Ep. 1650 - Mel Gibson Preaches To Joe Rogan

Summary

Episode Summary: Ep. 1650 - Mel Gibson Preaches To Joe Rogan

Podcast Title: The Michael Knowles Show
Host: Michael Knowles
Release Date: January 13, 2025
Episode: 1650
Topic: Mel Gibson's Appearance on Joe Rogan Show Amidst LA Fires

Introduction

In Episode 1650 of The Michael Knowles Show, Michael Knowles delves into a range of topics surrounding the ongoing Los Angeles fires, political controversies, and cultural critiques. A significant portion of the episode focuses on Mel Gibson's recent interview on the Joe Rogan Show, where Gibson discusses societal collapse, abortion, and Christianity. Knowles provides his analysis and commentary on these discussions, intertwining them with current political events and social observations.

Gavin Newsom and California Fires

The episode opens with a critique of California Governor Gavin Newsom's handling of the Los Angeles fires.

Michael Knowles [00:00]:

"Did you catch that? The governor of California is not asking the White House to help protect his constituents from the historic fire that's still raging. He is asking the White House to protect him from his constituents."

Knowles criticizes Newsom's request for assistance, interpreting it as a plea for protection against criticism rather than aid for those affected by the fires.

Mel Gibson’s Interview on Joe Rogan Show

A substantial segment of the episode examines Mel Gibson's appearance on the Joe Rogan Show amidst the LA fires.

Key Discussions

1. Environmental and Societal Collapse:

   • Mel Gibson [15:08]:

     "How close are we to collapse and what are the things that lead to collapse? You know, it's environmental stuff. It's human sacrifice."

   • Joe Rogan [15:17]:

     "Yeah, I mean, we do that kinda."

   • Mel Gibson [15:20]:

     "We do."

   Gibson links environmental degradation and societal collapse to human sacrifices, drawing parallels between modern practices and ancient rituals.

2. Abortion and Pagan Practices:

   • Mel Gibson [15:08]:

     "We sacrifice many, many, many more babies to Moloch than any ancient devilish pagan tribe ever."

   Knowles interprets this as Gibson equating abortion to pagan infant sacrifice, highlighting the gravity of his statements.

3. Christianity and Mercy:

   • Mel Gibson [16:26]:

     "The first ever confirmed canonization as a saint was Dismas... He was hanging. He was the thief on the cross next to Jesus... So there's a lot of mercy."

   • Michael Knowles [18:10]:

     "Gibson's message is bringing to Joe Rogan's audience of mercy... a message that Mel Gibson is bringing to Joe Rogan's audience of mercy."

Gibson emphasizes the theme of mercy in Christianity by recounting the story of Dismas, the penitent thief, underscoring the possibility of redemption.

Notable Quotes

• Mel Gibson [19:00]:

  "Who gets back up three days later after he gets murdered in public? Who gets back up under his own power? Buddha didn't do that."

• Michael Knowles [17:00]:

  "We sacrifice ... to Moloch than any ancient devilish pagan tribe ever. And that's in the strongest country in the history of the world."

Analysis by Michael Knowles

Knowles praises Gibson's ability to convey complex theological concepts in a mainstream platform like the Joe Rogan Show. He highlights Gibson's emphasis on mercy and grace in Christianity, contrasting it with contemporary societal views that often dismiss religious narratives.

Critique of Jimmy Carter's Funeral

Knowles shifts focus to Jimmy Carter's funeral, criticizing the choice of music played.

Michael Knowles [24:30]:

"At Jimmy Carter's funeral, this was the music that was played... 'Imagine there is no heaven.'"

He argues that playing John Lennon's "Imagine" is inappropriate for a Christian funeral, labeling it as atheist and anti-Christian rhetoric.

Donald Trump’s Legal Situation

The episode addresses the sentencing of former President Donald Trump, which Knowles deems a political maneuver by liberal authorities.

Sentencing Details

Knowles outlines the legal proceedings against Trump, emphasizing the dubious nature of his conviction and subsequent sentencing.

Michael Knowles:

"President Trump was sentenced... Trump is going to be engaging in community service for the next four years when he's President of the United States... He can't own a Gun."

Analysis

Knowles criticizes the sentencing as absurd, highlighting the contradiction of a president having the authority to make critical decisions like nuclear strikes while being restricted from owning a firearm. He questions the integrity of the judicial process, suggesting political bias influenced the outcome.

Audience Interaction

Knowles engages with comments from listeners, specifically addressing points about the appropriate age of presidents and grandparents.

Listener Comment [36:41]:

"In fairness it is possible to be a parent to a 20-year-old and a grandparent at 40 and a great grandparent at 60."

Michael Knowles [36:58]:

"She's right. She's right. Because I was saying in our decadent society... to be a great grandparent probably puts you in your 80s or 90s. But you're right. If we lived in a good society, great grandparents can and probably should be president because they could be 60-year-olds."

Alice Weidel and Hitler’s Political Affiliation

The episode critiques Alice Weidel, leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), for inaccurately labeling Adolf Hitler as a communist.

Alice Weidel [38:03]:

"He was a communist and he considered himself a socialist."

