Back from Bulgaria

Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of PragerTopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com. Welcome back. Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back. Well, I hadn't gone on a listener cruise in 4 years because of lockdowns. I would have gone the very first year, but there was no such thing as a— first of all, there was no such thing as a cruise. Secondly, there was no such thing as an unmasked cruise. I was not prepared to wear one, nor have my fellow travelers wear one. So this was the first in 4 years after about 25 years consecutively of cruises with listeners. I'm Dennis Prager. Wonderful to be back. It's exactly 2 weeks. I was— I last broadcast— what is today, Wednesday? And I last broadcast on a Tuesday. No, on a Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday. That's correct. I make it that way, exactly that way. Went to Poland and then flew to Budapest, picked up the ship. The entire ship on the Danube River were Dennis Prager listeners. So you can only imagine the joy. At any table you sat, there was a kindred spirit. It is not possible to overstate the joy that people have and how often they expressed it. There are enduring friendships made on these trips, as indeed on the Israel trip that I take with a greater number of people every other year and will this year. It is so reinvigorating to be with people who share your values And so it's, it's a real gift that I feel that I give to people who take these trips. I am sort of a— not an expert, but I have a great deal of knowledge of modern Eastern Europe because my field of study was communism, and I spent a lot of time in communist Eastern Europe in addition to the Soviet Union in my 20s. And I've gone back a number of times. If you want hope for the Western world, ironically, you probably should go to Eastern Europe rather than Western Europe. I wrote a column two weeks— well, not, not two weeks ago, last week. My column was on the comfort that I felt in many of these countries. I will bring to your attention later in the show the number of countries that have stopped giving hormone blockers except in experimental cases to young people. The United States and Canada lead the world in ruining young people's lives. I will repeat that: the United States and Canada lead the world in ruining young people's lives. You understand that I've devoted my life to a love of this country. This does not come easily, but I have a greater commitment to truth than I do to anything else. And the truth is the United States has been so ruined by the left. So many young people have been destroyed by the left. The economy is teetering because of the left. The medical profession has become a farce because of the left. The universities are cesspools because of the left. This is not as true in Europe, and it is certainly not as true in Eastern Europe. Part of the reason is Eastern Europe still has memories of evil. Naive Americans and naive Westerners don't understand the ease with which a country can become tyrannical, as we're seeing today. When you heard that a candidate for the, for the head of a country was being arrested, you would associate it with what are called a banana republic, or just with any corrupt regime. Well, that's what we have. We have a corrupt regime. That's my column yesterday. I wrote my columns while in Eastern Europe. That we can't speak of Ukraine's corruption as a matter of, as a form of argument against aiding Ukraine given the amount of corruption in our country. Do you understand what is happening? Former president is arrested. Did he break the law? Who hasn't broken the law? What ex-president didn't break the law? Yes, he broke the law. And what, what, what ramifications has that had? Anyway, the number of documents that this government declares confidential is so ludicrous, and there are so many people with access to them. Millions of documents are confidential, and millions of people have clearance to see them. Is that correct?

Yes.

So there's somewhat of a farce, is it not? Totally.

It's worse than a farce.

It's worse than a farce. That is correct. It is worse than a farce. It protects the secrecy of the government, among other things. But my dear friends, when I read the polls, about how overwhelmingly Democrats agree with arresting the former president of the United States. You know why it's painful? Well, it's painful because these are my fellow Americans. That's the biggest reason. It's painful also because I, I know such people, people I love, my extended family. And it's, it's so painful to think— I don't know if they do, I haven't discussed it with them, I try not to discuss these things with them. You're happy to see a former president, the leading candidate to run against this president, arrested? No one is above the law. Do you believe that? That, that is as big a lie as trans women have no advantage in competing against women in sports. It is— that is how big a lie it is. It is as big a lie as America is systemically racist. Anyway, I wrote a column about the comfort that I felt in Europe. Admittedly, I was only— I was in Germany 3 weeks ago, came back to the United States, then went to Eastern Europe. They are not wracked there by these— the social cracks that divide Americans. They are divided absolutely in Europe. There is much division, of course, in their countries. But there's no worry if you send your child to school that your child will have a man dressed as a woman sing to them and read to them. And dance for them. It's not, it's not a worry in Europe. It's not a worry that your child will come home and he will say he's a girl. It's just not a worry. Parents don't think about it. This is a quintessential American and Canadian issue. We have truly bad human beings in many instances teaching your children. Bad. They think they're good. Which is why the conscience is useless for most people. The conscience is simply the voice that you create in your head. That is all it is. Almost every evil person and evil movement in history had a clear conscience. The notion that you are guided by your conscience is not, shall we say, reassuring. The people teaching your children that they may not be a boy or a girl, they'll decide They have a perfectly clear conscience. So when I, when I'm in Europe, this is not— doesn't exist. I, I, I love people watching, so I will often sit on a bench and watch people walk by. This, this was a phenomenon, wasn't it? That just seeing people walking outdoors, vast numbers, the number of couples of every age holding hands. I thought that that is somewhat gone in the United States. And I took pictures of it. I intend to put it up because I've been in love with photography all of my life and I have a very, very good camera aside from hopefully some ability. But in any event, you don't need a great camera to take pictures of couples holding hands. It was quite something, the number of families walking by. Just, it was as if I had returned to 1950 United States when I was in Eastern Europe. Now I can't speak for Western Europe. I was in Denmark last November, I was in Germany last month, and nevertheless I have a better, better take on Eastern Europe where people have not yet been infected by Western nihilism. The couples walking in— and I'll tell you another phenomenon— the number of women, including young women, dressed as women, skirts and dresses And yes, many wearing jeans and so on, but obviously feminine jeans. I, I, I was in another world for the last 2 weeks. We'll be back in a moment. 1-800-PRAGER-776. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. Natural disasters, airline cancellations and runway near misses, supply chain issues, inflation, rising interest rates, and sky-high government debt. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's a lot in the news about what consumers cannot control, so let's talk about what you can control. You can control how you choose to invest and protect your wealth. That's why I choose to do business with Nick Grovich and his company AmFed Coin and Bullion. Now is a great time to own tangible assets like gold, silver, and platinum. With over 41 years' experience and tens of thousands of satisfied clients, Nick will help you make informed decisions and show you smart choices which have been proven winners time and time again. Time again. AmpFed Coin and Bullion will sell you the right types of precious metals to get the maximum value for your money. Take control of your investments like I did. Call Nick and his team at AmpFed Coin and Bullion at 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. Reflecting on my last 2 weeks in Eastern Europe, with how many, 150, 150 listeners. When next year's cruise is announced, I strongly suggest that you sign up early because they do sell out. I love being with these people. I spend a lot of time with them. Obviously, when there are 500 or so in Israel, that is, I certainly give a lot of talks and broadcast in front of everybody. And it's a lot of fun and it's very inspiring because it's Israel, but it's not as easy to meet individually with everybody, or not even with everybody. I can't even do that with 150, but I get a lot of time. It's very moving. Anyway, I feel like I went to 1950s America. Just watching people walk by, vast numbers. The kids— I saw a boy and a girl, maybe brother and sister, playing patty cake, patty cake. That right? That the name of the game where you touch the other person's hand or so on? All right, you know, I know this exists in the United States. After all, the United States is the size of all of Europe. But I don't see it. You don't see people walking, I mean, for that matter. Anyway, they're too afraid to walk. Would you walk in downtown San Francisco at night? Or Philadelphia? Or Chicago? What is the latest store to pull out of San Francisco? Yeah, Westfield was the biggest mall company in the United States, correct?

