
The war between Iran and Israel escalates, a man shoots two Minnesota lawmakers, and I settle a debate between two online prostitutes. Click here to join the member-exclusive portion of my show: https://bit.ly/4biDlri Ep.1755 - - - DailyWire+: Join millions of people who still believe in truth, courage, and common sense at DailyWirePlus.com Ben Shapiro’s new book, “Lions and Scavengers,” drops September 2nd—pre-order today at https://dailywire.com/benshapiro GET THE ALL-NEW YES OR NO EXPANSION PACK TODAY: https://bit.ly/41gsZ8Q - - - Today's Sponsors: ARMRA - Go to https://tryarmra.com/KNOWLES or enter code KNOWLES at checkout to receive 15% off your first order. Chevron - Build a brighter future right here at home. Visit https://Chevron.com/America to discover more. ExpressVPN - Secure your online data TODAY by visiting https://ExpressVPN.com/knowles and you can get an extra four months FREE. - - - Socials: Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3RwKpq6 Follow on Insta...
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Michael Knowles
This is Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. Watch Parenting, available exclusively on Daily Wire. Plus, we're dealing with misbehaviors with our son. Our 13 year old throws tantrums.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Our son turned to some substance abuse.
Michael Knowles
Go to dailywireplus.com today, are we @ war with Iran? According to President Trump, we are not yet, but soon could be if Iran does not agree to a nuclear deal. But of course, the US Is involved in basically every event around the world. So President Trump's statement to me sounds less like disinterested analysis and more like a threat, more like a negotiation. From the man who wrote the Art of the Deal, there's a new story out from Reuters reporting that President Trump has been restraining the Israelis by vetoing a plan to assassinate Iran's supreme leader, which likewise strikes me less like a news report and more like a negotiation and a threat. As if Trump is saying, hey, mullahs, I told the Israelis not to kill you, but don't test my patience. I could not tell them that too. Pundits and activists on both sides of the aisle are fuming over this war. On the one side you've got the hawks screaming that Iran is five minutes away from building a nuclear bomb and the fate of the world rests on our glassing Iran right now. On the other side, you got the doves screaming that this war is nothing more than a fight between two dusty countries in the Middle east, one of which is dragging us against our will in, into war. And as usual, the people in politics who are screaming their heads off don't know what they're talking about. They're wrong. That's a good rule of thumb. If someone's screaming his head off, it probably doesn't have the tightest grip on reality. This war is not about what anybody seems to think it's about. So we will get into what it is. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. A lot of death on the show today. Two Minnesota lawmakers have been shot. One of them, along with the spouse, has died. The shooter, we're learning a little bit more about the shooter. This is the weirdest shooter story, politician assassin story that I have heard since Butler, Pennsylvania. Since President Trump came within 1/20 of an inch of getting his head blown off. Really bizarre stuff. The Dems are saying he's a Republican, the Republicans are saying he's a Democrat. The story's even weirder than that. There is much more to say. First, though, go to tryarmora.com knowles ever wonder what Gives elite athletes, business moguls and high performers their edge. Many are turning to Amra Colostrum. This remarkable superfood is nature's original whole food supplement. Containing over 400 bioactive nutrients that work at the cellular level. Armor helps build lean muscle, speeds up recovery time and enhances overall performance without relying on artificial stimulants or synthetic ingredients. 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They've just decapitated the top of the Iranian military establishment. They, they have gone in. They haven't yet killed the supreme leader though President Trump is suggesting the only reason they haven't yet is because he's told them not to. The Israelis have lost. I think the number today is up to 24 people. Last night it was 14 people. I guess now it's being reported it's closer to two dozen. The Iranians have lost hundreds of people. So it's a much larger casualty count in Iran. What's this really about? On the one hand you have the hawks saying that Iran is five minutes away from a nuclear weapon. And if we don't stop them right now, if we don't go into this war right now, then the world is gonna end. The fate of the world rests upon the Israelis going in and attacking Iran right now. I don't totally buy that. On the other hand you have these isolationists and in some cases you have isolationists and is critics of the state of Israel and in some cases actual anti Semites who like just don't like the Jews on an ethnic basis. You've got all of them Accusing Israel of dragging us kicking and screaming into a war that we want no part of. But they're just dog walking us into this war. I don't really buy that either. So what is actually going on here? I think what's actually going on is much bigger than either of those things. The question you gotta ask yourself is why now? Why are the Israelis going in now? The official story is cuz Iran is five seconds away from a nuclear bomb. I don't really buy that. We've been hearing that Iran is five minutes away from a nuclear bomb since the early 80s. Okay. Then we heard it again in the early 90s and we heard it in the early 2000s. Then we heard. I don't buy that exactly. Iran definitely wants a nuclear weapon. Iran definitely has a nuclear program. The Israelis are arguing that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA has a new report that came out in June to show that Iran is five seconds away from a bomb and that's why they had to go in. But the IAEA actually kind of denies that justification. So I don't think that's really it. I think the reason that the Israelis went in now is not really primarily about a nuclear weapon. I think it's about regime change in Iran. They believe that Iran poses an existential threat to the state of Israel. Iran has said, isn't it in the Iranian constitution? They want to wipe out the state of Israel. So they see an existential threat there. They see that the mullahs are weak right now. And as a result of the war that followed the October 7th attack, the Israelis have systematically taken out all of Iran's proxies. So Hamas, which is just a proxy for Iran, neutered. Hezbollah, which is just a proxy for Iran, neutered. With those pagers, literally neutered. In that case, the Houthis have been taken out largely