Is Rubio running for President? | Hour 3

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the Pete calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. All right. Last hour, overcoming valiantly some technical glitches in the audio. We were listening to the speech that was delivered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in front of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. And he delivered a simple message, he said, that the West is at a crossroads, that the decisions we make in the next decade will define the next century, and it'll determine the whether our civilization maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of servitude and decline. See, and this is part of why, it's actually a very large part of why I push back against black pillars and doomers, demoralizers. I reject this worldview that, Rubio is describing here, this future of servitude and decline. I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in it. I prefer to maintain the American position. Does that mean that it's going to make all of the right decisions in every single case and issue? No, because we are people and people make mistakes. They make bad decisions, to be sure. However, I am a bit of a culturalist. I believe that the Western civilization, the culture that was born from Athens and Rome and Christendom and then America, I believe it. Is the best. I do. Unapologetically so. I'm not going to apologize for believing this because I believe it to be true. And I don't hold any opinions that I believe are not true. That would be silly. So I believe that we have the best society. We have done more for the planet and for human beings than any other society that has ever existed. And that's not because of me. That's because of the people that came before me. And I believe it's my responsibility to preserve and protect and nurture that spirit, those ideals and principles. And that is, in my view, as he lays out here in his speech, that is more of an optimistic view. It's a way that I see the world. And black pillars, nihilists, doomers, pessimists, I don't see the world like that. And I know that's easy. That's the easier path to take. I used to be on that path myself years ago. I've said, many times, the antidote for that is gratitude. It's to recognize the stuff that we have, the blessings that we have in our own lives, and be grateful for these things. And so, again, there's also a feeling of responsibility. Things that are expected of me, not just by the society that I live in, but that I expect of myself, right? I believe I have these responsibilities that I owe a debt of gratitude to the people who came before me and who helped preserve and protect this system that I enjoy, that I live in, that I know no other, right? And so when I hear people that try to tear it down, and I don't care if you're on the political left, that's usually where it comes from. That's sort of their defining characteristic. But it's also why I push back. On the same sentiment when it pops up on the right, which it is doing to a much lesser degree, but it is still there. I push back on it on the right as well. I don't believe that our best days are behind us. I don't believe that we are inherently irreparably broken and bad and whatever. I don't believe that. I believe that there has been no other system that has ever been in existence in the world that has done more to lift more people out of the grinding poverty that has been the norm throughout all of human existence. Right? That's my view. You don't have to share my view. We live in a society, thank you Western society, we live in a society where you don't have to agree with me. That's fine. However, politically, I feel like this kind of messaging from Rubio is something that is sorely missed. And for a variety of reasons, a variety of candidates throughout the years, whatever. I don't care about, like, all of the past. It's a look toward the future. And Rubio's speech has now prompted a lot of people to be wondering, is this his presidential announcement, essentially? Now, I'm not so sure. We're going to play the rest of his comments here. Because he's kind of laid out a standard that I'm not sure he's going to be able to get around when it comes to deciding whether to run for president or not. I'll come back to that. I'll circle back, as Psaki would say. He says, though, that what the West inherited from classical Greece is not just the ambition to explore the unknown. It is the conviction, the belief, right, that the unknown can be known. The Greeks believed the world could be observed, measured, mapped, and understood. That conviction became the foundation of Western science, medicine, and philosophy. He says it prepared the fertile soil for Christianity to take root and flourish into European Christendom, and it helped form a civilization with a distinctive understanding of truth, virtue, beauty, duty, and the natural order, carrying a code that dictates how men ought to live and objective standards and ideals to strive towards. See, this is an utter rejection of relativism. That's why I agree with it, by the way, because I reject relativism. The ancient Greeks organized their civic life around the pursuit of those ideals. They believed men should strive and compete for excellence in athletics, war, art, philosophy, statecraft, and every other field of human endeavor, right? Striving for excellence. That's what people should do. I would add, that is how you glorify God. The classical Greek city was