And you were. You also got anti-Semite of the year or you got did I win? No I don't. You also got nominated for anti-Semite of the year. I think it is immoral to judge people on qualities they can't control that they're born with. I don't think that people are guilty by virtue of their blood. That's why I disagree with the Netanyahu cabinet. [00:00:15] They believe the Palestinians are subhuman because they're Palestinian. I know Anna, too. They're not only are not anti-Semites, they think anti-Semitism is immoral. That's right. Anti-semitism, just like racism, just like sexism, just like homophobia, [00:00:32] just like Islamophobia is wrong. It is immoral. We should be able to judge individuals based on the behavior that they themselves engage in. But the idea of judging an entire population of people based on immutable traits is insane, immoral, and I've always rejected that. [00:00:51] And I'm happy to hear that Tucker Carlson does as well. Now, during this conversation on Theo Von's podcast, there were a lot of interesting points and I appreciated Theo Von in particular because, [00:01:08] look, Theo Von, I look at him as normy when it comes to the political world. He's not a politico. He's not steeped, steeped in what we talk about every day on this show or any political show for that matter. But his reaction to what's been happening in Gaza, in the Middle East [00:01:27] was very much real and came from a place of vulnerability. And I noticed that when he recently had an appearance on Joe Rogan's show, he wanted to talk about it. He really wanted to, like, flesh out what's going on. And for whatever reason, I don't know why Rogan didn't really want to get into that [00:01:43] conversation at all and kept interrupting and pivoting and whatever. I was happy to see that he was able to engage in this conversation with Tucker Carlson, and I think that there were moments worthy of highlighting because of the candor, because of what they were saying. So it's especially important when it comes to heavy topics like, you know, genocide. [00:02:04] Let's take a look. I think I was watching some of the Gaza stuff and I kept thinking like, well, surely America will come in at some point and help. - And stop. - This, right? - That was like my thought. - Especially since we're not. When you say genocide, you're not guessing. It's not like some propaganda term. It's the definition. [00:02:23] And we know that not just from the video of its victims, but from the testimony of the people perpetrating it. Smotrich. Ben-Gvir. Oh, look, we need to get them out. - Let me see. - These are people who are born there. - I just want to see if. - Oh. It's insane. [00:02:42] It is insane. And I'm so tired of being made out to be the crazy one or the hateful one, and, you know, the bigoted one. Or the anti-Semite. I'm not anti-Semitic at all. No, I mean, most of the people who are targeted as so-called anti-Semites [00:03:01] right now are specifically being critical of a foreign country. And so when you claim that it's anti-Semitic to be critical of the IDF's actions in Gaza. Of the Israeli settlers actions in the West Bank. [00:03:18] What you're essentially communicating to the world is that engaging in barbarism, engaging in mass slaughter, is part of the Jewish identity, which it's not. Okay. The claim itself is disgusting and anti-Semitic. [00:03:36] And again, I mean, you're hearing influential, powerful people within the Israeli government just flat out talking about mass extermination, and we're just supposed to ignore that and pretend like it doesn't exist. So the two then went on to play a video of Bezalel Smotrich gross genocidal speeches, [00:03:57] at least one of them, its more recent one, and they reacted to it. So let's take a look at that. The truth is, until the last hostage returns, we shouldn't even give water to the Gaza Strip. For a year and a half, we've been beating the hell out of Hamas. [00:04:13] We're breaking Gaza apart, leaving it as a pile of rubble with total, unprecedented destruction in the world. And the world still hasn't stopped us. The aim is to achieve the one and only required outcome the conquest of Gaza, the annihilation of Hamas and the return of all the hostages. [00:04:31] In one word, victory. So that's their view on it right there. You know. He's saying we're killing people and leveling the country in order to move the population out. So how is that different from saying there are certain people in my capital city I don't want here? [00:04:47] I'm going to put them on trains and move them east. There's no there's no difference. People are being killed and expelled from the place where they were born because of their bloodline. That in the world that I grew up in, which is the United States of America. [00:05:03] The main lesson, the lesson of World War two, the reason we fought against fascism was we reject that. I thought that was a powerful moment because of how much honestly I resonated with it. Because I think what's happened over the last two years, just putting [00:05:22] aside the carnage in the Middle East and just focusing on the United States, what we project about ourselves on the globe or in the globe, I always thought of our country as obviously like our governments been flawed. [00:05:37] We've always had issues. There's there's no question. We've never been a perfect country. But I always thought