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- [00:00]
Michael Knowles
President Trump dog walked the Democrats at the State of the Union. Democrat leadership begged their party to be normal. The party failed, and Trump gave a performance that might save the midterms for Republicans. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. A reporter has asked a Danish filmmaker why the cast of his film about Danish history is entirely Danish. I will get to that if we have moment. But there's so much good stuff to get to from the State of the Union. And I was there and I saw it all happen and it was awesome. And then went out afterward, had a little cigar, maybe a little Coca Cola, talked about it, analyzed it. This was one of the great oratorical triumphs of President Trump's entire political career. First, though, before we get to anything, I want to tell you about Dose. 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D O S E D A I l y co c o knowles k w l e s for 35% off your first month subscription. What a State of the Union off the bat. I really want to thank House Speaker Mike Johnson for the invitation. It was really great to get back to the State of the Union. I had been to one before. My congressman, my pal Andy Ogles, had invited me to the State of the Union at the end of the Biden term when they injected Biden with whatever they injected him with, and he just screamed at one note for about 52 minutes or so. No, maybe longer, but it was like 91 minutes. I don't know. Whatever it was, it was very, very weak compared to what we saw last night. This was President Trump's first official State of the Union in his second term. Last year, he addressed Congress in a joint session, but he had just been elected, so, you know, there wasn't a lot to talk about other than what he had done in the first term and the election. And this time we had a real record to defend. And I thought Trump did masterfully. The Democrats clearly did, too. And the Democrats clearly predicted that he would do masterfully because Democrat leadership, Hakeem Jeffries told his party, pleaded with his party to just be normal, to sit down, to be quiet, not to make a spectacle of themselves, maybe don't even show up. Maybe, just maybe, it would be better if you're not even there. Because Hakeem Jeffries knew this was a battle for normal. Trump was gonna try to position himself as the leader of the party that wants peace, security, safety, normal, putting people at ease, pulling us back from this precarious political situation we're in. He knew that's what Trump was gonna go for. He wants Democrats to stake out this ground. The Dems in the midterms have said they're gonna model themselves after Abigail spanberger, who ran 4 and 1. Governor of Virginia. Bill. By running as a moderate and then immediately becoming a radical leftist or admitting that she's a radical leftist when she won. So that was the game. Please, Democrats, don't make a spectacle of yourselves. That lasts for less than five minutes. We're sitting there. If you're looking at the President, I'm to the left. I give a really close view of this. And you hear, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. And Trump walks in, clock starts ticking. Less than five minutes, he gets to almost exactly in my line, sitting down, looking at him, he gets to this guy, Al Green, who got thrown out of the chamber last year for yelling and screaming and shouting. So Al Green unfurls a sign. From my angle, I cannot see what the sign says. I know it's something unhinged, but I couldn't tell what it is. And it is even more unhinged than I thought it would be. Do we have the clip? Do you see President Trump? Wyatt says, black people. What? So can we zoom in? Do we have the picture? Yeah. The sign seems to say, black people rent apart poor Hakeem Jeffries. Pour one out for Hakeem Jeffries. But Hakeem Jeffries says, hey, hey, Democrats, please just be kind of normal. Al Green says, I know exactly what to do. You're right. Don't worry, Hakeem. I got you. We're gonna seem real normal. Black people rent apes. He's like, what? And I guess the sign was supposed to say, black people aren't apes, which most people would agree with. It's this kind of niche reference to a meme that someone had posted to Trump's account. It wasn't even the meme he posted, but then there was a meme that autoplayed after the meme, and it wasn't. And that was supposedly racist, even though that actually wasn't really. You guys can't help yourselves, can you? First good sign for the Republicans tonight is that the Democrats can't help themselves. Al Green ends up being escorted out eventually anyway. Then the best moment of the entire night. President Trump, he's just like an excellent boxer. He's got him on the ropes. Look, sometimes even good boxers aren't doing that well, and that's happened in some Trump speeches. But this one, he's just in his prime, and he's just jab, jab, jab, jab. He's jabbing him the whole time. And then he lands this right hook. And he lands the right hook by saying, effectively, hey, Democrats, if you are at all normal, if you support the most basic tenets, not just of this country, but of any good country, stand up right now. And they couldn't do it.
