Syria Has Fallen: Should The US Intervene?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Louder with Crowder – Syria Has Fallen: Should The US Intervene?

Episode Details

• Title: Syria Has Fallen: Should The US Intervene?
• Host: Loud with Crowder (Steven Crowder)
• Release Date: December 9, 2024
• Description: Steven Crowder delivers a blend of news, entertainment, and politics with a focus on politically incorrect topics. This episode delves into the recent developments in Syria, the implications of Bashar al-Assad's departure, and the broader debate on U.S. intervention in the region. Additionally, the episode touches upon systemic issues within the U.S. healthcare system and the controversial murder of the United Healthcare CEO.

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1. Introduction to the Episode

The episode kicks off with a discussion that initially touches on the complexities of tax season, highlighting the challenges individuals face when choosing between self-preparation and hiring professionals. However, the conversation swiftly transitions to more pressing geopolitical issues, primarily focusing on the recent upheaval in Syria and the broader implications for U.S. foreign policy.

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2. The Fall of Bashar al-Assad and Its Implications

Gerald Morgan provides a comprehensive overview of the rapid collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. He outlines the timeline, noting that rebel forces captured Aleppo on [11:00] and Damascus within two weeks, leading to Assad's flight from the country.

Gerald Morgan [11:26]: "After over a decade of civil war, in really a short amount of time, with more counterfeit Adidas tracksuits than I've seen in my life, the Assad regime has fallen in Syria in really a matter of days."

The discussion emphasizes the role of foreign powers, particularly Russia and Iran, in propping up Assad's regime and how their current preoccupations (e.g., Russia with Ukraine) have facilitated Assad's downfall.

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3. Evaluating the U.S. Response: To Intervene or Not?

The core of the episode revolves around whether the United States should intervene in Syria post-Assad. Gerald Morgan posits a binary choice:

Gerald Morgan [11:28]: "You agree with Biden? You agree with Lindsey Graham? Or do you agree with Donald Trump in Vance? It is kind of a binary choice here at this point."

He argues against U.S. involvement, suggesting that the chaotic power vacuum could lead to increased terrorism and regional instability. The hosts discuss the potential resurgence of extremist groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the unlikely scenario of Syria achieving a stable, democratic governance structure without external intervention.

Gerald Morgan [16:06]: "Hayat Tahrir Shām is one of the groups largely responsible for that."

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4. The Complexity of Middle Eastern Geopolitics

The hosts dissect the intricate web of Middle Eastern politics, highlighting the persistent presence of jihadist groups and the inherent challenges in establishing non-corrupt, democratic regimes in the region. Dylan underscores the futility of expecting significant change:

Dylan [22:24]: "They're going to work with whoever becomes the main leader there."

Gerald Morgan further elaborates on the historical inefficacies in the region:

Gerald Morgan [16:54]: "These jihadists are 13th-century religious extremists. They have not changed, they have not evolved."

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5. The United Healthcare CEO Murder: A Symptom of Systemic Issues

Shifting focus, the hosts address the high-profile murder of the United Healthcare CEO, discussing the public's mixed reactions and the underlying frustrations with the U.S. healthcare system.

Gerald Morgan [37:33]: "A lot of people were happy about this murder."

The conversation delves into the ramifications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on insurance practices, highlighting increased premiums, deductibles, and higher claim denial rates.

Gerald Morgan [41:04]: "The ACA forced insurance to cover everyone with preexisting conditions... insurance premiums went up by 80%, deductibles went up by over 50%."

Dylan adds personal anecdotes to illustrate the financial burdens imposed by the ACA:

Dylan [43:33]: "I went from paying $90 to about $400 for a health savings account plan that had a $3,000 deductible that then went to a $6,000 deductible."

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6. Government Intervention and the Free Enterprise System

The hosts critique the government's role in exacerbating the healthcare system's flaws through mandates and subsidies, arguing that excessive regulation and lack of competition have led to inefficiencies and inflated costs.

Gerald Morgan [42:08]: "When you marry, everyone has to buy insurance... premiums went up by 80%, deductibles went up by over 50%."

Dylan advocates for a return to a more market-driven approach, emphasizing personal responsibility and the benefits of a cash-based system with catastrophic insurance.

Dylan [55:15]: "We've farmed that out to somebody else. We've looked at the government's responsibility to make sure that we're taking care of healthwise. That's moronic."

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7. Conclusion: A Call for Systemic Change

The episode wraps up with a strong stance against systemic corruption and government overreach, calling for fundamental changes to both foreign and domestic policies. The hosts urge listeners to focus on addressing the root causes of instability, both internationally in regions like Syria and domestically within the U.S. healthcare system.

Gerald Morgan [53:35]: "If you want to really change this system, then fight to change the system. Don't be an idiot and go and shoot somebody for no reason."

They emphasize the importance of empowering consumers and healthcare providers while limiting the influence of large insurance companies and lobbyists.

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Notable Quotes

• Gerald Morgan [11:26]: "After over a decade of civil war, in really a short amount of time, with more counterfeit Adidas tracksuits than I've seen in my life, the Assad regime has fallen in Syria in really a matter of days."
• Gerald Morgan [16:06]: "Hayat Tahrir Shām is one of the groups largely responsible for that."
• Gerald Morgan [41:04]: "The ACA forced insurance to cover everyone with preexisting conditions... insurance premiums went up by 80%, deductibles went up by over 50%."
• Dylan [43:33]: "I went from paying $90 to about $400 for a health savings account plan that had a $3,000 deductible that then went to a $6,000 deductible."
• Gerald Morgan [55:15]: "We've farmed that out to somebody else. We've looked at the government's responsibility to make sure that we're taking care of healthwise. That's moronic."

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Conclusion

In this episode of Louder with Crowder, Steven Crowder and his team tackle the immediate fallout of Assad's departure from Syria, debating the merits and pitfalls of U.S. intervention in the region. Simultaneously, they critically examine the U.S. healthcare system's structural issues, linking public frustration to broader socio-political unrest. Through a blend of geopolitical analysis and domestic policy critique, the episode underscores the complexities of international intervention and the pressing need for systemic reform within the United States.

Transcript

[Steven Crowder]

Hi, Josh from Loud with Crowder here to talk to you about taxes. Now, we all know that tax season is just around the corner. And once you get around the corner, it's kind of a choose your own adventure situation. You could choose to do your own taxes, or you could choose to hire the professionals at Tax Network usa. This is Benny. Let's see how both situations worked out for him.

[Gerald Morgan]

Benny.

[Steven Crowder]

What, Meredith?

[Gerald Morgan]

What will you be done soon?

[Meredith]

Kids miss you.

[Gerald Morgan]

Dylan keeps asking why Daddy's so angry and why my daddy doesn't love his family anymore.

[Steven Crowder]

Yeah, well, Dylan's lucky we're getting a child tax credit for him or he be out on his Dylan ass. Yeah, go ahead and cry about it, you bunch of Beta babies.

[Gerald Morgan]

They get it from their father.

[Steven Crowder]

Shut up. Doesn't look very fun, does it? In a parallel universe, Benny called the professionals at Tax Network us.

[Gerald Morgan]

Danny, honey, I'm late.

[Steven Crowder]

I'll be right there, love bug.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yay. Yay, dad.

[Steven Crowder]

All right, who's ready for some family fun time?

[Gerald Morgan]

My boys.

[Steven Crowder]

Tax Network USA's tax specialists have settled over $500 million in tax debts to the IRS and state taxing authorities. Call 1-800-245-6000 or visit www.tnusa.com Crowder. So stop yelling at your family and call TNUS.

[Gerald Morgan]

I felt inspired today.

[Dylan]

Nice.

