B (15:51)

I don't know what Trump is doing. I don't know what's going on.

A (15:55)

What is the point of food stamps if it is just used for food? I feel like, I feel like Shapiro in that clip from, when was it, six, seven years ago? You know, he said the Boy Scouts are for boys. And then the lib in the school said, well, where does it say that? And he says, actually gang, it's in the name Boy Scouts. That's how I feel about the food stamps. Where does it say that food stamps are for food? It's in the, in the phrase food stamps. That's where it's from. I think people are beginning to notice after the massive fraud among the Somalis in Minnesota, after the new fraud they've uncovered among the Haitians in Massachusetts during the government shutdown. When we found out what something like 10% of the population of some states are on food stamps, we realize it's not just people who really need it who are getting this. Feed their kids, get them Cheerios. There's a ton of fraud and you're beginning to wonder, is the reason that everything is so expensive just welfare fraud generally among immigrants, but even among native born Americans, Is that how corrupt is the country? How deep does the corruption go and how fundamental do we have to get in our reeducation of who we are? The big question I just alluded to it a couple years ago was what is a woman? You actually have to teach people the difference between a man and a woman. Now we have to remind ourselves what's it mean to be an American? And you have to get down to basics. What is the point of entitlement programs? What is the point of food stamps? Does it have something to do with food? Do we need to finally clamp up, set some new standards? I think that's probably true. And you're seeing this in a beautiful way, controversial though it shouldn't be, out of the Trump administration. The head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has just come out. Her name's Andrea Lucas and she is making a pitch to aggrieved minorities who might have been discriminated against. And the pitch is directly to white men.

B (17:51)

I'm Andrea Lucas, chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Are you a white male who's experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact the EEOC as soon as possible. Time limits are typically strict for filing a claim. The EEOC is the federal agency charged with enforcing federal anti discrimination law against businesses and other private sector employers. The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking and eliminating all forms of race and sex discrimination, including against white male applicants and employees. Check out EEOC.gov to learn more and read our one page explainer about DEI related discrimination.

A (18:38)

