The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 606 The Govt Scares me and it Should Scare You Too

Episode Date: December 6, 2017

The entire Trump investigation is falling apart. Here’s what the media isn’t telling you. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-03/what-media-isnt-telling-you-about-indictment-mike-flynn   Obamacare is an abysmal failure but this I didn’t expect. https://www.cato.org/blog/aca-subsidies-labor-market-participation   President Trump appears ready to make one of the boldest foreign policy decisions I’ve seen in decades.  http://www.dailywire.com/news/24354/excellent-trump-7-reasons-trump-would-be-right-ben-shapiro   Govt is really screwing up the housing market. https://www.cato.org/blog/high-cost-government-housing?utm_source=Cato+Institute+Emails&utm_campaign=6609413d7c-Cato_at_Liberty_RSS&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_395878584c-6609413d7c-143016961&goal=0_395878584c-6609413d7c-143016961&mc_cid=6609413d7c&mc_eid=3fd7404a34   Why was Flynn charged? An interesting viewpoint from a Democrat.  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/12/04/alan-dershowitz-why-did-flynn-lie-and-why-did-mueller-charge-him-with-lying.html         Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growth is essential for every entrepreneur. At BDC, we get that. And the businesses we support grow at double the average rate, accelerating the pace. We're on it. BDC. Financing. Advising. Know-how. The Dan Bongino Show. Get ready to hear the truth about America with your host, Dan Bongino. Alright, welcome to the Dan Bongino Show. Producer Joe, how are you today? Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to go. Ready to go. People love your intros there, Joe. Always creative, always unique in the real sense of the word.

Unique, by the way, ironically, is the most overused word in the English language. Isn't that ironic? It's not unique that people use the word unique. But in your case, your intros are very unique. There you go. Your Producer Joe specials. Hey, just a couple things, folks. I'm still on the road show.

I checked into Trump Hotel, Trump International in D.C. last night, and it is – listen, I'm not a shill for anybody's private company, but I've got to tell you, I stay in a lot of hotels, as Joe knows. Yeah. This hotel is pretty spectacular. as Joe knows. Yeah. This hotel's pretty spectacular. So if you get the shot, check it out.

Trump International off Pennsylvania Avenue here in D.C. It's amazing. And I promised this guy I'd give him a shout out. I ran into a guy in the lobby, Joe, coming in.

He's like, Dan, I listen to your podcast. So Phil, I promised Phil I'd give him a shout out. So there's your shout out, Phil. He's a really nice guy. So he listens to the show every day.

All right. All right. On a very serious note, I did outnumbered uh the other day up in new york with fox and marie harf was on uh marie leans left obviously very nice off the air obviously we have disagreements on the air got a little spicy on the air but i said to her at one point um on the show and i'm very seriously saying this to you now in the most non-conspiratorial or non-hypabolic terms possible, but that's hard given the gravity of it. Folks, I'm really scared of the government, and you should be too. You know, you may be saying, well, what's the context?

How did that come up? And, you know, why say that now? This Trump-Russia thing is starting to really scare me. Now, believe me, I understand many of you are tired of hearing about it. But folks, this is no longer about Trump and Russia. Matter of fact, I could make the case to you strongly, Joe, and our listeners that this has nothing to do with Russia anymore. This is a soft coup going on. Now, hat tip to Mark Levin, who has been talking about this forever. This is a soft coup and a vehicle to impeach a sitting president.

Joe, for no reason at all. Right. Forget about high crimes and misdemeanors, Joe. There is nothing. There is no there there. So I got into an argument in the show with Marie again. It was very nice, folks. It's not personal. I swear she's very nice off the air. But she obviously feels that there's a there there everyone on the set having worked for the government and having been on the inside at the White House and as a special agent, I'm not trying to scare you. I don't do conspiracy theories. Matter of fact, I get nasty emails because I don't do conspiracy theories.

But it's not a conspiracy theory to say you should be really scared. Folks, the power of the federal government to take your life and take your freedom away is an awesome one. And I mean awesome, and you should back up and think about that. That power of the federal government is now being turned. It's so powerful. Think about what I'm about to tell you. It's targeted the most powerful man in the world,

and there's still almost nothing he can do about it. To our liberal friends who listen, how does that not scare you? Now, what's the genesis of this whole thing? The more I read about this thing, this Trump-Russia fiasco, the more terrified I get. There is a really tremendous piece at Zero Hedge,

which I will put in the show notes, always available at bongino.com if you subscribe to my email list as i always say i'll send it right to your email box that's up to you there is a piece at zero hedge uh i i cannot encourage you in strong enough terms to read it's about how this entire thing started or it's just this is a theory they're putting out there but based in in things that actually happened, Joe. And I believe there's a lot to this. That this entire thing started with Sally Yates.

