Ep. 1968 - World's First Black Quadriplegic Trans Woman Appears At The Met Gala

Summary

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The Michael Knowles Show

Episode 1968 – World's First Black Quadriplegic Trans Woman Appears At The Met Gala
Date: May 6, 2026
Host: Michael Knowles (The Daily Wire)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Michael Knowles dives into recent headlines and cultural phenomena as seen through a conservative lens, focusing particularly on Aaron Rose Philip—recognized as the first Black quadriplegic transgender woman model—whose appearance at the Met Gala provoked widespread commentary. Beyond this, Knowles ties together threads on societal decadence, the erosion of cultural norms, political violence, fitness in American youth, and the latest developments in the Iran conflict. Throughout, he argues that Western civilization is experiencing a period of decadence, and he draws frequent parallels between ancient societies and contemporary America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Met Gala, Cultural Decadence & History’s "Freak Shows"

(00:28–09:50)

• Knowles opens with a monologue mocking mainstream reactions to Aaron Rose Philip’s Met Gala appearance, seeing it as emblematic of a “decadent culture” and a “freak show” rather than true diversity or progress.
• He argues that the Met Gala—along with much of pop culture—prioritizes novelty, eccentricity, and spectacle over traditional standards of beauty or virtue.
• Citing ancient Roman authors (Juvenal, Tacitus, Suetonius), Knowles draws a parallel between contemporary America and the decadent late stages of ancient civilizations.
  • Juvenal’s bread and circuses: “Everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just bread and circuses.”
  • Tacitus on Germans not laughing at vice, contrasting with contemporary Western attitudes.
  • Suetonius’ Augustus avoiding “dwarves and such as were in any way deformed,” holding them as “abominations of nature.”
• Knowles contends that exalting eccentricity and abandoning objective standards (in beauty, fitness, discipline) is a classic mark of social decline.
• Notable Quote (Michael Knowles, 04:51):
  “Decadent societies exalt novelty, exalt eccentricity, exalt deformity. This is where you get the body positivity movement from. This is why advertisements look really weird now, and it's why everyone's encouraged to act like a freak.”

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2. Fitness, Discipline & the Presidential Fitness Test

(09:50–14:59)

• Discussion transitions to physical fitness as a metaphor for national strength and virtue.
• Knowles contrasts the presidential fitness ethos (JFK, Trump, RFK Jr.) with current trends toward passivity and avoidance of competition.
  • Kennedy quote (original audio, 14:30): “There is nothing... more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week's exercise...”
  • Knowles reflects on the societal shift: the rise of “participation trophies,” aversion to losing, and how this undermines resilience and aspiration in youth.
  • Trump used as an example of someone who has both won and lost massively, arguing that the willingness to risk and experience loss is essential to true success.
• Notable Quote (Michael Knowles, 13:21):
  “These are games of chance... I'm a dictator about it. I say, no, sorry, you won last night, but you lost tonight. And you need to be a good sport and you need to learn how to lose and how to win next time.”

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3. Crime, Political Violence & Societal Trust

(15:02–23:08)

• Knowles comments on the recent apology from Judge Zia Faruqi to a would-be Trump assassin, using this as further evidence of a “decadent country” that sympathizes more with criminals than victims.

  • Notable Quote (Michael Knowles, 18:05):
    “I’m really troubled that the shooter’s head is still connected to his neck. That concerns me…[if] someone came into a major gathering of the entire United States government, pulled out a gun and started shooting...I would expect that that shooter's head would be plastered like a Jackson Pollock painting on every wall of the auditorium.”

• Claims this judicial leniency exemplifies a broader cultural rot, where crime is excused and discipline wanes, a state he connects to national decline.

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4. Iran Conflict, War Powers & Trump’s Ceasefire Narrative

(23:09–35:20)

• Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says the Iran ceasefire is “not over” despite ongoing missile activity, framing actions as “separate and distinct projects” (23:11).
• Knowles analyzes the rhetorical differentiations between skirmishes and “major combat operations.” He stresses that minor hostilities don’t always constitute an end to ceasefires, and argues that this legalistic parsing aids Trump politically.
  • Emphasizes that Iran’s strategy now is to provoke renewed hostilities to sway US public opinion.
  • Describes the significance of US naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz as a Trump victory, “exposing” Iran’s incapacity to enforce a blockade.
  • Notes polling (Harvard Harris) showing strong bipartisan perception that the US is still “winning” in the Iran conflict.
• Notable Quote (Michael Knowles, 24:02):
  “The ceasefire is in place. This, this is a separate and distinct project. What is this? ...We know ultimately the president said we're doing this because we can't let Iran get a nuclear weapon.”