- [07:34]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a political commentator)
If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
- [07:53]
Michael Knowles
And they won't. Look, we don't have time to play the whole clip. This was the moment of the night because all the Republicans stand up and the Democrats don't. This is one look when the President has the bully pulpit Sometimes he gets to put you in a bad position and he can make you dance a little bit. If you love puppies. If you love puppies, and if you like sunsets and rainbows, stand up. And you gotta stand up even if you don't like the guy. In this case, it was even more basic than that. If you think that America should protect Americans, that that's the chief responsibility of government, to protect Americans. Not illegal, stand up. The Democrats couldn't do it. And Trump just stands back. He just watches it. He looks at them, points at them. That clip is going to be played in every single midterm campaign. Absolutely brutal. Complete political malpractice from the Democrats. And the Democrats, they kept it up all night. There was one moment, we don't have time to get through all of it, but the whole speech was masterful to the speechwriters who worked on this exceptional, exceptional job for Trump. The delivery was perfect. Look, I'm on the team. I obviously, I support the president. Sometimes I'll say, oh, that wasn't that great. Or this piece of legislation wasn't great, or this, this speech was 99.79 perfect. And he was doing this all night. All right, ladies and gentlemen, stand up. If you support a little girl who can't walk, who might soon be able to walk like that kind of stuff, the Democrats can't stand up for the girl learning to walk. At one point, he was talking about foreign policy. He says, I got all those hostages home. The hostages who were taken by the jihadis, I got them home. I got them. The ones who were alive, I got them home alive. And the ones who had already been killed, I even got their remains home. Can we stand up for releasing hostages? Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who were right beneath where I was sitting, wouldn't stand up. I mean, he was just pummeling them on the optics. And then the second greatest moment of the night, Trump had to remind people of just how nuts the Democrats have been. If their strategy is, we're all gonna be Abigail Spanberger, we're gonna pretend to be moderates, and then we're gonna be radicals when we get elected. Trump had to remind them, he's been so effective at knocking down all their nonsense that we kind of forget, oh, yeah, there used to be dei. Oh yeah, they used to trans the kids. Oh yeah, they used to have an open border with 3 million illegals coming in every year. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Cuz he fixed it all overnight, so he had to remind them of that. And crucially, he had to show voters that the Democrats have not learned a thing, that they've not changed their minds at all. How does he do it? He does it with the most extreme apotheosis of liberalism, which is transing the kids. Wait till you see their reaction. First, though, I want to tell you about Hillsdale College. Go to Hillsdale. Edu Knowles this episode is sponsored by Hillsdale College. There is so much confusion in the world today, it can be hard to find clarity and truth. A new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers a powerful reminder that the first Americans were searching for the same things. Hillsdale College has created a fascinating six part documentary series where their professors explore the religious, political, cultural and economic ideas that shaped America's unique character during the colonial period. While most of us know the Declaration of Independence is the birth of our nation, this course digs deeper into something even more fundamental, the forging of the American character that made the revolution possible in the first place. Why reclaiming that character matters more than ever before. Best of all, this miniseries is totally free, easy to access. If you're interested in learning more, Hillsdale offers over 40 other free online courses on everything from CS Lewis to the Book of Genesis to the rise and fall of the Roman Republic, plus in depth courses on the American Founding and Constitution, all on at no cost. I love Hillsdale as one of the great learning institutions in America, one of the few great learning institutions left right now. I strongly encourage you to go to Hillsdale Edu Knowleskin or ULAS to enroll. No cost. Easy to get started. Hillsdale Edu Knowles Knles to enroll for free. Hillsdale Edu Knowles Folks, you might be noticing I'm wearing this silly and whimsical delightful little pin which is an ice cube that I designed with are excellent artists in the consumer products division. I really wanted this for the State of the Union because I was speaking to some members of Congress during the day and then I was going to be at the State of the Union at night. I said I want this nice pin. So if you want the pin that I wore to the State of the Union, which is my ice pin, and show your support of ice, one of the most important issues. Immigration, border security, national sovereignty. This is it. If you want to show your support with this whimsical, beautifully drawn pin, you got to go to dailywire.com shop. Here we go. Basically the piece de resistance of the night. Trump says, hey guys. Hey Democrats. Man, you're really. You won't stand up for a little girl Learning to walk. You guys won't stand up for America Defending Americans. Okay, all right. Hey. At the very least he tells this whole anecdote. He says at the very least, you don't think that a child should be ripped away from his or her parents because the parents won't castrate the little kid and pretend that the little boy is a little girl. Right? You won't. Surely you don't think kids should be ripped away from their parents because the parents won't mutilate and trans them. Right?