Who was Sally Yates? Sally Yates was the former number two at the Justice Department. She was an Obama appointee. And what I think is clear at this point is a dedicated leftist. Sally Yates, during the transition, her cockamamie insane theory that because Mike Flynn had spoken to the Russians on a phone call, that Mike Flynn, the incoming National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, was somehow susceptible to bribery. Now, please, please, please follow me on this, folks. Please don't tune out of the show.

This is important. Her theory is insane. Her theory, Joe, was this. That given the Logan Act, right? that given the Logan Act, right? The Logan Act, which is something no one has ever been successfully charged with violations of in the history of the republic. Nobody's been charged with this ever, violations of the Logan Act, just to be clear. The Logan Act says, it was passed in the John Adams days,

that private citizens can't conduct foreign policy with a foreign government. Now, you may say, well, what is that even? Folks, it's not even constitutional in my humble opinion and in many others. But if a private citizen can't conduct any kind of business with a foreign government or even speak to a foreign government for that matter, a very valid question is asked in the piece. Joe, remember when Jesse Jackson went over to North Korea? Why wasn't he locked up under the Logan Act?

Why isn't Barack Obama overseas now, speaking of foreign governments now? We've seen him overseas. Why isn't he getting locked up in the Logan Act? Why isn't Jimmy Carter, when he goes over to the Middle East, Joe, why doesn't he get locked up for the Logan Act? Because the Logan Act is crap. Wow, that was like perfect timing. Did you hear that in the background?

Yeah. Doo-doo. Folks, the Logan Act is garbage. It's not to be taken seriously. What is that sound? Oh, no, we're good. Thanks. You don't have no water or chocolate?

No, no, okay. Okay. I'm wondering if I should leave that in the show. You know what? Leave that in, Joe. What the heck? It's a roadshow, babe. I'm wondering if I should leave that in the show. You know what? Leave that in, Joe. What the heck? It's a roadshow, babe. It's a roadshow.

That was actually housekeeping. They were like, do you need anything? I'm like, no, I'm good. Getting back. Seriously, that's fun. That's a nice part about doing a podcast. We can make these decisions. Folks, the Logan Act is garbage.

It's not real. It's real in the sense that it's on the book somewhere, but it's never been charged. So here's what happened here. Sally Yates and the Obama administration could not stand the fact that they lost this election. They had to fabricate something. So they tried to pull something. So they said, listen, we need some kind of premise using the dossier and this other stuff to unmask and get Flynn on a recording, to get Mike Flynn on a recording with the Russians. They get Mike Flynn on the recording, Joe. Using the recording, keep in mind, they have transcripts. Now, Joe, let me ask you a question.

I talk to you on the phone, what, probably three, four times a week, maybe? Yeah, man. I mean, it's not a trick question. Do you remember every single thing in detail you've told me in all those conversations during the week? Hell no. Do you think if I came to you under the threat of law using a federal badge, right,

under the threat of arrest and taking away your freedom, and had a transcript of those calls and didn't tell you and asked you to recount them exactly, do you think I could catch you in a, quote, misstatement? Yeah, most certainly you're darn right i could and likewise on me folks they recorded flynn's calls they had transcripts of the calls the fbi agent who is now it seems a virulent anti-trumpy uh uh anti-trumper this guy peter stroke and i'll get to him in a minute, shows up at the White House

four days after the transition starts to interview Flynn under a different premise. Doesn't tell him this is a criminal interview. Flynn doesn't even have his lawyer present, and the bureau agent has transcripts of the call. He has transcripts of the call. He then starts asking Flynn questions, and in this part part I'm guessing a bit but I'm assuming because the FBI is a criminal entity that I mean investigative entity excuse me that

Flynn then assumes maybe a few minutes into this that he's in some trouble right Joe I mean the FBI shows up to your house you think it's because of the transition Joe gets hired as a producer for White House audio next thing you know they're not asking you about audio equipment Joe they're asking you about your call FBI shows up to your house. You think it's because of the transition. Joe gets hired as a producer for White House Audio. Next thing you know, they're not asking you about audio equipment, Joe. They're asking you about your call with the Russians.

