Kind: captions
Language: en
Trump announces a new trade deal with
the UK. Besson dodges congressional
attacks on his way to meet China in
Switzerland. India retaliates against
Pakistan with Operation Synindor.
Culture continues its horrifying
anti-Semitic slide as Yay drops his
latest song. And the day Portoi Mo
fiasco continues to unfold. And the US
gets a fresh chance at establishing AI
dominance as they rewrite regulations
around chip exports. All right, first up
in the economy, the deal with the UK is
potentially something pretty big. The UK
is the sixth largest economy in the
world and our fourth largest export
partner. And the new market access that
this trade deal would offer uh takes us
up by $5 billion in US potential
exports. We'll see how much of that we
actually capture. $6 billion are to be
generated in tariff revenue from the UK
on their imports. And UK tariffs were at
5.1%, they are now at 1.8%, so opening
things up more to US trade. And US
tariffs were at 3.4% and are now at 10%.
So Trump feeling like he got a big win
there. Started at 10%, ended at 10% in
terms of post liberation day. Uh Lutnik
gave a ton of praise to Trump for being
a dealmaker who actually gets things
done. Though if I'm really honest, the
way that everybody talks to Trump gives
me the heebie-jebies. Uh it is always
this sense of oh we never would have
gotten anything done if it weren't for
Trump. And I cannot figure out if this
is just how people talk to presidents. I
don't think so. Uh or if this is a you
learn how to uh deal with Trump. No
matter what it is, I am not the biggest
fan. I think the the awesome thing about
this is the saving face. I remember you
said a bunch that when it comes to trade
deals, half the time politicians are
going to politic. So Kier Starman went
live in front of the whole labor force
in the UK and had a whole gang of people
behind him like, "Yes, this is good.
we're bringing steel back to the UK.
This is not going to uh impact us.
Howard Lucknit was talking to the um
reporters saying, "We started at 10%, we
ended at 10%." So, it seemed like each
side had something they could go back to
their constituents and say, "See, I'll
fall for you and I won." Like, so it
seemed like it was a net positive. It is
certainly important like from an
entrepreneurial standpoint, if you're
negotiating something, you very much
want to put yourself in the other
person's shoes and go, who are they
going to have to explain this to?
They're going to have to go home to
their wife and sound like a hero. So,
what are the things you're going to give
them that allow them to have a story
that's very compelling to their people?
We'll see if Trump can pull that off. It
was very fascinating to watch him with
Canada and Mark Carney and how different
he was uh when he was saying that Canada
is a 51st state and just like constantly
trolling those guys. And then when Mark
Carney was actually in the Oval Office,
he was very diplomatic. He was very
presidential. Um, and I thought that
that was very that was wise. I hated the
way that he was talking to Canada. And I
think he's pretty credibly the reason
that um the Liberal Party ended up
winning again was just he was making the
people of Canada feel like they had no
story that they could go back to their
proverbial wife and be like, "Yo, we're
the cool kids." He was constantly making
out like they were, you know, our little
brother and that they didn't have their
own identity. It was just really, in my
opinion, ridiculous. So seeing the way
that he's navigated the deal with the UK
where each of them get to say hey like
we're in a great place this feels good.
And honestly, in the meeting there was
in the Oval Office, you didn't have Kira
Star Dharma, but in the Oval Office, you
had one of his um I presume one of their
secretaries or to be honest, I don't
know what they're called in UK
parliament, but um somebody who was on
the negotiating team for the UK side and
he was ausive in his praise and it
didn't feel like when Lutnik does it, it
doesn't feel genuine. It feels like
somebody who's trying to position Trump
and trying to make Trump look good.
Yeah. like to do the thing he
knows. Like I very much doubt Trump ever
says, "Make sure you give me credit, but
people are obviously getting the cues
that this is the way that you stay on
his good side." And so so many of them
do it. But anyway, it didn't feel like
that's what the guy from the UK was
doing. It really felt like he thought,
"Hey, we got a good deal out of this and
this is historic." So there's things
that clearly the UK cared about that
Trump was able to give them such that
they would be able to if he's acting it
was very convincing that they would be
able to portray this as no we actually
feel really good about this. So even if
there are is now a 10% um tariff
literally barrier that we've put on the
UK, they've gotten something that they
feel good about that they can go message
back home. And that is a good sign. I
don't know that it's as big of a deal as
Trump is going to want you to believe
this is. If you step back from this and
try to get outside of the spin, get
outside of the politics of it all, you
remember the only game that matters is
China. Yeah, that's it. Everything
that's happening right now is about
China. I want to get to China for a
second, but really quick, just outlining
the trade deal. We have it pulled up on
the screen. It seems like this is a win
with the we're bringing tar our tar UK's
tariff against us is coming down. Our
tariffs against them actually went up.
So to me, I know China is the big game
and that's a big fish in town, but UK is
our fourth biggest trade partner. This
does seem like a layup on the way to
winning the game. Like this is what this
is a step in the positive direction. I
know there's going to be a bunch of spin
about how this trade deal isn't that
good or we're missing something else,
but from a net positive, do you think
that this was personally worth the chaos
that was caused on there or we still
have to see if this is all you got out
of it? No, this would absolutely not be
worth the chaos. That if this is the
only basket they make, then this whole
thing was madness and this guy is a mad
man and he knows nothing about what he's
doing and oh dear Jesus, get him out.
Like, but uh it is way too early to
assume that. Now, I'm admittedly, thank
you. I'm being a little cynical in
immediately going to well, but like this
isn't the big one that we're waiting for
and really what we want to focus on is
Europe. So, thank you. Yes, this is a
great brick on the path to success.
Thousand we need to leave. The UK is an
important partner. Um, Besson has been
very articulate. We have 18 key
partners. China obviously we're going to
set to the side for now. That leaves 17
people. The 17 of them have come and
said, "Here are these great deals.
According to Bessant, they're good
deals." And so Bessant feels like he's
got a lot to work with with the 17
remaining important partners that we
have. And hey, we got a deal that the UK
seems happy with. We're happy with, like
you said, on paper. Hey, like this is
reasonable. This is a good deal. Even if
it's not like something to do a backflip
over, this certainly is not going to
change Americans lives in any way,
shape, or form. And if you traded
everything that we just did with China
just for this, that'd be a terrible
position. But hey, one at a time. This
is one of the 17. Cool. It's positive.
And if all the rest are equally
positive, now you're starting to move in
the right direction, but largely for a
different reason than just the math. And
that reason to me is you have to isolate
China. The game that you're playing
right now is who's going to be able to
get everybody on their team. And this is
that Jerry Magcguire moment. And if when
Jerry Magcguire stands up and says, "I'm
out of here. Who's coming with me?"
Everybody gets up and walks out with
him. That's gangster. Movie over. like
he did it. He got everybody on his team.
But if on the other hand, all we get is
Bridget Jones who follows him out the
door uh the UK literally um and
everybody else groups up with China,
we'd be in a very very dark position.
