Showdown
Showdown Episode 101 7-11-24
(gentle guitar music) - Welcome to Showdown, I'm Mark Casein, and this is Thursday, July 11th. And a really important day for Joe Biden because we all know that in 30 minutes, but you know how those things go, it might be late, but in 30 minutes, Joe Biden is scheduled to speak at a press conference which could go on for who knows how long. It could go on for two hours, I assure you that if the media gets its way, they'll just keep going. They won't leave them alone. And I know there are already some things today that some people were raising as maybe a little bit of a red flag, but I haven't seen it, so I can't really comment on it. I know that there's discussion for sure. And listen, there should be discussion. There should be thinking about what we might want to do as a Democratic Party and others around the country who would like to stop Donald Trump's psychopathology from taking over the country and even the world, for that matter, although it's not really Donald that's in charge, it's very likely that it's Vladimir Putin running Donald and that he is simply following orders as the Russians like to say as a useful idiot. And then of course, there are other useful idiots who just buy into whatever he says. And that's just the way it goes, that's the program. But here's the problem. The problem is, and I'm pressing buttons here and creating chaos, Joe, but let's see if I can get myself out of that mess. Ah, well, almost. Okay. No, I think, I got it, there we go. I just wanted to be able to see what people were saying here and I pushed the wrong buttons and yeah, okay. But anyway, here we are, we're in the middle of something that Donald is doing under the direction of Vladimir Putin. And I'm gonna give additional evidence for that today. I mean, I don't wanna just say it, I do say it and I've pointed to things in the Mueller report for sure and the one thing that we've all seen and I love to bring it up and that's where Donald was high-fiving with the Russians, numerous Russians, not just Lavrov, but numerous, they were all in the Oval Office, Americans were blocked out, no American reporters, but all Russian reporters were allowed in and they just high-fived and laughed and then joking. And of course, we learned later that he was showing American classified secrets to the Russians. Now, we know what he was showing them and in fact, a lot of our allies were very upset at the time, fearing that some of that information could have compromised the lives of their people, foreign governments working with us. And that goes all the way back to the beginning of Trump's presidency and there's so much that he's done that a lot of this gets brushed away under the table and no one ever talks about it ever again. But the reality is simple that there are serious things going on that have nothing to do with normal American politics or normal American governance. It's none of that, it's far beyond that. And of course, at the head of all of this is Project 2025. And Project 2025 is the 972-page document that was created by the Heritage Foundation for Donald Trump, specifically for Trump. This was a document that Trump wanted and the Heritage people produced it for him. Now, in addition to that, they also worked on the complete format for the upcoming convention, which is right in front of us, right here in July in Milwaukee. And this was all worked on by the Heritage Foundation. They produced it and it's the work that they did that was ordered by Trump. Now, Trump says he's never heard of it before. He doesn't know these people. He's just shocked by any of it 'cause he, first of all, he doesn't even know where it came from. He doesn't know what's in there. He disagrees with things that are in there. Wait a second, how do you disagree with something if you don't even know what it is? Well, forget that for the moment because we're gonna watch Donald, which he often does, he almost always does. In his own words, he's going to tell us that he's a liar and he is a liar. In fact, he's one of the most prolific liars in the history of American politics. So let's, just first, before we get into some of the rest of this, let's listen to Donald's lie. And remember, he's telling you he's a liar. 'Cause our country is going to hell. The critical job of institutions such as Heritage is to lay the groundwork and Heritage does such an incredible job with that. This is a great group and they're gonna lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America. And that's coming, that's coming. Okay. And it turns out that the Herod? So again, he told you, he said, he said, I'm a liar because he ordered this in April of 2022. He ordered it from the Heritage Foundation. He told us that the Heritage Foundation was producing this for him and for the American people to save us because we're being destroyed. He just told you. In fact, I hate to do this, but you know what, Joe? It's really short, play it again. Can you do that for me? Okay. I want you to listen again. This is so important. Donald is a liar. Go ahead. Job of institutions such as Heritage is to lay the groundwork and Heritage does such an incredible job at that. This is a great group and