THE PRINCE AND THE PRESIDENT: Machiavelli’s war on democracy

Three assassination attempts in two years. 

Whatever your politics the cold calculation behind those who have decided that removing Donald Trump - by any means necessary is not just acceptable, but justified - should send rivers of fear through everyone in the western world. When the ends justify the means, the rule of law is the first casualty. And history tells us it is never the last.

A conversation with Lawrence Rogak

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:14

And you're on the Cheryl Lacey Show where Curiosity Meets Courage. We have our resident US correspondents, Lawrence Rochak, on the show now, and we're going to be discussing this most important incident that's happened not too long ago, only a few days ago. And that is the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. And this is the third attempt at uh his life. And the impact that this has had around the world and the narrative that's going on is extraordinary. Coupled with the fact that we've got King Charles and Queen Camilla there at the moment, and uh within 48 hours of the incident happening, there's a lot going on in Washington. Lawrence, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Good morning, Australia.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Lawrence, it's extraordinary that this gentleman has experienced three attempts on his life.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yes, it is. So but not surprising.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Yes, I was just gonna say not surprising. Why are there no surprises here?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Because whenever you've got a well financed and well coordinated propaganda or public relations campaign to influence public opinion in a certain direction, these are the kind of results that you're going to get. But ten years now, ever since Trump first announced that he was running for president, there has been probably the largest public relations campaign against a single person that's ever existed in the history of Western civilization. And that public relations campaign has provided a constant daily drumbeat of fear and dread and warnings to tell the public that this one man is an existential threat to the very existence of the planet. And if if you do that long, I mean even even certain movies um th that weren't designed as propaganda campaigns have influenced public opinion to be in favor of something or to be opposed to something. Here you you know, if if you tell the the general public, uh especially when you use the mass media to do it, that this man is Hitler, uh he's a fascist, uh he hates uh uh he's gonna he's a a a threat to our democracy. I mean, they're they're making him sound like he's going to go door to door and kill the firstborn male child in every household.

unknown 3:28

So naturally you've got a significant segment of the population who believes that they themselves are in imminent danger and must do something.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

The the the sources, the spokespeople uh to this campaign are the leaders of uh of uh of one of America's two uh political parties and um uh and and uh popular figures in the media. So when you've got these figures who have a great deal of credibility with the public telling the people uh you know that that that this monster is uh uh is stomping, you know, through our cities and you know, eating people or you know, whatever the the current uh message of dread and fear is, yeah, you're you're going to provoke people into violence. Uh uh here's a there's so much to say, but here's an interesting note. The the left accuses Trump of inciting violence. But curiously, the only violence that he's inciting is from leftists. You would think that if Trump was inciting violence, uh it would be right-wing people. Uh now, of course, there you know, when I argue this with people, they say, well, look at January 6th. Well, January 6th was five years ago and it lasted for five hours, and yet it's being used as an excuse for every violent and and uh inexcusable act that the left has been uh participating in ever since. So uh we had an interesting uh comment yesterday from uh Democratic uh minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, when somebody from the press asked him, you know, don't don't you think that your rhetoric is inciting violence? And he said, I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Yeah, there we be.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

I don't I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

So yeah, he he doesn't care because that's the whole plan. Um you know, I I hate to bring up Nazi Germany because that's it that's always you know, for anybody who wants a comparison. But you know, wha what did Germany do to the Jews during the thirties? They used their media and their politicians to tell the people every day that the Jews were an existential threat to the very existence of Germans, the nation, and their way of life. And it's it's the same thing. They're doing the exact same thing with Trump. Everything that they said about the Jews in the 30s, they're saying about Trump now. Well, of course, you're you're going to rile up people, especially people who are you know, who are are are emotionally borderline and are susceptible to being riled up. And that's what's happening these days.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Exactly. Now you're riled up there, Lawrence. That was quite a narrative there, and rightly so, because once you get started on this, there's no stopping us trying to make sense of it. I mean, we've got Pennsylvania back in 2024. That was a secret service security failure. So here we have the very people there to protect our president and citizens not doing their jobs efficiently. Not long after that, we had the Florida incident with Ryan Rouse, who I believe got uh life plus seven years for that attempted assassination. Now he was outside the golf course. However, again, it seems that there was a failing of if you call could say super uh security that you would think would be there after the Pennsylvania attempt. And now we've got a hotel where the school teacher ran through the security people towards the very room where the event was being held. So there's a weakness of security that shouldn't exist. How is this happening time and again?