Michael Knowles [38:32]:

"Hitler wrote that communism is not socialism... So he did call his party a socialist party... He was definitely not a libertarian."

Analysis

Knowles dismantles Weidel's claim by referencing Hitler's own writings, clarifying the ideological distinctions between Nazism and communism. He further explores the confusion in political labeling, suggesting that contemporary left-right paradigms no longer accurately reflect historical ideologies.

Conclusion

In this episode, Michael Knowles offers a critical examination of current political and cultural issues, using Mel Gibson's interview as a focal point for broader discussions on society, religion, and governance. He intertwines these topics with personal insights and listener interactions, providing a comprehensive analysis aimed at a conservative audience. Knowles underscores the importance of traditional values, robust judicial integrity, and precise political discourse in maintaining societal stability.

Notable Quotes Recap:

• Governor Gavin Newsom [00:22]:

  "People want to divide this country and we're going to have to address that as well."

• Mel Gibson [15:08]:

  "We do sacrifice many, many, many more babies to Moloch than any ancient devilish pagan tribe ever."

• Mel Gibson [18:10]:

  "Nobody dies for a lie."

• Michael Knowles [24:53]:

  "Why are you playing this atheist communist gobbledygook in a cathedral at the funeral of a supposed Christian?"

Final Thoughts

Episode 1650 encapsulates Michael Knowles' commitment to dissecting and challenging liberal narratives, advocating for a return to foundational values, and critiquing contemporary political and cultural developments. Through incisive commentary and targeted critiques, Knowles aims to inform and galvanize his audience.

Transcript

[Michael Knowles]

Get ready. In exactly one week, we will be live on the ground in Washington D.C. for Donald Trump's inauguration. Watch live. Join the [e-mail] subscribe as the Los Angeles fires continue to destroy the city, the California governor and former future Democrat presidential nominee Gavin Newsom is asking the White House for help.

[Gavin Newsom]

I ask you, we've got to deal with this misinformation. There were hurricane force winds of mis and disinformation lies. People want to divide this country and we're going to have to address that as well. And it breaks my heart as people are suffering and struggling that we're up against those hurricane forces as well. And that's just a point of personal privilege that I share that with you because it infects real people that are out there, people I meet every single day, people the mayor has been meeting with. And they're having conversations that are not the typical conversations you'd have at this time. And you wonder where this stuff comes from and it's very damaging as well. But we're here to get the job done.

[Michael Knowles]

Did you catch that? The governor of California is not asking the White House to help protect his constituents from the historic fire that's still raging. He is asking the White House to protect him from his constituents. Criticism. A desperate and disgusting plea from a politician whose presidential ambitions have just gone up in smoke. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. Mel Gibson was just preaching the gospel to and on the Joe Rogan Show. It was really beautiful. There's so much more to say. First though, go to tryarmra.com knowles There is a lot of talk these days about getting back to basics in the new year. Well, you want to get back to basics. I want to tell you about something fascinating. That's Armora Colostrum. Colostrum is the first food that all mammals receive in life. I have three kids under the age of four. And if you've ever had kids, you know that Colostrum is, is nature's original superfood containing over 400 bioactive nutrients that your body needs to thrive. What makes Amra different is their proprietary cold chain biopotent pasteurization technology. Say that five times fast. Unlike other supplements that lose their potency through processing, Armrup preserves all those crucial nutrients in their most bioavailable form. It is all sustainably sourced from grass fed cows on American family farms. Many people in our office use Armra Colostrum and have noticed remarkable improvements in immune, health and energy levels this is exactly the kind of innovation we should be embracing in 2025. We have worked out a special offer for our listeners. Receive 15% off your first order when you go to tryarmra.com noltskinewlas or enter code noltskinewlas that is T R Y A R M R A.com K N O W L E S Go there, write N O W. Collapse happens gradually, then suddenly. I'm not the first person to observe it. An LA fire lady has gone viral over the past few days for mocking the idea that a woman. A woman firefighter, a concept basically unheard of until about 50 years ago, that a woman firefighter would struggle to carry a big burly man out of a burning building.

[Unnamed Female Firefighter]

You want to see somebody that responds to your house, your emergency, whether it's a medical call or a fire call that looks like you. It gives that person a little bit more ease knowing that somebody might understand their situation better. Is she strong enough to do this or. You couldn't carry my husband out of a fire. Which my response is, he got himself in the wrong place. If I have to carry him out of a fire.

[Michael Knowles]

