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Putin just changed EVERYTHING with this move and NATO can't do anything | Redacted w Clayton Morris
01:47:47
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- [00:00]
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- [01:46]
Clayton Morris
It is time to wake up. On this show, we cover the stories the mainstream media won't touch. Live from the Rocky Mountains, welcome to Redacted with Natalie and Clayton Morris. Are you ready? Let's get uncomfortable. Welcome in to the mountains. Welcome into the Rocky Mountains. It is redacted. I'm Clayton Morris. So glad to see you. That is Natalie Morris, which we already said in the intro, so we don't need to repeat ourselves, but I just repeated ourselves anyway.
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Ben
That's all right. I'll say hello.
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Clayton Morris
Hello.
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Richard Werner
Hello.
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Clayton Morris
Hello.
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James Fishback
Hey.
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Clayton Morris
It's our final show of the year, our final live show of the year and we have got a ton of really important news to bring to you. Today on the show we'll have some breaking news and some updates on the war in Ukraine. And we've got some new numbers, new death toll numbers from that. At the same time, we just learned from President Putin rolling out new hypersonic missiles. And this will roll out probably in the next few weeks. NATO, of course, has no response to it, but that's not stopping NATO from saber rattling. Today, Mark Ruta, the head of NATO, said there will be devastating consequences for Russia. And Europe is of course girding themselves for war right now.
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Ben
Indeed. And there are protests across Europe, farmers protests, a real uprising. We're going to see how serious we need to take that. Plus, towards the end of the show, we're going to James Fishback. He's the candidate for governor in Florida who's going viral for saying, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna take Israel side. I'm not an Israel first candidate. I have no APAC money. He's going up against an APAC funded Republican. So we're gonna hear what he has to say in just a minute.
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Clayton Morris
All right, we've got a lot of news to get to on this busy, busy Thursday. We've got a lot of great guests lined up for you as well. But first, if you're stuck wondering what the hell to get the guys in your life this Christmas, listen up. Skip the socks, skip the wallet, skip the gift card. Although I would, you know, I don't mind a gift card to like Buffalo wild wings. But this year, get him something he'll actually use. You should get him a bearskin hoodie. I wear this every day. Absolutely love it. Many of our viewers already got one. They love it as well. These hoodies are built for serious cold weather. This is a 340gsm bearskin fleece, 10 legit pockets, a muscular fit, and even zips into the heavy rainstorm jacket to turn into full winter waterproof armor. Whether he's in hiking, hunting, traveling, or just hates being cold, this is the last hoodie you'll ever need. And the best part, they're running their biggest deal of the year right now. 60% off for Christmas with extended returns plus free US shipping from their Kentucky warehouse. So here's how to get yours. Just text the word redacted to 369 12. That's redacted to 36912 and they'll shoot you a link right to your phone to lock in the deal. And when you shop with bearskin, you're not just gonna give a killer gift. You're also supporting the fallen outdoors and the Hope for the warriors veterans program this Christmas. Don't give Just another stocking filler. Get him a bear skin hoodie. Yes, indeed. All right, you ready for this? Are you ready for our final show of the year? All right, let's do it, everyone. You guys ready? You guys all subscribed? You guys let it. You guys joining us? I'm ready. All right, let's do it. All right, well, let's get to it. Redacted has learned from our sources of new death totals in Russia and Ukraine that we want to share with you. These numbers are incredibly hard to swallow. Until now, these numbers have not been fully reported on the Russian side specifically because a lot of people would be upset to hear these numbers as of today, December 18th. I'm going to throw up our non pretty graphic here on the screen to walk you through this. The number of people killed in Ukraine as of today, 1.3 million 77,045. And here's how that breaks down. Ukrainian soldiers killed is 1 million 9,367 NATO soldiers killed, including mercenaries, active and contractors. 297,894 dead civilians killed by Russia in Ukraine. 1,883 civilians killed by Ukraine in Ukraine. Meaning they have killed a lot of their own people, as you know, and we've been covering that for years. That number is 67,901, 19,149 missing civilians and across all categories. And of course we've been reporting on that missing number, which of course is very interesting because a lot of Ukrainian mothers, fathers have been, they've been classified as missing. Therefore they don't have to receive death benefits. And that's how that works in Ukraine. So that number is very high. On the missing side, probably dead, unfortunately, specifically on the civilian side. But on the soldier side too, the missing across all categories, that number is 2.3 million people dead in Ukraine, captured, missing or injured in Ukraine. Now to the Russian side, 642,014 Russians have been killed. Of that number, 182,042 of them are contracted military or mercenaries. The number of Russian civilians killed by Ukraine is 51,874.
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Ben
Can I ask, are we considering Russians, part of the annexed Russia, people who voted to be Russians but were formerly thought to be Ukrainians? Do we know? Maybe. We don't know.
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Clayton Morris
That's a good question. Of the civilians killed by Ukraine, in Ukraine, that number that we showed you earlier, of the 67,000, a large portion of those of course former eastern Ukraine. Okay, so to be clear, but I'll get some more Distinction on that. The number of Russian civilians injured By Ukraine is 77,411. The number of Russian civilians killed by Russia 21. The number of Russian civilians killed By Russia 21. The total 642,000 killed and 429,000 injured. That number total on the Ukraine, on the Russian side is 1,076,821. We've also learned that Russia has covertly tested three new weapons systems over the past 28 days. Two of them are complete game changers. This is making the deep State very nervous, as you can imagine, inside of NATO. These haven't been made public yet by President Putin, which he normally does. But these three are still being kept quiet. Here's one that isn't being kept secret. Russian President Putin just rolled out their most advanced hypersonic missiles to date. Missiles that no one can shoot down. Unless we're totally wrong about that. We'll get some clarity from Colonel MacGregor in a moment on that. This would make NATO really look like a nursery school class with these hypersonic missiles. These are the Oreshnik hypersonic missiles set for combat duty by the end of the year. It's capable of extremely high speeds, long range strikes. Of course, it marks the development. NATO is going to be watching very, very closely. And yet European leaders have some sort of a suicide wish. I mean, you saw all those horrible numbers that we just showed you. They want to be a part of it, I guess. They want to be a part of the death and destruction in the European Union and in the uk preparing to go to war with Russia directly. German Chancellor Mertz said yesterday they are ready to draft young men to war if they can't reach their volunteer numbers. Yes, compulsory service to fight Russia. The UK is telling its populace that they need to get ready to sacrifice their sons and daughters. Watch.
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Richard Werner
Sons and daughters, colleagues, veterans will all have a part to play, to build, to serve and if necessary, to fight. And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means. That's why it's so important that we do explain the changing threat and the need to stay ahead of it. As I've said, I'm clear that the country's first line of defence is the armed forces. We need to be ready to deter, fight and win today and tomorrow.
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Clayton Morris
Yeah. So some sort of a death wish? I don't know. We have a lot of questions to talk about today. Congress yesterday voted against Thomas Massie's war power bill. That would have limited the President's ability to bomb Venezuela. And then the other one of course, which would have limited the President's ability to just bomb in the Western hemisphere. So there were two different bills. And all of this is happening right now as the Pentagon plans a major reorganization. And our next guest is calling for Pete Hegseth to basically clean house of those four star generals who are stuck in the past. At the Pentagon, Colonel Douglas MacGregor is here to weigh in about all of these war developments. Now, Colonel, great to see you. Thank you so much.
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Yeah, it's nice to be here. I actually wish I were out in Colorado, but that's another story.
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Clayton Morris
As close as you are, as close as you are to the craziness in the Beltway. Well, you know, Colonel, I want to put up your piece here. You talk about slashing the military and getting rid of these four star generals. Not to do it halfway. This plans to basically move away from the era of the past and move into modernity, whatever that would actually look like. You can comment on that. And really, anything that's on your mind today, because all of these stories are pretty nebulous, I guess.
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Oh, great. You're talking about a stream of consciousness interview. I don't get those very much.
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Clayton Morris
I know I'm feeling it today, though. I just want to hear from. I just want to hear from you, because a lot of these topics give.
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Ben
Us some Christmas cheer, or lack thereof.
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Clayton Morris
These topics are so damn heady. You know, the numbers we just rattled off and everything, you know.
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Well, somebody once said, this too shall pass. That's the good news. The bad things will not last forever. First of all, on the American military establishment, we have been growing the overhead at a rate that makes no sense now for more than 30 years. We began this process back in the early 80s with what we call the Unified Command Plan. And this was something that Eisenhower tried to implement when he was president. Simply said, we have to have theaters, we have to have a direction of activity effort, and then we have to build up the support infrastructure and logistics. We finally got around to that with the Unified Command Plan. And then, of course, by the mid-90s, it became pretty clear that, you know, the justification for this pursuit of global military hegemony was no longer justified. And that we could ratchet back, if you will, we could skim or at least thin the overhead. When I say overhead, you know, we're talking about 43, 44, four star generals for a force of perhaps 1.18 billion. And at the height of the Second World War, this is 1943, early 44, we had seven, four stars running the entire armed forces. And at that point, we were talking about 6 to 8 million people. So clearly we don't need as many people in the four and three star rank categories. Then along came 2001, and we got this AUMF, the authorization for the Use of Military Force. One of the provisions of that was more generals, more admirals. And of course, there's nothing the Pentagon likes more than adding admirals and generals and headquarters. And this sort of thing has gotten out of control. And President Trump understands this. But you have to have a strategy to go from what you've got today to something that's leaner and more effective. And that strategy doesn't exist right now. And that's why I wrote this paper and said, here are seven points. These are the things that you really need to consider as you go forward. Because what I see happening in the Department of Defense, excuse me, I'm supposed to say Department of the War with the Secretary of War, is that they have some good ideas and they sort of say, well, that's a good idea. That's a good idea. Yeah, let's. Let's do that. Without thinking through carefully, the total reorientation of our military power to defense, to defense of the United States, preeminently primarily in the Western Hemisphere, and its vital interests. And those vital interests tend to revolve around access to something we call the Global Commons. That means air, sea, land, space. That may be of importance to us, where there are minerals, resources, and so forth. And that's in everybody's interest. And we should be interested not only in our own access, but ensuring access for everybody else. Anyway, that's what it is in a nutshell. And could we go to that? Yes, we can, but you need a plan, a real strategy. And that was the outline of what I tried to present in that article. I don't want to go through it in detail. Everybody will become bored, and that's bad. So we want to keep everybody interested. So I'll tell you, read through the seven points, because it covers the waterfront. And can we do it? Yes, but are we going to get there with what we're doing now? No. And oh, by the way, let's not confuse national defense with intervention in Venezuela. The two are not the same.