they're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America. And that's coming, that's coming. Okay. So today, in the last couple of days, Donald is telling you, I never heard of this before. I don't know who did it. I don't know what they did. I don't know who asked them to do it. I know nothing about it. But there, he's telling you this heritage is to, yeah, that's good. No, no, no, that's Heritage, Heritage, Heritage. I mean, it's Russia, Russia, Russia. It's exactly the story. I mean, this man is lying to everybody, but he's not lying to the Heritage Foundation and the Heritage Foundation is working at the convention. They are sponsoring the convention. And Donald says, does it know about them? Never heard of them before? No idea what's going on. All these ideas, which he doesn't even know about, he doesn't even know how they got there and he's against them. So I'm not gonna play the clip on this next part, but what I'm gonna do is tell you where to find it. And we're not done with Project 2025, trust me. We're gonna do this all the way into the election because it's just his roadmap. It's his roadmap for how he wants to turn over America to the Russians. That's all this is. This is 100%. Russia, come and get us. You know, all that talk, all those years about how the Russians are coming. They made a movie called the Russians are coming. All of that worry, they're coming. Well, guess what? They're here. But it turns out it's not the commies. It's Donald Trump. It's the MAGA people. It's Donald Trump's MAGA people are turning this over to the Russians. I mean, that's the playbook. That's what they're up to. And basically, you can go almost anywhere in here and find all the various things that they're up to. But let's start today with page 562. And by the way, I've already talked about page 731 to 739, but I'll get back to that in a second. But page 562. And Michael says, as I'm starting to do this, he says, do you think Biden will use this upcoming press conference to announce he's dropping out? The pressure is building, regardless of whether he has a smooth presser or not. Well, I'll tell you this, Michael, I'll say no. I don't believe he's going to announce that tonight. And he's supposed to start in 20 minutes. And my guess is it'll probably go a little later than 430. But it'll start, it's supposed to start at 430. It's currently here in St. Louis for 12. And so I don't think he's going to do that. I think he's going to try to hold up and I think he's going to answer the questions. Now, if it turns out that he announces it, then you're very smart. Hello, Ben, how are you? But no, I don't think so, Michael. I think he's going to try to do a nice job and show these capable of hanging in here. I don't think he is capable. And I think that the people who are asking questions, first of all, I think they're going to try to keep them there for two hours. That's my guess. And in addition to that, you don't think he's going to be able to handle it well. I think it's going to be a struggle. And either way, if he has to struggle through this or if he shuts them off and walks away, I think he'll be in trouble. So I've said all along here, since the debate, the day after the debate, I said, you know, I think Kamala is going to be the candidate. And I do think that's where we're headed. And I'm going to get to that in a second. But let me finish page 562. It's very important. I think you'll find this very interesting. You know, you can get your hands on this so quickly, so quickly, all you have to do is go to Google and pull up project 2025 complete. And you'll get the entire PDF document. You go to page 562. And here's what you're going to find. The plan is for, and I'm not even going to talk about the abortion part, where you can read about the abortion part. The plan is that if you're using birth control or if you're responsible for helping somebody to get birth control, go to jail. Page 562, check it out. They want to put people in jail who are using birth control. I got a tasting. The jails are going to be pretty crowded because it's somewhere like, well, let me put it to you this way. 90% of the country supports birth control. So, you know, if you support it, if you use it, if you facilitate somebody getting their hands on it, you can go to jail. I mean, the whole country's going to be in jail. These people are crazy. If you haven't figured that out yet, I don't know what to tell you. And if you haven't seen what I, the clip that I ran at the beginning of the show where Donald tells you that he's lying, well, I'll tell you what, one more time, Joe, you want to hit that? I really, it's so good. - Lay the groundwork and Harrody just does such an incredible job at that. This is a great group. And they're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America. And that's coming, that's coming. - Yeah, it's coming, it's here. Now that was April of 2022. And Donald says he's never heard of it. He doesn't know who these people are. He doesn't know what they're up to. He doesn't know what the specific things are in there that they're recommending. And he's actually against many things in there. But of course, you have to wonder how that's possible