The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 616 The Most Disturbing Article Ive Read This Year

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

This is the most disturbing article I’ve read in a long time about the destructive effects of liberalism on the citizens of inner cities. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/12/heres_the_proof_democrat_policies_fail.html   Yes, if you are middle class, it is highly likely that you are getting a substantial tax cut. This handy chart should help.  http://click.heritage.org/u6r000TH5e0s0q03lQIMTX0   A great piece about Trump’s response when one of his judicial nominees was scuttled. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-unlikely-opportunity-matthew-petersen-gave-trump/article/2643859   Economic optimism is exploding. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/economic-optimism-soaring-helping-trump-cnbc-survey.html   The truth about the Obamacare mandate repeal is driving Democrats mad.  http://dailysignal.com/2017/12/18/who-wouldnt-have-coverage-if-the-obamacare-mandate-is-repealed/ Learn more about your ad choices.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 man i'm doing well ready to roll thanks yeah hey thanks

for the feedback by the way and yesterday's show and thank you to the lady who sent me the email who said hey you and joe aren't awkward we know we're not we just got we're just two weirdos who are doing a podcast and it's just we're not awkward at all it may sound it but we're just two weirdos who are doing a podcast. And it's just, we're not awkward at all. It may sound it, but we're just two weird guys doing a podcast. I'm sorry. Folks, just on a personal note, I'm getting a lot of questions again about the stem cell thing. So I'm progressing great. I have my stem cells injected in my joints. My shoulder is finally starting to heal, my right shoulder.

Thank God. And I'm not using his name in vain. I pray about it every night. But there's this weird thing that happened to me,e and i i got a lot to get to so i'm i'm i'm hesitant to even talk about this stuff because it's such a busy news day but i have a feeling a lot of people be interested in this i wake up this morning right and i i promise you i am not a vain guy everybody's a little vain, but I promise. I am like the most un-aesthetic guy. I don't care about any of that crap. I really don't.

I care about jujitsu, weightlifting, and guns. That's my thing. But I wake up this morning, and because I'm down in Florida, and I spend an inordinate amount of time in the sun, because it's really good for me. It makes me feel better. I have really deep wrinkles in my forehead, and especially from lifting, where I make that face joke, and I'm always squ wrinkles in my forehead and especially from lifting where I make

that face joke and I'm always squinching my face together, right? Yes. So my wife always said, you got to stop doing that. You have these really like deep furrow lines in your forehead, right? And I'm like, whatever. I don't care. It doesn't bother me. When I Botox, I really couldn't care less. I wake up this morning and I'm telling you like, there's this big wrinkle in my forehead that's almost completely gone. I'm like, what is going on? And I think I'm telling you, like, there's this big wrinkle in my forehead that's almost completely gone. I'm like, what is going on? And I think I'm not a doctor, folks. I'm not.

Don't take my medical advice. But I swear I have been taking boatloads of collagen, the supplement. And right after I did the stem cell injection to help rebuild my joints, because the stem cells may, may rebuild the collagen and the tendons. And I swear it got rid of one of those wrinkles. It's the weirdest thing ever. So if you care about that stuff, go do some research online. I don't know.

I just thought it was crazy. I should have taken a before and after photo. This morning, I was like, what the heck? Yeah, interesting. By the way, thank you to Ron P. for our new sound effects. Joe, you got the yoga instructor guy from Couples Retreat? Here is our new yes sound effect from the yoga instructor from Couples Retreat. Yes! We love that. So we'll be incorporating that into the show. All right. So yesterday's show,

got some emails back, some feedback on it. A couple of thoughts on this tax cut bill. Here's what happened, by the way, for those of you who may have been confused about the process yesterday, understandably so. House voted on it. It was supposed to be the final bill. In other words, it was supposed to be the bill the Senate and the House agreed on. So the way that would work is the Senate votes, the House votes, and it's passed. It's the same bill. Well, what happened? House votes on it yesterday. The tax bill passes it. No problem. Pretty healthy margin. Goes on to the Senate Senate Senate votes on last night passes by a sliver of these 51 48 so passed by basically one vote right but what happened was due to Senate

reconciliation rules about budgeting a couple of the amendments had to be stripped out one of a portion of one of said the Senator Ted Cruz's amendments which I'll get to in a minute which speaks to the sickness in the Democrat Party right now, right? So they had to strip portions of it out. If they had to strip portions of it out, Joe, it is not the same bill then that the House passed, right? Right. So now the House has to vote on it again. They are voting on it this morning. Folks, I don't see any way this thing doesn't pass again. The good news is I'm telling you, folks, and I mean this, I know we have a lot. I wake up in the morning, as I say, often very angry at liberals and very angry at the

