And the house gets a set percentage.

And they get a set fee that they take off, and so that's their similar difference, let's say, between the prediction market and the actual gambling company.

However, these prediction market companies have a lot of the same problems.

So when you were to speak to them, I'm sure that they would talk a lot about derivatives and event contracts.

It's all very financialized language.

And so they try to present themselves as above what these companies are.

But here's the truth.

Well, exactly

Yeah

... and this is where I'm...

I mean, I would say this is, like, the great disappointment, political disappointment of my life, as I said, was I was inspired To get involved in politics because of Iraq.

And watch...

And, you know, the enti- the, uh, centerpiece of the 2024 campaign, and it's fair for people to say that you were fooled, was no more foreign wars.

I mean, the vice president, as you said, wrote an op-ed endorsing Trump, "Trump's best legacy, no new wars." Stephen Miller famously said, "Kamala will send your sons to war." A significant contingent in the 2024 campaign was, "We are not going to war with Iran." And so to live in a reality where Trump dastardly and disgracefully attacks Iran under the cover of negotiations twice, kills 168 schoolgirls, you know, delivers the greatest strategic disaster to the United States potentially either since Vietnam or eclipsing it, if you talk to one of our guests, Professor Robert Pape, to live in that reality with those people who I really did trust, and I'm saying this on a personal level, I know many of them.

I came up in politics kind of in the same cohort.

Sure

Sure

... by that is, is it's like a popular...

You know, most people at this point have turned against NIMBY i, in terms of the general populace.

I think most people would agree we need more housing.

It gets super complicated when we get down to the local level, but this is one of those last bastions where a large perc- percentage of the public seems really to be against where the president is here on the issue.

They don't believe the stuff about the tax revenue.

A lot of it comes down to prove it to me.

Mm-hmm.

Right

... and of course, we know for certain, uh, that h-home acquisition, beyond just wealth in and of itself, is one of the bedrock, uh, principles in order... is one of the bedrock foundations if we're able to build your overall family life.

But then let's get to property tax elimination entirely.

Again, I can understand this.

It doesn't violate the same equal protection problems that I have with the explicit senior gating.

But what we're seeing, for example, in a State of Florida, a state which has no income tax, and w- now which wants to effectively abolish property tax for all households, is that nobody is simultaneously saying that we need to cut services.

And so I'll point to, uh, and I, and I don't think most people actually would even support that, seniors especially, who are predominantly the people who support this policy.

I get you're, she's part of the administration, she's gotta defend it, but it's something so, I don't know, deaf, like when you say something like that.

Yeah.

Like, there's a symbiosis of we actually get rich off this stuff, so we're okay with drilling for oil.

But, you know, w- there has been enough stories also even there where people go bust as a result, and then there's a lot of an- animosity towards the oil industry, especially pre-shale revolution after things petered out.

And, uh, you know, I don't know.

I've, I've just seen this go politically in a lot of interesting directions, enough to see that, A, something is happening, B is that the tide is o- not only just turned, but I think coming very explicitly.

And if, and what I would really advocate for is a genuine democratic process-

Okay.

He's done some more recent work, uh, on the data center question.

Yeah

... of the Iraq War.

And I also will, will say this.

You know, Bloomberg reported just this morning, Iranian ballistic missile firing has actually remained constant, uh, through the war, especially when you match it.

You know, they're saying that their strikes are reducing.

Our strikes are actually reducing as well compared to the original first days of the war.

And I really want people to remi- I want people to put in some historical context of what's happening here.

... how entrenched they are, how many of them there are? How are we gonna get them to put down their guns? Who exactly is gonna make them do it? What members of the regime have yet to fall, and how are we gonna take them out? Like, it, it gets a lot more complicated.

I did

... and said that they tried, uh, to pull the same nonsense on Biden.

They tried to pull it on Obama.

They tried to pull it on, I mean, multiple different presidents.

So it's shocking, uh, to actually see our sovereignty be sacrificed in this regard, specifically whenever it comes to Israeli interests.

But then let's look at our own strategic interests.