since he doesn't know what they are. And he doesn't know how it even got there, but he's against some of it. Well, I'll tell you right now, if you're not against putting people who use birth control in jail, well, then you want to put the whole country in jail. So I guess, you know, maybe they got some kind of a deal with the people who make jails. But this is ridiculous, it's crazy. Yeah, well, and Michael says, wow, just look to page 562, it actually says that. Yes, it does, yes, it does. And there's so much more in there. This document is unbelievable. What these people are planning to do, if they could ever get control of the United States, it is beyond imagination, beyond, well beyond. You know, I talked the last couple of days about, you know, my brother's trying to get me to watch the Handmaid's Tale because, you know, it's this dystopian view of the world. And I understand it is, and that's a common thing that's been done throughout literature is, you know, writing these dystopian stories. But the best one is what these people have come up with. They have come up with something that is so far gone. Oh, it's just, it's beyond anything. Well, so let's do a couple of things in regard to how far gone some of the people are. I want to back up to something that we've talked about somewhat recently. This story that was spread that over the last year, that the cost of feeding a family of four has gone up 10 to $11,000. And I've shown how that's impossible. Couldn't be true, couldn't happen. Because in order for it to happen, they'd have to be spending $100,000 right now to feed their family of four and then a 10% increase in inflation would get you 10,000. And we know that inflation is not 10%. It's been three and a half percent. But here is the best one. Well, this isn't better than what Donald just did that I showed you, but this is good. This is right in the same vein. Not only did an inflation report come out today that showed that inflation has dropped to 3%. And for last month, inflation was completely flat. No increase whatsoever. And I've been saying all along, guys, there's hardly any inflation, there's almost nothing. And people are all looking at me and laughing and going, Kason doesn't think there's any inflation. But let me tell you this. There was some inflation briefly. It sort of spiked up and now it's spiking back down. And so today, they came in with an even better report, much better than anybody had anticipated. And here's the key in the last seven months. Now, listen to this, in the last seven months, the costs in the grocery store have been 100% flat. They have not increased at all for the last seven months. Zero change. Now here, you see this? Zero, no change. So, you know, if you're out here proclaiming this incredible inflation that is destroying us, well, you know, everybody says, well, it's in the grocery store. Well, guess what? It's not in the grocery store because over the last seven months, the price change in the grocery store has been zero, has not gone up anything. Now, I was saying if it went up 10%, you were spending 100,000, that would get you your 10,000. You can't even do that because for the last seven months, it's been zero, nothing. So, you know, when you're working yourself up against Joe Biden, think you better reconsider what you're really talking about because this whole inflation nonsense is precisely that. And I have to tell you, it's the reason so many years ago in my life that I got involved in economics in the stock market and other markets too because one thing I knew, that if people want to lie, well, you can't really lie in the stock market. The price is what it is. It's either up or it's down and you've either better not going up or you've better not going down. And if you did the right thing, you're going to take your money and you're going to make a profit and walk away and there's nothing anybody can do to stop you because the market decides, that's it. Everybody else, they can lie all they want. You know, in those days, you know, Richard Nixon could lie, big deal, doesn't matter because if you do the right thing, if you make a profit in capitalism, I mean, they can look at you sideways and upside down and it doesn't matter because it's what you have done. So that's the thing. I mean, the markets are an incredible thing. You know, there, and the reason I also bring this up, there is a movie that's starting this weekend. And I don't think there's a theater in St. Louis that's showing it, but people are listening to this outside of St. Louis all over the country. And I can tell you right now that around the country, there are theaters that are going to run this film and it's called "America's Burning." And the film is moderated by Michael Douglas, who by the way, I saw on Morning Joe and I almost fell over when I saw how old Michael Douglas looks these days. I mean, he's just about 80 and he sounded great. You know, he was good. He didn't sound exactly like Michael Douglas, but he sounded good and he was perfectly coherent. So it's not, you know, Joe Biden. But at the same time, boy, he looked old. Wow, knocked me over. And I guess, you know, somebody who knew me when I was 15 probably thinks the same