Media Spin Exposed: Left-Wing Violence & Censorship Uncovered — In The Tank Podcast #512
Download MP3Alright. We are now live. Welcome to the show, everyone. Violence seems to be a continuing theme in this country of late. The mainstream media has tried very hard to blame both sides for it while timidly and quietly acknowledging that left wing violence is at least on the rise.
Linnea Lueken:Though I think we all know that it was never as rare as Democrats would like us to believe. We will also be talking about optimism for the future of Gen z conservatism. We are going to be talking about all of this and more in episode 512 of the In the Tank podcast.
Eann Tang:Yeah. Charlie, I also want to, thank you specifically because I used to be a Bernie
Linnea Lueken:Alright, everyone. Welcome to the In the Tank podcast. I am Lanea Luken, your host. We also have Jim Lakeley, vice president and director of communications at the Heartland Institute, Sam Karnik, senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, and Chris Talgo, editorial director and socialism research fellow. We are also joined by a very special guest who, I guess, we had dropped in the beginning there, our own, wonderful communications department intern, Ian Tang, who is enjoying some liberal tears at this moment.
Linnea Lueken:So how is everybody doing this week? Ian, you especially. How are you?
Eann Tang:Good. Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing me on and especially, like, the audience to see what I look like right now. Usually, I don't show people that clip because I don't think I have a lot of hair, and I don't think I look so good. But, you know, Charlie passed away.
Eann Tang:Very heartbreaking. I'll be bringing that clip up, and thank you for, yeah, giving me the chance to share my experience as well.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. We're really looking forward to hearing your story here. I loved hearing that clip of you talking about how you were a Bernie Sanders supporter. We're gonna have to kick you out for that. Just kidding.
Linnea Lueken:But we'll, we'll talk about how you got here from there. Before we get started, you guys, as always, if you want to support the show, you can go to heartland.org/inthetank and donate there. You can also click the thumbs up to like the video, remembering that sharing it helps us to break through some of YouTube suppression that may or may not be on the way out, but we'll see. Still, don't hesitate from clicking like and sharing this video. Even just leaving a comment helps us too.
Linnea Lueken:If you're an audio listener, you can help us out by leaving a nice review. I wanna know what how everyone else's weeks are going. So far, it's Thursday already. Feels like Tuesday to me. I don't know why.
Linnea Lueken:But, Jim, how are you?
Jim Lakely:I'm fine. You know, the more I prepared for this show, this week, the, the angrier I got. So there might be a Jim rant coming in here. You know? I read a lot of notes.
Jim Lakely:I probably won't get through them all, but, god, it has been a rough couple of weeks and, you know, obviously, the loss of Charlie Kirk, we're still getting over that. But the the behavior, of the Democratic party, prominent Democrats in the media, and the continual violence on the left, it seems like there's three a week now. I mean, this is completely crazy, and there is a reason for that, which we will get in.
Linnea Lueken:Absolutely. Sam, how are you doing?
S.T. Karnick:Doing just great. Thanks, Lynne. It's been actually a very busy week for me too, developing, promoting the, free market solutions to the problems of the day.
Linnea Lueken:Awesome. And, Chris, what have you got going on? Is it I mean, I guess it's football season now, so everyone's getting a little bit competitive probably in the office too. Right?
Chris Talgo:All I care about is the bears. Bears look great. Last Sunday, they're gonna play the Raiders this Sunday, and I think that we're gonna go to two and two. But, on more important topics, I know that we are not gonna have time to do this today, but, Donald Trump's speech at the UN yesterday was unbelievable. And, I really hope that everyone saw it and that his message really hit home because everything that he was talking about with, you know, this crazy immigration stuff, the crazy, you know, green energy stuff is ruining these countries, and he made that very clear.
Chris Talgo:And, I really hope that that hits home. So you shall see.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Absolutely. Everyone, if you haven't seen that speech, go look it up. We had this planned, you know, to go over a little bit of the leftist violence issue and to talk about Ian's experience as a conservative in college campuses today. So we had to kind of pick and choose what stories we covered, but it's definitely worth it to check out Trump, beating the heck out of those UN squares.
Jim Lakely:Yeah. And and tomorrow, at this very same time, on this very same channel on the climate realism show, that is the main topic tomorrow. I have cut three minutes and thirty three seconds of that speech. Believe me. It was six minutes just on the climate stuff, and these were the great highlights.
Jim Lakely:So if you wanna see it and get our commentary on it, we'll see you Friday, 1PM eastern.
Chris Talgo:Just one one last thing on that. And I don't know if, Jim, you're gonna go into this tomorrow, but there were three things that happened which were really disturbing. The escalator just did not work as soon as Donald Trump and, Melania, stepped on it. The the, teleprompter, of course, broke as soon as Donald Trump stepped up to the, you know, to give his speech. And then third, as Katie Pavlidge pointed out, the audio was noticeably lower during Donald Trump's speech, and I've also heard that a lot of the, translators could not, you know, get it through.
Chris Talgo:So a lot of people just didn't even hear his speech. So just goes to show that the UN is is a really corrupt place, and there was actually reporting, a week ahead of that that some of the staffers there were gonna mess up the elevators and the escalators and look what happened. So I don't think that I do not think that was a coincidence, and I really hope that they do get to the bottom of it.
Jim Lakely:That was dangerous. You can't stop an s he was a sitting duck out there if anybody in the UN wanted to take him out. There needs you know, there needs to be accountability for that. Probably won't be because it's the UN.
Linnea Lueken:Absolutely. Well, please, that was a great pitch for tomorrow's show, Jim. So please join us tomorrow in the Climate Realism Show at the same time. So our our first topic this week, we're gonna we're gonna hit it right off with Unhinged. And the kind of topic theme of this section here is is the left violent?
Linnea Lueken:I think so. And is it a both sides issue? So we're gonna start the show here with this lovely clip just to set the tone. That white dudes for Harris clip is a like, I need a trigger warning for that. Anyway, these are these are some we're about to show you guys a video of some left wing protesters striking at a Trump pinata, I guess, until its head comes off.
Linnea Lueken:It's lovely. Can we get the video, Andy? I think Orwell in 1984 had a a commentary on how women were always the most aggressive party line towers. This is nice. Nice to see the Democrats are turning down the rhetoric here.
Linnea Lueken:But this is, a kind of pale, almost cute example considering the actual murders that have happened in the last few weeks and the fact that Donald Trump was you know, had two assassination attempts on his life, you know, last year. So ICE agents and detainees, that were just being escorted have been shot at and the detainees killed. Some kind of an explosive was put underneath a fox van in Nevada. Charlie Kirk was murdered. It's out of control out there right now.
Linnea Lueken:The far left magazine, The Atlantic, admits that left wing terrorism is on the rise. And by their own study, that they conducted, they say, which I think they might have included, I didn't get to look over the whole study, but they might have included jihadism on the right, which is kind of how they tend to fluff the numbers in a lot of these studies. But, they say that left wing terrorism has actually spiked, especially since Trump got into office in 2016. So, Ian, we wanted to have you on today, to talk a little bit about the college campus experience in the year 2025. So when I was in school around the time that Trump was elected the first time, it was really rough even then to be a campus conservative.
Linnea Lueken:We were always worried about left wing violence. Our it was really hard to get any kind of an event plan because the university wanted, like, ridiculous amounts of security for any right wing demonstration that we tried to do. People would tear up our signs when we tabled for college Republicans. Happened all the time. Nothing ever came about of it when we, you know, reported that kind of activity to the campus.
Linnea Lueken:I remember there was this one time I was tabling with two other people, and, like, a six foot something transgender student was getting very heated and demanding that we, like, take down our stuff in the student union. We said no, and we just kind of, like, waited for the situation to fizzle out, and it did eventually fizzle out. But it's it was crazy back then. Does it strike you as kind of crazy now when you're told that this kind of thing is a both sides issue, especially when it comes to, like, the campus level?
Eann Tang:Yeah. First off, I wanna say, yeah, the clip you show, it's how the left wants us wants America to have unity. Right? So hitting at a Donald Trump pinata. And I wanna say props to you, Lanea.
Eann Tang:Like, you were doing in 2,015. I I I actually see myself as quite lucky already. Like, I entered college in 2022, and then I just graduated in 2025. And then so I avoided the the pre COVID crazy era. And then and then second half of of my college is when the culture has really start to turn conservative, Trump won.
Eann Tang:But I wanna kind of recap on the on, like, my reaction of Kirk's murder first because, like, first of all, I was so if the audience don't know, like, when it happened, I was asleep because I'm in I'm in Asia right now. And then so when my dad told me that it happened, I was in, like, disbelief because I thought Kirk was just in Japan or Korea a few days ago, and I thought he got killed by North Koreans or he got killed by China. No way. But then but then, yeah, when he told me and then I opened up my phone, it's, like, flooded with DMs of people telling me that, yo. You yo.
Eann Tang:Charlie Kirk is dead. Yo. And then just, like, videos of of it happening. And then I was in complete shock that I don't even know how to react. And then part of the reason I'm stressing this is because I was in such complete shock, but at the same time, I saw it coming already.
Eann Tang:Meaning that, like, when we when my university, when we hosted Charlie Kirk here, the first thing we had to deal with is not like the venue. It's not like multimedia. The first thing was security. And in fact, most of our budget went to security. And before the event even started, the the police at our school had to do a bomb sweep of the event.
Eann Tang:And just me telling my friends in Taiwan here that hosting a political event at my university requires a bomb sweep, and then they were all in, like, complete shock. Like, they were all like, what's like, what is up with politics in America? And, really, it's like, I it's it just, like, really annoys me how the media points out like, keep saying it's a both sides issue because I can guarantee you guarantee you this. Like, if there's ever a left wing figured out, go to any college campuses in America, you will never ever see any, college republicans chapters, any turning point chapter, any conservative group chapters preparing to hold some sort of protest. Instead, as conservatives, we we know that it's we know that, like, protesting, like like, what what good does it do?
Eann Tang:You know? And then we know that we can actually not to say beat them by logic, but we we know that, like, even if we don't we don't completely agree, we can come to a middle ground to agree and disagree, and that's how it should be. That's how politics should be. So, yeah, it it just pisses me off that the media always frame this as, like, a bull side violence issue. They'll probably say this is, like, violence, just me drinking from this, but it's whatever.
