The Philip DeFranco Show - MAGA Is Cracking From Inside

Starting point is 00:00:00 In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Alex Jones thinks Trump's losing his mind. Marjorie Taylor Green says that he's gone insane and everyone in his administration is complicit. And after Trump praised Allah on Easter, tomorrow the runoff to fill Green's old Georgia seat is being called one of the first electoral tests on how voters are responding to the Iran. And so when your biggest diehard supporters and loyalists, they're calling you out, they're telling your staff to beg forgiveness from God, you obviously have a problem that goes way beyond the polls. And where we should start is with Trump's Easter pose in which he cursed out Iran and praised Allah, which prompted Alex Jones to go on a rant about the president's behavior.

Starting point is 00:00:46 America's seeking global rankings of black ability. It's just not what we voted for. We've never seen rhetoric out of presidents like this when we go to war, even if you're for this war. This is really bad PR folks. This is what I'm talking about the way Trump's behaving. Way more erratic, his speech is not coherent all the time. You can't deny this happening. Jones even acknowledged that while he often highlights

Starting point is 00:01:06 what he sees as Trump's accomplishments, he doesn't fully back him on this. I'm trying to salvage something and before the midterms and just hope that we can get Trump to pull out of this war. So I'm trying to get as much public awakening to this and pressure as I can, but I don't have a lot of hope. And this actually, if you follow him,

Starting point is 00:01:24 this is not the first time that Jones has questioned Trump's mental state. But when Alex Jones, like the man who built an empire on conspiracy theories an unflinching loyalty to Donald Trump is publicly saying that the president's behavior is erratic and incoherent. That's not a fringe critique anymore. And then there's MTG who went even harder.

Starting point is 00:01:39 Green, who used to be one of Trump's most visible loyalists before distancing herself and leaving Congress, posted yesterday, everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshiping the president and intervene in Trump's madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane and all of you are complicit, saying this is not

Starting point is 00:01:58 what we promise the American people, when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024. I know I was there more than most. This is not making America great again. This is evil. And so again, take a beat to fully drink in that this is Marjorie Taylor Green that we're talking about calling the president insane

Starting point is 00:02:12 in his administration evil. And Green's words, they're also especially important right now because the runoff election to fill her old Georgia seat, that's actually tomorrow. Or with the New York Times calling it one of the first electoral tests of how voters are responding to the Iran war. And there, as far as a candidates,

Starting point is 00:02:24 you have Democrat Sean Harris, who's spoken against the war and focused on how Trump's decisions have increased costs for Americans. And then you have Republican, Clayton Fuller, who's a Trump loyalist defending the president and using MAGA talking points to argue with the war is actually making the country safer. While Green hasn't formally endorsed either candidate, CNN reports that she intends to vote Republican. That's even though on Iran specifically, her position is more aligned with a Democratic candidate.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Now, while I'll always implore Democrats and independents, especially just anyone that's not aligned with Trump to go out and vote every single time because it matters, people should also understand that this is one of the reddest districts in Georgia. So a Democratic win there, it would be a massive upset. But also, that's not even fully the point. As the Times put it, a competitive performance by Mr. Harrow, on Tuesday, even in defeat, could offer another warning signal for the Republican Party. Right, even a closer than expected result, it would be a temperature check. If a deep red Georgia district showed significant movement away from Trump on the war, that has a signal for every Republican heading into the midterms. And Fuller, right, the Republican, he acknowledged the

Starting point is 00:03:14 stake saying that a Democratic win, it would be a tragedy for the MAGA movement and for President Trump. And of course, a big thing here is that this shifting sentiment, it's not exclusive to Georgia or on Alex Jones's show. Or we're seeing poll after poll and reporting suggesting that Trump is losing the podcast bro coalition over Iran. Actually, a recent conversation that got so much attention was Joe Rogan and Theo Vaughn last week. I'm confused. I can't believe we went to this war. When we started bombing Iran, I was like, this can't be true. And what about Lebanon now? I know. Israel's invaded Lebanon. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like just stop it. What do you need? Well, they're trying to supposedly they're trying to stop the terrorists.