thing about me. That's, you know, it's the way it goes. But all I can tell you is that this is a great film and it's really so revealing about all of this business that I'm talking about right now as far as economics because the people who wrote this, it's a documentary. And the people who wrote this are trying to get across this idea that it's so important for us as a country to be educated about economics because if you're not, then any craze dictator can stand up in front of you and make up stories about inflation, about oil prices, about who's controlling your life and your destiny because I can tell you this. It's the thing about the United States that's so cool is that people don't control your life and destiny. You can control it. And I personally picked the financial industry because I saw opportunities there to control my future where I could make my own decisions. And I could run my life and not work for somebody that could say, do this, do that. No, it doesn't work that way in the financial industry. What happens is the people who are our best, they tell what is going to be done. And if you don't like it and you're the boss, you're in trouble because financial professionals walk away from those companies every day and take their business wherever they want to go. And it's an extremely compelling story in terms of American opportunities that really don't exist in other parts of the world and really do exist here because of our capitalistic system. And I love to say that I love capitalism. I really do. And I love markets within capitalism. And while I'm telling that story, let me add to that, that one of my favorite people in all of this is George Soros. Because listen, you all, George Soros is a 90-year-old commodity trader. He became a billionaire because he made a judgment a number of years ago, he was like 60 at the time, he made a judgment that the British pound would collapse. And he played it for all it was worth. And he made billions. And I say he, but let me include his partner. His partner, his name is James Rogers. It's, yeah, some people say Jimmy Rogers, but it's not the guy that makes the bacon. But it's a guy who brings home the bacon. I can tell you that. He has made some money along with his partner, George Soros. James Rogers, very conservative. George Soros, very progressive. And both of these individuals have benefited from the story of the United States, from the idea that in this country, you have amazing opportunities. And I tell students all the time, look, I'm not trying to get you to do this, but if you happen to be interested in a job where you can control your own destiny, and the key is, is to learn all about economics, well, the financial services industry is an amazing place where you can control your own destiny, you can make enormous amounts of money. Yes, there's an incredible, oh, Jimmy Dean. Okay, there you go, sorry, Michael, what do I know? But here's the thing, there are opportunities in financial services where you can control your destiny. Now, if you're not good at it, it's like anything else. You're not going anywhere. But what happens is, let's say you go to somewhere like MIT or Columbia University, or any of the big name schools, and Yale Princeton, and you get a degree on MBA, and then you go to somebody like Goldman Sachs, and you say you want a job, and they'll pay you $175,000 a year to start if they like you, if they think you really know what you're doing. And from there, you can build enormous wealth in financial services. Can anybody do it? And the answer is, yes. Anybody can do it. But I promise you this, if you don't go to school, if you don't go to college, if you don't study economics and markets, and how all this connects with the political world, and if you don't get all of it, well, then you're not going to do it, then go be a plumber. And look, if you're a plumber, I promise you, I don't think you're a bad person because you're a plumber. But people who have children, I mean, they want their kids to do the very best. They want their kids to be great, and they want them to do better in life than they as parents have done. I mean, this is just typical. And the point I'm making is, if you send your kid to a technical institute to learn to be a blue-collar worker, I mean, that's OK. That's a choice. But if you've got this vision of your family and your kids doing great, and that doesn't always mean making money, by the way, because you could be a college professor and have a great life and be very happy. You could be an artist and have a great life and be very happy and maybe not even make a lot of money. Or maybe you could make a lot of money, but it doesn't matter. The point is to be happy in your life, for sure. But all of this talk about how college is stupid, what a mess. I mean, that is part of the mess that is tied to Donald J. Trump. And that's why this election is so important, because we have to stop it. We have to stop it at the ballot box. And I know we all thought we could stop some of this in the judicial arena. And we've done some of that. I mean, there's been success. You know, Donald was found guilty and had to pay $100 million to Eugene Carroll and $500 million to the