TRANSKRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
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Hi there, you are watching or listening to DeProgram
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with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas. Thank
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you so much for joining. Thank you for supporting
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the show. Joining us today, the day after the
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big 2026 midterm elections. So yes, this is a
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pre-taped episode. This is not live. Unfortunately,
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we were, hopefully we can get Anthony Zenkus,
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our guest, back for a live show so that he can
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take your questions. But in the meantime, Professor,
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you're stuck with Jamarl and myself. Thank you
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for joining us. Professor Anthony Zenkus, I've
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been following him on social media a lot. He
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is a professor at Columbia University, a progressive
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activist, also a professor at Adelphi University.
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Also in New York, he's the director of education
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at the Safe Center Long Island, where he trains
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professionals about trauma, domestic violence,
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and human trafficking. An organizer with roots
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in Occupy Wall Street, he frequently writes and
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speaks on the intersections of socioeconomic
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inequality, climate change, and childhood trauma.
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So thank you very much for joining us. I've been
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very excited to speak to you because
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we follow each other on social media. I always
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see you on X. I'm always
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you see someone, you're that guy's always
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smart. He's always right. And it's that's
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rare because most people are not smart or right.
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So it's kind of especially not on
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the hellhole that is places like X. So it's just
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a relief. It's finding a drinking
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fountain in the middle of the Mojave Desert.
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So thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.
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Oh, that's a lovely introduction. I am happy
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to be here. And as I've been telling Ted since
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he asked me to be interviewed on he and Jamarl's
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podcast, I've been a fan of Ted for years. Back
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to the book of Obama, which I purchased not knowing
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who you are, but I had seen something on social
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media. And I said, this had the same reaction.
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I'm somebody gets it. Because everybody
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was kind of excited. Well, many people were excited
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about Obama. And I saw cracks in that kind of
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veneer pretty early on. And my friends thought
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I was crazy. And I said, yeah, but.
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why is he bringing all these bankers who helped
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cause the crash into his administration before
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he even starts? So I knew kind of from then,
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uh-oh, we have to keep ourselves alert here.
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And we were right. And yeah, it's a pleasure
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to be here with two other like-minded, smart
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folks. So what are we going to do now, huh? Well,
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yeah, that's going to be a lot of the conversation,
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I suspect, here. So, yeah, basically, Jamarl and
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I usually do this back and forth questioning
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thing. So just to cue you in. So, I
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want to obviously the thing this we booked you
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before the election. I think we kind of knew
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what was going to happen. And we'll talk about
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the election. And I guess I wanted to ask you
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first and foremost just before coming
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on here 15 minutes ago took note of the
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fact that Vice President JD Vance issued what
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I would say was an extremely we live in
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a day age of unusual political news but this
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was it just blew me away the sitting vice
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president just issued a statement separating
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himself from the president who appointed him
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He just issued a statement saying that the election
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was lost because of the war, because of Trump
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starting the war, and that the Republican Party
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needed to be honest with itself. And to paraphrase,
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but I think pretty close to a quote, he said,
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if it means losing the Senate for the next six
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years, maybe it's worth it. But if so, we need
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to be honest about it if that's a price we want
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to pay. want to have a different relationship
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with Israel. This blew me away.
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the vice president, our producer, Robby
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Load full transcript
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West, who may or may not be joining us today,
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he's conservative. He was a Trump voter who has
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been disaffected. And he always likes to say
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that he the vice president should
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speak out. And I'm always the vice president
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can't speak out. The vice president is by definition
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the pit bull of the president. That's their role.
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They're supposed to say things, meaner things,
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crueler things than even the president can do.
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And they're the bad man. They do the
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tough shit. And here you have this guy,
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he's clearly already, this is the beginning
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of the Vance for 2028 campaign. And he started
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with the war. So I was wondering what you make
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of that. I'll find the exact statement. Yeah,
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well, I'm a little shocked to hear that too.
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Not shocked that he thinks it, but shocked that
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he said it. And the way things usually work is
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the vice president can never come out with a
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public statement on administration policy unless
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it's cleared by the White House. So it occurs
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to me, right, they cannot go rogue. One of two
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things happened. It was cleared by someone. I
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don't know if that would be Susie Wiles. I would
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be kind of surprised if that were the case. And
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there's some soft coup going on right
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now. Or he went rogue because he is, Vance is
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painfully aware that his future is tethered to
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this administration. And he made a
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calculation when he joined the Trump team.
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how volatile Trump is. And Trump's
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older and less steady than he was. Not that he
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was so steady before, but this is
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we've never seen this before. So it
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sounds like self-preservation for Vance, but
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it's still shocking. So I don't know. I don't
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know what to make of it. I don't know what you
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guys think. Normally something like
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this, you cannot say without a White House OK.
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And if that's the case, I can't imagine Trump
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was OK with it. So somebody else had to approve
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it. I don't know what's going on here. This is
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a little. I got to be honest. So right
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here, here's the quote on his Twitter. He put
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it on Twitter. So he says. Oh, Jesus, this thing's
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long. I'll just be part of it. He says, one of
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the things that data analysis on our side obsesses
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over was the composition, whether the electorate
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looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to
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win. And despite the polls showed that a Democrat
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blowout, the data kept on telling us the same
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story. In some states, turnout was merely okay.
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In other states, it was downright amazing. And
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in no state was it catastrophic. There was a
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genuine sense of optimism when our team, our
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people, were showing up. What the hell is he
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talking about? What is he talking about? Well,
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he elaborates a little bit. Yeah, so he says,
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so I asked the smartest data guy that I know,
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does that mean that we're going to shock the
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world? No, he told me. We might do better than
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the polls suggest, but the data is telling us
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a lot of Trump-Vance 2024 voters are pissed and
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planning to vote for the other guys our voters
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are turning out. but they may not be for us.
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Basically, hey, we're getting a lot of people
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to turn out. They're coming out against us. The
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good news is your wife really wants sex. The
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bad news is not with you. Right. She's fucking
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a pool boy. It's that, right? So let's keep going.
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He says, well, that looks prophetic now. Voters
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did show up in Florida. For example, the electorate
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was nine points more than Republicans than Democrats,
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just a couple of points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly,
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there were places we could have done better with
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turnout, but the main problem is not turnout.
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The main problem is that many people who voted
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for Trump-Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in
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2026. This is the Obama thing. Note how he keeps
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saying Trump-Vance, not Trump, right? Yeah, it's
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both. Because I think this is his presidential
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outing. And I agree with I agree with Zenkus
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on this, but let's keep going. He says, there
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will be a lot of infighting and arguing on what
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happened and why that is. One of the posters
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I really respect told me that our economic messaging
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wasn't sharp enough down the stretch. I'm sure
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that's true. Really? Messaging? But here's the
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real reason we lost, and obvious to almost everyone.
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Another poster. one of the smartest people I
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know in politics told me yesterday that we'd
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lose the generic ballot by 13 points I felt negative
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going into Tuesday but even I was shocked by
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this in his polling we saw that a lot of Trump
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2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for
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Democrats he asked those voters who had abandoned
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us what would cause them or what would cause
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them to come back to our team the top four answers
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are counting right here in the war focus on cost
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of living and inflation put America first change
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our relationship to Israel by the way a Democrat
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could write that right that could be a lefty
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could say that yeah just just to put it in context
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meaning they're talking to hardcore right-wing
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voters and they're this is what they want our
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voters showed up and above four reasons why many
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of them voted for Democrats this is according
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to posters who nailed the results while many
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spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos-Duffy for
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calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict
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it turns out that our political advice or her
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political advice were sound she's also a great
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person wow let's see there's gonna be a lot
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of gaslighting the reason we lost the war is
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the president himself said so last night if you'd
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like to argue was it worth it that losing the
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Senate for the next years was it worth it then
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do so argue it was worthwhile cost to
pay. Agree
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or disagree, that's at least honest. I appreciate
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that, by the way. I'm saying, look, we attacked
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Iran. We lost Congress because of it. Don't make
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excuses. Just own it, if indeed it was that important
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to you. But everyone knows why we lost. Any honest
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conversation about where we go from here must
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start there. Again, he's talking about the war.
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I remain hopeful about our country to the
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people who are pissed off and want to say quote
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I told you so you're right you did tell us so
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take that energy into electing Republicans who
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share your world view to people who are just
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pissed at the results you should be let's take
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that anger and get back to work saving our country
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he is focusing on the war first and foremost
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I think it's an interesting question about
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whether he was cleared to say this I really do
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because it's very well possible that Vance
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Let's be very honest right now. Donald Trump
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is bleeding. God bleeds. And in this particular
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situation, he will be out in two years. Everybody
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knows that he's a lame duck in the most truest
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sense of the word. And that lame duck just lost
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the power of Congress. So that lame duck is a
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real lame duck in regards to what he could do.
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He can do it foreign policy, but that's it. Vance
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is separating himself from Trump in a way that
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Harris never. He doesn't even have a lot of state
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capitals that he can call and get called back
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from. Yeah. But all the Democratic governors
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that have taken over the statehouse and whatnot.
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I think if it wasn't cleared by the White House
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formally, he did not do this alone. There's no
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way he just did this on his own. He has to have
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allies behind him, on his staff, I'm sure, and
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maybe in the administration who wanted this out
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there. And so why they want it? Well, first and
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foremost, he wants it because his legacy tethered
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to this administration matters to his political
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future. But other people, I wonder what's going
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on. And I think this is if I was a Republican,
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I would say it's alarming, I guess. I don't know.
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it's just really surprising. But see,
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I would argue it's necessary. Because I agree
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with you. If Vance wants to preserve any sort
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of political capital going into, let's say, the
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next election, meaning if Republicans want to
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salvage anything and they want to have a standard
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bearer going forward and they want that standard
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bearer to be Vance, then they can't do the Kamala
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Harris, Joe Biden thing. When you get Kamala
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Harris and they're asking her, hey, would you
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do anything different than Joe Biden? And her
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response is no. And the answer again, her response
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is no. And it's OK, well, that's problematic
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considering Joe Biden's approval rating. and
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the way people are considering Joe Biden. It
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was 36% at that point. Right now, Donald Trump
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would love 36%. I know, I know. But that's the
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point that I'm trying to make. Vance is
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looking at this and is he is radioactive.
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And the Republicans, if they have two brain cells
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rubbed together, are looking at this saying,
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we need to preserve Vance. If we want to keep
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the presidency, we have to preserve Vance. And
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Vance has to be something different and distinct
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than Trump, considering where Donald Trump is.
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Meaning, if they're, Many just good sense will
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tell them to do this. Today is going to we're
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going to see. by the time this airs,
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we are going to know how Trump react. Right.
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And so if Trump doesn't if Trump isn't pissed,
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that's going to say a lot. That's going to say
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this is a coordinated strategy coming through
00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:59.250
the RNC and through the powers that be. If he's
00:14:59.250 --> 00:15:01.750
pissed, that's going to tell me that Vance is
00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:05.029
seriously contemplating a 25th Amendment solution.
00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:10.070
I was saying to a friend the
other
00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:17.009
day, the only hope for Vance would be if for
00:15:17.009 --> 00:15:22.500
some reason Trump did not finish his term and
00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:27.200
Vance became president, ended the war and focused
00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.710
on what the American people wanted to focus
00:15:30.710 --> 00:15:34.370
on. Now, do I think J.D. Vance and Republicans,
00:15:34.509 --> 00:15:36.710
who will be in the majority for the next couple
00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:41.299
of months, and then do I think he's a person
00:15:41.299 --> 00:15:43.720
that would do the right thing for the American
00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:49.889
people? No. But sometimes if that coincides with
00:15:49.889 --> 00:15:55.409
his need to have a political future, maybe transactionally
00:15:55.409 --> 00:15:59.759
he would. But I have to tell you, after February,
00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:04.899
when we started the full hot war with Iran, I
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.100
just had this gut feeling. I'm Trump's
00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:10.379
not finishing this term. No way. There's no way
00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:13.240
he's finishing the term. I just don't see it.
00:16:13.379 --> 00:16:17.419
he's old. He isn't the healthiest guy
00:16:17.419 --> 00:16:22.250
in the world. And it's only going to end in disaster
00:16:22.250 --> 00:16:25.549
if he keeps attacking Iran. So what choices does
00:16:25.549 --> 00:16:30.139
he have? Yeah, it's depressing too, right?
00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:35.200
he's ultimately, psychologically, this
00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:39.240
man is not just a narcissist, right? He's a hedonist.
00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:42.840
He likes to do what he wants to do. If he doesn't
00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.879
have the money for something, he'll borrow it
00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.539
and drive a couple of companies into bankruptcy.
