Ep. 1956 - Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED
Michael Knowles dissects the Strait of Hormuz's volatile "Schrodinger's" status and condemns an IDF soldier's crucifix desecration, contrasting it with Israel's thriving Christianity. He refutes claims that Pope Francis supports open borders, citing his advice to Cameroonians to stay local, while noting shared conservative views between Trump and the Pope on abortion and gender ideology. The episode also covers Artemis II commander Reed Wiseman's space-induced religious awakening, Trump's UFO file release versus his mockery of disclosure, and the evidentiary hearing for Tyler Robinson, where overwhelming video evidence and confessions face defense delays despite surveillance linking him to Charlie Kirk's assassination attempt. Ultimately, these segments highlight manufactured conflicts and geopolitical instability. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Good News, Bad News00:02:46
I've got good news and I've got bad news.
We will start with the good news.
Since our last show on Friday, the Strait of Hormuz has officially been open for business, bringing an end to this latest round of hostilities with Iran.
The bad news is that since the opening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the Iranians have closed it again.
Or maybe since we've started this show, it's already been about seven or eight seconds, maybe the Strait is open again.
We will examine the significance of Schrdinger's Strait and why, in the case of our present options in Iran, I seriously this time am sorry to say that I told you so.
Then the Pope makes shocking comments on immigration.
You actually will want to hear these comments.
President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA, and Charlie Kirk's alleged murderer appears in court.
I'm Michael Knowles.
This is the Michael Knowles Show.
Welcome back to the show.
Artemis II commander Reed Wiseman, nomen est omen there, and a wise man.
He just made these beautiful observations about what he did after he rounded the moon and got back to Earth.
And it's something that we see consistently in the history of space travel, and it has to do with all that religious revival at home.
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The Iran War Option00:06:33
Before we get to all the bad news in Iran and in Lebanon and all around the world, I want to address something really nice, good, happy, and you've probably noticed it right now.
You're listening, you're saying, Michael, your voice sounds so soulful, so raspy right now, so deep and mellifluous.
Why is that?
It's because I just got back from New Orleans for the PCA, the Premium Cigar Association trade show.
I was there, obviously, with my beloved Mayflower cigars.
We had a great trade show.
I smoked about a billion cigars.
New Orleans, you know, you have a couple of Coca-Cola's around there.
It was a great, wonderful time.
If you've not yet gotten your Mayflower cigars, now's probably the time to do it because we're going to be adding on a gazillion new retail locations.
So stay tuned for that.
Now, one impediment to global trade right now is the fact that the Strait of Hormuz, through which passes one fifth of the world's oil and a bunch of LNG and a bunch of chemicals and a bunch of fertilizer and a lot of stuff, is closed.
After it was opened, after it was closed.
So here's the recap since the last time we all spoke.
The Iranian foreign minister on Friday, this is Abbas Aragki, announced that the strait was open.
This was really good news because Friday was the end of the six weeks since the Iran strikes began.
President Trump said, I think it's going to last about four to six weeks.
Right on time, like a railroad, it was just amazing.
Iran says, okay, the strait is open.
Then Iran reimposed a blockade.
Because President Trump had done his reverse Unokar double blockade.
Iran blockaded the Strait.
Trump blockaded Iran.
Now, Iran was in a real pickle because Iran could no longer call the shots.
The pro Iran ships get to go through, the anti Iran ships do not.
Iranian ships get to go out.
The U.S. came in and said, sorry, too bad.
Now you're not getting any food.
Now you're not getting anything.
And so then Iran caved, but then Iran didn't cave.
So ships, the minute they got word that it was open, they started going through the Strait, and then they just turned around and they're just going back and forth.
Burning more fuel, by the way, in a marginal way, exacerbating what will be an oil crunch.
Iran then starts firing on some ships.
Not good.
The U.S. then fires on an Iranian ship because an Iranian ship tried to make a run through the U.S. blockade.
Not a good idea when you're facing the strongest military ever in the history of the world.
So the U.S. fires on that ship.
That Iranian ship is now in our possession.
Not an ideal situation.
And this gets back to something that I suggested last week.
And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's where it is.
And the fact is, the United States does not really have any good options right now in Iran.
I was talking to a friend of mine actually, because I said, I think Trump is in a really tough spot.
He's been in a tough spot, by the way, for years.
The United States has been in a tough spot for 47 years on Iran.
This was highlighted by the fact that last summer, when Trump did the Fordo strikes, I took a highly scientific Twitter poll, as I've mentioned.
