5/20/26 - Mark Levin: The Left has reached a disgusting new low

Summary

Mark Levin Podcast
Episode: 5/20/26 – “The Left has reached a disgusting new low”
Date: May 21, 2026
Host: Mark Levin
Run Time: Approx. 1 hour 7 minutes
Guest: Dr. Gad Saad ("Suicidal Empathy")

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Mark Levin forcefully critiques recent actions and rhetoric from left-wing and Democratic figures, particularly focused on controversies surrounding Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and the broader problem of what Levin calls "suicidal empathy" and "woke Reich." The episode features an extended interview with Dr. Gad Saad about his book “Suicidal Empathy,” and includes segments on government overreach, economic policies, and the left's stance on Israel and antisemitism. Notable moments include Levin’s unexpected endorsement of Senator Susan Collins as a line against Platner, Bezos’s defense of entrepreneurship, and analysis of Western society's self-destructive compassion.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Graham Platner and the State of the Democratic Party

• [02:24–11:31]
  • Levin reacts to reporting on Graham Platner, Democratic Maine Senate candidate, who allegedly smeared the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and mocked wounded veterans and police on social media.
  • Platner’s deleted Reddit history resurfaces with comments perceived as grotesque, mocking a wounded soldier (“didn’t deserve to live”) and espousing communist ideology.
  • Levin denounces Platner: “Can you imagine this guy in the Senate? A guy that was a Nazi, now he’s a communist, trashing our troops?” [10:50]
  • Contrasts the left's tolerance for extremists with the right's efforts to repel such figures.
  • Levin endorses Susan Collins in Maine, despite their political differences: “If I lived in Maine, I would vote for Susan Collins…this guy has to be stopped…there’s a point at which you gotta use common sense.” [10:22–10:46]

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2. Antisemitism and the Democratic Party

• [12:54–18:40]
  • Levin credits Democratic Reps. Moskowitz and Gottheimer for condemning antisemitism in their party but urges greater action: “Your party has left you…unless you leave the Democrat party…you’re stuck.” [18:41]
  • Critiques leading Democrats (Schumer, Jeffries) for not confronting antisemitic and extremist elements in their ranks.
  • Draws distinction: “We’re not going to accept Nazis and communists…they don’t have a place in the Republican party.” [15:03–15:20]
  • Calls for Jewish Democrats to consider leaving the party over its extremist drift.

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3. Interview: John Catsimatidis on Grocery Stores & Government Overreach

(Guest: John Catsimatidis, grocery magnate and WABC owner)

• [20:39–33:58]
  • Discussion on NYC’s proposed government-run grocery stores; Catsimatidis argues that such initiatives hurt local businesses and workers, warning, “It’s the people that work in that community that are going to be hurt.” [24:34]
  • Warns that if wealthy taxpayers leave the city due to bad policies, middle-class and working people suffer most: “If the 2% decide to move, guess who’s going to suffer…the drivers, the waiters—the ones that are going to suffer.” [24:34]
  • Criticism of political actors vs. real businessmen: “Actors perform the task and the money comes in. America is under attack.” [28:10]

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4. “Woke Reich”: The Drift of the Left

• [30:09–34:57]
  • Levin and Catsimatidis reflect on the rapid leftward shift, echoing themes of Marxism, Islamism, and what Levin calls “woke Reich.”
  • “These people, you don’t even recognize our country with their ideologies, their attacks on the Constitution.” [30:23]
  • Roll call of cities supposedly suffering from these policies: New York, Chicago, LA, Philadelphia, Boston, more.

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5. In-Depth Interview: Dr. Gad Saad and the Perils of Suicidal Empathy

Introduction & Guest Background

• [38:52–41:03]
  • Gad Saad, evolutionary psychologist and author, recounts fleeing Lebanon as a Jewish child and the dangers of sectarian conflict.
  • “If you were stopped at a roadblock…you were going to likely end up with a bullet in your head.” [41:03]

Suicidal Empathy Defined

• [42:34–44:09]
  • Saad describes “suicidal empathy” as overextended or misplaced compassion leading to self-harm: “If my empathy hyper-fires in the wrong situation toward the wrong targets, you end up with suicidal empathy.” [44:09]
  • Contrasts healthy, calibrated empathy with the destructive, society-wide version fueled by postmodern relativism.

Roots in Liberal/Left Ideology

• [45:15–46:06]
  • Says the left weaponizes compassion: “The Democrats define themselves as the party of empathy…they are the caring and compassionate ones, in quotes.” [45:15]
  • Cultural relativism and wokeism erode the ability to defend core values.

Tangible Examples

• [48:35–50:09]
  • Rape victim in Norway advocates for his rapist to stay in the country, exemplifying misplaced empathy.
  • UK authorities ignore mass abuse scandals to avoid “Islamophobia”: “It was more important to refrain from spreading Islamophobia than to protect our children.” [49:18]
  • “That is what suicidal empathy looks like.” [49:35]

Empathy vs. Virtue, Political Manipulation, Marxist Appeal

• [52:07–55:59]
  • Explains two forms: cognitive (“I understand your pain”) and affective (“I feel your pain”) empathy.
  • Marxism exploits empathy: “They appeal to envy, but also to empathy…creating equality so we can live in a kinder, more empathetic unicornia.” [53:31]
  • Calls “communism…a great idea—wrong species.” [54:45]

Open Borders & Immigration

• [46:14–47:26]
  • Pushback against open-border logic rooted in suicidal empathy—ignoring trade-offs and real-world constraints.

Political & Societal Implications

• [58:42–64:09]
  • Saad dismisses distinctions like “Islamism” vs. “Islam,” arguing the religion’s political aspects are inherent.
  • “You couldn’t come up with an ideology more incongruent with American foundational principles.” [60:10]
  • Foresees expansion of illiberal enclaves without intervention: “Allow these patterns to fester for another 50–100 years, you will have Dearborn everywhere.” [65:21]
  • Warns Westerners often don’t appreciate their own values until threatened.

Solutions & Reception

• [64:09–69:14]
  • Pessimistic that the West lacks the “testicular fortitude” for necessary corrective action but says solutions exist.
  • Book’s title phrase “suicidal empathy” strikes a chord; instant #1 NYT bestseller.
  • Leftist response: “They’ve completely misconstrued the central thesis…doggedly refuse to hear the message.” [57:24]

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6. Major Legal Update: America First Legal Victory

• [73:43–80:46]
  • Levin highlights legal settlement by America First Legal (AFL) enforcing the Taylor Force Act—blocking federal funds from reaching the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays terrorists or their families.
  • “The settlement ensures the State Department will comply…this settlement is a major step toward enforcing the Taylor Force Act and preventing your tax funds from financing terrorism.” [75:27]

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7. Donald Trump’s Coast Guard Academy Speech & Foreign Policy

• [80:46–84:47]
  • Highlights from Trump’s remarks at the Coast Guard Academy and presser at Joint Base Andrews.
  • Trump: “America was not founded by weak and timid men…freedom is not a gift that lasts long in the hands of cowards and weak people.” [82:50]
  • Posits Democrats as actively working against American interests and the Constitution.

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8. Economic Freedom, Tax Policy & Jeff Bezos

• [91:13–97:28]
  • Extended clips of Jeff Bezos defending entrepreneurship and market economics on CNBC.
  • Bezos: “You create a service that people love…if millions of people choose your service, you’re gonna end up with a billion dollars.” [94:38]
  • On taxes: “Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes?” [96:47]
  • Levin: Advocates for a flat tax system over a progressive tax, warning against dependency and “mobocracy.”

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9. Listener Calls: Iran, Local Taxes & Government Waste

• [102:46–107:12]
  • Callers express concern about Iran and domestic future.
  • Massachusetts caller laments runaway local tax increases and government waste.
  • Levin recalls his time on a school board, emphasizing fiscal responsibility and lamenting one-party Democratic rule.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Graham Platner:
  “This guy was a Nazi. Now he’s a communist. Trashing our troops, trashing our cops…Can you imagine this guy in the Senate?”
  — Mark Levin, [10:16]

• On party lines:
  “We’re not going to accept Nazis and communists…that’s not why we’re constitutional conservatives.”
  — Mark Levin, [15:03]

• On empathy gone awry:
  “If my empathy hyper-fires in the wrong situation toward the wrong targets, you end up with suicidal empathy.”
  — Dr. Gad Saad, [44:09]

• On Marxism:
  “Communism…great idea, wrong species.”
  — Dr. Gad Saad (citing E.O. Wilson), [54:45]

• On self-correction:
  “We could be optimistic because there are a set of auto-corrective interventions…Here comes the pessimistic part: I see no evidence the West has the testicular fortitude to implement those procedures.”
  — Dr. Gad Saad, [64:12]

• On the American system:
  “If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive...it’d have the wrong item in it anyway.”
  — Jeff Bezos, [95:34]

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Episode Tone & Style

• Language: Incisive, polemical, passionate.
• Tone: Combative and urgent, especially on cultural and political issues; analytic and probing during the Saad interview; occasionally humorous and personal during discussions of business and callers.

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Graham Platner segment & Democratic Party critique: [02:24–11:31]
• Antisemitism, party discipline, and Jewish Democrats: [12:54–18:40]
• John Catsimatidis on grocery stores and urban economics: [20:39–33:58]
• “Woke Reich” critique: [30:09–34:57]
• Dr. Gad Saad: “Suicidal Empathy” interview: [38:52–69:14]
• America First Legal / Taylor Force Act: [73:43–80:46]
• Trump Coast Guard Academy speech: [80:46–84:47]
• Jeff Bezos on entrepreneurship and taxation: [91:13–97:28]
• Listener calls on Iran and local government: [102:46–107:12]

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode is a tour-de-force of Mark Levin’s critiques against what he views as the radicalization of the Democratic Party and Western society’s vulnerability to dangerous, self-defeating forms of compassion. Through news analysis, pointed interviews, and listener engagement, Levin explores issues at the intersection of politics, culture, and ideology, offering both searing rebukes and impassioned defenses of American values and economic principles. The Gad Saad interview is essential listening for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of how “empathy” is weaponized in public policy—and why unchecked, it threatens the West itself.