[Gerald Morgan]

The mood hit me. Mood hit me. It's a little bit. It's a little bit of Christmas. Cheers. Right. We got two more weeks. Two more weeks. Our last show is next. Well, next, I think next Friday, something or other. Next Thursday, of course, if you're a Rumble Premium Mug Club member. Next Friday. And. Yeah. So we got two weeks to go. I got a long Christmas list and I have not started. Comment below if you start the Christmas shopping. I just realized.

[Steven Crowder]

Oh, did you get your Turbo man doll?

[Gerald Morgan]

Jeez. I've hit it up to here with Turbo Man. If there's one person I don't want to hear about right now, it's Turbo Man.

[Steven Crowder]

Should have got up months ago.

[Gerald Morgan]

Well, it's nestled safely under our tre. So for those of you who know, you know. And if you don't know, now you know. Other question is, what's been your worst experience with health insurance? Because today we're going to be talking about, obviously, the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO. What's worrisome about this is that a lot of people are celebrating it. Now, I get why people are mad, and I get why people feel as though they have no power or recourse versus the elites. I Don't think we want to be in a world where we just start offing CEOs, but if someone was looking for the guilty party, they probably would have been searching for. I'm not condoning this. Hunting down the people who voted for the Affordable Care Act. We're going to get through the timeline here as to why health insurance has become as awful as it is. Some common ground. The left and the right can agree that our healthcare system is broken. We disagree on the solution where they believe we should become more socialized, where we have a socialized healthcare system in all but name anyway. And I believe we should actually put more power in the hands of the doctors and patients, you know, healthcare providers as opposed to administrators. Also, a Assad is gone now, so Syria is seeing a little bit of a shakeup, a little bit of a change up there. I know it's hard to care because you think, hey, they've never gotten it right, you know, throughout all of human history. But we'll get through some fact and fiction out there. Right now there's a lot of fake news circulating, a lot of takes that are simply inaccurate and hopefully help you out with that. So at some point today, probably when we're talking about jihadists, terrorists, and, you know, the religion of. Of non peace, you'll see this on YouTube. Head to Rumble. It's a weekday show, 10:00am Eastern. Captain Morgan, CEO. You know, I'm gonna stop calling you CEO.

[Dylan]

Yeah. Because.

[Gerald Morgan]

Because I don't think you should be CEO.

[Dylan]

Yeah, I mean, that's.

[Gerald Morgan]

It's not the same thing, but I'll post a list of your hobbies and address.

[Dylan]

Thank you.

[Gerald Morgan]

How are you?

[Dylan]

I am. I am officially sick.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

Yeah, I thought I was sick last week. I wasn't. I had. I had probably like a mild cold. Whatever my wife had, I got.

[Gerald Morgan]

You heard of the boy who cried cold?

[Dylan]

Well, I actually was sick, but I was helping my wife.

[Gerald Morgan]

How are you? I'm not sick, so let's try and keep it that way. When you hear this, you know him, you love them. Saturday, December 21st, at Bricktown Comedy Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma. All his [e-mail] and he looks like a rapist in that picture.

[Steven Crowder]

Looks can be deceiving. Or accurate.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, exactly. In this case, I don't know. It's good to stay ambiguous.

[Steven Crowder]

Yeah, well, that's a. That's a sick photo. That's what I see.

[Gerald Morgan]

It is. Let me see it again. Let me see that stash.

[Steven Crowder]

Yeah, you like that?

[Gerald Morgan]

Let me see it.

[Steven Crowder]

The Ladies like it.

[Meredith]

You're fascinating to talk to.

[Steven Crowder]

That's what they tell me. I like how my cheekbone.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes.

[Steven Crowder]

Is showing by my fat. You see where my face used to be?

[Dylan]

You look like you're out on bail.

[Steven Crowder]

Yes, I have been for eight years.

[Gerald Morgan]

All right, speaking of cheeks, Rosie O'Donnell went, she did a TikTok post because, you know, they hate the X. So they decide to go to a platform that's the largest holder in the company is communist China. So Rosie O'Donnell went to TikTok to. I say, she says, possibly herpes. Spoiler alert, she has herpes. But it is somehow, somehow some, something, something, something. It's the fault of MAGA Trump voters. Watch.

[Meredith]

Well, hey, everybody, it's Friday all day, as my nana would say. And look what I have on my.

[Dylan]

Such a stupid saying.

[Meredith]

Everybody's been saying you have herpes. You have herpes. All this time and I never had a cold sore life, and now I have a cold sore. And it makes me think that perhaps this weird pimple that had a tiny little head was a cold sore, too, on your nose. So I talked to my doctor today and I did a video telehealth. She gets in there and they said that it's not a cold sore. It's some reaction to the sun. Now, I did sit in the sun yesterday, but I had sunscreen on. I will let you know tomorrow if I do, in fact have herpes.

[Dylan]

Do you have sunscreen on your lip?

[Meredith]

The taunting from the MAGA people in the last couple. Couple of weeks. Hasn't it been fun, ladies and gentlemen, to be standing in direct opposition to everything he is and represents and always have been and tough guy always will be.

[Gerald Morgan]

Okay. Everything he represents in the people. You mean like freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, low taxes, you know, economic protectionism, and we're getting screwed on international business. I don't know what that means. They're just so vague. You know, this, obviously, this is. This is maga. What, what do you do? You take accountability for anything ever. How about let's start with your haircut. Anything. And by the way, you know what she's doing there, the reason she looks that way? It's like every time I take a picture or go and take a driver's license, I make a silly face like so Then they go, oh, this is a terrible picture. But I meant to make it terrible so I don't have to. I don't have to say that I hate the way that I look good. Yeah, there's no way to make it good. That's what she does, only it's permanent. I meant to look stupid and ugly, so I got the hair.

[Dylan]

Could you take the day off from making a video that no one's going to want to watch Anyway?

[Steven Crowder]

I liked her Conan O'Brien hair.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes.

[Steven Crowder]

I thought it was nice.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah. By the way, the teasing. Can you believe this? It's the teasing. I don't know if you know this, but Rosie O'Donnell, she's no stranger to teasing and making fun of people. Remember when she mocked the Chinese on the View, which was I thought was funny. When she said ching chong, ching chong, ching chong, ching chong. She actually said that. We'll bring it up on Mud Club. Yeah. Yeah.

[Steven Crowder]

That's how she's old. Rosie.

[Gerald Morgan]

2016, she said that Trump, Barron Trump had autism.

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

She defended the child murderer Casey Anthony. She's insulted conservatives Christians for a very long. Don't forget when she berated Tom Selleck when he was on her show because he appeared in an NRA ad like, look, I get that you want to tie everything to Donald Trump because Orange man bad. Right. I understand all that, but people teasing you online. I haven't checked my eplies in close to a decade because it's what you expect. I'm certainly not going to develop genital warts because of it.

[Steven Crowder]

Where you don't have genitals.

[Gerald Morgan]

The good news is a has a happy ending. She appears to be just fine.

[Meredith]

Yep. Everybody, it's a cold sore. There you have it. Stress can do horrible things.

[Steven Crowder]

That's not stress.

[Meredith]

Why are you stressed?

[Benny]

Herpes.

[Meredith]

A lot of reasons.

[Gerald Morgan]

Oh, let me get something, something, something. Trump, is it because people replied to your stupid TikTok video? I don't know. There are things to be stressed about, you know, worse than that, like war or, you know, even just being eligible for the draft. Don't worry. You don't have to worry about that. Stillbirth, miscarriages, cancer, but people leaving at replies. This is how fragile. Let it never be said that women are as robust as men because even the most angry lesbians are incredibly fragile. Bright side, looks like she's actually perfect for her upcoming role right now as a Nosferatu. So she's gonna be doing that pretty well. Good for her. To the herpes.

[Dylan]

Herpes is forever.

[Gerald Morgan]

All right, we're gonna get on to a sec because we have a lot to get to with Assad, but it's about the last week before the Christmas shipping, so crowder shop.com, if you want to get it in time, right?

