you seen a more effective mayor
- 31:14than Zoron in your lifetime? Uh, they
- 31:17love they they love Mary and Barry here.
- 31:20Will his success produce more copycats?
- 31:22What we need is someone not just with a
- 31:25progressive vision, not just with a
- 31:28progressive vision. That is really not
- 31:29the only problem. You need someone that
- 31:31is committed to competency as a brand
- 31:36and
- 31:38proof of concept that government can be
- 31:40effective. And there's a third pillar,
- 31:44ethics in the business, limiting the
- 31:46scope of the job where we're not there
- 31:48to enrich ourselves. Uh we are not there
- 31:51to um you know self aggrandise in some
- 31:54kind of a way. We are there to do this
- 31:57job by the book to help New Yorkers to
- 32:00stay laser focused in his particular
- 32:01case laser focused on workingclass
- 32:04issues, improving quality of life,
- 32:06finding ways to meaningfully affect
- 32:08people. That's the the the brand works
- 32:10for him because of that. Obviously,
- 32:12there's more that goes into it,
- 32:13political dealmaking, which he did with
- 32:14the state to be able to afford child
- 32:16care for everyone, but in general, what
- 32:18he's doing are those three pillars that
- 32:20I mentioned. That needs to be the brand.
- 32:22That's why for me I like you know
- 32:25platiner to me it's like people going to
- 32:26the mat for him it's like I guess he is
- 32:28better than Susan Collins he is better
- 32:29than Janet Mills that is true but for me
- 32:32like a really safer bet is Abdul Elsed
- 32:36who has many Platin-like views is
- 32:39certainly a progressive Democrat but is
- 32:41an academic a proven administrator of
- 32:44the state of healthcare in in Detroit.
- 32:47um you know a road scholar, captain of
- 32:50the wrestling team, like
- 32:52that's more my thing, right? Didn't go
- 32:54to Harvard, went to University of
- 32:55Michigan, which is still obviously a
- 32:56phenomenal public school, but just that,
- 32:58a public school.
- 33:00That's my kind of thing that I feel much
- 33:03more comfortable with that kind of a
- 33:04decision.
- 33:07Let's see here.
- 33:09Did you see Peter Binard's rebuttal of
- 33:10Sam Harris on Israel? His refusal to
- 33:13debate any critics of Israel. Finally,
- 33:15Harris and Mah are taken to task. I
- 33:17watched about a minute of it. I have not
- 33:19finished. Sam Harris basically wrote an
- 33:21article filled with as many lies,
- 33:25falsehoods, obfuscations,
- 33:27bizarre tangents, and just ghoulish
- 33:32morality all through. This guy wants
- 33:34people to take his moral reasoning
- 33:36seriously. And it's weird about Gaza
- 33:38because with these people like Sam, you
- 33:40can't even have an ordinary conversation
- 33:43about the merits. You can only have they
- 33:46are unable to accept certain elements of
- 33:48fact. If you sit on a jury trial, there
- 33:52are things that are introduced to the
- 33:54court that the both the defense and the
- 33:55prosecution agree are facts of the case.
- 33:58And it makes the conversation a lot
- 33:59simpler because you have to consult
- 34:01those as the north star as the as the as
- 34:03the as the defining way in which to um
- 34:06have a conversation and to make a
- 34:08judgment about like but they just refuse
- 34:10to have that kind of a process. They
- 34:11they they there is every effort made to
- 34:14have some kind of explanation here. Oh,
- 34:16people is just full of anti-semitism.
- 34:18And of course, anti-semitism is real.
- 34:20But then you'll hear things like the
- 34:21Qatar overtake of your Tik Tok feed and
- 34:24it's like, guys, maybe it's the child
- 34:26killing.
- 34:28Maybe it's the Oh, you know what?
