 Fundamental principles of freedom, rational self-interest, and individual rights. This is The Iran Book Show. Alright everybody, welcome to The Iran Book Show on this, what is it? It's Monday, January 22nd. I hope everybody is ready for Phenomenal Week ahead. Alright, well we might as well get into this, I mean, God. I mean one of the real horrible things about this election season and the next, what, 11 months? Actually it's going to be more than 11 months. And maybe the next five years is that we're going to have to talk about Donald Trump non-stop all the time. He dominates the news cycle, he's going to be everywhere and it is important and relevant. So no way to ignore it and no way to, you know, to not cover it. So we're going to be talking about this really, really ugly human being, an ugly topic called Donald Trump for a long time. So let's get into it as you probably all know. The Santas withdrew from the race yesterday, he made an announcement. I know Scott is just crushed by this, but the Santas has given up after one basically, you know, primary. Iowa destroyed the Santas. And not only did he withdraw from the race, which, okay, you can kind of understand, it was kind of obvious. Almost everybody with a few exceptions here in the chat that he was, that he could not win. But then he turned around and endorsed Donald Trump and attacked Haley. Tim Scott has endorsed Donald Trump from South Carolina, the governor of South Carolina now has endorsed Donald Trump. Basically, the Republican, everybody, Republican establishment, the Republican conservatives, the Republican right has basically folded, has embraced Donald Trump as the greatest president of modern times and as the candidate for another four years. And they're going to have their wish that is Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. And the only thing that could stop him is I guess the courts, you know, prison term, not sure even that'll stop him, maybe taking him off the ballot in a few states, which has been called technically theoretically could do, but it's very unlikely to indeed do. So, yeah, I mean, we've got Donald Trump is the candidate. New Hampshire tomorrow, so there's still some chance. But, you know, for Nikki Haley to make a miracle happen, but the probability of Nikki Haley winning in New Hampshire is very low, lower than it was even a few days ago now. And the reality is that the probability of Nikki Haley winning any state in the Union is very close to zero at this point. So, yes, Donald Trump is it. Donald Trump is going to be the person we're going to be talking about from now on. I really do think this is the end of DeSantis' national ambitions. Well, maybe not ambitions, but realities. I do not think he will be the nominee in 2028. It might be Donald Trump again to hold the Constitution. It might be somebody else, but I think that DeSantis has proved himself to be a coward. DeSantis has proved to be a very, very ineffective campaigner. And I think he's gone. You know, whatever happens in Florida, whatever he does in Florida, I do not think he has the ability, the personality to translate it into a national stage. And a big part of this, and look, I said this a year ago, the reality is that the only hope one had to defeat Donald Trump, and it was always going to be a long shot. Donald Trump has the Republican Party completely captured. And the fact that nobody in the Republican Party, even those running against him or criticize him, is the best illustration of that. The only way anybody had a chance of beating Donald Trump, and this is true of Haley, but even more so of DeSantis, is to take him on. It's to declare him a loser. It's to declare him bad for America. It's to declare him irrational and not all there. But that needed to be have done early, often, forcefully, courageously. Not in the package of a Christ Christi, who is known to be a moderate and has no real charisma and no real national presence. Somebody like DeSantis needed to do it. DeSantis, who has an audience, who had a following, who people believed could win, and who represented the conservative party, the conservative side of the Republican Party, he needed to go after Trump. And that was his only chance. Now maybe that would have blown up in his face, blew up in his face anyway. Maybe that would have blown up in his face, so be it. And maybe he's thinking ahead of 2028, didn't want to alienate those Trump voters. Maybe. But he's toast anyway, because he's shown that he is a weakling. He's exactly the opposite of what people supposedly like about Trump, strength. He has no strength. He didn't call Trump a loser over and over and over again. Not only for the fact that he lost over and over and over again, but also for the fact that he wouldn't show up for debates. That's a good reason to call him a loser. But DeSantis is, has shown himself to be, in his endorsement of Trump, a Thouro loser. Sorry, I didn't mean a Thouro loser because that's Trump. A Thouro coward. That's what he is. So it really is disappointing, shocking, but not really shocking. Mainly disappointing, not unexpected, not shocking, predictable that DeSantis is no longer in the race and that he would endorse Donald Trump after he was presenting himself as the alternative for it. So I think, you know, Chris asked, where do I see, where do you see most DeSantis followers going? Trump. There's no question. Trump. DeSantis was a more adult-like Trump. That was his presentation. That's what he was trying to say. He was trying to present himself as, I grew up with Trump pretty much on everything, but I'm an adult. I'm, you know, I'm more calm. The other thing he kept pushing was, I'm young. He's old. I'm young. I'm the new generation, pass it on to the new generation. But basically I agree with him. It was a disgusting campaign. So if you have to choose between now an old Trump and somebody who's very different than Trump, you know, Hailey, they're all going to go to Trump. They're all going to go to Trump. What happens to DeSantis? Iowa delegates. I think they're split based on proportionally, but I'm not sure. You know, I'm actually not sure how that exactly gets allocated. There's probably people here on the chat who know the mechanics of these things better than I do. All right. So it continues to surprise me and stun me that people support Trump, that he garners such enthusiasm, that