Ep. 1652 - Pete Hegseth DESTROYS Smug Democrats In 5 Mins

Summary

Episode Summary: Ep. 1652 - Pete Hegseth DESTROYS Smug Democrats In 5 Mins

Host: Michael Knowles
Publication Date: January 15, 2025
Platform: The Daily Wire

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1. Introduction: Trump's Inauguration and Pete Hegseth’s Nomination

The episode opens with Michael Knowles announcing the live coverage of Donald Trump’s historic second inauguration as the 47th President of the United States. Emphasizing the significance of the event, Knowles highlights the successful confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, describing it as a pivotal moment for the Trump administration.

Notable Quote:

"After Pete's testimony, I think the only concern left about his nomination is whether or not the man committed war crimes when he so thoroughly destroyed the Democrat senators who were trying to tank him." – Michael Knowles [02:15]

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2. Pete Hegseth’s Senate Confirmation Hearings

Pete Hegseth, one of President Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees, faced intense scrutiny from Democratic senators during his Senate confirmation hearings. Knowles details how Hegseth effectively dismantled the Democrats' arguments, particularly focusing on the role of women in combat.

Key Interactions:

• Kirsten Gillibrand’s Grilling:

  Senator Gillibrand aggressively questioned Hegseth on his stance regarding women in combat roles, attempting to portray his views as degrading towards female service members.

  Notable Exchange:

  Kirsten Gillibrand: "We need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units... Are dainty ladies better at killing terrorists?" [05:23 - 06:26]

  Pete Hegseth: "I absolutely will support women in combat roles provided that their presence there does not reduce standards, which it obviously has." [08:20 - 09:11]

  Knowles praises Hegseth’s performance, likening it to a "grand slam" and asserting that it signals a smoother path for future nominations.

Notable Quote:

"Kirsten Gillibrand with a voice that just seems to get shriller and shriller... trying to grill Pete on whether or not big hulking GI Joes or dainty ladies are better at killing terrorists." – Michael Knowles [05:23]

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3. Republican Support: Senator Mark Wayne Mullen’s Defense

In contrast to the Democratic assault, Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen came to Pete Hegseth’s defense. Mullen criticized the Democrats for hypocritically attacking Hegseth’s personal life while ignoring their own senators' misconduct.

Notable Exchange:

Mark Wayne Mullen: "You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy, because a man's made a mistake and you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified." [13:37]

Knowles lauds Mullen’s intervention, arguing that it exposed the Democrats' double standards and further strengthened Hegseth’s position.

Notable Quote:

"These Democrat senators, who are disreputable people, many of them are deeply disreputable people, have the audacity to attack Pete for what? Based on nothing." – Michael Knowles [14:27]

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4. Tim Kaine’s Hostile Questioning

Senator Tim Kaine intensified the grilling by bringing up Pete Hegseth’s personal life, specifically alleging infidelity and using Pete’s child in an attempt to undermine his nomination.

Notable Exchange:

Tim Kaine: "Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives, Senator?" [18:49]

Pete Hegseth: "Absolutely not." [19:06]

Knowles condemns Kaine’s tactics, labeling them as "absolutely revolting" and criticizing the senator’s approach for being both personal and irrelevant.

Notable Quote:

"Tim Kaine supports murdering unplanned children... absolutely revolting questioning from Tim Kaine." – Michael Knowles [17:15]

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5. Corporate America’s Endorsement of Trump

The episode shifts focus to the broader acceptance of Trump in corporate circles. Knowles highlights the CEO of Coca-Cola presenting Trump with an inaugural bottle of Diet Coke as symbolic of mainstream corporate support.

Notable Observation:

"The chairman and CEO of Coca Cola just took a picture giving President Trump a commemorative inaugural bottle of Diet Coke... This is just the latest figure in corporate America to say, okay, you win, buddy. You win the mainstream." – Michael Knowles [30:37]

Knowles interprets this gesture as corporate America's acknowledgment of Trump’s legitimacy and alignment with mainstream business interests.

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6. Trump’s External Revenue Service Proposal

President Trump announced the creation of the External Revenue Service (ERS), aimed at collecting tariffs, duties, and revenues from foreign sources to reduce reliance on the traditional IRS.

Key Points:

• Purpose: Shift tax collection responsibilities to foreign entities benefiting from American trade.
• Implications: A strategic move to bolster America’s economic standing by enforcing fair trade practices.

Notable Quote:

"I am today announcing that I will create the External Revenue Service to collect our tariffs, duties, and all revenue that come from foreign sources." – Donald Trump [35:51]

Knowles supports the initiative, arguing that it rectifies longstanding issues with trade imbalances and unfair practices by American trade partners.

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7. Implications for the Republican Party’s Future

Knowles discusses the need for the Republican Party to maintain the coalition that propelled Trump to victory in 2016 and 2024. He warns against reverting to outdated Republican policies that may alienate the new voter base acquired under Trump’s leadership.

Key Arguments:

• Sustaining the Coalition: Emphasizing tariffs, immigration restrictions, and economic nationalism.
• Avoiding Business as Usual: Preventing the party from returning to Reagan-era policies that may not resonate with the current electorate.