You know, if I have to carry your husband out of a fire, out of a burning building, he's in the wrong place. Yeah. Usually people in burning buildings would describe their position as the wrong place. It's not the right place. It's not the place they want to be. That's why we have firemen. And nobody wants that lady responding to their burning building. She says, well, you know, when your house is on fire, you. You wanna make sure that the fireman who shows up looks like you. I'm sorry, the firemen or fire lady who shows up looks like you. That is not true. I am a perfectly average sized, not particularly athletic, swarthy fella. I don't exactly care about the race of the man who shows up, but I definitely want it to be a guy. I want the guy to be huge. I want him not only to be above average in size, I want him to be very much above average in size. I want him to be very athletic so that he can carry flights of stairs. I want him to be a big, brawny dude. I don't care if he's a white guy. I don't care if he's Hispanic. I don't care if he's a black guy. In fact, black guys are pretty strong. They're pretty athletic. Maybe I would even sort of prefer him to be a big, giant black guy, which is not me. He wouldn't resemble me. But I would feel a lot better if that were the case because I would believe that he is likely to save me from the Bernie building. But if a lady of any sort, straight, lesbian, white, black, Hispanic, if a lady shows up, I'm gonna start sweating even more than I already was. With the building on fire, it should go without saying, but I think it actually has to be said. Now, women should not be firefighters for a whole host of reasons. One, because they're physically weaker than men. Just a fact. Two, because it is a disordered society that sends women into burning buildings to save men. That's just wrong. It's the same kind of society that sends women to the front lines of combat to catch bullets from jihadis. It's a bad idea because women are physically weaker than men, but it's also just disordered. What kind of a sick society, what kind of a perverted society sends women to go catch bullets to protect men? That's just wrong. That's a society that doesn't know the difference between men and women. And I'm not just talking about the people who've fallen prey to the transgender ideology. I'm talking about many people who would even call themselves conservatives, because I know what the answer's gonna be. There are gonna be people who think that they are conservative, who think that they are on the right wing, and they're gonna say, well, look, sure, Michael, usually women should not be firefighters. Usually women should not fight in combat in the military. But, you know, some women can do it. Really, it should just be about whoever can pass the physical fitness test. And if you can pass the test, then be my guest. First of all, what happens when you subject everyone, regardless of sex, to that kind of standard is the standards just get lowered. That's what happens in police departments. It's what happens in the fire department. It's what happens in the military. But even beyond that, do you see the logical conclusion of that thinking? This is the thinking that gave us transing the kids. This is the thinking that gave us the sexually confused society. This is the thinking that ripped apart any semblance of chivalry or serious definition of family. Listen, women can be fire. Usually they won't be. But women can be firefighters so long as they pass the test. Okay. Why not? That's fine. Of course women can fight in combat. You know, if they pass the test, if they're as physically strong as men, of course we should support same sex marriage. People should have any kind of rights that they want. Doesn't bother me Just don't make me pay for it. Of course. And look, adults, if adults want to put on dresses, if they want to chop up their bodies, that's their right, they're individuals. That doesn't affect me. But transgenderism in school curricula, that's crazy. Do you see the problem with that? Of course women should be permitted into men's typical spaces, and they should be permitted into the military academy and the police academy and the fire academy. But transgenderism, that's crazy. You've already accepted, by accepting the logic of same sex marriage, by accepting the logic of the LGBT movement, by accepting the logic of feminism, you have accepted the premises that inevitably bring you transgenderism. And it's all absurd. And when we see the lady fire firemen admitting this on camera, saying, yeah, I probably can't pull a man out of a burning building, but sounds like a him problem, doesn't it? Why is he relying on me? I'm a lady, I shouldn't be pulling him out of a building. She's even admitting it, that men and women are different, that this is absurd. But when even the conservatives accept these absurd premises, well, you end up exactly where we are now. There are still some amazing things happening in la. James woods, great actor and a conservative actor, one of the few conservative actors, James woods, was posting on X the other day. Well, he's always posting on X. He's a very prominent tweeter. But James woods was posting and said basically that his house was up in flames. His house was right where the fire is. And he said, it's gone. I'm evacuated, but it's almost certainly gone. Then he posted this a couple days later. A miracle has happened. We managed to get to our property and our home that we were told is gone forever, is still standing in this hellish landscape. Standing is relative, but smoke and other damage is not like the utter destruction around us. The view from our deck area. And then he posts from his deck posts a little video and everything is just wiped away. It's just totally gone. Then woods points out, he says, one side untouched, the other utter destruction, while we rejoice to find our house intact. In the midst of a hellscape like this, you can only think of your neighbors. I think we have the video of both sides of the street somewhere. We have the video. Somewhere hidden in the control room, we have the video. I was so certain that our house was gone a day ago, but the fickle finger of fate decided otherwise. Now, the fickle finger of fate is an interesting phrase that's not exactly the phrase I would use to describe what's going on, but it is crazy. You've seen a lot of videos like this. One side of the street, totally fine. The other side absolutely destroyed. But this is not the only story we've seen like this. There's another group of people who had all their property burned down. One thing remained. We have video of that too. A statue of the Virgin Mary, specifically of Our lady of Guadalupe, which is the apparition of Mary, the mother of God in the Americas converted millions and millions of people. Everything burned down. This statue of Mary still standing. It's enough to give you goosebumps. Even if you're the most hardened materialist who thinks that all of these kind of numinous phenomena are pure coincidence, it's enough to give you goosebumps. Add on top of that, in the Palisades there was a property that survived. It's a property owned by Rick Caruso. It's one of the most beautiful properties in la. It's the Palisades shopping mall. Now, in the case of Rick Caruso's property, he's the Republican who ran for mayor. In the case of Rick Ruso's property, he appears to have brought in some private fireman help to help keep the fires off of his property. So that was a little less providential perhaps, but Rick Ruso clearly cooperating with the resources he had. But then I have one more story. This one was really crazy. Friend of mine, he's a conservative guy, he's a friend and colleague of many years. He has a property in Malibu and we were looking at the spread of the fire and I was texting him, but I didn't want to say, man, your property is gone. And I was asking for updates every so often. And he showed on the map his neighbors houses just X property gone. X property gone. Virtually all of his neighbors had their houses burnt to the ground. And then a day or so later, he texts me a picture of his property completely untouched. Palm trees on his property, completely untouched. He had a box, a cardboard box of wood on his deck. Completely untouched, Not a hint of smoke. I was seeing footage from his neighbor's ring camera of sparks flying by the property. The fire got so close to his house that two windows exploded. The property otherwise totally his stuff is fine. I am not saying we have to read into this all that much, you know, It's a wicked generation that seeks after signs and wonders and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. However, as a priest friend of mine, observes. It's a stupid generation that ignores signs and wonders. And one sees significance in a lot of things, like a statue of the Mother of God standing amid all the ruins. Or certain houses survive, certain houses don't. Providence is tightly knit and imbued with meaning. It's just eerie, I guess, is all I'm saying. There's so much more to say first, though. Go to donewithdebt.com you wished you could have invested in the stock market last year when investors scored the highest profits in decades. But between that mountain of bills and credit card debt, you had nothing left over. Well, it's time to stop letting debt hold you back. Let me tell you how with Done With Debt they have a brilliant new strategy designed to tackle your debt and put cash back into your hands so you can save and invest and build the life you've been wanting. Done With Debt goes head to head with credit card companies and loan companies. Their team of negotiators and legal experts work to significantly reduce your bills, eliminate interest, and erase penalties. This frees up cash to invest while the stock market is hot. Done With Debt helps turn crushing debt into financial freedom. But some of their strategies are time sensitive, so do not wait. Start building the life you deserve. Go to donewithdebt.com, talk with one of their strategists. It is free. Go to donewithdebt.com right now. I've seen how debt can really screw up people's lives. You do not have to go it alone. Use experts and resources available to you to help manage it. Go to donewithdebt.com now. Someone whose house did burn down who is a good right winger is Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson, while his house was burning down, was not crying over it. He wasn't weeping. He wasn't pulling his hair out in Hollywood. He was doing the Joe Rogan show while this was happening. He was laughing with Joe Rogan and he was dropping a lot of truth bombs. He was saying some things that were a little eccentric, but he was dropping a lot of truth bombs. For instance, he was on the biggest show on the Internet drawing a direct link between what the libs call reproductive rights, reproductive freedom, and pagan infant sacrifice.

