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Speaker 1: Hi, Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: My guest today for the advice segment that I sometimes

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Speaker 1: do before the interviews is my good friend co host

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Speaker 1: of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Buck Sexton.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Buck, So nice to have you on.

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Speaker 3: So good to be on.

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Speaker 1: Well, the first time we did this, we answered a

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Speaker 1: really hard question. A man had written in that his

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Speaker 1: wife of four months it had come out the month

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Speaker 1: before his wedding that she had cheated on him.

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Speaker 2: And he was wondering what to do. Think you and

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Speaker 2: I handled it quite well. We disagreed.

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Speaker 4: Him, Carol, I think you're stacking the deck little. I

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Speaker 4: think excuse me, before they were exclusive got a little.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they were not exclusives. You know, I'm anti these technicalities.

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Speaker 1: I was always team Rachel and from Rachel Rachel loss.

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Speaker 2: They were not on a break. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So our question today is going to be maybe a

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Speaker 1: little easier, maybe a little harder, but definitely a little

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Speaker 1: less intense. Our question today comes from Carara. Kara writes, Hi, Carol,

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Speaker 1: big fan of your show. I've been listening since the

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Speaker 1: first episode. Thank you so much for that, Kara. My

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Speaker 1: favorite episode was when you and Dave Marcus discussed becoming

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Speaker 1: friends again after a falling out. I'm writing to ask

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Speaker 1: you about how to make friends. I'm thirty six, have

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Speaker 1: two kids, aged four and two, and my husband and

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Speaker 1: I just don't have the kinds of groups of friends

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Speaker 1: I see all over social media. You've talked about making

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Speaker 1: friends after moving, but I've lived in my city my

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Speaker 1: whole life and never developed the social life I want.

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Speaker 1: Please don't recommend joining a running club or something. What

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Speaker 1: do you think, buck, how do you make friends in

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Speaker 1: your thirties.

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Speaker 3: Talk to people?

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Speaker 4: I think it's that it's the same way you actually

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Speaker 4: if you're trying to meet you know, trying to meet women,

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Speaker 4: if you're a guy who's single, you just talk to people.

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Speaker 4: Just get in the habit of talking to people. I

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Speaker 4: think that it's a lost art these days. And you know,

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Speaker 4: ironers like should you go because somebody at night at

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Speaker 4: the gas station pump when you know there's nobody.

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Speaker 2: Else be like where do you live?

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Speaker 4: I know you should not, but there's so many opportunities

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Speaker 4: and and I just think that one it's really talking

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Speaker 4: to people.

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Speaker 3: I will tell you that one thing that makes me.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot of things that make me a little

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Speaker 4: sad about the digital age of like socializing, dating and

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Speaker 4: where everybody is their own brand.

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Speaker 3: I was of my friend group. I was the guy.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there are people I know who are.

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Speaker 4: Married because they were like Buck is a heat seeking missile.

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Speaker 4: He will go talk to this person for me right

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Speaker 4: now and bring them over and like make it happen.

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Speaker 4: And I get that, by the way, straight from Speed

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Speaker 4: Sexton Senior, not my son, but my dad. His name

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Speaker 4: is Speed Sexton.

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Speaker 3: So that tells you a lot.

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Speaker 2: I could talk to your dad for hours.

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Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, that's great. Shouldn't bite him on for one

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Speaker 1: of these segments.

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Speaker 4: He would love to share. He's almost eighty years of

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Speaker 4: life wisdom with you. But you know, my mom and

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Speaker 4: dad fight over who's a bigger Carol Markwitz fan. It's

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Speaker 4: pretty funny about it. But I would say making friends

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Speaker 4: is you're putting out energy all the time. Here's a

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Speaker 4: little bit of an example, a little bit of a

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Speaker 4: diversion or digression. But guys are always like, why is

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Speaker 4: it that when I have a girlfriend, all of a sudden,

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Speaker 4: these beautiful women like want to talk to me, and

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Speaker 4: they're like, because of my Instagram posts, and their girlfriend's like, no,

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Speaker 4: it's because you're just being like if you're being a

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Speaker 4: decent boyfriend, you're just being like a cool, normal guy,

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Speaker 4: and you have an energy that's just like hey, like

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Speaker 4: if you start talking to the gym, you're not like, oh,

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Speaker 4: you know, I like the way you look in those

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Speaker 4: tight clothes. You're just kind of like, oh, man, like

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Speaker 4: what a day to day like quite a workout?

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Speaker 3: How you doing?

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Speaker 4: Like you're just you put out an energy casual that

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Speaker 4: is casual that is completely lacking in desperation, and that

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Speaker 4: is is there's like a warmth and a you know.