I've been hammering home recently, uh, the munitions problem.

I think both of those things are true.

[chuckles]

... 99%, all right? That's pretty good.

That's a good record.

Uh, he got vast majority of the people he wanted in his cabinet.

He bombed Iran, nothing happened.

He took out Venezuela, nothing happened.

And then the third time-- So imagine the conventional wisdom every single time is like, "You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this," right? And the same generals who have cautioned you before, advisors, others, are like, "Hey, sir, this one is really different." Well, his recency bias is such, especially with Venezuela, that...

This is just not the way that you would do it.

Like, there's n- if, if Trump isn't gonna save us from a system that kinda hates us, then what's the option?

Right, and I, you look, I mean, I'm pleading.

I know that many people in the administration are going to listen.

So let me just lay out the case already of the damage that has been wrought on the United States.

Our alliance structure in the Gulf Arab nations is in question.

We have multiple bases which have been hit.

These are allies which pump billions of dollars into our economy.

We're moving toward that.

Who do you think this guy was? And ultimately, you know, at a 30,000 foot level, what do you think is going on here? What is this Epstein story really about? And then, Michael, I want to go to you on the same question.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, I do think that there is a very low IQ, unfortunate, you know, explosion of accusations that are out there.

And I want to be very responsible.

in the way that i describe it i think that jeffrey epstein was somebody who arose under very suspicious conditions uh in the 1980s potentially involving iran contra knowledge specifically with arms traffickers like adnan khashoggi and douglas lease stephen hoffenberg as well and that these black market money laundering tax evasion strategies were honed over a period which eventually ensnared various people like leslie wexner and many other multi billionaires and that at the very same time he also had you know his sexual proclivities which i think at this point were well known and that those became and became useful his money laundering specific uh dirt duties and knowledge and usefulness let's say to the cia to various other intelligence assets became a very useful part of the nexus in the post-cold war environment and that at the time it was also socially known for a lot of epstein associates that he had this bizarre practice of often you know seeking out massages which in some cases they are saying involving underage girls and so To say that he was running a vast compromise operation, I think, ascribes too much intention to what's really happening here.

And the reason why I'm being intentional in my language is that what he clearly was doing was recruiting and running this like vast massage scheme, also involving Ghislaine Maxwell and all across the world, Russian and Eastern European women, but also that this behavior was tolerated in some cases seen by a vast number of the global elite.

Now, the 2007 decision circumstances of the non-prosecution agreement.

What did we learn from that specifically about how Epstein got his start? I do think that there are these questions about, again, who this guy was, how did he accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars so early in his career, how did he seem to obtain all these different connections specifically to the intelligence world? Did any of that get resolved? And what's your take on that?

Who do you think this guy was, and ultimately, you know, at a 30,000-foot level, what do you think is going on here? What is this Epstein story really about? And then, Michael, I wanna go to you with the same question.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, I do think that there is a very low IQ, unfortunate, you know, explosion of, uh, accusations that are out there, and I wanna be very responsible in the way that I describe it.

I think that Jeffrey Epstein was somebody who arose under very suspicious conditions, uh, in the 1980s, potentially involving Iran-Contra knowledge, specifically with arms traffickers, like Adnan Khashoggi and Douglas Lease, Steven Hoffenberg as well, and that these black market, money-laundering, tax evasion strategies were honed over a period which eventually ens- ensnared various people, like Leslie Wexner and many other multi-billionaires.

And that at the very same time, he also had, you know, his sexual proclivities, which I think at this point were well-known, and that those became... and became useful.

His money-laundering-specific, uh, dir- duties and knowledge and usefulness, let's say, to the CIA, to various other intelligence assets, became a very useful part of the nexus in the post-Cold War environment, and that at the time, it was also socially known for a lot of Epstein associates that he had this bizarre practice of often, you know, seeking out massages, which in some cases, they are saying involving underage girls.

And so to say that he was running a vast kompromat operation, I think, ascribes too much intention to what's really happening here.