Linnea Lueken:Well, that's kinda part of it too. Right? The violence the, like, the whole push on the left to say that words are violence. And so then they feel like it's necessary or appropriate for them to respond with real violence because they've been told for so long that if somebody, you know, says no to you, basically, they're, like, denying your right to exist or something. And Sam, we get a lot of tone policing on the right from our own allies in this.
Linnea Lueken:We talk we talked a little bit about it last week, how spineless so many of our representatives are. They're doing the whole, you know, both sides tour on on many of them are anyway when they're cornered when leaving their offices during the day. But so the last few weeks have seen a flurry of appalling, but not overly surprising and not even unprecedented violence from the left. And they are way too comfortable acting like this. And people on the left who aren't engaging in violence but are kind of either implicitly or directly encouraging it, are way too comfortable doing so.
Linnea Lueken:So what is your position on all of this then?
S.T. Karnick:Thanks, Lynette. The the people on the right who are sort of weak need about this are are really doing the same thing that the, on a on a different scale and in a different form, but the same thing that the the, anti police movement was doing in the in the late, twenties, tens, and through the twenty twenties where the idea was that, well, we'll we'll all just relax a little. We'll we'll let things go. And when the, when some people do things that are just beyond the pale and wrong, Well, we won't call them on it because that's mean. And so what happens is that the other side the side that is doing that sort of thing gets emboldened, obviously, because they can do whatever they they like and nothing happens.
S.T. Karnick:And it's been decades since conservatives, people on the right, could speak freely about pretty much anything. It it's it's been a long time since conservatives could really speak. You could you could say that it is since the mid nineteen sixties that the the clamps have been going down tighter and tighter. And so when you have that kind of captive mentality, it's as if they're performing Stockholm syndrome behavior where they're they're loving the enemy and and finding excuses for them and finding their own allies, their political allies to be wrong and beyond the pale and needing to be silenced. So what happens here is that we have to take this seriously, and people on the right really need to start to unify.
S.T. Karnick:I think the unity that we need is unity around the idea of America because we have a lot of unity against America right now, and it's not just abroad. It's within this country. So if they're so unified, we need to unify in favor of America and and the the David Frenches of the world and the bulwark writers of the world have got to really get on it. They've gotta make a choice. Either you're for America, what America stands for and always has stood for, incompletely and imperfectly, but what we what the American way is, you're either for that or you're against it.
S.T. Karnick:And the one side is very, very strongly against, and they're very unified in their opposition to America. We need some unity in promoting America.
Linnea Lueken:Absolutely. Jim, I know you have no strong feelings whatsoever on this topic.
Jim Lakely:Yeah. I have so many I have such lack of strong feelings. I hardly even know where to start. So it's well, I mean, first of all, it's it's the it's the gaslighting that we're getting from from the media. There have been four left wing acts of violence in just the last two weeks, and if and that's only if you start the clock at the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in which the media tried to convince us for days.
Jim Lakely:For days, they pushed the lie that Charlie Kirk was murdered by, as Jimmy Kimmel put it, one of their own, meaning a MAGA person or an extremely right somebody who's so far to the right that he thinks Charlie Kirk is a leftist and and deserves to die. They pushed that lie on purpose for days and, to the point where I guess Jimmy Kimmel believed it and pushed it again on his own show. But, you know, what what so one of the arguments here is that as the right you know, the other thing Jimmy Kimmel said is that the the right is trying to score political points on. No. That is not what the right is trying to do.
Jim Lakely:What the right is trying to do is to finally get through to the mainstream media in this country, the legacy media in this country, and the Democratic party to stop with all of this, what do they call it, stochastic terrorism stuff, which is inciting mentally ill people who believe all of these lies that have been told for a decade to take action to save the country. So you have all these rhetoric. So their own argument, by the way, which makes it even worse, is is this. So all this rhetoric about ICE being the Gestapo, Kim Wall said that. I I saw a clip earlier on on x this week, literally three straight minutes of Democrats calling ICE the Gestapo.
Jim Lakely:Trump is a fascist and literally Hitler. MAGA are fascists and brown shirts. Charlie Kirk is a racist and a hate monger. President Biden called half this country semi fascists who will destroy democracy if they win the election. Every single Democratic elected official has been saying the same thing over and over and over for a decade.
Jim Lakely:And the media has been trumpeting all of this for a decade without any pushback, and every late night show has done the same thing, and that that that this is nothing and and now they say that all of that has nothing to do with any of this epidemic of left wing attacks and murders of people on the right. I will remind you, these are the same people who say Donald Trump inspired an insurrection on January 6. Now never mind that he told his supporters the the protest peacefully and patriotically, So there's really no comparison. But in in in any way but by their delusional logic, that applies to Trump. And then all of this actual decades long demonization of non leftists by our media and Democrat party is not an assignment to violence and not the cause of it.
Jim Lakely:First of all, it can't be both ways, and we're all very certain we know it only runs one way. You know? I mean, for crying out loud, the media criticized Trump for criticizing or or, you know, they they characterized Trump as criticizing leftist media as fake news and insulting them deservedly for engaging in propaganda and not journalism. They said that that was not only a direct threat on the First Amendment, but a direct threat on their very lives. Just by he was putting their lives at risk, especially the people on CNN by calling them fake news.
Jim Lakely:And even after all of this, even after Charlie Kirk is dead, even as they continued to smear him before he was even buried, they have the the media and the talking heads in this country have no introspection. They take no responsibility for toning down the rhetoric no matter how often. And it's often that a lefty believes these lies and worse and then goes down, you know, discord rabbit holes, and then they take up arms and murder people who have differing political views. I will just close with this because this is what really needs to happen. And if this doesn't happen, then you know that the Democratic Party and the legacy meeting in this country are not serious about trying to save lives and tone down the political rhetoric in this country.
Jim Lakely:They need to look into the camera, look directly into the camera, and say we were wrong. Trump is not a fascist. He's not Hitler. His supporters are not fascists in brown shirts. Those were just stories we made up for political advantage.
Jim Lakely:And furthermore, the election of Donald Trump is you know, and and the political rise of his supporters in MAGA do not represent a threat to our democracy. You should be able to see that for yourself, by the way, because the country is still here. It's still operating as normal. Elections are still going to happen. They're still legitimate, and Trump is not acting as a tyrant.
Jim Lakely:He is exercising his legitimate presidential powers as every other president before him has done. This is not unusual, and violence is never the answer to our political differences. And if you are violent and you're harming people and you're killing people, causing property damage, rioting, targeting ICE facilities, all this kind of stuff that you deem direct action, none of that is legitimate political action, and it must stop and it must stop now. Unless and until we see democrats, prominent democrats stare into the camera and media members stare into the camera and say that, I would say repeatedly for, like, a month. They are not serious about stopping this, and the only conclusion to come is that they want this.
Jim Lakely:This is the result they want. That's why they say what they say, and that's why they downplay, gaslight, and have no guilt whatsoever about the destruction and the death of people who are not on the left.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Absolutely. Chris, I've seen a lot of people, well, I've seen several even even kind of larger figures in the media say things like, you know, they just they looked at the Charlie Kirk memorial, for example, which was an amazing event. I can't believe that that was streamed live for so many people to see. And say, like, this is I don't understand this culture from MAGA.
Linnea Lueken:I don't understand what this is. This is weird. This is unnatural. How far apart have we gotten that that's like, that just like a basic patriotic rally is horrifying to these people?
Chris Talgo:That's a great question. You know, I'm I'm gonna go I'm gonna go way further back on this, though. I remember back in the nineteen nineties, we had Ruby Bridge. We had Waco. We had the Atlanta, Olympic bombing.
Chris Talgo:We had, Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City. And the narrative throughout the nineteen nineties was right wing violence, and there were so many of these these crazy right right wing groups that wanted to take over the government, and I think that that has been perpetuated. And I remember, probably twenty tens maybe when, the FBI was saying that the biggest threat in The United States Of America is, like, racist white wing white, right wing white nationalists. And then when you would look at the evidence, it didn't really bear that out. And, you know, I just feel like this myth has been perpetuated going on thirty, forty years, almost my entire lifetime when you just look at the facts.
Chris Talgo:And this goes back to, you know, the tea party. This goes, you know, back to almost all the, right, you know, like, anti left rallies. They're not violent. They just aren't. They're peaceful.
Chris Talgo:They're peaceful protests because the, you know, the first amendment says that we can do that. The left in in my in my lifetime has taken a different tack. It's much more violent tack. I think this goes back to the Olinsky days. I think this goes back to the Weather Underground and a lot of this nineteen sixties really radical stuff.
Chris Talgo:I don't think it's gotten, I don't think it's reduced. I think it's gotten much worse. I think that there's many reasons why. I think that a lot of those left wing radicals are now, professors at, universities, and they are just straight up indoctrinating, millions of American students. I think it's also happening in, high schools and even in middle schools.
Chris Talgo:Culture is toxic, and, we got a lot of work to do.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. That was one thing that struck me was realizing that, you know, a lot of the, purportedly, you know, one way or the another or another, you know, like, anti government, which they always slot into the right whether or not the the the rest of their philosophy matches up with the traditional, you know, like, American GOP type person. They always slot it into the right if it's anti government. But
Chris Talgo:But but Terry Nichols and and Timothy McVeigh and these Yeah. You know, whack jobs were not creatures of the right. They were total anarchists. If anything, they were, like, antifa, you know, from from the nineties. So I really I don't buy that, you know, that conclusion that they're making that anything where it's, like, you know, pro anarchy or pro, you know, like, let's let's, you know, get rid of, the federal government because they are infringing on on these liberties, which is, one of the big things that happened, back in Ruby Ridge.
Chris Talgo:That is not a classic right stance. That is an anarchy stance, and the anarchists are much more actually on the left than they are on the right. So just wanna throw that out there.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Well, the point that I was getting to was that it seems like those guys suffered for their crimes quite a bit more than anyone from, like, Weather Underground. People bombed the bombed the Pentagon, bombed also, you know, like, serious violence, not just
Chris Talgo:Even even even even even the Unabomber. The Unabomber was a hardcore leftist, an environmental nutcase. And just one other thing just to, you know, kinda put a close on this. I vividly remember the Oklahoma City bombing and all those things. There was no right wing, you know, celebrations.