state of New York. And who knows what's going to happen when the sentencing comes on September 18, because you know he's going to get a lot of problems created for himself between now and then as he reopens his mouth again, which he's been doing now for a couple of days. He was quiet now. He's starting up again. But I can tell you that college is a great thing. I mean, Donald was practically flunking out of college. And his professors all say that he was the worst student they ever had. This is the guy at Wharton who tells that story. So, you know, the man's no good, but that's OK. Because I'll tell you what is good. Let's look at what's great. You don't have to make it great. It is great. That's dinner at Wendy's. If you get dinner at Wendy's, you don't need somebody to make it great for you again, because it's already the best that you can imagine. That's at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road in the Valley. The food is outstanding. We know they've got wings. We know they have smoked meats. We know that they have hamburgers and patty melts and cheeseburgers and excellent pizza. You'll love their pizza. I've been over there recently drinking iced tea with Ben and some of his friends. And I can tell you right now that even his iced tea is great. I mean, it's excellent. So, look, I love lenties. You will too. Of course, I like the baby back ribs. And the onion rings, that's sort of my favorite. But you know, you choose what you want, because this is still America. It's not Russia yet. And you go to wenties at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road, and you will love what you eat there. And by the way, if you happen to go out to Defiance, Missouri, you can't get away from wenties. It's there too. So, 2999 South Highway 94, in Defiance, wenties, same great food, wenties roadhouse. You'll love it. Great food, great environment, atmospheres, outstanding. Go to wenties. Now, if you think about jewelry, well, then you go to 4506 Hampton. And of course, that's Jules Unhampton. Jules Unhampton is just a phenomenal jewelry store, and they will introduce you to everything you can imagine when it comes to adorning yourself with jewelry. They've got cases filled with jewelry, filled. And then on top of it, if you bring in your own gems, I mean, they will design different jewelry for you. They're very creative, very excellent people. They know the business, they know what works, they know what looks good. But in addition to that, if you come in and say, I want it done this way, well, see, they'll do it your way too. Whatever you want, they'll do it when it comes to jewelry that they also buy and sell jewelry and coins at the best prices you can get anywhere. Really excellent prices. And Al and his son AJ are the best. So 4506 Hampton, check it out. And nobody gets out of there quickly. It takes a while, so you're always going to be sitting there looking at your watch. And if it's not working, don't worry. Hand it to Al or AJ, and they'll get that fix for you as well. They fix watches, they're experts. 4506 Hampton, that is Jules on Hampton. Now, suits and ties, I love them. I've been wearing suits and ties since I was 16, 17 years old. I have a great picture, I need to send this over. Then I will. I'll send it to Joe, probably tomorrow, I'll remember. I've been meaning to do it. A great picture of me wearing a nice suit and tie with my beard, almost like now, not quite, but similar. And my ponytail, because I had such nice long hair, but I have to tell everybody it went away somewhere. I can't find it. But anyway, I love suits and ties. And that's why I go to the St. Louis Suit Company in Clayton. They're on the corner of Forsyth and Central, and they are phenomenal. They have suits. And I've been explaining that the big change now in America, maybe the whole world, but certainly America, is the people wear suit jackets, sport jackets, and then they wear jeans. Or they can wear slacks or whatever it is they want to wear. It doesn't matter. And then tennis shoes, that's part of this new fashion. It's very nice. And I'm pleased that the St. Louis Suit Company tells me that this is totally fashionable. Don't worry, just wear it. It's great. And they'll tell you everything you want to know as well. They help me obviously with my color coordination because I'm colorblind. But they just do everything at the St. Louis Suit Company. They know their business. And here's the other thing. If you're getting married, this is the place to go. Because when it comes to wedding attire, the St. Louis Suit Company is top of the line in St. Louis. So go check them out. St. Louis Suit Company, in Clayton, Jay and Nick, Jay's the dad, Nick's the son. The whole family's there. They'll fit your clothing to you really nicely. Just the way it needs to fit. They're everything there. They're the best. They really are. I don't deal with people that don't do the right thing. My advertisers are great. And certainly the St. Louis Suit Company is top of a line. Check them out in Clayton, Forsyth and Central, on the corner, that is the St. Louis Suit Company. They've been there for 29 years. OK. So we've debunked the entire inflation story. I mean, it's amazing