Ep. 1633 - Daniel Penny Trial Result EXPLAINED
46:05 Share

The holidays are a time to slow down and savor moments shared with those who matter most. This year, make those moments extraordinary with Mayflower Cigars. From the milder Mayflower Dawn to the bolder Mayflower Dusk, each blend of Mayflower premium handmade cigars is crafted for conversation and contemplation. Give the gift of unrushed excellence this holiday season. Create your moment at mayflowersigars.com. You must be 21 years old or older to order. Some exclusions apply.

Daniel Penny, the hero Marine who protected innocent people on a subway by taking down a career criminal that was threatening everyone, is a free man as justice, surprisingly, is served in New York. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show.

Welcome back to the show. Speaking of New York crime cases that have gripped the nation, the guy who shot the UnitedHealthcare CEO and murdered him by Rockefeller Plaza has maybe been apprehended. There is a person of interest there who seems to check a lot of the boxes. We'll get into who this kid is because I shouldn't say kid, he's an adult man. But he...

It doesn't exactly fit the profile that the media was giving to us. First, though, go to balanceofnature.com. Use promo code Knowles. Balance of Nature Fruits and Veggies is the most convenient way to get whole fruits and vegetables daily.

Nature is pretty good at giving us the nutrients that we need through our fruits and vegetables. Balance of nature takes fruits and veggies, freeze dries them, turns them into a powder, and then puts them into a capsule. You take your fruit and veggie capsules every day, then your body knows what to do with them. Balance of nature is just one ingredient of a balanced lifestyle and has no intention to replace a healthy diet, exercise, sleep, or any other healthy habits. It is intended to be used in concert with other healthy habits. I really strongly support

support Balance of Nature. I recommend you head on over there, especially if you're like me and you don't always eat those fruits and vegetables. And maybe you're on the move a little bit. You're traveling around. You know, it's that time of year. Your immune system's getting run down. Well, it's very simple. You take your Balance of Nature. You don't need to worry about it anymore, okay? Be like me. Be really efficient. Go to balanceofnature.com. Use promo code NOLS for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer. Plus, get a free bottle of fiber and spice. That is balanceofnature.com, promo code NOLS.

Daniel Penny is acquitted. This is really, really great news. You know that the biggest charge against Daniel Penny, which was second degree manslaughter, that was already dismissed. But the prosecutors, the libs, the judges, they still wanted to take this man down, this good Samaritan who prosecuted.

protect a train car full of people from a violent career criminal. And so they said, okay, we're gonna throw the top charge out, but we want the jury to go back in and we want you to consider whether or not he's guilty of negligent homicide. So it's not quite as serious, but it would still carry four years of prison time. Please, we have to send this man to prison. The man who was killed, the career criminal who had been threatening everyone, he's a black man, this guy's a white man, so right there.

You know, all the black people are good. All the white people are bad, according to the libs. And then this guy, he's a military veteran. Those guys are the worst. We can't. Oh, we always have to prefer career criminals to military veterans. And here's the kicker. He acted in defense, not only of himself, but of everyone around him. Oh, no, no, no. You're never allowed to act in self-defense. Not not in the libs, America. No, sir. So this guy had three strikes against him. They tried so hard. And yet the jury comes back in.

And they say, unanimous decision, not guilty. The courtroom erupted in applause. We, the jury, have come to a unanimous decision on count two. The courtroom was absolutely thrilled. This is...

Not only justice, but I think this is a sign of a broader shift in the culture. People have had enough of this, even in the blue states, even in the blue cities, even in New York. People have had enough of the criminals running roughshod over innocent people. People have had enough of the cops being told to stand down. People have had enough of ordinary civilians being told that they can't protect themselves. They've had enough of it.

And so even in a New York courtroom, people are going to applaud. Even the New York jury, people are going to say unanimously with greater clarity even than on the first charge yet. This guy, no, stop it. He is innocent. If anything, the guy should be given a medal for defending his community. Really good stuff.

The supporters of Jordan Neely, the supposed supporters of Jordan Neely, the man who was killed, the criminal who had been threatening everybody, they gather outside the courtroom and they give the same song and dance routine that we see from racial hustlers since time immemorial. If we get to this point, it's too late.

We have to be there for each other and that's our call to action. Everybody that's pissed off at this verdict, I challenge you to go outside today and help one person. That's my challenge. If you're angry, if you're hurt, go help one person. That's how we beat the system. That's how we turn this around by being there for each other.

I just want to say I miss my son. My son didn't have to go through this. I didn't have to go through this either. It hurts. Really, really hurts. What are we going to do, people? What's going to happen to us now? I had enough of this.