Notable Quote:

"If Republicans want this coalition to be enduring, we gotta live up to that now... we have to follow through on President Trump's ambitious and clearly popular policies." – Michael Knowles [35:51]

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8. Conclusion: The Path Forward

The episode concludes with reflections on the successful confirmation of Pete Hegseth and the broader acceptance of Trump’s presidency as a return to "normalcy." Knowles underscores the importance of adhering to Trump’s policies to ensure sustained political success.

Final Thoughts:

"The winning has only just begun. These nominees are going to sail through. This is not just about watching history; it's about shaping it." – Michael Knowles [36:15]

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Key Takeaways:

• Pete Hegseth’s Confirmation: Demonstrated a significant victory for the Republican Party over Democratic opposition, showcasing strength and unity.
• Corporate Support for Trump: Symbolizes mainstream acceptance and legitimization of Trump’s presidency.
• External Revenue Service: Represents a strategic shift in trade policy aimed at enhancing America’s economic interests.
• Future Republican Strategy: Emphasizes maintaining and expanding the coalition built under Trump, avoiding a return to traditional Republican policies that may not align with the current political landscape.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

1. "After Pete's testimony, I think the only concern left about his nomination is whether or not the man committed war crimes when he so thoroughly destroyed the Democrat senators who were trying to tank him." – Michael Knowles [02:15]

2. "Kirsten Gillibrand with a voice that just seems to get shriller and shriller... trying to grill Pete on whether or not big hulking GI Joes or dainty ladies are better at killing terrorists." – Michael Knowles [05:23]

3. "These Democrat senators, who are disreputable people... have the audacity to attack Pete for what? Based on nothing." – Michael Knowles [14:27]

4. "Tim Kaine supports murdering unplanned children... absolutely revolting questioning from Tim Kaine." – Michael Knowles [17:15]

5. "If Republicans want this coalition to be enduring, we gotta live up to that now... we have to follow through on President Trump's ambitious and clearly popular policies." – Michael Knowles [35:51]

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This episode of The Michael Knowles Show provides a comprehensive analysis of Pete Hegseth’s successful Senate confirmation, the tactical maneuvers of Democratic senators, and the broader implications for the Republican Party under Donald Trump’s leadership. Through incisive commentary and highlighting pivotal moments, Knowles underscores the shifting political landscape and the strategies necessary for continued conservative victories.

Transcript

[Michael Knowles]

Inauguration day, January 20th. Watch it with us Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, Andrew Klavan and Jeremy BOREN Live from D.C. donald Trump's historic second term officially begins. Coverage starts at 8:30am Eastern. Watch live on Daily Wire plus that's right folks. History is happening. You can watch it live with us. The Daily Wire will be in D.C. for Donald John Trump's inauguration as the 47th president. Do not miss a second of it. Plus celebrate with 47% off your Daily Wire plus annual membership. Join us at DailyWire.com subscribe using code 47. President Trump's transition team faced its first major test yesterday when it sent its first Cabinet nominee and one of the most controversial Cabinet nominees, Pete Hegseth, to Capitol Hill for his Senate confirmation hearings. After Pete's testimony, I think the only concern left about his nomination is whether or not the man committed war crimes when he so thoroughly destroyed the Democrat senators who were trying to tank him. We have the highlights and much more on Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. A priest has been accused of a hate crime after he rightly did not permit a homosexual socialist mayor to receive Holy Communion. There's so much more to say first though. Text KNOWLES K N WLAS to 989898 increased tariffs on our trade partners, tax cuts and regulation changes. You are going to want to diversify your portfolio. Make sure that you've got some stability in these times. Gold is a viable diversification tactic now more than ever. Birchgold, the gold company that I trust, is releasing their Ultimate Guide for Gold in the Trump Era with a forward by Donald Trump Jr. Get your free copy along with Birch Gold's free information kit on gold. Text my name knowlesky wles2989898 Here are the facts. National debt continues to increase. Our interest payments on the national debt continue to increase. Gold is still your hedge against a weakened dollar. Birch Gold is still the company that I trust to help you convert an existing IRA or 401 into a tax sheltered IRA in gold. I have a fair bit of my portfolio in gold which has made me very happy over this past year. Text knowles kwles to 989898 get your free copy of the Ultimate Guide for Gold in the Trump Era. No obligation only information. A plus rating with Better Business Bureau, countless 5 star reviews. Thousands of happy customers. You can trust Birch gold. Text KNOWLES to 989898 today Pete Hegseth destroyed these Democrat senators. If this were 20152016 the YouTube video would read, pete Hegseth destroys with facts and logic and poise and composure all of these Democrat senators who are trying to tank him. This is really, really good news. The top line executive Summary for what happened yesterday is President Trump's transition team sent one of their most controversial nominees out first. Pete Hegseth was the canary in the coal mine. Let's see how tough these Democrat senators are gonna be. Then, after Pete for today, tomorrow, for the foreseeable future, you had all the really easy nominees who were gonna sail through no problem. Then the other controversial nominees, Tulsi Gabbard, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Cash Patel, they were all off in the future at some undetermined date. Clearly, the transition team and the Republicans in the Senate were waiting to schedule all of those controversial nominees until after they figured out how Pete did. Pete passed his test with flying colors. He could not possibly have done better. I don't just say it because I like the guy and he's a friend of mine. It was a grand slam, which is good not only for Pete. He's gonna be the Secretary of Defense. It's great news for Tulsi, for Bobby Kennedy, for Kash Patel, really, for all of the nominees. Pete's performance yesterday made President Trump's job much, much easier. We are not gonna have a repeat, I strongly suspect, of 2016, where it took days and weeks and months and years to get Trump's nominees through the Senate. I think these guys are gonna move very quickly. So what were the highlights? The worst performance, I think, on the Democrat side came from Kirsten Gillibrand, the senator from New York. The Democrats were all focusing in on women. One, they wanted to hit Pete for being a Casanova in his wayward youth. And two, they wanted to hit Pete for saying that women should not serve in combat roles. An obvious fact that everyone agreed on until about five minutes ago and now is supposedly controversial. So here is Kirsten Gillibrand with a voice that just seems to get shriller and shriller with each passing second, trying to grill Pete on whether or not big hulking GI Joes or dainty ladies are better at killing terrorists.

