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- [00:02]
A
Get ready to take a flamethrower to the official narrative and learn what the elites don't want you to know. You're listening to the Tom Woods Show. Hey, everybody, Tom woods here, episode 2764, the great Doug Casey. You can't possibly not watch an episode with Doug Casey. You will know him from many, many things. He's an investor and a world traveler commentator whose comments are actually worth listening to. International Man.com is a website where you can get some Doug Casey material, but there's also Doug Casey's take on YouTube and crisis investing is your newsletter. Is that Crisis Investing.com? you actually got that?
- [00:47]
B
Yeah. Well, that's an investing newsletter.
- [00:49]
A
Okay.
- [00:50]
B
Yeah.
- [00:51]
A
Okay.
- [00:51]
B
So I guess those are the three hobby horses I ride. Yeah.
- [00:55]
A
All right, so. So you could give. There's plenty of Doug Casey material out there and I know you're going to want to go search it out after this conversation. So last week I was in Philadelphia at a series of meetings and this was the time when Thomas Massie was defeated by, you know, some empty suit, no name. And the empty suit, no name had tens of millions of dollars behind him. And if you. I don't know if you caught this, Doug, but somebody snapped a little bit of video from his victory party. Now, this is a guy who somehow defeated a seven term incumbent congressman. I mean, I was just coming from nowhere. All he was before was a failed state senate candidate in terms of politics. And he comes from nowhere and suddenly defeats a seven term congressman. There must have been a huge amount of pent up anger among the voters. They must have been thrilled and excited that he scored that victory. You look at that video, Doug, there couldn't be two dozen people at that victory party. There was nothing organic or natural about this phenomenon at all. Now, you are viewing this from the luxury of being in South. South America. And you don't have to really worry about this stuff anymore. Even though I'm sure you know, you have a certain affection, no doubt for the US it's not your problem anymore. But still, what were your thoughts when you saw the results come in?
- [02:14]
B
Well, as an anarcho capitalist, I've tried to divorce myself as best as I can from all political systems. Although I must point out that I've completed my annual migration from Argentina and Uruguay up here to the shores of the Chesapeake in Virginia.
- [02:33]
A
Oh, you're up here?
- [02:34]
B
Oh, yes, yes. I like to follow summer around the world. So now it's summer in the Northern hemisphere and I will stay here until November when I go Back to the sunny south in Argentina and Uruguay. I go back across the Plate river between the two of them. Anyway, where are we? We're talking about what's happened with Thomas Massie. Look, even though I don't follow American politics as closely as I should, I'm advised that Massey is the only and actually the last libertarian, philosophically in the Congress, in the House of Representatives. And Trump went out of his way, idiotically, foolishly, vindictively to kick him out. And all that money, I think the number is $32 million that was spent to get him out was basically put up by three maniacally pro Israel people. And I. That seems to be the big thing. Massie is against Trump's idiotic war in Iran. And Trump doesn't brook anybody that disagrees with them, certainly on. On that subject.
- [03:51]
A
So we learned something that we knew already. We knew it. But to see it demonstrated so brutally is something quite different. I mean, we know that. I mean, anybody who's being honest knows there's an Israel lobby and there is no Saudi lobby. I don't care if Cutter has some people in Washington. Come on. There is no group of U.S. congressmen who stand up and say, we stand with Bahrain or whatever you like. They don't do that. They don't fly over there. They don't get photo ops with that. I mean, you know, for people who are prepared to be honest about the situation, we all know that there is an Israel lobby, and we all know that it's very powerful. It's not infallible. It doesn't always get what it wants. It did not want the jcpoa, the Iran nuclear deal under Obama, you know, but it got it. It didn't want it, but it got it. So it's not infallible, but it's there. But to see this happen, to see a guy like Massie, who, by the way, maybe you saw the poll numbers, was so overwhelmingly popular among under 55s, it. It was an embarrassment how popular he was. It was the boomers, it was the over 55s, and like whatever that exact demographic is, who overwhelmingly favored the empty suit. A candidate who wouldn't return candidate questionnaires, who would flee events if they had press questions at them, refused to debate Massie at any time. So a total insult, absolute contempt for the voters. And they said, that's my man. Those are the people who said, that's my man. And so what I concluded from this, even though, again, I know in principle we knew it was that we're dealing with A lobby that has basically essentially infinite resources and it has veto power over our representatives. This was the one guy I felt like kind of represented me, that the concept of representation actually had some value when it came to this guy. And it's been decided by a foreign interest that I can't have that representative anymore because he's not loyal enough to a foreign interest. And that to me especially. And these three billionaires you mentioned, they've never been to Kentucky. You know, Kentucky is a backwater of the US Empire that exists only to have congressional seats purchased in it. That's what it is for them. Kentuckians are lower than dirt to these people. They. They're laughing their asses off at the dumb boomers who pulled the lever for their no name candidate. So what does this mean, Doug? I mean, does it really. If those younger voters who don't buy into this stuff at all eventually become older voters, do we get to a point where this stops?