And all of a sudden, you start freaking out. Right. He makes a few misstatements. He says things that might not align up with the transcripts that Joe, even Flynn, doesn't have. Flynn doesn't have the transcripts. The Bureau does. Now, all of a sudden, they go back to the department. This virulent anti-Trump or this guy Stroke, Peter Stroke, who's now written these texts, these anti-Trump texts and has been caught.

They go back to the department. It gets back to Sally Yates that Flynn in an interview where he has no lawyer present, probably had no idea at all this was a criminal investigation, Joseph. They now go back to Sally Yates and they tell Sally Yates, the number two at the department who we find out can't stand Trump. And they say, hey, I've got news for you. We spoke to Flynn and you're going to love this. Mike Flynn said some things that don't marry up exactly with this transcript recorded call we have and by the way we recorded it probably based on information they got from the dossier because it was clearly not probable cause to be recording a U.S. citizen clearly there was not clearly this was a FISA warrant not a criminal warrant to record his calls. Remember the show I did months ago, Joe? Yep.

On the criminal side, you have to exhaust every other investigative possibility before I can wiretap Joe if I'm doing a mob case on Joe, a criminal case. On FISA warrants, they just unmasked him. That was it. Just like that. Lickety split. So now you go back. You interviewed him based on a false premise that they were doing something wrong which joe i just told you they weren't people have done this forever transitions reagan was negotiating with the iranians before he took office about the hostages why wasn't reagan

arrested barack obama before he took office had negotiations with foreign leaders this happens all the time the lo Logan Act is fake. It's a fraud. It's never been charged ever successfully. So they start this case under a false premise to even interview him. They interview him knowing it's an unbelievable setup because they have copies of the transcripts and he doesn't. You think during a transition,

it's the most important time of this guy's life. You think Flynn remembers every single syllable he said to every foreign leader on the phone Joe are you smelling the setup now yeah man now they go back folks this is scary stuff I mean I know I do a sarcastic kind of funny show sometimes and we try to put an edge on things, but this is serious stuff. A man was bankrupted, a three-star general with a distinguished record of service to this country was bankrupted and is now a federal criminal. Based on what? Based on what? So they interview him.

Now when they go back, just follow me here, folks. This is how we got here. This is just a setup. They go back to Sally Yates and they say, Yates, Miss Yates, we've got something here. We may have Flynn on false statements. So this is the devious, disgusting genius of what they did. Yates goes back, briefs the transition team and says hey transition team i've got news for you this guy mike flynn is susceptible is susceptible

to bribery now and they're probably looking around joe right rightfully so going what the hell are you talking about well he had he had a conversation with the Russians about going easy on the response to sanctions and about an Israeli resolution at the UN and he didn't exactly tell the FBI that so he may be bribe-able by

the Russians because of false statement charges that, that what? You would generate? Joe, please, if I'm not getting this then this is critical do you see what i'm saying no dude this is scary it's getting scarier by the second you're darn right so your your theory is what that flynn now should be fired and should be let go and by the way they knew they were going to go after him legally too. So you're going to ruin his life, get him fired. You're going to go after him legally, which they did.

Your theory is what? That the Russians can bribe him because he made false statements to the FBI on a recording we have that the Russians, I'm assuming, don't even know we have. Ladies and gentlemen, that's how we got here today. Based on the Logan Act. Now, Byron York had a piece in Drudge, it's in the show notes from earlier in this week, where he sets this up, how the Logan Act, a nonsense crime, the federal equivalent of jaywalking, a crime that exists in people's minds only, was used to take this entire administration down and get Flynn in the door at a minimum on these false statements charges,

which I'm telling you, as a federal agent, was rarely done. And when it was done, it was universally mocked. 1,001 false statement charges. Now, here's where the story gets fascinating.