direction they've taken our wonderful, incredible country in. But I mean this in a completely non-sarcastic, very serious way. This is a really, really good day to be an American. Listen, we've got our problems. We're still dealing with massive debt, with Obamacare hanging over our head, a health care crisis, a struggling public schools. But you know what? We are finally on the road, at least in our economy, to fixing that portion of the economic

portion, the growth portion of our puzzle right now. And once that gets fixed, Joe, all of these other problems become that much easier to either get rid of or to mitigate the effects from. This is a really good day, folks. Yeah. Now, after my favorite, our Trading Places guy, of course. Now, having said that, the Democrats are freaking out right now. They are legitimately freaking out.

Do you have our, I know we did Bernie yesterday, but do you have the people are going to die ensemble sound effect? People will die. Thousands of Americans will would die people will die that's it people are gonna this is the they are totally freaking out nancy pelosi i'm not making this up folks this is that again that those those are real democrats that was elizabeth warren bernie uh bernie sanders and stuff but um nancy pelosi really said about the bill that it was the worst bill congress has ever passed but that's pretty fascinating considering you know the country's uh scarred history with slavery

and things like that don't work really this is the worst bill the house has ever been i mean do you have any sense of context i mean what an absurd statement now here's why they're freaking out folks a couple of reasons number one economic optimism is exploding folks i know i mentioned this last week and i'm gonna i took a screenshot of an article by cnbc again no bastion of uh you know right-leaning uh nonsense here is um here's an article by cnbc it was in yesterday's show notes economic optimism so soars, boosting Trump's approval rating. Here's the CNBC survey. The All-American Economic Survey polled across 800 adults across the nation. For the first time in at least 11 years, folks, more than half of the respondents to the survey rated the economy as good or excellent.

41% expect the economy to improve in the next year, near a record number. 41% expect the economy to improve in the next year near a record number. 42% of the job Trump is doing as president, up four points from the September survey, while 49% disapprove, down three points. Folks, the Democrats are freaking out because they know this is going to work. Now, I'm not going to go into the depth like I did on yesterday's show about what's going to happen with the corporate income tax cuts and how money is going to come back into the country. You can listen to yesterday's show, but that is what's going to happen. And it ultimately is going to affect your wages and your livelihood, folks. If it weren't, countries around the world would not be clamoring right now to cut their own corporate tax rates. The word on the street is that the Chinese are freaking out right now to cut their own corporate tax rates. The word on the street is that the Chinese are

freaking out right now. So it should tell you something that the Chinese, one of our global competitors, are freaking out and the Democrats, anti-capitalists, are freaking out. You know, I say all the time that when you're doing something that panics your ideological opponents, your political enemies, you're probably doing the right thing. The Chinese are not our friends economically. They are freaking out because they know money is going to flood back into the United States. The Democrats are freaking out because they know that this is going to be further evidence

that capitalism works and their big government policies they followed under eight years of Obama are going to be exposed for the absolute failure they are. Folks, not just the CNBC survey, okay? Here's another one. The New York Fed. Again, these are not like right-wing outlets. These aren't conservative activists hiding in the New York Fed and CNBC. The New York Fed, before the tax cut has even passed, it hasn't even passed yet, folks.

They'll take a final vote in the House today. The president will sign it hopefully this week, which, by the way, will take effect in 2018 if that's the case, Joe. The New York Fed has predicted before the cut even that the fourth quarter growth rates are going to be close to 4%, 3.9%. Ladies and gentlemen, do you understand that's double the economic growth rates under Obama? Double. Now, to be fair, that's the quarter. That's not annually. But, again, to be fair to numbers and statistics, Trump has now had two consecutive quarters of 3% growth.

If you have, Joe, we don't even need Jay Zabacus for this, Joe. You can probably figure this out, right? If you were to ask what the average of these numbers is, I'm not even going to ask you what the specific number is because there's no need to. So let's say he hits four next quarter, Trump. This is before the tax cut they're predicting 4%. And let's say he hits three after that. So you would have four quarters, Joe.

Four quarters of growth. Four quarters. Joe, that is a year, correct? Four quarters. Four quarters is a year. All right. We're good. So we're good.