by the Americans. So Iran is really vulnerable. They don't really have a lot of their proxies left. So that's why it's not primarily about the bomb, it's primarily about regime change. The reason why right now is not cuz Iran's 5 seconds away from a bomb, though I'm sure they're advancing in their nuclear program. The reason right now is because Iran is super weak. Because the mullahs are super weak. Okay, so then is this just about the Israelis dragging us kicking and screaming into a war? I don't think it's really about that either because a lot of people don't like the mullahs in Iran. Saudi Arabia doesn't really like the mullahs in Iran. Egypt doesn't really like the mullahs in Iran. The United States obviously doesn't really like the mullahs in Iran. Even some other countries, Qatar, well, even around the Middle East. Bahrain doesn't like the malos in Iran. You know, the list goes on and on. But even other countries, Qatar, Qatar kind of helps Iran proxies sometimes, but Qatar also sucks up to the United States. And Qatar also gives us nice airplanes. And so I don't know that Qatar would be so upset if the Malas in Iran went away. Turkey, Turkey, we have tensions with Turkey, but also Turkey is a NATO ally going back to the 50s, so we kind of play nice with them. And I don't think Turkey would be so upset if the mullahs in Iran went away. So I think what you're seeing here is great power politics, because who are the allies of the mullahs? The allies of the mullahs in Iran are Russia, China. Those are the big powers. Venezuela, North Korea. Places that we don't get along with, and our allies don't really get along with either. This is what's going on in Iran is a great power struggle. That's what it is. What's going on in Ukraine is a great power struggle. Very often these wars that break out are great power struggles. Very rarely, certainly in geopolitics, but even in domestic politics, very rarely is the apparent issue the whole story. We think we're fighting over one tiny little issue, but really there's a lot more going on. There are coalitions that have been built. There are great power struggles. How did World War II break out? Why did World War II break out? Can you explain in one sentence how and why World War II broke out? Even people who are gonna say it's cause Hitler invaded what, Poland, I guess, Czechoslovakia, Austria, I don't. France, I don't know. Was it become a global war because the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor? What? Even harder than that, how did World War I break out? Is it because a Serbian nationalist shot the Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Is that. I guess technically that's why. But obviously there was much more going on. There were major great power struggles, and that's what's going on here. The reason this is breaking out now is because of the context of a longstanding great power struggle, which is not completely separate from the war in Ukraine. Trump was asked about the strikes, and he's been playing it cool as a cucumber. He says, look, we didn't do this. We're not part of this. Iran better not hit our bases. He said, but, and this is according to reporting from cnn, but everyone I've been dealing with in Iran is now dead. He's been trying to get a nuclear deal. He gave Iran 60 days. Iran would not budge on certain American demands. So day 61, the Iraelis go in and rain down hellfire on them. And Trump says, look, everyone I've been dealing with in the Iran negotiations is now dead. And the reporter asked, well this is. Unfortunately we don't have a tape of it. I'm sure it would have been a great performance. But the reporter asked well, are they dead because of the negotiations? Cuz they wouldn't come to a deal. And Trump says, well they didn't die of COVID they didn't die of the flu. So all of that to say I mentioned on the show on Friday, I do not want the United States to be dragged into a regime change war in the Middle East. I don't want American soldiers involved in this. I don't wanna be bogged down in some Middle east quagmire. I don't want our resources and our attention to be taken up by this battle because I'd much rather keep an eye on China and Taiwan and wrap up the Ukraine conflict and not have to sink American blood and treasure into another regime change. We're in the Middle east, we've had enough of those over the past quarter century. However, as I point out on the show a lot, America is the global empire. We just are. We're not a yeoman nation. We're not. We don't so just stick to ourselves. It's just not how it works. Even the broad system of nation states that we think we live under since the Westphalian peace is not really true. There are empires, there are spheres of influence, there are strategic alliances, there were coalitions of nations. And so we can't totally avoid it. That's why I'm not screaming my head off. I'm not surprised by the outbreak of this war, just like I wasn't surprised by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, just like I won't be surprised if there's an outbreak of war around Taiwan. There are great power battles around empires. And what it is incumbent on Trump to do now is to try to maintain the peace. Because I guess this is what would separate my view from the view of say the neocons or the liberal imperialists or whatever is they want to just light up every country in the world. They never saw a non liberal regime they didn't want to overthrow, so they love that stuff. That's not my view of empire. My view of empire is not lighted up. My view of empire is the classical view of empire, which is that the empire exists for a reason, which is to establish peace. Going all the way back to the Aeneid and Virgil writing about the Romans. He says, the art of the Romans is to govern. Other peoples have other arts, you know, dry cleaning and sushi. But our people, our art is governing. And, and the purpose of the empire understood throughout Christendom is to establish peace, one hopes, because we will be involved. There's no question that we will be involved. We're already involved. We've been involved from the beginning. You can track, there's an account on Twitter called the Pentagon Pizza Index. And you can. When the business, when the wait times at the pizza stores around the Pentagon are extending late at night, you know, oh, they're working on something. Something's about to go down. What we hope occurs is that the aims of this kind of war, which obviously are regime change, that they remain restrained, circumscribed, relatively modest, and are aimed not towards some radical liberal revolution, not toward establishing Madisonian democracy in Iran or whatever, but just toward maintaining the peace, advancing America's interests, keeping our allies in all their ducks in a row, keeping them in their proper place, and then we move on.