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:50.500
He sees that porn star, he's got to have her,
00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:56.100
even if it's in his wife's bedroom. He does what
00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:58.500
he wants, right? He doesn't follow, he doesn't
00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:01.159
care about the rules. And he's not
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:05.380
I was working on a bio of him years ago, and
00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:07.960
I interviewed a guy who'd been in class with
00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.920
him at UPenn when he was in, he didn't go to
00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:13.200
Wharton Business School, but he went to the undergrad
00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.440
Wharton at UPenn. And he said, Trump
00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.279
was a smart guy, but he didn't want to do the
00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:21.400
work. He was lazy. And that seems to be.
00:17:21.710 --> 00:17:23.970
I met Trump when I was a banker and
00:17:23.970 --> 00:17:26.329
that was my takeaway, too. This guy was
00:17:26.329 --> 00:17:28.710
didn't want to get the deal over. He didn't want
00:17:28.710 --> 00:17:31.289
to do the work to maybe get a deal over the finish
00:17:31.289 --> 00:17:35.670
line. He's lazy. And I think he's lazy. It's
00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:38.730
who would if you put yourself in
00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:41.109
his position, you're all right, I'm 80
00:17:41.109 --> 00:17:44.119
years old. I just got my clock cleaned.
00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:46.480
I have immunity from the Supreme Court. I don't
00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.299
really have to be president anymore to stay out
00:17:49.299 --> 00:17:52.279
of prison. Do I need this? I'm just going to
00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.059
be humiliated and dragged through the mud. Maybe
00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:57.279
I can make a backroom deal with the Democrats.
00:17:57.380 --> 00:18:01.140
hey, if I resign or allow myself
00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:04.329
to be removed and I go quietly, will you promise
00:18:04.329 --> 00:18:07.890
no lawfare, no subpoenas, and we'll all move
00:18:07.890 --> 00:18:10.109
on? It'll be better for you. It'll be better
00:18:10.109 --> 00:18:14.789
for me. I could really see if I were
00:18:14.789 --> 00:18:19.069
teleported into his body, I might be I
00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:21.130
still want to do this for the next two years.
00:18:21.269 --> 00:18:25.660
I'm out. Yeah. I was actually not completely
00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:29.920
shocked, but I was a little incredulous at his
00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:32.720
wanting to run again. I get that his ego was
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:35.180
bruised and that's what matters to him. So he
00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:39.220
had to run and win. He was worried about prosecution,
00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.920
too. Oh, yeah, of course. That's true. Actually,
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.779
probably the prime reason. But as far as lasting
00:18:48.779 --> 00:18:52.119
with the term, yeah, if I'm 80 and have
00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:56.599
billions of dollars, I'm on an island in Greece,
00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:01.019
hanging out with my family,
00:19:01.019 --> 00:19:04.500
my grandkids, whatever. I'm not doing
00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:08.569
this garbage. But then again, I'm not a person
00:19:08.569 --> 00:19:10.970
who would ever want to do that in the first place.
00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:15.170
And getting into the psychology of Trump is interesting.
00:19:15.329 --> 00:19:18.230
it's helpful to a point, but there's
00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:21.349
other forces at play. the evil cabal
00:19:21.349 --> 00:19:24.150
that runs the world, whoever they are, the ones
00:19:24.150 --> 00:19:27.029
who decide when we go to war or who we attack
00:19:27.029 --> 00:19:30.759
and all that. they want to get what
00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:37.250
they get anyway. So all the presidents are inconsequential
00:19:37.250 --> 00:19:40.410
to them. when you think about it so right
00:19:40.410 --> 00:19:43.450
Biden wasn't consequential Kamala would have
00:19:43.450 --> 00:19:48.230
just continued Biden's policies and they got
00:19:48.230 --> 00:19:51.569
Trump to do whatever with Iran probably
00:19:51.569 --> 00:19:55.630
more easily than
they would have gotten a Democrat
00:19:55.630 --> 00:19:58.250
to do what he did they would have they
00:19:58.250 --> 00:20:00.609
would have bombed I'm sure sure they would have
00:20:00.609 --> 00:20:04.369
bombed but not this whatever madness we're in
00:20:04.369 --> 00:20:08.930
right now but where are we? And
00:20:08.930 --> 00:20:12.690
I think the thing is, you're doing game theory
00:20:12.690 --> 00:20:16.289
here. What would be in it for the if
00:20:16.289 --> 00:20:23.180
the Democrats really wanted this shift in their
00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:26.819
direction to last, they would say no, right?
00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:29.819
we don't want Vance to be president. We
00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.160
don't want him to solve any of these problems
00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:35.220
you've made. We want you to be humiliated. I
00:20:35.220 --> 00:20:40.019
don't know. So it's it's a mystery. And
00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:46.069
it's I don't know. Sorry, I can't. No, I hear
00:20:46.069 --> 00:20:52.150
you. It is super interesting. even this
00:20:52.150 --> 00:20:56.990
idea of now what happens, right? Democrats get
00:20:56.990 --> 00:20:59.549
in office or Democrats come into Congress. They
00:20:59.549 --> 00:21:01.809
don't have the presidency. So the power is limited
00:21:01.809 --> 00:21:05.509
regarding what they can do currently or at the
00:21:05.509 --> 00:21:07.069
very least up until the point that Donald Trump
00:21:07.069 --> 00:21:10.839
is out. What do you think they do in office?
00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:12.359
obviously, they're probably going to
00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:15.039
have some kind of investigations. But beyond
00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:17.740
the investigations that are going to take place,
00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:21.839
what else, if anything? Well, I know what they
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.970
should do. Well, they should follow that letter
00:21:25.970 --> 00:21:30.309
that Vance put up. Those four items, right?
00:21:30.309 --> 00:21:32.289
as a lefty, I listen to that. I'm
00:21:32.349 --> 00:21:34.630
well, yeah, that makes sense. I want an emoluments
00:21:34.630 --> 00:21:37.390
investigation. I want a crypto investigation.
00:21:37.809 --> 00:21:43.369
I want an Epstein file release. Yep. And an investigation
00:21:43.369 --> 00:21:46.269
into the bombing of the Manab Girls School, which
00:21:46.269 --> 00:21:50.250
is a blatant war crime. And Venezuelan fishermen.
00:21:51.509 --> 00:21:56.299
So that would be, I don't, okay. So here, as
00:21:56.299 --> 00:21:58.400
far as impeachment goes, I don't think they should
00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.539
just go to impeachment right away. I think they
00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:03.799
need to do investigations first so the American
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:06.579
people can kind of see what the evidence is because
00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:12.680
it was very clear that, There were a bunch of
00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:16.319
Trump people who voted for him three times who
00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:21.299
were very disenamored with how he handled the
00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:24.460
Epstein file. So if they see the evidence, that
00:22:24.460 --> 00:22:27.380
little MAGA base, which is much smaller now,
00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:31.059
is going to shrink and shrink. So that will give
00:22:31.059 --> 00:22:34.259
cover to Republicans to vote yes in the Senate
00:22:34.259 --> 00:22:37.759
because he would be impeached in the House, is
00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.079
my guess, if they had the vote. with the new
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:43.380
Democratic Congress coming in that said the investigations
00:22:43.380 --> 00:22:47.299
also have to be of Pete Hegseth who might jump
00:22:47.299 --> 00:22:50.740
ship before that can happen but that doesn't
00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:52.880
excuse him from an investigation he committed
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.880
more crimes the man's criminal so but what
00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:01.539
they should do now so my concern even though
00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:05.319
I can't say I have hope from the letter you just
00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:08.539
read or the statement you read but it's a glimmer
00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:12.400
Hopefully, there's never been anything like it
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.400
ever. I agree. And so could it mean that the
00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:22.670
forces lobbying against a resumption of hostilities
00:23:22.670 --> 00:23:26.880
with Iran are having more influence? Because
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.460
I would hope so, because I think the next 60
00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:34.859
days are crucial. Remember, Trump is
00:23:34.859 --> 00:23:39.059
still unpredictable and his ego has been bruised.
00:23:39.950 --> 00:23:43.849
He's got the consequences of his war behind him.
00:23:43.910 --> 00:23:48.230
He's already been trounced in the midterms. So
00:23:48.230 --> 00:23:52.470
these next 60 days to me are the most crucial.
00:23:53.930 --> 00:23:59.690
Democrats should stand up en masse and that,
00:23:59.750 --> 00:24:03.549
everybody from leadership down to newly
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:06.420
elected members who haven't taken office yet
00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:13.339
should stand up publicly and say. We demand that
00:24:13.339 --> 00:24:16.880
there are no resumption of bombing and hostilities
00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:20.059
against Iran, that we will deal with this when
00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:23.079
the next Congress is seated in the beginning
00:24:23.079 --> 00:24:29.029
of January. I think that's crucial. In fact,
00:24:29.029 --> 00:24:32.690
I put a post up today saying this and putting
00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:35.329
the congressional switchboard number and telling
00:24:35.329 --> 00:24:38.029
people, call your Congress member, your House
00:24:38.029 --> 00:24:40.950
member, and your senators. Every day demanding
00:24:40.950 --> 00:24:43.009
that they speak out, even if they're Republican.
00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:47.630
Sadly, we have a Republican House member in the
00:24:47.630 -->
00:24:50.390
district I voted here on Long Island. So and
00:24:50.390 --> 00:24:53.009
I called today and I called Schumer's office
00:24:53.009 --> 00:24:56.950
and I said the same thing. So I think that's
00:24:56.950 --> 00:25:00.470
really important because even though this seems
00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:05.579
it could be good, there's still a risk.
00:25:07.730 --> 00:25:11.740
So I think that's the first thing that. And then
00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:14.480
also the continuing resolution comes up in December.
00:25:14.970 --> 00:25:19.809
And every Democrat should vote no if this war
00:25:19.809 --> 00:25:22.109
hasn't been negotiated to a settlement before
00:25:22.109 --> 00:25:25.349
that. Not one more penny for the military. They
00:25:25.349 --> 00:25:29.640
could also threaten that in 2027 when they're
00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:33.380
seated, they will not fund the Pentagon. Not
00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:38.849
one penny if hostilities continue because it's
00:25:38.849 --> 00:25:43.509
volatile. And Iran is not playing right now.
00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:48.329
That escalation trap that Robert Pape talks about,
00:25:48.549 --> 00:25:52.369
it's real. And there is no controlling
00:25:52.369 --> 00:25:59.000
what happens if we go back in.
00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:03.099
a week of remarkable news. Election day yesterday
00:26:03.099 --> 00:26:07.599
morning, President Trump, I don't know what this
00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.339
was really intended to do, announced that. the
00:26:10.339 --> 00:26:12.900
3.8 billion dollars a year that the United States
00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:16.079
has been sending Israel ever since the Camp David
00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.849
accords right we're going to be cut off and
00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:24.230
that Netanyahu his story which let's just say
00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:27.970
it doesn't seem very credible, is that Bibi Netanyahu
00:26:27.970 --> 00:26:30.569
said, what? Actually, we're good. We
00:26:30.569 --> 00:26:34.150
don't need the money. It's fine. You keep it.
00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:36.769
I know you're catching shit for this. Let it
00:26:36.769 --> 00:26:40.049
go. It's just keep it and you do it. You
00:26:40.049 --> 00:26:42.869
do. You be you. We'll be us. And, hey,
00:26:42.930 --> 00:26:45.009
if we need some help, we'll reach out. That was
00:26:45.009 --> 00:26:48.410
Trump's story. But this was election
00:26:48.410 --> 00:26:50.789
morning. it was a November surprise.
00:26:52.130 --> 00:26:54.289
And it's a big deal symbolically. we
00:26:54.289 --> 00:26:56.769
all know Israel is not cut off completely. But
00:26:56.769 --> 00:27:01.869
in a 24 hour period, you have this payment
00:27:01.869 --> 00:27:04.250
that's been going out billions of dollars to
00:27:04.250 --> 00:27:07.990
Israel over the course of most of our lifetimes.
00:27:08.529 --> 00:27:10.950
in Jamarl's case, your entire lifetime.
00:27:11.430 --> 00:27:15.470
And it's it's been ever since the Carter
00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:17.750
administration. And of course. Billions before
00:27:17.750 --> 00:27:20.569
that. This is a big symbolic change. And then
00:27:20.569 --> 00:27:22.990
you have Vice President Vance's statement saying
00:27:22.990 --> 00:27:26.269
that the United States has to create a different
00:27:26.269 --> 00:27:29.670
relationship, obviously a less intensive relationship
00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:34.650
with Israel. I see, I smell
00:27:34.650 --> 00:27:38.970
the beginning of the end of America's unholy
00:27:38.970 --> 00:27:41.980
relationship with Israel. Am I too optimistic?