[Dylan]

One more week. I think we have to be able to make sure you get it before Christmas. Go buy the shirt. We're gonna. We. We have both, right? Die Hard is not. Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It is. I know. I know. Bruce Willis and his.

[Gerald Morgan]

Then. So is Lethal Weapon.

[Dylan]

No.

[Steven Crowder]

Is Lethal Weapon set around Christmas time?

[Dylan]

No. No, it's not. No, it really isn't.

[Gerald Morgan]

No Santa.

[Steven Crowder]

No Christmas movie.

[Gerald Morgan]

That's it.

[Dylan]

Yep. Shut up.

[Gerald Morgan]

Okay, fine. Crowdershop.com. great plug, Gerald. All right. Now, the good news is, look, there's good news here. And because we don't. Look, we're not at war here, Gerald. You and I were on the same side, sure. Yeah. But it's time. The good news is there's gonna be another war in the Middle East.

[Dylan]

Oh, good. Yes.

[Gerald Morgan]

You know, and I know you're saying, like, it ever stopped. No. But it's just kind of a different version of war. And then maybe we'll be getting involved as it relates to our foreign policy here. And let me ask you this. You think the United States should get involved with what's going on in Syria and Assad? You agree with Biden? You agree with Lindsey Graham? Or do you agree with Donald Trump in Vance? It is kind of a binary choice here at this point.

[Dylan]

We made the right choice, America.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes. So there's a lot of fiction out there. There are some facts out there. We're going to try and separate that and make all the references available to you so you can kind of understand the timeline. But after over a decade of civil war, in really a short amount of time, with more counterfeit Adidas tracksuits than I've seen in my life, the Assad regime has fallen in Syria in really a matter of days. A momentous day in the Middle East. The family dynasty that controlled Syria for more than half a century is no longer in power, with President Bashar Al Assad having fled the country as rebel forces closed in on the capital, Damascus.

[Dylan]

Those bullets have to come down, boys. I will step on his face.

[Gerald Morgan]

I love how they took time to steal chairs.

[Dylan]

I know. Like, what are you going to do?

[Steven Crowder]

The incoming government's going to be like, hey, where do we sit?

[Benny]

Also, how.

[Gerald Morgan]

How ballsy is the guy that's honking.

[Steven Crowder]

His horn at the guys with the AK47?

[Gerald Morgan]

That's the back lane.

[Steven Crowder]

Well, you didn't see that bumper sticker. I said, honk if you love bullets.

[Dylan]

Yeah. You got some guy with a folding table and ten thousand dollar Chairs at his house.

[Gerald Morgan]

There's one guy with an AK in his car ready to go mess stuff up. But he's like, looking at the HOV lane like, I'm not a monster.

[Dylan]

Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

Let me give you a quick timeline. And it's silly because it's a silly place. And I mean this. The Middle east is a silly place. Let me set this up for you really quickly, okay. It's hard for me to care unless it involves American security directly. This area of the world has never gotten it right. That is because of their ideology. If you want to under. If you and your 21st century, very comfortable bubble want to understand it, These jihadists are 13th century religious extremists. They have not changed, they have not evolved. There has never been a place where Islam has achieved governmental power and not become a corrupt totalitarian regime. Just give it a decade. Take any country at any point. It's never worked. So let's stop trying to fix it. I don't think we should. I don't think we should get involved unless it's with the intent of breaking stuff, converting them, subjugating them. Otherwise, let's stop spending money. But let me give you a quick recap. You can comment below if you disagree. November 30th, that's when the rebel fighters, they captured Aleppo. Fun to say. And then less than two weeks later, they captured Damascus, which basically is what ended the Assad regime. It's been there for decades. And Gary Johnson actually offered this take on the situation. Aleppo.

[Steven Crowder]

And what is Aleppo?

[Gerald Morgan]

You're kidding.

[Dylan]

No, Aleppo.

[Steven Crowder]

Yeah. He still doesn't know.

[Gerald Morgan]

So now think it's a.

[Steven Crowder]

Like a medicine.

[Gerald Morgan]

I think he thought it was like an elf in a Christmas story. Oh, Aleppo. He made the doll that warmed Santa's heart. Now, according to the Russian media, yesterday Bashar Ella Said arrived in Moscow. So that's what they're saying. The rebels were basically able to take over everything so quickly because some people are making the point that Russia, Iran are busy right now. They have their hands full.

[Dylan]

They do, yes. They're the only reason he was staying in power in the first place.

[Gerald Morgan]

Effectively, yes.

[Dylan]

They were kind of propping him up.

[Gerald Morgan]

Exactly. Kind of like the Castros for a while. Yeah, exactly. With all the Soviets. And we do actually have exclusive footage, though, of how Assad managed to escape. Hello? Is anyone there? I think you forgot to make air holes. I have to make pee pee. You hate to see that, even though you know your humanity gets the better of you. So it's time for a new segment Fact or fiction? That seemed way too serious for us now.

[Steven Crowder]

It also kind of seemed like a party.

[Dylan]

Yeah, it did. It also seemed like a good stinger. And we can make them.

[Gerald Morgan]

I didn't know that we were going to have house music. So let's go through some things that you may be hearing. All references available at latteroscredit.com, link in the description. So is it fact or fiction? The idea that Syria is now free. You may be hearing that we rule this one. Fiction way. Fiction. That's fun. So there's a very strong chance, and by that I mean I would bet my bottom dollar, that Syria's probably going to get quite a bit worse.

[Dylan]

Way wor.

[Gerald Morgan]

Hts. I want to make sure that I have this correct in my pronunciation. If I don't get it correct. Terrorists, Please forgive me. Hayat Tahrir al Sham, we'll call them HTs. It's a designated terrorist organization.

[Dylan]

They're very forgiving, by the way, especially for pronunciation.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, they are. Look, look, we get it. It's hard for me. It's like the th in English. We don't have it. So the group, to give you an idea, who are, you know, at the center of a lot of this, they were founded as basically an Al Qaeda affiliate. Al Qaeda adjacent for those in real estate. And the IC ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has also played a role in helping to form this group, which is really weird.

[Dylan]

ISIS and Al Qaeda getting together to form a group.

[Gerald Morgan]

I know, guys, look, look, there's more that we have in common that makes us different.

[Steven Crowder]

Is that like when Dave Grohl went to the Foo Fighters?

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes.

[Dylan]

Something. Yes.

[Gerald Morgan]

So this group also, they've been consistently targeting and killing Syrian Christians. You know, the group of people who, when Barack Obama was president, we didn't actually grant asylum. Less than 1%. You may remember that we brought in a bunch of military aged single Muslim males. Less than 1% were Christians from the Middle east, specifically places like Syria, who were fleeing persecution, being burned alive in cages.

[Dylan]

Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

HTS is one of the groups largely responsible for that.

[Dylan]

Yeah. And by the way, so there were a lot of Christians celebrating this. You heard them ringing church bells and celebrating. Now they're the group probably that needs the most prayers right now. They were persecuted under the Assad regime, of course, but not nearly as bad as people think. They will be persecuted under a regime that has zero kind of issue with burning Christians in caves.

[Gerald Morgan]

They have no guardrails, so.

[Dylan]

Exactly. They're not going to have any Problem at doing that and probably not going to have the world looking on for much of it. So you really need to be praying for Christians, and I hope they're either getting out or making sure they're taking the proper precautions.

[Gerald Morgan]

Let me tell you this. The only language that people like these groups like HTS understand is Vlad the Impaler.

[Dylan]

Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

The only language they understand is barbarism and being more effectively violent. You need to understand this. This is why the Islamic world is as it be and it do. And there is some good news. There is some good news because the leader of HTS said that actually, you needn't worry because as of an hour ago, they're like, super moderate now.