an arena for great men to test and prove themselves through perpetual contest and struggle, to be the best, the strongest, the most beautiful, straining to surpass all those that came before. These are the qualities that shaped the West, pushing its descendants to create and achieve things that others could not, distinguishing us from the many cultures of the world where stability and subsistence were the highest ends of life. But today, he said, Too much of the West has come to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional. Over time, we began to view our achievements as an embarrassment. Our power and prosperity became a source of guilt. So we opened our borders, outsourced our once great industries, and allowed our militaries to wither and decay. And with every passing year, we transferred more of our sovereignty to global bureaucracies beyond our control. and other nations were all too happy to fill the vacuum left by our weakness. That is exactly right. He is exactly correct. That is what has occurred. The holidays will be here before you know it, and so now is the time to create precious and priceless family heirlooms that will last for generations. Take your old photos, slides, films, and tapes to create a video in Mint Hilt. There, they'll turn those memories into the story of your lives, memories from past family events captured forever to pass down to future generations. Creative Video's skilled team will professionally transfer your family's stories onto easy-to-use USB drives or DVDs that won't deteriorate over time like the old photos and tapes are doing right now. They will create a keepsake video that you can share and copy and keep forever. I can see it now. 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And I think here, too, we have much to learn from the men of ancient Greece. because they knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else. They believed fiercely in the ideal of the great man, the exceptional individual who obtains immortality through his own deeds. But they believed that glory and fame, those things were won through striving, sacrificing, and achieving greatly for something larger than yourself. The recurring hero of the ancient Greek world was the man who was willing to pay any cost for a cause worthy of his loyalty. We see this in Socrates, who refused to abandon the inquiry into truth, even at the cost of his own life. We see it in the legendary stand of 300 Spartans, Surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by the vast armies of Persia, who refused a chance to save themselves, choosing to fight to the last man, rather than abandon their post or abandon their duty. We see it in the epic myth of Achilles, who's offered the choice to return home and live a long and peaceful life, but chooses instead to remain at Troy and perish in pursuit of eternal glory. These, these are the qualities that would shape the Western moral imagination. From the Christian martyr who refused to betray his faith, to the patriot who gave his life for his country, from St. Thomas More to the Battle of the Alamo, running through the immortal closing words of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, which says, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. It is from the Greeks that the West inherited its sense of duty, an unbreakable loyalty to one's code, one's cause, one's country. Our heroes, heroes of the West, are those who choose to remain faithful to their duty precisely when it is most difficult and painful to do so. The man who is bound by his word, the soldier who will not abandon his post, the captain, the proverbial captain, who goes. Down the ship. This is wholly different from what we see even now. For example, from fanatics like the radical mullahs of Iran, whose cult of death hails child suicide bombers as national heroes and portrays martyrdom as an end to itself. Our heroes, our. Heroes may be willing to die for their cause, but our heroes do not worship death. It is precisely because we value life That we come to recognize the heroism and those who would sooner sacrifice it than to betray their principles. Now we take the West conception of these things, heroism, honor, duty, we take these things for granted. We assume that these. Somehow are universal to all people in all times and in all places. They are not. They are the product of a distinct character. A distinct character which arose here. and shaped the whole story of the civilization that came after it. A civilization that we must fight to defend today with the same passion as our forefathers did. All right. So this is, again, I apologize for the audio glitchiness here. This is C-SPAN. I don't know. Maybe it's European internet. I don't get it. But yeah, it's kind of choppy in some parts here from the audio. But I mean, I thought I had a cleaner version of it, but that didn't work out. All right. So we will get to the final closing portion of Rubio's speech. And because I have about a minute and a half here, sure, I have no idea what this is about, though. Hello, Tyler. Welcome to the show. Hello, Tyler. Hey, how's it going? Okay. What's up? I just wanted to ask if we were going to talk about the Kimberly Guilfoyle of it all. It seems odd that. Why are we talking about Kimberly Guilfoyle? Why would we talk about Kimberly Guilfoyle? Well... Because Western bureaucracy is good unless your ambassador to Greece threatens to take down the government, and the Greek media is reporting all of her corruption in