Ep. 1649 - Liberal Californians Turn MAGA?

Summary

The Michael Knowles Show Episode: Ep. 1649 - Liberal Californians Turn MAGA?
Release Date: January 10, 2025
Host: Michael Knowles
Publisher: The Daily Wire

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Overview

In Episode 1649 of The Michael Knowles Show, host Michael Knowles delves into the ramifications of the devastating Los Angeles fires, questioning whether such catastrophic events might sway traditionally liberal Californians towards the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. Throughout the episode, Knowles engages in spirited discussions, critiques liberal policies, and addresses various cultural and political issues, interspersed with insights from guest Adam Carolla and interactions with listeners.

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1. Los Angeles Fires and Political Shifts

Michael Knowles opens the episode by highlighting the severe Los Angeles fires, which have destroyed over 2,000 buildings and claimed at least five lives. He poses a provocative question: "Is the destruction of Los Angeles enough to turn California Republican?"

Adam Carolla, a longtime LA resident, responds with a bold prediction:

"All these people who were deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild and they're going to get the 28-year-old from the Coastal Commission telling them to go off... they're gonna vote for Trump or whoever's Trump next. You see, they're going to get turned. They're going to get turned hard."
[02:54]

Knowles acknowledges Carolla's perspective but expresses skepticism:

"I don't think it'll turn Los Angeles Republican because it presumes too much... The Democrat Party will be seen to moderate, at least on the issue of bureaucracy and rebuilding."
[03:42]

He elaborates that while liberal policies contributed to the fires, the political infrastructure and wealthy constituents in LA are likely to pressure existing Democratic leaders for swift reconstruction rather than abandoning the party.

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2. Critique of California Leadership

The discussion shifts to California's political figures. Knowles criticizes Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass for their handling of the fires, suggesting that Newsom's presidential aspirations are jeopardized:

"Gavin Newsom's presidential career is all but over. That guy thought he was gonna be the nominee in 2028. That desire is on life support. It's probably dead."
[07:16]

He condemns Bass for her perceived absence during the crisis, arguing that her actions undermine her credibility and place undue pressure on Newsom:

"Karen Bass is catching a ton of flack. But Gavin Newsom's catching an insane amount of flack as well."
[07:36]

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3. Obama and Trump: A Mocking Relationship

Knowles satirizes the interactions between former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, particularly their camaraderie at Jimmy Carter's funeral. He mocks the notion of Obama aligning with Trump, whom he derides as being labeled "Hitler" by the Democratic Party:

"Barack Obama has been palling around with Hitler... it's Adolf with a one-liner. Nobody can beat him."
[15:00]

This segment underscores Knowles' critique of Democratic leaders' inconsistencies and his portrayal of Trump as a surprisingly normalized figure within former Democratic circles.

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4. Military Diversity Debate

The show addresses the contentious issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the military. Knowles counters Senator Elizabeth Warren's stance against DEI initiatives, emphasizing the importance of uniformity in fostering military cohesion:

"Why does the military wear uniforms? DOD says... uniformity is our strength in the military."
[25:30]

He argues that DEI policies contradict the fundamental principles of military uniformity and effectiveness, portraying them as misguided attempts to impose ideological agendas over practical military needs.

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5. Corruption in Congress: Stock Trading

Knowles exposes the bipartisan corruption within Congress, focusing on stock trading practices. He references a study highlighting the disproportionate financial gains made by Congressional Democrats:

"Congressional Democrats stock portfolios jumped 31% in 2024. 31%."
[30:00]

He criticizes both parties for allowing members of Congress to exploit their insider knowledge for personal gain, labeling it a systemic federal problem that transcends partisan lines.

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6. Education: College Tuition Trends

Analyzing higher education economics, Knowles presents data showing a decrease in tuition at state universities and a slower rate of increase at private institutions:

"The average student attending an in-state public university... down 4% from 10 years ago."
[35:00]

He interprets this as a market correction, suggesting that the high cost of college has been unsustainable and that declining enrollment rates reflect a loss of perceived value. Knowles contends that this trend vindicates conservative critiques of the higher education system's inflated costs.

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7. Futurist Technology: Cryopreservation and AI Avatars

Delving into speculative technology, Knowles critiques the concept of cryopreservation and AI-generated avatars designed to mimic deceased individuals:

"Think we can conquer death... we're assuming a lot about human nature."
[40:00]

He challenges the materialistic assumptions underpinning such technologies, invoking C.S. Lewis’s philosophy to argue that the essence of human identity transcends mere physical replication. Knowles cautions against the ethical and existential implications of attempting to achieve immortality through technological means.

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8. Gender Roles in Firefighting and DEI Policies

Using the example of a young female firefighter sustaining severe injuries, Knowles argues against DEI policies in first responder roles:

"I think men and women are different... prioritizing of DEI in first responders... is just one more aspect of that, of the political rot that's been allowed to set in."
[45:00]

He posits that traditional gender roles are essential for the effectiveness and safety of first responders, asserting that DEI initiatives disrupt these roles and compromise operational integrity.

