Ep. 1536 - Even The Libs Are Shocked By The Assassination Hearing

Michael Knowles
This episode is brought to you by Adele Natural Cosmetics. Adele Natural Cosmetics is a christian, family run holistic skincare and cosmetic company made right here in the USA without using parabens, synthetic fragrances, preservatives, or anything else on an ingredient list thats difficult to pronounce. So what are you waiting for? Visit adelenaturalcosmetics.com to get your free foundation color matching consultation. Use code Dailywire for 25% off your first order. That's Adel naturalcosmetics.com with code Dailywire for 25% off your first order. While the political media want you to focus on the bread and circuses of who Democrat party elites will crown as their next presidential nominee, I would like to refocus our attention back on that little story that seems to have fallen out of the news, namely that the republican nominee was very nearly murdered nine days ago, and how the woman in charge of keeping that nominee safe still has her job, and how that woman is still stonewalling members of Congress on basic aspects of the assassination attempt.

Was it a lone gunman?

How did he get on the roof?

Why was Trump permitted to take the stage?

To be fair, I am not the only one asking the questions. Republicans aren't the only ones asking these questions. Many people are surprised to see that during congressional testimony yesterday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle faced calls to resign, even from Democrat congressmen, even from far left congressmen such as AOC.

Kimberly Cheatle
So the notion of a report coming out in 60 days when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of party, is not acceptable. And I think it's very important to understand that this is not theater. This is not about jockeying. This is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically in the United States of America. So the idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable. It has been ten days since an assassination attempt on a former president of the United States, regardless of party.

There need to be answers.

Michael Knowles
AOC was not the only Democrat who called on Cheadle to resign. Here's big lib Ro Khanna of California demanding the same.

You know, you know what Stuart Knight did when he was in charge at the time of the secret service? Do you know what he did afterwards?

Nancy Mace
He remained on duty.

Michael Knowles
He resigned. He resigned.

He resigned. What gives? Why are Democrats siding with Republicans in demanding the resignation of a Biden appointee?

Have they suddenly cultivated some care for the common good. Are they true statesmen willing to put aside partisan squabbles? Of course. Nothing. The Democrats are piling on the secret service director because she is small potatoes.

In fact, shes the perfect fall guy. Shes a far more convenient fall guy for the failed assassination attempt than, say, her boss, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Shes an infinitely more convenient fall guy than his boss, Joe Biden, whose legacy will still fuel Democrat prospects in this election, whether hes on the ballot or not. If you are a Democrat legislator, this is a no brainer. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles show.

Is Biden dead?

I wouldn't ask it. I mean, a lot of people are asking that. And Kamala Harris didn't ease people's worries when she seemed to suggest that she was playing a recording of Biden when she was supposed to be having a phone call with him. And I don't. My friend Bridget Fetticey posted last night. She said, you know, it's kind of weird. People are talking about whether or not the president of the United States is alive or dead. And it's only like the third weirdest thing that's happened in the last nine days. It's true. So we will examine whether or not President Biden still breathes.

First, though we all know Biden called it quits and the left's assault on America is far from over. The election is pivotal, and you need the truth now more than ever. The Daily Wire gives you the uncensored truth every day. Go to Dailywire.com comma right now. Use code fight for 47% off your annual membership. Join us as we fight the left and build the future.

Before we get into Schrodinger's president, I don't want to move on too quickly from the Secret service director. Everything we learn about the Secret Service's handling of this assassination makes it seem worse and worse. This was absolutely disastrous. Testimony from Kimberly Cheadle. Congressman Andy Biggs asked a really basic question about the assassination attempt. He said, okay, so you don't seem to have a lot of answers for us. Let's just establish some basic facts. Can you confirm that at the very least, this was a lone gunman? Here's her answer.

It is unfathomable that a 20 year old on the radar of secret service in local law enforcement, before President Trump went on stage, was able to climb onto the roof of a building with a rifle and fire off multiple rounds before he was neutralized. Was Mister Crooks acting alone.

Nancy Mace
Again? I would have to refer you to the FBI's investigation.

Michael Knowles
Was he just a lone gunman?

Nancy Mace
I would have to refer you to the FBI's investigation for motive.

Michael Knowles
Speaker two, he didn't ask about motive. Lady, what do you. What?

This is a layup. I understand there are some questions that she is not going to want to answer during this testimony because it was the biggest secret service screw up since Reagan was shot in the eighties and maybe even crazier than that.

