WEBVTT - David & Goliath 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:08.239 This is Red Pilled America. Hey, fam bam. Red Pilled 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.400 America has over 200 episodes that you can listen to 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.830 ad-free by becoming a backstage subscriber. Just go to redpilledamerica.com 0:00:17.130 --> 0:00:20.150 and click Join in the top menu. Storytelling is what 0:00:20.190 --> 0:00:23.630 defines American culture, which is why it's so important for 0:00:23.690 --> 0:00:27.050 shows like Red Pilled America to survive and thrive. Please 0:00:27.110 --> 0:00:31.460 join the fam bam by visiting redpilledamerica.com and clicking Join 0:00:31.500 --> 0:00:34.360 in the top menu. Help us save America one story 0:00:34.379 --> 0:00:41.680 at a time. Now on with the show. This episode 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.269 was originally broadcast on May 16th, 2019. This is just 0:00:45.729 --> 0:00:46.809 the beginning. 0:00:47.070 --> 0:00:50.530 This is the first telephone call, the brand new conversation. 0:00:53.050 --> 0:00:55.160 As we stood there at our kitchen counter listening to 0:00:55.170 --> 0:00:57.900 the recording, with our two-year-old bouncing around the house, we 0:00:59.920 --> 0:01:01.260 couldn't have known what was coming. 0:01:02.230 --> 0:01:06.639 We are just now learning how to really bring this 0:01:06.660 --> 0:01:11.920 community together to speak with the government, what that looks 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:12.780 like legally. 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:15.400 In just a few weeks, we'd be caught up in 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.390 what looked like a government cover-up. Our house would be 0:01:18.450 --> 0:01:23.050 tracked down by triggered zealots, property vandalized, and unthinkably, we'd 0:01:23.069 --> 0:01:25.590 be battling it out with the most powerful people on 0:01:25.610 --> 0:01:28.610 the planet. And in the middle of it all, when 0:01:28.660 --> 0:01:31.740 we challenged the behemoth, The one thing that kept crossing 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:35.200 our minds was, how are we going to beat this giant? 0:01:38.410 --> 0:01:40.229 I'm Patrick Karelchi. 0:01:40.730 --> 0:01:42.050 And I'm Adriana Cortez. 0:01:42.390 --> 0:01:45.429 And this is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show. 0:01:46.709 --> 0:01:49.140 This is not another talk show covering the day's news. 0:01:49.580 --> 0:01:51.200 We are all about telling stories. 0:01:51.980 --> 0:01:53.620 Stories Hollywood doesn't want you to hear. 0:01:54.540 --> 0:01:58.540 Stories the media mocks. Stories about everyday Americans that the 0:01:58.580 --> 0:01:59.480 globalists ignore. 0:02:00.670 --> 0:02:03.590 You could think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries, 0:02:03.690 --> 0:02:05.270 and we promise only one thing. 0:02:07.470 --> 0:02:07.890 The truth. 0:02:12.570 --> 0:02:26.240 Welcome to Red Pilled America. How do the small overcome 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.690 the mighty? To find the answer, we're going to tell 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.210 the story of a time when we, your humble hosts, 0:02:32.550 --> 0:02:35.030 faced off with the most powerful people on the planet, 0:02:35.290 --> 0:02:39.650 the White House. Telling this story also gives you a 0:02:39.690 --> 0:02:42.350 bit more of an understanding of how Adriana and I 0:02:42.470 --> 0:02:45.780 are here with you today. For a husband and wife 0:02:45.820 --> 0:02:49.180 team just starting a family, with no real history in politics, 0:02:49.700 --> 0:02:53.359 facing off with the Obama administration was a surreal experience, 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.260 and one we would have never survived without connecting with 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.420 Andrew Breitbart. one of the greatest minds in the history 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.540 of media. Adriana and I were faced with a tough 0:03:02.580 --> 0:03:05.489 decision while standing there at our kitchen counter. We didn't 0:03:05.530 --> 0:03:08.130 quite realize it in the moment, but the choice we 0:03:08.169 --> 0:03:11.389 were about to make would change our lives forever. There'd 0:03:11.410 --> 0:03:13.889 be no turning back, not even if we wanted to, 0:03:14.470 --> 0:03:16.480 all because we thought we should do the right thing. 