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Speaker 4: And also the the affirmation of being in a relationship

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Speaker 4: is like your a guy, if you know, assuming you're

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Speaker 4: again you think, yeah, girlfriend's cute or you're happy with

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Speaker 4: her or whatever. You know, you're you're in a place

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Speaker 4: where you're just like life is good. And that just

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Speaker 4: comes across all the time. And I know people this

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Speaker 4: sounds like some you know, seminar thing for like how

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Speaker 4: to be like a you know, alpha male, but it's true.

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Speaker 4: Confidence comes across all the time, men and women.

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Speaker 2: And that's your opening question.

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Speaker 1: What's like the first thing you ask a stranger or

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Speaker 1: somebody you just met.

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Speaker 4: I always think it's good to just ask something, to

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Speaker 4: just like put something out there that is either super

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Speaker 4: easy for them to join you in the response, like man,

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Speaker 4: it's it's a isn't it?

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 4: Crazy how expensive these avocados are here? You know, something

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Speaker 4: really like that, or if you want to be a little.

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Speaker 2: More making friends in the supermarket.

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Speaker 4: Okay, it's a great place, by the way, but you know,

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Speaker 4: I would say the other thing is to ask people,

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Speaker 4: and you never never ask like what do you do?

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Speaker 4: Or you know, you just ask what are you excited

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Speaker 4: about these days? I think I think asking people what

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Speaker 4: they're excited about these days is one of the because

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Speaker 4: if their answer is like it's like, well, you're cleterarally

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Speaker 4: a lot of fun right right, Like because it can

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Speaker 4: be you give them room to rum, but you you

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Speaker 4: position it in a positive way. So like if I

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Speaker 4: ask you, like, what are you excited about these days?

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Speaker 4: You could be like, oh my gosh, like my son's

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Speaker 4: history competition was so crazy.

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Speaker 3: We're overseas. That's not You could be like, okay, excuse me, excuse.

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Speaker 4: Me, or you could be like, you know, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 4: like did you see that Trump executive word today.

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Speaker 3: That was so awesome. He's so funny, like you go

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Speaker 3: anywhere you want.

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Speaker 4: But the point is you've established that commonality of positive

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Speaker 4: vibe right off the bat.

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Speaker 1: So but honestly, my opening question is where are you from?

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Speaker 1: Because I think people love talking about their hometowns in general,

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Speaker 1: or they love talking about how much they hate their hometowns.

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Speaker 2: But where are you from? Often sparks of conversation.

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Speaker 1: But I also want to say to this person and

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Speaker 1: she identifies her you know, she says, to her name,

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Speaker 1: she's a woman.

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Speaker 2: I think that women get caught up.

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Speaker 3: Identifies as female.

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Speaker 2: No, no, but identifies herself as a woman. Not identifies as

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Speaker 2: a woman.

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Speaker 1: Buck in your salmon shirt. She says that, you know,

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Speaker 1: she doesn't have the kinds of groups of friends I

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Speaker 1: see all over social media. And you know, the main

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Speaker 1: thing I want to say to you is what two

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Speaker 1: main things?

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Speaker 2: One social media is not real life.

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Speaker 1: And look like we have a really good group of friends, Buck,

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Speaker 1: Buck and I right, how often do we actually see

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Speaker 1: each other? Though not that often, so yeah, when we

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Speaker 1: see each other, it's like ten persons selfie on the gram.

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Speaker 1: That's not our everyday life. That's not how we are

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Speaker 1: all the time. I mean, we all like each other

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Speaker 1: a lot, and that's great, but you know, yes, yeah.

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Speaker 1: The second thing I'll say to this person is she

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Speaker 1: says that she has two kids age four and two.

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Speaker 1: You are in the golden age of making friends. This

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Speaker 1: is literally like going back to first grade and making

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Speaker 1: friends all over again.

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Speaker 2: You get to start again.

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Speaker 1: My one tiny regret about moving to Florida is that

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Speaker 1: my kids were a little bit older, so I missed

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Speaker 1: those young years where you're meeting moms at playdates and

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Speaker 1: you're really getting to know people. Because now my kids

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Speaker 1: just go when they hang out, you know, on the

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Speaker 1: streets and you know, play with their friends and go

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Speaker 1: to each other's houses, and there's not really interaction with

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Speaker 1: the parents. You have such an opportunity right now to

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Speaker 1: start again, to make friends with parents who have.

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Speaker 2: Kids the same age as yours.

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Speaker 1: Take this opportunity and don't look at social media.

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Speaker 3: I would say.

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Speaker 4: Also, the thing I understand, and I get it. She's like,

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Speaker 4: don't tell me to join a run club, but shared experience.

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Speaker 4: It doesn't have to be shared activity, but shared experience

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Speaker 4: is a very powerful.

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Speaker 3: So you know, we you know, you mentioned our friend group.

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Speaker 4: It's like we are basically a collection of Florida like

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Speaker 4: refugees to Florida from the north, mostly COVID drawn and

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Speaker 4: so there was this shared bond that was built for.

