The Daily Signal - Kurt Schlichter Wants You to Know '21 Biggest Lies About Donald Trump (and You!)'

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

Lawyer and commentator Kurt Schlichter's new book, "The 21 Biggest Lies About Donald Trump (and You!)," goes straight to the heart of why the political left has such a disdain for the president. Schlichter, a retired Army colonel, joins the podcast to discuss his motivation for writing the book, why he always has been a conservative, and the bias of the left-wing media. Also on today's show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a New York couple's cosmic engagement, which captured the attention of NASA. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, July 27th. I'm Robert Louis. And I'm Virginia Allen. On today's show, Rob talks with Kurt Schlickder, a trial lawyer, a retired Army infantry colonel, and a columnist for townhall.com. They discuss his new book, The 21 Biggest Lies about Donald Trump and you. We also share your letters to the editor and a good news story about a New York couple's cosmic engagement that even has officials at NASA talking.

Before we get to today's show, we want to tell you about the most popular resource on the Heritage Foundation website, the guide to the Constitution. And Virginia, it is needed now more than ever. We have more than 100 scholars who've contributed to create a unique line-by-line analysis of our Constitution.

The guide is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution as envisioned by the framers and is applied in contemporary law. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of our founding document, visit heritage.org slash constitution or simply search for heritage guide to the Constitution.

Now stay tuned for today's show coming up next. We are joined on the Daily Signal podcast today by Kurt Schlichter. He's fresh off of guest hosting Hugh Hewitt's radio show. Kurt is a trial lawyer, a retired army infantry colonel, and a columnist for townhall.com. Kurt, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Well, you are the author of a brand new book,

The 21 Biggest Lies About Donald Trump and you. We're going to get to that in just a moment, but I first wanted to ask you to share a little bit about yourself with our listeners. You bring what I consider to be a unique perspective as a conservative, having been a stand-up comic, a military veteran, and now a prolific commentator. What makes you a conservative? Oh, God, I was always conservative.

I like to think it's because I am not a half-wit. You are. I mean, look, I just always saw the alternative as just ridiculously stupid, even when I was in, like, third grade. I remember distinctly watching the news, the Vietnam War was on at the time, and there was some argument about, we're going to put big red crosses on our military evacuation helicopters, and then the communists won't shoot at them. And I'm like five years old or something. And I looked at that, I said, that's stupid. and ever since then I've been conservative. Conservative is the triumph of reality over wishful thinking. Yeah, well, it certainly is.

I feel a similar way. I mean, I felt like I grew up a conservative. There were some people who have those life-changing experiences, be it in college or afterward. And then there are those of us who have just always had, I think, the common sense to have those conservative ideals. Now, yeah, I'm not one of those conservatives who's like, yeah, I was liberal before.

I was never liberal. It never happened. Well, it's good to have you in the fight. Now, in your new book, The 21 Biggest Lies About Donald Trump and you, you call Donald Trump the most effective conservative president in decades. Tell us more about the book why you wrote it and how you're setting the record straight on President Trump. Well, I think the, you know, look, I'm a trial lawyer too, among my other qualifications. And I get lied to by professionals. So I'm kind of a snob about it.

And I just find our garbage establishment just so inept at it. I'm not sure whether they're stupid or they think I'm stupid. They just don't lie very well, but they lie continuously, and it's a substitution for actual reason and discussion. So my basic principle is I'm against arguing with people. I mean, as a lawyer, I argue with people for money, but then again, I go where a place, you've got judge, you've got jury, there's people who are going to weigh evidence, apply rules, and you're going to come to a conclusion. You don't get that with our leftist establishment. You get a conclusion, and then they work backwards.

So they are impervious to reason. And for that reason, I don't advocate arguing with them. Now, argument and reason do have important roles to play, but mostly it's for people who are not already committed. Most Americans aren't like us swimming in the cesspool of politics, and it's going to be late September before they notice, oh, yeah, there's an election coming up. And that's not an unreasonable position, by the way.