[Mel Gibson]

How close are we to collapse and what are the things that lead to collapse? You know, it's environmental stuff. It's human sacrifice.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, I mean, we do that kinda.

[Mel Gibson]

We do.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Mel Gibson]

Yeah, we do.

[Joe Rogan]

We just dress it up.

[Mel Gibson]

Yep.

[Joe Rogan]

When you find out medications are killing people and they keep prescribing them.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. And Gibson's going On he talks about abortion. It's abortion. That's what we do. When he's got that Mel Gibson look in his eyes, says, we do it. And we do it to the tune of 1.2 million babies per year. We do it. We do it on a scale that the Aztecs or the Hittites or the Canaanites couldn't possibly have imagined. We sacrifice many, many, many more babies to Moloch than any ancient devilish pagan tribe ever. And that's in the strongest country in the history of the world. Gibson then doesn't just leave it there talking about natural law and, you know, the rights of babies or anything. He speaks directly about Christianity. He answers some criticisms of Christianity that, you know, it's too rigid or it's too judgmental or something like that. Mel Gibson says on the Rogan show, this isn't EWTN, okay? This isn't the 700 Club. He's on the Joe Rogan Experience. And he says, hey, do you know who the first saint was?

[Mel Gibson]

The first canonized saint? You know who it was?

[Joe Rogan]

No.

[Mel Gibson]

The first ever confirmed canonization as a saint was Dismas. You know who Dismas was?

[Joe Rogan]

No.

[Mel Gibson]

He was hanging. He was the thief on the cross next to Jesus. Oh, and he says to him, you're going to be okay this day. You'll be with me. Unbaptized, criminal, all that stuff. So, wow, the lawmaker is above the law. So there's a lot of mercy.

[Michael Knowles]

So he's mentioning this. I think a lot of people have an idea of Mel Gibson or some arch right wing traditionalist type of Catholic person, or even Protestant Christian, as being really judgmental and exclusive and overly legalistic. And here's Mel Gibson. What does he say to Joe Rogan's audience? He says, you know, the first saint was the criminal on the cross, the good thief who was probably a murderer. Unbaptized, he had baptism of desire, clearly. But unbaptized, did all sorts of awful things. But he was given a grace by Christ. He accepted Christ's grace, and he's the first canonized saint. It's a message that Mel Gibson is bringing to Joe Rogan's audience of mercy. An audience that, well, like all of us to some degree, but maybe especially needs mercy, is maybe not aware of this notion of mercy and grace. And then Gibson had the line. I think this was the grand slam of the whole. The whole interview is worth watching. But this, to me was the best bit that Gibson had to speak directly to Joe Rogan's Audience about the truth of Christianity.