- [13:33]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a political commentator)
Democrats, Surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents will. Who would believe that we're even talking about this? We must ban it and we must ban it immediately.
- [13:55]
Michael Knowles
Look, nobody and the Democrats won't stand.
- [13:57]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a political commentator)
These people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy.
- [14:03]
Michael Knowles
Amazing delivery. Amazing delivery. People don't appreciate stagecraft. Trump has stagecraft in spades because he was a top network television star for a long time and he's been in movies and he really gets it. He knows how to work stadia. I've seen this. I've seen it in real life at msg. He knows how to work it. This was working it. None of the Republicans were really surprised that the Democrats still want to trans the kids. Some Republicans were slightly surprised that they would be so brazen about it. But look, push comes to shove, the Dems know if they want to keep their base with them, they have to say they want to castrate little kids. If they want to win normal voters, they can't. But they have to pick one. And they picked their base. They picked the Democrat voters. And Trump, he won't let the voters at home. Miss, what just happened? I just said kid shouldn't be ripped away from his parents because the parents don't want to castrate him, turn him into a eunuch. And these people, you won't stand up. These people are crazy. And that's the message. Those people, those Democrats, they're crazy. This is Bring in Paul Simon. Bring in Paul Simon with the D45. I saw my old lover on the streets last night. This is it. We were seeing our old lover. The Democrats. The Democrats who governed us for years got Biden was installed somehow as president. The Democrats said Obama led to the rise of wokeism. I saw my old lover on the streets last night. And you know, talk about seeing that old lover. And what's the conclusion? They're still crazy after all these years. That's what they are, they're still. They want. It was such a masterclass in exposition. This truly some Trump speeches, they go on too long, they meander. I've talked about that for a long time, but some really stick out. The one that sticks out for me from the first term was the Warsaw speech. Great defense of Western civilization. This one might have been even better. It was just so rhetorically effective. It was such a reset, you know, cause Trump, in terms of the actual State of the Union, Trump has a ton of wins. The economy's doing great by virtually every measure. Record high stock market, good jobs numbers, good inflation, much better than inflation under Joe Biden. GDP is good. Even if it was revised down a little bit in Q4 because Democrats shut the government down, it's still pretty good. And yet people feel uneasy about the economy. Immigration is doing great. Trump shut down the border single handedly, proved the Democrats were lying when they said they needed a new law to shut down the border. He did it overnight. Then he deported at least half a million people in the first year. And when you include self deports and I think those data are really well corroborated now, you're looking at something like 2 million people, which means that rents are declining month after month. So he's got this really, really great record. But people don't feel like it's a great record. They kind of forget how bad things were. They've gotten accustomed to how good things have gotten. They forget how crazy the Democrats are and how bad things could be again if they win. And Trump took two hours. He was even kind of measured on that. I thought he was gonna go three hours last night. It didn't. It was two hours. And it was two solid hours of Trump just reminding people the Democrats are still crazy after all these years. They're crazier than ever. I mentioned he called out certain people in the crowd, really, really good anecdotes. And a crucial, a crucial point to call out both for justice but also for political effect, for a political warning, is that it's not just the Democrats want to let criminals in who threaten us. It's not just that the Democrats want to let criminals out of jail who threaten our safety. Democrats themselves pose a threat to our safety. They keep trying to kill us. There was a recent assassination attempt on Trump. This is what the third major one, one of them came so close it actually blew off part of his ear. And then there was the successful assassination just six months ago of our pal Charlie Kirk. An assassination that was excused, justified, even celebrated. In an uncomfortably large swath of the Democrat Party.
- [18:14]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a political commentator)
I'm very proud to say that during my time in office, both the first four years and in particular this last year, there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief in God. Tremendous renewal. This is especially true among young people. And a big part of that had to do with my great friend, Charlie Kirk. Great guy, great man. So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin and martyred, really martyred for his beliefs. His wonderful wife Erica is with us tonight. Erica, please stand. Thank you, Erica. Been through a lot in Charlie's memory. We must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.
