Ezra Levant critiques Jason Kenney’s Alberta immigration push as a "solution in search of a problem," mocking it amid 5-year net-zero migration and 49% of Canadians opposing higher immigration, while blaming Trudeau’s carbon tax and Notley’s oil caps for economic decline. Kenney’s 2016 protest condemnation and convoy snub highlight his alleged media fear, Levant claims. Meanwhile, Pipko reveals modeling industry backlash—blocked by peers, labeled extremists—for Trump support since 2015, citing Jerusalem embassy moves and Democratic anti-Semitism. Three Rebel Media journalists assaulted in protests underscore broader conservative media persecution, with lawsuits framed as symbolic defense. The episode ties Alberta’s policy failures to national progressive hostility, framing dissent as systematically punished. [Automatically generated summary]
You're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show.
It's called The Ezra Levant Show because I'm Ezra Levant and it's a show.
And today we talk about a weirdness from my old friend Jason Kenney.
We were truly friends, but we haven't talked in a little while.
There's a space between us, and I think it's ideological.
And I get into that a little bit today.
I don't talk about personal stuff.
I talk about the political stuff.
Why is Jason Kenney making an immigration announcement in a provincial campaign in Alberta?
It's got nothing to do with Alberta politics.
Alberta politics are oil, gas, pipelines, taxes, investment, announcing you want to increase, no, no, you want to lobby Justin Trudeau to increase immigration to Alberta.
Where did that come from?
And Alberta has extremely high unemployment of skilled labor force.
You want to bring in more cheap foreign labor, and that's an economic plan.
It makes no sense other than as a politically correct virtue signaling strategy.
And I explain that in the monologue ahead, so I'm glad you're going to listen.
If you like listening to these podcasts, you would love to watch it.
I show lots of video clips, but in order to watch, you need to be a subscriber to premium content.
So we call it long-form TV style shows on The Rebel.
You get access to my daily show as to other great shows too, like Sheila Gunread and David Menzies.
It's only eight bucks a month to subscribe, or you can subscribe annually and get two months free.
And just for podcast listeners, you can actually save 10% on a new premium membership by using the coupon code PODCAST.
When you subscribe, just go to the rebel.media slash shoes to become a member.
And so without further ado, let me invite you to enjoy today's podcast.
Tonight, Jason Kenney's running to be premier of a province, but he made an immigration campaign announcement.
What a weird strategy, but I think I can explain it.
It's February 25th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
Look, let me put you out of suspense.
Jason Kenney is going to be the next Premier of Alberta.
Rachel Notley's Legacy00:15:26
Any poll, every poll for months has shown that it's going to be a majority government for Kenny's new UCP party.
That stands for the United Conservative Party.
The only question is, how big of a blowout will it be?
Personally, I feel no risk predicting that Kenny will win every single seat in Calgary, every single rural seat, and probably half of the seats in Edmonton.
It's going to be massive.
Look, the NDP win in 2015 was accidental.
The other parties all imploded just at the perfect time.
And Rachel Notley had a pleasant enough smile, and she didn't blow it in the debates, and she didn't seem scary.
And that was enough for Albertans who were disgusted with Jim Prentiss, disgusted with Danielle Smith of the Wild Rose Party, who defected to Prentice's conservatives and tried to kill the Wild Rose Party.
It was all so gross and undemocratic that voters just burnt them all to a crisp.
I get it.
Vengeance.
Now those two parties are gone.
Abacus Research confirmed at the time what we all knew, Albertans didn't actually vote for any NDP policies.
91% of people who voted for the NDP in Alberta said they just wanted a change.
They didn't know what the NDP stood for.
Trouble is, the change they voted for was a bunch of kooks.
In some cases, actual communists.
I mean, Notley herself wore a wristwatch with the portrait of the communist terrorist Che Guevara on him.
Most of her MLAs were all accidental.
They truly never thought they'd win.
They just put their name down as a favor to someone.
Some were actually kids still living with their parents.
For some, it was the first real job they actually had.
I'm not exaggerating.
You even had real-deal communists like this weirdo named Rod Loyola.
values that he stood for.
Yeah, in case you can't tell, he's praising Hugo Chavez, the tyrant back in the day of Venezuela.
That's crazy.
But really not much crazier than the fact that the oil sands province had just elected a premier.
You can see her on the left there, who literally attended anti-oil sands, anti-pipeline rallies.
I bet fewer than one in a thousand Albertans knew what they were truly going to get.
So yeah, what a disaster.
Notley brought in a carbon tax that she didn't even mention once during the election campaign.
Notley capped production of the oil sands, just passed a law.
Notley brought in anti-oil sands lobbyists like Sepora Berman and appointed to her senior government position, co-chair of the oil sands advisory council.
Berman actually never stopped being an anti-oil sands lobbyist while she ran the oil sands policy for Notley.
I'm not going to list all the disasters.
There were a lot of them, but it is finally all about to come to an end.
You can sort of tell that it's the final hours in the Notley regime.
They're all in the bunker while the bombs are going off outside.