What did we learn from that, specifically about how Epstein got his start? I do think that there are these questions about, again, who this guy was, how did he accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars so early in his career? How did he seem to, um, obtain all these different, uh, connections, specifically to the intelligence world? Did any of that get resolved, and w- what- what's your take on that?

Mm.

You know, what's interesting, what I really love about the American public, is they're taking this issue seriously.

So a couple of cou- of people showing up to the city council were like, "Hey, I'm reading articles about how the Chinese are able to do this without a lot- with less power and resources.

So how do we know that you're even gonna be sticking around here? Like, you're gonna build this jug- massive conglomerate, and then there'll be a sea change in the technology, and you're just gonna abandon us immediately with all of your claims?" Not to mention the power generation issue, which is massively controversial-

Ah, and, and so I-

It kind of ignores the demand side issue, though.

You know, because right now, the builders will tell you that they are fully capable of building a smaller, cheaper type of house, but that that's not where the market is in terms of the people who have money.

Part of the reason that we've seen the rise of big mansions and larger houses is because that's the demand side problem, where a lot of people who have more money are the people who are willing to buy these bigger, more palatial homes with lots of experiences in it.

Yep, yeah

... which they can now drag on for a long period, let's say up to three years, until Donald Trump is out of office, to make sure that none of the other information comes to light.

So even the Files Transparency Act gave them outs, but even within the outs that they had, they had multiple cover-ups, right? So one of the more egregious example is, uh, Les Wexner.

Let's go at- go to co-conspirators, Griffin.

Let's put the Wexner cover-up.

So this is the deputy attorney general, uh, Todd Blanche, and here, Thomas Massey called him out, where he found a redacted piece inside of the file labeled "co-conspirator." Thomas Massey says, "This is a well-known retired CEO.

DOJ should un-redact this." Why did they redact it? Let's go to the DOJ's explanation.

This is so weird

Take, take a little victory lap here for a second.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Uh, look, it's not a victory lap, uh, because a victory lap for me is a tragedy for our country.

We have, you know, millions, tens of millions, almost 5% of the US population, a significant part of our adult population, which is using marijuana, high-potency marijuana, on a daily basis.

This is lobotomizing a significant portion of our population.

It lowers IQ, it lowers testosterone, it's dangerous for pregnant women.

I mean, we could go down so many of the list.

The ultimate con artist.

Take a little victory lap here for a second.

Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Look, it's not a victory lap because a victory lap for me is a tragedy for our country.

We have, you know, millions, tens of millions, almost five percent of the U.S. population, a significant part of our adult population, which is using marijuana, high potency marijuana on a daily basis.

This is lobotomizing a significant portion.

of our population.

It lowers IQ.

Do you think those stories are authentic or do you think they're confusing maybe other medical effects with marijuana?

Mm-hmm.

It's something that the top 25%, 30% have read, are implementing, have the time to be able to.

And then the iPad kid thing is still definitely not yet fully known, you know, for a lot of other people.

And so, I- I think everyone should try to live under a more uniform standard.

And yeah, that's why broadly, I take your concern, uh, dude about Australia and, you know, like backwater ways to get around it.

But the government's sending a signal, and we have enough data on gambling, on other, all other vices, that when you send these signals, especially with a real information campaign, the behavior will reduce.

And there's a lot of different ways that we can deal with the backdoor ways of getting around it.

Mm-hmm.

Ooh.

I think that's disastrous.

I think it's the most anti-family place in the world.

The a- median home buyer around here is some 40 or 50 years old.

I'm very proud people are moving to my home state of Texas to raise families for affordable housing.

But what recently happened is what we took is that family dream and instead we, uh, basically pass off the societal, uh, the societal compact isn't, we're all in this together.

The silent generation paid property taxes for boomers whenever their children were going to school.

Why can't we find some middle ground there? Or is that the wrong approach?

And so we have to think, where is that balloon going to expand?

Right.

And let me just back up.

Let's talk about Florida specifically, right? So the Florida Policy Institute estimates there's some 1.5 million Floridians who live in school districts where actually 50% of their funding, over 50% of that funding comes specifically from the homestead property tax.