Notice there's still no Russian collusion in any of this, nor will there be. Right, right. Flynn, it turns out, has said some things that weren't exactly accurate. And I'm starting to feel worse and worse for Flynn, by the way, every single day, folks. Because it looks like this guy got railroaded like you wouldn't believe. So now they have a scapegoat. So what happens now, Joe?

leave. So now they have a scapegoat. So what happens now, Joe? Well, Jim Comey gets fired. A perfectly legitimate constitutional act by a sitting president of the United States who is perfectly authorized to do that according to the Constitution. The Department of Justice is not an independent agency, as I said yesterday, and I will say repeatedly, they work for the president of the United States, was in charge with the enforcement of the law. He dismisses Comey. president of the united states was in charge with the enforcement of the law he dismisses comey so now it feeds this second narrative that he was fired precisely because he was trying to obstruct justice into an investigation that should have never started in the first place folks we're like in in banana republic third world territory right now. I'm really having a difficult, can I just say quickly too,

there's another part to this, I want to get to some other stories too, but to our liberal friends, I really understand, and I mean this, for a moment, try to put aside your anger at what happened here. I get it,

you're mad you lost. I get it. I was mad when Obama lost too. Very mad. Twice. Even madder the second time. You're taking the country to pieces. I don't think you understand the ramifications of what you're starting here. We are at the point right now where you have criminalized political losses. When you open that pandora's box of using the dreaded arm of government so powerful that the most powerful man in the world literally cannot stop it right now when does that turn around boomerang on you i mean when who's next

senators the majority leader harry reed nancy pelosi obama who's next? Senators? The majority leader? Harry Reid? Nancy Pelosi? Obama? Who's next? Your congressman? Who's next? Mike Lee? Ted Cruz? Did they all go and start arresting everybody? Folks, we're in big trouble here.

All right. Moving on. Just again, because this is important. And I talked about this last night on Tucker's show. Moving on, just again, because this is important. And I talked about this last night on Tucker's show. Folks, the investigative team investigating an investigation, Joe, that should have never started into a crime nobody can acknowledge is even a crime because no one's ever been successfully charged with it. Leading the investigative team as one of the deputies is Andrew Weissman,

one of the prosecutors. Andrew Weissman has just been caught an email based on a FOIA request by Judicial Watch, excuse me, hat tip to Tom Fitton and their group over there,

has just been caught in a Freedom of Information Act request in an email, Joe, praising someone for their decision to defy Trump's travel ban. Who do you think that person was? I'll give you all a second in the audience to think about this. Sally freaking Yates. So Andrew Weissman, the prosecutor,

prosecuting the case based on a crime no one's ever been successfully charged with that was dreamed up in the mind of the number two with the Justice Department appointed by Obama, Sally Yates, is praised,

same Sally Yates, praised by the lead prosecutor in the Trump-Russia investigation for defying Trump's travel ban where Sally Yates was subsequently fired for just days into the administration. You remember that one, Joe? Yep. So, okay, follow me here,

and I'm going to wrap this up and tie this up for you in a neat little bow. Yates, fake crime, charge them with fake crime, get them on false statements for not acknowledging they committed a fake crime second, start appointing people into a third world republic star chamber like special council investigation pick people who hate Trump

first appointee, Andrew Weissman sends email, gets caught to Sally Yates praising Sally Yates for defying Trump Weissman, who by the way, there's some allegations out there. There's some other emails out there that are anti-Trump as well. We'll see if that comes to fruition to other people. Who's number two? How does the special counsel get started?

The special counsel gets started by Jim Comey. Jim Comey gets fired by Donald Trump for doing awful work, by the way, and mismanaging the entire FBI. Jim Comey then acknowledges, by the way, under oath up on the Hill, the former FBI director, that after he was fired, he leaked sensitive information to the media to get a special counsel investigation initiated that is subsequently started and run by his friend Bob Mueller who appoints Andrew Weissman Andrew Weissman the prosecutor who can't stand Trump and his good buddies it turns out looks like with Sally Yates who really can't stand Trump and started this whole thing based on a fictitious legal theory of a violation of the Logan Act wait wait wait wait wait gets better the number two at the fbi turns out andrew mccabe who had he's the number two at the

fbi joe his fingerprints are on all this as well i'm not impugning the man's integrity i don't know him that well but andrew mccabe's wife these are just facts you do with it what you want andrew mccabe's wife decided to run for a state Senate seat in the state of Virginia as a Democrat. Was vigorously backed by Terry McAuliffe, a known Clinton consigliere and enforcer for years, who was in fact the governor of Virginia. Something to see there? Don't know. You figure that one out. Finally.

