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- [00:00]
A
Coming up, Debbie and I are going to talk about what a post socialist Venezuela might look like. An upcoming Israel trip that you are invited to join How Trump rescued a whole bunch of endangered children and Qatar and the Islamic practice of Taqiyyah. If you're watching on x rumble or YouTube, listening on Apple or Spotify, please subscribe to my channel. This is the Dinesh d' Souza Podcast.
- [00:37]
B
America needs this voice. The times are crazy. In a time of confusion, division and lies, we need a brave voice of reason, understanding and truth. This is the Dinesh d' Souza Podcast.
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A
It's time for our Friday roundup and before we get going, I thought I'd mention time is running out to get these DVDs of the Dragon's Prophecy in time for Christmas. So order. Now. You can do it off the film website, which is thedragonsprophecyfilm.com but you know what? The, the DVD is actually back on Amazon. I say back because Amazon does this to people and they did this to us. Right before the holiday, the Thanksgiving holiday, they just suddenly stop making your DVD available. It could be the number, our DVD was the number one DVD in the country. They don't care because they're making so much money that someone, for ideological reasons, I believe, just decides, let's just block this for a while. And so poor Salem was like, you know, beside themselves, trying to get them to essentially just offer it for sale again because it's doing so well. And sometimes when you, you know, you block someone's momentum, it's a little hard to start the car up again. Happily, Amazon relented and after several days, the DVD is back. So take advantage. If you want, you can go straight to Amazon, order the DVD and you'll get it promptly and certainly in time for, for Christmas. Hey, let's talk about why you are in a really good mood these days. Well, you're in a good mood a lot of the time, but you're in especially good mood these days on account of Venezuela.
- [02:27]
C
Okay, I'm going to get really teary eyed because, you know, it's, it's a lot of people don't really understand the whole Venezuela thing. They're like, why do we care about, about Venezuela? What's in it for us? Right, Right. I thought we were America first. And, and I can understand that, you know, especially people that, that are born in America and have like 100% loyalty to America. Not that I don't.
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A
Well, not only that, these people also feel like for a long time they have been pretty Far down on the list of their own government's priorities. And they're right about that.
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C
That is true. Correct. Yes.
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A
So continue.
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C
Yes. And so coming from me, people would go, well, Debbie, you have family in Venezuela. You were born in Venezuela. You talk about Venezuela nonstop. Of course you're excited of what's happen. And, and I am for many, many reasons. So I've been following the. The whole Venezuela thing for over two decades now. And, you know, it was. It. I've also been watching this. This young lady, actually, she's my age, but, you know, Maria Corina, who, who I've become friends with. She's the. The woman that won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. This year. And she was, I thought, the only hope for Venezuela. I thought, oh, my goodness, if, if this woman can become president of Venezuela, it. It will just be, like, amazing.
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A
Right, because it's the hope to rescue the country that has been 25 years in the undoing.
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C
That's right. It has been under. Under siege, really, for 25 years. And. And many people, many young people have no idea what it's like to be free in that country, and they really don't.
- [04:19]
A
Yeah. Well, we were at this Prager University event, and you met this young Venezuelan kid who is making a short film for Prager on why socialism is bad. But you made the comment to me, you were like, it was sort of touching to talk to him because he's never seen a Venezuela that was prosperous and free.
- [04:37]
C
He never has. The Venezuela he was born into, Born in, was already oppressed when he was born.
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A
Yeah. So.
- [04:47]
C
So our experiences are very different. So, anyway, so I have been on this battlefront, I guess, for a long, long time. And in fact, every year ever since Hugo Chavez decided that he was going to stay president, even though he went in there saying he was not going to do that. The first fraudulent election happened in 2020, in 2004, with the. With a recall election that he himself said you can do if you don't feel like I'm doing a good job.
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A
Kick me out, kick me out.
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C
They did. They kicked him out. But he figured a very clever way to make the machine work for him and not for the opposition.
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A
Now, would it be accurate to say that this, today, 2025, right now, is probably the very best opportunity to get a free venezuela since that 2004 window that was brutally shut by the election fraud.
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C
That's right. This is it. This is the moment. Right. Because as you know, during that very tumultuous time, we had Bush and we Had Obama and Bush. And Obama, neither one of them wanted to do anything with Venezuela, even though. Even though under Bush we could have. Right now, he hated Bush, Hugo Chavez hated Bush, loved Obama, if that tells you something right there. But anyway.
- [06:22]
A
But you, you would meet these Venezuelans in America and they would not know how to relate the situation in Venezuela with America. And you would make the point, just look at Hugo Chavez. Does he like the Republicans or does he like the Democrats? And the answer, he likes the Democrats.
- [06:43]
C
Right, right.
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A
So that tells you something.