- 34:38This book
- 34:41by Adam Johnson. We're reading it
- 34:43together on my Substack. Um, he's going
- 34:48to be on my Substack and I'll put I'll
- 34:50put the interview on this YouTube
- 34:51channel afterward. He's going to be on
- 34:54my Substack to do to talk about his
- 34:57book. This book is incredible. Now, it's
- 35:00not just incredible for how good it is
- 35:03in the sense of how strong the argument
- 35:04is, but
- 35:07it's more than that. He makes a very
- 35:10simple but very clear and important
- 35:13claim. He doesn't claim that
- 35:18in his opinion
- 35:21major newspapers, television networks,
- 35:23and other forms of large-scale corporate
- 35:25media have an pro-Israel and
- 35:28anti-Palestinian bias because he feels
- 35:30it or because it's reputationally there
- 35:33or because he saw isolated examples of
- 35:35it. No, no, no. His argument is the
- 35:38reason why we know it's true is because
- 35:41you can empirically prove it. You can
- 35:44literally take the data that shows any
- 35:48number of different things that they
- 35:49want to measure and how much the
- 35:52disparity in that can be either
- 35:53positively or negatively in favor of
- 35:55Israel and against Palestine or vice
- 35:57versa vice virtue in terms of good or a
- 35:59bad. Like so for example,
- 36:02if they look at um what was the one that
- 36:05I read the other day? I thought was
- 36:06really good. What's a basic one that he
- 36:08starts out with? Oh god, I can't see
- 36:10[ __ ]
- 36:14here. Hold on.
- 36:16Oh, Martin Fletcher. That was a good
- 36:18one. Uh, hold on.
- 36:23Let me get this one. Ah, here we go.
- 36:27Where is this one?
- 36:31Okay,
- 36:35we'll do.
- 36:39Okay.
- 36:42All right. Let me just read the
- 36:43beginning of this to you. Okay. Within
- 36:45hours of the October 7th attack,
- 36:46pro-Israel reporters, politicians, and
- 36:48commentators needed to exceptionalize
- 36:51Palestinian violence and create a tiered
- 36:53moral system that indexed October 7th as
- 36:56something morally distinct from both
- 36:58Israeli violence of the past and what
- 37:00would no doubt be an unprecedented
- 37:02military response by Israel in addition
- 37:04to the campaign to ISIS Hamas. So, one
- 37:08argument that he makes in this is he
- 37:09says that pro-Israeli forces or
- 37:11pro-Israeli sympathies through media
- 37:13exerted through different ways tried to
- 37:16turn Hamas into like nihilistic jihadist
- 37:19murderers, which yes, of course, they
- 37:21engaged in horrible acts on October 7th,
- 37:23but they're not ISIS in that way. They
- 37:25are a political organization, too. They
- 37:27have political demands. Yes, they
- 37:29resorted to barbaric means. That is
- 37:31true. But, of course, their adversary
- 37:32has done that times a thousand. So
- 37:34whatever you can accuse them of, Israel
- 37:36would be just as guilty to the nth
- 37:38degree. And so now we're back at a place
- 37:40where we're having a political divide.
- 37:42And there was an attempt to like the the
- 37:44reason why they wanted to ISIS Hamas was
- 37:47so that they could make violence against
- 37:48them, wanting violence against them more
- 37:50acceptable. But he continues
- 37:53um the three mechanisms to achieve this
- 37:56exceptionalization were one, the almost
- 37:58entirely lopsided use of emotive words
- 38:00to describe the killing of Israelis
- 38:02versus the killing of Palestinians. So
- 38:04they would call it a tragedy or a
- 38:05massacre. And then when Palestinians
- 38:07would be killed, then they can measure
- 38:08the use of these words, right? And they
- 38:09show you side by side comparisons. But
- 38:12when it was when it was Palestinians
- 38:13killed, there was never any of these
- 38:15other descriptors. It was merely like
- 38:17numeric totals, right? They would never
- 38:19call it a slaughter. They would never
- 38:21call it a massacre. They would never
- 38:22call it, you know, that kind of a thing.
- 38:25uh reflexively prefacing the majority of
- 38:27statements about Palestinian civilian
- 38:28deaths with claims of Palestinian war
- 38:31crimes while systematically ignoring
- 38:33welldocumented crimes by Israelis.
- 38:34That's a very common one. And an overall
- 38:36rhetorical regime that humanized
- 38:38Israelis and dehumanized Palestinians.
- 38:40And then he goes through and then proves
- 38:42it to you by collecting data on like
- 38:4410,000 news articles and like 5,000
- 38:47hours of television and showing you
- 38:49systematically how they often um they
- 38:52call when when if there's someone 17 and
- 38:54under for who's Israeli, they call them
- 38:56children. If it's 17 and under, they
- 38:59call them minors. And you can't find the
- 39:01reverse hardly at all. And he just
- 39:03documents this over and over and over.