But he asked you a basic question. Okay, well, during this major screw up, there was a lone gunman, right? She goes, sorry, I can't answer that.

I can't answer questions about motive. He didn't ask a question about motive. He asked how many shooters there were. You can't give me that answer. You're the head of the secret service. You can't tell me how many shooters there were? Who did succeed at murdering one citizen, attending a political rally, critically injured two, and nearly blew the head off the former president, I hope future president, current leading presidential candidate.

What then Nancy Mace and other republican congressman turned the grilling up even higher.

Nancy Mace
Both sides of the aisle today have asked for your resignation. Would you like to use my five minutes to draft your resignation letter? Yes or no? No. Thank you.

Was this a colossal failure?

It was a failure. Yes or no. Was it a colossal failure, is the question yes or no? I have admitted this is a terrorist. This is a yes or no series of questions. Was this a colossal failure, yes or no? Yes.

Was this tragedy preventable, yes or no?

Yes.

Has the secret Service been transparent with this committee?

Yes.

Would you say the fact that we had to issue a subpoena to get you to show up today as being transparent, yes or no? I have always been. Yes or no? You didn't want to answer the question. We had to issue a subpoena to get you to show up today. That is not transparent. By the way, you stated earlier, secret service is not political. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Would you say, leaking your opening statement to Punch bowl news, Politico's playbook, and Washington Post several hours before you sent it to this committee as being political, yes or no? I have no idea how my statement got out.

Well, that's bull.

Michael Knowles
Okay. Nancy Mace goes on. Her language gets a little bit saltier even as the grilling continues.

I don't think she needed to get salty. I thought this was a great grilling by Nancy Mays. She did a terrific job.

She didn't have to go blue in her language because the secret service director admitted failure. She got her on. The question was this a colossal failure? Well, it was a failure. Was it a colossal failure? Well, I said it was not great. You know, was it a colossal failure? Yes, it was. She gets her on that. But then crucially, she, she gets her on the leaked testimony. She says, is the US secret Service political? I'm not talking about agents on the ground actively protecting the president and other high profile politicians.

No one is suggesting that those guys are, you know, colluding with some political party. We're talking about the political appointees. We're talking about people like Kimberly Cheadle appointed by Joe Biden. Is the US secret Service from the perspective of the bureaucracy, the administrative state, is it partisan and party political?

She says no. And then Nancy May says, well, how'd your had your speech get leaked to left wing news outlets? She says, I don't know how that happened. Well, that is an admission of failure.

First of all, Nancy Mace doesn't believe her. She thinks that Cheadle leaked it herself.

But even if Cheadle didn't leak it, Cheadle is saying not only do I not have control over my job, which is to protect the presidents, not only do I not have control over the security perimeters around these events, I don't have control over my secretary. I don't have control over my immediate subordinates. I don't have control even to protect my remarks from going out and to the establishment press. So she doesn't have control over anything.

That admission either. She's admitting that the Secret Service has become politicized, as have so many formerly nonpartisan aspects of our government under Joe Biden and under Barack Obama before him.

But she's either admitting that or she's admitting that she can't perform even the most basic aspects of leadership.

She can't even keep her own remarks from leaking out.

The more we learn, the worse this seems. Jesse Waters just sat down with President Trump and JD Vance.

He asked President Trump, he said, hey, there was this security risk that was called in about 15 minutes before your speech, or more, actually. I mean, but according to some reports, the threat was seen an hour before, maybe even more than an hour before. So did anyone tell you, did they tell you to postpone the event?

Heres Trumps answer.

They were monitoring this guy for an hour beforehand. No one told you not to take the stage?

Donald Trump
No, nobody mentioned it. Nobody said there was a problem.

And I would have waited for 15. They could have said, lets wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, five minutes, something nobody said. I think that was a mistake. How did somebody get on that roof. And why wasnt he reported? Because people saw that he was on the roof. When you had trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, she was screaming, theres a man on the roof. And then other people said, theres a man on the roof whos got a gun. And that was quite a bit before I walked onto the stage. So you would have thought somebody would have done something about it.

Michael Knowles
You sure would have.

If youre tracking this guy before the event even starts, you dont tell the president, hey, hold off for a few minutes. I've had to postpone my events.

He's the president of the United States, former president and future president. I'm some guy. I've had to hold my events when there are threats outside and threats that are less severe than a guy walking around, potentially with a rifle using a rangefinder.

Apparently the shooter had a drone over the site, though it's unclear if that was known to law enforcement beforehand.