[Kirsten Gillibrand]

We have hundreds, hundreds of women who are currently in the infantry. Lethal members of our military serving in the infantry, but you degrade them. You say, we need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units. So specific to Senator Cotton's question, because Senator Cotton was giving you layups to differentiate between different types of combat. And specifically, as Secretary, would you take any action to reinstitute the combat arms exclusion for female service members knowing full well you have hundreds of women doing that job right now. And the standards. Your two mile run, Tom, is about.

[Michael Knowles]

Nails on a chalkboard.

[Kirsten Gillibrand]

Army Combat Fitness Test it is not the requirements to have an MOS 11 Bravo, which is infantry. These are the requirements today for people serving in industry, men and women. They are gender neutral and they are very difficult to meet. They have not been reduced in any way.

[Michael Knowles]

Okay, so that's the claim. Women in combat have not led the military to reduce standards in any way. That is just not true. The army revised standards for the Army Combat Fitness Test a little over two years ago because women could not meet the standards. Julio Rosas at the Blaze just posted after this ridiculous grilling. He said never forget the Marine Corps did a nine month study on women in combat units versus male only combat units which showed the male only units outperformed the integrated units at nearly every event and sustained fewer injuries. Obama's Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the study was just sexist toward women. Until the Obama administration, pretty much everyone agreed women should obviously not serve in combat roles not only because men are stronger than women physically, period, punto e basta, no further discussion required. But also at a deeper level because it is a sick society that thinks that it is appropriate to send women out to the front lines to catch bullets from jihadis. That's just wrong. In civilized societies, men protect women. In barbaric societies, men send women out to protect themselves. That's two sides of this. But on both sides, on the fitness of the military and also on how civilized societies behave. Women should not be in combat. And Kirsten Gillibrand to defend women in combat has to lie. And she lies with that unbearably shrill voice that P. Hagseth endured with great equanimity and dignity. Joni Ernst, a Republican who was rumored to be holding up Pete Hegseth's nomination. Joni Ernst also gave him a little bit of a grilling on the question of women in combat.

[Pete Hegseth]

Senator, first of all, thank you for your service. As we discussed extensively as well, it's my privilege and my answer is yes, exactly the way that you caveat it. Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles combat rows given the standards remain high and we'll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases. That'll be part of one of the first things we do at the Pentagon is reviewing that in a gender neutral way. The standards ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center. But absolutely it would be the privilege of a lifetime if confirmed to be the Secretary of Defense for all men and women in uniform who fight so heroic they have so many other options, they decide to put their right hand up for our country, and it would be an honor to have a chance to lead them.

[Michael Knowles]