there, and she's been in hawk for at least $ 100, 000. For her Amex. Like, an ambassador to Greece that is, you know, a counterintelligence threat is kind of a big deal and might have also been a contributing factor to the trip. So what do you think is this, what do you think about the speech? Oh, I think the speech is great. I think Marco's speech was lovely. I just don't think a person. Who's in the. No, I mean, I think I'm talking about the content of the speech. You think it was lovely. Oh, I think it's great. I think it's... What about it? I'm totally down for that. I think it's hopeful. I think it's wonderful. I just don't think it's why he went to Greece. You don't think. In the middle of a war. In what war? Well, the Iran war, and he's also NatSec, and he's Secretary. Wait. So he can't travel to any other country... while we're... No, I'm just. Saying, when the Greek media has been reporting for months now about her corruption, and it just came out in the Wall Street Journal today again about all of her stuff being in hock, I think he probably went over to say, hey, knock it off, or hey, you're on thin ice. And I think the speech is. Just kind of. Yeah, he could have gone over because he had some miles on his credit card that he had to use, too. That's possible. I mean, as long as you're speculating about. The rationale for the trip. It seems to me, though, that like the speech that he delivered, as you called it, a lovely speech. And you're down with that. Yeah, it is great. Right. It is great. But I understand. Yes, I know. I understand. You have a desire. You have a desire to crap on it. I get it. That's what I was talking about. This very thing, the demoralization. I was talking about this earlier. You can't recognize a good thing. for being good, or even worse, you do recognize a good thing for being good, hence the desire to crap on it. You want me to feel bad about why he's there while ignoring the content of the comments that he delivered. See, so I reject that. But thanks for the call, Tyler. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you for the living example of the doomerism and blackpilling that I was talking about earlier. All right, real quick. Every government number gets revised, right? Every projection gets walked back. Gold does not file corrections like GovCo. Revelation Gold Group helps families hold physical gold and silver, including in a tax-advantaged gold IRA. It's real. It's in your name. And 10 minutes tells you if your retirement account qualifies. If you want to learn more, go to calendarmetals.com. That's calendarmetals.com. There is a link in the podcast description. Or if you want to talk to somebody, you can call 888-465-3049. So two things regarding Tyler's dumping. Number one, Rubio was in Germany the day before. He was in Greece, so he's hitting a bunch of countries there. So that's number one. Number two, he was asked, Rubio was asked, uh, about the scandal that Tyler would prefer everybody focus on rather than the preservation of Western civilization. Cause who cares about that? Um, we got Kimberly Guilfoyle to nail. So sorry to accuse. Let me say that way. Um, So he was asked about this. And so in case Tyler was super interested in what Rubio had to say about that, here it is. Guys, I'm not playing this game with you, okay? You guys write a story and then your editors tell you, make sure you get a comment from him on something we haven't seen, okay? You guys are not gonna be our only source of information in the world. I'm sorry to tell you that. And so I want you to understand, no, that's not the way the process is gonna work. Well, first of all, the process doesn't work like this. We don't conduct these things in a press conference on a tarmac in a foreign country because you wrote a story or somebody else wrote a story because some source. Gave it to you. So get that out of your head because that's never the way it's going to work with me. It's a game that's been played for a long time, but it's not a. Game we're going to play. We're conducting serious business here and we'll handle things appropriately. I don't even know what you're reporting is true. You guys somehow walk around thinking that because some source told you something. and you reported it, it's the gospel. It's not the gospel. It's not the gospel for me. That's not the way we do it. All right, so there you go. There's Rubio commenting on the thing that Tyler was much more interested in than the preservation of Western society. I, on the other hand, I think that's a bigger issue is the preservation of Western society. And so here is the final portion of Rubio's speech where he talks about how we take this Western conception of these things like heroism, honor, duty, that we take these things for granted. We assume that these somehow are universal to all people in all times and in all places, but they are not. The men who built the Parthenon were succeeded by the architects of European Christendom. who raised the cathedrals of Milan, Cologne, and Florence. The quest to perfect the human form that moved the ancient Greek sculptors found a new expression in Michelangelo. The Greek philosopher's search for the structure of the universe was inherited by Copernicus, and then Galileo, and Kepler. And Newton. The hunger for new knowledge, that's what. Gave birth to Magellan's first expedition around the world. to Columbus's discovery of the Americas, and ultimately to. Apollo 11's journey to the moon. And the qualities that led Alexander