The system is rigged. Come on, people. That's it. That's the whole comment. So this is the father of Jordan Neely, the man who was killed in a justified homicide because he was threatening all these people in a subway car. Okay. He says, I miss my son. I have sympathy for this father. I have sympathy for any father, even a father who wasn't involved in his son's life, let's say. But that's what I have to ask myself. Jordan Neely, 30-year-old man, was homeless.

He had a rap sheet a mile long. We know that this father wasn't married to Jordan Neely's mother when he was growing up. We know this because Neely, when he was 14 years old, saw his poor mother murdered by a man with whom she had been in an abusive relationship. And then her body was found in a suitcase on the side of the Henry Hudson Parkway. And this...

In some reporting, people have said that Jordan Neely's mental problems came from the trauma. Obviously, you'd be pretty traumatized if that happened to your mother. Where was Jordan Neely's father then? Where was Jordan Neely's father when he was arrested 42 times, 42 some odd times? Where was Jordan Neely's father when Jordan Neely was homeless for however many years? When he was addicted to drugs? Where was the father then? Where were all the supporters then? This reminds me of George Floyd.

George Floyd dies and all this family, all these people come out of the woodwork to talk about justice and how they needed a piece of the pie from the BLM shakedowns that happened in the wake of George Floyd's death. Where were those guys when George Floyd was alive? Where were any of these people? They show up when it's time for a shakedown.

And maybe some of them are genuinely sad. You talk about, hey, let's go out here and do something good for someone. Come on, channel your frustration. Yeah, all right. Well, how about you give that advice into the mirror then, huh? Instead of trying to ruin an American hero's life, a U.S. Marine's life, who was courageously protecting innocent people from the violent criminals. How about that?

Where were the friends and family and supporters when Jordan Neely needed them, huh? Nowhere to be seen. But now they think it's a payday and they show up. Meanwhile, a Republican in Congress, Eli Crane, excellent Republican member of Congress.

He proposed, even before the verdict came in, proposed giving Daniel Penny the Congressional Gold Medal. A lot of people don't know what the Congressional Gold Medal is. This is our nation's, I think, oldest honor. This goes back to 1776, and it's right up there with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But it's given out by Congress. Daniel Penny's actions exemplify what it means to stand against the grain to do right in a world that rewards moral cowardice.

He deserves the Congressional Gold Medal. Absolutely. And I hope he gets it now. Hope he gets it. In fact, it would have been even more merited, I think, had Daniel Penny, God forbid, been convicted. This guy who does a courageous act, a very virtuous act, had he in it, looked like it could go this way for a while. This was what the judge wanted, clearly. It's what the prosecution obviously was going for. Had this guy been found guilty, sentenced to prison,

All the more reason for congressional Republicans to stand up. Now they can do it and take a victory lap and give this guy an award that he really deserves. But now is the time for Republicans who have been given unified government with a mandate from the American people in an electoral college landslide, but also in a popular vote victory. Now we need to reset some of the ideals. Now we need to reset some of the norms, reset some of the incentives.

We should not be playing according to the leftist hierarchy of values. We shouldn't be playing according to the intersectional hierarchy that says that all black people are good, all white people are bad, all women are good, all men are bad, all sexual deviants are good, all normal people are bad, whatever it is. We shouldn't play along with that. We shouldn't play along with the notion that all the criminals are good and all the victims are somehow culpable. No, no, no. We need to reset the values.

We need to use words like normal again. We need to use words like good, moral, virtuous. We need to use all those words. And we need to reward the people who do good stuff, and we need to punish the people who do bad stuff. And we need to use our power in the government to do that. Now, speaking of criminal justice and righting some wrongs, one last little bit from that Meet the Press interview that President Trump gave where I thought he did marvelously. President Trump

floated pardons for the supposed insurrectionists of January, excuse me, of January 6th, the worst day in the history of this or any republic. Here are the incredulity, the absolute drooling bewilderment from the NBC host. I'm gonna look at everything. We're gonna look at individual cases, yeah. Okay. But I'm gonna be acting very quickly.

Within your first 100 days, first day? First day. First day? Yeah, I'm looking first day. You're going to issue these pardons. These people have been there, how long is it? Three or four years. Okay. You know, by the way, they've been in there for years and they're in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn't even be allowed to be open. Absolutely right. We need pardons for the January 6th.