The guy looked like a threat. How about you hold the, that's what they have holding rooms for. That's the purpose of a green room.

No one told Trump.

So now everyone's going to yell at the secret service director and they're going to probably chase her out of her job. And then that'll be that, right? That's that.

Do not let this stop there. Do not allow this to be memory holedenhouse. Already this story is being memory holed.

The former president, current leading presidential candidate, was very nearly murdered. The only reason he is alive is by the grace of God because of a nanosecond, early, unpredicted head turn that prevented the back of his head from being blown out and only blew off the top part of his ear.

That was what, nine days ago? Now, don't let this get memory hold. They fire this woman, everyone's going to say, move along, move along. I want answers from Alejandra Mayorkas. I want answers from Joe Biden. If Joe Biden is still alive or is still able to speak, there's so much more to say. First, though, go to zap my debt.com. do you ever think, how can I work this hard and still be in debt? The piles of overdue bills, the threatening phone calls, and never having money to do anything. If you are trapped in debt, zero debt USA is the way out. They have developed aggressive new strategies to end your debt permanently. Zero debt USA stands between you and the bill collectors. They negotiate with creditors to lower or even forgive what you owe. And they do it all without bankruptcy or new loans. Zero debt USA has powerful strategies that zap your debt quickly so you have more money in your pocket every month. But you need to hurry because some debt solutions or time sensitive, you do not want to miss out. Go to zapmyde.com. talk with one of their debt relief strategists for free. Find out how fast they can get you out of debt. Do not allow yourself to be troubled by those annoying phone calls and that anxiety anymore. Go to zap my debt.com. that is zap my debt.com.

is Joe Biden alive?

I'll give you my opinion, my prediction in just a moment. First, though, a lot of people are asking that is Biden even because we haven't seen him in what, six days now? And Biden stepped down as their Democrat nominee after weeks and weeks and months and months of saying I will be the nominee. Stop asking me about my age. I will be the nominee. He stepped down from that role through a picture of a letter that he supposedly wrote, posted to a social media account that he doesn't run. And then we haven't heard from him since. He's not even in the White House right now. He's in his private home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He left Las Vegas under kind of murky circumstances. He gave a really bad speech out there. Then we were told he came down with COVID so he had to cancel another speech in Vegas.

We don't really know. There are other unconfirmed kind of murky reports about maybe there was a more serious medical event that occurred in Las Vegas and that explains why it's been so long. We just don't know.

And then Kamala Harris was trying to quell concerns about whether or not the president is still alive or conscious.

And she didnt do a very good job of it.

Kamala Harris
It is so good to hear our presidents voice. Joe, I know youre still on the call and weve been talking every day. You probably, you guys heard it from Dougs voice. We love Joe and Jill. We really do. They truly are like family to us. And we did everybody here that is neutral.

I knew you were still there. You're not going anywhere, Joe.

Michael Knowles
I'm watching it, kid.

Kimberly Cheatle
I'm watching it, kid.

Michael Knowles
I love you.

Kamala Harris
I love you, Joe.

Elon Musk
What?

Michael Knowles
Oh, man, these guys.

Look, I think Joe Biden's alive. However, the Democrats are doing a great job at convincing me he's nothing.

She starts out, she goes, and I know we still have Joe on the recording.

Phone call humming yeah, I know. We have him on the AI generated computer tape. I mean. I mean, I'm sorry. No, what did I mean to say?

Skype or something?

Especially in the age of deepfakes. Don't forget all the actual videos of Joe Biden slurring his words and falling down. They were denounced as cheap fakes until the Democrats admitted that he doesn't know which end is up. Now, the proof of life is that we hear audio that vaguely sounds like Joe Biden, that his vice president and now heir apparent, who's taken over his spot as the nominee for president, she begins to call a recording.

And then the moment that you have another interjection from Biden, you hear her say, he says, I love you.

Hi. There she goes. I knew you were still on the phone call.

You know that totally live thing with a live person who is alive on the other end?

Thank you. Yeah, I'm Joe Biden. I like ice cream. Beep boop. No, don't say beep boop. Gotta fix that. AI, that's no good. Really, really, really weird, as are many things. Now. Look, Kamala Harris is one of the worst orders I've ever heard. So she just might be a little bit awkward, and it might well be Joe. I think it's Joe. I think he's alive. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I think Joe Biden is alive.

