Ep. 2020 - AOC Is Either Lying Or Crazy

Summary

The Michael Knowles Show
Episode 2020: "AOC Says She's 'Working Class,' Not a 'Leftist' — Do You Buy It?"
Date: July 21, 2026
Host: Michael Knowles (The Daily Wire)

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Overview

In this episode, Michael Knowles dissects the Democratic Party’s current push to rebrand itself as the champion of the “working class,” exploring its sincerity and effectiveness. He focuses on Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (AOC) recent assertion that she is “working class, not a militant leftist,” and questions the credibility of such claims given the party’s recent history and pronouncements. The conversation also delves into recent controversial statements by progressive influencers like Hasan Piker, polling data suggesting a shift in voter alignment, and topical news stories that underscore broader themes of populism, cultural radicalism, and social priorities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hasan Piker’s Endorsement of Mao Zedong & Its Implications (02:04-05:49)

• Background: Hasan Piker, popular left-wing streamer, openly praises Mao Zedong, calling him “one of the great leaders of this world,” acknowledging Mao’s “excesses.”
• Knowles’ Response: Points out Mao’s responsibility for tens of millions of deaths, suggesting Piker encapsulates the American left’s tolerance for political violence.
• Insight: Knowles argues that while most Democratic figures avoid such extreme statements, their ongoing association with Piker signals tacit approval of radical ideology.
• Quote:
  • Hasan Piker (02:18): “Mao Zedong is… one of the great leaders of this world… a man who changed the entire universe. Yes, there was a lot of excesses. Let’s be real.”
  • Knowles (03:53): “This is the guy who said the streets should run red in capitalist blood... called for the murder of Senator Rick Scott in Florida... said America deserved 9/11. And this is the guy that Democrats to this day choose to be associated with.”

2. The Left’s Attempted Pivot to Economic Populism (05:49-14:20)

• Democratic Messaging Shift: High-profile progressives like Zoran Mamdani and AOC are attempting to reposition themselves as working-class champions, pivoting away from “woke” cultural radicalism.
• Mamdani’s Working-Class Definition: Mamdani bungles the definition by suggesting anyone earning under $1 million/year can be “working class.”
  • New York Times interview exchange illustrates confusion and evasion about class definitions.
• Knowles’ Analysis:
  • Ridicules the idea that a janitor earning $40,000 and a lawyer earning $900,000 could occupy the same class.
  • Highlights real working- or middle-class status as based on both income (typically $30,000-$60,000/year) and occupation (often trade or manual labor), as well as educational attainment.
• Main Point: The Democratic left’s appeal is primarily cultural, not economic; attempts at economic populism ring hollow to true working-class Americans, whose support the left is failing to win.
• Quote:
  • Knowles (08:45): “If you’re making $999,000.99 per year, you’re working class. And [Mamdani] says, ‘No, no, no, that’s not what I’m saying…’ But yes, that is what I’m saying.”
  • (10:11): “It’s just absurd to suggest that those people are in the same socioeconomic class.”

3. AOC’s “Working Class” Label and Recent History (14:20-21:03)

• AOC’s Politico Interview: Hints at a 2028 presidential run, claims she is “working class, not a militant leftist.”
  • “I come from a working class family. I didn’t come from a militant leftist family.” (17:03)
• Knowles’ Critique: Cites AOC’s past radical statements and policy positions (prison abolition, extreme support for transgender initiatives) as evidence of her leftist bona fides.
• Argument: The left is “cynically rebranding” for electoral gain, but cannot shed its cultural radicalism, nor can it credibly claim to represent the working class.
• Memorable Moment:
  • Knowles (19:25): “I’m not a militant leftist. I’m just working class. Now hold on, I got these hedge clippers over here. Give me your kid. Give me your little boy. I’m not. No, don’t worry. I’m not a radical leftist. I just want to castrate your child. But I’m working class.”

4. Polling Data: GOP Defies Historical Trends Leading Into the Midterms (21:16-27:36)

• Polling Surprise:
  • Washington Post/Ipsos congressional ballot poll: Democrats 48%, Republicans 45%
  • On core issues, Republicans now edge Democrats in public trust; on the economy, Republicans lead 39%-35%.
• Knowles’ Perspective: These results defy historical expectations—GOP typically fares far worse during a president’s first midterm, especially with a unified government and in light of current challenges (war with Iran, immigration policy).
• Quote:
  • Knowles (25:52): “It actually boggles the mind… Republicans are dominating. And even on the generic congressional ballot, it’s basically a tie.”

5. Election Security & The Olive Garden Metaphor (28:13-31:56)

• Story: Olive Garden’s “never ending pasta pass” now has stricter security features than American elections.
• Knowles’ Point: Satirizes Democratic opposition to voter ID laws, suggesting that if Olive Garden can administer security for a $100 promotion, so should the U.S. for critical democratic processes.
• Quote:
  • Knowles (31:43): “They’re saying we can’t have voter ID because what, the average voter isn’t as smart as the average Olive Garden customer? Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

6. Taco Bell, Blame, and Media Sensationalism (31:57-37:48)

• Background: Scientists had incorrectly blamed Taco Bell for recent foodborne illness outbreaks—later retracted as a “false positive.”
• Satirical Take: Knowles humorously ties the episode to media sensationalism, mocking the disproportionate coverage of minor news compared to real national problems.

7. Democrats’ Cultural Radicalism—Case Study: Ashley Webb, “Trans Menstrual Cycle” (37:48-42:32)

• Story: Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, Ashley Webb, claims to secrete mucus as part of a “trans menstrual cycle,” drawing viral attention.
• Knowles’ Reaction: Highlights the absurdity and dissonance between real working-class concerns and the issues prioritized by Democratic candidates.
• Connection to AOC: Challenges AOC and others to “put their money where their mouth is” by endorsing Webb, given their professions of support for trans rights.
• Quote:
  • Webb (39:19): “During that time, like, I also leak, like a mucus, which they can’t really explain.”
  • Knowles (41:08): “Ashley Webb needs to be the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine… that would authentically reflect where the left stands a hell of a lot more than economic populism would.”

