Video summary
In this discussion, Douglas Murray responds to Don Lemon's suggestion that Democrats should nominate candidates who are more popular with voters rather than those like AOC or Eric Swalwell. Murray expresses skepticism about this strategy, noting that while he acknowledges the serious national security breach involving a Chinese spy infiltrating Swalwell, he believes Lemon's analysis lacks value and would lead to Democratic defeat if followed. He argues that many Democrats have already begun listening to their electoral losses by reducing attacks on Russia and scaling back accusations against opponents as Nazis, though some of this rhetoric persists. Murray suggests that the party is slowly realizing it cannot insult its majority voters or embrace extreme positions without consequence. Murray identifies a central leadership vacuum within the Democratic Party, citing Chuck Schumer's recent budget deal with Trump as an action that made him deeply unpopular even among his own allies, including Nancy Pelosi. He contends that the party has tacked too far to the left regarding issues such as transgender rights and identity politics, alienating the American public who do not want their children subjected to these changes or radical street movements. Murray emphasizes that serious political parties are distinct from protest groups; he criticizes recent protests against Elon Musk for being led by individuals with illiterate speeches and notes that relying on radical elements is a disastrous path forward. He advocates for promoting talented, sensible figures like Tim Walz who represent the party's distinguished history rather than yielding to its most extreme factions. The conversation shifts to broader cultural trends where Murray observes a significant shift in corporate America, noting that major entities are rolling back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He points out that Meta is rebranding under Mark Zuckerberg by removing fact-checkers and addressing gender identity policies, while BlackRock has exited climate groups and eliminated diversity targets, with similar moves occurring at European companies like Aldi and Santander regarding their DEI programs in the US military context. Murray expresses relief over Pete Hegseth's appointment to address these issues within the armed forces, arguing that national defense requires tough leadership rather than individuals suffering from mental disorders or on hormone therapy, which he views as incompatible with effective drone operation or command roles. Finally, Murray addresses the concept of societal corrections following periods of derangement, using the COVID-19 era and subsequent public health controversies like those involving RFK Jr. as examples to illustrate his point about overcorrection versus necessary guardrails. He warns that while institutions have made mistakes in fields like epidemiology or public health, this does not justify abandoning expert gatekeeping entirely; instead, society must determine where the line lies between valid expertise and dangerous wild swings. The discussion concludes with Murray's view that future years will reveal whether these corrections stabilize society back to a reasonable level or swing toward another equally crazy direction, highlighting the ongoing tension between necessary regulation and unchecked radicalism in both politics and corporate policy.
Read the full video transcript
Don Lemon said, "That's a name I haven't
heard for a while. People love AOC,
Jasmine Crockett, and Eric Swallwell. I
think the Democratic Party should put
people out there who the people want,
who they're asking for. Is that a good
strategy for the future of the left?"
I'm not sure about that. Uh Eric
Swallwell was the one was the one who
was found banging Fang Fang. Uh wasn't
he? Do you remember that? Chinese spy
Fang Fang. Uh she uh infiltrated him.
Stop saying it like that. No, Fangfang.
What's wrong with that?
Stop saying it. He bang banged Fang
Fang.
Everyone knows that. Okay. Yeah. He was
infiltrated by a Chinese Communist Party
spy. Okay. Sexually. Very much so. Okay.
And uh regrettably so. And that was a
big national security breach. But um uh
yes, the others I look Don Lemon, why
why I mean like asking to find sense in
the entrails of a chicken. Why? What's
his analysis is of no value and if the
Democrats listened to him, they'd never
be in power
again. What
uh let's say that you were a adviser to
the left and in many ways I imagine that
you do have uh desires to have a a a
burgeoning flourishing left that doesn't
make everybody sort of shuddering cringe
in that way. What would you advise them
to do in America? Yes.
um uh very straightforward one which is
you listen to your defeat and you learn
from it and you work out what you did
wrong and I think they are to to some
extent my friends who are on the left in
America Democrats um the sensible ones
are trying to do that you'll notice that
since the election in November last year
they've definitely changed their
strategy a bit when we haven't got
Russia Russia Russia and uh you're all
Nazis so much Mhm. They're still doing
it a bit, but not anywhere near as much.
Partly cuz if if your opponent has has
won the popular vote, it's tricky to
pretend that that the majority of people
in America are Nazi supporters. The
wiser Democrats realize that's not a
good strategy, losing strategy. Yeah.
Don't insult the voters in their
majority.
Um they should learn from it. They
should. And I think they are. I I think
this time around there's much less
denial and uh I that now the the books
are starting to come out as we knew they
would be uh explaining that you know
actually you know the Democrats kind of
knew that Joe Biden wasn't there these
expose memoir ex house staffer people
people the people who spent uh the years
of the Biden presidency assuring us that
there's nobody who was a sharp attack in
the box and now they're all saying, "Oh,
actually, you know, he didn't know
whether he was the president of the
United States or the head of NATO and
things like that." And so, that stuff is
starting to come out. And, uh, there'll
be lots more, and they'll they'll
they'll tear themselves apart for a bit.
Uh, but the main problem for the
Democrats is just they don't really have
anyone leading the party. Uh, Chuck
Schumer when he made his deal with uh,
uh, Trump on the budget the other week
immediately was the most hated person on
the left. And even, you know, uh, Pelosi
criticized him on that. So it's hard to
see who's really sort of leading the
party. It's not cohesive at the moment.