people love him so much that people are willing to support him so much. But there you go. A few things coming out of Trump over the weekend. Again, I thought this was just, I mean, this is part of the course, but this is Trump. This is who potentially high likelihood is your next president of the United States. Trump was asked about Taiwan and about Chinese ambitions to invade Taiwan. He was very noncommittal about the U.S.'s willingness to defend Taiwan or not. But he did say this. He got very upset. He got very passionate. And he did say this, quote, Taiwan did take all of our chip business. We used to make all our own chips. Now they're meeting Taiwan. Ninety percent of them. Remember this. Taiwan took smart, brilliant. They took our business away. So Trump presents Taiwan because they, you know, they took the chip business away. And of course they sell them to us at cheaper, better prices and at better, better quality than we could have produced here. But he's resentful of that fact. But this is also consistent. Think about all the criticism I've laid upon Biden's chip act. Well, I would not be surprised at all if Trump's approach would be to triple up on the Biden chip act, that his approach would be to massively increase the subsidies and the central planning, the industrial planning that the United States government engages in, in order to bring the chips back. Bring chips back to America. That would make a great slogan, Trump. So yeah, I mean, if you're Taiwan, you're very nervous about Trump winning. And yeah, chips are much better, much higher quality, having been made in Taiwan in the United States. The United States just doesn't have the engineers. It doesn't have the ability. Again, this is about making the chips, not designing them. Design almost all chips, almost all chips are designed in the United States. This is about the building of chips. Taiwan is far better than the United States. Samsung is much better than the United States and South Korea. And of course, the number one chip making manufacturer is in the Netherlands. The reality is that Intel, which is the only U.S. chip manufacturer that actually have fabs, is way behind TCMC and Samsung. So no, quality is far lower in the United States than in Taiwan. Go Taiwan. And Taiwan is, of course, not an enemy, but a friend, at least, to those of us who believe in liberty. I'm not sure about Trump, because this is what Trump has said this weekend about Putin, Xi, Kim Jong-un. He talked about the fact that he thought that Nikki Haley was weak. She was not smart. She was smart enough and she was strong enough to deal with Putin, Xi and Kim Jong-un, the Buddha dictator of North Korea. And then he added like very fine people at the end of that sentence. It's just, who votes for this guy? Who takes this more on seriously? How can anybody? I watch him on video. I watch him in interviews and it just boggles my mind that this person is taken at all seriously. He's not a serious human being. He is a joke. He is a joke. And Putin, Xi, Kim Jong-un, very fine people. And to say that Haley can't handle them, God. I mean, he cowered before Putin. He really slaughtered, you know, he was so admiring of Xi and was very weak with forgotten China. You could easily make the case that Biden is significantly tougher on China than Trump was. And God, I've never seen a president of the United States humiliate himself more than Trump with Kim Jong-un. I've never seen anybody, any president of the United States humiliate himself more than the groveling, the love letters with the brutal dictator of North Korea. And the fawning praise he gives them, oh, he's really smart, he's really this, he's really that. Unbelievable. In interviews in the United States, the amount of praise he gives this guy, the North Korean, and Xi and Putin, pathetic, truly pathetic. And for those of you who are saying, yeah, but they were peaceful, you know, pragmatism power excellence. You know what then? Let's just throw principles out the window. Let's throw strength out the window. Let's just grovel before our enemies and show they'll all be super friendly to us if we just grovel. Finally, one other thing. I'll say that again, in New Hampshire, President Trump said, I took on a communist China like no administration in history, bringing in hundreds of billions of dollars, pouring right into our economy, when no other president in all these years had even gotten 10 cents. That is just one long, blatant lie. It's just not true. It's just not true. Billions of dollars flowed into the US Treasury from taxes played by Americans, American consumers, American businesses. The tariffs that he took on communist China, the tariffs, all they did was weaken American companies, strengthen foreign companies, and increase the cost of doing business in the United States significantly. They were a disaster. Economists have measured their effects, and the negative impact on GDP is substantial. Trump's policies vis-à-vis China. And on top of that, Biden's been stronger in China than Trump ever was. And then add to all this, the fact that Trump wants to come in and he wants to establish, and this is his lead economic policy, he wants to have 10% tariff across the board. Now we're not talking just about China, we're talking about across the board. I mean, Trump wants to break globalization. He wants to break trade. He wants to make the United States poorer. He wants to make the United States weaker. He wants to destroy your jobs. He wants to destroy your standard of living and quality of life. If you put up a barrier between the United States and the rest of the world, the United States loses. Now, the rest of the world does too. It's a lose-lose proposition, as most losing propositions are. Nobody wins, but this is what Donald Trump, so many of you, are excited about. He wants to make America poorer again. That is what he wants to do, and that is what his policies will achieve. And look, almost every economist knows this. Almost every conservative economist knows this. The reality is that Trump's 10% tariffs would be worse than all of Biden's bad economic policies put together. Just this one economic policy by Trump. With Trump, everything negative you have to say about Biden. So just based on this, Biden would be better for the US economy than Trump would. Trump doesn't care about the American people one way or the other. Trump only cares about winning, and he cares about being liked. He's a narcissist. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about America. One iota. And the reality is that he knows how to spin a 10% tariff to simple minds. Simple minds. And it turns out that includes some people in this listening to this show. For simple minds, a 10% tariff means, ooh, we're taking on the world. We're bringing jobs back to America. We're going to increase the manufacturing base of America. We're going to get stronger again, make America great again. But that's perceptual level. To simple minds, it seems like he was tough on Communist China. To simple minds, he's playing 4D chess by being nice to Putin Xi and the brutal dictator of North Korea. He knows what he's doing. He knows exactly how to play this. No. He's just showing his admiration for strong men. That's all. That's all. Oh, and the border. Of course, the border. He's going to protect us from all those migrants who are killing us, killing us. You know, there is carnage in the streets of America as violent crime declines dramatically in the United States. But that's okay. I mean, the point is, it doesn't matter what I think about Donald Trump. And I don't, what I think about his lies, his misrepresentations, and the fact that he does not care about America. It doesn't matter what I order. I know that. There's no question about that. This is all about people who don't want to think, who don't want to judge, who don't want to consider. Yeah. I mean, border crisis? God, what are these immigrants doing? Again, violent crime down. Usually invasions entail violence, but violence is down. All right. That's all I can stop for Trump today, although I'm sure it'll come up in the questions. All right. Elon Musk is at Auschwitz today with Ben Shapiro. Both of them are doing a, did earlier a live stream from Auschwitz with talking about anti-Semitism, talking about anti-Semitism on Twitter and the lack of, according to Musk, they are, I think this is part of Musk's effort to, which he's been engaged in quite a bit. Since he was accused of being anti-Semitic, he's been to Israel and went to see kind of the areas that were attacked and saw the videos of the attack on October 7th. He's now been to Auschwitz to see the evil that anti-Semitism can bring to the world and has brought to the world. So good for Musk. Good for Musk doing this and making it public and going out there and in a sense taking a stand against this. I wish the thing with Musk is I wish he was just more consistent or stayed out of these public political debates, which I don't think he's very good at or has a good understanding of and stuck to building Twitter and making it into what he wants to make it into. And of course, there's other companies making them into the giants that they are. But good for him for going to Auschwitz and broadcasting that and making a big deal out of it. It seems, you know, to watch him on stage is a little, I don't know, it's a little clumsy. It's a little, you know, when Musk says things like, you know, two-thirds of my friends are Jews. This sounds like all those cliches, which often, you know, I think even he's embarrassed by saying it, but I think he feels obligated to say it in order to dispel this notion that he is anti-Semitic. And I don't think he is, although I think he stupidly, once in a while, plays into the hands of the anti-Semites and supports them unknowingly. I think he's unfortunately, when it comes to politics, he's a tool of certain elements on the right and has been. I think he's a tool. There's an issue of immigration and he certainly has been, unfortunately, here and there a tool of theirs even on the issue of Jews in October 7th. But yeah, good for Musk and Ben Shapiro is there. So, you know, nail those credentials that he's doing. But, you know, Musk is awkward sometimes anyway, awkward sometimes anyway. Yesterday was 100th anniversary of Lenin. Lenin died on January 21, 1924. He was relatively young. He was 53 years old. He had been severely weakened by three strokes. He was already kind of bedridden, starting in 1922. He was, as you know, there's a, maybe you know, there's a Muslim in his honor with his, you know, with his body there. Lenin got shot. So Lenin, of course, is responsible for the Russian Revolution. I mean, Lenin is a truly extraordinary figure. He comes out of complete obscurity and basically takes over the largest country in mass, in geography, in the world. He leads a revolution of a tiny minority and yet leads them to victory in a civil war against the military force of the aristocrats during the Russian Revolution. I mean, before 1917, very few people knew who Lenin was. Certainly in Russia, pretty much nobody knew him. The Russian secret police had no idea what he looked like. Germany, who kind of sent him to Russia, were shocked by his success. And he basically revolutionized the world in his short time in power. I mean, he came to power in 1917. In 1924, he was already dead. Seven years, two of those years, he was bedridden. So he basically, within, you know, five years, completely changed the world. I love Nikos from the Iron Man Institute's take on this. He says, by late 1922, well, no, in these five years, Lenin left his mark on so much that was to follow. Without Lenin, there's no Soviet Union. Without the Soviet Union, there's no Communist China. No Korean War. There's no Cold War. There's no 45 years lost for Eastern Europe. There's no lavish aid to Arab nationalism, anti-colonial movement, Vietnam, Algeria, etc. Also, look quite differently. Without Lenin, there's no Comiturn. Without Comiturn, there's no Communist movement in the West. History of Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Greece would be different. Included, by the way, I'll add, the rise of Hitler. Also, without the USSR, most of the things we associate with Stalin are already there with Lenin. That is, Stalin is not an originator here. And this is the thing that so many people evade about Lenin, and you don't see written about him when people are commemorating his death. The censorship was already there. The authoritarianism was already there. The labor camps were established by Lenin. Starving people, starving the farmers was a political tool. Yes, Lenin was more practical or pragmatic in a sense than Stalin and was willing