- [06:25]
B
I think we're getting to a point where we're going to have something that resembles a civil war in the US the unpleasantness of 1861-1865 was not a civil war, I'm sure you'll agree. It was a war of secession. It was quashed. What's upcoming? Is there actual civil war where two or more groups defined a civil war? It's a conflict where two or more groups attempt to gain control of the same government and the same geographical area, as opposed to a war of secession, which is very different. And I think we're heading up for that because the US has devolved from a yeoman republic where Americans generally shared the same beliefs, the same mythology, the same religious, the same ethnic linguistic backgrounds, at least after a generation, where now it's become a multicultural domestic empire where you have groups that don't have anything in common and actually are antithetical to each other. That's what the US has turned into. So it'll wind up the way all emperors wind up, which is to say breaking up political parts, separating from each other. I hope it's not too violent, but it probably will be. The only question to me is the timing for this happening.
- [07:54]
A
Yeah, I mean, I, I don't know for sure about that because the idea of secession is so toxic in people's minds that the idea of it breaking up, you'd have to overcome a lot of brainwashing for people even to think about that. So I don't know. And I think a lot of people, I mean, I think people like you and I Doug, overestimate most Americans, and I'm sorry if that sounds elitist, but at this point, I. I quit pretending that I'm dealing with intelligent people who are assessing the issues rationally. Most of them, I think. You know, if you were to say to them, tell me a little bit about the American establishment. What do they believe? What are their core beliefs? Who would be some people we would associate with the establishment, and who would be a few people we might consider upstarts against the establishment? They wouldn't know what on God's green earth I'm even talking about. Doug, you know, there are so many people who 20 years ago would have been content to go to the mall. Today we don't have malls, so I don't know what they do. They scroll on their phones. So I'm not so sure there are that many who would get up in arms enough. But certainly there are going to be a lot of people looking for solutions or looking for options. Maybe not solutions, because there is no solution, but looking for options for themselves. And that could mean relocation to another part of the country. It could be relocation to another part of the world, which is something that you know quite a bit about. But I would certainly say that this is not an equilibrium and it's not stable. And it can't stay this way.
- [09:20]
B
Nope. Nope, it can't. You know, like yourself, I'm a student of history, starting with ancient history and going up to more recent times. And one of the reasons why I've generally viewed everything with a bearish cast is it seems to me that, well, one of the few laws that I believe in, I've got to say, is the second law of thermodynamics. And that basically states that everything winds down over time, barring substantial outside influence. And that's everything falls apart, degenerates over time. Whether we're talking about an amoeba or a giant nation state or anything, nothing lasts forever. That's true of the United States. I just feel bad about it because I call it the United States, because America is an idea and it's kind of ceased to exist in this geographical entity where we are right now. And it's too bad, because the way I see it, America was totally unique in the world's political history. It was founded, actually founded on an idea of personal freedom, free speech, free markets. And that's all pretty well been washed away. Yeah, listen, we're on the same page in every way that I can think of, Tom.
- [10:49]
A
But you know what? Look, this is something that I don't feel like I've ever gotten a good answer to. So maybe I'll give old Doug Casey a shot at it. I understand where you are on politics, and in some ways I am too, that it never does you any good. The thing that it's about is all wrong. I mean, like, in other words, in a market you have two willing participants. In politics you have rulers and ruled. And the ruled are not always willing participants. It's a completely different way of thinking and acting and operating. It is, you know, if I go in the marketplace, I go and I, I, I often will research what I'm about to purchase and then I buy the thing and I bring it home and that's the thing that I purchased. Whereas I go out and cast a vote. I don't know what the hell I'm getting. You know, I, I thought I was getting X and turns out I'm getting Y. You know, so it's a, they're completely different. And I get that you just want to throw up your hands and say, I'd rather just have a good satisfying life and not spend any mental or financial energy on these people. At the same time you say, but if I don't do that, then I'm leaving the entire field to the worst people on earth. And if I'm not involved or people who are like me are not involved, people won't even hear about my point of view. Because the only time these people aren't reading political theory books or economic theory books, these, the only time they would even have a chance to hear where I stand is during a political campaign. And if I secede from that spiritually because I'm too good for it or something, they're never going to hear my point of view. And so things will just get worse. So what is the, what is the way to a better world that doesn't in any way involve politics? Or is it that, look, the world is going to be the way it's going to be, there isn't a political or non political way of fixing it, but you can create a pretty good life for yourself and your friends and your family and that's all you can hope for. What is your view on this?
