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- [00:48]
A
Good morning and welcome to Bongino Report Early Edition. And you guys know, but when I have guests, I always say I have a special guest today this time it is actually the most special guest that we could possibly have on this show because it is Dan Bongino himself joining the Early Edition.
- [01:07]
B
Wow, this better be a really good interview or the audience is going to be really good. You know what, that was quite an intro.
- [01:13]
A
Anytime you come on Dan and it's like you show up on the side of the screen at the end of my show, every once in a while they flip out.
- [01:19]
B
Well, it was weird, right? Because we were in this small studio. There's nowhere to go, so you have to like genuflect and you gotta move over and I gotta steal the mic from you. It just didn't work. Now we're in this big studio. So look at this. I'm just learning this now. So that's my camera. We got the two shot. Evita's got her camera over here. We only had two cameras in the other studio and one of them was at this awkward angle. So this has worked out perfect. I'm glad you like. We're still working on your set. Evita sets right over there. We're tinkering with the lighting over there. But you like it so far. Getting out of the.
- [01:52]
A
My favorite part is this side shot. Can you guys see the flag here? Yeah, you can kind of see it. It is so cool. And especially in my shot, it's amazing. And this is what's so amazing about this stand is we started this out and we were literally in a closet in your house. And now we're in this incredible studio. The team is growing, the company is growing. We now have Haley show. And by the way, Hayley show is amazing. It's at 6pm, same as my show. It's on Bongina Report. You guys can get it 6pm Eastern time. It is so cool to be growing like this. Did you, did you envision this when you started the podcast? Five, six years ago?
- [02:27]
B
You know, I guess the stock company, you know, iphoto answer you can buy offline is, you know. No, I didn't see it and I think. But I mean, I did. If I didn't have a vision, I wouldn't have done it. Now did I know it was going to turn into, you know what I hope to be an alternative to linear cable, like all day programming, which is eventually my goal. No, but I felt like I had a calling. Obviously. I've failed at a lot in life. I Didn't ran for office. It didn't work out. But that's where the podcast came from. I think, as I wrote in that last book, your failures shouldn't define you. And there were things. I didn't get into medical school, so I went to business school. So after I lost this run for office, I was reading this article about podcasting, how kids weren't. This is in 2014. I'm reading this article how young people, I shouldn't say kids who were driving weren't listening to car radio anymore, that they were listening to Bluetooth. And they said, podcasting will be the future. And of course, it was named after the ipod. That's where podcast comes from. And I thought I should start one of those. And I kind of knew within the first couple weeks, I said, this is really. This is interesting. Like, you can talk and you can sit, talk about whatever you want. And we didn't have a sponsor for about three, four years, but I knew the show was going to. Was going to be good. I knew it because I knew God had called me for something different, despite falling down a couple of times. But did I expect it was going to turn into this and your show blowing up? I mean, you were. I sent you that thing at show prep this morning. You see that? You were a top 50 livestream yesterday on Bungino Report. Did I expect this to happen? No. So it's kind of a yes or no answer.
- [04:04]
A
Yeah. I mean, it's incredible what's happened. And you, you know, you're having a major transition right now. You built this whole studio. We're starting something, and yet you're taking a step back. You're gonna go and serve, which you've done before. But it's pretty hard to serve when you have all of this that you've built now suddenly coming to fruition in front of you. And you're like, I'm gonna make that sacrifice. And something that you said to me that's really always had an impact. Well, you didn't say it to me. You said to the world. But it still had an impact on me. You were being interviewed by Tucker Carlson and you were talking about suffering. And you said, you know, your job in life isn't to be happy all the time. Like, you shouldn't always be pursuing just happiness. That we have a reward system that's different than that. Can you expand on that? And, like, how does that, you know, apply to what you're doing right now?
- [04:50]
B
Well, I know you and I share a common belief in the Lord. And savior, Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus and you're missing the meaning of suffering, you really miss the meaning. Jesus didn't have to sit there and have nails driven into his wrists. And he certainly didn't have to. He's God. You could say, you know what? I'm not doing this today. I don't feel like it. He's God. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. So there was a lesson there. And there's a book. The Natural is a movie too, but I've quoted it often. My audience probably heard it before. Bernard Malambo. But it's about baseball. But the book's actually really good. So it's a movie. But in the book there's the line, you know, that there, there were. We all live two lives. The one we learned from and the one we live, the one we live after that. And that the real path to happiness is through suffering. And that's what I was trying to explain in that Tucker interview. I remember that answer. Well, it said that you have. I hate stupid cliches like, oh, you know, don't worry, be happy, like the Bobby McFerrin song.