I said, How many people think the U.S. should let Iran get a nuclear weapon?
90% said no.
Said, how many people think the U.S. should go to war with Iran?
I'm trying to combine the two.
You know, the Iran American pronunciation and the kind of cosmopolitan Obama Iran pronunciation.
But Iran, I don't know.
If there's a better pronunciation, let me know.
I said, do you think the United States should go to war?
90% also said no.
So Trump's in this impossible spot.
People are giving me conflicting directives and doing so overwhelmingly.
Now we're in an even tougher spot.
So a buddy of mine comes in on Friday.
He says, Ha! Knowles, you were wrong.
You said that we were in this really tough spot, but look, the Strait of Hormuz is open, and you were wrong.
This is fine.
It all worked out.
No big deal.
Moving on, moving on.
And then about one hour later, he comes in.
He says, okay, actually, you're right.
Never mind.
The Strait's closed again.
And it's Schrodinger's Strait.
That is to say, that the Strait is potentially open in the theoretical realm, in this kind of cloud of possibilities, the Strait is open.
But then whenever you observe the Strait, whenever you try to interact in any way with the Strait, the Strait closes again.
It's Schrodinger's Strait.
So this means that we're in exactly the same position in Iran that we were last week, which is we can either get a deal that probably will not be any good or we can invade Iran.
That's it.
Those are basically the two options.
Now, President Trump is proposing a third option right now, which he's going back to his threat to say, we're going to blow up bridges.
We're going to blow up your energy systems.
We have a lot of tools at our disposal.
But even that is just incremental toward the larger point, which is we're either going to get much more heavily involved in this war, potentially including ground troops, or we're going to have to take a deal that we're going to hate.
But those are basically the two options because this is the problem with Iran.
This is why it's been such a headache for us for 50 years.
Iran has one foot in the international order, one foot outside of it.
It's sort of a legitimate country.
It's sort of a terrorist organization.
And they're just impossible to deal with.
The war hawks are going to say, yes, see, this underscores the point.
We have to cut off the head of the snake.
This nation will not permit world peace or in any kind of world order.
But then the foreign policy restrainers, the people, I don't want to say isolationists because it's a term of derision, the people who say we should not be so gung ho about going to war in Iran, they're going to come out and say, see, this was never going to work because of the regime, because of their strategic location.
Worth pointing out that even the disagreements that we've seen reach all the way up to the level of the president and the Pope on whether or not to go to war in Iran, they're not really even ideological disagreements.
Everyone would acknowledge that there is a good reason to go to war in some cases when a war is just, for instance.
But to determine whether or not a war is just, you have to consider all sorts of criteria.
One, has diplomacy been exhausted?
Two, is this a defensive measure?
Three, proportionality are the goods to be achieved.
Pope Maligned Unfairly00:15:57
Proportional to the costs that will be incurred.
Four, let's not forget, this is an important one.
Is there a reasonable possibility of success?
And what does success even look like in Iran?
Does success just look like bombing a few sites?
Or does success look like regime change?
If it's the former, we can certainly do it.
If it's the latter, probably we're not going to do it because the Mallah's Islamic regime has lasted twice as long as the last time that the United States installed an Iran regime in 1953.
That's the issue.
So we remain in this same position where the hostilities are at a minimum.
You know, we're boarding some ships and things like that, but otherwise, the hostilities are at a minimum, but the situation is not yet resolved.
A tale of 47 years.
I do not envy the position that the president is in.
Now, complicating that war, Israel is dealing with Iranian proxies that are in Lebanon to the north, and Israel has just really stepped in it again.
A IDF soldier has gone viral over the weekend for desecrating a crucifix and then, with mind boggling stupidity, taking a picture of himself doing it.
We'll get to that in a moment.
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So, this IDF soldier goes viral.
It's being promoted by an Arabic account, Yunus Tirawi.
It says an Israeli soldier smashing the head of a Jesus Christ statue, not just a statue, but it's actually Christ on the crucifix that the soldier has taken down, and he's smashing his head with a hammer during operations in southern Lebanon.
So, this is absolutely horrifying, absolutely horrifying.
And initially, a lot of people said, well, this might be AI, this might be anti Israel propaganda.
Don't believe everything you see on the internet.
It's real.
The IDF has acknowledged that it's real.
Bibi Netanyahu has acknowledged it's real.
So the IDF comes out, says, following a completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol.
I want to put a pause right here.
This is not just a Christian symbol.
This is not just a picture of a fish.
This is not just a Cairo.
