I had a great time at CPAC and made lots of new acquaintances while catching up with many old friends too, including our guest this episode. Karen Siegemund is the President of American Freedom Alliance and I had the privilege of meeting her at the 'AFA Propaganda conference' in LA last year. Karen has been a regular face at CPAC where this was my first time, so she joins us live to compare notes and to give her thoughts on this years 'Conservative Political Action Conference' which was held in Washington...
I had a great time at CPAC and made lots of new acquaintances while catching up with many old friends too, including our guest this episode.
Karen Siegemund is the President of American Freedom Alliance and I had the privilege of meeting her at the 'AFA Propaganda conference' in LA last year.
Karen has been a regular face at CPAC where this was my first time, so she joins us live to compare notes and to give her thoughts on this years 'Conservative Political Action Conference' which was held in Washington DC.
It was a packed 4 days attended by all the nations top conservative faces, featuring special guests such as Senator Marsha Blackburn, Congressman Matt Gaetz, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson with the memorable event concluding with a 90 minute key note speech by the man himself, President Donald J Trump.
As the daughter of a man who grew up in Hitler’s Berlin, Dr Karen Siegemund has always been keenly aware of how precarious freedom is, and how tyranny typically begins not with a revolution, but with a slow erosion of rights and freedoms. For this reason, Karen has dedicated her life to fighting against this erosion on every level.
During the Cold War, Dr. Siegemund worked in the field of underwater acoustics, developing new sonar systems and testing them during sea trials around the world.
After the defeat of the Soviet Union she turned her sights first to earning a Master’s Degree in International Relations, then a doctorate degree in “Education and American Culture.” Recognizing that only with an educated citizenry could we hope to maintain our freedoms, she became an educator; for over ten years she has taught in a number of areas, from Latin and French to Science and Mathematics, at the middle school, high school and University levels. Along with these specific academic disciplines, of course, she strives to educate her students about the values that make Western Civilization generally, and America specifically, as exceptional as we are.
As another result of the recognition that totalitarianism creeps in with baby steps, and that our media has been complicit in its advance rather than the bulwark against it that it us supposed to be, Karen had founded and was president of “Rage Against the Media,” an activist group in Los Angeles which fought against the propagandistic nature of our news media.
Since becoming the President of the American Freedom Alliance, she’s been part of the fight against a longer list of encroachments on our freedom, and has been hosting exceptional events ranging from World-Class Conferences to Literary Cafes, Lectures to Movie Premieres, all on topics relating to Freedom, how it’s being attacked and how we can preserve it.
She has also paid a price for the position she takes in defense of Western Civilization and for her political activity outside the classroom. Karen became a victim of the very “cancel culture” she warned about when her teaching position at a local private school was not renewed. Among countless articles, the Epoch Times ran a feature article about her, and she was a guest on The Huckabee Show, a frequent speaker at clubs, organizations and events, and is published in a wide range of publications.
The American Freedom Alliance is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which promotes, defends and upholds Western values and ideals. AFA sponsors conferences, publishes opinions, distributes information and creates networking groups to identify threats to Western civilization and to motivate, educate and unite citizens in support of that cause.
American Freedom Alliance links
Website https://americanfreedomalliance.org/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_mKQpt648ouOD7SuotFhSA
GETTR https://gettr.com/user/americanfreedomalliance
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmericanFreedomAlliance/
Twitter https://twitter.com/AFAlliance
Vimeo https://vimeo.com/afa
Broadcast live 13.3.23
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[0:22] Karen Siegemund, thank you so much for coming on slightly earlier today. Thank you.
My pleasure. Delighted to be with you, Peter.
Karen and I had a good catch up, having only met in June for the first time at the American Freedom Alliance Conference Propaganda over in LA, where she had great speakers like Naomi Wolf, James O'Keefe, and many others, Alex Newman, James Wood, Elizabeth Sabaditsch-Wolf, and it goes on and on. She has so many conferences with some of the greatest guests, So I was absolutely overjoyed to catch up with her over the East Coast this time.
East Coast is much closer for me, Karen.
Yes. Yeah, it's funny, either coast. It's always great to see you.
And there's always great stuff going on one way or the other.