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C
Yes. I wanted to also make people understand what socialism is and how it creeps up. Right, right. So I decided early on to make a presentation showing the parallels between the Venezuelan left and the American left. And of course, all of the things that have unfolded in the last two decades are very clear as the fact that, yes, you can have a thriving economy, you can have a great republic, because Venezuela is a republic. The system of government is very similar to America. In fact, it was set up to be like America. It has a congress, it has a Senate and a president. It's not a prime minister. It doesn't have a parliamentary system. Right. So obviously, Hugo Chavez made sure that everything was swapped and that no opposition could ever win against him. Maria Corina was a congresswoman in Venezuela in the early 2000s. She was one of the ones. After the recall election, she decided to get involved. She was a lawyer, she was an attorney. She was not a politician. But she decided to get involved and her life really changed. In fact, she was beat up while she was in Congress, you know, by, by, by the, by the other. By the, the socialists, you know, they, they beat her. They were horrible with the opposition, just horrible.
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A
The other thing to note is that, that what Chavez did, and then later Maduro, who was a successor, was he kept the outer shell of the political structure. He didn't abolish the Congress or abolish the Senate or abolish the Supreme Court. He just stacked the Supreme Court.
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C
Yes, exactly.
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A
And he created an environment in which the opposition was essentially. It existed, but it was powerless.
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C
Exactly.
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A
So it's a de facto dictatorship masquerading as a republic.
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C
That's right.
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A
And what this shows you is that here in America, you know, it's not that we're likely to fear a kind of Stalinist dictator who appropriates all power to himself. No, we're more likely to have a similar situation as Venezuela, where we retain, in theory, you have free speech, but on the other hand, if you say things, you find your life becomes miserable. In theory you have freedom of assembly, except there are just so many exceptions that you can't do it here and you can't do it there. In theory, you have a right to vote, but you find that other people are voting two, three and four times. So the form is maintained but the substance is changed.
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C
That's right. And in the case of stacking the court, stacking the court for the left means that they can always count on the left wing judges to make whatever decision to go with the party, as we see here. Exactly. And so you mean in Venezuela.
- [09:43]
A
Well, no, I'm saying that if you, we find now in all these cases, Trump executive orders, you can pretty much count on a Biden judge to say, oh no, you can't deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, oh no, you can't send federal troops into la. In other words, I've been looking at these decisions to think, will we find a Biden judge or an Obama judge that goes. Actually the Trump administration does have this executive power. You never see it. The district court judges are thoroughly predictable on the other side.
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C
Yeah, that's right. And the thing is, is that we would be looking exactly at Venezuela scenario if the Democrats had the Senate and the Congress. Right. What they would do is they would probably stack the court and that is exactly what we would see in America. We would really essentially lose power pretty much forever like I thought Venezuela was going to be.
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A
Yeah.
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C
So when you say that now is the time, I feel like now is the time because in 2013, Hugo Chavez passed away. He died, he died of cancer. And, and Maduro, Nicolas Maduro was his vice president. Now he was a really dumb man. He was actually a bus driver. Not, not that bus drivers, not that all bus drivers are dumb, but he, he in fact was very dumb. And so he comes in, he becomes the president and of course they have that system of voting where they flip the votes so and then people stop voting too. They're like, what's the point?
- [11:15]
A
They give up?
- [11:16]
C
What's the point? If they're going to, if, if they're going to cheat, why should I vote? So that also was, was happening in Venezuela, but in 2013 when Hugo Chavez died and Maduro came in, there was this revolt among the young students in Venezuela and they thought, now is the time that we're going to take this country back. And they fought so hard. Many of them were killed. You know, it was just, it was horrible. It was kind of like a January 6th type event.
- [11:47]
A
Yeah. But very one sided because the government had all the troops, they had the guns.
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C
Yes.
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A
So they were able to crush these people.
- [11:54]
C
That's right. And they also had thugs on the streets that were actually essentially working for the government that were also doing the killing for them. And so I and a couple of other of my Venezuelan friends went to see ted Cruz in 2013, and we begged him, we said, is there anything that the American government can do to help these kids overthrow a illegitimate government in 2013?
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A
Yeah.
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C
And you know, of course, Ted being, you know, part Cuban, his father, of course, you know, was in Cuba. And so they know all about socialism. He was like, you know, Debbie, I wish we could do something, but the problem is Barack Obama is the president.
- [12:41]
A
And he's pro regime.
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C
He's pro. He's not going to do anything to help these people whatsoever.
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A
In fact, he's probably actively on the other side.
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C
Yeah.
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A
So he's certainly not going to help. And so. So it didn't come to anything.
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C
It did not. It did not. Nothing happened. In fact, a lot of those kids are still in jail today from that 12 years later.