- [19:21]
Michael Knowles
Okay, before we get to what happened after that last statement, because that was key, just want to point out this was a beautiful tribute from President Trump to his late friend, our late friend Charlie, and to his widow, Erica, who was sitting there. And her being there I thought was very important, even just as a matter of justice. But it was very important for Democrats to look at her, and it was very important for the Trump administration and the Republicans and, I don't know, maybe some of the Democrats. I hope I didn't. I was mostly looking at Erica. I wasn't really looking at them at that moment to pay tribute to her. This is how we should be talking about Charlie's legacy and Erica and the Kirk family and tpusa. And really this whole episode, I guess, is just rhetorical, oratorical lessons from President Trump that many Republicans can learn from. This is one that I hope right wing influencers pay close attention to because I've noticed it in recent days, recent weeks. I want to be charitable about this because I think it comes from a normal part of human nature, but it's worth paying attention to. It's worth learning good oratorical lessons from the president here. Some right wing influencers seem to think that the best way to honor Charlie's legacy and to support Erica and the family is to spend all of their time talking about the people criticizing and antagonizing Erica and Charlie's friends and family. Does that make a lot of sense to you? There are people who seem to think the best way to honor Erica is and tpusa and Charlie is to focus all of the attention all the time on the relatively few people who are criticizing and antagonizing Erica. The most famous, of course, being Candace, who I guess has a new series about Erica, but some other people too, some smaller accounts as well. This theory this strategy seems to be a little bit misguided, wouldn't you say? Whether you love Candace, whether you hate Candace, whether you think Candace is sincere, whether you think she's insincere, whether you, whatever psychobabble analysis you have, do you think it makes sense if you want to support someone, do you think it makes sense to focus all of your attention all the time talking about someone, antagonizing that person, constantly publicizing all of the content that would antagonize that person? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And so there's this meme that's cropped up among the right wing influencers, which is, we must stop Candace and others, but she's the most famous one. We must stop Candace by whining about her on the Internet all the time. I just want to pause here, looking at rhetorical strategy. Is there any evidence that has ever worked? Has anyone ever stopped Candace especially, but other people as well? Has anyone ever stopped these guys from saying something by whining about them more on the Internet? I don't think that's ever worked, even one single time. That seems like a bad strategy. On the substantive point, obviously. I mean, I've said this for, well, since the beginning, but I think Erica is a national hero. I think she deserves our immense support and sympathy. So obviously I disagree with Candace on that and you know, some other people. I am, I am hopeful that Candace and others will be persuaded that, you know, okay, actually, maybe Michael and some others are right here and Erica's the victim and we should support her and show some sympathy. One thing I am certain of is that no one will ever get Candace to say or do anything by whining more about her on the Internet. No one will destroy Candace or anyone else by whining about them more on the Internet and giving them more publicity and attention, specifically on the project you supposedly don't want to promote. So where does this come from? The lesson to take here is not even specifically about Charlie or Candace or this or that. The lesson to take here is why do people engage in this kind of counterproductive strategy? And I think it's a very human thing. I don't put myself above it. But I think a lot of people would rather feel good or seem good than actually do good. I think a lot of people would rather feel emotional catharsis, screaming, yelling, this is so awful. This is terrible. They'd like to feel that catharsis, or they would like to posture preen, present themselves as the most moral, lily white Beautiful, innocent does than actually do good. They would rather feel and seem good, even at the expense of actually doing good, even when feeling and seeming good actually promotes the things that you say are bad, even when it results in a totally counterproductive strategy. And so, zooming out from this particular moment, I just want to observe. Trump never does that. Trump never does that. When Trump has a disagreement with someone, he tries to persuade them. He doesn't just excoriate them all the time. He doesn't preen. He doesn't. He tries to persuade them. He's got all sorts of different tactics for persuading people. Art of the Deal, that's his book. But Trump is interested in getting things done. He never presents himself as some paragon of philosophical or moral purity, even when what he is doing is actually better