WEBVTT - Part Four: Tzar Nicholas II Was A Real Dick 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.600 You know who else was over with star Nicholas the 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.520 Second Sophie. By the end of this episode, all of 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:13.760 the people in Russia, the people, they made their opinions 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.000 on him very clear. This is behind the bastards. The 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:21.599 podcast that is not particularly competently handled by me, but 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.400 is competently handled by my producer Sophie and our guest 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.840 on this beautiful, beautiful day, Jeff May Jeff, it's me. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.680 It's me. Aren't you people sick of me yet? No? No, 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.559 never get sick of you. And but you know who 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.160 I am kind of sick of as like Sophie said, 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:44.040 Nicholas the Second of Russia, Nicholas Romanov, ready for him 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.080 to be dead? Huh, we're all there will be a 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.720 four partner because you need to understand the position of 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.600 the Bolsheviks, who also were like kind of wish this 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.800 guy wasn't around anymore. Yeah, Like all we did is 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.680 just talk about him. Yeah, they had the living with 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:05.559 them for a long time. Yeah. So I think maybe 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.399 we can all understand why in this period after the 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.320 Russo Japanese War, increasing numbers of people are like, well, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.560 we probably had to kill that guy at some point. Huh. Yeah, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.240 he should no longer have hit. You know, he has 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.640 a fist that I would like to shoot in basement. 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.240 He is a man that they no longer should be 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:26.600 living and definitely not the ruling large country. Unfortunately for Russia, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.680 they would not get better at picking people to lead 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.280 large country. It's pretty much like it hasn't been downhill 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.160 since Nicholas, because as we've established he was he was terrible, 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.440 But it hasn't been uphill. It's just kind of been 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:43.200 like this flat plane of Russian history. Russian history is 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:48.560 a series of lateral moves. Really, it's it's one of 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:50.440 those things we could try to like you can try 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.640 to parse out who you think was like Worstan objective terms, 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.680 the ussr or Zist Russia. But it's like they we're 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.400 going from a good system to a bad system. They 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.640 were like going from all right, I've I've eaten a 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.320 lot of food out of his drunk dumpster filled with poop. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.480 Now I eat from trash. Can see if better? And 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.280 no it was not. It was not much better. You know. Um. 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.280 One of the joys of this episode for the listener, 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.959 Jeff is going to be hearing you do a much 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.320 better job of a Russian accent than I do. I 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.240 don't know. I always think I'm good at stuff and 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:22.840 then I hear it later and I'm like that sounds 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.720 like shit. Yeah, that is also somethings are Nicholas the 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.480 second probably could have identified with. I thought it was 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.519 a lot better at running Russia than I turned out 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.600 to be. I did not expect to have my head 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.799 get cut up. Who knows, you know, it's you win 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.440 some youel lose something. I mean, he kind of keeps 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.120 his head. Um, he just doesn't get to do anything 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.120 else with it past a certain point. So one thing 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.480 we didn't get to last time but should probably talk 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.320 about now is that is a part of his attempt 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.440 to put down the rebellion. Nicholas does give Russia a 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.160 constitution on October seventeenth, nineteen o five. So he cracks 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.480 down brutally, kills a shipload of people, um allows programs 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.120 to occur across the country. But he does be like, 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.360 all right, you get your duma, you know. He he 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.520 agrees that you get to have like the Russian people 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:14.200 get to have some representation government. Now all right, all right, fine, fine, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.600 we will let you speak after I shoot thousand w 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.239 you get to vote. Um, it is good trade, good 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.240 trade because he's the autocrat of Russia. In the documents 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.840 that like announced this constitution, it's framed as the czar 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.480 imposing civil rights on the people, like I am forcing 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.800 you to have rights. Now, you better believe you are 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.920 going to live rights. Um. But they do get a 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.640 bicameral parliament. One of the houses of parliament has like 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.520 pretty full representation of the people who get to vote 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.960 with kind of close to universal suffrage um. And the 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:51.880 other house is kind of like a House of lords. 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.200 Situation was a little bit less representation, but it's a 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:56.960 lot more than people had before. Like it is it's 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.160 one of those things on objective terms, Oh yeah, this 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.760 is a big move forward towards democracy in Russia and 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.960 towards like a more representative you know, social uh and 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.960 political system. Um. But Nicholas doesn't really take it seriously 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:14.680 because he doesn't think he should have had to do this, 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.000 Like he hasn't been convinced this is a good idea. 