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A
Yeah. So just to back up for a moment, the big point I think you're making here is that the significance of Venezuela is twofold. And we've been talking about one part, but there's a second part. The first part is it is the. It is the real laboratory of the kind of socialism that we could see here. And therefore to bust it in Venezuela is incredibly exhilarating because we're not going to get Chinese socialism, we're not going to get Cuban socialism or. Exactly. We're not Norway or Denmark, but the Venezuelan model, which to some degree, I think you've even said this has, you know, it's come to California, maybe Mamdani is going to try to bring it to New York. It's very important to stop it in its tracks. And stopping it in its tracks in its original home, Venezuela would be a massive boost for freedom worldwide. Second, and this is the point I'd like you to touch on is the, the issue of the strategic importance of Venezuela, because Venezuela has always been enviously coveted by rival powers, some of them superpowers that want to undermine the United States. So talk about that.
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C
So Venezuela has many, many, many, is rich in minerals. Right. It has a lot. I think it has the most oil reserves in the world, if not. Second. Close to it.
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A
Yeah.
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C
It has uranium, it has gold, it has all, all kinds of minerals and precious metals and, and all of that. And so, of course, when Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela. He, he also, part of him had this. He, he loved Hitler, loved him. He was super anti Semitic. In fact, many of the Jews from Venezuela left.
- [14:53]
A
Yeah.
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C
Because he confiscated their businesses, expropriated them, and so they left. They were afraid, of course, of what happened in Germany. They were afraid that that's what was going to happen.
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A
The Jews stayed there and look what happened to them.
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C
That's right. That's right. So Hugo Chavez had this, you know, horrific. Just envy towards them. And the other thing that he, he was also, that people don't understand is he practiced Santeria, which is a kind of a witchcraft type thing.
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A
It's kind of voodoo. It's bloodletting, it's worshiping animal parts.
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C
That's right.
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A
So chopping up animals. It's kind of one of these sacrifice.
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C
He sacrificed animals and all kinds.
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A
And this is important because recently, I mean, I think this came from Tucker Carlson, but it's come from others sort of somehow. These people are socially conservative. No, they're not. They're into the occult, you know. Yeah. They're socially conservative in the sense that if you oppose them, they'll shut you down. They establish law and order in that sense, but that's not the sense in which we mean when we talk about social conservatism.
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C
So not only did he practice those things, but he was also very pro Islam. Yeah, very pro Islam. And he was very good friends with Iran Ahmadinejad at the time.
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A
Yeah.
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C
And he, he just, he loved Iran. He allowed Iran to come to Venezuela basically on untethered, untouched. Yeah, they, they brought, in fact, there were many flights coming in from Tehran that were not on the manifest of the, you know, landing in Maikatia, which was the international airport there in Caracas. So they went to a different terminal and nobody knew who was coming, who was going, what they were bringing, what they were taking. That was all kind of a secret. I did have people on the ground tell me that they would see these trucks in Farsi and they look like maybe missiles. They had no idea what they were. They looked kind of like cylinder, you know, like cylinders of some sort.
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A
Right.
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C
They had no idea what they were, but they would go into these fields. I also had people on the ground tell me that they knew that they had Hezbollah training camps all over Venezuela. So, so in essence, what, what, what Nicolas Maduro now and Hugo Chavez then was doing is he was opening up Venezuela to these terrorists that hate us, these Islamic terrorists that if they could, they would get rid of us.
- [17:34]
A
You know, that and bolstered by the Chinese and the Russians. Right. I mean, they, they too had a very visible presence. Maybe their interests were more financial, economic, infrastructural. I mean, the Chinese cut deals all over the world. But what you're saying, we can agree a playground for these foreign rival powers. And basically, Hugo Chavez was, you support me and then I'm going to open up my country to you. So whatever designs you have on this hemisphere, you can carry out from here.
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C
Yes. So what I was afraid of, and this is why I kind of was raised, kind of like raising the alarm or sounding the alarm, is because Venezuela is only 1300 miles off of the coast of Miami. Right. Just very close. And if they were able to do missiles, it wouldn't take much, would it?
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A
Yeah.
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C
Right.
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A
Yeah.
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C
So I didn't want Venezuela because, you know, Cuba already is. Right. I didn't want Venezuela to become a landing pad for these terrorists, which it actually has. So if we can get rid of Maduro and the Maduro regime and Maria Corina could be the rightful president of Venezuela, she will knock this out. Like, she will, like, get rid of these people. Yeah, no more narcotrack. Oh, and that's the other thing, the narco trafficking. Because people are like, well, you know, Trump is using the narco trafficking like, excuse to get rid of this guy, right? Yes. Because what happened in, in Venezuela, they used to rob from the rich people to give to the poor people. Pretend. Right. They didn't really give to the poor people. That was the excuse they used to enrich themselves, the regime. However, when people started leaving Venezuela, they were like, oh, yeah, we're running. We're. We can't get there.
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A
We're running out of other people's money.
