Ep. 2186 - Investigating “Putin’s Brain” + Zelensky Part II
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Well, folks, we'll get to all the news, plus the second part of my interview with President Zelensky in just one moment. First, a big question that I've been getting since we released the trailer for that interview with President Zelensky is why actually go to a nation in the middle of a war? And the answer is simple, because getting the facts matters.

The truth matters, and you, our Daily Wire members, deserve the truth. You deserve answers. This is the kind of journalism your support makes possible. This is the community that actually fights for your values. Join us right now at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Well, a couple of days ago, right after we left Ukraine, the Russians launched one of the biggest salvos of the war all across Ukraine. Drones, missiles. One of those missiles struck an apartment complex in Kiev. It killed at least 12 people.

This prompted President Trump to take to Truth Social and issue a statement, quote, not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir, stop. Five thousand soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done. He said, I'm not happy with the Russian strikes on Kiev. OK, well, that is not going to get it done. I'm sorry, but yelling at Vladimir Putin over Truth Social is not the thing that is going to get it done.

President Trump has been very successful at successfully pressuring the Ukrainians to come to the table. He's gotten Vladimir Zelensky to agree to a 30-day ceasefire. However, when it comes to the actual...

pressure on the Russians so far that seems to have been largely in abeyance. In fact, President Trump yesterday was asked directly about this. He was doing a presser in the Oval Office, and he was asked about what concessions Putin had made thus far, because the United States is asking some pretty large concessions from the Ukrainians, ranging from acknowledgement of Russian ownership over eastern Ukraine and Crimea to the possibility of banning themselves from NATO, essentially.

and not even getting great security guarantees from the United States or from Europe in the process. That is the proposal that was put on the table by supposed master negotiator Steve Vutkoff, who has yet to actually negotiate a successful deal in any real sense. Well, President Trump was asked about what exactly is Vladimir Putin putting on the table. Here's President Trump's response. - What concessions has Russia offered up thus far to get to the point where you're closer to peace? - Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country,

Pretty big concession. President Trump then went on to suggest that the big concession from Moscow is that they're not trying to conquer the rest of Ukraine, which is currently untrue. They are trying to conquer the rest of Ukraine. Also, that's not a concession. That's because the Ukrainians are fighting them. That's because over 50,000 Ukrainians have died fighting against the Russians. It is not that Vladimir Putin decided to be a nice guy and not try to take Kiev or Lviv.

It is that Vladimir Putin has been stopped in his tracks by the Ukrainian military. Yes, with American financial support, material aid from Europe, as well as the United States. Why does all of this matter? Well, it matters because if the United States were to simply withdraw from all of this, which is the threat, the threat right now that the Trump administration is putting forward is the threat that they will walk away from the negotiation table and also possibly cut all aid to Ukraine, including everything up to and including intelligence sharing.

If that happens, the possibility becomes very strong that Vladimir Putin does, in fact, succeed in his invasion of Ukraine and take the rest of Ukraine. The Europeans are ramping up their spend. The problem is, on a material war-making level, a lot of the weaponry that the Ukrainians are using is American-made, requires American parts. And so it takes a while to shift over from that sort of weaponry to European-made, European parts.

And so that delay could actually cost the Ukrainians the entirety of the war. As you know, I actually traveled into Ukraine a couple of days ago, and I sat down with President Vladimir Zelensky to discuss all of this. We played the first part of our interview yesterday on the show. Here's the second part of our interview with Vladimir Zelensky.

So there have been a couple of different arguments that have been made by Vladimir Putin that have now been picked up by some people in the United States about the nature of Ukraine. Obviously, Putin has suggested that Ukraine is a Nazi regime, that there ought to be denazification. Simultaneously, he has suggested that Ukraine is a wild hotbed of social leftism and

very big on transgenderism, same-sex marriage, abortion. How do you respond to those two varying accusations about Ukraine itself? Well, it's funny. Funny to hear about this from Putin. I mean, and addressing that to me, you know, any talks about Nazism directed to me, you know,

through his actions, he came very close to the results of the Nazi regime.

that was dominating in Europe like 100 years ago. And Putin is coming very close through the actions of his armed forces, like particularly in the first days of the full-scale war, because in the beginning, when they were like in the very beginning of this full-scale invasion, they were raping people, they were killing people,

people, they were doing everything. And you know, a good example is your meeting. I was told that you had a meeting with the main rabbi. Yes. So you had a meeting. So do you think he's an adequate person? Seems like a nice rabbi to me. I've met many rabbis. Seems nice. Absolutely adequate. I think he's a heroic person. He's a heroic father.

His son is a Jew, their family, it's a Jew family, but his son went to war. Do you think whether his son would be fighting for a Nazi regime? That's, you know, that's not adequate, what Putin is saying. You know, the Jews...

They can't be fighting for the Nazi regime. I mean, Rabbi cannot be sending his son to the war for the Nazi regime. And there's many a lot, you know, that I have some of the ancestors, Jews, and...

telling that Ukrainians are Nazis, that I'm a Nazi, and that I represent a key of Nazi regime. Look, it's primitive.

I think I should, you know, come up with some differing evidences or arguments, at least something, because we have salvence of evidences of a Nazi regime of Putin and the consequences of his war against us.

the recognition of his war, of his regime as accountable to the International Criminal Court. There's the deportation of Ukrainian children, which is recognized by the whole world. And he's, some of the leaders close to him, these are the leaders who always had some tight relations, I mean, the economic relations with Russia. Those on the Middle East, those...

somewhere in the global south, even these leaders, even they are fighting for putting to return back our children because the abdication of children, taking them away from their relatives, even those children who lost their parents during this war, but taking those children away from their grandparents

I'm sorry. That is something that is truly more like a modern Nazis, but that's not like a Ukrainian Nazis at all. How do you respond to the counter accusation, which is that Ukraine is actually just a repository of Western decadence, that it's a decadent country that's liberal and that is embracing all these socially leftist causes and therefore conservatives in the United States, for example, should not care about Ukraine because really Russia is more religious conservative power.

Look, first and foremost, the people of Ukraine

Well, you shouldn't be forcing Ukrainian people to do anything. That's the major kind of aspect. The people of Ukraine, they will select for themselves. We don't have any difficulties regarding the human rights, or no challenges regarding that, because that's the main law for those people. Why the Ukrainians are fighting against Russians? Not because these are Russians, absolutely not.

but because someone, and in this case Russians, came and started to force you. If tomorrow we'll be told that there's inequality of sexes and someone might be imposed on Ukrainians, then Ukrainians will be fighting for their own rights.