Once in a while we screw stuff up, but I'm pretty sure four quarters is a year. So now you would have a year, correct? Four quarters? Four quarters is a year. All right, we're good. So we're good. Once in a while, we screw stuff up, but I'm pretty sure four quarters is a year. So now you would have a year. Is there any way, Joe, averaging the four numbers I'm about to give you, is there any way it averages out to less than three? Here are the four numbers. Now, I know you're not a math major, but I know you can figure this out, okay? So 3%, 3%, figure this out. Okay. So 3%, 3% and anticipated 4% and 3%. Is there any way three, three, four, and three can average to below three? Dan, it cannot go below three. It cannot, right? Okay. So listen, I'd have to get ahead of myself here, but I'm just saying that if these numbers are reasonably accurate and he's already hit three and three, that's in the bag. He's at two quarters of 3% growth, Trump. OK, if we hit the four and then we hit the three, Obama never, never, not in any single year of his eight year presidency, hit a three percent GDP growth target.

Never. Not one time. Folks, what would that tell you if in eight years Obama did nothing to hit three percent, our historical average? Not one time did he do it. One year of Trump in office and he already does it back year one. I mean, in some limited circles, again, Joe, they would call that... A clue. A clue. Yes, sir, they would. Now, so they're freaking out over the tax cuts because they absolutely know they're going to work

and they're afraid this is going to impact them in the midterm 2018 elections. In other words, what are they going to say? Not one single Democrat in the House or Senate voted to cut your taxes. Now, you may say to yourself, well, man, I'm sorry, folks. I got a lot to get out today. Please roll me. Do not tune out of this show under any circumstances. It's super important.

I took a screenshot of this to make it super easy. Here we go. Now, the Democrat scare tactic now, and I realize this is working. You know how? My dad, my father's a good dude. He's into politics. Obviously not like me. I mean, this is Joe and I.

It's our business. I mean, Joe's surrounded by this six hours a day between the morning show and this. Immersion, man. Immersion. I mean, no kidding, right? This is what I do. My father's into politics, but he's not into it like me. He called me and he's like, listen, I'm even talking to some of my Republican friends. He lives down in

Cary, North Carolina. And he said, they're like, oh man, this tax cut bill, I don't know. I'm not going to get anything from it. It's not going to benefit me. And my father's like, Dan, can you explain this to me? Like even Joe, even he doesn't get it now. You know what I'm saying? I was right. I mean, a lot of people are confused. Folks, I understand why you and others may be confused. Now, why is that? Because the Democrat media industrial complex is that guy, Rich Lo just calls it. And I'll get to his article in a

minute, the one I teased yesterday. But I love that line, the Democrat Media Industrial Complex. They have said nothing on the news but lies about how this is going to destroy the middle class. This is for the rich. This is for corporations. Folks, we do facts and data. The Democrat Media Industrial Complex does propaganda. They are nothing but the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party. Here are the numbers for those of you who may be confused,

okay? Wasn't it Goodfellas where Joe Pesci's like, we're going to get you unconfused. Maybe, I'm not sure if it was Goodfellas or not, but either way, it was a funny line. The individual tax rates now, folks, now are 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, 35, and 39.6. Those are seven rates, okay? Those are the tax rates now. So, Joe, I'm going to ask you a series of very simple questions here. I expect you can get – I know your capabilities. You can definitely nail this, okay? You're on a roll here. All right, baby.

So, your bracket now for the lowest income tax bracket now is 10%. The bracket after tax reform is going to be 10%. Any difference? No difference, Dan. No difference. Okay. So if you are, now you may say, well, it's right. Look, it's not benefiting me. Hold on. Stand easy. The second income bracket up is now it's 15%. After the tax cut bill passes later today, it will be 12%. Joe, which number is greater, 15 or 12? 15, Dan. 15, Dan. Joe wins again.

So 15 was the old rate. 12 is the new rate. Joe is absolutely correct. 12 is less than 15. So there we go. Okay. The rate before tax reform for the next bracket was 25%. Joe, the rate now after tax reform is 22%. Which is

less? 25% or 22%? Well, it's close. Which is less? 22%, Joe. 22%, Joe! This guy is on a roll. Okay. The next bracket up from that prior to tax reform was 28%. The bracket now is going to be 24%. Joe, which

one's less? 28% or 24%? 24%, Dan. 24%, Dan. We go again. Okay. Bracket after that, 33%. The bracket now after tax reform, 32. Joe, which one's less, 33 or 32? That would be 32, Dan. Oh, is this guy smart or what? Okay. Next bracket was 35 before. By the way, the 35% bracket is for the relatively wealthy folks. So remember, now it's funny. Now we're getting into the territory which is going to impact relatively wealthy folks. It was 35 before, Joe.

It's 35 now. Is there any difference between 35 and 35? None that I can see, Dan. None that Joe can see or anyone else with a functioning brain above an amoeba light single-celled organism level so there is no change there now at the higher level the bracket was 39.6 it is going down to 37 for people above that but for upper middle class folks and relatively wealthy folks given the loss of exemptions they're going to get, it's relatively a scratch for them. For middle class folks, your rates are going down.