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C
Yeah, exactly. So what are we going to do now? Oh, drugs, of course, narco trafficking. So that became kind of the way that they enriched themselves after that.
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A
So you're making a key point, which is that the narco trafficking business is what is supporting and holding up the regime.
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C
That's right.
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A
And what you're saying is the US government has figured this out and they've realized intercept the business and you're pulling the props out from under supports from the regime now the most recent. So I love this blowing up of the boats.
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C
Yeah.
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A
The left is freaking out, but that's a good sign too. And. But this boarding of this vessel, we looked at the video together. You've got a US helicopter comes overhead. Paratroopers come in with heavily armed. Yeah. They swarm the vessel. Apparently, Venezuela was trying to use this oil tanker to evade sanctions.
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C
Yeah.
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A
And the Trump people are like, no, gotcha. We see what you're doing. And so this was just spectacular. And if you haven't seen the video, it's up on my social media. You can, you can watch it.
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C
It's great. It's great.
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A
And. And then also the Nobel ceremony. Right. And you are. You were watching Maria Corina's daughter talk about that.
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C
Yeah. So she was. She was giving the acceptance speech, but while she was doing that, she was like, but my mom is on her way here. We will see her. I was like, wait, what? I haven't been able to get a hold of her because she's been hiding. She's been in hiding. And so anyway, I was like, no way.
- [21:10]
A
Well, as it turns out, I was showing you this, the route that she apparently had to go through 10 different checkpoints and somehow evade them. And then she got into some fishing boat. Almost looked like something you get in the time of Jesus. And she and two others who were helping her set out across the Caribbean Sea to Curacao, and then from Curacao onto. And here and there, and then on to Oslo. She's apparently in Oslo now. So she missed the main ceremony, and her daughter kind of got the prize on her behalf. But this Nobel thing goes on for some days. So I guess they're going to be receptions and dinners and dinner to honor you here and dinner to honor you there. So she's going to be part of some of that. But, you know, I think it has elevated her to. The Nobel Prize is often given to worthless people. In this case, I think it was given to the perfect person. Even though Trump, you know, somewhat half joking, I should have gotten it. But this is actually helping the Nobel people who are not always on the side of good, have done some good here. So we have to acknowledge. Acknowledge that. But you were saying, you. In fact, you said to me that the two things that will make you the most rabid, like, Trump supporter are what?
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C
Right. So. Well, this is. This goes back to 2016, remember?
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A
Right, exactly.
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C
I was not a fan yet.
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A
Well, Trump was such a newcomer on.
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C
The scene, and I just, you know, I didn't really know him. I wasn't sure, you know, do I like him? Do I not like him? And then I said, but there are two things that, that will make me really, really like him. And you're like, what are those two things? And I said, well, if he gives.
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A
You a pardon, number one, and if.
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C
He makes Venezuela free again.
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A
Right.
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C
You know, and so, and so for.
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A
For all these years, he's done number one, right. 2018. But number two, I mean, I think when the first Trump term ended and then, you know, Biden comes in, I was, I think you thought it was. That's it.
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C
I was crushed. In fact, I remember, you know, I was writing for El American at the time. I wrote a long article and I said, well, the hopes of seeing Venezuela free are gone because we, we now have another election that happened, a farce one. And because of that, we're also not going to be able to, you know, see a free Venezuela either. And so I knew that that was disappointing.
- [23:50]
A
I mean, the weird thing was that, that was, that added, you talked about the parallels between the left in Venezuela and here, this added the parallel, which was election rigging and election fraud.
- [24:03]
C
That's right.
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A
So add that to the list now.
- [24:05]
C
That's right.
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A
But you said you were giving up hope. And in fact, your aunt, who was a big Trumpster, who was confident that Trump would get back in now, she hasn't lived to see this moment.
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C
Yeah, she passed away, but, oh, but.
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A
She would glory in it.
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C
She called him my beautiful blonde honk President. That's what she called him.
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A
She was, what wasn't she like, oh.
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C
Yeah, she loved him. She loved him. She knew he was going to be the answer to Venezuela. And, and he was. But, so anyway, but it's really funny because even. Well, this is, this is probably, this is before the Biden presidency came in. I remember texting with a general and remember an ex general from. He was like, there's got to be a way for, for the, for America to get all of the ex pat. Generals, you know, the, the people that left, the generals that left in Venezuela so that we could form an army and take over. Like, he was serious. And I was like, why are you talking to me? I can't, you know, organize such a, such a coup myself.
- [25:18]
A
I think what's interesting psychologically for me, because I was, I was obviously there when all this happened, was the Venezuelans were not asking America, you come liberate my country. They were like, we will do.
- [25:29]
C
Yeah, that's exactly right.
- [25:30]
A
If you provide us with some of the arms and the material we need, we will go to the front line. Now it looks like at this point that Trump has had enough.