This is a statue of our Lord, Jesus Christ, on the cross.
On which Christ conquers death.
So I do not appreciate the IDF downplaying the significance of the symbol.
It's not just a symbol, it is a visual representation of our Lord as he conquers death.
Goes on.
The IDF views the incident with great severity, okay, and emphasizes that the soldier's conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of his troops.
Good.
Yes.
I should hope so.
The incident is being investigated by the Northern Command.
It's currently being addressed through the chain of command.
Appropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings.
Furthermore, the IDF is working to assist the community in restoring the statue to its place.
Okay, good.
It's going to be hard to restore the statue when its head is smashed.
But good, that's fine.
I want to drill down because the devil's in the details.
Views the incident with great severity.
Good.
The soldier's conduct is inconsistent with the values that are expected of him.
Okay.
So what's going to happen?
I don't want stern tweets, I want consequences.
Netanyahu comes out, tells you this is serious enough that the prime minister of Israel is coming out and addressing it.
Nobody should be downplaying this.
Nobody should be dismissing the gravity of this situation.
This is significant enough that the prime minister himself is directly addressing it.
He says, As the Jewish state, Israel cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshipers of all faiths.
All religions flourish in our land, and we view members of all faiths as equals in building our society and region.
Yesterday, like the overwhelming majority of Israelis, I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier had damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu's statement is a lot better than the IDF statement.
He's not using these mealy mouthed words.
Oh, it was a symbol.
Oh, it's, you know, it's very severe.
Appropriate measures will be taken through the chain of command.
I don't want to hear that.
I want to hear what this guy has to say.
This is much better.
Stunned and saddened.
That should be the reaction.
An IDF soldier damaged an icon of Christ.
I condemn the act in the strongest terms.
Yes, much better than what the IDF said.
Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter.
I'm good.
Now we're talking.
I don't want to just hear, well, this was inappropriate.
It's inconsistent with our values.
Some measures.
I don't want to hear that.
I want a criminal probe.
This guy committed a crime, among other things.
They will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.
Much better.
And then Netanyahu makes an important point.
While Christians are being slaughtered in Syria and Lebanon by Muslims, the Christian population in Israel thrives, unlike anywhere else in the Middle East.
Israel's the only country in the region that the Christian population and standard of living is growing.
Israel's the only place in the Middle East that adheres to freedom of worship for all.
We express regret for this incident, for any hurt that this has caused to believers in Lebanon and around the world.
Okay.
So the context that Netanyahu is adding here, which is a little bit to.
Put the incident in context, and obviously a little CYA for Israel here, but the point is fair, and this actually came to my mind too, independent of Netanyahu's statement, which is my mind went to Libya, that horrific incident 10 years ago or so now,
when ISIS was active in Libya and took 21 Coptic Christians captive and put them on the beach, got them on their knees, and slit their throats as they were martyrs saying, I believe in Jesus.
That is important context.
Christians do not exactly thrive in Muslim lands.
Muslims deny the crucifixion, deny the resurrection, deny the incarnation, I suppose we would say, because they deny the divinity of Christ.
They have a kind of fake Jesus that they pretend to venerate, but he's a Jesus who is not really Jesus.
It's a Jesus without his divinity.
It's a lie, it's a truly damnable heresy, and they persecute Christians and they chop their heads off.
So that is important context.
It is, of course, better for if we had to pick one or the other.
It is better for an errant incident of some IDF soldier committing a sacrilege that does not involve chopping actual Christians' heads off, I guess.
But both are very, very bad.
And so, well, I appreciate Netanyahu's context here.
I appreciate his condemnations and calls for criminal investigations more.
This is really bad on three levels.
One, it's sacrilege.
Now, non Christians will not agree with that, but it is.
It's sacrilege.
This is an extremely offensive, horrifying image coming out of the IDF.
And it is wrong in itself for that, just as a matter of justice.
Two, it's a crime.
The soldier has committed a crime.
He has desecrated someone else's property, he's looted somebody else's property, he's committed a real crime.
And then, three, if those first two don't persuade you, this is a major political problem for the state of Israel.
Obviously, it's a major political problem.
The prime minister is talking about it.
And we talked about this last week.
There was this shocking poll CNN reported on, and it comes from Gallup.
Support for the state of Israel in the United States has collapsed.
The left wing Democrats gave up on the state of Israel a long time ago.
The left wing Democrats, they've hated Israel for a long time.
But even when you look at moderate and non liberal Democrats, Which I don't even think really exists.