than what he says he's doing. You know, even when his actions are better than his speech. He is a guy who just wants to get things done. He's a fixer. Drew said this in the first term. He said, you know, thing about Trump, he's kind of like a plumber. You know, a lot of these pretty boy politicians, they want to go out there and make these beautiful, eloquent speeches and look really nice and quaffed. You know, Trump, though, he's a plumber. He just wants to fix things. He wants to go out there and get things done. He wants the effect. And the rhetorical effect of this speech was magnificent. And look, it's pretty basic stuff. Put your opponents in a bad situation. Focus on the good things. Focus on what you want to talk about. Don't let your opponents dictate what you want to talk about. You set the agenda, Mr. President, and then provide clarity on the political situation, because clarity is charity when we're talking about political violence. Here. You heard that clip right there from the very end. But do we have the longer version of that clip? I'm not sure that we do, because you've got to see the camera pan around. President Trump says, we're a nation under God and we should all reject political violence of all kinds. All the Republicans stood up. Some of the Democrats stood up. None. Sorry, not none. Like a third of the total Democrats. None of the really extreme, crazy Democrats stood up. That was astounding because it drives home this point. I was talking about it in the lead up to the speech. You've got to connect all of these dots. The economy and the migration and the crime. Right now, the Republicans are leading on immigration and especially on border control and especially on crime. It's a little more ambiguous on the economy, on healthcare, on government reform, or defensive democracy. Republicans are underwater on some of those. So how do you tie it all in? Democrats are threatening you, they're threatening you at the border, they're threatening you with the criminals they're releasing onto your street. They're threatening your 401ks, they're threatening your economy, they're threatening you certainly economically, but they themselves are a threat. You got two thirds of Democrats, however many it was, that were sitting down on that basic claim. You got them saying, yeah, we want to kill you, we want to kill you. And it puts the focus back on there rather than on digressions, rather than on right wing infighting or influencer wars or whatever. Trump just has this amazing message discipline and he gets no credit for it. They say he wanders off and he's undisciplined. Not so. Trump is not a guy who lets his emotions run away with him. Trump is not a guy who would rather feel good and seem good than actually do good. That was real discipline there. They're gonna play that clip throughout the midterms as well. Totally, totally achieved his goal. One last clip to show you the absolute perfidy and decay of the Democrats. One last clip from State of the Union. Then we have to go on to USA Today crying about the hockey team. First, though, I want to tell you about remy. Go to shopremi r e m I.com knowles since I was a little, little kid, I have ground my teeth. Do you grind your teeth? Have you ground your teeth? If you're part of the 30% of Americans who grind their teeth, then your smile needs protection. 2. Make it your year by grabbing your own night guard. 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I really, really support this. It was so easy. They just sent me the kit right to my door. I can send it in. It's very, very simple. If I can do it, you can start the new year. Write and use code knowleskanawlas to get 50% off your purchase of a new night guard. 50% off at shopremi r e m I.com knowles with code knowles. Thank you, Remy, for sponsoring this show. You think, okay, what's the most extreme example of something that the Democrats should be able to get behind? Well, we already did it. Do you think America should be for Americans? We should defend Americans over illegal aliens or they wouldn't do that. Do you think we should discard political violence? You know, eschew political violence? No, they got rid of that one. Do you think parents shouldn't. Kids shouldn't be ripped away from their parents because the parents won't trans them? No. Okay, so is there more? Yes. There's maybe one more evocative example, or at least one that's on par. Do you remember the slaying of Irina Zarutska? This young girl, I guess she was from Ukraine, sitting on this Charlotte subway, and this maniac guy just comes up behind her and just starts stabbing her in the neck. And he said something to the effect of like, I got a white girl or something. I think that was reported, but an acknowledgement. He was aware that he had just done something awful. And he made it sound even more sort of prejudiced and wicked afterward. And this poor girl, just. No one helped her. And it was just so awful. Right? Trump invites the mother of Irina Zyrutska to the State of the Union address. It says, hey, we probably shouldn't have violent lunatic career criminals slaying sweet little blonde girls on the subway. Right? And the Democrats couldn't stand up for that.
