Trump is going to have a battle on his hands with this issue. The liberal media will repeat arguments like the law professor’s as if they’re reasonable and then jump all over Trump for breaking his promise to support local police if he cuts off funding to sanctuary cities. Trump will be in a tough spot and may have to back off his threat to cut off funding. We already have chaos in several major cities. Can you imagine if there were even fewer police on the streets?
Speaking of cities in chaos, the mayor of the murder capital of the United States, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, met with Trump last December. We don’t know all the details of that conversation, but Emanuel spun it that he had “stood up to Trump on immigration, arguing for the continued protection of young immigrants.”31 The Trump team didn’t say much about the meeting, so we’re left mostly with Emanuel’s version.
I haven’t been completely happy about some of the meetings Trump had in his tower before the inauguration. But this one didn’t bother me. It was more of a curiosity. Here you have the consummate liberal who, after resigning as Obama’s chief of staff, became the mayor of a city with some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation and a policy of not complying with immigration laws.
Do you think it’s an accident that the same city had a record-setting 3,550 shooting incidents and 762 murders in 2016?32 Rahm Emanuel is the man who seems to have been the self-appointed spokesman for rest of the liberal mayors who have run their cities into the ground, not only with disastrous gun and immigration policies, but with a host of other liberal stupidity. He provided quite a contrast to Trump, who stands up for gun rights, borders, and law and order.
The meeting reminded me of old-time kings or generals meeting for a parley before a major battle to discuss terms. Often there was a ritualistic attempt to avoid the conflict, but both sides usually knew it was unavoidable. They would politely bid each other farewell and return to their armies to prepare for war.
That’s just what happened in Trump Tower last December when Emanuel met with Trump. Now Trump’s War for Our Borders is officially under way. The opposing generals in the form of mayors of sanctuary cities are like rebellious dukes who must be brought to heel by the people’s legitimate sovereign.
If you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country. You’ve heard Donald Trump say that during his presidential campaign and me say it for decades. Well, you can’t have borders if dozens of cities act as if they don’t exist. Trump is going to have to find some way to abolish sanctuary cities, regardless of the political consequences.
SAVAGE SOLUTIONS
Kill Common Core at the state level.
Restore civics classes at the local level.
Abolish the Department of Education.
Use the bully pulpit to preach Americanism.
CHAPTER FIVE
TRUMP’S CULTURE WARS
No one’s talking about the culture. There’s almost no mention of cultural topics or issues. Have you heard anyone, even in the Trump administration, talk about pornography or the drug epidemic? I haven’t heard it.
We heard about the drug epidemic during the campaign. That came up for a little while when he was in New Hampshire, because they’re suffering greatly from epidemic overuse of OxyContin, due to the evil people in the Oxy business, the drug manufacturers, some of whom should be in prison for life.
You talk about the swamp. We know about the swamp of corruption in Washington. That’s a given. How about the social chaos that we experienced after almost a decade of the swamp creature in the White House?
We don’t want the same radical, political leadership that caters to pornographers, drug dealers, perverts, illegal immigrant felons, and foreign competitors. Nor do we want another administration that disdains church, family, fathers, mothers, children, and decency.
It seems to me that in America, Justice is not only blindfolded, she has been castigated altogether. It is a perverted masquerade where the rich are innocent even when proven guilty, and average Americans are guilty, with no money to prove their innocence.
Their rights are mocked and their values the brunt of filthy humor.
When this kind of disease appears on earth, nature usually follows with its opposite. When the world order collapses this way, what usually happens? What inevitably follows this kind of decadence?
Simply, that at some point, anarchy and social decay are followed by tyranny and oppression, as they were in Weimar Germany. But unlike in Weimar, we pride ourselves that we have a good economy and delude ourselves it can’t happen here.
I can give you one example after another.
Unlike any president in history, Obama pushed hatred, envy, and suspicion wherever he went, while feigning compassion and understanding. But behind the smiles, the finger wagging and the promises, there was only arrogance, corruption, and deceit.
Need we follow? Wasn’t one Weimar enough?
The left likes to portray Trump as a dictator because he says he wants to restore law and order to a society laid waste by eight years of allowing left-wing brownshirts and Islamist sleeper cells to run amok. To the left, everyone who isn’t a progressive is a dictator. But my real concern is not that Trump will be too authoritarian, but that he won’t do enough to restore American culture while governing. Yes, you need borders, you need security, and you need a booming economy. But all those are simply support for the thing a society exists for: its culture.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
For more than twenty-five years, the theme of my show, The Savage Nation, has been “Borders, Language, Culture.” That’s because everything that makes America what it is can be reduced to those three words.
A lot of pundits and think tankers will tell you the U.S. Constitution or its first Ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights, is what makes America what it is. They’re not completely wrong. Those documents and the ideas they contain are monumentally important. But they aren’t fundamentally definitive. As I wrote in my last book, Scorched Earth, the Constitution is the result of our borders, language, and culture, not the other way around.