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Ben
Well, right. I mean, the opposite seems to be Secretary Hegseth's vision. Just two weeks ago, he gave this speech in the Silicon Valley romanticizing the Reagan era of military expansion, which seems to. I mean, what does he mean by that? And can you explain if that is the antithesis of your vision.
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Well, I think he's an advocate for quantitative easing on steroids, because at this point, that's what's going on. I mean, it's being quietly admitted. I think it's becoming more and more public that we've gone back to quantitative easing. We don't call it that, but we're using different kinds of mechanisms to inject liquidity into the system. The problem is that you're debasing the dollar and we talk about reassuring manufacturing, and that's a great idea. That takes decades. It's not something that President Trump can snap his finger and make happen. So right now, I think the order of the day should be pulling in from overseas commitments, reducing the basis overseas, get out of places where we obviously have no mission anymore. There's no requirement for us to be in Northeast Asia, on the Korean peninsula, or for that matter, in Japan, and the Koreans. And the Japanese can handle the requirement. We need to start looking at allies as, not so much as dependents, but people who are going to pull their own weight so that if we're going to be allied with someone, it's a benefit. A great example was in 1905, 06, the British came into an alliance with Imperial Japan because they could no longer afford to maintain this enormous Royal Navy in the Pacific. They said, look, we can't afford. Can't do it. Turn to the Japanese. Can you look after our interests? Because we really can't do it. We need a strong presence in the west, strong presence in the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean. Can you help us out? And the Japanese said, yes. In return for which the Japanese said, can you help us build up our navy? Can you assist us with the technology and the training that we need? And of course, the British said yes. And that alliance, by the way, lasted all the way through World War I and into the early 1920s. In other words, the British were prudent, and they said, we need to ally with someone else who's strong, who could compensate for where we are weak. We're not doing that. And that's what we should do in the future. And right now, Northeast Asia is a place where we don't need to be. So then you turn to Europe and you ask the same question you hear every day. People in Europe say, oh, we have more resources and more people and more capability than the Russians. Just look at our economy and so forth. Well, if that's true, then what are we doing on the ground in Europe? You know, let's. Let's back out of this let's start focusing on what's really important to us. That's the kind of thinking that's required. And I think this is a good time to execute it. But unfortunately, that's not what President Trump is doing. It may be what he wants to do, but it's like everything else. You've got to listen to what someone says, but you've also got to watch what they do. And what the administration is doing is an extension of the Biden administration. That's the problem.
- [18:36]
Clayton Morris
Do you see that with Ukraine as well? I mean, we gave you those horrible numbers. Now, off the top of the show, we see the rollout of these new hypersonic missiles. You see the saber rattling from NATO. You heard from Frederick Mertz, the German chancellor, yesterday, for compulsory military service. If they can't fill their volunteer ranks right now, you've got Germany that's collapsing. You have farmers that are smashing their tractors into the capital in Brussels today. And in France, they're demanding a change. They want Ursula von der Leyen out. They are absolutely fed up. And their main mission seems to be let's go to war with Russia.
- [19:09]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Yeah, well, everybody wants Ursula von der Leyen to go away, so I'm assuming that will eventually happen. The problem is this. You're right. There's no chance of Europe going to war with Russia. It's not going to happen. When I say Europe, I'm talking about the various members of NATO. They're broke, their financial condition is terrible. Their living standards are dropping like rocks, especially in Germany, but not just in Germany and France as well. And this is the globalist regime or class trying desperately to keep the war going, because they know that when the war stops, when it becomes obvious that the Russians aren't coming and there will be no war, they're gone. Increasingly, people inside Germany and France and Great Britain are figuring out that they've been lied to. What's really depressing is to listen to someone like that British officer who really has an obligation to tell the truth, just spew out this crazy fiction about a war that Britain absolutely, positively does not need to fight and would be suicidal for Britain to even seriously consider. But, you know, you've built this mountain of lies on the assumption that Russia is something it's not. It's the Soviet Union. No, it isn't. It has all the land and resources that it needs. It doesn't necessarily want more territory. If the Russians were even close to what people described them as being, they would already be on the Polish border. You know, they certainly have been willing to sustain losses in order to kill the enemy and win. And they have just taken in hundreds of thousands of additional manpower that they're going to train and equip and put into the army. They are ready to fight. And that's what, that's what Putin's message was, and that's what everybody should hear. Very quickly, he said repeatedly, we're not interested in going to war with anybody in Europe. We're not interested in conquering Europe. And if you don't like the way we're conducting operations at Ukraine, you need to understand something. We don't want to kill Orthodox Christian Slavs. We're not trying to kill Ukrainians. We'd rather not. We want to put an end to this. We want a neutral Ukraine that will not be hostile to us in the future. It will not present a threat to us. That's what we're doing. However, if you attack us, we are prepared for war. And you will find out what real war is, because that's not what we have waged in Ukraine.
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Ben
So where is the anti war movement best represented in America right now? Because on Wednesday night, everyone on X freaked out that President Trump was going to make a war announcement. And really what he did was kind of a victory lap of the things that he liked the best about his second administration. And so we breathed a sigh of collective relief. But on the same day, Congress declined to vote in favor of withdrawal from Venezuela, and the Senate passed the new defense budget, which prevents the President from withdrawing from Europe and South Korea. So Congress is saying, when you're ready, we're gonna let you do whatever you're gonna do. Whenever you're ready, sir.
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Clayton Morris
Both sides like dogs rolling over that you want to rub their stomach.
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Ben
So we didn't get the war announcement, but we are inching towards it in several hemispheres. So where, where is the anti war movement best represented in American politics, besides independent media?
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
I think, interestingly enough, in the banking system and with the Fed, because we're going to go bankrupt. We're, we are on the verge of complete financial disaster. And you can bring on Peter Schiff or Luke Grohman or Mohammed El Arian or Nassim Taleb or anybody else, they will all tell you the same thing. Taylor Kenney, Natalie Brunel, they're out there and they've been telling you exactly what's coming. Nobody has listened. And the goal is to anesthetize the American people. What do you do with them? You tell them everything's fine. I'm Giving you more freebies next year, more free money, lower taxes. And in the meantime, we have this button over here and it says, print more money. And they hit the button and out comes more dollars that flow into people's bank accounts. And they're saying, don't worry, be happy. It's not going to last. We, we are on the verge of free falling into an abyss the likes of which no one has seen since the Depression. And everybody with a brain knows that and has said so. Now, in the meantime, why is Congress not recognizing this? Because it's not popular. They're afraid to tell the truth. It's easier to lie, frankly. And remember, every congressman wears a little American flag up here on the lapel and that's in. So in the left hand he has the flag, he waves and the other hand is out, held out for the lobbyists, whoever they are, whether it's the Israel lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the agriculture, whatever it is, mansano all the big donors. And that's what's happening. And they know that their donors won't give them any money unless they spend money. All you have to do is ask the average congressman or senator, what do you do up here in Washington D.C. and they will tell you, we spend money. And they say if we don't spend money, we have no job. That's what we do. And we're rewarded for spending money by donations and we're rewarded by our constituents. We get reelected because we keep shoveling money in directions that are rewarding to us, whether they make any sense. In other words, there is no national interest involved. It's a collective interest, but it's a collective interest in self enrichment and perpetuating themselves in office and that's it. And no one is going to figure this out until we collapse. And that's what we're going to do in 2026.
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Clayton Morris
Something else that's not in our national interest. And that's a great answer, Colonel. We'll get you out of here on this though, which is we have no interest. Ask any American, do you have an interest in being in Syria? And I'm sure the families of those soldiers who just landed on the tarmac, President Trump, Pete Hegseth there saluting as the caskets are rolled out of these.
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Richard Werner
American.
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Clayton Morris
Service members who were killed in Syria. For what, Colonel? Why are we there and why did these men have to die?
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
When I was handed the note in mid November in the White House with a list of places that the president wanted to get out of, the one on top was Afghanistan. And then underneath it said, if you can do it, get us out of Iraq, Syria. And then there was some discussions about reducing our presence in Germany and so forth. And I went around and I began trying to figure out how we could get out. And at one point I said, well, explain Syria and Iraq. What are we doing there? And I got a mix of answers, but I said, it doesn't make any sense to me. We no longer have a mission there. I'm sure there are still ISIS remnants, but there will always be ISIS remnants in that part of the world. And I was finally told, we have to be there for Israel. I said, why would Israel need to have us in Syria or Iraq? Oh, well, it's for their security. I said, the Israelis have the best intelligence network in the region. They know about things infinitely more important than we do. They know before we know. So what are we doing there? We have to be there for Israel. So I think the answer to the families in Iowa and to anybody else that loses, anyone in the region is very simple. We are there for Israel. Now, that doesn't go down with you very well. If you're offended by that, then you need to tell the people that represent you, you got a 50, 50 chance that they'll listen to you. But as long as they get the stupendium from the particular lobby that keeps them in office, if you're in Iowa or Nebraska, you're going to listen not just to the Israel lobby. You're going to listen to the people that represent the agricultural interests. So all of these things are at play right now. And so when you ask the question, Massie tried very hard to make it clear that Congress should exercise its authority and constrain the President's ability to begin a new war in Venezuela, and he got nowhere. What happened to the Constitution? What happened to the history of this country and the understanding we have that you've got to go and get a declaration of war from Congress? Well, it went out in 65. It's never come back. And no one has an incentive to do anything different. And until you kill a lot of Americans on one day, 200, 300, what we saw in the Marine barracks In Lebanon in 1981, 82, you'll remember that under President Reagan, what happened? We left.
- [28:25]
Richard Werner
Right.
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Colonel Douglas MacGregor
And until that happens, and it could in Venezuela, we don't know, nothing will change.