8. Reflections on Women in Combat & National Values (42:32-47:43)

• News: Three US soldiers (including a 19-year-old woman) killed in renewed Iranian hostilities.
• Broader Reflection: Knowles laments America’s decision (influenced by recent liberal and feminist politics) to send women into combat, citing a sense of moral wrongness and historical departure from precedent.
• Quote:
  • Knowles (44:47): “The young woman’s death hits people harder because it is an indictment of our national policy. People know at a deep level that nations should not send their women off to die in war.”
  • (46:38): “Do we want to be the kind of country that sends our young women off to be blown up by jihadis? I don’t think so.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments (With Timestamps)

• Hasan Piker, endorsing Mao Zedong:

  • “Mao Zedong is… one of the great leaders of this world. A man who changed the entire universe. The entire planet. Ok? For real? For real? Yes. I mean, there was a lot of excesses. Let’s be real.” (02:18)

• Knowles on the left’s class rebrand:

  • “But Hassan Piker will just state it openly. But they all believe it. All of the other evils of Mao aside, he killed a lot of people… the only shocking thing about Hasan Piker’s statement is that he will state it explicitly, whereas the rest of the left, including the mainstream left, just kind of wink at it.” (04:03)

• Zoran Mamdani on working class definition:

  • “I’ve drawn it at about a million dollars a year.” (06:53)
  • Knowles: "It's just absurd to suggest that those people [janitor & high-earning lawyer] are in the same socioeconomic class." (10:11)

• AOC’s 2028 Presidential Hints & Rebrand:

  • “I come from a working class family. I didn’t come from a militant leftist family.” (17:03)

• Knowles, satirizing AOC’s rebrand:

  • “I’m not a militant leftist. I’m just working class. Now hold on, I got these hedge clippers over here. Give me your kid. Give me your little boy. I’m not. No, don’t worry. I’m not a radical leftist. I just want to castrate your child. But I’m working class.” (19:25)

• GOP momentum in polling:

  • “Democrats 48, Republicans 45. Democrats are leading by three points…I don’t see the margin of error on this poll. That could be within the margin of error. What?... Democrats 40, Republicans 41.” (25:10-25:27)
  • “It actually boggles the mind.” (25:52)

• Olive Garden vs. Election Security:

  • “Olive Garden has tougher security measures than American elections.” (28:30)
  • “What a great deal. What a great country we live in. What a great contribution of the Italian Americans to give us a place like Olive Garden that has a never ending pasta pass.” (29:52)

• Ashley Webb on “trans menstrual cycle:”

  • “During that time, like, I also leak, like a mucus, which they can’t really explain.” (39:19)
  • “This is a direct quote from him. In another interview, 'when you don’t have the proper hole, it finds one of two exits. My exit connection was made with my colon. Cause when I get this monthly pain, that is where the blood comes out of.'” (40:17)

• On the morality of sending women to war:

  • “It is just an absolute wicked national policy that we would send our women off to be killed in war.” (45:02)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:04] – Hasan Piker’s comments on Mao Zedong
• [06:42] – Zoran Mamdani’s working class definition, NYT interview exchange
• [16:29] – AOC’s Politico interview, potential 2028 run and “working class” rhetoric
• [21:16] – Discussion of surprising midterm polling data
• [28:13] – Olive Garden’s “never ending pasta pass” vs. U.S. election security
• [37:48] – Ashley Webb’s “trans menstrual cycle” claims and viral notoriety
• [42:32] – Reflection on soldiers killed in Iran, especially discussion of women in combat

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Tone and Style

• Tone: Satirical, pointed, and unapologetically critical of progressive politics and Democratic messaging.
• Language: Conversational, occasionally irreverent, with frequent use of sarcasm and illustrative analogies. Knowles maintains a polemical approach throughout, mixing topical analysis with biting humor.

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Conclusion

Michael Knowles uses the episode to highlight what he sees as the inauthenticity and strategic posturing of leading Democrats as they attempt to appeal to working-class voters—exemplified by AOC’s and Mamdani's awkward pivot while their cultural radicalism remains evident. He argues that this disconnect, plus ongoing cultural missteps, may explain counterintuitive polling favoring Republicans even in challenging circumstances. The episode also features light-hearted cultural commentary (Olive Garden, Taco Bell), but always returns to its central themes: the troubled relationship between leftist elites and real working-class Americans, and the broader identity crisis facing the Democratic Party.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Cardiff, America's favorite small business lender with over 12 billion funded since 2004. Apply in under 3 minutes for same day funding up to $500,000 at Cardiff Co Knowles. While the Democrats attempt a major working class rebrand led by AOC and Zoran Mamdani, streamer Hasan Piker reveals what they're really thinking. With a pre midterms endorsement of communist dictator Mao Zedong, we will get into the fake populism push and the polling, shocking polling really, that explains why the Democrats are so desperate to make it happen. Then Olive Garden institutes better security measures than American elections. And scientists unfairly blame Taco Bell for the recent explosive outbreak of the old Aztec two step. I'm Michael Knowles.

[B]

This is the Michael Knowles Show.

[A]

Welcome back to the show. Democrat Senate candidate in Maine, Ashley Webb has just revealed that he secretes mucus during his trans menstrual cycle. So we will analyze the the top Democrat candidates around the country, the priorities that are top of mind for all of them. I'm sure that one just right above the economy, immigration and foreign policy. I'm sure trans menstrual mucus is right

[B]

there on your priority list.