There have been three big options we've been told could explain what's going on, that Biden is really gravely ill, so bad off that we can't see him, he's in a hospital bed or in a hospice, some random Twitter account posted last night. Or he's dead and it's total weekend at Bernie's. Or the third option, which I think is the most likely, is he's really, really, really irritated because his supposed friends and allies took his job away from him, took his legacy away from him, pushed him aside, threw him out like yesterday's news, and picked this woman, whom I strongly suspect he hates. So I don't know that Biden feels very much sincerely or really can discern between truth and falsehood. But this woman launched her national political career, her presidential political career, by calling Biden a racist who tried to keep her off a school bus when she was a little girl. Cause she's black, even though she's half indian and, like, a little bit black and a little bit white. And anyway, whatever.

I think he's really, really, really angry at the people around him, and he doesn't want to talk to anyone. I suspect that actually explains it. And there's some evidence for this Ron Klain, who is the president's ostensible president's former chief of staff, he tweeted out, now that the donors and electeds have pushed out the only candidate who has ever beaten Trump, it is time to end the political fantasy games and unite behind the only veteran of a national campaign, our outstanding vp, Kamala Harris. Two exclamation points. Let's get real and win in November. So I think those two exclamation points, there's a little wink here, there's a little sardonic kind of irony here.

He's so excited, he's so overly excited after he says the donors and electeds have pushed out the best candidate, the only one who's ever actually beaten Trump. So he's salty about this. And I think that Biden's salty about this. I don't think this was a sacrifice as the establishment media are trying to paint it, to mollify Joe Biden or what a great man, what a great, he didn't, this isn't a sacrifice. He got pushed out. This was a palace coup. He obviously is furious about it. He's not appearing in public.

He may be called into a Kamala Harris event. Maybe we're not even sure about that. She called it a recording, started to call it a recording. Ron Klain, one of the people closest to Biden, is saying openly he got pushed out, that it was a palace coup, not a sacrifice at all. And he's gonna be salty about it. We'll see if he ever even addresses it. He said he was gonna address the nation later in the week.

Maybe. Maybe. I don't know.

The one thing that I can predict with certainty is that no one can really reliably predict any of these coming events.

Now, if you have any familiarity with history, this whole thing probably seems oddly familiar.

Im talking about recent history.

Im talking about the eighties.

Biden feels like Chernenko. Chernenko, the last leader of the Soviet Union before Gorbachev dismantled it.

And even before Chernenko, we had Andropov, who also was like one of these just doddering old people who died very quickly. Ronald Reagan made a joke. He said, look, I want to cut a deal with the Soviet Union, but their leaders keep dying on me. Then he was finally able to work with Gorbachev. It feels as though we defeated the Soviet Union in the cold war and then we became the Soviet Union, which happens sometimes. Sometimes victorious powers come to resemble the peoples that they vanquished.

The knock on the Soviet Union was that it was a decrepit bureaucracy that was extraordinarily inefficient, that wasn't able to create really sustainable economic growth that had been captured by corrupt oligarchs, that was not accountable to the people, that, yeah, wow. Boy.

That had its empire beginning to fray and fall away. Yeah. Wow. Does that sound familiar? That was being led by extremely old men who didn't know what their name was anymore. Yeah. Boyden. Boy, oh, boy. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

This really sounds like a rhyme. And so I pointed this out yesterday, and someone said, well, Michael, does that mean, in this analogy, does that mean that Trump is Gorbachev? And in a way, I guess it does, because the explicit fear of the liberal establishment is that President Trump will upend the prevailing political order and that he will dismantle the empire, the american empire involving pride flags in Kandahar. And even though it was Biden who pulled out of Afghanistan and Ukraine, Ukraine is the 51st state or something, and that he'll upend american foreign policy, that is an explicit worry of the establishment. So, yeah, it seems actually pretty similar.

And if the historical analogy holds, that does not bode very well for the stability of America over the next few years. There's so much more to say. First, though, go to preborn.com knowles. It has been two years since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Did you know that the number of abortions since then has actually increased? Estimates show that more than 1 million babies were killed by abortion in 2023, the highest number of abortions since 2012. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has unfortunately made the abortion pill more available, now accounting for up to 64% of all abortions. But Preborn continues to stand strong. Preborn is the largest pro life organization in the country. They provide free ultrasounds to mothers with unplanned pregnancies to introduce them to the precious life growing inside them. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears his heartbeat, she is twice as likely to choose life. Every day, Preborn rescues 200 lives. One ultrasound costs only $28 and could be the difference between life and death. Please join the fight by sponsoring an ultrasound. If you have the means, you can sponsor Preborn's entire network for a day. For $5,000, whatever gift you give will go towards saving lives. All gifts are tax deductible. Go to preborn.com knowles to donate today. I personally support this organization. I strongly encourage you to give what you can. Preborn.com knowles or dial pound 250. Say keyword baby. That is pound 250. Keyword, baby.