I know that sounds like sacrilege, but it’s true. This is one of those subjects upon which conservatives can become as pedantic and utopian as liberals. They believe the Constitution was inspired by God Almighty and everything in it is sacred scripture.
Everyone seems to forget how much compromise was necessary just to draft the document. Once it was drafted, a large part of the country wanted nothing to do with it. They called themselves Anti-Federalists. Rhode Island didn’t ratify this divinely inspired document until 1790. It was one of many states that wouldn’t agree to it at all without assurances it would be amended immediately.
The founders disagreed on how the federal government should be organized, but they didn’t disagree on what its purpose was. If you read what they finally came up with for a preamble, it can all be reduced to this: Preserve and defend our borders, language, and culture.
I want to talk about culture for a moment, because it’s an important concept. People define it a lot of different ways. For some, culture is limited to the arts, like music, literature, painting, sculpture, and dance. Others define it more widely, to include constitutional and legal institutions.
I see it differently. Culture to me is the character of a given society within its constitutional and legal framework. The laws are like the walls of a house or a fortress. They don’t define what’s inside them. They’re built to protect what is inside.
Culture is everything besides legal institutions that makes societies unique. It’s their traditions, their habits, their customs, and their social mores. Culture is the unique way they celebrate holidays, mourn their dead, decorate their homes, and dress for special occasions. It’s the way they do business with each other and support each other during times of need. It is their predominant religious beliefs. And yes, it is their literature, art, and music.
Our Constitution was instrumental in America rising from a poor, agrarian backwater to the mig
htiest nation in the history of the world in just a few decades. The Constitution limited the power of the government and provided the freedom to innovate and explore that wasn’t available in most other countries. But without American culture, the Constitution would have been worthless. What good is freedom if you don’t use it productively?
Let me tell you what American culture has been for most of our history. Until the 1960s, America was a socially conservative nation based on Judeo-Christian morality, the Protestant work ethic, and love of country. Businessman used to be called “captains of industry” and were revered for their achievements. Working people found long hours and frugality rewarding, knowing that even if they never became millionaires themselves, they were building a better future for their children.
Americans have always loved a party, but sobriety and responsibility were virtues. Licentiousness and excess were frowned upon. The man who allowed drunkenness to impair his ability to provide for his family was called a drunk. The man who wasn’t faithful to his wife was called a cad.
As late as the 1950s, Americans overwhelmingly loved their country. They revered the founding fathers as pioneers of the ideas that had built the bountiful society they enjoyed. They sought to emulate wealthy businessmen, rather than excoriate them as “exploiters” of victim workers.
They dutifully attended religious services and thanked God for the blessings they had received. They worked hard and complained little. Complaining about one’s circumstances used to be considered a sign of personal weakness. People used to talk about how they were going to improve their own condition, not what somebody else owed them.
Anyone under forty reading this probably thinks I’m talking about another planet. Certainly nothing I’ve just written describes America today. The wealthy are now vilified, no matter how honestly they earned their money. Licentiousness, drunkenness, and drug use are now revered as “hip,” while sobriety and self-control are denigrated as square.
The Protestant work ethic persists out in “flyover country,” but in America’s urban centers, it’s extinct. Rather than starting out at the bottom and working their way up the ladder as they gain skills and experience, America’s baristas and burger flippers would rather protest until some politician forces employers to pay them more than they’re worth.
THAT’S NOT ENTERTAINMENT
The entertainment industry today is ground zero for the destruction of American culture. Not only do most movies, popular songs, and television shows celebrate licentiousness, irresponsibility, and violence, but they are also a nonstop propaganda vehicle for left-wing ideas.
When a spoiled kid comes out half-naked in front of a stadium full of people and “dances” in a manner that would have gotten her arrested a few decades ago, she’s rewarded with record-breaking CD sales. Being a loser drug addict is not only accepted if you’re a famous musician; it’s admired.
How far we have fallen really hit me when I watched the American Music Awards last November. It was all on display. Hip-hoppers grabbing their crotches, women dressed like prostitutes, and some of the most horrible “music” I’ve ever heard in my life. All of that was bad enough. What was infinitely worse was being treated to this true basket of deplorables’ political opinions.
What could anyone expect from a bunch of talentless junkies? Did you expect intelligence from them just because they can sing and dance like a bunch of puppets? I didn’t.
Of course, we had to hear the political musings of Gigi Hadid, the sum of whose qualifications is that she looks nice in a bathing suit. She attacked Melania Trump and the whole audience cheered.
It was about the same time the racist cast of the play Hamilton hauled forth with their lecture to Mike Pence. This was a play whose producers specifically requested “nonwhite” actors for its casting calls. All the white actors in New York who were denied even applying for this job because of their race probably still hated Trump and voted for Hillary.