And the biggest mall in San Francisco.

And the biggest mall in San Francisco. They're just closing it down. And bye-bye. Don't forget, last one, turn off the lights. Everything the left touches, it destroys. San Francisco is an example. It is as true as Gravity causes an apple to fall from a tree, that everything the left touches it destroys. Now I want to tell you something that is really meaningful to me and hopefully to you. I think best under pressure. That's just the way I work. When I'm forced to answer a question in public, for example, or forced to come up with a thought during a speech or on the show. So I take notes, or somebody takes notes, when I speak on the radio, because this is— it's under pressure to say things that are meaningful and hold your interest. So I spoke. It's amazing to think, isn't it, I spoke 2 days ago in the Romanian Parliament. Not to the Romanian Parliament, though there were members of Parliament at my speech, but it was in the Romanian Parliament. I had spoken in the Danish Parliament in November. These are wonderful experiences for which I am really grateful for my life. I walk around as a gratitude machine. Which is part of the reason I'm not on the left. Once you become a grateful human being, you leave the left. You can become a liberal, you can become a conservative, but you're no longer a leftist. I was asked after my speech in Bucharest at the parliament, I was asked a series of questions by the moderator, a phenomenal group brought me there. Is it dictum de correcto? That is, they are just marvelous, marvelous people. I, if they ever come here, I'm going to have them on the show. I, I have deep affection for them. So the, one of the heads of the group read questions from the audience. And here was one of the questions: Can I define— can you, Dennis Prager, define leftism? It's very, very, very hard. Can you, you listening, can you define leftism? And there are a number of answers. And then I realized the following, and I had never quite put it this way. Leftism is hatred of conservatism. It is hatred of the existing order, which is conservatism, which wishes to conserve the existing order. That's what it is. What is leftist music? It doesn't just apply to politics. So leftism in music largely began in the beginning of the 20th century with what is called, and it's an oxymoron, atonal music, which is absurd. Music without a tonal base is not music, it's just a series of musical notes. It's really not even musical notes, it is a series of notes made by instruments or the voice. What is left-wing progressive, if you will, art? It's the same thing. It's the rejection of all the rules of art that had preceded it. We have two magnificent, brilliant videos up at PragerU on modern art. They're— all of our videos are 5 minutes. The great artist and thinker Robert Florczak gives both They are brilliant. Just watch them and you will understand the crisis in art. It is a rejection of everything. That is what leftism is. You think that men and women define the human race? You are wrong. It is a rejection of all that exists. These are people whose souls are vapid, void, empty, and they fill it with rejection. They build nothing. They destroy everything. That is leftism. The destruction of that which stands. That was what the French Revolution, which ushered in modern leftism, was about. Destroy that which exists. Hi everybody, I'm Dennis Prager, back from 2 weeks away. Once a year I do that listener cruise. This one started in Budapest, and if you look at the Danube, it is an amazing river in Europe. And we went through Croatia and Serbia and Romania and Bulgaria. How many people go there? You should. And what I saw, I have been reflecting on, and then I spoke in the Romanian Parliament building One of the biggest buildings on earth actually, built by Ceaușescu, the Romanian communist dictator who at the fall of communism was killed. Terrible man. But it was a magnificent parliament, I'll tell you that. And I came up with the most accurate definition After studying the left since the 1970s at the Russian Institute of Columbia University, the left is not liberal. Liberals vote left and they will answer to God if there is a good God, and I believe that. It is not at all a just line that I threw out out of anger. I do believe that liberals will have to answer if there is a just God. We all have to answer. But they're keeping the left in power, people who have nothing in common with liberals in terms of values, is the greatest ongoing sin. I'm not speaking theologically, but a secular sin if there is such a thing. The, the left wishes to destroy. That is it. They destroy religion, they destroy art, they destroy music, they destroy architecture, they destroy schools, they destroy children, they destroy the family. That's it. Now you know what, what it is. That's why you can't say, what is the left for? There is no answer to what the left is for. If the left were for getting away from carbon emissions, they would be for nuclear power. That's the proof. The whole environmentalist— what's the word— hysteria is about destroying the economy. It is not about building a safer world theoretically based on non-fossil fuels. If they don't want fossil fuels, they should be for nuclear power. They're not. They don't want solutions, they want destruction. That's it. So the answer, what is the left for, has no answer. We only know what the left is against, that which exists. Do you know that I was invited many years ago to speak at a very prestigious Minnesota high school? The motto of the high school was, let's see, the true, the beautiful, I forgot, what is the third? What do you think the third one is? Huh? Then the good. Was it the good? It might have been. It might well have been. Anyway, I spoke about how wonderful it was that that was the school's motto, and I didn't even use the word left, but I said, but in, in outside of this school, there is a war on truth, beauty, and good. Do you know that the school It was the only time its history, to the best of my knowledge, never released the video or audio of my lecture. The teachers at the school hated that lecture because they hate truth, beauty, and good. It is very difficult to explain why Vast numbers of people hate the truth, the beautiful, and the good. My, my working proposition is that it fills their empty lives. Destroying is a thrill. It gives you meaning. Apparently destroying gives you as much meaning as constructing. 1-800-PRAGER-776. They're destroying the United States with the arrest indictment of a former president. Unprecedented. We haven't had crooks in that office. But they don't mind destroying. They want to destroy the United States. It makes sense. But liberals support it. That's depressing. What the left does is not depressing, it's destructive. What's depressing is that liberals vote for them. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Mike Lindell with MyPillow. Is launching the MyPillow 2.0. When Mike invented MyPillow, it had everything you could ever want in a pillow. Now, nearly 20 years later, he discovered a new technology that makes it even better. The MyPillow 2.0 has the patented adjustable fill of the original MyPillow, and now with a brand new fabric that is made with a temperature-regulating thread, the MyPillow 2.0 is the softest, smoothest, and coolest pillow you'll ever own. For my listeners, the MyPillow 2.0 is buy one, get one free offer with promo code Prager. MyPillow 2.0 temperature regulating technology is 100% made in the USA and comes with a 10-year warranty and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Just go to mypillow.com and click on the radio listeners square to the buy one get one free offer. Enter promo code Prager or call 800-761-6302 to get your MyPillow 2.0 now. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here, 1-800-PRAGER-7777. Dennis Prager, 6, back from the 2-week cruise. My dear friend, my producer, man whose idea PragerU was, he and his wife were with me and my wife, and he had as good a time as I did. Sitting here, I'm gonna have him offer some thoughts. Now, question is, you want to do it now or in the third hour? I suspect you don't care. I know you pretty well. You know, we were with them constantly, actually. And I said to them, it is an ode to our friendship, but an ode to them. I mean, the ease with which we travel together. You'd think some annoyance would prop up, you know, crop up every so often, but it didn't. Not once. It's very good to have friends, my friends. Struggling San Francisco takes another big hit as mall owner Westfield flees. New York Post. The pain is getting deeper for San Francisco as the owners of one of the biggest shopping centers in the city decided to walk away After 20 years, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said late on Monday it will transfer its Westfield San Francisco shopping mall to lenders. What does that mean? You know what that means? I don't know what that means. Anyway, they're leaving. The announcement followed Park Hotels and Resorts' statement last week that it ceased making payments toward a $725 million mortgage linked to its Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Park 55 hotels. Westfield's decision is the latest blow to San Francisco, the once booming tech hub that has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. This is the New York Post. God, oh no, it isn't. Yeah, I am now applauding me. I don't do that much. I'm reading it. The New York Post is blaming it on the pandemic. And so I look to see who wrote it. Reuters. It's a Reuters piece. Reuters lies like the New York Times and Washington Post and CNN and NBC and everybody. They lie. It's not the pandemic. It's the left, you liars. The pandemic. Oh God, it's so sickening. They believe it though. That's— and you know, I've asked this question: if you believe your lies, are you lying? So you are lying, but morally, how culpable are you if you believe your lies? So anyway, God will decide that. I'm just telling you they're lying. But I guess that— I guess that as soon as I read it to you— I'm reading this spontaneously, this is happening as it's happening. And I said, this is not possible. A New York Post writer wrote that it's the pandemic that is destroying San Francisco. The response to the pandemic, well, that was dictated by the left. That is why, among many reasons, Newsom hates DeSantis. Hates him. Oh God, he hates him. Because he is Newsom is destroying California and DeSantis is building Florida. That's why the midget hates the giant. And I'm not talking about height, I'm talking about morality. The moral midget hates the moral giant. It has always been that way and it will always be that way. That is why Newsom hates DeSantis. Wow, office buildings lie empty. Yes, major layoffs by large tech firms, rising U.S. interest rates. All of this is true, and almost all of it— almost all, not all— people working from home. Well, when you're told for so long you can't go into the office, or if you go into the office you have to wear a mask People decide to stay home anyway. Do you want to walk in downtown San Francisco? I wonder how much tourism has hurt. That would be fascinating. Can you get any data on that? The amount of tourism to San Francisco in 2019 and the amount of tourism in, let's say, 2022. Or this first year. Well, so another group is closing. 1-800-PRAGER-776. I can't get it out of my mind, the amount of happy families I saw walking in the streets. I mean, we're talking about thousands of people walking. You can't imagine. And this is— these are not rich countries. Serbia is not a rich country. Romania is certainly not a rich country. Bulgaria is a very poor country. I asked the Bulgarian with whom the four of us spent a few hours one afternoon. It just worked out great that one of the geniuses of the audio world lives in Arusa, Bulgaria, and the ship stopped in Arusa. So we had a driver take us to his home. A wonderful man, we had a wonderful time. And I asked him why Bulgaria is so poor. And what was his answer? Corruption, right? Yeah, corruption, which is very, very true. And that is why California is becoming poorer and poorer. That's why the United States is— corruption. That's right. Hard to imagine how good things were under Donald Trump. So if you hate Donald Trump, you just lie about how good things were. You say he threatened democracy. Really? He was 4 years as president and he threatened democracy? Or was there incredible high employment, especially among minorities? Was there— and there was a well-being, and energy was cheap. People did not have to worry about paying for electricity. Okay, we return. Hello everybody, Dennis Prager here. And if you're just tuning in and didn't hear hour one, it's wonderful to be back from a truly magnificent cruise with listeners from Hungary to Bulgaria. And if that doesn't sound exciting, I assure you it was. The ship was entirely listeners. Imagine that. Everybody knew wherever they would sit, whomever they would talk to, someone who would share their values. Male-female hour every Wednesday. So here's a subject that until a few years ago I would never have imagined I would have as a subject because I didn't believe in it. I knew it existed, but I thought it existed in extremely rare numbers, or extremely small numbers, extremely rare circumstances. I thought it was a Hollywood-type invention, and that is love at first sight. You know, I always ask couples about how they met. I ask them if they have children, how many of their children share their values. I, I'm incapable of small talk because what happens is I tune out and I end up not hearing what the other person is saying. So I I steer the discussion toward deep issues. I don't mean philosophic issues, though on occasion it can come to that, but rather the real nitty-gritty of your life, like how did you meet. I love hearing those stories. And over time, I simply had to abandon my belief that this was essentially an invention of movies. The number of people who fell in love at first sight and then married that person is quite large. Now, what is not large is that both had it. Usually it's one and the other catches up. Sometimes it's both. Whom did I just ask this to on the trip where she said that the day before?