Kamala Harris's campaign has officially kicked off.

Kamala Harris
Wanted to be here today. He is feeling much better and recovering fast, and he looks forward to getting back on the road. And I wanted to say a few words about our president.

Joe Biden's legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.

In one term, he has already. Yes, you may clap.

Michael Knowles
You may clap. Yes, yes, you may clap.

Not a great, in case you forgot it, it's one of the great clips. I know you know, it's a Republican who's a flopping around, but it's just a funny clip from 2016.

The next president needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interests of this country to get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world.

Please clap.

You know, if I want to win this presidential election in some of the toughest circumstances that we've seen in modern times, I know who I'll model my campaign after. Jeb Bush.

Great idea, Kamala.

Despite look, people's predictions are all over the place these days. We're now trying to predict whether the sitting president is alive or dead.

I mentioned it takes a big, handsome man to admit when he's wrong. I thought there was still a good chance Biden would stay in the race. I do, however, feel totally vindicated on a prediction I made back in 2018 or 2019, before the 2020 election, where I said, I think Kamala Harris could go far. I think she's, no one was really looking at her at the time.

Everyone was looking at the bigger ticket, democrat items. But I said, Kamala, she's crafty, she's clever, she's a real careerist. She checks a lot of intersectional boxes. Keep your eyes on Kamala Harris. And it looked like I was wrong when she got out of the race before the primaries. But then I felt quite vindicated when Biden picked her for the VP, and now I feel extremely vindicated. This woman is very good at working behind the scenes to amass political power, so I don't mean to take anything away from her in that regard.

However, she is a horrible retail politician. She is one of the worst retail politicians I have ever seen. She can't connect with anyone in the public. She can't speak very well, and in many ways, a demented Joe Biden is a better orator than Kamala Harris at her prime.

She doesn't know anything. That's why she just repeats herself. The same platitudes about imagining what can be by being unburdened by what has been. And boy, don't you like yellow school buses? I love yellow school buses. She doesn't have anything to say. She doesn't believe in anything. That's probably why the liberal establishment likes her so much.

She might not be the nominee. She has secured officially enough delegates to be the nominee. There are only something like 103 or 104 days left. So 97% chance she is the Democrat nominee.

But if she stumbles, if she really continues to stumble on the campaign trail, if some of the big power players in the Democrat party continue to withhold endorsements, there is a chance. Look, as my friend Bridget feticy pointed out, we're debating whether the president's alive or dead. And that's the third weirdest thing to happen in the last nine days.

My only real prediction here is that people who are making solid predictions have no idea what they are talking about. Now, there's a big new hit on Trump regarding Kamala. Assuming Kamala is the Democrat nominee, here's the big hit. Ready? Here's the big oppo research.

Donald Trump donated to Kamala.

He did. I guess he did. And from 2011 to 2013, Trump gave $6,000 to Harris reelection campaign for California attorney general.

And his daughter gave a little money, too.

Okay, that's the best they got. Of course Trump donated to her. She was an attorney general of a big state. And Trump does business everywhere. And he has bragged for decades about buying off politicians.

This line of attack, I can't even imagine the Democrats are foolish enough to try to use it. This line of attack is the exact same line of attack they used in 2016 when they said, haha, Trump donated to Hillary and Trump flipped that attack back on them. He said, yeah, Hillary can be bought. I bought her. I bought politicians on both sides of the aisle. I'm an outsider. I know how the political system works. I've used the political system. I know all these people. I had them in my pocket, and it was an effective line. So I can't imagine the Harris campaign is going to want to use this because it is not only pretty much as effective as it was in 2016 against Hillary, it shows that Kamala didn't have money. She could be bought, and Trump gave her money.

It also highlights similarities between Kamala and Hillary Clinton.

Both terrible retail politicians.

Both seemed to credit some of their political rise, at least to men in their orbit. Let's put it diplomatically and politely, neither has any particular accomplishments under their belt. Maybe one or two here or there. But still, they're really being graded on a curve if they're being considered presidential material.