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5. News Briefs: Election Fraud, McDonald’s & Social Fragmentation

(35:20–38:36)

• Knowles highlights a Daily Wire investigation into welfare fraud in Ohio—a Republican-run state—underscoring both bipartisan responsibility and systemic vulnerabilities.
• Discusses McDonald’s decision to phase out self-serve soda fountains:
  • Attributes it to an increasingly “low trust society”—the result of both migration and cultural decline.
  • Reminisces about the communal aspects of 1990s fast food culture, lamenting its replacement by atomized, solitary dining (drive-thru, delivery).
  • References Bowling Alone (Robert Putnam) as emblematic of the decline of American civic life.
• Notable Quote (Michael Knowles, 37:31):
  “We live in a virtual society. I mean, at the basic level of our political ideology, we don't think that Americans are even a real thing. ... No, it's. Anybody can be an American and Americans, maybe you're un American, then you don't have a real country, which is where we're at.”

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6. Political Blame Game: Violence, Antisemitism & Trump

(38:36–39:46)

• Airs comments from J.B. Pritzker, who ties an uptick in threats and antisemitism to President Trump’s leadership style. Knowles counters that violence is overwhelmingly a left-wing problem and mocks attempts to blame Trump for rising social discord.
  • Pritzker (38:36):
    “I think the environment... Our leaders set the tone in this country, and I think that the President of the United States has set a tone where political violence is okay. He's advocated it himself before. It's a terrible thing.”
  • Knowles parodies this logic and points to incidents like the attack on Trump and Charlie Kirk as evidence of left-leaning political violence.

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Memorable Quotes

• “Decadent societies exalt novelty, exalt eccentricity, exalt deformity. This is where you get the body positivity movement from.” – Michael Knowles (04:51)
• “You gotta teach kids to win. And to teach kids to win, you gotta teach them their weaknesses and you gotta teach them sometimes they're gonna lose.” – Michael Knowles (14:53)
• “I’m really troubled that the shooter's head is still connected to his neck. That concerns me...” – Michael Knowles (18:05)
• “The ceasefire is in place. This, this is a separate and distinct project. What is this? ...We know ultimately the president said we're doing this because we can't let Iran get a nuclear weapon.” – Michael Knowles (24:02)
• “We live in a virtual society. At the basic level of our political ideology, we don't think that Americans are even a real thing.” – Michael Knowles (37:31)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Met Gala & Cultural Decadence: 00:28–09:50
• Physical Fitness & National Strength: 09:50–14:59
• Crime, Justice & Political Violence: 15:02–23:08
• Iran Conflict & Ceasefire Debate: 23:09–35:20
• Election Fraud & McDonald’s Culture: 35:20–38:36
• Political Violence Discussion (Pritzker): 38:36–39:46