[Benny]

Has had affiliations with Al Qaeda, with isis, and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader and a moderate group. What is HTS right now? Hayat Tahrir Sham is one of the factions in the region, just like all the others. Now we're talking about a larger project. We're talking about building Syria. Hayat Tahrir Sham is merely one detail of this dialogue, and it may dissolve at any time. It's not an end in itself, but a means to perform a task confronting this regime. Once that task is complete, it will transition to a state of governance, institutions and so on.

[Gerald Morgan]

Oh, okay, so they're planning. Yeah. Government institutions.

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

Perhaps a democratic process. There we go.

[Dylan]

He'll step out of the way.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes. That sounds. That sounds fantastic. Oh, I'm getting word it's time, actually, for a poly market check in. It looks like there will be a zero percent chance.

[Dylan]

That's zero of this.

[Gerald Morgan]

Half.

[Dylan]

That went zero fast. Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

Not one bet. Not one. Even buster Douglas at 42 to 1 odds had, like one even.

[Steven Crowder]

HTS is like, we're not gonna even try to.

[Gerald Morgan]

No, no, no, no. Well, we don't want to get cut from insider trading. Hock 2 a coin, right?

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

So she's gonna be fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

[Dylan]

Maybe.

[Gerald Morgan]

So they're saying, ah, we're gonna step down. This will be more. And this is why. Look, I don't wanna say I'm hopeless. I just don't care. I just don't care enough about these places unless it directly involves the security of American citizens. Let them fight. And if we think it gets to the point where it's a threat to us, destroy them. That's my point of view. Either all in or all out. Really, I'd love to. We'll take your chats later. That's my opinion. And when they say they're going to be somewhat moderate or create the reason. I don't believe him. I just. Is it. Where have we. I feel like we've heard this before.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Women will be afforded all their rights.

[Gerald Morgan]

Whether it is the guy looking at.

[Steven Crowder]

Him like, don't you say other activities?

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Because women are a key part of society and we are guaranteeing all their.

[Benny]

Rights to the limits of Islam.

[Meredith]

These scenes have caused outrage around the world. Young Afghan women turned away from universities after the Taliban banned immediately the latest agreed to crack down on women's rights.

[Dylan]

And freedoms.

[Gerald Morgan]

After 14 months of hijab order. The hijab was not observed. They were wearing makeup and wearing dresses like they were going to a wedding ceremony.

[Steven Crowder]

Who could have called this? But thousands of people who've been there over the last 20 years who could.

[Gerald Morgan]

Have called it, but everyone. For those who don't remember that was the Taliban, by the way, like, no. Yes. We're going to have gender studies. You know, we get it. They won't have to ride in the backseat. They'll be able to drive. They'll buy it. They're buying it.

[Steven Crowder]

They believe we will holster our stones.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, exactly. I carry inside the waistband. Appendix carry. Good place for limestone. Now, let's go to. Of course.

[Steven Crowder]

And of course this is still happening. This is going to keep happening. Of course war is going to keep happening. War in the Middle east is like Rosie's herpes, ok?

[Dylan]

It's forever.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, it is.

[Dylan]

It keeps on giving, just lurking.

[Gerald Morgan]

At least I like the security of having a constant. Now let's go to this. Is this fact or fiction? You're hearing this on social and you're hearing this in the media. Oh, this may be good. Good for the region. The truth is kind of mixed. Let me explain this to you. It does hurt Iran's ability to spread terror, but it does open up some other potential chaos. And again, this is why it's just not a situation where you want to get involved. So Assad, Syria, it was a pretty important link in Iran's what they called the Shia Crescent. Right. Which was something that involves. It connects Iran to Lebanon through Syria. So now it's going to be harder for them to support Hezbollah and Hamas. We know that Iran is one.

[Dylan]

For now.

[Gerald Morgan]

For now. Yes, I know.

[Dylan]

What do you think that Iran's going go darn. Yes, they're going to find another way.

[Gerald Morgan]

Of course.

[Dylan]

They're going to work with whoever becomes the main leader there.

[Gerald Morgan]

Right. Which again, I don't want to leave you with a hopeless message. But the good news is, if you're in the United States of America, it probably won't affect you that much. And I know you're going to say, that's so selfish. Look at all the suffering going on in the world. And to those I say, if you are a Democrat, shut up. Because you're complaining about patriarchy and you're complaining about women's rights here in the United States where women aren't allowed to go to college or even come forward with accusations of rape. So, yeah, yeah, we're enjoying sitting up here in our ivory tower because we live in the Western world. Thank God. You condemn the Western world. So let's look outward. What is the rest of the world like? Oh, here we go. Syria and all the Middle East. You want to do Africa next? Here's the thing. Potential power vacuum could be created here. Right? You have a bunch of groups who have an interest in Syria right now. You have HDs, you have ISIS, you have the Kurdish forces. You know, they made a comeback after the gassing, so good for them. Them. You have Turkey, you have Iran, you have Russia. No one knows how this plays out.

[Dylan]

Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

So let it play out. Either destroy them or let it play out.

[Dylan]

Yeah. By the way, anybody who says, and I know I've gotten some notes over here, and this is a fair point, like, Iran doesn't really play well with some of these guys and Russians. But that has never mattered. That has never mattered. Right. You find a way or you kill them or you replace them, or you put somebody else in power or you pay them enough or you do whatever you have to do, and they will find a way to work the thing that they have been doing this entire time, which is funding Hezbollah.

[Gerald Morgan]

Right.

[Dylan]

Which is sending rockets, which is doing everything that they've always done. This is not going to change anything. It may make it harder. It may make them take a pause for a minute. May cost a little bit more money, but they're going to do what they're going to do.

[Gerald Morgan]

Right.

[Dylan]

Good.

[Gerald Morgan]

Next, one, Fact or fiction? That the United States. And this is where you see the swamp, the Democrats. I don't know where Code Pink is. And the rhinos out there, to use the terms. I hate using those terms. But these are the terms that you understand. The United States has to do something, has to intervene. No. That I will definitively state is fiction. Okay. I think that the only interest the United States should have in Syria is stopping any type of terror threat to us. If it doesn't exist right now, it's none of our business. We've never gotten it right.

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

Rebuilding. I don't know if you know this. We rebuilt a lot. Afghanistan, Iraq, by the way, a little bit in Syria. Work like a charm. Yeah.

[Dylan]

They tend to hate us for the rebuilding. They hate us for the bombing. They hate us for the rebuilding. Why are we doing anything? And by the way, I don't want to hear people take this and extrapolate it out. They're saying, oh, they're gonna export terrorism. We can't let it become a hotbed for terrorism because that would be grounds to go into, I don't know, half the world and make sure that we have a presence there. If we do something in places like this, has to be specific threats, in, out, and that's it done. Not like military going in in full force. I'm talking like six guys dropping in, doing the thing, and getting out. Yes, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

[Gerald Morgan]

You know, it helps, by the way, with stopping the exporting of terrorists, having border security, and having a travel ban from hotbeds for terrorism. Sorry, that was racist.

[Dylan]

Yeah, that's true.

[Gerald Morgan]

So instead, we should spend billions of dollars on sending our troops into foreign countries. We don't want to have a wall and don't want to have a ban from countries that, well, yeah, they happen to be Muslim because they've never gotten it right. That would be racist. Let's just leave the borders wide open. Let's the 20 million undocumented aliens come into this country in the last three years and hope for the best. And then while we're also paying for Ukraine to wage war with Russia. Well, sorry, Russia and Ukraine in war. I don't want to say Ukraine's war one waging more, but you get the point. Paying hundreds of billions dollars. Let's spend hundreds of billions of dollars more to go into Syria and to repeat, Iraq. Or let's just make sure we're safe and let's start enforcing the laws that we have here instead. You have former Vice President Biden respect the office, saying that the United States needs to and will be active in rebuilding the. I don't want to be. I don't want to be. I don't want to be coarse. The that is Syria.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk. We will engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United nations, to establish a transition away from the Assad regime toward independent, sovereign. And independent. Say it again. Sovereign Syria. The United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generations of brutality by the Assad family.