Chris Talgo:No one's saying, yeah. He was right. It was universally panned. And here, we're not seeing that. We're seeing a lot of moral relativism and a lot of people saying, well, it's justified because he was a racist even though, obviously, he wasn't.
Chris Talgo:And, you know, Jim and Donnie and I had a long discussion about this cut this very topic a couple weeks in the office, and I, you know, had a, you know I I had to admit to Jim and to Donnie that I was flat out dead wrong about this a couple I don't know. Maybe, like, ten months or so ago maybe, Jim. I don't know. Like, a year ago maybe when we had a similar conversation. And, you know, Jim, I've been thinking a lot about that.
Chris Talgo:And I think the one of the reasons why I came to that initial conclusion was because I thought people had agency. And I'm kind of thinking now that maybe people's agency is, being reduced because of social media and so many other things where they're not thinking for themselves. They're not, you know, they're not really engaging in, you know, deep rooted logical ration based thinking about a topic. They just take, you know, the superficial, like, slogan and just run with it, and that's really dangerous.
Jim Lakely:Well, I mean, we've talked about this in the past. And why do people engage in propaganda? Because propaganda works. You know? It's it's not they they don't do it just for them their own self satisfaction.
Jim Lakely:It's because and propaganda, the the key to it is the relentlessness of it, and that's what's the key. And we've had for a decade relentless propaganda from everywhere you can possibly imagine, demonizing people who are not on the left, peep conservatives. And I would just I know we've we've already gone too long on this topic, and I certainly have gone on too long. I will just add one more bit of fact on this. The Oklahoma City, Bahamian, Bill Clinton came out and blamed Rush Limbaugh for that.
Jim Lakely:So this has been going on for thirty years of this idea of, like, you know, the rise of right wing violence and that it's to blame you know, the the the blame for that is, you know, a guy's talk show. So that wasn't true then, but it is true that, you know, propaganda works. That's why it's applied, and it's been applied in a complete flood the zone level when it comes to, you know, ginning up these sorts of things. You know? They you know, did they did the did the media want did they want Charlie Kirk to get killed?
Jim Lakely:Actually, no, because it would actually works against their purposes. Because as Ian will attest, it has hardened the, resolve of a lot of young people, around the world, to stand up for their principles and push back, and counter, you know, leftist control and leftist everything. So that's not what they wanted. But they do want, basically, everything else short of murder. I mean, look at how they they like, the famous it's now a meme.
Jim Lakely:The famous the famous shot of reporter for CNN where there's buildings literally burning behind him and the and the chiron on the bottom on the lower third says, fiery but peaceful protest. You know, if that's if if that's not more proof that this is what they want, I don't know what to tell you.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Well and I
S.T. Karnick:want everything short of murder that will be traced directly back to them. They don't mind if people are killed and and, you don't know that who did it.
Chris Talgo:I I still think this is this is the outcome of moral relativism. And, you know, everything can be justified if if they if they say, well, Charlie Kirk was, you know, a fascist or a Hitler or this or that. So then, yeah, anything is justified. You know? It's it's the loss of principle.
Chris Talgo:And I I mean, I don't yeah. I mean, there there's there's political, reasons for that, but there's also I I mean, I I know we don't wanna get into this, you know, side of the discussion, family and, just morals. Who are instilling those morals?
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Well, I I don't wanna I don't wanna spin off, but you just made me think of something, Chris, which is that maybe it's not maybe we have to come to terms with the fact that on the left, it's not a lack of principle. It's that their principles include right wingers getting killed. I mean, it's it's getting it's pretty bad out there. But, I'm going to wildly shift course on this, conversation and on the podcast that we're doing right now.
Linnea Lueken:So, Jim, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to take the time to thank one of our wonderful sponsors today.
Jim Lakely:You're you're forcing me to do a very, very dramatic attitude shift. But Yeah. Not be yelling. It's grieving about it. But, yeah, I'll do my best because wanna talk to you a little bit about our, the sponsor of this show and the climate realism show, so the two livestream podcasts of the Heartland Institute, and that is Advisor Metals.
Jim Lakely:If you listen to a lot of conservative shows like, everybody on this podcast does, you hear tons of pitches about buying gold and silver and other precious metals. And there are tons of companies out there, but we wanna tell you why you should trust our sponsor, Advisor Metals, and it's the man who runs the company, Ira Prashatsky. Ira is the managing member of Advisor Metals. He does not employ high pressure tactics or deceptive marketing ploys like many of those in big gold. He also doesn't deal in so called rare coins.
Jim Lakely:So when you buy gold and other precious metals from Advisor Metals, you're dealing in quality bullion, and that is so much better when the time comes to liquidate this very valuable physical asset. And when you buy from Advisor Metals, you will have your investment sent directly and discreetly to your home. Also, Ira is advertising on our program on both of our programs because he is an America first patriot. He does not donate to Democrats or their or their causes. He refuses to work proxies of the Chinese Communist Party, and he, like us, abhor the machinations of the World Economic Forum.
Jim Lakely:And so we that makes us very proud to count him as a sponsor. So you wanna diversify your investment portfolio? If you wanna back up your IRA with real physical bullion and precious metals, please go to climaterealismshow.com/metals and leave your information there, and Ira or one of one of his team will get in contact with you and make the whole process very easy. That's climaterealismshow.com/metals, and be sure to tell them who sent you because you will be helping out us in this program and the Heartland Institute while you're helping yourself.
Linnea Lueken:Thank you so much, Jim. I know that was difficult for you to shift your mindset there, But there really is no better time to do this ad read because all of the topics today are infuriating in in one way or another. But alright. So our second coverage today, you guys, we're we're hitting on some news that's coming out about Google or Alphabet's censorship, which we talk about a lot on this show because the Heartland Institute is one of the YouTube channels that has been very badly embattled for a long time at this point. So we're definitely shifting gears here.
Linnea Lueken:Ohio representative Jim Jordan reports that Google has committed to offer creators on YouTube who were previously blacklisted or kicked off away back onto the platform, especially if they were kicked out for political speech violations. Google admits that they were pressured by the Biden administration directly and specifically to censor speech from particular people surrounding COVID and suspicious activity in the twenty twenty election. So here's one of the excerpts excerpts from a letter from Alphabet that I want to read to you guys. Senior Biden administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the company regarding certain user generated content really related to the COVID nineteen pandemic that did not violate its policies. While the company continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden administration officials continued to press the company to remove nonviolative user generated content.
Linnea Lueken:As online platforms, including Alphabet, grappled with these decisions, the administration's officials, including president Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platform space and their concerns regarding misinformation. It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden administration, attempts to dictate how the company moderates content, and the company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds. Yeah. Right. Alright.
Linnea Lueken:So, there's a lot of interesting stuff in Jim Jordan's thread on x about it, so I highly recommend that you guys go over there and read it. Jim, this is good news. It shouldn't surprise anyone that this has been the case. But if I may, because I'm always the one, I think, who's a bit more cynical about a lot of these companies on this panel. But if I can be a bit cynical here, this stuff started well before Biden came to power.
Linnea Lueken:Right? Like, this is not just a problem where they were suddenly being pressured out of nowhere by the Biden administration. There was censorship and suppression of conservative speech even during Trump's first term. So how do we know that they won't go right back to what they were doing before the second that Democrats, you know, god forbid, get back into the White House?
Jim Lakely:No. We don't know that. And in fact, we can fully expect it. You know? One one of the themes I I've mentioned on this podcast many times is that the election of Donald Trump, the first time in 2016, broke the brains of so many people in this country.
Jim Lakely:And you see it today, the way people are absolutely well, you saw it from that port that when we showed the clip of the grandma, you know, trying to decapitate an effigy of of Donald Trump with this look of absolute she she's like Gollum, you know, this look or, you know, or of of not Frodo, but Bilbo, you know, when he has that little moment where he goes like that and he just, like, reverts into this evil thing again. It's like the look in her face. It's it's unsettling to say the least, you know, somebody's grandma trying to decapitate an effigy of Donald Trump, and so he broke people's brains. But one of the things it also did back in 2016 is that these social media companies, We played this on on a on the podcast a long time ago, and some of our viewers and listeners may remember that Google had a, post election cry in at their offices. They had a whole staff meeting where they went on and on for, like, ninety minutes about, you know, how I know that you're all very upset, and this is very troubling.
Jim Lakely:And, you know, they were crying and, you know, rending their clothing metaphorically about about Donald Trump being elected. And so the people that ran that run our social media, the social media giants, Hollywood, and our news media blamed themselves for this horrible thing that happened, that Donald Trump became president. And they vowed to never ever let it happen again, that they had the power at their fingertips to stop Trump fascism, but they didn't do it. And so they were gonna do it from now on. So, yes, you're right.
Jim Lakely:This kind of censorship has been going on for a long time. And in fact, this very channel for this very podcast, as Andy knows very well, our producer, we got strikes against us for talking about COVID in ways that the government not approved. We had a video actually struck from our channel all about COVID, which got us in big trouble and almost got us, kicked off YouTube forever. Once you get kicked off YouTube, it is forever. They don't even let you come back in and try to, you know, try to change your name and come in with a new channel.
Jim Lakely:They'll they'll sniff that out, and you're busted for good. So, you know, they they created this atmosphere of fear. And if you said the wrong thing, you would be silenced. And, you know, and a lot of people make a we don't we don't make money because we're still demonetized on here. And even when we did, it was very little very little revenue that we would generate when we were monetized.
Jim Lakely:But there are a lot of conservative commentators who who make their living making big, you know, content for YouTube. And where's their restitution from Google after putting them out of business for the last four years? And this story really needs to be you know, I've always I've I've kind of rolled my eyes, especially, no offense, at Jim Jordan because all we ever get are hearings and a bunch of argle, bargle, and yelling and screaming at people, and then nothing ever happens. And in reality, really, nothing has really happened here except that they have apparently coerced Google's attorneys to lay out in a letter exactly how they violated the first amendment rights of half of this country at the behest of the president of The United States or the White House. That's kind of a big deal, but you are right, Linea.