I'm not looking down on somebody who doesn't do politics 24-7. In fact, I kind of envy them. And they should be able to. We should have a power structure that is generally competent, capable, and not corrupt enough to not pay attention to until about the last month or so before the election, or not huge attention to. But unfortunately, we don't. But these people, though, are our social.

subject to reason. For instance, you can point out, well, you know, the Black Lives Matter and the Antifa guys, they're kind of toppling statues of Abe Lincoln, and that kind of shows that maybe not being totally square with you and honest. And a normal person goes, well, you know, I don't have a Ph.D. in history. And I, you know, every once in a while I take a bong riper out of my Camero in the parking lot at high school before I went into history class. But I'm pretty sure I know two things about Lincoln. He had that cool stovepipe hat, and he freed the slaves. So I'm thinking maybe these guys aren't straight with me. So there is a place for argument left, but not with the garbage elite and the garbage who run all our institutions, people in academia,

people in the media, a lot of politicians, including some of our own party. And I proposed to deal with them instead through the exercise, the same way they deal with us. which is through the exercise of raw power. I don't advocate lying about them. I advocate destroying them at the ballot box. Well, and with the facts, I mean, as your book lays out. Now, I agree with you, the media bears a significant amount of the criticism here, rightfully so. The anti-conservative bias is certainly nothing new.

Past Republican presidents have faced their share of bias themselves. But with President Trump, it's on a whole new level. Why do you think it is so much worse with him today? because he rejects the entire establishment. Donald Trump is, you know, if we had an establishment that wasn't garbage, they would look on their unbroken track record of failure with a little humility. I mean, rarely has America been governed had its institutions run by people who would be so justified in being humble. But they're not. They're not only, these are the least humble people and they're also the least accomplished. I like to, I like to like to like a, them to, you know, the third generation heirs of Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. Right?

They're living off the trust fund of our culture. They didn't build our culture. They didn't struggle for it. They didn't win World War II. They didn't put a man on the moon. Or, incidentally dismantle actual systemic racism. These are guys who gave us

Iraq, the Wall Street meltdown, and grinder. These are not accomplished people. We have an intellectual class that has boundless self-regard, but it also has an unbroken track record of failure. It's literally done nothing. And Donald Trump can't, and we fired them, essentially. We're putting, we're putting Trump in. We are going to reject the smartest woman in the world, the woman who is the ultimate embodiment of everything obnoxious about our establishment. and we're going to put this wild man in from New York.

I mean, how desperate did America have to be? The vote for Donald Trump. If you would say America's going to put Donald Trump in his president 10 years ago of me, you know, back on this is still subscribing to the weekly standard. I would have said, you're on drugs. What are you taken? But we did because we were that desperate because the people who were running things were that incompetent.

And not only incompetent, grasping it more and more power all the time, power over us. I mean, if these guys were just taken a little off the top, you know, but running things, kind of like the mob, I think we could live with it. Because, you know, if it was like the 50s and you lived in a neighborhood that was run by the mob, your mom could be able to walk the mask and come back, and she's not going to get her purse snatched or beaten up, because the mob's going to take care of it. Things are going to work. Yeah, yeah, you don't want to cross paths with them.

You don't want to be, you know, and there's, you know, and there's, you're not going to get her. They're obviously taking their share out of the vice. But, you know, you can live with it. These guys want to make us better people. I don't want to be made better people by people who are demonstrably worse than me. Well, it's a fair point. And I think one of the recent examples that you saw President Trump do and particularly take his fight directly to that establishment

was his speeches around July 4th, particularly the Mount Rushmore speech. The Washington Post account of that speech began, and I quote, President Trump's unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols in the legacy of white domination, crystallized by his harsh denunciation of the racial justice movement Friday night at Mount Rushmore. I could go on. There's just one problem. That's not the speech he delivered. It's just patently dishonest.

If they're willing to lie about something that with two clicks on the web, you can double check, what are they not going to lie about? I mean, I see these polls showing Trump as to have 15 points. incidentally ducacus was up 15 points over george hw about this same time in july right yeah but but even if they did what what's going to stop them from lying about polls when polls are so opaque and obscure that you know you really have to look carefully to even start picking them apart without even getting the point of assuming that the raw data that they're using is even factual so i i mean they have a You know, our media is so desperate to retain power that it has thrown away the only justification for itself, which is objective reporting.

And this is emblematic of other institutions. We could talk about Hollywood or academia or the bureaucracy. But technology has changed things for the media. Let's just focus on media. Technology had already changed things. It's already going through a huge trauma. and the people trying to manage this trauma are, like I said, unaccomplished individuals with no competence or capability. They're also corrupt. So the one thing that justifies their treatment

with respect, as opposed to just a regular propagandist. We are neutral truth tellers. We don't care whose toes we step on. We just want to get to the facts and make sure that the, you know, powerful or accountable. Well, that's great. And people like that would, you know, scrappy reporters, you know, with their little fedora hats and the little press badge in the hat. You know, they deserve a level of respect because, you know, they're doing a tough job. But they want that respect while also being propagandists for their friends. And of course, there's, you know, the incestuous relationship between these institutions, politics, and academia and the media, assuring that, you know, there isn't a wall between them.