So, okay. So, with Scott Bessent headed
to Switzerland um allegedly to talk to
China this weekend, do you think that
this is something that they're kind of
putting in their back pocket to help
shape the negotiations a little bit?
like is this at least giving them is the
wind behind our back or do you think
it's closer behind China's back? I think
both of them are going to say that they
have the win behind their back but just
like everybody thinks God is on their
side and God can't be on everybody's
side. Uh somebody is going to win and
somebody's going to lose. There's my
estimation I'll plant the flag and if I
end up being wrong, great. I'll update
my thinking. But the way that I see this
now is there's no way any kind of
meaningful announcement comes out of the
meeting in Switzerland. the meeting in
Switzerland is going to be something
like hey we should talk and that's
better that is a big step in the right
direction given before it was you can
have any kind of war that you want uh
you guys have to bow before us both
sides saying no the other side has to
bow the other side has to bow so that
was not going anywhere fast so
definitely encouraging that hey oh we're
both going to be in Switzerland I was in
the neighborhood bro uh that at least
they're getting together they're having
a conversation that will be positive But
both of them are going to go, I want to
see how many people I can get on my
side, and it's too early. So, um,
certainly as an outsider, I have no
sense of where's Europe going to fall in
all of this, where's Japan going to fall
in this, where's South Korea going to
fall in all of this. If we can start
plucking off like the two that I'm
really watching are Europe as a block,
just because they're so massive, like
the EU itself. Exactly. And
historically, we've had such a strong
tie with Europe. Um, that would be a big
win. also your and I's favorite uh
Chinese government account,
MFA_China. Uh they are clearly sending
love letters to the EU over and over and
over via X. Um so they're obviously
courting Europard, so it's going to be a
real litmus test of which way they
bounce. Do they move as a block? Do they
break up individually? Do we get some?
They get some. Um, so I have a feeling
the US and China are both going to say I
need to see who falls in my side before
I'm willing to agree to anything. Um, I
think China has a lot of money they can
print before they're in the same boat
that we're in. So I have a feeling they
can absorb.
Where does that come from? Like they
have a higher GDP to debt ratio. Like
where do you Yeah, exactly. So they're
um they just haven't in recent years
they haven't had to print as much money
as we have. So now we can export our um
money printing, our inflation to the
world in a way that they can't. Um but I
while I haven't done a super deep dive
on that at the headline level, it it
really does feel like they still have
more dry powder than we have. If we will
do prints, there's no doubt about that.
But um if we had to do like COVID style
printing right now, I think it'd get
pretty dicey very very fast. Uh and I
have a feeling admittedly it is a
feeling gut feeling uh at the headline
level that they have that kind of dry
powder that they just have more dollars
that or not dollars but yuan that they
can print. So and they do have that like
trump card, the uno draw for card that
they could just press the communist
button if they really want to and just
like okay now we're all doing this and
this is the new policy and that's it.
Yeah. Sorry you're losing your business.
You're going hungry. Uh tanks are
rolling out in your neighborhood cuz we
don't like how much you're protesting. I
mean, let us not forget Tianaan Square
where it was like, "Okay, we've had
enough protesting and we literally are
shooting you in the face." So, um, yeah,
they they are willing to play cards that
we are not willing to play. Now, I don't
think Xihinping is like would ever do
that casually. Like, it really has to
get dramatic. Um, but I believe he would
do that long before he would just give
up control. So, uh, we'll see. It'll all
play out. I don't I don't have any
credible reason to believe that China is
anywhere near that. You're going to
start hearing a lot of noises about no,
their economy is a lot weaker than they
want it to be. I don't know, man. Again,
I'm being spun to high heaven at all
times. Uh so I I tend to think that this
will be a period of pain for both the US
and China. I don't think it's a slam
dunk on either side. The US is obviously
gonna try to get you to believe this
slam dunk on the US. And Besson says
what and and I believe that this is
true. I just think he's not giving the
full picture which is that whenever you
have this kind of trade war, whoever
exports less will be hurt less by an
embargo. So, and that's true and China
exports roughly four times more to us
than we do to them. So, it's going to be
more painful for them. Uh but like you
said, some of this gets balanced out by
the fact that they can just say um no
companies, you are going to keep paying
your employees a minimum amount. Uh
employees, you are not going to get new
work somewhere else. You're just not
going to do it. Things that we can't do
on our side. So they have different
shock absorbers than we have. We have
some as well. Um
so there is going to be a resolution,
but I don't think it's a slam dunk in
either direction. What's the best case
scenario with this trade war? Oo. Uh,
best case scenario from an American
standpoint is that you get China to stop
being a currency manipulator because
basically the US position is really
pretty simple. Uh, China has been able
to artificially create an environment
where they win and everybody else loses.
Now, because we get cheap things from
them, we think, what do you mean we're
win-winwinning? Let me explain why. Uh,
that's not true. So, China is able to
through communist tactics suppress the
wages to their workers so they keep
costs artificially low because they're
willing to do things like um on the
Foxcon building they just put up nets so
people can't commit suicide. Imagine
that. Like imagine that in the US like
no way. It's just not going to happen.
People are just not going to work. But
when you're forced um then it's like
well the only thing you can do is
literally make it impossible for people
to kill themselves. Once you have to
start doing that like if impact theory
had to put up nets to keep people from
killing themselves we are doing
something very wrong. Uh so you would
put them in a position where they can no
longer manipulate their currency. They
can no longer um artificially suppress
wages. They can no longer use the IMF
and the World Bank to get a most favored
nation's treatment as if they were a
developing nation and not arguably the
biggest economy in the world. I get that
that's a controversial statement. If
you're in China, that's self-evident. If
you're in America, it's like, hey, wait
a second. It's not true. And that spin
they're up here. Yeah. Whether we're
exactly the same, whether they're a
little ahead, a little behind becomes
pretty irrelevant pretty fast. We're in
the same batting. Exactly. We're we're
in the same league. So, um, you would
eliminate all of those artificial
advantages that they have created for
themselves and you would stop them from
dumping because they've built up so much
capacity. They can output goods so
cheaply. it becomes absolutely
impossible for anybody who's focused on
low prices, which of course everybody in
the world is, uh, from ever being able
to get an industry going inside of their
own country because your own countrymen,
Americans are going to look at you
sideways and be like, why would I buy a
flat screen made in America when it's
more expensive? That doesn't make any
sense. Like, I want the cheap one. And
so, given that, uh, especially in the
West, we say we want people to pursue
that free market. So, um, I'm not going
to say that Trump is trying to create
something fair because I think Trump is
is using chaos, is using the 800 lb
gorilla status to get what's good for
America. So, let me not overstate what's
happening here. Um, but clearly from
where I'm sitting, China is doing things
to advantage themselves that all of us
would go, "That's pretty icky." And if
we were doing it, the world would be
very pissed off.
So eliminating all of those uh tariffs,
eliminating the non-tariff trade
barriers, doing all of that. So now we
can actually compete and if we can't
make better things, then fine, forget
it. Like we couldn't make it as well as
them and we deserve to lose quite
frankly. Uh but if we can be on a
playing field where we can now actually
compete, that's important. now where I
literally don't care if we artificially
uh move things in our direction so that
now we're doing the very things I'm
saying they should stop doing. There are
certain key um elements of manufacturing
that we have to have in the US. Uh we
can't lose the AI war. So anything tied
to that, China can't be in a position to
choke you out. And by the way, I
completely understand why China would
say we can't be in a position where
America can choke us out. And we have
been depriving them of AI oxygen for a
very long time. So I get why they would
want to fight back against that. But
we've got to get out from under that
drones. Dude, modern warfare is chips
and drones. And right now drones, the
entire supply chain is controlled by
China. So even if you're designing it
here, your supply chain is almost
certainly going through uh China, the
um refining of rare earth minerals,
which again your whole modern way of
life is tied to that. So we can get the
minerals now conceivably from the deal
that we just struck with Ukraine, but we
can't refine them. 95% of that still
happening in China. So there are things
like that, pharmaceuticals, there are
things that if we do not wean oursel off
of dependence from China, they can choke
you out. We are sorry it just is true.