0:03:17.100 --> 0:03:18.840 But before we get to the heart of the story, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.320 you need to understand the environment at the time. 0:03:37.090 --> 0:03:40.530 It was the summer of 2009, and Congress was headed 0:03:40.610 --> 0:03:43.589 for their annual August recess, that time of the year 0:03:43.630 --> 0:03:46.730 when our politicians leave Washington, D.C., and go back to 0:03:46.750 --> 0:03:50.730 their home district to hear from their constituents. It's typically quiet, 0:03:51.190 --> 0:03:56.350 even uneventful. But on this particular occasion, the country was 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.700 in the grips of a national debate, a debate that 0:03:59.740 --> 0:04:02.530 had gone nuclear wild. I want to know if it's 0:04:02.570 --> 0:04:03.790 coming out of my paycheck. 0:04:03.890 --> 0:04:04.710 Yes or no? 0:04:04.770 --> 0:04:06.369 Your employer supports you. 0:04:06.610 --> 0:04:08.470 I want an answer to the question. 0:04:08.550 --> 0:04:09.490 Is the money. 0:04:09.250 --> 0:04:10.630 Coming out of my paycheck? 0:04:10.950 --> 0:04:12.510 They've decided that we're just stupid. 0:04:12.770 --> 0:04:14.890 And I don't want the government to do it for me. 0:04:14.970 --> 0:04:16.469 I am not a right-wing wacko. 0:04:16.940 --> 0:04:20.599 Obama was pushing for legislation that would require all U.S. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.740 citizens to buy health coverage or face a fine. In 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.460 the young president's brand-new world, purchasing medical insurance was the 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.599 price tag of being alive. We were being taken one 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.280 step closer to a government takeover of our bodies and 0:04:36.339 --> 0:04:47.820 people weren't having it. At town hall meetings all across 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.760 the nation, people were rejecting Obama's proposal that would forever 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.920 change the healthcare industry. And for good reason. Throughout his 0:04:55.980 --> 0:04:59.609 historic run for the White House, Candidate Obama spoke loudly 0:04:59.670 --> 0:05:03.280 against forcing citizens to purchase health care, otherwise known as 0:05:03.339 --> 0:05:05.120 the individual mandate. 0:05:05.580 --> 0:05:08.219 If a mandate was the solution, we could try that 0:05:08.420 --> 0:05:11.740 to solve homelessness by mandating everybody buy a house. The 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:12.840 reason they don't have a house is they. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:13.380 Don't have the money. 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:18.130 For roughly two years, time and time again, Obama ridiculed 0:05:18.190 --> 0:05:21.130 his opponents and scoffed at the idea of requiring people 0:05:21.170 --> 0:05:22.150 to buy insurance. 0:05:22.589 --> 0:05:24.109 We don't want to put in a situation. 0:05:24.589 --> 0:05:26.990 in which on the front end we are mandating them, 0:05:27.210 --> 0:05:29.739 we are forcing them to purchase insurance, and if the 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.800 subsidies are inadequate, the burden is on them and they 0:05:32.820 --> 0:05:36.200 will be penalized. And that is what Senator Clinton's plan does. 0:05:36.500 --> 0:05:39.320 John and I have a disagreement. John thinks that the 0:05:39.380 --> 0:05:42.279 only way we get universal coverage is to mandate coverage. 0:05:42.460 --> 0:05:46.360 She believes that we have to force people who don't 0:05:46.460 --> 0:05:47.930 have health insurance to buy it. 0:05:49.020 --> 0:05:52.060 So when he finally won the historic election, everyone, even 0:05:52.100 --> 0:05:54.780 his opponents, thought the idea had been shelved for the 0:05:54.820 --> 0:05:58.120 foreseeable future. But then something happened. 0:05:58.620 --> 0:06:01.470 Ladies and gentlemen, it's important for your own good. You 0:06:01.510 --> 0:06:03.690 need to sit down because I'm afraid I have some 0:06:03.750 --> 0:06:12.260 terrible news. Nation, it's going to be that bad. Because Nation, today, 0:06:12.900 --> 0:06:16.860 the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered that Al Franken be certified 0:06:16.980 --> 0:06:17.680 as a U.S. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:18.120 Senator. 