No. And um so they they should they
should learn my view is if I was a
Democrat adviser strategist, I would say
what what what anyone would from
observing them, which is they tacked
very far to the crazy left. And um the
American public didn't want it. uh as
indeed most publiclix don't and they
didn't want all their children to be
transed and they didn't want uh all of
the the crazy identity politics stuff
that had gone just completely
deranged. Um they also didn't want I
mean the the more sensible ones have
already realized that it's a it's a
party a very very distinguished party
with a with a considerable history. It's
not a street movement. It's not a it's
not a protest movement. I can't remember
which which one it was who the other
week I wrote about him in my column in
the New York Post who led a protest on a
street in New York against Elon Musk.
And I think it's probably the most
illiterate speech I've ever heard
against some really quite stiff
competition. And uh it ended up with him
saying, "You take your Moscow money, you
moo moo moo moo." Yeah. Okay. Not good.
Line for the ages. Line for the ages. um
Cicero would have envied it. Um so the
wiser ones just that's not how you
become serious again. You don't give in
to the street protest people. Don't give
in to the most radical people. There are
really impressive people in the
Democratic party. Uh but they need
they're going to need to allow them to
come up. Tim Waltz.
If I was a Republican strategist, I
would tell the Democrats to keep going
with with uh with uh Tim Waltz, the
pinnacle of masculinity. I mean, that
that's all that stuff is just a
disaster. Everyone knows that he was a
horrible candidate. Everyone knows that
Carla was a horrible candidate. You just
got to find the talent and and encourage
it up. But they they they've got time. I
don't think they should I don't think
they should panic or start, you know,
but they do at some point have to have a
coherent opposition to Trump and
Trumpism. Well, it certainly seems like
one of the things that everybody's
probably noticed um how much is the
blowing with the wind that we're seeing
at the moment of a Mark Zuckerberg not
only uh satorial rebrand but uh meta
policy based rebrand getting rid of fact
checkers and opening up conversations
specifically around I think trans or
gender identity was one of the points
and I think I think what as I understand
it what happened with Zuckerberg was
that he discovered that you know with
whatever it is 80,000 employees
you set up a uh philanthropic wing with
like 1,000 employees and then they spend
all their time waring on the 80,000
people making money and derange the
whole company and so you get rid of it.
But you've seen that, right? Lots of
different companies seeming to uh move
in that direction. So uh Black Rockck
the they exited climate groups
eliminated diversity targets ends its
ESG stuff heets says he's eliminating
DEI within the military and then even
European companies like Aldi and
Santandere are rolling back their DEI
programs over here. So it does feel a
lot like I don't know everyone's blowing
with the Trumpian wind whatever the sort
of direction is that things are going in
at the moment. Absolutely. I mean, I I
said to you many years ago, I'm sure
with matters of crowds that I mean, one
of the problems with all of that stuff
was, you know, at some point it gets
serious and the bridges start to fall
down. You know, um I was never totally
confident that if the bridges fell down
because of DEI that people wouldn't say
that's just yet more evidence of the
patriarchy. Um but it sort of got it
gets serious. It gets really serious at
certain points. It gets really serious
with the military. I'm very glad that
Pete Hexath is is addressing that. You
do want extremely tough mainly men at
the forefront of your nation's military
and your nation's defense. It's it's not
about, you know, to use the most perhaps
hackneed but most extraordinary one.
It's not about that like CIA recruiting
ad where the obese
uh diverse woman of color who explains
how many mental disorders she has is
necessarily your ideal poster child. I
didn't get to see I wasn't. She was
great. She was like a bipolar drone
operator or something. Okay. Right.
Well, I the performance-enhancing
effects of different mental maladies, I
guess, can work quite well on in the
military, but most of them would be you
like psychopathy. Yes, I think. Yes. But
you certainly don't want somebody on a
lot of
hormones in charge of a drone program.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. I don't know. I
think it'll be very interesting to see
what the
next sort of two years has uh in store
especially for what did the Democrats do
in reversing some of the positions that
caused them to sort of fall behind so
much how much faith has been lost. You
know what it kind of feels like a little
bit to me? The the period that we had
during COVID where kind of the veils
fell from people's eyes a little around,
huh? The mainstream media don't really
know what they're talking about and they
roll back their positions and the
institutions that are supposed to be in
charge of this stuff and people that are
supposed to know what's going on in
terms of verology or epidemiology or
public health or whatever. Huh. I I
actually think that the pe that there's
no adults in the room. I don't think
there's any adult. The thing is there
are it's just
the what always happens is you know
something goes deranged in one direction
then you get a correction but as we've
discussed before the question is always
whether the correction goes back to
level or whether it's an overcorrection
that goes to somewhere equally crazy or
or recognizably crazy. Take that one of
the um uh the the co era and the postco
era. Um there's you know lots and lots
of things that clearly went wrong. That
doesn't mean in my view that you should
discourage people from taking giving
polio vaccines to their children.
Um there's lots that has gone wrong in
public health and lots that can be
corrected but you know it it it doesn't
mean that there are no there are no
there should be no guardrails in
society. You look at the way in which
the term gatekeeper is used these days
as if there should be no
gatekeeping and actually the sometimes
uh people might disagree with this but
actually sometimes if there's somebody
who's an expert in a field and they
should be trusted and can be trusted
they do need to draw the line of what is
what is within the parameters and what
is not. Um, that's obviously why like
RFK Jr. caused a lot of concern when he
came in was, you know, is this a
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