I'm sure there are some number of people who did bad things. That's why he's going to look at it on a case-by-case basis. But it's important. I'm glad Trump clarified. He said day one. I'm not even going to wait till day two or day three. This is a top priority for a few reasons. One, it's the right thing to do. It's a matter of justice.

criminals get off the hook. People loot, rob, rape, pillage, and burn, and Kamala Harris raises money for them on Twitter, and staffers for Joe Biden raise money for them on Twitter. You burn down Minneapolis, the VP is going to raise money for you. But the people who take selfies in the Capitol Rotunda, the grannies who show up to redress their grievances, they're the ones who go to prison? I don't think so. So as a matter of justice, Trump should let the vast majority of these people go. Also,

Politics also comes down to friend and enemy. And these people who showed up to support Trump, the people who were peaceful, who were let into the Capitol by police in some cases, who were given private tours by the cops before the men in black showed up months later or a year later and then arrested them for nothing. Those people are supporters. And we need to show people not only that

Well, we're on your side if you're a supporter of ours. But at the very least, that you won't be punished for supporting us. Democrats have created this incentive structure where if in any way you suggest support for a Republican or a conservative, you could be punished at your school. You could face professional reprisals. You might have the FBI come knocking on your door. You're a little too pro-life. Well, maybe you'll get arrested in front of your kids.

You support Trump. You want maybe some kind of electoral commission after the 2020 election. Yeah, well, you're going to go to jail for a couple of years. You could be really seriously punished. You could be ostracized. You could face not only social repercussions, but legal repercussions. We need to reset that standard, too. There are a lot of things that we need to reset now that we have some power. If we want that power to endure beyond just a couple of years while we have unified government,

We need to reset the carrots and the sticks. There's so much more to say. First, though, go to hillsdale.edu slash Knowles. Time is our most precious commodity. Don't I know it? I have heard from so many listeners who've asked for my advice on how they can spend their time wisely and improve themselves and people around them. That is why I'm so excited that Hillsdale College is offering more than 40 free online courses in the most important and enduring subject. You can learn about the works of C.S. Lewis.

The stories in the book of Genesis, the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, the rise and fall of the Roman Republic, or the history of the ancient church with Hillsdale College's online courses all available for free. That's right for free. I personally recommend you sign up for Marxism, Socialism, and Communism. Start your free course, Marxism, Socialism, and Communism today. Go to hillsdale.edu slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-A-S, right now to start.

It's free. It's easy to get started. It's hillsdale.edu slash Knowles, K-N-O-W-L-E-S. I love Hillsdale College. It is one of the few great institutions of higher learning in the country around today. So make sure you check it out to avail yourself of their resources, hillsdale.edu slash Knowles. Speaking of Capitol Hill, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee for President Trump,

is looking a little bit better right now as a nominee. You know, we had Matt Gaetz go up and Matt Gaetz was shot down. The senator said, you're not going to get the votes. Then the liberals turned all their attention to Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, to Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, to Bobby Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services. And Pete Hegseth is getting the brunt of it right now. All of these anonymous reports, one that Pete was a Casanova,

Two, now people saying he's a drunk or something. Again, with no evidence whatsoever. Crazy claim that he's a rapist or something. Not only with no evidence to support some of these claims, but with a lot of evidence to the contrary. And it's just a free-for-all. And I mentioned the Gates nomination at first because when Gates went down, that put a little bit of blood in the water. And now all these sharks are circling. Well, one of the big holdouts on the Hegseth nomination for the Pentagon was Joni Ernst. And

Republican Senator Joni Ernst, it was reported, was maybe interested in that defense secretary job herself. So that's all you need. Murkowski and Collins, liberal Republicans, you know they're going to be no's. So then all you really have to do is pluck off one more, one or two more. Lindsey Graham was signaling that he didn't like the Hegseth nomination. Mitch McConnell obviously doesn't like much of anything about Trump. So Joni Ernst was a big player here. Joni Ernst just came out and said she's going to support Hegseth.

Or at least she said that she is currently supporting Hegseth and she's hopeful that he'll get through the process. Her exact words. Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women based on quality and standards, not quotas, and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.

As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources. Really good news. This is the first time that I can tell that Joni Ernst has said that she is supporting Pete Hegseth at all, much less supporting him through this process. I don't know what Trump offered her. I don't know what Trump threatened her with. I do know what Republicans...

myself included, have observed about her, which is that Republican primary voters are not going to take kindly to a Republican who votes for Joe Biden's defense secretary nominees, but won't vote for Donald Trump's, a perfectly qualified nominee like Pete Hegseth.