0:06:20.180 --> 0:06:25.659 Al Franken became the senator from Minnesota. On election night 2008, 0:06:25.660 --> 0:06:29.420 the former Saturday Night Live comedian had actually on paper 0:06:29.580 --> 0:06:33.580 lost the election by 725 votes. But in a race 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.359 where 2.9 million people voted, the slim margin of victory 0:06:37.460 --> 0:06:41.740 set in motion an automatic recount. After a seven-month legal battle, 0:06:41.900 --> 0:06:45.599 the comedian had somehow flipped the election in his favor 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.470 to win by just 312 votes. It was later reported 0:06:50.490 --> 0:06:54.190 that roughly 1,100 felons illegally cast a ballot in the race, 0:06:54.810 --> 0:06:58.270 just about the same number that flipped the outcome. Prisoners 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:03.020 voting could turn an election towards the Democrats. Some called foul, 0:07:03.220 --> 0:07:10.500 but nevertheless, Al Franken was announced the winner on June 30, 2009. 0:07:10.500 --> 0:07:14.300 His improbable steal wasn't just any old Senate seat. It 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:19.540 was the 60th. the magic number giving Obama a filibuster-proof 0:07:19.620 --> 0:07:23.620 majority in Congress. In other words, the president had just 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:27.540 locked in the power to pass legislation without a single 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:31.540 vote from the Republicans. With that kind of leverage, he 0:07:31.620 --> 0:07:36.920 went for the big prize, Obamacare, requiring every breathing U.S. 0:07:36.980 --> 0:07:41.580 citizen to have health insurance or else. So shortly after 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.640 Al Franken's victory, the president, along with his top advisor 0:07:44.690 --> 0:07:48.160 and friend Valerie Jarrett, embarked on a national campaign to 0:07:48.220 --> 0:07:50.760 sell the plan he'd spent so long criticizing. 0:07:51.340 --> 0:07:53.680 Without any further ado, I'd like to introduce to you 0:07:53.700 --> 0:07:57.830 the person whose first priority is passing health care reform 0:07:58.270 --> 0:08:02.150 this year. Please welcome to our town hall, President Barack Obama. 0:08:02.370 --> 0:08:04.750 Thank you, everybody. 0:08:04.790 --> 0:08:09.300 Thank you. Thank you, Northern Virginia. It was supposed to 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.960 be easy. He had the votes. But Obama was about 0:08:13.020 --> 0:08:14.180 to learn otherwise. 0:08:15.220 --> 0:08:18.050 Whenever there's an imbalance of control, when one group is 0:08:18.110 --> 0:08:21.610 perceived to have too much power, a counter-movement arises with 0:08:21.650 --> 0:08:24.370 the ultimate goal of bringing stability back to the system. 0:08:24.930 --> 0:08:27.430 With the Democrats in control of the White House, Congress, 0:08:27.870 --> 0:08:31.390 and now securing a filibuster-proof majority, there was only one 0:08:31.450 --> 0:08:34.590 way to re-establish the balance, and that was to pressure 0:08:34.650 --> 0:08:38.349 a Democrat to vote against Obamacare, enter the Tea Party 0:08:38.429 --> 0:08:39.030 stage right. 0:08:39.710 --> 0:08:40.350 Hear our voice! 0:08:40.490 --> 0:08:41.569 Hear our voice! 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:48.020 Night after night, videos of angry voters confronting Democrat politicians 0:08:48.420 --> 0:08:51.940 went viral. With the advent of social media and the 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.660 smartphone just beginning to infiltrate culture, the mainstream media were 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.679 for the first time losing its grip on crafting the narrative. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:03.730 By August 2009, the spectacles were so widespread it became 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.750 impossible for the media to ignore. 0:09:06.580 --> 0:09:10.440 All right, so passions are running high, patience short on 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:11.340 supply here. 0:09:11.380 --> 0:09:13.620 Let's try to separate the fact from the fiction. 0:09:14.100 --> 0:09:17.040 The young administration was desperately looking for a way to 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.950 change the narrative, and the Tea Party was searching for 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:21.950 ways to keep the pressure on. 0:09:26.330 --> 0:09:28.410 Around this time, an image went viral. 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.380 Well, a new image of President Obama is making the rounds, 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.359 and it takes his likeness, transforms it into that of 0:09:34.420 --> 0:09:36.060 a comic book arch-villain. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.480 A few months earlier, I'd seen a poster a couple 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:42.819 blocks from our house that was striking in that it 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.710 went completely against the groupthink plaguing the art world. The 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.810 entire creative community had been for over two years in 0:09:49.830 --> 0:09:54.110 a seemingly endless climax over their new Messiah, Obama. From 0:09:54.190 --> 0:09:58.770 star-studded tribute songs to PSAs, to countless fashion spreads to 0:09:58.809 --> 0:10:02.390 the famous Obama Hope poster. Artists had become the president's 0:10:02.510 --> 0:10:05.940 euphoric groupies with a devotion that seemed to have no end. 0:10:06.660 --> 0:10:09.900 It was frankly embarrassing, which made the street art posters 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:12.569 I saw while out in a run through Hollywood all 0:10:12.610 --> 0:10:15.250 the more stunning. It was an image of Obama as 0:10:15.290 --> 0:10:18.189 the Joker from Batman, the Heath Ledger version, with a 0:10:18.290 --> 0:10:19.610 single word below the image. 0:10:20.070 --> 0:10:20.610 Socialism. 0:10:21.220 --> 0:10:23.120 I tried to find an artist's name on the poster, 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.660 but all I could see was an indecipherable website in 0:10:25.740 --> 0:10:29.400 one corner. Within no time, maybe even hours, they were 0:10:29.420 --> 0:10:31.950 torn down and months went by with almost no mention 0:10:31.970 --> 0:10:34.290 of them in the media or online. But when August 0:10:34.290 --> 0:10:37.890 2009 crept up, just as the fight over Obamacare raged 0:10:37.929 --> 0:10:40.390 in every enclave of America with fears that it would 0:10:40.429 --> 0:10:44.240 take us closer to socialism, the Joker posters popped up again. However, 0:10:44.260 --> 0:10:45.360 this time they went viral. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.120 First, conservative radio personality Tammy Bruce saw them near the 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.160 101 freeway in Hollywood and posted pictures of the posters 0:10:52.220 --> 0:10:56.120 on her website. The images spread, eventually finding their way 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.000 onto the Drudge Report. Within days, the media and art 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.240 community took the predictable route in covering the development. 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.960 But on conservative websites, this image is the latest thing. 0:11:07.500 --> 0:11:09.800 Someone took Time magazine's cover. 0:11:09.540 --> 0:11:10.700 And transformed it. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:12.699 Hope was changed to joke. 0:11:13.220 --> 0:11:15.620 The image is making its way onto t-shirts. 0:11:17.050 --> 0:11:20.490 On to a few posters alongside a highway ramp in L.A. 0:11:20.730 --> 0:11:25.660 Accompanied by the word socialism, the image got Rush Limbaugh's attention. 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.160 Becoming cool to make fun of Obama. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.700 Maybe not quite so much in New York City. 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:31.300 Yucky. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:33.380 Extremely disturbing. 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:33.760 Stupid. 0:11:34.140 --> 0:11:36.670 Seems kind of childish. Whether you like the guy or not, 0:11:36.710 --> 0:11:38.089 you still don't do that to anybody. 0:11:38.210 --> 0:11:38.849 Shame on them. 0:11:39.190 --> 0:11:42.590 The L.A. Weekly declared, The only thing missing is the noose. 0:11:43.130 --> 0:11:46.320 The Washington Post added about the unknown artist, So why 0:11:46.340 --> 0:11:50.350 the anonymity? Perhaps because the poster is ultimately a racially 0:11:50.429 --> 0:11:51.450 charged image. 0:11:58.150 --> 0:12:00.730 Over the span of years, this Joker poster was the 0:12:00.910 --> 0:12:03.980 only substantial piece of street art that was critical of Obama. 0:12:04.250 --> 0:12:06.140 And I knew this because I was steeped in that scene. 0:12:06.500 --> 0:12:08.460 At the time, I'd been deeply involved with the art 0:12:08.500 --> 0:12:11.459 world for roughly 15 years. The creator of the famous 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.300 Obama Hope poster was an old business partner of mine. 0:12:14.700 --> 0:12:16.220 I thought it was cool what he did, but was 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.980 nauseated by the art community's cult-like devotion to Obama, and 0:12:20.020 --> 0:12:22.800 was even more disturbed at the reflexive claim of racism 0:12:22.860 --> 0:12:26.270 towards anyone that dared criticize the first black president. When 0:12:26.309 --> 0:12:29.589 the Joker poster was called racist, I'd had enough. For years, 0:12:29.630 --> 0:12:32.510 I'd wanted to take up writing