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Speaker 1: All all conservatives and we're all generally in media.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's already like a lot that's there.

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Speaker 4: And when you're talking about somebody who's got kid who

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Speaker 4: are two and four, like, there's a.

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Speaker 3: Lot of common there that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why it's easy to make friends, right because

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Speaker 4: you're having even if you're not this what I mean,

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Speaker 4: either you're not having the experience together, you have shared experiences.

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Speaker 3: Insofar as you're doing a thing, they're doing a thing.

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Speaker 3: You're both in that place in your life. And I

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Speaker 3: think that can really work.

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Speaker 4: But I just my biggest thing anyone that I've ever

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Speaker 4: told this to, one of my big things Carol, is

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Speaker 4: like I tell people to do things and then they

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Speaker 4: don't do them, and then they come back and they

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Speaker 4: want to.

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Speaker 3: Know what should I do?

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Speaker 4: N Yeah, you know, like and I just I'm like,

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Speaker 4: how about the thing that I told you to do

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Speaker 4: that you agreed was good but you chose not to do.

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Speaker 3: When I've told it's generally guys.

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Speaker 4: But when I've told guys, you know, if they feel

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Speaker 4: like they're in a rut with dating or meeting women

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Speaker 4: or something or else else, I'm just like, don't think

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Speaker 4: of it like you're getting phone numbers. Forget forget about that,

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Speaker 4: because again that goes to the like eagerness desperationally, Hey,

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Speaker 4: maybe we can get.

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Speaker 3: A coffee on. Just talk to people.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, just talk to people when it's an opening and

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Speaker 4: it's cool to talk to people. I will say, you know,

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Speaker 4: in some places, like I was just in North Carolina

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Speaker 4: on vacation.

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Speaker 3: It's actually where this all that comes from.

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Speaker 4: What is all edwards in the Highlands North Carolina, a great,

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Speaker 4: great place, Releay and Chateau, highly recognized.

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Speaker 2: Not not sponsored, you guys.

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Speaker 4: Not sponsor, Yeah, I wish, But I would just say

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Speaker 4: people there, like everyone wants to talk to you there, right,

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Speaker 4: I mean, everyone's talking to carry there, talking to me there.

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Speaker 4: Some of them knew who I was, but I mean

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Speaker 4: just even strangers who had no idea it was. And

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Speaker 4: people are very Miami's a little bit different, but the

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Speaker 4: point is you get you get that rhythm, and I

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Speaker 4: would just say I would just say, talk to people yea,

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Speaker 4: and like it and and give them an opportunity and

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Speaker 4: the and the always the fallback, especially if you're shy.

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Speaker 3: People love to talk about themselves.

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Speaker 4: Oh they do, just ask them about This is why

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Speaker 4: I get so excited when Carol has me on and

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Speaker 4: doesn't ask me about like the latest polling for what

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Speaker 4: you should be indicted or something.

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Speaker 3: I never get to talk about this, Clay.

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Speaker 1: This is why you're You're welcome to come do these

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Speaker 1: segments anytime.

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Speaker 4: You know, Fox News never calls me and it's like, hey, Buck,

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Speaker 4: can you come on and talk about like what's going

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Speaker 4: on with the culture. It's always like, hey, someone left

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Speaker 4: classified documents bathroom somewhere, like is this a violation of stat.

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Speaker 1: Is This is why you know, This is why you

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Speaker 1: have to come on here and do these segments with me.

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Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed this. Thank you so much for coming on, Buck.

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Speaker 1: Stay tuned for my interview with Peter Schweitzer and welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest

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Speaker 1: today is Peter Schweitzer. Peter is a New York Times

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Speaker 1: best selling author eight times over, including the number one

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Speaker 1: New York Times best selling books, Blood Money, Red Handed,

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Speaker 1: Secret Empires, Profiles and Corruption, and Clinton Cash. He is

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Speaker 1: the president of the Government Accountability Institute and host of

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Speaker 1: the Drill Down with Peter Schweitzer podcast.

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Speaker 2: So nice to have you on, Peter, Carol.

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Speaker 5: Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: I have to start with a compliment. One time I

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Speaker 1: was talking to somebody in the conservative publishing world and

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Speaker 1: she was telling me how hard it is to get

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Speaker 1: political books published. And she said, unless you're Peter Schweitzer.

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Speaker 1: And you know, she said that you're You're the main

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Speaker 1: game in town as far as political books are concerned.

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Speaker 1: I've read several of you books.

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Speaker 2: I love your work.

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Speaker 1: What makes your books different than the other books that

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Speaker 1: are out there on the market.