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Final Notes & Tone

The episode is characterized by a sardonic, polemical tone, blending cultural nostalgia, historical references, and contemporary grievances. Knowles positions himself as both a traditionalist and a critic of modern American culture, using humor and historical analogy to frame topics as evidence of societal decay. For listeners, the episode offers a rapid-fire critique of everything from fashion to foreign policy—always lining up current events as symptoms of a deeper civilizational malaise.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Edu Sci this episode is brought to you by Good Ranchers. Support the American farmers and ranchers this grilling season by [e-mail] using code KNOWLES for free Meat for Life plus $100 off your first three orders. It took 250 years, but at long last, the first black quadriplegic transgender woman with cerebral palsy signed to a major modeling agency has appeared at the Met Gala. They say the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Now, putting aside the paralyzed transvestite, the Met Gala has been a freak show for many years and wise men dating back to antiquity have warnings for us about what that means for our country. Then a federal judge apologizes to President Trump's latest would be assassin. Bobby Kennedy wants your kids to be less fat. And the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, explains how the Iran ceasefire can survive repeated barrage of missiles from both sides. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. McDonald's is ditching self serve soda machines. This is another one. It's kind of like the Met Gala. It seems like it's a minor story, but it's just one of those stories that tells you how our culture is collapsing. We don't have trust anymore. People are stealing soda. People don't even want to interact with other people. We will get to all of it. But the most important story, the one taking over the Internet, is Aaron Rose. Philip, who is a man, a black man, a black crippled man who thinks that he is a woman who is signed to a major modeling agency. Because that's when you want to sell really nice clothes. You want to look for the most physically attractive people. You go to this person, he appears at the Met Gala. A lot of people are making jokes about this on social media. A lot of people feel like they can't make jokes about it and you don't want to make jokes about the guy. Obviously the guy's had a tough life and he's in the thrall of some crazy ideologies and he thinks he's the opposite Sex. And that's like the least of it. But people are making a big deal. They say, this is crazy. This is the Met Gala. The Met Gala is this big fashion show. And how on earth could this guy be there as a symbol of beauty, signed to a major modeling agency? This is crazy. How on earth could that happen? And I'm not surprised by this at all. And you shouldn't be surprised by this at all. And in fact, this has always happened. The reflex for conservatives is whenever something weird pops up in the culture, we say, things are getting crazy now. No, no, no. Things have always been kind of crazy. And then we go through periods where they get less crazy. And then we forget all the important lessons and what made us live in the good periods like the high Middle Ages. And then things start to get crazy again. But you had ancient writers talking about this. Actually, you know what? Forget about the paralyzed transsexual, black cerebral palsy supermodel. Forget about him for a second. Everyone else there was dressed up like it was a freak show. The one aside I have to make, this is a little. I know. It's a family show. Vera Wang, who is like 75 years old or older. Vera Wang looked uncomfortably hot. I don't know if you saw the pictures going around. Vera Wang looks like she's 23. I don't know how they do it. It's really weird. But anyway, the dress she was wearing is also pretty out there. And then everybody else was just wearing really crazy freak show stuff. Dollars, taped noses, and all sorts of big puffy lunatic stuff. Cause it's a freak show. We had this stuff in the 19th century to some degree. We had freak shows. We had traveling circuses. Now we have to pretend because of body positivity. We'll get to that in a second. Cause Trump wants your kids to be less fat. So does Bobby Kennedy. But we've always had freak shows and circuses. And sometimes they're really restrained and sometimes they take over the whole culture. But that's just what happens when societies become decadent. So now we have to pretend that the freak shows are really beautiful and normal and the pinnacles of beauty, I guess. But we always have these things. Go all the way back to our friend Juvenal AD55. We're talking about a first century writer who writes in the satires Syrian Orontes has long since polluted the Tiber, bringing its language and customs, pipes and harp strings, saying all this weird, exotic stuff is infecting our otherwise virtuous city. He writes in the Satires. Your country clown Quirinus now trips to dinner in Greek fangled slippers and wears Niceterian ornaments upon a ceramic neck. I love these words. These are really great words referring to awards that you win in games and oils that you wear for wrestling. But what is he saying is, it's all a big freak show. You took our good, normal, virtuous country and it's become a freak show with all sorts of weird, exotic stuff. And there's a very famous line from Juvenile, which is, everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two bread and circuses. And that's the stage of culture that we're in. We're in the bread and circuses stage. Our popular entertainment is not really edifying. It's not beautiful. You get that at some points. There are eras when you have very serious novels dominating the culture, when serious poetry is dominating the culture. We had eras in America, especially at the end of the 30s, into the 40s and 50s, really up through the 70s, when very serious movies, movies dominated the culture with complex storylines telling us about the human condition. And now we have largely freak shows or kind of frivolous stuff. You know, the Marvel movies, Those are bread and circuses. Even before the Hays code, before the 1930s, you had freak show movies. There's one actually called Freaks. You might have seen the clip going around. Ugle lagobble, one of us, it was dwarves and all this kind of stuff. So cultures go through these periods. That's been true since time immemorial. We're in that stage now. Tacitus, another first century writer, he writes in the Annals in Germania. He contrasts decadent Rome with the barbarian virtues with the German tribes. He says, no one in Germany laughs at vice, nor do they call it the fashion to corrupt and to be corrupted. The way that we in the west could think of this now is that we in the west have embraced trannies and killing our kids and wearing all sorts of weird fashion and drag shows and whatever. And we look to the peoples that we call primitive, barbaric, especially in the Middle east and Africa, especially Muslim countries, and we say, look, they have their problems, but they don't get into this weird stuff, do they? They know what marriage is, they know what law and order is. They know they might not have the most functioning societies, they might not have the strongest economies, but they don't have the kind of decadence that comes in. In many ways, I think you're seeing creep in on some aspects of the right, a sort of odd Islamophilia for most of the last 25, 30 years on the right, you had this intense contempt for Islam, and now there's this strange new respect that some on the right are having for Islam. And I think part of that, everyone's saying, oh, it's because they're being paid off, or it's this or that. Maybe that's true, I don't know. But the way I can understand it is the same way that Tacitus looks at the Germanic tribes and he says, look, these guys, they're real tough, but they have certain virtues. And that's why they're gonna beat us, and that's why we need to get our act together. Suetonius, very famously, in the Lives of the Caesars, he talks about how in the good old days of Augustus, Augustus didn't get into the decadence. He said dwarves. He might have been talking about the Met Gala. He said dwarves and such as were in any way deformed. Augustus held an abhorrence as abominations of nature, of evil omen. So decadent societies exalt novelty, exalt eccentricity, exalt deformity. This is where you get the body positivity movement from. This is where you get the notion that we can't have objective standards of beauty. This is why advertisements look really weird now, and it's why everyone's encouraged to act like a freak. That didn't just come from the left or from Karl Marx or something like that. It comes from decadence. And decadence is scary because it kind of feels nice for a moment, because you don't. You pretend that you don't have any moral obligations and you get to shirk all responsibility, but it weakens your society. And even the primitive barbarian hordes, because they're stronger, they have a stronger sense of discipline. They will come in and conquer you. And that's really what much of the migration debate is about. That's really what it comes down to. So we all want to point fingers and blame everyone else. We blame that culture and that foreign people and that and this and that and the other thing. But ultimately, one of the lessons that you get from reading Antiquity or, or from looking at the pictures from the Met Gala is, first and foremost, we have to blame ourselves, and we have to try to fix ourselves. Now, one way that we're trying to do that is that President Trump and Bobby Kennedy Jr. The health secretary, are going to restore the presidential fitness test.

