The Eric Metaxas Show - Solomon Schmidt (Encore)

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Author Solomon Schmidt shares his new biography: Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Eric Mataxis show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you can protect your wealth with noble gold investments. That's noblegoldinvestments.com. Welcome to the Eric Metaxus show. Would you consider yourself smart, insightful, precocious, astute, clever, wise beyond your years, and good at checking a cesaurus for synonyms? Well, then you've come to the right place. Here now is the handsome, attractive, striking, gorgeous, and quite frankly, breathtaking, Eric Mattexas. Hey there, folks.

Happy Valentine's Day from London, England. I, your host, the permanent host of the Eric Mattaxas show, am in London, England on Valentine's Day without my wife, Suzanne. But my daughter's with me. And I sent flowers, and I'm about to call Suzanne because the hours, it's a five-hour difference. It's kind of complicated. But Chris, happy Valentine's Day. Hello, governor. Go ahead.

Thank you. It's weird. When I'm here, I start talking like it's pretentious where you start saying things and you think. I wouldn't say that if I was in New York, I think, what did I say to somebody? I said something like, shall I turn? up at seven. And I wanted to slap myself for talking like that. Okay, so wait, why am I in London? I want to say this. First of all, today we're running, we're rerunning my conversation with Solomon Schmidt, a very, very, very precocious 21-year-old who will be here for the ARC conference.

I'm here for the ARC conference, which is, I think it's the brainchild of Jordan Peterson, all these conservatives gathering in London in our time. two, we're re-running a great conversation I had recently with Ken Fish. Do not miss it. If you missed it, first time, jump on it in hour two today. But we're taping a bunch of Socrates in the city events, starting tomorrow. I think I'm taping five Socrates interviews while we're here. Tomorrow, I have Constantine Kissen. He, I guess, grew up in Russia. I was originally from Russia. he's a conservative. He's now here in the, I think he's in the UK.

Maybe he's just here for this conference. I don't know. Ian Herssey Ali, amazing. I'm going to get to talk to her. Ian McGilchrist. I didn't know who that was. I watched an interview with him yesterday, and I thought this is going to be a fascinating conversation.

So if you're interested in watching any of these Socrates in the city conversations, you must sign up. to Socrates in the City Plus. And actually, I shouldn't forget since I'm – can you tell that I'm jet lagged? I am so wacky right now. I shouldn't forget since we're talking about Socrates in the city. I'm doing a bunch of stuff over the next few days here for Socrates and the city. But on March 13th in Lexington, Kentucky, we are having a Socrates in the city an actual event event in Lexington, Kentucky on March 13th.

And our guest will be John West, who I had on the program just a few days ago. I am really excited to talk to him in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a week later in Palm Beach, we're going back to Palm Beach because Senator Josh Hawley was not able to make the event recently. And so we've rescheduled it for March 21st. So a lot of Socrates in the city stuff to talk about that's happening. And speaking of Socrates in the city, I should also mention, which I may have, that we're doing a Socrates in the city in Athens. That's that's Athens Greece. So that's right before we go on this boat cruise tour June 6th through 16th. If you're interested in any of that, you have to sign up,

go to ericmetaxis.com slash cruise, ericmetaxis.com slash cruise. And I was just told yesterday that we had to give up all all of our rooms that were reserved for this. So they still have a bunch of rooms, but you have to contact them directly. So it doesn't really matter, but just letting you know, go to Ericmataxis.com slash cruise. I would go sooner rather than later,

if you're thinking to go on the cruise, check it out as soon as possible because rooms go and then they're gone because they just want to fill up the boat. So go to Ericmataxis.com slash cruise. And before the cruise, we're doing three days in Athens, and one of those days, we're going to have an actual Socrates and city event

in the city of, of Socrates, which I still can't believe. Okay, so we have to talk about the big news. Now, I'm posting a lot of stuff on Instagram. If you are interested in, you can follow me on Instagram because I'm starting to post stuff on there just about every day. But yesterday, I got the news and I posted on Instagram. It's almost unbelievable to me that RFK Jr. has been confirmed as,

as the head of health and human services. This is such big news. And Chris and I, we were just talking off the air before I came on. Some of this news, like, it's unbelievable stuff. Like the idea that this guy who dares, dares to ask the question about do vaccines maybe cause autism? Or is that what the spike?