They're doing crazy things that show they know it's almost over.
Just the other day, Notley appointed Ed Whittingham, the famous anti-oil sands lobbyist, to Alberta's oil regulatory tribunal called the Energy Regulator.
So he's not just an advisor now like Sepora Berman.
He's now a quasi-judge with the jurisdiction to directly make orders against oil and gas and pipeline companies.
Of course that proves any of her 11th hour pro-oil rhetoric is a joke.
I mean we all knew that.
We all knew she didn't want the oil sands to succeed, even though she's been making noises to that effect.
But mainly, I think it shows that these folks are going to raid the place, burn it down, steal the cutlery on their way out.
Appointing Ed Whittingham to the energy regulator is so insane.
I think they know that Jason Kenney is going to fire him, so he'll just get a huge severance package.
I think that's all this is about.
They're just appointing people to things just to grab 10 grand, 50 grand, 100 grand on their way out the door.
Like I say, they're going to strip the place down to the studs.
All right, back to the campaign trail.
Jason Kenney could go on holidays until the election and still win a majority.
In fact, I would think that's probably better if he did that, since the campaign's going to be nothing but gotcha smears against him by the media party.
They did a dozen news stories the other day about how Kenny briefly lived with his widowed mother and the media actually published floor plans of her house.
And this was all in the legitimate media and the whole point was to try and allege that Kenny had falsely claimed expense accounts as an Ottawa MP a decade ago or something.
So get ready for 35 days of that.
Like I say, Kenny couldn't do worse than, I mean, if he went on vacation till it's over, he should just hide till it's over.
Frankly, he should send away all his candidates too.
All of them.
Since every one of them is going to be gotcha on the campaign and they're probably not all that skilled at dealing with gotcha questions.
No one needs to door knock in this Alberta election campaign on either side.
You're not going to learn anything in 60 seconds at your doorstep in Alberta that you don't already know about Rachel Notley and the NDP or Jason Kenney and the UCP.
Nothing.
The cake is baked.
It's over.
Everyone has made up their mind.
But Kenny and his team have been colonized psychologically by the media party, as in their main enemy isn't the NDP.
I don't really even think they're reacting to the NDP much anymore.
It's almost the reverse.
The NDP are now acting like the official opposition to Kenny.
They know they're done.
They're sounding like an official opposition more and more now.
Kenny isn't afraid of the NDP, but he lives in absolute terror of the media party.
I think it's something he learned in his decade in Ottawa.
In Ottawa, the media is the most powerful force.
They can shape things, they control things.
Harper tried to ignore them, but they had their revenge on him, certainly in the 2015 election.
The CBC is the worst, of course.
Harper and Kenny, who was in cabinet, had a decade to privatize the CBC or even shut it down.
They didn't.
And so it absolutely mauled them in the 2015 federal campaign.
And it's gotten worse ever since Trudeau took office and gave the CBC a huge budget increase.
Now, that works in Ontario and Quebec and maybe the Atlantic and BC.
Although even as I'm just saying that, I note that Ontario voted for Doug Ford in defiance of the CBC and Quebec voted for a new party led by that CAC that actually bans burkhas and limits immigration.
So even Quebec did that in the defiance of the CBC and even New Brunswick in the Atlantic just threw out their Liberal Party too.
So yeah, even places that like that ignored the CBC.
So you don't have to be afraid of them anymore.
But Alberta?
Alberta, which always hated the CBC, and which the CBC always hated, Feelings Mutual.
Alberta, public enemy number one of the CBC.
Alberta, against whom the CBC deployed David Suzuki for 40 years.
Imagine being afraid of what the CBC says about you when you're running to be the Premier of Alberta.
It's actually a certification, a validation, an affirmation, a vindication.
If the CBC hates you, if they like you, that's your problem in Alberta.
But Jason Kenney's mind was colonized by the CBC in his decade in Ottawa.
He learned to appease them, to try to calm them, to compromise with them.
He cares what they think about him.
He really does.
They hate him more than anyone almost.
They certainly hate him more than they hate Andrew Scheer.
It's obvious.
But like a battered wife who refuses to leave an abusive relationship, Kenny thinks he can, I can just turn him around.
I can make them love me.
If he just stops doing certain things that annoy them.
I first saw this side of Kenny two years ago when he turned against the 3,000 Albertans who were campaigning at a rebel rally outside the legislature against Rachel Notley's carbon tax.
Now, if you recall back in December 2016, all the cool conservatives were for the carbon tax.
Remember that?
Preston Manning was writing in the Globe and Mail for the carbon tax.
Patrick Brown, the Ontario Tory leader, for the carbon tax.
Several federal conservative leadership candidates were for the carbon tax, like Michael Chong.
I can't even remember the other no-names.
Only we here at the Rebels stood firmly with the people.
3,000 unemployed men and women rallied with us on the steps of the legislature in Edmonton.
And I remember in that large rally, it was about a 90-minute rally.
I remember there was about 30 seconds of banter at the rally where some people chanted, lock her up.