to tolerate some level of private property and some level of privatization in order to get the economy going. But basically, all the components of what later became Stalin's brutal authoritarianism were laid there by Lenin. The whole history, it's not clear that anybody else could have brought about the Russian Revolution. It's not clear what happens to Russia if not for Lenin, what direction it takes if not for Lenin. It was probably heading towards some kind of civil war, some kind of revolution, but where? What the nature of that revolution is hard to tell. So much for the people's denial of the theory of great men. Great men do shape history. And Lenin is an evil monster of a great man, but he has a shape of history. And without him being there doing particularly what he did. Not only that, I just saw this recent academic research that looks at Marxism. How popular was Marx from the period where he wrote his famous books in the mid-19th century to today? What are the key events that made Marx the dominant intellectual force that he became? And it turns out that if you look at citations, if you look at references, Phil Magnus has done this work, if you look at citation and references, then pre-Lenin, pre-1917, Marx is just not that important. He's just not that big. By the way, this was published in one of the top economic historic history journals. This is kind of mainstream journal. This is not like a lot of Austrians published in second class, third class, fourth class journals. This is in the first class journal. The first class is termed by the profession. You could argue that Lenin made Marxism by taking control over Russia and inspiring people out of the world that a Marxist communist revolution was possible. Lenin elevated Marx in ways that did not exist before. So the whole history of the 20th century, which to a large extent is shaped by communism, shaped by communism's dominance of Russia and Eastern Europe, but shaped by communism as an intellectual movement as opposed to the liberalism of the West, but also as opposed to the fascism of Hitler and the fascism of Mussolini, who presented themselves as saviors of the West against the evils of the left. So Lenin changed the world, single-handedly changed the world. For the worst, we'll go down in history as one of the worst people in history, or the most damaging people in history. Contemplating the world without Lenin is interesting, but impossible, of course. Somebody should do an alternative history. But yeah, Nikos nailed it in an excellent tweet. You can follow Nikos at Nikos underscore 17. At Nikos underscore 17, I wonder if that's 17 in commemoration of the Russian Revolution. Anyway, Nikos underscore 17, of course a fellow at the Android Institute, has great tweets. I'm jealous of his tweeting ability. He has really, really good tweets. His tweet on Lenin is excellent. I encourage you to follow him on Twitter. All right. Finally, over the weekend, well, and today, there's been a lot of talk about a deal with Hamas. There's a lot of pressure on Israel to cut a deal with Hamas. I talked about the defeatism last week. Well, defeatism is all geared towards ultimately getting Israel to accept the fact that it cannot defeat Hamas. It cannot win the war, and therefore it must cut a deal. Hamas issued this morning an 18-page document trying to justify what it did on October 7th. It is interesting because it is very much geared to the Palestinian. It seems to be geared towards convincing the Palestinian population that what it did was good, that what it did was right, that what it did, the pain the Palestinian people are suffering as a consequence of what it did is all worth it and all justified because Hamas had the good, the war being of the Palestinian people in mind. The purpose of October 7th, it says, was to prevent the turning of the West Bank into a deudization of the West Bank, they call it, and to liberate Gaza from the oppression of this, you know, from these really, what is it, embargo, you know, largest open-air prison they call it in the world. It's funny, I don't know any example in history where a country in a political entity provides water, electricity, food, you know, and everything else to an enemy sworn to destroy it, sworn to destroy it. And, you know, the analysis is, look, even if all this destruction happens, but at the end of the day what we get out of this is some kind of political settlement that frees all of the prisoners that Israel has in order to get their hostages back. And if we get at the end of this, the opening up of Gaza and Hamas back in power in Gaza, it was all worth it. And from Hamas' perspective, that is all true, and that is what they are demanding. In order to release the hostages, they're demanding that Israel retreat, stop fighting, accept a Hamas leadership over Gaza, and open up the Gaza borders. The Biden administration on that hand is putting massive pressure on Israel to accept a two-state solution that will include Hamas. That is that as part of a hostage release deal that Israel accept the existence, accept, move towards establishment of a Palestinian state which will include Hamas. I mean, any deal like this, any deal close to this would be an unequivocal travesty and a via, you know, just a, just a asking for many, many more October 7th. One of Hamas' leaders over the weekend did an interview in which he made clear that Hamas is not interested in a two-state solution. It's not interested in a Palestinian state next to Israel. Hamas is dedicated to a Palestinian state as a means towards global sharia over the entire land that constitutes Israel today. There is nobody within the Palestinian Authority that really wants a small Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian people have been so brainwashed, have been so indoctrinated, they don't want a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The dominant view among Palestinians is the desire, the need for one state in which there are no or very few Jews. They want to eradicate the state of Israel. They've wanted this pretty much forever and they continue to want it and nothing yet has changed. Indeed, only their complete defeat will change it. Only their complete subjugation in the short run will change it. Nothing short of that will change the dynamics in Israel. Palestinians do not want an Israeli state. They want genocide. They