- [28:33]
Ben
Whose babies have to die for that to happen? That's the thing that haunts me, is that Matt Gaetz put up a bill to withdraw from Syria in 2023. And it went nowhere. And the media instead framed him as a. So that they didn't have to face this reality. Those boys would be alive if Matt Gaetz Bill had gone anywhere. And that's haunting, isn't it?
- [28:56]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Well, it's worse than haunting. It's just a national disgrace. Yeah, but we have to. You have to turn back to the American people. And remember, Obama tried to launch strikes into Syria. He had an entire strike package ready to go. We were going to intervene in Syria. Everybody was cheering our intervention in the Syrian Civil War. McCain, Graham, everybody. And suddenly it all fell apart because Americans called the White House and they called Congress and they raised hell and said, we don't want to be in another war in the Middle East. Forget it. And so Obama came to the podium where he was going to announce the strike, and he announced that he's not going to strike, and he walked away. So the point is, these politicians, as weak characters as most of them may be, they do pay attention to the American public when they register their indignation at the ballot box and when they threaten to never vote for these people again. So I would say if you are concerned about this as an American citizen, do it. Send telegrams, get on the Internet, send emails, get on the phone, call it and say, I don't want this. If you do in great enough numbers, there's a good chance it won't happen.
- [30:16]
Clayton Morris
Yeah, from those districts. Exactly. I mean, we're in the Lauren Boebert district. We got on the phone, called her office.
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Ben
She voted against it.
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Clayton Morris
Yeah. So, anyway, Colonel McGregor, always great to see you. Thank you for your sobering insight as always. And we hope you have a very merry Christmas, you and your family there in Virginia. Thanks as always. Give our. Give our. Give our best to your lovely family. And thank you so much for all of your insights this year. We really appreciate it.
- [30:45]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Same to you and Natalie and your children. And I expect next year you'll speak better Portuguese. Well, Natalie is the expert on Portuguese.
- [30:54]
Clayton Morris
No, no, no, no, no. It's not gonna happen. Oh, Colonel, great seeing you. Happy New Year as well. And Merry Christmas. Thanks, Colonel.
- [31:07]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Bye. Bye.
- [31:07]
Clayton Morris
All right, coming up, we're going to go to Poland next. We're going to speak with Dr. Mike Krupa about what Poland is doing, because they are agitating for this sort of permanency of war, lining up and placing landmines, which is a violation of an agreement that's been in place for a long time. They're going to put all sorts of landmines along the border now to protect themselves against the Russian invasion. Where have we heard this before? They're agitating for a permanent war in Poland. So we're gonna talk about that. And we're also gonna talk with a gubernatorial candidate out of Florida.
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Ad Voice
Yes.
- [31:39]
Ben
You may have seen that James Fishback has been trending for saying, yes, Netanyahu is a war criminal. And you can say that in Florida if I take the governorship right now. You can't. Ron DeSantis has gone all the way down the Zionist litigation or Zionist laws and regulations making it so that schools will lose funding if they don't support Israel. You cannot boycott Israel. How did that happen in one of the freest states in the nation? We're going to talk to someone who does not stand for that but is still running for governor in the Republican Party. So hold on to your hats for that.
- [32:16]
Clayton Morris
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- [33:32]
Ben
Tell you about our friends at Shopify because, hey, if Your goal in 2026 is to finally launch your own business, we want to encourage you to do it and we want to encourage you to start at Shopify. What you're seeing there on your screen is the redacted store which does run on Shopify. And you know, because of that little purple shop pay button, when you see that on the web, you are can be assured that that store does run on Shopify. Why do we use Shopify? Well, it's incredibly easy to start and grow your business. So whatever your idea is, you can launch it with Shopify and they will help you build a beautiful store. They will help handle the backend. They have customer service port around the clock if you get confused. So you don't need to be an expert at that. You can be an expert at whatever it is you're an expert at and then launch it to the world. And again, they can help you build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand. So start today shopify.com redacted sign up. Spend your free time over the holidays not going through dumb memes, but instead workshopping your idea in order to get it launched in the new year again. Just like the redacted store, we are happily customers of Shopify, which is why we're so glad that they support our redacted show. Head on over to shopify.com redacted. You can sign up for a one month trial period today. Shopify.com redacted one more time. That's shopify.com redacted.
- [34:59]
Clayton Morris
Well, Poland is on a suicide mission. It seems part of that crazy boondoggle of European countries that are trying to agitate for a permanent war against Russia. But as you just heard, Colonel Douglas MacGregor says NATO couldn't possibly go to war with Russia. They would lose in a heartbeat. They're not prepared. They're broke. They're falling apart. So why is Poland trying to poke the bear? Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday or on Tuesday said during talks with Ukraine upon a possible peace deal that US Officials vowed that the US Be willing to take military action against Russia as part of this peace agreement if it violates any sort of future ceasefire. Then we heard from Mark Ruta, the head of NATO, saying Russia will be devastated. We will devastate Russia if they violate any sort of ceasefire agreement. We want to go after them, but Poland's not wasting any time. They're lining up now a new tranche of massive amounts of landmines that'll be sitting on the Polish border. Poland is ramping up this program to lay these anti personnel mines on their eastern border and it plans to deploy them along the eastern border and export them also to Ukraine. Of course this is if not, if I'm not mistaken, a violation of like a decades long agreement to not use these types of things. But okay, so Poland is girding its loins for a permanent war with Russia. Dr. Mike Krupa is the host of a brand new YouTube show and podcast called the Dr. Global Podcast. You can find it on YouTube. One of the, as I always say, the smartest man in all of Poland. And he joins us now. Mike, great to see you. Welcome back to the show. Merry Christmas to you.
- [36:37]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Thank you guys. Great to be back.
- [36:39]
Clayton Morris
What do you make of this move by Poland? An economy that's in trouble, a people that are not interested in any kind of war with Russia. Why are the leaders in Poland really moving your country towards like a suicide mission?
- [36:59]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Well, I think it's a narrative that's prevalent in all of Europe. You know, the quicker we're seeing the end of this war, I think the end is nearer than it was, you know, a year or two years ago. The breakdown of the Ukrainian army, the acceleration of the Russian moves on the front and the general, you know, degradation of Europe militarily and economically, plus the pressure with all the chaos obviously emanating from it. But nonetheless the pressure coming from the United States to end this war basically has thrown a wrench into this entire operation of let's try and strategically weaken Russia. And one of the things that, you know, the governing elites in Europe want to keep is to at least make sure that the public opinion in each of these countries, the major European Union countries, continues to believe that Russia is on the verge of invading the rest of Europe. Which is obviously nonsense. It was always nonsense. You know, I don't even know how to respond to such a claim because it's just so ridiculous. I mean there's more, there's more rationality to the claim, I think that Maduro was exporting drugs to the United States than that Russia planning an invasion of Europe. Even though that first statement is also absurd. But I think it's, it's a desperate act. I think it's throwing money into the, into garbage. Obviously, you know, in Poland we also have our own many military industrial complex people. People need to make money. And the company that is going to apparently supply these anti personnel mines from what I read in that Reuters report, is a Polish company. So there's a lot of money to be made. But as I said, it's just, it's performative actions to keep the public opinion, or at least the segment of the public opinion are voted for the governing coalition currently in power in Poland to make them continue stew in that, you know, soup of fear of Russia and make sure that the level of that fear doesn't go down in any way.
- [39:00]
Clayton Morris
How is life in Poland right now for the average Polish person given this war that's been on your doorstep for many years now?
- [39:12]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Well, like in other parts of Europe, we're dealing with inflation, obviously that's been, that's been a kicker in the ass, so to say. Unfortunately, we've been flooded with a couple of million of Ukrainian migrants, sometimes called refugees, which has brought significant burdens not only to our economy, to our housing market, but in the most fundamental areas such as internal security. If you look at the crime statistics in Poland right now, Ukrainians unfortunately are on the top when it comes to foreigners. So that hasn't made Poland safer. We've obviously given up any pretense of being a responsible power in this region of, of Europe. We should be a power that is, you know, facilitating negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and the United States, just like, you know, Viktor Orban is doing in Hungary, Robert Fitzo is trying to do in Slovakia. And we have a turn in politics obviously right now in the Czech Republic with Andre Babish coming to power and reasserting Czech sovereignty in the face of the behemoth in Brussels, the EU and taking a strong stand against this pro war radicalism that has engulfed Europe. So in Poland, unfortunately, we're in a situation where nobody in the public opinion in the polls show this doesn't want a war with Russia. The negative attitude towards Ukrainians in Poland, every single poll in the last two years is confirming that this negativity is only on the rise. But the government doesn't seem to care because unfortunately there are still people in Poland who, you know, don't realize that there has been an Internet revolution. They still take their news from the mainstream media, unfortunately. And that populace is the one that's still gives the votes to the liberal governing coalition. Obviously they're mostly boomer types, so they're slowly moving to that other world, so to say. But unfortunately there's still, there's still a voice in Polish politics once that generational shift happens. By way of information, I just want to tell you that in the last poll that was conducted in Poland, Brown's Confederation of the Polish Crown party has 11%. So that's actually a pretty good sign because the Confederation of the Polish Crown is the most, as you well know, you've had Czechos on your show, consequentially anti war Pro sovereignty, anti globalist party in Poland. So their rise is a good sign for things to come. It definitely shows that especially the young under 40 electorate is voting completely differently than their parents, which is a very good sign.
- [41:49]
Clayton Morris
So can I say it bluntly then? Our young people in Poland, they've had enough. They do not want war.