for several reasons. This 0:12:32.550 --> 0:12:34.750 was as good an opportunity as any to give writing 0:12:34.770 --> 0:12:37.840 a stab. So with Adriana as my editor, I penned 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.920 my very first article chastising the art world for their 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.080 blind allegiance to Obama. We were a bit hesitant to 0:12:44.179 --> 0:12:47.080 try and publish the piece. We made 100% of our 0:12:47.179 --> 0:12:49.990 income from the arts and entertainment industry, a world that 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.950 seemed ubiquitously liberal. Our family came from simple beginnings, and 0:12:54.010 --> 0:12:56.550 as the Jeffersons would say, we were moving on up, 0:12:56.790 --> 0:12:59.230 living the good life in the Hollywood Hills. And we 0:12:59.270 --> 0:13:02.430 still considered ourselves as Democrats. We weren't the racist or 0:13:02.490 --> 0:13:05.380 right-wing nutjobs that the media so often seemed to drum up. 0:13:05.890 --> 0:13:08.830 I'd been promoting black and brown artists for almost 15 years. 0:13:09.390 --> 0:13:12.199 Adriana and I are also of Mexican descent. Why should 0:13:12.260 --> 0:13:15.059 we have anything to fear in speaking out? So I 0:13:15.100 --> 0:13:19.400 submitted the piece to a libertarian site I'd recently began reading, Reason.com, 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.900 and they said they'd print it. I was feeling good 0:13:21.950 --> 0:13:24.770 about being published on my first try. The art community 0:13:24.850 --> 0:13:27.970 needed a wake-up call. I closed the essay saying, most 0:13:28.070 --> 0:13:29.990 artists would not want to be referred to as tools 0:13:30.030 --> 0:13:32.550 of the state, but in the case of Obama's administration, 0:13:32.809 --> 0:13:35.550 that's exactly what they've been so far. But what we 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.420 didn't know was how quickly that statement would become a 0:13:38.540 --> 0:13:39.540 dangerous reality. 0:13:42.270 --> 0:13:43.990 All right, if you guys know anything about me, you 0:13:44.030 --> 0:13:46.030 know that I am crazy about my dogs. And let 0:13:46.070 --> 0:13:49.349 me tell you something. 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Just add Ruff Greens 0:15:10.210 --> 0:15:12.470 and watch the health benefits come alive. 0:15:13.610 --> 0:15:14.130 Welcome back. 0:15:14.970 --> 0:15:17.550 So after two years of a cult-like devotion to Obama, 0:15:17.910 --> 0:15:20.300 and now hearing the media and art world call the 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.130 Obama Joker poster racist, we'd had enough. We decided to 0:15:24.190 --> 0:15:27.430 publish an essay accusing the creative community of being tools 0:15:27.490 --> 0:15:30.840 of the state and submitted the article to Reason.com. They 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.080 agreed to publish the story. In it, I criticized artists 0:15:34.100 --> 0:15:36.640 for becoming tools of the state. But what we didn't 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.240 know at the time was how quickly that statement would 0:15:39.260 --> 0:15:44.840 become a dangerous reality. As we were waiting for the 0:15:44.900 --> 0:15:47.880 article to go live, an invitation popped into my inbox. 0:15:52.610 --> 0:15:55.350 It was from a guy named Yossi Serjant, the new 0:15:55.410 --> 0:15:58.810 communications director of the National Endowment for the Arts, also 0:15:58.890 --> 0:16:02.100 known as the NEA, a federal agency whose mission is 0:16:02.130 --> 0:16:04.670 to support the arts all across the nation with our 0:16:04.740 --> 0:16:05.480 tax dollars. 0:16:06.340 --> 0:16:09.960 Yossi was the guy behind promoting the Obama Hope poster. 0:16:10.660 --> 0:16:12.120 It's why he got the gig. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:12.660 At the NEA. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.580 We knew of him, on the other hand, as our 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.100 former employee, a savvy young promoter that should be watched. 