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9. Audience Questions and Discussions

The latter part of the episode features listener interactions, where Knowles addresses a variety of questions:

• Women's Sports Dilemma: A 13-year-old listener grapples with defending women's sports while mocking their popularity. Knowles clarifies that the defense is rooted in justice for women athletes rather than genuine interest in the sports themselves:

  "You should defend women's sports because you like the women. You want women to receive their due, to be treated in a just way."
  [39:03]

• Public Decency in Restaurants: A caller describes encountering individuals in provocative attire at a family dining establishment. Knowles advises requesting the restaurant management to uphold public decency standards without targeting individuals based on their identities:

  "You would be asking to kick them out because they are not comporting themselves in accord with the standards of the restaurant or public decency."
  [41:16]

• Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain: Another listener questions the significance of using religious expressions casually. Knowles emphasizes the importance of reverence and warns against frivolous use of sacred names:

  "When you use God's name in a trivial way... That just is by definition, taking the Lord's name in vain."
  [45:04]

• Marriage Advice: A recently engaged listener seeks guidance on marital expectations. Knowles underscores the necessity of clear agreements on the purpose and structure of marriage, advocating for traditional roles and mutual understanding:

  "The most successful marriages... involve two people who agree on what they're doing where there's really little ambiguity."
  [47:08]

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10. Conclusion

Throughout Episode 1649, Michael Knowles presents a staunchly conservative analysis of current events, critiquing liberal policies and advocating for traditional values. From questioning the potential political realignment in California due to environmental disasters to challenging progressive initiatives in the military and first responder sectors, Knowles consistently emphasizes justice, order, and the preservation of established societal norms. Engaging with his audience, he offers practical advice grounded in conservative ideology, reinforcing the episode’s central theme of resilience against liberal policy failures.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Adam Carolla:
  "All these people who were deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild and they're going to get the 28-year-old from the Coastal Commission telling them to go off... they're gonna vote for Trump or whoever's Trump next."
  [02:54]

• Michael Knowles:
  "I don't think they'll do it. I wish. I wish it were that simple."
  [03:42]

• Michael Knowles:
  "Barack Obama has been palling around with Hitler... it's Adolf with a one-liner. Nobody can beat him."
  [15:00]

• Michael Knowles:
  "Congressional Democrats stock portfolios jumped 31% in 2024. 31%."
  [30:00]

• Michael Knowles:
  "You should defend women's sports because you like the women. You want women to receive their due, to be treated in a just way."
  [39:03]

• Michael Knowles:
  "When you use God's name in a trivial way... That just is by definition, taking the Lord's name in vain."
  [45:04]

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Transcript

[Michael Knowles]

Reminder, all of us at the Daily Wire will be live as DW goes to DC for the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Watch live. Join the [e-mail] subscribe as the horrific LA fires continue to rage. At least 2,000 buildings now destroyed, at least five people dead. Some pundits are turning to the political implications. The question sounds cavalier, but people are asking it anyway. Is the destruction of Los Angeles enough to turn California Republican? I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. Barack Obama has been palling around with Hitler. This time at Jimmy Carter's funeral. Sorry, the man that Barack Obama, Obama's political party has called Hitler for the last decade. That would be Donald Trump. Now all of a sudden, Obama is laughing, he's smiling, back slapping. I don't know, I guess he's buddies with Hitler now. That's interesting. There's so much more to say. But first, go to expressvpn.com knowles Going online without ExpressVPN, it's like taking a private call on speakerphone while in the middle of a crowded room. That's pretty much what you're doing every time you browse. Without protection, your Internet service provider can see every single website you visit. No. Switching into incognito mode does not keep your information private or secure. So you shouldn't be using incognito mode or any other tools to look at anything untoward. But think about the world that we're living in right now with the libs in corporations and in government. You [e-mail] I don't know. Is that gonna lower your social credit score? Don't give those data to people who hate you. Because in the US your ISPs can legally sell information about all the websites you visit to advertisers. So I strongly recommend ExpressVPN reroutes all your traffic through secure, encrypted servers. The ISPs can't track your browsing history. It's so easy for me with ExpressVPN. I just can put it on all my devices. Boom. I click one button. I don't need to think about it anymore. Phone, laptop, tablet. Right now, go to expressvpn.com expn.com knowles you can get an extra four months for free. That is, by my calculations, approximately a third of a year. ExpressVPN.com knowles four months for free. My friend Adam Carolla has just come out with a bold political prediction. Adam, born and raised in Los Angeles, has lived there. I think his whole life. He says that the LA fires which were brought about by liberal policies in large part will make typical LA leftists become conservative.

[Adam Carolla]

You guys all voted for Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles. You all voted for Gavin Newsom. And now you get what you get. Oh, now that your house is on fire, well, now you're thinking about something else. Now you want to know what's going on, what's going on around here. You didn't give a about what was going on when other people's houses were on fire, but now you care. So here's what's going to happen. All these people who were deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild and they're going to get the 28 year old from the Coastal Commission telling them to go off and then they're going to vote for Trump or whoever's Trump next. You see, they're going to get turned. They're going to get turned hard.

[Michael Knowles]