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Michael Knowles
Lot of death on this show today. A guy shot two Minnesota lawmakers along with their spouses. A female lawmaker and her husband were killed, and then a male lawmaker and his wife were wounded. The one who was killed is Melissa Hortman, former Speaker of the Minnesota House. She and her husband were shot and killed at their home early Saturday. The notable aspect of her political career is she's a Democrat. So instantly you say, okay, well it's gotta be a right wing Republican who shot her. She's a Democrat, but she was the only Democrat in the Minnesota House to oppose funding healthcare for illegal aliens. So she's a Democrat, but she voted with the Republicans. She was the only lawmaker who was actually killed A second state lawmaker, Senator John Hoffman, and his wife were shot multiple times and appear to have survived. Then we don't know who this guy is, but the police take a photograph of his car and there are no Kings flyers on his seat. So no Kings. Will Kings get to that in just a moment? No, Kings was this kind of weak, astroturfed, completely cringe protest of Trump over the weekend. So he's got flyers protesting Trump all over his car. He goes out and shoots, allegedly the only Democrat lawmaker who voted against funding healthcare for illegal aliens. But then there's some evidence that he's a Republican. So all of the evidence that we've seen so far makes you think this would be a Democrat, a far leftist who's upset at a moderate leftist and who's upset at Trump. But then we find out the suspect is a 57 year old guy, and even though it looked like his car was law enforcement, it seems he was just posing as law enforcement. It wasn't a real law enforcement car. We then find out he's got a LinkedIn or other kind of resume that said that he owned a security company. So you say, okay, that sounds more like a right winger, says he did security work overseas. But then actually there's no evidence that he ever did any of that. It might have been just totally made up. It might have just been quite just as fictional as the fictional police car that he drove to commit the crimes. Then we find out on top of all of this that he was appointed to a state board, the workforce development board, by the Super Lib Democrat Governor Tim Walls back in 2019. So then you think, okay, I guess he's. But the board was nonpartisan and I guess he had been appointed to another board by a Republican maybe. And then they interview the roommate. The roommate says that this shooter was a Trump supporter. So then you say, okay, he's a Republican. But then the roommate says he actually hadn't really talked about politics much recently. And then we get the text. So the alleged shooter sends a text to his roommate saying, first of all, this is like a 57 year old guy who seems like kind of a loner. He's got roommates, doesn't seem like he's living in a great family situation, seems like he's making up a fair bit of his resume, says, I just want to let you know that I love you guys both. I don't want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you, you guys don't know anything about this, but I Love you guys and I'm sorry for all the trouble this has caused. Totally bizarre. They then interview the roommate about the alleged shooter's security background. They said, yeah, we basically just played pretend. We played pretend cops, played pretend army men, and he wanted to get a security company off the ground, but he couldn't. I think he worked in the food industry or a convenience store or something. So this is really bizarre. This reminds me of Butler, Pennsylvania. This reminds me of the attempt to kill Trump, because just as in this case in Butler, Pennsylvania, the alleged shooter, I guess I don't need to worry about him suing me for slander or libel. That's why we say alleged in journalism is you don't want to be sued for slander or libel, even if all of the evidence points to the guy. But in this case, that guy had his brains blown out. So I guess I don't need to say alleged anymore, just force of habit. That guy was a ostensibly registered Republican, but his only political donation ever were to Democrats, and he obviously tried to murder Trump. So you can't quite pinpoint his politics. Same thing with this guy. He, I guess, said he was a Republican and liked Trump, but then he had the no kings anti Trump flyers in his car, and then he attacked a Democrat, but it was the Democrat who disagreed with the other Democrats. And sometimes, sometimes political violence, sometimes violence is motivated by politics, by ideology. That does really happen, and it tends to happen more on the left. You see a lot of political violence on the left, basically none on the right. So I'm not discounting that. Sometimes ideology motivates violence, sometimes religion motivates violence, sometimes terrorism, which is targeting civilians for political purposes, motivates violence. And sometimes people are just kind of crazy. And I know that's going to seem like a cop out to a lot of people, but it's really not. That expresses a truth about human nature that in secular modernity we don't want to acknowledge. Namely, that the perversity of the human heart is much deeper and broader and much less predictable than we acknowledge in modernity. We think human beings are like computers and we just kind of figure them out and we run an operating system, and that's that. No, no, no concupiscence. And the perversity of the human heart are a lot more complex than that. And this guy might have just been kind of a weirdo, and the fact that you can't quite place him politically speaks to that. And the fact that unlike in Butler, Pennsylvania, where there were these totally inexplicable Security failures and where you're talking about Trump, and it's right before the rnc, and it seems like there might have been. If you're gonna suggest a conspiracy, that one makes a little more sense. That there were so many just inexplicable errors apparently leading up to that. The timing was so on the nose. In this case, though, no one had really ever heard of these state lawmakers. What was this about? It might just have been a crazy guy. We don't like to hear that, but it might just have been a crazy guy. Now, I told you, he had these flyers, the no Kings flyers. There were protests. There were supposed to be 2000 no Kings protests throughout the United States, and they were supposed to involve millions and millions of people. A popular uprising against Trump. What actually happened was a little different from what was promised. Hey, cut it out. One second. There's more to say, but you first need to go to expressvpn.com knowles Here is something fascinating. Until the 1990s, I did not exist. Also, until the 1990s, the US government classified encryptions as munitions. They categorized it alongside weapons. You know what? They weren't totally wrong. Encryption is powerful. It's your shield against those who want to exploit your personal information online. That is why it's one of the reasons why I've been using ExpressVPN for years now. It's an elegant solution that encrypts your Internet connection and routes it through secure servers, keeping your online activity private, just as it should be. I have used ExpressVPN personally for six or seven years or something like that now. I mean, for a very, very long time. It's really important. You've got your finance stuff on your computer. You've got the political stuff you look at. You've got your family's pictures. You got all this stuff. Don't leave that all out in the open. 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And there were supposed to be about 2,000 millions of protesters expected. Some of them were canceled before they were even to begin. And the reason they were canceled was lack of attendance. So one that made the news was Hollywood, Florida. Hollywood, Florida had a big protest planned and they had to cancel it because no one was gonna show up. So the organizers officially said that. Now a bunch of them were pretty lackluster. Here's Chicago. So this is Chicago, this is a big city, super lib strong. You know, they shut down the street for it. And you look at the protest and it's, you know, it's about one street wide, kind of slow, kind of orderly. It's not that there's nobody there, there are some people there, but it's just much more subdued than you would expect. The crowd is much older. And in fact the people I know, I know I'm friends with a bunch of libs and I have libs in my family and you know, friend groups. I'm from New York, I lived in la. And the people I know who went to the no Kings protest were not the radical blue haired anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails. It was like boomers, it was like boomer Dems who just really don't like Trump. But they're orderly people, they have jobs, they don't, they're just. It wasn't, they were reliving Woodstock or something, man, I don't know. They were, it was, you know, hey, remember the sixties? It was not. I was driving in Nashville, I was about to get on the freeway and I see there was a no Kings protest. It was half a dozen people, median age probably about 67, you know, really