We are in some stage of Thusidity's trap
with China right now where we are headed
toward we're in economic warfare and
escalation to kinetic warfare is very
much on the table and if the way to
guarantee that it continues to escalate
is to not prepare yourself for it
because you look like the weakened enemy
that's easy to take out. So you've got
to build up your might on that side. So
says me, I get I'm very grateful that
there are other people that think
through this problem and come to a
different conclusion and will push their
ideas as hard as I push mine. Longtime
listeners will know that I'm very
consistent on that. I want to be
convincing without necessarily
convincing everybody. You you need
tension between ideas. Um but that is
the rough ballpark of what perfection
would look like from our side. And then
how do we navigate this moment? cuz this
is like you said one of 18 potential
trade deals that we need to make. We're
going to hear this was a slam dunk. Next
week we're going to hear this is the
worst deal ever. Tomorrow somebody's
going to give you a thousand reasons why
this UK deal is bad for America. When
will the dust actually clear and when
will we be can decide okay this was a
net positive or a net negative for us?
So, think of this like a boxing match.
And in the boxing match, you have a
bunch of rounds. And at some point, some
rounds are too close to call. You're not
sure who did that go to. But you can
reach a point where it's like there are
so many rounds I know you lost or I know
you won that barring a knockout, the
outcome of this fight is guaranteed. So,
he's got until about 6 months before
midterms to clock those rounds and to
either get ahead or to know, uhoh, I've
lost so many of these. The only way that
I can win now is with a knockout. So,
for instance, if he's doing all this and
the 17 it's like, okay, yeah, like
there's no clear winner from like did
Europe side more with us or more with
them and we're all looking at the data
and we're like, I'm not sure, man. Some
of this stuff seems a little bit
confusing. So, it's pushed out into the
future. Like, they did a PR release
where they're trying to make this sound
good, but I'm looking at it, I'm like,
this is not obviously good. So, the odds
of us ending up somewhere in that gray
area, I think are pretty high. And so,
coming into that period where people are
going to start campaigning in earnest
for the midterms, he's going to need
something either very clear like 14 of
the 17 people like sided with us and the
deals are obviously good. We're already
starting to yield benefits. We're
exporting more. We've already clocked
millions of dollars in tariffs. Uh we've
already clocked millions bill, excuse
me, billions in tariffs, billions more
in exports. Cool. We can see the wins.
It's on the scoreboard.
Otherwise, your deal with China has to
be dope. And if your deal with China is
not awesome and it's not done by the
time people start campaigning for
midterms, he's he's just lost too many
rounds to pull it off. And so, um, it'll
be nearly impossible to call until that
period because presumably he'll always
have China in his back pocket. As in, we
could still get it across the finish
line. So, it's like when you watch the
fighter go into that last round and the
guy in his corner is like, "You have
lost too many rounds. If you do not
submit or knock them out, I'm now in
MMA. If you don't submit or knock them
out, you're going to lose." Um, and then
we see what he does. So ultimately the
the whole game is China. China is the
submission or the knockout. He could
literally lose all 17 and get China
right and still win.
Um I hope it doesn't come to that and I
hope that this is good all along the way
and this is easy to see and hey it's all
starting to play out well. I don't
necessarily expect I don't expect that
to end the Kabuki theater of politics
where no matter what he does people are
going to be against him. Um, but that's
politics. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought
that up because speaking of Kabuki
Theater, Scott Bessant went up against a
House financial international financial
committee and had to testify get it. He
was really defending Doge, which was
interesting. Um, but this was one spicy
exchange that stood out to us with him
and uh, Rep. Maxine Waters.
Mr. Secretary, did all the individuals
working with Doge who were given access
to treasuries and CFPB's computer
databases receive all of the required
clearances and security training before
they were granted access?
Again, they were granted read only
access at Treasury. Uh there were two
So, let me just say employees, please.
You can't filibuster here. This is not
the filibuster playground. And so what
you did was you let these strangers into
our treasury with access to all of the
data, all of the personnel information,
and you just open the door. Why'd you do
that? Uh, no, ma'am. The they were
Treasury employees. Oh, are you saying
today in front of this committee that
all of them were Treasury employees?
that the 25 year old who's being
identified who worked for Elon Musk was
not allowed was allowed into the
treasury was that person there that he
was a Treasury employee as was Tom
Krauss the senior person on the Doge
team. There were only two people. There
were Doge employees also. Sorry. Do you
know? Were you aware that there were
Doge employees coming into our treasury
getting all of our personal information?
Ma'am, there is no such thing as a Doge
employee. There were Treasury employees.
I I I tend to disagree with you based on
the information I have. Has information
any information been downloaded by
anyone working with Doge from any of
Treasuries or CFPB's computers? Answer,
yes or no? Not to my knowledge. You
better learn. And gentlemen, I know
politics is theater.
Um, where do you think people stand with
this Doge thingy? Because I I know Elon
can promise the moon and sometimes
deliver a couple pebbles. So, a trillion
in cuts is now looking like 150 asterric
maybe. Um, but isn't more efficiency a
net win? What do you think the the
culture is is responding so negatively
against it? We'll get back to the show
in a moment, but first, I've got an
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now, let's get back to the show. I have
a violent allergic reaction to the way
that people respond to Doge
philosophically. Um, everyone everyone
in the US government should want there
to be audits of every single dollar
that's spent to show due respect to the
taxpayers. You've got people that work
their asses off day in and day out
paying taxes. Forget about the
billionaires. I get it. Nobody's going
to feel any sympathy for them. But dude,
everybody over a certain threshold, but
the vast majority of people in America
pay taxes. And if you're not going to be
efficient with the money that you take
from them, that is grotesque. So they're
acting like the act of an audit is
immoral in and of itself. And I'm like,
there is an entire department called the
Internal Revenue Service that all it
does day in and day out is audit how
people spend their own money, what they
make, what they owe the government. And
if they think that you've miscounted in
any way, shape, or form, they are coming
for you. And they don't care what it
costs you to go in and deal with that
audit, you are going to get audited. And
all of a sudden, it's like the
government is, hey, I better get mine.
So I can It is a grotesque grotesque
immoral and it happens on both sides.
Both sides do this ridiculous Kabuki
theater where they are constantly trying
to get gotchas. But on the Doge
specifically, they should all be like,
"Dude, this is amazing." If you've got
procedural beef, point out what your
beef is, but like you said, they're
Treasury employees. Doge is like a
recommendation crew, but obviously if
they're going to bring somebody into a
department, they're gonna make them a
temporary employee of that department
and have them do the thing. That's just
not the place to get the gotchas. And
then this obsession with they're only
25. Einstein was 24 when he came up with
the breakthroughs that gave us nuclear
weapons. So, it's like you don't have to
be in your 30s or 40s to be smart enough
to figure out whether um there is a way
to make the systems more efficient to
help us save money. I I again, it's just
political theater. Everyone is guilty of
political theater. The one around
efficiency though admittedly really
winds me up. Like this drives me crazy.