Love, Adam. I hope he's right. Would that it were so simple. I'm a little skeptical. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think he's right. Liberal policies led to all of this awful destruction. He's right. When these people go to rebuild, the bureaucracy is gonna be awful about it. He's right. The bureaucracy is awful largely because of Democrats. I just, I don't think that even the city burning to the ground is going to turn Los Angeles Republican. I don't think it's gonna turn California Republican because it presumes too much. The Democrats are incompetent at governing, but they're not incompetent at electoral politics usually most of the time. And so I think what's really gonna happen is the Angelenos, the really wealthy leftist zillionaire Angelenos who wanna rebuild their homes, they are going to blame climate change, they're gonna find a way to blame Trump for the fires. They will. They're gonna find a way to blame Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't know. Whoever the last Republican is who ever got elected to anything in California, they're gonna find a way to blame that person and then they are going to demand that they rebuild faster. But I think what's gonna happen is these very wealthy Angelenos, maybe not even the millionaire class, more like the hundred millionaire or billionaire class, they're gonna put pressure on Gavin Newsom, they're gonna put pressure on whoever the mayor is, they're gonna put pressure on whoever the members of Congress are to get federal funds. They're going to use their political capital to tell their employees, the politicians that they put into office, to figure it out and give them their homes quickly. And the politicians are probably going to acquiesce because the politicians know where their bread is buttered. So the Democrat Party will be seen to moderate, at least on the issue of bureaucracy and rebuilding. The Democrat Party is going to adapt to the demands of the market of votes. They're gonna adapt to their constituents or at least to their donors. But I don't think that even burning the city to the ground is enough to turn leftists and Los Angeles Republican. I just don't think they'll do it. I wish. I wish it were that simple. But the Democrats are a little too clever. The leftists in Los Angeles are not nearly clever enough. It's a one party town and politics is dynamic. Now. Some of these politicians are gonna have to go. There's no question Gavin Newsom's presidential career is all but over. That guy thought he was gonna be the nominee in 2028. That desire is on life support. It's probably dead. Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, she is done. She should resign. This is absolutely pathetic. It's getting worse by the day because some sleuths on the Internet have uncovered an old tweet from Karen bass. This is February 19, 2021. Ted Cruz fleeing Texas in the middle of a deadly crisis is part of a larger pattern of the GOP abandoning folks in crisis. We need to build a movement to kick them all out. Karen Bass has been in Africa while her city burns to the ground. She's been pretty mia. In fact, Gavin Newsom, while he was trying to save his own skin, decided to point that fact out in a press conference on the fires.

[Adam Carolla]

All of the folks behind me and the outstanding leadership of all the elected officials as well. And forgive me one point, I'd be remiss. Thank you to Mayor Bass, who was on the phone immediately this morning making sure, even in absentia, that she's here organizing everything she can to make sure we're successful as well.

[Michael Knowles]