Yeah.

Oh yeah, in Bulgaria. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So we met a terrific couple in Bulgaria, both wonderful, truly wonderful people. And both extremely good-looking, attractive people, the husband and the wife, and just sweet and good and bright, and just, they're a terrific couple. And needless to say, I asked them how they met and was there love at first sight, and she said this was, this was a new one, I think, for me. She said she had in fact seen him, I don't know, in the street or something. Well, I don't know where she saw—

literally like in the town square, in the town square, just passing by.

Yeah. And she said, that's my— that's the man I'm gonna marry. They had not met. And then they met the next day, and then eventually, of course, they did get married, and they seem to be happily married. What is it, about 20 years later? So that, I have to admit, that wasn't the first. It's not common that somebody said they just saw the person before even meeting the person and knew it. But that could happen. So my, my topic here is, uh, manifold. One, did that happen to you and/or your spouse, that it was love at first sight? Not attraction, not interest, not— but I mean, this is the person I want to marry. At first meeting? Number 2, how good is it as a predictor of a good marriage? I don't have an answer to that one, and it's really occurring to me now to ask it. Number 3, how often does it happen to both? 1-800-PRAEGER-776-877-243-7776. Did it happen to you or to your spouse? Was it a good predictor of a good marriage? And here is the unanswerable, since I had it with my wife. The how does it happen, why does it happen, that's— that is not, I don't think, answerable. How can you know within a few minutes that this is the person you should spend your life with? It sounds so irrational. And I'm a big fan of the rational, but how does that happen? I don't have an answer, incidentally. I'm not sure that an answer is available, but it, it almost seems to argue for truths or realizations that we are not aware of that, that just take place in the human condition. I think, I think I can explain, for example, if you get a bad— what they call a bad vibe from somebody. And then you tell a friend, you know, I got a bad vibe from this person I met today. And then the person will say, well, well, what did you pick up on? You might well be able to identify what it is that gave you your bad vibe. That, that I, I think is possible. But the good vibe— I mean, this is beyond good vibe. This is, wow, this is the person I want to spend my life with. That's a tougher one to explain. But I've undergone a massive change in, in addressing this issue because I really didn't believe that it existed in real life. Maybe, you know, I would— everything exists in real life in some number, but I thought it was a very tiny number that it was manufactured by Hollywood. And now— and not now— I now actually, interestingly, when I meet a couple that seems happy together, I now more likely than not assume there was love at first sight, at least for one of them. How do you explain that? I don't think it's explainable. Maybe it is, but I don't think— I, I can't, I can't answer that. I can't answer it for me, and I've analyzed it and analyzed it, but it is a very interesting thing, how often it happens. And here's the other big one that I mentioned earlier: is it a predictor of a good marriage? I wish there were a possible survey. I'm not sure it's doable. How many people fell in love at first sight and ended up with an unhappy marriage? Yeah, that's, that's a risk. Isn't that a fascinating question? Well, no, I asked if it happened to both parties. It happens to both parties, but much less frequently. It's usually one. And it's always interesting to me, how long does it take for the other one to go, yeah, I, I think that's pretty true, I think that's valid. It's an interesting question. Okay, let's see what you folks have to say. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. Great to be back, and it's the male-female hour, Second Arrow Wednesday. I remind you, you can get all 3 hours of my show without commercials at pragertopia.com. Pragertopia.com, extremely inexpensive and well worth your while if you think what I have to say is significant. If not, it's pointless. But if you didn't think that, you wouldn't be listening now. Okay, correct, correct. Male-female hour topic is love at first sight. I For much of my life, I poo-pooed it, thought it was a Hollywood invention. It now strikes me as almost the norm with at least one of the two people in a couple. The interesting question is, is that a good predictor of a good marriage? All right, let's see here. Roseville, California. Ron, hello.

Hey Dennis, good to, uh, good to be on your show. Listening a long time, first time caller, got through on the first call. Unbelievable.

True. You should buy a lottery ticket today.

Yeah, I should. When the subject came up, I was just laughing. I'm in the car, I had to pull over because I was laughing at how this hits home. I, my, uh, my— I've been married to my wife for, um, oh, 12 years, but known her for 20, around 25, and it was love at first sight. I was Twitterpated the moment I met her.

And how did it work out?

Uh, still married and still love her as much today as I did the first time I met her. On the other side of the coin though, I didn't realize that, uh, she did not have the same feelings for me. I was at the— back in the day I was managing country music and she was a potential client. She was a country singer and a mutual friend introduced us and I just— the moment I saw her I was like, this is the one. And, uh, wait a minute.

What does it mean you didn't realize she didn't feel the same way?

Well, I thought when she's— back then I had quite an ego, uh, I have to admit it. And so I thought she'd be as attracted to me as I was to her. And she had such a bubbly personality that I thought that she was being flirtatious with me in the same way I was being with her. But just come to find later that just— that's just her personality.

So how long did it take her to fall in love with you?