- [25:39]
C
Yes.
- [25:40]
A
And you actually talked about what it might be that has really ticked off Trump. And we think it is the fact that Chavez, well, not Chavez, but Maduro, has opened up the Venezuelan jails and has sent all These convicts here. And I think Trump is like, this is it. This guy is bad news. And so even though they had this phone call, I'm sure Trump basically goes, you need to leave. And I've seen Trump two or three times asked, and he's essentially said, in effect, this guy's days are numbered. Meaning he's. And I think he said it clearly enough that it would actually make him look bad if, let's just say a year from now, if Maduro was still in power. I don't think he will be.
- [26:22]
C
Yeah, I'm hoping, because I do know that there are generals that Maduro has right now that will turn on him. I do know that.
- [26:31]
A
Right.
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C
And I, I know that also that part of the military, I don't, I don't think, I don't know if 100% of the military, but I know a good portion of the military will be just fine without Maduro. In fact, they're not going to resist it. You know, they're going to say, listen, we are going to support Venezuela, you know, the legitimate government of Venezuela. We're here for them. So I don't think there's. It's going to be a bloodbath like people think.
- [27:00]
A
You know, Maria Karina said something very interesting. She goes, we are not asking for regime change. So think about this for a moment, because regime change implies we've got one regime and now we're calling for its overthrow and replacement by a different kind of regime. I think what Maria Karina was saying is we had an election in 2024 and she and her candidate won. So they're only asking for an international acknowledgement of the truth of the matter, which is that the Venezuelan people have spoken. They have elected a government, that government has been displaced by the old regime that refuses to leave. And all we're doing is, in a sense, making good on the election results of 2024. So it's not regime change in that sense.
- [27:56]
C
In that sense.
- [28:00]
A
There's a powerful new film coming from Angel Studios on the Wonder Project. It's called Young Washington. It tells the untold story of how George Washington's character was forged long before independence, when he was just 20, facing failure, loss and near death. Directed by John Irwin, who made Jesus American Underdog, and starring Andy Serkis, Ben Kingsley and Kelsey Grammer. It's a sweeping, high quality production that reminds us what true leadership, virtue and providence look like. This isn't revisionist history. It's the real story told with courage, truth and respect for the values that shaped America. Young Washington releases Independence Day 2026 on the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding. Become an early supporter by joining the Angel Guild today. Premium members get two free opening day tickets and help bring this inspiring story to theaters across America. Go to angel.comdinesh help make young Washington the number one movie this Independence Day. Again, it's angel.comdinesh. it's still going on the MyPillow Big 3 in 1 sale with a limited edition product, a back in stock special and a closeout deal you won't find anywhere else. MyPillow bed sheets just $29.88. Any color, any style, any size, even Kings. Regular price $119.98 now only $29.88. But move quickly because once they're gone, they're gone for good. My towels are back in stock. Get a six piece my towel set regular price $69.98 now only $39.98. And for the first and only time, get their limited edition premium mypillows made with Giza cotton and a designer gusset. Queen size 1798 kings only $19.98. Also for a limited time, when you order over $100, you get free shipping plus $100 in free digital gifts. Call 800-876-0227 that's 800-876-0227 or go to mypillow.com use promo code DINESH. You get the best offers ever. Quantities are low, so order now. Again, it's mypillow.com and the promo codE-N-Dinesh. We've talked about it and now it's here. Imagine exploring Israel, where thousands of years of history are on display and embarking on a journey that changes the way you see the world. This is Dinesh d' Souza inviting you to join me and New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Cahn for the Dragon's Prophecy Tour. December 7th, 16th, 2026. For 10 unforgettable days, you'll discover the best of Israel. You'll walk the stone streets of Jerusalem, pray at the Western Wall, sail the Sea of Galilee, stand on the Mount of Olives, and visit ancient sites that confirm the biblical prophecies and the Jewish people's deep history in this land. Jonathan Cahn and I will open the scriptures in the very places you've read about for years, connecting the archaeological record with biblical prophecy and what is happening in our world today. Come see for yourself what history, archaeology and prophecy Reveal in Israel. It's a trip of a lifetime. Join us, call 800-247-1899. That's 800-247-1899. Or visit inspiration travel.com dinesh to get information about the Dragon's Prophecy tour today. Again, it's inspiration travel.com Dinesh.
- [31:37]
B
Is the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the revival of an angel, ancient conflict recorded in the Bible. The nation of Israel is a resurrected nation. What if there was going to be a resurrection of another people, an enemy people of Israel? The Dragon's prophecy. Watch it now or buy the DVD at thedragonsprophecyfilm.com.
- [32:05]
A
Let's move on. We were talking about, well, we'll come back to Trump in a minute. I want to talk about our upcoming Israel trip, which we have mentioned on the podcast a few times, but in a very general sense. And finally it's come together. So we have working with Inspiration Travel. And by the way, we went with Inspiration Travel the first time to Israel in 2022. We've since been, what, three times?