Ladies and gentlemen, just look at the numbers. I'm going to put this article again from the Daily Signal. I put it in yesterday's notes. I'll put it again in today's. It is a chart. You can't screw this up. You are getting a tax cut. 80% of Americans who make between $20,000 and $50,000, you are going to getting a tax cut 80 of americans who make between 20 and 50 thousand dollars

you are going to get a tax cut and a substantial one if you now deduct for your standard deduction in other words the money you don't have to pay taxes on no matter what your first twelve thousand seven hundred dollars and you're married you are now going to get a deduction on 24 000 income so not only are you paying lower rates but you get to deduct twice as much money before you pay a diamond tax on it oh man is this frustrating arguing with these people so they're just lying ladies and gentlemen they're lying to you they're just making it up you are going to get a tax cut and they're freaking out joe because they fully understand

that once the withholding tables are changed in other words the amount of money the percentage the government takes from you goes down like joe and i just walked through that in january you're gonna go um i was making a thousand a week now i'm making 1100,000 a week, now I'm making $1,100. Sounds like a good deal to me. They're terrified. Because just like the, if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, Obamacare litany of lies that went out to sell you and propagandize you on the meaningfulness of Obamacare in your life, this, you're not going to benefit from tax reform is the same set of crap. Folks, one more point on this too. The Democrats saying, well, the biggest tax cut goes to

corporations, corporations, 35%. Now they're going to pay 21%. Ladies and gentlemen, no sane economist, I've done shows on this. I did them a week ago, a week prior to that. No sane economist, I've done shows on this, I did them a week ago, a week prior to that. No sane economist would argue to you that a cut in the tax the business you work for pays will benefit you. No one. Yet, because again, we're going to do facts on the show, not propaganda. There is a legitimate argument about what the benefit to the employees of the corporation are. My point, there is no question you are going to benefit from a corporate tax rate cut. None. The only question is how much. Does that make sense, Joe? Yeah. There's a variety

of data. 70% of the tax cut goes to employees, 30, 40%. Some goes to shareholders, pension funds, middle class, wealthy folks who invest in stocks. The point is the benefits go to you and not the government. The only question is how much. So the question you have to ask yourself is, do I want to benefit or does the government want to benefit? Or do I want the government to benefit? That's the only question. The degree of which is open for debate. But there is absolutely no question amongst reasonable sane economists that you are in fact going to benefit.

Now, gosh, I got so much here. This is stacked. Stacked. The most stacked we've ever been for a show. Stacked. Stacked. The most stacked we've ever been for a show. They're also freaking out because the tax bill includes a repeal of the individual mandate.

Now, there's a superb piece in the Daily Signal today. I'm going to put up at the show notes at Bongino.com. Please, please subscribe to my email list. I will send you these articles. It helps me a lot. I say that almost begging you because I want you to read this stuff. It's so good. And I know some of you won't go to the website. So that's cool. Subscribe to my email list at Bongino.com. I will send you this article. Here's the gist of it. The Democrats are now freaking out about the individual mandate under

Obamacare repeal, Joe, that is in the Senate bill. It's going to pass today because you will no longer be forced to buy crap insurance under Obamacare. Now, I don't want to repeat the show I did a couple weeks ago on this or last week or whenever, but they absolutely understand that Obamacare is so unpopular that the minute there is not a government penalty, an IRS penalty for you to buy it, that people are going to exit it in droves. Now, I think, Joe, can you cue up our thousands of people will die again? Because this is important. I'm not kidding, folks.

The Democrats are now putting out there about the individual mandate repeal in the tax plan that people are going to die thousands of americans would die of course of course per thousands will die now here's how this goes here's what they're saying i'm going to walk you through this and the signal does a real the daily signal does a really terrific job but i'm going to walk you through there how, one, always lie to you, always torture statistics, and very rarely make a logical connection that exists. What they do is they take two parallel paths and they pretend they're perpendicular. Okay, let's walk through this. Oh, here we go. I was reading the wrong one. Democrats have accomplished their goal. That's a totally different story.

Obamacare, thousands will die if the individual mandate goes through. Here's the logic they're using. There is a very weak correlation, folks, between healthcare coverage and healthcare outcomes among the poor. Now, someone thanked me this morning for you being the ombudsman, Joe. They said that you always don't understand when they don't understand. So if I lose you, you got to make sure you're back. Yeah. So there is a meaning, a lot of academic sound research, I'm not disputing the research, shows a weak, not a strong correlation, meaning the relationship isn't strong here, but it's there somehow. And remember, folks, a correlation means two variables change at the same time.