By the way, if you're listening to this, you think you've been discriminated against because you're a white guy. You should file a claim. I go further. I think you have a responsibility to file a claim. This is gonna be a big divide on the right. In fact, I think a lot of what this year's America Fest is about is about settling the latest right wing civil war. There's always some right wing civil war because the right is just too independent minded to ever get along on anything. So we're in the period of generational flux. We're beginning to rethink certain things. And one of those is how we deal with the civil rights offices, how we deal with some of the anti discrimination programs. Because for a long time what the right said was we shouldn't have these civil rights bureaucracies that are going in and adjudicating every identity issue. We need to eschew identity politics. What did that get us? That got us nothing. Because the left has sufficiently ginned up identity politics that all that that has really led to is people on the right not using the tools of government that are made available to them. In principle. The whole point of the EEOC of all these civil rights offices is to stop discrimination on the base of race or sex. But we all know that isn't true. The purpose of the EEOC and these civil rights offices has been to stop discrimination except for white people and men and straight people and Christians And God help you, if you're a white straight male who's a Christian, then you have no recourse whatsoever. Then it's actively good for you to be discriminated against. And in fact, the. The entire significance of a phrase like diversity is to say that there should be fewer of you in the schools, fewer of you in the jobs, and we gotta get other people to replace you on. On the basis of those characteristics. So what the right said for a long time was, you know what? We're not gonna engage in this. And we're just, we're gonna try to abolish it altogether. In fact, you know what? Forget about these offices. I want to abolish the whole bureaucracy. Get rid of the whole administrative state. By golly, wouldn't that be great? We'll go back to 1789 and we'll be governed by that beautiful piece of parchment, the Constitution, and we'll erase 200 years of history. It's not going to happen. That's not real politics. That might be entertaining, that might be amusing for essays, for white papers, for think tanks and podcasters. That's not how politics works. Politics is a practical art more than it is an abstract science, okay? A pure science. You gotta play the hand that you're dealt. You don't wanna be unjust, you don't wanna do things that are immoral, but you have to work within the given circumstances of the polity that you have. So if we're gonna be governed by some massive bureaucracy that is largely unaccountable to the legislature, in some cases even the presidency. If we're going to be governed by the Civil Rights act as a new kind of constitution, then we damn sure shouldn't let it discriminate against a significant portion of our population. You have to work within the system in order to overcome the system. I think this is beautiful. This is the way. Good on Trump for doing it. Good on Andrea Lucas for doing it. And all you white guys out there. If you've been discriminated against, file your claim. This requires a political solution. Now, speaking of important uses of government, the House has just passed a very important bill. Should be the most basic thing ever says that you can't castrate little kids. There's a big issue. The left had Been castrating little kids for a while. The right called attention to this, campaigned on it. We won like every single seat in the whole government in the whole country. And so then the House goes and says we're gonna pass a bill that says you can't mutilate little kids because of the weird sex ideology. And the Republicans vote for it, the Democrats vote against it, and four Republicans vote against it. This party, I mean, this is the theme of America Fest is the right wing civil war. This party, the conservative movement is so fractious that there are sitting Republican members of Congress who cannot even agree that we shouldn't turn five year olds into eunuchs for our freaky sex experiments. We'll get to more of that momentarily. First though, I want to tell you about Pure Talk, folks. This episode is sponsored by Pure Talk. As a consumer, you carry the success or failure of businesses in the palm of your hands. And their success depends on your decision to spend money with them or with their competitor. Well, our friends at PureTalk would like to say thank you from the bottom of their hearts for choosing PureTalk for your wireless needs. Because of you, they've had a record breaking year because of your generosity through your Roundup for charity program, they have been able to donate over half a million dollars to America's Warrior. Partnership stands on the front lines of preventing veterans suicide. Your patronage has allowed PeerTalk to donate a thousand hand sewn Made in America flags to your fellow veterans. When you choose Pure Talk as your wireless provider, you choose to support American jobs. As a consumer, you have the power to make or break companies with the money the big wireless guys throw around on advertising. You are inundated with offers everywhere you look. So from everyone in the Pure Talk family, thank you for your trust in an excellent cell phone company and God bless America, folks. Here, I'll just wrap this. I'll wrap up this little segment on transing the kids. The conservatives are not going to make it if we are so divided that we can't even agree on not castrating the kids as a matter of justice, as a matter of common sense, even as a matter of electoral politics after the 2024 election. Got to unify, got to make peace, got to have a clear vision, got to move forward. That's a lot of what's happening here at America Fest. And so happily, since we have all these excellent, beautiful, smart, well dressed young conservatives and old conservatives all around America Fest, we have a live Q and a sponsored by PureTalk. Go to PureTalk.comKnowles and Switch. Today I love the mailbag. You know, you send me your mellifluous words in the voicemail bag, you write into me. I often don't even get to the written ones. Now I get to see you all in person, beginning with a young man who is wearing the appropriate right wing uniform, the suit with the red power tie. How are you?

B (24:52)

Great, thank you. Michael, I want to say first and foremost, thank you because you have inspired me to stand up for freedom. I want to say thank you because.

A (24:59)

I love your show and your books.

B (25:01)

I am a Proud Turning Point USA Chapter President and a 15 year old youth liberty advocate. And my question is, in a world that is saturated today, I see my.

A (25:11)

Generation saturated in Islamic ideals and democratic socialism. How can young people really shift and turn the tides to where we're focusing on preserving freedom for the next generation? Excellent question. And you bring up two ideologies, a religion and a political ideology that seem like they would be opposed. Islam and the left. You know, Islam, for instance, doesn't take kindly to homosexuals, is a little tough on ladies. Not the most liberal religion out there. And the left, which doesn't believe in God, and inasmuch as it does believe in God, hates God. So you say, well, why do these two things get along? Because they do. You know, they come into the synthesis with Greta Thunberg, who is a leftist who's wearing the keffi and marching for Palestine or whatever. And it actually makes sense that they get along because they have a common enemy. And the common enemy is America, Western civilization, Christianity, order, God, the true religion. And so how do we combat these things as Americans? I would go back to what John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1813. He was writing to Jefferson and he said, you know, there were principles on which independence was won. They too had a fractious society. But they said, you know, look, the general principles of Christianity, the principles which united all of the sects, including a lot of very heretical people like John Adams. Actually those principles were the ones that inspired them to independence as well as the principles of American and English liberty. I think both of those ideals are very, very important. Sometimes people ask whether America is a nation with people and a history like normal nations, or whether it's a creedal country, you know, just an idea of floating in outer space. I say, well, it's not an idea, look, it's a country. But there's a creedal aspect to any country. And so when you're trying to defend your American way of life, you have to dig into the American tradition. And that's where it is. In as much as there is a creed to America, it is Christianity, broadly speaking, and the civic religion, which is the ideas and the practices of liberty from America and from England, that's what you gotta practice. And you've gotta recognize that the left has been threatening our civilization since the French Revolution, and Islam has been threatening our civilization since about 620 A.D. and has been invading about 100 years after that. And so these are not problems that are going to go away, and there probably will not be any final victory this side of the second coming. But all we have is our time. You know, all that we have is our ability to rebuff these bad ideas, these bad movements. We have a responsibility to do that. And then we pass the buck to the next generation, which is you. Thanks. Hello.