- [32:33]
C
We've been three times. And by the time we go then it'll be six times.
- [32:37]
A
I know, it's kind of crazy. We're going to Israel, a very brief trip in January. We're going to do some filming in biblical archaeology in April. And we're going again. Well, this is our tour. We want you to join us. You're invited in December. So the dates, is it December 7th.
- [32:58]
C
December 7th through the 16th?
- [33:00]
A
I think it is. Okay. Yes.
- [33:02]
C
And there's an there, there'll be an ad for it during, during the show. So you can, and there's a QR code that you can also just, you know, take a photo of and it'll take you straight there.
- [33:13]
A
So we're at the early stage where we're just announcing the trip. We want you to, like, save the date. We want you to plan to go. It's going to be like trip of a lifetime. It's, this is the kind of thing where you're walking in the, not only the footsteps of the Bible, but the footsteps of Jesus. And I also like the, you know, we'd been talking for some time about doing a trip and we found the perfect partner in Jonathan Cahn. I think because our minds are kind of complementary. He's got this kind of blazing insight about the Bible. He can relate things from the ancient past to the present in a very riveting way. And my contribution is very different than that which is more historical, it's more archeological. It's apologetic. So all of this kind of like comes together in this trip and so we want you to be a part of it. And we think you'll. This will be the trip to end all trips. I think the website, if I'm. If I remember, it's just inspiration travel, very easy to go sign up, put in your name, you'll be on the email list to get, and then you'll be notified when tickets are on sale, which will be, which will be soon. So I believe the trip is going to begin in the northern part of Israel, which is up in the Galilee region. The thing that we did in 2022, which I believe we're going to do again, is go on the Sea of Galilee in large fishing boats similar to Jesus and the apostles. And we have like music and a discussion and teaching on the Sea of Galilee. I mean, I think you and I could hardly believe it, where we were and the kind of sublime moment that we were part of. And then it just never stops from there. It's Capernaum, where Jesus taught and did miracles, and it's Magdala, where Mary Magdalene is from. And then it's on to the place where Pontius Pilate had his palace and where the pilot stone was, came out of the ground. And then of course, the summit or the peak is Jerusalem. And you. So the way this is stretched out, it's sort of like four days in the northern part of Israel and then like five days in Jerusalem and the spot where Jesus was crucified, the Mount of Olives, of course, the site, the Temple Mount at the site of the original Solomonic Temple. It is like. It's a deluge of experience. And it's interesting because you and I have been a lot of places, many of them together, some of them before I knew you. You don't have the same feeling as when you're in Israel. And have you thought about why that is? What is the. What is it about Israel that gives you this kind of unique, elevated sense?
- [36:21]
C
You know, it's. It's really hard to, to explain it because it, it just. I just have this sense of. Of peace and, and just a sense of awe, closeness to God, closeness that I've never felt anywhere else. It's very. And. And also, you know, when we were filming and we went to the Gaza border and we were like listening to all these explosions and all of that, I was not afraid. I had such a sense of peace even, you know, just knowing that, that this country is. Is like this little tiny strip of Land that is wanted by the entire Middle East. They want it and they want it like now. I just felt such a sense of peace. I can't explain it. It's. It. If you were to ask me, do you feel this way when you go to like London or do you feel this way when you go like downtown Houston? No, actually I don't. I have, I don't have a great sense of peace when I go to downtown Houston, I'm afraid, you know, but no. And you know, even in Jerusalem, we walked the streets of Jerusalem late at night, like 11pm yeah.
- [37:36]
A
And I was also say a word for inspiration because we've been on trips and these guys organize the trip impeccably. This is part of what our anxiety about going the first time was like, how is it going to work? You know, we're going with a fairly decent sized group of people, but they have multiple buses, multiple guides, Everything is perfectly planned, all the meals are wonderfully arranged. There's time for interaction, there's time for Q and A. So the combination of on the ground experience and then events and you found a great guy to be the music guy for this, the worship leader who's coming with us and then you're going to do some singing with him. Yeah, I think that's going to be a real highlight because getting you to sing these days is not that easy.
- [38:32]
C
Well, the funny thing is you mentioned the Sea of Galilee and. Oh yeah, you guys could sing on this boat on the Sea of Galilee. And I'm like, okay, you do know that I get seasick, right? I will have to be wearing my relief.
- [38:44]
A
Oh yes you will. To keep your balance. Well, not bad, but it's very, as you know, it's. The Sea of Galilee is actually not turbulent. It might have been in Jesus's time. I don't know. Yeah, but it is, it is now.
- [38:57]
C
Just like he could calm the seas.
- [38:59]
A
Yeah, exactly. Well, there you go. I think now it's like a glassy surface of water.