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Speaker 6: Well, Carol, I mean the secret is, honestly, I'm not

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Speaker 6: as much a writer as I am a researcher. I've

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Speaker 6: loved research. That's always been the key. It goes back

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Speaker 6: to when I was in high school and in college,

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Speaker 6: I was on the debate team and I love the

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Speaker 6: research part. So I have to do the writing because

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Speaker 6: that's what pays the bills. But what drives me forward,

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Speaker 6: what excites me, what energizes me, is digging through the

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Speaker 6: bowels of information and finding those nuggets that nobody else has.

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Speaker 6: It's like when I was a little kid, I loved

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Speaker 6: Show and Tell, you know, in first grade. So it's

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Speaker 6: that's kind of what drives it. So I would say

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Speaker 6: it's the research I spend. I take two years between books.

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Speaker 6: I would say of those two years, probably seventy five

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Speaker 6: percent of it is just doing research, and then the

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Speaker 6: other twenty five percent is actually the writing process. So

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Speaker 6: I don't think I'm a great writer. I think I'm

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Speaker 6: a very good researcher, not a great writer. And I

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Speaker 6: think that's what makes my books a little bit different,

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Speaker 6: is the amount of research that goes into.

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Speaker 1: Them so interesting because for me, it's like everything else

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Speaker 1: pays the bills, but I love writing and I can't stop.

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Speaker 1: Like it's the least profit of everything else I do,

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Speaker 1: but I can't give it up because I just enjoy

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Speaker 1: it so much. So did you always want to be

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Speaker 1: a writer? Did you always want to be a researcher?

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Speaker 5: A great question.

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Speaker 6: When I was in middle school, I worked on a novel.

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Speaker 6: I actually wanted to be a novelist when I was younger,

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Speaker 6: and then when I joined the debate team, I really

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Speaker 6: got into research.

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Speaker 5: But my original goal.

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Speaker 6: Honestly, when I was in my twenties was I wanted

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Speaker 6: to work in the White House at the National Security Council.

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Speaker 6: I was a kind of Henry Kissinger want to be

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Speaker 6: in terms of, you know, a great thinker on strategy

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Speaker 6: and foreign policy. And I did that for a while,

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Speaker 6: but I found that it was kind of constraining. A

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Speaker 6: lot of it had to do with, you know, the

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Speaker 6: connections of who you knew, and I didn't like depending

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Speaker 6: and relying on that.

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Speaker 5: So the writing kind of just is something that happened.

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Speaker 6: An agent, literary agent saw and op ed I had

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Speaker 6: in The New York Times in nineteen eighty nine said

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Speaker 6: have you ever thought about writing a book? I said, sure,

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Speaker 6: And that's kind of how it happened. So I really

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Speaker 6: kind of stumbled onto it. If you told me when

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Speaker 6: I was twenty that you're going to be living in

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Speaker 6: Florida and writing these books, I would have said, no way,

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Speaker 6: that's I'm going to be in Washington, d C. I'm

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Speaker 6: going to be doing things with a think tank. So

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Speaker 6: it was not expected in that way. I'm very grateful

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Speaker 6: to that. I'm thankful to God for that, because if

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Speaker 6: i'd planned my life, it probably would not as been

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Speaker 6: as good and as rich and rewarding. So yeah, it's

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Speaker 6: been kind of a revelation. I've been very grateful for it,

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Speaker 6: very grateful for, you know, the experiences if I had in

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Speaker 6: the book publishing industry and the response to my work,

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Speaker 6: which has taken a long time. I mean, my first

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Speaker 6: birth bestseller. I didn't have my first bestseller till I

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Speaker 6: was forty years old. I had written I think nine

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Speaker 6: non fiction books before that, so it was it was

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Speaker 6: a real it was a real grind there. But I

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Speaker 6: enjoyed it, and I'm thankful for it. And what can

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Speaker 6: I say, I'm just I'm just fortunate.

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Speaker 1: Did you have like a plan B in case writing

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Speaker 1: didn't work out? Did you have something else that you

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Speaker 1: kind of had as a backup?

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Speaker 5: Good question.

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Speaker 6: I for a while, I thought about being a college professor.

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Speaker 6: I had gone to graduate school at Oxford, I had

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Speaker 6: gotten my m Film and International Relations.

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Speaker 5: I thought about staying there and getting a PhD. I

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Speaker 5: decided not to.

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Speaker 6: Then I thought at one point about going back, But

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Speaker 6: you know, I have friends that are in academia, and

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Speaker 6: you know that world is completely different. Given the decline

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Speaker 6: of American universities and and whatnot. So again, I'm fortunate

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Speaker 6: that that hasn't happened. So that was kind of my

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Speaker 6: fallback plan. But I never had to exercise, and it

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Speaker 6: was never very well developed. And I think, and I

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Speaker 6: think one of the things Carol I realized is I've

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Speaker 6: gotten older, is you know, I'm sixty now. There's so

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Speaker 6: many things that I planned. I'm kind of a planner,

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Speaker 6: and very few of those plans actually worked. I mean, honestly,

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Speaker 6: very few of them actually worked.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: As the philosopher John Lennon said, life is what happens

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Speaker 1: to you while you're busy making other plans.