- [31:13]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a political commentator)
Arrested over a dozen times and was released through no cash bail. Stood up and viciously slashed a knife through her neck and body. No one will ever forget there were people on that train. No one will ever forget the expression of terror on Irina's face as she looked up at her attacker in the last seconds of her life. She died instantly. She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal set free to kill in America. Came in through open borders. Mrs. Zaretska, tonight, I promise you, we will ensure justice is for your magnificent Daughter Irina. How do you not stand? How do you not stand
- [32:23]
Michael Knowles
even? What an amazing line. These aside, this is because Trump knows how cameras work. And so when they don't stand for, you know, we shouldn't take kids away from their parents if they don't trans them, he says, these people are crazy, you know, when they won't stand for America is for Americans, he steps away. You know, he looks, he points, he shows. And then here, this is a different kind of aside, a different approach, but it's the same effect, because how do you not stand for that? Oh, golly, there you go again. This is Ronald Reagan. There you go again. Wow. How do you not stand for that? And truly, how do you not stand for Little blonde girls shouldn't be have their heads chopped off on the subway by maniacs whose actions were totally predictable. Trump just totally achieved his goal here. I thought it was beautiful. Really, really beautiful speech. Doesn't mean that the Republicans are gonna win the midterms, by the way, because what has to happen now is the Republicans have to stay on message, which is impossible. Pigs flying, a chilly day in hell, and Republicans staying on message, those all have roughly the same probability. But this was a good message. This was really good discipline here. They've got to do that. They've got to keep their eyes on the prize, and they need to recognize that the battle here is for security, safety, normal. I know things are precarious, but we got it. Don't worry. Those guys are the party of chaos. We're the party of order, okay? The libs just fuming and crying and shrieking. USA Today really, really upset over some of President Trump's guests at the State of the Union, who I got to see as they were entering right next to the chamber, and that would be the US Men's hockey team, the Olympic hockey team. First, though, folks, last night, before the State of the Union, then during the State of the Union, except I dipped out. And then after the State of the Union, when I got back to the office, we brought you coverage on friendly Fire of the whole big speech. And the way that we can do that, the way that we're able, and we're so grateful to be able to bring you analysis, commentary, really handsome headshots. All of that, along with investigative journalism, along with new documentaries, is because you subscribe to the Daily Wire. No knock on the public out there, the hoi polloi, just watching on the public platforms. You know, it's great. I appreciate having you, but we need the creme de la creme. All right. That's actually what keeps the lights on in here, in this hotel, and also in our studios. So thank you. If you're not a Daily Wire plus member yet, you gotta join. Go to dailywireplus.com then. Very crucial. Download the app and follow me on there. I don't care what you do with the other guys or the other movies or. It doesn't matter me. You got to follow me. Go to Daily Wire plus right now. My favorite comment yesterday is from PNW Vibes, who is channeling Gavin Newsom, who says, my dad also left to get milk and cigarettes and never came back. Gavin Newscum, probably. Yeah. No, he did almost that exact thing in that other interview where he was talking about eating mayonnaise sandwiches and Mac and cheese and playing hoops until his moms called him in. In that segment, Newsom said he was like, you know, my dad's wasn't around much as a kid. You think? You mean because he was like a judge or whatever? Was he like a Jesus? Like a. Had a very professional, I guess, public service job. He was an advisor to the Getty family. Like, yeah, he wasn't home from like 7am to 7pm Maybe because he was like, working hard for your family. But I think he came home. Okay. USA Today takes the cake for whining. This is amazing. This is over. The men's hockey team, we didn't even get to it. But there are too many good clips from the State of the Union even to get to. I can't. I don't have time. USA Today, the USA men's hockey team utterly failed to meet the cultural moment. Like many United States hockey fans, I grew up loving Miracle. I wasn't born yet when the US Stunned the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. But I knew the story as if it were my own memory. It was all great. Love the Miracle on Ice thing. Okay? It's great. And then he says, I was so happy when the American team in this Olympics beat the Canadians. The new evil empire, America's evil top hat. And then it goes on and says, but there was this ice bucket thrown on the event because President Trump invited them to the White House. It was just so awful. First the FBI director went in and celebrated with the team in the locker room. Can you imagine the FBI director celebrating with the American Olympic team? And then the president congratulated them, and that was awful. And then the president invited them to the White House. I'm not sure. I'm sure. I'M not the only one that feels as if a bucket of cold