It was an homage to the Trump rallies we had all seen on TV.
Remember this was in December, just a month after Trump's big win.
So it was a joke.
It was a pop culture reference.
It was 30 seconds, and it was banter.
Unemployed men and women blowing off steam.
Obviously, they didn't want to physically take Rachel Notley and lock her up and take her down to the provincial jail or something.
They wanted her to not bring in the carbon tax and to vote her out.
But the CBC pretended that they were actually going to lock her up.
Just like last week, the CBC pretended that when Senator David Tukachuk said he wanted to roll over the liberals, well, the CBC just knew what this lifelong Democratic politician really meant was that he wanted someone to physically get into a truck and physically roll over some liberals and kill them.
The CBC pretended that's what Senator Tukach meant.
They pretended that they thought you were that stupid and they ran with that.
Well, back in December 2016, Kenny saw the CBC about to destroy the reputation of regular working people.
They want to kidnap Rachel Notley and lock her up somewhere.
And so Kenny made a choice.
Instead of standing with unemployed Albertans or just ignoring the media, how about that?
He joined the CBC mob against them.
Kenny, who used to be the boss of the Taxpayers Federation, for crying out loud.
Imagine him turning against an anti-tax rally because they were too vivacious.
These unemployed men and women weren't complaining politely enough.
Not because, he turned against them, not because they did anything wrong, but because the CBC manufactured some fake outrage as if they were going to, like I say, walk in and actually handcuff Notley and like hold her in like some fake jail or something.
You've got to think that was what they meant to believe the CBC fake outrage.
So when the CBC came to Jason Kenney, who hadn't even attended the rally, which is curious when you think about it, and the CBC said, what do you think?
Instead of ignoring them or saying, well, I wasn't there, I don't know, or saying, well, I can understand their frustration.
I might have phrased it differently, but I can understand their frustration.
He condemned them.
Kenny saw the CBC was hunting for a scalp, and he chose to appease them.
This is what he tweeted.
He said, there are good reasons to oppose a carbon tax, but calling on our Democratically elected Premier to be locked up is ridiculous and offend some, I'm offended.
Yeah, that doesn't work for a conservative to play the fake offended grievance card.
That was the last time Jason Kenney had anything to do with the rebel, by the way.
He realized at that moment when the CBC confronted him that the CBC were going to call anyone who was truly conservative a racist or violent or whatever.
No one in Alberta believed that.
The CBC is fake news in Alberta.
No one trusts them.
They're clowns, they're haters, they're quite often carpetbaggers sent from Toronto to hate Alberta because they can't even get Albertans to work there because they need to bring that hate Alberta mentality.
And just like Rachel Notley, 10 of her first 12 chiefs of staff were outside the province, from outside the province.
But Kenny blinked in the face of that.
He chose his own comfort rather than loyalty to those men and women.
I think there was a little flash into his mind.
And I think he did it again with the United We Roll Convoy the other week.
Andrew Scheer and Maxine Bernier both came to speak at the United We Roll convoy when it was on Ottawa.
Frankly, I was a little bit impressed that Andrew Scheer showed some courage.
I think it's because Maxine Bernier is hot on his tail.
So good for both of them.
And Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sent out encouraging messages, just absolutely encouraging, not a negative word.
Kenny refused to meet with the convoy even as it passed through his own city of Calgary.
And his only tweet to them scolded them for talking about other issues.
Glad to see they've decided to keep the focus on our oil and gas workers.
This issue is too important for distractions.
Even in his praise, he's damning them because they talk about Trudeau's corruption or mass immigration.
More lecturing, just like he did after the carbon tax rally in 2016.
It's weird.
That's an Ottawa snobbiness.
It's un-Albertan.
But the real point is, it's not going to buy Jason Kenney any relief from the CBC.
They're going to do their best to destroy him no matter who he throws under the bus on the Conservative side.
So appeasing the media is not going to work.
And it's not necessary.
Like I said, Jason Kenney could go away for two months on a holiday and turn off his cell phone.
And he'll come back as Premier.
It is a done deal in Alberta.
And all of the above is the only way I can process the bizarre Jason Kenney announcement today.
I'm not in Alberta as much as I'd like to be these days.
I'm here in exile in Toronto.
I think I'm in Torontonia now.
But I get out west fairly often and I talk to Albertans every day, both old friends and members of the public and viewers.
And I have to think if that, I have to think if you were to knock on a thousand doors in Alberta and say, what's the key issue in this provincial election?
I got to tell you, I don't think a single person would say, you know what, this provincial election, what we need?
We need more immigration.
What?
I doubt one person would say that, but that is what Jason Kenney's announcement today was.
Here, listen.
We need to use the power of immigration as one strategy to restore investor confidence and to build new businesses to create prosperity for all Albertans.
During my tenure as minister, I quadrupled Alberta's allotment under the provincial nominee program, which helped to double immigration levels to Alberta from about 21,000 to about 42,000 new permanent residents a year.
The only province, I believe, that does not focus immigration on less populated, like rural regions.