Transcript

[A]

Hey folks, Mark Levin here. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to talk about my go to gold and silver company. Monetary gold is over 25 years helping Americans understand physical gold and silver with an education first, no pressure approach and support for IRA eligible options. Monetary Gold has a complimentary guide. It's free to help you understand precious metals. Call them right now, 877-now-Gold. Or visit marklovesgold.com and request the free guide. Make sure to ask for details. That's 877-now-Gold. Or visit marklovesgold.com performance may vary. You should always consult your financial and tax consultant. Now let's get to the show.

[B]

He's here.

[C]

He's here now. Broadcasting from the underground command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker somewhere under the brick and steel of a nondescript building, we've once again made contact with our leader, Mark Lev.

[A]

Hello America. Mark Levin here. Our number, 8773-8138-1187-7381-3813.

[B]

I'll tell you what, this guy Platner in Maine, he is a real sick sob and I don't see a lot of Democrats coming out against him. I mean sick in every respect. Our friends at the Washington Free Beacon, they've gathered additional information about him. Graham Platner smeared the late American sniper Chris Kyle. Remember him and his great book and his wife in a 2024 podcast interview suggesting that Kyle shot innocent civilians in Iraq to inflate his numbers. I don't think we have that audio, do we, Rich? Let's go ahead and play that.

[D]

I didn't know who these guys were. I left that deployment and continued on with my life. Did a few more deployments both in the Marine Corps and the Army. It wasn't until somebody told me to read Chris Kyle's book. His stories about how many people he was shooting certainly tracked with the behavior we I witnessed and people I knew witnessed down at the gov center, which is, it's relatively easy to get high numbers like that if you're, if you're a little less discriminating your fire than say a more professional unit would be. So that's when I kind of learned about Task Unit Bruiser, about Chris Kyle. And then it wasn't until many years later that if someone recommended like Jacko's podcast or book to me and I put that together and was like, you've got to be kidding me. I almost felt like there was like a, like a weird practical joke being played on me by the war that like all the, all these years later, I'm like having to, like, people are

[B]

telling me like, oh, that's enough. You know this guy, when you listen to him, when you listen to Joe Kent, something's not right. I'm not comparing them point for point, but something's not right with Joe Kent. Something's not right with this guy. This guy's a real sleazeball. Basically, he's saying that the late hero, Chris Kyle, he's suggesting that he shot innocent civilians to inflate his kill numbers. And as the Washington Free Beacon points

[A]

out, he also bristled at the fact

[B]

that Kyle and members of his platoon were described as heroes, calling it a weird practical joke. So he's trashing a real hero who's not alive anymore. Chris Kyle, you may recall him in his book again and his wife. And he does it, of course, after he's passed away. It's just grotesque. Now you don't hear Democrats withdrawing from supporting him because it's power at any price. Again, to understand the Democrat Party, you just have to understand that. But there's more.

[A]

More. In addition to his ss, effectively SS

[B]

tattoo on his chest that he had throughout his adulthood and still has, now he's a proud communist.

[A]

Platner's deleted Reddit sparks outrage again as

[B]

he appears to mock wounded soldier deserved to live, didn't deserve to live.

[A]

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's deleted

[B]

Reddit account has continued to cause headaches for his campaign.

[A]

And a recently resurfaced post appearing to mock a US soldier almost killed in

[B]

combat is stirring up more controversy.

[A]

So you hear what he said about

[B]

the sniper now this video never gets old.

[A]

The Reddit account P Hustle, which Platner

[B]

has acknowledged he owned, posted in June 2019.

[A]

So he's a full grown adult when

[B]

he's doing all this?

[A]

In reference to a viral video from the Helmut Karn of Pfc Ted Daniels taken during a clash with Taliban fighters

[B]

in 2012 that ended in Daniels being shot four times. Yearned a Purple Heart for his injuries.

[A]

Dumb FMF. Didn't deserve to live, says Platner. At least his stupidity and fat a wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness. And holding contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban's part is the only reason this mouth breather made it home. He managed to make every possible blank decision possible when it comes to small unit combat.

[B]

Now why is he doing this? Okay, that's not that long ago. Six, seven years ago. The other one was One and a half years ago,

[A]

the post was deleted, but could be found at Main Monitor's database of Platinum's deleted Reddit history. Daniel said in later interviews that he purposely moved into the open to draw

[B]

fire away from other men in his unit.

[A]

While he expressed embarrassment and said tactically it was not a sound thing to do, ultimately I put my blank on

[B]

the line for Other guys Shouldn't have to defend himself

[A]

Platner, U.S. marine Corps veteran who served four combat duties in Iraq and Afghanistan, is garnering criticism over the delete of posts from a variety of sources.

[B]

Of course we don't make jokes about

[A]

brothers and sisters dying.

[B]

That's something we don't do. That's not normal, said Adam Schwarz, a

[A]

former Navy SEAL, a Marine veteran running

[B]

for U.S. senate as a Republican in Minnesota.

[A]

He said that about Platner mocking a fellow soldier on social media in open forum. Schwarz acknowledged that Marines can sometimes have a dark sense of humor and give

[B]

each other a hard time about tactics

[A]

when speaking privately, but said that Platner's post was something different. We don't post about our brothers getting wounded in action and he also took issue of Platner's account related to law enforcement, including all police are bastards.

[B]

He said.

[A]

He's attacked all cops. He attacks his fellow Marines military personnel. There's other stuff that's very grotesque that he's written about that he's done.

[B]

I mean, really grotesque.

[A]

Schwartz said he believes Platner has mental issues. I think it's very dangerous to say, hey, this is how veterans think and talk because that's just not true, schwartz said. I served 21 years, nine deployments. I don't know one combat veteran who makes comments like cops are bastards. I think he should get some help. I feel bad for him. He deserves help from his time downrange, from his PTSD and his mental health issues. But he certainly shouldn't be running for the United States Senate.

[B]

No, he shouldn't be.

[A]

Now Platinum is a first time candidate.

[B]

Of course he's backed by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

[A]

You should read the comments in context.

[B]

It's very clear I'm joking, he said. No, it's not clear at all because you weren't joking, you jerk.

[A]

Other post Platinum has been questioned about, including in a recent interview with the New York Times in 2013, which he later deleted, that people concerned about rape should not get so effed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to.

[B]

Mm, this guy sounds like Little Adolf Fuentes.

[A]

Platner has Also faced scrutiny from our recent Reddit posts, including one from five years ago.

[B]

He described himself as a communist and a socialist.

[A]

Platner's posts have contained alleged homophobic slurs and praise for military tactics used by Hamas. The guy should not be anywhere near the Capitol building, let alone the Senate. And if he's armed, they ought to be figuring out how to deal with that too. This guy's a nut. And yet they want him in the Senate. They got to have the power. They need the seat. They got to get rid of Susan Collins. You know what I'm going to do right now?

[B]

Mr. Bedew said this is going to shock everybody. Might even shock Susan Collins. This guy was a Nazi.

[A]

Now he's a communist. Trash in our troops, trashing our cops. If I lived in Maine, I would vote for Susan Collins. How do you like that, Rich? Would you too? Yeah. And so I'm going to endorse Susan Collins against Platner. That doesn't mean she stands for everything I stand for. Obviously not. And I've been here behind this microphone

[B]

almost a quarter century and I've never endorsed her.

[A]

So there he goes, a rhino. No, let me tell you something. This guy has to be stopped. Stopped. There's a point at which you got to use common sense. Can you imagine this guy in the Senate? Can you imagine his votes? A guy that was a Nazi, now he's a communist, trashing our troops. I mean men under fire, mocking them, talking about stuffs he did in public bathrooms, trashing the cops. No wonder Bernie Sanders loves him. No wonder Elizabeth Warren loves him. So I'll throw a curveball to them. Nobody expected me to do what I just did, but I did it.

[B]

And I will defend it. And I will defend it. I'll be right back.

[A]

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[B]

You know two Democrat congressmen who are Jewish, Moskowitz from Florida and Gosh Heimer. Right, from Gosheimer. I'm not trying to play a game, I just can't remember from New Jersey. They put out a statement today that was very good. This woman running in the 31st, 35th congressional district in Texas in the Democrat primary talked about putting Zionists, I.e. jews in concentration camps and worse. They said if she becomes a member that every day they will, they will be filing an expulsion petition. And I'm very pleased they did that. But I want to say something about some of our Jewish friends who are Democrats, particularly elected Democrats, particularly these two guys, because they seem to have some level of common sense. You know, unlike Slotnik from Michigan and that jerk from Georgia, the senator there. They're all in their hardcore left slot can pretends I was CIA. She was an interpreter.

[A]

I was CIA.

[B]

Anyway, your party is a huge problem. It's bigger than this one primary candidate. It's much bigger. And when you, when you play the game of well, the Republicans do it too. You're making excuses. How many days, America, how many hours have I been behind this microphone dealing with the Jew haters, the anti Semites, the bigots generally, who used to be in conservative media, who are podcasters, used to be Republicans. Now they're not Republicans. Now God knows what they're.

[A]

In other words, we try to police,

[B]

if you will, privately, not with government,

[A]

who it is that should be in our party and who shouldn't. This idea that we'll accept anybody is ridiculous.

[B]

We're not going to accept Nazis and communists. We're not going to accept fascists.

[A]

That's not why we're Republicans. That's not what we believe in. That's not why we're constitutional conservatives.

[B]

So of course we're gonna battle them.

[A]

And they don't have a place in the Republican Party. They're not in the House of Representatives.

[B]

They're not in the Senate as Republicans.

[A]

The Democrats do. They have Talib and Omar. They have Bernie Sanders, they have aoc, they have others on the squad. The squad's been quite substantially extended, expanded. They have candidates in Michigan and Maine, one that just won in New Jersey, others that are running. You have Democrats who are mayors, Paterson, New Jersey, Dearborn, New Jersey. You can go on and on and

[B]

On Dearborn, Michigan, rather.

[A]

You can go on and on and on.

[B]

They are welcome within the Democrat Party.

[A]

They are not condemned. You've got this guy Piker, who's a real sleazeball. And then you have Democrats running to

[B]

be interviewed by him or running with

[A]

him as he endorses them for their candidacy. We don't do that. You have a Massey. We push him out. You have a Marjorie. Traitor, Gangrene. She left because she had to leave. We are much more aware of active in confronting this, which I call Woke Reich R E I C H because they're not of the so called right, the conservative right. They're more Reich.