- [05:52]
A
Me too.
- [05:53]
B
No, no worry. And don't always be happy, because I can be happy. There's crack. Oh, that makes you happy for 15 minutes. It does. Look. I mean, you can look at the doping. People love it. People get. Throw their whole lives away. You have alcohol, people can't stop drinking. You have people out there who, who smoke and nicotine. Hate's gonna kill you. But it makes me happy. So I don't worry, Be happier. No, don't be happy. The irony is you will be happy. You will be happiest when you say, don't worry, suffer.
- [06:20]
A
Yeah.
- [06:21]
B
When you choose deliberate suffering, working extra hours, putting in hours in the morning in a gym, even silly things like I talk about the cold plunge and people may laugh, but you know What? Jumping in 45 degree water in the morning really sucks at 5:30 in the morning. But you know what? It's good for my body and I need it. So I do it. And it sucks. And you know, go into your kid's game after a long day of work when you're tired, you could go home and eat popcorn and watch whatever, some crappy movie on Netflix. But that's not being a dad. That's being a loser. So, yeah, you happy watching your Netflix like a fat ass eating your popcorn? Yeah, you're happy. You know, I mean, you guys know, you think your dad was happy? Commuting from Wisconsin. That's not a one way, that's not an easy flight. He was a congressman for multiple terms. You think that was like happy, joy, joy time? I mean, dealing with a lot of these people in D.C. and I think the lesson is, and I'm sorry, but I'll wrap it up here, is seek. If you seek suffering, you'll be the happiest. You'll be the happiest. If you seek happiness, you're going to suffer. That is the greatest irony of life. Jesus taught us the lesson in the Bible. And even if you're not a Christian, even if you're not, I love Jesus, and that's my religion. May not be yours, but you look at the world's great religions, which millions of people follow, every single one of them has the same lesson. You have got to suffer to reach salvation. It's not. You're never going to reach salvation. Seeking happiness all the time. It's embarrassingly. It's an embarrassingly bad approach to life. And that's why when that call came in for this, just like when it came in for your dad who had a great job up at Fox. I know, I talk to your dad all the time. We're good friends. The answer was yes. There's not even a second thought. Do it. That's the answer. Even if it involves some temporary sacrifice.
- [08:12]
A
Yeah. And I think even if you're always pursuing happiness and you might think it'll make you happy, ultimately what makes you happy is when you take the hard route and you, and you pursue suffering. That's where the fulfillment comes from. That's what the reward system that you were talking about.
- [08:26]
B
But haven't you seen it in your life? I mean, you were in University of Chicago, right, with the vaccine thing?
- [08:31]
A
Yeah.
- [08:31]
B
You could have just taken it, right?
- [08:32]
A
I definitely would have.
- [08:33]
B
I mean, you would have caused yourself probably some issues, but you could have saved yourself a lot of headaches. Correct.
- [08:39]
A
I almost got expelled, okay? Exactly. I had to sue the university. I mean, people were calling me a grandma killer. I had to go in every single week and inconveniently take a vaccine test because I was unclean. Other people I knew were expelled. A friend of mine, she got vaccine injured. This is verified by Pfizer. It's not a conspiracy. You can look her up. And her doctor said, do not take the booster. And the school had a booster mandate. And they said, you have to take it. And she said, I won't. And they expelled her. And she was like, okay. And there are a Lot of people who were brave like that. And if you're, if you aren't willing to stand up for that, like for, for what is right or what is true or what is good, then, you know, there are a lot of other people that are going to suffer too. You know, it's, it's, we are all kind of connected in that way, I think.
- [09:24]
B
Yeah, well, and I bring that up, you know, specifically because there's nothing I. Listen, you've been around this business a long time. You know, obviously your parents are involved in, what do we call it, the content creation business, the talking head. I don't care what you call it. But you've been around this business a long time and I see it. There were so many really amazing people. Mark Levins, Hannity's always been there for me. Glenn Beck early in the days gave me my start. And these guys have just been incredible. But you know, there are a lot of fakes and phonies out there and they pretend like they're above it all and they make mistakes. I bring that story up for a reason. I'm one of these guys who highlights my mistakes all the time. That was a decision I had to make at the time. It's one of my greatest regrets. I never felt the same after it, after I took it, but I had no, I could not get these cancer treatments.
