The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 613 A Big Win Yesterday for Small Government

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

Why isn’t Trump ordering the release of the FISA court warrants?   Read this complete takedown of silly liberal economics.     Did “Climate Change” start the California fires?   Why Netflix was noticeably quieter about Net Neutrality this time around. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14/netflix-is-less-noisy-defender-of-net-neutrality-as-vote-arrives   More solid economic news. https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-retail-sales-surge-weekly-jobless-claims-fall-144724544.html   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the kitchen to the laundry room, your home deserves the best. Give it the upgrade it deserves at Best Buy's Ultimate Appliance Event. Save up to $1,000 on two or more major appliances. Shop now, in-store, or online at BestBuy.ca. Exclusions apply. The Dan Bongino Show. Get ready to hear the truth about America with your your host dan bongino welcome to the dan bongino show producer joe how are you today i'm ready to rock and roll brother yeah so yesterday

i told you i had uh you know 10 162 things to talk about we got to about three or four of them but yesterday's show uh rocked and rolled pretty good um thanks to you and thanks for all the feedback and i think we explained on yesterday's show what's potentially only the biggest scandal of our generation, which is basically was the apparatus of government used to target a presidential candidate. And I think we laid out pretty specifically what was going on. Hey, one more quick thing on this. All right. I know, I know. I get it. I get it. I listen to listener feedback, a lot of it positive, but I know a couple of you are getting tired of this story arc. Kind of like people who watch The Walking Dead

are getting tired of the Negan story arc, too. Just kill the guy already! Get it over with! All right? Finally! Get him out of the picture. But one more thing with regards to yesterday. The overarching premise of yesterday's show was that there may be an operation

going on within the government right now. Matter of fact, there is. It's just the only question on yesterday's show was the there may be an operation going on within the government right now. Matter of fact, there is. It's just the only question on yesterday's show was the depth of it, Joe, to weed out people in Congress and elsewhere who are leaking information to the press to hurt the president. And I laid out in yesterday's show why that is. But one more thing I failed to mention as to why I think the Department of Justice, Sessions, the DNI, Dan Coats, they've already admitted there's something going on, by the way, as I said yesterday. right now is why hasn't president donald trump just ordered the affidavit for the fisa warrant to spy on him and his people be released correct you may say he can't do that oh no he can no trust me he absolutely can and i will put an article about that in the show notes today at bongino.com or if you're on my email list i will email it right to you so you can subscribe to my website folks the fisa warrant i've said to you repeatedly joe's

probably tired of hearing it too the biggest question of our time right now is was the fake trump dossier used in an affidavit brought to a fisa court in other words look we have this information about trump what he did in russia which was all fake and paid for by the democrats was that used to obtain a warrant to spy on trump's team that is the most important question have this information about Trump, what he did in Russia, which was all fake and paid for by the Democrats. Was that used to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump's team? That is the most important question of our time, because it would mean this. It would mean the FBI and the Department of Justice during a presidential campaign was effectively hijacked by the DNC and Hillary. How does it mean anything else, Joe?

Yeah. How? They would have paid for the dossier, the fake information, they gave money, made it to Russian intel people to provide fake intelligence on Trump. That fake intelligence comes into the United States in the form of a dossier,

finds it into the hands of Senator McCain and others, into the hands of the FBI. The critical question everybody wants to know is was that information presented to a foreign intelligence surveillance court to then spy on trump think about what that would mean that would mean the russians provided fake intelligence that made it into a united states court joe to spy on a presidential candidate and the question everybody's asking and we've only

been asking on this show for what joe four months now maybe more was the dossier used in the fisa court simple question folks yes or no yes or no nobody wants to answer it you had rod rosenstein wednesday joe up on capitol hill yeah the number two in the department of justice right now, the deputy attorney general, who, due to the Sessions recusal, has authority over all of the Russia investigation. They asked him about this. Do you have the answer to that question, Mr. Rosenstein? He said, I think I do. They said, well, why? And Congressman Ron DeSantis asked him, a Republican, good guy, said, well, why won't you share it?

And he said, well, that's more appropriate in front of the Intelligence Committee. And DeSantis checked him. No, no, no, no, no. Time out. Time out. Red flag under the hood for review. He said, we have jurisdiction over the FBI when it comes to oversight. You can share that right here.