And that was, he's asking the kind of questions that most people would ask but say like, well, we'll never find out. We're not supposed to ask that question. He's asking that question. He's asking all kinds of questions. I am so excited about somebody like this who actually cares about science. He's not like one of those people who talks about follow the science.

And then they tell you to shut up when you ask questions. So it's huge, huge, huge news. And there was a video which I posted on X where when he was being confirmed, he was with Trump and his wife, Cheryl Hines, was with him. And he made some statements. And one of the things he said is that he has prayed for 20 years every morning that God would give him an opportunity to do some of this stuff, to help America that has, you know, all kinds of, it's like an epidemic of obesity, an epidemic of poor health, an epidemic of bad eating. That's, you know, all kinds of childhood diseases that ought not to exist. and he's prayed for 20 years, he said.

And then he says, and God sent me Donald Trump. That's big news, folks, that the, you know, the sion of a gigantic political dynasty Democrat would say, I prayed for 20 years and God sent me Donald Trump. And everything he said he would do, he has done. He's a man of his word. It was really moving. very moving. I posted it on X. Maybe you saw it someplace else. And obviously the larger meta-narrative there of his father and his uncle, you know,

you mentioned the political dynasty. They were, you know, victims pretty much widely accepted now of the deep state. And so for him to, for the son of a fallen, you know, politician to get back into office and have such power to make sweeping changes, it feels like, you know, God's restorative work in a way. There's no doubt about it. No, this is huge news. I can't stress it enough. And if you're young, you're not going to be able to get it because you kind of think,

hey, this is great. You have no idea how great because if you've lived for a long time, you realize this kind of stuff never happens. Nothing close to this ever happens. That you have a president appointing people to go scorched earth and to say, we are actually concerned about American citizens and their health. and transparency and corruption. And we're going to, it's huge.

So Donald is draining the swamp, folks. This is a great thing. And it's not about retribution or revenge. It's about literally fixing the things that are broken and victimizing millions of Americans in the food and drugs. Well, people who say it's about revenge are afraid of justice. We're talking about justice. We've had so much corruption.

And there's so many people that don't care. If you don't care about corruption, you're a bum. If you don't care about corruption, you're a bum. you're part of the corruption. We need to care. We should care about this kind of stuff. I was going to say that my Donald drains the swamp book is selling again because Donald is actually draining the swamp and people are interested on that. I look at the rank on Amazon. The price is really good on Amazon. They must have, I don't know, fixed it. But Donald drains a swamp. Donald builds the wall. The best place to get those books is go to my store.com.

That's Mike Lindell's website. So you can get it. get there through mypillow.com, but it's my store.com. And if you use the code Eric, it's radical discount. It's a huge discount on most of my books. But Donald drains the swamp seems to be the hot one since Donald is actually draining the swamp. And you know, it's not like a fantasy. Like this is actually happening. This is what, why I keep pinch. I'm like pinching myself. Is this really happening? It is. It's just, it's just a huge deal, folks. So anyway, if you want more updates on what I'm doing in London. Follow me on Instagram because I'm posting stuff there. I went to a museum today. All right. So we're at a time. You can find out everything at Ericmetaxis.com slash cruise for the

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Hey, folks. Welcome back. I don't typically talk to very, very young people, but sometimes I'll make an exception because I'm very open-minded. For example, my next guest is Solomon Schmidt, who I believe is 21 years old. Solomon, my first question. True or false, you're 21? True.

True. All right. I think we're done here. You and I met at a Newsmax party. We were in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration, and the Newsmax party, everybody knows I rave about Newsmax, but I didn't know that they threw great parties. It was one of the most delightful, I think it was the most delightful event that we attended. and one of the highlights of it was you and your dad coming up to me and introducing yourselves. So tell my audience about that.

I didn't know you sound so mature. I didn't imagine that you were 21. I knew you were young. I didn't know you were that young. But how did you, I don't remember what you said when you came up to me, but how is it that you know of me? Well, it was a terrific party. The cheesecake bites were true. tremendous, but that's a different matter.

No, I've known about you, Eric, for a number of years, ever since I watched your interviews with our mutual late friend, Walter Hooper, who was a secretary to C.S. Lewis. And when I went over to England to interview my friend Walter from my YouTube channel, I watched your series of interviews with him for Socrates in the city that you recorded in Oxford. And they were terrific. And when I was looking for a book recently on William Wilberforce, a number of months ago I was looking to learn more about Wilberforce.