It doesn't mean causation right the explanation i always give is people get a lot of colds in the winter that means the variable the number of colds changes with the the drop in temperature that does not mean a drop in temperature causes colds what does it mean it means they change together why do they change together well one of the theories is people produce a lot of mucus in their nose in the winter because the air is dry and therefore touch their nose more and transmit cold viruses to their nose. don't have health insurance and their overall health, their health outcomes, Joe. The Democrats have taken that research, this weak correlation, and made a leap no sane person would the leap they've made is that well if we don't force said poor people to have insurance through obamacare they will not get insurance and therefore joe because there's a weak correlation between insurance and health people are going to die thousands of americans would die

exactly that's the correlation i don't mean to beat that thing to death, but it's just that is the Democrat. Thousands of people every single time. They are actually saying that. So just to be clear, they are taking this correlation, health insurance and health outcomes, amongst the poor folks. I cannot be clear, but this does not apply to middle class or wealthy folks. And I'll explain in a second. So they are saying if you don't force poor people, because you know, Joe, the way the Democrats talk about poor people,

they think if you don't have a lot of money that you're basically too dumb to manage your own life. I'm not kidding. It's disgusting the way they talk about people. They treat minorities the same way. As if the Democrats are not your, if there's not a patriarchal Democrat power structure, you can't figure it out on your own.

You won't get health insurance, therefore you're going to die. Okay. That's the scare tactic. How does this really work? All right. Here's the problem though. The CBO, which I never, ever trust, but even the CBO, because they are so, their stuff is so, it's nonsense. It's garbage. It's almost never accurate. Even the CBO acknowledged in their report on this, Joe, the repeal of the individual mandate, that the people choosing not to buy Obamacare if the individual mandate, in other words, the penalties repealed, now you can buy it or not buy it, you're not going to be penalized, are generally healthy people. What's the problem here, folks?

The problem here is that the data they're using applies only to a poorer population of folks who were generally sicker. Read the report. Of course there's going to be a correlation that if you don't have a lot of money and you're sick, that if you get health insurance, you may go to the doctor doctor that's not the group of people choosing not to buy insurance if the mandate's repealed it's largely middle class healthy folks so the data they're citing

joe has absolutely nothing to do with their conclusion does that make sense yeah perfect they're saying they're connecting apples and oranges. Now, why are the Democrats freaking out? They're freaking out because I'm telling you folks, I don't want to be ridiculous. They don't really want people to die. I mean, I'm not going to say that. That would be unnecessary, ridiculous, and incendiary. They don't.

But what they wouldn't mind is some data backing up their claims, Joe, when the individual mandate is repealed that the population's not as healthy. And they're freaking out because they know this is garbage. They know the data they're using is about poor folks who get Medicaid. They don't have to do anything. They don't have to pay a dime. That goes to show you how bad Obamacare is that they're freaking out that healthy joe i should have put that caveat in the beginning poor people who are sick not necessarily just poor people are the ones who benefit from health care but they're freaking out because they know middle class and lower income people who are generally healthy won't even take a free program

if you don't penalize them for it. Free. Free to them, not free to the taxpayer. You get what I'm saying, Joe? Yeah. The Dems are panicking because they know people are going to run away from Obamacare even though poor folks are getting Medicaid free to them. They don't want it.

And the Democrats are like, wow, this doesn't look good because the sick people will still take care of because the data shows the sick people will take the free insurance. Shocking, Joe, absolutely no one. You're sick and you don't have money, you want insurance. But that healthy people want nothing to do with Obamacare. The Dems are panicking.

Making it even worse. Now, by the way, why would there be a correlation between poor folks who are relatively sick, health insurance, and better health outcomes? But not, this is the critical piece here, but not middle class folks and wealthy folks and their health outcomes and health insurance. Well, Joe, the signal explains, but it's obvious. Well, Joe, the signal explains, but it's obvious. If you come down with some kind of disease that requires hospitalization for seven days and you have no money, you're going to be in trouble. You may go to a substandard hospital.

You may not seek care. You may be afraid of going bankrupt. People who are middle class, upper middle class and wealthy just go to the hospital and pay it. I'm just giving you the economic reality of it. So the point is that even though they don't have health insurance, you see what'm saying joe they have the money to pay the hospital yeah so it surprises no one the poor people who don't have money go get insurance from the government free to them to pay for the hospital this is like wait what this is like only complicated to democrats i know this is a little convoluted but once you understand the nuance of their argument and how they manipulate and torture every single statistic to get you to believe in a nonsense focus group tested liberal talking point everything falls apart for them now making their situation joe

even worse the liberals because again middle class and folks if they don't have health insurance but the here's the let me sum this whole thing up for you. They're hoping for worse health outcomes because then they can say, look what the Republicans did. They didn't force people to buy Obamacare and the nation's not as healthy. There's no evidence of that in the data because middle class folks who don't want to buy Obamacare are just going to pay themselves through HSAs or whatever it may be. They're just going to pay for hospital care themselves. Make sense? They're not going to have worse health outcomes.

