1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,360 Speaker 1: Hey, guys, thanks for listening to Breaking Points with Crystal 2 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: and Sager. We're going to be totally upfront with you. 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: We took a big risk going independent to make this work. 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: We need your support to beat the corporate media CNN, Fox, MSNBC. 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: They are ripping this country apart. They are making millions 6 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: of dollars doing it. To help support our mission of 7 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: making all of us hate each other, less hate the 8 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: corrupt ruling class more support the show. Become a Breaking 9 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: Points Premium Member today, where you get to watch and 10 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: listen to the entire show ad free and uncut, an 11 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: hour early before everyone else. You get to hear our 12 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: reactions to each other's monologues. You get to participate and 13 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: weekly ask me any things, and you don't need to 14 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: hear our annoying voices pitching you like I am right now, 15 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: So what are you waiting for? Go to Breakingpoints dot 16 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: com become a Premium member today, which is available in 17 00:00:46,159 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: the show notes. Enjoy the show, guys, Good morning, everybody, 18 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: Happy Thursday. We have an amazing show for everybody today. 19 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: Crystal Ball is back at the house right streat to 20 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,479 Speaker 1: see you. Crystal Full recovery guys, Yeah, it was a 21 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: rough stretch there for a while back in the game. 22 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: We're very glad to thank you. I'm glad to be 23 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: back here. I can promise you so a lot to 24 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: get to you this morning. Some truly stunning and very 25 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: troubling numbers coming out about record breaking opioid desks last year. 26 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: It's disturbing, it's very revealing, where this is happening, why 27 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: this is happening. So we'll get into all of that, 28 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: some new indications about just why we're facing inflation that's 29 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: a little bit different than the corporate media narrative that 30 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: you've been hearing. Also a moment on the View that 31 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: you just have to see where co hosts get into 32 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: it about our former co host gets into it about vaccinations. 33 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: Very explosive moment. We'll talk about that top tennis star 34 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: has gone missing after accusing a high level Chinese official 35 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: of sexual assault. No one has seen or heard from 36 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: her since it has been weeks. Now. We'll give you 37 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: the very latest there, But we wanted to start with 38 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: some pretty interesting numbers, poll numbers about just how people 39 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: feel about Joe Biden personally and something that we've been 40 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: talking about for a while now. Sager going back to 41 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: the Democratic primary, is that Joe Biden's greatest strength. People 42 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: didn't really love his policy positions, they certainly didn't love 43 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: his past record, but they felt a lot of personal 44 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: affection for him. They saw on him a lot of 45 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: leadership characteristics that they felt like contrasted very well with 46 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: former President Trump. Well on every single one of those metrics, 47 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: things like, you know, do you care about me personally? 48 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: Are you a good leader? Are you a clear communicator? 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: Biden has fallen off a cliff when terms of how 50 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: voters see him. Let's go ahead and throw this political 51 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: tear sheet up on the screen. They've got the headline, 52 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: voter's doubts rising about Biden's health and mental fitness. Let 53 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: me give you a few of the details here so 54 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: you can see what a dramatic decline this has been. 55 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: So only forty percent of voters surveyed now agree with 56 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: the statement that Biden is quote in good health, while 57 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: fifty percent disagreed. That ten percentage point gap, which is 58 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: outside the poll's margin of air, represents a massive twenty 59 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: nine point shift since October of twenty twenty, So a 60 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: year ago, he was doing well on that metric about 61 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: whether he's in good health now he is dramatically underwater. 62 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: Asked whether Biden is mentally fit, voters are almost evenly split. 63 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: Now forty six percent say he is, forty eight percent disagree. 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: But that negative two point margin stands in stark contrast 65 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: to again Biden's numbers last October, when voters did think 66 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: he was mentally fit by a margin of twenty one points. 67 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: There's a lot to get into here, So across the board, 68 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: they sort of focused on the health and mental fitness one, 69 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: which I do think is important. And by the way, guys, 70 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: something that we were talking about all the way alone 71 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: and brutally attacked for right come COVID times like, oh, 72 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: you're not allowed to talk about that one, right? No? 73 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: I mean, it was amazing to watch the sort of 74 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: evolution of how people felt about this, because at the 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: beginning of the Democratic primary, when it was a free 76 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: for all, you had Julian cast, you had mainstream MSNBC 77 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: commentators Andrew talking about talking about whether he was up 78 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: to the job at this point, which isn't to be mean, 79 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: it's just literally to look with your eyes and listen 80 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: to your ears and say, is this man really up 81 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: to what the nation would ask of him at this point, 82 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: the second that it basically was down to him and Birdie, 83 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 1: you no longer could say anything about this, or you 84 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: are a horrible person. You were ablest, you were attacking 85 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: him for the fact that he stuttered as a kid. 86 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: I mean, all of this insanity. And within this story 87 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: this also blew my mind. They quote a prominent Democratic holster, 88 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: stil Into, one of the best known out there, and 89 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: she doesn't say, you know, oh well, I understand why 90 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: voters and he had these mistakes and maybe that's why 91 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: they feel like maybe he's not what he was before. 92 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: She says that the right wing is quote running a 93 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: very aggressive campaign on this, and it's bleeding over into 94 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: the mainstream a little. By and large, the people who 95 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: believe this are Trump supporters anyway, or they've been exposed 96 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: to the right wing disinformation machine. Okay, listen, no doubt 97 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: about it. Right wing media is going to take whatever 98 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: they can deceptively edit, play on loop all of that. 99 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: But also, voters have eyes and they have ears, and 100 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,239 Speaker 1: they're not stupid. They can see with their own self 101 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: that Biden is not what he used to be and 102 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: it is not just Trump voters that are feeling that way. 103 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: In fact, independence are also feeling seeing a massive decline 104 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: in how they rate these sort of personal traits. And 105 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: they even reference a focus group of black voters in 106 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: a southern state where a number of the voters brought 107 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: this up on their own. Here's a quote, Biden's definitely 108 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: slow on a lot of things. I'm not sure if 109 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: it is because of his age or if he's still 110 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: going after thirty decades ago. Asked if she would support 111 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: Biden in twenty twenty four, the woman said, if he's alive, 112 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,159 Speaker 1: I'm just staying there. You go. I mean, no, Look, 113 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: people have eyes, they have ears. During COVID, it was 114 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,840 Speaker 1: comforting he was not, you know, for a lot of people, 115 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: because he was not really in the spotlight. Every once 116 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: in a while he had a decent moment the debate 117 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: whenever it came with Bernie, the debate, whenever it came 118 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: with Trump, he seemed relatively lucid. He had those moments, though, 119 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's a Barack Obama actually said about the 120 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: campaign process whenever I was reading his book that one 121 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:48,919 Speaker 1: of the good things about it is that it strips 122 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: you down and exposes you to the American people. And 123 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: what it means by that is that when you're on 124 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: the road and on camera every single day for two years, 125 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: we're going to find out pretty much everything about you. 126 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: That's just the deal in terms of interaction with reporters. 127 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: And we all remember right before COVID, his interactions with 128 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: voters and reporters every now and then just seemed completely 129 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: off the rails. And now when you're president of the 130 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,239 Speaker 1: United States, we see you in a very similar fashion. 131 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: That's why they do their best not to allow him 132 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: to do interviews. That's why they do their best not 133 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: to have him out in the press or out in 134 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: the public. And you know, he does that weird thing 135 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: where he's like, I'm not allowed to take questions, which 136 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: again is extraordinarily strange. And when people see that, they go, oh, 137 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: I'm seeing you really for who you are in the 138 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: real American presidency, where you're on the camera, or at 139 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: least should be every single day. Look at the graphic 140 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: we have up on the screen in terms of the 141 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: reduction overall and how people saw him in the past 142 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: as opposed to people see him now. Knowledgeable sixty percent, 143 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: now forty nine, compassionate, sixty one percent now forty seven. 144 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: Mentally fit fifty three now forty six, trustworthy fifty four 145 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: now forty three. Two Liberal is actually the only place 146 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: where he's increased from forty two to forty three. Reckless 147 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: thirty two to forty two. So he's doing well at 148 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: least on that thin skinned as well. Capable of leading 149 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: in good health, motivates his party. That's where there's a 150 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: fifty eight to now thirty nine percent drop. Here's the 151 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: other bad one. Cares about people like me. This is 152 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: often one of the most important in all of politics. 153 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: Fifty three to thirty nine, Strong leader fifty one to 154 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: thirty nine, keeps his promises fifty to thirty nine, clear communicator, 155 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: get this one, fifty three to thirty seven, and worst 156 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: of all, energetic forty six percent to thirty four. Now, look, 157 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: every single one of those are on a personal metric 158 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: in which people assess how they feel after now having 159 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,719 Speaker 1: observed him for the better part of a couple of 160 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: years on the highest stage in the world. And it 161 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: doesn't take a genius in order to figure it out. 162 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: As you said, the gas lighting in those early days 163 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: was driving his nuts where they were like, oh, he 164 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: has a stutter, a childhood stutter, and so it's actually 165 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: like a heroic tale. Listen, I watched Joe Biden since 166 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: before I you know, basically since I was born on television. 167 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 1: He ran for president before I was born. That's how 168 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: old this man is. And I even attended once a 169 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: speech that he gave. I think it was twenty eleven, 170 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,559 Speaker 1: so yeah, it was before the twenty twelve midterm elections. 171 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: And he was good, like, let you know, he had 172 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: an aviator jacking on, and he had sunglasses and he 173 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:32,440 Speaker 1: was like putting his foot up on a stool. It 174 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia too, it was like a majority black crowd. Yeah, 175 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: he was great. He lit the crowd on fire. Yeah, 176 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: and then I saw him, you know, later on, and 177 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, this is just not the 178 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: man that he once was. I was there at that 179 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: Paul Ryan debate there, you go, all the Republicans were 180 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: all psyched up for that thing because Paul Ryan was 181 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: a golden child and they thought he was going to 182 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: wipe the floor with Uncle Joe and it was not 183 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,679 Speaker 1: even cl No, he did a good job. Joe handled him, 184 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: I you know, so it's clear to voters, to everyone, 185 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: and the truth of the matter is, I actually don't 186 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: think that people would care that much about his the 187 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: fact that he's lost a step. He's not quite the man. 188 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't have it all together the way 189 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: that he used to. He doesn't have that quick on 190 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: his feet, that energy, that charisma that he used to 191 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: bring to the table. I actually don't think people would 192 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: care that much if they felt like his priorities are 193 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: my priorities. He really cares about people like me. He's 194 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: fighting for people like me, and so that was always 195 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: the real strength for him, is that people just had 196 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,319 Speaker 1: these warm fuzzies about him that like he's compat he's 197 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,680 Speaker 1: a good man, he's not perfect, he makes these mistakes. 198 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: I mean that made him sort of more relatable. But 199 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: he really is in there fighting for me, and he 200 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: cares about he gets the middle class or the working 201 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: class experience. He's got my priorities in mind. That was 202 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: always his greatest strength. And so the fact that he 203 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: has fallen off sojiermadically on a metric like cares about 204 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: people like me. That if I was the Biden camp, 205 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,760 Speaker 1: that would be the thing I was most worried about, 206 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: because that is a core strength I do want to 207 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: note you alluded to it. It's funny to me that 208 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: on he's too liberal like that was basically the best 209 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: metric that he had in there, and it didn't budge 210 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: at all and moved from forty three to forty two, 211 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: which statistically means it didn't change at all. So just 212 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: a note for all of you out there doing the like, 213 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: he's AOC. You know, he's Bernie Sanders is running the administration. 214 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: He's a socialist, big government, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. 215 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: That particular talking point, y'all have been trying it for 216 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: years now and it is still not working and it 217 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 1: is not going to work. So you know, you've got 218 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: some other things that you might want to work with 219 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: here because that one is just not landing. Yeah, no, 220 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 1: I think that is particularly hilarious. And just to get 221 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: you know, put a cap on this if you have eyes, 222 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: the president has had some strange moments over the last 223 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,680 Speaker 1: couple of months, months, not even months, last couple of weeks. 