- [10:13]
A
But you were. Yeah, you were in a really special situation.
- [10:15]
B
Yeah, I was. But you know, still to this day, like, I see some of the, you know, I'm only human. I read criticism about me too. I see it, it's hard to avoid because, you know, we micro target on Twitter. So I see my name creep up and when people say, well, that was dumb, and I'm like, you know what? You weren't in my situation. But I can't disagree with the decision. Like maybe I should have, I had to get that treatment at that place and maybe I could have made that decision a little differently. I mean, I try to rethink these things all the time. And I think, you know, one of the reasons you and Haley, I mean, I, I, we picked you guys for a reason, have succeeded on this specific network is I know this audience watching.
- [10:58]
A
Right now, you guys, Bongino army.
- [11:00]
B
The Bongino army. They absolutely crave authenticity. And they, you know, they don't want fakes and phonies. Like, oh, you know what? I was, I had some special scientific reason. No, I didn't. I just wanted to live like that was it. And maybe I could have rethought it. But I'm authentic when I tell you that I make mistakes, too, man. Wrote a whole book about it. You want to read all the things I screwed up? Because there are a lot of them. I advertised it in a book just to let people know there's nothing special about. About me. My lodestar is this. And I know where I'm going, but I fall off the path all the time. Happens all the time.
- [11:34]
A
Well, and on authenticity, I think it's relevant to the viewers to just know. Like, you have never told me what I can and can't say on this podcast.
- [11:42]
B
No.
- [11:42]
A
And this for everybody listening. It's so unnatural. I mean, everywhere you go, if there's any kind of overhead, they are moderating content. And you're a mentor and you tell me, you know, hey, you know, I think here's a way to think about this, and it's. But it's very. It's very balanced, and it's very respectful. And I never have felt like I am told what to say or what to think by you, and I think the viewers can tell that. So I really appreciate that. And on being authentic and true, Dan, I have to tell you that when I cold plunge, it's 33 degrees and it's in the middle of the lake, and I chop up the ice in. In Wisconsin.
- [12:16]
B
You win. I'm not doing no 33. I keep it at. What is it, 46, 47. I keep it at 45, but it usually goes up to 47 because you got to cool it down.
- [12:26]
A
Have you tried to get it to 33?
- [12:28]
B
No, I. 33. I'm suffering. I just told you. I'm not suffering. Here, let me show some authentic side. I ain't suffering that much. I forget what I said about suffering. I'm just kidding. I ain't going down 33. No, no, not a chance.
- [12:39]
A
I have to show the video of it at the show next time, you guys, because I'm out there with Michael.
- [12:43]
B
Bring Michael in with you.
- [12:45]
A
Chop the ice, jump in there, and we have the thermometer. It's 33 degrees.
- [12:48]
B
Justin, get that video and stick it in their show. And they don't know about it. That'd be fantastic. That show would go nuclear watching these two freeze their butts off. 33 degrees. That's insane. No way.
- [12:59]
A
But there's something so much better about jumping in a lake. You gotta try it in a lake.
- [13:03]
B
I agree.
- [13:04]
A
It's different. It's cool in a lake, and you feel like you're in nature. There's something really amazing.
- [13:09]
B
I wish. But you know, it's Florida and Michael knows there are not many lakes with 33 degree water. Justin, have you ever seen a lake in Florida with 30? No, never. Justin hasn't seen a lake in Florida with less than 80 degree water at all. He's been down here. Justin has a Florida seniority over all of us. So we're all kind of, I think I've been here 10 years, he's been here his whole life. So gee, sick. So yeah, he's got the Florida seniority.
- [13:32]
A
Dan, I want to get to something that we were kind of talking about before this started that I think we, you know, I would love to take, get more of your opinion on. You got this kid, Mahmoud Khalil.
- [13:42]
B
Yeah.
