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Feb. 24, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
26:09
Alastair Crooke : Political Implosion in Israel and Political Earthquake in Germany.
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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Monday, February 24th, 2025.
Alistair Crook will be here with us in just a moment on the fury and the chaos all over the place.
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Why the fury and the chaos almost everywhere today?
Well, particularly in Europe, one leading newspaper in Britain even went as far in a lead article as comparing the meeting in Riyadh between Rubio and Lavrov.
To George Orwell's piece, caricature, with the cart horse looking, peering through the window and seeing to his disgust that the pigs were at the table eating with the men and joking with them.
And he then goes on to actually directly link it and say, yes, of course, the table that Lavrov and Rubio were sitting at.
Was better polished than the one the pigs and the men were sitting at.
But that's the extent of the fury and anger in Europe.
And I just want to put it into a context because it doesn't seem rational on the surface.
Why are they going quite so crazy?
You've got a succession.
You've had the Polish president.
You're going to have Macron.
I think today and then Thursday, Starmer, all to tell Trump he's got it wrong.
So what's going on?
I think it goes back really very much to that Munich meeting last weekend, in which, first of all, we had Hexer saying, listen, the United States is going to normalize with Russia.
Okay? No NATO, no other things.
No, don't complain.
We're going to normalize with Russia.
But the one that was most pertinent and little noticed was what Vance was saying at Munich.
And it got a lot of attention in Europe, but not so much in the United States.
So you have to understand why it was such a bombshell that he threw into Europe.
To understand it, you have to go back to the fact that the United States is different from Europe.
It has constitutional separation of powers.
They're very clear and they're listed in the Constitution.
Three different branches to the Constitution.
And we are also seeing very clearly with this Blitzkrieg of executive orders and others that are coming, that Trump is trying to reassert something that has faded from the American Constitution for quite a while now,
a unitary executive.
As the Constitution says, Article 2, executive authority lies with the US president.
It doesn't say anything about anything else.
And there is a sense that what has happened over the years is that the legislative branch has sort of seeded all of these agencies and regulatory bodies and given them quasi-executive authority,
not just in their particular area, but even nationwide.
And when those agencies and executive bodies...
They get embedded in either the Justice Department or part of the Justice or suites from the Justice Department or from the Pentagon.
They become what we call the deep state.
They become effectively the administrative state, the permanent administrative state in America.
And he's committed to destroying that.
To rolling back the administrative state, the deep state completely and restituting authority, executive authority in the executive.
And what happened at Munich was that Vance came out and criticized Europeans for their firewalls and for their...
If you like their repression of free speech.
And he said, you know, you've got to do away with these firewalls.
What is it that you can't accept?
You know, that there are other parties that need to be, you know, win elections and have support.
And you ostracize them, isolate them, put up a firewall.
And he said, you've got to tear down these firewalls.
Wow. That is what sent Europe into a firestorm.
Why? Because Europe has no constitution.
There is no European constitution.
It started as a sort of trade association, iron and steel arrangement, and sort of there were a few fragmentary treaties.
But there's no unitary executive in Europe.
There's nothing of that sort.
There's actually only executive muddled.
Is it with a commission or is it with a council and bits here and there?
And there's a constitutional court, but that doesn't have anything to really decide issues by except a past president.
And so with that and no separation of powers, what are we talking about?
We are talking about the European Union, Brussels, essentially, is just an administrative state.
It has nothing else.
It is the archetypical executive state and a deep state and linked to the American deep state.
So what all this means and what it says is that when the previous administration in foreign policy terms made the determination that the populists were a threat to democracy.
State Department, USAID, all the sort of hangers-on to this foreign policy structure went to Europe and said to them, you've got to do more to stop disinformation, malinformation, misinformation, whatever.
You've got to crack down on the populists everywhere.
You've got to stop them.
The firewalls preceded this, but the firewalls got an extra sort of layer on top of that.
And so this is what was happening in Europe.
And they were working totally in tandem with that part of the deep state of America, the administrative state, that was opposed to populists having and gaining any power.
This is where Germany comes in.
I'll come back to that now.
Let me just interrupt you.
Before you get to Germany, I have a lot of questions on Germany.
Here's the core, the core of what Vice President Vance said two weeks ago in Munich.
The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor.
And what I worry about is the threat from within.
The retreat of Europe.
From some of its most fundamental values.
Is it that?
Exactly. That the elites on edge.
That set them on par.
Because essentially, he was reversing the whole thing and he was saying, it is an American interest to have free speech and for you Europeans to...