And look, like, I'm going to expect guys from CNN to light up their friends. They're pals with these guys. It's all a scam. And they're all fighting to retake power back from Donald Trump. And they think they're going to hold it forever. Of course, none of them know anything about history. I spent a lot of time listening to Roman history, Greek history, that sort of thing, Persian history. And history is full of people who think, yeah, I'm just going to end history,

and I'm going to establish myself as the permanent power forever. I'm just going to be really tough on people, and no one will ever challenge my rule again. And that never happens. They have no idea of history. They have no idea of human nature. They lack wisdom. They certainly can't, you know, they certainly don't have any kind of moral sense other than that delivered by a man-bun-ta. in a gender study seminar at Goucher College. You know, I mean, if you thought, you know, maybe you guys could read the Bible. You might learn something from it,

if not like the religious part, at least the human nature part, because I, frankly, I haven't read anything that better describes the conundrum of human nature than that. No, no, because they know everything, because history started when Obama got elected. And, you know, all those people from the past,

they can't change us anything. It's the stunning arrogance of these people. It's remarkable, especially when you consider how they are absolute losers. The late Andrew Breitbart had a profound impact on my life, Kurt. I considered him a mentor, someone who welcomed more voices and in many ways inspired. It's still on my phone. Yeah. The phone number is still on my phone.

It inspired us to create the Daily Signal, inspired you. to be a contributor to Big Hollywood. What would Andrew say about what's happening in America today? I'd like to think that his critique would mirror mine because mind mirrors his. Andrew is a visionary and he understood the power of technology to disrupt things. And again, technology is one of the huge disruptors that was already, well before Trump, challenging the post-war establishment and the post-war structure and really democratizing the exchange of information and ideas.

No longer did you have three networks. No longer could you have gatekeepers. And you can see that, The Washington Post in New York Times, you know, they're columnists, other than Hugh Hewitt, who's the only actual conservative on either of them, are constantly bemoaning the fact that there's no gatekeeper. By which they mean we're unable to, we're unable to set the agenda anymore. We don't control what can be said. And of course, by controlling what's said, as Orwell taught us, you control what can be thought. Andrew understood the potential for technology to open up the Overton window and allow all sorts of troubling

ideas to climb in. Troubling, not to us, but troubling to the people who were fat, comfortable, and perfectly happy to continue failing as long as they kept power. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's so true. Kurt, I mentioned earlier that your role as a stand-up comic, and your humor certainly comes through in the book, the 21 biggest lies about Donald Trump and you.

Why is it important for conservatives and you in particular to make this part of your work? Well, look, I make it no secret that I, you know. kind of despise the bow-tie conservative, the overly serious guy who can't do a push-up and can't crack a joke. Humor is an extremely powerful tool. And really, humor is the tool of the power full, because if you can laugh at yourself, you are demonstrating invulnerability. And it's kind of fun because I'll be on these things. And some are more serious. Some are more humorous. And we'll be making as many jokes about ourselves as anyone else, and we don't care. When is last time you heard a liberal make a joke about him, her, or zer self?

You never do because they aren't confident. Exactly. They're frightened. You look at the late-night comics. They never make jokes about liberals. Hell, they barely make jokes at all. Instead, what they do, I remember Rick Wilson invited me, Rick Wilson invited me to go with him to watch him on Bill Maher. I'm sitting down the audience, and I'm not a fan of Bill Moore, but, you know, I'm there.

I'm listening to his monologue. And the crowd's not laughing. It's clapping. And I'm thinking, that's something, but that's not comedy. And comedy is subversive. Comedy is rebellious. I just despise watching all these comics apologize for what they have to say. Comics should be subversive.

Look, the institution gets fat and flabby if it's not constantly getting in fistfights. Okay? I want an establishment that doesn't have it easy. I want establishment that appreciates what it has because it had to help build it, not that it just gets handed out as part of its cultural inheritance, which is what we have. Well, when I think of a leader who gets in fistfights, certainly President Trump comes to mind, you write in the book about some of his virtues. You say realism, courage, common sense, and what you describe as an unapologetic determination to win conservative victories. looking back at the first term, what stands out to you as his greatest achievement or achievements? I think his work on the economy was magnificent.

He basically did what we'd all been saying, which is cut regulations, cut taxes, unleashed the American people. And as soon as he did, boy, unemployment goes down to 3.5. Every American had opportunity they didn't have before. And, of course, the elite hated it because they don't care about prosperity. They care about control. I also am very happy about his foreign policy in which he doesn't go looking for wars that really don't serve an important purpose. I served 27 years as an army officer retired a colonel.