Don't know. You figure that one out. Finally, now we find out over the past few days that not only was the special counsel investigative team being led by Bob Mueller, who's a friend of Jim Comey, who was fired, who acknowledged getting the special counsel investigation started by leaking information because he was fired. That team is also being led by Weissman, who hates Trump. The number two at the FBI, whose fingerprints are on all this wife runs for office as a Democrat is supported by Clinton supporters. We find out now that the deputy director of counterintelligence who has his fingerprints in the email Hillary email investigation and. And was there for the interview of Mike Flynn is a virulent anti-Trumper FBI agent named Peter Stroke. a virulent anti-Trumper FBI agent named Peter Stroke, who likely reported to Sally Yates,

who started this, well, did formally report to her, who started this entire investigation based on a fictitious, nonsensical reading of the Logan Act. Ladies and gentlemen, what the hell is going on? I mean, is this the United States anymore? I mean, I'm starting to, there's a story at Drudge I'll put in the show notes where even some liberals are starting to worry about this. Some, not all. There are some who are celebrating it. But ladies and gentlemen, we are in big trouble if you allow this to continue.

Sorry. I mean, I know some of you get tired about repeated topics, but folks, this is not about notice. I mentioned the word Russia only three, four times. This is about the destruction of fidelity to the rule of law and the semblance of a government of negative liberties. What a government can't do to you. We have now expanded the government's power so much that they're attacking the most powerful man in the world, and he is almost helpless to do anything about it anymore. Really painful. All right, a couple more stories I want to get to, an interesting one about how, you know what I always say, Joe, about the government, how they pretend to help and they kick you in the teeth as you get up.

This is actually a fascinating one in Cato, and one quick thing about moving the embassy to Jerusalem. But before I get to that, today's show brought to you by our buddies at Filter By. I really appreciate you all, as I always say, supporting our sponsors. You really make us look great. Joe and I really appreciate it. And maybe we should tell them, Joe, about Westwood. We haven't said anything to the audience. Yeah.

We have a big announcement to make. I saw Steve Dace put it out the other day. Westwood One, we're involved with them now. They are one of the biggest radio syndicators in the world. They picked up our podcast along with CR, so we're really happy

to be with them. Nothing's going to change for you. Don't worry. But proud to have them on board. And you guys make us look really good with our sponsors, so that helped. So thank you.

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FilterBuy.com. That's FilterBuy.com. Thank you very much for supporting the sponsors. on top of quality filters shipped within 24 hours plus the shipping's free filter by calm that's filter by calm thank you very much for supporting the sponsors you do make us look great and I really appreciate it getting a bunch of things oh yeah everybody's asking me I had a big meeting today folks I'll fill you in because I love you all so much I do I will fill you in soon when I get submitted as a huge meeting today. Joe knows, but I'm not allowed to say anything, but I'll let you know if it turns out well. My dad's, Dan, how did it go today? Dad? Good. Okay. Yeah, good. I saw a really great story at Cato. I was coming down on the train on the Amtrak Acela from New York, and I thought, this is just incredible. And it

kind of relates to the question I addressed on yesterday's show, that fascinating listener question I thought was a great one that, hey, listen, if this tax bill passes and we're all basically paying the same amount of taxes in aggregate, just in different ways, right? So, we may not pay an export tax or a SALT. We may not get a SALT deduction, state and local tax deduction, but if we're going to pay it somewhere else, then what's the difference? And I'm not going to read you yesterday's show, but I made the point that design, and what I should have said maybe to be more precise and clear, is how you pay taxes matters, not just what you pay.

You know what? I should have said that yesterday. That makes more sense. Folks, the same thing happens with designs of other programs as well. How you implement an entitlement program, if you're going to give away free money to people and free services, matters just as much as what you give them. And this story was a ringer. It's in Cato. It'll be in the show notes. Please read it. Short, sweet, and it's super good. It talks about a study that came out a while ago that worried a lot of

conservatives, and they had actually predicted this, Joe. They said, well, listen, if you're going to create these income cliffs, what we call them in economics, these income cliffs for Obamacare, you're going to have a significant problem because the incentive is going to be to get right up over the cliff but not fall off. What do I mean by that? You are eligible for federal subsidies, meaning other taxpayers' money. That's a fancy way of saying Joe giving me money. But listen, we'll use their lingo for a minute. We'll play their game for a moment because it'll make sense when you read the story if I use the terminology they use in it. If you are between one and nearly 400% of the poverty line and you buy insurance through the exchanges private

insurance you are eligible you and your family for other taxpayers money these federal subsidies you can get money from the government to buy health insurance which show you and i both know right now is extremely expensive right yeah oh yeah what's the problem you say well dan what's wrong with that well what's wrong with i'm Well, what's wrong with it? I'm trying to imitate Joe's game show guy voice. I never do it well. Well, what's wrong with it is if you're creeping right up to that 400% of the federal poverty level income cliff, and you're at 401% of the federal poverty level by your salary, Joe.