[B]

They're more neo fascist, if you will.

[A]

And we challenge them and we fight them. And our president does too. He's banished them. He's banished them by name. You don't see that with a Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries. Sure, they'll talk about this one running in the 35th district of Texas. That's low hanging fruitcake right there. But Schumer embraces Platner. Schumer wants the vile Hamas supporting Islamist who's running the Democrat primary, should he get the nomination. He wants him in the Senate. Hakeem Jeffries never says anything about the bigots in his party. As a matter of fact, in many ways he's a bigot. So I would say to. I'll call him. Josh and Moskowitz,

[B]

you need to leave your party if you really want to show an objection with what's taking place. Jews who are elected Democrats need to leave that party. I have no respect for Josh Shapiro.

[A]

None.

[B]

Who plays footsie with the worst Islamists in Philadelphia.

[A]

And then he plays the game of,

[B]

well, I like Israel.

[A]

I just cannot stand Netanyahu. We all know that tap dance. We all know that tap dance. These people aren't just about hating Netanyahu. One day Netanyahu won't be there, but these people will still be chasing Jews and attacking Jews in America. Still be burning the American flag. Think they're waiting for Netanyahu? Think Iran's been waiting on Netanyahu? They've attacked us for 47 years without having anything to do with Israel. So I'm just pointing this out,

[B]

that

[A]

for Josh and for Moskowitz. I salute you for what you've put out. Now, you've got to really take a principled stance here because your party has left you, your party has left you. Reagan left the Democrat Party. He said it's left me. Dershowitz has now left The Democrat party, he says, it's left me if you're really going to show some muscle and you both come from districts where you can win Republican seats. Moskowitz may have been gerrymandered out, but Josh has a, as sort of a marginal district. The fact of the matter is unless you leave the Democrat party, which is the party, the Islamists, the Marxists, and yes, the neo Nazis, now you're stuck. The big gold story right now folks is who's buying gold and how fast they're draining the market. In 2025, global gold demand prices hit dozens of new all time highs with central banks, institutions, serious investors moving out of paper and physical metal. And in the US demand for coins, bars and physically backed gold has surged. Meanwhile, mine supply grew just 1%. And you can't print gold for retirees. That matters because stocks and bonds are no longer providing the protection they used to. That's why I work with Monetary Gold. They've helped over 50,000 clients. They have an A plus better business bureau rating and disclose every fee up front. To see how physical gold or silver can fit into your savings or retirement strategy, call 877-now-Gold or go to marklovesgold.com request pressed your free gold and silver guide. No pressure, just information. Call monetary gold right now, 877-now-gold or go to marklovesgold.com performance varies.

[B]

Always consult your financial and tax professional.

[C]

The thunder on the right. Call in now, 877-381-3811.

[A]

We're here with our good friend John Katsamatides, or cats as we like to call you.

[B]

John. And John owns this radio station, wabc where I got my start, CEO of Red Apple Group. But he also owns a number of grocery stores and he's well known throughout New York City and he's well liked throughout New York City. You've seen him on Fox and I wanted to have you on John because it's not so easy to run a grocery store, is it? There's a lot involved in it and the idea that the city government's going to run government run grocery stores.

[A]

Would you lay this out for us, please?

[E]

Well, you know, I've been running grocery stores the last, I guess, 54 years and it's not so easy. I remember you blink your eyes and I remember how we used to work 80, 90 hours a week and we used to go to Hunts Point Market to buy the produce and we used to buy specials for the, for the, for our customers. And it is. And then what happens? And you know what's happening with Zorhan Mandami? You know, we work the people in the supermarkets, in the bodegas, in the poorer neighborhoods. They work 70, 80 hours a week. And what, Mondami, what the mayor wants to do is he wants to give away some products. And look, supermarkets always gave away products. You know, they used to, I remember those days. There used to be the milk wars, they used to be the, the egg wars. And the mayor has said that he wants to have low cost bread, low cost milk, low cost, whatever, and, but he doesn't realize it, that when the bodegas and the supermarkets that are in the surrounding area, when they lose the sales and they lose the money, it's the, it's the people themselves that lose the money. When the politicians, when the city owns the stores, you know who loses the money? The taxpayers. It's not, it's not. They, the politicians lose. 0. 0. They give away products, they give away eggs, they give away milk, they give away bread. But. So I don't, you know, I don't think it's going to have a big difference in the overall community. But, but it's the people that work in that community and provide food in that community that are going to be hurt. And it's the poor people that work 80 hours a week are not going to be making a living. And as the politicians own it, guess what? It doesn't affect them. It doesn't affect them. And you know, they're only going to have five stores. And I've talked, I've met with the mayor, I've talked to him. There's going to be one store in every borough and.

[B]

All right, hold on, hold on. One store in every borough. Why is he even doing this?

[E]

I think he wants, he wants to play the violin to the people he promised it to. There's an old expression in the Greek community. Make sure you have 14 eyes. What happens if people go in there and steal the product? You're not going to arrest them, right? So why should they pay for it? Why should they pay for it?

[B]

No.

[E]

And it's one big mess. We want, we love New York and we want New York to survive. But what I've said this morning, I was on Maria Bartiromo yesterday and one with Kun Made. And what I said this morning is that you know who's going to suffer if people. If the 2% to pay 48% of the taxes in the city, if the 2% decide to move, guess who's going to suffer because that 2%, if you if you say, I'm going to move to Florida for 186 days a year, I spend $1,000 a day between breakfast, dinner, taxis, Ubers, etc. Etc. Who's going to get hurt? It's a middle class. The people, the drivers, the taxicab drivers, the Uber drivers, the bus boys. My father was a busboy, the waiters, they're going to suffer. They're the ones that are going to suffer. And you know, if the city of New York, if the rating agencies, Moody's, S and P, if they downgrade the bonds, you know who's going to suffer? The employees. New York. New York State has 200,000 employees. New York City has 300,000 employees. Guess what? There won't be any money to pay them. So it's not as easy as everybody makes it out to be somebody like that.

[B]

How does a guy who's 35 years old, that's never done anything. I mean, your business is complex enough. Now there's zillions of different types of businesses. He acts like he knows just from an ideological perspective how to, how to run business. And capitalism is bad.

[A]

Tell everybody a little bit about your background.

[B]

How did you become what you became?

[E]

Well, you know, my grandparents came to America in 1913. Both my mother's grandfather, father and my father's father, and then my father's two brothers came in the 1930s, and my father came in 1949. So, you know, all the immigrants that came to America, they were ready to work 70, 80 hours a week. And they work their tail off. And what I say is, you know, you know why there's no Greek diners left, Mark?

[B]

Why?

[E]

Because the fathers worked 80 hours a week, sent their parents to. They sent their sons and their daughters to become lawyers and accountants, just like the Jews. Just like the Jewish community.

[B]

Right?

[E]

They worked 80 hours a week and they sent their kids to go to, you know, became lawyers and accountants and investment bankers. And that's why there's nobody left to run the. There's nobody left to run the kosher delis. There's nobody left to run the Greek diners. You know, they used to be open 24 hours a day.

[B]

Yeah, they were great, great.

[E]

But, you know, as the world turns and it's turning now, what happens is what people have to realize is that the democratic socialists has created actors. Don't forget who Zorhan's mother is, is a big movie producer. He knows how to smile. He knows how to induce the. To say hello to people. Omar, our congresswoman from Where's Minnesota? And don't forget she was reading no education. They are, they are trained actors. And the same thing with aoc. And what happens is they are paid, they are trained and they perform a task and the money comes in, don't forget, they go out and pick it at seven o' clock in the morning. Where did those signs come from? Somebody pay for them. And I believe it's not necessarily the sorrows of the world and not necessarily who's the other guy in China, I believe this is as far as Singapore, something. There is foreign money, foreign government money is being funneled through them and America is under attack. And the American people have to realize that America is under attack. And we have to, we have to fix that. Because you know, you know why I'm working 77 hours a week? You know, I say because my, my kids and my grandkids, I want to leave them a better world. And that's what I'm learning. It's not about the money, it's about leaving them a better world. And that's what I worry about.

[B]

And you're worried about the kids and grand. So am I.

[A]

Because look how fast we've, we've spiraled into this, this sort of Marxist, Islamist woke Reich.

[B]

R E I C H you know who I mean?

[A]

These people, you don't even recognize our country with their doctrines, their ideologies, their attacks on the United States, their attacks on the Constitution. And New York's become ground zero, for some reason.

[E]

Hasn't has become ground zero. It was the perfect storm. President Trump told me, you got to get Curtis out of the race. He says to me, he got Eric Adams out of the race. He. And he says, I'd rather have a Democrat even though Andrew Cuomo didn't have a socialist or a communist. And we found President Trump. And it was a perfect storm. It was a perfect storm. And what's going to happen now? I think our U.S. attorney in New York, Jake Clayton, is excellent. And we're not, he's not waiting for the state attorney generals to put people away if they, if they had a, a violation that touches a federal crime. Jake Clayton uses the federal forces to come in and do whatever he has to do. No, he's not going to do anything and check some balances on from the state. I think Bruce Blake, when I was with him last night, I think he has a good shot if people realize, people have to realize what the heck is going on.

[B]

I got to bring him back, you know? Yeah, no, you're right.

[E]

You know he has. He has a good shot and it is what it is. And Mark, keep yelling out there, keep talking out there, keep telling people the truth. And that's what we're doing. We're telling people the truth. And we want to get to a point where people realize, you know, 92% of the American people believed Walter Cronkite. Right now, nobody believes anybody.

[B]

That's true. Yeah.

[A]

Well, I want the country to know something.

[B]

I'm on your station because of you, right?

[E]

Yes.

[B]

And I started out on your station and.

[E]

Get the truth out. Get the truth out. Thank you so much.

[B]

And you, too. Thank you. You got a great lineup on this station. We'll keep fighting and keep fighting in that city. You know, we're not all from New York, but we love New York.

[E]

We're gonna challenge the BBC, Martin, we're gonna go, do I talk to the president about it? We're gonna do Europe. And

[B]

what does that mean?

[E]

Is not telling? Well, we're going to do. We're going to go into Europe and try to. Because the Voice of America and the BBC does not tell the European people the truth.