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Speaker 5: Right, so very true.

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Speaker 1: What would you consider your beat for people who haven't

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Speaker 1: read your books, what would you say is your kind

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Speaker 1: of the line that goes through your books.

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Speaker 6: I think that I try to explain what I think

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Speaker 6: is really happening. So if you look at my early

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Speaker 6: writing career, I wrote books like Victory Reagan's War, which

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Speaker 6: we're kind of looking at the Cold War and making

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Speaker 6: the case of how Reagan won the Cold War. I

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Speaker 6: used kgb arkas, I use declassified government documents. I interviewed people,

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Speaker 6: So that's the first part of my writing career, and

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Speaker 6: then I kind of switched to investigative journalism on you know,

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Speaker 6: on corruption, so seemingly different. But what I would argue

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Speaker 6: all of them are trying to say is there tends

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Speaker 6: to be a story that that the mainstream media is

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Speaker 6: pushing that we all kind of latch onto. I mean,

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Speaker 6: a lot of what we do is responding to what

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Speaker 6: the story supposedly is. What I try to do is

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Speaker 6: anticipate and look ahead what the story really should be.

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Speaker 6: And so when I write a book like Red Handed

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Speaker 6: about you know, people that are getting enriched with the Chinese,

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Speaker 6: what I'm really trying to say is, yeah, the US

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Speaker 6: China relationship, there's a lot of issues there, but there's

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Speaker 6: something else going on. People are being paid off, so

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Speaker 6: we should be paying attention to this. So that's probably

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Speaker 6: the common thread. But again, I mean, the research is

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Speaker 6: the part that has always driven all of this, and

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Speaker 6: my goal is to really get people to thinking about

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Speaker 6: what's going on below the surface. Because as you know,

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Speaker 6: you're in the news business, you see it all the

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Speaker 6: time that things that drive the media are oftentimes not

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Speaker 6: really what's going on below the surface. It's more kind

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Speaker 6: of the predictive easy stuff.

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Speaker 1: Is it surprising to you that the easy stuff is

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Speaker 1: very popular?

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Speaker 2: But your stuff goes deep.

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Speaker 1: It's not just a catchy headline, it's not a thirty

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Speaker 1: second TikTok video.

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Speaker 2: Is it surprising to.

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Speaker 1: You that people enjoy that deep dive and that they're

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Speaker 1: still able to kind of get into it. You know,

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Speaker 1: we hear all the time that our attention spans have

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Speaker 1: shrunk and we can't pay attention to anything, and yet

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Speaker 1: here these people are are following you down the path

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Speaker 1: that you're taking them and really looking into something in

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Speaker 1: a deep way.

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Speaker 2: Does that surprise you?

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Speaker 6: It does a little bit. I mean, it is funny.

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Speaker 6: I will tell you. You know, I've had the same

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Speaker 6: editor on the last five books, Eric Nelson, great guy.

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Speaker 6: I've had editors before, and I've had friends that have

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Speaker 6: been in the industry for a long time, and everybody

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Speaker 6: keeps telling me you need to write shorter chapters precisely

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Speaker 6: for the reason that you mentioned, and so I have

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Speaker 6: tried to make adjustments. You have to look at the

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Speaker 6: reality of where your audience is in terms of their

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Speaker 6: time constraints. There's so many alternative choices they can make.

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Speaker 6: What I always try to think of is there's so

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Speaker 6: much free information out there. I'm asking people to drop

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Speaker 6: down twenty five thirty bucks to buy a book, so

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Speaker 6: I got to really, really really make it worth it

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Speaker 6: for them and find stuff they can't get anywhere else.

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Speaker 6: So that makes it harder. But yeah, I am very

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Speaker 6: grateful for the audience. And you know, even though the

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Speaker 6: book industry is kind of struggling right now, I am

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Speaker 6: grateful for people that buy the books, that take an interest.

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Speaker 6: And I love to hear from the people that read

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Speaker 6: my books because they oftentimes have, you know, really fascinating insights,

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Speaker 6: takes that really shows their thinking. They're not just receiving it,

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Speaker 6: They're interacting with them, which is what I love.

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Speaker 2: But no TikTok videos yet.

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Speaker 6: Maybe something you would not You would not want to

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Speaker 6: see a Peter Schweitzer TikTok video.

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Speaker 1: Person of all totally would want to see talk video.

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Speaker 6: I think it would be poorly done if I were

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Speaker 6: doing it at number two, would be really boring.

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Speaker 5: But I appreciate the encouragement. Carrol, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: What are you working on now? Any any previews of

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Speaker 1: your next book?