And he wouldn't do it. Now, with that setup, the question now amongst a lot of really smart folks is, why hasn't Trump just told the FBI? They're in the executive branch, right, Joe? Who's in charge of the executive branch? Donald Trump. Yeah, the chief executive. Chief executive. Baby, yeah. Yeah, the chief executive. Chief executive.

Yeah, baby, yeah. He's the chief executive. Just show us the warrant. Was the dossier used? Now, a lot of smart people have said, why isn't he demanding that? This is where I'll wrap it up. This is what I missed on yesterday's show because we

were running out of time and I wanted to get some other stuff. That is additional evidence to me because Trump already knows the answer, Joe. He already has the answer to this question. Now, I think, was it you and I talking about this? Yeah, we were talking about it after the show yesterday, right? Joe and I had an after show show. We should just record. We could have recorded that and done today's show. We spent about five minutes BSing afterwards. And I said, listen, Trump's not known for keeping quiet on Twitter. I mean, really, folks? When Trump feels something or wants to say something, whether it's 3 o'clock in the morning on Twitter

or at a press conference at 12 noon, Trump's damn well going to say it. Why isn't Trump talking about the dossier in the FISA court? The answer is because he already knows what's in it. And he already knows what I think to be the answer. Because if the answer was no, that the dossier wasn't used, they would have already said it. This says to me that the investigation I told you about, where they're feeding false info to members of Congress to get them to leak, to out them as leakers. This is probably part of that as well.

And that is why Trump has been unbelievably quiet about the disgusting potential use of the dossier in an effort to spy on them. Folks, scratching my goatee here, trying to look somewhat intellectual. You know when you look up to the right and you scratch your chin like you're thinking about something that's what i'm doing right now but i really am because it's a very serious moment this is an explosive i i i is explosive even the word i mean this is the woolly mammoth of stories. I mean, this is the Tyrannosaurus Rex of stories. Think about it. Just distill it down to the simple facts as these will be read by historians in a hundred years. An outgoing president potentially used his bureaucrats

and his law enforcement arm and the Bureau and the DOJ to spy on his opposition both before and after he won the election and the information they used to spy on them was provided by Russian intelligence. Dan,

do you remember before he was elected he said he was wiretapped? Oh, and everybody laughed at him. And everybody laughed and he said, well, kind was wiretapped? Oh, and everybody laughed at that. Yeah, and everybody laughed and he said, well, kind of wiretapped, something like that. We're in the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Amtrak, New York media, Carter, Trump, what a moron. Wiretapped, what a jerk. Folks, where's Trump been wrong? Where's he been wrong?

Where has he been wrong? I'm telling you, this is the T-Rex of stories. So I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I know I get it, but it's really, really critically important. I would not be spending so much time on this if I didn't think it had the potential to upend everything the Constitutional Republic stands for. All right. I told you yesterday I get to this Netflix story.

This is great. This is the funniest story I think I've ever heard. Tragically comedic, as most things in politics are. So yesterday, Netflix on a 3-2 vote at the FCC was net neutrality, not Netflix, excuse me, net neutrality was shot down at the FCC on their 3-2 vote. Now there's going to be lawsuits and it's not going to go away. Matter of fact, I think the state of Washington and New York have already filed lawsuits, which is great because if they win, you will have the internet effectively blocked in your state, in Washington and New York, but everywhere else it'll be free. Because net neutrality,

folks, there's nothing neutral about it. Net neutrality, this is all this is. All the wonkery in the world cannot explain away the fact that net neutrality is a government price control leveled on the Internet. That is it. And price controls do the same thing every time. They increase demand. They decrease supply. They decrease quality. And they create black markets.

Every single time. The fact that it's a price control on the Internet means nothing. It won't act any differently than a price control acts anywhere else. If you tell an ISP, an internet service provider, by government edict, what they can and cannot charge the company is not based on the market, Joe. In other words, not based on what the product is worth, but what the government says it's worth, you will always get those four things. Why? Very simple. I can't use this example enough because liberals seem to have a hard time with basic math and basic economics.

If you were to put a price control on Corvettes and the government said, everybody should get a Corvette, why don't only the rich people get them? Rich people, Corvettes, everybody needs one. We are going to mandate that the Corvette is to cost $30,000 no more. Joe's a car guy, so am I. There would be a rush to Chevy dealers tomorrow to go buy Corvettes because they're not worth $30,000. They're worth $70,000, if not more. Joe's like, it's $30,000 for a Vette?