[Mel Gibson]

Well, I regard. I regard the Gospels as history. It's a verifiable history. Some people say, oh, it's a fairy tale. He never existed, but he did. And there are other accounts, verifiable historical accounts outside the biblical ones, that also bear this up, that, yes, he did exist. And, and. And the other aspect of that is that the. All the evangelists, the apostles who went out there, every single one of those guys, died rather than deny their belief. And nobody dies for a lie. Nobody.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Mel Gibson]

So that's part of what I'm doing. It's like showing nobody dies for a lie.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, well, the resurrection is the one that is the most difficult for people to swallow.

[Mel Gibson]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

That is the one that requires the.

[Mel Gibson]

Most faith, the most faithful, the most belief. Yeah. Resurrection.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Mel Gibson]

Who. Who. Who gets back up three days later after he gets murdered in public? Who gets back up under his own power? Buddha didn't do that.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. So you believe that was a real event?

[Mel Gibson]

Yeah, I do.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I do. I definitely do, for all the reasons I just mentioned. You know, the 11 guys going willingly to their deaths for something that they either saw or saw, at least this just before and just after effects. And St. John, who's the only one who actually isn't martyred, but he saw it firsthand. And then the apostles who saw the resurrected Christ with their eyes, Thomas actually touching his wounds. Yeah. And 500 eyewitnesses to the resurrection, and, yeah, I believe it. And guess what? Buddha didn't do that. S H I T. Not to be nitpicky, it's a venial sin to use naughty language, but it was used for clear rhetorical effect here. Gibson chose his target really well here, speaking to the Joe Rogan audience, because the Joe Rogan audience is normal people. Normal people who live in our normal culture. Our normal culture, which has been influenced by all sorts of kind of wacky religion, especially by Buddhism or kind of Western conception of Buddhism. There's even a term in New York, in suburban New York, where I grew up, which is the Jubu people who are raised reformed Jews, kind of like secular Jews who become vaguely Buddhist in their spirituality, man. You know, and it's not just reformed Jews who are subject to this. It's a ton of people. You know, they're spiritual, but not religious, man. They don't like that organized religion, you know, they just kind of want. They just want to be in touch with the vibes and the universe, man. And they're all kind of vaguely Buddhist and Gibson goes right to the heart of that, and he says, yeah, Buddha didn't do that. Buddha wasn't executed publicly, and he didn't rise from the dead three days later of his own power. Only one person has ever done that, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. That is evangelism, okay? That is preaching the Gospel. It's not the neatest, most formal kind of rhetoric. Mel Gibson, even he's speaking a little loosely. Like when he says all the apostles died. Well, they all died eventually, but they weren't all martyred. St. John was, but it sort of doesn't matter to me what Mel was doing here. Now, Mel Gibson has a few theological problems, which is why I won't call him Saint Mel. I'll just call him the Venerable Mel Gibson. But what he does here is exactly what St. Paul tells us to do when he says to be all things to all people. In 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 9, St. Paul says, for whereas I was free as to all, I made myself the servant of all that I might gain the more. And I became to the Jews a Jew that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law, as if I were under the law, whereas myself was not under the law that I might gain them that were under the law to them that were without the law, as if I were without the law. Whereas I was not without the law of God, but was in the law of Christ that I might gain them that were without the law. To the weak I became weak that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men that I might save all. And I do all things for the gospel's sake that I may be made partaker thereof. This is, I think, a brilliant strategy of evangelism. I think Mel Gibson has done more for evangelism than basically anyone walking around today. Maybe not. He's definitely in the top 10. Okay. And this strategy, I think, is a great strategy. This is meeting people where they are. This is being all things to all men. This is finding the way in, keeping the end goal in mind, which is conversion, bringing people to Christ, bringing people within the mystical body of Christ. What Mel Gibson did on the Joe Rogan show, especially that clip at the end, that is a masterclass. When the Daily Wire released what Is a Woman, it ignited a national conversation, really, an international conversation. Our new movie, Identity Crisis, takes it further, revealing the raw, heartbreaking truth about the devastating impact of radical gender ideology on children and families. This powerful new film from the Daily Wire and Turning Point USA is streaming now on Daily Wire Plus. Creating bold premium content like this is not easy. It's costly. It's risky. It's essential. That's why we rely on your support. Every dollar you invest goes directly back into building a platform that challenges the cultural narrative. Join the fight [e-mail] subscribe. Get 25% off your new annual membership with code DW25. Now we turn from some good preaching to some bad preaching. Jimmy Carter is dead. He's still dead. Generalissimo. Francisco Franco is still dead. So is Jimmy Carter. However, there's one bit from his funeral that is making the rounds on the Internet, and it's cringy. But it's important to take note of it. At Jimmy Corder's funeral, this was the music that was played. Imagine there's no heaven.

[Gavin Newsom]

It's easy if you try.

[Michael Knowles]

They're in a big church, no help. Below us there's a choir right next to the sky in liturgical park.

[Gavin Newsom]

Above a sky. Imagine all the people.