That's kind of the emotional face of the Ukrainians. Ukrainians are free, and we are not kind of limiting Ukrainians, because you can't do that. You shouldn't be doing that, because Ukrainians will be against it. That's it. And it's everywhere. I mean, it's in the gender equality. It's in all matters related to religious choice.

How to leave? With whom to leave? What...

How many children would you like to have? You want a lot of children? Okay, we'll be supporting that. We are supporting that. This is very important to us. Just now I had a meeting with the churches and they're saying that you need to reinforce the Institute of Family because of the war and plus 8.5 million Ukrainians left.

the country, so the birth rate is decreasing and we need to reinforce that. This is the signals that they are transmitting. We are sharing those signals among the people. And I'm convinced that if you're not exerting any pressure on Ukrainians, if you have a dialogue with Ukrainians, then you can agree on everything. But

as long as you or if you're starting to force Ukrainians or if you could start to press on the Ukrainians dignity or Ukrainians rights then Ukraine will kind of turn around very fast the Russians they could be friendly to Ukrainians they could be

doing so. And for many, yes, that was the case. But the problem of Russians is that they want to have Russian world everywhere. They're not respecting you, your language, your identity. They want everyone to be the same. They are saying that Ukraine does not exist.

Look, they came and most of the people who died, I mean Ukrainians who died, that was in the east of Ukraine. This is where the family were half Russian, half Ukrainian, and where the families were speaking Ukrainian.

primarily with Russian language, but most of the families like that were living in the East. Now, how had they supported, Russians supported the development of their own language or culture? Nothing. No, no. Now that's a totally different situation. Now the people are hating them. Even those people who had some family relationship or had some ties with Russia because of the border. But now,

There's a different attitude because the Russians have brought death. In this case, you'll be hating these people because that proves

person that were that people and have killed members of your family or brought hatred upon your land. That's why the attitude. So now I want to talk about negotiations and Russia's ambitions here. So you've already accepted an immediate 30 day ceasefire. The Russians refused to accept a 30 day ceasefire or even a one day ceasefire. They put together a fake one day ceasefire for Easter and then they proceeded to send drones all over the eastern part of Ukraine. The Russian ambitions here

How do you interpret those ambitions? I mean, Vladimir Putin has suggested that Ukraine is a fake state, that it needs to be removed from the map. It needs to be completely taken over. And he's talked about how the Soviet empire, the great geopolitical disaster was the destruction of the Soviet empire, not because he's a Soviet, but because he believes that sort of the Russian imperial spirit requires empire. And Ukraine is the big sort of moat in his eye. He can't get over it. Given that position from Putin,

President Putin, do you believe that he will be satisfied with a ceasefire that solidified the lines currently where they are? Or do you think that he's looking for more? Let's be pragmatic. Let's not try to take into account only the

desires of Putin. And it's not serious to speak to such a large country that it does not exist. You know, there's kind of tens of millions of people living here in Ukraine and there's...

Tens of millions of Ukrainians are living around the globe and that many Ukrainians will not allow him to change the history. He wants that, but that's impossible. Whenever we're talking about tens of millions of people, you know, you can't simply, you know, keep it somewhere in shadow and rewrite everything. He can't control the information flow in his country totally.

And this is where he rewrites the history of the whole world. And I can assure you his ambitions will grow. If Ukraine will not withstand, then he will go on. And surely...

He already has the textbooks of history who tells who is the real owner of the territory of Poland, Hungary, etc. So he will move on. That's why I told you, let's be pragmatic. We need to stop Putin in order not to take any risk. I mean, for the world not to take any risk, first thing. And that's why we talked about NATO, about your families, about the Europeans. Why the world should take any risks?

for not taking a risk, for people not to be in fear. You need to stop them. We need to stop him for not destroying us. We are fighting for our survival, and you are fighting not only for our survival, but for your risks, for...

this possible, but large risks. I'm not wishing you this. I wish only peace, just for you to understand correctly. But why should you have all those risks coming from an inadequate person? Not necessary. The third thing, what is happening? Let's be pragmatic once again. If Putin will succeed...

Well, there are countries in the world, there are certain leaders in the world who have been at power for many years, well, part of their life, who, in your directions, in the Pacific region, who are looking at Putin. So if he will succeed, then they think, why shouldn't they try once again? And that is also a big risk for you, for several of your allies.

and risks, you know, it's not only about the lives of the people, even though that's point number one. It's also about the economy. You are participating in many directions and businesses where the war is happening, there is no business or the economy.

So if there's war, the war will have an impact on the investors as well. So I think you're also interested in that. I'm not talking about pragmatic things here, there's political things that we kind of

We kind of hide and we're saying that, you know, economy is the aspect number one, money is everything number one, it's important for the taxpayers, and we're saying that we're not interested in politics.

The victory of Putin is impossible because it's a failure, a failure of the United States as the leader of the world. And that's a policy already. It has an impact on many things, on your currency, on your economy, on the stability and the strength of US dollars and the presence of your currency in the world and your business.

So it has an impact on all that, on the prices, on the energy sources. And many countries of the world are basing their economy on the energy sources. So I think that all of those aspects, the political aspects, they are interwoven with some economic or other projects. That is why I think these are big risks.

That might be coming if Putin is victorious or the victory of the modern crumbling of Russia. Look at other things. Whenever there was a war in the world against a big country, a war for territory, when it involved a significant amount of people, it all went back, it all went awry because you can't

completely rewrite the history of the tens of millions of people. This is impossible. So there's another risk. For example, the United States is willing to put an end to this war very fast. And it searches for any way of dialogue with Putin. This is happening right now. So let's be frank.

I don't want to criticize this policy. This is the choice. If this policy will result in ending the war in a fair peace for Ukraine, we are absolutely grateful to you. But I would focus your attention to the thing that Putin, as any dictator or an autocrat,

He needs applause. He needs recognition. He cannot keep himself alive in the isolation.

and if there is leaders like United States, like China, I mean, countries big in terms of the population economy, if these countries will recognize him, then he will kind of use it to survive and he will continue. There will be more risks. So United States willing to build the economic relationship with Russians, for example, and some from Trump's team or some from the business,

They are looking at the policy of the president. They think that the war is going to end soon and we'll make the big investments, I don't know, in raw materials and minerals and Russia in territories. Look, there will not be calm years in Russia. All those money will be, you know, will go in vain. They will disappear because in Russia there's many nations

who at certain time has been occupied by the Russian Empire. This is just to add to your words about the Russian Empire, about the risks. There's the Caucasus. They are absolutely different people. Believe me, I've been working there for several years. I've been to Caucasus. I've been to many countries there.

to many parts of the country. They've destroyed their languages. So everywhere where there is a nation whose culture, whose language, whose rights have been destroyed, their life, their cuisine has been destroyed. You know,

They're just waiting for the moment, for the right moment. There will be a right moment. And then it will all kind of explode. There will be no unity in Russia because they were capturing other nations

So it will be kind of a boomerang that it will all return to them. And just the same in case in Ukraine, they're capturing our territories. And I think that's going to be a big challenge because not me, maybe not my children, maybe my grandchildren, but still in the history, there will be always like you were taking something that belonged to you, but there will be people

who know that their grandparents are buried on the occupied territories and they know that their homes were there. And the people of Ukraine will return for what belonged to them. And in this case, that pragmatism of the United States or Europe or anyone willing to invest in Russia, they will lose that because there will be a war on the territory of Russia. There will be a war.