- 39:05It is empirically [ __ ] true. You can
- 39:10measure it. You can literally [ __ ]
- 39:13measure it. And so
- 39:16all of that is to say Sam Harris just
- 39:19can't reconcile with this. He cannot
- 39:21reconcile with the crimes. He cannot
- 39:22reconcile with the reality. And so he
- 39:25has turned himself into a place where
- 39:26he's like, I won't even talk to critics
- 39:28because there's nothing to say. There's
- 39:30nothing to say because you are not even
- 39:32on planet reality. They can literally
- 39:35prove media bias. And this is just the
- 39:38beginning. the media bias. What is that
- 39:40for? Why is this important? Because this
- 39:42is the permission structure that was
- 39:44created. And by the way, not just a
- 39:47permission structure to start one, a
- 39:49permission structure to prolong one
- 39:53as some kind of
- 39:56ferocious inevitability.
- 39:58That that's what this is for. That's why
- 40:00it's called How to Sell a Genocide. How
- 40:02to make you buy it, how to make you keep
- 40:04it. Yeah. Incredible [ __ ] book.
- 40:09If you could hand select the next
- 40:11president of the United States, who
- 40:12would you pick? I don't know.
- 40:20Probably Abdul sayed.
- 40:24I want someone who's worked in the
- 40:27public sector. I want someone that went
- 40:29to public school. I want someone that
- 40:31went to public college, but is like
- 40:33academically smart
- 40:36combined. That's what I want. I don't
- 40:38want someone that went to an elite
- 40:39private school and then went to Harvard
- 40:40and became an academic. They have a
- 40:41value in the world, but that's not who I
- 40:43want. I want someone who has been among
- 40:46the public all his life and was just
- 40:48very exceptional and now wants to run
- 40:50for like that to me and like that that
- 40:52that to me is my wheelhouse right there.
- 40:55Um, someone's asking about the Belfast
- 40:57protests and the far-right violence that
- 40:58guys like Elon Musk, Conor McGregor are
- 41:00pushing. don't know nearly as much about
- 41:02that as I would like to be able to
- 41:04comment intelligently except to say
- 41:05number one it is [ __ ] insane that
- 41:08they didn't let Hassan [ __ ] go to the
- 41:09UK right and Elon Musk could go and much
- 41:13of this violence as I understand it can
- 41:15be attributed to not just him but uh him
- 41:18in particular among a series of other
- 41:20actors right so Elon Musk can help torch
- 41:23Belfast but we can't we're not allowed
- 41:26to bring Hassan [ __ ] to the UK
- 41:28absolutely insane
- 41:30But I need to read more um to fully get
- 41:33the weight of it. And I I I've read a
- 41:35little bit, but I I have more to read.
- 41:37Please stay in MMA. We need book readers
- 41:39like you. I don't think MMA needs me. I
- 41:41don't I know there are people in MMA who
- 41:44say that, but like the industry
- 41:46generally does not want me. It never
- 41:48really did, but I was still able to, I
- 41:51think, meaningfully contribute. But if
- 41:53they're just going to be like a a a
- 41:55proTrump ballwashing op uh operation
- 41:58with no reflex or appetite for examining
- 42:01that, I don't know where that leaves me.
- 42:04Um again, we're asking about Musk here.
- 42:07Event is ridiculous, but it sucks the
- 42:09fighter stories are secondary. Yeah,
- 42:10it's true. It's inspiring that a kid
- 42:13from Montana saved up 2,000 bucks and
- 42:15left home for Arizona in an old car and
- 42:18never looked back and became champ
- 42:21and then took money from Ramzon Kadirov
- 42:24or allegedly I guess uh from his kids. I
- 42:28don't want to you know I don't know how
- 42:30true that is but you know it's the
- 42:32presumption there anyway. All right. Uh
- 42:34I feel like our current political hell
- 42:36started in 2008 when Obama bailed out
- 42:38the banks losing all hope. Well, it
- 42:40precedes that because
- 42:42Trump, sorry, what am I saying? Trump
- 42:44Bush invaded. Well, first of all,
- 42:46there's Bush vGore where you can make an
- 42:48argument about to what extent that was a
- 42:50stolen election. That's its own little I
- 42:51don't want to relitigate hanging Chads,
- 42:54you know, and uh and and whatnot from
- 42:57various municipalities within the state
- 42:59of Florida. But suffice to say, you can
- 43:00make an argument about that. That's one.
- 43:03And then he invaded Iraq. Like, dude,
- 43:05no. It started before that. I mean, you
- 43:06can even go back to Reagan, right? And
- 43:08Bush the the elder Bush was political
- 43:11toast after he said no new taxes. But
- 43:14you know Reagan and Clinton obviously
- 43:15had his own issues. But the America was
- 43:19there was a lot of political acrimony
- 43:20between the Republicans and you guys
- 43:22remember the contract with America in
- 43:23'94 and and Clinton. But um relative to
- 43:27our current state there was there was a
- 43:29long shutdown there too but relative to
- 43:31the current state of things it felt a
- 43:32lot more deal making bipartisan and in
- 43:35control. I think there's data to that
- 43:37effect as well.