The only difference, I guess, is that Hillary was more widely hated because Hillary was more widely known for a longer period of time. Many people, probably most people, don't even really know who Kamala Harris is.

But that is a fear for the Democrats. They are running a woman who in many ways resembles the last candidate to lose, Trump. They replaced a guy who can claim to have beaten Trump with someone who is much closer to the woman who lost to Trump than the guy who ostensibly beat him.

So lots of people are miffed about the Kamala choice. Lots of Democrats are miffed about the Kamala choice. And a lot of Republicans, I'm a little miffed about it. The GOP had built a campaign against Joe Biden, and then the Democrats cleverly switched at the last minute. And I don't think it changes the fundamentals of the race, but it is going to make it harder for Republicans to pivot. The other guy who's really irritated is JD Vance, because JD Vance really wanted to debate Kamala Harris.

By the way, talking about take backs, I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris, and now President Trump's going to get to debate her.

I'm kind of pissed off about that, if I'm being honest with you.

Now speaking.

I mean, look, if I were JD Vance, I would be pretty miffed, too. Could you imagine that debate would have just been so absolutely magnificent? People have pointed out that JD's wife, Usha, is also of indian descent. So JD has this special talent for resolving conflicts with indian women. As any married man will know, it's good when you have discussions with your wife. Sometimes there are disagreements that can help. So all sorts of jokes about this, including being made by JD Vance. But it does off foot the Republicans. We don't know who she's going to pick for her vp. It does require a change in campaign strategy. The Democrats are clever. They will go to any lengths to win. They will change all the voting rules and lead up to an election to give themselves an advantage if they think they're not going to win. Otherwise, they'll advocate locking the whole country down. If they think it'll give them an advantage, they'll boot out the sitting president of the United States. They will kick him off his own presidential ticket over his strenuous objections. Theyll send him to his home in Rehoboth beach and lock him up if they think itll give them any advantage. So JD is ticked off. Speaking of people who are ticked off, Elon Musk sat down with my friend and colleague Jordan Peterson yesterday. And the part of this discussion thats really gone viral is when Elon describes his political revolution, how he came to so oppose what he would call the woke mind virus. And it's personal for him.

It's not just something he saw on tv or read about in a newspaper.

It affected his family personally.

Okay. So I see.

Elon Musk
So that's, so I was tricked into doing this and it wasn't explained to me that puberty block is our actually just sterilization drugs.

So anyway, and so I lost my son essentially. So, you know, they, they call it deadnaming for a reason.

Donald Trump
Yeah.

Elon Musk
All right. So the reason it's called deadnaming is because your son is dead.

So my son Xavier is dead.

Killed by the woke blind virus.

Michael Knowles
I'm sorry to hear that.

Elon Musk
Yeah.

Michael Knowles
I can't imagine what that would be like.

Elon Musk
Yeah.

So.

Michael Knowles
Yeah. And there's lots of people in that situation now.

Elon Musk
Right.

Donald Trump
It's not pretty.

Michael Knowles
And lots of demolished kids.

Elon Musk
Yes.

Michael Knowles
Yeah. Well, that's a good, that's a good reason to be the final straw.

All right, so let's, so I vowed.

Elon Musk
To destroy the woke mind virus after.

Michael Knowles
That.

Elon Musk
And we're making some progress.

Michael Knowles
Join the club.

That was it.

Simple enough. If you could put yourself in Elon shoes, I mean, you really feel for the guy hearing this.

Yeah, that would do it. I mean, I'm miffed by plenty of abstract political issues and I'm devoted to trying to improve aspects of society in the abstract. But when it hits your kid like that and you get tricked into going along with it and you're wracked by guilt and fury and all these things. Yeah. And you happen to be the richest, one of the richest and one of the most powerful men on earth. Yeah. You're going to devote yourself to attacking that. He uses this phrase and it's a popular phrase, the woke mind virus. I think my friend gad Saad came up with the phrase I. And it's a useful phrase, but it's a little difficult to pin down for a lot of people. What is it?

Even conservatives have struggled to define what is woke. The woke mind virus is just a roundabout way of saying liberalism.

It's just liberalism.

It's the logical conclusion of liberalism.

That's the woke mind virus. A lot of people want to distinguish between liberalism and the woke mind virus because they want to consider themselves liberals. They want to hold on to the premises of liberalism they don't want to have to call themselves right wing or conservative or this or that or the other thing. But it's just, and even a lot of conservatives would still call themselves liberals, but it's just liberalism. Liberalism is the centering of individual autonomy in the political order. Liberalism is an exaltation of the self as primary in politics.