And it doesn't matter where the war is coming from because war is horror. The point that you're making, you mentioned here, and I think it's very important, the coalition that's forming around Russia with regard to Ukraine. You've seen Iranian drones in the field in eastern Ukraine. You've seen Chinese soldiers on the field. You've seen North Koreans.

on the field. The coalition is drawing together via this war. And so when you talk about the formation of an anti-American coalition, that anti-American coalition is coming together in the field. Maybe you can talk about that. I was always surprised that the United States

We're kind of searching for an approach to Russians. Now, I'm grateful for their desire to stop, but I want it to be clearly understood the Russians will always want

and desire the destruction of the United States as the leader, the destruction of the US economy. Now, believe us, we were born in the Soviet Union. We had it all brought up in schools. This is the policy of the Soviet Union. This is the policy

that is now returned by the Putin. He returns the policy of the Russian Empire. He's not mentioning the Soviet Union because he understands that not all the people are happy without the Soviet Union. He talks about this empire. It's all the same, the Russian and the empire, it's all the same. Their main enemy, it's you, it's the United States. So whenever they are kind of

willing to take the influence over the European states, over those who have become independent but were former parts of the Soviet Union. Look, after that, he will come for the United States because it can't be different because you, the United States, is an enemy for Russians. So now you can see this coalition and it exists and they're not hiding this. Absolutely not.

Iran is completely with them. Like, completely. Iran is willing to have the destruction of the United States, just like the United States, the North Korea. They're completely with them. Like,

All of them are saying that they are fighting against the United States on the territory of Ukraine. And there's a reason for saying that. They hide the weakness of their army in that way because they failed to destroy us completely. We are now talking in the center of Kiev, in the center of Europe, close to St. Sophia. That's a fact.

And they're showing this. China, as I told you, you know, just recently the Chinese said that there is no evidence that China is somehow engaged in those combat operations. Look, it's all the same. I have a question. We have information that

China is working, Chinese are working on Russian factories and they're producing drones. The drones that are used for killing Ukrainians. We have evidences, we have facts. Now tell me, for example, what do you think

If the leadership of China is unaware of this, well, let's imagine they are not aware that Russia has got some technical experts, professionals from China, and they're paying salaries because we have passports, we have the information on their salaries, we have all this information.

We can show this information. We have all of that. Now tell me, if China, if the leadership of China is unaware of this, for example, and the citizens of China, the technical workers are working in Russia and producing the drones, and these drones are killing us, the Ukrainians. Now, if the

the Chinese leadership is unaware that the citizens of China and we took some of them as prisoners of war, they're fighting with their weapons, they're killing us. Then tell me, is that a sort of a justification to the situation? Wouldn't it be

Is that unfair whenever we're saying that China is supporting Russia? I think that we are saying in a fair way because Chinese are not working on our factories. They're not producing the weapons that we're using to defend against Russians. The Chinese are not fighting alongside our men and women in the armed forces of Ukraine, as they are like hundreds of people. So that's it.

So maybe the leadership is unaware, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be responding to that. You should respond to that. And that is why all this situation, and in any case, you know, kind of engages you or involves you into a situation that there is this alliance with Russia on top.

And Ukraine, it's just as a cornerstone, as an indicator. So whenever I'm answering your questions, you can see where I am and how I'm asking questions. What do you think? When the United States is saying that we are in between Russia and Ukraine and someone is exerting pressure upon us,

Do you understand why am I struggling to understand all of these things? Kind of I'm demonstrating, the whole people are demonstrating that we are fighting. We are fighting for your rights.

Just as for our own, we are fighting for our values just the same as yours. We're fighting with Russians, with your enemy, not with your friends, but with your enemies. And we want to have this understanding in the United States, nothing more. The understanding and the recognition

of the fact that we are partners. Well, you know, President Trump is a savvy negotiator. I believe that he will, in the end, get to a solution that is peace through strength based. And if not, then the war will just continue because without peace through strength, there is no answer. It's true. President Zelensky, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything.

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but you haven't run out of options. Let Tax Network USA help before the IRS makes its next move. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Shapiro. So some of my big takeaways from the interview with President Zelensky. Did I get all of my questions answered in the way that I wanted?

I mean, I can't say that all the questions were answered to my full satisfaction. I don't know where every dollar is going in Ukraine. I don't know that all my questions were answered with regard to, say, electoral problems in Ukraine or corruption problems in Ukraine. When it comes to the United States and our allies, one of the sort of great failures of American foreign policy over the course of the last 80 years since the end of World War II is this bizarre idea in the United States that if...

if our allies are imperfect, somehow it makes sense to abandon them. This is what we did in Vietnam. Our allies were imperfect, so we abandoned them. And then the Viet Cong took over.

The same thing happened in Afghanistan. Our allies were seriously imperfect. And when I say imperfect, I mean there were a lot of terrible people involved in the Northern Alliance and then in the government in Afghanistan. Tremendous corruption. And also, it turns out that the people on the other side were significantly worse. And so in determining what's happening in Russia-Ukraine and what should happen next, the question is less whether Ukraine is perfect. It certainly is not. And the question is much more, what exactly does Russia want? What is in America's interest?

And I can tell you this, what is not in America's interest is a growing, more powerful Russia. Because in determining how to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that originally broke out in 2014 with the Russian takeover of Donbass and Crimea, and then was reignited by the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, it's not enough to try to figure out what the quote-unquote rational middle ground looks like. That feels like what the Trump administration is trying to do. Find a solution. Well, I mean, you can find a solution, but unless you have a way to actually implement the solution,

Any solution that you propose is meaningless. No matter how hard you try, you cannot impose this solution from the outside in the way that the United States would if, for example, we had boots on the ground. And we don't want to have boots on the ground. And that means somehow you have to get the Russians to the table. Both sides need to be at the table. The Ukrainians are at the table. The Russians are not at the table. Now, we are not the dominant force in the region, nor do we want to be. However...