all the things that can be done here. You know, I don't think I've shown you this chart. But I don't know, maybe I did. I meant to. And maybe I did. But there's a chart that's connected to this business of energy production in the United States. Did we ever do that oil production chart, Joe? Yes. OK, so we did it. Good. OK. And what the chart shows very clearly is that the United States for the last 15 years-- that's eight years under Obama, who started it-- and then all the way through Trump, although it dropped during Trump. But to his defense, that was because of COVID. But then, in comes Joe Biden. And boom, right back, growing again and hitting all-time new highs. So first of all, you know what Donald says, drill, baby, drill. Well, that's a joke, because guess what? We're drilling. That's what we do. We're drilling. And we're producing oil at a rate beyond any other country in the world, even Russia, which the only thing Russia has is oil and gas. But we far outstrip Russia when it comes to producing oil. We outstrip Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, everybody. We are the best in the world. We produce more oil than any other country on the planet. So why do people believe when Donald Trump keeps saying that Joe Biden has destroyed the oil industry? Why do we believe it? As a people, I don't believe it. I don't know. If I show you the chart and you see the numbers, will you believe it? I mean, I hope so. I mean, again, this is just like I was saying about this America's burning movie about economics. I think this is something that everybody needs to see, because I know that as a nation, we don't know the first thing about economics or markets. We don't know what makes those prices go up and down. We don't know why oil prices go up and down, which, by the way, oil prices have been going down, down. And let me say it this way, down, down, down. They keep dropping. Now, they haven't gotten to where I've said they're going to be. And actually, if you go on the internet, you can find a really nice piece that Joe put together here that is when I predicted that gas prices in the next five years, maybe sooner, will get down to between $1 and $1.50 a gallon. And I can tell you right now, there's no question in my mind that the prices will go there. Oh, they will. Now, you all like it, because it will be part of a general economic decline probably in the United States and the world. But the bottom line is, is that those oil prices will come tumbling down. They just will. I've won bets on this oil business with other professor friends of mine over the years. It's the easiest thing in the world. It's just a, it's a cinch. There's nothing to it. Because unlike what everybody thinks and believe me, you probably think it too. And you don't even have to be a MAGA person to believe this one. They're people who think that there are companies who are gouging us with oil prices and charging us unbelievable amounts of money. And it's not fair. And the market, I don't know what they think. But it's just, it's wrong. It's just plain wrong. Because I'm telling you this, oil prices are determined by the same thing that all prices are determined by, it's called the market. For example, let's say right now that you wanted to build a house. Well, you could probably figure out that in order to build a house, you're going to need lumber. Well, guess where lumber prices are? Oh, I thought it was inflationary. Wait a second. I was just going to tell you something. I must be wrong. But I was just going to tell you that lumber prices are all time low. But I can't, that can't be true. Because it's inflation, right? Everything's up. Wrong. Lumber prices are an all time low. They have collapsed. Probably too partially too high interest rates, which have made it difficult for people to buy homes. And therefore, demand for homes are down. And therefore, the demand for lumber is down. OK, that's how it works. But all this inflationary talk is lunacy and poor Joe. And this is really the reason that right now, tonight, as we listen to Joe at NATO and we think about who's going to run against Donald Trump, I mean, somebody has to be able to tell the story. I mean, I can tell the story. I'm not going to be running for president. But I can tell the story in a compelling way. Because I understand what so many people don't. And that's how markets affect our lives and the economy. The fact that I wrote a column about all of this for the post-Dispatch for about six years in the middle of the 2000s has nothing to do with it. The fact that I wrote for Barron's in the past has nothing to do with it. Because there are plenty of people who write for all those different newspapers, magazines, journalistic outlets that don't know what they're talking about. So I could be just like them. The only problem is, is I'm not. I actually know what I'm talking about. And I can tell you right now that it's so easy. Go on the internet in 10 seconds and get a lumber chart. I could show you a lumber chart for the last six months, for the last year, for the last 25 years. I think I can probably go back 40 years. So it wouldn't be horrible if all of us knew about this. In fact, it would be pretty