- [13:43]
A
He's a 30 year old man. He was at the University, University of Columbia. He was a graduate student. He's now been detained by ICE because he is a accused of being a Hamas sympathizer. He's also accused of anti Semitism by the dhs. It's a little unclear exactly what they are going to charge him with and on what grounds he's going to be deported. But to be clear, federal law does say that if you are a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer, you don't have a right to be in this country. But I want to get your take on this because you were telling me you were thinking about it really deeply.
- [14:18]
B
Yeah, yeah. Listen, this is one of those topics on a political talk radio show that's there's, there's something for everyone. I don't mean that in a qualitatively good way. I just mean that if you really want to do a talk show, you don't avoid topics like this. If you want to be one of these, you know, kind of worse guys who doesn't want to offend anyone, you avoid a topic because you're like, there's nothing I'm going to say. It's going to make everyone happy. I don't care. I'm. I'm honestly not here to make people happy. I'm here to make them interested and feel like, wow, you know, that this isn't as simple as I thought. So with the Khalil case, you have this weird situation where he is not a US citizen but is an lpr legal permanent resident via green card. He has a wife here and the wife happens to be eight months pregnant. I am obviously a. An anti Hamas activist.
- [15:12]
A
Most anti Hamas man I've ever met.
- [15:14]
B
Yes, I am. I just, I.
- [15:15]
A
He wins the award.
- [15:16]
B
Thank you. If there's an anti Hamas, like, I don't like terrorist award, then, you know, I would, I would. That would be an honor of a lifetime to accept it. And, but, but here's the thing. Okay? So let's go with angle number one. Some people said it's a free speech case. If anyone's going to lecture me on free speech after what I've been through in my. I mean, I'm not even going to bore you guys with the details. The amount of suffering my wife and I have taken on defending people who say things I don't like. There are people on a platform I've invested in who go on the platform and insult me all the time. One guy threatened me on the platform. We have never, ever, ever, ever considered like, oh, well, he needs to go. It's not about me. It's about his ability to speak out even when it hurts, actually. Or could I said, leave it, leave it. We're not touching anything and, you know, we're not doing anything with it. So the free speech bona fides are there, but it's not a simple free speech question because it's not. It's not black or white. There's a lot of. On the margin here. Does this involve conduct and actions as well? Because that's different. I can say all I want. I support. I don't like Israel. I don't like Benjamin. I'm not saying that's obviously not my opinion, but I don't like Netanyahu. I hate the Israeli government. Israel has no right to exist in that territory. They haven't been there. That's historical Palestine. You can have all the opinions you want.
- [16:46]
A
From the river to the sea.
- [16:47]
B
From the river to sea. I mean, if you don't say the magic words and threaten someone's life, which would apply to a US Citizen too. That is protected speech, period. And it should be defended even if you don't agree with it. The question is the fact that it involves some degree of conduct on the university, private property and elsewhere, and that some of the conduct may. There's not necessarily a direct link, but may involve the support of terrorism. Is it a conduct issue or a speech issue? This is one of those talk topics where. Evita, I don't have an easy answer yet and I've applied. I hate to throw it out there, but the Bongino rule where I want to see what comes out in this due process hearing. But second, this is where it gets complicated. If this is a US citizen, it's A little bit more of a black and white case it isn't. It is someone who is not a United States citizen. They have rights on US Soil as a legal permanent resident. Okay. Here on a green card, there's no question. But then you say, well, okay, well, well, he needs to go get him. Get. Maybe, but maybe not. We haven't had the due process yet either. He's getting it, which is good. But this is one of those things. I encourage everyone, regardless of where you stand on the Israel, Palestine, Israel, Arab world issue and the entire issue of the Middle East, I just encourage everyone to be deliberate, wait for the facts, don't get emotional. I know it's hard because this involves terrorism, life or death. Believe me, there's no more serious topic. But I encourage everyone to just think like an investigator and a spreadsheet, let the facts develop. And in this due process hearing, if the government can show that there was some material support for terrorism. I don't care if you're a US citizen or not, you've committed a crime. And I don't care if that's a white supremacist, Nazi, an Islamic radical. It doesn't matter. You cannot financially or physically support and take actions to support a group that commits to killing people in the name of terror. You just can't do it. It's a crime. It doesn't matter who you are.