- [12:40]
B
Well, I happen to agree with you. But insofar as I broadcast political and philosophical opinions, it's not because I think that the world is going to be converted to libertarian or classical liberal ideas. It's not. I do it out of a sense of good karma. I do it out of a sense of doing the right thing basically for my own psychological well being. That's why I do it. I don't want to feel like a coward who runs and hides in the corner as you discussing when bad things are happening. So I don't want to be involved with the kind of people that get involved with politics. But I'm forced to defend myself as best I can. Now as far as politics and the kind of people that get involved in it, they're almost universally scum. There's the Greek word for evil and it's really about evil. The Greek word is poneros. And I believe that instead of thinking of things like democracy or socialism or fascism or whatever, we should think in terms of good and evil when we talk about politics. All of these isms, which are almost always really bad things, are Trojan horses to distract people. That allows the evil class to take control of things. And I believe that a certain percentage of the human race are just genetically destructive and evil types and they inevitably gravitate towards politics. Why? Because politics allows you to control other people and do so without producing anything in exchange. Basically control other people by telling them lies, manipulating them in a Machiavellian way. So politics is always not just a swamp, it's a cesspool. And the people that go into Congress are inevitably the poorest and worst kind of people. Of course there are exceptions. There's exceptions to almost everything. Like Ron Paul was an outstanding recent exception. Like our mutual friend Harry Brown, who ran for president on the Libertarian ticket a couple times 20 years ago or so was an exception. Although you know, once you jump into that cesspool, you tend to be corrupted. So that's my view on politics. Political solutions are hopeless. They're counterproductive. They distract you from real solutions, productive solutions.
- [15:29]
A
Well, let's say then a little something because maybe this is a good transition into a topic that we've covered before, but for up to me we would cover it all the time. And that is the book that you wrote with Matt Smith called the Preparation. I think you have a copy at your desk. There it is.
- [15:48]
B
Every author has a copy of his book.
- [15:50]
A
What kind of author would you be if you didn't? So I read that and I guess longtime listeners who follow me closely will know that I actually have 5 month old son Henry and I am going to put him through that. The Preparation, which is a book basically to that I guess you guys almost titled Renaissance Man. Yes, and it really is a blueprint for creating and raising up and training a Renaissance man so that the person becomes the most interesting human being. His friends have ever met, who knows things, who's had experiences, who's well traveled, who's knowledgeable, not in the gobbledygook in the typical classroom, but has really deep, profound wisdom. Wisdom and knowledge that's been cultivated through a deliberate program. That book, the preparation. If you've got or ever intend to have a young man, you got to read that book. I read it and I instantly, I bought a copy and sent it over to Dave Smith, my friend who's a comedian and podcaster. And I said, you have a son. You have to read this book. So this is the kind of thing that you can be doing in addition to, or instead of exhausting yourself in, you know, a rigged game, is you can make one truly great person and maybe you could make a whole bunch of them and you spread the word about it. But that is the most important book I have read possibly in my entire adulthood, Doug. I'll say that.
- [17:21]
B
Well, thank you, Tom. I really appreciate that. What Matt and I tried to do. And actually the third co author, this is his son, Maxim.
- [17:31]
A
Yeah.
- [17:31]
B
Who is a self declared guinea pig for what we're doing in the book. He's actually doing the program. And what is the program? First thing, it's staying out of the higher education system, which it's not just a waste of time. It's not just a misallocation of time. It's a positive detriment to your mental and probably physical, and certainly psychological and philosophical health and financial health. Absolutely. Because going to college, as expensive as it is, fifty, a hundred thousand dollars per year that's got to be paid, comes out of somebody's pocket, probably yours. But also those four years are basically wasted. I mean, it's crazy, but what do you get for it?
- [18:22]
A
You.