- [41:56]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Of course, of course there is no constituency for war among the under 40 crowd in Poland. There is no constituency for open borders and I would even say there is no strong constituency for the maintaining of the European Union, at least in its current form in Poland's continued presence in the European Union. There's many more Euro skeptics In the under 40 crowd that has, you know, that uses basically the instruments that we have on the Internet of dissident media, of alternative media sites and doesn't rely on their information space to be their television set. And the basically the two or three, two private one state owned channels that basically feed the same BS with some degrees of difference but not much. So yeah, there is hope. But as I said, despite the problems, you will not find in general a constituency in Poland for war with Russia. That's for sure. So the government even realizes this because they'll say we're not going to send any troops to Ukraine, we're going to sort of bandwagon with the rest of Europe, but at least we're showing that we're strong, that we're assertive. So we're going to place, you know, a couple of hundred thousand anti personnel mines on the border with Kaliningrad and so on. Which is kind of ironic if you think about it because the former Minister of Foreign affairs in Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba, who by the way is hanging out right now from what I saw with his girlfriend in some very high end opera, he actually made some statements back in 2024 where he said that, and this was actually stated in Poland, he said that certain areas of the current makeup of the Polish Republic are actually Ukrainian territories. And that stirred a lot of indignation and anger even from the Polish government which demanded a retraction. But also in 2022, Kuleba presented then Secretary of State Blinken in his office with a historic map of Ukraine that actually included two current Polish cities. So there is an appetite among Ukrainian nationalists for certain areas of eastern and southeastern Poland to be returned to Ukraine. They claim it's historical Ukrainian lands. So I would argue if we were to put any anti personal minds, we should put them on the border with Ukraine and not with Russia and Belarus.
- [44:10]
Clayton Morris
Wow, you can make some headlines with that one, but it's hard to argue with that. Doctor, we'll get you out of here on this. Energy, energy issues all across Europe. You're seeing the collapse of German right now. You're seeing protests from Paris to Brussels today. I mean, farmers have had enough of these globalist pigs. What is the energy situation like for you guys in Poland right now?
- [44:38]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Well, we've got news that an American company is going. We've actually received the blessing from the European Union. This was big news recently in Poland that we're going to finally have our own energy. Atomic energy factory is going to be built by an American company. I forgot which American company at this point is kind of late here in Poland. Sorry about that. But we realized that there's this undercurrent of thinking that yeah, you know, Russian gas was cheap but we had to cut ourselves off because everybody else was doing it. And we don't want to be subservient to, you know, the Russians in that regard. There's been a lot of talk about buying American freedom Gas, LNG bringing also it from Qatar. But the energy situation in Poland is basically the same as in the rest of Europe. So energy prices have gone up ever since the start of the war. You know, the only sane person in that regard seems to be Viktor Orban who basically plays a really hard hitting game of real politic because not only does it get cheap Russian gas, but he also gets exemptions from the United States to continue buying the cheap Russian gas. That's why I call, you know, Viktor Orban the sort of virtuoso of realism in Europe, which he definitely is. So we're pretty much in the same, you know, bandwagon as the rest of Europe when it comes to energy prices. I was surprised to see, well, not really surprised, but you probably heard the news that one of Volkswagen's sub headquarters was actually closed down recently in Germany, which is like really, Volkswagen is closing down in Germany. The only, the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, sure, more sanctions will definitely resolve this problem. So in general, I guess we would say we have the same problems as the rest of Europe. The real estate market in Poland is actually when it comes to prices in the top five, if not three. So in that regard, the effects of mass immigration unfortunately are hitting us pretty hard. But all in all, I guess we would say same problems, just more of a wider country I guess, at least up until now.
- [46:49]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Yeah.
- [46:50]
Clayton Morris
Dr. Mike Krupa, we hope you have a merry Christmas there. Check out the new Dr. Global podcast which you just launched so people can check that out and subscribe and listen in. And thank you for staying up so late with us there. I think it's like 10:45pm in Warsaw, Poland.
- [47:07]
Dr. Mike Krupa
10:45Pm Indeed. Thank you very much. Also, a blessed and merry Christmas to you guys and for all fans out there. All the information about my new podcast you can find on my Twitter. We launched today our first interview with Professor Richard Sackva. So hope all to see you there and hope we get good interconnectivity with all the anti globalist dissidents out there in the world in the United States. Thanks once again.
- [47:28]
Clayton Morris
Yeah, give them a good follow. Go listen to, like I said, Dr. Mike Krupa, one of the smartest people in Poland. So in the world for that matter. Dr. Krupa, always great to see you. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas.
- [47:38]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Thank you guys. Merry Christmas. Have a good one.
- [47:40]
Clayton Morris
Thanks so much. All right, coming up here, we're going to talk about exactly what Mike was just talking about there with these farmers protests and Volkswagen shutting down, what is happening with Germany as it moves towards collapse? We're very lucky. We've got a great guest here on the show today with today, which is economist Richard Werner joins us today. He's a German economist and the author of the Prince, the Princes of Yen, world renowned economist. So we're going to talk with him in moments.
- [48:04]
Ben
But first, first, speaking of an economy, we want to tell you about our friends at Lear Capital because you know, our economy is being tanked by a war economy. War not only costs lives, families shattered, cities leveled, but it is a theft from the working class. It can only be financed on a perverted economy. We haven't really felt the full scale of just how much that war spending has hit because we have the Federal Reserve to continue to pervert the dollar. But we will. That's it's inevitable. If you listen to our guest earlier, Dr. I'm sorry. Colonel McGregor talked about how we will collapse financially from what we are doing. The dollar, the value of the dollar. Well, that's why investors are looking at US Debt, war spending and the value of the dollar, but also the value of gold and silver, which has held its value and continues to do so because it is a tangible asset. If you would like to learn how to invest in precious metals, it's never been a better time to do it. Go to our friends at Lear Capital to do it. If you go to learn, they can get you a free investor guide. They can start from Wherever you you are, if you understand the classes of bullion, you're good to go. If you don't, you get a full personal 101 class. I suggest you just pick up the phone and call them. Because you can talk about what has happened predictably to the US Dollar. You can talk about why precious metals are holding their value. And you can talk about where you can start personally. You can start in an ira. You can start with cash that you've got on hand. There is a buffet of options, but you never know in until you get started. So call them at 1-800-613-3557 or go to learredacted.com one more time. That's learredacted.com you get your free guide. You can receive up to $15,000 in free bonus medals with a qualified purchase. So one more time, it's 1-800-613-3557 or go to learg.com. where did I get that?
- [50:03]
Clayton Morris
I don't know.
- [50:03]
Ben
I don't know. I'm just. I'm. I'm glitching. I'm having like.
- [50:05]
Clayton Morris
You're glitching?
- [50:06]
Ben
I'm a real person. It's not an AI glitch. You want to pinch me?
- [50:10]
James Fishback
Always.
- [50:11]
Ben
Go ahead.
- [50:11]
Clayton Morris
I always do.
- [50:12]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
Do it.
- [50:13]
Ben
Ow. See, I'm real.
- [50:14]
Clayton Morris
Gold prices today, $4,331 an ounce. And silver price is $65 an ounce. So, you know, the AI. The AI revolution is strong for silver right now. The demand is off the charts, that is for sure. Okay, let's talk about Europe. The collapse of Europe, the Collapse of Germany. 1010s of thousands of European farmers have had enough with the leadership in Brussels. I don't know if you've been paying attention to what's happening in Brussels today, what's happening in France. It's happening really all over Europe. We were there, of course, of course, in Berlin, covering the farmers protest in Berlin when It was like 10 degrees or 20 degrees below zero. And those farmers were out there saying, we've had enough farmers this afternoon actively trying to smash into EU headquarters through police barricades, tear gas being thrown at them. Watch this. Want to move to Europe. These globalist tyrants.
- [51:32]
Ben
Romantic notion, isn't it?
- [51:33]
Clayton Morris
Right? Want to sit there and sip your coffee in the plaza.
- [51:37]
Ben
Speaking of people who have done that and learned the hard way.
- [51:40]
Clayton Morris
Yeah, exactly. Meanwhile, Germany, fully heading towards collapse. Volkswagen announcing their first ever production closure at a German plant. Yeah, Volkswagen. I mean, that's like saying McDonald's is closing down. There in the United States, I mean, Volkswagen, you don't get more German than that. World renowned economist Richard Werner joins us today. He is a German economist and the author of Princes of Yen. You may have caught him on Tucker Carlson's show. There is the COVID of the book, the Princes of Yen, Japan's Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy. And we're thrilled to have Richard here on the show. Thank you so much for being here.
- [52:16]
Richard Werner
Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. I'm a great fan of your show, so it's great to be with you.
- [52:22]
Clayton Morris
Well, thank you so much. And we are humbled by your presence, of course. I guess first maybe let's talk about these farmers and what they're demanding and what is happening there. And then I want to shift to Germany. If you can give us your sense of how big is this and how devastating is this.
- [52:43]
Richard Werner
It's been an ongoing struggle and it's good that the farmers continue to fight and they haven't given up. Essentially, the war on farmers and therefore the war on European natural food has been ongoing for many years. It continues across the eu, but also in, you know, in neighboring places like the United Kingdom, where they from next year they'll have actually the new inheritance tax, which will essentially disown farmers and take the land when, you know, the father dies and the son wants to take over. Well, it won't be possible. They'll have to pay so much inheritance tax in Europe. In the eu, the list of grievances is very long and it includes, you know, all these measures that are forced on the population under the banner of saving the planet, saving the climate. There's too many particular chemicals being produced, whether it's cows and, you know, their emissions, as they say, or nitrogen and so on. So in some countries within the eu, they're more advanced in the implementation of this because sometimes on the national level, within the eu, you've got a little bit of leeway to delay the dictates coming from Brussels. But on the other hand, some countries are very much ahead, like the Netherlands, which is why there in particular, the farmers seem to have been quite badly affected and they've been battling against this. It seems that the clear plans to essentially more or less expropriate them, drive them off their farms under all sorts of excuses, climate, and then have big housing estates to house all sorts of, you know, new settlers from outside the EU and all sorts of, you know, all these 15 minute cities, digital prison systems, basically. It's very hard to, to even Understand the real logic, because it just seems to be anti farms and anti food production in Europe. And that is very worrying because if anything, in this day and age where we, we do have wars, there's war in Europe, you want to increase your autoche, you know, the degree to which yourself is self sufficient in producing your food at home, but the EU seems to be doing the opposite. So on all fronts, it really doesn't make sense, except if you wanted to cause chaos. And of course, that's really the segue to the general picture. I mean, the economic decisions made in the EU in the last five years, but particularly the last three years, have been so disastrous and they're adding another disaster and you think it can't get worse, then they decide to make things worse. Just like, you know, the last week again, the announcement that, okay, from 2020, whatever their current deadline is, 26, 27 by the end of 26, will stop entirely imports of any Russian energy at the moment. Still, you know, Western Europe is reliant on Russian energy. Even though they had already cut this back and it's hurt the economy very badly, they want to reduce that even further. So the measures essentially add up to economic mayhem and the deindustrialization of Europe, while at the same time also the agricultural sector is being taken down.