Jim Lakely:You are not too cynical. They will go right back to this if and when, and it's when Democrats get the White House and control the bureaucracy once again. So it's nice to know what we already knew. You know? Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan show and said it and laid it flat out.
Jim Lakely:Every single social media company and content platform was censoring non leftist voices at the behest of the government. That is actual violation of First Amendment rights, not Donald Trump calling CNN fake news.
Chris Talgo:Well, you know, this brings in mind, section two thirty. If section two thirty was passed in 1997 so that these, that these platforms could have anyone say anything and they would not be held liable, then why are they years after the fact saying, we're gonna take it down because we could be held liable? That makes no sense. So I really do think that it is time to, readdress section two thirty. I think that that has been completely used and abused.
Chris Talgo:But I also wonder if this would ever have happened had Elon Musk not bought Twitter. I will go back to that as the as the, for lack of a better word, turning point here because that did serve as a tipping point in which people then could say, wait a second. Here's what's going on. Twitter is, you know, doing all these things. Google's doing all these things.
Chris Talgo:YouTube's doing all these things, and there was evidence. There, you know, there was flat out evidence that was pointing the finger at it. You know, I kinda go two ways on this because so if Google was doing this during Trump's presidency, but Trump himself wasn't saying to do it, well, then I guess they do have the right to do that. However, if they're doing it at the discretion of the Biden administration, then, obviously, that's a big no no. That is a violation of free speech.
Chris Talgo:So there was both both things going on here because Google even admitted that, hey. Some of the stuff we took down and some of the stuff that we censored, Biden administration didn't even want us to do it. We just did it on our own volition. So shame on Google for doing that. But, I do think that we are in a better place.
Chris Talgo:I do think that, a lot of the, things that have been happening for, you know, eight years now with, these social media companies, you know, throttling, you know, accounts and such is probably gonna stop, and that's a great thing. So, you know, it's and and, you know, just just to almost, like, you know, hurt my own argument here. There is there is the, there there is the case to be made that these platforms, you know, they can do whatever they want. Okay? Yeah.
Chris Talgo:They can. They are free. They are open to do whatever they want. However, you can't have it both ways. You can't have that section two thirty liability.
Chris Talgo:You can't have the Communications Decency Act cover you for all these things, but then at the same time say, hey. We're gonna get rid of this. So if, you know, they are trying to have it both ways.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. I wanna hear from Andy because he's been on, you know, the, front lines fighting for Heartland's monetization and all of that, and we've gotten some some ringers on the for for, like, the kind of things that we get struck down for so innocuous all the time that it's just ridiculous, Andy.
Speaker 6:Well, yeah. Yeah. You know, it's it was when Jim said, like, as as Andy knows, like, our channels have been, you know, demonetized or suppressed, and and I've I've been on the front of trying to end that, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. But, you know, it's really amazing how they do it and how little information they give you, and that's that's the key for how they can take a chick a channel like ours, suppress it permanently, and and make it nigh impossible to to recover it. So let me just, like, kinda describe how they've done it to us on YouTube just as an example here.
Speaker 6:We have thousands. I I I don't know the number off the top of my head. I probably could have looked it up in the last few minutes, but we have thousands of videos on YouTube. And eventually, one day, we'll just get a strike on our channel, and it'll say well, either when we apply for monetization or just something that they consider so large, which has happened to us, that it's like a general channel strike. And they'll they'll give us a general topic area.
Speaker 6:So for us, it's been hateful content. It first happened, I believe, during COVID. That was face or that was Facebook. Yeah. But but it'll say, like, hateful or or, like, misinformation.
Speaker 6:And they won't tell you what video. They won't even tell you, like, what topic area. So, like, they won't say if it's related towards, you know, a a gym rant or something we said about climate change or anything. And they just say, like, you are allowed to reapply in ninety days, after you make changes to your channel. Okay.
Speaker 6:Jim just said 2,600 videos after you make changes to your channel to satisfy, like, these terms. So we've we've reapplied many times, but we we can't make changes because we don't know which of these 2,600 videos they take issue with. So after a while like, our channel has gotten big enough to this point where we are given direct access to, like, YouTube's customer support. And first, they send me to a bot. I chat with the bot for a while, then they send me to a person who says they can't help me, and I just get angry long enough, frankly, that they send me to their manager.
Speaker 6:And then the manager will finally all I'll my my request every single time is I will do whatever you guys want. Just tell me what videos you take issue with so I can delete the sections or delete the videos and restore the channel. I I am willing to play ball. Like like, it's literally where I've I've they've they've beat me down into at this point. They, and they'll say, oh, okay.
Speaker 6:We have to send it to our internal review team. That'll take two weeks, and and then they can, like, figure out what the issue is and tell so they'll do that, and then they switch you off the chat into email, and then they slowly switch like, change where the window is to, like, oh, yeah. No. We're not gonna tell you what the issue is. We're just gonna help you reapply for monetization or reinstate your channel until they eventually completely, like, just change from what they originally said they were gonna help you with, and this has happened multiple times now, and, deny you again.
Speaker 6:So the the entire system is made even for someone like a channel like ours that has access to support to to never resolve any issue. And once they decide to put that strike on you, it is it is permanent. It is forever. You you cannot beat them.
Chris Talgo:I'm gonna play why we
Speaker 6:have great sponsors like Advisor Metals helping support shows like these in the background, not related towards YouTube. Thank you to them. Alright. I just wanted to jump in and and chime in with that. If you have any questions for me, go for it.
Speaker 6:But yeah.
Chris Talgo:Just can't help myself here. I gotta play devil's advocate just a little bit here. So YouTube is a private company. The Heartland Institute does not have a right to have videos on that entity. That is up to them.
Chris Talgo:The the thing with, you know, Jimmy Kimmel and this whole free speech thing, I think, has been grossly, you know, taken out of context here because the government did not go to ABC and say, take him off the air. That never happened. That was a business decision on behalf of ABC and the affiliates. Same with YouTube and same with Google, except when the Biden administration went to Google and said, hey. Take this stuff down.
Chris Talgo:So as a as a free speech absolutist, if if YouTube says, you know what? We just don't wanna put what you're saying on our on our platform, I'd say, well, that's really sad, and, you're gonna lose out on half the market because, you know, theoretically, half the people in this country wanna hear what one side has to say. But if they choose to do that, that is their own choice. And I don't really think it's a free speech argument. I you know, I we can we can have arguments as to whether it's a good business decision.
Chris Talgo:Yes or no. But I just I I I do wanna make that nuanced point.
Speaker 6:I strongly agree with you on the YouTube side, honestly. I as as annoying as it is, I I kind of agree with where you're coming from. With Kimmel, I strongly disagree. Everyone's kinda saying that, like, AVs or not, the FCC, like here's what the FCC did. The the the chair, like, Brendan Carr or something, went on, some popular podcast with 5.4
Chris Talgo:But once again but but once again, that's an indirect thing. That's him saying something.
Speaker 6:Oh, yeah. No. Like, an indirect thing. But he indirectly went on there and then threatened, like, ABC, but the FCC doesn't actually have, like, the power to do that. What he literally did do, though, was say, like, we're going to threaten the licenses of the stations that, show Kimmel.
Speaker 6:And what next happened is Sinclair and Nexstar, which are the two station group owners, which are the people that actually have the licenses, like, pulled Kimmel. And threaten the station groups, and then have people claim see, they didn't actually take any direct action, but they threatened them. The government threatened private companies for the, like, outcome that they wanted, got that outcome, and then went on Fox News and said, Nexstar and Sinclair, and this is days after, seems like they did this because they wanna protect their licenses, which is exactly what the threat was. So I don't see this as a free speech issue. I see this as a gross misuse of government power, and I strongly disagree with you on bail.
S.T. Karnick:The original law that established the the FTC, the Communications Act, gave them authority to ensure that all broadcast, material, all broadcast providers are fair and and and decent, and they they have the authority to do that. And they still have that authority. What's interesting here is that what Carr did was state openly that we have this authority and we are going to follow the law, and we are going to enforce the law. That and and what happened then, though, was that that was very different from what the Biden administration did, which was go to companies that were not covered by by this by the Communications Act. They were not covered under the law as having to operate in the public interest.
S.T. Karnick:Companies that get spectrum from the government have to operate in the public interest. That's the law. If you don't like it, change the law. But for the for an administration to enforce the law is actually what their job is. That's what they're supposed to do.
S.T. Karnick:What the Biden administration did was they went and, jawboned companies that were not under this law, and they did it in secret. So this is a a completely different situation. I don't say that necessarily the FTC or FCC was right to do this, but I do say they had the right and they should actually follow the law. If that's what the law says, then then they should do it. And I believe that that is what they were doing.
S.T. Karnick:They they are following the law. Again, if you don't like it, change the laws. Good luck with that.
Linnea Lueken:I wanna get Ian's take on all of this, especially as it pertains to, like, social media and YouTube and stuff. Because I know that, you know, Gen z and, you know, especially younger millennials and stuff, we get and and even like, Jim, I know you're in this this group too, get most of their news, most of their entertainment even from places like YouTube, you know, Rumble, Twitter, whatever. So I wanna I wanna hear what your take is on this, Ian.
Eann Tang:Yeah. For sure. Yeah. It was really interesting on legal debate. I made up my mind not to go to law school, so I can't really say anything here.
Eann Tang:Not the expert. First off, I wanna say, though, like, Jimmy Kimmel, like, as a Gen Z or there's another term for for us, right, called the Zoomers because we went through the whole Zoom generation. And, really, I don't really know any Gen Zers that that still watches Jimmy Kimmel. Like, I'm serious. But I will wanna call out two people.
Eann Tang:First is Hassan Piker and then also Destiny Destiny. And to tie back to our previous topic, like, these two people, it's kinda crazy how Harlem, we just question COVID. We question climate change, and then our channel is, like, completely demonetized. But you will get Hassan Piker and Destiny. For those that don't know, these two are basically the liberal versions of Charlie Kirk.
Eann Tang:Like, they are what the left is, the progressive, the far left are following on on social media and are looking up to. These two on their social media, on stream, would, like, vocally advocate for killing of conservatives. I couldn't find a clip. Maybe YouTube is hiding it for Hassan, but there's literally a Hassan Piker clip out there. Go to Twitter to look up.