00:27:44.380 --> 00:27:49.549
I think. I was just looking up how much Trump
00:27:50.279 --> 00:27:54.779
administration planned a $2.8 billion weapons
00:27:54.779 --> 00:27:57.220
package for Israel. That's the most recent one.
00:27:58.289 --> 00:28:02.049
Yeah, that was within the past month or so. So
00:28:02.049 --> 00:28:05.710
they just gave them $3 billion extra. So, okay.
00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:11.539
And included in that are 40,000 heavy 2,000
00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:14.440
-pound bombs. Those are the ones that decimated
00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:21.490
Gaza. Yeah, that was largely through the U.S.
00:28:21.509 --> 00:28:23.910
military. So it wasn't an appropriation
00:28:23.910 --> 00:28:26.769
for Israel. They just took it out of the military,
00:28:27.049 --> 00:28:31.049
the gazillion dollar military budget. So
00:28:31.069 --> 00:28:33.910
one of the things that people are arguing and
00:28:33.910 --> 00:28:38.529
I think which I think is important to look
00:28:38.529 --> 00:28:44.380
at is what Netanyahu surely does want the overt
00:28:44.380 --> 00:28:48.000
U.S. aid to Israel to stop because he realizes.
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.680
sympathy for Israel is gone in the United States.
00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:55.880
The majority of Americans hold an unfavorable
00:28:55.880 --> 00:29:00.200
view of Israel. And the younger you poll, the
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:05.759
worse it gets. So that's not coming back. But
00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:07.960
he still wants his weapons. He still wants the
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:10.579
U.S. to back him up when they attack all their
00:29:10.579 --> 00:29:14.480
neighbors. So that's what the NDAA, the National
00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:17.839
Defense Authorization Act, has. I think it's
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:23.579
something called Section 219, where they're basically
00:29:24.380 --> 00:29:26.880
merging the militaries, at least intelligence
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.019
-wise and weapons transfers-wise. And the problem
00:29:30.019 --> 00:29:33.259
there is that doesn't get approved by Congress.
00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:35.660
It gets approved as a whole package. And then
00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.599
the Pentagon, whoever's president, can do whatever
00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:42.700
it wants. And Israel can still get the same amount
00:29:42.700 --> 00:29:45.380
of weapons. I think there's another piece here.
00:29:45.859 -->
00:29:47.900
People are where's Israel going to get
00:29:47.900 --> 00:29:53.329
the money? And there are There's natural gas
00:29:53.329 --> 00:29:57.170
under Gaza and off the coast of Gaza. There are
00:29:57.170 --> 00:30:02.210
there's estimates of potentially trillions of
00:30:02.210 --> 00:30:06.990
dollars in untapped resources in Gaza. And Israel
00:30:06.990 --> 00:30:10.170
wants it. And I'm sure the United States, Elon
00:30:10.170 --> 00:30:13.450
Musk, that whole crowd wanted to. So,
00:30:13.450 --> 00:30:16.329
Israel, they're thinking hey, we're
00:30:16.329 --> 00:30:18.109
going to have all this. We're going to have more
00:30:18.109 --> 00:30:20.730
money than God. We can do what we want and we
00:30:20.730 --> 00:30:23.430
can buy weapons. as much as we want through the
00:30:23.430 --> 00:30:26.589
Pentagon deal the fact that Trump said
00:30:26.589 --> 00:30:31.589
it the day of the election the day before obviously
00:30:32.259 --> 00:30:35.599
that's a nod to the fact that he knows his own
00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:40.250
base is sick of funding Israel but I don't think
00:30:40.250 --> 00:30:44.309
it changes the calculus too much in the sense
00:30:44.309 --> 00:30:47.289
that Israel still gets the protection of United
00:30:47.289 --> 00:30:50.990
States weapons so we have to be really diligent
00:30:53.380 --> 00:30:57.740
or should I say vigilant, about opposing this
00:30:57.740 --> 00:31:00.960
NDAA. Because this is stuff the Democrats do
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:02.720
a lot, not that the Republicans don't, they're
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:05.160
doing it here. And that is, look, we ended the
00:31:05.160 --> 00:31:08.000
aid to Israel, but they're still getting these
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.420
weapons. They're still committing genocide. They're
00:31:10.420 --> 00:31:12.460
still in a apartheid state. They're still attacking
00:31:12.460 --> 00:31:14.779
all their neighbors. They're still committing
00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:19.230
ethnic cleansing. and destroying southern Lebanon.
00:31:19.470 --> 00:31:23.269
They just had another incursion into Syria. They
00:31:23.269 --> 00:31:27.730
want to resume bombing Iran. Nothing changes
00:31:27.730 --> 00:31:31.630
just because we don't overtly give them the money.
00:31:32.029 --> 00:31:36.009
And I think I start to hope the American people
00:31:36.009 --> 00:31:40.069
are more sophisticated. It seems that they are
00:31:40.069 --> 00:31:42.849
at this point. I don't know what you guys think
00:31:42.849 --> 00:31:46.390
about that. The American public is sophisticated
00:31:46.390 --> 00:31:48.430
enough to know that Donald Trump is lying about
00:31:48.430 --> 00:31:52.440
the funding to Israel? Well, that anybody, because
00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:55.539
Democrats will say it too. Chuck Schumer
00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:58.839
will probably crow about it and be well,
00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:02.579
we ended the overt aid and blah, blah,
00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.180
blah,
as if that solves the problem. You don't
00:32:05.180 --> 00:32:07.720
think that people - I don't think Americans are
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:12.440
that sophisticated. I sit there, I listen. We
00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:14.420
played the clip of Mark Levin earlier this morning.
00:32:14.769 --> 00:32:21.509
where he's explaining to the audience. He directly
00:32:21.509 --> 00:32:24.630
says, it's not your fault. It's not my fault.
00:32:24.869 --> 00:32:28.109
It's not Trump's fault. It's the miscreants,
00:32:28.190 --> 00:32:32.750
the malcontents that went out and voted Democrats.
00:32:33.529 --> 00:32:35.009
And when you think about that, you're thinking
00:32:35.009 --> 00:32:37.349
to yourself, there's somebody, Mark Levin has
00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:40.150
a massive following. There are people who are
00:32:40.150 --> 00:32:42.559
sitting there listening to that. The statement
00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:45.359
doesn't make sense at all. Okay, I'm just going
00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:47.779
to push back on one thing. Yeah, Mark Levin,
00:32:47.819 --> 00:32:51.500
I've been looking at his posts since last night.
00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:55.579
He's a lunatic. He's completely lost his mind.
00:32:55.900 --> 00:33:00.900
Yes. Because he knows he and Lindsey Graham were
00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:02.839
in Trump's ear. because Mark Levin can
00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:06.400
call Trump. And Lindsey Graham, until God did
00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.519
his thing, was also on the phone with Trump or
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:13.220
in person with Trump. all the time about why
00:33:13.220 --> 00:33:16.740
we need to go hard against Iran. Exactly. He's
00:33:16.740 --> 00:33:19.500
losing his mind. The only thing I push back against
00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:24.500
is he has a large audience, but they're all
00:33:24.500 --> 00:33:27.599
70 and above, right? No, no, I accept that. I
00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:31.079
was using Levin just as a point of saying, whether
00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:33.660
it's the matters of the world, whether it's the
00:33:33.660 --> 00:33:35.119
Levin's of the world, whether it's the Democrats
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:37.539
of the world, whatever, there's a large contingent
00:33:37.539 --> 00:33:39.759
of the American public that will hear that. And
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:42.799
they're just busy doing their work. I think many
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.680
times are news bites. So then the work is on
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:48.539
us. Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt. We've got to
00:33:48.539 --> 00:33:51.119
carry that message out that this is not an ending
00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:54.900
of USA. It's transferring it so that Congress,
00:33:55.099 --> 00:33:58.859
read the people will no longer have
00:33:58.859 --> 00:34:02.880
any say of what we give Israel. And so I guess
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:05.519
that's the work that's cut out for us to do.
00:34:05.779 --> 00:34:07.980
And as much as I have problems with the Democrat.
00:34:09.619 --> 00:34:13.219
party, there may be some people there who could
00:34:13.219 --> 00:34:17.480
talk about this. Well, I would hope.
00:34:17.480 --> 00:34:19.920
because you're right. Apparently, under that
00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.619
provision, there's a middleman. There's somebody
00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:25.719
who's supposed to be, I guess, in charge of dealing
00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:28.300
with it. But that guy is in the recesses, and
00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:30.380
we're supposed to believe that a group of Zionists
00:34:30.380 --> 00:34:33.460
are going to appoint a non-Zionist to deal with
00:34:33.460 --> 00:34:35.400
the weapon transfer to Israel, meaning they want
00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:36.940
to take it out of the limelight. They want it
00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:41.090
to be hidden and submerged within the bureaucratic
00:34:41.090 --> 00:34:43.070
structures as opposed to being this kind of big
00:34:43.070 --> 00:34:45.389
ticket item. This is why we still have to use
00:34:45.389 --> 00:34:51.039
the language of arms embargo. Because
00:34:51.059 --> 00:34:54.929
this is a fact, transfer of weapons to Israel
00:34:54.929 --> 00:34:58.349
while they have been found to have committed
00:34:58.349 --> 00:35:02.079
crimes against humanity is against. United States
00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:04.280
law. That's the Leahy Act. And there's another
00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:06.019
act, and I don't remember the name, that also
00:35:06.019 --> 00:35:09.460
covers some of that as well. So it wouldn't matter
00:35:09.460 --> 00:35:12.019
whether it was Deep State Don or whoever was
00:35:12.019 --> 00:35:15.000
the guy in charge of transferring and approving
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.239
these weapons transfers, which is going to happen
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:22.500
if they merge in the NDAA. It's still a violation
00:35:22.500 --> 00:35:24.880
of law. So we need people out there saying it.
00:35:24.900 --> 00:35:30.010
It's got to be full arms embargo, including Iron
00:35:30.010 --> 00:35:32.730
Domes, quote unquote, defensive weapons. They
00:35:32.730 --> 00:35:36.469
use that so they can attack people freely. It's
00:35:36.469 --> 00:35:40.550
not just for protection. And so that we need
00:35:40.550 --> 00:35:42.889
to have those conversations. And who are the
00:35:42.889 --> 00:35:48.789
allies we have? Daria Liza Avila Chevalier just
00:35:48.789 --> 00:35:53.190
got elected in New York. Oh, was it 17? I can't
00:35:53.190 --> 00:35:56.099
remember, but it's in the city. Highly Democratic
00:35:56.099 --> 00:36:00.769
district. So she got 85% of the vote. She
00:36:00.769 --> 00:36:04.699
was one of the students at the Columbia encampment.
00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:08.119
Former student, but an alumnus, but still
00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:12.019
there. And was very prominent in that movement.
00:36:12.219 --> 00:36:17.230
She just tweeted out yesterday, we need a full
00:36:17.230 --> 00:36:19.889
arms embargo, not just a cutting off of aid.
00:36:20.449 --> 00:36:23.610
And she also mentioned she's pretty
00:36:23.610 --> 00:36:27.409
radical, the right of return. For Palestinians.
00:36:27.849 --> 00:36:30.590
Here's an incoming Democrat talking in that language.
00:36:30.809 --> 00:36:34.650
I know she's not going to have much power. And
00:36:34.750 --> 00:36:38.150
with the numbers the way they're going
00:36:38.150 --> 00:36:40.869
to be, people like her are not going to have
00:36:40.869 --> 00:36:43.150
that wedge influence that they could have had
00:36:43.150 --> 00:36:46.670
in 2021 when the quote unquote squad did not
00:36:46.670 --> 00:36:50.670
use their power. But that said, there are people
00:36:50.670 --> 00:36:52.929
that could be allies that speak about this and
00:36:52.929 --> 00:36:56.579
we need to get the message out with them. to
00:36:56.579 --> 00:36:58.679
prevent this because it will be a disaster. I
00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:02.179
keep hearing people say, once this happens, it's
00:37:02.179 --> 00:37:05.610
impossible to undo, which I don't understand,
00:37:05.829 --> 00:37:11.449
but it concerns me. I would go further. I don't
00:37:11.449 --> 00:37:13.309
think the United States should have diplomatic
00:37:13.309 --> 00:37:18.570
relations with Israel at this point. It's a rogue
00:37:18.570 --> 00:37:24.969
state. If we're spicy about Cuba, how are we
00:37:24.969 --> 00:37:29.150
hanging out with these people? so but anyway
00:37:29.150 --> 00:37:32.150
that that's a different subject no but I think
00:37:32.150 --> 00:37:34.369
you're right don't you think what you just
00:37:34.369 --> 00:37:36.690
said made me think if it was any other country
00:37:36.690 --> 00:37:39.690
that was doing this if it was any other country
00:37:39.690 --> 00:37:42.969
that killed this many American citizens right
00:37:42.969 --> 00:37:48.489
we would be sanctioning them 100 it's bizarre
00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:52.500
Yeah, it's just the thing is, it's also
00:37:52.500 --> 00:37:55.380
interesting to watch the sort of getting back to sort of how I came across
00:37:57.659 --> 00:38:02.619
you on social media. It's so amazing. The Zionist
00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:06.219
rhetoric, the Hasbara people who are, they're
00:38:06.219 --> 00:38:11.079
still continuing the same rhetoric, right?