- [18:23]
B
You get indoctrinated with the worst possible ideas. You know, there was a time, well, at least 50, actually more like a hundred years ago, when going to college was worthwhile. You were separated. You were distinguishing yourself as somebody that was interested in intellectual and moral improvement. But now everybody goes to college. And the kind of people that teach in colleges are much worse than they've ever been in the past. They're people incapable of doing anything except corrupting the youth, but not in a good way, the way Socrates did, in the worst possible way. So what we've done here is not just give kids and their parents reasons why you should not go to college, but give them a positive program of what you should do during those four years to become a Renaissance man. Yeah, that's right.
- [19:24]
A
Hey, gang. You've heard me talk a lot about how the Tom Wood show improves your life, but this one is a real doozy. If you're a business owner or you're a high W2 earner paying at least 40k a year in taxes, you need to get to know my friend Matthew Serley. He's a brilliant tax attorney and he loathes the IRS every bit as much as you do. And you want to work with someone who shares your values. Matthew has a philosophical commitment to keeping as much money in your pocket as possible. And I know Matthew well. He's been on the Tom Woods Cruise. He's been at my murder mystery parties. I saw him just last week at my Elite Mastermind, and he's been listening to the Tom woods show since the very beginning. You won't have to justify yourself or your views on taxes to Matthew. And he's a tax attorney, not a cpa. So. So your conversations with him are protected by attorney client privilege. So whether you're running a business or doing a side hustle or flipping real estate or you're just tired of paying, you know, half your income to evil sociopaths every year, well, old Mr. Sery helps you stay smart, compliant, and legally minimize what you pay the IRS. So the next step is go to www.agorist taxadvice.com woods that's a G O R I S T tax advice.com woods and grab your free Agorist Tax Toolkit. It's full of powerful tools and templates you can use to get your business in order, track your expenses, and reduce how much the IRS takes from you. Without crossing any lines, every dollar you keep away from the regime is a moral victory. So head to www.agorist tax advice.com woods right. Now, let me fill in a few blanks here on this because there's so much in this book. It's called the Preparation. I hope you are ordering it now while you're continuing to listen to us. I'll have it linked.
- [21:12]
B
I'll hold it up again. I mean, hold it up.
- [21:14]
A
It's called the Preparation.
- [21:15]
B
Commercialism.
- [21:16]
A
There you go. No, you should. I mean, how else are we going to get the word out? The show notes page for this episode is tom woods.com 2764. I'll have it linked there also. So there's a lot about in there about the young man figuring out, you know, what, what does he stand for? What does he want to leave people with when they've interacted with him, you know, who, who does he intend to be? So it's not just we're going to fill your brain with politically incorrect knowledge, although there's some of that because the book also shows you if you do want to learn things, here are some sources you should learn from rather than some, you know, weirdo bum in front of a classroom who's never had a job. These are people you should learn from and these are courses you should take. But it's way, way beyond that. It's also things like. Now, it's not to say that you couldn't modify these according to your own interests and preferences, but I like the idea that you would go to Italy for a month and learn Italian cooking and you would learn how to build a house and how to fly a plane. You'd go on a lengthy ocean going voyage. You would learn self defense techniques, techniques, I forget what part of Asia it is. But these various things, there are about 16 of them take you all over the world to learn from the best people, the most extraordinary skills. So that the kid, the person, the adult will be in situations where his friends will say, wait a minute, you know that too. You're an expert on that too. You're also an emt. You also know what to do when that guy collapses on the floor. I mean, who are you? So he becomes the most interesting person in the room. But beyond that, it's things like, you know, you should, you should have, you know, hobbies that are interesting and impressive. You should be able to do a few magic tricks, you should be able to, you know, potentially speak another language, whatever all this stuff is in there. And it's the kind of thing that the, for the right person, it would be the most exhilarating period of time. We're just thinking about the college years. This would be far more exhilarating than any college experience you could have. And it would turn you into a vastly more impressive person. Even if you do, wind up, quote, applying for a job, you know, which is, I could never consider even think about doing that. I would never want to work for somebody else. But suppose you did. Every single application is going to be with the same mission statement and the same thing. I did this, I did that. Yours is going to be 180 degrees different. Absolutely, radically different. And I think that means a much more interesting and fulfilling life for you.