Well, uh, 12 years apparently. Well, what happened was, uh, one of the, one of the gigs that I, I set her up with to sing, a guy came in, kissed her, and I was like, who's that guy? And ended up being her husband. And I did not know that she was married. And I told, I told her, I can't, I can't manage you anymore because basically I fall in love with you. And she kind of pulled away from that, and that's, we kind of broke the relationship. And 12 years later, a mutual friend set me up on a blind date. It was her. And, uh, and we kind of laughed over it. And I said, wow, what's going on? She'd been divorced and I'd been divorced. And I said, well, now we can be together. Like, you know, we have these feelings for each other. And she said to me, what are you talking about? I didn't have any feelings for you like that. There was no relation. There was no room in a relationship back then for you, yourself, and me, a three-way relationship. And, uh, and so we just started dating as friends. And finally I wooed her over. And, uh, we've been married for 12 years and we're as in love today as we were at the start of that 10-year relationship.

Well, that's a great story. All right, look, remember I said it usually is not both, it usually is one. Maybe that's all it takes if the other one comes along eventually. Obviously the question is, how was it explained? I mean, it's not the question. A question is, how is it to be explained? And I, as I said in the first hour, I think best under pressure. So right now I'm under pressure, right, because I'm asking the question to a very large audience of human beings. And maybe this doesn't fully answer it at all, but here, here's something that occurs to me. One of the ways in which we know, or we think we know, that this person is the right one for us immediately is the way it makes us feel being in the person's presence. And I don't, I don't mean in love. That's That would be redundant. Maybe there is a, a calm even, maybe, or that might, might— there's obviously an excitement, but that's the obvious part. Maybe there's also a calm, but I'm just thinking we're obviously, if we fall in love at first sight, we're responding to a feeling. And I generally don't believe people should be feelings-guided. They should be reason-guided and indeed moral values-guided. But this is a different issue. Choosing a spouse is not just about those things. So clearly feeling is important. Although I want to just tell you, it's probably an interesting subject for another talk. I know a man who's very— he's an Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox as they say, Jew, and we've been close for many years. And he told me in his community, he said, unlike the broader American community, people fall in love, get married, and then get divorced. Obviously he was overstating the case. A lot of people don't get divorced. But he said, in our community, people get married and then they fall in love, which is quite possible, and I don't deny that. And it's not the subject of the hour, but I want to note that I don't think falling in love at first sight is a prerequisite to a good marriage, but it might in fact be a real sign. It happens, there's no question. Clearwater, Florida, Dennis. I always take Dennis's. I'm kidding, then everybody will say they're Dennis. Hi, Dennis.

Dennis, how are you?

Good.

Um, with me, my spouse had like me, had fallen in love with me, and we had just become friends. And it was at a, uh, a family, uh, fundraiser for a niece of mine when I just told a friend of mine that someday I'm gonna marry her.

After— wait, wait, wait, you told that after, after knowing her how long?

Um, probably within a year.

Oh, okay. So this was not love at first sight for either of you?

For her it was. For her.

So how would she explain it? Did— has she ever been able to?

Yes, she said she wanted to get to know me, um, through a friend because she was afraid that, um, someday I would find a girlfriend and she'd never find me again.

Right.

So my friend introduced us.

That's fascinating. But she— look, I don't think— I don't know if anybody could explain it. But look, I'm telling you folks, it happens to at least one of a couple, I'll bet, half the time. I used to think it was 2% of the time. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. Many of you have been calling in and asking if Sean and I had that experience of love at first sight. I know for Sean it was immediate, and it took me about 8 years, but I did. Yeah, but we got there. Yeah, no, that's all that matters. It's exactly right. Actually, I did seriously, I did have it with Alan. That I would say that the day I met Alan, I knew I wanted this man in my life the rest of my life. That's something. It— I wonder how many people it happens to. I'm not talking about gay people, but, but where it happens where you meet a person of the same sex. No, no, I know it happens. I don't know if it— I don't think it happens as often. I don't think people are as open to the searching for that in any event. Okay, I won't, I won't mention that on the air. Folks, you have no idea what just came in through my earphones. I'll have to tell now because it's not right to the listeners. He said, Sean said, it happened with my dog. By the way, just for the record, his dog is still not in love with him. His dog is working on it. Just, just— and he likes that his dog likes Sean, which is good. You know, I'm a big fan of the word like, as you know. All right, here we go. This is a great, great topic, actually. Mountain Home, Arkansas. Chris, hello.

Yes, sir, how are you?

Well, thank you.

Yes, so, um, I'm 50 years old now. And, uh, 27 and a half years ago, I was in and out of my hometown, and I got out of my car at like where people would cruise and park, and there's a gaggle of girls that are like mobbing every guy that pulls in. And there's just one girl standing by herself, and I saw her and she turned and we locked eyes. And I'd never felt that before. I dated over 100 girls. I had a pretty specific checklist, and immediately I knew she checked off 3 of them. And, um, we didn't really talk that much and I didn't see her again, you know, for a couple of years.

Why?

When I came—

why didn't you see her?

I was out of town. I was in and out of town, like working and things like that.

All right.

So I came back in town. I saw her at a restaurant. We locked eyes again. We started talking and we never parted ways again. Now I had told a friend when I first saw her, That's the, that's the girl I could marry. And I found out later she told her mom that the same night. So whatever it was, it was something powerful and way beyond looks.

She's beautiful.

I mean, that certainly was one of my, one of my checklists, but I think it was the confidence. I had it and she had it. And we both joked that eHarmony's algorithm would have never put us together because we're both Type A personalities. But we stay in our lane. We do our thing. We make a great team. And, uh, some of my friends and most of hers told her not to marry me because I was not marriage material. And 9 out of 10 of them are divorced. So we've been together, married one time to each other for 27 years.