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:13.639
J.D. Vance has learned. Maybe Donald Trump has
00:38:13.639 --> 00:38:15.599
learned, but they haven't learned, right? They're
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:19.360
still selling the same old tired narratives.
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.280
God promised us this territory. We've
00:38:22.280 --> 00:38:24.320
been there the whole time, even though we weren't
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.559
really there. But you were always
00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:33.900
on my mind. And it's if you're
00:38:33.900 --> 00:38:36.079
anti-Zionist, obviously you're anti-Semitic
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:39.019
because Israel and all world Jews are the same
00:38:39.019 --> 00:38:42.670
thing. all this stuff.
And it doesn't
00:38:42.670 --> 00:38:46.710
work. It has it is dead. Nobody's afraid of them
00:38:46.710 --> 00:38:51.230
anymore. Nobody's buying into it. And yet they
00:38:51.230 --> 00:38:55.510
persist. I almost admire them. But
00:38:55.510 --> 00:38:58.050
you got to love that. I always tell my
00:38:58.050 --> 00:39:00.590
son, when he's hunting for a job, be
00:39:00.590 --> 00:39:03.409
persistent. But at a certain point,
00:39:03.510 --> 00:39:05.469
you also have to say, OK, this isn't working.
00:39:05.690 --> 00:39:07.630
they don't you're right. They
00:39:07.630 --> 00:39:10.230
don't stop. It's I keep seeing that term
00:39:10.230 --> 00:39:13.269
blood libel. if you say Israel
00:39:13.269 --> 00:39:16.909
killed six more children in Conunis. Blood libel.
00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:19.989
I hate it. They don't even know what blood libel
00:39:19.989 --> 00:39:23.409
means or they think we don't. Yeah, it's ridiculous.
00:39:23.909 --> 00:39:28.369
But what they lost? They lost
00:39:28.389 --> 00:39:31.989
they lost the narrative war badly. And again,
00:39:32.090 --> 00:39:35.369
it's not coming back. Look at Macklemore. He
00:39:35.369 --> 00:39:38.010
just sold out the, what is it? He had three
00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:41.019
or four concerts, Paris, Dublin. Did Wembley
00:39:41.019 --> 00:39:43.579
Stadium. They tried to stop them, but they couldn't.
00:39:43.579 --> 00:39:47.079
Sold out every show in minutes. poor
00:39:47.079 --> 00:39:50.099
Ed Sheeran. Guess you made the wrong decision,
00:39:50.260 --> 00:39:54.219
buddy. No doubt. Right? I guess, whatever.
00:39:54.219 --> 00:39:57.199
just write your love songs, I guess. That's
00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:02.460
your thing, man. But what does that say? Yeah.
00:40:03.880 --> 00:40:07.420
Especially, I almost said especially, especially
00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:12.300
the younger generation globally. Yeah. Has cannot
00:40:12.300 --> 00:40:17.159
stand Israel and rightly so. Right. Let's not
00:40:17.159 --> 00:40:20.480
forget. And I know you don't. This all Trump
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:25.679
could not have done what he did in the way he
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:31.139
did it, allowing Israel to just go crazy if it
00:40:31.139 --> 00:40:32.840
wasn't for the Biden and Harris administration,
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:38.769
giving them a green light and no red lines. That
00:40:38.769 --> 00:40:41.510
happened for 15 months. And I guess
00:40:41.510 --> 00:40:45.070
you heard or saw even Israeli officials
00:40:45.070 --> 00:40:49.889
post Biden said we were shocked that they never
00:40:49.889 --> 00:40:53.250
they never kind of drew us in. They never reined
00:40:53.250 --> 00:40:57.219
us in and they never demanded a ceasefire, which
00:40:57.219 --> 00:41:00.360
that whole Kamala Harris. And that's getting
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:03.039
into the AOC thing, that lie on the convention
00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:07.219
stage, that whole thing falls apart. And I think
00:41:07.219 --> 00:41:10.179
maybe it's worth a couple of minutes talking
00:41:10.179 --> 00:41:15.360
about what does that mean for candidates such
00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:18.639
as Kamala Harris, who absolutely wants to be
00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:22.019
president? What does it mean for someone like
00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:26.539
her? Have we crossed the Rubicon where enough
00:41:26.539 --> 00:41:30.980
voters, especially younger voters, are so disenchanted
00:41:30.980 --> 00:41:34.280
with the pro-Israel wing of, say, the Democratic
00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:37.849
Party and, of course, the Republicans? That nobody
00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:41.829
who's got that stink on them of that genocide
00:41:41.829 --> 00:41:44.550
can ever run again? I don't know. What
00:41:44.550 --> 00:41:48.159
do you guys think? I think it's a hard argument
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:52.599
for him. imagine for the moment
00:41:52.599 --> 00:41:54.960
somebody made the argument to you. It's
00:41:54.980 --> 00:41:57.840
look, we need to sell the Nazis weapons, defensive
00:41:57.840 --> 00:41:59.760
weapons. It's only going to be defensive weapons.
00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:02.780
And it's yeah, but what do you think the
00:42:02.780 --> 00:42:04.619
Nazis are doing with the defensive weapons? They're
00:42:04.619 --> 00:42:08.489
preserving their ability to be Nazis. And when
00:42:08.489 --> 00:42:10.050
you're looking at this and people are making
00:42:10.050 --> 00:42:11.909
this argument, hey, we get that they're committing
00:42:11.909 --> 00:42:14.309
a genocide, but we should still give them defensive
00:42:14.309 --> 00:42:16.710
weapons. It's a very odd argument to make to
00:42:16.710 --> 00:42:19.769
me. And the younger generation, who's often politically
00:42:19.769 --> 00:42:22.590
fickle, looks at this and says, well, wait a
00:42:22.590 --> 00:42:25.230
minute, you're mass killing human beings. They're
00:42:25.230 --> 00:42:28.090
not callous enough to look at it they're
00:42:28.090 --> 00:42:30.849
old people and just kind of yeah,
00:42:30.889 --> 00:42:32.489
that stuff happens. No, they're looking at it
00:42:32.489 --> 00:42:33.789
in the way that they're supposed to look at it.
00:42:34.699 --> 00:42:36.880
the values that you instill in us say murder
00:42:36.880 --> 00:42:39.239
is wrong and they're murdering women and children
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:42.360
in mass. That's wrong. Why are we doing that?
00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:44.239
Now, if you're a Democrat and you're trying to
00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:46.539
make that argument to justify it, I think you're
00:42:46.539 --> 00:42:48.960
going to have a hard way to go. and I
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.739
don't know if you saw Annalena Baerbock when
00:42:50.739 --> 00:42:52.579
she was in, she was giving a speech. I forget
00:42:52.579 --> 00:42:54.699
where she was. And all of those young people
00:42:54.699 --> 00:42:57.320
came up and was screaming bloody murder at her.
00:42:57.659 --> 00:42:59.739
basically
calling her a genocidal monster for
00:42:59.739 --> 00:43:01.400
backing the genocide and for the things that
00:43:01.400 --> 00:43:03.280
she said. I think a similar trend is going to
00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:05.500
take place in the States. I think it is a hard
00:43:05.500 --> 00:43:10.099
go for any random Democrat who stood on stage
00:43:10.099 --> 00:43:13.079
and prevented Palestinian representatives to
00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:15.099
speak, many people who are representing Palestine
00:43:15.099 --> 00:43:17.659
to speak at the convention or to speak at all,
00:43:17.719 --> 00:43:19.699
meaning shouting them down at every particular
00:43:19.699 --> 00:43:22.960
turn. They made their allegiances very clear.
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:26.820
How do you come back from that? And I think your
00:43:26.820 --> 00:43:29.099
point is Kamala Harris. If Kamala Harris is trying
00:43:29.099 --> 00:43:30.880
to run again, how does somebody Kamala Harris
00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:33.480
actually run again? There would need to be a
00:43:33.480 --> 00:43:35.639
full-throated apology. It probably wouldn't
00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:38.460
go far enough. It would never be enough. It could
00:43:38.460 --> 00:43:43.480
never be enough. That's the thing. I do think
00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:45.579
it's look, I'm going to go further. I think
00:43:45.579 --> 00:43:50.139
that even for most Republicans, that tie is going
00:43:50.139 --> 00:43:53.280
to be too much. It's going to be a loser.
00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:55.780
this is so, as a graphic artist, I always
00:43:55.780 --> 00:43:58.900
am attracted to visual politics, right?
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:03.599
in the early 1960s, when white America saw images,
00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:09.480
televised images of young men and
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:11.679
women in their Sunday best just trying to get
00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:14.900
a burger at the Woolworth's lunch encounter and
00:44:14.900 --> 00:44:17.789
a bunch of inbred Southern hick.
00:44:17.789 --> 00:44:20.190
sheriffs with their dogs and and fire
00:44:20.190 --> 00:44:23.250
hoses going after them they were shocked and
00:44:23.250 --> 00:44:26.469
that became something more that you
00:44:26.469 --> 00:44:28.650
they just couldn't forget that and and that was
00:44:28.650 --> 00:44:30.650
the beginning really seriously where
00:44:30.650 --> 00:44:33.230
the civil rights movement really caught fire
00:44:33.230 --> 00:44:36.710
in middle America and became normative and all
00:44:36.710 --> 00:44:39.510
that in Vietnam War it was a televised
00:44:39.510 --> 00:44:42.980
war with embedded, but independent,
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:46.380
but hard hitting visual reports where
00:44:46.380 --> 00:44:49.079
that, that photo of the, of the South Vietnamese
00:44:49.079 --> 00:44:55.000
general executing a suspected Viet Minh soldier,
00:44:55.099 --> 00:44:57.900
in his plaid shirt, right on the street.
00:44:59.460 --> 00:45:01.300
Nobody's that was, you want a Pulitzer
00:45:01.300 --> 00:45:05.059
for Life magazine. That's those images, the girl
00:45:05.059 --> 00:45:07.719
running down the street naked, all those kinds
00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:11.090
of things. You just, This generation, people
00:45:11.090 --> 00:45:14.969
in their 20s, 30s, 40s, these images that
00:45:14.969 --> 00:45:18.849
coming out of Gaza, one after another, not even
00:45:18.849 --> 00:45:21.789
just on the 6:30 evening news with Tom Brokaw,
00:45:22.050 --> 00:45:25.630
but this is every day. It's 24-7. It's
00:45:25.630 --> 00:45:28.010
on their phone. It's living with them. It's not
00:45:28.010 --> 00:45:31.250
something that's compartmentalized. And they
00:45:31.250 --> 00:45:33.230
can look at it any time, and there's zillions
00:45:33.230 --> 00:45:38.289
of these images. The visuals are just, you can't.
00:45:38.539 --> 00:45:42.320
look away. Or you can't forget it if you do look
00:45:42.320 --> 00:45:46.440
away. And that part to me is curious,
00:45:46.480 --> 00:45:50.139
why the Israelis never understood the information
00:45:50.139 --> 00:45:53.539
war aspect of all this. I have a theory
00:45:53.539 --> 00:45:56.079
about it, which is they live in a very
00:45:56.099 --> 00:45:58.340
having been there, they live in a very insular
00:45:58.340 --> 00:46:01.840
society, even the fact that they've adopted this.