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Speaker 6: I'm writing a book right now that will come out

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Speaker 6: in January, and authors always say this, but it is

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Speaker 6: true in this case. This is probably my most challenging book.

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Speaker 6: I won't go into detail, but it is about subversion

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Speaker 6: in a way that I think other people have not

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Speaker 6: thought about it. And we've got some i think, very

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Speaker 6: stunning material on the the the the forces that are

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Speaker 6: working to influence and are influencing our political campaigns, you know,

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Speaker 6: corrupting our our leadership, class et cetera.

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Speaker 5: So I'll have to leave it at that.

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Speaker 6: But I'm this week actually care I'm not doing many interviews,

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Speaker 6: but I wanted to do this because we are in

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Speaker 6: fact check legal review mode and I've got a grumpy

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Speaker 6: guy upstairs who's my fact checker. Great guy, good friend. Yeah,

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Speaker 6: he's a pain in the butt. So I'm going through

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Speaker 6: that this week, and lord Willia will get through that

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Speaker 6: safely and we'll send it off to the publisher and

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Speaker 6: it'll come out in January.

440
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,560
Speaker 1: Grumpy fact checkers. I feel like that's the only kind

441
00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 1: of fact checker you can If they're too happy, you

442
00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: don't need them, you know, So is checking the most

443
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,159
Speaker 1: nerve wracking kind of part of it?

444
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,520
Speaker 6: I would say the most nerve wracking part of it.

445
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,040
Speaker 6: Is when you're doing the research and you find something

446
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,400
Speaker 6: that's really good, but you're trying to figure out what

447
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,320
Speaker 6: it means. I mean, i'll give you an example from

448
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:56,479
Speaker 6: the past. We first uncovered Hunter Biden's China deals in

449
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:01,439
Speaker 6: December of twenty sixteen because we were researching around and

450
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,320
Speaker 6: we found this picture on Chinese social media and it

451
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 6: was Hunter Biden with basically in China the equivalent of

452
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:14,639
Speaker 6: the head of Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary.

453
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 5: I mean, everybody, you forget what yeah, yeah, and you're like.

454
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,440
Speaker 6: What is Hunter Biden doing here? How is it connected?

455
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,080
Speaker 6: And so the most frustrating part is when you find

456
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 6: something you.

457
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 5: Know it's really really, really good, but you're.

458
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:29,440
Speaker 6: Trying to make sense of it. And the key thing

459
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:32,399
Speaker 6: there is in all good things is just patients. I

460
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 6: just need to look at all the different possibilities. So

461
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,200
Speaker 6: that's the most frustrating. The fact checking is actually very

462
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 6: very good and necessary, but also relatively easy because everything

463
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,720
Speaker 6: in my books there's always a paper trail, there's a

464
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 6: corporate record, there's a legal document, there's something that supports

465
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,440
Speaker 6: what you're saying. Because I don't use anonymous sources or

466
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,199
Speaker 6: anything like that. But it's just a laborious process as

467
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:57,879
Speaker 6: you can imagine.

468
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,880
Speaker 1: Right, So the grumpy guy can't get too grumpy because

469
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 1: you could prove.

470
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 5: It all well.

471
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,200
Speaker 6: He is, and I say, this is a great affection.

472
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,280
Speaker 6: I've known Steve for a long time. He's a former

473
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,720
Speaker 6: a ten pilot for the Air Force, so he's very

474
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,560
Speaker 6: detail oriented, you know, with all the ardor knobs, but

475
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 6: he embraces the grumpiness, Carol. So it's it's it's it's

476
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,639
Speaker 6: part of him. It's inherent to him. It's not going away.

477
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 1: He sounds awesome, actually is awesome. I hope he takes

478
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,480
Speaker 1: this conversation as a compliment. We're going to take a

479
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 1: quick break and be right back on the Carol Marcowitch Show.

480
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:34,280
Speaker 2: What do you worry about.

481
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 5: On a personal level?

482
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,720
Speaker 6: You know, you worry about your kids, You worry about

483
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 6: the people you care about, You worry about your country.

484
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 5: You you know.

485
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,120
Speaker 6: You worry about security. You don't obsess over it. I mean,

486
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,400
Speaker 6: the the the nature of the work that we do

487
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 6: is something that upsets a lot of people. We had

488
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 6: a moment probably four or five months ago where the

489
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:03,159
Speaker 6: Taiwan News, which is the main newspaper in Taiwan announced

490
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,960
Speaker 6: it mentioned my name in an article, and it came

491
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 6: up on Google alerts, and I thought, what is this

492
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 6: all about?

493
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 5: And it was how a guy named White.

494
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,840
Speaker 6: Wolf, who's the leader of a criminal gang in China,

495
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,159
Speaker 6: was being charged with fentanyl trafficking, and the prosecutors cited

496
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,199
Speaker 6: my book Blood Money as one of the reasons they

497
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,119
Speaker 6: decided to launch the investigation. So on one level, you're excited,

498
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 6: but on the other level, you're like, you know, now

499
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,000
Speaker 6: we've we've pissed off White Wolf.