[Gerald Morgan]

No.

[Dylan]

Yeah. It's just never ending.

[Gerald Morgan]

How about no humanitarian relief at this point? How about nothing? How about no war and no relief? Handle your own. Handle your own crap.

[Dylan]

Is there a good group of freedom fighters, like, a good group? I mean, like a good group that would set up, like, a government of, by, and for the people?

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah. You know what you would have to do if they were modern crusaders? And I mean that if you had a Christian group who were just as extreme and willing to eradicate Islamic terrorism in that region, that would be the only group that you could support. People say, oh, how. Yep, Yep. Sorry. It's my litmus test. And you know what? Considering that those Christians there are actually burned alive simply for their faith, that would be the group to support. There's no large enough group that could actually wage any kind of a civil war there. So outside of that, again, look to every country in that cesspool of filth and sadness. The world, Middle east, the Arabic world. Finally one that's gotten it right. Which is why I disagree with Lindsey Graham. But, you know, you probably. Probably saw that coming.

[Dylan]

Yep, a little bit.

[Gerald Morgan]

He even went as far as saying that we probably need some ground operations there to handle isis. He said, I appreciate the airstrike and ISIS terrorists in Syria, but it will not be enough.

[Steven Crowder]

Little gayer, please.

[Gerald Morgan]

We have to ensure that the roughly 50,000 ISIS prisoners.

[Steven Crowder]

Thank you.

[Gerald Morgan]

In northeastern Syria being primarily held by Kurdish forces are not released.

[Steven Crowder]

Hey, you first. Lindsay.

[Dylan]

Yes.

[Steven Crowder]

Put on some body armor. Get out there, get the dirty work done.

[Dylan]

Hey, surprise, surprise. Lindsay's in favor of war.

[Gerald Morgan]

Okay, fine. Well, that's where the. That's where the boys are. Full steam ahead.

[Steven Crowder]

Ring, ring, ring goes the trolley.

[Gerald Morgan]

Clang, clap, ding, ding, ding goes a bell. I'll be in the mess hall baking cookies for the boys. So here's the good news. Luckily, President Trump. Some people call him former president, incoming president. I call him President Trump in advance. They both basically signaled that the United States should completely stay out of it. Hey, there you go. One of these things is not like the other. Also, he. Did Donald Trump. President Trump use this to pressure Russia into some peace negotiations? Again, the art of the deal. He. He said, Assad is gone.

[Donald Trump]

He has fled his country, his protector, Russia. Russia. Russia, led by Vladimir Putin was Not interested in protecting him any longer. Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now. Very weak. A lot of people say how weak they are. Sad. One because of Ukraine and a bad economy. The other because of Israel and its fighting success. Likewise, Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. I know Vladimir well. Very well. This is his time to act.

[Gerald Morgan]

China can help.

[Donald Trump]

The world is waiting.

[Steven Crowder]

So my favorite part was the Brady Bunch. Russia, Russia, Russia.

[Donald Trump]

Her boyfriend, George Glass. Ojan, you love to lie. We caught you. Marsh is fine.

[Gerald Morgan]

Now we're back at. I think you know where we are. We're really. We're back at the. It's time to repatriate. That's where I think we are.

[Dylan]

There's Syrians in other countries, too.

[Gerald Morgan]

In Netherlands. Yeah. And in Sweden.

[Steven Crowder]

Syria must be empty.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah. So let me get this straight. You're fleeing a country that is a shithole, has always been a shithole and always will be a shithole. Really? That entire region of the world. And so in claiming you are entitled to asylum to not even the nearest neighboring nation, but any nation you want to go. You go there and you want to instate the kind of government that you just fled. And the only people dumb enough to play this game are those in the Western world dealing with their crippling white guilt. Hey, how about. How about no? How about go back, fix your own country? And we certainly are not going to. Hey, you know, and even more if you come here, first off, full stop, just go back to your own country. But we're not going to adapt to you. You adapt to us. That means you don't get to yell Allahu Akbar or any voice, any kind of support for Sharia law, not because it's a First Amendment issue, but. But we're talking about something that cannot be juxtaposed with the Constitution, with freedom of speech. Islam is a system of laws. It's a political prescription just as much as it is a religion. That's the big difference between Islam and Christianity. And it is an active threat to the Western world. You don't open your doors to that. Let's start with here, at least reinstating the racist travel ban, remember, from Donald Trump. It was seven countries included. Syria, by the way.

[Dylan]

Maybe that was a good one.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah, maybe that was a good. Where are you guys at this point? Hey, leftists. So what's the. Let me ask you this. In one hand, this is what we're presenting. Don't get involved. Don't wage war, but don't rebuild. No humanitarian effort. Let them handle it. On the other hand, you have go in ground operations, airstrikes, drone strikes, try and help with the peaceful transition of power, and because of the fallout, bring in tens or hundreds of thousands of people from the third world who have a vested interest in destroying us. Which one do you want? Yeah, don't get involved. Ban travel from these. Ban any immigration from these countries. Comment below.

[Dylan]

I think that's a fair point in Israel's response. Israel doesn't get it right all the time, but their response was like, yeah, we're gonna just blow a lot of stuff up.

[Gerald Morgan]

We're gonna blow a lot of stuff.

[Dylan]

We don't know who's coming into power, and you guys might not play well. So all those munitions depot, those things are gone.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

I would go there for a little while.

[Steven Crowder]

Yeah, Smart move. Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

Weapons, defense, gone.

[Steven Crowder]

Oh, they need to rebuild their country. So I say send them all back. All hands on deck.

[Dylan]

There you go. There you go.

[Steven Crowder]

Build it up.

[Gerald Morgan]

Come on.

[Steven Crowder]

Put a tool Bel.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, look, we'll give them, like, a Home Depot shopping spree and.

[Steven Crowder]

Send them back like that TV show.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah. And it's just like my dad used to say when he was a kid, he'd go to a fast food restaurant, and if they brought out, like, a really sloppy. He'd go, look, make mine look like the picture. Okay? That's what they Just go back to your country and go, okay, Siri, make this country look like that country. And point to any, like, American or western or one of, like, Turkey. Yeah, there you go. Make your country, country look like our country. Then we'll consider having any kind of open lines of communication. Beyond that, I don't really have a whole lot to offer on this. Hopefully it's helped you. This has been fact or fiction. By the way, like I said earlier, don't let tax issues overpower you. Contact taxnetwork [e-mail] Crowder. A lot of people do their own taxes. Don't get any help. And then you get piped.

[Dylan]

Yeah. And if they have trouble with taxes, they can help you resolve that as well. People feel like I just got to pay. No, There's a lot of negotiating that you can do.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, there is.

[Dylan]

Let these guys call for you.

[Gerald Morgan]

Exactly. I mean, my voice gets deep when I'm sick. Yeah, I know for some reason you think it's sexy, but it's not.

[Dylan]

No, it's just annoying.

[Gerald Morgan]

No, that's what I thought sounds a little.

[Steven Crowder]

I've got.

[Dylan]

Told me that several times over the weekend, very nicely. But, you know, it sounds predatory.

[Steven Crowder]

Well, I've got an inning now, so.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, yes, exactly. We all do. I feel like you should be talking over like a CB radio. Like I like a good rain. It washes everything clean.

[Dylan]

Candy cane pink, champ.

[Gerald Morgan]

So this is something I really wanted to get into coming from or was raised in a. Canada. Was raised in a country, silly country. Canada, where we had socialized medicine.

[Dylan]

Yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

And the first video that I ever did where I actually did any type of investigative journalism under or on location was a video on the Canadian healthcare system. Because back in 2009, Michael Moore and all these other liberals were saying that's how we needed to reformat our system to mimic that.