That's very funny. That reminds me of one of the few celebrities I ever wanted to meet. I mean, I was, I wasn't thinking of it, but early in my career, I found out that the great, great comedian George Burns was a fan of my show in LA. I was only on in LA at the beginning. So he asked to meet me and I went to his home. And in the course of the couple of hours we were together, he had about, I think, 2 or 3 martinis and 2 cigars. And I, so I said to him, I'm just curious, what does your doctor say? About your smoking and drinking? And he said, my doctor died. It was one of the few times in my life I felt that I was the setup man, right? I truly was the straight man. So when he said, you know, they all turned out to be divorced It's, it's very difficult. It's actually, it's a nice thing that it happens because it, it does, does tell us, as much as I so believe you have to be reason-guided rather than feelings-guided, but to know that There is a part of us that is beyond reason and is good and powerful, is very human. Hi everybody, Male-Female Hour, second hour Wednesdays. Dennis Prager here. Love at first sight, I used to believe it was just fiction, something you'd see in the movies. And then I was sobered by my own experience. And then frequently, to the ex— so frequently that I now assume when I ask a couple, did either of you fall in love at first sight, I now assume one will say yes. I never assume both will. And That's how often I hear about it from people, from happily married couples. Now, what I'm going to start to do now, as a result— this is why having the show has been so contributory to my thinking— I am now going to start asking people that I meet who are divorced or were divorced, even if remarried, did either of you in your previous marriage fall in love at first sight? That's going to be my next question, because we don't know. Maybe a lot of divorced people also had love at first sight, in which case it's not a particularly good predictor. I don't know the answer to that one, but it seems to be fairly common. And we go to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Nat, hello.

Uh, Nate.

Yeah, first, uh, long time listener, first time caller.

Nice to talk with you.

Sorry about that, I got N-A-T here. Okay, Nate, thank you.

You're good, you're good. Yeah, my wife and I definitely, uh, fell in love at first sight, um, both of us, uh, you know, working for the same company just in different, uh, different parts, uh, me out of a regional office and, and she on site. And, uh, yeah, seeing her for the first time and, uh, definitely coming up on 19 years next week, uh, with 4 kiddos. So, um, it's worked for us.

How long did it take her?

Uh, well, uh, from what she said, uh, right after she met me, uh, she said to, uh, her friends there. How do you get a guy like that to marry you?

Uh, so, so that it was both. It was both.

It was both, both of us. Yep. Yes, sir.

And it's really worked out.

It has.

Okay. I love it. But how many people could explain why? See, you could say, especially with regard to men, oh, she, you know, was particularly attractive. Oh, it's lust at first sight. But most men know the difference between lust and love. Now, ideally, love should contain lust. If you don't lust after your wife, it's unfortunate. There has to be or there ought to be that component, certainly in the early stages. I don't assume that there's the same degree of lust later in age. It's just that love has transformations. But certainly in the beginning, and men do know— I know people don't give men a lot of credit in this matter because they're blinded by their sexual instincts, but men do know the difference between lust and love, or ought to, let's put it that way. All right, let's see. Sharon, West Hills, California. Hello.

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

I met— I fell in love with my husband through the window of a bus when I was 14 years old going to a seminar at Camp Hess Kramer that I never should have gone to. I was 14, he was 17.

Why should you— why should you have never gone to that camp, out of curiosity?

Because my mother couldn't afford to send me, and so the rabbi that was in charge granted me a scholarship even though he did not know me. But his daughter was best friends with my sister, so he granted me a scholarship, so I got to go. And We're married almost 42 years this year in September, and we should have never been together except for the decisions of our mothers, and independently of each other. And I believe he was a gift sent from God, so I never once have ever wavered or questioned that we were meant to be together.

So let me, let me understand the circumstance. You were 14, you saw him on another bus at the camp?

No, my bus had picked us up at LAX and drove us to Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu, and as the bus pulled into the parking lot, I looked out the window and there he was. Thank you.

Right, so I'm saying it was a bus at the camp. Okay, so did you even speak to him that summer?

Um, it was actually a winter seminar and I had just turned 14 December 12th, so I was barely 14. And we— about 3 days later he came up to me and he said hi, and he told me his name. And I said, I, I know your name because I had found out his name, but I had not spoken until he approached me. He, he liked me, but not that much. I mean, he just enough to introduce himself.

How did you pursue this at the age of 14?

Well, I lived in Denver and he lived in San Jose, California, so I wrote him letters. I, I got— he was good, and we, we decided to keep in touch, and he wrote me letters for a very short period of time, and then he never wrote me back. But his mother would collect the mail and say She would say to him, you have to write this girl back because she writes you every week. So she would force him to write me back, but she said it wasn't nice. And then when I— and then when I was— when I was 18, my mother decided to move to Southern California, and I came with my mother. And by that time, he had— he was in college at UCLA, and I called him up.