[C]

It was part of the message that President Kennedy wanted to send the American people. If we Were going to maintain our national authority, our national leadership, our moral authority as a nation, that we had to pay attention to our physical condition. Physical Fitness Test was a critical part of that. And I think it's very unfortunate that President Obama and President Biden abandoned it. They said, competition is not good for kids, which is not true. If we're going to be competitive internationally, we. We need to be competitive with each other. We need to teach people how to win and how to lose and how to process victory and defeat.

[B]

I love this. I actually didn't realize that the Presidential Fitness Test had ever gone away. I never did very well on the Presidential Fitness Test. You'll be shocked to hear it was not the most athletic. President Trump was asked in that press conference. They said, Mr. President, do you work out? It was some kid asking. He says, oh, I work out all the time. A minute, a day at most. And that's like me. I don't really work out. I still try to fit into my suit, but I don't really work out. But it's important that the nation, especially for young people, that they develop these habits of discipline, that they go outside, that they play sports, that they run around. And notice what Bobby Kennedy said here. It's not just that you need to look really good. He said, we need to teach kids how to win. Very important to teach kids how to win, that they actually need to set a goal and try to pursue it and achieve it, that you actually can achieve things. But then he says, we also need to teach kids how to lose, and that's just as important. We don't know how to lose anymore. We haven't known how to lose in, like, 35 years. Really, in the early 90s that you had the beginning of the participation trophy phenomenon, the idea that everyone's a winner, no one ever loses. I play little games with my kids at night. We're always kind of gambling for, okay, whose bed are we going to read in tonight? With my two older boys, okay, who's gonna pick the first book? Okay, who's gonna get his pajamas on first? Those kinds of games. And the kids take it very seriously. And sometimes they say, no, I wanna win. Why didn't I win? Can I pick a book? Can I do this? And I am brutal about it. I'm brutal. I'm a dictator about it. I say, no, sorry, you won last night, but you lost tonight. And you need to be a good sport and you need to learn how to lose and how to win next time. These are games of chance. You gotta Teach kids how to win and how to lose. Those are two sides of the same coin. We right now can't do either. Especially young people. When you see this listlessness, when you see this apathy, this alienation from society, dropping out of society, what that represents is. So the reason that they won't try to win is because they can't bear the anxiety of possibly losing. They don't know how to lose either. Think about someone like Trump. Trump's a great figure for this because Trump knows how to win. He knows how to win big, even if you hate Trump. This guy has reached the absolute pinnacle of multiple of the hardest industries in the world. Real estate in New York. He reached the top of it. Network television. Could you imagine? Just for one person to do one of those things is very, very impressive. Network television, brutal industry. He reached the top of it for a dozen years. Branding, Luxury branding. The casino. Forget about the casinos. He was a major casino mogul for how many years? And then, of course, President, the first time he seriously ran for it, first time he ever seriously ran for political office. He won the most powerful office in the land at least two times. So he has won more than anybody in our lifetimes. And what do his critics always want to point out? Well, whatever happened to Trump vodka? Whatever happened to Trump Airlines? Whatever happened to. Whatever happened to your casinos when they closed? Whatever. Ha ha ha. What a loser. Yeah, you know what? He is a loser. He's lost way more than any of you ever have. You're right. He's lost way more than any of you ever have. He's also won more at a higher level than anyone on earth today. And those two things aren't opposed to each other. Yeah, he's lost really big. He's won really big. And you've done nothing. Cause you won't even take the risk. Very, very important, and this is very American. You know, Bobby Kennedy, he phrases his call for the physical fitness test in these really nice kind of polite terms. Well, you know, it's really important for us kids to learn how to win. Here is how Secretary Kennedy's uncle described it some 60 years ago.

[D]

There is nothing, I think, more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week's exercise. I hope that all of you will join and everybody in the United States to make sure that our children participate fully in a vigorous and adventurous life which is possible for them in this very rich country of ours.