- 43:40Uh, what else we got here? Let's see.
- 43:43Oops.
- 43:47No question. I left MMA fandom three to
- 43:49four years ago and just happy to be back
- 43:51watching your live chats again. Always
- 43:52appreciate your cander. Great to hear
- 43:54the channel is as cathartic for you as
- 43:55it is for us. Yeah, thanks man. I
- 43:56appreciate that. Thanks for sticking
- 43:58with me, man. Really appreciate it.
- 44:00Elevate says, "Love you, buddy. Thanks
- 44:01so much for this channel. We need this
- 44:03now more than ever. I'd love to sponsor
- 44:04this channel. one of my brands. Hit up
- 44:06my guys. Hit up the email for the
- 44:09channel. Would you ever have Graham
- 44:10Platner on your show? Sure. I talked to
- 44:12him. I mean, you know, he's another
- 44:14Marine. I And he had a more
- 44:16distinguished career than I did, but I I
- 44:17have some questions about that tattoo
- 44:19for sure. Hey, Luke. Big fan from
- 44:21Australia. I often reference you in
- 44:22terms of both MMA news and geopolitical
- 44:24news. My friends are now saying, "Why
- 44:26don't you marry him already? Let's go
- 44:29[ __ ] him." So, here's me shooting my
- 44:31shot. Will you marry me? Much love,
- 44:32mate. I will not. I am taken for but uh
- 44:36I'm flattered.
- 44:38Have you read Confessions of an Economic
- 44:40Hitman by John Perkins? Think you would
- 44:42find it interesting? I have not. I have
- 44:43not.
- 44:46To your point about left-wing media
- 44:47missing the boat on this event. I've
- 44:49seen lib YouTubers say even Joe Rogan is
- 44:51criticizing it. Yeah. No, he is not.
- 44:53Yeah. Joe, listen. Joe's criticism, as I
- 44:56said on the on the live chat, Joe's
- 44:57criticism of the event is like the
- 44:59fairest, like the fairest criticism of
- 45:02the event. If you're just talking about
- 45:03the sporting side of it, just the
- 45:04sporting side of it, it's like it's
- 45:05outside and that might mess it up. He's
- 45:07right. He's right. He's right. It's not
- 45:11a guarantee that it will get messed up,
- 45:13but people just blowing it off because
- 45:16other sports are played outside missed
- 45:18the point completely. Anyway, I don't
- 45:20really want to get into MMA here, but
- 45:23then they're like, but the point is like
- 45:24the the the lib side of it who are like
- 45:26half paying attention like, oh, you
- 45:28know, to your point, Joe's been really
- 45:31bad mouthing this. I'm like, dude, he's
- 45:33not said anything about
- 45:36the thing that matters. He's only just
- 45:37complaining about the outside part. And
- 45:39I'm like, and then what he said is even
- 45:41true. Like,
- 45:46you're getting this story totally wrong.
- 45:48And I'm seeing it all over the place.
- 45:50It's crazy.
- 45:55Uh, let's see. Oh, whoops. Hey, Luke.
- 45:58What is your What is the most out there
- 46:01conspiracy theory that the events of the
- 46:02last four years convinced you could be
- 46:04real? Keep up the great work. Um, I
- 46:07think that there is to me a lot that is
- 46:09unknown about the Epstein files. um in
- 46:12terms of who needs to be further
- 46:14investigated, prosecuted, and that some
- 46:16of these events and crimes like because
- 46:19there's just a glut of information,
- 46:20someone to process it and then make an
- 46:23account of a series of crimes, right?
- 46:25Like or or you know, whatever the the
- 46:26full EV evidentiary case, but you're
- 46:28taking a bit of a focus. It's it's
- 46:30comprehensive but within a narrow scope.