Yeah, baby, yeah. I'm there tomorrow. Right? Yeah, baby. You're like, how do I get one now? Yeah. Joe, who previously I know, I don't have that, I bought my Raptor, so I shouldn't say that, but I don't

have that money now. I know Joe. Joe doesn't have 70 grand lying around, either do I. We are not in the market right now for a Corvette because we can't afford it. Pretty simple stuff. But if the government says it's going to cost 30, Joe and I pretty much find a way to get the money. What a deal. 30,000. It's the same thing if the government says it's going to cost $30,000, Joe and I pretty much find a way to get the money. What a deal, $30,000.

It's the same thing when the government is regulating prices on the internet. That's what net neutrality is. What else did you think it was? What's going to happen with Corvettes? So there's your increased demand, right, when a Corvette's $30,000. Everybody wants one because it's not $30,000. It's an artificial price. It's really $70,000.

Secondly, you're going to get decreased supply of Corvettes because the obvious reason, Chevy's not going to produce a Corvette to sell at $30,000. It costs them $60,000 to produce. They're not going to lose $30,000 per car. Joe, I promise you, liberals are scratching their heads listening to my show today. They're like, wait, hold on.

We need a sound effect for me scratching my head. Here it is. I don't know if you can hear that. That's me scratching the hair I have left on the top of my head. Huh? What do you mean? The government can't mandate prices? But the government owes everything.

They're so smart. Yeah, they're geniuses. The government couldn't even get an Obamacare website up. But yes, they're going to build Corvettes, right? So of course you're going to get decreased supply because Chevy's going to stop producing the Corvette because they're not going to go out of business and lose money on it. The same thing that's happening right now, by the way,

with broadband and investment by internet service providers who have decreased dramatically, Joe, the expansion of broadband ironically into poor communities. Why? Because they can't make any money on it. Liberals, how tough is this? How tough is this for you to understand? How tough? How tough is this how tough is this for you to understand how tough

how tough is this is this that hard my gosh finally you get black markets because people sell stuff on the side may not happen with the internet doesn't matter in some way it will and you get quality problems because what's going to happen the broadband are going to build out joe is going to be super cheap crappy broadband because they can't make any money on it. Just like the Corvette you get, which is going to be sold on the black market for people who have them. They're going to say, well, 30K, I'll go buy one for 30K, Joe. Think about this, Joe. If you and I could get our hands on brand new Corvettes for 30,000, wouldn't you turn around tomorrow and sell one off the books for like 70? Make a fortune, right? Yeah, man. Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, baby. Yeah. Of course you would. You know what? I just figured out, by the way. But finally, you'll get quality problems because if they're forced by the government, Chevy, to continue to build Corvettes at $30,000, they'll be the crappiest Corvettes ever. So then you're going to get internet quality problems as well with net neutrality, which

is ironic because that's what the liberals who believe in net neutrality will tell you they're fighting. People are going to slow down our internet. You're not going to have any internet. The broadband companies aren't going to produce it. What are you talking about, you nutbags? I was just thinking of something. Did you ever see that movie, Couples Retreat? I don't get to go to the movies anymore because I'm like boycotting most of Hollywood, but it's a really funny movie. And it's about these couples. They go to retreat to try to find,

you know, the love back to spark. It's a comedy in their marriage. And there's this yoga instructor who's always flirting with one of the wives. And he's so funny. He's that's where I get that from. He's always going. Yeah,

baby. That's like the way you do the radio guy sound effect. If you watch the movie now and you see it, the guy, he's this yoga guy. He's got the long hair and he's jacked and everything. You're going to laugh every time you're going to think of the Dan Bongino show. Every time they tell him something, he goes, yeah, yeah, baby. That's where I get that from. It's just throwing that out there.

But all right. Getting back to the content portion of the show, having set up what net neutrality is, and those are inescapable facts. It is a government price control on the internet that is already failing, even though it's only been in effect for, gosh, a year and a half. Here's the great irony of so-called net neutrality. The original starting point the genesis of the entire liberal

you know uh some basically some republicans too sadly net neutrality fight show the genesis of it was netflix was oh look we have netflix we got netflix is great but we can't have these internet service providers slowing down our netflix oh my gosh, I want to watch whatever, a couple's retreat on Netflix. May not even be on it, who knows. I can't have them slowing down my stuff. So the government's going to come in and fix this. Oh yeah, like they fixed healthcare and student loans and the economy. Yeah, government, they're always going to fix it, which is laughable in and of itself.