So let's just say your salary is, let's just use a round number, $80,000. Right. You get a big federal subsidy to buy health insurance for you and your family at $80,000. Right. But if you make $80,001, you lose, let's say, $7,000 in subsidies a year. Yeah, you're screwed, Dan. That is what we would call an unbelievably high marginal tax rate. You are screwed, big time, in Joe's best game show voice.

You are right. You're screwed, Dan. Thanks, Wink. You're screwed because you made a dollar more. You were making $80,000. You got $7,000 in taxpayer money to buy health care. Now you're making $80,001. You're making $1 more, but you're making $80,001. You're making $1 more,

but you're losing $6,999. Now, I mean, is it not obvious why income cliffs, what we would call those, are so dangerous? Yeah. Now, Joe, you're not an economist, correct? You've never been through PhD training in economics, right? We can stipulate that?

Yes, that's correct, Dan. Was that in any way difficult for you to understand that simple mathematical example? No, that was very easy, Dan. Thank you. Apparently, this was very difficult for the designers of Obamacare to figure out because they, of course, they're liberals and they don't really care about things like math and they don't really care about effective design. They care about control and this enabled them to control people. So they did it. It enabled them to get people on the subsidies. And when you get on subsidies and you give people $6,000 and $7,000 for insurance a year, that may not be the exact amount, but you get the point, Joe.

You can more effectively control them than if you give them nothing. You can also get them to vote for you. Democrats are always about power and votes. Don't think it's always about the money. It's about power and votes. Don't think it's always about the money. It's about power and votes. So they needed people on these subsidies. Well, what happened? And the Cato piece covers this pretty well.

Some very bright economists, by the way, ideologically very bipartisan economists said, well, we have a problem here, Joe. bipartisan economists said, well, we have a problem here, Joe. The problem is the incentive is going to be for people then to work just enough to make $80,000 a year and not to make a dollar more. Because if you make a dollar more, you're going to lose the $7,000 subsidy. Again, makes sense to Joe. I know this makes sense to you. I'm not trying to talk down to anyone. I'm just trying to show you how dumb liberal economics and Obamanomics was. So some economists came out with a report, Joe, that said this is going to cause a massive loss in productivity in the United States because what's going to happen is people are going to stop working at a certain point who would have worked more. If they don't work more, Joe, they're not going to produce as much stuff, right?

Right. And producing stuff is what makes a country, I mean, this is overly simplistic, but it's true. It's not false. Producing stuff is what creates GDP, gross domestic product, and which makes a country prosperous. So if you create a massive income cliff that incentivizes people to not work any more than a certain point, there is going to be a dramatic economic effect. Now, where do we go from here? A study just came out that they have in Cato here that's fascinating because I didn't see this coming. Here's where the curveball comes in, folks. And this is why I was so fascinated by

this because it goes to show you even the government can't account for its own stupidity. The government's so stupid that even when it does something stupid, the stupid boomerangs and hits them back. They don't even realize, they don't even see the stupid coming. So the study came out and it showed that, unsurprisingly, Joe, middle class folks were largely working. I don't want to say largely. We're working less. That productive work hours are going down because they're going to lose the subsidy.

Granted, we already talked about that. But this is fascinating. It said that on net, Joe, collectively, we may not be losing a lot of work hours in the country. Hmm. Now, you're probably saying to yourself, Dan, you just said middle-class people were going to work less because they weren't going to get the subsidy if they made too much money.

Now you're saying that collective work hours didn't go down? Well, that's because poor people started working more. Now, I'm going to tie this into the tax question from yesterday on the how matters, not just how much money, the how you design something. Now, you may say, well, what's the problem? It's a wash then. Middle class people work less. They don't lose their subsidy. Well, here's the problem here, folks. A lot of those middle class folks, many of you in this listening audience and many people who are poor, and by the way, when I say poor, do not mistake that for unskilled, by the way. That could be your 18-year-old college kid who's in college. Just because he's working at a local Hardee's doesn't mean he's not going to be a CEO in 10 years.