And nor do we use the ability to nominate people for work permits to get them here faster before they get permanent residency.
What?
Immigration is a federal matter.
Bringing In More Workers?00:08:28
It's not a provincial matter other than some tweaks.
I mean, the main point here, though, is that there's massive unemployment in Alberta right now.
It's worse than any other province in Canada other than those in the Atlantic.
Alberta's unemployment is worse than Quebec.
It's worse than Ontario.
That means there are lots of unemployed men and women right now who are actually the most skilled workforce in the country.
Let me say that again.
Alberta's unemployed people are the most skilled unemployed people in Canada.
They're not out of work because they did something wrong.
They're not out of work because they don't have the skills.
They're out of work because Rachel Notley and Justin Trudeau.
There is no shortage of workers.
There is a shortage of jobs.
And Jason Kenney wants to bring in more workers before our existing Albertan unemployed are hired.
And to rural parts?
What does that even mean?
Is this even a provincial election platform?
It's so weird.
It sounds like Jason Kenney just took some of his old files from when he was a parliament, the cabinet minister, and he's repurposing them.
Immigration in a provincial campaign.
By the way, it doesn't even make any sense.
Canadians don't want more immigration.
Here's the Angus Reid survey from a few months ago.
Literally, only 6% of Canadians want higher immigration.
That's that black line at the bottom there.
49%, the red line, want less.
31%, the blue line say, well, keep it as it is, maybe.
So it's, what, eight to one want less immigration as to more.
It's not broken down by province there, but I'm pretty sure support for more immigration is even lower in Alberta.
How could it not be?
Alberta already has plenty of people who are looking for work right now.
Bringing in cheaper foreign labor to undercut them helps no one.
Or even bringing in more skilled labor.
How does that help out our own unemployed skilled labor in the province now?
This is a solution in search of a problem.
It doesn't make sense.
And listen to Kenny's justifications of it.
Listen for a bit here.
The goal will be to end large backlogs, speed up processing times, proactively attract talented newcomers from overseas, welcome job-creating entrepreneurs, and encourage settlement in rural Alberta, which needs population the most.
His first two goals there are really weird.
Fix the immigration backlog and speed up processing.
How is that an Alberta provincial issue?
Fix the backlog, as in there are foreigners who really want to come here and they're not getting enough service quickly enough.
That's his top priority.
That's the first thing he mentions, making things convenient for foreigners.
And the second one, speeding up processing times.
That's not the problem.
The problem is that Alberta has nearly 7% unemployment and it's skilled workers in Alberta who can't find work.
And he's really excited about bringing in foreigners faster.
Who came up with this?
Bringing in job creators?
Okay, good idea.
I'll believe it when I see it.
But that's not the pitch here.
The pitch is really bringing in cheap third world labor to a province that already has unemployed Canadian labor.
I really can't believe Jason Kenney referred to Brooks, Alberta, as his example of a success story.
Brooks is a good example.
They have managed to do this partly because of the large meatpacking plant there that has been very proactive in recruiting newcomers.
But this is the single most effective way that we can help to revitalize economic growth in smaller communities.
Brooks, he's really using that Brooks meat packing.
Brooks is a small town in Alberta that decided to hire cheap foreign workers in their meatpacking plant rather than to hire Canadians for a couple of bucks an hour more.
And they thought Somalis would be the perfect people to work in Brooks, Alberta.
So no surprise that it has been a disaster.
The crime rate in that town doubled.
Alberta is now famous for having exported Somali terrorists to ISIS.
But just from a plain old economic point of view, which is being touted here as the rationale, why?
How is bringing in cheap foreign labor, which is the story of the Brooks meatpacking plant, that's exactly the story he refers to.
How is it a success that you've got some employed low-cost labor from Somalia in Brooks?
This is so weird.
It's like Kenny's running for prime minister for the Liberals, appeasing Ahmed Hassan's Somali.
He's got that nailed down.
Appeasing the CBC, appeasing migrant lobby groups.
Alberta doesn't need more migrants, especially for economics.
Here's a chart showing that the province has had nearly zero net immigration for the past five years, as in people are leaving Alberta almost as quickly as they're coming in anyways because there's no economic opportunity there.
People are getting up and leaving the province and he wants to bring in more Somalis.
Why is he doing this?
He actually said he's going to lobby Justin Trudeau and Ahmed Hassan to ask for more.
Listen, I would happily lobby the federal government to increase Alberta's allotment under the provincial nominee program.
As federal minister, I took it from 1,200 to 5,000, quadrupled it, which took the number of immigrants coming through the program from about 4,000 to 22,000.
That helped to double the overall number of immigrants coming to Alberta from about 21,000 in 2005 to on average 42,000 when I left as immigration minister.
And I'm proud of having doubled immigration levels to Alberta, partly by giving Alberta a 400% increase in its nominee.
But since then, Alberta has been flat.
What is going on here?
The oil patch is hurting.
The pipeline industry is dead.
Coal is being positively euthanized by the NDP.
Pipelines are not being built.