- [18:51]
A
And I'm a little even more radical than that, Dan. I'll say. Even if it's not under federal law, I just think the government should be able to deport anyone on any, you know, on any grounds who's not a US Citizen. You have the right not to get killed or raped in this country if you're not a U.S. citizen or you have human rights. But the only people that have a right to be here are U.S. citizens. You don't have a right to be here if you're not a citizen. I don't know why people seem to be confused about that issue. The other thing that I'm going to say though, Dan, is there have been some laws that have been introduced and in some cases even passed in the state, on the federal level introduced to criminalize antisemitism. And my fear with this issue is that there is perhaps a precedent being set that it's against the law to be an anti Semite, because we have seen that actually proposed at the state and federal level. And I hate anti Semites. I'm not an anti Semite. But do I think that that is a very clear speech issue? I do. And that's where I'm kind of taking a pause and saying, are we sure we want to take a step in that precedent, even if it's a non citizen?
- [19:53]
B
Well, that's a very fair and adult question that, you know, again, it's one of these things. I think people always reflexively jump to an answer because that behavior is so repulsive that the reflexive answer is, well, we need to ban it. And the question then becomes, well, who gets to say what that is? Okay, take the anti Semitism component out of it because it elicits so many emotional responses. You can't ever get to the spreadsheet. Yeah, say something. Somebody who says homophobia, even. Yeah, I say someone who comes out and says, I don't like people who are ex. Some, you know, group, whatever it may be, an lgbtqia, you know, I don't. Who gets to say. In other words, what's considered, say, anti Semitic or anti. Anti gay or anti. Once you start opening up this gray area, then you get to the disinformation paradox, where two different people see two different things and both of them can't be right. In other words, you get to like the, say, the, the COVID issue where they go back to the vaccine where, you know, someone says, well, the vaccine's ineffective and the government says, well, that's disinformation. And then, well, what's ineffective mean? Someone may say, ineffective how? Show me a study. Well, I'm going to show you studies as it doesn't prevent people from contracting Covid from someone else. Well, that person's probably correct. If you look at the science, so. Or masks like, you know, who gets to say what this information is, and this is why I'm such a free speech absolutist and why I don't reflexively answer these questions about people without getting the data in. If it's conducting, if it's in violation of the law or a threat.
- [21:39]
A
I mean, yeah, get up, get ready.
- [21:42]
B
Yeah. Or anyone else. I don't care who it is. I'm not suggesting he said this, but it could be. Paula, if someone comes out tomorrow says, I want to kill this person, that's a crime. You're. You're directly, immediately inciting violence. And if there's an immediacy component to it, that's different. But the gray area of disinformation bothers me because you're always going to get the politicians who weaponize the term and disinformation becomes any information you don't like.
- [22:09]
A
I got one More point to bring up to you on this one, Dan. And I'm just going to say about those kids that were protesting at Columbia, at my school, the University of Chicago, I had, I didn't even think I would. I was shocked by myself when I reacted to this because I had such a negative, visceral reaction. It brought back all these memories to me of students who treated me horribly, like friends, who were liberal, who then were sending me death threats online. And they were, you know, are you.
- [22:34]
B
Talking about the anti Israel or pro white thing? Yeah.
- [22:37]
A
So when I was at UChicago, I had made an antisocialism statement and I got just slammed with hate from my peers to the point where like law enforcement had to get involved, the university had to get involved. David Axelrod had to come out with a statement like it was a big deal. And so what I'm saying is that I saw those pro Palestine kids on campus and it brought back these memories because I know they're not motivated by, many of them, a love for Palestinians, they're motivated by Marxism. It's the haves and the haves not. And I know where it's coming from. At the same time, Dan, I remember during that time when I was canceled in 2020, that there were university students who attacked this country, America. They were looting and they were burning our cities and they were toppling down monuments. And I know that that ideology was coming from the. And there weren't any calls to get rid of foreign born students who were involved in the BLM rioting. And to me, I thought, I think, you know, we can have a conversation about anti Semitism and anti Israel sentiment and pro Hamas. I mean, serious questions. And at the same time I go, where was this outrage? We were talking about America. I want that too. You know, that was my reaction to this as well.