You see the difference, Joe? Don't mistake the two. Poor people are working more in lower-wage jobs, working more hours rather than developing their skills, in order, Joe, to get away from government-run healthcare, Medicaid, and get into the private exchanges where you have to meet a certain income level or else you get thrown into Medicaid. Yeah, I am laughing because this is just like, this is so dumb. So now think about what's happening here. Middle-class folks obviously working less because they don't want to fall off the income cliff. They don't want to lose the subsidy. So you have people in the primes

of their lives, the $80,000 workers, the $50,000 workers, your steel workers, your steam fitters, your carpenters, your electricians, your architects, your bankers. I'm not talking about the Goldman Sachs. I mean, people literally work in the bank they they sign loans and stuff they're in a small town the middle class folks that are some of the most productive people on the planet have stopped producing stuff after a certain point because of this stupid obamacare and now in order to maintain their health insurance because they want joe crazy they want to stay alive is that nuts that's insane they actually want to stay alive. Is that nuts? That's insane. They actually want to stay alive and keep their health care. Now you have poor folks. Medicaid sucks so badly. It's so awful that they want to get out of it. So poor folks, rather than going and getting an education, some of them are working jobs and getting an education, but they're dedicating more hours than they would ordinarily making up for the loss of middle class hours to get away from Medicare and to get into the private insurance arena where, Joe, they can get the same amount, almost the same amount of government spending, but they can get it in the form of a subsidy to not buy Medicare, but buy

private insurance on the exchanges with the same subsidies middle class people get. Folks, the government is so dumb, it trips over its own foot. I say that because I'm walking through Union Station, which is beautiful, by the way, Washington, D.C., and I have one of those roller bags because I carry all my equipment with me, and I almost tripped, and I thought, gosh, there are so many people around. Can you imagine if I did a face plan? But that's the government. The government trips over its own foot six and seven times a day and thinks it did nothing wrong. It gets up and claps for itself.

This is just outstandingly stupid. The design of this program was so bad that you take middle class workers, some of the most productive people in the country, making decent, sometimes pretty decent, healthy salaries, especially in a small town. You incentivize them through a horribly designed program to not produce as much stuff and work less, hurting the economy overall. You then buttress them with poor folks who are working more now to get away from a government program they hate to get more government money, to get free market insurance so they can get the same subsidies as middle-class people, and they're the ones making up the hours, even though they

haven't acquired the skills to demand the middle class salary yet. Holy crikeys, you cannot make this stuff up. This is real. This really happened. You know what? I'm going to put another Cato piece in there too. I'm not going to dig into it too much,

but it's about housing as well because it applies to, I mean, Joe, is this hard to believe? Is this not the dumbest? I mean, it's like, can the government ever get out of its own way? There's another piece in there about housing in San Diego where they talk about how they – remember I talked about the low-income housing credit last week? Yeah. That story where the government gives incentives to builders to buy low-income housing?

I'll put the piece. It's a Kato piece. It's a great show. Joe, the average cost in certain areas that they're doing these low-income housing, of the low-income housing homes, $500,000 to produce. $500,000. Yeah, that's good, folks. That's real low-income.

My house, I don't even think is worth $500,000. Read this story. Another example of how the government can't get out of its own way. Because, of course, when you bloat a system administratively with taxpayer dollars nobody's responsible for, what do you get? You get bloated budgets, bloated administrative costs, and $500,000 houses for low-income folks. I mean, just staggeringly stupid. Read that piece, too. It'll be in the show notes. But I want to move on to another story. Before I get there,

today's show also brought to you by our buddies at BrickHouse Nutrition. These guys have really gotten me through the last few days. They haven't asked me to talk about this new product yet, but I'm going to do it because I am just really, really excited about it. I love BrickHouse. They've been with me from the beginning. And we had an idea a while ago. I was talking to Miles from Brickhouse. I am into nutrition, folks. And I passionately believe in the power of fruits and vegetables. I get it. The FDA, they're not going to cure any diseases or anything like that. You can't say that, nor should you. But I absolutely believe that fruits and vegetables are the way to a good, healthy life. I don't think that's a controversial statement.