It's collapsing the prices.
What's going on here?
I know a lot of immigrants that came here with high hopes but couldn't find jobs.
And they've ended up leaving for Toronto or Vancouver.
That's a terrible shame.
Yeah, I guess that's sad.
But why is that more sad if it happens to foreign citizens than when it happens to Canadians, to Albertans?
And how is bringing thousands of more people going to change that?
What is even going on here?
Alberta is having a very tough time.
Albertans are.
Albertans are homeless.
Albertans are on welfare.
Albertans need jobs.
It is sad that the unlimited pool of people around the world, the 7 billion people who could come to Canada if they could.
It's sad that 7 billion foreigners can't get jobs in Alberta, sure, but it is more sad that Albertans can't.
To focus on this, to say this is a priority, to make this announcement, to say he's going to lobby Trudeau for more migrants, that is not real.
That is not what Albertans are asking for.
That's what the CBC wants.
That's Jason Kenney trying to win the love of the CBC, trying to prove how woke he is, so woke that he's going to lobby Justin Trudeau for more migrants.
Jason Kenney is more scared of the CBC than he is of anything else.
If you're wondering how he's going to govern, I think that's what you need to watch.
I've never, never in my life heard someone in small town Alberta say they want Trudeau to pour more migrants into their town.
Pretty sure Brooks is a cautionary tale, not a role model.
If you want to know what Jason Kenney responds to, don't look to a carbon tax rally or a pipeline convoy.
I don't think he likes those.
Look to what they're gossiping about at the CBC headquarters in Toronto.
Pro-Trump Jewish Identity00:12:03
Look to what the media party is Twittering about online.
That's what Jason Kenney responds to.
Please tell me if I'm wrong here, because I wish I was, but I don't think I am.
Stay with us for more.
I believe my support for Trump has affected my entire life, but modeling in particular, it's just, you know, the fashion world is like Hollywood.
You're not allowed to not only be a Republican or conservative, but you're not allowed to be different.
So I think anyone that doesn't support the president, who obviously everyone hates in the fashion world, is going to be ostracized right away.
Elizabeth Pipko is a successful model that was until she publicly came out of the closet.
Oh, it's worse than you think, as a Trump supporter.
Since then, she has been blackballed from the industry.
Joining us now via Skype is Elizabeth Pipko.
Elizabeth, pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
You know, I would think that modeling, like sports, is ideology-free.
I mean, I could see it in the dramatic arts like acting or music where there's always some editorial content, but sports is just sports.
And I would think modeling is just modeling.
How come the industry is intolerant of any political diversity?
I honestly don't know.
I think it's shocking to a lot of people.
I was kind of, I don't think I was aware of how strange it was just because I was in the middle of it all.
But I remember actually talking to my dad, I think, two weeks ago when we were talking about it after everything kind of, you know, came out.
And he asked me if other models post, you know, things, you know, even if they agree on the liberal side, they post about it.
And I said, yeah, they're at the Women's March.
They're, you know, posting terrible things about our president, everything.
And he thought that the weirdness was the fact that I came out with the fact that I support the president, my model who's supposed to stay neutral.
He didn't understand that we actually weren't allowed to just be Republican or be supportive to the president, that it wasn't a left-right kind of like equal playing field.
He genuinely thought that it was the fact that I came out in general and any kind of support that was shocking to people.
He didn't get that it was actually the fact that I was a Republican or a supporter.
And that's what was crazy.
He really didn't understand that.
And I think that's kind of when it hit me, that we're really not allowed to be ourselves if it, you know, is separate from anything that other people, you know, like the mass majority kind of believe in.
Well, give me some examples of how things changed once you let it slip out that you were not just a Republican.
I mean, maybe they could abide a token Republican, but that you actually volunteered on Trump's campaign itself.
I mean, that's the worst thing imaginable.
What happened?
Give me examples of what happened to you once that dark secret was revealed.
I'd say the worst part was like the online, you know, trolls, the hate.
Obviously, people didn't understand why I did it or, you know, why someone would do that.
Or instead of, you know, applauding the fact that anyone at, you know, a young age, I was only 21 and I not only volunteered, but I ended up getting a full-time job on the campaign.
So instead of applauding the fact that a 21-year-old who's doing all these things was also, you know, working for a presidential campaign, which is my biggest accomplishment, it was all about tearing me down and, you know, showing how terrible that must be and how terrible I must be, my parents must have been to raise me this way.
A lot of anti-Semitic comments, which I did not actually expect, and just a lot of negativity that I think we kind of see, you know, thrown at Trumps and the family and all that that I didn't expect to be thrown in my direction that obviously they don't deserve either.
But I didn't realize how little support or like affiliation you have to even have with the president to be hated by, you know, everyone, at least on the internet.
But it definitely hit me pretty hard.
But, you know, that's okay.
Well, let me differentiate because the internet is a limitless fountain of trolls and hate.
And many of them could be anonymous and many of them could be automated.
They could be bots.
And I don't want to put too much stock in internet hate.
I'm not downplaying it.