Absolutely brutal. Newsom there makes that point at the end. He probably should have just left her out of it. I can't tell. Is Newsom here trying to include her to give her a little political favor? Or is he tossing her under the bus saying, look, I'm here. Hey, don't blame me. I'm here. Put the heat on Karen Bass. I know you're gonna blame some politician for this. Don't blame me. Karen Bass didn't even show up. She's in Africa right now. But she. Oh, don't worry though. She picked up the phone right away. Gavin Newsom's a little slick. He's a little American Psycho, isn't he? Little Patrick Bateman to him. And so while pretending to be lauding Karen Bass, he does so in such a brutal way. He does so in such an underhanded way where he really undermines her whole credibility. Oh no. And hold on. I bet some of you are wondering where the mayor of LA is. Well, don't you worry, she called me. I mean, she's on the other side of the world. She obviously doesn't care about any of you. But she picked up the phone so, you know, remember that. It's not really working though, cuz Karen Bass is catching a ton of flack. But Gavin Newsom's catching an insane amount of flack as well. And Karen Bass not being there, still did better than Joe Biden, who showed up and decided to talk about his great grandkids. My son lives out here in new way. They got a notification yesterday. Their home is probably burning around today. It appears that maybe still standing. And I should. But the good news is I'm a great grandfather as of today, my granddaughter, baby girl, baby boy. So I remember this case for about little difficult to hear with that audio. Might just be because Joe Biden mumbles around. He's off also a little far away from the camera. You could hear that. One part though, one really good thing though is I'm a great grandfather. Joe Biden gets on an airplane, flies into Los Angeles, which is extremely irresponsible. He should not be there. It is bad for first responders that Joe Biden is there. You got a city that's already shut down. They're doing everything they can to contain these fires and that's not going very well. And so what do you need? You need the sitting president to come in, compromise the airspace, compromise the roadways. How does that help? So that he can take a photo op, make Gavin Newsom look a little bit better. I don't think he even really makes him look better because Joe Biden comes out there and he just talks about his great grandkid. Congratulations, Joe. It's great that you have a great grandkid. Great grandfathers should not be president. People who can claim to be great grandfathers, I think by definition they've aged out of being president. That's all Joe wants to talk about though. I'm sure it's great. I'm sure he wants to talk about how great it is to be a great grandfather and how much he loves mint chocolate chip ice cream. And I'm sure he wants to give a hard candy to the kids when they come by the house. That's the sort of thing that guys in their 80s should do. They should not be the President of the United States. If it's possible to make Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles political class look worse, he managed to do it. There's so much more to say. First, though, go to hometitlelock.com promo code knowles. If you are a homeowner like me, when's the last time you checked on the title of your home? That is the legal document that shows that you own it. If the answer is never, you need to know about a fast growing crime that the FBI calls house stealing. I was previously shown how easy this scam is to pull off. It is shocking. One page document called a quitclaim deed. This one page document, criminals are forging that document, then filling them out with your information, signing it with a fake signature, stamping it with a notary sale that you can get online for 20 bucks, then filing them with the county officials. That's it. That's all it takes for your home to be transferred out of your name without your knowledge. And then you think, okay, well, if the guy comes to get my home, I'll just blast him to high heaven. No, that's not how it works. The scammers don't want your house. They want the equity in your house. The first step is to check on your home's title to make sure you're not already a victim. Because they could steal the value of your house. You wouldn't even know it necessarily. Could be weeks, could be months. You can get a free title history report and a 30 day free trial of triple lock protection today by going to hometitlelock.com using promo code knowles scanner wles or clicking on the link in the description that is hometitlelock.com promo code knowles do not wait until it's too late. Speaking of presidents, Barack Obama is hanging out with Hitler. Jimmy Carter died and now the former presidents are showing up to pay their respects. And who does Barack Obama sit right next to? By golly, it's Donald Trump. You can see Al Gore right behind them, just so miserable. I was supposed to be president. And why is that jerk. Why is Obama and Trump, why are they both allowed up there? Anyway, forget about Al Gore. You see Trump, he's relaxed. You see Obama just kind of chatting, just Hanging out. Trump's smiling, he laughs a little bit. Obama's smiling, they're cracking jokes. Then even a little later on, it wasn't just pleasantries when Obama sat down. You got Obama there. Obama's laughing. Oh, that Trump. He's a real cutup, that Hitler boy. Hitler man. He's Adolf with a one liner. Nobody can beat him. His Rickles routine is top notch. They're really getting into it. I don't know. I wonder if those guys text. But hold on. I thought, I thought that Donald Trump posed an existential threat to democracy. I thought that he's a neo Nazi who launched his. Who at Charlottesville called Nazis. Very fine people. And that is why Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign on that lie. I thought that was the case. I thought that January 6th was the worst insurrection, a near coup d'etat that almost shredded the Constitution and installed Hitlerian dictatorship in America. Barack Obama's hanging with that guy. That's crazy, huh? You know why he's doing it? It's not cuz these guys like each other. I don't think they like each other really at all. It's because Donald Trump is normal. He's normal. I think that might be the biggest defeat from a messaging standpoint that the Democrats have had to deal with for 10 years. Trump is normal. If you get elected to two terms, at least two terms as president, you're normal. If you win the popular vote as a Republican for the first time in 20 years, you're normal. If you win huge swathes of all sorts of different voter demographics, you're normal. This is what you heard from the left for years and from the squish right. We cannot normalize Donald Trump. He's normal. Because he's normal. The former Democrat president's gonna talk to him. Probably the former Democrat president is friendlier with him than the former Republican president. Cause Trump's been a little harsh on the Bush family. The Bush family's been a little harsh on Trump, but they're all in the same club now. He's no longer an outlier. Jimmy Carter. When he would take pictures in the former president's club, Jimmy Carter often liked to stand separate, as though his presidency were fundamentally different from the corrupt presidencies that followed Reagan and the Bushes and Clinton. He was different. He's a better man. But they're all together now. Trump's one of the guys. In fact, he won a more impressive victory, a much more impressive comeback than any of those other presidents there. He's the most normal one of All. Now some Democrats are less inclined to reach across the aisle right now, notably Elizabeth Warren. Senator Layawatha is screeching at Pete Hegseth, President Trump's Defense Department or Defense Secretary nominee over the importance of diversity in the military. Here is what Elizabeth Warren writes. DoD officials have been clear that, quote, diversity, equity and inclusion in the military are necessities for the United States and that the military must be able to attract, train and retain them for the services to retain competitive edges. You, Pete Hegseth, have claimed that the dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is diversity is our strength. As noted above, you also called for firing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and any general that was involved, any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke shit. Additionally, you complained in the War on Warriors that a woke military emphasizes the made up military values of diversity and inclusion and fails to recruit masculine men who make up our warrior class. She goes on, but I don't have enough, I don't have enough patience to get through it. This is her thesis. Diversity is an absolute necessity for our military. Diversity is the military's strength. But I have one question. Why does the military wear uniforms? If diversity is the military's strength, why do they wear uniforms? Shouldn't they wear di