- [39:04]
C
Yeah.
- [39:04]
A
Just very serene.
- [39:06]
C
Yeah. Oh my. But I think the highlight, if we can pull it off, we can do it. Will be singing O Holy night overlooking Bethlehem.
- [39:15]
A
Can you imagine with the lights of Bethlehem.
- [39:18]
C
Can you imagine the stars and oh, holy night? I mean, I can't even imagine if I'm able to do that. What a once in a lifetime opportunity to do that.
- [39:29]
A
I mean, absolutely. No. So we, this is our kind of official announcement slash preview of the trip. And we think it's one of those things where you, you don't want to miss it. So. So if you can possibly do it, pull it off, you're gonna. You're gonna be very glad you. You did. All right, let's talk about. Let's talk about. Well, we have Qatar and the sort of Saudi connection. Now. I, I think. I think what we wanted to talk about is this. I had Dennis Michael lynch on the show earlier in the week, and as you remember, we did a kind of a back and forth where he was hammering on the point basically, that all these Muslim regimes have the same goal. There isn't really a distinction between the good ones and the bad ones. Even though, as you know, Trump is trying to get the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates to do the Abraham Accords to be sort of the good Muslims against, let's say, Hamas and Iran. But lynch was basically going, no, these Muslim regimes, even the ones that seem to be well behaved, really can't be trusted. And I could see you kind of nodding on the side of the. I was playing devil's advocate.
- [41:03]
C
When you were playing devil's advocate, I was doing this.
- [41:05]
A
You were giving me the thumbs down. Oh, yeah, I did. I saw it in the side. I'm like, I see which side you're on. But, but. And as you know, I was pressing him because I think it's just important to get, like, clarity on these. What are we really saying?
- [41:20]
C
Yeah, well, I mean, look, at the end of the day, Islam wants world domination. They want to caliphate. We have to keep that in mind.
- [41:31]
A
Yeah.
- [41:32]
C
When we do anything, whether it's, you know, we do business with them, we shake hands with them. Okay, you're not going to attack us or Israel. Okay, good, let's shake hands on it. All of those things. We have to keep in mind that at the end of the day, they all agree that Islam is going to be, according to them, the religion of the world.
- [41:59]
A
We saw. You showed me, actually, a really fascinating video by one of these Muslim activist leaders. And he said, in effect, this. He said, I keep hearing about the dangers of the radical Muslims. I keep hearing about people who want to stone the adulterer. I keep hearing about people who want to chop off the hands of the thief. I keep hearing about people who want Sharia law. I keep hearing about people who want honor killing. I hear about people who want a caliphate. And he goes, I hear people in the west go, those are the radical Muslims. And then he said something very interesting. He goes, no, those are not the radical Muslims. Those are the Muslims. Muslims, that is us.
- [42:49]
C
Well, he asked the group of People. He was at a mosque.
- [42:52]
A
He was at a mosque.
- [42:53]
C
Yep. And he asked, raise your hand if you're a radical Muslim. Nobody raised their hand, obviously. Right, right. Raise your hand. And then he goes, however, okay, you're not a radical Muslim, but do you believe. And he names all of the things that you just mentioned.
- [43:12]
A
He goes, do you agree with the Quran that our goal should be a caliphate?
- [43:15]
C
Yeah.
- [43:16]
A
Everybody agrees.
- [43:17]
C
Yes.
- [43:17]
A
Do you agree with the Quran that people who practice adultery or a set of other offenses deserve to be stoned? Everybody's hand goes up and on and on. It is you. That our goal is Sharia law at the end, that that is the best type of law. Every hand goes up. So what he's really getting at is the fact that this is the Quranic recipe. And by and large, you can't call yourself a Muslim if you go against it.
- [43:47]
C
That's right. That's right. That's. That's what I keep saying. I keep saying that. And there are people that say, oh, no, rad. There's a difference between Islam and radical Islam. Well, that proved that there is no difference right there.
- [44:00]
A
Yeah. I mean, the point of that video was to say that traditional Islam and radical Islam are the same thing. Now, you could have people who are nominally Muslim. This applies to Christians as well, who are nominally Christian but don't really follow. Or they don't really go to church or secular. Or they're secular. Exactly.
- [44:18]
C
They're just born Muslim, but they're secular.
- [44:20]
A
That's right.
- [44:20]
C
Yeah.
- [44:21]
A
So he's saying, not counting them.
- [44:23]
C
Yeah.
- [44:23]
A
Looking at the people who are. Who call themselves Muslims, who believe that they are following the Quran, who are attempting to follow the Quran, those are people who would be on board with this supposedly radical. And I think what he was getting at. Now we're back to Dennis Michael lynch is. I think he was getting at was. He said. So in the end, the Saudis and the Jordanians who seem to be on our side, they too have these goals, and they will practice a certain amount of deception or taqiyah.