But Netflix, the genesis of this was problems Netflix alleged to have had. That, oh, look, these broadband providers are slowing down our content. The government better fix this. A bit is a bit is a bit. In other words, you're going to treat the internet equally. Now, as we said in the show the other day,

whenever the government treats, mandates that everybody have the same outcome, people have to be treated unequally. So people who don't use the internet are then going to subsidize people who watch Netflix 24 hours a day. But that aside for a second, this is funny. This is from the Wall Street Journal yesterday. This is a quote. I'm not making this up, folks. This is a quote from a Wall Street Journal piece about Netflix who started this whole thing or people started on their behalf, but they contributed too.

They were big proponents of net neutrality. Here's the quote. Netflix, after serving as the standard bearer for the FCC's stronger rules to protect web companies from unfair treatment by carriers, Joe, says it is less at risk now that it is big enough to strike favorable deals with telecom companies. Wait, wait, wait. What? Come again?

Oh, it goes on. The company did just that, reaching several deals in recent years to pay broadband providers for ample bandwidth into their network. What? Play him again. What? Wait. Wait. What? ample bandwidth into their network what play him again what wait wait what so let me get this straight the entire liberal argument that the government despite an open lightly regulated internet for decades which had almost no significant catastrophic problems at all, unlike every other area of the economy.

The internet's been going swimmingly. Netflix comes out there, makes this big argument that people are watching our movies and their movies are being slowed down. Now we got to fix this. The government's got to regulate. Oh, the government, get them in here. They're going to fix everything. After all this hullabaloo, after this nonsense after slowing down broadband investment after going after zero

rating in other words companies that were going to give away the internet for free and that's who the obama administration attacked under net neutrality after all of this netflix is now joe walking away from this because it is quote less at risk because it is now big enough to strike favorable deals with telecom companies on its own. What the heck? Do you understand? That is the very definition of Joe. You ready for this? This is what we call this.

Get ready. This is mind-blowing to liberals. Let's call the free market. The free market. So what you're basically saying is the free market, Netflix grew so big, despite its allegations that they were being throttled, and this was a major catastrophe

that the government, Joe, needed to get involved in. The government needed to shut everything down. Price controls everywhere. The government's to shut everything down. Price controls everywhere. The government's going to fix it. Despite this entire argument, Netflix now says, oh, you know what, by the way, we don't really need that anymore because we've grown so big and we have so much money that we, quote, reached several deals in recent years to pay the broadband providers for the bandwidth we're actually using. Oh my gosh, we need a ditto cam in here. Folks, I'm not an actor, okay? I don't ham it up for the cameras, but we need video. My reaction alone today is priceless. This is every morning I wake up and I'm like, gosh, what liberal stupid soup am I going to have to drink today?

The entire argument for the government control of the Internet under net neutrality was Netflix, who is now saying, thanks to the free market, we don't need the government anymore. Sorry for the blank storm. We fed down America's throat for the blank storm we we fed down america's throat for the last few years yeah tgif brother really i mean seriously i love this show i'd love to download my brain onto this re20 microphone but gosh sometimes on the weekend i'm like i have to escape the stupid it is like the gravitational pull of liberal stupid is so strong it sucks even ordinarily common sense people into the vortex of stupid play that again donnie what are you gonna do as donnie brasco says what are you gonna do folks uh i i I have one more thing to add to this.

But seriously, a very simple question on a very serious note I'm trying here. To our liberal buddies, to our liberal friends out there, your entire argument was just thrown out the window by a company who attributes the success of its new business model to the free market despite advocating for socialist heavy government interference in the internet. And yet you keep going. You look at all the bots on Twitter. If you don't believe me, just put the hashtag net neutrality on Twitter and look at the psychos and the bots on Twitter swearing the government was going to fix an internet that wasn't broken.

It's seriously, it's totally psychotic. It's insane. It's like Scarecrow from the Batman movies. It's new loony to us. He sprayed that dust in people's faces and they're losing their minds. All right. Here's another point from the journal piece that's hysterical. I mean, seriously, you got to laugh about it. Since 2015, Joe, when these net neutrality rules, you know, the government was going to level the play. If you're a bit is a bit. Yeah. They were going to level the play. If you're going to die, if we don't have it, death.

Death is around the corner forever. You're going to die. If we don't get the government involved in the internet. It was such a catastrophic situation because Netflix movies were allegedly slowed down that they instituted these 2015 rules. So Joe, according to Libby's out there, our liberal friends, this was a catastrophe.