And I'm sure it's stung to have harsh comments like that.
But really, I mean, I have an enormous number of haters online too.
I just block them.
I'm not condescending to it.
But I guess what I'm more interested in is from official sources, from modeling agencies, from bookers, from gigs you would have, from real people who you had a real relationship with, not hecklers in the internet either.
Can you tell me, did you have any gigs that were canceled?
Did you have an annual event that you were always invited to that suddenly dried up?
Friends who you worked with who suddenly didn't want anything to do with you.
To me, that's more telling than what the internet would do to you.
Right, right.
I mean, the reason I bring up the internet is actually was a lot more than just, you know, the trolls that you mentioned.
I try to avoid all of it.
You know, my husband, my brother, they kind of like watch out for me and tell me there's something super, super sweet that I have to respond to than like I do.
Otherwise, I try to avoid all of it.
But I was scrolling through it once, stupidly.
And it was actually photographers that I had previously worked with that I knew that I would definitely consider friends that were kind of involved in the scrolling.
You know, it was shocking to see people that I had worked with before, kind of admitting that people on the internet who are not just bullies are now like they would rather be on their side than my side, someone they'd known for years and claimed to like before I came out with my support.
So the internet was more than just, you know, anonymous boss for sure.
But I mean, my agency kind of removed my photo from their website and hadn't spoken to me, which is the thing.
I didn't actually plan any truth.
I kind of planned the fact that I was going to kind of, you know, admit that I worked for the president and all that.
I kind of known for a while that it was about time.
So I didn't have any truth planned because I knew what was going to happen and I was genuinely afraid, honestly.
But on top of that, it's a lot of people that I used to know, friends, models that have reached out to me.
A few have said, hey, I wanted to unfollow you, but I know you.
And I realize that, you know, there's deeper things in politics.
But most have blocked me or unfollowed me or said there was a process, obviously, which I expected because I had been treated that way by friends before who knew in 2015, 2016 that I supported the president.
But this one kind of came as a group.
So it was a lot, you know, harsher.
You know, I've been in some situations in my own life where some people whispered their support to me, but said, oh, I can't support you publicly or I'll be devoured by the mob too.
Have you seen some of that?
Have you seen timid conservatives, timid Republicans, timid Trumpists in the industry who, you know, probably should come to your aid, but they too would be thrown under the bus if they did?
Yeah, a lot.
On the campaign, actually, I was working once, and one of my jobs, I actually ran the volunteer center that we had downstairs.
And I came down once and I recognized the model who I had worked with at Wilhelmina, my ex-agency, actually.
But he was on America's Next Top Model.
He was a really big deal.
I was starstruck when I met him years ago, but we had become good friends.
And I saw him and he was wearing a MAGA hat, actually.
But it was obvious he was kind of covering face more so than anything else.
And I came over to him and I hugged him.
You know, I mean, we genuinely felt like a sense of connection in that moment.
Like, you're here, I'm here.
You know, we have, you know, we have some support amongst each other.
But it was very obvious that he really did not want anyone to know that he was there.
He was there volunteering and, you know, wanting to graduate president, but yeah, not fair with the world.
I knew that I wasn't going to.
I told him not to mention it, you know, that I was there and we kind of went on our way.
But I've also received a lot of messages since, you know, saying what I did.
And a lot of people, mostly photographers, actually, but a few models, well, they're telling me that they were told that if they reveal their views, they will have their career totally destroyed.
No one will ever work for them.
People have called them, you know, Nazis, white supremacists, everything.
A lot of people have told me that they, you know, feel my pain, but more so than feel my pain.
I think they're just genuinely scared because they know that the world is going in this direction.
And I mean, people want to be creative.
They want to be allowed to do something like this.
And I don't see why politics has to interfere, obviously.
And when it becomes, you know, your livelihood, it's a lot scarier.
Well, let me ask you a little bit about how you came to be a Republican in a very hostile industry.
I understand you're 23 and you mentioned you've been a Trump supporter since 2015.
So I guess you were, you know, 19 or 20 at the time.
May I ask what it was?
I mean, most young people aren't that political.
And if they are, they go with the flow, which is left or center.
How did you break from that pack?
How did you swim against the current?
What was it that made you a Trump supporter?
I think since growing up, I've always been interested in politics more so than the average young person.
I've always kind of been passionate about it, which led me to a lot of research.
A lot of people nowadays are more interested in doing what their favorite celebrity tells them to do than what they genuinely believe they should do.
Lot of people don't want to do the research and, you know, come to their own conclusions.
So I was doing that since a very, very young age.
I think in eighth grade we had a mock election.
It was uh, Mccain versus Obama.
You know, in the real world we had a mock election in school and kind of from eighth grade I got super involved and just doing my own research and getting involved.
But with Donald Trump it kind of became this was the first election when I could vote, so it became a lot more important for me.
Um, he obviously was someone that everybody knew beforehand, so everyone was super, you know, interested in him and I started, you know, watching interviews that he had given, reading his books, and I just I knew that he was different.