224 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: We put together three moments literally just from the last 225 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: like six weeks that were captured once again on camera 226 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:11,839 Speaker 1: that everybody can see for their eyes as to how 227 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: exactly he's faring. Let's take a listen. You know, I've 228 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: adopted the attitude of the great Negro at the time 229 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: Pitture in the Negro Leagues went on to become a 230 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,240 Speaker 1: great pitcher in the pros in the Major League Baseball 231 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: after Jackie Robinson, his name was Satchel Page. I was 232 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: able to go to the private portion of all products 233 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: coming into the United States of America on the West coast, 234 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:47,559 Speaker 1: go through Los Angeles, and what am I doing here? 235 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: It's a long beach, long beach. Thank you. This conference 236 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: is one of the most You have the chance to 237 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: decisions which the generations. Now you are in a position 238 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: of extraordinary power. You can change forever that year on 239 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: you a world that is once again not here. This 240 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: is my message from birth to cop on behalf of 241 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: week fifteen. So for those who were just listening that 242 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 1: last clip, Biden was actually asleep in public at the 243 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: Climate change meeting, and we cut it right whenever one 244 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: of his aids came over in order to wake him up. 245 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 1: But relatable fall asleep there too. I probably would have 246 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: fallen asleep too. I'm also not the president, and whenever 247 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 1: it comes, it's just one of these I mean I 248 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: even vividly remember even though we very much praised his 249 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: speech on Afghanistan, you know, the defiant one, but whenever 250 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 1: after it was done, he did that very strange thing 251 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 1: where he put his elbows on the podium in order 252 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: to take questions and was taking a lot of pausing 253 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,559 Speaker 1: and was cluely like unsure on his foot. And that's 254 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: what I mean by has good times and bad times, 255 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: which is and look, we're not insinuating anything. All we're 256 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: saying is that old people when they age, that's a 257 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: general feature of it. Anybody who's interacted with somebody over 258 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: the age of seventy seven, seventy eight, and the president 259 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: is now seventy nine knows exactly what I'm talking about. 260 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: And they're trying to gaslight us into thinking otherwise. So 261 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: this is the problem. Americans have eyes, they have ears, 262 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: they know what's going on. Maybe they were willing to 263 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: forgive it whenever it was versus Donald Trump, but now 264 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: that they see it very vividly as their president, they're 265 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: not happy about it. Yeah, and again I think it 266 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: would actually be overcomeable if they felt like the administration 267 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: is being run well. His aids have this I mean, 268 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: you think back to the Reagan era, there were a 269 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: lot of questions then about him, and they were turned 270 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: out they were very justified, questions about how much he 271 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: was understanding what was going on, and how much he 272 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: was with it, et cetera, et cetera. And listen, I'm 273 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: not a big Ronald Reagan fan here, but because he 274 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: had people around him that gave the nation confidence, he's 275 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: able to get reelected, the questions about his age, all 276 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: of that stuff was sort of pushed to the side. 277 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: With Biden. You don't get the sense that he's on 278 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: top of it. You don't get the sense that his 279 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: administration is on top of it. He's lost that warm 280 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: feeling that people had towards him about like what he gets, 281 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: he gets me, and he sees me, and he's got 282 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 1: the right priorities of mine. We covered that pole before 283 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: about people saying that he doesn't know, he doesn't have 284 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: the right priorities in terms of what he's up to 285 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: and what he's accomplishing. There's not a lot you could 286 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: take from this that is positive. So yeah, like I said, 287 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: I think if I was the Biden people, the ones 288 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: I would be most concerned about is that people no 289 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: longer feel like he cares about people like them. For 290 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: a politician, that is absolutely devastating, especially especially for a 291 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: guy like Joe Biden who has never been a policy 292 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: guy or a vision guy or any of that. The 293 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: whole thing he brought to the table is that sense 294 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 1: of middle class, working class solidarity, and if that is gone, 295 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: it's hard to see that there's much else left. Yeah, 296 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: I think that's right. At the same time, we want 297 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: to bring you some truly dire news. This is something 298 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: we've tracked for a very long time, you know, really 299 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: since we started worsh together on this show, which is 300 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: the opioid epidemic and how many lives it has destroyed 301 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: this country. And we've we've just hit a truly horrific 302 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: milestone in that fight against those that deadly addiction. One 303 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: hundred thousand people died of overdoses last year. Let's go 304 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: ahead and put that first element up on the screen. 305 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: So this is a chart that Washington posted a good 306 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: write up of this. The number of people who died 307 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: this is the most in history in this country, two 308 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five every day people who died. It 309 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: would fill the stadium where the University of Alabama plays football. 310 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: There are now more over deaths from the illegal synthetic 311 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:06,479 Speaker 1: opioid fentanyl then there were overdose deaths from any drug 312 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,959 Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. And I want to pause on that 313 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: stat This was a twenty eight percent increase from last year. 314 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: So even as we've been tracking the horrors of this 315 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: epidemic for years now, it jumped up twenty eight percent 316 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: in one year. There are a few things that they 317 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: cite here as potential factors, and we can talk a 318 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: little bit more about this. One of the things that 319 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: they said is because of the pandemic, people were more 320 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: likely to be using alone. So if you get into trouble, 321 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: then you don't have someone there to call nine one 322 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: one to administer innloxome to help you out of that situation, 323 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: you just die. So that's one of the things that 324 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 1: is going on here. But going back to that stat 325 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: about now, just fentanyl deaths account for more overdose deaths 326 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: than everything put together in twenty sixteen. If you guys 327 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: recall back to that twenty six team Presdential campaign, opioid 328 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: addiction was a huge part of that campaign. It was 329 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: actually huge part of how Trump started to gain traction 330 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: because he talked about it in some of the biggest 331 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: swing counties that we saw back in twenty sixteen. If 332 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: you look at some correlative factors, one of the things 333 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: that stuck out the most was drug overdose. The other 334 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,920 Speaker 1: one was actually vets killed abroad in foreign war. Yeah. 335 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,919 Speaker 1: I always think about those two job lost job I mean, 336 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: obviously job loss that was with Bernie Sanders and with 337 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 1: Donald Trump. The swing on and you know, amount of 338 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: jobs lost to China after the wto entrance in two 339 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 1: thousand was like directly in line with how much votes 340 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: they got both in the primary and eventually for Trump 341 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: in the general election. And I think the second part 342 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 1: of this, which is really stark put the map up there, 343 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: because it's not just that the deaths have surpassed one 344 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: hundred thousand, it's that it's very unevenly distributed. So you 345 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 1: can actually see there, which is that West Virginia is 346 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: coming in at over ninety ninety deaths per hundred thousand 347 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 1: from a drug over dose, and the distribution is it's 348 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: very hard to like pin down right. So obviously you 349 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: see the less populated states that aren't getting hit as hard, 350 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: and you know, South Dakota and all of that. But 351 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: it's not one thing that's just in one particular place. 352 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,199 Speaker 1: Even though yes, you know, the industrial Midwest and Appalachia 353 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,640 Speaker 1: get harder than everybody. You can see hotspots in Florida, 354 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: we see hot spot in New Mexico, even up in 355 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: you know, the high like in the Northeast, like Maine, Vermont, 356 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: Connecticut also not doing well. So yes, I mean things 357 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: are very very bad in West Virginia and in Appalachia generally, 358 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: but if you look at the whole country, I mean, 359 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: the whole country is not doing so well in terms 360 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: of where we see the deaths per one hundred thousand, 361 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: they're on the map. West Virginia is just so I mean, 362 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: that's the really and you have a lot of experience 363 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: and maybe you can tell us about it. Like in 364 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,159 Speaker 1: terms of those counties you were saying, what is it 365 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: in the South which have particularly been hardest hip because 366 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 1: they've lost coal jobs and law and they have no 367 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: economic opportunity. That's where you see some of the most 368 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 1: deaths in the country. That's correct. I would actually like 369 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: to see this map on a county by county basis, 370 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: because I think what you would see is even within 371 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: the state of West Virginia, which has a problem. Overall, 372 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: deaths would certainly be most concentrate. I mean, the numbers 373 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,159 Speaker 1: that you would see coming out of southern West Virginia. 374 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: It's horrible and it's not a surprise when you consider 375 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: how exploited these people have been, how jobs you have 376 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 1: completely disintegrated, and also just the amount of physical pain 377 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: that workers are in in Appalachia because they've you know, 378 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,439 Speaker 1: literally used their bodies underground in very difficult jobs in 379 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,240 Speaker 1: order to survive. This is one of the things a 380 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: fantastic author, Beth Macy, she wrote such a great book 381 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: called Dope Sic on the origins of this crisis. She's 382 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: based down in southwestern Virginia around Roanoke, so right next 383 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: door to West Virginia, and that whole area has been 384 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: hit so incredibly hard, as has Kentucky. All of Appalachia 385 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: has hit so incredibly hard. And she really traces it 386 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: back to you know, people who were doing hard physical 387 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 1: labor and they had terrible chronic pain. And so you 388 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: get a prescription for oxy and then once that is, 389 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: once the doctor will no longer prescribe, well, that's actually 390 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: when you really get into trouble and when you turn 391 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: to the street and when you end up on heroin. 392 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 1: And then now what we see with the rise of fentanyl, 393 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,680 Speaker 1: I mean, this is poison really in any significant quantity 394 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,919 Speaker 1: at all. And so you know, you look at these numbers, 395 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: and actually there's a chart in here in this Washington 396 00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: Post graphic that shows oxy prescriptions have dramatically declined. Yes, 397 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,680 Speaker 1: and as they've declined, the death rate has actually gone 398 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: up because people turn to the street. And so look, 399 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: I mean, clearly, what we're doing with the war on 400 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: drugs is an utter and complete failure. Most people, the 401 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: overwhelming majority of these users, they don't want fentanyl. Fentanyl 402 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: is so concentrated that it's easy for traffickers to smuggle. 403 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 1: You can carry a lot more fentanyl, a lot more 404 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: doses of fentanyl in a small space that weighs a 405 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: lot less and it's a lot easier to traffic and 406 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: carry than an equivalent amount of heroin and certainly that 407 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: an equivalent amount of oxy. That's what happens when you 408 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: have prohibition is people turn to the most concentrated. Traffickers 409 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: turn to the most concentrated form of the drug. So 410 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: that's why you end up with fentanyl now across the country, 411 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,199 Speaker 1: causing this much havoc, in this much death. And by 412 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: the way, you know, one of the things that people 413 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: I think rightly have discussed, and I think this is 414 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: a part of the story is pandemic policies and lockdowns. 415 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: And I was saying, you know, people were then alone, 416 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 1: and we know the way that people's mental health suffered, 417 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: But we also have to acknowledge if we put this 418 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: last graphic up on the screen of how we compare 419 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: to other countries, this is the US at the bottom dramatically, 420 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 1: I mean not even close higher number of deaths from 421 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,120 Speaker 1: overdoses from any country in the EU. They also threw 422 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: in here Turkey and Norway. I mean, this is a 423 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: horrific picture. And the comment here is not the sign 424 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: of a healthy society at all. While all of these 425 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,400 Speaker 1: countries that we're looking at, I mean many of them 426 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: had stricter lockdown procedures in place than the United States. 