And yours is obviously the most well-read, most recommended. So I picked it up, started reading it, loved it, love your commentary. I'm sure you hear this all the time. You're funny. And the writing style is engaging. And I've seen videos of you, so I knew exactly what you looked like. And we share the same publisher, Tony Lyons, at Skyhorn. publishing who's been a tremendous person in my life. And so I knew exactly what you looked like.

I was aware of your work. And my father and I were mingling at the Newsmax party. And I saw you and made a beeline for you. And I started fanboy. And I came up to you and I said, Mr. Metaxus, I love your Wilberforce book. It's just great. And we have a mutual friend, Walter Hooper, and you were, I mean, people are going to think I'm flattering you, but I mean every word I'm saying. It was sheer excitement when I saw you, and I love the work you do and the way that you make your subjects exciting. It's one thing to talk about them reverentially or in an inspiring way. But to excite people is a whole different element. Well, listen, honestly, when you were talking to me about my Wilberforce book,

first of all, it grabs my attention is usually people come up to me and they talk to me about my Bonhoeffer book, sometimes about the Luther book, or more recently, Letter to the American Church. I am exceedingly fond of my Wilberforce book titled Amazing Grace, not because I wrote it, but because he is such a delightful subject. I mean, people don't realize until you read my book, folks, you just think, what an amazing man, Wilberforce was. So it was my great joy to write that book. It's the first biography I wrote, never thought I'd write a biography. And people say to me over and over and over that I make my subjects come alive. Now, you know, that's something that only in retrospect, I just thought, well, I got to write a biography. But it thrills me that people say that.

But as I said, people rarely mention the Wilberforce book. And I'm so proud of that book just because I feel like it does what I hope to do in a book, which is give you the definitive story because there's so many books about figures, but they miss this or they miss that or they're not that readable and stuff. So when you said that, of course, you know, as a vain author, I was thrilled that you were aware of it. And then when you said you knew Walter Hooper, oh my gosh, I mean, for a young man like you to be aware of Walter Hooper is astonishing.

The fact that you knew him personally thrilled me. And again, for folks listening right. Now, I met Walter Hooper in Oxford, I guess through my friend Michael Ward and Gregory Wolf. We had a dinner. And I couldn't believe that I'm getting to meet this legend, Walter Hooper. Walter Hooper was in the last year of C.S. Lewis's life, he was his secretary, he became his literary executor. So he's an amazing man. And I remember being angry.

This is a lot of how I get motivated. I see an injustice that makes me angry. I said, no one has ever interested. interviewed Walter Hooper at length. This is a living legend. And in 2015, I went over. We had a crew. Socrates in the city interviewed him for three days running. So it was three hour long interviews. And it's on the YouTube channel for Socrates in the city. And it was a dream. It was a cornucopia of interesting anecdotes. I mean, it was better than I even thought. And so I felt, sometimes I feel kind of a duty before God. Like this man, his story needs to get out there and I got to do this.

So I did it. And of course, that's the joy is that it lives on and on and on so that a young man like you could watch it and that others could watch it. So I got to get on a plug for Socrates and that it's city. Folks, go to Socratesandcityn's city.com and you can watch these videos. And then our first Socrates in the city book, which just came out, conversations on the examined life. I have the three interviews with Walter Hooper are, we have the transcriptions of them. And it's fascinating to read if you prefer to read and not just watch it. So thanks for reminding me of that, Solomon. But it just, you know, all of this is a long way of explaining what a joy it was to meet you and your dad at the Newsmax party because people really bring up, you know,

Walter Hooper and Socrates in the city and Wilberforce. And I just thought, you know, meeting young people that care about this stuff gives me hope for the future. So now, just to be clear, you and your dad, you live in Buffalo, New York. Yes, live here with my mom, Lisa, dad, Mike, and three siblings, Cecilia, Judah, and Sophia, born and raised in Buffalo. I think I've only been to Buffalo once. It was during a blizzard. I was doing my Bonhoeffer tour. I spoke at a church up there.

but it's a long way from Buffalo to Washington, D.C. What brought you to the inauguration? A couple meetings I had. I was meeting with a friend of mine named John Solomon, who is a reporter and journalist who has a media company called Just the News. I was meeting him. I read his stuff every single day. I get his email.