- [23:48]
B
You know, it's not just this idea of being a modern day Renaissance man. It's not just trying to model yourself after, say, Leonardo da Vinci. That's a pretty high bar. But let's Say model yourself after the Dos Equis guy that they call the most interesting man in the world. Or actually, one of the best shows, dramas that was ever on television was have Gone Will Travel, starring Richard Boone. During the late 50s and early 60s, everybody's heard the phrase have gun will travel. But very few people in today's world actually watch that series where the hero, Paladin is a problem solver that no matter what the problem is, he's got the experience and the knowledge and everything that it takes to solve other people's problems. So that's another example of a modern day Renaissance man. And those are the kind of models that we're offering people here. We divide the four years when the most people misallocate to go to college into four quarters. And in each of these quarters, a young man will pursue something where he will gain a degree of expertise. And you mentioned some of them. But it can be modified. It doesn't have to be just the things that we have here. I think that the 16 things that we've picked, and I've got to mention that one of them is learning economics and the markets as well, which most people don't pick up in college. And if they do take economics, it's the worst type. It's Marxist or Keynesian economics, which is actually the opposite of economics. So that's another thing. So that it's not only how to earn money on your own, because there's an infinite demand for goods and services on the part of the market. Everybody wants not just a second car, but they want a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or a bigger house. So there's an infinite demand from 8 billion people for these goods and services, and it's just up to you to figure out how you can supply them to the market. And that's what this book qualifies you to do.
- [26:05]
A
Well, while our son is sort of little and, you know, not prepared for the more advanced parts of the book, one of the things we'll do, by which I expect he will absorb certain things that I would never be able to explicitly articulate to him, is a lot of travel, because we enjoy traveling. In my old days, I used to do a lot of public speaking and I traveled all over the place. But Doug, I may as, I may as well have stayed home because I would go speak and then come right home and I would have no experience of the place that I had gone to. And that's, that's changing now. Now we go and make a real, real trip out of it. And he's. He's already, you know, traveled around the US Quite a bit, and. And he's been to the Virgin Islands, and he'll start venturing outside the US later this year. But as somebody who's visited, how many countries would you say you've visited, Doug?
- [26:57]
B
Well, I've been to well over 150 countries, most of them numerous times, and lived in 10 different ones, although I'm in Virginia right now, as I said, I'm usually in South America at the moment. I tried to convince my wife to live for six months in Kinshasa, the Congo, and another six months in Moscow. She would have gone for the Moscow part, but not the Congo part.
- [27:21]
A
Okay, well.
- [27:22]
B
But you got the idea.
- [27:23]
A
Doug, let me say I don't think you have an unusual wife in that regard. I think a lot of wives would have. Would have put the foot down with the Congo, but fair enough. Fair enough. So. So what would you say? I have a friend, a deceased friend now, who was an extremely smart guy and very, very productive, and he had no interest in travel at all. And his view was, if I want to know what it looks like in Rome, I can buy a picture book. So I want to know from you, as somebody who's done so much traveling, why do it? What's the benefit? Is there a benefit? And if so, how would you describe it?
- [27:58]
B
Well, I don't think it's a question of visiting old buildings and going someplace, because it's on your bucket list, and you can say you've been there. I mean, I've done that stuff, but I don't think there's much to be said for it. I think the advantage of traveling and not touring, that's different. It's just seeing stuff going into the highways and the byways and out into the country and getting to know weird and different and wild and crazy people. That's what it's all about. And frankly, I've kind of given up. Personally, I don't like traveling anymore. I've flown millions and millions of miles. I don't even know how many, but around the world, 40 or 50 times or more. So traveling has become homogenized, quite frankly. There's McDonald's everywhere, one place to another, and they've all become pretty much the same. Well, you can say that's good in a way, but basically not. But still, it's important for a young man to travel, although the experience is becoming more and more degraded. And I'll mention that one thing that our overlords want is to See, people travel less. This is what the concept of the 15 Minute City is all about. Just be a medieval surf like person. We don't go over the next hill because there'd be dragons. So even though today I'm ambivalent about traveling for the reasons that I mentioned, still you've got to go out and travel and meet people. Otherwise you're going to have that medieval serf mentality.
- [29:48]
A
When we say travel, a lot of people will think London, Paris, Rome, New York. What are some places you travel to that nobody would have listed on, you know, the top 10 places you must see kind of thing. But that left an impression on you.
- [30:02]
B
Well, for instance, I spent a month in Suriname, which used to be the old Dutch Guiana on the northern shore of South America. I was there because I had an interesting adventure to help overthrow the government of Suriname, which was run by Desi Bauder, say at the time, who was known as the commander, who I spent a lot of time with, incidentally. That's another story. But that's the kind of place that I like to go. For instance, I spent a couple of weeks in Palau, which most people, I question whether there's one out of a hundred even of your sophisticated listeners that will know that Palau is an independent country and a member of the United nations, where I spend a lot of time with the president of the country, in addition to doing some exotic scuba diving and other things that you can do in Palau, which incidentally is where the island of Peleliu, which was one of the most pointless battles of the pacific war was fought. So I like places, I like places like that that are weird and out of the way because everybody has been to Paris and London, things that everybody does, they may not really be worth doing. I mean, they're too commonplace, actually.