[1:10] Absolutely. Now, we're just want to unpack CPAC. Obviously, we've both been there just a week or so ago.
It has been a whole week since we saw each other, Karen. Time flies.
Yeah, I don't know how the time flies, yes.
So the AmericanFreedomAlliance.org is there on the screen. I encourage you to go have a look at it, have a look at the conferences they've had.
Everything is available there on the website.
Now, CPAC, it was my first time at CPAC. I don't think I dreamt about going, but I dreamed about going many times.
Got that bad, which we have a feedback. But Karen has been, what, four times you told me before we went live, Karen.
Yes, this was my fourth.
[2:01] So where, this was in DC. Where was it other years you've been or has always been in DC for you?
For me, I've only ever gone to the ones in DC. It's the nation's capital, seems to me that's where it's supposed to be. And of course, during COVID, they moved around as one does and did. You try to find pockets of freedom here and there, Texas, Florida, obviously.
I think they had others internationally also, but to me, CPAC isn't CPAC unless you're in the, capital of the United States. Much as it's a swamp and we talk about all of that, but there's still people working very hard in the right direction, in the correct direction towards freedom, towards re-establishing a constitutional republic. So it's nice to be in the nation's capital and give them support and meet with them, there who are living right in the heart of it all and still doing the really awful, disgusting work that needs to be done.
So I love it that it's in D.C. and I love the Gaylord.
I think it's a tremendous venue.
[3:05] It was, it was a wonderful venue and your drinks reception was also a wonderful event in the middle of that.
But tell us for, I guess for those watching in the UK, we probably have 60% UK, 30% US, maybe around that split.
I mean, tell us what kind of CPAC is about, because people in the UK, they think of political conferences and they're not really the most exciting or intriguing.
And they're fairly dull and plodding along. CPAC is a little bit different. So let's start with CPAC, maybe the first time you went, what it was like?
Yeah, you know, it's funny when you think about conferences, generally conventions, you think that it's going to be a little bit stodgy and wonky and you know, all the political in the know people. But while there are political in the know people, It really is more like one little rally after another, culminating of course this time and the last time I had gone too with President Trump.
But there's just tremendous energy. It's really, it's the who's who of political activism
[4:15] and excitement and energy.
The first time, maybe it's not the first time I mixed them all up, but I've seen Newt Gingrich, I've seen Sarah Palin.
I had seen Donald Trump before. I'd seen Mitt Romney back when we really mourned,
we still mourn that he lost, obviously, while we know a little bit more about him than we did at that time.
That was a very painful thing. But it's really, if you are involved in the political scene in the U.S. at all, and that includes activism as well as politics, it really is the place to go.
Because there's there's I would say three main aspects to the whole thing.
One is the main stage in the main ballroom where the speakers are.
And sometimes those are panels and sometimes it's more serious than others.
But it's always got this high energy rally sense.
Then downstairs is
[5:09] where if you work in this arena, you can sponsor a booth, a table, you can make people aware of what you do, you can sell books, you can show videos, you can hand out t-shirts and stuff.
So you increase your visibility, build up your mailing list, and that was always very exciting too. Then I would add there's media row, which is really where much of the activity actually happens. There's radio stations, there's TV stations, there's networks. And in the past, we had had Fox News, we had had Breitbart, we had had Town Hall as major sponsors of all of this.
[5:51] There were more big names and also small names. If you're local and you just have a show you want to promote, you'd be there.
This time, I still would contend that Radio Row was the place to be.
It's where most of the action was, most of the energy was. There were smaller podcasters and so on as before, but not Breitbart, not Town Hall, not Fox.
One of the more interesting ones was the new state of China Republic.
I will get the letters all messed up, but the organization that's really trying to restore China to have legitimate rule that's not by the Chinese Communist Party.
But then the biggest, the loudest voice at CPAC, the most energizing, engaging, really the hub of all the energy and action was Bannon's War Room that was set up.
Luckily at the far end, if he hadn't been at the far end, nobody would have been able to get through.
And that's, that honestly, I don't know if you felt the same way, but that to me was the hub of all the energy.