Is that John Fetterman?
Is that John Fetterman and Joe Manchin, maybe?
When you poll them, even among the moderate non liberal Democrats, Israel is now underwater.
So then Israel was counting on the right.
That was true for the last 15 years or so.
However, when you look even among Republicans, even among conservatives, Israel is now underwater.
When you look at young Republicans, Israel is toast in public opinion.
So this is an existential political problem for the state of Israel.
The state of Israel cannot afford images like that going around.
So what should be done?
I think Netanyahu has taken a good first step here with this statement.
They need to throw the book at this guy.
This is very serious what this guy did.
They need to throw the book at him.
He needs to be court martialed.
He needs to be prosecuted.
He needs to face jail time for this.
This is very, very serious.
That would go a long way toward addressing the chief offense, which is the sacrilege, the secondary offense, which is the desecration and the property damage.
But as I say, if those first two don't convince you, that would also go a long way toward addressing the political problem for the state of Israel itself.
Netanyahu's right.
This needs to be punished very harshly through criminal processes to serve all of these ends.
But it has to happen.
If this guy gets off with a slap on the wrist, it will be bad in every way that I can imagine.
Now, speaking of religious matters, the Pope.
Has just weighed in on immigration.
And I know, I know people are going to say, oh no, the Pope is talking about immigration again.
We're thinking of the Francis pontificate with really a lot of modern church weighing in on social policies to say, oh no, here we go.
I know the Catholic Church, it just wants open borders, wants to flood Western countries with migrants from the third world.
Here we go again.
Here we go again.
What does this Pope have to say about immigration?
Dear students of Cameroon, In the face of this crisis, there's an understandable tendency to want to emigrate, which can lead us to believe that we'll easily find a better future elsewhere.
I invite you, above all, to take up with an ardent desire to serve your country and to put the knowledge you're acquiring here to work for your fellow citizens.
Love this.
Love this statement because it says what I've said for a long time, which is the Pope is being unfairly maligned as some hippie, left-wing, commie, open borders.
And I've observed from the beginning, you can disagree with the Pope's views on immigration, but the Pope has a relatively moderate view on immigration.
The Pope has already come out, not that one really sees this video much because it doesn't serve propaganda purposes.
The Pope has already come out and said, of course nations have the right to borders.
Of course nations have the right to determine who's a citizen, who's not a citizen.
And in this case, he's speaking to people from Cameroon saying, hey, don't go to the West.
Do not immigrate there.
That would be wrong for you to do that, by and large, because you need to help your own communities.
You need to stay where you are and help your own communities.
Are we going to see that video going viral?
No, not really, because it doesn't serve propaganda purposes.
But it's very, very important.
The Pope is not open borders.
The Pope is not a pacifist in the sense of opposing all war per se.
That's not within the Christian tradition.
I've even observed that.
I said this at the speech at the Pope's alma mater the other day.
I said, you know, the irony of people, especially on the American right, a small number, criticizing the Pope as being left wing is that the Pope is more right wing than any American politician.
This is just what happens when you're the sovereign, supreme pontiff of the only institution in the West that has existed since antiquity.
When it comes to the social issues, abortion, the Pope is much more right wing than American politicians.
When it comes to marriage, when it comes to gender ideology, when it comes to contraception, when it comes to family and divorce, when it comes to the relationship between the citizen and the moral order, the obligations that the citizen has to uphold the moral order, contrary to the desires of individual autonomy.
There is no more right wing figure, just about any way you slice it, than the Pope.
Now, of course, the Pope can make prudential political claims that you don't really need to agree to with, even if you're Catholic.
But let's at least figure out what the Pope is actually saying.
He's not saying, hey, Third World, go flood the West.
Hey, Westerners, you can't have borders.
You can't determine who your citizens are.
He's simply not saying that.
So I have observed that this tiff that took place that now happily is waning between the President and the Pope, a lot of it is illusory.
A lot of it is based on false understandings of what these people actually believe.
Same thing with Trump.
When people are saying Trump is a warmonger, he's bloodthirsty.
Look at what Trump is saying.
About the Iran war.
He's saying this war is just.
This war is defensive.
We have a reasonable chance of success.
This war is proportional.
This war is to protect innocence.
You might disagree with his judgments about the facts in that case, but the fact of the debate is both of these men are making arguments from shared premises on the justice of war, on the need to protect innocence.
There's a lot more in common here than some would have us believe.
And the political point I've observed is the only people who benefit from a fight between the president and the Pope are the leftists, the forces who oppose America and the church, who want us to be all divided.