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Um well here is part of the problem, and um and I saw it addressed in an editorial yesterday in Reason magazine. Uh the headline of uh of the article was that these type of security breaches, like we saw in the hotel on Saturday night, um, there's a danger that these security breaches will be used as an excuse to overdo security. So the it it would appear, and and a person could draw a logical inference here, that the people who are committing and encouraging the violence are hoping for a backlash that they you know of excess, you know, of enhanced security that they can then point to and say, ha, see, it's a fascist police state. So they're creating the very situation that um you know that they're warning about. So i if you're the government or if you're anybody, I mean the same thing happens to Israel too. Uh you you have um a violent movement that is looking for excuses to be more violent. So if there's not enough security, they they uh they uh say it's your fault because you didn't have enough security, and if you beef up security, they say, ah, you're a fascist police state. So it's a no-win situation for those seeking to defend themselves.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Well, that's right. And then you've also got the the changes that President Trump is making, and th it is for the betterment of the United States, his uh MAGA tagline is well known around the world, but it's also for sovereign security for other nations, the way he's operating as a leader. When he makes decisions such as a recent one where he sacked the entire National Science Board. People would be up in arms. Is this sort of thing inciting people who are not directly involved to want to take action?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I I don't think so, but what it does is it it gives people an excuse.

unknown 10:50

Look at the controversy over the White House ballroom.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

You would think that a ballroom would be the least, you know, the the the lowest thing. But the the ballroom in s is incites the same kind of outrage as everything else. The the outrage machine is either on or off. There's there's no gradual, there's no um prioritizing of outrage. Um to make a big deal about renovating uh a building to be a ballroom, they're putting it in the same category as the ice rests and uh everything else that they get outraged about. Um if you're looking, you know, and this applies to everything in life, to personal relationships and and business relationships. If you are looking for something to criticize, you will find it. Uh and conversely, if you support somebody, um you will excuse anything that they do. Now, here's a perfect example of something that's been in the news the past two days. Uh in Gaza, the government beheaded a gay man for being gay. That does not deter in the least the leftist and gay support, or I let me not say gay support, but the uh LGBT activist. This does not deter their support for Gaza in the least. They have not even criticized it. If if you're one of their allies or somebody they support, you can do anything. You can cut somebody's head off without fear of uh of criticism. But if you're on their enemies list, um even uh uh the way that you eat a slice of pizza is subject to criticism. Uh uh so that is um uh that is the extent of this propaganda campaign, which which is relentless and which I'm sorry to say that the government does not push back hard enough on. In in fact, the way that the government is handling this uh you know campaign of inciting violence is very liberal because they do virtually nothing about it.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

No, that's right. And when you're looking at, for example, here we have a teacher that that was involved in the Hilton Hotel incident uh on the 25th of April, but there's also another teacher that's but just been suspended, that's hit the world news, because he was celebrating this and disappointed that there wasn't success. So you've got to look at uh we have to be very realistic about the fact that the language that we use and the narratives in the media, be it uh mainstream or uh social media or community radio and and wherever it might be, when we have a collective re response or a collective statement, we're really letting people off the hook because there are people who are bad in all areas of society and there are people who are trying to do good in all areas of society and live life well and live life uh lawfully. So to me what's coming out is Jimmy Kimmel is another example. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful, disgraceful joke. So there are people that do need to be called out, but that's not the entire sector. So we need to, in reverse, stop saying all teachers work hard, they're all amazing, and it's the best job in the world, and they're fantastic. All comedians deserve and are entitled to say whatever they like thinking that it's funny. We need to stop that collectivism, don't you think?

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Uh definitely. Well, all collectivism is bad. Um in every type of collectivism produces bad results. But the the Jimmy Kimmel bit, uh now I I am anti-censorship, and I don't believe that what he said should be censored, but I do think that he should lose his job over it. To to say to the uh uh to the first lady of the United States that you look like a future widow is uh uh some people found it's funny, but it is so um well, I mean, what do you call it? Insensitive, insulting? Uh uh if anybody, if any public figure had said that about anybody who was on the left side uh of the political spectrum, they'd be censured, they'd lose their job, and and they would be canceled. Um it it is unconscionable to make that kind of statement to anybody's spouse. Uh, but I don't think he's gonna pay a price for it, and I I see it being celebrated on the left. There there is no level of cruelty or crassness from anybody on the left that will be criticized by anybody on the left. They have no rules when it comes to what they do, but they are hypersensitive to anything that somebody on the other side does. It is their only standards are anything we do is right and anything they do is wrong. Um and that is um that that's very Mafiaan, you know, well whatever we do is right.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

Well this is the issue, isn't it? We're you know Yeah, we we are having constantly these narratives and and you make a very, very good point there, Macchialian sort of behaviours that are seen as being normalized and acceptable and therefore encouraged, particularly as we said, to teachers involved in this in a big way that is now around you know world news. So Lawrence, uh all I can say is thank God President Trump is safe. Thank God this was unsuccessful. And uh really thank goodness that we do have common sense that can override this. We just have to be stronger, more courageous, and more determined to call things out when we see wrongs. Always good to have you on the show, Lawrence, and look forward to next week.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

I agree. Thank you. Uh and see you next week.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Sounds great. Lawrence Rojak, our resident US correspondent, discussing the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. It's horrific, really, when we see what's going on as a post-experience with the narratives in the media. So we do need to be mindful. And if you are a parent discussing this with your children, particularly teenage children, who do have a better understanding of what's going on, just to be clear that uh we do really need to respect the law, but also be mindful of the comments we make.