And the Democrats, that's why they're freaking out. Because they need something to attack Republicans on next year in the midterms. And they hope to have some data about the declining health of the population after Obamacare's individual mandate is repealed. And they're not going to get it. And they know it. Because poor, sick folks are not going to get it and they know it because poor sick folks are not going to be taken off insurance at all the people leaving are healthy folks who are going

to choose not to take it make sense okay yeah all right cool here's what makes us worse for them even the cbo who i never trust but i'm just telling you what they're saying to show you how bad this is for the democrats because the cs, they're dominated by Keynesian thinking. They always lean left. Even the CBO has acknowledged, Joe, that the individual mandate repeal of Obamacare and the tax bill is going to lead to increased tax revenue for the federal government. What? Yeah, Spider-Man. You got it, brother.

Now, how's that work? This is pretty simple. Those same middle-class healthy folks who don't want to pay for insurance, they don't need it, are going to choose now because they're not penalized for it anymore, Joe. They're free to make the decision

about Obamacare or not. You weren't yesterday. Right. Because there's a penalty for it if you don't buy Obamacare. The thinking at the CBO, again, my opinion, a left-leaning Keynesian organization, is that those same middle-class folks are now going to say to people, hey, and employers and others, hey, can I just trade that health benefit, that $12,000 insurance plan for a higher salary? Tell you what, I don't even need $12,000. I'll take $10,000 in my salary. Now, Joe, this is a key point.

I've discussed this with you before in relationship to you at WCBM. There's a critical difference between you getting a $12,000 benefit in the form of healthcare and a $10,000 benefit in the form of salary. The critical difference is that $12,000 healthcare plan they were forced to give you and you were forced to take isn't taxed.

Now, that means the government doesn't get any money from it. Now, if you don't need that $12,000 healthcare plan because you're middle class and healthy, and now there's no individual mandate, and you take a higher salary instead, even for less money, $10,000, works for the company, right? They get to pay less. Yeah. Right? Works for you.

You get more money. You weren't using the damn healthcare anyway. And ironically, Joe, it even works for the government because your salary, I'm not crazy, Joe, right? Your salary's taxed, right? At CBM, you pay tax? Oh, yes, it is, Dan. Yes, I do, Joe, right? Your salary's taxed, right? At CBM, you pay tax? Oh, yes, it is, Dan.

Yes, I do, Dan. Yes. Your salary's taxed, too. The joke of the whole thing is the CBO's even saying, well, they're not using this exact terminology, but they are using this exact data that employees now aren't going to want this crap Obamacare. They're going to get a higher salary instead, and they're actually going to pay taxes. Company benefits, they pay less money. Employee benefits, he gets more money. Government even benefits because they get to tax that money. Folks, the stupid never ends with liberals.

It never, ever ends. This is a quadruple win. It's not a win-win. It's a win-win-win-win. But again, they'll never tell you any of that. Fascinating, fascinating stuff. That is why they're panicking. So again, just to sum this up, they're freaking out because they know as of January, if this passes, your paycheck's going up and they are going to have absolutely no answer for it. What are they going to say? What are they going to tell you, Joe, when your paycheck goes up? Oh no, that's not happening. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain secondly when the individual mandate goes away today as part of the tax bill people are going to dump this crap obamacare in droves people are going to trade crap obamacare for higher wages those higher wages are going to

transfer into better uh better outcomes for people who choose wages over crap health care people are going to generally be healthier noter, because the poor aren't going anywhere off those plans. And the government's even going to generate more tax revenue. Unbelievable. And the Democrats are in a full-blown panic. All right, folks. Today's show brought to you by our buddies at iTarget Pro. You know we love these guys.

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All right. I spent way, way too much time on that. But that's okay. It's important. All right. Here's story number two. I teased it yesterday by this guy, Rich Logis. Sorry for saying your name wrong, Rich.