[A]

Before we get to any of that though, Hasan Piker, left wing streamer, who is one of the leaders really of the American left in the Democrat Party. Don't have to take my word for it. The New York Times, after any major national event, they're looking to Hasan Piker for thought leadership. Democrat candidates who are running for office.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Top Democrat candidates, Mamdani, AOC they're looking to Hasan Piker for thought leadership. Here is Hasan Piker, thought leader of the left, endorsing Mao Zedong. Ahead of the midterms, I got stopped

[C]

by a cop who thought I was like making fun of Mao Zedong, which I never would and never will. Mao Zedong is a. Is one of the great leaders of this world, ok? A man who changed the entire universe. The entire planet. Ok? For real? For real? Yes. I mean, there was a lot of excesses. Let's be real. But the People's Republic of China would not exist without Mao Zedong.

[A]

Okay, so Mao Zedong, one of the great leaders of our world, he's been dead for a little while.

[B]

I don't know if Mr. Piker's aware

[A]

of that, but he says he changed the universe.

[B]

He didn't. Not just the country, not just the world. He changed the whole universe. He was one of the great leaders.

[A]

And so Hasan Piker will never make Fun of him.

[B]

Mao Zedong, of course, for those who

[A]

missed history class in school, or probably

[B]

for those who attended history class in

[A]

school, Mao Zedong killed an estimated, I'm being somewhat conservative. In my estimates, 30 to 45 million people during the Great Leap Forward alone,

[B]

he killed an additional 2 to 8 million people through political persecution.

[A]

The number could actually be much higher than that.

[B]

I'm being relatively restrained here.

[A]

In my estimates. However, before we clutch our pearls, before we feign shock and outrage that one of the real thought leaders of the American left is openly endorsing Mao Zedong, we should remember he's already told us this. This is the guy who said that the streets should run red in capitalist

[B]

blood, who's called for the murder of

[A]

Senator Rick Scott in Florida, who's called for the murder of Senator Tom Cotton. This is the guy who said that

[B]

America deserved 9, 11.

[A]

And this is the guy that Democrats to this day choose to be associated with Mamdani, giving him fist bumps and high fives. Aoc Big Democrat leaders. He's going out there, he's campaigning for people. The New York Times is platforming him time and time again. So that's who they are, that's what they believe. And the only difference, the only shocking thing about Hasan Piker's statement is that he will state it explicitly, whereas the rest of the left, including the mainstream left, just kind of wink at it. They wink at it, they imply it, but Hassan Piker will just state it openly. But they all believe it. All of the other evils of Mao aside, he killed a lot of people. He killed a lot of his political opponents. But then again, a lot of the mainstream left supports political violence against his political opponents. Hasan Piker is just more open about it. And so in some ways, you gotta kinda give Piker some credit. He's just saying the quiet part out loud. He's being more consistent and honest about what a lot of the left believes in. That's why they keep embracing him. You know, it's not even like we're trying. I remember there was this op in,

[B]

when was it, 2010 or something, where the Democrat strategists tried to say that

[A]

Rush Limbaugh was the de facto head of the Republican Party. He wasn't really the head of the Republican Party. He was an important broadcaster, an important

[B]

voice on the right, without question, very. You know, he was the guy who

[A]

was the king of talk radio, but he wasn't the de facto head of the Republican Party when it comes to a guy like Hasan Piker. I'm not saying he's the head of the Democrat Party. I'm just saying he's without question one of the most important thought leaders on the left. And he supports murdering moderate Republicans in

[B]

the Senate, and he supports Mao Zedong.

[A]

So it's an important thing to keep in mind for the midterms. And I think voters know that, and I think it's showing up in the polls. So this is why, speaking of Mamdani, the Democrats are trying to make a hard pivot right now. The Democrats, which in recent years have been defined by woke, by trans rights for kids or whatever, boys and girls bathrooms, by abortion on demand without apology, by slut walks by, totally open borders by the George Floyd riots. The left, which has been defined by woke, is trying to shift away from this cultural radicalism toward economic populism. You're seeing a coordinated effort between Mamdani, AOC and others. They're screwing it up, though.

[B]

Here's Mamdani screwing it up with the New York Times just yesterday when he

[A]

was asked, hey, you say you're a working class hero. What is the working class? And according to Mamdani, the working class is people who make less than a million dollars a year.

[D]

I've drawn it at about a million dollars a year.

[E]

Okay, so anyone under a million dollars a year in income is working class.

[A]

That's not what I'm saying.

[D]

I'm just saying in terms of the practicality when it comes to fiscal policy, Right. I think a lot of our politics has been a debate over who you leave out. And I'm more interested in debates how you bring more in. And I think that that is.

[F]

It's.

[D]

It's part of what I'm looking to be a part of is a vision where people understand, no matter what you call it, that there's room for them, too. But yes, I do want to raise taxes on people who make more than a million a year.

[E]

It just feels like someone who is a janitor is going to feel some kind of way about that description. If you're lumping them in with someone who is a lawyer, that feels like a distinction that might matter. Do you think everyone's in the same club?

[D]

You know, when I was running, a lot of the questions I would face is, what does it mean to be a Democratic socialist? And I only bring that up because I think sometimes there's a fixation on a definition of something. And what I found is when I would knock on New Yorker's doors, they would just ask, am I part of your Vision, okay?

[A]

So you got to give credit to the New York Times here. They're doing it in the New York Times easiest way. You know, I just feel like people are gonna feel like kind of some kind of way, you know, like with the big liberal glasses and the kind of crazy clothes. But they ask the question, they say, okay, so you're a working class hero. So what's the working class?

[B]

And he says, well, you know, I'm

[A]

gonna raise taxes on people who make

[B]

more than a million bucks a year. So the woman goes, hold on.

[A]

If you're making $999,000.99 per year, you're working class. And he says, no, no, no, that's

[B]

not what I'm saying. But yes, that is what I'm saying.

[A]

And, you know, I just want to bring people in and I just want. And you know, why do we even. It's like, what do words even mean, man? You know, it's like, hold on one second. New York Times.

[B]

Let me just pull up this bong here.

[A]

It's like, man, what do words. Why do we care about definitions, man?