Perfect answer, grand slam. This answer is much like the conservative judicial nominees who went up before Roe v. Wade was overruled. And they'd be grilled about Roe v. Wade. That's all the Democrats wanted to talk about. Will you uphold this ridiculous a court decision that created a fictional constitutional right to kill babies? Will you uphold that? And their answer was, well, Roe v. Wade has settled law. If the conservatives had come out and said, we're gonna overrule Roe v. Wade, their nominations would have been sunk. So they couldn't say that. But they also couldn't lie and say, no, Roe v. Wade's great and I totally support it. It's wonderful. So what they said was a true statement that had implications that different people could read into. And the answer was, well, Roe v. Wade settled law. And that's true. Before the Dobbs decision, Roe v. Wade was settled law. Actually, Casey was settled law. But you get the point. Everyone knew what they were talking about. And then Dobbs came out, and Roe v. Wade no longer was settled law. Same answer here with Pete. Pete comes out and he says, I absolutely will support women in combat, given that standards are not eroded. But of course, given that is doing a lot of work there, because putting women in combat positions has eroded standards, period. That's it. When Pete says, I would be so proud to be the Secretary of Defense for all the men and women of the armed forces, that's a 100% true, obvious statement. Women have always had roles in and around the military. Women have always had roles in service of the national defense. It's just that back when we were at least even slightly civilized, we didn't send women out to the front lines to catch bullets to protect the men. But that's it. Women have always had some roles in their. Of course I want to be the Secretary of Defense for all men and women of the armed forces. And you know what? I'll go further, Senators. I will support women in combat roles provided that their presence there does not reduce standards, which it obviously has. It necessarily does. And so this is a really good answer and a sign of good things to come. There's so much more to say. First, though, go to goodranchers.com, use promo code. Knowles. You know, my absolute favorite Meat is from good ranchers. You get steakhouse quality, individually sealed, so you're not gonna have a lot of waste. The steaks are out of this world. I in particular like the New York strip bone in and the ribeye bone in. But they're all fabulous. The sirloin's great. I'm not even a huge sirloin guy. And the good rancher's sirloin is terrific. Their burgers are the best I've ever had. They also have chicken and fish and all that kind of stuff. Bacon, really good bacon. Their ham is terrific. It's just all amazing. Seed oil free chicken nuggets. You can make sure that you are getting 100% American meat. Free from antibiotics, free from hormones. Just really, really good stuff. This new Year, spend less money ordering out, going out. Just get that steakhouse right to your home with their New year new meat special. Subscribe to any box Use my exclusive code knowles to claim 25 bucks off free express shipping and your choice of free ground beef, chicken or salmon in every order for an entire year. How do they make the numbers work? I have no idea. But it's incredible quality, incredible pricing. If spending more time with family, spending less going out to eat, enjoying quality, nutritious American food is on your resolution. Let's go to goodranchers.com, use code knowles goodranchers.com American meat delivered. The greatest performance of the entire day came from a Republican senator. This would be Mark Wayne Mullen, who after all of these senators came after him. Elizabeth Warren, what's her face. Tammy Duckworth. Complete lunatic. Maisie Hirono. Tim Kaine. We'll get to Tim Kaine's in a moment. Tim Kaine was particularly vicious. Remember, Tim Kaine was Hillary Clinton's running mate. He was almost one heartbeat away from becoming the second woman president of the United States. Tim Kaine was absolutely nasty to Pete. We'll get to that in a moment. But after all of this, you had Mark Wayne Mullen, this Republican senator come out and you say, hold on, you wanna talk about Pete's romantic history? You wanna insinuate that Pete has a problem with alcohol based on nothing. You wanna go, hey, how about you guys quit accusing Pete and take a look at yourselves?

[Mark Wayne Mullen]

Senator Kaine, or I guess I better use the senator from Virginia, starts bringing up the fact that what if you showed up drunk to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign for their job? And don't Tell me you haven't seen it, because I know you have. And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No, but it's for show. You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy, because a man's made a mistake and you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified. Give me a joke. It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself as this higher standard. And you forget you got a big plank in your eye.

[Michael Knowles]

You got a big plank in your eyes. Such a great point. These Democrat senators, who are disreputable people, many of them are deeply disreputable people, have the audacity to attack Pete for what? Based on nothing. Truly based on nothing. They accuse him of being a drunk. I've been around the U.S. senate a little bit. I've been around Washington D.C. a little bit. Some of these votes in the Senate, like, Vote a Rama, they'll go into the wee small hours of the morning. You think those senators haven't been at dinner? You think they haven't been thrown back? Few glasses of wine, maybe a few martinis. I can tell you with certainty those guys toss back a few, and sometimes they walk to the Capitol, okay? And they're gonna accuse Pete of showing up drunk to Fox News. By the way, I've done Pete Hegseth's morning show on Fox very, very early, many times. I. I've never worked at Fox News. I've never been an employee of Fox News, but I've been in that green room at Fox with Pete Hegseth at 6 o'clock in the morning. I've been on air with him multiple times. The guy was never anything but much more alert and energetic than I was. Okay, to suggest he was, you know, hungover. It's completely absurd. I can tell you from firsthand experience. But to Mullen's point, he's saying, look at all of you. You're gonna go after him for drinking. You're gonna go after him because he has a tough romantic history, a marital history. How many of you guys are sleeping with your staffers? How many of you guys are sleeping with lobbyists? How many of you guys have gotten divorced because you cheated on your spouse? And the answer in the US Senate and the US House is probably a little bit higher than the average American. That number of people, the rate of divorce and checkered romantic history a little bit higher probably, than the civilian population. You're gonna go After Hegseth, really good. It shut down a lot of the debate. But I do wanna get to Tim Kaine before we move on. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton's running mate, decided that it would be a good idea to use Pete Hegseth's little kid as a cudgel to try to beat back his nomination.

[Tim Kaine]

Completely cleared. Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and she. On the mother of a child that had been born two months before? And you tell us you are completely cleared. How is that a complete clear, Senator?

[Pete Hegseth]

Her child's name is Gwendolyn Hope Hegseth, and she's a child of God, and she's seven years old, and she was.

[Tim Kaine]

And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you?

[Pete Hegseth]

Those were false charges. She was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared.

[Michael Knowles]

Absolutely revolting questioning from Tim Kaine. Pete Hegseth had an unplanned child. Tim Kaine supports murdering unplanned children. Tim Kaine has voted repeatedly for years and years to murder at a national scale children who are born in inconvenient or unplanned circumstances. Pete Hegseth doesn't support that. Pete Hegseth thinks we need to defend children and protect the innocent. And for that, for Pete Hegseth's moral clarity on a very important issue, Tim Kaine decides he's gonna use that. Gonna use his own little kid to try to tank his nomination. Absolutely revolting display from Tim Kaine. He should be deeply ashamed of himself. The words coming out of his mouth are the words of the devil. That was disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. And it did not play well. And Tim Kaine had that look on his face. He looked like Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. Wild hair. Someone should have handed him a comb before he walked into the Capitol. Wild hair. Yeah. And you had a kid inconveniently. Yeah. Because Pete, unlike Tim Kaine, doesn't think we should murder children who are inconveniently conceived or born in unplanned circumstances. Revolting. Revolting. And then Tim. Almost worse, actually, in Tim Kaine's display was when he came out and he just leveled all of these hypothetical questions at Pete Hegseth. And then he didn't seem to know what a hypothetical question is.