Okay, but there is a he is accessing
personal information. these 25 year
olds, these unvetted employees. Is there
a security risk at the very minimum that
these guys are coming in and looking at
financial payments, how we're spending
money? Sure. I mean, anybody could take
something out, but I can pretty much
guarantee you if you do a litany of
fraud, abuse, uh, in terms of people
gaining access to the system, it's not
going to be, oh, because they work for
Doge or because they're young. It's
going to be somebody is a they have poor
character. They are trying to enrich
themselves at the cost of everybody
else. And so if you have reason to
believe that one of these kids is
actually doing something with the data,
like they're scamming it and they're
selling it or whatever they're being
accused, then pursue them. Like report
it to the Department of Justice. The
Department of Justice runs an
investigation. We find out if it's
actually true. But I have a feeling that
these kids, I keep calling them kids,
these guys know the level of scrutiny
that they're under. These are people
that are so bright and so techsavvy,
they could be making gaggles of money
anywhere else. And they are doing this
partly because they want to help Elon,
which is wise. If like you're trying to
make your way in the world of
technology, having um a chance to
impress Elon is a very smart way to go
about it. But I also like to believe
they really just want to make the
government more efficient because it's
good for them and if they plan to have
kids it's good for their kids. Um so
this is one where man hold your
firepower for something where
ideologically you disagree like at a
values level you think this is crazy.
Not where it's like do you want the
government the money that the government
collects to be spent to the highest most
efficient use for the American people?
Yes or no? every single one of them is
going to say yes. And so it's like,
cool. Then if you have an idea that is
better than the way that they're doing
it, then put it forward. And I don't see
why they wouldn't take it. But if it's
just all this like harping on about
they're young, they can see
things. Dude, I guarantee these people
take their credit card to the dumbest
places without using a VPN and they
don't think twice about it. They'll surf
the internet without a VPN. like it's
crazy. So, they're worried about it now
because it's politically um useful to be
worried about it. What's the why should
we want Doge to win? You said something
that like it's going to be better for
them and better for their kids. How is
Doge being successful better for our
kids? Okay, so uh the government doesn't
make anything. The government takes from
everybody else who does make money. Um I
I'll try to do this in a nutshell really
fast. If people could understand the
following thing as a miracle, they would
understand why you should be very
suspicious of how much the government
takes in
tax. People make money because they're a
part of a chain where people can take
inputs uh car parts and by having
created a system for the design of the
car, the way you put them together, the
dealerships, all of it, the whole string
of how these things come into the world
and get sold, they're able to create
something on the end where people go,
"Oh my god, I would rather give you the
whatever
$22,000 to have that are than to have to
like try to go make it myself. Like
that's just so impossible.
And so they manage to take inputs that
output something that's worth more than
the actual inputs themselves. It is so
hard to do that. And if you don't
believe me, try to start a company. Over
90% of all companies ever fail. and
you're taxing the people that are
working for the companies that have
managed to do this miracle. But
somewhere along the way, we started
thinking of people that build successful
companies as greedy capitalists, not as
people that pull off a miracle of being
able to do the extraordinarily hard work
of finding a way to make the output of a
system worth more than the inputs. It is
ridiculously hard. And so when you take
money from those people, hey, fair
enough. I want to live in America. I
want America to have a government,
but be efficient with the use of that
dollar so that uh my kids grow up in a
place with incredible infrastructure
with that creates opportunities and
educates them and keeps them safe.
That's why is this is Doge actually
going to get us out of debt though or is
this like virtue signaling? Because as
much as I want the government to be more
efficient, the Pentagon hasn't passed
the audit yet. So there is certain
things that I think need to happen in
conjunction with Doge and I don't want
to just give Doge the blank check to do
whatever it thinks is necessary to Doge
is never going to get us out of debt by
itself. This is always a one-two punch
of be more efficient. It's actually
three. Be more
efficient. Reduce the amount of things
you spend money on. Full stop. and then
you have to make more. We we will never
balance the budget unless we increase
the growth rate. So right now I think
they're predicting 1.8. You got to push
that. You got to be four five. You've
got to be up at those numbers. And the
only way that you're going to get there
is being more efficient will definitely
be a part of it. modernizing the tech
systems of your government, which Elon
always sort of jokes that he's tech
support and that's what Doge really is.
Um, but I mean, they're getting people
to make software solutions for the
government for free. It's incredible.
So, everybody should want that.
Everybody should want the government to
be easier to interact with as an
individual. Um, but Doge is a part of
the equation. And hey, if we look at it
and we go, this is primarily a tech
support. Sure, we save uh 150 billion
annualized. It's still massive. Um but
it it's not the trillion dollars that we
wanted it to be. Okay, but does that
mean that we're mad at the 150 billion?
To me, this is about they hate Trump,
they hate Elon, and therefore I don't
want you um walking through
my department and telling me how I could
be doing better. that people just have
an intrinsic disdain for that when
somebody sees something that you don't
see um and they tell you that you could
be doing better. I get it. People hate
it. But when you're the government man,
you have an obligation to the people.
People do not have an obligation to you.
Well, uh we'll see what the final
numbers are. To your point, we got six
months before midterms. So, we're really
going to kind of Oh, you that you have a
year until your six months to the
midterms. Um so, yeah, May of next year.
literally next year we would kind of
figure out okay what is the actual
totals how much did they actually save
versus what was proposed to be saved uh
and we'll we'll take the tally there um
in international news uh Pakistan and
India the tensions are increasing and
increasing India had two counter strikes
on the sixth and the 7th and Pakistan
has vowed to kind of respond um it seems
like this turned into like a oh it's
just retribution for a terrorist attack
but instead of India kind of uh reprim
reprimanding one organization. It seems
that they're reprimanding an entire
country and now Pakistan is now
reprimanding India as a country. So I
thought it was India going after one
group of people and now it feels like it
is India versus Pakistan. Um what's your
take on how tensions have changed over
time? Yeah. Uh this is everyone should
be on escalation watch here for sure. So
with operation Synindor um India had
made big promises that they were going
to come in and clap back on Pakistan for
the terrorist attack that killed 26
people injured like
57ish other people. Um so uh devastating
terror attack obviously they were going
to do something uh but nobody knew how
big it was going to be. So Pakistan is
going to tell you that they've gone way
too hard. India is going to tell you
that this is pretty proportionate. When
you look at the numbers, it's there's no
doubt that India strikes did killed more
people than were killed in the terrorist
attack, but not by some crazy number. Uh
so my hope is now at this point that
cooler heads are going to prevail. Um
China at least on the surface does not
seem to be um taking a strong stance
which is good. So they've been known
historically to have a bit of a
complicated relationship with India
given that they're from a demographics
perspective they're rivals uh from where
they sat in the um as a place to go for
cheap labor. There was a lot of rivalry
there. You see Apple is going from oh
China's now got tariff problems. Where
do they move? They go straight to India.