- [31:21]
A
All right, well, I want to ask you about a particular. Because you're talking about meeting with heads of state, not so much whether you've met with this particular head of state, but have you formed an opinion on Bukele in El Salvador?
- [31:33]
B
I haven't met with him, been to El Salvador a couple times. I can say this, that have not been there since he's become the president. I always thought El Salvador was the bottom of the barrel in Latin America, certainly the most dangerous place, the place with the least to offer extremely high crime. But what he did, for those who don't know, is he took 60,000 people and rounded them up, identified them as gang members and put them in a max security prison, which is pretty horrible. From what I can tell, I mean, they're just, it's, it's really. But the bright side is that it's become apparently a very peaceable and kind of mellow place. There are problems that are going to. And a center of bitcoin culture and all kinds of things. It's very interesting. I'm sure that a percentage of the people that were rounded up in this dragnet for gang members don't belong in those prisons. And they're going to have a really hard time identifying themselves as not belonging there because they're not being tried as individuals. So it's very problematical what he's done. But looked at from 30,000ft, places made a world of difference. So what do you think?
- [33:01]
A
Well, I, I've heard the same things and I, you know, I don't want to get snookered by something that turns out to be really terrible, but you look with your own two eyes, the country can function now. And you know, I mean, I, I don't. You don't want to say that the ends justify the means because I don't know enough of the details. I would need to know more of the details to be able to judge this. But I would say on the surface of it, the fact that they went from being, you know, again, as you say, the most dangerous place around to one of the most safe places around, you know, I mean, I, what, what else would have worked? Nothing else worked. What else would have worked?
- [33:38]
B
In a way, it's Pareto's law, the 8020 rule. And let's say that 80% of people are basically decent and 20% of people are borderline, could go either way. But then you take the 80, 20 of that 20% of potential bad guys. Now you got 4% that are real psychopaths, that are criminal personalities. And society would be a lot better if you could round them up and get them off the streets. And essentially that's what Bukele's done because that 4% is self identified by tattooing themselves and hanging out with other people like themselves. So he's rounded up. You know, it's like a giant fishing net where you're going for tuna, but you're going to get some porpoises as well. Really unfortunate for the porpoises, but what's the solution to the problem other than other than over many generations changing the reigning philosophy of the country? El Salvador's case become totally corrupted. Where the criminals were. Well, the criminals are on top all over the world. The worst kind of people become presidents, prime Ministers. I was just reading an essay by a Polish guy who wrote a book on this. And basically, as humans, we're stuck with a certain percentage of people being psychopaths and criminal personalities. And like I said before, those people gravitate. They're drawn to politics so they can, you know, get all the good things without having to trade anything. All they have to do is lie and prevaricate and so forth. And I'm afraid that here in the United States, although Trump is vastly superior to an avowed communist, Kemala Harris, that is your last name, isn't it?
- [35:40]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [35:40]
B
I pronounce it Kemala. There was. There was some dispute about how you should pronounce your first name, Kamala, or whatever. I say Kemala because that means how bad in Spanish. But what you could say, you could pronounce it Kemala, which is burner in Spanish. It's kind of convenient. But anyway, Kamala, I gotta say, I don't vote, but I supported Trump over Kemala. But I'm wondering if Kemala wouldn't have been better because Trump exhibits all, and I would say all of the psychological characteristics of a criminal personality. I'm not kidding.