[Michael Knowles]

The former and current presidents are just for today. Oh, man. That was my reaction. Why are you playing this atheist communist gobbledygook in a cathedral at the funeral of a supposed Christian? Many people say that Jimmy Carter, whether you liked him as a president or not, no one can doubt his deep Christian faith. I don't know. I'm not here to judge Jimmy Carter's supposed faith. But that is not the song that is played at the funeral of a Christian. Imagine there is no heaven. It's easy if you try. John Lennon writing about how wonderful it would be if there were no heaven. And we could all just live for today like pagans and Communists. If we could just get rid of all this Christianity, you know, and just live like animals, like materialist, communist, pagan animals, wouldn't that be so great? And this is the song. Who selected this? Did Jimmy Carter select this in his preparations for his funeral? I certainly hope not. His family did. I don't know. People say, you know, Jimmy Carter is a Southern Baptist. I believe he left the Southern Baptist Convention. He joined some squishier version of Baptist Protestant Christianity. I don't know. Whatever that funeral was, that was not a Christian funeral, though. A lot of people don't really have Christian funerals these days, even down to the eulogy. I've given a couple eulogies, so it happens. I know it's popular, but a eulogy is not a traditionally Christian practice. A eulogy is a pagan practice. A eulogy to sing a song of praise to the dead. That's ancient Greece. That's paganism. The traditional Christian idea is not that the funeral is a song of praise to the dead. The idea is that the funeral mass is a mass of prayer for the dead. It's a praise of Christ. It's a praise of God for the dead, for their soul, for the repose of their soul. When we say requies got in pace, that is a prayer for the dead. We say, may he rest in peace. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. Requiem eternam dona ei dominet lux perpetuallocet et reque escatin pace. A prayer to God for the dead. Now we get everything all jumbled. So I hope Jimmy Carter had a sincere Christian faith. I hope he lived it out. But whatever that funeral was, it was not Christian. Turning from a former president to the next president. President Trump was sentenced. Did you know that? Did you catch that little news story? Everyone's preparing for him to re enter the White House, and yet the libs are still trying to pretend that he's a criminal who could go to prison. Now, even the judge in this case, this is the New York case, over falsifying business records for supposed hush money that he supposedly paid to a porn star. Even though the whole case was ridiculous from the outset. Because if President Trump committed this crime of falsifying business records, it would have been a misdemeanor that was passed the statute of limitations years ago. So the only way that they could raise it to a felony in New York was to say that he falsified business records in furtherance of some underlying crime. But the prosecution never even proved what the underlying crime was. In fact, they told the jury, don't worry about identifying the underlying crime. As long as you think there might have been some crime there at all, then that suffices. The whole thing was just totally preposterous. And yet Trump was found guilty in that kangaroo court, and then he was sentenced. Now, with the sentencing, the judge realized he's not gonna put the President of the United States in jail. So he said, okay, Trump has an unconditional discharge. Means he will not be punished with prison time or fines or community service. Trump is going to be engaging in community service for the next four years when he's President of the United States, so he has no jail time. He can still vote because the states in which President Trump resides permit felons who have paid their debt to society to vote. However, because of the sentencing, Trump will need to give New York a DNA sample. And President Trump cannot own a Gun. This, to me, is the most absurd part. The man who in seven days will have the sole authority in the country to authorize a nuclear strike. That man can fire a nuclear weapon, but he can't fire a pistol. Does that make sense to you? It does not. And what the libs will say is, yeah, and that's why he shouldn't be president. Hold on. Our Constitution is very clear. We have a mechanism for choosing a president. Trump satisfied all of those conditions. The American people voted for him, not just through their representatives in the Electoral College, but actually the majority of Americans voted, voted for him, and then he won in an Electoral College landslide, and he is the president. There's no provision of the Constitution that says that a man has to win the majority of the Electoral College and then he can be president. Unless some judge in New York doesn't like him, Unless some crooked politicians in New York decide to trump up charges and illegally prosecute him. That's not what the Constitution says. He's the president. So where did the error occur? Obviously, it makes no sense that a guy can fire nuclear weapons, but not a pistol, not a Glock 19. So where did the error occur? Was it in making him president or was it in prosecuting him? It's clear as day, the error, the threat to our political system, the absurdity lies in prosecuting Trump. That was the problem. So, okay, he's gotta give a DNA sample to New York. The embarrassment continues. I hope there are consequences once the Republicans have a unified government. I hope there are consequences for these dastardly liberal politicians in New York who would make such a mockery of our political order. Now, how did Trump get sentenced in the first place? It only happened because the Supreme Court allowed the sentencing to go on. President Trump's team requested an emergency stay to block the sentencing in New York. And the good judges on the Supreme Court, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, even, they said, yeah, okay, we should block the sentencing. This is absurd that we're going to sentence us a President of the United States for this nonsense. In New York, however, Chief Justice Roberts, little bit of a squish, and Amy Barrett both sided with the court's liberals to let the sentencing go on. Now, President Trump's response was surprising. He didn't just inveigh against Robertson Barrett. He said, I respect the court's opinion. I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said. They invited the appeal, the appeal of the whole case, the appeal of the whole conviction in this nonsense case. In New York, and the appeal is on the bigger issue, so we'll see how it works out. Okay, Trump might have the last laugh, but also we need to rethink what kind of judges we're putting on the court. Okay, maybe Roberts and Barrett are playing interdimensional 7D chess here, and it's actually going to give Trump a bigger victory. And they were all being very strategia or something like that. But this happens too often with conservatives that we appoint judges and they disappoint us. They act in ways. They rule in ways that contradict how we understand their judicial philosophy. That never happens for the left. The left judges basically never disappoint their presidents and the people who voted for their presidents, the presidents who would go on to appoint them. That never happens. It does happen for us. Maybe we need new metrics by which to judge potential judicial candidates. Right now. We have textualism. We have originalism in its older form and in its scalic. Okay, maybe we need, I don't know, a little bit of a sturdier rule of thumb by which to measure these judges so they don't disappoint us and side with the libs too often. Meanwhile, turning to our current president, Joe Biden is leaving office with the claim that he is leaving America. I'll use his exact words. I don't want to misquote him. The economy I'm leaving America is the best in the world and stronger than ever for all Americans. Fact check. Is that true? A lot of conservatives are saying, this is totally preposterous. This is insane. The economy's in the gutter. That's not exactly true either. And Biden's using clever language here. He says, stronger than ever for all Americans. So what he could say is, when you point to other periods of a much stronger economy, say, the 1990s, clearly, or just after the Second World War, when America was the last superpower in the world, matched a little bit by the Soviet Union, but we were still stronger. Joe Biden could say, yeah, but back then, there was racism or something, or there was sexism. So it wasn't stronger for all Americans, but again, to be stronger for all Americans, I don't know. You can't point to our present economy, I think, and say, well, maybe it's more equal in some measure. It's actually not. Actually, the wealth disparities are greater than ever. And COVID 19, the lockdowns gave us the biggest transfer of wealth from the lower classes to the upper classes in history. Actually, you couldn't even say it's more equal. But even if it were just all equal, Harrison Bergeron style handicapping, leveling to the bottom, you still wouldn't say that that's better for all Americans. So how does the economy look? I think a fair view of it, an objective view of it, is the economy is not terrible, but it's certainly been better. GDP is relatively high, but GDP growth is relatively weak compared to other periods. Unemployment is fine, but it's not the best we've ever had it. Manufacturing is weak. It's not the worst it's ever been, but it's pretty weak. You know, America had a much stronger manufacturing base earlier and that was probably better for our national security and for the health of our whole society. The economy has been really financialized. So it's, I think, overly reliant on financial markets. We don't actually produce physical goods and stuff. And that really harmed us mentioning COVID 19. That harmed us when our supply chains were all interrupted. So I don't know. The economy, it's kind of a mixed bag, but it's looking pretty weak. And in some ways the economy is absolutely terrible. By the end of the Biden administration, our national debt will be $34.7 trillion. That's about 125% of GDP. That is egregious. That's really bad. Empires fall for that kind of thing. So it's not that we have the worst economy imaginable and there's nothing to recommend it. That would be false. And that statement would be false and it would give liberals an opening to call us kooks and hacks. But I think any fair assessment of the economy is pretty weak. It's looking pretty bad. And it's looking pretty bad in no small part because of the disastrous policies of Joe Biden, though the policies that led us to this point have gone back decades. Okay, speaking of fairness, my favorite comment on Friday is from tofu9107 who says in fairness it is possible to be a parent to a 20 year old and a grandparent, to be a parent at 20 and then a grandparent at 40 and then a great grandparent at 60. You are right. This is a point that sweet little Elisa made with me last night. She said, Mac, I'm listening to your.