[B]

There is nothing more unfortunate than Having soft, chubby, fat looking children. So sayeth the President of the United States, not Donald Trump, actually John F. Kennedy. So true. Because we have this great country, it's a rich country, we got a lot of opportunity. You gotta go out there and you need to teach kids to win. And to teach kids to win, you gotta teach them their weaknesses and you gotta teach them sometimes they're gonna lose. Okay? SPE Speaking of President Trump and longevity, a federal judge has just apologized to President Trump's latest would be assassin. We'll get to that momentarily. First though, I want to tell you about Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com, use promo code Knowles. If you are like most people, you'll walk into the grocery store, you'll stare at the wall of grass fed, organic, natural, earth kissed labels. You'll have no idea what any of that means. And you know what it really means. 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You will get free meat included with every order. 100 bucks off your first three orders with code KNOWLES, go to goodranchers.com, code KNOWLES at checkout. If you want to try it out before you commit, get 40 bucks off your first one time box with code Knowles as well. It's a crazy deal. I don't know how that CFO is able to sleep at night. Go to goodranchers.com, american Meat Delivered. So President Trump's most recent would be assassin that would be this wacko at the White House correspondent's dinner. He's just gone in to see the judge. Obviously, he was arrested and the judge apologized to the assassin. Why? Well, here are the words of the judge, this magistrate, Judge Zia Faruqi. Zia Faruqi, I don't think those ancestors came on the Mayflower, but that's a topic for another time here. Judge Zia Faruki is really, really sorry for the man who nearly killed the president and the whole top of the government and lots of advisors and members of the press. Zia Faruqi says, I am very troubled by what they indicate, the conditions that you have been subjected to. I'm sorry, it sounds like things have not been the way they're supposed to. So Mr. Farouki said that he was very concerned that the shooter's treatment behind bars in jail might convince the defendant that he wasn't getting a fair proceeding. He says, my concern remains, if this is what happens in this case, what's happening in every other case, I'm really, really concerned here. Now, the shooter's own attorneys said that they did not need a hearing on the conditions of the shooter's confinement. Nevertheless, the judge says, I'm just. I'm really sorry. I'm really troubled by the conditions that you're being subjected to. Now, I personally am really troubled that the shooter's head is still connected to his neck. That concerns me because I would think that if after, especially after multiple assassination at Trump's, one that blew off part of the president's ear, if someone came into a major gathering of the entire United States government, along with many guests, and pulled out a gun and started shooting and actually shot a Secret Service agent, I would expect that that shooter's head would be plastered like a Jackson Pollock painting on every wall of the auditorium. That's what I would expect. And it concerns me that it was not. I get lucky for him, I guess, but. But I don't have too many concerns about whether or not the shooter has Evian in his jail cell. Are his sheets Egyptian cotton? I hope it better not be a cotton blend. That's cruel and unusual punishment. This is what we're up against. Forget about this judge. I don't know that much about the judge. All I know about the judge is his concern over the shooter. But I do know that this is a pattern. One, I know that these federal judges have appointed themselves presidents of the United States to try to stop every single aspect of Trump's agenda. President Trump, the popularly elected President of the United States. But two, I know that the left, broadly, has been minimizing excusing dismissing even celebrating left wing violence against conservatives. And it's bad enough when it's an ordinary conservative citizen, but when you keep trying to shoot the president of the United States, that becomes not just a personal fear, a personal problem, but a major political problem that is a threat to the entire government, to the entire country. And constantly now we see deference toward the perpetrators of crime and we see attacks on the victims of crime, of the victims of crime. This, too is a sign of a very, very decadent country. This hearing would have been unimaginable to the founding fathers, to the early American colonists, to the framers of the Constitution, to everybody, including Democrats, until like 2002, okay, this is a supreme level of decadence and it does not bode well for the future of the country. Now, speaking of the Trump administration and death, the Defense secretary, sorry, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth was just asked whether or not this ceasefire is holding. Reporter has a fair question, which is that when both sides of a conflict are shooting missiles at each other, that would seem to suggest, as I mentioned on the show yesterday, that the fire has not ceased. It would seem to suggest that there is in fact fire. And Secretary Hegseth gives a very good answer. We'll get to that momentarily. And what this means on the Iran war. Cause a lot has happened, I said this on the show yesterday, A lot, a lot has happened, even over the last, gosh, three hours, four hours. 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[A]

Is the ceasefire over?

[E]

No, the cease the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project, and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And ultimately the president's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire.

[B]