don't have the military power. They don't have the military force to inflict genocide. That is what they want. They want the Jews there dead or unships out. Talk about ethnic cleansing and all the other names you have for it. The real genocidal force in the Middle East are the Palestinians, the Iranians, Hezbollah. I mean, elements within the Islamic world. Israel would be suicidal to accept any deal, any deal that compromises with Hamas even if it involves freeing the hostages. And the more Israel seems to be willing to talk about it, the more likely it is that the more it emboldens, put it this way, the more it emboldens Hamas, the more it emboldens all these people, evil in the world. So keep watching this. It's only going to get worse. The world is slowly but systematically shifting to its usual position, which is anti-Israel, anti-everything. And of course it is Netanyahu that has brought us to this state. It is Netanyahu that's given Hamas every reason in the world for two decades now to believe that just within a pressure, he will fold. He will fold. Hasn't folded yet. Hasn't folded yet this time because this time the thing that's different this time is that this time he's reading the Israeli public. And this time his read of the Israeli public is that his only chance of political survival is to say no to these deals. Now as soon as that shifts, as soon as he gets a sense that his base, just like Trump's base, is willing to accept a deal if he signs off on it, he will do it like that, like that. He is just like so many political leaders. It's no different really. He is an unprincipled, power-lusting, compromising, I don't know, fill in the blank. Alright, thank you. That is the news, Rana, for today. A lot more of Trump coming in future episodes, sadly. I was really hoping we would never have to talk about Trump. I tried for a long time not to talk about Trump. Yep, no way to avoid him. Alright, let's see. Let's start with, oh, we've got a bunch of $50 and you guys have blown through the target for today before I even started, so thank you. Hopper Campbell is the same as playing 40 chess. He dropped out right before the Prime Minister and endorsed Trump, so Trump wouldn't go after him verbally. But practically he knows most of his supporters will end up voting for Nikki Haley in New Hampshire and South Carolina. No, I think most of his supporters will end up voting for Trump and there weren't a lot of supporters in New Hampshire. He was polling at like single digits in New Hampshire and my guess is most of them will vote for Trump or sit it out at this point because they don't have an alternative. Why even vote if they don't want to vote for Trump? I don't think they vote for Nikki Haley. And he went out of his way, by the way, when he endorsed Trump to go after Haley. And really the same is true in South Carolina. He was in significant presence in South Carolina. I mean, the only place he had a following was in Florida. He thought he had a real chance at Iowa, everybody thought and he thought because of its big evangelical vote and because he got all those endorsements in Iowa, he was not going to get endorsements in South Carolina. So no, this is not 40 chess. Not even 3D chess, not even 2D chess. There's no chess involved here. He's just a coward. That's all it is. He's a coward. He's been a coward from the beginning. He was a coward since he announced he was running. He coward before Trump. And when you cower to Trump and you cower before Trump, of course you're going to lose. The only way to deal with a bully, the only way to deal with a bully is to fight him. Trump is a bully. If he's nothing else, he is a bully. You want to take Trump on. You want to defeat Trump. You want to have any chance of defeating Trump. You got to take him on. You got to swing your fist. You got to fight. So he's an absolute coward. He's a coward and a failure. And he's finished in my view for a national perspective. He will not be a serious candidate in 2028 as a consequence. And his endorsement of Trump, of a real loser, is going to make him, I think it's going to make it really, really bad for him going into 2028. When they're likely to be, you know, they're hoping a party is going to be a really, really interesting party in 2028. No matter who wins this coming election, it's going to be really, really interesting. But people like JD Vance and Josh Hawley are setting up to run in 2028. But you might also have Kemp from Georgia. You're going to have, the party has lots of different wings and they're going to be represented. And he will not be, he will not be, he will never be president of the United States. All right, let's see. Liam says, you can't get more evil than devaluing the individual, which is the essence of altruism. Maybe Kemp coined it, but altruism has existed since the first human was jealous or afraid of another human's potential. Altruism wants us to stay animals. Yes, I mean, I think, look, altruism is about devaluing yourself for the sake of others. And I think it developed in tribal communities. And it was preached by, because I don't think it's something that individuals would come up with themselves. It comes from kind of the witch-doctor tribal leader. If you go read for the new intellectual by Ayn Rand, I think it very much comes from that meeting of the tribal leader, the Attila and the witch-doctor, the priest of whatever sect it is. And basically, what do they want? They want obedience. And how do you achieve obedience? You achieve obedience by telling the people one simple thing, that the gods, the gods, whatever they are, whoever they are, will only be appeased by, in a sense, the human sacrifice. That is, by human beings sacrificing to the gods. Now, who represents the gods on earth? How does the sacrifice manifest itself? By living for the tribe. How do we know what the tribe is? What it wants? By living for the leader of the tribe, by living for the witch-doctor of the tribe. So it is a whole ethical system geared towards the subjugation of the individual to the group, and importantly to the group's leaders. And God is a fantastic creation in order to help that manifest, in order to help that happen. But it is Attila and the witch-doctor, it's their teaming up, which is the source of altruism. And it gets its most powerful, powerful manifestation in Christianity. It gets its most