Well, I'm actually, uh, I'm thrilled it worked out, obviously, but If I were he, I would have been suspicious of you. Not that you had bad inclinations, but it would seem odd that a 14-year-old girl is writing me every week. Well, as you say, he did stop writing. Wow. Well, she knew at 14. Back in a moment. Hello, my friends. Dennis Prager here. And if you missed my first hour, just recapitulate on a spectacular trip I just came from. To think that yesterday I was in Romania and today I'm broadcasting from California is— with all the traveling I've done, and I've been abroad every single year since I was 18 years old, except for the year 2020 when you couldn't go anywhere It was hard in 2021, but I did go to Hungary to give a speech then. And it was with a boatload, literally. We rented, we hired a boat to sail from Budapest to Bulgaria and— and we went to so far east, it was not far from the mouth of the Danube, which is the Caspian Sea. And it was a phenomenal trip. Everybody on board was a Prager listener, so you can imagine how well they got along and enjoyed each other. I spoke quite a few times and had cigars with a lot of folks up on top of the deck at night. I mean, the trip itself was spectacular. If you can ever take a Prager Listener cruise, you will know what I'm talking about. Next year we're actually going to do something incredible. I consider it on, on a par of exoticness, exoticness with Antarctica. We'll be going, among other places, to Greenland. I am sure you will be the first in your family to have gone to Greenland. Yeah, I mean, could people get info? Is it up? Is anything up on it, or just they should make a mental note? Yeah, we're officially announced on, on Monday, but, uh, all right, so make a mental note about it for next year. In the meantime, going to Israel with many of you, and that is up at DennisPrager.com where it says Stand with Israel. Trips are the best. Travel is the best. I wrote one of my columns from Europe, and I spoke at length in the first hour about the number of people walking in the streets. I felt that I was in 1950 United States of America. People walking in the street, vast number of couples walking hand in hand. Old couples, middle-aged couples, young couples, kids laughing, kids innocent. And I'm not romanticizing. I know a lot of the problems of Eastern Europe. I just spoke, in fact, two nights ago in Bucharest in the Romanian Parliament. Not to the Parliament. There were parliamentarians there, but it was in their building. It was a remarkable experience. I know Eastern Europe pretty well. They have a lot of issues, but the, the, the attempt to destroy civilization that we're having here by the left does not have many parallels outside of the United States, Canada, and the UK. In fact, the English-speaking world— Australia, New Zealand as well. Here's an example of something truly sick. Lori Lightfoot appointed a fellow at Harvard School of Public Health. That's— it's beyond belief that Harvard would hire Lori Lightfoot to teach anything other than how to ruin a great city. They're tone deaf at all of our universities. They're tone deaf to how the public perceives them. Do you think that most Americans admire Harvard for hiring Lori Lightfoot to teach anything? She's a fool. She's a gargantuan fool. The woman is purely chaotic. Her grasp of reality is minuscule. She helped ruin a great city. And Harvard is hiring her to teach. But it also gives you an example of how one-sided the education is. They also hired, okay, Jacinda Ardern. Hey, do you have Jacinda Ardern telling New Zealanders that if they don't hear it from the government, it is not true? That's a Hall of Famer, Sean. It's one of the 10 greatest audio lines of my 40 years in radio. This is what she said to her people. You can trust— go ahead— information. You can also trust the Director-General of Health and the Ministry of Health, covid19.govt.nz. Otherwise, dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth. We will provide information frequently. We will share everything we can. Everything else you see, a grain of salt. And when you see those messages, remember that unless you hear it from us, it is not the truth. The single source of truth. And she's hired to Harvard too, which believes it's the single source of truth. Truth, where she's perfectly fitting at Harvard. The left is the single source of truth. Did you ever hear me say anything to that effect in all the years of my broadcasting? I am the single source of truth. I have said I don't lie, but it doesn't mean I am the single source of truth. Now, why would it be preposterous if I would say, I am the single source of truth, unless you hear it from me, it is not true? Wouldn't everyone think, what are you, some sort of megalomaniac? Well, why don't you think that of her? Why don't you think that of the left in general? That's what they all say. Unless you hear it from them, it is not the truth. That's why they believe that they could suppress all dissent. Why would we allow dissent from truth? Lori Lightfoot and Jacinda Ardern, two appointments by Harvard. Lori Lightfoot, it's a bad joke. Bad joke. So we got a microphone on my producer, Alan Estrin, aka the Living Martyr, who was of course with the Pragers, my wife and me, the entire trip. It was terrific with them. So did I— and you know, it's perfectly fine for you to say it. Did I overstate the sense of awe that we felt looking at people just walking the streets?

I wouldn't say you overstated it at all.

Well, how did you react?

It's pretty much all we talked about is how there was this feeling of normalcy in Eastern Europe that we just aren't experiencing now in the United States, and how odd that felt.

You—

people who have been to Europe know that it's a feature of European cities, and it's a nice feature, that almost every city has what they would call some— or that we would call like a town square, which is a pedestrian-only area with lots of shops, and it's very kid-friendly. But as you observe, the amazing observation was that there were lots and lots of kids to be friendly about in these And they were young. We're not talking about— I mean, certainly there were teenagers, but there were— there just seemed to be baby carriages and 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds running around, and everybody just seemed to be enjoying the moment. And the moment being just families being together, enjoying an afternoon or an early evening. And it was, it was just nice to observe it, nice to, to, to see it, because it's just not something we seem to see a lot here.

The question is, and I don't have an answer to it because we were only in Eastern Europe, would we see this in Western capitals or Western cities in Europe?

Talking Western Europe, we've been to Western Europe. I mean, it's been 4 years, but, uh, I mean, I just don't remember seeing it in sort of kids in this kind of, in these sorts of numbers, in, in this kind of situation.

Well, Western Europe's not reproducing itself.

Well, that, that would be demonstrated by the town square. Yeah.

You have a good time?

It was great. It was just a, it was a wonderful experience all around. We As you, as you said, I mean, how many times does anybody get to Bulgaria? Now, we, we shouldn't sugarcoat what we saw either. I mean, the Bulgaria and Serbia, but more Bulgaria than Serbia or even Romania, these cities don't look like American cities. I mean, they're, they're You have the sense that there is poverty there, or at least they don't have the material benefits we have. There's just no question about that. You see buildings with the facade sort of stripped away and the brick, you see the brick.

Bulgaria is a poor country.

It's a poor country.