427 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: So to just say, oh, well, what's going on here 428 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: is just a year of lockdowns, I think there's a 429 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: lot more going on. It's a lot more complicated picture, 430 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: because then how do you explain these countries that had 431 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 1: much more stringent lockdowns than we did, not having this 432 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: same horrific toll in terms of overdose death. Yeah, there's 433 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: a couple of things. Number one obviously the traffickers, but 434 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: number two is actually have a different type of trafficker 435 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: than what euro pass to deal with. None all those 436 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: countries have legalized drugs or even actually many of them 437 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 1: even as strict dug laws as we have, and we 438 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: have Mexico and we have China as well. In terms 439 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: of supplying industrial fentanyl to Mexico, which brings up here 440 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,639 Speaker 1: through our poorest border, it's much easier in order to 441 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,159 Speaker 1: get that type of quantity. But the second thing is 442 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: actually the prescription and that's where you know, you point 443 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: to you see the drop in subscription, but it went 444 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: from two hundred and fifty million to one hundred and 445 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: forty million, so we still have a lot of opioid 446 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: subscriptions here in the country. That's the other part of 447 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,640 Speaker 1: the story, which I think is really just tragic. But look, 448 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: I mean, I think the real thing is that in 449 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: America we do everything a little bit bigger, a little 450 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 1: bit worse, and we have a little bit more of 451 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,239 Speaker 1: a consumptive society. We also have much more disconnection from 452 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: our healthcare system. That's a huge part of the story too, 453 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: which is that you know, I've been doing some reading 454 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: Michael Schellenberger, who wrote this very interesting new book on 455 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,919 Speaker 1: San Francisco. He's very pro actually legalizing drugs. So this 456 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: is why I think it's interesting from his perspectives. He 457 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,360 Speaker 1: points to in Portugal and in many of these other places, 458 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: the amount of connection that the state has with you 459 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: whenever you're going through this stuff is totally out of 460 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: this world. So Portugal, for example, if you are addicted 461 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: to heroin in Portugal and you're sitting on a park 462 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: bench and you shoot heroin in broad daylight, you're getting 463 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,440 Speaker 1: arrested even though it's illegal. But when you go to court, 464 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: you're not going to go thrown to jail. They're like, 465 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: you're going to mandatory. It's not like a paternalistic treatment 466 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: where they're like, you're going to treatment like now. And 467 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: I mean, you can go to jail if you want, 468 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: but you know, most people opt for treatment. And this 469 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: is what I really get scared of. And this is 470 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: actually inside of the Washington Post story, is the American 471 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: suffering some substance from disorder from drugs eighteen point four 472 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: million with substance use, but by age one point three 473 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: point three million are between the ages of twenty one 474 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: and twenty five. So this is actually a crisis which 475 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,880 Speaker 1: is skewed down on the age scale, which means, as 476 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,239 Speaker 1: we've seen this, when you have aging addicts and you 477 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: have a system like this, it's just going to continue 478 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: to get worse. You actually see an age distribution where 479 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 1: it's higher amongst people who are younger, and then drops 480 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,639 Speaker 1: off as you go to the older people once I'm 481 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: not saying that older people aren't addicted to the drugs 482 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: in millions. I'm saying the highest percentage wise of the 483 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: age group is actually amongst people between twenty one and 484 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: twenty five. So in terms of like if we have 485 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: to revamp the treatment option is actually going to be 486 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: one of the number one things that we have to do. 487 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: I've been looking a lot into it around how exactly Portugal, 488 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: the Netherlands and many of these other places which do 489 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: even have legalized drug systems have much more paternalistic policies 490 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: whenever it comes to hey, like if you're addicted to drugs, 491 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,120 Speaker 1: like we're going to take you off the street, you're 492 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: going to go to treatment. You have the option to 493 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: go to prison if you want, but you know most 494 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: people don't want to. And there's like several interventions that happen, yea, 495 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:56,239 Speaker 1: all along that way. This it's insane. You and I 496 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: obviously have a disagreement about what we should do in 497 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: terms of legalizing true, but I think we could both agree. 498 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 1: It's in saying that if you have a doctor who 499 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: sees this person's getting having trouble, they have a they 500 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: have an addiction. Now in this ox prescription I'm giving them, 501 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: and your solution is just I'm gonna cut them off. 502 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,479 Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's insane, right without referring to and 503 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: then you know, I don't want to put this like 504 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: it's not just the doctor's fault here. They obviously the 505 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: entire healthcare system is totally screwed. But let's say that 506 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: they recommend a person to treatment, Well, is it going 507 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,159 Speaker 1: to get paid for by their insurance? Probably not? Probably not. 508 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: It's not Do we have enough treatment or rehab beds 509 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: even in the country for people, No, we don't. I mean, 510 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: if you I used to know the stats in West Virginia, 511 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: which again hardest hit place in the entire country. The 512 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: number of beds is pathetically small, So even if you 513 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,160 Speaker 1: refer to someone to trip like, the resources just literally 514 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: are not there, which is important. And then, you know, 515 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: I think the other thing that we've talked about a 516 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: lot with overdose debts is there's a direct connection between 517 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: all of these deaths of despair that we see. I mean, 518 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: people are dying of cirrhosis to the liver, people who 519 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: are dying suicide, the amount of people on various prescription 520 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: drugs to deal with with you know, dramatic mental health issues, anxiety, depression, 521 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,679 Speaker 1: all of these things are a horrific epidemic in this 522 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 1: country that has led to people dying younger and for 523 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: a developed country to be headed in the wrong direction 524 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:30,399 Speaker 1: in terms of mortality, the most basic failure that you 525 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 1: could possibly have in a society and other countries. It's 526 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: not like this is a developed world problem. No other 527 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: countries aren't facing us this. It's us alone. So you 528 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: have to look at the roots of that. I think 529 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: a lot of that is a sort of disconnection, a 530 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 1: sort of loss of any greater purpose, a sense of meaning. 531 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: And you know, you never want to oversimplify things because 532 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: every story is different of how people end up in 533 00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: a tragic situation. But ultimately there's something going on societ 534 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: wide that is a deep sickness and a deep rot 535 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: that is leaving people totally despondent and utterly rutterless. I mean, 536 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: you think about the number of jobs that have been 537 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: lost to automation shift overseas, the fact that we've told 538 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: men that you know, your only worth is basically what 539 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: your market worth is, and then we take strip away 540 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: your ability to be able to earn and provide for 541 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,720 Speaker 1: yourself or to be able to have a family. Yeah, 542 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: that's going to leave a lot of people really devastated. 543 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 1: So it's an incredibly grim milestone. There aren't easy solutions, 544 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: although you know, there is a lot to learn from 545 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 1: what other countries around the world are doing, both with 546 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: regards to drugs, but also with regards to that just 547 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:47,080 Speaker 1: human connection and basic supports and connectivity with the healthcare 548 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: system and all of those sorts of it. Yeah, I 549 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: completely agree. And that's the other problem that we don't 550 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: take rehab very seriously enough. You know, the recidivism rate 551 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: on heroin is something like eighty percent or something like that, 552 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: and when you add fentonol into that is even higher. 553 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: And part of the reason why is a lot of 554 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: our inpatient facilit is early ninety days. Ninety days is 555 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 1: not long enough in order to rewire your brain neurons, 556 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: and we don't fund it. A lot of these people. 557 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,239 Speaker 1: You could talk to parents who put their personally knows 558 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,480 Speaker 1: some people who've had to, you know, go some through 559 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: this stuff, and ninety days is not long enough. And 560 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: part of the reason why so many people o d 561 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: right after they get out is because it's just they 562 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: immediately go and then they shoot up on what they 563 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: used to get high on before they win, and that's 564 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: immediately going to make you od h. And many times, 565 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: you know, if they're alone or something, it could be 566 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: too late. If you're just going back into the exact 567 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: same environment it's left, nothing's going to be different, nothing's 568 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: going to do There's so much that needs to be changed, 569 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: and you know, we could do many, many hours on this, 570 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: but yeah, it's it's such a terrible situation. That was 571 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: one of the things I most appreciated about the Andrew 572 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: Yang campaign is the most basic metric of how are 573 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: you doing people living in and how are they dying? 574 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: Like are they dying sooner? What's going on? You see 575 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: that all consistently across the board, all across the middle, 576 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: you know, parts of this country which were completely hollowed out, 577 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 1: you know, like you said, I can and I was 578 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: reading an essay this weekend that just came out. You've 579 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: all lived in This is very very thought provoking usay, 580 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: maybe we'll put it in the in the description. And 581 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: what they talk about is that the problems of the 582 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds and earlier, like the social problems, were problems 583 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: of people acting out in excess, and then the social 584 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: problems of today are more like listeness and to the 585 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: extent that they have excess. It's like excess drugs while alone, 586 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:30,440 Speaker 1: excess drugs while participating, or taking something which is sedative, 587 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: which makes you like not social, which makes you, you know, 588 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,719 Speaker 1: even oding. And just the picture that we're pointing here, 589 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: somebody alone by themselves. Whereas in the past being able 590 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: like drinking too much and you know, going out and 591 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: doing something to another person, or like social pathologies of 592 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: too much action, the ones today are the opposite. And 593 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: it just shows you what the problems of the twenty 594 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: first century with the Internet sitting on the couch obesity, 595 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: you know, all these types of things. They're all downstream 596 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,760 Speaker 1: of a new consumerism and more, which we're still wrapping 597 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: our heads around. I think that's what this is. That's 598 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: why when I say, like America, like we do you 599 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: know better than everybody else? Yeah, well ways, like we 600 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: invented it. And the last point is a media point, 601 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: which is that you know, last time I talked to Bernie, 602 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: he was pointing out which I didn't even know because 603 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: it got zero media coverage. They did an entire hearing 604 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: on decline immortality rates. Why where new numbers knew? Which 605 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: demographics is it hit? Which places in the country? What's 606 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: going on here really important? I mean, the most important 607 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: thing you could possibly talk about. Zero media interest. Zero 608 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: media interest. They would rather talk about, you know, whatever 609 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,480 Speaker 1: the stupid culture war, outrage of Steve Bannon or like 610 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: big Bird or whatever insanity is going on that day 611 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: they would rather talk about than, you know, the things 612 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: that are most impactful to your life. Now, Sesame Street 613 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: should actually on ironically do an opioid thing that actually 614 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: would probably be better off for the full supportive There 615 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: you go, Okay, let's move on to this inflation. You 616 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: actually found this. I love this story. We've been talking 617 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: a lot about inflation, about the debates around inflation. We 618 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: obviously see higher gas price, higher food price, higher prices, 619 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: especially in the crazy sectors like used cars, rental cars, hotels. 620 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: The debate is obviously over government spending or about supply. Obviously, 621 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: you know, guys know we fall much more on the 622 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: supply chain and how exactly the screw ups in that 623 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 1: system fall. But another part of that story, which nobody 624 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 1: has been discussing is the individual actors, who are the 625 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: corporations themselves. So let's put this up there on the 626 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,000 Speaker 1: screen from the Wall Street Journal, who actually did a 627 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: great investigation what does inflation mean for American businesses? For 628 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: some bigger profits. So get this, nearly two out of 629 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: three of the biggest US publicly traded companies reported fatter 630 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: profit margins than they did before the pandemic in a 631 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: very unprecedented environment. Now that doesn't make lot of sense 632 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: because what you hear from the corporations whenever they raise 633 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: prices is this, Hey, our supply went up, so we 634 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,919 Speaker 1: have to charge you more basic supply and demand. We're 635 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,360 Speaker 1: not making any more money, We're just passing on the 636 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: cost to the consumer. Well, what we're seeing here is 637 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,800 Speaker 1: that when the two thirds of the companies are raising 638 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: the prices, sometimes they say, well, everybody's used to raising 639 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: higher prices. Right now, this is the best excuse that 640 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: we've ever had, and so they maybe they just jack 641 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: it up a little bit more and a little bit 642 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,759 Speaker 1: more and a little bit more, and then next thing 643 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: you know, you got two thirds of the entire fortune 644 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: five hundred with the higher profit margins than ever before. Now, 645 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: it is true that profit margins sometimes rise with inflation, 646 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:50,919 Speaker 1: but what they are seeing is that the companies are 647 00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 1: skewing much more to the side of as high a 648 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: price as they can possibly justify because they know that 649 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,919 Speaker 1: the consumer, paradoxically is now used to it. They will 650 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 1: not you know, consumers will usually are pretty price conscious. 