powerful manifestation in the sacrifice of Christ and in the expectation that one should sacrifice to those who don't have, one should spend one's life in sacrifice, and that nobility, virtue, sainthood comes from sacrificing one's own interest to the interests of God, but the interests of the church, and ultimately those are all manifest in the interests of the so-called community. That is where altruism comes from. That's, you know, its modern source is in Christianity. So its modern manifestation in communism, socialism, fascism, wokeism, whatever you want to call it, all has its source in Christianity. All Compt does is give it a name and secularize it, and really Compt has already done that. Compt kind of consolidates the thinking and gives it a secular foundation, if you will. But it certainly doesn't invent it. It's invented in ancient tribal societies and really, really solidified as the dominant ethic of the West. When they had an alternative, there was an alternative. Aristotle, Aristotelian ethics was an alternative, solidified by Christianity as the ethics of the West and has dominated since. And if you want to understand why I despise Christianity as much as I do, it's that. In that sense, Christianity is responsible for almost all of the bad in the West. James says, suppose Biden only beat Trump by a little bit. Are two back to back losses to an 80 plus year old man with dementia enough to stop the Trump phenomenon? Or does he have to lose in a landslide or copycat fascist will rise up in 2028? I've said this before 2020. I said it over and over again for a year and a half before 2020. Trump has to lose in a landslide. Nothing less than losing a landslide will save this country. The Trump phenomena is destroying America and will destroy America. It's much more likely destroy America than woke and left and all of that. And the only way to get rid of the Trump phenomena is a landslide loss, a landslide victory for Biden. And I was hoping for that in 2020. And I'm still hoping for it. Just hoping and waiting for Trump to lose in a landslide to whomever is running against him. But I don't think it's going to happen because there is a substantial number of people who will vote for Trump no matter what. And those people are not going to change their minds and they're going to vote for him. And it's not a small number of people. It's a large number of people. You know, some of them are motivated by not voting for Biden. But a lot of them, that's not it. A lot of them, even those who deny it, and many of them deny it, a lot of them actually love Trump. They really do. Trump has a hold on him, which is a mystery to me how he could have a hold on anybody, but he does. And that's the reality. All right, Remo, currently I'm reading Sam Walton's Made in America. Can you please dedicate some beautiful words to the American legend that is Sam Walton? Yeah, I mean, Sam Walton is truly one of the great American businessmen of the 20th century. He built this amazing empire called Walmart, which revolutionized retail. You cannot imagine Amazon without Walmart. Sam Walton was a guy who rose up from nothing. But he added this unbelievable mind and he figured out what was needed in order to basically sell huge quantities of goods at low margins, at cheap prices, and basically win the retail war in America. He created the big box concept. He was willing to take something that had worked in Northwest Arkansas and take it national, take huge amount of risk. He faced opposition everywhere he went and had to fight for it and fight it. But he was a guy who was very much involved with his employees, very much involved in every aspect of how the business ran. And at the end of the day, what made Walmart the massive success that it became is that Sam Walton had an incredible mind for logistics and for bringing in people who understood logistics and making logistics the centerpiece. And what Walmart is and what Amazon ultimately is, are logistics companies. They are best in the world at getting products from A to B. And knowing where to store them, how to store them, how to ship them, how to truck them, how to use trains, where to use what method, how much to stock, automation and computerization, inventory management, all of that stunning, stunning. I mean, the Walmart story is a stunning story. It's only been kind of forgotten because of the rise of Amazon. But again, Amazon is based on, it succeeds because of the innovations in logistic management that Walmart brought to market. And it's that what has made Amazon. So the whole retail world is completely different, completely different because of Sam Walton. So he's a real hero of American business. Mary Eileen thought I would just not vote if it were Biden, Trump, since I live in a blue state. But now I would absolutely vote for Biden if he doesn't die first. Yeah, I mean, there's a sense in which, I mean, the best thing is a weak president and a divided Congress, and then nothing gets done. So having a president who has no clue what's going on is given given the bad ideas our presidents have is probably better than a president who has a clue about what's going on, how much worse could a president be, given how bad, how bad the presidents are right now and how bad they are in terms of the character and the personalities that exist. So yes, please vote for Biden. Again, I think I think the bigger the margin by which Trump loses the better off we are long term. Jeffrey, I'm close with a Trump supporter who is normally more rational. After years of trying to understand, I think she votes for him mostly because of how angry Trump makes people who have made her feel small in the past. I mean, that's interesting. There are a lot of psychological reasons that people vote for Trump and Trump is kind of a release valve for a lot of pent up frustration people have with the system with existing elites with existing whatever, right? And so people adore Trump and become irrational in the face of Trump because he fulfills some deep psychological need they have. I mean, you can see that again on the chat on people, you know, a lot of people on the chat who are going to vote for Trump. And they're going to say they don't like Trump all the way to the ballot box, but they really do. They really, really, really do because he fulfills some psychological needs. There's some things psychological