Because Trump won more of the Catholic vote, more consistency than any Republican ever.
The left realizes this is a major threat to their political program.
The left realizes that Catholicism is, in fact, on the rise, both because of migration and because of adult converts in the United States.
And they really want to create a division here.
They will not allow a Republican to win the Catholic vote three times in a row.
So we need to be clear on the facts and we need to be clear on the political op and program that's taking place here.
The Pope actually addressed the president directly in his remarks.
Are they going to be throwing shade?
Turning What Ifs Into With00:02:35
Are we going to get some tea here?
I've got some iced tea in my mug.
Are we talking tea, herbal or verbal?
We'll get to what the Pope had to say about the president first, though.
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What is the 19th Amendment?
Is it a good thing?
I've noticed, especially among young, young, edgy guys on the right, there's been this call to repeal the 19th Amendment.
But what was even more surprising to me is you see this call among young women, too.
So I bring four women into the same digital room, and I want to see if they cannot rip each other's faces off.
I tackle all of these questions in our latest debate panel with Emily Saves America, the leftist Blondie, Melanie Mack, and Priya Patel.
Check out this teaser.
If you could wave a magic wand right now, would you repeal the 19th Amendment?
I think it would be better for the betterment of the nation.
Women really just vote, I mean, especially on the left, just for abortion.
And maybe we need to just reel it back a little bit.
Leftist Blondie, are you a child who only cares about slaughtering infants?
I hear this from you conservatives all the time.
The countries where white women are the happiest are the countries where women are more equal to men.
Switzerland, Norway, Sweden.
You brought in race.
You're the one who says white women are only happy in the whitest countries in the world.
You're sitting here, like, covered in tattoos and, like, a cross necklace and colorful hair.
Team Pope Debate President00:04:02
I just want to point that out.
It's not very good.
Point.
Can you explain how having red hair makes me not a Christian?
Traditionally, people like Michael Knowles on his team would call you a heretic for dressing like that and then calling yourself a Christian.
Should women vote?
Wow.
Watch the latest episode of Mansplaining with Michael Knowles on the Michael Knowles YouTube channel.
Catch the ad free version on Daily Wire Plus.
The Pope is asked about this little tiff that flared up with the president.
Here's his take.
There's been a certain narrative. that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when on the first day of the trip, the President of the United States made some comments about myself.
Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.
Just one little example, the talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple days ago was prepared Two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting.
And yet, as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.
And I love that phrase there at the end.
He says, This is not in my interest at all.
Because that has two meanings.
One, I think he's literally saying, I'm not interested in debating the president.
But there is this deeper meaning, which is, This is not in our interest.
We don't want the president and the pope at loggerheads.
The secular ruler and the religious authority, there's been a tension there forever.
But we want to keep that tension at bay.
We want to make sure that both people are pointed in the same direction.
He says, Look, guys, there's this debate going on, but it's all commentary and commentary and commentary that mistakes even the most basic facts, even the facts of when I said something.
I can't be responding to something the president said if my comments were made before the president said it.
Having a debate with the president is not in my interest.
I love it.
President Trump has adjusted his tone on the Pope.
He said he had that comment last week.
He says, Look, the Pope can say what he wants.
I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree.
And I think he's a great guy.
And he, love that.
Love that.
This is the way that we should be talking about it.
The only group that wins a fight between the president and the Pope is the left.
Look at Ed Markey, Democrat Senator Ed Markey.
He posts a few days ago, what is that?
This is April 16th, before the Pope's clarification.
He goes, To be clear, I'm on Team Pope.
I hate my president.
I'm on Team Pope.
But then you have the Pope, he's saying, I'm not in a fight with the president.
I don't want to be in a debate with the president.
To be clear, I'm on Team Pope.
Are you?
Let me just take a little look at Ed Markey here, his own posts on X. Here's Ed Markey.
Wearing a suit with a gigantic lapel pin.
It's so big it doesn't fit on his lapel.
He's got to put it on his pocket and it just says abortion.
And instead of an O, there's a little heart.
I'm on Team Pope.
Are you?
I don't think you are because abortion is a non negotiable political issue.
And you are not in a state of grace if you are a Catholic politician who supports the slaughter of infants.
I'm on Team Pope.
No, you're not on Team Pope.
You hate the church.
You hate the church's teachings.
You hate the president.
And you're pretending to side with one man over the other to create division and problems for both of them.
Don't give in to it.
Don't give in.
It's a total op.