[Tim Kaine]

Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives, Senator?

[Pete Hegseth]

Absolutely not.

[Tim Kaine]

But you would agree with me that if someone had committed physical violence against a spouse, that would be disqualifying to serve as Secretary of Defense, correct, Senator?

[Pete Hegseth]

Absolutely not. Have I ever done that?

[Tim Kaine]

You would agree that that would be a disqualifying offense, would you not, Senator?

[Pete Hegseth]

You're talking about a hypothetical.

[Tim Kaine]

I don't think it's a hypothetical. Violence against spouses occurs every day.

[Michael Knowles]

It literally was a hypothetical. I don't know how to explain it in blunter terms to the US Senator, but he said, first of all, he did the joke. The joke is, hey, hey, buddy, do you still beat your wife? Which is a question that has no correct answer. And if you say yes or no, you look bad. So he actually does that. There is no suggestion even anywhere that Pete exef has ever been violent toward women. And he says, do you still. Do you beat me or wives? Pete says, no. What are you talking about? What? He goes, yeah, but it would be disqualifying if you did. Huh? And Pete says, hold on, I'm not gonna engage in all these sorts of hypothetical questions. Now, Tim Kaine said, if someone did such and such, that would be such and such. And Pete says, that's a hypothetical. I'm not going to engage with that. Tim Cain says, I don't think that's a hypothetical. It's literally when you were using the conditional tense, when you're using the subjunctive and the conditional, and you're raising a hypothetical situation, that is a hypothetical question. It might be the most scandalous aspect of this whole testimony that sitting U.S. senators, all these Democrats, have a tenuous grasp not just on the law and political philosophy, they have a tenuous grasp on the English language. And they did absolutely, horribly, Horribly, which is good for Pete, it's good for President Trump, good for America. These nominees are going to sail through. Now, other Democrat senators decided not to make the same mistake that Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine and Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth and all the rest of them were making. John Fetterman, a man who, as he has recovered from a brain injury, has become more and more right wing, just went down to Mar a Lago to meet with President Trump. Now people are asking all sorts of questions. There was a journal piece. Is, Is Fetterman moving to the right, or is he just kind of a cynical politician who sees which way the wind is blowing? To me, it's so clear it's the latter. We joke about as he recovers from a brain injury, he's become more right wing. His previous positions, he's called himself a progressive. He has supported Bernie Sanders, he has supported letting criminals out of prison, he supported legalizing drugs. He presently supports so called same sex marriage. He has supported abolishing the filibuster in the Senate. He has supported amnesty for illegals. I think he's a man who is on the left who recognizes that the wind has blown in a very different direction. And that's great news for conservatives. I'm happy to take Fetterman's support. And who knows, maybe it is the case that as this man has grown in politics, as he has recovered from an injury, he has become more conservative in a sincere way. Maybe. I'm perfectly open to that possibility. But even if it's all just cynical and he just wants to succeed in the Senate during Trump's administration, fine, I'll take it. What that tells us, what John Fetterman going to mar a lago tells us is the conservative wing of politics is the mainstream. Trump is the mainstream. Mass deportations is a mainstream political position. Woke leftism. Liberalism is in retreat. And if you want to succeed in politics today, and I know it sounds implausible given what we've gone through for the last 10 years, if you want to succeed in politics today, anywhere you want to get on Trump's good side. I have a question for you. Does Ben Shapiro have an okay radio voice? Will I let my hair go gray? Little touch of gray? Pull a Mitt Romney? Do reading glasses make conservatives look like lesbians? These are just a few of the questions answered and finally put to rest in my latest episode of yes or no with Glenn Beck. Check out this teaser. The race card is more useful than an Ivy League degree. You're one of those really, really educated. Because I'm like a bus driver. Okay, you're talking to Ralph Crampton here. I have no idea. You've seen the show. Now you can join in the fun. By the way, you know there is the yes or no game. The game. You can get [e-mail] shop. I'll give you a little taste. Here's a card right on the top. It is possible for a Christian to be a socialist, Mr. Davies? How would I answer that? That's tough. I say you would say yes, but they go to purgatory first. It's a different question. Is it possible to go to heaven even if you've been a socialist? That maybe. But can a Christian? There's a simple answer. You got it wrong. So you have to drink. I don't know what kind of booze you have to drink. That's the first loss I've gotten here. Yeah, it's wrong. And do you know why? You don't need to just use your own private understanding or anything. It's because the Pope says so. It's because Pope John XXIII said it is not possible for a Christian to engage even with moderate socialism. And he's following the logic of Blessed Pius ix, Pope Leo xiii, Pope Pius xi, then later on Pope John Paul ii. Some other popes haven't talked about it as much, but you can get your yes or no the game with the expansion packs. Lots of great expansion packs to play with up to nine people. Test your family's and friends knowledge and opinions. Go to dailywire.comshop to grab yes or no and watch the commercial free and uncensored episode of yes or no with Glenn Beck, exclusively on Dailywire. So Fetterman went down to Mar a Lago to kiss the ring, meet with President Trump. This is American Versailles. It's