about it. And it's partially it's sticking it to the man, it's sticking it to the mainstream, whatever. And it's sticking it to Iran. It's whatever, right? But it really is, it's psychologically driven. And, and for some, it's just they're just irrational. And for some, they have an estimate of Trump versus Biden and they prefer Trump to Biden, I think they're wrong. But but that is, that is the rationale they go through. Yeah. And then and then the people, of course, who claim to know what Peacock is thinking, and they they just channeling Peacock because their authority bound, right, they're guided by authorities, and they can channel those authorities directly. We now likely have two candidates for president who have made it clear they don't support Taiwan. Why? I mean, Biden has basically made it clear that he would support Taiwan. I mean, Biden has basically said that the United States would come to defend Taiwan. So I'm not sure who the other one is who doesn't support Taiwan. So I'm not sure Mike, if I'm misreading what Biden has said, but Biden's been very clear, very clear that he does indeed support Taiwan. All right, let's see. Race. Before he inevitably shows up in the live chat, bless Scott for being the favorite punching bag of the channel. Some of you like having him as a punching bag and some of you don't. It's, you know, like everything. There's no agreement on the channel about whether I should cook Scott off or not. All right, Oivind, almost finished reading Opa, a fantastic book. Oh yeah. Made me think of a simple refutation argument against determinism. Who concludes there is nothing there? Me. Yeah, I mean, somebody has to conclude. Somebody has to judge. Somebody has to think. And, you know, Sam Harris would say thinking is automatic, but we know it's not because we know in our own lives that it's not automatic. We know it requires will. So there it is. Phil Haley has gotten more about how to deal with bad guys than any of the other runners would ever know. She just needs some random relay. Yes, I mean, Haley's font policy is right on and the main job of a president is font policy. It's the most important job and neither Biden nor Trump are qualified. And Trump's font policy is is a great reason not to vote for him. His font policy is awful and horrific. And Haley's is good. And just on the basis of that, Haley is a superior candidate to Trump. I mean, she said some some things that I completely disagree with. You know, she's wrong on a number of different issues. But a font policy generally is the best of all the candidates that have run and are running for president. Ovid, have you watched Godzilla minus one with your son? Also one popular show you can try to get yourself on Alex O'Connor cosmic skeptic enjoy your day around. I have not yet watched the Godzilla minus one, but I promise I will. It's just a matter of time. I will watch it. That doodle bunny is kindness, weakness. No, it doesn't have to be. It can be. But to be kind to those who deserve kindness is a virtue. That is, if somebody it's an act of justice. So being kind is is not weakness. Being kind is an act of benevolence. It's an particularly to strangers. It's an act of recognition, the value of human beings. To be kind to your enemy is weakness and suicide and and and and and, you know, it's suicide. It's anti your own values and therefore anti your own life. Clock. What the hood hates most is one who thinks differently. It is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do. Yes, I think that's absolutely right. You see it in all contexts. But there is a there is definitely a hood mentality. There's a hood out there. They like to follow and they like people to follow them like they want to be part of a hood and they want that hood to be big. And they want to follow some somebody who can channel their supposed will can tell them what to think. They hate thinking for themselves. And American politics is, you know, digressed into hood mentality into tribalism. And it has been this for a while. And it is, it is pretty ugly. It is pretty ugly. All right. Let's see. I love how on the chat, people are speculating about pick off support or lack of support or support of Trump. I mean, what's the point? What's the point? You don't know until he makes a public statement, you won't know. And then you'll have to decide if you agree with Leonard or not, then pick off, you can agree with him or not agree with him. And I'm not going to tell you, because that's his business on mine, unless he tells me to tell you. But I probably know more about Leonard's support, political support than certainly any of you. No, I don't agree with Leonard on a number of issues regarding politics. You know, I think that's being quite clear, but but on every philosophical points, and every time we actually really go in depth in a conversation, we land up a green. I'll put it that way. Phil, of all presidential candidates, who would be the most likely to support Israel and Ukraine victory? Easily, that's Haley. There's no question, Nikki Haley is the best on Israel and Ukraine. It's not even close. Iran looks like, this is Enrique, Iran looks like looks to have a few to create small nuclear weapons now or soon. What are the scenarios if they're allowed to succeed? Well, the scenarios are they're basically attacking Iran and going to war with Iran is off the table. It becomes an impossibility. And it's not, you know, they're going to succeed. It's going to happen. It's going to happen soon. It certainly would happen if Trump gets elected. And, you know, but I think it's going to happen. It could happen even before the election. And it could easily happen before the election. It could happen any day now. Iran could announce that it has a nuclear bomb. I mean, there is nothing to prevent that. Literally nothing. Israel is trying by covert actions. But it requires a massive attack on Iranian facilities. And as long as Israel and the United States are not willing to do that, it's just a question of when, not a question of if, not a question of if. And if they do get it, it means they're immune from look at North Korea. They, they, they, you know, can do pretty much whatever they want with very little consequences. Everybody's afraid to attack them, afraid to engage them, afraid to do anything to them because they might launch a nuke. Now, North Korea is