Liberalism is an indulgence of any desire, rational or appetitive, from the individual, and it's really a worship of the self.

That's it.

So the logical conclusion of that is if politics ought to allow you to do whatever it is you want to do, no matter how irrational, then the logical conclusion of that is I ought to be able to be anything that I could even be. I could even imagine being even contrary to nature. If I'm a man, maybe I can be a woman. Woman.

I can have a new name. I can have a new personality. I can violate the laws of logic and physics and biology and anything.

That's it. That's the woke mind virus. But that's just following liberalism to its logical conclusion.

And so in order to stop the woke mind virus, the reason I mention this is not so we can all sit around in a philosophy seminar. The reason I mention this is if you actually want to stop the woke mind virus, you have to pull it out from the root.

Another term for that is eradicated.

You have to get down to the core issues, the core issue or the premises of political liberalism.

And that means you're going to have to give up a lot of things that are fashionable and modern and you ostensibly would go along with. But you're not going to eradicate the woke mind virus by trying to rewind politics three to ten years. That's not going to work. You have to fundamentally rethink your premises while the left is in panic mode. We are bringing together the most trusted voices in conservative media to break it all down for you tonight, 07:00 p.m. eastern, the daily wires backstage is alive.

Join me along with Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Andrew Klevin and Jeremy boring as we discuss who the left is going to prop up next and how we are going to keep America from falling off the cliff. Do not miss backstage live tonight, 07:00 p.m. eastern on daily Wire. Plus, it is free. It is live. It's going to be legendary.

My favorite comment yesterday is from the drummers workshop, Norm's music, who writes, if Joe Biden really did write that letter, it would have ended with put pencil down.

Stop, repeat the line. Put pencil down. So true. He did not write that letter, I am quite certain.

Speaking of working your way through institutions and gaining an advantageous the Wall Street Journal purports to have the secret to getting ahead, and it is apparently riz r izz, cool zoomer slang for charisma. Riz is riz the secret to getting ahead at work? Whether you call it charisma, charm, or magnetism, some people seem like naturals. Good news. It can be learned.

So I'm going through this article and the thrust of it. I won't read it in verbatim, but the thrust of it is you need to be approachable and relatable. You need to recognize that everyone's important. You're not just nice to the people ahead of you who you're trying to suck up to and impress. You got to be nice to everybody, even the low people.

I don't know anybody. You just got to be, you got to be nice to them and you got to remember their names and aspects of their life, and then they're going to like you and then you're going to get promoted.

That's pretty much it.

That's pretty much the whole article. It is. If you've ever read the most famous self help book of the last hundred years, how to win friends and influence people, it's by Dale Carnegie. You've gotten that. You read that book? I read it because it was so prominent. I said, okay, I guess I'll read this book. I'm not really a big fan of the self help genre, but sure, why not? I'll read it. And it basically comes down to be nice and learn people's names. That's it.

But here's the key. And this is something that the Wall Street Journal I think is missing here. And then a lot of self help books and a lot of hustler gurus and Sigma Grind said, here's how you get ahead, guys.

Here's what they miss.

You can't fake it.

You can't fake it. People write into the show a lot and not even in terms of how to get ahead at work. They'll write into the show on how to ask a woman out on a date or how to impress a woman on a date. And my answer is always, oh, you have to like them. You should like them and you should be interested in them and what they have to say and that that will, they will like that. But you can't fake it. It has to be sincere.

This is good advice. This is good. Especially the advice of be nice to everybody. There was an old line I remember back when I was a young, young man working in show business.

You always hear, be nice to the people on your way up. Because you're going to see the very same people on your way down.

There's another image comes from the middle ages. And has been transported to network primetime television, which is the wheel of fortune.

Lady Fortuna just spins her wheel, and sometimes you're at the top, but then, sure, if you're at the top, you know for certain you're gonna go back down to the bottom again. And if you're at the bottom, that's very unpleasant. But one consolation is the only place you can go is up. And that's just how it works in the tribulations and vicissitudes of this life. That's just. That's where you are. And so you're going to see the same people, and you got to be nice so that they don't hate you. And so maybe they'll even help you on your way up or on your way down.

Yeah, that's good advice. But you can't fake it.