excited to view the signs. We don't like Trump. No kings. Whatever it was, it seemed relatively small. The whole thing, it skewed a bit older. It was weak sauce, of course, because when the libs had popular protests of Trump in the first term, they could at least gin up some media attention and gin up some excitement around it because they say, well, Trump lost the popular vote. There were all these Russia hacked the election. It was a total fluke, whatever. But then Trump just kept winning and then this time he won not only the electoral college, but the popular vote. And he won not Only white guys, but also almost half of Hispanics and a ton of women and a disproportionate number of black guys. And it just, it's hard to have a popular uprising against the guy who won the popular vote. So why no kings? Why no kings? This is new, and I think it's a weak rebranding because normally when the Dems protest a Republican, it's no Nazis, no Hitler, no dictators, no fascists. Now it's no kings, which as sweet little Alisa pointed out last night, is really bad pr. Because it's cool to be a king, man. You know, you come at the king, you best not miss. Be like, yo, King, you dropped your crown. Hey, what's up, king? That's not just a far right wing ideologue kind of expression. It's cool to be a king, man. Kings are cool. So why no kings? I think, I think they were trying to impel their followers to behave a certain way. I think that when you say Trump's Hitler or whatever, Trump's a Nazi poses an existential threat to the country. I think you are pushing your followers to behave in ways that are a little more radical, a little more modern. Who are the enemies of the, of the Nazis? Well, it's not just the American and British troops, it's the communists. Antifa's gonna get out there. You got the fascists, you got the anti fascists. Oh no. We don't want our guys to behave like antifa. That makes us look really bad. We don't want, especially following the riots in la, we don't want our followers to seem anti American. We don't want them waving the flags of foreign nations. That was a complete mistake. Okay, how can we make our followers get out in the streets but also seem kind of patriotic? Well, let's rewind it. Let's not forget, focus this around 20th century mythology. You know, the mythology of surrounding the Second World War. We need to frame this around 18th century mythology. We're gonna make this about the American Revolution. No kings, no king. Okay, so what, we're gonna wave the Betsy Ross flag? The libs already told us the Betsy Ross flag is racist. She can't even put it on sneakers. So what are they really gonna get? I think the libs picked no Kings cause they want their followers to seem less anti American for the TV cameras. Because the LA riots were a complete flop. The LA riots were organized by the left and they were a flop. They did not win the left votes. They actually lost the left support. So they tried Their best. And this one flopped too. Flopped hard. And part of that is just the historical fact. Even if you wanted to frame this around an 18th century idea, America was not founded in opposition to monarchy. We almost had a monarchy in America. Alexander Hamilton was advocating for a kind of a monarchy in America. America was founded on principles that demanded political independence, but it wasn't anti monarchy. The French Revolution that followed was anti monarchy. But as Edmund Burke, for instance, pointed out, the American Revolution was much more conservative. The American Revolution was undertaken in a much more orderly way, from the top down, partaking of principles of subsidiarity. The French Revolution was a bunch of rabble chopping heads off, opposed to throne. And altar wanted to overthrow not only the monarchy, but Christianity, the whole ancien regime. In fact, I think it was. Adrian Vermeule pointed this out on Twitter. There has been an argument that the American presidency is in many ways the last monarchy that survived from the old regime. Even though we're not a monarchy technically, but we still have an executive that has a lot of power. Trump's kind of the king, man. He really is kind of the king in a way. But all American presidents are. They have real power. The American presidency has much more in the way of monarchical power than the king of England does, than King Charles does, than any of the kind of sidelined kings, the king of Spain. So the no kings thing was never gonna work. And my friend Nate Fisher pointed out the no kings protest. If the libs are really gonna make this the new focal point, Trump's a king, and we don't want kings here, whatever. It might actually encourage a health examination of political regimes, including monarchy on the right. Because America, we've been told in recent years, America's a democracy, not really a democracy. America is a republic. Then the right wingers say, well, we're not a democracy, we're a republic. But actually, that's not what the American regime is. The American regime going all the way back to the Constitution is a mixed regime. That's the point. The Founding Fathers were explicit about this. Yes, Benjamin Franklin says, we've given you a republic if you can keep it. But more than that, it is a mixed regime because the American framers and founders wanted to escape the cycle of regimes that causes monarchies to collapse. The three forms of government, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, into their kind of negative forms, which is tyranny, oligarchy, and mob rule. And so the cycle goes on through revolutions. And the American framers wanted to escape that. And so the way to escape that, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out in the Summa Theologia, is you have a mixed regime that has a monarchical element. In our case, the presidency with an aristocratic element at the founding would have been the Senate and maybe some other. Now we have direct election of senators that's a little bit weakened and a democratic element, which would be the House of Representatives, and then you have subsidiary from the federal government all the way down to the local governments. It's a mixed regime. Probably the libs, when they started their no Kings protest, didn't want Americans to be reflecting on regimes and political philosophy and what America really means. But they didn't get what they really wanted, which was a popular uprising in the street. And the fact that they had to change their tune, I think, shows you. They just don't know what they're about right now. Fundamentally, the Democrats don't know what they're about right now. Are they for open borders or are they for border security? They don't know. Are they for free trade or are they for protecting American workers? They don't know. Are they for Israel or are they for Palestine? They don't know. Are they for what? What are they for? They don't know. No Kings. I don't know, man. Trump looking more and more like a king every day. Speaking of the libs acting up, a Democrat senator, US Senator Alex Padilla, has just been taken down by the FBI and the United States Secret Service. I mean that very literally. He showed up to an event. He started harassing a member of the Trump administration, and the FBI and the Secret Service had to grab him because he got out of control and started shoving law enforcement officers around.
Alex Padilla
Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions.
Michael Knowles
He's pushing on either. I can't tell if that's FBI or Secret Service. He's wearing kind of plain clothes. That's a US Senator. This maniac is a US Senator. I think here he was protesting Kristi Noem. He was trying to rush the stage with Kristi Noem, this female Cabinet secretary. And so Trump comes in, or rather law enforcement of the Trump administration comes in. They say, you're not allowed to do that, Senator. Sorry, we're gonna grab you. We're gonna get you out of the room. This was probably a stunt to set the stage also for the no Kings protest. And. And that flopped, too, because when I watch that, when I watch Democrat politics, even elected politicians go up and physically start to threaten female members of the Trump administration, it reminds me of Maxine Waters, sitting Democrat Congress lady Who said in the first Trump term, when you see Republicans in public, you push back on them. You tell them they're not welcome here. You go to their house. Are you insane, lady? When I see Hillary Clinton say, you can't be civil with Republicans. Well, I see all this stuff that doesn't make me think that Trump needs to be less forceful. Makes me think, no, no, Trump needs to be more forceful in maintaining order and enforcing the law. What I'm hoping for, by the end of Senator Padilla's nonsense, by the end of the no Kings protest, I'm basically waiting for President Trump to go full Charles ii.
Historical Figure (Charles I or similar)
Anyone who denies this truth makes themselves an enemy of God, King and country. Think on that before you take another step towards chaos. All the world may see what a point we have come to. Nothing that begins in such division is likely to end well. I declare Parliament dissolved. Gentlemen, go home. I will not trouble you any further.