The Ukrainians being at the table means that it's now time for the Russians to come to the table. So how do you get them to the table? Vladimir Zelensky, as he talked about in this interview,

He's already agreed to an immediate 30-day ceasefire. The Russians have not. He's already agreed to a rare earth minerals deal with the United States that is heavily, heavily slanted toward the United States. We already know what the Ukrainians want. They want the Russians to stop the war. The Ukrainians did not, in fact, start this war. They did not cross a Russian border. They want security guarantees.

more durable security guarantees than the ones they gave in 1994 to give up their nuclear weapons. The Ukrainians want security guarantees that are material realities, not just promises. Again, the Ukrainians have already figured out that European and American promises tend to fade over time.

They gave up their own nuclear weapons for a promise that the US and UK would respect Ukrainian territorial sovereignty, and it didn't work out for them very well. The Ukrainians want the freedom to pursue a closer relationship with the EU and NATO. Again, that makes sense because, again, the Russians continue to press. So the Ukrainians want to press back the other way.

What Vladimir Zelensky basically wants here is what happened at the end of the Korean War. An armistice. In 1953, South Korea and North Korea, the two sides, they drew a demilitarized zone. They agreed to cessation of hostilities and repatriation of POWs. And then the war ended. Now, officially, the war is still happening. But in practice, the war ended because North Korea understands that if it walks over the South Korean border, it will be obliterated. Partially, by the way, because American troops are stationed on that border.

Now, the Ukrainians are not asking for American troops stationed on their border. They want security guarantees. They want probably some European force. We know what the Ukrainians want. We know what they want. They're ready for an armistice today. They're at the table. The real question in all of this, the question that people do not want to ask because they don't like the answer, is what exactly do the Russians want? What would get the Russians to the table? Well, here's the thing. We actually know what the Russians want. According to a speech that Vladimir Putin made last June, he wants one, no NATO membership for Ukraine ever.

Two, Ukrainian recognition of Crimea and Donbass as Russian territory. Three, Ukraine's demilitarization and what he calls denazification. What he really means is he wants the installation of a puppet regime in Kyiv. And four, the lifting of all anti-Russia sanctions. I mean, that is just called surrender. Now, Ukraine can't surrender her entire government and autonomy and live at the whim of Vladimir Putin, who has killed literally tens of thousands of Ukrainians in an aggressive war and kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia.

So again, I ask, what would get Russia to the table? Now, Steve Witkoff, this supposedly magical negotiator that President Trump has deployed to Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, seems to think that either Ukraine is the problem or that Russia can be wheedled into dropping its core demands. That if you tweet hard enough at them, suddenly Vladimir Putin becomes friendly.

Now, he and the administration are threatening to walk away from negotiations if the two sides don't come together. This misses the entire point. Russia would love for that to happen. They want the war to continue because what Russia is saying is they want negotiation. And that's code. They don't actually want negotiation. They want a continuation. What they want is to either take giant chunks out of Ukraine until they eat the whole thing over time, or they want the war to continue until the West gives way.

Why? Because Ukraine is extraordinarily key to Russia's entire vision of itself as an empire. And that empire is geared in absolutely irremediable fashion against the United States of America. You see, Vladimir Putin sees the West as irredeemably decadent, directed at containing the aspirations of the Russian people. So in November 2024, he gave a speech at the Validai Club in Moscow. And there he said, quote,

The peril lies in the imposition of totalitarian ideologies and making them the norm, as exemplified by the current state of Western liberalism. This modern Western liberalism, in my view, has degenerated into extreme intolerance and aggression towards any alternative or sovereign and independent thought. Russia's role is certainly not limited to protecting and preserving itself,

It may sound a bit grand, but Russia's very existence guarantees that the world will retain its wide color gamut, diversity and complexity, which is the key to successful development. That's a direct quote from Putin. Now, that sounds pretty hypocritical coming from Putin, talking about the tyranny of Western liberalism and his desire for a thousand flowers to bloom. He's one of the most repressive dictators on planet Earth. He's a man who has launched aggressive war against multiple neighbors and supports terrorist regimes across the globe.

And Putin's take on Ukraine in the same speech sounds like the absolute photo negative of reality. Here's what he said in that speech. Again, this is just last year. Quote, today they have been using Ukraine and its people as a tool by cynically pitching them against Russians and turning them into cannon fodder, all while perorating about a European choice. We are committed to creating conditions for a long-term resolution so that Ukraine can ultimately become an independent sovereign state, not a tool in the hands of third countries.

that is used for their interests. He's accusing the West of using Ukraine as a tool against Russia. But it's Putin who has repeatedly invaded Ukraine, not the West. He wishes Ukraine to be a permanent tool in his hands. This all sounds like fantasy. It doesn't make a lot of sense on its face. What he's saying, however, does make a sort of perverse sense if you understand its philosophical underpinning. To understand what exactly Putin is saying, you actually have to examine the work of the man known as Vladimir Putin's brain. This guy named Alexander Dugin.

I spent a fair bit of time reading Dugin's work because you can't actually understand your geopolitical enemies until you study them. And there's no question that Dugin is an enemy of the United States. He openly says as much. Dugin got his start as the co-founder of the National Bolshevik Party. This is a party that started in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was essentially a fascist party calling for a restored Russian empire and centralized economics. The flag of the party was literally a mashup of the Soviet flag and the Nazi flag.

While Dugin was working with the NBP in 1997, he wrote a seminal book called Foundations of Geopolitics. That book was then apparently used as a textbook at the Russian General Staff Academy. So Dugin's theory is essentially this. He says the world is split between what he terms teleurocracy, which is land power, and thalassocracy, which is maritime power. Teleurocracies are characterized, quote, at the civilizational level by collectivism and hierarchy.

Thalassocracies are characterized by nomadism. He says, quote, the individual as the most mobile part of the collective is elevated to the highest value, while ethical and legal norms become diluted relative immobile. In short, teleurocracy, land power, Russia, as we'll see, is about faith, land, and the collective. Thalassocracy is about secularism, globalism, the individual. This is all Dugin's theory. These powers correspond to the power of what he calls Eurasia, centered around Russia, and Atlanticist power centered around America.

According to Dugin, the Atlanticist power, predominantly the United States in the aftermath of World War II, has sought to expand its hegemony in the quote-unquote rimlands. The rimlands are the areas that surround Russia so as to create a new Mondialist new world order. Now, we should pause here for a moment to point out that this is nonsense. America is not, in fact, some sort of secular leftist entity on the world stage.

America has very much been characterized throughout its history by both religious belief and meritocracy, which is a form of earned hierarchy. Furthermore, it was American hegemony in the aftermath of World War II that prevented the collapse of the Western world into the absolute secular barbarity of Soviet communism.

The Soviets were secularists. But for Dugin to explain why America has to be confronted, he has to strawman America and completely rewrite global history. America must instead now become the evil imperialist power hell-bent on global domination. American hegemony must be treated as some sort of effort by left-minded globalists to flatten religion and export left-wing social values.