water has been dumped on your head after listening to that exchange. That exchange where he's like, joking with the men's hockey team. This is great. I love this USA Today. Please keep running these op eds, Libs, please. I think a lot of the Dems didn't even stand for the hockey team the way it worked. There aren't a lot of seats in the hall. So Trump didn't actually give the hockey team seats for the State of the Union, but he welcomed them in. They came in, they were standing right behind the President, and the Democrats didn't stand. A lot of them wouldn't even stand for the US Men's Gold Olympic hockey team. You think, great, this is what I want. It's like Politics 101. Wrap yourself in the flag, eat a hot dog on the 4th of July, Pat the back of your fellow Americans, say that you prefer Americans to foreign criminals. You know, like kind of basic stuff we're not getting into. Esoteric political philosopher. And the Dems couldn't do it. So what is Trump? Trump is the party of protecting innocent people. Trump is the party of peace over political violence. Trump is the party of economic booms. Trump is the party of the gold medal winning hockey team. Trump is the party of little girls learning to walk. Trump is the party of not separating you from your baby. And the Dem. It's not just that. Trump stole that. The Dems gave that away. And Trump used the State of the Union to clarify it. And then it became clear, really crazy stuff. Okay, speaking of tradition and the Trump White House, there's a story I've been meaning to get to for over a week now, but I have to get to it because it really does tie in on the state of our Union. You might have seen this article come up a little while ago. Trump plans to install Christopher Columbus statue outside the White House. The President has worked to recognize the explorer, saying Italian Americans should remember his efforts when they go vote. So true. So true. In this, you know, in this house, in this hotel room, Christopher Columbus is a hero. End of story. The libs really are upset about this. That you might recall, five years ago, they were tearing down all the statues of Christopher Columbus. Even longer they've been. They've been anti Columbus for a long time. And Trump says he's going to install a statue in the White House. Why does this matter? And why does it matter now? Because this year is the 250th anniversary of America. The 250th anniversary of what? From when? Ask you. From 1776. But, you know, America's actually older than 1776. America's older than the Revolution. Where'd the guys from the Revolution come from? Well, they were the colonists. They were the colonists who fought the French and Indian War. They were the colonists who settled on many ships in Massachusetts Bay, in Virginia, in Plymouth, the Mayflower going back to 1620. America goes back earlier. And then you have to ask, well, did America just spring out of the ether in 1620? Look, the Mayflower is great. It's a great cigar brand, by the way. But no, it didn't spring out of the ether in 1620. America comes from England, and England comes from somewhere. England was part of the Roman Empire. England was converted to Christianity. It goes back further and further and further. And this has been something I've been really delighted about, because one nasty habit among American conservatives, at least in the latter part of the 20th century, but maybe even longer than that, is they played around with this liberal tendency to pretend that history started in 1776. You know, this actually was a punchline on Parks and Rec, on Ron Swanson. He would say, history began on July 4, 1776. Everything before that was a mistake. This is the caricature of the boomer libertarian, inflected conservative. And it's kind of funny. You know, that's a lovable character, but that's not true. America is older than 1776, goes back to 1620, goes back to 1492, goes back to Columbus, sailing the ocean blue. You've seen this with the Trump White House. There was that wonderful essay from the State Department that came out that was extolling the virtues of Europe. And it drew a connection between America and not just John Locke or Rousseau or something Thomas Paine, but further back, drew a connection between America and Thomas Aquinas, drew a connection between America and Aristotle, recognizing that America is not a break with the Western tradition, the European tradition, the tradition of Christendom. America is an extension of, perhaps even a fulfillment of that very tradition. But we're part of it. By putting Columbus at the White House, what the President is saying is America is bigger and sturdier than just a revolution. The revolution's good, the revolution's part of it. But we're actually older, we're sturdier, we're more established than that. We have more resources, cultural, historical, political, to draw on than just that. This is a beautiful corrective, and I don't think I'm reading too deeply into this. You know, the Trump White House has written about these kinds of things explicitly, and Trump has just. He's got such a good gut. But this is it. And not an unimportant aspect for us Italian Americans. Christopher Columbus is a hero, okay? End of story. I mentioned this at the top of the show, but speaking of history, a reporter in confusion, in shock, in fury, just asked a Danish filmmaker why his cast in an epic about Danish history is entirely Nordic. This is a cast and a Danish production which is entirely Nordic. It's therefore has some lack of diversity. You would say, as also new rules implied. Hollywood, are