- [44:58]
C
That's right.
- [44:58]
A
Taqiyyah being nothing more than putting on a face.
- [45:03]
C
Permission to lie.
- [45:04]
A
Permission to lie. Permission to make friends with people who are not your real friends. Right. Permission to befriend somebody. I mean, that was interesting what you showed me also about the dawah, which is the. It was a kind of strategy to get people.
- [45:22]
C
Seven strategies of the dawah.
- [45:24]
A
Yeah. Talk about what, what. How they were saying, don't go to someone and go, hey, listen, we Want you to join the dawah, or the Islamic way of life and the Islamic community. Because you're going to turn them off.
- [45:35]
C
That's right. Well, it's. It's like slowly befriend people. Like, don't. Don't go in there and, like, give it to them right away.
- [45:42]
A
Yeah.
- [45:43]
C
Slowly make them trust you, basically.
- [45:46]
A
Yeah.
- [45:47]
C
Until once they have. Once you have them, then you can start to proselytize and, like, get them on board. Because it is the obligation of every Muslim woman, man, child, to spread Islam.
- [46:04]
A
Yeah. And yet. And yet they're smart enough to realize. And they've even written this down in. What you showed me was they were like, don't talk about obligation because you don't want people to think, if I become a Muslim, I've got these 72 things I've got to do. I have all these duties, these are all my obligations. Just talk about Islam as a religion of peace. Just talk about the fact that the Muslim societies are very orderly and safe. Just talk about the fact that traditional values are maintained. Just talk about the fact that it's a very productive community. Muslims help each other. They're very generous and hospitable people, by the way. Some of which is true.
- [46:42]
C
Another one I like is talk about that you like Jesus, too. That's a big one.
- [46:48]
A
Jesus is a prophet.
- [46:49]
C
That's right.
- [46:50]
A
In Islam. Right. And in fact, we have heard it said that the. It's part of the Muslim tactic. Hey, we Muslims have a better opinion of Jesus than the Jews do.
- [47:04]
C
Yes.
- [47:04]
A
Right. Because if the Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah, the idea is that Jesus is an imposter. Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah, but he's not. Whereas we Muslims accept that he's a prophet. We may not say that he's the son of God. We may not say that he. That by dying he's redeemed us of our sins, but it's kind of like we go, we meet the Christians halfway and the Jews don't.
- [47:27]
C
That's right.
- [47:28]
A
Right. All right, we don't have a whole bunch of time. Let's close out on this. Interesting article about. I'm just holding it up right here. Trump administration has rescued 62,000 migrant kids from sex trafficking and child labor. This, by the way, according to the Boris Zara, Tom Holman, now, you might remember, was this in police state where we had a woman on who talked about the 300,000.
- [48:00]
C
Oh, yeah, yeah. So what was her name? Oh, my goodness.
- [48:05]
A
Well, she was a. I remember she was a Consultant in the Health and Human Services department. In any case, she gave a very passionate and vivid account. These missing children. Right. And, and it looked like those children were in effect doomed. But Now, I mean, 62,000 is not the majority, but it's a pretty good chunk.
- [48:28]
C
It's a pretty good chunk. And, and you cannot, I mean, look, this is not all over the news, you know, at all.
- [48:36]
A
I, I hadn't seen it until you.
- [48:38]
C
Yeah.
- [48:38]
A
You know, this is an article from the New York Post. But this is a, if true, if these numbers hold up, it is, it is a way of picking these children really out of extreme danger.
- [48:51]
C
I mean, you remember the, what, what she told us about some of these.
- [48:57]
A
Little boys, the cynicism of it, where they would allow an able bodied male to bring these children. And it was, part of it was just to fool the immigration authorities. They were like, hey, listen, I've got helpless children. You got to let me.
- [49:12]
C
But I mean, do you remember what she said about the little boys? That they had to wear diapers because of the abuse, because they had been raped. Can you imagine?
- [49:21]
A
Multiple times. And it was. No, it was, some of it was very hard to listen to. And I'm not even sure if we put everything she said in the.
- [49:32]
C
No, I don't think we did because.
- [49:34]
A
Some of it was so. And then she also showed us some images and again, we had some video in the film, but we had to, we had to look and say, can we show this? Is this something we want to put on the screen just because of ratings? And no, you can't, you know, this is going to make your film. You can't put it in the theater. It's all this kind of stuff. So, yeah, it is a, it is an absolutely, absolutely gruesome, gruesome site.
- [50:02]
C
And good, good for the Trump administration.
- [50:05]
A
To start for not letting the ball drop. It's so easy to go. That happened under Biden and we're going to let it go. They didn't let it go. They shouldn't let it go. They need to keep going and they need to try to get most of those kids, get them, give them their lives back.
- [50:20]
B
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