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.400 He just tried to bribe people with it. And he 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.640 spends the rest the next several years basically anytime things 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.200 happen that he doesn't like he dissolves the Duma UM, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.720 and he like makes there be elections for a new 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.920 one until he gets his way, and he's kind of 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.000 plotting to get rid of it from day one. He 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.719 is not he isn't bought in on this as a 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.800 good idea. Part of his comeback plan after the Civil 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.800 War and the horrible disaster um in fucking uh with 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.920 fighting Japan is to create a far right anti Semitic militia. UM. 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.400 He had kind of a far right anti Semitic militia 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.039 in the Black hundreds, but those were very organized. They 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.080 did a lot of economic damage to He wants to 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.360 do a better job, you know, he wants his proud boys. UM. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.680 I was gonna say. Yeah. Also, something that we have 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.960 seen similarly, it is uncomfortable how many of the things 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.719 in the story of Russia, the Czaris, Russia falling apart, 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.520 are like, all right, well that's not that, that's not 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.400 that unfamiliar. We had one of those like the other day. 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.800 Oh yeah, that's going on right now up in Canada. Okay. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.520 So this, this anti Semitic militia he forms is called 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.000 the Union of Russian People, and it was kind of 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:27.280 a political and respectable equivalent to the Black Hundreds. By 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.400 nineteen o six, it had three hundred thousand members. In 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.760 the wake of the Revolution, Nikki grew a lot more 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.720 anti Semitic, as did Alexandra, his wife, the Czarina. Simon 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:41.000 Montfior writes Nicholas's table talk was peppered with anti Jewish banter, 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.520 typical of many a European aristocrat of this era telling 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.400 his mother how a courtier amused us very much with 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.880 funny Jewish stories, wonderfully good at imitating Jews, and even 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.120 his face suddenly looks Jewish. That's pretty cringe. Yeah, that's 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.440 a that's one of those things where you're like, I 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.880 don't know, man, this is this is even beyond it's 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.039 the times. Yeah, we're like, yo's the time. But I 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.760 think even at this time people would be like, man, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.719 it's not no, he is and like again his he 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.640 A lot of his ministers are repeatedly like the the craze, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.520 the sex crazed rapist monk is like cool it with 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.320 the anti semitism. Maybe calm down a little bit. When 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.800 rest Boutin is like sitting you down, we need to 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.440 talk about some of the things you're saying. People are 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:29.240 starting to talk, you will not look um. Alexandra regularly 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.320 would talk about quote rotten vicious jews um. After like 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.520 someone would say the name of someone which sounded like 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:40.280 they might be Jewish, um, she would like call out whenever, 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:42.800 like so she would have all these arguments with her 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.800 husband about like the ministers say to do this, and 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.480 she doesn't like it because the ministers were usually saying, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.000 you need to give a little more power to the people, 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.599 you need to not be so anti semitic, YadA, YadA, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:53.960 and Alexander would be like, no, funk that you've got 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.680 to be powerful. Who said that? And he'll say someone's 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:58.440 name and she'll be like, oh, that's gotta be at 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.560 jew um, Like she's that kind of person. She sucks 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.560 too again Yeah, I was going to say, I think 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:06.640 you just say she sucks, yeah, because of her her 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.640 ending is so tragic and her children absolutely did not 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.960 deserve to be gunned down like that. Because of how 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.240 sad the end is. She gets this kind of rap 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.840 as being like maybe a little bit histrionic, but like 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:23.040 basically a sympathetic person and like she's trashed, terrible person. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:26.640 She's a really really bad human being. She's a bastard. Yeah, 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:32.520 she sucks really bad. Um. Yeah, and racism was kind 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.000 of it was not this is not as we're talking about. 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.160 This is not in line with things because Nicholas Jewish 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.080 people are. This isn't just like he learned some slurs 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.240 and like he goes back to some some jokes that 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.360 are kind of racy because he doesn't really think about it. 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.400 Jewish people represent modernity to him, um, and that's the 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.800 thing he hates more than anything, because modernity is the 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.280 enemy of czarist power. Um. He saw he would stay 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.560 say stuff like the Englishman is a yid um like, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.800 which is a slur against Jewish people, like to say that, 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.840 like yeah, really fucked up. And the reason he's saying 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.360 that is like, well, they're modern and they're successful and 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.680 they're they've they've they're not an autar like a monarchist 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:15.800 state in the same way that I am. Like people 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.800 have power, like they've they have modernized with the times 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.960 and mechanized and like that's gotta be Jewish influence because 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:24.880 that's the only reason people wouldn't want to live as 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.320 literal slaves to his are Um, he's just like out 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:31.320 of his mind, kind of which is what being a 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:32.839 king does to you. I think I was going to 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.560 go on kind of rude, Yeah, kind of, it's kind 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.160 of rude in December of nineteen o five and anti 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.080 Semitic forgery. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:46.040 we have done several episodes about bad book. I would 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.920 I would say, Um, this gets published by the Petersburg 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.720 Military District Press, probably under the orders of Nikolasha, that 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.920 guy who cut his dog in half. Um and wit 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.280 who's his prime minister. There's as prime minister discovers that 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.959 the Interior Ministry is printing up the Protocols of the 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.600 Elders of Zion and like sending them out all throughout 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.040 nineteen o five and nineteen at late nineteen and nineteen 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.040 o six during these programs, and when he reports this 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:16.319 to Nicholas writes quote, his Majesty was silent and appeared 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.480 familiar with all the details. So there's a lot of 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:21.640 people who will allege that the Protocols of the Elders 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.840 of Zion, which have a big role in the Holocaust, 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:25.760 and a bunch of like all of the programs that 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.640 occur in Russia during the Russian civil war was deliberately 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.199 directed by the art that he like approved it. It 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.560 was definitely again there's a lot of kind of debate 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.920 over the exact origin of it, but it was definitely 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.079 spread by his secret police um. In The Last Czar, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.600 author Edward Radzinski cites several people close to Nicholas the 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.000 Second who claimed that he did not create He did 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.360 not order the creation of the protocols, and he didn't 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.640 believe they were real. They were the result of a 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.319 secret police conspiracy within Russia. This like right wing conspiracy 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.400 that acted under the tsars no os Um. And in 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.440 this telling of events, this conspiracy was actually angry at 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.720 Nicholas because he didn't buy into the protocols of the 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.520 Elders of zion Um and he refused to back as 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.160 much violence as they wanted. I think this is kind 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.679 of a lie, and I'll tell you why. Because when 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:17.959 Nicholas gets kicked out of office and he's sitting it 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.640 alone in like a safe house with his family, one 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:22.640 of the things he reads his daughters and son is 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.760 the protocols of the Elders of zion Um. So even 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:28.920 if he didn't sign off on it, it's not exactly 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.079 like he's like, yeah, don't listen to it. I will 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.720 say I don't think he signed off on it specifically, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.000 and I don't think he ordered its creation. And the 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.120 reason why is because that was a very competent job 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.880 that did a lot of damage and was successful, and 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:44.560 I don't think Nicholas could have been a part of 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.960 something successful. Is that a deleted scene from Anesthesia? Yeah, 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.160 where he helps spread the protoct where his his soldiers 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.199 spread the protocols of the elders of his zion to 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.360 cartoon bat Yeah where where while rest butan is like, 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:00.960 I don't know, man, it kind of seems like a 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.080 little like that might buy you a NYS. Yeah, the 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.079 bad guy breaks the fourth wall. We don't actually believe 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:13.520 these Disney if it was a Disney movie instead of uh, 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.319 I forget the company. I thought it was Disney until 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.000 this exact second. Yeah, many people do. But if it 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.680 was a Disney movie, that scene would have been in it. Yeah, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.880 um yes, and that would have been most of the movie. Yeah, 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.600 resputing would have been the villain, but for a different reason. Yeah, 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:32.920 that's the That would have been the thesis statement of 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.080 the movies. Um. So, by the end of nineteen o six, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.880 the royal couple had already met with rescput and twice 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.560 he gets introduced by nikolasha Um and they meet him 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.280 the first couple of times at like functions with other nobles, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.720 because again he's kind of this like cult leaders slash curiosity. 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.840 So if you're having a party, yeah, bring Resputant because 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.160 he's he's both this healer and this mystic, but he's 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.959 also a peasant um and noble people are like fast 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.680 needed by peasants. There's a lot of like idolization of 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.880 of of peasants. There's this ideal of the peasants is 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.120 like this noble like salt of the earth, the soul 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.200 of Russia, and they have this sacred bond with the Romanovs, 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.880 that this this beautiful and like almost religious thing that 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.320 the Romanovs believe in, that they have this like psychic 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.040 connection to the peasantry, and all of the nobles feel 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.679 this way. It's not that different from how a lot 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.680 of multimillionaire conservative thought leaders like Ben Shapiro will like 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.560 pose with their f one fifties and cowboy hats, even 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.320 though it's like Ben, you've never needed a truck, You've 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.520 never needed a truck. Not once in your life. Are 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:42.400 you helping move? Yeah, And you've never needed a hat. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.320 You don't go outside that often. And also that hat 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.400 looks like it's a twenty gallon hat on your head. 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.560 But you know it's like Ronald Reagan going to his 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.760 ranch or George Bush going to and like I'm gonna 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.680 chop some firewood, you know, I'm gonna put up a 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.000 fence or whatever. Like it's I will say this. At 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.920 least with Bush, he grew up ranching. He had more 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.240 experience with it than but a lot of these guys do. 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:09.280 And there's this idea that like this connects me to 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.880 the regular people. And it's kind of like how nowadays, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.559 if you're kind of a right wing political leader, you're 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:17.600 gonna want a lot of appearances where you're gonna like 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.880 sit down with farmers and truckers and you can be 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.120 like seen with them or like a minor blue collar 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.880 It's it's blue collar tokenism, is what it is. And 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.840 there's a peasant tokenism within the upper crap class in Russia. 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.480 But also they're all too scared to meet with real 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.040 peasants because sometimes peasants like revolt and stuff and they're gross. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:42.360 I mean, you know, for whatever reason, obviously occasionally I 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.000 don't go to go to a bar in any in 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:49.320 your hometown. Yeah. Just go to any bar, not the 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.280 night before Thanksgiving in your hometown and just take a 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.760 look around. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's what these people 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.720 don't want to do. So they want that connection with 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:01.760 the essence, but they don't want to like sit at 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.760 a sports bar at eleven thirty on November five and 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.240 like here the kinds of things people say at sports bars. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.520 Let me tell you, I've been I've gone in my 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.320 fair share of Boston bars to watch like Patriots games 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.679 or something and been like I'm sorry, what was that? 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.560 You think we've heard some anti semitism today, dude, the 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.440 amount of times you can hear like the phrase like 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.800 one of the good ones, like well, I'm sorry, what 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.720 was that? So this is I mean, Resputant is kind 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.640 of this token peasant who the nobles. He shows up 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.560 at these and that, and that's how the Romanovs meet him, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.960 is like look at this. He's both this mystic and 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.160 this healer, and he's also this peasant who represents this 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:42.120 this sacred connection that we we Romanovs justify our rule 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.600 by um. So they meet him a couple of times, 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:46.880 but the first really close meeting they have is in 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.120 October of nineteen o six when Resputant telegrams them. So 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.600 you can tell already even before he's in good with 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.360 the family, he's he's savvy enough and is like made 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.800 enough of a connection at these parties that like he 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.640 can telegram this arena directly. It's like having a cell 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.920 phone in the eighties, Yeah, exactly, Like what do you do? 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.200 If Resputin had been in the eighties, he would have 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.640 had a massive car phone and he would have done 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.840 I'm gonna guess his body weight and cocaine every forty 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.800 eight hours. He would have been an entire season of 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.280 Miami Vice. Yeah, and it would have he would have 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.400 died in a shootout with somebody. Um yeah, yeah, there's 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.840 a zero percent chance he does not die in a 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:30.600 swimming pool, like he absolutely machine gunned by the whichever 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:36.640 cartel isn't sponsoring us. Um yeah, So rest Mutant telegrams 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.520 the Zarnz arena and says like, Hey, I'm coming into 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.800 town and I have a sacred icon for you. Right. Basically, 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.440 it's kind of like a picture of a saint in 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.600 like precious metals and stuff icons generally in the Orthodox religion, 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.360 or just shitty paintings because you weren't supposed to make anything. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.480 Look yeah, yeah, yes, that would be that would be idolatry. 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.760 He's got this shitty painting. He wants to give it 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.200 to them, um, and they're like okay, so they agree 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.640 to see him. And when he arrives, it just so 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.440 happens that Alexei has, like the czar son has like 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:08.600 hurt himself and his bleeding. And this happens a bunch 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.000 like he'll he'll like walk into a door knob or 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.080 some ship and then he'll bleed for seventeen days. You 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.840 see him like folding up his pocket knife and putting 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:22.560 it away. Something happened. So Resputon comes in and he 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.800 sees that Alexei's bleeding um, and he sees how scared 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.160 the Romanovs are for their son, uh. And he talks 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.200 with them for more than an hour and they take 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.440 him into the nursery to pray over Alexei. And this visit, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.360 everything he says during it leaves this profound impression on 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.040 the r and Zarny they find him very comforting, and 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.040 from this moment on, Restputant is increasingly difficult to separate 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.680 from the royal family. The Czar will say to his ministers, 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.880 who get disturbed by the fact that, like Number one, 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.320 it's a state secret that their son has hemophelia. People 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.880 can't know that. But this, this dude who just like 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.480 who will He'll spend a day with the royal family 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.040 and then he'll go drinking and whoring in St. Petersburg 0:16:58.400 --> 0:16:59.960 and his ministers will be like, this is a problem. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.440 You gotta you gotta get rid of this guy, and 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.640 these are will be like, look, I will deal with 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.920 like any number of outrages caused by this dude doing 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.400 whatever he wants to do if he can stop one 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.520 like hysterical fit that my wife has. I mean, who 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.840 among us? Am I right? I mean? What? Seriously? Like? 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.959 I not even like I have. I have both been 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.280 the person in a relationship with fucking PTSD and been 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.520 in a relationship with somebody with PTSD. And man, if 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:30.800 if there was just a dude I could call and 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.040 he would stop one or both of us from losing 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.560 our minds for the better part of a day. Um, yeah, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.159 I probably would have told that dude some ship, you know, 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:46.520 like yeah, man, I mean the the wife whisper and 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.280 just fix the problem. It's both because it's not just 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:51.800 he's able to calm down to the tsar arena. I 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:53.800 think he is able to calm down the tsar. Again. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.320 These are for all their faults. People who really love 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.520 their kid, and their kid is like they have their 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.960 traumatized by this, like being your son several times a 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.160 year nearly bleed to death, Like is a trauma that's 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.200 going to like damage you. And it's it's also should 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.240 be reminded that reciput and is is charming. Yeah he's 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.760 good at this. Yeah yeah, like you know, he's got 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.240 a silver tongue. There's a reason he finds himself in 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:21.040 the situations he is. He's smart, he's charming. He fuss 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:26.040 that crazy and it's it's also like people shouldn't take 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:27.720 this he is. I think he is a grifter. I 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.600 think he knows there's an extent to which he's a 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:34.160 con man um. But I also think he recognizes that, like, well, 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.120 sometimes it is a good thing just to be able 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.520 to calm people down when they're freaking out, especially like 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:40.879 sick and scared children and like their moms. And I 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.800 can see how this guy could be like, well, actually 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.639 I'm doing a good thing here, Like these people are 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.159 are need me um, and they kind of do. Like 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.840 that's the thing he's not. He is a grifter. He's 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.480 not grifting them. They're really getting value out of this. 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:57.639 He is in a lot of ways. A lot of 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.480 people say, for this arena, he's like a therapist um, 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.440 which don't exist at that point in time. And that's 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:07.439 the closest thing. Yeah, is the Russian the turn of 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.520 the century version of Ms. Cleo. Yeah, And he's he's also, 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.919 it's worth noting, not really that bad an influence on 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.080 the Czar and Zarina. He will later on give them 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.080 some really stupid advice, but like he's they the Czar 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.800 comes up with worse advice on his own for himself, 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:24.600 you know, Like this is not a man who was 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:29.000 making great decisions consistently before Rasputin. So one of the 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:30.840 things he's able to do is he's really able to 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.119 like calm down Alexei. They noticed that Alexei seems to 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.600 recover more quickly um from his bleeding episodes when Rasputin 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.359 is around Um and he's he's he's great with the 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.679 daughters to like, they all love him, they'll talk to him, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.560 they can fight in him. He brings them gifts. Um 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.879 Montfior Sebastia or Simon Montfior notes that Grigory Resputin had 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.320 a way of quote making even Tzars feel they were 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.159 privileged to be in his company. And from what I 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.080 can tell, the way he did this with Nicholas was 0:19:58.119 --> 0:19:59.920 by playing on the fact that the Romanovs have this 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.480 belief in like the sacred union of Czar and the peasants. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.520 This is the center of Nikki's concept of the universe. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.200 The fact that Um like this is the center of 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.320 Nikki's concept of the universe, that he has this bond 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.399 with the peasants, but also the government that he runs 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.639 spends billions a year making sure that he's never in 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.680 direct contact with the peasants. So getting to spend time 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.200 with rest mutant, who he would regularly call a real 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:24.520 Russian peasant, that's how he would introduce him to other 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.400 rich people was like he said, like he's a transformer 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:32.720 or something. Yeah, yeah, we got a real peasant here. Um. 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.879 This is intoxicating to him because because rest mutants like, 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:38.160 of course I have a mystical connection with you, mis 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.199 are of course like I and every other peasant, we 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.640