nice if we all walked around being knowledgeable about how economics work. And then we could talk to each other in a smart way without everybody saying that the other person's a liar. Because I don't think everybody's a liar. I just think that there are a lot of people who are ill informed that just don't have the information. And believe me, it's all out here to get your hands on. I could get you to it in 10 seconds. And believe me also, I teach kids in school about this. I mean, I've taught kids from high school all the way through the university about economics. Because I know about it. It's something that you can learn. You could learn on your own. You could read a book, read a bunch of books. I read books when I was 13, 14, 15 years old. I've told the story that my uncle started giving me these books. And pretty soon, I really knew what I was doing. And then I went to UCLA. And I couldn't even take the basic economics courses, because I knew too much. So I studied with the people who ran the economics department at UCLA. And then with other people along the line who taught me lots of things that I didn't know. But I had to have the background in order to be able to learn it. And anybody can achieve it. Really, you can. It's not that big of a deal. But you have to care about it. You have to study it, read it, think about it, investigate it. I mean, you just have to. This is not something that you can learn like the way you could learn how to put a tire on a car. I mean, you could do that in 10 seconds. But it takes a while to really understand this whole economic piece. And again, I emphasize that if you can find a way, or even if it's later when it comes around to all the theaters, this movie America's Burning that's narrated by Michael Douglas, you've got to see it. And I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard Michael Douglas talk about it, and I know what he's doing. And it's excellent. And it's just what people need to know. And a lot of people thought it was sort of ironic that Michael Douglas was the one who was narrating this, because you will, of course, remember, you should, that Michael Douglas is the guy who made the movie Wall Street, in which he played Gordon Gecko, who said, "Greed is good." Of course, that wasn't necessarily Michael Douglas. He's an actor. But the point is that here's a guy who's got a history in this through this movie. And he is now the narrator, 40 years later, in a documentary that talks about how important it is for us to learn about economics as a nation. We need to know, because believe me, if you knew, Donald Trump couldn't lie to you ever. He'd lie to you, and you'd walk away laughing, which is what I do, because when he says that our oil production is down to nothing, because Joe Biden is destroying oil drilling in America, I know exactly where to go look. And then when I do, I say, Donald, you're a liar. It's just not true. And here we are, and I don't like to be mean to people, but here we are in 2024 in the middle of a very contentious and very profoundly important election in terms of the history that we're going to build going forward of this country, which could end up not being democracy ever again, unless we do the right thing and learn about what it is that we're doing and make sure that when we talk about something that we know what we're saying. And, you know, I don't make fun of somebody because they're running around saying there's inflation. Everybody thinks there's inflation. I'd be, you know, I'd have to say everybody's a moron. Well, they're not. They're not. What it is is that they've been hoodwinked by one of the greatest con men in the history of our country. He's that. He's good at that. I'd never heard him open his mouth and say anything that wasn't a lie. I mean, if he tells you something, he's lying, guaranteed, whatever it is. And I have to laugh because over the years when he's told these lies, I've said, I don't even know what he said yet, and I know it's a lie. And then I check it out and I go, oh, well, I was right again. He's lying. Let me give you another example. Donald Trump wants to raise tariffs against everybody all over the world. Have you ever heard of Smoot and Holly? This isn't Josh Holly. This is 90 years ago. The Smoot Holly tariffs. And let me say that if you went to high school anywhere and you studied the 1930s even briefly, somebody brought up the Smoot Holly tariffs. It's in every textbook that you're ever going to find. And here's the key. Everyone knows that when Smoot and Holly impose these tariffs on the entire world, it pushed the United States, which was already going down the tubes, into the worst depression in the history of our country. Almost. There was actually one in 1837 that was pretty bad. But as bad as that one was, and it might have been worse than the Great Depression. But even then, it wasn't as bad as the Great Depression because we were so small at the time. By the time we got to the Great Depression, we had become a great big country. And when it all collapsed, it was devastating for all. It was horrible. But the 1837 example was pretty bad, too. It was pretty bad. And here's the other thing. And I've already brought this