[A]

Are we going to have to use private stations?

[B]

How are you going to do that?

[E]

No, we're working it out right now. And. Well, one of these days, you know, five years ago we said we're gonna sit down for dinner. We never did.

[B]

Are you ever in flood? Well, we'll do this off the air. We'll do it. We'll do it. I'll make sure. But I don't go anywhere, you know.

[E]

Yes. Mark Levin, thank you for everything you do, and God bless you and God bless America. Let's get the truth out. Thank you so much.

[B]

You, too, John. Take care of yourself. It's a good man. You can see how upset he is about what's going on in New York. And I don't blame him because it's going on in New York and Chicago and LA and Philadelphia and Detroit. It's going on in Boston and Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Cleveland and Cincinnati, Dallas,

[A]

Plano, for crying out loud, Houston, Austin.

[B]

We're in every one of these markets.

[A]

It's crazy. Look at California. What's happened in California? You know, 35, 40 years ago, the Republicans owned that state.

[B]

And we're doing everything we can to help. We're going to help Blakeman and Hilton and pick some of these other candidates. And I'm quite serious about Maine. Some of you may be upset. I can't control that. If you listen to my logic, I think you Will agree with me.

[A]

Platner hates the military, trashes his own,

[B]

his own services that he was in Marines and Army, walks around not just with a Nazi tattoo on his chest, but SS camp guard tattoo on his chest. And he was a fully grown adult when he chose to do that. And he's trashing the American sniper, you

[A]

remember him, who's now passed basically insinuating he killed citizens to get his numbers up.

[B]

How disgusting.

[A]

He trashed another man who had a,

[B]

you know, one of the helmet cameras

[A]

who took four bullets, trashed him, mocked him.

[B]

He's done thing in his things, in

[A]

his personal life that he used to brag about. That literally perverted, horribly disgusting. And now he claims to be a

[B]

communist, which is why Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are attracted to him. And so, yes, I will support Susan Collins. I don't know her, I've never talked to her. And I don't care. And I don't care.

[A]

I cannot pretend that it's okay to elect open communists and Nazis to the United States Senate. And I'm not going to sit here and just, and just accept it.

[B]

I'll be right back. When we talk about Israel, we're not

[A]

just talking about a place.

[B]

We're talking about a people connected to a promise.

[A]

A promise made by God, one he

[B]

has never broken and one that continues even today. Because God's character doesn't change what he

[A]

begins, he sustains, what he promises, he fulfills. Right now in Israel, families run to shelters as sirens sound. This isn't just a crisis, it's a call to respond. For Christians, caring for the Jewish people isn't rooted in politics. It's rooted in trust in God who keeps his word. So we don't stay distant. We step in with prayer and practical help. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground bringing food, caring for the vulnerable, and reminding people they're not alone. This is what it looks like to align our hearts with God's. To pray, to show up, to care. Join the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and praying for the peace of

[B]

Jerusalem and for the people who need it right now.

[A]

Visit levin for the fellowship.org that's L E V I N for the fellowship.org.

[B]

You know, every now and then you need to talk to somebody has actually been successful in these businesses that are under attack. And you can see how stressful it is.

[E]

It's terrible.

[C]

Terrible.

[B]

You work your whole Life, you work 80, 90 hours a week and they act like there's something wrong with you. Meanwhile, you come into the country illegally. You're pushing the destruction of America. And you, you deserve a freebie. No, I don't think so.

[A]

This segment of the podcast is exclusively sponsored by Pure Talk. PureTalk offers great coverage and can save your family money on your wireless bill every single month. Go to PureTalk.com to find the plan that's right for you. Thank you again for listening and thank you so much for this sponsorship. Pure Talk.

[B]

He's here.

[C]

He's here now. Broadcasting from the underground command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker somewhere under the brick and steel of a nondescript building, we've once again made contact with our leader, Mark Levin.

[B]

Hello, America.

[A]

Mark Levin Here, our number, 877-381-3811-877-3811. We're going to spend a little time with Dr. Gad Saad.

[B]

He's written an incredible book, Suicidal, Dying to Be Kind. And I finally finished it, Professor. That's why I waited a few weeks until I brought you on here. What a book. And I read a lot of books. A lot of books on philosophy, a lot of books by smart people. This is a really good book and

[A]

you can get it right now.

[B]

Ladies and gentlemen, Amazon.com. it's on all my social platforms. Forms, Mr. Producer, suicidal empathy.

[A]

So, first of all, welcome and if you don't mind, tell my audience a

[B]

little bit about yourself.

[F]

Sure. Well, first, thank you so much for having me on, Mark. I've been a fan, so it's a real pleasure talking to you. So I was born in. Thank you. I was born in Lebanon in the 60s. We were part of the last remaining group of dwindling Jewish community. My parents apparently were not keen on reading the writing on the wall. Much of my extended family had already left Lebanon in the 60s. But then the Civil War broke out in the mid-70s. It became rather impossible to be Jewish. So luckily we were able to escape. After the first year of the civil war, my parents on one of their return trips to Lebanon, because we still had business interests in Lebanon. They were kidnapped by Fatah, by Abu Nidal's group. Some bad things happened to them, but luckily we were able to free them. And no one from my family has returned to Lebanon since 1980.

[B]

Yeah, actually we knew a gentleman from Lebanon too, and his father. I can't give you all the names. My wife could, but she's not here. Was a very famous surgeon. And tell people briefly that civil war that took place. What was that civil war? Who was fighting whom? I know, but I want the whole country to know.

[F]

Well, I mean, everybody was fighting everybody else. There were a whole bunch of Christian factions, there were some, you know, of course, Islamic factions, there was the PLO that was in there fighting. But the general story is that you had some, you know, pretty nasty battles between the, the sort of the, the Christian militia and several Islamic groups, including the plo. Now, if you were Lebanese Jewish, you really had quite a bit of difficulties because in Lebanon, Mark, you may or may not know this, we, we used to carry these internal ID cards that are equivalent to a passport, but that you would show your paper, you know, if the police stopped you. And the number one most conspicuous thing that would be shown, it wasn't your height or your eye color or your weight, it was what your religion was. Because in Lebanon, as in much of the Middle east, everything is viewed through the prism of, you know, which religion you belong to. So you're a Maronite, you're a Shia, you're a Sunni. Now if you are Jewish in Arabic, they wouldn't even call you Jewish, which Arabic, it's Yahudi. They would say Israeli means Israelite. So if you were stopped in a roadblock, Mark, by any of the myriad of militia and they asked you for your paperwork, well, you were going to likely end up with a bullet in your head. So it was a very, very difficult situation to be in.

[B]

Well, luckily you and your family have survived. And tell us suicidal empathy this. As I went through it, I thought, you've been given this thought for a long time, haven't you?

[F]

Indeed, indeed. So this book is really, if you like, part of a two book unfolding narrative. So in my 2020 book, Parasitic Mind, I basically argued that if you wish to hijack someone's ability to engage in critical reasoning, you have to parasitize their cognitive system, their actual thought processes. But in order for me to fully hijack your ability to think, I also have to parasitize your affective system, your emotional system. If I can hijack both your cognitive and affective system, I own you. And so what suicidal empathy does is it basically argues that it's not, it's not an attack on empathy. Right. Empathy is a evolutionarily relevant virtue to possess for you and I, Mark, to have a good interaction, I need to put myself in your mind and you vice versa. That's called theory of mind or cognitive empathy. So there's nothing wrong with well calibrated empathy. The problem is, like Aristotle explained to us several thousand years ago, too little of Something is not good, too much of something is not good. And that exact insight applies to empathy. If I have no empathy, I'm a psychopath. If my empathy hyper fires in the wrong situation toward the wrong targets, you end up with suicidal empathy.

[B]

All right, let me step back a little bit just for the audience. Empathy, virtue, there's a difference, right?

[F]

I mean, empathy could be construed as one of the laudable virtues. I mean there are, you know, academic granular, you know, debates as to what each of these are defined as. For example, in the early in the book I explained that I will be using the terms compassion, empathy and sympathy in an interchangeable manner. There are very fine tuned differences between these. But for our purposes we could imagine that empathy is indeed a virtue because

[B]

we've had people write about, including the founders, about virtue a lot, not really about empathy. And there is a difference, I think, but I think you're right, there's an element of one and the other. Now this issue of empathy, what is, is, is it that, is that akin to being a knee jerk liberal?

[F]

Well, I mean, yes, in the sense that the, the, the Democrats in general and of course the more progressive elements of the Democrats define themselves as the party of empathy. Right. As you know, Barack Obama was referred to colloquially as the empathizer in chief. And so the fact that I point to many of these parasitic ideas coming from the left is not to argue that people could not be wrongheaded on the right, but the specific manifestation of the devastating domestic and foreign policies that we're seeing that I argue stem from suicidal empathy by definition come from the left since they are the caring and compassionate ones in quotes.

[A]

Is this sort of.

[B]

I'm just, I'm just circling around like I went through you. But is this sort of wokeism, would we call this?

[F]

Well, so wokeism is the first step to becoming suicidally empathetic. And let me give a specific. So cultural relativism is a parasitic idea that I discussed in my earlier book. So cultural relativism basically says who are you to judge the cultural beliefs and practices of another culture if they wish to engage in female genital mutilation of five year old girls. Shut up, racist. Well, if I internalize that argument, then I'm rendered impotent when it comes to immigration policies. I have to accept open border policies because I don't have the right to judge the cultural practices of another. So if we're going to let in hundreds of thousands of millions of people that come from societies that are perfectly incongruent with our values. I can't stop them because then that would be bigoted and non empathetic.

[B]

Let's stop right there.

[A]

That is very important.

[B]

And I'm going to circle back to that in a moment because you're talking about immigration. I want to get back to Islam and so forth and so on. But that's a very, very important point that you've raised because what you're saying

[A]

is if you give up the moral

[B]

issue, if you believe it's a moral issue, then you kind of lose the cultural issue, Right?

[F]

Exactly right. I mean, look, people have lost the ability to proudly defend certain values and a moral code that the average 3 year old should be able to understand. Right? Precisely because we have inculcated first our students who then become our leaders with all of this relativistic morality. Right? That's why, by the way, I refer to postmodernism as the granddaddy of all parasitic ideas. Because if there is no cap, right, if there's no truth with a capital T, if everything is restrained by my own personal biases, then up is down, left is right, men are women, anything goes. It's realistic now.