Starting point is 00:03:51 That's crazy though. If you're the fucking terrorists. You know what I'm saying? Like if you want to stop them, He's staying in front of the mirror. They start there. So Joe Rogan and Theo Von, two of the biggest cultural voices in the young male demographic that helped bring Trump to power in 2024 calling the U.S. the terrorists.

Starting point is 00:04:10 Right on a podcast that reaches tens of millions of people. And so one of the biggest questions with this is whether voters who think like Rogan and Vaughn are actually going to show up differently in the midterms or whether it stays kind of all talk. And so everything that we just covered, it is going to continue to be a very important place to watch because this isn't CNN.

Starting point is 00:04:25 It's not the New York Times editorial board. It's not even progressive Twitter. This is Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Green, Joe Rogan, and Theo Vaughn. These are people who are supposed to be the base or part of the coalition of the base. Where the ones who built or helped build up the media ecosystem that made MAGA possible. And they're saying he's lost it. They're saying the war's wrong. They're saying that the rhetoric is incoherent.

Starting point is 00:04:45 And while by no means have all MAGA voters like abandoned Trump, far from it, right? Plenty of everyday loyalists remain unmoved. The fractures at the top of the movement, they're widening. And tomorrow's Georgia runoff, it is going to be the first real data point on whether those fractures are reaching actual voters. And if there is meaningful movement, it's not just a bad sign for one race. It would be a warning that the coalition that Trump built, it is coming apart over the very war he chose to start. But also, whatever MAGA has to say about Trump's war to Iran, we have to consider the facts.

Starting point is 00:05:10 And the fact is, if Donald Trump isn't already a war criminal, he is really gunning for that title. He is openly and proudly threatening to launch attacks that experts near universally agree would violate the laws of war. And we're talking about attacks that could directly affect millions of civilians across Iran, potentially provoke retaliatory strikes affecting millions more across the Gulf, possibly trigger further global economic fallout, pushing yet millions more into poverty, hunger, and other hardship. All while, yeah, Trump's now backed down so many times that he may find himself feeling like he has very little option, but to actually follow through.

Starting point is 00:05:39 Because Trump, I mean, he's been threatening these strikes on civilian infrastructure for weeks now. Back on March 13th, he threatened a wipeout oil facilities on Karg Island. He also issued his first ultimatum on March 21st, threatening to obliterate Iran's various power plans if it didn't reopen the street of our moves within 48 hours.

Starting point is 00:05:52 He then postponed that deadline five days due to what he said were very good and productive conversations, regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities. But that deadline came and went with Trump claiming the talks were going well and pushing it back another 10 days to April 6, which is actually today. And then he went even further, threatening to blow up and completely obliterate not only all of Iran's electric generating plants, but also their oil wells,

Starting point is 00:06:12 Carg Island, and possibly all desalination plants. And then last Wednesday in another post as well as in his prime time address to the nation, you had him bowing to bring Iran back to the Stone Ages where he said they belong. So you then had people like a Stanford Law professor arguing that the reference to the Stone Age indicates that objects would be targeted seemingly because they contribute to the viability of a modern society in Iran, which is completely unrelated to the question of contribution to military action, the necessary condition for targeting in war. Because technically, it's possible that a strike on certain civilian infrastructure, including power plants, it could be permissible under international

Starting point is 00:06:42 law if there was a clear military rationale and there isn't disproportionate civilian harm. That is a very high bar, and you even had a retired Air Force Lieutenant General who helped direct attacks on Iraq's electrical network during the 1991 Gulf War, arguing at the strikes threatened by Trump, it wouldn't clear it. Saying you cannot bomb a power station to send a message. You have to be able to articulate a definite military advantage, not a political advantage. Disrupting enemy morale or changing the thinking of leadership by destroying civilian objects, that's not a thing. And so actually with this, a day after Trump's Stone Age comment, you had more than 100 experts on international law, signing an open letter expressing what they described as profound concern over serious violations

Starting point is 00:07:16 of international law by the U.S., Israel, and Iran. Arguing that the U.S. and Israel's decision to attack Iran in the first place constituted a clear breach of the United Nations charter, which only allows for the use of force and self-defense or with authorization from the UN Security Council. They also pointed to strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure and desalination plants, schools, health facilities, and homes. And of course, they specifically highlighted the apparent U.S. attack on a primary school on the first day of the war, which was reported to have killed 175 people, including 110 kids. And then you also have them pointing out what they described as alarming rhetoric coming from various officials on all sides, especially from the U.S.