- [23:51]
B
There's a great op ed in the Wall Street Journal came out two days ago. And the gist of the pieces, you know, because America is an open society and we have been, we've been very open to people. Whether you like that approach or not, it's a fact. I mean, we, the country was built by early Americans, there's no doubt about that. But my grandparents, you know, Paula is an immigrant to the country, a first generation immigrant. You know, my grandparents came here from Palermo, Sicily. You know, immigrants have played, you know, vital role. Anyone from the, from the Irish to the Italians to people who've come here from Spanish speaking countries and other places around the world as well. But because we're an open country it, you know, it's been said. Who's it? Was it Scalia who said it? Like, none of this stuff is like a suicide pact either. Like, we don't have to allow people into our tree house who hate the place. And there's this up in the Wall Street Journal with the guy's like, isn't this common sense? I mean, yes, once you're here, you have rights. That's it. Like we have a constitution and there are four corners of it. Respect it no matter what.
- [24:53]
A
As much as I want to get rid of Ilhan Omar, she's a citizen. She has, she has rights.
- [24:56]
B
And you can't just say like, no, she doesn't because we don't like what she's saying. That's not the way. The constitution is not a suggestion is what I'm getting at. It's a hard stop sign, not a four way stop sign no one pays attention to. You have got to follow the rules or else you have nothing. You have chaos and anarchy. However, the rules also say you don't have those rights if you are not an American citizen. American citizen in Paris still has rights of an American citizen. A resident of, you know, Accra, Ghana, who comes over here until they land on US soil has no such rights. Matter of fact, even one of the exceptions to the search exception in the Constitution is at the border. You do not have those rights at the border. Even you, when you come into the border, it is, we can search your vehicle. Wait, fourth Amendment. Not at the border. You don't even have American citizen rights. And we're letting people in, not, obviously, not anywhere close to all but a subset of people coming into the country who just hate the place. They hate everything about us. They love the first world living standards, but they hate the place. And that's the suicide pact that we've been warned against. Like, the Constitution is not, was never meant to be a suicide pact. Everything has four corners around it. Even our wonderful, amazing First Amendment. You can't threaten people's lives. You can't libel people. I can't come out tomorrow and say I have evidence Evita was born on Saturn. Like, I can't do that. It's not true, I made it up. But I have the First Amendment. Everything has restrictions on it because the Constitution was not meant to be a suicide pact. And this is what bothers me. And like with the protesters on campus, hey, listen, your viewpoint is protected. You hate Israel, you hate Netanyahu, you hate the idf, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, you hate them. You were allowed to do that. But the question is, are you allowed to do it on a private college campus? If they say you are, it's their property. It's not mine. That's fine. But then there's other questions. As I said, everything's nuanced. Are you allowed to stop Evita Duffy from walking in a classroom? Because Evita has rights, too. And the answer is, no, you're not. You are not allowed to physically contact Evita Duffy and say, you can't go in the classroom. You can. So, you know, these are really nuanced questions that I think our audience, which you've seen, who's very deep, the Bongino army, are super smart. Just read the chat. They understand that none of this stuff lends to easy answers. But when you talk it through, like me and you were doing, now you're like, you know what? I think they're right. I do love the First Amendment, but the First Amendment, like any other right, doesn't allow you to impact on the civil big arg rights of others either.
- [27:41]
A
Well, there's an interesting conversation to be had about the Catholic Church, Dan, because you were just talking about identity and who has a. Do you just have a right to come in here? And is that the Christian answer? Right. Because you'll see. The Catholic bishops will slam. J.D. vance will say, we have to just let all these people in and have Catholic Charities be a government contractor and facilitate all this and get billions of dollars from the taxpayers. That's the right Christian moral thing to do. And we have to have conversations about what is the moral thing to do. In the past, church fathers have said that it's actually the duty of the leaders of said countries to protect the people. That's a moral duty. And protecting the people is. Includes protecting them from threats like terrorists crossing the border, but also protecting the unique American identity that we have. And there's this narrative right now, and I'm seeing it on these viral jubilee videos that are going around the Internet, that we don't have an identity, that everybody is. It's meritocracy. And everybody can believe what we believe. And it's kind of a salad bowl, not a melting pot. And to me, Dan, that is so backward. We are a people.
- [28:47]
B
Yeah. We're not a salad bowl.
- [28:48]
A
No.