[B]

Oh, well, we care about definitions because the way we communicate is through words, which are signs. And in order for the communication, you

[A]

need to have a common understanding of

[B]

the meaning of the words, which is why you have definitions. That's why.

[A]

But politicians like you, who are cheats and crooks, you try to obscure the

[B]

definitions of words so that you can

[A]

try to get one over on us. But he can't even get one over on the New York Times. It's a very good follow up from

[B]

the New York Times, which is.

[A]

Hold on. You wanna say you're a working class hero, so you run on a campaign

[B]

platform of eat the rich.

[A]

But then you get into office and you realize you need the support of some rich people, so you decide that you're just gonna redefine working class to include people who make a million bucks a year. Don't you think? A janitor working two jobs for very low pay in unpleasant conditions and some hotshot lawyer at Cravath Swain and more who makes a million dollars a year. Don't you think that the janitor might object to your lumping him in with that person? Wouldn't anybody object? It's just absurd to suggest that those people are in the same socioeconomic class.

[B]

Mom, Donnie says enough with definitions, man.

[A]

You know, Come on. What is the working class? The median household income in the United States is actually higher than I thought it was. The median household income in the US

[B]

right now is $84,000.

[A]

Now that's not owing to real wages

[B]

rising mostly, it's mostly due to inflation.

[A]

But nevertheless, median household income is $84,000. The working class income is somewhere in

[B]

the range of 30 to 60 thousand dollars.

[A]

Now income doesn't tell the whole story.

[B]

You could have a super rich guy who sold his company for 20 million bucks and he has not a lot of income.

[A]

So you also have to include net worth. Working class net worth is estimated between $20,000 and $100,000. All of those numbers are gonna be higher in New York and California cuz

[B]

there's higher cost of living cuz there's bad liberal economic policies.

[A]

Nevertheless, the point that the New York Times lady's making is that there's an economic component to the working class which Mamdani gets wrong. By basically no definition of the working class can someone who makes a million

[B]

dollars a year be considered working class.

[A]

But there's also a.

[B]

There's a quantitative element.

[A]

There's also a qualitative element, which is that working class usually implies a physical job, a tradesman, say a manual laborer. The term working class usually implies something about education. It usually implies no college education. The reason this is really important is because there are lots of tradesmen who didn't go to college, who make more money than PhDs in gender studies, who are associate or adjunct professors at some kooky liberal school. In other words, there are people who qualitatively seem like they're in a higher, more prestigious class who actually make less money than the people who qualitatively are categorized in a lower class. And this is brutal for the Democrats class politics, because when it comes to the actual working class people who are tradesmen, who have an actual physical skill, who regardless of their income, they're not making $2 million a year at Gravity, Swain and Moore. But the people who fit into that

[B]

category don't support Mom Donnie. That's the real key.

[A]

Mamdani's strongest support in the election came

[B]

from the middle and upper middle income voters.

[A]

And so Mamdani's class warrior appeal does not appeal to the working class by any definition. Whether you're talking about money, whether you're

[B]

talking about skill set, whether you're talking about education.

[A]

Mamdani does not appeal to the working

[B]

class, to tradesmen, to truck drivers, to manual laborers. That's not who he's appealing to.

[A]

He, he's appealing to a trust fund kid. Even if the kid doesn't make a lot of money, the trust Fund kid who's a Columbia graduate student who's getting

[B]

a degree in social work or in

[A]

sociology or something like that. In other words, Mamdani's appeal, he appeals to immigrants and some. That's one area where in some cases you're getting a lower income. But it's not like what you call the working class. In other words, Mamdani's appeal is cultural.

[B]

It's not primarily economic.

[A]

Which is why the Democrats attempting this rebrand away from woke, which is a cultural movement into economic populism is not going to work. The right, right now, I'm sure they're gonna figure out a way to screw it up. But the right Republicans right now do a much better job on economic populism. Running against mass migration. It's basically just the Republicans and Bernie

[B]

Sanders who understand how to run against that.

[A]

That's economic populism. Running on tariffs. That's economic populism. Running against NAFTA and globalization and unfettered free trade, that's economic populism. The Dems can't do that. The Dems are running on chopping off your kids genitals. That's what the demo. That's what they're running on. They're running on Mao Zedong, even that. That is actually cultural radicalism that appeals to the Columbia graduate student.

[B]

It does not appeal to the carpenter.

[A]

Okay, now aoc, who is smarter at

[B]

this than mom Donnie?

[A]

She's attempting her own version of it. That's also gonna flop. But she might run for president.

[B]

We'll get to that in a moment. First though, I wanna tell you about Hallow. Download Hallow and use code Knowles K

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

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[A]

Keep your spiritual life in order to AOC in Politico. A story that really kind of began on this show.

[B]

Actually, not to take too much credit, but it kind of began on this show because I interviewed the vice president two or three weeks ago. And in it, I asked him, who's the Democrat nominee in 2028?

[A]

And he said, oh, there's no question, Michael.

[B]

And before he said, Gavin Newsom, which is what I was expecting, he said, there's no question it's aoc. I said, what?

[A]

No, you mean that? He goes, oh, yeah, there's no question.

[B]

She's the frontrunner right now, and she's

[A]

been getting a lot of presidential buzz,

[B]

and she's not exactly pooh, poohing it.

[A]

The latest headline, after a conversation with Politico. She says she has not ruled out a 2028 run, which, to translate that from politician speak, means she desperately wants

[B]

to run for president in 2028.

[A]

She's doing everything she can to line up donors and some popular support. Oh, I haven't ruled it out. That means I am running like my life depends on it. Though she adds this, she goes, I

[B]

am working class, not a militant leftist. This is her new line. She says, hold on.

[A]

Where is the exact wording? That's the headline wording.

[B]

Yes, here it is.

[A]

I come from a working class family.

[B]

I didn't come from a militant leftist family.