00:46:02.219 --> 00:46:04.360
Language that no one else speaks in the entire
00:46:04.360 --> 00:46:08.480
world that was dead for 1900 years. It isolates
00:46:08.480 --> 00:46:10.460
them. They don't have I know a lot of
00:46:10.460 --> 00:46:12.559
them speak other languages, but it's they're
00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:15.300
still they have their heads up
00:46:15.300 --> 00:46:18.710
their ass basically collectively. I saw, I saw
00:46:18.710 --> 00:46:22.769
some interview within the past week of, I believe
00:46:22.769 --> 00:46:26.369
an Israeli Knesset member or somebody who's going
00:46:26.369 --> 00:46:29.449
to be in the Knesset and very, very right wing
00:46:29.449 --> 00:46:32.690
guy. And they asked him that question,
00:46:32.710 --> 00:46:35.750
don't you care that the world opinion has turned
00:46:35.750 --> 00:46:40.650
against you? And his answer was no, because we're
00:46:40.650 --> 00:46:45.360
right. And it's the world that should care that
00:46:45.360 --> 00:46:50.079
we no longer like or trust them. Now, I don't
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:52.119
know how representative that is, but I can't
00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:55.260
imagine he's the only one who thinks it. But
00:46:55.260 --> 00:46:58.159
they do think they're right. They do.
00:46:58.179 --> 00:47:00.460
if you look at the polling. look
00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:03.800
Netanyahu, despite everything, still won the
00:47:03.800 --> 00:47:06.460
most seats. Yeah. this is after October
00:47:06.460 --> 00:47:09.159
7th. Eisencott, is that his name? The
00:47:09.159 --> 00:47:12.280
opposition guy was in the government, worked
00:47:12.280 --> 00:47:14.820
in the defense, in the war department
00:47:14.820 --> 00:47:18.619
there and ordered horrendous things to happen.
00:47:19.019 --> 00:47:22.380
He said himself, I'm not a nice man. Yeah. I
00:47:22.380 --> 00:47:24.820
that's the kind of thing hey, I'm
00:47:24.820 --> 00:47:28.349
I'm. Just as much, if not more, psychopathic
00:47:28.349 --> 00:47:32.849
than Netanyahu. But I wouldn't let you down
00:47:32.849 --> 00:47:36.030
he did on October 7th. that's his message
00:47:36.030 --> 00:47:38.070
with a wink, not even a wink. He's saying it
00:47:38.070 --> 00:47:40.170
outright, which I think is interesting because
00:47:40.210 --> 00:47:43.369
the Democrats were praying, and probably
00:47:43.369 --> 00:47:46.230
some Republicans, of course, but the Democrats
00:47:46.230 --> 00:47:51.030
were praying that Netanyahu got cleanly removed,
00:47:51.369 --> 00:47:55.829
electorally. going back to
00:47:55.829 --> 00:47:59.409
that Kamala Harris discussion what they're doing
00:47:59.409 --> 00:48:01.869
is not thinking about how to change policy what
00:48:01.869 --> 00:48:03.730
they're doing is thinking about how to change
00:48:03.730 --> 00:48:06.889
messaging about that policy yes and if and if
00:48:06.889 --> 00:48:10.309
it wasn't Netanyahu they could say well we've
00:48:10.309 --> 00:48:12.130
got a new government and we're going to work
00:48:12.130 --> 00:48:16.110
with them and mistakes were made no
00:48:16.110 --> 00:48:18.690
ownership and they'll say all that but here's
00:48:18.690 --> 00:48:22.090
the thing that can't work either because once
00:48:22.090 --> 00:48:25.900
your new quote-unquote government continues
00:48:25.900 --> 00:48:30.239
to slaughter people in Gaza, to steal land and
00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:33.780
ethnically cleanse in the West Bank, to destroy
00:48:33.780 --> 00:48:36.739
southern Lebanon, when that keeps going on, and
00:48:36.739 --> 00:48:39.519
it will under an Eisencott, of course it will,
00:48:39.619 --> 00:48:43.949
your whole argument falls apart. I think this
00:48:43.949 --> 00:48:48.809
is a very defining moment and potentially a transformative
00:48:48.809 --> 00:48:52.530
one for the United States and for the world.
00:48:55.250 --> 00:48:58.110
Epstein was the beginning of that mask coming
00:48:58.110 --> 00:49:02.530
off. Folks us always kind of knew those
00:49:02.530 --> 00:49:08.030
things, that the capitalist empire
00:49:08.030 --> 00:49:15.059
is just evil, right? But a lot of people are
00:49:15.059 --> 00:49:18.139
seeing it now, and I don't think there's any
00:49:18.139 --> 00:49:22.320
unseeing it. Trust in government is low, not
00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:25.059
just here. Look what's happening in Europe. I
00:49:25.059 --> 00:49:29.059
don't think that you can put the horse back in
00:49:29.059 --> 00:49:31.900
the barn after the doors open or whatever
00:49:31.900 --> 00:49:35.539
And so here we are, I think it's a moment
00:49:35.539 --> 00:49:38.800
and they are, whoever those people are that are
00:49:38.800 --> 00:49:40.400
kind of trying to keep it all together.
00:49:42.030 --> 00:49:44.909
I think they're perplexed. They think they have
00:49:44.909 --> 00:49:48.829
moves on the chessboard, but I believe every
00:49:48.829 --> 00:49:53.469
move they make ends up eventually in checkmate
00:49:53.469 --> 00:49:57.239
for them. And it's as if they're running out
00:49:57.239 --> 00:49:59.929
the clock. That's what I think, too. I think
00:49:59.929 --> 00:50:02.829
they're out. I think there's literally nothing.
00:50:03.409 --> 00:50:06.610
Let's just say you were paid a billion
00:50:06.610 --> 00:50:11.599
dollars to do PR for the Israeli government and
00:50:11.599 --> 00:50:13.699
that they would agree to do anything that you
00:50:13.699 --> 00:50:17.260
told them. You still can't save their ass in
00:50:17.260 --> 00:50:21.760
40 or 50 years. or 20. there's
00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.920
nothing you can do. even if. They say,
00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:27.639
okay, we're going to now have a socialist government.
00:50:27.980 --> 00:50:31.460
We're going to open up all our files. We're withdrawing
00:50:31.460 --> 00:50:34.099
from the occupied territories. We're going to
00:50:34.099 --> 00:50:36.980
rebuild it all. We're going to grant the right
00:50:36.980 --> 00:50:40.079
of return to everyone since 1948, the whole thing.
00:50:40.860 --> 00:50:45.460
It's too late because it would be kind
00:50:45.460 --> 00:50:48.420
of Nazi Germany. after World War
00:50:48.420 --> 00:50:53.420
II, it took them decades to be. reintegrated
00:50:53.420 --> 00:50:58.320
psychologically and morally into Europe. It was
00:50:58.320 --> 00:51:02.219
kind of my mom worked at NATO headquarters
00:51:02.219 --> 00:51:05.559
when it was still in Paris. She was French. That's
00:51:05.559 --> 00:51:08.960
where my parents met. And this was in the early
00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:12.239
60s. So it was almost 20 years after the end
00:51:12.239 --> 00:51:14.489
of the war. And they brought in some secretaries
00:51:14.489 --> 00:51:16.309
from West Germany. My mom was an office manager.
00:51:16.590 --> 00:51:18.849
And my mom said that all the French employees
00:51:18.849 --> 00:51:21.250
took it upon themselves to, every time they saw
00:51:21.250 --> 00:51:23.630
one of the office pool women from West Germany
00:51:23.630 --> 00:51:26.389
go down to the bathroom, one of them was appointed,
00:51:26.389 --> 00:51:28.789
one of the Frenchies would follow down the hall
00:51:28.789 --> 00:51:32.469
and go in and outside the door, start reciting
00:51:32.469 --> 00:51:35.690
the names of death camps. Dachau, Bergen-Belsen,
00:51:35.829 --> 00:51:41.489
Mauthausen, Auschwitz. And it was just until
00:51:41.489 --> 00:51:44.110
they would reduce them to tears and they would
00:51:44.110 --> 00:51:46.949
demand to quit and go back to West Germany, right?
00:51:48.469 --> 00:51:52.070
It took years to
get past that. I don't think
00:51:52.070 --> 00:51:55.429
the Europeans really truly started to think the
00:51:55.429 --> 00:52:00.289
Germans were okay until the 80s. Maybe the Israelis
00:52:00.289 --> 00:52:04.150
could go through a process that. Maybe.
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:06.539
They don't believe that they're doing anything
00:52:06.539 --> 00:52:09.460
wrong. Right. So, yeah, that's the thing, right?
00:52:09.579 --> 00:52:12.440
That's the issue. They haven't been broken
00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:15.360
the Germans were. You've got nine million
00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:19.000
people, 80 to 90 percent of which thinking murder
00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.639
and mass murder is perfectly acceptable and okay.
00:52:21.780 --> 00:52:23.860
I'll give you another stat. I don't know
00:52:23.860 --> 00:52:26.940
if you remember, I think it was Channel 4, after
00:52:26.940 --> 00:52:29.460
they raped that guy in the jail and they raped
00:52:29.460 --> 00:52:32.429
him on camera. And they bought it on the news
00:52:32.429 --> 00:52:35.670
and asked whether or not they approved that the
00:52:35.670 --> 00:52:37.409
soldiers doing this, meaning, is this OK?
00:52:37.550 --> 00:52:40.090
And 60 percent of the public says it's acceptable.
00:52:40.670 --> 00:52:43.309
Yeah. And then how do you deal with a country
00:52:43.309 --> 00:52:48.369
that? But feel it. So. Yeah, but it's just
00:52:48.369 --> 00:52:53.429
how do you how do you de-Zionize them? Well,
00:52:53.449 --> 00:52:57.150
they don't see Palestinians. And I won't. There
00:52:57.150 --> 00:53:02.340
is a peace movement in Israel. It's small. But
00:53:02.340 --> 00:53:05.500
there are folks there that think it's horrendous.
00:53:05.500 --> 00:53:07.960
There are young people there who resisted the
00:53:07.960 --> 00:53:11.280
military draft or everybody gets drafted
00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:13.780
in the military, right? Unless you're Orthodox,
00:53:14.159 --> 00:53:17.659
right? They don't have to serve. So that exists.
00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:24.650
It's just tiny. The vast majority of people,
00:53:24.769 --> 00:53:27.250
from what I can see in the polling and the interviews
00:53:27.250 --> 00:53:29.949
I've seen, Abby Martin has done a lot on this,
00:53:30.030 --> 00:53:34.170
which has been fantastic. Do not see Palestinians
00:53:34.530 --> 00:53:38.929
and Muslims in general, but especially Palestinians
00:53:38.929 --> 00:53:46.070
as human beings. So that once you no longer see
00:53:46.070 --> 00:53:51.119
your neighbor as human, if they're in your way,
00:53:51.320 --> 00:53:54.530
you do what you do. They're bulldozing
00:53:54.530 --> 00:53:59.639
people. They did that the flower massacre.
00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:03.119
Remember when these things were shocking, when
00:54:03.119 --> 00:54:07.820
they bombed al-Shifa hospital and Israel felt
00:54:07.820 --> 00:54:10.440
that they had to lie and say, oh, it was an errant
00:54:10.440 --> 00:54:14.019
missile from Hamas because they didn't want to
00:54:14.019 --> 00:54:15.820
admit it. Then they just got to the point where
00:54:15.820 --> 00:54:18.519
they were yeah, we bomb hospitals. The
00:54:18.519 --> 00:54:21.019
flower massacre, I remember people scrambling
00:54:21.019 --> 00:54:24.780
for food and they just opened fire on them. Tanks
00:54:24.780 --> 00:54:27.719
ran them over. That was shocking then. And all
00:54:27.719 --> 00:54:30.940
of a sudden, we didn't get numb to it. They just
00:54:30.940 --> 00:54:34.699
stopped giving a shit what we thought. And granted,
00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:38.500
at the time, you had a maniac in the White House,
00:54:39.780 --> 00:54:44.320
Joe Biden, who more than any president up till
00:54:44.320 --> 00:54:47.760
that point, gave them a blank check to do whatever.
00:54:48.400 --> 00:54:51.139
They want it. Kamala Harris did not speak up
00:54:51.139 --> 00:54:56.800
once, as we mentioned. So yeah what's
00:54:56.800 --> 00:55:01.590
this? You hear people Mearsheimer and other
00:55:01.590 --> 00:55:05.269
experts say I don't know how Israel continues.