Put down the firewalls separating your governments from populist movements that may have support amongst the electorate, but which may not be allowed to share power, may not be allowed to become administrators.
Now, to add to this, set them on fire, the results of yesterday's elections in Germany, and you have...
You have, well, about 30% was by the CDU, SU, and the other significant one was just about 20% by IFD, the Populist Party.
And immediately Mertz says, we can't do a coalition.
I'm not sure what coalition he can do.
He can either go back to the coalition he was in that has collapsed and failed, the Scholz's party.
Or he has to go to the IFD.
There's no rally or alternative, but the IFD is in favor of ending the war.
And Mertz is in favor of continuing the war and of continuing the war in Ukraine.
And he is absolutely passionate about that.
He is a rather dry stick conservative.
In many ways, German conservative.
Totally at odds with von der Leyen for an old vendetta, if you like.
But what Vance was saying in that piece was that we want to see you do what we are doing, what the Trump team are doing.
We are, if you like, tearing down.
We have a blitzkrieg against the administrative state.
Well, the administrative state...
In Europe is Brussels.
So he's actually, I mean, it's very subtle, but actually he's questioning this.
And so Europe is going nuts, thinking that they are now at war with the United States.
And, of course, the key to all of this and why it is so important is Ukraine, because Ukraine has been the one glue that has kept these 32...
Disparate states of Europe together and given them the sort of semblance of a faux identity, an identity that is an EU identity and not a European identity.
And then suddenly all of this is being questioned and they are terrified of what this means for them effectively.
This is saying that your end of...
You know, that they're saying that Brussels is over, that it's going to go, and probably NATO will follow in due course.
And where does that leave Europe?
It leaves Europe as a sort of prominently of Eurasia, as a Eurasian corridor, but stripped of any real political or real significance.
And so they're desperate to come and persuade Mr. Trump, that they've got to win and they've got to do something about Putin.
Putin cannot be allowed to win.
You have a good grasp on President Trump's thinking.
What leverage would Prime Minister Starmer or President Macron have with him?
He's a negotiator.
He'll say, I hear what you want.
What am I going to get out of it?
Well, Starmer is proposing what he calls a triple.
Exercise with Trump.
One is that they're going to increase defense spending.
I can tell you, Europe, and Britain particularly, can't afford to pay an extra tithe to the United States military establishment.
But it's going to offer that.
Go up to 2.35 or something.
Nothing near 5%.
They're just impossible.
Then he's going to offer a new way of hitting at Russia.
On the Black Sea, new fast drones that will be able to hit the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
Why would that appeal to Trump?
He doesn't want to hit Russia.
He wants to trade with Russia.
Exactly. Well, the third part of his offer was a state visit to the UK where he would meet and have lunch with the king.
It's really a joke.
And then Macron has come to tell him, you've got to stand up to Putin.
Putin only respects people who are tough.
So you've got to be tough.
That's the only way to get what you want with Putin.
But really, the elites see the writing on the wall that Russia and America are going to normalize and they're going to do business together furthermore.
And what is left for Europe?
It won't be an actor in the table or anywhere else.
It will be just relegated to being part of the Eurasian corridors, going down to the south, but not playing a role.
But the reality is that Europe has not got the means.
It's got nothing to offer.
What have they got to offer?
You put your finger on the point, Judge.
All they're saying is, let's keep doing the same.
Yes, it's failing.
Yes, it's failed.
We understand that, but let's keep doing it anyway.
And, you know, people say, what's the point of that?
You know, is there a strategy to this?
No, we don't have a strategy.
It's our emotional state that Europe is in at the moment.
What President Trump's emissary, sort of his Secretary of State without portfolio, Stephen Whitcoff, said about all of this yesterday.
Cut number four.
The only way you're going to end the carnage is if you have a relationship with the leaders of both countries that are involved.
I went over to Russia.
I had a meeting with President Putin.
It was a long meeting, positive, constructive.
Lots of good things got discussed in large part because the president enjoyed a positive relationship with President Putin from his first term in office.
Why do the British hate that?
Because they see this is going to cut them out completely.
They will be just a tiny little island.
Which will be largely irrelevant to the new landmass opening up and their greater fears, of course, even more, which go back a long way, is that Germany will also normalize eventually with Russia in terms of energy.
And I think Putin handled that meeting in Riyadh extremely well.
He brought the head of their sovereign wealth fund to talk business.
To these three and said, look, we can do joint ventures in the Arctic, elsewhere.
Just the things that, you know, actually Trump is looking for to set up a wealth fund, an American wealth fund.