- [36:24]
A
Hey, gang. I just got back from the single coolest thing I do. One of the three annual meetings of my elite Mastermind, where we take your business and make it more successful. One of our current members has seen a 300% revenue increase since joining. Another, a physician in regenerative medicine, went from losing $150,000 in his clinic in 2025 to in a single month, January 2026, after his first mastermind meeting, profiting $50,000. Still another just had his company named to the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest growing companies. And he attributes much of that to the Mastermind. But it's not just that we're improving our members bottom line. As one member put it, this is the only room in my life in which I can speak with complete candor. It's an enormous relief not to have to have your guards up. You can ask the unaskable because, frankly, there are some things you need feedback on that you don't want to discuss with your managing partner. Do you really want to say, for example, I'm actually not sure I want to be in the X business anymore. Whatever X is, it's a small group on purpose. Everyone can get plenty of individual attention. Real friendships form. We have an absolute blast together, and we can keep track of everyone's progress from meeting to meeting. We Enjoy great food excursions and camaraderie. One of many examples. We watched the Nashville Predators season opener in a private suite and I invited special guest Glenn Jacobs, formerly Kane of the wwe, to join us. That might have been fun, wouldn't it? And then there's the occasional partnership too. One idea at this most recent meeting is shaping up to form an eight figure partnership between two of our members. So you interested in being in this room with us? Well, why wouldn't you be? Get the details@woods mastermind.com and let's talk. Well, as I keep watching it, you know, I, I say to myself, when he was going after people I hated and I, I, I don't use the word, I honestly don't use the word hate when I talk about people. But in other words, people I, I consider to be my enemies in one way or another. You know, I could laugh it off. Well, and I would say, look, I wouldn't teach my own son to behave this way, but in order to clear away the Bush family or whatever, we probably need somebody who was a bull in a china shop. So, you know, I guess it goes to the territory. But, but Gez, I mean, it's just one crazy thing after another at this point. So, so, by the way. So the book, I think the book you're talking about is by Lobachevsky and it's called. He may have developed the word, but political ponerology.
- [38:55]
B
Political pornology, yes. Yeah, that's correct. And there are other people that have researched the idea of criminal personalities. Like a chap named Hare, Canadian psychologist in Vancouver. And generally speaking, I'm not a fan of, of psychologists and God forbid, psychiatrists, but still there are people that do study these things. And Lobachesky is one. That's the name. You're quite correct, Tom. And this chap named Hare in Vancouver is another that's looked into it. Yeah. And you know, they put out a checklist, these people of the things that characterize criminal personalities so that you can keep up for them. And of course it's hard to identify these poor ological characters because they're like, I'm trying to think of a. They're well camouflaged.
- [39:55]
A
They're, they infiltrate, they infiltrate institutions and then once they're there, they infect others with their traits.
- [40:03]
B
Yeah, exactly. I mean, they disguise themselves. I mean, they don't seem like criminals. They kind of seem like glib, but hail fellow well met. They adopt themselves to what they, they're good at reading people because they're trying to exploit People, so they present a side of themselves which is made up that seems appealing to you or a hundred different people, totally different. They're chameleons in a way, but all they're interested in is power over other people. And if you look at a list that one of these guys here or Lobachesky have put together, by God, Trump checks all the boxes. And I say that as somebody that finds him very amusing, his sense of humor or anything. But I wrote an essay about Trump back in 2012 when he first identified as somebody that really wanted to get into politics. And I said, this is a man without a philosophical or moral center and at all. I mean, he has kind of seat of the pants. I like or I don't like, but he's not a thoughtful person. He is an egotist. He's turned into a megalomaniac, a narcissist. He's really dangerous. He's capable of anything. So I'll make a bet that he's not going to finish his term. Because it's not that the people that oppose Trump are good. I mean, these woksters are just horrible. I mean, there's bad or worse than he is, but they're powerful. And I think we could have a disturbance before the 28 elections where he's kicked out. Well, he will be because they're going to lose the midterms and they'll impeach him, but they won't have enough of a majority in the Senate to actually kick him out and then try him. But, you know, he should try all these presidents for crimes and misdemeanors.
- [42:01]
A
Yeah, just. But try it for dog gone. A triumph for the right things. Not the dumb, stupid things that all presidents do or like trivialities, but the real fundamental. Well, actually, some of the things you need for are the things that all presidents do, like war making and all that. But you know, of all things, murder under the right. I mean, of all things, to impeach Bill Clinton over. You know, I mean, really, you couldn't find anything else that he did that offended you Constitutionally, really, You know, the
- [42:30]
B
most trivial of things. Exactly.
- [42:32]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or some phone call with Ukraine or whatever is your big complaint about Donald Trump? I mean, it's like you and I are not the same, if that's your complaint. I, I, yeah, you know, and I think the things I complain about, they have no problem with. So, so it's never going to be exactly right. And that's just the other thing people say, well, I'm gonna, I'M going to show the Republicans I'm going to vote Democrat in the midterms. But the thing is, you know, you could do that. I'm not stopping you if you want to do that. But if you're thinking they're going to learn a lesson from that, you don't know anything about the Republicans. The lesson they'll learn is we weren't left wing enough. That is always the lesson they learned. You know, we, we didn't pander to minorities enough. No matter how much they pander, it's never enough. So you will not be teaching them that lesson, I promise you.