I've met John Solomon. So we don't want to get confused, folks. We're talking to Solomon Schmidt, but he was in D.C. to meet John Solomon. Okay, so that's interesting. And how do you know John Solomon? I interviewed him for my biography on Alan Dershowitz. John is just one of the many, many people that Alan Dershowitz has known, impacted. I interviewed about a hundred people for the biography on Dershowitz and a little shameless name dropping. Some of the people who took time out of their busy schedules to talk to me about Dershowitz.

Oh, you got folks as different as Jamie Raskin and Mike Pompeo, Glenn Greenwald and Mike Huckabee, Noam Chomsky, and President Trump, Jared Kushner, Elliot Spitzer. Hold on, hold on. You interview President Trump about Alan Dershowitz? He took the time to do it. And the reason I mention people on both sides of the aisle is it shows you what a unique figure Alan Dershowitz is. And yes, he's still very much despised by people on the left

side of the aisle for becoming Donald Trump's lawyer. But the thing you'll notice in the biography I wrote on Dershowitz is that all of these people, whether they like him or not, and most of them do have some kind of admiration of fondness for him, recognize the importance that he's played as a defense attorney. And when I came into this book, Eric, I and other folks that I know kind of just had this view of attorneys. To whatever extent I thought about defense attorneys before this book, you kind of had this view that, oh, goodness, Alan Dershowitz represented O.J. Simpson. That means he supports double murder. And he represented Mike Tyson in a rape appear, which must mean that he's okay with rape. And I understand that way of thinking, because you instantly,

associate Dershowitz with the crimes that his clients allegedly committed. And what I came to realize through this book, and this isn't a stump speech for defense attorneys, I'm not planning to become a defense attorney, and we know there's bad eggs in the profession. But what I realized through researching Dershowitz's life is how integral the defense attorney, the role of the defense attorney is to the legal system that our founding fathers gave to us. And then I'm reminded of the fact that John Adams himself was a defense attorney and that quite a few of the founding fathers and the people who participated in the Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress were lawyers. Dershowitz cites the example of John Adams, and it's very relevant to cite in the mid-1770s, in the Boston massacre, John Adams chose to represent the British soldiers. who opened fire on the American colonists who were harassing them.

Actually, just to correct you, you young punk, it wasn't the mid-1770s. It was the early 1770s. In fact, it was 1770 or 1771. We'll be right back talking to Solomon Schmidt. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to Solomon Schmidt. He claims to be 21. Nobody's buying it because he knows way too much.

But Solomon, you were just talking about you've written a biography of Alan Dershowitz. Now, look, this is all comedic to me because. When did the book come out? Back August of 2024. Okay, so over a year ago. So you wrote it when you were 19. I started it. I started working on it in mid, in late 2021, when I was 18,

and I became fascinated by Dershowitz's life story and spent a number of years doing dozens of interviews with him, researching at the archives at Brooklyn College, where he has hundreds of thousands of papers and memos and diaries and calendars. I just have a lot of basic questions to ask before we even get into the subject. So, you know, I find it kind of funny. I find all this very funny. I used to be extremely precocious.

I'm too old now to be precocious, but I used to be extremely precocious. And people's like, I can't believe you're only this old or whatever. And it's sort of in some ways it's a selling point. And in other ways, it's not. Because if somebody says, like, there's this great book on Alan Tershowitz, written by a 19-year-old, most people would be like, yeah, I don't. think so. I'm not interested in any. You got any books written by 30 or 40 year olds? I'll read that. It's kind of funny. So let me ask you before we get into this, you started writing books when you were

how old? 11. Okay, so you're a seasoned author at this point. What was it in your life at age 11 that made you think you wanted to write books? I mean, this is, it's not typical. What was it that lets you at age 11 to want to write books. What, who, you know, what kind of parents do you have that this is even possible? Well, you hit the nail on the head, Eric. It's only possible because of my, because of two people, Mike and Lisa Schmidt. And no, they're not listening to this interview right now, although I'm sure they'll listen to it later. But my parents are extremely impressive people. I mean, my dad, Mike, lived the American dream. He was raised by an immigrant. from Austria who came to Austria when she was four years old,