So there's like a complex relationship
there. uh China has signaled um a closer
relationship to Pakistan historically.
So you've got China saying, "Hey, you
know, like we're not going to try to
insert ourselves. We're not going to try
to be the mediators here." You've got
Trump, in fact, we have a clip that we
should play of Trump uh saying like,
"Listen, you're going to have to let
them fight." So my hope is that um at
this point that people step back, they
urge restraint. um they don't involve
themselves so that this becomes a part
of the bigger China v US beef. That
would be bad. Yeah. Here's a Trump clip
here. And they're fighting each other. I
said, "Why don't you let them fight? Why
are we getting in the middle of it?" I
said, "Let them
fight." Sir, we want to do it. They go
in and and they end up fighting both of
them. It It's the craziest thing I've
ever seen. Let him fight. So, yeah. I
mean, let them fight maybe not my most
ideal uh choice of words, but at least
this isn't um proxy wars. That is the
thing I think we want to make sure this
does not become. But they are nuclear
powers. So, uh if it doesn't find a
natural calming point, I think people
are going to have to step in. Uh there
should be exactly zero people on the
entire planet that want to see countries
go nuclear. Um, so yeah, that that would
be very bad for reasons that I hope are
patently obvious. That was my next
question. I feel like with Israel,
Palestine, we're like, we care, but it's
been happening since the '9s. So, it's
like, yeah, whereas India, Pakistan,
seems like there's a different type of
energy of nervousness that's now
bubbling up. Why is this conflict, you
think, different from some of the other
conflicts that unfortunately we have
kind of learned to ignore or put on the
back burner? Well, if you look at the
different nuclear powers, um, so Israel,
people presume, though they've never
actually stated whether they are or or
not. Uh, but people assume, uh, they're
not going to use nukes. Certainly not
against Palestine for sure. Yeah. In
their own. Would they against Iran?
Maybe people have some concern about
that, but given that Iran is not nuclear
capable, um people probably have less
concern that they would escalate to that
because Iran's not going to hit them
with nukes. They um are much less likely
to lead with nukes. So on that, I
wouldn't say that people don't care
about Israel Palestine. I would say in
the West, that conflict is a flash point
for a cultural thing that we'll get to
in a minute. Um, so people care deeply
about that, but I don't think people are
on edge about it going nuclear largely
because the differential between Israel
and Palestine is so great there just
there's no need. Uh, Iran, I think, is a
bigger question mark for people. I think
you would feel way more nervous energy
if Iran announced that they are now
nuclear. That would be instant
overnight. people are whoa very worried
um because of the tensions specifically
between Iran and Israel. So that one
would uh not be good. Most in the west I
think would be pretty clear they don't
want to see that happen. India Pakistan
have a long-standing rivalry. They have
a border in conflict. They're both
nuclear armed. Uh there are religious
differences. So, it's like you have the
whole powder cake of things that could
escalate. I don't know that I don't know
that we see enough now to be worried
about it to that
extreme, but it's never good when bombs
are being dropped by two nuclear powers.
Yeah. Uh, in future tech news, um,
there's an interesting rule that Trump
wants to scrap from Biden's
administration. So, Biden released the
AI diffusion rule. What this rule does
is it creates a three- tier system for
different countries that are allowed to
buy chips um from Nvidia, the leading AI
chip maker in America. However, Trump
wants to rescend that rule to let Nvidia
sell to more people and that way it
becomes a less complicated ecosystem. It
looks like Trump is doing this just so
that way he can, you know, increase
exports and make easier trade deals.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE both of were on
the restricted list. They were just
lobbying Trump this past week trying to
get those restrictions moved. Trump is
visiting her next week. So, it could
seem like that's on the table of those
larger trade deals. However, it does
seem like this can also be a back door
to allow China to have more access to AI
chips. And the whole point of this rule
was to restrict, to your point, China
from getting any leverage in our ongoing
AI war. This seems kind of
counterintuitive to what Trump
ultimately wants. What do you think is
the what MC logic should I use to kind
of walk through this rule being taken
away?
I'll I'll give you a highlevel
assessment here, but more data is going
to have to come out. Like they're going
to have to start getting really specific
for me to know which way this is going
to break. So there's two ways to
approach what's happening in China right
now. Way number one is you continue to
try to choke them out uh to deny them
chips. That's what we've been doing now
for years. And that has pushed China to
begin manufacturing their own ships and
to push the country most known for the
ability to do scaled state-of-the-art
manufacturing to go, "Oh, I see. We're
going to have to become state-of-the-art
scaled manufacturing of chips." So, um,
the last people on Earth that you want
to challenge to get good at that are the
people that have proven over and over
and over across industries that this is
what they get good at. So, that feels
like the genie might already be out of
the bottle. And so, it's possible that
what um the Trump administration is
doing here is saying, "Okay, uh trying
to choke them out, that wasn't working.
We'd rather start selling them things
that are uh maybe a year or two years
behind." And we leverage that whatever
gap that we have um to disincentivize
them to have to continue to do their own
manufacturing, though they are
admittedly very very very far down that
road. Uh but it's my understanding that
the chips will be able to make for
themselves are a year or two years
behind. So anyway, uh that you start
allowing them to have not
state-of-the-art, but like close to it,
which is what we were attempting to do.
So how much does this rewrite that? I
don't know. But it could be them leaning
into that, saying, "Okay, we're going to
give a little bit more here." Uh or it
could be that Trump's like, "No, like
we're going to now have very close
relationships with these guys. We're
going to track everything that they
sell. we're going to be able to see
exactly what companies these end up in.
Like to give you an idea, it's pretty
absurd um that they act like they can't
track this. If you're a food
manufacturer, and I know from
experience, I have to be able to tell
you uh this bucket of almond butter
ended up in these bars and these bars
ended up in these exact stores.
So, if I can tell you that with a
protein bar, you can certainly tell me
where these chips ended up. So sure, the
first port of entry may have been
Singapore, but where did they go from
there? Uh, so these things are
knowableish. They're not fully knowable,
and of course, people are going to find
ways to get around it. Um, but if
they're saying, look, we want a similar
regulation, just the way that they wrote
it doesn't allow us the flexibility we
need with some of our stronger allies
that we feel very confident would not go
around us. Um, it's probably something
like that. I think the cat's out of the
bag on manufacturing for China. I think
China's going to control their own
destiny. Uh, but I think the US realizes
there's a better way to word this. Uh,
where we can get it to all of our
allies, keep it out of the hands of
China and, um, try to make sure that we
have enough cash sloshing around here
that we can really push the innovation.
Yeah. A representative from the commerce
department said the Biden AI rule is
overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and
would sty American innovation. We will
be replacing it with a much simpler rule
that unleashes American innovation and
ensures American AI dominance. However,
though, I got a steel man the other
side. Anthropic, the AI company, urged
against the uh export rules and they
didn't want it to become too lenient and
they're citing that it needs to protect
America's intellectual intellectual
property and technology. Yeah. If I'm an
American AI company, I'm like, uh, don't
do that because a means you're going to
be selling those chips to more people,
which I don't want you to do. I want to
be able to gobble those chips up. For
all the hype around, uh, DeepSeek R1,
people are still buying up the um, GPUs
as fast as they can get their hands on
them. There does not seem to be a limit
that we found yet for compute. Elon Musk
showed that you could, I think, more
than double uh, the size of the cluster.