- [43:18]
B
That's right. They have no moral core, no real sense of what's right and wrong, only a gut sense of what works or doesn't work to influence the lowest characteristics of the average voter. And of course, it's the Pueblos is the low the voter. You're dealing with the lowest common denominator. And at this point, these people don't even want to see voters identified as American citizens. It's any warm body that shows up.
- [43:46]
A
Yeah. And as we saw with Congress, Congressman Massie and his opponent, it's any warm body to fill the slot to run against him. I mean, really, just a warm body was all they were looking for. And they. That's, that's certainly what they got. And as Tucker Carlson said, the one political position we know he holds because he deigned to share it with us, was that he favors the return of the draft. And Tucker says so. In other words, he adopts what is a position literally nobody holds, like nobody would favor absolutely nobody. He takes that position. And the boomers say, I'm voting for that guy. But again, I don't just want to blame them. I mean, they were subjected to an unbelievable propaganda campaign in which all kinds of lies were told about Massie and his record. But geez, I mean that. And again, as Tucker says, for them to take a guy who's a total nobody out of nowhere that no one's heard of, no one has any desire to vote for, has no official positions except literally the most unpopular one he could possibly have, and install him anyway, he says that is a humiliation ritual. That is to let you know we are billionaires and you are not.
- [44:58]
B
And the fact that they've succeeded is emboldening these people. They've showed that they could do it. In this case, they can do it in any and every case. It doesn't augur well at all. And you've got the same kind of people running every major country in the world, certainly every country in Europe is run by a criminal personality. The guy in Canada, Carney, same type of. In fact, every country in the world living in Argentina a good portion of the year, as I do. I said, well, maybe Milei, Javier Milei, who won the election there two years ago. He identified as an anarcho capitalist, as a messian. He was famous for lining up all the agencies of the Argentine government and saying, get rid of these things. Totally saying that he wants to abolish the government. He seemed like, perfect. How can an actual ideological, moral anarchist, anarcho capitalist to make a proper distinction? But, you know, he's. I believe he's failing, frankly, in a lot of ways in Argentina. It's most unfortunate. I suspect before it's over, Milei is going to have given the philosophy of anarcho capitalism a bad name.
- [46:17]
A
Well, that would have to be an entire episode in itself. And I've already kept you, I think, as long as I can. So I do want to talk about that at some point. So I hope maybe we can revisit that because you were more optimistic at the very beginning.
- [46:31]
B
Oh, I was, I was a huge supporter because talk about, talk about died in the wool pathological criminals. I mean, the Kirchners, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Not in a class with Stalin, Hitler and Mao, but the next step down for. Yeah, oh, yeah. Well, what are you going to do? Politics itself. That's the problem. Which is why I'm a libertarian anarchist, of course.
- [46:59]
A
Well, we will. You know, there's always another conversation, so the next time we come on, I'm able to bring you on. We'll get into that in more detail because I have friends on both sides of this and it's something I haven't looked into as much as I should. So I would be happy to have a further conversation about it. But in the meantime, everybody watching this knows you have to read the preparation. And now you have to get more Doug Casey and you can get him in all the various formats we mentioned, which I will have collected for you@tomwoods.com 2,764. So just remember the number 2764. Tomwoods.com 2764. We'll have a link to the book and we have a link to all the Doug Casey stuff that we talked about. Well, Doug, thank you.
- [47:40]
B
Yes, we have to get you on our podcast, too.
- [47:42]
A
Oh, that'd be great.
- [47:44]
B
Because, you know, a lot of our listeners are not familiar with you and they should be. And I mean.
- [47:51]
A
Oh, I'd be thrilled to do it. Very happy to do it.
- [47:53]
B
That's. That's fantastic. So I'll talk to Matt and we'll get her done. Listen, this is just great chatting with you like this, because we don't. We don't talk often enough.
- [48:04]
A
No, I agree. And. And so when we do a podcast episode like this, it's like, it's just a telephone conversation. If I called up Doug Casey, the result would be what you just saw. So, Doug, thanks a million. I really appreciate it.
- [48:17]
B
Thank you, Tom.
- [48:18]
A
And thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Make yourself and those you love less vulnerable to the regime, both mentally and physically. Get more forbidden information@tomsfreebooks.com and be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen. See you next time. Like the sound of the Tom woods show, my audio production is provided by Podsworth Media. Check them out@podsworth.com Enter code WOODS50 to get 50 off your first order. If your recording sounds rough, the Podsworth app can make it not only listenable, but professional. Remember, when you use code WOODS50, you'll get half off your first order and you'll also be supporting this show.