Our children’s science scores are down. When judged according to international metrics, uh, healthcare systems not doing so great. Wealth gap disparities increasing exponentially. There was an implied promise to a generation of Americans that if you do certain things, work hard, go to college, be a good person, you would have certain outcomes. And those outcomes didn’t materialize for the majority of people because baby boomers entrenched in decision-making positions lowered the capital gains tax…
…so that their net worth essentially compounds year after year. In post-World War II, US leadership traded the domestic manufacturing industry for National Security by making the US dollar the default international trade currency, which gave America the ability to impose economic sanctions on foreign countries to a US financial banking system, but consequently increased the value of the US dollar astronomically, which made it impossible for anyone to manufacture anything in America. [inhales deeply] Although the logic at the time…
…was that Americans were supposed to upskill en masse, away from the menial manufacturing jobs, but everyone here’s too much of a dumbass to stay school, so we just traded domestic manufacturing to Asia and the rest of the world at the expense of working-class families. But if you don’t read enough… …it comes out as, “Let’s go, Brandon!”
And it’s like, you have a point, but you don’t have the vocabulary to describe your reality because you didn’t read enough. You gotta keep reading beyond the hashtag. There’s a book behind the word. You gotta keep going. You can go at your own pace, but you gotta finish the required reading. Otherwise, we can’t have a conversation. We’re all catching up to each other. I’m friends with MAGA. I’m friends with the MAGAs.
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Very passionate people, my MAGA friends. And I respect their passion to some extent. I do. They’re like, “I love America. I would die for this country.” And I believe them. I believe they love America, and I believe they would die for this country, which is very admirable. But it’s like, man, you are willing to die for your country. Why aren’t you willing to learn math?
Also for your country, like… Like, do both for your country. I know you wanna die for your country, but we’re losing the engineering jobs to Asia right now. So if you… We need less people to die for their country. We need more people to do their homework for their country. Like, do your homework for your country. Like, actually sit down and show the work, and, like, do the… That’s a more efficient way to show your patriotism. If you take that “I want to die” energy and you put it into homework, you will fucking top the school, I’m telling you. It’s… Sky’s the limit.
Dude, you’ll… you’ll solve a lot of problems, you’ll create a lot of jobs, you’ll increase the GDP. Just do… do your homework for your country. “I’d rather die!” I… I thought so. I thought that might be… I thought that might be the case. Dying’s easy, math is hard.
These quadratic equations making me suicidal. Uh, we try not to talk about politics, my MAGA friends and I, out of mutual respect. Inevitably, it comes up. Some stuff I’m wrong about, some stuff they’re right about, but sometimes, like, their messaging is so convoluted. Like, I can’t get to what their core issue actually is, because their surface messaging is so chaotic. Like, sometimes they’re like, “Ronny, China caused COVID, but COVID isn’t real.” So, is it fine then? Does it mean it’s fine?
Uh, my… my MAGA friends all hate US tax. That’s like a universal party platform. There’s different types of MAGA, right? There’s, like, MAGA light, MAGA concentrated, but, like… Right, it’s unfair to group them under one banner, but one uniting party principle is, “Love America, fuck US tax.” And I get it. I also hate US tax now that I’m in the highest bracket.
Yeah, I’m MAGA with that. Fuck US tax. Yeah, fuck American tax. Feels good to say it. Like the words give you power, right? Fuck US tax. Fuck American Tax. You like it? You like it when I say it? When this fucking foreigner says it? You like that? Fuck US tax. You like that? You like it when this accent says that? Fuck American tax. You like that? You don’t see a discrepancy in energy? “Love America, USA, USA.” “Fuck US tax.” Put politics aside for just three seconds. Okay? If it’s even possible. Just for three seconds, just consider this concept in a vacuum. Just as an academic exercise, okay? When you love something, you give it money.
Right? Like that’s one of the primary ways we show love for individuals, organizations, ideas on Kickstarter, sports teams… We go like, “Yeah, we give it money.” So when you go, “Love America, USA, USA.” “Fuck US tax.” So what are you saying? You love America so much, you want it to be poor? You want your country to be poor? You want it to be a beggar on the street. A street beggar. You want your country to be a street beggar on the street?