[A]

I. I believe that these are prescriptions

[B]

that are gonna help us as a country. So this.

[A]

Look, guys, my opponents have been portraying me as some crazy, kooky leftist, some culture warrior. That's not me. I'm just working class. This is the rebrand. There was a memo that went out. I guarantee it. There was a memo that went out from the Democrat campaign operations that say, hey, stop painting yourselves as woke. Definitely stop painting yourselves as leftists. Paint yourselves as working class. That is identifiable with a lot of voters. 35% of Americans identify themselves as working class, even if their income and their

[B]

wealth don't necessarily fit that definition.

[A]

They identify that way. So identify yourself as working class. This is Gramscian politics. 101. This is when the left is really cooking.

[B]

This is what they do.

[A]

We're common sense. We're working class.

[B]

We want economic populism. It doesn't work for AOC though, because I recall on. Let's see, when was this? October 7, 2019. AOC tweets out. I know the term prison abolition is breaking some people's brains. The right is already freaking out. Yes, the US incarcerates more than anywhere in the world. We have more than enough room to close many of our prisons and explore just alternatives to incarceration.

[A]

I'm not a radical leftist. I'm just working class. Now let's empty all the prisons and

[B]

let all the criminals out on the street.

[A]

Let's storm the Bastille. I'm just working class.

[B]

November 17, 2025. AOC writes this. Transgender Awareness Week. We celebrate the resilience, courage and beauty of the trans community. Your lives matter, your stories matter, and your right to thrive and exist authentically is non negotiable. We stand with you today in everyday trans flag.

[A]

I'm not a militant leftist. I'm just an economic working class class warrior.

[B]

Are you AOC?

[A]

October 14, 2025.

[B]

This is just eight months ago. Nine months ago.

[A]

Congresswoman AOC shares powerful message of support for trans kids. I'm not a militant leftist. I'm just working class. Now hold on, I got these hedge clippers over here. Give me your kid. Give me your little boy. I'm not. No, don't worry. I'm not a radical leftist. I just want to castrate your child. But I'm working class. Don't worry, I've got common sense.

[B]

I'm a normal person. It's not gonna work. Not gonna work at all.

[A]

The left made its bed with wokeness

[B]

and we need to rhetorically

[A]

wrap that

[B]

one around their necks. I mean this one really is inescapable for the left. It's inescapable cuz there are just so many tweets, there are just so many clips. This is why James Talarico is having a big problem in Texas right now is every time he tries to position himself as a moderate.

[A]

You know, I'm just straight white male Christian. But every time he does that, there's some clip of him saying that God

[B]

is non binary or that using the blessed Virgin Mary to justify abortion to say that women are our neighbors with uteruses. It's just there's too much evidence from too recently that these guys are super woke.

[A]

But the other problem for them is they can't be economic populists because their base of support is not the working class. Their base of support really is wealthier people. And so even if they were able to pivot and make a real economic populist message, it wouldn't work for them. What their base wants is not true economic populism. Their base hates the tariffs. Their base loves free trade.

[B]

Their base does not want to reshore manufacturing.

[A]

Their base thinks manufacturers are icky and yucky. They think they're gross hoi polloi. The left wing base thinks it is

[B]

much better than the manufacturers and the tradesmen and the carpenters and the laborers and the truck drivers.

[A]

It just doesn't work. There's no overlap. So really all the left can muster

[B]

if it wants to get some attention, if it wants to seem avant garde or new or different, is the cultural radicalism.

[A]

So they're really boxed in, and I

[B]

can't wait to watch them squirm.

[A]

Okay, all of this is showing up in the polls in my how long has it been? It's been 30 years since I've been a political nerd. Arguably more than that.

[B]

I first got interested in politics when my grandfather taught me it's a grand old flag in his kitchen when I was about two years old.

[A]

I got interested in politics when I was 23 years old.

[B]

I have distinct memories of this, by

[A]

the way, when Bill Clinton was running

[B]

for President and George H.W. bush said, Read my lips, no new taxes. That was one of the first phrases I recall.

[A]

I know I'm like a young Republican

[B]

built in a laboratory, but that was one of the first phrases I ever learned.

[A]

I campaigned to run my first grade

[B]

classroom for Bob Dole 1996. That's where I really traced the beginning of my political life. And in all of those years, I have just seen the craziest poll I've ever seen in politics. And it's about these midterm elections. We'll get to that momentarily. First, I want to tell you about helix. Go to helixsleep.com knowles kennewles you want to perform at the highest level, then you cannot ignore sleep.

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[B]

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[A]

The GOP is supposed to get blown

[B]

out in the midterms. Supposed to get completely destroyed.

[A]

It's supposed to get completely destroyed even

[B]

if things are going really well.

[A]

Because that's what happens in the first

[B]

midterm election after a party wins the presidency.

[A]

That is especially what happens in the

[B]

first midterm election after a party wins the presidency. The House of Representatives, the Senate, and holds the Supreme Court.

[A]

When one party is unified government, you

[B]

are supposed to get destroyed in the midterm elections.

[A]

That's assuming everything's going really well. But things aren't totally going well in

[B]

the sense that we are currently in this war with Iran that most people don't wanna get into.

[A]

Most people do trust Trump. Most people on the right, I should say, trust Trump. But the war itself is deeply unpopular.

[B]

It's causing economic disruptions, mostly cause of the oil markets. You're at a time where President Trump won on mass deportations.

[A]

But there have been a lot of

[B]

hurdles to mass deportations, such thus far, we've had fewer than a million formal deportations. We've had more self deportations, but fewer than a million formal deportations.

[A]

So there's discontent that was already baked

[B]

in and that's come about. You would expect the Republicans to be

[A]

in the negative numbers. You would expect the Republicans not only to lose seats in the midterm elections,

[B]

you would expect them to be like exiled to Saturn. Okay. And yet here's the poll. Washington Post, Ipsos poll, July 9th through the 13th. Generic congressional ballot 2026. Democrats 48, Republicans 45. Democrats are leading by three points.