beautiful. I've been to Mar a Lago on a number of occasions. Beautiful, beautiful place. And it is effectively the center of power now, in much the same way that Louis XIV built Versailles to be the center of power outside of the imperial city, little further away. So the devilish saboteurs have more trouble over there. He goes down and here's what Trump says about him. It was a totally fascinating meeting. He's a fascinating man and his wife is lovely. They were both up. I couldn't be more impressed. He's a common sense person. He's not liberal or conservative. He's just a common sense person, which is beautiful. This is good stuff. This would be my tactic as well. This would be my response as well. If you got a guy who's on the other side of the aisle who comes down to your home to show you a little respect, this is kind of like the mob comes down, kisses the ring, shows a little respect, you're gonna be gracious to that person and you're going to give him a reputation to live up to. Is John Fetterman a common sense person? Maybe he's done some things that could lead one plausibly to conclude that now maybe he's just being cynical. Maybe he's just testing something out. But regardless, anyone who's ever run a company, anyone who's ever been a parent, knows an effective way to lead people is to give those people a reputation to live up to. Oh, buddy, you wouldn't do that kind of naughty thing. You're not the kind of person who would do that. Talk to your employees, say, listen, I know you're capable of a lot I know you're really good. You're gonna do a great job. You're giving them something to live up to, and that's what Trump's doing here. And I think this line is really important. This, to me, sums up the whole election and the path forward. Words like common sense, words like normal, really good. This is how we have to think about it. As I mentioned, I think on a show earlier this week, the terms left and right come from the French Revolution. The right referred to traditional Catholic monarchists and the left referred to secular liberal Republicans. Those left and right don't exactly map onto our present political situation. And now with everyone within the American right saying, you're secretly on the left, no, you're on the left. No, you're woke. No, you're not a true conservative. No, you're this, no, you're that. It's not helpful. Especially with a coalition that just brought over a lot of Democrats, brought over a Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Brought over another Democrat. Presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, brought over guys like Elon Musk, Joe Rogan brought over one in five black guys, brought over half of Hispanics, almost brought over 40% of women under the age of 30. A lot of people who consider themselves on the left, but just not with those guys who consider themselves independent, with, or even kind of liberal, these terms are not gonna help you say, no, no, we like common sense also. Because if you embrace common sense as your political moniker, then you are not going to be bound up by fragile and insufficient ideologies. And one of the tricks that the left uses on Sol Alinsky writes about this in Rules for Radicals is the left forces up. Forces us to live up to our own standards, standards that are wise or unwise, right or wrong. But they force us to live up to our own standards. They never play by those standards. So they try to trip us up in ideology. Ideology, which in itself is dubious. One way to avoid that is to just put ideology a little bit to the side and refer back to common sense, refer back to just prejudice, recognize it. In the words of Michael Oakeshott, ideology is the formalized abridgment of the supposed substratum of rational truth contained in the tradition. And we don't need it. That's kind of a technical definition, but it's a good definition. The formalized abridgment. It's not the whole thing. It's just this little abridgment of the supposed substratum of what we think lies at the very heart of rational truth. Our own Little small stores of reason contained in the tradition. We all need to do that. We don't need manifestos on a back of a napkin. We can just be normal. You know, you can just be normal. We can just do the things that we've been doing before. We can just use our common sense. You don't need to write a 50 page essay to defend common sense. You don't need to have 100 studies on why men shouldn't go into the women's bathroom. You don't need to undertake years long investigations with scientists and sociologists to explain why face tattooed, Satan worshiping, criminal cartels should not be allowed to cross our border illegally. Okay? You can just do it, okay? And if anyone has a problem with it, they can shut up if some nerd says, oh, actually we did a survey to show why Ebba's 13 should be allowed in America. Like, give that guy a swirly, okay? You don't need to study. You don't. You can just be normal. It's okay. That's what Trump's saying to John Fetterman. That's what John Fetterman's saying to his own party. And that is a winning message for the American people. Trump is normal. He is normal. Now you want proof that he's normal? Carrie Underwood is going to sing at his inauguration and the View is furious about it.

[Joy Behar]

I wouldn't do it, even though I can't sing.

[Michael Knowles]

You would not sing?

[Joy Behar]

No, I would not. I would not normalize him. And she says, I love our country. How do you love your country and support and normalize somebody who has a convicted felon who really wants to destroy the country? In my opinion, I don't understand how you say you love your country at the same time as you normalize this convicted felon, Which I can say now every day.

[Michael Knowles]

A lot of my family voted for Trump. They love the country and vote for him. I think that people make these decisions for a lottery.

[Joy Behar]

Okay, fine. And I would not be the person to say don't do it, because I believe in free speech and everything about it. I personally would not do it.