Tom Cotton takes it further, though. That's Republican senator from Arkansas. He tweeted out, I expect our Republican Senate is going to confirm all of President Trump's nominees. This is very good news. Is he bluffing or does he know something that we don't know?

My warning on Hegseth, I really like Pete Hegseth. I think he'll do a great job as the defense secretary. I've known Pete for a long time. I think there's a lot of nonsense people are saying about him. And the one serious criticism that he's getting, which is that he's been married multiple times, is a little bit of a Casanova. He seems to have rectified that problem some time ago. So that's in the past. They're trying to keep digging that up.

to kill his nomination. But I said, look, I don't care if you hate Pete Hegseth. If Pete Hegseth goes down after Matt Gaetz goes down, good luck getting your other nominees through. Good luck. Bobby Kennedy, you think is going to get through? If extramarital affairs in the past are enough to take down a...

Cabinet secretary, well, don't even bother trying with Bobby Kennedy. That's a long shot. If being outside of the foreign policy establishment, the military industrial complex, the defense industry lobbyists, if being outside their favored circles is enough to disqualify you, forget about Tulsi Gabbard. She's definitely going down. In fact, I think forget about a lot of Trump's nominees. It took Trump a long time to get his nominees through in 2016. I think he's trying to move faster now. Well, the way you win is by winning.

The way you win is by winning. And I think Republicans are starting to get that message. You got to band together. This is not a huge majority. You're talking about, what, 53 senators? So if every single one of these people, Ernst, McCollins, Murkowski, if they all have little temper tantrums and they all have their own little private interests in what they're angling for and they won't all band together and support the nominees, okay, then I guess what was the point of electing a Republican? Dems are going to find blood in the water. You're not going to get anything done. You win by winning.

You get Hegseth through, it's much easier to get Kennedy through, much easier to get Tulsi Gabbard through, much easier to do things for the American people, the majority of whom voted for Trump. And by the way, when they voted for Trump, he wasn't hiding the ball on liking Bobby Kennedy. He wasn't hiding the ball on wanting to put Tulsi in the government, okay? He campaigned with those people. This is what they voted for. And any of these senators who even on our side, supposedly on our side, who want to hold this up, okay, you might have to answer for that in a couple of years.

And don't worry about me. I'm not going to be cutting the big checks. But the fact that the world's richest man has now taken a very active interest in advancing President Trump's agenda, now that Republicans seem to be doing a pretty good job organizing, getting out the vote on the ground, okay, you win by winning. Now, major news story, the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was murdered last week when I was in New York, actually, he was just some blocks uptown from me. There are all sorts of theories about who murdered him.

Was it a professional hitman? Was it one of his colleagues? He was being investigated for insider trading. Was it a professional job? Was it a disgruntled customer? Who was it? Well, a person of interest has been identified. The suspect was in a McDonald's and was recognized by an employee who then called local police.

Responding officers questioned the suspect who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a US passport. Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder. They also recovered clothing including a mask consistent with those worn by our wanted individual.

Also recovered was a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting incident. Additionally, officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset. NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania as we seek to interview this subject further.

Kind of seems like they got him. I know I have to say allegedly, reportedly, but just given all of that evidence, it would appear that they have their guy. And we now know a little bit about their guy. And I know a lot of this guy. I think this guy is actually exemplary of our time, of his generation, of the kind of culture that we're living in. We'll get into it in a moment. First, though, go to netsuite.com.

slash Knowles. What does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts. You will get 10 answers. Bull market, bear market, rates are going up, rates are going to fall. Can someone please invent a crystal ball? Well, until we get that,

Over 38,000 businesses have found a way to future-proof their operations with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP. Imagine having your accounting, your financial management, your inventory, your HR, all seamlessly integrated into one fluid platform. That's NetSuite. With this unified business management suite, you are not just juggling numbers, you are wielding a powerful tool that

that gives you the visibility and control to make quick, informed decisions. It's like having a map in a maze of market uncertainties. Real-time insights and forecasting? Check. It's like peering into the future with actionable data at your fingertips.

Here's a game changer. You'll be closing your books in days, not weeks. That means less time drowning in paperwork, more time focusing on what truly matters, steering your business towards success. At The Daily Wire, we are proud to partner with NetSuite because they are leading the way in future-proofing operations for businesses around the world. Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite adapts to your needs. Go to netsuite.com slash netsuite.