Starting point is 00:07:48 pointing to Trump's repeated threats to obliterate Iranian power plants as well as Pete Hexeth's call for no quarter to be given, which is also a war crime in writing. Public statements by senior officials indicate an alarming disrespect for the rules of international humanitarian law accepted by states and which protect both civilians and members of the armed forces. But of course, Trump, I mean, honestly, he doesn't give a fuck. Within hours of that letter being published, you had him sharing a video of an attack on a bridge near the capital of Tehran, which Iranian news outlets reported killed eight people and wounded

Starting point is 00:08:13 almost 100 in writing. Much more to follow. It is time for Iran to make a deal before it is too late and there is nothing left of what still could become a great country. And while the American military reportedly claimed that the intent had been to eliminate what it called a planned military supply route for Iran's missile and drone forces, a local Iranian official told state media that there was absolutely no military activity on the bridge and claimed that the casualties were people from a nearby village who were picnicking outdoors in celebration of the Persian New Year. Right, and then with this, you had a former State Department lawyer specializing in the law of armed conflicts saying that Trump's own words undermined those claims.

Starting point is 00:08:42 Telling the New York Times, whether the bridge was a lawful military objective would depend on the facts, but also adding. My read is that the bridge was targeted not to provide any military advantage, but in the whole, hopes of coercing Tehran and generating content. But again, despite all that, Trump, he just kept going on in another post saying, Bridges, next, then electric power plants. New regime leadership knows what has to be done and has to be done fast. But then also, you know, with everything we're saying, Iran, they're not so hot on international law or human rights either.

Starting point is 00:09:07 And so you've had them responding in kind, allegedly striking an oil refinery in Kuwait on Friday, as well as a power and water desalination plant in the country. Also in a separate attack, falling debris from a missile or drone interception, reportedly started a fire at a major gas field in the UAE. Though also, notably, the damage may be, even worse than what we've been led to believe. At least, according to the investigative media outlet Balankat, which reported last week that UAE officials have downplayed or mischaracterized several Iranian attacks on the country. In one case, for example, the government similarly said that it had

Starting point is 00:09:32 intercepted a strike and that the only damage have been caused by falling debris. But, according to video and satellite imagery, it actually hit and destroyed three fuel storage tanks. Right, and there also might be similar reasons to question claims made by Trump officials about Iran's capabilities. You've got CNN reporting that American intelligence agencies believe that Iran maintain significant missile launching capability. In fact, according to reports and according to recent assessments, roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact, along with thousands of one-way attack drones

Starting point is 00:09:56 despite the daily onslaught by the US and Israel. And while these assessments, they may include launchers that are currently inaccessible, including those buried underground by strikes but not destroyed, you had one source telling CNN. They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region. But again, in the face of that, you had Trump claiming in his speech last week.

Starting point is 00:10:12 They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilation. we are unstoppable as a military force. And then a couple of days later, Iran shut down an American fighter jet over southern Iran. It was the first time a manned American aircraft went down over hostile territory during this war, although I will say three fighter jets were shot down

Starting point is 00:10:31 by friendly fire over Kuwait on March 2nd. And while in that incident, the pilots ejected, they were located relatively easily and given whatever care they needed. In this case, you had what could only have been described as an extremely risky and dangerous rescue operation. One that, thankfully, one of the crew members was extracted relatively quickly from.

Starting point is 00:10:45 And while the search for the second one, it dragged on until Sunday. In the end, they were also saved, and now both are reportedly recovering at a military hospital in Germany. Despite only narrowly avoiding a far worse outcome, you had Trump appearing emboldened by the success of the mission, continuing newer and more unhinged threats. Or with the full text of that Easter Sunday post being, Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day all wrapped up in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Open the fucking straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah. With him then, following up a few hours later by appearing to push back the deadline that had already been pushed back multiple times to today to tomorrow, writing Tuesday 8 p.m. Eastern time. And he also told Axios yesterday that the US is in deep negotiations with Iran and that a deal can be reached before his deadline expires on Tuesday, saying, there's a good chance, but if they don't make a deal, I am blowing up everything over there. And then he told the Wall Street Journal, if they don't come through, if they want to keep it closed,