Speaking of the gospel, marvelous testimony from Artemis II commander Reed Wiseman.
He is a little nomen est omen here.
Reed Wiseman explaining how he processed going around the moon when he landed.
Preliminary Evidence Hearing00:15:05
When I got back on the ship, I'm not a really religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything.
So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute.
And when that man walked in, I'd never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar and I just broke down in tears.
It's very hard to fully grasp what we just went through.
This statement could not be more perfect if you scripted it.
Now, you think it could be more perfect because you say, well, he says he's not really religious and he should be religious.
Yeah, yeah.
This gives even greater glory to God.
This is even a greater testament to religion because he says, Look, I'm not a religious person.
If he were going to daily mass, if he were reading his Bible every single day, and he said, And when I landed, I saw the cross and this sign, talk about the importance of symbols, specifically the symbol of the crucifix.
You know, if he were really religious, you'd say, Yeah, well, he already had it kind of pre programmed into his head that this was significant.
That's why he broke into tears.
But the thing is, he's not that religious.
And he got a more cosmic view.
Than anyone has ever had.
He was further away from the earth than anyone has ever been.
And when he got back, despite not really being religious, he had this urge, this impulse, some would say a natural religious longing or a God shaped hole in his heart to go to the chapel.
And what does he see?
It's not just that he saw some picture, some random symbol.
He sees the symbol.
He sees the symbol of the God who is beyond time and space, who takes on flesh and dwells among us and suffers for us.
dies for our sins and conquers death on the cross.
He sees that and he breaks into tears.
This man who has greater scientific, technological training than anybody comes back and he sees this very simple image that is the most profound image that there ever could be.
And he breaks into tears and he realizes that's what it's all about.
At the end of our journey, we come back home and we see our place for the first time.
The most important conclusion that one can have from this trip around the moon is not that that crater is actually there instead of there.
It's not that the composition of the moon is such that we can put a base in this position rather than that position.
The most important conclusion one has is this is what it all means.
This is how we bring it all together.
And what is the crux of that?
Pun intended.
It's the crucifix, which is why, getting back to the story at the top of the show, it's why religious symbols really matter.
There are going to be a lot of people who write off this unfortunate incident with this dummy IDF soldier in Lebanon.
They're going to write it off and say, oh, it's not that big a deal.
It's just, look, it's a religious image.
It's unfortunate.
I know it's offensive, but come on, guys, let's talk about real stuff.
Let's talk about practical stuff like bombs and guns and territory.
You're missing it.
That is part of the foolishness of the cynic.
The cynics mistake what really matters.
So they think that all that matters is matter.
They think all that matters is material, real, practical, tangible assets.
But ultimately, that cannot be what ultimately matters because we die, because we have a sense that we are spirit as well as matter, because everything that really inspires us and impels us to action in the world is not matter.
It is what the matter symbolizes, what it signifies.
St. Thomas Aquinas writes this at the very beginning of the Summa Theologiae.
He says, you know, when we read books, when we write books, the words and the symbols, they have a meaning.
But because God is the author of creation, things, things themselves have meaning too.
And having a more cosmic view, I can't say a 30,000 foot view, I'd say a 30 gazillion foot view of things, of matter, this wise man realizes that ultimately what matters is that particular image.
That man who is God on that cross.
Okay, speaking of outer space, President Trump has just promised a major disclosure of UFOs at TPUSA.
We'll get to that major disclosure.
All the alien people.
My friend Matt Walsh, I'm sure, is giddy.
He's probably skipping on the way to work today.
Ah, see, Trump says that I'm right.
Ah, the aliens are real.
We're going to get a big disclosure.
We're living in the age of disclosure, say the UFO people.
That's not my read on what Trump actually said.
Folks, I want to talk to you.
I want to talk to you.
I want, I want to, I don't mean that like the principal's office.
I want to talk to you.
I want to get your ideas.
And we can chat in the member segmentum after the show, not available to the Hoypoloy, in all access through the mailbag.
But the only way to do that is at dailywire.comslash subscribe.
You have to become a member now.
dailywire.comslash subscribe.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I did not pick a comment today.
I left it to the producers.
Let's see what they picked.
They picked from 60 in 6.
San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, We Are Coming for Your Children.
They weren't joking.
Oh, yeah.
Didn't they say that once?
I remember that was years ago.
You're talking about that horrifically viral video.
Talk about nomen est omen.
You have this commander here, Wise Man, who's saying, you know, after traveling around the moon, I realized what really matters is the cross.