00:55:06.250 --> 00:55:09.269
Lawrence Wilkerson has said similar things. He
00:55:09.269 --> 00:55:13.380
used to serve under Colin Powell. It was, I think,
00:55:13.380 --> 00:55:17.159
his chief of staff. So I had hope
00:55:17.159 --> 00:55:20.400
at some point. about the model of South Africa
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:26.400
because they were able to and it's okay just
00:55:26.400 --> 00:55:28.119
to go on real quickly with this because I think
00:55:28.119 --> 00:55:31.780
it's integral here yeah the model of South Africa
00:55:31.780 --> 00:55:34.940
it it worked by the way it's not perfect
00:55:34.940 --> 00:55:42.099
no country is that said they were able to grant
00:55:42.099 --> 00:55:46.760
and allow equal rights and equal access for all
00:55:46.760 --> 00:55:52.989
their citizens And the country thrived. Again,
00:55:53.150 --> 00:55:55.949
it's got its problems, but it thrived. What they
00:55:55.949 --> 00:55:58.230
didn't do is they didn't go on mass killings,
00:55:58.230 --> 00:56:01.349
breeds of white Afrikaners. They didn't do that.
00:56:01.530 --> 00:56:04.010
And Mandela was instrumental in saying, this
00:56:04.010 --> 00:56:07.369
is not how we're moving forward. We will be different.
00:56:07.510 --> 00:56:11.309
And it worked. That was my hope for Israel, that
00:56:11.309 --> 00:56:14.309
you could have a state where everybody lived,
00:56:14.530 --> 00:56:19.869
maybe not harmoniously, but not violently. toward
00:56:19.869 --> 00:56:24.130
each other and now I'm what what what
00:56:24.130 --> 00:56:28.329
do we do with it now yeah I yeah that's
00:56:28.329 --> 00:56:31.769
the thing right the Germans were completely defeated
00:56:31.769 --> 00:56:38.130
apartheid South Africa was the white minority
00:56:38.130 --> 00:56:42.519
was a lot of there was a significant number of
00:56:42.519 --> 00:56:45.559
them who were not into
apartheid and were feeling
00:56:45.559 --> 00:56:48.610
that it wasn't compatible at the time
00:56:48.610 --> 00:56:53.590
in the 70s and 80s with the modern world and
00:56:53.590 --> 00:56:56.469
so I think it was it was the tide was
00:56:56.469 --> 00:56:59.610
running out but in Israel when there's
00:56:59.610 --> 00:57:02.929
a protest the protest is about getting the hostages
00:57:02.929 --> 00:57:05.929
back right it's it's it's not about they don't
00:57:05.929 --> 00:57:09.530
care seemingly even there's no left there's
00:57:09.530 --> 00:57:12.969
no liberals there's no
00:57:12.969 --> 00:57:17.230
a two right-wing fascist parties vying for control
00:57:17.230 --> 00:57:21.809
of the government right now. They would rather
00:57:21.809 --> 00:57:25.289
not form a government than get into an alliance
00:57:25.289 --> 00:57:28.469
with the Arab parties who performed really well.
00:57:28.730 --> 00:57:31.269
I guess it's I agree with you.
00:57:31.530 --> 00:57:36.469
Israel seems so morally depraved that
00:57:36.599 --> 00:57:39.000
maybe It just doesn't have the right to be
00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:41.719
a country anymore. ironically, the country
00:57:41.719 --> 00:57:43.820
that always argued, don't we have a right to
00:57:43.820 --> 00:57:47.539
exist? Maybe you're the one country that doesn't
00:57:47.539 --> 00:57:49.980
have a right to exist because of the way you've
00:57:49.980 --> 00:57:55.440
behaved. I'll be Pierce Morgan. So do you condemn
00:57:55.440 --> 00:57:59.599
Hamas, Ted? And do you believe Israel has the
00:57:59.599 --> 00:58:02.639
right to exist? Because he'll ask every pro-Palestine
00:58:02.639 --> 00:58:06.389
guest that. Although, by the way, I do appreciate
00:58:06.389 --> 00:58:09.369
the show because at least he has guests on that
00:58:09.369 --> 00:58:12.829
other people don't. I continually see people
00:58:12.829 --> 00:58:17.909
Abby Barton on there and all. So I won't
00:58:17.909 --> 00:58:20.230
say I'm a fan, but I appreciate that that forum
00:58:20.230 --> 00:58:24.130
is available. So a couple of things, though,
00:58:24.210 --> 00:58:28.210
that you're making me think, which is I always
00:58:28.210 --> 00:58:31.570
have this. I won't say I'm a cockeyed optimist.
00:58:31.949 --> 00:58:34.789
But I always have this, I see cracks in
00:58:34.789 --> 00:58:40.130
the veneer. And B'Tselem is a human rights
00:58:40.130 --> 00:58:43.170
organization in Israel made up of Israelis. And
00:58:43.170 --> 00:58:45.389
they declared it a genocide over a year ago.
00:58:45.769 --> 00:58:50.210
So did Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Those
00:58:50.210 --> 00:58:53.190
people take great risk. I know there's some critiques
00:58:53.190 --> 00:58:56.969
of Naza, the film, but the fact that it was made
00:58:56.969 --> 00:59:03.460
at all by Israelis is, I believe. a consequential
00:59:03.460 --> 00:59:06.820
thing I think it's worth looking at and
00:59:06.820 --> 00:59:10.900
the the thing the piece that's missing is the
00:59:10.900 --> 00:59:14.079
economic pressure because South Africa had the
00:59:14.079 --> 00:59:16.860
economic pressure so some people just said
00:59:16.860 --> 00:59:19.980
what this system is kind of screwed up and
00:59:19.980 --> 00:59:24.179
we're not thriving because of it let's look at
00:59:24.179 --> 00:59:27.619
how things could be different there is no economic
00:59:27.619 --> 00:59:30.659
pressure on Israel right now to do that and and
00:59:30.659 --> 00:59:35.369
I want to make the link here the students at
00:59:35.369 --> 00:59:40.849
Columbia and then at other schools who did those
00:59:40.849 --> 00:59:45.809
encampments their main demand was divestment
00:59:45.809 --> 00:59:50.949
of their universities from right Israel and companies
00:59:50.949 --> 00:59:53.710
doing business with Israel especially those involved
00:59:53.710 --> 00:59:59.630
in the genocide and they modeled it after the
00:59:59.630 --> 01:00:03.710
campus divestment movement against South Africa,
01:00:03.869 --> 01:00:07.630
which was successful. Remember, it started on
01:00:07.630 --> 01:00:11.070
campuses and then all of a sudden there were
01:00:11.070 --> 01:00:13.769
a whole bunch of universities that were doing
01:00:13.769 --> 01:00:17.170
that divestment. And then it jumped to municipalities
01:00:17.170 --> 01:00:20.710
where cities started divesting their pension
01:00:20.710 --> 01:00:26.889
funds from South Africa. Those were the dominoes
01:00:26.889 --> 01:00:30.519
that fell. So when the encampment happened at
01:00:30.519 --> 01:00:34.550
Columbia, the discussions were, we cannot
01:00:34.550 --> 01:00:38.909
allow this to continue because we cannot have
01:00:38.909 --> 01:00:41.849
this economic pressure put on Israel. So we will
01:00:41.849 --> 01:00:45.829
violently remove them. And again, side note,
01:00:45.889 --> 01:00:49.230
one of those students that was violently treated
01:00:49.230 --> 01:00:54.170
by the NYPD on the Columbia campus is now, will
01:00:54.170 --> 01:00:58.559
be the sitting Democratic representative, for
01:00:58.559 --> 01:01:01.719
the district that Columbia is in. I love that.
01:01:01.960 --> 01:01:04.300
I know. And I know there's a bunch of folks on
01:01:04.300 --> 01:01:06.960
the left that are don't trust any Democrat.
01:01:07.179 --> 01:01:10.219
I'm yeah, but the people I know who know,
01:01:10.300 --> 01:01:13.260
I haven't met and spoken to Daria Liza, but I
01:01:13.260 --> 01:01:15.800
was at that encampment. But those that I know
01:01:15.800 --> 01:01:20.039
who know her are yeah, she's not going
01:01:20.199 --> 01:01:24.110
down that AOC route. That's not she
01:01:24.110 --> 01:01:26.949
literally is an activist for this reason she
01:01:26.949 --> 01:01:30.909
ran. But they nipped that in the bud. They had
01:01:30.909 --> 01:01:35.650
to do it because the fear was, we know that the
01:01:35.650 --> 01:01:38.670
divestment movement is moral and
right. We cannot
01:01:38.670 --> 01:01:42.699
let it catch on. So now Israel does not have
01:01:42.699 --> 01:01:47.429
that economic pressure. What makes things turn?
01:01:47.929 --> 01:01:52.289
How do you, what do you do? I think the economic
01:01:52.289 --> 01:01:56.610
pressure is coming. I think that's next
01:01:56.610 --> 01:01:59.159
in the cards for them. The moment that they lose
01:01:59.159 --> 01:02:02.469
political support. Yeah. Yeah.
01:02:02.489 --> 01:02:04.750
just think about people don't, people,
01:02:04.949 --> 01:02:09.090
when I talk to people sometimes oh, would
01:02:09.090 --> 01:02:11.590
you take a job in Israel or working
01:02:11.590 --> 01:02:14.320
for an Israeli company? And people are
01:02:14.340 --> 01:02:17.179
they look at you are you fucking serious?
01:02:17.400 --> 01:02:20.920
fuck no. For no amount of money.
01:02:20.960 --> 01:02:23.949
that's. the standard reaction among educated
01:02:23.949 --> 01:02:27.150
people now that's by the way if you have to
01:02:27.150 --> 01:02:30.449
put a million dollars into a campaign that doesn't
01:02:30.449 --> 01:02:33.170
mean that means you're not popular right right
01:02:33.170 --> 01:02:36.289
it's not worth it to take much money I if I were
01:02:36.289 --> 01:02:38.130
a candidate I wouldn't want a 20 million dollar
01:02:38.130 --> 01:02:41.329
donation from AIPAC it's bad for you it'll hurt
01:02:41.329 --> 01:02:43.429
you it's not worth it even found that out the
01:02:43.429 --> 01:02:47.289
hard way yeah Steven said nothing they're doing
01:02:47.289 --> 01:02:51.170
is working they forced Remember, Biden was the
01:02:51.170 --> 01:02:54.010
one who originally started the initiative of
01:02:54.010 --> 01:02:56.389
forcing the sale of TikTok. That happened under
01:02:56.389 --> 01:02:59.449
Biden, and it was completed under Trump. And
01:02:59.449 --> 01:03:03.349
they sold it to Ellison family, huge
01:03:03.349 --> 01:03:05.969
supporters of the IDF, which are it's
01:03:05.969 --> 01:03:08.510
a criminal organization, the IDF. They're
01:03:08.510 --> 01:03:11.809
they're horrendous. And huge supporters
01:03:11.809 --> 01:03:15.010
of Israel because of all the TikToks. And
01:03:15.010 --> 01:03:18.869
kids and young adults were talking and
01:03:18.869 --> 01:03:23.170
educating each other about what was going on
01:03:23.170 --> 01:03:25.949
in Palestine and the West Bank and Lebanon, et
01:03:25.949 --> 01:03:28.730
cetera. And they couldn't have it. So they sold
01:03:28.730 --> 01:03:30.809
it and the algorithm was completely changed.
01:03:31.130 --> 01:03:36.659
But what? They didn't stop it. So that's
01:03:36.659 --> 01:03:39.340
a desperate move. All the things we're seeing,
01:03:39.579 --> 01:03:44.090
the attack of Iran, all of it, the selling of
01:03:44.090 --> 01:03:49.159
CBS, Takeover. the CNN takeover, all of it's
01:03:49.159 --> 01:03:52.480
desperate. It's not going to work. It can't work.
01:03:52.840 --> 01:03:55.039
It's just yeah, they're just going up against
01:03:55.039 --> 01:03:57.699
too much. to wrap up, I've been dying
01:03:57.699 --> 01:04:01.340
to ask you, Professor, how is it? So
01:04:01.360 --> 01:04:03.639
I went to Columbia University as an engineering
01:04:03.639 --> 01:04:07.760
student from 81 to 84. I was in the divestment,
01:04:07.760 --> 01:04:11.539
the South Africa divestment movement. So I was
01:04:11.539 --> 01:04:14.219
an activist on campus. And then in 1991, I returned
01:04:14.219 --> 01:04:16.969
and I got my degree in history. from GS, the
01:04:16.969 --> 01:04:19.090
School of General Studies, which is for adults
01:04:19.090 --> 01:04:26.179
returning students. And so I was appalled when
01:04:26.179 --> 01:04:30.579
our alma mater, Columbia University, they expelled
01:04:30.579 --> 01:04:34.159
countless students who participated in these
01:04:34.159 --> 01:04:38.500
peaceful protests. They they also got they suspended
01:04:38.500 --> 01:04:41.519
people. They got rid of student groups. My favorite
01:04:41.519 --> 01:04:44.039
one that they got rid of is Jewish Voice for
01:04:44.039 --> 01:04:46.400
Peace. You got rid of Jewish Voice for Peace.