less likely to launch a nuke than is Iran because they're less mystical. So I can't think of a bigger disaster, a bigger disaster right now than allowing Iran to reach, to achieve or to build nuclear weapons. And yet nobody, nobody, nobody is interested in stopping them. Nobody is interesting in stopping them. I don't think Russia would give one to them. Russia would not do that. But for a variety of reasons, among them, Russia itself would be threatened by a nuke. Russia is willing to help Iran up to a point. But I don't think beyond that point. But it is, we are entering a very, very dangerous world. And, you know, Iran is a real player if it has nukes. And you, you, yeah, I mean, America then and Europe become, Europe certainly is within range and hard to defend long, you know, lots of airspace. And, yeah, I don't know. What can I say? If we're going ahead towards World War III, it might very well be Iran getting nukes is the path by which we get there. Iran looks the same question. All right. I think, yes, same question. Thank you, Enric. Bradley, I started emailing you interesting clips once a week, more or less, is this at all useful or annoying? Useful, but I don't seem to see once a week. Iran at Iranbrookshow.com. I'll check my email, but once a week would be great. I'm looking for clips to do more commentary on, just like I did on Goggins recently. So, yes, keep emailing them and use email rather than Twitter or Facebook because I can't keep track of all the different communication methods. There's too much going on. Phil, wake up people. Apparently Trump cheats at golf. I mean, is that surprising you? He cheats at everything. He's a cheat. He's a cheat through and through. He lies and he's proud of his lying. And I'm sure he's proud of cheating at golf. To me, this is effectively a hanging offense. And Iran needs to emphasize this seriously. I mean, I'm not a golf player, so it's not a hanging offense for me, but yeah, he's an immoral lying, cheating, stealing, SOB. I mean, just think of who this guy is. Groping women, sexually assaulting women, you know, just a thin skin, calling his opponent's names, cheating on the golf course. He's a loser. And he's an ugly loser at that in a sense that he loves claiming to be a winner as he's losing. And he loves cheating and lying. He is lying. He lies about everything and he has no compunction. Most people who lie try to hide it. He doesn't hide it. He doesn't care one way or the other. As long as it gives the effect that he wants on the crowd, he doesn't care. Eyal, I just finished the book The Darkening Age, a book about the cultural death of Roman Christianity, was an anti-life cult that took over a civilized nation and ate it from the inside. I highly recommend. Yeah, I mean, that is consistent with the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It is consistent with kind of 19th century or enlightenment views of the fall of Rome. But I will look into it. I will look into it because I am definitely interested in the history of Christianity. Maximus, what other parties did the Palestinians have the opportunity to vote for when they had elections? Well, I mean, they could have voted for the Palestinian Authority, basically the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Yes, or Arafat's old organization. But there's only been one election, right? I mean, Hamas is not exactly encouraged elections, but it's not just an issue of elections. Poll after poll after poll has shown the Palestinians support Hamas, Palestinians support the eradication of the state of Israel. Just have to listen to the media, go read their schoolbooks and what they teach their kids. And this is true both of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, even though to the world the Palestinian Authority pretends, puts on a face, puts on a facade of, oh no, we just want our own state. We want to live in peace with Israel. That is not what they teach their kids. That is not what Yasser Arafat used to say to his own people in Arabic. It's what he said in English, not in Arabic. So the Palestinian people, a majority of those people want the eradication of the state of Israel. They want those people dead or on boats sailing off into the sunset to die, I guess, at sea. I don't know where they're going to go. All right. Thank you, everybody. There will be so tonight because I'm traveling. Remember, tomorrow I'm giving a talk at the University of Michigan, University of Michigan. Look it up at youronbrookshow.com. Youronbrookshow.com will have a list of my events on the first page. Just scroll down. University of Michigan in Ann Arbor tomorrow evening. Then on Wednesday, I'm speaking at a high school in Dearborn, Michigan. It's the Ford, you know, it's a charter school. It's supposed to be one of the best schools, I guess, in Michigan. And I'll be speaking there to students. I'm expecting anywhere from 50 to 100 students. And then I'll be at Northwood, Northwood University. Henry Ford Academy. Thank you, Robert. At Northwood University on Wednesday evening. Northwood and University of Michigan are open to the public. You can drive there, you can come, you can say hello, you can shake hands, you can just watch. Now, in addition, I am speaking at the University of Texas in Austin on Friday night on Israel's Mara War. And it will be, you know, this will be, I think, I think, I expect this will be a big event. So I'm hoping you can come. If you live in Austin, Texas, I'm asking you to come. I need your support, if you will. I think your support would be greatly appreciated at the events. So please come over. Now, the event in Austin will be live streamed. But again, if you live in Austin, please come in person. It will be real help. But the event in Austin will definitely be live streamed. I do not know about the events in Michigan if they're going to be live streamed or not. Maybe Jennifer knows. I will try, I will have my live streaming equipment with me. So I will try to bring my live streaming equipment with me to the events that are not live streaming themselves. But in Texas, the university will be live streaming it. And yes, so hopefully I will see some of you in Michigan and in Austin. In any case, there will be a show tonight. There won't be any shows tomorrow because of my travel. There will be a show tonight at 7 p.m. East Coast time. See you then. Bye everybody.