But what a great piece. And the American thinker. I'll put it again in the show notes today. You know, you think in America's big cities cities dominated by democrats you think it's time to try something new yeah you know uh if if i may for a minute i try to avoid being too serious because i enjoy my show i enjoy making you laugh um but sometimes it's time to put aside the nonsense and and you know get really serious about things that really impact people's lives on a daily basis i think as spiritual creatures Most of us are just as good people. I mean, listen, I'm not an atheist, but if you are,

do the right thing anyway. Having run for office in Maryland, which has a significant minority population, and Baltimore is obviously one of its bigger cities, I used to drive through there a lot. I used to drive through there when I used to guest host at WBAL, a radio station up there. And I would drive through the city and I used to think to myself, you'd see people out on the porch. Sometimes you'd see open air drug dealing. Sometimes you'd see fights breaking out. You'd see a lot of homelessness. You'd see a lot of people in the street, clearly intoxicated, whether it's alcohol, drugs, whatever it may be. And I couldn't help but think to myself, why here? What is going on here in this specific place that makes this specific place different? And outside of the

politics of it, folks, I could not come up with one reasonable answer. Now, being a believer in the power of Jesus Christ, he does not make people different. Yeah, we're phenotypically and our genes are different, but I don't believe that people are, God doesn't make mistakes, I guess is what I'm getting at. The people in these neighborhoods are good folks. They were born good. Something happened there. Now, Lodges' piece is short and sweet

and the American thinker, but I've got to tell you, I've never seen this data before. The data he puts in the piece about the utter, complete, abject, absolute failure of Democrats to do anything positive in the areas they have monopolistically run for decades is one of the most troubling, profound stories I can ever cover on this show. Now, before I even get to the data, let me just tell you, this is from his piece. It's all in there. Be at the show notes. This is from his piece. Here are five long-time Democrat empires. All days are consecutive and uninterrupted you'll see what i mean in a second joe st louis only democrat mayors 90 of the democrat city council consecutive and uninterrupted days of this 15 000 baltimore which i know is a topic sensitive to joe's heart as well, being a Marylander. Only Democrat mayors and only Democrat city council.

18,000 days. Number three, Philadelphia. Only Democrat mayors. 90% Democrat city council. 20,000 consecutive uninterrupted days. Detroit, only Democrat mayors, 90% Democrat city council, 22,000 consecutive uninterrupted days.

And the great Democrat beacon on the hill, Chicago, only Democrat mayors, 90% Democrat city council, 30,000 days. Straight. Uninterrupted. Folks. These are our friends. I mean that. This isn't a Pollyanna show.

I didn't BS you. Pump a bunch of crap into your head. These are our neighbors. I mean that. Listen, this is a Pollyanna show. I didn't BS you, pump a bunch of crap into your head. These are our neighbors. These are citizens. This is the United States of America. The people who live in these cities that are being decimated, and I haven't even gotten to the numbers. I'm going to get to that in a second. These are our people.

They are being their lives, their futures, their pasts are being wiped out. You say, well, how are their pasts being wiped out? Because they're being killed. They're being murdered. Everything wiped clean. You may say, well, how does that wipe clean the past? Because if you're murdered at 30 and you would have lived a successful life up to 80, I got news for you.

30 to 80 just disappeared, folks. You want some numbers that are really going to kick your butt? The top 20 murder rates per capita, 19 have Democrat majorities on the mayoralty and the council or the alderman, depending on how they categorize their people who are in charge. The only one that doesn't is Tulsa. Of the top 20 murder rates per capita, 19 Democrat majority. Non-fatal shootings. Same thing. Dominated by Democrats.

The 10 most violent cities in America. All Democrat. All majority Democrat. Folks, where's the media on this? You know, Lodge just brings up a great point. He talks about the Democrat media industrial complex. Do you realize the scandal, the intergalactic scandal this would be if 90 plus percent of cities dominated by Democrats for 30, 20, 15,000 days uninterrupted? People were being savagely mowed down, their future, present, and past

wiped clean off the planet, sometimes as if they never existed. The scandal would be one of geometrically growing proportions. It would be on the mainstream media every day, but it is hidden. Folks, I knew these. I knew, and you did as well, likely, that these were dangerous cities. I didn't know those numbers. I have to tell you, just by sheer chance, Joe, I thought there would be some Republican-dominated city in there. Like, oh, maybe, you know, Dallas, they had a bad year here or there.