Knowles, download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning, netsuite.com slash Knowles. What do we know about this person? I'm not going to say his name because he obviously loves attention and I don't see any reason to give it to him. This guy is rabidly anti-capitalist according to his writings, if it is the person of interest who actually committed the murder. Rabidly anti-capitalist.

a terrified of global warming, a major climate change worrier, an admirer of the Unabomber, who has hated the healthcare industry since a relative died, also an Ivy League graduate. This guy was a graduate of UPenn, tough school to get into, very impressive, wealthy, prestigious school, and was the valedictorian of his prep school. He went to a very expensive prep school

Gilman School in Baltimore, tuition there's $40,000 per year. He wrote a manifesto, of course, only two and a half pages, not exactly the Unabomber, but it was channeling the Unabomber. I read one passage of it. It reads like a, I don't know, it reads like a poor impression of the Unabomber. At least Ted Kaczynski was extremely intelligent. He was a nut and everything, but he was smart. This one seemed like a weak impression. According to his Facebook account,

which does not seem to have been used recently, says he's the co-founder of AppRoar Studios, which describes itself as an app development startup founded to provide the simplest and most engaging gaming experience. So look, we don't know if the person of interest is actually the killer. There will be a trial. We don't know much else about him, at least any specific facts. We don't know a lot. That'll all come out over the course of the trial.

And I usually hate psychobabble, but I'm going to engage in a lot of psychobabble because...

I know a lot of rabid anti-capitalist, climate change alarmist, Ivy League graduate, top of their high school class, rich kids who are reflexively liberal and who love attention and are entrepreneurs who need to make themselves the center of everything. I, if I were to engage in psychobabble with this kid,

I know the type. I've met a lot of these types. He seems to suffer from the central pathology of the millennial Zoomer generation, which is main character syndrome. This guy, I'm just, again, I don't know anything about him personally other than the facts I've stated, but I've met a lot of people who fit that description. And he seems to have hardcore main character syndrome. And so he goes out and commits a murder.

He murders the CEO of a healthcare company because what? Maybe he's nuts. Maybe he just had a psychotic break. I've met a number of these striver kids at the top schools, often from rich, privileged backgrounds who just have a break. They just snap. People who spend a lot of time and money starting their own company, they're going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Maybe it doesn't totally work out. Maybe the only way

This guy was going to get attention. He's the big crusader. He's going to save the world from the sun monster. He's the big crusader. He's going to rewrite the

Political economy of the United States, of the West, who's going to take down bourgeois society. But these people, they crave attention. They demand to matter. These people have been told that they are the most important thing since sliced bread, indispensable to humanity since they were in diapers. Especially the ones who go to the ritzy schools and who are at the top of their class. And they're never brought back to reality.

Now, how do you bring it back to reality? I'm not a rabid anti-capitalist crusader, so I'm not knocking fancy private schools. I'm not knocking elite education, obviously. I'm quite supportive of real elite education, not just the facade of elite education to teach people a bunch of nonsense. But what do you do? You need to have all of those conditions moored by...

reality, moored by moral reality, moored by religion, moored by the exaltation of virtues like humility, practicality, prudence, charity, care for others. Otherwise, if you just have all of the noblesse without any of the oblige, if you just have all of the privilege without any of the responsibility, you're going to get these wacko narcissist psychos

Who act like a character out of Nietzsche. Who act like a Nietzschean figure out of a Dostoevsky book, for that matter. Who just feel that they are justified in doing anything. Who feel that they are world historic figures. They demand to be world historic figures. And everyone else is just a side character in their special story.

I don't know for a fact if that's exactly what's going on here. I might be just reading into it because of the handful of details we know, but I know the type. And that, I think, is endemic to our age. Now, speaking of narcissists and justice being served, Taylor Lorenz, one of the more frustrating and grating liberal journalist figures, Taylor Lorenz has apparently been fired from Vox Media after she celebrated the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

Lorenz wrote this, not on Twitter or X, but on the news, like a new liberal Twitter that some of them are doing this week. They seem to have a new fake liberal Twitter every three weeks and then no one really uses it. It's all fun of Twitter as you argue with people. So I don't know, whatever the one is this week, she posted an article about how Blue Cross Blue Shield will no longer cover anesthesia for the full length of certain surgeries. And she said, quote, and people wonder why we want these executives dead. So she's saying, I support

killing this the ceo of united healthcare and then she kind of tried to gaslight people and pretend she didn't really say that but anyway according to reports we'll see if they're true she was booted from vox media a left-wing company she's saying the reports are 100 false but the media reporters are saying it anyway so who do i believe i don't really believe taylor lorenz about anything so i think it might be true what does this tell us it tells us something has changed

I told you earlier, something's changed in New York. The acquittal of Daniel Penny, something's changed. I don't know that Daniel Penny would have been acquitted five years ago. At the height of BLM, I don't think Daniel Penny gets acquitted, certainly not in New York. What changed? Well, here, what changed is now there are consequences, even for the liberal media. Now there are consequences to calling for the death of innocent people. Now there are consequences to following your ideology to such ghastly and cruel ends.