- [56:29]
Ben
It seems to me now we lived five years in Portugal, that the average European understands that the European Union continues to make their life harder through bureaucracy, through requirements. And they can go on the news and they can and say things like, fight against terrorism, fight against Russia, you know, unprovoked war, the planet, the economy. And only idiot expats buy that. And it's the people there who are international living who are like, oh yeah, Europe, they're so great, they're doing really great things. But the average European understands that this just makes their life harder and more expensive. And I feel a lot of times they're just up against a wall to stop it. But last week they rolled back some regulations requiring only electric cars. And I saw that as progress, as an admission that they know this will grind the economy to a halt. They can't just do it because it looks good on the news. Am I wrong to take some optimism from that? Is there, is there adults in the room?
- [57:35]
Richard Werner
It is a tiny bit of a silver lining. Of course they still have their goals. You see, they're just saying, okay, well, we'll be less strict. We'll only enforce 90% of those anti combustion engine measures and there will be allowed to be 10% left of combustion engines by that deadline. Previously it was 100% gone, now 90% is to be gone. So it's not much, but it is a silver lining, it's true. And of course it was the automobile industry lobbying hard because it's quite blatant that people don't want the electric cars. The costs are enormous, the environmental burden is enormous. And also, mind you, people starting to realize that the whole thing was a con from the, from the beginning because not, not just because, you know, CO2 being made into this artificial enemy. And then, you know, if that was consistently applied, then you'd, you'd actually admit that when you manufacture these, these cars and they're huge and heavy batteries and all the, you know, the resources and minerals you need to make those batteries and the CO2 emissions in the process. So that never made sense. But on top of that, the fact that everyone can calculate is, see, if everyone actually did switch to electric cars, there just isn't enough electricity for everyone to drive. Now that tells you something, you see. What does it tell you? And I always tell people that, you know, you need to consider the Soviet Union as the model. And the EU has been modeled on the Soviet Union on so many levels, but they includes these strange policies.
- [59:15]
James Fishback
You think?
- [59:16]
Richard Werner
So what is that policy about? That's strange? Well, think Soviet Union. So in the Soviet Union they had cars? Oh yes, they had cars. Well, to be precise, the elite had cars. The communist cadre, the top people they were driving in cars. And everyone else, well, public transport, you see, and this is what it's going to be about because basically there is not enough electricity. And that's not going to change in the next five years. And therefore what they really want, they want to take away individual mobility and then force people, the majority, to be reliant on public transportation. And of course the investment in public transport has been tiny, negligible, nothing compared to what China has been doing. Very impressive public infrastructure. So it's not as if there are real alternatives. So really they're just going to restrict mobility of people full stop and only a small elite will then be left with these high tech, digital controlled cars. And so that seems to be the plan. There's no other rational explanation because literally they're still pushing ahead despite the mayhem this is causing to the economy. One of the strengths of the European economy has been the automobile sector and they're literally destroying that, taking down, de industrializing. And for what? For people then not to have cars, you see, because not everyone will be able to drive electric Cars. Now how is all this possible? To have these Soviet style rationing systems of austerity, belt tightening and scarcity being imposed when really we could be in a world of abundance. It's possible only in what the Soviet Union showed us, a dictatorship. Now that shouldn't surprise anyone because literally the European Union has been created modeled on the Soviet Union as a dictatorship. And this is very easy to prove. Now the Soviet Union claimed to be a democracy. You know, if you go back and read contemporary accounts of themselves, well, we're a democracy. Why? Look, we have a parliament. The Soviet Union had a parliament, but everyone would point out and everyone would know, well, it's a sham rubber stamp parliament because the, the, the laws weren't written by the parliamentarians, they weren't lawmakers. You know, we call a member of Congress, member of parliament, we call it a lawmaker. Well that's not the case in the Soviet Union because they had no power to propose any law. They were all written in the unelected dictatorial Politburo, the communist Carter. And that's exactly the model that was used when the European Union was created. The design was done by the CIA. They were always jealous of all the centralized power. They love central planning while the Soviet Union have all this central planning. We'd love to have this. And they, you know, these documents have been declassified. All the founding fathers of the European Union were CIA agents. John Monet, Schumann, Spaak, all on the CIA payroll. The so called European Movement, a political organization and its subsidiary, the European Youth Movement. European Youth Movement. 100% funded by the CIA. This is a matter of public record. The CIA documents have been declassified. That's how it all started. And the goal was to make this a dictatorial system whereby the deep state could pull the levers and where you centralize control in all of Europe. You know, when Kissinger said, when I.
- [62:49]
Dr. Mike Krupa
Call Europe, who do I call?
- [62:52]
Richard Werner
You know, he was saying, I don't want to make 28 phone calls. And of course when he makes the call, he doesn't want to debate. He's going to place an order and you've got to do it. That's the idea and that's what Brussels is. So we have a European Parliament, but it's a sham. I mean they get showered with money. It's ridiculous. When you look into how much money they get for doing nothing. They have not proposed a single law because they cannot. All laws are written, drafted by the unelected Politburo called the European Commission. And it's a Rubber stamp parliament. So it's like the Soviet Union, literally. That's the setup on purpose. Now, that's how you can when you then have the wrong guys at the top. And, you know, we haven't really been blessed with great people leading this. You can impose deindustrialization, creating recessions on purpose, belt tightening, implementing agendas under the label of protecting the environment and saving the planet, which are actually quite nonsensical, don't make scientific sense. And of course, we saw under Covid how this works and how much the European Commission centrally imposed all those measures. That's how you can do it. Otherwise it wouldn't be possible. Because as you say, you know, Natalie, ordinary people are aware, they're suffering, but there's nothing you can do because already sovereignty has been delegated up from the state level, where, you know, there are real parliaments, although, you know, in many countries there's also issues there. But still, at least you have elections and you have parliaments, unlike, you know, whether the lawmakers have been elected, unlike on the European level. And it's been delegated to this centralized dictatorship which has been bossing everyone around it. Nobody voted, for example, for the EU 11 years ago to open the borders and invite millions, tens of millions of people from outside the eu, from, you know, very different cultures to come and settle. And now they all complain, oh, we have a housing problem, there's a housing shortage. Oh, prices are going up, everything is getting more expensive. And of course, then together with these other disastrous policies, it's a very bleak situation.
- [65:15]
Clayton Morris
Talk about Germany. Now, we've been talking about Europe at large, the European Union, but of course, we saw just this week, this is just, I think, maybe a metaphor for the broader issues inside of Germany, which is the collapse, the closing of Volkswagen. They're announcing their first ever production closure at a German plant, which on the surface, who cares? But it is the iconic German brand Volkswagen. But it's really indicative of the larger problems we saw, I think, with bff, like a whole bunch of other German companies. Also energy problems. How bad is it in Germany and is it truly facing an economic collapse?
- [65:54]
Richard Werner
It is very bad. I mean, just briefly on Volkswagen, first, the bigger bad news was a little while ago when they announced that they were going to cut 35,000 stocks. The Dresden plant that they're now closing completely is part of the deal they're doing with the unions, Germany's, you know, strong unions, to maintain at least, you know, employment in the other plants. You know, it's not. It wasn't it was never their major plant, but it is, it is the first time that Volkswagen is retreated. It is the largest European car manufacturer, one of the largest in the world. But of course all these things soon become history because in the last 10 years Germany has lost competitiveness on every level and China is advancing rapidly and the economic decisions have been just very disastrous on every front. So Germany is now in a very bad situation. It's not just the brand names you mentioned, basf, big companies in trouble, Volkswagen, but it is actually the hundreds of thousands, in fact millions of small and medium sized enterprises that are also in dire straits. Now they don't make headlines but you do see it in local newspapers. And almost every week I get a, you know, get a news flash. This and this 300 year old company, this company that was founded in the 17th century is now closing. That company, that bakery which was around for 250 years is closing. That brewery that was around for 400 years is closing. That's what we've been getting for months now and it's getting worse. So bankruptcies are rising, unemployment is rising, there is poverty of the elderly, we've got homelessness problem. I mean it's never been the case since the, the early post war years that it be people on the streets in Germany. But that's now happening. These are the indigenous people because you know those they import, they get nice hotels of course. So it's all a very strange situation that doesn't make sense and is entirely avoidable. These are policy results. Germany is now in this year going to be in the third year of economic contraction that I mean to some countries, you know, this sort of thing can perhaps happen. But in Germany the last time this happened was in 1933 and I think you will know that this wasn't a good year and the sort of big changes that resulted from such a dire recession. But the bad news is that this is still just the beginning because it's going to get even much worse. Because behind all this what is still brewing under the surface and that's going to erupt possibly in another year's time or one and a half years time, these things are slowly brewing is a banking crisis. We're heading into a banking crisis because what has happened is, and you again see the European level coordination going on here. The European Central bank, the ECB had been doing what I've been warning about also in Princes of Yen, there's a chapter in there where already in 2003 I warned the ECB, this new central bank sadly is going to implement very, for these and these reasons, a very disastrous policy is going to create bank credit driven credit bubbles, asset bubbles, followed by banking crises, recessions and vast unemployment. And the ECB immediately went about doing this from 2004 to 2009. First starting in the periphery, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece. That erupted completely 2010 11, major, major crisis, vast unemployment in Spain, youth unemployment 50% Greece, 50% youth unemployment, Greece. Then in a recession for a decade, Japanese style. You know, the book is on Japan, but I'm saying the ECB is just copying the script of the bank of Japan which was to first have a bubble. And it's, you know, it's very easy for everyone to accept this. And for politicians, everyone's happy, everyone's doing well, they're all making money, tax revenues are rising, but it's a trick. And the central banks very good at doing this. And the ECB is just literally following the bank of Japan's blueprint. And then of course you have this long recession which is also unnecessary. I showed when I made my proposal of quantitative easing, which I propose as a new monetary policy in Japan in 