In order to rewrite history, then, Dugin has to unspool a theory containing references to the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission. It's a theory that would make Alex Jones blush. Meanwhile, Russia, a spiritual being, not a country, that's what he calls it, is what he calls the axis of history because, quote, only Russia can speak on behalf of heartland with full geopolitical foundation.

Russia acts as a sort of spiritual force in the world, according to Alexander Dugin, Vladimir Putin's brain. Quote, the Russian people, i.e. Russia, are endowed with a particular type of religiosity and culture, which differs sharply from the Catholic Protestant West. By the way, we should make a note there. Many of the people who are religious in the Catholic Protestant West seem to believe they have common cause with the Russians. Dugin is saying no.

He is saying that Russia differs sharply from the Catholic Protestant West and from the post-Christian civilization that has developed there. Russia's cultural and geopolitical antithesis should be taken to be the West as a whole and not just one of its constituent countries.

Quote, it is not a question of an infinite expansion of the Russian living space, but the establishment of a special Russian type of worldview, which is accentuated eschatologically and claims to be the last word in earthly history. This is the supreme supremacy of the nation as a God-bearing people. Consequently, theoretically, there is no people, culture, or territory on the planet whose fate and path would be indifferent to the Russian consciousness. This manifests itself in the unshakable belief of Russians in the

in the final triumph of truth, spirit, and justice, not only within the Russian state, but everywhere. To deprive the Russians of this eschatological faith is tantamount to their spiritual scoping. Russians care about everything and everyone, and therefore, in the final analysis, the interests of the Russian people are not limited to the Russian ethnos, the Russian empire, or even the whole of Eurasia. This transcendent aspect of the Russian nation needs to be taken into account when developing a future geopolitical strategy, unquote. Okay, now, if that sounds crazily messianic, that's because it is.

What does this mean? In practical terms, it means, according to Dugin, Russia is an empire with global aspirations, and it must be an empire. As Dugin states, quote, Russia is the geographical axis of history, which simply cannot fail to fulfill its geopolitical destiny, regardless of external and transitory factors.

He says the Russian people are so connected with geopolitical reality that space itself, its experience, its awareness, its spiritual perception have shaped the psychology of the people, becoming one of the most important definitions of its identity, of its essence. Unlike Rome, the first Rome, Moscow and Russia have in their imperial impulse a deep teleological eschatological meaning. Eschatological means like the end of times.

The status of regional power, according to Dugin, denies Russia its aspirations. It's not enough to say, Russia, you know what? You can exist in your own sphere of power and that's it. According to Dugin, that's not enough. That would be, quote unquote, tantamount to suicide for the Russian nation.

If we were to relegate Russia to the status of regional power, that would reverse, quote, the vector of Russian history. Russia as a regional power would represent a repudiation of that deep impulse of the nation, which lies at the heart of its highest and deepest identity. The loss of imperial scale for Russians means the end and failure of their participation in civilization, the defeat of their spiritual and cultural system of values.

the fall of their universalist and messianic aspirations, the devaluation and debunking of the entire national ideology that animated many generations of the Russian people and gave strength and energy for exploits, creation, struggle, and overcoming adversity. Again, according to Dugin, if Russia is not an empire, it's nothing. And what is the big Russian enemy? You know what it is. Atlanticism. So what exactly should Russia be doing?

Well, they should be engaging in, quote, the rejection of U.S. strategic control and the rejection of the supremacy of economic market liberal values. Instead, Dugin calls for the building of a new empire, an anti-American coalition. That anti-American coalition is directed against America, which he calls, quote, unquote, the common enemy. America, the common enemy, in his terminology, will be the glue that holds together the Russian-led world. And this is the Russian mission, according to Dugin. Again, Dugin is the philosopher who most reflects Putin.

Quote, Eurasia is predestined to be geographically and strategically united. Eurasia, by the way, is all of Europe and all of Asia. This, he says, is a strictly scientific geopolitical fact. He says Russia must inevitably be at the center of such unification. The driving force of unification must inevitably be the Russian people. What exactly are the borders? All of Europe. He calls for the eventual Finlandization of all of Europe. Finland, of course, was a titularly neutral power during the Cold War that was not neutral at all. It was effectively run by the Soviets.

The main scapegoat, he says it over and over, of the planetary new empire will be the United States. Quote, the undermining of whose power up to the complete destruction of this geopolitical structure will be carried out systematically and uncompromisingly by all participants in the new empire.

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So what exactly does Russia require in order to do this, in order to fulfill its messianic mission? Well, first off, Dugin argues the destruction of NATO. He argues that NATO represents the Atlanticist mission, meaning the American mission, in platonic form. NATO needs to be broken.

He says Moscow's task is to wrest Europe away from U.S.-NATO control. At the very least, Russia has to retain military parity with NATO. Meanwhile, the United States itself should be undermined from within. Again, Dugin is arguing this in 1997, using means ranging from sectarian and racial conflict to support for domestic isolationism. Quote, the West, as America, is Russia's total geopolitical adversary, the pole of the direct opposite trend to Eurasia, the headquarters and center of Atlanticism.

It is necessary to counteract U.S. Atlanticist geopolitics at all levels and in all regions of the world, trying to weaken, demoralize, deceive, and ultimately defeat the enemy as much as possible. It is especially important to bring geopolitical turmoil into the U.S. domestic reality by encouraging all kinds of separatism, various ethnic, social, and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements of extremists, racists, and sectarian groups that destabilize internal political processes in the United States.

At the same time, it makes sense to support isolationist tendencies in U.S. politics, the theses of those often right-wing Republican circles that believe the U.S. should confine itself to its domestic problems. This state of affairs, and I'm quoting Dugan here, is highly advantageous to Russia, even if isolationism is carried out within the original Monroe Doctrine wording, i.e. if the U.S. limits its influences to America's.

This does not mean Eurasia should give up on destabilizing the Latin American world by seeking to remove certain regions from U.S. control. All levels of geopolitical pressure on the U.S. must be engaged simultaneously. And as Alexander Dugan writing in 1997, Putin's brain. Does some of that sound like things that are happening right now? Then there's the question of territory.

So Dugin posits that Russia should use economic power, political power, and when necessary, military power to achieve the restoration of its heartland empire, an empire that's supposed to stretch all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Because according to Dugin, the Soviet empire, which was in effect a manifestation of Russian spiritual ambitions, was rooted in landlocked status and that locked them in and boxed them in.

Dugan says friendly puppet states in European countries would do the job well. Quote, in the West, Russia should have maritime borders. This is a strategic imperative for the geopolitical development of Eurasia. It was the absence of such borders and the presence, instead of them, of a landline crossing Europe in the middle, artificially and forcibly, that ultimately led to the geopolitical loss of the USSR.