Starting point is 00:11:32 they're going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country. Also, even as we're waiting to see if he follows through, Israel, at the very least, they're already kind of following through. Right among multiple strikes that reportedly killed dozens across Iran today, Israel claimed responsibility for attacks on Iran's largest petrochemical industrial complex and on facilities in the South Pars natural gas field. Which stands out because an earlier Israeli attack on the South Pars gas field, the Iranian portion of the largest natural gas field in the world, marked a major escalation in the war. When they had Iran retaliating against other oil and gas facilities in the Gulf states,

Starting point is 00:12:01 including the world's largest liquefied natural gas production facility in Qatar, which then led to Trump, threatening to blow up the entirety of the South Pars gas field if Iran attacked Qatar again while promising that Israel wouldn't attack it again. But this time, at least as of recording, Trump hasn't commented on that, and Israel's defense minister threatened in a statement today to destroy Iran's infrastructure and hunt down its leaders one by one. And then with that, another Israeli strike also killed the head of the intelligence wing of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And then another reportedly hit the data center at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. Apparently damaging infrastructure important to the country's national artificial intelligence platform and thousands of other services. You also had the international atomic energy agency confirming strikes close to Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant today.

Starting point is 00:12:39 Strikes that led to Iran's atomic energy chief slamming the agency for not done. doing more, claiming that this was the fourth time that the plant had been targeted and claiming that each time risked releasing radioactive material that could have irreparable consequences for people, the environment, and neighboring countries. So also, you had the head of the UN agency, pretty much arguing the same thing, saying a nuclear facility in surrounding areas should never be struck. And similarly, warning that any strikes around the area could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people in the environment in Iran and beyond. But then also with this, of course, on the flip side, as far as the Iranian attacks,

Starting point is 00:13:08 you had Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia all activating their air defenses today. Also in Israel, Iranian missile strike apparently made it through and killed at least four people. Iran also reportedly targeted satellite equipment and munitions on an island that American forces had just relocated to. Now, with all this, you also had a military spokesperson responding to Trump's latest threats saying, if attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the subsequent phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be carried out much more crushingly and extensively in the enemies, losses, and damages from persisting with this approach will be multiplied.

Starting point is 00:13:34 But then also, despite that rhetoric, you had the U.S. and Iran reportedly receiving a Pakistani brokered proposal to implement an immediate ceasefire, followed by negotiations on a broader deal, to be concluded within 15 to 20 days. But then Iran reportedly responded with their own proposal to end the war permanently. That including a protocol for safe passages shipping through the strategic straight-of-homuz and a demand for the lifting of sanctions. And Trump, actually, while taking questions from reporters during the annual Easter egg roll event at the White House, said that he had seen Iran's latest proposal.

Starting point is 00:13:58 He said it was a significant step, but also not good enough. And Trump then also saying that Americans may need to weather higher gas prices for a couple of months, but that it'll be worth it because Iran won't have a nuclear weapon. And at a press conference later, while Pete Hex said claim that strikes against Iran would already be ramping up to record levels over the next couple of the next couple of days, Trump reiterated his threats about what would happen if a deal is not reached in time, saying, the entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night. Every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be

Starting point is 00:14:29 used again. I mean, complete demolition. And then there's more we're going to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, raise your hand if you've been meaning to book a doctor's appointment for, I don't know, six months now. But instead, you Google symptoms at 1 a.m. You spiral and you do absolutely nothing about it. Because I get it. I remember booking the appointment being the biggest hurdle for me. But that, it's where today's sponsor ZockDococ comes in because it makes the whole process way easier.

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Starting point is 00:15:37 situation in Iran, it doesn't get any worse, some people, they're just hoping they place the right Because as US forces were searching for the pilots down by Iran, Polymarket was allowing users to bet on their fate until it was called out by a member of Congress. You had Representative Seth Moulton, who's a US Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq posting a screenshot of the market and writing on Twitter. There is an ongoing search and rescue operation for a missing American service member whose plane was shot down over Iran. Their safety is unknown. They could be your neighbor, a friend, a family member, and people are betting on whether or not

Starting point is 00:16:05 they'll be saved. This is disgusting. With him then also going on to note that Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket, described as a dystopian death market and added that the president's son may have access to intelligence that isn't public yet. And then with this, a few hours later, you saw Polymarket replying to that post saying, we took this market down immediately as it does not meet our integrity standards. It should not have been posted and we are investigating how this slipped through our internal safeguards.