diversiforms? Shouldn't they wear individualistic, eclectic, expressive outfits? Shouldn't they wear, I don't know, leather and feather boas? And why is it that they wear uniforms? Well, this question is answered on a Defense Department website and type it right in. Why does the military wear uniforms? DOD says the military wears uniforms to create consistency and a sense of camaraderie. The military wears uniforms because uniformity is our strength in the military. Uniformity, cohesion, consistency, being all together, having a common purpose, understanding each other, being the same. What do they say about the Marines when you go in for training in the Marines? They tear you down so they can build you back up and you're all going to be the same and you're going to be a unified fighting force. That's why the military wears uniforms. Also because of international law. And that's why diversity is manifestly not our strength. I love Elizabeth Warren here. You can hear the desperation as she just reaches for that tomahawk. She writes the, the, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you know, all the generals, the admirals who are involved in this, our military, our DoD officials have been clear that diversity is our strength. Yeah, but Pete's about to be their boss. No, but the authorities claims Elizabeth Warren, all of the authorities at the Pentagon claim that diversity is the military strength. Well, no, actually, the top authority at the Pentagon, the man who's about to become the top authority at the Pentagon, he says you're wrong. So if you're going to appeal to authority at the Pentagon, well, you're going to be appealing to Pete Hegseth, and Pete Hegseth is going to say you're wrong and Pete Hegseth is right. This is what they're really screeching over. They're really gnashing their teeth over is we are seeing a true changing of the guard. It's not just that the Republicans won the presidency, but they lost the House and the Senate. It's not just that the Republicans won the presidency and the House and the Senate, but they don't have the Supreme Court. The Republicans now have unified government and they can wield the power of the state to undo the terrible policies of the last four years. Many policies that go back much further than the last four years. That's what they're really screeching about. No, but all the experts. Yeah, well, now we're the experts. No, but all the authorities. Yeah, now we're the authorities, but no, but the establishment. Hey, you know what, lady? We're about to be the establishment. How you like that? And you're about to be fringe. You are on the outside. You are banished from the Longhouse and from the tp. Speaking of members of Congress, Unusual Wales has a great little study out on our Congress. I sometimes think that members of Congress are not always the most intelligent people in the world. There's some real bright spots, but I would say the median IQ in Congress is probably lower than other institutions in our country. However, members of Congress have a real genius. For one thing, it's not passing good laws. It's not really getting anything good to advance the common good. But they do have an amazing genius for investing. These guys know how to pick a stock, man. This study shows if you just look at Congressional Democrats, Congressional Democrats stock portfolios jumped 31% in 2024. 31%. Now, I don't know anything about investing. I just have a guy who does it for me. But man, I ain't getting 31%. I'm not getting a fraction of a fraction of that 31%. That FAR beats the S&P 500. Then let's be bipartisan about it because there are plenty of Republicans who do this, too. If you look at the hundred or so members of Congress who actively trade only half of Them beat the S&P 500. Most members of Congress tracked with less active trading than previous years. And Nancy Pelosi, you know, top of the walk. She's really, really impressive at her trading. There are a lot of Republicans in there too. It seems a little corrupt, doesn't it? It's not illegal. Members of Congress are allowed to trade stocks and members of Congress are privy to a lot of information that the general public is not privy to. They're allowed, in a sense, to insider trade. That's a great deal of corruption, isn't it? How do you remedy that corruption? Do you prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks? I guess you could do that. Do you give them a raise? You could just give them a raise. Members of Congress could make a lot more money, most of them in the private sector than in government. Do you just raise their wages to make them competitive? Possibly. Do you, I don't know. Do you restore virtue? Do you restore civics classes? Do you restore religion? Do you restore. I don't know. What do you do? That's not. I would be so happy if I could just blame it on the Democrats. But I can't just blame it on the Democrats. It's a systemic problem. I would be so happy if I could just blame it on California or New York or Illinois or some left wing state. But it's not just a left wing state problem. This is a federal problem. The rot runs deep. There's so much more to say. First though, go to netsuite.com knowles what does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts, you will get 10 answers. Bull market, Bear market. Inflation's up, inflation's down. Can someone please invent a crystal ball? While we're waiting for that, over 38,000 businesses have found a way to future proof their operations with NetSuite by Oracle. The number one cloud ERP. Imagine having your accounting, financial management, inventory and HR all seamlessly integrated into one fluid platform. That's NetSuite. With this unified business management suite, you are not just juggling numbers. You are wielding a powerful tool that gives you the visibility and control to make quick, informed decisions. At the Daily Wire, we are proud to partner with netsuite because they are leading the way in future proofing operations for businesses around the world. Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite adapts to your needs, helping you respond to immediate challenges and seizing your biggest opportunities. Speaking of opportunity, download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning at netsuite.com knowles the guide is free for you at netsuite.com knowLes kennewles netsuite.com knowles My favorite comment yesterday is from William Elliott, who says don't forget that Karen Bass donated millions of dollars worth of firefighting equipment to Ukraine and cut millions from the fire departments. I don't think she donated millions of dollars of fire equipment to Ukraine. I haven't seen a number on how much money or on how much fire equipment she donated to Ukraine. I do know that LA under her leadership did donate excess. Now doesn't seem to be excess or surplus fire equipment to Ukraine, but I don't know if it was millions. Surely though they did cut the fire budgets by millions of dollars. And in any case, if they even sent one hat over to Ukraine, one fire hose over to Ukraine, it's a fire hose that really could be used right now. But this is indicative of a broader problem for the liberals, which is that they prioritize everyone else over Americans. Which is why President Trump's slogan America first has resonated among most Americans, among the majority of American voters. Now, speaking of investments, there's a little bit of good news. College tuition is decreasing at state schools and it's increasing at a slower rate at private schools. This is according to the College Board, which is hugely influential in college admissions, shows that the average student attending an in state public university this year will pay tuition to the order of 11,610 bucks. They that is down 4% from 10 years ago. When you take inflation into account. Now when you factor in grants and financial aid, the savings are way bigger than 4%. The savings are actually 40% over the course of a decade, from $4,140 to $2,480 annually, according to those data. Now at private colleges, the cost is still going up, but the rate of increase is diminishing. So the cost has increased 4% over the last decade. When you take inflation into account, that's a big change. If you look at two decades prior, when the tuition increase was 68%, what does this tell us? This tells us that the market still functions. This tells us that there is a market correction going on. This tells us that college is overvalued the year after I went to college. So I guess my sophomore year of college was the high watermark for college attendance in America. It was 2009, something like 70% of high school graduates went on to college, all time high. And it has declined since then and it's really dropped off in recent years. Meanwhile, the price of college was Going up and up and up. The conservative consolation, Russell Kirk tells us this. A lot of conservatives have told us this is that in the long run, reality reasserts itself and it can take a while and it can be hideous and it can be tragic and it can cause an entire city to