651 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,360 Speaker 1: They'll go and see their grocery stores, maybe they'll compare 652 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: across the board. But in this type of crazy environment, 653 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,399 Speaker 1: they go, ah, man, it's just you know, inflation, right, 654 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,360 Speaker 1: I used to pay this, Now I pay this, And 655 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: you're not asking as many questions about the proportion in 656 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: that rise of increase and there look, there's no other 657 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 1: word for this. They're builking us like that. That's what 658 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: this is, using it as an excuse in order to 659 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: charge you and us more money. That's the bottom line. 660 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: And how do we know because their CEOs are bragging 661 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: about it on investor calls. That's how we know. Okay, 662 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,400 Speaker 1: they go through in the Wall Street Journal numerous CEOs 663 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,200 Speaker 1: who are telling their investors, Oh, we've been able to 664 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:46,879 Speaker 1: We've been able to price up, so that's why we're 665 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: getting these fat profit margins. We can throw the Business 666 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,279 Speaker 1: Insider tear sheet up on the screen as well, which 667 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: talks about Walmart, which announced third quarter financial results this morning, 668 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 1: able to post better than expected earnings in part by 669 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: offering few discounts to shoppers. But a lot of large 670 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,839 Speaker 1: firms have spent their recent quarterly calls bragging to investors 671 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:10,280 Speaker 1: about their ability to hike prices with relative impunity. Here's 672 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,759 Speaker 1: the CEO of Colgate Palmoliv saying, what we are very 673 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,279 Speaker 1: good at is pricing, whether it's foreign exchange inflation or 674 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: raw and packing material inflation. We have found ways over 675 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: time to recover that in our margin line. You have 676 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,480 Speaker 1: the Kroger CFO saying we've been very comfortable with our 677 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: ability to pass on the increases that we've seen at 678 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: this point, and we would expect that to continue to 679 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,640 Speaker 1: be the case. So these companies are literally bragging about 680 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,840 Speaker 1: the fact that they're able to use inflation as a 681 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: way to start either giving fewer discounts or upping their 682 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: price overall to not just overcome that inflation, but post 683 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: the largest earnings and the fattest profits that they have 684 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: ever had in many cases. And the other piece of 685 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 1: the story is monopolies, because if you had a actual 686 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: competitive then what would happen. You might try to hike 687 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,399 Speaker 1: your prices super high. Your competitor would say, you know what, 688 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: I can undercut them and still make a profit margin. 689 00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 1: So I'm going to do that and win win consumers 690 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: over that way. But when you have a monopoly, well, 691 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: that function doesn't happen, correct, So these companies just get 692 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: to continue to increase prices, knowing you have few other options, 693 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,399 Speaker 1: and knowing that there are very few other competitors out 694 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 1: there who can undercut them and pose a real threat 695 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,320 Speaker 1: ultimately to their bottom line that would force the prices 696 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 1: to come back down. And by the way, when these 697 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 1: companies are playing this game of increasing prices even more 698 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: than they have to that fuel's inflation. That is part 699 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: of the inflation story. So they benefit from inflation because 700 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:50,800 Speaker 1: they get this excuse. They increase their prices beyond inflation, 701 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 1: and that further fuels inflation, giving them an even more 702 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: excuse to increase prices. This is even more of a 703 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,320 Speaker 1: feedback loop here. And this is the problem, which is 704 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: that when you're in sech crazy environment, the pricing, like 705 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,839 Speaker 1: I said, it's not logical. They can try and push 706 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:06,839 Speaker 1: it as far as they can, and you only need 707 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 1: a couple of hundred of you to come together and 708 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: do the exact same thing. Now prices are even higher, 709 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: then those prices get reported as inflation, and now you 710 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,360 Speaker 1: get to push it up even higher and higher and higher, 711 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 1: and it's a self fulfilling prophecy. This is part of 712 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,360 Speaker 1: the problem too, whenever we don't see a lot of 713 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,960 Speaker 1: regulation or at least threat of regulation on these companies. 714 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:28,360 Speaker 1: The Biden administration over the weekend actually sent a letter 715 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: to the FTC Chairwoman Lena Khan, And what they're appointing 716 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 1: to is that oil and gas companies. There's an audit 717 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,600 Speaker 1: actually right now of how much these oil and gas 718 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,840 Speaker 1: companies is. There's not very many of them, like three 719 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: you know, major ones here in the United States. Well, 720 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,840 Speaker 1: are they actually pricing relative to demand? Are they actually 721 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,880 Speaker 1: making more money than ever? And it seems that the 722 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,960 Speaker 1: answer to those questions could be yes, And maybe the 723 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,000 Speaker 1: Federal Trade Commission should look into how much exactly of 724 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 1: the supply shock and more is getting passed on to 725 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: the consumer. Is it exactly one to one or is 726 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,400 Speaker 1: it maybe one point five to one one point seven? 727 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,959 Speaker 1: And is that point seven just going straight back into 728 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,759 Speaker 1: exceon stock. That's the problem right now, which is that 729 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,000 Speaker 1: whenever we don't have a real insight into the real 730 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,759 Speaker 1: time conditions and this crazy type of environment, they can 731 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 1: charge you whatever they want and they are making money 732 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,800 Speaker 1: hand over fist while doing so. I was seeing in 733 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:25,280 Speaker 1: that bi article that over fifty percent of them actually 734 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 1: making more money right now than in twenty nineteen. So 735 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:29,879 Speaker 1: what does that tell you? Are you doing better off 736 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,000 Speaker 1: than you were in twenty nineteen? No, you're not, but 737 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,319 Speaker 1: they are at the expensive view, Yes, the problem. And 738 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: then they'll go out there and have the nerve to 739 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 1: whine about like, oh, workers will work for us or 740 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 1: these low wages anymore. It's like y'all have plenty of money. 741 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: You could be given people a raise, make sure that 742 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:46,120 Speaker 1: you have plenty of workers to do whatever you need 743 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: them to do. You could give them healthcare. You know, 744 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,120 Speaker 1: you could make it actually worth their while to work 745 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:54,120 Speaker 1: at whatever your company is, because you all are making 746 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 1: higher profits than I mean, a lot of these companies 747 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,279 Speaker 1: made record breaking profits during the pandemic and now they're 748 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:02,479 Speaker 1: making even higher profits because they're sort of inflation, because 749 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: they're gaming inflation and you know, using it as an 750 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,480 Speaker 1: excuse to raise their prices even higher than they need to. 751 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:11,920 Speaker 1: And again, I just have to emphasize, and I know 752 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,719 Speaker 1: if Stoler was here, he would back us up. Monopoly 753 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:17,560 Speaker 1: is a big, big part of this story. That's how 754 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:19,279 Speaker 1: they're able to get away with it because they know 755 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,960 Speaker 1: you have no other choice. No, I think that's the 756 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:26,440 Speaker 1: biggest problem in that don't fall for convenient explanations. And 757 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: you know that's what we try to do here. It's 758 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,239 Speaker 1: not all supply. Some of it is demand. But part 759 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:33,279 Speaker 1: of the thing is that why is that demand there? 760 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,760 Speaker 1: If you'll ask the people who think it's all government spending, well, 761 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting that inflation is that it's worse 762 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: now like nine months after you know, two thousand dollars 763 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 1: checks hit people's bank accounts, and not you know, immediately 764 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: in that time or at the height of unemployment, which 765 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: is what like October of twenty twenty, we didn't see 766 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,600 Speaker 1: massive demand. Massive demand hits right now because stuff is 767 00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:57,520 Speaker 1: opening and people are moving on from COVID and using 768 00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: the savings that they would have spent at another time 769 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 1: to now. It actually makes complete and total sense, and 770 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:07,279 Speaker 1: people are falling for very convenient explanations in order to 771 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 1: demonize one policy or the other. The truth is is 772 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: in all things that economy, it's competible. Well, but here's 773 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,759 Speaker 1: the other thing is okay, So if you stipulate that 774 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,359 Speaker 1: it's both that people were able to save a little, 775 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,760 Speaker 1: they've got a little more money, and it's these supply 776 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,520 Speaker 1: chain issues like which thing would you rather deal with? 777 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:26,920 Speaker 1: You want to deal with like, oh, people have too 778 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: much money, I want to cut their wages. I want 779 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: to take the money away from them, Like no, of 780 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,040 Speaker 1: course not. And and also, by the way, if you 781 00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 1: wanted to take money out of you know, if you 782 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,319 Speaker 1: want to take money out a circular the way to 783 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:42,280 Speaker 1: do that, there's a much larger pool of money from 784 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:45,480 Speaker 1: the wealthiest among us. But for some reason, their money 785 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,080 Speaker 1: is not a target here. I mean, they're the ones 786 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 1: who got wildly rich, yes, during the pandemic, but that's oh, 787 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,200 Speaker 1: that's not a problem for inflation. It's only the people 788 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,919 Speaker 1: who got their like twelve hundred dollars stimmy checks. They're 789 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,520 Speaker 1: the real issue here. So again, even if you think 790 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 1: that the government spent that went out to people is 791 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,080 Speaker 1: part of the issue here, just ask yourself, like, which 792 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,879 Speaker 1: side would you rather deal with? Personally, I would rather 793 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,400 Speaker 1: get the supply chain iss she's worked out, fix the 794 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,799 Speaker 1: fact that we have such a fragile economy in the 795 00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 1: first place. Then be like, oh, people's wages got too high, 796 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: they got a little bit too much in their bank account. 797 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,359 Speaker 1: We can't possibly have that. So that's the other piece 798 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:21,879 Speaker 1: of this here. Really incredible, Okay, all right, let's move 799 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: on to this remarkable segment on the view. So I 800 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,120 Speaker 1: would not don't consider myself a view connoisseur, So I 801 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:33,239 Speaker 1: don't know the revolving cast of characters. Jedediah Bela Is 802 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: that how I say her name? It's Bilah Bilah okay. 803 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:40,480 Speaker 1: Jedediah Bylah, former conservative co host on the View appeared 804 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,000 Speaker 1: recently back on her old show in order to promote 805 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 1: her book. Now, during the course of that she was 806 00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,600 Speaker 1: not allowed on the View set because she's not vaccinated. 807 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,840 Speaker 1: According to her, she has a medical exemption. There's no 808 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,799 Speaker 1: verification or whatever on that. But there was an exchange 809 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 1: between her and her former you know, former coworkers on 810 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 1: the View around vaccination and around COVID. What really disturbed 811 00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 1: me was that even the people who are trying to 812 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:11,600 Speaker 1: make the proback's case aka Sonny and Whoopee and Joy, 813 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 1: do not know any idea of what they're talking about, 814 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,239 Speaker 1: and in many ways are spreading misinformation whenever talking with 815 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,040 Speaker 1: Jedediah in this debate, we have the full segment here, 816 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:25,359 Speaker 1: there's no cut. Let's take a listen, okay, Jed. So 817 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,560 Speaker 1: let's just let's suddress the elephant in the room. Because 818 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,520 Speaker 1: you were supposed to join You were supposed to join 819 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:34,200 Speaker 1: us in the studios weeks ago, but you couldn't because 820 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: ABC has a very strict policy. You can't get into 821 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:40,399 Speaker 1: this building unless you're fully vaccinated. Everybody in this room 822 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: knows that and is vaccinated. But you made a conscious 823 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:47,560 Speaker 1: decision not to get the vaccine. Now, the CDC says 824 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 1: the person is ten times less likely to be hospitalized 825 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:54,080 Speaker 1: from COVID and eleven times less likely to die if 826 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 1: they've gotten the vaccine. Okay, so why didn't you get it? Yeah, 827 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,480 Speaker 1: so my story is a little bit unique. I'll share 828 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,920 Speaker 1: that first before I get into those CBC numbers. But 829 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,040 Speaker 1: we have I actually out of time, Jed, if you 830 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:07,320 Speaker 1: want to get everything I have, so I want to. 831 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: I want to let people know why I'm not there. 832 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 1: I have a medical exemption to the vaccine that's been 833 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:15,839 Speaker 1: written by my infectious disease vaccinated specialist in New York City, 834 00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 1: that's been co signed by three other doctors. I'm not 835 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,920 Speaker 1: a candidate for this vaccine. I also have sky high, 836 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:26,879 Speaker 1: multi tiered, multifaceted natural immunity, very very high. That has 837 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,799 Speaker 1: also been proven. It has been shown, and it is 838 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,440 Speaker 1: substantiated by letters from these doctors. So for me personally, 839 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,319 Speaker 1: this vaccine poses a greater risk than a benefit. I'm 840 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:37,960 Speaker 1: also not a risk to any of you. I know 841 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:39,960 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of debate about that, but I 842 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,160 Speaker 1: have these doctors who've gone on record with that as well. 843 00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,480 Speaker 1: So my point about all of this is that I 844 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:48,319 Speaker 1: am not anti vax. What I really want is for 845 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:51,160 Speaker 1: people to make these decisions for themselves. I want every 846 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 1: one of you to sit with your family members, to 847 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,719 Speaker 1: sit with your trusted doctors, and to say what is 848 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:00,279 Speaker 1: the best decision for me. However, I do oppose man dates. 