The 10 most violent cities in America, all dominated by Democrats. 19 of the 20 cities, murder rates per person, 19 Democrat majority. And as a friend, as someone who genuinely believes that these places have been subjected to brutal totalitarian politics for the last, in the case of Chicago, 30,000 days because the government has just destroyed your lives, I'm not telling you Republicans have the answer for you. I'm not. I'm just asking you this one question. Do you really believe that this is all coincidence? Do you really believe that the governing systems, and let me describe what I mean, big city politics, heavy influence of cronyism, heavy influence of special interest groups in labor, heavy interest of government spending, heavy interest in welfare spending, heavy interest in promoting single

family households. I mean, single mother households. Heavy interest in attacking the police and demonizing the police. Heavy interest in government spending on government-directed medical programs. Heavy interest in our free needle programs and things like, you know, not promoting economic growth, but promoting heavy taxation. Have they worked? Folks, not only are a lot of these cities relatively poor per person as well, you're dying. You are literally being mowed down in the streets. Is it time to say we need something new? You don't like Republicans? Fine. I don't like them either sometimes. But is it time for someone of common sense and decency to step

up and say, I'm running outside of this ideology. I am running to do something different for once because people, frankly, deserve to live. These numbers are horrifying. How they don't disturb everyone in the media. And as Lodges points out in his piece, are they the least bit curious, even a little bit, as to why this is happening? Folks, it's a really troubling story, and I just wish someone,

some entrepreneurial, brave, liberal media person with some prominence would come out and finally say, hey guys, ladies, something's got to give. People deserve to live in their own communities without the fear of being mowed down and clearly some form of our governing system isn't working. You say you're scientists, you say you believe in facts and data, prove it. amazing piece. Go read it. Be in my show notes today. Really just unbelievably disappointing. Yeah. I mean, the greatest untapped resource in America right now, folks, is not the Bakken oil shale. It's not the rare earth minerals we have underground. It's not. I'm telling you, the greatest untapped resource in the United States right now are failing inner cities. You are talking about, Joe, tens of millions of people who have had their past, present,

and future wiped out. They are not productive because they're dead, or they are not productive because they live under governing systems which incentivize them to basically to fail. I'm not saying it's not. I'm just telling you the incentives are set up for the people who make it out of these big cities and become successes, I'm going to tell you right now, my God, and I use his name not in vain, you are amazing. The deck has been entirely

stacked against you, and you still won. That is incredible. But for all those people that have been left behind, you deserve better than this. All right. Today's show also brought to you by our buddies at BrickHouse Nutrition. Hey, thank you for all the preliminary feedback on Field of Greens.

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to Field of Greens. Field of Greens, available at brickhousenutritionhouse nutrition.com slash dan that's brickhouse nutrition.com slash dan go pick it up feel the greens today i mix it in water uh i excuse me in green tea and v8 you can mix it in water juice whatever you want it tastes great it's good for you please go give it a shot feel the greens terrific stuff brickhouse nutrition.com slash and all right one quick final story folks and this is an important one i want to give a shout out to trump and uh and and show how his presidency has been far different than others they put a nominee up joe for a um a court position you know how this process works trump nominates the judges and then the senate in turn uh approves them uh you know pretty simple well they put a nominee up, a guy by the name of Matthew Peterson, and the clip of him and his nomination hearing has gone viral. Now,

I'm not here to jump on this guy. I'm really not. He seems like a relatively nice guy. He just was, I mean, to be candid, was not very prepared for the interview. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, that's of note, from Louisiana, asked him some, from what I understand, pretty basic legal questions. He's being nominated as a judge, and he basically didn't get them right. Again, I'm not here to pie up in the subject of media pylons. Joe knows it's never fun. So he's probably a wonderful guy, Peterson. And listen, it was just a bad day. Everybody has one. Unfortunately, his clip went viral because he couldn't answer the questions. day. Everybody has one. Unfortunately, his clip went viral because he couldn't answer the questions.

I want to tell you how Trump's different. Number one, you do have to be prepared. When I ran for Senate, the most devastating interview I had was Mike Lee. Mike Lee is tough. And luckily, I think I aced it, did pretty well because he endorsed me, but he is really tough and you have to go in and prepare. And I felt like I did. He asked me questions about the Commerce Clause and all that stuff. And I think we knocked it out of the park. Peterson just wasn't prepared for it. But what's interesting is Trump's response. The media, which of course hates Trump, said, oh, Trump's going to explode. A Republican went after one of his nominees. Joe, that's not what happened. You know what Trump did? He thanked Kennedy. He thanked him. He said, hey, listen, you know what? We sent up a lot of nominees. Some are going to be good. Some are not going to perform so well. And I appreciate you asking the hard questions. Folks, I don't need to spend a lot of time on that. I just want to tell you, like, what a refreshing, you know, change from the media portrayal caricature of the person Donald Trump is. Oh, he's going to erupt. He's going to go on a Twitter attack against Kennedy.

He called him and thanked him. Hey, thanks. Good question. Sorry, we didn't know. Maybe the vetting, we fell through a little bit on that one. It's a different guy, folks. Don't believe all the media hype about him. All right. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate it. Do not miss tomorrow's show. I got a ton of great stories I can get to today that you're not going to want to miss. I promise you. See you all tomorrow. 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.