[7:02] I agree. Let me just before I get on there, it was the NFSC, New Federal State of China, and they had a fantastic stage set up there in Media Row, interviewing a lot of people, and it's interesting that pushback against the CCP, which obviously Bannon will be doing that regularly as well. But you're right, it was sometimes you couldn't get up and down that that corridor because everyone wanted to see Mr. Stephen K. Bannon.
And certainly so much energy, what he brings. And the thing that struck me most about Bannon was that he would do a two hour show, and then he would give maybe an hour and a half of actually talking to people, greeting them. And I think it was that connection which probably made it for a lot of people.
They come as just a delegate to sit and listen, and they get to shake hands with Steve Bannon and chat to him, get their picture.
[8:03] It was really gigantic. And there were people, because I walked by there, we all walked by there, and you would see the same people day after day after day, and his energy level was consistently high.
Their adoration level was also consistently high, and that he gave his all to such an extent.
And then as you say, that another hour and a half or two hours, he would shake hands, take photographs and actually have conversations as long as there were people who wanted to.
And I heard over and over again, I don't know how I would have gotten through any of this without you.
You are my source of optimism, of hope, of truth, of just everything.
He's their touchstone.
And it's quite remarkable that not only does he do this and of course, not all the information comes from him, but that he gives so many people a platform for their work, truth seeking, freedom seeking, and then that he gives of himself.
It was really a startling thing because you expect kind of the energy to be in the ballroom area, the main speakers and so on, and that media row is gonna be media row, but that there was this,
[9:23] the real epicenter was at War Room and quite remarkable. I also saw him on the main stage in the ballroom, same thing, tremendous energy there.
Nigel Farage, of course, I also saw, just absolutely outstanding, very different.
I also saw Kari Lake, a dynamic speaker, tremendous energy and various other speakers.
But I think we go to CPAC to hear these great names, to see for our own eyes, instead of having the media sort of in the way, to capture the energy, to get a sense of what the conservative movement is like in the United States.
Are we on our last gasp?
Are we desperate?
Are we despairing?
[10:15] And I would have to say the answer to all that is absolutely not.
The energy at CPAC was tremendous. Are we united in our thinking?
No, so what? Nor should we be, we ought not be monolithic. We are independent thinkers and with independent thinkers, you get diversity of thought and of opinion as it should be.
But I think overall, the optimism was high, even while recognizing what our major hurdles are.
Oh, completely. Karen, you're looking like you're enjoying the beautiful sunlight there.
It looks like a gorgeous day where you are.
Yeah, it's kind of astounding where I am. I am a little bit outside of Las Vegas.
AFA, we just had an event in Las Vegas last night, in large part for our Angelenos who fled to Las Vegas.
So they had wanted me to do an event there and I did, and it's always interesting seeing how refugees live and they have it pretty good, I must say.
[11:27] But before getting the conservative mood, I mean, obviously you are extremely well-connected and it must be interesting to go to these events and of course, connect with many speakers.
I mean, I know Bannon spoke in a previous event.
I know he'll speak at future events and to see many of those people and you realize you're not to belittle or use a incorrect term,
[11:53] but it is kind of family.
You're there with people, like-minded people, you're connected with.
And what's that like for you, knowing so many of those people, going to so many conferences, coming to an event like CPAC?
Well, it really is. It is like old home week. And I hadn't been in a while.
And while I am deep in the conservative community,
In Los Angeles, and conservative community and Republican community, I'm also an officer on the executive board of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, going to CPAC, every time I turn around, I'm with someone I know and or and or who knows me. And the warm embrace, I would say, of the of conservatives. That's another, that's certainly another reason to go. I hadn't really considered that when I decided to go. But being there, yes, we are the choir, but the, choir needs to be supported as well, because some of us do return to pretty hostile territory.
And to know that we're not alone is such an important thing. And CPAC provides that, but I think also AFA and our conferences, which we'll talk about, that is in large part why we do those as well.
We are not alone. And while we feel it's an uphill battle and we feel isolated, and of course, they do their best to isolate us.
[13:21] Being among our family, really, and that you coming from the UK and Elizabeth coming from Austria and Nigel also from the UK, and we had others from Austria, others from Germany, from Sweden, from throughout Europe.