burn to the ground, but reality will reassert itself in the end. You can't escape reality. Reality is undefeated. And here, college is just not worth what people have been paying for it. So I was recently doing a panel with my friend Charlie Kirk, and someone asked us about what she should major in in college to have a job in journalism. And Charlie's answer was, don't go to college. And I kind of get it. If you're a Charlie Kirk, don't go to college. You can launch a major political organization at the age of 18. Okay, I don't think there are that many Charlie Kirks in the world. I'm pro college, but not for the reason that many conservatives are. Some conservatives will say just major in engineering or something. Just major in, I don't know, STEM or something practical. I don't think you should do that. You can go to trade school for that. You can learn that on the job. That's not what university is for. University is not to learn something useful, but to learn something useless which has real value to it. But the problem these days is even the really fancy schools, even the private schools, even the expensive schools, often don't teach you philosophy, literature, history, almost never theology. They don't really make you a cultured person. They don't really help you make sense of your freedom. So the market's gonna correct and you're seeing that now, you have data for that. It's no longer just taking it on the words of conservatives who say, you know, this college isn't worth it these days. Now actually most Americans think that now because the market is moving, you don't need to just take conservatives word for it that Trump is normal and he's a good president. People like him. Most Americans think that reality is catching up and the liberal politicians are trying to catch up to reality. Just look at Barack Obama palling around with Hitler. Now, speaking of advances in knowledge, there is something really creepy coming out of Timeshift. Timeshift is a new facility billing itself as the world's first cryopreservation facility based on cutting edge AI and crypto preservation. So to simplify that, it's where you go freeze yourself until they cure whatever disease you have. And you've heard about this in the past, there have been eccentrics who have frozen themselves, and it doesn't work. But the idea is, okay, if I'm gonna die soon, if I just freeze myself, then maybe I can remain an icicle until the scientists figure out the cure to whatever I have. And then they can thaw me out, give me the cure, and I can live longer. And then I don't know if I get something else that they don't have the cure for. Maybe they put me back in the freezer and they put me next to the hamburgers and the ice cream, and then they thaw me out 100 years later and they cure whatever other disease I got. Okay, we've heard about that before. Now, it's never worked. But this new organization says no, we've figured out how to make it work. We're going to prevent cellular death. Okay? But what makes it even creepier is they say that they have a solution to the big problem that this causes for the people around the person who freezes himself. Namely, if you go and freeze yourself, well, all these people, your daughter, your brother, your community, they lose you. You're in a freezer somewhere. But their lives go on. And the solution, they say, is to use AI to create an avatar of the frozen person's likeness to speak with family and friends in real time while their body is frozen. I've talked to people who say that soon we'll upload our consciousness to a computer. And so even after we die in the physical world, after our bodies decay, there will be a robot that is virtually indistinguishable from us. And then our loved ones who are grieving our death won't really need to grieve because they can just talk to the robot and it'll seem just like the real person. It's almost like you never have to die. Except, do you see the problem here? Do you see the fundamental problem? CS Lewis talks about it in Abolition of Man. With every advance, there's also a retreat. So you say, okay, I want to live forever. I feel that I'm not going to live long enough. So I want to live forever. But in order to live forever, I'm going to stop living right now because I'm gonna put myself in a freezer. But it'll be good because in the aggregate, in the long run, I'm gonna live forever. But actually, I'm gonna cut my life off right now. We think that we can conquer death, even putting aside the cryogenic freezing, by creating an AI avatar. And then we'll be able to live forever. In a certain way, the robot will be indistinguishable from the human being. But in order to live forever, I cease to be me. I cease to exist. In other words, there are a lot of dubious assumptions about anthropology and philosophy that are at the heart of these scientific explorations. That's the problem with it. It's not that it's not cool to freeze a person. I guess that's kind of cool that you could do that. It's not that it's not cool that you can make a robot that seems a lot like a person, that, you know, there's something interesting about that. But you're assuming a lot of things about human nature. You're assuming, for instance, that a human person is just the summation of our synapses firing. You're assuming that the person is just the body, that there's no such thing as an immaterial soul, a spirit. So if that's true, if we really are just a bunch of matter, then if you can replicate the matter, you've replicated the person. The problem is that your premise is false. At least I think your premise is false. I don't think that the only thing that matters is matter. I think there's more to the world. These days, it's very popular to say that all that exists is stuff, but I think that's ridiculous. I think dreams and love and mathematics and all sorts of things exist that are not material. I think, for instance, that the soul is the form of the body, the substantial form of the body. I think this is increasingly backed up by scientific discoveries, particularly in the quantum field. But putting that aside, I'm no expert on it just seems to me that actually all the old wisdom is being vindicated. Think that Aristotle's right and these futurist weirdo atheists are wrong, but at the very least, we have to acknowledge that is what's being smuggled in here. And we're not the first to predict it. CS Lewis predicted this in the Abolition of Man. Many people saw that the more we advance, the more we seem to retreat. I got in trouble because I made this point on the show that the Dark Ages were actually relatively. Weren't so dark. Actually, when you compare. Look, there are plenty of advantages to modernity, okay? I like modern dentistry a lot more than medieval dentistry, probably. But there are many ways in which the modern era is much more barbaric, much more violent, much less civilized, conducive, much less conducive to flourishing than the Middle Ages, okay? Speaking of The Abolition of Man. Here's just a quick story, really sad. A young female firefighter has sustained serious head injuries while fighting the fire in LA. 25 year old woman sustained a major head injury. She's being treated right now, so we can pray for her, hope she does well. But this gets to the kind of dubious assumptions we're making about human nature. In this case the one that men and women are exactly the same. It's wrong for women to be firemen. It's wrong. I'm not saying she doesn't have good intentions. I'm not saying she's not demonstrating heroism and a kind of a virtue, but. But it's just wrong. I don't want to read that story. I don't want to read that a woman gets her head knocked in fighting a fire. I don't want to read that a woman catches a bullet from a Jihadi fighting in Iraq. I don't want to read that. I think it's a barbaric society that permits our women, much less now encourages our women to do this. I think men and women are different. I think actually firemen need to be big and strong and burly. I think they need to be big, strong, burly guys who can carry big heavy hoses and equipment and carry people out on their shoulders. And I think they need to be men who are more inclined toward physical violence. Men who, when physical violence occurs to them, it's not quite so ghastly and horrifying as when it happens to a woman. I think men and women are different. And I think the prioritizing of DEI in first responders in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the country is just one more aspect of that, of the political rot that's been allowed to set in. Nothing against the individual women who want to do these things. It's very noble in a way that they want to help. But it's disordered the way that our society is now expecting them to contribute. It's disordered. It's contrary to nature and we shouldn't have to, we shouldn't have to tolerate it. Hello, everyone. It's your favorite president, Donald J. Trump, here to introduce something really special. You're gonna love it. 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[Michael Knowles]