I was active in reserve. I deployed to Desert Storm. I deployed to Kosovo after 9-11. So when I think of American Warfare, I'm also a graduate in the Army War College, probably their favorite graduate, I think of it is if I can't go to Omaha and explain to the mother of a peritrop out of the 82nd why her son got killed in whatever place and why it was important to the country that happened. Then maybe we shouldn't be there. I am not a dove. I'm a hawk, but I'm a Jacksonian hawk. I believe we fight when we need to fight, and if we're going to fight, we do it to win. And if you don't have those qualifications, and there are other elements of national power, including diplomacy, information, and economics,

that you can leverage, but don't ask us to spend the blood of our young people if you don't think it's worth winning. Kurt, you mentioned your service to our country. Thank you for that. you've deployed overseas, but you also have had experience right here at home with the Los Angeles riots, the Northridge earthquake. Could you share with us, our listeners, about how those experiences with the military shaped your own life and your own thinking? Well, those were very interesting, both of them. And they both happened riots in April of 92. I believe the earthquake was January of 94. And I was with what was called 3rd Battalion 160th Infantry.

And that's located in Englewood. It is in South Central, essentially South Central Los Angeles. And look, I'm a middle-class kid from the suburbs of San Francisco, right? This was not my milieu. But that's where I was, and that's where my troops largely came from. So I get, you know, I'm this guy who has no experience in the inner city, and I'm thrust into it in riots, and then later in the earthquakes. And what I saw really changed a lot of things in my mind.

We were hugged by the residents of South Central because we, you know, by coming in there and we cleared out the back guys and kids could play in the parks. And people were like, we couldn't do that before. And we're just like, and I still see that today. They can't do that. But we have the power to do it. And then during the earthquake, I remember we went out to a, a. an area where they had set up a relief area, but wasn't the government. The government was spending, the local government, the Democrats, were spending all their

time with the rich areas. This was poor people, a lot of them, illegal aliens, and the Mexican radio station, you know, it played all Mexican caritos and other music. It was organizing relief for these guys. And I'm sitting here going, well, these are the guys who need the help. You don't need in Beverly Hills, yet the only people here are soldiers. and these radio folks. Now, I love that Americans, including first generation, Americans, work together to help each other.

I like to see that. We need more of it. But it really gave me an understanding of the total contempt that our inner city Democrat governments have for their own people. And I'm still seeing it today. For instance, Los Angeles Unified School Districts absolutely refusing to open up. it's condemning hundreds of thousands of kids to a lost year of education, and they don't care because they got to suck up to the teachers union. And these experiences down there, I know that's not exciting, it's not shooting and blowing stuff up,

but these are experiences that just reinforced what I believe is a conservative, that to the extent the government should act, it should act on behalf of all citizens, not just the favored few, but that's what happens. You're absolutely right. I mean, and it's not just the decisions on reopening schools. I mean, it's the riots that are playing out and destroying, you know, many of these neighborhoods and the refusal of the local leaders to step up and do anything, which is why I think you're seeing President Trump bring in, you know, whether it's Department of Homeland Security personnel or others who are trying to restore some law and order in these places. And it's sad that it really needs to come from the federal level. It should be a local decision. But, but I think their failure to, act has led us down this path. Well, look, the federal government has a indisputable, except by, you know, stupid people in the media who may actually even believe that the federal government has no right to go in and enforce federal law.

I don't support Trump, you know, mobilizing the army and sending in to clear out Portland or Seattle. I believe in laying them stew in their own filth. But you don't get to attack a courthouse. And I know that the Democrats are outraged that Donald Trump. Trump's not rolling over, I think he should send more forces in. And I love the idea of charging these guys of federal crimes because then the Soros-Bot DAs can't release them. And, you know, it becomes a lot less fun to a live-action roleplay revolutionary when suddenly you figure out

the U.S. attorneys looking to put you away for five years across a state line to set fire to a building. And I'd like to see more of that because these people are evil. There aren't that many of them. Remember, this is a giant information operation. If you look at the mass of the United States, it's probably five football fields full of riots right now. But you would think the whole country's on fire. All right. I'm looking out the entire, from my palatial corner office, I'm looking out the whole valley where Los Angeles is, the whole basin. I don't see any flames or fires. It's just not happening. It's designed to convince us that we are out of control, that we can't be protected, and gosh, you just have to vote for that creepy old weirdo

lives in a basement. And then everything will calm down. We'll be good if you do that. And I like Trump pushing back on that. Well, thank you for helping to put it in perspective, too. Again, we're talking to Kurt Schlictor, and his book is called The 21 Biggest Lies about Donald Trump and you. Kurt, we appreciate you bringing your trial lawyer, nature, and your comic humor to the book.