And then the guy, I found this out.
I didn't think he was so bawdy.
I didn't even want to mention it on the show, but it's a fact.
It's real.
And it gets to this idea of nominative determinism.
Comes from the ancient playwright Plautus in his play, Persa, about the Persians.
The Persians, who really matter here because we're in a war against the Persians, talk about providence.
This idea that names have significance.
The guy, the gay guy who mocked this child whom he intentionally deprived of a mother, said, No more mama.
There's no more mama here.
Ha ha, the child starts crying.
His name is apparently.
McAnally?
I don't even want to say it.
Is it pronounced McAnally?
I don't know.
M lowercase c, capital A, N A L L Y. Nominative determinism that would have gotten one of Plautus's very plays rejected.
Okay.
Speaking of the outer space and the aliens, President Trump just appeared at a TPUSA event.
Matt and I are going to be doing a TPUSA event coming up soon over in Idaho.
So keep an eye out for that.
Go to the TPUSA website and see when it is because I don't remember when it is.
President Trump hitting one of these events.
He says we're getting UFO disclosure.
Or does he?
As you remember, I recently directed the Secretary of War.
How good is Pete Hegseth doing, by the way?
To begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena.
And I figured this was a good crowd because I know you people, you're really into that.
I don't know if I am.
So I'm pleased to report today.
I thought I'd save it for this crowd because you're a little bit out there, you know, a little bit.
That this process is well underway and we found many very interesting documents, I must say.
And the first releases will begin very, very soon.
So you can go out and see if that.
Phenomena is correct.
You'll figure it out.
Let me know.
Let me know.
Okay, so they said, This is it.
We're getting disclosure.
We've wanted UFO disclosure forever.
This is it.
We're going to find out the aliens are here.
Did you hear what President Trump just said?
He's at TPUSA.
He goes, Look, you guys, I hear you're a little bit out there, aren't you?
So we're going to get UFO disclosure.
Interesting stuff.
We're going to get it.
I don't know why, because you people really want it.
You're a little weird, aren't you?
Well, hey, it's going to be interesting stuff.
Let me know what you find.
He's making fun of the UFO disclosure.
He's making fun of the.
There are UFOs.
There's no question about that.
There are unidentified flying objects.
Maybe it's China.
Maybe it's our own tech.
Maybe it's an hallucination.
Maybe it's something in heaven and earth that is beyond our philosophy, Horatio.
But whatever it is, guys, I don't think we're getting info on ET.
If we knew that ET showed up from planet Zebulon 7, or even if we knew.
A more plausible explanation that demons are taking on some kind of physical appearance in order to deceive us, or if that's what we had in the files, would Trump be making fun of this?
I don't know.
I don't really buy that.
I suspect that the answer is probably a little bit more mundane.
But who knows?
All right.
I mean, I think I was wrong once at some point in my life.
I may have been slightly wrong or misunderstood at least.
So who knows?
Maybe I'm wrong on ET, but.
President Trump making me think I'm going to win the alien debate.
Okay.
Speaking of TPUSA, I'm not hearing too much about this, which is crazy because to me, this is a bombshell story.
But Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was in court on Friday.
I was watching the hearing.
It was a pretty long hearing.
And this was the evidentiary hearing.
So people are really misunderstanding what this was.
People think this is the trial or something.
This isn't even the preliminary hearing.
This is the evidentiary hearing.
And I know that's kind of weird because you think the preliminary hearing would be the first thing that happens.
It's preliminary after all.
But the preliminary, preliminary hearing is the evidentiary hearing.
The evidentiary hearing, which is not where the lawyers show all of their evidence, some people seem to be misinterpreting that.
They think the point of an evidentiary hearing is to show all of the evidence that you have.
The point of an evidentiary hearing is to say what evidence you have, to discuss in broad terms the evidence you have.
So that you can get to the preliminary hearing, so that eventually you can finally get to the trial and convict the killer.
And the evidence that the state has against Tyler Robinson is even more overwhelming than I think a lot of people previously thought.
Here is the lawyer for the state.
He then leaves the campus.
UVU surveillance then captures him return later.
He returns on foot right before the Charlie Kirk event.
He's wearing a disguise of sorts.
He's wearing a baseball cap, different baseball cap, pulled low.
He's got sunglasses on.
A different shirt, different pants, but the same converse shoes.
That's all seen in the surveillance.
He's limping because there's a rifle down his pants.
The surveillance captures this individual.