849 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,680 Speaker 1: I have posed them on the fact that let's look 850 00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:05,320 Speaker 1: at the science. This is a vaccine that was created 851 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,839 Speaker 1: to prevent severity of disease and to prevent hospitalizations. Now 852 00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:10,560 Speaker 1: we can have a whole debate on that in itself, 853 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,720 Speaker 1: but the vaccine does not prevent you from getting COVID 854 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:18,000 Speaker 1: and does not prevent you from transmitting My goodness, reality, 855 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:22,920 Speaker 1: we have seen that. So come on, no, enjoy You 856 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:24,719 Speaker 1: don't have to listen to me on that. You don't 857 00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: have to listen to me. You can listen to the 858 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: director of the CDC. You can look at the CDC's website. 859 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:33,080 Speaker 1: That is why masks were reinstated for people who were vaccinated, 860 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:35,719 Speaker 1: because they said, and they admitted, they came out and 861 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:39,920 Speaker 1: said this for this delta variant transmission. I'm going to 862 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:43,480 Speaker 1: be a thing for vaccinated and people. I'm not opposed 863 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,000 Speaker 1: to the vaccine, but I amn't posed to the rown 864 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:51,240 Speaker 1: thousand people have died from COVID, including Manny's in laws, 865 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:53,680 Speaker 1: and I just we've been friends a long time, but 866 00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:56,120 Speaker 1: I just Manny's parents. I just don't understand why you 867 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:59,400 Speaker 1: would choose to prioritize your personal freedom over health and 868 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:01,799 Speaker 1: safety of others. And I just, I just I thought 869 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:05,600 Speaker 1: you didn't think that we should kind of misinformation. Again. 870 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,279 Speaker 1: We've had us a you, We've had the United States 871 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:12,440 Speaker 1: Surgeon General debunk Yes, I heard what he said, everything 872 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:14,880 Speaker 1: that you've just said, and I just don't think we should. 873 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,360 Speaker 1: We should you kind of misinformation on our air. I'm 874 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: really sorry on you. First of all, I'm really sorry 875 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: on me. First of all, I would say to you 876 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:23,920 Speaker 1: as a friend, what I just said to you is 877 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,440 Speaker 1: I am prioritizing my health and people talk about the 878 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:31,040 Speaker 1: commons health and safety. You're not prioritizing your own health. 879 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:37,279 Speaker 1: You have. This should sound very familiar to you. This 880 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,000 Speaker 1: should sound very familiar to you. We got to go 881 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,920 Speaker 1: to break and so I have to say thanks to 882 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:50,280 Speaker 1: Jeff's book, Dear Hartley, starting today and everyone in the audience, 883 00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 1: you're each going home with a copy of that pretty 884 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,080 Speaker 1: remarkable segment there. Crystal there's a lot going on, I 885 00:46:57,120 --> 00:46:59,360 Speaker 1: mean a lot to unpack. Yeah, no, I'm curious for 886 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,359 Speaker 1: your thoughts. Yeah, okay, So here's the thing. First of all, 887 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:07,200 Speaker 1: I would say, overall, did anyone learn anything change their minds? 888 00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,279 Speaker 1: Because I mean, listen, you have to think about these conversations. 889 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:12,120 Speaker 1: I think we try to think about this on our show, 890 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,120 Speaker 1: and you know, respect other people who approach things as 891 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:16,680 Speaker 1: like what do we actually want to get out of this? 892 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:19,560 Speaker 1: Sometimes there is a goal of I just want to 893 00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:23,480 Speaker 1: expose this person, right, that's a legitimate thing. But you know, 894 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:26,280 Speaker 1: for me, at this point in the conversation about vaccinations, 895 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,160 Speaker 1: it's much more useful to do like what Sanjay Gupta 896 00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,000 Speaker 1: did and go on with Rogan and have an exchange 897 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,440 Speaker 1: that doesn't just shut down into like you're risking people's 898 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,560 Speaker 1: lives and how dare you? And this is misinformation? So 899 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,279 Speaker 1: that's number one. Did the view audience get anything out 900 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:45,000 Speaker 1: of that exchange? No, anybody who came and watched that 901 00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:49,000 Speaker 1: their priors were confirmed. Right, whichever side of this debate 902 00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,919 Speaker 1: that you're ultimately on now, I think that the view 903 00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:56,200 Speaker 1: hosts did a very poor job ultimately because of how 904 00:47:56,239 --> 00:48:00,839 Speaker 1: they treated Jedidiah in that moment of effectively debunking what 905 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:03,600 Speaker 1: I think were some very selective things that she was 906 00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,120 Speaker 1: ultimately saying, because she wanted to say, Look, it's true, 907 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,600 Speaker 1: you are vaccinated and you got sick with COVID. Yes, 908 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,879 Speaker 1: is true. Breakthrough infections are definitely a thing, she says, 909 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,960 Speaker 1: Jededi wants to point to that, but she doesn't want 910 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,880 Speaker 1: to tell you that severe hospital you know, severe cases, 911 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:27,640 Speaker 1: hospitalization and death dramatically reduced by the vaccine. And and 912 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:29,920 Speaker 1: this is the part that I think is really disingenuous 913 00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:33,160 Speaker 1: from her talking points, you are also much less likely 914 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,680 Speaker 1: to get and spread the disease if you're vaccinated. It 915 00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:38,879 Speaker 1: can still happen, Yes, but you are much We don't 916 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:40,719 Speaker 1: know what that figure is, but it is there. We 917 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,000 Speaker 1: are much less. You are much less likely to get 918 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:46,359 Speaker 1: and spread the disease if you have the vaccine. She 919 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,879 Speaker 1: just wants to say, it's still possible, right, Yeah, it's 920 00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:52,360 Speaker 1: still possible, but we have to talk about, you know, risks, 921 00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:54,319 Speaker 1: we have to talk about the impact it has. And 922 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:56,520 Speaker 1: then of course they want to ignore the severe hospitalization 923 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,480 Speaker 1: and death thing altogether, and the fact that her coe 924 00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:03,960 Speaker 1: that view co hosts aren't able to directly point to 925 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:08,000 Speaker 1: those facts and challenger with those things, rather than just 926 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 1: wanting to sort of shut her up, shame her and 927 00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,080 Speaker 1: shut down the segment. I think is what made it 928 00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,200 Speaker 1: a very ineffective moment all the way around, right, and 929 00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:18,719 Speaker 1: that was what bothered me. I mean, if you look 930 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:21,000 Speaker 1: on balance, the people who are spreading more misinformation was 931 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:23,360 Speaker 1: the view there. I mean, look, like you said, Jedediah 932 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:25,000 Speaker 1: can be selective in what she's saying, but she's not 933 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,279 Speaker 1: saying anything which is incorrect, whereas what they're saying is 934 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:29,400 Speaker 1: straight up not true. I mean they're saying like the 935 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:33,320 Speaker 1: Surgeon General has debunked that. No they haven't. As Actually 936 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:36,760 Speaker 1: she points to the reason why masks came back wrongly. 937 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,200 Speaker 1: My opinion was because there was a view that, oh, 938 00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:42,480 Speaker 1: we're still gonna spread COVID and you know that vaccine 939 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,040 Speaker 1: doesn't reduce it all the way to zero. I'm doing 940 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:48,160 Speaker 1: my entire monologue about this and what doctor Fauci says 941 00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:50,680 Speaker 1: is the new target. But the lack of honesty there 942 00:49:50,719 --> 00:49:53,600 Speaker 1: from the people who are pro vax is actually going 943 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,680 Speaker 1: to harden people who are going to look at that 944 00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:58,520 Speaker 1: and say, no matter what you bring them, they're just 945 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:01,400 Speaker 1: gonna sit there and tell you that you're a complete idiot. 946 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:03,759 Speaker 1: Shut up. We're not even going to air you know 947 00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,400 Speaker 1: that other side. And I also thought this was the 948 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,280 Speaker 1: real point too. How can you have a real conversation 949 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,319 Speaker 1: around vaccine? That was what three minute thirty second clip 950 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:14,960 Speaker 1: forget about it. How can you do that? It's not possible. 951 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,080 Speaker 1: You cannot bring somebody on and you know, for a 952 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,800 Speaker 1: sparring session and then cut them off most of the 953 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:24,680 Speaker 1: way through saying ridiculous things and emotional blackmail like oh 954 00:50:24,719 --> 00:50:26,600 Speaker 1: my in law, listen, I you know, God, bless your love. 955 00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 1: I'm really sorry. It's a terrible thing that people died 956 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,440 Speaker 1: from COVID. But we're also not in summer twenty twenty 957 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:35,440 Speaker 1: right now. We're living in a totally new era. That's 958 00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:37,800 Speaker 1: again what I'm talking about in terms of my monologue. 959 00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:41,200 Speaker 1: So whenever we're discussing vaccine, COVID policy, and more, we 960 00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:44,120 Speaker 1: need to number one, update our priors. Number Two, talk 961 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:47,760 Speaker 1: to some people with some actual respect here, presumably Crystal. 962 00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:50,879 Speaker 1: They were colleagues, so I would assume that they think 963 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:53,520 Speaker 1: that she's acting in better faith than you know, maybe 964 00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:56,160 Speaker 1: a random guess, but that's just not what you saw. 965 00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,320 Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't really think anybody in that segment 966 00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:00,600 Speaker 1: was acting in good faith, because I do think data daiyah. 967 00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:04,000 Speaker 1: It was effectively propaganda, I mean, is incredibly selective to 968 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:07,640 Speaker 1: the point of being propaganda. But here's what I would say. 969 00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 1: There is a view among a wide swath of liberals 970 00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:16,240 Speaker 1: and especially liberal elites, that effectively, you can't acknowledge anything 971 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,640 Speaker 1: that might be inconvenient or your narrative or else you 972 00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:23,759 Speaker 1: lose right. So acknowledging that you can still get break 973 00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:27,400 Speaker 1: through infections with the vaccine, or acknowledging that you know 974 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:29,719 Speaker 1: there are treatments that are more effective now, or acknowledging 975 00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,680 Speaker 1: that children are much less at risk than the elderly, 976 00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:37,279 Speaker 1: like talking about just the facts and the science of 977 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:39,759 Speaker 1: this thing. If it happens to be a fact that's 978 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:42,319 Speaker 1: inconvenient for what you want people to do, which is 979 00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:45,759 Speaker 1: to get vaccinated, then rather than engaging with that, they 980 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,719 Speaker 1: just want to shut it down, not acknowledge it. And 981 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:51,120 Speaker 1: to your point, I don't think that that's been helpful. 982 00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:53,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I think that that ultimately has made people 983 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:57,080 Speaker 1: feel like you're being dishonest. All you want is this 984 00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,120 Speaker 1: end result. You're willing to lie, ignore, and be sele 985 00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:03,760 Speaker 1: in what you're doing in order to achieve that end result, 986 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:06,640 Speaker 1: and so you end up with exchanges like this, which again, 987 00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:11,640 Speaker 1: ultimately I just think are profoundly unhelpful. Move no one persuade, 988 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,520 Speaker 1: no one change the conversation. If anything, it just muddies 989 00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:17,879 Speaker 1: things and makes people even more confused than they were 990 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:20,520 Speaker 1: going in. And we've seen this from the beginning, you know, 991 00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,720 Speaker 1: from the very top, with Fauci trying to manipulate people 992 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:27,240 Speaker 1: on what he thinks they can hear at that moment 993 00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:30,120 Speaker 1: with regard to her immunity or with regard to masks. 994 00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,759 Speaker 1: It's more of an interest in controlling the information than 995 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:37,440 Speaker 1: actually being upfront, even if there are facts that might 996 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:40,440 Speaker 1: be mitigating that might be inconvenient ultimately for your argument. 997 00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:42,719 Speaker 1: By the way, this is not just a coronavirus thing. 998 00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,160 Speaker 1: I mean we see this all the time in terms 999 00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:50,000 Speaker 1: of Democrats and Republicans who they don't want to allow anything, 1000 00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:53,480 Speaker 1: they don't want to give any talking quote unquote talking 1001 00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:56,160 Speaker 1: points to the other side, and that just ends up 1002 00:52:56,200 --> 00:53:00,359 Speaker 1: making them into like propaganda filled liers. Ultimately, if you're 1003 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:03,719 Speaker 1: never willing to acknowledge where the other side has even 1004 00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:06,080 Speaker 1: a tiny sliver of a point yep, that's the biggest 1005 00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:08,399 Speaker 1: problem we have. Let's move on to this segment. Really 1006 00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:15,040 Speaker 1: found it stunning. I found out about it, thanks fine, 1007 00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:18,560 Speaker 1: as good as possible, because I think that public attention 1008 00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:21,920 Speaker 1: on this could actually mean a life or death. So 1009 00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:25,719 Speaker 1: Kenny's tennis are pung shui. I'm sorry anybody who is 1010 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,600 Speaker 1: Chinese that I'm saying that incorrectly. The timeline on this 1011 00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:31,000 Speaker 1: begins on November third, so let's put this up there 1012 00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:35,360 Speaker 1: on the screen. She posted on Chinese version of social 1013 00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:39,600 Speaker 1: media that she had been sexually abused three years ago 1014 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:45,480 Speaker 1: by a high ranking married Communist Party official. She said 1015 00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:50,279 Speaker 1: that he rekindled their previous affair in twenty eighteen by 1016 00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:53,799 Speaker 1: coercing her into bed despite her crying and telling him 1017 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:56,480 Speaker 1: that she did not want to. Now, this isn't just 1018 00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:00,000 Speaker 1: any high ranking Communist official. His seventy five year old 1019 00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:04,520 Speaker 1: Jiang Zho Lee. He was the former Vice Premier of China, 1020 00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:08,080 Speaker 1: and by you know many accounts, is well into the 1021 00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:12,480 Speaker 1: multi billion dollar territory of the oligarchs there within the CCP, 1022 00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:15,120 Speaker 1: one of the most powerful men in China. There is 1023 00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:18,640 Speaker 1: really just no uh, there's no dispute on that bureau exactly. 1024 00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:20,800 Speaker 1: It was on the pollit bureau, the seven members standing 1025 00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:24,440 Speaker 1: committee of the Political Bureau within the CCP and household 1026 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:27,280 Speaker 1: name you know in China. Now you put that all together, 1027 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,719 Speaker 1: and again we were pointed to We're like, oh, is 1028 00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:32,440 Speaker 1: she really good? Yeah, she's fourteenth in the world in 1029 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:35,480 Speaker 1: global standing and one of the top number one, and 1030 00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:37,719 Speaker 1: the ranked in the world in doubles, number one ranked 1031 00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:40,040 Speaker 1: in the world in doubles. So after she posted that, 1032 00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:45,200 Speaker 1: overnight she was disappeared from the Chinese social media. It 1033 00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:47,840 Speaker 1: was completely gone. We have a screenshot in that Daily 1034 00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:50,560 Speaker 1: Mail article that we put up which had the allegation 1035 00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:54,960 Speaker 1: in a lengthy social media post on Whybo quickly deleted 1036 00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:58,920 Speaker 1: before her account was then heavily censored. Now since that time, 1037 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,480 Speaker 1: she has not been seen in public period. She has 1038 00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:06,680 Speaker 1: not been seen at all. She once again had described 1039 00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:10,560 Speaker 1: this very vivid encounter of crying essentially being raped by 1040 00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:15,080 Speaker 1: the senior Communist Party official, and then that her account 1041 00:55:15,120 --> 00:55:17,680 Speaker 1: was deleted and she hasn't been seen. Now. Increasingly there 1042 00:55:17,719 --> 00:55:22,439 Speaker 1: have been calls from Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic who 1043 00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:26,160 Speaker 1: have been posting about this, saying, hey, Where is Punshwai? 