WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 You know, when you look at an ancient, like, 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.360 medieval map, there is always that edge where 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:07.740 the known world just, well, just stops. Right. 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:09.939 They just run out of actual geography. Exactly. 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:13.279 And instead of just leaving it blank or, I don't 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.000 know, admitting they didn't know what was actually 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.679 out there, the mapmakers would sketch in these 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.019 elaborate sea monsters. They'd write things like, 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:22.559 um, here be dragons. Yeah, it's completely human 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.440 nature. When we face a void of information or 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.219 maybe an uncomfortable truth, we prefer to draw 00:00:28.219 --> 00:00:31.120 a monster. We just fill the gap with a story. 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:33.399 I mean, a compelling story is always so much 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:36.320 easier to digest than complex reality, right? 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.320 So welcome to today's custom tailored deep dive 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.719 where that gap, that massive, fascinating space 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.200 between the stories we are told and the underlying 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.640 reality that is our entire mission for today. 00:00:48.859 --> 00:00:50.960 It really is. And we have a fantastic stack of 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.299 sources to go through. We really do. So we are 00:00:53.299 --> 00:00:55.039 taking you through a stack of material today 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:57.579 that honestly hammers this concept home. Since 00:00:57.579 --> 00:01:00.600 today is March 17th, 2026, we are starting with 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:03.140 a historical reality check on St. Patrick's Day. 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:06.280 Which is very fitting. Right. Then we are pulling 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:09.260 from recent political and geopolitical analysis 00:01:09.260 --> 00:01:12.099 from Electoral Vote News covering the Middle 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:14.760 East, Cuba and the U .S. Senate. And then we'll 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:16.980 connect all of that to a really stark financial 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:19.299 warning from hedge -eye risk management regarding 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:21.560 the private credit markets. It is quite the stack. 00:01:21.769 --> 00:01:24.129 And, you know, the through line is undeniable 00:01:24.129 --> 00:01:26.209 here, whether it's an ancient myth, a political 00:01:26.209 --> 00:01:30.250 narrative, or an economic forecast, what's happening 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:32.310 on the surface rarely tells the whole story. 00:01:32.590 --> 00:01:35.180 It never does. Now, before we jump in, I need 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:37.640 to give a crucial disclaimer for you as you listen. 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:40.299 The electoral vote source we're covering contains 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:42.840 strongly worded, politically charged perspectives 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:44.659 regarding the Trump administration's foreign 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:47.200 policy and the strategies of both Republicans 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:49.719 and Democrats in Congress. Yeah, it gets pretty 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:51.739 heavy into the politics. It does. So we need 00:01:51.739 --> 00:01:53.859 to make it absolutely clear. We are not taking 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:56.659 sides or endorsing any of these viewpoints. Our 00:01:56.659 --> 00:01:59.319 job is simply to impartially report on the content 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:02.219 provided and help you unpack the ideas contained 00:02:02.219 --> 00:02:04.879 in your original source material exactly we look 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.819 at the mechanics of the arguments nothing more 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:10.300 nothing less so okay let's unpack this because 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:14.500 today is March 17th there are parades green clothing 00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:19.000 everywhere corned beef it is just the perfect 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.120 case study in how reality gets rewritten over 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:24.159 time oh absolutely because the historical reality 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.520 of st. Patrick is just wildly different from 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:28.819 the guy on the modern greeting cards right Like, 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.060 to start with the most basic fact, St. Patrick 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:33.400 wasn't actually Irish. Not at all. He was actually 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:35.599 born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:40.199 and his introduction to Ireland was incredibly 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:42.400 traumatic. Traumatic how? Well, at the age of 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.219 16, he was kidnapped. Wait, really? Kidnap? So 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:47.080 the patron saint of Ireland was brought there 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:49.639 against his will, like as a captive? Yes, exactly. 