Dennis Prager, Ted Cruz, and Michael Knowles argue the left has become totalitarian, using cancel culture and tech to silence dissent. Prager says Republicans should position against leftist ideology entirely, not just individual Democrats. Knowles compares small cultural concessions like removing statues to broken windows that erode society.
Every Republican must run against the Democrats and the left, not just his or her opponent. This is never, almost never done, maybe never done. Voters, please understand that when you vote Democrat, you get chaos. You get an undermining of everything good in this country. This, you are voting for the left. Even if you are a liberal, you are voting for the left. You are not voting for liberals. So in a nutshell, we have to make the referendum on the left while they make the referendum about one man. We are making about an ideology that is crushing the country. Why don't Republicans do that?
Too many of them don't understand it. They don't understand what— we're in the midst of the great debate, the great debate between socialism and free enterprise. We are in the midst of also the great debate between tyranny and freedom.
Yes.
And look, a lot of people who run for office, who get elected to Congress, it becomes their identity. There's something where you look in the mirror And you see the reflection back and you say, I'm a senator. I'm really damn important. There's an old joke that politics is Hollywood for ugly people. There's enormous truth to that. And what happens is people desperately want to stay in elected office. It becomes who they are. And the terror of being out of elected office, it is a horrifying void because they don't know who they are. And what that means is they're deeply risk-averse. The way you get reelected is you don't take on any issue that matters because there's risk. And if there's risk, you might get voted out of office. And look, I gotta admit, this job ain't that great unless you're fighting for something that matters. And I feel intensely grateful that I get to fight, you know, as with Esther, at such a time as this, at a time when it matters, when it matters for the country. I mean, to have the chance, it's the reason my Michael and I do The Verdict podcast because we want to engage on the fundamental issues, on free speech and why it matters, on religious liberty, on why it matters. And the left has become— their status, they're totalitarians. They want to silence dissent. Everything people are told about politics is wrong. People are told Democrats are the party of the poor, Republicans are the party of the rich. That's exactly opposite. Today, The Democrats are the party of rich coastal elites who look down on America. And Republicans, I believe, are and should be a blue-collar party, the party of working men and women, of Ohio steelworkers, of truck drivers, of single moms waiting tables, of people like my dad as a teenage immigrant coming from Cuba and washing dishes. That's who we should be. And we are also— Republicans are and should be the party of diversity, free speech, means you can disagree. But yet the left, whether it's the media, whether it's the New York Times, whether it's big tech, they want to silence, they want to punish, they want to cancel, they want to force into conformity anyone who dares disagree.
This is something, Senator, that we talk about on the show a lot, and it ties in exactly with what you're saying, Dennis, which is running against the left, the whole left. And a lot of Republicans go weak.
Why?
Because all along the way, there are these little moments, little issues where you think, I'll just give that up, I'll forget about that. And it reminds me of this line from the TV show The Crown. Where the Queen's private secretary, he says, "It's in the small things that the rot begins." These small issues, you tear down this one statue, you rewrite this one piece of history.
The broken windows theory.
Yeah, and look at the country around us now where literally the edifice of the country is falling to the ground.
See, in this regard, I mean, Senator, it was eerie to hear you because it's almost word for word what I believe. There are two types of politicians: those who want to be politicians and those who want to do something. The latter is a very small group. I believe that Joe Biden wants to be president for the same reason he wanted to be a senator, because he wants to be a senator or wants to be president. Ironically, I don't think that's true about Donald Trump. I actually believe it's not like his life was lacking. Right? He was a celebrity. He had all of the— he really inherited hatred. He was not hated. He went, you know, he went to Hillary Clinton's daughter's wedding. So, or she, or did she come to his wedding? She came to his wedding also, yeah. You are in it to do something. Do you think your religiosity is a fundamental reason for that? Or it's your nature? I'm not looking for an answer. I'm looking for an answer, but I'm looking for a specific answer. Tell it to me when we come back. I'm very, very curious. Because I always ask people who do good what animates them, and it's not always easy. It is not an easy answer. We'll be back in a moment.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