- 46:33And I think we need to see some of that,
- 46:35but that there could be somebody. I
- 46:38mean, one of the interesting parts about
- 46:39if you read Mortaza Hussein's reporting
- 46:41at Dropside News is how much the
- 46:43question of like, you know, was Jeffrey
- 46:46Epstein an agent of the Israelis Israeli
- 46:48state? And there's a lot of reason to
- 46:49think that he might be. Uh, conversely,
- 46:52there's also some reason to believe that
- 46:56the roles were reversed in in certain
- 46:58ways. um particularly with his
- 47:00relationship with Ahood Barack who he
- 47:02was trying to mentor um it was it was
- 47:05really quite strange. So there is that
- 47:08question of like what h what drives
- 47:09geopolitical decision-m
- 47:12uh and policy and advancement and then
- 47:14the other component is like to what and
- 47:16I still think this is under investigated
- 47:18I mean we have a lot of information but
- 47:20a lot of information has to be
- 47:22synthesized into a way that is usable
- 47:25and that part to me feels missing that
- 47:28you know I don't know exactly how young
- 47:30all of these people were but that there
- 47:32was some kind of realworld elitist
- 47:36child trafficking, you know, operation.
- 47:40Um, that is something I would never
- 47:42really have, not found impossible, but
- 47:45much more unlikely than it turns out
- 47:47that it uh was. Um, that shocked me. I
- 47:51think it shocked h how how can it not?
- 47:53How can it not, right? How can it not?
- 47:55Um, so I I I you know, we don't have a
- 47:59full comprehensive understanding of
- 48:00exactly what's happened. Obviously,
- 48:02there's a lot of information that we're
- 48:03missing and synthes a a synthesis as
- 48:06well, but yeah, that that part has been
- 48:07insane to me.
- 48:11Do your political beliefs align with
- 48:12your families? They do. Yeah.
- 48:15Mercifully, I don't have to fight with
- 48:16my family uh at Thanksgiving. Would you
- 48:19advise someone to talk about charge the
- 48:22Red Hats gang? What?
- 48:24In my opinion, keep it close to the
- 48:26chest. If not, the rich and powerful,
- 48:27use their money to keep them out of
- 48:29office. by the way, they should be in
- 48:30jail. I don't know what you are saying.
- 48:34Uh I don't know what that means. Maybe
- 48:37you already said it, but what channels
- 48:39uh will have you featured on this week?
- 48:41Except Pablo Tori, that is. Um
- 48:45did I skip a bunch? No, I think I got
- 48:47them. Uh let's see. Oh my god, the list
- 48:49is endless. Okay.
- 48:52Um, I was on Irish Independent, El Pais,
- 48:55Wall Street Journal, um, CNN on Monday.
- 48:59Um, so that's already I did some giant
- 49:02British YouTuber. Um, she had a lot of
- 49:05subs. I forget her name. Uh, you have to
- 49:07forgive me. Um, I did CBC, I did Slate.
- 49:13Uh, previously I had done, by the way,
- 49:16because it was kind of a bit earlier,
- 49:17but not too long ago, I did Bull Work,
- 49:19but you're asking this week. I did uh
- 49:21NewsHour with PBS. I did um
- 49:26God, I'm trying to remember all of them.
- 49:28What did I do today? Oh, I did another
- 49:30CBC show today. Um, and then tomorrow
- 49:34morning CNN, tomorrow afternoon CNN,
- 49:37French f some French newspaper tomorrow.
- 49:40And then, uh, I got some stuff on
- 49:42Saturday. It's a little small. Oh, I did
- 49:44like I did a I did a uh I did a NPR
- 49:46station in in um in Northern California.
- 49:50Um,
- 49:51what else did I do? Uh, oh, and I have,
- 49:54let's see, I have Breaking Points on
- 49:55Monday. I have uh I might have MSNBC on
- 49:59Monday. I've got CNN in the morning. I
- 50:02got CNN in the afternoon.
- 50:05I've got uh the Crooked Media reached
- 50:07out to me. That's the um that's the
- 50:09Obama boys. They reached out to me. Um
- 50:12Vanity Fair reached out to me. So yeah.
- 50:16Um there's a lot. News Nation reached
- 50:19out. I turned them down because I they
- 50:20wanted me to get up at like 4 in the 5
- 50:22in the morning for it and I was like,
- 50:23"Yeah, no. I'm not like no, I'm just not
- 50:25going to do that."
- 50:26Uh, if Dems ever get majority power
- 50:28again, they should impeach and convict
- 50:30Trump and Vance then put the speaker of
- 50:33the house in as president.
- 50:37Uh,
- 50:39oh, you mean if they take Oh, so then
- 50:41they would Okay. Yeah, that I
- 50:44that seems like a bit of a long shot. I
- 50:46think I do like the part the part about
- 50:48the dude, like one of the things that
- 50:50absolutely has to happen. I'm not doing
- 50:522008 again. Someone's going to jail for
- 50:54this for all of the many crimes that we
- 50:57know. I mean, you guys remember
- 50:58Signalgate alone? Remember that?