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:52.039 By Irish raiders. He was taken across the sea 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:54.400 and enslaved as a shepherd. Oh, wow. I had no 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:56.840 idea. Yeah, he spent years enslaved there before 00:02:56.840 --> 00:02:58.539 he eventually escaped and made it back home to 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:01.439 Britain. He became a priest. And then in this 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.319 really remarkable psychological twist, he felt 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.759 called to return to the very people who had enslaved 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.689 him as a missionary. That is wild. It's like 00:03:09.689 --> 00:03:12.349 finding out Santa Claus actually lived in the 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:14.889 Mediterranean, not the North Pole. It totally 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:17.409 shifts your perspective. Right. And even the 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:19.430 date, you know, March 17th, isn't his birthday, 00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:21.310 like a lot of people just assume. It's actually 00:03:21.310 --> 00:03:23.669 the traditional date of his death. Right. And 00:03:23.669 --> 00:03:26.650 what's fascinating here is how the symbols we 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:29.110 associate with him evolved over the centuries. 00:03:29.590 --> 00:03:31.770 Take the famous legend of him driving all the 00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:34.530 snakes out of Ireland. Oh, the ultimate hereby 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:37.750 dragon story. Precisely. Historians and biologists 00:03:37.750 --> 00:03:40.030 are quite clear on this. There were never any 00:03:40.030 --> 00:03:42.189 snakes in Ireland to begin with. Really? Never? 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:46.250 Never. The climate and geography post -ice age 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:49.009 just didn't support them. So the snakes were 00:03:49.009 --> 00:03:52.370 a metaphor. They represent the older pagan beliefs 00:03:52.370 --> 00:03:55.069 that Patrick was supposedly driving out to replace 00:03:55.069 --> 00:03:58.419 with Christianity. Ah, okay. That makes so much 00:03:58.419 --> 00:03:59.879 more sense. And it's the same thing with the 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:02.159 shamrock. Tradition says he used it to explain 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:04.759 the Christian trinity, you know, father, son, 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:06.759 holy spirit to the locals. So it's just a teaching 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.280 tool. Exactly. A teaching tool that eventually 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.560 morphed into the symbol of the entire country. 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.860 But I mean, I'm stuck on how we get from a somber 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:19.410 fifth century missionary. to green beer and massive 00:04:19.410 --> 00:04:21.889 street parties. Because for centuries in Ireland, 00:04:21.990 --> 00:04:24.209 this was a quiet religious observance, right? 00:04:24.310 --> 00:04:26.610 Yeah, it was a feast day. Mostly because it offered 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:29.209 a brief break from the strict fasting of Lent. 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:32.750 But no, it wasn't a party. So how did it change? 00:04:33.170 --> 00:04:35.529 That transformation is entirely thanks to the 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:38.139 diaspora. When Irish immigrants moved to the 00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:40.800 United States in massive numbers, they faced 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.819 severe prejudice. So to counter that, they started 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.620 using St. Patrick's Day as a massive display 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:48.879 of cultural pride. Oh, so it was a political 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.519 solidarity thing. Exactly. The loud parades, 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:53.899 the wearing of the green, even the corned beef, 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:55.800 which was actually popularized in America because 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:57.720 it was cheaper than traditional Irish bacon. 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:00.959 The diaspora essentially overwrote a historical 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.800 figure into a global symbol of identity. And 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:06.500 you know, that same dynamic where of vocal diaspora 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:09.500 completely overwrites the reality on the ground. 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:12.019 It isn't just a historical quirk. It is actively 00:05:12.019 --> 00:05:14.500 driving U .S. foreign policy right now. It really 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:16.959 is. If we look at the electoral vote analysis 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.660 in your stack, the narratives coming out of Washington 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:22.540 mask a reality that is much more complicated 00:05:22.540 --> 00:05:25.120 and honestly a lot more dangerous. Let's look 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.759 at Cuba. Yeah, Cuba is a perfect example. Their 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:29.980 energy infrastructure recently failed completely. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:32.699 And this wasn't just a random accident. The source 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.720 notes it was largely due to a U .S. oil blockade. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:38.899 Right. Because when you block heavy crude imports, 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:41.660 aging power plants simply can't run. Exactly. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.439 And Trump's response to this crisis was to brag 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:47.839 about going in to take Cuba. The source actually 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.019 compares his rhetoric about building luxury resorts 00:05:51.019 --> 00:05:53.680 there to a plot point from The Godfather Part 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.269 2. But the strategy driving that rhetoric is 00:05:56.269 --> 00:05:58.629 based almost entirely on the perspectives of 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:01.230 the diaspora, right? Like Cuban -American political 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:03.370 figures. Yes, specifically relying on figures 00:06:03.370 --> 00:06:06.269 like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham. They are 00:06:06.269 --> 00:06:08.449 listening strictly to the diaspora who fled the 00:06:08.449 --> 00:06:10.949 regime. And the source argues that's a massive 00:06:10.949 --> 00:06:14.160 miscalculation. It is. Because just the fact 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.399 that the diaspora haste the regime doesn't mean 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:19.300 the Cubans currently living on the island are 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:21.399 going to greet the US with open arms. I mean, 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:23.600 these are people who are actively suffering from 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.519 shortages of food and fuel that are directly 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:29.000 imposed by US policies. Right. They aren't going 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.459 to be throwing a parade. Exactly. The source 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:34.259 makes the point that substituting domestic political 00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:37.100 appeasement, basically telling diaspora voters 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:40.000 what they want to hear for coherent foreign policy, 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:44.009 is incredibly risky. especially considering this 00:06:44.009 --> 00:06:46.250 administration has engaged in three war fronts 00:06:46.250 --> 00:06:48.870 this year alone, including Venezuela back on 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:51.519 January 3rd. It's the here be dragons map all 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.019 over again. We are drawing the reality we want 00:06:54.019 --> 00:06:56.220 to see rather than dealing with the reality that 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.399 exists. And we are seeing that exact same dangerous 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:01.639 disconnect play out with Iran. Oh, definitely. 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:04.180 Right now, there is a severe bottleneck in the 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:06.259 Strait of Hormuz. And for you listening, the 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:09.519 Strait of Hormuz is this tiny 21 mile wide choke 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.339 point. When transit freezes there, it causes 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:15.519 massive oil and gas price issues globally. And 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.300 Trump's initial move was to ask allies and even 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.370 China. to help clear the strait. But the source 00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:24.509 notes, they all flatly refused. Wow. All of them. 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:26.790 Yeah. Because foreign policy doesn't happen in 00:07:26.790 --> 00:07:30.870 a vacuum. The allies fear massive domestic backlash. 00:07:31.589 --> 00:07:34.629 Getting involved could mean the end of Keir Starmer's 00:07:34.629 --> 00:07:37.529 career in the UK or Friedrich Merz in Germany 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:40.420 and China. They have zero incentive to help. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:43.160 They want the U .S. economy to take a hit. Which 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.300 led to this incredible moment of political bluster. 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:48.839 Trump basically pivoted and claimed the U .S. 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:50.839 has plenty of oil and doesn't even need them. 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:53.000 But the source points out the actual ground level 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.579 facts. Fifty five percent of U .S. petroleum 00:07:55.579 --> 00:07:58.620 imports actually come from Canada. Right. And 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:00.500 Canada might just sell to desperate European 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:03.160 nations instead. Oil is a global market. You 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.399 can't just ignore a bottleneck like that. But 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:07.740 I want to highlight the most ironic detail in 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:10.980 all of this. Iran is actually shipping more oil 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:13.199 right now. Yeah, through its own mined waters. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:15.279 They aren't sharing the lanes anymore. Which 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.439 leads to a massive long term threat. Iran is 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:20.800 reportedly considering reopening the strait only 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.560 for trades conducted in Chinese Yuan. Which could 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.939 devastate the U .S. economy long term. Here's 00:08:25.939 --> 00:08:28.660 where it gets really interesting. If the ultimate 00:08:28.660 --> 00:08:31.759 goal is American dominance, wouldn't pushing 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.799 global oil trades into the Chinese Yuan be the 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:37.860 exact opposite of an America first win? You would 00:08:37.860 --> 00:08:40.620 think so. The source argues the administration 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:43.519 is basically incapable of thinking two or three 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.559 steps ahead. And you see that erratic behavior 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.379 when the narrative collapses, like Trump's recent 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:52.200 thousand word unhinged social media rant. Oh, 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.019 right, where he claimed that a living former 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:57.019 president liked his decision to bomb Iran. Exactly. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:59.659 And spokespeople for all four of them, Biden, 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.779 Obama, Clinton and Bush, explicitly denied this. 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:06.039 It's a clear gap between bluster and reality. 00:09:06.269 --> 00:09:08.210 But, you know, substituting political theater 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.950 for reality doesn't just isolate you diplomatically. 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:14.009 Eventually, the bill comes due. Geopolitical 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:15.970 chaos in the Middle East isn't just a political 00:09:15.970 --> 00:09:19.210 problem. It has direct, massive financial consequences 00:09:19.210 --> 00:09:21.309 for you, the listener. Absolutely. And the Hegei 00:09:21.309 --> 00:09:23.730 risk management source explicitly connects the 00:09:23.730 --> 00:09:26.090 war in Iran to an impending financial crisis. 00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:29.769 Yeah. Hegei is warning of a major shift in the 00:09:29.769 --> 00:09:34.210 $1 .8 trillion private credit market. $1 .8 trillion? 00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:37.700 That is a massive number. So, what's the macroeconomic 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:40.600 backdrop here? Well, the war in Iran triggered 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:43.120 an oil shock, and that leads to an inflation 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.299 impulse, which naturally leads to a slowdown 00:09:45.299 --> 00:09:52.509 in consumption and the labor market. Quad 3. 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:55.470 So that's when growth is slowing down, but inflation 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:58.789 is rising. Exactly. And in that Quad 3 environment, 00:09:59.269 --> 00:10:02.509 private credit defaults have hit a record 9 .2%. 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:05.370 Wait, 9 .2? How does that compare to normal loans? 00:10:05.470 --> 00:10:07.470 It's more than double. Syndicated loans are sitting 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:10.769 around 4 .5%. And JP Morgan is already marking 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:12.509 down the values of these private loans. Which 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:14.629 triggers panic, right? Because major funds like 00:10:14.629 --> 00:10:17.509 Cliffwater are facing 7 % withdrawal requests. 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:21.009 Yes. And BlackRock, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:24.960 They're all limiting or gating redemptions. People 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.080 want their money, but they are facing severe 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.000 illiquidity. And regional banks are heavily exposed 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.340 to this, aren't they? Like $100 billion to $150 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:35.919 billion dollars exposed. Exactly. Hedgeye CEO 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.899 Keith McCullough uses this great analogy. He 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:42.139 calls it lightning on the fairway. It's like 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:44.480 you're holding a metal golf club during a storm. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.409 You either act on it or you don't. So what does 00:10:47.409 --> 00:10:49.409 this all mean? I mean, is this a Jenga Tower 00:10:49.409 --> 00:10:52.889 situation, like 2008, where pulling the private 00:10:52.889 --> 00:10:55.190 credit block brings down the whole banking system? 00:10:55.450 --> 00:10:57.509 If we connect this to the bigger picture, hedge 00:10:57.509 --> 00:11:00.230 -eye stance is actually quite clear. No, this 00:11:00.230 --> 00:11:02.710 is not 2008. OK, that's a relief. Yeah, the banks 00:11:02.710 --> 00:11:04.929 are better capitalized now. Instead, they describe 00:11:04.929 --> 00:11:07.809 it as a slow -motion train crash that will play 00:11:07.809 --> 00:11:10.509 out over two to three years. A slow -motion train 00:11:10.509 --> 00:11:13.629 crash? Right. It's much more similar to the 2001 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:16.970 to 2002 telecom credit cycle, but this time it's 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:19.730 concentrated in software. Hedgeye brings in Neil 00:11:19.730 --> 00:11:22.610 Howe's fourth turning framework and the 1873 00:11:22.610 --> 00:11:26.129 railroad panic to explain this. The 1873 railroad 00:11:26.129 --> 00:11:29.450 panic. Yeah. It shows why looking at centuries 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:32.009 of data is so much better than recency bias. 00:11:32.649 --> 00:11:35.269 We always look for the last crisis, but history 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:37.809 shows these slow burn crashes happen regularly 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:41.039 if you zoom out. OK, so we have wars raging in 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.799 the Middle East. We have an energy crisis in 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.899 Cuba and a slow -motion train crash beginning 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:51.539 in a $1 .8 trillion credit market. So, with all 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:54.379 these literal storms brewing, how is the U .S. 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:57.120 Senate responding? Well, according to the electoral 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:59.720 vote source, they are pivoting to pure political 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:02.129 fear. Of course they are. Because Senate Majority 00:12:02.129 --> 00:12:04.649 Leader John Thune is bringing the SAVE Act to 00:12:04.649 --> 00:12:06.850 the floor. And the goal isn't really to pass 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:09.090 it, right? It's a drawn -out debate to force 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:11.669 Democrats to defend voting against it. Exactly. 00:12:11.870 --> 00:12:14.090 It provides GOP soundbites for the fall election. 