Celebrate President Trump's return with these limited edition beautiful new Trump watches. Hurry go now to gettrumpwatches.com what is a woman? The question we've just been discussing sparked a cultural conversation. Now, Identity Crisis, a powerful new film from the Daily Wire and Turning Point USA goes even deeper, exposing the heartbreaking consequences of radical gender ideology while highlighting stories of resilience and courage in the pursuit of truth. Starting now and for the next 72 hours, identity crisis is streaming for free on X. We chose to make it free for 72 hours because this is a story everyone needs to see the raw, unflinching truth about how this dangerous ideology is affecting children and families. Creating bold premium content like this is not easy. It's costly. It's bold. It's essential. That is why the Daily Wire depends on your support to keep reshaping the cultural landscape. Follow real Daily Wire on X. Watch Identity Crisis, spread it, share it, tell everyone about it. Finally, finally, we've reached my favorite time of the week, when I get to hear from you in the mailbag. Our mailbag is sponsored by Pure Talk@A PureTalk.com Knowles Canada, WLAS to save an additional 50% off your first month, take it away.

[Drew]

Hello Michael. My name is Drew. I'm 13 years old. I've been listening to the show daily for three years. I'm calling from Tampon Tim, State of Minnesota, and my question for you is how come conservatives have fought for women's sports and defended them relentlessly from giant men pretending to be women. Yet we also make fun of women's sports constantly. I mean, even my mom says we can't have women's basketball on, even if it's to make fun of it. We think it's dumb, but also speak of it as if it's an incredibly important thing. We say that nobody watches them, which they don't. But we also say how this is an invasion of an institution, but it's an institution that nobody cares about to begin with. While I do agree with both of these points, I could not defend them simultaneously in an argument. Love the show. Thank you for answering my question.

[Michael Knowles]

Really great question and really well stated. Both of those things are true. We fight the imposition of men and women's sports, and we don't really care about women's sports. That's true, because what we care about is justice, and it is unjust for men to enter into women's private spaces and associations and take their trophies and scholarships away from them. It's unjust. It's Disordered. It is grounded on falsehoods. It is harmful, often physically harmful to the women involved. It's harmful to the men who think that they're women as well, because it leads them and affirms them in delusion. That's why it's just a matter of justice. I make fun of Canada a lot, but if the Chinese dropped a nuclear bomb on Toronto because they don't like Tim Hortons, I would come to Canada's defense. Not because I think Canada has its act together, not because I think Canada is the most important nation in the history of the world, but because it would be rather unjust for China to do such a thing. How that analogy came up, I'm not quite sure, but that's why it's about justice. You don't need to defend women's sports because you like the sports. You should defend women's sports because you like the women. You want women to receive their due, to be treated in a just way. Next question.

[Caller 1]

Hi Michael, thanks for the show. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this. What would you do if you were in my situation? Or better, what should my husband do if this situation ever comes up again? Today we went out to eat with our nine month old baby, having a great time, family friendly experience, when two very inappropriately dressed people came in to eat. They were wearing tight leather bondage clothes, freaky face, tattoos, piercings, collars, the whole kitten caboodle. Now, we finished our meal quickly and left. But. But this is the kind of thing we don't want our son to be exposed to. Thankfully, at this point in his life, he's too young to remember it. But in the future, what would you have done? Thank you.

[Michael Knowles]

What would I have done in that situation? I would have requested of the waiter, or better the manager, that the restaurant kick those people out because it is inappropriate to wear leather sex gear into a restaurant. You wouldn't be asking the restaurant to kick these people out because of their true identity or even because of their deviant desires or private behaviors. You would be asking to kick them out because they are not comporting themselves in accord with the standards of the restaurant or public decency. So that's what I'd say. I'd call them over. I'd say, hey, you need to ask those people to leave, please. And if they gave me pushback, I would explain it as I just did. And in fact, I was present when such a thing happened in New York while protecting the establishment in question. I was with a coworker of Mine in a coffee shop in New York in a very Italian neighborhood. And I actually didn't see this episode happen. I was in the bathroom when this happened. And when I came out, my co worker was laughing and he said, you're not gonna believe what just happened in this coffee shop in an Italian part of New York. They had this pretty traditional area, but they had a gay flag right behind the counter. I go. I hit the bathroom. I was just getting a cup of coffee. I go into the bathroom. While I'm in there, some big goomba just walks up to the counter and goes, what's with the flag? And the guy behind the counter says, huh? What's with the flag? The guy behind the counter says, what? Oh, you know, it's inclusion. You know, it's nice. We're welcoming everybody. And the goomba says, get rid of the flag. There are children in here. Nobody needs to see that. Get rid of that rainbow flag. I don't want to see that. And so the guy behind the counter, I guess, was pushing back a little bit. Eventually, the guy behind the counter says, hey, you know, this is my shop. You can't tell me what to do with my flag. And the goomba says, yeah, it's your shop, but it's my neighborhood. Get rid of that flag. And then I don't know. I don't know what happened. We left the coffee shop later. I just hit the head, had my coffee, I left. I like that. I like that kind of thing. Yeah, sure, it's your shop, it's my neighborhood, it's my country, it's my society, and it's your society, and it's his society, and it's his society. And we are entitled to live according to standards. So that's what I would say. You don't need to be mean about it. You don't need to be nasty. But you can be firm and reasonable. Yeah, sorry. No sex gear in the Chuck E. Cheese. Take that elsewhere. Take that to some other restaurant. Next question.