through Ellis Island, lived in Buffalo, New York, married to my grandfather, John. They lived in poverty. My father grew up low income. He had a lot of different stories he's shared with me that I've got out of him over the years, even anecdotes like when he was in middle school, the wealthy girl sitting next to him in the auditorium made a point to say, I don't want to sit next to Mike Schmidt. he stinks because his family didn't use deodorant. They didn't, they didn't buy it. They didn't, they didn't think to use it. Little anecdotes like that. My dad went from that to a self-made

businessman, having a number of different business ventures, real estate, odor stop, a company on Amazon where he sells ozone generators, air purifiers, just an amazing business mind. And he's built up a nice life for his, his family, through living the amazing. Americanry. My mother was a public school teacher for 10 years and then homeschooled my siblings and I. So, and she was always giving me both. Okay, I got to correct you. The time I respect you so much. Homchooled my siblings and me. So ladies and gentlemen, I just want you to see that Solomon Schmidt is human. It's possible that he makes mistakes, even though on every other level, you know, A plus plus, but I'm so glad we caught him in a small mistake. Solomon, thank you for appearing human for a second.

It's very important to establish your bona fides as a human being. So when you say that your parents homeschooled, you like, I was on the air just before you came on with Chris DeGal, who's with the Herzog Foundation, and I was pushing homeschoolers in your exhibit A, because everywhere I go around the country, I meet young people like you that are just uncommonly impressive. And it's always the same story. I was homeschooled. It's an amazing thing. We don't know what young people are capable of because we haven't lived in a world where there's been a lot of homeschooling. When you read about, you know, people like John Quincy Adams, you know, and others, in previous times in our history, young people achieved astonishing things. And I think because of homeschooling, we're seeing that again.

So it's good to hear you mention that. because it gives some context that if you've got a bright young person and you're homeschooling them, who knows what will happen? They might start writing books at age 11. So I didn't mean to cut you off for such a long period of time, but I always want to get in the plug that people have no idea what is possible. And homeschooling really just opens the door. So you might have been stifled for a long time in public school,

and you wouldn't bloom until much later. But you were given the opportunity by your wonderful parents. So, but what was it that precipitated at age 11 wanting to write a book? Yeah, and I agree with what you said, Eric, just briefly. I'm sick of the marginalization of homeschoolers, and I'm not pointing fingers. I'm not scolding anyone in particular. But I've gone all over the country meeting thousands of homeschool families. They are some of the most hardworking, kind, diligent, loyal, compassionate, faithful people.

that you can meet. So it's exciting to see homeschooling being given the do that the parents who work darn hard deserve to have. So I started writing my first book, U.S. History Bites, which is an overview of 30 major events of American history from Columbus to modern day. I was having a conversation with my dad by his workbench, and I was looking what to do, trying to figure out what to do with my free time. I had designed these board games. I was working on films that my siblings and I had made. And my dad said, well, what are you most passionate about Solomon? And I said, U.S. history. He said, well, what if you wrote a book for kids your age about U.S. history? And I looked into the format I was thinking of, and it really hadn't been done. And so I sat down and wrote from memory because I knew the stories

after reading encyclopedias and biographies and immersing my head in the story of the American Revolution, Ronald Reagan, et cetera. I wrote down the stories I remembered, fact-checked them with various sources, and put out this first book, and then continued the series from there. I went on to U.S. presidential history bites after the first one. Hang on. Sorry, going to a hard break. We'll be right back, folks. I'm talking to Solomon Schmidt. Welcome back, folks, talking to Solomon Schmidt, who claims to be 21. I'm not buying it. Solomon, so you, at age 11, encouraged by your father, start writing these books you say for kids your own age about U.S. history, and you kind of just kept going.

I did. And again, you go back to the theme of exceptional parents. You mentioned John Quincy Adams. Well, he had perhaps the most remarkable woman in American history, Abigail Adams, are certainly one of them. And my mother's comparable to her. My mom came up with the name history bites and was a public school teacher for second grade kids. So I had the perfect people looking at the manuscript early on. And this is not to pat myself in the back when I say this here, but I have met hundreds of young people all around the country who have used the History Bytes books, and they love them.