[A]

I don't see the margin of error on this poll.

[B]

That could be within the margin of error. What?

[E]

What?

[B]

Which political party do you agree with more on important issues? Democrats 40, Republicans 41.

[A]

In a midterm election that by historical

[B]

and even current calculations should see the

[A]

Republicans getting completely destroyed.

[B]

They're actually more popular than the Democrats. Which political party do you trust to do a better job handling the economy? Democrats 35, Republicans 39. It actually boggles the mind.

[A]

It's not like this is some super right wing poll.

[B]

Usually Rasmussen trends a little more right wing. They also tend to get things correct. But nevertheless, we're looking at WaPo and Ipsos, and Republicans are dominating. And even on the generic congressional ballot, it's basically a tie. If this is true,

[A]

that means that everyone's. The big debate right now is, are

[B]

the Republicans gonna lose the House or are they also gonna lose the Senate?

[A]

That's the debate. However, if these poll numbers are correct, the Republicans might hold the House. If these poll numbers are correct, along with redistricting, because the Democrats tried to

[B]

racially gerrymander, and the US Supreme Court and the Virginia Supreme Court both struck

[A]

that down, so the Republicans got a

[B]

net gain of a handful of seats. Not as many as they could have, but a handful. If all of that is true, you could see the Republicans.

[A]

I don't think this is gonna happen. You could see the Republicans picking up

[B]

seats in the midterms.

[A]

And if that is the case, if

[B]

the GOP survives or even kind of thrives in the midterms, we need to

[A]

repeal the 22nd amendment and we need

[B]

Trump to be Caesar.

[A]

We need Caesar Trump to rename his

[B]

son Baron Octavian, later to be Augustus.

[A]

It would signal such an upending of

[B]

historic trends in American politics.

[A]

It would signal that Trump just is

[B]

the GOP and is the strongest weapon we've had in the gop, certainly since Ronald Reagan.

[A]

And it's not just. I've heard people saying, I actually think we're gonna do really well. I think we're gonna grow the majority

[B]

in the midterms, for goodness sakes. I spoke with the speaker of the

[A]

House, Mike Johnson, a man I greatly admire, and we spoke months ago, and

[B]

I said, how you feeling about the midterms? He said, I think we're gonna grow the majority. And I thought, can I have whatever drug that guy's on?

[A]

Can I please have, sir, what is in your coffee? And then I kind of wrote it off.

[B]

And I said, look, it's his job to be optimistic. It's his job to be hopeful.

[A]

Now it's showing up in the polling. That would be pretty crazy. Now, speaking of election security right now, one fear for the Republicans is the

[B]

Democrats are very good at rigging the Elections. That was part of the President's national address the other night on all the ways that our election systems are very vulnerable to foreign hacking. How this has been demonstrated, how there are many foreign nationals on the federal rolls, over a quarter million foreign national the federal voter rolls.

[A]

We have now discovered that Olive Garden

[B]

has tougher security measures than our elections.

[A]

Because Olive Garden has just come out

[B]

with the latest version of their never ending pasta pass.

[A]

The never ending pasta pass.

[B]

I'm not totally familiar with this.

[A]

The never ending pasta pass means you pay $100 and then for 13 weeks you get unlimited pasta. At Olive Garden you get unlimited pasta along with this is amazing super salad and breadsticks. You just get as much as you want. You pay $100 once you get 13 weeks of that. This is the greatest investment in America. But look, it's Olive Garden. It's not like that expensive from the

[B]

broader standpoint of dining.

[A]

And

[B]

that has tougher security measures than American elections. I'm being informed by the producers, Professor Jacob and his girlfriend Destiny. They got a never ending pasta pass.

[A]

I guess my look good on them.

[B]

And unfortunately it's not transferable or I would rob Jacob after this show.

[A]

Cuz my two takeaways from this are. First takeaway, I want that.

[B]

That sounds delicious. I want the pasta pass. I can't even offer to buy it from someone because you can't. It's not transferable.

[A]

But I want the pasta pass.

[B]

What a great deal. What a great country we live in. What a great contribution of the Italian Americans to give us a place like Olive Garden that has a never ending pasta pass. That's beautiful.

[A]

It's my main thought. My second thought though is the pasta

[B]

pass is the perfect indictment of Democrat election rigging.

[A]

We talk about this, we say, hold

[B]

on, you gotta show an ID to get a pack of cigarettes. You gotta show an ID to buy a beer. But you don't think that we should have a higher threshold or at least the same threshold of security for our elections.

[A]

That's a lot more important than buying a pack of cigarettes. But when it comes to Olive Garden, it's even better because what the Democrats say. The Democrats main pitch against the Save America Act. The Democrats pitch against voter ID, which is an 8515 issue in America.

[B]

Everybody supports voter ID except for Democrat politicians.

[A]

Their argument against it is that black people and women are too stupid to get IDs. That's actually their argument. And maybe Hispanics too. Their argument is that blacks and Hispanics

[B]

and women are really, really stupid.

[A]

Completely incompetent. Barely human, only arguably sentient, and they can't go get an idiot. What's so funny about the Olive Garden comparison is that Olive Garden, it's not considered Michelin rated dining, right? It's not. Olive Garden is not the most exclusive

[B]

restaurant in the world.

[A]

Olive Garden is a very accessible restaurant. Olive Garden's patrons are not the upper

[B]

crust of the upper crust of the socioeconomic ladder.

[A]

It's kind of a middle class restaurant. It's accessible to working class and the Democrats who are supposed to be the working class heroes. The party that's really in touch with the common man. They're saying we can't have voter ID because what, the average voter isn't as

[B]

smart as the average Olive Garden customer?

[A]

Is that it? Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. What are we doing here folks? Love it. I love keep promoting the pasta pass.

[B]

Also I want a pasta pass.