Now there are consequences for criminals on the streets in New York. Now there are consequences for, some would call them criminals, for liberal journalists. Maybe they're going to get booted out of that White House press room. Maybe they're going to be fired from their websites. Why? Because no one's paying attention anymore. The fact that MSNBC's ratings are dropping to middling podcast levels, lower than middling podcast levels in the prime demo, 25 to 54,

The fact that my doppelganger at MSNBC needs to take a $5 million pay cut. The fact that MSNBC is probably going to be spun off. It's on the chopping block. And CNN is having mass firings. The fact that I don't think that Vox reportedly has fired Taylor Lorenz because all of a sudden they've caught a case of integrity. I think they are reportedly firing Taylor Lorenz because they realize, oh, shoot, there's really not an audience for this radical leftism.

Oh, shoot. It turns out people don't love criminals running roughshod all over citizens on the street. Oh, shoot. Turns out we still kind of like to support the good guy, you know, and the underdog and America and tradition and normality. We like that. We still like normality, it turns out.

consequences. It's the conservative consolation that Russell Kirk identifies and others have identified, which is that there's so much absurdity and pain in the short term, but reality does reassert itself eventually. I think we are watching reality reassert itself right now. Now, speaking of violence,

Benjamin Netanyahu, Bibi, in Israel is taking credit for toppling Bashar al-Assad in Syria. I covered the coup in Syria, which ended the 13-year civil war by ousting Bashar al-Assad. And the media are portraying this as some wonderful thing. Oh, that evil, terrible dictator in Syria has gone away now. A new birth of freedom. It's the Syrian spring. Wonderful liberation. And I thought, hold on, let me...

I've heard this number before. I remember hearing this one in Libya and Iraq and a number of other places. So let me see who replaced that mean old evil Bashar al-Assad. Oh, a guy who worked for Al-Qaeda. Oh, great. Okay. Oh, a guy who worked for ISIS? Cool. Wow. Why am I celebrating that Bashar al-Assad has been replaced by someone who worked for ISIS? I'm not celebrating that at all. Because say what you will about Bashar al-Assad.

He did substantially protect religious minorities, including Christians in Syria. Al-Qaeda and ISIS don't protect Christians. They target Christians. These are some of the oldest Christian communities in the world. This is where Christianity was founded. So I'm not celebrating this. Bibi Netanyahu is celebrating this and claiming credit for it. Joe Biden is celebrating this and claiming credit for it. The liberal foreign policy establishment is celebrating this and taking credit for it.

And I see why they are individually. If I were in Israel, I would certainly be supporting this. If I were in the liberal foreign policy establishment, I would probably be supporting this. Some in the liberal foreign policy establishment, like Iran, and Assad was a proxy of Iran, and Assad also was a proxy of Vladimir Putin, and it gets really complicated. I get all of that.

But I don't know that this is a good thing. So I have three takeaways. One, I think Netanyahu actually does deserve some credit. It was pretty impressive. Netanyahu's argument is, had Hamas not attacked us, we would not have hammered Hamas back, and then Hezbollah attacked us, and then we hammered Hezbollah. And it was only because Hezbollah was getting so hammered, and Hamas was being destroyed, and Iran was on its back foot, and...

Russia, by the way, was bogged down in Ukraine, so Netanyahu can't take credit for that. But because of that, the big supporters for Assad were weakened, and so the rebels could go in there and boot him out. One, Netanyahu, really good at his job. Two, even allies have different interests at times. It's true of any—it's not just unique to—some people only focus on Israel.

with any of our allies. Sometimes we have opposing interests. This might be one of those times, although many in the U.S. foreign policy establishment would say anything that weakens Russia and anything that weakens Iran is a good thing. And they just don't care as much about the Syrian Christians. And I do care about the Syrian Christians. So that's a point where I would probably pull away from the American foreign policy establishment. But at the very least, something I think we could all agree on is.

We need American leadership. We need American leadership sometimes as much to wrangle our allies as to wrangle our enemies. Because here's something I could tell you. If you hate Bashar al-Assad or if you don't totally hate Bashar al-Assad, I thought, you know, the devil we knew was probably better than the devil we don't. Regardless, had we had real American leadership, lo, these past three and a half years, had Trump remained in office after 2020, Assad would still be in power.