By the way, worth noting here, this is why when Vladimir Putin has said that the destruction of the USSR was a geopolitical catastrophe, he does not mean that he's a communist. He means that the Soviet Union was simply the latest, greatest manifestation of Russian imperial ambitions. And the failure of the USSR was a failure of territorial holding.

Well, now we can see the importance of Ukraine in the Russian scheme. Ukraine as an independent entity represents a complete rejection of Alexander Dugin and Vladimir Putin's entire theory from Russian identity to the messianic dream to the geopolitical desire for control of the rimlands, Ukraine being a rimland.

Dugin argues, remember, this is all the way back in 1997. This is almost three decades ago. Quote, Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical sense. It has no special cultural heritage, no geographical uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness. The historical meaning of Ukraine is reflected in its very name, Ukraine, i.e. outskirts, border territories.

Ukraine, according to Dugin, has been relegated to the status of a protective cordon against Russia and ought to be abolished. Quote, for this reason, the independent existence of Ukraine, especially within its current borders, can only make sense as a cordon sanitaire, as opposing elements in geopolitical orientation will not allow the country to fully join either the eastern or western bloc.

All this dooms Ukraine to a puppet existence and geopolitical service to the thalasocratic strategy in Europe. The existence of Ukraine in its current borders and with current status of a sovereign state is tantamount to a monstrous blow to Russia's geopolitical security, tantamount to an invasion of its territory. The continued existence of a unitary Ukraine is unacceptable. Now, that sounds exactly like Vladimir Putin last year. Exactly like it, right? Ukraine is a threat by the very virtue of existing.

Ukraine, says Vladimir Putin, has been weaponized by the West against Russia. They were saying this back in 1997, long before Euromaidan. At the time, 1997, Russia had no capacity to simply retake Ukraine. And so at the time, Dugin recommended that Ukraine essentially be eaten piecemeal, which is exactly what Russia has done.

He said that the East should be turned into a puppet regime. That's what happened in the Donbass. Crimea should be placed under direct strategic control from Moscow. That's what's happened. Central Ukraine, he was hoping, would gradually be turned into a puppet regime. The West would essentially be incorporated into Alexander Dugin's fantasy German-led unified pro-Russian Europe. This is one of his theories, is that eventually Europe would unify under a sort of Russia-friendly Germany, thus extending Russia's strategic frontier, according to him, at least to the Western extremity of Central Europe and at best across the Atlantic.

Now, Dugin wrote all of this 30 years ago, and now we understand just what Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine. He's attempting to reconstitute Russian empire, to restore the Russian soul through its messianic mission, to break NATO.

When Putin said the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster of his lifetime, again, he did not mean communism had to rule. He meant Russian ambitions have always been imperial, territorial, that the regionalization of Russia is a fundamental assault on the Russian identity itself.

So now you can see the actual Russian goal. You either have to subjugate or fully incorporate Ukraine. The only way Russia will ever accept a deal will be if it leaves open every possibility of re-invading and then completing its plans. This is not a border dispute. This is not a border dispute. It is a dispute over whether Ukraine should exist. Ukraine wishes to exist. Putin wishes for it not to exist.

Now, by the way, Alexander Dugan makes that absolutely clear. Like today, he's still alive and he's still writing. In a new book released just this month entitled The Trump Revolution, Dugan makes the case that President Trump's election represents a surprise realization of his goals. At first, he suggests that perhaps Trumpism being in opposition to leftist social politics of blue America could coexist with Americanism.

With a Russian dream, quote, objectively, Trump could become the catalyst for a multipolar world order in which the U.S. would still play an important role, but not a dominant one. In this new world, America will be great again, not as a globalist hegemon, but as a sovereign nation state.

Which is still a reduction of America's role in the world, but at least sounds passable. But then the mask slips. It turns out Dugan is not celebrating the end of USAID transgender propaganda or the rise of a heartland American empire, but the end of American power per se, because America, according to Dugan, is evil. Quote,

We say that Russia is governed by God because its very existence defies explanation. But America too has a mystery. How can a nation with such foundations, such people, and such mental disorders become the world's leading superpower? This suggests someone far more serious and invisible is in control, and it does not appear to be God. Okay, so who do you think he's talking about there? He's essentially accusing America of being satanic. Not only is America evil, the only path forward for Russia is multipolarity, meaning that America retreats from the world and Russia takes more power.

And Dugan hopes that President Trump will usher that in. Quote, paradoxically, the new post-liberal world order that Trump is building is leading objectively to multipolarity. By declaring his ambition to make America a great power, Trump has inadvertently opened the door for others to do the same. All of that begins with the destruction of Ukraine, a state that Dugan calls, quote, an aggressive anti-Russia artificially created on our borders and within our united Russian world intended to prevent the formation of a multipolar world. Unquote.

Ukraine, says Dugin, is the cataclysmic ultimate conflict. Quote, we must win the war in Ukraine, liberate the entire territory of this former country from the Nazi regime, regardless of Trump's victory or anything else. This imperative remains unchanged. Just as the ancient Roman consul Cato the Elder used to say, quote, Carthage must be destroyed. In our case, Kiev must be taken.

So Dugan's strategy and Putin's strategy is simple. Don't stop the war. According to Dugan, Trump is going to cave. Quote, hypothetically, Trump might present Moscow with a harsh ultimatum demanding we immediately halt the special military operation. That's the Russian term for the attack on Ukraine. However, this is highly unlikely because as a realist and a pragmatist, he fully understands Putin will not comply. And what would happen then? Trump promised to stop the war, but he'd failed to do so. Therefore, it would be better to set aside such promises at least until our victory is secured.

According to Dugin, after Ukraine, the Russian ambitions don't end. They will utilize the strategies Alexander Dugin has laid forth to threaten other rimlands ranging from the Baltics to the Middle East. They will ally themselves with enemies of the United States everywhere in foundations of geopolitics. Alexander Dugin makes special reference to alliance with Russia.

Iran. In his new book, he speaks highly of a coalitional relationship with China. Russia, in short, is not a regional power simply reacting to the supposed aggression of the Atlanticists, a la Jeffrey Sachs or John Mearsheimer. That is mere excuse-making. Russia, under Vladimir Putin, is an ambitious regime that sees itself as a civilizational power with a messianic mission cleverly planned and steadfastly pursued. In this battle, once again, Dugin counts. He said this in 97.

On the help of the very isolationists, he said that Russia should foster, in that book, foundations of geopolitics. Among the people that he name-checks in his new book are Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance, his ideological allies. And Tucker is Dugan's ally here. I mean, there's just no question about this. Tucker literally had on Dugan last year on his show and praised him, and then refused to ask him a single question about Russia or Russian ambitions because that might burst the viewer's bubble. So I...