[B]

That's right, and that's a very good point. All right, so give us some examples, and you do in the book, and you do it beautifully, of suicidal empathy, real tangible examples in society today.

[F]

Okay, well, let me give you some of the most hallucinatory ones. But there are, as you said, many, many in depth, the book. Okay, so a Norwegian man, a white Norwegian man, is raped by a Somali immigrant in Norway. And now because the Scandinavians are very kind and empathetic, they don't believe in long, harsh, you know, prison sentences. After the rapist serves a few years in prison, he was going to be deported back to Mogadishu. Well, his rape victim faced an existential, you know, conundrum because he felt so guilty that his sodomizer was not going to be able to fully flourish in Mogadishu. Well, I'm here to tell you, Mark, as an evolutionary psychologist, that our emotional system did not evolve to empathize with our rapists. So that would be one example. Let me give you a couple of others. The British authority authorities, as I'm sure many of your listeners know by now, turned the blind eye to the systematic industrial scale level rape of 250,000 plus white British girls. Because most of the rapists were quote, Asians, which is a euphemism for British Pakistani Muslim men. Because in their broken moral calculus, it was more important important to refrain from spreading Islamophobia than to protect our children. That's what suicidal empathy looks like.

[B]

That is so damnitable, what they did there. It's, it's so unbelievable. We're going to take a little break and I want to come back and I want to, I want to continue to pursue this. You're fascinating to me. That's why I want to do the whole hour with you. And your book is very fascinating. I want to encourage you to get it, folks, Suicidal Empathy. You can go right now to Amazon.com they'll deliver it tomorrow or the next day or any major bookstore. It's a very hot book right now, and I can tell you why, because it's damn good. We'll be right back.

[C]

MARK levin,

[A]

Welcome back, America. We're here with Dr. Gadsden Saad in his fantastic new book, Suicidal Dying to Be Kind.

[B]

You can get it at Amazon.com, any major bookstore.

[A]

You can get it on my social

[B]

sites and I encourage you to grab a copy because it answers a lot of questions. So let me ask you this. Empathy. Is empathy sort of a cognitive thing or is it an intuitive thing? What is it?

[F]

Actually, there's what's called cognitive empathy and affective empathy. So the difference basically can be captured by the colloquialisms. I understand your pain and I feel your pain. One is cognitive, one is affective. By the way, empathy, to my earlier point, is truly an important trait to possess as long as it is well calibrated. So, for example, the way that we diagnose children as being autistic, there is no blood test, right? There is no urine test. The way you diagnose them is you give them a theory of mind test, which they fail. So again, this book is not an attack on adaptive empathy. It is a critique of suicidal empathy, which is very different.

[B]

Would it be fair to call it the politicization of empathy?

[E]

Indeed.

[F]

Indeed. Although, although the reason why I wouldn't say it's only a political feature, because some people have been so brainwashed that they actually believe and internalize their, you know, swim in the infinity pool of suicidal empathy. So let me give you an example. I have a physical therapist who was working on my knee and she asked me, oh, what's, what's your latest book going to be about? This was a couple of months ago. And so I explained suicidal empathy and she said, well, give me an example. So then I gave her the example of open border policies and she looked at me, you know, very with a lot of incredulity and said, what do you mean? You don't think that it would be nice and kind for anybody who wants to come here to Canada to be given a chance? I said, no, I don't, because life involves trade offs. In an infinite utopia where we have infinite resources, we might be able to do it, but the reality is we can't do that. She simply couldn't understand that I would be so callous and cold hearted. So in her case she wasn't being political. She had fully swallowed the pill of suicidal empathy.

[B]

Do you think that's what Marxism taps into? Empathy?

[F]

100%. As a matter of fact, I've got a whole chapter.

[B]

That's why I'm talking about it.

[F]

Yeah, exactly. By the way, for your listeners, I call it Govern me Harder Daddy. Right? Because what socialism and Marxism and communism, what they all do is they appeal, well of course to envy, but also to empathy, right? In their worldview, it is inherently unfair that Mark Levin might be more successful than some other poor schmuck. Therefore we're going to come the overlords and create equality amongst all of us so that we can live in a kinder, more empathetic unicornia. And here I want to quote a fantastic evolutionary biologist by the name of E.O. wilson. He recently passed away. He was a Harvard entomologist. He studied social ants. When he was asked Professor Wilson, what are your views on communism? He said, great idea, wrong species. Ants are communistic because they have a reproductive queen. And then all of the other worker and warrior ants are interchangeable cogs in the wheel. Human beings though are not ants. Some of us are taller, shorter, harder working, less harder working. So to impose a socio political economic system that is contrary to our innate human nature is always going to fail as it has for the past hundred years.

[B]

And yet all the evidence of the failure and honestly the inhumanity which is massive. This still has a pool on so many people, right?

[A]

What's that?

[F]

Because it's based on kindergarten infantile logic, right? I mean sharing is caring is a beautiful model. When I am socializing a 5 year old to not be monopolistic over his toys, it's important to share. We are a cooperative species, but then we grow out of our infantile thinking. This is why, as you know Mark, most people who start off being sort of beating heart liberals as they get slapped by reality when 50% of their income is confiscated through taxes, when they get their first paycheck, suddenly they wake up and are no longer stuck in kindergarten logic. So we all start with this silly utopia. But then reality has a way of auto correcting our stupidity.

[B]

Now, the reason you talk about calibrated empathy, in other words, you sit down and you think about it cognitively, as you said, you try and figure out if it makes sense. It doesn't make sense so your emotions don't overtake you, right? And it seems to me the left, it's the other way around, if it's that way at all. It's mostly emotional. Don't answer that. Don't answer that yet. We're going to take a break. It's okay.

[A]

It's okay. We're going to take a break. I want you to come back. Take your time.

[B]

We got plenty of time. This book, really smart books fascinate me and I like to talk about them a lot. So. And one other thing I want to ask you too is this, what kind of reaction are you getting from this book among conservatives? I think they really appreciate this, but I'm curious about the left too. So I'm going to follow up with that when we come back too.

[A]

We're talking to Gad Saad professor.

[B]

Really, really good guy. We'll be right back.

[C]

Mark Levin, the George S. Patton of talk radio. Call him at 877-381-3811. That's 877-381-3811.

[B]

We are here with Gad Saad in his great new book, Suicidal Empathy. First of all, let me ask you this. What has been the response of the left?

[A]

I mean, I can kind of predict

[B]

it, but I'm curious to know the reality of it.

[F]

Well, it's exactly as you would expect. They've completely misconstrued the central thesis of the book. They've argued that, you know, here comes the Jewish puppeteer of Elon Musk who's got the ear of Donald Musk. He's trying to usher a dark world where empathy is eradicated. And of course, as I mentioned at the start of our chat, Mark, I'm doing no such thing. I fully concede that empathy is astoundingly important to oil our social nature. That doesn't mean though, that it can't misfire. So they have been very, very aggressively against it. And it upsets me because your listeners are likely the ones who are going to nod their heads and say, yes, beautiful, I agree, but I'm also trying to reach the other folks who do suffer from suicidal empathy and yet they doggedly refuse to hear the message.

[B]

But isn't that part of the problem? They're ideological and they're not open to thought. And isn't that also part of the problem, as you write about with, and you've written about it before, Islamism and Americanism and the two isms, that they're just incongruent.

[F]

Indeed. Look, by the way, you may perhaps think I'm being too harsh in saying this. I don't like when people use the ism suffix because I understand the reason why people do it, because it seems somewhat less aggressive to frontally attack a religion. So if I say that I'm attacking Islamism but not Islam, then somehow I can be invited to the cool kids party. But there is no Islamism, right? Islamism is an inherent foundational feature of Islam. Most of Islam is political Islam, hence Islamism. So the idea that we should put a bunch of qualifiers, militant, radicalized, extremist Islamism, that's a lot of words to just spell Islam.

[B]

I don't disagree with that. You never hear me call it radical, extreme, or something of that sort. I know. They call themselves Islamists, do they not?

[F]

The Islamists, I mean, some do. But, you know, Erdogan, right, the president of Turkey, who one would argue understands Islam himself, said, there is no moderate Islam. There is no radical Islam. There's just Islam. Many, many Islamic theorists have said that, sure, some will say they're Islamists, but they're just trying to pull the wool over the gullible Westerner's eye. There's only Islam, nothing else.

[B]

Sounds like Marx was socialist. Said they're no good. They're like halfway communists. So.

[F]

Right.

[B]

But let's get back to this issue of the incompatibility of the two. Explain that.

[F]

Look, let's take one example, okay? Under Sharia law, the penalty for a crime is dependent on the identity of the perpetrator and the victim. I mean, that's literally codified. So if a Jewish man kills a Muslim man, it's a very different penalty than if a Muslim man kills a Jewish man. So just that. Imagine you compare that Sharia law principle to American jurisprudence, where you have lady justice that is blindfolded, meaning she is blind to such markers. So you couldn't come up with an ideology that is more incongruent with, you know, American foundational principles. And yet you have all sorts of idiots, both in politics and in academia, saying, no, no, no, Islam and America could be fully compatible with each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now, that doesn't mean, Mark, that there aren't millions of perfectly lovely Muslims. And I would Know that better than most. Since Arabic is my mother tongue, since I come from Lebanon, I place your soccer with Muslims. I go out for restaurants with Muslims. That doesn't mean that when Islam enters a society and becomes dominant, we can't exactly predict what's going to happen, namely the end of personal liberties.

[B]

It's very important for people to understand. Don't we see that playing out on our streets right now and listening to these imams. I mean, I play clips of these guys and they're endless.

[A]

You know, you go to memory.org and

[B]

these other places who transcribe these things and into our language, but a lot of them are here and they speak our language. Aren't they saying this

[F]

totally openly? Mark, I can walk 15 minutes from where I'm currently speaking to you. From where? Every Friday in the mosque. This is not a, quote, extremist mosque. It's just standard Friday prayers where you're saying, kill the infidel and you know, the world will not end until every tree says, there's a Jew hiding behind me. I mean, it's just the regular, everyday, canonical nonsense. So they say it openly, they're brazen about it, and yet we come up with endless, suicidally empathetic justifications for why they should be allowed to say what they say. It's insane.