[Elisa]

Show and you said something wrong. You said that great grandparents should not be president. And that's not true.

[Michael Knowles]

I said, how do you figure?

[Elisa]

She said, well, back when we had a good society, people would have kids younger and then you could be a great grandparent by 60. If you keep having kids at 20.

[Michael Knowles]

And even you have a little leeway.

[Elisa]

Maybe one year down the line has a kid at 25. All right, 65, that's pretty good. Even two down the line have kids at 25 and then you're president at 70. You could be president at 70.

[Michael Knowles]

And she's right. She's right. Because I was saying in our decadent society where kids don't have. Where people don't have kids until they're 30, 35, 40, 45, I don't know if they have kids at all. Then to be a great grandparent probably puts you in your 80s or 90s. But you're right. If we lived in a good society, great grandparents can and probably should be president because they could be 60 year olds. Good point. Good point, Elisa. And good point, Mr. Tofu. Speaking of dubious political analysis coming from Joe Biden, we now turn to dubious political analysis coming from the supposed far right wing leader in Ger. This is the leader of the alternatifier Deutschland, the alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, who had an interview with Elon Musk and made the claim that Adolf Hitler was a communist.

[Alice Weidel]

Since I'm a economist, I would like to shed some light on the idea, when we talk about Hitler, on the idea of the national socialists. Back then during the third Reich, the national socialist, as the word, says, there were socialists.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, very much so.

[Alice Weidel]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

They nationalized industries like crazy.