Starting point is 00:16:27 We then had molten hitting back telling the platform that its integrity standards are severely lacking and noting that users are still able to place bets on the lives of our troops and flagging well over 200 active bets in Polymarkets war category. And then you also had him claim in an email to CNBC. Polymarket didn't take that market down because it violated their standards. They took it down because we called them out. With them then going on to accuse the Trump administration of failing to act, noting that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has the authority to regulate

Starting point is 00:16:51 prediction market platforms, but claiming that the agency is doing almost nothing. And to that point, this actually isn't the first time that the CFTC has been called out for failing to regulate prediction markets that allow users to profit off a death. Back in February, before the Iran war even started, you had a group of senators writing a letter to the agency, urging it to quote, clearly reiterate that the CFTC will categorically prohibit any contract that resolves upon or closely relates to an individual's death, with the lawmakers noting that these contracts are actually banned under the Federal Commodity Exchange Act and arguing. These contracts further risk incentivizing

Starting point is 00:17:17 real-world harm by creating financial rewards linked to destabilizing events or physical injury and by encouraging actors to influence or precipitate those outcomes for personal profit. And adding, as a result, these markets present dangerous national security risks. But of course, Trump's CFTC hasn't done that. And not only has the agency failed to enforce any kind of meaningful regulation, it is actively trying to prevent states from taking matters into their own hands. Just last week, Trump's CFTC filed lawsuits against Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois over attempts by lawmakers there to close the gaping regulatory hole that the federal government's left wide open. And those suits claim that the CFTC alone has the authority to oversee event contracts through the Commodity Exchange Act.

Starting point is 00:17:52 But then at the same time, you have the agency refusing to heed demands from federal lawmakers to actually enforce that law. And while some members of Congress have proposed new additional regulations, it's unclear if they're ever going to pass, especially given how deeply connected Trump's own family is to prediction markets. But hey, the Trump's being corrupt, that's to be expected. What may actually come as more of a shock is that the recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize, he just proposed the biggest military budget in modern American history. Where with Trump, officially sending his budget requests to Congress for the next fiscal year, and by far, the biggest expense is the $1.5 trillion for the military.

Starting point is 00:18:23 Which is wild, because it feels like just yesterday that we passed a trillion dollars for the first time, and now Trump wants to bump that up by over 40%. We're talking about some 4.5% of the country's entire GDP, according to an expert at Brookings, amounting to the largest year-over-year increase since the Korean War. And that doesn't even count the extra $200 billion that Trump wants specifically for the war in Iran. So in the end, if he got everything that he wanted, we'd be looking at $1.7 trillion for the self-described department of war just over one fiscal year.

Starting point is 00:18:47 With that, including a wide variety of things, including, you know, pay raises for service members, but also the golden dome missile defense system and Trump's so-called golden fleet of Navy ships, among other things. Also, Trump's budget wants to hand over $40 billion to the Justice Department, a 13% bump, as well as $10 billion for ice. And then, on the other side of the ledger, you have Trump wanting to cut pretty much anything that isn't blowing up or deporting people. And so under his plan,

Starting point is 00:19:08 discretionary non-defense spending would shrink by about 10% to $660 billion. With $73 billion in cuts spread over numerous departments and agencies. And so the EPA's budget would be cut in half. Labor loses $3.5 billion housing and urban development down over $10 billion. Also another $15 billion gone from energy.