[B]

Well, let me get to that point. Let's get to the suicide part. You're very concerned about the ability of the civil society, sort of the Lockean society, to survive, aren't you?

[F]

I'm infinitely afraid. Because, look, the reason why some of the staunchest, most vociferous defenders of the west in general and the United States in particular, are immigrants such as myself or Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Bridget Gabriel, is precisely because we have sampled from the wide buffet of societies that exist, and then we come to the United States to tell you, hey, don't presume that what you have is the default value of how societies are organized. You're in a. But most Americans wake up and are born into a world where they think that's just how it always is. It isn't. And so I escaped that stuff in the 70s. I don't want to see it in Dearborn and in Patterson, New Jersey, and in Minnesota, because close your eyes and open your eyes, we will live in a very different world, or certainly our children will.

[B]

His. Is it too late?

[F]

That's a great question. I'm going to give you an answer. I'm not trying to be coy or equivocate. I'M going to give you both. I'm going to give you a pessimistic and an optimistic answer. Let's start with the optimistic. I would say that we could be optimistic because there are a set of auto corrective interventions that we could implement to solve the problem. In other words, it's not an intractable problem with no viable solution. That's the optimistic part. Here comes the pessimistic part. I see no evidence that the west has the testicular fortitude to implement those autocorrective procedures. So I could have the cure for cancer for you, but if you refuse to take it, then you are going to die from cancer. So I pray to God that people will wake up. I'm doing my small part. Please wake up. Please don't stay silent. You have to have the ability to extrapolate into the future. You're not living today under Islamic law. But allow these patterns to fester for another fifty hundred years, you will have Dearborn everywhere.

[A]

It's also, though, part of the problem

[B]

is the people, the disconnect between the people and the ruling class. And by that I mean you've got a lot of unelected, radical left wing judges at the lowest level. The Democrats are talking about packing the Supreme Court. They're becoming more and more reliant on this population of immigrants. They're actually supporting them for office and so forth and so on.

[A]

It's kind of difficult for a society to survive or at least to do

[B]

well when you have one big political party that seems to represent this. No.

[F]

100% correct. I agree. But I would add another obstacle to the ability for us to solve the problem, and that is that the architecture of the human mind only wakes up to a problem when the monster, forgive me for saying, bites you in the behind. Right? Yeah. So take for example, many of the high profile Jewish billionaires who suddenly woke up about the vile anti Semitism spreading on campuses. But they only woke up, Mark, when it affected their favorite alma mater. They only woke up when their son could no longer go to his engineering class at ucla. But while some of us stood on top of the mountain screaming for the past 25 years, they were too busy with their lives to care. That's the problem, is that most people are too busy in their, you know, little worlds to. To worry about the monster out there. It's far away. It won't come here. Well, I'm here to tell you, it will come for you.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

We're gonna take a little break.

[B]

We have one short segment left. I Want to encourage you folks. I'm talking to Dr. By the way, are you still in Canada?

[F]

Well, I just announced on the Joe Rogan show that I've accepted a distinguished professorship at the Declaration of Independence center for the Study of American Freedom at the University of Mississippi. In the next two months, the sods are coming to the U.S. you get

[B]

out of Canada, which is a pretty tough place these days. We get callers from Canada that tell me that it's really hell is broken loose up there. If you're Jewish, we're talking to God. Saad, I want you to check out his book, which is absolutely fantastic Suicidal Empathy. You can get it on Amazon.com any major bookstore, off our social sites. And we'll be right back. All right, only a few minutes left

[A]

with Gad, Saad, so you just learned that your book's number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

[F]

Indeed, instant number one New York Times bestseller, both in nonfiction, hardcover and in the combined categories. And actually I was so happy that my family actually recorded it as my publisher called me to announce it to me and I posted on social media. It's amazing.

[B]

Isn't that exciting? You work so damn hard on a book, you've been thinking about this book for years, and then the public embraces it.

[A]

That's a good thing.

[F]

That's the greatest thing. And I love that you said this because too few professors realize that our job is not only to publish peer reviewed academic papers which are going to be read by seven people. And I don't mean to denigrate academia, I love academia. But if we're doing important things, we should be able to cater to the trucker and the corrections officer and the, you know, the homemaker. So the fact that my book has been so well received brings me such joy, Mark.

[B]

And it has been. And the. And that phrase will never be forgotten. That phrase will live to you with the rest of the time suicidal empathy. And it's a very, very important book. And the timing of the release of the book, sometimes things just work out. And it just worked out for you. You know, when I wrote my book Liberty and Tyranny, it came out exactly when the tea party started. It's like, wow, right? But it's very, very important. This book, Suicidal Empathy. I want to encourage you to go to Amazon.com you can show up at your steps tomorrow, any major bookstore.

[A]

If you're like me, you're a nerd. You hang out at Barnes and Noble or wherever you go.

[E]

And.

[B]

Yeah, and also it's the Kind of book you want to read and you want to talk about, because it really does make you think. But it explains a lot, too.

[A]

And to be honest with you, I

[B]

could have spent five more hours with you. I got a lot more questions, a lot more.

[A]

I think I'd be the kind of student that sits in the back row, you know, takes it all in and

[B]

then asks you 50 questions. That's what I used to do in law school. You, you know.

[F]

Oh, well, it's such a pleasure talking to you, and I'm truly so honored that you gave me the opportunity. And, hey, invite me anytime back, and I'll be there with bells on.

[B]

All right, brother. You take care of yourself, okay?

[A]

It's been a pleasure.

[F]

Thank you.

[B]

Absolute pleasure.

[F]

Thank you, sir.

[B]

All right, you take care. And that fascinating, Mr. Producer. There you go, folks. Suicidal Empathy explains a lot. It really does. And, you know, there's very few authors I have on that long or very few authors I have on twice. We had Buck Sexton on here twice because his book is a brilliant book, too. So it's not that we don't do authors.

[A]

It says that we can't do all the authors.

[B]

And I like to sort of go through the book to make sure that it's something that might interest you. I know you, Mr. And Mrs. America. I know this will interest you. And he's been spending a lot of his career in Canada. There's a lot of people who listen to this program in Canada. Canada's fallen apart. They used to have some great prime ministers up in Canada. They really did. Harper was one example. There were others, too. But, you know, you got this Trudeau now, you got this Carney guy, really. Two disasters, absolute disasters. And I think this suicidal empathy defines them perfectly. It really does. And I also think maybe it's a little more than suicidal empathy. I think these people are ideologically stuck. And I know what the professor would say. Well, that's the same thing. You can still be, you know, suicidal empathy and be ideologically stuck. And he's right.

[A]

They're ideologically stuck, and for a lot

[B]

of people, there's no getting through to them.

[A]

But you know what? You can't get through to everybody. If you can get through to a percentage, that's pretty good, too. All right, we've got a lot more. The Power hours. Next, Grab your copy of suicidal empathy, Amazon.com we'll be back in about five or six minutes.

[B]

We'll be right back.

[A]

With Donald Trump back in office, one of his biggest adversaries Top Democrat Dick Durbin of Chicago is leading the charge to derail President Trump's agenda at every turn. And now Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Right now, Americans have thousands of credit card options, all with equal strong security. But Senator Durbin's plan could result in less security. That means more risk for your credit, your identity, and your financial future. Durbin's bill isn't about helping consumers. It's a giveaway to corporate megastores, which could shift costs onto you while putting your rewards and fraud protections in jeopardy. We've seen Durbin's fail policies before his last big banking regulation backfired, leading to higher costs and fewer benefits for American families. Tell Republican senators, stop Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Learn [e-mail] that's guardyourcard.com paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.

[B]

He's here.

[C]

He's here now. Broadcasting from the underground command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker somewhere under the bridge, brick and steel of a nondescript building, we've once again made contact with our leader, Mark Levin.

[A]

Hello, America. Mark Levin here. Our number, 8773-8138-1187-7381-381100.

[B]

Well, when the good guys win one, I want to tell you about it, because if I don't, who will? Major victory for peace. You're familiar with America First Legal, and it was founded by Stephen Miller. And the lead man there now is Gene Hamilton. He's become a good friend of the family. The general counsel there happens to be my wife, Julie, Julie Straus Levin. But why am I telling you about this? Because this just happened. America First Legal and the US Department of State settled Jackson et al versus Trump et al. A case where AFL represented US Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas and co plaintiff Stewart and Robbie, now deceased, his wife, Force. It's the Taylor Force act, named after their son, the parents of murdered American soldier Taylor Force and Sari Singer, a survivor of one of the largest terrorist bus bombings in the history of Israel. Taylor Force was an American veteran, an American citizen.

[A]

AFL filed this lawsuit against the Biden administration on behalf of the plaintiffs in 2022 after the Biden administration brazenly ignored the law. The Taylor Force Act TFA. The law cuts off certain U.S. funds that benefits the Palestinian Authority until the PA ends its pay to slave program. You see, the PA through the program awards money to terrorists and their families for committing acts of Terror against Americans

[B]

and Israelis in Israel.

[A]

These awards funded through the PA's Martyr Fund. You believe that their Martyr Fund increase in proportion to the severity of the terrorist act, with monthly stipends going to the terrorist or their family. And a lot of this is your money. In passing, the TFA, Congress specifically included in its findings that the PA's act of paying salaries to terrorists, as well as to the families of the deceased terrorists, quote, is an incentive to commit acts of terrorists. It didn't seem to bother the Biden regime, though. President Trump signed the Taylor Force act in the law in 2018.

[B]

You know, Trump has done so many fantastic things. Really, I couldn't even make a list of them right here off the top of my head. It's just enormous what he has done. And I'll tell you again, when his presidency is over, we're really going to miss this man. We are really going to miss this man.

[A]

We're going to be saying, you remember

[B]

when Trump this and you remember when Trump that, that. It's just true.