1044 00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:30,640 Speaker 1: What's happening? Has she been arrested? Why has she not 1045 00:55:30,680 --> 00:55:35,480 Speaker 1: been seen in public? Yesterday the story got even more bizarre. 1046 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:37,640 Speaker 1: And let's put this on the screen. This is from 1047 00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:41,000 Speaker 1: CGTN Official for those of you who don't know what 1048 00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:47,160 Speaker 1: CGTN is, the international media arm of the CCP's television network. 1049 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,879 Speaker 1: Here's what she says, well not she. This is what 1050 00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:54,719 Speaker 1: a statement purporting to her says. Hello everyone, This is 1051 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:58,320 Speaker 1: Punshwi regarding the recent news on the official website of 1052 00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:02,560 Speaker 1: the WTA. The con has no confirmed or verified by myself. 1053 00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:05,440 Speaker 1: It was released without my consent. The news in that release, 1054 00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:08,600 Speaker 1: including an allegation of sexual assault, is not true. I'm 1055 00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:11,640 Speaker 1: not missing, nor am I unsafe. I've just been resting 1056 00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:14,560 Speaker 1: at home and everything is fine. Thank you again for 1057 00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:18,080 Speaker 1: caring about me. If the WTA publishes any more news 1058 00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:20,600 Speaker 1: about me, please verify it with me and release it 1059 00:56:20,640 --> 00:56:24,319 Speaker 1: with my consent. As a professional tennis player, I thank 1060 00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:27,640 Speaker 1: you all for your companionship and consideration. I hope to 1061 00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:31,160 Speaker 1: promote Chinese tennis with you all if I have the 1062 00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:34,200 Speaker 1: chance in the future. If being a key, I hope 1063 00:56:34,280 --> 00:56:37,719 Speaker 1: Chinese tennis will become better and better. Once again, thank 1064 00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:41,120 Speaker 1: you for your consideration. Now, for those of you who 1065 00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:46,920 Speaker 1: are wondering what exactly is going on the WTA, what 1066 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:50,520 Speaker 1: they're pointing to is the Tennis Association said that the 1067 00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:55,719 Speaker 1: statement they're reacting to that only raises their concerns as 1068 00:56:55,760 --> 00:56:59,960 Speaker 1: to her safety and her whereabouts. So they have repeatedly 1069 00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:04,000 Speaker 1: tried to reach her now on numerous forms of communication 1070 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:06,799 Speaker 1: to no avail. So what you're seeing there is that 1071 00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:10,000 Speaker 1: after she put out that statement, they're basically saying no, 1072 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:13,000 Speaker 1: no, no no, no, the WTA did it, and don't believe 1073 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:16,240 Speaker 1: anything that they say. And maybe you'll see me in 1074 00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:19,480 Speaker 1: the future. I'm just quietly resting at home. By the way, 1075 00:57:19,560 --> 00:57:22,720 Speaker 1: I love China. No one believes that this message. No, yes, 1076 00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:25,680 Speaker 1: nobody believes that, And I want to say WTA to 1077 00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:27,960 Speaker 1: their credit, I mean, they put on a really strong 1078 00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:31,080 Speaker 1: statement sticking buyer, and they said that the statement released 1079 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:34,280 Speaker 1: today by Chinese state media only raises our concerns. I 1080 00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,400 Speaker 1: have a hard time believing Punkshui actually wrote the email 1081 00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:40,400 Speaker 1: we received or believes what is being attributed to her. 1082 00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:43,760 Speaker 1: She displayed incredible courage and describe an allegation of sexual 1083 00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:46,400 Speaker 1: assault against a former top official in the Chinese government. 1084 00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:49,760 Speaker 1: The WTA and the rest of the world needs independent 1085 00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:53,680 Speaker 1: and verifiable proof that she is safe, and as you said, 1086 00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:56,240 Speaker 1: they have repeatedly tried to reach her by numerous forms 1087 00:57:56,240 --> 00:57:59,840 Speaker 1: of communications to no avail. Punkshui must be allowed to 1088 00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:04,640 Speaker 1: freely without coercion or intimidation from any source. Now, just 1089 00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,000 Speaker 1: so you understand how dire this is, it was November 1090 00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:12,400 Speaker 1: second when she posted this six days to social media, 1091 00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:15,920 Speaker 1: so this has been weeks now that she has not 1092 00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:19,880 Speaker 1: been heard from. And she's, you know, a big tennis 1093 00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:23,960 Speaker 1: star on that national stage in China. She is a 1094 00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,560 Speaker 1: household name. I mean she's a rock star because she's 1095 00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:30,040 Speaker 1: the best Chinese tennis player that has ever lived. She's 1096 00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:32,760 Speaker 1: the highest ranked in terms of doubles, and so she 1097 00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:38,240 Speaker 1: is extraordinarily famous and well known in China, and no 1098 00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:40,560 Speaker 1: one has seen or heard from her since this happened. 1099 00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:45,320 Speaker 1: They locked her account if you reports are that if 1100 00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:49,280 Speaker 1: you even post about her or about this official, or 1101 00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:52,480 Speaker 1: even say things like tennis on is a why bo? 1102 00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:57,640 Speaker 1: Is that on whybo like their version of Twitter, then 1103 00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:01,320 Speaker 1: that will be censored and blocked. You can't post comments 1104 00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:04,680 Speaker 1: to her account, which is completely lucked. You can search 1105 00:59:04,720 --> 00:59:07,520 Speaker 1: for and find her account, but you can't post your 1106 00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:10,960 Speaker 1: comment or anything on it. And of course that initial 1107 00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:16,000 Speaker 1: post alleging sexual harassment was taken down within thirty minutes. Wow. 1108 00:59:16,040 --> 00:59:19,840 Speaker 1: So this is this is just a terrible situation and 1109 00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:23,760 Speaker 1: you know, terrifying, and I think also obviously reveals how 1110 00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:27,200 Speaker 1: threatened they are by any sort of challenge to their 1111 00:59:27,240 --> 00:59:29,920 Speaker 1: authority or any questions about their morals or ethics or 1112 00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:32,880 Speaker 1: any of that. And you know, I don't know what 1113 00:59:32,960 --> 00:59:35,160 Speaker 1: to say other than this is just incredibly dire. As 1114 00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:39,240 Speaker 1: you said, some top stars Djokovic and Naomi Osaka have 1115 00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:42,840 Speaker 1: been speaking out, you know, asking people to pay attention 1116 00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:45,640 Speaker 1: to this, calling for her, you know, for her to 1117 00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:49,960 Speaker 1: be what free or whatever's going on here. But this 1118 00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:52,840 Speaker 1: is very, very troubling developments here, and at this point 1119 00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:55,120 Speaker 1: we have no idea what's going on. But obviously that 1120 00:59:55,760 --> 00:59:59,560 Speaker 1: statement that was released that was allegedly from her, there 1121 00:59:59,600 --> 01:00:01,200 Speaker 1: is no wa that that came from her. No one 1122 01:00:01,240 --> 01:00:04,720 Speaker 1: believes that came Nobody believes that whatsoever. You know, stupid 1123 01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:06,960 Speaker 1: and terrible they are, even you know, pretending to put 1124 01:00:06,960 --> 01:00:11,240 Speaker 1: out probably yeah, very yeah, but you know, we're only 1125 01:00:11,320 --> 01:00:14,200 Speaker 1: three months away from a Beijing Winter Olympics. That's another 1126 01:00:14,240 --> 01:00:17,200 Speaker 1: thing which is on top of this, And I, if 1127 01:00:17,240 --> 01:00:19,600 Speaker 1: I had to guess, she thought that she might be 1128 01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:21,760 Speaker 1: able to get away with it because the entire world 1129 01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:25,680 Speaker 1: would be watching what was happening ahead of the Winter Olympics, 1130 01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:28,440 Speaker 1: and right now there's a big diplomatic showdown. The US 1131 01:00:28,560 --> 01:00:31,640 Speaker 1: allegedly is or reportedly is not going to be sending 1132 01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:34,960 Speaker 1: any diplomats to the Beijing Games, including the president or 1133 01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:38,120 Speaker 1: anyone else, kind of as a diplomatic boycott of Beijing 1134 01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:40,720 Speaker 1: about what's happening there. But it's a big deal. It 1135 01:00:40,760 --> 01:00:43,800 Speaker 1: is a big deal, very rare actually, you know, almost 1136 01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:47,040 Speaker 1: akin to a total boycott. They said they didn't want 1137 01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:48,880 Speaker 1: to do that because obviously it would punish the athletes 1138 01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:51,360 Speaker 1: and that's ultimately not what you want to do. But 1139 01:00:51,720 --> 01:00:54,439 Speaker 1: the world of sport, you know, is watching exactly what's 1140 01:00:54,440 --> 01:00:58,000 Speaker 1: happening in Beijing very closely. And if I was Naomi 1141 01:00:58,040 --> 01:01:01,000 Speaker 1: Osaka or Djokovic, this is not a joke. There will 1142 01:01:01,040 --> 01:01:04,000 Speaker 1: be punished for what they did. The CCP does not 1143 01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:07,400 Speaker 1: forget if Djokovic or name Osaka have deals with certain 1144 01:01:07,400 --> 01:01:09,880 Speaker 1: types of brands or posters, or anything. They will be 1145 01:01:09,920 --> 01:01:12,600 Speaker 1: disappeared in China. I can guarantee you that ahead of 1146 01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:16,040 Speaker 1: what happens. And for any of our Olympians who speak 1147 01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:18,160 Speaker 1: out on this, if maybe if you watch it, so 1148 01:01:18,480 --> 01:01:21,200 Speaker 1: watch out, okay, watch out. Whenever you're headed there, they 1149 01:01:21,240 --> 01:01:23,360 Speaker 1: will spy on you. They will you know, you know, 1150 01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:27,200 Speaker 1: maybe you know, come into your room or intimidation tactic tactics. 1151 01:01:27,240 --> 01:01:31,040 Speaker 1: They're they're absolutely not above that whatsoever. So well, what 1152 01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:33,600 Speaker 1: they're most likely to do is hit you in the pocketbook. Yeah, 1153 01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:35,760 Speaker 1: money is that? That's right, that's their go to movement. 1154 01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:40,880 Speaker 1: I mean, contrast the NBA's handling of situations with regard 1155 01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:43,600 Speaker 1: to China in that respect, Thank you Women's Tennis the 1156 01:01:43,680 --> 01:01:47,880 Speaker 1: wt A. They this is a potentially massive lucrative market 1157 01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:50,600 Speaker 1: for them. They I mean you could they could lose, 1158 01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:54,840 Speaker 1: and and they're you know, totally unequivocal in their support 1159 01:01:55,400 --> 01:01:58,640 Speaker 1: and continuing to shine a light on this and seem 1160 01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:01,880 Speaker 1: to be totally unafraid of what it might mean from 1161 01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:05,960 Speaker 1: a you know, money capitalistic market perspective. So I do 1162 01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:07,960 Speaker 1: want to give them a lot of credit here because 1163 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:11,479 Speaker 1: we've seen it shouldn't take that much courage to call 1164 01:02:11,560 --> 01:02:13,600 Speaker 1: for you know, the release of someone we haven't seen 1165 01:02:13,680 --> 01:02:17,200 Speaker 1: in weeks and who may be in you know, incredibly 1166 01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:21,480 Speaker 1: dire trouble. But what we've seen before is that it 1167 01:02:21,520 --> 01:02:24,360 Speaker 1: apparently does that take that kind of that kind of 1168 01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:27,120 Speaker 1: courage when people's money is at stake. That's right. I 1169 01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:32,120 Speaker 1: hope we see in the future sometime soon, Chystal, what 1170 01:02:32,120 --> 01:02:34,760 Speaker 1: are you taking a look at? Well, guys, I love 1171 01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:38,560 Speaker 1: y'all so much that this week I face down something 1172 01:02:38,760 --> 01:02:42,680 Speaker 1: extraordinarily difficult and painful, just so you would not have 1173 01:02:42,720 --> 01:02:46,040 Speaker 1: to do the same. That's right, everyone, I watched the 1174 01:02:46,080 --> 01:02:51,560 Speaker 1: Mayor Pete documentary so that you do not have to. Now. 1175 01:02:51,760 --> 01:02:53,840 Speaker 1: The first thing you should know about the Mayor repeat 1176 01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:57,200 Speaker 1: movie is that it is not a good movie at all. Listen, 1177 01:02:57,480 --> 01:02:59,760 Speaker 1: say what you will about Game Change, the Helper and 1178 01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:02,960 Speaker 1: Higan blockbuster, about the Rise of Ababa, and about Sarah Palin. 1179 01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:05,800 Speaker 1: That thing was a fascinating read and made for a 1180 01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:08,640 Speaker 1: great movie. Or perhaps a more apt comparison here, the 1181 01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:12,840 Speaker 1: documentary myt about Romney's presidential run was actually really interesting 1182 01:03:12,920 --> 01:03:15,760 Speaker 1: and quite revelatory, in spite of the fact that the subject, 1183 01:03:16,080 --> 01:03:18,360 Speaker 1: much like Pete, was a kind of odd introvert not 1184 01:03:18,440 --> 01:03:21,600 Speaker 1: known for expressing a lot of emotion In Mayor Pete, 1185 01:03:21,640 --> 01:03:25,720 Speaker 1: the filmmaker takes an emotionally inaccessible character In Pete, bodhages 1186 01:03:26,160 --> 01:03:29,680 Speaker 1: and Lee's the viewer right where they started with him 1187 01:03:29,720 --> 01:03:33,160 Speaker 1: wondering if a real life human being could possibly go 1188 01:03:33,240 --> 01:03:37,720 Speaker 1: through their entire life so calculated and so utterly detached. 1189 01:03:38,240 --> 01:03:41,760 Speaker 1: Pete doesn't warm to the filmmaker or his campaign staff, 1190 01:03:41,880 --> 01:03:46,920 Speaker 1: or even seemingly his own husband Chasten, leading to brutally impersonal, 1191 01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:54,200 Speaker 1: supposedly personal moments like this one. Cheers Tony as ice 1192 01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:57,120 Speaker 1: cream before the chicken was will do whatever he knows 1193 01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:07,200 Speaker 1: that well for sure, hold indifference, though I actually prefer 1194 01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:09,880 Speaker 1: another restaurant moment we can take a look at here. 1195 01:04:09,920 --> 01:04:13,840 Speaker 1: So after a long campaign day, Pete walks up to 1196 01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:16,080 Speaker 1: a table where Chasn is sitting with his head down 1197 01:04:16,080 --> 01:04:19,280 Speaker 1: on the table, totally despondent. Pete sits down and rather 1198 01:04:19,320 --> 01:04:21,520 Speaker 1: than offer Chass a kind word or the comfort of 1199 01:04:21,600 --> 01:04:24,400 Speaker 1: some gesture maybe physical touch, and he just picks up 1200 01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:26,400 Speaker 1: his glass of water and cinnamon bun and gets to 1201 01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:30,720 Speaker 1: work eating with barely a look in his dejected husband's direction. 1202 01:04:31,320 --> 01:04:33,960 Speaker 1: And I swear I am not cherry picking here. Either 1203 01:04:34,120 --> 01:04:37,320 Speaker 1: Pete's emotional distance from the action flumingxes his campaign staff 1204 01:04:37,360 --> 01:04:40,160 Speaker 1: as well. At one point, his comps director Liz Smith 1205 01:04:40,200 --> 01:04:44,400 Speaker 1: proclaims he's coming across like the Effington Man. At another 1206 01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:47,680 Speaker 1: she reminds him that when he's talking about overcoming adversity 1207 01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:50,560 Speaker 1: as a gay man, he's not supposed to be cataloging 1208 01:04:50,640 --> 01:04:55,440 Speaker 1: societal tendencies like quote a effing anthropologist. But that quote 1209 01:04:55,600 --> 01:04:58,440 Speaker 1: this is like a thing that you feel. Now. This 1210 01:04:58,480 --> 01:05:00,680 Speaker 1: is another theme throughout the movie which leans a lot 1211 01:05:00,720 --> 01:05:02,840 Speaker 1: on Pete's identity as a gay man. You see in 1212 01:05:02,960 --> 01:05:05,480 Speaker 1: real time the way that Pete and his staff set 1213 01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:09,200 Speaker 1: about crafting a biographical identity that might hold appeal for 1214 01:05:09,320 --> 01:05:11,400 Speaker 1: voters and that he might be able to pull off 1215 01:05:11,480 --> 01:05:14,600 Speaker 1: as authentic. Let me just say, I think this personal 1216 01:05:14,640 --> 01:05:18,120 Speaker 1: branding exercise type stuff is extremely common for most politicians. 1217 01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:21,280 Speaker 1: That doesn't make it any less gross. Though, early on 1218 01:05:21,360 --> 01:05:23,680 Speaker 1: in the film, Lis Smith suggests his campaign should be 1219 01:05:23,760 --> 01:05:27,400 Speaker 1: as much as possible about his personal bio. Quote, I 1220 01:05:27,520 --> 01:05:30,240 Speaker 1: really really do think it's as much about his style 1221 01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:32,320 Speaker 1: and as about as much of who he is as 1222 01:05:32,360 --> 01:05:35,640 Speaker 1: a person as it is about like policy and all 1223 01:05:35,680 --> 01:05:39,160 Speaker 1: that stuff, and indeed, policy and all of that stuff 1224 01:05:39,320 --> 01:05:42,640 Speaker 1: doesn't figure into this film whatsoever. The stakes for voters 1225 01:05:42,680 --> 01:05:45,560 Speaker 1: on healthcare, or college debt, or really anything else, they're 1226 01:05:45,600 --> 01:05:50,360 Speaker 1: completely invisible in this film. Instead, Liz's analysis either proves 1227 01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:54,240 Speaker 1: pression or she is able to manifest a purely biographical 1228 01:05:54,280 --> 01:05:57,600 Speaker 1: contest of identities through her impressive sheer force of will. 1229 01:05:58,040 --> 01:06:01,080 Speaker 1: Nearly every media clip obsessed is over whether the nation 1230 01:06:01,200 --> 01:06:02,760 Speaker 1: is ready for a gay man or what it would 1231 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:05,080 Speaker 1: mean for Pete to be the first gay man. Pete's 1232 01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:07,920 Speaker 1: failures with the Black community is either because that community 1233 01:06:07,960 --> 01:06:11,240 Speaker 1: is just too homophobic to fairly judge Pete, or possibly 1234 01:06:11,320 --> 01:06:14,240 Speaker 1: the result of Pete's identity being essentially trumped by the 1235 01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:17,520 Speaker 1: oppression faced by the black community. I guess it does 1236 01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:19,600 Speaker 1: make a kind of sense that if you argue that 1237 01:06:19,720 --> 01:06:22,280 Speaker 1: the main reason to vote for you is that people 1238 01:06:22,320 --> 01:06:25,160 Speaker 1: in your identity group have faced X levels of oppression, 1239 01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:27,960 Speaker 1: it does leave the door open for someone else to 1240 01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:30,400 Speaker 1: come in and say, well, my identity group faced x 1241 01:06:30,440 --> 01:06:33,240 Speaker 1: plus one levels of oppression. Of course, none of that 1242 01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:35,480 Speaker 1: explains why, in the end, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden 1243 01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:37,920 Speaker 1: were the most appealing candidates to voters in general and 1244 01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:41,600 Speaker 1: minority voters in particular. You also get the sense that 1245 01:06:41,640 --> 01:06:43,560 Speaker 1: for all the talk in the film of how important 1246 01:06:43,560 --> 01:06:46,560 Speaker 1: it is for Pete to be authentically Pete, this leaning 1247 01:06:46,600 --> 01:06:51,320 Speaker 1: into identity and biography, it actually isn't authentically Pete at all. 1248 01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:53,680 Speaker 1: I think he was probably much more comfortable at Mackenzy 1249 01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:55,720 Speaker 1: pouring over spreadsheets of how to eke out an extra 1250 01:06:55,760 --> 01:06:58,360 Speaker 1: cent for the corporate bottom line, regardless of what human 1251 01:06:58,400 --> 01:07:00,880 Speaker 1: beings might suffer as a result. Then he is trying 1252 01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:04,360 Speaker 1: to pretend that he has something emotionally compelling personally to 1253 01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:08,320 Speaker 1: offer to the nation. He lacked experience, His policy platform 1254 01:07:08,400 --> 01:07:10,680 Speaker 1: was and a dine at best, and a laughable afterthought 1255 01:07:10,720 --> 01:07:12,959 Speaker 1: at worse. Medicare for those who want it comes to mind. 1256 01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:16,640 Speaker 1: So identity and biography that was basically all they really 1257 01:07:16,680 --> 01:07:19,400 Speaker 1: had to work with. But Pete's heart is only half 1258 01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:22,040 Speaker 1: in it the entire time. When Shaston wants to know 1259 01:07:22,080 --> 01:07:24,240 Speaker 1: why he's the only spouse not on stage with the 1260 01:07:24,280 --> 01:07:28,320 Speaker 1: candidate after Iowa, for example, he's met with uncomfortable silence. 