[Alice Weidel]

Yes, absolutely. He was a communist and he considered himself as a socialist. And the biggest success, the biggest success after that terrible era in our history was to label Adolf Hitler as right and conservative. He was exactly the opposite. He wasn't a conservative, he wasn't a libertarian. He was a communist socialist guy. So full stop, no more comment on that. And we are exactly the opposite. We are libertarian conservative party.

[Michael Knowles]

Okay, so what this woman has said is literally not true. But there might be a reason why she said it. But on the surface, what she said is extremely dumb and not true. Hitler, we have Hitler's words. He actually wrote a lot. Hitler said, communism is not socialism. Marxism is not socialism. The Marxians have stolen the term and confused its meaning. I shall take socialism away from the socialists. So he did call his party a socialist party. This was at a time when every intelligent person seemed to be a socialist. Socialism is always unintelligent and evil and terrible and stupid. But it was a very popular term. And so he says, well, I'm a real kind of socialist, not you, Marx influenced socialists. I'm a different kind of socialist. And so he certainly was not a communist. He was not a socialist in the sense that we understand socialism. He also, as she says, was not a libertarian. That's certainly Hitler was not a libertarian. And it's difficult to place Hitler on the left right spectrum because the terms left and right come from the French Revolution, from the national assembly when the Catholic monarchist traditionalists were on the right side of the assembly hall and the atheist liberals republicans were on the left side of the hall. So was Hitler on the right or on the left? In some ways he hearkened back to tradition. In some ways he was quite modern and modernist and he was certainly a statist and practically an atheist. So I don't know where does he fall? Probably that spectrum does not fit all of our modern political ideas in large part because practically speaking, everyone in politics today is would have been on the left of the National Assembly. They are practically atheists or secularists. They are liberals. They embrace the views that come with the so called Enlightenment. They're either liberals of the left or liberals of the right. They're either progressive liberals or libertarian liberals or classical liberals. They're all kind of liberals and they're all basically republicans, lowercase R, either advocating democracy or a more representative form of democracy or power to the people or whatever. They're all basically that. You'll be hard pressed to find traditional Catholic monarchists in mainstream politics today shouting their views from the rooftop. So this is in part why the left right paradigm doesn't quite work. Then you think about this woman, the leader of the far right, we are told by the media party in Germany, they keep comparing this woman to a Nazi. She is a lesbian libertarian. That's the furthest right you've got in Germany right now, is a lesbian libertarian who thinks that Hitler was a communist. If that's the far right, I think that the terms left and right have lost basically all of their meaning. Now I want to be fair to this woman because I'm not totally opposed to AfD or these sort of right wing movements coming up in Europe. What she said is literally false and at first glance quite stupid. But at a deeper level, there's probably a great deal of wisdom here because in our modern political order, Hitler just means the devil, Hitler just means evil, just means bad. In our modern political mythos, even Hitler wasn't Hitler. In the traditional understanding of politics, you have the incarnation of absolute good in Christ. And in our traditional understanding of politics and theology and philosophy, evil does not have an existence of its own. We get this from Plotinus and Neoplatonists and up through the Christian tradition. Evil does not have an existence of its own. Evil is merely the privation of good. Okay, so we don't live in a dualistic Manichean society where there's the good force and the evil force and they're just always fighting. No, no, there is God. God is sovereign. God creates everything. God is good. God does not create evil. So evil is merely the privation of the good. And we have the incarnation of absolute good in the person of Christ, even if you're not Christian, that's how our society has understood good, evil, justice, politics for a couple thousand years now in liberalism. As Christianity has waned in public, it's been replaced by this new kind of mythos that you have the incarnation of absolute evil. There's no such thing as good man, the incarnation, that can't be real, and God probably doesn't exist. Well, I don't know if there's any such thing as good, but there's definitely evil. We all know evil, we all know sin. And so in recent historical events, the incarnation of absolute evil is the person of Hitler, the literal Hitler, quite a bad fellow. But the mythical representation of Hitler, it takes on this religious significance. He is the kind of response to Christianity. He's the absolute incarnation of evil. Which is why in politics, whenever you want to attack somebody, you just compare them to Hitler. It's why when you want to say the opponents are bad, you say they're like the Nazis. People on the left call the right wingers Nazis. People on the right call the left wingers Nazis, just like the leader of AfD is doing in Germany here. But American Republican conservatives do that, too. When Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign, he compares Trump to Hitler. That's how you. We don't talk about Satan anymore. We certainly don't talk about God all that much, as much as we should, but we talk about Hitler. So at a deeper level, what the leader of AfD, I think is doing is basically just playing the hand she's dealt. She's playing within the circumstances that currently dictate how politics is conducted. She's saying, okay, well, we can't really have recourse to discussion of absolute good. And we can't really use the language of traditional morality because people don't understand it anymore. But you know what? They do understand Hitler, especially in Germany. So if you want to win an election, you just got to say that the other guy is more like Hitler than you are. And so that's what she's doing is it. It's shallow. It's, I think, ridiculous. I think it's a false way of viewing the world. But from a practical politics standpoint, people are making fun of her for being stupid. It's probably a little smarter than people are giving her credit for. Today is Music Monday. The rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it. Become a member. Use code knowleskinwlas at checkout for two months free on all annual plans B.