Hamas would never have attacked Israel on October 7th. Putin would never have invaded Ukraine or further invaded into Ukraine past Crimea. It wouldn't have happened. You can't prove a counterfactual, but I guess my evidence for this is the Middle Eastern dictators just kind of chilled when Trump was in office. The radical anti-Israel pro-Palestine people, they just kind of chilled when Trump was in office. Vladimir Putin, for the first time in 20 years, did not further invade a country while Trump was in office.

Strong American leadership can protect peace and interests and vulnerable minority communities all around the world. And weak leadership, even just for three and a half years, can imperil lots and lots of people. AI is coming to your industry if it isn't already here. But

But AI needs a lot of speed and computing power. So how do you compete with costs spiraling? Upgrade to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or OCI. OCI is the blazing fast and secure platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI workloads. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in half if you move to OCI. For new U.S. customers with minimum financial commitment, that offer ends December 31st. See if your company qualifies at oracle.com slash morningwire.

If you are still searching for the perfect Christmas gift, look no further. DailyWare Plus gift memberships are 40% off. That's right. You can save big while giving the gift of truth and entertainment this Christmas season. When you give a DailyWare Plus membership, you are giving a full year of uncensored daily shows from the most trusted voices in conservative media and the most handsome voices, I should say, with limited ads.

groundbreaking investigative journalism, access to our entire entertainment catalog, including What is a Woman? and the number one documentary of the decade, Am I Racist? You're also giving live reports

on breaking news with the real stories behind the headlines, the truth no one else will tell you, and full access to Bent Key, our kids app featuring over 40 shows and 1,500 hours of fun, values-driven content. Finish your Christmas shopping with one click. Go to dailywire.com now and give the gift of Daily Wire+.

My favorite comment yesterday is from Caroline L. W1F, who says, excellent analysis on the Trump interview, Michael. I was thinking yesterday Trump should appoint you to something. Oh, that's very kind of you. If my country called on me to serve, I suppose I would have to consider it. But that's very kind of you. In the meantime, I'll keep doing my show and selling cigars. That's very nice. I'm glad you liked my take on those things. Now, speaking of Syria and part of my

consistent belief that Assad was probably better than whoever's going to follow him and certainly better for Syrian Christians, but probably better just generally. The rebels over there in Syria are apparently emptying Assad's prisons. And we all knew this was going to happen. If you followed this at all, this is what happens. You overthrow the government and then the rebels come in and they free all the people that the government had imprisoned. So this is how the media are reporting on it. The Associated Press, propaganda par excellence.

Syrian rebels free prisoners from Assad's notorious dungeons who celebrate in Damascus streets. Okay. Bashar Bahum woke in his dungeon prison cell in Damascus at dawn Sunday, thinking it would be the last day of his life. But no, it wasn't. The people at the door were the rebels. Okay. You can read the article if you like. I'd like to correct this headline a little bit though. Syrian rebels. I'll correct that too.

mostly terrorists. Syrian terrorists...

free, I'm going to correct prisoners. I'm sure there are plenty of innocent people who were imprisoned by the Assad regime. The guy was a total butcher. All right, let's not whitewash it. But a lot of the people that Assad imprisoned were Islamist terrorists. So let me, I'll rewrite it a little bit. Syrian terrorists free other terrorists from Assad's notorious dungeons. We'll just change that to prisons. You know, it's just a prison. I'm sure it was a nasty prison, but it's a prison.

So terrorists free more terrorists from Assad's prisons. Okay. Why is that a good thing? Can anyone explain to me why it's a good thing? I get it degrades Russia. And so from a grand strategic perspective, I guess that's good because Russia's missiles pointed at us. Okay, I get that.

And Iran is already down, so hitting one of their proxies kicks Iran in the teeth. And we don't like Iran. I don't really care that much about Iran, but Iran, it's not a good state. I liked the Shah more than I like these guys. And they're not as big an adversary historically as Russia or something. But okay, I get it. But why is this good? It seems like when we topple these guys, these areas just become hotbeds for terrorism. And the people who are harmed are people like the Druze,

maybe the Kurds, you know, religious minorities,

The majority of Syria is Sunni. The government that was overthrown was Alawite, which is a break off of Shia Islam. And so Bashar al-Assad made a big part of his reign that he would protect religious minorities because he was trying to keep down a Sunni majority. And one of the minorities that he protected, it would appear reasonably well, was Christian. So that's not, why is this good? I don't know. It seems, because even if you can convince me, and in a way I can see the grand strategic argument.