1995, that you don't need this even once you've had all this disaster, you can get out of it very quickly at zero cost to the taxpayer. QE1 is the central bank buys non performing assets from banks and therefore cleans up bank balance sheets. No tax money used. It's just an accounting adjustment you're doing, no other costs. It doesn't weaken the currency, it doesn't create inflation. You can't create inflation with that. Just banking sector internal rearrangement of the numbers. But an important one. The Fed by the way, did this in 2008. Ben Bernanke, who was part of these debates in the 90s in Japan and he implemented my QE1 proposal. That's why America was first to get out of the 2008 banking crisis which started in America. But America was out of it first because of that. And then my second proposal is QE2, which is the central bank buys performing assets from non banks. And that's a rare thing. And it happens perhaps once a century usually that central banks even deal with non banks. They don't normally deal with non banks. You know, the central bank deals with the banks, but this is a way to force banks to create money. When the central bank goes out and buys assets from the rest of the economy and then instructs the banks to pay people, they create the new deposits, they get reserves booked into their accounts at the central bank and you boost the money supply massively in one go. Now for years, in fact decades, the bank of Germany, bank of Japan have been telling me, oh this proposal, you know, this is impossible. We wouldn't be able to do that, can't be done. Well, suddenly in 2020, March 2020, the Federal Reserve did it and all the central banks did it. So of course they knew how to do it. And that's why we had 18 months later the inflation. Now so back to Europe in the ecb. So first they created inflation, then they claim, oh, it's come from nowhere. Remember when they said this? It's come from nowhere, created by the central banks. And the ECB basically has been implementing a two stage program. The first wreck the periphery and they want to be a fair central bank. So it's now the turn of the center. Germany and other countries, Austria in the center they created an asset bubble starting from 2009. So this basically starting later where the others were moving to recession. Then the asset bubble started in Germany. Property, real estate, going through the roof between 2009 and 2022 that's when it was time for the ECB to change tack, tighten and credit creation was withdrawn. Asset prices have been falling since and that's how you bust the banking system. Then you can have a very long recession as they did in Japan. 20 year recession. Of course that's also a good moment if you want to introduce central bank digital controls. Cbdc, Central bank digital control, they call it currency, but it's not because when you have a banking crisis, that's the ideal moment. You appear as the savior that created the crisis of course, but they will pretend that's the solution. And also people will start to worry about the banks and then will be happy to move their money from the banks to the central bank and the banking system is gone. Now Germany has been successful for 200 years because it's had the largest number of banks in Europe by far, thousands of banks, way more than everyone else. And the majority, 80% of them are small local banks lending to the millions of small local enterprises. So most of the German exports, which are very strong, have been a big part of that. A much larger partner in other countries being small firms, family owned businesses exporting globally. And that's been possible because they've got a local community bank that's lending only to the local firms in the local area. And that's been the core of German economic strength. And the ECB has been working on destroying that with this asset bubble. There never was an asset bubble before the ECB under the Bundesbank. You know, no asset bubble, no banking crisis. But the ECB comes in and as I want, that's the first thing they wanted to do first in the periphery and now in Germany. So that's also going to happen in a few years time. And so you have that on top. So it's going to be even worse. But of course these things are avoidable. And I think one important thing is for people to realize that what we need to demand from people is from politicians and decision makers is better economic policies that deliver prosperity. I just finished a detailed substack reports on China. You know, China proves that you can have fantastic economic growth and wealth creation, high economic growth. And some people say growth is bad for the environment. No, it's not. Economic growth is a statistical fiction. It's a measure of how well we're doing okay. And so because you know, you can protect the environment better if you're doing well and everyone is doing well and earning money and having more resources. So it's not, you know, growth is not the enemy of the environment. I think it's the other way around. And so how did China do that? Well, I write about in detail in the substack r.werner.substack.com Japan was really the first country to adopt this high growth model in East Asia and Korea, other places, Singapore, Taiwan. And then from 1978, China literally copied the core system. And it's based on thousands of banks. I mean, when Deng Xiaoping became leader in China, he went to Japan, he was very humble there and he said, I've come here as a student. Please tell me the secret of your high economic growth. We've been poor and they had of course bad decisions. Mao, communism, disaster, millions dead. It's time to have some prosperity. And the Japanese took pity. He asked them, you know, tell me what is the secret? And they told him. And of course one thing they asked him. So how many banks do you have? Oh, you've got one bank. The Stalinist central planning model. Not a good idea for what, 700 million people at the time, now more than a billion. You need thousands of banks. And he understood it and he went back, he created 5,000 banks, small banks, local banks, mainly lending to small local firms. That's been the German model. That's originally where Japan had it from. And that's what we can demand. We just need different policies. There's no need for recession and disaster in Germany or anywhere actually, if we have the right Policies, we can get prosperity. Right.
- [77:40]
Ben
It just doesn't feel like there's anybody who really wants that. We did a piece a few months ago about the 2 trillion euro budget that Ursula von der Leyen. No one's there to push back. She's like, I'm having this. Here we go. We're ready for war. We're going to spy on your devices. We're putting new taxes. It's just. I'm doing it. I can't believe what the Europeans are being subjected to. Thank you for pointing that out. I hadn't previously seen the parallel between the Soviet Union and the European Union, but I can so clearly. So thank you for that.
- [78:13]
Richard Werner
It is, and you're right, this rearm program is officially called rearm. This rearm program. And the reason why nobody is really pushing against is because she's the dictator. She is a dictator. Constitutionally. Just look at the powers and countries. Governments have delegated away their sovereignty to the dictator. Of course, if they wanted to challenge this, they could. And this is what's happening in some countries, like Hungary, Slovakia and perhaps some others beginning to ask questions. Do we really want to have this strange constitutional dictatorship running us? And of course, obviously, when the leadership is particularly bad, that's when it's most obvious that this is not a good idea. Because then it's very hard to stop this. That's what the current problem is. So some change in this constitution of Europe is absolutely necessary. And I think what really people want is, you know, French people want to be French, Italians want to be Italians, Germans want to be Germans. And that's what we love about Europe. You know, we want the Italians to be Italian. You know, that makes it so interesting, Europe, that there are all these different cultures and nationalities. We don't want it all in some kind of strange mixture. And so really what people signed up for and what people thought they're getting is this, you know, Europe of nations where people have a free trade area, free movement of goods and services and people within that, but everyone is still in charge of their country. People have different national interests and emphases and priorities, and that's good and they should be allowed to do that. And so this was actually in case. This was the case until 1992. But then the Maastricht Treaty was signed. The end of 92 came, effective 1993 as a treaty. And the trick was always that they planned 10 years ahead. So all the measures then were implemented 10 years later. Well, effectively 2002, with the ECB. That's a big part of the Mastery Treaty and ever closer union. Because from 92 onwards, it became the CIA goal of creating, if you read up what the CIA was actually planning, United States of Europe, really one single state where France disappears, Germany disappears. It's just the eu, but not democratic. And how does that make sense? How can democratic countries say, okay, we'll sort of merge together and we'll become undemocratic, a dictator. Nobody would have signed up to that if they made it clear it was done by stealth and deception. But that is the system. If you look at it, you know, it's, in many ways, it's absolutely not a secret. It's, you know, it's all published. All their plans are out there. That is the problem. We have a dictatorship at hand.
- [81:15]
Ben
Gosh, thank you for laying that out. It's been absolutely a pleasure to have you on redacted for the first time. I hope it's not the last. I've been excited to hear your analysis.
- [81:23]
Richard Werner
It'd be a pleasure to do.
- [81:24]
Ben
The book is Princes of Yen. And you can go to professorwerner.org if you'd like to learn more about his work. So thank you again, sir, and Merry Christmas to you.
- [81:34]
Clayton Morris
Thank you so much.
- [81:35]
Richard Werner
Thanks very much. Merry Christmas.
- [81:37]
Clayton Morris
Merry Christmas. I know it's late there in Hungary. Thank you so much. All right, well, coming up, we're going to speak to a gubernatorial candidate who is running for governor of Florida. He says no to Israeli policies in Florida. Imagine that, putting Floridians first over Israel. Come on. Not in this day and age. But we're going to hear from him. But first, ladies and gentlemen, our world is being poisoned. Every day we're exposed to more chemicals sprayed into our sky, leaching into our food and polluting our air and water. From pesticides, heavy metals to hormone disruptors and synthetic additives, these toxins are bombarding our bodies silently and destroying our health. But there is something you can do to fight back. And it starts in your gut. Kimchi One from Bright Core Nutrition contains over 900 strains of beneficial probiotics that help out, flush talk, help flush toxins out of your body, restore gut bacteria balance and support your immune system. The best part right now, Kimchi One is all natural, non GMO, dairy free, and it's 100 made in the USA. So you can get 25 off again. I take this every day. Absolutely love it. I'm telling you, this could be a game changer for your life. Just give it a shot and you get 25 off. If you just go to their website, mybrightcore.com redacted. But if you want to get 50, 50% off and free shipping, call them at 888-404-6312 for up to 50% off and free shipping. Again, call them to get 50% off. And by the way, right now they're also giving away a bottle of vitamin D3 if you call them for free. So mybrightcore.com redacted and you call them 888-404-6312 for 50% off AM and free shipping.
- [83:22]
Ben
Well, earlier today I spoke with James Fishbeck. He is going viral as possibly a new voice in the Republican Party. He's running for governor of Florida in 2026 and he's rejecting AIPAC money. He's rejecting the Israel first platform. We discussed why he won't take APAC funding and his stance on a potential war with Venezuela. Watch. James Fishback has gone viral for this new ad. He may just be the voice of the next generation of Republicans. He's running for governor in Florida. He is not an Israel first candidate. He is presumably a real American first candidate. Let's hear this ad and hear what that sounds like.
- [84:03]
James Fishback
Is Netanyahu a war criminal? Did Israel commit genocide? If you say either of those statements in public, you could be convicted of anti Semitism, criticizing a foreign government or any government is always protected under our constitution. Our founding fathers fought and died for that right. And I'll never let anyone steal it from you. My name is James Fishback and I'm running for Florida governor because Florida is our home, America is our birthright, and we can criticize whom we please.