Starting point is 00:19:24 NASA's budget loses about a quarter. Health and human services falls over 12%. With that HHS cut, including $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health, which, according to the White House, quote, broke the trust of the American people with wasteful spending, misleading information, risky research, and the promotion of dangerous ideologies that undermine public health. And so that's how they justified most of these cuts,

Starting point is 00:19:42 claiming that the money was either wasteful or spent on woke programs that supposedly discriminate against white people. Though it's also little and clear how that applies to federal aid meant to help people afford their heating and cooling bills or money to respond to natural disasters, train new teachers, root out tax fraud, research cures for diseases, and develop clean energy technology. But either way, this signals very clearly what Trump's policy priorities are, waging war and mass deportations. Which also, is something that many people have pointed out is rather ironic, given that Marco Rubio just criticized Iran for the exact same thing. Imagine in Iran that instead of spending their wealth,

Starting point is 00:20:14 billions of dollars supporting terrorists or weapons, had spent that money helping the people of Iran, you'd have a much different country. But during a private lunch the other day, Trump staked out the polar opposite position, straight up telling Americans, we can't help you because we're too busy dropping bombs. We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We're fighting wars. We can't take care of daycare. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things, they can do it on a state basis.

Starting point is 00:20:43 You can't do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing, military protection. We have to guard the country. And then of course, you know, fuck your childcare. He has to deck out the White House. Because his budget plan also allocates $377 million to executive residence renovations for the current fiscal year

Starting point is 00:20:58 and another $174 million for the next year. And overall now, Trump's budget devotes nearly $2.2 trillion dollars to discretionary spending, which doesn't include mandatory spending like Medicare and Social Security. So if this went through, you could expect just a jaw-dropping increase to the deficit, which was already enormous after Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill. With the committee for a responsible federal budget, estimating that this would add nearly $6 trillion to the national debt by 2035 when interest is included.

Starting point is 00:21:21 And so with all this, you've seen Democrats speaking up with, Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee writing. Imagine how many families we could help if, instead of giving the Pentagon more money than they can even figure out what to do with, we cut people's heating bills in half and made childcare affordable for everyone. family in America saying President Trump wants to slash medical research to fund costly foreign wars. He doesn't get more backward than that and the only responsible thing to do with a budget this morally bankrupt is to toss it in the trash. And you're already seeing there's just so much fodder

Starting point is 00:21:47 for democratic attack ads going into this midterm election cycle. Look at that gas pump. We're paying the cost every damn day of this war in Iran. But for Congressman Van Orden, we're not paying enough. He's going for another $200 billion to spend on Iran. This is the same guy who backed big cuts to VA care for vets. Now of course, you know, to add a big caveat to all this is that this is a budget proposal, right? Congress has to approve it.

Starting point is 00:22:12 And while congressional Republicans, they largely let Trump do whatever Trump wants to do, last year the Republicans rejected most of the deep spending cuts that are now reappearing in this proposal. So people are expecting maybe a watered down version again this time. And in fact, a few Republican lawmakers like Susan Collins and Tim Burchett, they've already expressed reservations about it. Then also I have to know that even if Congress

Starting point is 00:22:30 doesn't give him exactly what he wants, you have many worrying that Trump's just gonna skirt around the law and just do it anyway. Right, because you've already had him refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress and reallocating funds or something that Congress did approve as something that it didn't.

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Starting point is 00:24:06 And so one of the biggest questions is whether this is really about education or ideology and what happens when teachers start teaching to a test that leans this hard in one direction. But let's really start by getting into the details that the classic learning test was created in 2015 by Jeremy Taiton, educator, and religious scholars. Right after teaching high school, Tate said that he built the CLT to reconnect knowledge and virtue for seekers of truth, goodness, and beauty. And his stated vision put the very best texts in front of students, specifically, quote, thinkers and writers that have most meaningfully shaped history and culture. With the test, pulling passages from works that it says have had a lasting influence on Western culture and society. It also, again, doesn't allow calculators. It uses longer passages than the SAT or ACT from an author bank of more than 160 writers and works going back to Mesopotamia.