- 50:59Remember the original Pete Hexath
- 51:01controversy? Signalgate. I think people
- 51:03have memory hold that. That's a small
- 51:05one relative to some of the other
- 51:06things. But part of the reason why we
- 51:08are here with Trump is because we
- 51:09refused to put him in prison when we had
- 51:10the chance and now all of that is gone.
- 51:13But the crimes did happen and he should
- 51:15be in prison. And that isn't even just
- 51:17the fact that he stole a president or
- 51:19tried to steal a presidential election,
- 51:20nearly get his vice president killed
- 51:21with a fake elector scheme, but it goes
- 51:23well beyond that as well. In any event,
- 51:26it is this unwillingness to
- 51:27unwillingness to punish elites. It is
- 51:29this unwillingness to punish negative
- 51:31political actors. It is this
- 51:33unwillingness to face the fact that the
- 51:36only way for governments like this to
- 51:37sustain credibility to sustain uh
- 51:41themselves to to make progress forward.
- 51:45The only way to do that is you must rid
- 51:48the cancer from the political element
- 51:50when the time comes and when the time
- 51:52comes for a change in power eradicating
- 51:55the scourge that is MAGA from the
- 51:57government and from the country in terms
- 51:59of uh minimizing the amount of power
- 52:01that they have through of course all
- 52:04legal means but minimizing it. This is
- 52:06this is the number one goal. This has to
- 52:09be and for those who the bleeding edge
- 52:11of it who've been committing crimes they
- 52:12need to go to jail. Yeah. all of them.
- 52:16So that is my view.
- 52:19Uh was John McCain right?
- 52:22Well,
- 52:25he was right at the time
- 52:27and I interviewed him in 2018. It's on
- 52:30MMA Fighting. You can still see the
- 52:32interview. I think I I think I saw it
- 52:34like a couple years ago. I think it was
- 52:36still up. I interviewed John McCain
- 52:38then. And in that interview, he said, "I
- 52:41am satisfied with the way that the MMA
- 52:45world and UFC had cleaned up its act."
- 52:46He meant like with health and safety,
- 52:48you know, um, and of course, this is
- 52:51pre, you know, insane right-wing turn.
- 52:56So, he was like, I'm satisfied with it.
- 52:58Because I was I interviewed him. I was
- 53:00there for an announcement about the
- 53:02Cleveland Clinic brain study and McCain
- 53:04was there and he spoke about it and all
- 53:06the efforts that all the promoters were
- 53:08in doing it and I was asked him you know
- 53:10famously you called it human [ __ ]
- 53:11fighting and now look at it how how do
- 53:13you feel about it? He was like I'm
- 53:14satisfied. I'm satisfied with the
- 53:15changes that they've made. So in a sense
- 53:16he was right both times you know.
- 53:19Uh does this mean we can complain about
- 53:21MMA talk in the LTGP chat the way the
- 53:23Chuds complain about politics in the
- 53:26other chat? Thanks for getting this one
- 53:28started. Um,
- 53:30if you don't want to talk about the MMA
- 53:32talk, then just don't talk about the MMA
- 53:34talk. You know what I mean? How about
- 53:35that? All right, I'm going to call this
- 53:38a day. This is my third broadcast. So,
- 53:41let me just set this up one more time.
- 53:44Number one, I have this interview with
- 53:45Kareem Zadon on Substack. It's available
- 53:47to all. Everyone can go get it. Number
- 53:48one. Number two, the live chat I just
- 53:50had. Number three is this one. I'm going
- 53:52to have some kind of tape study thing on
- 53:55my uh on my Substack. So stay tuned for
- 53:59that. But Friday, so what am I saying?
- 54:01Friday, Jesus. Sunday night on my MMA
- 54:03channel, fullc card watch along and then
- 54:06postfight show and then I'll have post
- 54:07fight either live show or postfight
- 54:09reflections here thereafter strictly on
- 54:10the political lens. We're going to break
- 54:12down every political angle of the whole
- 54:15thing. Okay? So it's going to be [ __ ]
- 54:17great. I can't wait to have the freedom
- 54:20to lean into that discussion. All right,
- 54:22thank you all so much. I really
- 54:24appreciate it. I'm out of here and um
- 54:27we'll get this going more regularly,
- 54:29especially now that this event is upon
- 54:32us. If you're going to go, be safe, have
- 54:34fun, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye all.