[A]

Speaking of popular dining options, Taco Bell is under fire because they have been

[B]

blamed by scientists for a recent brutal

[A]

much reported on outbreak of Montezuma's Revenge. There is if you read the news,

[B]

if you watch the news on TV or on podcasts, apparently there is an

[A]

historic explosive spate of the Aztec two

[B]

step and scientists have been blaming Taco Bell and I am coming to Taco Bell's defense. First though, I want to tell you about Brickhouse Nutrition. Check out Brickhouse nutrition. Go to takelean.com, enter code knowles. This episode is sponsored by Brickhouse Nutrition. If you've paid attention to the news or if you've just listened to people talking, you've noticed the explosion in popularity of these weight loss injections. They seem to be everywhere and a lot of people are seeing dramatic results because they help regulate blood sugar and curb your appetite.

[A]

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[A]

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[A]

a n.com I did not pick the comment yesterday.

[B]

This is from the producers. It says Benjamin, not Netanyahu Davies. Why do you never pick a comment? Also, go follow the new behind the Wire Instagram. Behind the Wire. Oh, my goodness. That's what I get. That's what I get for not. It's behind the Wire underscore, by the way. That's what you gotta go look up. That's what I get. Cause I didn't pick the comment because I was busy doing all the other work for the show. Basically doing every single other part of the show and carrying this entire Daily Wire corporation on my shoulders. Like Atlas, we've been talking about Odysseus.

[A]

I am the atlas of the Daily

[B]

Wire, holding this all up.

[A]

And I ask for one thing from the producers. To pick the comment.

[B]

What do they do? They turn it into a commercial for their podcast behind the Wire, available on Dailywire and now on Instagram.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Taco Bell has been blamed for this outbreak of. It's called cyclospora. But the way it's being reported in the press is just as explosive. You know, I don't like to go blue on this show, but deli belly, you know what I'm talking about? You know, deli belly, you know what I'm saying? The old Montezuma.

[A]

Okay. The FDA now which blamed Taco Bell, is now walking back its claim Taco Bell was falsely accused. According to the New York Post, the FDA is walking back its initial claims that a Taco Bell lettuce supplier is

[B]

responsible for sickening hundreds of Americans with explosive excretions, saying that the original test results were a false positive. The stunning reversal comes after the agency double checked a lettuce sample which found that the leafy greens supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico did not have traces of cyclospora, the parasite that causes, in the New York Post's words, the crappy condition.

[A]

So there's a false positive.

[B]

They say there's, you know, basically you

[A]

have this huge group of people in

[B]

America who are running to the bathroom. There's this outbreak of some kind of parasite. They're all running for the water closet. And I'm using as many euphemisms as I can. And so we're gonna test and see if this came from Taco Bell.

[A]

And they said it did.

[B]

It definitely came from Taco Bell.

[A]

But then they reverse it, they say

[B]

no, that was a false positive.

[A]

And I guess just as someone.

[B]

I've been a Taco Bell customer for roughly 36 years of my life and

[A]

I would just say probably in retrospect,

[B]

the scientists should have expected a false positive there.

[A]

If they were merely looking for the outcome as proof of the parasite, they

[B]

were always gonna get a false positive.

[A]

It's like they didn't know what Taco Bell is. But we know.

[B]

And so you can't.

[A]

I guess what I'm saying is you need a control in science. You need a control to test whatever you're trying to test.

[B]

And you're not gonna get that control at Taco Bell.

[A]

Okay, that's enough of that, right? This is a high class show. The reason I mention this as a political matter though is it's wall to

[B]

wall coverage of this disgusting story. Cuz apparently some people are having the need to run over to the bathroom.

[A]

Okay, why is this major news? Do we really need a national campaign about this?

[B]

That if people eat a bad taco they might need to clear their afternoon?

[A]

Do we really need. It's not that big a deal. Do I really need to read about this every day? There are real problems in the world. Look, maybe this is why Trump is doing so well. Maybe this is why Republicans are doing

[B]

so well in the polls.

[A]

I thought we had bigger problems than this.

[B]

But if our bigger problem is people are running to the loo after Taco Bell, I don't know, I don't need. That's not a man bites dog story.

[A]

Now speaking of excretions, I promise the

[B]

show is gonna take a turn after this story. But I do have to get to this one cuz we're talking about the

[A]

Democrats failure to pivot from woke to economic populism.

[B]

We're talking about the Democrats apparent failure in the midterm elections thus far on the polls.

[A]

Ashley Webb, I don't know Ashley's real

[B]

name but he goes by Ashley Webb.

[A]

He is one of the main Senate Democrat candidates.

[B]

He is a trans activist. He says that he's a woman.

[A]

He is now going viral.

[B]

Not for his tax policy or his immigration policy. Or even his view of foreign policy.

[A]

But for his claim that even though he has an X and a Y

[B]

chromosome, even though he does not have ovaries or a uterus or anything like

[A]

that, he claims to have a menstrual cycle, which is evident from his derriere, because when he imagines himself to be

[B]

ovulating, he excretes mucus.

[A]

Future Senator Webb, take it away.

[G]

I would. I would feel really good on, like the 15th day of every cycle. And it was a 39, 29 day cycle that I was experiencing.

[F]

I mean, this sounds pretty. Sounds pretty cycling there. So let me read. I was gonna go ahead.

[G]

During that time, like, I also leak, like a mucus, which they can't really explain.

[F]

Oh, interesting, interesting. You want to call yourself transgender despite not necessarily knowing what all parts are inside.

[G]

Well, I mean, the doctors gave me the label and I want to keep it because I see, even if I'm intersex, like, the intersex community pretty much tossed me out and didn't want to talk to me. Oh,

[F]

any story there you want to finish?

[G]

I thought I had ovaries and possibly uterus. And I was asking him, like, I have these CAT scans. Can you take a look or. And, you know, tell me what you think. And I guess it annoyed them, so they kicked me out.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

So just to translate that for saner people, he. He says that he has a menstrual cycle.