01:04:47.139 --> 01:04:50.019
where do you think you stand ideologically
01:04:50.019 --> 01:04:54.159
when you find yourself banning that? And and
01:04:54.199 --> 01:04:56.769
they haven't brought them back.
01:04:56.769 --> 01:04:58.909
there's the horrific way that they treated
01:04:58.909 --> 01:05:01.750
Mahmoud Khalil, their graduate from the grad
01:05:01.750 --> 01:05:05.590
school. They expelled, they fired professors.
01:05:05.929 --> 01:05:08.989
They took away students' degrees that they had
01:05:08.989 --> 01:05:11.710
earned, stripped them of their degrees.
01:05:11.809 --> 01:05:15.969
Colombia was on a rampage. They still haven't
01:05:15.969 --> 01:05:18.170
reopened the campus to the neighborhood. They
01:05:18.170 --> 01:05:21.190
effectively stole an entire city street, which
01:05:21.190 --> 01:05:24.820
by law belongs to the city of New York. the 116th
01:05:24.820 --> 01:05:26.980
between Broadway and Amsterdam. They locked it
01:05:26.980 --> 01:05:29.920
up and nobody's allowed to walk on it unless
01:05:29.920 --> 01:05:33.239
they have an ID. And as an alumnus, you have
01:05:33.239 --> 01:05:35.059
to now, I used to have an alumni card that would
01:05:35.059 --> 01:05:37.260
allow me to go use the library. Now it's a whole
01:05:37.260 --> 01:05:39.840
Mishigas and almost impossible. His point is,
01:05:39.860 --> 01:05:43.860
how are you, how do you feel when you speak
01:05:43.860 --> 01:05:47.539
out publicly being a Columbia employee?
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:49.019
are you catching shit from the administration?
01:05:52.800 --> 01:05:58.800
The, the, Efforts to get me to get me fired from
01:05:58.800 --> 01:06:03.340
both both schools go back to Biden administration
01:06:03.340 --> 01:06:07.079
stuff. Me speaking out
against Biden, things
01:06:07.079 --> 01:06:12.219
that. But, yeah, they amped up under
01:06:12.409 --> 01:06:14.250
when I started speaking out against the
01:06:14.250 --> 01:06:16.170
apartheid state of Israel committing genocide
01:06:16.170 --> 01:06:21.860
against the Palestinians. And so. Here's what
01:06:21.860 --> 01:06:24.139
I can say. A couple of things. And by the way,
01:06:24.159 --> 01:06:25.880
seriously, if you don't feel you can comment.
01:06:25.960 --> 01:06:29.000
No, no, no. Yeah. No, there are things that I
01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:31.559
want to share. I noticed, and then I'll deal
01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:33.760
with me last. I'm the least important piece here
01:06:33.760 --> 01:06:36.300
as far as I'm concerned. But I noticed a change
01:06:36.300 --> 01:06:40.260
on campus. First of all, some of my students,
01:06:40.460 --> 01:06:44.619
my former students, were suspended. There's one
01:06:44.619 --> 01:06:48.420
I'm thinking of who has a three-year suspension.
01:06:49.389 --> 01:06:58.099
Wow. And the most thoughtful and compassionate,
01:06:58.440 --> 01:07:00.079
one of the most thoughtful and compassionate
01:07:00.079 --> 01:07:02.480
students. This is a person that doesn't hate
01:07:02.480 --> 01:07:07.780
anyone, let alone specifically hating
01:07:07.780 --> 01:07:11.400
Jewish people. that was never part of this
01:07:11.400 --> 01:07:14.500
student movement. No. The anti-Semitism thing
01:07:14.500 --> 01:07:19.699
at Columbia is a total lie. I was there. At the
01:07:19.699 --> 01:07:22.119
encampment when they had, because it was in April,
01:07:22.179 --> 01:07:25.500
right around Passover and Easter time. I was
01:07:25.500 --> 01:07:28.860
there when they had a Seder. So many Jewish students
01:07:28.860 --> 01:07:31.719
were there. it was just, it was a huge
01:07:31.719 --> 01:07:35.019
part of it. And it was almost celebratory. And
01:07:35.019 --> 01:07:38.239
the mood in that encampment was just, it reminded
01:07:38.239 --> 01:07:41.980
me of the early days of Occupy where there was
01:07:41.980 --> 01:07:44.519
just this camaraderie. And it was really a beautiful
01:07:44.519 --> 01:07:48.739
thing. That said. No evidence of this, but I
01:07:48.739 --> 01:07:52.380
noticed a change in the students, the incoming
01:07:52.380 --> 01:07:56.480
students that were coming to my classes, less
01:07:56.480 --> 01:08:00.920
politically active, right? And so I don't know
01:08:00.920 --> 01:08:04.860
for a fact that they screened out those who were
01:08:04.860 --> 01:08:09.610
vocal on social media or whatever, as far as
01:08:09.610 --> 01:08:11.690
admitting them, but I noticed a change in the
01:08:11.690 --> 01:08:14.929
students. Could it also be self-selection? If
01:08:14.929 --> 01:08:16.649
you're a student trying to choose between
01:08:16.649 --> 01:08:20.090
six schools, do you go to the one that's just
01:08:20.090 --> 01:08:23.329
six of the cops on current students? Well,
01:08:23.350 --> 01:08:26.270
yes. And here's an interesting piece,
01:08:26.350 --> 01:08:29.510
though. This happened to me last semester. Guys,
01:08:29.609 --> 01:08:31.409
I'm sorry to interrupt. I do have to go because
01:08:31.409 --> 01:08:33.649
I have an interview coming up immediately.
01:08:33.970 --> 01:08:37.069
Okay. But it is really good to meet you, and
01:08:37.069 --> 01:08:39.010
I really hope you come back. It would be great.
01:08:39.210 --> 01:08:43.630
Jamarl, you too. I'll wrap it up here. And Jamarl,
01:08:43.670 --> 01:08:45.970
I'll talk to you later. Have a good one, guys.
01:08:46.250 --> 01:08:50.529
All right. Take care. I'm sorry. No, no, no.
01:08:50.529 --> 01:08:53.170
This was a great conversation. I stayed because
01:08:53.170 --> 01:08:57.029
I wanted to. It's totally cool. We're good. Here's
01:08:57.029 --> 01:09:00.750
an interesting thing that students have told
01:09:00.750 --> 01:09:04.869
me. And it was the past few semesters. So this
01:09:04.869 --> 01:09:10.390
semester. And then. last year, the fall and the
01:09:10.390 --> 01:09:14.810
spring semesters last year, I had students say
01:09:14.810 --> 01:09:19.310
to me, I thought we weren't supposed to talk
01:09:19.310 --> 01:09:23.130
about Palestine. So I'm not teaching geopolitics.
01:09:23.130 --> 01:09:27.130
So it's not something that I'm teaching
01:09:27.130 --> 01:09:29.890
a course on substance abuse or I'm teaching a
01:09:29.890 --> 01:09:33.340
course on human behavior. If anything geopolitical
01:09:33.340 --> 01:09:35.680
is relevant to the discussion, it'll get brought
01:09:35.680 --> 01:09:38.020
in. But I tell the students at the beginning
01:09:38.020 --> 01:09:40.420
of each semester, we can talk about anything
01:09:40.420 --> 01:09:43.239
respectfully. Even if you don't agree with what
01:09:43.239 --> 01:09:45.739
someone says, you can respectfully disagree with
01:09:45.739 --> 01:09:49.220
it. Just back it up. But I've had students say
01:09:49.220 --> 01:09:52.100
in each of these semesters, I thought we weren't
01:09:52.100 --> 01:09:56.890
allowed to talk about Gaza. So that was an impression.
01:09:57.090 --> 01:09:59.930
And I said, no, in my class, you can talk about
01:09:59.930 --> 01:10:02.420
anything. And again, I'm not. teaching about
01:10:02.420 --> 01:10:07.159
that but I'll refer to the children of Ukraine
01:10:07.159 --> 01:10:11.460
being traumatized because of the Soviet and Soviet
01:10:11.460 --> 01:10:16.529
oh my god because of the war absolutely they
01:10:16.529 --> 01:10:20.970
are and I've I'm not going to ignore the
01:10:20.970 --> 01:10:23.409
fact that the children of Gaza and this was according
01:10:23.409 --> 01:10:28.930
to research prior to even Hamas coming on the
01:10:28.930 --> 01:10:32.750
scene the children of Gaza are And this is backed
01:10:32.750 --> 01:10:36.989
up by science. People, even from Israel who investigated
01:10:36.989 --> 01:10:39.069
it, are the most traumatized children in
the
01:10:39.069 --> 01:10:41.590
world. And that was before October 7th and the
01:10:41.590 --> 01:10:44.970
ensuing genocide after. But I can say that students
01:10:44.970 --> 01:10:48.729
were told or had the belief that they could not
01:10:48.729 --> 01:10:53.539
discuss it. That seems to be shifting now. There
01:10:53.539 --> 01:10:56.920
have been some events that happened on campus
01:10:56.920 --> 01:11:00.680
recently. One was a vigil a couple of weeks ago.
01:11:01.810 --> 01:11:06.289
for the victims of the Gaza genocide. And that
01:11:06.289 --> 01:11:10.250
the administration did move it. last minute,
01:11:10.350 --> 01:11:12.649
they said it can be here. And then they're
01:11:12.729 --> 01:11:14.609
no, it's going to be there. So those games are
01:11:14.609 --> 01:11:18.550
happening. But I think the air has been taken
01:11:18.550 --> 01:11:20.470
out of that balloon where they think they can
01:11:20.470 --> 01:11:23.350
act, they being the administration, with impunity.
01:11:23.909 --> 01:11:26.750
Mamdani administration is going to be suing Columbia,
01:11:26.850 --> 01:11:29.770
last I heard, to open the gates. The gates should
01:11:29.770 --> 01:11:35.380
be open. And when you're on the wrong
01:11:35.380 --> 01:11:40.430
side and the majority of Americans believes that
01:11:40.430 --> 01:11:43.890
it is the wrong side, what is your argument to
01:11:43.890 --> 01:11:46.869
continue? And they have to look at their legacy
01:11:46.869 --> 01:11:50.449
as a school. They banned Mahmoud Khalil from
01:11:50.449 --> 01:11:52.649
coming onto campus for the past more than year
01:11:52.649 --> 01:11:56.489
and a half. Yeah. But he just was able to go
01:11:56.489 --> 01:12:01.409
there last week. He filed suit too, right? He
01:12:01.409 --> 01:12:04.729
filed suit. They're not dumb. So, of course,
01:12:04.789 --> 01:12:07.090
they're going to lose and they know it. Yeah,
01:12:07.149 --> 01:12:10.390
they're going to have to pay. I saw
01:12:10.390 --> 01:12:13.189
something which made me sad and I wasn't there
01:12:13.189 --> 01:12:17.010
in person when it happened, but it was a young
01:12:17.010 --> 01:12:21.539
woman. I'm assuming a student looked she
01:12:21.539 --> 01:12:23.239
was in her 20s and she was being interviewed
01:12:23.239 --> 01:12:28.789
and it was on. Social media was one
01:12:28.789 --> 01:12:31.189
of these videos on social media of some event
01:12:31.189 --> 01:12:34.010
happening at Columbia. I don't know when the
01:12:34.010 --> 01:12:36.350
event was, but I think it was not during the
01:12:36.350 --> 01:12:38.050
encampments. I think it was after. So it was
01:12:38.050 --> 01:12:42.260
within the past year. And some students were
01:12:42.260 --> 01:12:45.880
waving a Palestinian flag. And this young woman
01:12:45.880 --> 01:12:50.600
was was tearful. She was weeping and she was
01:12:50.600 --> 01:12:53.920
pleading with the security. How can you let them
01:12:53.920 --> 01:12:58.369
fly this flag? I'm paraphrasing. And they said
01:12:58.489 --> 01:13:01.909
they're allowed to do that there. And
01:13:01.909 --> 01:13:07.489
this student, seriously, said through tears,
01:13:07.750 --> 01:13:11.449
but they're trying to kill me. They want to kill
01:13:11.449 --> 01:13:16.789
me. And it made me sad because this is not just
01:13:16.789 --> 01:13:21.149
somebody with a different global view. Something,
01:13:21.289 --> 01:13:27.229
if that's your mentality. people
01:13:27.229 --> 01:13:28.930
talk about Mahmoud Khalil and they're oh,
01:13:28.949 --> 01:13:31.050
he's a jihadist. He should be deported. You hear
01:13:31.050 --> 01:13:33.050
all the conservatives saying that. Well, not
01:13:33.050 --> 01:13:35.689
just conservatives, right? Yeah. Pro-Israel
01:13:35.689 --> 01:13:38.729
folks. Meanwhile, he was the person who negotiated
01:13:38.729 --> 01:13:41.670
between the encampment and the school and is
01:13:41.670 --> 01:13:45.750
one of the most soft-spoken, gentle, non
01:13:45.750 --> 01:13:50.989
-angry people. And so there's this disconnect.