I have met a kid who slept with my book on military history underneath his pillow at night. I've talked to parents who say that they have to go into the kid's bedroom at night, and they're holding the flashlight up underneath the blanket. at reading the history book past bedtime. And that's exciting to me, not just because they're my books, but because that proves it's not history that's boring. It's the way it's presented. And that's exciting because imagine if you can get young kids excited about whether it's

watching a YouTube video about, which I'm fine with, but preferably reading a book or a chapter about George Washington or David Livingston, one of the successors to your man, Wilberforce. imagine if you can get a whole lot of kids reading those books and becoming excited about them and filling their minds with heroes like George Washington. And I mean, it's so it's very gratifying. It's very exciting. And it happened through a lot of, you know, history bites happened through a lot of kind people, as did the Dershowitz book.

And every project I've done has, you mentioned Walter Hooper earlier in the interview. Walt, there's a line at the end of the Harry Potter movie. which I know Harry Potter's controversial. I'm working on a biography of J.K. Rowling right now, so Harry Potter is everything I eat, breathe, drink, sleep. And there's a line at the end of the Harry Potter movies where Harry takes his son aside as he's about to go off to Hogwarts, and the son is all concerned about being sorted into Slitheran House,

which is known for producing cunning and ambitious wizards. And Harry says, Albus Severus Potter, you were named after one of the former headman. of the former headmasters of Hogwarts, Severus Snape. And he was probably the bravest man I ever knew. And Walter was probably the kindest man I ever knew. And when you see the way he reacted to some of the controversies he had to deal with, turning the other cheek, showing love in the midst of persecution,

I mean, he once told me, there was this woman who made all these outrageous claims about him, about shoddy scholarship and stuff that's totally bonkers. If you look into it, you can see it's so easily discreditable. And I said to Walter, you know, Mr. Hooper, why don't you call her out as a liar? This was his response, 87-year-old Walter Hooper. He said, my mother used to tell me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. And he really meant it.

Like, wow, what a clear example of blessing when persecuted, the faith of a child. So, anyway, that's a plug for Walter. know if he can hear us, but I miss it. Yeah, well, it's, it's amazing. I mean, there's so much I want to ask you, but I have to ask you, what in the world possessed you to say, I need to write a biography about Alan Dershowitz? I've interviewed him on the program. You know, I think generally well of him. I think he idiotically said, you know, like six months ago that he would be voting for Joe Biden or whatever. You know, like he's wrong on a lot of stuff, but he's right in a lot of of stuff and he's fascinating and he's a principled man and so I admire him. But the real question is,

of all the people about whom you could have written, what was it that made you say the world needs a biography of Alan Dershowitz? Are there other biographies about him? No, although I found out a few years into the, a couple years into the process, I was driving with Alan on Martha's Vineyard, the elite abode that he often talks about being shunned on, which he, which he, which he is. And we were driving together and I said, Alan, I have a question I've been wanting to run by you for a while. I said, why didn't anyone else write a biography of you? And he said, someone else started to back in 2018, someone here on the vineyard, but they stopped when I went on the floor of the Senate to represent Donald Trump. That was it. It was the bridge too far. And not to be smug, but that person's lost my

gain. Alan Dershowitz, I first wanted to interview him on my History Bytes YouTube channel. I had heard that he was an expert in constitutional law. I do a lot related to American history, so I thought it would be fascinating to get this Harvard professor on to talk about the Constitution. And the more I learn about his life, the more I was intrigued by all of the legal cases and people he's impacted. And then when I found out there hadn't been a biography. I thought it would be an interesting change of pace from the History Byte series. I did eight titles in that series, and my last one was called Graded Vig.

Ventures History Bites in which I wrote about Livingston, Ferdin and Magellan, Thor Heyerdahl, Edmund Hillary, and wanted a change of pace, began researching his life, started reaching out to people who were alive who knew him, doing interviews, sending them questions via email, reading all of his books, as much as I could read about him. And then I came across a man named Harvey Silverglate, who was a close friend of Dershowitz's for about 60 years. And as I was interviewing Harvey, I broached the question of getting Dershowitz's involvement. And so he helped put me in touch with Dershowitz. I interviewed him on my YouTube channel.