[A]

But the exact quote.

[B]

This is a direct quote from him. In another interview, when you don't have the proper hole, it finds one of two exits. My exit connection was made with my colon. Cause when I get this monthly pain, that is where the blood comes out of. So he claimed that there was some biological aspect to his gender identity and he had medical scans and. No, that isn't real. That

[A]

even if what he was imagining

[B]

was real, the blood in his colon would have. That's just complete delusion. And so then he goes to hermaphrodites and people who are intersex who have gender ambiguity, and they kicked him out. They said, no, you're just a crazy guy who thinks he's a woman. And so he identifies as trans.

[A]

And anyway, I mention all of it to say that I want to reiterate

[B]

my full and complete endorsement of Ashley Webb for Senate. Sorry. For Democrat nominee for Senate.

[A]

Ashley Webb needs to be the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine. When AOC pull up the AOC tweet about trans solidarity. Where's my AOC tweet? Do you remember? Yeah, AOC Just last year said that she had a powerful message of support for trans kids. What about the other one? Trans Pride. This Transgender Awareness Week, we celebrate the resilience, courage and beauty of the trans community. Your lives matter, your stories matter, your right to thrive and exist authentically is non negotiable. We stand with you. Prove it, aoc. Prove it. Put your money where your mouth is. She wrote that in November of last year. Do you really believe that? Then I am calling on AOC to endorse Ashley Webb for Senate in Maine. If you really. If you're not just a liar who is abusing the LGBT community, cynically exploiting them to try to get some votes. If you really stand with the trans community every day, then stand with Ashley Webb, aoc and endorse Ashley Webb for Senate in Maine. That man needs. Sorry, that person needs to be the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine. Because you know what? That actually would authentically reflect the Democrat Party's priorities. That would authentically reflect where the left stands a hell of a lot more

[B]

than economic populism would. Okay, speaking of. Well, turning to, I suppose, more serious matters, I do want to get to some more frivolous stuff before we go, but turning to actually more serious matters. The Iran war is still going on. The Iran war has been, you know, it was on. Then there was a ceasefire, then there was an MoU. Now hostilities are back up. Iran violated the Memorandum of understanding, violated the ceasefire, fired missiles at US assets in Jordan, and recently killed. As of last night it was. Two were identified. Now it's three US soldiers. So the first one that the Department of War has identified as private Isabella Gonzalez, 19 years old, of Carrollton, Texas. Second one is First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25 years old, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The third, this one just came in this morning. I don't have his rank. It's Michael Emanuel Swinton, 30 years old. Very, very sad. We should pray for them. We should pray for their families as we are grateful for their service to the country. A sacrifice that the vast majority of Americans don't make anymore. We should do all of that. Then we should ask ourselves, when you

[A]

hear all of this very sad news, does any of it strike you as

[B]

particularly sad or particularly wrong? Put aside whatever you think of the Iran war, the particularities of the Iran war, just. America has engaged in lots of wars over the years. Some of which people thought were just. Some of which people thought were not. Just really. For every war, there's mixed opinion. But put aside your particular views of the Iran war. Just recognize that the United States is in some kind of war right now and these three soldiers have been confirmed killed. Does one of them bother you more than the others? And the answer is obviously yes. The sacrifice of the two young men is heartbreaking. But it's the 19 year old girl that it just feels different to us, doesn't it? Yes, because she's young, because she's younger, and also especially because she was a woman.

[A]

The young woman's death hits people harder because it is an indictment of our national policy.

[B]

People know at a deep level that nations should not send their women off to die in war.

[A]

We hope that we don't have to send anyone off to die in war, but we recognize that war exists.

[B]

War will always exist this side of the eschaton. And we're gonna send our men off to war. And it's gonna be the young men, by the way. It's not gonna be the old men we send off to war, it's gonna be the young men we send off to war.

[A]

And that's gonna make us think about

[B]

the reasons that we go to war and the justifications for war and the frequency of war. But nevertheless, that's part of politics, that's part of statecraft, that's part of human life in this world, is recognizing that there's gonna be war and we have to send people off to it. But I think most of us know at a deep level it is really wrong. It is just an absolute wicked national policy that we would send our women off to be killed in war. We didn't have women in combat until very recently.

[A]

We didn't have women in the military

[B]

for most of history. It is because of the introduction of liberal politics, lowercase L, liberal politics and egalitarian politics, and especially feminist politics that we do that. And it just strikes us as wrong.

[A]

It's not that women can't be brave. There are a lot of brave women.

[B]

It's not that women might not want to sign up and fight in combat. Plenty of young women perhaps do.

[A]

It's not even that men and women

[B]

are physically different from one another and that men are physically stronger than women. That's all true, but that's actually beside the point here.

[A]

It has nothing to do with the

[B]

women or their courage or their sacrifice. It has everything to do with what kind of country we want to be.

[A]

Do we want to be the kind

[B]

of country that sends our young women off to be blown up by jihadis? I don't think so.

[A]

And if you're a conservative.

[B]

If you're just a normal person and you think that men and women really are different and they're complementary rather than indiscernible and identical and they really do have different roles, then I think one of the clearest places that would be expressed is military combat.

[A]

Right.

[B]

The reason not to put women in combat is not because the women don't want to or. And not even that they can't do it. It's because we don't want to be the kind of country that does that. Very sad pray for all of these people, obviously. And then we need to reflect on this and we need to be very honest about it. As we're going through the great unwokening, as we're going through a kind of cultural return from the brink of especially the gender insanity of 2022, 2023, this is something we need to seriously consider. For the vast majority of American history, we did not have women in combat.

[A]

And I don't want to be the

[B]

kind of country that sends women off to die in wars. Okay, Today's Tee Tuesday. The rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it.

[A]

Become a member.

[B]

Use code knowleskinner wles at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.