[Dylan]

Yeah, you first, Michael.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah. And he also said that Cuba was better than the United States for health care. So I disagree with that. But I want to be really clear. I also understand why people believe that our system is broken here in the United States. It absolutely is. My question to you before I move on and get through some of these historical facts here and some numbers that may surprise you, is why do you think that this system is broken and how do you think it needs to be fixed? Do you think it's because it's capitalism run amok or do you think it's the most heavily regulated industry in the United States and largely subsidized? So I get it when people talk about. A lot of people have been happy, unfortunately, over the murder of the United Healthcare ce. The search is continuing for this murderer. Although we did just get a hint with we found out who was in charge of his security.

[Steven Crowder]

That checks out.

[Dylan]

Jeez.

[Gerald Morgan]

But we also have more to report on this. We actually have an exclusive here because you have sent us your tips. We actually have an insider right now at UnitedHealthcare. Which brings us to Mug Club Undercover. So just to set this up, A source inside UnitedHealthcare sent us this all hands on deck call discussing the CEO Brian Thompson shooting. This comes from an insider there. And we do ask before I show this to you again, if you see something or if you have any information that could be helpful, send it to lwctipsrotonmail.com that's lwctipsrotonmail dot com we are always busy chasing down leads. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here they are at United Healthcare. Something, something, all is well.

[United Healthcare Insider]

I just want to take a moment to pay tribute to Brian. We've lost a friend A colleague, a boss, a mentor, great family man and dad. Somebody who has been incredibly important to many, many people across our organization and somebody who was pivotal in the development of UnitedHealth Group. And always, always somebody who could bring a smile to a room. We've also been working hard to make sure that people who feel concerned about security individually, but more importantly perhaps for our sites continues to be reviewed and strengthened to make sure that we have put in place all of the appropriate mechanisms to keep our organization and our people safe.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, unless you're a client of theirs. And yeah, this is a problem with a lot of health insurance companies. So a lot of people were happy about this murder. I am not amongst them. Taylor Lorenz. I guess this person substack said why we want insurance executives dead. Reddit actually had to delete threads because they were filled with doctors torching the United CEO. And largely the feedback was praising of the murderer. In this case, the hotel or the hostel, I guess, where the assassin stayed was actually review bombed for cooperating.

[Dylan]

Hold on, hostels have reviews?

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah, I know, I don't.

[Dylan]

I thought it was just like, you know, pay five bucks and hope not to die.

[Gerald Morgan]

I didn't get raped. So it was pretty good.

[Dylan]

That's pretty nice. Pretty nice.

[Gerald Morgan]

So these are some of the reviews. They're mad that people are cooperating with the authorities at all, Saying terrible staffs are narcs. No. Solidarity with their fellow humans struggling to free themselves from an oppressive yoke.

[Dylan]

Oh, good Lord.

[Gerald Morgan]

Let me explain something to you. When you look at the fact that about 15% of all claims are denied by insurance companies, and that pisses people off, and then you understand that UnitedHealthcare actually denies on average, 32%, right? Significantly more.

[Dylan]

That's a lot.

[Gerald Morgan]

And in some case, necessary medicine. I get it. I get why people are upset and I get why people recognize that the system is broken. But this is terrorism. To be clear, do we want a world where we just go out and we execute every CEO? And how do you determine which CEOs deserve to be executed? Look, I also think that the anger that vitriol is aimed partially at the wrong people. These healthcare. Well, these health insurance CEOs, they're taking advantage of a system that has been set up and subsidized by government. Not only. I shouldn't say set up and subsidized, demanded by government. If someone was looking for some type of a culprit here, they would look to the people who voted for the Affordable Care Act. And I know they won't because they hear the name and they think it sounds nice. But do you guys understand why health insurance companies in this country have the amount of power that they do? The Affordable Care act was the biggest kickback that has ever taken place likely in American history for health insurance companies. How has it gotten this expensive? Let's go through a few key facts here and you can chime in whenever you want, Joe, because I know this is something that you've had to deal with too. So key fact number one, just going through the Affordable Care act, it forced the aca, forced everyone to buy insurance. So right away, imagine if you are a business, anyone out there, a business owner, small business owner, let's say you own a diner. Imagine if the government said everyone has to get lunch at your diner. Would you consider that a boon for your business? Probably.

[Dylan]

You love it.

[Gerald Morgan]

Probably. So that's what happened. A lot of people, because it started with the single payer option, thought, oh, is it going to be socialized healthcare? Ultimately it ended up being a giant greasing of the palms of the insurance company. So anyone who was not insured had to get insurance or pay a tax. Now, Donald Trump eliminated the mandate on a federal level, but a lot of states, they still have penalties for non compliance like New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, D.C. and by the way, the damage was already done at that point. So you had to pay an exorbitant tax or you were forced to get insurance because a lot of people were not getting insurance. Before that, a lot of people were young people who opted to not pay for insurance because they assessed the risk. Right now, pay cash, everyone has to get insurance. So you're talking about a record number of people who have to purchase insurance. Okay, now that may not necessarily be bad because you say, okay, well there are more people. So it's a, it's a, you know, it's a bigger pool. So that should reduce the cost. Well, here's the thing, key fact number two, the ACA forced insurance to cover everyone with preexisting conditions.

[Dylan]

Bingo.

[Gerald Morgan]

Which is a big. So now everyone has to buy insurance and insurance has to accept everyone, including those who may have self induced diabetes because they've lived on a diet of Funyuns and code Red. And this is so tasty. So you don't have just a bunch of new, young, healthy people joining in, lowering the overall risk pool. You have a guarantee that these people joining now will increase the cost.

[Dylan]

That's right. Where have I heard something like this before? Everybody should own a home and you can't turn anybody down for a home loan.

[Gerald Morgan]

How did that work, work out exactly?

[Dylan]

That seems like the same playbook that everybody should be able to do this. We already had, by the way, most people don't know this. You already had pre existing condition pools. If you had a preexisting condition, more expensive. Right. You had to go into what they call the risk pool in your state, which is more expensive because it's filled with people that have higher risk. You try to mitigate it to some degree by putting healthier people in there, but you don't screw the healthier people to take care of the people with preexisting conditions. And people are like, oh my gosh, you have to have some kind of health care emergency rooms. That's a really bad thing to use. But it was the ultimate fallback. They can't turn you down.

[Gerald Morgan]

Right.

[Dylan]

If you have to go in for something, you can go to an emergency room. That's what we've talked about with illegals. They use that kind of as health care. And it's way too expensive. They don't need to do that. People thought that this was an easy solution. The general public, like, this is a great idea. It's a terrible idea.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

It's like having no fire insurance for your house.

[Gerald Morgan]

It's like forcing every single, every single driving insurance, you know, car insurance to cover people who have suspended licenses.

[Dylan]

Yeah, I'll just, I'll just wait to get insurance until after the accident or after my home.

[Gerald Morgan]

And that's what a lot of people did.

[Dylan]

Stupid.

[Gerald Morgan]

Exactly. So what you saw with this again, everyone has to buy insurance and insurance, you have to accept everyone with every condition, no matter what, no matter how much it offsets the cost. What happened is they decided to offset the cost by obviously increasing premiums and deductibles.

[Dylan]

Yes.

[Gerald Morgan]

But also by denying far more claims.

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

You actually saw three in four providers were actually surveyed so that denials have gone up dramatically. They've even created denial algorithms. In other words, they're going to cut costs somewhere. And then we also see fast fact here. Key fact number three, when you marry, everyone has to buy insurance. You have to cover every single person. They go, oh my gosh, that's going to be crazy. Is there any limit to how much we can raise expenses?

[Dylan]

No, absolutely.

[Gerald Morgan]

Absolutely not. Charge whatever you want. Good to me. So what did we see under Obamacare, premiums went up by 80%, deductibles went up by over 50%. And I believe this is really only the first couple of years, I was.

[Dylan]

About to say, I can give you my example.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah, they've gone up hundreds of percentages since then.