Key words here. The Secretary of War is saying that this is a separate and distinct project. The ceasefire is in place. This, this is a separate and distinct project. What is this? I think this is referring to the United States escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which he's saying is separate from the US Military strikes, US Israeli strikes on Iran, which were intended, it seems, to stop the Iranian nuclear program. But then maybe for a while, we thought it was for regime change. Then we thought it was just to take out some top leaders, but leave the regime in place, but make them more favorable to us. Then it was a little unclear. There's a little bit of a moving target. But we know ultimately the president said we're doing this because we can't let Iran get a nuclear weapon. So then what Iran does is they close the Strait of Hormuz and we have a ceasefire. So Trump can say the war was over within six weeks. And this is important for his use of the War Powers act, the War Powers act, which is kind of a fake thing anyway. And presidents in both parties blow right past it, especially Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden in particular, blew right past the War Powers act limitations on how they could unilaterally conduct war. Nevertheless, Trump here operating within even the statutory and very strict scope of the law, he's saying, no, no, no, we did the military operation within six weeks. Now we're in a ceasefire. If something starts up again, that would, in principle, restart the clock on the War Powers Act. And it's not just Hegseth. The libs hate Hegseth. They've been trying to kill his nomination from the beginning. They've been trying to run him out of the administration. To me, I love Pete Hegseth. I've been friends with Pete Hegseth for a number of years. But. But to me, even if I didn't know Pete, I would say this is a great recommendation of Pete. The fact that the libs are so eager to get him out, they say he doesn't know anything, he's ignorant, he's whatever. They make all sorts of nonsense about a guy who is extremely well educated, who has firsthand experience in the military, who's done a very good job. But it's not just Pete Hegseth who's saying this. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kaine. Raisin Kaine says that the ceasefire, yes, was in effect when Iran has attacked US forces more than 10 times. So does that break the ceasefire? He says no, because they are still below the threshold of restarting major combat operations. So ceasefire here is not just a literal term, but it's a term of art and war. And this has been true in every conflict throughout human history. Just because a war is declared over doesn't mean that there aren't still skirmishes. In fact, there always are some skirmishes. So the question is, when do some skirmishes rise to the level of restarting major combat operations? And for now, at least, again, we're shooting this show a little bit early because I'm on the road. So who knows? By the time this is airing, maybe we're going to be fully in war again. But at the moment, as I am sitting here speaking to you, this has not risen to that threshold yet. And Trump doesn't want it to, because we just got a ship through. I mean, this is the big development. So Maersk says that a ship has passed through the Strait of Hormuz under US military protection. Initially, US officials said that two ships were escorted through the Strait of Hormuz. We at least have firm confirmation on one of those. Iran is saying no ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Who cares? Don't forget the Strait of Hormuz conducts 20% of the world's oil supply, along with petrochemicals, along with natural gas, along with fertilizer and a bunch of other stuff. So if only one ship is getting through a day, the global economy is still going to be grinding to a halt. So why does it matter? It matters. And they are fighting over did a ship get through or did a ship not get through? Because this is absolutely humiliating to the Iranians. The Iranians played their last card. The biggest card that the Iranians have is to close the Strait of Hormuz. As I've said many times, it's a more powerful weapon than a nuclear weapon, because a nuke you can't actually really use, but closing the Strait, you can. So they played it. That was it. You're going to take out our top leadership, you're going to kill the Ayatollah, you're going to launch all the missiles. Fine. We're playing the straight of Hormuz card. And Trump said, okay, we're in a ceasefire. I'm breaking your blockade first. I'm going to double blockade you, then I'm going to block your. I'm going to break your blockade. If Trump gets away with that, then he has exposed the Iranians as very, very weak. He's shown that their trump card is not actually that powerful. Now, it's only symbolic. At the moment, you need a lot of ships to get through the strait, but that is the first big change in the war, and it's one little ship. It is the first big change in the war in three weeks. Really, really important. You are seeing this, by the way, play out pretty well for Trump even in the polling. So there was a posted by the rapid response from the White House a recent poll in the war with Iran, is Iran or the US winning right now? And back in March, 76% said the US was winning. So now you'd say after this dragged on past the four to six week mark, surely now it's down to 50% or 20% or who knows? No, it's basically exactly the same. 74% say that the US is winning. Only 26% say that Iran is winning. When you break it down By Dem and GOP, 40% of Dems think that Iran is winning. 60% of Dems say the US is winning. So a clear majority of Democrats even see that the US Is winning the war. It's kind of funny because if you only listen to pundits on the left and the right, you'd think the US is being absolutely obliterated. But then you look at ordinary voters and we'll get to how closely they pay attention to the conflict. You get to ordinary voters, vast majority of Democrats say that the U.S. is winning, and then 91% of Republicans say the U.S. is winning. Compared to just 9% who say that Iran is winning. And what about people who are following the conflict closely? Well, you'd say, okay, the people who are following it really closely, they know that Iran is winning, right? No. 72% of people who are following the conflict closely say the US is winning. Only 28% who are following it closely say Iran is winning. So this is pretty impressive. This comes from a Harvard Harris poll, very reputable pollster. This means that as of now, and you know, I would have argued and did argue against the war in Iran before it happened, as it was starting to happen, and consistently afterward, you know my views on this. I'm skeptical that there's a reasonable probability of the massive success of overturning the regime. Sorry. That there is no reasonable probability of that. And that the proportionality, meaning the goods to be achieved versus the losses incurred, is not really in whack for it. So I would have argued against it. Nevertheless, you gotta say the tide has turned, or maybe continues to just move in favor of President Trump. So what do the Iranians do now? If the US can get even one boat through, it's pretty humiliating. So, clearly what Iran wants is to restart the hostilities. And the reason Iran wants to restart the hostilities is because they need public opinion to turn in the United States. They want to restart the hostilities because as of right now, with the double blockade, they're just being choked off, they're being starved, they can't get any money, they can't get any of their product out, they can't get anything in. They're being starved. And so they need something to happen. They're just playing a game of chicken. Now, will Iran be able to keep the strait closed long enough for public opinion to turn in the United States? Forcing President Trump's hand, hit the global markets, lead to a global recession, force Trump's hand, then