[13:43] Is it politically expedient for them? I don't know, but I think it must be very warming and heartening for them, for you to see that we haven't rolled over here in the US and we are fighting and we're fighting as best we can.
And we wanna reach out to you also and you're reaching out to us.
The left is fighting globally.
We have to fight globally as well.
And I think it's just, you know, we talk about family. I have more love from the family that I met at CPAC than, you know, my literal family. And it's...
Well, I think that's probably true for lots of people.
And I'm not alone in that.
Yeah. Could I, obviously, the conservative movement, well, first, can I say, and blame Karen for me going there, it was Elizabeth Sabbaditsch-Wolf who first put the thought in my head, and then it was a 45 minute call with Karen that sealed the deal and persuaded me to come.
So can I publicly thank you, Karen, for actually getting me there, because if it wasn't for that phone call, I would have missed it, so thank you.
You're very welcome, and I'm glad to have been part of your coming out, and I hope it's the first of many, because, I mean, you see who we are and what we are and what we do and the passion.
There's such passion and such concern,
[15:06] such global concern for the state of the world. And I would contend that any leftist such organization would not have, or event, would not have that deep love and caring that we have.
I would contend that there would be more, and maybe we should do more of it too, conniving.
And I don't know, I don't think they're driven by the same things we're driven by.
Oh, absolutely. Can I, the kind of stepping back while the conference ended with Trump, speaking President Trump and never having had that privilege and it was great to see such a giant in the conservative movement, in the Republican movement, worldwide, really, not just in the US and always good to be with someone who's hated so much by the left, which means he must be doing something right.
But that was an hour and a half speech.
[16:14] It was, I thought it was kind of two-sided, so it was maybe slightly subdued.
And again, I haven't sat in the same room and had a Trump speech, but hit all the notes.
And I ended up laughing through lots of it, thinking, oh, only Donald Trump could say that.
What were your thoughts on that as an end point to the conference?
[16:40] Oh, it was just absolutely spectacular. I have my concerns. I have my issues. I have my scepticisms. I hate to say this, but they all really went out the window. And really, they went out the window because the terrain we're fighting on right now is not normal terrain. It's really vicious.
We have Biden, who in how long has just really destroyed the country?
Our banking system is imploding, which we knew would happen.
We've got we had energy independence. We no longer have it. We have food insecurity.
People are just by every metric or this nation is going down the toilet from a very from, unprecedented high that we had under President Trump.
And in that I would include strength of minorities, their jobs held and income and so on was tremendous.
We had reverted back in large part to law and order.
[17:45] Everything was humming along absolutely beautifully. And then it was broken with such deliberate malice and just in every way, the world is less safe.
The country is less safe.
Ukraine, China, you name it, the world is less safe at the hands of
whoever's got the puppet strings of Joe Biden, because it's not really him. So the world is a less safe place, but they're playing by extremely ugly rules. And so when I have concerns about Donald Trump, this or that or the other thing, and maybe somebody might be better at reverting to politics as usual, the left is not playing politics as usual. And we can also not play as politics as usual. And there is no one who walks this earth who can say the things that Donald Trump says, who can get the energy that Donald Trump does, who can just stand his ground in the way that Donald Trump does. I had called him this before, not disparagingly at all. He is the alpha of all alphas. And we need an alpha, I believe very strongly in peace through strength, which is why we have war through weakness. We need strength back and nobody, nobody exudes strength like Donald Trump.
[19:07] Absolutely. It doesn't matter from where I stand. Although it really didn't matter. None of the rest matters. We need a man like him and he is that man.
When I saw him as a teen, he brought down the house. Yes, he was more subdued than at rallies, as he was the other day, more subdued than at rallies.
And yet what he radiates is love of country, passion for the people.
[19:41] A real horror at what has been done. I think in his first four years, he really didn't get a full handle on the viciousness, even though he was impeached once, he still didn't learn how evil they were.
It took the second time for him really to open his eyes.
I think coming in his second term, he will hit the ground running doing those things that a lot of us wished he would have done in the first go-around, more draining the swamp, more of being sceptical, of establishment hires and appointments, really bringing in from day one, hour one, minute one, those people who will seek to achieve the agenda that he has voiced, which is, you know, in shorthand, MAGA.