- [84:35]
Ben
All right. Well, independent thinkers are excited about that ad. They're excited to hear someone say this. That's why we wanted to talk to Mr. Fishback himself. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [84:45]
James Fishback
My pleasure.
- [84:46]
Ben
So Ron DeSantis has been an incredibly popular governor because he stands for a lot of liberties. But one in Florida, they have gone so far beyond just expressing support for Israel, but to penalize people who boycott Israel, who express any kind of division against Israel. Universities, state, contracts, state can be denied on political speech. So it's important to say this, unfortunately. So tell us about this journey, how you got here and how most of us may have missed these civil liberties that have been denied to Floridians.
- [85:22]
James Fishback
Well, it all starts with a man named Randy Fine who took the travesty that was October 7th and it should be unequivocally condemned. Hamas is a terrorist organization. The innocent killing of civilian life on October 7 was wrong. But when we look at that travesty and say, use that as a pretext to steamroll our civil liberties in Florida, that is wrong as well. And so Randy Fine teamed up with Republicans and Democrats in the state House and passed a bill that would make it a crime, make it punishable, if you were to commit antisemitism. Now, I think most people are against anti Semitism if you define it as the hatred of anyone based on their religion, whether that's Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. The problem is the definition of antisemitism in Florida state statute 10105 includes criticism of Israel. Now, granted, it is not punishable to criticize Sudan or China or Qatar or Saudi Arabia or any other country, with one exception, and that is Israel.
- [86:27]
Ben
And I got to tell you, or the United States. You can't say United States.
- [86:30]
James Fishback
I mean, our, our founding fathers, Natalie, they fought and died for our First Amendment right to criticize our government. And yet that right somehow does not apply to the Israeli government. And whether you are supportive or against what is happening right now between Israel and Hamas, that is irrelevant. It's. It's a first principles issue. Are you on the side of free speech or are you not? And I gotta tell you, I disagree a lot with what my progressive friends say, but I'll always defend their right to say it. And if you want, after your own reflection, if you want to speak up in a college class or in high school and you want to say that Benjamin Netanyahu, in your opinion, is a war criminal, or that Israel has, in fact, committed genocide in Gaza, that is your right to say it. And guess what? The best part of this grand bargain called free speech and open debate is in America, if someone disagrees with you, they refute you, they provide evidence, they don't threaten to punish you. And so I'm running for Florida governor for a lot of reasons, but number one is to stand up for the free speech of folks across my state, especially those that I might disagree, which.
- [87:35]
Ben
Is surprising to have watched this happen in Florida, because in Florida, you had the right to criticize the vaccine and government mandates under the pandemic. And Florida was a leader in that respect. And so to watch this happen in the margins. Now, I look at some of the comments on your video here. I think you have a lot of hasbara bats coming after you and saying, why do you even care about Israel? You're running for governor of Florida. Why are you saying that? And I feel like it's abundantly Clear why you need to say that in the year 2025. What do you think of that?
- [88:11]
James Fishback
I absolutely do. I'm not running to be Secretary of State or a diplomat to a foreign country, but I'm running to represent 23 and a half million people in a state that my family has known for four generations. And I'm always going to defend their right to speak out against whatever the case may be. I'm grateful that Governor DeSantis has been a free speech governor when it comes to the vaccine mandates. When it came to the issues of COVID he defended the ability for folks to express real frustration about election, election integrity. And we have to continue that legacy of our governor on every single issue. There is no exception to the First Amendment. The First Amendment is clear as day that we cannot infringe on the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. And so it matters because when you have a state that is actively trying to punish people for disagreeing with a foreign government, that is not a state in which you can have intellectual honesty, in which you can use open debate and free speech to pursue truth. I was a high school debate kid many, many mo ago, and I had a lot of opinions that I don't have today. And I don't have those opinions because my high school debate coach threatened to hit me. She did. But I had those opinions disabused because I was in an open debate with a lot of my classmates who were a bit more conservative than me at the time and got me to change my opinion on things through that process of evidence, of empirical analysis, of the back and forth of refutation. And we should all welcome that. I'm running for governor, do a lot, but free speech is one of them. And number two is helping the next generation be like Charlie Kirk, be open to debate. You can disagree with Charlie on a number of issues. I had my own personal disagreements with him on some issues. I respected the heck out of him. He was a friend of mine. But what he stood for was using debate as a means of both truth seeking and unity. Because, Natalie, we can't come together as a country in a fake, superficial, kumbaya way. We need to sit across from one another, have some real tough discussions, and even if we don't agree, we should be able to shake hands with our fellow American and say, I still respect.
- [90:07]
Ben
The heck out of you right now. One of the things we saw in the 2024 red wave led by Donald Trump is that so many independents felt encouraged by the Trump platform, which was anti war, which was free speech, which was. I mean, that's what they thought. Right. And so then the Trump administration comes into office and bombs Iran on behalf of Israel and shows unwavering support for Israel, even, you know, in the wake of what is quite damning. And independents feel very betrayed by that. And they're saying, well, then I guess I have to go back to Democrats. And so we see this flip flop is whoever's pro war loses the next election. And then, oh, that incumbent party is pro war too. Fooled us. And then we go back to the other, and then we're flipping like this. And so what we need and what I think that independents are inspiring by your ad is somebody who's saying, look, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm going to talk to independence as well. We're willing to break with the party. That's that, that's the enthusiasm I see around you. What does that mean to you?
- [91:17]
James Fishback
It means that the Uni Party is really the party in charge. The illusion of choice, this dichotomy between Republican and Democrat is utterly meaningless. Republican support foreign wars, so did the Democrats. Republicans voted in support of the Iraq war. So did the Democrats. Both sides are shills for Ukraine, are shills for all sorts of foreign conflicts around the world that have nothing to do with us. Now, I am an America first conservative. That means I don't want our tax dollars or our men and women in uniform fighting pointless, forever wars in other parts of the world. I got to tell you, the Middle East, Middle east is never going to be largely democratic. Parts of Asia, South Asia, are never going to be largely Democratic. We have to be real about that. And when we do decide to put our men and women in uniform into a conflict, it should be precise, short term and have a very clear interest that is strategic to the United States. Ukraine was not that. Iraq was not that. So much of the foreign conflicts of the last 30, 40 years have not met one, let alone all three of those tests. And so I'm running for governor because there's a real frustration with the Uni Party establishment that pushes for corporatism, that pushes for foreign wars, that wants our aid dollars to go overseas. I don't want our aid dollars to go to Ukraine, Israel, anyone. And it's not out of contempt for Ukraine or Israel. It is out of an unabashed, unapologetic love for our people and our way of life.
- [92:51]
Ben
Okay, I really like what you're saying there. Can you explain then this tweet that you put up about your statement on Venezuela because you have said that you support President Trump's goals in Venezuela and I'm not exactly sure what that means. You just explained that you support short term and precise military action. I haven't seen much of that in the last several decades out of the United States. United States. So what is the template that you would consider a success towards our goals in Venezuela?
- [93:25]
James Fishback
So I want to be clear. Our goal in Venezuela is not to nation build. It is not to send DEI bureaucrats and teach about gender ideology as we did in Afghanistan. Our goal is rooted first and foremost in self defense. Nicolas Maduro is a homicidal dictator who has killed Venezuelans and Americans alike. Natalie this is a guy who exploited the Joe Biden, Kamala Harris open border to send trend to Aragua gang members who took over apartment buildings in Colorado, who trafficked fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs in our communities to poison Americans and raped and murdered our women. This is not out of a desire for a highfalutin goal of democracy. Far away. The effects of what Maduro has done deliberately is affecting folks most right here in my state of Florida. I see it. And we also have a very large migrant population that has come here in the last couple of years leaving Venezuela because of that dictatorship. So what I support, my statement last night is very clear. I do not support a forever war. I do not support nation building. I do not support anything longer than a short term operation to remove Maduro from power. For one reason and one reason only. This guy has been consistently been a threat to the United States. States, unlike Saddam Hussein, unlike Vladimir Putin, unlike all of these other foreign conflicts in the Middle east has been a direct threat, not hypothetically, but empirically. And then secondarily we have over 100,000 Venezuelan migrants living right here in Florida. Let's give them a country they can move back to so we can re migrate them out of here whether they want to or not. It's time for them to go. And so I am against foreign wars, I am against, against military intervention that leads to nation building. But as America first, I think we have to recognize this old principle of the Monroe Doctrine. We have to own what happens in our hemisphere principally because what happens in Venezuela is directly affecting communities right here in my state of Florida.
- [95:24]
Ben
I guess I'm not quite clear on. You don't support regime change, but you do support Maduro being out of power. Now in 2019, the Trump administration indicted the Bill Barr justice administration indicted Maduro. That didn't seem to do much. And then the Biden administration tried to create gas deals with Maduro, you know, so our foreign policy has not been consistent with Venezuela at all. You know, I would like to believe that this is something that the Venezuelan people can handle. And I hear what you're saying in that this type of corruption is insurmountable, but at the same time, we don't have a template for having done this well. And I just don't have the confidence that it's any of our business. I think, and I'll just tell you what I think and then you can respond to this, please, that a strong national guard, you know, defending our borders, defending our own coastline might be a better idea than going abroad and making a muck of this again. Would you like to respond to that? And I don't. We're having a dialogue. I'm not telling you what to say, to say or what to think. I hope that's clear.