00:12:14.830 --> 00:12:17.250 Senator Mike Lee is apparently eyeing a 60 -day 00:12:17.250 --> 00:12:20.309 debate explicitly modeled after the 1964 Civil 00:12:20.309 --> 00:12:22.769 Rights Act. 60 days. And the polling context 00:12:22.769 --> 00:12:25.049 sort of explains why they're doing it. 85 % of 00:12:25.049 --> 00:12:27.590 respondents support citizens -only voting. It 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:30.370 sounds great on paper. Right. But here is the 00:12:30.370 --> 00:12:33.269 reality check the source points out. Non -citizens 00:12:33.269 --> 00:12:35.710 are already forbidden from voting in federal 00:12:35.710 --> 00:12:37.730 elections. Already forbidden. So it's completely 00:12:37.730 --> 00:12:40.370 redundant. Yes. The bill essentially solves a 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:42.750 problem that doesn't actually exist. But Trump 00:12:42.750 --> 00:12:45.529 refuses to sign any bills until this hits his 00:12:45.529 --> 00:12:48.710 desk. So the GOP strategy might simply be to 00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:50.980 show him they tried. But if non -citizens are 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:53.559 already banned from voting, why spend potentially 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:55.840 60 days debating this while the Department of 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.279 Homeland Security is shut down and the global 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:00.460 economy is threatening to shift to the yuan? 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:02.879 I mean, it feels like fighting over the playlist 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.399 while the Titanic hits the iceberg. This raises 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.759 an important question. It shows this deep disconnect 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.779 between urgent national crises and performative 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:14.000 domestic politics. The source views this legislative 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.200 maneuver as entirely about creating campaign 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.639 soundbites and appeasing the president's demands. 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:22.820 Right, rather than addressing the actual macroeconomic 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.580 storms brewing. Exactly. And the Democrat counter 00:13:25.580 --> 00:13:28.399 -strategy is to just highlight that absurdity. 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:30.879 Right. To point out that they're debating a redundant 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.259 voter ID law for 60 days while there's a war 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:36.539 in Iran and DHS is shut down. And there's this 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:40.259 incredible irony noted by the source, too. Voter 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:42.960 ID laws might not even help the G .O. key anymore. 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:45.539 Yeah, mathematically speaking, because affluent 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:48.919 suburbanites who lean Democrat these days easily 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:52.279 have passports and IDs. Right. While city dwellers 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.659 can just be mobilized with massive get your paperwork 00:13:55.659 --> 00:13:58.700 drives. So the whole thing is performative theater 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:00.860 based on outdated assumptions. It really is. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.399 So let's recap the journey of this deep dive 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.039 for you. We started with the true history of 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:08.659 St. Patrick versus the myths we celebrate today. 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:11.960 Showing how narratives overwrite reality. Exactly. 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:15.220 Then we moved to the disconnect between political 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:18.159 bluster and ground realities in Iran and Cuba. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.980 We explored the very real slow motion train crash 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:24.340 in the private credit markets. And we ended with 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:26.179 the performative political theater happening 00:14:26.179 --> 00:14:28.259 right now in the Senate. Which is quite the trip. 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:31.200 It is. But remember, being truly well informed 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.600 means looking past the loud parades, whether 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:35.299 they are happening outside your window on St. 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:37.620 Patrick's Day or on the Senate floor. You have 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:40.139 to see the underlying mechanics of what's actually 00:14:40.139 --> 00:14:42.120 driving the world. You have to look at the math, 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.039 not just the bluster. Exactly. Which leaves us 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.799 with a final provocative thought for you to explore 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:51.279 on your own. If a fifth century missionary's 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:53.659 life can be completely rewritten by history to 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:55.860 feature non -existent snakes and green beer. 00:14:56.460 --> 00:14:59.379 How will the history books of 2050 summarize 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:01.600 the political and economic decisions being made 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.220 today? That is a great question. What snakes 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:06.899 are our politicians currently inventing to avoid 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:09.860 dealing with the real slow -motion train crashes 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:11.919 heading our way? We will leave you with that 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:13.519 to mull over. Until next time.