It's the MAGA agenda, make America great again, that's it.
As you may know, I've been saying over the last few years, we need to make America, America again.
We have come so far from our founding principles.
[20:45] And I think he will
do that as well. Are there other people who can do the politics better and more sane and maybe in a way that will attract more? I don't care. I just don't care. I don't. We need an alpha. We need a man who doesn't care. It's sort of like Ricky Gervais, you know.
He came back for his last go around at the Golden Globes or whatever it was. I don't, care. And I think Donald Trump will be exactly that also. I'm going to do what the people voted for me to do, hired me to do, selected me to do, and the rest, I don't care. And that's exactly what we need right now. Because truly, is Joe Biden acting as if the people as if he cares about the people? And I,
[21:32] let me rephrase that Trump not caring about what people, what the other side thinks. He cares deeply about the people. I should have been clear about that. I think Trump cares about the people, our well-being, the state of the nation infinitely more than Joe Biden in the remnants of his brain can do.
I wont even go in to that last point.
[22:00] So I mean, yeah, I think Trump goes into this campaign with his eyes wide open and you're You're right. He has learned so much. And one of the things actually, which will stick out with me from his speech was the first five minutes where he didn't say anything.
And to actually, it is a level of arrogance, but no showmanship, absolute confidence, knowing you have the room.
And just to stand there for five minutes and just observe the crowd as everyone's on their feet cheering.
[22:31] You obviously know whenever you go to a podium, you want to go and speak and that's your natural response.
But just to take that applause, just, I love that showmanship, that just blew me away.
I do too, I do too. I mean, obviously it's CPAC, obviously it's friendly.
He's used to it from rallies, but that really does radiate a kind of confidence.
Again, the alpha, I'm here, I know you love me.
And I would even go further and say, you love me for the right reasons.
And I think that's really important. We do, we believe in make America great again.
We believe that the world needs America to be what America has been.
We see how people were thriving under his leadership during his four years and how people are suffering.
So we knew coming out of Obama that we needed him. And I would contend that
[23:31] we know even more so what happens when we walk away from those principles and how,
[23:39] really perniciously evil, uncaring the left in this administration has been. East Palestine had just happened. The balloon had just sailed unmolested across our country and others as well.
We know the world is a more dangerous place without him. We've learned these lessons.
[23:59] And while we imagined that things would get worse, and we knew things would get worse, we have absolute evidence globally of how things have gotten worse.
Who can repair it?
He's the only guy. And again, it's not politics as usual. And during the course of the hour and a half, he hit on point after point after point after point.
We won't allow children to have irreversible surgeries and other kinds of mutilations, I guess, one way or another, chemical or actual mutilations done to them.
How can you not think that this is a wonderful thing, the thing that they're doing to children, that he will stop this?
Marvellous. We'll get back to actual teaching in schools.
[24:47] Energy independence, all of these things that he talked about, peace through strength, keeping our eye on China, not coddling, he was the only president who stood up to China and I think he will make us safer and by making the US safer, one does make the world safer.
You need somewhere to turn.
I'm curious about people running against him.
I heard Ron DeSantis speak at CNP in Miami just a few weeks earlier, absolutely fantastic speech, absolutely brilliant, watch what he's done governor in Florida and very exciting and he does what he says he will do. But he's still
[25:33] fairly young and he's still got a lot of time ahead and I'm surprised that he has gone up against Trump and decided to make that a battle. I'm surprised Mike Pompeo is running against Trump and maybe Nikki Haley's different because probably no love lost there. But I'm obviously when was it was it 2016? There were like 17 Republican candidates, I think, initially, and then it got whittled down. And I'm curious to think why anyone would want to put themselves up against Trump, especially if you've got time on your side, and what's the rush?
Yeah, it's a great, it's a great question. It's one of the dividing issues among Republicans and the Republican Party. Does one revert back to politics as usual? Do we get, can we draw in more independence if we're just you know a benign political party as if the left is benign political party. I'm sorry, but that's, you've,
[26:31] You're missing something very real if you think the Democrats are some benign political party.