That's about 5% of the Floridian population, but you have some $18.5 billion in shortfall, an exemption.

of homestead property tax would happen.

Now, as Blake said, inevitably, especially in a state like Florida, where you have no income tax, the money is going to have to be made up from somewhere else.

Why can't we find some middle ground there? Or is that the wrong approach?

if, at a local level, everyone kind of agrees, like, you know, this is bad for electricity prices, it's potentially bad for the labor market?

Yeah, I...

Great question, and I think actually that might be the politicians not really getting to the heart of the issue.

And we have to separate the AI technology and the promises that were originally there, which we could probably strategically agree, like, we need to maintain technological advancement, and then the current way that it's structured where it's basically in the hands of three or four, like, super CEOs and everything's kind of seems rolled up.

Fundamentally that, m- you guys are, are no going a lot more than I do, but because of the cost of compute of data centers specifically, like, the big tech companies are the ones that are in control.

So I think we should disaggregate, like, the idea of AI itself as a technology, potential open source and its usefulness from the way that it's actually being structured, used, and controlled.

And I think that's really where a lot of the pushback is.

(laughs)

Mm-hmm.

Both the Republican and the Democratic candidate said that they wanted to do something about it.

There's Prince William County here in Virginia, where this is an active live issue, and the public is overwhelmingly against it.

The City of Tucson is moving.

And so if we see this continued capital expenditure go up, and especially in more rural areas, we see headlines like 267% power increases for power bills in rural areas which are built near data centers, not to mention environmental concerns, et cetera, thence when you're gonna see people start to get dragged before Congress because-

Is there not some type of solution that would allow, effectively allow data centers to pay a higher rate than everyday citizens and kind of make up the- the difference?

I think it's a great idea.

Uh, unfortunately, that's not how our power system works.

... specifically?

specifically?It's really difficult to say.

Something definitely changed in the year 1971.

There's a great website, WTF Happened In The Year 1971.

There's all kinds of charts that show.

I love looking back at the cost of living.

I mean, if I had to point to concrete, uh, different things, it would be number one is student debt, and that was, of course, the government's backstopping of the student debt crisis, guaranteeing other loans which caused runaway inflation in terms of education costs.

So, what would you say, because you're very in touch with this, you have a very popular YouTube channel, how are younger Americans, younger people viewing Israel, and what do you wish that more older Americans knew in regards to that? Saagar India-

But why did so few people do that?

Because asking those questions, yes, you know, that is not...

Asking those questions and coming to what I think are the right conclusions about our, our economy and about this restructuring r- of our entire political base.

I mean, the way that voting patterns over the last decade have changed is unbelievable.

And to...

When you actually answer a lot of those questions, you come to them that are very, you know, inconvenient for the empire.

You know, the empire currently runs on cheap labor, um, which is immigration-related.

... is the same way, by the way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I- I mean, I- I think my meta takeaway from all of this is just, uh, how different and how frankly weak this is compared to the Chinese system.

I want to remind everyone, uh, whenever we were covering this stuff last week, on the Chinese version of Amazon, they are actually advertising state subsidized discounts.

They're calling them patriotic discounts, saying, "Hey, Chinese people, if you are patriotic, stand up to the United States.

Buy Chinese.

Here's a discount from the state.

There's no nitty, no gritty.

So just give us your perspective on where things stand with them and where you see the risk.

Yeah, I think just connecting those comments, what I was getting at is there's just this sense of nakedness from all of this, which I personally find really gross.

And I try not to hold myself up as too partisan or anything like that, but I know a lot of people who are very explicitly partisan nobody's buying this.

Let's just all be very honest.

We can all understand that outside of Elon, the rest of them are doing this purely for business purposes.

And they may be correct in the short term, but there's just something really dizzying for the American consumer, for the shareholder, for the employees, for the leadership of these companies that to go record scratch every single time that there is an election, right? So 2014, we're libertarians.

2016, we're pro-censorship or whatever you want to call it.

So what are the geopolitical implications of that, and are we starting to already see it play out?