one up. And on this one, you can go into Project 2025, go to page 731 to 739. Eight pages. Unfortunately, you're going to read those eight pages, and you're going to say, "Kason, I don't even know what they're talking about." Because they're talking about this whole economic piece. And they say things that are so upside down backwards that it is just dangerous. But in any case, if you want to take a look, 731 to 739, you check it out. What they want to do the Federal Reserve is beyond belief. They're just-- they're crazy. In fact, it's amazing. They have found every button to push in the United States in order to try to destroy the place. I mean, you have to wonder. I mean, they couldn't get anything right. We're going to go to the other parts of this. We're not through. But anyway, 731 to 739, and if you want to read about what happens to anybody you know that's taking birth control, well, they're going to go to jail under Project 2025. Right now, Donald says he's never heard of it before, but believe me, Donald ordered this. He told you in the three or four times that I've played the clip today, and I promise you, he ordered this in April 2022. He's telling you right now he's never heard of it before, but he told you in April 2022 that he ordered it from the Heritage Foundation. And in fact, the Heritage Foundation produced it. So it's here. OK, so now before I get out of here, you know today's NATO Day, and there's a big press conference. It's either started already, or it's going to start any minute. When I get off of here, I'll be checking that out. But let me bring up a couple of key points about this. First of all, NATO has indicated that there is now going to be a path to membership for Ukraine. And of course, Vladimir Putin hates that. He doesn't want that. In fact, he's been swearing all along that the reason he attacked Ukraine is because he thought that we were going to make them members. Now, of course, he leaves out the fact that the United States was offering Russia membership in NATO some years ago, back I think it was 2010 in Lisbon. But what does he know? And I guess he doesn't care. Because again, he can lie, tell the story. He knows how it worked for Adolf Hitler. And he's just adopted it in the Russian form. And of course, Donald, I wouldn't even give that much credit. I think Donald has adopted it because he's been told by his puppet master, Vladimir Putin, that this is the way we're playing the game, do it. And if you think that's not true, then when you get through tonight, either here or whatever you're doing tonight, go to the internet and notice that Donald Trump today met with Viktor Orban. But he didn't just meet with him. He praised him as one of the great leaders in the world. And before he met with Viktor Orban, Orban met with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, the other great dictators in the world. And he, in fact, is a dictator. He puts journalists in jail. People who disagree with the government go to jail. It is a brutal dictatorship. It's the worst. Now, do you think it's an accident that in the very week when Joe Biden is meeting with NATO and deciding the history, the future of Ukraine, do you think it's an accident that Donald Trump is meeting with Viktor Orban in the wake of Orban's meetings with the other great dictators of the world? Why would you want to show that? And if you were going to meet with him, wouldn't you announce? Wouldn't you say, look, I'm meeting with Viktor Orban, but it's not because of what you think. I'm doing it because I think I should know about what's happening over there. I want to check in and find out the story. And don't get too bent out of shape over it. Yeah, we have NATO meeting, but I'm not against NATO. No, he is against NATO. That's the thing. He's telling us. He wants to get rid of NATO. He's telling us again about anybody that doesn't pay enough in the NATO. He'll turn them over to Russia and let Russia take them over. He'll tell Russia to do whatever you want to these people. Where does this come from? How does it even get into his head? How could he be so pathetic? Of course, his niece, Mary Trump, has explained it pretty well as a psychologist how he developed this pathology. And the whole story behind it, she knows. And she's an expert in psychology. But I'm just an expert in politics. And here's what I can tell you. When this guy is visiting with Orban and praising Orban, at the very time that Orban has just met with the other great dictators of the world, and at the same time when Joe Biden is meeting with NATO and the other democracies of the world, you don't get it? Really? Is it that hard to figure out? You really think this is just a coincidence? I mean, I hope you don't think that. Because if you do, you're going to be sadly mistaken. Of course, I'm pretty sure Donald will be wiped out in this election. Won't have anything to worry about. Kamala and Hillary Clinton are beating Donald by two points, Joe Biden's even in the latest episodes Washington Post poll that came out today. We'll talk more about politics tomorrow, and Joe Biden's press conference for the St. Louis soon company, WENTIES, and Jules on Hampton. I'm Mark Kason. This is Showdown.