[Dylan]

In the course of a year, I think I went from paying $90 to about $400 for a health savings account plan that had a $3,000 deductible that then went to a $6,000 deductible. Nothing about me changed.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes, well, you know what else happened too is 70% of counties in the United States basically were left with no more than two insurers, meaning one or two insurers. No competition. A big reason for this is mergers and buying and acquiring. And so there's significantly less competition than there used to be and costs are higher. And here is another one. None of this happens, by the way. None of this. The same thing when you're looking at the housing market. The same thing when you're looking at airlines and CEO pay. The same thing when you're looking at American auto manufacturers. If you look at a business and you go, hold on a second, hold on a second. Their business really sucks. Customer satisfaction is an all time low and their CEOs are getting hundreds of millions or tens of millions of dollars. Especially if you're looking at an industry that's struggling to be profitable. If you see that guaranteed government subsidies, guaranteed bailouts, because it occurs nowhere in nature. See, I get it. So the key fact here is unlimited government bailouts. We'll go through that. But let me explain to you. This is a problem with the current capitalist system. And I'm a free enterpriser through and through. But for example, if you look at United Healthcare, okay, they have all this red tape and all these government policies they have to navigate and they ultimately are looking for either government money or to increase, to squeeze out more profit for their shareholders. There's a big difference between healthcare that we used to have where the actual healthcare providers, doctors, nurses, practitioners, were largely in charge of determining the care versus today it's administrators and it's red tape. And these people, when you're, when your company that provides goods or services is not beholden to the satisfaction of those receiving the goods or services, the consumer, but really this person providing goods and services has a fiduciary duty exclusively to shareholders to squeeze out as much profit as possible. That is now a warping of the free enterprise system. And I get it. Nothing has created more wealth in history than equities. But we do have a problem and it gets really, really bad once you involve government intervention. I think that once you create Too big to fail.

[Dylan]

Yeah. I really do think that is the key to the health. I agree with you. Like these companies, like we have to have for profit medicine to some degree. Right. They have to be able to make a profit. I get it. It puts people in a precarious position, but doctors and nurses typically do a great job of balancing that. As long as the corporate people aren't pushing too hard. I get it. It's gone to administrators too much. But the government going into this industry has caused all of, not all the vast majority of the problems that we're facing right now. Right. We know that just by paying cash versus not paying cash, the cost goes dramatically down. Do you understand how many people we could cut out of this industry if we didn't have to have people specializing and coding stuff properly to get paid by Medicare or Medicaid or any health insurance company. You just go back to a cash system and people taking care of themselves and having catastrophic insurance just to make sure you don't go back bankrupt. Something bad happens, what a better system that would be. But no, we have to have government involvement and we have to have people pushing for even more government.

[Gerald Morgan]

Well, let's look at the government bailouts and the subsidies. So just for example, in 2020, the CARES act, right. That was $2 trillion. Now it didn't go directly to health insurance companies, but it did benefit them by for example, allowing them to just postpone expensive medical procedures indefinitely. Right. Thanks Covid. Of course there was taxpayer funded Covid tests, vaccines and of course unholy alliances between insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. Right. This is not, they're not looking out for your best interest. It's just too much money on the table. Especially when there are trillions of dollars in government, government funding out there. Sorry, your tax dollars while you were forced to lock down and lose your business. 2016. Right. Obamacare. There's $170 billion in bailouts to insurance companies to keep them on the exchanges. So we had, we had bailouts on top of waste. I don't know if you remember this, but Barack Obama spent over 2 billion on the health care exchange website. That didn't even work.

[Dylan]

Well, that sucks.

[Gerald Morgan]

We go back to 1995. You had a 360, $64 million bailout of the Los Angeles county healthcare system by Bill Clinton. Right. This is part of it was basically to prevent firing of union workers or rendering it non profitable.

[Dylan]

They're best among us, Stephen. They would go to their work no matter what.

[Gerald Morgan]

So you have all of these bailouts you have bailouts. And this is a great. Especially during COVID it's the greatest wealth transfer that has occurred in modern American history. It occurred because of the government. It occurred because of mandates, your tax dollars, $2 trillion while your business was shut down, or while maybe at the same time you had to pay your mortgage while someone else was granted rent forgiveness. And so you lost your property. You were paying and funding for insurance companies to get kickbacks, for pharmaceutical companies to get kickbacks when your store was closed down. Your tax dollars ensured that those who could lobby to make sure Walmart and Costco could stay open, their business was safe. Where Amazon saw increases in revenue, depending if you use the annual number, the total number, hundred hundreds of billions of dollars annually while you lost yours, your money. If you were worried about, you're doing it for the greater good, hey, we're an important. We're a nation who takes care of someone when they're down. Well, I hope you, and I hope you find solace in the fact that during COVID when you were shut down and your savings account was irreparably damaged, you were paying for very wealthy billionaires across this country and their lobbyists. Which brings us to key fact number five. The lobbying that you see. Yeah, the lobbying that you see from health insurance companies, again, these are not documents very different. These are people who have companies and are looking to squeeze out a profit. And by the way, the biggest, the biggest tenant of their business model is making sure that they are on the right side of government. Because when those bailout dollars start flowing, they're first in line. Health industry as a whole, their lobbying is up 70% since the year 2000.

[Steven Crowder]

Dang.

[Gerald Morgan]

70%. Seven of the top 10 lobbyists on the Inflation Reduction act were pharmaceutical or health insurance companies. Think about that. Seven of the top 10 lobbyists in the Inflation Reduction act were pharmaceutical or health insurance companies. Hey, what do you, what do you need to keep lobbying for? At what, what point is hundreds of billions over time not enough? This is when people, when people no longer have faith in their system. And I'm not a Bernie bro, not a socialist, but you want to know how you end up with some kind of a, some kind of a guillotine situation is when people who are suffering, who are getting their claims denied, who are seeing their premiums go up, who are seeing their deductibles go up, they're seeing this. They're seeing the worst service they've ever seen in their life, and a company that is more profitable than ever. How does that happen nowhere else? You go this restaurant, if it sucks and I hate it, I don't go back. They lose money. The coffee shop, they started serving crappy. I don't go there. For some reason, they're more profitable than ever, than ever. That's when people feel like they're completely powerless and you end up with terrorism in the streets. And so it's not lost on me, but we need to be really clear about where the problem stems here in the United States. And you cannot have this awful, this giant, this leviathan, this hungry beast that is the health insurance industry without constant, never ending spending supplies of federal dollars, taxpayer dollars. This goes to a key fact here, number six, the administrative costs that are just growing out of control. Right. This is something that we are seeing in the healthcare industry. Just since the 1970s, the administration costs have gone up 1,115%. Geez.

[Steven Crowder]

Must be helping.

[Dylan]

No, this is the number.

[Gerald Morgan]

I'm sorry, the number of administrators. This is not the increase in us. Yeah, the number of administrators. Administrators has gone up. Sorry, I'm sorry, I miss. I misremembered from the 1970s. I want to make sure. This is from health affairs.

[Dylan]

Geez.

[Gerald Morgan]

1,115%. Contrast that with physicians, it's only increased by 200%.

[Dylan]

That's insane. That shows you everything I was just talking about. It's people coding. Yeah, I'm not talking coding like programming computers. I'm saying making sure that you get your government payments right because it's coded correctly. There's an entire field of this. It's ridiculous. It's such wasteful.

[Gerald Morgan]

And Americans are spending a huge amount on healthcare in this country. And it's hard to compare those costs because in other countries where it's socialized, you're paying an astronomical amount in income taxes, sales taxes. Right. Everything is more expensive. But in this country, it is a broken system. It absolutely is a broken system. And by the way, it's a system that requires employers to provide insurance. And so you're also limited in the kind of insurance that you can provide for your employees. I think if we allowed employees, if we allowed people to pick their own health care, if we allowed insurance across state lines, if we allowed people to have a relationship with their doctor, with their care providers, if we put the power back in the hand of the consumer and the doctors and the care providers, and limited the power of insurance companies as much as possible. We've talked about HSA accounts, we've talked about catastrophic insurance. There are obviously health exchanges out There, health sharing programs.