Eann Tang:Go to X to look up to look it up. But of him calling, like, for the killing of renters, and you get Destiny saying that, like, conservatives need to be afraid after the the Charlie Kurt assassination. Like, it's it's just, like, crazy to me. And then also as someone who was, like, formerly liberal, I'll weigh in on that a little bit later. But the the point I'm trying to make is that when I first turned conservatives, I was like, yeah.
Eann Tang:I don't wanna be those crazy conservatives. I want to I don't wanna be, like, watching Fox News, watching, like, fake news. Right? So I really follow a lot of those, like, community guidelines or what are they called? Like, the fact checkers on YouTube, Instagram.
Eann Tang:And then and then, like, it turns out all of those fact checkers are really just, like, opinion checkers. And yeah. And then so that's why really, like me, we don't really care about, like, Jimmy Kimmel or, like, traditional media or, like, social media. And, like, just like what Chris said, when Elon really took over X, it was really the turning point. And then, like, I remember they were talking about how there were, like, some CNN reports on how, like, the conservatives have to build, like, an alternative to everything.
Eann Tang:Like, we have True Social as the alternative to Twitter, and then we even have they write stuff as, like, a conservative version of Tinder. Like, we need in the past, we need literally need to build, like, a conservative alternative of every social media platform out there. That's how far the censorship went. And it's just crazy how, really, why these leftists are so violent is because you got, like, literal literal version of Charlie Kirk saying that we need to go out and kill conservatives. We need to be violent.
Eann Tang:And they and then they they're still monetized. Like, they're still streaming every day, but then Harlan, I can't even question whether I want I don't wanna eat Beyond Meat or what.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. Well and and Piers Morgan had Destiny on shortly after the Charlie Kirk assassination, and destiny said something along the lines of this is what conservatives get for electing Trump. And it's like, okay. So this guy gets to be you know, I guess he's not he has you know, he hasn't been platformed on, Twitch for a while, but, yeah, it's it's pretty terrible. And and so but but sorry.
Linnea Lueken:I heard someone else say something.
Chris Talgo:I was just gonna say that I don't think that those people are really representative of the left in general, so I don't think it's truly fair to, like, say that they represent the vast majority of, like, leftist views. I think that they are a vol a smoke small vocal minority. And, you know, just just go going back to the, Google censorship stuff because that's what this, you know, was originally about. I also remember and after after the the administration was was doing all that stuff, there was all this talk about, well, hey. Conservative places.
Chris Talgo:Why don't you just set up your own platforms? And what happened when we when not we. I didn't do it, but when they were tried. Amazon Web Services said, yeah. We're not gonna host you.
Chris Talgo:And, I mean, there were so many other things that were so many other, intrusions in place. So this this idea that, you know, you just go go make your own conservative Twitter. Go make your own conservative, YouTube or Google or whatever. Yeah. That that argument left the door a long time ago because these companies are total monopolies.
Chris Talgo:They have, you know, 90 plus percent of the, of the market cornered. So we are way beyond, going and starting a new, you know, platform to, you know, have conservative actually have a fair chance at, you know, putting their stuff out there. Just wanna look
Speaker 6:for that out.
Jim Lakely:Yeah. I mean, Parler went from being the most downloaded app on iOS and Android to being deleted from existence within a span of seven days Mhmm. Because of the power of the left and, you know, holds over big tech. And and just just one more point on this whole thing about, you know, YouTube and, you know, you know, you you mentioned this, Chris, and I used to do tech policy for Heartland when I first started with with Heartland back in 02/2008. You know, section two thirty of the Communications Decency Decency Act, it protects tech companies from liability because of what somebody may put on their platforms, but they have to pledge to be an open platform.
Jim Lakely:Once you start deciding who gets to who get this speech is not is not good. I don't like it. We're gonna get rid of You you're no longer you're you're moving away from being a platform of communications to being a publisher of communications, and there is a very important distinction legally between those two categories. And that's why YouTube and Facebook and all the others have an obligation under the law that was passed by congress to act as platforms, not publishers. And, again, once you start getting into that idea that, you know, a heartless tube video, you know, talking about COVID in ways that the government does not approve is worthy of not just a reprimand or a maybe a a note saying be careful, but to have your channel threatened with its very existence and then having the the video completely struck.
Jim Lakely:It's still like you I can go find it in the background. I I I look at it once in a while. It was completely struck from you know, they just deleted it, and so it can't be used again. There there's a big difference on that than Yeah.
Chris Talgo:There yeah. Yeah.
Jim Lakely:Important to just important to mention that context of of the law when it
Chris Talgo:1100%. So when when someone sends an op ed to me and I pitch it to, to a publisher, whether it's American Think or Red State, the Hail or whatever, they have the ability to say, yeah. We want that. No. We don't want that because they have editorial discretion over what's going on to their their platform, their website.
Chris Talgo:Under the law, the 1997 law, when the Internet was first, you know, coming of age, they didn't wanna have any of that because they didn't want they wanted to have a very innovative entrepreneur driven environment. Here we are now thirty years later, and it looks like that might need to be, looked at again. And I have heard that I think Jim Jordan and Kash Patel have already started saying that, yeah, we do need to reform section two thirty. It's thirty years, you know, later, and, it's not the same environment. So I think that would be a big help.
Linnea Lueken:Yep. Absolutely. Dan?
Eann Tang:Yeah. I would like to jump in and reply to Chris for real real quick. Like, I'm not saying that like, of course, I believe that the people who are violent are, like, a like, a very small minority on the left. But if for people in my generation, if you actually follow Hassan Piker or Destiny, they are, like, the biggest figure on the left right now. And then I think we can all agree on this that the left is really getting more far left.
Eann Tang:Right? Like, I have a lot of liberal friends who are saying that they just can't identify as a liberal anymore because they they just can't support whatever that's coming that's like, whatever rhetoric that's being used on the left. But I would like to add that Charlie Kirk's murder, it happened because not because the left all wanted him to die, but because they they basically fostered this environment by calling him a Nazi and by having these two, by having Hassan Piker and Destiny constantly pushing these violent rhetoric. And I think it's like we have to point out the fact that every time when there's, like, far right on the right, like, doing something stupid, like the Proud Boys, January 6, whatever, on the right, first thing we have to do is to condemn them. But but whenever it's on the left, you'll always get, like, a, oh, we need to, oh, tone it down a little bit and killing people is wrong.
Eann Tang:But Charlie Kirk is hateful. But he's pro second amendment, so he got killed. He got his own medicine. So I think I wanna really point this out because Hassan Piker and Destiny, these are two are really big figures on the Gen Z. Like, all of the people I know who are liberal follows him even if they are not, like, far left.
Eann Tang:So that's that's something I like to
Chris Talgo:point No. You you are totally right about that, and this goes back to a meme that I think Elon Musk kinda popularized a couple years ago where it's like, the left here, and then, like, here's everybody else. And I really do I I agree with you. I think that that is very, very true. And I go back to mid nineties Democrats under the Clinton administration.
Chris Talgo:They were very moderate. You know? They believed in, hey. If you want welfare, you should work. We should have, you know, a balanced budget.
Chris Talgo:We should have, you know, closed borders. Like, yes. I I totally agree with you. So I do think that that is a a big threat and something that we need to, have to definitely deal with because those I mean, Ian, there are millions of people in your generation who are gonna be leaders and voters, and, you know, they are they are our future. And if they are buying this, you know, left wing crap, well, then then I don't feel very good, very optimistic about the future.
Chris Talgo:So but then again, I see someone like you who who who has made that transformation, and, you know, I I I am also confident. So I I I don't know. I can see both sides of this one for sure. Yeah. Speaking of
Jim Lakely:this meme, but
Eann Tang:then I'm literally this meme, but I started running to the right in 2021, and now we can't even see me on this spectrum.
Jim Lakely:It's it's
Eann Tang:it's not a joke.
Linnea Lueken:So so speaking of that, our our final topic, and I know we're running late here, you guys. It's not in the tank if we don't start late, and it's not in the tank if we don't run late. But our main topic today that I wanted to get to is actually kind of interviewing Ian on a lot of this stuff, Gen z and the future of conservatism. So we're looking at the political future for conservatives. Ian has a great story about how he came to be conservative and what it's like right now on college campuses.
Linnea Lueken:In the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, there was chaos because in truth, Charlie is irreplaceable as a leader in the young conservative space. Nobody, no single person has that affability and the suite of, you know, genuine talent that Charlie Kirk had. It's going to be an insanely tough job to keep that momentum that Turning Point USA has built over the last decade. So I wanna share this picture, though, from outside of the Charlie Kirk memorial service that was posted by endwokeness on x. Andy, if we have that picture that the was linked.
Linnea Lueken:Yeah. There we go. Okay. So this is from the waiting line outside of Charlie Kirk's memorial service. That's a lot of young people, and they're all motivated to show up to mourn a political figure.
Linnea Lueken:I think that this might be somewhat unprecedented. So, I want you to tell us, what you feel comfortable telling us, Ian. But I wanted to start with this question, which I already know the answer to, but I'm gonna let you kind of give the story on it. Were you always conservative?
Eann Tang:No. So, yeah, like, I was born in a very I wouldn't say very, but, like, like, my mom's, like, Christian conservative. My dad's, like, a businessman. So also, like, lean right. And then, really, growing up, I never really had, like, a sense of, like, what is on the left and what is on the right.
Eann Tang:And then I wasn't like, I was, like, political. I was, like, into history and stuff, but I wasn't so aware. And then what really introduced me to politics was when Andrew Yang, he started running. Right? And I saw, like, another Asian guy who's running for president, and then he's also Taiwanese like me, actually.
Eann Tang:And then he has this, like, policy on UBI that we need to give everyone a thousand dollars. And to put it quite frankly, well, like, just like how I mentioned he's Taiwanese, I'm Taiwanese, human are tribalistic. So my first instinct was like, yeah. I have to support this guy. And then, of course, when I brought up about, like, the UBI one a thousand dollar, my parents thought it's, like, ridiculous.