You know, I knew that as someone that had researched it, at least for the years that he had researched it, everyone was kind of the same politicians you know there's a negative connotation with the word and I knew that he was different.
He was, you know, special in his own way and he not only was continuing on, despite what you know, the terrible things people were saying about him, which was insora, sound right he believed in most of the things that I believed in and I decided to throw my support behind him and it actually helped me.
You know, he inspired me every single day and I, you know, don't think i'll waiver in supporting him ever now.
You mentioned some of the attacks against you were Anti-semitic.
I I understand that you're Jewish, which I suppose makes you a double minority as a Trump supporter.
I personally think that Donald Trump is the most Pro-Israel president since the founding of the state of Israel.
I don't think I need to to prove that.
I mean just whether it's a symbolic move like moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or basically telling the Palestinians he's not going to engage in their BS anymore, just with a single tweet ending decades of of false moral equivalence between the Palestinian terrorists and Israel.
I think he's amazing.
But I would say that I'm a minority amongst Jews and I think in in America it's the same way.
Can you talk a little bit about being a Pro-Trump Jewish person too, because I got to think a lot of liberal Jews are bashing you for that too.
Yeah, I mean to me, maybe because I am young and naive, it was kind of very obvious.
As a Jewish person in general, I kind of think the Republican Party supports, you know, Israel and the Jewish people more, but Donald Trump very obviously supports the Jewish people in Israel.
So it was a no-brainer to me that, in terms of things you know, on my list that I vote for, Donald Trump was number one.
You know that was kind of always the case.
But I think now, actually after the election, we're seeing a lot more Anti-Semitism, especially in the Democratic Party, which you know is only proving our point.
So I think the people that are saying Donald Trump or his supporters are Anti-Semitic are, you know, ridiculous or naive, or I don't know if they're trying to, you know, hide the truth or they're just totally unaware.
I don't understand what's happening, but the Democratic Party has proven, you know, time and time again that they don't care about Israel or the Jewish people and that they genuinely, you know, preach things when they're running for office and then forget about them.
President Trump was the only president who obviously moved the embassy.
After president, after president said that they would, you know, from Barack Obama, George Bush, everybody.
So you know that was something and we obviously believed him, which was a first for me, because I was told not to believe politicians.
Lot Support Advocates Next00:03:15
I believed him and he delivered.
But, more importantly, the Democratic Party, from the Iran deal to the BDS movement.
Everything going on now has proven that they're, you know, slowly but surely becoming more and more Anti-Semitic, and I think People that don't understand why Jews signed Donald Trump should start doing their research and realizing what it is that they care about, and realize that the Republican Party, and especially President Trump, totally align with all of those.
Well, I have to say that I find you a very forceful advocate.
I just have a sense that probably the last two years has given you 10 years worth of experience.
I mean, it sounds like they've put you through the ringer.
It's just, I mean, reading a little bit about your story.
Can I ask what your plans are now?
I mean, I know, of course, Donald Trump has his re-election campaign charity in place, Brad Parscale.
They're obviously doing campaign-style rallies around the country.
Are your plans political?
Do you hope to get back into modeling?
Are you going to, I don't know, start a family?
Are you going to stay in the public arena?
Tell me a little bit about what you plan to do because I'm impressed with how articulate an advocate you are.
I love the fact that you didn't bend the knee when you were attacked.
So I just really want to know, as I'm sure our viewers do, what is the next chapter for Elizabeth Pipko?
I mean, I wish I knew the next chapter, obviously, but I'm pretty confident that I'm going to pursue something political just because, you know, coming out as a Trump supporter has given me not only, you know, fear, like I mentioned, but so much strength.
I mean, the amount of messages that I've gotten from people saying that I inspired them, which is, you know, A, amazing, but B, terrifying that people are scared to share their views in support of, you know, a president who got, you know, elected early in, you know, the United States of America.
So that's terrifying.
And if I can be someone that can inspire others to come out and gather support for our president and feel more confident, you know, that's going to mean the world to me more than any modeling job ever could, obviously.
My husband actually works on the 2020 campaign, so I feel emotionally involved in some way for sure.
But I'm hoping to be involved, obviously.
I think, at least growing up the way I did with parents, you know, grandparents who came to America and kind of raised me to be a proud American before anything else.
I'm a patriot and I love my country.
And I think it's going to come before most things for me, even at my young age, as crazy as that might sound.
So if I can, you know, in any way feel like I'm doing the right thing for my country and, you know, supporters of the president, supporters of now me who think that what I did was incredible, I'm going to keep going and I'm going to keep trying to save my country and do what I can because it's been probably the best month of my life, the scariest it's been.
It's been pretty incredible.
And if I can make any kind of change and of course help our president, you know, get realized that I'm going through that.
Well, that's very encouraging.
And I'm so glad to hear it ending that way.
And it's not ended yet, but I'm so glad that it did not end with you being broken by the attacks on you.
And it sounds like you had a lot of support.
If your husband is, in fact, working on the reelection campaign, it sounds like you've got a lot of support right there at home, which is obviously critical.