- [28:50]
B
Why does our military work so well? And the answer is, because when you go to boot camp, we specifically are absolutely not a salad bowl. You've got, say, an immigrant from India who maybe grew up speaking Hindi or something, but now has learned English and is a US Citizen who says, I'm gonna serve in the United States Marine Corps next to a guy who may be white whose parents immigrated from Ireland, say, 100 years ago. Grandparents, whatever it may be, great grandparents came over. Right? And the whole idea is we are not gonna recognize superficial differences that mean nothing. You are part of one cohesive team. That's why the military is so damn effective before we started to break it up with this DEI stuff. So I find that, you know, ridiculously, patently offensive. And I think that's why the woke left and the DEI people want you to focus relentlessly on all of our differences. But just to get to your question about the Catholic Church, because I'm part of it. I love it. I worship there. You know, you and I feel the same way about Jesus and faith. You don't have Jesus and faith. You know, you're just in a dark forest. I mean, or you just are. I mean, you're sitting around looking for answers to. You know, the answer's right in front of you. You know, it's right there. But God gave us a world of scarce resources. There is a world without scarce resources. It's the second creation, which we call heaven. In the Catholic faith. There's no scarce resources there. This is the test, okay? You're buying your movie ticket into the second creation. And through that, God gave you a complex problem to solve the first problem we already discussed. So this was kind of an unintentional segue. But is suffering, how do you navigate the balance? God doesn't want you to suffer all the time. He wants you to enjoy happiness, but he doesn't want you to live your life in the pure pursuit of happiness. I don't care what anyone tells you. There's going to be suffering. But secondly, he gave you a world of scarce resources where there are no easy answers. So anyone telling you, well, the Catholic faith, we have to take care of everyone all the time, really. Resources are scarce. The expense of my own kids. So just to be clear, you're telling me that those closest to me with my DNA, who I would do anything for, I would kill for in a second, if I had to, I would. You're telling me, right, that I should. He would, right? Right. In a second, that I should forfeit the resources I've accumulated? I'm not talking about charity. I mean, we give and do. I'm not talking about that. I mean, you're saying that as a country, because not everybody's been blessed as much as they have. But people, some people are really struggling, you should forfeit those resources away for your nuclear family to take care of someone. You have no idea. And you're saying God said to do that? God said, be charitable. Absolutely. Be kind, be nice to everyone. If you have extra resources, you know, donate them, give them away. You know, give them away in responsible way. But we should just endlessly take in groups of people at the expense of our own citizens and our own laws. That, that's, that's so incredibly naive. I'm really convinced you never actually read the Bible. Like you think you read the Bible, but you didn't read the Bible. You completely missed the context of it.
- [32:08]
A
How backward is it that there are people in this country who their priorities are things that are on the other side of the world? That's what I think about when I see these pro Palestine kids. I'm like, there are people dying of fentanyl in this country. There are people, not just a few either, veterans who are homeless. And your priority is apparently Palestinians. And doesn't mean that you can't genuinely be concerned about the Palestinian lives on the other side of the world or any life on the other side of the world. But it's just natural that your priority be your family, your community, your country. And for so many people, that doesn't seem to be the case. And they slam J.D. vance for this. The Pope Francis said, because he articulated this really eloquently better than I'm doing now. And Pope Francis said, that's not Christian, actually. That's, you know, it's contrary to the Catholic doctrine. And this is not correct. Pope Francis was patently incorrect about this issue.
- [33:00]
B
He is. And I think the infallibility of the Pope argument is frequently misinterpreted by people I haven't really read.
- [33:07]
A
But he's just faith in morals.
- [33:11]
B
He's just incorrect on this. The irony of what you just said, where Vice President Vance is totally on it, is the point JD Is trying to make is when we build a solid core of nuclear family home units, it's almost like there's the positive externality that comes from that is the. I don't want to talk in lofty terms, but the energy is infectious. When you have a. It's simple, let's do the inverse. It's easier to understand. I wish it weren't, but it is. You get a family full of fatherless homes in a broken neighborhood. What do you have every single time? Every time. Crime, destruction, property damage, economic loss, no tax base, low property values. The correlation is 100% yeah. Then you see other neighborhoods, middle class, upper middle class neighborhoods, two parents, good job, maybe one stay at home parent around the children, good, decent schools. The correlation is almost perfect. So the irony is when you take care of what's closest to you, like them or not, you know, Jordan Peterson says all the time, just make your own bed. Make your own bed first. When you make your own bed, the whole house looks better. But when everybody's focused on everyone else's room, you know, no one's focused on their own. And the whole house is a hole. It's a mess. So that's just a completely ridiculous approach. I could not disagree with Pope Francis more on that. Take care of family first. Make your bed. Then you know what? When everything's good at home, you have extra resources, community, local. Then when you have some extra resources, maybe find a group, I don't know, like folds of honor. I like, they take care of our military. You know, people lost their parents and take care of scholarships. But then you branch out. It's the principle of subsidiarity, which is a religious, faith based principle, but applies to economics and government too. The closest impact you can ever make are the people closest to you. As you start to think about other things and get away from local, the irony is you destroy the other things and the local.