People will know if you're faking it. People will know if you're using them as instruments and tools for your own self aggrandizement. People can sniff that out. People aren't stupid. People can tell when you're flattering them. And everyone hates a flatterer. It's got to be sincere. So then what's the advice?

What's the secret to getting ahead? Is it Riz?

Is it flattery? Is it hustling? Is it this? Is it that? No. What all this really comes down to is practicing virtues.

That's what it is.

How do you get ahead?

You are courteous to people. You are prudent in your speech and your actions. You are just. You treat people as they ought to be treated.

Maybe you show a little grace and mercy. Sometimes. Sometimes, if people screw up, you care about others. You're not only focused on yourself, but you're actually interested in other people.

Because man is a social creature.

You just do the right thing.

That's the secret to getting ahead. Wow. Breaking news story headline. Can I write an essay in the Wall Street Journal about this?

That's it. Because every time you try to cheat it or find a shortcut, people are going to notice it.

It can be learned. The Riz can be learned, but it's not going to be learned from some hustler or some pimp or someone trying to give you a shortcut to get ahead. Riz can be learned by practicing the moral and intellectual virtues. That's how it's going to be learned.

Speaking of Riz and going on dates and things like that, Americans are not having kids. And our friends in the establishment media. I think this might be the journal, too, actually. Wall Street Journal not having a great, great week. Wall Street Journal has this headline, why Americans aren't having babies.

Subheader the costs and rising expectations of parenthood are making young people think hard about having any children at all. Okay, so that part's obviously true.

Women without children, rather than those having fewer, are responsible for most of the decline in average births among 35 to 44 year olds during their lifetimes so far. So it's not just that people are having smaller families, it's that many more people are just not having any children at all. This according to the Census Bureau, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, childlessness accounted for over two thirds of the 6.5% drop in average births between 2012 and 2022.

Why? Why is that? Well, according to the article, according to what a lot of people are saying these days, it's because of the cost of having children. It is very expensive to have children. Thats true. Now, the journal sees something here beyond that, which is its not just that kids are expensive, its that we are expected to have a higher standard of living today than maybe our parents or our grandparents did.

So yeah, maybe you could keep the kid alive for a modest amount of money, but if you want to buy him the latest toys and put him in the fancy school and get him the gizmos and the gadgets and the screens and the college educated, cage free range, free eggs or whatever, then that's all going to be if you need to have the really big house. Our grandparents had smaller houses. We have bigger houses now, if we have houses at all.

But they don't really make those small houses quite so much anymore. It's either people living in apartment pods or they're living in a bigger kind of a house. So there's this greater expectation. But I guess my problem with this analysis is it just doesn't match up with what I observe and have observed for years.

My friends who don't have kids are not poorer, on average than my other friends. They're richer, they're richer, they have a higher income, they have more powerful jobs, they live in the wealthier areas.

Financially, they're better off.

The people I know who have lots of kids, with some exception, tend to be less wealthy.

So what's that about?

I don't buy the story for a second. Oh, it's just so hard out there. I wish I could have children, but it's just, you know, the money is so hard. No, it's because you like going to brunch. It's because you like buying the $25 cocktail at the special bar in Tribeca. It's because you want to have the fancy car and go on the fancy vacation.

Money is a problem here, but I suspect what it is is that people get addicted to money. It's the temptation of money. It's the temptation to self indulgence.

There are plenty of people who just can't have kids because they're infertile and because, well, there are all sorts of reasons why people are suffering infertility these days, but there are many, many people who are perfectly fertile who just choose not to have kids. And that's driving the population decline. And don't let them lie to you and tell you it's because, well, it's just too hard to make a buck these days. I don't think that's true at all.

It's because the poor can always have children.

Children were once called the poor man's wealth, which changes a little bit in the industrial age, but nevertheless, that remains a visible phenomenon.

It's because people get attracted to the things of this world. It's because of selfishness, basically, usually is. You don't need big headlines here. Wow. Shocking. Here's the secret to getting ahead. Be diligent and do your work and be virtuous. Wow. Here's why people aren't giving of themselves to other people. It's because they're kind of selfish sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Amazing.

Everything old is new again. It's amazing how the tradition and the eternal facts continue to appear.

It is te Tuesday. We have got lib reactions to Biden dropping out. The rest of the show continues now. You do not want to miss it. Become a member. Use code knowleskwles. Check out for two months free on all annual plans.

Ep. 1536 - Even The Libs Are Shocked By The Assassination Hearing

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1: The Assassination Attempt

2: Political Ramifications

3: Media and Public Reaction

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