Well, Lisa, what a pleasure to meet you.
And I hope that we can keep in touch with you as your own plans develop.
You're a very articulate advocate, as I said before.
And whatever you do next, I hope we can observe it and maybe even be a part of it.
Money vs. Police00:04:22
Definitely.
Thank you.
What a pleasure.
Well, that's Elizabeth Pipko, a model who was blackballed in the modeling industry after revealing to the public that she was a supporter of Donald Trump.
Stay with us.
More ahead on The Rebel.
Hey, welcome back to my monologue on Thursday about three rebel reporters being assaulted in three weeks.
John writes, I've supported rebel media in the past, but this, in my opinion, borders on the ridiculous.
And I think a judge might think so as well.
Your reporter wades into the fray of an emotionally charged demonstration and gets slightly jilted physically in the midst of a protest.
That is the risk one takes in entering those environments.
I think you're wasting your time and money on this one, but it will not be my money.
Well, John, I appreciate your opinion and the fact that you watched the video and wrote in.
I couldn't disagree with you more.
I cannot think of a single incident in 10 years, in 20 years, where a liberal journalist in Canada was attacked.
I can't even think of one.
In fact, it's so good for journalists here.
They have to make up offenses.
Oh, he swore at me on live TV or charged him with a crime.
Being sworn at, you know, welcome to my morning.
I get sworn at more times by lunch than your CBCer does all day.
To be hit and have his property broken simply for asking a question when police are a few feet away is wrong.
But I put it to you, John, that this is not an anomaly or a blip.
It is a trend.
I've told you that three of our people have been attacked in three weeks.
David Menzies, Efren, our cameraman, and Kian Becksey.
I remind you that Sheila Gunread was attacked.
I point out that not a single journalistic organization lifts a finger.
They don't care.
They only care about leftist journalists.
They don't even care at all.
They're just really about the bailout.
So I'm going to disagree with you.
As a conservative, I'm going to disagree with you.
And as an employer, I'm going to disagree with you.
It is absolutely essential that our staff know that if they are attacked on the job because they're a rebel, we're going to fight back for them because the cops don't seem to.
And it's absolutely imperative that the world know that if you take a run at a rebel, you better hide because if we find you, we will sue you forever until we get justice.
We will sue you even in defiance of the, like an insurance company would say, oh, just walk away.
It's not worth the money.
It'll cost you 30 grand to sue and you'll win three grand.
The math doesn't add up.
This is not about the math.
This is about you cannot punch a rebel with impunity.
That used to be the motto of the, I think, the Stuart Kings.
And I'm not even Scottish or Stuart.
Where were the Stuarts?
I don't even know my British history well enough.
Nemo me impugn latchiset.
That's Latin for no one cuts me with impunity.
For God's sakes, that was a royal motto.
I think that was the Stuart Kings.
You can't punch a rebel with impunity.
Revelation writes, I think the money would be better spent going after the police.
We need to push the police to do their job regardless of one's politics.
Look, we have contacted the police in all the cases here.
At the end of the day, you cannot compel the police to lay charges.
You just can't.
They have police discretion, and it ought to be that way.
You can file a private prosecution.
That's where you go to court and say, judge, I've hired my own lawyer to enforce the criminal code because the cops won't.
So you go to court with the criminal code and you prosecute under the criminal code with your own private lawyers.
That's rare.
It does happen sometimes.
And sometimes the crown prosecutor takes over those charges.
But I think a civil suit is probably a better fit.
Liza writes, I couldn't donate much this time, but I would feel better about giving over my hard-earned money if the rebel were getting some of it back in a lawsuit, especially with the Radisson manager.
Why not take them to the cleaners?
Okay, well, I don't want to get into detail about our legal strategy because I don't want to give away things that are covered by the confidentiality of our legal plan and what we've talked to the lawyers about.
But it's just a matter of law that you get pushed around and even punched a bit.
You're not going to get $100,000 for punching someone in the nose.
Suing For Respect00:01:17
You're just not going to.
So we're suing for the amount.
In Radisson, we're suing for $10,000 per guy, $20,000, because I don't want to be one of those silly guys who sues like for $20 million when they know it's a $20,000 lawsuit.
This is a real lawsuit, and I want a judge to take it really.
And in the case of Sheila Gunreed, she was awarded $3,500.
You're not going to get all your costs back in court.
I can't remember what cost we won in Sheila's case.
was like maybe a thousand dollars or two.
So yeah, this is, we're not going to get it back.
It's just not how it works.
Anyways, thanks for letting me tell you those details.
I hope I'll have some news.
In fact, I may have some news as soon as this week on one of these matters, and I can hardly wait to share that with you.
Listen, I appreciate your support.
It's not even a case of economics.
I can think of 20 better things to spend $60,000 on than a lawsuit in Ottawa and a lawsuit in Toronto.
I can think of a lot of better things like hiring a new reporter.
But this is another way of saying to David, Ephraim, and Kian that we value them and we're going to protect them.