So, um I don't think there's going to be
a shortage of desire for GPUs anytime
soon. And so, if you know that you're
already competing with more people than
you want to compete with, uh from a just
get the chips perspective, this is going
to make that bigger. And then on top of
that, if they've got the chips, now
you're competing with other models. And
companies want to be monopolies. Just
simple as. Now, we as consumers don't
want them to be monopolies, but they
themselves want to be monopolies,
man. So, we'll take a quick uh closer
look at that. Uh in culture news, um
there's something very very weird
happening. Uh yeah, a matter of fact,
let's start with the easy one first. Um
in I am so curious to see which one you
think is easy. We have a new pope. Ah,
okay. That is easy. In culture, does he
have a new pope? Cardinal Robert Pos is
a new pope and he will go by Pope Leo I
14th. He's a Chicago native. He went to
Villanova and he just became the first
American pope. First American pope in
the house. America's so back, man. We're
winning even in on international level.
Indeed. Congrats to uh to our man there.
Yeah, we haven't got I'm surprised
somehow that feels like the old world of
Catholicism would be very anti- new
world American. So, I'm uh very not
surprised that this is the first one.
And I am surprised that we got one in
there. I I was surprised. I was like
America didn't have a first like with
all the other pope Tom the popes. As
much as we talk about the pope, as much
as everybody loves the pope, I thought
there was at least one American in like
the 50s or something, but really not.
Yeah, this is the first one. So, a new
pope, we shall everybody's doing a bunch
of deep dives on him. So, I'm sure we'll
see in in recent news what he believes
and everything like that, but white
smoke came out of the Vatican today. So,
everybody's now celebrating the arrival
of the new pope. So, I love it. Okay.
Um, now let's talk about anti-semitism.
Um, Jesus,
I don't like I am so over it. Okay, so
Kanye released a song um and it's titled
Hail Hitler. Um the music video was
released and it's a bunch of black dudes
shouting Hail Hitler cuz that's like the
This is so surreal. I feel like I'm in a
Twilight Zone episode. Dude, this is a
timeline I could never have predicted I
would be on. This is bananas. Uh yeah,
what are we doing? So I when you look
back in history when a culture begins to
get sick and you know my thing is
largely from debt
uh they end
up as a sign of their sickness which
seems obvious to me uh they turn they
get hyper tribal and they turn on
somebody. Um, when you like take Rwanda,
they obviously I don't know if they have
a population of Jews, but that wasn't
who they turned on. So, it's not always
the Jews. But when you start turning on
uh Jewish people, bro, it like every
alarm bell you have should be going off
in your head. Yeah. Every alarm bell you
have should be going off. Like it it is
a sign of a culture in deep trouble. And
then this is off the back of the Mo
David Portoy beef. Um, this past weekend
at the bar stool sansome street bar in
Philly, a [ __ ] the juice sign bottle
sign was brought out to a table. So when
you buy a table, you can put whatever
you want on the sign. This 21-year-old
named Mohan decided to put [ __ ] the Jews
on the bottle at that time. So crazy.
That's already just crazy town. Just
flat out that that. So I'm here at a
party and that's what you want to put on
the
sign. Anyway, keep going. The video
posted by Moan gained traction across
social media and various news outlets.
When Dave Portoi saw the video, which
was posted by Moan, he was
understandably quite angry. For those
unaware, Barcel Sports is a company
owned by Portoi. The video was uploaded
from his bar and Port Noi is Jewish. So,
it's safe to say that this story hit a
bit close to home for him. The two idiot
bottle girls who brought the sign out
were promptly fired the next day. But,
as far as the people who ordered and
posted the sign, the media mogul opted
for a different route. He called up
Moan, the guy who posted the video, and
his friend on the call. They both cried
their eyes out, but ultimately accepted
responsibility for their hateful
actions. So, Pooo, always known to be
the bigger man and never to hold on to
grudges, opted to use I think that's
sarcasm. Yeah. opted to use it as a
learning experience for the young man.
He generally offered to give them a trip
to Europe, uh, specifically to the
Alerich concentration camp in Portland.
I guess it's like a museum now. Um,
yeah. so that they could reflect on
their actions and hopefully come out as
better men. But in the days that have
passed, things have changed. First, some
journalists from 6 ABC in Philly tried
to blame Poro himself for the incident.
Really fast. Who wrote this? Team Port.
So that's Yeah, that's it. It says
whackadoo journalist. I've tried very
kind to cut out, but okay. So, got it.
Keep going. and and then poor and then
uh Mo Khan tried to distance himself
from all responsibility, ran to his
parents, and is now trying to play the
victim and raise money for himself
through a video statement where he
poorly read tried to read a PR statement
likely made by Chat Gvt. Um they all
have no aspersions cast on CHT. In
conclusion, it seems that this Dave Poro
tried to reach out and say, "Hey Mo, we
can make this a learning experience." Mo
has went the other way. He has done news
press uh now with one very anti-semitic
uh journalist that he literally says
like is this Jew supremacy that you're
experiencing. Oh god, this is horrible.
So Mo Khan kind of broke the other way
and instead of using it as a learning
experience, seems like he decided to
just be a grifter and raise money now.
He has a go set and go account which is
similar to the account that Shiloh
Hendris and Carmela Anony's family used
in the past. Yeah. Okay. So for
completeness, the one part of this, it's
my understanding though I have not seen
the original message, but it's my
understanding that Dave Portoi put out a
message that was like, I'm coming for
you uh to the kid. So because um from
what I took from the statement from Mo
Khan directly was that uh he's been
doxed and now people are coming after
him and he may need to relocate and do
things to protect his safety and was
saying basically that um Port Noi had
brought all of this on him and so now he
needs people to help protect him legally
uh so he can deal with all the the legal
fallout and stuff. Um maybe legal is not
the right word, but dealing with the
logistics if I have to move or get
protection, whatever. Mhm. Uh okay. So,
with all of that on the table, the fact
that we're now in this super
weird thing where
uh it's like reverse cancel culture
where you did a thing that is getting
you cancelled and no matter how
repugnant, we're going to do reverse
cancel culture on you. Matt Walsh did a
whole thing on this that we covered in
one of our other episodes and uh I just
can't get behind it, man. I just can't
get behind it. And I don't like cancel
culture. I think cancel culture goes way
over the top. Um, but culturally to me
it feels like we are largely, not
entirely, but we're largely in a place
where you can at least come back from
this dumb [ __ ] Like look at Kanye,
right? Um, not that it's been easy for
him, but Jesus, like he's going hard in
the paint. You can still find the song.
It's like people don't get disappeared
the way that they used to get
disappeared. And that is a good thing.
And I would love to see it continue down
a path of like uh let people have the
reaction they're going to have. And so
um if you're going to completely
alienate somebody that doesn't share
your values and you think is an
absolutely grotesque human being, great.