Eann Tang:And then but then I was just like, yeah. It's it sounds ridiculous. But then because back then, I I had no clue of, like, really the left and right, so I was just looking at CNN and, like, MSNBCs and New York Times. And all of these articles are, like, justifying a thousand like, the UPI stuff because they're saying the rich is not paying enough and then that, like, the UBI, like, just yeah. Giving out money is good.
Eann Tang:It boosts the economy, all of that crap. Right? And then, really, it's, like, Bernie Sanders that jump on, and I I saw, like and he's a populist. He's really good at Bernie Sanders is the smartest capitalist out there because he knows how to manipulate the system without actually bringing the positive side of of capitalism out. And then so he's the smartest capitalist out there, but I had no clue back then.
Eann Tang:Right? I was just a I was the dumbest cap well, I was, like, the dumbest consumer. He's the smartest capitalist. And then but what really kinda, like, radicalized me was when, like, the whole BOM thing happened. And then I was just, like, convinced that, like, America is just racist against minorities, racist against people like me.
Eann Tang:And then because I was following Bernie Sanders already, and then, really, the the logic of the left is that, like, everything is evil. The system is evil. Everything that needs to the only solution to everything is that we need, like, a revolution. Like, we need that's the Marxist angle. Right?
Eann Tang:Of course, I'm not saying, like, everyone on the left is like this, but the left is heading toward that direction, especially under Bernie Sanders. And then so that was, like, kinda, like, what I believe in. That's that was what my worldview was about. And then and then I remember so, like, yeah, I still remember this good guy, bad guy. I thought I was in the good guys team.
Eann Tang:I didn't know there's really left versus right. And then, of course, all of my teachers are, like, very liberal. And then just to give you guys a context, so I grew up in Taiwan. Right? And then I went to an, like, a American accredited international school.
Eann Tang:So all of my teachers are basically Americans, but they are, like, far left Americans. Like, there's a reason why they don't wanna live in The US anymore. Like, they they hate America. So, of course, they, like, hate Trump, and then they're, like, very pro Bernie. And all of my classmates are also very left lee left leaning.
Eann Tang:And then there's this issue that I brought up to my friends, which is the issue of abortion. It's not even the the economics yet. Right? And then, basically, I just thought, like, protecting an innocent life in a woman would be a good guy's position. So I brought that out.
Eann Tang:And then all of my friends just all, like, flip out on me. Like, they got so angry. Like, for the fur that's, like, my first time hearing how can you as a man tell a woman what to do with their body. That was was my first time hearing of it, I was so confused. And I was like, alright.
Eann Tang:Alright. Chill. Chill. I'll I'll be pro choice. I'll be pro choice.
Eann Tang:But then I was just so confused. And then and then I clicked on a Ben Shapiro video, and then that video was, like, my first introduction to, like, conservatism. It was like, I had no clue how the pro life argument can be defended this way. I I had no clue how there are people who are, like, on the right doing activism like this, and that's when I get to Charlie Kirk. And then what really woke me up, especially with Charlie Kirk's argument, is that just because there's abuse in the system, just because there is fraud happening in the system, just because there are bad people in the system, doesn't mean the system is inherently bad and doesn't mean that we have to tear down everything.
Eann Tang:And in fact, if we go toward that goal, it's extremely dangerous. And then it has tried in, like, so many countries already. And then just like me being, like, a Taiwanese, I'm in Taiwan right now. Our greatest enemy is the biggest socialist state in in the world. Of course, you're gonna get people saying, oh, it's not socialism.
Eann Tang:But our Yeah. Yeah. It's communism. It's communism. Communism.
Eann Tang:It's yeah. You're you're getting there. Right? Like and then and then that was such a wake up call because my worldview has completely been shattered. And then so that's really how I became conservative.
Chris Talgo:Ian, I got a question for you. So I've got a, sister who we adopted from China, and she came here when she was about 10 years old, and now she's about 25. She's been here about fifteen years, and, she's a little bit older than you. But, unfortunately, she has been indoctrinated by her friends and culture and social media and all that stuff. But I wanna ask you something.
Chris Talgo:You said something about your friends saying that America's a racist place. And I don't wanna put you on the spot here, but I was just wondering, have you ever personally had someone, you know, throw a racist insult at you? Because I asked my sister that, and she has not. And I and I do think that that does go to show that your current generation really doesn't look at race. They don't care about race.
Chris Talgo:They care more about, like, you know, who you are inside. So if you could just answer that.
Eann Tang:Yeah. For sure. Like, as someone like yeah. And then the story later to, the clip you see previously of me thanking Charlie Kirk was me establishing a turning point chapter on my campus. Right?
Eann Tang:So I was, like, really involved with these conservative events. And a lot of times, I go to these conservative events. Like, basically, everyone's, white, just like this panel. Like, I'm I'm, like, one of the only few minorities there. Right?
Eann Tang:But I have never felt, like, in any sort of way that I am ostracized. I am, like like, I'm being hated on even though people like Destiny Hassan will call it the events I go to, like, Nazi rally. But, yeah, Nazi rally, and then they allow Asian there. Interesting. But then, like, I have, like, yeah, I have never felt that really.
Eann Tang:And then, really, the wake up call is when I see affirmative action. Like, if anything, we have systemic racism in reverse. Right? And then and then not just that. I saw news on how, like, Washington DC has characterized Asians as whites just because Asians do, on average, do better in school, on standardized tests, and then are, like, wealthier.
Eann Tang:And then and then that's, like, the most racist thing I've ever seen. So, really and I want to add something is that, like, as the only non white person here, can say this. Like, you know how, like, the media like to frame the whole Charlie Kirk murder as, like, white on white crime? We really do have a white issue, like, a white liberal issue, really. As a conservative activist on my campus, really, the meanest, craziest, most racist people I've met are white liberals.
Eann Tang:Like, they are telling me, like, how can you as an Asian support Trump? Like, they're they're telling me what I should believe in as a minority. And, really, I think and I think it goes back to how this is my opinion. Like, a lot of I think a lot of white people have abandoned the traditional Christian moral values that this country is built on. And so that is why, like, all the statistic statistics show that, like, white liberals on average are tremendous tremendously more far left than, like, Latino liberals, Asian liberals, black liberals.
Eann Tang:And and no one's talking about it. And I think it's a conversation we need to start having if we wanna stop having all of these, like, shootings and anticonservative crimes.
Chris Talgo:One of the one of the biggest, you know, objectives of the left and and and under you know, in the years that I've been alive and especially as an adult is identity politics. And I I wonder if it's finally starting to, you know, come back to bite them because this this younger generation is by far the most diverse. And if they're not buying that crap that the left is pushing where if you're, you know, a nonwhite person, then you have to, you know, be a leftist just just based on your identity. I think that that I think that that is really being played out, and I think that we are finally starting to see the end of that. And that that is a great thing.
Linnea Lueken:So that you know, all of that, you know, in that case, you know, when you're dealing with, you know, crazy people on campus and stuff. So you said that you were working on establishing a turning point chapter, I think you said, at the University of Illinois. So I'm curious since you are in a, like, post COVID university system. So what was it like then trying to build a conservative, you know, culture on campus there, especially in Illinois, which is obviously not the most conservative place in the world.
Eann Tang:Yeah. So before I started my turning point chapter, there's, like, already Yaff and all the other conservative groups. Right? And then, really, before I really started anything, all these conservative groups are just basically, like, a social club or like a like a refuge for for conservatives to seek out other conservatives. And then, really initially, I was really questioning, should I do this?
Eann Tang:Like, should I put myself on the front line? And then but then I just thought to myself, yeah, there's probably so many more people out there like me who had really no clue of how crazy left wing politics has become and who only had a clue had a clue of, like, good guys versus bad guys. Right? And then so I decided to do it. And then, really, I think I'm, like, quite lucky because because I I don't look like the typical Turning Point USA president.
Eann Tang:Like, I'm not someone, like, from Nebraska with a big farm and has, like, AR 15 in at my home or something. Right? And then and I grew up in Taiwan. So even though I am American, a very proud American, but then so in school everywhere, I I just tell people, yeah, I'm from Taiwan. And then they probably won't assume much.
Eann Tang:They won't assume like someone from Taiwan is the biggest conservative activist on our campus. But, really, I I I seriously need to make this prayer all the time. Every time I table on campus, I just pray that the lord give me wisdom and then the lord protect me from whatever crazy that's gonna happen. And then and I really thank god that nothing crazy has gone down. But, seriously, you would get people coming up onto your table and throw off your things on the ground and just say, like, f you.
Eann Tang:You guys are a bunch of, like, piece of crap, blah blah blah. And then, of course, not everyone is like that, but a lot of people talking about the murder of Charlie Kirk, there's literally people who come up to me saying, like, how can like, we should, like, Charlie Kirk. Right? And then, like, yeah, you but at the same time, really, the biggest relief I've seen is that people coming up to me saying, thank you for doing this. Like, people coming up to me saying, yo.
Eann Tang:You're, like, you're the man. Like, you're doing this in Illinois? Like, I will never do this, but thank you for doing it. And when Trump won I I need to bring this up. Because when Trump won, all of my I'm a political science major.
Eann Tang:And, you know, like, political science major professors are very are very conservative. Right? And then and then you would like, very liberal. Right? And then and then, really, when Trump won, I got an email from every professor saying, I know a lot of you are distressed, and then you guys you guys don't need to come to class today.
Eann Tang:And then I'll be honest with you. A lot of times, I'm I'm the type of person that that skip class or there's something called an iClicker, basically how we take attendance, and I'll do that for my for my bedroom so that I don't need to go to class. But then when I saw that email, I was like, I have to go to class even even if attendance is optional. And, really, the whole class is such a, like, a it's such a group therapy session, really. You get all of these, like, people freaking out asking the craziest question.
Eann Tang:Like, yeah, like, is Trump gonna put me in jail for for visiting planned parenthood or something like that? And then my conservative friends and I, we're we're just in the back enjoying all of this. Like, I like, as I've said, I I think I'm extremely lucky that I didn't have to go through the 2015 era, the the COVID era. I, like, I I went through the era where Trump become president and where, conservatism is really on the right. So I I felt, like, extremely lucky, especially the fact that I've never been into any crazy situations where, like, I get hurt or anything.