[Michael Knowles]

Joy Behar just said, normal or normalized, what, three, four times there? Joy Behar would not normalize the two term president elected for only the second time in American history to a non consecutive second term, who won the popular vote as a Republican for the first time in 20 years. A man who, before he ran for office, was the super famous, popular billionaire mogul, beloved host of a top rated network television show for what, 15 years? I think he's normal. Sorry to break it to you, Joy. I'm pretty sure he's normal. So you can say, well, I don't wanna normalize him. Okay, he doesn't need you to normalize him. He doesn't need Carrie Underwood to normalize him. Trump is not normal because Carrie Underwood is singing at his inauguration Carrie Underwood is singing at his inauguration because he's normal. He's the mainstream. He's what most people like. And if you want to win over most people, if you want to speak the language that most people speak, you're gonna get on board with him, too. Further proof of this. The chairman and CEO of Coca Cola just took a picture giving President Trump a commemorative inaugural bottle of Diet Coke. His favorite drink. Diet Coke. I love this picture. I love it. Not because of the bottle. It's whatever. Not because I care that much about Coca Cola. I rarely drink Coca Cola. I love this picture because this is just the latest bit of evidence following Mark Zuckerberg sucking up to Trump and giving him all that money for his inauguration and changing the fact checking rules after Trump's victory to finally let conservatives speak on Facebook again, this Coca Cola CEO is just the latest figure in corporate America to say, okay, you win, buddy. You win. You're normal. We're gonna treat you. And this is it. This is all they're doing. They're saying, we're gonna treat you just like we would treat any other president. That's it. Corporations would give all sorts of funny little tchotchkes to other presidents, Democrat and Republican. They would donate to the inaugural committees of other presidents, Democrat and Republican. It's not that they're giving Trump special treatment. What's so gratifying is they're just finally treating him like any other president. That was Trump's big battle. We were told he was beyond the pale. He was so crazy. He was so extreme. There's nobody like him. We can't normalize this. And he won the battle to be normal, to make his movement the normal movement. It's massive. So he's. In that way, he is much more significant than other presidents. He's achieved much more than other presidents, Obviously, just the fact that he won a non consecutive second term. But the sign of that is he is being considered among the other presidents. We're normal again. Who's on the other side? This video, I cannot stop watching it. Jennifer Rubin, who was the conservative columnist for the Washington Post, and a decade ago, almost, she turned on Trump and she would just constantly screech about how awful Trump was and how awful Republicans are and how awful the conservatives are. And she continued to pretend to be the conservative columnist for a while. Then when that was totally implausible, she said, well, you know, she's the pro democracy columnist. She's one of those people, the principled conservatives, the principled conservatives who support open borders, pro abortion, you know, marriage abolishing, tax raising, America destroying Democrats, but they're principled somehow, somehow because they oppose Trump. So she was doing that for a while. She's just decided she's gonna quit the Washington Post. She is going to team up with Norm Eisen. Norm Eisen, longtime Democrat staffer, worked for the adl, one of the worst groups for censoring people in the country Brough Obama's campaign. Barack Obama's White House, he's just a big lib. Jennifer Rubin is teaming up with him to bring back a major cultural movement to grab the center of American politics and finally oust Trump. This is what they're gonna do, do.

[Tim Kaine]

Politics, we're gonna do law. But we know that any successful pro democracy movement also has to be very vocal about culture.

[Michael Knowles]

We'll have a humor column, we'll even.

[Tim Kaine]

Have a cooking column, but we're going to sprinkle in a little bit of pro democracy flavor.

[Michael Knowles]