There's no way. Yes, it's poorer than Romania. People go to Romania to shop and people go to Romania for, you know, they travel to Bucharest to see a concert. But you're right, no, I didn't mention the material aspect. But I wonder if the average Romanian kid is happier, less happy, or just as happy as the average American kid. I would bet on happier. So would you. Back in a moment. More terrible news for Bud Light as it tries to turn things around. Headline here in Town Hall: they are now no longer the number one selling beer. Wow. They have been— was it Modelo? Was that the— is it a Mexican beer? Yeah, that has actually— that has overtaken it. It shows you the power of the vast majority of Americans who understand that LGBT has nothing to do with compassion. The LGBT movement, especially the T part, is an attempt to undermine society as we know it. And it is a staggering amount of cruelty to children. The T in the LGBT movement is a cruelty to children movement. And about 80% of Americans know that. The 20% who comprise the left hide this fact from themselves. The number of children's lives they are ruining. But they don't care, because ruining, as I explained in the first hour, is what the left is about. It builds nothing. Name me something other than government that the left has built. The left only destroys. It not only destroys everything it touches, it only destroys. When I spoke in Romania two nights ago, I was asked to define leftism, and I realized after all these years there is no definition to leftism. It doesn't stand for anything. It only stands against everything. From the French Revolution to the left in America today, all it does is destroy the arts, education, medicine, family, Tell me something that is better morally, even compassionately better because of the left. Now talking about liberals, talking about left. Liberals have done a lot of destruction too, but not nearly as much as the left. The destruction of the liberal is that they vote for the left. That's why you should not be shopping at Target. Given the excellence of the response to Bud Light. You know what we need to do? We need to make an award named after the woman who designed the campaign for Bud Light. There should be an award for every company that decides to wreck itself, like the Los Angeles Dodgers. None of you should be going to Dodger games in light of the mockery of Catholicism that they took, that they honored. They didn't merely allow, they honored. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, men dressed in nun drag and playing with the crucifix. I mean, can you imagine any of this done with regard to any symbol of Islam? Of course not. Though Islam is as against everything they stand for as any Christians might be. But they're scared of Muslims and they're not scared of Christians. And cowardice is a very important part of leftism, and especially bowing down to it. But people will still go, including Christians and Catholics, will still go to Dodger games. After all, why, why miss a baseball game? There are a lot of fun to attend. And by the way, I say that with no mockery. It is tough if you love sports. It's very tough. I live in Los Angeles. I rooted against the LA Lakers because of LeBron James, a lowlife, an America-hating lowlife. And yet it doesn't matter. It's like Team Uber Alice. The infecting of sports is one of the terrible things that they have done in any event. Of course, the greatest evil— well, no, I take that back. I truly retract that. There is no greatest evil of the left. There's a tie for first place. But the— all these indictments of Donald Trump, by the way, if they're actually— if he's actually convicted on all of them, he could face literally hundreds of years in prison. But if he faces one day in prison, America has crossed the Rubicon. The Wall Street Journal had a very powerful piece on this, and the Wall Street Journal does not particularly care, uh, for Donald Trump, but they understand it's irrelevant whether you like Donald Trump the man or not. It is truly irrelevant. The— what is being done to this country, uh, with, with regard to arresting a former president and, and the leading candidate against in the opposition. This is what thug Third World dictatorships were known for, and now this is what is being done in the United States of America. Sets a terrible precedent, as the Wall Street Journal writes, a destructive Trump indictment Do prosecutors understand the forces they are unleashing? Whether you love or hate Donald Trump, his indictment by President Biden's Justice Department— notice that this is Wall Street Journal, which is pretty moderate conservative— is calling the Department of Justice President Biden's Department of Justice. It is not the U.S. Department of Justice. It is his Department of Justice with the thug named Merrick Garland. To think that— I recall how well he was described when he was appointed to be a Supreme Court Justice. Oh, he's a moderate liberal. Oh, you don't have to worry about Merrick Garland. He turns out to be a thug. That's all he is. And yet, to prove the point that I have made over and over, he lives completely well with his conscience. To show you the uselessness in most people of the conscience, I think he's a thug and he thinks he is wonderful. We're both at peace with our conscience. So, my dear friends, of what use is the conscience? Hello, my friends. How many of you have heard the term the Age of Reason that was supposedly launched by the French Revolution and the French Enlightenment? I wish we lived in an age of reason. What they really meant was, since religion has irrationality associated with it, We will drop religion and we will just affirm reason. The French Revolution, so as a result, decided to murder thousands of Catholic priests. Murder, yep. Defrock thousands more, humiliate many, and murder many. And then we will have the Age of Reason. Of course, that was the unleashing of completely counter-rational argument. I do believe in reason so much that I titled my Bible commentary The Rational Bible. It's a great joke that the Age of Reason was ushered in with the decline of religion. We live in an age that says men give birth, and men can compete with women in women's sports, and men can show their genitals in women's locker rooms if they say that they are women. This is what the Age of Reason, the post-Judeo-Christian age, has produced: an amount of irrationality that competes with the greatest amount of irrationality that might have existed in a religious period. The human being is not inclined to being rational. The human being is inclined to being irrational and counter-rational, in fact. The, the destruction that is being— we are living through now with these indictments of Donald Trump are entirely, or virtually entirely, a product of the anti-rational in the human. They are feelings. People hate Donald Trump, and in the name of their narcissistic hatred, they are prepared to ruin the country. The Wall Street Journal does not like Donald Trump, but it has a very effective editorial exactly saying that. The forces being unleashed as he— as they write here, by President Biden's Justice Department. I, I wonder how many readers picked up on what a statement that is. It's not the United States Department of Justice. It is not Americans' Department of Justice. It is Joe Biden's Department of Justice. It is a fraught moment for American democracy. For the first time in U.S. history, the prosecutorial power of the federal government has been used against a former president who is also running against the sitting president. This is far graver than the previous indictment by a rogue New York prosecutor, and it will roil the 2024 election and U.S. politics for years to come. Special Counsel Jack Smith announced the indictment in a brief statement on Friday. But no one should be fooled. This is Attorney General Merrick Garland's responsibility. Mr. Garland appointed Mr. Smith to provide political cover, but Mr. Garland, who reports to Mr. Biden, has the authority to overrule a special counsel's recommendation. Americans will inevitably see this as a Garland-Biden indictment, and they are right to think so. Two thugs. These are words I never used about public figures for almost all of my career, but the left produces thugs and thugs gravitate to the left. Well, but again, as I said, it is a product of hatred. It's also a product of power lust, but it's primarily a product of hatred. The hatred of Donald Trump. He was a great president. I wish he weren't running, to be perfectly honest, because I don't know if he'll win, and the only thing that matters to me is defeating the left. I have no other agenda at this time. There, I have a million agendas, but there's nothing as great as defeating the left. The left is destroying the West. And specifically America. And I don't know why Donald Trump would win. If he'd win, I'd be thrilled. By the way, if he's nominated, I will vigorously support him. But what is happening to him is happening to America, and that is the power of emotion over reason. If emotion did not overpower reason, there would be no left. Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 50 15 years' worth of archives, as well as the Daily Show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com.