Eann Tang:But, of course, it's there's gonna like, there's a bunch of nasty people out there. And then if the left wants to say that I'm playing victim, whatever. Like, unlike you guys, I'm not asking for reparations. Right? I'm actually thankful that it happened because it made me a tougher person.
Eann Tang:Like, as Charlie Kirk said, we know that gen z are gonna become more conservative because conservative gen z's are way tougher than gen z liberals. And then one more thing to add is that is that I want I need to show this because I actually become way more conservative when I accept when I fully accepted my lord and savior Jesus Christ into my heart in college. And then and then, like, of course, going into college as a young man, there's, like you will have, like, a lot of evil intentions they wanna do. Like, first time your parents are not around. But, really, god has rescued me, and then and, yeah, I I just become like, I'm probably on a far right right now, but all that means is that I'm just a Catholic.
S.T. Karnick:Ian, I'd I'd like where you've gone with this discussion, and I would like to ask you a question. Do you think it possible or likely or somewhere in between that had there not been Turning Point America that you would have found your way into the right anyway?
Eann Tang:I think eventually, I'm gonna make my way to the right. Like, I I always try to be, like, open minded. Like, I'll say, like, my ideologies now have changed a lot even since when I was, like, first conservative, and then I tried to, like, learn more as I can. But then I would say, though, like, I don't think I'll really be involved in any conservative politics at all if it weren't for Turning Point, if it weren't for the platform I had. And then, like, I even made it to Fox News at one point, and it was all because of Turning Point.
Eann Tang:And, really, I I still can't believe like, saying this now, I still can't believe Charlie Kirk is gone. But the moment that he the moment the day that he got shot, the day he passed away, I went to I I straight up went to church because I can't focus at all. And thank you, Jim and Andy, for letting me to take my day off. I went to church because I can't even do work at all. I was in such shock.
Eann Tang:But then I made this prayer to God saying that, Lord, I don't need anything Charlie Kirk has. I know he has a beautiful wife, family. He has so many money. Like, he has so much money. Extremely successful guy.
Eann Tang:I don't need anything he has, but just make me a vessel of yours. Make me someone that you will use Charlie Kirk for. And and, yeah, that has like, Charlie Kirk's death has radicalized me in a lot more ways because now that I know it's not just, like, a simple left versus right. Like, we are really dealing with spiritual evils. Right?
Eann Tang:And as Jim, I remember mentioned how mentioned the bible verse, we're we for we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but spirits and principalities. And a lot of these left wing people, like, they seriously need Jesus. And then, really, coming closer to God has actually let me get rid of my hatred in my heart. Like, in in the past, I would, like, want vengeance against these people. But, really, I see a lot of times I see these people just like me in the past, and then sometimes I'm not even any better.
Eann Tang:I'm still a sinner. Right?
Linnea Lueken:Thank you so much for that, Ian. Gosh, we're running over, but I wanna keep this going a little bit if you guys are all okay with it. We have so much to talk about.
Jim Lakely:I do have we have to ask Ian. It's what it's it's past 2AM in Taiwan right now.
Eann Tang:Am having so much fun. Like, I can do this until 2PM. Like you know?
Linnea Lueken:Alright. Well oh, okay. So I have this. So it's funny to hear that basically nothing changed at all between your college experience and when I left college. I also was in college during an election of Donald Trump.
Linnea Lueken:And when I got to campus that day in Wyoming, and it was a more conservative campus than most places. Of course, anything having to do with, like, the student government was super liberal. Anything having to do with most of the professors and stuff were still super liberal. But the like, it was kind of like they were aware that they were not in comfortable territory in terms of the, like, town that they were in and stuff. So it usually didn't go too bad.
Linnea Lueken:Although someone did firebomb the GOP office shortly after Trump was elected. So that was not so good. And we did have an Antifa contingent that was bust up from Colorado. So that was an interesting little bit there. But it's it's interesting to hear you say that, like, they're tearing up signs when you're tabling or they're, like, destroying your stuff and stuff.
Linnea Lueken:Because even at Wyoming, that was the same thing. You know, you sat down with college Republicans, gear to try to get new members and whatnot. And some crazy lefty would come over and, like, tear your signs up or kick over your cardboard cutout of Trump or whatever it is. And and it's always the same. But what really struck me was when Turning Point came on the scene in a big way at our school, The enthusiasm and the, I guess, the just joy and and everything that poured off of them was quite different than what you would get from College Republicans, which I was in, or Young Americans for Americans for Liberty or any of those other organizations.
Linnea Lueken:They we all were a little bit more cynical and quite a bit more reserved. But Turning Point came on the scene and kicked it up several notches instantly. They had the best marketing stuff. They had the most fun ideas instead of just tabling and doing, like, we believe in free speech posters or whatever. They had this giant inflatable ball that everyone would write on with Sharpie marker, you know, write whatever you want on it, to get, students engaged and just like free speech in general.
Linnea Lueken:They had so much fun, and it completely changed the attitude of all of the organizations on campus. It's crazy how one group, like, one group really standing up and deciding, like, no. We're right, and we're gonna have fun with it completely changes everything. But I I I wanted to say that your you know, the organization and their example and everything is is so inspiring, and I really hope that it's continuing. So what have you heard much from your colleagues or from from your friends back in college and stuff at Turning Point?
Linnea Lueken:Where where is it heading from here?
Eann Tang:Yeah. Even though, like, just like Lanea, like, the the whole environment where, like, the people who are still in charge of universities are still very left leaning. And then, of course, I think it's, like, very tragic that we are seeing more and more violence here, but it's also a sign because we're winning. I remember Matt Walsh had a had a tweet saying that, like, the whole transgender thing is, like, really collapsing. And then that's be and then that's because and and we need to be very careful of that because those people, the only resort they have left is violence.
Eann Tang:And then I remember a few days later, Charlie Kirk got killed. And then but, really, if anyone who has seen the memorial of Charlie Kirk, there is nothing but, like, just hope in in that in that arena. And then and then the reason why I keep bringing up my face so much, I'm sorry to turn in the tank into EWTN or something, and not to go full Billy Graham here, but, really, the the message of Charlie Curry, like, people would not just remember him as, like, another conservative, another right wing pundit. He is really he has done more for Christians than anyone I can really think of, than any Catholics as a Catholic. Like, he's not a Catholic.
Eann Tang:Right? But he's done more to bring people to a church than really any Catholics. And then I think it's really remember important to know that, like, as Christians, the reason why I keep stressing my faith so much is because it's because our reward is not on earth. Our reward is in heaven. And and to, like, a lot of people who might be afraid of speaking up, like, my biggest encouragement to you is that, like, we are in such good times already.
Eann Tang:Like, we we weren't in times like 2012 or 2018 where, like, liberalism was really the dominant culture. Like, we are in times where we are seeing record level of church attendance. We are seeing, like, really just record level of conservative. This is the most conservative generation in fifty years. And then beyond just conservatism, like, they talk about how culture dominates politics, and then and I'll add one more to that.
Eann Tang:Like, religion really dominates culture, and then we are really seeing a revival of Christians. And and then for my Turning Point chapter, when I started the Instagram account for my Turning Point chapter, we were at, like, 200 followers for the longest of time. All the liberal, like, YDSA, Democrats, they they had, like, over a thousand followers. But just now, like, our Instagram account has, like, surpassed both of them. We we are, like, the biggest political student organization account.
Eann Tang:We are at, like, 2,500 or something. Like, almost basically, a thousand more than the liberal accounts. So, really, we are like, it's we need to be hopeful right now. And then be hopeful in a sense that not just, like, way and expect things to go all well in your way, like, everything sunshine and rainbow. No.
Eann Tang:In fact, everything is going to be more tornado and tsunami. But then it it's okay because even if we don't have anyone, we we have god. Right? And then, really, this generation, I like, I've met so many of my friends who not just went from liberal to conservatives, but also like me who became who really started going to church and became Christian, became Catholics. And and, yeah, I I just can't thank god enough.
Eann Tang:And then, really, Charlie Kirk, he without him, I I could not see any of this being possible at all.
Linnea Lueken:I wanna get to Jim here for a second. I think he has, some commentary he wanted to get in.
Jim Lakely:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just wanted to, first of all, congratulate Ian for his courage. I mean, it used to be that you as a young person, you'd had to you'd have the courage to lose friends or not be seen as cool or maybe pay a social cost for, you know, countering the liberal orthodoxy on everything and all the the cool opinions. So but but now being a conservative as a young person on a college campus, you could pay with your life for that, literally.
Jim Lakely:I mean, it just happened two weeks ago. So it takes physical courage to be a conservative now, not just moral courage. And second, you know, Lynea, you mentioned how at the University of Wyoming, what was it you said the College Republican office was, you know, assaulted or or attacked or something or
Linnea Lueken:Yes. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into our GOP office downtown.
Jim Lakely:Right. Yeah. So in Laramie Laramie, Wyoming. And, you know, so this also points out and that was I think, like you said, that was almost a decade ago. You know, this this points out the lie, the absolute lie that both sides are engaging in political violence in this country, and that's why it it really triggers me so much.
Jim Lakely:I mean, this has been going back for literally decades. Anne Coulter tried to give a speech at UC Berkeley, and a freaking riot broke out, and she had to be, you know, spirited away by the police to protect her physical safety. Riley Gaines went to give a speech at at a university. I forget which one. And she had to be, again, spirited away by police and locked into a room where the radical leftists were pounding on it.
Jim Lakely:They wanted her blood. This was, what, a year ago? Ben, Ben Shapiro, this happens to him. I know Ian follows him. This happens to him when he tries to speak on college campuses.
Jim Lakely:Michael Knowles, another person from the Daily Wire, he gave a talk at my alma mater, University of Pittsburgh, which is why I will never ever ever give Pitt a a dime of of money as a as an alumni because he gave Michael Knowles gave a speech there. There was a physical assault on him trying to prevent him from speaking. A a campus cop was severely injured in this attack, and these things go on and on and on. This is not a both sides thing. Everybody knows it.
Jim Lakely:Alright? Everybody knows this, and do not put up with the media and your friends or people on social media pretending otherwise. You know? And it doesn't matter what any of these rigged bullshit studies on political violence that that we see being shopped around right now. You know, we know what we see with our own eyes.