you on to. Sorry, but from the get go. From the get go, there is. Well, first of all, the film takes place in denmark in the 1750s. Well, you might say there are not enough black people in your movie about early modern Norway. Why is that? And then you see this, the guy, the director, the producer, whoever it is, kind of laughs. And then the other guy says, the movie takes place in 1750. They didn't have any black people in Norway in 1750. Is that what we are told today in places like Norway? Or Sweden, which has taken a whole slew of Afghan migrants, which increased the rape rate from like zero to much higher to infinitely higher because the rape rate was about zero. What we're told is that today it is not acceptable for Norway to be filled with Norwegians. That that's not acceptable, that that's racist or bigoted or prejudiced or whatever. It's not acceptable for Sweden to be filled with Swedes. That claim itself is quite dubious. I, for one, call me crazy. I think it's okay if Norway wants to be filled with Norwegians. I think it's okay. I think it's okay if Ghana wants to be filled with Ghanaians and it's okay if Norway wants to be filled with Norwegians. But to show you the radicalism, what the left is now saying is not only is it not okay for Norway today to be filled with Norwegians, it is not okay for Norway 300 years ago to have been filled by Norwegians. In other words, it is not okay that Norway as such ever existed. It's not just saying to these nations, you have no right to exist today, it's saying you never had a right to exist. We should blot you out, not just from the world today, but from the history books, from the movies. How dare you? How dare you make a movie about Norwegian history that has Norwegians in it. Are we gonna make. Let me ask if, is Hollywood going to make wakanda Forever starring Sydney Sweeney. Is that gonna happen? Does anyone. It's almost trite. It is trite at this point to say, you know, is some Nigerian director going to be asked why he doesn't any Finns in his movie about Nigeria? You know, it doesn't have any Scots in his movie. But what are we going to do? We're going to make Wakanda Forever with Sydney Sweeney? I don't think so. Obviously, it only cuts one way and the radicalism grows. That's the message here. The radicalism on the left grows. Some people think WOKE was cured by the 2024 election or even a little bit before that. Now the Democrats are pivoting, they're moderating. They're not. They're not. They might lie. They might rhetorically try to seem like that. Gavin Newsom pretends to be friends with Charlie Kirk on his podcast and then also calls Stephen Miller a fascist and says he wants to see more trans kids. In the very next breath, Abigail Spanberger might run as a moderate. She has already implemented the most radically left wing agenda we've ever seen in Virginia. Democrats are going to follow that model in November. They've only gotten more extreme. It is the job of Republicans following Trump to expose that, to offer an alternative, a positive vision that is safe and secure, to not get off track, to not get off topic, and to push forward into November. And maybe, maybe there's a chance we don't even catastrophically lose the midterms. I feel we'll still probably lose the midterms, just how these elections work. I feel a lot better this morning even having not slept. Oh, because by the way, after the State of the Union, I went out with Senator Cruz and had scotch and cigars, as is our tradition now, after the State of the Union, you can see that on the Verdict podcast. But even so, even staying out very late, I feel a lot better about the state of the country after that speech, about the State of the Union after that speech than I did going in. Okay, that's our show. I'm on the road. I gotta catch a flight. I gotta go do a bunch of stuff. So no Membrum Segmentum today. We will be back in the Membrum segmentum tomorrow. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show.
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Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
What was it like, Marlon, to be alone with God? Is that who you think I was alone with? Martin, I knew your father. I am yet convinced that he was
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Michael Knowles
not of this world.
- [48:20]
Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
All men know of the great Taliesin
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Michael Knowles
who are my father. That the gods should war for my soul.
- [48:28]
Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
Princess Garris, saviour of our people. I know what the Bull God offered you. I was offered the same. And there is a new power at
- [48:40]
Michael Knowles
work in the world.
- [48:41]
Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
I've seen it. A God who sacrifices what he loves for us. We are each given only one lifesinger.
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Michael Knowles
No.
- [48:50]
Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
We're given another. I learnt of Yazu the Christ and I have become his follower.
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Michael Knowles
He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one.
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Actor or Narrator in Danish film excerpt
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 is abandoned. I cannot take up that sword again. You know what you must do. Great life, forgive me. The time has come to be reborn.