How do you do, fellow kids? We're cool. We have the culture. We're going to. We're gonna write our screeds that people don't read anymore, but we're gonna have cartoons and recipes. We know the culture. Do you? I don't know if you. I have to correct some. The producers just caught this. When I described the American left and I talked about how they abolished marriage and opened up our borders and destroyed our country, I said baby worshiping. I meant to say baby murdering. These are the people these two have teamed up with. Do you think this is the culture? Do you think this is the mainstream? They say it's pro democracy. They can't say it's conservative. They say it's pro democracy content. What does pro democracy mean when their opponents were just elected by most people? It's not just that Trump won in the landslide in the electoral college. He won the popular vote and it wasn't particularly close. What does pro democracy mean when these anti Trump lunatics take that title today? What does pro democracy mean when the democracy, any way you slice it, any definition of democracy, the democracy supports Trump. Are you tired of winning yet? Are you not entertained? This is not why you are here. Are you tired of winning yet? No. The winning has only just begun. The Daily Wire will be Live in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as he's sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. We are not just gonna watch history. We're bringing it to you live and uncensored. To celebrate the 47th president, we are giving you 47% off new Daily Wire plus annual memberships. Plus we're including a free $20 gift as a thank you for joining the fight. Remember, Daily Wire plus is the only place where you get our daily shows ad free and uncensored. Plus unlimited access to premium entertainment, hit movies, groundbreaking documentaries. Join the celebration. Use code [e-mail] subscribe for 47% off your membership today. My favorite comment yesterday is from livingquitesimply. Michael, I appreciate how polite you always are. However, can you really call a woman who sleeps with 1000 men a lady? As a lady myself, I find it offensive. Just as a gentleman must behave in a certain way, so does a lady. I suppose that's fair. I could call her a strumpet. I could call her a hussy. I could. I don't know. There are all sorts of words I could call her. Perhaps I was using the term with a hint of irony. And maybe also to give someone a reputation to live up to. Just as we were discussing earlier. Now speaking of the inauguration and the new administration and the confirmations and what's going to happen in the first hundred days, President Trump has just announced a really great idea. This is not merely to reform the Internal Revenue Service. Not merely. Sometimes we hear conservatives say they want to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, libertarians especially. And look, I'd love to save money on my taxes, but Trump has a suggestion that I actually haven't heard from anyone. But it's a very good suggestion. He writes. For far too long, we've relied on taxing our great people using the Internal Revenue Service irs. Through soft and pathetically weak trade agreements, the American economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the world while taxing ourselves. It is time for that to change. I am today announcing that I will create the External Revenue Service to collect our tariffs, duties, and all revenue that come from foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with trade, and they will start paying, finally, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. Make America great again. I love this. I love this. There are going to be people, especially libertarians, who pull their hair out of their head because they Say they hate tariffs, and tariffs are always bad. And it's a betrayal of Republican and conservative principles to support tariffs, which is not true. George W. Bush used tariffs. Ronald Reagan famously used tariffs to protect U.S. steel. We used tariffs. The Republican Party, in fact, was founded on tariffs. Abraham Lincoln said, give me a tariff, I'll give you the greatest nation on earth. Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president. But they'll still pull their hair out of their heads because they want total free trade. But the problem is we don't really have free trade because all of our trading partners use tariffs themselves. China manipulates its currency. China subsidizes industries. All sorts of countries use tariffs and rig trade agreements that are disadvantageous to us. So I love the way Trump uses this. He says, we're going to make them pay their fair share. The left and the right have been caught in this debate, running around in circles over over who among the Americans to tax to make them pay their Fair share. The 1%. They're the bad ones. No, it's actually the bottom 50%. Don't pay any taxes, practically. And no, you're bad. No, you're bad. No, you're. Hey, how bad? We make our adversaries, or if you want to look at it from a different perspective, our imperial subjects pay their fair share. We're the global hegemon still, even though China's on the rise. So if you think about this in more classical political terms, usually empires grab money from the people that they have conquered, and America conquers more through soft power and NGOs than through horrid military power. But regardless, we're the global empire, so how about we benefit a little bit from that and we have less internal strife, and then we don't need to worry about American citizens sleeping in tents in North Carolina because they haven't been able to recover from a hurricane. We don't need to worry about people in Los Angeles who don't have homes because half that city burned down. We don't have to worry so much about American veterans who don't have a pillow to lie their head on at night while we're sending all sorts of money all around to the rest of the world and then importing workers from the rest of the world to compete with American workers. So you think, you know, everyone else gets all the benefits of the American empire, but the American citizens seem to be getting short shrift. And Trump's saying, look, we're an empire. Well, let's act like one, you know, and how about we give Americans some advantages as well. Finally, this gets to a broader point, though. What should the newly elected Republicans do? What do they do? Trump won with a coalition that we have not seen in a very long time, really, that we've never seen. So do we win over those new voters by saying all sorts of nice things, but then just go back to doing the same thing Republicans have been doing for 30, 40 years? Seems like a really great way to squander the new coalition we've made. I was even thinking, I was talking with a friend of mine about this. Why did Trump lose in 2020? If you are of the sort that is inclined to say that he lost in 2020, let's just say Trump lost in 2020 and there were not too many shenanigans. Let's just say. Let's just go with that. Is it possible that he lost support from 2016 to 2020 in part because he didn't totally lean into all of the promises he made to give himself that coalition that brought him to power in 2016? You know, he didn't totally follow through on the tariffs. He started to Covid, kind of interrupted that. He didn't totally follow through on the wall and the deportations. He didn't totally lean into immigration restriction. He didn't totally. You know, what was the big legislative accomplishment was the tax cut. And the tax cut was fairly unpopular fairly quickly, I think, according to an NBC Wall Street Journal poll in 2018. So about a year after the tax cut, tax cut had something like 28% approval. I like paying lower taxes. I'm not complaining about a tax cut myself, but politically, I don't know that it really worked. And so maybe if Republicans want this coalition to be enduring, if we want to recognize, look, Trump broke the old kind of politics, and he broke it for the better. He assembled a stronger coalition than Republicans previously had. But that means we gotta live up to that now. There are gonna be a lot of entrenched interests that wanna smack all that stuff down and just go back to business as usual and go back to the policies of George W. Bush and go back to the policies of the followers of Ronald Reagan, who in many ways, I think, betray Ronald Reagan's real legacy. But regardless, are we just gonna go back to that? We're just gonna pretend it's the 80s and the 90s and the 2000s again or no, are we going to follow through on President Trump's somewhat ambitious and clearly popular policies? Trump's signaling he's gonna move forward with this External Revenue Service. We're not backing off of tariffs. We're gonna raise revenue from overseas, and we're going to deport people who should not be here, and we're going to lean into American greatness, and we might even buy Greenland, for goodness sakes. That either we do that and maybe we keep winning in these landslide victories, or we can go back to business as usual, and you can expect the same electoral results that we usually get. Okay, I have a really important guest coming on the show, Adam Veena, who is the star of our new movie that we've put out here, identity Crisis. Adam lost his child to the transgender ideology and to a mother who embraced the gender ideology. We'll get into all of that in a moment. Rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it. Become a member. Use code nolskiner Wlies at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.