Joe. Yes. I'm going to, this is not a trick question. All right. So since 2015, when the FCC instituted so-called net neutrality and solved, the government solved this major catastrophe on the internet of traffic not being treated fairly,

how many major companies do you think filed complaints with the FCC about violations of net neutrality? Take a stab at it, Joe. Zero. Oh, it's not even fun quizzing you anymore. It's not even fun because you already know the answer. The answer is a big fat donut. Zero.

As in the absence of value. Nothing. No companies. No major company has filed a complaint. None. Zero. none zero yeah well you know that's just like uh your opinion man zero zero zero there are no so folks the fog of stupid it's like the stupid mist. You ever see that movie, The Mist, where the Stephen King movie,

the mist comes over the town and all these crazy prehistoric creatures start eating people. There are like these spiders that are like seven feet tall and they're eating and chewing on people. This is the stupid mist. The stupid mist is overtaking the entire United States. Thank God conservatives have gas masks on. This is the stupid mist. The stupid mist is overtaking the entire United States. Thank God conservatives have gas masks on. This is it. There have been zero companies that have filed a complaint to solve this major catastrophe that was happening across the Internet. You would have thought if the liberals had an ounce of common sense that when they passed this, that they'd be able to say, look, we're going to solve your problems now.

Hundreds of companies are going to come forward and go, look, I was throttled. My traffic was slowed down. Oh my gosh, a bit is a bit. Treat my bit like your bits. That could go anywhere, by the way, given the current climate out there. But I'm talking about actual internet bits, not your bits. Get your mind out of the gutter.

And zero, zero. The stupid mist. The stupid mist is everywhere no companies have filed anything oh man gosh somebody get me a valium i'm just kidding i don't take drugs i may have to start i may have to start. I may have to start. Oh, gosh. All right. Today's show brought to you by our buddies at Brickhouse Nutrition. That God for Brickhouse. Seriously, they do keep me sane. I have to keep my mind and my body healthy, despite the fact that I'm shrinking like crazy because I can't go to the gym because my stem cells were injected and my joints are hopefully regrowing right now. But I got three more weeks and I'm going nuts. But I'll tell you what's keeping me sane. I've

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it. Everybody knows it. Go give it a shot. Brickhousenutrition.com slash Dan. That's brickhousenutrition.com slash Dan. Check it out, please. It's really, really good stuff. All right. Another story I saw yesterday yesterday i may have put this in yesterday's show notes i may have to put it in today's too so always available as always at bungie.com but jerry brown uh moonbeam the liberal governor of california listen they're going to go a very serious crisis right now and i don't mean in any way please don't take this the wrong way i love california the people that wonderful. I go there all the time. I wish their leaders were not so loony, but the people there are great. I go to this place and whenever we go out to

Beverly Hills, that's where the doctor is. That's why I'm not like a Beverly Hills guy, but there's a really cool diner there. Me and my wife eat breakfast at that has these SIE bowls that are just amazing. And the people are always fantastic. They're always so nice to talk to. And everybody's in a good mood in California, which I love. So I don't mean to make light of the situation, but the fires out there are really serious, Joe. I mean, people out in Bel Air and other neighbors have had their houses burned to the ground.

It doesn't matter if you're rich. Fire burns a mansion as well as it burns a pile of garbage in the middle of the street. mansion as well as it burns uh you know a pile of garbage in the middle of the street but it was interesting that the left and jerry brown jumping in with the left decided to attribute this to climate change i was like oh uh here we go here we go yeah i uh again here we go the effort to politicize everything because my narrative man narrative, man, the narrative. It's always about the narrative. Now, I have a piece from Legal Insurrection, which I love that most of you know, I talk about it all the time, a really great email list, William Jacobson runs it. And it quotes actual scientists, Joe, unlike Jerry Brown, who say, well, that's really not due to climate change. And ironically, one portion of the piece, which goes to show you that the liberals don't only lie to you, but they misdirect from their own problems.

What started one of these devastating fires in a Bel Air neighborhood, Joe, was a cooking fire at a homeless encampment. Now, you may say, well, Dan, where are you going with this? Where am I going with this? Folks, California has the largest population of homeless people of any state right now in the country. Now, granted, it's also the largest. So, I mean, it's not truly, but unlike the left, I'll be honest with you, it's not an apples to apples. But even percentage-wise, based on the populations, it's extraordinarily high. Now, I'm not going to,

and this would be a loose connection at best, but it's not an untrue one. The reason California has such a high cost of housing is because liberals and some misguided Republicans absolutely love super restrictive zoning laws. You can't build here. You can't build there. NIMBY.