These could be some of the assets in an American wealth fund.
And I think they were very intrigued by the business.
The Russian interlocutor said to them, you know, you've already lost 350 billion worth of business in the last three years that you could have been doing with Russia.
And eyes started to light up.
And, you know, this is going to have a huge effect.
So what is the point of Brussels anymore?
It's an administrative state that is working and is doing exactly And the other end of history to what Trump is doing in the United States.
In the United States, he's trying to bring back a control of the executive power and to give it directly connected to the electorate.
Well, there's no electorate connected to the commission at all.
I mean, von der Leyen hasn't stood for any election.
Taken by a claim by Parliament after it had gone through, you know, a smoke-filled room that set her up for that job.
Now, I mean, so it is just the administrative state, the very thing that Vance and Rubio and Woz are detesting at the moment and saying it must go.
And they're encouraging the populist, encouraging AFD, encouraging Farage, encouraging others.
Take back executive power.
Take elections.
Get these people out, is the message.
He doesn't say it explicitly, but this is implicit in what he's saying.
I want to ask you some questions about Prime Minister Netanyahu, his stability or lack thereof in office and some of the demands he's been making, like the Syrian army has to leave parts of Syria.
But one more question on all this.
I think so, because I think, first of all, there is no love for the United Kingdom amongst people like Vance.
I mean, they don't mind it, but they recall what happened, the role of the UK in Russiagate.
They recall the role played by a British person in the allegations against Trump.
Trump recalls, doesn't forget those things.
You remember Starmer wanted to send 100 volunteers to help, if you like, campaign against Trump in this last election, interfere in the election by sending 100 people.
I don't think that there's going to be I think something unpleasant is heading towards the United Kingdom in due course.
They are going out of their way immediately after the Munich talk.
When Vance made it clear, and Huxley made it absolutely clear, you know, no NATO for Ukraine.
What did Starmer do?
He immediately went to the telephone, telephoned directly to Zelensky.
And said specifically, our position is it's irrevocable that Ukraine joins NATO.
Completely at odds with it.
So I don't think he's going to get a great reception in Washington.
They'll be polite.
Of course, they'll be polite.
Although the last time Sir Keir was here, it was not polite.
President Biden...
He changed his mind on the use of offensive weaponry and embarrassed Sir Kir.
But another story for another time.
Is Prime Minister Netanyahu's office, the office of Prime Minister, being investigated by Shin Bet, the rough equivalent of the Israeli FBI, for espionage?
I'm not sure that it extends actually to specifically a charge of espionage.
No. I think at the moment the charges are that the money from Gata has passed to a number of officials in his office.
And the investigation is underway and seems to be expanding.
So that's where it stands.
But clearly...
This and other pressures are growing, particularly in the light of what's been happening.
And as you mentioned, the war seems to be being spread to Syria, south of Damascus.
He will not allow any forces demilitarized zone for Israel.
They're still sitting in Lebanon.
They refuse to comply with the ceasefire agreement.
At least five strategic points.
I don't know if they will leave eventually or not.
They won't give an answer to that.
And then in the West Bank, they have taken the whole refugee camp and have expelled the inhabitants for it.
And they say they're going to be there for at least a year.
So, I mean, everything is heating up everywhere and the pressures are growing.
And particularly about the hostages and what's happened.
And quite clearly, Netanyahu is doing his best by introducing all of these things and suggesting that the hostages were brutally killed and things.
All of these things are designed to keep the war going and to make sure there isn't a second term.
Now, Witkoff arrives on Wednesday.
And he is going to tell them that they have to go to phase two.
And Netanyahu is resisting this because he wants to keep his government intact and also because the beginning of phase two or the end of phase one marks the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphia corridor,
complete withdrawal.
And he doesn't want that.
It's not good news.
Here's what we caught yesterday on this very subject, cut number five.
We have to get an extension of phase one, and so I'll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that.
And we're hopeful that we have the proper time to finish off, to begin phase two and finish it off and get more hostages released and move the discussion forward.
I think Netanyahu is going to be able to charm Mr. Witkoff, don't you agree?
No. I think Witkoff is hard-nosed.
And this is what they say in Israel, in the cabinet.
Netanyahu came back and he said, you know, this man is deadly serious.
He's only interested in doing the job, and my charm doesn't work on him.
There you go.
Alistair, thank you very much.
Brilliant. Thank you,
Alistair. All the best.
We'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
Coming up later today at 10 this morning, Ray McGovern at 11.30 this morning, Larry Johnson at 2 o'clock this afternoon, Scott Ritter.
Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.
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