B (28:06)

Go ahead. Hi. Hi. We absolutely love you. You eat dinner with us every night.

A (28:14)

I'm so honored to be invited. What have we been eating?

B (28:18)

Oh, whatever he cooks.

A (28:19)

I'm.

B (28:20)

I'm marrying an amazing cook. I'm very blessed. Yeah, so. But no, I was raised very liberal, kind of, you know, I know you went through that little phase, but yeah, raised very liberal, woke up thankfully. And yeah, you've been a huge part of that journey. I do have a question about religion. I. My family, we are Irish Catholic, like, heritage wise. My fiance is a United Methodist. So I was just curious when we get married, because I've been really wanting to get baptized. I know it's a little easier to do the Methodist baptism than Catholicism, but I really love, like the. I mean, the tradition, the. Everything that you've taught me about Catholicism pretty much. So I was just wondering your thoughts on that because I know also. So, like, I've read that usually you convert to what the man is traditionally. So I just was curious your thoughts on that.

A (29:14)

So you're asking me whether you and your family should be Catholic or Methodist. Well, I love your idea. I mean, obviously, yes, you're right. The husband has a spiritual leadership of the household. So I think your dilemma is a false dichotomy. Do you follow your ancestral religion of Catholicism or do you convert to the husband's religion of Methodism? There's a synthesis of these ideas, which is that we convert your husband to Catholicism and then there's no problem at all. That's a wonderful thing when you mention the baptism. The Catholic Church recognizes valid baptisms based on the matter, like the water and the form, the trinitarian formula, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So in a way, I'm pleased to hear that there are still Methodists around. Cause the mainline Protestant churches have had some problems recently.

B (30:07)

He says Methodist is like Catholic light is what he says.

A (30:10)

The Episcopalians are usually called twice the liturgy, half the guilt. And now they have bishoprices and things. But if you want to be baptized, I would of course recommend a Catholic baptism that year.

B (30:23)

Long journey.

A (30:25)

Yes, I would of course recommend that. But I would say really dig in with this, with your husband and grapple with this and think about those distinctions, maybe explore the questions. Because I think it was John Henry Newman, though it might have been Fulton Sheen who said, there are a million people who oppose what they think the Catholic religion is, but there aren't a hundred people who oppose what the Catholic religion really is. And so I would dig into that, and you might find that you're persuaded by Methodist theology, or you might find, especially as I sit at your dinner table every night, that your husband and the rest of your family maybe come on over and swim the Tiber, and then we can all be together in heaven.

B (31:06)

Absolutely.

A (31:07)

Sounds great.

B (31:08)

God bless you.

A (31:09)

Thank you. You as well. Thanks.

B (31:12)

Thank you. Thank you. Me and my brother love watching your show every morning.

A (31:17)

Oh, thank you so much.

B (31:18)

My question is, knowing that men and women were created equal in the image of God, but we have different roles, how do you think voting would be? Do you think women should be voting or just households?

A (31:30)

Well, the really conservative position, I guess, is that nobody should be voting. You know, we should just have divine right kings or something like that. But we live in the system that we live in. Sometimes people raise this to be somewhat provocative to say, should we repeal the 19th amendment? And it is worth pointing out as an historical matter that at the time the 19th amendment was proposed, there were many, many women who opposed it. And they didn't oppose it as the left suggests, because they're just a bunch of idiots or they hate themselves or they're sexist or something. They opposed it because that represents a shift in the political economy. Previously, the basic unit of politics was the family. When you move to something more like a universal suffrage, the basic unit of politics becomes the individual. And so there are some advantages to that, but there are a lot of disadvantages to that. What I would say, though, to the people now who say we should repeal the 19th is you have to dig in a little bit more specifically. The problem for the electing Democrats is not women voting. Exactly. It's single women voting. Specifically single women in cities. So my moderate view between the people who say the 19th Amendment's the greatest amendment ever, all the women need to vote starting at the age of six. And we need to take away the right to vote from women is, we should say, only married women living in rural and maybe suburban areas get to vote. And they actually get two votes. They get the right to vote of the women who are single and in the urban areas. One thing I would say that you could do, given our political circumstances, is I like the idea that the husband and wife vote together. I don't like the idea that the vote of a husband and a wife cancels each other out. And so it is notable that the married women tend to vote more conservative. So that's all a recommendation to get married, talk about politics together, come to the right conclusions. Right. Capital R, and then we can worry about the amendments down the line.