For why it's good, you got to get the Russians, and that's why it's good to fund Ukraine. I see all of it. But what are the odds this works out well? You know, there are kind of two reads of the foreign policy establishment. There's like the James Bond read, and there's the burn after reading read. One is these guys, the CIA, the intelligence agencies, the Pentagon. They're omnipotent. They're omniscient. They're geniuses. They know everything. And then the other one is that they just bumble around a lot and

Every time they try to improve anything, things just get worse. That's the Coen brothers burn after reading version. And when it comes to toppling Middle Eastern dictators, I don't know, Libya, that didn't work out well. Egypt, that didn't work out all that well. Worked out better than Libya, I guess. Iraq, that really didn't work out well. So I don't know. Not convinced.

And it says they freed, the prisoners have been freed from us. Is it possible that Bashar Assad imprisoned some of these people for a reason? I don't know. There are a lot of terrorists in Syria. I don't know. I'm not celebrating. Speaking of people who should be in prison, the Boston City Councilor, Tanya Fernandez Anderson, has recently gone on a tirade. She went viral for this tirade.

This woman is accused of engaging in a little bit of corruption. And here's her racially tinged invective. The f*** do I have to do in this f***ing council in order to get respect as a black woman? I'm not afraid of...

here when I make a mistake I will be clear I don't hate you as a white woman I don't hate you as a white man I am sick and tired of this body so racially divided so afraid so depraved no faith they're losing their investment they're afraid of bargaining they're afraid of leveraging these people have

I can't even call you cowards because desperation deserves mercy. Here's a redistricting, fine. We give it to a white woman. Can we all get along? Can we get together? Can we love each other now? Can we make sure that black and brown babies don't die? Can we make sure that cops don't kill before people are proven innocent? I don't know about you. I found it difficult to track the logic of that tirade, but it starts to make a little more sense.

When you realize this woman's now been indicted for five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft. She allegedly gave a relative of hers a $13,000 bonus. And then that relative slipped her seven Gs in cash in a city hall bathroom. I...

The lady doth protest too much meeting. So she goes out there and it's the same old story we hear. We're going to hear it after the Daniel Penny verdict. It's racism and it's the system's rigged and it's you're going after me because I'm a black woman. And if I were a white woman, you would never arrest me for all the graft and the bribes I'm taking. And this is racism and sexism. And, you know, the more emotional she becomes, the more you think, oh, yikes, she's accusing the other side of desperation.

Desperation deserves mercy. And this woman, she does not seem like an orderly statesman inclined toward the common good. It's a reminder, once again, it's always the ones you most expect. It's always, you know, had this woman just sort of sat quietly and said, you know, listen, there's some problems in this body, and I think we need to treat each other with greater civility. And then she got accused of corruption. I'd say, wow, that was surprising.

But when you scream and you yell and you play the race card all the time, you know, you got my attention and you got my suspicions up. Now, speaking of crazy women, there is a report out now. It's out of Australia, but I think it obtains in the West broadly and in America, which is that there's a new religion on the rise. There's a new religion that's really taking off in a way we haven't seen it take off in a while. And that would be witchcraft.

Not my description of this. It's their own description. These people saying we are witches. We practice witchcraft. And the defense of witchcraft is typical, actually. There's a strange overlap between the defense of witchcraft and just the ordinary liberal kind of platitudinous speaking.

about diversity and inclusion and individuality and emancipation. We don't have time to get to it. You know I'm at these. We'll have to get to it tomorrow. Right now, go to silencershop.com slash Knowles. The Second Amendment safeguards our freedom from tyranny. As responsible gun owners, it is our job to stay sharp and protect those rights. That is where Silencer Shop comes in.

comes in. America's leading provider of firearm suppressors. Silencers are completely legal. Silencer Shop makes getting one easier than ever. They offer the largest selection of top brand suppressors. Their expert team handles all the paperwork for you. Are you ready to enhance your firearms? Visit silencershop.com slash Knowles today. Silencershop.com slash Knowles. Silencershop, the easiest and best way to get your suppressor.

There is no member block because I'm flying to Minnesota, but I will be back with you tomorrow. I'm Michael Knowles. This is The Michael Knowles Show. See you then.

Hey DC, did you know it's illegal to toss household batteries in the trash? That's right, batteries must be recycled. The good news? Call to Recycle makes it easy. As DC's official battery recycling program, we've got drop-off locations all across the city. Find one near you at calltorecycle.org slash locator. That's calltorecycle.org slash locator. Let's keep DC clean and green.