1261 01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:30,360 Speaker 1: They are going to be the only campaign I didn't 1262 01:07:30,360 --> 01:07:32,720 Speaker 1: have the spouse on stage. You're going to be the 1263 01:07:32,760 --> 01:07:35,320 Speaker 1: only candidate that didn't have your spouse standing next to you you. 1264 01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:38,600 Speaker 1: I think you're going to come at the end because 1265 01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:42,200 Speaker 1: we don't have the supporters and family. There's like a 1266 01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:50,400 Speaker 1: gap between who were there for the Yeah, we had 1267 01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:52,760 Speaker 1: to end it, but everyone, like everyone has had their 1268 01:07:52,760 --> 01:07:57,000 Speaker 1: spouse standing next to them. Maybe something was like back 1269 01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:02,160 Speaker 1: among the rights are on stage all the time, A 1270 01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:05,600 Speaker 1: feeling what you're going to be doing, Harry, Harry Wild. 1271 01:08:05,640 --> 01:08:13,280 Speaker 1: You're also when Chasten suggests that Pete had language into 1272 01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:15,240 Speaker 1: a speech about how gay kids can look at this 1273 01:08:15,320 --> 01:08:17,800 Speaker 1: campaign and know that the door is open for them too, 1274 01:08:18,400 --> 01:08:21,880 Speaker 1: he's once again met with uncomfortable silence. At one point, 1275 01:08:21,920 --> 01:08:25,200 Speaker 1: Pete actually directly says to Chaston that this stuff meaning 1276 01:08:25,240 --> 01:08:28,880 Speaker 1: gay identity and homophobia seems to bother you a lot 1277 01:08:28,920 --> 01:08:31,240 Speaker 1: more than it bothers me. Now, if you were a 1278 01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:33,559 Speaker 1: Bernie supporter, there was also plenty to enrage you in 1279 01:08:33,600 --> 01:08:35,880 Speaker 1: this film. You watch the moment when Pete decides to 1280 01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:38,519 Speaker 1: shamelessly declare victory and I owe in spite of there 1281 01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:41,439 Speaker 1: being basically no votes in to speak of. By the way, 1282 01:08:41,600 --> 01:08:44,280 Speaker 1: I had always suspected it was Liz Smith, who is 1283 01:08:44,320 --> 01:08:47,240 Speaker 1: an impressive operative with a killer instinct who made that 1284 01:08:47,320 --> 01:08:50,640 Speaker 1: particular call, But even Liz was a little leery of 1285 01:08:50,680 --> 01:08:53,600 Speaker 1: Pete going out and claiming a win based on basically 1286 01:08:53,640 --> 01:08:56,880 Speaker 1: nothing that call. It was all Pete. But by far 1287 01:08:56,960 --> 01:08:59,679 Speaker 1: the most discussing part is when Pete makes his dropout 1288 01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:03,240 Speaker 1: decision post South Carolina. Here's how he explained it, quote, 1289 01:09:03,479 --> 01:09:05,519 Speaker 1: we have a chance to do some good now. If 1290 01:09:05,560 --> 01:09:08,240 Speaker 1: it's true that too many candidates in this race are 1291 01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:10,960 Speaker 1: cluttering it, there's two things you can do. One of 1292 01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:13,840 Speaker 1: them is when, and the other is to get out. Now. 1293 01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:17,200 Speaker 1: Think about that. His idea of quote doing some good 1294 01:09:17,560 --> 01:09:19,839 Speaker 1: is to play his part in me Cap Bernie Sanders, 1295 01:09:19,840 --> 01:09:22,320 Speaker 1: because God forbid the guy who wants everybody to get 1296 01:09:22,360 --> 01:09:25,040 Speaker 1: healthcare as a shot at winning. It's revealing, isn't it. 1297 01:09:25,360 --> 01:09:27,519 Speaker 1: The logic has never spelled out in the documentary. It's 1298 01:09:27,560 --> 01:09:30,080 Speaker 1: just assumed that everyone will understand it to be an 1299 01:09:30,080 --> 01:09:33,000 Speaker 1: inherent good to help the corrupt guls who run the 1300 01:09:33,040 --> 01:09:36,080 Speaker 1: Democratic Party remain at their post. Now, Pete was smart 1301 01:09:36,160 --> 01:09:38,280 Speaker 1: enough to realize that if he wanted to keep his 1302 01:09:38,320 --> 01:09:41,080 Speaker 1: future safe in that party, he'd better fall in line 1303 01:09:41,160 --> 01:09:45,040 Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. Given the top Democratic donors are 1304 01:09:45,040 --> 01:09:47,519 Speaker 1: now holding secret meanings to plot how to push Pete 1305 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:49,599 Speaker 1: ahead of Commalent in a line of succession. It would 1306 01:09:49,600 --> 01:09:53,639 Speaker 1: seem that that decision is being heavily rewarded. Bottom line, 1307 01:09:53,840 --> 01:09:57,080 Speaker 1: I'd say this film feels like a failed hagiography. To 1308 01:09:57,160 --> 01:10:00,040 Speaker 1: revere someone, you first have to care about them. This 1309 01:10:00,320 --> 01:10:02,880 Speaker 1: isn't enough here to really care whether Pete succeeds or 1310 01:10:02,920 --> 01:10:07,599 Speaker 1: fails or become Secretary Transportation. Just another unsuccessful media attempt 1311 01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:10,439 Speaker 1: to convince the public to embrace the political candidate, not 1312 01:10:10,560 --> 01:10:13,200 Speaker 1: because of what they might do for you, but because 1313 01:10:13,200 --> 01:10:17,080 Speaker 1: of what you might do for them at Sager, after 1314 01:10:17,080 --> 01:10:19,439 Speaker 1: watching Feede, I had never watched that mid documentary, And 1315 01:10:20,560 --> 01:10:23,280 Speaker 1: if you want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue, 1316 01:10:23,280 --> 01:10:29,479 Speaker 1: become a premium subscriber today at Breakingpoints dot Com. All right, Sager, 1317 01:10:29,520 --> 01:10:31,960 Speaker 1: what are you looking at? Well? America is moving on 1318 01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:34,760 Speaker 1: from COVID. Even the hellish district of Columbia I find 1319 01:10:34,760 --> 01:10:38,120 Speaker 1: myself in is getting rid of its second indoor mask 1320 01:10:38,200 --> 01:10:41,720 Speaker 1: mandate next week. Our political discourse today has everything to 1321 01:10:41,800 --> 01:10:45,439 Speaker 1: do with problems caused by the COVID pandemic, but not 1322 01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:49,640 Speaker 1: COVID itself. Vaccine mandate debates of the last remnants, and 1323 01:10:49,680 --> 01:10:51,519 Speaker 1: the courts have made clear that at least that's going 1324 01:10:51,560 --> 01:10:54,400 Speaker 1: to take a little while before we know either way. Everyone, 1325 01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:57,839 Speaker 1: it seems, is over it, planning and wanting the future. 1326 01:10:58,200 --> 01:11:01,519 Speaker 1: Everyone that is, except for doctor Anthony Fauci, who, in 1327 01:11:01,560 --> 01:11:04,640 Speaker 1: an extraordinary interview said the quiet part out loud. He 1328 01:11:04,760 --> 01:11:08,160 Speaker 1: revealed not only his internal thinking, but the type of 1329 01:11:08,240 --> 01:11:13,120 Speaker 1: neurotic and crazy mindset that dominates our White House today. Fauci, 1330 01:11:13,240 --> 01:11:15,559 Speaker 1: in an interview at the twenty twenty one State Summit, 1331 01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:19,519 Speaker 1: said that COVID cases may need to fall to below 1332 01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:24,120 Speaker 1: ten thousand a day nationally before we can resume normal life. 1333 01:11:24,400 --> 01:11:27,160 Speaker 1: But that was just the high estimate. The lower was, 1334 01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:30,719 Speaker 1: and what he seemed to prefer was thirty three hundred. 1335 01:11:31,360 --> 01:11:33,719 Speaker 1: Just so you wrap your heads around how completely nuts 1336 01:11:33,800 --> 01:11:36,519 Speaker 1: that is. We have not had below ten thousand since 1337 01:11:36,560 --> 01:11:39,599 Speaker 1: the beginning of COVID in March. To get the measure 1338 01:11:39,760 --> 01:11:43,360 Speaker 1: that Fauci is talking about, it would mean one in 1339 01:11:43,439 --> 01:11:47,960 Speaker 1: every thirty three thousand people we're testing positive, and Fauci 1340 01:11:48,000 --> 01:11:50,599 Speaker 1: says we need to be below that number, as James 1341 01:11:51,160 --> 01:11:54,360 Speaker 1: sir Kueki at The New Yorker put it, even in 1342 01:11:54,439 --> 01:11:58,360 Speaker 1: places with extremely high vaccination rates. That is not realistic 1343 01:11:58,520 --> 01:12:01,639 Speaker 1: because we would be talking here about point zero zero 1344 01:12:01,880 --> 01:12:06,599 Speaker 1: three percent of the US population. Fauci's comment is especially 1345 01:12:06,680 --> 01:12:09,599 Speaker 1: dumb because if the current testing regime remains in place, 1346 01:12:09,880 --> 01:12:12,439 Speaker 1: there is almost no chance that we are going to 1347 01:12:12,479 --> 01:12:15,599 Speaker 1: reach that figure. He is setting America up for failure 1348 01:12:15,720 --> 01:12:20,120 Speaker 1: and paradoxically actually fulfilling one of Trump's dumbest axioms during 1349 01:12:20,120 --> 01:12:22,920 Speaker 1: the pandemic that we should just test less in order 1350 01:12:22,960 --> 01:12:26,280 Speaker 1: to get our numbers down. He actually would be incentivizing 1351 01:12:26,479 --> 01:12:30,160 Speaker 1: people to do that in different states. But furthermore, why 1352 01:12:30,200 --> 01:12:33,639 Speaker 1: does the case count matter at all? No, it's November 1353 01:12:33,640 --> 01:12:37,040 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. We have a widely available and free 1354 01:12:37,120 --> 01:12:41,000 Speaker 1: vaccine that prevents serious hospitalization and death. You can go 1355 01:12:41,040 --> 01:12:42,920 Speaker 1: out and you can get it right now if you want. 1356 01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:45,640 Speaker 1: If you don't and you still contract COVID, I've got 1357 01:12:45,680 --> 01:12:48,240 Speaker 1: good news for you. Pfizer and Merk have now applied 1358 01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:51,320 Speaker 1: for FDA approval of their COVID pill, which is seriously 1359 01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:55,080 Speaker 1: efficacious at preventing serious illness and death in those that 1360 01:12:55,080 --> 01:12:58,800 Speaker 1: have contracted COVID. On top of that, we have monoclonal 1361 01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:02,360 Speaker 1: antibodies the host of other therapeutics that doctors have now 1362 01:13:02,439 --> 01:13:04,640 Speaker 1: learned to use in the two years that COVID has 1363 01:13:04,680 --> 01:13:07,840 Speaker 1: been around. In other words, the case count doesn't matter 1364 01:13:07,880 --> 01:13:10,360 Speaker 1: at all. Would it matter if the case count for 1365 01:13:10,400 --> 01:13:13,679 Speaker 1: a disease is if we had a statistically significant cure 1366 01:13:13,720 --> 01:13:17,800 Speaker 1: for it for the entire US population, which is also free, No, 1367 01:13:18,200 --> 01:13:22,240 Speaker 1: of course not. That's precisely the problem with the Fauci formulation. 1368 01:13:22,640 --> 01:13:25,559 Speaker 1: He's not dumb enough to say COVID zero is his policy, 1369 01:13:25,760 --> 01:13:28,400 Speaker 1: because that would be ridiculed. But he essentially laid out 1370 01:13:28,439 --> 01:13:31,840 Speaker 1: a path for the pandemic to literally never end, when 1371 01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:34,120 Speaker 1: we have the tools right now to just move on 1372 01:13:34,400 --> 01:13:37,519 Speaker 1: if we wanted to, And make no mistake, this matters 1373 01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:39,600 Speaker 1: a lot. Joe Biden's White House are some of the 1374 01:13:39,600 --> 01:13:44,679 Speaker 1: most neurotic COVID obsessives I've ever seen, even in our city, Washington, DC, 1375 01:13:45,040 --> 01:13:47,919 Speaker 1: which has a very high vaccination rate and is basically 1376 01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:50,040 Speaker 1: required to have a vaccine to get into the White 1377 01:13:50,040 --> 01:13:54,280 Speaker 1: House itself, even under those conditions, in this testing regime 1378 01:13:54,280 --> 01:13:56,680 Speaker 1: around the President of the United States, the White House 1379 01:13:56,720 --> 01:14:00,240 Speaker 1: announced yesterday it will still keep its mask. Man Day, 1380 01:14:00,560 --> 01:14:04,000 Speaker 1: still keep it. That's crazy town. When our idiotic mayor 1381 01:14:04,160 --> 01:14:06,639 Speaker 1: who brought back mass says that we need to move 1382 01:14:06,640 --> 01:14:09,599 Speaker 1: on from COVID and considered it an endemic disease. And 1383 01:14:09,640 --> 01:14:12,720 Speaker 1: you're behind her, then it's a problem. It's an even 1384 01:14:12,720 --> 01:14:15,360 Speaker 1: bigger problem when you're the most powerful man in the 1385 01:14:15,479 --> 01:14:18,519 Speaker 1: entire world. What Biden and his people around him don't 1386 01:14:18,520 --> 01:14:21,360 Speaker 1: seem to understand is that for most people, the pandemic 1387 01:14:21,439 --> 01:14:23,719 Speaker 1: is over. The people who want to mask up forever 1388 01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:26,599 Speaker 1: you people are welcome to be my guests. The rest 1389 01:14:26,600 --> 01:14:29,120 Speaker 1: of us have done, have been done, and have been 1390 01:14:29,160 --> 01:14:31,880 Speaker 1: for a long time. What they're really finding out is 1391 01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:33,880 Speaker 1: that the COVID excuse is just not going to cut 1392 01:14:33,880 --> 01:14:36,519 Speaker 1: it anymore. White House advisor Brian Deese he was on 1393 01:14:36,600 --> 01:14:39,000 Speaker 1: CNN this weekend when he was asked about inflation. He 1394 01:14:39,120 --> 01:14:42,200 Speaker 1: correctly ascribed the problems to the COVID pandemic, but when 1395 01:14:42,200 --> 01:14:46,080 Speaker 1: he was asked about solutions, he had nothing. He kept repeating, 1396 01:14:46,320 --> 01:14:49,280 Speaker 1: if we end the pandemic, we end the supply chain crisis. 1397 01:14:49,479 --> 01:14:52,960 Speaker 1: That's actually the most stupid thing I've ever heard. The 1398 01:14:53,000 --> 01:14:56,479 Speaker 1: pandemic has nothing to do with truckers who are being 1399 01:14:56,560 --> 01:14:59,080 Speaker 1: mistreated right now at our ports. The policies that have 1400 01:14:59,120 --> 01:15:02,080 Speaker 1: caused a backlag of shipping containers or you know, construction 1401 01:15:02,160 --> 01:15:04,920 Speaker 1: of a forty year just in time delivery supply chain. Sure, 1402 01:15:05,160 --> 01:15:07,519 Speaker 1: the pandemic gummed up the works, but we could go 1403 01:15:07,600 --> 01:15:11,400 Speaker 1: COVID zero tomorrow. Nothing would change in terms of disruptions 1404 01:15:11,520 --> 01:15:14,040 Speaker 1: in the supply chain for months. The same is set 1405 01:15:14,040 --> 01:15:16,240 Speaker 1: for the oil market, the same for food, and for 1406 01:15:16,280 --> 01:15:19,000 Speaker 1: every other disruption in American life. They have clung to 1407 01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:21,679 Speaker 1: the pandemic as an excuse for so long they've stopped 1408 01:15:21,720 --> 01:15:24,320 Speaker 1: thinking about how to move forward, and the American people 1409 01:15:24,360 --> 01:15:27,400 Speaker 1: have taken notice. Biden's strength for the longest time was 1410 01:15:27,439 --> 01:15:30,360 Speaker 1: a people had COVID as their top priority and they 1411 01:15:30,439 --> 01:15:33,160 Speaker 1: really trusted him to deal with it. But now, for 1412 01:15:33,240 --> 01:15:36,719 Speaker 1: the first time even Biden has dropped below fifty percent 1413 01:15:37,040 --> 01:15:39,360 Speaker 1: in his handling of the pandemic, and he remains in 1414 01:15:39,400 --> 01:15:41,960 Speaker 1: the mid thirties on the economy as a whole. It 1415 01:15:42,080 --> 01:15:44,519 Speaker 1: is time to move on. Honestly, the best thing he 1416 01:15:44,520 --> 01:15:46,280 Speaker 1: could do for the country and for himself would be 1417 01:15:46,360 --> 01:15:49,200 Speaker 1: to fire Fauci and declare victory and say, Okay, let's go. 1418 01:15:49,520 --> 01:15:52,519 Speaker 1: It's time to get going bring America back. Doesn't and 1419 01:15:52,560 --> 01:15:54,760 Speaker 1: he probably doesn't have the capacity for that it's a 1420 01:15:54,800 --> 01:15:57,240 Speaker 1: tragedy honestly, because all of us are going to suffer 1421 01:15:57,280 --> 01:15:59,840 Speaker 1: for at least three more years under this type of thinking. 1422 01:16:00,520 --> 01:16:04,719 Speaker 1: I mean, Crystal ten thousand cases a day nationally, that's nuts. 1423 01:16:04,800 --> 01:16:08,040 Speaker 1: You know. Gibraltar just came up, and if you want 1424 01:16:08,040 --> 01:16:11,120 Speaker 1: to hear my reaction to Cyber's monologue, become a premium 1425 01:16:11,200 --> 01:16:18,160 Speaker 1: subscriber today at breakingpoints dot com. We have a fantastic 1426 01:16:18,160 --> 01:16:20,439 Speaker 1: guest joining us now. Chris are not a longtime friend. 1427 01:16:20,479 --> 01:16:23,479 Speaker 1: He's the author of Dignity. He's somebody who came to 1428 01:16:23,560 --> 01:16:27,400 Speaker 1: our attention back in twenty sixteen really walking and spending 1429 01:16:27,439 --> 01:16:30,640 Speaker 1: time with people. Now he's launched actually his own substack, 1430 01:16:30,680 --> 01:16:32,439 Speaker 1: which we have a preview of. Let's put that up 1431 01:16:32,479 --> 01:16:36,160 Speaker 1: there on the screen, where he describes his walking journeys 1432 01:16:36,200 --> 01:16:39,760 Speaker 1: in different parts of America. And Chris, one of the 1433 01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:42,479 Speaker 1: things that Chrystal and I most appreciated about your work 1434 01:16:42,600 --> 01:16:44,519 Speaker 1: is that you just simply talk to people and you 1435 01:16:44,920 --> 01:16:47,400 Speaker 1: dron't judge them. You talk to them as they are, 1436 01:16:47,640 --> 01:16:50,080 Speaker 1: and you just print exactly what they say. One of 1437 01:16:50,120 --> 01:16:52,080 Speaker 1: the latest ones that you wrote in your substack was 1438 01:16:52,120 --> 01:16:55,559 Speaker 1: about among the unvaccinated. Just tell us about what you 1439 01:16:55,600 --> 01:16:59,080 Speaker 1: found amongst working class people who are out there who 1440 01:16:59,080 --> 01:17:02,320 Speaker 1: don't feel like they want to vaccine. Yeah, well, thank 1441 01:17:02,360 --> 01:17:05,479 Speaker 1: you both of you. Yeah, you know, I just spend 1442 01:17:05,520 --> 01:17:08,040 Speaker 1: time hanging out and places where I mean, I guess 1443 01:17:08,040 --> 01:17:10,160 Speaker 1: you call normies. I call them the back row, people 1444 01:17:10,200 --> 01:17:15,800 Speaker 1: without a lot of education like us. And and I 1445 01:17:15,920 --> 01:17:18,400 Speaker 1: just found what really struck me was how much people 1446 01:17:18,400 --> 01:17:21,960 Speaker 1: want to tell me they're unvaccinated. It's kind of like 1447 01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:24,920 Speaker 1: a kind of a process of you know, like they 1448 01:17:24,920 --> 01:17:26,760 Speaker 1: tell me their name, where they're from. It's just like 1449 01:17:26,800 --> 01:17:29,439 Speaker 1: an introduction is like I'm Crystal, you know, where I'm Sager. 1450 01:17:29,439 --> 01:17:32,559 Speaker 1: And by the way, I'm unvaccinated, you know. And it's 1451 01:17:32,600 --> 01:17:35,439 Speaker 1: just it's it's a very core to their identity. And 1452 01:17:35,479 --> 01:17:38,040 Speaker 1: you know, and I don't. My method is just to 1453 01:17:38,080 --> 01:17:39,840 Speaker 1: hang out. I don't really you know, I'm not a 1454 01:17:39,840 --> 01:17:42,080 Speaker 1: pro beeperson. I don't. I just try to be a 1455 01:17:42,080 --> 01:17:45,360 Speaker 1: normal dude hanging out McDonald's or a bar, or or 1456 01:17:45,840 --> 01:17:49,280 Speaker 1: a bus stops or you know, cheap motels. And you know, 1457 01:17:50,160 --> 01:17:51,960 Speaker 1: over the course of time, people just talk to me 1458 01:17:52,080 --> 01:17:54,559 Speaker 1: like normal people do. And and it was just really 1459 01:17:54,600 --> 01:17:58,200 Speaker 1: striking to me how central, first of all, how many 1460 01:17:58,200 --> 01:18:01,040 Speaker 1: people I met who were unvaccinated, and these I'm talking 1461 01:18:01,080 --> 01:18:03,320 Speaker 1: about people. I'm only talking here about people over the 1462 01:18:03,320 --> 01:18:06,240 Speaker 1: age of fifty or fifty five who you know aren't 1463 01:18:06,400 --> 01:18:10,960 Speaker 1: particlarly good shape, have had rough lives, and are unvaccinated, 1464 01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:15,200 Speaker 1: and you know, are are are are proudly unvaccinated, And 1465 01:18:15,240 --> 01:18:17,120 Speaker 1: you know, I think there's a lot going on there. 1466 01:18:17,160 --> 01:18:19,800 Speaker 1: When someone makes it that, you know, what I think 1467 01:18:19,880 --> 01:18:21,840 Speaker 1: is a reckless decision. I think most people would say 1468 01:18:21,880 --> 01:18:25,080 Speaker 1: is probably a reckless decision. It makes it a cored 1469 01:18:25,120 --> 01:18:28,040 Speaker 1: to their identity, makes it, you know, feel like something 1470 01:18:28,040 --> 01:18:30,040 Speaker 1: that they're proud of, you know. And there's something I've 1471 01:18:30,080 --> 01:18:33,360 Speaker 1: written about in Dignity about also about addiction and other 1472 01:18:33,520 --> 01:18:35,599 Speaker 1: such things what I call you know, you know, when 1473 01:18:35,640 --> 01:18:37,559 Speaker 1: you're when you feel stigmatized, when you feel the world 1474 01:18:37,640 --> 01:18:39,360 Speaker 1: is against you, you tend to you tend to make 1475 01:18:39,640 --> 01:18:44,040 Speaker 1: reckless decisions partly to you know, to kind of out 1476 01:18:44,040 --> 01:18:46,479 Speaker 1: of a way of kind of like owning the stigma. 