Michael Knowles
Gentlemen, go home. The Parliament is dissolved. I know. I'm very happy to say I know that there are members of the administration who listen to this show regularly. And I know and plenty of Republicans on Capitol Hill take note. That's what I want to see. That's the response to the no Kings protest. I want Trump to saunter in, you know, look, Charles II had drip. Trump's got a lot of drip in his own way. Walk in there, you know, shiny, glammed up. Gentlemen, go home. You're dissolved. Okay? I won't trouble you any further. Bye bye. Alex Padilla. Get out. That's what I want. I mentioned the Harvard professor Adrian Vermeule just now on the show. I loved his response to the no Kings protest. He said no Kings, but as a complaint. No Kings. Not yet, not yet, not yet. We gotta wait for Octavian Baron Augustus Trump to come in. Okay? Speaking of inappropriate behavior, we turn from Democrats to prostitutes on the Internet because one of the Onlyfans people has just made a claim about that website, this porn website. She says there is a performer on the Onlyfans website that is destroying Onlyfans and is actually changing the porn site to no longer be about empowering women. The mob is back in the streets, burning flags, torching cars, attacking cops. Once again, the media are calling it justice. But we've seen this song before at the Daily Wire. We do not sit back. We fight. We build platforms they can't cancel. We tell stories they can't control. We create the future they can't burn down. Join millions of people who still believe in truth, courage and common sense@dailywireplus.com My favorite comment yesterday is from Mernouche Makur MKH, who says you Americans can say whatever you want, but as an Iranian that I know what's going on in Iran. People in Iran pray for Bibi. In Israel we call IDF the Freedom army for Iran. Yeah, look, I believe that, okay? I don't know if you mean you're in Iran right now or you're more likely in America or outside of Iran, but you still have people in Iran. That's true. I as an American want to minimize the American involvement in this war because I don't want to get bogged down in a two decade quagmire to establish Madisonian democracy in the Middle east when it doesn't necessarily serve our immediate interests. Might serve our strategic interests long term, but not our immediate interests. And the risks I think are very high and the public doesn't want it. And it could also imperil the rest of Trump's agenda. And the list goes on and on as to why I want to minimize our involvement in this war. However, this is another point where I was mentioning at the top of the show, some people think it's just the Israelis trying to drag us into this war. There are other people, the most pro war in Iran people I have ever met are Iranians who left Iran, maybe whose families left after the Shah was deposed or whose families left in the 80s or 90s. Those guys very much pro Israel going in and messing things up. Same thing. That's how I feel about the Lebanese. I have Lebanese friends who love, love it when Israel goes in and messes things up because they hate the Muslims and they hate what the Muslims did to their country. So anyway, I get it. I get that lots of people with lots of backgrounds from lots of different countries all have views and desires in this war. I'm just articulating my view as an American, but I get it. I get it. And I recognize also these are imperial power plays and there's a lot more going on than meets the eye. Okay, speaking of inappropriate behavior, there's some onlyfans lady. I'm not gonna give them publicity by naming them, but there's some onlyfans lady who is less famous than this other onlyfans lady. Cause I had heard of the other onlyfans lady. I had not heard of the first OnlyFans lady, but the first OnlyFans lady is calling out the second OnlyFans lady for quote, attention grabbing chaos that disrespects the work of serious professionals. And the second OnlyFans lady is the one who said she was gonna sleep with a thousand guys in a day or 2,000 guys in a day or whatever. I think we played one of the clips where she went into a five guys burger joint and said, hey, I want the guys. Where can I order the five guys? How much does that cost? You know? Ha ha ha. So the first OnlyFans lady was criticizing that girl, said, it's no longer women empowerment. It's shock value. And she's making a joke out of all of us. Breaking news. Stop the presses. Only fans. No longer about women empowerment. Pornography no longer about we built this space to take control of our bodies and our finances. To take control of your bodies. You're selling your bodies to men who can do whatever they like with it. And our finances, not to fake pregnancies. I guess the second girl faked a pregnancy. Weddings or throw cakes at strangers on the street. Brands don't take us seriously anymore. Brands don't take us prostitutes seriously anymore. Media doesn't take us seriously. Can you believe a person who has made a career out of whoring going a whoring is no longer taken seriously by corporate America or the media. I'm tired of explaining that not all of us are doing circus acts for views. Au contraire, mon frere. It's exactly what you're doing. One last line. She says she's criticized. Obviously she recognizes that. It seems like she's not being introspective. And she said, well, if God gave me this platform, this body, this voice, why wouldn't I use it? It's not just about money. It's about taking care of my family. So, okay, so she says we're not all doing circus acts for views. But of course they are. They're all doing circus acts. They're all providing a kind of tawdry, much more tawdry than the circus, actually, entertainment for people and playing on various lusts and shallow desires of people and doing it for money. So she's saying that other girl, that other onlyfans prostitute, she's a clown. But they're all clowns. They're all clowns. And she explains how she became a clown too. She says, you know, look, you're gonna say that I'm doing the same thing she is. But that's not true. How could you criticize my going a whoring on the television because God gave me this platform sort. I guess if you're talking about providence and God's passive will, it is true. Lady, you have come across this porn platform, and you've cultivated a large following. And God gave me this body. That's certainly true. And God gave me this voice, the voice that actually becomes more the focus of this kind of pornography, and ultimately, I suppose, of all pornography even, than the body does. That's what's so interesting about the second porn lady, the one who says she's sleeping with a thousand men. And she goes into the burger joint and says, I want five guys. Because the reason she's. I can honestly say, I'm happy to say that I've never seen her work. I've never seen her behind the OnlyFans paywall work, but I have seen her popular media stuff pop up. I've seen all these little clips go viral and. And the scintillating, titillating kind of porn that that girl's putting out actually never involves her taking off any of her clothes. It's just using her voice, using her language to degrade herself, to play on the dark fantasies of men. But that's where the porn is. That's really where most of her popular work is. I like to think most people have not seen her actual nude stuff, and I don't think they have. I think most people or just seeing that. But that is enough to show you what pornography is, which is intrinsically about degrading and turning human beings from proper subjects with rights into objects that can just be melded to one's fantasies. It turns these people into nothing more than objects of amusement. It turns them into clowns. And that's what this girl's getting at. The first OnlyFans girl criticizing the second one. She says, God gave me all this stuff, my body, even my platform, certainly my voice, so why wouldn't I use it to go whore myself? Because God gave you those things for a purpose. He gave you those things. Those things have a purpose and you have free will. And you can either use all those things to their proper end, or you can turn away from God's grace and turn away from the moral order and degrade yourself. You have that freedom to do it if you want it, but when you don't use things for their proper purpose, you turn yourself into a clown. I have my leftist tears tumbler here. I'm drinking delicious leftist tears out of it. It's actually fruity Millennial Seltzer, but okay, I'm drinking it. That's good. If, on the other hand, I took this tumbler and just dumped it all on my head and wore it as.