I've asked you no questions about Russia or Russian politics, and I'm not going to because I think it's so interesting to see your perspective on countries that you don't live in because, you know, we do gain insight, I think, from the view of outsiders. So what does all this mean for the current Ukraine negotiations? Well, it means that America cannot trust Russian promises, especially absent security guarantees. Security guarantees are a must.

Acknowledgement of territorial gain by the Ukrainians does literally nothing to guarantee the safety of the rest of Ukraine. The best that can be hoped for in this deal is an armistice that hardens into a permanent cold peace. And that requires a different strategy than yelling at Vladimir Zelensky or Vladimir Putin. It is not a strategy of carrots to Vladimir Putin. Carrots are not going to satisfy his appetite. It's a strategy of carrots combined with intransigents, total intransigents, a Cold War strategy.

America stood down the Russians for half a century at far greater expenditure and cost than what we've spent in Ukraine. That doesn't mean the United States should shoulder the main burden of what's happening. Europe should, obviously. And it certainly doesn't mean U.S. boots on the ground. That's unnecessary and the Ukrainians aren't asking for it. But in an era of rising power in China, rising aggressiveness in Russia, rising nuclearization in Iran, America cannot afford a weak approach that withdraws from the world, decouples from allies, shrugs its shoulders as the world is carved up by our geopolitical opposition.

A multipolar world sounds nice and happy and less burdensome in theory. In practice, it looks like impoverishment, interminable war, because a multipolar world is a world constantly at war and endless opportunity for America's enemies. Alexander Dugin knows that, and Vladimir Putin knows that, and we ought to understand that as well.

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Okay, meanwhile, speaking of multipolarity, you see the trouble with multipolarity in exactly what China is doing in its own trade war on the United States. So recognize that in the trade war declared by President Trump,

On China, China has in turn declared its own trade war on the United States. President Trump is trying to find an off-ramp here. The Chinese are not. The Chinese see this as an opportunity to draw closer to all of the countries that were alienated by President Trump's original Liberation Day announcement that slammed the rest of the world with tariffs. And China is flexing its muscles with regard to all of its allies like Russia and Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, in the weeks since the U.S. president first slapped sky-high tariffs on China, Beijing has responded with defiance.

A spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry posted on X footage from 1953 of Mao Zedong promising to fight to the end against U.S.-led forces in the Korean War. We are Chinese, she wrote. We won't back down. The Mao post and other messages from Beijing highlight what China sees as one of its core advantages against the United States. While Trump and his Republican backers are vulnerable to the whims of American voters, the party Mao built is deeply entrenched, having maintained power for more than seven decades despite war, famine, political upheaval, and financial crises. Xi continues to...

strengthen his grip on his country. He continues to make overtures to third parties. The White House still has not said what actually it's looking for in an off-ramp with China. And Xi himself is in no rush to solve this crisis because he believes it's a political crisis for President Trump. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal today, President Trump's apparent softening on tariffs against China in recent days has buoyed markets. But for Chinese leaders, it only strengthens their resolve that Trump will eventually cave if they simply wait him out.

A Chinese foreign ministry dismissed any suggestion the two sides are even negotiating as fake news. So Trump is saying we're having great talks. It's all going well. And China's like, no, we're not. We're not talking at all. Now, question, why would China do that? If China wants the off ramp, why aren't they looking for it? The answer is because they believe that Trump is going to cave on this because it was poorly thought out in the first place. It was the Leroy Jenkins of trade policy just charging into a room without any actual plan.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Xikun, said Thursday, quote, this tariff war was launched by the United States. The Chinese side's position has always been clear and consistent. Quote, if we fight, we'll fight to the end. If we talk, the door is wide open. Any dialogue or negotiation must be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit. A spokesman for the Commerce Ministry of China demanded that Trump should completely eliminate tariffs against China if he's serious about resolving trade disputes through dialogue. So China is in no rush here. And why would they be? Why would they be?

And right now they feel like they have all the leverage. Meanwhile, by the way, they've put significant curbs on the export of rare earth minerals, which we need for our own national defense. And this is why I say that if you're going to launch a trade war against China, you actually have to do all of the groundwork, the preconditional groundwork first.

According to the Washington Post, senior administration officials are scrambling to stem economic damage from China's restrictions on rare earth exports as President Trump's trade war risks cutting key industries and defense contractors off from supplies of metals crucial to production, according to three people familiar with internal deliberations. While companies search for alternative suppliers and urge the White House to cut a deal, the Trump administration is finding no easy solutions. Instead, again, they continue to push forward the Chinese economy.

export curbs on materials that we need. So when we talk about China being able to really constrict supply of rare earth minerals, I went to our friends and sponsors of Perplexity and I asked, what percentage of rare earth minerals used in military production in the United States come from China? And the answer is a lot. According to Perplexity, the United States military is heavily dependent on rare earth elements that are either mined or processed in

In China, between 2020 and 2023, the U.S. relied on China for approximately 70% of its imports of all rare earth compounds and metals, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. China controls about 70% of global rare earth extraction and 85 to 90% of rare earth processing capacity. Even the rare earths that are mined outside of China are often sent there for processing before they are used in U.S. manufacturing and military applications.

Apparently, 78% of all U.S. military weapons systems rely on materials sourced from or processed in China. And that includes antimony, gallium, germanium, tungsten, tellurium. All of those are essential for advanced defense technologies. So this is why you really have to set up alternative chains of supply for these materials before you launch a giant trade war with China. China knows that, which is why they are now attempting to basically batter President Trump by doing nothing.

Our geopolitical enemies are on the march. They are. And President Trump is right to try to contain China. But that means an actual well thought out strategy cannot be impulsive. It cannot be wild. It has to be perfectly planned and perfectly executed. Because by the way,

Even if we boxed in China economically, even if all the terrifers were morgues, we would still face down the prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be full-scale disastrous for the world economy and for the United States military because the sophisticated semiconductors that we use and our military equipment come from Taiwan. China doesn't have to capture that and then use it for its own purposes. They just have to destroy it. If China were to destroy TSMC,

In Taiwan, China has ramped up its material capacity to manufacture secondary order microchips, like not quite as good as the top level, but kind of close to as good. They're outproducing us in that way. And so if they feel boxed in, they just go for it. Again, it's a dangerous world, and a dangerous world requires strong and determined American leadership. By the way, this also holds true in Iran.