[Caller 2]

Hey, Michael Love the show. Just had a quick question about taking the Lord's name in vain. A lot of people say saying things like, well, Jesus Christ or oh, my God, are taking his name in vain. But I don't necessarily believe that because when I was 16, I would tell everybody I was God. And then he almost killed me. And it took repenting midair. I had a collapsed lung from that. Then at 18, I was acting like a jerk with God and he set me on fire on Easter Sunday. And then when I was 20, I was going around slightly mocking God and I almost lost my hand. Ever since then I have been very careful with my speech. I do say things like, oh my God, gah. Sometimes I do say, you know, well, Jesus Christ. But it's always in a respectful way because I've almost died. Just want to know what you thought about that.

[Michael Knowles]

I'm a little bewildered, I suppose, by your account. Sorry to hear of your troubles, but glad you've come out in the end. I suppose I would recommend that you not test the Lord your God. So I'm not denying necessarily that these misfortunes that have befallen you have some relation to the way you've behaved or spoken. I don't know that there's a connection, but I wouldn't take the absence of some calamity. When you take the name of the Lord in vain as evidence that you are not therefore taking the name of the Lord in vain, you are. When you use God's name in a trivial way or in a flippant way, or certainly in a profane way, that just is by definition, taking the Lord's name in vain, you're using his name in a vain way. So God tells you not to do that. And at a deeper point, about religion. Religion is not purely a subjective experience. Religion is an objective thing. Religion is a habit of virtue that inclines the will to give to God what he deserves. It's something that we can know something about. Religion is not, as many modern people believe, just a preference. You like chocolate, I like vanilla. It's not just an opinion that's not grounded in truth. It's a legitimate subject of inquiry that is grounded in reason and reality. We can know something about it with certainty. So all of that to say, don't take the name of the Lord in vain and don't wait to have another piano fall on your head to follow that advice. Next question.

[Caller 3]

Hello, Michael. I would like to say thank you for your previous advice. Back in November, I asked you if I should wait until my girlfriend and I were more financially stable to propose to her or go ahead and propose now and just be engaged for a little while. Well, I took your advice. I was able to buy a ring and proposed. And happily she said yes. My question for you now is, do you have any advice on things we should know or do before getting married? Thank you and God bless.

[Michael Knowles]

That's great. I'm really glad to hear that things have worked out for you. Yes, I do have advice. You both should know what you are signing up for. You need to agree on what it is you are doing that's the most important thing to begin. Then you actually have to cultivate the habits that allow you to do that thing. But these days, we don't know what marriage is. The Supreme Court doesn't know what marriage is. People are real confused about marriage. Even more traditional people or religious people, sometimes they're a little confused. You need to know what this is. Are you equal partners who decide that you're gonna help each other out and you're gonna go, I'm gonna make the special vanilla cake for you on Sunday and you're gonna always warm the towel for me? And is it that kind of thing? Are you engaged in a relationship for mutual amusement or are you a man who finds a wife and you come together and become one flesh and you're doing something that has a head to it? The husband and a wife and you come together for the begetting and education of children and as a secondary matter, for the mutual support of the spouses. I know just off the top of my head, what are you doing? Figure that out. The most successful marriages I've ever seen involve two people who agree on what they're doing where there's really little ambiguity. Because when you get the basic stuff settled, then you can have real brilliance and real creativity. It's like a poem. When you have meter to a poem, when you perhaps have a rhyme scheme to a poem, when you know the form of the poem, it's within those limits. It's from those limits that the real brilliance and creativity can exist. When it's just a kind of free verse, slam poetry nonsense. The whole thing's incoherent and will probably have you running for the doors. The holidays are a time to slow down and savor moments shared with those who matter most. This year. Make those moments extraordinary with Mayflower cigars. From the milder Mayflower dawn to the bolder Mayflower dusk, each blend of Mayflower Premium handmade cigars is crafted for conversation and contemplation. Give the gift of unrushed excellence this holiday season. Create your [e-mail] you must be 21 years old or older to order. Some exclusions apply. It's fake headline Friday and I have more written mailbag to get to. The rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it. Become a member. Use code Knowles at checkout for two months free on all annual plans. I've often said that gender affirming care is health care. It is mental health care and it can actually be suicide prevention care.

[Caller 2]

I think I'm gonna take some medicine so I can kind of like transition.

[Caller 1]

Swim into a boy, get surgery.

[Caller 3]

After the surgery, I didn't really feel.

[Michael Knowles]

Any better when it stopped being a thing for adults and it started to be a. Let's teach this to kids. Total lie manipulation. It's gaslighting. Please stop. He's a boy, not a girl.

[Drew]

How could she do this to my son?

[Michael Knowles]

What they're talking about is hormonal therapy or sex reassignment surgery on children. I saw it fixing me. It externally would fix me internally. But of course I was wrong.

[Caller 1]

The fact that the state thinks that they're more important and have a better say in what happens to your child over the actual parents opinion is egregious. Puberty blockers, surgeries, Big money makers for hospitals, for physicians.

[Drew]

All I want to do is hold my son.

[Caller 1]

Are you asking me to lie to parents?

[Drew]

And he said yes.

[Michael Knowles]

This is an a weaponized use of a parent's sympathy and caring and concern by the left to destroy your child. Let's tell kids that maybe they can be the opposite sex. Maybe they actually are the opposite sex. It is an evil thing to tell children that happiness lies on the other side of puberty blockers or double mastectomies.

[Caller 1]

The left so badly wants to blur.

[Michael Knowles]

These lines, that's a five alarm fire. It's criminal.