B (33:29)

Okay, thank you.

A (33:30)

Thanks. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Knowles. I am from California, which is obviously a very blue state. What can I do as a high schooler to help California become more red? What can you do? Gosh, you know, if you were a little bit older, I would say you might want to flee. Not now, not as a way to escape the problems, because you don't want to be a coward, but sometimes you need a tactical retreat in order to mount a greater victory. So, you know, the conservatives retreat to these swing states and more red states. They get a big majority, they bring Trump into office, then we shape national policy. National policy has an effect even in the blue states, especially as Trump is threatening to withhold federal funds, sending in federal troops, deporting a lot of the illegals who give disproportionate power to the blue states. So there's some good cause for that. Now, I'm not suggesting you hop on a boxcar and run away from home as a teenager. So what can you do? You know, the best you can do is focus on your local area. So where in California do you live? So I'm on the Central coast, so right by all the beaches. Okay, so, you know, you're not living in the heart of the tenderloin or something. You know, you're not on skid row. There's a chance that you actually could affect local areas, maybe state legislature, maybe even Congress. That's where I would focus your efforts. Also, because if you, especially if you volunteer on a congressional campaign, it's very good political training. You're exposed to national issues, but it's got all the pettiness and backstabbing of local politics, so you really get a Good sense of what politics is about, and I would train there. The other advice I would give you, though I suppose I'm undercutting it by having you on my show, is I would not try to get famous too young. A lot of people in politics, they all want to be famous live streamers when they're six years old. And that's not a good idea because you don't. You just haven't fully formed what you think. You haven't had the experience of working in politics and you're going to regret it if you do. So that's what I would do. I would dig in at that level. And if you have any practical political experience at all, you will be much better positioned and more knowledgeable than like 99% of broadcasters. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, before we get to this excellent question, I want to talk about guns. I want you to go to stopboxusa.com and use code Michael Knowles. All one word, folks. I love my guns. I was just walking through here and I saw Nick Freitas. And Nick Freitas, he was doing some stream. And Nick Freitas recently gave me a gun, a beautiful Desert Eagle that is the size of like half my body and if I ever shot an intruder with it, it would blow off my front door. So where am I going to store my cool Desert Eagle? I have the answer. It is Stopbox Pro. The Stopbox Pro is great because there are two kinds of gun holders. You got the digital ones that need the retina scan that are super duper secure. But then when you need it, you can't get into it. And then you got some that are a little bit weaker and they, you know, they're a little easier to get into. But then you worry when you have guests over, when you have kids, Stopbox Pro figures it all out. It's analog, it's old school, use your fingers, no electronics to fail. And it's very, very safe. 100% mechanical, no batteries, just terrific. Right now go to stopboxusa.com use code Michaelnols M I C H A E L Give the gift of the Stopbox Pro, you get 10% off. And now you will get a buy one, get one free deal on the StopBox Pro. 10% off and a free Stopbox Pro. When you use code Michael Knowles. M I C H a e l@stopboxusa.com it is officially Christmas gift crunch time. Skip the crowded stores, the last minute panic. You can check everyone off your list with the Daily Wire plus annual gift membership. Now 50% off. It's a gift that lasts all year with ad free, uncensored daily shows, breaking news, investigative reporting, premium entertainment, all in one place. You even choose exactly when they get the message. Pick the delivery date and time. We handle the rest. Daily Wire plus membership includes access to our highly anticipated seven part series, the Pendragon cycle, Rise of the Merlin. You will get to see all of the most trusted and handsome hosts in conservatism. Give Daily Wire plus today DailyWire.com gift I'm so happy I was going to wear that same jacket. And I would have looked so silly if we were wearing this. Nice to see you.

B (37:52)

It's so nice to meet you, Michael. I'm 100% your biggest fan, whether you believe it or not.

A (37:57)

I believe it. Thank you.

B (37:59)

I had the opportunity to talk to your brother. Boy.

A (38:01)

Mr. Davies, I'm sorry, I'm sorry about that.

B (38:03)

He told me Professor Jacob was doing his job today. He's back home doing his job, doing his job.