[A]

President Trump signed the Teller Force act in a law in 2018 and immediately cut off funds under the TFA. The Biden administration resumed payments to the PA, more than $1 billion of your taxpayer funds to the Palestinian Authority, prompting America First Legal to file its lawsuit. Now, the settlement agreement, which just took place, ensures that the State Department will comply with the Teller Force act and binds the government for the next 10 years. It clarifies the factors the Secretary of State may consider to determine whether specific and direct benefit the Palestinian Authority. If something directly benefits them. This settlement is a major step toward enforcing the Taylor Force act and preventing your tax funds from financing terrorism. Aligning with President Trump's commitment to promoting peace at home and abroad, AFL is grateful to Secretary of State Rubio's leadership. They say, in executing President Trump's priorities and ensuring the State Department upholds federal law. Can you imagine AFL had to sue the Biden administration to stop a billion dollars in your money from going to the Palestinian Authority. This Abbas, you know, the moderate one, a terrorist, when they are subsidizing the family of terrorists who have died while committing their heinous acts, are paying pensions on behalf of or to the terrorist family if he lives or she lives. And the worst the terror act, the more people kill, the more ham mayhem created, the bigger the pension they get. And so this law is passed, named after Taylor Force. Taylor Force was a young man in his 20s. He served in our military. He's on a trip to Israel, Jerusalem to be Specific family were people of faith, Christians. And the terrorist act occurred. And he killed him. He died. Stuart Stewart, force has been a force for truth.

[B]

A tremendous man of integrity. His wife Robbie, suffered terribly as a result of the death of her son. And she died not long ago. Absolutely heartbroken, Absolutely heartbroken from what happened to her son. Nor did she get to see the victory here in the AFL lawsuit against the Biden administration. It continued through the Trump administration, but obviously the Trump administration was receptive to addressing and enforcing the law, which is exactly what happened. Exactly what happened.

[E]

Terrible.

[B]

So we salute AFL and Jean and the gang, and my wife, too, if I may. Point of personal privilege. She works very, very hard. And they all work very, very hard over there, unsung in what they do. And I might add, over at Landmark Legal foundation, my alma mater, same thing. They work very, very hard. Also unsung. You don't know the names of the lawyers that work over there, but they're damn good. Same with the lawyers over at afl. These conservative legal groups are fantastic, ladies and gentlemen. Nobody gets rich working for them. Most people don't get famous working for them. But that said, they're in the trenches and they're fighting, and that's a good thing. So, afl, we salute you on your Teller Force victory. The settlement came through. It's a big deal. Took a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of resources. And these cases take years and they cost a lot of money. And that's just the truth.

[A]

All right, see here. President Trump at the Coast Guard Academy graduation today. Let's hear a little bit of this. Cut three, go.

[G]

The class of 2026 is graduating at an incredible, exciting time for our nation and the Coast Guard in particular. As you enter the office corps of the greatest military in the history of the world, our national service lengths is back. Our morale is back. We are a confident country again. We have confidence is back. And above all, America is back. Bigger and better and stronger than ever before. We have a strong, great, respected country again. We went off course. We went very sadly. We went very sadly off course. For years, Washington, D.C. was run by four leaders. Politicians who thought they could defy the laws of world history, violating every common sense principle, you know, for preserving national power and national security. And they surrendered our industrial capacity to other countries, crippled our energy production, threw open our borders. We had borders with two just now.

[A]

Stop.

[B]

Think about what he's saying. How the Democrats were sabotaging our country purposefully, in my view, how they were sabotaging our country. And they're telling us they're going to do it again, except they're going to shred our Constitution on the way to sabotaging our country. It's a big deal. Go ahead.

[G]

People came in totally unchecked and unvetted. You know how many people over four years, in the last term, 25 million people. They came in as murderers. They were coming in from other countries. They came in from prisons. They were drug dealers. They came in from mental institutions and insane asylums. They allowed them to just flow into our country. We're getting them out. We've got a lot of them out.

[B]

Catch four.

[A]

Go.

[G]

America was not founded by weak and timid men or women who cowered in the face of evil or sat by as danger loomed. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, freedom is not a gift that lasts long in the hands of cowards and weak people. Today, our country faces the threats that are very strong. But we have a much stronger country today than we had two years ago. Today, the threats that look really bad two years ago, three years ago, we had a country that was rudderless, just like that ship that had its rudder shot off. We have a country now with very strong, powerful rudders. But every one of you has your soul, the strength and courage to face whatever comes before you. You're going to do unbelievably well. I just have no idea what I'm looking at. I look at audiences all the time, but I'm looking at this audience. It's just an incredible group of people. A beautiful, beautiful, brilliant group of people.

[B]

Also, before he arrived there, he was at Joint Base Andrews this morning in front of a helicopter.

[A]

Cut six.

[B]

Go.

[F]

What have you said to Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to hold off on strike?

[G]

Fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's very, very good man. He'll do whatever I want him to do. And he said he's a good, great guy. To me, he's a great guy. Don't forget, he was a wartime prime minister and he's not treated right in Israel. In my opinion, I'm right now at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime minister. So maybe after I do this, I'll go to Israel, run for prime minister. I had a poll this morning. I'm 99%, so that's good. But no, he's a wartime prime minister and I just don't think they treat him well.

[F]

Mr. President, what are you doing?

[G]

I think they have a president over there that treats him very Poorly.

[F]

You're on the same page with him on Iran.

[B]

Yeah, Very good. We'll be right back.

[C]

Mud loving.

[A]

Is Operation Epic Fury intensifies. The world braces for what's to come next. And people of faith pray for freedom

[B]

and for God's people in the Holy Land to be protected. And in the Holy Land.

[A]

Red alert. Sirens fill the air. Sirens that give you only 15 seconds

[B]

to reach the nearest bomb shelter.

[A]

The situation is serious. The threat is real. And in times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas. They are what we depend upon. And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground preparing large scale distributions of life saving food, first aid, emergency essentials for security personnel, while helping ensure hospitals and emergency rooms and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies. This aid is focused on Israel's most vulnerable, the sick, the elderly, children, families in great need. But the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews need your most generous gift today to make this work possible. So please rush your gift, which is tax deductible, by calling right away. 888-585 IFCJ. That's 888585 IFCJ. Or online at levin for the fellowship.org that's L E V I N for the fellowship.org.

[B]

This one really hurts. It really hurts me right in my heart. Bob Woodson of the Woodson center passed away. I've known Bob WOODSON, My God, 45 years. That doesn't mean we had social events. That's not what I'm talking about. I knew him as a man, as a, as a leader, as a great human being, great human being. He was very important to us in the Reagan administration, gave us a lot of great ideas on how to address inner city poverty and homeless, homelessness and so forth. And I am really, really sad to see him go. I really am. And you know, your life, you want to hope that you're a positive force. That doesn't mean you won't have enemies. People hate you, people will say nasty things. But apart from all the static and that, you want to be a positive force to the extent you can be trying to see here what his age was born in 1937, so he was 88, give or take. But I'm telling you this, this man was remarkable, absolutely remarkable. I'm just sorry to see this. We all have to go at some point, don't we? Let's see here. Woodson Center. And he was such a giving man. His time away from family, but a loving family man too. I'm telling you. This man was really superb. Just very, very superb. And I will, I'll always remember Bob Woodson, just a great guy. Remember the first time I met him, 23 years old in the Reagan administration. Just a very good man. Did a lot of good for a lot of people in the inner cities at a completely contrary approach, did the big welfare state approach and he was hands on, went into the communities, set up these programs, mentored I don't know how many hundreds, if not, excuse me, thousands of people. You know, it's tough when you lose a good guy. It is. I think about a lot of these fellows, I don't want to say which ones, but who are up there in age and they can't live forever. I can't live forever with. None of us can, of course. My wife keeps saying, stop eating that junk, stop drinking that Diet Coke, you know, I said, why? Why does it matter? I'm like, because I want you to live. I've been doing pretty well, don't you think, Rich, over last few years so far, so not too bad. Jeff Bezos CEO at Amazon I get the sense he's becoming increasingly conservative. And I don't mean it from a philosophical point of view, I mean from a common sense perspective. Because if you really think about it, when you put, put aside all the sort of scholarship and more, the intellectual stuff and so forth and so on, which of course I eat up and so forth, but. But when you put it aside, conservatism is common sense, isn't it? That's what the president says, and he's right. Well, I think that's where Jeff Bezos is, the CEO of Amazon. Now, why would you hate a guy like this? He's made all of our lives easier. He's created, God, hundreds of thousands of jobs. How many little businesses have been created that use Amazon? So he's a powerful force for economic growth, economic opportunity, wealth creation. And he's enormously wealthy and he deserves every penny because he's made other people successful. And you have your own measure of what successful is. But how many people can feed themselves and their families and purchase an automobile and a home and so forth and so on, all springing from this man's motivation, ideas, desires and accomplishments that should

[A]

be celebrated, not the people who glom onto it with their radical kook ideology who've created nothing and tell you who should get what, how, when it's just crazy.

[B]

Well, here he is on cnbc today. Cut 22 to go.

[H]

People sometimes say that, you know, I don't pay taxes so true. I pay billions of dollars in taxes and it's a perfect. Again, if people want me to pay more billions. Right, then let's have that debate. But don't pretend you know that this, that that's going to solve the problem. You could. You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you.

[A]

Now, what does he mean by that?

[B]

He means this money. Government just sucks it up into a black hole. It's a black hole, you know, like the one in space or the ones in space or however they explain just goes away. It's wasted.

[A]

It's. There's fraud.

[B]

It not only won't go to teachers, even more importantly, it won't improve teaching and it won't improve education generally and a lot of the children. And that's what education's for. Right. Go ahead.

[H]

So you can't connect those two things, not logically. You know, there are more examples. Why is rent expensive? Why is rent so expensive? I recently saw somebody blamed it on Airbnb. Okay. Airbnb is not the cost of expensive rent. In fact, it's been almost. Let me finish here one sec. It's already been outlawed in New York City, and rents are still very high. So we, we know Airbnb isn't causing high rents. What's really causing high rent is government intervention. We subsidize demand with things like tax policy, which is fine, but at the same time, we constrain supply.

[A]

We attack supply. More supply, the lower the costs.

[B]

I'll be right back. Yes, it's true that Mark Levan is

[A]

the fastest growing radio show in America.

[H]

The Mark Levan show is on at 877-381-3811.

[B]

All right, a little more. Jeff Bezos on CNBC today.

[A]

Cut 23, go.