It's a tremendous read. It's available on Amazon or wherever books are sold. We'll also make sure we leave a link in the show notes. Any closing words or places that people can follow your work? You want to leave them with? Oh, yeah. I'm a senior columnist over at Town Hall, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Check out my stuff today.

It's Brace for the Backlash. And also follow me on Twitter at Kurt Schlichter. Kurt, thanks so much for being with the Daily Signal podcast. Best wishes as you continue to fight the good fight and bring common sense to Americans. We appreciate it. it. Thank you very much. It's because of support from listeners like you that we can continue to produce podcasts like Heritage Explains and Scotus 101. And you can help us keep it up by going to

www.org slash podcast today to make your tax deductible gift. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday we feature our favorites on this show. Virginia, who's up first? In response to the problematic women podcast interview with Heritage Senior Policy Analyst Olivia Enos, Harold Harmon writes, Dear Daily Signal, another excellent podcast on China's forced sterilization of Uyghur women. I found this interesting and maddening. The Chinese government is ruthless and knows no bounds. I went to Beijing on business in 1979 when America had just opened relations with China. I was one of the first American businessmen to visit the country.

I was originally scheduled to be there two weeks. After two weeks, they refused to let me leave for three more weeks. The whole time I was there, the people I dealt with, communist government officials, were very friendly and smiled a lot while they blatantly lied to me. When I caught them in a lie, they would smile and lie again to cover the lie I caught them in. And in response to Hans von Spakovsky and Zach Smith's commentary, it's time to shut down Judge Emmett Sullivan's three-ring circus in the Flynn case. William writes to us, quote, there is no legal precedent to what Sullivan is attempting to do. It appears he is using a loophole which makes it difficult to remove him from the case when the rule of law is not being followed by the judge. Your letter can be featured on next week's show. So send an email to letters at daily signal.com.

If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism, and we'll fight four conservative solutions that are making families more free and more prosperous. But we can't do it without you. Please join us at heritage.org. Virginia, you have a good news story to share with us today that comes from my hometown.

I can't wait to hear it. Go ahead. Thanks so much, Rob. An upstate New York couple had what many are calling a cosmic engagement. John Nicotera got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, Erica Pendrack, in Old Forge, New York, on the night of July 18th. The couple was camped out that night to see the comet known. as Neo-Wise, which has been visible from Earth for much of July. They had a friend and a very talented photographer with them who was successfully able to capture the moment Nicotera proposed

with a comet brilliantly seen in the sky between them. The photo has been shared thousands of times on social media and has even caught the attention of NASA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Neo-wise will not be visible for another 6,800 years. So this really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But Rob, you actually know John Nicotera. Isn't that right? Well, not too well, Virginia, but coincidentally, his fiancé, Erica, graduated from the same small high school that I did in New York Mills, New York.

And John and I happened to come across each other because I was recently home to run the 15K Boilermaker Road race with my dad, who's done it for all 43 years. There was no race this year, but a small band of runners still turned out. And the day before the race, I went to get a new pair of sneakers, and who was my salesman, if not, John Nicotera? So I wish them well and hope they have a successful and long marriage. It's a wonderful story to hear. Rob, it's so neat that you actually know this couple that has now gained so much media attention.

They've been brought on several different news channels and weather channels to tell their story. AMHQ had the couple on to share about this beautiful moment. Take a listen. I wanted to see the comment on my own. Ask her she would see it with me. And then once she said she would, it was kind of like, all right, well, maybe that'll be a pretty cool moment. It only happens every 6,800 years. Yeah.

I got that going for me. He's been talking all the past week about wanting to see the comment. And then when he said his friend Tim was going to take pictures of us, I was all about taking, you know, the couple's pictures and things like that. So I just thought, you know, it was in between another picture, a different pose. And when he got down on one knee, I just, it chills through my body and just tears running down my face. Well, once again, a huge congrats to the happy couple. certainly some very happy and joyous news amidst all of the craziness. Well, it's always good to hear those good news stories, Virginia.

Thank you for bringing it to us again today. And we're going to leave it there. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on the Rurcashay Audio Network. All of our shows can be found at dailysignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. And be sure to listen every weekday by adding the Daily Signal podcast as part of your relax the flash briefing. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review and a five-star rating. It means a lot to us and it helps us spread the word to other listeners. Be sure to follow us on

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