- [35:17]
A
It's so true, Dan. And we. I'm getting the producers behind the scenes telling me to wrap it up, but I got it.
- [35:22]
B
Really. Look at this guy. Cut. He's like, get out of there. Yeah, but Dan's like, we got producer Jim here too. He's kind of laughing in the background.
- [35:31]
A
Producer Jim would never cut us off. It's a G and Michael thing. But, but Dan, I got to ask you just really quickly, fast pitch, tell everybody what Silverlock is all about.
- [35:40]
B
Silverlock. So that is the new media company going forward. And luckily Paula's been so deeply involved in the business for years that it's kind of a natural segue. But the idea, Silverlock, is to build a credible long term alternative to pay models. I want a free service available on Rumble, which is free. I mean, premium is an option, of course, but you don't have to. And I want people to be able to have programming all day. You were the first. This was an experiment that could have gone awry. I knew it wouldn't. I had. I knew it. I just, I saw you and I was like, we need to grab her. She's fantastic. But you've been a huge success. A major launch. We just brought in Haley Vince and eventually by the time Silverlock is done, Paula has this vision now of building out more talent and giving people just an all day alternative so that you don't have to pay. You know, it's a tough place. You can pay for the convenience of not getting all those ads and stuff on premium. But that's kind of the vision of Silverlock.
- [36:42]
A
And what's going to be so amazing about it is because I just, I told you guys, I have nobody telling me what I can and can't say. This is going to be something where it is authentic voices. You are going to hear the truth from that person without oversight, from some corporate somebody saying this is what you got to say and this is you got to do. And that's what makes it so unique from the corporate media for sure.
- [37:03]
B
Oh well, yeah, I mean we'll never. And you and I have chatted frequently about. Because I just haven't done this for a long time. I feel like sometimes there's a better way to make an argument. And the only reason I say that is because I've screwed it up. I mean, after 10 years, there's not a single topic out there I think I haven't discussed. And there are sometimes I say to myself, I wish I would have said that differently, you know, not because I believe differently. I just think I could have been more persuasive in the argument. But whatever your arguments are, I mean, you know, you and I don't agree on everything. I'm like, you knock them dead. And I've got, I, you know, just like people complain about, you know, my show sometimes. I don't like what you said about that. I get people go, dan, you and Evita don't think the same way about X issue. Well, that's the point. What do you think I want? I don't want, you know, a clone. I wasn't looking for Dolly the sheep. I was looking for someone who's a powerful. And I wanted a younger voice. I mean, I'm 50, you know, it's important that it's tautological to say the young people are the next generation. They just are. It's a math problem. I don't know what it's like to be 20. I'm 50. I knew what it was like to be 20, you know, 30 years ago. I don't like. So that's why we brought you and Haley on. And some of the other talent will be, you know, to have different perspectives as well. But that's the long term vision.
- [38:19]
A
Well, I am so unbelievably grateful for the confidence that you've had in me, the opportunity that you've given me. Here I am, I'm so happy where I'm at. So I just want you to know that. And for all of you guys listening, I hope you enjoyed this episode again. I producers are back there. They're like you have to, you have to wrap it up. So we're gonna wrap it up. But, but you guys, this was an amazing episode. I'm so glad that for all of you tuning in and we're gonna have Haley, of course, 6:00pm, Brianna, Vince, Colin Yates filling in for Dan Bongino while he's, while he's, you know, serving his country. So I really appreciate everyone listening, listening early edition, 9:00am Eastern time, five days a week. Rumble.com Evita, you guys know where it's at. Thank you so much for tuning in.
- [38:58]
B
Thanks, guys.