500
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 5: Well yeah, so you you you worry about those things.

501
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,639
Speaker 6: But as I've gotten older, as I said, I'm sixty,

502
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,959
Speaker 6: as I've gotten older, I just realized there's just a

503
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 6: lot you don't have a control over. And the more

504
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,240
Speaker 6: you learn that, you know, for me, it's it's about

505
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,399
Speaker 6: trusting God, not doing things foolish, but trusting God, but

506
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 6: realizing you can't control those things.

507
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 5: All you can do is not be foolish.

508
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 6: And it's the same thing with you know, when you

509
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 6: worry about your kids, or you're worried about people in

510
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 6: your life, you know, try to be there for them

511
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:06,119
Speaker 6: and love them. But I've stepped back from hopefully from really,

512
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 6: you know, always worrying about and obsessing about it. And

513
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 6: that's been really nice. People tell me when you get older,

514
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 6: you get into your sixties, that gets better. It certainly

515
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 6: has been for me so far. So I'm grateful for that.

516
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 6: But I worry about those kinds of things pretty regularly.

517
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: The security question is really interesting. I think people don't

518
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: think about it about how writing books or writing anything

519
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,120
Speaker 1: writing on current event topics and how dangerous it could

520
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: be and how you could piss off the wrong white wolf,

521
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 1: you know, during the Obama administration. I mean, I was

522
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 1: born in the Soviet Union. My mom, you know, definitely

523
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: was like, do you have to criticize the president? I

524
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 1: feel like you're going to get into trouble. So there's

525
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: and that's not even a Chinese mobster, you know.

526
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, it's it's it's real.

527
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 6: And you know, look, I live in a place where

528
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,639
Speaker 6: it's a little bit less market, but you know, you

529
00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 6: think of people that live in Washington, d C. O

530
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 6: York or California, places where there's more hostile let's say,

531
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 6: people living around you, or if you're writing on particular issues.

532
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 6: I know there have been there's a lot of threats

533
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 6: made of people who raise challenges, and I think rightfully

534
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 6: so on the on the trans issue and women's in sports,

535
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,639
Speaker 6: it gets very vicious and nasty and and so it

536
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 6: is a real concern. It should be a real concern.

537
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 6: And you know, my philosophy is you just use unconventional ways,

538
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,680
Speaker 6: uh you know, to uh to to float below the radar,

539
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 6: so to speak.

540
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 5: I won't go to those.

541
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,679
Speaker 6: And you know, we all have concealed carry permits at

542
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,440
Speaker 6: my office, and you just.

543
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:41,360
Speaker 2: Brought that Florida.

544
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,680
Speaker 1: We don't even have to have permits exactly right, we don't.

545
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 6: And although the reason I like mine is if I

546
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 6: buy a gun, I can get it immediately right from

547
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 6: the from the from the gun store. If you don't

548
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,120
Speaker 6: have the the license, you have to wait I think

549
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:58,719
Speaker 6: two days for a handgun in Florida.

550
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 5: But yeah, no, you're exactly right.

551
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,199
Speaker 6: So that's that's the best thing you can do, I

552
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,400
Speaker 6: think is you know, be prepared and but not obsess over.

553
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,240
Speaker 5: You can't live your life around it.

554
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I was going to make the Simpsons joke about

555
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 2: the two day weight like, but.

556
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: I'm angry now. I got threats in Brooklyn. I had

557
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 1: people come to my house. But living in Florida has

558
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 1: definitely made me a lot more secure. And it is

559
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,080
Speaker 1: the gun laws and all of that obviously helps, but

560
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: just living in a saner place also helps quite a bit.

561
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 5: Yes, I'm glad for you. That's great news.

562
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,360
Speaker 2: What advice would.

563
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,120
Speaker 1: You give your sixteen year old self having to do

564
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 1: this all over again?

565
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 2: What a sixteen year old Peter need to know?

566
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 5: Oh?

567
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 2: Was he a good kid?

568
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 6: Was?

569
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 5: He was? He was? He was a very good kid.

570
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 6: My mom is still living, she's ninety one, and she said, yeah,

571
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 6: I never really worried about you. I figured you always

572
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:00,640
Speaker 6: would kind of, you know, I a very good kid.

573
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 6: I would say, you know, I made a lot of

574
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 6: plans Carol, that I focused on, on, I obsessed on,

575
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 6: and I became really frustrated when those plans didn't pan out.