Look who they chose to be their minority leader, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[26:43] I know why some people get in. It's one reason Larry Elder said he was going to run. I don't know if he is or isn't anymore, but because he felt that with that platform of running for that office for President of the United States, he can bring a highlight to issues of black families and so on, so that's great.
Mike Pompeo, I don't know, I think he's a great man, not great presidential material.
Nikki Haley, anything Nikki Haley did that was good was when she was ambassador to the United Nations, speaking to Donald Trump's policies.
So as governor, I didn't particularly like her. Does she have a good story? Yes.
Is she an appealing woman candidate? Okay, can we please just move past that?
So not a big fan of her.
I think she's a big self promoter and has bitten the hand that fed her.
Ron DeSantis is really the one candidate and I don't think he's in quite yet.
He just spoke here in Las Vegas two nights ago and did two events in Los Angeles.
People love him and that's fine and great, I do too.
And if you really think that business as usual is the way to go, then he would be your guy.
[28:02] But I think if one has been paying, and you and I had this conversation pre CPAC, is he head and shoulders?
He's a great speaker, he's very wise, he's very engaged in historical issues and aspects, He's been a fighter for Florida, great governor, great record.
[28:24] And I think he's marvellous, marvellous, but I just keep coming back to politics as usual isn't going to cut it. I just don't think it is.
As soon as the Democrats back off and do politics as usual, then we can too.
But until that point.
I don't think so. He is young. One of the issues of Trump, though, is he's in for only four years, right?
[28:50] He can't do the full eight. This is his second term.
He needs to be very judicious in who he picks as vice president because that person, can then do the eight.
Or Ron DeSantis waits the four.
I can't think that far ahead. I know I probably should right now.
I think 2024 has got to be Trump again.
That's all. And Ron DeSantis should stay governor in Florida, be the leader of all governors.
He's exactly the example to follow as a Californian.
Goodness, what I would trade to have him as our governor.
But given 2024, who's the Democrat going to be?
And as a Californian, I would contend too that it may well be Gavin Newsom, who's my current governor.
So I don't know that pitting two guys, I just don't know. But the guy you need to go against the really evil, vindictive, hateful Democrats is the
[29:57] guy who can withstand, I am the storm, I am your retribution, I am your man and I will take the arrows for you.
I don't think anybody else can do that.
I am your retribution, that was an absolutely beautiful line.
I'm going, I'm in the chairs, come on.
Yeah, but I was out of my chair so often during that and I'm not a jump to your feet kind of person but I was leaping and,
because he does speak for us and he speaks for for everyone whether you're following along or not he's speaking for the guy who can't pay for gas. He's speaking for the,
[30:38] he's speaking for all of us whether we are aware of it or not He's speaking for Democrats who are suffering because the political mayhem doesn't just, It's we're all suffering. It's not just Republicans, it's we're all suffering,
Let me kind of finish off looking at AFA.
And I should have actually, my apologies for downgrading Karen from a doctor to just Karen.
He has her PhD and that's a whole other side to that.
But AFA, tell us what the, how long have you been president, about five years of AFA?
[31:17] 2016, January, 2016, I came in as president. So more than six.
We're just past past. I don't want to do that math. It makes me feel very old.
But tell us how AFA kind of fits into that conservative fight across the state because CPAC brought in all different media organisations, different speakers, often on the political side, but others as well. And I mean, let us know how AFA fits into that conservative pushback, fight, education.
Yeah, great question. Yes, we are a non-profit. We are not political.
We can't endorse whatever I say about any candidate is Karen's, you know, personal opinion.
We are much more ideas and policies and thoughts and trends and threats rather than advancing any particular, political agenda.
So as you mentioned, we had a conference on propaganda, which is what you came to, which was marvellous.
Because propaganda is the only reason that,
[32:24] you know, left versus right. It's all great as long as you have a level playing field, but propaganda is how the left gains primacy in absolutely everything. So we had a conference on propaganda, as you said, we had Naomi Wolf, we had Patrick Wood, we had Alex Newman, James Lindsay, and many, many other amazing speakers, Trevor Loudon, and we culminated with James O'Keefe, the master at uncovering the propaganda, right?
Project Veritas.
He spoke he was our our keynote. Our last one was globalist puppet masters.