Historical Figure (Charles I or similar)
A hat.
Michael Knowles
I would make myself into A clown. It would be kind of funny. You'd probably laugh. I wouldn't be using this for its proper purpose. And it would be funny. It would be incongruous. It would be unexpected. It would be farcical. It would be dumb and stupid. I would degrade myself in doing that. And you would laugh because I'd be a clown. When you use your body in ways that are contrary to its purpose and contrary to your flourishing, you make yourself into a clown, into kind of a joke. People make jokes about you. People call you nasty names, and you look ridiculous. When you use your voice in those ways, you make yourself into a clown. The second porn girl, the one who's talking about sleeping with a thousand guys in a day or whatever, she's kind of funny. When she went into the burger place and said, I want the five guys, that's kind of funny. I think I chuckled at it. But it's funny because it's perverse and subversive and unexpected and incongruous, and it's just wrong. And that's fine. If you want to be a clown, go be a clown. But the one onlyfans lady should not be criticizing the other onlyfans lady. They're both doing exactly the same thing. And it's certainly not about empowering women or anyone else. It's not about empowering men either. It's degrading everyone and making everyone into a clown. The whores and the johns alike, they're both making themselves into clowns. So maybe it's a good opportunity for all those gals to look themselves in the mirror and say, I don't have to live this way. I don't have to be a clown. I can take off the makeup and behave as I should. Now, speaking of show business, big showbiz story that I might not have time to get to because, you know, I'm a little teased. But Justin Bieber might be placed in a conservatorship because he seems like he's acting kind of crazy. And this story is actually quite related to the previous story, but we don't have time. So that's gonna be my tease for tomorrow, because today is Music Monday. The rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it. Become a member. Use code Noleskenna wles at checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Here he is. Thank you. I just. I just heard Mr. Davies in my ear, but I was told Mr. Davies was not gonna be in the control room for today's show. I thought I was flying blind with Professor Jacob and Markella. Mr. Davies, you're there. What are you doing there?
Alex Padilla
Listen, they said there was a lot of stuff for me to do today. A lot of big projects coming up. But like I typically do, I just got it done quicker by, you know, cutting corners.
Michael Knowles
Yeah, it's good. By just.
Alex Padilla
That's how we do the shutting up.
Michael Knowles
Absolute lazy efficiency, we call it. I love. That's great. All rebellion is wrong, says the man Thursday. That's almost true. You know, the Christian teaching on this, especially going to St. Thomas Aquinas, but throughout, from classical antiquity up through the present, is that generally we should just sort of suffer bad leaders. Generally, that's true. The civil authority is there for our own good, and God sometimes sends us bad leaders to sanctify us or to punish us. There are some instances in which a people could reasonably be expected to oppose a tyrannical or unjust authority. But it's gotta be. The rebellion has to be undertaken certain ways. I agree. I agree, man. Daily Grinch. Let Bieber live. If he wants to blow all his money, let him. I do not agree with that, because people. Well, I can't even get into why. Because I'm gonna save it for the show tomorrow. But think about Britney. Everyone was saying Britney Spears, you know, when she was in her conservatorship, they said, free Britney. Free her. Give her freedom. And now she looks like a maniac dancing around with knives on TikTok. I don't think we want that for Mr. Bieber. Arun. Michael, tell Professor Jacob I like Jews. Hey, professor, are you there? Professor?
Alex Padilla
He's here. I don't think he can talk, though.
Michael Knowles
He's there, but he can't talk. Okay. Arun likes Jews.
Alex Padilla
He hasn't said anything, but I think he's thanking. Thank you.
Michael Knowles
Okay, that's good. 225. Michael, my sister's undergoing chemo and radiation for cervical cancer. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Please keep her and my family in your prayers. I certainly can do that. Maybe if you mention her name in the first name or so. It doesn't have to be the last name. Sorry to hear that, though. That's really rough. And we certainly can pray for her. The no kings people are clowns. So true. We love Davies says Tyler H. Is that an error? Are we getting a glitch in the chat? Wait, hold on. What? What? Let me light my MK candle says pray for wisdom. That's a good thing to do. I got mine right here. And this is actually the. I Believe this is the old soul candle. Right? This is a great. The old soul candle is a. Kind of Flies below the radar a little bit. That's good stuff, though. Takes me back to my old days in the Northeast. Very preppy gentleman. Smelled like this. Martin fam 271. Mike, can you give my dad, Robert Martin, a shout out? Hey, Robert Martin. How's it going? He is an amazing father and I want some recognition for him. Fair enough. Fair enough. I get it, man. Angela Durad. Michael, do you teach your sons how to play the ukulele? I do. I teach them how to play all sorts of instruments a little bit. They're still too young. My eldest is only 4. My middle is about to turn 3. My youngest is like 11 months. And so I teach them to play around a little bit on the piano, a little bit on the guitar, a little bit on the uke. UK is easier, obviously, for them to hold, but they're still a little young. I don't think you really start music lessons like that until six or seven even, because you also don't want them to get discouraged. What about Shays Rebellion? Yeah, not great. Not great. That's from Josh Leibowitz. We are the Great American Empire Gay. Yeah. Buying a bunch of Mayflowers for my brother's wedding. Says spg. Buffalo blood. You're a good brother. You're a good and generous brother.
Alex Padilla
You brought the new Mayflower launch in downtown Franklin.
Michael Knowles
I did, actually. That's right, guys. By the way, if you're in Franklin, there's a new great, great new cigar lounge from Mission, which is down in Spring Hill and was the first store to stock our Mayflowers in the state of Tennessee, right when we got our Tennessee license. And so anyway, they opened up in Franklin, so it's a little closer to Nashville. It's great, though. Go check it out. Mission Cigars in Franklin. The new lounge is super cool. It's in this old house. It's great. And you can get smoky Mayflowers here.
Alex Padilla
You know what the top seller is there?