You know what NIMBY is, right? Not in my backyard. You're not going to build that. You're not going to build that. There's a reason Texas, the cost of housing in Texas, which has relatively light zoning internet, when you restrict the supply of anything due to government, whether it's the internet, whether it's housing, whether it's a doctor's services, and you say, no, we're going to put these obstacles in front of you before you can supply housing, which, Joe, makes it what? More expensive, right? Yeah. Which makes people say, well, I would do it at this price, Joe, but I'm not going to do it

at that price. You see where I'm going with this? I'll build a house in a neighborhood that needs more housing if I'm a builder. I'll build that for $300,000 because I can make money off it. But when the government puts 500 regulations in front of you and it costs you 100,000 regulations, I'm not going to build it for 400,000. So what do you do? You just don't build housing, which leads to what? A housing shortage, which leads to what? Increased prices for the houses you have now, which leads to what? More people not being able to afford houses, which leads to what? Homeless encampments, even in rich neighborhoods like Bel Air. Now, I'm not going to do the irresponsible thing and do what Jerry Brown did. Climate change. Liberals did it. Liberals didn't

do it. They didn't set the fire. But there's absolutely no question, Joe, that there is certainly a correlation between high zoning, liberal governance, excessive home prices, and the growth of homeless encampments in places

where people can't afford housing. None of this is mysterious. So again, I just find it odd. I'll wrap it up. I don't want to beat a dead horse on this. But I just find it a bit odd that the liberal instinct to jump to a false, fake, phony, fraudulent, spurious narrative of climate change is not only wrong and the actual narrative actually has a is birthed more in a place that indicts liberals not conservative politics the fire was started

in a homeless encampment where people were cooking outside because people can't afford housing man are they frustrating these lips all right i got a doozy coming up next, so don't go anywhere, this story, because I got this from on very good authority, and I'm, I think this, I may have said something yesterday, and it may have been on the level,

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It means a lot. They do have great customer service, by the way. All right, Joe, here's a little bombshell for you on the show, right? So a friend said, emailed, tweeted, kind of, trying not to give up exactly where anyone would look but sent me something yesterday and they said a bombshell story is about to drop and the bombshell story is it's not my story um i i but the source is credible that there are up to 20 members of congress that are absolutely uh i was gonna to say something different. They're doing things,

they're sweating. Let's just say, I was going to say something else, but I know some kids listen to the show, so I'm going to avoid that. They're sweating in their offices right now. They've been noticeably absent from the media, some of them. They're sitting in their offices. Here's the head scratch, Joe. They're scratching their head like, am i gonna do max i'm in a lot of trouble and the answer is well why well supposedly this sexual harassment lawsuit fund remember that story oh yeah apparently the washington post from what i've got from the source the washington post has names show and it ain't good, I bring this up because I read a story yesterday in The Hill that Paul Ryan was considering the Speaker

of the House right now from Wisconsin. The Republican was thinking, most of you know who he is, was thinking about leaving. Now, I've got from another good source that that's not true, but we'll see. It was reported yesterday, and one of the reasons I heard that's the case is because he's not, I didn't hear anything, I'm going is because he's not I didn't hear anything I'm

going to be crystal clear and hear anything about him being involved in the sexual harassment folks I want to be I shouldn't I'm not even alluding to that he doesn't want to deal with the fallout from basically everybody else's show you know what I'm saying their turd show he doesn't want to deal with it so I don't know when this story is going to break, but I'm just telling you, 20 members of Congress, that's a big number, folks. That's a huge number. There are only 435 members. We've already seen three. What is it?

Trent Franks, Blake Farenthold, and who's the other guy? Conyers. You get 20 more, got to step aside? You don't even need term limits at that point. You've had term limits have been enforced upon you. Oh, boy. Yeah. That's an ugly one.