he just backs down and Iran gets the big victory. Or is Trump going to hold on longer and Iran is going to be crippled and starved and he's going to maintain strong public support? The numbers that are coming out right now are very much in Trump's favor. So this also explains why the Pentagon is coming in saying, no, we still have a ceasefire. And Iran, they're just, like, all up. They're just shooting missiles as much as they can, doing everything they can to provoke another action from the United States, I think, because they realize that's their best way out of it right now. Pretty good stuff. You're getting it from an Iran skeptic. Pretty good stuff. Here. Finally, a little more good news coming to the president again. This can't go on forever. It's a game of chicken because if it goes on long enough, you're gonna get a global recession. Republicans are already probably gonna get wiped out in the midterms. It's gonna be an absolute tsunami. Then Democrats are getting into office. They're subpoena, they're going to impeach. It's going to be a whole hassle. So the Iranians know there is a real risk. But right now, things are looking good for Trump. Daily Wire has just launched a huge investigation. You've probably seen this, maybe your congressman, your senator might have been posting about this on social media. The vice president posted about this massive, massive expose thanks to Daily Wire's own Luke Rosiak on fraud in Ohio. It's not Minnesota or California, not Democrat states. This is a Republican state. And yet still you have these left wing politicians who are helping to facilitate this with a lot of foreigners bilking you, the taxpayer, for billions of dollars. Read it all on dailywire.com, we've taken down the paywall for this entirely. It's a five part report. Really, really important. Do not let the media bury this. Do not let the politicians bury this. Dailywire.com, check it out right now. Now back to bad signs for our country. McDonald's is ditching self serve soda machines and it's a big freaking deal. This is ordinarily the place where I would read my favorite comment, but I am on the road, man. I'm in Dartmouth. I'm going to Florida. I'm going back to Nashville. I'm going to Florida. I'm going all over the place. And Professor Jacob keeps sending me such bad comments that I did. I didn't even, I didn't even take the time to do it today. So let's get back to the stories before I have to run out the door. McDonald's is ditching self serve soda machines. Why is this here? I'll just read the reporting from the Today Show. McDonald's is quietly ditching its self serve soda fountains. Why are they doing that? What is happening? McDonald's has confirmed that it's going to phase out self serve soda beverage stations by the year 2032. The reason for this is to create a consistent experience for workers and customers in restaurants, at the drive thru and in the app. It is an evolution toward convenience and the result of the growth of the digital service. And it is because of theft. So that's really what it comes down to changing customer behaviors and preferences. Okay, so what that means on the one hand is people are stealing. They're just going up to the machine. Now, soda doesn't cost that much, so it's probably not that big a deal. But there is a little bit of that. There is theft. We live in a much lower trust society than we used to. A big cause of that is migration. But another big, big cause of that is just the decadence and the corruption and the self dealing of our public officials and the leaders of our institutions. So there's that side of it. But then I actually think the biggest driver of it is that McDonald's doesn't want you to eat inside anymore. Do you remember nostalgia's history after a few drinks? But do you remember in those halcyon days of the 1990s when you'd go into McDonald's and it was nice and it wasn't. It wasn't just homeless people and, you know, illegals, foreigners who don't speak a lick of English, who are just kind of hanging around. Remember, you'd go and kids would be there. There were little play gyms. The architecture was fun and whimsical. It wasn't just millennial prison drab. It was nice. And you'd go and you'd sit there and you'd have a meal with your kids and it was just kind of nice. And you weren't worried that you were gonna get knifed by somebody on your way out. Remember that? And now you don't really do that. Part of the reason you don't do that is because no one's in there. So you don't want to be the only guy in there. It makes it feel sketchier. Even the other day, beyond McDonald's, I'm telling a lot of personal stories today. I was driving. We were coming back from a party or a dinner or something, and sweet little Elisa and I, we wanted to get a little dq. We wanted to get a little Peanut Buster parfait. We were driving past the DQ and Elisa said, Mac, we got to do the drive thru. I said, I don't want to do the drive thru. I want to go into DQ and eat it there like a respectable American. She said, no, you can't. You're gonna get like, shot. It's not. And we're driving through the drive thru. And it's true. You look in there, it's like either a ghost town, there's like Dairy Queen tumbleweed going through. And if you see anybody, it's like a Homeless guy or a criminal. People don't really eat in these places anymore. It's all Uber eats, it's all drive thru, it's all delivery. We all eat in our little pods, in our cars, in our apartments alone. We watch something on a screen and the corporation is acknowledging that theft and discouragement of eating in person. Two signs of a society that is really in free fall because you don't trust the people around you and you don't even really see the people around you. Don't trust the people around you in part because you don't see the people around you. Because we don't really have community anymore. What was it 30 years ago that Putnam wrote? Bowling Alone? The decline of civic associations, the decline of bowling leagues and all manner of community activity. That's kind of gone. Is anyone in the Lions Club anymore? Does anyone join the Elks? Not really. Do you do much of anything? For goodness sakes, Kids don't even trick or treat anymore. They now do they park and treat or something? What are they? Trunk or treat, that's what they call it. It's so sad. Kids don't even walk around their neighborhoods anymore. A bunch of parents maybe meet up in a parking lot and the kids go around the trunks and get candy and it's pathetic. You can't have a society like that. You can't have a virtual society. But we live in a virtual society. I mean, at the basic level of our political ideology, we don't think that Americans are even a real thing. We think that America is just an idea, right? I mean, we don't really think that anymore. But that's what our politicians tell us. And that's what a lot of people thought for decades. America's just an idea. A guy living in the middle of India right now is actually more American than the guy in West Virginia. It's just an idea. It's just a. No, it's. Anybody can be an American and Americans, maybe you're un American, then you don't have a real country, which is where we're at. And so as a result of a low trust society getting all the way back to political violence, you no longer can trust that some wacko isn't going to pop you off on the street. I remember even just in the last 15 years, I'd go visit the White House. Not even as a guest, I mean a while ago, but before I was ever invited to go visit the White House, I would go walk around, I would walk by it and you could walk relatively close and then they Started adding some barricades, and then some more barricades and then some more fences, and then you're just further and further and further away because there are real threats, including now from one of the leading Democrat presidential candidates, J.B. pritzker, who has gone right back to the Democrat playbook and has said that there might be political violence in America, but it's Trump's