01:13:55.229 --> 01:13:57.369
But they're again, cracks in the veneer.
01:13:57.409 --> 01:13:59.569
Maybe that should be on the blackboard behind
01:13:59.569 --> 01:14:03.670
me as the recurring theme for our conversation
01:14:03.670 --> 01:14:07.489
as we wrap it up. And that is the
01:14:07.489 --> 01:14:10.310
security told her, no, they can be there. So
01:14:10.310 --> 01:14:15.029
there is an evolution happening. But what happened
01:14:15.029 --> 01:14:16.609
on the campus wasn't good. And as far as I'm
01:14:16.609 --> 01:14:20.149
concerned it hasn't changed the way that
01:14:20.149 --> 01:14:24.369
I speak out about the issue. Nobody has formally
01:14:24.369 --> 01:14:27.090
talked to me and said, listen, you can't advocate
01:14:27.090 --> 01:14:34.659
for Palestine. So who knows? the university
01:14:34.659 --> 01:14:36.680
may have a sense that they've over that they
01:14:36.680 --> 01:14:40.760
went too far. I think they do. I I
01:14:41.880 --> 01:14:44.760
have problems with private schools.
01:14:44.779 --> 01:14:47.600
I get the whole idea of charging that much
01:14:47.600 --> 01:14:49.840
for an educational. But what? The social
01:14:49.840 --> 01:14:52.199
work department at Columbia is excellent. It's
01:14:52.199 --> 01:14:56.970
got a really solid. rooted in social justice
01:14:56.970 --> 01:15:01.510
and global justice foundation to it. And I love
01:15:01.510 --> 01:15:03.210
my students and I love being good. You're not
01:15:03.210 --> 01:15:06.960
in the business school. Yeah. Well, there were
01:15:06.960 --> 01:15:09.899
some people there that didn't like me. They're
01:15:09.899 --> 01:15:12.500
not there anymore. I'm not surprised.
01:15:12.500 --> 01:15:14.399
no, I got to say personally, just to
01:15:14.399 --> 01:15:16.619
echo your, your, your experience there with the
01:15:16.619 --> 01:15:19.060
woman. I hope it's not the same woman that we
01:15:19.060 --> 01:15:21.520
saw. I was there for the, during the encampments
01:15:21.520 --> 01:15:26.840
in April of 2025. And, I used my alumni ID to
01:15:26.840 --> 01:15:32.600
get in, and I did a show from there. At one point,
01:15:32.680 --> 01:15:35.939
it was in the morning. It was sleepy. People
01:15:35.939 --> 01:15:38.220
were hanging out in their tents in the encampments.
01:15:38.279 --> 01:15:41.500
There was literally absolutely nothing going
01:15:41.500 --> 01:15:46.439
on. No chanting, no parade, no one waving any
01:15:46.439 --> 01:15:49.079
signs. Literally, you could hardly even see anyone
01:15:49.079 --> 01:15:53.750
walking around. Nothing is going on. I was really
01:15:53.750 --> 01:15:57.350
disappointed. And I encountered this woman who
01:15:57.350 --> 01:16:02.149
was with a guy who was a rabbi, and clearly,
01:16:02.329 --> 01:16:07.170
and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing
01:16:07.170 --> 01:16:11.529
hysterically. How could they think that? How
01:16:11.529 --> 01:16:16.109
could they think that? How is it possible? And
01:16:16.109 --> 01:16:19.470
I was this is psychotic. This is
01:16:19.470 --> 01:16:24.859
in your mind. This is you think you've been
01:16:24.890 --> 01:16:28.649
propagandized. These people do not want to hurt
01:16:28.649 --> 01:16:31.810
you. Hell, most of them are Jewish themselves.
01:16:32.649 --> 01:16:36.949
it was it blew my mind because I literally
01:16:36.949 --> 01:16:39.609
was looking around oh, maybe I'm going
01:16:39.609 --> 01:16:41.449
to be I'm going to break news. I'm going to see
01:16:41.449 --> 01:16:44.970
an actual incident of anti-Semitism on the Columbia
01:16:44.970 --> 01:16:48.529
campus. I read the I read the report in detail
01:16:48.529 --> 01:16:51.829
carefully. There's actually there's no there
01:16:51.829 --> 01:16:55.949
there. There's no substance at all. There's literally
01:16:55.949 --> 01:16:58.470
was I you would expect that there would
01:16:58.470 --> 01:17:00.930
have been anti-Semitic incidents in a politically
01:17:00.930 --> 01:17:04.430
charged political event about the
01:17:04.430 --> 01:17:07.850
Middle East conflict on the campus. But basically,
01:17:08.010 --> 01:17:11.029
I think there's more anti-Semitism everywhere
01:17:11.029 --> 01:17:13.510
else. there was just really nothing there.
01:17:13.689 --> 01:17:18.949
In fact, if there was any bigotry at any of these.
01:17:19.829 --> 01:17:22.369
at the encampments or protests it would have
01:17:22.369 --> 01:17:24.609
been policed by the students and faculty that
01:17:24.609 --> 01:17:26.789
were involved right would never be allowed not
01:17:26.789 --> 01:17:29.210
because it doesn't look good but because it's
01:17:29.210 --> 01:17:33.489
repugnant right right and I did hear bigotry
01:17:33.489 --> 01:17:38.810
at the protests on on the on Broadway right
01:17:38.810 --> 01:17:43.029
outside the gates to some of those and the bigotry
01:17:43.029
--> 01:17:45.289
was coming from the pro-Israel people who were
01:17:45.289 --> 01:17:47.619
not part of the campus they were just
01:17:47.619 --> 01:17:49.960
people from New York I guess that came and pro
01:17:49.960 --> 01:17:53.800
counter-protested saying and shouting
01:17:53.800 --> 01:17:58.310
vile things right all of them but many of
01:17:58.310 --> 01:18:02.369
them and and that shocked me too yeah I grew
01:18:02.369 --> 01:18:05.430
up in I'm from the I'm a New York kid
01:18:05.430 --> 01:18:08.430
I grew up in the city and my thing is
01:18:08.430 --> 01:18:10.670
yeah you see protests in the city all the time
01:18:10.670 --> 01:18:13.109
if it's something you want no part of you just
01:18:13.109 --> 01:18:17.649
walk across the street It's it's New York. You're
01:18:17.649 --> 01:18:21.449
going to see shit you don't like. And so that's
01:18:21.449 --> 01:18:24.770
just normal. But what I saw their reaction and
01:18:24.770 --> 01:18:30.109
it was a reaction to just the fact that there
01:18:30.489 --> 01:18:34.270
were people that stood in solidarity with Palestinians
01:18:34.270 --> 01:18:39.300
because and who talks about this? Katie
01:18:39.300 --> 01:18:43.930
Helper, Aaron Mate, both who were Jewish. I think
01:18:43.930 --> 01:18:46.329
Aaron did the birthright thing. So they have
01:18:46.329 --> 01:18:48.489
a thing. They do a podcast, which is excellent.
01:18:48.670 --> 01:18:50.569
I think Katie and Aaron do great work
01:18:50.569 --> 01:18:55.079
called Useful Idiots. They both talked about
01:18:55.079 --> 01:18:57.460
their journeys with it. So was Max Blumenthal
01:18:57.460 --> 01:19:01.909
and who's excellent and works with
01:19:01.930 --> 01:19:05.409
with Aaron at the Gray Zone. And so they
01:19:05.890 --> 01:19:09.109
talk about the programming and how that was difficult
01:19:09.109 --> 01:19:11.350
for them because they just thought this was,
01:19:11.430 --> 01:19:14.310
I listen in the peace movement the justice
01:19:14.310 --> 01:19:16.529
movement that when I first got involved as a
01:19:16.529 --> 01:19:20.670
18 19 year old and then in my early 20s
01:19:20.670 --> 01:19:26.479
us leftists we looked at Israel as the icon
01:19:26.479 --> 01:19:31.199
of socialism because of the kibbutzim and I remember
01:19:31.199 --> 01:19:34.600
wanting to go people were you got to go
01:19:34.600 --> 01:19:37.640
there it's communal living the kibbutzim Tel
01:19:37.640 --> 01:19:43.100
Aviv city but And it was this thing. And I
01:19:43.100 --> 01:19:45.439
remember thinking when I knew very little to
01:19:45.439 --> 01:19:48.560
nothing about the conflict, why would anyone
01:19:48.560 --> 01:19:53.619
try to hurt that country? Because it's doing
01:19:53.619 --> 01:19:58.420
all these very progressive things. So we didn't
01:19:58.420 --> 01:20:01.619
know the story. I was not educated. And I'm not
01:20:01.619 --> 01:20:04.779
Jewish. But that's how we saw it. Well, if you
01:20:04.779 --> 01:20:06.920
are, and that was part of your family thing,
01:20:07.000 --> 01:20:10.489
of course. this is a lot of programming.
01:20:10.750 --> 01:20:14.619
the question ultimately, can people coexist
01:20:14.619 --> 01:20:18.760
when one side does not view the other side as
01:20:18.760 --> 01:20:22.640
human? What will it take to change that? And
01:20:22.640 --> 01:20:26.079
I want people's hearts to change. I do. Because
01:20:26.079 --> 01:20:28.779
look, Aaron Mate didn't always think the way
01:20:28.779 --> 01:20:34.300
he does. just saying about what he's
01:20:34.300 --> 01:20:36.899
spoken about publicly, and maybe neither did
01:20:36.899 --> 01:20:40.050
Katie. and Max and all those folks who talked
01:20:40.050 --> 01:20:43.789
about that so I want everybody to have that evolution
01:20:43.789 --> 01:20:48.130
but I just don't think it's okay to have that
01:20:48.130 --> 01:20:50.510
evolution while you're committing a genocide
01:20:50.510 --> 01:20:56.449
do your introspection but stop killing everyone
01:20:56.449 --> 01:20:59.729
and let's not forget southern Lebanon it's
01:20:59.729 --> 01:21:03.989
being decimated Ronnie Akalik is talking
01:21:03.989 --> 01:21:07.609
about it daily and that's another voice that
01:21:07.960 --> 01:21:11.539
We need to elevate. But those people have done
01:21:11.539 --> 01:21:15.739
nothing wrong. And Israel is just leveling southern
01:21:15.739 --> 01:21:19.979
Lebanon. And if Hezbollah is such a threat, why
01:21:19.979 --> 01:21:22.140
is Hezbollah not attacking Israel? They're not.
01:21:22.600 --> 01:21:25.340
They're literally not. So what are you doing?
01:21:25.479 --> 01:21:29.699
They're doing now to the West Bank and Jerusalem
01:21:29.699 --> 01:21:33.640
what they did to Gaza. that's their plan.
01:21:33.779 --> 01:21:36.659
It's got to not continue, though. It's just.
01:21:38.079 --> 01:21:41.140
No doubt. I couldn't agree more. Perfect place
01:21:41.140 --> 01:21:46.859
to end. Professor Anthony Zenkus of Columbia
01:21:46.859 --> 01:21:49.520
University and Adelphi University, thanks for
01:21:49.520 --> 01:21:52.039
joining the program. We're here Monday through
01:21:52.039 --> 01:21:55.000
Friday, 9 a.m. Eastern time. Monday, Wednesday,
01:21:55.079 --> 01:21:57.760
Friday, we go two hours to 11. Tuesdays and Thursdays,
01:21:57.760 --> 01:22:01.300
we go until 10. Thanks, everyone, and see you
01:22:01.300 --> 01:22:03.779
later. And if you want to hang out after the
01:22:03.779 --> 01:22:07.380
credits, we'll be able to talk a little bit.
01:22:07.380 --> 01:22:15.739
Thank you. Thank you, Ted. Bye. Yes, you can.
01:22:15.880 --> 01:22:16.460
Hold on a second.