0:16:19.670 --> 0:16:21.800 The email he sent was an invitation to a White 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.920 House conference call, and it went out to select members 0:16:24.980 --> 0:16:28.780 of the art community. A call has come into our generation, 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.800 read the invite. A call from the top. A call 0:16:33.090 --> 0:16:36.790 from the house that is white. A call that we 0:16:36.930 --> 0:16:41.430 must answer, it dramatically opened. The invite listed several art 0:16:41.470 --> 0:16:45.190 world and media personalities attending the teleconference, as well as 0:16:45.270 --> 0:16:49.040 political activists. And it invited the arts community to help 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.140 Obama with his agenda, with health care being at the 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.580 top of the list. The White House wanted the conference 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.710 call attendees to show, quote, how the arts can be 0:16:58.870 --> 0:17:13.500 used for positive change. To a casual observer, it may 0:17:13.540 --> 0:17:17.320 have looked normal, but it wasn't. It smelled like an 0:17:17.380 --> 0:17:21.399 extension of the Obama campaign, which is a big no-no. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.220 The invite came from the largest funder of arts in America, 0:17:25.660 --> 0:17:28.699 the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that 0:17:28.740 --> 0:17:32.200 provides financial grants to the very same community being invited 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.310 to the meeting. The incoming head of the NEA had 0:17:35.369 --> 0:17:38.889 announced a desire to give grants directly to individual artists. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.680 NEA funding was historically given to arts groups, not individuals, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.730 so distributing them directly to artists would be a monumental shift, 0:17:48.210 --> 0:17:51.070 and anyone paying attention in the art world took notice. 0:17:51.630 --> 0:17:55.070 The timing of the invite was also suspect. There was 0:17:55.130 --> 0:17:59.170 a raging national debate over health care, the exact topic 0:17:59.300 --> 0:18:02.500 at the top of the meeting agenda. Was Obama trying 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.220 to dangle federal grants to get artists to create propaganda 0:18:05.260 --> 0:18:06.740 about his health care legislation? 0:18:10.810 --> 0:18:13.080 To add to our suspicion, on the same day the 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:17.020 invite arrived, Shepard Fairey, Yossi's close colleague and the artist 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.220 that actually designed the Obama Hope poster, penned an article 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:24.240 for the far-left Huffington Post entitled, Helping Obama Write an 0:18:24.420 --> 0:18:28.140 Unwritten Future. The op-ed urged the art community to help 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.590 the president fulfill his agenda, closing with a subtle call 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.980 to action, stating, quote, Hopefully Obama and all of us, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:37.700 who have stood behind him, will do everything we can 0:18:37.740 --> 0:18:40.530 to fill in our incomplete future the way we've pictured it. 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.330 At the time, Shepherd Ferry was the art world, and 0:18:44.369 --> 0:18:47.270 the Huffington Post was an outlet of record for that community. 0:18:47.830 --> 0:18:50.649 As I stood at our kitchen counter reading Shepherd Ferry's article, 0:18:50.910 --> 0:18:53.850 and then the White House invitation, the two efforts appeared 0:18:53.890 --> 0:18:56.970 to be coordinated. This was no small deal. 0:19:03.369 --> 0:19:05.879 The National Endowment for the Arts had at the time 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.350 a massive annual slush fund of over $ 200 million that 0:19:10.369 --> 0:19:12.590 it was supposed to distribute to the creative community to 0:19:12.650 --> 0:19:16.050 promote the arts in America, money that could go a 0:19:16.109 --> 0:19:20.389 long way in creating political messages. Obama appeared to be 0:19:20.470 --> 0:19:25.389 politicizing that federal agency, potentially making it into a propaganda 0:19:25.510 --> 0:19:28.330 arm to change the narrative on the healthcare debate he 0:19:28.369 --> 0:19:31.890 was losing. If we were right, what the White House 0:19:31.950 --> 0:19:34.020 was doing was potentially illegal. 0:19:37.890 --> 0:19:40.780 My article went live on Reason.com that day, and as 0:19:40.890 --> 0:19:43.700 anyone who's been published can understand, the very first time 0:19:43.740 --> 0:19:46.640 your words hit the public, it is thrilling. I mean, 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.050 besides college papers and press releases, we owned a publicity 0:19:50.090 --> 0:19:51.990 company at the time. I wasn't a writer. 0:19:52.230 --> 0:19:52.939 And I was not. 0:19:53.310 --> 0:19:53.790 An editor. 