Again, I don't want to overstate the evidence because the pictures of his face at this time are not as definitive as they were earlier because of the sunglasses and the hat.
But it captures his face, captures his appearance, his height, his build, all consistent with how he looks earlier in the day and how he looks today in court.
But he makes his way to the rooftop.
Makes his way to the sniper's perch on the rooftop, takes the shot, and then runs to the northeast, drops off the building, and runs to the northeast of campus into a wooded area.
That's all captured on video.
That's all captured on video.
Initially, even I thought that they only had little snippets a picture here, a short little video here of allegedly Tyler Robinson killing Charlie Kirk, running away, but that we couldn't piece it all together.
The state is saying, no, no, no, it's all on video.
We have it all on video.
Beyond that, They have Robinson's fingerprints, allegedly.
I have to say allegedly because he's not convicted yet.
They have Tyler Robinson's fingerprints on the rifle, the rifle which is tied to Robinson's family.
We have the involvement of the family in turning Robinson in.
We have a handwritten note from Robinson confessing to the crime.
We have furthermore text messages confessing to the crime.
We then have Robinson orally confessing to the crime, all allegedly.
The state has a lot of evidence, more so than even I thought, and I was following it decently closely.
So, what is Robinson's lawyer trying to do now?
Two things.
Robinson has not entered a plea yet, which is not unusual, but he hasn't said guilty or not guilty.
Robinson's lawyer is trying to do two things.
One, he's trying to delay.
He's saying, oh, we need another four months.
We need another six months.
I want to examine all of the evidence, even before the preliminary hearing, which is totally crazy.
You don't need to do that.
This isn't the trial.
We're not days away from a conviction here.
We're just trying to set.
The preliminary hearing, so that we can start this process.
And the lawyer for Robinson says, No, no, we need much more time.
We need another six months, which is not going to fly because the victims have a right to a speedy trial of the accused perpetrators.
But he's saying, All I want to do, I just want to push it off six more months, 12 more months, 10 more years, just push it off, push it off.
And then the other thing the lawyer, the defense for Robinson is asking for is no cameras in the courtroom.
And to me, this really tells the story too, because.
The evidence, as we learned on Friday, the evidence against Robinson is even worse than we previously thought it was.
If the defense attorney thought that the evidence were really weak, if the defense attorney thought that the media were all in on going after Tyler Robinson, then surely Robinson's lawyer would want there to be cameras in the classroom so that Robinson's defenders could show all of the inconsistencies, could show the weakness of the evidence.
But all available evidence for us points to the fact that the state has a brutal case against Robinson.
And the best thing Robinson can do is delay and delay and delay, which is a terrible thing at a personal level because Charlie was a friend of mine.
And for millions and millions of people who never met him personally, and he was so good at politics, he actually met many, many people personally.
But for millions and millions of people, they felt like they were friends with Charlie.
They knew that Charlie cared about them and they want justice for his family and they want justice for his killer.
They want his killer to face consequences.
So, as a matter of justice in itself, you want the trial to be speedy.
Mainstream Democrats Politics00:01:45
But then also as a practical matter, the left wants to kill us.
This was the most shocking takeaway in the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk how many mainstream Democrats excuse that, justify that, celebrate that.
Charlie Kirk, who was.
As moderate a Republican as it gets, as moderate a young Republican as it gets, not a provocateur, not an extremist, not a radical ideologue, quite the opposite.
He was Mr. Mainstream.
And the left did kill him, and then the mainstream left justified killing him.
And one of the distressing conclusions, practically for a lot of people, is man, if they would kill Charlie Kirk, they'd definitely kill me.
My views are a lot more radical than Charlie's were.
If that lady who sits next to me at work, Is justifying Charlie's killing on Facebook, what would she do to me?
And politics takes place in time and space.
There are consequences.
There's an election coming up, a midterm election followed by a presidential election.
If these people get power back, what are they going to do with it?
Another reason we need a speedy trial.
Okay.
So much more I want to get to.
Idaho has just made the firing squad the primary option for executions.
And I think that's just brilliant.
We'll get to that, I don't know, I guess tomorrow, because today's Music Monday, Coachella edition.
The rest of the show continues now.
I want to get, maybe I'll get, you know what, maybe I'll get to the Idaho firing squad story today.
Maybe I'll get to it today, but not for the hoi polloi.
I love you, hoi polloi, and the public platforms.
But if you want the deep stuff, if you want the esoterica, if you want these extra stories, if you want to be part of the community, you've got to join.
Go to dailywire.com, use code NOLES, K N A W L E S, right now.