Jim Lakely:We know our own lived experience as the life as left likes to say, what is going on in this country. And what is going on in this country is that radical leftists who have are now for the first time in decades starting to understand what it's like to not have complete power over the culture, the politics, the media, and everything. And they are freaking out, and they are being triggered to commit real acts of violence and even kill people who disagree with them because they cannot deal with the idea that the majority of this country doesn't want them controlling every freaking thing in our society anymore. So the this whole so, Ian, again, I congratulate you. I'm I'm I'm you know, I admire your courage and your journey and to talk about it publicly on this podcast because it, unfortunately, really does take physical courage like it's never taken it before to be an out loud speaking conservative, in this country, especially if you're a young person and happen to come across a college camp?
Chris Talgo:At at the Harlan at the Harlan Institute, we don't really dive much into religious, you know, stuff. But, you know, as a student of history, the founding fathers knew that virtue was an essential, trait for a country to flourish. And, you know, the Judeo Christian values that the country was founded upon, have been disregarded for a very long time. And, I'm not here to say that one religion or one sect has it all right or anything, but I am very, glad to see this spiritual reawakening that's happening, in, you know, in young people because it gives them a a reason for being. It gives them, you know, something to fight for.
Chris Talgo:It gives them something that's greater than themselves. It helps them to reject the leftist crap, like, you know, envy and jealousy and and all that kind of stuff. The United States was founded on Judeo Christian values. Individual freedom, liberty, and all that stuff is virtuous. The opposite of it in which, oh, the, you know, the ends justify the means and the good, you know, the the good of the society trumps the good of the, you know, the person.
Chris Talgo:That's immoral. That's not virtuous. So I am very glad to see that people in Ian's, you know, cohort are starting to make that connection here because there is a connection between virtue and liberty and dignity and working hard and all those kinds of stuff. And the left, you know, I don't like to make this so much of a, cultural thing, but a lot of the views that they espouse, especially in the modern iteration of them, it's not based on virtue. It's based on hatred.
Chris Talgo:It's based on evil. It's based on wickedness. So, you know, I know that I know that, you know, it's there's a there's a fine line between public policy and, you know, spirituality and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, as the founder said and as many wise men, you know, throughout history have said, those two things are intertwined. And it's just very, good to see that that connection is you know, looks like it's being, you know, refastened here.
Linnea Lueken:Sam, I wanna get to your thoughts on this, before we slowly start to close out.
S.T. Karnick:Thanks, Lynette. You know, some very smart commentators like, James Kuntzler have, characterized the, American left of our time and especially the Democrat party, and I don't wanna be partisan here, but that's what they're saying. They're character characterized them as something of a critical conspiracy, a criminal gang. And that that the that the whole thing is a a matter of grabbing power that really in non legitimate ways. Well, criminal gangs do things like running project protection rackets and the like and, you know, selling all kinds of horrible things like maybe pharmaceuticals that harm people and the like, injections that are not good for you.
S.T. Karnick:So they they run these conspiracies to to raise money. They they run these criminal activities. And what happens, though, is that as long as you cooperate, you're safe. As long as you pay off the protection racket, you're safe. But the moment you push back, the moment you say, no.
S.T. Karnick:This is not happening anymore. They get violent. And I think that's the step that we're we've reached at this point. That certainly the left has seen that their power is going away and that their ability to frankly, their ability to make money and get resources and get the things that they want out of life in the way that they've been doing is going away. And it's making them violent, and they're using thugs all over.
S.T. Karnick:All over. They're using thugs to to create an anarcho tyranny in order to cow the customers, us, the the business peep small business people, us, into giving in. And there's only one way to deal with that, and you have to fight back through the law.
Linnea Lueken:Yep. Ian, I wanna end on you with this question. Okay. What would your number one, you know, kind of set of advice be to other young conservatives who are probably pretty scared right now?
Eann Tang:Mhmm. First thing, I will say, like, really to seek God because when I real just like what I said, when I first got into it, I I was, like, also like, I'm not violent. Just clear the air first. But, of course, like, when you're in such a, like, toxic environment, when you're like like I have, like, a 150 people unfollow me. I have, like, friends, people who will never talk to me again.
Eann Tang:Like, my teacher high school teacher has blocked me on, like, Instagram, Facebook. And then, really, it's really easy for you to become nihilist. It's really easy for you to become just, like, constantly angry at everyone. And so, really, my advice is seek God. Like, I'm not trying to be all Billy Graham right here, but, really, like, human beings, like, we we are not just, like, a mistaken universe.
Eann Tang:Right? Like, I'm here sharing this message for a purpose. And then, really, our soul we need to take care of our soul first if we wanna spread out the right message. And, really, I was like, the the toughest thing, really, the strongest thing anyone can do is really to forgive. So when I saw Erica Kerrigan memorial saying that I forgave, the shooter, like, I I teared up so much.
Eann Tang:And then it was it was like, I don't even think I'm able to do that even though it's the right thing to do. And, really, when you when you have God in your heart, you have a lot more courage because just like what I said, our reward is not on earth. It's in heaven. And then in fact, Jesus say that said that if they hated you because they hated me first. Like, I wanna first warn all Gen Z conservatives out there that it's never going to be, like, fair game to us, really.
Eann Tang:I've I've this is a fact that I've only recently accepted that no matter how bad we are, no matter, like, if we get Vans after Trump and then the Deacensives after Vans, Tulsi after Vans, if we, like, have a complete even if we have a complete dominant Republican government, we I just feel like we will never, like, have a fair because, yeah, because the world was just, like, against ultimately against Christ. Right? And then really and also, like, everything before that, conservatism, nationalism, patriotism, like, standing for life. And you will, like, you will always feel like you're being unfairly treated. Like, I feel like for a while, I've really resented my friends because I feel like like, why are you guys always picking on me?
Eann Tang:Why are you guys always asking me having wanting to have debates with me? I just wanna hang out. But then I eventually realized that, like, it's good that they're asking you questions because even if they might disagree, it's gonna plant a seed in their heart. And, really, like, we are never gonna have it fair, but but it's okay. That that's what it's meant to be.
Eann Tang:And then what like, yeah. My second advice is so first advice, seek god. Second advice is that we don't have to be, like, go full on, like, destroy the lips. Like but we need to be truthful to our to our beliefs. And then, really, because for a lot of people, I have a lot of conservative friends.
Eann Tang:They would just say liberal stuff in class just just because they are afraid. But once there's a first person that starts saying anything that's, like, on the conservative side, people will start people will start really expressing their true beliefs. People won't just be saying stuff so that they can get a better grade or saying stuff so that people around them won't hate them. And and it's okay that, like, you you do it in a more, like, subtle way. Like, for example, when we are discussing about taxes in one of my political philosophy class, like, the the common commies would talk about, yeah, the the world is so unfair.
Eann Tang:We need redistribution. Right? But in my approach would be, like, think of taxes as, like, a service fee. A service fee that we pay for the road that was servicing fee we pay for the military, for the public university we go to, and that will be, like, my approach in trying to strive common ground. And, of course, at times, if you are really pressed on your your morals, then absolutely stand for your faith.
Eann Tang:And then if people will turn on you just because of what you believe is right, what you believe will make the world a better place, then they are never truly your friends. And so, yeah, my two advice, first, seek God. Second advice, yeah, never be afraid of your belief. You don't have to go full on Charlie Kirk destroy liberal students on blah blah blah. But be be honest, and then you're not gonna regret it.
Chris Talgo:And I can't make so much. Can't make one last thing because Ian Sure. No. Because Ian, you know, he brings up many good points, and I've been in this world for a long time. Just been in this world much longer than me, Sam Karnik as well.
Chris Talgo:But, you know, one of the things sorry, guys. Just trying to show how much wisdom you have. But one of the things that that I have noticed over the years is that when you approach someone who doesn't agree with you, but you approach them with kindness and with, you know, understanding and you listen to them, that helps a lot. So it's just something that I've been better at over the years. And, you know, I'm sure we all have situations where families are coming over and, you know, someone says something.
Chris Talgo:And maybe years ago where I would have really tried to, you know, like, quote, unquote, own the libs on that, I I think I'm I have moved from that position, and one of the reasons why is because of what Charlie Kirk and Erica Kirk and how how they do have that that just, you know, good attitude and that I wish I don't I don't wish harm upon people that I disagree with. One of my best friends from high school, you know, we're still best friends to this day. He and I don't agree on anything, but we have conversations and we listen to each other. We do it in a thoughtful manner. I hope that that becomes more than norm rather than the exception.
Linnea Lueken:Thank you, guys. I think that's all we got for today, after going forty four minutes over. But I think it was all worth it. I don't think that we wasted a single minute here. I man, thank you guys so much for being here.
Linnea Lueken:Everyone who bore with us is almost two hours. We are live every single week on Thursdays at noon central on Rumble, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook. I wanna go around the panel and see if anybody has anything to pitch this week. Chris, do you have anything?
Chris Talgo:There is victory on Sunday.
Linnea Lueken:Alright. Jim?
Jim Lakely:Yeah. See us here same time, same channel, maybe not quite as long for the Climate Realism Show tomorrow.
Linnea Lueken:Awesome. Sam?
S.T. Karnick:At s t karnick dot substack dot com and the heartland.org website.
Linnea Lueken:And, Ian, what have you got for us?
Eann Tang:I plan on starting a YouTube channel just not just to share my political belief, but then I wanna share my fave, and I wanna do all sort of things and challenge myself. And then, of course, thank you to Harlan for bringing me on. I've been a honor, really a big honor. You guys have no clue how thankful I am to be part of this institution. So go to advisory metal.
Eann Tang:Find that real good show the advisory metal. Right? Support Harlan, especially we are demonetizing YouTube. And, yeah, it's been great to be here. And then I would love to come on and chat, share my thoughts of young people if there's ever a chance.
Linnea Lueken:Absolutely. We'd love to have you back again, Ian. And we did not pay him to say all that nice stuff. So, for our audio listeners, please rate us well in whatever service that you are using. Leave us a review.
Linnea Lueken:Thank you guys so much, everybody, all of our usual panelists who are here and everybody who stuck with us through this long show. But, we will see you guys again next week. Having a little ventro.
Creators and Guests