0:19:54.150 --> 0:19:56.810 Putting pen to paper wasn't our strong suit. I have 0:19:56.830 --> 0:19:59.340 a master's in applied physics, and I worked in aerospace 0:19:59.380 --> 0:20:02.000 designing components for military communication satellites. 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:03.820 And I had a background in the arts. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.139 Writing was something brand new to us. We wanted to 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.879 get as many eyeballs on the article as possible, so 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.240 I reached out to a website that could possibly promote it. 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.140 I heard about this site called Big Hollywood, better known 0:20:15.180 --> 0:20:18.359 today as Breitbart News. It appeared to publish articles about 0:20:18.380 --> 0:20:21.179 the entertainment industry, the arts, that kind of thing. And 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.040 it had a marquee section where it hosted off-site links 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.000 similar to the Drudge Report. So I found the submission 0:20:27.060 --> 0:20:29.090 email and sent a quick note with a link to 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.139 the article in hopes that they'd post it. I got 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.210 a response almost immediately from a guy named Andrew Breitbart 0:20:35.310 --> 0:20:38.929 with his cell number and a simple note saying, I 0:20:38.990 --> 0:20:41.110 gave him a ring and within minutes I'd felt like 0:20:41.150 --> 0:20:56.239 I'd known him for years. Andrew told me he was 0:20:56.300 --> 0:20:59.139 at some seminar about the Federalist Papers. He thought that 0:20:59.180 --> 0:21:00.960 if he was going to be talking about the Constitution, 0:21:01.350 --> 0:21:04.649 he felt like he better know everything about it. Andrew's 0:21:04.750 --> 0:21:07.550 energy was contagious. He seemed happy to have found me, 0:21:07.770 --> 0:21:09.930 and said as much in so many words. He told 0:21:09.970 --> 0:21:13.010 me he was part of an underground Hollywood community. Some 0:21:13.050 --> 0:21:15.770 posted on his site, and others were quietly part of 0:21:15.810 --> 0:21:18.790 a secret club. Andrew said he'd introduce me to everyone, 0:21:19.090 --> 0:21:20.850 and set me up with an account to publish on 0:21:20.890 --> 0:21:23.410 his site. You'll love it, he said. There's a lot 0:21:23.430 --> 0:21:26.020 of people like you. You're not alone. he assured me. 0:21:26.450 --> 0:21:28.840 We spoke for a while about our backgrounds, and then 0:21:28.900 --> 0:21:31.220 I told him what was on my mind, fishing for 0:21:31.260 --> 0:21:34.440 a specific response. I just got an invite to a 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.260 White House conference call, I told him. I'm thinking about 0:21:37.300 --> 0:21:41.000 calling in. You should record it, replied Andrew. That had 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.500 already crossed my mind, but hearing it come out of 0:21:43.540 --> 0:21:46.540 his mouth was the confirmation I was looking for. Andrew 0:21:46.580 --> 0:21:48.500 said he'd post a link to my article, and we 0:21:48.540 --> 0:21:50.940 promised to keep in touch. I got off the phone 0:21:50.980 --> 0:21:52.879 thinking he was right. I mean, the chance that the 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.340 White House was doing anything wrong was slim. But if 0:21:55.380 --> 0:21:57.320 they were, and I was going to write about an 0:21:57.380 --> 0:22:00.340 Obama program that was potentially against the law, I better 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.800 get every single quote right. Before we could even think 0:22:03.859 --> 0:22:09.899 about moving forward, though, we had to answer two questions. First, 0:22:10.330 --> 0:22:13.170 should we record the conference call? It was a decision 0:22:13.210 --> 0:22:16.629 that Adriana and I frankly agonized over. I had a 0:22:16.670 --> 0:22:19.550 government security clearance in the past and took these kinds 0:22:19.590 --> 0:22:23.470 of things seriously. After some deliberation and getting some counsel, 0:22:23.730 --> 0:22:25.770 we came to the conclusion that since press was going 0:22:25.790 --> 0:22:28.330 to be on the call, a fact announced on the invite, 0:22:28.609 --> 0:22:30.629 and the simple truth that it was being organized by 0:22:30.670 --> 0:22:33.420 a federal agency and the White House, there was no 0:22:33.540 --> 0:22:37.040 expectation of confidentiality. With a call of this nature, we 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:39.820 couldn't even reasonably expect that the White House, or any 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:42.919