Uh hopefully the days are over where
it's like people mobs are stalking
people and doing all this [ __ ] that
admittedly I don't want to see that. But
um I think
it's it is a sign of a sick culture that
people are raising hundreds of thousands
of dollars on the back of uh being
pursued because they call the 5-year-old
the n-word. Uh that I have no idea,
maybe this kid hasn't raised a dime, but
getting that put on a sign and then
being able to raise money off the back
of it is like, god, his go and go
account is at $15,594.
Okay. Maybe if he would have said [ __ ]
the Jews to a 5-year-old, he would have
raised more money.
Help me
understand. So, on that, so for people
that didn't see, we talked about this
before. I really um enjoy is the wrong
word, but I uh love the opportunity to
talk about racism with you for obvious
reasons. For people that are only
listening, I am white, Drew is black. Um
and so I am Don't tell. Yeah.
God, I love that movie is [ __ ]
hilarious.
Uh,
so Drew Mhm. was the big thing with the
Shiloh thing for you that he's a little
kid cuz I think that's gotten at least
that hasn't been the thing that I've
seen people talk about it. Yeah.
Um, when anti-semitism happens, it's
hate has no
place, but yelling racial slurs as a
5-year-old seemingly isn't considered
hateful. It's considered justified for
whatever reason. Well, I hate to say it,
but the fact that she's raised whatever
600 grand and homeboys only got 15K,
that says something. Yeah. So,
apparently, it's cool to call the
n-word. It's not cool to put f the Jews
on the bottle sign. I know where I stand
in society now and the lines that I can
do. So, we'll see. We'll see. I Do you
really take it personally, though? No,
because I'm nuanced. We had this
conversation last time. I Yeah, I don't
take it personally because I have [ __ ]
to do. But there are people who don't
have interesting. It is
interesting. I'll be interested to see
if that number climbs. God, this is like
the hate Olympics. This I really don't
like this. Okay, so what is there to say
that is actually useful? Um, boys and
girls, there are certain things that
when you see them in society, they are
signals that something is going wrong
and you are going to want to address the
underlying cause. When you go into a
neighborhood and there's broken glass
everywhere and there are bars on the
windows, you have a problem. These are
indicative of a problem. And in a weird
way, they used to talk about this with
uh broken window policing. It's like if
you go and make sure that the windows
are fixed and lights are on and the
windows aren't covered up and people can
see inside. Like even though that's a
symptom, it's not the cause. Like when
you go and clean that up, it sends a
signal that this is a healthy, thriving
neighborhood and people are less likely.
I I'd have to really look into the
stats, but this is like at the headline
level the thing that people talked a lot
about in the '90s. Uh, and so that
always made sense to me that if you show
that you have respect for your area and
you're taking care of it, then other
people just treat it with that same
respect. There's just something about
walking into a clean room, your first
impulse isn't to mess it up. But if you
walk into a filthy area,
then Yeah. Like you just feel like, oh,
I guess this is what we do here.
Um,
when somebody feels like it is funny, I
I'll all I need him to believe is it's
funny to have uh f the Jews on my bottle
service
sign. That's a signal that that's broken
glass and trash everywhere.
And figuring out what it is that we need
to do to begin to unwind this. And I
don't think it's club people to death. I
don't think it's show up at this kid's
house. I don't think it's pursuing any
of these people and heranging them. But
we have to recognize that this is the
escalation pattern. I mean, listen to
talk about the Jewish people just
because this one's a lot easier. Like
pilgrims, man, they're real. They
happen. Like those pilgrims break. This
is where
um a society will begin having problems.
Uh take what went down in Germany. Uh so
all of a sudden Hitler decides I mean
Reed
Minecom Hitler decides um for us to get
out from under the Treaty of Versailles
to regain our rightful position uh we've
got to deal with Jewish people and so uh
we are going
to basically start targeting them uh
isolating them passing uh racial laws
against Um it needless to say escalates
to the point of just outright murder and
extermination genocide. Um but it's not
where it starts. And so pilgrims are the
moment where the culture turns and they
start attacking often taking from
killing Jews. Um so pilgrim is like a
moment or like a people. It's a moment.
It's a thing that has happened to Jewish
people many times throughout history.
It's crazy. And so that's the sign
that like when you feel you're getting a
sore throat, it's like uhoh, I'm getting
sick. This is that like this is a really
bad sign that things escalate and they
go somewhere really [ __ ] dark and
that humans have it in their soul to go
down that very dark path. And my hope is
that merely seeing it and going, "Oh
[ __ ] this is this is a signal of
something." um that people
will understand it for what it is, back
way the [ __ ] off. Um if your read of it
is, oh, haha, like this is just a funny
thing, bad, dark. Uh if your read is
this transgressive because we're not
allowed to talk about it. Um we should
be able to talk about anything that
people can talk about sincerely, but
putting that on a sign is not talking
about it. Um, I don't think Kanye song
is talking about it.
Um, we should probably dive a little bit
deeper on the Kanye song in terms of one
of the things that you hear is
[Music]
um, well, you hear the words, but you
don't understand his pain or like what
he's going through.
And what I'm saying
is the Lex interview I thought was
really deaf. And even though Lex took a
lot of [ __ ] for interviewing Kanye, I
thought he really nailed it when he said
when did he interview Kanye? And this is
maybe two years ago. Oh, okay. A while
ago. Okay. And um he said, "Kanye, I'm
not saying that a Jewish person or
multiple people who did bad things to
you aren't Jewish. fine, but you're
conflating that with that being the
nature of Jewish people. And that is a
category error that is so dangerous
every time it rears its head in um
society that please just recognize that
you're doing it and even if 100% of the
people that are attacking you and making
your life miserable happen to be Jewish,
don't confuse correlation with
causation. And I think that's the right
play. Like the second you group people
like that, you dehumanize them. It's not
about them anymore. It's about you have
a you have an ideology that I will liken
to the sore throat that shows that
you're getting sick. Like it is it is a
um it doesn't mean that Kanye hasn't
been abused. Doesn't I have no reason to
believe that he wasn't horribly
mistreated. I'm just saying he's making
a category error as to why he was
mistreated. And it goes somewhere dark
so fast. I feel the same way about that
that I feel when people are like, I
wouldn't want uh my daughter to marry a
Republican or I wouldn't want my son to
marry a Democrat or whatever. It's like
you're assuming that everybody that um
is part of that classes. Yeah. Like it's
crazy. You're you are definitionally
dehumanizing them. You you're just
looking at them as a group. Like you're
looking at something and you don't see a
person. you see a an avatar, you see a
representative of a thing that you've
told yourself a story about and now that
person gets caught up in that and it's
so terrifying. It it is the same thing
that makes me fear authoritarian rule.
It's like wait hold on I'm interfacing
with a faceless thing that I I cannot
express my humanity and receive humanity
back. And that is why bureaucracy is
terrifying. That is why when people are
grouped by their identity, it's
terrifying. That's why lynching is
terrifying. That's why pilgrims are
terrifying.
Um it it you do not see your humanity
reflected back to you because they can
just we every human has inside of them a
switch that says in-group, outgroup, one
of us other. And when we [ __ ] flip
that switch to other
dude, read about the the conquest of the
American West. Yo, like what Native
Americans did to us, what we did to
Native
Americans in inhuman on a level that's
like crazy.
And when I read those things, I go, "Oh,
wow. The architecture of my mind is
capable of that. That's scary."