to conquer the entire known world reappeared in Caesar and Charlemagne and Cortes. And in America, that same tradition rediscovered itself anew. An open and wild land became the site of a great revival of Western imagination and ambition, the Greek aspiration for new horizons. Became the American frontier spirit. The civilization of Athens and Rome transformed an infant seaboard. Republic into a continental empire. The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the unmistakable features of their forefathers. born in Athens, formed by Rome, baptized in Christendom, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, endowed with the English genius for liberty, and then carried across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world. Together, we must now rediscover that spirit. We are at an inflection point, an inflection point not only in the history of my nation, but an inflection point in the whole of our civilization. The threats we face today. Are every bit as real as they were on the dramatic stage of antiquity. National interest did not vanish in the face of international institutions. War did not disappear simply because we preferred peace. Other states continued to arm, to seek influence, to compete for territory and technology and resources and markets and energy and power. And now there is war again. There is new competition between great powers again. There is vulnerability, aggression, terrorism, a whole. Universe of new threats and attacks again. And so we must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together, understanding that the purpose of these things is not to abolish the sovereignty of the nations that constitute them. It is to defend them. And that nations need not abandon their distinct identities in order to recognize their common interests. We have built a model of that with our partners here in Greece, in our defense partnerships, in energy and technology, in our shared ambition to secure Europe's borders from the threats. Of mass migration. No, C-SPAN! Although I don't actually know if this is like a buffering issue or if this was just like them... like running off of the Europor internet. We're back. You know, our friendship dates back to the earliest years of my nation. When Greece rose in 1821 to recover its independence after centuries of Ottoman rule, Americans recognized something familiar in that struggle. Three years later, the great American statesman, Daniel Webster, he delivered a famous address to Congress. helping bring the cause of the Greek Revolution before the representatives of the young American Republic. And he began by calling their attention to everything around them. This is what he said in his speech. He said, this free form of government, the popular assembly, this practice of free debate and public discussion, the contest of mind with mind, even the edifice in which we assemble, these proportioned columns, these ornamented architecture, all remind us that Greece has existed and that we, like the rest of mankind, are greatly her debtors. Those words are as true today as they were when he said them. And all of us, not just Americans, but Europeans and our friends across the West, must relearn the lessons our forefathers took from this place and from its history. The history of Greece. The history of Greece does not just offer us a glimpse, does not offer a glimpse of our institutions in their earliest forms. The history of Greece shows us an image of ourselves. It shows us that ours is the inheritance of great heroes and that we should be proud, that we should be intensely proud of where we come from. We should marvel at what our forefathers carved out of this countryside. The story of our civilization is the greatest story ever known to man. And it began here, with the first men and women of the West. From them, we can rediscover the virtues, the courage, and the strength to confront the dangers that we face in our time. Thank you. All right, so that was the entirety of the speech. Peter Laughlin in a column over at Washington Examiner, he says, do secretaries of state with no political ambition give sunset speeches in the most jaw-dropping settings imaginable, stirring the soul to defend civilization? I would say no. No, I think there may be some political ambition that Marco Rubio has. Some of you do, too. I will get to your comments on the text line. All right, let's get to the text line. See what you people are saying. Um, Oscar says, uh, I am officially a Rubio 2028 guy after that speech. Um, but there will be nastiness with JD Vance in a primary. Um, well, and that's one of the things Rubio has said that, um, he will not, that he will not get in. He will not challenge JD Vance for the nomination if Vance were to run. And it appears that Vance is already in, right? So yeah, I don't know. Don't know. Um, Jamie says, I sure hope Rubio finds his way back onto the presidential ballot. 704 number says, I love this speech. Marco sounds very presidential, uh, much more eloquent in expressing Republican views than Trump. Uh, yeah, well, I mean, Trump, Trump is, he, he wasn't a Republican. He was a Democrat. I don't expect him to be able to articulate conservatism or Republican values. Um, Rubio's speech had a lot of truth. We are an uneducated country as far as our great history of liberty, freedom, and what this country has gone through. That's from 704 number. 