[I]

Let me ask you about the anger, because there seems to be anger, at least from certain political sides of this. And AOC recently said in a podcast, I'm just curious how you think about this. Says there's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. She says you can't earn a billion dollars, just can't earn that. She says you can get market power. You can break rules, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that.

[E]

Yeah.

[I]

By the way, you earned extraordinary amount of money. You employ large largest employer, if not one of them in the whole country. When you read that, what do you think?

[H]

Well, it's, it's. It's not cracked on its face. Let's give you, let me give you a simple example. Let's say you start a burger joint and you have 10 employees and you make a little bit of money, right? Until you have this is this one, one outlet. And by the way, these are the most delicious burgers in the world. People love your burgers, Andrew. And so then you open a second outlet, right? And now you're making a little bit more money and you have 20 employees and you open a third outlet. By the time you've opened a thousand outlets,

[I]

you are a billionaire, right?

[H]

And by the way, this is a real life story. It happens all the time. It's in an outburst burger. It's, you know, raising Cane's chicken. At what point did that money all of a sudden become unethical? Or it didn't. There was one outlet and then there were two, and then there were three. What you're doing, the way, the way you make a billion dollars or $100 million or $10 million or anything, is you create a service that people love. And if millions of people choose your service, you're gonna end up with a billion dollars. And you can, you know, just try it with a chicken franchise.

[A]

This guy, this guy is fantastic. I don't know his politics.

[B]

I'm not talking about that. Explaining business, explaining the commerce system, as I call it, capitalism. Just in plain English. No, Mr. Producer, really perfect.

[J]

Cut.

[A]

24.

[B]

Go.

[H]

The New York City school system, they spend $44,000 per student. 44,000. That's 30% more per student than other big cities like Chicago, Louisiana and Boston. And it's three times more than Miami and Houston. And by the way, New York City doesn't get better outcomes. So listen, let me just say, if we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We'd have to charge you a hundred dollar delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it'd have the wrong item in it anyway.

[A]

Boy, this guy is cutting right to

[B]

the bone, isn't he? He's cutting right to the bone. I've never really heard him speak before. Maybe he has, I just haven't heard it. One more.

[A]

Cut.

[B]

26. Go.

[H]

Some people talk about, you know, making the tax system more progressive. How about we start by having the nurse and Queens not pay taxes?

[G]

Why are somebody at all.

[H]

Why is some. Why is a nurse in Queens who makes $75,000 a year paying more than $1,000 a month in taxes? That's $1,000 a month that could help with rent or groceries or anything. And so. And by the way, do you know what that all adds up to? The bottom half of income earners in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. It's only 3%. We can find 3%. So we don't have. It's a small amount of money for the government. You know that. And really it's. And the more I thought about it, to me, it's kind of absurd that we're doing this. You know, we shouldn't be asking.

[A]

Here's where I disagree with him on

[B]

a little bit, although I get the populism side of this. I would prefer an across the board straight income tax for everybody. That's what I prefer. Not a so called progressive income tax. And that's why it's called progressive. And progressives call themselves progressive. Well, shouldn't wealthier people pay more?

[A]

They will.

[B]

But if you have an across the board flat tax without deductions, without deductions, 10%, 15%, whatever it is, they will pay more. But I think everybody ought to pay even a little bit into the system. Otherwise, people that don't pay anything into the system, and I'm not talking about any of you in particular, I'm just saying as a general understanding, they'll never complain about high taxes, will they, Mr. Producer?

[A]

You'll literally have 2/3, the 3/4 of the population of the nation who aren't

[B]

paying taxes, income taxes.

[A]

And so they don't give a damn

[B]

how high income taxes go.

[A]

And so what the politicians will do is keep raising and raising and raising and raising them. So basically what you have is what

[B]

we call a mob ocracy. That is, the mob keeps demanding more

[A]

of the property from the others.

[B]

The property being taxes. I mean, taxes, that's your property that they're taking. When you're taxed your property, that's what they're taking.

[A]

So I prefer that. I also prefer what DeSantis is trying

[B]

to do in Florida, which is eliminate the property tax. And you'll say, well, how are we going to fund our schools? And so forth and so on. At a minimum, they should be capped. At a minimum they should be capped because it's totally out of control. Even in Republican counties with Republican school boards. I sat on one, I was elected to one.

[A]

The pressure is to keep raising property taxes. And they do it by smoke and mirrors. Well, we haven't actually raised your taxes, but they increase the value of the property, the assessed value of the property. So even Though they don't raise in what they call in many counties, the millage or the rate. Some cases they claim, we've lowered your taxes, but they've increased the value of the home, so out of pocket expenses are higher. And so, as DeSantis likes to point out, that is like paying two mortgages. You're paying the property tax and you're paying the mortgage. And once you pay off your mortgage, you stop having to pay off your property taxes every year, like a second mortgage. So you never really own your home straight out. You pay off your mortgage, you rip it up, you're very excited, been there 30 years, maybe at a shorter, whatever it is.

[B]

And then you go, wait a minute, what's this? It's a big property tax bill and you have no control over it.

[A]

The same people who tax you appraise the value of your property.

[B]

You literally have to hire somebody to

[A]

fight it if you don't agree with it.

[B]

And they almost always win on the other side. They almost always win

[A]

because the county judges who hear the cases are bored with the whole damn thing. So there's that, too. But I've always felt a flat tax

[B]

across the board was the best way to go. That won't happen in my lifetime. In fact, that probably will never happen. The biggest problem we have right now is spending, borrowing and printing money, even putting taxes aside.

[A]

Because you could literally.

[B]

Listen to me, this is important. You could literally confiscate everybody's income one year. Billionaires, millionaires, hard working, middle class, whatever it is, and you won't come close to paying off the debt, which is over $300 trillion. That's multiple times the size of the economy every year. How do you come out from under that? Somebody's gonna have to pay for that.

[A]

Probably not our generation, maybe not the next generation.

[B]

Somebody's gonna have to pay for that. It's gonna come crashing down on their heads. And we know what happens when that happens, right? Martial law and all the rest. I hate even thinking about this stuff. I hate thinking about that. I hate thinking about what's going to

[A]

happen if we don't get control over

[B]

this Marxism, Islamism stuff. I worry about it, don't you? I worry about the kids and the grandkids and generations yet born. What are we going to give them? What are we handing them? Nobody even talks about this. I'm not trying to be a downer.

[A]

I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket. Oh, great, Mark, I'm coming home. Oh, great. I just finished dinner.

[B]

I'm Telling you the truth.

[A]

It's the truth.

[B]

I'll be right back. All right, here we go, Eric.

[A]

Detroit, Michigan, the great wjr. Go right ahead, please. Hello, Mark. Yes, sir.

[F]

So I'm.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

I'm 22 years old.

[F]

And the Iran war. I'm not really sure what's going on. Like, we us in Israel, we should take them out. Like, I'm nervous about our future here.

[B]

I don't disagree with you. I'm with you.

[A]

And I think, and I'm hoping we're

[B]

not going to wait too much longer.

[A]

You can't contain an ideological revolution. People say, how do you defeat it?

[B]

Well, we've defeated them before. You got to defeat it by defeating it. And you defeat the regime. You can't just defeat it with our Air Force and our navy. You can't just defeat it with the Israeli Air Force and Navy. You can't just defeat it with our intelligence agencies.

[A]

The people want to destroy it.

[B]

They want to defeat it. And so we need to have all

[A]

that, plus help them. Help them. They're not asking for us to go,

[B]

you know, send ground troops in. I'm not talking about that. Arm them. Arm them.

[A]

The French helped armed us during the Revolutionary War. I mean, we helped arm the freedom fighters in Afghanistan to great success. They pushed out the Soviets. What happened afterwards, long after Reagan left,

[B]

is a whole other story, but unrelated.

[A]

Angola, Nicola, and on and on and on. So I'm with you, Eric. I'm with you 100%. Thanks for your call. Good call. Let's go to Steve Gardner, Massachusetts, the great wgaw, where there's not a single Republican congressman in the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. How are you, Steve?

[J]

I'm doing well, Mark. Thank you for taking my call. I've been on Levinite since your WABC Sunday show, originally from Rockland county in New City. So I've been listening to you. I love you. Keep up the good work. But just to let you know, here in Massachusetts, they're out of 54 municipalities. Out of 351 of the municipalities, 51 are going for overrides for taxes on property taxes because of health care costs, transportation, that type of thing. Recently, Brookline, Massachusetts writes that out of Boston approved a $26 million override on their local taxes because they can't pay for schools and dpw.

[B]

So where's all the money going? I mean, some states do it better than other states.

[J]

A lot of municipalities are wasting the money paying off not for profit groups, etc. To get basically political donations.

[A]

You're right.

[B]

Let me tell you something, Steve. I was a young man on our school board and Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. I was there with him. My buddy was the president of the board. I don't know how we got him on there. Bob selick. He was 27. I was 20, so he was an old man compared to me. Anyway, we would go through that budget,

[A]

we would find things over and it's just horrific misspending and unnecessary things.

[B]

And some of the courses were utterly ridiculous.

[A]

So this is all based, built into the system. And when they, and when they say

[B]

things like, you know, cost of living,

[A]

we need to increase, they never want

[B]

to actually dig into the budget. And so when I think of Massachusetts, I think of a beautiful shoreline.

[A]

I think of a great history in our founding and I think about of

[B]

a bunch of libs.

[A]

A one party state which is basically kissing the hand of the teachers unions and vice versa. I think of corruption, I think of

[B]

all that kind of stuff. Does that make sense?

[J]

Yes, it does. And here in northern Massachusetts, right near the New Hampshire border, there are more independents and Republicans than there are Democrats. But they redistrict out the whole area, not only on the congressional level, but also state rep and state senate districts too. It's crazy.

[B]

And we often hear these lectures from the Democrats about this Hakeem Jeffries who. Something's wrong with that guy. He's dangerous. He's a real thug. He really is. The way he talks, his tyrannical mindset. Big trouble.

[A]

Great call, Stephen. Thanks for listening to me. Almost a quarter of a century. A good guy.

[B]

The gentleman who called before is 22 years old.

[A]

We started before he was born. We salute our armed forces, police officers, firefighters, emergency personnel, ice, our truckers, the men and women in Israel, the men and women in Ukraine, the men and women in Persia, and you, the American people. God bless each and every one of

[B]

you and I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great evening.