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of fruit and vegetables with it, but I'm just that much of a believer that it is the key to health. God gave us these things to eat. He did not give us Tostitos. He didn't give us bananas. He did give us blueberries and that stuff though. And I eat the heck out of them. So field of greens, brickhousenutrition.com slash Dan. I gave him a little bit of a long read because it's the first time I've read for that, but it's super. All right. I don't do a lot of foreign policy stuff and I'm not going to beat you to death with it now either, but it is a really important, crucial story that's about to break. And I'm not going to beat you to death with it now either. But it is a really important, crucial story that's about to break. And I want to cover it with you because it's a sensitive topic with me. I am a passionate supporter of the Jewish state.

I understand and respect that there are various opinions on foreign policy issues. But this is my show and I'm never going to lie to you. That would be inauthentic to do that. I am a passionate supporter of the Jewish state and have been for a long time. I've been to Israel. I plan on taking another trip soon with my family. And it means a lot to me. So Ben Shapiro has a very good piece up at the Daily Wire about an interesting proposal, Joe, that is not controversial to me, but it's going to be controversial in the left-wing media.

It's not controversial to me, but it's going to be controversial in the left-wing media. And Trump is now proposing to move, finally, the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. I know most of you know this, but some of you may not. The U.S. Embassy is not in Jerusalem. It is in Tel Aviv. Now, this is a... Interestingly enough, Joe, this actually passed unanimously in 1995 to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem on a bipartisan basis. And every six months, this decision has been deferred because there are people in that area of the world who would like to see the Jews be a permanent subordinate class of people, which is disgusting. is disgusting. I've said many times on this show, there are Arabs in Israel that have more freedom than Arabs in some portions of the Arab world, in most portions of the Arab world, to be candid.

And what the Jewish people have done with that area of the world is incredible. They have brought untold prosperity there. I'm not going to lecture you today but the point is every six months since 1995 they've delayed this move presidents of both parties to be fair they've delayed the move under threat basically from a lot of arab states about oh this is going to lead to all kinds of chaos and violence and all this stuff you know what joe um chaos and violence seems to happen in the region whether they move the embassy to the rightful capital of Jerusalem or they don't. So that threat to me, sorry, but it's kind of empty at this point. I'm done hearing that.

This is an important move. Trump and his team, from what I'm hearing, are going to announce this soon, that they're going to sign another six-month waiver. So just to be clear, Joe, they're going to say, yes, we're going to delay it for six months, but we are in the planning stage now to take the embassy and move it from tel aviv to jerusalem i think this is long overdue i think the jewish state is entitled to have its capital

in its actual historical capital which is jerusalem i've been there. I think, in my opinion, it should be undivided. I think that will be up for negotiation, but I think it should be absolutely the undivided capital of a vibrant, prosperous Jewish state. And I would say to anyone in the region, I respect the plight of people in the area as well. But to anyone in the region listening, there was Abba Eban who once said, the Arabs have never missed, the Palestinians have never missed an opportunity, excuse me, to miss an opportunity of peace. I don't have any illusions that that's going to happen anytime soon. But once the capital is relocated, you're going to run out of reasons really quickly to not get to a peace deal.

It's time to get to the table and get something done. But Shapiro has a really good piece in the Daily Wire, Seven Reasons They Should Move It. He talks about some of the historical context, Joe, how Jerusalem is mentioned, obviously, repeatedly in Jewish texts, but is not mentioned in the Koran. So this is obviously an important area to the Jews, how this has been their historical capital over time, how this has been an excuse for violence for Arabs for a long time, and how this isn't going to matter either way. I mean, violence is going to continue seemingly no matter what the Jews do, so they might as well have a capital that is rightfully theirs in a state that is rightfully theirs. So I agree. But please check out the piece. It's a really good one. I just hit on most of the points from it, but it's definitely worth reading. And I would encourage

you to support as well. But listen, I understand there are different opinions. I don't do a lot of foreign policy on the show, but this is something that personally matters to me. Hey, folks, thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate it. Please go to Bongino.com and subscribe to my email list. And I'll hopefully have some more good news for you next week. I don't like to tease that kind of stuff, but just know a lot of this was because of you people are taking real note of the podcast ladies and gentlemen and is exclusively because of your word of mouth and everything you've done and that means the world to me so thank you very much i'll see you also you just heard the dan bongino show get more of dan online anytime at conservativereview.com. You can also get Dan's podcasts on iTunes

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