So we talked about the globalist organizations that are out there in world economic forum, obviously, at the top of the list, but how these are implemented in our daily, how it affects us on a daily basis.
We had Steve Bannon keynote. We also had Ed Dowd, just tremendous. James Lindsay again.
[33:22] Just absolutely astounding. Mike Rechtenwald, who just finished a book on the Great Reset.
So what we seek to do, the left sees absolutely everything as a political opportunity.
Everything.
What bathrooms you use. Everything. Plastic straws.
[33:44] It's all politics. And we tend to leave politics in the political realm.
But as many of us know, it's cultural. It's what happens in the culture.
Culture, education, knowledge, knowledge is power, forewarned is forearmed, all of those things sort of inform what we do at AFA.
And our next conference coming up in April is World War III, the early years, the contention being, obviously, we are in World War III.
It's not a Cold War. It's gone hot.
[34:13] The spark has been lit in Ukraine. Who's fighting, they've been fighting against us. Who is they?
China, the globalists, the left, and various other entities.
So we're aiming to inform on all of those. So again, it's not overtly political.
The battles that we are engaged in are cultural. They are political, but we need to understand who our foes are, where the threats are, how to focus on them better.
And a lot of that fighting is outside of the political arena.
Some of course is in the political arena, but not all of it.
And if more people are made aware of the threats that we face, they will be able to make better, much better decisions.
I sort of liken it to nutrition facts on food, candy bars or whatever.
If we give you the information, you can make better decisions or you can make decisions according to your preference.
I don't care what it is, but you need the knowledge. and what we aim to do is give that knowledge.
[35:19] I'm looking and people can of course still buy tickets for that.
That's what you'll get if you go to Americanfreedomalliance.org.
I see Ed Dowd just been confirmed and we had Ed as a guest and phenomenal speaker, great mind, love his book looking at, oh we're on YouTube, so I'll just say I love his book.
I'll let you find out what it is.
Can't even probably say what his book's called if we're on YouTube, but the whole finance side is really an area which I've enjoyed listening and learning from Ed Dowd.
[35:54] Yeah, I mean, his contention about COVID before the book, before his book was when he watched what was happening economically with global finance, he was then looking for what the powers that be were going to use as a deflection from the economic mayhem that they had caused. And then low COVID comes along. So he won't be talking to us about COVID, but about really what we're seeing literally right now with the banking collapse. So we have him, big part of this is China. We have Gordon Chang, Frank Gaffney, Steve Coughlin, Joe, we have Joe Allen who's going to talk to us about AI in warfare.
We have Mike Rechtenwald again, his new book. We have Patrick Wood.
[36:47] I'm sure I'm missing somebody incredible. Oh, we have General Spalding who's written a lot about Chinese warfare.
Colonel John Mills. Bradley Thayer, who's just, I'm sitting here reading his book right now, Understanding the China Threat.
So it's going to be in large part about China, in large part about globalists, but also how they have infiltrated the American governance and civic institutions generally.
Because without that, none of this would take root.
And then it does look like we will have Steve Bannon come speak again, but sssh we don't want the bad guys to be causing us too much trouble too early.
But it will be astounding, two days, April 22nd, 23rd in Torrance, just South of LAX.
[37:38] A hotel that's been terrific to us. So it really is World War III and it sounds hysterical as so much that we've been saying sounds hysterical that there's a war on Western Civ, war on religion.
But I think,
any of us who's been paying attention knows that that's real.
I'm so jealous .
Well, you know, another 45 minute phone call, Peter, and maybe...
Too far this time though, East Coast I can cope with, and my wife can as well. Just to finish off and how does FAA have you? Have you been changing your your focus? Have you started one where and had to change to respond to the threats? How has the seven years changed at all?
Yeah, that's a great question. Absolutely, we've pivoted. The threats that Avi Davis, my predecessor and the founder of AFA, the threats that he had identified were still in large part radical environmentalism.
[38:45] Islamization, not Islam itself, but Islamization of the West, global governance, education that's indoctrination and media that's propagandizing.
So in large part, absolutely, they're the same.
And we haven't really left them, but we've, During COVID, we had an initiative, Choose Freedom.
We were fighting against mandates.
So we were working on that a lot because that was really the number one threat to freedom.