And then at the end of our interview, I told him about the biography I had started working on and said, you know, I want to write your biography professor. And he said, I'd be honored and privileged if you would do it. And I'd give you access to all my archives at Brooklyn College. So I'm down in New York. Let's set up a meeting. and I came down to his place in Manhattan,

went up the elevator, and there he was. He's a smaller man, but, I mean, there he was, the legend. And I walked in, and one of the first questions he says is, okay, now tell me, what publisher is going to take my authorized biography from an 18-year-old? And he wasn't asking it in a snide way, but I think he was just testing me to see if I had an answer ready. So after that meeting, we parted ways. and he said, hey, let's, you know, I'll be involved, do interviews, and let's go from here. But basically, Eric, as I kept learning about him, you just get more and more fascinated by him.

In addition to 300 legal cases like Klaus van Buello, Jim Baker, Leona Helmsley, Mike Tyson, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, in addition, all the legal cases, he was a professor at Harvard for 50 years, taught Ted Cruz, Jamie Reskin, Mike Pompeo, It goes on and on. I interviewed all three of those folks for the book. We're going to go into another break. Folks, we'll be right back having fun talking to Solomon Schmidt. Don't go away. Welcome back. I'm having the fun of speaking with Solomon Schmidt, who claims to be 21 years old.

A lot of people claim that, and they're usually 40. So, Solomon, you have a YouTube channel called History Bites, which is very clever. What do you have on that? How many videos are on there? Sorry, how many videos are on there? There's over 150 videos and interviews. A lot of the videos are me telling the story of a person or event that I highlight in my History Bytes books.

So the U.S. presidents, major wars, famous people from world history. But I also have interviews on there with Alan Dershowitz, Jaka Willink, the Navy Seal, Holocaust survivors, World War II veterans. and I was able to interview Dr. Jane Goodall and Mike Tyson as well. So you can see those interviews on the channel. Hopefully not together. Not together. Although they're both highly intelligent people.

And Mike Tyson is an intellectual person, which is fascinating. Oh, I know that. I know that. I have never interviewed him. I would love to interview him, and I assume I will at some point. But, yeah, I know he's absolutely fascinating. So it's just History Bites YouTube channel. Yes, History Bites with Solomon.

And I also am going through a series of videos based on my book, Great Adventures, History Bites. I've traveled to Tanzania, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal to film videos for the channel. And hopefully I have some more exciting journeys that are coming up. And I'll have videos telling stories of great expeditions and heroes who went to the South Pole and climbed Mount Everest and crossed the deserts of Africa to end the East African slave trade, which I'm sure you're well versed in David Livingstone and other folks. So history is endlessly fascinating. I just have to interrupt and say, you know, you've accomplished so much at this point.

Have you thought about retirement? Sometimes I would like a little breathing space to read more of Eric Metaxus's books. And I mean that totally seriously. You know, it's interesting. Jane Goodall, who's going to be 91 in April, she's an inspiration. There's a woman who has every reason, every excuse in the world to sit on the beach and just spend the rest, whatever year she has left pleasing herself. And she goes out there, raising money for her foundations, doing boots on the ground work, doing activism, doing interviews, hirelessly.

She's going to be 91. So there's some inspiration for all of us. No, it's amazing. And what are you working on right now? I'm working on the first complete biography of J.K. rolling. You said that. I'm sorry. You did say that.

Oh, that's gay. I always say rowling, but it is rolling. And it's called a pen to change the world. It's coming out through our mutual publisher, Skyhorse Publishing. And it, boy, it's been just a fascinating ride. Oh, my goodness. Imagine this single mom living on welfare, living in a dumpy apartment by night and by day, pushing her daughter through the streets of Edinburgh in a stroller with the snow beating against her face, coming into a trying to get the corner table so she doesn't bug people and stay too long to annoy the staff and writing these notes about wizards and witches and the Philosopher Stone and Harry's Adventures at Hogwarts. And then it becomes the best-selling book series in the history of the world in a quarter of a century, 600 million copies. It's extraordinary. Has there ever been anyone quite like J.K. Rowling? And she's been so brave against the transgender lunacy. We're out of time, but Solomon Schmidt, I'm so glad we began our conversation today. A joy to have met you in Washington, D.C. under such happy circumstances. Give my best to your dad, who I'm had the

privilege of meeting, and we'll have you back soon. God bless you, young man. God bless you, too, Eric. Thanks for all your work. This was fun.