that what we were aspiring to as a country, what what our Constitution provided us in terms of recognizing humanity, human rights, all of that. [00:05:57] I thought, you know what? That's what makes us stand out. When I thought about our role in World War Two, like that gives me so much pride. You know, I see myself as American first and foremost. I'm very, very proud of my Armenian heritage. There's no question about that. But I was born and raised here, and I do have a stake in the game. [00:06:16] As an American who cares about this country, who wants this country to thrive, who wants the people of this country to thrive regardless of their political identity? Even if you despise me, even if you're like on the far right or even on the left, and you think I'm a terrible person, I want you to thrive. [00:06:32] People in this country should live good lives, and they should have things in their lives that they can look forward to. And I think a lot of people are struggling right now. And what really bothers me is that as there is so much suffering in our own country, our government time and time again has shown us that we are on the back burner [00:06:51] as they prioritize foreign policy that does not benefit the American people. And on top of that, I feel embarrassed by what our government is greenlighting, funding, arming and engaging in. [00:07:08] That's not the identity of the United States that I was raised to believe we have. Again, I am not at all belittling or minimizing dark things that have happened in this nation's history. We have never been perfect, but I just thought that we would be better than this. [00:07:28] And I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed by our leaders bowing their heads to a foreign country and to foreign leaders. I'm embarrassed by how easily they're bought and corrupted. And I'm embarrassed that so many people [00:07:46] just don't see Muslims as human. I mean, like the dehumanization propaganda toward Muslims in this country. I didn't realize just how effective it was. And so I deluded myself into thinking, well, if I just do more debates and I [00:08:06] and I just try to inform people more, maybe I change my style. Maybe I change my tone, maybe I find a different way to reach people. It's just they need to know the information. I got to get them the information. No, for some people, they know, they know what's happening. [00:08:23] And that is so hard for me to accept because I think ultimately most people are capable of of goodness. But the propaganda in this country runs deep. And when an entire group of people have been dehumanized [00:08:40] and they just talk about Palestinians as if they're animals out in the open, not just in the Israeli government, but I see it in the commentary in American media time to time. It just it disappoints me. It makes me really sad. [00:08:55] And I find it really embarrassing. Finally, something that I think is worth pointing out. I'm really happy that Tucker Carlson specifically called out the double standard when it comes to hatred. Let's take a look. [00:09:12] All of a sudden, you've got people in the United States, United States government. You've got people in our media class. They're all defending this because they agree with it. And then you see people jumping up and being like, Muslims shouldn't have jobs in the United States. And it's like or in the US government, it's like, how is that better than saying Jews shouldn't have jobs or Christians or Buddhists? [00:09:29] It's all the same. That kind of thinking is genocidal. It leads to the genocide we're watching right now in Gaza and to many other genocides for the fifth time. It's not just Israel. It does this okay, but this is what we're fighting against. I could not agree more. [00:09:46] Please don't fall prey to any ideology that makes you think an entire group of people, based on their religion or their, you know, their ethnicity, their nationality, whatever it is, don't ever let anyone convince you to hate an entire group of people. [00:10:03] Judge individuals based on their own actions. And there is that double standard. So if you are offended by genuine anti-Semitism as I am, you should be just as offended at people who engage in Islamophobic rhetoric, [00:10:19] in racist rhetoric, in racist actions, because human beings Should again be treated as individuals, but more importantly, you should do it for yourself in terms of rejecting that kind of ideology. [00:10:35] Because I think one of the things that Martin Luther King Jr said that resonated the most with me, and I hope it resonated with you all as well, is that hatred? You should feel bad for people who are taken over by hatred. Like those are not happy people. Those are pretty miserable people. [00:10:54] So just keep that in mind. I mean, I'm kind of preaching to the choir because I know most people in my audience are not into hating, you know, any group of people based on their identity. But I really appreciated that portion of the conversation on Theo Vaughn's podcast. [00:11:09] And I got to give a shout out to Theo Vaughn, because I can tell he's been really wanting to, like, talk about this issue. And Tucker Carlson gave him an opportunity to do that in a way that was open, honest, and candid. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. [00:11:25] Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.