- [96:28]
James Fishback
No, Natalie, I appreciate the pushback, I do. And this is why it's so important that we have free speech and open debate. You and I are both criticizing the Venezuelan government. If we were criticizing the Israeli government, we could be in serious trouble right now. And so I'm glad that this is an example of what the kind of things that need to happen with respect to free speech in our state is. So I'll give you one example. It there are drug cartels in Mexico right now that are producing fentanyl laced counterfeit pills that are taking the lives of 200Americans every single day. I've met with the angel moms, that young kid named Luca from Southern California. I met with his mom, Amanda. And this was a kid who went on Snapchat because he had a toothache after a root canal, thinking he was going to buy some weed. That Snapchat dealer ended up selling him what he thought was a Percocet on the illusion that it would take away the pain. And it turned out to be fully fentanyl. And Luca died that night. And his mother, the last time she saw him was in a body bag. Those are the kind of drugs that are coming across our southern border from Mexico, but also from Venezuela. And so if we had a clear way to eliminate that threat, whether that is in Mexico by bombing cartels with strategic strikes, or it is in Venezuela, then we should absolutely take that opportunity because of the clear damage, the clear death and destruction it's having to our communities. We're losing 100,000 people to drug overdoses every single year in the United States. A lot of that blame goes to Mexico. A lot of that blame goes to China, but a lot of it also goes to Maduro, who's directly profiting off this narco trafficking. So if I want to be really specific about what this looks like, I think it's a strategic airstrike on wherever Maduro is hiding out. Take him out and allow the democratically elected government to hold elections within 30 days. Venezuela has proven itself to be a prosperous country. There are not armed militia as there are in Iraq or Syria. This is a real country with real people who are predominantly Christian and I think they'll be able to take things from here. I would not have supported this four years ago because I think there was a real chance the Venezuelan people could have taken it on themselves. They haven't been able to. And also we're really seeing the drugs continue to pour out of Venezuela. We have to tackle that head on. Being America first means defending against American citizens here in our soil. And Maduro continues to pose a threat against that.
- [98:50]
Ben
But. Well, I mean, I guess some of the research from the State Department shows that a lot of the drugs to Venezuela go to Africa and Europe. And now we are starting to get some components of fentanyl from India as well. So it seems like such a web to tackle with just one person. I suppose what I would want to ask you is I think that politicians need to understand right now if is the American people don't believe justifications for war anymore and the burden of proof is high. I was shocked to see the Trump administration name fentanyl weapons of mass destruction because I was like, shouldn't we retire that term given that it's code to us for war lies. So I guess I wanna ask you, how do you think the American government can meet the burden of proof now that we understand that the web of drugs is wide and far. We need proof to know that we're killing bad guys and we just are not getting it. And so it's feeding an anti war faction. Right. And I think that that's encouraging. So that's, that's maybe something I want to ask about.
- [100:00]
James Fishback
Well, I think you're spot on, Natalie. The frustration with war stems from Iraq. It stems from 20 years of so called nation building where Joe Biden pulled us out in disgrace. But I think Americans have rightly noted that there is a time and for strategic strikes against our adversary. And I think most Americans, especially in the America first coalition would support drone strikes against cartel members in Mexico who are trafficking in this poison with respect to weapons of mass destruction, probably could have been worded better given how that was used to push the slanderous lie that got us into Iraq by Colin Powell. But to tell you the truth, fentanyl is killing more people in a day than a nuclear weapon has killed Americans in the last 50 years, which is to say none. And yet fentanyl is killing 200American citizens every single day. That is a real threat. Those trend Iragua gang members who were deliberately released by the Maduro regime in 2022 and 2023, they definitely took over an apartment building, even though the fake news media tried to hide it. They later retracted it and actually reported on the fact that a Venezuelan gang was released from prisons in Venezuela by the Maduro regime that came here, took over apartment buildings, extorted people and raped and killed women. So that's a pretty high burden of proof. And I express the frustrations because I'm in that camp as well about what happened in Iraq, about what happen in Afghanistan, and obviously what happened with the so called Arab Spring, the Democracy Fest of 2011. That was lie. And of course Ukraine. But I do think that there is a time and place to use strategic military action, not war, not putting troops on the ground, strategic military action to eliminate a proximate threat and then letting the cards fall as they may. And again, this is not. Iraq has never really been a genuine democracy. Afghanistan hasn't even really been a genuine country, to tell you the truth. But Venezuela has a proven track record as one of the most prosperous countries in the Western hemisphere prior to Maduro and Chavez. They'll be able to revert back. There are no armed militias. So we're not suggesting that this is a war. The only thing I would support is President Trump doing a short term strategic strike to remove the Maduro regime and his generals that have already, that have already sent really bad hombres into our country to rape, to kill, to hijack buildings and to poison our communities with drugs. We have a legitimate, clear, direct, undeniable national interest in stopping drugs and gang members from pouring into our country. And then lastly, I'll tell you, I grew up in Florida and so I know a lot of these Venezuelans who fled the Maduro regime. They're not like the Haitians, they're not like the Afghanis who come here and take advantage and act like parasites. They genuinely want to go back to their country. If this regime is removed, they can't.
- [102:42]
Ben
Get a passport, their infrastructure is imploded. They're.
- [102:46]
James Fishback
Well, correct. And that's, and that's a direct Result of the Maduro regime being utterly incompetent and having starved Venezuelan people and its infrastructure to line their own pockets. I do think this is, this is much different than what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although of course I know and acknowledge the skepticism. There is a high burden of proof. But ask the trend Iragua gang members and the folks that they terrorized in Colorado know what the burden of proof is. Ask the angel moms all over Florida who have lost a loved one because of fentanyl where the proof is. There is a high burden of proof. You and I agree on that, Natalie. I think that burden has been met. It would not have been met in Afghanistan, not been met in Iraq, certainly not met in the money laundering scheme that is Zelensky and Ukraine, but it has been met here. The United States should do a short term strategic strike to eliminate Maduro to stop the flow of drugs and gang members into our country.
- [103:35]
Richard Werner
Country.
- [103:36]
Ben
I want to ask you about intelligence though, because we have known at least since the 70s from journalists such as Alfred McCoy, the, the, his great whistleblowing book the Politics of heroin, the CIA's complicity in the drug trade. We know that we are not innocent. And so this is playing out like another. Saddam Hussein was an ally of the CIA. Oh no, he's the. We've seen this before, right. And so I don't know that we can use the military to fix what we have already perverted through back intelligence channels. So that my opinion about it and please respond is that you can't fix the, you know, you can't put a band aid on this until you treat the infection. And we need to look at how much of our deep state has been complicit in the drug trade before we just go and take out a symbol of it. And that's something that any rising politician has to be able to answer for. So what do you think of that?
- [104:39]
James Fishback
I think you're absolutely right. Actually. Let me give you this example. Say someone is carjacking someone and that the individual who is the culprit is a black male. And in that moment were saying, no, don't shoot. He's got a gun, but don't shoot because of the root causes. I actually disagree with a lot of people in my party that there aren't root causes to black crime. I think there are. I think the number one is the lack of fathers in the homes, the epidemic of fatherlessness in the black community. So you can agree on both things that there's a lack of fathers in the black community. And that is a root cause. But in the moment, the black guy who has a gun pointed at the woman who is carjacking needs to be shot, shot dead to defend this woman and her kids. Just like the CIA and the Deep State have propped up, these regimes have gotten their hands dirty over the last 50 years. Doesn't negate the fact that there is a proximate threat that needs to be neutralized. I want there to be a complete declassification of every CIA operation in South America, especially those working with the governments of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Nicaragua. Their involvement in narco trafficking and working both sides, both sides of the aisle in Congress, but also both sides of these conflicts in our own hemisphere. That needs to happen, Natalie. But that should not take away from the fact that you have a homicidal dictator who isn't just killing his own people, but is killing our people by sending gang members to our country, sending drugs to our country. That is something we can deal with while also being very honest about the CIA and the Deep State's operation to infiltrate foreign government governments and weaponize them against American citizens.
- [106:19]
Ben
I want to keep talking to you. We will do this, and our viewers can see this later on the show. But for today, there's just one more question I'd like you to answer for our audience. It has to do with not being backed by aipac. Now, your opponent in the race next year will be backed by aipac. He has one of those red full screens. If we can put this on the screen later, how much he's taken from aipac. That seems to be a real liability moving into someone who wants to court the next generation of voters. But what kind of brick wall are you up against by refusing?
- [106:55]
James Fishback
Well, wall is an interesting way to frame it.
- [106:57]
Colonel Douglas MacGregor
I guess.
- [106:58]
Ben
So, Yeah. I didn't mean. Pun intended.
- [107:02]
James Fishback
Pun intended. Well, let me say this. My APAC tracker is green. It will always be green. Because I will never take a dollar from any organization that lobbies in the interest of government, as our Lord and Savior commands. In Matthew, chapter six, you cannot serve two masters. I'm running for Florida governor to serve one. And that is the people of my state and American citizens. Not Israel, not Qatar, not China, no one else but Americans. So if that means AIPAC offering me money or a paid trip to Israel, I'm saying no. If that means Qatar, as they did earlier this year, offer me a paid trip trip, that means no. The only trip I'm going to be taking is Florida Governor. My first trip will be to Brazil because they buy $19 billion worth of stuff from Florida. Every single year I want to go there, I want to double that amount and create a thousand great paying jobs for high school grads so they can actually contribute to our state and earn a great income. And so as, as all of this is shaking out, I think we have to be honest that a politician who takes money in the interest of a foreign government is forever tainted and compromised. Even if they don't think they are, they are. And it calls into question who their allegiance is actually being pledged to. I'll never take a dollar from aipac. I have never taken a dollar from AIPAC because I'm unapologetically America First.
- [108:25]
Ben
Well, you can watch this whole interview over the holiday break. Look for the full conversation with James Fishbeck running to be the next governor of Florida and let me know what you think. Was really excited to talk to him and I think that he'll have a political career that we are going to be watching. So let me know what you think. Hey, thank you so much for watching. This is our last live show for the year of 2025. We'll be back right after the holiday. We have a lot of great content for you over the break. We have a conversation with Dave Smith. We have conversations about, about, oh, is Avatar a CIA plant? What else? We have a lot coming up this weekend. We have a whistleblower from the military who's going to talk about UFOs. It's going to blow your mind. Part one of that is on Friday 19th December. So tune into that. Thank you guys for supporting redacted in the year 2025. It has been an honor to learn alongside of you. We really appreciate you. I wish you the best holiday season can. We can't wait to see you in 2026. Please come back. We love ya. Happy holidays everybody.
- [109:29]
Clayton Morris
If you're a maintenance supervisor for a.
- [109:31]
James Fishback
Commercial property, you've had to deal with.
- [109:33]
Clayton Morris
Everything from leaky faucets to flickering light bulbs. But nothing's worse than that ancient boiler that's lived in the building since the.
- [109:40]
James Fishback
Day it was built 50 years ago.
- [109:42]
Clayton Morris
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- [109:56]
James Fishback
Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [109:59]
Ben
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