Michael Knowles
No. Are we the top seller? Oh, yeah, you are. No. Are we really? Let's go, kid. Yeah, man, that's great. Yeah, man, look, it's a great cigar. I was smoking. I was smoking the Dusk two days ago. I was just sitting out doing a little writing, a little reading. I was retrohaling so you breathe a little bit of it out your nose. Gives you a lot more of the flavor. I was just thinking. I was like, man, this is a freaking killer, killer cigar. I'VE been smoking pretty wild stuff recently. People have been giving me really beautiful aged Cubans, crazy stuff. Stuff that sells for hundreds, if not $1,000 on auction. And just giving it to me says, I'll spark it up, whatever. Stuff that's 10 years old, 12 years old. And it's good. I'm not knocking. I mean, it's good. There's good stuff there. But I'm smoking the Mayflower. I was like, wait, I could get this for like 15 bucks or less. And I get. And in some cases, it's like, significantly better than these auction aged Cubans, like, cool. Love that Daily Grinch. Dirty Mike. Do you believe women should have the right to vote or no? Once we get past the no Kings protest, we're not gonna worry about anybody having the right to vote. It's okay. Once we get to Barron, Octavian, Augustus Trump, you won't need to worry. The bad news is women might lose the right to vote. But the good news is everyone will lose the right to vote because the libs will get what they are begging for. They'll get their king. Their king. Protest. Work smarter, bought harder, Davies. That's it. Wow. I know you probably meant to say not harder, Laura and Eileen, but there's something that's really profound. Work smarter, bot harder. In other words, have AI do all your work for you. That's. Wow, that's deep. That is deep. Can you recommend a book on the French Revolution? Asks Bailey. Yes, Les Miserables. Can you hear the people sing? Didn't they? Trump and Vance and Kennedy went to the Kennedy center and saw Les Mis over the weekend. And J.D. vance confused it with Sweeney Todd, which is charming. What else? Tale of Two Cities. That's a good book. Oh, you mean a history book. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what my top history of the French Revolution would be. I'll have to think about that a little bit more. In terms of works of literature, though, it's hard to beat Tale of Two Cities. Leave Bieber alone, says Andrew Beebe. So true. So true. Okay, you know what today is? It's Music Monday. It's music Monday, baby. This song was suggested by Benjamin from the Chaim d' Alhem song is Pretty Girls by Will Smith. Take it away.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
It's been a problem ever since I was a little boy. You know, Actually, I think it's gotten worse as I've gotten older. I thought I had it under control, but I'm literally experiencing it right now. Like, literally this second.
Michael Knowles
Oh, and how would you Define this problem can you make me understand?
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
I like pretty girls, girls, girls I love pretty girls, girls, girls, girls, girls I like pretty girls pretty girls, girls, girls, girls I love pretty girls it's.
Michael Knowles
Funny because some of those girls are less pretty than the others.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
You don't gotta wait in line tonight you too fine for the line tonight five plus five, you a dime tonight it's a full house better play your cards right I'mma post your dick if you pose, make one phone call you in vogue? Head, shoulders, knees, toes, hold up, wait, pose I'm about to do some investing I'll spend it on you and your bestie. You and your twin on a jet ski I'll change your life if you like I like pretty girls I love pretty girls I like pretty girls.
Michael Knowles
I.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Love pretty girls, girls, girls, girls, girls all the pretty girls. Put your drink up.
Michael Knowles
It's interesting. The girls are all kind of age appropriate by Hollywood standards. You know, they're not 22 or anything. Because Will Smith is kind of old now. It would be weird if it were all these like 19 year old girls.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
There's not a lot of women not pretty to me. I mean, she pretty to me. And I ain't talking about just the pretty you see but the pretty, pretty girls, girls, girls. I love pretty girls.
Michael Knowles
Not a lot of women are not pretty to me pretty to me. I talk about just pretty you see, pretty you be. Wow. So he's acknowledging because some of these women are not physically attractive. But he's saying it doesn't matter. I find all these women attractive. And he tries to make himself not sound like a complete degenerate man whore by saying he goes, no, it's also about their true self, the pretty you be. Not just the pretty you see, it's yourself on the inside. But he's really probably just a sex addict. At least the character in the song.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
I like pretty girls, pretty girls I like pretty girls.
Michael Knowles
So this is recent, I take it?
Alex Padilla
It came out this weekend.
Michael Knowles
It came out this week. Yeah, I was gonna say he looks. He looks like about his current age. Well, it's so obvious what this is about.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
So that's. That's pretty much it. So what do you think?
Michael Knowles
I get it. I mean, maybe Will Smith helped write this. Maybe it was his idea. It was certainly done with publicists because Will Smith has this huge brand problem. Namely, he went from being one of the most beloved figures of American cinema, TV and music to being the most infamous cuckold in America. And so that was horrible for his brand. It Made him look weak and effeminate. But then, even then, he had that smack of Chris Rock at the Oscars, which made him look even weaker and more effeminate in a way. And reactionary. Not in control of his emotions. It destroyed his brand. And so he's gotta have a way to come out of that and not look like a huge cuck. So he says, well, I'm not a cuck, I'm a pimp. You know, I like pretty girls. And it's even a way of explaining his wife's infidelity, if the insinuation is, well, look, I've been just sleeping with all these women, so my wife basically got sick of me and she slept with some guys too. But I'm the real pimp, man. I would sleep with all these women. It's just a way to make him look more masculine. But it's kind of sad. And he's so smart in terms of show business that he realizes he's like, okay, I can't just have a bunch of hot 20 year olds. I'll look like a huge creep. So they need to be women who are a little more reasonable for my age. And they can't just all be supermodels. That's not gonna reach people. It's gotta be all these different women, including some who don't look physically attractive. He says, well, I'm just. I'm basically a sex addict. You know, there are not a lot of girls who aren't pretty to me. But it's not just the pretty you see, it's the pretty you be. So even that is trying to flatter himself. No, no, it's. Yeah, basically I'll take anything, I'll sleep with anything. But not because I have uncontrolled lusts. No, no, it's because I see the beauty on the inside. But are you really telling me that basically every woman is either physically beautiful or has integrity and inner beauty and charity and all that? No, there are plenty of women who are just terrible, who are physically ugly and spiritually ugly. And they're just like men. They're playing men who are like that too. So, no, obviously what's going on here is you're just out of control with your lusts and your passions. You're not behaving in a reasonable way. And so it's kind of sad. And that comes out in sleeping around all the time, and that comes out and punching your friends on stage at the Oscars, and it's kind of sad. I mean, I get what he's doing. And maybe it'll achieve the PR goal of making him look a little bit fun again and a little bit. A little kind of macho in a Casanova sort of way. But I don't think it's going to succeed.