As soon as they require you to get a vaccine, for example, they can also then ask you for proof of it.
And then you're just back, you're starting down a truly nightmarish path.
Once they can legally ask you for proof of something in order to engage in civic life, this is just horrific.
Obviously they backed up temporarily, but as we know, they never go away.
So we had that, we've done a lot more in education.
And I think we're focusing much more now on the globalist threat, which again, Avi had, but we're really focusing on that predominantly.
[39:53] Because it really is the number one threat. And it's not just the threat to us, it's the threat to all Western civilization and they're very good at it and they've gotten better at it.
And during COVID, we've seen how unbelievably effective they are, not just at the, not just sowing the virus globally, but sowing the narrative about the virus, the narrative about the threats, that the United States looked to China for guidance in how to deal with this, that China is in charge of the World Health Organization, essentially.
Their reach is terrifying. So when I think about globalists, I think about China, the Chinese Communist Party together with the globalist organizations and how
[40:42] deeply pernicious they are, how cunning they are. I had read Unrestricted Warfare some time ago, and this is what General Spalding talks about. It literally has been unrestricted warfare to such an extent we're not even aware of it. So I think war looks different now from how it had.
Ghettoizing people looks different from how it had. Silencing people, shunning people looks different from how it once had, but it's no less dangerous and horrifying. And we are losing freedoms to their methods in a way that it's not just that we're losing them in a way, we're giving, we're giving, take, take my freedom, please. You know, it's surreal.
They're very good at it and we need to alert people more. So that's been our predominant focus against the globalists and now also working with other anti-globalist organizations.
[41:43] Politicians, political parties, alternative media, and we are working to do more things in Europe,
as you know, I was just in Austria and Germany and Switzerland and I plan to do an event, hopefully in Germany in the summertime, bringing together freedom fighters throughout Europe, I think as American Freedom Alliance and the daughter of a German man who grew up during the 30s and 40s in Germany, I think it's something that AFA can do, that maybe Europeans can't.
We don't, it's not a difficult thing for us to do and we're not a political party, we're just ideas.
And that gives us, I think, the ability to do that. And I'm very sensitive to, I don't wanna be a bully of an American.
I just want us all to be able to be the best we can be.
I'm all for national sovereignty, national self-determination.
But I think we do need to work together because they work together.
So that's what I'm seeking to do.
Karen, thank you for joining us on your lovely road trip from Las Vegas to LA. I know where I would like to be with you, but anyway.
There's the pool right there.
[43:06] We don't have a pool here stuck in London, so I'm sorry. But yeah, thank you for coming on and sharing your thoughts on CPAC.
My pleasure, Peter.
Thank you. And if I could just, not at all, If I could just leave our viewers once again.
Go to gun cat. I'll keep telling you this on every live we have because it was great to meet them.
And I even got a great look at that great great t-shirt great top great hoodie. There you go.
Can you see it there? Wow. Lovely shenanigans enthusiast and they've given us 10% off hearts 10 h-e-a-r-t-s 10. You can get get any of them there obviously in the states you can order them easily. They also ship abroad. But sign up to the mailing list and then if you're there in the States then you can get training on firearms. Sadly they don't offer training here, maybe one day.
[44:02] But if you sign up the mailing list you can be kept informed of what they're doing and also, you can get some of the merch. And as I said what we do at Hearts of Oak is all about partnership, connection. It's not about simply having interviews on, but as Karen has been on the privilege I've had of getting to know Karen and discussing all different things with her and only by a connection and network I think will we actually be able to achieve any pushback. So Karen, thank you for coming on.
My pleasure.
Thank you to our viewers for watching or if you're listening as a podcast after, thank you so much for downloading that. We will look forward to seeing you on Thursday with Calvin Robinson looking at this recent split in the Church of England and what that means. Calvin obviously has his GB News slot every Sunday afternoon and he'll join us to discuss the tensions within the Anglican community worldwide. So tune in on Thursday 8pm UK.
[45:01] When is it? 3pm Eastern and 12pm on the Pacific. I think that's it. And on that I wish you a wonderful rest of your evening and I'm off to jump on with Alex Newman. So thank you and good night to you all.