[Dylan]

Yep. Sharing.

[Gerald Morgan]

These are all tools moving toward a solution. But you are right. You are right if you are angry to understand that those in D.C. have no interest in reforming this because of the lobbyists, because of the money coming in. And, and yes, it's a revolving door of favors from these lobbyists to government and then government back to these industries. But before you just blame a CEO and shoot a man who has a family.

[Dylan]

Right.

[Gerald Morgan]

Look at the people who enable the systemic corruption. It's the same people who say we need to send hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine and we need to put boots on the ground in Syria. It's the same beast that we are feeding.

[Dylan]

Yeah. And it's incredibly sad. That man did have a family.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yeah.

[Dylan]

And I don't know that he was the super villain either. You know, like from all accounts, I think somebody told me like, he worked his way up in that company from kind of a very, very low position and made a lot of successful, you know, decisions. Great, maybe he made some bad decisions. But here's the thing. What do you think is going to replace him? It's just like in Syria, it's like, yeah, you toppled Assad, great. Now what? That's no plan. That's just, that's just calling for chaos. Do you think the person behind him that's going to come in and be the CE is going to be better? They're in the same system. If you want to really change this system, then fight to change the system. Don't be an idiot and go and shoot somebody for no reason.

[Gerald Morgan]

Well, you want to know, hey, what can you do as far as changing the system? If you're in a small business, maybe all of you and the employees can get together and say, hey, we don't want you to provide health insurance. Just give us, give us a credit so we can go and purchase our own health healthcare. We've had that here where we had it at one point. But yet some people are like, well, I want the business to provide help, which we do here. But I tell you what, it's more expensive and people could get better health care if they decided to go out and purchase their own healthcare. But that's not how the system works. And you have many people who feel as though they're being wronged if you don't do that. So we provide healthcare, which is of course tied up with red tape and options are limited because that's a system that we have. But people need to fundamentally change them. And we do. We provide health insurance. Here it sucks compared to what you could go get individually if you just took a credit. Most people don't want to do it. Just like saving for your own retirement. Sure, yeah, okay. You rely on Social Security. You can rely on a 401k, but you could also go out and invest yourself in an index fund and have a far greater yield. People like the idea of personal freedom, but not personal accountability or responsibility. And we have a system that is predicated on that. I can tell you on the opposite side, the guy who signs the fronts of checks, not the backs of them. It's something you have to do or people get mad. People could have better health care if they were willing to take a credit, go out and purchase their own. But a lot of people don't want, want to. And so that puts a lot of power in the hands of these companies where in 70% of American counties you have one or at most two options for health insurance. That's who your employer has to pick. Doesn't that suck? There's no way out of it till we change our mindset.

[Dylan]

Yeah, we have to. We're a very unhealthy country. And it's not because we're idiots. We've farmed that out to somebody else. We've looked at the government's responsibility to make sure that we're taking care of health wise. That's moronic.

[Gerald Morgan]

And you know what else? We have a health system in this country that doesn't take into account actual preventative care.

[Dylan]

No.

[Gerald Morgan]

In other words, if I say, hey, I do blood work every. I would say three times a year. Right. You do it to try and make sure. Check your cholesterol. High cholesterol can run in the family. You do this, you go get a physical. Well, it's not covered because it's not medically necessary, but it's the kind of thing that would lower overall rates. We don't take that into account at all in our system. It's about treating the symptom. Oh, and by the way, all sizes are beautiful. You can be healthy at any weight.

[Dylan]

That's not.

[Steven Crowder]

Thank you.

[Gerald Morgan]

Always thinking of the other guy. Yeah, there needs to be a change. But if people think the change is going to be a socialized system, take this and give it steroids.

[Dylan]

Well, look, just look at Covid. I think that has been the biggest eye opener for the medical profession for most Americans that I can think of. I think people looked at it and go, wait a minute. These are the people that we were trusting. These are the people that Said, these are the heroes. They didn't know what they were doing. They were doing stuff inappropriately. They were recommending things that really didn't even work that they knew didn't work for 100 years. Like, are you kidding me? These are the people we're supposed to trust. Hold on, hold on. Maybe the emperor has no clothes. Maybe that's true. Maybe. Maybe doctors aren't gods. Maybe hospitals aren't always these benevolent institutions that are always looking out for me. They're looking out for themselves and trying to make a profit. Okay, got it. Now, maybe now that the blinders have been lifted, we can actually make some changes with RFK going in there and being a Tasmanian Devil to some degree. Not that he's going to make all the great changes that we need to, but he is at least going to be crazy enough to try.

[Gerald Morgan]

People have seen my doctor on the show, Dr. Troy. We need to have him back on with another what's up, doc? Segment. He's not cheap. He's what they call, like, a concierge doctor. He's not even in the state, but it's thousands of dollars a year as a membership that you pay. I can get him on the phone, and he actually asks me questions and make sure that he'll call me up to check on me, make sure that I'm in good health. Hey, time to do some blood work. Hey, maybe it's time to. We want to put a heart rate monitor on you. Hey, we want to see how you're recovering from surgery. He actually cares about that because he has an incentive to keep his patients healthy because he has a direct relationship with them. It's a wonderful thing. A lot of people just aren't aware that that actually exists out there because you go, oh, I need the insurance, because what if I have a procedure that's 150,000? Well, that's true. That is catastrophic insurance. And the reason those rates have inflated beyond control is because of the fact that insurance companies will pay it. There's no actual market rate that is being established in healthcare today. And by the way, we're going to move on and talk about Donald Trump's NBC interview, which is a lot of fun, but. But none of this happens without you. Mug Club Undercover, this show, Friday show, Nick DePaulo. Everything that you see is because of Mug Club, which is now Rumble Premium. Rumble Premium is Mug Club. We're going to announce this week the new mug for rumble premium members. $99 a year or $9.99. It's a great Christmas gift. You can gift it and you get everything ad free as well. You want an alternative to YouTube. You have it. By the way, for those out there are some people complaining on Mountain. It may look like on this channel all the content is Rumble Premium. It's not all the free content. It's still free. And there's the additional content. You just need to update your app. You'll see on desktop, it labels Rumble versus Rumble Premium. But some people felt like is everything. No, no. Fix it this week.

[Dylan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gerald Morgan]

It's not. It just looks like that if you're on the mobile app. So that's gonna be still.

[Steven Crowder]

Click the videos and it will play even though it has a lock. It says premium only. That's not the case.

[Gerald Morgan]

Yes. And for those of you who are former mug club members. Right. We're still broadcasting there, but we have a video up. We'll give you another one on how to convert your account to Rumble Premium at no extra cost. And you get everything else there. You get Dr. Disrespect, you get barstool sports. They have live sporting events. So it's going to be expanding quite a bit here in the new year. It is the bet it all on black or red? Doesn't matter. Let's go to what Betty on green. Is it green?

[Dylan]

Is there, right?

[Gerald Morgan]

Oh, okay.

[Steven Crowder]

No one calls it green, though. Oh, that is crazy.

[Gerald Morgan]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Dylan]

Gambling, you're not appropriate.

[Steven Crowder]

You don't want to call him a zero. I'm a degenerate.

[Dylan]

So just going to say go Irish.

[Gerald Morgan]

Before we leave, Donald Trump did go on Meet the Press with this broad, Kristen Walker.

[Dylan]

Welker, Welker, Welker, Welker, Welker.

[Gerald Morgan]

Welcome. Anyway, Donald Trump gave an interview with NBC's Meet the Press and this bitch yesterday morning.

[Benny]

This Sunday, return to office. My exclusive interview with President elect Donald Trump.

[Dylan]

His.