[F]

fault because of the political violence. I think that the anti Semites out there and the people who are racist, because they know that I stand up for communities of color, have come out of the woodwork and, you know, and I receive threats. I'm sure that politicians across the country are receiving more threats than they have before, but I hear about it, and in particular, sometimes I hear the mention of my Judaism. Right. Of my religion that has spiked in

[B]

the last couple years.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

Like threats against you and your family.

[F]

Yeah. I mean, I, I don't want to overstate it, but it's true. And, and, and it's more than it was in years before.

[B]

What's the driver of that, do you think?

[F]

I, I, I think the environment. Look, our, our leaders set the tone in this country, and I think that the President of the United States has set a tone where political violence is. Okay. He's advocated it himself before. It's a terrible thing. I mean, he's experienced.

[B]

He's the target of it, too, obviously.

[F]

That's what I'm saying. He's experienced the other side of that. We gotta stand up against this. We need to be speaking out against political violence. I'm a big believer in it's okay to disagree but not be disagreeable.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm a big believer in that. You know, I just, I think it's really important to have civil dialogue. And that's why Trump, who my side has tried to murder at least three times, my side, which also murdered the leading conservative activist in the country, and openly celebrates and encourages political violence against all ordinary conservatives. I just think it's really important to tone down the rhetoric, you know. So, for starters, this specific example he's using, I guess Pritzker's Jewish. I didn't even know Pritzker's Jewish. He says, you know, it's all this anti Semitism. You say there is. There's always anti Semitism throughout history. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's a little less. Worse, better, I think is the word for that. But it's always kind of there. It's always bubbled, you know, because of cultural tensions. It exists on the left and the right, there's no doubt. Where does most of it come from? Where do most of the kefia protests, the kids on college and the adults on college campuses, like harassing Jewish students? Where does most of the defund Israel? Where does that stuff come from? Is it the left or the right? Maybe it's a little bit on both. It's the left. And so that, I mean, totally crazy to blame that on Trump, who's got a town in Israel named after him. Give me a break. But then he goes at the broader point. He says, yeah, this political violence, Trump sets the tone. In other words, it's his fault. You have even the Atlantic acknowledging that political violence is a left wing problem now. You have Charlie Kirk struck down in cold blood. You have Trump has part of his ear blown off. Do the Democrats, do they get introspective at all? No, no, not in the least. They just go right out there and they say it's still Trump's fault. Even the political violence, which, by the way, in the face of all the violence already coming from the left, to go out there and say something like this is to say to one's fellow comrades, keep it up, keep it up. You're getting closer. Okay? Much more that I want to get to, much more on the decadence and decay of society, because AI is about to unleash a level of stupidity that you are totally, totally unprepared for. But we don't have time to get to it because I got to run. So maybe we'll get to that tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. See you tomorrow.