But because I look at myself as a
biological creature, I'm like,
"Well, way too many people." There's a
book called uh Ordinary Men about how
ordinary German guys were turned into um
assassins that like normal cops could
take a pregnant Jewish woman out in a
field and shoot her in the back of the
head. Like, but they were so
traumatized. Yeah.
And but yet they did it. And so it's
like yikes. We have that switch in our
brains and uh I'm trying to sound every
alarm bell that I can that uh this is a
signal of a problem. That was deep. I'm
leave that alone. That's all I got. All
right. Well, sorry to leave you guys on
that note. Uh if you haven't already, be
sure to subscribe. And if you're not
already watching our lives, make sure
you join us Wednesdays and Fridays at
6:00 a.m. Pacific time. And here is a
clip from today's live. Check it out.
This this is what I think people feel
right now. This is the vibe. This is
what people have
internalized. And what I'm saying is the
reason that people have this feeling is
because fiat currency period. Full stop.
End of story.
And I I think that the reason that
you're banging this drum in my opinion,
and don't let me talk for you, but
um you want to you want to hone in on
that this is something that is happening
that is universally accepted that you
think is wrong to the boots of the to
the dismay of the founding fathers. If
Alexander Hamilton was here right now,
he'd be like, "What the hell are you
guys doing?" Guaranteed. And he and
right now culture has this wave of we
need to take this, we need to tax the
rich, we need to do these things and
that is going to balance the system and
help help us become more monetarily
sound. And you're saying that is a
downstream symptom and you're not
addressing the root issue of the disease
that is causing us things to get
perverted like asset classes and correct
rich to get richer and poor get poor
that way. Copy. Okay. Now, with with
that being said, where we are right now,
2025, I hear CBDC's whispering in the
background. I hear crypto is going to
save us whispering in the background. Uh
Donald Trump just announced that we
spent 55 billion less in Q1. Government
spending is down 5%. It's not a big am.
It's not a huge number, but we're
spending less than we have before. Is
there anything on the landscape now that
is giving you cause for optimism? Like
if we can do this a little bit more, it
can help kind of reset that scales or do
you think it the exit ramp is going to
be debt jubilee, blood, war? Like there
is no nonviolent solution that we can
get our way out of this.
I I'm going to answer that shortly and
then if you will allow me to go deep, I
would love for you to go deep. I would
appreciate it. Okay. Okay. The short
answer is all I see is darkness
stretching out before us and this is
going to be a very bad time.
Okay. Uh now I operate in my life that
you become whatever you repeat. And so
if I allow myself to repeat on a loop
that this is all darkness and it's going
to be bad, then it really will be bad
and I will live a bad time all along the
way. And that's suboptimal.
So I am trying to find a space where I
um stare nakedly at what is really true
and what's really happening. And what's
really happening is that um we are as
far as I can tell we really are at the
end of the big debt cycle. Um this is
how countries go broke. When countries
go broke it it ends in bloodshed. Um I
don't see the exit ramp. I don't see it
yet. I want there to be one. Now maybe
at the societal level, you just have to
stop thinking about it and maybe this is
time for me to return to my roots and
think only about the individual and just
go, okay, here is what everybody should
be doing in their life. Um, think about
it this way. Approach it from this
perspective. Uh, get some gold, get some
crypto. Um, watch what Warren Buffett is
doing. He's got a history of being very
shrewd about these very disruptive
times. He's super in cash equivalence.
Mhm. And he's looking for that moment
where there's blood in the streets and
then he's going to buy. And all of us
should probably be doing the same. So,
uh, put yourself in a super defensive
position. Uh, be very cautious. wait for
when the downturn isn't like, "Oh, have
we hit the bottom?" When it's like, "Oh
[ __ ] people are panicking and freaking
out and everything collapsed. People are
screaming. Uh, you know, it feels like
1929 after Black Monday, like that's
what you're looking for and that's when
you buy. That's probably the right play.
And by the way, in the interim, love
your family. Um, figure out what the
things are that you're passionate about.
Pour yourself into them. do those things
and just live uh as beautiful a life as
you can with your eyes open so that you
can position yourself well that's
probably the right answer um I
have admittedly the more I look into
these things and let's take today's um
jaunt so I come in hot and heavy about
uh it's unconstitutional we go through
it it's early enough I there's probably
more to look at, but right now I'm
willing to accept that no, the uh this
has been ruled on. The Supreme Court has
said regardless of what you Tom bill you
think the Constitution says this is what
you pay us for uh and we're telling you
it's fine and the world is uh around
that. And so I go, okay, well that
argument isn't uh going to get me
anywhere. So people are going to be able
to shut that down and say no, it is
constitutional. Okay, so then don't
waste time with that argument.
But then I move to there's a reason I'm
beating this drum. And I'm beating this
drum because I can certainly protect
myself from these realities as much as I
can. Yeah.
Um but other people are going to get
mauled. And the only reason that I
started doing financial content was
because when COVID kicked off, uh that
was not long after having had 3,000
employees. A thousand of them grew up in
the inner cities and knew nothing about
how to manage their money. And so I
thought, oo, let me make content that
will help them. and people like them.
Obviously, I wasn't doing it just for
them, but let me do content that will
help people through this difficult time.
And then I realized, huh, the other shoe
never fell. What happened? Money
printing. What's money printing? Start
looking into quantitative easing, all
that stuff. And then you go down this
really bizarre rabbit hole of, wait a
second, people's money is being stolen
from them in this super weird, invisible
way known as inflation, which I thought,
I mean, I didn't think much about it,
but in the back of my head was an
algorithm that said inflation is a law
of nature. that there is no way to not
have inflation only to realize oh that
yes that's completely manufactured has
to do with this thing called central
banking uh central banks make money
completely abstract completely pull it
out of the free market for reasons that
I didn't understand but I'm coming to a
better understanding now and you start
going whoa this is like cold-hearted
manipulation to serve the quote unquote
elites uh and this is really bad for the
average person and then you start
looking at all the things that are going
wrong and you're like, "Oh, I get why
houses matter so much because it's an
asset class that keeps up with inflation
that people understand." But whoops. Uh
through demographics and poor
um policy choices, we've ended up in a
position where the average person cannot
afford the one asset that they actually
understand. And so now it's like, whoa,
we're getting this racing away from each
other. And you start going, okay, uh if
I'm talking to an entrepreneur, the
first thing I will say is you're trying
to do something. has anybody done it
well before and so oh have we ever been
through a time like this before where
the um classes are racing away from each
other the middle class is falling away
and then you end up in the 1930s and
anybody that pays attention to the 1930s
knows that that leads to World War II
Hitler yada yada yada so it's like whoa
this is a uh this is a dark point of
rhyming with history
and if you're me anyway you start going
is there a way to pull out of this like
is there a way to calmly back out of
this? And when you look at history
again, it's not always, but uh the vast
majority of the time it ends in a debt
jubilee, which is bloodshed, and then
people go, I don't want to fight
anymore, so I'm willing to let go of the
fact that a lot of people owe me a lot
of money, and I'm just going to let it
go because either I'm already dead, uh
you've drained all my money one way or
the other, um or I just don't want to
fight anymore. And so then the tables
reset and for a minute it feels good.
And then the cycle just repeats. If you
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