But pay attention. We'll see. If I hear anything on it, I'll get it out there. All right. Here's the last story of the day. This is a doozy. So I was reading a piece in the Washington Examiner. Please, please read this. I'll put it at the show notes at Bongino.com. Again, always available on

my email list. But this guy, I think his name is Tim Warstall. I'm probably saying it wrong, but he writes at the Washington Examiner and he's great because I love economics and it's just a total takedown of a guy I've really grown to not dislike personally i don't know but his writing is just absurd he's worse than paul krugman the guy robert reich robert reich is a far you know we've we've debunked this guy's nonsense before joe you've heard the name but he's a far leftist he seems to think socialism is wonderful and things like that and he you know he speaks as an authority on economics despite having almost no knowledge about how actual economics works. So Warstall does this takedown in the Washington Examiner. And the takedown is because Rice is now speaking out against the tax plan. Now, we've done a lot of shows on the tax plan. I'm not

going to relitigate the tax plan here. But I want to just make a couple of quick points that he makes in the piece, because you're going to hear these from other liberals, too. The first point Rice makes while trying to attack tax cuts joe is he says and this is a quote from warstall's piece he says but he talking about rice does try to tell us about the economy and that's a problem he says foreigners own some 35 percent of united states stocks therefore cutting corporate taxes is cutting taxes on foreigners. Wow, Joe. Jeez.

Robert Reich. Gosh, you're onto something. We're cutting taxes on foreigners because they own 35% of US stocks? Ooh, that sounds bad. Well, Warstall continues. He says, well, yes, that's the point of the tax cut. He also contrasts this with other places which do it better. What, like the UK, where 52% of stock is foreign-owned, or Germany with 57%?

Let me get this straight. Again, waking up in the morning, what liberal stupid are we going to have to combat today? Rice is complaining because the dreaded foreigners joe i'm being sarcastic folks i'm not a xenophobe these are these maniacs on the left the far the foreigners are coming that's it they're coming joe The foreigners are coming. That's it.

They're coming, Joe. Terry, I know you're worried. They're buying up 35% of the stocks. And he compares it. He goes, we need to be more like the Europeans. What? Like the UK where foreigners own 52% or Germany where they own 57% of the stock. Okay. So you just entirely rebuked, rebutted your own point.

But not to mention, folks, that's the point. The whole point of a corporate tax cut in the United States, Joe, is to make the United States a competitive destination for both business here and for foreign capital. What are you saying look foreigners are investing in the united states this is awful oh my gosh what are we gonna do and if we cut the corporate tax rate joe even more foreigners will give us money oh my gosh Dan, on top of that, it sounds damn racist to me. Of course it's racist.

And you hate women, too. And puppies. And you're definitely Islamophobic. A hundred percent. Of course it's a brilliant point, Joe. Of course you're a racist there. I have to be, too, even bringing this up. Yeah. I mean, folks, first he makes a point where he contrasts us with european countries

actually according to his own standards are worse and he's missing the point entirely the whole point of having a competitive economy is to get people to give us money that's the point oh my gosh is this guy dopey? Oh, boy. Point number two. He says, let me get to this here. Oh, I'll get to that part in a second. There's another doozy in here. But Rice makes the point that and the power of these evil corporations, Joe, that are going to get a tax cut.

Oh, my gosh. Not to make the employee all of us, but let's forget about that for a second. Oh, my gosh. Not to make them employ all of us, but forget about that for a second. He says the power is overwhelming, and we need stronger unions because the workers need to be empowered. And why do they need to be empowered? Because look how great they have it in Europe, Joe. And you know what they have in Europe?

Health care. And it's free. Yeah. And not only is it free, they get five-week vacation and generous unemployment, and it's's free. Yeah. And not only is it free, they get five weeks vacation and generous unemployment. And it's all free. Yeah, baby. Yeah. Everything's free.

Now, Warstall in the piece clearly like, well, he doesn't say this. I should. He says it more diplomatically. Let me just get to the point. If you believe that i'm sorry folks i have a bridge over the saint lucie river down the road it's super cheap right now cut me a check for a buck i'll sell it to you no problem at all you have to be you have to what is the average iq 110 like you have to have an iq of probably less than 30 to believe that that's true it's free so

everybody's working for free in Europe. The doctors with the free healthcare, the employers are now working for free too, by giving you unemployment insurance that lasts forever. Colleges are free. Nobody's working for any money in colleges. The professors are volunteering their services. Folks,

this is idiotic. It's silly. Now I don't bring this up to double down on stupid. I bring this up because it segues nicely into the point Rice is trying to make next. The point he's trying to make next is that this is a tax cut, this corporate tax cut for the rich. Get them. Get those rich and those foreigners. Get them.