1477 01:18:46,520 --> 01:18:47,960 Speaker 1: Like you know, you're gonna you know, you're gonna call 1478 01:18:47,960 --> 01:18:50,120 Speaker 1: me a deplorable, I'll be a deplorable. You're gonna call 1479 01:18:50,200 --> 01:18:52,000 Speaker 1: me a dirty addict. I'll be a dirty addict. You're 1480 01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:54,799 Speaker 1: gonna call me someone who makes reckless decisions a loser, 1481 01:18:54,920 --> 01:18:58,639 Speaker 1: then I'll do that, you know. But also it comes 1482 01:18:58,640 --> 01:19:00,880 Speaker 1: from a you know, look, I'm very empathetic in my book, 1483 01:19:00,920 --> 01:19:03,800 Speaker 1: and I've been sympathetic a lot about the idea of 1484 01:19:03,920 --> 01:19:06,640 Speaker 1: owning the smug elites. You know, like I get the 1485 01:19:06,720 --> 01:19:09,400 Speaker 1: fact that if the elites tell you to do something, 1486 01:19:09,439 --> 01:19:11,519 Speaker 1: there's a tendency to say, well, they've everything else they've 1487 01:19:11,560 --> 01:19:13,840 Speaker 1: ever told me has been wrong, they don't like me, 1488 01:19:13,920 --> 01:19:16,320 Speaker 1: they think I'm mickey. Then I'll just do the opposite. 1489 01:19:16,360 --> 01:19:17,840 Speaker 1: And I think there's some of that going on here. 1490 01:19:17,840 --> 01:19:20,920 Speaker 1: This is just a really bad way of kind of 1491 01:19:21,200 --> 01:19:24,479 Speaker 1: trying to do that, you know. You know, it's it's 1492 01:19:24,520 --> 01:19:28,599 Speaker 1: it's it goes against a lot of you know, you know, 1493 01:19:28,680 --> 01:19:30,679 Speaker 1: a lot of clear you know, and in this case, 1494 01:19:30,760 --> 01:19:32,200 Speaker 1: you know, this is the this this is the one 1495 01:19:32,240 --> 01:19:35,720 Speaker 1: time the kind of establishment has gotten it right. And 1496 01:19:35,800 --> 01:19:38,120 Speaker 1: so consequently it's a really bad place to fight them on. 1497 01:19:38,920 --> 01:19:42,760 Speaker 1: And so you know, it's frustrating, but also it's understandable, 1498 01:19:42,760 --> 01:19:45,439 Speaker 1: and you know where where they've gotten here. You know, 1499 01:19:46,080 --> 01:19:48,920 Speaker 1: so much of the COVID policy has been you know, 1500 01:19:49,360 --> 01:19:50,680 Speaker 1: one of the things I try to emphasize in my 1501 01:19:50,680 --> 01:19:53,439 Speaker 1: writings is how we we elites talk about politics, how 1502 01:19:53,479 --> 01:19:57,040 Speaker 1: we talk about issues, It's entirely on hundred eighty degrees 1503 01:19:57,120 --> 01:20:01,040 Speaker 1: different from how normal people do. They're just I mean, 1504 01:20:01,160 --> 01:20:04,160 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a it's a detachment that you know, 1505 01:20:04,200 --> 01:20:08,479 Speaker 1: it comes out of necessity. But COVID policy is one 1506 01:20:08,479 --> 01:20:10,760 Speaker 1: of those rare things that actually you can't hide from, 1507 01:20:10,840 --> 01:20:13,000 Speaker 1: you can't just move on with your life. It affects 1508 01:20:13,040 --> 01:20:18,080 Speaker 1: everybody literally, So people have strong opinions on COVID policy, 1509 01:20:18,160 --> 01:20:21,040 Speaker 1: and the elites haven't done well by the by by 1510 01:20:21,160 --> 01:20:23,040 Speaker 1: by what I call the back road by people who 1511 01:20:23,040 --> 01:20:26,040 Speaker 1: were the working class around COVID policy. It's it's the 1512 01:20:26,040 --> 01:20:29,840 Speaker 1: bulk of the policy has fallen hardest on them. You know, 1513 01:20:29,960 --> 01:20:32,280 Speaker 1: we can all zoom, we can all skype, we can 1514 01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:35,679 Speaker 1: all kind of escape to our country homes. For working class, 1515 01:20:35,720 --> 01:20:38,840 Speaker 1: you know, you're telling them you got to work, and 1516 01:20:39,240 --> 01:20:42,200 Speaker 1: you know, but you can't have a barbecue with your friends. 1517 01:20:42,240 --> 01:20:45,840 Speaker 1: And that was the original iteration. And then just you 1518 01:20:45,840 --> 01:20:50,479 Speaker 1: know again, people people have a kind of good common sense, 1519 01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:54,120 Speaker 1: you know, and so so much of COVID policy was 1520 01:20:54,200 --> 01:20:57,360 Speaker 1: just so contrary to common sense. It's like, we can't 1521 01:20:57,360 --> 01:20:59,320 Speaker 1: talk about the origins. I mean, what do you mean 1522 01:20:59,360 --> 01:21:02,920 Speaker 1: it came from a he has a cod cod lab 1523 01:21:02,920 --> 01:21:08,120 Speaker 1: in it, right, you know? I mean that was one 1524 01:21:08,160 --> 01:21:11,599 Speaker 1: of the things that struck me in reading your latest 1525 01:21:11,640 --> 01:21:14,960 Speaker 1: post is a couple things. So, first of all, you 1526 01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:17,640 Speaker 1: don't just have working class people who are forming an 1527 01:21:17,680 --> 01:21:20,920 Speaker 1: identity around being unvaccinated in their sort of opposition to 1528 01:21:21,040 --> 01:21:24,920 Speaker 1: COVID lockdown policies and other policies. You also have an 1529 01:21:24,960 --> 01:21:29,480 Speaker 1: identity that's more of an elite identity around those vaccinations 1530 01:21:29,479 --> 01:21:32,920 Speaker 1: and COVID policies that are mirror images of one another. 1531 01:21:33,120 --> 01:21:35,559 Speaker 1: And so one of my questions reading your post was 1532 01:21:35,840 --> 01:21:41,400 Speaker 1: do you think it was inevitable that our orientation towards 1533 01:21:41,520 --> 01:21:47,120 Speaker 1: COVID policies and vaccinations would become incredibly tribal and incredibly politicized, 1534 01:21:47,600 --> 01:21:49,920 Speaker 1: or do you think it stemmed from the way that 1535 01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:57,120 Speaker 1: public health officials and political elites talked about these different policies. 1536 01:21:57,240 --> 01:21:58,800 Speaker 1: Do you think it was inevitable or do you think 1537 01:21:58,840 --> 01:22:01,360 Speaker 1: that this could have unfolded the different way. I think 1538 01:22:01,400 --> 01:22:03,120 Speaker 1: it could have unfolded different way. But I think there's 1539 01:22:03,160 --> 01:22:05,040 Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of it that was inevitable. I mean, 1540 01:22:05,080 --> 01:22:08,880 Speaker 1: you know, I think the anvil that broke broke the 1541 01:22:08,920 --> 01:22:11,880 Speaker 1: camel's back. To use a now, to use a turnive 1542 01:22:11,880 --> 01:22:16,559 Speaker 1: phrase is you know, we went from basically you can't. 1543 01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:19,080 Speaker 1: I remember that where they filled like skate park in 1544 01:22:19,200 --> 01:22:22,080 Speaker 1: with dirt, right, you know, like you can't you just 1545 01:22:22,960 --> 01:22:26,600 Speaker 1: and then they pivoted when the riots came, when the 1546 01:22:26,640 --> 01:22:29,559 Speaker 1: protest came, you know, the protest that you know, you 1547 01:22:29,600 --> 01:22:32,600 Speaker 1: can actually now congregate because of protests. Now I'm not 1548 01:22:32,640 --> 01:22:34,320 Speaker 1: I don't want to judicate whether that was the right 1549 01:22:34,320 --> 01:22:35,559 Speaker 1: thing for them to do, but but it was one 1550 01:22:35,600 --> 01:22:37,760 Speaker 1: hundred and eight degree move that threw a lot of 1551 01:22:37,760 --> 01:22:40,720 Speaker 1: people off and it was really confusing, like you know, 1552 01:22:40,720 --> 01:22:42,519 Speaker 1: I can't have a barbecue, but you can, you can, 1553 01:22:42,640 --> 01:22:47,040 Speaker 1: you can protest, you know. I think the whole the 1554 01:22:47,080 --> 01:22:49,679 Speaker 1: whole policy has been very and then you know, after 1555 01:22:49,880 --> 01:22:51,439 Speaker 1: my piece, a lot of people pointed out and I 1556 01:22:51,439 --> 01:22:53,280 Speaker 1: wish I had pointed out my piece is like, yes, 1557 01:22:53,360 --> 01:22:57,120 Speaker 1: you're right, the it's also being vaccinated is also an 1558 01:22:57,200 --> 01:22:59,679 Speaker 1: identity for a lot of elites who's turned it into 1559 01:22:59,680 --> 01:23:02,960 Speaker 1: thisind of you know, this this big issue. You know, 1560 01:23:03,280 --> 01:23:06,439 Speaker 1: one of the small things I do to gain trust 1561 01:23:06,479 --> 01:23:08,559 Speaker 1: with people, and is I don't wear a mask when 1562 01:23:08,600 --> 01:23:10,439 Speaker 1: I go into and when I go into Walmart or 1563 01:23:10,479 --> 01:23:14,240 Speaker 1: McDonald's or or or a bar, is because if I 1564 01:23:14,280 --> 01:23:18,160 Speaker 1: wear a mask, immediately they are not going to trust me, 1565 01:23:19,840 --> 01:23:22,559 Speaker 1: you know, They're going to just assume that I'm you know, uh, 1566 01:23:23,600 --> 01:23:25,479 Speaker 1: everything is wrong with me. And so you know that 1567 01:23:25,479 --> 01:23:28,639 Speaker 1: that kind of tribalism, down to the symbolic mask wearing 1568 01:23:29,720 --> 01:23:31,680 Speaker 1: is just so so ingrained, and I think it is 1569 01:23:31,720 --> 01:23:35,639 Speaker 1: a product of you know, highly we were highly politicized society, 1570 01:23:35,800 --> 01:23:38,640 Speaker 1: very very we joined camps. But again I think a 1571 01:23:38,640 --> 01:23:41,559 Speaker 1: lot of a lot of the policy fell really hard 1572 01:23:41,600 --> 01:23:43,519 Speaker 1: in the working class. You know, there's a really good 1573 01:23:43,560 --> 01:23:46,080 Speaker 1: comment in my piece from a from a from a 1574 01:23:46,120 --> 01:23:52,920 Speaker 1: reader who talks about how how core, how core community 1575 01:23:54,280 --> 01:23:56,439 Speaker 1: you know, getting together at the bar, getting together at 1576 01:23:56,479 --> 01:23:59,040 Speaker 1: the gym, getting together at the basketball corps, getting together 1577 01:23:59,080 --> 01:24:02,000 Speaker 1: at the you know barb shop is the working class. 1578 01:24:02,000 --> 01:24:05,719 Speaker 1: You know, you know, one on one introduct interactions being 1579 01:24:05,800 --> 01:24:09,360 Speaker 1: social is it's much is much more physically social, I 1580 01:24:09,360 --> 01:24:12,040 Speaker 1: mean in a real physical way, is much more central 1581 01:24:12,560 --> 01:24:15,200 Speaker 1: to you know, people without high school educations or well 1582 01:24:15,200 --> 01:24:19,400 Speaker 1: at college college educations. It's just you know, kind of community, 1583 01:24:19,400 --> 01:24:22,400 Speaker 1: transcendent community and physical community is just very core to 1584 01:24:22,439 --> 01:24:25,320 Speaker 1: who they are, and to take that away is really 1585 01:24:25,760 --> 01:24:30,760 Speaker 1: created a real, you know, a real cynicism and kind 1586 01:24:30,760 --> 01:24:32,960 Speaker 1: of anger in a lot of the working classes. It's 1587 01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:36,519 Speaker 1: being channeled through not getting the vaccine right. You know, Chris, 1588 01:24:36,360 --> 01:24:40,320 Speaker 1: it's interesting if you read your work in twenty sixteen, 1589 01:24:40,400 --> 01:24:44,080 Speaker 1: Trump was not a surprise whatsoever. So you're out there 1590 01:24:44,120 --> 01:24:48,200 Speaker 1: once again walking the streets, you know, writing about it. 1591 01:24:48,640 --> 01:24:52,560 Speaker 1: What are the political wins and what are the political 1592 01:24:52,720 --> 01:24:55,479 Speaker 1: outcomes that you foresee a year, maybe two years, three 1593 01:24:55,520 --> 01:24:58,400 Speaker 1: years from now that are being ignored by the mainstream 1594 01:24:58,479 --> 01:25:01,360 Speaker 1: here in Washington. I mean, the Democrats are toast in 1595 01:25:01,400 --> 01:25:05,400 Speaker 1: twenty two you know, I mean, I mean a lot 1596 01:25:05,439 --> 01:25:07,280 Speaker 1: of that's the COVID policy, you know, I mean, you 1597 01:25:07,320 --> 01:25:09,920 Speaker 1: know Biden, Biden said he was going to return return 1598 01:25:10,000 --> 01:25:12,519 Speaker 1: things to normal. You know, he can't paign on return 1599 01:25:12,560 --> 01:25:14,840 Speaker 1: to normal. And you know it's it's not normal, you know, 1600 01:25:14,920 --> 01:25:17,040 Speaker 1: I mean, I people, you know, you can go even 1601 01:25:17,080 --> 01:25:19,240 Speaker 1: in red states that you know, people say, well, you 1602 01:25:19,280 --> 01:25:21,360 Speaker 1: know they don't have lockdowns, they don't you know, don't 1603 01:25:21,360 --> 01:25:24,000 Speaker 1: have masking policies. It's still not normal things just just 1604 01:25:24,000 --> 01:25:27,360 Speaker 1: just aren't operating right. Everything is off, and so I 1605 01:25:27,439 --> 01:25:30,040 Speaker 1: think I think to a large degree, Biden is suffering 1606 01:25:30,080 --> 01:25:32,679 Speaker 1: from that, and I think the Democrats are just becoming 1607 01:25:32,720 --> 01:25:35,240 Speaker 1: I mean, it's very frustrating for me to talk about 1608 01:25:35,280 --> 01:25:38,559 Speaker 1: politics on shows like this. I mean, you guys get it, 1609 01:25:39,120 --> 01:25:40,640 Speaker 1: but so many people don't get it. You know, to 1610 01:25:40,920 --> 01:25:43,080 Speaker 1: be on the road, to be talking to people, to 1611 01:25:43,200 --> 01:25:45,759 Speaker 1: just hang out in Applebee's or you know, spend whatever 1612 01:25:45,800 --> 01:25:48,160 Speaker 1: and then go on Twitter. It's just so frustrating because 1613 01:25:48,560 --> 01:25:53,639 Speaker 1: the political dialogue that we have amongst ourselves, us at least, 1614 01:25:53,640 --> 01:25:56,120 Speaker 1: it's just so detached from reality. Just I mean, it's 1615 01:25:56,160 --> 01:25:58,439 Speaker 1: it's two different languages. I can't it's it's just it's 1616 01:25:58,439 --> 01:26:02,880 Speaker 1: really hard to describe, you know. I mean people. You know, 1617 01:26:03,160 --> 01:26:06,360 Speaker 1: I talk a lot about non voters, and it's very 1618 01:26:06,360 --> 01:26:09,080 Speaker 1: similar to the to the to the unvaccinated. The non 1619 01:26:09,160 --> 01:26:11,880 Speaker 1: voting and the vaccinated and unvaccinated crowd are very similar 1620 01:26:11,920 --> 01:26:14,519 Speaker 1: group of people. There's this kind of this cynicism of 1621 01:26:15,479 --> 01:26:18,200 Speaker 1: I call it kind of justified sentism, not necessarily for 1622 01:26:18,320 --> 01:26:20,160 Speaker 1: the vaccine, but for the non voting of just like 1623 01:26:20,200 --> 01:26:22,519 Speaker 1: this whole system is broken. It doesn't change you guys 1624 01:26:22,560 --> 01:26:24,280 Speaker 1: don't care about me. Why am I going to participate? 1625 01:26:24,320 --> 01:26:26,240 Speaker 1: Why am I going to play your game? Like? You know, 1626 01:26:26,600 --> 01:26:29,360 Speaker 1: you just don't care about me like and you know, 1627 01:26:29,479 --> 01:26:31,080 Speaker 1: except for every four years you come in and you 1628 01:26:31,200 --> 01:26:33,280 Speaker 1: try to get me to devote for you, but in general, 1629 01:26:33,640 --> 01:26:35,760 Speaker 1: you know, you don't care about me. And so that 1630 01:26:35,840 --> 01:26:40,960 Speaker 1: kind of you know, justified cynicism permeates how much how 1631 01:26:40,960 --> 01:26:45,439 Speaker 1: they view politics. And again, you know how politics filters 1632 01:26:45,479 --> 01:26:50,280 Speaker 1: down to these communities is you know it is it 1633 01:26:50,479 --> 01:26:54,240 Speaker 1: is what matters for voting. And so you know, they 1634 01:26:54,439 --> 01:26:56,880 Speaker 1: they turn on their TV and you know, they they 1635 01:26:57,520 --> 01:27:00,400 Speaker 1: the COVID policy has been entirely wrong to has just 1636 01:27:00,439 --> 01:27:04,960 Speaker 1: been completely confusion, confusion, and then you know they see 1637 01:27:04,960 --> 01:27:07,680 Speaker 1: the debates going on online that are just about things 1638 01:27:07,720 --> 01:27:11,640 Speaker 1: that don't really touch them, and so there's tendency just 1639 01:27:11,640 --> 01:27:14,439 Speaker 1: to throw whoever is in out and should should they 1640 01:27:14,439 --> 01:27:15,839 Speaker 1: should they want of them? But I mean, the Democrats 1641 01:27:15,880 --> 01:27:18,080 Speaker 1: are on the wrong side so much right now. You know, 1642 01:27:18,160 --> 01:27:20,360 Speaker 1: one of the things that I've been saying so much 1643 01:27:20,400 --> 01:27:23,360 Speaker 1: is how you know, my whole thesis has been about 1644 01:27:23,360 --> 01:27:26,640 Speaker 1: the education gap, and that's where politics are going. And 1645 01:27:26,680 --> 01:27:28,800 Speaker 1: you know, the Democratic Party is going to become the 1646 01:27:28,840 --> 01:27:34,160 Speaker 1: party of highly educated whites and African Americans, and the 1647 01:27:34,200 --> 01:27:37,200 Speaker 1: Republicans are going to be everybody else, you know, and 1648 01:27:38,720 --> 01:27:41,160 Speaker 1: you don't want to be the party of highly educated whites. 1649 01:27:42,400 --> 01:27:47,080 Speaker 1: You just don't because that's just not demographically who who 1650 01:27:47,120 --> 01:27:51,120 Speaker 1: who who represents the country. I would also argue that 1651 01:27:51,120 --> 01:27:53,320 Speaker 1: you're going to end up with really crappy politics if 1652 01:27:53,320 --> 01:27:57,080 Speaker 1: you become a party there's going on in general among 1653 01:27:57,080 --> 01:28:00,840 Speaker 1: that group. But Chris, I also wanted to get your 1654 01:28:00,880 --> 01:28:03,799 Speaker 1: reaction to we covered on the show today the numbers 1655 01:28:03,840 --> 01:28:06,479 Speaker 1: just came out about the number of overdose deaths in 1656 01:28:06,520 --> 01:28:09,320 Speaker 1: the past year. We saw almost a thirty percent spike 1657 01:28:09,439 --> 01:28:14,200 Speaker 1: year over year. Fentanyl deaths alone now account for more 1658 01:28:14,240 --> 01:28:18,200 Speaker 1: overdose deaths than all over death dose deaths altogether in 1659 01:28:18,280 --> 01:28:22,600 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. This is very geographically concentrated. It tends to 1660 01:28:22,640 --> 01:28:27,040 Speaker 1: predominantly be you know, the worst problems are in industrial 1661 01:28:27,080 --> 01:28:30,200 Speaker 1: Minwest and certainly in Appalachia, places that have lost their 1662 01:28:30,320 --> 01:28:34,240 Speaker 1: community center in terms of jobs, places where people work 1663 01:28:34,280 --> 01:28:36,559 Speaker 1: with their body and put a heavy physical toll on 1664 01:28:36,600 --> 01:28:40,559 Speaker 1: their body. You know, there's been some debate about why 1665 01:28:40,640 --> 01:28:44,559 Speaker 1: we saw that spike, in particular over the past year. 1666 01:28:44,960 --> 01:28:48,160 Speaker 1: I wonder if you have had any interactions or could 1667 01:28:48,200 --> 01:28:50,880 Speaker 1: shed any light on why this problem, not just in 1668 01:28:50,880 --> 01:28:53,200 Speaker 1: the past year, but over the past decade has been 1669 01:28:53,320 --> 01:28:55,599 Speaker 1: such a dramatic issue in the types of places than 1670 01:28:55,640 --> 01:28:58,160 Speaker 1: with the type of people that you're visiting with. I mean, 1671 01:28:58,200 --> 01:29:00,320 Speaker 1: it's core to the whole everything I right about, which 1672 01:29:00,360 --> 01:29:03,880 Speaker 1: is the lack of community, is like, you know, what, 1673 01:29:03,880 --> 01:29:07,439 Speaker 1: what what what we the elite, the educated class have done. 1674 01:29:07,760 --> 01:29:11,400 Speaker 1: If we made everything about secular materialism, We've we've taken 1675 01:29:11,439 --> 01:29:16,400 Speaker 1: away anything that's transcendent. We've taken away faith, faith, place 1676 01:29:16,760 --> 01:29:20,559 Speaker 1: and community, anything, family, anything that kind of like you know, 1677 01:29:21,120 --> 01:29:24,960 Speaker 1: that gives people a sense of meaning beyond a resume. 1678 01:29:25,280 --> 01:29:28,799 Speaker 1: We've kind of devalued. And so we have this big 1679 01:29:29,000 --> 01:29:32,759 Speaker 1: meaning gap in these communities where people you know, are 1680 01:29:32,520 --> 01:29:38,240 Speaker 1: are You've taken you know, transcendent meaning, faith, family, place, 1681 01:29:38,800 --> 01:29:41,120 Speaker 1: Those things are just those things aren't just you know, 1682 01:29:41,560 --> 01:29:44,040 Speaker 1: window dressing. Those are those are core to who they are. 1683 01:29:44,120 --> 01:29:47,200 Speaker 1: That's that's the hat they hang that's the the the 1684 01:29:47,200 --> 01:29:50,000 Speaker 1: hook they hang their hat on. That's how they define themselves. 1685 01:29:50,280 --> 01:29:55,400 Speaker 1: And we've devalued those and it's left a big hole. Uh. 1686 01:29:55,720 --> 01:29:59,280 Speaker 1: And it's it's and moving jobs away has has also 1687 01:29:59,360 --> 01:30:01,960 Speaker 1: left a big hole because it's it's it's it's left 1688 01:30:02,000 --> 01:30:06,480 Speaker 1: the ability to build a stable life, you know, and 1689 01:30:06,600 --> 01:30:10,640 Speaker 1: with only a high school degree, and it's just you know, uh, 1690 01:30:11,160 --> 01:30:14,400 Speaker 1: it's just really frustrating for me to go to hear 1691 01:30:14,439 --> 01:30:17,679 Speaker 1: the dialogue that takes place in elite spaces when when 1692 01:30:17,720 --> 01:30:21,120 Speaker 1: these communities, you know, people are killing themselves. Uh you know, 1693 01:30:21,320 --> 01:30:23,360 Speaker 1: addiction really is a form of suicide. And you know 1694 01:30:23,360 --> 01:30:25,360 Speaker 1: why when you think about why does somebody kill themselves? 1695 01:30:25,439 --> 01:30:27,720 Speaker 1: I mean that's it really, you know, for someone to 1696 01:30:27,760 --> 01:30:30,519 Speaker 1: kill themselves, to actively choose to kill themselves, it's just 1697 01:30:30,560 --> 01:30:32,640 Speaker 1: such a such a you know, it's the canary and 1698 01:30:32,680 --> 01:30:35,000 Speaker 1: the coal mine of a very broken society. And that 1699 01:30:35,000 --> 01:30:37,559 Speaker 1: people are doing it in spades, you know. I mean. 1700 01:30:38,840 --> 01:30:41,720 Speaker 1: And so one of the things that I try to 1701 01:30:41,920 --> 01:30:45,120 Speaker 1: try to communicate in my work is that, you know, 1702 01:30:45,560 --> 01:30:47,720 Speaker 1: drug traps, you know, I spend a lot of time 1703 01:30:47,720 --> 01:30:50,280 Speaker 1: in them are community centers, you know. I mean I 1704 01:30:50,320 --> 01:30:52,120 Speaker 1: don't make people want to know that, and I don't 1705 01:30:52,200 --> 01:30:54,880 Speaker 1: encourage people to to find their community in a drug trap, 1706 01:30:55,040 --> 01:30:56,720 Speaker 1: but it's a place where you know, people who've been 1707 01:30:56,760 --> 01:31:00,920 Speaker 1: stigmatized as losers all their life, or or dummies can 1708 01:31:00,960 --> 01:31:04,600 Speaker 1: find other people like them who get them, you know, 1709 01:31:05,200 --> 01:31:09,760 Speaker 1: who don't judge them for being a failure, and you 1710 01:31:09,760 --> 01:31:12,960 Speaker 1: know it's unfortunate. So we've taken it. We've kind of 1711 01:31:13,000 --> 01:31:15,200 Speaker 1: taken away so many we've become so transient and so 1712 01:31:15,280 --> 01:31:17,920 Speaker 1: material that we've taken away so many sources of community. 1713 01:31:18,640 --> 01:31:20,599 Speaker 1: All right, thank you guys so much for watching. We 1714 01:31:20,640 --> 01:31:23,400 Speaker 1: really appreciate it. For those of you who are watching 1715 01:31:23,400 --> 01:31:26,439 Speaker 1: this after the fifteen minute clip, if you want to 1716 01:31:26,439 --> 01:31:29,760 Speaker 1: become a premium subscriber, we give lengthy interviews just like 1717 01:31:29,840 --> 01:31:33,240 Speaker 1: that one, extended ones for our premium people all the time. 1718 01:31:33,560 --> 01:31:35,519 Speaker 1: We've got all sorts of other benefits. But really what 1719 01:31:35,560 --> 01:31:38,040 Speaker 1: it is is that you're supporting us here on the show, 1720 01:31:38,160 --> 01:31:41,559 Speaker 1: our ability to find people like Chris in order to expand. 1721 01:31:41,640 --> 01:31:43,240 Speaker 1: You know, we've got these new cameras and more. We've 1722 01:31:43,240 --> 01:31:45,439 Speaker 1: got big plans. We rely on you, so thank you 1723 01:31:45,479 --> 01:31:47,360 Speaker 1: all so much. The link is right there in the description, 1724 01:31:47,600 --> 01:31:49,680 Speaker 1: Love you guys, have a fantastic weekend. We'll have that 1725 01:31:49,720 --> 01:31:52,639 Speaker 1: segment with the daily poster that we're doing weekly now 1726 01:31:52,680 --> 01:31:54,559 Speaker 1: as part of a partnership with them. Tomorrow we'll have 1727 01:31:54,600 --> 01:31:56,280 Speaker 1: more great content for you over the weekend, and we 1728 01:31:56,320 --> 01:32:11,679 Speaker 1: will see you back here on Monday.