980 says, I agree with you, Pete. I think what he was saying is that Islam does not like the West and it's their goal to defeat the Western nations by slowly populating them. Yeah, that's part of it. That was part of his speech. You know, wake up. I've said this before. Islam is incompatible with the constitution. It is. And all you need to do is go check out some of the debates between the Dawah bros and the Christian apologetics, and you'll see very clearly it is not compatible. Let's see here. Diane says, Oh, Pete. You are on fire channeling Rush Limbaugh and articulating exceptionalism beautifully. Just an FYI, I always have a little chuckle when you occasionally say Spanish lingo, yes, and the da-da-lup, da-da-lup, da-da-lup, yes, I'm beginning to believe you and I listened to Rush for the same amount of time and internalized the truth he put forward so well. Bless you, Pete. Keep up the good work. Thank you. There are a lot of Dianes like me out there who will believe in America's greatness until the day we die. Uh, yes. So those are references to, uh, to rush. Absolutely. That's why I do them. Uh, love him or hate him. Rubio can make a great speech. He does. I agree. Uh, lefty troll. Says, Mr. Unchallenged Ideas can't be bothered to discuss a national security threat with a top ambassador. Typical. Yeah, no, because, see, here's the thing, Lefty. I know you guys. I know your tactics. And so when presented with the things that Rubio is talking about, you cannot allow people to hear these things. So you want to divert attention and crap on America. That is a demoralization op. You probably don't even realize you're doing it. You've become just so. It's just been so ingrained in you. And so everything is a whataboutism to you. You can't ever just deal with a specific topic. In this case, it was the celebration and defense of Western civilization. And if this topic. makes you so uncomfortable that you have to divert attention away from it. That speaks to you. That speaks more about you than it does about. The ambassador and the money and whatever. Because the speech was planned ahead of time. This is part of a tour. And as Rubio mentioned in that soundbite from the tarmac, there was a reason why that story dropped when it did. And coming from the reporter world, as I used to be, that's the point. That's intentional. They know, like the Secretary of State's schedule, he's going to Europe. They know that this trip is coming. And so they work on the story to drop it just as Rubio arrives in that host country. That's intentional. Just like a story will drop about a candidate or campaign the day of a debate. Why? To get the candidate to have to address the scandal or the story or whatever it is at the debate. It's to drive the content. So I recognize this. I watched the speech yesterday and I said, this is a speech that I should be bringing to the audience so they can hear it because the topic is very important. I believe it's the defining issue. Of our time. I do. The preservation of Western society. So if like, you're free to disagree. If you think Kimberly Guilfoyle's credit cards are more important, you go right ahead and believe that that's totally fine. And there are plenty of left-wing talk shows. No, actually they don't do very well on talk radio. That's okay. That's true. So yeah, they don't have a lot of, uh, but I'm sure they've got YouTube channels and there they'll be dragging Kimberly Guilfoyle six ways till Sunday. You can get all your fill there. Uh, I was more interested in the, the biggest issue of our time. Um, Dave says Rubio is far better in knowledge and history. Plus his heritage makes him best to be president. Vance just too young in political ring. Yeah. I mean, I think this is, if Rubio is trying to position himself for a run for president, the stuff that he is saying here, I view, I hear it as he's reaching out his hand to a lot of the, the younger disillusioned, particularly young men, right. Who have gravitated to, this sort of horseshoe right, woke right, dumbassery. And what he's offering is an optimistic view that has built into it, because it's from the Western civilization, the idea of duty and this calling to be a part of something bigger than yourself. And also the fact that his heritage, he's, you know, Cuban, He speaks Spanish. I think he'd be the first Spanish-speaking president if he were to win. I think that that makes him a pretty marketable candidate. Let's see. Kimberly says, you have a special talent for the interaction with callers as you stand your ground. It's like you're psychic. You are kind. Thank you, Kimberly. I appreciate that. Kelly says, Rubio's love of God, mankind, and the U.S. exuded from him. in his speech. And RJ says, ditto to what Diane, the texter said. Um, Alan says, if only you entered with back to Ohio by the pretenders, uh, that's limb. That was a Rush Limbaugh's theme. We could have played that, I guess, but that's the thing. That's, that's, that became Rush's theme. It became his song. And so like, anytime you play it, like, I would feel like I'm plagiarizing. You know, I would not I wouldn't feel right using his theme song. Steve says lefty troll is scared of the speech and the topic. Deflect lefty troll. Deflect. Yeah, that's right. It's exactly right. And when you engage in these types of debates with people and you you hear them doing whataboutism and trying to distract off of the topic and you hear it enough times, you recognize the tactic. And that's exactly what he was doing. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Kaliner show dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.