This is the left talking, folks. I'm not kidding. Get those foreigners. Get them. This is the left talking, folks. I'm not kidding. Get those foreigners. Go get those rich people. The stake. Burn them at the stake. This is like the Salem witch trials for rich people. This is the Salem rich trials.

That's what this is. The Salem rich trials are going on. Go get them. Go get them. Go get those rich. So he makes the point next that, and this is going to be a benefit for the rich. And we have a severely, severely regressive tax code in the United States. In other words, the middle class is getting screwed and the rich pay nothing, despite the fact that that's not true. It's not true. It's all made up. So interestingly enough, here's a quote from the piece by Warstall. The American federal tax system is more progressive. Yes, folks, that means rich people pay more. Okay. The American federal tax system is more progressive. Yes, more than that of European countries.

By the way, folks, I'm not telling you this is a good idea. I'm just telling you this is how dumb the left is. The European tax systems are more regressive than the American one. The big difference is in the sales tax, or more accurately, the VAT, the value-added tax. Governments at all levels in the United States, Joe collect about 26 of gdp or 26 of all economic activity the european systems collect from 35 to 45 that's why european governments can pay for things like health care because they collect more in taxes folks the government and the governments in europe are getting this money this voluminous amount of money from middle class wallets due to a vat tax the vat tax is a essentially a sales tax based on the difference between the end sale price of your product and the value you added,

here's the bottom line. It's a tax at every level almost of consumption. Consumption taxes, in other words, sales taxes when you buy stuff, are always going to impact the middle class more than the rich. The Europeans have this consumption tax. We don't. Basically, the Europeans are sucking your wallet dry to pay for free health care and free unemployment insurance and free college they're sucking you dry and yet rice is saying oh no the american tax system the rich are getting off nonsense the only people paying this significant

portion of the tax load in the united states are rich people that's the problem for the left not for us joe that's the problem because why is it a problem for the left because the middle class has all the money because they're not taxed enough in the united states to pay for the left's ridiculous free. Folks, when you have a consumption tax, these built-in VAT taxes, like they do in Europe, what portion, a simple way to analogize this to make it make sense. The European middle class, let's say they spend 5,000 a year on food. That's probably a low estimate, but you get it. 5,000 on food, 5,000 on gas and car expenses, and another 5,000 on

housing. I'm just making these numbers up. So that's 15,000 total. You following, Joe? Yeah. So they spend 15K, Mr. European middle-class guy, 15,000 a year. All right. If that European $15,000 a year spender on consumption goods, year spender on consumption goods. If he's paying that VAT and he makes $50,000 a year,

that's 7.5% of his income, right? Pretty simple, man. If he was making $100,000, $15,000 would be 15%. He makes 50, half of that is 7.5. Not difficult. We don't need Jay Zabacus for this one. Nope. Okay. Joe, if the same rich dude

who shops in the same supermarket because he's got to eat and fills up with the same gas and pays a little bit more for housing so let's say he pays 50 000 a year right let's say this rich guy's salary a 50 000 a year is 10 million dollars okay50,000 a year, the percentage of his income at $2 million is dramatically lower than the 7.5% of your total income that the middle class guy is paying for the same stuff. Hmm. Do you get the point when you tax that stuff? So when you tax said stuff, Joe, you were percentage wise, not nominal, stuff, Joe, you were percentage-wise, not nominal, but percentage-wise, you were hurting middle-class people because they consume

more as a percentage of their income than rich people do. That's the point. That's how the Europeans... Does that make sense, Joe? Yeah. Rich people and middle-class people both eat, they both house themselves, and they all have cars. But the percentage of their income spent on that stuff for middle class people is far more so when you tax that

stuff using a vat you suck middle class while it's dry that's how the europeans by sucking middle class while it's dry pay for free health care and yet rice continues to insist that somehow rich people aren't paying enough in the United States, despite the fact that if he wanted to institute the very system he's espousing, free health care, it's not the rich people that are going to pay more. It's you. You're going to get screwed. But again, don't let liberal fairy tales ever get in the way of the truth, folks. That was a fun show. I had a good time.

Thank you again for a great week, folks. I really enjoyed doing this. You all mean a lot to me on a very serious note. So thanks again for tuning in. Please go to Bongino.com. Subscribe to my email list. I'll send you these articles. And I will see you all on Monday.

Take it easy. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show. Get more of Dan online anytime at conservativereview.com. I'll see you all on Monday. Take it easy. 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 or SoundCloud. And follow Dan on Twitter 24-7 at DBongino.