Steve Witkoff continues to claim that progress is being made in a deal with Iran. What that looks like, nobody really knows at this point. Again, Witkoff has demonstrated, to my mind, pretty much zero actual negotiation chops. It seems like he goes over to Qatar and then repeats their talking points. And then he goes over to Russia and seems to repeat Vladimir Putin's talking points after, quote unquote, developing a friendship with him. I just don't know what Steve Witkoff does for a living, honest to God. We need better envoys. Well, President Trump set a two-month deadline for negotiations with Iran.

And he has threatened the possibility of a strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities. However, Witkoff continues to say that maybe an interim deal is possible. The Iranians said that they wanted an interim deal. And Witkoff said, we're not going to do that. But then he also said he doesn't want to discuss an interim deal right now. He said, quote, this is according to Axios. If both parties think significantly more time is needed as the 60-day deadline approaches, they can revisit the idea of an interim deal. What kind of negotiation is that? We're not going to take your interim deal, but don't worry. We might do it later.

What the hell? A senior U.S. official said that Witkoff and Arahi, who is the envoy for Iran, made very good progress during talks in Rome.

Oman's foreign ministry said in a statement after the talks, the parties agreed to enter into the next phase of the negotiations. According to the Omani statement, Iran and the United States agreed to work, quote, on a fair, enduring and binding deal, which will ensure Iran is completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy. OK, well, if that's the deal, forget it, man, because the idea that Iran is developing peaceful nuclear energy, Iran is one of the most oil rich nations literally on the planet.

For what purpose would Iran need a nuclear facility other than to develop a nuclear weapon? Notice the language there that's being put forth by Oman. It would ensure Iran is free of nuclear weapons, but they'd have nuclear facilities. Okay, well, that's what we call the Obama deal. That's the JCPOA, a deal that Donald Trump, back during his first term, called literally the worst deal ever signed. How about we don't do that?

Now, a piece of news that is sort of interesting is that the State Department has announced the policy planning chief, Michael Anton, is going to lead the U.S. team when it comes to uranium enrichment. And Anton is an expert. He does know a lot about nuclear materials and fissile development and all the rest of it. But if the idea is that some sort of interim deal with Iran is going to take place or a deal with Iran that relieves sanctions,

Again, the signal achievement of the Trump administration, aside from the Abraham Accords, was maximum pressure on Iran during his first term, abandoning that, abandoning that in favor of allowing Iran a quote unquote civilian nuclear program, which seems to be the tack that the administration is now taking. Iran is lying about that and everybody knows Iran is lying about all that. And if you relieve the sanctions, all that money goes immediately to fostering the very terror network that we are currently fighting in the United States in Yemen with the Houthis, for example, like directly.

President Trump yesterday was asked about this. He said, don't worry, we're going to make a very, very good deal. I think we're doing very well on an agreement with Iran. But that one, we're doing a lot of things, I will say. But that one is well in its way. We could have a very, very good decision and a lot of lives will be saved.

Well, how about this? How about we wait to see the content of the deal and we'll see then if it's a very good deal or if it is not a very good deal at all. I have a feeling that any deal that is cut with Iran is likely to be a not particularly good deal. Okay, let's jump into some culture because this has been very serious and it is indeed a Friday. So a lot to talk about in the cultural sphere. And here I have to thank producer Jess, who is, this is her last interview.

week helping me with the culture segment. She's moving on to greener pastures, doing more culture for other people. Don't worry. We'll still do cultural segments, but Jess has been invaluable here. So a shout out to Jess here. She keeps an eye on this stuff because I'll be honest with you. Like the chances that I'm going to follow Jojo Siwa's transformation from lesbian to queer is the chances were zero, but now I know about it. And so, you know, about it too.

Apparently, Jojo Siwa has now revealed that she no longer identifies as a lesbian at all. She is now queer. She says that she feels most similar to non-binary people. She isn't ready to label herself beyond queer. Oh, these terms mean nothing. Honest to God. She's just making up things now. Here we go. I don't know how this is going to come out. But we've already been... But it's made me feel so queer.

And I've always been afraid of feeling queer. Don't. This is you. Like I've always said, like lesbian, right? But I feel like so queer. I'm queer. But that's like, I've never kind of... We're not living in a world that's designed for us, Jojo. I'm switching letters! You're a queer bitch.

- You are cute, honey. - That's what I love about sexuality. - And you know what British people love more than anything is the cute. - The cute baby. - What the living? What in the, what? Okay, can I just say that the West is a deeply unserious place now?

Like deeply, deeply unserious. There are actual real things happening in the West. And we're worrying about whether Jojo Siwa identifies as a lesbian, i.e. a woman who wants to have sexual relations with other women or queer, i.e. a woman who wants to have sexual relations with other women and maybe others. Like whoop-dee-frickin-do. She added that non-binary people are the people she feels most like, which how can she feel like that? Does she feel like a chicken today or a penguin? Like what? Here we go.

I've met a lot of females, love them, don't feel like I'm them. Met a lot of males, love them, definitely not them. Met a lot of people in my life that are non-binary. And these beautiful non-binary people are who I feel the most like. And it's, I don't know, it's not something that I want to say about myself yet, but it's something that is confusing. Oh, wow. She's like a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.

She's also, you know, wasn't she like a Nickelodeon star? It is amazing how many of these child stars end up absolutely screwed up at every possible level. Meanwhile, Pedro Pascal, who is the star of the Mandalorians, who is not booted for making Holocaust comparisons because the way that it works is that if you're Gina Carano and you say people should treat each other more nicely because otherwise terrible things happen with a picture of, you know, people chasing Jews during the Holocaust, you get fired.

from Disney, but if you're Pedro Pascal and you compare the plight of illegal immigrants held in detention facilities to concentration camps, that's totally fine. Well, now he's out there promoting transgender rights. He wore a shirt called Protect the Dolls at the UK premiere of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Apparently, dolls is an affectionate term within the LGBTQ plus minus divided by sign community, referring to transgender women.

He wore the shirt shortly after the UK Supreme Court said, oh yeah, by the way, men are not women and women are not men. He also then attacked J.K. Rowling, which is always the mark of a complete dolt on this particular issue. He has a brother who came out as a sister in February 2021. And so that is one of the things that presumably is driving Pedro Pascal. He's also the star of The Last of Us, which is about gay zombies or something. I tried to watch the first season of The Last of Us, and I have to say that

It was well-made and also just randomly the gayest series in human history. There are in the original video game, lesbians and gay people and trans people and all the rest of it. But in the series, there's literally an episode that's just a cutaway to a gay romance for an hour with no zombies. Yeah, man. Alrighty, folks, coming up, we'll get to the Democratic Party. As much trouble as the Trump administration has created for itself with the trade war,

The Democrats are even in more trouble. We're going to get into their presidential candidate list because there's only one soaring above all the others. But remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro. Check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.