Alex Padilla
I know what else you're thinking, too.
Michael Knowles
What?
Alex Padilla
That Will Smith needs a conservatorship.
Michael Knowles
Will Smith needs a conserv. He might need a. Probably more than Bieber. Okay. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. See you tomorrow, B.
Podcast Information:
In Episode 1755, host Michael Knowles delves deep into the complexities of the ongoing Israel-Iran war, dissecting the multifaceted geopolitical dynamics that many overlook. The episode not only explores the primary conflict but also touches upon recent violent incidents involving Minnesota lawmakers, critiques modern protest movements, and offers commentary on contemporary social issues.
Hawks vs. Doves
Michael begins by outlining the polarized perspectives surrounding the Israel-Iran conflict. On one side, hawks argue that Iran is on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon, posing an existential threat that necessitates immediate military intervention. On the other hand, doves dismiss the war as a localized Middle Eastern dispute that unnecessarily drags the U.S. into further conflict.
Michael Knowles (09:12):
"On the one side you've got the hawks screaming that Iran is five minutes away from building a nuclear bomb and the fate of the world rests on our glassing Iran right now."
Challenging Common Narratives
Knowles expresses skepticism towards both camps, suggesting that the true motivations behind the conflict extend beyond the commonly cited reasons. He emphasizes that the war is not merely about nuclear capabilities or regional disputes but is deeply rooted in broader great power politics.
Great Power Politics and Regime Change
Delving deeper, Michael posits that the Israel-Iran war is fundamentally a battleground for global power struggles, involving major players like Russia and China who are allies of Iran. He argues that the Israeli actions are primarily aimed at regime change rather than preventing a nuclear catastrophe.
Michael Knowles (15:30):
"I think what's actually going on is much bigger than either of those things. The question you gotta ask yourself is why now? Why are the Israelis going in now?"
President Trump's Role
The episode scrutinizes President Trump's involvement, highlighting his statements that downplay U.S. involvement while simultaneously issuing veiled threats. Knowles suggests that Trump's actions resemble negotiation tactics rather than straightforward policy stances.
Michael Knowles (12:00):
"From the man who wrote the Art of the Deal, there's a new story out from Reuters reporting that President Trump has been restraining the Israelis by vetoing a plan to assassinate Iran's supreme leader."
Details of the Incident
The podcast transitions to a tragic event where two Minnesota lawmakers were shot, resulting in the death of one, Melissa Hortman, and injuries to another, Senator John Hoffman, and his wife. Knowles explores the baffling nature of the shooter's motives and political affiliations.
Michael Knowles (14:20):
"A female lawmaker and her husband were killed, and then a male lawmaker and his wife were wounded. The one who was killed is Melissa Hortman, former Speaker of the Minnesota House."
Analyzing the Shooter's Profile
Knowles highlights the inconsistencies in identifying the shooter's political leanings. Despite initial assumptions, evidence points to a complex background, suggesting the perpetrator may have harbored disillusioned or extremist views that do not neatly align with mainstream political categories.
Michael Knowles (20:00):
"He was a Republican, but his only political donation ever were to Democrats, and he obviously tried to murder Trump. So you can't quite pinpoint his politics."
Origins and Intentions
The "No Kings" protests, organized by progressive groups like the American Federation of Teachers and the ACLU, aimed to mobilize millions against President Trump. However, Knowles critiques the movement's effectiveness and execution.
Michael Knowles (25:00):
"They were supposed to involve millions and millions of people. Some of them were canceled before they were even to begin... It skewed a bit older. It was weak sauce."
Failure to Mobilize
Despite grand expectations, the protests failed to garner significant participation, often resulting in subdued gatherings with older demographics rather than the anticipated youthful, radical assemblies.
Michael Knowles (30:00):
"The crowd is much older... It was like boomers, it was like boomer Dems who just really don't like Trump."
Historical and Political Missteps
Knowles argues that the protests suffered from poor historical framing and failed to resonate with a broader audience, ultimately leading to their ineffectiveness.
Michael Knowles (35:00):
"The libs picked no Kings cause they want their followers to seem less anti American for the TV cameras. Because the LA riots were a complete flop."
OnlyFans Critique
The episode touches upon controversies within the OnlyFans platform, highlighting debates over content quality and the perceived shift from empowerment to shock value.
Michael Knowles (40:00):
"She says we're not all doing circus acts for views. But of course, they are. They're all doing circus acts, they're all providing a kind of tawdry entertainment."
Celebrity Conservatorships
Knowles briefly mentions Justin Bieber's potential conservatorship, drawing parallels to Britney Spears' situation and critiquing the management of celebrity personas.
Michael Knowles (50:00):
"Justin Bieber might be placed in a conservatorship because he seems like he's acting kind of crazy... That's gonna be my tease for tomorrow."
Throughout the episode, Michael seamlessly integrates promotional content for Daily Wire membership discounts, ARMRA Colostrum supplements, Chevron's energy initiatives, and ExpressVPN services, maintaining the show's characteristic blend of content and advertisements.
In his closing segments, Knowles reflects on the multifaceted nature of human behavior and societal issues, emphasizing the unpredictability and complexity of motives behind actions ranging from political violence to social media antics. He reiterates the importance of understanding deeper geopolitical contexts and discourages simplistic interpretations of complex events.
Michael Knowles (55:00):
"When you use your body in ways that are contrary to its purpose and contrary to your flourishing, you make yourself into a clown... Players turn human beings from proper subjects with rights into objects that can just be melded to one's fantasies."
On Great Power Struggles:
"Wars that break out are great power struggles. Very rarely, certainly in geopolitics, but even in domestic politics, very rarely is the apparent issue the whole story." (16:45)
On the Mixed Nature of American Government:
"The American presidency has much more in the way of monarchical power than the king of England does." (38:00)
On Human Nature and Violence:
"That expresses a truth about human nature that in secular modernity we don't want to acknowledge." (28:30)
On Constitutional Principles:
"The American framers wanted to escape the cycle of regimes that causes monarchies to collapse." (40:00)
Episode 1755 offers a comprehensive analysis of the Israel-Iran war, interwoven with critical examinations of recent political violence and social movements within the United States. Michael Knowles challenges listeners to look beyond surface-level narratives, urging a deeper understanding of underlying geopolitical forces and human motivations. Through incisive commentary and strategic questioning, the episode underscores the complexity of modern conflicts and the multifaceted nature of societal issues.