576
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 6: And looking back now, I'm like, come on, man, what

577
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 6: are you talking about? You making a plan at twenty

578
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,399
Speaker 6: one years old and the world doesn't conform to it,

579
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 6: you know, So the first thing I would say is,

580
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 6: don't don't try to plan out your life. I think

581
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 6: there is a plan for your life. I think God

582
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 6: has a plan for everybody's life, but it's not up

583
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 6: for you. To determine, and part of it is going

584
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,399
Speaker 6: through and realizing a what you're good at and B

585
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 6: what you really are knit together to do Temperamentally, Again,

586
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,160
Speaker 6: when I was sixteen seventeen, I was the guy who

587
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 6: was hanging out with everybody doing things do in Evans.

588
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 6: If you told me at that time you're going to

589
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 6: be spending hundreds of hours hunched over a word processor

590
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,919
Speaker 6: writing books by yourself, like you're out of your freaking mind,

591
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 6: that's terrible. And that's what I ended up doing. But

592
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 6: I didn't know that at that age. So the first

593
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 6: thing I would say is don't plan things. You don't

594
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 6: know what the future holds. But the second thing I

595
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 6: would say, and I would imagine this is probably your

596
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 6: experience too, Carol, because you have really climbed in this field,

597
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 6: is hard work is worth it. It's hard work. I mean,

598
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 6: if you want to be good at something, if you

599
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 6: want to rise, it's hard work. And I liked hard

600
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 6: work and when I was young, but I think I

601
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,919
Speaker 6: thought it was a little bit more. Things would just

602
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 6: kind of happen, and there's no substitute for hard work,

603
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 6: and it's immensely rewarding. I don't think I'm ever going

604
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 6: to retire. I just enjoy what I do. I feel

605
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 6: the value of at the merit of it. So that's

606
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 6: what I would say, don't plan so much and learn

607
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 6: that the hard work is really worth it.

608
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: Do you give the same advice to your kids or

609
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,840
Speaker 1: are they different kind of teenagers where they did?

610
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 5: They're they're different.

611
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 6: My kids are all in their twenties now, and I

612
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 6: think that, yeah, we we do. They're they're they're not

613
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 6: interested in the same things that I am in terms

614
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 6: of politics and journalism and and whatnot, which is perfectly fine.

615
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 6: I mean, it's right, honestly, Carol.

616
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 5: As you know, it's kind of a night thing that

617
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 5: you and I do.

618
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,640
Speaker 1: Crazy, It is absolutely crazy.

619
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 6: So so yeah, I think I would like to think

620
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 6: that that they are finding their way and moving their way,

621
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 6: you know, to independence and and heeding that kind of advice.

622
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 6: The the hard work thing is something I tell, uh,

623
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 6: you know, my kids. I tell the interns that are here,

624
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 6: I said, look, what's going to determine your success here?

625
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 6: And whatever you do, Sure, you've got to be smart. Okay,

626
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 6: if you're if you're not really bright and you're not

627
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 6: paying attention, right, you're gonna have problems. But the thing

628
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 6: that's going to make up for an abundance of problems

629
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 6: elsewhere is going to be hard work.

630
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 5: And that is something that I think.

631
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 6: You know, maybe I don't want to sound like the

632
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 6: old grumpy man, but maybe I am. You know, I

633
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 6: don't know if the younger generation quite gets it. My

634
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 6: dad said the same thing about my generation, so I

635
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 6: say it about that one.

636
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: Every generation that comes after us is a little lazier than.

637
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 2: Us, So right exactly, or maybe we just think that way. Well, Yes,

638
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 2: I've loved this conversation.

639
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 1: I always, you know, whenever I run into you at

640
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: a party or something, I always leave kind of laughing

641
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: and smiling. I think you're just a fantastic person and

642
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 1: so interesting.

643
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 2: Leave us here with your best tip.

644
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 1: For my listeners on how they can improve their lives.

645
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 6: Best way you can improve your life is, I think realize, ultimately,

646
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 6: what's going on in your life is not about you.

647
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 5: I believe you were created for a purpose. It's larger

648
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 5: than you.

649
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 6: And the more that you obsess and focus on yourself

650
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 6: and your needs, there aren't I'm not saying they aren't

651
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 6: legitimate things there. You don't want people abusing you. You

652
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 6: don't want to be ignored. But if you may your

653
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 6: life so much about yourself and about your needs, you

654
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 6: are always going to be disappointed. So think of something larger,

655
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 6: more significant, more important, that you can be part of

656
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 6: and how you can make a difference. And I think

657
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 6: that's going to give you joint happiness. That has certainly

658
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Speaker 6: been my experience, and I've been there where I made

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Speaker 6: it about myself, so I know exactly how that works,

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Speaker 6: how it's like, and how it ultimately does not lead

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Speaker 6: to satisfaction.

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Speaker 2: I love that.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on. He is Peter Schweitzer.

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Speaker 1: Check out his amazing books. We can't wait to read

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Speaker 1: your new one in January.

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Speaker 5: Thank you, Peter, always fun. Thanks Carol,