A (38:08)

He's probably asleep.

B (38:10)

As I said, I thought he was on sick leave or on a trip with Destiny.

A (38:14)

Yeah, he's always on some. He's always on medical leave because of his latest car accident.

B (38:19)

Yes, I was about to say he's probably fixing his car, but I wanted to, my real question is to ask you. I have a teen podcast. Podcast, it's called American Honey.

A (38:28)

Nice.

B (38:29)

And I wanted to ask you, what do you think the biggest problem facing teenagers is today and how do we fix it?

A (38:36)

The biggest problem facing teenagers is that they live their entire lives on the Internet. And you know, I saw this a little bit because though I, I look very aged because of all of my wisdom and the cigars I've smoked, I'm, I'm actually not that old. And so, you know, when I, I did grow up substantially online too. And it's very, very dangerous. But when I grew up, we didn't have smartphones. We weren't, we didn't live our lives through avatars of social media. Online dating was not really a thing yet. So I kind of feel like I got the last chopper out of nom. And for young people today, the problems posed by growing up online are manifest. Obviously, the big one is pornography. The exposure to pornography happens on average at like age 10. And it can seriously warp your mind, affect your relationships, damage your physical health. It's just horrifying and it's almost inescapable. That's just one of the problems though. The other problem is that as you live your life online, you forget that we're incarnate creatures in the real world. The fact of the incarnation is the central fact of history. It's so important that God becomes incarnate and takes on flesh and is crucified for us in time and space. The more that you live your life virtually the less that matters. The more you're inclined to live a double life, which is very damaging for your psyche, very damaging for your soul. The more easily you are preyed upon by people who are gaming the algorithm of your brain. So it would seem to me that the best advice I would have for teenagers is open up the smartphone, watch the Michael Knowles show first off. Then the moment the show ends, go to Mayflower Cigars or go to dailywire.com shop and get the Michael Knowles candles. But the moment you order those products, put the phone down and go outside. And don't have your first experiences of dating, being online. Don't use online tools to cheat and rob yourself of an education. Don't believe that your virtual Persona is your real life. You'll miss out on your whole life. It'll seriously damage you.

B (40:44)

And when you put it down by Speechless.

A (40:46)

And by Speechless, which is a physical book.

B (40:48)

Yes.

A (40:49)

Beautiful.

B (40:50)

Well, my last thing would be. Me and my mom always joke anytime my dog was born on January 6th. But you have a very special way of saying January 6th.

A (40:58)

I do. I barely even recognize the date, the way that you've pronounced it. Are you all familiar with that date? Do you know? You've heard of it? Because it's the worst day in the history of this or any republic. You know, it's the most horrifying, tragic day in the history of the world, known as January 6th. The day that makes Adam Schiff cry. Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney. They haven't stopped sobbing in five years. And we need to hold memorials for all of the terrible horn hats that were damaged that day. Thank you for bringing up that emotional. I don't know that I can go on and give my speech later after thinking about that. Awful. Wonderful to meet you.

B (41:47)

So nice to meet you. Can I give you my card for my podcast? And how do I work for you? Work for Daily Wire. Get on the podcast.

A (41:54)

This is great. I've been trying to replace my associate producer, Professor Jacob, for five years. This is great.

B (42:00)

He won Tehi Tuesday the other day, so.

A (42:03)

Yeah, that's too little too late. Please give me your card. I appreciate that. That's great. Look at. That's a. I got to get cool cards like that. Bell. Lovely to see you thank you so much for coming on. Thank you to all of you. Wonderful to meet all of you. Great to see all of you as well. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. See you Monday. What was it like, Melon? To be alone with God. Is that who you think I was alone with? I knew your father. I am yet convinced that he was not of this world. All men know of the great Taliesin who are my father. That the gods should war for my soul. Princess Garrus, savior of our people. I know what the bull God offered you. I was offered the same. And there is a new power at work in the world. I've seen it. A God who sacrifices what he loves for us. We are each given only one life. Singer. No. And we're given another. I learned of Yazu the Christ. And I have become his follower. He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one. Trust in Yezu. He is the only hope for men like us. Fate of Britain never rests in the hands of the great light. Great light, Great darkness. Such things mattered to me then. What matters to you now, Mistress of lies. You, nephew. The sword of a high king. How many lives must be lost before you accept the power you were born to wield? So clinging to the promises of a God who has abandoned you. I cannot take up that sword again. You know what you must do. Great life, forgive me. The time has come to be reborn.