So, the audience attending this racist production booed Mike Pence, just as the audience at the music awards cheered Gigi for attacking Melania Trump. It’s ironic how we’re constantly warned about Trump inciting violence or encouraging racial hatred, but only Hillary supporters actually perpetrate violence and racism.
Robert De Niro is another one. He didn’t attack any police officers or loot any buildings, but he threatened Trump with violence, saying he’d like to “punch him in the nose.” Can you imagine what would happen if Donald Trump said anything like this?
Well, De Niro backed the wrong horse this time around. I wonder if he’s still looking for a fight now? I’ve always admired De Niro as an actor, but I won’t even watch reruns of his movies now. He’s dead to me.
The entertainment industry’s assault on American culture has been wildly successful. An entire generation has grown up hearing nothing but its overt left-wing message and doesn’t know any other way to see the world. That’s how a 1930s-style street corner communist like Bernie could trot out tired old Marxist tropes and convince so many young people he had “new ideas.”
This is nothing new. Entertainers have been potentially subversive elements within society for all human history. You probably won’t believe how far back concern over the influence of entertainers goes.
That’s why I found it so disturbing that Trump invited Kanye West to his tower during the transition last December. I understand Trump is coming from the entertainment business and has friends there. I understand Trump is a showman; it worked well for him in the primaries and in the general election.
But the elections are over and it’s time to govern. Trump is no longer a showman; he’s a statesman. He has to start acting like a statesman, which means he may have to distance himself from the people he associated with in the entertainment business.
Eddie didn’t elect him to continue Obama’s decadence. He elected Trump for a return to American values. It’s great that we’re going to have a booming economy and a safer America under Trump, but we need our culture back just as badly.
PLATO WARNED US
I started in radio in 1994 and based my show, The Savage Nation, on Plato’s Republic. I had to read that book in high school. That shows you how far we’ve fallen. I’m sure most high school graduates today have never even heard of Plato. Their liberal faculty couldn’t fit him in between “Gender Pronouns 101” and “Introduction to White Privilege.” We’ve gone from Plato’s Republic to “Donny Has Two Daddies” in just a few short years.
The classics both educate and expand your mind. Twenty-seven hundred years ago, Plato mapped out his plan for an ideal society. In addition to providing a plan for government, Plato wrote about sports, wrote about welfare reform, and invented the field of philosophy.
What may surprise you is what Plato wrote about entertainers. Plato foresaw the lowlife degenerates who would come to dominate the entertainment world. He wrote a whole dialogue on artists and musicians and what they would do to society “if amusements become lawless.”
Plato said that music could bring with it a “spirit of license,” which at first appears harmless, but eventually penetrates all aspects of society, from “manners and customs” to contracts, laws, and constitutions. By doing so, he wrote, this spirit of license can result in the “overthrow of all rights, private as well as public.”
Just think of today’s rap stars rubbing their crotches onstage. Is that what Plato was talking about? Certainly such amusement is harmless, isn’t it?
Plato recognized that artists always mislead people. They’re like a weed. Take a look at the filth on display at the American Music Awards and in the entertainment industry in general. Ask yourself if that has something to do with the wreckage and disorder of our society.
Art has been used to corrupt people since before Plato. And if you thought that when the election results were in the fight would be over, you were wrong. Immediately there were protests in the streets. They were created by community organizers who bused people in to destroy pro
perty and create chaos.
And then came the artists and celebrities who chimed in on their shows, on stages, and on Twitter, whining, crying, and agitating for a different result.
Some people say we should just ignore them. They’re just a bunch of dumb celebrities. I believe you ignore these dumb artists at your own peril. Art and music have been used for centuries to influence the masses, often leading to the demise of great societies.
Plato saw art and music as powerful and therefore potentially dangerous. We saw last fall what happens when a group of deranged junkies have the power of Hollywood, armies of lawyers and public relations agents behind them and the unquestioning support of the newspapers. You get the corrupt, degenerated society we have now as millions of impressionable young people follow their lead.
Plato thought art and music should be part of educating young people, but he thought it should be controlled to present only what is constructive for society. Largely, art and music have been used to tear down cultures for millennia. Plato saw it in ancient Greece. An argument could be made that artistic subversion helped bring down the Roman Empire.
I am not calling for censorship, but self-control. I don’t agree with all of Plato’s ideas. Let’s not forget he called for a socialist state.
We’re seeing what Plato saw right here in America today. Take a look at the degenerates in the music business. You may like the tunes. I listen to music, too, but I also think about the effect it has on people. That’s why the left controls the arts. By controlling the arts, they control minds.
FDR knew this way back in the 1930s, when he commissioned twenty thousand artists to help him sell his Soviet New Deal policies. In the last election cycle, artists and musicians were out in full force pushing for Hillary Clinton.
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