Starting point is 00:24:48 But what a lot of people immediately point out is there is a lot of subjective language here. People asking, what counts is most meaningful, what qualifies is the very best, and who decides? And what reports say that two dozen of the authors that the CLT pulls from are Christian saints, theologians, or religious thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther. You also have Tate pushing back on the idea that this makes the test religious, saying, I'm not saying anybody needs to be Christian or Catholic, but it is the intellectual tradition that gave birth to the university. With him also saying, I don't think anyone in the West can be considered seriously educated without some knowledge of the Christian intellectual tradition, including the Bible. But then also the people around him make

Starting point is 00:25:21 the religious connection even harder to dismiss. The CLT's advisors include conservative activists like Christopher Rufo and leaders from religious institutions like Hillsdale College. Reports also say that the majority of the CLT board members work for Christian or conservative organizations. And the test gained significant traction in 2023 after being supported by Florida Governor DeSantis during that whole don't say gay controversy. Also it's been embraced by the classical education movement,

Starting point is 00:25:42 often Christian homeschool communities that want students to learn foundational Western texts. And looking across the whole thing, 350 universities now accept CLT scores, though most of your private Christian colleges with the notable exception being major public universities like UNC Chapel Hill now being on board. And then here's where it gets concerning

Starting point is 00:25:56 just from a purely academic standpoint. Nobody really knows if this test works. As of 2024, there were no peer-reviewed studies demonstrating that the CLT can predict college readiness. The SAT and ACT, we can criticize them, but they've been taken by tens of millions of students over decades. The data behind their validity, it's enormous. But as far as the CLT, it has one supporting study. It came from a conservative Christian college in Pennsylvania. But it looked at 235 students and found CLT's scores correlated with first-year grades. But the study also has been published in any academic journal and the author

Starting point is 00:26:24 didn't report any data comparing the CLT's predictive power to the SAT or ACT. So 235 students, one unpublished study from a Christian college, and based on that, state legislatures are requiring public universities to accept it. And conservative lawmakers, they've criticized the SAT and ACT for what they see is dumbing down, allowing calculators, cutting section, shortening passages. Jonathan Butcher of the Heritage Foundation called the material generally bland with no inherent value, and the CLT positions itself as the rigorous alternative. But that, as testing officials say that the tests might not even be similar enough to compare. The CLT, they've posted information on how to align scores between the three test, but there's been no independent evidence backing those conversions up. And despite the lack of evidence,

Starting point is 00:27:02 the political momentum, it is very real. Again, 183,000 students took the CLT last year, up from just 300 a decade ago. And that growth, it's being driven by Republican state legislatures. It's why voting in every election, especially local elections, is so important. So in Indiana, they passed a bill requiring public universities to accept the CLT with state Senator Gary Byron saying that he hoped that it would encourage more public schools to introduce students to classic works. Also, Arkansas passed a similar bill. Ohio's moving in the same direction, North Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming, they're also on board. And as far as why this matters, well, I mean, even the CLT's own website acknowledges something very, very important. Teachers will teach towards the test. There is no force on this earth strong enough to prevent that.

Starting point is 00:27:39 So if states require public universities to accept this test and students start preparing for it, educators are going to start teaching material that it draws from. In that material, it just so happens to lean heavily on Christian theology, Western canon, and text selected by a board, dominated by conservative and religious organization leaders. There is no way to adequately prepare students for this exam without teaching them the culture and religious tradition that it's built around. And that's fine for students who grew up in that tradition. It's also a significant advantage for kids who went to Christian school or were homeschooled in classical education programs. But for any student, raise atheists, Muslim, Hindu, or in any tradition outside of Western Christianity, they're then walking into a test that was designed around someone else's intellectual heritage.

Starting point is 00:28:14 And their score on that test could determine which college to get into. And while the CLT, it's not required for the students, nobody's forced to take it. It offers an alternate pathway that structurally advantages students from one religion and cultural background over others. And when state legislatures start mandating that public universities accept it, the optional framing starts to break down. You know, this coming, the party that spent years screaming about so-called liberal indoctrination in classrooms and accusing the left of just pushing ideology on the kids, creating a test built around their own ideology and getting state legislatures to force universities to accept it, it's a pretty remarkable act of hypocrisy. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, brings us to the end of your Monday,

Starting point is 00:28:50 Philip DeFranco Show dive into the news. I can already tell we're going to have a slammed week this week, so definitely make sure you subscribe. Before I see you right back here tomorrow, remember, check out that extra Easter post that I put out for you at philiptofranco.com, link down below, and or go to beautifulbashore.com to get one of your new premium teas. Just make sure you use code, feel it, and check out so your first tease $15.

Starting point is 00:29:06 But yeah, until tomorrow, stay safe, stay safe.

The Philip DeFranco Show - MAGA Is Cracking From Inside

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